2006 - A Good Year

My grandmother passed away in November. I couldn’t be with her in the Philippines but most of her children and many of her grandchildren were there and so I hope she died peacefully knowing that she was truly loved and blessed with a large and decent family.

That’s what I’ll remember the most about 2006. It was the year my nanay finally left us. It was a deeply sad time and memory but I think 2006 will still be chalked up as a good year for me.

Did I lose any friends this year? No. So it was a good year.
Did I gain at least one new friend this year? Yes. So it was a good year.
Is my family healthy and supportive of one another? Yes. So it was a good year.
How many days did I go without a roof over my head or food to eat? Zero. So it was a good year. Even with my endless stream of worrying and stressing, I’m still here. So it was a good year.

Did the Yankees win the World Series? No. But there’s always next year.

I don’t look too far forward into the new year or make promises or resolutions to keep. If I could check off each of the items in the list above at the end of 2007 then it will be at the very least a good year again. Everything else will be gravy.

Happy New Year everyone. Stay with it. Stay clean. Stay alive.
R.P.F. -2006 The End-

Tis The Season To Be Stuffed And Inert

Well what can I say? Merry Christmas everyone! I hope people have been enjoying whatever time off they have managed to get from work or school or both.

What was so important about December 25th? Yes, yes, Jesus was born. Let's get past that can we? Besides the man known as J-Christ probably doesn't want to be reminded that he's pushing 2010 years old now does he?

Well exactly one month from this past Christmas, I'll be sitting amongst a bunch of cardboard boxes I probably won't begin unpacking for another month in my new condo apartment. And suddenly I'm getting all sentimental about my current home (except the guy next door just went on his balcony again to talk about "Dude" this and "Dude" that while smoking a toke, or is it toke a smoke?).

So aside from fretting about the new place, the hoidays haven't been very eventful. I've eaten probably the rough equivalent of a cow in various meat products (and I assure you my stomach is sending me a fine thank-you very much for doing so) and have been pretty much sedantary etching out an imprint of my bottom on my sisters' sofa watching various shows and movies.
I managed to get ahold of the first 6 episodes of Amazing Race Asia and we went through them like a box of Ferrero Rocher.

I would like to thank Ab again for turning my attention to a television show. Actually Ab also got me onto the whole damn Japanese TV show kick about two years ago with...uh...Sailor Moon Live Action. So I may not listen to his suggestions anymore else I take root in front of the TV. Anyway, 6 shows in and I'm already resisting the urge to yell "FIXED" at the TV as my favourite teams drop out in swift order. One thing I have to say is that, in comparison to it's American counterpart, the teams are extremely polite often to a fault (and there have been too many jumping from huge heights tasks). But we'll see if the urgency of competition starts to drive the "mean" factor up a bit.

Other than that, I've managed to catch up with some holiday movie viewing. Casino Royale was great fun though I had trouble with the way Daniel Craig walked as if he were trying to hold a melon between his thighs. If you were a fan of Rocky and hated how that movie's characters were strip-mined in subsequent sequels then please go see Rocky Balboa. It's a fine bookend movie. Yes it's syrupy like Aunt Jemima but so was the first film if you think about it, and y'know, sometimes I like to eat pancakes and you need syrup! I also saw Blood Diamonds. Meh. Dicaprio was better in The Departed.

Well, back to work (and working out) tomorrow. Let the winter blahs begin! See ya around or before 2007!

R.

(J-drama watch: Just finished Sapuri with Misaki Itoh. Now starting 14 Sai No Haha-14 Year Old Mother. Current anime: Magical Girl Nohana Lyrical...yeah no idea what that means either)

Kimura Kimura Kimura Kimura Cham-eee-leon...

At one point 75 percent of people polled in Japan wanted to sleep with this man to the left. That’s women and men polled (Japanese kink is another subject for another day). North America has Brad Pitt, Japan has Takuya Kimura. Actually, many posts have described him as Japan’s Kevin Bacon, and with all due respect to Mr.Footloose, that’s not exactly a compliment. Sure it might be sour graping on some people’s parts towards someone who has been arguably Japan’s biggest star the last 10 years. It stems from the fact that the man has rode a wave of success of a series of television dramas that all have the same story. Now, it’s true that he has played characters who have as many different occupations as a chameleon on a rainbow tie-dyed t-shirt would have colours. He’s been a pianist (Long Vacation), race car driver (Engine), airline co-pilot (Good Luck), public defendant (Hero), and hockey player (Pride) to name a few. Pretty interesting resume, huh? But the basic premise is always the same: Kimura plays a (insert occupation here) who is a cool loner, overly-skilled but lacking in direction who finds guidance in the most unlikely places to be the best gosh darn (insert occupation here) there ever was (at least in Japan). There’s always a love interest, a girl who at first rejects him due to his unruly, abnormal behaviour, but eventually falls under his spell (get with it girl! 3 out of every 4 people want to go to bed with the guy!). It’s formulaic. It’s melodramatic. It works. For ten years it has worked.
When Long Vacation came out in 1996, 1 in every 3 televisions in Japan was tuned to this show each week. Kimura was set for life after that and why fight it? Each of his successive shows had a 20% or better average rating a surpassing 30%. A 20% rating in North America ensures top 10 status. Kimura could be playing a mailman. But as long as he played a cool, rogue mailman who struggles hard to become the best darn mailman he could be (and bed the lead actress), the Japanese viewers will gobble it up.

And I do have to say, for the most part, his shows are pretty entertaining. Long Vacation is now considered a modern classic and it is truly a perfect cocktail of romance, melodrama, humour, and sexiness all wrapped up in a slick production with an amazing soundtrack (which also went on to break records itself in the land of the rising sun). Having the feisty-sexy and superlative actress Yamaguchi Tomoko as the love interest who turns Kimura’s placid character’s life topsy turvy certainly boosted the show’s value. It’s probably the one show of all the Japanese dramas I’ve watched thus far that could easily cross over into mainstream North American television and be a resounding hit (With Orange Days and Last Christmas tailing closely).
Kimura followed that up with Love Generation (still haven’t seen that one) which apparently was even a bigger hit and then began his succession of everyman working hero dramas.
The only one of those I didn’t quite buy though was the one with him playing Mr.Hockey in Pride.

There are several prolific younger actors coming up in the ranks looking to take over the j-idol crown from the man they call Taki…Kazuya Kamenashi (Suppli; Nobuta Wo Produce) and Matsumoto Jun (Gokusen; Kimi Wa Petto) seem to do a series in each of Japan’s 4 television seasons…but it’ll probably be a while before they earn the achievement of being the one actor men would leave their wives for (at least for one night).

A quick round up of some works by Takuya Kimura:
Long Vacation: A+; A classic romantic drama-comedy; Kimura is appropriately solitary in nature and the excellent supporting cast all do their best to crack his shell
Engine: B; Feel good (adopted) family drama with an exceptional child cast and Kimura as a jaded racer
Good Luck: B+; Kimura gets his (pilot) wings…or at least tries to. The mesmerizing Kou Shibasaki (Battle Royale; One Missed Call; Orange Days) plays the mechanic love interest.
Hero: B-; Playing a public defendant, Kimura’s character is a little too self-aware of his own eccentricities and coolness
Pride: C+; The formula is drying up faster than the ice in this one and Kimura is looking a little bored with it himself; he’s also looking a little sallow and his haircut doesn’t flatter him (ooh that 75% bed rate is dropping)

Yada Yada Yada…and more Yada

Ah Yada! Akiko that is! Quite possibly my favourite actress from Japan (though I wouldn’t mind watching her duke it out with Yukie Nakama for that honour). She’s attractive yes. Beautiful really. I don’t know if it’s how they light her on camera or if there’s something in her pupils, but I could swear her eyes actually twinkle (the deliberate SFX used in My Little Chef notwithstanding). She seems to manage that perfect balance of girlish charms (without stooping to cutesy kawaii tactics and voices) and womanly grace that many of her peers tend to stumble over (Misaki Itou, I’m looking at you!).
She has also built up quite the repertoire of impressive J-dramas and movies.

Yamato Nadeshiko: B; Yada plays the sweet but naïve second-banana to the lead man-eater star of the show, Nanano Matsushima (GTO). Both of them are airline attendants vying for the attention of fish-monger man Shinichi Tsutsumi (Good Luck! Lunch Queen). Yamato Nadeshiko is a bit uneven since I found myself sympathizing with the kind and caring AkikoYada so much that I ended up resenting the lead characters! Poor Akiko!

My Little Chef: A-; Yada plays a young chef with a special knack for “reading” her customers and whipping up a perfect dish for each of them in this good-hearted and sentimental drama that got my mouth drooling and my eyes a bit weepy; Hiroshi Abe (Trick) and Aya Ueto (Attack No.1) top off a very good supporting cast

Hotman: B+; A Sorimachi Takashi (GTO himself) series in which Yada co-stars as a health teacher and (of course, why not) his love interest. It’s a feel good family drama with Takashi playing a single dad to moppet Nana Yamauchi and big brother to his undisciplined siblings. Unfortunately Yada’s girlfriend character isn’t carried over into the sequel series (though Swing Girls’ Miho Shiraishi is a fine replacement, IMO)

Ringu the Series: B; Same as the hit horror movie except drawn out into 12 episodes. Yada is part of an ensemble cast that tries to solve the mystery of the psychic murderess, Sadako. Has a bit of a toned down “television” feel, but each episode ends with a suspenseful cliffhanger and a few scenes can be appropriately described as “creepy”.

Last Christmas: A; Yada’s breakout role as a lead actress in a J-drama. She plays a secretary with a loose past working in an ad firm who catches the concern and attention of co-worker and apartment neighbour Yuji Oda (yeah that’s him singing Wham’s Last Christmas at the end credits) . A huge hit in Japan, it’s pretty close to the top among my favourites. Sure it gets a heap load melodramatic at the end but any show that centers itself around the Christmas season is expected to be that way. And Yada’s spunky performance partnered with Oda’s more even keeled character made them a romantic combination worth rooting for. Very funny and touching with an ending that must have had the producers screaming as they filmed it: “Dammit! It’s pure mush but let’s make it work!” And it worked. Give your girlfriend a box of tissues as you watch it together.

Pyrokinesis (movie): B+; Yada goes all Firestarter in this feature film as she plays a solitary woman who can control fire with her mind. Directed with verve by Shusuke Kaneko (Gamera, Azumi 2), this is a slick film with some very good special fire effects that swerves from superhero action, murder mystery, grisly humour, and horror. The beautiful Akiko Yada easily elicit’s the viewer’s sympathies as she struggles alone to control, then unleash her superhuman powers.

Leaside Leanings

Well, it's been a year since I ended an 8 month stint at Leaside Branch. For those of you who don't know, Leaside library is located in a somewhat affluent part of the city around Bayview and Eglinton. The houses are expensive but not especially huge and the people are well-off but still have to walk their own dogs (if not push their own baby carriages). But more noticeable than any sniffings of upper-middle class wealth, is the entrenched sense of a priviledged community. And enclosed. As I stepped out of my car or off the bus and onto the ground that is Leaside, I almost could hear the hoary whispers in the air "Outsider". Or maybe, "Oh a Filipino. Shouldn't you be looking after my kids?"

I was warned by staff. Hell, I was warned by my dental hygenist! "You're going to Leaside?" she asked as she picked out the previous night's baklava from my bicuspids, "Aren't they kind of, you know, snobby?"

Coming from Flemingdon Park, it was like taking the five o'clock flying house from Kansas and falling into Oz...except I missed landing on the witch.

Now for the most part, like any other branch, it was uneventful there. Dull, to be honest. The librarians and clerks were nice and my page staff were awake most of the time and utterly jaded with the whole community. But there were moments, sound bites really, that linger in my head moreso than my other recent memories. I'd like to share with you a few Leaside one-liners:

"You know, I fought in the war so you could have long hair like that."
-old codger to me on my very first day, very first shift on desk

"My taxes pay for your salary."
"You work for us."
"You're in public service. So you're supposed to serve me."
-three quotes, three patrons, first three days

"I'm in a hurry. I'll just leave these here and you can get them."
-woman while leaving her books on the middle of the bare floor eight feet away from the desk

"She goes to advanced classes. She doesn't need you to tell her what to do."
-mother of an advanced child who is pulling books off the shelf and dumping them on the floor even as she speaks

"Everyone here knows me as the customer who uses this (a palm pilot) as my identification...(long pause)...except you."
-Mr.Palm Pilot (and thus a nemesis is born)

"No! No! No! Shh! Shh! This is Leaside, dear. We do things differently here. You have to learn that."
-the next patron after Mr.Palm Pilot, defending him

"They're all insane (or nuts or f---ed)."
-various staff at various times

Condo for Sale! Rat free! Coconuts in abundance!

I've had something like 20 people come trotting through my place the last couple of weeks. Strangers. My condo is up for "show" as I try to leave my home of 7 years (!) for a new abode down the lane. So all these people are coming by and they leave and no one makes an offer.
What is it that they are looking for, I wonder? What makes a person want to buy a home?
Of course the answers to all of life's questions are found in one place: Survivor. Yes, the show that proved that peanut butter is a prize worth getting naked for has shown me the secret of what people really want in a home. You see, they merged the tribes this week on the venerable show that kicked off the endless cycle of unreal reality tv (so you know who to thank when you're watching Flava Flav living it up on the Surreal Life). So part of the merge process is deciding which of the two tribes' living space the mega-tribe would call home.
Somebody from one tribe shouted "We have no rats and tonnes of coconuts!"
The other tribe squealed, "We are so there, baby!"
"But we have blood-sucking ticks galore."
"Don't care. You got coconuts? Su casa me casa, hombre!"
And in two seconds they're off.
What have I been doing by keeping my floors clean and bathtub scum free? Well, okay, keeping the floors clean ensures that no small piece of lint is mistaken by potential buyers to be rat droppings. But I had a nicely arranged bowl of fruit on my counter just for presentation sake. I had bananas, apples, tomatoes (which I'm told are fruit), and some oranges. No coconuts. What was I thinking? Now I could see it clearly as people came to view my place:
"Not a bad size. 5 appliances, good. Big balcony...what's this? No coconuts! What the-? Where the f--- are the f---ing coconuts?! He expects us to buy this hole and doesn't even have the decency to put out some f---ing coconuts???"
So without further ado, I have added the coconuts.
$195k buys you 625 sq.feet and all the coconuts you can jam down your gullet.
Make me an offer.

Riding the You-Tube

Matthew Amuck

A video I did of my little brother about 2 years ago. Nowadays he's 2 years older, maybe 10 pounds heavier (if he's lucky), but he still acts exactly the same. Except now when he bumps into things, aside from hurting himself, he usually damages something. Hilarity ensues...often followed by comments that the kid could use some "downers". Not much else to this video really except for two things: (1) it shows how I didn't know how to spell "amuck" back then and (2) it's proof-positive that Elvis music can make anything amusing.

"Angela? Am I seeing double?"

Possibly my favourite video on Youtube...aside from Choco-party ("Good! Good!"). Whoever these twins are, they look exactly like the little girl who visits me at the reference desk at work and draws me pictures. I'm trying to get her used to drawing the symbol for Gucci (yup, child-labour thrives in the Children's department). Her name is Angela or Erica or something...she always says "yes" regardless of what I ask her.
"Are you a girl?"
"Yes."
"Do you like rabbits?"
"Yes."
"Is Stephen Harper an over-stuffed Ken-doll on meth?"
"Yes."

Whatever her name is, she's a sweetheart and so are these two.
"Yes."

Far Out, Far East Films: "Saving My Hubby"

Saving My Hubby
(dir.Nam-seob Hyeon)
This was the first movie from my Korean collection that I had seen before that I pulled out and watched all the way through again. Kind of odd since I wouldn’t have ranked it as one of my favourites. I guess I decided to watch it again after seeing Take Care Of My Cat and Ring Virus. I wanted to see if it was the same actress playing the level-headed, oppressive-family afflicted character in TCOMC and the evil psychic girl in Korea’s version of The Ring playing the overly anxious, harried lead in Saving My Hubby. Indeed, it turned out to be one and the same, Du-Na Bae. She’s all of an entire year older than when she acted in TCOMC but looking a little more weathered. It’s fitting though considering that she’s playing the part of a young new mother, Geum-sun, trying to cope with raising a child, learning how to be a wife and homemaker, and giving up on her dreams of being a star volleyball player.

That’s just her character profile. The movie then takes Geum-Sun and sets her on her way in a mad dash around the seedier slums and nightclubs of Seoul as she searches for her husband, Jun-Tae (played by Tae-Woo Kim from The Contact) who is being held hostage by oafish swindlers. In the process, she has run ins with two mob groups, fights off a letch, avoids a mysterious menacing stranger, beats up her husband’s superior, and has to negotiate her way through the denizens and cast offs in the urban slums. All the while, she’s toting around her baby girl (whom everyone mistakes as a boy to Geum-Sun’s dismay) papoose style on her back. AND…this is all a race against the clock as she tries to find her husband and get back home in time to meet her stern in-laws who are coming in on the morning train. Oh yeah, she also needs to find a couple of mackerels. The North American movie it reminded me the most of was After Hours with Griffin Dunne as the lost innocent wandering the city streets at night bouncing from one oddball situation and characters to the next.

This is your basic “pile on” movie: set up a simple scenario, wife tries to find husband, and then pile on as many obstacles and problems as possible. The keys are to avoid making the absurd situations ridiculous and to have a convincing performance from your lead who has to keep it together in the acting department. An over the top performance would send the movie into farce and that’s not the type of comedy it’s attempting to be. It’s trying to build sympathy for the put upon, Geum-Sun, as she, in one night, has to transform from an unprepared and directionless young mother, to an independent, fast thinking and mature individual in light of the comical and stressful situations around her. Du-Na Bae engages this role successfully. Her performance in the earlier part of the movie is properly whiny and spoilt. As she’s put through her paces through the middle parts of the film, narrowly avoiding all the dangers coming at her, the determination in her becomes more and more evident. So by the end, as she eventually reaches her boiling point and breaks down crying, the audience is sufficiently prepared to sympathize with her.

One thing about the ending: while the final scene is appropriate and clearly discernible as a “happy ending”, it felt to me like a sequence was missing between the final scene and the one preceding it. Geum-sun’s maturation as a mother and a wife was never really acknowledged by anyone, even by herself, even though that seemed to be the idea of the movie. The story pays due diligence to resolving part of her problem as she gets to live out her dream again. But running around the city all night should have also taught her about the responsibility and appreciation of having a family, not only about how to spike a volleyball.
Rating: B

And away we go...

Hello and welcome to Robert's first blog. The creator is jumping into this like he usually does with all things...without a road map. While this space tries to find an identity please look forward to lots of rambling reviews of everything and anything that catches my fancy or ticks me off. Also expect many parenthesis (like this). The blogger is big on parenthesis. Along with being symmetrical, they are evidence of how muddled his thoughts are at the moment. For those who know me from work, you may want to consider this as the next step (or leap off the precipice) in the evolution of the Circuitbreaker, my printed newsletter. Probably less heavy on workplace happenings, since who in their right mind, outside of TPL staff, would care what's going on in, say, the Facilities offices of the Toronto Public Library (you don't want to know...oh lord, you don't want to know)?

Anyway, like I said, please stop by once in a while and see where this experiment is headed. Motivation is such a hard word to repeat over and over. And we'll see how it goes from there...