Badass

Last night as Kaia worked her ushering job at Assembly Hall for the Rascal Flats concert (16 semi trucks filled with pyrotechnics and 8000+ screaming, beer swilling country music loving Central Illinoisans) I sat in our two bedroom apartment listening to the sounds of my downstairs neighbors arguing, flipping through myriad streaming movie options on Netflix. I was looking for a Western - something with gunfights and a tough-ass protagonist - something along the lines of my all time favorite Western, Unforgiven with Clint Eastwood. For my taste you just can't beat William Munny.

Unfortunately the pickings were a bit slim in the Western department on "Watch It Now" so I ended up browsing the action movies and I came upon one of my all time favorites, Yojimbo, from director Akira Kurosawa. Made in 1961, this movie has one of the supreme badass tough-guy characters of all time, the Samurai Sanjuro Kuwabatake, played by Toshiro Mifune. In the movie Mifune's character wanders into a town, stirs up a bunch of shit with the locals and spends his time pitting rival factions against one another, all while calmly eating rice and drinking Sake, prepared for him by one of the local merchants.

This is the movie that Clint Eastwood used as a model for his spaghetti western, A Fistful of Dollars in 1964 and there is no wonder why. Mifune is cool as a cucumber throughout the film. A man of few words and even fewer actions. Much like Eastwood's character, the Samurai in this movie is a mercenary killer motivated solely by money who should not be liked by the audience but because of his incredible, almost supernatural swordfighting prowess he becomes an irresistible protagonist. He is the perfect combination of killing machine and guy that you would love to have a beer with.

The great thing about this movie is that it strikes a chord with my inner badass. I want to be the strong and silent type, walking into dangerous situations always, thinking two steps ahead of my opposition. I imagine myself walking down the darkened streets of Champaign or Urbana, running into large groups of toughs and regarding them with my cool, steely gaze. As one of them brushes past me threateningly, I take out my Samurai sword and tear them limb from limb, showing no mercy, until they are all spread out on the street before me, writhing in agony. I say something witty but also full of great wisdom, replace my sword, and continue walking on as if nothing had happened. It all happens just like this scene from Yojimbo.

Of course in real life I have no violent thoughts. I just likes me a good Samurai movie! What a great way to spend a Saturday night.

Instead of Doing Homework

Okay blog. I haven't written anything in a while. So now, instead of doing homework, as I sit here listening to Haydn string quartets, I will waste some more time. Thank you for giving me an alternative to Twentieth Century harmony.

New Year's resolution: start a fitness regimen and beginning running, with a real plan each week. So far this resolution has stuck. I have been steadfast in my approach to running, meeting all of my weekly goals. This week's schedule was as follows: Tuesday 2 miles, Wednesday 3 miles, Thursday 1.5 miles, Saturday 4 miles. Today's run was even pleasant if I may be so bold. The weather was nice - mid thirties - and the sun broke through the clouds occasionally giving the day an almost springlike feel. I'm sure I will look back on this fondly later in the week when the highs are in the single digits.

What prompted this turn to fitness you might ask? I'm not sure, but I've begun to realize that I would like adopt a somewhat healthy lifestyle as I gracefully begin the aging process. Of course thirty one is not really that old, but I've heard that your body begins the process of dying at age thirty five when your cells don't reproduce at the rate that they did when you were sixteen. In an effort to forestall the effects of age I feel that I must act!

I think it also has something to do with my visit to the doctor just before we left to come to grad school. My doctor looked at my medical history and pointed out that my last (and only) cholesterol screening showed my level of "bad cholesterol" to be somewhat "elevated." Code orange. As a result I've been an avid consumer of fish oil ever since. And then there is this running thing. Of course I don't think matters were helped much when my cholesterol screening happened the day after I ate lunch a Pizza Hut's all you can eat buffet! Now while I can't be certain that this is the cause for my high cholesterol levels, I can use this as a convenient excuse to not return to the doctor for a checkup because between the fish oil, running, and lack of Pizza Hut in my diet I must be okay. Right?