Mokkun, I mean Okuribito/Departures, wins Best Foreign Language Film
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I didn’t watch the Oscars so almost fell out of my chair when I learned of Okuribito (Departures) winning Best Foreign Language Film through some Japanese news sites–clips here. This movie about an out of work cellist who becomes a traditional Japanese undertaker is…ok, really, who cares? Mokkun! It’s all about Mokkun!
Seeing Motoki Masahiro, aka Mokkun, triggered a time warp to the 80′s when his pretty-boy looks inspired teen heart throb. Seeing him on TV, I found myself channeling my teen self and wanting to shove the director and staff aside to see get a better view of Mokkun.
In the 80′s Mokkun was the “sophisticated” member of Shibugakitai–a 3 member boy band created and manipulated/managed by Johnny’s empire of teen boy performers. Proof below that the ability to sing and dance are not pre-requisites to idol-dom.
After they disbanded, Mokkun posed nude in a Shinoyama Kishin photo book and then embarked on an acting career. I thought he was especially pretty and sparkly in Rampo and Bird People of China.
Departures is scheduled for limited release in the U.S. in May and am looking forward to catching it then.
Note to self–install WP plug-ins to show Japanese characters.
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Dangers of the interwebs
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Today I made a textbook noob move by clicking on an invitation to view a video and…crap! Phishing scam.The next 20 minutes went something like…
Immediate reaction. FRAK! Oh frak frak!
(how can I maneuver so I can deliver a kick to my own ass?)
deep breath…
Damage control. I started composing an email to warn my entire address book. An exercise that acutally makes Me the annoying spammer and triggers social anxiety: “wait, when was the last time I spoke to that person? oh and maybe this other person sorta deserves a little phishing…” Anyway, gmail froze with uncanny timing. I switched to Facebook and twitter while waiting for gfail to end. This was the first time I really felt Facebook and twitter were actually useful. Within 5 seconds of realizing my stupidity, I saw Leo had posted a Mashable link about this evil scheme and I was able to warn all my contacts via Facebook. It was all so fast and easy that it made digging around my gmail address book and sending a mass email feel so out-dated and cumbersome. I did finally send a warning email, but realized that I probably unnecessarily spammed many people since the message is spreading through chat programs. Hey, can’t be too safe.
Kick myself some more. I consider myself sufficiently tech-savvy, but one careless moment and here I am falling for a classic phishing scam. I fear for my parents and others who are not as knowledgeable about online safety measures. If you’re feeling nervous yourself, here are 44 things you can do to protect yourself from phishing scams.
I console myself that this is the first time and as my friend said, “shit happens” but this Year of the Ox has already proven to be so full of annoying shit (hard drive crash, totaled car –thankfully no injuries…won’t bore you with the entire list.) argh.
Change passwords, clear cookies and any privacy settings. Clear cookies and privacy settings again. I don’t even know if repeating those things makes any sense or is just neurotic. Either way, if you think you’ve been compromised or if you can’t remember the last time you changed your passwords do it now. It can never hurt.
Bad boss!
≡ Category: Rants, Semi-daily thoughts | ≅ Comments Off
How big of an ass do you have to work an employee to the brink of starvation and then try to deport him when he resorts to EATING A ROTTING ELK?Click below for the NY Times piece on the plight of immigrant sheep herders.
a sheepherder said he became so hungry that he ate part of a rotting elk carcass. According to the complaint, his boss accused him of poaching the animal and dropped him off at a local immigration office for deportation.
