Nosferatu (2024)

SPOILERS!!!

The first 1/3 of the movie followed Bram Stoker's Dracula loosely.  Thomas went to Count Orlok's castle to sell the Count real estate.  He saw peasants afraid of a certain supernatural being.  Count Orlok locked Thomas in.  Thomas went crazy, got out of the castle, made it home.  Count Orlok got on a boat to arrive at Thomas' hometown.

This was where everything went wrong.  Count Orlok came to the town looking for Thomas' wife, Ellen.  He wasn't the terrifying vampire that wrecked havoc.  Sure, he brought disease and killed some people, but he actually just wanted Ellen.  He couldn't even take Ellen forcibly; he needed her to say yes.  If he weren't a lovelorn little boy, I didn't know what he was.

SPOILERS!!

SPOILERS!!!

They burned Count Orlok's coffin so that he didn't have a place to return to.  Well, Count Orlok didn't even want to.  He and Ellen had sex all night long and well into day time and then he burned on top of her.  As a terrifying creature, I thought Count Orlok would choose his own life instead of a silly girl.  Well then, why did they need to burn his coffin?

This movie sacrificed the plot and logic so that it could be "artsy".  Masquerading sex as art was silly.

Everyone in the movie moaned like sex when they were in physical pain.  Ellen looked like she was in actual physical pain when she and Thomas were making love.  I think it was to contrast that Ellen loved Count Orlok more, but that was plain dumb.  

The original story had a final chase scene to kill the vampire.  It was action-packed and emotion-wrecking.  This Count Orlok got himself killed by having sex with a woman far too long.  Meh.

Everyone thought they could make a better adaption of Dracula, but they couldn't.  Bram Stoker already thought of every logic and plugged every plot hole.  There was no need to re-invent the wheel.  See my review of Bram Stoker's Dracula.  The story cannot be shrunk into a movie.  It needs to be a full-blown TV series.

The cinematography was beautiful.  The set design was amazing.  The acting was great.  I like Nicholas Hoult, Bill Skarsgard, and Willem Dafoe already.  Lily-Rose Depp is a surprise.  Looking forward to watch more movies by these talents!

⭐⭐⭐

蛇🐍年快樂！Happy Snake Year 2025!

新年快樂！大吉大利！！Happy Chinese New Year!!!明けましておめでとうございます、令和７年！！！！

Casablanca (1942)

This was the only old movie that I liked. I highly recommended it to Math Teacher, and he liked it a lot, too. Everyone had different motives and different principles. They held onto those principles, and accepted the consequences that came with. Outstanding characters!

Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024)

This was such a cash grab. The movie was completely unnecessary. The Furious Five didn't even bother to show up, or the movie studio didn't want to pay them.

Inside Out 2 (2024)

Pixar has a way to make my eyes watery with its movies. Anxiety during teenage years, who doesn't experience it? I remembered almost throwing up right before a final exam. The brain scrambled all of my logics and senses for no reason at all. Wanted to be accepted, yet wanted to be different, yet wanted everything to stay the same. That was such a strange phase.

Fortunately, I calmed down and outgrew it. Now I'm just stressed over mortgage, insurance, grocery, gas.  🤯🤯🤯🤯

五郎時食 / Gorou

Supposedly Gorou is one of the most famous vegetarian restaurants in Taiwan. Reservation only.

This was my first time eating at a pretentious restaurant. Per Sorted Food, pretentious means "if you have to explain something to people, then it's pretentious." All the dishes in Gorou were vegetarian, but they looked like sushi. We sat at the bar. The chef would bring out one sushi at a time, had us eat it, guess what it was made of, then explained to us what it actually was and how it was made. If this was not pretentious dining, I don't know what was.

I had a great time. Everything was delicious. Even though it was vegetarian, halfway through the course, I told Math Teacher I was getting full. By the end of the course, I was so full that I couldn't finish the soup.

Tuna = Red Bell Pepper

Pigs in Blankets = Tofu Skin with Tomatoes

Eel = Eggplant

Pork = Mushroom

Menu

Fish roe = veggie spheres

Zucchini

Steamed Egg 1

Steamed Egg 2

Potato

Red Miso Soup

There's banana inside!

Red Bean Soup Dessert

The restaurant offers only one course. A customer can order add-ons only at the end of the course. $1,000 TWD + 10% service charge = $1,100 per person TWD = $33 USD.

😋😋😋😋😋

Christmas 2024 in Japan

I had a great time in Japan, but I'm so bad at taking pictures. All I took were food and cute animals.

Karuizawa is a popular ski resort two hours outside of Tokyo. Due to global warming, it was very little snow this year. It was actually quite warm if not for the wind from the mountains. Since we didn't get to play in the snow, it was quite disappointing. So I wouldn't recommend going to Karuizawa for skiing.

Ueno Park had great museums.  Unfortunately they were closed for the new year.  Ueno Zoo was still open.  We waited more than an hour in line to see the two giant pandas for two minutes.  Not worth it.

Daimaru Tokyo was so busy with tourists and locals trying to buy fancy gifts for the new year.  Every restaurant and every cafe were full with long waiting lines.

カフェ 英國屋 大丸東京店 1

カフェ 英國屋 大丸東京店 2

カフェ 英國屋 大丸東京店 3

This tiny rice ball shop inside Ueno JR Station was so good! And for $15 total!  I love rice balls in Japan!

Fancy cars in Ginza were probably for publicity stunt because we didn't see drivers with the cars.

Hotel Chocolat does not sell coffee and chocolate drinks in Tokyo metropolitan shops anymore. Outside Tokyo, such as Yokohama and Kichijoji locations, still sell coffee and chocolate drinks. Delicious! So flavorful. I'll miss it terribly.

Hotel Chocolat MARK IS みなとみらい店

By the way, this department store called "Mark Is" really bothers Math Teacher.  He literally couldn't even with the grammar.  Funny thing is, one of his favorite stores in Japan is called "Niko And..." 🤣🤣

Afternoon Tea TEAROOM MARK IS みなとみらい店 1

Afternoon Tea TEAROOM MARK IS みなとみらい店 2

Yokohama is a great city. Huge, open space. Great malls. Chinatown. Good food. Beautiful harbor with so many museums and attractions. Easy access into Tokyo. One week is not enough to explore Yokohama.

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2024!

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

ANA Crowne Plaza Narita 1

ANA Crowne Plaza Narita 2

Mark Is Minato Mirai

Queens Square Yokohama

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024)

We were in the library deciding what movie to get.  I saw this and said out loud, "Let's get this movie just because of Henry Cavill's muscles."

This was based on a real story but fictionalized.  It was so ridiculous that I loved it.  The British planned everything meticulously.  The Nazis could not plan out of their asses.  Everyone on the British team was a dead shot. All Nazis could not aim.  I've been told that's a trope now.  😂

Yup, lots of muscles to look at, but not Henry Cavill's.  I'm surprised he was so different in this movie.  Overall, an enjoyable movie for a quiet Thanksgiving night.

True Lies (1994)

My gosh, after 30 years, True Lies was still a fun movie!  The characters had small gestures and winks that played off each other.  Even the sleaze ball and the villains had funny parts.

The dance Jamie Lee Curtis did in the hotel was so hot that made me and Arnold blush.  Arnold's line delivery was a bit rigid, but that's just Arnold.

The ending where Arnold shot a missile carrying the big bad villain through a hollow skyscraper into another villain's helicopter was simply ridiculous.  That about summed up the whole movie.  Don't take it seriously.