Archive for the 'Random' Category

I’m in Club Fame (yes that is actually what it stands for).

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on September 4, 2008
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The current issue of Kyoto’s CF magazine is themed around the joys of cycling and thus, as I have a rather spiffy mountain bike (thanks Helen!) and I’m friends with Taga-san at KTCP there’s a picture of me in there too, cheesing one of my cheesiest of cheesy grins. CF (not a bad little 雑誌 actually) is available from bookshops and convenience stores around Kyoto and features a lot of stuff on clubs, cafes, restaurants, bars etc. I tried to plug Deep Kyoto as much as possible when talking to the reporter: “Oh yes, I ride my bicycle a lot when discovering places for my blog Deep Kyoto! …And did I mention Deep Kyoto?… Please take my (deep kyoto) card …and do check out my blog which by the way is called Deep Kyoto…etc” But sadly he didn’t take the bait. Anyway, here’s the picture of me looking kind of gay on a bicycle. And you can see the full spread up here of myself and some other bicycling types.

Today my day of work consisted of catching the train to Osaka at 5:05 pm, sleeping, getting to work at 6:00 pm, being told the class was cancelled at 6:05, getting the train back at 6:15, reading (a jolly good book!) and getting home at 7:15. I will actually get paid for that too.

Here’s the latest article on the oft-mentioned Deep Kyoto of the delightful tea emporium Iyemon Cafe.

The remaining South African pictures which I foolishly promised for this post will be posted in the next one. Honest.

Here’s an important message from avaaz:

For the first time in human history, the North Pole can be circumnavigated — the Arctic ice is melting quicker than many anticipated. The devastating effects of climate change are also accelerating sea level rise and small island nations are preparing evacuation plans to guarantee the survival of their populations.

In a week, these small islands are tabling a resolution calling on the UN Security Council to address climate change as a pressing threat to international peace and security.

But the island states’ campaign for survival is meeting fierce opposition, so they need our help. Sign the petition now — it will be presented by the islands’ ambassadors at the UN next week. The more signatures we raise, the more urgently this call will ring out to protect our common future. LINK

Right now…

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on June 26, 2008
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I am, finally (if temporarily) on top of my scarily high mount-o-marking, and so I am sipping pink lemonade (the summer drink of choice!) and enjoying Raymond Chandler’s The Long Goodbye.

Today, I met a new private student who seems like a good egg. She’s a beginner level student which I prefer because a) you know exactly where you are and what to do with beginners b) beginners don’t get weird or cocky with you, generally. Anyway, even though I don’t really want the bother of private teaching, I agreed to teach her on condition she/we find someone for her to share the lessons with and thus share the burden of my massive fee. Actually, I have someone in mind…

Here are some links:

Writer Charlie Stross has a good piece (meticulously calculated!) on exactly why unplugging domestic appliances that run on stand-by, is not only not an effective way to tackle climate change but may in fact be counter-productive:

Back during the second world war, there was a drive in the UK to strip out railings and send pots and pans to metal works to be melted down and turned into weapons. It was seen as a patriotic duty; if you had railings outside your home, you weren’t doing your bit for the war effort. Did this actually help the war effort? No it didn’t; the total weight of railings and pans melted down for scrap probably wouldn’t have built a single cruiser. But they kept urging people to do it anyway, because it made the public feel as if they were contributing and helping deal with the national emergency. It was, in other words, good for morale.

Trying to defeat global warming by unplugging phone chargers and gizmos with a standby mode is in the same league as sending your kitchenware to be melted down to make tanks; it’s silly. LINK

Over here is some wonderful information on the health benefits of napping, the science behind it, and even some nice napping techniques. This particular tip pleased me immensely: To boost alertness on waking, you can drink a cup of coffee before you nap. Caffiene requires 20 or 30 minutes to take effect, so it will kick in just as you are waking up. LINK

Here are some naked people dancing.

And here is some good news from a better world (and the story behind it).

Now back to Raymond.

Japanese Movies

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on June 5, 2008
in Movies and Random
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As some of you are aware, I spend way too much of my time watching movies. As some of you are also aware I have a part-time job teaching English conversation at a mental clinic. I say teaching, but what I actually do is play games and chat and generally end up learning more Japanese (and more about Japan) than teaching English… Anyway, last Saturday I put the question: What Japanese movies should I watch in order to understand Japan better? My pals at the clinic gave me the following list:

椿三十郎 - Tsubaki Sanjuro (That’s the original by Kurosawa not the latest starring Oda Yuji).
男はつらいよ - Otoko ha Tsurai Yo (anything from this series but especially those starring Yoshinaga Sayuri).
東京物語　- Tokyo Monogatari directed by Suzu Yasujiro.
華麗なる一族　- Kareinaru Ichizoku (TV drama?)
忠臣蔵　- Chuushingura (a classic samurai/revenge tale that has been remade many times).
おしん　- Oshin (old NHK TV drama)
機動戦士ガンダン - Kidou senshi Gandan (anime)
And then these movies by director Itami Juzo:
マルさの女　ー　Marusa no Onna
スーパーの女　－　Su-pa- no Onna
お葬式 - Ososhiki

That should keep me busy for a while, but I wonder if anyone out there has any more recommendations they feel should be on the list…? As it happens, all of Itami Juzo’s movies come with lovely English subtitles so that’s where I intend to start. Tonight: Ososhiki. I’ll let you know what I think.

Some Other Stuff

Up on Deep Kyoto tonight, a fresh post on Dog Cafe. All good dogs welcome.

Here are some more links.

The Daily Mail has a story about a polar bear that drifted on an ice-flow all the way to Iceland last Tuesday. The first polar bear in Iceland for 15 years, it attracted a crowd of sightseers eager to see one of the world’s largest land-based predators before they all succumb to climate change… And the police shot it dead.

A Burger King advertising campaign reveals the seedy underbelly of life as a vegetable: Veg City. These images have apparently been used as tray liners in Burger King stores!

Coco Wang’s heart-breaking comics from the Chinese Earthquake. LINK. All true stories apparently.

And here is a man with exactly 2008 (very colorful) pins in his head celebrating the Beijing Olympics. LINK.

A short interlude with too many italics

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on April 8, 2008
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If your wondering why I haven’t been writing anything of late, it’s not because I’ve decided to give it all up, climb a mountain and become a hermit (I’m saving that for my retirement); I haven’t joined the French Foreign Legion in order to forget a disastrous love affair (I find it’s usually more fun just to launch yourself right back into yet another disastrous love affair); neither have I run away to join the circus as the Amazing Mikey and his Little Irish Jackhammer (“a-ha!”), - I haven’t been writing because Da Computa is poorly and everything has gone suuuuper slow and dysfunctional, (so slow that posting pictures from Sunday’s glorious hanami party is at present inconceivable - and you wouldn’t believe how long this post took to write), and I am tryin to fix Da Computa all by myself. I’ve been at it for a good week now and I am just about on the verge of giving up and taking Da Computa to the good ‘puta-doctors at Sofmap. But if I could just do this one thing by myself this time, it would be so very very cool and Rik Abel would never be able to call me an effin’ Luddite again. So I am going to try a wee bit longer. There are signs of progress and hopefully I’ll be uploading pictures , regaling with anecdotes and mis-translating poems again before the week is done. Bear with me.

Tomorrow, I teach my first class of the new school year at Kyojo. It’s hard to believe this will be my third year there… What’s scary is that I am actually starting to like it. It was only supposed to be a stop-gap! But whereas this job used to totally stress me out, I now find myself totally looking forward to teaching my new classes. We humans - we are capable of strange transformations… Like some of the worst students I taught over the last two years stopped me on the stairway today to tell me they missed me. Which was odd, in a nice sort of way (still glad I’m not teaching them anymore though - haha). More weirdness to follow. Just watch this __________

Ume 2008

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on March 19, 2008
in Flowers and Random
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Well, I’m afraid I still can’t be bothered blogging for proper, as I’m tired and sleepy and I already wrote this once and then half-way-thru the server went down and I lost most of what I’d written and you know things I want to blog for proper about, I want to blog for proper about - proper like… So, tomorrow, ok? There’s so much I have to tell you! In the meantime, here are some pictures from Gosho (the “Imperial Palace Park”) yesterday (day before yesterday now…). It’s the tale-end of the ume-blossom season so I went and strolled around and took some pictures until the worst hayfever I’ve had so far this year drove me indoors. If you double-click on the pictures you can see them bigger (and perchance better).

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Also here are some links for ya:

From Boingboing - I really want these “6 Stages of the Drunken Salaryman” cellphone charms. I think I have been or seen every one of these guys.

Also found on Boingboing, are these marvellous quotes from the most charming member of the “British” royal family; Phil the Greek.

And finally, last year I remember reading about Arthur C. Clarke’s 90th birthday and thinking “Golly-gee!” (or words to that effect) “Is he still going?”. And then also being amazed that my dad is the same age. Well, though happily, my dad is still with us (and still sprightly) the old Grand-daddy of Science Fiction has passed on. He had a bloody good innings though. I first encountered A. C. Clarke under a parasol on a beach in Shri Lanka debunking mysteries for his marvellous “Mysterious World” T.V. series when I was a kid. And then I read his novels and found them - thrilling. Mr. Neil Gaiman put a link up today to a super short story by Mr. Clarke (it’ll take you five minutes) that although, not really Science Fiction, is a super, simple and superb sample of the short story form - enjoy: The Nine Billion Names of God.

Something Very Unpleasant in the Skies Over Okinawa…

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on January 30, 2008
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A misguided friend sent me this chain mail today with a picture attached and the message went like this:

沖縄で何年かに一回現れる『神の手』という雲だそうです〓幸せになって欲しい人七人に送ると願いが叶うそうです〓七人より多くなるのはいいそうです〓ビックリするぐらいキレイに手が撮れてます〓

Which is basically a bunch of nonsense about how “The Hands of God” have appeared over Okinawa and if you send the picture onto 7 other people then all your wishes will come true blah blah blah. So I clicked on the picture and had an emotional moment when I realised I’d been sent my very first GOATSE. Hurrah!

GOATSE

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on January 7, 2008
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There are no rules.

And Away I Go…

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on December 13, 2007
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Last minute packing and trying to get the last few laundry items dry with a hairdrier are keeping me busy right now, as I’m off home squeakily early tomorrow morning - and do hope to get maybe 3 or 4 hours kip before my 24 hour odyssey begins. However, I did see this on BoingBoing this morning and it had me chuckling over my cornflakes so I thought I’d share it with you. It’s worth following the link and reading the other reviews. Quite marvellous.

And ooh look, it’s popped up on Neil Gaiman’s blog too.

Next post from Birmingham (U.K.).

Goodbye 3年1組！

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on December 3, 2007
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It was my last lesson with these lovely ladies today. So naturally I took a couple of pictures:

And this is completely unrelated, but if like me you feel uncomfortable with the increasingly xenophobic attitudes of the Japanese media and also of course the police, then the recent reestablishment of fingerprinting for non-Japanese nationals will give you cause for concern. For what it is worth there is a petition you can sign up here: LINK

Evel Knievel October 17th 1938 ~ November 30th 2007

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on December 1, 2007
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God put you here to be the best, and do the best and live the best that you can.
And when he’s ready he’s gonna take you.
Now what in the hell can a human being ask for that’s better than that?

Evel Knievel

When I was a little kid back in the 1970s, Friday was “toys day” at school. We would all bring in our favorite toys and show them off to each other. There were two toys other boys had that I badly craved for Christmas but never got and still feel a pang of yearning for even today; one was the Bionic Man Action Figure and the other was the Evel Knievel Stunt-Cycle. Possibly two of the coolest toys ever created in the history of mankind. Thing is, unlike Steve Austin, Evel Knievel was a real live awesome dude who did really amazing stunts on motorbikes and broke real bones in the process. In short, a living legend. That is he was until yesterday. I think every boy who grew up in the 70s feels a pang of loss today, like a very important and very magical part of their childhood has been taken away for good…

Anyway, (ahem!) although the weather was beautiful today and I really did want to go for a bit of a walk and explore somewhere or other, the cold medicine I’m taking proved the better of me, so after my morning job at the clinic I pedalled home and fell back into bed and slept for four hours. However, the day has not been completely wasted. After slacking off for most of November, I have finally written a new post for Deep Kyoto, this time on 六曜社 and it’s world famous donuts (doughnuts?). Click on the last link to view it.