Yesterday I saw "Ikiru" by Akira Kurosawa.

The synopsis offered by Criterion is quite enough - although I hereby offer a word of warning for those like me, prone to avoid almost any type of synopsis due to the immense fear of spoiling something. The Criterion text nearly doesn't spoil anything, but I will say a few words on the film.

It starts off with a narrator depicting the mundane existence of Kanji Watanabe, an old bureaucrat who has held the same position for nearly 30 years without having been on sick-leave as much as once. The narrator adds that Watanabe has no existence, just pushing papers without actually living; what he doesn't know, is that he has terminal cancer.

That's just the start, but what a film. What a film. I give it 10/10 without even blinking. It's that great, and Kurosawa's script and direction is so definite, and touches the bare essence of living for most people. I know I can most definitely relate to the story, which has so many more levels than merely being about a man who starts treating life differently.

Today I got Lisa Carver's "The Lisa Diaries", a collection of her diaries; this is a real omnibus of Lisa's life and sexual experiences, thoughts and desires for a number of years, and I was really happy about getting a fresh copy of this book as it is out of print since a number of years.

Thing was, I bought it through a second-hand retailer. The book was second-hand, but unread. Too bad the seller didn't add it reeked of cigarette-smoke. I tried not to bear it in mind for a few minutes and then start reading it while on the balcony, but no - the odour was over-powering. I wondered about what to do. I lit incense to rid the book of its rancidity; this only added a waft of sweetness to the foulness.

I then took the book to the balcony and let it stay there for half an hour. Of course, this did nothing. The books of truth, i.e. Internet, says that either coal or drier-sheets will take care of it; I will skip coal and go for the sheets. Argh! Next time I purchase a book second-hand from the Internet, I will know what to ask for.