I have arrived in Tokyo.
It only took a 14-hour flight and a 1-hour car trip from the Narita Airport to arrive at my hotel near Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo where I will be speaking on Friday morning.
That’s just hours away. I lost a day when I crossed the International Date Line.
(I’ll get it back on the way home.)
Although I have walked to a nearby bank to exchange dollars for yen, and a small market to grab waters for my mini-frig, I haven’t had time to sight-see just yet. But here are a couple of fun facts about my trip so far:
1. On my flight, I sat next to the lighting designer for the play War Horse, which is doing a month of shows in Tokyo.
It was his third touring production to visit Japan, and when it wraps, he’s headed back to the States to prep Cinderella for its national tour.
Needless to say, we chatted quit a bit about Broadway shows…until we both fell asleep.
2. I knew I was staying in Tokyo’s Jimbocho neighborhood during the business portion of my trip, but I didn’t realize it is a center for book publishing and used book stores.
As we drove down a major thoroughfare, there was storefront after storefront filled-to-bursting with books.
I just hope some of them are in English!
3. The TV in my room has limited cable channels and very little English programming, but I’ll admit I stopped and watched this show, even though I couldn’t understand a word.
It’s a very small world.
The Sticky Egg 
A+ I
The media has been talking so much lately about the movies that are really bad (Hot Pursuit, Paul Blart 2) that we haven’t heard nearly enough about the great ones.
Like Ex Machina.
But it’s so much more. And I challenge any of you who may have dismissed its AI premise to give it another look.
For one, the performances are stellar. Alicia Vikander as the robot Ava is stunning. You can completely understand why Caleb, played by the equally compelling Domhnall Gleeson, is so taken with her, because you are, too. (And does anyone remember that the two were also romantically paired in the wonderful Anna Karenina? #PointsMe)
Oscar Isaac is also the most wonderful kinda crazy as Ava’s inventor. “Isn’t it strange,” Ava asks him, “to create something that hates you?”
The cat and mouse game in this movie is wonderful. The film is filled with monsters, and it won’t be too long before you don’t know which is which. You’ll leave the theater talking about this film long afterwards.
For the right reasons.
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Posted in Celebrities, Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Movies, review, sci fi
Tagged #PointsMe, airplanes, Alicia Vikander, Anna Karenina movie, bad movies, cat and mouse game, celebrities, commentary, critics, Domhnall Gleeson, entertainment, Ex Machina, great movies, great performances, Hot Pursuit, Humor, inventor, media, Monsters, movie premise, Movies, Oscar Isaac, Paul Blart 2, robot Ava, sci-fi, theater