plays on trains and japanese westerns

. .. ... letters from lithuania



i'm not into plays; that kind of acting generally turns me off.

but.

rob and i recently met one of the directors of letters from lithuania and was impressed by her enough to go to this outdoor, sitting on the miniature train, live music, puppets, and stilt-walking play.

because of recent rains, the play had been canceled for a few nights but the weather this past friday night was rainfree. also, the canceled nights, i think, resulted in some great performances from the actors who had been waiting for better weather to allow them to perform.

it was awesome: great performances, a rather creative use of stanley park's miniature train route, tricky timing for actors that were running around the outdoor sets, a compelling story, and good pacing.

and, although i thought the ending was a bit cliche, i nevertheless had to work hard not to cry.

the play ends today (aug 31) if you're thinking of going to it. tickets available here.

here's a review by the straight.


... .. . sukiyaki western django *warning: spoilers*



this is one crazy japanese western by takashi miike. and by crazy, i mean awesome.

here's what i liked about it:
- an older attractive woman was secretly super skilled and killed a whole bunch of guys
- quentin tarintino had this bizarre japanese southern accent and looked like a scarier marlon brando's dr. moreau as done by southpark.
- there were some asian male eye candy.
- the dialog was mostly cliches stolen from popular westerns and then some (i.e. payback's a bitch)
- the rock n roll inspired western duds looked like the offspring of a union between betsy johnson and anna sui.

check out the trailer here