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I have no idea what they are trying to sell, but nothing but Nogizaka46 members on the landing page will make you love life.

http://www.mouse-jp.co.jp/campaign/nogizaka46/

Labels: lotd, Nogizaka46, you'll need babelfish

Imagine my surprise when I saw a Friday matinee of The Handmaiden when it suddenly turned into an very erotic film bordering on pornography. The theatre was almost empty. When I entered I smugly chose the middle seat four rows up in the same row as an older couple. One more gentleman entered before screening and another, an employee, came in halfway through the film. Next thing we know, the female protagonists where in a very naked embrace. Me likey. As one of them went down on the other and declared, as she stared enthralled at her partner, how beautiful it was, I just shook my head in agreement. Dang I haven't seen a movie like this in a while.

The Handmaiden is about the con. It about a pickpocket who gets a job as the personal maid of an upper crust lady. She's in cahoots with a swindler who is trying to woo the lady. Except it's not. It's about a lady who can not stand her life under her domineering uncle and is looking for a way out. She's in cahoots with the swindler to find a body double to kill so that she can run away scot free. I'm sorry if you read those sentences and think I spoiled it for you. I didn't. It's pretty twisted and convoluted that you will enjoy the story.

The big thing to say about this film is the sex. It is very real. I wonder how it was filmed. It must've been a very closed set. This isn't your average porno shoot with porno stars. These are real Korean actresses. It's wonder. If you need a taste of it, go look for erotic Japanese woodcuts. The scenes were filmed with them in mind. They mostly looked as though the director wanted to bring them to life. It's all highly erotic work.

But the story is good as well. Nice and twisty. Very noir-ish. It will keep you wondering. Overall, it reminds me of another slightly lesbian erotic thriller, Bound.

I feel like seeing it again.

4 of 5 stars.

Labels: movies, review

The title of the story from which the film, Arrival, is based on is "Story of Your Life." Now does that sound like a science fiction movie to you? No. But it is a science fiction type of story. Also, that title should give you a clue on what type of movie you about to see. Arrival doesn't. It connotes alien invasion. The original story title connotes a more intimate story, which is how the movie played.

The story is about a linguist given the duty to decipher the language of aliens who've just arrived. She needs to solve the mystery of why. Or the world will start shooting.

From the get go, the film was an intimate story. It started with what looked to be a flash back, but in the end may have been a premonition. Or it could've been the present. You see it was all time based. Now. Then. Tomorrow. Today. Past. Present. Future. What she and us experienced is the now -- the story of my life.

As the movie ended and I was leaving, this gentlemen looked me directly in the eye and said definitively, "That movie sucked!" Yes. It is a divisive film because it wasn't sold correctly. People wanted alien invasion, but it was a story about the linguist and her life. They should've never changed the title, but I understand because who will watch a science fiction film that is an intimate story.

I think it will enter the cannon of great science fiction movies, but that will take some time.

3 of 5 stars.

Labels: movies, review

Here we are at the tail end of 2016, a year in which we wish it had ended better. We should try not to dwell on it, but look towards to future. I will fight the future like the X-Files. But let's at this moment be thankful for things...

Thank Kami-sama for Nogizaka46: Akimoto Manatsu, Ikuta Erika, Ikoma Rina, Ito Marika, Inoue Sayuri, Eto Misa, Kawago Hina, Kawamura Mahiro, Saito Asuka, Saito Chiharu, Saito Yuri, Sakurai Reika, Shiraishi Mai, Takayama Kazumi, Nakada Kana, Nakamoto Himeka, Nishino Nanase, Noujo Ami, Higuchi Hina, Hoshino Minami, Matsumura Sayuri, Wakatsuki Yumi, Wada Maaya. The second gen: Ito Karin, Ito Junna, Kitano Hinako, Sagara Iori, Sasaki Kotoko, Shinuchi Mai, Suzuki Ayane, Terada Ranze, Hori Miona, Yamazaki Rena, Watanabe Miria. And my favorites coming into the third gen: Ito Riria, Iwamoto Renka, Umezawa Minami, Ozono Momoko, Kubo Shiori, Sakaguchi Tamami, Sato Kaede, Nakamura Reno, Mukai Hazuki, Yamashita Mizuki, Yoshida Ayano Christy, Yoda Yuki.

Thanks also to AKB48-san and to Keyaki-chan. They'll always bring a smile to my face.

Thanks to this MacBook Pro. Thanks to Apple. Thanks to food.

Thanks to Mom, Dad, Uncle, Aunt. Thanks to friends, family, and relatives. Thanks to Philippines, Japan, Hawaii, Iceland, Germany -- places to visit.

Thanks to President Obama.

I'm sure that this is just a start of a long list. In the end be thankful for your happy, healthy life.

Labels: thankful

I'm still buying DVDs. I'm still trying to find myself in the bookstore. I'm still trying to find my bookstore girl. This time around I bought 2 more DVDs during the B&N 50% off Criterion Collection sale. It happens bi-annually, so every 6 months I'm buying another couple of foreign or arthouse movies. Maybe someday I will find that girl.

The Makioka Sisters directed by Kon Ichikawa
A Touch of Zen directed by King Hu

Labels: bookstore haul, movies

Thievery Corporation came into their own with the ascendancy of W. Maybe we'll get more good music with the dumb Republican elect. Fuck that guy. But we need some more good music. Let's listen and think.

Labels: music break, Thievery Corporation

In these trying times of Donald Trump as president elect, we need something to make us happy. Nogizaka46 makes me happy. Here's a guitar cover version that is pretty great. I'm hoping for many happy Nogi songs for the next 4 years.

Labels: music break, Nogizaka46

Ben Affleck as The Accountant is Forrest Gump if he decided to learn to shoot something. Affleck's Accountant is both a lethal killing machine and a skillful number cruncher. Why? Because his dad was a psych warfare general and forced his autistic son to be a badass at numbers and at kicking butt.

It was an okay movie. It had a nice twist at the end. I would like to see the accountant take on John Wick.

3 of 5 stars.

Labels: movies, review

Barnes and Noble is having their bi-annual Criterion Collection sale. That means 50% off any and all Criterion DVDs and BluRays. It's the best time to stock up on any of the Criterion Collection that you've been salivating for. You can wait for few months, mark and spy on which you'll get, then buy, buy, buy once the sale hits.

I usually buy a few even though I've seen most all of the collection I want to see or own. If they find any new Ozu, I'll be there. But there are no more Ozu. So I'll make due when something comes along that intrigues me.

But let me get to the big thing. I just bought 2 Criterion Collection BluRays for cheap because of the sale. I mean I got the hookups. Check this out: not only the 50% sale and the 10% membership discount, but also the 15% off one item coupon. So I saw that the Lone Wolf and Cub box set came out. It usually cost $100, but applying all those discounts which finally amounted to a $39 deal. Now it didn't add up to 75% but that is really good for a Criterion BluRay box set considering that the other disc I bought, Mulholland Dr., sticker price was $40. That disc I got for $18!

So it pays to have been a member of the B&N club. That $25 a year always saves me more than that if you look at the last few Bookstore Hauls. Those are only the few I started to write about. There have been tons more than that...

Lone Wolf and Cub BluRay box set
Mulholland Dr. BluRay

Labels: bookstore haul, money baby money

Yeah. No.

Not even want to get out of bed.

Not sure what happened.

It's the worst.

Labels: anger and frustration

Woke up at 4 because I'm still getting use to not Daylight Savings Time. But also quite nervous, because I wanted to vote early. Got up, got dressed, swigged some O.J., then headed to my polling place around ten 'til seven. When I got there, the parking lot had spaces, but the line was long. We piled into the building, which made the line turn into a Disney World special. I was close to the door to the polling place, but the line snaked around the corner which was a deep corridor.

It took about 35 minutes before I got my ballot. Five minutes to vote. Then another 15 minutes before I could scan it in the one ballot reader they had there.

About an hour to vote. Hope it turns out good. I'll miss President Obama. I'm hoping his successor would be just as good.

Labels: anticipation, political

Before each and every "Bookstore Haul" post, I put some preliminary sentences trying to sum up something I thought of as I browsed the aisles. This is one such sentence.

In reality, I don't know what I am going to say about the group of books I bought this past trip. Yes, they are comics. I'm hoping that the blue monday one is also a slice of life comic. The Bride's Story is sort of. It's really good. I'm hoping that blue monday is as well.

This is a sentence to end this segment. Bye bye!

blue monday volume 1 by Chynna Clugston Flores
Bride's Story by Kaoru Mori

Labels: bookstore haul, comics, manga

The Charles is winning me over because they show a lot of anime. One that I was looking forward to was Miss Hokusai. This one is about the painter of that famous Japanese painting about the tidal wave and Mt. Fuji and also about his daughter. She is also a painter and contributes most of the story to the film. What little it was.

The problem with this film is that it is a slice of life anime. Now I love me a slice of life anime, but as a movie, I'm not too sure. It sort of rambled on from one vignette to another in their lives. There wasn't a story to tell. It started on a bridge, and it ended on a bridge. In between, there wasn't much story.

Perhaps, I had to go into the Japanese mode of looking at the emptiness. In the empty space, I found some things to like. There was a sequence in a brothel which was interesting. There was the passage of time marked by the growth of a puppy. There was the comedic side kick who wasn't the best artist. There was the sempai who the daughter had a crush on. Pieces of life that made some sense in the movie.

Hopefully, the next anime at The Charles is a good one, too.

3 of 5 stars.

Labels: movies, review

The Girl On the Train is similar to Gone Girl. It has crazy women bent on killing people. The men? They're despicable, too. No one is good. Everyone is no good. And there are bodies.

The movie itself was okay. As a thriller, it did keep me guessing. Then when it ended I knew, I'd been had, because this one writes itself.

Now watch it. It seems we have a girl problem.

3 of 5 stars.

Labels: movies, review