Blog stats: Juppun ha Juubun

1st semester

1st time: 133 words
Last time: 95 words

2nd semester

1st time: 26 words
Last time: 197 words

My word count over the year increased from 133 words to 197 words. But, for some reason, I had a major dip in the middle (at the end of the 1st semester and the beginning of the 2nd semester).

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, Life of a King, and other matters…

Today we watched two movie trailers. They were Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit and Life of a King. I will talk about Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit first. This movie is based on a Tom Clancy book. There are several books about Jack Ryan, and some of them have been made into movies. Actors who have played Jack Ryan are Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, and Ben Affleck. This time, it's Chris Pine.

You may know Chris Pine. He's the actor from the movie that's called Black and White in Japan. It stars Chris Pine alongside Tom Hardy. They are rivals for the love of Reese Witherspoon. I think he's a good Jack Ryan, but it seems as if the series is changing into pure action rather than suspense.

The other movie, Life of a King, stars Cuba Gooding Junior. He is released from prison and ends up teaching in a high school. The students are very tough but he teaches them some new things through chess. He tells the students to focus on the "endgame" and to "think before you move". For him, chess is a metaphor for life.

Both of these movies look pretty interesting. Shadow Recruit begins on February 15th!



Keira Knightley
Kenneth Branagh
Chris Pine


Cuba Gooding Junior

Juppun ha Juubun figures

1st semester

1st time:
last time:

2nd semester

1st time:

last time:

Life of a King, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, and other matters…

Today, we watched two movie trailers again. The first one was Life of a King. When I saw the title, I thought it was about a foreign country's royal family, but actually it was about a man who gets out of prison and then gets a job in a school, where he teaches chess. One of his mentors in prison used to tell him to pay attention to the endgame, and that's the lesson he teaches his students. He thinks of chess as a metaphor for life, and he seems to be successful in teaching his students that. The movie stars Cuba Gooding Junior.

The second movie trailer was Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. Previous actors playing Jack Ryan have been Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, and Ben Affleck. This time, it's Chris Pine. I think with him it will be more of a pure action movie, which is not necessarily a good thing, but I do like him as an actor so I'm looking forward to this film. Other actors starring in the movie are Keira Knightley and Kenneth Branagh. Keira Knightley plays Chris Pine's wife and Branagh plays the Russian villain.


190 words


Kenneth Branagh
Keira Knightley
Chris Pine

Cuba Gooding Junior

January 20th, 2014: last class

The academic year is coming to an end! Some things to do in today's class:

1. Check your wordcount. If you haven't posted a recent wordcount, do so today! 
2. Have you done your recordings? We have some mics available. Help yourself!
3. Have you posted your typing homework to your blog? Go ahead today!
4. Have you posted your essays to your blog? You can post your original essay, and your edited version. At the bottom of your edited version, try posting something about any grammar or other points you have learned or made progress with.

This is your last easy opportunity to ask questions, so please don't waste your chance!

Before Midnight, The Nut Job, and other matters…

Today, we watched two movie trailers. Let me tell you a bit about them.

The first one was Before Midnight. It's a movie starring Ethan Hawke and Judie Delpy, directed by Richard Linklater. People who like romance probably have been looking forward to this for some time. You may have heard that it is the third movie in a very unusual series of movies. The first movie in the series was Before Sunrise, made 18 years ago. In that movie, the characters played by Ethan Hawke and Judie Delpy met for the first time. The second movie, made 9 years ago, was Before Sunset. And now Before Midnight is the third one, featuring the same two actors playing the same characters. The first two movies were great so I am looking forward to the new one very much. It starts at Denkikan this coming Saturday!!!!!

The Nut Job is an animated feature. I'd never heard of it before, but the trailer was hilarious. I don't know when it's coming to Japan, but I certainly want to see it.

The Outsider, The Invisible Woman, and other matters…

Today we watched two trailers at the beginning of class. The first one was about Charles Dickens and a young woman whom he loved but kept secret from the world. It stars Ralph Fiennes, Felicity Jones, and Kristin Scott Thomas. It looks very interesting, but I'm not sure when it's scheduled to appear in Japan.

The second one was called The Outsider. It stars a couple of actors who I haven't seen for a long time, Jason Patric and James Caan. Jason Patric was never a big star, but James Caan starred in The Godfather. It is difficult to see from the trailer what it's about, but it looks kind of exciting.

This month looks like it's going to be a good one for movies. The Great Escape is starting next weekend, and Behind the Cadelabra has already begun at Denkikan.

Reminder!

Final Movie Essay Deadline: January 10th!!!

Journey to the West, The Monuments Men, and other matters…

Today we watched two trailers at the beginning of class. The first one was Journey to the West, which is Xi You Ji in Chinese and Saiyuuki in Japanese. It looks like a comedy fantasy action movie. It looks a bit crazy but I want to see it! The other one was The Monuments Men. It stars Matt Damon, John Goodman, Bill Murray, George Clooney, and Cate Blanchette. It is based on a true story about a group of soldiers who go to Germany in the Second World War to save paintings that are due to be burned. With John Goodman and Bill Murray it looks almost certain to be funny!

The New Year holiday is now over, and it already seems far away! I didn't do anything special, but I had a good time relaxing. I went to Kengun Shrine on January 2nd and got a big bag of French fries on the way back. During the holiday, I also read a book called The Dying Light, by Henry Porter. But January looks like being a super-busy month, and it's super-cold.

Academy Awards 2014

The 86th Academy Awards are due to be held on March 2nd, 2014. It's always fun to watch the show or read the critics' opinions, but unfortunately most of the movies have not yet been released in Japan, so we cannot really take part in the debate. At least we can watch the trailers, and today we watched three trailers of movies that are expected to be nominated for one or more awards. (Actual nominations will be announced on January 16th.) We watched one movie by an old hand, Martin Scorcese (Wolf of Wall Street, featuring Leonardo DiCaprio), and two movies by younger directors, John Wells and Alfonso Cuaron. The John Wells movie is August: Osage County and the Alfonso Cuaron movie is of course Gravity.

Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorcese)
August: Osage County (John Wells)
Gravity (Alfonso Cuaron)

Academy Awards 2014

The Academy Awards are lots of fun, but the fun is diluted in Japan because most of the nominated movies still haven't been shown here. Two exceptions this time around are Captain Phillips and Gravity. Although it's no substitute for seeing the actual movies, of course, today we watched trailers for four of the movies: the aforementioned Gravity (directed by Alfonso Cuaron), Nebraska (directed by Alexander Payne), August: Osage County (directed by John Wells), and 12 Years a Slave (directed by Steve McQueen).



Gravity: Alfonso Cuaron (George Clooney, Sandra Bullock)
Nebraska: Alexander Payne (Bruce Dern)
August: Osage County: John Wells (Meryl Streep
12 Years a Slave: Steve McQueen

Mandela, Maleficent, and other matters

Today we watched two movie trailers. They were Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom and Maleficent. Maleficent is the name of the witch in Sleeping Beauty, and the movie is a retelling of that tale.

The FIFA Club World Cup is coming to an end. The final, between Raja Casablanca and Bayern Munchen, will be held tonight. Bayern is a very powerful team, so nearly everyone expects them to win. I'm looking forward to the match very much!

Mandela, Maleficent, and other matters…

Today, we saw no fewer than two movie trailers. The first one was Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, starring Idris Elba, and Naomie Harris as Winnie Mandela. The second was Maleficent, starring Angelina Jolie. As you can probably imagine, Mandela is about the life of Nelson Mandela, and Maleficent is related to Sleeping Beauty, focusing on the villain. Beside Angelina Jolie in the title role, the movie also stars Imelda Staunton and Elle Fanning. 

The FIFA Club World Cup final is scheduled to be held early tomorrow morning, I believe. I'm looking forward to seeing Bayern play!

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and…

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a Level 2 book in the Penguin Kids series of graded readers. As a level 2 book, it contains only 235 words, and is super-easy to read.
Snow White is very popular these days, with 2 movie versions having been released recently. I enjoyed Snow White and the Huntsman, with Kristen Stewart. You can watch an interactive trailer for the movie.

Edge of Tomorrow, The Legend of Hercules, and other matters…

Today we saw two movie trailers. They were Edge of Tomorrow, and The Legend of Hercules. Edge of Tomorrow is a science fiction movie starring Emily Blunt (of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen fame) and Tom Cruise. The Legend of Hercules tells the Hercules (Heracles) story in a modern way. Both look pretty exciting. The Legend of Hercules is starting in January in the US, while Edge of Tomorrow is scheduled to start playing in June. In Japan, that probably means summer and autumn starts, respectively.

Edge of Tomorrow, The Legend of Hercules, and other matters…

Today we watched no fewer than two trailers. The first one was Edge of Tomorrow, starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. Most recently, I've seen Emily Blunt in Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, in which she costarred with Ewan McGregor. She was great in that film, so I'm looking forward to seeing her again. The film is due to come out in the States in June next year, so probably it will be a late summer feature in Japan. Its tagline is "Live. Die. Repeat."

The other trailer was The Legend of Hercules, starring lots of actors that I've never heard of before. It starts in Hercules' youth when he is still just a human, and gives us a look at how he gets special powers. It looks pretty exciting. It's beginning in January in the States, so I'm guessing it will come to Japan in spring.

Reminders

3rd & 4th movie essay deadlines

• December 20th
• January 10th!!

Make-up class

• Saturday, December 21st (usual time)
• Tuesday, January 14th (C class only!!!)

Drive Into Danger

"Where's Gary?" says Mark. "He isn't usually late. The truck is ready. Everybody's waiting."

Drive into Danger is a book in the Oxford Bookworms series. It is at Starter level, so it is very easy to read. But the story is quite exciting! Gary Slater, the driver, has a mysterious injury one day, so Kim (who has a truck driver's licence) and Andy (who speaks French) offer to take some tables to France in his place. But what they don't know is what other kind of cargo the truck is carrying!

Divergent, and other matters

Today we watched the trailer for Divergent, a movie due to begin next year. It's a science fiction movie set in the near future, when everyone undertakes a psychological test when they are teenagers, and are divided into five types of personalities. The heroine of the movie, played by Shailene Woodley, takes the test and is told she doesn't belong to any of the five types. In other words, she is "divergent". That appears to be a problem for the society and she has to run away in order to survive, and she joins a resistance movement.
I don't know much about the movie, or the original story (written by Veronica Roth), but I was attracted by the presence of Kate Winslet in the movie.

Dead Man's Money and Bonnie & Clyde

Dead Man's Money is a very entertaining but easy book in the Oxford Bookworms series, Starter level. It focuses on a gang of bank robbers in the 1930s, when the Great Depression hit America, and many people were very poor and turned to crime. You may have heard of the reallife gang Bonnie & Clyde. Anyway, please check out Dead Man's Money!