SNOW@DOMIRU-MEGURO.

Having hogged my brother's Notionwerks website for years now I've finally gotten my bones together to set up my own domain. After much deliberation I've finally settled on www.playwithlight.com. ( tying into the cinematography, chiaroscuro thing ) One has to realize that with the word "light" within the name its only too easy to end up sacrosant sounding ie "stepintolight.com", nor did I wanted something too corporate, not running a business here. Right now its all but an empty shell, but go to www.playwithlight.com for a peek.

Isao Yukisada's tearjerker Sekai no Chushin de, Ai wo Sakebu ( Crying out love at the centre of the world ), though employing an egregiously cliched, age old melodramatic narrative that is sure to have teenage girls swooning for the lead actor's undying love in the film, is redeemably executed with accomplished skill and beauty ( no small part due to Shinoda's photography ). As unabashedly sentimental as the film is, the superbly timed use of Ken Hirai's moving ballad can really get one reaching for their hankies.



Regrettably, this marked the final film shot by DP Noboru Shinoda, a long time collaborator with Iwai Shunji, whose cinematography work included Love Letter, Swallowtail Butterfly and April Story.

Tokyo Tower, in all its night glory. Merry Christmas folks. :]

To celebrate Takeshi's last day of work ( Takeshi+Kojima are bound for Montreal come late January. *sniff* ) and my film school admission, we had a nice dinner at a restaurant in Nakameguro, where as we were making our way there I was told a scene in Lost In Translation was shot just a street away, outside a Pachinko Parlour. Hmm. Back home we were then treated to Kojima's exquisite Mandarin cheesecake, honto ni umagatta. With some free time on my hands finally, a few events are in order, not least some decent photo trips, Takeshi dittos that.

Perhaps the Japanese were once again exercising their usual diffidence and propriety but me and my friends just could not for cat's sake control our uproarious laughter yesterday while watching Pixar's latest outing The Incredibles. Coupled with Pixar's now reliably excellent plot and visual delivery is Brad Bird's unique direction, a style ringing close to the underrated Iron Giant. There's a hint of mischievious nature seemingly missing from Pixar's past works that is beautifully integrated here, the Warner Bro's animation touch if you will.

Highlight today however must go to the receipt of Toho Gakuen's letter of acceptance, my film school starting next April. Kojima-chan was noticably more estatic than me when told the news, chotto bikkurishita. *laughs*