244. fantastic mr . fox

I've been wanting to write about Fantastic Mr. Fox for almost half a year now. I first watched it back in March on my flight to Tokyo. Since then, I've watched it several times and little sis even got the Blu-ray for me, so it was my first time watching it on a big screen on this trip back to visit my family.

Fantastic Mr. Fox is a stop-motion film by Wes Anderson based on Roald Dahl's book of the same name. I have read several books by Roald Dahl when I was a kid and if I remember correctly, The Witches was my favorite book. I've never read Fantastic Mr. Fox though, but this stop-motion film has got to be one of the best films I've watched, ever. 

The story is about Mr. Fox (as the title suggests) and his fantastic life I guess? The only thing that isn't so fantastic is his neighbours, 3 farmers who are out to kill him *spoiler* because he stole from their farms. I won't give too much of the story but what I really loved about this film is there was a good balance of humour, not only for kids but for adults as well. The visuals for this film is a feast for eyes and I love the colour theme. The colour theme is more towards the warm colours, like orange, yellow and brown, so it has a really autumn feel to it. 

I love how marvellous  the stop motion is in this film, especially for the running streams, falling foliage and the beautiful visuals for the vast countryside. To top that, the cast for this film is also stellar. I thought George Clooney playing Mr. Fox couldn't be a better fit. Also, Meryl Streep as Mrs. Fox? Yes please. 

Watching this film on a bigger screen is definitely very different. I get to discover all the little details I have missed out. Also, on the Blu-Ray there were "The Making of" bonus, I've always loved watching those, especially for stop-motion films because you get to see how the dolls for the films are made, and how they tediously film every bit. 

Stop-motion films are rare, I hope there will be more in the future by Wes Anderson. I hope to find some more new films before classes start again. I'm already heading back to Tokyo tonight and I'm more than glad to be going back.

243. see beyond, osaka

Last weekend was spent in Osaka . Apart from attending shows, I got to see some friends again and explore Osaka on my own. This trip to Osaka was really good, the most fun I've had in a long time even though I was on my own most of the time. I didn't take much photos again as usual, so this post is going to be more wordy.

September 19th, 2015

The start of Silver Week. I made my way to Tokyo Station in the late morning and it was wayyy more crowded than I expected it to be. There were long lines to get on the Shinkansen, the shops were packed, it was almost impossible to get anything but somehow I managed to squeeze through the crowd to get my lunch and got on the train before 1pm. 

I arrived in Osaka at half past 3. I quickly made my way to the apartment to put down my stuff and rushed off to Pangea. I didn't take too long to get to Pangea since it was in Shinsaibashi, and it was easy to find. Once I got to the venue, Tiger (?) was playing on stage. I've never seen them before but I thought they were pretty good. The next band up was Does It Escape Again and the vocals were really weak so I left the venue for a little bit to walk around instead of staying in the venue and suffering.

I went to Starbucks to chill and spent a little over an hour there. I timed it nicely to get back in time for PALM. The timetable was pushed back a little bit, so they took the stage a little later than supposed to. They put on a good set, I haven't seen them properly since April. Next up was Crystal Lake, they opened to Twitsted Fate (YAY not Matrix!), and to my surprise, they played The Burden next. After that, it was their usual, Rollin' Beloved and The Fire Inside. After Crystal Lake's set was Hundredth. I was kind of excited to see Hunredth since I have been listening to their music lately but somehow, I didn't enjoy their set that much. They are pretty good live but I felt like there was something missing in their performance. They had a rather long set, and played songs mostly from their new album, Free. I was pretty bummed they didn't play Beggar because it's my favourite track on that album.

After their set, I decided to move somewhere "safer". The mosh pit in Osaka is way more brutal than the ones in Tokyo. I fell down a couple of times during these 3 bands' set, but people were really nice and helped me up each time. Since I moved to the other side of the venue, I bumped into more people. I was talking to Kenta while waiting for Loyal To The Grave's set but ended up talking to Goodsound (Crystal Lake's staff) as well. And in the end, I completely missed LTTG's set because I was outside talking to Akira and someone from Hundredth. Some random people also came up talking to me as well and told me to check out the next band.

Edge of Spirit took the stage about 9-ish, and their mosh pit was the most brutal for the night. They were exactly what some guys described earlier. Even though it was my first time seeing them, I really enjoyed their set. The final band for the night was First Blood. I'm not a big fan of their music but decided to stay to catch their set anyways since Kenta suggested it. I left to smoke before their set ended because I was getting a headache. (I was a little hungover from the night before because it was Remi's farewell party) I ended up talking to Ryo until the show was over. I hung around for a little while before deciding to head back to the apartment. It was a really fun night and Osaka's atmosphere is much better than Tokyo I would say. I'm glad I decided to go to shows  in Osaka for a change.

The people are friendlier, the mosh pits are way more brutal and I feel more at ease talking to people comparing to Tokyo. There were way less girls at this show as well, which makes it a little intimidating but I still enjoyed it nonetheless.

September 20th, 2015

I woke up really late and took my time to get out of the house. I headed straight to Shinsaibashi to get some coffee and just explored the area. This time, I spent more than 4 hours exploring Amerikamura, I went to Village Vanguard, a couple of bookstores, vintage toy shops, a record store called King Kong Records which to my surprise sold a ton of Black metal CDs. I spent too much time there looking through some albums. I managed to squeeze in some time to do some souvenir shopping for my family as well.

Even though I have been to Osaka so many times, I have never taken any photos of the famous Glico Running Man in Dotonbori. I strolled through this street and realised it was getting close to 6pm so I made my way to Zepp Namba for Crossfaith's show.

Crossfaith took the stage at 6.20ish pm. I haven't been to their shows in almost a year, so it was nice to see them again. I'm still not a big fan of their music but they are really good live so I don't mind going even though I hardly knew any songs. They played mostly from their new album, Xeno. The lasers were stellar as usual and they welcomed Kazu (guitar) back to the band halfway through the set before playing Monolith. For the encore, Hiro and Tatsu took out some inflatable boats to crowdsurf but Hiro fell while trying to balance on the crowd. I couldn't stop laughing. I was happy they played Omen during encore since I also like Prodigy. The show ended at about 8pm and I hung around the venue since I was waiting for my friend to finish work.

I met my friend at about 11-ish in Shinsaibashi and we went for dinner. It was a nice night out, we walked around Dotoburi and just talked. He said he was glad to show me around his hometown since he is from Osaka. I finally got back to the apartment at 2-ish am but couldn't sleep till about 6am, blame it on too much Oolong tea. Shinsaibashi is so different at night with all the shops closed but I really enjoyed myself because of him.

September 21st, 2015

I got up at about 9am since I couldn't stop tossing and turning. I kept waking up in between 6 - 9am, so I just gave up on sleeping and decided to pack my luggage and explore Osaka before going to the airport.

I decided to head to Abeno Harukas since there was a Moomin exhibition going on. Abeno Harukas is at Tennoji Station, and it's somewhere I have never been to. It really reminded me of Tokyo Skytree. It is apparently the tallest skyscraper in Japan.  

It was really difficult, actually I would say impossible to get a locker that day because it was Silver week. I had to drag my gigantic luggage everywhere which was a pain in the ass honestly. I finally was able to store it somewhere after purchasing my ticket to the exhibition. The staff at the exhibition hall said they could keep it for me (for free), until closing time. So in short, my love for The Moomins saved my life.

The exhibition was on the 16th floor of Abeno Harukas and had an open air garden. This part of the building reminded me of Mori Building and Mori Art Museum. I actually think this is better. I decided to go to the exhibition first and check out the view later. I got into the exhibition at close to 1pm.

As usual, you can't take photos again in the hall itself, so I could only take photos of these before entering the exhibition. The exhibition was a really good one because it was all original drawings by Tove Jasson, the creator of The Moomins. Aside from creating The Moomins, Tove Jasson was also a cartoonist and illustrator and to my surprise, a political one. There were several drawings of Adolf Hitler at this exhibition. She was also a classical impressionism painter, which was also surprising because of style of The Moomins is so different from her paintings. 

There were also several sculptures, videos and even a reading corner at the exhibition. There was also a little house near the end of the exhibition, it is actually mock up of her studio. Next to the house a video of Tove Jasson was played and it showed her studio and the location for her studio really looked like something out of Moominvalley. In the video, her studio is located near the lake with nothing but greens and barren lands of nature. It looked really dreamy. I'm glad such a place exists or existed.

Just before the end of the exhibition, there were two little televisions playing the anime version and also a puppet (1959) video of The Moomins. I was really amazed at the puppet video beccause it looked really tedious to do. I'm a big fan of stop-motion films so I do appreciate the amount of work put into things like that.

At the end of the exhibition, you could dress up as a Moomin character and take photo with a cardboard cut of of The Moomins. I thought it was really cute because so many parents dressed their kids up and there were so many people exclaiming "可愛い" in the room. I did too, haha.

Of course, there was a shop at the end of the exhibition. There were a couple of rare finds like the dvd for the stop-motion animation, Moomins and the Comet Chase and I finally found the Moominvalley map I have been searching for months, so I'm really happy. I didn't buy much other than those stuff since I have too much Moomin stuff already.

After exiting the store, I went to the Observation Garden. It was crowded but tolerable. The view was okay, probably better at night. I personally don't really care about views of the city. Never understood why people would wait in line for such a long time just to get to the highest floor so they can look at the city view. 

After I was done, I just spent some time going around Abeno Harukas. Window shopping and had lunch. Once I got bored, I went to get my luggage and made my way to KIX airport. There wasn't much to do at the airport so I was on the phone most of the time. Surprisingly there's a small Pokemon shop at the airport. 

My flight was at 11.30pm, so I just did some souvenir shopping and chilled before getting onto the plane. I didn't get much sleep on the plane despite being so tired. In the end, I just watched a couple of movies till I arrived in Singapore. 

I can't believe this happened a week ago. It feels like it just happened yesterday, and in two days I'll be heading back to Tokyo again. 

242. collecting myself

My exams finally ended on Tuesday and I met up with Laura after class since we are both going back to our countries for a little bit and also because I haven't seen her in two weeks. I really wanted to check out Katsuya Terada's Terra's Black Marker 2 exhibition at Hidari Zingaro in Nakano Broadway. It was the last day of the exhibition so I had to go.

I've been wanting to check out Nakano Broadway for quite a while now, so I was glad that there's a reason to go. The next time I will be there is for James Jean's exhibition at the same gallery in November.

Hidari Zingaro is actually owned by the famous Japanese artist Takashi Murakami (not to be confused with the author). He's been known for his collaboration with Louis Vuitton, those "smiley colorful flowers" are by him. He owns several galleries and a cafe over there. I read an interview recently on Juxtapoz Magazine on why he chose to have his galleries, studio space and cafe at Nakano Broadway, so it was interesting for me to finally be there.

After meeting up with Laura, we just went straight to the exhibition because the gallery closes early. It was a small space but the Katsuya Terada's work is really impressive. I really loved all the details and lines in his work. The thing I love most is that the longer you look at a particular piece, the more things you will notice. Kind of like, "treasure hunting" because his work is that detailed. I really enjoyed his work for this exhibition.

This is not all his work, I took some pictures of the beasts he drew but I'm just going to post the ones I like because I am biased. After the exhibition, we walked around the building. It really reminded me of Lucky Plaza back in Singapore, the only difference is that Nakano Broadway sells vintage anime and manga related goods. Also, there were several shops that sold idol merchandise, games... basically think Akihabara but not that mainstream. 

We stumbled upon a book store that I named it " my tumblr book store" now because most of the art I reblog on tumblr are sold there. I was really happy and excited like a kid in a candy store. The store had a lot of interesting finds that I've never seen anywhere else in Tokyo...yet. I bought 2 Takato Yamamoto posters (they are signed!) and some old origami paper to use for my art work. I also remember seeing a lot of goods by Trevor Brown. The other artists I have seen the work before and am a fan of them but I seriously don't know their name because tumblr users are assholes and don't credit the artist most of the time. =__= 

I saw this weird sign board outside the book store, haha.

I really liked the Mandarake store over there as well but it was really difficult to take a photo of the cool entrance. It was kind of nostalgic looking at some really old toys that you used to play when you're a child. I will definitely spend more time the next time I am there. 

When we were done looking at stuff, we decided to go to Bar Zingaro, the cafe owned by Takashi Murakami, for coffee. The cafe was decorated with his art on the walls and his character toy goods on the shelves. To my surprise, Katsuya Terada was just sitting next to us while we were having coffee. I didn't go up to say something because I didn't know what to say. It's harder to talk to artists I think, plus the language barrier does make the difficulty level even higher since it's art, you definitely want to talk in depth. 

We didn't spend too long there and made our way to Shinjuku for dinner. We went to Analog cafe and just spent the rest of our time there until the last train. I had duck confit for dinner and Laura had some mushroom pasta thing that I can't remember the name of.

I also had dessert but my photo taking skills really suck, so nevermind. 

On Wednesday, I met up with Laura again since we both needed to go to Pokemon Centre to get stuff for our siblings again. We did the usual, checked out the character shops, had udon for dinner and this time we spent time at the arcade playing games. 

We played some Luigi Haunted House game where you had to use vacuum cleaners to capture ghosts but we failed miserably. Laura played Taiko no Tatsujin which is a drum game, I really suck at rhythm games so I didn't join her. After that, I played several shooting games and both of us were really surprised because there was a 3D one and the chairs would shake and air blown in your face when a monster pops up. It's called Dark Escape and it was so fun. I'm such a sucker for monster/zombie shooting games. 

We went to look at the UFO catcher machines as well and there was an Adventure Time one!!! I managed to catch Marceline after 6 tries and Laura's lucky coin. I was really happy. After that, we went to some cafe again to hide from the rain until the last train home. 

Today I stayed home even though I had a couple of things to do and people to meet but I'm really tired and just want to sleep in. The rain doesn't help either, it just makes me even more lazy to go out. I decided to decorate my place and do some work. My wall in the living room is almost done now. I love nesting.

Osaka tomorrow. I haven't been there in almost a year and I'm pretty excited. I hope for good weather when I'm in Osaka.

241. second quarter

Exams for second quarter are finally over. I can rejoice! It was a really stressful term and I had so many nights where I stayed up to study until 6am. I'm glad I can finally take a break because my complexion and health is getting bad again.

This semester is far from what it was like the last one. The last one was so fun because of the people we had in our class and also we got lucky with having good senseis. Our main sensei was young (she is only 3 years older than me), and our sensei on Wednesdays was really motherly. I really like her, she baked cakes on the months that had birthdays, wrote us letters from time to time and when I was back in Singapore because my mom was in the hospital, she texted me to check if I was alright. I was so happy that she taught us again this term! I'm glad I enjoyed the first semester so much and like I said in an entry way before this one, I know I will never feel like that again and I will miss the people and that period of time, which I really do right now. I still talk to my main boys, Mo and Otchiko really often on Line or on Facebook and I really miss them. I hope they come back soon.

Last Monday, my classmates Junmin and JiHyon invited me to their place for dinner because they know I like Korean food. They're the married couple from Korea in my class and are both game designers. They stay in Mejiro so it was easy to get to their place. JiHyon cooked dinner and forced me to do my homework (hahaha), after that we played with their dogs for a little and continued to PS3 and 4.

 I was really happy to play Resident Evil because it's my favorite (and only) game I ever play at home. When I go back to Singapore, I'll be in my sister's room for the whole day just playing it. Later, we also played Tekken Tag, Street Fighters and Tekken Tag VS Street Fighter. They also introduced me to this game called Bloodborne that is a RPG game, the graphics were really pretty.

A lot of people are always surprised when I say play games. I'm not a gamer per say, but I really love Resident Evil. Tekken Tag and Street Fighter are more of something I played with my sister when we were kids and we still enjoy it today.

I get along with JiHyon really well because we both like Adventure Time and Over The Garden Wall. Junmin can be really funny sometimes and I really do enjoy their company. They remind me  of my mom's best friends, Uncle Daniel and Auntie Mei. 

On Saturday, I went out for drinks in the evening because one of our ex-classmate, Kevin, is back in Tokyo for a holiday. It was so nice seeing him again, I was really happy that he came back to visit. It's silly but he actually told me a lot of personal things on the last day of the first semester (literally the day before he went back to Taiwan). After some drinks, we went for shisha. Oh man, I haven't went to shisha since all of them left back in June. To be honest, I don't miss it because I felt like I overdosed on it. Mo and Otchiko's favorite thing to do was going to shisha. -__-

Nan brought her son along to meet us because it was his last day in Tokyo. I've become really close to her in the last semester because she helped me a lot when my mom was in the hospital. I'm really grateful to have her around. Also, she gives the best advice. I guess it's because she is a mom and is 10 years older than me. I'm really (really) glad she decided to study for another year so I will have her around. ^^ 

This week is the last week of the second semester and I'm really glad it's finally over. 

One thing I have learnt from staying abroad is that, as much as I look forward to going back home to spend time with my family, I'm not looking forward to spend time with my friends. As bad as it sounds. I find it very difficult to reconnect with friends back there because they ask you about your life but it's hard to even explain the people who are in your life because... where do you even begin? And even if you do explain it slowly and nicely, they still won't know what you're talking about. Also, most of the things that happens here, they will just never understand. 

In a way, I feel like I have moved on from everything back there but the people there are still stuck and when they tell me about their lives, I'm bored to tears. I'm a horrible person, I know.

Another thing I have learnt is that people come and go so quickly, you'll eventually learn to adapt to them not being there but sometimes, you really do miss them. You form good friendships during the time they are here and you still remain good friends but it's hardly the same through texting. It's hard to explain it just in words, but that's the best way I can think of to write this.

Argh... lengthy post but I've been thinking about this from time to time. 

On a much happier note, I am REALLY happy to be going home to my family this time.

240. song of the sea

gifs by vanhoytls.tumblr.com

Come away, o human child, 

to the waters and the wild with a fairy, 

hand in hand, 

for the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

It has still been raining a lot and I'm not complaining because that's the best time to stay in, snuggle and watch some films. I have been wanting to watch Song of the Sea since it's release last year and was sooooo bummed I missed the screening of it in July here, in Tokyo, at a small film festival because I was back in Singapore.

Finally had some time to myself, and found it online. I don't support this so I always end up buying DVDs or blu-rays later on if I really love the film. Song of the Sea is by the same studio and director that brought us The Secret of Kells. I love both films because they are so  visually jaw-droppingly beautiful but personally, I love Song of the Sea more because of certain elements of mystery and the storyline is just much better.

Song of the Sea is about a story of a boy named Ben living in an island off the coast of Ireland with his father and his mother expecting their second child. His mother disappears unexpectedly one night, leaving behind his newborn sister. Ben is resentful towards his sister because he blames her for his mother's disappearance. I love how Ben and Saoirse's (his younger sister) relationship grows throughout this film.

The flow of the story was done really well. It derives from Celtic folklore (like The Secret of Kells, I love), and the only thing I could compare this film to is Hayao Miyazaki's work because of the the spiritual fantasy feeling you get from his films. There's fairies, witches, sea creatures and many other magical characters in this film, it takes you to a different world.

I can't believe I cried at the end of the film because it was so sad. The one thing I really really love about Song of the Sea is that it shows how parents don't want to see their children in pain, so they try their very best to shelter them from harm. It really hit home for me.

The score for this film is simple, yet heartfelt. I really enjoyed it.

I watched Big Eyes by Tim Burton this week too but (sorry) that is nothing compared to this. Big Eyes is a good film too but it's not as heartfelt as this.

I think Tom Moore is going to be my new favorite director if he continues producing films like this. I want to stay home and watch more films but I have exams coming up. It looks like September is going to be a busy month. Another friend is leaving Japan, I'm going to Osaka and then back to visit my family and when I get back, I have a show to go to. I'm not complaining though, I'm actually really looking forward to it. I just hope that after all that, I can find some time to paint again.

239. ponder

by Hideaki Kawashima

It's already September. It's nearing towards the later part of the year and honestly, I really wonder what it has in store for me. This year has been nothing but tough and  I've met a lot of people, both good and bad. I went to Hikarie 8F to see Hideaki Kawashima's work today and these two paintings really do sum up what I feel about the later part of the year. To me, the girls seem to be wondering, thinking or maybe it's just nothing at all and that's what I exactly am feeling right now.

September, October, November and December, please be kind to me.