Saturday, April 5, 2003
Went to Kabuki Springs—Patrick's early birthday present. We had private baths and one-hour massages and spent time in the communal baths. Lunch after at Sapporo-Ramen: I had yakisoba, Patrick had tempura, we shared gyoza to start. Saw Spirited Away at Kabuki Theatres, which was bizarre—like someone realized in film their bad acid trip. I laughed at the plot turns here and there—so comical. For example, why did the all-powerful witch keep telling the girl to stand aside from blocking the thing she wanted instead of just sweeping her away with her powerful magic? She either wasn't so powerful as she was made to seem, or the writers didn't really care for the plot to make sense. The story was extraordinarily arbitrary, but part of the fun was trying to make sense of it all at the end. At least I didn't fall asleep. This film should not have won an Academy Award—what were they thinking?