Ima, ai ni yukimasu (Be with You, Japan, 2004) is a story about Takumi and his son Yuji life after losing wife/mother Mio. Takumi isn’t the best cook and all that good around the house but Yuji understands and tries to encourage him. A story was left for Yuji that one day Mio would return during the rain season. Both Yuji and Takumi start to believe it and then it happens, Mio returns. However she is put back on Earth only for the duration of the rainy season and has no memory. Takumi and Yuji help her rebuild her memories through stories and objects. The film portrays the love of a family blossoming.
Beautifully shot and excellently acted this film was very moving. The joy of Takumi and Yuji upon Mio’s return is well thought out and the stories of the past work wonderfully. I really enjoyed this film and avoided boredom throughout it’s long 120 minutes.

2424 (Korea, 2002) revolves around bunch of ex-cons begin working for a new removal company. Their new employer has taken them under his wing and desperately wants to do a good job. He wants his company Ik-soo express to beat the more established rivals and take their crown. One company in particular has wound them up enough and soon enough their jobs cross over as the rival company are finishing emptying an apartment as Ik-soo are ready to move stuff in. The film is set around this situation. A problem lies in the fact that the police are trying to bust the current owner of the apartment and are undercover as the established removal company. So the comedy begins with each company bitch fighting and trying to do their jobs. There is a romance between a couple on different sides and the stereotypical rubbish cop who gets thrown off the job but won’t quit. This film adds nothing new to the genre but remains a fun and light hearted watch that keeps you interested by not trying to do too much.

I’ve been hitting a golf course just outside the city recently. I had a disastrous round today. I was slicing the ball wide of the green, falling in bunkers, hitting trees… the list goes on. However, surprisingly I still finished second out of those who played due to everyone having a terrible game. I blame the weather since everyone in Wales moans about the weather. This year we have only had 60%ish of our usual rainfall. I mean I’ve hardly been soaked this year and that’s super unusual for Wales. Wales is grey and usually wet. I welcome the sunshine but it’s strange as the sun is only out in bursts of a few hours before it’s grey again. Well at least it’s dry.

I’ve been working a lot of overtime in work recently. The store is in a state, we’ve been trying to sort it out but it’s not easy when management want people to leave and haven’t shifted the hours around. So the focus ends up on helping customers rather than actually getting anything done. Tomorrow I’ll be stuck on the entertainment desk helping out customers. I hate that. They should give that job to someone louder and let me get on with the actual work. That’s the problem with overtime, you have to be flexible and do the tasks they give you rather than what you are usually contracted to do. Another problem with over time is it kills my free time. There’s a couple web-sites I need to work on and I’m behind on my design reading, video games reading and language studies. As a compromise I decided to ask for my overtime to be morning shifts, 9am-1pm so I have the afternoons to get other stuff done.

My parents have gone on holiday. I’m not even sure where they have gone. Says a lot right? Yeah I’m not really close to them and I don’t know why. We used to do stuff together, even if it was just eating at a table or hanging out in the living room. That stopped though. My parents fell out with my sister and then that made things even worse. I’ve never got along with my sister and now that my parents don’t, that has put an end to going away together or even eating out. Yeah we haven’t been on a family holiday since high school. It doesn’t bother me anymore. I’m used to being alone in a family house now but every time my parents go away, I realise one thing - I really can’t cook. If my parents are here, there’s usually some sort of evening meals made that I just have to heat or defrost or whatever. Put ingredients in front of me though and I haven’t got a clue what to do. It’s the same if I eat at friends or they eat here. They cook and I wash up. I’ve got through life avoiding how to make “real food”. Leave me a recipe.

Our Karate class is in a state right now. On average we are only getting four members a week showing up. To make things worse in September two of us are going away to study. It’s so bad we are having to cancel the hall and train at our instructors house. He has a large space that’s ideal for training but he lives in a very rural village outside of the city. I’d ideally prefer to train in the city but there seems there is nothing we can do about that until January when we can recruit new members. The club could take on new members now but with the instructor so close to his next dan, new members will only get in the way. Once he’s got that dan it’ll be fine. He has to take that grading in London, England with Master Suzuki and a panel of judges I believe. I’m only a grading away from being able to prepare for my first dan (black belt) but that’ll be end of next year earliest it seems. I’m not giving up and I’ll archive my goals, it’s just a shame this hassle with the club is making things harder. I’m sure we’ll sort it out next year.

A few of us decided to head out of Wales into England to attend Bristol’s Ashton Court Festival. We had no idea of the acts playing except the headliners. The website was not very informative and the festival guides didn’t reach Wales. Anyway we drove and man, it was a nightmare. It took us two hours of queuing in Bristol to actually get to the city. City driving is horrible when it’s that busy. To make things worse it was stupidly hot. We found the place and headed through a lovely park up to the festival site. The event tents were spread out nicely and there was plenty of room to walk around. We stopped off at a couple tents but many bands simply didn’t impress. We decided to chill out at the main stage and wait for headliners Super Furry Animals (Welsh band) to hit the stage. It was worth the wait. They played a strong set of a range of material from their studio albums and a bunch of b-sides. Interestingly the new material was kinda mellow and a bit more electronic than the older stuff. Super Furry Animals usually end their live sets with a 20 minute techno/mixing session and this seems to have more of an effect on their regular material now. The mixing set they ended with had an anti-government theme which the crowd enjoyed. The visuals supporting the set were edited nicely too. Super Furry Animals have been one of the most consistent bands I’ve come to known. It’s great to see they still have that level of skill.

Noksaek uija (Green Chair, Korea, 2005). Mun-hee is just released from prison for having sex with Hyun who was underage. He is waiting for her upon release and she welcomes him. They continue their affair allowing themselves to be slaves to passion. The film explores the feelings of Mun-hee who is having doubts about Hyun because it’s too good to be true - endless sex with a handsome young man who seems to genuinely like her for her.

I really enjoyed this film. I initially thought it was going to be a tad shallow after the first 20 minutes or so where the characters are having sex sessions in a motel room. However the story develops and the characters feelings are explored through tests of trust and need. The characters look fantastic on screen and are acted out wonderfully. The film looks the part too with little in the way of bright colours instead softer slightly boring shades are used which help project the beauty of the actors. The surreal party is a nice surprise and explores the thoughts about the couple from outsiders eyes. All in all I enjoyed this film and not just for the good sex scenes!

I should write more about the gigs I attend. Last night I caught The101, a band from New York, USA. They were really nice guys and they joked that they were told not to say that Wales is in England because of threats of getting beaten up. Seems a lot of Americans seem to think Wales is in England. Wales is it’s own country for the record. Anyway these guys were great. They played a melodic indie-rock charged with plenty of guitar effects. The softness in the vocals suited the depth of the music. Worth watching. Sample here.

Night & the City supported and they are simply one of the most exciting bands in South Wales right now. Excellent energetic post-rock with the occasional hardcore vocals. Samples here.

BBQ. Hmm. Not such a fan of them because of my dislike of meat. However, I’ll still attend them for the company. Actually I didn’t mind the food at the one last night. I brought along these burgers that were made of cheese and filled with vegetables. I had never tried them but they tasted delicious. I should have took a picture. I also had a few vege-burgers. Yum. Between the debates and the joking, my friend told us this story of his sister getting married at a local castle. Well she was going to get married but the castle decided they couldn’t marry on that day. The castle offered to pay to relocate but they weren’t happy so they declined. Then the castle rang back saying that they would pay the couples mortgage off! They accepted as British houses cost a fortune at the moment so would improve their quality of life dramatically. The next week a cheque came through the post with the amount agreed and it was signed by the Beckhams! Yeah the Beckhams wanted exclusive use of the castle that weekend so payed for the right. Crazy huh? Anyway click the pic for some random facial expressions of my friends I caught using the phone-cam.

I went drinking with four girls last night. Let’s just say it was an experience!

I had a strange chat today with a friend. He wanted to point out my weak points. I let him. Basically he started off saying I was stubborn but realised that wasn’t the case and that he wasn’t getting across his point. After discussion his true meanings finally surfaced. He doesn’t like that I’m painfully shy especially around people I don’t know. Even little things like asking people in shops for help and stuff, I don’t do it if I don’t have to. Numerous occasions I get friends to ask things for me. It really does get that bad. I’m aware I’m shy but I see no solutions when I’m actually in the situations. You can tell me what to do but when it comes to it I fall. It’s hard. He wanted to point it out because he thinks it’s holding me back from greater things and doesn’t want me to lose the excitement I have for various things. He’s right and that’s why I decided last year to go abroad this year to cut off the comfort zone of my city and my home. It’s an attempt to grow as a person and gain that confidence I need.