It turns out that talking to strangers isnt so bad after all..

so i was down at borders today looking for books by the New Jersey Samurai...Anthony Bourdain. While I'm browsing the books, I was in my own world like i always am but I must have muttered something barely audible but loud enough for the girl behind me to hear it.

Before i know it, she starts showing me the books that she is holding and planning on buying and 2 of them are books by Bourdain himself. We started talking about books that we have already read by Bourdain and books that we are planning on reading and then we begun sharing our insights on Bourdain's books and philosophies. We made our way down to the cafe and continued our conversation over a few black coffee's and before we knew it, 2.5 hours had passed...she was late for work...what can I say...I'm charming.

I don't usually make it a habit to talk to strangers but today was rather enjoyable...I just might mutter things to myself more often.

my deepest apologies, now on to the show

Due to a series of rather strange events last night, I'm a night behind with the "passing the year with a movie a week" part of my blog. If there is anyone out there who actually reads this and enjoys it, I'm sorry for taking a small bit of sunshine from your life...but now I'm back.

Tonight's feature is Transformers...the new live action one from last summer, not the animated CLASSIC from 1986, which is by far a superior movie to the live action one.

Don't get me wrong, I liked the live action Transformers. The effects were outstanding, the fights were cool although very brief and they used the original voice actor for Optimus Prime.

The problem is, it seemed like a cross between a movie about giant robots and one long commercial for General Motors. It just didn't feel like Transformers. The humans were featured way too heavily, all the Decepticons looked like insects and Megatron was only in the last 20mins of the movie.

I'm a huge Transformer fan so I'm not going to bitch about the flaws of a for the most part, enjoyable movie. For a giant robot movie, this movie rocked...as a Transformers movie, it didn't.

Tatakai!

Lie to me, tell me stories so beautiful.

another week down, only 47 left.

Ive started to make a list of all the things I want to see and do while Im in Japan. I dont know how Im going to fit it all in seeing as I am only going to be there for a week and a half. There are a lot of sights that I want to see and a lot of restaurants that I want to eat at....nothing fancy just some small noodle and sushi places that Ive heard and read about. I will be staying in Tokyo so the majority of my sight seeing time will be spent there. As I read more travel books, I will be able to write a detailed list of what I want to do.

I am going to get a JR Rail Pass so I can take a day trip to Kyoto and Osaka. According to one of my heroes, Anthony Bourdain, there are tons of cool things to see in both of those cities. Some of the things that I want to see are the Takara building, the Tamiya Building, The Sony building, the grave site of the 47 Ronin and Himeji Castle for starters. I will be there in April for Sakura season which is what Im looking forward to the most. I cant wait to grab a local beer and find a spot under a Sakura tree and do nothing but enjoy the view.

Next April is so far away.

I would gladly be dragged naked over broken glass just to see her smile...

...yet I know I will never see her again.

I'm not leaving until I've had Reindeer sorbet.

I'm back home after having the distinct pleasure of attending an Akira Kurosawa film festival. Today was a long day but when I'm on my death bed, this day will be remembered as one of the best.

There were only 30 of us or so, crammed into a dimly lit old firehouse that smelled faintly of motor oil and wet concrete...it was awesome. Before the movies started, we ate food prepared by a couple local college kids that are aspiring chefs....dishes containing the likes of Asparagus, bacon, clams, scallops, rice, eggs...it was all good.

In the back, there was a bar of sorts, some local beer and some of the harder stuff. Most people waited in line to order the metro-trendy-euro trash Cosmo or other similarly named fruity drinks desperately trying to fit in with the hip art crowd. I'm not hip, nor am i an art crowd person. I'm a tall, way too skinny white boy from New Jersey that happens to think Kurosawa is one of the greatest film makers of all time...so i tried my best to avoid the Sex in the City crowd and just enjoy myself.

That's when i saw it. On the back of the bar, beautiful and chrome. A french press. Some of us were complaining about the lack of coffee at this get-together but our troubles were solved when i saw the french press. Like a ninja I scampered around the bar, snatching the french press for myself. I asked the "barkeep" if there were any coffee grounds on the premises and after a few minutes of bottle re-arranging under the bar, he hands me this crumpled, stained brown bag full of coffee grounds. Stale or not, i was going to bring coffee to the masses. Coffee makes any and all occasions better...and it doesn't get much better than coffee and Kurosawa.

I fill my cup, find a seat in the back and watch the lights dim and take in the masterpieces that are: Ran, Rashomon, Yojimbo and of course The Seven Samurai.

This is living.

48 weeks...

one week has passed, only 48 more to go until i leave for Japan. So far, my plan of watching a movie every Tuesday and reading some travel books every Wednesday seems to be working.

Last Tuesday I watched the animated classic from 1986...The Transformers. I was 10 when this movie came out and I remember my dad taking me to see it. It was great. The Transformers is without a doubt the greatest cartoon ever made.

I'm 30 and i still get teary when Optimus Prime dies.

Its all good though...he comes back in the regular season. Hot Rod just wasn't fit to lead the autobots and the Matrix didn't fit inside Ultra Magnus so Prime HAD to come back.

Tonight's movie is the noir tour de force that is Frank Miller's masterpiece....Sin City. This movie is based on some of the greatest graphic novels ever written. If you have not yet been exposed to Sin City or the works of Frank Miller, go out and do so now.

Everything the man has written or drawn is pure gold. From Daredevil in the 70's and 80's to the brilliant Dark Knight Returns in 1986 which is by the way, the best Batman story ever told...to Sin City and 300 in the 90's and currently All Star Batman and Robin...written by Frank and drawn by the master Jim Lee. Miller has done hundreds of books besides the few i listed above but the ones i mentioned have had the most impact on me.

One to the movie...

An old man dies, a little girl lives...

that's fair, right?

Somewhere in the Universe, someone is laughing very evil laughter.

I wouldn't exactly say that the world is out to get me but something on a much larger scale. Whoever is pulling the strings of my so-called life is having a grand time while laughing at me. I have not made up my mind yet on whether or not I believe in karma but I'm slowly leaning towards "yes"

Why? Let me tell you. Over the past few months, quite a few rather negative things have happened to me and these events have helped me decide that if Karma does indeed exist then I'm in for a world of greatness.

First, I am a coffee fanatic. I need it and cannot live without it. I'm not a big fan of corporate coffee but i will drink it if i have to. For the past 10 years or so I have haunted this little dive of a coffee bar, it has 2 tables, magazines from years gone by, old well read comic books and the best god damn dark roast you can have the honor of sucking down.

So anyway, a few days ago I was talking to one of the girls that work there and she seemed rather upset so i asked her what was wrong. Between the tears she was able to tell me that this coffee bar that she has worked at for several years and I had frequented for about 10 years is leaving. When a business goes out of business its not really a surprise, you tend to hear whispers about it.

Nope...not this time. The owner of the building came downstairs and informed the manager and employees that the building is going to be sold and modified for some type of clothing store and that the coffee house will be gone by the end of the month. This really sucks. This is certainly not the only place to get coffee in my town but it was the best. I knew everyone there and going there was part of my daily routine. That little hole inside my heart just got a little bigger.

Second. I am a sushi fanatic and finding good sushi in the area where i live is not an easy task. There is a great little place a couple of towns over called Sakura. Not only does Sakura have great sushi for not a lot of money but they also have great beef and noodle bowls, Pocky, Strawberry Kit-Kats, Ramune and UCC coffee...all off these things being part of my weekly diet.

Anyway, the rent on the building where they are now is rather high and they have been looking to relocate to a cheaper area but still close to where they are now. Well, they found a really nice building both larger and cheaper then where they are now however its 2 and a half hours away in the bottom of the state. I'm not a rich kid, I cant afford an every other day trip to the bottom of the state for great sushi...my gasoline budget just wont allow it. There are other little Japanese places in the area with decent sushi but its just not the same.

Finally, I have been kind of seeing this great girl lately and Katelyn is her name. We have the same taste in everything...she likes Japanese food, she drinks coffee, she likes to make fun of white trash folk and she reads comic books....this girl is a goddess.

She works at the local university studying the effects of fresh water on salt water creatures....what she does is much more technical but i just don't know the official term or job description. She loves what she does and I love hearing about what she does and starting next month i will only be able to hear about what she does over the phone.

The funding for her research at the school that she works at has been pulled but since the group of people that she works with are rather knowledgeable in the field that they are in, they have been given the option to transfer however the school that she works at is the only one in the state that has a program for what she does so I knew the whole "I'm moving out of state thing" was on its way. HOWEVER...what i wasn't aware of is that programs like hers are not at every college...in fact only about 4 major colleges have programs for what she does, all of which are a somewhat lengthy plane trip away. Her choices are California, Oregon, Texas or Florida...none of which are remotely close to where i live.

Katelyn chose Florida due to the fact that she has friends and family down there. We only have about a month together before she moves for good so we are going to try to make the best of it. We will talk on the phone and online and I will try my best to save some cash to go down and see her but like i said earlier...I'm not a rich kid.

Here's to you Puppet Master...i hope you are having a good laugh.

Congratulations Universe, you win.