Miyazaki meets Martin this March at TIFF Lightbox

As if I need an excuse to spend an entire month watching movies, or further reason to go to TIFF Lightbox...

The programming folks at TIFF have gone and outdone themselves for the month of March with the Studio Ghibli 15 film restrospective, and George R.R. Martin spectaculare including an "In Conversation With" session with the author himself and FREE Game of Thrones Exhibition.  Looks like I'll be in the Lightbox building so often that I should just camp out under the stairs.

Spirited Away: The Films of Studio Ghibli begins March 10th running until early April.  Summing it up from Jesse Wente's notes (read the full description under schedule on the linked page for full details)  Studio Ghibli is commonly referred to as the Disney of Japan headed by Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, some of their films have been released in North America by Disney, and those who are familiar with Studio Ghibli will know them for their distinctive visual style and humanistic themes. Above all I get a simplistic pleasure from watching these films, see human relations and wonders of the world through the precocious eyes of an intelligent child, a point of view that doesn't come about often enough in today's cinema unfortunately.

Studio Ghibli's latest offering is The Secret World of Arrietty, which a few of the guys and I went to see this past weekend.  Now we're extra excited to re-watch (and see for the first time in some cases) the studio's earlier works.  We were discussing after the movie how these films have a way of working whether they're subbed or dubbed, not a claim many movies can make.  However if you still have a preference, TIFF has that covered by showing both subtitled and dubbed versions of the films.  Awesome.

In Conversation With George R.R. Martin was announced back in January (and all tickets have sold out since :( ) but TIFF surprised us over the past couple weeks with the announcement of the Game of Thrones Exhibition running from March 9-18.  Best of all, tickets are free, giving one and all a chance to see photos, costumes, and props from the show including a chance to sit on the Iron Throne.  What better way to get ready for season two of the show starting in April?

For those that know me personally (I suppose this would also be your chance to stalk me), I have made plans with friends to check out the exhibition on Mar 17th (yes, St Paddy's day).  There is timed entry into the exhibit, if you would like to join us, please contact me and I'll give you our details.

See you at the movies!