Pierre:
<I hope Laputa will be dubbed correctly. I bought it
yesterday, and even 12 years after, it's stunning.
And I don't think that Disney cares who thinks what; they
bought a concurrent, nothing more. Ah well, let's just
hope for the best (not that it will be enough...)>

Laputa is truly a wonderful film.  All of Miyazaki's work is just stunning.
 Kiki's Delivery service, though I have not seen the Disney dub of it, is
second only to Ghost in the Shell as the highest quality anime I've seen.
And I saw Ghost in the Shell in a theatre last week!  It was so cool!  The
mayfair, which is this theatre in ottawa which shows movies a few months
late in double bills for 5 bucks, played Ghost in the Shell and
Urutsakodoji in a double feature.  Course, they wouldn't let me stay for
Urutsakodoji, but seeing Ghost in the Shell in a cinema was *highly* cool.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRANK AND JUSTY!
You guys rule!
Have the happiest of birfdays!
^^_^^
Hmm...anyone know how to say "happy birthday" in japanese? (romaji will do,
of course ^_-)

*Owain sits down by the fire*
Hello.  It is story time.  Are you all ready?  Then let's begin. *smiles
endearingly*

Note - There are some things in this story that are actually interesting

I first got into anime way back when I was about 3, with a humourous little
TV show called Astro Boy, which was my favorite program.  Of course, I then
started going to school regularly, and could no longer watch it.  It
promptly fell out of my long-term memory.
Then, in grade 6 when I was a spritely young 10 year old, my friends and I
happened upon a movie called "Akira" at my local Rogers video.  We enjoyed
the startling amount of blood and gore, of course not being accustomed to
the concept of animated violence.  A year later we began renting anime
regularly.
We followed a principal of "3 r's".  Those were Riolence, Rudity, and
Roarse language.  If an anime we rented contained those three, it was
pronounced "good."
As well in grade 7, a TV show hit the north american air waves called
Sailor Moon.  My friend Peter and I became well obsessed with this show,
leaving school at lunch time to watch it at my house, and then running home
from school hours later to catch the last 15 minutes of the episode we had
already watched at lunch.  Those were the days...
In late grade 8, the show had subsided considerably.  I began to lose
interest in anime altogether.  My best friend to this day, To-Ching, was
and is a Dragon Ball Z otaku, and continually tried to get me interested in
it.  And I did.  I watched it on Fox early sunday mornings.  Because this
was such an inconvenient time, I emailed Phil from YTV's (Youth Television,
a major Canadian TV channel) about them picking up DB.  ANd they did, they
took my advice.  So, if you want to konw who was to blaim/thank for getting
Dragon Ball on Canadian TV, it's me.  That was the greatest acheivement of
my life so far. ^_^
But I digress.
I watched Dragon Ball Z on tv during grades nine and most of ten, but no
longer rented anime very often.  Until one fateful early-morning science
class.
My friend To-Ching was reading a manga.  He called me over and said "Owain,
you have *got* to see some of this stuff."  He handed me Ranma 1/2
tankouban 6, which I looked at, not able to understand a word of it. 
Later, I went over to his house and watched the first episode.  Then, I
went to my local comic book store and bought the first 15 episodes.  I was
hooked, so to speak.
I joined the ML not too long after.

Owain Lawson - Ryouga's Umbrella
What is the third estate?  Everything.
What has it been in the political order up to the present?  Nothing.
What does it demand? To become something...
Who would dare to say that the third estate does not contain in itself all
that is necessary to consitute a complete nation?
Is it not all too certain that the noble order has privileges, exemptions,
and even rights serparated from the rights of the great body of citizens?
It departs in this respect from the common order, from the common law.
The third estate includes everything that belongs to the nation; and
everything that is not the third estate cannot be regarded as being of the
nation.
What is the third estate?  Everything.
	- Abbe Sieyes (1748-1836)