First a mouse, now cockroaches

I posted a few months ago about my struggle with vermin, particularly one dirty, nasty, filthy little mouse. My final solution for that mouse, which is now an ex-mouse, was POISON. Yes, rat poison. I bought some yummy tinned sardines, mixed them up with poison and deposited them all around the house. After seeing neither hide nor hair of the blasted creature for a few days, I finally noticed a very unpleasant smell around my piano. Oh, ewww >___<

Like hell I was going to open that and see something gross and stinky. I eventually enlisted the help of brave relatives who took care of the offending carcass while I was away at work. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Unfortunately my refuge at work has also been invaded...this time by cockroaches. I have a pretty good idea where they came from (it involved bananas bought from the market) but what matters is where they're going now, which is the morgue, if I have anything to say about it. I'm flirting with the idea of buying a can of roach spray and spraying out my desk right before I leave work tomorrow. We'll see. I HATE BUGS!!!

Brideshead Revisited

We've had this book lying around the house for years so I finally picked it up last week. First off, I want more Evelyn Waugh. Second off, why hasn't any writer written their own version of what happens next? Does Charles Ryder ever find happiness? Does Julia ever remarry? What becomes of Sebastian in the end, does a brilliant young man like him truly end his days as a porter for a monastery?

It's such a tragedy, of no discernible cause. Why does Sebastian hate his mother so much that it drives him to drink. From all I can see his family is a bit odd, a bit eccentric, a bit cold to each other, but not to the extent that it would drive him to despair. But I guess the point of seeing things through Ryder's eyes is to show that each family has its strange dynamics that no outsider can ever truly appreciate, no matter how long they spend with the family. And so in the end poor Charlie finds himself booted to the curb and the family goes on as dysfunctionally as ever. I can only hope they found some measure of contentment in their final decisions.

I hear there's a movie and a TV series out now, but I don't think they could capture the true magic of the book, because most of it depends on the power of your own imagination. I might give them a shot one day, though.

Infernal Affairs

Quick Review
I watched this famous Hong Kong film starring Tony Leung and Andy Lau last weekend. Tony stars as Yan, a police mole deep within a triad gang. Andy stars as Lau, a gang mole high up in the police service. After a botched gang cocaine trade, both higher ups charge their moles with the finding the identify of the other group's mole. And so a deadly game of cat-and-mouse begins.

First, spoilers for the ending. Yan dies, Lau gets away with everything.

The acting is brilliant, the music is really good. Lights, action, cinematography, everything is brilliant except one thing...the plot. The characters are really too stupid for words. What bothered me the most?
1. Lau managing to get all sorts of information to his triad boss during a stakeout, with the rest of the police force sitting right by him. Eventually it's revealed that the guy next with him was in the triad too, which is why it worked, but at the time it really pissed me off.
2. Yan picking up his phone after Inspector Wong died. The first thing he should have done was trash that thing and hope the number couldn't be traced to him. Better hope he had a special phone only for Wong affairs.
3. Yan trusting Lau immediately and going along with him, all while knowing of the existence of a triad mole within the police. Dumbass.
4. Yan having solid evidence of Lau being the triad's mole and choosing to blackmail him with it instead of turning it straight into the police. THIS DID NOT MAKE ANY SENSE AT ALL! Did he have a deathwish? I can only conclude he had a deathwish.
5. Yan confronting Lau face-to-face before making arrangements to have the evidence sent to the police. This allowed Lau to get clean away with everything once Yan has been killed by a bad cop. What an Idiot!

The Lau Wins ending evidently went down pretty badly because eventually they trotted the same actors out for Infernal Affairs III (IA2 does not deserve to be mentioned) where Lau eventually pays for his sins. Yah, whatever. IA was really gripping, but now that it's over I don't think I want to watch it again. But I was impressed by both Andy and Tony, so I'll be looking for more films by them in the future.

Sumo, final day

The moment Kotooshu lost to Hakuho, the end result of this Nagoya basho was clear for all to see. Hakuho kept up his fine form, defeating Harumafuji yesterday and toppling Asashoryu today to win the tournament. It must be a welcome win for him, after losing out to Harumafuji last time and Asashoryu the time before. I'm happy for him, since I can honestly say the best man won this time round. Kotooshu needs to work on his stability, though I suspect some of it is due to his height (6 ft 3, right?) giving him a higher center of gravity. If he can conquer that and stay in good health, maybe all the hype won't have been for nothing.

I hear Bulgaria wants to honor him with their highest award, btw. Interesting.

Sumo, day 11

Wooo hoo, what a day! Upset after upset, shock after shock! Yesterday was boring so I didn't bother to report it.

First, Harumafuji got his kachikoshi against Baruto, improving to 8-3 while Baruto dropped to 7-4. All Baruto has to do to maintain a winning record is to win once more so I think he'll be fine.

Then...Chiyotaikai! I swear, that wily old goat just came into this tournament to ruin everyone's shit. First Asashoryu, then today he dropped Kotooshu in a shocking move, sending him sprawling face first into the dirt. All well and good, 10-1 for Kotooshu doesn't take him out of the running, and 6-5 for Chiyotaikai isn't half bad.

But the surprises just kept on coming: another slippery veteran, Kaio, dodged Asashoryu's advance, gave him a swift push and sent him running out of the ring like a bull. Cue a few cushions thrown into the ring, but nobody expects much from Asashoryu any more so the crowd didn't get very worked up.

Next match, last match of the day...SHOCKER: Kotomitsuki powers Hakuho out of the ring! It was obviously a hardfought match, but he did it! A rain, a downpour of purple pillows! Yes! Yes! Sorry, it's good to see Hakuho lose sometimes, and this throws the whole tournament wide open! It's anybody's game now, with Hakuho, Kotomitsuki and Kotooshu all at 10-1. The match-offs between these guys in the next few days will show who wears the crown. In the end, there can be only one!

Sumo, day 9

A very exciting day, all told. I missed days 7 and 8 over the weekend so it was a shock to me to realize Aasashoryu had lost once on Sunday. And then he lost again to Chiyotaikai (of all people!), cue the audience tossing their cushions into the ring. Asa 7-2, Chiyotaikai 5-4. It pains me to note that this tournament is one of Chiyotaikai's best performances in recent years. He really needs to retire.

And then Kotomitsuki beat Harumafuji with a quick overarm toss. That makes Koto 8-1 and Haru 6-3. 6-3 is bad, he's out of the running. On the other hand, Kotooshu had a thrilling match with veteran Kaio, stalled in the middle of the ring for almost three minutes. Kotooshu nearly ran himself out of the ring with his initial charge, but once he got his hand on Kaio's waistband the rest was a matter for the history books.

Kotooshu and Hakuho, both still at 9-0. Hakuho still looking the most dominant. If Kotooshu makes a false start against him like he did against Kaio today, it won't be pretty. Still, as Asa proves, upsets are what make this sport exciting, so I'm looking forward to more ups and down in the last week of the tournament!

Sumo, day 6

Nothing remarkable happened today, except hometown favorite Kotomitsuki lost to Kisenosato, dropping down to 5-1. Kisenosato's at 5-1 too. Kotooshu, Hakuho and Asashoryu won to stay at 6-0, but Hakuho is still looking the best out of the three. Unless he gets sloppy or someone gets lucky, he's probably going to win this one. It might be too early to call, but he's looking really good right now. But for the record I'm supporting Asashoryu! I always like flashy sportsmen.