May. 5th, 2003 09:48 am
Domestic magic
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muckefuckAll things considered, Sunday was an extremely pleasant day. Yes, my upstairs neighbours woke me up again with their crappy music, but it finally cut out mid-morning and I got enough sleep that I didn't feel groggy all day, just a little dreamy. I met Monshu at L'Appetito for a pre-movie bite. Almost the first thing I did after sitting down with him was spastically open my soup container in such a way that I splashed burning hot split pea all over my left hand, sleeve, and the tabletop--but my new jeans were magically spared! We chatted in the open air while studiously ignoring the post-etiquette jerky boys at the next table.
The movie, Onmyoji, was fantastic--in both senses. It's a Japanese live-action production concerning a 10th-century magician who saves Kyoto from certain destruction. HK cinema had conditioned us to expect some wire-fu ass-kicking, but there was precious little--and that was all right. Monshu opined that it would've distracted from the story; I think Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon amply demonstrates that it doesn't have to, but everything was just fine without it. The costumes are stunning, the sets gorgeous, the digital effects good. (I was told I'll be blown away and I wasn't. Stupid Reader.) The only serious misstep in the entire mise-en-scène is the villain's shikigami ("familiar"), which looks like a chicken that someone gluegunned extra plumes to and dunk-dyed purple. I love the casting and the rapport between the two male leads, one of whom Monshu found very scrummy. There are vengeful spirits, ancient evils, a miraculous shamaness, cunning courtiers, and haunting flute music.
More than that, the movie was inspirational. I couldn't wait to get home so I could begin looking up the historical personages involved. I was delighted to find that there is a small shrine to Master Abe-no-Seimei in the northeast of Kyoto, amazed to discover that the extensive use of a five-pointed star in the film is not a Western import but part of the traditional legacy of Seimei*, and intrigued to read that the capital was, in fact, relocated to Nagaoka for a decade in the transition between the Nara and Heian periods--and for pretty much the reasons given in the film.
Nevertheless, we didn't go straight home. At Monshu's suggestion, we paused at Pause, a new coffeeshop near the Berwyn el stop. It's airy, bright, comfy, whimsical, and very, very gay. I especially liked the tandem fans, the skylight, and the stained glass. Monshu expressed approval of the coffee and the simultaneously inoffensive and non-soporific music. We then went to collect more data on the decline of service at the local Jewel (in this case, a Bosnian named Elvis who took forever to show up at the fish counter and, when he did, asked us if we would like our halibut frozen instead).
Dinner was halibut steaks with some sauce Monshu threw together (butter, vinagre, scallions, fresh tarragon), baby bokchoy with pork and ginger, and mashed potatoes. We talked more about Japanese history and I babbled on to Monshu about the Oriental Adventures campaign in the city of Jin-Wa we had Way Back When. You know that if I had seen this film ten years ago, I would've completely reworked the scenario we were enmeshed in when that game petered out. I did my research and we looked at some calligraphy online, and then he fell asleep as the storm rolled in.
*One source gives Abe-no-Seimei's birth name as Haruaki. Looking in my copy of Japanese names, I found that the two characters whose on [Sino-Japanese] readings are "SEI" and "MEI" also have the kun [native Japanese] readings "haru" and "aki", respectively. Since on readings have often been considered more sophisticated, it's likely that he never changed the spelling of his name from the characters "clear" and "bright", but that he changed the pronunciation of them as he rose in fame at the court.
The movie, Onmyoji, was fantastic--in both senses. It's a Japanese live-action production concerning a 10th-century magician who saves Kyoto from certain destruction. HK cinema had conditioned us to expect some wire-fu ass-kicking, but there was precious little--and that was all right. Monshu opined that it would've distracted from the story; I think Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon amply demonstrates that it doesn't have to, but everything was just fine without it. The costumes are stunning, the sets gorgeous, the digital effects good. (I was told I'll be blown away and I wasn't. Stupid Reader.) The only serious misstep in the entire mise-en-scène is the villain's shikigami ("familiar"), which looks like a chicken that someone gluegunned extra plumes to and dunk-dyed purple. I love the casting and the rapport between the two male leads, one of whom Monshu found very scrummy. There are vengeful spirits, ancient evils, a miraculous shamaness, cunning courtiers, and haunting flute music.
More than that, the movie was inspirational. I couldn't wait to get home so I could begin looking up the historical personages involved. I was delighted to find that there is a small shrine to Master Abe-no-Seimei in the northeast of Kyoto, amazed to discover that the extensive use of a five-pointed star in the film is not a Western import but part of the traditional legacy of Seimei*, and intrigued to read that the capital was, in fact, relocated to Nagaoka for a decade in the transition between the Nara and Heian periods--and for pretty much the reasons given in the film.
Nevertheless, we didn't go straight home. At Monshu's suggestion, we paused at Pause, a new coffeeshop near the Berwyn el stop. It's airy, bright, comfy, whimsical, and very, very gay. I especially liked the tandem fans, the skylight, and the stained glass. Monshu expressed approval of the coffee and the simultaneously inoffensive and non-soporific music. We then went to collect more data on the decline of service at the local Jewel (in this case, a Bosnian named Elvis who took forever to show up at the fish counter and, when he did, asked us if we would like our halibut frozen instead).
Dinner was halibut steaks with some sauce Monshu threw together (butter, vinagre, scallions, fresh tarragon), baby bokchoy with pork and ginger, and mashed potatoes. We talked more about Japanese history and I babbled on to Monshu about the Oriental Adventures campaign in the city of Jin-Wa we had Way Back When. You know that if I had seen this film ten years ago, I would've completely reworked the scenario we were enmeshed in when that game petered out. I did my research and we looked at some calligraphy online, and then he fell asleep as the storm rolled in.
*One source gives Abe-no-Seimei's birth name as Haruaki. Looking in my copy of Japanese names, I found that the two characters whose on [Sino-Japanese] readings are "SEI" and "MEI" also have the kun [native Japanese] readings "haru" and "aki", respectively. Since on readings have often been considered more sophisticated, it's likely that he never changed the spelling of his name from the characters "clear" and "bright", but that he changed the pronunciation of them as he rose in fame at the court.
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