Ethereal Haven

To London and back

jpsoccerfan@yahoo.co.uk — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:05:46 GMT

I apologize for not replying to any of you over the last couple of weeks, or more, but we were snowed under at work before I managed to go away and fly to London for a few days off (got back yesterday)

I'll try to get back into the swing of things over the weekend....before going back to work - I really, really should have taken two weeks :s

Almost weekly updates and Drunken Angel part 1

jpsoccerfan@yahoo.co.uk — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 23:56:23 GMT

For once I actually managed to get done what I absolutely wanted to, namely finish the maps and updates related to Chapter 4 of the FF XII walkthrough *whew* I've also finished playing that section of the game and am now in the middle of 5.1; I've also completed the map of the Giza Plains (rainy) including icons and now it's just a matter of having it ready for upload and adding the lists, which I hope to do during the upcoming week

I've started taking caps from Kurosawa's "Drunken Angel". Because now my screen resolution is so high, and because of the DVD's and film's particularities, I'm taking caps manually instead of using vlc's built in system. Which means it takes more time, but the quality is there - I hope! Below the cut is a first batch: some will be added in the review and the post of selected caps I shall make at bamboo_house, but I've also taken a few extra of Toshiro Mifune for long_halloween - because a girl can never have too much Mifune in her life *g*

Speaking of hot Japanese males: I've spent the best part of this week trying (in vain! most of the time) to get my brain focused on something else than the avalanche of Masaya Kato-related news: the preview of his latest photoshoot for "Uomo", which came as a bit of a shock seeing as its publication wasn't announced on his official website (although that in itself was nothing compared to the shock of how friggin' amazing he looks in that one, even by his standards). And right on its heels came the movie news: of course, there's that huge "Sakura Sakura" project which shooting is apparently starting any day now, but that's been announced a while ago. Before that announcement though, there had been rumours that he could have an appearance in another, somewhat pan-Asian, movie (I think the director is Korean). Only a teaser page for the official website of that movie ("Sayonara Itsuka") has surfaced and it looks like instead of a mere appearance, he might actually have one of the lead, at least if the fact that his name appears fourth in the listing is any indication o_0 And now it seems he's just shot a part in yet another movie, for now entitled "Umizaru 3" (now, the whole Umizaru franchise, be it manga, tv series or movie, is not exactly my cup of tea, but if I understand correctly, they are very popular in Japan)

And of course, he's on stage at the end of the year. Does he even vaguely remember the meaning of the word "holiday" anymore??????

ffxii update and a small gift....

jpsoccerfan@yahoo.co.uk — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 23:45:19 GMT

Another week passes by so fast I barely noticed *sigh* Except for the night between Monday and Tuesday - although I wish that one had gone faster, especially since it had all started so well :-( You have to hand it to Del Potro though, he not only has a great tennis (no matter how many times I see him play, I can never quite get over the speed of some of those forehands!!!!) but he stayed in the match even though everything went against him in the beginning. Although I do believe that the one thing that really cost Federer the title was his serve deficiency (13 aces for 11 double faults? Has he ever had such terrible serve stats EVER in a Grand Slam match?). That's a lot of easy points that he did not win, and those can make a world of difference (Wimbledon Final 2009, anyone?). I must say though I was very impressed that he did join the Swiss team for the Davis Cup and did a good job there: Switzerland remains in the World Group for next year's competition, whoohoo!

On totally unrelated news, I did finish the Nam-Yensa Sandsea map for the Final Fantasy XII walkthrough and have spent a good part of today doing the next one, the Tomb of Raithwall: I've actually finished drawing the map, but I just need to add the icons before uploading it and include the listings

And because I was done with that earlier than planned, I finally managed to watch my new version of Akira Kurosawa's "Drunken Angel" - it's a double DVD by the French publication company Wild Side Video. The quality of the picture is pretty good, although I haven't seen that of the Criterion Edition yet - that will be interesting to compare. I didn't get the time to watch the second DVD with all the extras, but it's now past 1.00 AM so I figured it would be more reasonable to wait until tomorrow :p

But because it's now impossible for me to dissociate Toshiro Mifune from long_halloween, I had to take a good quality cap of him no matter the hour. I know I still owe you the ones from Seven Samurai, but with my new computer I can take much larger and higher def screencaps (the pic below should give you an idea, even though I downsized it from the original) so I figured it would be worth taking them again before sharing. Also, it's part of a new website project I have which I am working on and which would include an Akira Kurosawa section....Anyhoo, I should get around to Seven Samurai after writing the review for "Drunken Angel" (and I'll have the caps of Drunken Angel up in the meanwhile, so more Toshiro Mifune eye candy for you :p)

speechless

jpsoccerfan@yahoo.co.uk — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 11:44:15 GMT

is how I was left last night, at around, oh, 1.12 AM CET when watching the Federer-Djokovic US Open semi-final. All I could do was rise from my seat in front of the tv and bow, along with the entire Arthur Ashe stadium in NYC

I mean, it's rare enough that a player actually manages to land that particular shot anywhere in the court in competition (Federer himself acknowledged in post-match interview that he's tried it a lot but that in never worked - until now!). But here we're talking about a point that could possibly land him 3 match points, in a Grand Chelem semi-final, that is a point to open the doors to the final. What makes it really wrong though is that he didn't just landed that shot in the court, he actually turned a between-the-legs, back-to-court shot into a passing shot

Some people on youtube called that shot sick. Some called it obscene. I say it's both, and then some

On the other hand, I haven't got a clue how the finale is going to go. I mean, everyone on every tennis forum I know of is putting their money on Federer (even if some of them would rather see Del Potro win it), but Del Potro has played some great, great tennis this fortnight, and Federer hasn't always been impeccable. Oh well, we'll see soon enough ;-)

FF XII is calling....

jpsoccerfan@yahoo.co.uk — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 19:20:12 GMT

Came back from a two-days trip to Lyon (it was supposed to be only one day, but then I realized I hadn't travelled in almost a year and thought I could just as easily stay the night). Also went back to work after a week off, which would have been demoralizing if it weren't for the fact that I can look forward another week off next month *g*

Dissidia Final Fantasy was released while I was away and I couldn't resist actually buying it on the spot. That and new, mouth-watering FF XIII footage kind of spurred me to get back to the FF XII walkthrough drawing board....quite literally as I've been drawing maps over the last few days. I've done and uploaded the map of the Ogir-Yensa Sandsea and today I've done most of the Nam-Yensa Sandsea, which might go up as early as tomorrow. I'll be playing some and making some additions to Chapter #3.1 and #3.2 tonight as well

And another month passes by.....

jpsoccerfan@yahoo.co.uk — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 22:02:57 GMT

Damn, I thought summer at work would be slow - and I was well mistaking! But at least I can look forward to a week holiday next week! I'm only gonna be gone for a day to Lyon - I'm planning to stay in Geneva and around the rest of the time. But I'm actually quite looking forward to be abe to just be at home without the stress of work always around the corner *g*

I got started on Japanese lessons with teachers, which is a huge step for me. So far I had learned everything on my own, but I figured I had come to the limits of what I could learn that way - I really felt lately that I needed to start using the language beyond just passive comprehension if I wanted to get to the next level. So I've looked at the possible options and online school was definitely the only feasable one, both because they are more flexible in terms of schedules and because of the costs involved

I've enrolled at JOI (that is "Japanese Online Institute") and so far I have only praise for their system. You don't pay any fee to enroll and you can test their lessons system by taking three 50 minutes classes for 900 Yen (that's around $9 - for all three!), then the price depends on how many lessons you buy in advance, and whether you want private classes or take classes in groups (of maximum 7 people). I've bought 20 tickets and paid an average of $8 per lesson for group lessons. Teachers have all been very nice and helpful , and I can already feel the improvement as the grammar points I go through with them really stick with me, instead of being forgotten after a day or two as it had been the case when studying the same material on my own.

I've started at Beginners level 1, which is for people who already have some basics (you don't need to be able to read kana or kanji though), but I know they even offer introductory classes for those who have no previous knowledge whatsoever, and lessons go all the way to advance (for people who are studying at JLPT 1 level - the equivalent of Advanced/Proficiency Cambridge examination for English as a foreign language)

Oh yeah, and a few things I've promised and actually got done:

Japanese magazines: Shel'tter Summer is available for download - post is comm-lock, but if you're not a member yet still interested, leave me a comment and I'll email you the download link. Madame Figaro Japan and interior design/zakka mags are next up (hopefully I'll have something ready sometime in the next two weeks)

movie reviews: the review for the second movie in the Sasori series is up here, with an alternate version including some more caps over at AW; I've also watched the first in the Yakuza Papers series, as well as received the Red Cliff part 2 Japanese LE box - planning to watch that one during the holidays *g*

Oh yeah, and the Masaya Kato related stuff: I've posted the videos (not hi-res, but the quality is decent enough) of all three of his interventions during his appearance in Downtown DX last month on Youtube - you can watch them all from my account page. I've also posted all the caps from KiraKira Kenshuin over at nekomi815 and huddlebubble's forum in seperate threads for each episode - I'm posting all the links below the cut.

Oh yeah, and he appears in this month's edition of Uomo - again! - so expect new mag scans pretty soon (saw low-res preview at a girl's blog yesterday morning and let's just say I couldn't focus properly at work for the whole day.....)

KiraKira Kenshuin ep 1
KiraKira Kenshuin ep 2
KiraKira Kenshuin ep 3
KiraKira Kenshuin ep 4
KiraKira Kenshuin eps 5 and 6
KiraKira Kenshuin ep 7
KiraKira Kenshuin ep 8
KiraKira Kenshuin ep 9
KiraKira Kenshuin ep 10
KiraKira Kenshuin ep 11 - finale

Wow, a month already!

jpsoccerfan@yahoo.co.uk — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 18:02:48 GMT

Sorry for not giving news in so long. Just been busy really *s* Between work, crossing fingers for Federer at Wimbledon (try typing while you do that, I dare you! Oh, and while I'm at it: Dear Roger, thank you for the wonderful fortnight and for this great victory but please, no more 4 hours+ thrillers in finale, I had stomach cramps the whole evening and my nerves were all but shot for the following days. Thank you.) and getting somewhat back at Ancient Worlds (sort of, really, I'll see where this whole thing gets me). Oh yeah, and I'm back in the saddle for the FF XII walkthrough which I have abandoned somewhat over the last couple of months....

Anyhoo, a few things that I am about to/ have ticked off my list:

- I'm almost done with scanning the latest issue of Shel'tter which should be online this weekend

- The review for Red Cliff part 1 is online (thank you Beth for the beta-reading!), along with the picspam (here for the complete - but access-restricted - one and there for the somewhat smaller, but public one)

- Just posted the picspam for the second installment in the Sasori (Female Prisoner: Scorpion) series here (I'll make a smaller, public picspam alongside the review when I have that one ready)

- Started translating the first book in an illustrated history of Japan series. I am still wondering if it will be worth making longer summaries of what's in there, but at any rate, I'll posting short notes in English about it and the first one, on Paleolithic Japan, is here; threads will change according to the period, but I'll post links here anyway

- Am currently posting Masaya Kato picspams from the KiraKira Kenshui series over at a chinese discussion board dedicated to him. But the access is public so I'll post the complete list of links (there's one thread per episode) here if anyone wants to have a look ;-)

Oh yeah, one of the other things I've been busy with IRL is that I found out early this month that Nara (Nara Prefecture, Japan) will celebrate next year its 1300th anniversary of becoming capital of Japan. They will hold events throughout the year. And since it's been a while I've been thinking of going to Japan within the next few years, I thought I might just change my plans and go a bit earlier than first planned *g* : Nara was definitely a place I wanted to visit (I am a history geek, after all) and it will be easy to travel to Osaka and Kyoto from there. I will probably stay in that area for a week and in Tokyo for another one - at least that's the early plans I have in mind

Upcoming....

jpsoccerfan@yahoo.co.uk — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:51:32 GMT

So sorry I went AWOL for almost two weeks, but I caught a cold. In June. After I went through winter without even sneezing *sigh* I just CAN'T do things the way normal people do, it seems. It was pretty nasty and for all I know, it might have been Swine flu. If it was though, it doesn't seem I've passed it on to anyone. I have a good idea when I caught whatever I got, and after that I've only been with colleagues and a few friends, and haven't been in close quarters with other people until I was really ill, and the couple of people I know who also got ill actually became so before me. Anyway, whatever it was, I must have had a touch of hay fever thrown in the mix, because I would feel worse at my workplace (my eyes start to sting, my nose runs constantly, etc.) and I know from experience there must be something growing there that I'm more sensitive to, as I've had hay fever symptoms at work around this time of the year since I've been there. And of course, the whole thing would block my sinuses which led to heachache after headache.....

Anyway, I'm better now. I've managed to scan the whole of Madame Figaro Japan February issue which is in answer to a few requests made over at jmagazinescans - I just need to photoshop the lot and upload it, so the matter of a couple of days, normally *fingers crossed* Started also taking screencaps from Red Cliff part 1 which I have now seen two times; I must say I've come to really love Nakamura Shidou (Japanese kabuki and movie actor) in this: he just has these great facial expressions that had me laugh and want to hug him simultaneously. Generally speaking, I found the generals more entertaining than the leads (I think John Woo seriously overindulged in his "men coming together" fetish to the point that it becomes distracting in the middle section of the movie) with the exception of Chang Chen who has a more complex character and plays the nuances well

I've also seen Female Prisoner #701 - Jailhouse 41 again which I'll probably review right after Red Cliff part 1. And I've seen the last part of North and South over on BBC Four and must say it was one great episode! I know I owe salimbol to write at least some details about it but it will come in another post - it's already getting pretty late :p

Another thing that I'll owe her and quite a few other people are more Masaya Kato pics - I WILL get to it, in fact I *am* getting to it *hint hint* especially since I have more dvds coming in over the next couple of weeks AND he'll be in a new tv show starting next week already (in a guise we haven't been used to see him in so far, as he warned in his blog. Unfortunately I don't have any good quality picture to show, but let's just say that when I saw a tiny illustration of what he meant by that, I spit my tea all over the keyboard :p). Now let's hope that KeyHole TV does its job this time around and that I actually get to see it when it is broadcasted on TV Tokyo *shake fist*

From Kira Kira Kenshui, ep 9 (2007)

Review: "Josshu 701-go: Sasori" (Female Prisoner #701 - Scorpion) take 2 and extras

jpsoccerfan@yahoo.co.uk — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 01:26:51 GMT

Ok, finally managed to post that review of Female Prisoner #701 - Scorpion, which you can find here. It is both more detailed than planned yet very frustrating because the more I was writing, the more I was thinking "Oh yeah, there was that too....". It's such a rich movie, both visually and thematically, that from the moment you start detailing some aspects, it becomes very hard to know where to stop. At any rate, I hope curious minds will give it a go, because that's definitely an experience like few others....

Oh, and I am currently uploading pictures to add - hopefully they will already be available when you get there - if not, please give it a try a little later on ^-^

I have received, among others, the Goemon OST and am being completely hooked. I won't be seeing the movie before a while yet (I will have to wait for it to come out on DVD in Japan), so I really can't comment there except that reviews are, once again, very mixed. Still, I can't wait to see music and images brought together now *g*

And, because I know some people would probably get very upset at me if I didn't post it now, here is another Masaya Kato photoshoot, this one from Uomo of December 2008, which is pretty much a promotional shooting for a Swiss luxury watch brand (they were holding an event at their new shop the following month and Masaya Kato was their main guest, so I guess this explains that).....yeah, yeah, I know, Swiss have great taste like that *cough cough*

Review: "Josshu 701-go: Sasori" (Female Prisoner #701 - Scorpion), screencaps and more

jpsoccerfan@yahoo.co.uk — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 22:37:50 GMT

Already posted the screencaps of Female Prisoner #701 - Scorpion here. It is however for members only: if people are interested, I might post them somewhere where everyone could have access though

I am currently writing the movie review which I'll probably have up by tomorrow; I'm also looking forward to watch the following movie in the series, Female Prisoner #701 - Jailhouse 41, which is the movie that got me started on the series in the first place. And of course there's also Red Cliff part 1, now that I've got it with English subtitles (as well as the Japanese guide book, he!)

As for other news, I was sad to learn that David Carradine had passed away; I've never actively followed his carrier but I've certainly enjoyed everything I've seen of him....also giving me pause of course is the anniversary of Tiananmen Square, or rather the way the Chinese government is trying its hardest to supress the memory. Not that it is surprising in any way, but it is a sad reminder that, while a growing part of the population has access to the "capitalist" way of life, some things will not change as easily. More than the issue of democratization though, what pains me the most is the way parents and family of those who've died must suffer in silence, and that's just not right

And because I want to end this post on a lighter note:

Hugh "Wolverine" Jackman and James Bond together on Broadway - this time it's confirmed!

Getting somewhere

jpsoccerfan@yahoo.co.uk — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:41:48 GMT

I am slowly getting over my deception at not getting to watch [二重裁判] - btw, thanks to everyone who's expressed their sympathy at LJ or elsewhere - yes, I know, it's not as if it was even remotely important in the greater scheme of things, but I was really, really looking forward to it

Did manage to finish all the stuff that I wanted to do for other people, that is a) the first article (covering Neolithic to Shang Dynasty) in a series introducing Chinese History to beginners (it's very academic though - it's not that I don't want to make them fun, I am just not good enough of a writer to know how. I am planning to post it on my own site a little jazzed up with map and pictures though) and b) scanned Shel'tter and uploaded it. It was a real battle with my scanner but we made it through, whoohoo! Now to scan Marie-Claire Japan's February issue (although I'll probably start with the scanning of another Kato photoshoot, due to....popular demand! Who would have guessed? ~~Now if only the people who are running his website would take their cue and alter the sign up process to allow people living outside Japan to join~~)

On the other hand I'm late on everything else I wanted to do since last week (although I have watched part 3 of North and South....and can't WAIT to see part 4 now *bite nails*). I thought I could start making up for lost time yesterday but a headache made sure I wouldn't - just managed to upload Shel'tter before crawling to bed. At least I'm feeling better now so there's hope I can get at least a glimpse of all the DVDs I received last Saturday, especially since my last Amazon order has apparently arrived in Geneva as well, meaning I'll probably get that by tomorrow on top of everything else

PS: am now home for lunch and discovered I had already received the Yakuza Papers box set which I think I've ordered from the US about ten days ago!!!!! I can hardly believe they've been so fast, but definitely good news there *g* Now, to finish watching all six movies in the Sasori series before watching all five movies (plus one dvd full of extras) included in this box.....well, at least I won't get bored anytime soon, that's for sure!

PS2 (EDIT): Congratulations are in order for Masaya Kato as it has just been announced that he's landed the lead in the Japanese movie "Sakura Sakura" which, if I got that correctly, will be a biopic on Japanese chemist (who spent a good part of his life in America) Jokichi Takamine. Original article is here

I love technology....most of the time (can you hear me screaming now?)

jpsoccerfan@yahoo.co.uk — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 10:16:43 GMT

I seriously could scream. I've been looking forward to watch [二重裁判] ("Two-sided judgement"), a one-off drama featuring Masaya Kato which premiers today on TBS. Now, I usually can watch this channel through the KeyHoleTV software, which allows you to receive most analogic Japanese tv channels, as well as quite a few Japanese radio stations (and it's all perfectly legal!). Only I've just opened the program to find out that TBS is NOT on the list of channels right now. NHK has been on and off, but it's the first time I can remember TBS disappearing as well. Of all the days....

I seriously feel like crying right now. I have been looking forward to this for WEEKS (I think the announcement of [二重裁判] being shown on TBS dates at least back to the middle of April)....now my only hope is that some good soul will put it on the internet, but seeing as it isn't a serial jdorama, I'm not holding my breath....

At least I've finished scanning Shel'tter - just need a bit of photoshoping before I can put it up though

Preview: Female Prisoner #701 - Scorpion, Shel'tter mag woes and upcoming squeeing

jpsoccerfan@yahoo.co.uk — Wed, 27 May 2009 12:08:08 GMT

First a word of apologize to everyone who's asked me to scan the Shel'tter Spring 2009 issue. I am sorry but my scanner gave up on me, and it took a month before I could have it more or less fixed. I have now re-started scanning this mag but can only spare about two hours a day for it, which means 20 pages scanned, and this one has more than 240, so you do the maths :s Anyhoo, I'm now past halfway so with a little bit of luck, I may get around to upload the whole thing sometime this weekend *fingers crossed*

Still, I HATE promising something and not being able to deliver, and I did say I would have it up last month *hang head in shame*

I've finally gotten around to watching the first in the Sasori series, Female Prisoner #701 - Scorpion, a couple of times now (they've released the complete boxed series in French which I bought....last year :p). Maybe it was because I was expecting it not to be as good as the one that made me discover this series (Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41) that I was so pleasantly surprised. Now, I don't think it quite as good as "Jailhouse 41", but it is nonetheless very much cult material, and for mostly good reasons. Yes, it is a Pinky eiga, (S)exploitation, WIP movie, which means you'll see plenty of naked women and blood spilling, but it is done in a way that's hardly shocking. Instead, Shunya Ito, the director, has chosen to be disturbing (the early rape scene, which is filmed in a way that shows you little more than heads and arms, yet will be burned in your brain for years to come, especially if you're a woman) which, coupled with stunning visuals and clever camera work (only topped by "Jailhouse 41") allow the movie to elevate itself way above your average exploitation fare

And then of course there's Meiko Kaji. She's in almost every scene, and close-ups on her face abound, but who can blame Ito? She's the stuff legends are made of

I hope to have screencaps (plenty of interesting stuff to show with this one *g*) and a full review up around the weekend as well. Especially since I have the first two parts of 実録・広島四代目 (実録 - meaning "Authentic Accounts" - are a series of Japanese Yakuza V-movie, and this one, made in 2004, stars Masaya Kato) as well as the Samurai 7 stage adaptation DVD and photobook (and Goemon promotional material) in the post and on their way from Japan (hopefully soon to be joined by 激動の1750日 - "The 1750 Terrible Days" - another V-movie for which I've only found positive reviews so far). Between that and the special drama airing on TBS next Monday, which also guest-stars Kato, I'll probably be too busy drooling and squeeing to be much use at anything else really *whistle*

Review: "Ok Computer" special edition and Red Cliff- (and other-) related frustrations....

jpsoccerfan@yahoo.co.uk — Mon, 18 May 2009 12:07:34 GMT

Posted the review of the 2CD+DVD re-release of Radiohead's OK Computer over there

Things decidedly went against me last night. First, hot on the trail of salimbol's recommendation, I was looking into getting the North and South BBC mini-series. Only, I found out they had just started showing it on BBC Four.....five minutes before the first part ended!!!!!!! That was enough to make me want to pull a few hair

Then, I was planning to watch Red Cliff part I (at last!): now, I've bought that absolutely magnificent box they did in Japan, but it doesn't have English subtitles (only Chinese and Japanese - unlike some of the other Chinese blockbusters which also included English subs). So I ordered a dirty cheap version off Ebay which included English subs to watch once in order to get familiar with the story, then to pass over to friends. Only it turns out they've sent part II instead of part I (although the cover pictures are different, it only says it's "Red Cliff", not which part it is), so my whole "let's ~~drool over~~ enjoy having Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Chen Chang together on my screen" plan went down the drain the minute I popped the DVD into my computer player :-( Which I guess will teach me about the consequences of not caring whether or not what I order is a bootleg....

So no Red Cliff for probably another 10 days or so. Oh well, I guess I'll focus on The Wolves, which I've just received, as well as the Seven Samurai Criterion Special Edition instead, at least for the time being. So not that bad all things considered :p

On the other hand, what totally made my day was this report over at Outcast Cinema of an annoucement from Criterion Collection who are goning to publish not one but a box set of five Nikkatsu Action/Noir movies (and all that for an extremely reasonable price!). And they are gonna release it the month of my birthday to boot!!!!!

Review: Tsumiki no Ie, Hugh Jackman scans and more stuff

jpsoccerfan@yahoo.co.uk — Thu, 14 May 2009 23:02:30 GMT

Got around to write my first entry for my review journal here; it's a review of the short animation movie Tsumiki no Ie which I've mentioned in my previous post

Also managed to move my *ss and actually got around to scan the Wolverine coverage from Studio Magazine and post it at jackman_daily. Now I only have the ton (ok, maybe not, but certainly a dozen or more) Japanese fashion mags to scan. I don't know when I'm ever gonna find the time to do it, but I WILL eventually....hopefully :p

Ok, I SWEAR I hadn't planned to watch it before the gazillion other dvds I had received before that one. It was an accident, as I was only trying to locate one scene in order to take a cap.....and ended up watching the whole first part of The Man in White, the other yakuza flick by Miike which also stars Masaya Kato. To be honest, I wasn't that impressed with it when I fast forwarded through it the first time around, which was rather disappointing considering how Agitator had blown me away pretty much from the word go. However, really watching it, I found it strangely compelling. I can't really explain why: Kenzuki and Higuchi in Agitator are characters which are immensly likeable from the very beginning, the nature of their occupation nonewithstanding. On the other hand, characters in Man in White are more difficult to connect with, but it's still riveting stuff. Maybe I'll be able to elaborate more when I have seen part 2, we'll see.....

Oh yeah, and it was THAT scene I was looking for. I just love the composition of the first, and the overall impact of the second. And you can guess why it's called "The Man in White" in English (even though the title in Japanese really translates as "The Unforgiven"). Sorry for the quality, but the DVD transfer is not that great.....then again, it's so difficult to get with subs that I am not really complaining there :p

"Tsumiki no Ie" (Oscars 2009 short animation winner)

jpsoccerfan@yahoo.co.uk — Thu, 07 May 2009 13:00:03 GMT

Just posted screencaps from "Tsumiki no Ie" (also refered to as "La Maison en Petits Cubes"), by Katô Kunio here: the posts are open to members only, so you'll have to join if you haven't already (and if you love all things cinema, you should have already anyway :p). OR you can wait until I post my review (this weekend, I'd think) online as I'll include at least some of the caps anyway (and that one will be open to all)

Btw, "Tsumiki no Ie" was the winner in the short animation category at this year's Oscars and Katô Kunio is responsible for the best Oscars' Winner's speech. EVER.

More movies, more Masaya, more everything

jpsoccerfan@yahoo.co.uk — Tue, 05 May 2009 17:35:30 GMT

I'm beginning to have a problem in that with all the notes I'm taking on movies and stuff ), creating a review library of some sort would start to make sense. Does anyone have suggestion on how to do that? I have my own internet domain, so maybe I could open a subdomain....or should I create a blog here featuring reviews exclusively (which means I wouldn't have to bother with hard coding, at least for a while)?

Received the long version of Miike's Agitator alongside the first half of The Man in White (the whole movie is sold on two seperate dvds). Did a lot of fast-forward through Agitator last night to catch the differences. It turns out some scenes were actually dispensable, while others were crucial to better understand some plot points and the relationship between Kunihiko (Kato) and several people around him. One particularly grey area to me after watching the international cut was his relationship to "Uncle" Torii: the Japanese cut includes several scenes that do a good job at clarifying that (in fact, I found a lot of scenes cut from the international print centered on the character of Torii). Also, the subs on the version I've received are far better than that of the one currently available for download around the web

Overall the international version makes sense as it stands, but most of the extra scenes in the Japanese cut are valuable, and make you aware of some (minor) plot holes (mainly direct or indirect reference to events which you have not witnessed) or some cuts that feel a bit awkward in the international print

Haven't had the time to watch "The Man in White" yet

This morning I also got my new dispatch from Amazon Japan. FF VII ACC was in it (Yeah!), as well as Love & Honor (double Yeah!), the last entry in Yoji Yamada's Samurai trilogy and the one I haven't seen yet. Oh, and the Japanese limited box looks exquisite! There were also more Japanese history books and....several magazines with interviews and/or photoshoots with Masaya Kato. I don't think there's actually one single mag still available at amazon.co.jp featuring him which I have not bought - and I don't even feel the slightest bit ashamed by that :p

Unfortunately (or fortunately) I still have the whole batch of DVDs to watch/books to read/magazines to scan from my TWO previous Amazon Japan shopping sprees (including Red Cliff part 1, dammit!). Not to mention that watching Agitator got me to buy The Wolves and Le Samourai (the last one in particular is repeatedly mentioned as reference for Agitator and The Man in White both and I've never seen the whole thing)

Mind you, I wish those would be the worst problems in life in general :p

Aragami Deluxe Edition - preview

jpsoccerfan@yahoo.co.uk — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:50:49 GMT

Received the deluxe Aragami box in the post this morning. At first the bonus disc wouldn't play on my computer, but after a couple of tries I managed to make it work on my tv set (which was weird because there is no scratch whatsoever on the dvd, and the dvd player of my computer seems to work fine otherwise). Didn't have the time to watch much, but I had to watch the making of : I had already seen it and it was quite funny at the time, but I knew I had been missing quite a bit of what they were saying as my Japanese is not that good. Boy am I ever happy I got myself the subtitled version, although I almost chocked to death on my sandwich, due to Masaya Kato's extreme, at time surreal, goofiness ("The Aragami paper cup. Very practical. I use two if I have a hot drink [.....] I am thinking of patenting it")

It was fascinating, and also a tad scary, to see how Osawa (the Samurai) and Kato's (Aragami) dramatically different approach to their work, at least on that particular set, is a perfect reflection of their characters in the film. Takao Osawa (probably one of the best Japanese actors of his generation) was the embodiement of dedication, spending all his time between shots immerged in the script. He appeared also very soft spoken and shy when talking to the guy shooting the making of video. By contrast, Masaya Kato seemed as relaxed as they come and without a care in the world (at one point though, you can tell the extreme fatigue the whole team went under because of their insane schedule got to him as well), and got various staff and the making of interviewer in stitches on occasion (and me, hence the chocking). But then again, his carefree, good-natured attitude recalled that of his character in the movie itself. There's also the fact that he had a familiarity with action movies Osawa didn't (Osawa admits at one point he had never shot an action movie before) which might have played a role in their difference of attitude

It's however hard to tell how much art has imitated life, and vice-versa. Kitamura admitted that he rewrote the part of the samurai after Osawa accepted the role. And since they had very little time to work on the script beforehand, a lot must have changed once they start shooting anyway. I guess I'll find out more after having watched the additional interview with Kitamura, as well as listened to the commentary track of the movie, even if that's only in Japanese (0_0);

Screencaps coming soon *g*

(Small) picspam of Masaya Kato-related awesomeness

jpsoccerfan@yahoo.co.uk — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 23:22:10 GMT

All it took was a trailer (that of Jackie Chan's "Shinjuku Incident", which is out in some areas in Asia and will be out in Japan on May 1, the same day as "Goemon" and Wolverine, dammit!) and an email and video files exchange with a friend to send me back into Masaya Kato (Japanese actor, former model - and still does some modelling on occasion - probably first came to attention in this part of the world with his role in Christophe Gans' "Crying Freeman") frenzy mode and looking for some of his harder-to-find movies and tv series

As a result, I finally got to see the Yakuza flick "Agitator" by Japanese director Takashi Miike (of "Audition" and "Ichi the Killer" fame). It was so much better than what I had hoped for, in particular since I don't even enjoy half of Miike's work (mind you, with an output of 6-8 films per year, that still makes a lot I do like to watch). Actually, it falls just short of being a small masterpiece - although I'm reserving definitive judgement for when I get to see the Japanese cut (the international version is *only* 150 minutes, while the Japanese one is 200!)

I'm actually waiting on that longer version (hopefully it should be in the mail on its way here) to write a full review, but I can already point out of few things. In terms of storytelling, Miike's rarely been so coherent and subtle, and although very realistic, with few scenes of great violence and with none of Miike's fancy 'n' flashy tricks in sight, I found it to be actually much more ambiguous morally - and therefore much more interesting, not to mention, at times, poignant - than most of his more violent and fast-paced stuff. And Masaya Kato is almost unbearably hot in this (btw, as much as I adore Hugh Jackman, I think some actors outside western countries are woefully omitted in these so-called sexiest/most beautiful/blah blah blah lists), although the hotness - luckily! - takes a backseat to his acting abilities: I know the role was supposedly tailor-made for him, but it is also extremely demanding, yet he manages to convey a multitude of nuances, whole emotional landscapes with something as simple at times as a slight nod (typically in the birthday scene in the first few minutes). Also, he and Takenaka (who incidentally, also stars in "Shinjuku Incident") have this great interaction that provides most of the emotional weight to the story (plus Takenaka manages to actually lighten the mood on a couple of occasions)

So here are a few caps I've already taken from Agitator, plus a few others I've taken for a friend who sent me a video of Kato's appearance in Downtown DX (a Japanese tv show) last October (when he was promoting the Samurai 7 stage adaptation).

I think I can smell icons. Yep, I definitely need some Kato icons asap (why I haven't done any yet is beyond me, now that I think of it).....

荒ぶる魂たち ("Agitator" - 2001)

ダウンタウンDX (Downtown DX - 2008.10.30)

Ice Skating - WC 2009

jpsoccerfan@yahoo.co.uk — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:13:03 GMT

Last week's headache turned out to be the heralder of a full-blown inflammation of the sinuses which kept me in bed for the best of three days *bleugh* Crawled back to work this morning

Since I was so out of form that I couldn't work on anything, even at home, I took some time to watch part of the ice skating I had recorded over the past week. I'll try to do a summary of that when I'll be done watching everything, but in the meanwhile, I cannot help but react on some of the comments made last week on skaters past and present

I think it's the first time since 1988 I find the women's competition actually more captivating than the men's. Although it had me laugh, if only because Brian Joubert didn't win. I know it's bad form because he's a great athlete and deserves every single medal he's won, and now that the likes of Plushenko and Lambiel have retired, he's the only top skater with Verner to risk one quad or more systematically in his programs and, of the two, he's the most reliable. But I do kind of agree with Patrick Chan's assessment of Joubert, when he says that the Frenchman always has an excuses when things don't go his way. Because he truly is a sore loser (and that's even more painfully evident when you read the French sports media which tend to give his rants more weight than they deserve).

But while I have little patience for his constant excuses and sometimes arrogant attitude on the ice, ice skating does need skaters like him. Even if I'm not a fan of his style (although I did enjoy his first Matrix program), there's something about his skating, a kind of masculinity for lack of a better word, that's become rarer over the last few years, at least at that level, and men's skating needs that. As much as I loved Urmanov, who remains the embodiement of classicism in men's skating to me, I probably would have loved him a lot less had there not been skaters like Elvis Stojko and Philippe Candeloro around at the same time to bring something completely different to the competition. So while I do think that Joubert could tailor his programs better vis-à-vis the new rules and improve his steps, spins and more generally his edges to earn more points, I also hope he will not try to go down the "classical" road (and what I mean by "classical" is this kind of outdated and colorless approach using a restricted field of a few "classic" tunes, an approach that has, in particular, dominated women's skating for years now, although their may be signs things are changing) because that would really not suit him, and there are enough in the field stuck doing that already even if they have the capacity artistically to try more adventurous roads.

Also, Patrick Chan totally missed the point in his rant on how Yagudin and Kulik, who had both landed quads in their Olympic gold-winning routines in 1998 (Kulik) and 2002 (Yagudin), had steps sequences and spins that were much easier than what they have to do today, which would explain how it was easier for them to land the quad, the rest of the program requiring less energy. For one thing, rules were also much different - something he might not remeber well being so young himself - and while steps did count, they were use by skaters much more as part of their interpretation of the music - and sometimes as a device to wow the crowds - than to rack in extra technical points. Spins were compulsory but unless you did something really out of the ordinary, as long as they were "correct", there wasn't much to earn or lose in that department either.

And frankly, the energy Yagudin would put in his interpretation of the music in general, and his steps sequences in particular, even if they were technically easier, probably made them as tiring as the 4th-level steps sequences of today but it was an energy that was directed towards the crowd and would get them on their feet long before the music even stopped. Moreover, Stephane Lambiel was perfectly able, under the new rules, to land one or two quads in a free program and have steps, spins and a quality of interpretation that would put Chan's to shame, as much as I admire the latter's apparent effortlessness and "feather touch" on the ice (Lambiel did have trouble with the triple axel, but he would at least try it and would, on occasion, perfectly land it). And knowing the qualities of both Yagudin and Kulik, had the rules been adapted under their respective "tenures" (using that word loosely knowing that Kulik never dominated result boards the way Yagudin - and later Plushenko - did) there is little doubt they would have upped the difficulty of their steps and spins and continued to land quads all the same.

Ultimately though, it's about results but also about the popularity of the sport with the general public and it seems that the latter is in decline overall if several articles recently published are to be believed. One thing that is sure is that there's an electricity, a sense of anticipation in the air that's been decidedly absent of late. The lack of quads probably has nothing to do with it: I don't think it has made the sport regress as Joubert argued and, while the people in general are still awed by four-revolutions jumps which continue to be a relatively rare thing, I don't think they would ask for a refund if they were none in a given competition.

I think one of the problems comes from the current rules: in general, I am in favor of them, but they also have for consequence that skaters have to make every single second of their program counts in order to rack in as many points as possible in all sectors, which means they have in reality little to no time and energy left to focus on and play with the audience. Another factor is the lack strong rivalry: the last one, that of Stephane Lambiel and Brian Joubert, ended with the premature retirement of the former two years ago: one would have thought that Joubert would have dominated the discipline from then on, but instead he seems to have lost his concentration somewhere along the way.

The competition has now become so open that for the first time in almost two decades (that is, since I've started watching men's skating), I would be perfectly unable to give you a possible podium at the next Olympics. Until then, there have always been either one clear-cut favorite (Yagudin, Plushenko) or a small field of 3-4 men you knew were likely to land on the podium (Petrenko, Browning, Bowman, Barna in 1992, Stojko, Candeloro, Urmanov in 1994 and Kulik, Stojko, Candeloro and Eldridge in 1998), but this time around things seem completely unpredictable. It might seem like a good thing, but too much of an open field is actually never a good place for a sport to be. Sports need stars - not necessarily people who win everything, but people who, in their own way, embody the best a given sport can offer and, if at all possible, have the charisma to go with it, people the general public can identify the sport with. And, as I said above, if it can go along with a good feud, then all the better. Tennis is a case in point: men's tennis, who had been overshadowed by women's tennis for almost a decade, seemed to rise from the ashes with Federer reaching new, until-then unheard of heights of brilliance, and his bitter rivalry on court with Nadal has prevented his total domination of the sport to extend so long that people start losing interest again

I have probably never been more aware of that factor than when rewatching some of Ilia Kulik's amateur perfomances for the first time in years the other day just after watching this year's men free program. Patrick Chan must be the the skater with the lightest touch I have witnessed since the Russian athlete passed professional, a comparision further prompted by Chan's words regarding the performances of past skaters. Kulik became an instant crowds - and technicians - favorite on account of both the insane purity of his technic, in particular in terms of jumps, edges and lines, and his undeniable charisma and commanding presence on ice, something Chan is still lacking (I know some people will hate me for saying this but as much as I liked his short program, I thought Chan appeared almost transparent in his free program).

Also, Kulik appeared on the scene precisely when a handful of other skaters with completely different, highly recognizable artistic universes dominated the field. The battle felt open enough, each of these athletes having different arguments that might allow them to land a place on the podium, but was mostly reduced to a few, recognizable personnalities, with the door always open for a possible upset. And that's exactly the situation we don't have right now

I'm not lamenting for the good ol' days: if anything, I miss the individuals because years of biting my nails several times a year for them would make you attached to the characters. But I believe these things are cyclic and that in two years or ten, I'll be biting my nails just as much. That is, if ice dancing doesn't take the rest of figure skating in its possible fall, but that's matter for another rant then *g*

jpsoccerfan@yahoo.co.uk — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:58:18 GMT

Had a migraine this morning (sinus-induced - it's the current, ever-changing weather that just doesn't agree with them) and just felt really awful all morning. Almost went back home early but managed to hang on and now it seems to be mostly gone, whew!

Two things I find hard to go without for more than a few hours these days. One is Doves' new single "Kingdom of Rust" which bypasses my brain to go straight to my heart. It's not that it's revolutionary in any way, but it "works" wonderfully and I just find it hard to listen to without letting my mind conjure up all sorts of images and landscapes, and that's the music that tends to stay with you in the long term. BBC 6 Music is playing it on a regular basis, which is the only thing I have until the album is finally released on April 6 (their Myspace page only has a 1-minute segment of that song *grrrrrr*). Still, it's here if you want to get an idea of what it sounds like

The other are the two full-length trailers for Goemon, and in particular the music (the theme that plays during the second half of both is magnificent). It seems the word from aearly screenings is excellent, which should reassure me but doesn't (because I love Casshern even when a lot of people didn't, so I worry maybe this time it's gonna be the other way around? And I so want to love this movie, I really do). And to think that I won't be in Japan to see it when it comes out *sigh*

At least, I've got more than the teaser until I manage to catch the DVD....Based on what's below, I have a feeling I'm gonna love Gori's character (certainly looks far removed from his usual "schoolgirl" shtick :p)

The first is more attention-grabbing than the second, but the latter is slowly growing on me as well :-)

Post of randomness

jpsoccerfan@yahoo.co.uk — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 18:00:44 GMT

Absolutely exhausted these days but if there's anything like good exhaustion then that's what I must be feeling because with it comes a good dose of a sense of accomplishement I haven't felt in a long time. I'm being fairly productive at home, and do manage my workload at the office much better than I used to (mind you, there are still piles of emails waiting to be filed away, but at least the rest is usually done in a fairly timely manner).

My FF website is finally becoming what I've always wanted it to be, at least on the walkthrough side (I cannot focus on the encyclopedia aspect at the same time, unfortunately, so that's still not really taken shape yet), and I'm progressing much faster than I thought I would. Redrawing almost 50 sets of regional maps is no picnic, but I've realized my initial estimate of a year to do them all could be revised down to around 6 months now: if I manage to keep my pace, I should get halfway by early June all while having updated the walkthrough and working on the lists, game mechanisms and sidequests I'm still missing

It does help that it feels like, after months of stagnation, a hurdle has finally been passed with my Japanese. For almost a year, I didn't really perceive any progress at all when confronted with "real life" Japanese, on the web or in books. Over the last few weeks though, I've been aware my understanding of written Japanese has increased dramatically, and I'm beginning to catch a lot more information in spoken Japanese than I used to (still nowhere near fluently though, but my first aim is to understand written Japanese so I'm not too annoyed by that). I caught up on that a few weeks ago when I picked up the Ultimania to work on a new section of my website and read through a couple of paragraphs only to realize that I had understood everything with the exception of a couple of words. I must sound crazy because it isn't much, but after all this time and all the work I've put into it, I'm so happy to finally get there. Now I've bought a few mangas they're using to teach history to kids and teenagers in Japan and I've started reading them: I'm still deciphering kanji slower than I'd like, but the fact that I don't have to check in a dictionary every other word more than makes up for it

Anyhoo, I still have a bit to do at the office so I'll leave it at that. I also need to compile my list of records to own in 2009 for Mike but there are so many new, exciting bands lately that I really don't know where to start: oh well, better that than having nothing interesting to listen to :p

Picspam of cuteness (Final Fantasy Trading Arts Mini - special FF XII)

jpsoccerfan@yahoo.co.uk — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 00:44:47 GMT

I couldn't resist. I tried but I couldn't. Not now that I've got all three Final Fantasy Trading Arts Mini series - and in particular all six FF XII main characters *g* I think it's amazing the quality and level of details given the fact that they are about 2 inches high!

All FF XII characters (individuals and in groups) under the cut - I'll post pictures of all characters of the three series a little later on. Now I just need to buy the FF Tactics and Dissidia FF Trading Arts series.....

jpsoccerfan@yahoo.co.uk — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 11:50:54 GMT

Haven't been around much but I have a good excuse: I could barely walk for a few days :s And it's not as if I had gone skiing or done any activity during which I was likely to sustain a knee injury. No. That would have been too common. I was just standing in the office talking with my colleague, made a step forward and felt a sharp pain in my right knee. Remained painful the whole afternoon whenever I would move my it or put any weight on my right leg, but it was still bareable. I thought maybe a good night sleep would make it alright

I was fine in the morning at home - it was still a little painful, but not even as much as the day before. Great. Put on my shoes and my coat, go out. Now, it's a 15 minutes walk from where I live to where I work (which is good since I don't have a car anyway), but it's mostly a climb all the way. I was in tears throughout the way. I can stand pain pretty well, but that was just about one of the nastiest I've ever felt

Went to the doctor the day after. Turns out I've built up too much calcium and it was a bit of it that was loose in my knee and created the problem. Not much to do but let it dissolve itself. I'm off pain relief now and I don't feel much any more, but now it's the migraines that are more frequent than usual due to the weather as my sinuses don't really like it :-( And I've had even more work than usual *sigh*

Still, I haven't had only bad stuff thrown at my this fortnight: I got to buy several things I've been after for a long while on Yahoo! Japan Auctions and this morning I've received the FFVII Advent Children Limited Edition Box set and the 3rd series of FF mini figures BOTH! (which means I've finally got the Balflear one, so little Ashe won't feel so alone anymore ~~mind you, she had Bashe to keep her company meanwhile, so she really has no room to complain!~~)
I'll try to share pictures of all that stuff soon!

jpsoccerfan@yahoo.co.uk — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 14:45:03 GMT

Remember, last week, I was mentioning that Kazuaki Kiriya had finally moved his butt it seems (5 years after Casshern!)and made his second movie. It's called Goemon (yes, named after the famous - or should I say infamous ninja warrior/thief/wannabe assassin/all around Japanese folk tale major star)

Find more videos like this on The Spill.com Movie Community

It feels like I have waited for this for decades. I'm happy to get back the surreal feel of the CG, even though I'm aware it might put some people off altogether. Oh, and you can watch it full screen on the movie's website (the site is in Japanese, but the navigation is conveniently in English ^-^)

At this stage, I'm not sure what to expect. Kiriya has continued with the same live-actors-vs-everything-else-CG approach he used with Casshern, so we know there will probably be some absolutely stunning - and other more subtle and poetic - visual moments in this. What I worry much more about is the story: is it going to again give us something with lots of depth but unnecessarily complicated a la Casshern, fall for an all style-no substence approach, or clean his act and give us what I suspect he's really capable of, that is impeccable, audacious style in the service of unconventional story-telling? I guess we'll have our answer on May 1 this year *whistle*