cinema date

Today we watched Babel at the largely empty Lido 1 at Lido Cinema. There's a Hokkaido fair at the Isetan there and as with any fair that the supermarket organises, it's a pretty exciting atmosphere to be soaked in - displays of expensive crab sushi/japanese fish cake assortments/sweet potato/chocolate cake/peppermint drink/apple juice/red bean or cream puffs/etc. etc. all in the making with japanese chefs/food preparers (who told us he couldn't really speak english well because this was the first time he was here and he made hand actions to express 'crap' or scallop - that was hilarious) flown in - i relish mingling with the japanese housewives and equally excited after-lunch crowd. The fair before this - i forgot the theme - but they had japanese pancakes made freshly with precise machines and flown-in japanese staff - the custard one was delicious - packed in 'kawaii' japanese-printed paper bags.

i think i have to go to japan to eat!

Anyway, Babel was seemlessly weaved together. However whilst I felt it was a good show, it wasn't a great show - somehow the putting together of the four 'stories' seemed to be connected just for the sake of it - trying to be 'chiem' and making a big point about humanity or the lack thereof or the accidental tragedies of life but the points they tried to make skimmed the surface. Those would have been four great stories on their own, dug deep and fleshed out properly. Like being at the ice-cream counter and getting a taste of four fantastic flavours of gelato as opposed to the richness of one whole cup. Still overall, it was great snuggling with the choy - this cinema brought back great jc memories, he says.

This review and this one from the new yorker quite aptly describes it.

when is marie antoinette coming? there arn't any promotion posters around. please don't tell me they arn't coming. i'll cry buckets, i'm sure i will.