Today I went to the Japantown Cherry Blossom Festival in San Francisco, and had a grand old time. It's a big street fair, on three streets. They had a band playing at a stage on one end, and let me tell you, you haven't lived until you've seen a bunch of old Japanese ladies in traditional kimono and geisha makeup dancing to "She's a Brick House". Had a couple of cups of sake, an unagi bento (yum!), some takoyaki, a baked sweet potato, and a little pancake thing stuffed with azuki bean paste with a name I've forgotten. Up at the peace pavillion they had some women's chorus (along with a cute keyboard player), and later a demonstration by some karate dojo with a troupe of kids. I signed up for a chance to win a trip to Vegas to see some big Sumo competition. They also had an anime viewing room in the Kinokuniya building, where they were playing Soul Calibur 2 and Marvel vs. Capcom as well as showing Macross Zero. Since I haven't seen any M0 since the last (probably in both senses of the word) Northern California Boardies Anime Night, I couldn't remember if it was a part I'd seen before or not. I signed their petition to have more anime showings in Japantown Center.

After I got home and had dinner, my folks and I went to see Kung Fu Hustle. Holy. Fucking. Shit. The trailer does not prepare you for how insane that movie is. It's not just over the top, it's over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house we go, over the rainbow, in a galaxy far, far away. The beginning was a little too graphically violent for my mom, but after that it just becomes silly as hell. There are all sorts of references to other movies. Not just kung fu flicks (although the fat old landlady in curlers doing Bruce Lee's silent hand-gesture threat is a riot), but Spider-Man, The Matrix, and even The Shining. There's also some very Looney Tunes inspired sequences. The whole theater was roaring with laughter. The CG effects are a little crude (the seams are definitely showing), but the fakeness kind of adds to the affect. Highly recommended.