ericgooch

You know how sometimes you hear a piece of music, and it makes you crazy because you know you heard it somewhere else recently and can’t place it?

That happened tonight when I went to see my kid perform at choir at his middle school. There was a piece sung by the Select Choir that I really liked, and I kept thinking “where have I heard this?” The program said the song was called Suo Gân, and after looking it up online, it turns out it’s a piece that was featured in Spielberg’s film Empire of the Sun, which I had watched not too long ago.

It’s a Welsh lullaby, lyrics here…and here’s a clip from the film:

Saw this movie last night and really liked it. It’s a “fantasy” martial arts film that’s been describes as “X-Men meets Romeo and Juliet”.

From IMDB: “After more than four hundred years of war between the Shinobi warriors of the Manjidani Koga and Tsubagakure Iga clans, the Lord Hattori Hanzou decrees that they must live in peace. Both clans live hidden in the woods and mountain without confrontation and without training ninjas in the shadow art of Shinobi. In 1614, the Lord of the Lords is convinced that the clans are dangerous threats for keeping peace in his lands, and his advisor plots a Machiavellian plan to destroy their best warriors in a contest. Meanwhile, the young Iga Oboro and Koga Gennesuke fall in love for each other. When Oboro’s grandmother and leader of Iga clan Ogen and Gennesuke’s father and leader of the Koga clan Danjo kill each other, Oboro and Gannesuke must lead their warriors in the ultimate battle of the Shinobi clans.”

Wild fighting techniques and some really beautiful photography. Subtitled.