Category: Slice of Life

Lady Snowblood 修羅雪姫 (1973) – Movie Review

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"Lady Snowblood" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO800
 “Lady Snowblood” Cedar Park, 2018

This evening I watched Lady Snowblood – 修羅雪姫, a 1973 manga-based movie about a woman named Yuki whose purpose in life is to avenge her mother, who was raped and whose husband was murdered. The mother died shortly after giving birth to Yuki in prison, and the baby was taken by one of the mother’s prison-mates to be raised by a monk. This monk taught her how to be an assassin in order to hunt down and kill the four criminals who were responsible for her mother’s sad fate.

Lady SnowbloodMeiko Kaji (梶 芽衣子) stars as the beautiful Lady Snowblood and is amazing in the role. Not only is she cold and mysterious, but her action sequences are convincing in their straightforward manner. There aren’t any marathon fight scenes, nor over-the-top acrobatics, but rather, quick and deliberate fight scenes.

But what makes the film special is that there are copious amounts of blood. I’m definitely not a fan of horror movies or grotesque imagery, but Lady Snowblood isn’t a typical gore movie. The blood gushes and sprays fountains in such exaggerated ways, that it’s not disturbing at all. The blood is also a bright red color, and thick like tempera paint. Because of this lack of realism, I didn’t mind the gory scenes (of which I am usually easily disturbed). In fact, I found it very entertaining, and I was looking forward to more of it! 🤪

Lady Snowblood

Another special aspect of the movie is that the hairstyles of the 1970s are ever-present throughout (especially for the male actors), even though the time period of the movie is the late 1800s. That crazy juxtaposition makes it all the more fun for watching it in the present day. Coupled with the 1970s music, it’s a unique feeling!

Lady Snowblood

I enjoyed Lady Snowblood quite a bit and am looking forward to seeing the sequel, Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance, which apparently came out just a year after the first.

Lady Snowblood

An interesting note is that Lady Snowblood was the inspiration for Tarantino’s Kill Bill movies. It’s easy to see why he would be so taken by the film. The movie, and the assassin character, are very compelling!

My rating for Lady Snowblood is 7.5 out of 10.

High School Band and Writing by Hand

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"First Band Performance" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/220 sec, ISO200
 “First Band Performance” Cedar Park, 2018

Koa started his high school band performance career today with a show for the band parents at the football stadium this evening. It was cool to watch them really get into their performance.

The percussion section (of which Koa is a part of) is always having fun. Because of the size of the instruments, they don’t march with the rest of the band, but are instead situated right in the front, hence the name “front ensemble”. And because they aren’t marching, they get to bob their heads and get into the groove. I suppose it would hard to stand still anyways, being in percussion after all! And it’s a lot of fun to watch them all enjoying themselves. In Koa’s words, “Oh yeah, we’re always having fun up there.”

In blogging-related news, I read an article that talks about the importance of writing using a pen and paper instead of typing on the keyboard, and how that physical activity can stimulate creativity. So that is what I am starting to do now. But, dang, my hand hurts! I gotta get used to this…

"Writing" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO2500
 “Writing” Cedar Park, 2018

I hope you had a nice day!

またね～

Driving Soon

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"Driving Soon" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/100 sec, ISO640
 “Driving Soon” Cedar Park, 2018

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Today is the last day of summer vacation for the kiddos, and this year both of the boys will be in high school – one will be a senior and the other will be a freshman. It’s crazy how fast they grow up.

Bay will be getting his driver’s license soon and we’ve been practicing a bunch lately. Today’s photo is one that I took from the passenger seat and you can see Bay in the reflection of the gear selector. He’s a pretty good driver, so I’m not too worried about him on the road. He’ll be fine. (I keep reminding myself of that) 😀

In other news, I’ve been playing both my ukuleles every day, but I have to say that I love the newer Kala pineapple ukulele a lot more than my old Hilo. It’s just a lot more fun to play, and the soprano sound is very cool. But, I still play the concert ukulele because it has the low-G on it and there are a couple songs that I practice that require it.

Someday, I’d like to get another soprano ukulele (I prefer that size now) and put a low-G on it. But for now, I’ll stick with the Hilo concert ukulele.

I hope you had a nice day!

またね～

The Small Screen

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"Tokyo Story" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/100 sec, ISO800
 “Tokyo Story” Cedar Park, 2018

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Tonight I watched another Yasujirō Ozu film, Tokyo Story (東京物語), which is considered to be one of the greatest films of all time. I’ll have to write a review later after I’ve thought about it more and perhaps watched it again, but I’ll just say that I thought it was fantastic.

I started watching it on our big tv in the living room, but was kicked off it by my wife and son and had to finish the movie on the small screen (my computer). So the experience was not optimal… I think this movie deserves to be seen on a larger screen to be appreciated!

But now I’m tired and it’s time to read and sleep. I hope you had a nice day!

おやすみ

Running Shoes for Traveling

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"New Clouds" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: Motorola Moto G (4), 3.64mm, f/2, 1/200 sec, ISO50
 “New Clouds” Cedar Park, 2018

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Today I ran for the first time in my new On Cloud shoes. I want to make sure they are broken in for my upcoming China trip because I think we might be doing a lot of walking and I’d hate to get blisters because of new shoes. I’m not too worried, though, because these are the same size and model of my old running shoes, and they feel pretty much identical.

But besides breaking them in, I want to improve my stamina for the trip. Before Bay and I went to New York, I started running again in preparation for lots of walking around the city, and it really paid off. I was able to keep up with Bay for pretty much the whole trip! 💪

I have to say though that it was tough on my feet the first two days when I was wearing the Converse High-tops. Once I switched over to the running shoes, it was so much easier! That change, plus leaving the messenger bag at the Airbnb and just taking a small shopping bag, were real eye-openers – travel even lighter than usual and the day is much more enjoyable.

With that in mind, I think I will be taking my lightweight packable backpack which I used on our Disney trip last year for our daily excursions. It weighs almost nothing, but I will be able to throw in my power bank, extra camera batteries, and a water bottle.

Since we are going on a cruise and tour, I am not sure how much walking we will be doing, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. One scenario that I can imagine though, is getting tired on the Great Wall excursion.

When I visited China back in 1990(?), our tour group visited a section of the Great Wall, and we really wanted to reach one of the checkpoints to get a souvenir stamp. But dang, the wall was so steep and the steps were pretty big. And we were keeping an eye on the time since we had to be back at the bus soon. Wow, what a workout that was! But we made it to the checkpoint and got our stamps, then jogged back down to the bus. I haven’t thought about that in years, but it is truly a great memory.

Anyway, I wouldn’t be surprised if that same scenario plays itself out once again. So I ran today with that in mind. 😀

I hope you had a nice day!

またね～

University Info

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"Rice University Presentation" Round Rock, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO2500
 “Rice University Presentation” Round Rock, 2018

こなばんは。How’s it going?

This evening we attended a presentation about Rice University. It was a general information session which universities often give to prospective students and their parents, describing what the university has to offer, the academic highlights, campus life, and financial information.

Bay is interested in Architecture and Rice is the #6 ranked school for Architecture, so it’s on the list of potential schools. I think it would be a great choice, but the Architecture program is 6 years instead of 4, so not sure if that is an advantage or not. Rice is only a few hours away by car, so he’ll still be close by, but I don’t think Bay has any interest in living in Houston (or Texas for that matter).

Anyway, we’re starting to prepare for applications. It’s hard to imagine that a year from now, Bay will be in college and most likely staying in the dorms far away from home! 😮 They grow up so fast…

I hope you had a nice weekend!

またね～