Epiphanies

http://www.youtube.com/corealised

If anyone knows where I can download subbed episodes, please enlighten me.

I watched the first episode of Suna no Utsuwa. It’s based on the work of Seicho Matsumoto who is apparently some famous mystery writer. I can’t believe the main character is played by an idol from SMAP – Nakai Masahiro. He really did a great job. I never would have believed it. The filming was really well done, it was a pretty good episode. I could see why it won awards. It’s very dark however so definitely one has to be in the mood to watch. It didn’t feel like a drama at all but more like a movie. The acting really was good. I think I’m going to continue but definitely not something to marathon – it’s quite serious.

Summary of the first episode: Basically it’s about this pianist who is rising to fame.  He encounters a man from his past who wants him to return to visit his father in his old hometown.  The pianist has changed his identity and the old man is upset by that.  He gets into an argument with this man in a train yard and accidentally knocks the old man down.  The old man hits his head and is severely injured.  The pianist at first is frantic with worry but then sees a way out of having his past haunt him and decides to kill him beyond all recognition – in other words – brutal.  While fleeing from the scene, he bumps into a woman who then apologizes for getting blood on his jacket (the blood I think is actually from the murder scene). The pianist then keeps seeing this woman coincidentally and begins to wonder if he should knock her out. Ken Watanabe plays a detective who is on this case.  I believe subsequent episodes will be about the pianist trying to avoid capture and falling in love with this woman who might be able to identify him later by putting two and two together.

Took the Metrolink with Lisa and Pamela and all the kids to San Juan Capistrano. It cost me about $20 for the train tickets – for me, and B. C was free. Zoomars was fun for the kids because they liked chasing the guinea pigs and putting them in baskets. Buying carrots for the kids to feed the animals was great for the kids. They loved feeding the rabbits, llamas, mini donkeys and emus. Those emus were like velociraptors. They really snapped their necks towards us – was a bit scary. The kids didn’t want to do the pony ride nor the train ride. Oh well. Metrolink was a pretty nice train, multiple levels. I had trouble finding parking though at the station. I had to follow someone around finally in order to get a spot. That was highly stressful when you have a timetable to follow. We ate at Ruby’s later and the kids all had milkshakes and fries. Healthy I know.

The Bridge to Terabithia wasn’t anything I expected. I think maybe if I had understood that it was not in fact a fantasy movie, I would have enjoyed it more.  My expectation for the movie kept me on edge.  Where was the fantasy adventure?  Anyway, basically it’s about two “outcasts” who find a unique friendship in their shared adventure of their make-believe fantasy world.  It’s a coming-of-age film about friendship, loneliness, and escaping their circumstances through their imagination.  It was pretty cool once I understood what it was about and the ending was unexpected and touching.   It’s a bit heavy in the angst towards the end so I’m not sure it’s appropriate for younger kids but I guess it’s a realistic look at life so it can’t really be bad.

We ate at Lucille’s BBQ. It was ok but not especially outstanding. It was really crowded though so maybe I’m in the minority. Flies bother me. I had the catfish po boy sandwich. It was “eh”. We also ordered a shrimp appetizer. I thought that was pretty good but DH thought it was drowning too much in sauce. He also had ribs but I guess he wasn’t impressed with that either. I think sometimes, that coming from NY is a curse because we know how much better the food could be. I think if we never lived in NY we could be happy with the food here.

I didn’t like the layout of the District but I guess I’ll get used to it. Maybe it’s because not all the stores are open. I like being able to walk everywhere. This idea of strip malls where you have to drive from store to store doesn’t appeal to me.