Movies ahoy!!!

Heyo ho everyone,
So Summer is upon us!!!
And I have to say how different it is over here. The weather is bakingly hot and humid to boot, finding it hard sometimes to cope but I'm giving it my best shot (^_^)
The rain season looks like it is over so it looks like plain sailing from here, well apart from the typhoons but they coms later :P
So work has been ok, but we've been having trouble lately with two teachers leaving us for various reasons so there's been alot of reshuffling. Irritating but nothing to be done.
Other than work I been trying to get myself a ticket to Indonesia for the summer to see my friends wedding. And with the help of a Japanese friend it looks like I've got one!! yay!! going to pick it up today.
Bigger news though is this!! I've found some Badminton clubs!! woohoo!! :))))
One I'm going to try tonight, the other is a bit difficult as they play on Sundays and normally mornings, which is when i play tennis so I'm gonna have to work that one out (@_@)
So Summer!! and what does summer mean!!?? movies!!!!
Like my bro I've seen Pirates of the Caribbean the dead mans chest, and I agree it's not as good as the first. The first seems better put together, this one seems bitty but there are still some nice ideas and johnny depp is always good. Worth a go I think. Havent seen Mission Impossible 3 yet but might do soon. Superman isn't out yet much to my chargrin, not even X-men 2!! (T_T) As well as Pirates I also saw a Japanese film with my friend, which was an experiance.
The film was called Memories of Matsuko.It's a Fantasy/Drama/musical hybrid about a woman named Matsuko (duh!! :P),whose body was found by the river side, and tells the story of how she got there.The film is quite a tragic film but there are also moments of comedy and also lots of singing. Somehow I managed to come out of the film understanding almost everything, which shows how much my listening has improved if nothing else lol.
I would highly recommend seeing it, although you might need subtitles :D
So Superman is coming soon, but before that there's one other film I want to see which is Gedo Senki. It's the latest anime movie from Studio Ghibli and Miyazaki. Those of you unfamiliar with their work, and I have to say what have you been doing!!?? Their movies include My neighbour Totoro, Princess mononoke, Laputa Castle in the sky, and perhaps most famous of all Spirited Away which won an oscar.
Although they are classed as cartoons, or more officially animation, I say unto thee!! Go see one now and you won't regret it!! (^O^)This latest one, Gedo Senki, is based on a book series called The Tales of Earthsea which I have read and recomment highly, which gives me another reason to see it. It'll be all in Japanese but that's a challenge and I like challenges :)))
Well It's my off day so I got to get some ironing (oh what fun!!) so I'll leave you be, ja ne.



S

Summer blockbusters

I've been to see Pirates of the Carribean 2 and Superman Returns in recent weeks, the two big Hollywood films this summer, and they were pretty good to watch.

PotC2 wasn't a patch on the first one mainly because it seemed like it was a string of comedy, action or comedy-action sequences strung together without much thought. It was entertaining at the time but it doesn't fair well in the cold light of day.

Superman Returns was also very entertaining, at least for me, and was reminiscent of Bryan Singer's first X-Men outing with many nods to the Richard Donner Superman films. I thought the plot was decent, though the villain's plan was a bit silly, and it was moderately paced; both traits can be seen in X-Men. As with that first action film this one does give a sense of the world and a feeling for the characters and their dilemmas; so overall I was satisfied.


N

Newcastle's sights

Just a quick post and put up some pictures I took up on my 2nd trip to Newcastle.


There appear to be some rabbits living in that bush right in the University of Newcastle grounds!

N

Sssooo here a late update on something I did durin...

Sssooo here a late update on something I did during my little break two weeks ago.
Most of the holiday was spent watching tele, but with both Wimbledon and the World cup on that was a given (^_^)
However one day in the week, I managed to pull myself away from the tele long enough to get out of the house. Once out in the open I decided to see one of the main tourist sites in Nagoya. Namely the Castle.
It turned out to be a perfect day so I managed to got some nice pictures :))

So first we have a long wide view of the whole thing, a picture of one of the smaller parts and one of a map of the place. Thing i liked most about it was it's white :P. The real castle was destroyed in the ar or something, and this is a reconstruction but it's till pretty old.

The weird thing is though because it is quite new, you'll find some strange things. Like...a frikin lift!! lol!!!

*Some more shots of the outside :)*
So what's on the inside you may ask?








Well it's full of displays showing the history of the castle, as well as some old artifacts.



*Swords,swords,guns and armour yeah baby!! :)))*


Lastly we have a shot from the top.

The castle is 7 floors up, so the view isn't too bad.
After having my fill of the castle I decided to pay a visit to the Noh theatre which was just down the road. I leave you with a few pictures from there, ja ne.





S

It's not so grim up north...

I had another business related trip last week and it was in Newcastle; oddly enough it's a quite pleasant place to visit. I had this preconceived notion that it would be very grey and industrial but it was quite the opposite.

My impressions of the city? Well it's feels far more like a town than a city; there are not very many tall buildings and the roads are quite wide which adds to the openness of the place. It helped that the weather was very good, as it was across the country; in fact I found it a bit too warm for my liking.

I visited the Chinatown up there, unfortunately there didn't seem to be very many of the small shops that serve quick meals. Most seemed to be the stuffy chinese restaurant variety. The main street was also not for pedestrians alone; which made the place feel like any other street rather than a small community. I had the usual roast duck and pork rice that was nice enough and came with brocolli.

The first picture should be easily recognisable to all but the second perhaps not, it's the new music and arts hall that is affectionately known as the armadillo. I walked across the rotatable Millenium bridge but forgot to take a picture...

N

When it rains it pours (T_T)

Hey hey,
So ends another tournament for England :((( we was robbed!!!!
Damn that argentinian referee!! (pardon the french)
Have to say in the last few tournaments the situation has always been stacked against us. Either some's injured or gets sent off!! and then we never lose properly, either it'e fluke (ala Brazil) or its penalties (damn penalties!! pardon the french again).
I'm ranting but I'm annoyed and I have to go back to work tommorow. Everything just piles up on ya when your not looking doesn't it?
So a change of schedule starting this month. Off days are now Friday and Sunday. Going to take some time to get used me thinks.
Anything else to update? well weathers still messed, today was torrential rain followed by clear skys (?_?). Tennis is going well (still no Badminton so whats new :(( ). Twist serve is no very close to completion, in the last session I got about 70-80% over and in (^_^). First serve is getting better, volleys are mostly good. Ground strokes are frustratingly inconsistant. Moments of brilliance punctured by moments of absolute spasticness. Much like my Badminton :P.
Anyway gotta look somethings over for tommorow, so caio for. dewa dewa mata ne.

*will give an update of my much belated trip to the Nagoya castle when I have the time*

S