Very Much American Ending ... Of Course

This is a fun movie to see Friday late night when your brain is dead with alcohol, oh, well, I'm talking about my brain.

It is obvious that the movie is catering for IMAX (and 3D, I guess) screen. You may imagine from this poster. But, we watched the 2D version because I can't stand IMAX or 3D images. I hate Avatar! Anyway ...

The ending ... ridiculous as always as Hollywood movies. But one thing really cool is the character of the TV cameraperson. He is awesome.

Angry Michael Moore!

Michael Moore is again, as always, angry about capitalism.

Doomy Path for Newspapers

McChesney released his new book, The Death and Life of American Journalism. Man, he is really productive! Anyway, he added another book to my must-read book-list.

A California radio show is talking about McChesney's book, and of course, McChesney is one of the guests for the show.

Stare at Goats?!

A-ha! This is hilarious, or I should say cynical. This movie is a parody of Star Wars and the Iraqi War (Blackwater thing, specifically). I don't know about the director at all, but there are lots of big actors, like George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey, wow. Casting is awesome. And the story line is also ... well, it's ridiculous, but funny and cool though it doesn't make sense at the end of the movie. But, it's enjoyable, which is sure

W Rainbows

The weather was weird today, oh, well, as usual. It was raining hard while the sun was shining. We call this phenomenon "Foxes are getting married," and AM does "Devil is beating his wife" (domestic violence!).

Anyway, we saw beautiful and very strong rainbows just outside our apartment.

Business Strategy of A Newspaper Giant

Oops, MediaNews filed for bankruptcy. Oh, well, this seems to be a business strategy, but where are newspapers heading?!

NYT's New Strategy

The New York Times will stop giving away news online from 2011. Instead, they will charge for viewing certain articles. Will this strategy work this time? The paper charged for access before, but it didn't work out. We will see.

Finally, Filed

Japan Airlines filed for bankruptcy. I was told in class, and I thought, "Oh, yeah, it was not bankrupt yet." But, wow, this is not good for workers. Lots of layoffs are coming ...

Where Does News Come From? ... Newspapers!

OK, this is good data to support the argument that newsppaers are still relevant.

Puke!

I totally forgot that I'm really bad about 3D and IMAX theater stuff. So, stupid me went to see Avatar 3D, and as I unconsciously expected (?), I felt sick. Puke! I don't understand why people are excited to see this type of movie, paying extra dollars.

Oops

I slept until 3:00 pm today. My jet lag is terrible. I went to bed around 9:00 pm last night. I woke up once around midnight to go to the bathroom, but that's it. I don't understand why I needed to sleep that long. But, it is true that I wasted another day. I feel guilty myself :(

New Term

Aaaaah, a new term will start tomorrow. I'm depressed now, thinking of a new term.

Another thing that depresses me is that I haven't started writing papers yet, whose deadlines are on the 13th and 24th. Man, what should I do?! I'm not in an academic mode after three weeks of laziness and drinking. I'm in trouble, instead :P

Jet Lag

Geez, I slept until 4:30 in the evening. This is terrible jet lag, and I feel that I'm old :(

Happy New Year!

I don't remember how many years I didn't visit a shrine or temple at midnight of New Year's Day. So, after numerous years, I did this year, that is, today!

Because I had to drive, I couldn't drink, grrr. My brother started drinking beer at dinner of New Year's Eve and switched to sake and kept drinking until we left for a temple. What a thoughtful brother I have!

Anyway, we left warm home around 11:30 yesterday. It was snowing, not hard, just drizzling, but it was freezing outside. Though it was freezing at my sensitive level, there were tons of people at the temple, which is not famous like Yasaka Shrine or something like that. Hmm, everyone appeared to want blessings for a new year.

After coming home from the temple, I had the first beer of this year, Asahi Super Dry, with Hamadaya's goma-dofu in Koya-san. I think this year will be nice :)

This Year will be Nice

This is the end of my break. I had to leave for the States, grrr.

Because today is New Year's Day, I dropped by a couple of shrines and a temple to say hi to gods and ancestors on the way to the airport.


A-ha! Gods and ancestors must be happy to have me. I got a business seat when I checked in at the airport! United is not always bad. I was not happy to leave my country, but the business seat changed my mind like, "Well, it may not be a bad idea to go home." I'm a simpleton.

The business seat of the long flight turned really nice. First and foremost, "premier" sounds special♪ I like that. Secondly, it started with welcome champagne. Alcohol and food were much better than the economy class, of course. Attendants' services were also better.

Anyway, because it was a very comfortable flight, I felt the 11-hour-flight was really short. Ah, I was addicted with the business class. I want to have a business seat next time, too ...