Nikasei no pazuru1/1/2023 ![]() ![]() The straw, developed by the Babylonians, was first invented by the Sumerians specifically for the purpose of drinking beer and, no matter how carefully filtered that beer was, it does seem that the straw was used to keep a drinker from the unpleasant experience of consuming sediment in the beer. The Sumerian beer was carefully filtered. Nikasei no pazuru full#The fact that it was often drunk through straws from large containers suggests to many academics - who may, as a class, have special expertise in beer - that it was full of particles and grit that were excluded by the straw.This is surely unfair. It has generally received a rather bad press in the academic literature. There seem to have been many varieties of Mesopotamian beer, brewed to different strengths and, in the absence of hops, flavoured with different ingredients. ![]() Laborers were provided with beer as part of their daily rations (a practice also observed in Egypt) and, based on art works as well as writings, it was a drink enjoyed by the lowest laborer to the highest noble and was consumed through a straw. (297)īeer also contained nutrients other beverages did not and, as Black notes, was a staple in the daily diet of the people throughout Mesopotamia. Beer was consumed by people at all levels of society and offered to gods and to the dead in libation rituals. ![]() Its manufacture was recorded and controlled by scribes even in the earliest written records, from the late fourth millenium BCE. However, on subsequent viewings I enjoy the film more and more as I get to know it, and I appreciate the Japanese nuances.Beer was a staple in Mesopotamia and its surroundings from prehistoric times, as the fermentation process was an effective method of killing bacteria and waterborne disease. There's one particular scene where Motokazu and Saraka are yelling at each other, and when they're done arguing, Motokazu keeps yelling because he's still so excited about what he's talking about. The first time I watched it I found some of the acting very jarring. All Motokazu has to stop her is his guitar and his sushi. With some unwitting help from his naive questions, she's on a path of destruction and capable of carrying out the experiment for real. But Saraka isn't interested in mere academics. ![]() Motokazu and the reclusive genius Saraka team up on the research topic of creating a universe, which could arguably disprove the existence of God. The spectacular but impractical particle accelerator towers over a rice field tended by an old lady. The juxtaposition of science versus tradition is blatant. The latter seems to serve as a container for experiments to make you wonder what mysterious things she gets up to, but may also reflect her state of mind throughout the film. Other intriguing elements include a roller skating security guard, website-style buttons the characters press to bring up daydreams and flashbacks, and a bowl-shaped dent in the wooden floor of Saraka's room. It makes for some hilarious moments as he tries to get his head around quantum physics and the Big Bang. Not only does this create a reason for the physics to be explained in layman's terms, it also gives us a character who's primarily a sushi chef and a wannabe rockstar. When Miike was struggling to understand the physics in the novel, he came up with the idea to have the student run off overseas and leave his not-so-intellectual identical twin brother Motokazu to take his place for roll call. The film particularly appeals to armchair physicists such as myself, but there's more to it than just that. In fact, it was released just before the sensational headlines about the Large Hadron Collider, so it's unfortunate that it didn't get more attention. God's Puzzle gets mileage out of particle accelerator doomsday fears. Relatively lighthearted sci-fi based on a novel picked by the producer, and thus quite a departure from Takashi Miike's usual fare. ![]()
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