michael lambe's scrapbook

Here is something that is worthwhile signing if you are British. Here’s brief preamble from the site to put you in the picture: “People in Britain use an average of 300 plastic bags every year. Each bag lasts up to 400 years, spending the vast majority of that time in a landfill site or strewn across the British countryside. People are becoming increasingly aware that we need to reduce our use of plastic bags. In Ireland, a tax of 15cents per bag resulted in a 90% drop in plastic bag usage, and raised 3.5 million Euros which was spent on environmental projects…” Makes sense, yes? Click the link to sign the petition for a tax on plastic bags in Britain: Plastic Bag Petition.

Now here’s something else on this site: Free Burma. Apparently… “International bloggers are preparing an action to support the peaceful revolution in Burma. We want to set a sign for freedom and show our sympathy for these people who are fighting their cruel regime without weapons. These Bloggers are planning to refrain from posting to their blogs on October 4 and just put up one Banner then, underlined with the words „Free Burma!“.”

Ok, so sympathy aside (of which I have heaps) what I want to know is, is this worthwhile? I mean, who really cares what bloggers think (apart from their mates)? Does the military junta in Myanmar care what bloggers think? Really? If I put banner up and don’t blog for a day, will it really make a difference? At all? Or will I just be showing off my little bourgeois heart on my little liberal sleeve? Somebody give me a better idea of why I should do this. Please.

I’m being terribly productive these days, dashing about the city looking for places to put on the sister-blog. Today I visted the temple/art gallery Hounen-In and then a cafe in the woods of Mount Yoshida named MO・AN. And if you click on those last two links you can read all about that. I’ve no time to say more about that here. I’m off out for a jog. I’ve recently become a jogging-fool, and am going for short runs every night come rain or shine. Strange…

Mid-life crisis?!

Another post on Deep Kyoto this time of nearby cafe/diner/music venue Zanpano. Last night my sister suggested that I do a similar site for Middlesbrough. We could call it DEEP BORO – and write about all kinds of places to avoid.

Fiddling around with google analytics last night I was interested to see what word combinations people are putting into search engines that land them on my pages. The titles of books that I’ve reviewed (“What is the What”) or songs that I’ve mentioned (“Bluebird lyrics”) seem to be quite common, along with the obvious variations of my name plus “kyoto”. But I wonder what inspired the search “mike lambe kyoto w@nker”…

Anyway! Here is today’s promised effort at translation. If you remember, the meditation from Hozouji was this:

I’m a bit late with this one because the subject matter is Obon, the Japanese festival of the dead, which was two weeks ago, but nevermind! During obon the spirits of the dead are said to return home to their families and people pay their respects by lighting incense at their household shrines and visiting their family graves. They also light huge jolly bonfires on the hills around Kyoto, but that’s another matter. The point is, contemplating death, helps you appreciate the value of what you have now.

Here it is again in kanji, kana and romaji:

お盆＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿おぼん＿＿＿＿＿＿＿obon
生かされて＿＿＿＿＿＿いかされて＿＿＿＿＿＿ikasarete
今ある命＿＿＿＿＿＿＿いまあるいのち＿＿＿＿ima aru inochi
ありがたし＿＿＿＿＿＿＿ありがたし＿＿＿＿＿＿arigatashi

Now, see this is where I have a slight problem, because I’m not really sure what “生かされて”　here is trying to say… But I’m guessing something like this:

Obon
Brings us back to life
And for this life we have now
We are grateful

(Masaya? Help?)This meditation also reminded me of a heart-warming message I read at someecards.com:

When work feels overwhelming,
remember that you’re going to die.

Well, I laughed anyway. Darkly.

Occasionally, I receive comments on this blog of a colourful turn of phrase and I don’t publish them. Just to make things clear, let me explain my policy on “bad language”. I think there’s a time and a place for it and this blog isn’t it. To be precise; any variation on the f-word is not going to get in. The c-word (fond though I am of it) is also out of the question. Words beginning with w, s or b.s. are allowable but only under circumstances of extreme rage (when describing politicians for example) and then in a slightly modified form: “Tony Blair is a w**ker” or “Shinzo Abe is full of s#t”.

I have this policy because I am very much aware that a wide variety of people visit these pages (including colleagues, students and my sister’s two very small children) and if they encounter such language they probably won’t want to visit it again. I also think that overuse of such choice vocabulary can become a kind of verbal tick that can disable you from expressing yourself more eloquently. Basically, “eff this and eff that and eff off over there you effer” makes you sound a bit thick.

Rich and eloquent cursing of a religious nature (HolyMaryMotherofGodandAlltheSaintsPreserveUs!) is however entirely acceptable, because I’m Irish and we think that way.

Speaking of which, a particular Sweary Mary of my aquaintance wanted to know if I had any plans for the summer. Indeed I do! From August 1st until the 13th I will be in Ireland. I’m going to spend one week in a little bungalow just north of Dublin, with my parents, sister and her husband (I’ll be on the couch) and then I’m going west to Achill for a few days. I’m looking forward to catching up with my cousins after an interval of 16 years. I’m also going to be able to catch up with a couple of old college buddies; Michael Staunton (who I haven’t seen in 10 years) and good old David Holloway. David writes: Dublin has changed beyond recognition in the last 16 years- the last few times I’ve been there it has changed radically within periods of about a year- it’s a very interesting place these days.
I do hope by that he doesn’t mean they’ve knocked down lots of lovely old buildings and put up ugly new ones…

Now, I am pleased to announce that over on Deep Kyoto I have finally received my first comment. Or at least the first comment that doesn’t mention testosterone. It’s a nice clean comment of an encouraging nature from a complete stranger and it made me very happy when I read it this morning. More like that please!

Since starting this blog just over a year ago I’ve become slightly obsessed with the idea of making money from blogging. Not vast amounts of money mind you. Just a little side income from blogging, that would be nice, I’m thinking. But it’s become clear to me that the nature of this blog (basically a pretty random diary for the benefit of friends and family) though fun for me, is never going to attain the kind of audience I would need to make putting advertising on it worthwhile. So I’ve been thinking and reading around a bit… Specifically on Chris Cotter’s suggestion I’ve been reading Yaro Starak a young entrepreneur in Australia who basically makes his living from blogging and makes a tidy sum at that. Anyway, I signed up for his blog traffic tips email newsletter and over the last few weeks have been reading it avidly.
The key thing (at least to begin with) seems to be FOCUS. A profitable blog is one which gives useful information in one key area, which is precisely what my own blog does not! So I was thinking – if I were to set up a new blog, strictly for business reasons what should be the focus? Well, I occasionally write about the restaurants, cafes and bars that I go to – what if I were to focus another blog solely on that? I do after all know a lot of places that other foreigners here have never heard of. This knowledge might be of use to people – who knows? It’s worth a try. Well, with a little help from Rik Abel I’ve set up a new site. No advertising on it yet, as I’ve only reviewed one place so far… I’ll wait awhile till traffic picks up before I bother with that. I’ll also be following Yaro Starak’s traffic tips and watching closely to see if they have any real effect. For the time being, my intention is to recycle some old reviews from this blog with a few extra pictures and more menu details but as time passes it’ll be a good excuse to find more good places and good people. The title of the new blog comes from a Japanese friend of mine. So impressed was she that I knew the bar Tsurugi　that she asked me incredulously: “How do you know this place!? This is real deep Kyoto!” And so Deep Kyoto is born. I’ll keep you posted on how it progresses.

Here’s a happy thing. Thanks to this blog, and their own fine internet search-skills, a couple of old friends have actually got back in touch with me after years and years and years. However there are still a few few friends I have sadly and shamefully lost touch with over the last decade or so. So I was thinking that if I put their names up here, then they might just one day google-search themselves, find me and get back in touch again, and that would be swee-t! Here they are:

Matt (Matthew) Fernyhough
Judith Cox-Rogers
Jonathan Irwin
Ester Fleischer-Brown

Oh GREAT and POWERFUL INTERWEB let your mystic magic work!
Now, let’s see what happens…

Here are some snippets of conversation/burbling with Rik:

DREAMS:
michael: I had a dream that I was waiting at a bus stop with HJ and there were bluebirds fluttering around a nest on the building behind us
what does this signify?
rikabel: er…love?
michael: nah
rikabel: a desire to actually settle down?
michael: hmmm
rikabel: you tell me, dream interpreter man
michael: erm…. currently waiting in transit between one part of life’s journey and the next… not sure when things will start up/settle down…. bluebirds signify happiness/freedom?
something like that
rikabel: ok – yeah

BLOGGING:
rikabel : your blog is great man
michael : thanks
rikabel: i wish i had time to read it properly
michael: as do I…. by the way… I’ve been looking at Google Analytics
rikabel: go on
michael: I don’t understand the difference between page view and visit
rikabel : nor do i
michael: crap
ok well after studying all the different and very confusing data I think I’ve figured out that the vast majority of people look at my blog once and never return (although there was a remarkable upsurge of returnees last week)
also I think I have approximately 12 regular readers
considering the time I put into it this seems less than adequate
rikabel: you gotta keep on truckin’ dude
early days
michael: I think maybe I need to change tack….
rikabel: you just need one break to get a much bigger audience
maybe you need to refine your focus?
michael: I like burbling on about whatever though
However I have nothing to burble about today
rikabel: there’s always something to burble about
michael: I think I’ll just put up a list of people I’d like to get back in touch with in the vain hope they google themselves and find me
rikabel: what about ‘an inconvenient truth’ winning an oscar?
michael: for a song?
rikabel: what?
best documentary
michael : oh it got that too eh
cool
rikabel:yeah
michael: did Al Gore make an acceptance speech?
rikabel: dunno
michael （after a quick search）:
He said: “People all over the world – we need to solve the climate crisis. It’s not a political issue, it’s a moral issue,We have everything we need to get started with the possible exception of the will to act. That’s a renewable resource – let’s renew it.”
rikabel: what a dude
he gives me renewable wood
sorry, i mean sustainable wood
etc…

DIAMOND WAY BUDDHISTS

michael: why are you always meeting diamond way buddhists?
rikabel: yeah, i do
maybe i’ll become one
michael: gosh
how does one become one?
rikabel: go to a meeting i guess
and get inducted
apparently they have REALLY REALLY good parties

If we look at what the Buddha discovered about mind 2550 years ago, we find that he realized that mind is clear light. The mind hasn’t been born, and it cannot die. Even though bodies, thoughts and feelings appear, change and disappear again, mind itself, being open clear limitless space, can in no way be hurt or harmed.
So when the Buddha obtained liberation, he found that he was not the target anymore. He wasn’t that body which could be in trouble, nor was he those thoughts and feelings which could change and disappear – instead he was radiant awareness. This led to enlightenment, the realization that there is no separation between space and energy at any time or place. He knew and was aware of all things. He felt the great joy and expressed the great love which is the meaning of all things; which makes every atom stick together and vibrate and which makes all things happen in the world.

michael: did you just make that up?
rikabel: yeah
etc…

Ironically, according to Google Analytics, I’m really not alone. “Hello!” and “Aloha!” to readers in Redmond (U.S.), Toronto, Wokingham (U.K.), Valbom (!), La Rochelle, and Takatsuki and thank you for allaying my deep and long-held suspicion that no-one was actually reading this at all.

And here are my favorite headlines today:

Donald Rumsfield has been arrested and will be shortly up before a World Court tribunal for his various and plentiful crimes against humanity.

I’m just kidding. In fact he’s merely quit. Still it’s a start I suppose.

Another glorious victory in the march towards a socialist utopia: Daniel Ortega is reelected in Nicaragua.

Peace in our time! In Nepal at least… Hurrah for Nepal!

Britney Spears goes skating after announcing divorce.

That last one would be facetious (hence the lack of a “why not learn more?” link).

So some time ago I said I’d be telling you about the Michael Franti DVD “I KNOW I’M NOT ALONE: A MUSICIAN’S JOURNEY THROUGH WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST”.

It’s good. Here’s Franti’s own introduction:

“After years of watching and reading about war in the Middle East, I began to grow really frustrated with the news; hearing generals and politicians explaining the economic cost, and the political cost of war without ever talking about the human cost of war. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to live under foreign military rule, so I went to Baghdad, Israel and into the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza, to hear from the people affected by it most: taxi-drivers, restaurant owners, craftsmen, nurses, doctors, poets, children, families, soldiers, and of course my personal favorite musicians. So I took some of my friends and my guitar, and a video camera and this is what I saw…”

I expect a lot of people thought he was completely mad. As his driver/interpreter Maher Al-Wahhash, made clear, what Michael Franti wanted to do (i.e. meet ordinary people on the streets) was in no way safe:

“If you want to go out, we have to go to some places where people know me… Otherwise you cannot feel safe. We can go to some places without being authorized by the CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority) or being authorized by some others but if you want to take the risk we can take you there… No security of course, but we are going to mix with people, locals and mixing with locals…[is] completely dangerous because you can expect at any time to be attacked, or …yeah some people may try to kidnap you and these things are happening now. This is what they brought to Iraq from overseas. This is the new freedom.”

I don’t think it’s possible to underestimate the bravery of someone with a high profile like Michael Franti, going out to meet the locals in Baghdad.

To break down barriers he decided to write a song in Arabic, but knowing he would never be able to master enough of the language he wrote a song in which one word “habibi” (meaning something along the lines of “friend” or “beloved”) is repeated over and over again. The scenes where he plays this song to both Iraqis and Palestinians (much to their pleasure and amusement) are pretty funny to watch.

He also played to the American troops, which considering the strong political message of most of his music must have made him feel quite uncomfortable. About this he said:

“This was the hardest show I’d ever done in my life… In the end I was surprised at how many of them told me that more than anything else, they just wanted to go home.”

What Michael Franti found in Baghdad was a city without basic amenities: no water, no electricity, no healthcare and also no security and no respect. His driver/interpreter spoke poignantly of his dreams for the future:

“I wish to see a secure Iraq, a peaceful Iraq, and I wish the people to get decent jobs, to make a decent living, and I wish the Iraqi people to have the power to control, to rule their country themselves and to rebuild their country themselves. I wish that the Iraqi people and the American people become really friendly and forget all about the past. I wish that we could meet again one day in the future. Enshallah.” (If God is willing)

After Baghdad the charismatic musician went on to Israel and the occupied territories where he had the opportunity to play with musicians such as the mixed Israeli/Palestinian group Sheva and to talk with both ordinary people in the refugee camps, Israeli soldiers, and the victims of both sides of the conflict. Peppered throughout the movie are some pretty telling statistics, such as these:

“Israel receives $16 million per day in aid from the U.S.”

“60% of the population living in Gaza live under the UN poverty level of U.S. $2 per day”

“Of the 4.2 million Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza, 1.4 million live in refugee camps.”

There is also of course the personal witness of Michael Franti himself and his infectious music:

“It was so amazing to see kids whose families had had their homes demolished, who’d been shot at, and who’d been beaten, whose parents were dead, who were so excited and so happy to be around music. Once again “Habibi” was a huge hit!”

“I KNOW I’M NOT ALONE” is a fascinating and moving movie. If you get the chance to, watch it.

I went for a walk in the rain yesterday (safely sheltered under my 80 cm wide monster-brolly) and came across this sign (left) by the canal. It amused me so I took a picture of it for you. It seems to be a depiction of the great celestial dog-turd in the sky. An inspiration for all pooches everywhere to boldly do their doo-doo whereever they do do doo-doo.

Anyway, the last week or so has been fairly relaxed because it’s time for the mid-term tests, so not much teaching. I had a nice chat with Rik Abel the other night and he told me to sign up for this National Blog Posting Month thingy but I got completely the wrong end of the stick (apparently I am “quite retarded”) and accidentally signed up for this instead…..

And then I thought, “Well, why not give it a go?” Now in order to finish a decent sized novel (first draft) in 30 days I have to write at least 4,000 words a day. Research is obviously out of the question so it has to be something very pull-out-of-arseable indeed. Anne Kobayashi writes: “i think the blog is great. you should just write a whole book about yourself”. I thought about that, but then if I did, it would be either a) very boring or b) it would be too interesting and get me into a lot of trouble. I went on a book buying splurge the other day and invested in a couple of Neil Gaiman books “Neverwhere” and “Smoke and Mirrors” and “The Years Best Fantasy and Horror” so that’s probably the sort of direction I’m going to go in… Just trying to psyche myself up for the big push now. Anyway, if you want me for anything during the month of November, forget it. I’m busy.

MUSIC!
Now for the longest time I was thinking that this cover of Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” was by Ben Harper. “Fair play too ya, Ben,” I thought. But it’s not. It’s Jeffrey Gaines. Who the heck is Jeffrey Gaines? I don’t know but he’s quite good. As Hyon Ju nicely points out his hair makes him look like the Incredible Hulk (which only makes me like him more).

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