Spoiler Posters

Thor: Ragnarok was a lot of fun, but imagine how mind-blowing it would have been if the studio hadn't spoiled the Hulk reveal in all the posters and trailers! 

Marvel spent so much time building up the threat of the champion monster no one had survived (poor Doug), but we already know it's Hulk because of the damned ads. They dropped a massive spoiler just to try and get more buts in the seats.

Now I'm thinking, what if they'd been in charge of other films' promotions.

 

4DX Cinema: Star Wars VII

We saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 4DX at the new Lalaporte Fujimi Toho theater. It was a trip, at least. This was our second time to see SW7 (first time 3D IMAX). I'm glad I'd already seen it once because as fun as all the "toys" were (moving seats, air jets, strobe lights, ticklers...), they ultimately kept yanking me out of the "moment," reminding me that I was in a movie theater. It made it impossible to get lost in the movie. The worst part were these kickers in the seats. These are bars that thump your back and butt whenever a character falls down or gets injured. Usually it's a light thump. But about three times one of them smacked me in the back so hard I cried out, and after the first one I couldn't quite relax, waiting for the next smack. Was was regretting checking my coat in a locker--I could have used it as protective padding. I'm thinking something was wrong with my seat because no one else seemed to be getting hurt by theirs. The strobe lights mostly illuminated the theater showing you that you're in a theater. Toward the end, our row malfunctioned and maintained a loud rumbling sound until the end (bad pump or something). They also periodically puffed out what was supposed to smell like smoke, but it wasn't quite smokey enough so it also made me aware of it. The leg ticklers were oddly one of the better gadgets. The temperature changing air was nice, too. The 3D wasn't too bad, though not nearly as good as IMAX. But in the end I'd have to say that while this sort of carnival attraction is effective with short movies made with it in mind like at Disneyland, it's tiresome in a two-and-a-half hour movie. And again, it's irritatingly distracting. My son liked it, though. He said it's the only reason he was able to enjoy SW7 a second time. But I'm glad I went. Like I said, it was a trip. I'd like to try it with Fury Road. But for the time being I'm going to stick with 3D IMAX for the vastly superior audio and visuals.

I'd trade all the gadgets in for a theater that could provide say, 20 or 30 accurate smells. That'd be great (something better than Smell-o-Vision).

The World is Mundane

The World is Mundane.
I'm from Texas and I've been alive nearly 50 years. For all that time I have been hearing scare rhetoric about conspiracies and imminent doom; political, social, and biblical. As a kid in a fundamentalist elementary school I regularly experienced anxiety over an endless parade of religio-political scares...atheists will be outlawing Christianity "next year" and putting us all in detention camps. Satanists may be controlling your parents...watch them and tell us what you see. The rapture is coming "by the end of the decade" and if you don't do as you're told you'll be left behind. Communists will be invading the US "any day now" and the government is in conspiracy to hand it over to them. Jimmy Carter is the anti-Christ. John Lennon is the anti-Christ. JFK will return as the anti-Christ. Subliminal mind control is all around us. Clinton is going to convert the US to a communist dictatorship. One nice thing about advanced age is that one by one you watch each and every panic pass without indecent. If you pay attention you start to recognize all the new panics and not stress. Now it's terrorists sleeper agents are everywhere; Muslims & immigrants will destroy our precious way of life; gays are working to destroy traditional family values; liberals want to take away your guns so the government can oppress you; scientists are conspiring to perpetrate the "myth" of global climate change; and Obama's the anti-Christ or something like that. And we learn to see through the rhetoric to the true motives of the puppeteers and hate-mongers spouting this nonsense. It's like I'm learning to see the Matrix and it's very frustrating when other people with good brains can't. I can only imagine the people who keep buying into these scares are the same people who keep going to Adam Sandler movies expecting them to be good.

No Pepsi. Coke!

One of strangest things about Japan was pointed out by my son: you can't buy Pepsi here. You can buy Pepsi Next, Special, Watermelon...PINK. But not regular. Not in the machines. Not in convenience stores. Not in restaurants or kiosks. The only place apart from well-stocked supermarkets is in cinemas for some reason. As you can see here, even Dr. Pepper maintains a presence. Hmm. 

JaPancakes

Went to Denny's for breakfast with my wife. This month they're having a pancake buffet: YEA!
But...

...as you can see, it's only in the afternoon. That's right, on Planet Japan, pancakes are a high-calorie afternoon comestible enjoyed primarily by prim, single young "office ladies" and idle students. 

Breakfast? How about some fish, rice, or if you're feeling modern, a sandwich?

Alright, Denny's is pretty international. 
You can get eggs and "bacon" in the morning. 
French toast.
Non-French toast.
You can even get pancakes...

think you can finish all that?

Not one, but two pancakes...almost as bit as my hand! And served with an extra-large thimble of syrup (practically half-full).

Now, they're featuring something called and Eggslut...they say it's all the rage in LA. Soft-boiled egg on mashed potatoes with toast. Actually pretty good. 

Natural Stupidity

Police, EMTs, and good drivers will all tell you that there's a mysterious force of nature that can only be described as stupidity. There are some mornings that from the moment you leave your driveway/parking space you can see it's going to be "one of those days" where random stupidity is thick and heavy. Bikes weaving through traffic, pedestrians wandering out in front of cars, all bumping into each other, and drivers seemingly auditioning for YouTube. I've heard speculation that atmospheric conditions can effect behavior. I'd like to see it tracked and included in weather forecasts. If this morning was any indicator, I'd tell everyone in the Saitama/Tokyo area to be extra careful today because it was stupiding cats & dogs this morning! If it is in fact a dumb-front, it could last through the weekend, with a possibility of a flash-fool warning. Already I had a bike hit my car while I was waiting at a red light, I barely avoided hitting three more imbecycles, and the roads were like a zombie apocalypse with all the wandering pedestrians. Put your smart phones away, be alert, and expect lots of stupid because I'm already hearing more ambulances than usual.

Secret Town Hidden in Tokyo Park

Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum:
A Secret Town Hidden in a Tokyo Park

It's hard to believe something like this is as unknown as it is!

Somewhere in the heart of Koganei park is buried a 200 year old neighborhood. What's more, hardly anyone here seems to know about it.

The Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural, or tatemonoen hereafter (the Japanese name), is a massive preservation model neighborhood surrounded by an even more massive recreational park in the western suburbs of Tokyo. It's further cleverly obscured by things like hedges and fields so effectively that among the numerous Tokyoites I know, barely a handful have ever even heard of it.

What is it?

In order to preserve Tokyo's cultural heritage, with particular awareness of the natural disasters that often threaten Japan's buildings, they have amassed a collection of historical homes, buildings, restorations and model structures dating all the way back to the Edo period.

One of the coolest things is that you can walk into and explore all these buildings.
The smells. The textures. The sound of old floorboards (and sod) under foot. It's a full-sensory trip back in time. We have one like this back in Dallas, but not this impressive. I first discovered it chaperoning my son's school field trip there years ago.

The buildings are exquisitely maintained and are also well furnished. Old dial phones, vintage furniture, working hand-pumps. For younger visitors it's like visiting another planet.

Old house with sod floor and working cooking pit

Seen here is an old thatched-roof house with a sod floor and a working cooking pit.
When my son's class visited, one of the volunteers, an elderly grandmother in period costume was tending the pit and telling stories to anyone who'd listen. The half of the class who understood Japanese were immediately gathered around the fire, mesmerized. But there are plenty of staff and volunteers who speak English, and other languages.

coffee house

For history buffs, every building is well-notated with bilingual plaques explaining whose home it was and why it's significant. Pictured above is one of the bigger homes with gorgeous interiors and a nice coffee shop with crepes and cakes.

Restored bathhouse

Go early and plan on making a day of it. Every time we go, we run out of time. In addition to the buildings, they have two museum halls where they hold periodic exhibitions like the current Ghibli exhibit that runs till the end of 2014. This alone is worth going for. For an additional fee you can see two sizable exhibits of Ghibli studio's architectural art and models. Ghibli, if the name doesn't ring a bell, is the studio that created Hayao Miyazaki's animated films like Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro. Google it. Thought the artwork, sketches, designs and animation cells are only notated in Japanese they're still stunning on their own. They show us just how much work went into these amazing films. And moreover, they have a number of large-scale models of some of the more popular Ghibli locations, like a 3 meter tall, highly detailed model of the Aburaya bathhouse from Spirited Away.

They also have late hours for one weekend in November where you can see the buildings lit up at night. We're planning on taking that in this year. 

town square

There's also a park (yes, a park in a park...in a park--Ooo, meta!) with stilts and old-time toys that most post-Nintendo kids have never seen before. Again, volunteers on hand to help.
"This is how your grandparents (or your mom and I...depending on when you were born)."
Just looking at these pictures, you can see why Hayao Miyazaki often visited here while he was working on Spirited Away.

My advice: bring a picnic/bento; walk around for a few hours (let the kids run wild), have lunch, then carry on. Running around someone else's house was as much a thrill for me as it is for my own son and his friends. 

Toddlers, teens, adults, seniors...this one's good for all ages. And it's reasonable; 400 yen for regular admission and all discounts for kids and seniors.

Warning: take public transportation if possible. While the tatemonoen itself is amazingly uncrowded, Koganei park where it resides is a very popular park and parking is very something you're not likely to find. There isn't much coin parking anywhere near, either. So bite the bullet and take the bus from either Musashi-Koganei station (chuo line) or Hana-Koganei station (Seibu Shinjuku line). 

The park is open from 9:30 to 4:30 (5:30 April to September), so get there as early as you can. Those seven hours will fly by. 

Their English site will tell you how to get there and anything else you might need to know.

They have special events listed here.
And this is a map of the park.

How something like this could be so unknown is just baffling.

English site

Calendar of Events

Map

Wikipedia notes

Japanese site