I finally saw “Lost in Translation” after much acclaim from my friends and co-workers. However I didn’t think that it was so great. Maybe its because I could understand all the written and spoken Japanese. I could relate to many of the situations that the main character was placed in. These include, being the tallest by a clear 10cm on an elevator full of Japanese, middle-aged men or trying to close a door of a taxi (which automatically close in Japan). Seeing those reminded me how I felt when I used to go through those exact same situations when I first came to Japan (and every once in a while since). However, that being said, the love-story plot was weak at best some of the characters were difficult to believe.
Overall, I would say is worth a see (rental) but only barely. For someone living in Japan, the only reason to see it is to stop people around oneself gasping when one says that they have not seen “Lost in Translation”
“I,Robot” by Issac Asimov
I finished reading “I, Robot” by Issac Asimov. Most people already know of the more recent movie starring Will Smith. The book is composed of a series of short stores which only make the slightest references to each other. None of the plots of these short stories matches the movie in anyway. The short stories take the form of logic puzzles that the characters must solve in order to solve some sort of the problem regarding robots.
The logic puzzles result from how the “3 Rules of Robotics” bounce off each other. These 3 rules take the form of 1. A robot must not harm a human being or through its inaction allow a human being to come to harm, 2. A robot must follow the orders of a human being unless doing so would violate Rule 1 and 3. A robot must act to preserve itself so long as doing so does not violate rule 1 or rule 2. I found that there were times when the reader could be one step ahead of the characters in trying to solve some of the puzzles that the characters were trying to solve. I found myself that I would put down the book from time to time and try and think of a solution to the problem that they were facing. It was then particularly interesting to see how the characters then solved the same problem.
Continue Reading »