Lost In Translation

Writers At The Movies

I initially was drawn to Jim Shepard's collection of essay about films by writers, Writers At The Movies (2000) because of essays by writers I liked or interest in reading about films I have already seen. This included Julian Barnes on Madame Bovary, Rick Bass on Buffalo '66, Charles Baxter on The Night of the Hunter, Ron Hansen on Babbette's Feast, Philip Lopate on Breathless, Rick Moody on Destroy All Monsters, Lorrie Moore on Titanic, Francine Prose on The Godfather, Lawrence Raab on Blow-Up, Salman Rushdie on The WIzard of Oz, Michael Ryan on Dead Man Walking, Jim Shepard on The 400 Blows, Robert Stone on The Krays, and Geoffrey Wolff on Carnal Knowledge. But I was also intrigued to see films by writers that I hadn't seen yet which included two Buster Keaton films-Robert Coover on Sherlock Jr. and poet Charles Simic on Cops, as well as Anne Carson on the wordless Samuel Beckett filmed play Quadrat I and II, J. M. Cotzee on John Huston's enigmatic western The Misfit, Stephen Dobyns on the expose-like documentary The Titicut Follies, Deborah Eisenberg on the Polish art-house film Ashes and Diamonds, Edward Hirsch's detailed analysis of the the film on the life of British poet Stevie Smith, Stevie, Richard Howard on Robert Bresson's masterpiece A Man Escaped, Philip Levine on the war film Dawn Patrol, Margot Livesay on the original I Know Where I am Going, and Susan Sontag's essay on Fassbinder's epic 15 hour episodic film Berlin Alexanderplaz was inspiration to finish the series that I had started. Generally speaking I enjoyed most of the essays and was inspired to see some films that I wouldn't have naturally been drawn to as well as moving up a couple of films that I had been planning to see at some point.

Cedar The Chophouse Bar

I won another free dinner from The Weekender magazine-this time at Cedar The Chophouse Bar. This is the first appetizer with chopped avacado and tuna.

Chopped smoked chicken with honey mustard popcorn and corn.

Grilled houbou gurnet? sea robin?).

Grilled lamb with yogurt sauce.

Grilled steak.

Chopped ice cream cone with peanut butter and chocolate. It was supposed to be a ¥6500 value, but I wouldn't come back for that price to be honest. I was completely satisfied with the meal, but there are other places I would rather eat.

War Machine

War Machine (2017) is the latest Netflix original film directed by Australian director David Michod (director of the excellent The Rover). This fictionalized film is based on a Rolling Stone article and subsequent book by Michael Hastings about the 2010 firing of David McChyrstal in Afghanistan for the negative exposure from the Rolling Stone article that led to the dismissal. Brad Pitt plays the McChyrstal-like Glen McMahon with a strange growl. I suspect that this Michod's first comedy, because it is a satire but it is not particularity funny, however, extremely topical and visually competent. It has gotten mixed reviews and I can completely understand why, but I did find it entertaining on some levels.

Lost Oasis

I have previously read a couple of Robert Twigger books-Angry White Pajamas and Big Snake-so I knew what I was getting into with Lost Oasis (2007). It's part memoir and part a travel adventure story-that ends somewhat anti-climatically. It makes you wonder what the point of the book was-there is not lost oasis and I think he knew that to begin with, but he needed a goal or frame of reference to get him into the desert to create experiences that he could write about. He moved to Egypt with his Egyptian wife mainly to cut his cost of living and the desert was there to explore. Honestly, I found the parts about life in Cairo much more interesting than the episodes in the desert. Perhaps, the desert is something one must experience for oneself, and I haven't properly explored any deserts and have not yet ventured to Egypt or Africa-all things that long to do in the future.

El Quixico

I have been hearing good things about El Quixico so I finally tried it out. I started with the half sized guacamole ¥600 and a margarita ¥700.

Next up were chicken flautas with sour cream and guacamole for ¥1000.

I didn't realize that the tacos were two pieces for ¥800, I got flour tortilla with beef. It ended up being more food than I thought and was pretty standard Tex-Mex, which is a good thing-few places in Japan do it right. I think there are better spots, but I would come back to try other menu options.

The World To Come

Jim Shepard is one of my favorite contemporary writers so I was really looking forward to reading The World To Come (2017) and it did not disappoint. I think Shepard is especially good at writing historically based short stories in which he does extensive research to give correct period details and there are a number of those types of stories in this collection. The first story, "Safety Tips for Living Alone" is a fictional account of the Texas Tower 4 disaster where all 28 civilians contractors died in the accident. There was also the Arctic exploration story of the lost Franklin expedition, "HMS Terror." Then there's the WWII submarine story "Telemachus" and an imagined viewing of the largest volcano eruption on Santorini in "Cretan Love Song." Air ballooning at the turn of the century in "The Ocean of Air" and life in Queens land, Australia in the late 19th century in "Intimacy." "Forcing Joy on Young People"  was also an engaging portrait of man struggling to find his place and meaning in life. The title story "The World to Come" was a powerful portrait of a woman in a loveless marriage surviving as best as she can isolated in the late 19th century and finds solace in the love of another farmer's wife. However, my favorite was "Wall-to-Wall Counseling," a portrayal of a woman facing family and work crises. It is another diverse and intriguing collection of short stories.

Laura

Laura (1944) directed by Otto Preminger is a much beloved film noir starring Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, and Clifton Webb. David Raskin's music is part of the appeal of the film, which was originally supposed to be directed by another director, but Preminger got permission to fire the director and direct it himself. I was somewhat surprised to see Vincent Price playing the womanizing male lead. It was an entertaining murder mystery/love story.

Akita Redux

I made my second visit to Akita city for the JALT Pan SIG Teaching Conference, inside Akita station. It's about four hours away by shinkansen.

Near the Omono river at night.

Beer Flight, the craft beer destination in Akita.

Our favorite Okinawa themed bar in Akita.

I stayed at the APA Senshukoen Hotel, forgetting that the owner wrote a revisionist history of Japan in which the Japanese didn't commit atrocities in China-it even has an English translation. If I had remembered I wouldn't have given them my money, but now I have a new souvenir.

Senshukoen.

Akita is famous for their "bijin" (beautiful women), the sign is an advertisement suggesting this. However, I think most of them live elsewhere these days.

Namahage.

Garrett and Chris, my partners in crime.

Back at my favorite Okinawa-themed restaurant in Akita.

City On Fire

Perhaps the most interesting thing about City On Fire (1997), directed by Ringo Lam, is that it inspired Quentin Tarantino to make his debut film Reservoir Dogs. To be honest, beyond the Hong Kong location and Mexican standoff, I fond very little in this film that was interesting-there is none of the cinematic formalism that Tarantino brought to Reservoir Dogs. It is merely a pop film ultimately. I guess I am impressed that Tarantino can take from high (The Killing) and low (City of Fire) to make his films, which may suffer the same criticisms.

Writers At The Movies: Part Three

I found myself watching another Buster Keaton silent short film, Cops (1922), since port Charles Simic choose to write about it for Writers At The Movies. In a mere 18 minutes Keaton executes gag after gag-first a mistaken purchase of a family's belongings as they movie causes all kinds of sight gags until he accidentally throws an anarchists bomb at the police during a parade after lighting a cigarette put shim on the run form the cops. Much of the comedy comes from his evasion of the masses of cops trying to run him down-until he finally turns himself in. Simic points out that Keaton is the last cloying of the silent stars since he never smiles, he stoically marches on no matter what is happening.