One of the most common misconceptions about us Brits is that we don’t indulge in displays of emotion. It’s not true – in fact it’s a trait limited only to our gangly, socially-inept ruling classes – you know, the ones we would have eradicated if we’d had a proper revolution – and spread around the world by the constant stream of Jane Austen adaptations we shit out and the inexplicable popularity of ‘stars’ like Hugh Grant. Anyway. I can assure you right now I am displaying emotions – several in fact – but actually the dominate one is so typically British. It’s disappointment.

Some news was circulating this week about about the UK release date for Miyazaki’s Ponyo and frankly, it was such bad news that I had to get it confirmed myself. A quick email to distributors Optimum – who have the license for Ghibli product in the UK, not Disney – triggered this response and my worst fears:

Hi Tim,

Ponyo will be released in cinemas nationwide on February 5th 2010. The DVD will be released in mid June 2010. Whether or not it will be released on Blu-ray is yet to be confirmed.

Many thanks.

Best wishes,

Nice Optimum PR Person

February? And no UK DVD until June next year? Ouch.

Hugely disappointing, especially as us poor Ghibli-loving limeys have been soaking up all the hype about the film and Miyazaki’s appearances in the US. Not that I’m blaming Optimum for this – I have no knowledge of the behind the scenes legal, economic and political dealings that have lead to this decision – plus they have always provided first class products with all their previous Ghibli releases. In fact – unlike Disney – as they have no fear of releasing un-dubbed versions, we actually have had some titles released over here that have yet to surface in the US – Tales of Earthsea and Only Yesterday being two great examples. The flip side is that the ones that Disney do want to honor with a dub seem to be delayed, as though we’re getting the Mouse’s second pickings. Like I say, I can’t claim to know the in and outs of whats happening behind the scenes, but it does leave a somewhat bitter taste in the mouth.

As for the DVD release date, well that just seems like an unfeasibly long way off. Presumably it’ll be out on DVD in the US by year end, and most likely on Bluray too. Either way, it doesn’t seem like a particular helpful delay for an industry trying to fight off internet piracy. I’ve actually got hold of a copy of the Japanese DVD release, but was holding off watching it, hoping that I’d be able to see it at the cinema first. As you can imagine I’m not waiting until February now, so that’s something to do this weekend. Look out next week for a full review.

I was intrigued, because in a couple of interviews I read director/writer Andrew Stanton seemed to be going out of his way to play down any environmental message the film might have:

The most I do is recycle, and sometimes I’m even pretty bad at that…I don’t have a political bent, I don’t have an ecological message to push….I’m not stupid, I started to notice as this film was getting closer to being done the sort of issues that were out in the zeitgeist, but they were certainly not my intention. The last thing I’m gonna do is try to make a message movie.

At first I guessed (like Devin over at CHUD) it was just the Disney/Pixar spin machine whiring into action; while a kids film with an environmental message would actually attract audiences in Europe and Japan, in the neo-conservative US it’s a big no-no, where suspicion about the pinko liberal-media is rife, and most people seemingly still believe global warming is some kind of hippy propaganda.

But then, as I was walking to work this morning, I passed a massive billboard that made things a little bit clearer….

(I couldn’t find an image of the billboard…the above is a screen-grab from the Suzuki website)

Yep, that’s right – Disney/Pixar have signed an deal to use WALL-E in advertising for auto-manufacturers and CO2 enthusiasts Suzuki.

For fuck’s sake.

I’m a little lost for words, and hugely disappointed. I’m still looking forward to seeing the movie, but this has left a slightly nasty, petroleum flavoured taste in my mouth. At least Ghibli, who don’t shy from corporate sponsorship in Japan, and whom Pixar staff always point to as one of their main inspirations, would never try and play down the environmental messages that are apparent in pretty much every single film they make.

Shame.

I was procrastinating preparing to do some work today by clearing out my office/studio/spare room, when I found myself taking the above photo. I was emptying a drawer of the usual flotsam of modern life, when I realised it was subtly different. Maybe it’s because I’m weird, but instead of the usual collection of random badges, elastic bands, paperclips and the tops off lost biros, this little pile included:

• An old 3rd party Playstation memory card
• A Gunpey game cartridge for the Wonderswan, complete with protective slip case
• A weird Playstation cable tidy thing, that I was given at a Sony developers conference some years ago
• The cover for the network adaptor port on a black Nintendo Gamecube
• Protective covers for what I think are Dreamcast memory cards or VMUs (x3, various colours)

I don’t know why I took a photo of it. Possibly because it’s in someway a comment on how the minutiae of even the most mundane aspects of our lives have been changed by our reliance on consumerism and technology. Or something.

If you can actually use any of this shit then give me a shout.