MY NEIGHBOR THE TROLL

This isn't what you think. It isn't lashon hara about some odious pissant, like you might logically expect from me, nor is it an irritable screed. It is a sweet posting.

Cute, even.

And, dare I say it, kawaii!


Earlier today I was returning from my morning visit to the tobacconist. As I was about to cross Post Street, a scene from 'Howl's Moving Castle' (an animated movie by Hayao Myazaki) went through my head.
By the time I passed the news-stand and the filthy sleeping drunk with the exposed hairy butt-crack, I was thinking of another one of Myazaki's movies, Tonari No Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro).

The story tells of two little girls who with their father move to a haunted cottage out in the countryside. Soon they discover that, though isolated, they are not alone. There are shy soot-ball creatures in the house, and a family of trolls lives nearby. There is an adult troll, and two little trolls - in a way a mirror of their own family. The term 'totoro' is a childish malformation of the term 'troll' (normally pronounced 'torōru' in Japanese).


You may read all about the movie here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Neighbor_Totoro
I encourage you to rent the movie. It is charming.


And here, for your time-wasting pleasure, are three youtube clips:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=LbutBhkrrZk&mode=related&search=
Waiting for the bus. Probably one of the most charming parts in the movie takes place when the two girls are at the bus stop with umbrellas, waiting for their dad to return from the city. A large friendly monster joins them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7rxKLn40j4
Growing magic trees, followed by a midnight ride on the pelt of a roaring troll.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWo-uxXtgo4
A very long clip. Mei spots the two young Totoro and pursues them to their hiding place inside a hollow tree, where she discovers the big mac daddy of all Totoro.


I do not know precisely what spurred the memory. Perhaps it was the residual fragrance of the pipe-tobacco, or, more likely, it was the weather. It is a very humid day in San Francisco today, not cold but rather a little warm. Summerish. And overcast, but with a silvery quality to the clouds. Think rain, think large leaves.