Lost In Translation

The Elephant Suite

I have to say I really enjoyed the three novellas in The Elephant Suite set in India by Paul Theroux. And a part of the reason I enjoyed them so much was that I knew about the inspiration for them and some of the real life experiences that Theroux had while traveling in India for his book, Ghost Train To The Eastern Star. Theroux was disturbed by India and couldn't fully reconcile himself to those experiences he had and I think writing these novellas were a way to set down his feelings and experiences of that overwhelming and overbearing country. These stories of a wealthy American couple's sensual brush with India that reminded them that they were outsiders and possibly corrupters of the spiritual heritage that still exists in modern India. The second is a middle aged business man who is seduced and won over by India and undergoes a complete personality change. And the last story of a college student caught in the world of spirituality and commerce and comes face to face with India bureaucracy and the while managing to get biblical-like redemption. In retrospect there are some heavy handed literary devices employed by Theroux with doubles, doppelgangers, and other flourishes, which didn't seem too heavy handed to me as I was drawn into his descriptions of the sights, smells, and intense feelings that India created within the characters.

Sadman Takes A Holiday

Phatrick is in the middle of a seriallized opus about taking a holiday in Cairo at Diary of A Sadman.

Cafe 8: Shinjuku

Fertility is the theme of Cafe 8 and this branch is no different from the Roppongi branch-just a different layout.

Beef tendon appetizers-tastes better than it sounds...

The main course Peking Duck.

Green Zone

I think there's no denying that Paul Greenglass is a talented film maker with films like his two Bourne films (The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatium) and recreation of the failed terrorist attack in United 93. However, it seems that films that are ripped from the headlines like his most recent Green Zone suffer from an over familiarity that subtracts from the overall experience. That being said Greenglass does an excellent job of re-creating the chaos that is Baghdad and there are some impressive establishing shots of the city through out the film, but th whole weapons of mass destruction cover up seems like ancient news-it has lost any immediacy that it had and no longer feels shocking and its not necessarily the director or writer's fault-it is the reality of the modern 24 hour news cycle-we already know too much about it.

Thomas Pain's Rights Of Man: A Biography

I recently read Thomas Paine's Common Sense and have come to regard him as a personal hero-a man who represented the enlightened ideals of the American republic. Christopher Hitchens' biography of the man and his other masterwork, The Rights Of Man only strengthens that assertion. His impact on the world is undeniable, but it seems such a pity the way that the was left behind and struggled through the end of his life after having been such an influence on the America and French revolutions. Hitchens frames Paine's philosophy as mostly a response to that of Edmund Burke. He also discusses how The Age of Reason is a counterpoint to The Rights of Man and discusses Paine's lasting impact on society. A short but intense discussion of one of the great architects of democracy.

On The Corner No.8 Bear Pond

I really like this new cafe/ NY style deli in Shibuya On The Corner No. 8 Bear Pond. It has a sleek modern design with big spacious booths and the menu is inspired by NY traditional foods like NY Style pizza and pastrami sandwiches (there's an open faced Reuben sandwich pictured below). Which I believe started out as an espresso shop in Shimokitazawa, Bear Pond. I need to stop by that location sometime as well.

1987: A Good Year For Music

I recently reacquired The Smiths Strangeways Here We Come in a fit of nostalgia. I remember it as one of the last albums by the band that I had only discovered a year or two earlier. I was astonished to see it in the Top 50. 1987 was my final year of high school and first year of college-it is a blur of Schmidt beer, Dicks burgers, high school, journalism, existentialism, finding  my way through a disappointing first year of community college, rocking cassettes in my 71' Ford Mustang, Chuck E. "mother f****ing* Cheese and Pier 1 Imports...

Then I happened to stumbled across the fact that my favorite local band, The Yong Fresh Fellows put out my favorite album of theirs, The Men Who Loved Music also in 1987. I did some more research and realized that 1987 was a VERY good year for music, much of which I got into that year or soon after:

The Smiths Louder Than Bombs also came out, the solid Pleased To Meet Me by The Replacements, my favorite U2 album The Joshua Tree, the ubiquitous Appetite for Destruction by Guns and Roses, Dinosouar Jr. You're Living Alll Over Me, the disappointing Document by R.E.M., Substance by New Order, the sublime If I Should Fall From Grace With God by The Pogues, Kiss Me Kiss Me The Cure, Music For The Masses Depeche Mode, Sign O' The Times Prince (saw the film), Tunnel Of Love Bruce Springsteen, Sister Sonic Youth, the second best Jesus And Mary Chain album Darklands, INXS Kick (I saw them on tour in Spokane?!), the best Pixies album Come On Pilgrim, Sinead O'Connor The Lion and the Cobra, the last Husker Du album Warehouse: Songs And Stories, Midnight Oil Diesel And Dust, The Cult Electric, Love and Rockets Earth Sun and Moon, Jane's Addiction's debut Jane's Addiction, The Housemartins The People Who Grinned Themsleves To Death, Billy Bragg Back To Basics, Meat Puppets Mirage, The Screaming Tress  Even If Especially When, Beastie Boys License To Ill, Public Enemey Yo! Bum Rush The Show, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Your Funeral, My Trial, 10,000 Maniacs In My Tribe, Redd Kross Neurotica, The Fleshtones Fleshtones vs. Reality, Drivn' N' Cryin' Whisper Tames The Lion, The Flaming Lips The Flaming Lips, Tom Waits Franks Wild Years, Echo & the Bunnymen Echo & the Bunnymen, The Verlaines Bird Dog, Llyod Cole & The Commotions Mainstream, The Silos Cuba, Guadacanal Diary 2 x 4, Hoodoo Gurus Blow Your Cool, The Bodeans Outside Looking In.

The Waves At Genji's Door

I have to admit that I've become a big fan of Joan Mellen's criticism, I really enjoyed Voices From The Japanese Cinema, in which she interviewed several of the major players in Japanese cinema. In The Waves At Genji's Door (1976-out of print) she uses Japanese film as a means of analyzing Japanese society. I think she makes some very insightful observations and commentary on the films, the culture, and history of Japan. There are some recurring themes throughout the books like the undying feudal tradition of Japan that still infuses the way Japanese think and interact with each other. Traces of this can be seen in the way the genders interact, the zaibatsu business culture, in governmental practices, as well as interaction between the genders. Perhaps, Mellen is a child of the 60s since she likes to discuss the politics, economics, and gender inequality as it is represented in the films of the golden age of Japanese cinema. There are several sections that are worhty of attention but some of the more interesting ones for me were: (1) The Feudal and the Modern, (4) Kurosawa's Women, (7) Celluloid Samurai: The Protest Film in Disguise, (9) From Chambara to Yakuza, (14) Mizoguchi: Woman As Slave, (18) Shohei Imamura: Woman As Survivor, (19) Ozu: The Fmaily Upheld, (22) The Structures of Oshima, (25) The Political Cinema in Japan, and (26) Japan's Revolutionary Documentarists. I think this is esessential reading for anyone with an interest in Japanese culture or cinema

New Camera: Different Manual Modes

Winter mid day shot on the Musashi campus in Nerima with flash.

Tom Yum noodle lunch set at Khao San in Shinjuku-macro mode for close up details.

 

Major Dundee

Not long ago I was talking westerns with a friend and he passed this one along (it turns out he hadn't seen himself yet), Major Dundee. At the time, I didn't think much of it and thought I would check it out someday when I had nothing better to do. Then I saw an article about Sam Peckinpah in the "Gateway To Geekery" feature at the AV Club and learned it was a Peckinpah film. I was surprised and charmed by the revisionist western. After reading a bit about it, it seems lucky that I was able to watch the extended version. I'm not a huge Charlton Heston fan, but he was more than adequate in his role. I thought Richard Harris was the scene stealer in this film and I enjoyed James Coburn's turn as the one armed scout as well. Lots of other great cameos-Warren Oates, Slim Pickens, etc. I think Peckinpah knows how to use the scenery and there was some great cinematography as well. I feel as though I unearthed a rare gem.