Some Movies

Greetings internet. I have not posted in a bit because nothing really happens that is of interest. I did watch a few movies lately, though, so I will share my thoughts on them.

Avatar - If you are alive you have probably heard that the special effects are amazing but the story is not very good. I just want to reiterate that the story is essentially just cliches linked together and I was falling asleep after about the first twenty minutes. None of the characters is interesting in the slightest (don't let reviewers fool you into thinking otherwise about the typical hardass scientist played by Ripley herself), the premise is the kind of ludicrous tripe that gives science fiction a bad name, and even the supposedly vibrant world that Cameron has imagined is fairly dull. Making things glow does not amount to imagination, and it's actually really stupid because there's no reason whatsoever for all these organisms to evolve neon lights. I'd also like to say that the already obvious allegory for Native Americans is pounded into your head over and over again and is actually insulting. Io9 had a good article about how it is a white guilt fantasy. Anyway, I'm done complaining about this movie. Except that the 3D glasses hurt my head. Now I'm done.

The Hurt Locker - The critics really hyped this, and they are right. It is awesome. It's surprisingly funny in a very dark way. Anyway, you should see it.

Sherlock Holmes - Pretty dang good. Robert Downey, Jr. plays himself or Iron Man in old timey clothes, but who doesn't like that? Jude Law actually manages to seem like he's having fun for once instead of being so upset about having to act. The story is fun, with enough mystery to keep you interested between absurd fight scenes. I'm looking forward to a sequel, anyway.

Alright, that's it, go home.

Japan Trip

I had previously posted that I would post later about my trip to Japan, but I haven't felt like doing that lately. It was a lot of fun, but I don't know how interesting it would be to anyone else. I don't have any pictures to go along with it because I didn't have a camera. But here are some things I did.

-Visited my 第に故郷 or second hometown. It was pretty nice to see some people again and surprise the folks at the BOE. I spent basically a whole day at a kindergarten that asked me to come as soon as they heard I was there, playing with little kids.

-Spent about a day and a half playing with the nephews/niece of the friend of Mie, who was also visiting Japan with her American husband. The friend was. Mie isn't married. I guess that was confusing, and I guess I also rock with little kids. We built a snowman even though there was only about an inch of snow on the ground. Japanese snowmen are made of only two snowballs instead of three.

-Visited Osaka castle, which was sort of funny in that I'd been there twice and neither of the Japanese people in our group had ever been there. It's a pretty decent castle with a museum in time.

-Ate some awesome okonomiyaki in Osaka.

-Ate some Osaka style ikayaki, which is cooked (grilled?) squid. I don't know if it's actually Osaka style, or if that's a thing, but that's what it said, and it was different from normal ikayaki.

-Ate kitakyuushuu style ramen in Fukuoka at a place called Ramen Stadium.

-Ate yakiramen, a Hakata specialty, from a street vendor in Fukuoka, in the same night.

-Stayed in an awesome ryokan with an onsen for a couple days.

-Nomihoudai!

-All around awesomeness.

That's about it for now.

Baby Got Back

I just got back from Japan and I already miss it, especially the Mie part of it. More updates when it isn't like two in the morning.