Bank Holiday Weekend Day 2

連休二日目はスターウォーズシリーズの新作、「ハン・ソロ／スターウォーズストーリー」を見に行きました。日本では来月公開。
感想：可もなく不可もなく。面白くないわけじゃないけど、面白いわけでもない。「ハン・ソロ」っていう題がついてるけど、ハンの人物描写は浅いし、物語事体もあまりどってことないし。でももともと期待してないのでそんなもんかな。
スターウォーズのメインストーリーの方のエピソード８にとてもがっかりだったのでそれに比べたらよかったかな。
スターウォーズシリーズの中で唯一面白いと思うのはスピンオフの「ローグ・ワン」だけかな、なんて言ったらスターウォーズファンに怒られるかな。

Second day of the 3-day holiday weekend. MOTH and I went to see Solo. While it wasn't bad, it wasn't good either.

Despite the title "Solo," the movie doesn't really explore who Han Solo is other than showing episodes of how he met Chewy or how he got the Millennium Falcon. Emilia Clark's character is so weak and pointless, and the story as a while is pretty weak. But, as usual, I wasn't expecting anything good anyway so not a huge disappointment.

By the way, the only Star Wars movie I would say is worth watching is Rogue One. I am sure the Star Wars fan would hate me saying that.

Rogue One

映画スターウォーズシリーズのスピンオフ（エピソード３と４の間の話）が木曜日に公開されて、土曜に早速見に行ってきました。なんか、近所の映画館、価格破壊？かと思うような、全館、全入場料たった５ドルという驚きの安さでした。
ちなみに映画は、結構よかったです。１話完結なのがいい。スターウォーズシリーズの中ではもしかして一番好きかも。

Star Wars series' new spin-off movie (story between Episode III and IV), Rogue One opened Thursday and we already went there on Saturday. I'm not particularly a Star Wars fan, so I actually like this movie the best of all Star Wars movies. (I like the movie that ends in one movie)

What was crazy was that for some reason, the theater in our neighborhood has gone down its admission price to $5 for all admission, for any screen including Imax/3D (I watched the regular one since I don't like 3D). Five dollars for 7 o'clock show. I would go to movies more often if they can keep the $5 price.

The Martian

マット・デイモン主演の映画「オデッセイ」の原作本、「火星の人」を読みました。
そして読み終わった翌日に映画も見ました。

この予告編は無駄にドラマチックにできてるけど、映画はもっとドライで、小説は映画以上にドライです。
そしてやっぱり映画よりも小説のほうがおもしろかったです。

火星に一人取り残された宇宙飛行士のワトニーが、植物学者の知識と技術者の知識、そして化学の知識を駆使して火星に残された物資を使って救出隊が来るまで（もしくは次の有人火星探索器が来る４年後まで）生き残ろうとする物語です。

映画ではかなりはしょられてしまったけど、小説では宇宙船の仕組みとか、探索器の設計とか、酸素とか水素とかを使ってどうやって水を作ったりするかとか、ものすっごく詳しく説明されてて、まだ現実化はされていないSFであるにもかかわらず、ぜんぜん「ありえる」って思える内容です。
そして主人公のワトニーがとても皮肉屋で、読んでて飽きないです。

映画を見てから小説を読むと、映画も楽しめて、小説も楽しめていいと思う。

I read The Martian by Andy Weir, and as soon as I finished reading, I watched the movie version with Matt Damon.
As is the case for most movie adaptation, I like the book better.

This is a story of an astronaut left behind on Mars trying to survive until the rescue comes (or the next Mars mission comes in 4 years) utilizing his knowledge as a botanist and mechanical engineer, and what we have at hand.

The movie wasn't bad. It just omitted a lot of good stuff from the book, which was the actual science part. In the book, the protagonist explains a lot of how the spaceship works, how he can create oxygen or water from the machine and fuel he has, etc, etc. Though this is supposed to be a near future science fiction, the explanation of the science and the Mars mission makes this book feel very plausible.

I really like the protagonist's personality in the book. He is dry, witty, and very sarcastic.
It was a light book and very entertaining. I enjoyed it.

Nausicaa

何年かぶりに「風の谷のナウシカ」を見ました。ナウシカは私の中では宮崎映画の最高傑作。
もう泣かないかな、と思ったけど、やっぱりラストシーンでジーンときた。
ちなみに時々、久石譲のジブリコンサートを聞きながら裁縫したりします。

I watched "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind". Also found this Nausicaa and Force Awakens mush-up video.

Nausicaa is an animated film made by an Academy Award winning director, Hayao Miyazaki. This is by far my most favorite Miyazaki movie, and one of my most favorite movies ever. It is just a great movie.

It had been many years since I last watched it. I thought I would not cry this time, but I still got watery eyes at the end. When the movie first came on TV, I was 8 years old. I was so wanting to watch this movie, and I was so excited at 9 o'clock at night when it started on TV. To this day, I clearly remember that night when I just could not stay awake after 20 minutes and fell asleep.

I've never seen it in a dubbed version but apparently some famous actors (including Uma Thurman, Mark Hamil, and Shia Labouf) did the voice-over.

Force Awakens

縁があって、スターウォーズの新作を公開初日の最初の回に見ることができました。
それも３Dで。３Dは頭痛くなるから好きじゃないんだけど、最初の10分以降はそれほど気にせずにみることができました。
コスプレーヤーを楽しみにしてたんだけど、ジェダイがちらほらいた以外は皆さん普通の格好で、ちょっと残念。（まぁ、私も仕事帰りの服だけど）

Thursday morning, I noticed that the electric message board over the highway said "Trust the Force, but buckle up." Turns out, the Department of Transportation likes to put the message with a slight joke to get drivers' attention, and it was not their first time using movie/cultural reference.

I was working on a deadline at work all morning, and had to skip lunch to get everything ready by the 3 o'clock meeting. When I was done with the meeting, I got a message from MOTH that he had brought two extra sandwiches home from his lunch meeting. Yes! I don't have to cook dinner! Since I was so starving, I worked my 8 hours and left the office at 4.

I got home around 4:30. MOTH was already home (it was his last day of work until after the New Year's). I was about to go change my clothes to walk the dogs, and he got a  phone call on his work cell phone. He goes: "Yeah, I'm already home.... Oh really? That's great... Do you want me to pick you up? ...Ok, I'll see you in a bit" then he turned to me and said "We are going to the Star Wars movie tonight, so don't change your clothes." I guess the Force was with me, huh? I shoved the sandwich in my stomach in 10 minutes ;)

So, yeah, I was able to watch the new Star Wars movie on the opening night for the first showing. It feels like I was part of the history, considering it was probably the biggest movie opening ever.

What was disappointing though was that there were only so few cosplayers at the theater. I was expecting the whole cosplay party, but alas, no. There were a few Jedi and a Padme, and that was it.

Anyway, it had been a couple of years since we went to a movie theater last so it was fun.

"Edge of Tomorrow"

トム・クルーズ主演の映画、「オール・ユー・ニード・イズ・キル」を最初に見たのはもうけっこう前なんだけど、原作が日本の小説だったってオットに言われるまで知らなかった。
オットが原作を読みたいというので図書館で借りて（英語翻訳版）、オットが読み終わった後で私も読んでみました。

感想は、ちなみに、イマイチ（爆）話が、ではなく、文章のテンポやスタイルが（翻訳だからか？）。めずらしく、原作より映画のほうが良かったです。
締めに映画版も見直してみました。やっぱりトム・クルーズ映画は、なんだかんだ言ってちゃんとどれもいい娯楽作品なのがすごい。

I had watched Tom Cruise's recent movie, Edge of Tomorrow, a while ago and I did not know that it was based on a Japanese light novel, "All You Need Is Kill."
The Man of the House wanted to read it so I got it from the library and I read it after he was done.

Well, this is one of the rare occasion that I say the movie was better than the book.
I did not like the writing style and tempo of the story. It was just not good writing and I had to force myself to finish it. Thank goodness it was a "light" novel.

As it has been the routine, we finished the book with the movie. The movie is quite different from the book actually, so nothing redundant.

I also watched The Bourne Identity right after Edge of Tomorrow, not knowing it was done by the same director. I really like The Bourne series. Maybe I should read the original novel... (if only I could read faster.)

Movie: Begin Again

もうひとつお勧め映画。先日のOnceと同じ監督の作品。っていうか、こっちを実は先に見てOnceを知ったのだけど。
キーラ・ナイトレーとマーク・ラファロの映画、「はじまりのうた」を見ました。

よく考えると内容はとてもOnceと似ています。
妻に浮気され、酒びたりになっている元超有名音楽プロデューサーと、一緒に音楽を作ってきた彼と一緒にニューヨークに来たものの、有名になっていく彼においてけぼりの上浮気されて傷心の女性が出会って一緒にデモアルバムを作る話。
Onceと同じように、音楽がとてもいいです。
そしてやっぱりとってもプラトニック。
この監督、なかなかやるな。
予告編はこちら。

One more movie worth mentioning: Begin Again. Actually I watched this first and found Once.
Come to think of, it is very similar to Once.

The guy Mark Ruffalo plays used to be a famous producer but his old fashion philosophy of music making does not go well with the current trend and got fired by the record company he founded.
The girl Keira Knightley plays comes to New York with his boyfriend who she has made music together since uni but feels left behind as the boyfriend (Maroon 5 guy) becomes famous and eventually cheats on her.
The guy hears the girl sing at the open mic night and they decide to make a demo album of her music.

Again, I really like the music. Also, it's very platonic. That platonic aspect really tickles me, who has gotten used to the American, Hollywood storytelling.
Anyway, I really like the director's taste of music. I even like the Maroon 5 guy's song in the movie:

Movie: Once

久しぶりに人にお勧めしたくなる映画を見ました。
ちょっと古いんだけど「Once ダブリンの街角で」という2006年の映画。

何年も付き合っていた恋人に浮気されて、傷心でダブリンの街角で弾き語りをする男性と、道で雑誌や花を売ったりして生計をたてているチェコ出身の女性が、音楽を通して親しくなる、とてもプラトニックな話です。
何がいいって、音楽がとても良かったです。
とってもインディーな、ハンディカムで撮ったんですか、な感じな低予算映画にもかかわらず、どうもメインテーマ曲はアカデミー賞受賞していたらしいです。何で今まで知らなかったんだろう、この映画。
予告編はこちら。

It's been a while since I watched a movie worth mentioning.
I just watched "Once."
A broken-hearted busker meets a street vendor girl in a Dublin street corner and gets to know each other through music. Very platonic.

What was so good about this movie was the music. The music had the perfect tone for the movie, and I just like watching people play and sing for real.
It is a very indie movie with low budget and the texture is almost documentary film like quality, but it just works that way.
I can watch the guitar store scene over and over. The song won an Oscar. How come I did not know anything about this movie until now.

Binge Watching Anime Days

ご無沙汰しております。元気です。

しばらく仕事が猛烈に忙しく、基本的に残業禁止なので勤務時間中の仕事密度が非常に高く、家に帰ってきたら全くやる気無しな毎日でした。

そんなわけで、映画見る気もおきないぐらいやる気無しな時に、ちょうど良く、利用しているストリーミングサービスで大量に日本のアニメが加えられて、毎晩アニメばっかり見てました。

ストリーミングサービスのいいところは、シリーズ全話一挙同時公開なので、どか食いならぬ、「どか見」で、いやになるまで何話も見続けられること。
もちろん逆を言えばマジでいやになるまで見続けるという罠にはまってしまうんだけど。

見たアニメ：
１．サムライチャンプルー。動画。

パチスロもあるらしいね。
江戸時代のお話。
「面白いよ」とお勧めはしないけど、ヒップホップ調にかっこよく仕上がっていて、暇つぶしにはいいです。

２．シドニアの騎士。
宇宙を舞台にロボット戦闘機に乗って繰り広げられるSFです。
っつかこれ、結構新しいのね。日本でも公開が２０１４年で、アニメシリーズを凝縮した劇場版がまさにただいま絶賛公開中とか。動画。

そしてシーズン２が４月から始まるらしい。日本では。気になるな。
これは結構楽しめたよ。続きが気になる、ぐらい。
でもストーリーが非常に「エンダーのゲーム」に「マクロス」を足した感じで、新鮮味は無かったです。

３．マクロスプラス。
そんな感じでついでにマクロスプラスも見てみた。これはストリーミングじゃなくて、オットが個人的に所有している、おそらく彼の最も好きなアニメです。動画。

４．デスノート。
昔、藤原君がやってた実写映画を見ようとしたけど、あまりにふざけた出来の映画だったので最初の１０分であきらめたりしました。
アニメは全部見たわよ、全３７話。長かった。動画。

最初は結構続きが気になってみたけど、後半は無駄なストーリーで惰性、という感じでした。
ま、主人公が悪役なんで、後味良く終わらせるのが無理な話なんだけど。

まとめ。
私はやっぱりアニメを見るよりも漫画を読むほうが好きです。
あぁ、なんか新しい、面白い漫画よみたいなぁぁぁぁ。

I have been binge watching anime on Netflix.

1. Samurai Champloo.
Well, this is not something I would highly recommend to other people, but it easy watching to kill some time.

2. Knights of Sidonia.
Basically, it was Ender's Game plus Macros.
I liked it. I'm looking forward to watching the second season.

3. Macros Plus.
After watching Sidonia, the Man of the House had to watch Macros Plus. It is one of his most favorite animes. So we watched it, for umpteenth time.

4. Death Note.
I enjoyed the beginning because well, it was interesting to have a main character as the bad guy.
But they should have ended when the 1st stage ended.
Kind of like the TV series Dexter. I enjoyed the first couple of seasons but then it got boring because you'll never catch the murderer because if you do, you end the story.

Conclusion:
I like watching certain anime, but I prefer reading manga much better.
Oh, how I long for reading good manga...

Into the Wild

また見た。映画「イントゥ・ザ・ワイルド」。

何度見ても、がつっとくる。
エディ・ヴェダーのサントラが、また、ものすごくはまる。

Watched Into The Wild.
Oh, how many times have I seen this movie now. 5 times? I have a book, too, but the movie is much better. No matter how many times I have watched it, it still gives me a body blow.
Sean Penn knows how to make a very manly cool movie.

The Wind Rises

宮崎映画、「風立ちぬ」見ました。

前回オットと日本に行ったときに公開間近でポスターが張ってあったのを見てから、１年半たってやっと見れました。

期待超えた！
大人な映画だね。「紅の豚」並に。そして「紅の豚」並に、飛行機に対するロマンであふれているね。

とてもよく出来てたと思う。私は好きよ、これ。最近の宮崎映画の中では「もののけ姫」以来に好きと言える映画。私の中で、一番はナウシカで、2番はラピュタで、3番はトトロなんだけど、その横に「紅の豚」とともに並べていいぐらいだと思う。

Watched The Wind Rises.

A movie based on a life of a real-life aircraft engineer, Jiro Horikoshi, who designed the Zero fighter, most famously known as an airplane used by the Kamikaze suicide fighters during the WWII.

It was a very beautiful movie. I usually do not describe a movie as beautiful, but this movie was. Also like one of the actors said in the special feature, it was shamelessly romantic, both the love of flying and the love story of Jiro and Nahoko.

First of all, characters' movements were very carefully drawn, like the way a guy gets a pack of cigarette out of his pocket and the way he lights the cigarette, especially. The background is drawn in detail, and overall, the hand-drawn animation feels very warm and it has depth to it.

Also, of course this being the Miyazaki movie, the flight sequences are so quintessential Miyazaki movie and romantic. And, ah, the dream sequences, too.

To summarize, this move was VERY Miyazaki, every bit Miyazaki. Done very carefully and done in a way that every frame counts and planned for.

If somebody ask me my top 3 of Miyazaki movies, I would say: #1-Valley of the Wind, #2-Castle in the Sky, and #3-My Neighbor Totoro. This list stays. But I don't think The Wind Rises was less than these 3. It's like, well, it is not dramatic like Valley of the Wind or Castle in the Sky and it's just not like Totoro, but it's kind of Porco Rosso. It is a very mature movie. Not for a little kid to fantasize.

Obviously, we watched this movie in Japanese with English subtitles, so I did not hear any of the English voice over and I did not even know who did the voice. But the special feature had some interviews of the voice over actors and well, I guess this movie was pretty much a family movie: Stanley Tucci, Emily Blunt, and her husband, whose name I don't even really know. I might watch it again in English.

Mudbloods

ドキュメンタリー「Mudbloods」を見ました。スポ根好きなので良かったです。

Mudbloodとはハリー・ポッターで、魔法界の人が人間界出身の魔法使いをちょっとさげすみを含めて呼ぶ名前で、このドキュメンタリーは人間界のクィディッチ（ハリー・ポッターが魔法学校でやるスポーツ）の話。
人間界のは飛べないので箒を股に挟んでやるハンドボールみたいなものです。でも箒にまたがって走ってるからって甘く見てはいけません。私が行っていた大学でも、芝生で箒にまたがってクィディッチやってる人いたよ。
予告編：

ちなみにYouTubeで全編見れるようですよ。

Watched Mudbloods.
It is a documentary about Muggle Quidditch. Yes. I like Harry Potter and I own all the books, hardcovers, of course.

Muggle Quidditch is kind of like handball on a broom. I guess handball is not quite popular here so usually described as similar to basketball and soccer.
I have seen Muggle Quidditch in real life actually. There was a team? or a group of people playing in the grass common area at the college I went to.

It was a fun watch. Looks like a full length movie on YouTube too.

Movie: Lone Survivor

映画「ローン・サバイバー」を見ました。

星三つ？
悪くはなかったです。ネイビーシールズ（海軍の特殊部隊）のアフガニスタンでの「レッドウィング作戦」という暗殺作戦実行中にタリバンに見つかり、必死で生き残った人の話。
映画の内容を前もって知らずに見ていたら、あれ、あたし、この人のインタビュー見たことあるな、と思った。
実際にあった話の映画化なんだけど、私、去年ぐらいにこの生き残った人のインタビューを見ていたわ。
テログループの首謀者の暗殺計画なんていうと映画の話みたいなんだけど、そういうのを普通にアメリカってやってるんだな、と思うと感慨深くなる。

Watched Lone Survivor.
★★★
I did not know what the movie was about before I started watching it, and in mid-movie, I realized I had scene the interview of this guy who survived the Operation Red Wings.
A story like this, a story of assassinating a terrorist group leader by a military special operation team like Seals, is like a movie to me, but then this is based on a true story and I heard the interview of this guy telling what it was like. It made me realize that military personnel in this country are being trained and sent to do these operations for real. That's a lot to take in.

Movie: Secret Life of Walter Mitty

ベン・スティラーの映画、「LIFE!/ライフ」を見ました。

星４つ！
前半は空想シーンが多くて現実味がちょっぴりかけて心配だったんだけど、後半はとても良かったです。とても大切に作られた感がある、心にしみる映画でした。
ベン・スティラーが監督もしてたのね。高感度大アップ。

Watched The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.
★★★★
I was a bit worried at the first half. A bit too much fantasy for my taste. But I really liked it once he started the journey to find Sean Penn. I could feel that Ben Stiller put a lot of effort in it. And I only realized that it was directed by Ben Stiller at the end-roll.
I know this is not a blockbuster movie in any way, but definitely a move worth watching and recommending to others. It seeped into my heart. Not a dramatic movie or a funny movie either, but I really liked it.

映画 Backdraft

「ザ・タワー」を見た後で、やっぱり次はあれを見なくちゃね、ということになり、なつかしの映画、「バックドラフト」を見ました。
星三つ。

火は生き物ですね。
ちなみに料理の鉄人のテーマソングです。
バックドラフトとは、密室などで火災が起きたときに、一旦燃え上がった火が、室内の酸素が不足することで鎮火状態になる時に、火がヒュルヒュルッと後戻りする様子です。鎮火状態になっても室内では可燃ガスが増え、ここでドアを開けたりして新鮮な空気が取り込まれると、ガス爆発みたいにどわーっと火が出てくるわけですね。

Watched Backdraft.
★★★
We must love Kurt Russell. I don't know why. Not that I like Kurt Russell but somehow many of the movies the Man of the House chose to watch tend to star Kurt Russell.

Anyway, since we watched The Tower, we thought we had to watch Backdraft and it was on Netflix conveniently. It must have been part of the Netflix algorithm. Considering how much Kurt Russell we watch, I'm surprised that Backdraft hadn't been on top of the Netflix recommendation.

映画 The Tower

韓国映画の「ザ・タワー　超高層ビル大火災」を見ました。
星三つ。

前半部分は演技もくさいし、なんていうか、これでもか！ってほどにありきたりな展開でどうしようかと思ったけど、火災が発生してからはそれなりに楽しめました。
逆に言えば火災が発生するまでが無駄に長すぎる。
でも夏見る超大作！みたいなノリで見るにはちょうど良かったかも。

火災はクリスマスイブに起こるんだけど、韓国のクリスマスって、日本とあまり変わらないのね？
サンタクロースが乗ったクリスマスケーキとか作ってケーキやさんが大繁盛するのは日本だけかと思った。

予告編はこれ：

Watched a Korean move, The Tower.
★★★

The first half was not that great. I thought of stop watching it. The acting is terrible and all the character back stories are all so cliche and over-used that you know exactly what would happen to these characters later on.
It got better once the fire started. They should have started the fire earlier.
So, overall, at the end, it wasn't too bad.

What was interesting was that the Koreans celebrate Christmas kind of the same way Japanese do. I thought it was only Japanese who would order "Christmas cake" with a Santa on it.

Jake Shimabukuro: Life on Four Strings

ウクレレ演奏者ジェイク・シマブクロのドキュメンタリーを見ました。

日本では有名なのか？なんか今まさに苗場でやってるフジロックに出演中だし（それももう3回目とからしい？）、日本ツアーもあるのね。やっぱり日系だから日本はおいしいマーケットでしょうか。
私は2年ぐらい前にラジオで彼が演奏するクィーンのボヘミアンラプソディーを聞いたのが初めてす。

今年はおらが街にもツアーで来てたみたいだけど、残念ながら見逃しました。
会社の人が見に行って、絶賛してた。

ウクレレというものすごく小さな楽器の中で、そんな限界を感じさせない演奏が出来るってすごいね。
速弾きしてるのを見ていたオットが、イングヴェイ・マルムスティーン（ものすごい速弾きギターで有名）と一緒にやったら面白いね、なんて言ってたけど、面白そう。

Watched PBS documentary, Jake Shimabukuro: Life on Four Strings.

I first heard him playing Bohemian Rhapsody on the radio a few years ago. I was kind of surprised how young he was watching this documentary.
During the documentary, it showed a snippet of him playing on TED Talk. Was he even on TED Talk? How did I miss it? (Both the Man of the House and I are sort of TED Talk junkies)
And he is even playing at Fuji Rock right now too.

I know nothing about ukulele or music in general for that matter, but I like his music a lot. I like how expressive he is with his music and his nice-guyness shows through his music.

映画 The Delta Force

Watched The Delta Force. Don't ask me why.
★★★

This might have been my very first Chuck Norris movie. I guess he like the round kick.
I had only known him as a joke (in very honorable way) and I actually kind of enjoyed watching actual movie to see how over the top he is. I mean, he does not over act, his character itself is a joke. I had a good laugh at many parts of the movie (like when he shoots a missile from his motorcycle but not only from the ones on the front but also uses the one on the back).
Well, I guess 80's movies are all over the top and joke.

映画 Alan Partridge

Watched Alan Partridge.
★★

Maybe it is because I had no knowledge of Alan Partridge before and that I had never seen Coogan doing Partridge before.
It was disappointing.
It was not just it wasn't funny, but the whole movie did not have the right tempo, right dialogue, and right chemical. Nothing worked.
IMDB had 7 starts. Really?

映画: The Battered Basters of Baseball

Watched Battered Bastards of Baseball.
★★★★

It is a Netflix original documentary about a single-A independent professional baseball team, Portland Mavericks, created by Kurt Russell's father, Bing Russell.

It is a short film, just over an hour, but it was well made and the story is very interesting. I'm surprised no one has made it into a "based on a true story" movie yet.
It is a typical David and Goliath story, but it's in real life, with American dream in this very American institution of baseball. The team lasted only a few years but even how the team ends is a story in and of itself.
It is worth watching.