Movies, Freestyle Rap and Shoe Theft

Movie talk!
Thor: The Dark World

This film felt like a relatively weak effort compared to what has come before it. There was still a number of elements about this film that were enjoyable, though. The action was decent enough and I liked that the kept the minor comedic elements that made the first film work. Tom Hiddleston had his time to shine too, but the all-too-obvious reveal towards the end of the film was groan-inducing.

One of the main things I liked, which seems stupid because it had little or nothing to do with the film at all, was the glimpse into the world that James Gunn has created for Guardians of the Galaxy.

The Wolf of Wall Street

I’m a big fan of Scorcese’s work. Based on reactions I’ve read on Twitter, Facebook and the web, this film seems to be his most divisive.

Now that I’ve watched it, I can see why. Greed is something that can overwhelm and consume people. The kind of excess on display in The Wolf of Wall Street is nothing short of fantasy. Most people will never know that level of wealth, or should I say indulgence of wealth, in their entire life.

If you watched this film and wanted to replicate anything close to what you saw, you missed the point. This individual wasn’t a person to be celebrated or envied in any way, shape or form. He destroyed scores of lives on his way to making that much money. What Scorcese did was take the endgame of greed and wealth and say, “OK, how do I frame this as entertainment?” and did so brilliantly.

Before watching The Wolf of Wall Street, I ate okonomiyaki with a friend on the 29th floor of a building in Osaka. Here’s the view.

Osaka... Strut!

The last film I’m going to talk about is Her.

I love Spike Jonze’s work, but I’m not exactly sure why everyone was gushing over this film. It was good, sure, but many people had talked it up to the point of me feeling like I was meant to be blown away by it.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a worthy investment of your time. Her speaks volumes about the nature of lonliness, solitude, contemporary methods of communication and the lengths we go to to hold onto those that are dearest to our hearts.

Just do your best to filter out as much of the hype as you can before watching it and see what you think.

One night last week was spent drinking with Greg, Tetsuro and Luke. These events need to take place at most once a month, because they are costly and I’m pretty sure my liver can’t handle drinking to that extent. We were sitting upstairs at Concrete Bar when I told everyone about how I’d overheard a couple of Japanese guys freestyle rapping before walking into The Wolf of Wall Street, but then shutting up very quickly as soon as they entered the theatre.

So here they were, spitting rhymes and all sorts of stuff, walk through the entrance into the theatre and DEAD silence – mid rhyme and all.

Naturally, Greg then suggested that I had to do a freestyle rap at some point that night in Japanese. After many more drinks, here’s what I spat out of my mouth in a very broken and stuttered flow, which was more like a dripping tap than a flowing stream, if you ask me.

Kodomachi
Kiyamachi
Ecchi
Uchi
Kokuchi
Bakuchi
Adauchi
Unchi
Kimochi
Mochi
Bochi bochi
Pakuchi
Sudachi
Kampachi
Kimchi
Tomodachi
Hibachi

That list, when translated into English, reads:

Everybody
Kiyamachi – drinking district in Kyoto
Frisky
House (or inside, amongst)
Announcement
Gambling
Revenge
Shit
Mood (or feeling or sensation)
Mochi – rice cake
So-so
Coriander
Leaving the nest (becoming independent)
Great Amberjack (a type of fish)
Kimchi (Korean spicy pickled cabbage)
Friend
Barbecue

And now for something completely different.

One morning before work, I had to pick up my dry cleaning. So I put my Adidas runners on, head out to the dry cleaners that is all of one minute walk from my house, pick up said dry cleaning and return home. I slip my shoes off, head inside and start getting ready for work that day.

While I’m getting dressed, someone enters the lobby of my house and calls out for my housemate. Now, considering that I was, for lack of a more appropriate term, in various states of undress, I chose not to answer for a few reasons:

1) I’m not going to tell a person to wait five minutes while I get all my things in order – shirt, tie, socks, belt and slacks.

2) I’m not going to call out to someone to let them know that I am naked or basically naked because it isn’t something that should be said to a person visiting your house, let alone when I don’t know how to express myself in those terms well enough in Japanese just yet. An approximation of the sentence, “Hold on, I’m naked” doesn’t seem right in anyone’s language, let alone one I’m learning.

3) I decided some time ago that I would no longer answer the door for matters directly related to my housemate. The reason for this is quite simple. Everyone in the neighbourhood knows my name by now. No-one ever asks for me at the door, only my housemate. All the times where I would go out of my way to answer would basically involve a Japanese person yelling at me then asking me to relay the matter to my housemate. I’m not responsible for him, nor is he responsible for me.

So I didn’t answer and the person left. I continued getting dressed. Then when I walked out to put my shoes on for work, I noticed something.

The pair of Adidas runners I had put on no earlier than 30 minutes ago were gone.

So I checked my room and the back of my house, in case I had kicked them off in a rush or worn them inside by mistake.

Nope.

My shoes, it seems, were stolen from the lobby of my house by someone that knows my housemate.

This mystery has yet to be solved. Stay tuned, folks.

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