Thumbs up for Howl

Thursday & Friday-Worked but I was still sick. Because I am that way.
Saturday-Probably slept, but honestly I can't remember.
Sunday-Saw Howl's Moving Castle at the El Capitan Theater on Hollywood right in the heart of the tourist area. It was a great movie. It was a little more mature than say, Kiki's Delivery Service, but it had really nice moments for the kids too. Miyazaki has a serious love of flying, rain, grasses moving in the wind, and crazy contraptions. He also has a great sense of humor. There was a moment when one character literally is melting out of melancholy because his hair is red. (Believe me, in context this is high-larious.) I highly recommend it. The theater, on the other hand, was like an advertisement for Disney. People were inundated with all of the Disney characters. In fact, there's usually a little show where all of the characters come out and dance on the stage. We missed that but the half hours worth of trailers for Disney films was enough for me. The theater is beautiful, by the way, even had a balcony. And it was beautifully decorated and painted. It reminded me of the Castro Theater and they even had an organist. But there were two different prices for the seats. Apparently, the really good seats were $10.50, but the other seats were $8.50. We got the $8.50 seats which were for the sides of the theater and the balcony. So we took the balcony, which wasn't bad. While we were watching the movie, Daryl swears he saw Michael Douglas with a drink and a large popcorn wandering around in the dark looking for his family. So maybe Catherine Zeta-Jones was there with the kids? Anyway, we found out that we were at one of the dubbed shows (for the kids, and maybe the adults who can't read?) and that if we had gone to a later show, it would have been the subtitled show, which is preferable.

One cute thing that Daryl noticed about our car was little kitty paw prints on our car hood and car windshield, from the two kittys in the neighborhood. I found out that their names are Butch and Buster. Butch is the big black cat, and Buster is the scared grey tabby. They're both girls and they get along very well. But there's also a third cat, a male, who is all black and likes to start fights in the neighborhood. Which makes sense because we've been hearing some serious catfights outside. By the way, if any of you come and visit us and stay on our sofa, be warned. Thursday morning is garbage day and it's very loud for hours. I'm not kidding. There are about six times in the morning where they will drive by and pick up garbage. Also, the landscapers are relentless. Plus, you can hear everything going on outside, from the kids playing next door, to the baby wailing in the apartment building on the other side. So, you have been warned. Now, come and visit!