A sequel to my dearly departed 8-year-old blog, Ä Canuck in Emperor Akihito's Court"(http://haruhiko.blogspot.com). Back home in Canada but still have those ties to Japan after 17 years' residency there.
Well, after the nice haircut at Monsieur, I decided to fulfill the 2nd reason I was downtown on Friday....find a Nintendo DS game for my niece who will be celebrating a birthday on Monday. My brother told me that she's been hankering for something connected with Barbie or that movie "Tangled", a re-telling of the Rapunzel story. Anything I can do to keep the only child member of our family happy.
It was a cold day...I think it only got as high as 6 degrees C so it was rather bracing, but that's the type of weather I enjoy so it was nice walking down over to U of T.The Fall Colours were coming out quite nicely.
One of the other reasons for me to head down to U of T was that I wanted to have lunch from one of the trucks. Could barely graduate a quarter-century ago but I knew my trucks. There was the Sam Ho red truck for Chinese, and there was the brown truck in front of Sidney Smith that I went for my burgers and fries. Pure comfort food for me. I chose a jumbo hot dog with fries & gravy. Ironically, my drink of choice was a V8 in a forlorn hope of having something remotely healthy. Ended up having my lunch outside in front of Sid Smith. The pigeons were out there on food-collecting patrol as usual.
I noticed a lot of white trailers all lined up along Hoskin Ave, just east of St. George. Of course, that meant filming was taking place somewhere at U of T. The St. George Campus has been a location magnet for Hollywood productions for years and years...including the last attempt at a successful "Hulk"flick. At the time I was crossing the street, I didn't know what the project was, but found out later that the re-booted "Robocop"was being filmed there.
My search for Barbie would take me further east away from U of T. On the way across via College St., I saw that ol' Fran's was still hanging in there. I used to go to the culinary institution a number of times for some good ol' diner grub. Really enjoyed their Meat Loaf and Gravy with Mashed Potatoes. I should take any of my old Japanese students there if they should ever come and visit.
I ended up searching through The Eaton Centre and The Bay for that elusive Nintendo DS software, to no avail. After talking it over with my brother on Friday night, I decided to send over an E-Gift Card from Toys R Us instead this morning. Still, it was a worthwhile day to walk around downtown.
Since I got back from Japan, one of the things I'd missed was a decent haircut. Not just the cut itself but the service that surrounds it. I have to admit that I was spoiled all those years in Chiba-ken since the typical visit to the barber there involved two shampoos, a rinse, a refreshment, friendly banter and a scalp & back massage....as a matter of course. It cost me, though. The average price at my salon would probably have come out to $55 CDN a visit. Still, I did fairly skip over to the salon every time I went.
Getting back to the Big Smoke last December, my closest tonsorial choice was less than 100 m away from my home. And at $8, it was even cheaper than the cheapest option for haircuts in Japan....the quick cut and vacuum hose near my old subway station. I went there a couple of times....nothing fancy; was done in about 5 minutes and I only had to endure a few minutes of hair pieces stumbling down my back like rappelling Marines. But my last time there, I walked in on one of the cutters just splayed over the three chairs, and when she rose up, she didn't even have the decency to look embarrassed....just looked like she woke up in her jammies. The guy who cut my hair didn't flinch one bit as he twitched me over to the chair. $8 will get you so much.
Then, I saw the latest CP24 commercial which featured the staff at Monsieur Barber Shop & Spa. After that, I looked the place up on the Net, and saw that the place was close to U of T and it had a pretty good reputation. So, I went downtown this morning to check it out. When I took a look inside, it looked pretty busy but the woman at the front (who happened to be the lady on CP24) asked me in a friendly voice to come in. I told her that I didn't have a reservation but she replied that there was no problem and just invited me to sit in the mezzanine lounge at the back of the shop.
The lounge looked a bit like a museum tribute to a French palatial salon, but there was the big flatscreen....of course, it was on CP24....and there was a coffee table with a lot of magazines. But I didn't have a chance to even read one when a friendly barber arrived to greet me, shake my hand and welcome me to the shop. I had my shampoo first which was very comfortable. I remember when I got the same treatment at SuperCuts many years ago....I was face up looking up the barber's nose; at my Ichikawa salon, there was a thin porous sheet of vanity placed on my face so that there wouldn't be any potentially awkward eye contact during the shampoo. The situation at Monsieur was even better....only had to tilt my neck back just a few degrees as my head backed up into a specially-shaped sink and then the barber showered my head in warm water and suds. Afterwards, I was led to the barber chair for my cut. I gave my request to him and he set out to work. I felt a bit badly since I had been suffering from a touch of cold. Perhaps I should've held things off until I got over it completely, but as I kept my well-used tissue at the ready under the black protective sheet, the barber kept himself professional and composed, as the mop on my head started to look increasingly trimmer. After everything was done and I got my hair blow-dried (I was rather relieved that I wouldn't have to sport hair trimmings all over my body on my way home), I got the famous hot towel on my face that people raved about. To be honest, although it was comfortable and it drained my clogged sinuses for a while, it still didn't quite reach the divine heights of getting the hot towel at a Japanese barber shop. There, after getting the shave, the barber massaged in some creamy menthol on my jaw before placing the hot towel on my face where I got to breathe in the stuff like a Vicks VapoRub....a few minutes later, the barber would take off the still-warm towel but not before rubbing the menthol in further on my face.
However, the important thing was that I felt like I did get a good cut and service for the first time in nearly 18 months. Monsieur also offers massage and other spa services. According to the newspaper article on the place, the staffer kinda lamented that Toronto men were still pretty skittish about getting that rubdown or manicure or pedicure. Yeah, I have to admit that I will probably never let anyone get near my tootsies, but getting that massage was de rigueur where I had been living for 17 years. I may take them up on that offer next month. It'll cost me but heck, my shoulders and back will be happy.
The final cost: $25 plus tax and tip. I paid $32....gladly. Perhaps a bit pricey for a haircut, but again, I have been spoiled on service during my years overseas. But even with the tip, that price doesn't come anywhere close to what I used to pay at a simple barber shop in my neighbourhood. The last thing I said to my cutter: "I'll see you next time."
I had to go through a few more pangs of potential angina with that translation from Hell. First, I get a message this morning from the boss stating that there was NO translation with the package I'd sent him the night before. Man, I was not in a good state. Then, he sent me an all-clear when he told me that the editor was able to see the translation on his computer. He figured that it may have been a technical miscue...could've been a medical one for me. I had to pound the words for another few hours before I finally got it done after noon. And once I did, I sent it and I got the rosy message from the boss that everything was OK...as if none of that sturm und drang had ever happened. Not sure if I like that attitude but I'll take it over having a vengeful employer.
As it was, I got another assignment from him a few hours ago. Compared to my first translation nightmare, this one was a breeze. It's all done but I won't send it off until tomorrow morning. I've also informed him that I'm off on Friday since I've gotta buy my niece's birthday present and get a haircut. I was thinking of that Monsieur place down at Spadina and Bloor since it's gotten mostly good reviews (and the bad ones may just be fake sabotage) and it's gotten seen on a commercial for CP24. At $25 plus tip, it probably isn't the cheapest but it's nowhere near the regular 5,000-yen cuts I used to get in Japan. And I've had the cheapest....and it's no good. I may even try Kinton.
Yep, it was a QT Bad Day today. I use the famous director's name since like his movies, there was an ever-pervasive feeling of tension throughout the day with a brief flash of violence. Well, no violence but there was a ratcheting-up of tension via my translation boss in the morning.
The folks at Trados can learn a thing about trying to service people in the right way....like, say, provide a free instruction manual on how to use their translation software. I spent a lot of time and energy just to find a YouTube tutorial and download and print out a homemade 10-page manual that some fellow disgruntled purchaser had made. And yet, I was none the wiser due to my lower-than-average aptitude for computer software. I tried to make sense of the stuff on my new computer for a lot longer than I should have before sending out that SOS to my boss.
I think it was probably my first chewout by an employer in way over a decade, but then again my boss is so laid-back that his voice didn't even rise a few notes. However, it was plainly evident that he wasn't too happy with me over the phone as he walked me through the Trados minefield. For one thing, a major project was in the balance and needless to say, it most likely will be overdue although I did get three-quarters of it done by midnight. So, it was a race against the clock all day...that was the tension. Still, in my defense, I think the boss should've given me a lot more comprehensive training in the software than just a few verbal snippets here and there. According to some of the other complaints I've read, a manual is absolutely necessary. And I think it's a bit of a crime for them to charge us to attend video tutorials. I was thrown into the deep end...and I frankly don't swim.
Strangely enough, though, I did get the CD I had ordered through Amazon last week. That was the only bright scene in my day.
It was another Sunday of foodie-ism and anime with The Anime King back on the Thanksgiving Monday. The anime menu consisted of a couple of episodes of "Smile Precure"and the final episode of the zany "Joshiraku"...certainly hope that the producers will think about another series for that last one.
However, the theme for this entry is connected with the anime that I'm currently watching. The 2006 series of "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" has been fun and is keeping me on my toes in terms of the overall story arc. Mind you, the chronological Episode 7 was far more of the goofy comedy that Episode 0 had been. I caught Ep 7 this afternoon, and I found it a bit of a nice respite considering what I'd seen on Monday.
Over at the King's house, he showed me a Season 2 episode which was vital to watch before he showed me the movie "The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya". Then it was on to the main feature. Over the months, The King had been telling me about the glory of watching this movie. After first watching Episode 0, aka "The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina", I was rather wondering if The King had been exaggerating about how good this movie was.
But I have to say that "The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya"was about as far away from "The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina" as "The Quatermass Experiment"was from any episode of "The Big Bang Theory". Although I have read differing opinions on the movie since I'd watched it, I have to say that it did deserve the accolades it has gotten as a masterpiece of the genre and the clear anime winner for 2010.
The plot itself wasn't original. The idea of the protagonist (in this case, Kyon) waking up in an alternate world where all of his friends have gone has been in a lot of Hollywood flicks from "It's A Wonderful Life" to at least a couple of episodes in the "Star Trek"franchise. But the director told the story well. There was a definite upgrade and improved fluidity to the animation compared to the TV series which hadn't been any slouch either. Camera angles and movements seemed to emulate those used in live-action pictures which added to the upgrade. And the director and writers made a very bold move by making "Disappearance" absolutely dramatic. Film versions of anime TV have always tended to bring over the basic patterns of drama interspersed with goofy comedy, but this film almost completely eschewed any opportunities to inject (with the very tiny exception of Mikuru being dressed in a Santa suit) any humour into the proceedings. Any of the verbal sparring matches between Kyon and Haruhi were kept as such.
The other bold move was to yank out the title character who had been the heart of the series for most of the movie. This would've been insanity in other productions, but in this case, the ploy worked because the other half of the power duo, Kyon (the soul of the series), was taking on the burden of carrying the movie. This was a Kyon story, as he (and we) discover over the span of 2 hours and 45 minutes that all that has happened is due to him and his feelings about the SOS Brigade. It's truly a large arc as the initially grumpy Kyon comes to the realization that he needs and appreciates the motley group of friends that he's had for several months.
But at the same time, it's a Yuki Nagato story as well. The emotionless artificial humanoid interface has been the brains (and at least in one TV episode, the brawn) of the operation, and at least to me, her arc was even more interesting to watch at points as her story starts to resemble that of Pinocchio....after he gets turned into a real boy.....while Kyon becomes George Bailey and Marty McFly. As I eventually discovered her role in the story, there was definitely a feeling of pathos surrounding her, and seeing the subtle emotions that surface on her face in her completely humanized form made her the most deserving of our sympathy. Both arcs finally converge at the end of the movie as both Kyon and Yuki still get something new from each other. And I was left wondering at the end of the movie, if Kyon's romantic directions have gotten further muddled and even though she reverted back to her old self, whether Yuki may have evolved a little.
"The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya"left a lot of philosophical questions for me to mull over which is often a sign of a good movie.
Well, got my music blog done and finished up with Mr. Moriya for his usual biweekly lesson. Got his payment for September as well. Good session with him. All's well that ends well.
Tomorrow (or later today to be more accurate), I've got my brother's family coming over. But Mom really hasn't done turkey in some years since neither she nor the rest of the family aren't really into the big bird (I'm the lone holdout). So we'll just head on over to the local Swiss Chalet. If it weren't for the fact that I love the place, I'd be a bit depressed right now.
I'm gonna have to head to the ATM as well since I owe my brother some bucks for the toner for my printer. That's fine...I can always do with some extra walking.
The 50th anniversary of the James Bond movies has arrived, and not surprisingly, one of the movie networks was showing the first two movies with the latest 007, Daniel Craig. I enjoyed "Casino Royale" immensely (despite the theme song), and the debut of the really tough Craig did much to redeem the title from the 1967 weirdness. I wasn't as enamored with "Quantum of Solace" but after seeing the whole thing again today, things may be looking a bit more up to me. Initially, perhaps I hadn't liked it as much because it just seemed a little less exciting than the first movie. But now, I think the first sequel may be more along the lines of Sean Connery's 2nd outing as Bond, "From Russia With Love", which I actually do like. The second movie is more focused on the internal dynamics within Bond and within his relationship with people (especially with M). Unfortunately, outside of his boss, people who did get to know him tended to end up dead in "Quantum".
My favourite of the whole bunch of those select actors was indeed Sir Sean. The saying goes that people tend to choose their Bond from the one they grew up with. Well, I think it is more accurate to say that I chose my Bond from the one I saw on TV. Roger Moore was the one I grew up with but it wasn't until his very final outing in "View to a Kill"that I actually saw a 007 flick at the theatre. I was weaned on Connery from watching a lot of ABC Sunday Night Movies via his appearances in "Dr. No" and "Thunderball".
I will be catching "Skyfall" when it comes out. But first I've got to catch "Looper" and "Dredd", the latter more because I got the request from Movie Buddy back in Japan.
