I went on a bus tour to this place called Tsuwano, a small and blatantly historic village about 2 hours north of Hiroshima. It was actually pretty cool, as I got to leave Hiroshima prefecture for the first time since getting here and got to see more stunning mountains. I'm just going to stop talking about them, because every time I go anyhere there are more amazing mountains to besiege the eye. Yes, besiege. They surround your optic nerve and prevent any food or water from entering it. After a number of days they throw dead cows into your eye socket.
There is this stream/drain thing lining the main walk in town that is teeming with the biggest, most colorful koi I've ever seen. They are pretty fun, but it was a little distressing to see everyone on the tour standing right outside a church where 36 martyrs were killed when Christianity was illegal, completely ignoring the church and cooing over these fishies. I was actually a bit torn about the church, as I am strongly opposed to the raping of a church for tourist reasons (witness the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed church in Arizona) and the poorly acted and narrated Let's Learn History videos that often accompany Historic Points such as this one, but the story of the martyrdom sounded really interesting and their sacrifice deserves to be remembered. Incidentally, they were killed in 1868, so it really was not all that long ago.
I got to see Mori Ogai's childhood house, which was fine in that not-really-sure-what-to-make-of-it kind of way. What is one to think when visiting a former home of a dead author? "Gosh I wonder if I'll get to meet him?" "Will he be annoyed that I'm bothering him at home?" "HE MUST HAVE STOOD JUST WHERE I'M STANDING RIGHT NOW AND ISN'T THAT THE COOLEST? DOESN'T IT JUST MAKE YOU THINK? YOU KNOW?!?!?!?! ABOUT TIME!!!?!!?! AND STUFF?!?! QUICK, TAKE 3000 PICTURES!"
I wonder what Walker Percy would have had to say about it. Well, I guess I know. I've always thought that it was sort of silly, and doing it once has definitely confirmed that idea. Nonetheless, that's a picture of his house.
I really like Mori Ogai's work, but I've not read too much of it. I would highly recommend "Dancing Princess," a heavily European-influenced novella. His style is really beautiful and well worth a look - he was also one of the three most important figures in shaping the face of modern (post-1881) Japanese fiction, so if you've any interest at all in seeing what that's like, check it out.
I saw Chocolat today after a couple of years of staunchly refusing to see it on the grounds that it looked stupid and ridiculously anti-Christian. It was everything I thought it would be and more, but I was bored on a Saturday night and didn't really have anything else to do. The message appears to be that the Sisterhood of Womyn can Do It for Themselves without any cruel and hypocritical men, be he a husband or God, unless he be Johnny Depp at which point the Sisterhood of Womyn splits up long enough for the most attractive of them to shag him in the bushes. As for its concept of Chrisitanity, it steals more bases than Ricky Henderson. The Straw Man Christianity that the movie half-heartedly builds up only to beat down bears so little resemblence to the actual Christianity of any period that I'm fairly sure it's just based on a dream that the director had inspired by hearing someone talk about how hot Charleton Heston was in "The Ten Commandments".
The movie also featured Carrie-Anne Moss trying her hardest to portray innocence and prudishness while speaking in a French accent. Poor woman, any one of these would have been too much for her.
meattractiveanymoreandI'vegainedthree ouncesandIthinkmyfinsaregettingflabby
butisn'tthisaprettyspotandIusedtocome
hereallthetimebutmyFredissuchasillyabout
otherfishgivingmetheeyeand....
Fish 2: I just ate my own poo.
