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Alex
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| I just finished watching Maou, staring Ikuta Toma and Ohno Satoshi (Yes, Arashi's Ohno).
All in all, it was entertaining, but the entire time I was watching it, all I could think of was how much better it could have been. (I'd like to see how a good writer with a good director would adapt it into a movie.) Toma's character, the detective, was entirely unprofessional -- he let his feelings get in the way of his judgement constantly and made elementary mistakes such as disturbing the crime scene on multiple occasions. What made this even more strange was that no one seemed to even care. Is it not necessary to leave crime scenes undisturbed in Japan? Also, instead of putting on gloves to examine new evidence, the "detecives" would just grab it. Never once did anyone mention getting fingerprints.
Another thing that bothered me with this series was the gratuitous amount of dramatized running scenes there were. Every episode, Toma would get multiple slow-motion running scene with intense music playing in the background. People ran everywhere in this drama, and would leave running or come in running for seemingly no reason. It was awkward.
However, what makes this drama worth watching is not Toma, despite his extensive acting resume. Instead, it is Ohno. Because Ohno is primarily involved with music, I was surprised by his ability to act. (After watching the absolutely ridiculous music video I linked earlier, would you expect him to be able to act? But -- surprise -- he can!!) He seemed genuinely creepy in the beginning.. and genuinely tortured as the story developed. He gave the character an amount of depth that isn't normally present in Japanese dramas.
I know that Toma's character was supposed to be one that I could sympathize with, but I was not able to. He was reckless and an awful detective. His constant mental self-flagellation got annoying. Ohno's character, on the other hand, I found myself more and more attached to, despite his "evilness." I never quite figured him out though -- how can one be so evil and so loveable at the same time? Ohno's character and the lead female character, the psychic, were the only two I was able to become attached to. The rest of the characters either had no redeeming characteristics or were just plain boring.
However, I recommend this drama simply for Ohno's performance. Well worth the watch.
Oh, as an end note. I also watched Atashinchi no Danshi, one of Horikita Maki's recent dramas. It was... incredibly silly, but in an entertaining way. The little love story it squeezes in is adorable, but it's really not a big focus at all. If you're bored and want to watch something that will make you laugh and go "WTF?," this drama is for you. Otherwise... skip this one. Or just watch this clip, which summarizes the entire adorable little romance.
Oh, and another thing. Every Japanese drama I've watched is constantly interrupted by flashbacks. Why?! It's annoying. I don't get it. Do any of you guys understand, or are you just as lost as I am? | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment   |
| Life has been fine. Blah blah blah. I get to go home the weekend after Easter, which I'm very happy about. SARAH WE'RE HANGING OUT♥. My friend at the dorm invited me to eat Easter dinner with her family, which was very sweet and makes me happy.
Anyways, in my African American History class, Dr. Lindsey (awesome professor, by the way.. hilarious, sarcastic, and informative at the same time) introduced me to Tim Wise.. just thought I'd share some of his videos I really liked:
What do I mean by Racism 2.0? I mean the kind that allows a lot of white folks to still look at the larger community of people of color in a negative light and to still hold on to, as we admit in survey after survey, all kinds of negative stereotypes about black and brown people as a whole, but still be willing to carve out exceptions, you know, for those individual people of color who we don't feel are threatening, for those who make us sufficiently comfortable. But if the larger group is still held in a low regard, that's not the end of racism, that's Racism 2.0! It's enlightened exceptionalism - we're gonna make some exceptions for those black and brown folks who transcend race, which is actually a very racist concept.
If you want to see another video of him, watch this one.. I strongly recommend it. It's the one we watched in class. :) | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
| I created a journal to put all of my translations in! I figure having it there will push me to translate more stuff, since I'll want to update it.
But yeah! Check it out here!! | | comments: Leave a comment |
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Steven Weinberg on the potential origins of our universe and the importance of science today, as well as lack of need for astronauts and the need for a lack of 'prophets.' Very interesting stuff, this is. :) | | comments: 7 comments or Leave a comment |
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Alex
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mrs_batman