French Toast

French toast is a great way to save day-old or week-old bread! All you need is an egg, some milk and a tad of butter to make a delicious breakfast. Eazy-Peezy - dip the bread in a bowl of "egg-milk", then fry it in a pan of butter till browned. Its great to have some maple syrup or powdered sugar or jam for topping. Some argue that French bread is not a French invention at all. I disagree. After experiencing how incredibly hard French bread gets in a matter of days, I think the French may have very well been the first people to discover this ingenious and delicious method of salvaging stale bread!

Innocence

Filmed in Adelaide Australia in 2000. (not to be confused with the mystery drama made 4 years later)Amazing love story. Fine script and acting. Two seniors rediscover their lost love after a 45 year separation. Seems they broke up at a young age due to parental pressure and then both married different people. It is more complicated than this, the woman is still married and the man has cancer. This film boldly explores life and death and the importance of love at every age. Not your typical Hollywood film! Recommended.

THIRTEEN - teenage drama!

'THIRTEEN' is a startling look at adolescent growing pains! Nice middle class kid meets a charismatic girlfriend and plunges headfirst into drugs, sex, stealing, and parental manipulation. Very real performances by the girls and the parents. Evan Rachel Wood and Nikki Reed play the girls. Holly Hunter plays the struggling mother. 90 minutes plus of real human drama!

The Corporation - a documentary

"The Corporation" was made in 2004 written by Joel Bakin and directed by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott. This Canadian documentary attacks the rise of corporate power. Celebrity filmmaker Michael Moore and scholar Noam Chomsky appear. Dozens of activists and corporate leaders discuss the dangers of a deregulated corporate society. The protection of the corporation as an "individual" under the United States 14th Amendment is introduced. Blind corporate greed is accused of assisting fascist governments, exploiting children, and threatening the global environment. A high point in the film is an episode where masses of Bolivians fight back corporate attempts to privatize water usage. Maybe not the most fun, but this movie is an eye opener and worth watching the full 2 and a half hours of it!

Hibino the Future

Look at this large crane standing in front of the sunset! All around the apartment where I live streets are blinking with caution signs. Apartments are going up before our eyes. (Mansions) A major university is building a Hibino branch. Signs of progress, signs of future congestion too. Well, those of us in Hibino should be proud. We were here first!

After the Sunset

A crime and comedy flick with Pierce Brosnan and Salma Hayek, also Woody Harrelson. This film was made in 2004 but is new to Japanese video stores. 90 minutes of light film watching with scenes from the Bahamas (and California) as a criminal couple evade an obstinate FBI agent. A somewhat predictable plot but likeable actors with fun performances. Nothing deep, but it held my attention. Brosnan, Hayek, Harrelson were fun to watch.

Crash

Damn, this was a good movie! XLNT acting, so real! And a very consistent theme of racism seen from all angles. The photography and action were great. Smart dialogs and most satisfying of all - character development. We can see the characters learn from their mistakes and their behavior changes! This movie deserves the awards it got. Matt Dillon was amazing as the racist cop.

The Machinist

What a weird flick this was! A kind of industrial psychology drama mystery. Sometimes very dark but I couldn't help watching it. The acting and photography were both superb. Actor Christian Bale plays character Trevor Reznik with frightening realism. He goes from thin to skinny and neurotic to psychotic right in front of us. There is some story closure in the end when we find out why he went nuts. No morals here but a frame after frame display of progressively intense existential pain.

Minority Report

Spielberg and Tom Cruise team up to create a SCI-FI action mystery. Who set up Tom Cruise by kidnapping and killing his son? The scene is future 50 years plus. Interesting ideas in the story, a Future Crime Prevention force that employs precognitive people. And a thought provoking element of the story - if you know your future you can change it, but if you don't know your future you will mindlessly create it without a choice. The acting was pretty good. There were many action scenes. I suppose the weakest element of the film was the story itself, a bit unbelievable and with some missing pieces to make it confusing. Still I gave it a "B" for entertainment value, though it was long, nearly 2 and a half hours.

Computer Repairs!

Took apart a Compaq Presario notebook PC and replaced a hard disk drive. But it took a special tool to remove the HD casing it was sitting in. Have you seen a hex lobe driver? I paid 25 dollars for the stupid little tool kit and will probably use it once in a blue moon. And it took the smallest size. Apart from losing a few of the many screws involved I had a fun time with this project. And now the old HD is sitting in an exterior hard disk drive USB device for portable storage.

Italy over France for the World Cup

It looked good for France winning the first goal of the game with a penalty kick via Zidane's expertise. But we hate goals via penalty kicks, don't we? Materazzi for Italy got the next goal of the match by heading in a corner kick. So, it is 1-1 in the first half of the match. The second half of the match neither team could score but from my point of view France looked the stronger. Still no score. Overtime. Zidane commits a head-butt red card foul on an Italian player! Did Materazzi do something to provoke this, if so, what? Mysterious! Still, no further score. Then, the dreaded penalty kick shoot out. Excellent kicks by Italy, 4 out of 5. The French miss twice. Italy wins!!!

Schweinsteiger's Magic Foot

Young German forward Schweinsteiger had a majic foot against Portugal! Germany's only scorer whacked 2 goals in from nearly midfield through Portugal's Ricardo's arms. That is an accomplishment! Schweinsteiger also kicked a ball which was deflected off Portugese defender into the Portugese goal for another point. Gosh. On the other end of the field, German Goalkeeper Kahn was superb at keeping the Portugese virtually scoreless, except for a header which was set up perfectly in the second half by Figo. 3 to 1 is a high scoring game for soccer. The second half was very exciting - 4 goals!

Sharapova Fell to Mauresmo

Midnight to early hours in the morning Japanese time Wimbleton ladies tennis airs on NHK TV. We can see the best tennis players in the world fighting it out on the grass court. Last night I saw a fantastic game between the famous Maria Sharapova and Amelie Mauresmo. Such contrasting styles! Sharapova with her rocket serve, clenched teeth, and loud grunts as she smashed the ball towards her opponent. Mauresmo quiet and graceful playing well placed shots with a variety of spins. The first set was dominated by Mauresmo 6 to 3 as Sharapova seemed rattled. The second set Sharapova attacked relentlessly winning 6 games to 3 as Mauresmo lost her poise and confidence. After a long recess Mauresmo returned renewed and artfully dominated and won the final set 6 to 2. What a match these two were! I may stay up late again on Saturday to watch Mauresmo battle it out with Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium for the championship!

France 1 Portugal 0

Penalty Kicks! How decisive they are! French forward Henry got close to the Portugese goal and managed to draw a foul. Was it a real foul? God only knows. The referee rewarded a penalty kick for France and Zidane slammed it past the Portugal goalie (Ricardo got a hand on it only slightly) for the one point in the game. There were numerous chances for both sides to score but the goalkeepers managed to protect their goal. In the final moments of the game Portugal's goalie Ricardo ran out of the goal and downfield to try and help his team score. Dramatic!

Italy 2 German 0 in extended play

Wow. What a game this was. The Italians displayed brilliant ball handling and offensive strategy. Though the Germans appeared strong with long passes, the Italian defense remained tight. The Italians appeared more in control in the 1st half with many attempts on the German goal. In the 2nd half the Germans became more aggressive and took some long shots at the Italian goal. But the game went into extended play. First half of overtime, still no score. In the remaining few minutes of the 2nd half of overtime the Italian offense surprised everybody with a goal and then scored another! (Germans were so desperate to score they neglected their defense)

The Power of Now

Eckhart Tolle may not be the most original thinker but he is a great synthesizer of ideas. He writes simply and with clarity. I am enjoying "The Power of Now" for its concise arrangement of topics and the question-answer format in which it is written. Ideas such as "you are more than your mind", "being present in the moment alleviates pain", "body awareness practice is a useful tool", "there is a collective pain body" - these ideas are but a few that I could glean from this book. I wish there were more free information (excerpts and quotes) on the Internet but there is not much there. Perhaps Tolle (or his publisher?) really want people to buy his books and attend his seminars. Fortunately, I obtained a copy of his book from a friend. "The Power of Now" has been translated into 30 languages!

Portugal Over England

Another grueling match this was, neither team could score in the game. Ball possession was about 50-50, and both teams were storming the goals dangerously at various times in the match. Forward Rooney got booted out of the game last half which disadvantaged England. Beckham's knee was hurting and he had to leave the match as well. Still no score and on through extended time. It came down to a much dreaded Penalty Shoot Out. Who is more nervous here, the kickers or the goal keepers? England or Portugal? Both teams could be seen praying to God during this shoot out. First, Portugal scored and England missed. Then Portugal missed and England scored. Then 3rd round, both teams missed. (Tied) 4th round, Portugal scored and England missed. (England is sweating a disadvantage) 5th round, Portugal scores. That did it. Portugal's Ricardo was amazing as goal keeper. Perhaps God hears all prayers but cannot grant them all. At least not on the same day!

Germany Defeats Argentina

What a battle this was! Argentina got the first goal via heading in the first half and held the lead throughout most of the match until Klose was able to score in the second half (via a heading) for Germany. 1 to 1 draw continued through extended time. Finally the match was decided via penalty kick-off. Here the German kickers smashed goal after goal past Argentina while German goalkeeper Kalac displayed brilliant form, blocking 2 very important Argentine attempts. Final Score 5 to 3.