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Last night I finally got around to watching the movie “Zebraman,” which I rented and burned nearly a month and a half ago. It’s directed by Takeshi Miike, who is famous for a bunch of freaky horror films like Ichi the Killer, Gozu, and the Dead or Alive movies. Well Zebraman isn’t a horror film, but instead a comedy/parody of superhero movies.

One of the trailers summarizes things up pretty well: “The mother is having an affair, the daughter is a hooker, the son gets bullied, and the father…saves the world?” The movie’s about a teacher named Ichikawa (whoa! big coincidence? i think not), whose life really sucks for the previously mentioned reasons. His whole family hates him, and his only comfort at home is in his Zebraman costume that he makes, modeled after a crappy TV show he watched when he was a kid.

One night he goes out into the streets dressed in his costume, and runs into a pervert wearing a crab helmet. The two end up fighting, and Ichikawa discovers he actually does have superpowers (of course he uses the “Zebra Screw Punch.” Turns out this Crab man is the first of a bunch of aliens that Zebraman has to beat.

Awesome movie. Some parts are just so retarded that you have to love it.

Well I’m sitting here at the SALC (computer lab type place at Kanda) with Seth. We just ate a bunch of food at the cheap (quality, not price. almost like America) Chinese buffet. Derek just called me a minute ago, and man my phone must be the loudest device on the planet. I didn’t turn it on silent, and the thing was going nuts. Oh, it’s also the same ring tone as Kamen Rider Kaixa uses in the show, because I’m that awesome.

Maybe Mario Kart (Super Famicom/SNES) tonight at Isoroku’s. Koopa will dominate.

Well crap. Got a mini-tour of the video facilities and stuff at Kanda Bld. 6, and the G4 lab only has 2 programs for video editing: iMovie and Adobe Premiere. iMovie is basic and not good for anything but photo slideshows (I’ll be making one of those for the IES Sayonara Party). For my Super Hero movie though, Premiere puts a bit of a damper on my plans. It’s Premiere 6.5, which I’ve used before, but only once at the beginning of freshman year. I think I can remember the basics, but I’m not nearly as good or comfortable with it as I am with Final Cut. Oh man, hopefully I can do something with it. I think Ari knows the program fairly well; might have to enlist his help.

And right now I’m watching Pokemon Advanced on TV. Man this show sucks now. They’re having a beauty contest or something.

Professor Aoyagi’s page for Anime class paper:

http://www.geocities.com/willowkid/syllabi.html

(The link is for myself and a few others; too lazy to put it on my links page)

Starting tomorrow, I’m beginning work on a short movie. It’s technically supposed to be for my Japanese class, but I’ve got too much of a video/TV itch right now to let it just stand at that. It’s going to be a parody of Japanese super heros (like Kamen Rider and Power Rangers), with a recycling theme (have to have that for class).

Final Cut in Japanese might be interesting…

I always seem to do a lot more on my weekends here in Japan than I do back home.

Today, went to Tokyo Big Site (huge convention center that looks like a robot) for the Nintendo World “Touch DS” event. Basically, you get to go there for free, wait in lines, and play different DS games. It was a lot of fun. I got to play (lets see if I can remember): Sawaru Made in Wario, NintenDogs, Ganbare Goemon, Yoshi’s Balloon Trip, and Pac-Pix. Oh, and on Cube, I played Naruto 3. Anyways, the DS is a really awesome system: has a touch screen, a second screen, wireless capabilities, a mic, and is a lot smaller than I had imagined from the pictures. I really want to get one, but I’m sure that’s mostly hype. I wouldn’t really play it enough to justify the cost. Although, 8 player wireless Mario Kart sounds pretty sweet.

After that, went with Mikey and Ari to an event in Funabashi called “The Search for Rhythm.” Basically it was a bunch of “bands” playing songs, with concentration on drums, I guess. Our friend Yoko was playing, so that’s why we went. A few of the acts were decent, but there were no real instuments except for tamborines, drums, pianos, and a synthesizer. As Ari said about the performance of Orange Range’s “Viva Rock”: “It’s amazing how little kids and a synthesizer can ruin my favorite song.”

After that, we went with Yoko and Kanako to Shirokiya for dinner, etc. Fun times. Instead of the hole in the wall I usually expect out of izakaya, this was a really nice place. Will have to go there again. On the way back, ran into a huge herd of NOVA teachers, all really really drunk. Talked to a few on the train, they were going to karaoke in Gyotoku. They invited me, but no thanks. That was my night.

Oh, and since I stayed out later than planned, didn’t have a chance to take my DVDs back to Tsutaya. So I get to pay a little late fee tomorrow. Yay!