Totoro Forest Project

"The Totoro Forest Project is a fundraising exhibition/auction to support the non-profit organization, 'Totoro No Furusato National Fund', Oscar winning filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki has been one of the big supporters of. The event will feature more than 200 pieces of original art especially created by internationally acclaimed artists in the fields of animation, comic books, illustration, and fine arts. Hayao Miyazaki has been actively supporting the preservation effort of Sayama Forest for more than ten years. This 8750 acre park in the outskirts of Tokyo is also known as Totoro Forest. It's in these woods in fact that the concept for the film My Neighbor Totoro was born.


"In the past few decades, the forest has been subject to urban development. Only continued support to the Totoro Trust Fund can help preserve this much needed island of green in the midst of Tokyo's urban sprawl. We intend to donate the entire proceeds of the project to this worthy cause.


"This event can also be a symbolic gesture, sending a strong message to the world in terms of environmental and social awareness.  Imagine artists from all over the world coming together to donate artwork to help conserve a forest they have never seen."

Check out the Gallery.

Ghibli DVDs: Redux

Phran and I were just at Suncoast, where the big news is that Ponyo is being released tomorrow. You'll note of course, that it's the first Ghibli film to be released on BluRay, and in honor of that (I guess?) Disney is re-releasing 2-disc versions of Castle in the Sky and a couple of earlier films.

My question is redundant, but why is it that they're re-releasing these 2-disc DVD sets? I mean, isn't this how they were first released over here? Is Disney just giving the rack-jobbers something to warm the spots over at Brick and Mortar before the BluRay releases come to fill their shoes?

Uncle Steve, where you at?