ALL NEW VISUAL VICTUALS (Volume 9)

*映画に関するポストは日本語書き込みません。

Oh my, I can't believe I've been neglecting posts about movies for so long. I guess that's a problem I have when I write short blurbs about flicks on MIXI (Japanese version of MySpace). I keep thinking that I've already introduced them on my blog, but when I checked to see when the last time I wrote a film post, it turned out to be last September!! The final film blurb being on "Fido" or "Zombino" as its called over here. From then until now, I've already watched around 30 movies - some good, some bad, and a lot of inbetweeners. Also during that span of time, a new burger shop opened in our　neighborhood, hooked up with a childhood friend while she was in Tokyo on a business trip, went to Vegas for my sister's wedding, took quite a few walks around various neighborhoods, and of course I read many books! So, checking back on my trusty day planner (I always write down what movies I watched), I can actually share with you the thirty or so movies I subjected myself to starting with a Japanese flick I watched on television (and to think, I almost rented the movie during the time it was aired!). Don't you hate it when that happens? You rent a movie, and then the next day, it gets aired on broadcast television? And as you know, my taste in movies varies from mood to mood so you may find an urge to rent a title that I featured. Check 'em out anyway. And seeing how there will be so many to choose from this time around, I shall try to keep my blurbs to a minimum.


1. ライフ：天国で君に逢えたら [LIFE: TENGOKU DE KIMI NI AETARA] Also known as [LIFE: TEARS IN HEAVEN] (2007) - Based on the life of professional wind surfer, Natsuki Iijima, its his story of striving to become a champion, fulfilling his dream, and then when he thought all was going well, to be struck by tragedy. He was diagnosed with liver cancer, which kept getting worse with time. He had two operations and yet his health did not improve. This is a man's struggle with his life and will to live with the support of his family. Much better than Koji Yakusha's "像の背中", [Walking My Life].

2. WILD HOGS (2007) - It's "City Slickers" with old guys on Harleys. Damn fun movie though. And the soundtrack included two Bon Jovi songs much to Mikako's delight.

3. BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA (2007) - Based on the Newbery Medal winning novel by Katherine Paterson about an unlikely pair who become fast friends and invent a world of their own. I was a bit surprised by the ending.

4. THE KINGDOM (2007) – FBI run a covert mission in Saudi Arabia. Uh-huh, yeah right. But enough action to keep you interested. Uh, some terrorist bombing in U.S. housing area or so. Kind of scary when you think about things like that actually taking place.

5. DAYWATCH (2006) – Russian film I didn’t get. Something about vampires, parallel worlds and whatnot. I think there is a sequel called "Nightwatch" as well.

6. NATIONAL TREASURE 2: BOOK OF SECRETS (2008) – An insult to our intelligence, but I had to watch it anyway, and it met my really low expectations. More absurd than the first flick, which defies believability but was fun none the less.

7. MIDNIGHT EAGLE (2007) – One of the better Japanese films I’ve seen this year about a fallen plane that was carrying a nuclear device that those baddies, the North Koreans, want to set off.

8. クローズ：０[CROWS:O] (2007) – Based on a violent Japanese comic (nothing to with “The Crow”). Current Japanese heartthrob Shun Oguri stars in this violence festival. He wants to be top dog at some loser high school (hey, it’s based on a comic). Just think of those movies like “Tuff Turf” or “The Principal” or something along those lines.




9. REIGN OVER ME (2007) – Sucked big time. Adam Sandler couldn’t save it. Used 9-11 as a back drop to the actual story. One to skip.






10. L: CHANGE THE WORLD (2008) – Third film in the “Death Note” franchise. It was okay. Well hey, I watched it on television. Stories based on the stealing of some serious virus (as if you haven’t heard that one before).





11. KINKY BOOTS (2005) – This actually was a great film, well maybe not great, but quality entertainment. Young guy’s father is owner of a shoe factory. Keels over. Factory hasn’t been making money for years and yet old Dad continued to make the same kind of shoes. Young guy saves what he thought was a woman, turns out to be a cross-dresser. Then young dude gets an idea. To make shoes for a niche market – boots for cross dressers.



12. MR. BEAN’S HOLIDAY (2007) – Movie length skit is just too long.







13. THE DARWIN AWARDS (2006) – Didn’t get good reviews but I thought it was damn funny. Metallica makes a guest appearance as well. Excellent sound track. Even Tacoma gets a mention. I can I not like it?





14. S DIARY (2004) – Not so entertaining Korean flick. Love, betrayal, revenge, with just a touch of humor (not much, but just a touch).






15. WELCOME TO DONGMAKGOL (2005) – Excellent Korean film. I may have to send this one off to Mom. North Korean soldiers, South Korean soldiers, downed American pilot all find themselves in a small hamlet called Dongmakgol, where the villagers have no idea there is a war going on.





16. HANCOCK (2008) – It was one of the choices on my return flight home from Vegas. Fun, silly action movie with Will Smith.











17. SPEED RACER (2008) – If you’re my age, chances are you watched “Speed Racer” before heading off to school. And now here it is, live action with lots of CG, but the star of course is the Mach 5.










18. BALLS OF FURY (2007) – Parody of “Enter the Dragon” with a Jack Black wannabe.











19. KUNG-FU KUN (2008) - Bad Kung-Fu movie with a cute Chinese kid as the star. Lots of popular Japanese stars couldn’t make this any better. My mother would be amused to see Pinko Izumi in this flick. Oy vay!

20. THE KITE RUNNER (2007) – I loved the book and this adaptation stays close to its source. An excellent story about friendship, cowardice, betrayal, and atonement. Pretty intense. Story is set in Afghanistan in the early ‘70s about two childhood friends and how their relationship altars after a particular incident. But don’t let me spoil it for you. Go and rent this now!







21. HOLLOW MAN (2000) – It was on television and I had never gotten around to watching it even though I’ve seen almost every Kevin Bacon movie. A twisted take on the “Invisible Man” theme.

22. MICHAEL CLAYTON (2007) – Just watch the last twenty minutes or so, or better yet, go and rent “A Civil Action” or “Erin Brokovich” instead.

23. ROOTS TIME (2006) – Reggae road movie with absolutely no plot and is just a little over an hour long.

24. VANTAGE POINT (2008) – Film critics didn’t like it but I thought it was done quite well. Well, okay, Gus Van Sant used the formula in his movie “Elephant” first but what the hell.

25. BLINDSIGHT (2006) – Excellent documentary about a group of blind teenage Tibetans who challenge themselves to climb Everest’s 23,000ft Lhakpa Ri Peak.

26. OH! HAPPY DAY (2003) – Korean rom-com.

27. LIONS FOR LAMBS (2007) – A satire of the Bush administration no doubt. Tom Cruise as a Neo-con Chickenhawk. Meryl Streep – a journalist who’s forced to question her reporting. College student as an apathetic voter. Overall, this is just lame. Just watch the news instead, preferably not FOX or any that are owned or supported by the current administration.

28. AMERICAN GANGSTER (2007) – Biopic based on the life of Frank Lucas, the heroin king of Manhattan in the early ‘70s with Denzel Washington. Russell Crowe as the honest cop who tries to bring him down. Excellent film.

29. HIGHWAY STAR (2007) – Korean comedy about a struggling rock star who becomes a masked singing sensation in a genre not of his choosing – traditional Korean songs, like Japanese Enka.

30. eXistenZ (1999) – David Cronenberg film with Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jude Law. Lots of goo and gore but not really scary. Just a stylized B-movie with more money.

31. THE BUCKET LIST (2007) - Two old geezers with nothing in common, and are opposites of each other find themselves sharing a room in a hospital as they are both suffering from a terminal disease. Jack Nicholson plays filthy rich dude, while Morgan Freeman plays down to earth father figure who passes his time by writing a "bucket list" - a list of things to do before he "kicks the bucket". Jack being filthy rich talks him into doing those things on his list. Excellent little road movie. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

32. RAIN MAN (1988) - Mikako had never seen it and we had just watched a documentary on the actual person that "Rain Man" was based on. Tom Cruise's character was an annoying bunghole for almost the entire length of the film, but Dustin Hoffman was excellent.

Wow, that's quite a few films for a three month period, don't you think? And starting this Friday (tomorrow), my neighborhood DVD rental shop is having another half-price rental campaign. Of course I'll be picking up a few titles. I just don't know which ones yet.

Nissin Mouko Tanmen Nakamoto / 日清蒙古タンメン中本

The name of the noodle sounds familiar you say? It should be. On a previous post, Mikako and I had gone to Ikebukuro to eat at Mouko Tanmen Nakamoto. Now, you don't have to go as far as Ikebukuro to enjoy the spicy ramen. You can head to your neighborhood convenience store and buy an instant version of it instead. Of course the portion is a lot smaller but it's still quite delicious. So in addition to my instant noodles, I also treated myself to a fatty tuna/green onion rice ball.

ラーメンの名前が聞いた事あるって？ それはそうでしょう。ちょっとの前のポストに池袋にある蒙古タンメン中本を紹介したからです。その有名なラーメンがインスタント化になりました。池袋まで行けなくて良いのよ。近くのコンビニで手に入るよ。ま、量は店より少なめですが、結構辛くって美味しい。ラーメンと共に食べたのはねぎとろのおむすび。

Bon Appetit!

いたたきます！

Ern's Monthly Page Turners (November 2008)

Hey, it's the beginning of the last month of the year. Just a few more weeks until Christmas. Once again I won't be spending it with my family in the States, but hey, I'm there in spirit. I will however be heading up to my wife's home town of Aomori for the New Year's Holiday. That will be pretty exciting. But enough about my personal life, let me introduce you to the books I've read for the month of November. Lots of armchair traveling, eating banned foods, getting a glimpse of what a travel writer's life is like as well as what it was like to grow up as the daughter of a Yakuza boss. A writer talks about his love for long distance running and one early holiday story. Also have another book on deck waiting to be read, Houghton Mifflin's annual "The Best American Travel Writing 2008" and hopefully Janet Brown's "Tone Deaf in Thailand". Now read below and enjoy:

1. THE DEVIL'S PICNIC: AROUND THE WORLD IN PURSUIT OF FORBIDDEN FRUIT by Taras Grescoe - Recently I had read Tom Parker Bowles "The Year of Eating Dangerously" in which he travels the world and eat what are Western palates may consider dangerous - puffer fish in Japan, dog stew in Korea, goose neck barnacles in Spain, elvers in the U.K., etc. and followed that book with reading Jay Rayner's "The Man Who Ate the World" in which he travels the world eating at Michelin three star restaurants and checking out other Celebrity Chefs and their restaurants. Now, I've come across a book where the author travels the world in search of culinary items that are either illegal or banned in some countries (some items are banned in their own countries such as ortolans in France and casa marzu (maggot cheese) in Italy). He starts his tour in Norway to go in search of hjemmebrent (Norwegian moonshine), similar to Everclear but may be considered a little more dangerous. He then smuggles Poppy Seed Crackers into Singapore (where they are banned), reminding me of a T-shirt I saw there that said, "Singapore is a fine city, We have a fine for everything!). Then it's off to France to find some real epoisses (cheese made from raw milk - banned in the U.S., along with any other raw milk cheeses). Hey, it's not casa marzu but what do I know about U.S. FDA regulations? Next stop - Spain for some criadillas (bull's testicles). The U.S. has "Rocky Mountain Oysters" so I guess it isn't so strange. Next, it's smoking the Cohiba Esplindido in the States (Cuban cigars are still illegal in the U.S. but Grescoe is Canadian and lives in Montreal where he managed to buy his. From smoking illegals cigars in New York City, he then travels to Switzerland to find and taste the origins of absinthe (also banned in the States). Back to France to see why there are so many regulations against importing cacao beans and what it means for the chocolatiers there. Next it's down to Bolivia for some mate de coca made from the coca where cocaine is derived from. And finally back to Switzerland for one item the author will not partake in - pentobarbital sodium (a cocktail to end one's life). One of the few places in the world where assisted suicide is not considered a crime. Excellent read!!

2. DO TRAVEL WRITERS GO TO HELL? A SWASHBUCKLING TALE OF HIGH ADVENTURES, QUESTIONABLE ETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL HEDONISM by Thomas Kohnstamm - If you are any kind of traveler, be it a backpacker, a vacationer, or a package tourist, chances are that you purchased a guidebook to wherever it is you were going. I myself have used a countless number of travel guides - Lonely Planet (who Kohnstamm begins to work for), Rough Guide, Fodor's, Frommer's, Sekai no Arukikata (okay, the last one is a Japanese travel guide series), but you get my point. But have you ever considered what kind of person writes these guide books? The ones who do the prior traveling trying to find the best bargains for hotels, restaurants, and whatnot. Here is a book that answers some of those questions. I'm sure any one of us who love to travel secretly dream of becoming a travel writer - one the world's dream jobs. You will definitely have second thoughts about that career choice once you read this. They are given a vast area to cover (in Kohnstamm's case, Northeastern Brazil with square mileage of some small state), a looming deadline (usually about a month), and are chronically underpaid. Another book to add to your collection of industry tell-alls such as Anthony Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential" and Imogen Edward-Jones' "Hotel Babylon". Excellent book.

3. DEAD MEN DON'T LEAVE TIPS: ADVENTURE X AFRICA by Brandon Wilson - Now this is truly adventure writing at its best. Brandon, along with his wife Cheryl, decided (against their better judgment) to take a break from their lives and travel from one end of Africa to the other with an overland tour group You would think that it would be the dream trip of a lifetime (which I'm sure it was for them), but with all the good comes a series of horrors as well - dealing with touts and con-men in Morocco, having their truck break down in a small desert town in Algeria and waiting a week for a part to come, dealing with African bureaucracy, bribery, malaria and other tropical diseases, boredom among other things. They also traveled when the Democratic Republic of Conga was still called Zaire and South Africa still had an apartheid government. Excellent armchair traveling. Starting from England with a stop in Belgium (getting visas for a number of African countries can truly test your patience it seems). Then, the actual travel route from Belgium – France, Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Central African Republic, Zaire, Burundi, Tanzania, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, South Africa, back to Zimbabwe, and a final flight out of Africa to Cyprus for a more relaxing vacation. Oh, but for their exciting adventures – climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, going on a safari on horseback, riding the rapids down the Zambezi river, hunting dik-diks with pygmies, checking out Victoria Falls, reaching Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope were some of their highlights.

4. THE SHEPHERD, THE ANGEL, AND WALTER THE MIRACLE CHRISTMAS DOG by Dave Barry – I got an early start on Christmas by reading this light adventure by my favorite humor columnist Dave Barry. The story is set in 1960. Junior high-schooler Doug Barnes is to take part in the town’s annual Christmas pageant. This year Doug is one of the shepherds, while Mary is played by the girl he has a big crush on. It’s Christmas Eve and the family dog Frank has just died. The family not wanting to spoil Christmas for Doug’s little sister, do not tell her anything. But this particular Christmas Eve is full of surprises as the everything seems to head towards disaster, an actual miracle occurs. It would have been even better if I could have read this on a rocking chair sitting by a fire while drinking eggnog. It would even be a great book to read aloud to your kids (if you have any).

5. YAKUZA MOON: MEMOIRS OF A GANGSTER’S DAUGHTER by Shoko Tendo – I imagine most of my readers knowledge of the Yakuza is what they learned from Hollywood films (or if they were a little more daring in their choices), from any number of Takeshi Kitano’s movies. This book would also be a great addition to my friend’s “Asia by the Book” blog but I digress. Tendo presents us with a view of the yakuza world from someone who’s been a part of it for all her life. Her father was a Yakuza boss. From the time she was in elementary school, being bullied by others who referred to her as the “Yakuza kid”, her teachers would praise her drawings but behind her back would say, “…you can’t teach that idiot anything.”, not realizing that Tendo was in the room to hear them. Thus she got her first lesson in the Japanese trait of “tatemae” and “honne” – which is presenting a good face as opposed to expressing your true feelings. As she gets older, she enters the world of being a yanki (slang term for kids from the other side of the tracks), then becoming a glue-sniffer, a speed addict, surviving a near rape from one her father’s underlings, to being beaten up by other members of her gang – it’s not a pleasant life to read about. She’s sent to reform school, has an affair with a married man (who refuses to divorce his wife and has a kid while still dating (or rather using) Tendo.). But ultimately, it’s a story of change and survival. Of cutting her ties with the world of the Yakuza and becoming an upstanding citizen of the community. At times intense, but very hard to put down. It’s not often you get a chance to read about the underworld from someone who’s been there, especially, a daughter of a yakuza boss.

6. WHAT I TALK ABOUT WHEN I TALK ABOUT RUNNING: A MEMOIR by Haruki Murakami – If you’re a big fan of Murakami’s fiction, this might not be for you. And even though I have no interesting in long distance running, Murakami’s writing style draws you in on subjects you thought you had no interest in. I was fascinated by Murakami’s desire to become a marathon runner, as well as a writer. Murakami was running a successful bar when one day he decided, he would become a writer (against the advice of his friends and family). And now with his long distance running as well, no one forced him into it. He wasn’t running for his health. He just decided to go running one day and found that it fit his personality to a tee. Murakami uses long distance running as a metaphor for his life as a writer and his life in general. He borrows the title of his book from Raymond Chandler’s “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” (with the permission from the Chandler Estate) as Chandler was a big influence to his writing. You may be inspired to find that Murakami challenges himself to run a 62 mile ultra marathon or running solo the historic and original marathon course in Greece. So don’t expect a “Wild Sheep Chase” or “Hard-Boiled Wonderland” but do read it and you will not be disappointed.

7. ALONG THE TEMPLAR TRAIL: SEVEN MILLION STEPS FOR PEACE by Brandon Wilson – After reading Wilson’s “Dead Men Don’t Leave Tips” I was hungry for more. Wilson, who has also walked the Camino de Santiago (twice) had met an elderly French man on the trail who had mentioned his dream of walking from his home in Dijon, France to Jerusalem with his wife. But a few years down the road, he gets a letter from the Frenchman who says his wife is unable to make the journey, would Wilson be interested in joining him. Wilson of course jumps at the chance to walk along the old Templar trail – a trail who’s main historic purpose was for war. As Wilson and Emile (the 68 year old Frenchman) start their journey and are interviewed along the way, they state from the beginning that they are walking for peace. That deep down, we are all the same, that we all want the same things – peace and happiness. Their journey covers 11 countries and takes nearly 7 months to complete. At times they are joined by friends and family, but mostly the rely on the kindness of strangers. Their route starts from Emile’s home town of Dijon, France and takes them through a border town in Switzerland, German, Austria (where they take an extended break in Vienna), a short jaunt through Slovakia, across Hungary (with an extended stay in Budapest), then continuing on through Serbia (a country that’s seen more than their fair share of war and misery), with another extended stay in Belgrade. From Serbia through the land of yogurt, Bulgaria and Turkey (with another long stay in Istanbul). It’s here where Emile gives up his dream to continue on to Jerusalem and returns to France with his wife. Wilson himself is at odds with continuing or not. Their original plan was to walk from Turkey to Syria but this was at a time when Syria bombarded Israel with rockets from Lebanon and no one could guarantee Wilson’s safety and when the U.S. was on the verge of attacking Iraq. Wilson decides to continue the journey to Jerusalem but opts to walk across Turkey and catch a cargo ship to Cyprus, traveling across Northern Cyprus, crossing the Green Line into Greek held Southern Cyprus, then taking a boat across to Israel and walking along Israel’s National Trail and coming to the end of his pilgrimage in Jerusalem. Excellent armchair traveling book. It makes you want to make a pilgrimage of your own (or at least to walk along some of the more famous trails – the Camino de Santiago in Spain, the Via Francengina (Canterbury to Rome), St. Olav’s Way in Norway, just to name a few.). There is also the pilgrimage of visiting the 88 temples in Shikoku here in Japan. Very excellent reading.

8. NOTES FROM A SMALL ISLAND by Bill Bryson – Normally, I love Bryson’s travelogues and the humor he incorporates into it, but for some reason, this particular book left me a little disappointed. You know, I loved his “Lost Continent” as he returns to the U.S. after being abroad for twenty years and travels the southern states. After all those years in Great Britain, Bryson and his family were planning on moving to the “Land of Plenty” – the United States, and Bryson wanted to one last jaunt through his adopted country. Now, I don’t know if it was because I read Wilson’s pilgrimage before this or maybe Bryson had just been in the U.K. too long but I found his constant whining irritating and his condescending attitude towards the populace of small communities just as annoying. It seems he had more to complain about the small towns, British Railways, the monotony of seeing the same stores, the depressing weather (hey, I used to live in Seattle so I can relate to that), the desecration of Victorian buildings with a monotonous architectural style (this he can be forgiven for as well). But really, why take out his anger on a poor part-time worker at McDonald’s who’s required to ask him for items he didn’t order – come on, how petty can you get? So, I’ll recommend his “Lost Continent” and “In a Sunburned Land” but I can’t in good conscience recommend this to my fellow readers.


And so ends another month of Ern’s Page Turners. I hope you had a good time. I already have my next book on deck – Houghton Mifflin’s annual “The Best American Travel Writing 2008” with guest editor Anthony Bourdain. I also did read one other book in Japanese, I just haven’t featured it yet as I’ve been giving the Japanese books a post of their own. Also looking forward to reading Janet Brown’s “Tone Deaf in Thailand”. I’m sure there are a couple of other travelogues (I just can’t enough of them) that are waiting to be read as well. Maybe I’ll even read another Christmas tale or two.

Happy Reading!!

Shinjuku '08-'09 Southern Lights / 新宿’０８－’０９サザンライツ

It's that time of season again. In neighborhoods around Tokyo, and Japan I imagine, there are displays of Christmas illumination. This is the Shinjuku South Entrance display.

またこの季節が来ました‐クリスマスイルミネーションだ。ここは新宿駅の南口のほうです。

And one last picture I thought my sister would be amazed at. This is the Krispy Kreme donut shop in Shinjuku. Customers are lined up outside the store in the cold waiting for over an hour to buy some Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Compare that to the Krispy Kreme in Lakewood, where there were hardly any customers when we went except for one panhandler and no hour long wait either. Crazy huh?

最後の一枚、自分の妹はびっくりするでしょう。場所は新宿店のアメリカンドーナッツ屋のクリスピー・クリーム。行列が出来て、寒い中に一時間以上の待ちになってます。去年アメリカに帰った時、クリスピー・クリームに行ったら、私たち以外の客は物乞いの一人で一分待ちでもなかった。