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.