Well, this could be exciting....

Studio Ghibli has announced the new film they're putting into production. It's called Gedo Senki (Gedo War History) and will be directed by Goro Miyazaki, Hayao Miyazaki's son. (Apparently, Goro--who is currently the curator of the Ghibli museum--has absolutely no animation experience and Hayao isn't thrilled about him being tapped by Suzuki to direct.)

Ok, I'm going to let the Japanese title sink in for a second before telling you what the story that's being adapted will be. "Gedo."

Yes, it's an adaptation of A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin. One that should be a lot more faithful (in spirit, certainly) than the travesty that was on the SciFi channel some time ago. (Though I'd bet that tv film is the reason Ghibli can't actually use the title...)

Just imagine. Ghibli does Earthsea.

This is good news.

[EDIT] Here's the promo poster! Ain't it lovely?

(Oh yeah, and for those who don't know, US DVDs of Howl's Moving Castle, My Neighbor Totoro and Whisper of the Heart will be released on March 7, 2006. Yay!)

Slight correction to last entry

Looks like the Gedo movie will be more based on the third Earthsea book, The Farthest Shore, though it will contain elements of all the first three books. ("Gedo Senki" is apparently the Japanese title for the series as a whole.) The movie has apparently been on the backburner for a couple of years; LeGuin approached Ghibli three years ago, saying only Miyazaki could make a real Earthsea film. He was busy working on Howl's Moving Castle, so Suzuki offered the director's job to Goro Miyazaki. I guess this timeframe explains how the film can come out next July when it was just announced a day or so ago!

In other news, I apparently hurt my right arm last night/this morning. I've taken some motrin and it's better, but it still hurts; think I pulled a muscle or something. Yay.

Disorganizational surrender

So, Amythyst and I have officially acknowledged our powerlessness over our clutter and mess and given ourselves over to a Higher Power. In this case, a cleaning and organizational specialist. Basically, Amythyst's mother told her last week to find someone, because the mess of our apartment was contributing to her (Amythyst) feelings of anxiety. She's been feeling less like this is a "safe space" because we both feel absolutely overwhelmed by the mess. Amythyst said, somewhat jokingly, that she'd love to hire someone to come in and clean and organize, and her mother said, "Do it. I'll pay for it, since it'll hopefully help you feel better." So we have hired someone who will be coming here next Tuesday to clean. We've both talked to this person and we like her. She won't do anything without our ok, so no "Home Makeover" type "it looks great, but it's not how I want to live" moments. To be honest, I haven't been so hot on the idea (because of my worries about someone rearranging my life like that), but this woman sounds good.

In other news, my arm/hand is still bugging me. And it's doing it inconsistantly; sometimes it's fine, but then I'll go to pick something up and ow! The motrin seems to help, but we'll see how it feels tomorrow. As some of you may know, I'm not insured as of this moment, though that should hopefully change soon. Still, doesn't help me now, so I'll hope this is nothing.

And, of course, I have accomplished exactly zero today. I'm pretty unhappy with myself about that, especially after having an anxiety dream about not being able (not being physically able) to study for the GRE. I woke up anxious and upset, but I still haven't been able to get myself started. And I have so much to do, both for school and otherwise! Argh, I need to kick myself into gear. Maybe that's the problem, since I don't know how to drive a manual shift and can barely ride a bike, let alone shift speeds on one....ah, when in doubt, go out on a feeble joke, right?