cin3ma | international

cin3matic contraband – ping pong

by m3ntal

current selection | supercar – yumegiwa last boy

ok, so i broke my self-imposed dvd-shopping hiatus yesterday. i was supposed to be watching my spendings and shit…since i usually bought about a dvd a week. oops. i was actually down in chinatown scouting out fine ramen cuisine, but instead got lulled into the video store. u could almost hear it whispering *buy dvds…..* -in cantonese of course- to my happy surprise, i saw a brand-spanking new dvd of ping-pong sitting on the shelf. huppah! snatched it up in less than a millisecond. which all leads to the following double-happiness movie review.

so unless ur an asian cinema afficiando, then uve prolly never heard of ping-pong. so….whats ping-pong, u ask? released in 2002, ping pong is a japanese movie based off the manga of the same name by taiyo matsumoto. the movie follows the lives of 2 childhood friends, peco and smile, who grew up playing ping-pong together. each has their own different ideologies and ambitions, and its thru these differences that they come to understand where they stand in the world…where they want to go.

the movie paces itself like a dream…weaving in and out of the surrealistic. the hero dons his “robot mask”, a player sprouts butterfly wings, and a dragonfly quietly hovers over a ping pong table. dialogues are interweaved with flashbacks to their childhood, and the kinetic competition matches are interspersed with visions of the fantastic. its these moments that elevate the movie high and above ur avg film. nevermind the fact that ppl dont exactly look at ping pong as the most fascinating topic, but its the character interactions…how they see each other, their rivals, and the competitions in general, that gives weight to the movie.

all this is laid on the pounding tracks of the boom boom satellites, supercar, and other electronic acts. which in and of itself could be worthy of its own review. the entire movie screams of polish and coolness…and its highly recommended by all accounts. it wont be long b4 ur wondering to urself…”hmm, peco vs. forrest gump….“

science + tech

death from above

by m3ntal

shitty domestic cars, confused cell phone carriers, frats, and george w. bush…its not always easy to be “american”. but then america gives us this occasionally. a giant flying laser. how cool is that? in 1999, i was always wondering whether silver space suits, flying cars, and photon torpedoes would make it to us in time for 2000. i was pretty let down when i was still wearing t’s and jncos january 1st. but jus when u think the future cant get here any faster, bus-sized lasers mounted inside military 747’s come along to assure u that we are indeed in the 21st century. this, coupled with that invisibility cloak, makes me happy i wasnt raised in the dark ages. like the 60’s or something.

r3ligion

evolution, schmevolution

by m3ntal

this article…right here, is a disturbing bit of perspective on our country. generally…im pretty open-minded with topics that are as subjective as this. but shit…48%…thats jus depressing. so im not gonna even attempt to hide behind p.c. statements abt whut i think of creationism and the like. i think theyre all stupid. creationism is the most vague and generalized theory to even attempt to be a “scientific” rationale. creationism. yea. everything was created with the utmost knowledge of the intended results: the creation of idiots like u, furbies, aardvarks, elephants that bear uncanny resemblances to extinct mammoths…etc. okily. read this: you’re all dumb. and of course, by stating that, i am actually giving a bit of credence to creationism…b/c shit, if evolution were on the dot, 48% of this country would have walked off cliffs or been eaten by bears by now. at the least, their stupidity genes wouldve been weeded out long ago. but whatever. its one thing to reject evolution for its lack of absolute substantiation, but its another to accept creationism over evolution. to say that everything was pre-determined…ie: that they dont necessarily react to their environment, but to a pre-planned course of progress, is to say ur dumb. we are led by a dumb president as we speak. there are hundreds of laws and by-laws that protect the stupidity of our country, b/c god forbid a child dumb enuf to poke themselves to death with a small toy in another country is protected in this one b/c the aforementioned toy is banned. we are impeding evolution by letting idiots propogate their genes. and i want my kinder-eggs here, damnit. tangent. anyhoo….this is not a rant on organized religion. (tho it easily could be) i learned long ago tho that thats a hopeless cause….and that im going to proverbial “hell”. but gallup polls like this scare me ridiculously. for past instances of stupidification, click here.

journal

drinky

by m3ntal

m3ntal contraband.mar.zerofour.zerothree
current selection | thievery corporation – facing east

wouldja believe i hit not one…not two…but three bars last nite? yea…when the rain comes, it pours. but instead of writing abt the thrilling life and times of a bar-hopper…im jus gonna go and say that there are strange and utterly odd ppl in this city. (dur) at the last bar we hit, we’re met by this odd little woman who plopped herself down on our couch and started to spout comprehensible, yet not, sentences. in the course of…an hr? i couldnt tell. in the course of a span of indeterminable time, she used the following words in various patterns to form sentences: diamonds, titties, princess diana, ernst, hustler, crushed babies, dick, pregnant, taco bell, bartles and james, shit, cold (ok, fine), pussy, 1919, houston, fuck, and other fairly random words from the english dictionary. it was the most disturbingly ridiculous stream of consciousness ive ever witnessed…jus b/c it flowed from her mouth like the truth. my friend promptly bought her a drink while i sat there making odd faces under my scarf. i dont even kno where to begin this one. hoo…wah.

interesting shit

cosplay

by m3ntal

theres nothing more fun than browsing pictures from japanese anime conventions. these ppl…wow…i mean, these ppl really need to focus all this effort elsewhere. some of it is admittedly coo tho. this particular lots from japan at least…since, u kno, japanese already look weird. americans however…no. theres nothing worse than seeing fat white american men dressed as cloud. or worse. lum. geeks galore…

journal

shit

by m3ntal

i nearly got shoved into an oncoming subway train today. the trains approaching, and im passing this big dude on the narrow pathways next to the stairways (jah kno?). and as i was passing him, he reaches out or something…almost shoving me onto the tracks b4 he grabs me and goes, “damn…sorry!” so i nearly got smacked into pudding by a train…and it was interesting, b/c i was thinking id get the obligatory flashing life in front of my eyes. playing in the dirt piles of texas….punching and kicking my sis when we were kids….my first girlfriend in first grade (natalie….*sigh*) but nope…none of that. instead…the thing that did pop in my mind was not to swear as i cried, “holy……cow?” cow. ok then. not shit. or even crap. but cow? that wouldve been prolly the crappiest…i mean, shittiest way to die. thinking abt childrens ears when im abt to die. *earmuffs*

journal

boredom

by m3ntal

sunday 1:20pm EST
i woke abt an hour ago. sunday. woo. i hooked up my webcam, so everybody can now see how bored i currently am.

sunday 11:20pm EST
…10 hrs later. havent moved far, have i? notice tho, my elbow has shifted…

journal

alices bday

by m3ntal

yesterday was my friends birthday…so a group of us had din at chez josephines. mmm…frenchy. it was all good, except being surrounded by giant paintings of naked parisian strippers. ok, jk…that wasnt a bad thing. jk again…that was jus a take-off to go on a tangent. on purpose this time. b/c i was thinking during this dinner, “gosh…something to write about on xanga tomorrow.” which led me to think….shite, this is what a web journal is. mining moments from ur life and writing about ur trivial daily rhetoric. as if writing something (anything) on a daily basis substantiates ur existence. *ponders…*

hmm….so yea, i had the filet mignon au poivre. i think i need to reconsider the content of this web journal….

journal

valentines

by m3ntal

so i was contemplating writing a bit about the history of valentines…as fascinating as it is. then i decided not to, b/c its boring. instead, ill write abt nothing. b/c really, this is jus another day. i did get a nice box of those candy hearts this morning…which is always a nice thing. other than that, and the couples examining each others tongues with theirs on the subway ride over, i couldnt even tell it was valentines. no really.

anyhoo…i had a nice din with my high school friend fonz last nite. we shot the shit, discussed life-altering matters such as old-school metroid and mortal kombat. very coo. in 10 years time, the cycle will have completed and every game ever made will have been remade. its inevitable. well…almost every game. we should never have to see another e.t. the extraterrestrial game ever again. but hey…who doesnt want to see a 3d kid icarus? eggplant wizards….*shiver*