A belated tribute to this most versatile actor, who frightened me with a revisit so long ago and like Laura Palmer, I would see again long after I settled down and stopped rooting for the protagonist of A Clockwork Orange.
土屋 嘉男 (薔薇の葬列)
March 3rd, 2025 § 0 comments § permalink
鳥山 明
March 7th, 2024 § 0 comments § permalink
The Folly of Men
October 14th, 2023 § 0 comments § permalink
The timing of Toho’s first new feature following シン (and their monsters-only shorts), the Apple series and another Legendary sequel next April would’ve spoiled 8-year-old me who’d go on to starve between Star Wars installments.
무교동 북어국집
July 23rd, 2023 § 0 comments § permalink
Along with Ichiran in Japan (I’ll never forget waiting in 35° heat at the Ikebukuro one across from the soapland, only to find an older machine inside that doesn’t take cards), our daily dining establishment on this past trip. And now all I’ve got are my Farmer Boys Cobb Salads whose Mountain Dew refills I’d gladly exchange.
生きる
March 16th, 2023 § 0 comments § permalink
I preferred how the characters in the original served their purpose and didn’t reappear, much less intermingle as archetypes, but despite these and other changes, how can I disparage Ishiguro’s reliable eloquence:
I wonder, Mr. Wakeling, if I may now turn to matters you may consider more personal. I have no wish to belittle our playground, but I put it to you that it was, all the same, a small thing. And that it will, before long, go the way of most small things. It may fall into disrepair, or be superseded by some grander scheme. To speak plainly, we cannot assume to have erected a lasting monument. Should there come days when it becomes no longer clear to you to what end you are directing your daily efforts, when the sheer grind of it all threatens to reduce you to the kind of state in which I so long existed, I urge you then to recall our little playground and the modest satisfaction that became our due upon its completion.
Ultraman
February 27th, 2023 § 0 comments § permalink
I liked both シン movies so far, and I’m looking forward to the 仮面ライダー one, even if it’s the franchise I remember the least. Speaking of the big man, I dreamed I was one of the M78 heroes last night—I tried to pick Ultraseven as my alter-ego, but he was taken—and we had to fight off a horde of alien bugs.
My next one was more grounded, the wife and I were walking with an Indian woman and her child through a field, who were lured away by a game of frisbee. The grass was damp (like our yard after all the rain), I could distinctly feel it under my bare feet, but I didn’t mind because my shoes or socks wouldn’t get wet.
松本零士
February 19th, 2023 § 0 comments § permalink
Mutant Ninjas
December 11th, 2022 § 0 comments § permalink
A single-lane road went around the back of the parking lot, but when I approached it to exit, two sedans were oncoming. The asphalt ahead of them was broken, though, resulting in an abrupt four-foot drop, which neither must’ve seen because the first fell head-long onto the lower ground then the one behind landed on top. It seemed like I stepped out to investigate. The driver of the buried car appeared: he (?) was a hunched humanoid, but his body was covered in a large drum-like steel shell and his head comprised of goggles for eyes and a screaming mouth. Another of its kind emerged from the wreckage and was just as angry. I left the monsters to themselves by promptly departing to their left in the original way out, glad that the dashcam had caught everything.


PlayStation2
September 25th, 2022 § 0 comments § permalink
I suppose it’s never too late to be taken by surprise. And honestly, even if I had known about the Atari Falcon at the turn of the millennium, I doubt it’d have broken my resolve outside CompUSA, nor lessened my subsequent experiences in Liberty and Vice Cities, among the many places that glorious black monolith took me. This chance historical revelation does, in fact, reinforce my long-held belief that their next iteration nose-dived and explains my disenchantment with console gaming, maybe a loss of faith in the Sony of old. (I say that as if I’m an Apple convert, but the PS3 still sits connected to the even older XBR LCD, which I refuse to update with dominant 재벌 brands and if we ever make it back to Japan, I’m definitely buying one of these.) You’re my only hope to feel again, GTA6!
エレキソルト
September 11th, 2022 § 0 comments § permalink
Reminder to look into this idea-realizing product next year.