Cutting Up Wolverine: On Choreography & Film Technique

I reluctantly went to see Wolverine with my girlfriend at the local theater in Fenway Friday night, but I walked out of the theater satisfied, quite contrary to my expectations. The move contained a solid storyline and, though many critics seem to disagree with the plot, I felt that the narrative fit the mood of an X-Men supplement. Many corny lines, lots of action, and a satisfying amount of cool mutant powers later, and I felt like I’d gotten my money’s worth plus an extra bit on the side.


The trailer to X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

However, I have one gripe about the film: its fight choreography.

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Reflections: Shibata Motoyuki on Japan’s Reception of Media (EXPANDED)

Last Thursday and Friday, I got the opportunity to attend two lectures (one detailed here) by Shibata Motoyuki, who is a professor of American literature at the University of Tokyo and who has translated over fifty English-language texts into Japanese. There’s a good (and humorous) article over at NeoJaponisme that discusses a panel he spoke on in 2006 about translation. Shibata is also known as an associate of Murakami Haruki (the popular author), and the two have consulted each other frequently for a number of translations.

The Thursday lecture, which I believe to be the exceptional talk of the two, dealt with the reception of translations of English-language literature in Japan. Shibata designated two periods of reception in Japan: the first, instructive, the second, aesthetic.

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