solanin

today i listened to adele's "someone like you" a few times. had a bit of a moment to be honest. i think i would much prefer to sing another farewell song,"solanin," from the same titled film. while the film disappointed me (i loved the original manga) this song was on continuous play for quite a while over summer.

[Miyazaki Aoi - 'Solanin']  lyrics

Goodbye, that's enough

You can cope anywhere

Goodbye, I'll manage somehow too

Goodbye, that's what I'll do

later i found out the song was created by asian kung-fu generation. which was such an engrained part of my high school life (partly due to falling asleep daily with the music on) that i had to revisit other old favorites. i find myself having complete musical nostalgia every other month, remembering and reconfirming the best parts of my past. i am so glad to find them as sweet as ever.

The Pillows - Bran-new Lovesong

Asian Kung Fu Generation - Mugen Glider

Plastic Tree - Sink

Deadman - Sakura to Ame

MUCC - Waru, Arubeki Basho

study break

attempt to start a movie club at school was semi-successful. i reserved a study room on the fifth floor (like D-level in terms of function) of the library, but the projector was clearly made out for presentations not movie screening. so we huddled around my pitiful 15", glancing anxiously every now and then towards the door. our excuse had to do with criminal law...homicides.

thinking back on it, "fallen angels" was probably not the best thing to pick for a first movie gathering. unfortunately i couldn't find "in the mood for love" in time. i have watched this movie three times, once by myself. once with a few close friends who like art films. and this time with a group of new friends who are not well introduced to the genre.

being neurotic i was clearly most nerve-wracked with the final viewing. somehow i started finding the film too cool, too stylized, too empty of deeper meaning. i relaxed somewhat when takeshi kaneshiro did his comical routine as a night-time worker; it garnered a lot of laughs. but then the story went back to the hitman. silence and pretzel crunches. oh, why was everyone so crazy? did they always have to do slow motion and play "because i'm cool" for the pre-blood bath walk? is it necessary that she* looked completely unaffected in every scene?

by the end, i was half-twisting myself around trying to figure out why i liked the film in the first place. i dreaded the end of movie when i would have to face them under the light, see their stunned or worse bored faces, explain to them why i had to put them through this one hour and forty-minutes of torture.

after i launched into some preemptory apologies, gladly they said they enjoyed the film. it was different. it was good that they were introduced to this style of movie. they were never bored at any part. and then some light teasing regarding my personality...

and so, all in all completely not worth the anxiety...but i'm still getting inception for next time.


*i realized she looks like arimura ryuutaro's cousin. that nose!


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somewhat perfect place to put these photos from the most recent vogue china. tao okamoto by lachlan bailey. (full set here)

“here you are the nothing / that is the place, / and all the places are you, / none of them yours to keep.” 
—W.S. di Piero, "Starting Over"