Mind Games

Months after phoenix chix got me interested in the drama Liar Game, I finally got the series last weekend.

Played the first episode just to check if the file was intact, but it opened with the main character returning a lost property of 100 yen (~ 1++ SGD) to the police, which was funny enough to get me watching on... then the Game plot started, and I couldn't stop until I finished the whole 11 episodes overnight -- though I did skip some of the flashback-ridden 3-hour special last episode. (Ah, the efficiency of Japanese dramas when compared to the average 20++ episodes of other Asian series.)

By the way, I learned from other sources (variety shows..) that in Japan, keeping a lost property is considered a crime, and that includes keeping the extra change a shopkeeper gives by mistake. On the other hand, returning that lost property entitles the finder to a reward of 5--20% of the property value. Don't know how effective of an incentive that is, but I think it's a nice gesture..

Anyway, the drama plot is about a "stupidly honest" girl, Kanzaki, who got involved in a real-life game where the players need to manipulate others to win a huge sum of money, or end up in a huge debt if they lose. Of course the series wouldn't progress if she just got cheated all the time (which she would have!), so she got help from a genius psychology-student-turned-swindler, Akiyama, who, as such plots typically require, had a tragic past and was out for revenge of some kind.


I was prepared to get annoyed at this girl's naivete since even phoenix chix did, but the plot momentum was so good (or was it the marathon-watching?) that I didn't feel it. I was even happy for her when she finally showed some smart planning on her own, then I took a look at the episode number and well, episode eight was high time for it..

It also helped mightily that it was Toda Erika in that role-- she made even Deathnote's Misamisa all right for me, heh. I think she belongs to the type of cuteness that is likable-- the other would be the overbearing "act cute" type that, from past observation, seems to appeal to (some) males only, lol. Another reason may be that I can sympathize with people who cannot be manipulative, though in my case it's not so much due to the faith in the good of humans than the limited stretch of imagination..

There might be some flaws and plot holes, but my only major complaint was that the last scene, probably in a cliched thriller attempt at a hanging feel, sort of defeated the good concluding point that had been made earlier: that life itself is a liar game. (I consider this as part of the premise of the story and thus not a spoiler, though the way it was put forth in that last episode might be.)

phoenix chix compared this series to Kurosagi, which I've watched before LG, and I quite agree with his points. Kurosagi's swindler character was made out to be half on the funny side and was thus more enjoyable in that aspect, but I didn't mind LG's Matsuda Shota "playing cool" all the time either (or maybe it was my increased tolerance from all the exposure?) as I think he acted well and the strategies were very interesting.

And somehow I found the treatment of romance, or lack thereof, in LG to be a plus too-- all we got was some subtle remarks leaning in that direction which contributed to the scarce humorous moments in the whole series. ("Personal property" kinda cracked me up, especially after the earlier SM* talk.. (Warning: this may or may not be PG material.))

Now it would be instructive to mention the Trick series with its detective work plus occasional magic-show tricks.. Despite the darker criminal/spiritual background, my impression of this is "the comedic one" (with very likable characters), while Kurosagi is the emotional one and Liar Game is the thrilling one. All are pretty good series. (Just like Kanzaki-san I don't like conflicts and don't want to choose, lol.)

But I guess my thoughts on Liar Game would be, while I wholeheartedly believe that honest and positive thinking is the way to be happy, it also requires skillful means. If Kanzaki didn't win the games, there would've been little impact she could make on others; and she couldn't have won without Akiyama's manipulative strategies. We'd certainly prefer those strategies not to harm others (now this would lead to a whole new discussion on Game Theory, wouldn't it) but...


* If you haven't known this term, I prefer not to be the one explaining what it meant in the drama, but the G-rated interpretation (that my other sources said was also common in Japan) is somewhat as the character first tried to turn it to: the psychological categorization of aggressive(S) versus passive(M) personalities.

Sempitnya Waktu Besarnya Cinta

"Begitu sempitnya waktu, begitu besarnya cinta" ("So little time, so much love") is, as most Indonesians might know, the tagline of the romantic movie Ungu Violet.

The poetic line caught my attention at the time of release and stayed in my mind, even though I never checked out the movie. Now that I've read the synopsis and reviews, the story looked pretty cliched -- very reminiscent of that famous Korean music video "Because I Am A Woman", though possibly with more complex background story. But anyway, I shouldn't comment further seeing as you may know better than me, who haven't watched.

The line just popped into my mind followed by a feeling of belated comprehension ("Ohhh, so that's what it means..") because my life right now is a pile of things I'd love to do but have not done, songs I'd love to learn but have not properly listened to, shows and recordings I'd love to watch but have not gotten around to... and time is never enough.

I thought I was quite an accepting person even in situations when I shouldn't, but for this timing issue I seem to be perpetually dissatisfied, as evidenced by my extremely irregular, lower bound-pushing sleeping hours. Ah.

By the way the above-mentioned belated comprehension may be incorrect after all, because after checking out the (spoiler-free) movie plot, I'm guessing that the line actually refers to some looming character death. Time indeed flows in one direction (or did I just betray my modern physics lecturer? This seems to warrant another blog post by itself) but "little time" in the movie context feels "forward" while my context feels "sideways".. if that makes sense (think duration vs. bandwidth?).

But, that would actually fit just right with the literal meaning: "How narrow time is, how big love is". Ahh, the connotations we lost in translation..

From Dusk Till Dawn: The Pointless Picture

Woke up from my nap to interesting colors:


Coincidentally from that angle the window frame nicely parted the yellow-lit building and the soon-not-blue-anymore sky. The left picture was taken with no flash, the right one with night scene adjustment plus flash (the sky had darkened considerably by then because it took me like ten tries to get a decent one =P). No enhancement 'cos I'm lazy to work with softwares heavier than MS Paint on this computer..

The below are sunrise shots from a few months ago, just unearthed when I was transferring the above pictures to the same folder. Those silhouettes are of the temple roof just in front of where I live.


The title of this entry would probably be different if I had remembered to take photographs of the rain from that same window a few days ago, with the same building yellowish from the street lamps and the sky a colorless white. (A tune just sprung to mind so that was what I was occupied with..) The rain continued until the sky turned black -- another "colorless" instance -- so I thought that was interesting.

Uh, weird rambling? =P