Anime

Well, this post may be a little late. So let me extend to you my sincere apologies.

Let me start off by saying that Anime Does NOT Equal Cartoons. This is a common misconception. Yes, Anime is animated. Duh. But that does not make it children's entertainment. That would be like saying all black people are good at track. Nah son. Black =/= good at track just as anime =/= cartoon. Now that we have gotten that out of the way, lets get to why I chose to write this.

Anime incorporates all the elements of the best aspects of all kinds of entertainment. Action from movies, epic or emotional soundtracks, nudity! Its all in anime. This hobby is such a great time passer too! Have 3 days to yourself and nothing to do? Go watch Death Note. You don't need to go outside and interact with... people. There are all kinds of anime that suit to an exponential amount of tastes.

The content in anime is nothing to laugh at either. Even though you are looking at animated scenes instead of live action ones, most of the time i find myself awed at the pure emotion and content that comes from this media. To be simple, it is better produced content then the same old generic stuff you see on t.v. nowadays.

Don't think that nobody really watches anime either! No. 'Tis not true. Ever heard of The Matrix? Yeah, that was inspired by an anime movie (Ghost in the Shell). No biggie. The fact is, anything is achievable in anime. Weather you want a love story, or a virtual reality one. Anime has inspired many things and it will convenient to inspire things as your life goes on. Hop on board the anime boat.

What is Eating Gilbert Grape?

Ok... this has NOTHING to do with Japan. I know! Lets pretend they're Japanese!! Now it has

Acting

The actor who plays Gilbert is quite a talented young man. He is able to nail the role of a loving older brother who is caring but at the same time frustrated towards his "embarrassing" family. Our main character can appear dull at times but don't confuse this for bad acting. It's all part of the role that he plays.

Arnie is especially well acted. I have no idea if the actor has any mental handicaps or not, but he feels so real to me.

Visuals

You've got your standard camera angles and visuals in this movie. Not terrible at all, but not stunning either.

Plot

At the surface, this is just a story about a young man. That young many... well he has a sucky life, and since he has a sucky life that forces him to be a certain way. When you look deeper into this plot, can Gilbert Grape be looked at as a metaphor? I think he can be. Gilbert's life presents a dead end. Weather it is his mother or his brother preventing him from doing things, these obstacles are always leading Gilbert to situations where he is forced back in to his crappy life. However, at the end his mom finally dies and he becomes free of what his dead end life was.

What do you think of this movie huh? I give it... 7.8/10

Umm... Rice

In Japan they eat some pretty sexy food. Lets get straight into it. First off we have...rice! And they don't eat rice just because they're Asians ya racists. Over there, it is pretty easy to grow rice in their environment, so that take advantage of that.

The Japanese have;

Gohan: Which is cooked rice. (Might be served with pickles...)

Rice Cakes: Don't be fooled. These aren't sweet. Think of biscuits. Although they're traditionally a seasonal new years treat (Like some good old watermelon...), they can be served alongside dishes throughout the year.

Rice Balls: These are not just... BALLS of rice. They are wrapped in seaweed, seasoned, and have a yum-yum filling (I made up the word yum-yum. Relax.)

Tamago Kake Gohan: Basically, this is rice, raw egg, and soy sauce. Not gonna lie... this sounds kinda nasty.

Sushi: The great sushi. Whats in it. Well, RICE (generally cooked with vinegar), along with raw fish, sometimes wrapped in seaweed. You can pick up sushi at like any grocery store. Duh, its Japan.

Fried rice: Ok, we ALL saw this coming. Fried rice along with anything that tastes good in a pot. Onions, vegetables, meat. (Can easily be made from leftover rice.)

*On a side note, rice flour is commonly used in Japan (just like we use wheat flour).

So if you ever go to Japan, my advice to you is get used to rice, because its in hella food over there. Next week... all that other food I missed.

JPop?

Ever wonder what it would be like to be a crazy ass pop culture fan in Japan. Well… you probably haven't so let me enlighten you. In Japan, they listen to music. But their pop music has its own name, JPop. Creative, I know. But the fact is that Japan has the second largest music market in the world. To me, I just find the Japanese language so epic sounding. Could that be the key to its musical success?

Something unique about Japanese pop culture is that it has also incorporated in factors of the past to shape itself. Unlike here, where pop culture is “one day you’re in and the next day, you’re out”. Everything from current and popular Japanese food, movies, manga, and music all have roots in the past. In the case of JPop, it started off as typically a combination of 1970’s style rock mixed with the Japanese music at the time to give it a western feel. If you ever go to japan some day, don’t be surprised to see this stuff flooding the TVs because I warned you.  Now it has grown to become a vivacious, electronic, kick ass genre that you should totally listen to some day when you’re bored at work and are sneaking in breaks on your phone even though you aren't supposed to.

So... What possessed me to do this and who am I?

Welcome all. As most if you know I'm Gar Paul. I am the future king of the world as a matter of fact. Fun fact: future kings of the world write blogs about Japan in their youth. And that is the sole reason that I am doing this. Not because Japan is a the California of Asia, or because the language is amazing or because the food is... different. Feel free to return later.