Ikiru (To Live)

So I am currently working on my final paper in which we have to reference the Japanese film Ikiru and this movie is so incredible. I can honestly say that it is one of the greatest films I have ever witnessed. With a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, its pretty obvious I am not alone on this one. 

It is about a boring bureaucrat, Kanji Watanabe, who discovers he has less than a year to live, he realizes that he has done nothing with his life and hasn't been living at all in fact. In a panic he seeks life through other people, first an author who he goes out drinking and dancing with, the night ends up with him throwing up blood in the street. Next he seeks out a young woman who used to work for him until she quit to go work for a toy shop. She is very joyful and lively and Kanji finds himself enjoying himself for once. She gets creeped out and he tells her about his inevitable death to explain why he has been acting like he has, he asks how she is so joyful all the time when all she does is labor and eat. She tells him that when she is making the small bunny toys, she feels like she is playing with every child in Japan. This inspires him to go and create a park out of a swampy area. He seeks to do something meaningful with himself before he dies. 

Here is the trailer:

"I have less than a year to live. When I found that out... somehow I was drawn to you. Once when I was a child, I almost drowned. It's just like that feeling. Darkness everywhere, and nothing for me to hold onto, no matter how hard I try. There's just you." -Kanji

(Kanji with the young woman, Toyo)

"All she can convey to him is her simple-minded pleasure in manufacturing cheap little toys that will bring pleasure to someone," -William Bernhardt

He succeeds in making the park, he does it with fervor and passion and truly enjoys his endeavor. I could go on and on about what happens and how it is such a great film, but you should really watch it yourself. It is truly one of the most moving films I have ever seen. I literally want to cry while I'm writing this. I don't think there is any amount of praise I can give to express how I truly feel in my heart about this film.

The last scene is him swinging in the park he helped come about singing a lullaby called, "Life is Brief"

life is brief
fall in love, maidens
before the crimson bloom
fades from your lips
before the tides of passion
cool within you,
for those of you
who know no tomorrow
life is brief

"Wantanabe's triumph is not overcoming meaningless, but in seeing it clearly and resolving to live in its void." -Jeffrey Gordon

I should be writing my paper on this right now but I just needed to rant about how much this film moved me, which I can't really do in the paper, but I will try and convey as much of that as I can in it.

Please watch this, it has helped me rethink the way I live my life for the better, and it is truly a masterpiece.

~~~

"I can't afford to hate people. I haven't got that kind of time." -Kanji

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis!

Ok, but not really. So last night I had a dream that I went to a Macklemore and Ryan Lewis concert, I don't really remember the concert part of the dream but the meet and greet part. I just remember getting to take pictures with them and talk to them like real people and not crazed fans. And now that I am awake I am sad because I feel like that will never actually happen for me ever again. I went to their concert back in 2011 down in San Diego and it was so incredible. My friend said it literally changed her life. And we were front row at this tiny little concert venue and I don't even know how to describe it, it was literally just the best and I feel like crying right now just remembering it which is sad. Now they are huge! And don't get me wrong I am so proud of them and I wasn't an "original" fan but I was there for a long time before they got big. I am just sad that they might not have anymore of those small concerts that are super personal and if they do, tickets are probably going to be incredibly expensive..sigh..

So I guess we could say this is a bit of a throwback Thursday..

But any who, other than my dream I have just been in finals mode the entire time. I have presented my art project (still have to write a paper for it), finished philosophy completely, now all I have to do is start and finish my english paper that is to be ten pages and write a revision of another english paper.. so I have been keeping pretty busy. 

I am going home for spring break (which wasn't a thing up until a week or so ago) which I am really excited about. The absence of sun is starting to really get to me and I'm not sure I could live here for the rest of my life, I'm a cali girl and I don't think that will ever change. I am considering transferring to a school back home for junior and senior year but we shall see.

So other than that I have been pretty much just watching cat videos and eating more than I should waiting for this quarter to be over so I can go home to the sun..

Oh my goodness, I just started watching a video from the M & RL concert I was at, and started tearing up.. what is wrong with me...

~~~

BUTTER

I just finished watching the movie Butter and even though it wasn't the best movie, I just loved it. Starring Jennifer Garner, Yara Shahidi, and Olivia Wilde (who plays the best badass stripper I have ever witnessed in any film). It was lighthearted but also serious and the acting wasn't the best but you can definitely tell that the actors and actresses had a good time making the film. Also, blast from the past, Alicia Silverstone from clueless played the mom and she is still the best as ever. 

I don't really have much more to say, it was just a hilarious, light hearted film with a ton of familiar faces in it. I definitely recommend this film if you're feeling like you want a few laughs.

The trailer:

Also, random, but here are a few songs that I have been obsessed with lately:

Ke$ha- Die Young(Deconstructed)

Imagine Dragons- Radioactive (I want to dance so hard to this song you don't even know)

"Really? The butter police? Wow.."

~~~

S'mores in the City!

Today, while shopping at Value Village on Capital Hill with my friend Aubrey, we happened across some marshmallow roasting sticks and we both got a bit nostalgic for the good ole camp fires over the summers. So we were finally like, "Well why can't we roast marshmallows?"So we gathered supplies and made it happen!

We bought:

A shot glass

Small Christmas candles

Marshmallow roasting sticks

A lighter

Marshmallows

Graham crackers

and Hersey chocolate bars

First we melted four candles into a shot glass in order to get a bigger flame for top notch s'mores. Then we found a good corner on the city streets and got down to roasting. The s'mores didn't have the campfire taste but were still delicious non the less. It was a really fun bonding experience for my friends and I and we have decided to make it a weekly thing.

(from left to right: Aubrey, Izzy, and me)

All photos taken by Aubrey

Even being in a cold, rainy city, we still are able to bring a little bit of summer and home with us.

~~~