Category: Reviews

Medium

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I’ve been enjoying visiting Medium and reading people’s short stories. And by short, I mean 2-10 minute reads. There’s actually an indicator for each story of how long it will take to read. How cool is that? Most of the stories are wonderful and thought-provoking, and certainly worth more than the price of admission (free!). I still don’t quite understand the organization of things (who can make a collection, can a story be in more than one collection, etc.), and it is a little difficult to find a certain story through searching. For instance, I was in the middle or reading a story about trail-running when I had to turn off the tablet. Later, I wanted to continue reading that story, but couldn’t find it. The search function didn’t find it either. I guess I need to be more liberal with my bookmarking. But there are so many interesting things to read, I find that my bookmarks list is getting long! (That’s a good thing)

On the downside, I did come across a story was less pure storytelling and more commercial-leaning. It’s a “story” about a nice new backpack and how this brand of backpack is now available in the UK. After a short description of the backpack, with very little practical information (“I’ll be doing a full review in a month or two“), there is a link to the backpack vendor’s store. That’s pretty much it. How did that story get posted? Have I been mistaken about what Medium is about? I decided to check the about page and found, “Medium is a new place on the Internet where people share ideas and stories that are longer than 140 characters and not just for friends. It’s designed for little stories that make your day better and manifestos that change the world.” It was a little strange and disheartening to find something that feels more like an advertisement than a “manifesto that changes the world”. It cheapens Medium. I just hope it’s not the direction Medium is headed, because the trend of personal blogs turning into business blogs saddens me, and I’d hate for Medium to follow that pattern.

This was a little hard for me to write because as some of you may know, I am crazy about bags and backpacks. I just don’t think that ads for them belong at Medium.

To finish up on a positive note, I’d like to recommend a few of the collections I have saved to my list. I hope you enjoy them!

  • The LYD Essays : I’ve followed Ernie Hsiung on the Internet for a few years and was happy to see his stories on Medium. Funny and entertaining.
  • Click the Shutter:  Photography-related stories. Lots of inspiration here.
  • Roaming the Earth: Great for those with wanderlust!

Sputnik Sweetheart

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Sputnik Sweetheart
Sputnik Sweetheart Paperback

I finished a book! I feel like I am on a roll! Haruki Murakami has been one of my favorite authors for a long time; I think I started reading his books in 1994, starting with Dance Dance Dance and Wild Sheep Chase. My latest Murakami read is Sputnik Sweetheart, which is typical Murakami (a good thing!). It’s got a flawed but likable main character, a mysterious friend, elusive romance, and a little mysticism thrown in. I don’t have too much to say about the actual details, but I will say that I loved the ending!

*SPOILER ALERT*

I thought for sure that Sumire would be lost forever and K would kind of just go on with his life, so when Sumire called K at the end of the story, I was really happy! How unexpected!

I also enjoyed the setting of Greece. I recently finished Murakami’s “What I Talk About when I Talk About Running” and in it he talks about running the original marathon route in Greece. I am guessing his time there is connected to writing of Sputnik Sweetheart. The hot, dry climate and intense sun painted an amazing picture that gave Sputnik Sweetheart a truly immersive experience. I loved it!

Rocky

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Rocky

Last night I watched “Rocky”, the classic 1976 movie which surprisingly I had never seen before. When I was growing up, this movie was so popular, but I think I might have been too young at the time to be into it. I would have been 8, after all. Later on, I think I saw a couple of the sequels, but never the original. So I rented the blu-ray from Netflix and watched it last night and liked it! It was kind of cool to see a young Sylvester Stallone. He was a pretty good actor! I liked all the characters, except for Rocky’s friend Paulie, who is a complete jerk! I really hated that guy. Why anyone would be friends with him is beyond me. Obviously Rocky just wanted to get with Paulie’s sister Adrian, but after that, he should have just dumped Paulie.

I watched the movie by myself, except for the final fight scene. Koa watched with me, but I’m not sure he liked it. It did look a little dated, but still not too bad. My favorite scene is the famous workout montage featuring the classic song, “Gonna Fly Now”. When you hear that song, you can’t help but get so inspired! Anyways, if you haven’t seen Rocky before, it’s worth your while to rent it!

From Up on Poppy Hill / コクリコ坂から (2011) – Movie Review

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Poppy Hill

I’m not sure how I missed watching “From Up on Poppy Hill” when it was showing here, but I corrected that mistake by ordering the blu-ray version and watching it last week. After seeing some high ratings, I was expecting a great film and I was not disappointed; I loved it! It had everything going for it: beautiful artwork, and interesting setting, likable characters, and great songs and soundtrack.

To me, the story’s setting was so cool. Early ’60s Yokohama is depicted as a busy and hopeful town, and I just loved the small details, like the old posters on the walls. My favorite scene was when Shun was taking Umi to the shopping area on his bicycle, and they were speeding down the hill. That was excellent! I just love slice-of-life stories, and From Up on Poppy Hill was one of the best so far. There wasn’t anything supernatural about it; the only thing that came close was Umi’s dream sequence. But the characters and story really didn’t need any of that. To me, the story was great; my only complaint is that the ending is too abrupt. I wanted the story to develop a little bit more. Is it too much wishful thinking that there will be a follow-up movie? Maybe now that Hayao Miyazaki is retired, it’s a possibility.

Below is the trailer for the US release. I prefer it over the Japanese trailer, although I did watch the Japanese-language version of the film. If you haven’t seen it yet, waste no time!

My rating: 8/10

Bayside Shakedown 3

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Bayside Shakedown 3

Just a week after we watched “Bayside Shakedown 2”, Mariko and I watched the third movie, appropriately named “Bayside Shakedown 3”. I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting much since I didn’t really like the last one, but I was pleasantly surprised! What made this one better was that the villains this time had some personality and smarts to them. And the police weren’t as idiotic either. It’s kind of strange because the movie tries to be funny and serious at the same time. For instance, the three police chiefs are inept and silly, so the movie takes on the feeling of a straight comedy. But in contrast, the villains are serious and cruel. It’s a little difficult to reconcile these different styles in one movie, at least for me. At any rate, Bayside Shakedown 3 was better than the previous, but really the bar wasn’t set too high. One thing that was pretty funny was the sheer number of cameos of popular Japanese actors. And I liked the homage to the late Chō-san (長さん)!