Pete Doctor told the story of being shocked and pleased that Hayao Miyazaki sat through the English dub of Howl`s moving Castle in New York City. Pete took it as a complement to the English dub. He did entertain the possibility that maybe Miyazaki might have stayed because of a crush on Lauren Bacall.

The story goes that Miyazaki turned bright red at the after party when Ms. Bacall asked him if he was single.

Weather he stayed because he liked the dub or because he liked Lauren Becall makes no difference to me. I liked Howl`s Moving Castle. Like most Miyazaki films I feel I need to see it 4 or 5 more times before I can get a handle on it.

Miyazaki`s work is like good 70`s French Cinema, layered and thought provoking. The film does not stop after you leave the theater. It stays with you in your thoughts as you try to figure out the deeper meanings.

I miss that in film. Americans stopped making that kind of motion picture about the time that Night Moves left the art houses.

Miyazaki makes films (FILMS) that are animated. Everybody else seems to be making animated movies. No matter how entertaining they may be we all know that animated movies in Hollywood are a ghettoized sub-genre of movies and they are all about selling popcorn and DVD`s. And that filmmakers have to fight tooth and nail to get the quality.

Thank the gods for a motion picture environment that lets a filmmaker like Hayao Miyazaki make his films.   ¶ 5:14 PM