Saturday, November 20, 2004
random japan thoughts
It's about 2:00 AM here in Japan. My friends have made me eat, drink, sing, and give speeches... but they haven't been able to keep me from feeling chotto kanashii (little sad). I came to Japan by myself, but God really provided many good people to shepherd, support, encourage, teach, and guide me along the way. So I can't help but feel very grateful as well... the world's a smaller place now. Random things i'll miss about Japan (besides people and in no order): -trains. -being anonymous (everyone thinks I'm Japanese) -100 yen (one dollar) stores. -pimped out cellphones. -People apologizing even if they just lightly bump in to you. -cold tea, especially mugi-cha (wheat tea) -azuki / an (red bean). -nori (dried seaweed) and wakame (kelp) -cheap, good Japanese cuisine. -cheap booze. -the hot towel every restaurant gives you before you eat to clean your hands. -the fact everybody bathes religiously. -watching little kids play jan-ken-pon (rock-paper-scissors) -used CD stores where the used CDs are as nice new ones -pimped out video arcades -funny Japanese TV -xylitol The list goes on and on... but I can't think about it now. .:. More movie reviews... super quick style. My Sassy Girl (Director's Cut). I've seen this movie before I bought it... the original at least. The director's cut adds some extra scenes, but they pretty much are just a little bit of extra fluff - the original still stands as a great flick. I dislike romantic comedies, but this movie is great... I still always get choked up during the scene on the mountain where the girl is calling out to Gyun. Silmido. I had pretty much zero knowledge of this movie before seeing it, except a friend of mine (ms. heh) said it was better than its hyped counterpart "Brotherhood". After watching, I can say: This movie is good. Really, really, good... and even though it has some familar themes (how brotherhood and friendship between men develop; politicians and immoral governments screwing over soldiers and normal people), the movie presents them in a fresh and interesting way. It's interesting, in a interview the director mentioned he's a fan of The Rock (Nicolas Cage and Sean Connery). It shows in the movie. The plot is based on a true story where after a failed North Korean assassination attempt, the South Korean government starts a secret project to train a special forces assassination squad of its own - the members being social outcasts, death row inmates, and other undesirables. The first half of the movie follows the group's transformation from punks to SpecOps badasses; the second half focuses more on the group's relationships and the story. I found the ending scene poignant... and I'm not ashamed to say that I even started tearing up and crying. Korean movies must be making me weepy. 2046. The much-hyped sequel to "In the Mood for Love" is an interesting movie... good characters, excellent cinematography, and great music - but unfortunately, it's a SEQUEL to a very good movie. Tony Leung continues the same role he had in "In the Mood", but 2046 lacks the chemistry / relationship with Maggie Cheung and a coherent story line. It's still a good movie to see if you're a Wong Kar Wai fan, but casual viewers will probably be disappointed... especially if you've seen "In the Mood" before this. |
Comments:
Xylitol... i used that name in a short story.
and i downloaded 2046 but it didnt have subtitles so i couldnt watch it. boo. -fonic
what evan said about xylitol.. was exactly what I was going to say too!
have you heard of taeguki? it's like a korean version of saving private ryan.. kinda... but that might be interesting for ya. g
welcome back. I considered coming to the airport... but I didn't want to block any uh.. family time.
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in?scrip?tion (n-skrip-shun)n.
the facts.
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