At 7pm the doors opened to the Kobayashi Hall, the screen and the risers were set up for the movie.  Two Subaru cars were placed in the front as well.  The hall was surprisingly nicely set up.  The movie I saw was titled “Kakera: A Piece of Our Life”.  It is around a university student (girl) who meets a young lady who tells her that she’s not interested in women but is interested in certain people.  The young lady is a lesbian while the university student has lost her way with having a boyfriend who is the stereotypical Japanese man and is curious with her sexuality.  All of my friends did not enjoy the movie.  The lesbian was desperately in love with a straight girl trying to convert her and was acting like a stalker.  The university girl was quite confused like a high school teenager.  The movie was slow paced.  This is a low budget film and the actors were all wearing the same clothes every single day.  Some of my comments from my friends were “I want 2 hours of my life back!” “Is that why they served alcoholic beverages?” “If that is the best movie of the festival I don’t want to see another”.  Although the movie was not the best I would recommend supporting up and coming directors and film makers. 

At the end of the movie the director of the movie Momoko Ando flew in from Japan and she spoke to us about the movie and she also had a question and answer period.  She also talked about James Iha (previously in the band The Smashing Pumpkins) was in charge of the music in the movie. 

For a free night of 2 alcoholic beverages and some appetizers, well worth it if you have nothing to do.

So You Think You Can Dance is starting again! I have been a fan since season 4. They completely changed up the format this year. Instead of having 20 new members, they now have 11 newbies teamed up with 11 all-stars (previous season’s best contestants). The new format is a very welcoming change! The show was starting to get stale and this breath a new life into the program.

This week is the first elimination and by far, the best dance was from Alex Wong. Created by Sonya who is quickly becoming one of my favorite choreographers, Alex and Allison danced a contemporary number to Hallelujah. The performance was so good it left the judges teary eyed.  Contempory is what Alex was trained in so I wonder how he is going to do in routines that aren’t in his element.

At the other end of the spectrum is Melinda Sullivan. She’s a tap dancer who is trained by the tap-dance legend Gregory Hines. She was dancing with Pasha to a ballroom routine but the entire dance looked sloppy. It was so bad that Nigel mentioned she would be in the bottom 3 tomorrow. Even though she had a bad dance, I still want to see what else she has to offer so I hope she can survive tomorrow’s elimination.

The most annoying contestant must be Kent. His annoying smile and facial expressions is enough to make me want to projectile vomit. I really don’t care how he dances, I hope they vote his annoying ass off the show ASAP!

All the other dances were pretty average so not much to talk about there.

As much as I hate Mia Micheals, I have to admit, the show is not the same without her.  Having her return this season brings back what makes So You Think You Can Dance a good show.  Can’t wait for next week’s performance!

Water that reacts to your emotions?  Say it ain’t so!  It sounds very magical, but it is an interesting topic neverless.  While I do question some of the research presented in the documentary, I do think it’s possible to believe that water can have a “consciousness”.  Watch it yourself and tell me what you think.

I will try the water in rice experiment someday, and when I do, I will blog about the results.

One of the things I like to do in my free time is to dig up interesting documentaries to watch on youtube (especially scary ghost ones).  I found this interesting documentary (don’t worry, it’s not scary) regarding how the environment affects our genes which are then passed down to future generations.  The lesson of the story?  Take care of your genes, at least until you are finished making babies.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Looks like Old Navy is having their own Black Friday weekend deal. On Saturday Nov 28, 2009, when you make a purchase of $20 or more, you will receive a free copy of Lego Rock Band on the system on your choice (Wii, PS3, Xbox 360). Such a good deal! The game itself is $60.

But… you will need to line up early as there will be many people trying to catch this deal. Since the supply is limited, wrist bands will be given to people waiting in line on a first come first serve basis.

I will try to wake up early… but I have a feeling it will be an epic fail for me… sigh… I hate early mornings.

quote from CrazyPyxo

“WOW… sound 1000% like my type of game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! maybe it’s time to revive the ps3!”

… well too bad, I’m playing it first

I’m about 3 hours into the game, and I must say  .. it’s definately lived up to its billing of HARDCORE, DIFFICULT and ADDICTIVE!  So far, it’s a definate 9/10 for me!

Btw, I named my Character Pyxo ^_^

I took some time on my trip to New York to go see the documentary The September Issue which was only playing in select theatres across the USA.  The movie is about the making of the 2007 September issue of Vogue.  The September issue is supposed to be the most important issue which sets all the trends for the year in the fashion industry.

I was surprised to find a lot of people watching this type of movie at the small theatre that I went to.  Even more surprised to find a few guys who were watching the movie by themselves and they weren’t even metrosexual!

I think the way they structured the documentary was great.  They kind of show two main points of view in the movie.  From Anna Wintour’s point of view as the Editor in Chief and from Grace Coddington’s point of view as the Creative Director of American Vogue, with a little bit of comic relief from Andre Leon Talley, Editor at Large.  Anna Wintour is the cold and decisive character who intimidates even big name designers such as Oscar de la Renta and Stefano Pilati, Creative Director for Yves Saint-Laurent.  She was described as the “pope” of the fashion industry and whatever she says goes.  Not only does she tell several people to hit the gym throughout the movie, she even managed to get Miuccia Prada to change the fabric of the coats in her fall/winter collection because the original fabric was too heavy.  Grace Coddington is almost the complete opposite as Wintour.  She has a softer personality, but she will put up a fight with Wintour about anything that she believes in, because she is so passionate about her work.

They have a very interesting relationship in that they do not talk to each other much.  You will see awkward silence between them throughout the movie, and they never really spend time together outside of the meeting room.  Despite this seemingly tense relationship, the September issue turns out to be an issue with the majority of spreads produced and styled by Coddington.

Wintour does show off a warmer side of herself when she is around her children.  However, I found it a pity that even her own daughter stressed that she would never consider the fashion industry as a serious career and that she was going to go to law school instead.

Overall, I thought the movie was a great piece for anyone who is interested in the fashion industry or anyone who wants to get a kick out of the “most powerful woman in the United States”.  It captured my attention throughout the 90 minutes, and it is definitely worth renting on DVD even if you can’t catch it at a theatre near you.

Check out the comments made by President Obama that were not supposed to be released to the public here.

After countless billboards and ads every where, the Jay Leno Show finally premiered.  I was curious to see how the show would change from “The Tonight Show” when Jay Leno was hosting it.  Well, the show is exactly the same as before with the ordering switched up.  I guess it’s better to stick with a successful formula.  This means I will be watching it when ever I remember it’s on.

Even though Jerry Seinfeld was the main guest, I was looking to see Kanye West after his huge mess up at VMA.  The interview was awkward and made him look like more of a loser, he really should retire from performing and just work behind the scenes.