May 24

The Matrix: Re-Bloated

I think this is the first time in my brief blog history that I've ever titled an entry. However, I think this one merits it, and as it suggests, it doesn't bode well.

I had the opportunity to see the year's most anticipated movie (or at least the first half, anyways) tonight at a sneak preview in Roppongi Hills with a few friends (the sequel doesn't start officially in Japan until June 7). And what did I get?

Well, I'd like to preface my review with an analogy. Imagine a budding French chef getting platitudes from a customer over a nicely made salad one day. The chef, then thoroughly smitten, proceeds to whip up an entire 5-course meal based on the energy of that positive review by the next evening. In the same way, Matrix: Reloaded is a victim of its own success. And perhaps, though unfair, that famed Wachowski reticence to grant interviews may now look a bit pretentious to the public.

Special effects do not a movie make. No, this is not a Yoda statement but an unoffiicial warning to directors of blockbusters. In 1999, the original Matrix had some eye-popping visuals, the now-ubiquitious "bullet time", paired with a relatively simple story of one man destined to defeat a great foe. Plot sound familiar? It also describes the original Star Wars and its success.

Though the SFX in the second movie are still impressive, and in a couple of sequences are truly jaw-dropping, the initial buzz of excitement of "bullet time" is now gone, thanks to multiple "homages" in other movies and the Matrix's own DVD sales. We are now accustomed to the 360-degree wraparound; we are now all too used to wirework under the tutelage of Chinese masters. The story should have been first and foremost, and delivered clean and crisp.

Instead, we were saddled with an overly long exposition at the beginning (although it was nice to see veteran actor Anthony Zerbe in a rare good-guy role), too many characters doing too many irrelevent things, a very bulky conversation between Neo and the Architect, and finally, a muddled cliffhanger ending. My feeling was that the Warchowskis tried to stuff a story arc equivalent in length to the first 6 years of the X-Files into one motion picture. Even in the you-can-do-anything world of the Matrix, certain laws of movie physics must still apply, and you just can't cram that much mythos without thoroughly confusing and frustrating the majority of the viewing public. Basically, the story was gasping to catch up with the effects, and the audience was trailing a distant third.

Certain scenes were absolutely unnecessary: Zion's tribute to Studio 54, Neo's so-called test battle with the Oracle's bodyguard (if Neo could just walk through a bunch of kids to see Gloria Foster bake cookies in the first movie, why is this battle needed?), the enitre Merovingian/Persephone sequence, and the Agent Smith hallway battle scene. My opinion is that if a movie is going to be over 2 hours, there had better be a good reason; the above scenes don't justify the length.

Again, my problem with the movie is in story not acting. Keanu Reaves is a poor actor but he fits his role as Neo, the quiet, action type. The other performers such as Carrie-Anne Moss and Laurence Fishburne also carry off their roles competently. I was never expecting any Oscar awards for this movie outside of SFX

As I left the theatre tonight, most of my colleagues (only one of the group of six gave a thumbs-up) were very unimpressed, and I heard mutterings of "terrible" from other viewers. I'd heard that Laurence Fishburne flipped and flipped the bird at the premiere last week when reporters told him of the very mixed reviews. Sorry, Larry...but I think this time, the media may have a point. Keanu Reaves came down to Tokyo yesterday to promote the flick, and I had thought that perhaps he would come down and make an appearance at the sneak preview. He didn't, but in retrospect, I think it was a good thing. He probably would've become the pitiful victim of that classic show of faint praise: polite applause.

Y'know, leaving Matrix: Reloaded tonight reminded me of that time after I had seen The Phantom Menace almost 4 years ago. We saw it and left it trying to gamely justify all the good points of the movie. I couldn't speak for my companions on that night, but I knew that there was a stone of dissatisfaction in the pit of my stomach. However, The Phantom Menace still got a lot of good applause over the end credits and we did try to defend its merits. Tonight, the Matrix sequel couldn't even muster a mother's love from the audience.

Now I look forward to Matrix: Revolutions (or Matrix Resignation) with a sense of some foreboding.

May 22

I've finished another week of part-timing; still doing OK. In fact, I've gotten a couple of tips for potential students, one of which could be quite lucrative. But it looks like I will have to put on the dog-and-pony show for the parents before I get accepted.

Tomorrow I meet up with an old buddy from home for lunch and then I meet up with some former students for dinner. Not a bad way to spend the weekend.

May 20

It's raining several breeds of cats and dogs right now, so I'm very fortunate that I didn't decide to put out the laundry. I had the umbrella but it didn't do my feet and shoes too good. I had to wade through a rather huge pool of water on a stair landing heading for the train station.

On the flip side, I was quite flattered to get a former colleague-turned-singer/songwriter's debut CD. Me and another former teacher managed to get our names on the credits. Now, if the guy can get a million-seller out of his project, perhaps I can think of royalty payments.

Haven't heard from that lady about whether she'll take me on. Looks like it will be a no-go. Fair enough...I'm not into chintziness.

May 19

It was a nice weekend. Met up with some friends last night for dinner in Ginza, one-third of which was pregnant. One guy and I felt a bit left out as the two other couples were swapping child-rearing techniques. The Italian food was quite good although the atmosphere would've been better served if the conversation hadn't swerved into the various uses of dried placentae.

Went on a spending binge yesterday as well. Perhaps it wasn't the wisest move considering that I had just received my final paycheck as a full-timer last week but hey: 1) I've managed to save quite a bit over the last few months, and 2) I don't think I'll have this opportunity again for a long time. I ended up buying some CDs including the Chicago soundtrack, plus a couple of DVDs: Ocean's 11 and the Bond movie, From Russia With Love. I just find the writing in Ocean's 11 so super slick.

Had my first class as a part-timer this afternoon at my student's place. All I can say is that I hope the rest of my classes are as cordial as this one was (fat chance!). In any case, I'm looking at one potential opportunity going down the tubes because she wants me to lower my fee. Look, the lady lives with her parents and she probably gets bonuses at her company...in other words, she shouldn't be suffering too much by paying me what I'm worth.

May 15

Well, I'm done like dinner. I finished my final class as a full-timer tonight. As of tomorrow, I'm a bohemian teacher. Hmmm...to celebrate, I had some ramen. No big crying scenes, no spotlight with farewell speech. Teachers and staff know that I'll be around, albeit in a reduced role, and the students don't know of my transititon...yet. Sure enough, my idiotic managment left me several frantic calls, fearful that I would be leaving them high and dry for a class that I had already said that I would finish up at the end of May.

What to do about tomorrow? Well, I guess to celebrate my newfound freedom, I'll take a leisurely walk around Tokyo. Let's see what's out there.

Looks like The Matrix Reloaded is getting a lot of mixed reviews. Of course, the diehard fans will blame the media for setting the hype bar way too high, and the critics are blaming the same hype and the almighty buck for the supposed emptiness of the movie. In any case, I'll still catch it.

May 13

Looks like my departure from my school will unfortunately be slightly bittersweet. I taught the high class; the "disappointed" student is back to normal but now another student who has had a history of histrionics has now given me the cold shoulder over a supposedly innocuous topic. The fact that she has lashed at several teachers over the past year has at least given me some measure of relief but I certainly do not want to leave on a sour note. Well, in any case, I'll be done by this time tomorrow.

May 12

Had lunch today with my two students who will soon become my private students from next week in a hotel restaurant. The whole deal was almost in danger of derailment because of my stupid boss' scheduling me a class in the afternoon when I had told him a couple of weeks previously that there would be special farewell lunch for me today. My boss is either incompetent or devious with my bet on the latter. However, it wasn't too difficult to resolve; I just sent him a nasty note and just went ahead with my lunch. I learned that standing up to them gets things resolved quickly; it's just that it's all so unnecessary.

Last night heading to sleep, we were rocked by a fairly powerful earthquake. It measured around 4 on the Shindo scale; the Kobe earthquake was a 7. My room felt like it was next to a subway tunnel during rush hour. Well, aside from a few CDs threatening to fall off the shelves, there was no other damage.

As an update on that "disappointed" student, it looks like things have cooled down a bit. We didn't get too impassioned today but I am wondering if that so-called dinner on Friday that the class had been clamouring about previously will actually come to pass.

May 11

Shibuya was its usual youthful, manic mass of humanity around Hachiko the Dog today. Met up with my girlfriend to satisfy her craving for curry. For some reason, Indian, Thai and Italian are the big favorites for something ethnic. We went to the chain restaurant called Samrat where they had a lunch special of 2 curries and free nan for a paltry 1000 yen. Nice and spicy.

Then we ended up going to a cafe where I managed to spill some of my Chai Latte all over my white t-shirt much to my girlfriend's mirth. I think I was quite lucky; I could imagine a lot of other women who would've berated their clumsy others. My significant other after having her bellylaugh, went out to a GAP and got me a new tee which was on sale.

Earlier this morning, I caught a Trey Parker (South Park) film called Orgasmo. Pretty funny and I could find out pretty quickly which characters on South Park he voiced. I got a kick from the small running gag when anyone muttered the epithet, "Jesus". Trey, who was playing a devout Mormon, suddenly freezes, whips around and yells "Where?!"

May 10

After nearly a whole day at home, it was nice to get out to see some people today. Mind you, my wish came true all too well as I hit that famous waiting spot in front of Studio Alta in Shinjuku. I'd probably say that the population density reached about 1 million per square centimetre at about 6 p.m. when I met up with some former students and one teacher to say goodbye to another alumnus on his way to America for college It was the usual karaoke-and-izakaya bit, but it was good catching up with the guys. Since their graduation a few months back, one has married and one has divorced.
The organizer of today's party had brought her cousin along, a newly-arrived 18-year-old from the wilds of Kagoshima making a start of it in Tokyo. I aged quite a bit with him around. We didn't speak much but we did go back to the station together. During the 5-minute walk, he was quite polite....a sure sign of filial piety.

Before heading out, I saw another old SF chestnut: V. Good golly, I remember when this NBC miniseries had made some waves 20 years ago with its Nazi allegory. And it came in between the first Star Wars trilogy and the Star Trek TV franchise. It's of course dated since then with the 80s production values and fashion, soundtrack veering between brass bombast and porn film romance and hackneyed acting approaching Dynasty levels. Jane Badler definitely illustrated the first three letters of her last name in both performance and character. However, it was interesting to see Robert Englund, aka Freddy the Evil from The Nighmare on Elm Street series, as a meek, adorable Visitor, and also Sarah Douglas, just fresh from playing another alien menace in Superman 2, as the Squadron Leader Pamela.

May 9

The countdown has begun on my full-time career at my school. I finished my final Friday; I'll be finsihing up next Thursday and then from that day forward I'll be coming in just on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Well, at least things have been interesting. My class yesterday morning turned out to be one of my most interesting and uncomfortable ones in my 5 years there.

I had the top-level reading class in which the topic of genetics was broached. So as a good teacher, I asked everybody what is inherited down through the generations. The usual answers of eye color, hair color and temperament came up, but then our most fluent and oddball student cried out, "Earwax!" Apparently in Japan, people categorize their earwax as either wet or dry. The dry guys apparently are much stronger. I guess in a country where one of the more intimate acts of love involves the girl picking out the flecks of detritus from the boyfriend's aural orifices with a long wooden stick, I gather that earwax does have a special meaning. All I got was "Too Much Information!"
Also, things turned a bit weirder in the second hour when she suddenly started asking me about my confirmed bachelorhood at my ripe old age. I let out that I enjoyed my Fortress of Solitude and that I have different sides to my personaltiy. Well, at once, she went into shock that I would even admit that I'm not always the happy-go-lucky professional at home that I am at school. Apparently, she dwelt on that all throughout the day. Good golly, lady, let it go!

Well, if I'm lucky enough, I may get to see Matrix Reloaded a bit sooner than most everyone else since my good friend may be able to pick up some tickets for the sneak preview on the 24th. Keeping my fingers crossed!

May 5

Well, it looks like I'm batting 2 for 2 on the movie watch. Caught X2 with a friend on Saturday and I wasn't disappointed. It was quite a bit better than the original which always seemed to be an appetizer than a main course. X2 is definitely a main course. The best battle scene was the introduction of Nightcrawler; he made better mincemeat of the Secret Service than Zod and his wrecking crew from Superman 2. However, that brings me to my main gripe about the movie; the ensuing battles didn't seem to be all that definitive...not like a final superfight between one hero and one villain; I guess it's just the weak thing of having so many characters duking it out. I'm sure that every actor wanted his/her time in the sun. On that note, Anna Paquin got the short end of the deal.
For all those longtime X-fans, there were a lot of nods to the comic book plots, including one major scene which came all the way back from the Chris Claremont era. That still surprised me. I may catch it again on the big screen but most likely I'll buy the DVD. After a spectactular $85 million opening, I think it's pretty much a done decision that X3 is on the boards. Probably will be the Dark Phoenix Saga.

Also caught an old chestnut of a sci-fi show this afternoon. On the old satellite channels, I saw a movie version of Space: 1999. It was a very ham-fistededly smashed concoction of the first 2 episodes of the Gerry Andersen show with Martin Landau...long before his notice as an Oscar-winning character actor.
1999 certainly looks a lot more dated now in the real 2003. For one thing, the moon is still in orbit. All joking aside, though, it was interesting to see this temporary antidote to Star Trek fever with then-current special effects almost on a par with 2001: A Space Odyssey and the camaraderie among Landau, ex-wife Barbara Bain and Barry Morse. Also, the music was very operatic, pre-John Williams. My main gripe about it is that the idiots who concocted this TV-movie version tore out the great opening credits. It almost makes me want to buy the DVD set.

May 2

Entering a long weekend and the last leg of Golden Week. Started off on a cinematic note by finally catching CHICAGO. I'm happy to say that it was indeed worth the 1800 yen. All of the actors looked very accomplished in their transformation into singers and dancers; I must admit that Renee Zellwegger is quite the chameleon. From plummy, plump Bridget Jones to slinky sassy Roxie Hart.

May 1

Well, May Day is here, so about perhaps half of industry is taking a day off while the other half simmer in resentment. My day was quite "on" in contrast with the off day yesterday.

Finally visited that super hyped Roppongi Hills, and yes, it's big. It is also not your family or suburban teen-oriented mall. It is a place for the yuppies, which definitely doesn't include me. However, I did enjoy browsing through the place. It feels like Aoyama, Harajuku and Omotesando stacked up like pancakes: lots of boutiques and oh-so-chic restaurants which will probably demand a VISA card just to get into. Even took a look at Wolfgang Puck's Bar and Grill. Looks very Californian but the prices took me down a few pegs.
When I finally got out of the complex, I was able to figure out where the whole thing was in relation to Roppongi in general. It covers what used to be the ol' WAVE CD shop, a place that I used to frequent quite a lot years ago. And now it's been totally erased...somethng to age me further.

Well, Viirgin Cinemas at Roppongi Hills will be premiering X-Men 2 tomorrow night with the full release on Saturday. Hugh Jackman aka Wolverine will be stopping by for the 9:30 show. And I'm hoping that I'll get to see it then as well. It's always nice when we get simulaneous releases with that of the US. Usually we have to wait at least a few months before a hit movie sees the light of day here on this side of the Pacific. It kinda feels like arriving at a pizza party when all but three tepid slices have been eaten.

April 30

One of those slightly off-kilter days at work. Each of my classes today had an almost successful quality except for some sort of "wrench" which screwed things up a bit. My first class, for example, had one student griping about the overly complex nature of the vocabulary given, my second class just didn't feel perfectly right, my model lesson dealt with two very low students and my final class today which was the final class of the course had a boring chapter and two bored students. However, in the case of this last one, things turned out OK; we agreed to pack up early and then they treated me to dinner up in the exclusive 21st-floor cafeteria.

Another disappointment: looks like my brother and sister-in-law won't be making it out to Japan after all. It isn't so much that Toronto's SARS menace has prevented them from coming over, but the fact that the other participants in the big meeting happen to be from countries where the supervirus is still a huge menace. Basically, my brother would've been playing to a very large, empty room.

Well, not too busy tomorrow. Just two classes and then with luck, I may finally see Chicago and check out the famed Roppongi Hills.

April 28

Light Monday, not surprising considering that we're entering Golden Week. Well, sort of...

I wanted to catch Chicago today but sure enough, I ended up misreading the movie schedules so I got there a full half-hour after it had already begun. Talking with a fellow teacher who had seen it this weekend, I now really want to see it more than ever.

April 27

Let's see....Toronto has undergone a weakened economy and the SARS virus. Well, trouble surely comes in 3s as His Royal Lowness, Mel Lastman decided to speak in the ancient tongue of gibberish to everyone around the world via CNN's Aaron Brown. I didn't see the interview directly but I did see the transcript in Canada's Globe and Mail. I mean, I just had to look in awe at what this man had attempted to say. He actually made George Bush sound like a Rhodes Scholar. The last time I experienced such ineptitude in public office was Prime Minister Mori a couple of years back.

Well, Hotel Haruhiko is now operational. One of my good friends from back home is over here right now on his 1-week vacation. He also brought tribute from back home: Dare cookies, Reese's Peanut Cups and the aforementioned Globe and Mail. The hotel should be quite busy throughout May now that it looks likely everyone will come over here after all. Loopy Lastman may have made himself an international laughingstock but he did get the WHO's attention.

Also met up with a former student of mine who is now living in Buenos Aires but is back for a short vacation. As expected, she was stumbling over some of her words and mixing up Japanese, English and Spanish.

If everything works out, I should be catching Chicago tomorrow during one of my large gaps in my schedule.

April 24

Well, the WHO decided to declare Toronto a no-go zone because of SARS. Of course, the Canadian government blasted WHO calling it an overreaction....and besides, all that tourist money would be lost. Now I'm wondering if all those expected visits over here will also be curtailed.

Another long day in the salt mines. I finished off another one-day Intensive of very little necessity. Thanks to some good planning, I managed to pull one out of the fire although I had one smart ass who put a bit of spice into the pudding. I kinda wish that the manager hadn't scheduled me for that 2-hour night class; I may as well have telephoned in my performance there due to exhaustion. There's no respite tomorrow; I've got 6 hours of teaching to do, but at least the classes are good.

Tomorrow is also the big opening of this humoungous supercomplex in the foreigner's quarter of Roppongi. Called Roppongi Hills, this Tower of Babel is a glass and metal monolith overlooking the seedier establishments and contains 4 shopping malls and Wolfgang Puck's first restaurant this side of the Pacific. He may be on every Hollywood celeb's rolodex back Stateside, but he's an unknown over here; hopefully, his goat cheese pizzas strike a chord with the Japanese. Also, Virgin Cinemas have set up a mulitplex there. Branson himself showed up for the inaugural opening last night with the local showbiz types.

April 23

I've been searching for hotels for my brother and sister-in-law when they come over in mid-May. Anything under 12000 yen a night in Tokyo is about as rare as common sense in the Japanese government.

Well, McDonalds entered a new phase today by debuting its new hip and trendy menu which includes the Premium Mac. Tried it out and decided that the only premium thing about it is the price. Just a slightly bigger burger topped with a gooey wasabi mayonnaise sauce.Thanks, I'll stick with the Big Mac.

April 22

The week has been going by OK so far. The weather is still unusually cool for a Tokyo Spring.

My future relationship with my school is slowly starting to take shape. I just started my new course which will be the only company class that I will have once I go part-time in mid-May. Also, my manager wanted to talk with me about something but since I had to take off for the new class, he waved it off for another day; I caught a slight glower on his visage...if I've done something to offend him...GREAT!

It also looks like I'm having quite the reunion in May. A number of friends, a former student and my brother and sister-in-law will be haunting this side of the Pacific in the next few weeks. I gather that even SARS hasn't stopped them.

April 20

Looks like it was a flip-flop weatherwise this weekend. The rain came on Sunday instead of Saturday.

After a nice day with the girlfriend, I caught up with an old friend back from Canada and had dinner at an izakaya that we usually haunt. Basically, our appetites got the better of us as we devoured fried chikcen, sashimi, eel, custard and beer over 4.5 hours. At the same time, we managed to get into international politics, a topic that I like to let go on but rarely get the chance to due to my work. It was good to give my thoughts about the US and the war.

It also looks like I might face a small onslaught of guests in the coming month, just in time for my semi-retirement. Along with a couple of friends, I may be seeing my brother here on business; it would be the first time he's set foot in Japan in over 20 years.