Life with Michelle

Thursday, July 05, 2007

Transformers

I think that most people would have to agree that this film is AWESOME. So i dont think that there needs to be an explanation of what i think haha... but i'll jsut give you a briefer.

I'm kind of lazy to tell you what the stories about, but bascially its just about 2 sides of robots the Autobots and the Decepticons. Both are brought to Earth to look for a cube like object that carries huge amounts of power. And of course in power, one wants to use it for good and the other wants to use it for evil. So the war begins, both robot species are trying to fcapture this power.

I wasn't anticipating this film all to much. I wasnt a huge transformers fan. I never watched the cartoons or followed anything dealing with transformers. All i knew was that these cars transformed into robots hahaha...
The only reason i would've watched this film was probably because Shia Labeouf was the lead chacter, and also the fact that Michael Bay directed it. All in all i think that this film was pretty awesome, the action scenes were awesome. The story line might've been just regular but i mean i think that the action made up for that. Its not all action pact, i mean there are a few ice breakers here and there, meaning little quirky funny comments and things from the actors. So it's not to serious all the time. You should all definitely check it. I guess i wouldnt want to give such high ratings for this film, just because i wouldnt want you or anybody in it to go in with high expectations and comming out dissapointed. So as a suggestion. Just watch it, But i just have to say its worth going to the movies for.


Labels: , , ,

Monday, May 28, 2007

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End


Sunday, May 27, 2007

Once

Memorial weekend, and of course Pirates of the Carribean is out. Unfortunately, everyone knows that it will be extremely crowded and because of that, the fam decided to catch another flick. Indie of course. I never heard of this film, but it was brought up by the bro, and so we went and watched it.

This movie follows the "guy" who works for his father's store fixing vacuum machines. Besides working with his father, he also plays the guitar and sings his own music on the streets of Europe. He meets a "girl" who is admired by his music, and too plays an instrument, piano. The two become friends and are able to help each other by sharing what they love, music. The movie just follows the life of this guy and girl, who persue the guy's dream of becoming a famous musician.

This movie was almost like a documentry of this guys life in how he puts together his music and goes for his dreams. Songs were played throughout this film, which in some ways made it seem like a musical. I thought the music in this film was really good. The "Guy" Glen Hansard, played incredibly. When you watch him on screen, it is just crazy watching him sing. I found myself looking up some of the tracks when i got home. Glen Hansard is actually in a band called The Frames, so you can if you want look them up and listen to thier music. But the songs from the movie are from another album, and can also be found on the soundtrack. haha so check it out!

Labels: ,

La Doublure (The Valet)

I watched this movie a couple of weeks ago, but do to lazyness i was unable to write a little review for it. haha
So let's begin. This film, as you can tell by the Title of this entry, that it is Foreign, French.
This film follows an ordinary guy,François Pignon, whom is yes you guessed it a valet worker, played by Gad Elmaleh. He is caught between a scandle that must be hidden in order to save another mans, Pierre Levasseur, marriage. Pierra played by Daniel Auteuil, is having an affair with a super model, Elena Simonsen whom is played by Alive Taglioni. Pierre's wife, Christine Levasseur, played by Kristine Scott Thomson, finds a photograph of Pierre and Elena, and is suspicious. In this photo however, happens to have Francois in it, which as a result leads Pierre to tell his wife that it was Francois who was with the super model.

In order to follow this lie, Francois Pignon is paid to pretend that he is dating Elena. They are forced to live with each other and act like a real couple. In the midst of all of this, Francois has already another love and another friend who is also a valet worker. He is forced to keep this scandle hidden, which results in more confusion with the other people in his life.

I really enjoyed this film, it was a fun comedy to watch. It's just one of those movies that you dont have to think about. The story and plot is very basic, yet fun to watch. Another Foreign film to reccomend. Check it out.

Labels: , ,

Friday, May 04, 2007

Spring Break 2007: Japan

Two weeks before Spring Break, i recieved a phone call from my parents asking if i wanted to go to Japan. Of course at the time, i was thinking to myself, " Are you guys serious?" Haha.. I guess you can say it came up as a shock to me that they would ask this so suddenly, out of nowhere! At first i thought that they were just making fun of me or something just pulling my leg about it, but i guess knowing my parents, if they ask to go somewhere very soon, it's most likely that they are serious.

So the plan was to stay for about 8 days, 5 of which was to be on a tour, and the last 3 days would be just to mess around. Now the tour says that it is a 5 day tour however, they include the day that we arrive to Japan as one day, and the last day when we depart as another day. So in reality the tour really was only 3 days.

SOOOOoooo off we go April 14, Saturday, Just when school ended.
(I realized that i took massive amounts of pictures, and because there are so many, i'll just give you the gist of each day or thing that took place)

This was the offical first day of the tour. The tour that we went on is called Signet Tours, unfortunately the tour that we went was for Cantonese speakers. So essentially i don't really remember any of the names of some of these places =/ so i'll try my best to describe what is what haha...

Day 1: First, we went to where the King of Japan lives, I guess you can just think of it as some what like the Buckingham Palace of Japan. We werent able to actually go in, so all we did was just walk around the front and take random pictures of nothing haha

IMG_1464IMG_1466IMG_1467IMG_1469IMG_1470IMG_1476

IMG_1475

After visitng this for about an hour or so, it was off to a new location : Asakusa Kannon Temple. This is just mainly where almost all tourists go and see. This location also has a street inside where this temple is, called Nakamise. This street is probably a mile long or so, and it consists of little venders selling snacks and little souvenirs.

IMG_1477IMG_1482IMG_1481IMG_1483

IMG_1485IMG_1486IMG_1490

This is me and my dad. What we are doing is trying to put the smoke onto ourselves because it is said that you will get good health haha i think anyway.

IMG_1489

That following night, we were given a free night to just explore the city on our own, meaning without the tour itself. The city that we got to go that night was Shinjuku.

Of course, the first thing my parents and i went to was one of the local super markets at Keio Plaza down where the subway area was.

IMG_1493IMG_1494IMG_1495

IMG_1498IMG_1499IMG_1500IMG_1501

IMG_1502IMG_1504IMG_1508IMG_1511IMG_1512

I must say, the presentation of everything in Japan is really awesome. All of the vegetables, fruits, fish everything is soo neatly packaged and so clean! Everything just looks so fresh. Since our tour guide hyped up the deliciousness of the fruits, we decided that we would get ourselves some strawberries. AND boy they were indeed delicious. It was super sweet and soft, that when you bit into the strawberry, it was almost as if it melted in your mouth. Indeed very tasty.

IMG_1518

After the supermarket, one of my dad's friends lives in Japan, so we called him up to hang out with us and have dinner.

IMG_1523IMG_1524IMG_1525IMG_1528

IMG_1529

Day 2: First, Meji Shrine. Here we got to see of course the Shrine. For some reason that day, there were a lot of students on a fieldtrip. We got to see the Shrine, people threw coins and made wishes, prayed, and did other things. One trandional thing we did was where you were there was a a station where there was water and a bunch of spoon like sticks, what you were to do was to first pour the water on your left hand first, then the right, then sip the water and spit it out. Haha i forgot why this is what we had to do, but i think it's for good health.

IMG_1532IMG_1535IMG_1536

IMG_1538IMG_1543IMG_1541

There is also another part where they had this thing that they called a Ema, almost like a wishing tree. This "tree" had a bunch of hanging wooden boards with wishes written on them.. This location also has another area where they have marriage licenses made. We were able to go in, but all we could do was listen to the drums beating, didnt really get to see much because it IS a private ceremony.

IMG_1540IMG_1539IMG_1549

IMG_1546

Next: Tsurugaoka Hachimangu's Shrine in Kamakura.

Not only did we get to see the shrine itself, this little city had little souvenir shops. We were told by the tour guide that we had to try the ice cream that was Purple. Even for lunch, the dessert we got was Green Tea ice cream, so we were able to eat real green tea ice cream, and late found out that the purple ice cream was a purple yam ice cream.

IMG_1557IMG_1563IMG_1564

IMG_1568IMG_1571IMG_1573

IMG_1574IMG_1575IMG_1579

IMG_1580IMG_1581IMG_1584

IMG_1585IMG_1586IMG_1589

IMG_1582

Next up: Great Buddha of Kamakura. This is the second largest Buddah in Japan. It is said that this buddah was originally in a large Temple hall, but what was destroyed by a tsunami centuries ago. So then as a result the buddah was always left out in the open. This buddah is pretty big, so it's pretty scary to think about how this was hit by a tsunami, i mean if a tsunami hit now, you would be dead in seconds.

IMG_1597IMG_1598IMG_1600

IMG_1602IMG_1610

IMG_1607IMG_1608


Day 3: First, Odawara Castle. All we did here was go in the castle, and look at all the old swords and army gear that they saved up.The castle is bascially kept as a museum for tourists. Camera's werent allowed inside the castle, so i only took a few pictures of stuff like the view ouside.

IMG_1613IMG_1614IMG_1615

Next: OFF TO THE HOT SPRINGS: HOTEL NEW AKAO
This was probably the only thing i was really looking forward to in terms of the tour.
We got the Japanese experience through this fab hotel. We wore a Yukata, basically the Japanese robe, not a kimono, we had dinner where we had to sit on the floor where each person has an individual table of food, and of course the Kareoke.

IMG_1619IMG_1625IMG_1627

IMG_1636IMG_1629

After dinner, we went back into our rooms to find made beds on the floor. The room itself was pretty cool. We view of the ocean, and we heard waves crashing into the rocks down below. That night we all tried the whole Hot Spring experience. It's basically like a jacuzzi but instead its the ocean water heated up into a swimming pool.

IMG_1638IMG_1640IMG_1646

IMG_1654

Day 4: Mt. Fuji. Because of the rainy wheather in Japan, we were unable to actually see the mountain so boo to that. But we still went up whe cable cart and got to see the a dead volcano while going up. There was a lot of smoke up in the air, and still it was FURREEEZING up there. We walked all the way to the top of some point just to get boiled eggs that were said that if you ate one, it would add seven years to your life. The egg is actually boiled from the lava down below, which then when the egg is finished boiling the egg turns out to be Black. Another special thing here was that we got to try wasabi ice cream haha.. it took us forever to find out where they were actually selling it. But success.

IMG_1664IMG_1665IMG_1666IMG_1670

IMG_1671IMG_1674IMG_1676

IMG_1677IMG_1683IMG_1686

IMG_1692IMG_1693

IMG_1688

After the cable cart, we went on a boat ride around Lake Ashi, one of Japan's biggest lakes. On this boat ride, we are suppose to get a better view of Mt. Fuji, but again it was extremely cloudy and we saw nothing haha... The best time to see Mt. Fuji they said was during the winter. Spring is definitely the worst time if you want to see it.

IMG_1701IMG_1709IMG_1711

So after a busy day at the mountain, we drove back into the city, and they took us to a shopping mall called Venus Fort, in Odaiba, which popularized form young teens. Japan is obsessed with small dogs, so i took some pictures of the pet store, they even have a little store dog clothes store, with costumes and everything. It's pretty crazy.

IMG_1712IMG_1715IMG_1724IMG_1726IMG_1728IMG_1731IMG_1733IMG_1738IMG_1740IMG_1743IMG_1747IMG_1749IMG_1750IMG_1753

That night we ate All you can eat HOT POT

IMG_1764IMG_1766IMG_1768

And that Concludes the Signet Tour

The next day we said our goodbye's to the rest of the people on our tour, and we were off to Tokyo Metropolitan. The ride from Narita Hotel to the Metropolitan Hotel was about two hours long, so that day we left early and checked into our hotel at around 12. We didnt do much that day, bascially just walked around the city going into shopping malls and resting in the hotel.

So the next couple of days we met up with my dads friend, and he took us around.

First up, the inevitable China Town. China town took us about two hours by subway, it was super long.

IMG_1785IMG_1786IMG_1787IMG_1788IMG_1794IMG_1798IMG_1799

After that, off to Akhibara! I guess as you can see, the majority of the photos are from the Subway. Akhibara however is basically "Electric City" Everything Electronic is found here, even home appliances like washing machines.

IMG_1808

IMG_1809IMG_1810IMG_1811IMG_1816IMG_1818IMG_1819IMG_1824IMG_1825IMG_1831

Then RAMEN for Dinner, this place was probably one of the best Ramen places ever!

IMG_1834IMG_1840

The Next Day HARAJUKU

For some reason that morning, we werent that hungry, but we went into a little cafe shop and bought all these pastries to eat for breakfast haha it was good too.

IMG_1843

IMG_1842IMG_1845IMG_1849

IMG_1850

IMG_1854IMG_1856IMG_1858

That day we went to Harajuku, it fell on a Saturday, which means MAD PEOPLE on the streets. In this photo if you can't tell this whole street is full of people walking

IMG_1860

Sushi for lunch. This sushi was like that one sushi place in Pasadena. I dont remember the name but, i just remember that they put sushi on this conveyer belt and you p ick whichever dishes you want.

IMG_1867IMG_1872IMG_1868

A Huge Bakery

IMG_1876IMG_1878IMG_1879IMG_1882

IMG_1887

IMG_1888IMG_1892IMG_1894

Crepes!

IMG_1893

Going Back to.. ehh i forgot where we went, but this part of town is usually where all the clubs are. And we took some picture of the "Eifle Tower" of Japan haha. I tried taking pictures in the subway, but unfortunately you cant tell that there were massive people squeezed in to fit.

IMG_1897IMG_1899

IMG_1905IMG_1907IMG_1909

Then for dinner we went to eat Korean BBQ

IMG_1947

IMG_1950IMG_1948

As a result of this day. Massive Shopping

IMG_1952

And thats the end of the trip...

The following is some of the fun stuff i saw there, or rather what i thought was pretty interesting/cool.

IMG_1555

The Best TOILET in the world, Heated seat, even has a little sink in the back that has water come out automatically after you flush.

IMG_1653

Here are the functions: Well i think from the little illustrations it's pretty self explanatory. But just incase, the orange botton is to flush and the last botton is a dryer. The others you can just guess for yourself.

I actually miss using this toilet. I got to use this toilet in every hotel i stayed at! Even most of the restaurants had these toilets. I think this picture however is probably the most craziest ones because it has a dryer. The "old" version has no sink in the back and no dry button.

IMG_1652

i think they have this here in the states, but i found it pretty funny, Japanese Pervs haha..

IMG_1702

I just liked the picture of this old school Coke Cup and this Cherry Coke can

IMG_1777IMG_1833

Salmon there is sooo friggin orange, and soo delicious

IMG_1779

Reminds me of a Christmas Story

IMG_1815

At the resturant you make your own green tea, the facit has boiling hot water come out of it. And you put in the powder.

IMG_1871

Subway Map, Ticket, Small Magazine Stand

IMG_1933

IMG_1937IMG_1932

IMG_1936

Pachinko! Look how many basket this old guy has. Crazzy. Everytime i walked passed these places, they were filled with people just gambling away.

IMG_1946

So in Japan, you really dont see any trashcans around the city. The only thing you see are recycling bins. If you do have trash, you're suppose to just hold it until there is somewhere that HAS a trashcan. I think its cool how they DO recycle and keep everything clean.

IMG_1930

Alright this is my Japanese Drama section.

Hana Yori Dango

Hanazawa Rui's CAR! Too bad its only a poster. Its a Sweet car though.

IMG_1725

Ebisu Garden Place hahahaha

We happen to just pass it when we were switching subway buses... we were in such a hurry to catch the next bus that those were the only things i could take a picture of haha lame.

IMG_1940

IMG_1944

Bambino: Alright i just found this out when i got home because i watched the first few minutes of Bambino. But anyways this is the spot where Matsumoto Jun's character Bambino first came to tokyo. This is actually what he sees once he gets out of the subway entrance. its uncanny haha oh except my photos were taken at night, whereas in the show its in the morning.

IMG_1927

(if you can't tell, this is a huge spider)

IMG_1921

IMG_1916

And thats the end of that little Japanese Drama haha

This next part is just the view of the hotel room.

The last few days i saw this every morning/night

IMG_1771

IMG_1781

IMG_1782

Alright Everyone TAKE IT EASY!

IMG_1832

Labels: , , ,