Yeah, that's a big ferris wheel. In fact, that's the world's largest ferris wheel. It is some number of meters high, I forget how many at this point, but I believe it was in the Very Tall ballpark. It robbed me of six dollars to ride it, just as a child tears a violet from the ground and rends its delicate petals as cruel whimsy strikes him.
I finished that 12-volume manga I got, only to find that Fortuna is crushing me mercilessly under her wheel - the series is actually 18 volumes long, which leaves me six volumes from the end and with no easy method of procuring the remainder. This frustration, along with similar problems of finding great series and being unable to finish them, has convinced me that after three or four days in the manga world, it's time to give it up again. If I find a good series in its entirety, then I will probably pick it up, but I'm through with this manga interruptus nonsense for good.
I watched Hero today, and it was amazing - it's so hard to follow what has or has not come out in American theaters from over here, but I think IMDB said it came out in November. I'm not sure if it made much of a splash, and if it didn't, that's a derned shame. It's a fair amount like Crouching Tiger plus Rashomon, only unlike the latter it is actually enjoyable and beautifully filmed, and unlike the former... okay, it is much like the former. Nonetheless, it is a stunningly beautiful movie, and the action is both cool and atmospheric. If you haven't seen it and it is not in theaters, you should rush out and get the Hong Kong bootleg. Incidentally, a while back I saw Master and Commander (also incredible) on a mainland China bootleg, and quickly discovered why Hong Kong bootlegs are the internationally popular ones - mainland China ones are cheap (maybe $2 at most) and come out either before or while the movie is in theaters, but the picture quality is pretty poor, and for people who don't speak English the subtitles are awful. For fun I turned on the English subtitles for a while, and was greeted with priceless gems of translation like "There's something off the starboard bow" being rendered as "Have stood up."
- Gyaa! I'm give up
Naka-ku, Hiroshima
730-0803
JAPAN
