movie time

i watched 2001: a space odyssey last week. 2 movie critics i respect love this movie. the first is roger ebert. the other is barry norman. it is cited in their respective "greatest movie" lists. i thought it was a bit shite. it's art, with a capital f. it's just less than the sum of it's parts: the apes are good, hal is good, some space effects are good, but; it's high brow fodder. opium for the over educated.

i also watched unforgiven. this is an excellent movie. the first time i saw it, i thought that the little bill character (hackman) wasn't such a bad guy. he just wants peace in his town. there's nothing wrong with that. clint eastwood looks old in that movie. i used to watch rawhide on sunday mornings. the one criticism i have is when the sheriff and his men are torturing morgan freeman, the only black man in the film, and there is no racial slur. am i to believe in the 1890's in a near enough white only town in wyoming (there are a few chinese people) that all racism in the language has been vanquished? it is weird to hear two old guys talking about jacking off too.

yesterday i saw spirited away. it's anime by miyasaki. i loved it. it made me wish i had children so i could show it to them and they could tell me what it's all about.


book

there is a part in the book i am reading about plays. the priest is talking to a canon. the canon is complaining that all the plays performed in spain today are all nonsense. he complains that they are full of miracles, used to delight the audience only. historical and geographical facts are used carelessly to contradict eachother. he laments that the masses flock to these preposterous shows and ignore anything else. the theatre managers say that they have to produce these because this is what the people want: pure fantasy and effect.

hell boy, nothing has changed.


hols

going to okinawa on tuesday. it is typhoon season. no wonder the tickets were so cheap.


errata

james coburn not james caan: magnificent seven.

yes, i am ok

those tremors happened over a week ago now, but 3 nights out of seven, i've dreamt of earthquakes. it's not like those crazy dreams, where anything could happen, but they have all been those ultra realistic dreams, where i've had to ask other people if there actually was an earthquake last night because i don't know if i woke up in the middle of the night or not. i'm living in a house of cards.


sleepless

because of or despite of those dreams, i have also been unable to sleep early for the past ten days. every insomniac has a time limit of trying to get to sleep before having to do something else. my limit is one hour. after that i read. in this limbo between wanting to sleep and not being able to sleep, my concentration is misty. i can't focus on new material, so i always go back to books i have read. re-reading old books is like talking to old friends: you can start wherever you want; you are comfortable in their company even though you're not sure what they are talking about; you always know what they are going to say or do next; you know their flaws and secrets; there is always something new that they want to show you. you can leave and there is no regret or hard feelings. you can return whenever you like know that they will always be the same. you can always pick up where you left off.

most recently: mrs dalloway - virginia wolfe, essays - george orwell, snows of kilimanjaro - ernest hemmingway.


magnificent

watched magnificent seven and hannah and her sisters yesterday and the day before yesterday. both great films. woody allen is untouchable. how can you make a joke about nazis where the punch like is can openers? stunning. magnificent 7 was also great. it's a bit like the wild bunch for kids. makes me want to watch westworld again. james caan was really skinny. only the dead have no fear.


39,360 words

here comes the sun

all i have been hearing for the past few days is about the hammer gold medal being stripped from a guy called annus. all i could think of were the sun's puns into this doping scandal. OIC looking for missing annus. probe into annus. annus opens up and tells all. WORLD EXCLUSIVE: annus speaks to the sun. annus found in frankfurt.


dylan

those two dylan cds are FUCKING EXCELLENT.


earth moved

there were 2 earthquakes in nagoya yesterday. i know i've written about earthquakes before, but these were much bigger than before. i live on the 3rd floor if an old apartment block. when the quake hit, the whole room was shaking. it is almost impossible to describe how it feels when you are stuck in a shaking room, where the bed is walking across the wooden floorboards, the shelf with the tv on is rocking back and forth and the bathroom starts to creak and moan under the strain. everything is swaying, all your clothes you've hung up, the bottles of ketchup on the fridge, the very floor you are sitting on. the second one was slightly bigger than the first and managed to knock cds and cups off the shelves, smashing as they hit the ground. as the tremors approach, you can feel it slowly at first, and then it builds in intensity. a second lasts a minute. as things tremble they create a mismash of beats, like a thousand crazy drummers playing on your furniture. all the safety procedures run through your head. dive under a table, stand in a doorway, don't go outside until it is over, prepare 3 days of food and water... and then it slows to slight murmur and stops, although for you the ground still feels unsteady and you feel slightly nauseous from motion sickness. all that is left is fragments of ceramic and plastic to clean up, and the realisation that you are at the complete mercy of one of those things.

groups of men

i was walking home the other day; through the back street of nagoya. in these back street, the roads are quiet. the odd car occasionally creeps up and down. no children play. no people walk, except me. on this day though, there were other people in these deserted streets. it was a gang of young men is suits. they formed a semi circle around another man, a man in a grey suit, slightly older than the others. i tried not to look as i walked closer, but i couldn't help glancing. the older man was giving a mini speech or some instructions. all the other people bowed repeatedly and simultaneously after every command or sentence. he was like a general commanding his troops. i didn't see any guns, swords or severed heads.


gym

i try to go to the gym twice a week. sometimes a naked man will walk past me in the changing room. this happened again last week. it got me to thinking that homosexuals must have such a good time in changing rooms. it would be like a straight guy going into the girl's changing room.


cd

i bought 2 dylan cds today. world gone wrong and as good as i've been to you. the cd shop had a shit load of bootleg cds, right along side the official ones. i could have bought a recording of dylan's gig in atlanta last year.


war is peace

"Exhibitionism and self-pity are the bane of the novelist, and yet if he is too frightened of them his creative gift may suffer."

he also thinks uncle tom's cabin will outlive the collected works of virginina wolfe.

things i never hear in japan

oi oi!; spare any change?; big issue?; mines a pint please; did you split my pint?; what the fuck you looking at?!; got any ID?; she's well fit; are you on the pull tonight?; chilli sauce?; time gentlemen please.


one year

i have been in japan one year since the 20th aug. i don't feel any big reason to celebrate. let all that want to know, know: that i am doing my thing out here.


kids

i went to osu the other day. it is a popular place in nagoya. it has a big red temple and shops. something interesting happened when i went to take the subway back home. i was walking down the stairs to the platform. it was a long flight of stairs, maybe 30 steps. as i was walking down, i saw a father holding a baby. this father had bleach blonde hair, in a bouffant style. he was holding a baby, and his son was kicking him. his son was about 12 years old. the dad just took all these roundhouse kicks; not saying a word. then mum stepped in. you'd expect mum to pull the kid away, or have a stern work to make him stop. but instead mum lifts her pointy black stiletto into the kid's groin. the kid folds like a bad hand at caesar's palace. the mother smiles at the kid, and gives a "what have i done" kinda smiles. the kid is doubled over until the train comes.

all i can thing is when this kid becomes a serial killer, the parents will say: "we loved him so much" and all kinds of bullshit. they won't realise that they have created this monster: a monster that thinks kicking people is the right kind of discipline.

visa

i went to the immigration office today to extend my visa. the majority of foreigner in japan are from south america, south korea and china it seems. i queued up at two different desks, took two different tickets, got told i was at the wrong counter, queued at another counter, gave someone 50 quid for some revenue stamps, gave someone my passport, waited for my number and then got my passport back with a extension of stay stamp in it. it only took 2 and a half hours.


re reading

i re-read macbeth again. i don't know why, it was just necessary. the last time i read a book twice in a row was 2002. the book was norwegian wood by murikami haruki. it was even better the second time round; then and now.


olympics

the games have started. here are a few things i have read about the games so far: the torch bearing relay ceremony was started by hitler in 1936 as homage to imagined greek tradition. the 5 rings were also popularized by hitler too. the americans have a synchronized swimmer who will go to jail after the games for drink driving. there is also a sailor who has no balls. he overcame testicular cancer to compete in the games. he has to take steroid injections, but it's allowed in this case.


oil

i hear oil prices are at an all time high. i tried to imagine a world without oil. we would be right royally fucked. thank god for those dead dinosaurs.

back

wahay! kevin is back online! where's wally?


new skool

i have been transferred to a new school. my previous school was in tajimi, a small city famous for pottery and ceramics. my new school is in minato ward, which is famous for being the ward which nagoya port is in. it is in a shopping centre and i am the only teacher there. the air conditioning is turned too high and the teacher's room is freezing. i have to teach the same students sometimes 2 or 3 times in a row. i have to teach kids. kids are selfish, greedy, arrogant bastards. don't they know i could crush them like grapes? my big fists could crack their heads like eggs. all they do is run and run and run...


reading

just finished re-reading macbeth by shakespeare. i haven't read it since i was 14 during my GCSE exams. i've only just notice how dark and complex it actually it. macbeth: not such a bad guy. it's the power of suggestion. he can't help himself. he's like an addict. he laments and his perfidy is anguished. by the end, he doesn't even want to fight macduff; he's so tired. and even lady macbeth cannot overcome the guilt so commits the ultimate sin. the witches only talk and play and never directly dictate the action. it's like reading it for the first time again.

i am still reading don quixote: it's just really long, ok?


keane boys

for those that know them: keane are fucking massive in japan now. and ordinary boys are shooting skywards day by day. and i keep hearing jessica simpson sing angels by robbie williams. it is very annoying. she don't know what it means to her.


hols

booked my hols for the summer. going to okinawa for some sun, sea and sand. mr miyagi was from okinawa. i expect to see some very well waxed cars and painted fences.


films

watched shriek 2. it was great. puss in boots was probably the best character. obviously he IS don quixote.


new contract

i have also negotiated a new contract. when i say "negotiated" i mean "been given". i have signed it, so i will be on this crested isle for probably another year longer. there was no signing on bonus, nor percentage points. my agent wasn't even in the room.


heat

i read heat in hmv yesterday. WHO THE HELL ARE ALL THOSE PEOPLE? heat is full of fat, ugly people, showing off their flabby arms, lardy legs and double decker chins. i am losing touch with reality tv.


japanese

since i have been here a year i have decided to write a post in japanese.

hajimemashite. boko wa eigo no kiyoushi desu. ima, nagoya ni sunde imasu. eigurisu ni kimashta. nihon wa totemo kirei kuni da to imoimasu. nihon no tabemono ga dai suke desu. mai nichi taitei gohan o tabemasu. nihon nohouga eigurisu yori atsui desu. yoroshiku onegaishimau.

(word for word translation: i am meeting you for the first time. i am english teacher. now, nagoya i live. england come. japan is very beautiful country i think. japanese food very like. everyday usually rice eat. japan more england than hot. nice to meet you.)

i speak japanese like a 3 year old girl.


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i have bored you enough. go back to your happy lives.