No Taste in Movies for Old Men

A friend of mine emailed me today complaining that there have been no blog posts in a few weeks. Truth be told, tight money and a fairly routine life haven't been sparking the desire to write about Japan. However, being a self proclaimed expert on movies (Movie Snob) I thought I would write a short diatribe about this years oscars.

No Country for Old Men?
Did anyone seriously like this bag of dog shit? The movie was semi entertaining for 2 hours, but seemed to end without an actually ending. It was like driving to Manitoba. Javier Bardem can be commended on his performance (though not better than Tom Wilkinsons), but I think best picture and especially best director is going a bit too far. The Cohen bros did nothing to get me interested in this story, or make me care about any of the characters. As far as Im concerned they got owned by rookie Sarah Polley who wasn't even nominated. She got as much out of Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsett ( I mean seriously, Gordon Pinsett for god sakes) as I have seen any Director get out of his/her actors.

Best Actor
There will be Blood was not Daniel Day Lewis's best performance ever. This catagory could have gone just about any which way, the most notable oversight being Tommy Lee Jones for Valley of Elah. (I'll get more into that later). It seems to me the oscars take a lot of weird shit into consideration when deciding who gets the oscars. It's almost as though they want to project the appearance of being unbaissed instead of actually awarding people for individual work. Javier Bardem and Marion Collitard being a good example. They want the oscars to seem american but not too American. Daniel Day Lewis should have won for Gangs of New York a few years back. That year it went to Denzel Washington for Training Day. Denzel should have got it the year before for the Hurricane. My point is that this show would be a lot more interesting, and respectable if they would just hand out the awards based on individual performances, not previous bodies of work or Politics.

Tilda Swinton
This is about the only oscar that went right. Swinton has had a solid career. She did a good job in Michael Clayton playing a Company Exec, trying so hard to do a good job that finds herself ordering certain people murdered. Her role was layered and intense. The extra pudge she put on worked well and show what a good actor can do when dedicated to her craft.

The Big F***ing glaring oversight
I think the best, if not most important movie of the year got 1 nomination and no wins. Paul Haggis's In the Valley of Elah. How this movie could be so ignored is not really a mystery to me. It tells the story by way of murder mystery of the mental condition American Troops are returning home from Iraq in. It is truthful, brilliantly written, complex and human. It occurs to me that Americans may not be ready to examine the Iraq war yet, as it still going on. Which is unfortunate because the time to think about these things is now. But I supposed Oliver Stone had to wait 12 years before he could make Platoon.

Wow, that felt good. Maybe tomorrow I'll write something about Barrack and Hilary.

Hasagawa-san's plan

On Saturday, there will be no class at the Ohtomi community center. Instead, the class and I will be attending the funeral services for one of it's members, Yuzo Hasagawa. (Seen here in the pink sweater and blue bow tie. The pic is from Halloween and it's only one I have of him unfortunately). He was a smart man with a rich knowledge of history. His English level was quite high, enough to have been an English professor at the University level at one time.

Hasagawa-san had mentioned a few times that his health was not good. It was only a few weeks ago that I learned how serious his situation was. By then he was not well enough to go to class. I would not have the chance to speak with him again. However, the thing about Hawagawa-san is this. He began attending the ohtomi group about the time I started teaching it. And with almost no exceptions, he attended every class until he could not attend class any longer.

I'm pretty sure that if I ever was to learn that the end of me was nigh, my plan for my final weeks on earth would involve a lot of .... well something.

Hasagawa-san's plan was to work on his English. It may be the greatest compliment I could pay to him, or anyone, that he wanted to keep bettering himself, keep learning until the very end. Maybe he just understood the difference between what you can take with you and what you can't. To me, this is an example of the finest human character.

Avalanche

Thats me and Chinatsu. I am wearing the toque they bought me for my bday. I happened to mention that they should wish Ikkie a happy bday for me. His is a few days after mine. This week I was presented with a gift from the family, Ikkie, Chinatsu and Riintaro as well as their Mom, Kumiko. It's like every single tiny nice thing I do around here is repaid to me 1o times over. I got the toque, mittens and a neck warmer as well as a bunch of tea and snacks. It's always been easy for me to remember Bdays that are close to mine. Everyone does it right. Orlando Bloom, Patrick Dempsey, Robert Stack, Micheal Pena. All the same day. Ikkie is on the 17th. I even remember the Bdays of people I haven't seen since junior high if theirs are a few days within mine. Its just how my head is wired.

They were even planning a party for me until I asked them not to. Sometimes it's like being buried under an avalanche of kindness. I don't know if I'll ever be able to say thanks to all the people who have been good to me here, not the way they deserve anyways.

Anyways, on to real disasters.

Heath Ledger died today. I must admit I was pretty shocked. I've been looking forward to the next Batman movie for a while now. The Joker is one of his last roles. They say is was sleeping pills probably mixed with something else. But they don't say suicide. Alive alive alive, your dead. Unreal. I guess it's true what they say, whatever time you have is luck. And so many people take their time for granted, even me.

Also for a certain cousin of mine who I understand is having a bad day of her own. Not gunna mention names or situations. You know who you are and should know I hope you get through this OK. Hugs from the Rooman Empire her in Japan.

Everyone in Vancouver will be happy to know the weather here has been a bag of shit past few days. Even if I wasn't sick I wouldn't be riding in this.

Mata.

Friday funday

Screw it, I'm taking the night off. Even tho I've only trained twice this week, I need a short break. I'm not sure if I've been fighting a cold or if its all the kerosene I've been breathing in, but I have a sore throat and have decided to chill out this evening. If it is a cold it's prolly best I hide in my apartment anyways. No sense in making it worse. I even treated myself to some 'unlucky fried kittens' for dinner. Say it ten times fast, you'll figure out where I ate. And now I'm in my jammies with a nice little pot of green tea and the electric heater going (cause I don't trust the big one) getting settled for a nice night at home.

Another reason to take the day off is that I start 2 new classes tomorrow morning. The good thing is that I game here to try and help build the school. This is the first break we have had in the area since I got here. The 2 classes were being taught by a guy from Aus, but he had to bolt home for some reason. So they called the guys at Ohtomi and some one told them about me. Guess that's it cause tomorrow I take over. I hope I'm not reporting this too early. They could always decide I'm a jerk or just generally useless and go find someone else. So if I suck I will have to admit it to everyone on this blog in a later post. sigh. The real scary part is that I have to be awake at 7:30 am on Saturdays from now on. And I have to miss Saturday morning training. This english teaching shit is starting to look a lot like work. Ha! listen to me whine. When I'm over whatever this is, I'm really gunna have to hustle with my training.

Here's a couple of pics from Japan for those of you who don't like reading. This is the Dojo.
And this is me and Maruyama san out a few weeks ago.


English classes are back in full swing. I had my first class with the Amaya kids in over a month. It went better than I thought it would . The kids actually buckled down and did some work. Robyn was right about them. They know more english than they let on. Sneaky buggers.

Nuthin much else to report. Back to being lazy for me. TTYL.

34

It's been hard to know what to write about lately. To be honest, the holidays here were a bit of a roller coaster for me. Lots of ups and downs. A friend of mine tells me that Japan has layers and layers and the longer you stay here the more layers you go through. Some are interesting and other can really throw you off your game. I don't think I am ready yet to talk about some of the more difficult experiences I have had here. I am still correlating data as they say. Trying to make sense out of and find the best way to deal with my surroundings.

The english school has had some good news and some bad. In the bad, one of my students from a small group I teach has decided to stop going. Sensei and I discussed that matter and decided to offer them a reduced rate until they could find a 3rd body to fill the seat. It was sad to see, but understandable. There are a lot of available english teachers in Japan right now as well as a recession in the economy here. Sensei asked if I wanted to continue with the class and I said of course, that we are in this together. But I can't shake the feeling that all this is hanging by a string. But the good news is we do have a new class for a few months. A pair of teenage boys who will be travelling to Vancouver for a week are taking 3 months of lessons until they go. So something positive.

I spent new years in Shizouka. I had a good time. After midnight we moved to a Latino dance club. I watched Japanese Salsa on new years morning. It was beautiful.

I had a birthday on Sunday. I ended up being treated to dinner at Yakko by Ozawa Sensei and a friend of his. Bruce from Ottawa was there also. A very nice guy who has been friends with other english teachers here in the past. It was a very nice time. We ate and drank and talked for about 4 hours.

All is well here now. Being back into Karate helps me keep my focus on why I am here. I'll be busy with classes the next few days. Otherwise there isnt much to write about. Hopefull I can hook up with Kaoru soon for another epic style ride in Japan.

Only about 4 more months left to go here. Time is running out.

Happy Christmas

I just wanted to share this post for those of you who may not otherwise see it.

Just spreading the good word.

Winding Down

Merry Christmas Vancouver, and Happy New Year.

The year is winding down. Japan doesn't like to cut loose at this time of year like we do. Monday is a holiday here, and I'll be training Karate in the Dojo xmas evening. Last class for me for the year as I am teaching Wednesday and Thursday. Friday is going to be clean up day and then we are done until the 7th. So it's going to be quiet here for me at least. I can't say I won't miss Christmas with the Fam and New Years with the friends, but I knew this come when I signed on for the trip. I hope everyone at home has a safe and happy holiday.

This is me. You knew that. This is me and the Dojo's 2 newest Shodans. Koshi and Riintaro.
I took this picture tonight of the night sky outside my apartment. Its just the moon and some power cables but I thought the lighting looked kinda cool, so there you go.
This picture was taken at Shirotoriyama (White bird Mountain) on the border of the Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefecture. Yes, thats me, my bike and Fuji in the background. IMHO, the picture of the trip so far, maybe my arctic fox.
Fun time for now. '08 is near then its back to work. Take care Vancouver.