Wednesday June 1, 10:55 p.m.
Well, I guess perhaps my theory worked out on the minus side of things. It didn't really feel like 28 degrees today but then again, there was a pretty strong wind about. In any case, it felt more like it was in the low 20s.
The Japanese government started the new month off by launching their "No Necktie" campaign. It's also known as the "Cool Biz" campaign in which the salarymen of Japan were encouraged to go to work sans tie and blazer...and apparently about a third of the country did just that. The weather certainly encouraged the stripping. Of course, the long term goal is to have the working folks feel cooler so that the air conditioners won't have to blast the offices at low temps which will decrease the amount of global warming.
Let's see, we had some meterological changes, some sartorial ones, and June in Tokyo wouldn't be a June without some seismic activity. Tokyo got hit by no less than 4 tremors tonight, the strongest one hitting Shindo 3. I and Student 001 felt a couple of them at Speedy's.
I received that renewed tax statement from the city office a couple of weeks after that confusing phone call from that official. Well, now, I'm scratching my head some more. Apparently, the report told me about the error that I'd made...no surprise there since that was the reason for the call. However, now it looks like I may be getting considerably more according to the summary. Go fig. Well, I'll believe it when that money is in my account. Now, I'm really starting to consider taking that holiday off in Yokohama.
The OL has cancelled her lesson for the second straight week. Well, at least I'm back home for another round of cooking. I did offer to teach her on a Sunday.
Just a place to deposit my thoughts on life here in the Kanto and about anything else that sticks to my walls.
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Wednesday June 1, 9:17 a.m.
First day of June and the weather will actually reflect that fact. It's gonna be a scorcher...about 28 C and sunny. I wouldn't be surprised if expectations were exceeded and we go over 30. I've come to the realization that actual temps are off by 5 degrees either way.
Just watched the second-last episode of "Enterprise" However, Manny Coto the producer tried to spin it as the actual ending to the series whilst the much-vilified series finale is supposed to be a coda of sorts. Manny, remind me not to have my tires rotated by you. As it was, "Terra Prime" was a fun episode and in a way it did seem to be a compressed version of a finale. Captain Archer did get his inspirational speech about the future in, and all is well. I did get to check a Star Trek blog in which they posted the ratings by Trekkies about what they thought of recent episodes, so I decided to do a comparative study on the last two eps of the series. Not surprisingly, "Terra Prime" got the lion's share of the votes while "These Are The Voyages" got mere crumbs. I'm kinda dreading to see this 2-hour finale now.
Looks like the Star Wars engine is starting to slow down a bit....relatively speaking. It still made $55 million over the past week. Most movies would kill for that in the first week. And I couldn't hope to believe that even a Star Wars could keep up the kind of torrid pace it'd had in its first several days. But I'm pretty sure it'll hit the $300 million without breaking a sweat.
I'll be hitting the gym in half an hour. My arms are still a bit sore so I was debating the decision but I do have that key to return.
First day of June and the weather will actually reflect that fact. It's gonna be a scorcher...about 28 C and sunny. I wouldn't be surprised if expectations were exceeded and we go over 30. I've come to the realization that actual temps are off by 5 degrees either way.
Just watched the second-last episode of "Enterprise" However, Manny Coto the producer tried to spin it as the actual ending to the series whilst the much-vilified series finale is supposed to be a coda of sorts. Manny, remind me not to have my tires rotated by you. As it was, "Terra Prime" was a fun episode and in a way it did seem to be a compressed version of a finale. Captain Archer did get his inspirational speech about the future in, and all is well. I did get to check a Star Trek blog in which they posted the ratings by Trekkies about what they thought of recent episodes, so I decided to do a comparative study on the last two eps of the series. Not surprisingly, "Terra Prime" got the lion's share of the votes while "These Are The Voyages" got mere crumbs. I'm kinda dreading to see this 2-hour finale now.
Looks like the Star Wars engine is starting to slow down a bit....relatively speaking. It still made $55 million over the past week. Most movies would kill for that in the first week. And I couldn't hope to believe that even a Star Wars could keep up the kind of torrid pace it'd had in its first several days. But I'm pretty sure it'll hit the $300 million without breaking a sweat.
I'll be hitting the gym in half an hour. My arms are still a bit sore so I was debating the decision but I do have that key to return.
Tuesday May 31, 11:12 p.m.
Had my first outing at the gym in a couple of weeks and my muscles are aching in response to that fact. At least, I'm happy I was able to shed a pound.
Looks like my time at the juku was greatly truncated. Not only did The New Kid have his annual school trip but The Siberian canceled his class since the boss mistakenly thought he had gone over his quota of classes for the month...I've never been too clear on what this quota is about. In any case, she had forgotten that there was that holiday Tuesday during Golden Week. So I actually just had the two hours with The Beauty Pair and The Milds. Kei teared up a bit during the lesson because of the passing of her beloved dog a couple of weeks ago but no major damage. During the Milds' lesson, the juku boss threw out her brimstone and fury side to a couple of sassy boys which made things a bit hard to articulate during my lesson. However, knowing these brats, I couldn't blame my usually cheerful boss for yelling at them.
During the Beauty Pair's lesson, Kei actually informed me that the new management where my old stylist used to be has already gotten one of her friends as a customer. So I may just take a look-see at the old place to see if the stylist did indeed tell the new faces there about me. I really do need that haircut.
Well, well, well...look who came out of the woodwork after over a year's absence. The Madame decided to send an e-mail to Movie Buddy and myself about getting together for a movie. Yup, I'm gonna be vindictive...I won't answer her. I felt rather jilted the last time we met...and I've made some decisions over the past few months about myself so I'm not in any particular mood to mend fences. However, if MB decides to invite her to "Batman Begins", I won't veto the motion. Speaking of that movie, I kinda wonder how the world premiere at Roppongi Hills went.
Just the Hawaiian and Student 001 tomorrow. Depending on how I feel I may give the gym another shot in the morning. I may not have a choice since I accidentally took a key to one of the shoe lockers.
Had my first outing at the gym in a couple of weeks and my muscles are aching in response to that fact. At least, I'm happy I was able to shed a pound.
Looks like my time at the juku was greatly truncated. Not only did The New Kid have his annual school trip but The Siberian canceled his class since the boss mistakenly thought he had gone over his quota of classes for the month...I've never been too clear on what this quota is about. In any case, she had forgotten that there was that holiday Tuesday during Golden Week. So I actually just had the two hours with The Beauty Pair and The Milds. Kei teared up a bit during the lesson because of the passing of her beloved dog a couple of weeks ago but no major damage. During the Milds' lesson, the juku boss threw out her brimstone and fury side to a couple of sassy boys which made things a bit hard to articulate during my lesson. However, knowing these brats, I couldn't blame my usually cheerful boss for yelling at them.
During the Beauty Pair's lesson, Kei actually informed me that the new management where my old stylist used to be has already gotten one of her friends as a customer. So I may just take a look-see at the old place to see if the stylist did indeed tell the new faces there about me. I really do need that haircut.
Well, well, well...look who came out of the woodwork after over a year's absence. The Madame decided to send an e-mail to Movie Buddy and myself about getting together for a movie. Yup, I'm gonna be vindictive...I won't answer her. I felt rather jilted the last time we met...and I've made some decisions over the past few months about myself so I'm not in any particular mood to mend fences. However, if MB decides to invite her to "Batman Begins", I won't veto the motion. Speaking of that movie, I kinda wonder how the world premiere at Roppongi Hills went.
Just the Hawaiian and Student 001 tomorrow. Depending on how I feel I may give the gym another shot in the morning. I may not have a choice since I accidentally took a key to one of the shoe lockers.
Monday, May 30, 2005
Tuesday May 31, 7:47 a.m.
Well, a certain sumo stable in Nakano Ward, Tokyo is the centre of sorrow today. A famed sumo wrestler-turned-stablemaster, Futagoyama, passed away last night at the relatively young age of 55 due to cancer. During his fighting career, he reached as high as the level of ozeki, the 2nd tier. Seeing some of the old footage on TV (and you gotta believe that there is full court press on this), Futagoyama didn't fit the typical image of sumo wrestlers, that of the humongous lump barely fitting into his loincloth. He was pretty lean and powerful as he fought his way to the top; that was due to his earlier high school life as a swimmer.
However, for all the respect he'd earned as a fighter, he was primarily known to the younger folks as the father of two yokozuna (Grand Champions), Wakanohana and Takanohana, during that renewed boom in sumo in the late 80s and early 90s. Waka-Taka were the scrapping brothers at the core of this boom which was further powered by Takanohana's erstwhile romance with the then-It girl, Rie Miyazawa. Futagoyama (which is his stablemaster's name on retirement...his fighting name was Takanohana as well) was quite the famous face on the TV as well...anyone with Grand Champions as sons will not be far from the spotlight.
But for the happy times, his final years were somewhat sad. He had to suffer stoically during a brief feud between the two brothers, and then his wife divorced him. His wife was a famous actress before becoming a stablemaster's spouse, a very tough job since by default she had to take care of the housekeeping duties in the stable which meant catering to several huge men daily. I'm not sure if those duties broke her back, so to speak, since she probably would have left him much earlier if that had been the case. I think her publicized wish to return to acting was a pretty big clue. Then came his bout with cancer a couple of years ago. It seems his final appearance was in January this year when, in his capacity as the stablemaster, he cut the topknot off of a retiring young charge. I'm sure a lot of middle-aged men are now thinking about their mortality this day.
Well, a certain sumo stable in Nakano Ward, Tokyo is the centre of sorrow today. A famed sumo wrestler-turned-stablemaster, Futagoyama, passed away last night at the relatively young age of 55 due to cancer. During his fighting career, he reached as high as the level of ozeki, the 2nd tier. Seeing some of the old footage on TV (and you gotta believe that there is full court press on this), Futagoyama didn't fit the typical image of sumo wrestlers, that of the humongous lump barely fitting into his loincloth. He was pretty lean and powerful as he fought his way to the top; that was due to his earlier high school life as a swimmer.
However, for all the respect he'd earned as a fighter, he was primarily known to the younger folks as the father of two yokozuna (Grand Champions), Wakanohana and Takanohana, during that renewed boom in sumo in the late 80s and early 90s. Waka-Taka were the scrapping brothers at the core of this boom which was further powered by Takanohana's erstwhile romance with the then-It girl, Rie Miyazawa. Futagoyama (which is his stablemaster's name on retirement...his fighting name was Takanohana as well) was quite the famous face on the TV as well...anyone with Grand Champions as sons will not be far from the spotlight.
But for the happy times, his final years were somewhat sad. He had to suffer stoically during a brief feud between the two brothers, and then his wife divorced him. His wife was a famous actress before becoming a stablemaster's spouse, a very tough job since by default she had to take care of the housekeeping duties in the stable which meant catering to several huge men daily. I'm not sure if those duties broke her back, so to speak, since she probably would have left him much earlier if that had been the case. I think her publicized wish to return to acting was a pretty big clue. Then came his bout with cancer a couple of years ago. It seems his final appearance was in January this year when, in his capacity as the stablemaster, he cut the topknot off of a retiring young charge. I'm sure a lot of middle-aged men are now thinking about their mortality this day.
Monday May 30, 9:48 p.m.
Well, some more inaccuracy in the weather forecast this morning. The weather girl said it would just be cloudy. Nah...it started raining steadily from the afternoon onwards. Mind you, it wasn't nearly as bad as last week's deluge.
The Matron wasn't at the house today so I figured that it would be another lunch at Wendy's before SIL's lesson. However, the housekeeper came by and invited me for a nice little lunch thanks to The Chef. I did have The Matron's sidekick, though, for her lesson.
The lesson at The Company had both students together for the first time in a few weeks. The guy who hadn't been here for a couple of them grabbed the ball and ran with it, so to speak whilst the guy who has been coming remained sloggy. But I think he's been really tired. As have I...I almost missed getting off at my station due to fatigue.
Gonna have to get some lesson planning done tonight before I hit the hay.
Well, some more inaccuracy in the weather forecast this morning. The weather girl said it would just be cloudy. Nah...it started raining steadily from the afternoon onwards. Mind you, it wasn't nearly as bad as last week's deluge.
The Matron wasn't at the house today so I figured that it would be another lunch at Wendy's before SIL's lesson. However, the housekeeper came by and invited me for a nice little lunch thanks to The Chef. I did have The Matron's sidekick, though, for her lesson.
The lesson at The Company had both students together for the first time in a few weeks. The guy who hadn't been here for a couple of them grabbed the ball and ran with it, so to speak whilst the guy who has been coming remained sloggy. But I think he's been really tired. As have I...I almost missed getting off at my station due to fatigue.
Gonna have to get some lesson planning done tonight before I hit the hay.
Sunday, May 29, 2005
Monday May 30, 7:55 a.m.
There was apparently a Shindo 3, M4.6 tremor at Narita about 15 minutes ago. I barely felt a ripple and I'm in the same prefecture. Go fig.
Went to bed a lot later than I'd expected. When I turned off the lights initially, my mind suddenly thought about the schedule for this week and then something hit my brain rather hard. I jumped out of bed and hooked onto the computer. Sure enough, the Force was and wasn't with me. I screwed up on my schedule with The New Yorker; I mistakenly slotted her into the same time that I have The Company for the next Monday. Well, I'm just lucky that it wasn't for today. Well, I had to come up with a business decision. And the judgement was that since I had already made the confirmation for the New Yorker, I decided to send off a message to The Prez and say that I'll have to cancel next week's lesson. No, more of a lesser-of-two-evils solution but frankly speaking, when I weigh the fact that I often wonder why I'm teaching a pair of guys (nice, though they are) who really don't need English for their jobs against someone who will be needing English in the next week for her vacation abroad, the decision was a bit easier to make. Still, having to make the quick correction left me a bit sleepless for an hour or so.
Apparently, within my relative neighbourhood in the NK Hall in Urayasu City, the 2005 MTV Music Awards in Asia was held. Imagine, I actually had Mariah Carey on my back doorstep...ooh, the goosebumps (yawn). She looked suitably like Roger Rabbit's wife in that scarlet red gift wrapping she wore. Then there was the Japanese equivalent in the form of local TV personality, MEGUMI, who, in an expression of extreme redundancy, wore a tight yellow strapless gown which seemed to push up her already enormous assets to anti-gravity heights. I'm sure jaws were down. I also saw "flavour-of-the-month" for 1996, Jamiroquai, in his trademark fuzzy hat (I guess it's true what they say about old pop acts: they don't die, they just head off for Japan and live forever) obsequiously pointing out a "gorgeous" girl on the TV monitors, who was just a very hirsute comedian dressed up as a very ugly cheerleader doing his/her rendition of Toni Basil's "Mickey" (man, talk about all the pop-cultural refererences in that sentence).
The serious news is still on that search for those two long-in-the-tooth WWII soldiers who don't realize it's time to go home now that the war is over. Apparently, the media and the negotiators there have lost contact with the intermediary who'd cried wolf in the first place. Plus, they have to contend with the MILF terrorist organization who control large swathes of the forest on Mindanao. I'm kinda wondering if this is all a big hoax.
Well, on more mundane matters, it may be a bit of a commute in Hell today. The news reported some sort of switch problem at one of my nearby stations on the JR. Looks like the Tozai might be packed this morning.
There was apparently a Shindo 3, M4.6 tremor at Narita about 15 minutes ago. I barely felt a ripple and I'm in the same prefecture. Go fig.
Went to bed a lot later than I'd expected. When I turned off the lights initially, my mind suddenly thought about the schedule for this week and then something hit my brain rather hard. I jumped out of bed and hooked onto the computer. Sure enough, the Force was and wasn't with me. I screwed up on my schedule with The New Yorker; I mistakenly slotted her into the same time that I have The Company for the next Monday. Well, I'm just lucky that it wasn't for today. Well, I had to come up with a business decision. And the judgement was that since I had already made the confirmation for the New Yorker, I decided to send off a message to The Prez and say that I'll have to cancel next week's lesson. No, more of a lesser-of-two-evils solution but frankly speaking, when I weigh the fact that I often wonder why I'm teaching a pair of guys (nice, though they are) who really don't need English for their jobs against someone who will be needing English in the next week for her vacation abroad, the decision was a bit easier to make. Still, having to make the quick correction left me a bit sleepless for an hour or so.
Apparently, within my relative neighbourhood in the NK Hall in Urayasu City, the 2005 MTV Music Awards in Asia was held. Imagine, I actually had Mariah Carey on my back doorstep...ooh, the goosebumps (yawn). She looked suitably like Roger Rabbit's wife in that scarlet red gift wrapping she wore. Then there was the Japanese equivalent in the form of local TV personality, MEGUMI, who, in an expression of extreme redundancy, wore a tight yellow strapless gown which seemed to push up her already enormous assets to anti-gravity heights. I'm sure jaws were down. I also saw "flavour-of-the-month" for 1996, Jamiroquai, in his trademark fuzzy hat (I guess it's true what they say about old pop acts: they don't die, they just head off for Japan and live forever) obsequiously pointing out a "gorgeous" girl on the TV monitors, who was just a very hirsute comedian dressed up as a very ugly cheerleader doing his/her rendition of Toni Basil's "Mickey" (man, talk about all the pop-cultural refererences in that sentence).
The serious news is still on that search for those two long-in-the-tooth WWII soldiers who don't realize it's time to go home now that the war is over. Apparently, the media and the negotiators there have lost contact with the intermediary who'd cried wolf in the first place. Plus, they have to contend with the MILF terrorist organization who control large swathes of the forest on Mindanao. I'm kinda wondering if this is all a big hoax.
Well, on more mundane matters, it may be a bit of a commute in Hell today. The news reported some sort of switch problem at one of my nearby stations on the JR. Looks like the Tozai might be packed this morning.
Monday May 30, 12:11 a.m.
Still have about 15 minutes before I hit the hay so I'll just doodle something down. It was a pleasant enough Sunday night. Just had my dinner, did my lesson plans, did some major ironing and listened to some jazz. Nothing complicated about that.
In my last entry, I spoke of that possible negligible gossip about a supposedly embittered Hayden Christensen stepping down as an actor to become a full-time architect. Well, looks like the rags over here are wiping up some dirty stuff as well. I was checking out the J-Pop forum and apparently there was a report that the Queen Idol, Seiko Matsuda, has had a major falling out with her daughter, Sayaka, concerning her (I mean, Sayaka...not Seiko) romantic life and career. According to this so-called report, Sayaka has been "fired" from her management company and basically thrown into the real world.
Sayaka, since her debut 4 years ago, never particularly has made it big in showbiz. She's only been in the spotlight because of her famous mother. Well, let's see, she's still a teen which means that there will be the typical mother-daughter issues of friction. However, a couple of things make me skeptical about the truth of this story. One is that it does come from a gossip magazine, never the greatest source of accurate journalism, and two, the report seemed a bit overdramatic. Most likely, it's just to keep the two names floating in the media swamp. I have no doubt that after nearly 30 years in the business, Seiko is a player to some extent and she could have easily started the rumour but then it could be one of the hacks looking to get that something extra in his bonus.
One thing about the parallels between US and Japanese TV. Over there, reality TV programming has been the big thing for about half a decade now, give or take a year. Here, it's been information TV. Whether it be a trivia quiz show or some show on how to remodel a house, it seems like the Japanese have been ravenous for info on so many things...most notably on health. I'm not sure if the aging demographics are a direct influence, but I've been seeing a lot of stuff pertaining to the old. NHK regularly broadcasts programs in which former city families have decided to move back to the countryside to take up a slower lifestyle, there's that "Before/After" show in which an architect remodels houses for mostly elderly folks (seems to be a lot of money to be spending considering that the folks won't be around that much longer...I know, I'm nasty), and tonight, I saw a regular Sunday night program which dealt with the ongoing bane of stiff shoulders. Frankly, I'll take any program which deals with that over "American Idol" or "The Apprentice" any day.
OK, got that out of my system.
Still have about 15 minutes before I hit the hay so I'll just doodle something down. It was a pleasant enough Sunday night. Just had my dinner, did my lesson plans, did some major ironing and listened to some jazz. Nothing complicated about that.
In my last entry, I spoke of that possible negligible gossip about a supposedly embittered Hayden Christensen stepping down as an actor to become a full-time architect. Well, looks like the rags over here are wiping up some dirty stuff as well. I was checking out the J-Pop forum and apparently there was a report that the Queen Idol, Seiko Matsuda, has had a major falling out with her daughter, Sayaka, concerning her (I mean, Sayaka...not Seiko) romantic life and career. According to this so-called report, Sayaka has been "fired" from her management company and basically thrown into the real world.
Sayaka, since her debut 4 years ago, never particularly has made it big in showbiz. She's only been in the spotlight because of her famous mother. Well, let's see, she's still a teen which means that there will be the typical mother-daughter issues of friction. However, a couple of things make me skeptical about the truth of this story. One is that it does come from a gossip magazine, never the greatest source of accurate journalism, and two, the report seemed a bit overdramatic. Most likely, it's just to keep the two names floating in the media swamp. I have no doubt that after nearly 30 years in the business, Seiko is a player to some extent and she could have easily started the rumour but then it could be one of the hacks looking to get that something extra in his bonus.
One thing about the parallels between US and Japanese TV. Over there, reality TV programming has been the big thing for about half a decade now, give or take a year. Here, it's been information TV. Whether it be a trivia quiz show or some show on how to remodel a house, it seems like the Japanese have been ravenous for info on so many things...most notably on health. I'm not sure if the aging demographics are a direct influence, but I've been seeing a lot of stuff pertaining to the old. NHK regularly broadcasts programs in which former city families have decided to move back to the countryside to take up a slower lifestyle, there's that "Before/After" show in which an architect remodels houses for mostly elderly folks (seems to be a lot of money to be spending considering that the folks won't be around that much longer...I know, I'm nasty), and tonight, I saw a regular Sunday night program which dealt with the ongoing bane of stiff shoulders. Frankly, I'll take any program which deals with that over "American Idol" or "The Apprentice" any day.
OK, got that out of my system.
Sunday May 29, 5:52 p.m.
Pretty darn cool today outside...unusual for a May in Tokyo. Not that I'm complaining...I'm sure we'll all be in for some very sweaty days in the months to come.
I was happy to sleep in for the first time in several days. Got up at the glorious time of 11 a.m. and leisurely watched some TV before finally popping in that newest tape of "Doctor Who" and "Enterprise". Gotta admit that the first two-parter of the good Doctor was a a corker of a comedy-adventure. And the characters certainly have a bit more depth in them...I think everyone in the episode had an axe to grind with someone. I certainly wished that the writers for the new show had written for "Star Wars".
Speaking of which...I just saw an article, which may or may not be true, in which Hayden Christensen reportedly said that he's thinking of hanging up his acting chops for good and going for a career in architecture instead. He also took a bit of a swipe at Orlando Bloom amongst other young actors for selling their integrity to get onto the A-list of Hollywood. Pretty balls-out thing for him to say considering that he's starring in a movie series notoriously known for atrocious acting...which makes me wonder about the article's veracity. If it is indeed true, then young Hayden is starting his architecture career by ironically burning a very big bridge. In fact, I don't think the soapbox he's standing on was ever all that stable to begin with.
Just did some shopping for clothes, cleaning stuff and food in that order at the nearby department store. I'm always trying to replenish my stock of socks since I wear them out pretty quickly due to the demands of my job. And over here, a holey sock is a holy terror.
Looks like my weekends in June seemed to be locked in now. My friend up in Karuizawa has given me the green light to visit her and her family up in the mountains in late June.
Pretty darn cool today outside...unusual for a May in Tokyo. Not that I'm complaining...I'm sure we'll all be in for some very sweaty days in the months to come.
I was happy to sleep in for the first time in several days. Got up at the glorious time of 11 a.m. and leisurely watched some TV before finally popping in that newest tape of "Doctor Who" and "Enterprise". Gotta admit that the first two-parter of the good Doctor was a a corker of a comedy-adventure. And the characters certainly have a bit more depth in them...I think everyone in the episode had an axe to grind with someone. I certainly wished that the writers for the new show had written for "Star Wars".
Speaking of which...I just saw an article, which may or may not be true, in which Hayden Christensen reportedly said that he's thinking of hanging up his acting chops for good and going for a career in architecture instead. He also took a bit of a swipe at Orlando Bloom amongst other young actors for selling their integrity to get onto the A-list of Hollywood. Pretty balls-out thing for him to say considering that he's starring in a movie series notoriously known for atrocious acting...which makes me wonder about the article's veracity. If it is indeed true, then young Hayden is starting his architecture career by ironically burning a very big bridge. In fact, I don't think the soapbox he's standing on was ever all that stable to begin with.
Just did some shopping for clothes, cleaning stuff and food in that order at the nearby department store. I'm always trying to replenish my stock of socks since I wear them out pretty quickly due to the demands of my job. And over here, a holey sock is a holy terror.
Looks like my weekends in June seemed to be locked in now. My friend up in Karuizawa has given me the green light to visit her and her family up in the mountains in late June.
Saturday, May 28, 2005
Saturday May 28, 6:23 p.m.
Got the little gifts for The Chipmunk's new kid. Her husband picked me up at the train station and brought me over to their condo. It was a good thing that I'd opted for the escort since he took me through a rather convoluted path toward his place. Mother and son were doing fine and we had a nice little hour chatting about the kid, some of the other folks in our collective sphere of influence, and her English abilities. The entire family walked me back to the station. During the walk back, I noticed that after a few minutes of her talking to me about her underconfidence concerning her pronounciation, she made a rather abrupt move to change the subject which struck me. Sure enough, I got an e-mail from her just now apologizing for talking too much about her English. I kinda figured that I wasn't all that chatty about it on the walk back but it wasn't because I was getting annoyed by it. It was pretty hot outside which lessens my communicativeness and Chipmunk tends to talk rapidly so that I must've tuned out. I made up for it my gaffe by offering my services to her if she really wants to upgrade her delivery.
My telepathy must've been working quite well today. I was thinking as I was going out the door about that final tape of Star Trek from The Entrepreneur. Sure enough, right in my mailbox was the tape. I sent him my due thanks.
It was bustling in my neighbourhood. The two elementary schools I pass on the way to the station were having their sports day. I was serenaded by the sounds of Queen's "We Will Rock You" as I stepped out while the other school had "Fanfare for Trumpets". Then as I passed the tiny dance studio, it was apparent that the dance du jour was tap.
JJ was her usual giddy self. I spent half the period starting her on her way to better pronounciation and intonation with that new text I'd gotten yesterday. Quite a bit of activity outside our Starbucks as yet another entertainer was thrilling the kids with some acrobatic derring-do.
Just had dinner at the Pepper Lunch underneath my station. I decided to take advantage of their grilled chicken and burger special. The burger was fine although I'll never really get used to the Japanese predilection of frying their steaks and burgers in butter. The chicken was another thigh meat affair. I much rather prefer breasts than thighs (cough, cough).
I got another message from my friend up in Karuizawa. This time, she got rather insistent that I come up there for a weekend since a day trip would waste the Shinkansen ticket. Well, as they do over here, once I got the third invitation I duly succumbed and said I will go for the weekend of the 25th. However, unless there is a cancellation, I'll most likely have to come up in the early evening since I do have those classes on Saturday. I just hope that there is no more of that negotiating back and forth.
Got the little gifts for The Chipmunk's new kid. Her husband picked me up at the train station and brought me over to their condo. It was a good thing that I'd opted for the escort since he took me through a rather convoluted path toward his place. Mother and son were doing fine and we had a nice little hour chatting about the kid, some of the other folks in our collective sphere of influence, and her English abilities. The entire family walked me back to the station. During the walk back, I noticed that after a few minutes of her talking to me about her underconfidence concerning her pronounciation, she made a rather abrupt move to change the subject which struck me. Sure enough, I got an e-mail from her just now apologizing for talking too much about her English. I kinda figured that I wasn't all that chatty about it on the walk back but it wasn't because I was getting annoyed by it. It was pretty hot outside which lessens my communicativeness and Chipmunk tends to talk rapidly so that I must've tuned out. I made up for it my gaffe by offering my services to her if she really wants to upgrade her delivery.
My telepathy must've been working quite well today. I was thinking as I was going out the door about that final tape of Star Trek from The Entrepreneur. Sure enough, right in my mailbox was the tape. I sent him my due thanks.
It was bustling in my neighbourhood. The two elementary schools I pass on the way to the station were having their sports day. I was serenaded by the sounds of Queen's "We Will Rock You" as I stepped out while the other school had "Fanfare for Trumpets". Then as I passed the tiny dance studio, it was apparent that the dance du jour was tap.
JJ was her usual giddy self. I spent half the period starting her on her way to better pronounciation and intonation with that new text I'd gotten yesterday. Quite a bit of activity outside our Starbucks as yet another entertainer was thrilling the kids with some acrobatic derring-do.
Just had dinner at the Pepper Lunch underneath my station. I decided to take advantage of their grilled chicken and burger special. The burger was fine although I'll never really get used to the Japanese predilection of frying their steaks and burgers in butter. The chicken was another thigh meat affair. I much rather prefer breasts than thighs (cough, cough).
I got another message from my friend up in Karuizawa. This time, she got rather insistent that I come up there for a weekend since a day trip would waste the Shinkansen ticket. Well, as they do over here, once I got the third invitation I duly succumbed and said I will go for the weekend of the 25th. However, unless there is a cancellation, I'll most likely have to come up in the early evening since I do have those classes on Saturday. I just hope that there is no more of that negotiating back and forth.
Friday, May 27, 2005
Saturday May 10:05 a.m.
Realized that I'm typing this at a time where I would usually be well on my way to teach the kids or teaching the kids already. This is the second consecutive week that I haven't had to go over there. I must admit that there is a certain nice thing about not having to commute on a Saturday morning but next week I'll be over again.
However, there was something to annoy me after all. I checked my e-mail, got messages from DTE, one of the M+M and Shard. and perhaps downloaded a file from DTE. It was some sort of cute commercial involving a fish and a cat about the needs to join a certain language school. Well, maybe the file contained a bit more than the advert...just after reading the rest of the messages a few minutes later, my Internet connection froze up. There was a big angry red light on the black box representing my ADSL. I lost my access to the Net which could be akin to going through withdrawal of the digital kind. So I immediately put the computer through its paces. I activated the Norton AntiVirus, the AdAware and the Symantec diagnostics. Took me half an hour...nada. So I finally decided to push those 3 buttons on my keyboard that I've had to do frequently over the past number of months and shut the bloody thing down. Once I got the series of warning messages in Japanese and got bluescreened a few times (I've been seeing those often enough...however, Speedy gets that a lot too so I'm glad that I'm not alone), I finally went with my nuclear option and pulled the bloody plug. One time, The Bohemian, a former IBM systems engineer, winced when I did that...but I'm not one to surrender happily and since I do have a temper...
After all that poking around, I accidentally tipped over the black box. The red light went to green and all was well with the world once again. Geezus...what kind of message does this send about the computer revolution?
Anyways I'm back...I checked Movie Buddy's blog. Looks like he did take a gander at my "Doctor Who" eps. He had a ball watching them but I suspect that he didn't notice the resemblance between him and the new good Doctor.
Well, I know that summer is around the corner when I've got my malfunctioning fan on every day, I've got my top off (I've been a good neighbour and not revealing myself in the window) and I'm starting to feel the need to take 2 showers a day. Ugh!
Realized that I'm typing this at a time where I would usually be well on my way to teach the kids or teaching the kids already. This is the second consecutive week that I haven't had to go over there. I must admit that there is a certain nice thing about not having to commute on a Saturday morning but next week I'll be over again.
However, there was something to annoy me after all. I checked my e-mail, got messages from DTE, one of the M+M and Shard. and perhaps downloaded a file from DTE. It was some sort of cute commercial involving a fish and a cat about the needs to join a certain language school. Well, maybe the file contained a bit more than the advert...just after reading the rest of the messages a few minutes later, my Internet connection froze up. There was a big angry red light on the black box representing my ADSL. I lost my access to the Net which could be akin to going through withdrawal of the digital kind. So I immediately put the computer through its paces. I activated the Norton AntiVirus, the AdAware and the Symantec diagnostics. Took me half an hour...nada. So I finally decided to push those 3 buttons on my keyboard that I've had to do frequently over the past number of months and shut the bloody thing down. Once I got the series of warning messages in Japanese and got bluescreened a few times (I've been seeing those often enough...however, Speedy gets that a lot too so I'm glad that I'm not alone), I finally went with my nuclear option and pulled the bloody plug. One time, The Bohemian, a former IBM systems engineer, winced when I did that...but I'm not one to surrender happily and since I do have a temper...
After all that poking around, I accidentally tipped over the black box. The red light went to green and all was well with the world once again. Geezus...what kind of message does this send about the computer revolution?
Anyways I'm back...I checked Movie Buddy's blog. Looks like he did take a gander at my "Doctor Who" eps. He had a ball watching them but I suspect that he didn't notice the resemblance between him and the new good Doctor.
Well, I know that summer is around the corner when I've got my malfunctioning fan on every day, I've got my top off (I've been a good neighbour and not revealing myself in the window) and I'm starting to feel the need to take 2 showers a day. Ugh!
Friday May 27, 9:56 p.m.
It was my regular Friday schedule. I taught The Teacher today at our regular cafe. And then I headed off to Maruzen where I picked up a couple of texts which could help SR and JJ. I spent quite a bit of yen on the purchases but luckily, I didn't spend too much on the miscellaneous stuff this week. Then, I had my fairly common lunch at Com Pho, that Vietnamese eatery in the basement level. I had the Bun Bi, a cold pho dish with lots of nuts, chopped pork, pickled carrots and cucumbers. I generously added fresh bean sprouts from the ready supply on the counter.
Ate quite a bit so I decided to take a bit of a walk from Maruzen over to Yurakucho. I noticed that there were a lot of junior high school classes on their annual trips to the big city. They were hunched down on designated areas (of course, being Japan, JR had zones all set up for the kids). I took the same route...go through the subway level to the Maru Bldg, took the escalator up to street level, went out and walked 5 minutes till I reached the Tokyo International Forum. It's been commonplace to see food trucks, mostly of the Asian spicy variety parked right between the two buildings that make up the Forum. I'll have to remember to try one of those places out someday.
I ended up going to HMV Yurakucho again and once again picked up a magazine. Gotta read on the train, y'know.
SR and I had another lesson surrounded by a lot of chatting. Looks like she had another sudden trip over to Hawaii with a colleague of hers. Since she works for an airline, they could get business-class seats at a huge discount. Our chats have often extended well beyond the 2 hours allotted for her lesson. I think we broke up around 6:30 tonight, a full hour extra.
Came home and fried up some mini-steaks which fit the bill quite nicely. I actually bought them at my usual supermarket...for some reason, beef there is fairly exorbitant in price but these mini-steaks were relatively painless...just 680 yen for the whole group. Usually for Aussie beef, I go to the supermarket just across the street (yes, there are two within 5 m of each other). They're much more reasonably priced.
The big news here right now is the possibility that two WWII soldiers may have been discovered living on the island of Mindanao. If that is indeed true, the two oldtimers would be in their early 80s. Man, I think they might as well just live the remainder of their lives there since they wouldn't recognize a blessed thing here.
The other interesting news is far more into pop culture. Apparently, Tokyo will have the world premiere of "Batman Begins" on May 31, a full 3 weeks before its official premiere in the States. I'm sure Ken Watanabe's name in the cast helped that situation. As far as I know, Christian Bale and Chris Nolan are set to come over here. No surprise on the venue, the Virgin Theatres at Roppongi Hills. And where will I be? Well, I'll be at the juku. Looks like The New Kid will be a no-show since he's got his school trip, so I'll start at my old time of 7.
It was my regular Friday schedule. I taught The Teacher today at our regular cafe. And then I headed off to Maruzen where I picked up a couple of texts which could help SR and JJ. I spent quite a bit of yen on the purchases but luckily, I didn't spend too much on the miscellaneous stuff this week. Then, I had my fairly common lunch at Com Pho, that Vietnamese eatery in the basement level. I had the Bun Bi, a cold pho dish with lots of nuts, chopped pork, pickled carrots and cucumbers. I generously added fresh bean sprouts from the ready supply on the counter.
Ate quite a bit so I decided to take a bit of a walk from Maruzen over to Yurakucho. I noticed that there were a lot of junior high school classes on their annual trips to the big city. They were hunched down on designated areas (of course, being Japan, JR had zones all set up for the kids). I took the same route...go through the subway level to the Maru Bldg, took the escalator up to street level, went out and walked 5 minutes till I reached the Tokyo International Forum. It's been commonplace to see food trucks, mostly of the Asian spicy variety parked right between the two buildings that make up the Forum. I'll have to remember to try one of those places out someday.
I ended up going to HMV Yurakucho again and once again picked up a magazine. Gotta read on the train, y'know.
SR and I had another lesson surrounded by a lot of chatting. Looks like she had another sudden trip over to Hawaii with a colleague of hers. Since she works for an airline, they could get business-class seats at a huge discount. Our chats have often extended well beyond the 2 hours allotted for her lesson. I think we broke up around 6:30 tonight, a full hour extra.
Came home and fried up some mini-steaks which fit the bill quite nicely. I actually bought them at my usual supermarket...for some reason, beef there is fairly exorbitant in price but these mini-steaks were relatively painless...just 680 yen for the whole group. Usually for Aussie beef, I go to the supermarket just across the street (yes, there are two within 5 m of each other). They're much more reasonably priced.
The big news here right now is the possibility that two WWII soldiers may have been discovered living on the island of Mindanao. If that is indeed true, the two oldtimers would be in their early 80s. Man, I think they might as well just live the remainder of their lives there since they wouldn't recognize a blessed thing here.
The other interesting news is far more into pop culture. Apparently, Tokyo will have the world premiere of "Batman Begins" on May 31, a full 3 weeks before its official premiere in the States. I'm sure Ken Watanabe's name in the cast helped that situation. As far as I know, Christian Bale and Chris Nolan are set to come over here. No surprise on the venue, the Virgin Theatres at Roppongi Hills. And where will I be? Well, I'll be at the juku. Looks like The New Kid will be a no-show since he's got his school trip, so I'll start at my old time of 7.
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Friday May 27, 8:35 a.m.
Forgot to mention that Morgan Freeman and Hilary Swank did show up yesterday on that noontime variety show on Fuji-TV. Yup...they showed up, and that was about it. Swank gave a barely audible, "Arigato" while the towering Freeman smiled and waved and stayed mute. However, they got the job done by showing up and showing the big poster of "Million Dollar Baby". Perhaps, I may see something more relevant on the "Waratte Ii Tomo" digest on Sunday mornings; the digest often shows some of the stuff that didn't get onto the live broadcasts during the week...and the pair didn't show up until the very end.
Looks like Bruce Willis was quite busy...he not only did the Japanese premiere of "Hostage" but he had some time to get a new commercial done here. And Richard Gere has been on the tube hawking some local esthetic salon. Nice to get some of the celeb males back after having been dominated by the likes of Liv Tyler (coffee), Natalie Portman and Charlize Theron (shampoo).
The OL sent me word that she'll have to cancel her lesson tonight due to overtime. I figured that was gonna be a semi-regular thing for Fridays so I'm cool with it. Get to get home a bit early, perhaps even make a bit of dinner.
Forgot to mention that Morgan Freeman and Hilary Swank did show up yesterday on that noontime variety show on Fuji-TV. Yup...they showed up, and that was about it. Swank gave a barely audible, "Arigato" while the towering Freeman smiled and waved and stayed mute. However, they got the job done by showing up and showing the big poster of "Million Dollar Baby". Perhaps, I may see something more relevant on the "Waratte Ii Tomo" digest on Sunday mornings; the digest often shows some of the stuff that didn't get onto the live broadcasts during the week...and the pair didn't show up until the very end.
Looks like Bruce Willis was quite busy...he not only did the Japanese premiere of "Hostage" but he had some time to get a new commercial done here. And Richard Gere has been on the tube hawking some local esthetic salon. Nice to get some of the celeb males back after having been dominated by the likes of Liv Tyler (coffee), Natalie Portman and Charlize Theron (shampoo).
The OL sent me word that she'll have to cancel her lesson tonight due to overtime. I figured that was gonna be a semi-regular thing for Fridays so I'm cool with it. Get to get home a bit early, perhaps even make a bit of dinner.
Thursday May 26, 10:18 p.m.
Pretty lazy Thursday since I only had the sisters in the evening. It will be even more lazier next week since MK re-scheduled her lesson for next week to Saturday afternoon. I'll have absolutely nothing on June 2nd.
Fridays will probably be the third busy day of the week since I've got The Teacher, SR and The OL although SR usually cancels out on the last Friday of the month due to accounting matters. However, she's due to come tomorrow, though. I'll have to pick up some new material for her since she's pretty much done with the text that we'd be using for the past several months. Not sure how much more advanced I can take her. The text that we'd just finished was getting into some pretty high stuff as it was and she'd also gone through the TOEIC Intermediate Guide. But I'll take another Friday look in Maruzen.
As I said, it was a lazy Thursday so I had decided to veg a bit before I left for the Tea Room and listened to a Yuming CD. Yuming, whose real name is Yumi Matsutoya (nee Arai), is one of J-Pop's legends. She was already well into her career even before some of today's top acts were born. I mentioned the "nee" part since she started out as one of the singers of the New Music movement...something that occurred in the early 70s after the Beach Boys-like Group Sounds trend died away. The New Music is distinguished from the mainstream idol singers and enka balladeers by the fact that Yuming and her contemporaries such as Ryuichi Sakamoto (who would start up YMO later in the decade) wrote their own eclectic brand of pop or folk stuff.
As Yumi Arai, a lot of her stuff back then had that somewhat langourous folksy vibe with a bit of country/50s/folk influence woven in. For those Hayao (Spirited Away) Yamazaki fans, you ought to watch "Kiki's Delivery Service" (my personal Yamazaki favourite). The two songs that bracket the movie are Arai hits from her first decade.
However when Yuming married her fellow new musician/turned producer, Masataka Matsutoya in the late 70s, her music veered into a more poppy and uptempo vein although she did come up with some more hit ballads. I'd say that if I were to analogize her stuff for Western audiences, she'd definitely be in the AOR genre. I mean, if there were a compilation of international AOR tunes, she'd be included with people like Kenny Loggins, The Doobie Bros and Olivia Newton-John.
Her voice also represented the line which determined whether you liked or hated her. It's obvious from what I've said so far which side of the line I'm on. But I've had fellow J-Pop listeners liken her somewhat reedy voice to scratching fingernails on the blackboard. To be honest, I haven't listened to much of her recent stuff...well, basically anything that she's put out in the last 10 years. Her voice has gone from mellow beginnings to near-Yoko Ono/Buffy Ste. Marie warbling. But it's also that a lot of her songs haven't really been all that catchy lately. I greatly prefer her old stuff but maybe that's just age on my part. Still, her longevity is amazing considering the very flavor-of-the-month nature of the J-Pop industry. Also, I gotta admit that her concerts are one level above most other pop singers' efforts. Her 1990 concert video showed a slickness on a par with anything American singers usualy throw out.
Pretty lazy Thursday since I only had the sisters in the evening. It will be even more lazier next week since MK re-scheduled her lesson for next week to Saturday afternoon. I'll have absolutely nothing on June 2nd.
Fridays will probably be the third busy day of the week since I've got The Teacher, SR and The OL although SR usually cancels out on the last Friday of the month due to accounting matters. However, she's due to come tomorrow, though. I'll have to pick up some new material for her since she's pretty much done with the text that we'd be using for the past several months. Not sure how much more advanced I can take her. The text that we'd just finished was getting into some pretty high stuff as it was and she'd also gone through the TOEIC Intermediate Guide. But I'll take another Friday look in Maruzen.
As I said, it was a lazy Thursday so I had decided to veg a bit before I left for the Tea Room and listened to a Yuming CD. Yuming, whose real name is Yumi Matsutoya (nee Arai), is one of J-Pop's legends. She was already well into her career even before some of today's top acts were born. I mentioned the "nee" part since she started out as one of the singers of the New Music movement...something that occurred in the early 70s after the Beach Boys-like Group Sounds trend died away. The New Music is distinguished from the mainstream idol singers and enka balladeers by the fact that Yuming and her contemporaries such as Ryuichi Sakamoto (who would start up YMO later in the decade) wrote their own eclectic brand of pop or folk stuff.
As Yumi Arai, a lot of her stuff back then had that somewhat langourous folksy vibe with a bit of country/50s/folk influence woven in. For those Hayao (Spirited Away) Yamazaki fans, you ought to watch "Kiki's Delivery Service" (my personal Yamazaki favourite). The two songs that bracket the movie are Arai hits from her first decade.
However when Yuming married her fellow new musician/turned producer, Masataka Matsutoya in the late 70s, her music veered into a more poppy and uptempo vein although she did come up with some more hit ballads. I'd say that if I were to analogize her stuff for Western audiences, she'd definitely be in the AOR genre. I mean, if there were a compilation of international AOR tunes, she'd be included with people like Kenny Loggins, The Doobie Bros and Olivia Newton-John.
Her voice also represented the line which determined whether you liked or hated her. It's obvious from what I've said so far which side of the line I'm on. But I've had fellow J-Pop listeners liken her somewhat reedy voice to scratching fingernails on the blackboard. To be honest, I haven't listened to much of her recent stuff...well, basically anything that she's put out in the last 10 years. Her voice has gone from mellow beginnings to near-Yoko Ono/Buffy Ste. Marie warbling. But it's also that a lot of her songs haven't really been all that catchy lately. I greatly prefer her old stuff but maybe that's just age on my part. Still, her longevity is amazing considering the very flavor-of-the-month nature of the J-Pop industry. Also, I gotta admit that her concerts are one level above most other pop singers' efforts. Her 1990 concert video showed a slickness on a par with anything American singers usualy throw out.
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Wednesday May 25, 11:33 p.m.
Yup, I know...it's my third or fourth entry today but I keep forgetting to put these items in. If I don't...they'll just pop in and out of my head for the next several days.
1) Really strange event tomorrow on the noon show, "Waratte Ii Tomo" (It's OK to Laugh!). This is the 23-year-old variety program hosted by the Johnny Carson of Japan, Tamori. It's known for a lot of little games involving the currently popular TV personalities...a lot of hilarity. Well, things are gonna be weird when none other than Morgan Freeman and Hilary Swank will be making their presence felt on the show, presumably to promote "Million Dollar Baby" which actually premieres this weekend. Talk about your incongruities: one of the most gravitas-laden actors in recent memory appearing on a program that espouses the opposite. Mind you, Freeman was Easy Reader from "The Electric Company"....perhaps his sense of humour will be intact although the usual response from Hollywood celebs doing Japanese TV shows has been one of bemused amusement. I still think the look on Harrison Ford's face when Puffy "interviewed" him is the standard bearer.
2) Continuing on the Hollywood line, Bruce Willis popped up in front of hundreds of fans in Kabukicho to promote "Hostage". Ol' Bullet Head was a fine showman, spouting a bit of Japanese greetings before thanking everyone for their patronage.
3) I've had this song rolling around in my head for the past couple of days. It's called "Thank You For The Music" by a J-Pop band called Bonobos (I'm sure there is a good story behind THAT name). A pretty rollicking though mild stomper, the music video would be the usual band-on-outside-set presentation except that throughout it, there are these Aztec architectural structures just bouncing up and down and all around the band members like demented pop-up figures.
Yup, I know...it's my third or fourth entry today but I keep forgetting to put these items in. If I don't...they'll just pop in and out of my head for the next several days.
1) Really strange event tomorrow on the noon show, "Waratte Ii Tomo" (It's OK to Laugh!). This is the 23-year-old variety program hosted by the Johnny Carson of Japan, Tamori. It's known for a lot of little games involving the currently popular TV personalities...a lot of hilarity. Well, things are gonna be weird when none other than Morgan Freeman and Hilary Swank will be making their presence felt on the show, presumably to promote "Million Dollar Baby" which actually premieres this weekend. Talk about your incongruities: one of the most gravitas-laden actors in recent memory appearing on a program that espouses the opposite. Mind you, Freeman was Easy Reader from "The Electric Company"....perhaps his sense of humour will be intact although the usual response from Hollywood celebs doing Japanese TV shows has been one of bemused amusement. I still think the look on Harrison Ford's face when Puffy "interviewed" him is the standard bearer.
2) Continuing on the Hollywood line, Bruce Willis popped up in front of hundreds of fans in Kabukicho to promote "Hostage". Ol' Bullet Head was a fine showman, spouting a bit of Japanese greetings before thanking everyone for their patronage.
3) I've had this song rolling around in my head for the past couple of days. It's called "Thank You For The Music" by a J-Pop band called Bonobos (I'm sure there is a good story behind THAT name). A pretty rollicking though mild stomper, the music video would be the usual band-on-outside-set presentation except that throughout it, there are these Aztec architectural structures just bouncing up and down and all around the band members like demented pop-up figures.
Wednesday May 25, 11:00 p.m.
I decided to make that last entry of "jinhsin jikou" a standalone. So what about the rest of my day? Well, I did some more intonation and pronounciation work with The Hawaiian. Looks like I've got 4 more lessons with her until she takes off for Oz. I'm kinda wondering about having me and Movie Buddy take her out once before she goes.
Then it was over to Speedy's for my regular lesson with Student 001. Her Taiwan trip went pretty smoothly although she thinks that three days are just too short. I would agree. She also informed me that she had a spoonful of that infamous smelly tofu dish that could be considered to be a lethal weapon. I'm sure that the industrial-strength Dentyne was in order. She brought back a nice souvenir in the form of some local pineapple cakes. Pretty rich...needed the tea to drink it down. Looks like Speedy will be away next week on a business trip in North America. He said that he may try to catch Star Wars there but he's frankly doubtful considering his busy schedule.
One thing never to do. Don't eat a whole fried chicken bento with mayonnaise along with a salad heavy on cabbage. The combination was like setting the fuse on a particularly packed cannon. Luckily, my class was over when the strong urge to hit a toilet arrived. It cost me an extra fare, but I was lucky enough to have The Century Hyatt and its glorious Western-style toilets there on the way home.
Got back home to get a phone message from one of my former students. She asked me to call her back but I neither have her phone number or e-mail address which rather makes any contact with her moot. I can only hope she can send me some info by the Net.
Well, I've got the sisters tomorrow night but in the meantime, I also have to get that one gym outing this week out of the way.
I decided to make that last entry of "jinhsin jikou" a standalone. So what about the rest of my day? Well, I did some more intonation and pronounciation work with The Hawaiian. Looks like I've got 4 more lessons with her until she takes off for Oz. I'm kinda wondering about having me and Movie Buddy take her out once before she goes.
Then it was over to Speedy's for my regular lesson with Student 001. Her Taiwan trip went pretty smoothly although she thinks that three days are just too short. I would agree. She also informed me that she had a spoonful of that infamous smelly tofu dish that could be considered to be a lethal weapon. I'm sure that the industrial-strength Dentyne was in order. She brought back a nice souvenir in the form of some local pineapple cakes. Pretty rich...needed the tea to drink it down. Looks like Speedy will be away next week on a business trip in North America. He said that he may try to catch Star Wars there but he's frankly doubtful considering his busy schedule.
One thing never to do. Don't eat a whole fried chicken bento with mayonnaise along with a salad heavy on cabbage. The combination was like setting the fuse on a particularly packed cannon. Luckily, my class was over when the strong urge to hit a toilet arrived. It cost me an extra fare, but I was lucky enough to have The Century Hyatt and its glorious Western-style toilets there on the way home.
Got back home to get a phone message from one of my former students. She asked me to call her back but I neither have her phone number or e-mail address which rather makes any contact with her moot. I can only hope she can send me some info by the Net.
Well, I've got the sisters tomorrow night but in the meantime, I also have to get that one gym outing this week out of the way.
Wednesday May 25, 10:21 p.m.
And I thought I was knackered last night. Due to another jinshin jikou on the JR, all the express trains on the Tozai Line were cancelled and there were tons of people on the subway tonight. I felt like a microscopic specimen after the glass slide had been slipped on over me. Now I know why I've training at the gym all these months. It wasn't to lose weight, it was to ensure that my legs could withstand the pressure of dozens of commuters dogpiling atop of me as the train pulled out of each station.
And what is a "jinshin jikou"? Well, the direct translation is "personal accident", an appropriately vague expression coined by the minders of the subway and JR lines to cover a mulititude of incidents from an ill passenger to a couple of drunk knuckleheads who might decide to have a little tussle on Drinkin' Fridays. However, if you've been in the city even as half as long as I have, you'll immediately assume a jumper, namely a person committing suicide. Thus, jinshin jikou takes on a a euphemistic quality as well.
It doesn't seem to happen every day but it does occur often enough. You'll hear it over the PA system and even on the built-in monitors inside the Yamanote Line trains. No details are ever given but I'm sure a lot of folks assume that someone has made that final leap into oblivion. Usually, the leaper does it on either the crosstown Sobu or Keio Lines since outside expresses exist for them. Express trains also exist on the Tozai but for some reason, I have never heard of anyone killing themselves there.
Fortunately, I've never had the bad luck to witness a leaper in action but over the years, a few students or friends have mentioned their eyewitness accounts. A decade ago, one of the staff members at the NOVA I'd been working at mentioned that she got rather nauseous when the person in front of her decided to end it all and threw himself in front of a speeding express. She also got to see the end results as well. Just yesterday, the New Kid informed me that he had been witness to one of his schoolmates (someone he hadn't been acquainted with) leaping not too long ago.
The leaper also has quite an effect on traffic. I'm still rather mystified after all these years but when a guy successfully jumps and turns into a Picasso cubist piece, the ripple effect is that not only that line is affected but all other lines connecting to it are affected as well which means delays, long waiting lines and overpacked subways. Unlike in subways of other countries, over here, commuters are more than willing to become 2-D figures since the Japanese know how to more willingly shrug it off as part of life in the big city and suffer in silence
There is also that belief that the family of the deceased is responsible for footing the bill of the cleanup operations. Recently, though, there have been reports that this is more of an urban myth.
And I thought I was knackered last night. Due to another jinshin jikou on the JR, all the express trains on the Tozai Line were cancelled and there were tons of people on the subway tonight. I felt like a microscopic specimen after the glass slide had been slipped on over me. Now I know why I've training at the gym all these months. It wasn't to lose weight, it was to ensure that my legs could withstand the pressure of dozens of commuters dogpiling atop of me as the train pulled out of each station.
And what is a "jinshin jikou"? Well, the direct translation is "personal accident", an appropriately vague expression coined by the minders of the subway and JR lines to cover a mulititude of incidents from an ill passenger to a couple of drunk knuckleheads who might decide to have a little tussle on Drinkin' Fridays. However, if you've been in the city even as half as long as I have, you'll immediately assume a jumper, namely a person committing suicide. Thus, jinshin jikou takes on a a euphemistic quality as well.
It doesn't seem to happen every day but it does occur often enough. You'll hear it over the PA system and even on the built-in monitors inside the Yamanote Line trains. No details are ever given but I'm sure a lot of folks assume that someone has made that final leap into oblivion. Usually, the leaper does it on either the crosstown Sobu or Keio Lines since outside expresses exist for them. Express trains also exist on the Tozai but for some reason, I have never heard of anyone killing themselves there.
Fortunately, I've never had the bad luck to witness a leaper in action but over the years, a few students or friends have mentioned their eyewitness accounts. A decade ago, one of the staff members at the NOVA I'd been working at mentioned that she got rather nauseous when the person in front of her decided to end it all and threw himself in front of a speeding express. She also got to see the end results as well. Just yesterday, the New Kid informed me that he had been witness to one of his schoolmates (someone he hadn't been acquainted with) leaping not too long ago.
The leaper also has quite an effect on traffic. I'm still rather mystified after all these years but when a guy successfully jumps and turns into a Picasso cubist piece, the ripple effect is that not only that line is affected but all other lines connecting to it are affected as well which means delays, long waiting lines and overpacked subways. Unlike in subways of other countries, over here, commuters are more than willing to become 2-D figures since the Japanese know how to more willingly shrug it off as part of life in the big city and suffer in silence
There is also that belief that the family of the deceased is responsible for footing the bill of the cleanup operations. Recently, though, there have been reports that this is more of an urban myth.
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Wednesday May 25, 8:47 a.m.
Looks like my confession to eating grasshoppers got some bites...figuratively, of course....from a couple of folks. Shard and The Professor sent back replies as if they were wondrous Grade 6'ers. I just described the subtle texture of crunchiness mixed with the teriyaki taste of stewed locust. Mmmmm....I'm channeling Homer Simpson. The little bag of the little fellas is still residing nicely in my fridge.
Looks like my confession to eating grasshoppers got some bites...figuratively, of course....from a couple of folks. Shard and The Professor sent back replies as if they were wondrous Grade 6'ers. I just described the subtle texture of crunchiness mixed with the teriyaki taste of stewed locust. Mmmmm....I'm channeling Homer Simpson. The little bag of the little fellas is still residing nicely in my fridge.
Tuesday May 23, 11:45 p.m.
I think the Brits say "knackered". Well, I'm knackered. Another long day with a sunny morning and afternoon, and then a rainy night. Can do a lot of warping of one's metabolism.
At the Beehive today, I was introduced to the wonders of tsukudani, or preserved soya sauce grasshoppers. You got it...those insects that seem to have never met a rice or wheat field they haven't liked. Well, I did my part in getting some revenge of the winged ones. Mrs Tea got a small bagful of the stuff for me to try out. Yup, they were indeed small grasshoppers. I could make out the multiple legs, the large compound eyes and the wings. I didn't even hesitate..I threw one of the little monsters into my mouth. Mmmm....chewy...can't even taste anything remotely grasshopperish about it. Mrs. Fashion looked somewhat green, though. I took the little packet home for snack time.
I guess the stewed locusts got my appetite going since I decided on a whim to whip up some pasta. However, it wasn't the usual meat sauce spaghetti since I didn't have any ketchup on hand. Instead, I used the remaining cod roe mayonnaise that SR had given me several weeks before as the sauce base. I threw in some chicken and scallops along with some greens. It turned out pretty well actually. I'm saving more than half of it for tomorrow's breakfast along with the remaining Campbell's Minestrone Soup that I'd bought at the supermarket.
My classes at the juku were the same ol', same ol'. The New Kid was his usual friendly self, the Beauty Pair gossiped for the majority of the lesson in Japanese, The Milds were dutifully diligent and The Bohemian did pretty well for a first taste in the wonders and intricacies of TOEIC. He didn't do too badly on the various parts.
Got some word from Paddy. Looks like my possible immigration to this country may be a whole lot easier than previously believed, although I'm very much of the too-good-to-be-true school of life. Still, if there's anyone I believe in, it's Paddy.
I also got the OK from The Chipmunk to drop by on Saturday to say hello to the newest member of their family. I'll probably do so on my way to teach JJ; I'll probably get a little Snoopy doll for the tyke.
I've still gotta fill out the reports for the juku classes tonight. And at least get something down for a lesson plan for The Hawaiian and Student 001 at Speedy's tomorrow. All that and a shower.
Later...
I think the Brits say "knackered". Well, I'm knackered. Another long day with a sunny morning and afternoon, and then a rainy night. Can do a lot of warping of one's metabolism.
At the Beehive today, I was introduced to the wonders of tsukudani, or preserved soya sauce grasshoppers. You got it...those insects that seem to have never met a rice or wheat field they haven't liked. Well, I did my part in getting some revenge of the winged ones. Mrs Tea got a small bagful of the stuff for me to try out. Yup, they were indeed small grasshoppers. I could make out the multiple legs, the large compound eyes and the wings. I didn't even hesitate..I threw one of the little monsters into my mouth. Mmmm....chewy...can't even taste anything remotely grasshopperish about it. Mrs. Fashion looked somewhat green, though. I took the little packet home for snack time.
I guess the stewed locusts got my appetite going since I decided on a whim to whip up some pasta. However, it wasn't the usual meat sauce spaghetti since I didn't have any ketchup on hand. Instead, I used the remaining cod roe mayonnaise that SR had given me several weeks before as the sauce base. I threw in some chicken and scallops along with some greens. It turned out pretty well actually. I'm saving more than half of it for tomorrow's breakfast along with the remaining Campbell's Minestrone Soup that I'd bought at the supermarket.
My classes at the juku were the same ol', same ol'. The New Kid was his usual friendly self, the Beauty Pair gossiped for the majority of the lesson in Japanese, The Milds were dutifully diligent and The Bohemian did pretty well for a first taste in the wonders and intricacies of TOEIC. He didn't do too badly on the various parts.
Got some word from Paddy. Looks like my possible immigration to this country may be a whole lot easier than previously believed, although I'm very much of the too-good-to-be-true school of life. Still, if there's anyone I believe in, it's Paddy.
I also got the OK from The Chipmunk to drop by on Saturday to say hello to the newest member of their family. I'll probably do so on my way to teach JJ; I'll probably get a little Snoopy doll for the tyke.
I've still gotta fill out the reports for the juku classes tonight. And at least get something down for a lesson plan for The Hawaiian and Student 001 at Speedy's tomorrow. All that and a shower.
Later...
Monday, May 23, 2005
Tuesday May 24, 7:38 a.m.
It's sunny out there...for now. The weather girl came to her senses and said that there may be some more rain on the way later today although it won't reach the torrential heights of last night. We'll see about that.
Got the final marks on the Star Wars movie from The Entrepreneur. He gave it a 7.5...not bad but it doesn't rate up with the original or "The Empire Strikes Back". I'll take that score since I will probably have the same opinion when I see it in July...or sooner if PH can milk her connections.
Now, where were we on this little saga of Star Wars reminiscing. Ahhh...yes..."Attack of the Clones". This was a rather strange one for me since I don't remember where I first saw it. I definitely didn't go to the midnight show for that one...partially since the endurance test from catching the first prequel was still pretty fresh in my mind, and also because the reviews were even more negative. I can't even remember if I had actually seen it with anyone.
Yup, the acting was even more cringeworthy in this one than in "The Phantom Menace". There was no gravitas from a Liam Neeson to bring some dignity (well, there was that brief 1-second quip in Yoda's meditation chamber). Instead, we got Hayden Christensen. Wow! Who'da thought? Darth Vader comes from Toronto. During the leadup to the movie, I was wondering how this guy would do considering that Jake Lloyd didn't exactly endear himself to the stalwart fans. Well, after seeing his "performance" in AOTC, I was wondering if there were some way the Canadian government could revoke his citizenship. Right from one of his opening lines, "So have you...grown more beautiful, that is...", I knew we were in for a bumpy ride. Stuff like "You soothe me" and his deathless analogy comparing Padme to something that isn't sand (oh, you charmer, Anakin, you) made me grateful that I was in a Japanese theatre instead of a Canadian one. At least, 1) Japanese audiences don't traditionally react to much of anything, and 2) the language barrier acts benevolently here...you can't detect bad English-language acting if you can't understand it.
Then again, noone was really spared from the petrified forest quality of Lucas' script. I even cringed at one line that Ewan McGregor spat out during the final battle. However, there were some...a few...good moments at the end with the Jedi smackdown on Geonosis and that briefest of battles between Count Dooku and Yoda.
That's pretty much all I can sum up concerning the previous sequel. Not a good Star Wars movie...just not a good movie, period. Well, all's the better that "Revenge of the Sith" is getting much better buzz.
It's sunny out there...for now. The weather girl came to her senses and said that there may be some more rain on the way later today although it won't reach the torrential heights of last night. We'll see about that.
Got the final marks on the Star Wars movie from The Entrepreneur. He gave it a 7.5...not bad but it doesn't rate up with the original or "The Empire Strikes Back". I'll take that score since I will probably have the same opinion when I see it in July...or sooner if PH can milk her connections.
Now, where were we on this little saga of Star Wars reminiscing. Ahhh...yes..."Attack of the Clones". This was a rather strange one for me since I don't remember where I first saw it. I definitely didn't go to the midnight show for that one...partially since the endurance test from catching the first prequel was still pretty fresh in my mind, and also because the reviews were even more negative. I can't even remember if I had actually seen it with anyone.
Yup, the acting was even more cringeworthy in this one than in "The Phantom Menace". There was no gravitas from a Liam Neeson to bring some dignity (well, there was that brief 1-second quip in Yoda's meditation chamber). Instead, we got Hayden Christensen. Wow! Who'da thought? Darth Vader comes from Toronto. During the leadup to the movie, I was wondering how this guy would do considering that Jake Lloyd didn't exactly endear himself to the stalwart fans. Well, after seeing his "performance" in AOTC, I was wondering if there were some way the Canadian government could revoke his citizenship. Right from one of his opening lines, "So have you...grown more beautiful, that is...", I knew we were in for a bumpy ride. Stuff like "You soothe me" and his deathless analogy comparing Padme to something that isn't sand (oh, you charmer, Anakin, you) made me grateful that I was in a Japanese theatre instead of a Canadian one. At least, 1) Japanese audiences don't traditionally react to much of anything, and 2) the language barrier acts benevolently here...you can't detect bad English-language acting if you can't understand it.
Then again, noone was really spared from the petrified forest quality of Lucas' script. I even cringed at one line that Ewan McGregor spat out during the final battle. However, there were some...a few...good moments at the end with the Jedi smackdown on Geonosis and that briefest of battles between Count Dooku and Yoda.
That's pretty much all I can sum up concerning the previous sequel. Not a good Star Wars movie...just not a good movie, period. Well, all's the better that "Revenge of the Sith" is getting much better buzz.
Monday May 23, 9:49 p.m.
A bit of rain the weather girl said...well, she was off by about a million times. We got hammered tonight with a good dousing of precipitation. Luckily, the downpour started just when I entered the station nearest The Company. I could tell that something was up meterologically when some pretty big blasts of cold air pushed their way into the warm and humid underground level via the stairways. Then at Iidabashi Station, I saw a whole bunch of commuters swarming around a stand selling cheap umbrellas...further evidence that there was a pretty steady rain going on above ground. Sure enough, when I got off my station, I saw several people waiting just inside the exits while the rains came on down. Luckily, I had my foldable with me.
The day started nicely enough, though. I made an early stop at an AM/PM convenience store around the corner from my place to send off the package filled with my training materials and report for that BULATS qualification. Not too expensive to send it by courier...just 850 yen.
It was quite warm when I got off at Shibuya to head over to teach The Class Act and SIL. Everything went well there and I got all my back pay from the Prez at The Company tonight. I had the same guy from last week; still slow as molasses at the beginning. I keep remembering back to the day when I first started with him and the others almost 2 years ago. He was the best of a low lot...I wonder what the heck happened. Perhaps, the grammar caught up with him.
I just heard back from The Entrepreneur. According to the tone of his message, he didn't seem to be as enthused about "Revenge of the Sith" as The Doctor was. Different folks, different strokes I guess. And I got word back from Betty Boop about our proposed trip to Tony Romas. Looks like she and the OL will be good to go on the 11th of June.
I'd finish off my Star Wars memories here but I gotta prep for the long tomorrow as all my Tuesdays are.
A bit of rain the weather girl said...well, she was off by about a million times. We got hammered tonight with a good dousing of precipitation. Luckily, the downpour started just when I entered the station nearest The Company. I could tell that something was up meterologically when some pretty big blasts of cold air pushed their way into the warm and humid underground level via the stairways. Then at Iidabashi Station, I saw a whole bunch of commuters swarming around a stand selling cheap umbrellas...further evidence that there was a pretty steady rain going on above ground. Sure enough, when I got off my station, I saw several people waiting just inside the exits while the rains came on down. Luckily, I had my foldable with me.
The day started nicely enough, though. I made an early stop at an AM/PM convenience store around the corner from my place to send off the package filled with my training materials and report for that BULATS qualification. Not too expensive to send it by courier...just 850 yen.
It was quite warm when I got off at Shibuya to head over to teach The Class Act and SIL. Everything went well there and I got all my back pay from the Prez at The Company tonight. I had the same guy from last week; still slow as molasses at the beginning. I keep remembering back to the day when I first started with him and the others almost 2 years ago. He was the best of a low lot...I wonder what the heck happened. Perhaps, the grammar caught up with him.
I just heard back from The Entrepreneur. According to the tone of his message, he didn't seem to be as enthused about "Revenge of the Sith" as The Doctor was. Different folks, different strokes I guess. And I got word back from Betty Boop about our proposed trip to Tony Romas. Looks like she and the OL will be good to go on the 11th of June.
I'd finish off my Star Wars memories here but I gotta prep for the long tomorrow as all my Tuesdays are.
Sunday, May 22, 2005
Monday May 23, 7:54 a.m.
Now, this is something you don't hear too often...a marriage between a Japanese pop singer and an American jazz guitarist. Anri and Lee Ritenour have apparently tied the knot according to the former at a concert the night before. It must've been very sudden since checking the official websites for both have shown no news of the nuptials. Neither artist is exactly at the cutting edge of the pop culture zeitgeist: Anri's name is probably recognized by everyone over the age of 20 but her time was in the 80s, and Ritenour is purely at home in the jazz/AOR genre. Still kinda nice to find out.
It's not the first instance, though, of this kinda marriage. There is the famous joining of Ono and Lennon, but the jury's been out for decades whether Yoko is still considered a singer.
I see that "Revenge of the Sith" is raking in the big bucks. $150 million in its first weekend. I'm still very skeptical of its chances to unseat "Titanic", though. However, I've heard of repeat viewings...something that I didn't really hear for the last two prequels. Still, apparently even Star Wars wasn't enough to help the declining sales overall for movies this year.
Now, this is something you don't hear too often...a marriage between a Japanese pop singer and an American jazz guitarist. Anri and Lee Ritenour have apparently tied the knot according to the former at a concert the night before. It must've been very sudden since checking the official websites for both have shown no news of the nuptials. Neither artist is exactly at the cutting edge of the pop culture zeitgeist: Anri's name is probably recognized by everyone over the age of 20 but her time was in the 80s, and Ritenour is purely at home in the jazz/AOR genre. Still kinda nice to find out.
It's not the first instance, though, of this kinda marriage. There is the famous joining of Ono and Lennon, but the jury's been out for decades whether Yoko is still considered a singer.
I see that "Revenge of the Sith" is raking in the big bucks. $150 million in its first weekend. I'm still very skeptical of its chances to unseat "Titanic", though. However, I've heard of repeat viewings...something that I didn't really hear for the last two prequels. Still, apparently even Star Wars wasn't enough to help the declining sales overall for movies this year.
Sunday May 22, 8:30 p.m.
Got back from an afternoon with Movie Buddy and The Satyr. We caught "Kingdom of Heaven" with Orlando Bloom. Not a bad flick, though it was rather slow in parts and some suspension of disbelief was needed overall. I don't think this will be the movie to put Bloom onto the A-list quite yet although it will keep him a familiar face. Certainly, he won't be in any danger of being stereotyped as Legolas. It was good seeing Liam Neeson in what seems to be his third role as mentor-turned-martyr. Of course, he was Qui-Gonn in "The Phantom Menace" and he'll be the fight trainer for Bruce Wayne in "Batman Begins" (although I'm not sure if he dies in that one as well). My suspension of disbelief was needed when I saw this embittered young blacksmith turn into this shrewd warrior in what seemed to be a smattering of weeks. It was even more amazing that the hardened warriors under his command could accept him that quickly even with his father's pedigree. I was somewhat mystified by an uncredited Ed Norton's impersonation of Marlon Brando for the King's role...you got me in that one, but he made the most of his part. And for those Trekkies out there, Alexander "Dr. Bashir" Siddig had a fairly meaty supporting role as the Muslim warrior whose life was spared by Bloom's character. All in all, an OK flick.
Afterwards, the three of us spent a few hours in the Aussie pub in Shinjuku munching on fish n' chips while the latest K1 championships were going on. Some short and intense bouts followed by some long and somewhat tedious matches. I don't think I'll be a convert. It looks like The Satryr will become our third movie member, though. Not sure which movie we'll catch next together. Could be "Batman Begins" although we'll have to wait another month for that one.
Well, I've now got the drudgery of getting that training material filled out before sending it off tomorrow, prepping for my Monday lessons and then ironing.
Got back from an afternoon with Movie Buddy and The Satyr. We caught "Kingdom of Heaven" with Orlando Bloom. Not a bad flick, though it was rather slow in parts and some suspension of disbelief was needed overall. I don't think this will be the movie to put Bloom onto the A-list quite yet although it will keep him a familiar face. Certainly, he won't be in any danger of being stereotyped as Legolas. It was good seeing Liam Neeson in what seems to be his third role as mentor-turned-martyr. Of course, he was Qui-Gonn in "The Phantom Menace" and he'll be the fight trainer for Bruce Wayne in "Batman Begins" (although I'm not sure if he dies in that one as well). My suspension of disbelief was needed when I saw this embittered young blacksmith turn into this shrewd warrior in what seemed to be a smattering of weeks. It was even more amazing that the hardened warriors under his command could accept him that quickly even with his father's pedigree. I was somewhat mystified by an uncredited Ed Norton's impersonation of Marlon Brando for the King's role...you got me in that one, but he made the most of his part. And for those Trekkies out there, Alexander "Dr. Bashir" Siddig had a fairly meaty supporting role as the Muslim warrior whose life was spared by Bloom's character. All in all, an OK flick.
Afterwards, the three of us spent a few hours in the Aussie pub in Shinjuku munching on fish n' chips while the latest K1 championships were going on. Some short and intense bouts followed by some long and somewhat tedious matches. I don't think I'll be a convert. It looks like The Satryr will become our third movie member, though. Not sure which movie we'll catch next together. Could be "Batman Begins" although we'll have to wait another month for that one.
Well, I've now got the drudgery of getting that training material filled out before sending it off tomorrow, prepping for my Monday lessons and then ironing.
Saturday, May 21, 2005
Sunday May 22, 8:51 a.m.
Last time we were here, we were talking about me and my buddies finally catching the most eagerly anticipated movie in history in Shinjuku. Well, we finally did on that hot midnight in 1999. After that momentary annoying blip of seeing DiCaprio's mug for "The Beach", the show began. John Williams' theme graced the sound system for the first time in 16 years, my heart started pumping as forcefully as the brass section, and we were off. We saw a true Jedi lightsaber fight for the first time, we met a young Obi-Wan and an even younger Anakin Skywalker, we saw a podrace, we saw tons of CG, we met an even wiser mentor in the form of Qui-Gon Jinn (at least, initially...after all, he was the one who started this entire mess in the first place with this Chosen One garbage), and we were introduced to one of the most reviled characters in ANY movie.
Well, what happened after that was, after having time to think about it in the years since, rather weird. I mean, we left the theatre with applause being generously given to each of the prinicpal actors, the director and the music guy. However, as soon as we got out of the theatre, the five of us started using that unusually high-pitched tone of voice...the tone of voice that's used when one feels the need to rationalize something. Yup, we actually rationalized "The Phantom Menace". My definition of rationalize is to try to find something good in something that really wasn't....the Vader/Anakin analogy is purely coincidental. We all said that it was OK...really loved the final lightsaber battle, Qui-Gonn gave some great gravitas, and boy, how about that podrace? But I'll get back to that rationalization bit later.
It was 2:30 in the morning when all of us disgorged. The one thing I remember very well when we re-entered the heat and humidity was that the sky wasn't totally black. I'm not sure if it had been the combined effects of the neon lighting and the photochemical smog but the sky seemed a hazy purple. Paddy's girl had to take off...I gather that she didn't think it would be too good for her to stay out that late in Shinjuku. The menfolk decided to walk around a bit and then we ended far from the lights of Shinjuku and had a very late-night snack at a ramen shop. Afterwards, we made our way back to Shinjuku. By that time, the sun was starting to break through the haze...we weren't actually out walking all that long. The sun pops up at about 4 a.m. here in the summer. The debauchery of the past several hours was finally taking its toll on us, and at least one of us was looking for an all-night manga cafe to sleep it off. A few attempts were made but I guess a lot of the other Star Wars fans had gotten the idea sooner than we did and the places were packed. But by that time, the subways and trains had already gotten started so the group finally broke up thankfully to get some well-deserved shuteye. I, on the other hand, couldn't resist the hoopla and had to take the train down to Yurakucho, that other centre of movie theatres in Tokyo. It was about 6 a.m., and the day would represent the official day for the premiere of the movie. Sure enough, there was already a huge lineup from the elevators leading to the top floors where the theatres were all the way around two corners. Memories of my wait for "The Empire Strikes Back" flooded back to me at the sight. The lineup was truly a long one since the actual lines started from those top floors. I was wondering if the media would be there like they were at Shinjuku the previous night, but nada. I guess even the most intrepid of reporters need their beauty...or cynic's sleep. Well, I didn't bother waiting up for the press to come on down...sleep was just tugging at me too hard so I slogged my way back home and got several hours of sleep.
Now, back to that rationalization bit. I didn't come to the conclusion that "The Phantom Menace" was a mediocre movie overnight (insert slight contextual snicker here), but it was over a matter of months. I finally came to the realization that the critics weren't throwing sour grapes. The movie actually didn't deliver all the goods....just some bits here and there. In retrospect, the movie just seemed like one long road movie, one long film of political machinations and a film of an annoyingly cheery "Yippee!" kid. This was the boy who became one of the most iconic movie villains? Mind you, I saw this as a guy in his mid-thirties. There were probably kids Jake Lloyd's age who must have been positively charmed by young Anakin, and the movie in general. What kid wouldn't identify with a slave boy who suddenly became known as the Chosen One by an elite group of superpowered knights, who could become the first human to win a podrace, and who just blew up a massive Neimoidian cruiser with just one blast from his fighter. Pretty heady stuff for a 9-year-old.
However, I wasn't 9 years old when I caught TPM. I was a pretty jaded 34-year-old and what I saw didn't match the magic that I remember from the first two films. But perhaps Lucas had a point when he said that the Star Wars series was essentially made for kids. Kids, as far as I know, don't watch straight dramas, don't watch Ingmar Bergmann films and they don't rate the value of a movie on how good the acting is. But that doesn't explain how the first trilogy became such a huge success worldwide. Children may be our future but adults were also needed to push Star Wars into the movie legend that it is today. The adults of the late 70s and early 80s must've also seen some good in the original movies...some kinda magic. And TPM didn't quite show it despite the grand attempts by Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor. The first prequel was actually...boring. As one critic said, it lacked a heart. If the original Star Wars was Dorothy Gale, then TPM was the Tinman before his redemption. And next, we'll go into The Scarecrow of the series.
Last time we were here, we were talking about me and my buddies finally catching the most eagerly anticipated movie in history in Shinjuku. Well, we finally did on that hot midnight in 1999. After that momentary annoying blip of seeing DiCaprio's mug for "The Beach", the show began. John Williams' theme graced the sound system for the first time in 16 years, my heart started pumping as forcefully as the brass section, and we were off. We saw a true Jedi lightsaber fight for the first time, we met a young Obi-Wan and an even younger Anakin Skywalker, we saw a podrace, we saw tons of CG, we met an even wiser mentor in the form of Qui-Gon Jinn (at least, initially...after all, he was the one who started this entire mess in the first place with this Chosen One garbage), and we were introduced to one of the most reviled characters in ANY movie.
Well, what happened after that was, after having time to think about it in the years since, rather weird. I mean, we left the theatre with applause being generously given to each of the prinicpal actors, the director and the music guy. However, as soon as we got out of the theatre, the five of us started using that unusually high-pitched tone of voice...the tone of voice that's used when one feels the need to rationalize something. Yup, we actually rationalized "The Phantom Menace". My definition of rationalize is to try to find something good in something that really wasn't....the Vader/Anakin analogy is purely coincidental. We all said that it was OK...really loved the final lightsaber battle, Qui-Gonn gave some great gravitas, and boy, how about that podrace? But I'll get back to that rationalization bit later.
It was 2:30 in the morning when all of us disgorged. The one thing I remember very well when we re-entered the heat and humidity was that the sky wasn't totally black. I'm not sure if it had been the combined effects of the neon lighting and the photochemical smog but the sky seemed a hazy purple. Paddy's girl had to take off...I gather that she didn't think it would be too good for her to stay out that late in Shinjuku. The menfolk decided to walk around a bit and then we ended far from the lights of Shinjuku and had a very late-night snack at a ramen shop. Afterwards, we made our way back to Shinjuku. By that time, the sun was starting to break through the haze...we weren't actually out walking all that long. The sun pops up at about 4 a.m. here in the summer. The debauchery of the past several hours was finally taking its toll on us, and at least one of us was looking for an all-night manga cafe to sleep it off. A few attempts were made but I guess a lot of the other Star Wars fans had gotten the idea sooner than we did and the places were packed. But by that time, the subways and trains had already gotten started so the group finally broke up thankfully to get some well-deserved shuteye. I, on the other hand, couldn't resist the hoopla and had to take the train down to Yurakucho, that other centre of movie theatres in Tokyo. It was about 6 a.m., and the day would represent the official day for the premiere of the movie. Sure enough, there was already a huge lineup from the elevators leading to the top floors where the theatres were all the way around two corners. Memories of my wait for "The Empire Strikes Back" flooded back to me at the sight. The lineup was truly a long one since the actual lines started from those top floors. I was wondering if the media would be there like they were at Shinjuku the previous night, but nada. I guess even the most intrepid of reporters need their beauty...or cynic's sleep. Well, I didn't bother waiting up for the press to come on down...sleep was just tugging at me too hard so I slogged my way back home and got several hours of sleep.
Now, back to that rationalization bit. I didn't come to the conclusion that "The Phantom Menace" was a mediocre movie overnight (insert slight contextual snicker here), but it was over a matter of months. I finally came to the realization that the critics weren't throwing sour grapes. The movie actually didn't deliver all the goods....just some bits here and there. In retrospect, the movie just seemed like one long road movie, one long film of political machinations and a film of an annoyingly cheery "Yippee!" kid. This was the boy who became one of the most iconic movie villains? Mind you, I saw this as a guy in his mid-thirties. There were probably kids Jake Lloyd's age who must have been positively charmed by young Anakin, and the movie in general. What kid wouldn't identify with a slave boy who suddenly became known as the Chosen One by an elite group of superpowered knights, who could become the first human to win a podrace, and who just blew up a massive Neimoidian cruiser with just one blast from his fighter. Pretty heady stuff for a 9-year-old.
However, I wasn't 9 years old when I caught TPM. I was a pretty jaded 34-year-old and what I saw didn't match the magic that I remember from the first two films. But perhaps Lucas had a point when he said that the Star Wars series was essentially made for kids. Kids, as far as I know, don't watch straight dramas, don't watch Ingmar Bergmann films and they don't rate the value of a movie on how good the acting is. But that doesn't explain how the first trilogy became such a huge success worldwide. Children may be our future but adults were also needed to push Star Wars into the movie legend that it is today. The adults of the late 70s and early 80s must've also seen some good in the original movies...some kinda magic. And TPM didn't quite show it despite the grand attempts by Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor. The first prequel was actually...boring. As one critic said, it lacked a heart. If the original Star Wars was Dorothy Gale, then TPM was the Tinman before his redemption. And next, we'll go into The Scarecrow of the series.
Friday, May 20, 2005
Saturday May 21, 11:48 a.m.
Some 16 years passed between "Return of the Jedi" and "The Phantom Menace"...enough time for me to graduate from high school but barely graduate from university, do my first stint as an English teacher in Japan and come back to get my certificate in TESL, and then end up well into my second and current stint in Tokyo. Quite a long time for a person to develop from a callow youth to a cynical adult.
And yet, when Lucas had his first film for the new prequel set with a trailer to tantalize all those ol' fanboys back in late 1998, I used my newfound ability to download and spent a very long time (I was in my dialup days) trying to see this amazing trailer that had folks all over the US driving hours to theatres ONLY to see the trailer for the first Star Wars movie in more than a decade and a half and then leave the place without watching the main feature. Mind you, I can't remember what the features were but my impressions were that I couldn't blame them for the mass desertion. But indeed, Star Wars still had a major pull on these teens-turned-cogs of society. And the trailer indeed looked promising: those opening scenes of Naboo before the greatest movie theme in history blared out to the scene of Anakin's podracer flying by to a background of the new CG. And then some more fast and furious images before we got to see the villain of the year, Darth Maul and his double-lightsaber. I was so there!
Of course, the fall from grace was that much harder to believe when the movie came out to mixed reviews. This time, I would be watching Star Wars in Japan for the very first time, and for some reason, Star Wars would always be shown some 6 weeks after its premiere Stateside. I saw the hoards on the East Coast going nuts as they marched themselves into the theatres for the very first midnight showing, and then the reviews came out: apparently, the new film's title wasn't the only problem with the film. Reviewers started coming out with comments like "It was too kiddy" or "It had no heart" or "It's a lousy flick". It was difficult to take considering that there were some pretty high-powered actors cast such as Liam Neeson (Schindler's List), Natalie Portman (The Professional), Ewan McGregor (Trainspotting) and Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction).
But the word was out on the street...this new Star Wars didn't make the cut.
About a month later, there was a sneak preview for Episode I at the Tokyo International Forum, that huge architectural monstrosity that looked vaguely like the skeleton of a whale. I was pretty jealous to see all these invitees stream into one of the big theatres to catch it, despite what I'd heard...I still couldn't quite believe the bad reviews. George Lucas was spinning the stuff by saying that there had always been a sizable group of people who lambasted the previous series. That was news to me! Couldn't really find anyone matching that description in my youth.
Then, on a steamy Friday night in July1999, I went with Paddy, his girlfriend, The Scarecrow and a corporate student of mine and did the crazy thing of actually lining up 4 hours at the Shinjuku Koma Theatre for the very first midnight showing of "The Phantom Menace". I realized that the years had gone past since "Return of the Jedi" as all of us in our motely group were dressed up in suits and ties since we were coming after work. I was just dressed in my T-shirt and jeans as any Canadian high schooler would when I caught "Jedi". We still felt like freaks, though, since everyone else decided it was costume night and dressed up like their favourite Star Wars characters. There was a huge assortment of Jedi, a smattering of Sith, including those who did the brave and complicated thing of emulating the new Sith Lord on the block, Darth Maul. The theatre was on the 3rd floor of the building; we had to go all the way up to the roof which was 5 floors up. The lineup continued to snake around the graveled area like a centipede. It was still very warm although the sun was coming down but the folks didn't care; they were just happily engaging in lightsaber battles and taking pics as was I. The media certainly enhanced the circus atmosphere. There were choppers in the sky taking aerial shots of the mayhem down below, reporters and camera crews from all the major networks were doing spot interviews all over the place. None of them approached us in what I would deem a case of fashion bias.
Finally around 11:30 when the neon of Shinjuku was actually lighting everthing from below, the line started moving to a chorus of cheers. As usual, I was fretting that we wouldn't be able to fit and the line looked rather daunting as we went down the staircase. It almost looked like a surreal Hitchcock movie. Then, miraculously, we not only actually saw the doors to the theatre appear but we actually got in. Off to the side, there were some geeks with laptops on the benches typing furiously over the Net. I could only imagine what the messages were like:
11:35 - We've actually made it to the third floor where the theatre is. We're gonna go in!
11:37 - It's a circus atmosphere. You gotta be here, man! It's the dream of my life!
11:39 - I just puked in my Jawa cap! Awright!
I'll withhold any more imagined messages in deference to good taste.
Anyways, as the sartorial freaks we were, we got seated on StageLeft of the large theatre up several rows from the front. It was a bit too left of centre for my liking, but it isn't as if we had much of a say in the matter. I saw a couple of young ladies in Jedi robes having a mock duel which got me thinking those immortal words of William Shatner when he was in that classic "Saturday Night Live" sketch: GET A LIFE! However, it seemed like the entire Tokyo population of Jedi filled the seats. Anyone falling from the ceiling would've been sure to have been impaled on the fake sabers being waved about. Of course, the media followed the hordes in and the interviews were going on ad infinitum just right up to show time.
And when the lights finally went down, there was a huge chorus of cheers....a rather surprising thing for me since Japanese audiences very rarely get worked up for anything on the screen. But in any case...the lights went down, the curtains parted and the screen flickered on and the panting crowd and I finally got to see....Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Beach"?! Ahhh...I guess theatres have their bills to pay so the trailers had to come on. Of course, there was a lusty round of boos for Jack Dawson. "Hey, you turned down the role of Anakin...you evil actor!" was probably in the minds of every SW fan.
But luckily, it was only that trailer. Then, the Fox fanfare came up and the result was mayhem.
To be continued....
Some 16 years passed between "Return of the Jedi" and "The Phantom Menace"...enough time for me to graduate from high school but barely graduate from university, do my first stint as an English teacher in Japan and come back to get my certificate in TESL, and then end up well into my second and current stint in Tokyo. Quite a long time for a person to develop from a callow youth to a cynical adult.
And yet, when Lucas had his first film for the new prequel set with a trailer to tantalize all those ol' fanboys back in late 1998, I used my newfound ability to download and spent a very long time (I was in my dialup days) trying to see this amazing trailer that had folks all over the US driving hours to theatres ONLY to see the trailer for the first Star Wars movie in more than a decade and a half and then leave the place without watching the main feature. Mind you, I can't remember what the features were but my impressions were that I couldn't blame them for the mass desertion. But indeed, Star Wars still had a major pull on these teens-turned-cogs of society. And the trailer indeed looked promising: those opening scenes of Naboo before the greatest movie theme in history blared out to the scene of Anakin's podracer flying by to a background of the new CG. And then some more fast and furious images before we got to see the villain of the year, Darth Maul and his double-lightsaber. I was so there!
Of course, the fall from grace was that much harder to believe when the movie came out to mixed reviews. This time, I would be watching Star Wars in Japan for the very first time, and for some reason, Star Wars would always be shown some 6 weeks after its premiere Stateside. I saw the hoards on the East Coast going nuts as they marched themselves into the theatres for the very first midnight showing, and then the reviews came out: apparently, the new film's title wasn't the only problem with the film. Reviewers started coming out with comments like "It was too kiddy" or "It had no heart" or "It's a lousy flick". It was difficult to take considering that there were some pretty high-powered actors cast such as Liam Neeson (Schindler's List), Natalie Portman (The Professional), Ewan McGregor (Trainspotting) and Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction).
But the word was out on the street...this new Star Wars didn't make the cut.
About a month later, there was a sneak preview for Episode I at the Tokyo International Forum, that huge architectural monstrosity that looked vaguely like the skeleton of a whale. I was pretty jealous to see all these invitees stream into one of the big theatres to catch it, despite what I'd heard...I still couldn't quite believe the bad reviews. George Lucas was spinning the stuff by saying that there had always been a sizable group of people who lambasted the previous series. That was news to me! Couldn't really find anyone matching that description in my youth.
Then, on a steamy Friday night in July1999, I went with Paddy, his girlfriend, The Scarecrow and a corporate student of mine and did the crazy thing of actually lining up 4 hours at the Shinjuku Koma Theatre for the very first midnight showing of "The Phantom Menace". I realized that the years had gone past since "Return of the Jedi" as all of us in our motely group were dressed up in suits and ties since we were coming after work. I was just dressed in my T-shirt and jeans as any Canadian high schooler would when I caught "Jedi". We still felt like freaks, though, since everyone else decided it was costume night and dressed up like their favourite Star Wars characters. There was a huge assortment of Jedi, a smattering of Sith, including those who did the brave and complicated thing of emulating the new Sith Lord on the block, Darth Maul. The theatre was on the 3rd floor of the building; we had to go all the way up to the roof which was 5 floors up. The lineup continued to snake around the graveled area like a centipede. It was still very warm although the sun was coming down but the folks didn't care; they were just happily engaging in lightsaber battles and taking pics as was I. The media certainly enhanced the circus atmosphere. There were choppers in the sky taking aerial shots of the mayhem down below, reporters and camera crews from all the major networks were doing spot interviews all over the place. None of them approached us in what I would deem a case of fashion bias.
Finally around 11:30 when the neon of Shinjuku was actually lighting everthing from below, the line started moving to a chorus of cheers. As usual, I was fretting that we wouldn't be able to fit and the line looked rather daunting as we went down the staircase. It almost looked like a surreal Hitchcock movie. Then, miraculously, we not only actually saw the doors to the theatre appear but we actually got in. Off to the side, there were some geeks with laptops on the benches typing furiously over the Net. I could only imagine what the messages were like:
11:35 - We've actually made it to the third floor where the theatre is. We're gonna go in!
11:37 - It's a circus atmosphere. You gotta be here, man! It's the dream of my life!
11:39 - I just puked in my Jawa cap! Awright!
I'll withhold any more imagined messages in deference to good taste.
Anyways, as the sartorial freaks we were, we got seated on StageLeft of the large theatre up several rows from the front. It was a bit too left of centre for my liking, but it isn't as if we had much of a say in the matter. I saw a couple of young ladies in Jedi robes having a mock duel which got me thinking those immortal words of William Shatner when he was in that classic "Saturday Night Live" sketch: GET A LIFE! However, it seemed like the entire Tokyo population of Jedi filled the seats. Anyone falling from the ceiling would've been sure to have been impaled on the fake sabers being waved about. Of course, the media followed the hordes in and the interviews were going on ad infinitum just right up to show time.
And when the lights finally went down, there was a huge chorus of cheers....a rather surprising thing for me since Japanese audiences very rarely get worked up for anything on the screen. But in any case...the lights went down, the curtains parted and the screen flickered on and the panting crowd and I finally got to see....Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Beach"?! Ahhh...I guess theatres have their bills to pay so the trailers had to come on. Of course, there was a lusty round of boos for Jack Dawson. "Hey, you turned down the role of Anakin...you evil actor!" was probably in the minds of every SW fan.
But luckily, it was only that trailer. Then, the Fox fanfare came up and the result was mayhem.
To be continued....
Saturday May 21, 8:12 a.m.
"Revenge of the Sith" nets $50 million in 24 hours. Yup, I can say that it pretty much smashed the record.
Well, anyways, I've gone through my reminiscing over the first two Star Wars pictures. I guess I can go on to Episode VI. "Return of the Jedi" back in 1983 seemed to hit the trailers a bit quietly in my opinion. The reports that I'd gotten from classmates was that there were a lot of forests....hmmmm, forests....it didn't particularly hit me as being too exciting. The Star Wars environments were all about extremes: deserts cold and hot, gas and hard metal. But a forest? People picnic in them. Still, I made my way out once again to the University Theatre early one Saturday morning with two of my high school buddies. I don't recall much about the waiting process. And I guess we were all pretty happy with the end result initially. And certainly, the Toronto Star hailed the movie as "Magnificent!"
In retrospect, though, I rather find "Return of the Jedi" as a somewhat inferior wrap-up to the series up to that point. Unlike the previous sequel where I could list several high points, I really could only come up with two for this one: the scene where Luke and R2 execute their plan to rescue everyone on the Sail Barge, and the scene where Lando and the Rebel fleet fall into the Imperial trap. I'd heard rumours that Lucas at that point was burning out badly and just wanted to get Star Wars out of the way which may explain the crushing of three plotlines at the end of the movie: the exterior space battle, the interior lightsaber battle and...the Ewoks. They should've just jettisoned the Ewoks or had the Emperor blast the Endor moon away as the second Death Star's practice target..just like the first Death Star did with Alderaan.
There were a few more things that I had to gripe about "Jedi". One was the writing. Now, I'm not talking about the dialogue. I'm at peace with the fact that Star Wars dialogue can always fulfill my yearly requirements for cellulose...nahhh, that wasn't the problem. My problem was with how the writers concocted the plot. Time was either clumsily compressed or the crash Jedi training course was even "faster...more intense" than I'd thought. In either case, the story just wasn't very plausible for me. Even with the miracle Skywalker bloodline, I could not believe that a hotheaded farmboy from Tatooine who once had a thing for power converters could become a full-fledged well-adjusted Jedi in the time that it took for Leia and Lando to start their mission to rescue Han. Also, I'm sure Alec Guinness' eventual hatred for all things Star Wars was further aggravated by what he had to utter from his mouth about the "Jedi point of view". He looked rather haggard in his brief ghostly cameo...the script scared him that much, probably.
The final showdown was also a bit of a letdown. Though the Emperor scenes and the final lightsaber battle between Luke and Vader had their moments, the space battle over Endor seemed to pale, strangely enough considering the improved special effects, to the original Death Star battle. There wasn't all that much of a convincing patter amongst the different pilots and the fighters from both sides seemed to explode with just a blip. But then again, smashing three plotlines in 20 minutes can limit things somewhat.
Even the fateful decision by Vader to come back into the light came off as a bit hollow. I didn't even think that the John Williams score really supported that pivotal scene; I couldn't even remember if anyone in the audience had actually clapped. And then there was the ending with that annoying Yub Nub song. Sorry, a celebration on Endor just didn't do it for me although I'm sure that the Rebels had one bitchin' kegger up in those trees. It would've meant repeating the coronation scene from "A New Hope" but I would've preferred a similar thing on Coruscant. The 1997 re-issue of "Jedi" had the music changed but it wasn't very much of an improvement. However, it was nice to see Ben, Yoda and the reformed Anakin appear.
So, from a certain point of view, my viewing of good Star Wars movies ended in 1980. Hopefully, the dry spell may be over this year.
"Revenge of the Sith" nets $50 million in 24 hours. Yup, I can say that it pretty much smashed the record.
Well, anyways, I've gone through my reminiscing over the first two Star Wars pictures. I guess I can go on to Episode VI. "Return of the Jedi" back in 1983 seemed to hit the trailers a bit quietly in my opinion. The reports that I'd gotten from classmates was that there were a lot of forests....hmmmm, forests....it didn't particularly hit me as being too exciting. The Star Wars environments were all about extremes: deserts cold and hot, gas and hard metal. But a forest? People picnic in them. Still, I made my way out once again to the University Theatre early one Saturday morning with two of my high school buddies. I don't recall much about the waiting process. And I guess we were all pretty happy with the end result initially. And certainly, the Toronto Star hailed the movie as "Magnificent!"
In retrospect, though, I rather find "Return of the Jedi" as a somewhat inferior wrap-up to the series up to that point. Unlike the previous sequel where I could list several high points, I really could only come up with two for this one: the scene where Luke and R2 execute their plan to rescue everyone on the Sail Barge, and the scene where Lando and the Rebel fleet fall into the Imperial trap. I'd heard rumours that Lucas at that point was burning out badly and just wanted to get Star Wars out of the way which may explain the crushing of three plotlines at the end of the movie: the exterior space battle, the interior lightsaber battle and...the Ewoks. They should've just jettisoned the Ewoks or had the Emperor blast the Endor moon away as the second Death Star's practice target..just like the first Death Star did with Alderaan.
There were a few more things that I had to gripe about "Jedi". One was the writing. Now, I'm not talking about the dialogue. I'm at peace with the fact that Star Wars dialogue can always fulfill my yearly requirements for cellulose...nahhh, that wasn't the problem. My problem was with how the writers concocted the plot. Time was either clumsily compressed or the crash Jedi training course was even "faster...more intense" than I'd thought. In either case, the story just wasn't very plausible for me. Even with the miracle Skywalker bloodline, I could not believe that a hotheaded farmboy from Tatooine who once had a thing for power converters could become a full-fledged well-adjusted Jedi in the time that it took for Leia and Lando to start their mission to rescue Han. Also, I'm sure Alec Guinness' eventual hatred for all things Star Wars was further aggravated by what he had to utter from his mouth about the "Jedi point of view". He looked rather haggard in his brief ghostly cameo...the script scared him that much, probably.
The final showdown was also a bit of a letdown. Though the Emperor scenes and the final lightsaber battle between Luke and Vader had their moments, the space battle over Endor seemed to pale, strangely enough considering the improved special effects, to the original Death Star battle. There wasn't all that much of a convincing patter amongst the different pilots and the fighters from both sides seemed to explode with just a blip. But then again, smashing three plotlines in 20 minutes can limit things somewhat.
Even the fateful decision by Vader to come back into the light came off as a bit hollow. I didn't even think that the John Williams score really supported that pivotal scene; I couldn't even remember if anyone in the audience had actually clapped. And then there was the ending with that annoying Yub Nub song. Sorry, a celebration on Endor just didn't do it for me although I'm sure that the Rebels had one bitchin' kegger up in those trees. It would've meant repeating the coronation scene from "A New Hope" but I would've preferred a similar thing on Coruscant. The 1997 re-issue of "Jedi" had the music changed but it wasn't very much of an improvement. However, it was nice to see Ben, Yoda and the reformed Anakin appear.
So, from a certain point of view, my viewing of good Star Wars movies ended in 1980. Hopefully, the dry spell may be over this year.
Friday May 20, 10:44 p.m.
Another workweek closes. Pretty tired after getting that second workout at the gym this week. I'm starting to get recognized as a regular at that family restaurant, CASA, underneath the gym. The waitress smiled when I came in and immediately showed me to a table in the non-smoking area without asking me. I guess that'll make it the third place where I've been treated as a slightly elevated person, next to that one Starbucks I teach The OL at and of course, The Tea Room.
My workout at the gym started off a bit badly. I guess I'd been picking up the fat during the 48-hour period between outings. I apparently gained a kilo over Thursday much to my dismay. I also had to wade my way through a bunch of middle-aged women as they were waiting in front of the scale and blood pressure machine to enter the studio for their aerobics class. However, on the good side, I've noticed that the current weights I've been working at are starting to get easier. So I'll probably start hefting heavier weights from next week. So there is some progress.
Since I did have several hours to kill before the OL, I went over to Maruzen once again to see if I could pick up a new crossword puzzle book. Man, I've been flying through this issue. I picked that up and I came across the latest Playboy issue...this time with semi-celeb Bai Ling as the famous centrefold of the month. And she's in "Revenge of the Sith", too. Gotta be a first. Not too bad...although, obviously she was either quite cold or excited during the photo shoot (ahem!). Still, it's nice to see an Asian celeb grace the pages of Hef's magnum opus.
Speaking of the movie of the week, I picked up this week's issue of Entertainment Weekly with good ol' Torontonian, Hayden Christensen, right on the cover with his lightsaber. I take it that this will be the last mag I read to cover Star Wars. So, journalastically speaking, the hype is over. All that's left is just the waiting for July 9th, the premiere date of Episode III in Japan. It's too bad that this country couldn't get the simulataneous release treatment, but then again, I not only could get the vicarious thrills of watching the excitement over the media for May 19th, but I'll be able to do it all over again in 6 weeks. I kinda wonder if I'll do the same thing I did for "The Phantom Menace" and actually wait for the midnight showing. Not quite sure if I have the stamina for that anymore.
Fridays at the OL's Starbucks isn't too different from the Wednesdays. Pretty darn quiet..perhaps even a bit more quieter. The OL came in...it had been an entire month since I saw her last, a fact which surprised the both of us. I got a souvenir from her trip to Rhode Island in the form of a huge bag of mini-chocolate bars. I'm refraining from eating any of it at this late hour, instead going for a boring but healthier banana. The OL enjoyed her trip, her first by herself, but she realized that she still needs a lot of practice, especially in the listening department. She forlornly admitted that the only person she could understand in her 5 days there was her host mother. Come to think of it, she was pretty darn rusty today because of the layover; I had to use some kid gloves. At the end of our first regular Friday session, we got into the talk about heading out with Betty Boop for Tony Romas for a much better sparerib experience. Perhaps next Saturday may be the ticket.
Got home to find out that Paddy had sent over that information about my chances of getting permanent residency here. Hmmm...already a few snags to untangle, if they can...and that's a big IF. However, I've already sent him some of the information he wanted so the ball is rolling.
Well, I was gonna do some ironing but with all of the sudden info gathering for Paddy, I've decided to hold off until Sunday evening. I'm gonna get that rubdown at the clinic and pay off some bills. I'm halfway through the training for that examiner qualification for BULATS. I'll probably be tackling the writing stuff tomorrow night.
Another workweek closes. Pretty tired after getting that second workout at the gym this week. I'm starting to get recognized as a regular at that family restaurant, CASA, underneath the gym. The waitress smiled when I came in and immediately showed me to a table in the non-smoking area without asking me. I guess that'll make it the third place where I've been treated as a slightly elevated person, next to that one Starbucks I teach The OL at and of course, The Tea Room.
My workout at the gym started off a bit badly. I guess I'd been picking up the fat during the 48-hour period between outings. I apparently gained a kilo over Thursday much to my dismay. I also had to wade my way through a bunch of middle-aged women as they were waiting in front of the scale and blood pressure machine to enter the studio for their aerobics class. However, on the good side, I've noticed that the current weights I've been working at are starting to get easier. So I'll probably start hefting heavier weights from next week. So there is some progress.
Since I did have several hours to kill before the OL, I went over to Maruzen once again to see if I could pick up a new crossword puzzle book. Man, I've been flying through this issue. I picked that up and I came across the latest Playboy issue...this time with semi-celeb Bai Ling as the famous centrefold of the month. And she's in "Revenge of the Sith", too. Gotta be a first. Not too bad...although, obviously she was either quite cold or excited during the photo shoot (ahem!). Still, it's nice to see an Asian celeb grace the pages of Hef's magnum opus.
Speaking of the movie of the week, I picked up this week's issue of Entertainment Weekly with good ol' Torontonian, Hayden Christensen, right on the cover with his lightsaber. I take it that this will be the last mag I read to cover Star Wars. So, journalastically speaking, the hype is over. All that's left is just the waiting for July 9th, the premiere date of Episode III in Japan. It's too bad that this country couldn't get the simulataneous release treatment, but then again, I not only could get the vicarious thrills of watching the excitement over the media for May 19th, but I'll be able to do it all over again in 6 weeks. I kinda wonder if I'll do the same thing I did for "The Phantom Menace" and actually wait for the midnight showing. Not quite sure if I have the stamina for that anymore.
Fridays at the OL's Starbucks isn't too different from the Wednesdays. Pretty darn quiet..perhaps even a bit more quieter. The OL came in...it had been an entire month since I saw her last, a fact which surprised the both of us. I got a souvenir from her trip to Rhode Island in the form of a huge bag of mini-chocolate bars. I'm refraining from eating any of it at this late hour, instead going for a boring but healthier banana. The OL enjoyed her trip, her first by herself, but she realized that she still needs a lot of practice, especially in the listening department. She forlornly admitted that the only person she could understand in her 5 days there was her host mother. Come to think of it, she was pretty darn rusty today because of the layover; I had to use some kid gloves. At the end of our first regular Friday session, we got into the talk about heading out with Betty Boop for Tony Romas for a much better sparerib experience. Perhaps next Saturday may be the ticket.
Got home to find out that Paddy had sent over that information about my chances of getting permanent residency here. Hmmm...already a few snags to untangle, if they can...and that's a big IF. However, I've already sent him some of the information he wanted so the ball is rolling.
Well, I was gonna do some ironing but with all of the sudden info gathering for Paddy, I've decided to hold off until Sunday evening. I'm gonna get that rubdown at the clinic and pay off some bills. I'm halfway through the training for that examiner qualification for BULATS. I'll probably be tackling the writing stuff tomorrow night.
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Thursday May 19, 10:47 p.m.
Had a couple of experiences with red tape today. The one just now was a 30-minute odyssey through VISA card bureaucracy...at international phone rates. I had received my re-issue card and so decided to call up VISA Central to activate the darn thing. It's not as if I use the card all that much...it's just an emergency measure. I called up Central and ended up getting passed to four different people. One guy, in the Security branch, was rather mystified as to why I'd been passed along to his section. The first two ladies said that they had trouble verifying my identity...probably due to my rather unique living arrangements. In any case, I kept remarkably calm despite knowing that KDD was enjoying the yen rack up on my bill for next month. However, I did get a taste of what monolithic buck passing is like.
The second brush with bureaucracy was of the homegrown variety. The tax office called up today to point that there was yet another error on my return. And here I thought our little visit to the office 2 weeks ago cleared everything up...NOT. I knew the old guy was trying his darndest to explain my situation in Japanese, but I could only understand a fraction of his mumbo-jumbo. I could get that he is going to send me something, and once I got that from him, I just thought, "OK, whatever". I'll figure it out later. Most likely with my luck, my wonderful rebate is gonna turn into a hefty payment after all.
Ah...the hell with it. I'm not even gonna bother doing any more training tonight. I'm just a little too wired after my long phone call. I'm gonna clean up, take a shower and then hit the hay with my 6 million little buddies in the mattresses.
Had a couple of experiences with red tape today. The one just now was a 30-minute odyssey through VISA card bureaucracy...at international phone rates. I had received my re-issue card and so decided to call up VISA Central to activate the darn thing. It's not as if I use the card all that much...it's just an emergency measure. I called up Central and ended up getting passed to four different people. One guy, in the Security branch, was rather mystified as to why I'd been passed along to his section. The first two ladies said that they had trouble verifying my identity...probably due to my rather unique living arrangements. In any case, I kept remarkably calm despite knowing that KDD was enjoying the yen rack up on my bill for next month. However, I did get a taste of what monolithic buck passing is like.
The second brush with bureaucracy was of the homegrown variety. The tax office called up today to point that there was yet another error on my return. And here I thought our little visit to the office 2 weeks ago cleared everything up...NOT. I knew the old guy was trying his darndest to explain my situation in Japanese, but I could only understand a fraction of his mumbo-jumbo. I could get that he is going to send me something, and once I got that from him, I just thought, "OK, whatever". I'll figure it out later. Most likely with my luck, my wonderful rebate is gonna turn into a hefty payment after all.
Ah...the hell with it. I'm not even gonna bother doing any more training tonight. I'm just a little too wired after my long phone call. I'm gonna clean up, take a shower and then hit the hay with my 6 million little buddies in the mattresses.
Thursday May 19, 9:36 p.m.
Succumbed to the Dark Side, he has. The Doctor did make that midnight showing. He was not sorry he did....a happy camper he was. In fact, he's gonna try for a second viewing in the near future (read: today) to get some more details. And I got word from the Egg. In his capacity as one of the regional managers for a theatre chain, he told me that his complex had to add two more theatres to the other three he'd originally slated to cope with the demand for "Revenge of the Sith"....for a midnight showing. He hadn't even put on midnight showings for the previous two due to bad word-of-mouth. This may be the beginning as well as the ending of something big.
In more mundane news, I had MK for her regular lesson tonight. She's progressng steadily, and I was flattered that she remembered about my Star Wars mania.
Heard Anderson Cooper's report on the dust mites that inhabit mattresses in the millions. This probably means that I have the equivalent of the population of Toronto wriggling about underneath me every night. I did kinda wonder how I always felt like I was on a waterbed. Well, I guess something was creating waves after all.
Succumbed to the Dark Side, he has. The Doctor did make that midnight showing. He was not sorry he did....a happy camper he was. In fact, he's gonna try for a second viewing in the near future (read: today) to get some more details. And I got word from the Egg. In his capacity as one of the regional managers for a theatre chain, he told me that his complex had to add two more theatres to the other three he'd originally slated to cope with the demand for "Revenge of the Sith"....for a midnight showing. He hadn't even put on midnight showings for the previous two due to bad word-of-mouth. This may be the beginning as well as the ending of something big.
In more mundane news, I had MK for her regular lesson tonight. She's progressng steadily, and I was flattered that she remembered about my Star Wars mania.
Heard Anderson Cooper's report on the dust mites that inhabit mattresses in the millions. This probably means that I have the equivalent of the population of Toronto wriggling about underneath me every night. I did kinda wonder how I always felt like I was on a waterbed. Well, I guess something was creating waves after all.
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Thursday May 19, 9:10 a.m.
Well, in a few hours, the Force will be here supposedly for the final time. I'm wondering if my good friend, The Doctor, will succumb to the Dark Side and attend the midnight showing in Washington D.C. Taking on the role of Palpatine, I gently nudged him that I would if I could. I read Entertainment Weekly's review on it; not surprisingly, it didn't get a rave...just a B-. I think after all of the initial gushing reports, cooler and saner heads are prevailing and reviewers are re-discovering the hokey dialogue and wooden acting. Still, even the EW reviewer had to admit that it was great summer entertainment, which in a way then signifies that "Revenge of the Sith" has brought the saga full circle to the heady days of 1977 when "A New Hope" premiered. After all, that was what George Lucas had originally envisioned for his space opus: a modern love letter to the Flash Gordon serials of his youth with all of its cardboard characters and pithy scripts. I'm reminded of what Roger Ebert had said in his commentary over "Casablanca". He pointed out several plotholes in that classic, but then said that those weren't the point...the point was to tell a romantic story during wartime. And perhaps so it should go with Episode III. But (and I say this with a pretty heavy sigh), why did George feel so hellbent on writing such cringeworthy dialogue?
Well, continuing on with my reminisces of Star Wars, last time you were here you were reading up on my first encounter with "A New Hope". Now, let's get on with Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. The first I'd heard about this new Star Wars was during the last of my five or seven times that I'd seen ANH. Everyone had known that at the end of the movie, there would be a sneak preview for the new flick so of course everyone stayed. We got to see Darth Vader come out of his meditation chamber, the snowspeeders take on the Imperial Walkers, and then that notorious scene of Luke and Leia getting close to sample some forbidden love (which does make me wonder if Lucas had really truly mapped out the whole saga by that point). However, the winning scene was the one in which the Millenium Falcon swooped through the asteroid field leaving wrecked TIE fighters in its wake...one of the best scenes of the whole saga. Once the trailer was over, all the kids flew out in joy and started acting out their lightsaber battles with siblings or buddies. It was truly a happy moment.
Then , some months later came the hoopla as the premiere approached. There was an entertainment interview show called "City Lights" in Toronto which was hosted by the late Brian Linehan. Linehan was an entertainment journalist that comedian Martin Short satirized wickedly well as Brock Linehan (years before he discovered Jiminy Glick) due to his victim's informative but overextended questioning techniques. "City Lights" had a special on the upcoming Episode V, so you can imagine a lot of kids decided to stay indoors that Sunday evening. And suddenly, the Star Wars hype machine actually kicked in for the very first time. Obviously, there was nothing quite like that when ANH had first opened since it was an unknown commodity. Not anymore...lots of interviews with Mark, Carrie and Harrison.
And then, D-Day arrived. My brother and I took the subway and bus down from North York to downtown Toronto where the grand University theatre once stood and tried to get in to see the most awaited sequel in movie history up to that point on only its second day. Now, remember that this was the day before anything approaching DVD and Internet technology was available to the masses. There was none of this "Ach...I'll wait for it when it comes out on (name your format)". If you had decided not to see it for some insane reason, well, then you would've had to wait for literally years. And of course, teens and young folks with raging hormones couldn't wait. Anyways, we went down there, naively, in the early afternoon (some of you folks of my generation must now be laughing: "...in the early afternoon?! Idiots, they are!"). Well, we got our education pretty fast when we saw a scene of pandemonium to match any battle scene over the Death Star. Hundreds of people were waiting in a line which spiraled around the block like a broken Slinky. Theatre staff and police officers were out en masse with megaphones ordering the masses to be orderly as well as risking their lives by telling the stragglers that they would have to come back the next day since the entirety of the day's shows were all sold out. Well, my brother and I took a look for a bit and decided to abort the mission.
We made another attempt the next day, although I'm sure my mother wasn't too thrilled about that. However, we learned our lesson and got there in the morning although Mom drew the line at 10 a.m. I was quite nervous that our Mom's reverse curfew would once again mean another defeat. However, we actually did get in after a 2-hour wait in line. Strangely enough, the two of us were pretty patient...certainly, Yoda would've been proud. And in retrospect, I think the wait amongst fellow Star Wars fans enhanced the already-messianic anticipation. And when we finally got into our seats, and the lights came down...once again, the pandemonium erupted like Mt. Vesuvius. I was telling Shard a couple of nights ago that I haven't been to a movie since "Empire" that had so much audience participation: cheering, yelling and clapping. My moments of clarity were the opening credits, the reappearance of Vader, the Hoth battle, the asteroid field, Yoda's Force-assisted tow of Luke's X-wing fighter and of course, that great revelation by Darth Vader to the broken Luke. It would certainly go down as one of my most treasured cinematic experiences.
Before I finish up this segment of my Star Wars memories, I do have to mention about that notorious ABC Star Wars TV special based on the Wookie's holiday celebration of Life Day. Yup, I'm one of the very few who got to see it in its apparently one and only showing on TV. In retrospect, it was intriguing to watch Harrison Ford, a person who has hardly appeared on TV since his guest appearances on shows like "Love, American Style" or "Ironside", running around in his Han Solo outfit with Chewie. But I remember the special for two things, the debut of Boba Fett as an animated character, and Carrie Fisher's "rendition" of the Star Wars theme (!)...oh, my golly! I think that the original master must be lying deep in the vaults of the US government along side the Ark of the Covenant and an alien embryo.
Well, in a few hours, the Force will be here supposedly for the final time. I'm wondering if my good friend, The Doctor, will succumb to the Dark Side and attend the midnight showing in Washington D.C. Taking on the role of Palpatine, I gently nudged him that I would if I could. I read Entertainment Weekly's review on it; not surprisingly, it didn't get a rave...just a B-. I think after all of the initial gushing reports, cooler and saner heads are prevailing and reviewers are re-discovering the hokey dialogue and wooden acting. Still, even the EW reviewer had to admit that it was great summer entertainment, which in a way then signifies that "Revenge of the Sith" has brought the saga full circle to the heady days of 1977 when "A New Hope" premiered. After all, that was what George Lucas had originally envisioned for his space opus: a modern love letter to the Flash Gordon serials of his youth with all of its cardboard characters and pithy scripts. I'm reminded of what Roger Ebert had said in his commentary over "Casablanca". He pointed out several plotholes in that classic, but then said that those weren't the point...the point was to tell a romantic story during wartime. And perhaps so it should go with Episode III. But (and I say this with a pretty heavy sigh), why did George feel so hellbent on writing such cringeworthy dialogue?
Well, continuing on with my reminisces of Star Wars, last time you were here you were reading up on my first encounter with "A New Hope". Now, let's get on with Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. The first I'd heard about this new Star Wars was during the last of my five or seven times that I'd seen ANH. Everyone had known that at the end of the movie, there would be a sneak preview for the new flick so of course everyone stayed. We got to see Darth Vader come out of his meditation chamber, the snowspeeders take on the Imperial Walkers, and then that notorious scene of Luke and Leia getting close to sample some forbidden love (which does make me wonder if Lucas had really truly mapped out the whole saga by that point). However, the winning scene was the one in which the Millenium Falcon swooped through the asteroid field leaving wrecked TIE fighters in its wake...one of the best scenes of the whole saga. Once the trailer was over, all the kids flew out in joy and started acting out their lightsaber battles with siblings or buddies. It was truly a happy moment.
Then , some months later came the hoopla as the premiere approached. There was an entertainment interview show called "City Lights" in Toronto which was hosted by the late Brian Linehan. Linehan was an entertainment journalist that comedian Martin Short satirized wickedly well as Brock Linehan (years before he discovered Jiminy Glick) due to his victim's informative but overextended questioning techniques. "City Lights" had a special on the upcoming Episode V, so you can imagine a lot of kids decided to stay indoors that Sunday evening. And suddenly, the Star Wars hype machine actually kicked in for the very first time. Obviously, there was nothing quite like that when ANH had first opened since it was an unknown commodity. Not anymore...lots of interviews with Mark, Carrie and Harrison.
And then, D-Day arrived. My brother and I took the subway and bus down from North York to downtown Toronto where the grand University theatre once stood and tried to get in to see the most awaited sequel in movie history up to that point on only its second day. Now, remember that this was the day before anything approaching DVD and Internet technology was available to the masses. There was none of this "Ach...I'll wait for it when it comes out on (name your format)". If you had decided not to see it for some insane reason, well, then you would've had to wait for literally years. And of course, teens and young folks with raging hormones couldn't wait. Anyways, we went down there, naively, in the early afternoon (some of you folks of my generation must now be laughing: "...in the early afternoon?! Idiots, they are!"). Well, we got our education pretty fast when we saw a scene of pandemonium to match any battle scene over the Death Star. Hundreds of people were waiting in a line which spiraled around the block like a broken Slinky. Theatre staff and police officers were out en masse with megaphones ordering the masses to be orderly as well as risking their lives by telling the stragglers that they would have to come back the next day since the entirety of the day's shows were all sold out. Well, my brother and I took a look for a bit and decided to abort the mission.
We made another attempt the next day, although I'm sure my mother wasn't too thrilled about that. However, we learned our lesson and got there in the morning although Mom drew the line at 10 a.m. I was quite nervous that our Mom's reverse curfew would once again mean another defeat. However, we actually did get in after a 2-hour wait in line. Strangely enough, the two of us were pretty patient...certainly, Yoda would've been proud. And in retrospect, I think the wait amongst fellow Star Wars fans enhanced the already-messianic anticipation. And when we finally got into our seats, and the lights came down...once again, the pandemonium erupted like Mt. Vesuvius. I was telling Shard a couple of nights ago that I haven't been to a movie since "Empire" that had so much audience participation: cheering, yelling and clapping. My moments of clarity were the opening credits, the reappearance of Vader, the Hoth battle, the asteroid field, Yoda's Force-assisted tow of Luke's X-wing fighter and of course, that great revelation by Darth Vader to the broken Luke. It would certainly go down as one of my most treasured cinematic experiences.
Before I finish up this segment of my Star Wars memories, I do have to mention about that notorious ABC Star Wars TV special based on the Wookie's holiday celebration of Life Day. Yup, I'm one of the very few who got to see it in its apparently one and only showing on TV. In retrospect, it was intriguing to watch Harrison Ford, a person who has hardly appeared on TV since his guest appearances on shows like "Love, American Style" or "Ironside", running around in his Han Solo outfit with Chewie. But I remember the special for two things, the debut of Boba Fett as an animated character, and Carrie Fisher's "rendition" of the Star Wars theme (!)...oh, my golly! I think that the original master must be lying deep in the vaults of the US government along side the Ark of the Covenant and an alien embryo.
Wednesday May 18, 11:04 p.m.
Feeling rather sore all over after the workout at the gym. At least, I got one in this week. Maybe I'll be able to get one more in on Friday between lessons. The Hawaiian was fun as usual. We focused on intonation and pronunciation. She's still rather hung up on that little misunderstanding years ago when some waitress in Australia couldn't understand her order. And yet, I can't fault for her aspirations to linguistic perfection. Her lessons with me are now numbered since she's confirmed to go to Oz from late June. She may be away for anything from 1 to 3 months.
We had a bit of a mini-typhoon in Tokyo today. The winds were really blowing like crazy in Speedy's neighbourhood although the tall skyscrapers helped out in creating wind tunnels. Student 001 and I were able to smoothen out the lesson today so I can consider tonight's class as our first big success.
Speaking of storms, it feels like the calm before one in terms of the cinema. I'm in between the end of Star Trek (there's none of that SAVE ENTERPRISE stuff anymore...the site looks deserted now) and the explosion that will be the final Star Wars film tomorrow. Looks like Chip Guy will indeed be heading for the movie on opening day. Just couldn't resist, could he? Mind you, I'd join him if I were back in Canada. Shard and I had a brisk, informative talk on the Star Wars phenomenon.
I got a message from my friend up in Karuizawa. She was wondering if I were still interested in coming out to visit the family one May weekend. Well, it won't be this weekend since I'm already committed but I did propose the final weekend. Speaking of new families, I do have to make plans to visit the Chipmunk and her new son.
The winds are still whistling out there. I just chowed down on a Haagen-Dazs Berry Berry Parfait as a bit of a treat for getting two classes done. Well, I still have to get that training done for my certification as a test examiner tomorrow. I was hoping to get a massage in but I almost forgot that I do have to wait for that certified letter to come in.
Almost on the scale of the Oscar nomnation announcements, the annual tax reports of celebrities made themselves known this week all over the channels. There seems to be this nearly rabid desire to know how much money these actors and singers give each year. Well, the top tax-paying singer is Hikaru Utada which strikes me a bit strange since she's been pretty much a non-entity for the past couple of years aside from a recent PSX game commercial. Even stranger, the biggest taxpayer of all in Japan this year is a salaryman...just one of the cogs, albeit a gold-plated one. Apparently, the drone is in a performance-based job in an investment company which explains his rather surprising wealth.
I just heard that Kelsey "Frasier" Grammer is slated to become The Beast in the next X-Men. I guess it must've been that pompous vocabulary his character used since The Beast is also well known as a very erudite mutant. Now, we're gonna have three stentoriously voiced leads.
Feeling rather sore all over after the workout at the gym. At least, I got one in this week. Maybe I'll be able to get one more in on Friday between lessons. The Hawaiian was fun as usual. We focused on intonation and pronunciation. She's still rather hung up on that little misunderstanding years ago when some waitress in Australia couldn't understand her order. And yet, I can't fault for her aspirations to linguistic perfection. Her lessons with me are now numbered since she's confirmed to go to Oz from late June. She may be away for anything from 1 to 3 months.
We had a bit of a mini-typhoon in Tokyo today. The winds were really blowing like crazy in Speedy's neighbourhood although the tall skyscrapers helped out in creating wind tunnels. Student 001 and I were able to smoothen out the lesson today so I can consider tonight's class as our first big success.
Speaking of storms, it feels like the calm before one in terms of the cinema. I'm in between the end of Star Trek (there's none of that SAVE ENTERPRISE stuff anymore...the site looks deserted now) and the explosion that will be the final Star Wars film tomorrow. Looks like Chip Guy will indeed be heading for the movie on opening day. Just couldn't resist, could he? Mind you, I'd join him if I were back in Canada. Shard and I had a brisk, informative talk on the Star Wars phenomenon.
I got a message from my friend up in Karuizawa. She was wondering if I were still interested in coming out to visit the family one May weekend. Well, it won't be this weekend since I'm already committed but I did propose the final weekend. Speaking of new families, I do have to make plans to visit the Chipmunk and her new son.
The winds are still whistling out there. I just chowed down on a Haagen-Dazs Berry Berry Parfait as a bit of a treat for getting two classes done. Well, I still have to get that training done for my certification as a test examiner tomorrow. I was hoping to get a massage in but I almost forgot that I do have to wait for that certified letter to come in.
Almost on the scale of the Oscar nomnation announcements, the annual tax reports of celebrities made themselves known this week all over the channels. There seems to be this nearly rabid desire to know how much money these actors and singers give each year. Well, the top tax-paying singer is Hikaru Utada which strikes me a bit strange since she's been pretty much a non-entity for the past couple of years aside from a recent PSX game commercial. Even stranger, the biggest taxpayer of all in Japan this year is a salaryman...just one of the cogs, albeit a gold-plated one. Apparently, the drone is in a performance-based job in an investment company which explains his rather surprising wealth.
I just heard that Kelsey "Frasier" Grammer is slated to become The Beast in the next X-Men. I guess it must've been that pompous vocabulary his character used since The Beast is also well known as a very erudite mutant. Now, we're gonna have three stentoriously voiced leads.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Wednesday May 18, 8:00 a.m.
Had a talk with Shard. Looks like our current topic du jour is appropriately the Star Wars saga since the two of us had grown up in the shiny era of the first trilogy. Our conversation brought out some reminiscences in me about my experiences with the movies. My first encounter with "A New Hope" came from a small bit by gossip columnist Rona Barrett on "Good Morning America". She reported in that nasal twang of hers about this sci-fi motion picture which according to the clip had a walking carpet, a gold-plated robot and a pretty woman with a cinnabon bun for a hairstyle. The scene was the Millenium Falcon going up against the TIE fighters as it was escaping the Death Star.
I guess the scene, or the movie in general, didn't really impact on me. It would be years before movies became part of my social ritual, and I was a child of people who were really not into the theatre scene. Star Wars incredibly didn't draw me into its world for a good 2 years after its premiere. Between then and the time that I finally did catch it, I saw the iconic opening scene of the Imperial Star Destroyer going after the Tantive IV over Tatooine, the various appearances of Darth Vader and the droids on shows such as Donny & Marie, and of course there was the disco theme to Star Wars by Meco; actually, that was my first exposure to the theme song. I remember hearing the original John Williams version and thinking that "Wow! They actually came out with a classical version of the disco song!" And oh yes, Star Wars actually got nominated for 7 Oscars including Best Movie. It was so popular that the usually conservative Academy panel overlooked the bad acting. Well, I certainly did.
Well, I guess the hints over the 24 months finally got to me and I managed to drag my reluctant Dad to take me to the theater in a Toronto mall to see this movie. I think it still hadn't been re-titled "A New Hope" at that time. The theater boasted that the flick had been playing Star Wars for 2 years straight. And yet when we got there, there was a huge lineup snaking all around the floor. On these two observations, allow me a point. This was 1979, a time in which VCRs were still relatively rare and were about the size of coffee tables. There were no Blockbuster Video outlets, no Internet (even Al Gore was too young) and Lucas had a tight clamp about having his magnum opus out on the TV. It was no wonder that the theaters back then could play a movie that long. Nowadays, if a movie plays for even 2 months straight, it's considered a megahit.
I saw the movie and I was treated not only to a great visual fest but also to the wonders of audience participation. Everyone laughed and cheered like crazy. To this day, those last 20 minutes still get my heart rate up. Star Wars as a media-implanted endorphin. Gotta figure. Dad, on the other hand, wasn't particularly all that impressed. As I said, he was never a movie guy. Plus, he couldn't get past the sci-fi vocabulary. I guess being a parent can be a hellish experience.
Since then, I'd seen "A New Hope" about 5 times at the theater. There's something about watching it on the big screen that will always beat watching it even on the largest home theater screen. Still, I'm grateful for the DVDs that I have now.
Had a talk with Shard. Looks like our current topic du jour is appropriately the Star Wars saga since the two of us had grown up in the shiny era of the first trilogy. Our conversation brought out some reminiscences in me about my experiences with the movies. My first encounter with "A New Hope" came from a small bit by gossip columnist Rona Barrett on "Good Morning America". She reported in that nasal twang of hers about this sci-fi motion picture which according to the clip had a walking carpet, a gold-plated robot and a pretty woman with a cinnabon bun for a hairstyle. The scene was the Millenium Falcon going up against the TIE fighters as it was escaping the Death Star.
I guess the scene, or the movie in general, didn't really impact on me. It would be years before movies became part of my social ritual, and I was a child of people who were really not into the theatre scene. Star Wars incredibly didn't draw me into its world for a good 2 years after its premiere. Between then and the time that I finally did catch it, I saw the iconic opening scene of the Imperial Star Destroyer going after the Tantive IV over Tatooine, the various appearances of Darth Vader and the droids on shows such as Donny & Marie, and of course there was the disco theme to Star Wars by Meco; actually, that was my first exposure to the theme song. I remember hearing the original John Williams version and thinking that "Wow! They actually came out with a classical version of the disco song!" And oh yes, Star Wars actually got nominated for 7 Oscars including Best Movie. It was so popular that the usually conservative Academy panel overlooked the bad acting. Well, I certainly did.
Well, I guess the hints over the 24 months finally got to me and I managed to drag my reluctant Dad to take me to the theater in a Toronto mall to see this movie. I think it still hadn't been re-titled "A New Hope" at that time. The theater boasted that the flick had been playing Star Wars for 2 years straight. And yet when we got there, there was a huge lineup snaking all around the floor. On these two observations, allow me a point. This was 1979, a time in which VCRs were still relatively rare and were about the size of coffee tables. There were no Blockbuster Video outlets, no Internet (even Al Gore was too young) and Lucas had a tight clamp about having his magnum opus out on the TV. It was no wonder that the theaters back then could play a movie that long. Nowadays, if a movie plays for even 2 months straight, it's considered a megahit.
I saw the movie and I was treated not only to a great visual fest but also to the wonders of audience participation. Everyone laughed and cheered like crazy. To this day, those last 20 minutes still get my heart rate up. Star Wars as a media-implanted endorphin. Gotta figure. Dad, on the other hand, wasn't particularly all that impressed. As I said, he was never a movie guy. Plus, he couldn't get past the sci-fi vocabulary. I guess being a parent can be a hellish experience.
Since then, I'd seen "A New Hope" about 5 times at the theater. There's something about watching it on the big screen that will always beat watching it even on the largest home theater screen. Still, I'm grateful for the DVDs that I have now.
Tuesday May 17, 11:24 p.m.
Another long day comes to an end. I'm lucky in that the rest of my week won't be as crammed. After my usual stint at the juku, I sometimes wonder if I'm like the Wizard of Oz in that my teaching is just a lot of smoke and mirrors with my combination of sense of humour and actual education. For each of my classes, I have to rely on that combo to get through the night. The boss and I had a little talk about my last student, The Bohemian. As I've said before, I think the lad is a good kid but he's also a bit of a space cadet. The boss concurred with my assessment about him not being the most decisive of fellows. I found out tonight that he's planned a trip to Australia, his very first outside of this country. Good thing for him...hopefully, it'll be a major turning point in his life.
Looks like some of the gang back at home is getting revved up for the big Star Wars premiere on Thursday. The Entrepreneur, Chip Guy and the Egg will be heading for a viewing this weekend. Apparently, Chip may not be able to hold on even that long. Hmmm....I'm not sure what his wife will say about that.
The Satyr just contacted me by chat to talk about the Sunday movie with Movie Buddy and myself. I'll have to get in contact with MB to confirm things up.
Would like to get some work done but I'm just getting tired. I'll just write the lesson reports and then hit the shower.
Another long day comes to an end. I'm lucky in that the rest of my week won't be as crammed. After my usual stint at the juku, I sometimes wonder if I'm like the Wizard of Oz in that my teaching is just a lot of smoke and mirrors with my combination of sense of humour and actual education. For each of my classes, I have to rely on that combo to get through the night. The boss and I had a little talk about my last student, The Bohemian. As I've said before, I think the lad is a good kid but he's also a bit of a space cadet. The boss concurred with my assessment about him not being the most decisive of fellows. I found out tonight that he's planned a trip to Australia, his very first outside of this country. Good thing for him...hopefully, it'll be a major turning point in his life.
Looks like some of the gang back at home is getting revved up for the big Star Wars premiere on Thursday. The Entrepreneur, Chip Guy and the Egg will be heading for a viewing this weekend. Apparently, Chip may not be able to hold on even that long. Hmmm....I'm not sure what his wife will say about that.
The Satyr just contacted me by chat to talk about the Sunday movie with Movie Buddy and myself. I'll have to get in contact with MB to confirm things up.
Would like to get some work done but I'm just getting tired. I'll just write the lesson reports and then hit the shower.
Monday, May 16, 2005
Tuesday May 17, 8:11 a.m.
Kinda rushing right now so the probability of spelling errors wil be rather high. Just thought I'd warn you...
Got word from across the Pacific that The Doctor is mulling an invitation to join his buddies Stateside to catch the very first midnight showing of "Revenge of the Sith" on Thursday morning. He's mulling it over?!
Had a nice little chat with The Entrepreneur about the last tape of "Enterprise" he'd sent me. He's just sent me another one with the series finale; apparently, it's quite awful...not a particularly great way to end up the Star Trek canon. But then again, look at the downers that wrapped up "Seinfeld" and "X-Files".
Will be leaving the mattresses to air out this morning since it seems that the rest of the week will be rather wet.
Kinda rushing right now so the probability of spelling errors wil be rather high. Just thought I'd warn you...
Got word from across the Pacific that The Doctor is mulling an invitation to join his buddies Stateside to catch the very first midnight showing of "Revenge of the Sith" on Thursday morning. He's mulling it over?!
Had a nice little chat with The Entrepreneur about the last tape of "Enterprise" he'd sent me. He's just sent me another one with the series finale; apparently, it's quite awful...not a particularly great way to end up the Star Trek canon. But then again, look at the downers that wrapped up "Seinfeld" and "X-Files".
Will be leaving the mattresses to air out this morning since it seems that the rest of the week will be rather wet.
Monday May 16, 9:41 p.m.
My computer has been acting up again. I'm kinda wondering if its days are numbered. I've defragged it, put Ad-Aware on it, had it go through the Symantec, and checked for viruses. Still, I've got that periodic crash that makes me have to reboot thereby costing me an extra 5 minutes. May not be much time but when one deals with the Internet...
It was pretty much the same-ol, same-ol today although I almost strangled that lone student at The Company for his slowness. I may be sounding a bit harsh here but it's been 18 months now. I should be getting performance than I did today.
I received a message from Kei. Looks like she came across my changepurse in her car last night. I noticed that my little pocket full of coins went missing when I was at Urayasu Station fumbling for some loose change for the trip home. Since it was just loose change and the pocket itself wasn't worth all that much, I wasn't too put out that I'd lost it. However, I appreciate that it's still safe and sound.
Well, gotta prep for tomorrow's lessons.
My computer has been acting up again. I'm kinda wondering if its days are numbered. I've defragged it, put Ad-Aware on it, had it go through the Symantec, and checked for viruses. Still, I've got that periodic crash that makes me have to reboot thereby costing me an extra 5 minutes. May not be much time but when one deals with the Internet...
It was pretty much the same-ol, same-ol today although I almost strangled that lone student at The Company for his slowness. I may be sounding a bit harsh here but it's been 18 months now. I should be getting performance than I did today.
I received a message from Kei. Looks like she came across my changepurse in her car last night. I noticed that my little pocket full of coins went missing when I was at Urayasu Station fumbling for some loose change for the trip home. Since it was just loose change and the pocket itself wasn't worth all that much, I wasn't too put out that I'd lost it. However, I appreciate that it's still safe and sound.
Well, gotta prep for tomorrow's lessons.
Sunday, May 15, 2005
Monday May 16, 7:40 a.m.
Well, caught that two-parter episode from "Enterprise", one of the last shows before the Star Trek franchise before it finally becomes one with history. There must be that extra oomph that cancellation brings which makes a Star Trek producer pull out all the stops to pull off a fun episode. All I can say is that I think Linda Park got compensated for her character's relative inaction this season from "In a Mirror, Darkly". And I'm sure all those basement-ridden Trekkies like us have a new goddess (Empress?) to pray to, so move aside Seven of Nine. Some rather interesting trivia concerning the actress on Wikipedia...she's dating the actor who played the villain, Shinzon, from Star Trek: Nemesis.
Seeing that Star Trek had its final episode last Friday, and noting that Star Wars will be having its supposed final chapter on the screen from this Thursday, it's interesting to note the parallels between the two soon-to-be retired franchises. Both started out...Star Trek all the way back in 1966, Star Wars in 1977...as these shiny new entities full of hope for the future. And the love was reciprocated in full measure by ravenous fans over the decades. Now, the two rather limp back home. Although the final Star Wars movie is getting some unexpected kudos and a nice slap on the back, this prequel trilogy has hardly been a success. Meanwhile, Star Trek, aside from an extremely devoted core group, has largely been ignored at the box office and in the Nielsens for a number of years. It looks like the baton has been passed to the likes of Babylon 5 and the rejuvenated Battlestar Galactica...not a bad thing. In the meantime, we can wait a while before Trek and Wars come back from hibernation.
Well, caught that two-parter episode from "Enterprise", one of the last shows before the Star Trek franchise before it finally becomes one with history. There must be that extra oomph that cancellation brings which makes a Star Trek producer pull out all the stops to pull off a fun episode. All I can say is that I think Linda Park got compensated for her character's relative inaction this season from "In a Mirror, Darkly". And I'm sure all those basement-ridden Trekkies like us have a new goddess (Empress?) to pray to, so move aside Seven of Nine. Some rather interesting trivia concerning the actress on Wikipedia...she's dating the actor who played the villain, Shinzon, from Star Trek: Nemesis.
Seeing that Star Trek had its final episode last Friday, and noting that Star Wars will be having its supposed final chapter on the screen from this Thursday, it's interesting to note the parallels between the two soon-to-be retired franchises. Both started out...Star Trek all the way back in 1966, Star Wars in 1977...as these shiny new entities full of hope for the future. And the love was reciprocated in full measure by ravenous fans over the decades. Now, the two rather limp back home. Although the final Star Wars movie is getting some unexpected kudos and a nice slap on the back, this prequel trilogy has hardly been a success. Meanwhile, Star Trek, aside from an extremely devoted core group, has largely been ignored at the box office and in the Nielsens for a number of years. It looks like the baton has been passed to the likes of Babylon 5 and the rejuvenated Battlestar Galactica...not a bad thing. In the meantime, we can wait a while before Trek and Wars come back from hibernation.
Sunday May 15, 9:24 p.m.
Well, today was pretty much all for Tokyo Disney Sea. The Beauty Pair picked me and Mr. Eccentric up at Urayasu Station this morning and we drove over to the south of the city where Disneyland, some major hotels and this relatively new complex called Disney Sea were located. To lift one line from a song that was playing all day in the amusement park, the area was definitely "a whole new world". It's interesting that within a proverbial stone's throw away from my motley neighbourhood, one of the largest and most famous playgrounds in the world exists with a huge amount of tourist infrastructure as backup.
Disney Sea was certainly not a cheap trip, though. I paid out 5500 yen for a one-day passport, about the same as the one to get into Disneyland. What is the difference between the two places? Well, they're within close proximity of each other but they're separate entities. However, don't let the "Sea" in the title fool you into thinking that this is the Marineland version of The Magic Kingdom. There are no Willies or Flippers to be found anywhere there. Basically, it is just a more adult version of the original which means that there are fewer roller coasters and more shows and classier food fare. Still, I saw a lot of families along with the couples traversing within its gates. And some of the Disney characters were still ever present gladhanding the customers, although some of the little ones were traumatized by the sights of these overgrown animals greeting them.
The theme park has based its raison d'etre on the recent musical Disney productions such as "The Little Mermaid" and "Aladdin". However, apparently Paramount was allowed to get its "Indiana Jones" ride squeezed in. Despite the relative dearth of rides, all four of us, as a first experience, tried "Stormrider", a virtual ride similar but better than the creaky ol' Star Wars ride that used to be the big hit at Tokyo Disneyland so many years ago. Basically, it's us in a fuselage of a Spruce Goose flying through a massive hurricane with a Han Solo at the controls. During the thrilling ride, we even had water sprayed in through the supposed cracks in the hull.
Then, we tried the "Indiana Jones" ride. For a guy who hasn't been on a roller coaster in many, many years, the speed and the twists and turns definitely got my blood running. Luckily, the final drop wasn't much of one so I didn't have to show everyone what I'd had at McDonalds for breakfast. The Pair and Eccentric did try it a second time later on in the day, but I wisely demurred. However, after that first attempt, we did go on a kiddy roller coaster. I still majorly clenched for the 30 seconds I was on it.
After that, it was all gravy though. We went out to lunch at what was basically an overdressed cafeteria called "Vulcania". However, the food was surprisingly good and not too badly priced considering what amusement park food usually goes for. All four of us had the course set of stir-fry chicken and veggies, shrimp in chili sauce, spicy sesame chicken salad and a chocolate roll cake. During lunch, I told them about the food museums in Ikebukuro; looks like we may have another excursion there in the not-so-distant future.
The afternoon was spent looking at shows. First off, we saw a small musical performance based on "The Little Mermaid"...a lot of cool puppets and trapeze artists flying around to the tunes from the famous movie. Then, we went to see a 3-D magic show based on "Aladdin"combining live action with an evil magician (who closely resembled Orson Welles at his most bombastic) and a quite convincing show with the Robin Williams-inspired Genie on the screen. The 3-D effects were quite spectacular.
After that show, all four of us hitched a ride on the merry-go-round. Eccentric and I had another thing in common aside from the fact that we're both confirmed bachelors. Neither of us had ridden on a carousel before. Very pleasant, and safe, ride.
We did some more walking around and took a breather inside a cafe. It was just as well since a thundersquall brought things to a halt for about an hour. When we got the all-clear from the P.A., we made our way to the "Indy" ride again where as I'd said previously, the Pair and Eccentric decided to give the mine shaft another try. When they came out surprisingly early, we walked all the way back near the entrance and into the Jazz Age zone...which was done up as a mockup of ol' 30s Broadway. The rest of the group was getting pretty tuckered out by then; I was also a bit tired but I seemed to have been better...probably because I walk like this almost every day as part of my job.
We caught the final show, "Encore" at a mockup of a musical theatre. This was the show that impressed me the most. I was at first a little mystified that this show was just 30 minutes with 60-minute breaks in between. However, after watching it, I can understand why the cast needs the longer down time. You know those musical segments in the Oscars where all of the nominees for Best Song are interpreted through dance and music? Well, that usually takes about 10 minutes at most and looks pretty darn difficult even watching from TV. Now, just mulitiply that by 3 and you've got "Encore". You have 20 hoofers and crooners on the stage singing their lungs out and dancing their legs off as they pay tribute to just about every musical hit from Broadway for 30 minutes non-stop. It was a whirlwind history of the musical from the 20s to the 70s as sets changed rapidly but as smoothly as silk. They had homages to "Oklahoma", "42nd Street", "Crazy for You" and "West Side Story" among others. It was a great incentive to try and catch these musicals in their entirety after what these guys managed to pull off. I was almost disappointed that the show ended but I think if any of these guys had continued any longer, there would have been need for ambulances and a cardiac unit.
Well, after 6 hours on our feet, we made our way back to the car and drove off to the nearest Denny's for what turned out to be a pretty full dinner considering that we'd quite a bit to eat for lunch. Still, it was a very pleasant two hours of talk. The Denny's was in a strip mall....a strip mall. I'd never seen one of those places here in Japan. It just looked like someone had pulled one from Toronto and threw it down near Disneyland. Only one difference....no teen gangs to worry about.
Got home tonight. Mom contacted me and complained slightly that I haven't been home. What else is new? Apparently, I'm getting three...count 'em, three...boxes of Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix. Mom always liked to send three when one would do. Plus, I'm getting a dress shirt. I also got a phone message from the juku boss...she just acknowledged that she'd gotten my response to her request but she'd like me to call her back. It probably won't be tonight so I'll just send her a message. And then, I got another message from The Coffeemaker thanking me for coming last night. And finally, I got my first message from The Satryr; it was addressed to both me and Movie Buddy. Hopefully, he can tag along for the next movie outing.
Well, got me some lesson planning to do...
Well, today was pretty much all for Tokyo Disney Sea. The Beauty Pair picked me and Mr. Eccentric up at Urayasu Station this morning and we drove over to the south of the city where Disneyland, some major hotels and this relatively new complex called Disney Sea were located. To lift one line from a song that was playing all day in the amusement park, the area was definitely "a whole new world". It's interesting that within a proverbial stone's throw away from my motley neighbourhood, one of the largest and most famous playgrounds in the world exists with a huge amount of tourist infrastructure as backup.
Disney Sea was certainly not a cheap trip, though. I paid out 5500 yen for a one-day passport, about the same as the one to get into Disneyland. What is the difference between the two places? Well, they're within close proximity of each other but they're separate entities. However, don't let the "Sea" in the title fool you into thinking that this is the Marineland version of The Magic Kingdom. There are no Willies or Flippers to be found anywhere there. Basically, it is just a more adult version of the original which means that there are fewer roller coasters and more shows and classier food fare. Still, I saw a lot of families along with the couples traversing within its gates. And some of the Disney characters were still ever present gladhanding the customers, although some of the little ones were traumatized by the sights of these overgrown animals greeting them.
The theme park has based its raison d'etre on the recent musical Disney productions such as "The Little Mermaid" and "Aladdin". However, apparently Paramount was allowed to get its "Indiana Jones" ride squeezed in. Despite the relative dearth of rides, all four of us, as a first experience, tried "Stormrider", a virtual ride similar but better than the creaky ol' Star Wars ride that used to be the big hit at Tokyo Disneyland so many years ago. Basically, it's us in a fuselage of a Spruce Goose flying through a massive hurricane with a Han Solo at the controls. During the thrilling ride, we even had water sprayed in through the supposed cracks in the hull.
Then, we tried the "Indiana Jones" ride. For a guy who hasn't been on a roller coaster in many, many years, the speed and the twists and turns definitely got my blood running. Luckily, the final drop wasn't much of one so I didn't have to show everyone what I'd had at McDonalds for breakfast. The Pair and Eccentric did try it a second time later on in the day, but I wisely demurred. However, after that first attempt, we did go on a kiddy roller coaster. I still majorly clenched for the 30 seconds I was on it.
After that, it was all gravy though. We went out to lunch at what was basically an overdressed cafeteria called "Vulcania". However, the food was surprisingly good and not too badly priced considering what amusement park food usually goes for. All four of us had the course set of stir-fry chicken and veggies, shrimp in chili sauce, spicy sesame chicken salad and a chocolate roll cake. During lunch, I told them about the food museums in Ikebukuro; looks like we may have another excursion there in the not-so-distant future.
The afternoon was spent looking at shows. First off, we saw a small musical performance based on "The Little Mermaid"...a lot of cool puppets and trapeze artists flying around to the tunes from the famous movie. Then, we went to see a 3-D magic show based on "Aladdin"combining live action with an evil magician (who closely resembled Orson Welles at his most bombastic) and a quite convincing show with the Robin Williams-inspired Genie on the screen. The 3-D effects were quite spectacular.
After that show, all four of us hitched a ride on the merry-go-round. Eccentric and I had another thing in common aside from the fact that we're both confirmed bachelors. Neither of us had ridden on a carousel before. Very pleasant, and safe, ride.
We did some more walking around and took a breather inside a cafe. It was just as well since a thundersquall brought things to a halt for about an hour. When we got the all-clear from the P.A., we made our way to the "Indy" ride again where as I'd said previously, the Pair and Eccentric decided to give the mine shaft another try. When they came out surprisingly early, we walked all the way back near the entrance and into the Jazz Age zone...which was done up as a mockup of ol' 30s Broadway. The rest of the group was getting pretty tuckered out by then; I was also a bit tired but I seemed to have been better...probably because I walk like this almost every day as part of my job.
We caught the final show, "Encore" at a mockup of a musical theatre. This was the show that impressed me the most. I was at first a little mystified that this show was just 30 minutes with 60-minute breaks in between. However, after watching it, I can understand why the cast needs the longer down time. You know those musical segments in the Oscars where all of the nominees for Best Song are interpreted through dance and music? Well, that usually takes about 10 minutes at most and looks pretty darn difficult even watching from TV. Now, just mulitiply that by 3 and you've got "Encore". You have 20 hoofers and crooners on the stage singing their lungs out and dancing their legs off as they pay tribute to just about every musical hit from Broadway for 30 minutes non-stop. It was a whirlwind history of the musical from the 20s to the 70s as sets changed rapidly but as smoothly as silk. They had homages to "Oklahoma", "42nd Street", "Crazy for You" and "West Side Story" among others. It was a great incentive to try and catch these musicals in their entirety after what these guys managed to pull off. I was almost disappointed that the show ended but I think if any of these guys had continued any longer, there would have been need for ambulances and a cardiac unit.
Well, after 6 hours on our feet, we made our way back to the car and drove off to the nearest Denny's for what turned out to be a pretty full dinner considering that we'd quite a bit to eat for lunch. Still, it was a very pleasant two hours of talk. The Denny's was in a strip mall....a strip mall. I'd never seen one of those places here in Japan. It just looked like someone had pulled one from Toronto and threw it down near Disneyland. Only one difference....no teen gangs to worry about.
Got home tonight. Mom contacted me and complained slightly that I haven't been home. What else is new? Apparently, I'm getting three...count 'em, three...boxes of Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix. Mom always liked to send three when one would do. Plus, I'm getting a dress shirt. I also got a phone message from the juku boss...she just acknowledged that she'd gotten my response to her request but she'd like me to call her back. It probably won't be tonight so I'll just send her a message. And then, I got another message from The Coffeemaker thanking me for coming last night. And finally, I got my first message from The Satryr; it was addressed to both me and Movie Buddy. Hopefully, he can tag along for the next movie outing.
Well, got me some lesson planning to do...