The Best Movies of 2011

No, that's not a typo. It's just a year late, relax.

When the end of 2011 came around, I was so disappointed in the movies the year had offered, I didn't make a best of list. I mean, The Artist, really? Yes, The Help had a number of excellent performances, but it wasn't something I would consider great filmmaking. Cars 2 was the first Pixar movie ever I had no interest in seeing, which turned out to be telling foreshadowing in the rest of my movie-going year. However, I held out hope that there were better movies from 2011, I just hadn't seen any of them. I'm not going to say that 2011 was a great year in film, but it was a sneaky-good year for the indie genre, and all of these movies are excellent.

1.) Another Earth

I'm a little surprised Brit Marling didn't pop up in everything after this movie. She's drop dead gorgeous with the ability to pull off grunge vulnerability. Another Earth does indie sci-fi right. Cool story, interesting characters, a movie that makes you think about your life a little more than you would on an average day.

2.) Weekend

It turns out that the most romantic film I've seen in years is a gay Before Sunrise.

3.) Drive

I think the slow build to crazy violence worked perfectly in this movie, a fun, scary ride for sure.

4.) Bridesmaids

It was damn funny. It's rare for me to find a movie I can watch again and again, but this one fits the bill.

5.) Hot Coffee

What? You don't want to see a documentary about that silly old lady who won millions of dollars for foolishly spilling her McDonald's coffee on her while driving? Yeah, I didn't either. But you don't know the half of it. This is a fascinating, unbiased look at lawsuits in the USA. I didn't have a clue.

6.) Take Shelter

A creepy movie with a great performance by Michael Shannon. Yes, I would change a few things about the movie, but it was effective and beautiful in its darkness.

Honorable Mention (aka biggest pleasant surprise)

Sherlock Holmes 2: Book of Shadows

This movie was just gorgeous. The story was solid, I thought it was well-paced with an interesting villain. Man, it was so pretty. I'm sure it helped that I watched it on a plane on my way home from an amazing Asian vacation.

Best Book I Read in 2012

I normally don't find audio books to be the best "reading" experience. However, I highly recommend checking out Patti Smith's Just Kids from your local library audio section, plop it on your iPod, and take some long hikes (or, in my case, make your effing horrific three-hour a day commute almost enjoyable). Her gravelly voice will lull with the poetry pouring from her mouth and inspire the artist inside of you.

"Let the Great World Spin" by Colum McCann

A book review.

"Let the Great World Spin" is a beautifully written book which follows a number of characters connected by Philippe Petit's tightrope walk between the World Trade Center towers in 1974. It's a book about everything that makes us human: love, loss, grief, and hope. And every sentence carries a greater resonance in our post 9/11 world.

My only complaints stem from the book being divided into four smaller books. I found the first book to be the most poignant, therefore, the following three feel somewhat anticlimactic. Also, a large portion of one of the books seemed unnecessary, wandering from our central characters and not having a satisfying payoff. But those criticisms are fairly trivial. McCann is a magnificent writer, capturing small moments in ways that often made me gulp (a good thing).

I'm glad I had seen the excellent documentary "Man on Wire" before reading the book. It was the perfect introduction to Philippe Petit and his walk between the towers, and definitely added to my enjoyment of the book. I also find the cover art on the book to be stunning. ***

Rating System:

**** = Amazing, Fantastic, Life-Changing
*** = Excellent & Worth a Read
** = Not a Complete Waste of Time but I Probably Wouldn't Recommend It
* = Blech!

And I don't do that half-star nonsense.

Osaka, Day 15 - Back to Amerika(mura)

After the cold sake and Suntory, we woke up not as hungover as expected. We ate some pastries we bought yesterday, packed and started to mentally prepare for our flight out in the evening. But we still wanted to make the most of our day.

We walked over to the Amerikamura neighborhood, a decidedly Western section of town filled with American designer shops and other shops filled with clothes that Americans would wear/buy. It was amusing. It was also a lively hangout for young Osakans, especially the young women who like to wear those creepy doll dresses. Shiver.

Since we ate so well yesterday, I didn't have the energy to try to find a Japanese restaurant to try and top those meals. So we went for the easy score: burger in the section of town that represented America. Perfect. Plus, I love trying burgers around the world; it's always an interesting cultural experience. This decision was inspired as we walked past Freshness Burger. I mean, who wouldn't want a Freshness burger?

I had the signature Freshness Burger, a small burger on a wonderfully sweet bun with mayo, onion, a thick slice of tomato, and a tangy house sauce. All the components worked well together and it tasted unlike any burger I've had, so cheers Japan!

Hubs had an Avocado Burger, much larger patty than mine, no sweet bun.

And that was the end of our trip to Korea and Japan. Back to the hotel, bus to the airport, flew back to the States.

Gorgeous mural in Amerikamura

A few final thoughts:

-The food on United Airlines is not good. Our flight food on Thai Airways during our last trip was much, much better. Hell, I'd even say it was good.

-Not tipping is strange. And wonderful. Not that I mind tipping our hard-working, underpaid folks in the U.S. food service industry. I just enjoy not having to do any math.

-Slips are not skirts. On our trip, lots of young women wore satin or tulle skirts. Grown women shouldn't aspire to wear tutus. Also, short shorts were very popular with or without tights. No! Pants or skirts made out of opaque fabric, please.

-The Japanese are truly as warm and friendly as everyone claims. And their public transportation and city streets are immaculate. Thank you for being so hospitable! We will be back.

Osaka, Day 14 - Sushi Dreams Come True

Goodbye, Osaka!

Though it was dreary when we woke up, the rain had dried up by the time we left the hotel. We walked north, passing by many high end retailers to the renowned ramen restaurant, Matsubaya. The downstairs tables were full, so we ate in the small, empty upstairs. Broth soup is never my first choice on a menu, but I knew the ramen here would be outstanding, and I was excited to eat it.

I had Ojiya Udon which was half rice, half udon, with squid, eel, chicken, and an egg. It was delicious. It would be a joy to eat this on every cold, rainy winter day in L.A.

Hubs had Kitsune (fox, no it isn't actual fox meat!) Udon which had super sweet fried tofu. It was too sweet for me, but he loved it.

Our two udons were around 1500 Y.

Absolutely stuffed, we walked north to the green line and took the subway to the Osaka Castle. We walked through a gorgeous park along the moat that dripped with cherry blossoms.

The cherry blossoms blew through the air like snow. Even the birds were cooperating with the photography.

Had I known the neighboring park was so pretty, I would have brought food for lunch.

The castle itself was impressive with its gold trim and towering height.

The temperature was so perfect we walked around the entire perimeter of the moat. We ran into a food truck and couldn't resist, since they're so trendy in L.A. right now.

I don't really know what this was, but it wasn't too offensive. And it looked pretty.

After resting in our hotel room for a bit, we went back to Ichiba Sushi for dinner and had a great sushi experience.

No tables, only the sushi bar. We slid into the last two open seats at the end of the bar. Popularity is always a plus.

We ate a good amount of sushi and drank a bottle both hot and cold sake. Hey, it was our last dinner in Osaka. The sushi was cut in large pieces, much bigger than in the U.S. Some of the cuts, such as the yellowtail, still had pieces of skin on them, so they were more chewy than I'm used to.

But other cuts were skinless. The salmon was the best salmon I've ever had. Like butter. A big hunk of orange butter.

My other favorite was quail egg with yam, which had the best presentation. The egg yolk burst in my mouth, directly followed by the crunch of the yam, all the textures working perfectly together.

It was the sushi experience we had wanted and expected from Japan. And it came at an affordable price of under 4500 Y.

Since it wasn't raining, we took a romantic walk down the river, looking at all the lights, a little buzzed from the sake.

Dontonbori at night is so much fun.

Just whimsical.

I bought an order of takoyaki for late night snacking.

We headed back to the hotel for my bottle of cold sake waiting in the mini fridge and more Suntory times.

View from our hotel room

Kyoto to Osaka, Day 13 - Where Obnoxious Lights Are Unabashedly Awesome

I've always loved old meets new and Kyoto is a prime example. There were so many sights to see and I'm glad we were able to spend as many days here as we did. Of course, we didn't come close to seeing all of the UNESCO sights, but we saw all the sights we had hoped to see and visited many different parts of the city. And I loved staying so close to Gion at Tanaka-ya, so hospitable.

We took a cab to Kyoto Station and took the JR shinkaisoku to Osaka (540 Y) which only took 29 minutes. From there, we got on the Midosuji subway and took it to Namba, where our hotel was near.

Namba is a huge subway station (3 lines stop there) and it's connected to a giant underground shopping center, Namba Walk, reminiscent of the underground shopping centers in Korea.

After dropping off our bags at the hotel, we walked back through the underground mall, shopped a little, and bought a pastry.

Much to our surprise, it was stuffed with crab. Pastry crab rangoon!

We walked upstairs, to ground level and walked around Dotonbori, a crazy street filled with shops and restaurants, lit with florescent lights and traffic-stopping billboards.

Along with the scents of various food wafting around, Dotonburi carries the risk of sensory overload.

It's the kind of setting that if it was described to me, I would roll my eyes and have no interest in partaking. But walking around in it and seeing the full-scale execution, I was immediately won over.

Dontonbori also extends to the river the next street over.

For lunch, we ducked into one of the unassuming restaurants near Dontonburi (not the one with the giant crab hanging above it), and each had the same bowl of chicken, rice, egg, and seaweed.

I do love a bowl with rice and egg. 2 bowls + 2 beers = 2400 Y.

After lunch, we walked through Shinsaibashi, an above-ground, covered shopping mall type place. The stores were very Western. I enjoyed walking around and people watching, but I didn't purchase anything. Hubs bought a manga at a bookstore that I think was five stories tall.

I couldn't resist buying an order of tako-yaki on our way back to the hotel.

Yep, fried balls with a creamy, octopus-filled interior. I must say, not bad if you like warm, creamy things with chewy bits.

Creamy center with a piece of tentacle sticking out. Mmm, tentacles.

After checking into the hotel, we took a little nap since we'd been running around all day. By the time we ventured back outside for dinner, it was raining.

We wandered around Shinsaibashi in search of a sushi restaurant we'd read about on a blog for what seemed like forever. We never found it and our stomachs were grumbling, so we relied on our old standby, okonomiyaki. And it turned out to be the best version of it we had on our trip!

It was heavy on the eggs, didn't have too much bbq sauce, and the beef was folded into it instead of sitting on top. We also had pork yaki-soba with udon and an egg. The noodles were so good.

2 dishes + 2 mugs of draft Kirins = 2500 Y.

When we left the restaurant, we walked back through Shinsaibashi and, magically, walked past the sushi restaurant we'd tried so hard to find earlier in the evening. Ah, the happy accidents of travelling.

We walked back over to Dotonburi and took photos of the Running Man in the rain. I loved the way he reflected in the river.

I also loved all the lights and people walking with their umbrellas. I discovered on this trip that I love the look of umbrellas. The rain, not so much.

On the way back to the hotel, we picked up some local liquor for a nightcap. I bought a can of Yebisu Light and a bottle of cold sake. Hubs couldn't resist buying a small bottle of Suntory, since we're such big fans of Lost in Translation. For relaxing times, make it Suntory time.

The Yebisu Light wasn't as good as the dark, which was expected, the darker version wasn't at the store. The Suntory was caramel-y. Clearly, I'm not a whiskey expert. But I can say that the Suntory did make for a relaxing time.

Kyoto, Day 12 - The Perfect Walk

Our last full day in Kyoto was warm and sunny. We started out at Nanzen-ji and walked down the Path of Philosophy, along a canal blanketed with cherry blossoms. After the rain yesterday, fallen white-pink petals colored the ground.

A couple miles of this is never a bad thing.

The path led to the Silver Pavilion, Ginkaku-ji. The pretty landscaping was covered with the most vibrant, lush green moss.

We ate lunch at a small noodle shop. I had udon and fried tofu in broth. I'm not a huge broth fan, but when in Japan... The noodles were good and the broth was flavorful.

Hubs had beef and rice with an egg.

2 satisfying and warm bowls of food = 1900 Y.

We walked back down the Path of Philosophy to the subway. For me, the Path of Philosophy would qualify as a must-do. As its name suggests, it's beautiful and peaceful, the perfect stroll on which to let your mind wander. The length of the path only takes about a half an hour if you walk at a good clip and don't take any photos. Needless to say, our walk took significantly longer.

As we walked back to the subway, helicopters gradually filled the sky. At one point, I counted nine hovering in our vicinity, though not close by. I thought it was a military exercise, especially since no one on the busy path seemed alarmed by the number of helicopters. We learned later that a man driving a van possibly suffered a seizure and drove through a busy crosswalk in Gion, killing eight people, including himself (his family said he was epileptic, I can't seem to find any autopsy reports).

It was a crosswalk we have passed over a few times along the main drag in Gion and it was immensely sad. I'm glad we weren't in the area when it happened and didn't learn of the tragedy until evening, so it didn't cast a somber cloud over our beautiful day until after nightfall.

We took the subway to Nijo Castle and walked around the beautiful grounds.

Hubs took photos.

I found a bench to journal on, relaxing in the warm sun. It actually felt like spring.

This castle had a great moat.

Castles just don't seem like castles unless they have an impressive moat.

We decided to have sushi at a fancy looking place on Pontocho. We ordered a few pieces of sushi, which weren't spectacular. The best thing we had was a very interesting mixed seafood spring roll covered with roe and sweet and sour sauce. It was unlike anything I've ever eaten.

Not wanting to abuse our last dinner in Kyoto, we left the restaurant with our bellies only half full and decided to go eat at Maruyama Park. On the way across Gion, we crossed the river, a spectacularly romantic sight just after the sun has set.

At Maruyama Park, a giant tree filled with cherry blossoms was lit up at night.

We walked past all the food stands and did our fair share of people-watching. But we were still dreaming about the fried chicken we had last night, so we went back to our beloved itzakaya bar and ordered it again.

The best bar in Kyoto.

This time we also ordered chicken livers.

So good. And the chicken was just as good as we remembered.

Ironically, our last night was the only night we failed to see a geisha walking down Geisha Row. But walking around, we probably saw ten pass by us inside cabs. On the street where we had our first okonomiyaki, a cab stopped and three geishas climbed out. They were much older than any of the other geishas we'd seen, much older than anyone who had performed in the dancing show. These women were geishas for life and I felt honored to watch them gracefully exit their cab.

This honor is the best way I can sum up my emotion towards Kyoto. The sense of tradition is strong here. Though it feels like a modern city, there are signs of ancient tradition everywhere you look, whether it be a small corner, or a shrine jutting up into the sky. I am honored to have been a part of it, if only for a few days.

Kyoto, Day 11 - Tea and Photography

This morning we woke up to rain, not pouring, just a soft rain. We walked down this small street along a canal that was normally flooded with tourists. The rain scared most away today. Such a gorgeous street, and I loved the ladies with their umbrellas.

It wasn't too cold so we took the train to the Arashiyama bamboo forest. Since we had to change trains a few times and the rain picked up when we got off at our stop, we decided to eat lunch before going to the forest.

Yummy food, but we mostly appreciated the restaurant for its warmth and lack of moisture.

The forest might have been better in the rain, less people and the quiet the rain brings. We loved being there, surrounded by the towering bamboo, the fresh rain scent clinging to us. We were there for quite awhile and took a ton of pictures. This was my favorite.

By the time we got back to Tanaka-ya, it was pouring. We unsuccessfully tried to dry out before going back out to see Miyako Odori, literally Kyoto dances. These dances, performed by geisha and maiko, are only held during cherry blossom season, so we were very fortunate to be able to witness one.

This performance was held at Gion Kobu Kaburenjo. Before the performance, we were served tea at a traditional ceremony.

We were allowed to take photos of the geishas and it wasn't perceived as disrespectful.

The performance we saw was not allowed to be photographed, but we snapped a shot of the theatre beforehand.

The dances were beautifully choreographed. The dancers' movements were fluid with a certain stiffness to them, every gesture performed with purpose. The music was performed by geishas and maikos sitting in balconies along both sides of the theatre. We were directly below a flautist.

The costumes and production design changed for each season. The older geishas wore amused expressions on their faces throughout their performances, though I would not consider it smiling. It seemed like a learned expression acquired by years of practice. The younger maikos just looked stern with concentration.

All in all, the show was a great experience, and I would recommend it to anyone lucky enough to be in Kyoto during the cherry blossom bloom.

After the show, we walked up Yamatooji-dori to a small bar where I saw a smiling couple emerge from the day before. The bright red, oblong lanterns hanging outside the itzakaya bar lit the way.

The rain had finally stopped, but hot sake was in order. Plus, a ton of amazing food.

I don't remember what kind of meat was blanketed by this cheese.

Everything was cooked over coals on a small hibachi at the bar.

Pork!

I ordered yams thinking sweet potatoes, but these were crunchy and looked like scallops.

Chicken, mushrooms, a meatball, and an egg yolk for dipping sauce.

The best fried chicken I've ever had! Cue light beaming from heaven and angels singing. Served with a honey mustard-ish sauce.

And dark beer (along with an Asahi or two)! Yebisu rocks.

Perfect meal. Easily our best meal of Kyoto, definitely one of the best meals of our trip. 4000 Y.

Taking a stroll down Geisha Row on our way home for the night, we saw a few businessmen posing for a photo with the two geishas who had entertained them that evening.