If you didn’t see it, I did, and can tell you all about it.  What I saw was a little person, about four inches tall.  It was a Borrower, borrowing some of my food to bring back to his family so that his family can survive.

Okay.  I didn’t really see a Borrower.  I did, however, see The Secret World of Arrietty, Hayao Miyazaki’s latest animated masterpiece to reach America, courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures.  I say this because Japan got their first viewing of the movie back in July of 2010.

In Japan, the movie was released by Toho (a film distribution company) as “The Borrower Arrietty” (or 借りぐらしのアリエッティ, Kari-gurashi no Arietti if you’re a language buff).  I will get to the performance later.

In moving along, Miyazaki has created several animated masterpieces.  This automatically begs the question: Does The Secret World of Arrietty stand tall among his other works, or is it a miniscule work that is destined to be missed and forgotten?  Let’s find out.

Before I get to the review, I think that it is only fair that I offer you some background on Miyazaki.  For those who don’t know much about his work, Hayao Miyazaki is considered by some to be the Japanese version of Walt Disney.  The animated films that he makes are quite charming and the experience associated with it can only be described as pure magic.  A few of his notable works include Princess Mononoke, Howl’s Moving Castle and the highly-acclaimed Spirited Away.  Studio Ghibli is the workshop where all these masterpieces are born.  With Walt Disney Pictures partnering with Studio Ghibli, these gems can be localized for the U.S., and can be enjoyed by a new audience.  Now, we will get to the review.

The movie begins with a 12-year old boy named Shawn (David Henrie) being driven to his mother’s childhood home.  Being gravely ill, he is dropped off there, since his parents are too busy to care for him.  He is left under the care of great aunt Jessica (Gracie Poletti), and Hara (Carol Burnett), the caretaker for Jessica’s house.

Meanwhile, a 14-year old “little” girl named Arrietty (Bridgit Mendler) grabs a bay leaf and runs home.  On her way there, she was nearly attacked by a cat but escaped.

Unbeknownst to Arrietty, Shawn noticed her as he was getting out of the car.  He saw the cat trying to attack something, until it ran off after being attacked by a crow.  When he saw what the cat was trying to attack, he saw a very tiny girl.

Back at Arrietty’s house, her father Pod (Will Arnett) takes her on her first borrowing expedition.  The mission?  Get some sugar and tissue paper.  Arrietty’s mother Homily (Amy Poehler), being the worrywart that she is, told Arrietty to be careful.

And with that, the father and daughter borrowers were off.  Pod takes Arrietty above the floor boards and they carry out their mission.

All goes according to plan until they get to the tissue box in Shawn’s room.  As they were grabbing the tissue, Arrietty notices that Shawn is awake.  In a silent frenzy of panic, she drops the sugar cube that she got with her father.  Shawn, in wanting to get to know them better, tells them not to be afraid of him.

The mission was not a total failure.  Arrietty manages to borrow her very first item: a stray pin that she found on the floor.  In grabbing the pin, she holds it like a sword and holsters it into the side of her dress.

Upon going home, Arrietty has failed on one major count.  According to the Borrowers, a Borrower cannot be seen by a “Being”.  Since the young “Being” Shawn saw her, it has awoken his curiosity for them.  Arrietty is then faced with a dilemma.  Should she befriend Shawn and endanger her family?  Doing this could risk her being noticed by other “Beings”.  “Beings” that are not quite as friendly as Shawn is.  So is Arrietty in danger now?  I could tell you, but where’s the fun in that?  Watch the movie and find out.

In understanding the length of the movie, I really loved how the plot was executed.  Two different worlds were presented.  Our world and the Borrower’s world, which is a little bit more dangerous for them.  The music was amazing, and was integrated well with the scenery.

Getting to the characters, Miyazaki once again did this well.  We are given Shawn, a boy with an ongoing medical condition.  We have great aunt Jessica (based off of great aunt Sophie from Howl’s Moving Castle) and Hara, the crazy housekeeper.  In the Borrower’s world, we have the somewhat loyal and tenacious Arrietty, with the father Pod being strong and reserved and the mother Homily being excitable with an eye for luxury.  I also liked Spiller (Moisés Arias), a tribal boy Borrower who yielded a bow and visited the Arrietty’s family.  I liked what they did with his voice, in making him speak like a native.  All in all, the variety of characters were all executed well and were each unique in their own way.

While The Secret World of Arrietty was close to perfect, there were a couple things that that I just couldn’t help but nitpick.  My major one was with the music during the credits of the movie.  While I loved the first song in the credits, the second one was total trash.  It’s the fluffy bubblegum pop that Disney calls music.  The song was reminiscent of the crappy Jonas Brothers remix that they did for Ponyo.  Word to Disney.  Don’t mess with the soundtrack!  Miyazaki gets it right, and you have to go and insert your bubblegum teeny-bop crap in the credits.  Besides that, the movie is gold.  All the other songs are fine.  My one other nitpick, albeit being much smaller has to do with the length of the movie.  I really thought that the movie should’ve been a little longer.  More could’ve been done with plot and character development.  Then we would have something akin to Howl’s Moving Castle or Spirited Away.  However, with the G rating, I believe that only so much could be done here.  As it is, a child’s attention span is limited compared to an adult’s.  Being similar in length to Ponyo, they probably wanted to appeal to more children.  I am satisfied with the ending, but I still thought that they could’ve added a little more to the movie.

How did The Secret World of Arrietty do?  In Japan, it did pretty well, grossing 9.25 billion yen ($110 million).  In spite of that, it’s a far cry from Howl’s Moving Castle’s 23.2 billion yen ($231.7 million) and Spirited Away’s 27.5 billion yen ($275 million).  While the numbers for Arrietty were good in Japan, they were terrible here.  With a Borrower-sized $6.5 million weekend gross, this poor film doesn’t stand a chance to the “Being” films that are competing against it.  With numbers like this, I would give this film a month at the most.  Fortunately, this review is not about numbers.  Size doesn’t matter.  What matters is whether I liked the movie or not.  Spirited Away was Japan’s highest grossing movie and was the first Miyazaki movie I ever saw.  Since then, I have seen a handful of them, in eager anticipation for each new one that comes out.  In comparing this movie to other Miyazaki movies that I have seen in the past, I would have to say that I really enjoyed it.  It’s no Spirited Away, but a great movie in its own right.  For the most part, it was localized well, except for that one track that Disney included at the end.  I enjoyed the scenery and loved the story.  It was a heartfelt story filled with adventure, courage and hope.  I give The Secret World of Arrietty a 4 out of 5.

After reading the beginning of The Silmarillion,  I have a much better understanding of this now.  The amazing world that Tolkien created is clearly outlined in a letter that he wrote to Milton Waldman in 1951.  While the original handwritten letter was lost,  the son,  Christopher Tolkien was able to find the typewritten copy that was sent back to Tolkien.  While the typescript contained several errors, including omitted sentences,  I was still able to get a clear understanding of the world that Tolkien was attempting to describe to Milton.

Tolkien started by mentioning that he was unable to provide Milton with a brief sketch of his work,  as it would be difficult for Tolkien “to say anything without saying too much”.

To summarize, Tolkien mentioned how the work began with him, and how he became fascinated with languages.

He then went on to mention how each region had their own lore, and believed that England had nothing unique to offer besides the world of King Arthur.

After this, Tolkien outlined how his world is concerned with three principles – Fall, Morality and the Machine.  With Fall, Tolkien mentions that this motive happens several times.  He then goes into Morality, mentioning how this provides various opportunities of ‘Fall’.

For the Machine (or Magic), he explains the two different kinds of uses of it.  One kind was used by enemies for domination.  The other use was by the Elves for art.

To further summarize,  Tolkien outlined the creation of his world.  The Music of the Ainur created the cycles (or ages).  God and the Valar (or gods) were revealed.

In going through the cycles, the First Age dealt with the three Silmarilli.  These were the jewels that contained the imprisoned light of Valinor (the dwelling place of the gods).  In making a long story short, these jewels were lost forever to the Elves.  One in the sea, one deep in the earth, and one becoming a star of heaven.

The Second Age dealt with the Rings of Power and the loss of the One Ring.  Sauron, a being of Valinor joined the service of the Enemy, becoming his chief captain and servant.  After the First Enemy was defeated, he remained in Middle-earth.  In his deception,  he persuaded the Elves to help him restore the desolate lands, making it look like Valinor.  With Sauron’s lore, they made the Rings of Power.  Sauron secretly made the One Ring, a ring that contained the powers of all the other rings that were made, and was capable of controlling all the other rings. The wearer of this Ring could enslave all the other bearers.  To cut to the end, Isildur cuts the ring from Sauron’s hand and later drowns in the Great River with it.

The Third Age deals with with the finding of the One Ring and the destruction of it.  This matter is not discussed in Tolkien’s letter, but is explained in full detail in The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.  Tolkien’s letter ends with him explaining how the Second Age ends.

Having read that letter in The Silmarillion, I now have a richer understanding of Tolkien’s world.  I provided a brief summary, omitting the details that I considered to be unnecessary.  If you want all the details, I suggest that you read The Silmarillion.  It shows Tolkien’s World from the beginning, and the motives that drove him to create it.

With that being a brief overview of The Silmarillion, I will now begin with Ainulindalë (The Music of the Ainur).  I will give you my thoughts on it once I finish it.

Until then, make yourself at home here.

There will also be updates on “The Infinity Code” (title yet to be renamed) and “The Masters Chronicles”.  While I can’t show you any more new chapters from “The Master’s Chronicles”,  I can give you some information about the story so far.  Nothing heavily plot based, as I don’t want to spoil any more of the story.

The gears are turning, so don’t worry.  Until then, stay tuned.

Updates on The Master’s Chronicles and the Infinity Code (or whatever I decide to rename it) will be up soon.

Until then, make yourself at home here.  It still has that freshly renovated smell.  Enjoy it while it lasts….

But after a while, the challenge rears its ugly head at you.  You have failed many times and have not succeeded.  With this many failures, it would bring you to the very edge of insanity.

Well, maybe.  It really depends on who you are.  We all look at achievements differently.  Some of us feel indifferent about our performance.  Some of us take succeeding quite seriously.  Even some of us take succeeding a little too seriously.

For everyone who is on the higher end of the spectrum,  it is actually a rather positive thing to never give up.  The challenge then, is the kind of attitude that is used to pursue that challenge.  Though it may feel like the goal may take an eternity to accomplish,  grind right through it.  If you are able to grind through eternity, the goal is clearly visible and within sight.

Grinding through eternity can apply to serious goals as well as trivial ones.

Who am I kidding?  Grinding through eternity is just a fancy way of saying “never give up”.  On Sunday night, there was a goal that I was trying to achieve on my game.  It seemed impossible.  From the beginning, my expectations on completing the goal were positive.

But after a while, I saw the true challenge.  I failed many times and didn’t succeed.  I was driven to the very edge of insanity.

In spite of this, I never gave up.  Although it felt like it took forever, I grinded through eternity and I won.  I may not have won every race, but it was how I finished that got me the victory.

Upon writing this, I have learned a new lesson:  don’t over analyze everything, especially when you’re playing Mario Kart Wii on a Sunday night.

Now why would these people want to know their name?  Well, by doing this, knowing their name gives them power and influence over that person.

In the case of the movie Spirited Away,  Chihiro gave Yubaba her name when she was signing her work contract.  Once Yubaba got her name, she was able to have influence over her.  In doing this, she took most of her name, leaving the first character in it.  With that, her new identity was “Sen”.

With that, names are important.  They define who we are and we give them to people that we trust.  I take names seriously with my relationships with people, and when I go about creating new names for characters in my stories.  In going through this process, I want to ensure that I give them the right name.  One that defines who they are.

So the next time someone asks for your name, carefully examine who they are.  Is it someone you know?  Someone you can trust?  If so, then tell them.

Just to let you know, this process of introspective thinking came to me while I was watching this wonderful movie.  Spirited Away is my favorite Miyazaki film, and the  first of his films that I have seen.  (The first time I saw it was at least eight years ago.)

In related news, I have not forgot about The Infinity Code.  I have been a little busy, but will definitely get back to it.

Until then, make yourself at home here.  You know the name of this place, don’t you?  Of course you do, because I’m sharing my various thoughts and stories.  There’s plenty more to see, too.  Remain warm by the fireplace and stay tuned.

The movies that I will be watching every night include Rintaro’s Metropolis, Katsuhiro Otomo’s Steamboy, and three movies from Hayao Miyazaki: Ponyo, Howl’s Moving Castle and Spirited Away.

So far, I have seen three of the five movies.  I will be seeing Howl’s Moving Castle tonight and Spirited Away tomorrow night.

That’s two more nights of magic.  With the arrival of Arrietty in two weeks, that night will truly be one of brilliance and wonder.

At least that’s what they said.  It changed the world, and I fear that it did for the worst.

What good is it to live forever?  It can still be ended by a terrible accident.  The world has become a prison.  A prison full of unaging people in an aging planet.

I have seen it all.  I’ve been there since the beginning.  I have seen the thrills people get from receiving the treatments.  It always starts like that, but it ultimately ends in boredom.  You can become younger and then older again.  After a few lifetimes of aging up and down, just living becomes nothing new.  It’s just another day.  Another decade.  Another century.

I have seen it all because I was among the first to receive the treatment.  I was there when the “latest discovery” was discovered.   While it seems like forever ago,  I can still remember it fresh in my mind.  I remember the first announcement on the news.  I remember being injected with the stem cells.  I remember my first day as a teenager – again. I remember, because I have kept a careful record of it from the beginning.  The scientific community called it “The Infinity Code”, and I can remember being one of the first in line to try it.

That’s about all I have for the introduction.  I might need a new name for the story.  Thanks, Emma Young….

In once again taking a break from the “Code”, I have decided to begin my literary journey with the Silmarillion.  It pretty much is just a compendium of the history of Middle Earth, from beginning to end.  Once I have read this book, I will let you know what I think of it.

As for the immediate present, I will be working on “The Infinity Code” this weekend.  To clarify regarding updates on this site, there will be no posts on the weekends.  There will exceptions to this rule on occasion, but will assure you that it will not happen very often.

With that, make yourself at home at the Estate.  Go ahead and read the first three chapters of The Masters Chronicles if you haven’t yet.  There is much to find at this estate, and there is plenty more to come.  Keep yourself cozy, and stay tuned.

In the meantime, I believe that it’s time that I shared with you my reading list.

The books I plan to read this year include The Silmarillion, The Screwtape Letters and Life With Sally.  It’s not much of a list, but it’s a start.  As I finish each book, I will offer a review on the book.

Until then, sit tight.  The Infinity Code will be up in a while….