June 3

The Angels did make their prerequisite press conference....at Roppongi Hills, the place de jour in Tokyo. The ladies were quite accomodating to the fans. And a local celeb who would make a fine Japanese Angel appeared for a photo op and chat, Norika Fujiwara. I don't think there will be any opportunites in the near future for her if her dip into non-Japanese filmdom is a gauge.

Got a good night's rest...probably the first one in several weeks thanks to my better schedule and that walk through Tokyo yesterday.

Well, Bob Hope turned 100 on Thursday. I mention him because he was probably the very first comedian to make me laugh as a kid, and I remember that he did make me laugh until I cried. That was when I was watching his TV specials, and at the time, I had no idea about his long relationship with Bing Crosby or the Road movies.

In a way, he and Johnny Carson were responsible for how a lot of comedians handle themselves these days (whether they will admit it or not), and also to a large extent, they shaped how I handle my humour: deadpan and the knowing look. It is a consequence of the nature of generations that Bob is now largely seen by the younger folk as a relic from the age of grandfathers and grandmothers; a person who until his slow fade from the spotlight in the 90s was seen as a cornball-and-cheese act relying on the jokes written by others and the celebs deigning to appear with him. I'm no less guilty in that regard; I don't particularly appreciate the hit songs from my parents' generation, and I accept that future generations will probably treat my Billy Joel and Elton John as sappy pop acts. Even with Bob Hope, I largely lost my like for his specials because of the aforementioned corn and cheese. When I can get The Simpsons and Seinfeld back in Canada on a daily basis, the sharp wit and laugh-out-loud gags from those programs can run circles around anything that ol' Ski Nose had done in the waning decades of the 20th century.

However, it is his work in the Road pics that I now look to and that The Simpsons, Seinfeld and even Carson could look to that reveals how much of a master he was. Quicksilver ad-libs and his willful willingness to break the 4th wall made his appearances very welcome and a nice balance to the straightman crooner. Thanks for those memories.

June 2

Good morning, Angels! Well, the next celeb sightings in Tokyo were for Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu who had come in on Saturday. They had a free day so the cameras were keeping tabs on them from a discreet distance as they went on a shopping spree throughout the young and trendy Harajuku district. Strangely enough, noone approached them for an autograph, let alone mob them, although admittedly we only got an edited report. Celebs should be grateful for that much privacy.

Had my private class and then proceeded to walk 6 km. from Shibuya to Ginza. It took me about 90 minutes; not too shabby a time. I hope that took a bit off of my girth.

June 1

Halfway through the year, and sure enough, the warmth and humidity have rolled in like Japanese clockwork. Mind you, that overly muscular high-pressure system managed to give us a taste of the rainy season. Today, however, looks pretty decent for a walk. It's been a quiet weekend so far, and I've got a feeling that perhaps most of the next coming weeks will be mostly quiet ones.

The assistant manager at my school has been trying to contact me. Of course, he won't say anything over the phone, so I just sent him a fax asking him to send me e-mail instead. Another staff member contacted me by e-mail today asking if I could teach a class on Wednesday, which is now my own day. It is probably a class that I enjoy teaching, but I've got to turn it down since I don't want to set a precedent...leave any room open for the staff to exploit. However, the school may be in a bit of a fix since the staff person informed me that there is a rather important government Intensive course being taught next week so the assumption is that a lot of the good teachers will have to be sent out to that...which would also mean that some of the in-house classes would suffer. Ah. what a tangled web we weave. It's too bad, though, the little bit of money would've been nice but it's not worth the cost of remaining beholden to the largely dishonest group of people running things.

May 30

A relaxing day today with little more than a chat fest in the evening to signify any sort of work. I got that haircut but didn't get the shampoo; I'll have to remember to ask for it next time. Mind you, I did save 1400 yen in the bargain. It was a good time to get the cut as well. With the incoming heat, the shorter style will do me well.

Afterwards, I just got back home, made a humoungous pasta lunch and did some cleaning up which included making some major rearrangments to my books and CDs. Things look somewhat neater now.

However, last night, I found myself with an uninvited bedmate. There's nothing like a squirming little larva next to your ear to sit up and take notice. Well, I went out and got myself some insect repellent and proceeded to spray down my bedroom and all of the drawers. I've still yet to experience the annual visit by the cockroach, the deadly enemy of the Japanese. Their fear of nature's most indestructible creature borders on the sociopathic. Sure, I find them annoying but these folks think that the insects must be wearing a goalie mask and wielding a hatchet. In any case, summer is indeed coming up.

Looks like my English circle on Fridays will be livening up. My (ex-?) girlfriend will be joining our little menage a trois from next Friday. One of my regular pair remarked that it will be nice to get a fresh source of topics; she always had a way of being quietly cranky at times. She would make a great Canadian. In any case, I won't be mentioning our connection to the other two; no need for any more complications.

May 30

Forgot to mention that I caught the original Terminator tonight on TV Tokyo. Man, can't believe it's been nearly 20 years since that old sci-fi chestnut came out, and that T3 is slated this summer. It's interesting to watch Arnie in his lone bad-guy role, and Linda Hamilton as a soft and cuddly Sarah Connor before buffing herself out in T2. The FX back then look pretty laughable by today's standards especially when there are several seconds of obvious fake Arnie heads front and center.

May 29

It's always a nice feeling to be wanted. My first two classes were quite happy to see me at the helm again; heck, the second class even applauded. Always nice.

An update on that so-called request by my manager. Well, after I had sent him my "Go to Hell" response, he never contacted me again either in person or phone although I was at the school for all of the morning and most of the afternoon. I don't know how this will play out. Will he actually leave me be or will he plot a bit of sneaky revenge?

Tomorrow is my off day so I'll be getting that long-needed haircut. It'll cost me 5000 yen; not an easy amount to spend considering my current status as a part-timer but the hairstylist there gives the most exquisite scalp massage and shampoo. Plus, I'll have to scour my apartment; it's looking pretty ratty right now.

May 28

The first warm day this year and, as luck would have it, I had on my full suit for that doctor's family. It sure didn't help that I met them at 6:30 p.m. while having an early morning class at 8:30 a.m. My suit will need a night's airing out.

As for what happened in between, I just ended up at the Magazine House and just read my free mags. I will be saving a lot of money that way. Then, I just filled in a few student evaluations.

As for the interview with the doctor's family, it looks I passed muster. We set up the first appointment with the kids for mid-June. The doctor lives in a pretty nice large American-style house...ah, the creature comforts of a good career. Actualy, the doc and his wife had lived for a couple of years in New Orleans back in the early 90s. Some good talk about jambalaya and gumbo there. So it looks like my client list is slowly growing although I'm looking for a few group classes to get that extra income.

Well, it's back to a full day at the school tomorrow. My stupid manager actually had the nerve to summon me to talk with the big prez about my "future". And after my requests for a meeting met with dead air weeks ago. I politely sent a letter which basically can be summarized as "Take a Number."

May 27

Matrix: Unloaded?!

It looks like I'm not the only one with a beef about the former most anticipated movie of 2003. I just read that the second Matrix just dropped 60% in box office, and to add insult to injury, it came in a distant second to Jim Carrey of all people. Mind you, for all patriotic Canadians, it was a win-win situation. A fellow Torontonian lost to another Toronotonian. However, on the absolute side, Matrix Reloaded has reached $200 million...I mean, how many other producers would give their internal organs for that kind of box office? And it's quite likely that it will hit $300 million without breaking too much of a sweat.

However, there is the financial side and then there is the expectations side. And one will come out far lower than the other.

Well, Keanu Reaves did show up for a Matrix preview. He, Larry Fishburne, Hugo Weaving, Jada Pinkett Smith and Joel Silver showed up at Roppongi Hills last night at the special "invitees only" preview. What's the matter, Keanu? Don't want to mingle with the common people?

Had my regular school day today. Not too bad. I've got my final morning class at that oil company (Yeahhhh!) and then I have an interview of sorts with that doctor about teaching his two young daughters. Dog-and-pony show. Plus, I've got to do some location scouting for a place to teach my semi-regular Wednesday student, and get her a textbook. I'm eyeing an unusually quiet Starbucks near the oil company. I'm just wondering though if it's so quiet that the coffee house decides to close up earlier than usual.

May 26

It's Time To Rock!

Well, I don't know what it is between me and earthquakes. I was just washing my hands in the bathroom at about 6:30 tonight, and my thoughts centered on the Big One, namely a huge tremor. Sure enough, after I toweled off, my apartment started rocking. This is now the third week in a row that Tokyo's been all shook up. Mind you, as soon as I turned on the TV, I found out that the tremor had much deeper and far-ranging roots.

The northern area of Japan got majorly rocked with a Magnitude 7.0 tremor which brings it up to the level of the Kobe quake which laid waste to that city over 8 years ago. What saved cities like Sendai from really bad damage right now is that the epicenter was out in the ocean. CNN has reported the quake but their coverage doesn't match the domestic stuff which had scenes of TV studios shaking (a usual immediate shot whenever a big quake comes) and people in shopping centers running out into the streets.

NHK has been providing live continuous coverage for the past hour while the other commercial stations went back to normal programming a half-hour ago. To me, that signifies that the damage or the casualty reports aren't that bad although there have been reports of buckling streets and houses on fire.

Hmmm....I kinda wonder about that earthquake kit now.

May 24

The Matrix: Re-Bloated

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

May 22

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

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

May 20

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

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

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

May 19

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

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

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

May 15

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

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

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

May 13

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

May 12

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

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

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

May 11

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

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

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

May 10

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

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

May 9

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

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

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

May 5

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

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