Bleh...

It's been a pretty uneventful week, all things considered.

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• Finished Laputa on Wednesday, and even though I will never call myself a big Miyazaki fan, I have to say I enjoyed it quite a bit, and that it's one of his better efforts. There wasn't as much complexity in the characters and their motivations as I would've liked, but this was one of his earlier movies so I think I'll let that go. I might have some more significant thoughts some other time, but all I can say right now is that I'm always amazed at the creative variations on tried-and-true fantasy themes Miyazaki brings to all his work (e.g. castles, flight, etc.), and even in the movies I didn't like so much, I cared so fully about the characters and their well-being to the point where I had physical reactions to what was going on on screen -- that's the sign that it's an objectively good movie, and that's why film is and ought to be important in our lives. (Also, I tend to find that if there's one thing Japanese cinema -- including anime, if you count people like Miyazaki, Kon, and Takahata -- is really good at, it's showing that their characters are human rather than creations. Even if it's impossible to make them truly "realistic" -- as realism can sometimes be a detriment to making good movies -- they have an essence of humanity that I tend to find characters from popular movies from other parts of the world tend to lack. Say what you want about Miyazaki, but American filmmakers have a lot more to learn from him than they think.)

There was another all-campus picnic today which closed down the dining halls, but I didn't go because I didn't want to be sitting in the wet grass and mud eating crappy food, so I'll probably buy some at the Grille as soon as I'm done writing this. I'm not sure if I want to go see Filligar tonight.

Speaking of which, I know The Roots and Dan Deacon are playing here later this semester -- I know I'm definitely going to see Dan Deacon. And I know Margaret Cho will be performing next month -- is she good? Should I buy tickets for that?

EDIT: So apparently another student in my class has died; this makes the third one since we entered college.  The first one was spring semester my freshman year; we all got an e-mail the first day of classes saying he went missing, and that May, after classes let out, his body was found in the river that goes through town.  No foul play was suspected; the most likely explanation was that he had a bit too much to drink, took a walk around the edge of campus, went a little too close to the river, slipped on some ice, and fell in.  The second one happened that summer; he drowned in a swimming accident at home in New Jersey.  He was the only one of them I had met personally; I always saw him sitting alone in the dining hall, he had some speech/walking impediment, and he was trying to start a wrestling team on campus.  I never knew the first one who died, and I've never even heard of the latest one.

Still, this is exceptionally weird and creepy since all of the deaths that have happened over the past few years have happened to members of our class, which is only about 600+ students big anyway.  OMG IT'S LIKE FINAL DESTINATION OR SOME OTHER SURVIVAL HORROR VIDEO GAME ONLY REAL O____O