ne(one)piphany

Someday I’ll compile a full report on 2002’s SIFF, but that day is not today. After missing two weekend films I held tickets to (Takashi Miike’s Happiness of the Katakuris and the non-Miike May), I made sure to head out early to catch today’s 4:30 showing of Men With Brooms at the Harvard Exit Theater. It’s a Canadian comedy… about curling.

Now, I watched (out of pure fascination) a lot of the CBC’s coverage of curling during the Salt Lake City Olympics (in fact, I first saw commercials for Men With Brooms during these broadcasts), and darned if I didn’t come away completely confused. Now that I’ve seen this film, though, I think I finally have an idea of what’s going on. The movie itself was pretty hilarious as well; sure, the script was rather painful at parts and hits every sports movie cliche in the book, but there were plenty of real laughs peppered liberally throughout. Best of all, the film takes shots at things an outsider might find ridiculous about curling (and indeed, sports in general), but you never get the feeling that writer/director/star Paul Gross has anything but a deep admiration or affection for the sport. I’d give it 7/10 (probably the highest rating I’d give to any post-Naked Gun film starring Leslie Nielsen). Entertaining.

After the film, kakumei and I went to Delfino’s (in University Village) for dinner. Still the best Chicago-style pizza I’ve found in the area. The only one, in fact.

Random-but-related factoid of the day: The Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien has a painting in its collection by Breughel the Elder entitled “The Hunters in the Snow,” dated 1565. Some suspiciously familiar activity in the background, eh?

Saw Miyazaki’s Spirited Away this afternoon, and it was just incredible. It was big, beautiful, weird, dark, whimsical… that last one, especially, a Miyazaki trademark I thought sorely lacking in Mononoke Hime and a big reason why I haven’t ever thought of that film (despite its wide acclaim) as one of his better works.

Truthfully, I’ve never really been able to rank Miyazaki’s output; each one is so different that at various times, any of his pictures have had special resonance with me. Totoro and Kiki talk directly to earlier versions of me, Porco Rosso to my hopelessly romantic core (and I suspect, something more complex as I get older), Laputa to my sense of adventure and wonder. Mononoke is the exception, because in many respects it’s a reinvention of his earlier Kaze no tani no Nausicaa rather than its own distinct work. It remains to be seen where Sen will stand; I suspect many more viewings will be necessary before I know for sure.

Hopefully Disney will market it well. I think it would appeal to kids hopped up on Harry Potter or Roald Dahl books.

Last night was Battle Royale, a film from Japan dealing with a class of high schoolers who are left on an island with weapons and explosive collars around their necks. Their task: only one can remain alive after the third day, or everyone dies. I would say Lord of the Flies on speed, but I haven’t read (or seen) it yet.

Can’t say I was a real fan of this film, but a lot of the recent hyper-violent Japanese movies that have been getting popular over here in the last few years (for example, about a billion pictures by Takashi Miike) haven’t done much for me, either. Come to think of it, this applies even to more introspective films, such as Shunji Iwai’s Lily Chou-Chou no subete. I think there’s something about the modern Japanese youth experience that I just can’t relate to, and that’s affecting my ability to enjoy these pictures.

Of course there’s something about lots of anime youth titles that I click with instantly, stuff like Kareshi kanojo no jijo. But most of what I like is at least four years old now and the live action films I talked about are all from the last two years. There’s also probably a noticeable age gap between the folks who made the anime and these new, hotshot directors.

Is this just a way of saying I feel old? I guess so.

Oddly enough, I’ve very much been enjoying youth-oriented Korean films from the same timeframe. Something else to wonder about?

Oh my god, I’m listening to a Hindi cover of “Mony, Mony” right now. Actually, it might be better described as a “free adaptation,” but there’s no ambiguity about the source material.

For those intensely curious, it’s “Koi Nahin Aisa,” from the soundtrack to Dillagi.

(Good grief, now it’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You.” Same movie.)

Contrary to popular expectations, there is a Quarter Pounder with cheese sandwich served in McDonald’s restaurants in Egypt. The odd thing is that right next to it on the menu is a completely different sandwich called a McRoyale (to all intents and purposes, equivalent to the not-so-accurately monikered “Big ‘n’ Tasty”). For a second, I almost considered ordering it, but the resemblance was too great.

Now, one could ask (and quite rightly) why an American traveling abroad would choose to sup at that most American of establishments, especially in the middle of a huge cultural and commercial area like Midan Tahrir. First: yes, it’s truly and excessively sad, but I do enjoy springboarding a conversation with ridiculous situations like that. More importantly, I actually find foreign versions of familiar things to be really fascinating and possibly more exotic than the authentic cuisine of a region.

For instance, say you’re in London and you’re confronted with the choice between a dead-to-rights vindaloo (available at who-knows-how-many fine Indian restaurants in any decent-sized U.S. metropolis) and a Lamb McCurry burger from the golden arches.

“A-ha!” you exclaim. “Presented that way, obviously the latter!”

No? Ah, fine.

Though it’s certainly how I chose, I’ll admit that that may not have been the most appetizing example. At any rate, you’re never going to find a McChicken Korma on this side of the Pond, or a kimchi & bulgogi pie in an States-side Pizza Hut. Given the chance, I’ve tried them all — even the Burger King bean burger (a lot tastier than it looked!).

On this night, however, it was not to be. As exotic experiences go, this Cairene McDonald’s was a giant letdown; aside from the aforementioned McRoyale, there was nothing even remotely strange on the menu. Alas, B. was tired and didn’t have the energy to find another restaurant, so there, in the shadow of the pyramids, I dined on a Big Mac and fries.

I blame Quentin Tarantino.

If you feel you can handle it, you absolutely must see 9|11, an extraordinarily powerful, feature-length documentary by brothers Jules and Gedeon Naudet. Originally a project to film the progress of a rookie firefighter, the filmmakers ended up in the middle of everything on 11 September, catching much of the harrowing event (including what is probably the only extant footage of the first plane hitting tower one) on videotape. Not merely a study of the day itself, it tracks the firefighters from mid-June through the aftermath and cleanup on the WTC site, and features lots of commentary by those most directly involved. Nothing exploitative here, just profound human drama.

It’s out on DVD right now, with bonus interviews. Thanks to Tony for the recommendation.

Okay, I promise I’ll stop dwelling on this subject now. Thanks for listening and for the support over the last couple of days, everyone. And I promise I won’t delete my previous post.

Had correspondents on the search for Ginger Altoids all day yesterday, with absolutely no success. Am beginning to wonder whether this is all an elaborately constructed hoax, but no: I certainly held a tin in my hands on Friday, and even sampled a mint. Suggestions were helpfully offered but sadly misleading… We struck out at Trader Joe’s, where some on the web had reported success, and an enthusiastic tip that the Mercer Larry’s had them as of 4 p.m. on Saturday seems to have been in error (Eggy: “The lady there looked at me as if she had never heard of them” — like Keyser Soze, gone without a trace).

Have a few more yuppie market prospects to check out before I’ll be willing to concede defeat; alternately, if anyone has a lead on where they might be ordered online, that just might do as well. At this point, any word merely corroborating their existence would be a comfort!

DVD news, in short: Disney will be releasing Miyazaki’s Spirited Away, Kiki’s Delivery Service and Castle in the Sky Laputa in one- and two-disc special editions, all in April. Both original and dubbed soundtracks will be included, as well as as-yet-unspecified special features. More than I had hoped for! Also, Dreamworks will release the original Japanese version of Ring on the same day that last year’s American remake arrives on DVD.

Hear that? That’s the sound of a lot of tense movie fans sighing in relief.

• via The Seattle Times, six sushi restaurants in the Seattle area for sushi lovers. I’ve only been to Shiki, which tops the list and was sublime. No doubt the rest will be attacked in short order!
• from jimfl, via comments, Kitty-chan sausages.
• Adorable! Obviously, the web needs more baby pictures.

Watched the new restoration of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis on DVD last night, which was wonderfully clear; a revelation, truly, and despite controversy about playback speed, a very affecting experience. Did find myself longing at times for a little Pat Benatar or Freddy Mercury — surely I cannot be the only fan of Giorgio Moroder’s 1984 pop-score “reinvention” of the film? — to the point where earlier tonight I dug out my ancient VHS copy of the long out-of-print Vestron video release. Cheesy at times, yes (this is the man who unleashed Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away” on the world, after all), but is it really any less so than Gottfried Huppertz’s cloying original score*, included on the current Kino disc? One could argue that the driving electronic beats of Moroder are actually more appropriate to the mechanical heartbeat of Metropolis. On the other hand, Adam Ant. Hee, point taken.

The real tragedy here is that I completely missed the Alloy Orchestra’s run of Metropolis when they came through Seattle a few years ago.

Speaking of reinvented scores, for a real treat (both cinematically and musically), check out the Criterion Collection’s DVD release of The Passion of Joan of Arc, Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1928 silent masterpiece**, with Richard Einhorn’s Voices of Light included as an alternate audio track. The movie by itself is a transcendental experience (possibly my favorite film ever), and the music (featuring Anonymous 4) is nothing to sniff at either. I became familiar with each separately, not realizing at first that Einhorn had designed Voices to accompany the film. Together, well, wow.

Shocked to discover while grabbing links for this entry that Anonymous 4 is disbanding…!

• A fabulous Metropolis site by someone who is clearly also a fan of the Moroder version.
• Roger Ebert’s “Great Movies” piece on Joan, which was part of the reason (along with a strong reccomendation from Chloe) that I wandered out to Scarecrow to rent what was then (in 1997) an impossible-to-find video.
• The homepage of Giorgio Moroder, composer, artist, and… car designer?

It’s been awhile, hasn’t it?

I’m the timid type, so when the server started getting hammered by outside linkage to the Fat Kreme Photo Essay, I figured it was best to lay low for a bit. Besides, you never can tell where the hackers are hiding.

Here we go, rapid-fire:

Movies: Le Pacte des Loups was fun. You can totally tell that Christophe Gans is a fan of Hong Kong wuxia films, and there’s a real look to this film that evokes the pre-Raphaelite movement. X2 had a lot for a fan of the 80’s books to bite into, and set up even more for the next go-round. Also, eye candy. Seriously. Identity was creepy and played with enough intriguing concepts to distinguish itself from the pack, despite uneven direction. Better Luck Tomorrow was much, much better than I was expecting.

Upcoming travel plans: Off to Chicago this weekend for some family catch-up time and other hijinx. The end of the month will see me in New York City, but probably not at Nobu. In between, the docket includes a puzzle hunt, freesia’s show, a dinner expedition or two and hopefully some quality time with friends.

Meme watch:

• Would you touch this keyboard?
• via secretkings, How male or female is your brain?
• via Anita, Sold in Oregon: Historical Oregan Trademarks

Apropos of nothing, but something pretty I came upon while web-surfing:

 
Wall-Painting of Ladies and Papyri (det.) | 17th-c. BC
(from the Museum of Prehistoric Thera, Santorini, Greece)

Finally, word is that Ginger Altoids are starting to hit the shelves again, at least in Seattle. Perhaps it’ll be a seasonal thing. At any rate, keep your eyes peeled!

Is ne(one)piphany turning into a photolog? No, I’ve just been busy. Also killed my poor router during firmware update shenanigans and no internet access for awhile. I promise to get back on track soon, but in the meantime, enjoy the cute bunny, or seek drama elsewhere.

In other news: Ronald Reagan died, which made me feel a little sad as his election in 1980 was pretty much my first political memory. But Peter, of course, says it better. Ray Charles died, which made me feel a lot sad. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was fabby — little Danny Radcliffe is turning into Tobey Maguire (and yes, K. D. Lang). Jet brought a suitcase of Italian Beef from Chicago. Genie immigrated from St. Louis, while Kurt is moving back. Six Apart made things all better. This game is unexpected goodness, and I seem, after all, to have no natural talent for poker.

Finally, I’ve spent entirely too much time paper shopping, and not enough crafting. This will change soon enough, oh yes.

Walking weather: too warm for a coat by day, but evenings are still chill, and with constant threat of rain, it’s hard to decide what to wear. Trust me to pick the wrong outfit, every time.

Hear New York has hit the 80s — ugh! So sorry, Miranda.

Watched Sideways and am finding I really, really want a glass of Pinot Noir (apparently, am not alone in this reaction). All I have is Riesling, which’ll do for now.

She lies asleep in a cheap hotel room, legs wrapped around the lone tendril of blanket remaining on the bed. It is midday in Belfast, a hot summer’s day; unobstructed, bright rays of sunlight stream through the windows and illuminate the peaceful expression on her face.
 
The room is a small one, barely enough for the twin bed and the nightstand next to it. The only other piece of furniture in the room is a wooden chair, its presence inexplicable without an accompanying desk, or table. At the moment it serves as a closet; over its back is draped a black, leather overcoat, stylish but outlandishly inappropriate for the weather. Leaning against the legs of the chair is a medium-sized travel bag, locked shut. Next to that sits a small, metal case, the sort that could probably survive a nuclear explosion. In small piles leading from the chair to the side of the bed are various pieces of clothing, haphazardly discarded in the haste to retire.
 
Outside, a bustling city street, unusually active for a Sunday afternoon. A man with a prosthetic hand is walking three dogs on leashes. A florist leaves his stand momentarily to chase after a customer who forgot her change. The doorman of the posh hotel across the street takes off his cap so that he can wipe sweat off his brow. A minor car accident has blocked traffic, almost directly under the window. Two men exit a limousine which has become caught in the snarl. A faint movement—there, in the alley, but there’s nothing. Perhaps a shift in the light, or a random shadow?
 
She lies on the ratty mattress, sensing none of this, and it is the most comfortable place she has ever been.

Real 1/2-birthday today, spent lazily at home, one brief moment of weekend rest in a whirlwind month-plus of nonstop travel for weddings, birthdays, and other assorted miscellany. Even had a chance to take an early afternoon nap, that rarest of pleasures — v. heavenly!

Won’t go into too much detail about today (some things stay secret!), but instead, some recent observations:

Divine bread/cheese combinations: Great Harvest’s rosemary & garlic loaf with Beecher’s flagship; also, honey whole wheat (Great Harvest too) and Tintern (wonderful Welsh cheddar with shallots & chives). Poor lactose intolerant me, with my irresistible love of cheese. Love is pain, as they say.

Have also been playing a lot of Dance Dance Revolution (thank you, Cobalt Flux!) lately and I think I’m slowly getting better. I’ve been passing some seven-footers and passed my first heavy-difficulty song just the other day. Best of all, that after-workout glow is back, and I love it!

Thanks to kakumei, I’ve been able to try out some foreign DDR releases, and we’re totally getting the short end of the stick here in the States. The Japanese version of Extreme is just stuffed to the gills with fun, cute J-pop tracks, while Dancing Stage Fusion — a European release — is more Eurodance-heavy (incidentally, v. surprised & excited to find my television displays PAL video just fine!). DDR Festival seems to be more of a re-import of some of the U.S. tracks back into Japan, but has a few fun anime/J-pop songs as well. Still, nothing beats Dreamcast’s 2nd ReMix in my eyes (with all-time faves: “Boys,” “Dub-I-Dub,” “Butterfly,” “Hero” &c.). I miss it so much.

I’m not going to be wowing the aisles at Gameworks anytime soon, but still! Getting better.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou still makes me cry.

Finally, thank you to v. for the pretty pretty!

Think I’ll finish celebrating with a hot bath and the last of the Lush stash. Love you all!

Dug this one out of the archives, where that expanse of white shirt-back kept getting in the way of any appreciation I could muster. I’m still not sure it works, but there’s just something — in her glance, or the dance reflected in hazy shadow on the spatter shield…

This was taken at Pommes Frites in Manhattan, the best place ever.

I said this in comments, but I watched the rest of the BBC Jane Eyre last night. Still so good, but St. John Rivers? Total freak!

Piling up for an Austen marathon: should I rent the BBC Northanger Abbey? Anyone seen it?

Currently in the pile:

• Clueless
• Pride & Prejudice (1995, BBC)
• Persuasion (1995, BBC)
• Sense & Sensibility (1995, Sony)
• Emma (1996, BBC/ITV)
• Mansfield Park (1999, Miramax)
• Bridget Jones’ Diary
• Bride & Prejudice

Finally, I just discovered AustenBlog today and have spent far too much time reading it — and through it found the trailer for Focus Features’ new Pride & Prejudice. Matthew McFadyen? Keira Knightley? Sign me up, please!

And, back to Brontë: SB says I must see the 1944 Jane Eyre with Orson Welles, but it doesn’t seem to be available on disc. Sigh…

No, I will not be in some huge line at midnight like everyone else, nor will I be raw-eyed and happily reading into the wee hours of the morning. Being a completist and an authenticist* (read: snob), I pre-ordered the Canadian edition of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince from Chapters — and since I only got the shipping notice today, probably won’t see it for another week. Oh, the anticipation!

I’m almost used to it now, since this is the third time I’ve gone this route. I remember actually attending a lineup for The Goblet of Fire at Barnes & Noble (they even had drink service!), but really, that was only to keep my other Potter-mad friends company. The woman at checkout looked at me as if I’d grown three heads when I said I wasn’t there to buy.

Anyways. One week! Assuming there’s no hang-up at customs.

If you think I’m avoiding you in the next few days, please don’t be offended: it’s probably only because I’m afraid of spoilers!

Finished The Da Vinci Code a few minutes ago, and not a minute too soon. Reading it was like listening to an know-it-all relate the story of a Jerry Bruckheimer film without a time limit. Consider:

“… Langdon noted with uneasiness that these particular cloisters lived up to their Latin ties to the word claustrophobic.”

Do you know anyone who talks like this all the time? Do you like to spend time with this person? There are whole pages of discussions of things like the golden ratio and fibonacci sequences that come off as masturbatory. Plot twists and puzzle solutions are condescendingly telegraphed with marquee lights pages ahead of time as if reaffirming the idea that Langdon (and by extension, Dan Brown) is just that much smarter than the reader.

Still, I’ve no-one to blame but myself. Despite the silly plot and tone I still stayed up late and finished the whole thing, if only to witness unbelievable moments such as three supposed Da Vinci scholars staring at a “code” of clearly-reversed cursive lettering and not recognizing what was going on. That’s not all of it, however — I guess I’m a bit of a sheep after all.

Summary? Let’s just say that it was about as entertaining as National Treasure with 3x the time investment.

It’s possible that I’m just feeling annoyed at a book that has yet to be released in paperback after two years in print. I doubt it, though. Thank goodness for the library — where I also picked up some Mishima as a palate cleanser.

In other news, I’ve had that poppy cover of “Pure Imagination” (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory) from that Mastercard commercial stuck in my head all evening, which kicked off a brief google search to find out how I might get ahold of it in a more on-demand format. Phooey on Wikipedia for making it so easy to find bad news.

Experimenting with Movable Type’s dynamic publishing mode. Monthly archives are now generated on-the-fly, and I can also join all the cool kids and keep tag-based archives without bogging down rebuilding. Now all I have to do is go back and tag all my old entries! I’d meant to do individual entry pages too, but so far I’m in love with too many plugins that won’t work under PHP.

Incidentally, commenting should now be somewhat faster.

In media news:

Criterion has just announced they’ll release two all-time greats on DVD: Ran and Ugetsu. The Mizoguchi is a real gem — supernatural, mysterious, and intensely sad, I haven’t seen it in years and yet it’s haunted me in some way or another ever since.

Have actually been enjoying (non-Katrina-related) television recently: Slings and Arrows on Sundance, very Canadian, really good (and lord knows I have a thing for Paul Gross); Rome on HBO is right up my historical alley, and I’m also enjoying the slew of tie-in documentaries on History Channel; Transgeneration will be airing on Sundance starting September 20.

Books keep rolling in from the library, god bless: Kare Kano in English (it is my blog namesake, after all), Spring Snow, The Time Traveler’s Wife, Never Let Me Go. Clearly something has gone terribly wrong and I’ve had to put a freeze on my holds, as I despair of finishing these all in time…

Watched Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters from the disadvantaged viewpoint of someone who hasn’t yet read any of his work, and found myself kind of underwhelmed and ambivalent by it. There’s something a little off about the overall direction and/or narrative, causing a story that should have been extremely compelling — the stranger-than-fiction life and death of Yukio Mishima — to never quite dig itself an emotional foothold, despite leading man Ken Ogata’s heroic efforts. This leads to a total sense of anticlimax in the fourth and final chapter, where the author’s explosive last hours seem rather pedestrian, as if the movie’s already decided the interesting part is over, just as most viewers will be expecting it to begin.

In a sense, it’s correct. There’s real meat and beauty in the vibrant dramatizations of three novels (The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, Kyoko’s House and Runaway Horses) woven into the film’s first three chapters. Highly stylized and charged with color and energy, they paint a far more vivid picture of the man and his inner life than the factual sections do. I’ve no idea whether it’s an accurate one, but it really doesn’t matter as far as moviemaking goes: I adore the atmosphere of these segments, which seem to live in a visual world straight out of a ’50s-era Suzuki yakuza epic, and are perfectly married to Philip Glass’s score. It may not be biography, but it’s probably worth a rental for these alone.

More importantly: now I really want to read the books brought to life in the movie, as well as the two I currently have checked out from the library (Spring Snow, which I’ve mentioned before, and the short story collection Acts of Worship, which I haven’t). I may well decide I hate them afterwards, but I guess it means the movie was effective after all. Hee.

Signs of going mad: watched the entirety of Firefly on Saturday, followed by Serenity this afternoon, an ordeal both tiring and fun. Spent the rest of the day singing the theme song with all sorts of made up words, since I’d forgotten what they were supposed to be, but I’m glad it was that instead of the crazy-making singing octopus snack bar song. Anyone have an MP3 of the theme? I think I probably just need to hear it once with the right words to get it out of my head.

I am wondering how a future world seemingly dominated by Chinese & Asiatic culture and language can have so few Asians walking around, or in fact, anyone between white & black on the racial spectrum — aside from Inara and the ladies of the Heart of Gold, whatever that’s supposed to mean.

Still! It was fun, and so very, very quotable. But I do rather feel like I never want to watch television again.

This is so so wrong.

Spending sixteen hour days at work isn’t boding well for the start of NaNoWriMo, but I’ll try to have some amusing story tidbits to post at least some of the time. Thank you all for your story suggestions so far (and please continue to add more, as I’ll be checking back on that thread for the rest of the month). On the bright side, things should ease down on that front after this weekend, so I should have at least three weeks of moderately open time.

In the meantime I’m looking forward to taking a peek at what y’all are writing (yes, I’m looking at you!). You are going to share, right? Save me from work!

TCM has been showing a really thorough Hitchcock retrospective over the last few weeks, and I’ve been recorded a fair chunk of it. So far, I’ve rewatched Shadow of a Doubt (with a nice making-of documentary — so good!) and seen Suspicion for the first time (ugh — Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine in this stinker? Hard to believe, but there you go) On tap: The Trouble with Harry, To Catch a Thief, The Lady Vanishes…

In other news, Universal’s finally re-released Vertigo and Psycho in remastered widescreen, but the only way to get them is in an expensive (but otherwise tasty-looking) 14-disc box set. Wah.

Happy Halloween, everyone! What’d you dress up as?

July will see the release of Tales of Earthsea, a new adaptation of Ursula LeGuin’s fantasy series by Goro Miyazaki, son of Hayao. I don’t quite know what to think — there’s been a public war of words and silence between father and son with respect to this movie, and it’s hard to make out whether it’s rooted in Miyazaki père’s opinion of Miyazaki fils’ worth as an animator, or the usual family drama. So on the one hand, there are huge expectations, but on the other…

Well, there’s no way it can be worse than Sci Fi’s Legend of Earthsea. I mean, ick.

Anyway, if you’re interested, you can find English translations of Miyazaki’s Earthsea blog at nausicaa.net.

Teavana month one, part one: Turkish Tea.

An herbal brew, lovely & subtle — almost too much so on first sip; mostly dried apple with a touch of added spice. Smells like mulled cider, v. nice for a cold night.

I still have these things on the back burner, you see — our night of oysters and ahi* and gravlax, recent restaurant expeditions for Twenty-Five for $25, a story or two… but I’ve been finding myself immersed in Kameo, of all things**. That and fixing up house, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and Whisper of the Heart, and Neko Case’s latest lovely, and… well, you get the idea.

Apparently, I am a

according to this. In case you’ve never noticed, I’m totally, irrationally in love with online personality tests. After all, if the internet didn’t tell me who I am, how would I know? And where would I be without all these labels?

You can take the quiz for yourself, or psych me (I have no idea what that means, but apparently you’ll need this receipt: e859946eaaed). Or, you can avoid the madness altogether. I won’t blame you!

Also, if you’re still here, thanks for sticking around. I mean it.

Kyle tagged me on this meme ages ago, but I never noticed because he sneakily named me after the fact. Which should teach me about leaving snarky comments. Or something.

Four jobs I’ve had:

1. Graphic designer
2. Computer helpdesk
3. Library assistant
4. Cram school tutor

Four movies I can watch over and over:

1. Next Stop Wonderland
2. Shall We Dance?
3. Whisper of the Heart
4. Koyaanisqatsi

Four places I’ve lived:

1. Cambridge, Massachusetts
2. Aurora, Illinois
3. Lisle, Illinois
4. Seattle, Washington

Four TV shows I love:

1. Battlestar Galactica
2. Sports Night
3. His & Her Circumstances
4. Arrested Development

Four places I’ve vacationed:

1. Cairo, Egypt
2. Maui, Hawai’i
3. Edinburgh, Scotland
4. Seoul, South Korea

Four of my favorite dishes:

1. Tojo’s smoked sablefish soup
2. Ikuradon, mmm!
3. Sticky toffee pudding
4. Spaghetti alla carbonara

Four sites I visit daily:

1. Bloglines
…and If it isn’t something I can read in Bloglines, I always forget to keep up.

Four places I would rather be right now:

1-4. With you, you, you and you.

Four bloggers I am tagging:

Everyone and her mother has already done this meme, so if you haven’t and are reading this… tag!

If you’re an Austenite (but don’t subscribe to the essential AustenBlog), you might want to know that BBC7 is broadcasting radio dramatizations of Mansfield Park, Emma and Persuasion over this and the next two weeks. Once they’ve aired, they’ll be available for on-demand streaming for seven days afterward.

I know it’s gross RealPlayer and all, but well, you might not let that stop you if you’re anything at all like me.

Incidentally, I finally watched the new Pride & Prejudice — yum, yum, yummy, yum. But honestly, what’s with the super-cheesy tacked-on ending? Still, one should not let such things get in the way of the yumminess.

(most of that last blurb applies word for word to V for Vendetta too)

Feeling better now. Baby steps.

From Eureka, another version of the Fat Kreme Burger out in the wild.

Vince recommended Richard K. Morgan’s Altered Carbon to me, knowing my love of classic John Varley stories and film noir, and it was a fun read. Morgan has the tone of far-future noir down pat, with an intelligently speculative setting and lots of hard-boiled action. If you enjoy the typical noir antihero — aggressive, haunted, misogynistic — then Takeshi Kovacs should be right up your alley; subversive, this is not. But the choking masculinity effectively evokes the ghosts of Mickey Spillane, of Hammet, of Chandler, and more recently, the graphic fiction of Frank Miller*. So! If you’re looking for that kind of literary fix, this may be right up your alley.

Directly afterwards, started reading Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, which in many bizarre ways is exactly the same book (well, at least as far as I’ve gotten in it).

Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven was an ambitious film which had, for me, a hugely compelling premise, atmosphere to spare, and lots of visual flair from this most visual of directors. On the other hand, it was weak in characterization and lopsided, with a heavy, drawn-out exposition and rushed middle and final acts. But after seeing the recently-released director’s cut, I need to completely revise my opinion. With 3-plus hours in which to breathe, the movie assumes the epic scope lamely aspired to by its shorter version, fed by moments and touches of color which fill in the world around the plot. Most notable is an entire arc involving Sibylla and her son — a character completely absent from the theatrical cut — which give her actions in the second half, previously an inexplicable mess, real pathos and motivation. If you have a taste for contemplative medieval epics (and yes, despite the huge action sequences, it is in the end a meditation on the madness of holy war), you probably owe it to yourself to give this movie a try. Please, though, stick to the director’s cut!

Also somehow ended up seeing Aeon Flux. Ahem. Not much else to say, except it’s worth noting that Martin Csokas cleans up really well (cf. Kingdom of Heaven).

The Da Vinci Code? Perhaps unsurprisingly (but only to my friends, who think I can’t shut up about how much I hate Dan Brown), I saw that one too. It’s better than the novel, if only for the fact that the most annoying character of all — the narrator — has been wholly removed. The cast is quite good, transcending the material and raising it to the level of pleasant diversion. I’m still loath to say I thought it was a good movie, though was pleased to note that they fixed up the most unbelievable moment in the story so I won’t have to complain about it anymore.

Beside that, SIFF is now in full swing. I haven’t even looked at the listings yet! I am so off my game*.

Anyone want to see any movies with me?

Oh my god. Alexander Siddig was Julian Bashir on Deep Space 9??

As Jim commented more than a couple months ago (but still on the front page! I am so lame!), there’s a new Hawaiian restaurant in Wallingford, and it makes a beautiful spam musubi — my new favorite in Seattle! Hawaiian Breeze makes them perfectly-formed and plump, with a great balance between spam and rice, crispy, high-quality nori, and just a touch of sauce. Yummy! Their BBQ shortribs feature a very flavorful, savory-sweet glaze, and loco moco is just wonderful, if you’re a fan — dense, beefy patty and tasty gravy (though honestly, I do prefer my eggs more on the runny side). So quiet, though — I fret about their long-term prospects. So please! Go and eat, you’ll be happy. (oh, Miranda, you would so fall in love, I just know it!)

Ashamed to admit it, but Just sat through all of The Perfect Man. Yuck! Can’t anyone make a good romantic comedy anymore??

(and why am I doing this to myself instead of going to SIFF?)