In the interest of appeasing the masses I think I have come up with a thought. I just saw "Naussicaa of the Valley of the Winds". It's an anime by the creator of "Princess Mononoke", "Spirited Away" and "Grave of the Fireflies"; all of which I've seen and highly enjoy. I have to say that I enjoyed "Naussicaa" as well. It's a great post-apocalyptic high fantasy in classic Miyazaki style. The evil queen and her flunky are reminiscent of Lady Eboshi from "Mononoke" and Naussicaa has much in common with "San". Still, "Naussicaa" isn't merely a re-cycle of "Mononoke". Of particular interest is the very strong Persian aesthetic. The man in blue appears almost as a sort of Ahura-Mazda or a Magi from the Achaemenid tombs (Sorry, won't attempt to correctly spell the place name). If you've got time, this one is worth it. The film clocks in at just under two hours. It's not fast-paced, but I wouldn't call it slow-moving either. That's all for tonight. Remember: The Platypus Speaks Truth.
I needed a break from A Treasury of Modern Fantasy (too many authors and too many styles coming in too fast) so I decided to turn back to an author whose work I've enjoyed exploring: Robert E. Howard. This time, however, I decided to skip over Howard's famous Conan yarns and instead take a look at one of his earlier creations, Solomon Kane. The idea of a puritan occult detective was too intriguing to pass up. I have the whole collection of Kane's tales and I do intend to blog them all. Right now, my little literary detour has only encompassed the first two short stories so I'm going to record my thoughts on them right away and get back to the rest as I have time. Skulls in the Stars Solomon Kane makes his debut with this classic bit of English Gothic including a haunted moor, a vengeful ghost, and a solitary miser. Howard's Kane fits the portrait of the archetypal puritan: grim, principled, metaphysical, with an iron sense of right and wrong. I h...
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Harken, rather, to the wisdom of the duck. The duck, who inspired one of the greatest schools of philosophy. Its quack has guided the thinking of kings and prelates through history...