Turning Red (2022)

The premise resonated with me.  A teenage girl tried to go to a boy band concert, but the mother said no.  So the girl lied.

This is not the best Pixar movie.  Because of the pandemic, I've missed quite a few Pixar movies, but it didn't seem like I missed out on the quality.  The story was ok; the songs were ok; the friendship was ok.  Nothing especially stood out.

Encanto (2021)

So glad that I watched this movie for free.  Nothing was impressive.  It was another teenage girl with (or without) magic power, but she was the one that could save the family!

They sang about "they don't talk about" this thing and that thing, but in the song they did talk about this thing and that thing.  They didn't quite get the concept of holding everything in, huh.  But if everyone kept everything inside tightly, the movie wouldn't move forward.

Pixar's Coco (2017) was better.  I cried so much at that movie.

Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)

It was confusing at the beginning, and the movie didn't explain the premise well.  However, I got the basic idea after keeping watching it.  It wasn't a multi-verse.  It was a mother's desperate attempt trying to hang onto reality.  It was all in her head.  More like What If... this happened instead of her current life?

Maybe more suited for watching the movie while high.

Salt (2010)

My favorite action romance movie.  A woman’s husband was killed. She went crazy and killed everyone responsible.  What’s not to like?

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)

I forgot this movie had no ending.  It was a cliffhanger and must watch #3.

I was confused by the plot. Math Teacher explained there was no plot.  Disney had a bunch of funny scenes so they strung all of them together to make a movie.

I only liked #1 because Jake Sparrow was more a calculating captain but acting like a fool to throw everyone off.  Every step he took was carefully designed.  Starting #2, Jake Sparrow was more a fool than a captain.

The Addams Family (1991)

A cute movie.  Don’t think too hard about it.  Since the mom was a witch, I wondered about the abilities of the other family members.  I couldn’t get a clear answer.

No Sugar Challenge

6/28/2022 Day 1:  I have a two-week business trip coming up, eating junk food and living in hotel.  As a preventive measure, I decided to stop eating sugar.

Defining sugar is difficult and convoluted.  So I decided simply no desserts and sugary drinks.  No desserts after meals; no cakes or cookies or donuts from shops.  No alcohol, either.  Only tea, water, and black coffee.

It had been more than one week.  I felt no difference at first.  No weight loss.  No inch loss.  No clear skin.  Nothing per the all-knowing internet.

Until today 7/7/2022.  Math Teacher was feeling groggy.  During the yoga class, I felt dizzy while bending down.  Low blood sugar type of dizzy.

Sugar withdrawal, we decided.

7/12/2022 week 2:  I really didn't see any difference.  I felt groggy in week 1 and didn't sleep well for a couple nights.  Other than that, nothing.  Same weight.  Same waistline.  Same triple chins.

7/15/2022:  We finally measured ourselves.  Should've done this at the beginning, but we were both really bad at planning.  So our waistlines were at 36" and 35", respectively.  Guess which was which.

7/22/2022:  The end of the challenge.  We measured again.  **Drum Roll**  36" and 35", respectively.  Three weeks and three days of no desserts and no beer; wasted!  😡😠😢

The next measurement would be the end of the business trip.  😨😟

The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980), The Gods Must Be Crazy II (1989)

Fact #1:  rhinos stamp out fires.  They are nature's firefighters.

Fact #2:  some cultures shake their heads horizontally to indicate a "yes" statement.

I've held these two facts my whole life.

When I watched The Gods Must Be Crazy, the movie showed these two facts.  I told Math Teacher that the movie got the facts correctly.

After watching the movie, I then realized, I HAVE WATCHED THIS MOVIE BEFORE!  When I was in elementary school!  Definitely before third grade.  And I have held these two movie scenes as facts ever since.

The power of movie.

I am not going to check if these two movie scenes are actual facts.  To me, they will always forever be.

The sequel was ok.  Some parts were ridiculous, but still enjoyable overall.  The children were so cute!  The hand-holding soldiers were hilarious!

Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

Funny, entertaining, hilarious goats!

I didn't like Marvel casting Natalie Portman as Jane Foster.  She was already in Star Wars.  Marvel should've given some other new beautiful actress a chance.  Besides, how was she going to lift the hammer with those itty bitty arms?  Any Olympian female swimmer has bigger biceps than her.

I'm glad Marvel also recognized the problem.  Natalie Portman had toned and large arms in the movie.  That I approved.

Other than that, THOR'S NAKED BUTT!  I appreciated the eye candy.

Christian Bale was a great villain.  He was one of the few actors that I could see as a bad guy and a good guy rolled into one.

Oh, Stormbreaker was funny, too!  I really like the name Stormbreaker.  Unfortunately nobody can use it anymore.

Fukusaya Castella cakes

Fukusaya is one of the most famous company for castella cakes.  It's spongy, moist, sweet, and delicate.  I've had castella cakes from Fukusaya for years.

Until this year.

While we were souvenir shopping at Nagasaki Airport, Math Teacher suddenly started humming Batman theme music and said, "BATMAN!"  I was thoroughly confused.

He then pointed to the logo of Fukusaya and said, "BATMAN!"

That was when I realized, the company logo for Fukusaya was a bat.  To make sure, I asked the staff at the souvenir shop, and she confirmed it was a bat.

Math Teacher was happy that one of my favorite food in Japan belonged to Batman/Wayne Enterprise.  I said, no.  The castella cake pre-dated Batman.  He wasn't having any of it.

Anyway, great cake to go with black tea.  The sweetness of the cake balanced out the bitterness of the tea. Wonderful pair.

Bat signal on the lower left

Bat signal

Bat signal and the castella cake