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