You know when you get something in your head, you just gotta have it, or else it haunts you for the rest of your life. That black perfect fitting sweater vest from Benneton, the trendy poncho from Nordstroms, the red corset from H&M–They all haunt me. This is my current ‘haunt’, though it’s still in stores, my size (Small) is very hard to come by. Not to mention that it’s $79. When looking for a replacement belt that will do the same for me, I’ve been coming up short. None have that shine, width, and no-buckle closure. Or, they’re even more expensive (like $100+ at BCBG). *sigh*

*update* 捕まえた! Danny got this for me for an early birthday present since I compromised with him on our couch for our apartment (he really wanted this leather couch from Ikea and I traded leather for leather ^__^). Unfortunately, they were sold out all on the East Coast, but after calling 5 stores, we got it from Dallas! I gotta plan some outfits around it now!

First bento for my new job! Unfortunately, I commute about 4 hours round trip so I never have time to actually make super nice bento.

I drained the noodles too much and they were dry. The kashi bar had been kept moist by the yogurt, and the apple turnover yogurt was not tasty.

http://5cm.yahoo.co.jp/
Director: Makoto Shinkai
Starring: Kenji Mizuhashi, Yoshimi Kondou, and Satomi Hanamura
Released: March 3, 2007

This is a film divided into 3 “stories” (it was originally meant to include about 10 different stories but was shortened for movie theater audiences).

The first story, Cherry blossoms, was great, the second story(Cosmonaut) seemed disjointed, and third story was not connected and depressing with a song-montage.

There are three main characters: Takaki Tōno 遠野貴樹(brooding male protagonist), Akari Shinohara 篠原明里(Takaki’s best friend in elementary school), and Kanae Sumida 澄田花苗(his constant follower in high school). If possible, watch this in the original Japanese with subtitles if needed. They went to such pains to cast the voice actors, and the voice actor for Takaki is actually the same from elementary school to adulthood! (Well, there’s not that much dialogue, but still!)

I highly recommend renting this so that you can view the DVD and watch the extras; I love the director’s explanation of the production process and meaning of the title. It also shows the places they actually visited to make the scenes (-extremely- accurate!). The artwork is amazing, and made me feel like I was in Tokyo riding the JR trains with Takaki. This is a very endearing, heart-wrenching movie, but as always with Japanese movies, there is a very closure-lacking ending.

5 Centimeters Per Second (秒速５センチメートル, Byōsoku Go Senchimētoru), subtitled “a chain of short stories about their distance.” is a 2007Japanese animated feature film by Makoto Shinkai. The film was finished on January 22, 2007. The film consists of three segments: Ōkashō (桜花抄), Cosmonaut (コスモナウト), and Byōsoku 5 Senchimētoru (秒速5センチメートル), totaling about an hour of runtime. The DVD was released on 19 July 2007. ,

Makoto’s film gives a realistic view of the struggles many face against: time, space, people, and love. The title 5 Centimeters Per Second comes from the speed at which cherry blossoms petals fall, petals being a metaphorical representation of humans, reminiscent of the slowness of life and how people often start together but slowly drift into their separate ways.