THE DAY I MET MY CHILDHOOD HERO

There was a time when I went with my mother during their company outing. I was so young and adults surrounded me, so naturally I kept quiet during the entire roadtrip. Among the adults that were with me, the youngest was the daughter of one of my mother’s officemates, who was in already in college at that time. Still, there was a huge gap since I was just in 1st or 2nd grade at that time. She came from a quite rich family and in fact, we were using their car during that trip. At one point, my mother and her co-workers decided to stop by the house of their old colleague who happened to live near our vacation spot. Obviously, us “young ones” could care less with that reunion and since they were only taking a brief visit, they decided to let us stay inside the car. *AWKWARD MOMENT*. Dead air filled the car and because of the age gap, there was nothing to talk about between us so we had to find ways to kill boredom by ourselves. She was sitting beside the driver’s seat and I was behind her, near the car door when she called out to me and asked me to hand over a book that was in the car door pocket (or whatever you call it.) So being the obedient little boy that I was, I handed her the book.

…I should have known that at that moment, I just held a precious puzzle piece in my life.

I was only able to see the cover of the book quickly, just before she took it from my hands. I wasn’t able to remember how it really looked, but at that moment when I saw the cover I thought it was “something teenagers would read and probably something only they would understand”. Looking back, I can remember seeing a boy riding a broom, his right hand trying to grab something.

Few years later, a movie adaptation of a famous book series came to life, and at that time, I would have called that movie the epitome of awesome. I wasn’t really able to see it on big screen – which I totally regret, but I was young and had no savings so there was nothing I could do when my parents said NO to watching it in a movie theater – so my dad bought me a pirated CD (they are mean, I know. First they didn’t make me watch it on big screen THEN they made me watch from an illegal source.) and had to watch from there. God, I can’t remember how many times I watched that movie. Everytime I would go home from school, I would watch that movie first rather than doing my homework. Everytime I would turn on the CD player my family would say, “It’s that movie again.”. I don’t care though. They can complain all they want but I’m still watching that movie. Then I concluded, I am addicted to this. I had to read the books, and watch the sequels of the movie. I didn’t want to – I needed to. Then one day, I saw it again. The book that my mother’s officemate’s daughter asked me to hand her. I didn’t recognize it at first, but then I just felt like I saw that book already. Then it all came back to me, the memory of holding a book like the one in my hands before. And then I laughed, knowing that I already met my childhood hero briefly years ago… that I had already met Harry Potter.

This might sound cheesy, but I guess its fate that I encountered Harry that one boring day. It was already manifesting its awesomeness to me even I though I was clueless about its existence. After that, I lived life with Harry Potter and his friends. I grew up with him, and in some way influenced my way of living.

After many years, the story in books have ended and recently, the theaters released the final movie as well. It was a good ten-year run for the movies, an era that brought me happiness. A decade that filled the dull parts of my childhood. I find it quite funny that I’m being so dramatic over this, but I am thankful that I had been with Harry up to this point of my life. It’s really great to have a wonderful childhood hero and friend. Thank you Harry and thank you J. K. Rowling. It was great being with you but it is already known to everyone that all good things come to an end. I guess I have to grow up from my childhood:D

For years, I waited for an owl to send me a letter accepting me at Hogwarts, but I guess no owl will ever come. Even though I haven’t really been there,  I shall forever remember what J. K. Rowling said… “Hogwarts will always be our home.”. I will always remember how much the adventures of Harry has made magic in me, even in that quick moment when I first held the book. I will always take Harry with me every step of the way in hopes of one day, I can defeat my own Voldemort.:D

 

“Death is not the opposite of life but an innate part of life.”

Norwegian Wood

If you’ve run out of good movies to watch, take time to see this Japanese movie. Of course, it ain’t Japanese if it doesn’t have a hint of perversion. But in this movie’s case, it’s not just a hint… it’s the movie itself. 😀 No, it’s not porn.

This movie is an adaptation of the hit novel with the same title by Haruki Murakami. After watching this movie, I have this urge of reading the book too. I feel like I’ll understand/ appreciate the story better if I see it in words. The movie was great but it kind of got dull and boring at times especially in the first part. But I have this philosophy that if a movie starts off boring, it’s sure to have a big ending. I guess it applied to this movie.

The movie was set in Japan in the 1960’s. The movie starts off with the main character/ narrator, Toru Watanabe (Kenichi Matsuyama) and his best friend, Kizuki (Kengo Kora), goofing off like normal high school students as Kizuki’s girlfriend and childhood friend, Naoko (Rinko Kikuchi) watches them, enjoying herself. They were shown to have really close ties with each other. The story developed gradually when Kizuki committed suicide at the age of 17, thus living a scar on his friends. Watanabe, wanting to forget that event, decided to live and study in Tokyo to start a new life. There he learned the ways of the city and made a new friend, Nagasawa (Tetsuji Tamayama). Watanabe initially went with the playboy Nagasawa so he could have sex with the girls Nagasawa picks up. Later on, the both of them didn’t really have a close relationship. The movie progressed when Watanabe met Naoko in Tokyo. They started to have feelings for each other but Naoko being emotionally unstable didn’t help in making their relationship work. Naoko then decided to confine herself in a sanitarium in the mountains so she could relieve herself. Because of Watanabe’s strong feelings for her, he would visit her often and they would attempt to make out. But Naoko seemed to have a problem with getting turned on so in the end, they would resort to handjobs and blowjobs to satisfy Watanabe. Meanwhile, in the city, Watanabe also started to have feelings for a different girl, Midori Kobayashi (Kiko Mizuhara). She was rather outgoing compared to Naoko and loved Watanabe deeply despite having a boyfriend. Watanabe is then torn between Naoko, a person whom she really loves but is emotionally unstable (and later on developed Schizophrenia, I think.) and is unable to have intercourse with him and Midori, whom he loves as well but the circumstances doesn’t allow him to. This movie sheds light on various topics we might encounter as we grow. It talks about Sexuality, Death and Relationships — which is probably why it appeals to young audiences.

Props to MatsuKen’s acting. And to Rinko Kikuchi as well. Their roles were well pulled off. The story is awesome enough and putting in great actors makes it even awesome-er. For sure, this heartbreaking movie is guaranteed to touch you. And if you’re lucky enough it might turn you on sometimes. LOL.

 

Too Many In One Day!

Can this week get any better? Too many good news breaking on me!

First we have Kenichi Matsuyama. He’s the guy who played the boyfriend in “1Liter of Tears”(even though I haven’t watched it yet) but he is better known for his superb portrayal of L in the movie adaptation of the hit anime/manga Death Note. It’s been long since I’ve heard of this guy and just recently, I happen to tumble across some screen caps of another hit movie (I think) of his entitled “Norwegian Wood”. I heard it’s an adaptation of a hit novel in Japan, so I decided to watch it — but I’ll talk about the movie next time. As always, I was impressed by Matsu-Ken’s acting and since I haven’t heard much about him (wow. Close?) for some time now, I decided to google him up. That’s when I found out he actually married a month ago on April Fools’ Day. What a joke, right? I guess it’ll be forever embedded on me that he is L, and knowing L getting married is surreal. I guess I have to face the fact that Matsu-Ken is not an anime character. And what’s surprising is that his wife is 9 years older than him. But who cares about the age difference if your wife starred in 2 Hollywood movies namely Last Samurai (with Tom Cruise. IKR.) and Blood: The Last Vampire? That’s right, he married Koyuki Kato. It’s always shocking to hear someone you know (whether you are close or not) getting married after not hearing from them in ages but well, I wish nothing but happiness to the both of them!

Second! Oh. Shit. My dream is slowly coming true. Girls’ Generation will finally have their 2nd Asia Tour! I still don’t know the chances of them coming here in the Philippines but I bet SM has heard our pleas and I’m sure they’ll do something about it. They better.

Third… and probably the best news I’ve heard so far. They’ll finally have a drama adaptation of Ouran High School Host Club! No, it’s not some shitty rumor fans created because the line up has been set and boy, am I satisfied with the cast! Im excited with the Hitachiin twins, the guy that plays Hani and of course Tamaki and Haruhi. I’m not really in to JDramas but this is a must watch!

Just great news everywhere! And BTW, I just saw the BTS for SHINee’s Japanese MV of Replay and I swear, Yoona makes my heart flutter. All the unecessary hate on her should be eliminated. Face it, it’s Victoria no more. I love mommy Vicky and I love Yoona too. Seriously, anti’s should try seeing more of Yoona. She’s not just a pretty face. *points gun*

Hoping for more good news! asjdhaksf