Triscribe

Category: Tokyo

  • Summer 2014 – Movie Edition

    Oh, my goodness.  How did the summer go by so quickly?  Apologies for the latest unintended hiatus.  I will eventually do a catch up post. Really.  An overall summary of what happened during the hiatus would be worth doing. I think…

    As FC noted, Team Triscribe did “The Revisit” as our latest entry in the 72 Hour Film Shootout (theme for this year was “The Color of My Hair,” as we all keep aiming and hoping for more Asian Pacific American representation in front of and behind the cameras).  We did a split Brooklyn-Tokyo thing. It was a pretty cool project, and we made the Top 35, as we learned at this year’s Asian American International Film Festival.

    At the film festival, I watched “Fred Ho’s Last Year” (documentary directed by Steven de Castro, a past officer of the Asian American Bar Association of NY (AABANY); Facebook fan page here) and “Awesome Asian Bad Guys” (official site; Facebook fan page here).  In different ways, both presentations made a lot of food for thought about what it meant to be an APA and how APA’s contribute to the performing arts, films, etc.  Fred Ho took a very serious path, facing death with cancer with as much force as possible.  Patrick Epino and Stephen Dypiangco… are hardly civil rights activists, but they gave tribute to the actors and actresses who took the “die in 10 minutes” roles back in the 1970s and 1980s.  Plus, Angry Asian Man’s Phil Yu as producer, and even actors Aaron Takahashi and Randall Park — well, “Awesome Asian Bad Guys” was quite a thing to watch.

    The wide range of gravitas and good humor from this year’s Asian American International Film Festival was much appreciated (but wow, did the week’s events just flew by; I didn’t get to watch as much as I had wanted!).

    I finally watched “Guardians of the Galaxy” on Sunday.  Fun movie, even if not perfect; it hit all the right emotional points. Probably a whole bunch of comics references went over my head, since I’m not a big Marvel person, but it was fun.

    Peter Quill, a.k.a. Star Lord (if only in his own mind), con artist/thief/alien abductee, journeyed to find it in himself to save the galaxy.  Yep, he and the rest of the least likely bunch of people worked together to be the Guardians of the Galaxy (it’s not a spoiler, since it’s in the title).  Actor Chris Pratt has charisma (with good humor and cuteness, not to mention nice abs; yes, I noticed).  He’s more than that guy in “Parks and Recreation” on NBC or “Everwood” on the WB (yes, I’d go that far back).  Oh, and the rest of the cast was also priceless: Zoe Saldana as Gamora, honorable warrior/assassin; Rocket Raccoon, voiced by Bradley Cooper (raucous and emotional); Groot, voiced by Vin Diesel (“I am Groot” – definitely different than his past animated role in “Iron Giant” – but he sure does have a talent for voice work); and even Bautista (WWE wrestler) as Drax, the angry guy who comes from a people who don’t get metaphors.  I can see why this is becoming the “shouldn’t miss” movie of the summer.

    Well, there was also “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”  (that came out way earlier, back in April).  That was a grimmer movie, less on the humor (which was there), and way more deeper implications on national security and privacy issues, and impacting a certain tv series called “Agents of SHIELD” considering what happened to the agency SHIELD in the movie.

    On a very superficial note, I think actor Chris Evans has a better physique than Chris Pratt, but Evans has done more superhero action roles.  Amusingly, “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” had its own “Everwood” alumnus, Emily VanCamp (most recently on “Revenge” on ABC).

    Oh, and Marvel also had “X-Men: Days of Future Past” – almost forgot about that.  It was entertaining.  Time-traveling annoys me, and this movie didn’t convince me about why any of us would want to time travel; but the movie at least fixed the craziness of “X-Men 3” a.k.a. “X-Men: The Last Stand” (which really did no favors for the character of Cyclops).  Actors James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender were sweetly tragic as young Professor X and Magneto.  The introduction of the character Peter Maximoff, a.k.a., Quicksilver, with a nice joke for the knowledgeable audience about his parentage (i.e., a “Wait, aren’t you Magneto’s… oh….” moment for the viewers).   The bad future remained a scary place, with the unstoppable Sentinels.

    The one person who I thought really didn’t get to do more was actor Peter Dinklage, as the inventor of the Sentinels.  Oh, and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine – mmmm. He still had that charisma. I later watched “X-Men: First Class” on tv to get myself caught up.  Overall, First Class and Days of Future Past made me really drool over the cuteness of McAvoy and the hotness of Fassbender; the chemistry between McAvoy and Fassbender almost matched up with the chemistry between Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen as the older Prof. X and Magneto (notwithstanding that the younger actors do not quite remind me of the older ones).

    “22 Jump Street” was funny, but not nearly as riotously funny as “21 Jump Street.” Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum return as undercover cops Schmidt and Jenko, going to college, continuing to parody all undercover cop movies.  The plotting somehow still worked, and there was a moral that spring break might be dangerous to your health (for undercover cops and college students).

    I also saw “Lucy” this summer.  Scarlet Johannson was not Black Widow like she was in the Captain America/Iron Man/Avengers franchises (seriously, is she going to have her own vehicle as Black Widow?).  No, as Lucy, she was a student abroad, who got caught into becoming a drug mule for Korean mobsters in Taiwan, who were about to spread a drug that permits a drug user to access more brain power (before dying terribly).  Lucy got to access 100% of her brain due to the leakage of the drugs into her system.   Morgan Freeman was the wise scientist who tried to help her (which is turning into a role that he’s been typecasted into doing; he did the same kind of character in “Transcendence,” which I had also watched this spring or summer).  Meanwhile, the Korean mobsters are after her, and the French drug cop sticks around as Lucy’s reminder that she is once human.

    Directed by Luc Besson, “Lucy” tries to be everything at once, a meaningful deep soliloquy on humanity and evolution, a crime thriller, a sci-fi movie, and a caper, with lots of blood from the guns and whatever violence (yet strangely not quite an action film), and the hint of a romantic/sensual/sexual tension between Lucy and French drug cop guy – while not really doing well at any of those categories.  Watching the movie, I was generally entertained (even if it didn’t entirely made much sense). Visually arresting, but not exactly mind-blowingly excellent.

    I think “mind-blowingly excellent” remains to be truly seen among the movies of 2014, while things have been entertaining enough.  But, Summer 2014, please don’t go yet!

     

  • The Revisit

    We’ve been away for a few months for a lot of different reasons, but one of our projects is the movie below that we submitted to the 2014 Asian American Film Lab’s 72 Hour Film Shootout.  We were in the top 35 out of over 400 films submitted! Thanks to YK, Megan, SW, and Ben for their hard work shooting this in Tokyo!

    For Shootout veterans, there are some Easter eggs of previous years’ themes, so be out on the look-out.

    Please check it out and upvote our video below!

     

     

  • Pi Day, or More of the Ides

    3/14… Pi Day.

    Discussion on 8Asians on this nonsensical (to me, anyway) debate on whether Japan “deserves” its situation (8Asians says this is a silly debate too).

    NYTimes.com opinion section recently did a link to this William Safire column that he did during the time of the Indonesian tsunami, which I think is profoundly applicable for current events:

    In the aftermath of a cataclysm, with pictures of parents sobbing over dead infants driven into human consciousness around the globe, faith-shaking questions arise: Where was God? Why does a good and all-powerful deity permit such evil and grief to fall on so many thousands of innocents? What did these people do to deserve such suffering? [….]

    Job’s lessons for today:

    (1) Victims of this cataclysm in no way “deserved” a fate inflicted by the Leviathanic force of nature.

    (2) Questioning God’s inscrutable ways has its exemplar in the Bible and need not undermine faith.

    (3) Humanity’s obligation to ameliorate injustice on earth is being expressed in a surge of generosity that refutes Voltaire’s cynicism.

    How Japan’s religions have a role in dealing with the tragedy.

    Perhaps it’s important to remember, more than ever, what Conan O’Brien said about not succumbing to cynicism. Praying for the best to come out of Japan and the rest of the world, now more than ever.

  • The Ides of March

    I’ve really had to take a break from the news this weekend. Just not good stuff. The news from Japan worsens arising from the earthquake and the resulting tsunami, aftershocks, and nuclear reactor crises. Then, locally, the tragic results of the horrifying casino bus crash at the Bronx/Westchester border.

    Granted, I have nothing personal at stake (thank God), but my thoughts and prayers are with those who have been affected. And, honestly, where are the good news?

    So, I had to turn my attentions elsewhere. Currently reading: the satirical textbook, “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Book) Teacher’s Edition: A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction.” Sick and funny. Humor makes things a little better. Sort of.

    Via Angry Asian Man, I found out about “fuck yeah asian/pacific islander history,” a photo blog of APA (API) history. Really fascinating stuff. A review of the APA photo album, so to speak.

    Relating to us as APA lawyers/people into APA legal history: a photo of Chinatown leaders taking a break while at court under subpoena, from the San Francisco Library. According to the blog post, in 1956, after a 1955 report from the US Consul in Hong Kong making an unsubstantiated claim that Chinese immigrants were all illegal sleeper agents/criminals:

    the US Attorney Lloyd Burke subpoenas 40 major Chinese American associations demanding a full accounting of income, membership and photographs within 24 hours. Chinatowns on both coasts are raided frequently and business are disrupted at a loss of $100,000 a week. A federal judge eventually rules in favor of the Chinese, calling the subpoena attack a “mass inquisition.”

    Poignant stuff: at least there was some justice. At least history says there has been some hope.

  • Mother Nature

    The devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Scary news, regarding the effects of these natural events toward Japan’s nuclear power plants.

    NY Times’ Nicholas Kristof observes his sympathy and admiration of Japan, under these circumstances. He had been the Tokyo bureau chief for the Times and so he has some experience about his perceptions of the Japanese:

    Uncomplaining, collective resilience is steeped into the Japanese soul. We sent our eldest son to Japanese school briefly, and I’ll never forget seeing all the little kids having to go to school in shorts even in the dead of winter. The idea was that it built character. I thought it just gave kids colds. But it was one more effort to instill “gaman.” And it’s “gaman” that helped Japan recovered from World War II and tolerated the “lost decade” after the bubble economy burst in about 1990. Indeed, it might be better if Japanese complained a bit more – perhaps then their politicians would be more responsive.

    One factor may also have to do with our relationship with nature. Americans see themselves as in confrontation with nature, taming it. In contrast, the Japanese conception is that humans are simply one part of nature, riding its tides — including many, many earthquakes throughout history. The Kanto earthquake of 1923 killed more than 100,000 people. The Japanese word for nature, shizen, is a modern one, dating back only a bit more than 100 years, because traditionally there was no need to express the concept. In an essay in the Times after the [1995] Kobe quake, I made some of these same points and ended with a 17th century haiku from one of Japan’s greatest poets, Basho:

    The vicissitudes of life.
    Sad, to become finally
    A bamboo shoot.

    I find something noble and courageous in Japan’s resilience and perseverance, and it will be on display in the coming days. This will also be a time when the tight knit of Japan’s social fabric, its toughness and resilience, shine through. And my hunch is that the Japanese will, by and large, work together — something of a contrast to the polarization and bickering and dog-eat-dog model of politics now on display from Wisconsin to Washington. So maybe we can learn just a little bit from Japan. In short, our hearts go out to Japan, and we extend our deepest sympathy for the tragic quake. But also, our deepest admiration.

    I’m not sure about how to react to the tv coverage of the news so far, as I haven’t gotten to watch much of it. James Poniewozik at Time posts on the concern about how coverage is successful (or not) with the networks having cut back on their foreign bureaus and so coverage is due to the social network/Internet/cell phone systems.

    I kind of expected more from “Nightline” than seeing Bill Weir at Santa Monica, CA, about a tsunami wave that didn’t devastate mainland USA; then, he spent a few minutes talking to the ABC Tokyo bureau correspondent; glad that they at least still have a bureau.

    Nice that PBS Newshour does some context about the tsunami’s effect on the Pacific Rim; it’s good to hear that Hawaii has gotten better experience with these situations (after last year’s threat from the Chilean earthquake).

    The images of the tsunami in Japan, though, are horrifyingly devastating. “Devastate” becomes a word used so often, it nearly becomes a cliche. But, I’m not sure what else one can say.

    ABC did turn to Dr. Michio Kaku for scientific context about the earthquake and tsunami. I like how he explains things.

    The troubling 21st Century continues.

  • Labor Day Weekend!

    I wish summer didn’t have to end.

    Catching up on reading: Time Magazine on one man’s attempt to stop the tide of suicides in Japan, not a great trend in the middle of a recession.

    Hat tip to Angry Asian Man for some great links, namely:

    John Cho, in style, Angry Asian Man notes. Not looking like Harold or (New)Sulu at all. Thumbs up!

    California gets some more Asian judges and Angry Asian Man profiles one of his readers, a law student at Howard Law, who is a founding member of their APALSA and he’s currently taking a class with Prof. Frank Wu (cool).

    US Open and Ramadan – a Pakistani tennis player who tries to be cosmopolitan, religious, and professional all at once.

    Jason Bateman profile. He’s come a long way from the 1980’s child acting gigs. Plus, I loved how the article mentions his Valerie/Valerie’s Family/The Hogan Family days (the one tv series with three different titles (and two networks) – an average comedy that somehow managed to stay on the air for a decent run).


    Space has a smell    . That’s more than I would have figured, since smell involves someone’s brain, via the senses, to detect.


    People in NYC read while underground    . No kidding.

    More on the High Line.

    NY Times’ Alessandra Stanley on the anchorwoman trend.

    I can’t seem to find a link to an on-line version of the article, but Richard Huff of Daily News reported that Friday’s edition of Channel 11’s 10pm newscast was likely the first time in NYC metro area new that both anchors were Asians, with Arthur Chi’en filling in for Jim Watkins and sitting with Kaity Tong. They even acknowledged it during the news, just before the sports segment (and had otherwise made it just the usual Channel 11 news thing).

    I’m confused with Barney and Robin, but that’s ok. Another season of “How I Met Your Mother” to enjoy!

    Last but not least; go vote in the US Dept. of Health and Human Services‘ contest on how to prevent flu. The rapping doctor is the New Yorker, as the Daily News reported.

  • Shin Guards

    Everything around begins with “shin” (“new”) nowadays. The bullet train is called shin-kansen. The neighborhood we are at is called Shinjuku. And today we went to Shin-Yokahama, a western suburb of Tokyo, where we spent the day at Chinatown, the waterfront and the Shinyokahama Ramen Museum, a monument to a national staple. Unlike other museums, it is entirely interactive: you are brought back to a train station town of the 1950’s where there are 8 fully operating ramen restaurants, real branches of real ramen restaurants from around the country. In two sittings (thanks for the free multiple reentries), I polished off 5 bowls of extraordinary ramen. I was kind of hurting afterwards, but it was well worth it. At Chinatown, found mostly kitch, but also saw Henchinrou, the restaurant that beat Iron Chef Chen after 3 tries.

    More fish market tomorrow.

  • Road Show

    Sunday morning: subway to Roppongi to attend a mass at the Fransciscan Center in memory of the Pope. Meet P’s friend M in Ginza. Drove to Uneo to see the cherry blossom festival and view the Tokyo National Museum, where P bought an authentic wood cut print. Drive to another undisclosed location where we had tempura donburi, aka fried battered foods on rice. We parked at a garage where the car is put on a carosel and then put into a computerized elevator. Visited another temple site were we all received bad fortunes. Went to the 100 Yen Plaza, the Japanese equivilent to our 99 cent stores, where we picked up instant ramen, drinks and unusual cotton swabs with ear wax scrapers. Went up to the top of Tokyo Tower, which is basically a 100 m version of the Eiffel Tower. Good views though. Hello Kitty tourist trap on the ground floor. Went back to the hotel tired and beat, and hoping for sushi in the morning.

  • The Long and Winding Road

    Quick recap of today’s trip: went down Shinjuku Dori (Ave.), saw oodles of camera and computer shops, found Isitan department store, had lunch at an Okanowan restaurant, took the train to Shubya, bought sake, crossed the maddening intersection in Lost in Translation. Searched for my friend’s bakery, which turned out near the Norway Embassy and a commuter train station. Had apple pie and cheese cake, took the train back to Shubya. Walked up Meiji Dori (Ave.) Encountered a New York hot dog vendor. Crossed through Harajuku, which is mostly like the East Village (and saw the girls with wild outfits and big blond hair). Had crepes, then walked north past Times Square and back to Shinjuku. Total trip about 2 miles.

    This trip has been overshadowed by the path towards the boundaries of life and death. My father, Terry Shrivo, and now the Pope, may they rest in peace. It has been a time of reflection that everyone needs to consider in their own lives as it goes from beginning to end.

  • On the other side of the moon

    Right now it’s sometime past 2 am on Sunday in a lovely 4 star hotel P– got for a steal on Orbitz. Even in Tokyo, your hotel dollar just gets you so much more than in the US. They are also so much more efficient than any thing in the States.

    Trains in Tokyo, once you figure out what you’re supposed to be doing, are not so much worse than the NYC subway. And they are usually within 30 seconds of being on time.

    American Airlines service to Tokyo is probably the best the airline has to offer. Great entertainment system, the food is decent, and good legroom, even in the middle of the aisles. If you’ve been what I been through, things like Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events or Emimem’s Mockingbird are probably not good choices if one wants to maintain composure in the main cabin.

    Onward to Nagoya tomorrow (or today).