michael lambe's scrapbook

All fixed here now. Fresh posts soon.

Something has infected this site. If you get a message telling you “Warning! Your computer is at risk of malware attacks. We recommend you to check your system immediately. Press ok to start the process now.” – THEN IGNORE IT and CLOSE THE WINDOW. It’s probably best not to use this site for the time being…

Michael

Now, this is just my opinion mind, but I think this picture (taken by Yutaka from up a tree) is really kind of awesome.

This is Yutaka up said tree.
Saturday, a bunch of us went out to Matsuo for a picnic. There’s a big park there along the Katsura River and all you can see is trees, and hills and GREEN. Oh, and all the little families taking advantage of the sunny weather and the short Golden Week break and having picnics of their own. Anyway, we had a very happy day, eating, drinking, running around, throwing various objects about and generally having a bit of a laugh. Here are the rest of those pictures.

And here is one last unrelated picture from last night at Urbanguild.

Pictured are Yutaka, Yoshida-kun and Ayumi. All of us had a lovely time watching the final show from local band elements (about which you can read here). Guest drummer Shigeki Fujii is a friend of Yutaka’s, so we got a discount on the tickets too(tee-hee!). Thanks Shigeki Fujii!

Taisho is back at Joao and last Saturday we celebrated. Here is the obligatory photographic evidence…

If you click through to the end of the pics there’s also a short video displaying some of Koji’s smooth moves!

More than a journal this site has become an occasional scrapbook of everything that doesn’t fit elsewhere. Here are some assorted scraps and odds and ends that don’t fit in other places or that I haven’t had time to post lately…

That there, is a very famous cherry tree in Maruyama Park. I was there two weeks ago at my school’s cherry blossom viewing party. Now, after having been back at school for but a week and a half – it seems like a million years ago. This next one is a pic of me and Mr. Yamashita. He was a very nice teacher to work with but sadly I don’t get to teach with him this year…

It was extraordinarily cold that night so I drank hot sake to keep warm. I drank a lot of hot sake to keep warm. Hence the beaming red face.

The blossoms have been particularly tenacious this year, there are still some blossoms peeking out between the leaves even now. When you get cherry blossom and green leaves together it’s called hazakura. “Ha” is 葉 meaning “leaf” and the sakura part is 桜 meaning “cherry blossom”. Don’t say you never learn anything around here.

This next scrap is a preamble to a piece I put up on Deep Kyoto last night… I wrote and then decided it didn’t fit on Deep Kyoto so I’m sticking it here instead. I think it fits quite nicely in here, in my scrapbook…

Why Mewby likes Curry

There was a time when Mewby didn’t like curry. Or she thought she didn’t, because all she knew was Japanese curry – which is hardly representative. To be honest, as it invariably contains meat, I’ve never actually eaten the Japanese variety myself.

A serving of Japanese curry.

However, I have to say it doesn’t look very appetizing.

So I sympathised.

“But,” I told her, “Indian curry, real Indian curry, is something else altogether.”

She didn’t believe me. For her curry held no appeal.

But I was determined to teach her the truth about curry – real Indian curry – a life without which was barely a life lived at all – so I persisted, and finally, she caved, albeit reluctantly, as she’s not too keen on spicy food in general. One night I took her to the Indian restaurant just off Hyakumanben, asked them to go easy on the spice and she gave it a whirl. It was a taste revelation.

And now she is a true believer. Or perhaps addict would be a better word. Because after I moved away from north Kyoto and no longer lived close by that fine Indian establishment, she still had curry cravings but nowhere to sate them. Until she found Thilaga that is. About which you can read more here…

Finally,

…some music. Some time ago I was in Cafe Kocsi and they were playing some music and I thought to myself “That’s nice” so I asked a waiter what it was. He came back with the CD, so I thanked him, made a note on a piece of paper, lost the paper and promptly forgot all about it. Until the next time I was in Cafe Kocsi – when exactly the same thing happened again. I think this happened three times (that I remember) before I finally resolved to order the album off amazon. It’s Yael Naïm. I’ve been listening to her a lot lately. And she’s lovely.

Buy Yael Naim on amazon, amazon.co.jp, and amazon.co.uk.

Some pictures from the lit-up trees at Nijo Castle on Monday:

Trees

Umbrella

Obake Mewby

Mewby under the trees

Carpeting the sky…

Koto playing before some pretty impressive ikebana

Also on Deep Kyoto now you can see my pictures of the famous weeping cherry blossoms at Heian Jingu Gardens.

More pictures here!

I watched Kim Jee-Woon’s Sergio Leone-inspired Korean “Western” last night. An unusual film, but it’s a lot of fun. The setting is the 1930s Manchurian desert. Japan has taken over Korea and Manchuria and made them into puppet states. In this time of lawlessness, when history and ethnic and national identity are all in flux, three Korean desperadoes’ lives intersect. The Good, Do-won (JUNG Woo-sung), is a bounty hunter seeking the The Bad, the bandit Chang-yi (LEE Byung-hun), who in turn is seeking a legendary treasure map. However the map has fallen into the hands of the very Weird Tae-goo (SONG Kang-ho) a petty robber who somehow always lands on his feet. Soon the three are pursuing each other across Manchuria and in turn are pursued by the Japanese army and an assortment of Asian outlaws. Gunfights, battles, and all kinds of excitement ensues. And Song Kang-ho totally steals the show in his comedic role as The Weird Tae-goo. The film gained an 88% fresh rating on rottentomatoes. Well-deserved, but one thing did concern me and that was the horses. No way were those chase sequences filmed humanely. If they make a sequel, they really ought to treat the horses with a little more respect.

Available from amazon.com on DVD and Blu-ray.
Available from amazon.co.jp on DVD and Blu-ray.
Available from amazon.co.uk on DVD and Blu-ray.

This movie scared the crap out of me. Not only do I now never want to travel in Russia, I never want to travel anywhere! Yikes! The atmosphere, from the start is sooo intense – you just know that things are going to get bad, and then worse, and then much worse before it’s all over. Woody Harrelson as sweet naive Roy and Emily Mortimer as his morally ambiguous wife Jessie play their roles perfectly. This thriller had me squirming in my seat and calling things out like “Don’t trust them!”, “Don’t go with him!”, “Tell him the truth!” and “Ah! Stop it!”. Great movie but you might need a spare pair of pants.

Transiberian is available from amazon.com on DVD and Blu-ray.
Transiberian is available from amazon.co.uk on DVD and Blu-ray.
Transiberian is available from amazon.co.jp on DVD and Blu-ray.

Having seen the trailer I wasn’t expecting much of this movie.  I was expecting it to be a rather empty-headed action-comedy-caper with quirky old Robert Downey Jr. playing the legendary Baker Street sleuth as pretty much quirky old Robert Downey Jr. But on Saturday Mewby and I went to see it. And do you know, the trailer doesn’t do it justice at all. We really enjoyed Sherlock Holmes. It’s a rollicking adventure, a first-rate piece of entertainment and a very nice retake on the Sherlock Holmes legend! You can still recognize the great detective in Robert Downey Jr.’s performance though his eccentricities are now more obvious and his great genius, so useful for deduction and forensic analysis, proves a source of pain both in his personal relationships and in his encounters with bland society. Given this take on Holme’s nature I think maybe Mr. Downey was the best man for the job. Jude Law’s performance also as the sturdy, loyal, yet irritated companion is a nice foil to Holmes and his invaluable aid and friendship is something Holmes is terrified of losing. And though many have complained about this adaptation – a lot of the details in this movie come direct from the source material you know. There are those who will say “Downey’s not a patch on Jeremy Brett!” but you know back in the 80’s when Brett was on the box my Dad always said he wasn’t a patch on Basil Rathbone! Perhaps because I grew up watching Doctor Who (an obvious Holmes descendant) and have remained a loyal fan through the Timelord’s latest incarnations I don’t mind so much when a new actor explores a much beloved character – in fact I find it refreshing. And let’s not be too precious about the subject matter. Conan Doyle’s original stories are not high literature to be revered and handled like fine china. They are very fine pieces of entertainment at the heart of which lies a legendary friendship. This movie entertains. It’s fun. And in this movie that legendary friendship is given fine expression. I’ve included the trailer here, but you’d be better off just going to see the movie really (some clips in this trailer never actually made it to the finished movie anyway). Mewby and I are both looking forward to the sequel so clearly set up at the end of the film. Who will play Holme’s arch-nemesis I wonder?

Sherlock Holmes books and movies are also available at amazon.co.jp.
Sherlock Holmes books and movies are also available at amazon.co.uk.

Drunk girls love Koji’s pasta!