Monday, February 16, 2009
So Fracking Disappointed
Remember what I said about expectations and how they ruin everything? This Saturday was a textbook example of what can happen when you think something is going to be awesome and it is merely very good.
Let me stop right there and make sure no one is jumping to any serious conclusions: today's material is purely superficial stuff (with some spoilers).
I had a lovely weekend and Valentine's Day with Mako. She gave me my present, crunchy chocolate-covered castella sticks, on Friday night, all the while apologizing for buying them in a store rather than making me something at home. I insisted (as I did days beforehand) that she doesn't need to make me anything and I would be thrilled to receive any chocolate from her. "By Any Means Necessary" isn't just a cry for revolution - it also perfectly sums up my attitude towards the distribution of gifts. As much fun as her handmade gifts can be, I would never criticize Mako for failing to spend hours making me something when a commercially-available option exists.
We spent our Saturday afternoon in Umeda where we took advantage of the discount Toho Cinemas promotion to see Street Kings, a Keanu Reeves police drama retitled "Fake City" (フェイクシティ) in Japanese. Neither title means much and the movie was unremarkable, cliche-driven and entirely forgettable, exactly as I thought it would be. Unstable cop who ignores procedure because it only gets in the way? Check. Angry superiors who berate him for his methods while simultaneously praising his results? Check. Impressionable and doomed rookie cop (complete with fiancee - how tragic!) who is manipulated by the hero into breaking the rules? Check. Stock female characters (mute victims, worried girlfriend, grieving widow, dead wife) who only exist to soften the male leads? Check. And most troubling of all, litany of minority stereotypes who are beaten, tortured and killed by the hero cops along the way? Check and Mate.
I guess I should have seen those last two coming but I thought maybe, just maybe, that we had moved beyond that bullshit by now. The only concession made to the real world is that a few of the cops are not white guys (Forest Whitaker is one of the perpetually outraged captains) but they are still all guys. Seriously, not even the "here are the bullets I found" medical examiner is a woman. You get the feeling that Hollywood producers want to go back to the Shakespearean custom of having all the roles played by men, but as a compromise they merely play every character with any impact on the plot while the attractive Hispanic actress is limited to wearing a bikini and kissing Keanu after a hard day's work murdering "suspects."
The ironic result of having zero interest in the film (particularly when I guessed the ending about halfway through) was that I did not come out of the theater feeling cheated or offended. I knew the movie would be shallow and empty and it was. All I did was enjoy my popcorn and the knowledge that Mako got to see one of her favorite actors on the big screen. If anything, I left the theater happy because we enjoy being out together as a couple.
On the contrary, when I came home and I watched the season one finale of Battlestar Galactica I had high hopes for the outcome. Not only was I still riding high from the Prison Break finale we watched a few days earlier, but the overall quality of the series led me to believe I was in for something special. Instead, the two-parter left me asking question after question about what direction this show was headed.
For starters, the last few episodes have been increasingly toying with supernatural and religious elements. While I have been impressed with the show's inclusion of faith, an element curiously absent from most scienece fiction, BSG is increasingly implying that these "lords of Kobol" are real. It's one thing to have Dr. Baltar panic and pray to God before being cleared in that treason frame-up, but it's quite another to have the President seeing prognostic hallucinations that coincide with scripture and turn out to be accurate. The finale has her ordering a ship to go on a incredibly risky solo mission just to retrieve a spiritual artifact that she believes will help them find Earth. She knows the Cylons are swarming around both the planet they think is their mythical homeworld and the planet where the artifact is being kept, meaning that everything about this could be a trap or downright staged (especially since one of the Cylons told her they were going to find this planet), but they go through with it anyway.
On the more tactical side of things, I don't understand the nature of this "plan" the Cylons boast of in every episode. How many more facilities and ships are they going to sacrifice towards this plan? I know they claim not to give a crap about "death," but do they simply have infinite resources? They allowed one of their own sleeper agents to nuke a gigantic Cylon vessel, even though they had more than enough opportunities to stop her (or at least reduce their losses). Then she goes back and promptly blows her cover by shooting the Commander in the gut - twice. What's the point? Even if he does die (which I very much doubt - this actor has top billing on the show), what good does that really do the Cylons? They had an agent on board in the military. She already blew up the ship's water supply a few episodes earlier. She could have potentially destroyed the entire ship or killed everyone on the bridge. Instead, she gave herself up in exchange for shooting one guy.
I know this is all pretty geeky and I know I'm still eager to see more of BSG. In fact, I've already rented the first two discs of season two as there were plenty of other major plot elements in that last episode that I want to see resolved. But at the end of the day, the very good television episode left me feeling disappointed while the absolutely pointless cop movie met my meager expectations. How does that make any sense at all?
つづく...(Click here to read more)
Let me stop right there and make sure no one is jumping to any serious conclusions: today's material is purely superficial stuff (with some spoilers).
I had a lovely weekend and Valentine's Day with Mako. She gave me my present, crunchy chocolate-covered castella sticks, on Friday night, all the while apologizing for buying them in a store rather than making me something at home. I insisted (as I did days beforehand) that she doesn't need to make me anything and I would be thrilled to receive any chocolate from her. "By Any Means Necessary" isn't just a cry for revolution - it also perfectly sums up my attitude towards the distribution of gifts. As much fun as her handmade gifts can be, I would never criticize Mako for failing to spend hours making me something when a commercially-available option exists.
We spent our Saturday afternoon in Umeda where we took advantage of the discount Toho Cinemas promotion to see Street Kings, a Keanu Reeves police drama retitled "Fake City" (フェイクシティ) in Japanese. Neither title means much and the movie was unremarkable, cliche-driven and entirely forgettable, exactly as I thought it would be. Unstable cop who ignores procedure because it only gets in the way? Check. Angry superiors who berate him for his methods while simultaneously praising his results? Check. Impressionable and doomed rookie cop (complete with fiancee - how tragic!) who is manipulated by the hero into breaking the rules? Check. Stock female characters (mute victims, worried girlfriend, grieving widow, dead wife) who only exist to soften the male leads? Check. And most troubling of all, litany of minority stereotypes who are beaten, tortured and killed by the hero cops along the way? Check and Mate.
I guess I should have seen those last two coming but I thought maybe, just maybe, that we had moved beyond that bullshit by now. The only concession made to the real world is that a few of the cops are not white guys (Forest Whitaker is one of the perpetually outraged captains) but they are still all guys. Seriously, not even the "here are the bullets I found" medical examiner is a woman. You get the feeling that Hollywood producers want to go back to the Shakespearean custom of having all the roles played by men, but as a compromise they merely play every character with any impact on the plot while the attractive Hispanic actress is limited to wearing a bikini and kissing Keanu after a hard day's work murdering "suspects."
The ironic result of having zero interest in the film (particularly when I guessed the ending about halfway through) was that I did not come out of the theater feeling cheated or offended. I knew the movie would be shallow and empty and it was. All I did was enjoy my popcorn and the knowledge that Mako got to see one of her favorite actors on the big screen. If anything, I left the theater happy because we enjoy being out together as a couple.
On the contrary, when I came home and I watched the season one finale of Battlestar Galactica I had high hopes for the outcome. Not only was I still riding high from the Prison Break finale we watched a few days earlier, but the overall quality of the series led me to believe I was in for something special. Instead, the two-parter left me asking question after question about what direction this show was headed.
For starters, the last few episodes have been increasingly toying with supernatural and religious elements. While I have been impressed with the show's inclusion of faith, an element curiously absent from most scienece fiction, BSG is increasingly implying that these "lords of Kobol" are real. It's one thing to have Dr. Baltar panic and pray to God before being cleared in that treason frame-up, but it's quite another to have the President seeing prognostic hallucinations that coincide with scripture and turn out to be accurate. The finale has her ordering a ship to go on a incredibly risky solo mission just to retrieve a spiritual artifact that she believes will help them find Earth. She knows the Cylons are swarming around both the planet they think is their mythical homeworld and the planet where the artifact is being kept, meaning that everything about this could be a trap or downright staged (especially since one of the Cylons told her they were going to find this planet), but they go through with it anyway.
On the more tactical side of things, I don't understand the nature of this "plan" the Cylons boast of in every episode. How many more facilities and ships are they going to sacrifice towards this plan? I know they claim not to give a crap about "death," but do they simply have infinite resources? They allowed one of their own sleeper agents to nuke a gigantic Cylon vessel, even though they had more than enough opportunities to stop her (or at least reduce their losses). Then she goes back and promptly blows her cover by shooting the Commander in the gut - twice. What's the point? Even if he does die (which I very much doubt - this actor has top billing on the show), what good does that really do the Cylons? They had an agent on board in the military. She already blew up the ship's water supply a few episodes earlier. She could have potentially destroyed the entire ship or killed everyone on the bridge. Instead, she gave herself up in exchange for shooting one guy.
I know this is all pretty geeky and I know I'm still eager to see more of BSG. In fact, I've already rented the first two discs of season two as there were plenty of other major plot elements in that last episode that I want to see resolved. But at the end of the day, the very good television episode left me feeling disappointed while the absolutely pointless cop movie met my meager expectations. How does that make any sense at all?
Labels: BSG, chocolate, family, food, movies, television
つづく...(Click here to read more)
Friday, February 13, 2009
Call it etalocohC
Wow. You know how on Wednesday night I wondered if I would make it through the next two days with my voice intact? By 10 o'clock on Thursday I was hacking and coughing like the Marlboro Man. Maybe it was a mistake to admit to having a cold before class. I think the kids see that as a window to misbehave.
Last night we watched the Prison Break Season One finale and I still can't believe how good it was. After watching the next-to-last episode and seeing (most of) the gang make it over the wall, I naively assumed the finale would be a simple culling of characters as they made their way to the airstrip and onto the plane. I went through the cast in my head and just started guessing who was going to make it and who wasn't. Despite the fact that "the plan" had to be revised and modified so many times just to escape, I honestly believed that the last phase would somehow work out just like they expected. Instead, the show kept throwing curveballs and I kept swinging with wild abandon trying to keep up. Did they make it to the plane? Nope. Did anybody get killed or recaptured? No. Does the season end with any element of the story successfully wrapped? Not really, no. I can't wait to start renting Season Two but I think Mako needs a break. Watching the show is so physically involving that we both get worked up just sitting on the couch. For DJ's sake, Mako wants to stay calm and settled as best she can over the next few months.
Speaking of concessions made for Mako, tomorrow is Valentine's Day. It also happens to be "Toho Cinemas Day" which means cheap movie tickets at any Toho Cinemas. I had hoped to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button but that was before Mako found out about a "new" Keanu Reeves movie opening on Saturday. I say "new" because it came out in the States last April and everything about the movie looks cliched and behind the times (Seriously, Keanu, you're a cop who doesn't play by the rules? What a fascinatingly fresh way to portray a police officer), but Mako loves him and I must abide. I'm sure it won't be the most banal film we've seen together; at the very least, Hugh Laurie is in it.
What's really confusing me is the sudden push for me to give Mako chocolate on Valentine's Day in spite of the glorious Japanese tradition of doing things the other way around. As previously noted in years past, this is a day where Japanese women give chocolate to men, be it husbands, boyfriends, family, or even just friendly coworkers. Men who have wives or girlfriends are expected to return the favor next month on White Day. Now it seems that someone (I suspect the chocolate people) has been promoting the idea of gyaku-choco (逆チョコ, literally "reverse chocolate") so that men give chocolates to women. The promotion is so strong that lots of popular everyday chocolates have special backwards packaging on the shelves, no doubt intended to remind male customers of their brand-new obligation. I view it more straight forwardly as an admission that this entire idea goes against common sense.
Japan had got it right for once in the world of gender relations. There was a balance to it all. Tomorrow was supposed to be my day for sugary satisfaction and Mako would get her generous gift next month. Quid pro quo, tit for tat, ebony meets ivory, perfect harmony. Now I'm expected to give her TWO gifts in exchange for only ONE? That's the worst kind of discrimination; the kind that discriminates against me.
...OK, you know (I hope!) I'm not really angry about this. Buying gifts for Mako is one of my favorite things to do and any occasion where she and I get to eat chocolate is a wonderful day in my book. Indeed, we both shared one of the chocolate fondants I received from her mother this week and it was outstanding. I just hope there's a future movement to realign the order of things with gyaku gifts on White Day for men. Hey, I just realized! The Xbox 360 is white, isn't it?
つづく...(Click here to read more)
Last night we watched the Prison Break Season One finale and I still can't believe how good it was. After watching the next-to-last episode and seeing (most of) the gang make it over the wall, I naively assumed the finale would be a simple culling of characters as they made their way to the airstrip and onto the plane. I went through the cast in my head and just started guessing who was going to make it and who wasn't. Despite the fact that "the plan" had to be revised and modified so many times just to escape, I honestly believed that the last phase would somehow work out just like they expected. Instead, the show kept throwing curveballs and I kept swinging with wild abandon trying to keep up. Did they make it to the plane? Nope. Did anybody get killed or recaptured? No. Does the season end with any element of the story successfully wrapped? Not really, no. I can't wait to start renting Season Two but I think Mako needs a break. Watching the show is so physically involving that we both get worked up just sitting on the couch. For DJ's sake, Mako wants to stay calm and settled as best she can over the next few months.
Speaking of concessions made for Mako, tomorrow is Valentine's Day. It also happens to be "Toho Cinemas Day" which means cheap movie tickets at any Toho Cinemas. I had hoped to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button but that was before Mako found out about a "new" Keanu Reeves movie opening on Saturday. I say "new" because it came out in the States last April and everything about the movie looks cliched and behind the times (Seriously, Keanu, you're a cop who doesn't play by the rules? What a fascinatingly fresh way to portray a police officer), but Mako loves him and I must abide. I'm sure it won't be the most banal film we've seen together; at the very least, Hugh Laurie is in it.
What's really confusing me is the sudden push for me to give Mako chocolate on Valentine's Day in spite of the glorious Japanese tradition of doing things the other way around. As previously noted in years past, this is a day where Japanese women give chocolate to men, be it husbands, boyfriends, family, or even just friendly coworkers. Men who have wives or girlfriends are expected to return the favor next month on White Day. Now it seems that someone (I suspect the chocolate people) has been promoting the idea of gyaku-choco (逆チョコ, literally "reverse chocolate") so that men give chocolates to women. The promotion is so strong that lots of popular everyday chocolates have special backwards packaging on the shelves, no doubt intended to remind male customers of their brand-new obligation. I view it more straight forwardly as an admission that this entire idea goes against common sense.
Japan had got it right for once in the world of gender relations. There was a balance to it all. Tomorrow was supposed to be my day for sugary satisfaction and Mako would get her generous gift next month. Quid pro quo, tit for tat, ebony meets ivory, perfect harmony. Now I'm expected to give her TWO gifts in exchange for only ONE? That's the worst kind of discrimination; the kind that discriminates against me.
...OK, you know (I hope!) I'm not really angry about this. Buying gifts for Mako is one of my favorite things to do and any occasion where she and I get to eat chocolate is a wonderful day in my book. Indeed, we both shared one of the chocolate fondants I received from her mother this week and it was outstanding. I just hope there's a future movement to realign the order of things with gyaku gifts on White Day for men. Hey, I just realized! The Xbox 360 is white, isn't it?
Labels: chocolate, family, food, Japan, movies, Prison Break, television
つづく...(Click here to read more)
