Just a bit of rambling,
You may have had times that good luck can sometimes become bad luck, this is what happened to me when my long time friend Zdorama wrote to me saying "du I somehow ended up with an extra copy of Taiyou no Uta and I'll send it to you if you like." I was stoked as I had not watched it yet and having heard good things about it on line I of course said "shoots send em." So thanks to Zdorama for being so generous. So what happened, why write about it? Read on.
I first found out about Yui after she did the ending theme song for the anime series Bleach, and knew that I liked what I heard so I looked around and I have to say I did like what I found so yeah I'm a fan even though I have yet to purchase her albums. I was looking forward to seeing more. and then...
As I received the DVD...
I excitedly opened the package and immediately popped it in the player then......nothing. huh? is my player broke? eject! insert. loading...press play, .......nothing, eject check for scratches, none, try the secondary non divx player, power, insert, load, press play, .... "disc read error"!!!! OH NOooo!! , Ok no need to panic there are more players to try, lets try the PC external, loading.....play, main menu!! success! YES turn up the PC speakers to 11, lean back grab some Lamune soda, coolness.. 3 minute 5 seconds in stutter, (huh?)... FREEZE!!!..(Yikes!!, spilled my Lamune, crap!) "cyclic redundancy error" ACKkkk,.. NOooo!!! Quick switch to internal drive! eject, insert, start program, hit play,.....Menu success! yes!, scan forward to 2 min 30sec, continue "alright!" 35 seconds later, FREEZE!!! GRRrrrr, Why!!!
This goes on for a while, trying to skip forward passed the error, tried ripping to the hard drive tried changing settings in the players, everything failed. I have come to the sad conclusion that the disc has a built in error from the manufacturer.
Having put so much effort to try and play it I couldn't give up now, I have to see this movie, my long time friend went through the trouble to package, stand in line pay for and ship the movie that then I'm sure went through many hands going from mail carrier to truck to plane that flew across the pacific ocean landing on some god forsaken island then on to another truck and postal worker who walked the halls to find my box to put the package in.
The PO worker maybe looked at it and wondered what was in there. With his many years of postal drudgery he knew it was a DVD but was it an action movie that he might instead pocket to the dismay of the intended recipient? Maybe its a Disney movie his kids might already have, or porn, "its probably porn", he would think after reading the name of the recipient, yeah that name sounds odd enough, "My wife wouldn't like me to bring that kind of stuff home, I will just do the right thing this time" places it in the box, moves on to the next package that he is sure is a "as seen on TV miracle grow chia pet".
Within the next day or two while the box sat silently waiting for someone to stop by and check for mail. I went about my daily business of being busy for no good reason. Once in a while thinking "I wonder how long it would take for the DVD to arrive?". Usually from 4 days to depending on planetary shift, the tides and global warming, and finally some Joe at the PO to get up the energy while simultaneously keeping his morals in check (Yes postal theft is a real problem here) It can and has taken up to 11 days! My mom gets there first and as she hands it to me that night I thought "coolness!". Little did I expect the trials that were about to begin.
I can't give up! must see Yui acting and singing, I know already that it is a bit of a tragedy by the other reviews online and the back of the box. Franticly I search the major sites to see if its been posted for those that wear eye patches, walk with a limp and sometimes inexplicably feature small noisy birds hanging out on their shoulder, no luck!
O Yui,Yui! wherefore art thou Yui!
Finally I find a few links to incomplete posts on streaming sites. I get to watch the film WITHOUT all its glorious resolution and audio fidelity.But my bad luck being as it is I call it lucky that I get to see it at all. Someday I will try to buy another DVD that would hopefully be free of errors, but that will have to wait for the economy to recover or some economic stimulus package that includes the down trodden and unlucky folks like me. Winning the lottery would also help, someone on island last week won 1.6 million after taxes last month, but then I would have to have a budget for tickets, which I don't...
My bad luck aside, a little bit about the movie.
Yui does a fine job in her acting debut, as you may well know she plays a person with a rare disease that makes it dangerous to go out in the daylight. And yes this disease does exist.
As with anyone with a shortened life span each experience in life is accentuated and seems more meaningful and important knowing that you may not get another chance to do anything twice.
It is at times touching and charming with a rather slow pace at the start, things do pick up after some character development time. Of course Yui gets to sing, and boy does she, I got goose bumps when she drew a crowd singing on the street. Interestingly enough the street performances were important to Yui and her career too. The director said the role was really made for her and the parallels in the story were intentional. Her personality is also just like the character so its not too hard for a first timer.
I really enjoyed the Movie even if it looked bad through a steaming site and sounded less than perfect.
A charming movie with like able characters, I do recommend a viewing. Find it where you can its worth it.
I think a measure of quality for any movie is how it affects those who see it and understand its meaning. In that, this movie succeeds, I thought of it for days after and have changed my thinking because of it. Sure there are many movies with a similar lesson but this one works for me.
As we all watch the time fly by do we realize what happens around us, do we make the most of our time?
After watching this movie I don't think I do, so now on I will make more efforts to appreciate my time and at
least make a difference for those I know.
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