People Who Eat Darkness - by Richard Lloyd Parry

My interest in Japanese comics has clearly shown me to be a Japano-phile, so it's no wonder that I started reading (actually, listening to) this (audio)book as soon as I heard it's about a British girl who went missing in Tokyo in 2000 while working as a hostess. It's a non-fiction in the true crime genre, and I had never known that this genre could be quite so engrossing.

Lucie Blackman was 21 years old and working at a hostess bar in the foreigner-filled district of Roppongi, Tokyo, in the hopes of saving up money to pay back the debts she accumulated back at home in Britain. Before coming to Japan, she had worked as a flight attendant for British Airways. This fact gets mentioned mostly to establish her as a "legit" person, who had a legit job, who was not some drug addict  who met a predictable demise. In other words, she was not your typical "high-risk" girl in a vast metropolis, and I acknowledge that makes the tale more intriguing, and it also reveals the ugliness that we all would be less interested if she were the typical high-risk girl lost in sin city.

"Hostess", however, sounds a lot more shady than "flight attendant." It captured the Western fancy of all the unspeakable acts associated with the underbelly of a strange land in the Far East. Prostitutes? Geisha? Escorts? Take your pick, bu none can completely define the essence of this uniquely Japanese industry, where girls get paid for their company in a bar. Flirting, singing, dancing, drinking, and sex with middle-aged men who are often married, all for money? Different hostess bars draw the line at different places, and sex is usually not on the table (at least not openly), but it can be as sketchy or as harmless as you imagine it to be. And that leaves a LOT for imagination.

Looking for Lucie was such a painful process that tore her family and friends apart. With divorced parents who were bitter to start with, her family wasn't that together in the first place. The Japanese police seems like ... just such a fat wallop of help, neglecting important leads, confused, stuck, well-intentioned but bumbling. If you get to choose which country you go missing in, apparently Japan is not the place to go.

Lucie was found, 7 months later, dismembered and buried in a seaside cave, wrapped in plastic, head encased in cement.

The eventual arrest of the suspect, Joji Obara, was unclean and indecisive, none of the "You are the MURDERER!" thrill of Japanese detective comics or crime dramas or even CSI.

Obara, a wealthy businessman from a wealthy Korean family settled in Japan, denied everything, and the court failed, even at the end of 6 YEARS OF TRIAL, to charge him with Lucie's murder, but he did get sentenced to life in prison because ... HE HAD BEEN DATE-RAPING WOMEN FOR ALMOST 30 YEARS. And it's not even like he's a mastermind serial rapist who has been extremely careful.

Obara kept meticulous journal entries of his "conquest plays," which numbered in the hundreds, and even video-recorded himself in the act for most of the women he drugged and raped. He had a fetish for Caucasian women, and several foreign hostesses who fell victim to him had reported the incidents to the police over the years, but there was absolutely no follow-up. One Australian woman, Carita Ridgway, fell ill due to liver toxicity from the chloroform he used on her and died in the hospital BACK IN 1992, and still nothing. He wasn't even on the police's radar, even though they questioned him a few days after Lucie's disappearance because neighbours complained of banging and sawing noises from his apartment. When he answered the door, the police saw a disarrayed apartment where he was mixing cement, and there was also a frozen dead dog on the floor. Is that such a common occurrence in Japan that the police simply couldn't bother to be alarmed? I think not. The policemen were probably like, "OK, this dude is really creepy, but he said the dog is a dearly departed pet and he seems harmless enough, and I really want to get out of here, so let's just tell him to stop banging and leave him to whatever he's up to. I'm sure it's not like he's burying a dead human body or anything."

It's highly remarkable that while Western media and records identify him mostly as a Japanese businessman, the Japanese wiki page emphasizes he is Korean. I can't read Korean so I don't know what the Korean wiki page says. Zainichi (Koreans settled in Japan during the Korean colonial period) have always had a tough time with discrimination in Japan, and I wonder how many Japanese people secretly thought, "Yep, that sounds about right for a Zainichi" or "thank goodness he's Zainichi and not really Japanese" when they heard about Obara's crimes.

Obara still hasn't admitted he did anything wrong, and since Lucie's body was discovered too long after death, there was no viable forensic evidence to determine her cause of death. Unless Obara confesses, we will never know the details of Lucie's last moments alive, though it's easy to speculate that Lucie probably died from an overdose or toxicity of the date-rape drugs he used. All of his known victims survived their horrific encounters with him except for Carita, so killing doesn't seem to be part of his MO, and his inexpert way of body disposal suggests he hasn't done it before, or at least not many times. Which makes it all the more appalling that it took the Japanese police so long to find Lucie.

The book is fairly balanced. Richard Llyod Parry started living in Tokyo since 1995 and is the editor of the Asian edition of The Times. The overwhelming number of interviews he has done with the relevant parties ensures that everyone gets heard. It's not sensationalist, it's not unnecessarily titillating, but it can be very painful at times. Which, I think, is the purpose of the book -- to examine facts objectively yet still gain a tiny sliver of understanding into the pain involved in this heartbreaking loss of life.

Homeland - Season 2 Episode 4

How are those Secret Service guys not like, "Those damn kids and their impromptu trips again... you know what, I'm gonna sit this one out and let them make out in some dark corner of DC until their lips fall off or they... just come back safe and sound"?! Again, no major spoiler.

Popping a blister hurts. And it'll keep on hurting for a while. But then it heals. Or it gets infected. Let's see where this takes us.

The Walking Dead - Season 2 Episode 2

RIP, Big Tiny. Any named character whose life on screen only spanned 26 minutes deserves a shout-out. Oh shut up, that's not a major spoiler.

And Rick, you are finally growing some balls.

Prometheus

Did me likey? 6.5/10

I figured that if I keep things simpler, I'm more likely to update this. And this actually helps me keep track of movies/books I've gone through. So I'll try to keep things short.

I've been dying a little to see Prometheus. It sure has pedigree, with its Alien mother and all that. But to be honest, I did not find Alien quite that special in my heart, even though I find some brands of sci-fi entirely fascinating and will love anything disgusting by principle. True, I'm from a generation jaded with special effects, and there were certainly points in Alien that even I gasped and found memorable, but it just didn't quite do it for me, even after several viewings and some serious analysis in an English class where the lecturer beat "strong females portrayed in films" to death (literarily, not literally, of course).

So I was really hoping Prometheus would finally hit the spot, what with the advanced technology and green screen. And I absolutely love all three leads (Noomi Rapace, whom I adore from the original The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; I've been a fan for Charlize Theron since the Reindeer Games and Trapped days; Michael Fassbender can basically do no wrong (except for that seriously creepy grin during one particular shot of The X-Men: First Class)).

But alas, it was not to be. The story line is a bit ... convoluted and thin at the same time. The characters are quite 2D (despite the 3D presentation) and their motives are random and contrived and inconsistent. With the Alien franchise, it's not important to have Ripley's backstory, to know how she came to be Ripley, but it's important to know where she is going. In Prometheus, you are not very clear where anybody is going. It does not help matters that it's hard to like any of the characters and you don't very much care what happens to them. In fact, the character that you may grow most attached to is a robot who can't die but can dye his hair platinum blonde to imitate his cinematic idol.

The visuals are pretty impressive in some aspects (the planetarium scene with the said robot comes to mind), but the human prototypes are strangely jerky and un-life-like. But the landscapes and the hollow caverns and intricate sets make up for some of it. Maybe.

So overall, visually pleasing, semi-enjoyable, but ultimately disappointing. Oh well. I was just hoping that a film with so much money and passion invested in it would have considerably more substance than, say, Alien vs Predator. The latter actually may prove to be more fun.

PS. When are we going to have the technology required to make wrinkles look convincing on actors?


POSSIBLY SPOILING THOUGHTS:
===========================

• The self-surgery machine was cool, but really, Dr. Shaw? You really just severed all your abdominal muscles, got the monster out, STAPLED your tummy shut and freaking DASHED DOWN THE HALLWAY?! That's not how a C-section works, no matter how high-tech your staple gun is.

FML

OK, so this is obviously not a review, and I haven't been on here for .... a LONG time. I know I have 0 regular readers, so if you are reading this, consider yourself in ... prestigious company. Mostly because there are so few of you out there.

So I went to the DMV today to get my driver's license renewed and to change my address. I'm fairly new to NYC and this was the first time I've ventured to that part of the town. New bus route, new scenery, everything. I basically had no clue where I was going except for the precious little information I've gleaned from Google map.

I get to the bus stop to catch a bus. (Again, first time I'm riding this route. For anonymity purposes, let's call it Route XXX. Yes it's a bit erotic, but hey, what the heck.) There is a XXX bus at the stop , I run to catch it and almost reach the door when it slowly drives off. FML.

I notice there are metrocard machines at this bus stop. This is the first time I've seen these machines at a BUS stop. Wow, this must be a super great important automated stop, or so I think to myself. I already have my own metrocard so I make no use of these machines and do not look at them closely.

I wait a few minutes and another XXX bus approaches the station, followed by a XXX Select+ bus. I have no fracking idea what the difference is between the two, and I realize there are two different signs for XXX and XXX Select+. I figure Select + must be some special bus (it even looks newer and more pimped out), and Google told me to take XXX, so let's not deviate from the plan even though the regular XXX bus looks like a run-down pile of ... crap. This is just in case the XXX Select+ goes a different route or makes different stops.

I hop onto the XXX and unsurprisingly, it is slow as heck. But hey, I wasn't expecting much. The XXX Select+ zooms right past us and disappears far ahead. I curse myself slightly for not having the guts to hop on the clearly faster bus.

I fidget a lot in my seat b/c of course I end up at a seat with a not-great view of the road signs, so I can't tell exactly when to get off. I squint through the dirty and not-so-transparent bus window, trying to catch what road we are passing now and how far I still need to ride. Just as I start to think I missed my stop, I catch a sign outside that is the street I should pass right before I get off. I jump out and go toward the exit and get off the bus uneventfully. So far so good.

2 hours at the DMV go ... pretty smoothly for someone in there alone for the first time. I mean, I get fidgety again b/c I'm not super clear about the procedure, but things go okay and I get a number and wait a long time. Oh well, everyone else has to wait a long time too. I can take it. No missing document, no un-filled out paperwork, I'm all set to go.

But what if they want a photo ID besides my expired license? I instinctively reach for my pocket where I keep my keys and student ID and discover that .... they are not there. WHAT? Where could they be!? Did I lose them on the bus when I was squirming around trying to read road signs? My mind starts running through all the possible scenarios and counting all the keys and other attachments to that keyring, not to mention my student ID that gets me into my building. What do I need to replace? What constitutes a potential danger (i.e. someone else picking up my keys and finding my apartment and ...?) How much will everything cost? FML FML...

I stew in my frantic daze for quite some time. Then a sliver of hope hits me: maybe I just left my keys in the apartment when I left in a hurry. Maybe. I can get into the building with the help of the security guard and get into my apartment if my roommates are nice enough to let me in. It should still work out. Then I'll find my keys lying on my desk somewhere and my troubles would all end. This gives me a little bit of reassurance as they finally call my number.

The DMV charges me $80.50 for renewing a license. Quite a bit more than I expected, as exclaimed by the woman in front of me, but hey, I understand, people all get charged this. I can deal with it.

I leave the DMV. It's already dark out (which is not conducive to someone who is not familiar with the way back home). Luckily, the return trip is the pretty much the same bus in the opposite direction. Right outside the DMV, I see a XXX Select+ bus about to leave the stop. I figure that no matter what special route it runs, it will probably have a stop on the opposite side of the street where I got on a few hours ago, so it should take me home alright. It might be more pricey, but it's dark and cold out and I just want to go home.

I take out my metrocard and hop on. The bus door closes and the bus drives off. There is someone standing right next to the driver, talking to him, blocking my way to the card reader (that's how you pay for your fare). I walk toward the card reader and the talker makes no movement to allow me access to the reader. The bus is already in motion at this point. I look to the driver and he looks at me and doesn't say anything. I get really confused and awkwardly put away my metrocard, thinking maybe this is a free bus? Free transportation for rush hours? Or the driver just doesn't care that I haven't paid? Did I catch a lucky break?

I start cursing myself for not taking the Select+ bus earlier. It would have saved me some money. And it's faster. We blow past some stops and I realize this is an express bus that skips some stops. At the next stop, people get on and none of them swipe their metrocard at the card reader. This convinces me that this is somehow NYC's way of ... showing hospitality? Kindness to weary workers/students who just want to go home? NYC is awesome! All touristy cities should do this b/c it would boost tourism so much! I wonder if this is what socialist Scandinavian countries are like? Free public transportation? All these thoughts really, literally ran through my mind.

Then at the next next stop, an MTA official gets on board and starts saying "receipts." I think to myself that he is talking to himself or the driver. But the passengers around me start digging into their pockets and I realize this is not a free bus. The official is like a conductor asking for tickets and I have just evaded paying proper fare. My heart sinks a little bit from the fact that it is not free like I thought, and the fact that now it'll be a bit humiliating as I make up paying for the fare. I'm quite a law-abiding citizen and I've never done anything like this. I take out my wallet and metrocard, thinking I'll need to pay up. The official says, "Step off the bus" and I again think he is talking to someone else.

He says it again, and I realize he is talking to me. My heart sinks a little bit more because now I have to miss this bus and probably pay for the fare at the fancy machines at the bus stop. His tone sounds soft, a bit resigned, perfunctory, uncomprehending, and ... disappointed. I am disappointed in myself too for thinking this could be a free bus.

Then he leads me off the bus and I start to realize something is wrong. There are other uniformed officials at the stop. A few other people like me get busted too and get led off the bus, and the officials look so stern and the people look so dejected. Come on, making up the fare would just be $2.25, no need to look so gloomy... ?

The official (Officer A) asks for my ID and starts writing on a little pad. I start panicking inside. What is going on? Another official (Officer B) comes by and asks something and I catch the phrase "is she resisting?" and Officer A says "no, not at all." WHAT IS HAPPENING? Am I going to get arrested? For getting on the wrong bus???

It's a bit of a blur from there. I am scared crapless. Please understand that I have never smacked into the law before. Not even a parking ticket. This is made worse by the fact that I had absolutely no clue exactly what I did wrong or what will be done to me. I have no mental preparation at all.

Officer A maybe can tell how confused I am. He says Officer B will explain. Officer B explains that the Select+ buses are express buses where you pay for the fare at the fancy machines BEFORE boarding the bus and keep the receipt. The MTA is reinforcing this by checking for receipts at random stops. I say I'm new in town and didn't know this at all. Officer A interjects a bit impatiently and says this information is posted all over the fancy machines (the fancy machines that I did not bother to examine closely). I must have looked so scared. Officer B looks down at me with ... pity? and says I need to be careful along some streets where the Select+ buses are running. He tells me the Select+ buses have blue lights. He also mentions I could try appealing.

Officer A continues writing and explains to me that basically I'm getting a ticket for not paying the fare. It's like a parking ticket, nothing criminal, and it will not affect employment, parole (? Do I really look like some convicted felon?), or other such records. I will, however, have to pay a fine of $100. He then looks to my ID (which happens to be my expired driver's license) and asks "are you from Upstate?" (since my old address is on there). I say I just moved here. He asks for my cell phone number. I tell him (it is also an out-of-town number). He asks what I do. I say I'm a student. (On the ticket he writes "unemployed" when there is an option available for "student", as I later find out when I examine the ticket more closely. I don't know what he is thinking.) He asks me my weight. I am like, "my WEIGHT?" He is like, "Yeah, height and weight." I tell him, and he finishes writing and tells me how to pay the fine or show up for the hearing and all that (all new to me since I HAVE NOT EVEN HAD A FRACKING PARKING TICKET IN MY FRACKING LIFE). He even underlines a phone number on the back of the ticket that I can "call and pay the fine in $20 installments," since I'm a student and have no money. (Um, HELLO?! I'm a STUDENT. I have NO job. NO money at all. NO income whatsoever. It doesn't matter if you let me pay in 100 installments of $1.) He gives me the ticket and turns to leave, and I ask, "what was that appealing thing the other officer mentioned?" He takes back the ticket and draws an arrow next to some writing on the ticket and says to just follow the procedure.

Hold up, hold up, hold up, a $100 FINE FOR NOT PAYING $2.25 OF BUS FARE? I understand the MTA is trying to crack down on people skipping out on fare, but $100?! (I later find out he gave me the maximum fine he is allowed to give.)

I clearly didn't know what was going on. You could even tell from the officers' voices that they know I was just confused. I was so shocked and scared that I was speechless. Just answered what I was asked and ... well, I thought I was gonna get arrested or something. I would have to say goodbye to the career I'm working on and my family would be shamed and that's the end of my life as I knew it. Please excuse me for being a little non-responsive.

Thinking back, if I just explained everything clearly and appealed to them, maybe I wouldn't have gotten the ticket. Thinking back, maybe there was even a pause before Officer A started writing the ticket. I should have just spoken up. Instead, I shrank like a deflated balloon and maybe that made me appear even more guilty. I feel like Officer B was a bit surprised that Officer A was giving me a ticket despite the fact that I clearly didn't know what I have done. Officer A was more like "eh, she's not talking, I could give her a ticket and she wouldn't fight it, so I might as well just give her one."

In my state of shock, another darned Select+ bus pulls into the station. I take out my metrocard and go toward the fancy machines, thinking I'll need to pay for my fare now and get on this stupid bus and go home and cry. The officers say to me, "no you are okay to get on." Like, "don't worry about it, this one is on us."

FML FML FML. That's probably not enough. FML FML FML FML FML FML!!!!!!

PS: my roommate came to the door when I rang the doorbell and saw me standing outside the door looking VERY dejected. I guess I really did catch a lucky break b/c at least someone was home to open the door for me. I was gonna get a nice little cherry-on-top kind of FML when I saw my keys were not on my desk. After a few seconds of hitting rock-bottom, I found them on my shelf (I never leave my keys on my shelf). This really isn't my day at all. And it's only Jan. 6. Should I be worried that 2012 as a whole is not gonna be my year?

X-Men: First Class

Objective Rating (How much merit I think it deserves):
8/10
Subjective Rating (How much I personally like it):
8/10

Year released: 2011
Runtime: 135 minutes
IMDB page: here

Always been a fan of the X-Men movies. Unlike a lot of the other superhero movies, X-Men never lost its classic touch and never compromised with boring villains that no one cares about. There's always central conflicts that hit close to home, and the acting is always a joy to watch.

This latest addition to the series is no exception. James McAvoy as Charles Xavier/Professor X and Michael Fassbender as Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto have been called "casting triumphs." In addition to the hotness factor, both men exhibit a sensitivity and vulnerability as the two characters meet, work together, understand each other, and then come to realize their goals are not the same even though they both want the best for mutants.

Ah, I kind of take it for granted that everyone is familiar with the gist of X-Men. In a nutshell, there are mutants with superpowers co-existing with normal humans. Humans are fearful (understandably) and try to keep mutants under control. While Professor X's X-Men attempt to counter this by helping humans and making them understand mutants mean no harm, Magneto's Brotherhood tries to destroy humans to make way for mutants, the next step of human evolution, as Magneto sees it.

This movie explores the two men's initial encounter and their subsequent cooperation to help avert the Cuban Missile Crisis, an incident led on by the manipulation of one Sebastian Shaw, a mutant from whom Magneto inherits his views on the mutant-human relationship.

The only question I may have on the movie is .... WTF is Kevin Bacon doing in an X-Men movie? He can have the creepiness factor, but you really don't think of him as the evil mastermind type. He does pretty well in the movie, but just seeing him in one of the opening scenes threw me off.

The soundtrack is very fitting to the epic nature of the tale. "Love Love" by the British man-band Take That serves as the ending theme. It is currently (08/28/11) being featured on the blog.

Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson

Get this book. You may think you are busy. You may think books are boring. Not this one. You'll make time for this book once you read into the first 10 pages. Honest.

The overall plot may not seem that original. Basically the machines take over the world from humanity, a la Terminator or The Matrix. But they have vastly different selling points. Terminator is about how one robot time-travels to save John Connor, and The Matrix is about an alternate reality created by the machines. Robopocalypse is about the details of exactly how the machines take over and how the humans try to fight them off. Lots of very creative gore involving human deaths/mutilations at the hands (ahem, appendages) of robots. The most disturbing part is how these were carried out mostly by mundane everyday machines like smart cars or domestic robots (well, this is a sci-fi novel after all. Of course everyone has domestic robots that mostly just carry groceries for people and stuff like that).

It certainly helps that Daniel H. Wilson is a robotics Ph.D so he knows what he's talking about when it comes to AI and robotic joints and diagnostic tests and such.

But this story also has a humane core. It reminds me of Babel, where lots of people's storylines come together and the action of each person contributes to the big picture. All of these people start out being extremely ordinary; you may have seen them on the bus today, which is what makes them extremely easy to relate to. And that makes the hardest impact when these people are faced with extraordinary circumstances and have to make extraordinary decisions.

This book has all the necessary elements to make you want to keep going even though it's already 4am. Or maybe I'm just crazy. But Steven Spielberg has already signed up to direct a movie based on this novel, scheduled to be released in 2013, so I guess I'm not the only one.

True Grit

Objective Rating (How much merit I think it deserves):
8/10
Subjective Rating (How much I personally like it):
7.5/10

Year released: 2010
Runtime: 110 minutes
IMDB page: here

Not much of a Western fan either (man, I hope this is not going to turn into a blog of things I'm not a fan of), and I realize last time I said that about country music, it was also a Jeff Bridges film (Crazy Heart). But yeah, this is a great film. I'm a bit of a fangirl for the Coen brothers. They've got this brand of humour that is not very much in your face and sometimes requires a double-take. But the hidden barbs are delicious brain teasers. And things are almost always unexpected (case in point: No Country for Old Men).

However, True Grit has got to be among the more rule-following and heart-warming of the Coen brothers' works. Based on the novel of the same name (of which the 1969 John Wayne movie is also based), it is the story of a 14-year-old girl in the American West in the 19th century trying to track down her father's killer with the help of an alcoholic, weathered and slightly trigger-happy US Marshal. And a Texas Ranger who talks too much.

The acting is quite beautiful; the language of that time period is spoken with such fluidity and everything is so believable, which is hard to achieve in this day and age of cynicism, especially toward Westerns. Newcomer Hailee Steinfeld makes a deep impression as Mattie, stubborn and clear-minded and sternly reasonable, way beyond her supposed 14 years. Jeff Bridges as the Marshal is ragged, ruthless at times, and seems unreliable until he comes through for you. Every time. Matt Damon is the proud Ranger who always has a comeback for you but you just can't help but doubt if his money (or skills) is really where his mouth is. Watching the relationship between the three characters flourish during the course of the pursuit is the most rewarding part of this film.

I don't know about winning all the awards (speaking of which, Golden Globes this Sunday night!), because this film doesn't necessarily have that much ... shine to it, but it definitely has the makings of a classic that you would want to watch on some afternoon years afterward.

Yeah yeah...

I realize how much of a crappy blogger I am. It's dubious if I can call myself a blogger at all. But I try, sometimes, I really do. Not most of the time, but still.

On a brighter note, let me give a quick update of things I've watched/read in the recent past (in no particular order):

Movies:

1. Inception - I'm sure if my friends didn't build up my expectations so high, I would have found this movie a lot more impressive. As it is, I still think it's a very enjoyable movie, and the rules and logic of the dream world are pretty delicious to analyze. But there are also holes in the story and loose ends are not as neatly tied up as they should be. Also, one of my friends complained the movie was unnecessarily long. Some of the fight scenes in the snow did not add to the story and could have been cut. I have no problems with violent, creative fight scenes but I do see her point. But then I also have no problems with overly long movies.
2. Wild Target - See, no one built up my expectations for this movie. And it turned out to be great. Well, I kind of randomly stumbled on it and got hooked due to the cast. Bill Nighy (Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean)plays a by-the-books 55-year-old assassin, Emily Blunt is his free-spirited target with no morals, Rupert Grint (of Harry Potter's Ron Weasley fame) is a clueless young man who fumbles into the act and Martin Freeman (from A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and more recently, Dr. Watson from the BBC-produced Sherlock) is the creepily smiling secondary assassin with absolutely no gravitas. This thing is a comedy, don't get me wrong. The plot isn't all that important; what matters is these quirky characters come together and thin
3. Toy Story 3 - Need I say more? Pixar, Woody and Buzz Lightyear. Hmm... strawberries.

This is only violently outdated. I do apologize.

Crazy Heart

Objective Rating (How much merit I think it deserves):
7.5/10
Subjective Rating (How much I personally like it):
6/10

Year released: 2009
Runtime: 112 minutes
IMDB page: here

Please kindly notice that I just changed the featured music to... another piece from the OST of the NieR game. I swear, this will be the last one. I mean, they are good, but my obsession should come to an end because... there is so much more out there.

Now, back to Crazy Heart. I think it's an extremely good movie. It has strong pedigree and the acting is superb (Jeff Bridges got an Oscar for the main character, Bad Blake). If I were a country music fan, I would go nuts over it. As it is, I still liked it, and that is a great deal more than what I can say about country music. That's how good the movie was.

Plot: Bad Blake has been a tough-living country singer. A true has-been. After the ravages of booze, 4 divorces, and lots of years, there is not much left of the man. Except for his song-writing genius. Amidst the bitterness of watching his protegee achieve much more commercial success than him, he meets a lady who just might pull him out of the dump.

Honestly, even if you are not a country fan, you can still watch for the acting. And a good story.

Repo Men

Objective Rating (How much merit I think it deserves):
5/10
Subjective Rating (How much I personally like it):
6/10

Year released: 2010
Runtime: 111 minutes
IMDB page: here

The premise seems so promising. Almost reminiscent of another sci-fi futuristic dystopia film that Jude Law has done in the past ("A.I.: Artificial Intelligence"). But something's amiss...

Plot: Remy (Jude Law) is a family man who works with his partner Jake (Forest Whitaker, as passionate as ever) as repo men for The Union, a company that sells artiforgs, or artificial organs, at outrageous prices, mostly to take advantage of people who need transplants but can't find a suitable donor. When people fall behind on their payments, the repo men track them down and take the artiforg back and basically leave the victim to die. Remy's very good at what he does, except one day when he's forced to get an artiforg himself...

There is actually a good amount of dark humour in this grim topic, like the silly liver costume at the Union (much akin to the chicken costume outside of fried chicken places) telling people to get an artificial liver, or the 9-year-old little Asian girl surgeon, or the horseplay between Remy and Jake... but a lot of the humour stems from the despair and depravity of the situation, the kind that you laugh from then feel slightly guilty for having laughed. The plotline, however, takes some unnatural turns that seem too forced and not necessarily logical. There is a lesson to be learned, but I would have preferred to have to think more to reach my own conclusions.

Cast: Jude Law's English accent is sexy as hell, as usual, but quite unexplained in this American setting. The story tries hard to portray Remy as a family man, but Law seems too detached from the family, especially the wife. His affection for his son seems ... a bit out of the blue, actually, because in every other way he just doesn't seem like the type that would care. Forest Whitaker has his usual intensity, but his character doesn't seem to be very well explained either. Liev Schreiber is a pretty good match for Frank, the smooth yet automatic Union sales manager who seems to lack all human compassion. Can't go into much more detail in terms of the characters... I just want to make sure I don't spoil anything for you.

Production: Nice, quirky soundtrack with quite a few delicious songs. Now I'm usually not a big fan of the songs with words in a movie (I'm more for just the pure music), but these songs have so much personality and fit into the plot so ironically (most of these songs are jazzy and relaxing and make a stark contrast with the tense blood splatter) that I just couldn't resist.

The colour tone is mostly dark, the fake blood also tends to run toward the dark side (looks not entirely fresh, but IS pretty visceral), and some of the artiforgs are pretty creative (although they are really chunky-looking pieces of metals and one can't imagine how they could fit snugly into the human body without causing more problems). The body cuts are rather fake-looking too (basically pieces of flesh-coloured rubber being sliced), and the pain the people SHOULD feel doesn't seem to be all there. But overall... eh, not too bad of a job, though definitively not the best.

This movie has its moments, though none shine too brightly. It has a lesson, though it's not handled in the most sensible and unforgettable of manners. I liked it because I like the general dystopia sci-fi themes, but it was just not the top of the heap and I could very well see people miss the humour entirely and think it's a rather unnecessarily bloody gore/violence fest.

A Single Man

Objective Rating (How much merit I think it deserves):
7/10
Subjective Rating (How much I personally like it):
6.5/10

Year released: 2009
Runtime: 99 minutes
IMDB page: here

It sure has been a while since I've reviewed a film. And aren't I a diligent little elf for writing twice in as many days... (funnily enough this is the second time today I've been described as "diligent"... not the elf part, because that would be creepy). The reason I don't review as many films is -- other than general laziness -- it is hard to find a worthy film to review. Worthy by my standards, which means the film can't be too wildly popular (like Avatar) because then everyone and their mother had already said something about the film. The film has to stand out somehow. It can be extremely boring or bad or captivating or well-acted or ... just remarkably mundane. That sounds like just about every film that has ever been made, but I've tried hard to avoid reviewing films that you ... just can't say anything about. And you'd be surprised how many of those there are out there.

But back on track. And back in format.

Plot: A middle-aged gay British-born college professor suffers through daily life 8 months after the death of his lover of 16 years. In the 60's. In L.A. The story is pretty simple. There aren't a lot of plot twists (though there is a very fitting turn of fate at the end), you aren't really kept on the edge of your seat. And granted, the story moves really slowly at points. But the devil is in the details...

Production: the details are wonderfully rich and presented in slow motion by the director/writer, Tom Ford. He is actually a fashion designer, and a very famous one at that: he helped turn Gucci around from near bankruptcy before starting his own line. The costumes in the film give an air that they were very carefully chosen, even if it is just a plain white T-shirt. But the more stunning part of the film is the vision that the director shows. The way the eyes are drawn through a series of objects and motions. The style of the film is very similar to the touches of Wong Kai Wai (of "Chungking Express", "In the Mood for Love" and "2046" fame). Even the matching sweeping cello soundtrack (which reminds me... I must have!) matches pretty closely.

Cast: Colin Firth is perfect for this. He always seems like he can do better than the stiff English guy in a rom-com, and now he has. The fastidiousness, even when he is at a loss of what to do or why he should go on, is fascinatingly heart-breaking. Or maybe it's precisely because he doesn't know what to do next so he fusses over the most minute details, and that makes everything all the more depressing... but eh, I am confusing the character with the actor. Julianne Moore, on the other hand, seems a bit out of place as the professor's female best friend who has always wanted to be his wife (kind of Will and Grace style). Sure, the character should be a redhead (like Grace). But Julianne Moore is not glamourous enough, not jaded enough, not wasted enough, not enough of a wash-up, has-been. In short, the character should have been a proper English crazy batty old hag. With red hair. Julianne Moore just doesn't reek enough of desperation for the old times where things were better and brighter.

This is definitely an art-film piece that takes patience and willingness to digest all the juicy, bitter bits and images. In case you need some help, a myriad of supporting actors with extremely chiseled looks and brilliant eyes that somewhat resemble pictures of models in a fashion catalog can always serve as eye candy to help you pass the time.

B Gata H Kei (Type B Style H)

Kanji: Ｂ型Ｈ系
Author/Artist: Sanri Yoko さんりようこ
Status: Ongoing
Span: 2004-present
Volume #: 7
Wiki page: here
Series can be read at: here
Japanese word learned while researching the series:
~ sekufure (セクフレ) - sex friend/friend with benefits ... (what a useful word...?!)


I know, what an intriguing title. And judging from the style of the cover, it is quite far from the stuff I usually read/review. But worry not, I have not gone soft on you. Don't let the looks deceive you: according to the honourable wiki page, this series is qualified as "seinen." Which means it should be hardcore something, be it violence, sex, language, themes, or ... all of the above?

No, no, this series is not quite THAT hardcore. But let me give you a hint: H in Japanese is synonymous with sex.

No, no, no, I'm not about to turn this blog into a hentai review site (hentai being anime/manga porn... what, some people actually get turned on by ANIME/MANGA PORN? In a word, yes. Now go ask those people why. And how.). This series does not feature any physical sex (yet). There is no actual depiction of sex (or is there...?). There is no naked girl with giant boobs or any real nudity (any body part overly racy is covered by a giant billboard... you can't miss it). Huge turn-off? Sorry. Maybe you should look up some hentai after all.

This series is actually extremely cute. Cute as in "aww... look at these hormone-ridden adolescents and their frustrated sex drive." Okay, maybe not so much. More like "aww... they like each other and want to hold hands (or some other body parts) but are too shy to do so." This can definitely be described as coming-of-age drama. It's got its bittersweet moments, but it is foremost a ...

Sex comedy. That's right, it's a 4-koma (4-cell comic strip) about the quest of one girl named Yamada (first name purposefully not revealed) to get 100 sekufure. Sounds lewd and entirely disgusting? Okay, let me explain. Yamada isn't just any girl. She is a stereotypical bishoujo, or beautiful young girl. She starts out being around 14 years old (now she's probably 15) and extremely cocky of her good looks. There is just one thing though: she thinks she has the fatal flaw of ... being a virgin. That somehow marks her immaturity as a woman and debases her bishoujo status (in her mind). Her idealized self is the kind of woman who doesn't bat an eye when someone mentions sex, who is always calm and collected around men and can bend men around her fingers. She thinks her virginity is the reason she always freaks out and over-reacts around boys, so she wants to lose her virginity and train herself to become her ideal upon her entrance into high school.

But finding someone she can lose her virginity with proves to be difficult. Though guys are constantly throwing themselves at her, she always turns them down because she's scared and over-reacting. She doesn't want to do it with a good-looking guy because she's insecure and thinks he will laugh at her for still being a virgin (at the whopping age of 14... who wouldn't?! ... That was sarcasm, guys, in case you didn't get it. I do not endorse sex at puberty). So she settles with doing it with an average guy. It's just to lose her virginity after all, nothing emotionally important (?!). That's when she meets...

Kosuda. An incredibly plain boy who ends up in her class in school. He's nice and gentle and likes photography but is otherwise ... entirely average, in terms of looks, physique, grades, and other abilities. To the casual eye, he is quite unremarkable. Most boys in the class have a crush on Yamada, but Kosuda falls in love with her especially because she literally falls on top of him (and nearly crushes him) while reaching for a book in the bookstore. Yamada sets her eyes on Kosuda as the guy to dump her virginity on, but she gets so nervous around him that every time she tries to seduce him, she ends up abusing him or getting it wrong some other way. Kosuda is quite confused. He likes Yamada, but she seems pretty mean to him. But then sometimes she pays special attention to him and seems to like him, but then he doubts a girl like that would fall for a guy like himself, and so on... Slowly Yamada begins to have protective feelings over Kosuda and unconsciously shift her goal from losing her virginity to getting together with Kosuda (it has to be Kosuda, not just any person on the street), but she refuses to acknowledge that she cares for him because she thinks she deserves better than the average joe that he is.

Their extremely un-straightforward interactions and expressions of teenage crush are only one source of comedy in the series. More comes from Yamada's conflicting personality. Her beauty and good grades grant her celebrity status in her school. To the outsider, she is the constantly smiling, good-natured queen of the school. Only a handful of people (including her best friend Takeshita) know that she constantly thinks about sex and can be quite silly and perverted. She always laments after the fact that she's only a B cup (yes, I'm talking about bust size) while Takeshita is an F cup. Takeshita tolerates all her silliness rather well and tries to make her realize her true feelings toward Kosuda. Yamada's combination of aggressive sexuality and naive innocence gives the teenage girl character more depth and multiple facets, not to mention it makes her hilarious. It rips away the mystique of teenage girls and shows that yes, girls, even (or especially) good-looking ones, can slavishly obsess over sex.

A colourful cast of classmates and family members fawn over, laugh at, lust after, and generally support our girl Yamada. Especially Kanejo Kyouka, the rich girl newly transferred to Yamada's school from America. Like Yamada, Kyouka seems the perfectly courteous, well-educated young lady to the outside world, but secretly she harbours a very unhealthy obsession for her own older brother, Keiichi, who is so handsome and charming that a foreign princess once proposed marriage to him ... upon laying eyes on him at an airport (he's also attending Harvard at the moment). Kyouka sees Yamada as a great rival and has this notion that if she can steal Yamada's boyfriend, then she wins (in this imaginary competition). Both of them try desperately to hide the fact that they don't have a boyfriend despite their popularity. Kyouka's interference causes additional problems for Yamada in her pursuit of Kosuda.

One special touch this series offers is the characterization of the ero gods/goddess. They are basically the spirits that govern all things sexual about a person. Or they are the person's inner consciousness about sex (depending on how you interpret them). They take on a hyperbolized appearance and personality after the person they are governing. It's quite entertaining to see how the each ero god egg their individual on or, alternatively, deflates the individual's confidence.

Well, I think I've given away more than my fair share already. The rest awaits you in a shining, ongoing series of 7 volumes. Or you can catch the anime series that aired this year (April to June). They did a pretty good preserving the humour and style of the original.

(The center one is obviously Yamada. The old little dude on the cloud is her ero god. The one with the boobs is ... Takeshita. The only boy is Kosuda. The girl with long purple hair is Kyouka (both she and her brother are always drawn with gold stars around them to show their... aura of perfection).)

NieR Gestalt and Replicant - OST

I don't know why all these games and animated films with great graphics and soundtracks all have the most boring cover art they could possibly come up with. This is the official cover art for the game's OST, but I have decided to remedy this with some more interesting and representative graphics from the game, such as the following:


I randomly chanced upon the soundtrack and it has this ethereal and soothing quality with a tinge of melancholy that is instantly attention-grabbing and so refreshing. One of the tracks, Obaachan (Grandmother), is being featured on the right. There are so many good tracks from the 2-CD OST release that it is hard to pick one to feature... perhaps I will feature the other ones later.
The OST, composed by Okabe Keiichi (岡部啓一) and a group of other composers, is from the video game NieR released in April 2010. The version for XBox 360 is called Gestalt and the one for PlayStation 3 is called Replicant. They are virtually the same except the protagonist's relationship to the girl he is trying to rescue from the plague (daughter vs. younger sister) and his physique (rough muscular father figure vs. slender older brother type). The game is a loose sequel based on another game called Drakengard. Both are basically action games with missions and battles. The information on these games is a bit vague; suffice to say the stories take place in another world with dragons and monsters and magic and infection and gigantic swords and mostly pretty people. Can you tell I'm not a big fan of the game? The story's too convoluted and the gameplay is not all that exciting and from what I can tell, the actual in-game fighting graphics (not the animated clips or the game posters) are a bit shoddy.

But the story does give that sad vibe that is perfect when translated into music. Characters are fighting against destinies that they eventually succumb to anyway (in a general sense; this is absolutely not a spoiler). But they keep on fighting still, which is inspirational but sad. The soundtrack proves that in music, "inspirational but sad" sounds pretty good.

Anyone's going to say "Welcome back" to me?

Alright babe, I'm back full-time. Full blogger time, anyway. Working to fix all the music links right now... should have an update about that soon-ish.

Also trying to get back in the game of watching movies. Had to take a huge break due to that insufferable exam I had to take, so now I'm a bit rusty. But there are so many films to pick from right now! I wonder which ones I'm going to get through this summer...

Also also, I have started watching quite a few TV series since the last time I wrote about TV. The most prominent of my acquisitions would be Lost, which I started to watch after it ended. I've been holding out ever since the series started, just because it seemed so intriguing and I knew I would die having to wait a week later for the next episode. So I vowed to not start it until it has a conclusion and I can watch everything at once. This did not bode well, since I was supposed to be studying for that nasty test, but hey, at least it is over.

To my invisible (and likely imaginary) audience out there in the ether... please keep your eyes peeled for the upcoming excitement.

EDIT: All music links to the right are up and functional! Get 'em while they are hot! ... ?! It's not like they ever get cold, but they may disappear or break down or do some other funny business.

Broken music links...

After a great amount of eye-rolling, I just had to admit a little bit of defeat on my part: some of the music links on the right are broken ONCE MORE. I've tried to keep up with fixing them but... ugh. The broken ones are mostly the songs I had to upload myself because I couldn't find them anywhere else. My server deleted my account. How sweet of them.

And I will be quite busy for the next few weeks preparing for something vastly draining so I will not be able to get a new account and re-upload everything and re-post all the new links. For the time being, please just gorge yourselves on the songs that are NOT broken (which still remains the majority). I promise to fix everything in the later part of June.

Also, my new obsession is with the soundtrack of the video game NieR Gestalt & Replicant. The video game itself does not look very attractive (graphics could certainly improve... and the plot line seems a bit convoluted and too anime-ish). But the soundtrack is superb in its medieval style, with the chorus and the drumbeats and the sometimes smooth and calming ballade melodies. Do not fret if you can't find it anywhere online; I will upload samples at the same time that I fix all the broken links. Gives me something to look forward to.

Innocence Part II

Yes, the soundtrack is still amazing in my mind. Currently featured is the ending theme song from the movie Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence. The song, sung by Japanese jazz singer Ito Kimiko, is a reinterpretation of the version by Demis Roussos (an Egyptian-Greek singer) in 1982. The music is based on the Concierto de Aranjuez, composed by Joaquin Rodrigo (Spanish) in 1939. It captures the mood at the end of the movie so intimately.

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence Soundtrack

Finally got around to it (or finally got slightly fatigued of listening to Bonsai Hada by Shiina Ringo (yes, that is the name of the song and the artist that has been featured for the past 2 months)) -- I am at last featuring a song from the soundtrack of the Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence. I honestly love all the songs on the soundtrack, and about half of them are my favourites (? how does that make sense?), and the featured song is one of them. Kawai Kenji (the composer and arranger) is a genius, hands down. (And you'll notice that the names associated with all the music I feature will be written in their native languages in the sidebar.)

The name of the song means The Ballade of the Puppets: Flowers Grieve and Fall. You can find the lyrics and the translation here. It's very forlorn, despairing and angry, yet somehow hopeful. And it is hair-raising (to me at least). The minyoh and taiko combination is brilliant. It is absolutely perfect for the movie. And you'll kindly notice I coordinated the colour of the player to be the colour of the eyes of the gynoid dolls from the movie.

More information concerning the song and the soundtrack can be found here.

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence

Objective Rating (How much merit I think it deserves):
8/10
Subjective Rating (How much I personally like it):
8/10

Year released: 2004
Runtime: 100 minutes
IMDB page: here


I should start out by saying that I'm not a big anime geek. I know I'm quite a geek, but anime just doesn't hit the spot for me most of the time. It's usually because I think the original comic is much better looking (e.g. Detective Conan aka Case Closed), since in order to churn out the anime every week, the quality can go way down. Or because the anime, even though it is based on the comic, can take some crazy turns that differ significantly from the original comic. Then you don't know which plot you believe in more, or you just resent the possibility of anything else happening in an alternative universe.

Ghost in the Shell is a name that has been floating around me for quite some time now. I should say that I'm also not a giant sci-fi geek, which is why initially I was turned off by Ghost in the Shell. All the robots, the cyborgs... it's just too much. But something about the cover of Innocence just seized me and made me get the movie in spite of myself. Definitely shows you the power of a well-designed DVD cover.

But after I got it, it was a LONG time before I saw it. Boy am I glad that I saw it eventually.The graphics are absolutely dazzling, with shimmering metallic hues and soothing water colours. The movements, whether human or robotic, are fluid. The character and set designs are appropriately vibrant and dim at places. It is a true visual fest.

Plot: obviously this is a sequel, and I did not watch the first installment. But it is stand-alone enough that you'll understand most things fine, but there will be a few nagging details that will greatly benefit from watching the first installment, which I did after watching Innocence.

The setting is such a huge part of the story. Robotics have become an irreplaceable part of human society. Lots of humans are now cyborgs consisted of both machine and organic parts (I know, sounds pretty sci-fi, but the movie makes it a lot more interesting and philosophical). Even the more organic humans have physical portals that hook into computer systems.

The story begins with problems that a recent line of robot gynoids show by... killing their owners. They are made to look like teenage females and are used implicitly as sex dolls. Their victims are dismembered in the cruelest way and show no connection to each other. Batou, a member of the special police Section 9 (and owner of that adorable Bassett hound on the cover), and his junior partner Togusa (the most organic member of the unit, a family man), are assigned to investigate the cause of the robots' malfunctioning.

The film quotes a lot of philosophical sayings from Japan and all over the world. Some of the quotes are pretty obscure and very interesting upon further Internet investigation. Quite thought-provoking overall, the film requires careful (re)viewing to get the deeper flavours out. Otherwise you can just ogle at the pretty colours and shapes. And trust me, they are pretty.

The soundtrack... is hair-raisingly good. A children's minyoh choir with taiko, very authentic. The jazzy theme from Batou's music box, the end theme song... perhaps I should feature some of the music just to give you a taste.

Even if you are normally not a fan of the genre (just like me!), you will still appreciate this very beautiful film.

Sure thing, hon

I swear I'm still alive. Look, I'm still breathing (*puffs on mirror... which does not fog up... uh-oh...). Anyway, point is, I'm still watching movies and reading comics and listening to music. Though I haven't done it properly for a while, thanks to my wonderfully malfunctioning hard drive. But no hard feelings toward the more-often-than-not faulty hard drive... mostly because I'm trying my best to pull all my life's worth of music and comics off it right this moment and I need to flatter it for it to behave. So together now on three... one... two... three... *YOU ARE THE BEST HARD DRIVE IN THE WORLD, YOU ROCK, MAN!*

Okay, aside from that, I'm sure no one is holding their breath over my triumphant return. That's because I usually return defeated. No, that's because very few read this thing so if you just did, you should feel elite. (Yes, I recently learned this thing called "flatter your readers as well as your hard drive.")

But honestly, it has become shocking how much of my life is documented by the forms of entertainment I enjoy. I remember important occasions by what movies I watched or what music I was listening to. Re-reading certain comics makes me feel young again. Virgin blood makes me immortal. No. Actually, non-virgin blood would do. No, just kidding. Jeez, I'm not even a Twi-hard.

The main reason I don't write down as many movies and comics as I watch and read is sometimes it's so hard to put a feeling into words. That fleeting feeling as the material connects with you on some neural level or another... I suppose that is why I need to try harder, but when you don't even like the subject matter that much (as in some of the movies I watch)... it gets more difficult.

Also, I just can't shake off the feeling that no one is reading this (Ha! I successfully put a feeling into words! Good-bye, uncommunicative, anti-social cavewoman. Hello, new, eloquent me!). If only I get some divine sign that someone is actually paying attention to this... like a comment after a post or something.... I would be much more motivated. If you like what I ramble about, show me some love. Everyone needs love... All we need is love, all we need is love *going off to sing "All We Need Is Love" from Moulin Rouge*