Howl's Moving Castle

I have recently taken to reading kiddie books. As much as it rather not admit it, this started because of Harry Potter. If I was going to see a movie based on a book, I generally try to read the book before watching the movie, which was what I did when the first Harry Potter movie came out. I found that I rather enjoyed reading children books maybe because it takes less effort? At any rate, from there I have picked out several books and enjoyed them quite a bit.

The most recent author to take up my fancy is Diana Wynne Jones, whom I read for the same reason. My favourite animation house Studio Ghibli is set to release Howls Moving Castle soon, which is based on a book by Jones of the same name. However, for some reason all the book stores are out of the book, so I picked up some of her other work, like the Chrestomanci series. But about 2 weeks ago I finally managed to track down a copy of Castle in Kino and bought it and its sequel Castle in the Air. I just over the weekend managed to finished reading both and they are quite nice and fun to read. I have heard that the animated movie is quite different from the book, but that doesn't really bother me.

My first exposure to Studio Ghibli was Porco Rosso, which was shown on SBS in Australia, a free to air channel that shows artsy and foreign films. When I first saw it I was totally blown away. It was everything I wanted in a movie!

Many years later, I saw Princess Mononoke and was suitably impressed again, at which point my sister managed to find for me all the Studio Ghibli films that was released and I saw all of them. And loved them all. Kiki's Delivery Service is probably my favourite, even if it is a bit dated. So I have complete confidence I will enjoy Howl's Moving Castle as well. I also just realised I have never saw any of them on the big screen. I can't wait for the theatres to start showing! Its going to be great!

Oh, and here is a link someone passed along to me a while ago, and recently saw again... Ever wonder how freaky your favourite cartoon character is?? This guy drew the skeletal structure of several cartoon characters. Freaks!
http://michaelpaulus.com/gallery/character-Skeletons