Saturday May 7, 10:38 p.m.
A Guilty-To-The-Point-Of-Capital-Punishment Pleasure: Morning Musume
It's ironic that I've put up this title as one of my rare titles for any of my entries since I'm currently listening to Internet jazz radio. However, this is something that's been clawing at my nerves to get out into cyberspace for several weeks now, and besides, one reason I put up this blog was to give my own insights on pop culture. As well, I'm not the only one talking about them. Just go to Jpop.com and see all the global fans. As for why I've put up the qualifying title of guilty pleasure...well, one time I came across an article on Puffy Amiyumi which also described them as a guilty pleasure so I figured Morning Musume would be even more so of one.
Well, first off, what is Morning Musume? Well, it's this girl group...you might say it's the Japanese female version of Menudo. They've been around since late 1997 which makes them veteran hardhitters in the J-Pop industry, an industry notorious for very short shelf lives. The membership has ranged from a low of 5 (basically the group in the beginning) to a high of about 16 (sounds like a Celsius weather report, I know). Right now, they seem to be hovering around 10.
Years before all this American Idol stuff was even a grain of an idea back in the States, there was a show called "Asayan" on TVTokyo on Sunday nights which featured singers and occasionally scouting trips to find the next big thing. Well, way back in those late 90s, a contest was on to find the next big female rock vocalist. Thousands of girls of all ages tried out, and of course, there was one winner. However, the organzier of the contest, Tsunku (former lead vocalist of 90s pop/rock band Sharan-Q) took pity on 5 of the close losers. He brought them together and challenged them to work together to come up with a single and to sell at least 50,000 copies by a time limit. If they were successful, Tsunku would agree to nurture their new career as a unit, later to be called Morning Musume.
Well, MM's saga began as this Survivor-like videotaped tale shown over the weeks on Asayan as the girls tried to get their single sold to that golden number of 50,000. Ah...but I should introduce the original lineup:
Yuko Nakazawa: a former OL moonlighting as an enka singer with a bit of a punkish attitude. She was the very first leader of the group and is still very much the den mother.
Asuka Fukuda: a diminutive babyface who supposedly had the best voice in the group at the time. Of course, she would be the first to leave the group never to be seen again.
Kaori Iida: the tall, lanky beauty who has often shown a predilection to mentally enter the Twilight Zone.
Aya Ishiguro: Frankly, I never knew much about her except that she left just when the group started to make a mark on Japanese mass media as a whole due to the fact that she got preggers thanks to the drummer from a rock band.
Natsumi Abe: The cute farm-fresh one who, in another life, could've become the ideal flight attendant for JAL.
Well, needless to say the girls did hit the 50,000 mark in a very special episode of Asayan with all of the joy and tears that come with a media-run success story. It's the type of stuff that Japanese viewers love: rags-to-riches after going through a tough trial. That tough trial was not just trying to sell all those discs but a Fame-like boot camp in some small temple up in the woods, a feature which would become a ritual for all those other Musume who have entered through the years.
Over their nearly 8 years of existence in the Japanese eyes and in fanboys' wet dreams, the girls were able to keep their heads above water with some minor hits but it wasn't until late 1999, after their best vocalist had just quit the group and a new kid by the name of Maki Goto, this striking if gawky girl of 13, came into MM that the group hit the big time with their biggest hit so far, "Love Machine". A disco-ish upbeat number, "Love Machine" became the song of choice in the karaoke booths and at the year-end parties for that year. Since that time, in terms of media exposure, the girls have never looked back, although their subsequent songs have never really hit those rarefied heights since then. Since then, the girls have been regular fixtures on TV, of course doing their bit on the music shows, but also they've appeared on variety programs and, even for a few of them, serial dramas.
Now, where does the guilty pleasure part come in? Well, despite all their success, a music connoisseur or purist would probably pray to the porcelain god on listening to any of their stuff. The girls aren't particularly talented individually or in a group, and their songs would probably make anything by Britney or any of the American Idol rejects sound deep. I shudder at the carnage that Simon Cowell would bring down upon the girls if he were to hear them. But then again, that guilty pleasure aspect is just for me....a Canadian. Here in Japan, lack of talent either in singing or songwriting has never been much of an obstacle in the music biz.
What has won MM their devoted following, not just domestically but internationally is that their songs have enough of a hook to get a certain number of folks...including me. I mean, I've been a J-Pop fan since the late 70s...if you think the idol stuff that's out now is strange, you should hear what came out back then...but hear it, I did...to mimic a certain green Jedi...and like it, I still do. Go fig! Also, Tsunku, that great Svengali, played his cards right by recruiting a whole variety of girls of differing ages (although the upper limit for the active group seems to be the early 20s) and personalities. The fans on JPop.com could go on all year talking and analyzing the various members to death. At one point, the girls had as many as three or four shows on prime time TV. They are now down to just their one flagship show on Sundays at 11:30 on TVTokyo but it still gets the post-game treatment by the fans on the Net as if it were Sunday football in the States. And the other touch of genius was created by Tsunku and the littlest Musume, Asuka Fukuda. The former brought in new members, and the latter just plain left. So from that, the annual tradition of "graduating" and "recruitment" like in a real school was instituted which added further Net gossip and curiosity. If there's one thing that fans love to do, it's to compare. Trekkies compare TNG with the original series, James Bond fans compare the different actors who have played the iconic secret agent. Well, in Morning Musume, the fans talk about the different "generations". And in what is now seen as a PR masterstroke, the coming and going of members have brought about as much fanfare to their fans as this year's transition in Popes. I think the going Latin expression for a MM addition ought to be "Habeas Musume-um"...we have a new Musume.
Speaking of this school analogy, perhaps the better word is "academy". I get the feeling that the MM enterprise is run quite strictly. Senior members each take a newbie under their wing like Jedi masters and padawans; members have to report if they're in danger of falling in love (a rule which had one veteran member recently make a sudden resignation). This late 1997 train-that- could has now become a major show biz caravan to rival all those Johnny's boy bands like SMAP and Tokio.
As for the current status of the group, well, all of the original members have gone...the last one, Kaori, having left earlier this year after 7 years. As I've said before, there seems to be, at least to me anyways, this slow decline in the popularity and relevance of their songs although the group has long passed the critical point of remaining media-relevant...at least for the senior folks, they'll always have a home in show biz. Back to their songs, the days of "Love Machine" disco are over. Perhaps due to the current lineup of kids, the songs now seem to be focused on the elementary school set. Perhaps, "Love Machine" was just a huge fluke which managed to hook everyone by surprise. But there was some across-the-board excitement recently with a plagiarism scandal by one of the original members, that quick resignation by a 2nd-generation member and now this lone recruitment of the 7th-generation, a 12-year-old. I was rather amused by the reaction of this kid's schoomates when the big announcement was made when the MM suddenly appeared onto the school stage and performed in front of them and the new member. Not too many of the kids seemed all that excited...probably because MM is no longer all that cool...can you imagine being a boy and showing your pride for MM in front of your peers? You may end up with a giant "Kick Me" sign on your back.
Now, what is their appeal to me? I don't know...it's rather scary, though. I'm gonna be hitting the big 4-0 soon and I have a few of their CDs including "Love Machine" (although I haven't bought their CDs for the past few years for the reason already given above) and I sometimes I do watch their program on Sunday mornings. A guy entering his forties watching a bunch of cute girls in their teens making further cute on screen. Someone call me a dirty trench coat! I can only assume it's mid-life crisis settling in as I live vicariously watching the kids prancing in thier youth while mine's is ebbing away. Mind you, the oldest Musume is just 7 years younger than me. However, I am somewhat buoyed by the fact that one of my middle-aged students, SIL, still has a major love for this Korean boyband, Shin Fa.
The final thing I wonder about in this opus on Morning Musume is how long the party will last for the girls. It's already gone way past the longevity of some other famous J-Pop girl acts such as the 70s' Pink Lady (4 or 5 years), the 80s Onyanko Club (just a few years) and the early 90s Wink (2-3 years). Some of the fanboys are giving it about another decade. I'm not nearly that optimistic....after all, Tsunku may finally get tired with his female Lego set and finally wrap things up...and wouldn't that be a party! However, one never can be sure in the world of J-Pop. Perhaps if there is an ace who does pop up like a Maki Goto or perhaps this new 7th-gen kid, there may be life yet in the group. By that time, though, the original members may have to be called Late Afternoon Obasan.
Just a place to deposit my thoughts on life here in the Kanto and about anything else that sticks to my walls.
Saturday, May 07, 2005
Saturday May 7, 6:42 p.m.
The Japanese aspect of promptness came to the rescue again. The rains stopped ust as I left the door this morning to teach the kids. It was another one of those lessons in which I had to mix big gooey dollops of humour and sidetracking to help them swallow the bitter pills of learning. Of course, that means I didn't get to teach everything that I wanted but the tradeoff was I kept my sanity.
Then, it was off to Kiba to teach my second pair. Luckily, those two students were much more into learning.
I have to admit that the last three Larry Kings have been quite entertaining and educational. Larry King on Thursday was on the psychology behind psychopaths and sociopaths. I learned quite a lot there but basically it could all be summed by one quote from one of the panel experts: they simply aren't human. Then, the second one went to the other far end of the spectrum with Martin Short's Jiminy Glick doing the hosting. Man, I couldn't believe that Nancy Grace was actually appealing in that sketch while the bombastic Glick grilled her. I can't believe that she's all of 5'1"...I thought there was a regulation that harridans could be no shorter than 5'10". Then today's session was with the legendary Lauren Bacall. I missed the first half so I'll have to watch part of the rerun later tonight.
Then, I even caught a Biography of the Galloping Gourmet, Graham Kerr. Why I mention him is due to the fact that he was one of the familiar TV figures in my early childhood. I always remember watching him jumping over that chair, cooking up these high-calorie treats while guzzling down wine by the gallon and pulling in some lucky audience member to try out his creations. It was a revealing show since there was a lot of hurt in his and his family's life; rather surprising considering how jovial he always seemed on the tube.
Well, tomorrow is Mother's Day. I'll have to remember honour Chip's wife at dinner since she will probably be the only mother present. I'll have to make the call to my own Ma as well.
The Japanese aspect of promptness came to the rescue again. The rains stopped ust as I left the door this morning to teach the kids. It was another one of those lessons in which I had to mix big gooey dollops of humour and sidetracking to help them swallow the bitter pills of learning. Of course, that means I didn't get to teach everything that I wanted but the tradeoff was I kept my sanity.
Then, it was off to Kiba to teach my second pair. Luckily, those two students were much more into learning.
I have to admit that the last three Larry Kings have been quite entertaining and educational. Larry King on Thursday was on the psychology behind psychopaths and sociopaths. I learned quite a lot there but basically it could all be summed by one quote from one of the panel experts: they simply aren't human. Then, the second one went to the other far end of the spectrum with Martin Short's Jiminy Glick doing the hosting. Man, I couldn't believe that Nancy Grace was actually appealing in that sketch while the bombastic Glick grilled her. I can't believe that she's all of 5'1"...I thought there was a regulation that harridans could be no shorter than 5'10". Then today's session was with the legendary Lauren Bacall. I missed the first half so I'll have to watch part of the rerun later tonight.
Then, I even caught a Biography of the Galloping Gourmet, Graham Kerr. Why I mention him is due to the fact that he was one of the familiar TV figures in my early childhood. I always remember watching him jumping over that chair, cooking up these high-calorie treats while guzzling down wine by the gallon and pulling in some lucky audience member to try out his creations. It was a revealing show since there was a lot of hurt in his and his family's life; rather surprising considering how jovial he always seemed on the tube.
Well, tomorrow is Mother's Day. I'll have to remember honour Chip's wife at dinner since she will probably be the only mother present. I'll have to make the call to my own Ma as well.
Friday, May 06, 2005
Saturday May 7, 6:03 a.m.
I've done one of my rare early wake-ups since my girls are going for the earlier shift today. I'm not suffering too badly.
I finally listened to Jazz Singer's first song. Actually, perhaps I should be changing her nom de plume since this term she's fronting a rock (power pop?) band. She covered an old 50s hit. I sent my compliments although she was a bit bemused by my comparison of her sound to Puffy Amiyumi (well, her band DOES sound like them).
Well, there's another attempt at nuclear brinkmanship by Kim Jong Il again. CNN is reporting that there's satellite evidence that North Korea may be in "imminent" position to do an underground test of their nuclear capability which may result in possible "radiological" fallout for surrounding countries including the nation where I'm living. Of course, this could all be a bluff by the human pompadour but I'm just kinda wondering if the American media or the people who gave them the story are also doing a Chicken Little. I mean, the US has been conducting nuclear underground tests for decades; I haven't heard of any sharp increase in cancer rates in Nevada.
Had a bit of a tremor around 5 a.m. this morning. Nothing too serious...just a M4.3 centered in northern Tokyo. It's kinda strange how the majority of the tremors all these years have happened in the early morning. Nature's wake-up call writ large?
Saw another old...perhaps hoary...rerun of the original Mission: Impossible series. The episode was in fact one of the first-season shows with pre-Jim Phelps IMF leader Dan Briggs. Being a buff of the spy genre, I was rather excited to see the old show when it came out some years ago on SuperChannel. After watching this show (mind you, it was one of the poorly-done ones) though, I'm starting to wonder if this series is one of those...if I can use the damning-with-faint-praise expression...products of its times. The sepia look of the show, the increasingly annoying sightings of Gellerisms to cover up the real names of countries (after all, this series was set during, and due to, the Cold War) and the hackneyed acting (I wonder if Steven Hill, during his great run on Law & Order, ever cringed at his performances in M:I) sometimes make me wonder if it deserves the classic status it has gotten. Mind you, it did result in one of the most memorable theme songs in US TV history and all those Tom Cruise movies.
I've done one of my rare early wake-ups since my girls are going for the earlier shift today. I'm not suffering too badly.
I finally listened to Jazz Singer's first song. Actually, perhaps I should be changing her nom de plume since this term she's fronting a rock (power pop?) band. She covered an old 50s hit. I sent my compliments although she was a bit bemused by my comparison of her sound to Puffy Amiyumi (well, her band DOES sound like them).
Well, there's another attempt at nuclear brinkmanship by Kim Jong Il again. CNN is reporting that there's satellite evidence that North Korea may be in "imminent" position to do an underground test of their nuclear capability which may result in possible "radiological" fallout for surrounding countries including the nation where I'm living. Of course, this could all be a bluff by the human pompadour but I'm just kinda wondering if the American media or the people who gave them the story are also doing a Chicken Little. I mean, the US has been conducting nuclear underground tests for decades; I haven't heard of any sharp increase in cancer rates in Nevada.
Had a bit of a tremor around 5 a.m. this morning. Nothing too serious...just a M4.3 centered in northern Tokyo. It's kinda strange how the majority of the tremors all these years have happened in the early morning. Nature's wake-up call writ large?
Saw another old...perhaps hoary...rerun of the original Mission: Impossible series. The episode was in fact one of the first-season shows with pre-Jim Phelps IMF leader Dan Briggs. Being a buff of the spy genre, I was rather excited to see the old show when it came out some years ago on SuperChannel. After watching this show (mind you, it was one of the poorly-done ones) though, I'm starting to wonder if this series is one of those...if I can use the damning-with-faint-praise expression...products of its times. The sepia look of the show, the increasingly annoying sightings of Gellerisms to cover up the real names of countries (after all, this series was set during, and due to, the Cold War) and the hackneyed acting (I wonder if Steven Hill, during his great run on Law & Order, ever cringed at his performances in M:I) sometimes make me wonder if it deserves the classic status it has gotten. Mind you, it did result in one of the most memorable theme songs in US TV history and all those Tom Cruise movies.
Friday May 6, 8:56 p.m.
Well, just in time to signify the end of the holidays, the rains started on schedule today. It was noticeably cooler as well. My day went pretty well. Just had The Teacher as the lone student and then I headed out to Speedy's to get that first training as a BULATS examiner. BULATS is this new testing regimen for corporate types in terms of English proficiency.
When I got home, Chip had left me a message to see if I'm available on Sunday for dinner. Looks like a small group of us will be going Korean in Shibuya.
Now I've already got the planning done for tomorrow's lessons. I've got 4 of them: the two kids plus MK and JJ. Let's hope that I don't end up tiring myself out of any enjoyment of my weekend.
Well, just in time to signify the end of the holidays, the rains started on schedule today. It was noticeably cooler as well. My day went pretty well. Just had The Teacher as the lone student and then I headed out to Speedy's to get that first training as a BULATS examiner. BULATS is this new testing regimen for corporate types in terms of English proficiency.
When I got home, Chip had left me a message to see if I'm available on Sunday for dinner. Looks like a small group of us will be going Korean in Shibuya.
Now I've already got the planning done for tomorrow's lessons. I've got 4 of them: the two kids plus MK and JJ. Let's hope that I don't end up tiring myself out of any enjoyment of my weekend.
Thursday, May 05, 2005
Thursday May 5, 10:08 p.m.
Well, it looks like Golden Week is winding up. The U-turn rush has begun and the highways have turned into slightly moving parking lots. And so my three glorious days of non-teaching come to a close tonight. I'm back on duty with The Teacher first thing tomorrow morning and then I have to some sort of training with Speedy in the afternoon. I haven't anything from Chip Guy all this week so I'm not sure if anything is in the works for Friday night. Probably not.
My day was just spent watching TV and doing crosswords. Did get a bit of excitement on CNN with that minor bomb blast in NYC but otherwise pretty calm. Mind you, that JR fiasco concerning the train wreck just keeps snowballing. Now, it's been learned that not only did two JR drivers who were on that very train NOT come to the aid of victims (they just ran to work since they were afraid of being penalized for being late), but it was learned today that there was a 3-stage party by JR employees on the day of the accident. The folks did some major bowling and drinking despite knowing about the tragedy. Man, it's not just the balls that will be rolling in the next few days. But once again, it goes to show when a company is found out for some gross malfeasance, the journalists go to work on the carcass like vultures only the carcass is still alive. Mind you, in this country, you're only guilty if you're caught so I'm sure most major companies have a lot of skeletons in the closet for mass media to unearth. I wouldn't be surprised if the president of the firm decided to step down.
I was thinking about that "Revenge of the Sith" soundtrack, and especially about the music for the end credits. I mentioned that the credits strangely had a lot of the music from the other movies. Then it hit me...the reason that I was rather unnerved by it was due to the fact that the overture sounded so disjointed. This is John Williams we're talking about here...THE composer who brought back the orchestral score for big movies with all its leitmotif-laden overtures. And yet, the ending overture for Episode III sounds so...amateur, if I can believe using that word for Williams. The segues weren't smooth at all. One number stops awkwardly and another begins just as awkwardly. I'm not sure if Williams has finally lost it.
Got one of those very long replies from Shard for the first time in a long while...in fact, I think it may be his first long missive this year. Hopefully, he'll get back on for a while at least.
Well, it looks like Golden Week is winding up. The U-turn rush has begun and the highways have turned into slightly moving parking lots. And so my three glorious days of non-teaching come to a close tonight. I'm back on duty with The Teacher first thing tomorrow morning and then I have to some sort of training with Speedy in the afternoon. I haven't anything from Chip Guy all this week so I'm not sure if anything is in the works for Friday night. Probably not.
My day was just spent watching TV and doing crosswords. Did get a bit of excitement on CNN with that minor bomb blast in NYC but otherwise pretty calm. Mind you, that JR fiasco concerning the train wreck just keeps snowballing. Now, it's been learned that not only did two JR drivers who were on that very train NOT come to the aid of victims (they just ran to work since they were afraid of being penalized for being late), but it was learned today that there was a 3-stage party by JR employees on the day of the accident. The folks did some major bowling and drinking despite knowing about the tragedy. Man, it's not just the balls that will be rolling in the next few days. But once again, it goes to show when a company is found out for some gross malfeasance, the journalists go to work on the carcass like vultures only the carcass is still alive. Mind you, in this country, you're only guilty if you're caught so I'm sure most major companies have a lot of skeletons in the closet for mass media to unearth. I wouldn't be surprised if the president of the firm decided to step down.
I was thinking about that "Revenge of the Sith" soundtrack, and especially about the music for the end credits. I mentioned that the credits strangely had a lot of the music from the other movies. Then it hit me...the reason that I was rather unnerved by it was due to the fact that the overture sounded so disjointed. This is John Williams we're talking about here...THE composer who brought back the orchestral score for big movies with all its leitmotif-laden overtures. And yet, the ending overture for Episode III sounds so...amateur, if I can believe using that word for Williams. The segues weren't smooth at all. One number stops awkwardly and another begins just as awkwardly. I'm not sure if Williams has finally lost it.
Got one of those very long replies from Shard for the first time in a long while...in fact, I think it may be his first long missive this year. Hopefully, he'll get back on for a while at least.
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Wednesday May 4, 1:31 p.m.
Nice to wake up at close to noon and not feel guilty about it. The first thing I did was pop in the "Revenge of the Sith" soundtrack and gave it my 70 minutes' worth of ear. Again, as in the last two soundtracks for the prequel, there wasn't anything particularly remarkable about the new stuff. And I've noticed from "Battle of the Heroes" that Danny Elfman may have a small fishbone to pick with John Williams about the similarity of the intro of that song with that of his intro to "Spiderman". But then again, Williams did borrow a small cue from "Psycho" for one scene in "A New Hope".
"Revenge of the Sith" is 132 minutes long, and with the CD only 70 minutes long, I think there's still quite a bit of music missing (and that's taking into account the scenes without any BGM). I wonder if Williams be re-hashing some of the other themes from the past prequels.
Still, although the soundtrack doesn't quite live up to "A New Hope" or "The Empire Strikes Back", the last track was rather interesting. I had always envisioned for the last scene in the movie that there would be the rather mournful version of the Jedi theme as Obi-Wan trotted off into the twin suns of Tatooine after depositing baby Luke on the Lars' doorstep. Sure enough, there it was. The end credits though seemed to be a bit of a 28th-anniversary reunion of sorts. I kinda felt like The Force itself was saying "Hey, for all you former geeks, here's some of the oldies but goodies from the first trilogy!" Williams brought back the Princess Leia theme, the Jedi/coronation theme from the end of "A New Hope" and the Lando theme, and somewhere in the mix was "Battle of the Heroes". Although it was nice to finally hear the Jedi Knights theme get its due in the overture, I just thought it was a bit strange to hear all these old tunes thrown into the prequel, though perhaps Williams may have been aiming to do a bit of musical foreshadowing. However, perhaps, the younger folks may find it all new. Still, these end credits also hint that there wasn't a whole lot of new good stuff from the supposedly final Star Wars movie to throw into the CD. So once again I'm left feeling rather mixed.
Well, after all that reviewing...what's there to do? Well, some personal announcements. It would seem that my family isn't the only one undergoing changes this year. I heard from The Chipmunk for the first time in several weeks. She finally got that baby. And The Engineer informed me that her younger sister got married. I've sent off that request to Paddy about an immigration lawyer; now that I've supposedly gotten over that tax hurdle, now I have to think about the other big thing this year.
Gonna try my best to keep my mind off of anything to do with English teaching.
Nice to wake up at close to noon and not feel guilty about it. The first thing I did was pop in the "Revenge of the Sith" soundtrack and gave it my 70 minutes' worth of ear. Again, as in the last two soundtracks for the prequel, there wasn't anything particularly remarkable about the new stuff. And I've noticed from "Battle of the Heroes" that Danny Elfman may have a small fishbone to pick with John Williams about the similarity of the intro of that song with that of his intro to "Spiderman". But then again, Williams did borrow a small cue from "Psycho" for one scene in "A New Hope".
"Revenge of the Sith" is 132 minutes long, and with the CD only 70 minutes long, I think there's still quite a bit of music missing (and that's taking into account the scenes without any BGM). I wonder if Williams be re-hashing some of the other themes from the past prequels.
Still, although the soundtrack doesn't quite live up to "A New Hope" or "The Empire Strikes Back", the last track was rather interesting. I had always envisioned for the last scene in the movie that there would be the rather mournful version of the Jedi theme as Obi-Wan trotted off into the twin suns of Tatooine after depositing baby Luke on the Lars' doorstep. Sure enough, there it was. The end credits though seemed to be a bit of a 28th-anniversary reunion of sorts. I kinda felt like The Force itself was saying "Hey, for all you former geeks, here's some of the oldies but goodies from the first trilogy!" Williams brought back the Princess Leia theme, the Jedi/coronation theme from the end of "A New Hope" and the Lando theme, and somewhere in the mix was "Battle of the Heroes". Although it was nice to finally hear the Jedi Knights theme get its due in the overture, I just thought it was a bit strange to hear all these old tunes thrown into the prequel, though perhaps Williams may have been aiming to do a bit of musical foreshadowing. However, perhaps, the younger folks may find it all new. Still, these end credits also hint that there wasn't a whole lot of new good stuff from the supposedly final Star Wars movie to throw into the CD. So once again I'm left feeling rather mixed.
Well, after all that reviewing...what's there to do? Well, some personal announcements. It would seem that my family isn't the only one undergoing changes this year. I heard from The Chipmunk for the first time in several weeks. She finally got that baby. And The Engineer informed me that her younger sister got married. I've sent off that request to Paddy about an immigration lawyer; now that I've supposedly gotten over that tax hurdle, now I have to think about the other big thing this year.
Gonna try my best to keep my mind off of anything to do with English teaching.
Wednesday May 4, 12:44 a.m.
You know it's been a long day when you think your morning happened several mornings ago. Yes, I left my home yesterday at 9:30 a.m. to meet Automan and his friend at Tokyo Station. However, before that, I made a quick run to HMv in Ginza to see if "Revenge of the Sith", the soundtrack, got there. Looks like I struck out on that one so I just went over to the station.
The theory that GW usually means a relatively sparse Tokyo was broken. It would seem that everyone managed to congregate in Tokyo Station. In retrospect, it wasn't all that surprising since Monday was a regular workday so a lot of people decided to make their moves yesterday morning. Automan and his buddy got off the Bullet Train from Nagoya on schedule. Before we left the crowded confines of the station, Automan had to find that souvenir of choice of many a negligent traveling businessman, Hiyoko (Chick) Cookies. They're sold at major stations and they're sable cookies shaped like little chicks. I never took a particular fancy for them myself since true to the French derivation of "sable", the cookies tend to have a gritty, sandy quality to them necessitating a cup of tea on standby to wash the stuff down.
The three of us enjoyed a sunny and fairly warm day as we left Tokyo Station and walked down to Ginza. It was pretty sparsely populated on the northern outskirts of Yurakucho since the area was a business district and therefore not operational on this national holiday. However, when we did reach the central district of Ginza (Ginza 4-chome), the masses were present. Luckily, the city had the sense to close off the main street like it usually does on Sundays so there was some space to maneuver. For lunch, we decided on Katsukura, another tonkatsu restaurant, part of a chain, located in the Shiodome City Centre in Shimbashi. Yes, I know, I had tonkatsu the night before but I decided to go for the chicken katsu instead. No regrets for the lunch. Very good food. In fact, a tonkatsu restaurant will hardly let anyone down unless it's located in an especially seedy part of Tokyo and it hawks the pork cutlet for something like 200 yen.
Well, stuffed as we were, we hopped on the Yamanote and went down to Shibuya. That area was also unsurprisingly crammed with the usual teenagers and young folk. We first did some browsing around the local Bic Camera since Automan wanted to print out some of his pics from his digital camera. Then we braved the crowds and headed to Tower Records. Sure enough, I did find the soundtrack for the latest Star Wars movie. However, there was very little fanfare for its release; in fact, there wasn't even a listening post for me to sample John Williams. Ah well, Obi-Wan did mention patience.
Our next stop was Tokyu Hands for Automan's buddy who wanted to get some stationery. The buddy was a very jovial sort whom I had met for the first time a few years back in the summer. He's a hail-fellow-well-met type of guy, the folksy type to always give you a hearty slap on the back or give an anecdote. Kinda too bad that he isn't a regular resident in Tokyo. In a way, he does remind me of Movie Buddy in temperament if not in terms of looks. Automan's friend is quite a bit bigger.
After a few hours of browsing and shopping, all of us could have done with a bit of a break so we searched for a cafe. At first, we took a look at The New Yorkers' Cafe just across from Tokyu Hands but all the seats were filled, and Automan said that he preferred a quieter joint. Somehow we were able to find this cafe immediately across from Tokyu Hands on the 2nd floor. If it hadn't been for an orange sign denoting its presence, we could've easily gone past it. However, Automan's eagle eyes spotted it and we climbed to 2F.
The interior decor was done up like an intimate French cafe, and surely there were a couple of French folk talking away. We decided to sit by the counter where a reserved but kindly lady took our orders. This cafe was a pretty serious one; the menu had a lot of detailed descriptions about each type of coffee. The blends even went so far as to mention the proportions of types of beans in the mix. I had The Old Blend, a mix of Columbian and another type of bean, served in a smaller-than-usual cup. All three of us ordered some Gateau du Chocolat. Another sign that this cafe's staff was truly devoted to its craft came in the form of the one other staff member, a man, who almost made a performance of creating our cups of coffee. He came off as a true barista with his crushing of ice for Automan's Iced Coffee and grinding of fresh Columbian by hand. His technique reminded me of that of a polished veteran bartender. Meanwhile, the woman who had taken our orders was sprinkling icing sugar on our cakes and whipping up some creme fraiche. Man, I think they even outdid The Tea Room. My Old Blend was plenty strong but the richness and sweetness of the cake compensated for it very nicely. When we had gotten to the cafe, the place was nearly empty but by the time we left, some of the young folk started percolating up (I guess there's more to cafe life than Starbucks or its myriad clones). In conclusion, this cafe whose name I can't remember will now be part of my culinary library in Tokyo.
Automan's buddy was on the lookout for postcards. I suggested going back to Tokyu Hands but he wanted me or Automan to ask the baristas about them. I guess he's so folksy that he thinks that Tokyo has a smalltown atmosphere and that everyone knows everything and everyone. But I knew that asking the baristas would've probably been futile. Automan had also suggested asking someone on the street for various kinds of information. Well, noone is perfect.
Despite the fact that we had had a rather filling lunch and some rich cakes with strong coffee, the three of us then made our way through the throngs back to the edge of Shibuya to head for En, that upper class izakaya that I've often gone to with people like The Bohemian and Chip Guy. I was a bit surprised that on this holiday that we were able to get a table right away. But it was just 5:30 in any case; the place filled up completely an hour later. There we spent another couple of hours noshing away at the usual fine delicacies while knocking back the alcohol. All in all, the conversation was really fine. But even though I got treated for the lunch, I still paid quite a bit out of my pocket since I treated the two at the cafe and we all chipped in at dinner. Looks like I'll be on daikon salad for the next couple of days.
We made a pit stop several floors beneath En back at Bic Camera since Automan wanted to pick up some earphones. He found some pretty expensive numbers by Sony. Apparently, this headset can block out all exterior noise which is great on the plane. The 8000 yen price tag is a bit exorbitant, though.
We finally left Tokyo's Mecca for Youth and headed back to Tokyo Station. There was one final round of souvenir shopping before I decided to make my farewells. Good folks, both of them. They've got another tiring day today as well since they'll be heading for the Expo near Nagoya. Good luck to them. As for me, I plopped myself down on the Yamanote and the Tozai reading my mag.
I was feeling pretty tired by the time I got home. I almost regretted having to walk the 10 minutes back from the subway station. However, the shower helped to re-invigorate a bit.
I decided to give the Star Wars soundtrack a whirl. This time, the album came with a DVD chroncling the six movies through some of John Williams' themes. For those who know their anime, the DVD reminded me of "Macross: Flashback 2012" whose format was that of Lynn Minmay's sugary-sweet tunes backing the montage of scenes from the movie. The Star Wars DVD copied that almost to the letter. And just like the two trilogies, it was a case of hit-and-miss. Some of the songs such as "Luke and Leia" from "Return of the Jedi" fit in almost to a moving degree with all of the scenes with the two protagonists. And certainly it was nice to see all of the main characters from the movies "take a bow" to the coronation music from the end of "A New Hope". However, some of the other stuff came off as cheesy. And although I enjoyed Ian McDiarmid's dulcet tones narrating the intros to each song, I was getting rather annoyed at him using too many quotes from the movies themselves. And as for "Battle of the Heroes", the new theme from "Sith", I just thought it was a pale variation on "Duel of the Fates" from Episode 1. Nothing impressive there...I hope that some of the other tracks will be better.
Well, it's been a long day and I'm feeling ready for bed. I can't believe it; I actually have two full days of absolutely nothing. No students to teach, no lessons to plan. When was the last time I could actually boast that? I am looking forward to waking up at a time with two digits next to the hour hand.
You know it's been a long day when you think your morning happened several mornings ago. Yes, I left my home yesterday at 9:30 a.m. to meet Automan and his friend at Tokyo Station. However, before that, I made a quick run to HMv in Ginza to see if "Revenge of the Sith", the soundtrack, got there. Looks like I struck out on that one so I just went over to the station.
The theory that GW usually means a relatively sparse Tokyo was broken. It would seem that everyone managed to congregate in Tokyo Station. In retrospect, it wasn't all that surprising since Monday was a regular workday so a lot of people decided to make their moves yesterday morning. Automan and his buddy got off the Bullet Train from Nagoya on schedule. Before we left the crowded confines of the station, Automan had to find that souvenir of choice of many a negligent traveling businessman, Hiyoko (Chick) Cookies. They're sold at major stations and they're sable cookies shaped like little chicks. I never took a particular fancy for them myself since true to the French derivation of "sable", the cookies tend to have a gritty, sandy quality to them necessitating a cup of tea on standby to wash the stuff down.
The three of us enjoyed a sunny and fairly warm day as we left Tokyo Station and walked down to Ginza. It was pretty sparsely populated on the northern outskirts of Yurakucho since the area was a business district and therefore not operational on this national holiday. However, when we did reach the central district of Ginza (Ginza 4-chome), the masses were present. Luckily, the city had the sense to close off the main street like it usually does on Sundays so there was some space to maneuver. For lunch, we decided on Katsukura, another tonkatsu restaurant, part of a chain, located in the Shiodome City Centre in Shimbashi. Yes, I know, I had tonkatsu the night before but I decided to go for the chicken katsu instead. No regrets for the lunch. Very good food. In fact, a tonkatsu restaurant will hardly let anyone down unless it's located in an especially seedy part of Tokyo and it hawks the pork cutlet for something like 200 yen.
Well, stuffed as we were, we hopped on the Yamanote and went down to Shibuya. That area was also unsurprisingly crammed with the usual teenagers and young folk. We first did some browsing around the local Bic Camera since Automan wanted to print out some of his pics from his digital camera. Then we braved the crowds and headed to Tower Records. Sure enough, I did find the soundtrack for the latest Star Wars movie. However, there was very little fanfare for its release; in fact, there wasn't even a listening post for me to sample John Williams. Ah well, Obi-Wan did mention patience.
Our next stop was Tokyu Hands for Automan's buddy who wanted to get some stationery. The buddy was a very jovial sort whom I had met for the first time a few years back in the summer. He's a hail-fellow-well-met type of guy, the folksy type to always give you a hearty slap on the back or give an anecdote. Kinda too bad that he isn't a regular resident in Tokyo. In a way, he does remind me of Movie Buddy in temperament if not in terms of looks. Automan's friend is quite a bit bigger.
After a few hours of browsing and shopping, all of us could have done with a bit of a break so we searched for a cafe. At first, we took a look at The New Yorkers' Cafe just across from Tokyu Hands but all the seats were filled, and Automan said that he preferred a quieter joint. Somehow we were able to find this cafe immediately across from Tokyu Hands on the 2nd floor. If it hadn't been for an orange sign denoting its presence, we could've easily gone past it. However, Automan's eagle eyes spotted it and we climbed to 2F.
The interior decor was done up like an intimate French cafe, and surely there were a couple of French folk talking away. We decided to sit by the counter where a reserved but kindly lady took our orders. This cafe was a pretty serious one; the menu had a lot of detailed descriptions about each type of coffee. The blends even went so far as to mention the proportions of types of beans in the mix. I had The Old Blend, a mix of Columbian and another type of bean, served in a smaller-than-usual cup. All three of us ordered some Gateau du Chocolat. Another sign that this cafe's staff was truly devoted to its craft came in the form of the one other staff member, a man, who almost made a performance of creating our cups of coffee. He came off as a true barista with his crushing of ice for Automan's Iced Coffee and grinding of fresh Columbian by hand. His technique reminded me of that of a polished veteran bartender. Meanwhile, the woman who had taken our orders was sprinkling icing sugar on our cakes and whipping up some creme fraiche. Man, I think they even outdid The Tea Room. My Old Blend was plenty strong but the richness and sweetness of the cake compensated for it very nicely. When we had gotten to the cafe, the place was nearly empty but by the time we left, some of the young folk started percolating up (I guess there's more to cafe life than Starbucks or its myriad clones). In conclusion, this cafe whose name I can't remember will now be part of my culinary library in Tokyo.
Automan's buddy was on the lookout for postcards. I suggested going back to Tokyu Hands but he wanted me or Automan to ask the baristas about them. I guess he's so folksy that he thinks that Tokyo has a smalltown atmosphere and that everyone knows everything and everyone. But I knew that asking the baristas would've probably been futile. Automan had also suggested asking someone on the street for various kinds of information. Well, noone is perfect.
Despite the fact that we had had a rather filling lunch and some rich cakes with strong coffee, the three of us then made our way through the throngs back to the edge of Shibuya to head for En, that upper class izakaya that I've often gone to with people like The Bohemian and Chip Guy. I was a bit surprised that on this holiday that we were able to get a table right away. But it was just 5:30 in any case; the place filled up completely an hour later. There we spent another couple of hours noshing away at the usual fine delicacies while knocking back the alcohol. All in all, the conversation was really fine. But even though I got treated for the lunch, I still paid quite a bit out of my pocket since I treated the two at the cafe and we all chipped in at dinner. Looks like I'll be on daikon salad for the next couple of days.
We made a pit stop several floors beneath En back at Bic Camera since Automan wanted to pick up some earphones. He found some pretty expensive numbers by Sony. Apparently, this headset can block out all exterior noise which is great on the plane. The 8000 yen price tag is a bit exorbitant, though.
We finally left Tokyo's Mecca for Youth and headed back to Tokyo Station. There was one final round of souvenir shopping before I decided to make my farewells. Good folks, both of them. They've got another tiring day today as well since they'll be heading for the Expo near Nagoya. Good luck to them. As for me, I plopped myself down on the Yamanote and the Tozai reading my mag.
I was feeling pretty tired by the time I got home. I almost regretted having to walk the 10 minutes back from the subway station. However, the shower helped to re-invigorate a bit.
I decided to give the Star Wars soundtrack a whirl. This time, the album came with a DVD chroncling the six movies through some of John Williams' themes. For those who know their anime, the DVD reminded me of "Macross: Flashback 2012" whose format was that of Lynn Minmay's sugary-sweet tunes backing the montage of scenes from the movie. The Star Wars DVD copied that almost to the letter. And just like the two trilogies, it was a case of hit-and-miss. Some of the songs such as "Luke and Leia" from "Return of the Jedi" fit in almost to a moving degree with all of the scenes with the two protagonists. And certainly it was nice to see all of the main characters from the movies "take a bow" to the coronation music from the end of "A New Hope". However, some of the other stuff came off as cheesy. And although I enjoyed Ian McDiarmid's dulcet tones narrating the intros to each song, I was getting rather annoyed at him using too many quotes from the movies themselves. And as for "Battle of the Heroes", the new theme from "Sith", I just thought it was a pale variation on "Duel of the Fates" from Episode 1. Nothing impressive there...I hope that some of the other tracks will be better.
Well, it's been a long day and I'm feeling ready for bed. I can't believe it; I actually have two full days of absolutely nothing. No students to teach, no lessons to plan. When was the last time I could actually boast that? I am looking forward to waking up at a time with two digits next to the hour hand.
Monday, May 02, 2005
Monday May 2, 11:00 p.m.
Looks like today was supposed to be slightly bad day today. I was 10 minutes late for The Hawaiian; luckily, she's so cheerful that any problem seems to just slide off of her. Speedy's didn't have any problems but The Company class was just out to lunch today. As soon as we hit the 10-minute countdown to the end of class, I just decided to rip into Japanese and talk about how in our country, a medical checkup usually has "the glove" to finish off the examination. The guys were alternately fascinated and repelled but they weren't bored. So, some success.
Considering that tomorrow is a holiday, I decided to walk all the way to Tower Records in South Shinjuku to see if that "Revenge of the Sith" CD has come out. Geez, it turns out that it's out tomorrow. Gahh...however, I did pick up a couple of mags for perusal. And I ended up having dinner at a nearby tonkatsu restaurant. Always like to pamper myself after a so-so day.
Well, Automan called up and said that he won't need my apartment after all. He and his buddy will be heading back to Nagoya late tomorrow night. I'm not particularly put out by the announcement. He's supposed to be arriving here late morning...not a lot of time to prepare the place so I'm somewhat relieved. But let's see what we can do tomorrow.
One of the critics on CNN apparently has seen "Revenge of the Sith". And she says "It doesn't suck!" To us Star Wars fans, that's manna from heaven. Oh, how far the franchise has fallen.
Looks like today was supposed to be slightly bad day today. I was 10 minutes late for The Hawaiian; luckily, she's so cheerful that any problem seems to just slide off of her. Speedy's didn't have any problems but The Company class was just out to lunch today. As soon as we hit the 10-minute countdown to the end of class, I just decided to rip into Japanese and talk about how in our country, a medical checkup usually has "the glove" to finish off the examination. The guys were alternately fascinated and repelled but they weren't bored. So, some success.
Considering that tomorrow is a holiday, I decided to walk all the way to Tower Records in South Shinjuku to see if that "Revenge of the Sith" CD has come out. Geez, it turns out that it's out tomorrow. Gahh...however, I did pick up a couple of mags for perusal. And I ended up having dinner at a nearby tonkatsu restaurant. Always like to pamper myself after a so-so day.
Well, Automan called up and said that he won't need my apartment after all. He and his buddy will be heading back to Nagoya late tomorrow night. I'm not particularly put out by the announcement. He's supposed to be arriving here late morning...not a lot of time to prepare the place so I'm somewhat relieved. But let's see what we can do tomorrow.
One of the critics on CNN apparently has seen "Revenge of the Sith". And she says "It doesn't suck!" To us Star Wars fans, that's manna from heaven. Oh, how far the franchise has fallen.
Sunday, May 01, 2005
Monday May 2, 7:51 a.m.
As hoped for, yesterday was nice and quiet. I managed to spend the afternoon watching the 2nd disc from "Citizen Kane" which had the Oscar-winning documentary on the mammoth battle between Orson Welles and William Randolph Hearst over arguably the best movie ever made in America. The doc was handled like the runup to a major boxing match with the last several minutes being the fight itself. The decision was basically a TKO for both Welles and Hearst. Hearst was successful in killing the movie...for a while, at least...but ended up a joke by the end of his tumultuous life. Meanwhile, the boy wonder Welles did make a cinematic opus which still resonates today but he ended up a Hollywood pariah; my memories of him were mostly of him shilling Paul Masson wine and having weird parts such as Le Chiffre in the failed product of its times, "Casino Royale". It was only from stills of him in Kane that I realized that he had actually been relatively thinner (though I couldn't say he was a stick) and a ladies' man, to boot. After watching "The Battle Over Citizen Kane", I have very little sympathy for either man (not that it would matter much since both are long dead) though. Both were folks with huge egos and appetites who would steamroller anyone who got in their way. I'd say that "Citizen Kane" was basically the story of both Hearst and Welles.
After taking a nap on my sofa...an increasingly un-good idea when it comes to my back, I just warmed up some dinner and then caught a bit of "Clone Wars Part 2", the Cartoon Network take on the Star Wars saga. I'm not a huge fan of the animation in there but it does fill some of the gaps in the saga.
I actually did have to get some work done for today. But that took just an hour. Just as I had written in my last entry about how wonderful the weather has been, I heard the patter of rain hitting the windows. Well, at least the weather gods had the good sense to throw us the precipitation overnight. It's overcast now but should get sunny later on.
I've got The Hawaiian today in a GW re-schedule. I only did it since Movie Buddy had originally slated Wednesday as our movie outing day but it has worked out well. Now I don't really need to head out anywhere midweek. Then, I've got my weekly stint at Speedy's today followed by The Company. In a way, I'm hoping that one of the staff calls in to cancel but they hardly do.
Looks like North Korea has been skipping stones off the Sea of Japan again in the form of a short-range missile. What else is new? At least, there weren't any more demonstrations in China this past weekend.
I looked at The Stick's blog again. Apparently, she's put up a survey asking "Who would you prefer to be hugged by?" and then placing 5 of the top movie stars like Cruise and DiCaprio. I'm rather surprised...she'd never struck me as being a starstruck person by any means.
As hoped for, yesterday was nice and quiet. I managed to spend the afternoon watching the 2nd disc from "Citizen Kane" which had the Oscar-winning documentary on the mammoth battle between Orson Welles and William Randolph Hearst over arguably the best movie ever made in America. The doc was handled like the runup to a major boxing match with the last several minutes being the fight itself. The decision was basically a TKO for both Welles and Hearst. Hearst was successful in killing the movie...for a while, at least...but ended up a joke by the end of his tumultuous life. Meanwhile, the boy wonder Welles did make a cinematic opus which still resonates today but he ended up a Hollywood pariah; my memories of him were mostly of him shilling Paul Masson wine and having weird parts such as Le Chiffre in the failed product of its times, "Casino Royale". It was only from stills of him in Kane that I realized that he had actually been relatively thinner (though I couldn't say he was a stick) and a ladies' man, to boot. After watching "The Battle Over Citizen Kane", I have very little sympathy for either man (not that it would matter much since both are long dead) though. Both were folks with huge egos and appetites who would steamroller anyone who got in their way. I'd say that "Citizen Kane" was basically the story of both Hearst and Welles.
After taking a nap on my sofa...an increasingly un-good idea when it comes to my back, I just warmed up some dinner and then caught a bit of "Clone Wars Part 2", the Cartoon Network take on the Star Wars saga. I'm not a huge fan of the animation in there but it does fill some of the gaps in the saga.
I actually did have to get some work done for today. But that took just an hour. Just as I had written in my last entry about how wonderful the weather has been, I heard the patter of rain hitting the windows. Well, at least the weather gods had the good sense to throw us the precipitation overnight. It's overcast now but should get sunny later on.
I've got The Hawaiian today in a GW re-schedule. I only did it since Movie Buddy had originally slated Wednesday as our movie outing day but it has worked out well. Now I don't really need to head out anywhere midweek. Then, I've got my weekly stint at Speedy's today followed by The Company. In a way, I'm hoping that one of the staff calls in to cancel but they hardly do.
Looks like North Korea has been skipping stones off the Sea of Japan again in the form of a short-range missile. What else is new? At least, there weren't any more demonstrations in China this past weekend.
I looked at The Stick's blog again. Apparently, she's put up a survey asking "Who would you prefer to be hugged by?" and then placing 5 of the top movie stars like Cruise and DiCaprio. I'm rather surprised...she'd never struck me as being a starstruck person by any means.
Saturday, April 30, 2005
Sunday May 1, 12:31 p.m.
Welcome to May! Couldn't be a better start to the month. Breezy and sunny and warm. Nice beginning to Golden Week as well since I'll be staying within the metropolis instead of going slowly ballistic on the congested highways, airports and train stations.
Speaking of which, Automan contacted me last night to confirm Hotel Haru for Tuesday. Gonna have to call housekeeping once again on the morning of the 3rd after Movie Buddy's stay last night. Not quite sure what I'm gonna do with Automan and his buddy once they hit Tokyo.
Movie Buddy and I did our semi-annual Hotel Haru with movie and dinner. But we did meet to head off for "Constantine". Not a bad movie, not a great movie....it was basically Keanu Reaves as an especially tetchy Mr. Anderson as the title character. MB thought that the buildup to the final 10 minutes was misplaced....just a huge smoke screen to let a couple of more able actors, Tilda Swinton and Peter Stomare (as the nutso Archangel Gabriel and Satan respectively) get in their licks. I just thought the structure of those last few minutes struck me as a little too reminiscent of the last 10 minutes of "Matrix Revolutions". Ah, well...it was OK...maybe OK enough to have a renewed Constantine take another stab at a sequel.
Afterwards, we met up by accident The Curry Master and The SE, two people whom I used to "teach", on the subway platform. It was awkward to say the least...somethng that was echoed by MB over breakfast at Skylark this morning. The Curry Master just gave the briefest of waves at me and then just focused on MB like a laser beam about being reminded to bring the baked potatoes for her BBQ today. The SE and I didn't talk with each other...something that's pretty usual in this country; if we sever relations, we don't acknowledge each other. Apparently, Curry Master got her knickers tied in a knot; she immediately called up The Sylph to check what had been wrong with us on the train. MB just shook his head and laughed in resignation after getting a call from his girlfriend. He'd seen it all before. Curry Master is just very self-absorbed. I think she's a good person at heart, BUT she's not one that I can take long exposure to.
Anyways, we got back home with bentos and Haagen-Daas ice cream...today's new flavour: Raspberry and Panna Cotta...good lord, what will those guys think of next? Going with the theme of occult superheroes, MB brought over "Hellboy". It was quite good and better than "Constantine". The end struck me as being a little abrupt, though, and I could've stood to have had Abe Sapien around a bit longer than his mid-movie cutout but I'm not surprised that a sequel is in the works.
Then, it was "King Arthur". We both agreed that the movie was just average. I'm sure that Antoine Fuqua wouldn't be too thrilled to hear that assessment considering all the massive fight scenes he'd filmed but the movie just seemed a little too much by-the-numbers. I mean, I've seen this stuff in "Gladiator" and "Alexander", although I think "King Arthur" was better than the latter. For example, we got that rousing speech-on-the-pacing-horse schtick that Mel Gibson made famous...and superfluous...in "Braveheart".
So, now I have today to just chill out a bit...although I do have to plan for tomorrow's lessons. Yes, tomorrow will be a full day since it is technically not one of the national holidays. However, aside from The Company, I won't have to do all that much planning. Still, I will take it easy for much of the afternoon and then I'll do the heavy lifting tonight.
Welcome to May! Couldn't be a better start to the month. Breezy and sunny and warm. Nice beginning to Golden Week as well since I'll be staying within the metropolis instead of going slowly ballistic on the congested highways, airports and train stations.
Speaking of which, Automan contacted me last night to confirm Hotel Haru for Tuesday. Gonna have to call housekeeping once again on the morning of the 3rd after Movie Buddy's stay last night. Not quite sure what I'm gonna do with Automan and his buddy once they hit Tokyo.
Movie Buddy and I did our semi-annual Hotel Haru with movie and dinner. But we did meet to head off for "Constantine". Not a bad movie, not a great movie....it was basically Keanu Reaves as an especially tetchy Mr. Anderson as the title character. MB thought that the buildup to the final 10 minutes was misplaced....just a huge smoke screen to let a couple of more able actors, Tilda Swinton and Peter Stomare (as the nutso Archangel Gabriel and Satan respectively) get in their licks. I just thought the structure of those last few minutes struck me as a little too reminiscent of the last 10 minutes of "Matrix Revolutions". Ah, well...it was OK...maybe OK enough to have a renewed Constantine take another stab at a sequel.
Afterwards, we met up by accident The Curry Master and The SE, two people whom I used to "teach", on the subway platform. It was awkward to say the least...somethng that was echoed by MB over breakfast at Skylark this morning. The Curry Master just gave the briefest of waves at me and then just focused on MB like a laser beam about being reminded to bring the baked potatoes for her BBQ today. The SE and I didn't talk with each other...something that's pretty usual in this country; if we sever relations, we don't acknowledge each other. Apparently, Curry Master got her knickers tied in a knot; she immediately called up The Sylph to check what had been wrong with us on the train. MB just shook his head and laughed in resignation after getting a call from his girlfriend. He'd seen it all before. Curry Master is just very self-absorbed. I think she's a good person at heart, BUT she's not one that I can take long exposure to.
Anyways, we got back home with bentos and Haagen-Daas ice cream...today's new flavour: Raspberry and Panna Cotta...good lord, what will those guys think of next? Going with the theme of occult superheroes, MB brought over "Hellboy". It was quite good and better than "Constantine". The end struck me as being a little abrupt, though, and I could've stood to have had Abe Sapien around a bit longer than his mid-movie cutout but I'm not surprised that a sequel is in the works.
Then, it was "King Arthur". We both agreed that the movie was just average. I'm sure that Antoine Fuqua wouldn't be too thrilled to hear that assessment considering all the massive fight scenes he'd filmed but the movie just seemed a little too much by-the-numbers. I mean, I've seen this stuff in "Gladiator" and "Alexander", although I think "King Arthur" was better than the latter. For example, we got that rousing speech-on-the-pacing-horse schtick that Mel Gibson made famous...and superfluous...in "Braveheart".
So, now I have today to just chill out a bit...although I do have to plan for tomorrow's lessons. Yes, tomorrow will be a full day since it is technically not one of the national holidays. However, aside from The Company, I won't have to do all that much planning. Still, I will take it easy for much of the afternoon and then I'll do the heavy lifting tonight.
Friday, April 29, 2005
Friday April 29, 9:59 p.m.
It was the warmest day of the year so far...perfect weather for a picnic. I met up with Chip Guy and the family at Komazawa Daigaku Station and then we all walked down a few dozen metres to a ritzy apartment building where we picked up a few more people. Chip's friend happens to have a pretty swanky place...the rent goes for about 600,000 yen a month or perhaps about $7,000. I could believe it...the lobby resembled one for a hotel with two staff members at a front desk and a small room with free tea, coffee and green tea.
Once everyone got together, we went down a few more metres to Komazawa Olympic Park. It was bustling with activity as would be the case in such nice weather. A lot of students, soccer players and families were walking around or lying on their tarps. While the women set their tarps, the men went a bit further to the other side of the park to grab some burgers for lunch. The rest of our few hours there was spent noshing and talking while a couple of the kids did a walkabout. At one point, two of the parents went searching for them. Chip and I were a bit worried considering that there have been a number of kidnappings/murders by psychos in the last several months. Fortunately, they were found safe and sound.
Afterwards, Chip's family and I made our way back to Shibuya where we split. Chip's clan had to meet another family for dinner while I made my way to Hachiko to meet The Bohemian. When he did show up, his appearance was between his hippie look of a couple of years ago and his more salaryman-esque look from the earliest times of our friendship. The Bohemian managed to irk me a bit as he sometimes does by once again regurgitating the fact that he thinks Japanese women are far more fashionable and that North American women are frankly dogs. Well, I can't help it if he wants to show how shallow he can be, but I did make it briefly but strongly sure that I am VERY Canadian and that I didn't agree with his opinion. The two of us were silent for a few minutes and then we just did a reset.
We ended up going to a basement izakaya near Bunkamura. The Bohemian made an error in thinking that we would be able to go for the all-you-can-drink option; the waitress corrected him by stating that that option was only for large parties. Well, at that point, we were already nursing our drinks. The atmosphere was pretty nice and the izakaya was surprisngly not all that crowded considering the holiday Friday. The food wasn't quite as good as I had hoped but it was acceptable. As for talk, The Bohemian was considering what he could do in terms of finding a job. He rather regrets his 2-year stay in Sendai going for his Masters since it was basically a waste of time for him. I rather felt sorry for him since he's now in his mid-thirties and unemployed for several years. And he doesn't particularly have any ambition to start something up by himself. It's quite a difference in attitude with that of Chip Guy who's planned and executed a very good career for himself. But then again, my two friends are very different people. I can only hope that The Bohemian can dig himeslf up.
I checked out one advance review of "Revenge of the Sith" by none other than Kevin Smith. Looks like he's a happy camper. Much darker than "The Empire Strikes Back", he says. Well, let's see what the rest of the moviegoing public says in a few weeks.
Well, just gotta plan one lesson for JJ tomorrow and then do some ironing before I hit bed.
It was the warmest day of the year so far...perfect weather for a picnic. I met up with Chip Guy and the family at Komazawa Daigaku Station and then we all walked down a few dozen metres to a ritzy apartment building where we picked up a few more people. Chip's friend happens to have a pretty swanky place...the rent goes for about 600,000 yen a month or perhaps about $7,000. I could believe it...the lobby resembled one for a hotel with two staff members at a front desk and a small room with free tea, coffee and green tea.
Once everyone got together, we went down a few more metres to Komazawa Olympic Park. It was bustling with activity as would be the case in such nice weather. A lot of students, soccer players and families were walking around or lying on their tarps. While the women set their tarps, the men went a bit further to the other side of the park to grab some burgers for lunch. The rest of our few hours there was spent noshing and talking while a couple of the kids did a walkabout. At one point, two of the parents went searching for them. Chip and I were a bit worried considering that there have been a number of kidnappings/murders by psychos in the last several months. Fortunately, they were found safe and sound.
Afterwards, Chip's family and I made our way back to Shibuya where we split. Chip's clan had to meet another family for dinner while I made my way to Hachiko to meet The Bohemian. When he did show up, his appearance was between his hippie look of a couple of years ago and his more salaryman-esque look from the earliest times of our friendship. The Bohemian managed to irk me a bit as he sometimes does by once again regurgitating the fact that he thinks Japanese women are far more fashionable and that North American women are frankly dogs. Well, I can't help it if he wants to show how shallow he can be, but I did make it briefly but strongly sure that I am VERY Canadian and that I didn't agree with his opinion. The two of us were silent for a few minutes and then we just did a reset.
We ended up going to a basement izakaya near Bunkamura. The Bohemian made an error in thinking that we would be able to go for the all-you-can-drink option; the waitress corrected him by stating that that option was only for large parties. Well, at that point, we were already nursing our drinks. The atmosphere was pretty nice and the izakaya was surprisngly not all that crowded considering the holiday Friday. The food wasn't quite as good as I had hoped but it was acceptable. As for talk, The Bohemian was considering what he could do in terms of finding a job. He rather regrets his 2-year stay in Sendai going for his Masters since it was basically a waste of time for him. I rather felt sorry for him since he's now in his mid-thirties and unemployed for several years. And he doesn't particularly have any ambition to start something up by himself. It's quite a difference in attitude with that of Chip Guy who's planned and executed a very good career for himself. But then again, my two friends are very different people. I can only hope that The Bohemian can dig himeslf up.
I checked out one advance review of "Revenge of the Sith" by none other than Kevin Smith. Looks like he's a happy camper. Much darker than "The Empire Strikes Back", he says. Well, let's see what the rest of the moviegoing public says in a few weeks.
Well, just gotta plan one lesson for JJ tomorrow and then do some ironing before I hit bed.
Thursday, April 28, 2005
Friday April 29, 9:19 a.m.
Well, Golden Week is officially here. The first national holiday is today. It's called Midori (Green) Day...I'm sure there will be a lot of ol' grunge fans who'll be holding up their lighters in homage. heheheh. Actually, the day is the late Showa Emperor's birthday.
Got another rouse-up, not wake-up, call from Chip this morning. This time, I was somewhat more coherent but CG still talks a mile a minute. Looks like I'll be meeting him and the family at Komazawa University Station out in the west end in a couple of hours. It'll be a simple picnic in Komazawa Olympic Park for a few hours, then I'm heading out to Shibuya to meet The Bohemian for dinner.
Last night, Movie Buddy called up sheepishly to ask if we could meet tomorrow for our movie outings instead of midweek next week. I think The Sylph has been on his case for his GW schedule. So, after I teach JJ, I'll pick him up at the station and then head out to see "Constantine" at the neighbourhood theater. He'll probably be crashing over at the apartment.
In a case of terrible timing, Shard's ex called up while I was making dinner (I just HAD to pick up that phone, didn't I?). Basically, she telephoned me to talk about her immigration stuff, stuff that she rehashed with me before, stuff that I really don't know anything about. So, it wasn't too difficult for me to be distracted while I tried to keep the pasta and sauce warm and relevant. I have a sneaking suspicion that she got the "message" about my situation and promptly hung up; mind you, it took her almost half an hour to do so. Still, I felt a little guilty about my phone manner and sent her an apology.
Beforehand, I looked through "Citizen Kane" again, this time with Roger Ebert's commentary. Good golly, it's just like attending a good film class. The movie seems to have become the template for all the tricks of the trade.
Well, I gotta rush....
Well, Golden Week is officially here. The first national holiday is today. It's called Midori (Green) Day...I'm sure there will be a lot of ol' grunge fans who'll be holding up their lighters in homage. heheheh. Actually, the day is the late Showa Emperor's birthday.
Got another rouse-up, not wake-up, call from Chip this morning. This time, I was somewhat more coherent but CG still talks a mile a minute. Looks like I'll be meeting him and the family at Komazawa University Station out in the west end in a couple of hours. It'll be a simple picnic in Komazawa Olympic Park for a few hours, then I'm heading out to Shibuya to meet The Bohemian for dinner.
Last night, Movie Buddy called up sheepishly to ask if we could meet tomorrow for our movie outings instead of midweek next week. I think The Sylph has been on his case for his GW schedule. So, after I teach JJ, I'll pick him up at the station and then head out to see "Constantine" at the neighbourhood theater. He'll probably be crashing over at the apartment.
In a case of terrible timing, Shard's ex called up while I was making dinner (I just HAD to pick up that phone, didn't I?). Basically, she telephoned me to talk about her immigration stuff, stuff that she rehashed with me before, stuff that I really don't know anything about. So, it wasn't too difficult for me to be distracted while I tried to keep the pasta and sauce warm and relevant. I have a sneaking suspicion that she got the "message" about my situation and promptly hung up; mind you, it took her almost half an hour to do so. Still, I felt a little guilty about my phone manner and sent her an apology.
Beforehand, I looked through "Citizen Kane" again, this time with Roger Ebert's commentary. Good golly, it's just like attending a good film class. The movie seems to have become the template for all the tricks of the trade.
Well, I gotta rush....
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Thursday April 28, 1:03 p.m.
Yup, the Golden Week rush has started. The usual epic lineups have started to snake around in Narita and probably at Haneda and the major train stations. I kinda wonder how edgy train passengers are feeling with Monday's accident. I just can't picture any Bullet Train encountering anything like that train on Monday, though.
Speaking of the accident, at least one channel's afternoon chat show is wondering if the accident is actually an incident in which the driver finally snapped under the pressure and decided to commit suicide. Of course, the very nature of a talk show (or wide show, as it's called here) is speculation. However, it's pretty dangerous to do that during a major investigation like this one. And yes, the driver has been confirmed dead along with perhaps 100 passengers at least. I mentioned to Shard's ex this morning that if any of my loved ones had been the victims in that crash, I would've gone after the driver's internal organs. However, the one improvement in Japanese journalism, investigative journalism, has come out with a new angle.
Apparently, to ensure that JR drivers in a certain area commit as few mistakes as possible, there is a rather brutal policy of zero tolerance which can include "imprisonment" in JR's own version of a jail for 3 to 5 days, and at the very least, chewouts en masse and the demand for a very lengthy report. The driver at fault here had committed a couple of overruns in the past year so it could be assumed that he was at the short end of the punishment stick. Now, that the shock has subsided, there has not only been anger from the victims' families about why such a driver was allowed to keep his job but also speculation on whether the very strict approach to training may have led to the accident, however indirectly.
But this is nothing new to me. Japan may have given up its militaristic governmental policies decades ago, but Japanese society has still kept very martial elements, especially when it comes to training and education. Teachers can still administer en masse yellings for several minutes at errant students (I was aurally witness to a few when I used to teach on the JET Programme) and I think the beatings still occur although I'm sure teachers and their higher-ups are very careful with the new regulations on corporal punishment. Even student clubs, especially the baseball team, are notorious for coaches and even the senior team members administering punches and kicks to junior members who haven't been up to specs. Doesn't this remind you of Marine boot camp?
I'm sure that in both the West and Asia, there are forms of bullying in the workplace. However, I think in Japan, the practice is almost institutionalized. One of the readier images of work is of the poor drone getting the stuffings verbally knocked out of him by an irate manager...kinda like the beatings administered by Sgt. Snorkel on Beetle Bailey. In a society where conformism is still pretty much the corporate norm, non-conformists can find themselves in a bit of difficulty from the higher-ups and colleagues in the form of ostracism and other petty little evil acts to get the peg back into the hole. This rather "Scared Straight" approach has, I think, been partly responsible for the almost perfect record of service that we over here get from store clerks and waiters. There is nothing like fear of reprisal to get a person to do something the right way. However, I have to wonder what the cost has been to get that perfect service. Should one settle for a happier if somewhat lax workforce or do we keep on demanding the perfect soldier-worker service at the risks of that person going nuts or at least feeling majorly stressed out?
Yup, the Golden Week rush has started. The usual epic lineups have started to snake around in Narita and probably at Haneda and the major train stations. I kinda wonder how edgy train passengers are feeling with Monday's accident. I just can't picture any Bullet Train encountering anything like that train on Monday, though.
Speaking of the accident, at least one channel's afternoon chat show is wondering if the accident is actually an incident in which the driver finally snapped under the pressure and decided to commit suicide. Of course, the very nature of a talk show (or wide show, as it's called here) is speculation. However, it's pretty dangerous to do that during a major investigation like this one. And yes, the driver has been confirmed dead along with perhaps 100 passengers at least. I mentioned to Shard's ex this morning that if any of my loved ones had been the victims in that crash, I would've gone after the driver's internal organs. However, the one improvement in Japanese journalism, investigative journalism, has come out with a new angle.
Apparently, to ensure that JR drivers in a certain area commit as few mistakes as possible, there is a rather brutal policy of zero tolerance which can include "imprisonment" in JR's own version of a jail for 3 to 5 days, and at the very least, chewouts en masse and the demand for a very lengthy report. The driver at fault here had committed a couple of overruns in the past year so it could be assumed that he was at the short end of the punishment stick. Now, that the shock has subsided, there has not only been anger from the victims' families about why such a driver was allowed to keep his job but also speculation on whether the very strict approach to training may have led to the accident, however indirectly.
But this is nothing new to me. Japan may have given up its militaristic governmental policies decades ago, but Japanese society has still kept very martial elements, especially when it comes to training and education. Teachers can still administer en masse yellings for several minutes at errant students (I was aurally witness to a few when I used to teach on the JET Programme) and I think the beatings still occur although I'm sure teachers and their higher-ups are very careful with the new regulations on corporal punishment. Even student clubs, especially the baseball team, are notorious for coaches and even the senior team members administering punches and kicks to junior members who haven't been up to specs. Doesn't this remind you of Marine boot camp?
I'm sure that in both the West and Asia, there are forms of bullying in the workplace. However, I think in Japan, the practice is almost institutionalized. One of the readier images of work is of the poor drone getting the stuffings verbally knocked out of him by an irate manager...kinda like the beatings administered by Sgt. Snorkel on Beetle Bailey. In a society where conformism is still pretty much the corporate norm, non-conformists can find themselves in a bit of difficulty from the higher-ups and colleagues in the form of ostracism and other petty little evil acts to get the peg back into the hole. This rather "Scared Straight" approach has, I think, been partly responsible for the almost perfect record of service that we over here get from store clerks and waiters. There is nothing like fear of reprisal to get a person to do something the right way. However, I have to wonder what the cost has been to get that perfect service. Should one settle for a happier if somewhat lax workforce or do we keep on demanding the perfect soldier-worker service at the risks of that person going nuts or at least feeling majorly stressed out?
Thursday April 28, 9:55 a.m.
Well, I got a wake-up call from Chip Guy about an hour ago. He found out rather quickly that I don't wake up all that well anymore. And I found out that I don't particularly tell little white lies when I'm groggy, either. However, I digress. Anyways, he wanted to know if I were up for lunch today. I declined....I wanted to keep things within the neighbourhood and actually get some gym time in this week before heading out down the line to teach MK tonight. Then again, I've never been great about last-minute invitations. Chip Guy must have been a bit embarrassed about catching me just coming out of REM sleep...his usual speedy rate of speech seemed to go into emergency warp, which made my groggy attempts to understand even worse. Apparently, we are to meet tomorrow in Komazawa Park. The name sounded familiar but I wasn't sure about exact location so I asked him, but from what I could comprehend that it seems that even he didn't know. So I just checked out the atlas and found out that it isn't too far from where CG used to live. I also sent off the news to The Bohemian. I rather doubt that he'll come over to Komazawa, though. He's pretty territorial...just wants to stick around either in Shibuya or Shinjuku. I frankly doubt that he and CG will meet tomorrow.
Then, I got onto the Net which is where I've been for the past hour answering e-mail and doing a bit of research for Automan who called up not long after Chip. He was calling about reservations at Hotel Haruhiko for either next Tuesday or Thursday. I'd prefer next Thursday since there's a better chance that the blankets will be done by then and I've got Movie Buddy coming over on Wednesday. However, his other friend will be staying at a hotel so he asked me if I could find something nearby. Well, there is that hotel that Old Sam and his wife stayed at in Kiba. I sent off the information to him although I'm not sure if he's checking his e-mail during his stay in Japan. He's already here by the way. In any case, he'll be calling for final confirmation on Sunday.
I received some e-mail from Shard's ex. She'd asked about some further information on the vagaries of Canadian immigration. Once again, she went into a mild harangue about what's wrong with Japan. Today's theme was on the martial discipline imposed on people here in school and work vis-a-vis the train accident in Osaka. I guess I must've finally roused from my sleep by that point since I gave her a rather voluminous answer.
My sister-in-law contacted me. Apparently, her best friend in high school is in town on some sort of extended business trip. She gave me her phone number and e-mail address. Well, I'll give her a courtesy call. However, I'm a bit wary about it since I had a similar situation last year with the Persian's friends...that didn't end too well with one sister. Also, I know that my sister-in-law has been wondering hitching me up with somebody...no thank you. I like my embittered bachelorhood, thank you very much.
The Hawaiian confirmed that next Monday morning is a go for her lesson. But not surprisingly, she's declined the invitation for Wednesday.
Just lucky that I did all the groundwork for MK's lesson the night before. Not feeling particularly up for lesson planning just now. I'll probably head out to the gym later this afternoon and then head straight to MK's venue.
Well, I got a wake-up call from Chip Guy about an hour ago. He found out rather quickly that I don't wake up all that well anymore. And I found out that I don't particularly tell little white lies when I'm groggy, either. However, I digress. Anyways, he wanted to know if I were up for lunch today. I declined....I wanted to keep things within the neighbourhood and actually get some gym time in this week before heading out down the line to teach MK tonight. Then again, I've never been great about last-minute invitations. Chip Guy must have been a bit embarrassed about catching me just coming out of REM sleep...his usual speedy rate of speech seemed to go into emergency warp, which made my groggy attempts to understand even worse. Apparently, we are to meet tomorrow in Komazawa Park. The name sounded familiar but I wasn't sure about exact location so I asked him, but from what I could comprehend that it seems that even he didn't know. So I just checked out the atlas and found out that it isn't too far from where CG used to live. I also sent off the news to The Bohemian. I rather doubt that he'll come over to Komazawa, though. He's pretty territorial...just wants to stick around either in Shibuya or Shinjuku. I frankly doubt that he and CG will meet tomorrow.
Then, I got onto the Net which is where I've been for the past hour answering e-mail and doing a bit of research for Automan who called up not long after Chip. He was calling about reservations at Hotel Haruhiko for either next Tuesday or Thursday. I'd prefer next Thursday since there's a better chance that the blankets will be done by then and I've got Movie Buddy coming over on Wednesday. However, his other friend will be staying at a hotel so he asked me if I could find something nearby. Well, there is that hotel that Old Sam and his wife stayed at in Kiba. I sent off the information to him although I'm not sure if he's checking his e-mail during his stay in Japan. He's already here by the way. In any case, he'll be calling for final confirmation on Sunday.
I received some e-mail from Shard's ex. She'd asked about some further information on the vagaries of Canadian immigration. Once again, she went into a mild harangue about what's wrong with Japan. Today's theme was on the martial discipline imposed on people here in school and work vis-a-vis the train accident in Osaka. I guess I must've finally roused from my sleep by that point since I gave her a rather voluminous answer.
My sister-in-law contacted me. Apparently, her best friend in high school is in town on some sort of extended business trip. She gave me her phone number and e-mail address. Well, I'll give her a courtesy call. However, I'm a bit wary about it since I had a similar situation last year with the Persian's friends...that didn't end too well with one sister. Also, I know that my sister-in-law has been wondering hitching me up with somebody...no thank you. I like my embittered bachelorhood, thank you very much.
The Hawaiian confirmed that next Monday morning is a go for her lesson. But not surprisingly, she's declined the invitation for Wednesday.
Just lucky that I did all the groundwork for MK's lesson the night before. Not feeling particularly up for lesson planning just now. I'll probably head out to the gym later this afternoon and then head straight to MK's venue.
Wednesday April 27, 11:46 p.m.
Sent out a couple of blankets out to the cleaners just in case Automan decides to make a reservation at Hotel Haruhiko. However, it looks like the blankets won't be ready for about a week so that meant a Plan B...deodorize the blankets that I do have. However, he's yet to confirm his reservations.
The trip to see The Hawaiian was pretty uneventful but jolly as usual. She does make it worthwhile for me to make the long crosstown trip over there. Movie Buddy has proposed heading out to my neck of the woods for "Constantine" and then a DVD show at my place. I invited The Hawaiian but I frankly doubt that she'll pick up on the offer. She said that she's not too huge on the horror genre (neither am I, but I don't particularly consider Keanu's latest a horror flick per se), and I can't really see her willing to come out all the way to Chiba for a night of visual debauchery. However, since MB is asking for next Wednesday, I'm seeing if she would be willing to re-schedule for next Monday since I've got The Company. Plus, I'll probably be dropping by Speedy's at the same time.
Did my first round of major cooking in several days. Made spaghetti and meatballs and used the last two potatoes to try and make hash browns since the taters were starting to take root. As usual, got quite a bit to nosh on for tomorrow.
I was finally able to see the much vaunted Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane" after several years of wondering what would make this flick the AFI's top movie in the history of movies. Well, it certainly surprised me in terms of my initial predictions. I had initially thought that the famous movie was a Greek tragedy of a good guy turned bad over the years....kinda like MacBeth or even the current Star Wars trilogy. However, the first surprise was seeing that this was a tale of an already cocky, arrogant (albeit charming) Charles Foster Kane who gradually transforms into an embittered, self-centered, lonely old man trapped in his Hell of Xanadu.
The second surprise was that the film seemed to be quite ahead of its time. Perhaps it was the improved clarity of the picture that helped but I also think that the interesting camera shots and transitions between scenes and even some of the dialogue made "Kane" a lot more contemporary. It just didn't seem like a movie made in 1941. "Casablanca" which was made the next year is one of my all-time favourites but I know that it is a product of the 40s. I'm not sure with "Kane" which does make me understand why Orson Welles had been called a genius. Also, on the film itself, it didn't follow a typical linear course. I was surprised to see the first few minutes devoted to the newsreel giving away all the plot before the details started. And then, there was a temporal ping-pong game played all throughout with Act I dealing with the rise and fall of Kane's newspaper empire, Act II briefly devoting itself to Kane's dalliance in politics and then the final act of his two ill-fated marriages...from happy-go-lucky courtship to bitter fallout.
The third surprise came in the casting. Of course, I knew about Welles being the tour de force star. However, there were a few faces also there that would later become part of my TV viewing life. There was Ray Collins who was to become the craggy Lt. Tragg from "Perry Mason" playing the corrupt politico, Ruth Warrick whom I remember being the matriarch from "All My Children" as Kane's first wife. But the real corker was finding out that the 5-minute performance of Kane's cold-as-ice mother was played by none other than Agnes Moorehead...Endora from "Bewitched". And I have to say that in the trailers for the movie, she sure looked very ravishing. Quite a surprise since she was absolutely unrecognizable in character. I'm sure audiences of 1941 must have remarked, "That was HER?!"
Now, do I think "Citizen Kane" deserves its vaunted status as the best movie ever made? Well, I'll have to agree with Roger Ebert who does the commentary (which I'm looking forward to). The AFI list can be considered to be a silly one of no merit only meant to show the results of a democratic moviegoing population. I think it is an excellent movie with all of Welles' derring-do behind the camera. Heck, even the trailer was a masterclass in innovation. I wouldn't go as faras Ebert in saying that the most favourite film will change from time to time. There are some absolutes for me. Having said that, "Casablanca" will remain my favourite black & white flick but certainly, "Citizen Kane" is a worthy addition to my movie collection.
Sent out a couple of blankets out to the cleaners just in case Automan decides to make a reservation at Hotel Haruhiko. However, it looks like the blankets won't be ready for about a week so that meant a Plan B...deodorize the blankets that I do have. However, he's yet to confirm his reservations.
The trip to see The Hawaiian was pretty uneventful but jolly as usual. She does make it worthwhile for me to make the long crosstown trip over there. Movie Buddy has proposed heading out to my neck of the woods for "Constantine" and then a DVD show at my place. I invited The Hawaiian but I frankly doubt that she'll pick up on the offer. She said that she's not too huge on the horror genre (neither am I, but I don't particularly consider Keanu's latest a horror flick per se), and I can't really see her willing to come out all the way to Chiba for a night of visual debauchery. However, since MB is asking for next Wednesday, I'm seeing if she would be willing to re-schedule for next Monday since I've got The Company. Plus, I'll probably be dropping by Speedy's at the same time.
Did my first round of major cooking in several days. Made spaghetti and meatballs and used the last two potatoes to try and make hash browns since the taters were starting to take root. As usual, got quite a bit to nosh on for tomorrow.
I was finally able to see the much vaunted Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane" after several years of wondering what would make this flick the AFI's top movie in the history of movies. Well, it certainly surprised me in terms of my initial predictions. I had initially thought that the famous movie was a Greek tragedy of a good guy turned bad over the years....kinda like MacBeth or even the current Star Wars trilogy. However, the first surprise was seeing that this was a tale of an already cocky, arrogant (albeit charming) Charles Foster Kane who gradually transforms into an embittered, self-centered, lonely old man trapped in his Hell of Xanadu.
The second surprise was that the film seemed to be quite ahead of its time. Perhaps it was the improved clarity of the picture that helped but I also think that the interesting camera shots and transitions between scenes and even some of the dialogue made "Kane" a lot more contemporary. It just didn't seem like a movie made in 1941. "Casablanca" which was made the next year is one of my all-time favourites but I know that it is a product of the 40s. I'm not sure with "Kane" which does make me understand why Orson Welles had been called a genius. Also, on the film itself, it didn't follow a typical linear course. I was surprised to see the first few minutes devoted to the newsreel giving away all the plot before the details started. And then, there was a temporal ping-pong game played all throughout with Act I dealing with the rise and fall of Kane's newspaper empire, Act II briefly devoting itself to Kane's dalliance in politics and then the final act of his two ill-fated marriages...from happy-go-lucky courtship to bitter fallout.
The third surprise came in the casting. Of course, I knew about Welles being the tour de force star. However, there were a few faces also there that would later become part of my TV viewing life. There was Ray Collins who was to become the craggy Lt. Tragg from "Perry Mason" playing the corrupt politico, Ruth Warrick whom I remember being the matriarch from "All My Children" as Kane's first wife. But the real corker was finding out that the 5-minute performance of Kane's cold-as-ice mother was played by none other than Agnes Moorehead...Endora from "Bewitched". And I have to say that in the trailers for the movie, she sure looked very ravishing. Quite a surprise since she was absolutely unrecognizable in character. I'm sure audiences of 1941 must have remarked, "That was HER?!"
Now, do I think "Citizen Kane" deserves its vaunted status as the best movie ever made? Well, I'll have to agree with Roger Ebert who does the commentary (which I'm looking forward to). The AFI list can be considered to be a silly one of no merit only meant to show the results of a democratic moviegoing population. I think it is an excellent movie with all of Welles' derring-do behind the camera. Heck, even the trailer was a masterclass in innovation. I wouldn't go as faras Ebert in saying that the most favourite film will change from time to time. There are some absolutes for me. Having said that, "Casablanca" will remain my favourite black & white flick but certainly, "Citizen Kane" is a worthy addition to my movie collection.
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Wednesday April 27, 11:26 a.m.
After the Sturm und Drang of yesterday, it's nice to see that a warm Spring day has graced us. My washing machine, though, decided to take its revenge on me for overloading it. After the final spin cycle, the machine turned off but apparently the water was still leaking through. I had to do another spin before finally hanging the clothes out. Mind you, the weather should dry them out, at least most of them, even before I take off to see The Hawaiian.
I actually bought and listened to a Best CD of El DeBarge, he of "All This Love" and "Who's Johnny?" (those who were born in the 80s and later need not read the rest of this paragraph). I was reading the liner notes. According to them, the group DeBarge was rather labeled as "the poor man's Jackson 5", which I thought a bit harsh. But after listening to El's greatest, I had to admit that as the CD ran its course, my ears were starting to listen less and less and just hear more and more. His best songs really didn't vary much in style and tone so that the album just came across as aural wallpaper. And I was a bit surprised that one song done by El in the late 80s didn't make it onto the album; it could've spruced up the disc a bit with his more mid-tempo beat. Still, I don't think DeBarge is a poor sub for the Jackson 5; in fact, I think I only really like that one song by the latter group...that ABC song or whatever compared to the 80s R&B hits that DeBarge had during its decade. Well, perhaps the CD will grow on me like so many others have.
Movie Buddy contacted me for the first time in a while. Looks like he wants to do a bit of movie watching at my place and at the theater during Golden Week. I'm more than happy to oblige since I've got "The Incredibles" and "Citizen Kane" on tap.
Well, gotta get ready to do that sole class out with The Hawaiian. Looks like my GW has already started. I've only got that one lesson today and then just MK tomorrow night. I've asked Speedy subtly if I can keep myself home tomorrow afternoon so that I only need to make that short hop to teach MK. And of course, Friday is the official start to GW so I've got absolutely nothing except for a possible meeting with Chip Guy and maybe even The Bohemian.
After the Sturm und Drang of yesterday, it's nice to see that a warm Spring day has graced us. My washing machine, though, decided to take its revenge on me for overloading it. After the final spin cycle, the machine turned off but apparently the water was still leaking through. I had to do another spin before finally hanging the clothes out. Mind you, the weather should dry them out, at least most of them, even before I take off to see The Hawaiian.
I actually bought and listened to a Best CD of El DeBarge, he of "All This Love" and "Who's Johnny?" (those who were born in the 80s and later need not read the rest of this paragraph). I was reading the liner notes. According to them, the group DeBarge was rather labeled as "the poor man's Jackson 5", which I thought a bit harsh. But after listening to El's greatest, I had to admit that as the CD ran its course, my ears were starting to listen less and less and just hear more and more. His best songs really didn't vary much in style and tone so that the album just came across as aural wallpaper. And I was a bit surprised that one song done by El in the late 80s didn't make it onto the album; it could've spruced up the disc a bit with his more mid-tempo beat. Still, I don't think DeBarge is a poor sub for the Jackson 5; in fact, I think I only really like that one song by the latter group...that ABC song or whatever compared to the 80s R&B hits that DeBarge had during its decade. Well, perhaps the CD will grow on me like so many others have.
Movie Buddy contacted me for the first time in a while. Looks like he wants to do a bit of movie watching at my place and at the theater during Golden Week. I'm more than happy to oblige since I've got "The Incredibles" and "Citizen Kane" on tap.
Well, gotta get ready to do that sole class out with The Hawaiian. Looks like my GW has already started. I've only got that one lesson today and then just MK tomorrow night. I've asked Speedy subtly if I can keep myself home tomorrow afternoon so that I only need to make that short hop to teach MK. And of course, Friday is the official start to GW so I've got absolutely nothing except for a possible meeting with Chip Guy and maybe even The Bohemian.
Tuesday April 26, 11:51 p.m.
I guess the Force was still with me when I left to go to the juku. After the torrents that tore down earlier in the afternoon, I exited the apartment to no rain and some sun. I was toting quite a lot of texts though.
The juku classes went pretty smoothly. Even the Beauty Pair got down to some good ol' work. I cannot complain at all about today, and I got paid, and next Tuesday is off for Golden Week.
Regrettably, that horrific train crash west of Osaka will probably have more deaths to deal with. At this point, the toll stands at 73 dead and 239 injured. The driver who created this tragedy is yet to be accounted for. I'm assuming since that it was the first two cars that got "painted" onto the side of the apartment building, he's probably also part of the brickwork as well...as gruesome as that may sound.
The one thing that fascinates/ticks me off about journalism in this country is the dogpile nature of it. The Osaka train crash makes the news...now, "suddenly", all the channels report about other train derailments that occurred today...as if just by coincidence these things started to happen. It happened when that poor girl last year was murdered by the psycho in Nara; after that incident, a flurry of these kidnappings hit the news regularly for several days. What ticks me off about this is that it just seems alarmist and sensationalistic. As for the main train derailment followed by the other sudden spate of train derailments today, it just makes it seem that the entire train industry is on the point of collapse. I just cannot believe that these so-called copycat crashes are a sudden phenomenon. Where was the media when these minor derailments had occurred in the past? Not big enough? Another case in point was a couple of years ago when that poor boy had his head crushed in the revolving doors at Roppongi Hills. Suddenly, the media was reporting every single incident which involved a kid and a revolving door; they mysteriously all came out of the woodwork at the same time. All we need is just a kid who fires off a bottle rocket into a school injuring or killing some of his mates; then, we'll see a whole rash of these bottle rocket tragedies amazingly appear all over the tube for the next 10 days.
I guess the Force was still with me when I left to go to the juku. After the torrents that tore down earlier in the afternoon, I exited the apartment to no rain and some sun. I was toting quite a lot of texts though.
The juku classes went pretty smoothly. Even the Beauty Pair got down to some good ol' work. I cannot complain at all about today, and I got paid, and next Tuesday is off for Golden Week.
Regrettably, that horrific train crash west of Osaka will probably have more deaths to deal with. At this point, the toll stands at 73 dead and 239 injured. The driver who created this tragedy is yet to be accounted for. I'm assuming since that it was the first two cars that got "painted" onto the side of the apartment building, he's probably also part of the brickwork as well...as gruesome as that may sound.
The one thing that fascinates/ticks me off about journalism in this country is the dogpile nature of it. The Osaka train crash makes the news...now, "suddenly", all the channels report about other train derailments that occurred today...as if just by coincidence these things started to happen. It happened when that poor girl last year was murdered by the psycho in Nara; after that incident, a flurry of these kidnappings hit the news regularly for several days. What ticks me off about this is that it just seems alarmist and sensationalistic. As for the main train derailment followed by the other sudden spate of train derailments today, it just makes it seem that the entire train industry is on the point of collapse. I just cannot believe that these so-called copycat crashes are a sudden phenomenon. Where was the media when these minor derailments had occurred in the past? Not big enough? Another case in point was a couple of years ago when that poor boy had his head crushed in the revolving doors at Roppongi Hills. Suddenly, the media was reporting every single incident which involved a kid and a revolving door; they mysteriously all came out of the woodwork at the same time. All we need is just a kid who fires off a bottle rocket into a school injuring or killing some of his mates; then, we'll see a whole rash of these bottle rocket tragedies amazingly appear all over the tube for the next 10 days.
Monday, April 25, 2005
Tuesday April 26, 3:27 p.m.
The Force is indeed with me. Exactly a year ago, I was caught in one of the worst downpours I'd ever experienced on either side of the Pacific on my way to the juku which necessitated some embarassing wardrobe changes for my classes. Well, it looks like the same weather has come down just now a year later but I was able to get home just when the first few drops started coming down. Mind you, I did get drenched but that was by design...I took a shower since I got myself rather sweaty for reasons to be given below.
I should actually say that not only is the Force with me, but it's flowing within me like a torrent today. Back on Saturday, I received the report from the tax office on how much I was to pay to Uncle Osamu according to the complicated tax return that I'd filed back in mid-March. Well, I was rather bemused to see that I owed a grand total of over a MILLION yen (no, I'm not using Dr. Evil's voice for this one), or over $10,000 CDN to the Japanese government. Well (and I think I'm well within my rights to use "well" in as twice as many sentences in this case), I just laughed at the ludicrous number. I knew that it had to be a mistake. I don't have that much money in my account. If I'd had to pay that, I would've ended up moving into a cardboard box by the Sumida River. Although I was pretty positive that there was an error, there must've been some residual shock that resonated since I did get that massive headache the next night. I usually don't get throbbing headaches of that magnitude.
I first brought the discrepancy to the Matron's attention on Monday since her son was the one who had helped me write out the return. Her eyes bugged out on seeing the figure. And I recollected that both Paddy and the son told me that I would "only" need to pay some 200,000 yen. So something was not right in the prefecture of Kagoshima. We agreed that I would go to the tax office, and if something couldn't be rectified I would call up her son again.
Well(there I go again), I brought it over to the Beehive today. Ms. Travel took one look at the offending document and she immediately called out a red alert amongst her classmates. As each of the ladies came in, each one bugged out in her own way over the million-yen figure. However, it was naturally Ms. Travel who took charge but it was ironically the final entry in the form of Ms. Tee who knew the tax rules in and out. For the first half hour, Ms. Travel and Ms. Tee took it upon themselves to find out where I had gone wrong because they suspected that I must have screwed up the calculations somewhere. Meanwhile, the rest of the Beehive started producing little canapes of marscapone cheese, raisins and crackers to go with that Hungarian port I'd gotten from the Matron, and a bottle of dry red that Ms. Perth kindly contributed from her trip to Turkey. By the half-hour mark, the two leaders managed to find out what had gone wrong and then called up the tax office to confirm. Thankfully, the early Red Alert atmosphere collapsed nicely into a very convivial chat session due a lot to the wines.
We even went over to the local Excelsiors for a bit of coffee and light lunch while Ms. Perth talked about her great trip through Turkey last week. Then, with a wish of good luck from the Hive, Ms. Travel and I were off to the tax office. It took about a half hour by local train to get to Onigoe Station where the tax office is located. The slowness was probably due to yesterday's tragic train derailment near Osaka; when something of this magnitude happens, everyone is hypersensitive. When we got into the tax office, I was relieved to find out that it was indeed a mistake since the staff also bugged out at the amount. All we needed to do was head up to the third floor and have the figures re-calculated and re-written onto a different sheet.
And folks, there is even a twist ending of O. Henry proportions. Not only did I not need to pay one million yen into bankruptcy, but I found out that I am to get a tax rebate of 20,000 yen! How's that for a corker? Ms. Travel had a ball laughing; I just merely had a ball...of hair...and a lot of relief. I couldn't believe that I was actually owed money by Uncle Osamu...which gets to me thinking...what the hell were Paddy and the Matron's son thinking about? Not that I'm resentful to either of them but still there's a huge difference between losing 200,000 yen and gaining 20,000 yen. However, I'm still not totally convinced that I'm owed that money. I can't understand a freelancer can actually make money from a tax return. But I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth...for now. On our way out, a very buoyant, if somewhat shocked, me remarked that the lady up on the 3rd floor must be spreading the news about my gaijin idiocy. Ms. Travel countered that the lady didn't seem to have the imagination to spread the news. I can see with the growing of age, so increases the amount of acid in one's tongue. Still, I have to say that with all due respect to Gary Cooper in "The Lou Gehrig Story", I feel I like I'm the luckiest man in the world right now to have such a good group of ladies. I think I may use that rebate to get them all something really nice.
The Force is indeed with me. Exactly a year ago, I was caught in one of the worst downpours I'd ever experienced on either side of the Pacific on my way to the juku which necessitated some embarassing wardrobe changes for my classes. Well, it looks like the same weather has come down just now a year later but I was able to get home just when the first few drops started coming down. Mind you, I did get drenched but that was by design...I took a shower since I got myself rather sweaty for reasons to be given below.
I should actually say that not only is the Force with me, but it's flowing within me like a torrent today. Back on Saturday, I received the report from the tax office on how much I was to pay to Uncle Osamu according to the complicated tax return that I'd filed back in mid-March. Well, I was rather bemused to see that I owed a grand total of over a MILLION yen (no, I'm not using Dr. Evil's voice for this one), or over $10,000 CDN to the Japanese government. Well (and I think I'm well within my rights to use "well" in as twice as many sentences in this case), I just laughed at the ludicrous number. I knew that it had to be a mistake. I don't have that much money in my account. If I'd had to pay that, I would've ended up moving into a cardboard box by the Sumida River. Although I was pretty positive that there was an error, there must've been some residual shock that resonated since I did get that massive headache the next night. I usually don't get throbbing headaches of that magnitude.
I first brought the discrepancy to the Matron's attention on Monday since her son was the one who had helped me write out the return. Her eyes bugged out on seeing the figure. And I recollected that both Paddy and the son told me that I would "only" need to pay some 200,000 yen. So something was not right in the prefecture of Kagoshima. We agreed that I would go to the tax office, and if something couldn't be rectified I would call up her son again.
Well(there I go again), I brought it over to the Beehive today. Ms. Travel took one look at the offending document and she immediately called out a red alert amongst her classmates. As each of the ladies came in, each one bugged out in her own way over the million-yen figure. However, it was naturally Ms. Travel who took charge but it was ironically the final entry in the form of Ms. Tee who knew the tax rules in and out. For the first half hour, Ms. Travel and Ms. Tee took it upon themselves to find out where I had gone wrong because they suspected that I must have screwed up the calculations somewhere. Meanwhile, the rest of the Beehive started producing little canapes of marscapone cheese, raisins and crackers to go with that Hungarian port I'd gotten from the Matron, and a bottle of dry red that Ms. Perth kindly contributed from her trip to Turkey. By the half-hour mark, the two leaders managed to find out what had gone wrong and then called up the tax office to confirm. Thankfully, the early Red Alert atmosphere collapsed nicely into a very convivial chat session due a lot to the wines.
We even went over to the local Excelsiors for a bit of coffee and light lunch while Ms. Perth talked about her great trip through Turkey last week. Then, with a wish of good luck from the Hive, Ms. Travel and I were off to the tax office. It took about a half hour by local train to get to Onigoe Station where the tax office is located. The slowness was probably due to yesterday's tragic train derailment near Osaka; when something of this magnitude happens, everyone is hypersensitive. When we got into the tax office, I was relieved to find out that it was indeed a mistake since the staff also bugged out at the amount. All we needed to do was head up to the third floor and have the figures re-calculated and re-written onto a different sheet.
And folks, there is even a twist ending of O. Henry proportions. Not only did I not need to pay one million yen into bankruptcy, but I found out that I am to get a tax rebate of 20,000 yen! How's that for a corker? Ms. Travel had a ball laughing; I just merely had a ball...of hair...and a lot of relief. I couldn't believe that I was actually owed money by Uncle Osamu...which gets to me thinking...what the hell were Paddy and the Matron's son thinking about? Not that I'm resentful to either of them but still there's a huge difference between losing 200,000 yen and gaining 20,000 yen. However, I'm still not totally convinced that I'm owed that money. I can't understand a freelancer can actually make money from a tax return. But I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth...for now. On our way out, a very buoyant, if somewhat shocked, me remarked that the lady up on the 3rd floor must be spreading the news about my gaijin idiocy. Ms. Travel countered that the lady didn't seem to have the imagination to spread the news. I can see with the growing of age, so increases the amount of acid in one's tongue. Still, I have to say that with all due respect to Gary Cooper in "The Lou Gehrig Story", I feel I like I'm the luckiest man in the world right now to have such a good group of ladies. I think I may use that rebate to get them all something really nice.
Monday April 25, 9:34 p.m.
Well, that headache stayed an unpleasant memory thankfully as I made my way to work. Unfortunately, I ended up being 15 minutes late for my first class with The Class Act since I'd forgotten that today's lesson was to start at 10:30 a.m. As usual, I ended up bashing myself for the rest of the day but I'm lucky that the ladies were much more forgiving than me. In fact, we still ended up having a full 90-minute lesson.
The rest of the day was the usual. I've been continuing my read through "Revenge of The Sith". I haven't finished yet but I went to see some of the reviews of the novelization. So far, it looks like all of them have been pretty praiseworthy of it...which is indeed high praise indeed considering the flak that the author who did "Attack of the Clones" had gotten. I still haven't re-read "The Phantom Menace" which I also got in its hardcover version...pretty good reason for that, too. All of the reviewers and I were rather mystified that the entire act on Kashyyk was not in the book at all....something to investigate, to be sure. However, I must agree with the reviewers that it would actually be a help to read the novelization BEFORE catching the movie. The author provides a lot of meat on the bones that I'm sure the movie will not be able to show.
Got home to find out that there had been a major disaster west of Osaka. A train derailed, so far killing 50 people and injuring hundreds more. I'll be watching the detials in about 10 minutes.
Well, that headache stayed an unpleasant memory thankfully as I made my way to work. Unfortunately, I ended up being 15 minutes late for my first class with The Class Act since I'd forgotten that today's lesson was to start at 10:30 a.m. As usual, I ended up bashing myself for the rest of the day but I'm lucky that the ladies were much more forgiving than me. In fact, we still ended up having a full 90-minute lesson.
The rest of the day was the usual. I've been continuing my read through "Revenge of The Sith". I haven't finished yet but I went to see some of the reviews of the novelization. So far, it looks like all of them have been pretty praiseworthy of it...which is indeed high praise indeed considering the flak that the author who did "Attack of the Clones" had gotten. I still haven't re-read "The Phantom Menace" which I also got in its hardcover version...pretty good reason for that, too. All of the reviewers and I were rather mystified that the entire act on Kashyyk was not in the book at all....something to investigate, to be sure. However, I must agree with the reviewers that it would actually be a help to read the novelization BEFORE catching the movie. The author provides a lot of meat on the bones that I'm sure the movie will not be able to show.
Got home to find out that there had been a major disaster west of Osaka. A train derailed, so far killing 50 people and injuring hundreds more. I'll be watching the detials in about 10 minutes.
Sunday, April 24, 2005
Monday April 25, 6:59 a.m.
8 more months til Xmas...get out, you shoppers!
There was that party out at PH's yesterday. It was a slightly smaller crew from the usual horde that invades the apartment. But it just meant more food and easier talk. The core folks like The Quarterback and Speedy were there, and of course, the family of honour, Chip Guy's unit. It was another round of BBQ chicken, salmon and steak. Plus, I helped make this rather interesting form of potato salad with small new taters. PH just boiled them and then doused them in mayo, salt & pepper and chopped green onions. No need for peeling...just slosh them around. PH said that it was an English recipe...it certainly looked British. And actually, it tasted pretty good. Probably at its best with the potatoes still warm.
The party was also notable for the relatively large number of babies that came out. There was Chip's daughter, and then two more. Of course, the cameras came out to shoot the grand summit of the little ones although none of them were particularly in talking mood with each other. Of course, with the kids there, the party itself didn't last long into the night. We all pretty much vacated by 8:30.
It was just as well since by the time I got home, I was under attack by an unusually nasty headache. Even Tylenol and some further reading of "Revenge of the Sith" didn't alleviate symptoms so I hit bed as soon as I could. Feeling much better now. The Theater Manager got back to me on his thoughts about the next Star Wars movie. He said that it would sound great on a home system...not exactly a ringing endorsement for the bigscreen run. I'm certainly not looking forward to the Anakin and Amidala scenes, if the novelization is any indication. It's more of the same hackneyed pap. I just hope that some more of the political intrigue dialogue stays in, although that doesn't sound like a Star Wars movie. I'm sure a lot of the kiddies would just get restless. Chip told me that one key scene in the book about Windu and Yoda arguing is supposed to be cut out...dang!
8 more months til Xmas...get out, you shoppers!
There was that party out at PH's yesterday. It was a slightly smaller crew from the usual horde that invades the apartment. But it just meant more food and easier talk. The core folks like The Quarterback and Speedy were there, and of course, the family of honour, Chip Guy's unit. It was another round of BBQ chicken, salmon and steak. Plus, I helped make this rather interesting form of potato salad with small new taters. PH just boiled them and then doused them in mayo, salt & pepper and chopped green onions. No need for peeling...just slosh them around. PH said that it was an English recipe...it certainly looked British. And actually, it tasted pretty good. Probably at its best with the potatoes still warm.
The party was also notable for the relatively large number of babies that came out. There was Chip's daughter, and then two more. Of course, the cameras came out to shoot the grand summit of the little ones although none of them were particularly in talking mood with each other. Of course, with the kids there, the party itself didn't last long into the night. We all pretty much vacated by 8:30.
It was just as well since by the time I got home, I was under attack by an unusually nasty headache. Even Tylenol and some further reading of "Revenge of the Sith" didn't alleviate symptoms so I hit bed as soon as I could. Feeling much better now. The Theater Manager got back to me on his thoughts about the next Star Wars movie. He said that it would sound great on a home system...not exactly a ringing endorsement for the bigscreen run. I'm certainly not looking forward to the Anakin and Amidala scenes, if the novelization is any indication. It's more of the same hackneyed pap. I just hope that some more of the political intrigue dialogue stays in, although that doesn't sound like a Star Wars movie. I'm sure a lot of the kiddies would just get restless. Chip told me that one key scene in the book about Windu and Yoda arguing is supposed to be cut out...dang!