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Ran (1985)
Akira Kurosawa’s Ran (乱, meaning “chaos” in Japanese), an epic film inspired by Shakespeare’s King Lear, tells the story of an elderly warlord, Lord Hidetora Ichimonji (Tatsuya Nakadai), who decides to retire and give his empire to his three sons: the eldest, Taro (Akira Terao), who is to rule, his second son Jiro (Jinpachi Nezu), and his third Saburo (Daisuke Ryu). Hidetora’s announcement of this takes place in the opening scene on a idyllic day in the mountains with his sons, his men, lords from neighboring lands, and the fool. Hidetora envisions that his sons will rule as a strong unit, giving an example of three arrows and how they…
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Onyx Cave, Eureka Springs, Arkansas
Just six miles east of Eureka Springs is Onyx Cave, a flowstone cave which opened in 1893 as Arkansas’s first show cave. Flowstone is also known as “cave onyx,” which is not the same as onyx. Two of its most notable cave formations are the Dragon and the Elephant.
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Eureka Springs, Arkansas
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Crescent Hotel, Eureka Springs
Opened in 1886, the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, is often referred to as the “Most Haunted Hotel in America” for its numerous ghost sightings.
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From Up On Poppy Hill (2011)
When Umi Matsuzaki (Masami Nagasawa), a girl living in a boarding house that was once a hospital, meets a member of their school’s newspaper club, Shun Kazama (Junichi Okada), in their mutual effort to clean up the school clubhouse, they form a bond and begin to unravel their mysterious past. Set in Yokohama, Japan in 1963, this is a story of determination, friendship, and family. From Up on Poppy Hill was directed by Gorō Miyazaki (also known for directing Tales from Earthsea and Earwig and The Witch), with screenplay written by Hayao Miyazaki (who also wrote and directed Laputa: Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, and Kiki’s Delivery Service, among others) and…
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Arrietty (2010)
Arrietty, Arrietty the Borrower (JP) or The Secret World of Arrietty (US) is a Studio Ghibli animation about Arrietty, a tiny girl who befriends a human boy, Sho. Arrietty and her tiny family live under the floors of Sho’s house and borrow little things that go unnoticed from the “human beans” who live above them, however they must keep themselves out of human sight in order to survive. The story is based on the book The Borrowers by Mary Norton with screenplay by Hayao Miyazaki and Keiko Niwa. The animation was directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi. Consistent with Studio Ghibli, this is a beautifully animated film with a lovely story, and it is the…
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“Here Comes the Night Time” – Arcade Fire
Good night 🌙
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Prairie Moon Friends: Deer 2
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Exit 8 (2026)
Liminal spaces, often empty, sterile, fluorescent-lit rooms and hallways, represent places of in-between, of transition, or on the threshold of one state of being to another, and seem to be a growing theme in movies, especially with the recent A24 release Backrooms (2026) which solely focuses on these places. Increasingly, viewers want to take a deep look into these spaces and process the eeriness. Often, these are rooms or hallways that we pass through quickly, without giving them much thought, but when the Lost Man (played by Kazunari Ninomiya, known from 2006’s Letters from Iwo Jima) gets stuck in a subway station, he realizes he must take a closer look…
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Woodland Wonders Blanket Finished & New Crochet Books
Only two years after starting the Woodland Wonders blanket by Eleonora at Coastal Crochet (highly recommended for original and beautiful crochet patterns), I have finally finished it! And this is why I can never participate in a crochet-along, which in this case was supposed to last for six weeks. I don’t know how they do it. I do want to give a crochet-along a proper go at some point, but I’m not sure if I have the time for that kind of devotion to a project right now. As I was nearing the end of my blanket, I did some shopping for new crochet pattern books and found two absolutely…
