Tag Archives: Toshiro Mifune

One thought of many

That is at times all of the settings we see. We see an idea and we focus on it. I for one am ‘smitten’ with that affliction. It came to pass as I have been playing AC Shadows and the story gives us the Portuguese. I remember that setting from the James Clavell setting given to us by Richard Chamberlain in 1978, with the work Shogun he, Toshiro Mifune and Yoko Shimada put Japan on our eyesights forever. This is not an attack on the 2024 Shogun, as I haven’t seen it yet (not out on Blu-ray in Australia) but I have heard many good things about it and I look forward to seeing Hiroyuki Sanada replaying the role that (as I see it) made Toshiro Mifune a great actor in the  western world. That is the setting, but it is not what this is about. The setting is set around the Jesuit order, one that had influence in Japan (I am not judging whether it is good or bad) and there is no reasonable way that any jesuit makes for a good assassin. But the setting of AC Shadows could propagate the Jesuit settings, or as they call it ‘Societas Iesu’ founded in 1540, as such it has a rich history, and history being the capital setting as this society is founded on “evangelization and apostolic ministry in 112 countries. Jesuits work in education, research, and cultural pursuits. They also conduct retreats, minister in hospitals and parishes, sponsor direct social and humanitarian works, and promote ecumenical dialogue” for me the idea of prolongating education has another setting. You see, as classes go into disarray in the near future, we need to set new boundaries, not more investments. I see it that the backdrop of Assassins Creed could be used to a setting to learn languages AC Shadows Japanese and Portuguese, Just as the setting of AC Brotherhood could be the starting stage of Italian and Latin. Two programs that give rise to 4 languages. We don’t always get that lucky. There are settings where we merely could learn English (AC Syndicate and Watchdogs legion) so we have an old and new setting for the language. Students could learn a lot by what Ubisoft set in motion. There are settings for Greek, America (they don’t speak English, LOL) and from that we go on. And the fact is that these students can learn all the time (at home or at School) a setting to propagate knowledge and it goes far beyond the borders of that nation. See how these languages give rise to people in India have a much larger setting for languages. As some might ridicule the idea, the setting has been given and some (preferably in Ubisoft) will give rise to that idea and equip something like the Meta Quest 3 and walk around in these conditions, all whilst practicing your language skills. We get all the news on ‘sue strategy’ whilst no one is pushing that envelope to get something going. I gave visibility to this setting almost 6 months ago, so my quote for “Google and Amazon left billions on the floor” is hereby set to true. It is not the only setting there are more, so when you start realising that education is under the hammer and you are shown that education has to be cut, see where we could have given a larger rise to a new pedestal of learning. In that same setting AC Shadows give rise to culture (As does AC Brotherhood) we can argue that Paris in not a setting for culture (look at me, making another funny). 

We need to consider that the art of culture might soon be lost as America squanders whatever it has to keep its billionaires afloat and here Ubisoft has a larger setting to push education to a larger stage in Europe and India, because 1 billion hungry Indians (hungry for knowledge) is a large population to push an idea to. There might be issues over time, but the Ubisoft solution is about 80% finished at present. So do what you want with this idea, but at least I was thinking outside of the box, no AI required and it is close to release (the voice interaction requires actual programming), so when you see another BS media piece on what to sue from who, consider that they never looked at the opportunities given, a simple setting I employed, with no real issue on getting profit (this will be in the hands of Meta and Ubisoft), a donation will of course be graciously accepted. Are you listening Yves Guillemot? 🙂

Have a great day and try to learn something today, even if it is in a direction you never expected. I today did my bit for education, technology, arts and culture. What will you do today?

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Gaming, IT, Media, Science, Uncategorized

A song in my heart

We all have these moments, we all get that moment that our heart starts to sing and it is never for one reason. It can be a woman (Laura Vandervoort), it can be a video game (Horizons Forbidden West), a movie (John Wick 4). There are different reasons fuelled with anticipation, desire and longing. The heart picks up on this and sings. For me this started in 1982. A mini series on TV caught my attention. It was the exploration of John BlackThorne (Richard Chamberlain) of Japan. It was probably the first time I saw something on the historical side of Japan. We saw the titan Toshiro Mifune and I am decently certain it was the first event I saw with him. Over time I saw more, we saw the Portuguese version of Gimli, portrayed by John Rhys-Davies, Yoko Shimada, Alan Badel and many more. The work of James Clavell brilliantly set to TV. It was a few years later when I got the VHS edition and another decade until I got the DVD. It was a few years ago when I tired to get the Bluray edition, however unsuccessful. I still have the DVD’s. I must have seen the series several times since the 1982 introduction. It never stopped bringing joy to my heart. So when I saw a new trailer, the trailer to the 2024 remake, my heart basically went bug-nuts.

Now we will get to see the cycle from Blackthorne and Toranaga, now portrayed by Cosmo Jarvis and Hiroyuki Sanada. We have seen Sanada in several things (well, you could have). There was 47 Ronin, Helix and several others. I know it will be a few months, and several more until I will be able to get the 10 episodes on Bluray, but the idea in itself makes my heart sing. One of the more prestigious series I have ever seen will be remastered and with the evolution of special effects and camera options, guided by a new cast with decades of insight we are optionally treated to a series that will overwhelm the senses, at least that is what I am hoping for. The 1980 version was ‘only’ 5 episodes, but the pilot and finale were 3 hours each, as such the new version might be on par with that. Yet I am not trivialising this, the original version was a titan and it still is, it stands next to I Claudius as the best drama in history and they have had their positions for half a century, as such the remake will have quite the challenge to equal. I have no doubt that the cast is up to the task. Hiroyuki Sanada is very much on near equal footing as Toshiro Mifune is. His list of achievements is a decent indication of that. The rest? Well, I hope to learn this in about 15 weeks when the first episode airs and I do hope it is something I will be able to see, although it is much more likely I will get the Blu-ray on day one (preferably before December 2024). 

For now I feel great and it is Saturday (nice bonus). Shogun returns renewed and I can’t wait to see it. I am enjoying the weekend, I hope you will too.

Leave a comment

Filed under movies

A streaming war

Yup, this is about to come to larger blows, you see, there is Netflix (of course), Apple, Amazon Prime, Canal Plus/Foxtel and Disney Plus. There are a few more, but in many cases HBO is added to the film channels of Foxtel, and so on. Yet these players never took a serious look at the treasure of the east, Japan particularly. Yes they all look at the manga, yet there is a lot more. The Zatoichi series, which was followed by an amazing movie with Takeshi Kitano. There are a lot more, and even as there are some really good movies around that are done in
Japan (Earthquake bird with Alicia Vikander), Japan has a lot of original non manga material to offer. In the horror section there is the Audition and Oldboy, the second one is also seen as a remade English version, but it is nowhere near as good as the original, perhaps it was the atmosphere. There is of course the setting of Ju-On and that video that kills within 7 days, but those are the visible ones that made the press. A lot of people got interested in Japan as a provider of entertainment after Kill Bill part 1, that is fair enough, we all have our moments. For me it was the 1980 TV-series Shōgun with Richard Chamberlain, based on the novel by James Clavell with the same name. A series where we see giants like Toshiro Mifune, Yoko Shimada, Frankie Sakai, and Hideo Takamatsu (and many more). Not just that, even the Middle-Earth trusted Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) was already amazing 40 years ago. I reckon it might be time for a remake, if only the 1980 version was not so darn perfect. Yet there is more in Japan than just remakes. To see that we merely have to look at the Playstation 4 and the almost perfect Ghost of Tsushima. Until the game was there, I know nothing of this place and the setting it had. And I know I am not alone. We might want to travel back to 2006 when Clint Eastwood release the second part, Letters from Iwo Jima. As Flags of our fathers showed us the American side, Clint took a gander and showed us the other side as well. What we ended up with is a near complete view of a war no-one really wanted, but we were all forced to fight it, because there was no other way. 

Yet as we see the roll call of movies in Japan, we see the western view of it and some of it is really good, there is the Forest with Natalie Dorner who is pretty amazing (for those who merely know here from her ways to excite Henry VIII, or be the sweet dear in GoT), this is the movie to watch her in). We need to acknowledge that a movie about Japanese in Japan can only be made by the Japanese. We do not deny that Lost in Translation is a gem, yet who knows of 100 Yen Love, and before you think that this is mere love movie, think again, in this particular case it is Billion dollar baby on steroids. A slob turning her life around and it is that underdog fight that for some reason is a lot better when it is done in Japan. There is another example, The Ramen Girl, underestimated and a little shallow, but it shows us a side of Japan we rarely see, their strife for excellence, a spiritual side perhaps, perhaps not. But there is a multitude of sides to Japan we always seem to ignore. The technologists look at Japan, because what we see there now will hit our borders in about 5 years. Yet in all that, we seem to forget that Japan has a soul and even if we do not understand it, some wall parts are shown in their movies and TV-series. With the world wanting more and wanting something different, there is every chance that Japanese entertainment goods will b e fought over by the streaming giants. And if these parts do not convince you, take a look at Gokusen (2002) and I can tell you right now, the plot twist that hits you at the end of season one, is one you we’re never ready for. 

You could say: Only in Japan!

Leave a comment

Filed under Media, movies