Film Report -The Artist

Just had another solo-movie outing, and saw The Artist.


Great movie. I liked it. It pulled the whole classic-themed aspect of the film simply well. Too bad they can't make another film like this again - or it'd be really hard to pull off following this one anyway.

Took me back to to the summer of 2001 when I was taking a Literature in Cinema I or II at CSULB, where we were to see a movie every week in classroom. They usually had us see movies that are either black-and-white and silent, or the kinds that you can't rent from Blockbuster.

The music can be, at times, annoying, though. I don't know if that's because of my pre-maternal hormone level, or it's purposefully done that way. I am guessing the later.

Until next time,

Sak

Mu Ga En - House of Philosophy

Found this place 10 min. drive from my flat, Mu Ga En, where visitors get to be philosophical and deeper and stuff. The guidebook said that it was free of charge, so there I was, 10 in the morning, walking into the "House of Philosophy", ready to find serenity within myself.

To my surprise, really, it wasn't too bad. On its premise were a tea ceremony house that anyone can participate without having been properly prepared (no kimono or knowledge of traditional manners for the occasion required) completed with a neatly-kept Japanese garden, and this museum-like building (free to enter) where displays of philosophers' famous sayings and philosophical lines from literature are on the wall, and you can sort of walk around the quiet corridor, haunted by their words and deep in thoughts.

The whole place is quite peaceful. Whether you care about philosophy per se or not, you are bound to calm down with your thoughts and find yourself inhaling deeper as you walk around and feeling good about life...

...or, you can just take advantage of the place for your morning stroll.

Beginning to really like the city I live in.

Until next time,

Sak

Late and Full Bloom

I cannot believe this stalk was 50% off just because, as the clerk said when I questioned if there was something wrong with it, it wasn't "blooming as quickly as others". It had four buds that weren't even colored white yet when I brought it home last week.

Look at them now!

Late bloomers may just be being patient, not procrastinating. Right?

Until next time,

Sak

Getting Older Never Got Better Part II

Summer has arrived early this year! For my feet, at least.

T had placed an order of a pair of yet another Kate Spade goodies on line for my 32nd birthday, apologetic he couldn't do anything on the actual birthday because it fell on Wednesday and he had to work late. Is my husband the best or what?

A pair of Iris flats in orange.

Quite literally can I NOT wait for the sun to start shining more! To hell with the sun allergy, I'm gonna go out with these on!

Thank you, T! Love you!

Until next time,

Sak

Lunch Out

Found a small restaurant on a guide book that serves macrobiotic food. Takes a little bit of drive there, but hello!? A bored-ass housewife spending her hours here! And the weather was so nice and mild, I needed that excuse to go for a ride; driving around randomly without too little purpose comes expensive nowadays in Japan, with the gas price sky-rocketing.

Fukuroh, or night owl, barely accommodates 10 people, if not fewer. At least it looks that way. Macrobiotics isn't something a lot of people in Aichi go for, where strongly-seasoned dishes and high-calorie fried items are preferred on a regular basis. I am surprised it was actually on a guide book. The place was tiny like no tomorrow, but it was as big as they needed. A very nice lady managed the whole place alone, whom I chatted with a bit. She got a certification from Le Cordon Bleu. I was impressed.

The lunch plate is their speciality. And it was good. Not the best I've had as far as macrobiotics goes, but good. It feels detoxifying and I feel cleansed after a macrobiotic meal.

The cake plate comes with a cup of barley coffee. The chestnut tart was probably my favorite.

Until next time,

Sak

Film Report -The Iron Lady

Going to see a movie solo was something I hadn't done in ages. I think it goes back to 1999, when I had the whole weekend wide-open from Friday to Sunday in southern California. I didn't have a part-time job yet, nor much of a friend, really, at that point. My life in the states had been a big fat bore. So to spend the littlest money as possible and still manage to entertain myself outside the house, I would often go to the nearmost theater, Edward Cinema, to have a cinema-rathon of 3 or 4 films. I think back of that time of my life with a bitter sweet sorrow and nostalgia from time to time. I was young and still very uncomfortable with my own self. Things seemed to be happening and I was barely catching up with them, unable to get a hold of the ride at all. It was much later on that I learned how to stay happy enough within the paradigm that's not my control.

I got off track.

Anyhow, it's my 32nd birthday and I wanted to take myself back to that period of time. What was different this time was that I was among tiny Japanese housewives of my mother's age, instead of hefty Caucasians in shorts or Latino teenagers in jeans and thongs, around myself. And instead of a bottle of Snapple and Snowcaps to sneak in, I had oo-long tea and string cheese.


I never really learned about Baroness Thatcher, and wiki-ed her before I headed off to the theater. Had I been a Brit in the years she ruled, I might not have agreed with her political view on things. But I very much liked the film. It did a good job on making me want to read more about her, though, since the film wasn't drawn on the historical and political background of the time period the way one should know to fully get the story.

Until next time,

Sak

Questions

The dongle for my laptop died yesterday. It was bent in a way that was not going to unbend, and I guess the wires in it no longer functioned.

T thought this might not be a bad timing for me to get a new laptop. I got my HP in 2006. He doesn't mean it's ancient, but "it is American." He doesn't mean American laptops suck (they probably do, though), but "it's hard", if at all possible, "to fix it here in Japan if something happens to it." Like losing the dongle, for example, I guess. I am now using T's lPanasonic, and it's freaking tiny I keep hitting the wrong keys. I miss my stupid American laptop.

I mean, we have a history together, you know? It even died of virus once, but gracefully resurrected, thanks to a very talented computer nerd that is my friend Y's husband. I don't watch porn or do illegal downloading of any sort (that no one else is doing), and my laptop is perfectly viable. I can't move onto a new one yet just because I lost the power. I am not ready to let go of it.

What is considered the best retirement age for a laptop these days, I wonder? Is a 6-year-old laptop past its prime? And while I am pondering, here are some more questions I'd like to know the answers to. Will everything be shifting to touch panels in a couple of decades, if not years? Am I the only one thinking of buying yet another cell phone, not an iPhone, if my current cell phone breaks? Am I the only one under age 40 who still likes the idea of reading news on paper, or still enjoys sending friends hand-written cards and letters? Is that pro-global-warning of me to love things in a paper form now? Am I a lame-o the way I think people who still use a paid phone are lame-os?

Until next time,

Sak

P.S. I placed an order for a new dongle on US amazon.com. My HP will live on.

Pretty in Yellow

Found yellow tulips at Ikuta Food and had to get them for the living room.

Now that's a look of spring!

Until next time,

Sak

A New Find Part II

In my previous post was a bakery that I found in the city next to mine. But I found one that's in a walking distance from my apartment today, conveniently located near the library that I love oh so much and go every other day.


Mugi-no-ie, translated "House of Wheat", is open, mysteriously, on Thursday and Saturday only. I am guessing the owner has other means of income. But from what I learned from the brochure they gave me, he or she goes out of his or her way to make good quality bread with all natural and organic ingredients and no artificial additives, strictly macrobiotic. In short, my kind of bakery.

I am trying for a starter their wheat bread, raisin & pumpkin, and brown rice roll. The smell is quite promising already. I can't wait to get hungry this evening (yes, I eat bread for dinner).

Until next time,

Sak

A New Find

Being a huge bread fan, I was in earnest search for a good bakery in perimeter of the new city I live in. And I think I just found one.

Kanon, in Handa City. A 15-min drive from my flat. Really hard to find, even with a GPS I swear, and they don't have a website for me to tag. So good luck if you ever want to find it. But it's listed in every tourist guide book there is of the area.


Forgot to take pics of the place, so I stole one from a website, which I'm sure is frowned upon. Sorry.

Inside the place, two people would barely fit more or less comfortably, but full of flavor a la grain in every bite of the baked creations is promised, I can tell you. They make every single bread hand-kneaded and bake them in a stone oven, and they use flour of superior quality from Hokkaido.

Until next time,

Sak