The Miracles of the Namiya General Store

tags: fantasy, Japanese, Keigo Higashino, mystery



from goodreads

When three delinquents hole up in an abandoned general store after their most recent robbery, to their great surprise, a letter drops through the mail slot in the store's shutter. This seemingly simple request for advice sets the trio on a journey of discovery as, over the course of a single night, they step into the role of the kindhearted former shopkeeper who devoted his waning years to offering thoughtful counsel to his correspondents. Through the lens of time, they share insight with those seeking guidance, and by morning, none of their lives will ever be the same.

The novel has a different tone from Higashino's usual mystery crime novels but is as engaging and hard to put down once you start reading. The story is sweet, heartfelt, and unforgettable. It's 1980 and the owner of Namiya General Store, Yūji Namiya, gives answers to people asking for advice. It began when Mr. Namiya gave verbal guidance to grade school students. He starts giving the answers on notes posted outside the front of the store when he becomes popular with residents and soon adults also start writing for advice. When the store is closed, they would drop their letters through the front door slot and they pick up the handwritten replies from Mr. Namiya from a milk box hung outside on the side of the store. In 2012, three youths who just committed petty thievery hide in the now closed and abandoned Namiya General Store. During the night, a letter seeking advice is dropped from the slot although nobody is outside. The boys become aware that it was written in 1980. When one of the boys decides to reply, the mysteries and secrets of the old General Store become apparent as their letters cut across time and space. The lives of various unrelated characters intertwine through the "miracles" occurring in the store.

Highly recommended.

900 Page Books Worth Reading

I rarely read books that are more than 500 pages with the exception of these 900+page books. I highly recommend them.

    
Middlemarch - George Eliot
The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
Ana Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
Complete Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke

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I'm still contemplating if I should start reading these 1000+page tomes. I have started and abandoned several times Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. I'll read them when I'm in the right mood.

War And Peace - Leo Tolstoy
Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
Clarissa, or The History of A Young Lady - Samuel Richardson

Sturgill Simpson Presents Sound & Fury

tags: anime, country, electonica, pop, music video, Netflix

 

from Netflix official site

In this anime visual album, a mysterious driver heads deep into a postapocalyptic hellscape toward a ferocious showdown with two monstrous opponents.  

Although I've been listening to country music the past 3 years, I've never heard of Sturgill Simpson until this animation appeared on my Netflix streaming suggestion list in September of this year. Instant like because of the music genre bending and I love his Waylon Jennings voice, anime, electtronica, and bloody revenge stories. I've been watching and sometimes just listening and the video will probably stay on my Netflix list for forever. I turn the subtitles on to read the lyrics while playing. 

Track list

 1.  Ronin

 2.  Remember to Breathe

 3.  Sing Along

 4.  A Good Look

 5.  Make Art Not Friends

 6.  Best Clockmaker on Mars

 7.  All Said and Done

 8.  Last Man Standing

 9.  Mercury in Retrograde

10. Fastest Horse in Town

My favorites are 5 and 9. Great tune and lyrics.

Mercury in Retrograde

I got a haircut in Norway 
When all the weight started pulling me down 
Smelling like a waterlogged wet dog 
Ain't no way to travel 
But as soon as I chopped it all off 
It just grew back, thick and brown 
I keep tugging on the thread 
Hoping it all might come unraveled 
I keep trying to throw it all away 
But it comes right back around
They come backstage and on my bus
Pretending to be my friend
Shaking hands behind grandstands
All wearing the same old grin
Oh, but none of them bother knocking
Oh, they all just come on in
Asking me what all my songs mean
Wonderin' if they're all about them

Mercury must be in retrograde again
But at least it's not just hangin' around pretendin' to be my friend
Oh, the road to Hell is paved with cruel intention
If it's not nuclear war, it's gonna be a divine intervention

Living the dream makes a man wanna scream
Light a match and burn it all down
Head back home to the mountain
Far away from the pull
Of all the journalists and sycophants wielding their brands
And all the traveling trophies and award show stands
And all the haters wishing they was in my band
Sorry boys, the bus is plumb full

Mercury must be in retrograde again
But at least it's not just hangin' around pretendin' to be my friend
Oh, the road to Hell is paved with cruel intention
If it's not nuclear war, it's gonna be a divine intervention

And there's nothing for me outside this hotel room
But another letdown, lonely day
Tour is almost over, and I'll be home soon
And it's all been done two or three times anyway

Mercury must be in retrograde again
But at least it's not just hangin' around pretendin' to be my friend
Oh, the road to Hell is paved with cruel intention
If it's not nuclear war, it's gonna be a divine intervention

Nameless: Amazon Original Stories

tags: amnesia, clairvoyance, short story, thriller

ratings: 3 to 5 stars

from Amazon.com

 A Killer Serial

If our memories make us who we are, who is a man without any? Nameless has only a gun, missions from a shadowy agency, and one dead aim: dispense justice when the law fails. As he moves from town to town, driven by splintered visions of the past and future, he's headed toward the ultimate confrontation in this propulsive series of short thrillers by bestselling author Dean Koontz.

The new 6-short story series is available to borrow from Amazon Kindle Prime. Each book is a very short, an hour or maybe less than an hour, read. Nameless is nameless, has amnesia, can see the future (clairvoyant) but has glimpses of the past crimes by the people he is pursuing. He is provided various names by the agency, is given large amount of cash and a different car for each mission which is to hunt down and punish horrific evil people. You want him to succeed each and every time.

Highly recommended for Dean Koontz readers

Polar

tags: assassins, blood and gore, live action graphic novel, thriller



from IMDB

A retiring assassin suddenly finds himself on the receiving end of a hit, contracted by none other than his own employer seeking to cash in on the pensions of aging employees.

This movie has been on my queue for almost a year already but I found the time to watch it only yesterday because I have a million on my list on Netflix and Amazon.

I like the movie a lot. It is one of the bloodiest but having seen many gangster Japanese and Korean movies, I'm neither shocked nor horrified. The "battle" scene in the hallway is very similar to the 2014 Korean movie For The Emperor.

This movie is based on web comics or graphic novel, hence the vivid colors and odd characters.  I like the vicious reed-thin female assassin clad in tight leather clothing (remember Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman?) and the always cool and collected elderly secretary of the company boss. Many viewers compare it to John Wick series but I disagree. This movie is more fun and satirical, and really really over the top. Suspension of disbelief is a must when watching. Comparing it to real life is just dumb and you will end up disliking it if you do.

Recommended for fans of action flicks with lots of spilled blood.

Endless Night by Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie, classics, mystery, thriller




from goodreads

One of Agatha Christie’s personal favorites, Endless Night is a critically acclaimed classic crime thriller from the beloved queen of mystery.

When penniless Michael Rogers discovers the beautiful house at Gypsy’s Acre and then meets the heiress Ellie, it seems that all his dreams have come true at once. But he ignores an old woman’s warning of an ancient curse, and evil begins to stir in paradise. As Michael soon learns: Gypsy’s Acre is the place where fatal “accidents” happen.

I'm very disappointed with the books I read this year so I started reading old classics. Two Agatha Christie novels that I've never read before, Endless Night and And Then There Were None (Ten Little Indians) are both very good. I also watched the movie adaptations of both novels.

It's difficult to review Endless Night without revealing the plot but I assure you it's a great read and while the ending is not jaw-dropping it is satisfying and the novel is worth reading.

BTW, the title is from William Blake's poem Auguries of Innocence
Every night and every morn
Some to misery are born,

Every morn and every night
Some are born to sweet delight.

Some are born to sweet delight,
Some are born to endless night

Highly recommended for Agatha Christie fans. 
Movie adaptation streaming on Amazon and Kanopy stars Hayley Mills. 

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I'm back after a 3-year absence from this blog. As of today, I have finished reading 66 books for this year, all fiction but 1. Half of them are not good at all. It's disheartening to read and rate UGLY my favorite authors' books specifically John le Carré's Agent Running in the Field and Lee Child's Blue Moon (Jack Reacher).

IMHO, John le Carré wrote this novelette Agent Running in the Field to rant against President Trump and the US. I knew he always hated the USA but I didn't mind it in his old books. I remember one or two books with short sentences against the Bushes and the Republican Party. He is still my favorite spy novel author regardless. This new book, however, is filled with f-bombs, vitriol, and obscenities against President Trump and Putin. It's as though I was reading leftist rags and Twitter feed and not a spy novel. It also lacks his trademark wry humor. I finished until the end which is anticlimactic. Sad. 

I hope at his ripe old age of 87, he lets go of his hatred of the USA and writes new excellent spy novels. 

  

The Night Manager

 espionage, mystery, thriller



from Amazon

Enter the new world of espionage, where the skills forged by generations of spies during the darkest days of the Cold War are put to even more terrifying use. Penetrate the secret world of ruthless arms dealers and drug smugglers who have risen to unthinkable power and wealth. The sinister master of them all is an untouchable Englishman named Roper, the charming, unstoppable ruler of a corrupt world all his own.

Slipping into this maze of peril is a former British soldier, Jonathan Pine, who knows Roper well enough to hate him more than he hates any other man on earth. Now personal vengeance is only part of the reason Pine is willing to help the men at Whitehall bring Roper down.

This is one of Le Carré's books that failed to get my attention in the early 1990s until a week ago when I watched on Amazon streaming the pilot episode of the TV series adaptation (it stars Tom Hiddleston as Jonathan Pine and Hugh Laurie as the worst man in the world, Roper.)

I love this book and is now one of my top favorites by this author, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Honourable Schoolboy being the first and second favorites. IMHO, Le Carré is the best spy fiction writer ever. He can introduce a million characters in the first 2 chapters and I'm able to distinguish them from one another and  remember them whenever they appear throughout the novel. That's how good they are written by Le Carré. They all have very distinct voices and personalities. And I get to laugh often at Le Carré's ironic/sarcastic humor.

Jonathan, as most of Le Carré's main protagonists and unlike the movie James Bond character, is flawed like any normal human. Jonathan is a former soldier for the British army, a former cook, and currently a night manager in luxury hotels. His actions as a MI6 spy are surprising (both for the reader and his handlers) and dangerous but he does it for his own redemption, for avenging Sophie's death, and for saving the girl he loves from the clutches of Roper.

Highly recommended.

2016 Korean Dramas

Descendants Of The Sun
16 Episodes
February 24 - April 16, 2016, every Wednesday and Thursday night
Tags: action, drama, medical, military, romance

Asianwiki Synopsis Episodes 1 and 2, broadcast February 24 and 25, 2016

Shi-Jin (Song Joong-Ki) is the captain of military special forces. He catches a motorcycle thief with Sergeant Major Dae-Young (Jin Goo). The thief is injured during his capture and is sent to the hospital. Dae-Young realises his cellphone is stolen by the thief and goes to the hospital to retrieve it. In the emergency room, Shi-Jin meets Dr. Mo-Yeon (Song Hye-Kyo) for the first time. He falls in love with her immediately. Mo-Yeon mistakenly assumes Shi-Jin is part of the thief's criminal gang. He proves to her that he is a soldier with the help of an army doctor Myeong-Joo (Kim Ji-Won). Shi-Jin and Mo-Yeon begin to date, but due to their jobs their dates don't go well. Shi-Jin takes an order to lead his soldiers on a peacekeeping mission to the country of Uruk. Meanwhile, Mo-Yeon becomes upset that she fails to become a professor due to a colleague's privileged background. When Shi-Jin and Mo-Yeon meet again, they talk about their views on life and realise how different they are. Shi-Jin, as a soldier, kills to protect lives and Mo-Yeon, as a doctor, tries to save all lives. They say their goodbyes. Eight months later, Mo-Yeon rebuffs the sexual advances of hospital chairman and as retribution is assigned to lead a medical team in Uruk. There, Shi-Jin and Mo-Yeon meet again.

Two episodes in and I'm already hooked. Besides having two of the most beautiful actors in Korean movies and TV dramas, it also has lots of action and martial arts fight scenes. I've watched the first 2 episodes twice already while waiting for the next 2 episodes. Song Joong-Ki is one of my current favorite Korean actors. He stars in the Korean fantasy sci-fi drama movie, A Werewolf Boy, DVD available from Netflix.

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Come Back, Mister
16 Episodes
February 24 - April 16, 2016, every Wednesday and Thursday night
tags: comedy, drama, fantasy, revenge, romance

Synopsis

2 men die suddenly. One is an ordinary looking family man with a wife and child. He works hard almost to death but an unfortunate accident does him in. The other man is an unmarried chef and a toughie. He gets into a car accident but is actually murdered. Both take the train bound for heaven but the salary man feels he is not ready to die yet just like the character in Heaven Can Wait, and jumps off of the train along with the toughie. They are both given a chance to stay temporarily on earth to attend to unfinished business. The married man is given the body of his opposite - a tall, buff, and handsome young man played by Rain/Bi/Jung Ji-Hoon (Ninja Assassin). The chef/tough guy is given the body of a beautiful woman. 

Rain is a very famous Korean idol and actor but I never was into him. I've seen him in several movies though and find him a good actor but I don't consider him cute or handsome. He's okay in this Kdrama but I'm watching because of the 3 female leads.

Diablo

tags: Western, thriller

Synopsis from Amazon

A young Civil War veteran named Jackson wakes up to find his beautiful wife kidnapped by a band of ruthless bandits. With killers around every corner, the lines begin to blur between who the good and the bad are, including Jackson. As a final gunfight looms for our hero and he is asked to risk it all to save the woman he loves, this action-packed western takes twists and turns that will break even the hardest of hearts.

Dang, another 90 minutes waste of eyeballs use. I borrowed the DVD because of Walter Goggins regardless of the negative reviews. He has been great in almost all movies and TV shows I've seen him in. He doesn't disappoint in this movie and the 1-star is for his appearance. He has the best lines and delivery IMHO.

I'm not too familiar with Clint Eastwood acting having seen only a couple of his movies so I can't compare his acting with his son. Scott Eastwood simply cannot act nor show any facial emotions; he's like a dead fish. He's not the only bad thing in this joke of a movie though - the dialog is sub-par and the loud music and cheap cinematography are both annoyingly intrusive.

Although the plot is interesting because of the anti-hero angle, it's a bit predictable the second time Walter Goggins's character Ezra shows up and specially when he lies down beside Jackson. There really is no twist if you are paying attention to their dialog. The title also is glaringly obvious.

I honestly don't know what the director and writer were thinking portraying the Spanish village people as retards. The Diablo is standing on the wide open front yard, practically a "sitting duck", and nobody takes a shot at him. Nobody! Once the one-sided gunfight starts, the village idiots promptly show themselves on rooftops, front door, and windows as if begging him to shoot them. SMH

Skip this movie.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword Of Destiny

tags: Chinese, martial arts, Netflix streaming, sequel



I wasn't really interested in this film. The first one is good, not great, but I liked it enough. I had no idea what the sequel is about and didn't read anything about it before adding it to my Netflix list. It is a disappointing sequel and doesn't seem to have anything to do with the original except Michelle Yeoh's role.

I opted for the Chinese language with English subtitles but 2 minutes into the film noticed that the lips are not synced to either Mandarin or Cantonese. I turned on the English language and to my dismay the film was shot in English! It was awkward in either English or Mandarin.

Single star because:
- Filmed entirely in English, Mandarin dubbed.
- Bad acting all around.
- Fight choreography is mediocre at best; I've seen better.
- Setting looks staged and "Westernized"
- Plot too predictable
- Script is worse than bad
- Boring

Not recommended.