SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!!!

I was looking forward to going to Elina's house for a sushi party on Saturday night, but because it turned out I had to work on Sunday, this plan was dashed. This was quite the blow for the party, since I planned to bring my Wii along and bust it out during the mid-party festivities. This is a special weekend for Wii players in Japan. While all the fanatics cry about it in American forums, the Japanese (and me, by default) are busy playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Since I had Friday afternoon off, I joyously went to the city (boat, bus and footwork) to pick myself a copy. I'm always afraid of spending money in these instances, since Japanese media outlets are a cornocopia for japanaphiles. The gaming store has CDs, manga, DVDs and games from the NES era to the present day. Really anything I could ever want or hope for. They have this classic gaming corner with all the RPGs I grew up with, but in Japanese. Chrono Trigger? In the original Japanese? I sigh a lot lately, but I sigh there out of pleasure.

But Smash. Nintendo has got to be on the greatest streak in the world. It's perfect. The story mode, once you get past the audacity of its fan fiction qualities (Link meets Yoshi in the woods, Fox has tea with Zelda and Peach, Link and Zelda team up with Ganondorf despite his obvious desire to do them bodily harm), serves as a Nintendo grand tour. I came to admire it after awhile. There is no dialogue or explanation as to why these characters are together, yet they're distilled to their essences and play out their destinies according to their own internal logics.

The story mode took about eight hours to complete, and there's still more to it that I haven't quite puzzled out. But between the event matches, the single and all-star modes that you need to push 35 characters through, the stage builder, the trophy and sticker collection and the blessed online brawling, there's simply a wealth of activities.

A note about online brawling: I've never felt more satisfaction at having my ass handed to me. Despite my love of video games, I'm not that great a player, and it's telling in the online arena. But since it's anonymous and there's no ranking that would place me as the #1,673,294 brawler, I've found it's the best way to improve your game. I've seen characters used in ways I hadn't anticipated (someone trounced me and another brawler with Zelda last night using mostly long ranged attacks and some amazing evasion skills), and altered my play style accordingly.

Fun times, and I'm playing it a month before it's released in America. And I can't help gloating a little. It's too much fun not to.

Vanishing

I got off work at three, hopped a ferry to the mainland and then caught a bus down to central Nago. As I tend to carry more and more distractions with me (books, iPod, DS), traveling has become increasingly easy. I'm encased in my own little world of audiobooks, word games and fiction. The iPod in particular has paid for itself; you can go further and longer when you're not bored tearless.

Elina picked me up at the game store in Nago where I snatched up a copy of Mario Strikers to play in downtime I increasingly don't have. Between writing thank you notes to my Japanese friends, the pile of reading I brought back for myself, exercise and all the myriad details that scream their importance, there's been little time for gaming. But I'll gravitate back toward games when I get tired of reading. I can already feel the pull, but I'm enjoying my books too much.

But reading was why Elina picked me up Nago. This month's book was Starship Troopers and for a novel with no plot, I was completely engrossed. I'm not sure if that's an endorsement, since I could say the same thing about the last four books I've read and am reading: Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs, A Disorder Peculiar to the Country, Starship Troopers and currently Salem's Lot. This either means I've picked good ones lately or I'm looking for some escapism. I think the latter, perhaps.

There was a problem, however, with this month's book club: our meeting place Celluloid Cafe had vanished from this earth in the span of a month. In honor of this cozy, seaside locale, I present the obligatory "wtf photo":



We reconvened at a burger joint down the street, where I enjoyed a tasty goya burger and a spirited discussion of Troopers. Fascism and Nazis were absent from discussion, but American--and a touch of British--military policies were at the forefront. Our discussion was concise. Either people liked it or hated it and they could tell you why and probably go off for five or ten minutes, lost in their own thoughts.

It was a short meeting though, since we then hightailed it to one of the three movie theaters in Okinawa for a showing of I am Legend, which had been discussed the previous month. I'd seen it before, but this time I had the pleasure of a frightful young lady clutching my arm.

I was rather pleased with this.

More Consuming

The past couple weeks I've been watching Seinfeld episodes. Hard to imagine the show ended eight years ago and I didn't appreciate it. Watching the old episodes, I can't say that there have been many other enjoyable live-action comedies in the past few years that have Seinfeld's shelf-life. Spiritually, Arrested Development is the only comparable television comedy I know of, though I know comparatively little about what's on TV. I have limited means and limited time, which means I have to be choosey.

I'm looking forward to Heroes now. The season ended and I have twenty-some episodes to watch. Even though it's on every Tuesday here, I've avoided watching since I didn't realize they were airing until midway through the season. Coming in in the middle is never a good thing, after all.

Through a bit of fortune I managed to see Shrek the 3rd, which I heartily don't recommend. I'm under no illusions that the 2nd and 3rd films were designed essentially to make money, but at least the 2nd one was funny. There's now a bad movie trifecta in play: will Pirates 3 suck as well? The summer season, except for Ratatouille and Transformers (the new trailer looks astonishing), seems like its on a downward spiral.

But so it goes. On the reading front I'm busy with The Idiot. Slow going, purely because there's so much packed into a lot of space. Looking forward to more.

I love the art of James Jean and have a soft spot for Fables covers.

Check out more of James Jean's work at www.processrecess.com.

Let's Get Together!

World of Warcraft has fallen to the wayside as I'm playing through Zelda and Paper Mario. WoW has a level cap of 70 and I am currently 48, but I'd like to attain that goal to experience some of what WoW endgame has to offer. I was clipping along at leveling at a decent pace, but between three games, I only have so much time, and since I plan to reactivate my FFXI account come June to experience some of the new content, I've stepped away from one time-consuming massive since I know I'll be busy with another in a few weeks.

But, wonder of wonders, I've been talking with Jeremy and Nolan back in the states and it's possible that we'll be playing WoW together on the weekends when I have some free time. I'm hoping to get a hold of Trevor to see if he would care to join us.

Red Night

Book club was good. David picked me up and we had a decent discussion of Cities of the Red Night in the car--which was more interesting than the discussion at the book club. That turned into more of a social gathering after the book conversation deteriorated. The general consensus was that no one understood the point and the rampant homosexual sex was distracting. About 1/3 of our number didn't finish the book, citing the graphic sex as the major deterrent. Sex is everywhere, the logic revolves around it ("How do we solve this problem?" "Sodomy?" *insert sodomy act here* "Wow, I have a great idea that totally solves everything!") and except for one or two occasions, there's few instances of heterosexual sex. The novel is tied primarily to masculine experience, and I think it says a lot that the majority of the club's female readers didn't finish it.

I was pleased when I got to defend Equus when Jen expressed some outrage about Daniel Radcliffe's role as Alan Strang in the recent London production. I secretly coveted that role when I first read Equus. It's a perfect role for a young male actor. Equus also happens to be my favorite play, but despite that I've never seen a production. The London production also has Richard Giffiths in the Martin Dysart role. The Alan Strang role for the middle-aged man.

After book club it was back to David's apartment for some Seinfeld and to peruse his Flight graphic novels.

Also: an idea for after JET begins to percolate.

Not a bad night, all-in-all.

If I was into Splurging:

This Month in Reading

I'm looking forward to getting off-island tomorrow for the monthly book club meeting. This month's choice is Cities of the Red Night. I'm annoyed with the choice. As the first in a trilogy of books, I am now beginning to realize, with some 30 pages left, that there will be no conclusion and I will be inclined to read the sequels. A good book, as far as I can understand it. There's a lot of skipping back and forth through time and Burroughs doesn't bother to explain any of it. Instead you're just caught up in the flow of time travel, viral infections and sodomy. In any case, Burroughs can't be accused of talking down to his audience and he rather expects me to put it together myself.

I should also note that Cities has given me a few ideas for what I'm currently working on. The shifting narrative is something I'd like to better integrate, and Burroughs does it almost flawlessly. I think mostly because he does it with such confidence.

I forget what next month's book is, or if we'll meet again before the start of the new JET year (August). Either way, it's probably time to head back into the list of books I want to read and doing some light prep reading for July's little book event.

Funny Animals

I love animation but am tired of "funny animal" movies and would like to see something that is a step up from Shrek and The Incredibles. I was disappointed when it seemed that Brad Bird was taking what I thought was a step back with Ratatouille.

Well, watch this.

Edit: Above link appears to be dead, so here's a page compilation of all Ratatouille trailers and previews.

I bought a Wii this past weekend, and true to sites I've seen before, the safety manual is a little whacked.

But now, me and my Wii:



(Sorry, my digital camera broke recently and only have my phone's camera)

I'm working my way through Zelda and Super Paper Mario. Both of which I have little understanding of story-wise, though both seem to have a theme of demonic squares/pixels.

Spiderman 3

I love the Spiderman movies. The first was good and the second near perfect, so much so that it's been a long wait for the third. When I saw the third, I was good. That's enough. I never need to see another Spiderman film again. Between the overstuffed plot and dialogue that only serves to set up the next scene, I'm probably good for the next decade.

It does have its moments. Topher Grace in particular is great as weasally Eddie Brock. I had the most fun when he was on-screen. But if this is any indication of what's to come with the rest of the summer movie season, prepare for some major disappointment.

Immersed

I've given up Final Fantasy XI since it has a sado-masochistic reward system for the amount of required effort. Instead I've been playing World of Warcraft. In addition to actually rewarding a decent amount of effort, it's a lot more dynamic to play.



I become addicted easily to these games. They provide me precious English communication with souls that can actually effectively converse. I study Japanese, of course, but I crave English conversation that elementary students and low-level JHS students cannot provide. Some of the 9th graders can communicate pretty well, but not at with the necessary amount of engagement I crave.

So yes, back to WoW.

Reading~

I took a trip to Okinawa City this past weekend to meet with the book club and discuss Saramago's Blindness. The drive to Okinawa city takes about an hour and a half, so there was also discussion in the car. I wish I'd taken notes as I was reading; the discussion was rigorous and I found it difficult to keep up with everyone--particularly David, who reminds me of Graham. Despite its languid pace, the book is a fast read. Saramago's sentences can last for a page, making stopping in the center of one a treacherous endeavor only for the bold. And I've always been a very passive book reader, absorbing and placing myself in the narrative more than stepping back and analyzing.

Reading: I put away about 1/3 of Catch-22 this week, especially on Tuesday night when I went ahead and reformatted my laptop. I've never had more interest in where the next chapter will lead. Once Catch-22 is finished, I'll be ordering new books. I'm thinking of a novel by John Swartzwelder, Saramago's Seeing and another I haven't decided upon.

In related book news, my monthly book club has chosen a book I suggested, House of Leaves. It's tome-like and I hope no one finds it too intimidating, but it is one of the most stylish horror novels I've ever read.

Playing: Final Fantasy V Advance, sent to me from Aaron, who owed me cash from the box of Japanese Naruto mangas I sent. I've never played FFV on an actual system, only through emulators, and it's gratifying to read an official translation instead of one made by fans.

The Week in Review

It's official: another year on the horizon. I will finish here in July of 2008. I'm sure, at this juncture, that three years will be enough and it will be time to get back to American and Life As You Know It.

Life As I Know It continues more or less how I left it: curiously absorbing. I can't ascertain if its a quirk of island life or of living in another culture. I think some might find it suffocating, but part of me finds it comforting. I almost view it as an extended hermitage.

For certain, the other teachers don't look at it that way. Ryoko, the 9th grade English teacher, has inferred that living on ie-jima is restricting. Of all the teachers, she is perhaps the most cosmopolitan and most informed of what's OUT THERE. I can recall few teachers in my junior high or high school years that saw far beyond their immediate surroundings. I can understand why now, more than I care to admit.

In her defense, it is restricting. There's stuff to do, of course, but the variety is sparse. It isn't easy for a young teacher either. How the system works here in Okinawa is that, every few years, a teacher moves to a different school and starts again. On the Okinawan mainland, the tenure is five years, but since ie-jima is an island off the coast of a larger island, the length is three years, and on some of the farther islands, two. When your time is up, you're shifted somewhere else and someone new moves into your position. Nice job security, but going from a larger city to a small island that might have less than a thousand people, or even a few hundred, and you can begin to imagine how isolating it can be. I know at least three of the teachers have spouses that live off island they only see on weekends.

So you make your own entertainment. This week I've plowed through the first season of My Name is Earl and about half of the second while catching up with House. Thankfully my books arrived today: (Catch-22, 1984, The Thirteenth Tale. "Thankfully," since I'm going through The Lord of the Rings for the third or fourth time in the last year.

Those will keep me busy for a bit.