Leaving Brignogan, France

Heya folks, I've been in Brignogan, France, for the past week or so. Brignogan is this nice coastal village 30 mins away from Brest. Been so busy with my scripwriting workshop, so no time to really post anything here. I took many pretty photos too, no time to upload either.

It is now 10:53am, a car is supposed to pick me up at 3:30pm and take me to Brest station, where I will have to take a train to Paris (train ride lasts 3-5 hours). After I reach the Paris Airport, I will still wait for another couple of hours before I fly back to Tokyo (the flight is at 7am, next morning). I expect to, well, sleep in the airport.

I brought two books with me for the trip, David Mitchell's CLOUD ATLAS, and Vladimir Nabokov's THE REAL LIFE OF SEBASTIAN KNIGHT. I was already in the last quarter of CLOUD ATLAS, so I finished the book while I was still in the plane. SEBASTIAN KNIGHT turned out to be a much breezier read than expected, I finished that during my first two days in France, even before the beginning of the workshop!

I ended up having to download some e-books via Scribd, and was reading Nabokov's PALE FIRE, and Haruki Murakami's HARD-BOILED WONDERLAND AND THE END OF THE WORLD. Despite having mixed feelings of Murakami's works (enjoyed NORWEGIAN WOODS, annoyed with WIND-UP BIRD CHRONICLES, liked AFTER DARK, indifferent to most stories in THE ELEPHANT VANISHES), many have actually said that some of my works reminded them of his stories. I would say that it's coincidence, since, for the past two years, I live in the same dormitory that he used to live in, go the same university that he goes in. I like listening to jazz too. 9 years ago, when I was studying for SPM, the final government exams for secondary school in Malaysia, I had Duke Ellington blaring from my CD player. Sometimes, I would also humorously liken my improvisational filmmaking methods to those of a jazz musician.

Anyway, I'm enjoying HARD-BOILED WONDERLAND AND THE END OF THE WORLD, although I would say that overall, I still prefer David Mitchell as a writer (though he's clearly influenced by Murakami). So yup, another day drifting by while I prepare my long trip back to Tokyo.