Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in stephen_poon's LiveJournal:

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Friday, August 29th, 2008
9:38 pm	Plastic Castle in the Air 6/21 We began the day by going to Asakusa to see the Sensoji temple that I had accidentally discovered earlier. It was a lot more crazy this time, filled with more school kids running around. There were a decent handful of food street vendors, selling teppanyaki, takoyaki, odango, shaved ice, and other tasty food that I wanted to buy fifty of. The train transported us to Shinjuku where we ate at Yoshinoya’s, a chain that is much like their equivalent of McDonald’s, though I far prefer the former. We went to a karaoke place that was literally called “Karaoke building,” and it had a castle on the roof and bright underwater-themed karaoke booth walls. Definitely worth the hour. We walked around the red light district, filled with host and hostess clubs, love hotels, nightclubs, and restaurants, as well as the capsule hotel I would be staying in the following night. The rest of the day was spent chilling at the hotel – we had done a lot of walking over the past week, and weariness prevented many of us from completely beating the jet lag. - - - -Too much dust has collected behind my computer. Take that, aggregate allergy-monsters, lying in wait to attack your victim who all-too-willingly sticks his head into your lair. Feel the destained dust destroyer death. Make room for R. Daneel Olivaw, as I've christened the new backup drive for my digital life. It took a couple days to format, copy, transfer, and erase my drives, upgrading my 160 and 400 GB to a pair of 400 GB and 1 TB. Now that my computer desktop is pristine and shiny, my physical desktop has become a ruin of empty cereal bowls, pumpkin seeds, Coke cans, and a pile of books and comics I've been reading during the interim of data transfer. -The Atom Smashers has been accepted into the Vancouver International Film Festival! And a couple others places so far! I have been working on a couple extra videos to be included on a DVD for the film. -Met up with Lauren R. and Jennie at a launch party for a new website, www.diverse-nerd.com, a most surreal party at a bar downtown that featured a Soul Cal IV tournament, with TV's set up for Atari and Wii gaming, and the flatscreens above the bar were all playing Advent Children. Add to that being served drinks by Lara Croft and an elf from WoW, the welcome company of Eric P. and Jamie S., and forgetting the Brown Line closed, it was an eventful night. -Been going out a lot, spending way too much money on food that, in the end, was completely worth it: Korean BBQ, karaoke at a place I think was called Ping Pang Pong, Jennie's going-away-to-grad-school-party, Jackie's 21st birthday, and a coworker's birthday which included amazing porkchops on a stick, food, more food, a large bonfire, and camping out in the middle of farmland outside the city. -A while back there was a picnic for all IT staff, which took place at a sports park in Skokie. They had a two-tiered driving range which automatically dispensed teed-up golf balls, which I had never seen before. By the time you watch where your ball went and look back down to line up your next shot, there it is, ready to be hit! -The Bards' show at the Heartland went really well! Lots of people showed up, including fans from Cleveland (!) and Detroit (!!!). I couldn't believe it! Can't wait for Youmacon! Seen: Get Smart The Machine Girl An Empress and the Warriors The Vice Guide to North Korea Read: The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, Yukio Mishima Call for the Dead, John Le Carre A Murder of Quality, John Le Carre Transmetropolitan Volumes 0, 3-10 (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, August 14th, 2008
9:12 pm	Tonari no Totoro 6/20 I returned to Harajuku since the rest of the party wanted to visit. Lauren and I parted ways with Shelley and Johanna, since Lauren had been here before and there weren’t any places in particular we wanted to check out. We found a park that was about 10 seconds away from the train station, Meiji Jingu, which is a Shinto shrine dedicated to Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. There was a museum and a karate dojo in the middle of the woods (sign me up NOW). We had lunch at Jonathan’s, a kind of Denny’s equivalent, and then made our way out west to a mythical store you may or may not have seen on blogs around the net. It is a bakery that specializes in making ONLY Totoro-shaped cream puffs and it's officially recognized by Studio Ghibli. The previous night we had to make a reservation (or yakusoku, literally “promise”) to be at the bakery to pick up our order. We got lost and had to ask some people, but we eventually made it! Ultimate success! Ultimate deliciousness! The train back stopped at Shibuya, where we had dinner at a tapas-style Japanese restaurant. They had a menu with English, and Shelley ordered a dish that included taco. We didn’t know if this meant taco-taco or octopus-taco (since that’s what it means in Japanese), which was a possibility since not all English menus are created equal. Which is worse, expecting tacos and getting octopus, or expecting octopus and getting tacos? It ended up being a taco salad. It wasn’t bad. We went into a few arcades, including one with purikura booths. Apparently guys aren’t allowed into these booth areas alone and you need at least one girl to enter. I love how every time there is a construction zone or barriers around an area, there have ALWAYS been people working away at whatever they have to do, tearing up road or repairing something. I think I’ve gotten tired of seeing roads blocked by barriers that warn us of the fines we’d incur if we hit a worker, but 90% of the time, nobody’s even there. I miss those cream puffs . . . (12 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, August 10th, 2008
3:59 pm	Latest Flame 6/19 [Rows of lanterns in Nikko] It feels a lot different writing about the trip now than it did several weeks ago. Some memories are fading while others are just as intact. I kept a journal which is where I am able to pull a lot of my memory from, but I don’t want my memories to hinder solely on that text. Ueno Park houses a memorial holding a flame that has been kept alive from our first nuclear attack on Japan. The man who first took the flame had a father who was in Hiroshima at the time, and when he went to search for him he only found the house in rubble and flames. Originally a symbol of rage against the atrocities of the bombing, it's now become a symbol for the end of nuclear armament. It was surrounded by strings of one thousand cranes. The park is also the former location of Leyasu Tokugawa's grave as well as the giant panda Ling Ling who passed away in April. Bad timing. The scenery was beautiful, including a lake filled with water lilies surrounding a shrine. There were street performers along the side of its large pathways that led to the Tokyo National Art Museum, where we spent a good part of the afternoon after a lunch of Japanese pizzas. Next to the park was Ameya Yokocho, which felt like a mini Akiba only with more clothing and food stalls. The "ame" part of the name came from the black-market American goods that you used to be able to find here. A street vendor sold okonomiyaki which the girls didn’t like, and we could have spent more time than we did exploring all of the side streets. We went back to the hotel since Lauren was supposed to arrive from Suzuka in the evening. I waited in the hotel lobby, and Lauren walked in with her bag and backpack. We're in Japan! The last time I saw her was almost half a year prior, playing Call of Duty 2. The four of us walked to a Mitsukoshi department store nearby, then dropped by a noodle stand. It was similar to the noodle stand I went to before heading to Nikko, though the one at that station was standing room only. Near the front of the store was a vending machine with buttons of whatever you would like to order - you put in however much you owe and it spits out a ticket that's given to the servers at the stand. We stopped by a bakery on the way back to our hotel, which had fantastic strawberry short cake. Afterwards was drink-sampling at the AMPM, with Asahi, Kirin, Sapporo, and cocktail partners which was also part celebration for my birthday and Shelley's. I slept well. - - - -I thought my car's right side mirror was cracked, and I went into panic since the last thing I wanted was to need something else fixed. I took a look at it and realized it was just a spider web. Relief! -Friends made chicken pot pie and it was amazingly good. Made a new friend who seems to have a taste for collecting instruments as I would if I had the space. -There have been a lot of festivals! Mitsuwa held its annual summer festival which I've never been able to attend before. I didn't think I'd miss all of the shouts of "Irasshaimase!!" from storefronts. Their taiko demo was also good. A buddhist temple downtown had a festival the following week and that evening was a Korean festival in Koreatown that featured two sound stages, a dirt mound in the center for bouts of Ssireum, traditional wrestling, and lots and lots of food. Seen: Four Rooms Redbelt War Thunderbolt Who Am I? SiCKO Venus Forgetting Sarah Marshall Kaiba, complete series Read: Gifts, Ursula K. LeGuin American Shaolin, Matthew Polly The Bhagavad Gita Yakuza Moon, Shoko Tendo Flight, Volume 5 Transmetropolitan, Volumes 1 and 2, Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson Batman: Hush, Jeph Loeb, Jim Lee, and Scott Williams (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, August 8th, 2008
7:24 pm	Never is Enough I’ve mentioned Chris T. here in the past - conspirator in the founding of our high school's sci-fi club, Buffy fanatic, husband-to-be, and now a resident of Chicago in Wrigleyville. As soon as I got home from work the other day, he shot me an IM. He moved in less than a week ago, and he was just a couple miles south of my place. He bought me a smoothie, which in hindsight is what I should have been doing for him. The city welcomed him with a storm and it took away his electricity. At least it was an excited welcome. At least he could charge his laptop at a local coffee shop and get on the net. He had spent some time in Sudan with his uncle who travels around the world on medical missions - he told me this story. I may have gotten some things wrong, but the core of it is there. It gets graphic. - - - “Good thing you guys are here.” The liberation army’s leader of the village greeted them off of the plane. Big guy. He’s got the guns. The nearest point of civilization took two two-hour hops by plane. There had been some cattle-rustling. Stealing women from a neighboring village without paying for them. And by women I mean girls, who knows how young, but they’re worth several dozen times their weight in cattle and there’s life to pay if you don’t give what you ought to owe. Both sides were fighting, and when the big guy went in to stop them, no one was listening over the gunfire. He shot up both sides until they did. “Good thing you guys are here,” he had said. And then came the bodies. Where they were expecting to maybe hand out some medicine packets for a week, they were received by endless carts of gunshot wounds, limbs hanging on by some skin, and those for whom it was already too late. One man who took part in the original theft was afraid of the repercussions, so he went into hiding for a few days. Just enough time for his already broken leg to develop gangrene, and they didn’t have the tools to amputate. Only a couple shots of local anaesthetic, which would not be enough. “Chris, you’re the biggest guy here,” his uncle said. “You hold him down.” Somehow he was able to while they gouged out his leg. One woman was overdue with twins. The first one made it but the second didn’t, dead in the womb, and they had to get it out before it could possibly infect and kill the mother. It was breached in such a way it couldn’t be removed intact, and they didn’t have the tech for a cesarean. The baby had to be taken out piece by piece. Snip. Leg. Snip. Arm. There was never a lack of blood. Arms stained up to the elbow. He lived, worked, and slept in flies. During this time, five or so police officers were killed in Kenya, and the political unrest meant they had to push back their return flight. It rained while they waited, which meant even if a plane could get out to them, it wouldn’t be able to take off from a landing strip that’s turned to mud. If the rainy season got an early start, they could be stranded there for five or six more months. Maybe at best, get to a refugee camp two hours away by plane. In a short while they knew the liberation army would try a forced disarmament of the village. They had to get out. The rain let up and they called the plane in. The strip still wasn’t dry, so they threw out what they could and packed only what they needed. They made it back to the airport in Kenya, which was locked down from the recent shootings. - - - Welcome to the city, Chris. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, August 1st, 2008
8:17 pm	Forested Temple 6/18 [The Sensoji Temple] The warning beep of gates blocking train tracks would only last a second or two, just short sporadic bursts of sound. I was on a train to Nikko, a small city north of Tokyo, and home of the mausoleum of Tokugawa leyasu as well as the Taiyuinbyo, Rinnoji Temple, and Futarasan Shrine. It is also famous for its carvings of the three wise monkeys on a stable wall, which could easily be missed by anyone only looking at the lavish architecture surrounding it. I took a different train from the shinkansen that Shelley and Johanna rode, as they had JR rail passes and I was not in the mood to spend over 10,000 yen. My train would take a little longer (two hours), but they knew roughly when I should arrive. I had rented a cell phone so I could be contacted, but I had no way to contact them in the case that I would miss the train I had to rush for at a different station. As efficient as their system always is, I wasn’t able to make it to my departing train in time and I suddenly had an hour and a half to kill. We agreed that if I couldn’t make the train they would assume I was not coming and hence not wait. I was okay with this – I don’t want to be the reason for them to spend any time away from their destination - and I looked forward to going anyway and spending some time on my own. I was in Asakusa, and I had no idea what was around the area. I ended up stumbling upon Asakusa Kannon, or Sensoji Temple, which is Tokyo’s largest Buddhist temple and known for its enormous lanterns and straw sandals upon its gates. Around the temple were arcades of small shops and covered roads with rainbow-colored bricks. One step you could be walking down a normal urban street, and in the next it’s as if you suddenly find yourself thrown back in time. There was a ningyoyaki shop, selling differently shaped red bean paste-filled cookies, and it had an automatic cookie presser/wrapper/chute! While on the train to Nikko I received an email from the girls, acknowledging I wasn’t on the next train they waited for and they would head up to the site. One of the temples had a spot where, when blocks of wood were hit together, the sound reverberated for several seconds. My favorite spot. It looked like some reconstruction/restoration was being done on another temple, which was slightly disappointing – much like the Parthenon in Athens, surrounded by scaffolding. Ancient structures interrupted by metal. I was also surprised that the area was so close to its surrounding town, though in hindsight this really is less surprising since everything we’ve seen has been surrounded by urban developments. I’d become too used to Yellowstone or Glacier National Park, far away from typical civilization, though I was becoming very attached to places so incredibly serene and historically important right in the middle of contemporary dwellings. There were gradeschool and high school kids everywhere, swarming the place. I became trapped in a large group while going into one of the temples, which is probably why noone asked me for a ticket, though I had already bought one. All of them had little journals or workbooks it looked like they were supposed to write in during the trip. I wished we had more trips like that, but then again, Cinci isn’t near any place as cool as one thousand year old still-existing temples. Well, we have those burial mounds. As I was exiting one of the shrines, I heard someone call my name! Shelley! Sometimes, things just work out. They had thought I decided to stay in Tokyo, but I said I’d go, didn’t I? There was only one place I wanted to visit in the area, so I quickly ran up a set of stairs and listened in on a talk from one of the monks that I only understood probably 1/50th of, and ran back since Shelley and Johanna and already made the rounds and were ready to walk back. There were many small, cute local shops on the walk back (I had taken the bus to the area from the train station), and we topped the day off with bowls of udon. Exhaustion made the train ride back much longer. - - - - -A friend from Kentucky, Mai, visited over this past weekend. She wasn't able to go to last week's Pitchfork music festival, but there were some artists playing during the Wicker Park Festival that could make up for that. Eric P. and Jamie S. were having a sidewalk sale as well, and we walked around the area to explore. I've been meaning to check out Myopic Books, an amazing used bookstore in the area, and I found a signed copy of Gifts by Ursula K. Leguin!!! Mine. -Later that afternoon I drove up to 7-7-7, a now-traditional summer picnic that a number of friends in the area organize. The highway was ridiculous, and I'm about to make a call when I receive one from Will English. "Do you drive a grey Honda Fit?" he asked. Well, yes. "Look to your left!" And there he was, in the same predicament as me. He found the better detour to the picnic. It was good this year, and I love how all of us know each other though several different circles of friends and it all just expands and connects together. Too bad Adam K. who organized the thing was too busy being awesome on the west coast to come this year. -That night was Alex A.'s birthday, complete with a mini-rave-blacklit-strobelit-converted-bedroom. And some concoction called Japanese Lagoon (was that it?) which was tasty. -On Sunday, we ate way too much Chinese food and went to the beach. Afterwards: s'mores at Cosi downtown and walking the magnificent mile. -Going to Buffalo Wild Wings on Thursday evenings has become a weekly tradition, and I didn't realize how much I would crave them after cancelling with the group last week!! -Fermilab, the particle physics research facility outside of Chicago, has been getting some prominence in the news over the past couple of years. With the upcoming activation of the Large Hadron Collider in France, Fermilab's been feeling the pressure of continuing their work along with a continuing lack of funds from the government. The Atom Smashers, which I did some work on for 137 Films, is a documentary on Fermilab that has been picked up by PBS and will be shown on their Independent Lens program!!!!!!!!! Seen: The X Files: I Want to Believe (Indiana Jones had more paranormal activity) Hot Fuzz (Funny) Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters (Meh) Death Proof (Tarantino is an adjective) Baraka (LOVE) Read: Hocus Pocus, Kurt Vonnegut (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008
8:27 pm	Fisherman's Horizon 6/17 [A tree canopy in the Hama-rikyu Gardens] An earthquake struck Iwate on the 14th, the first full day I spent in Tokyo. This island had its fair share of tragedy that month, and the earthquake's aftermath was broadcasted with the same b-roll over and over again. What used to be a beautiful lush valley turned into a sinking brown hole in the ground. While watching the news, I went through a series of stretches for the morning. It had been ages since I've felt I had the motivation and time to do them, and it was luxurious. I even bought a mat for that purpose back at home, but even on the weekends my mind wanders to other priorities before it thinks of my atrophied legs. Shelley, Johanna, and I left around 7:30 AM for the Tsukiji fish market, whose peak hours are typically 5-8 AM. I don't know how we would have been able to navigate the area if we went any earlier, as it felt busy enough as-is. The largest fish market in the world, its sprawling stalls stood underneath a semi-circular structure with opaque windows above and soaked blacktop below. We could smell our way to it from the train station, following other foot and wheeled traffic. The most ubiquitous vehicles were essentially giant circular drums on wooden planks, like a failed cross of a swoop speeder bike and a Thai duk duk. Actually, that conjures a more elaborate image than intended - but they were everywhere, and had to be frequently dodged. It felt like a lower level of the city in The Fifth Element, and it wouldn't be the last time during this trip that I stepped into Corbin Dallas's world. Hundreds of different kinds of seafood were on display, stacked on endless styrofoam boxes, or being sliced in front of you. Red water spilled constantly on the floor. Octopus, squid, prawns, salmon, tuna, roe, and sea urchin, some still alive and most dead, were open for all. Everything was still dripping with the water in which it was caught. We had sushi for lunch. Near the market was the Hama-rikyu Gardens, the family garden of the Tokugawa Shogun. It eventually became a palace for the Imperial family after the Meiji restoration, and came to be known as the Hama Detached Palace. Many of the original structures were simply outlines of rubble, marked off to indicate what used to stand before America's air raids of World War II. The grounds were gorgeous, including a tea house in the middle of a lake with several bridges sprouting from it. Every branch of each tree seemed to be taken care of, and a man was pruning one of them as we walked by. One Japanese tourist held a cut limb as a souvenir. I’m always amazed at the mixture of the historical with the modern. The girls hadn't been to Akihabara yet, so it was time for a revisit. I was hoping to get a picture of the memorial I had seen on my previous trip, but it had already disappeared from the scene. We stopped by a crepe stand, and I dragged them from building to building to further satiate my addiction to UFO catcher games. Super Famicom games were cheap like you wouldn't believe - Earthbound or FF VI for 1,000 Yen ($10)?! Too bad almost everything else in this city was not. It was nice to walk back from Akiba for once without feeling like my body is about to completely fall apart. - - - - -Amanda B. and Jon B. hosted a Jackie Chan-o-thon, which was successful and I hope hope occurs again in the near future. My collection will be put to good use! Jackie will prevail! -Will English hosted a party at the Plymouth, a restaurant he had introduced me and many others to a couple years ago. Their chili is delicious but their kitchen was closed by the time we arrived. The majority of people who said they would come did not, which was disappointing, and understandably Will was upset. On the upside, the company we did have was welcome. I saw across the table from Keith, the guy who runs the Henshin Justice Unlimited site, talked BSG with Marc, and listened while Dartagnen showed us his bullet scars from fighting in Iraq. -Soycon, the Chicago post-Acen-meetup-turned-convention, was a success it seemed. I joined the group in Palatine for a Sunday picnic, got to chat with Craig who has been shooting a documentary over the past couple years, play a little guitar, and meet some more of the local Chicago crowd I don't get as much chance to talk with. -The Bards' show at Silvie's went well, and we were invited to contact Silvie in the future to play another show. The other bands, Controllar and Seeking Wonderland, were cool as well - Controllar used some crazy glove controllar, and Seeking Wonderland was basically an hour of straight improv. -I saw The Dark Knight at midnight, and it was well worth the grogginess when I walked into work the following morning. There was a dude sitting next to us wearing a Bard pin, though Kristina (who was next to him) didn't notice until we were already leaving the theater. The car in front of me as I left the parking lot looked like a face that was just punched by the bat, with a half swollen face and squinted right eye. -Ikasucon was, well, Ikasucon. Everyone I was originally going to go/stay with - about ten people with two rooms - bailed, and I had to quickly find another place to crash without spending 200+ on a room for myself. Thank God for Anthony P. who let me crash with him, and he was a perfectly good roomie - thanks again!! Probably the most interesting person I met was one of their guests, Jeremy Mauney, who worked on the Fist of the North Star and Fist of the Blue Sky manga in Japan as well as played in a death metal group called Detritum - one of their members included the translator for Hello Kitty (?!). I ran into several people I met last year, which was a pleasant surprise. Kat and Anna, my favorite ninjas, were awesome, as well as the rest of others in the Cincinnati crew. Leah, C. Michael, Jon, Dustin, Ben, Trevor, Nick, Nick, Keith, Athena, Morgan, and everyone else - all will be missed. It was also nice to play on a baby grand again. -Steve Mollmann is engaged!!! His story is cute. Read it at http://steve-mollmann.livejournal.com/101770.html The other side: http://hayleyscomet.livejournal.com/107839.html Seen: Master with Cracked Fingers The Dark Knight Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 3 Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, complete series Hellboy II: The Golden Army (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, July 10th, 2008
7:47 pm	Gonna Rice [The Tokyo International Forum] 6/16 Every day on the news there’s something about the Akihabara stabbings – interviews with people on the street, a Haruhi cosplayer placing flowers at the memorial, pictures of the Smith & Wesson knife apparently used, or groups of people praying on the sidewalk. The morning began with a trip to AM PM and breakfast in the park area, where we were outnumbered by the morning smokers. We took the subway to Ginza, Tokyo’s grand shopping district, and walked forever while looking at merchandise we’d never buy. And some we would. And some we did. They had a five-floor Apple store. One of the biggest differences for me about this trip is that I could finally read the majority of signs hanging form the sides of every building. Even if I wasn’t looking for a particular store or restaurant, it was great to finally be able to understand so much of what I was looking at. Before, my mind would filter out anything it couldn’t process so it just kind of flew over my consciousness – now there was so much more to take in. The majority of people I saw while reading on the train had covers over their books – maybe it had something to do with privacy, but I still don’t really know. They mostly consisted of smooth, decorative paper, like a wrapped gift. I remember using grocery bags for school textbooks, free of winkles and clean at the beginning of the year, then turning to tatters at the latter end of the quarter. The Imperial Palace was within walking distance (of course we had no access to the residence), but the grounds and gardens surrounding it were just as gorgeous as I remembered – giant banzai in the middle of the city. We also took a detour to the Tokyo International Forum where they had a museum for rice (?!), which featured its own mascot character as well: a dog whose head is a bowl filled with rice. Creepy, yet cute. But still creepy. We stopped by Tokyo Station to grab dinner at a restaurant inside on Kitchen Street, one of the many areas I found when I explored earlier in the week. I couldn’t remember how I got there the day before, which I felt bad about since all of us were pretty zombified at that point, but they didn’t seem to want to kill me. I’m glad there are vending machines that sell mango juice. Over dinner, I recalled a joke my brother told me. He used to work in an optometry lab, and part of his job involved grinding lenses for glasses: “The other day I was grinding a new pair of lenses, and my hand got stuck in the lens grinder.” ::insert quiet anticipation:: “. . . I made a spectacle of myself.” ::insert groan:: Shelley responded, “I will eat too much and make a spectacle of myself!” I replied, “No, but you be fool.” - - - - - -The Bards are playing a show in Chicago next week, July 15th, at Silvie's Lounge. 1902 W. Irving Park Rd. Doors open at 8, we open the show at 8:30. Cover's $3, though it's subject to change. The other two bands performing will be Controllar and Seeking Wonderland. 21+ show. -Bards are also featuring at the Heartland Cafe on August 20th. 7000 North Glenwood. The open mic starts at 10:00 PM, and we should be playing at some point between 11 and 12. Cover's $3, all ages. -The work week has been long, shooting some content for the National Center for Education Research. Just as soon as I became adjusted to waking up at normal hours (after getting up around 3:30 or 5 AM), I have to be up for 6 and 7 AM call times. Some days lasted 11, 12 hours, though I'm starting to feel much better. The boss just got back from vacation in good spirits, and it was nice to talk about what every other country is doing better than us. Seen: Batman: Gotham Knight Read: Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, July 6th, 2008
4:24 pm	Harajuku Girls 6/15 The weather was a perfect combination of sun and breeze. At 7 AM there was little activity outside, save a few people walking their dogs. In spite of my exhaustion, my body refused to have normal sleep. Might as well explore. I was tired but high-functioning. There were three Indian places within almost two blocks of each other. I passed by several AM PM's and other convenience stores, a handful of cake shops and coffee houses, burger joints, a 100 yen store, and also found a park just to the northeast. There was even a foot massage walk near a playground area, which I would have done if there weren't early-morning walkers already using the space. The rest of the town began to stir. I followed a few towards a set of stairs that led to a shrine I had completely missed the previous evening. The area was bustling at this point, and I later found out this is called the Suitengu Shrine, dating back to the 12th century. Dog statues sat near a covered sitting area, and people were lining up for . . . something. I never found out what (how climactic). I craved curry, but the stand I went to wasn't serving any in the morning. The man behind the counter was extremely apologetic, so I bought a sandwich instead. That's something I still miss about this country - everyone I interacted with was polite and courteous, at least to what I could understand. On the other hand, even if it feels perfectly normal when someone greets you as you enter every single shop, in the States it’s almost off-putting to receive an overly-enthusiastic “HELLO!!!!” if you go into a store. Directly in front of the hotel was a small park in between two one-way streets, with a small sitting/smoking area. The table sat under the shade of trees, and no one else decided to join me. Shelley and Johanna wouldn't get in until later that evening, so the entire day was free of company. I took the train across town to Harajuku. The JR line stops right in front of Takeshita street, one of the main sites of Harajuku, but I arrived too early. Most of the store fronts were closed, with a few people milling about. I watched the streets wake up. Workers shouted outside their stores for hours, trying to get you to come in. Stores and stalls intertwined, and the stock and clientele showed why this was considered one of the top fashion districts in the world. I walked to Shibuya, a relatively short distance away, wandering the scenery for an afternoon. For the first time in a while I bought myself some clothes (read: t-shirts). I sometimes wish I were more stylish a dresser, but my sense of personal style is somewhat limited by the fact that I hate spending money on clothes. Exploring Tokyo Station on the way back, I got lost, but I was meaning to. There was a Ghibli store which threatened to take all of my money, along with other stores of various television stations, selling merchandise related to their programming. I returned to the hotel to wait for Shelley and Johanna. I still had a few hours to kill with TV. I was somewhat surprised at the prevalence of actors and actresses I recognized from ads and other shows - I don't know why I was surprised, but I guess it's because I've seen relatively few J-dramas in comparison to what exists. Great Teacher Onizuka was going to be a guest star on a cooking show. Sojiro's actor in Hana Yori Dango appeared in a Cybershot commercial. Chiaki's actor endorsed cell phones. Wallace and Gromit was on one of the stations, dubbed. It's such a visually driven show, you don't need to know the language at all to understand. I was about to fall asleep, struggling to stay awake - Shelley and Co. were later than I expected, and when the room phone rang I must have jumped a foot. Turns out they just arrived and were in their room, two floors directly above mine. Shelley was here! Same Shelley. Smiling, brown hair tied back. It had been over two years since we had last seen each other. Time flies. Time's weird. - - - - - -I have never been to Taste of Chicago, but I had more than a decent excuse to attend this year - Niels and Madeline, friends from NU and now residents of St. Louis, were in town for the 4th and I was done earlier than anticipated from a recording session. The result: mango and cumin dusted fries, samosas, fried mozzarella cheese sticks, potato pierogis, the largest slice of watermelon I've ever had in my life, a chocolate covered banana, cheesecake, and italian ice. My lips were stained red as well as my arm from watermelon juices, like I was just cut, only not. Niels has been making himself comfortable in a new city, it seems, and Madeline will be performing in L'Elisir d'Amore next week, the same opera we had recently shot but of a different group. -Barbecue dinner and sushi are delicious things on their own, but I don't think go quite as well together as I'd originally thought. Jamie H. celebrated her birthday this past Saturday evening, where I was able to combine shrimp nigiri sushi and a hamburger. Gameworks was afterwards, where I was randomly met by Stephen M., Amy, and Ron, along with Craig, and Chris, as a part of their cosplay documentary. Drinks were watered down. Time Crisis 4 had a broken gun and bad calibration. Friends and skee ball made up for that lack. -After waiting for 11 months since it was originally supposed to be released, Goodsmile finally released their Gohkin Tachikoma. It was worth every day of delay. It came with a die-cast fully poseable body, articulated Kusenagi and accommodating cockpit with detailing, alternate gatling gun and armor details, and the always evolving AI at the ready. ( More tachi goodness ) Seen: The Last King of Scotland Wanted Read: Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
6:43 am	Akiba Drift 6/13-14 Ear popping has never been that much of a bother. It's like when you hold your breath and you know you aren't in any real danger, but your body relishes in being able to breath again. I had a window seat, which wasn't a problem since I only had to get up once during the thirteen hour flight. Long hours of sitting at work must have made good conditioning for time travel. Thursday evening, my last day in the States, I slept uncommonly well. I awoke at 6:30, remembering none of my dreams, and finished packing and cleaning so I'd be able to face whatever crowds lay ahead at O'Hare, not to mention come home to a clean apartment. If New Jersey was any indication, when I had to travel for Johnson & Johnson, I might have quite the wait. I was relieved to see that wasn't the case. Better to get there an hour and a half early than to miss the flight. That's what books are for. A large gaijin group with the same maroon colored shirts took over most of the entrance gate. Family reunion? Martial artists? School group? Exchange program? Church group? Their identity never surfaced, since the writing on their shirts was small and I had no desire to conspicuously look. I didn't fall asleep during takeoff as I sometimes do. I wasn't anxious, per se - the only way I can describe it is some kind of reserved excitement. Don't want to spoil the thrill too early. Was I actually on my way to Japan? The idea felt ludicrous - what am I doing? Shelley, a friend from Northwestern who was out a year before me, originally proposed the trip as a last hurrah before she began law school. I was due for a vacation, though I was hesitant at first about committing. It would be a lot of money. Five years prior I went to Tokyo, Kyoto, and Fuji-san with some relatives as a gift since my aunt was there on business. Couldn't I go somewhere else new? The main selling point for me was that up to this point I have never taken a vacation without my family. Granted, I've made many weekend trips going around the States, but I would hardly count these. I could finally take a lengthened stay away from home with some good friends. I couldn't wait to meet up with Lauren S. as well, a good friend from Cincinnati, who was teaching English in Suzuka. Jamie and Todd had to bail, unfortunately, and in their place was Shelley's sister, Johanna. I was also looking forward to the days I would be spending alone, getting lost in metropolitan forests and underground cities. Most of the flight was relatively quiet. I don't talk to others a lot on flights, and if I do it's often brief. Fortunately it isn't that hard to strike up a conversation when the woman sitting next to you is reading Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Revelation. The hotel stood in an area called Ningyocho, right next to some nestled residential areas. Right outside the station exit was a store featuring a giant glasses-bearing cartoon face, with "MEGANE BASUTAA" written below. Glasses buster. Cute. There were a number of noodle stands, curry houses, and the iconic McDonald's. I didn't reach the area until around 7 PM, Saturday, after an hour-long train ride and navigating Tokyo's subway system, and even though I could have slept right then, I had a mission: continue the tradition of going to Akihabara on the first night while completely jet-lagged. That'll be a good wake up call. The recent stabbings that took place in Akiba were on my mind, and they still remained ever-present in Japan's consciousness. On a corner of the main drag, closer to the train station, was a memorial with a large pile of flowers, tea, and other offerings in memory of the deaths that took place less than a week before I arrived. There were always a few standing pedestrians, praying, placing flowers, or taking photographs. Metal Gear Solid 4's release had prompted almost every single LCD display at every store to run its trailer continuously. There was a life-size old snake statue outside one shop, crouching, daring you to not buy a PS3 MGS4 bundle. I passed. Arcade music and sound effects were deafening, and some floors filled wall-to-wall with Virtua Fighter 5 cabinets smelled too much like con-funk. UFO catchers were filled with Haruhi merch and plushies three times the size of my head. Vending machines beckoned on every block. Teenagers stood around sidewalk edges, eating in front of takeout stands, and maid cosplayers handed out advertisements for their cafes and other restaurants. I hadn't eaten anything since the last in-flight snack, whatever it was, but I felt a bit too overwhelmed to start attempting the language. Buying some tea from a back alley, I thought better of it and placed it at the memorial. - - - - - -Neil C. introduced me to a local restaurant called Cinners, a CINCINNATI CHILI place. Not 100% the same, but a passable 85-90% recreation. The texture was a bit too dry but the flavor made me feel back in Cinci for a brief part of the evening. -JAD, the triple birthday barbecue bonfire celebration over this past weekend, was a blast, minus the fact that Adam K. could not come due to obligations like, oh, working at his new job in California with EA. Some well-mannered kids thought it would be a good idea to blast bleach water over the fence at us. Yeah, that was cool. Food and company was needed and welcome. -Lots to say about MGS4. There is not as much gameplay as I would have liked, though I love what they *did* have. It's very ridiculous. Bosses as characters are worse than MGS3, which is pretty bad, but at least 3 didn't pretend that they had a significant backstory with drawn out explanations. Seen: Caught up on Battlestar Galactica Season 4 Wall-E Beaten: Metal Gear Solid 4 (13 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 24th, 2008
9:05 pm	Club Nowhere [The Ginza shopping and entertainment district] 6/22 Katakana flickered among other Japanese and English neon signs, love hotel letters lining the back alleys of Shibuya. There were two options - "rest" or "stay," and I imagined flustered youth rummaging through pockets and coins on late nights and weekend afternoons. The club's building was gray, very reflective of the day consisting of non-stop rain, and my shoes were wet from walking over the previous ten hours. Cherbourg couldn't hold a candle to the crowds crossing the roads that night, the precipitation preventing none of the well-dressed and fashionable of Tokyo from breaking out the stilettos and miniskirts over wet brick, pavement, and hillsides. T-rexes were in full force. Boyfriends carried purses and umbrellas. Girlfriends carried boyfriends. Earlier in the evening, I was approached by a black man in Shinjuku. "What's up?!" Sounded like he had a Jamaican accent, and he wanted to shake my hand. The side street was entirely lit and there were people walking all around. No worries. My umbrella was in my other hand, though, and its spokes were at eye level for someone taller than me. Just in case. This guy was tall. He asked, "How would I like a nice Japanese girl?" No, thanks. No trouble. "Going home to one right now," I wanted to say, but my wit was ten seconds behind. Fortunately, he didn't push any further. The club's logo, Womb, sat plainly on the side of the building. A man with an umbrella welcomed and nodded to me, opening its nondescript off-white doors. Racks of umbrellas were already becoming full even if it was relatively early in the evening, and I threw mine in the corner, hoping it wouldn't get lost in the evening melee of club-goers. A woman sat at a nearby table. "Konbanwa." No, I was not on the guest list. I had my ID checked for the first time since I left the airport in this country. The walls were lined with rows and rows of coin lockers, 300 yen, though I was glad I had nothing to put in them. My backpack had already become wet from the rain, stored at my hotel, and my main luggage was safely tucked away in a locker at Tokyo Station. This was my last night in town and I wouldn't have had room for it in the capsule hotel. Spiral stairs stood ahead, and I could hear the music become louder as I approached their red glow. This was my first time there, but it wasn't the first time I saw the place. The first time, it was courtesy of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarrito, director of Amores Perros and 21 Grams, in his movie Babel. One of its stories follows a deaf Japanese girl who at one point goes to this club, surrounded by hundreds of bodies, lights, energy, and sweat, switching to moments completely void of sound and abruptly cutting with another contrasting scene. It was my favorite scene that I remember. When I first looked up the club, I just wanted to find a place considered good, and it happened to be where they filmed. A++. The Japanese seem to like their G&T's. It was on the top of their drink list, which was the same as another bar in Shinjuku called Hub's. An English pub. Almost felt like home, minus the broadcasted soccer match and the yelling fans. I can't believe America's just not that into soccer. A gigantic disco ball hung from the ceiling, the biggest I've ever seen, and a large screen taking up the entire wall behind the DJ illuminated the stage with some crazy visualizer stuff, cutting with the beat. The crowd was not thick, not as you'd probably imagine, but there was a crowd and almost everyone was dancing (minus the smokers in back). That's what I really noticed - at so many places in the states, sure you have a lot of people dancing, but rarely is the whole crowd together, or the guys are just nodding their heads while watching dancers with flat stomachs paid by the club. All the guys here were just as into it, jumping, clapping, having a genuine good time without the call of booty. The lack of white too-cool frat boys and preps was more welcome than the lack of smoke would have been. I couldn't stay long since I had to leave for my flight the next morning, and I wanted to make it before the last train. It was still raining. - - - More Japan trip stuff to come. Other things: -Sigma Phi Kappa Production's Doctor Who audio dramas are now online, complete with cast interviews!! Hard to believe we've been approached about it after over five years of having made the first, and a huge thanks to the webmaster for hosting them. If you're into Doctor Who, please give them a listen! Or if not, still listen to them! They definitely get better, though you have to suffer through my horrible English accent: http://botcherbys.wordpress.com/ Seen: Caught up on Doctor Who [new series] Season 4 Caught up on Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 3 Read: Blade of the Immortal: Badger hole, Hiroaki Samura Little Brother, Cory Doctorow The Diamond Age, Neal Stephenson Fragile Things, Neil Gaiman Hiroshima, John Hersey Lamb - The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, Christopher Moore (19 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 10th, 2008
7:58 am	Bookends Theme (Reprise) I left work early on Thursday so I could hit up Anime Central that afternoon - traffic towards the Hyatt (or should I say, O'Hare) was horrendous, and there was a car obviously bound for the convention stuck on the side of the road, five minutes from their destination. I was filled with that inexplicable high that can only be obtained when the convention is in sight, and it was nice to not have a 5+ hour drive where my arrival is more one of weariness. It felt like I met a lot more confolk this year than last. Evenings consisted of great conversations and great music with even greater people, and I pulled an all-nighter on Saturday. It's especially gratifying to be able to sit down and talk with people I've known for years but never went much beyond a conversation that consisted of "Hey!" and "Bye!" Huge thanks to EVERYONE who was able to come and check out our show on Saturday as well as our stage at the Hyatt. I know there are a lot of you I didn't get a chance to see/talk to beyond the stage - but we shall meet again! I can't remember a time when my feet have felt worse than they did during the following week. Cons: -Flight delays at O'Hare wreaked havoc on room reservations at the Hyatt. I'm so used to just going to the front desk and checking in at any other convention within five minutes that I didn't expect it to take three, four hours this time around. -Was able to acquire some of the Bards' badges on Thursday evening, but was told to wait an hour or two for the rest. They never came, and it wasn't until maybe six hours later in the A.M. I found someone on staff who told me the machines were actually broken and I was wasting my time. I played the most ridiculous game of talking to A who said to talk to B, who then said to talk to A, only add more letters. -Even though we had asked and were expecting a PA system for our instruments at the Charity Masquerade Ball and a tech to run the board, something got lost in the fray of communication and we were only brought a system with two inputs and no mixing board. At least we had it for the duration of the evening and made use of it for our vocalists. -Finding a Perfect Piece Tachikoma in the dealer's room this year but not buying it because I'm waiting for the release of the Goodsmile company's Gohkin Tachikoma that is 500% more cool than the Perfect Piece figure (Okay, not really a con, but to think if it was there last year)! -Spending a lot of time and energy moving all of our equipment to the Embassy Suites, Sofitel hotel, and the Hyatt all throughout the weekend. Pros: -Meeting Kenichi Sonoda (!!!!!!!!!!!!! but I was too shy to say anything >.<) -Our stage for playing in the Hyatt on Saturday was the same location as last year, with the addition of tables and chairs for the crowd. It is still a fantastic location and I'm so glad that Will and Beryl were able to pull through for us. -The Charity Masquerade Ball still went well with a lot of people staying to the very end, and I hope this continues for years to come. -We were able to use a van from the con for transporting our equipment which made everything go a lot more smoothly. -Huge kudos to the guest relations staff, as everyone was treated very well and I heard lots of good things from the other Bards. -Party at Eric P. and Jamie S.'s room Thursday night which warded off some of my bitterness. -Party at Barb's on Friday night. -Even though our concert on Saturday was at the Sofitel hotel and was in conflict with the masquerade contest, we were still able to pack the room and put on an awesome show! -Jen B.'s a jawa?!?! -Huge thanks to Kevin/Stillvision for his formal and informal photoshoots with us. -Finding a SIGNED DOUJINSHI by Yoshitoshi ABe: -Dinner on Saturday night at Red Lobster - we came maybe a half an hour before closing, but the staff there were wonderful and we gave them very good tips. When I walked in and told them we had 19 in our party they didn't believe us at first. - - - This past weekend was the Printer's Row Book Fair downtown - it was amazing!! There were booksellers from all around the city, and I was so glad Heidi B. invited me down. Neil C. also came and we drowned ourselves in wonderful wonderful books. There were, fortunately, no Vashta Nerada. I picked up a few books on the cheap including this comic adaptation of George R. R. Martin's Sandkings for four bucks! I also dropped by Barnes and Noble with Jer last night where I found a signed copy of Cory Doctorow's Little Brother! Woo! See you all in a couple weeks. Seen: Avatar: The Last Airbender Season Two Read: Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy, John le Carre Sandkings, George R. R. Martin American Born Chinese, Gene Luen Yang (12 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008
10:39 pm	Out Tonight The weeks surrounding Anime Central were also incredibly busy, but I got to direct and I like being surrounded by monitors. Yes, I'm wearing two pairs of headphones. We also finally submitted some more programming for the Big Ten Network. In addition to the three shoots in three days pre-Acen, an opera, and furiously getting projects done, I've been running around the city. There was a free concert at Millennium Park, which they've been holding on Memorial Day weekend for the past couple years, and there was no way I could pass up the opportunity to hear a 50 cello ensemble performing The Beatles and Radiohead, or a saxophone orchestra performing Rhapsody in Blue! It wasn't until a little before the concert that I realized NUSO was there, which included the pianist we had interviewed for one of our latest projects. Jamie H.'s friend Jesse was in town visiting her, and I saw a lot of her, Jamie, and Todd throughout the past week. I was woken up on Saturday by them, asking if I wanted to join them in Chinatown for Dim Sum. This is a silly question. That evening was also a party at Jamie S.'s since she recently moved into the city (Yay!!!!!!), as well as meeting up with some barhopping NU friends afterwards. I'm surprised I was still able to go out, after a previous night of Dave & Buster's for Julia W.'s 21st birthday and then heading to Sound-Bar for Lesley W.'s 24th. In short, you people are incredible, and I have no idea what I am going to do for my birthday next week since it's on a Wednesday (those nights are always booked at the Heartland), and I can't celebrate in the city the following weekend because I am going to be in Japan for vacation until the 23rd. I think I am going to have a post-bday party. Any suggestions? Unrelated - Heidi B. is a good cook. Seen: Next Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Pi Flag [complete series] Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 1 (13 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
8:22 am	Cinco de Chocobo More relevant things first - I'll be at the Hyatt for Acen on Thursday evening. The Bards will be providing music for the charity masquerade ball again this year, which should begin around 7:00 PM Friday (the dancing lessons, that is), and then the dance itself commencing around 8:00 and lasting until around 11:00. There are definitely tickets left, and the more who reserve tickets now, the higher the chances that they can get a larger ballroom at the Embassy Suites for the event. We'll also be performing an hour-long concert which is to take place at the Sofitel hotel (yes, Acen is spreading itself out over four buildings now). That's around 7:30-8:30 Saturday, which to my understanding is in conflict with the masquerade contest. But if you're not attending that, please come!! Pleaseplease!! With that aside - A couple weeks ago I visited home in Cincinnati. My brother was in town on spring break from Ross University where he's going for vet school, my grandparents were still in town from PA, and my aunt Tina from New Jersey was also in the area - my parents were like, "VISIT!" So, why not? I drove in after work on Friday, but instead of going straight home, I made a lengthened detour in Clifton to meet up with Malik, Karen, and Leah. After brunch with the family the following morning, I drove downtown to meet up with my brother, David, and some high school friends for BOTCON, which is a huge deal in the transformers world. David is a huge fan, and while I'm not, I picked up enough that I knew I could go and have a good time. I ended up unexpectedly running into some other con friends, such as Trevor, and even Lara S. who I knew from the UC anime club - her daughter's walking now! Time's crazy. But what really struck me on Saturday afternoon was as I pulled out of my driveway to go downtown. Everything was so green, green, flowing lush green over a strip of blue, which I haven't seen in almost a year and a half. My area's filled with woods, and Spring was in full force, quite unlike up here where we managed to have snow less than a month ago. I still had my jacket on from habit but that didn't bother me. I welcomed the heat, especially the sauna of my car as I stepped into it. After a movie with the family and Jacqueline, who is most likely my second longest friend ever in the world, Dave and I drove to Steve M.'s to record some dialogue for his latest project. Steve has been published as a co-author in two Star Trek books - the first being What's Past: The Future Begins, an ebook that's a part of the Starfleet Corps of Engineers series, and two short stories in Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Sky's the Limit. He's responsible, along with other friends in high school, for my interest in Battlestar Galactica, Babylon 5, Doctor Who, and who knows what else. In short, he is awesome. That night we continued the adventures in Rhenus Coldanus Exploring the Universe, a series of audio dramas that Steve has been working on over the past several years. This time around I played the part of a brusk, direct-speaking ensign as well as a ratty criminal underling. Chris T. was unable to make it to join the recording, which was disappointing since he recently returned from a trip doing medical missionary work in Sudan. For those that are unfamiliar, some history (apologies to those that already know): I was part of a group that founded my high school's science fiction club, which apparently grew to heights we never knew during our high school career after we had left. If I'm to leave any kind of legacy, I would guess that a successful sci-fi club would be a satisfactory one! Especially one that still keeps all of our original paperwork, constitution, and traditions. The club's weekly activities soon led to other activities outside of the school, which began with the man most of us only know as the Doctor. Steve wrote a script, and with his producing, directing, and sound-editing skills we had a feature-length audio drama production on our hands. It was our first. It showed. But Doctor Who and the Moons of Zorbos, the result of some inside jokes and Steve's wordsmith hocus pocus, was a start for Sigma Phi Kappa Productions (as we dubbed ourselves) and it led to two more Doctor Who dramas, four Star Trek adventures, and one Star Wars production (http://www.starwarsfanworks.com/betrayed.html) that was a prequel to a fan-film I made during our senior year. It's a shame he doesn't keep up the SPK website, but I don't entirely blame him with the rest of life going on, and the rest of life going on with the rest of us. Even now, though, the past has managed to catch up with us, and I recently got a message from Steve that a Doctor Who fan blog that concentrates on audio dramas has contacted him with an interest to host our dramas from oh so many years ago, and perhaps conduct a few interviews as well. Anyway, Steve then went in the direction of original audio dramas, which involved him and other writers who contributed stories that followed the adventures of a space explorer named Rhenus Coldanus. He's produced three CD compilations of short-form episodes, with I think at least three or four to come. I've been doing a bit of music for him, and I hope to do more as long as he wants it and I can bring myself to finally make more use of my keyboard. It feels good to sit down at my non-computer keys with another sense of purpose. I've honestly degraded a lot when it comes to piano, and while I'd prefer at least an upright, plastic's better than nothing. Several weeks ago, instead of playing at the Heartland Cafe as I usually do every Wednesday, the open mic show moved down a block to another place called the No Exit Cafe (only for the one week, though). They had an upright there, and it was irresistible. I played the one Ben Folds song I was comfortable enough with playing, and even if I played horribly, I felt drunk. I was almost lightheaded, and I was giddily smiling like an idiot at Jon who was on hand percussion, feeling very much like a fool, but only the kind that a jester can be. Too free, too free, only being me and singing all silly and not drinking coffee. When I returned from Cincinnati, as a result of very late nights and early mornings filled with Crescent barking and the rest of the family milling about, I was running near empty. The rest of the week was a challenge, though I was able to recover by the time Saturday hit. I was woken up by a phone call from Eric P., asking about the Jonathan Coulton concert that evening. I wasn't planning on going since the Lakeshore Theater had sold out, but as fortunate had it, Eric had an extra ticket and I had cash. I had a GREAT time at the concert - in attendance was David K., Alex A., Ginny, and Matt from the Heartland as well, and I was surprised with myself for recognizing most of the music. David K. taught me well. I've had Skull Crusher Mountain stuck in my head ever since. I took a train straight afterwards to a club downtown - some fancy hip nightclub, Crobar. My friend Nancy C., who is amazing and responsible for my hair at any given time, was able to get us all in sans cover in celebration of the day of her birth. Christina C. showed up as well as a couple others, and there was much dancing. We were taking a break outside, and as I was walking out I don't know if I brushed my shoulder against someone or they tapped me, but I felt something so I turned and looked. It was dark and I couldn't see well, but it looked like that someone waved. Or maybe it was to someone else. Or maybe I was just making things up in my head. Or perhaps it was someone I knew (or knew me) and I was too busy concentrating on getting some fresh air to concentrate on something else for a brief second. So, in the off chance that you were that person at Crobar, Sorry! I've played more arcade DDR in the past week than I probably have collectively in the past year. My legs don't appreciate this. But I do. Seen: TMNT The Forbidden Kingdom Iron Man Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay Dr. Who [new series] Season Two Dr. Who [new series] Season Three Speed Racer Read: I. Asimov, Isaac Asimov Stardust, Neil Gaiman (11 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008
8:38 pm	Louie Louie I dreamed as if I were editing my dream through Final Cut Pro. This scares me but I also think is more than appropriate to describe the last couple weeks. >.< Well, at least when I wasn't traveling. We've never been to a con in Missouri, so it was a welcome change to go south instead of time-traveling towards the east as we're so used to. Their stage tech was the best we've had, and he did a great job helping us out and mixing during our performances - we played two concerts (one on Saturday, one on Sunday), had a "panel" on Friday taking requests, and a Q&A/Autograph panel on Saturday directly after our concert - I was surprised to find the room packed, and time went by too quickly when you have one question and twelve people to answer. It was a nice change to only perform concerts (as opposed to lobby jamming), and even after Friday evening I was tired from a couple hours of playing. During our performance of Tetris on Friday, which is primarily Song A, there's a break as Andrew does a solo of Song B - I usually turn and point to him at the start of the solo, and Dave was standing a lot closer behind me than I thought he was - I hit his guitar with my right index finger as I I turned, which in the first half second I thought whatever, but then the throbbing pain and intermittent numbness caught my attention and I looked down at a wound that may or not become a bleeding mess. That may or may not completely incapacitate my ability to play guitar, that may or may not completely make me unable to sing or perform in any other way due to the pain. I rushed off stage, getting Dave to cover for me, desperately seeking first aid and afraid of seeing what kind of damage was done. Fortunately, the pain subsided relatively quickly. At first I thought it was just a blood blister (which would have been more relieving), but it turned out that it was cut - I must have hit the taught portion of the high e string. It was a clean cut, though, and the skin that the string had gone through just stuck back into place and there wasn't too much bleeding. I bandaged it up but cut the band-aid (which will now forever have a double meaning) so that I could still strum and pluck. I couldn't play as well, but I could play, and that's what mattered. After dinner on Friday I checked out the dance, but was only in the back of the room for about a minute. Several woman who must have been in their forties or so were glancing inside, and it was obvious they weren't there for the convention - turns out it was one of their birthdays and they had a party in another part of the hotel. The were playing the chacha song, and one of the women turns to me and said, "Will you be my date?" Me: "Uh . . . sure!" so we danced and they were just having fun, having no idea at all what was going on around them. Now that I think back on it, that could have been really creepy (especially if I was a woman and they were a bunch of 40, 50 year old guys) but fortunately it wasn't. Saturday evening, all of us went out for dinner at a nearby hibachi grill restaurant, joined by a handful of others including Crystina. It's always interesting meeting someone outside of a con, outside of costume. Who is that gorgeous person waving at me? Oh wait. Right. A friend of hers had a birthday that night, so we separated from the group for another party. Eventually the rest of the con died down and I jammed a bit in the hallway with Jer and Chris. Even though the weekend was fantastic I wasn't feeling too hot on Sunday. I think it was an early form of post-con depression, especially since it was chilly and there was light rain (which I normally find pleasant but not when it's chilly). The parking lot cheered me up, however: Thing I didn't know before this year: Grapefruits are called such because they grow in clusters like grapes. How did I not know this before?! Anime Punch was quite a departure from Anime St. Louis. I had a shoot on Friday night so I was unable to get out of work, so I couldn't head out of the city until around 10 PM - it's strange enough to miss the Friday of a con, but it's even moreso when we've become accustomed to arriving Thursday Night/Friday morning. It was just Jon and I for the car ride, which was a welcome conversational trip. I wasn't at all looking forward to my personal schedule, since it looked something like this: Sunday: Leave con early in order to get some work done at the office in the evening for Monday morning Monday: 6:30 AM - 9:00 PM shoot Tuesday: 6:00 AM - 5:30 PM shoot That, combined with people who were not at the con who I expected to be there, missing Mike T's curry, and nearly losing my business card case which I just bought, put me in a rather sour mood for the weekend. I rarely talked on the mic as I usually do, and I felt didn't play as much as usual (though this was also because I missed an entire day). There were two highlights, however, and that was being able to see my family and grandparents who were coming through en route from Pennsylvania, and being able to hang out with Amanda, Natalie, and other friends of Jen B. who I rarely have the chance to talk with as they plied me with drink. It was a nice change for a conventional Saturday night. The drinks at the hotel bar were themed, which I must have missed the previous year - Red Comets, Black Jacks, Electric Pikachus, and La Blue Girls? I'm there. I haven't been spending enough time with the Bards socially. I think that had also been effecting my mood. This past Monday, I went down to Schuba's to see some of the Bards perform with our friend Aaron Ackerson. I'd never been down there before - the food was tasty, the company was better, and the music was great. I also went cosmic bowling for the first time ever, to celebrate Tina's new job along with Karmen, Jimmy, Lee, Jasper, and Rachel B (whose hair is now sexy orange, what!). First game, I was second place. Second game, I sucked. Now, I am somewhat sick. Time to drive to Cincinnati this weekend. Read: A Wind in the Door, Madeleine L'Engle A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Madeleine L'Engle Many Waters, Madeleine L'Engle An Acceptable Time, Madeleine L'Engle (24 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, March 24th, 2008
11:03 pm	Shooting Stars and Scorpions Happy Belated Easter! I celebrated by myself with some dim sum and half a platter of chicken chow mein washed down with a pot of tea. ::explodes:: Everything was, pleasantly, piping hot fresh. I was too eager when the food arrived - I immediately popped a shrimp dumpling in my mouth which was, unpleasantly, piping hot fresh. During work, a guy burst into our office looking around with a confused look. "It doesn't smell in here . . . " he said before leaving, and I was confused for another ten seconds before noxious fumes overcame us. There is computer lab outside of our office for students, and as we stepped out it smelled like an electrical fire or something that could surely produce a good dose of CO, and we had to evacuate. I bought Girl Scout Cookies for myself for the first time in almost five years (I got a couple boxes in care packages of past years but I'm not counting those. It's a totally different experience to exchange cash with a scout on the streets. An irresistible act of money throwing). There are three new cookies I had totally missed over the last year or two, one of which tasted like Teddy Grahams (yum!) Fact I didn't know before this year: I knew some Girl Scout Cookies go by different names depending on where you buy them (Tagalongs are Peanut Butter Patties in Ohio, Samoas are Caramel Delights, Do-Si-DOs are Peanut Butter Sandwiches, etc), but what I didn't know was that it depends on what baking company that makes them. Another fact I didn't know before this year: The first several lines to Simon and Garfunkel's "Only Living Boy in New York" are a direct reference to when Paul was in New York waiting for Art to finish his part in the film Catch-22. For anyone curious about current projects: We've recently shot a couple concerts with accompanying interviews to be shown on the Big Ten Network. My deadline's for the middle of April, so things will bit more under the wire than we're used to. The concerts themselves were great! One was a showcase of winners in a concerto competition, which will be my editing project: Violin Concerto in D Major (Brahms), Dances of Galanta (Kodaly), Trumpet Concerto No. 1 (Tamberg), and Rhapsody in Blue (Gershwin). The other concert was a faculty recital, which was cool to see since it's not often you get to see professors in that kind of limelight. I wasn't able to make the Final Fantasy: Distant Worlds symphony concert because our shoot time for Britten's opera composition of A Midsummer Night's Dream was moved to that evening (it was originally in the early afternoon). I was only on camera, and will probably not be doing post for it. Jen B. and her friends were still hanging out after the concert though so I got to hang out with them afterwards, yay! One of the things that makes me really appreciate my job though is being able to listen to various researchers and program forerunners, such as the Oncofertility Consortium. Last Friday was the first day I had in a long time where I could just sit down and edit all day, this time a series of videos demonstrating extraction of ovarian follicles. The purpose of the program is extremely interesting - there is very much a lack of service for patients who become infertile from cancer treatment who want fertility-preserving options. This program is an initiative to develop and teach ovary cryopreservation (as well as programs for males but the current focus is on women). I'm amazed by this stuff: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oncofertility Every year, the School of Management does a review of advertisement during the Super Bowl, and I shot/edited a series of quick Q&A's with professors shortly before this past Super Bowl discussing Super Bow XLIl advertising - interesting if you're into marketing and advertisement trends: http://nuamps.at.northwestern.edu/screenroom/feature_archives/jan2008feat.html The Atom Smashers which I did some work for, for 137 FIlms, got accepted into a film festival in Madrid (I think it's the Madrid International Documentary Film Festival)!! Woo! You can view a trailer for it here: http://137films.org/films/theatomsmashers/trailer.php I shot a performance for Corpo Dance Company last year and I was asked again to do a show this past month - entitled "B-Sides," at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts. They are still performing there on the 28th and 29th of March. Bard/music related: The Bards played at a Gamestop for the midnight launch of Super Smash Brothers Brawl! The district manager used to be in a rock band and seemed to like us. The rest of the crowd also got into some of the songs though, understandably, were in much more of a hurry to get their copy of the game! I spent an afternoon in Guitar Center, trying out various amps, and decided on a Line 6 Spider III 30w amp, which I'm happy with so far but need to try out in a live situation. The box amused: We're going to be in St. Louis this weekend to play a couple concerts at Anime St. Louis. It'll be our first time in the area - I hope we can generate some new fans! Seen: Nana the movie Nana 2 Be Kind, Rewind The Atom Smashers Death Note the movie Death Note: The Last Name My Sassy Girl Read: White Fang, Jack London Blade of the Immortal: The Sparrow Net, Hiroaki Samura Catch-22, Joseph Heller A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle (34 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, February 28th, 2008
10:32 pm	Blue Roses Falling Work has been more busy than usual. One day I wasn't able to sit down and eat lunch until 7:30, and we had three shoots in three days this past week which equaled lots of overtime. It's all for the better, though. One of my coworkers moved to San Francisco and I've since taken over his position - salary and benefits included, which has been a significant improvement. I'm a true サラリーマン now. When filling out the necessary paperwork for the new position, I couldn't help but notice that in the section where they ask for your ethnicity/race, there was no "other" section. Back in the days of standardized tests I never really knew what to put for these sections, and would usually put down Asian. And then I'd feel guilty because that's not altogether true, so would sometimes mark down White. Both weren't false, but they weren't true, and it just never made sense to me that whoever makes these forms hasn't caught on yet that not everyone fits into these categories. I'm multiracial, dammit. What year is it, again? For the past month or two I've been feeling generally down - to the point that Pete who co-hosts the Heartland open mics even noticed it one night. I had weekends where I was not even in the mood to go out - though much like New Year's was always glad that I did - and I think it's somewhat let up nowadays. I finally figured out why - throughout all of college, even though I never had a roommate, I always lived next to friends. Whenever I returned to my room, there would almost always be someone whose room I could drop by for an impromptu hangout. Even in gradeschool and high school I could always pester my brother. Nowadays, besides work, I come home and that's the end of my daily face-to-face contact. The internet and my phone don't work as substitutes. I've been feeling better once I realized that, I think. That aside, I accidentally locked myself out of my apartment which was definitely the highlight of my competence. When asking a neighbor for a phone so I could call emergency maintenance, I found out they're gamers and spent the evening (while waiting) talking about FFX. Yay. A&G Ohio definitely was not as bad as it could have been - our concert went really well, there was an audience all throughout the weekend, and for once I didn't have to ask for our compensation before leaving. However, it could have been a lot better - Ronnie was forgotten at the airport and I had to rush around to find out what was going on, and there was a similar repetition of events on Sunday. This is inexcusable and irresponsible to the nth degree, but in the end things worked out. The University of Chicago holds an annual one day convention which I've attended the past two years, playing music with Jer. One of the things I love about the con is that the students who run it take a much more academic approach towards Japanese animation, manga, and culture. They've brought in professors from out of town to give lectures on various subjects, from discussing a textual analysis of Paranoia Agent and the visual and political dynamics in Blood: The Last Vampire to discussing the expressions of Japanese interest in Korea post the "Korean Wave" - some really fascinating stuff. They also screen films that are relatively obscure or difficult to come by within the convention scene, or even just the anime scene, which is an incredible breath of fresh air. This year, I was the only Bard who was able to attend, but I had a good time anyway. It feels more bard-like anyway to travel to an unfamiliar campus and be given food in exchange for songs and stories. Due to a work conflict I am no longer able to attend the Final Fantasy: Distant Worlds concert that's happening this Saturday. I was pretty disappointed when I found out, but in the end I'm not too miffed since I've seen most of this music performed already. I just hope I don't miss out much on any post-concert festivities. In the meantime I've been visiting long-missed friends and others have visited here, and I've been trying to fill my weekends to make up for the weekdays' lack of social interactions. Lost continues to frustrate, I made mapo tofu for the first time, and I don't know if I'll be able to see Yo Yo Ma in March as I've planned. I'm also attempting to perfect a Kawasaki rose: Seen: Bubblegum Crisis (original OVA - not the reimagined 2040 TV series) Firefly series with Commentary Nodame Cantabile (live action) - full series + specials Sunshine Read: Smoke and Mirrors - Neil Gaiman Call of the Wild - Jack London (14 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, January 27th, 2008
1:38 pm	This is much belated, but I must post my obligatory annual Awesome Family Christmas Picture: You can't see it in this picture, but my little cousin on the top right with the grey shirt has a pink Nintendogs DS behind the cousin in front of her. She was playing it between shots. I'm so proud. I spent about a week around Christmas with my family in Cincinnati, most of which was spent eating lots of family lunches and dinners at my grandparents' house. It seems I always get to learn something new - I knew someone in the extended family owned a restaurant in San Francisco, but I never knew its name. Apparently it's Yank Sing, owned/managed by a second cousin - http://www.yanksing.com. They serve Dim Sum EVERY DAY, and they also have their own brand of chili sauce which we use at home in Ohio. Around 10 each night, I'd take off to spend some much-needed time with friends around the area. I decided to come back to Chicago before Near Year's Eve, since honestly the last thing I wanted to do on New Year's Day was to drive all the way back home (possibly through enormous amounts of snow). I think I made the right decision - a storm blew by on New Year's Eve and the roads were sloshed. I stayed inside most of the day, not feeling too great at all, since I missed a lot of people from back in Ohio, knew I'd probably be one of the only single guys at the party I wanted to go to (yes, I think of these things every now and then), and I think for once the weather was getting to me. The room below me isn't another heated apartment - it's the concrete bike room, which doesn't generally help my feet in the evening hours. But I knew I wouldn't feel any better if I stayed in, so I trudged down my street's iced sidewalks, and surprisingly found out the El was free that night. YES. Spirits immediately raised. Alice P. was the evening's gracious hostess, and I was greeted upon arrival by playing as Jackie Chan on WarioWare: Smooth Moves for the Wii. It was the first New Year I've spent where the NYC ball dropping didn't ring in the new year - but I was fine with that. I knew a few of the people at the party (Alice, Alex A., Eric P., and Jamie S., primarily, plus a handful of others) but at one point there was an explosion of newcomer strangers. After a lot of the crowd had left, we found a box of what looked like Chinese takeout (or leftovers), but noone knew whose it was. We were hungry. Then it was gone. There was some good conversation, though by the end of the evening it became a waiting game of When Eric Will Feel Better To Get Off the Couch. The last thing I wanted to do was walk to the El, so I caught a taxicab with an extremely talkative Italian driver. Normally I hate it when drivers are overly talkative, but for once I was thankful - I would have probably fallen asleep immediately if he wasn't. The following weekend was Ohayocon - literally, within ten seconds of stepping out of my car in the Convention Center parking garage, a guy yelled from down the lot when the Bards would be performing. Whoops. "Sorry, we're not!" was all I could reply. Thirty seconds after that, a car drove by full of people who asked the same question. That weekend marked one of the first conventions in years that I've attended without performing music. I did bring my guitar, but that was more for within the privacy of hotel rooms with friends. I didn't leave until Friday afternoon after work, so I got in quite late, but not late enough to go out. Though even with all of the free time I had to hang out with friends and relax, it STILL wasn't enough. Some highlights: -Heading to Momo's Friday night to karaoke with Natalie B. and Anne K. Much like the karaoke bar I went to in Chicago they had a decent selection of Japanese, Chinese, and other foreign music (in addition to the usual English), and we were later joined by a slew of OSU folk. -Staying with Ashley N. and Company, even if I only got to see them for a brief amount of time at the con. <3. -Their amazing Phoenix Wright group. -Meeting Ali and Jesse. -Meeting up with Malik and Anne/Weifei to head to the North Market, a two-level space full of food and merchandise stalls and kiosks, where I fulfilled my mission to pick up some CaJohns awesome-hot sauce for my coworkers (and later joined my parents for lunch on Sunday). There were also some amusing signs there: -Hanging out with Jen B. and Co., drinking bad Vampire wine, and going to the rave. -Finally getting to hang out and chat with Amanda/Elemental. -Not getting food poisoning. -Marriage proposal between two friends. -Meeting Bekki's singing/songwriting friend, and jamming with her in the Drury's lobby. -Getting to see so many friends, however brief. You know who you are. I want to see you more often. The week directly after Ohayocon was Pokettokon, a small two-day con in Peoria that had expanded from its one-day event the previous year. The staff was very good to us, and due to an extra room that staff ended up not using at our hotel, we had three rooms all to ourselves! Woo! They had another musical guest in attendance, known as Random (http://kotaku.com/gaming/rock-man.s-rap-man/capcom-gets-down-with-random-281270.php), who was pretty cool. He was there by himself so we invited him out to dinner with us on Saturday night, which was followed by a trip to a riverboat casino called Par-a-dice. Chris M. won twenty bucks with his first pull. Jer lost more than I did - not that it was much, really. Random, though he came out on top at the card tables. At the con itself I had a good time, even at such a small event. A heat wave ran through the city which caused all the snow to melt, freeing up traffic and paving the way for POT HOLES. One of which gave me a flat tire at 1 AM. Fantastic. This past week has felt really long. Monday was a 13.5 hour shoot day, which is kind of hard to recover from during the rest of the week. This morning felt amazing - I was buried under my covers, trying to decide if I felt awake enough to actually get up. I pulled them down from my head and sunlight poured into the room as I breathed in slightly cool air, and immediately took an amazing hot shower. The Bards are beginning to meet on a weekly basis. Took four years for this to happen. About time. Seen: Dennou Coil, complete series - LOVED the concept and first half of the series, though the second half departed from its slice-of-life storytelling. Fortunately it still answered the questions I had, though perhaps wrapped those up too nicely. The ending was very cute. The Dresden Files, complete series - I understand the outcry now upon this show's cancellation, though I feel it was more because of the vast potential this series could have eventually had. It was a little difficult to get into, but by the last several episodes I *wanted* to see where things could have eventually gone with a more overarching story. Planet Earth, complete series - amazing series. I don't think I've ever been so visually engrossed with a documentary. Thunderball - Classic Bond with classic horrible, horrible one-liners. The Final Cut - Like the concept at first though it became apparent as it went on that it's almost a flawed concept to begin with, to plant a chip in your progeny's brain that record everything it sees and hears. Robin Williams plays a cutter who then edits entire lives after their deaths. This could have gone a lot more ways than it did, and while i liked it, was disappointed with the directions it ultimately took. Enchanted -Very, very cute movie with some surprisingly clever jokes. Perhaps too saccharine-filled and kiddy for some, but I was pleasantly surprised. National Treasure 2 - Worse than the first and personally not as fun. One great part, though, was a Goofy cartoon they tacked on at the beginning that was done much in the tradition of old-school Disney cartoons (like how to ski, drive, etc.). What's Goofy trying to do this time? Setting up an HD television set. I think they should make a third movie called National Treasure: INTERNATIONAL TREASURE Robin-B-Hood - I almost forgot this movie existed, since it didn't get an American release. Jackie Chan plays a cat burglar who steals a baby (and Louis Koo is his partner in crime). It had a lot of potential but like a lot of contemporary Hong Kong movies, it's way too long, tries to go for too much plot, and extravagant set pieces that just seem to fall flat. Some of the jokes are genuinely funny, and Jackie still does some great personally dangerous stunt work (and of course has some great fight sequences). Sweeney Todd - I was really tired when I went out to see this, but I really wanted to hang out with the X guys. I'm glad I did, loved it, and can't get the song that Alan Rickman and Johnny Depp sing, "Pretty Women," out of my head. The Plague Dogs - This is an animated film from 1982 about two dogs who escape a testing laboratory. The first scene is of a drowning dog, which pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the film. It was gritty and depressing, but I LOVED it. Juno - This rode the line of trying to be too hip (and at some points I thought it did), and I was ultimately not surprised very much by the plot, but it was a very cool, almost sweet movie about an issue that could have been a horrendous downward spiral, but shows the importance of taking responsibility for your decisions and also what it means to be truly supportive parents. Persepolis - Based on the autobiographical comics about an Iranian woman who grew up during the Islamic Revolution, this is a French animated film that was co-directed by the original author. I liked this movie a lot, and it's refreshing to see other foreign animation in US theaters, especially ones with such serious yet poignant content. Cloverfield - I ended up liking this movie a LOT more than I originally did. I generally don't like/watch a lot of monster/horror/slasher films, and this film definitely bends that genre and tells it in a much different context. A lot of times my suspension of disbelief wavered back and forth because I would think - how would this really look on a handheld camera? Would someone even hold/show that? Why are they doing that? But what I truly appreciated is that it's not a film about a bunch of people making really stupid decisions and eventually getting killed off because of it. Read: I Am Legend (and other short stories) by Richard Matheson. I liked the movie (well, the vast majority of it at least), but the two are incomparable. The ending of the book is five million times better than the film, with an entirely different meaning given to the title. It takes the mythology of vampires and makes it a kind of science, as the main character (who is not the careful, calculating scientist that Will Smith's character is but is rather a chain-smoking drunk) self-educates himself on microbiology and virology, trying to figure out what makes the infected behave and react in the ways that they do. It's actually very cool, right down to explaining their fear of crosses, or in others' cases, a lack of fear. One strange thing was that the book didn't even say it contained other short stories, so I'm about 90 pages in, thinking I have so much more to go, and then flipped through and discovered there were about ten other short stories contained in the book! I didn't like any of them as much as the titled story, and a couple I just didn't like much since I'm generally not a very big fan of horror, but others were interesting and worthwhile. Dune, by Frank Herbert. Overall I loved the cultural immersion of this book, and I can see why it's considered such a classic. Yes, I liked it a lot. I didn't like, however, the lack of emphasis on certain characters that makes its climax . . . well, less climactic, and I still couldn't entirely buy the Bene Gesserit's plan of genetic manipulation - though I understand the culmination of the group as a special mentally trained/socio-political/religious influence, and liked the way all of these things are accrued, the mystical-like scenes sometimes felt less believable. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson. I got into this book so quickly, the entire adventure is a blur. Some criticize it for having character too two-dimensionally hip, with a story that's much too comic-book like, which I can see and somewhat agree with. But to me its pacing and characterization is far made up with its hilarious societal cyberpunk-filled fragmentation of America, and all I wanted to do is go 120 km/h down the highway to deliver pizzas for the mafia. (19 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, January 10th, 2008
6:32 pm	Magazines The Spoony Bards were mentioned in this past December and January issues of Newtype, during their con report section! ( Cut for your consideration ) It's more of a small blurb about us in the write-up for Tsubasacon, but Youmacon's is all about the music: It was one of the special moments of the anime convention season, an unexpected time when fans and professionals get together for a musical celebration. On the second day of the Youmacn convention in Michigan, the Spoony Bards fan ban was performing its versions of anime and video game theme songs. Fans were already delighted by the music in the lobby of the Hilton Hotel in Troy, but they got a wondrous shock when another group of musicians joined the Bards. Johnny Yong Bosch, dub voice of Vash the Stampede and former Power Ranger, brought his Eyeshine rock quartet to Youmacon, where they had headlined a Friday night concert. That opening night show was, for all fans knew, the only time they would have a chance to hear Bosch and his group play. But on Saturday evening, Eyeshine pushed through the lobby crowd, tuned up their instruments and started a jam session with the Bards. If that weren't enough for the fans, there was another unexpected musical moment in the lobby. Dub actor Caitlin Glass, a trained singer, stepped up to the vocalists' mic and started performing show tunes for the astonished audience, in one of the few times she's sung for anime fans at conventions. The only people at the Troy Hilton on Youmacon weekend who were as surprised as the lobby fans who witnessed the performance were the groups of youth hockey players who had a meeting at the hotel and couldn't believe the crowd of costumers. Despite competition on the first weekend of November from three other US anime conventions and the Reactor comics convention north of Chicago (a few hours' drive to the west), the third-year Youmacon grew so much that it nearly overstuffed the small hotel where it was held . . . and so on. Woo! Though I guess they didn't stick around for then Lemon Demon was with us. (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, January 7th, 2008
10:03 pm	Growing Up Growing up, my room wasn't just my room - I called it my science lab (and even had an engraved plaque on the door which said so). I had collections of sea shells, rocks and minerals, and physics toys carefully amassed, arranged, and put on display on my desk for the waiting public to see. Even if that was just my family. At one point I collected acorns and stored all of them in the top drawer of my dresser. I thought this was a good idea, until one morning I opened it to find piles and piles of maggots that had spontaneously generated inside. Needless to say, my mother wasn't too happy about that. I stopped collecting acorns. I'd be outside almost all day during the summer, where Mom or Dad would have to yell for us to come back for dinner (or we'd be too far away to hear), traveling the creek and crossing vast lands whose names only existed in what we decided to give them. My favorite book to read from the school library was a dinosaur book. I had dreams of being an archaeologist, discovering new extinct species. I secretly wanted to fight nazis too, but not really. I couldn't handle a whip very well. I once had a dig in my backyard that actually hit something. In the excitement of youth I thought I may have stumbled upon an ancient dinosaur egg or crystal, since whatever I had hit was hard and light-colored. It was a pipe. My dreams weren't entirely dashed, but that was still the most I ever found. In sixth grade, we went on a class trip to a camp called Camp Kern which lasted about a week. There were a lot of different activities we had each day, one of which was a small hike down a creek where fossils, arrowheads, etc. had been found by kids in the past. One member of the troupe found a piece of horn coral which I still remain jealous of to this day. I've been watching the BBC series, Planet Earth, and I most recently watched the fourth episode which concentrated on caves (each episode focuses on a different kind of habitat). It brought back all sorts of memories about time spent outdoors - an outdoors which has been, sadly, almost entirely replaced with my computer. My collection of crystals has turned into a liquid display. For some reason, there were a lot of moments where Planet Earth reminded me of the anime Mushishi, which concerns itself with mushi - fictional life forms that have a kind of liminal existence from the origin of life, being kind of ethereal. Ginko, the main protagonist, studies them and helps people who accidentally (or purposefully) have problems caused by mushi. I wrote about this series a while ago, but I found myself amused that I was reminded of a fictional show while watching a program about what actually exists - I think it was during a segment on cave glowworms, which still boggle my mind. There are so many unfathomable creatures, and my mind explodes at the thought of what's left to be discovered in the universe. It's a funny thing, when the mind initially associates reality with fiction. Over Christmas, during a family gathering, an offhand comment was made concerning sci-fi - it went something along the lines of, "We have a difficult enough time understanding what's going on now," in regards to a personal lack of interest in science fiction. In an interview, William Gibson discussed his perspective on writing science fiction and its relationship to historical context: Well, in a sense, although I think when I started, one of the assumptions that I had was that science fiction is necessarily always about the