It's official. My Japanese is good enough to beat 11 year old Japanese kids in quiz competitions. whoo!

I'm so damn sick of people telling me that I'm good at using chopsticks, or being amazed that I can read some kanji. I know they think they're complimenting me, but what they're really saying is "Wow! I expected you to be a complete idiot, but you're only mostly an idiot! I'm impressed!" When people tell me my Japanese is good, what they really mean is that it's good for a gaijin. Well, "good for a gaijin" ain't good enough.

Yeah, I went to a festival at the Shinto shrine near where I live the other day. It was cool. I took pictures. Apparently there's a bigger one in about two weeks, but I think I'll be at the Fuji Rock Festival that weekend. Assuming I can figure out where to get a ticket and find a place to stay, of course. Which... may be interesting.

Thoughts on movies I rented recently:

Mission Impossible 2- I think this movie is intended to convince the whole world that Tom Cruise is the coolest man alive. Hell, I'm convinced. 3 stars

Frankenstein (the Kenneth Branagh one)- They made an attempt at being more true to the original book, which I respect. However, it sucked. The acting felt forced and fake, kinda like Shakespeare always is (Kenneth Branagh stars and directs- go figure). The art direction was off and on, mostly off. And I hate it when it's totally obvious that it's a movie set. I expect more from a movie with Kenneth Branagh, Helena Bonham Carter, John Cleese, Aidan Quinn, Ian Holm, and Robert DeNiro. 1 star.

Woman on Top- Weird. I like weird, but this was unconvincingly weird, which is bad. 2 stars.

life is hard but so am i,

greyarea

Diaryland