Lost In Translation

American Vandal

American Vandal (2017) is a satire of true crime series like Serial and Netflix's own Making of a Murderer. It is a spot on satire, as a couple AV club members at a high school in Oceanside try to unravel a mystery involving an act of vandalism where someone has painted dicks on the cars of 27 faculty members. So he series follows the aftermath of a costly high school prank that left twenty-seven faculty cars vandalized with phallic images. Senior "class clown" Dylan Maxwell (a well-cast Jimmy Tatro) is accused of the crime by the school. He is expelled, but an investigation into the incident is launched by the two AV club members. It employs the same sort of establishing shots, background music, and mini-reenactments as well as talking head interviews that these types of show s use. I was surprised they were able to have enough story for eight episodes, and that a second season is in the works.

Longrain Tokyo

The view form the 39th floor of Ebisu Garden Place, home of Longrain, originally from Sydney.

Ming kham-persimmon, prawn, mint, peanut.

Half order of Filled eggnet, pork, prawns, peanuts, cucumber relish.

Half order of “Crying tiger” Hanging tender.

“Dtom som hoi gai” Chicken and Ginger soup.

Stir fried Asian greens, garlic, oyster sauce

Specialty cocktails as well-Jungle Gin-Gin, Aperol, pineapple, lemon.

Dessert-Chocolate mousse, sesame, passion fruit, coconut ice cream. All in all, a stylish place with a great view that isn't cheap, but worth a splurge and I would come back for lunch for sure as well.

No No: A Dockumentary

I really thought Jeff Radice's documentary on Dock Ellis, No No: A Dockumentary (2014), was fascinating. I remember Dock Ellis as a player whose baseball card I had, but I didn't know his whole story-although I did manage to hear how he pitched a no hitter high on LSD, but other revelations about how he was "the Muhammad Ali" of baseball a proud black man who refused to back down and played with a great Pittsburgh Pirates team in the 70s. He was adamant that almost everyone was on amphetamines and other drugs throughout his career, something that MLB would rather not explore and kept swept under the rug I suppose. I was also unaware of his subsequent second life as a drug counselor after he finally got himself sober after his playing days. I found it very entertaining and informative.

Lulu In The Sky

I was curious to read Loung Ung's story about how she became an activist and how she came to write her first book, First They Killed My Father, in Lulu in the Sky: A Daughter of Cambodia Find Love, Healing, and Double Happiness (2014). However, I have to admit the first third of the book about her time at Saint Michael's College and her crush on classmate Mark (whom she eventually married) was a bit of a chore to get through. I thought it got more interesting when she recalled her experiences working for an anti-land mine NPO and returning to spend lengthy amounts of time in Cambodia to visit families and records stories of people who survived the genocide. I supposed the content of this book is far less dramatic than the previous two, but it is good to get a sense of closure about her experience of surviving the Khmer Rouge work camps to a happy successful life as a writer/activist and living with the trauma of surviving such horrific experiences.

Female Prisoner Scorpion The Complete Collection

I decided to get the Arrow Female Prisoner Scorpion The Complete Collection since it was loaded with extras. These include:brand new 2K restorations of all four films in the series presented on High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD, original mono audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-rays) for all films, optional English subtitles for all films, double-sided fold out poster of two original artworks, reversible sleeves for all films featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Ian MacEwan, and a booklet featuring an extract from Unchained Melody: The Films of Meiko Kaji, an upcoming book on the star by critic and author Tom Mes, an archive interview with Meiko Kaji, and a brand new interview with Toru Shinohara, creator of the original Female Prisoner Scorpion manga. I had previously seen the first film, Female Prisoner 710: Scorpion, but I think I was distracted by the misogyny and violence and missed homage to Siejun Suzuki in the see through floor and other artistic elements that were pointed out in the extras which included:a newly filmed appreciation by filmmaker Gareth Evans (The Raid), an archive interview with director Shunya Ito, a new interview with assistant director Yutaka Kohira, and Theatrical Trailers for all films in the series.

The Florida Project

Sean Baker's The Florida Project (2017) was one of the best reviewed films of the year, but I cannot say that I agree. I had a feeling it wasn't going to be my kind of film since I had seen his previously lauded film Tangerine and was equally unimpressed. Like that film I could not relate or sympathize with the main characters here a bratty disrespectful child, Moonee (Brooklynn Price), and her drug taking, thieving prostitute mother Halley (Bria Vinaite) who are trying to survive living in a weekly pay motel in Florida run by the eternally patient Manager Bobby (Willhem Dafoe)-the only sympathetic character in the film. The film has some redeeming value in the depiction of the exuberance and innocence of youth as the kids are captured having adventures in their neighborhood. There is also some impressive cinematography in the film. But it feels overlong and repetitive at times. Furthermore,  I have seen some viewers call this "poverty porn" and I can't say that it's not an accurate classification.

Demokrasi

Hamish McDonald's Demokrasi (2014) is a good overview of Indonesia today. It is a well researched look at the island nation of more than 250 million. The book starts with "Nusantrara" in which the Suharto regime is discussed. Then "The Crocodile Hole" discusses the events surrounding the 1965 takeover by Suharto. "The New Order" looks at Suharto's rule. "Reformasi" is an analysis of the 1998 fall of Suharto and the rise of his second in command Habibie. "Tsunami" discusses the problems associated with the massive tsunami that hit SE Asia in 2004. "Beyond Dwifungsi" discusses the reforms of the military after reforms of the post Suarto period. "Supreme Commodity" looks at the natural resources of Indonesia and their importance to other countries. "Capital" is a look at the banking system of Indonesia. "Between Mecca and the South Sea" looks at religion in the country. "Korupsi" looks at the government under Yudoyono. "The Eastern Margin" looks at the role of Paupa New Guinea as a region in Indonesia. "The Burning Question" looks at the management of Indonesia's natural resources. "From Sby to Jokowi" is a look at contemporary politics of Indonesia.  "Indonesia in the World" is a look at Indonesia's place in the world today. This book is a well-researched overview of Indonesia.

Wormwood

Errol Morris' Wormwood (2017) s a hybrid documentary fictionalized account of mysterious death of Frank Olson, a government biochemist who fell from the 13^th floor of the Hotel Statler in New York in 1953. It is a fascinating story that has links to the CIA, the tactical use of LSD, and the agency was headed by modern day villains Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. There are reenactments that I thought I would find intrusive and superfluous, but I found that they added to the depth mainly because they had high production values and had an impressive cast with Pete Sarsgard as Olson and Molly Parker plays his devastated wife among others. The film relies heavily on interviews with Olson's youngest son Eric who has essentially devoted his adult life to unravel the mystery of his father's death. Another large figure in the story is journalist Seymour Hersh, who is famous for reporting about the My Lai massacre and coverup during the Vietnam War among other scoops such as the unauthorized use of LSD by the CIA related tot his story. There is an interesting story here, but I'm not sure it warrants the 240 plus minutes allotted to the story. It might have been more effective as a 120 minute or less one viewing documentary rather than a four hour six episode miniseries.

Indonesia, Etc.

Elizabeth Pisani's book Indonesia, Etc. (2014) is an entertaining and informative look at the island kingdom. Pisani has spent two long stints in Indonesia, first as a journalist in the late 80s and then more recently as an AIDS consultant with the Indonesian government. Furthermore, she speaks Bahasa fluently, which allows her to communicate with people from all walks of life. The fact that she was a divorced, childless woman who was atheist made it difficult for some Indonesian to relate to her which sometimes led to white lies that sometimes came so burdensome she went back to the truth. Her year long itinerary included a host of isolated and lesser known island along withe largest such as Java that are the homes of the largest percentage of the population. Along the way she uses interactions with people to segue into discussions about race, religion, politics, corruption, law and commerce among other thoughtful well-informed observations about contemporary Indonesian life. Some interesting observations included meeting a tribe that hunts dolphins-I thought it was only the Japanese that did that in Asia. Here's another interesting tidbit: "Prayek. It was a word I was to hear endlessly, part of the vast system of patronage that props up Indonesia's current 'Etc.'" I had to laugh at this observation: "...Subrabaya is virtually litter-free. It is hard for someone who who has not visited Indonesia to feel the full impact of of the last five words..." I really enjoyed getting to know Indonesia with the wise and witty Pisani-I may even search out her other book The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels and the Business of AIDS in the future.

Casting JonBenet

Kitty Green's Casting JonBenet (2017) is an unusual documentary. I was unaware of this film until I read that a minor critic had named it the best film of 2017, I thought I'd give it a look-I remember the hype from 1996. In an a effort to understand the murder of six year old beauty pageant star JonBenet Ramsey and her sensational unsolved murder that occurred in 1996, the director has casted a family of several types of actors to reenact the last days. The interviews with the actors reveal the story in how they researched for the role and explained why they were attracted to the project-at first I didn't think I would like this approach, but it was strangely illuminating.