Doing It By The Book

Posted on February 16, 2010 by tokyofox

Not only did I bring back the cracker toy frogs from England at the start of the year but I also brought back a couple of books to use in some kids classes as part of a storytime session. I picked up these books cheaply in the charity shops in my hometown. One was a Winnie the Pooh (simply called Pooh or Pooh-chan over here) book about colours for the really young ‘uns and the other was a Ladybird book about time which the lower elementary students have been studying recently.

 

Obviously when you’re using a story book in a lesson the kids aren’t gonna understand so many of the words but this shouldn’t stop one from using these extra resources. Much is often written about the more exciting games which can be done in kids lessons but a few calming activities are needed of which this is one. It’s not something I plan to do too often but its nice every once in a while. Previously, I had only done a ‘Where’s Spot?’ (about Spot the Dog) book with kids and the art of using this (and other books) in lessons is to make it a two-way reading session with the kids taking it in turns to turn the page and eliciting colours, objects and animals from them constantly while also (kind of) concept checking the nouns which I usually just do by acting the fool and saying the wrong animal name which they recorrect. As long as the books are fairly short then they can be a welcome addition to the classroom.

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A Cracker Of A Game

Posted on February 8, 2010 by tokyofox

Just before tucking in to the turkey on Christmas Day we pulled the crackers laid out on the table. As usual this was a waste in return for just a pathetic bang sound, a sh*te joke, a paper hat and a useless plastic toy. A couple of the cracker gifts this time included a couple of jumping frogs which after a bit of thought I decided could be put to some use in kids lessons when I returned to Japan.

The TESOL course last year taught me the importance of finishing lessons on a high (as kids and indeed adults often remember only how they felt as they left the classroom) so as a warm-down activity for the last few minutes the kids and I had a couple of simple frog jumping competitions with the winner being the one who got the frog nearest to the end of the table. If it went off the table then it would not count. I gotta say that I was pretty amazed how much the kids loved these pointless and meaningless activities!

   
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TF Film Review: Invictus (2009)

Posted on February 2, 2010 by tokyofox

Nelson Mandela was one of those names I grew up hearing quite often without actually knowing too much about him. Difficult to believe now but when I was a child I only knew the name from Nelson Mandela Park in Leicester or Nelson Mandela House in the BBC comedy series ‘Only Fools & Horses’. It wasn’t until he was released from prison that I really found out the important facts. The 1995 Rugby World Cup soon followed which the South Africans won on home soil spurred on by their then-new inspirational leader and that is what the new Clint Eastwood directed film ‘Invictus‘ is about. The film is released in Japan on February 5th but I managed to see it the other week thanks to the wonders of the internet.

I am a fan of Matt Damon (who plays the Springbok Captain Francois Pienaar) and Morgan Freeman (as Mandela) is a legendary actor and while their South African accents seem OK to me (lets be honest, I am not the best person to judge what is a good accent) I don’t think they’re as good as Leonardo DiCaprio’s in ‘Blood Diamond‘.

The political side of the movie is very interesting and while I can’t really fault the main actors it is the usual scenario for re-creating sporting action which bothers me. The final was played in Johannesburg but in the film it is clearly played in Cape Town and at the start of the game the kick off is one of the tamest kicks which seemingly only travels a few metres which is technically an infringement. Also, the film does not at any time mention the fact that the All-Blacks squad were sick with food poisoning. No doubt there are a few other innaccuracies which I didn’t notice from just one viewing of the movie. What I did see while watching the end credits (I wanted to see if there were actually any professionals used for the teams) was that my country was shown as England Rose’s rather than just England which is just the kind of Americanisation thing that annoys us Brits.

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Overall, it is a film about the South African nation coming together (although the events in the film are portrayed as solving the country’s problems) and if you just treat it like the Hollywood production which it is and forget (or don’t know) about the Rugby side of it then its enjoyable. After all, its not a Rugby film but one of Mandela’s first presidential term after the fall of apartheid.

Tokyo Fox Rating 7/10

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Attack Of The Clones Filming Locations: Star Wars Traveller – Naboo (a.k.a. Seville)

Posted on January 26, 2010 by tokyofox

A lot of my time in Seville was spent at Plaza de Espana which is a semi-circular open place featuring ceramic tile buildings, a fountain, bridges and a canal.

  

This place was my first port of call for the main reason that it was used for about 30 seconds in ‘Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones‘ (2002) when Anakin and Padme followed by R2D2 arrive on Naboo and walk to the Queen’s palace. It was also used in ‘Lawrence of Arabia‘ and played the part of ‘Cairo’ officers’ club.

  

CGI was used in the Star Wars film to add domes, modify buildings, alter towers and mirror the whole place to create an oval.

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First impressions as I entered the site were of disappointment that parts of it were like a building site which often seems to be the case when visiting tourist hotspots. They are seemingly always under construction! Thankfully, that was only near the entrance and although the canal was dirty it wasn’t really noticeable as I wandered round the place.

Although it was a bit run-down and decrepit in parts it really was a beautiful place and I am quite surprised that it features so little in the guidebooks on Seville. There were basically only three parts of the plaza used by the Star Wars film crew (only two made the final edit – all three can be seen in the first couple of minutes of this video) and they included the fountain, one of the bridges and the undercover rim of the plaza. Having used my R2D2 figure in Tunisia I couldn’t resist the idea of using it in a few photo’s at the Plaza. What luck that I just happened to have it in my bag!!

      
Posted in Euro Travel, Movie Locations, Star Wars, Star Wars Filming Locations | Tagged , , , , , , , | 25 Comments

Spain 2010: 3 Nights In Seville

Posted on January 22, 2010 by tokyofox

Having left Chefchaouen in Morocco at 6:45 am, I then spent a couple more hours back in Tangiers before taking the boat to Algeciras which I did for two reasons. Firstly, I wanted to see Gibraltar (from the boat) which was a waste of time, and secondly I had a return bus ticket to Seville from there.

However, when I finally located the bus station the next bus (using my ticket) wasn’t till 8:00 am the next day so I had to bite the bullet and pay 17 Euros for a new ticket with a different bus company. I arrived back in Seville just after 9:30 pm and checked into Hostal Picasso again which I had stayed at on January 1st after my original hostel had had some problems and transferred me.

My room-mate was a professional New Zealand Rugby League player (now plying his trade in France after time in England), and despite him being in bed and me having just brushed my teeth he suggested going for a beer. It wasn’t really in my mind to go out but sometimes you have just gotta go for it and it’s not as if you can get a feel for a place by sleeping there is it? We went to a few tapas bars followed by the local Irish one which he wanted to go to. After a busy day of travel I eventually called it a night some time between  2:00 and 3:00 am.

I didn’t get going till midday the following day but I was still able to walk around the whole city with relative ease and what a beautiful city it was. Oranges growing on trees everywhere, cobbled narrow streets, palm trees, flowers, fountains, plazas, tapas bars and a huge cathedral with giralda.

 

My main port of call was Plaza de Espana (which will feature in detail in the next blog entry) and one other small point of note on my walking tour were a couple of places (Alfonso XIII Hotel and Plaza de America) which doubled up as Middle-Eastern settings in the epic ‘Lawrence Of Arabia‘.

       

Late afternoon I went to Plaza de Toros de la Maestranza (bull-ring) on a tour of the stadium and museum. While I did learn a fair few new things about the sport, it didn’t heighten my interest so much. I guess it’s best to just leave these kind of things as the novelty sports which they are to most of us – something which is fun to see for a few moments only!

 

In the evening, I set out to get something to eat which was no easy thing with the city being absolutely packed as the following day (Jan 6) was a national holiday, and there was some kind of parade which I didn’t hang around for. Instead I had dinner (black paella with seafood in it) and then went out with my room-mate to a house party, on to a bar and home by 4:00 am!

The main event for me on the 6th was having a local lady collapse right in front of where my colleague Mark and I were having a spot of lunch. Such a horrific event was handled well by the staff and I am a bit embarrassed to say that it didn’t put me off finishing my meal.

We basically walked around most of the same sites yet again to wile away the many hours before our evening flight back to England which we discovered that afternoon was in crisis due to the heavy snow that had fallen that day.

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Morocco 2010 Pt II: Two Days In A Uniquely Blue-Coloured Town’

Posted on January 16, 2010 by tokyofox

Now its very easy to slag-off touts and yes, they are mostly annoying. However, there are times when they can be useful and one such occasion was when I arrived on a bus from Tangiers into the mountain town of Chefchaouen at 11.30pm with no accommodation booked. I said I was staying at a place mentioned in the ‘Lonely Planet’ guidebook and he did the usual and said what a nice place it was and started walking with me and chatting and before I knew it he was taking me there which in all fairness I would never have found as its a 20 minute uphill twisty walk before the maze of the old medina.

Given the time of my arrival, we finally found a place at about the fifth time of asking which was very cheap but a bit of a sh*thole. I paid the tout off with 10 MAD which is less than a pound, went to bed and checked out early the following morning and walked around the beautiful medina which is awash with blinding blue-white houses and buildings and was almost desserted as little did I know that the town didn’t get moving till about 10am!

 

I found a new hostel in the medina and checked in as the staff were friendly and it looked a better place to stay even though it was a pound more and sleeping in a dorm rather than having a private room. Not everything in life is black and white!

 

Whilst checking-in I met an English guy called Andrew who I sat with outside a cafe drinking a cup of mint tea and eating our breakfast. I told him I planned to climb the mountain and he was up for that so we set off and soon met another couple on the way. The four of us climbed Jebel El-kelaa (1616m) in the Rif Mountains on a pleasant day of sunshine with a fresh breeze. It was a fairly easy climb though we did go off course along the way somewhere which subsequently meant we were almost rock climbing at one stage.

 

Overall, we spent about five or six hours on the trail where the scenery was at times like that in the Brad Pitt movie ‘Babel‘ (filmed elsewhere in Morocco) and only interrupted by a few guys trying to sell us kif (the arabic name for marijuana which is grown in the area) and some locals who shouted at us every time we took a photo. Fair enough, if you point a camera at someones face but when you’re just taking a photo of scenery its just annoying. We obviously ignored what was basically just a cheap attempt to get some money off us.

 

After decending Andrew and I went up the hill on the other side of the town to see sunset and we basically walked around the town in the evening to kill time where I sampled a cheap bowl of snails (which were actually very tasty) from a street vendor as well as tajine which is a Moroccan stew and meat dish.

Click here to read the next chapter on this journey – Spain Pt I: Seville

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Morocco 2010 Pt I: On The Trail of Bourne & Bond In Tangiers

Posted on January 12, 2010 by tokyofox

I had been on my way to Algeciras in Southern Spain on 2nd January before I met an Australian couple who said that I could get the ferry from Tarifa instead and it proved to be a good decision as it saved me a lot of time. On arrival in Tangiers I set off on foot to get my bearings and completely lost my way in search of an ATM. I finally found one which didn’t accept my card and then I was horrified when the next one swallowed my card and if my other card hadn’t worked I would have been well and truly up sh*t creek without a paddle. Thankfully, I got my card back after some locals had hassled a guard into helping us all get our cards back on a Saturday afternoon when the banks were closed.

After that I found my way in the North African city and booked my bus ticket for 8pm that night. With five hours to kill I set about trying to find the old Forbes Museum on the outskirts of the city which featured in Timothy Dalton’s first outing as James Bond in ‘The Living Daylights‘ (1987). Unable to follow the guide book map I walked fairly aimlessly and took a few photos of buildings which I thought could have been the militaristic villa of arms dealer Brad Whitaker from the movie and subsequent research on my return proved that I had got lucky in capturing the shot that I wanted.

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I couldn’t get a place in a nearby cafe so wandered back to the medina area to have a mint tea while sat outside Gran Cafe de Paris which also featured on the big screen by way of ‘The Bourne Ultimatum‘ (2007) which was the third part of the trilogy starring Matt Damon. It was this film which really brought Tangiers to my attention following perhaps one of films most exciting chase sequences through the medina and across the rooftops. Not so surprising then that my half day in this city was not so thrilling which was a bit disappointing as guidebooks and friends had said that people either love it or hate it. I thought it was OK but a little boring to be honest.

         
Posted in Africa Travel, Films, James Bond, Movie Locations | Tagged , , , , , | 19 Comments

Christmas 2009 – Back Home

Posted on January 10, 2010 by tokyofox

So due to the Eurostar problems I was back home a day earlier than planned and I didn’t really do anything of any note until Christmas eve when I went out to the usual pub in town for a fair few beers and sambucas which was better than last years night out.

My sister and her husband were home for Christmas day which was nice although it did mean I had to give up my bed for them and they also did what I have always done by delaying the present opening part of the day due to their long lie-in. Insomnia meant I was awake at a stupidly early hour.

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Boxing day included the customary fernie hunt in Great Bowden which was toned down a lot this year due to the ground conditions not being good for the dogs and horses. The spokesperson seemed to assume that just because we were there that we were pro-fox hunting. The usual piss-up in the pub and at the family home of my mate Sam followed that which this year had the bonus of including a Leicester game on Sky TV. We won it as well.

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I went down to London on New Years eve to stay with my mate Richard and his wife Mizuki and we went out for a few drinks and joined the masses of people heading to be riverside for the midnight fireworks. From my vantage point I could see about one-tenth of the London eye and basically as soon as it struck midnight we headed off to get the tube home and it was at this moment that it snowed for 10-20 minutes which was like something out of a fairytale or a TV show.

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Oh yeah, and there was also a lot of snow while I was back in England.

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TF Top 9……Filming Location Trips For 2009

Posted on December 31, 2009 by tokyofox

1. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, 1977 (More details here & here)

Tunisia Aug '09 171  Tunisia Aug '09 309

2. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, 1999 (More details here, here & here)

Tunisia Aug '09 104  Tunisia Aug '09 240

3. Roman Holiday, 1953 (More details here)

Italy Aug '09 324  Italy Aug '09 192

4. You Only Live Twice, 1967 (More details here)

Tokyo Filming Locations: Pt I - You Only Live Twice  Tokyo Filming Locations: Pt I - You Only Live Twice

5. Lost In Translation, 2003 (More details here)

Tokyo Filming Locations: Pt II - Lost In Translation  Tokyo Filming Locations: Pt II - Lost In Translation

6. Kill Bill: Volume I, 2004 (More details here)

Sept 2011 005  Sept 2011 001

7. Babel, 2006 (More details here)

Tokyo Filming Locations: Pt IV - Babel  30Oct2009 020

8. Godzilla, 1954 (More details here)

25Sept '09 004  25Sept '09 043

9. Monty Python’s Life Of Brian, 1979 (More details here)

Tunisia Aug '09 372  Tunisia Aug '09 395

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Christmas 2009 – The Eurostar Fiasco

Posted on December 29, 2009 by tokyofox

The potential of BA going on strike over the festive period wasn’t the end of my troubles as a day after it was ruled to be illegal there was the heavy snow in Europe which really buggered up the Eurostar schedules. Last Christmas I stopped off in Paris for a day before taking the Eurostar home so this year I thought I’d do similar and go to Brussels and Bruges in Belgium for a day trip en-route to England.

Having set my heart on this I then found out that I had to fly into Heathrow first and then go on to Brussels that evening (22nd December) with a day return trip to Bruges planned the following day before taking the Eurostar to London and another train, already booked cheaply on-line, from there to Market Harborough where my parents live.

Eurostar was out of action completely between December 19th to the 21st and with official announcements not being made until a few hours before I left my flat in Tokyo I had to make a quick decision. I had been umming and ahhing over the decision all day and night but finally I decided to not take the risk as I couldn’t afford (the time) to get the Eurostar back from Brussels any later than I had planned as my booking was in the evening of the 23rd and I didn’t want to spend a night in the station. Consequently I got back home in the evening on the 22nd after a very very long day. However, this still wasn’t to be the end of my troubles for this Christmas break from Japan!

Posted in Euro Travel | Tagged , | 3 Comments