let's go exploring

1. I hate you so much, Roman Polanski. And all your apologists to boot.

2. There's been a meme going around that asks for your five favorite foreign-language films or series, so here's mine. (For now, let's keep anime out of the equation.)

1. Raise the Red Lantern
2. Persepolis
3. Nowhere in Africa
4. Life is Beautiful
5. In the Mood for Love

I kinda wanted to put M. Butterfly on this list until I realized there's no way it could qualify for being a foreign-language production, despite being a deconstruction of Madame Butterfly and the typical approach to foreign policy on the part of Western nations, among other things. There's also the fact that the source material is a play, and that the movie -- from what I've seen of it -- isn't nearly as good.

I pretty much have undying love for the first two movies on my list, and Nowhere in Africa is a terrific film that I'd recommend to anyone. I didn't see Life is Beautiful until this year, but it's a very well-written and well-directed tragicomedy helmed by Roberto Benigni. Out of all the movies I've listed here, In the Mood for Love is the one I had the least emotional involvement with, but it has absolutely beautiful cinematography. All of them do, actually, with the exception of Persepolis, because that one's animated instead. :D

3. Positive effects of the Avatar movie? People are rewatching the show again, and making posts about how awesome it is. I think my favorite one so far is the post about Zuko's most lol-tastic lines in each season; I seriously forgot how many dorky things he says!

For the record, "Bad skin? Normal teenagers worry about bad skin, I don't have that luxury. My father decided to teach me a permanent lesson...ON MY FACE!" takes my number-one vote for the best line ever. Or the worst line ever. Oh, Zuko.

Snow outside! Lots of it! And yet, I'm glad that some of it melted today. As nice as it was to sit by the fireplace yesterday, I like getting out instead of being stuck indoors the whole time. Also, my younger cousin was watching the movie adaptation of Ella Enchanted recently, and oh my God, were they TRYING to make it as awful as possible? I have nothing against Anne Hathaway, but that book was one of my favorites, and it saddens me that none of its clever writing and likable characters -- and yes, even-handed subversions -- made it through at all intact.

In the spirit of procrastination, I have two memes:

a) 1. Leave me a casual comment of no particular significance, like a lyric to your current favorite song, your favorite kind of sandwich, or maybe your favorite game. Any remark, meaningless or not.
2. I will respond by asking you five personal questions so I can get to know you better.
3. Update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
4. Include this explanation and offer to ask someone else in your own post.
5. When others respond with a desultory comment, you will ask them five questions.

And b) The TV Tropes meme. Give me three fannish tropes from any fandom I know listed on the site, and I'll give you my thoughts on it. If you want to know about certain ships/characters, please ask a specific question!

Um, so. I'm back! And with a ton of things to say about my trip and not the first clue on what to start talking about first! Like I said in a couple of the emails I sent out before, I'm happy, contented, and a little sad to be back in the U.S. again. Those two weeks flew by like they were nothing, and all the journal entries to type up and pictures to upload and sheer amount of things I want to talk about are slightly overwhelming. But I really did have a fantastic time; I can't think of a better way to have spent those fourteen days in Osaka and Kyoto and Hiroshima and Kobe and Yokohama and Tokyo.

I think I've recovered from jet-lag now -- my sleep schedule is still kind of disordered and funky, but I'm not sleeping till ridiculous hours in the afternoon anymore. Still, it does feel strange to be in back in a different country in the space of forty-eight hours. So in lieu of actually typing up all my thoughts and feelings on my stay in Japan at the moment, I'm going to post a meme! Which is also a first for this journal.

The Unpopular Fandom Opinion Meme

Name a fandom, and I'll give you the scoop on at least three of my unpopular opinions related to that fandom.