Gaijin

Saw Gaijin, a film directed by a Japanese Brazilian woman named Tizuka Yamasaki.  My qualms:

• The director rushed the ending: how did the main character (Chitoe) become well-to-do after escaping from the coffee plantation was not well explained.
  
• Most of the spoken scenes follow one and another very tightly but I would prefer some wordless scenes to convey to viewers the atmosphere of the coffee plantation. Show a scene overlooking the whole plantation from a hill for example. Show the surroundings.  I think they could use a little bit more wide-angle scenes.
  
• Furthermore, it was difficult for me to grasp the layout of the plantation; the locations of the boss’ house in relation to the worker’s houses as well as the plantation itself was not really clear and established so that the viewer can relate to right away.  Usually films with fixed, repetitive locations like this one could use some establishment shots to transport the viewer into the physical space of the film.

Despite the problems I had with it, I thought the film provided a fairly accurate historical account of the hardship that Japanese had suffered when they immgrated abroad to Brasil during the early 20th century.

Moulin Rouge

What better to spend a rainy Friday night watching a good movie?  Tonight I caught Moulin Rouge on DVD: boy I was really hooked with how they combined the pop and rock music our times with fantastic choreography. It was hilarious they managed to incorporate “Smells like Teen Spirits” into one of the songs, but if I have to pick my favorite scene it would definitely be the tango. Highly recommended.

Old Houses

Ever have an urge to go and check out the old houses where you once lived? As the author of this story writes, “To go back is to reinhabit, for a moment, selves lost in the past.” I know I would like to go back to the apartment where my adolescent self spent many a time waging wars with my bros, and staring across the harbor at airplanes descending to a airport during frequent bouts of homework procrastination.

Radio themes

Before I move this blog to www.burabura.netI am trying to design a simple look (called “themes” in Radio parlance) for it. (You may have noticed the page is changing little by little every time you come here.) I have been using a default “Woodlands” theme that is provided by Radio but after a while I have begun to crave for a more personalized look.  So please bear with me for a while as I fumble with HTML…

Rain, rain, rain. Golden Week

Rain, rain, rain. Golden Week ended but I didn’t figure out how to reduce junk in my apartment. Not all time was lost, because I discovered one more good version of Jobim’s How Insensitive from an unexpected musician.

Since my sleep schedule was screwed up by the hoildays, I will try to go back to a sleep-early-rise-early pattern again.  Wish me luck and good night…

Save Internet radio

Americans, please help save internet radio! If you want to know why or how, details here.