alphabetic poetics

something cool I found: The old Japanese syllabary was arranged to form a kinda of poem.

now it goes か　き　く　け　こ、　さ　し　す　せ　そ　(ka, ki, ku, ke, ko, sa, shi, su, se, so); arranged by the sound.

The old one goes:

いろはにほへと　(i, ro, ha, ni, ho, he, to) Even the blooming flowers
ちりぬるを　　　(chi, ri, nu, ru, wo) Will eventually fade
わかよたれそ　　(wa, ka, yo, ta, re, so) Even our world
つねならむ　　　(tsu, ne, na, ra, mu) Is not eternal
うゐのおくやま　(u, wi, no, o, ku, ya, ma) Deep in the mountains
けふこえて　　　(ke, fu, ko, e, te) Cross them today
あさきゆめみし　(a, sa, ki, yu, me, mi, shi) And superficial dreams
ゑひもせす　　　(e, hi, mo, se, su) Shall no longer delude you.

the eternal return of the internet

Ok. The strangest thing just happened to me. While surfing the net, I found a small piece I wrote in high school (?) about buying a pet monkey, who had a penchant for punching people in the balls, and teaching him how to drive. I remember sending it to my friend, Byron, who laughed his ass off and proceeded to forward it to some other people. Little did I realise that once something hits cyberspace it becomes an ephemeral bird, free of all bonds. This silly story I wrote has been copied and pasted so many times that I hardly recognised it when I saw it. It was like making a photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy. The entire essence was so different, altered by countless thousands of teenagers (no doubt!), but I still recognised some of the lines...and the first sentence was almost the same.

This experience made me realise anyone who tries to control information on the internet is either a cyber-stalin, or a half-brained twit. And that goes especially for the recording industry. I honestly believe that this info becomes its own self-replicating organism. It no longer has an owner, and barely has a creator since often the ideas pop out of the collective cyber-conscience. Rather it has co-authors, or co-engineers and contributors. What we adoringly refer to as "our series of tubes" amounts to the majority of collected human information and experience. It is therefore meant to be shared, copied-and-pasted millions of times until it becomes the uncountable electric flow that pulse-pulses through every computer in every household and business. Anything on the internet can never be destroyed once it is there. Unless there is some complete collapse of human civilization and all it's infrastructure, internet information will be humanity's eternal monument — copied, linked, file-shared, saved, and downloaded in perpetuum.

weird dreams...

Recently, i`ve been having the strangest dreams. Last night, I dreamt I was sleeping in a hotel room, the big kind with a large bath and all the extras. (On a side note, any dream that has sleeping in it is bound to be a weird one). In my dream, someone opened the door to my room. I freaked out and started yelling at the person in Japanese. ("お前は誰だ？入るな！") But the mysterious person entered anyway. I stayed in bed—it`s possible I was naked and didn`t want to get up. It turned out to be a gaijin girl wrapped in a towel. She dropped some courtesy bubble bath on my counter and said thoughtfully, "I couldn`t use it all, so you can have the rest." Then she left.

I went back to sleep. In my dream, that is. Then I became aware that there is another presence in the room. However much I tried, I couldn`t make out who, or what!, it was. Out of nothingness a blue-ish aura appeared and from the outside in a person materialized. I couldn`t make out her face, but I knew it was a female ghost. Then I woke up. In real life! ...and went back to sleep.

The dream continues in a weird way. I return to the room, but this time when I enter the door it takes me to a massive, warm, traditional Japanese house. My family are all there in the central room chatting and being merry. There are also some people from work there. When I come in, there`s some hullabaloo and the manager says to me in a stern professional tone: "We need to talk".

So we retreat to a smaller room with a kotatsu, a heated table. She starts talking to me and although I can`t remember whether it was Japanese or what she was saying, I knew it was important and confidential. Meanwhile, my sister, who is in the next room, behind the paper screen, keeps saying "I can hear you! I can hear you!" So the manager leans against the wall and falls right through it into a beautiful, long hallway. And in the distance, I can hear a big-screen TV switch on.

why winter is nice

Well, I've become ridiculously busy recently. My week starts with a long, but peaceful train ride into the middle of nowhere. Actually, the train runs next to the mountains along the coast. It then crosses the vast rice paddies in a valley. It's one of the older trains in Japan—something you don't see very often anymore. The final destination is a town called Tsurugi, which has a massive high-tech university just outside it. It's the kind of place that generates the newest ideas and technology. My class is in the building where ethical debate on artificial intelligence and intellectual property rights occurs.

Anyways, I wanted to relay this story to you all. it has recently started snowing in Kanazawa. Beautiful, thick snowflakes falling slowly. Winter here is really great, not only because the city really shows of its 'shibui' flavour. (Shibui means tasteful, sober, or austere). On snowy days, Kanazawa's samurai district probably looks much like it did 200 years ago. The snow resting on the traditional, black tile roofs, look so exotic. The other (much tastier reason) why winter is good is that the fish get fatty to protect from the cold. Winter is the time of feasting, nabe, crab, and great sashimi.

Recently, I walked through the market, always congested with shoppers trying to get the best deals on seasonal fish and peach-coloured crab. The main intersection is particularly packed with old men yelling out 'irrashai!' and pedalling their goods. When I walked through there that day, for some reason, everyone moved away. I stubbornly kept walking and found myself staring the biggest, ugliest fish in the contorted eye. It was about 1.5 meters in diameter, and looked more like a 'real fish' got steam-rolled than that it was actually born so ugly. I remember seeing the fish in the Osaka Aquarium, where they have to put a net around the glass so that it doesn't hurt itself by continually running into the glass. (So, I guess it's stupid as well as ugly. Great combo, God! Where you drunk the day you made that thing?!) Anyways, despite being ugly and stupid, the fish has a nice name (in English): Sunfish...The japanese name, 'Mambo', is more appropriate.

The people i talked to have never eaten it. It's very rare, and in some places a delicacy. But would you really want to eat such a hideously ugly thing?

edible art

This is a large candy dragon. It's all made from sugar. The whole thing stands about 4 feet high. And it intricately detailed.

Look at those eyes! Menacing, aren't they? "I am the lasht one!"

Isn't he so cute?! I just want to eat him up! cuuuuuute!

woah!

Something weird I saw while I was in T-dot:

What do you think is happening here?

niagara falls

Just before New Year's Eve I went to Niagara to do the number one touristy thing in Ontario — see the falls! Thanks to my mom, we stayed in a beautiful hotel overlooking the falls.

Without further delay here are some of the pictures I took:

This is the US side. There are two sides to the falls. The United States has the crappier one and so many people flock to the Canadian side (also gambling is legal there!) During the night, they illuminate the falls.

The Canadian side is much bigger and forms a horseshoe shape. There is so much water falling at such a strength that it forms a cloud of mist in the middle of the falls. It's pretty impressive how big the cloud is.

This is the view from our hotel window. You can clearly see the horseshoe shape.

Me a the top of the falls. you can get very close the the falls on the Canadian side. And they tell you stories about people who tried to go over it in barrels in the old days. Personally, I think that's a serious death-wish considering how powerful the water is.



This is a picture from below the falls. There are a series of caves behind them and you can literally see the hundreds of thousands of litres flow over the edge. It's very loud, but beautiful and awesome how powerful nature can be.

This is the lobby of the casino. It was amazing! I didn't gamble because I'm notoriously unlucky with money, unlike Gavin who scored BIG on pachinko when he came! ("TRIPLE GOLDEN 7s!!!!!") But the casino looked impressive and it even had a garden with full trees inside.

after a long hiatus

Well, I'm back in Japan. I actually have been here for a week now, but I have been busy with new year's parties, jet lag, and laziness so I wasn't able to post. Oh! And my suitcase went missing so I couldn't upload any pictures to my mac.

But I am happy to be back. I had a wonderful (though short) time in Canada.

Here are some highlights:

Visiting friends and family!

Tom and Chris! I also saw Sheleena! Thanks to everyone for hanging out with me while I was back! <3

Here are some Toronto landmarks:
The Ontario College of Art and Design, floating ever so gently above the old building.

Honest Ed's!

The Eaton Centre!



The city from 600m up. A beautiful night view from the CN Tower. Still the worlds tallest until next month sometime...

Well, I am out of time. I have to run to work, but I will do a second installment of my trip soon. Please keep checking back.

real winter

Well, I made it to Canada after a loooOOOOoooOOOoooOOoong journey. Landing in Chicago was crazy! The winds were so strong we had to make 3 attempts to land. And when we finally did, the storm got worsen, making it almost impossible to fly out. But luckily, I made it only after a 4 hour delay. (Some people were in the airport for about 2 days).

I'm here now and it feels good to be back. Had dinner at Bombay Bhel, my favourite Indian restaurant. I kind of want to go back again! mmmmmmmm samosa!

Anyway, it's really winter here! Not unbearably cold, but definitely below zero. And the best part is that there's LOTS of snow! It really looks like Xmas, except this year the Christmas lights are not EVERYWHERE like last year. I guess people are getting smart about being energy efficient.

MERRY X-MAS EVERYONE!!!

post 200

well...as of today I will be travelling. In a few days I will arrive in Canada. So the posts will be slow in between.　I'm really excited to see my friends and family. And I'm a little anxious about Canadian winter...Here I've been walking around with a spring jacket, and going out for lunch without any jacket. I mean, it's still raining here! In Canada it's between -10°C and -1°C. And I bet there's more than 30cm of snow already.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year. I have a good feeling about 2008! 良いお年を！

Usagi to tsuki no odori

Well, here`s a photo of the final. It`s not a scan, but I`ll have to do for now. I`m happy with it and I hope that it is selected to be the book cover that I`ve trained it to be. My little brain child all grown up...It makes me feel so proud!

next week

Well, I will be going back home in a few days. It all kind of set in today. I've been so busy lately that I've hardly had any time to think about anything. I haven't started packing or anything. This morning I realised that the year is almost over, that Xmas is almost here! Man, time flies, doesn't it?

Ok. Well, as it has become a tradition, I will write a list of the things I want to do/eat:

•A&W Poutine (with a frosty mug)
•zucchini and cauliflower
•CENTRAL HEATING!!!
•see friends and family (of course)
•praat Afrikaans
•bagels and croissants
•feel REALLY cold!
•talk to a stranger
•go pants shopping
•see the AGO and the ROM
•have dinner on the CN tower—while it's still the tallest in the world!

Ok well, those are the things I want to do/see/eat while I'm back.

Go Tiesma, Go!

This is a shout-out to Benjamin!

His original Xmas song still makes me a little weepy when I hear it. I was there when he and Alison recorded it in our little Albion shack in London. It in itself was a precious Xmas memory. Ah, Alison...Where did you go? Anyways, here is this years Xmas song by Benjamin Tiesma: Snowflake Heart. (Left click to play, right to download)

Thanks, Benjamin, for adding to the 'Holiday-music-I-don't-hate' list. Yes, buddy, you are right up there with 'Christmas in Killarney'!

If you have a link to 'Missed You So' (I think that's what it was called, right?), please send it my way!

Well, here we have it folks a little Xmas present for everyone, courtesy of Benjamin.

the messiness of life

So recently I've been working on a book cover for some competition. It's been a while since someone actually gave me an art project, and it actually feels really good to be working on something. But as always having so much pressure to work on something has thrown me into a creative beret-wearing phase. I think when you are actively doing art you look at life with completely different eyes.

The theme is the moon. The thumbnail I drew looks something like this:


Of course it's not done yet. The final is in progress on my desk. And when I look around in my room, I see exactly how crazy messy your environment has to become to work on art. I`m not sure if it's like this for everyone...I mean, I'm sure there are some artists who have a spotless workshop as if they wipe up every spilled drop of paint.

My creativity almost demands that it be messy. Everything I could possibly need within grabbing distance.

remarkable eyes

I posted a story I wrote recently here. It's nothing special, but it spontaneously came out of me, and I had time during my internet-less period to write it out. So Enjoy!

punctuation!!!

I love this! I wanna reproduce something like this as a skit. I wish I knew about this when I went to arts camp!

meat rocket!

Anyone want some uncle meat?! You can ride it like a space ship and eat it all night long! But remember kids, if your real uncle ever asks, you say "no!" Unless you live in one of those countries where you can call any older male 'uncle', then it might be OK. Just be careful, sometimes the rocket can burn you if you touch it. Why? ...'Cause it's HOT like a Plasma screen TV in Detroit, dammit!

the winter feast

So during the stint where I had no internet, Kazue-sensei had a winter feast in her beautiful apartment. It was like 4 of mine joined together and took up half the floor of the apartment building. It was a potluck party and everyone brought something nice to eat. I made a wheat salad; kinda sweet curry flavour. But the impromptu cooking prize goes to Erin, who made an incredible pasta salad. Of course, everything was good, though!

Here`s the spread. It looks like a Thanksgiving meal at home! Yay, real food! (Of course, I ate wheat salad for the next week!)

After the meal we relaxed with wine and had a `pile-on` on Akiko as soon as she laid down. "PILE ON!!!!!"

Good times!

Crazy Canadians!!!

This is crazy! First time I look at Canadian news and this is what I see!

Basically: Guy breaks up with girl. Girl goes crazy. Grabs a katana and goes on a rampage. Destroys a car and slices a fire-fighter.

READ ALL ABOUT IT! WOMAN GOES NUTS WITH A KATANA!

Maybe we need a sword registry in Ontario...

games shows

Japan is a country of game shows. The television is almost always filled with some kind of game segment, a panel of experts giving their opinion on something, and a section on food. It is all pretty entertaining. Although I never watch TV except in very rare situations, when I do (even in a few brief seconds) I usually catch only GOLD!



This is from one of these shows. Psychological, man...I tell you.