I'd rather be...

Over on the Mobius Home Video Forum's Arthouse, World and Hollywood Cinema board, there currently is an active thread which solicits answers to the question "What movie could you die watching?" Maybe it's a guy thang -- and in my defence, I've noticed that thus far, every single respondent to that query has indeed been male -- but I truly can't imagine a single film that I'd like to be watching when I breathe my last breath on earth! (And yes, this really does include the wonderful -- but, still...! -- Peking Opera Blues!!)

Instead, when pondering what I'd like to be doing as -- and/or just before -- I expire, I almost immediately came up with three other hedonistic activities that I'd much rather be enacting at that point in time. And at the risk of eliciting reactions along the lines of "...And you call yourself a film fan?", here's going ahead and detailing what they are:-

1) Watching Arsenal winning an exciting plus important match. If I had to be watching something during the last seconds of my life, it'd not be a movie but, instead, a match of a game which the legendary manager of Liverpool F.C., the late Bill Shankly, was famously quoted as having said that "Football is not just a matter of life and death: it's much more important than that"! (And should there be any doubt, it's soccer we're talking about rather than that which the world beyond the U.S.A. calls American football.)

But it can't be just any match played by just any team. Rather, one of the teams -- and the winning team at that -- absolutely must be the Arsenal. As for matches, hell, if it's going to be the last Arsenal match I'll ever watch, then it had better be one which sees them doing such as finally winning the European Champions League or completing a treble comprising the English Premier League trophy, the F.A. Cup and some European trophy! (And since it's a treble that we're talking about, I actually would settle for the lesser -- though still pretty prestigous -- UEFA Cup instead of the Champions League trophy!!!)

2) Riding a roller coaster which takes me on a luxuriously long (by roller coaster standards; that is, more than 2 minutes!) ride with plenty of thrilling twists and turns. Should there be any doubt: Yup, I looooove roller coasters! Especially wooden ones like Six Flags Magic Mountain's mighty Colossus which, with their "clickety clacks", provide one with plenty of exciting sound effects to add to the overall awesome sensory -- think of such as the gusts of wind you can feel, the in-themselves- exciting visuals (or, in the case of dark, interior rides like Disneyland's Space Mountain!), etc. -- as well as adrenaline-rushing experience.

Of course, those roller coasters which incorporate a water hazard or splash into a water area are pretty cool too. (Albeit only on a hot day. Otherwise, it might present too much of a shock to the system!) So, after thinking about it some more, the ultimate roller coaster for me -- and it'd be an ultimate one, wouldn't it, given the envisioned circumstances?! -- would have to be a long wooden one that incorporates a dramatic splash into a water area and is located in a place (such as the top of a mountain or by the ocean) that presents the rider with a scenic views...that is, if they can keep their eyes open and not just fixed straight ahead for the duration of the white-knuckle ride! ;)

3) Eating my idea of a perfect meal. "And what's your perfect meal?" I hear you ask. Well, howzabout the following? First up, half a dozen very fresh plus raw and plump oysters. With just Tabasco sauce as garnish, if there's to be any garnish at all. (And for the record: The most delicious oysters I've ever had have been American ones.)

Next -- and effectively acting as the main course -- would be a plate of prime sushi and sashimi. More specifically, this selection of sushi would comprise three -- since the standard two served up in many Japanese restaurants often doesn't completely satisfy! -- pieces each of ikura (salmon roe/caviar) gunkanzushi and uni (sea urchin) gunkanzushi while the sashimi would consist of a few slices of maguro (tuna) and a couple of whole karashi-mentaiko (walleye pollack roe pickled -- and spiced -- with salt and chili powder).

Even more specifically, a bowl of miso (tofu) soup and a few piece of oshinko pickles (particularly, the neon-yellow daikon (radish) variety) on the side would be very nice. Ditto a few thin slices of the customary pink ginger to cleanse the palette as needed. Oh, and the culinary experience would be definitely enhanced if further accompaniments to this particular course would include a pint-sized glass of crisp-tasting Japanese beer (E.g., Sapporo Premium or Reserve)!

Now, since the food thus far actually has been on the light(-tasting) -- as well as raw! -- side, I should feel able to round the meal off with a dessert that's sweet, cooked and carbohydrate-y. If I'm still feeling really hungry at this juncture, I'd go for something along the lines of a traditional English pudding like rhubarb crumble, complete with lashings of custard, or an airy pavlova like the strawberry ones which one of my guardians when I was at school in England used to make.

If not, then I'd happily "settle" for a couple of freshly baked Portuguese (AKA Macanese) egg tarts -- which, by any name, have a more creme brulee-like center than their Hong Kong equivalents -- from Macau's Lord Stow's Bakery. In any case and at which point, I do believe that I'd feel like I already had died and gone straight to heaven even if, as it turns out, death's actually still some moments away... ;)