I just watched Sky Blue tonight at the Belcourt Theater here in Nashville and despite its so-so plot and storytelling, it was worth watching. I wanted to see what a high-budget Korean anime would be like. Read a synopsis of it here. I think the CGI team wanted to show off its skills [...]

Why does the Japanese Ministry of Education stupidly continue to approve for use purposefully provocative school textbooks? Yet again, in full knowledge of whitewashing Japanese aggression against China and Korea in WWII and downplaying war atrocities, authors have written and the Ministry of “Education” has approved textbooks that piss off Chinese and Koreans. And me [...]

No, not the New York Yankees (for whom the title here would be: “Yankees Go to Hell”), but rather the U.S. Marines (20,000 +) stationed in Okinawa. Their concentrated presence there has been an issue since the end of WWII, and Okinawans have protested against their presence with varying degrees of intensity over the years. [...]

What makes someone “good” or “bad”? Are these even legitimate labels, even if only applied situationally? The Palme d’Or-winning film I dissed yesterday, The Eel, made me think about this. We can start our inquiry by noting that nearly everyone would agree that murder is bad and the person who did it is thus bad [...]

An uneven film, to the point that I was disappointed. I like Imamura Shohei films very much, but The Eel didn’t live up to expectations. What I didn’t like: Imamura’s now-cliché touches of surrealism, the near-slapstick fight scene in the barbershop (which reminded me with the final dinner table explosion in Family Game), the somewhat [...]

One down, ninety-nine to go. I figure the Cubs will have to win 100 games to win the National League Central Division, so ripping the Diamondbacks 16-6 in their opener is a good start. I just hope their bats still have some hits left in them for the rest of the week. Tomorrow is the [...]

Reflect long enough and you can fly.

I picked up this Kannon (Bodhisattva of Mercy) at Home Depot for $40. Ruth doesn’t like it, but Safa and I do. Regardless of looks, it’s good feng shui. Plus mercy can be a valuable thing to have around the house. The tree next to it is also good feng shui–it’s a small Japanese maple [...]