Byzantium's Shores: chronicling the misadventures of an overalls-clad hippie

Two items of surpassing niftiness (it's my blog, I can make up any word I want) appeared at AICN today. First is a trailer for the newly-restored version of the SF classic Metropolis, a film that established tropes which influenced many a filmmaker (not the least of which is George Lucas). It appears that just about every minute of previously-missing footage from Metropolis that can be found, has been found and that this new version is as close as we are ever going to get to the original version seen in 1927. While I won't be able to see the new version until a DVD is issued (and I get a DVD player), it's still exciting to note the wonderful treatment a cinematic SF classic has received. (Roger Ebert also wrote about this new Metropolis restoration last week. Ebert is a long-time champion of restoration of classic films, so many of which are in horrible shape due to neglect of the prints and negatives. I wish he'd become more musically aware, though, and bring his passion to bear on filmscore restoration.)

The other goodie on AICN today is also a film trailer, the first glance I've had of Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away. My God, I can't wait for this film. If you, dear Reader, are one of those people who will only go see an animated film if it bears the "Disney" imprint, go see this one! (It's being distributed by Disney, but that didn't help Princess Mononoke two years ago.) Check out the trailer. It's breathtaking, and that's saying something for an image the size of a business-card on my monitor.