Nothing but trouble

I really don’t get that how come a talented guy would make a totally unfunny film like this one. The actors were very good. They have done awesome performances even John Candy looked terrible in his frock and yet the screenplay was horrible. Well, musical scene was kinda cool though.

TAMA "DENSHA KAMO SHIRENAI"

“TAMA(たま)” is one of my favorite musician groups and here’s a music video for their song which named “DENSHA KAMO SHIRENAI”(which means, It might be a train or not). Regret to found that “TAMA” has disbanded since couple years ago, and yet there are many people still listen to their CDs. The lyrics they wrote are very weird and totally nonsense, but they makes listener moved sometime.

Silly walk solves silly problem

Since I heard that the design of union flag might be changed, I have been working out an innovative design for the new flag. Here’s my answers:




They're cool, ain't they?

Book Review 2-12

"The Firm"
Robin Waterfield

Mitch McDeere is a rookie lawyer who graduated from Harvard University with a fine batting average. A firm in Tennessee State called “Ran Bart and Rock” hired him. Mitch headed to Tennessee State with his wife, Abby who works as a teacher of a kindergarten. Since he started work under his boss, Avery Tolar, Mitch heard some bad news and he felt alarm. Then two lawyers who both work at the firm were killed by a terrible accident and FBI Agent Tarrance visited Mitch family and said that some one killed the lawyers and the firm has a dark side. Few days later, Mitch headed to a island with his boss to see their client. While they are staying in the island, Mitch found a bunch of files.
This movie was made in 1991 starring Tom Cruse, Gene Hackman and Holly Hunter. It was known as a masterpiece.

Book Review 2-11

About A Boy
Nick Hornby

Will Freeman is a middle-aged man who lives in north part of London. He has no job but rich because his father left him a big legacy. He is single and not interested in marriage life. One day, Will meet a thirty-two years old boy who named Marcus. Marcus said that he is bullied in junior high school. Few days later, Will falls in love with a single mother whom child attend same school with Marcus. Since that day, Will started behavior as Marcus’s father to get closer to Rachael the single mother. However, Rachael does not like him because Will told that he lied to her.
This novel was also written based on a movie. It was released in 1998 and Will Freeman was played by Hugh Grant. Now you may find the DVD or video in any video store.

Book Review 2-6

"Jumanji"

I have read this book named “Jumanji” last week. The story of this book is about a boy who was trapped in a strange board game called “Jumanji”. The boy, Alan, spend almost thirty years of his life in a dangerous jungle until a couple of kids release him from the board game. The kids who helped Alan were Peter and Judy. Both of them are much younger then Alan because Alan is a middle aged man when he returned home. In the fact, Peter and Judy did not just release Alan from “Jumanji”, but the other animals who were living in the island. The town where they live was damaged because of the parade of the animals and Peter, Judy and Alan have to send them back to where they came from by playing the board game until the end.

I remember the movie was also great. You will find DVD or video in any rental store.

Book Review 2-10

Notting Hill
Curtis

Ana Scott is a famous Hollywood actress. She met an English man who named William at a bookstore while she was visiting London. William was very surprised because he knew who she was. On the same day, he run into her and spirited some juice on her dress. Then William invited her to his place to clean up her dress. She kissed him when she is about to leaving. Few days later, Spike, the roommate of William, told him that he got a phone call from Ana. As soon so William heard that, he went to hotel that Ana’s staying as a reporter and asked her to come his sister’s birthday and Ana accepted it. After that, William and Ana became lovers. However, one day, William found that Ana already had a boyfriend. Needless to say, William was very disappointed.
This novel was written based on a film called the same. Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant played the main characters.

Book Review 2-9

"Love Actually"
Richard Curtis

This story is about nine-teen people who live in London. All of them are trying to find someone to love and spend Christmas time with.
David is the president of England. He is not married and he falls in love with his administrative secretary. David’s sister, Karen is in trouble with her husband. She doubts that his husband, Harry has affair with his co-worker, Mia. Karen also has a friend who named Daniel. Daniel is a single father. He lives with his little son but he thinks that relationship between father and son is not going well. Finally, they gain a happy Christmas time.

Who you gonna call ?

Did you know that "Ghostbusters" was made into a video game?
An American developer named "Terminal Reality" has started a project to bring "Ghostbusters" to the market as video game next year. The original actors who played in the movie will do the characters voices. I can't wait to play it!

Nice Dinner

The other day, I went over to an American family to play a table game. They also made a great dinner for me. The spaghetti was a little bland, but it still teasts so good. After dinner, My friend and I played computer game untill ten o'clock. I really enjoyed that night!

A New Roll Playing Game

I bought a video game called “Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion” t. I wish I could find some time to play it on this week end even though I have a lot of assignments.
Recently I also play “Wizardry” series when I am not busy. The world-view of the game is so cool!

Book Review 2-8

Full Monty
W. Holden

This story is about six guys who live in Sheffield, England. In their home town, there are many people get quite aggrieved by the fact that their disemployments. Gaz is also a poor man who has no job. He needs seven-hundred ponds to keep the joint custody between Gaz and Mandy the ex-wife. He tried to steal polls from a closed factory, but it was not gone successful. One day, Gaz saw a group of male strippers. As he noticed that every woman was giving a glad cry to them. Gaz found that is exactly what he should do to earn money. He bided his friend Lomper who tried killing himself by gas suicide. Then those two found some people who would be strip dancers with them and they got naked at front of four-hundred women.

Movie Reviwe 2-4

"Mrs.Doubtfire"(1993)

Daniel Hillard is an unsuccessful actor. Daniel has no job and no money, but he treats his small children very kindly because they mean so much to him. His wife, Miranda, who has been disquieted him since long time ago.
One day, Daniel and Miranda held a party on their son's birthday. The party should be a very delightful one, however, Daniel caused a big trouble that is bad enough to break his own son's spirit. At same night, Miranda bids good-bye to her marriage, which means Daniel and Miranda won't be live together anymore. The children were handed over to their Miranda because the mother makes money more than the father does. In addition, court decided that Daniel was not allowed to see his children more than once a week. Needless to say, he felt it is the end of world because the kids are very important to him.
Several days later, Daniel found a ad during he's reading the news paper. The ad says, Miranda needs a babysitter to take care her kids and it has to be a woman. As soon as Daniel read the ad, he got a plan. He asked his older brother to make him up as an old England lady so he can become a babysitter to see his children again. Finally, Daniel was employed and Miranda doesn't know who she really is. Daniel called himself Mrs. Euphegenia Doubtfire because he found article in new paper which says "Doubt Fire".
I remember very clearly that I have watched this movie when I was young as Daniel's children. I knew nothing about Robin Williams at that time, but I really enjoyed his funny acting. Robin Williams also appeared in a great comedy movie called "The Fathers Day" with Billy Crystal. Both of them are my favorite actors.
Another famous actor who acted in this movie is Pierce Brosnan. He is known as James Bond among movie fans, but he appeared in this "Mrs. Doubtfire" before he got his fame by playing in 007 movies. I believe that many people in Japan don't know that Mr. Brosnan played the main character in a famous drama series named "Remington Steele".

Book Review 2-3

"Jurassic Park III"

The other day, I read a book called “Jurassic Park III”. This book is based on a movie which was directed by Steven Spielberg in 2001. Story is almost same as the movie, but I have found some differences and I prefer the movie.
The story is about two researchers and one family who got lost in an eerie island. They try to find a missing boy, but they were attacked by many kinds of dinosaurs instead. The two researchers, who named Alan and Billy, finally found that the island was a secret base which was used by someone to raise dinosaurs.
Sam Neil played the main character, Dr. Alan Grant. It has been almost ten years since he last acted as the same character in “Jurassic Park” in 1991. The missing boy’s father was played by William H. Macy. He is also a very talented actor. I liked him in a suspense movie called “The Fargo”.
I believe that the most impressive scene in “Jurassic Park III” is a fight between tyrannosaurus and spinosaurus. Computer graphics were very amazing, but it is the accepted view that tyrannosaurus was a fish-eating dinosaurs, so the scene was a wrong idea.

Book Review 2-7

Rain Man
Barry Morrow

Charlie is an automobile dealer who stormed out of his home when he was a young guy. He has been stressful because his business is not going well as he expected in these days. His girlfriend, Susanne, worries about him but she does not know how to help him. One day, Charlie got a mail which says his father was dead few days ago. As soon as he got the mail, Charlie decided to back home because he thought his father left some slices of the inheritance. Soon Charlie found that the all of inheritance will be hundred to his older brother, Raymond. He was very surprised because he even did not know that he has an older brother. Charlie also disappointed by knowing that Raymond is an autistic man. Few days later, Charlie headed to facility to bring his brother out and accept the inheritance instead of him.
I saw this movie a couple years ago and I was impressed. I want to get DVD someday.

Movie Reviwe 2-3

Romeo + Juliet (1996)

In a big city named Verona, two konzerns called Montague and Capulet are opposed to each other since long time ago. The young people in the streets are also always fighting because Montague and Caplet. However, Romeo, the son of Montague is not interested in his family’s business because he is falling in love with a beautiful woman when first sees. One night, Romeo and his best friend named Mercutio attended to a costume party to see the woman, but he found a pretty girl who is wearing a pair of angel wings instead. Soon Romeo was attracted to the girl, but he did not realize that the girl’s name is Juliet at that time. Juliet, the daughter of Capulet, also felt same because she really thinks that Romeo is a very special young man and wants to see him again. Later in the day, the two vowed eternal love soulfully. Next day, Juliet headed for a church to tear herself away from her parents to get marry Romeo. Finally they got married and nobody knows that secret wedding but father Laurence and choir. Following day, cousin of Juliet named Tybalt slapped Romeo’s face and defame him viciously. Romeo was bearing Tybalt’s behavior because of Juliet, but Mercutio could not take it anymore. Then Tybalt and Mercutio had fight and Tybalt’s knife cut deep into Mercutio’s flesh. After Mercutio’s death, Romeo went to street and killed Tybalt by a gun as revenge. Because of the bunch of affairs, Romeo had to be displaced from the town. Needless to say, Juliet feels very distress at the displacing. A few days later, father Laurence came up with an idea to make Romeo and Juliet live happily. Here is the idea. First of all, Juliet poisons herself to make his family believe that she is dead, but the poison is not a real one. Second of all, let Romeo knows that Juliet is not really dead and make their elopement after Juliet’s funeral. Father Laurence believed the idea will be going well and Juliet hoped so too. However, Romeo found that Juliet is dead accidentally before father Laurence tell him the truth. The next day, Romeo backed to the town and lay down beside Juliet’s body. He also poisoned himself without knowing that she is still alive. As soon as Romeo drunk all of poison, Juliet woke up and found his husband’s dead body beside her. Soon Juliet killed herself in despair and hopelessness. Following day, city of Verona welcomed a cold morning as usual.
This movie was made in 1996. Leonardo DiCaprio, who played Romeo Montague, was very popular among young girls because of his good looks. However, Claire Danes, who played Juliet Capulet, was not very famous at that time. After she got her fame by appearing in this movie, she became a well-known idol actress. I liked her more in a movie called “U-Turn” which was made in 1997.
By watching this movie, I found that classic English sounds very difficult for me. Sometimes I could not get word from lines. I need study, yes.

Book Review 2-5

"Chamber"

In Mississippi, 1967, an African-American civil-righter and his two sons were killed by a bombing incident. The incident was caused by a man named Sam Cayhalll, who is a member of Ku Klux Klan. Police arrested Cayhall and court gave him a death punishment after two acquittals. Thirty years later, as the date of execution was decided, a young lawyer came forward to plead for Cayhall. The lawyer is Adam Hall, the grandson of Sam Cayhall. Hall asserted stalwartly that a commission made Cayhall to kill the civil-righter and there is another man who helped Cayhall’s crime. However, Cayhall didn’t sigh the conference minutes because he wanted to screen his old friend’s charge.
Hall’s aunt, Raleigh Wedge, is a star at social intercourse. She was hiding that she is blood daughter of Sam Cayhall for her success, but a press person unmasked her real identity. Then Wedge became an alcohol addict because she lost her fame because of her father. Few weeks later, Hall asked Wedge for help to save Cayhall from execution. She didn’t accept that offer at first, but finally she and her father were reconciled.
At the day of execution, Cayhall finally signed the conference minutes and Hall tried to appeal a case, however, governor of Tennessee State didn’t try to accept the minutes. Then, the execution was punished offenders bloodily.
This novel was written based on a movie. In the movie, Gene Hackman played Sam Cayhall. Hackman also acted in a film which has almost same theme named “Mississippi Burning”. Both of them have a serious story about racism in America. I hope you would what those movies and think about color discrimination in this world.

Movie Reviwe 2-2

Well, to tell you the truth, I do not like this movie so much. First of all, I think this movie has too many meaningless violence scenes. I know that all most of Quentin Tarantino’s works are totally very violently, but the violent scenes in this movie are especially beastly for me. Second of all, the story sucks. I don’t believe that anyone would like it. The screenplay was written by creator of “Reservoir Dogs” and “Pulp Fiction” and I like those, but “KILL BILL” isn’t interesting at all to me. At least that is my opinion.
Speaking of the actors in this movie, I am so glad to mention about Uma Thurman because she is one of my favorite actress. The character she played named Black Mambo. She was one of assassins and trying to wash her hands, but her boss doesn’t like it. That is why the boss attacked her and Black Mambo lost her first baby and husband. In the movie, Black Mambo is trying to have her revenge so the title is “KILL BILL”. Uma Thurman is well-known as an actress who played in a lot of movies. She often appears in a movie as a poor woman such like Fantine in “Les Misérables” or Glory in “Mad Dog and Glory”. Basically, she is very talented.

Book Review 2-4

"Men in Black"(1997)

James is a New York City's finest who believes that there are no aliens on earth. One night, James was chasing a suspicious-looking man on the side of the road and found that the man was not a human. After that, a middle-aged man who wearing black suits and black glasses visited police station and introduce himself as a secret agent named "agent K". The middle-aged man's goal was scouting James to their organization. James refused that offer at first, but finally he became a member of M.I.B as "agent J". After J joined to the organization, K and J ran into an alien who claims help. The alien said that a war will be broke out if they don't keep hiding a special treasure in earth. Soon, the two agents started to find the treasure and save the earth from bad aliens.
This movie and novel book was released in 1995. I wasn’t really excited about the story because I don’t like science fiction so much, but movie was totally funny. It is kind of comedy, but you would be moved when you watched the last part of movie.
Will Smith played agent J. He had also appeared in a alien movie named “Independence Day” ten years ago. That movie seems horrible to me, but Randy Quaid had done an excellent job as an air force pilot. He is very talented actor, I guess.

Tony Shalhoub played a strange weapon trader.
Recently he is known as "Monk".

YOKOSAI

Last Saturday, I went to Kumamoto castle for a festival called “YOKOSAI Kyushu-Chugoku Matsuri” with some of my English friends. We arrived there at seven o’clock, night time, so the festival was already begun. As soon as we entered to castle, we could hear the dynamic sounds of Japanese drums. The drums were very fantastic and we really enjoyed them. I believe that it was one of my greatest memories.

1941

I have worked on my new drawing since the past week and finally entered into the final phase. I choose this movie called “1941” to draw because that was a pretty cool one.

A head set

I went to Yamada Denki and got a head set today so I finally be able to chat with my friends in San Francisco. I can not wait to talk with them!

Videos that i bought today

"The Dream Team"
"Blame It on the Bellboy"
"Taking Care of Business"
"Romeo and Juliet" (for assignment)

"Taking Care of Business(ファイロファックス/トラブル手帳で大逆転)" is one of Jim Belushi’s works. I really like the way he acts because he reminds me of his dead brother, John. The co-starring star, Charles Grodin also has done a great job in the movie. I am a fun of him even though he was nominated as “Worst Supporting Actor” for his role in a Ceavy Chase movie called “Neil Simon’s Seems Like Old Times” in early eighties.

Book Review 2-2

Mr. Scrooge is an old, white haired man. What he believes is money and what he does is making more and more money. He doesn’t love anyone in this entire world, even his family. As Christmas season comes, three ghosts appeared and showed Scrooge his past days and positive future as visions to let him know how wrong his life was. Finally, Mr. Scrooge made a big change to his life and became a better person who treats everyone kindly.

This book remains me Bill Murray because he had played Mr. Scrooge in a movie named “Scrooged”. In the movie, Bill plays a selfish TV executive producer who struggles in the ratings. He doesn’t feel to celebrate Christmas as an ordinary person because he thinks work harder and making more money are most important things in his life. He even refuses his younger brother’s invitation to Christmas party in. One day, Bill met his ex-girlfriend accidentally. The ex-girlfriend, who was played by Karen Allen, works at a volunteer group and was very disappointed him because Bill became a man who only cares money. At the end, the two understood each other with the help of three ghosts.
As you see, there is a big difference between “The Christmas Carol” and “Scrooged”. if you have read the book, I think you would better to watch “Scrooged” too because many famous stars were appearing in the movie, such as Robert Mitchum.
Bill Murray and Carol Kane in "Scrooged".

Movie Review 2-1 (15)

I am so glad that I finally gained a chance to write a post about one of my favorite called “Toy Story”. I have watched this movie thousand times since the first day I watched it.
This movie is one of epics in entire CG animation movies history. I remember this movie was released in middle of nineties and had surprised many people by its amazing computer graphics at that time. In fact, computer graphics are not out of common for people because “Jurassic Park”, which was hitting in the theaters before “Toy Story”, had already made people know how wonderful CG is. However, this “Toy Story” is totally different to “Jurassic Park” because its every single scene was made by CG and there is no real person appeared in the movie. Nowadays, a lot of animation films took this style over from “Toy Story”.
Well, the voices over casts in this film are also great. Tom Hunks, who gained his fame by appearing in “Saturday Night Live”, played Woody the leading character of film and Tim Allen, the one of most famous comedians in United States, took charge of Buzz Lightyear (the partner of Woody) ‘s voice. At that time, Tim Allen was really popular because of his hit TV situation comedy named “Home Improvement”, so I guess that people headed to theater for him. To tell the truth, I like this movie because I am a huge fan of “Home Improvement”, also. Speaking of Tom Hunks, well, I don’t know about him so much so I am not able to introduce him to you. If you are interested in him or his acting, I think you would better to check “Forest Gump” or “The Big”.


Casts of "Home Improvement".

Now back on topic of Tim Allen. As many people know, he was a stand-up comedian while he was relatively young. His famous comedy show, “Men are Pigs” changed his life and made him a national icon in early nineties. Then he started to own his TV show named “Home Improvement” as Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor. Soon the TV show became extremely popular and it was broadcasted until 1998. Tim Allen is also known as Tim “The Cocaine Man” Taylor because of his criminal record for selling cocaine when he was a young man. In late nineties, he was arrested for speeding and drink-driving … again.


"Gee, life is messy, isn’t it?"

Juppun wa jubun

Well, I would love to introduce about one of my favorite TV show in this ten minutes. It called “Home Improvement”. For some people, it is pretty famous because it was a big hit in united states a couple years ago. The show was about one car guy named Tim Taylor who played by the well-known, Tim Allen. People in the show also call him “The Tool Man” because he own a local TV show, “The Tool Time”. He is full of humors and makes many people laughter in the show. His wife, Jill, is a middle-aged college student who is tying to be a therapist and has three boys as her and his children. Usually, their cordially life are very peaceful, but they also get very chaotic sometime.

SNL

Guess what? I finally bought the DVD of my favorite TV show called “Saturday Night Live”. These DVDs include the complete first season of show and a lot of special features. Unfortunately they contain no English subtitles, but a nice teacher who always carrying his favorite beard told me a helpful website so I can find all of scripts of the show. Thank you so much, Mister!
Speaking of “SNL”, the second DVD will be released in December this winter and its front cover seems … very creepy:

Portrait of Conehead family.

Book Review 2-1, Movie Review 14

I remember the film which has same title used to make me excited whenever I watched it when I was a little kid. Harrison Ford performs the main role in the movie after he and Steven Spielberg had completed their representative series named “Indiana Jones”. The story and character of this work is totally different to “Indiana Jones”. For example, Indiana is a very brave guy who wants visit to every single ruin in the earth, but in “The Fugitive”, Harrison plays an ordinary middle-aged man called Dr. Richard Kimble. Dr. Kimble never experienced in shooting guns or wrestle with people who want him dead. He isn’t used to be chased by enemies neither, so there are no common points between Indiana Jones and Dr. Kimble. When the first time I watched “The Fugitive”, I have found newness because I have never seen Harrison’s acting as an abscondee. That’s way I love this movie and checked out the novel book from library.
Speaking of “Indiana Jones”, I have heard about the fourth movie of the series a few days ago. It called “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”. Really long title, huh? I know the past series is a piece of American movie history, but this one seems like piece of something.

Today's Movie #13

Five Easy Pieces (1970)

This movie is about a man who refused the well-heeled life which his family gave to him. His name is Bob. Almost all members of his family are musicians and Bob has a kind of talent as a pianist. However, he doesn’t like to living with his family and in-lows because he believes that he will lose his individuality if he lives with them any longer. Now, Bob spends his carefree days with his girlfriend as a construction workforce. One day, he accidentally met his older sister in the street. His sister said, Bob’s father is very sick and Bob should come back to see him before it’s too late. Soon, Bob decided to return home with his girlfriend who just had their baby.
This serious drama movie was made in 1970. Therefore it is a very old one, but the story is so impressive. In addition, Jack Nicholson acts the main roll in the film.

Today's Movie #12

“The Blob” is a B movie that has enthralled many moviegoing people for a long time. When the first time I borrowed this movie from video store, I didn’t have a lot of expectations at all because it seemed not very interesting. However, I found that this film is so exciting as soon as I began to watching. Especially, the special effects were very amazing but a little grotesque. Anyway, I believe that you should try this if you are not allergic to horror movies.

Final WEI

How many words
in Week 1 : 174
in Week 2 : 364
in Week 3 : 561
in Week 4 : 772
in Week 5 : 541
in Week 6 : 552
in Week 7 : 343
in Week 8 : 232
in Week 9 : 430
in Week 10: 516
in Week 11: 342
in Week 12: 395
in Week 13: 174
Total words up to this point:5,369

How many posts
in Week 1 : 1
in Week 2 : 3
in Week 3 : 2
in Week 4 : 5
in Week 5 : 2
in Week 6 : 3
in Week 7 : 3
in Week 8 : 3
in Week 9 : 2
in Week 10: 6
in Week 11: 3
in Week 12: 4
in Week 13: 2
Total posts up to this point:46

Are all your posts labeled? Yes
Do you have a label element in your sidebar? Yes
Do you have a picture in your self intro? no
Do you have a feed in your sidebar? Yes
Do you have a list of links that feature links to 4 other students' blogs? Yes
Do you have Kumamoto Links in sidebar? no
Do you have other links in sidebar? Yes
Do you have reviews on Amazon (linked to from blog)? no
Do you have listmania lists on Amazon (linked to from blog)? no
Do you have any wiki or similar contributions (linked to from blog)? Yes
Do you have advanced media (Slideshare, Bubbleshare, etc.)? Yes

Link to your book reviews here
Review 1-01 (174, fair)
Review 1-02 (178, good)
Review 1-03(302, good)
Review 1-04(300, good)
Review 1-05(206, fair)
Review 1-06(232, fair)
Review 1-07(185, fair)
Review 1-08(287, good)
Review 1-09(176, bad)
Review 1-10(128, bad)

Link to your essays posted to your blog here
Essay 01 (283, fair)
Essay 02 (212. bad)
Essay 03 (222, good)
Essay 04 (222, fair)
Essay 05 (208, fair)
Essay 06 (428, good)
Essay 07 (463, bad)

How many posts
with link(s): 9
with 1 picture/photo: 33
How many complex posts? (at least 2 links and 1 photo): 2

How many comments are there on your blog?: 11
Have you made at least 8 comments? Please link to the 8 comments you think are best.

Please link to your best non book review, non essay blog post. Why do you think it is your best?

Please link to your best comment on another blog. Why do you think it is best?

My favorite musicians Part.1 "System of a Down"

Today, I will tell you guys about one of my favorite bands, “System of a Down”. The band name came from the song which called “VICTIMS OF A DOWN”. All of band members are Armenian descent and they met each other at an Armenian community in Los Angles. As they released their first album in 1998, “System of a Down” became famous as a hard-rock band. Until these days, they had written many songs that include political and social messages. Now “System of a Down” is taking a sleep, but I hope that their will be back and give us more powerful performances someday.

A lovely song

Today I would like to introduce a gorgeous music clip which I found at Google video some days ago. This song, “Call Me Al” is pretty funny because Chevy Chase (right side of them) acts like a singer but he doesn’t sing at all. Paul Simon, who truly sings the song is a very famous musician. He used to be a part of band named “Simon and Garfunkel” in sixties.

Drawing

This time, I've tried to only use black and white to draw people. The models are Lion and Max, from the old movie "Scarecrow".

Book Review 1-10

"The Client"
Written by John Grisham

This book is about a young boy who accidentally saw a man’s suicide in a forest. Unfortunately, the man was a lawyer of an Italian Mafia. Since the boy saw the suicide, he notices that someone is trying to kill him. Soon he found a dependable female lawyer asked her to protect him from the killer.

This novel was written by John Grisham. Grisham is a very famous as a mystery novelist. However, in the fact, he had written some comedy novels too. For example, “Skipping Christmas” is about a family who skip celebrating Christmas to save more money. The novel was made to a movie by Tim Allen in 2001, but I’ve found that the movie wasn’t very funny at all.

Today's Movie #11

"K-PAX"(2001)

This is a serious drama about the relationship between a couch doctor and a strange man who acts if he were a being from outer space. Jeff Bridges, who played The Dude in “The Big Lebowski”, plays the doctor and Kevin Spacy plays the strange man. Both of them gave a great performance in this film. Especially, the character that Bridges plyed was completely different from The Dude who he used to played. Bridges is also well known as an expert in photograph recently, but in this film, he was just an actor who had done a great job.

Today's Movie #10

"Scarecrow"(1973)
Story:
Max is a tall man who was just released from a jail. He is planning to go home and start a new business as an honest occupation with his partner, Lion. Lion, who couldn’t go home for a long time too, treats Max very friendly, but Max didn’t treat him in the same way. At the end of the movie, they became close friends but a bad very thing happened to them.

I’m very impressed by watching this movie because the performances that Al Pacino and Gene Hackman did were so fantastic. I bet I’ll never forget the last scene until I forget anything. Unfortunately this movie is just a little hard to find at store, but please be sure to rental the DVD, not the video tape because the video tape is one of the worst quality films ever made.

One of my drawing

This is one of my drawings. I only use a "F" pencil to draw this picture. The model is Michelle Pfeiffer, the most beautiful woman alive. Now I want to watch her new movie which is coming up this year.

Introduce Kumamoto

Hitoyoshi area
"Hitoyoshi" is the town which is famous for its local special products, 'kumagawa kudari' ―going down of rapid river by small boat―, quite a lot hot springs, and more! The town located down of the Kyusyu prefecture, and there's usually close in over the town so the green tea－one of Hitoyoshi's local special products－grow easily. In addition, I recommend "Kuma-Shochu", one of Japan's representative 'sake', kind of liquor!! That is made by good quality rice, clear water, also water of hot springs and all materials that of Hitoyoshi's. Also, there're over 132 brands of "Kuma-Shochu". You can not only enjoy drinking them, but also can take part in a tour of "Hitoyoshi Kura Meguri"―the round tour to three store houses where is making shochu, miso, soy sauce and traditional handiwork of Hitoyoshi―.

Spas
The abundant volume of subsurface water in Kumamoto causes high quality hot springs to spout out in scatterd places within the prefecture. There're many open-air baths acquiring wide-spread popularity as natural remedy areas that still bear a rustic appearance. Here's the example of such spas. Yamaga Spa is one of them. According to history, this spa is said to have been discovered approximately 800 years ago when deer were found healing their wounds in the mountain at the nearby marshes. The water is abundant and little alkalescent, containing radium, transparent and mild to the skin. Foot baths are set up as well for those who prefer a short visit.　　

Kumamoto Castle
Kumamoto Castle is one of the greatest castles in Japan. This castle was created by Kato Kiyomasa. He was not only a general, but also an expert of architecture.
This castle was created in 1607 or so: when it was created is unclear yet. This year 2007 is the 400th anniversary and it is being restored.

Mt.Aso
Mt.Aso is the one of most popular tourist spot in Kyusyu prefecture. There are many pristine wilderness places and the air is always fresh. That’s why many folks go up there to have a great picnic. There are also some good hot-springs, so you can enjoy Mt.Aso in winter too.

Miyamoto Musashi
Miyamoto Musashi, a great swordsman and one of the greatest Samurai, is famous for his duel on island Ganryu against Sasaki Kojiro. He came to Kumamoto at the invitation of Prince Hosokawa Tadatoshi and spent 5 years here during the sunset of his life. He is said to have been proficient in ink paintings, tea ceremonies and the world of Zen, and wrote his Gorin-no-sho, The Book of Five Rings, in Reigando Cave.

Hiroshi
Hiroshi is a famous comedian who was born in Kumamoto.
He got his fame with his own signature gag, "Hiroshi Desu...". He also had published his books in some ago.

Essay 6 and Today's Movie #9

"Big Lebowski"(1998)
Directed by Joel Coen

This offbeat film’s story is about three men named Lebowski, Sobczak, and Kerabatsos: Lebowski is an unemployed middle-aged man who prefers his nickname “The Dude” rather than his real name, Jeffrey. He spends his careless life with playing bowling. Walter Sobezak, one of The Dude’s close friend, was a solder who joined the Vietnam war long time ago. He has a terrible temper and a gun in his bag to threaten someone at gun-point. Donny Kerabatsos is retired pro surfer. He also plays bowling with The Dude and Walter, but he is not smart enough to follow along to other people’s conversation.
Once upon a time, bill collectors came to The Dude’s house and asked The Dude for his wife’s debts. However, The Dude doesn’t have any wife or debts. He tried to explain the mistaken identity, but the bill collectors didn’t lend an ear. At last, the bill collectors peed on his rug which ties the room together. Next day, as The Dude told Walter and Donny the story, Walter got very upset. He told The Dude to go to the real Lebowski’s house and tell him what happened on the rug last night. And then The Dude did it, but the real Lebowski didn’t believe The Dude’s story and will never pay the damage for the rug.
Some days later, The Dude got a phone from Lebowski. Lebowski said his wife is kidnapped by a party of crazy Germans and asked The Dude to save her. If The Dude has made it, Lebowski would pay him a lot of money as a reward. The Dude accepted offer, but he wondered if Lebowski's wife had kidnapped herself for the ransom money. At the night, The Dude and Walter made a plan. They were planning to hand a case of Walter's dirty undies over to the Germans party instead of the ransom money which Lebowski gave over to them. Finally, The Dude, Walter and Donny found the lager truth and went back to their ordinary life.

“The Big Lebowski" is one of my favorites. I have watched this movies a jillion times so I’m able to remember almost all lines. I also bought the DVDs, including the US version, New US version and JP version. Now I want the shirt which has a picture of The Dude and the soundtrack.
Coen brothers, who directed this masterpiece in 1998, had made a great movie called “Barton Fink” too. It was also great. You can find them at any video store in your town.

WEI 2

How many words
in Week 1 : 174
in Week 2 : 364
in Week 3 : 561
in Week 4 : 772
in Week 5 : 541
in Week 6 : 552
in Week 7 : 343
in Week 8 : 232
in Week 9 : 430
in Week 10: 516
in Week 11: 342
in Week 12:
in Week 13:
Total words up to this point:5,516

How many posts
in Week 1 : 1
in Week 2 : 3
in Week 3 : 2
in Week 4 : 5
in Week 5 : 2
in Week 6 : 3
in Week 7 : 3
in Week 8 : 3
in Week 9 : 2
in Week 10: 6
in Week 11: 3
Total posts up to this point:37

Are all your posts labeled? Yes
Do you have a label element in your sidebar? Yes
Do you have a picture in your self intro? no
Do you have a feed in your sidebar? Yes
Do you have a list of links that feature links to 4 other students' blogs? Yes
Do you have Kumamoto Links in sidebar? no
Do you have other links in sidebar? Yes
Do you have reviews on Amazon (linked to from blog)? no
Do you have listmania lists on Amazon (linked to from blog)? no
Do you have any wiki or similar contributions (linked to from blog)? Yes
Do you have advanced media (Slideshare, Bubbleshare, etc.)? Yes

Link to your book reviews here
Review 1-01 (174, fair)
Review 1-02 (178, good)

Link to your essays posted to your blog here
Essay 01 (283, fair)
Essay 02 (212. bad)
Essay 03 (222, good)
Essay 04 (222, fair)
Essay 05 (208, fair)
Essay 06 (428, good)
Essay 07 (463, bad)

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Please link to your best non book review, non essay blog post. Why do you think it is your best?

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A post will be disqualified if there are any of the following mistakes:
spelling mistake that the blogger firefox spell check module would have caught (please check your blog titles separately)
run on numbers and words (such as 21years old instead of 21 years old)
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Book Review 1-9

"Rip Van Winkle"
Written by Weshington Irving

There is a no-hoper man named Rip Van Winkle. He lives in a small village which located at the foot of a huge, mystery-shrouded mountain. Rip has wife and children, but he doesn’t like being with them so much because his wife always complains about his laziness. The other day, Rip went up to the mountain and took a nap until the sun is in the west. As Rip wake up and began to go down the mountain, he found a strange old man near him. The old man with a huge bag is walking very slowly and looks tired. Rip thought he should help him with his bag, but every time Rip talks to the old man, he is entirely-ignored by him. And then the old man passed the bag to Rip with saying a words and the two went toward to the small village.
I chose this book because I like its cover art. The story was fine too, but it wasn’t very interesting at all.

Drinking Party!

Yesterday, my junior fellow and I went to a bar.
We were drinking and taking until 2:00 A.M.
Both of us want to be there again because it was so fun!

Book Review 1-8

"Princess Diana"
Written by Cherry Giechrist

This book tells us about Diana Spencer, who had spend her crowded life as a princess.
Diana is one of most famous princess of England. She was born Norfork, England and died when she was thirty-six years old. She was born as third daughter of Spencers in 1961. When she was seven, her parents had divorced. As Diana became sixteen, she entered to the school for domestic training which was located in Swiss, but just few months later, she quitted and came back to England. She met her husband, the prince Charles, at a hunting party in 1979, and then the two started to have a relationship as lovers. In 1981, they had married. At that time, Princess Diana was twenty and Prince Charles was thirty-three. The news surprised all of England nations and everybody blessed them. After she became the Princess of the England, she began to perform charity campaigns in Africa, Vietnam and many other countries. People were impressed her kindness, but Diana wasn’t happy because she and her husband were living separate. A newspaper said, she also tried to kill herself for five times in past. Of cause, the nations were sad and felt sorry for her. In 1996, they decided to bail out of their marriage life and then they did it. The married life was about fifteen years, and Diana had two children. In 1997, the terrible accident was happened. Diana and the limo’s driver were driving in Paris, France and they collided against a column. The driver died immediately, and Diana died at a hospital few hours later.
I believe that Diana Spencer is still alive in our heart and her mind will never die.

I want it!

"Saturday Night Live: Complete 1st Season"DVD


I want to have this but I just can’t!
I need to save more money to buy one.

Today's movie #8

Actually, I don’t feel like to mentioning about this movie because it’s totally sucks!
I have no idea what the hell the director thinking about. I mean, how he made this movie as a piece of (*beep*)? Hell, if I know!

Book review 1-7

This time, I’ve read the book named “The Birds”. This book was written by Daphne Du Maurier, and it was also made in to a movie in 1952. The story is about people who face one of the most daunting monsters in novel history. Birds, the monsters, were portrayed very wild and brute in this story, so you may get a major trauma about birds by reading it.
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, who directed the movie of this novel, is known for his great carrier. He also directed “Psycho”, which I had written a review of it long ago. You can find his movie at any video store or rental store because the movies are loved by almost all of movie fans. Incidentally, my favorite one is “Marnie”. “Marnie”, which starred Sean Connery who is well known as 007, was not an enormous hit at the time. But I believe that many people just have not recognized its beauty and artistic excellence. There are many other mystery films similar to it, but it is a waste to mention them in the same breath as “Marnie”.

Tim Allen's new movie!

"Wild Hogs" will be on DVD soon!I can wait no longer to watch it!

Official Web Site:
http://wildhogs.movies.go.com/