Movie reviews

Here are some movies I've watched lately...


After exhausting ourselves on all things Back to the Future at USJ we had to watch this movie again. I haven't seen it since I was a kid and I LOVED it. It was funny, witty and dealt with real social issues (how to stop your teenage mum from loving future you, how to make a skateboard, how to wear a red puffy vest).

Another old one... but it was different watching it this time- it felt so familiar and relate-able (karaoke! weird old men staring! sheer panties!)


This is probably one of the best movies I've seen all year... it has the artistic, 80s feel and soundtrack of a Bret Easton Ellis novel and it has the gorgeous Ryan Gosling. Sigh. He doesn't speak much and barely does anything else beyond steering and lurking in doorways looking sad, but it's such a good film. I urge you to see this if you like moody, emotionally draining dramas. I do!


Speaking of moody emotionally draining dramas, here's another one! And it has RyGos in it too. Blue Valentine is sad, powerful and beautifully edited. It definitely fits the old cliche of 'watching a car crash but being unable to turn away'. I cried so hard that we had to stop the film 3/4s of the way through and have an icecream break.

Disappointment

Welll I didn't do it... I wish I had. I was so disappointed in myself. But seriously I can't help it. My legs froze, I started shaking and even though I told myself a million things (it can't break you wont fall etc) it doesn't make any difference, because when I look at a ferris wheel I don't see myself falling... I see myself in that little box, terrified and having a panic attack. I know that when I've forced myself to do these things in the past I don't 'enjoy it once I'm up there' I HATE IT.

I want to be able to do these things... I really want to conquer this fear. what should I do? Hypnosis? Meditation? Force myself?

Fears

Your know how some people freeze when they see a spider? Or how some people can't swim way out far in the deep ocean? Or how people are afraid of dark alleys or enclosed spaces or dogs? I'm terrified of heights. Like seriously terrified. Like can't go in a glass elevator terrified. And tonight I'm going on this:

It's an attempt to conquer my fears... I think I have to be a bit drunk to do it though.

WISH ME LUCK.

Hello Ida!

This is a new blog post because I was just talking to my lovely friend Ida in Sweden and she told me to write more! (HELLO IDA!!!!). I didn't even think anyone read my blog anymore so now I know she's reading it I WILL update more often and just pretend I'm talking to her.

Today is Sunday, my day off... last night we did nothing more exciting then get takeaway chinese (including massive pork buns like the one above) and watched The Social Network again. We've both had nasty colds this week and I've nearly lost my voice a million times this week from talking nonsense to Salarymen and trying to control nasty little children.

Today I woke up late and then decided to get some Christmas shopping done. I don't have many people to buy for this year, but I still got excited about doing ANY kind of shopping, since it's been so long since I've bought anything remotely interesting (do thermal tights count?). I went to the hellhole that is Shinsaibashi on a Sunday and visited Zara, H and M and some random little accessory shops and got some stuff for Glen, mum, my sister-in-law and myself :) There were SO many people in H &M it was impossible to even get up and down the stairs without contemplating murder. I need to remember to not going ANYWHERE on Sundays in Japan. There are too many slooooow walking people, strollers, idiots who just stop in the middle of the road to check their phone...

Things I Miss

I'm sitting on the couch at 11am after about 2 hours sleep thanks to a typically awful cold- sinus infection, sore throat etc and I'm thinking about some of the things I miss about Australia- it's been about 7 months since we left Melbourne and 3 months since we left Bali... I think I miss Bali more than Melbourne and can't wait to be back there in 3 short weeks.

1. Strong over the counter cold and flu medicine- this Japanese crap I stole from the medicine cabinet at work sucks. I think it's just paracetamol.

2. Ovens. Our kitchen is awful, more like a camping stove, no bench space, no drawers, no cupboards... but the worst thing is no oven! I haven't had an oven since May. I miss baking and roasting.

3. Not being stared at constantly. By adults, kids, old people- I am stared at on the subway, in the street- everywhere.

4. Thai food. I miss cheap Thai lunches and takeaway. Actually I miss a lot of food- spicy, almost overpowering, smelly Indonesian food, rich Vietnamese soups.... I try and make a lot of this stuff myself because Japanese food, while beautiful is sometimes so bland and flavourless. I miss being able to buy any kind of food or ingredient I want easily and without extensive googling and wandering.

5. Friends. Of course.

International day of disability: what having a disability means to me

I guess I'm writing this post because I am a follower of Carly Findlay's blog. Carly wrote last week about the Pin Post and Pose initiative as part of the International Day of Disability. Carly's warm, funny and insightful posts have inspired me to share the story of my own disability. I don't openly talk about it often, in fact I don't think I've ever mentioned it on this blog.

I have a disability. When you first meet me you probably wouldn't realise it. In fact a lot of my friends have no idea that there's anything wrong with me, and if you asked them about me they would probably say that I was 'clumsy' or 'uncoordinated'. I am both of those things, but I'm also a sufferer of a rare genetic disease called Ehlers Danlos Syndrome.

EDS is a chronic, debilitating condition that effects everything from joints to immunity to vascular health. You can read more information about EDS here, but briefly, EDS is a genetic mutation that affects the collagen found in connective tissue. EDS patients are very hypermobile in most or all of their joints and suffer a range of symptoms including chronic pain, chronic dislocations, osteoarthritis and mitral valve prolapse. There is no cure for EDS.

For me, EDS means these three main things:

- chronic pain, that means there is always something hurting. For example, right now I can say that the following hurt: my left hand, right elbow, left ear, lower back, left hip, left middle toes, jaw, right rib cage. I try not to take painkillers anymore because it takes about 6 nurofen to have any effect on me.

- dislocations: I can dislocate anything in my body, even my ribs and the lenses in my eyes. This means that I am unstable and likely to fall, drop things, hurt myself doing everyday mundane tasks (eg. brushing teeth). I even dislocate while I sleep. The dislocations sometimes hurt, sometimes they don't. My shoulders are almost permanently dislocated, they just feel uncomfortable and weird.

- Mitral valve prolapse: one of the valves in my heart is slowly tearing away from the muscle. This means I am prone to palpitations, low blood pressure, dizziness etc.

It is very hard for me to admit there is something wrong with me, which is bizarre because it is a very big part of my life and effects every aspect of my life. Yet, I am ashamed to admit that I have a disability. It makes me feel uncomfortable when I am offered help, it makes me feel worse to ask for help.

I makes me feel hopeless and embarrassed when I ask for help and that person asks me why I can't do it or tells me I'm not trying hard enough. I hate it when I get made fun of because I don't drive or because I walk funny or because I'm always sick. I hate having to explain what is wrong with me. It sounds like I'm making excuses.

I am mortified when doctors have suggested that I apply for things like a Disability allowance or when I have ask for special consideration at Uni. I don't see myself as someone with a disability... I tell myself that I am not like 'those other people', the ones that the media and society have led us to believe are hopeless. I even tell myself that I am different to other EDS sufferers- the ones who are in wheelchairs and can't work or even manage their shopping. I work full time and study full time. I have achieved many awesome things. I am so much MORE than EDS- I can't be defined by it.

Yet, I can't deny it.

I have days where I am in agony all day, I hate cold weather and when it rains I ache all over. I have days where I can't do anything except lie down, but then I can't be in the same position for too long because I dislocate. I have had about 13 operations and spent a significant part of my high school years in hospitals and in recovery. Most of these operations were awful and traumatic and featured screws, wires and slings. All of them failed.

I feel like I live a double life- the EDS one and the other one- the one where I can be fun, interesting and do whatever I want with no consequences. But thing about EDS is it's unpredictable and permanent- my symptoms will only get worse. Often, I feel like I'm waiting for the EDS life to catch up with me, that it will take over the other part of my life, that it will become everything. That I will only identify as an 'EDS Sufferer' and nothing else.

That scares me.

Autumn Leaves

Having lived for most of my life in a not very cold country it's a huge novelty experiencing the change in seasons here... we don't really get such a sense of 'change' in Australia- it's hot and then cold with no real in between. The Japanese take Autumn very seriously- I teach whole lessons devoted to describing seasonal activities and everyone's favourite is Autumn. After listening to a dozen students drone on about 'Autumn leaves' Glen and I decided to check them out on Sunday. We took a train to Kyoto and then went one stop to Tofukuji Temple.

It probably wasn't the best idea... Sundays is not a good day to do anything and it was CROWDED. The train was crowded. The walk through the town was crowded. And the temple was worse than exiting the U2 concert at Rod Laver Arena in 2004.

But it was beautiful.

We stopped at this guest house and meticulous garden for a respite from the crowds. It was very peaceful and I was occupied for nearly an hour trying to figure out how they rake the spiral- do they start in the middle and walk backwards? Why are there no footprints?





We had to walk through some suburban streets to reach the temple and the path was lined with dozens of blue-uniformed guards who yelled at everyone to stay on one side of the path and waved flags. It was very funny and unecessary- there was only one road to the temple and Japanese people are so obedient that they didn't need to be reminded to walk on the right side of the road... They would yell something for 20 seconds, breathe for 20 seconds and start yelling again...Finally we saw some leaves! They were stunning... so many different pretty colours.

Look at the masses of people straining to get a photo (without people in it).





There were lots of stalls outside the temple selling cakes and snacks. We ate some hot and cold Mochi- a rice cake filled with bean paste. I liked the green bbqed ones.

They are gooey and moist and sweet and weird. They look like they should be disgusting, but they're not... Glen has become addicted to them and came home last night with a bag of mochi from the 100 Yen store- 6 mochi for $1. They were actually kind of gross.

We caught the train back to Osaka in the late afternoon and tried to go to 100Yen sushi but there was over an hour wait for a table. I HATE HOW EVERYONE HAS SUNDAYS OFF AND ONLY EVER DOES FUN THINGS THEN.

We got some curry instead which was kind of gross and then went home and rearranged our entire apartment.

Our place is TINY, of course, but we managed to switch the living room and bedrooms around and now it looks a lot bigger (and feels better). I can study or work while Glen is asleep which is a relief for both of us.

Today is my day off so I'm going to do some thesis work, make eggs benedict (I hope this works...) and then we're going to Universal Studios!!!!

Cat Cafe

A while ago (when my brother was in town) we finally got the chance to go to a cat cafe that we had walked passed during out first week in Osaka. I vaguely remembered where it was... somewhere in the back streets of Amerikamura and we spent a fair bit of time wandering around looking for it, but happily entertained by all the cool shops.

I especially liked this shop- even though I know nothing about cars (and don't drive), I love anything that is covered head to toe in Swaroski!



Eventually we spotted this sign.


Above another one that said : 'Cafe for relaxing and cats'.

Inside it looked like a cross between a cafe and a kindergarden- lots of benches, carpet, toys and... CATS.

This cat reminds me of my Dad.

This is Simon getting cosy. He and I are not really 'cat people' and I was a bit at loss for what to do with them. I alternated between patting them and making their feet wave at me.

The cats were really sleepy and docile (drugged???) so you could pretty much do whatever you wanted and they didn't mind. They had no claws either.


I also spent a lot of time imitating the cats and they didn't mind that either.

There were about 15 cats in there... spread all over the room. They didn't move much- most of them were asleep or just sitting the whole time.



These three were all cuddled together in a cat 'hammock' with their paws around each other. They made me wish that I could go home and go to bed and not have to rush off to work at 3pm...

We paid about $6 for 30 minutes of cat time (not including drinks) and while I don't have the urge to go again, it was definitely a quintessentially Japanese experience. I've heard there's a Dog Cafe somewhere in Osaka and would like to try that.

New purchases

It's Autumn here- the mornings are cold and the nights even more so, in between there are patches of sunlight, but I've found myself opening the windows less and feeling that satisfying rush of warmth when entering the heated train, mall or bar. I haven't had a real Winter in many years, not counting the drafty nights in our freezing Melbourne apartment and that January I spent sludging through snow in Sweden, Amsterdam and Dublin. I'm not looking forward to the next few months- the aching joints and asthma, but I am excited about Winter clothes. We have almost nothing remotely warm with us and I've gone on a good online shopping spree to get some essentials.

From Asos:

Okonomiyaki- YUM

Okonomiyaki is one of my favourite Japanese foods and thankfully it a speciality of Osaka. Have you ever had it? Basically it's a pancake made of cabbage, egg, sometimes noodles, meat or seafood and covered in mayo and bbq sauce. Last week we went to Chibo in Dotonbori for an Okonomiyaki experience like no other. Chibo is 5 floors (5 FLOORS!) of Okonomiyaki, we sat at the bar so we could watch the chefs make it up close. It was such a cool experience- they do a lot of chopping, flipping and mixing and it's great to see your Okonomiyaki made fresh.

They start my frying some ingredients on the hot plate- we had prawns, squid, pork and cabbage.



Then they mix up the batter by hand and add it to the filling.


There is some very technical spatula work happening.

They add more batter and flip the pancake over- there were rows of all different kinds of Okonomiyaki cooking in front of us- all looked AMAZING.


Then it's served on a hot plate in front of your seats (to keep it warm), covered in mayo, bbq sauce and dancing fish flakes.




We also had some yaki soba- fried noodles with pork, covered in mayo bbq sauce and more dancing fish flakes. It was DELICIOUS.

Enjoying a beer and some Chu-hai.

Kobe Biennale

Last week my brother was in town for a whirlwind visit. He lives in Jakarta and spends half the year in the US, so he stopped off in J-town on his way from The MArshall Islands to Indo. Obviously. He hasn't really explored much in Japan before and didn't think he would really like it here, so I was determined to change his mind and make him fall in love with the food, culture and craziness as much as we have.

He arrived early in the morning, jetlagged and smelly after a VERY long flight and I whisked him straight off to Kobe for a day of art and roaming.

The Kobe Biennale has been on for the last few weeks- we went a couple of Sundays ago and saw some excellent modern art at the Famiglio Harbourside building. This time we went to the Kobe Museum of Art and saw the exhbition which focused on the 'Zero' art movement. I loved it, lots of bright colours and a little bit of electronica.








We went upstairs for a special exhibition by a Japanese artist that focused on metal and miliary. There were lots of guns, cannons and bullets. And an industrial metal cityscape that filled a whole room, casting sinister shadows across the walls.







After some lunch we took a train, bus and cable car up Rokko mountain to see a view of Kansai as sunset. It was FREEZING up there, the coldest I've been since Melbourne. We had to get some vending machine hot tea to survive.








Poor S on the train back to Osaka... at least Japanese people are used to sleeping passengers.

I LOVED having my brother here...we ate a lot of good food, talked nonsense, drank sake and 280 yen beer... he bought me my birthday present too- a couple of razor sharp Japanese kitchen knives. We had to trek into some back alleys of Nipponbashi to find the a traditional shop, but it was totally worth it- they are sharp, heavy and will last a lifetime. Chopping an onion has never felt so luxurious.