Spideyj's Musings

I saw Inside Man yesterday; it was a good movie and excellent stress relief after the shock of the news about my deferred departure (thank you, darling!). I quite enjoyed it. An element that amused me was the song playing during the opening and closing credits - it was Chaiyya Chaiyya, from the Bollywood hit film Dil Se... I've always enjoyed Spike Lee's soundtracks, and opening the film with this song reminded me of that. It also reminded me of another thing I like about his films: the metamessages - they're not particularly subtle, but they are interesting, and the intersection of different cinematic elements to create them is impressive. The opening credits, with this song playing and the various views of New York, really drove home what a globalized society we really are living in. I find it interesting that that is the world that I feel most comfortable in, the mix of cultures with the sense of a global society free of borders (as Pico Iyer talks about in his book The Global Soul).

On a side note, I looked up the Takarazuka (an all-female musical theatre group in Japan) and I'm pleased to see that they will be performing The Rose of Versailles in Tokyo in April and May, so hopefully I'll be able to go see it. The Rose of Versailles is based on a manga (which also spawned a twenty-episode anime series); it was partly out of a desire to read the manga that my interest in learning Japanese was born. Seeing the Takarazuka perform was near the top of my list of things to do in Japan, and I was particularly hoping to see them perform Rose of Versailles. My fascination with the manga is derived in no small part from my high school obsession with the French Revolution, and my love for heroic women. The manga stars a fictional character, Oscar, a girl raised as a boy who becomes the head of the Queen's guard. In my childhood fantasies, I was a female knight in shining armor, like Oscar, noble and skillful in all manner of martial and courtly things.

Here is yet another attempt by media giants to blockade or co-opt digital media sales using a government strong-arm. Blech!!!

I was already annoyed that I can't download songs from the Japanese version of iTunes, thanks to regional marketing divisions. Never mind my irritation with region restrictions on DVD players and game consoles (it's especially stupid on consoles, since they're just losing sales there, not really protecting markets). At least the Australian government has come in on the side of consumers with the recent High Court ruling (link may require registration - a link that doesn't is here) making mod chips legal.