Comment of the day... |
Hehehe... I just checked Weather.com and its ONLY 18 degrees. With the wind chil its a balmy 5 degrees. I was out shopping with Musubi-chan.... We went out to return a video to Blockbuster: The Core. A corny movie I will talk out it later. But after we returned the Video, we went to Safeway to get some stuff--tomatoes, soda, chips, sausages--then stopped off at our favorite watering whole, Glory Days. As my regular readers know, I have been going there for a while, but recently, I have noticed another Asian sitting at the bar talking to some of the other patrons. I don't really talk to strangers unless I'm drinking alone, and since I'm always with Musubi-chan, I keep to myself. Well, tonight, the Asian guy was sitting next to Musubi-chan and when she went to the restroom--which she is prone to do after the 2nd beer--he asked me in Japanese, "Do you speak Japanese?" This, of course, was a stupid question, cuz' why would he ask me unless he had actullay heard me talk in Japanese with Musubi-chan? Well, being the easy going guy I am, I talked with him a bit and learned he was from Japan. He had come to the US in the early 70s, and he claims he was sort of a hippie: going place to place, from Japan to India to Europe and finally to the US. He was an interesting sort, who seemed to want to speak some Japanese. And I felt a little bit of a kindred spirit. And I figured out why after talking with him a bit: Soon after coming to the US, he made a friend who was from Nebraska, a town called Cozad to be exact, the king of alfalfa. He told me that was the first place he bedded an American... Guys will talk about anything when they're drunk, even with a stranger. Anyway, he said this was possible because at the time--the early 70s--none of the denizens of Cozad, Nebraska had ever seen an Oriental, and the girl he met was convinced he was Bruce Lee! Hah! That was good for a laugh, expecially since, from my Asian eyes, he looked NOTHING like Bruce Lee.
So why did I get this sense of a kindred spirit? He looks like Bruce Lee. And who do I look like, according to some of you? Hahahahahahahahahah!
Just outa curiosity, has anyone ever told you, that you looked like somebody?
The pic above right is the wifey, Musubi-chan. She truly enjoys exercise--she was an aerobics instructor in Japan. So when we go out like this, she has a lot of fun as her smile will attest. Me? I'm the epitome of a couch potato. Not that I hate exercise, mind you, but if given the choice between a 3 mile jog and a 3 hour movie with popcorn and drinks, I'll take the movie (or football game or whatever). Just as Musubi-chan's smile attests to her enjoyment of exercise, my body--the round glob trying to slide down on the left--speaks volumes, or should I say pints and pounds?
There wasn't a whole lot of of snow, but it was cold enough that the snow that was there didn't turn into slush. I wasn't very successful the first few tries. When I sat down in the disc, it just sorta sank into the soft new snow and I was stuck. I tried to nudge my way forward with a couple of hip thrusts, but to no avail. Giving up, embarrassed, I had to let Musubi-chan and Ungai-kun slide down a few times first. After they packed the snow a bit, creating a mini sled-course, I was able to finally slip down the hill as well. I think I REALLY need to work out more rigorously. 
Not to make excuses or anything, but the fall semester is usually very busy and I truly do not have that much time to exercise. I'm either teaching or grading or... ok, Xanga-ing. Hahahahahah. Anyway, to slide down the hill head first on my stomach, a la Musubi-chan, I need to cut out the potato chips and chocolate that I so enjoy. Indeed, I slid down the hill head first, once. And it was a rather smooth and quick run as my weight became a speed factor down the now firmly packed course. But I'm glad it was cold enough for the snow not to turn into slush. Had it melted a bit, the disc would have stuck to my belly like a suction cup. Now THAT would have been embarrassing!
Anyway, I saw Open Range and Once Upon a Time in Mexico. Once Upon a Time... is the "sequel" to Desperado and stars Antonio Banderas and Johnny Depp. It was awful. Desperado was campy with Banderas as an action hero with a machine gun dressed as a guitar. The tale was simple and the movie was supposed to be for the action. Unfortunately, Once Upon a Time--perhaps trying to outdo its predecessor--was way too campy. Lots of blood, a few more gadgets, and a plot that was too vague for me. And what a waste of Depp. He plays a ruthless CIA agent who kills the chef that makes each excellent roast pork he eats in his attempt to maintain some sort of balance in Mexico--suggesting, I think, that Mexico is not supposed to have good cooks, a very condescending joke. It's so ridiculous. Depp walks around in a CIA t-shirt, and in the end has his eyes bored out, literally. The only thing good about the movie was Cheech Marin (of Cheech and Chong and more recently of Nash Bridges). His sarcasm is always great and he doesn't disappoint here. Sadly, he only has two scenes and dies early. I think he knew something that even the great Johnny Depp did not recognize. ** stars (look at left column for rating standards)
On the other hand, Open Range was actually quite good. It is an old time western when men adhered to values such as honesty and justice. Critics have called it the best western since Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, and this is true. Indeed, with its revisionist approach to the Old West--men regret and feel guilt for their killing ways and seek some form of redemption--it is perhaps a more "human" representation of people of the time. While Open Range is a throwback to the old western, it is not the same. There are no strong and silent types in this film. Charley (Kevin Costner) and Boss Spearman (Robert Duvall) have their own speeches about what men are, how they feel and how they should approach life. As in Last Samurai, the fight scenes are riveting. As I think about it, a lot of this can probably be traced back to Saving Private Ryan where the fight scenes were grainy and loud and ugly... and ultimately realistic. When Charley strides up to the hired gunman Butler, asks "You the one who shot my friend?" then puts a bullet in his head, I knew this was going to be a classic gun fight. And I was not disappointed. Duvall is a great actor and I always enjoy his work. Costner is actually a piece of plywood with two arms and two legs. 
His acting is always stiff like a board, but when he plays roles such as this--a man awkward with and unsure of himself, as in Field of Creams and Dances with Wolves--he excels, I guess cuz he's just playing himself. A mild surprise was Annette Bening. I thought she was kinda cute in The American President (with Michael Douglas), but she is much more attractive with longer locks... Well Boss, I reckon I'm just a might partial to purdy long hair. Yup. *** ｽ stars 
Not that Japanese culture is all bad... But there is a distinct attitude of Japanese uniqueness that reverberates in Japan even now. 
Doh!! If you look like she does with those huge bambi eyes--Sensei, there are soooo many kanji this week...--posting pics will obviously elicit comments! Unfortunately for me--as 
After the concert, Musubi-chan and I went to Ballston to unwind further at Chevy's with some Dos X draft. There we watched the NFC Championship. After an atrocious season for my beloved UCLA Bruins, it was very nice to see the Carolina Bruins... er, I mean Panthers win. Former Bruins Deshaun Foster and Rickey Manning Jr. did a great job. Deshaun scored the second touchdown that sealed Philly's fate. 
It was an incredible play in which he broke at least 4 would-be Philly tacklers virtually by himself to get into the endzone. It was an awesome one yard run. My boy Rickey had three, count 'em THREE, inerceptions. I just love it to death. He'd been calling out the Eagle's receiver all week as not a problem for him, even ex-UCLA teammate Freddie Mitchell. For once this season, I felt truly proud to be a Bruin...
Miike seems to have a response to this question by offering ultra-violence in this Ichi the Killer. This film focuses on the actions of two polar opposites: Ichi the ultra-sadist and Kakihara the closet ultra-masochist. Kakihara searches for the killer of his Kabukicho gang boss, Anjo, who also happens to be the one who--it's suggested--developed and fulfilled Kakihara's masochistic desires. He learns that the killer is a man named Ichi after torturing a rival gang leader. Ichi is a blubbering wimp, who is bullied by his manager at work--go ahead and die you idiot--but gets exxxcited when he sees someone sexually tortured and/or violated. And in the process of killing those who violate others, we learn he does this only so he can become the new violator. Ichi's violence is being manipulated with some kind of hypnotic technique by someone referred to as Jijii--although dealt with as a proper name in the subtitles and in various reviews, to me suggests his relationship to Ichi, his uncle. Now it is unclear whether Jijii took advantage of an inherent predeliction to sadism in Ichi or if he developed it, but it is clear that he is using it to direct Ichi toward killing all member of the Anjo gang, especially Kakihara. 
The movie progresses from one violent scene to another as both Kakihara and Ichi work their way violently from victim to victim. The violence is way over the top. For example, the torture of Suzuki, the rival gang leader who gave up Ichi's name: this involved suspending him horizontally with multiple meat hooks, then pearcing his body with what looked like a crochet needle only shinier and sharper, and pouring hot oil over his entire body after cooking some shrimp tempura. Yes, this was a graphic scene, but by no means a spoiler. There are worse scenes, from extreme sexual violations to manga-like body dismemberment. You have to see it to "appreciate" it. 
The two reach their confrontation at the climax, an inevitability in a Yin-Yang sort of way as they are perfect mirror opposites. Kakihara is in control, violent in public but masochistic in private; Ichi has no control of his fate, is passive in public but sadistic in private. Ichi, sometimes befuddled with his own violence, ultimately kills Kakihara, who for his part achieved a kind of ultimate maoschistic climax. The denouement--unlike the rest of the movie--was thought provoking: a scene with school children going through a park and Jijii shown hanging from a tree apparently having committed suicide. Walking behind the school children is Ichi. The effect is frightening in that it suggests that the manipulator, the one who had the violent intentions is dead, since he no longer had a reason to live as all the gang members had been elliminated. In contrast, the actual perpetrator of the violence lives on innocently like a child, not realizing his own actions, oblivious to any sense of responsibility, unaware to his nascent violent tendacies. Is this how Miike sees the future? Does he see the younger generation--out children--as Ichi? A pessimistic thought suggested by the same person who seems to be promoting it...
