okinawa

i went to ishigaki 2 weeks ago. it's one of the many islands that make up okinawa. ishigaki is one of the southern most islands that make up okinawa. it's so unlike japan it is easy to forget that everyone speaks japanese. there are no tall buildings on ishgaki, only a tincan airport, lush trees and jungle. we had mildly tropical weather and clean skies. thin grey roads cut through the nature, like grooves on a shell. hotels and farms dot the landscape. the island is surrounded by reef and coral. we went snorkeling almost everyday and the sea was teeming with varicoloured fish. even 10 metres out to sea, there were shoals of wiggling colour flashing past us; some even following us as we swam.

we took a day trip to another island called iriomote jima. this island was even more wild: only 2000 people lived there. we went trekking through part of the mangrove jungle, and our guide took us to a waterfall crashing down a grey cliff face. below the waterfall was a rock pool, almost perfectly rectangular, as if it was carved for people to swim in; which we did. we could go under the waterfall and watch it shoot over our heads and jump off nearby boulders. as we took a boat trip down the river, i half expected spears to come flying out of the darkness. along the river, thousands of tiny clay crabs kept us company and friendly lizards scuttled through the leaves.

i am back in the city now. autumn is approaching. tis a season of smog and yellow fruitlessness.


legends

i recently read a tribute to marlon brando. as usual the article waxed lyrical about brando, method acting, streetcar, on the waterfront, oscar night, weight problems, godfather, 80 years old; but what most interested me was the definition of legends. i think there are 2 ways to be a legend. first: is to die early. have a brief but immaculate career. get dead before the frog song and i just called to say i love you. never make rocky and bullwinkle or rocky V. there are loads of examples: james dean, jim morrison...

the other way is to have a comeback. start off brilliantly and then become really lazy and disillusioned and then comeback better than before. what the hell did brando do between waterfront and godfather? some musicals, superhero film... all pap. then he did godfather and apocalypse now. legend. one near perfect thing to be happy, two to be a legend. we await martin and robert to have one more fling.


i live my dream today

i watched some films recently. coincidently they were all war films, and incidentally they were all viewed from the losing side. i watched all quiet on the western front, tombstone for fireflies and cold mountain.

all quiet on the western front is from the views of young german soldiers during world war I. it is bloody brilliant. i'm not a fan nor expert on war films, but this film has influenced nearly every war film i have seen. made in 1930, it's influence stretched up to and probably beyond saving private ryan, taking pot shots at full metal jacket, cross of iron, born on the 4th of july and MASH to name a few. seminal.

tombstone for fireflies is japanese animation, again from miyasaki. it is set in kobe in 1945 as the americans were dropping incendiary devices on the city. not really political, it traces the fortunes of a teenaged brother and his younger sister, trying to survive as their mother is killed during a raid, and their father is sent to war. words to describe it: human axis, involving, sad, strength, turmoil. i really enjoyed it, and it doesn't flinch despite being a cartoon: as the mother dies, maggots are seen crawling out of her flesh as they peel away her bandages.

cold mountain is that jude and nicole film. just a few words. hoffman is great to watch in any movie. jude still lacks movies star appeal. i loved the clothes getting ripped off a man as the gunpower explodes bit. there are also 2 bob dylan reference in it. do you know them? i'll tell you at the end of this post.


commentry

i bought a dvd player. the bonus features range from the utterly utterly shite to the brilliant. america pie 3 commentary is shite. both of them. jason biggs is a moron. cold mountain commentary is brilliant. good girl commentary is pretty good. serendipity commentary is pretty good. finding nemo commentary is brilliant. 40 days and 40 night commentary is poor. i'm gonna chill out, with my drill out.


cold mountain: jack white, white stripes, 7 nation army, b sides; brendan gleeson's song he singing at the campfire: dylan's as good as i've been to you/world gone wrong.