I *heart* Japan! Part 2

Yes! Time for more Japan Pics!

The next day we took great tours of Kyoto and Nara, both old capitals of Japan. Tokyo was very modern so it was nice that we got to see more traditional buildings around town.

The countryside was beautiful.

At a stop some kids saw us and were so excited to see foreigners that they stopped and started waving at people on the bus. Like I said, Japan is full of nice and friendly people.

Getting closer to the temple.

On the way there we saw a very old gate. The tour guide said this is the oldest gate in Japan. It was made somewhere around 700 AD.

The entrance to Todaji temple was near a deer park and they let the deer roam around everywhere. There is a legend that when one of the deities came down at this place to help the people of Japan, he arrived riding a magical deer. When he returned to the spirit world he left the deer. The Japanese believed that these deer are actually descents of that very deer, and they can be found roaming freely around the park. It’s actually illegal to hurt any of these deer because of this.

You can buy cookies and feed them to the deer and if you do, be prepared. You will be quickly stormed and attacked. The deer will swarm you and bite until you have no choice but to drop the cookies and run. My wife learned this first hand.

Insanely massive wooden carved statue at the entrance gate. There is one at each end. This one represents the omega or the end.

Todaiji temple. The roof weighs over 2,000 tons.

Inside the temple is a HUGE Buddha. The second biggest statue in the world, just behind the even huger Jesus statue in South America. You can fit 47 people standing up just in the palm of his hand. Crazy.

The Buddha statue is surrounded by tall carved statues that guard Buddha from evil spirits.

Inside they had a model replica of the temple.

This hole is the size of one nostril on the Buddha statue. They say that if you can fit through it, then you were blessed to go to heaven. Guess if your an adult your screwed.

Later that day we went to the stone lantern park.

The park was made up of thousands of stone lanterns. Only a few nights a year do they light them all. Imagine all these centuries old lanterns lit up at once. Something to behold.

After the walk through the park you enter a Shinto Shrine.

Where they still have Shrine Maidens!

After another day in Kyoto we headed back to Tokyo. First day back we went to hippest place in Japan. Harajuku!

This was the place for shopping and fashion in Japan.

Even cooler at night. More crowded too.

Speaking of crowded, next we went to Shibuya, a district in Tokyo containing the busiest intersection in the world. The Shibuya 109 building has been in countless anime and games such as Death Note and the World Ends With You.

Still don’t believe me it’s the busiest? It pretty much looked like that at every light.

Shibuya had a club Sega!

And another Ultraman Ad! Holy crap I love this country!

Shibuya looked a lot like times square, but bigger, taller, and tons of cool and creative ads. That’s typically how shops are in Japan. One store might be on the 3F, but a completely different on the 6TH.

More big bright buildings in Shibuya. At this particular intersection they played video game music during your crosswalk. I think I heard Mario Bros. and Mega Man.

Sadly this ends part 2 of the tour of Japan.

Next time Tokyo Tower and Akihabara, the otaku mecca paradise for people who love anime, music, figures, and video games. Also see the king of monsters himself, Godzilla! You can’t miss it!

Russell’s Rant: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

Last week New Super Mario Bros. was finally released on the Wii. There has been many Mario games and spin offs in the past, but its been a very long time since a true sequel. Yeah, there was Super Mario DS over a year ago, but a it wasn’t a true flagship title. Not since the super Nintendo believe it or not has Mario returned to his 2d roots. What’s been bothering me about the game is how most mainstream video game “journalist” have been reviewing it.

Some sites like 1up gave it a perfect score, but most were all in the mid 80’s. They all praised the level design, fun factor, and the new multiplayer option, so why no 90+? The reviewers took points off for lack of originality and claimed Nintendo was playing it too safe. Well, ok, everyone has an right to their opinion.

Now, lets look at another recently released game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The game was critically acclaimed by all websites and magazines and no doubt will earn many awards. None seem to mention the obvious flaw, need I saw the same “flaw” that reviewers took of points for the new Super Mario. Let’s take a look. and its gaming past.

COD MW 2

COD 5 Word at War

Call of Duty 4

COD 3

COD 2

COD

Well do you see it? No way, could the newest Call of Duty be playing it safe too?? Crap man, they are even holding the guns the exact same way with the same camera angle. Actually, you could say gaming as a whole has been playing it safe. Lets see some screen shots of some other games that came out in the last few years that were all highly rated and sold fairly well.

Halo 3

Killzone 2

Borderlands

Fallout 3

Everyone has different taste, I understand that, but when you are a critic and you review things you have to try to set your personal biased aside. Obviously, this hasn’t been done lately. If New Super Mario can loose points for simply being more fun with just new 3d graphics, new costumes, new multiplayer, but guilty of not reinventing the wheel then all of these shooter games should be hold up to the same standard. In fact, these games should be more critically reviewed. There has been a new Call of Duty game for every year in the last six years. New Super Mario , in 2d not the spin-offs, has just now reached six games in its left time with Mario Bros, MB 2, MB 3, Super Mario world, New Super Mario Bros. DS, and now Super Mario Wii. They always say yeah “generic FPS” doesn’t do anything new, but you will have so much fun online you can look past it! 9.5! Super Mario Wii added for the first time ever multiplayer. Yeah, you can’t go online, but last time I recall you could call your friend up and have him cover and you can play the game together, in the same room even! COD MW2 added nothing new. In fact the single player game is two hours shorter, but that doesn’t stop them from singing its praises on top of rooftops. COD MW 2 is a fun game and I will probably will end up getting it like I did most of the games above. Truth is maybe reviewer “A” just doesn’t like the genre of “B enough” to be able to look past certain problems as game “C.” Although I look forward to Mario Galaxy 2, New Super Mario Wii should be applauded for going back to its roots, before gamers became jaded with A.D.D., and not criticized for it.

I *heart* Japan part 1

Weeks ago I got married and went on a trip of a lifetime. Going to Japan was always a dream of mine and one I never thought I could reach. The Grace of God made it possible and it was more than expected. I feel so grateful and every day still in awe. I want to share it so maybe for the people who may never get the chance I did can get at taste of such wonderful and crazy cool place.

You know you see lots of people in America wearing shirts with cool fish, dragons, and Asian Characters? Yeah will they do that in Japan too just the other way around. It was like anyone who was under the age of 40 wore a shirt with some English on it. It was cool to see our language is so popular or “hip” over there.

Our first night we freaked out and had no idea where to go to eat. We found this cool take out Bento Box place that had pictures to help you order. At the time we didn’t know that 80% of the places had pictures to help people like us order. The Bento Box was delicious!

That night I almost freaked out. They had Ultraman Advertise Honda in a commercial! I knew at that moment I was where I belong.

Huge Vending machines were everywhere with tons of options from Soda, Tea, energy drinks, and even coffee. Some even had Dr. Pepper! New York City didn’t have Dr. Pepper. Tokyo 1, NYC 0

Tommy Lee Jones was on ads everywhere for Boss Coffee. Never have been a bigger fan for the Texan actor.

The first full day in Japan we took a tour trip to see Mt. Fuji and Hakone. During the bus ride the guide told us funny stories and taught us a lot. Here she is explaining the Kanji character for Sake.

Many great sites to look at during the ride.

Then we went up Mt. Fuji. Notice how long and tall it is. No matter if you are in Tokyo or Kyoto you can see it in the background.

View of the lake from atop of Mt. Fuji.

Village near the top of Mt. Fuji

Shinto Shrine in the village.

If you have a prayer request or wish for the priests to make for you simply write it down on these wood tags and tie them to this wall.

You can also get your fortune read. If you get a bad one, make sure you tie them to these ropes. The priests will pray for you and try to get rid of your bad luck.

Side of Hakone mountain. Since Hakone is actually a volcano they drill holes on to let out the hot air.

We took a rope way down the side of Hakone. Needless to say, beautiful.

At the bottom of Hakone you could take a boat ride around the lake. On a freaking Pirate ship! So we did.

Breathtaking views from the ship.

Huge gate at the city port where the ship was docking. Very cool.

Next day we were in Kyoto and went to Nijo castle. Nijo castle was the capital castle back when Kyoto was the country’s capital. Above notice the fantastic plates? There actually a very creative way to hide the nails used to build the structure. Sadly, taking pictures inside was forbidden, but hopefully you can still see the beauty.

Then we saw the Buddhist temple the Golden Pavilion. Made out of real gold.

Zen Garden at the Golden Pavilion.

Detail roof tops.

Bunch of School children at Nijo Castle. Notice the cool uniforms.

A mountain view from a street in Kyoto. Kyoto had a perfect mix of old and new. That’s the fire mountain. Once a year during the fire festival they burn that image on the side of the mountain in celebration and tradition of the old ways of Japan.

It didn’t long at all for us to see Japan is full of nice and funny people. A truly one of a kind place.

Wew. Part 1 finished. Next time one of the hippest places on earth Harajuku, the busiest intersection on earth, and some of the biggest statues you will ever see! Sayonara!

Where the Wild Things Are Review

Where the Wild Things Are is a live action adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s book. The book not being very long no doubt gave director Spike Jonze a lot liberties on the direction the film could go, but he has to tackle the difficult task of how far to take it. Does he go deep and maybe a little dark and stay true to the creator’s vision and risk losing people or head for a lighter tone and a formula sure to be huge family favorite? Give Spike Jonze a lot of credit because he sure didn’t go the safe route.

Max is an energetic restless young boy who already has his fair share of problems. Max is misunderstood and feels his broken family is moving farther away from him. The night his mom brings home a date, Max dresses up like a wolf and misbehaves and bites his Mom out of anger. His Mom scolds him, causing Max to run away from home. Max finds a boat and sails away somehow, landing on a strange island with giant scary creatures. To avoid being eaten Max convinces the creatures that he is actually king from a far away land with mystical powers not to be messed with. The creatures accept him and slowly become good friends living everyday just to have fun.

Where the Wild Things Are very easily could have “movie by the numbers” with great special effects. It would have been more successful and created tons of fans. Instead, the movie tries very hard to dig deeper to the true meaning of the book. The movie looks at how scary the world must look at for child who just learns at school that one day the Sun might be gone. Max is dealing with his innocence and impulsiveness with reality. More importantly, his anger and insecurity. Now like the book, you could say the creatures are different parts of his personality, but to me the creatures all represent things or people in his life. The creature Carol is basically Max. His Mom is K.W. If you pay close attention all the events on the island are the events prior to him arriving. Carol just wants K.W. affection and attention, but she seems to care more about the owls Bob and Terry, who represent his Mom’s boyfriend. When K.W. brings Bob and Terry to their newly built fort, Carol throws a violent fit only earning K.W.’s distrust and fear. Max wants to control of everything and keep everything the same, but he can’t be the king of his emotions. There is no such king.

There is always a flip side of taking a risk. The movie is very psychological in a sense that the raw emotions will leave children confused on why the creatures are fighting among themselves and some might even find the monsters too scary and intense. The story pace will make some viewers feel like its moving to0 slow and wonder whats the point of it all. The best way I can describe the explanations in Where the Wild Things Are is that everything is introverted. When Max returns home and greets his Mother, she welcomes him home in open arms but never really says a word to him. Emotions come across and Max understands that he is loved and accepted, but with little dialogue it will leave most people thinking to themselves, that’s it?

Where the Wild Things Are is a ground breaking film in understanding the pain and confusion of youth. Some may find it very depressing and pointless, which is understandable, however, there is a great and powerful message underneath. The movie peels back the dangers of insecurity and anger and the maturity it takes to conquer them. The film could have used more mass appeal, but the film worked for what it was trying to do. It might not be for you, but then you can’t sit back and complain when Transformers 7, X-men 10, and Saw 23 come out and wonder gee I wonder why Hollywood can’t make anything original and full of passion once in a while. Where the Wild Things Are will get overlooked, but I recommend you give it a try, you might hate it, or you might find your own reasons for thinking its genius.

4 STARS

Back to reality

I’m back from my mecca, Japan and forced to get back to the daily grind of reality. We took well over 1,000 pics and in the process to narrowing them down for the impatient. Once thats down, be sure to look at for some of my favorites in future posts.

Anyway back to movies! This would be a good time then to post some upcoming movies that you should get exicted about.

 

and then a trailer for a movie that is a must see that is out right now. Expect full a review soon.

Living the dream.

For about the next two weeks I won’t have any updates or reviews because I am finally getting to accomplish a life long dream. I’m going to the land of the rising sun, Japan!

We are taking a week’s trip and not only will I get to see the craziness and creativeness of the city of Tokyo, but we get to take a three day tour to see places all around the main island Honshu. I get to see the old capital of Kyoto and even the majestic Mt. Fuji!

I never thought I would actually ever get to go, but life has been good to me, and God even better so I can finally make this happen. To top it off I get to go for my honeymoon with my lovely wife. When I get back, I will back in full force for reviews, but don’t be shocked to see posts of the many beautiful places and nice people I see on the way.

We will be in Otaku Heaven!

Inglourious Basterds Review

Quentin Tarantino has made some of the coolest movies in the last 17 years . He has an instantly recognizable style and broke much ground that has been only imitated since. The thought that Tarantio newest is a world war II epic is enough to get any fan excited at the possibilities where only he can take it. Inglourious Bastards is absolutely a WWII movie like you have never or really ever see, but will it reach the same cult classic status?

In Nazi occupied France, Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) has assembled a team of young American Jews hungry for revenge. Calling themselves the Inglourious Basterds (yes its suppose to be misspelled like that), their only mission is cause as much hell as they can and strike up so much fear from the Nazi’s that they will loose the will to fight by the time America enters the war using any means necessary. The Basterds are free from any laws or rules and not only try to kill every Nazi they can, but in such ways the German people will look at them as monsters or savages. Lt. Aldo wouldn’t want it any other way. When the Basterds get word that in Paris the Germans are going to throw a big premiere party celebrating the release of the Nazi propaganda film “Nation’s Pride” with not only Hitler’s right hand men, but maybe with a chance of the Fuhrer himself attending, go undercover to destroy them all at once and hopefully end the war.

Inglourious Bastereds gets very brutal sometimes and the Bastards do it with a smile. They do try to kill Nazis in horrible ways, but in this movie that’s part of the fun. For obvious reasons when the Jews commit these acts, you find yourself cheering and feel little remorse. Part of feeling this way is the opening chapter. The movie begins with a Jewish family hiding at a farm with an Italian family to avoid capture from the new S.S. Jew hunter Hans Landa only to be betrayed and slaughtered. From this point on you can only feel like the Nazis are only getting what they deserve. Tarantino knows this and takes full advantage. The Inglourious Bastard team are all unique and funny. Especially Brad Pitt’s LT. Aldo Raine. He delivers all the lines flawlessly and enjoyable. You will spend more than half the movie just waiting to see what he does or say next. Aldo Raine is one of the coolest characters on film. However, this is also the reason why the movie sags in the middle.

As it turns out that one of the girls from the Jewish family that was killed in Chapter one managed to escape. She starts a new life in Paris in chapter 3 opening up a movie theater and gets courted by a German war hero and in order to win her affection tries to move the premiere of his new movie to her theater to help business. Seeing a chance to get revenge she conceives her own plot to blow up the theater and getting her own revenge, only the same man that killed her family stands in her way. This is an ok side story, but it takes up about half the movie parallel to the Basterds storyline. The two merge together, but with the other story being so engrossing you just wish you could fast forward and get back to Aldo. Only by the fantastic acting and dialogue of actor Christoph Walts’s portraying the Jew hunter Hans Landa saves these chapters from being a waste of time. What Pitt does to bring out Aldo’s character, Walt’s matches with the the demented and cunning Landa. The movie is worth seeing just for these two performances alone.

Inglourious Basterds is a great ride and has all the dialogue,music, and jolts that all Tarantino movies have. It isn’t as fantastic from start to finish as the others, but there is enough surprises, including something that wasn’t in the history books, at the end to be considered great. The movie does dip, if you can call it a dip, enough to keep it from being perfect, but not enough for fans to care. You have never seen WWII like this, so check it out.

4 STARS

PowerKids trailer

The master behind ong-bak and chocolate has recently released a new film. I known he always had a nack for finding great young talent, but this is pretty surprising. His new film showcases the talents of five really really young action stars. I will be shocked if this comes over state side with all the child labor laws. Sure, there was three ninja’s kick back movies, but that was obviously fake kung fu, not real action fighting like theses kids. Still pretty amazing stuff kids or not.

Nana Review

Nana is a live action adaptation of a popular manga, anime series of the same name. I have never seen or read any of it, and the little knowledge I have of Nana was really only what I remembered from when my fiance talked about it. Its a foreign romantic story, yes, so if you have low tolerance on character drama or “love stories” this could mean to some people will automatically write Nana off, but to these people I say grow up, and try to expand your horizons a little. Now thats out of the way on to the movie.

Nana is ironic story of two girls from very different worlds, but with the same name and some deeper things very much in common, meet by chance on a train. Some time later when one Nana decides to look for an apartment in Tokyo to be closer to her boyfriend she once again bumps into the other Nana looking at the very same apartment. Recalling how well they got along at that chance meeting on the train and how they both are need of a room mate they decide to move in together. Although the two girls couldn’t look or act more opposite, they find similarities in their lives, grow closer, and become a much needed support in crisis. They help improve each other and make them see that their love life needs a second look.

All of this might sound too girly, but the movie never crosses that line so even the average guy should like this film. The problems of both girls look very real and well done that you care and feel their ups and downs. All of the emotions have real weight to them. Not only this, but the outcome you can never be sure about. It’s been a long time since I have seen a romantic movie were you don’t have a check list of what happens next and how they all end up.

On top of the great love stories, you have a great message about humanity in general. Both Nana’s are totally different, yet the same. They both have insecurities, passions, and desires. Through the bridge of music they find something to build a friendship on. If people could be nice to each other and try to find things to relate to life would be much easier. You can’t judge a person by looks or how they act alone. Look deeper at that person that you might have thought was weird or different to you could end up being a better friend to you than the ones you have now.

I can’t say how well Nana adapted the source material to film, but as movie it accomplishes a lot. The acting, the direction, and emotions are top grade. Nana is another movie in a long line that mainstream Hollywood should check out on how to make simply good drama. So should you.

4.5 STARS

District 9 Review

District 9 is a very hyped and stylish marketed Sci-Fi thriller. Much like the movie Cloverfield, the movie had a crazy good viral marketing and with a low budget hopes word of mouth will carry it to huge success. After seeing the film, District 9 will no doubt be a big hit and receive many fans, but does the movie itself really earn any of it?

The movie starts much different than you expect. The history of District 9 is told in the style of a documentary with many interviews filling you in some big secret. This technique was a very good choice as it brought realism to the film, and makes you feel these events are really happening in our world today. Then the film goes back and forth from like you are watching a news show to an episode of COPS. Wikus Van DE Merwe is the smarmy agent who is assigned the difficult task of relocating the aliens, or illegal immigrants, away to a new district farther away and out of sight for mass public. The aliens have become a nuisance to the people and must be evicted. Wikus and his men mock and ridicule the aliens, who are racially called Prawns, almost enjoy torturing the Aliens out of house and home.

During one home eviction Wikus stumbles on some strange fluid and accidentally sprays himself which painfully and slowly starts turning him into the hated Prawn. Being one of them, he finally sees the injustices and crimes the aliens have been victim of. With the help of alien oddly named Christopher Johnson and his son try find this strange liquid that will not only turn him human again, but it also works as fuel to the alien’s spaceship.

The enjoyment of District 9 are based on two things, action and the supposedly deep political message. It try’s to be different and original, but under the interesting premise, its all been done before. The government is really behind everything bad is nothing new. A war crazy solider check. Corrupted political leader check. When critics and the buzz around it was great because of twist and turns, those turns better not be predictable. The twists would only seem surprising to people whose main exposure to Sci-Fi is Halo. Not to mention that the message it tries to send is complete victimization. In one interview in the first part of the film they complain that the prawns commit crimes and just run to humans and steal their cell phones for just no good reason. Later, when Wikus is running from the cops he runs up to a person and steals their cell phone. In a nut shell the movie was trying to say that all crime, acts of theft, or violence are just a product of the environment and the government or the man is the real reason for crimes. I’m sure this might be the case for very few , but for someone who has been around that crowd and being with someone who rose above all that crap find that to be just a simple denial of truth and lack of responsibility for their actions. If you happen to be a person who believes in this you will likely eat this film up. The action does live up to the hype. The weapons are somewhat creative and all pack a punch. The giant robot suit at the end of the film is realistically done and beat any action in Transformers 2. District 9 should get credit for creating the most humanity in the aliens Chris Johnson and his son since E.T.

District 9 will no doubt gain tons of followers from the action alone, but its not enough to elevate it to the masterpiece others have been calling it. For a movie that is trying to be deep and mature it sure does have immature and shallow way to look at poverty and crime. The movie is well done and has great special effects, but its benefiting a lot from its marketing tactics and the idea of what the movie is going to be when you go in the theater to what the movie really is.

3 STARS