It is a weird weekend. Very leisurely yet I am quite stressed up, perhaps due to some stuffs that I must do for work, quite heavy stuffs which I am still trying to figure out how to do. But it is also a very leisurely weekend, one of those that I really enjoy and look forward to.
It started with Saturday afternoon with about 7 hours of Texas Hold’em with some great friends of which I of course won quite a bit. This is followed by dinner at a cowboy restaurant but it seemed like that cowboy restaurant closed shop, so I went to have some tandoori chicken with garlic naan. It has been about one year since I had naan, simply because I was getting sick of them in India. But Hyderabad sure has some really good naan. The naan I had yesterday was no where close.
After a shower, I was settled in to watch some movies as the wife goes to bed and was pondering what to watch. I recalled having bought the Ozu boxed set in Jakarta that contains about 14 of Ozu’s movies. I have checked the DVDs at ths shop to make sure that they have subtitles but I did not check all of them, so looking at the ALWAYS DVD laying on the coffee table, I felt inspired to check out OHAYO and see if that DVD is subtitled. I have watched OHAYO some time back on the Ozu 100 Anniversary Collection DVD and I want to check the transfer quality of this supposedly China box set. Well, long story short, the OHAYO in the box set did not have English subtitles but I watched the OHAYO on the 100th Anniversary DVD again an enjoyed every minute of it.
And today, of course, I woke up late and went over to one of my favorite places, i.e. Berjaya Times Square. Went to Borders for a couple of hours and picked up a couple of magazines. And another pleasant surprise I had as I saw Haruki Murakami’s newly translated work available for sale. Title is After Dark. Being a Murakami fan, I didn’t even blink and picked it up.
With still some time on hand, I walked around and BTS today was quite noisy thanks to some Korean pop duo, Cross (or something), doing a promotional tour. Young girls were screaming everywhere.
I found peace at the Kiku Zakura restaurant. It is one of those places that not many people knows exist in BTS and as such a heaven for me. The food is delicious, the service superb, the environment very relaxing and quiet. I sat down, ordered my sake sashimi and read the first chapter of After Dark. Typical of Murakami, the writing is fluid and the characters engaging. Couldn’t wait to finish the novel. There is a reference to Alphaville and I wonder it has something to do with Godard’s ALPHAVILLE. I remember watching the movie and felt very weird throughout, not knowing what to make of that movie. It was very engaging nonetheless. I would, however, prefer MY LIFE TO LIVE and BREATHLESS, but ALPHAVILLE is surely a breath of fresh air.
And now, I have just watched NANA 2. Damn the subtitles but woo hoo….
Falling Stones are not Heavy 