The Sympathizer

♣♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

An anonymous narrator writes a confession about his time in exile in America. As a North Vietnamese mole embedded in the South Vietnamese military, he is there to experience the fall of Saigon himself before being airlifted to Guam and continuing his journey as a refugee to the United States. With him is his best friend Bon who has lost all will to live after his wife and son fail to make it out of Vietnam alive. The two become roommates in a tiny room, living the “American Dream” while maintaining a double life as immigrants and covert military men, carrying out assassinations of other refugees suspected as northern spies by whatever is left of the exiled South Vietnamese government. Being a son of a French priest and a Vietnamese mother, the narrator reflects on the duality of his existence, his job, as well as his relationship with the West and the East as a half-half who never seems to be ever given a chance to become whole.

The Merchant of Venice

♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

A young member of the Venetian nobility named Bassanio desires marriage to a young wealthy heiress called Portia who resides in Belmont. Not wise with his spending and with no ducats left to fund his courtship of her, he turns to his friend Antonio, a merchant, who agrees to become his guarantor should he manage to secure a loan from a willing party. Bassanio ends up borrowing the required amount from Shylock, a Jewish moneylender who is furious because his daughter Jessica has converted to Christianity and marries Lorenzo, a friend of Antonio and Bassanio. When Shylock fails to collect the amount he has lent to Bassanio due to Antonio’s ships where his wealth is locked in being stranded at sea, he brings the matter to the Venetian court and demands a pound of Antonio’s flesh in lieu of his monetary debt. Conniving to rescue their friends, Portia hatches a plan to outwit the Jew.

[KANSAI] Budget and Itinerary (3)

THURSDAY: August 8, 2024

Cebu Pacific (Manila - Osaka - Manila) - 12,220.00

Kansai-Kuko (Kansai Airport - Namba) - 970.00

White Hostel Shinsaibashi (7 Nights) - 20,540.00

McDonalds (5 pcs Nuggets w/ Fries & Coke) - 550.00

Lawson (Groceries) - 400.00

JPY34,680.00

[SHIGA] Beach Day at Lake Biwa

Looking at my prefecture map of Japan yet again, I noticed another prefecture in Kansai that hasn’t been visited yet. What’s a bit interesting about Shiga is that the entire prefecture is almost made up by a land area embracing Lake Biwa, the largest freshwater lake in Japan, as if the prefecture’s sole purpose is to surround the lake on all sides. The lake is said to be 4 million years old and serves as the prefecture’s main tourist attraction. Lake, huh? Okay, we can beach there, after a good mix of mountain Buddhism, a castle, and deer. A big body of water should be the best way to wrap up our visit to Kansai. But where should we go?

[NARA] A Deer for Everyone and Everyone for a Deer

The plan was to diversify the kinds of attraction to visit for each prefecture. The obvious choice for Nara would have been temples since it did serve as the capital of the country during the Nara period between 710 and 794 AD and, thus, has its own fair share of worship places. But who are we kidding here? Nara is more popular nowadays for its deer population. Doe, a deer, a female deer. The male ones with big antlers. They are all here. Everywhere you go, actually. But first, how do we get here in the first place? Nara is part of the region of Kansai, often dwarfed by the grandeur of its more popular neighbors Osaka and Kyoto.

[HYOGO] Himeji Castle

Just how many Japanese castles do you need? When is enough enough? It’s NEVER enough. It was decided early on that Kobe will be the representative of Hyogo prefecture. A simple cityscape tour along the bay. I wasn’t aware that a train ride to Kobe from Osaka won’t even take an hour. And then I consulted Wikitravel and suddenly there was a contender. Himeji. It has a castle and it’s not that far from Kobe. After some serious deliberation, a compromise was reached to visit Himeji Castle in the morning and then go on a side trip to Kobe’s Nunobiki Falls on the way back. Only the castle trip materialized because I was out of time.

[WAKAYAMA] The Koyasan Daytrip

I looked at my prefecture map of Kansai and noticed that there are prefectures quite accessible to and from Osaka that haven’t been visited yet. I don’t blame myself, though, because this whole “visit every prefecture” is a new thing, fuelled by my intention to maximize my multiple entry Japan visa before it expires in March next year. One of those prefectures was Wakayama. I usually just visit the namesake city when there isn’t much to see, but Wakayama offered an alternative in the form of a Buddhist mountain retreat called Koyasan. Ok, then. Let’s go there instead for some soul searching and relaxation!

The Umbrella Academy: Episode 36

36. End of the Beginning

The call is a song played on the radio that unites all Keepers to barricade the building where Ben and Jennifer are in the process of merging together to bring forth the Cleanse. Despite seven years passing by for Five and Lila, only hours have gone by in the timeline they go back to. Reginald and Viktor try to negotiate with “Gene” and Jean but to no avail. “Gene” then kills Jean with a katana. Viktor breaks into the building but Ben has already been absorbed. The rest of the gang arrive just in time to fight with the Bennifer blob but to no avail. Five teleports back to the subway and finds many other Fives dining in a deli, all of them a different version of himself from a different timeline trying to solve the problem. The only way forward is to destroy all timelines by having all Marigold fuse with the Durango to usher in the reset. Lila and the siblings accept their fate and merge with the blob. All timelines are destroyed, leaving only one where the siblings do not exist but all of their loved ones live safe and happily ever after, without a memory of them. Eight marigold flowers bloom under a tree.

The Umbrella Academy: Episode 35

35. Six Years, Five Months, and Two Days

Allison and Claire find out from Quinn where Klaus is buried, after she literally busts his balls. Klaus is rescued and the three reconcile. Viktor and Reginald go after Ben and Jennifer but are ambushed by the Keepers along the way. They survive and Reginald praises Viktor’s drive. Ben and Jennifer plan to run away to Miami and live together but she gets sick so they stop by an abandoned department store where she lays down to rest. Luther and Diego discover that the CIA office is just a cover and that most of the personnel there are part of the Keepers. Five and Lila get lost in the maze of alternative timeline subway stops and decide to stop for a while and settle down, starting an extra-marital affair. When Five finds a notebook another version of him has written with instructions on how to get back to their own timeline, he keeps it from Lila and she gets mad when she finds out. Sy kills Gene with his alien tentacle and is revealed to be Abigail in disguise. She then dismembers Gene and copies his appearance, telling Jean later on that it’s time for the call.

The Umbrella Academy: Episode 34

34. The Cleanse

October 14, 2006. The siblings except Vanya and Five are sent to Moldova to destroy a weapon in a container, which is revealed to be a girl named Jennifer. Ben rescues the girl, after which he and she are shot dead by Reginald. Abigail Hargreeves (Liisa Repo-Martell) confesses that when she synthesized Marigold, a second particle called Durango was created, which is what Jennifer is made of. Any interaction between her and the Marigold within the siblings will bring about an apocalypse. Five and Lila teleport to the subway but they miss their target reality before being whisked away by an express train to yet another timeline. Reginald wants Ben killed but Viktor intervenes, suggesting he might be able to drain the Marigold out of Ben. Allison runs back home to her daughter after she hears about Klaus abandoning her. Klaus figures out in a shootout at a cemetery and is buried alive by Quinn. Luther and Diego go on a daytrip to the CIA office. Ben and Jennifer decide to hook up, their union immediately obliterating matter in close proximity.

The Umbrella Academy: Episode 33

33. The Squid and the Girl

A TV program features a giant squid and a girl who emerges from it. Klaus splits from the group after a tirade about how he just wants to die. He goes back to his old ways and runs into Quinn to whom he owes money. He is shot in the head but doesn’t die. He then finds himself captive and hanging upside down. Diego, Lila, and Five go back to Jean and Gene’s HQ. Five accidentally teleports himself and Lila to the strange subway station. They ride a train and end up in his apocalyptic future. They go back to their timeline where Diego finds a file named The Jennifer Incident about Ben’s death. The three follow Luther, Allison, and Viktor to Reginald's mansion to confront the old man. They meet his wife who convinces him to help them regain their memory of Ben’s death, because nobody seems to know how he really died. Sparrow Ben is ambushed by Sy Grossman who tells him that Jennifer is special and he must just follow his instincts to find her. He traces her back to Jean and Gene’s compound where he kills their goons and the two escape together.

The Umbrella Academy: Episode 32

32. Jean and Gene

Apparently, Ben spiked everyone’s sake with Marigold so they all wake up the next day vomiting and with their powers back, except Klaus who didn’t actually drink his. They go to Sy Grossman’s (David Cross) laundry shop but he isn’t there. They find a map to a small town in Maine instead so they drive up there with a plan to find Jennifer and save her so they could go back to their own lives. The sleepy town is on Christmas mode and seems normal, until Allison asks an old lady about Jennifer Grossman. Suddenly, every citizen stares at them and threatens them with guns. Ben splits from the group earlier and ends up at a diner where he meets Rosie (Victoria Sawal), the diner owner who turns out to be Jennifer. They all head back to the van but a citizen pretending to be Jennifer beats them to Klaus and shoots him. On the verge of dying, they pour some of the Marigold on his gunshot wound. As they drive out of town with Jennifer in tow, they are rammed by another car, from which Jean and Gene emerge to abduct a semi-unconscious Jennifer who cries out to Ben for help.

The Umbrella Academy: Episode 31

31. The Unbearable Tragedy of Getting What You Want

The Hargreeves settle for powerless existence in a new reality. Allison is a struggling actress and mother but has a now sober and germaphobe Klaus to help her in babysitting her teenager. Luther is a mediocre stripper and picks up Ben from prison after he is released on parole for MLM fraud. Diego and Lila have their hands full with three kids. Viktor runs his own pub in Nova Scotia. Five is working for the CIA investigating a fringe group called Keepers who believe they are living in the wrong timeline. Their founders, couple Gene (Nick Offerman) and Jean (Megan Mullally), collect items from various timelines to show as proof that something is amiss. They are also lecturing about “The Cleanse” which they believe will be a hard reset. Some rando kidnaps Viktor, bringing the gang back together to rescue him. The guy explains how he lost his daughter to the Keepers and hands over a box of alternate timeline items, which includes a container of Marigold. As they agree not to get their powers back, Ben steals the container and drinks some of it without them knowing.

Things Fall Apart

♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

Ibo tribe leader Okonkwo is known in his clan of Umuofia as a ruthless warrior. His fame is brought about by one of his historic fights as the local wrestling champion, etching his strength and skill into the psyche of his tribesmen. Coming from nothing due to a deadbeat father, Okonkwo strives tirelessly and manages to establish a reputable life of his own, with a yam farm, three wives, and several children to succeed him. When an unfortunate incident tarnishes his honor, he and his family are forced to flee back to his motherland as dictated by local customs. There, they remain in exile for seven years, everybody yearning for the life they had back in Umuofia. Once they are done serving their sentence, Okonkwo aims for a big comeback, but his fatherland is no longer the home he left now that it has been subjected to the colonial rule of white men.

Klara and the Sun

♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

A solar powered artificial friend or AF, Klara boasts unusually impeccable observational skills that could trump even those which the newer B3 models are known to possess. Regularly moved everywhere from the window to the middle section of the store, she and another B2 AF called Rosa are spending more and more time at the back due to their impending obsolescence. As Rosa is purchased and finds a new home, Klara counts on the promise of a young girl named Josie who has come back a few times to take a look at her saying that she would buy her once she convinces her mother. When that day finally comes, Klara is introduced to a new household far from the city with wide fields and just one close neighbor nearby, Klara’s friend Rick and his mother. As Josie’s fragile health condition is revealed, Klara makes a bargain with the sun which she worships to improve the condition of her new owner, even if it means sacrificing something of hers in return.