My favorite places shutting down, and Escape from Alcatraz.
Hey there friends. I hope that you've had a happy weekend. As usual, it seems to have passed by so quickly.
Our lazy Sunday is winding-down. After sleeping in, I had a happy day spending time with my wife and the baby. I was also able to watch Day 1 of the Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka. Last night, some friends came over to our house for dinner. We had steaks, played Dance Dance Revolution, and we sang karaoke. We also were able to see how our babies interacted with each other. The Popplers (our guests) have two daughters: a three year-old and a seven month-old.
First prong: My favorite places seem to close down.
Today my wife received an e-mail from Japan. It seems that one of my favorite Chinese restaurants closed down. That place had really yummy "Kakuni" (those are Chinese-style spareribs.)
I seem to have bad luck with shops that I frequent. Once I get to really like a place, it shuts down. There was a grocery store (in Anjo, Aichi) that I used to really love going to. I would make a special trip on foot every Saturday morning to buy my weekly essentials. Closed. I found a different grocery that I liked almost as much. Two months later it closed too.
Returning to America, I found a grocery store that I really liked. About six months after I started going, it closed too.
In 1998, I found a bar (also in Anjo) that I really liked. I was a regular customer, and made friends with the owner and several of the regular customers. (That was a really good place for me to practice my Japanese.) Sadly, that place closed. The regular patrons of that bar moved to a different bar which quickly was closed as well.
Seems like I am a bit late at jumping on some bandwagons.
The second prong: "Escape From Alcatraz."
Today on the History Channel, they played the movie "Escape From Alcatraz." It is a Clint Eastwood movie. (Interestingly enough, one of the supporting cast members was the guy who played the guy who was going to play the character of "Kramer" in the pilot for the TV show "Jerry." -You know: the storyline on "Seinfeld" where Jerry and George were aspiring television writers.)
I watched the whole thing. I remembered being pretty interested in the movie when I saw it at age ten or so. I was pretty surprised at how "schlocky" that movie is. There was absolutely no subtlety in the dialogue. The prison guards were unnaturally stupid. The prison warden was unnecessarily sadistic. There were some really laborious scenes where the director was trying hard at building suspense, but they didn't really work. Also, the symbolism in the film was so cheesy that it was painful. Especially the chrysanthemums.
As far as prison movies go, I'd much rather watch "The Shawshank Redemption." In my opinion, that's the best prison movie. Lots of "poetic justice."
Anyone out there have any prison film recommendations? (And NO, "Lesbian Lockup" doesn't count.) Every once-in-awhile I like to see a good prison movie or a mafia movie.