Weekend Update with Norm… I Mean, Me.
Originally published at synaesthesiaJP. You can comment here or there.
Nice weekend these past few days.
I took Friday off and went with Mai to Universal Studios Japan. I quite like their Hollywood Dream roller coaster, even if it is incredibly tame. It has some good elements.
I doubt anyone remembers, but iNgen was the name of the genetics company in Jurassic Park. I loved that movie so much, I wanted to be a geneticist in elementary school.
After USJ, we hit up Chicago Rib Co., where I indulged in some tasty baby backs and breaded chicken wings. They were excellent as always, but I prefer the ribs at Outback. Anyone want to go with me?
After that, I saw Ratatouille, which was brilliant, genius, and exceed my lofty expectations at every turn. I absolutely adore that movie. It proves that no matter the medium, plot/story is essentially about crafting a common human experience in varying molds. You could teach a course on this and use Ratatouille as the text. It is essentially the same plot as Cyrano de Bergerac; however, it makes interesting decisions all along the way. The movie was about food and a rat, but it could have been about motorcycles and a cripple, or artists and a blind man. Absolutely excellent.
Saturday I was lazy all day with Mai, then at night I DJed at an event called Eden. It was small, but quite fun.
Eden @ Cauliflower Osaka 2007.07.28
Finally, today I slept off the long night, and watched an excellent film from Hong Kong called Protege. It is a Derek Yee movie starring Daniel Wu, Andy Lau, and Zhang Jingchu (who will be in Rush Hour 3 and is absolutely captivating). I can only describe it as Requiem for a Dream meets Infernal Affairs, with more Requiem elements than Infernal Affairs. Ultimately, it is flawed in parts, but it doesn’t compromise for a happy ending and it leaves you with both questions and a message. Definitely seek it out if you can find it.
On the gaming front, I beat Rainbow Six Vegas, which had one of the worst endings ever. I really loved the game, and I can’t wait to dig into multiplayer; however, I was turned off by the ending. That being said, I can wholeheartedly recommend the game for fans of shooters. It was good fun to think about how to approach situations, and it doesn’t have the skull crushing difficulty of previous R6 games. I’m also getting into Minna no Golf 5, which is quite fun. I haven’t tried the online yet beyond browsing the lobby, but I am looking forward to getting into it.
I also bought the 20th anniversary Metal Gear boxset.
