A popcorn and drinks holder - this is how Japanese people enjoy a movie in cinemas. The longer I stay in this land, the more I realize how the whole Japanese lifestyle revolves around convenience. This popcorn holder is just one of the many small things that were invented to make our lives easier. No more, "Can you just hold my drinks for a sec, I need to take off my jacket." This only happens here, this is Japan for you. :)
Today I walked around Osaka too much and my feet were killing me. So I decided to reward myself with a visit to the cinema, which was just a minute away from my hostel. (The vicinity bears the risk that a movie-lover like me might go there again tomorrow). I finally watched La La Land! And gosh, it was a beautiful movie. I've heard countless praises about it, but then almost as many disappointing reviews about how, "It was good, but it didn't live up to the expectations." I ended up going into the movie with not a lot of expectations, and that was a wise attitude. I enjoyed Emma and Ryan's performance thoroughly. Especially Emma's, as I truly think she is very deserving of her Oscar. As for Ryan, quite honestly, I couldn't take my eyes off of him during about any scene he wore that white shirt with a tie. Clean-dressed men are so easy on the eyes! His performance was good as usual, although for the first time ever, there was a brief moment where I thought his acting was a bit awkward. It was towards the end when Seb finished introducing the band that played in his club, the scene where his eyes caught Mia in the audience. It looked like it was shot fifty times and he's just not that surprised to see her anymore. lol
Anyway, I am quite positive that La La Land will be a classic movie with a lot of epic scenes that people will remember many years from now. Just like Grease. But watching a Hollywood movie in Japan also had me thinking, "This is so American!" Which of course, it is. But that also means that it might be forgotten sooner in Asia than in the Western countries. I am not so fond of stamping a label of "a gap in education" on someone because they haven't heard of a popular cultural reference. It shows a bit of ignorance from the accuser, really, because people might come from and/or are interested in other cultures than what you know. For example, when your parents and older siblings introduced you to the craze of Star Wars, my grandma bought me Vietnamese comic books called "Thần Đồng Đất Việt" about famous scholars in Vietnamese history. You know all the names of the Star Wars characters, I know a huge amount of the scholars' famous sayings. I never watched Star Wars, and you probably never heard of "câu đối" before. I will catch up on Star Wars though, when I have time. It's just not that high up my priorities list. :P
In the anticipation for the next big thing named Beauty And the Beast, one thing I have decided for sure is that I will show my kids all the classic Disney movies there are. I actually thought about starting a DVD collection of Disney movies, but a) It's really hard to do that when I haven't settled down and will move places a lot in the next 2 years, and b) Will we even be using DVDs when my kids are old enough to enjoy movies? I guess I should just buy some stock for myself and leave them at my parents' house, haha.
Ending it for now, because I am wayyyyy too sleepy!
