I love being busy.  I’m not one of those people that always has to be out and about – actually, just the opposite – but when I’m at home, there is no end to the number of projects I’ve got going on.  I know my wife probably doesn’t think that video gaming counts as a project, but in the overall scheme of things, I’ve got a gaming schedule to maintain much like I have deadlines at work.; gaming is just the beginning though.  I’ve been wanting to learn the guitar lately (I have a bass begging for attention upstairs), I have my ailing blog to write for, I have a million short story ideas waiting to get put on paper, I have books to read, and more importantly, I want to spend time with my wife.  I use my time poorly which is probably my biggest failure, but going with the flow of inspiration usually keeps me energized and looking forward to my next project when the time comes.  Current book is the Golden Compass by Philip Pullman – so far so good.

Very briefly I’d like to recommend to you the movie Death Proof by Quentin Tarantino.  Originally part of a two-movie collection called Grindhouse, Death Proof was shown along side Planet Terror directed by Robert Rodriguez.  From what I understand, the official Grindhouse feature was only shown in North America and after poor ticket sales it was decided that both movies would be separated for overseas audiences and lengthened to a normal running time.  I had been looking forward to seeing Grindhouse – a throwback to the explotation films of the 70s – but after learning of the two movies being separated I decided to wait until video.
Well, to make a long story short, Death Proof was worth waiting for.  It’s not as good as some of Taratino’s other films, but the characters were interesting, and the way the story plays out is something of a surprise.  The movie hasn’t received very much praise from critics around the globe, but it serves up an entertaining hour and a half that most people should rent at some point.

Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech.

I find it hard to believe how much time has passed since my last blog entry. Work has been busy, and my usual ramblings don’t seem important enough to sacrifice some free time. I have been doing a little behind-the-scenes maintenance though, and I’ve been very happy with result of installing Spam Karma 2. It has completely stopped the amount of crap coming into my mailbox, and I can at long last live without the annoyance of cleaning out junk mail. You have no idea how much this annoys me.
Today I thought I’d just cover a light topic that might be of interest to some of you. When I first came to Japan I had terrible posture. Even now it’s not perfect, but I have been actively trying to fix the way I sit and stand over the past few years. My mom always warned me about sitting up straight, but it wasn’t until I started Kendo over here that I finally realized why.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with Kendo, it’s kind of like Olympic fencing, except it’s the Japanese traditional form of sword fighting using a two-handed weapon. Most of the gear is the same as in fencing except the gear is very top heavy and is constructed using plastics, wood and a heavy canvas-like material. I think the full set of Kendo gear wears around 20 lbs. (roughly 8 kg) and probably more than half of the weight is in the helmet. When you first put on the gear, you learn right away whether your posture is good or not. If your center of balance is off just the tiniest bit, it becomes very hard to stand up straight, and after about 10 minutes of trying to maintain your footing your legs feel like jelly. The key to doing kendo right is to keep your back straight even when moving forward.

(more…)

Sorry for the delay since my last blog post.  I have been in Germany for the last few days on business and I just got home last night.  To be honest, I have no idea where to actually start this post.  I feel like I have a lot of ground to cover and rather than make you read a 4-page summary of my last 3 days, I figure I’ll just try to sum up everything.

First of all, Germany (or a related story).  It was kind of a strange feeling heading to Germany.  I’ve always wanted to visit the country, but after 3 trips to Korea and a trip to the Maldives (roughly 13,000 miles) in the past two months, you can’t really blame me for being sick of flying.  The trip to Germany is only around 11 or 12 hours from here, but once you pass the 10-hour mark, life on an airplane becomes a challenge.  It was a first for me to fly on Lufthansa and I actually really enjoyed the airline company.  After riding on Asiana and then on Lufthansa you really start to see how pathetic most of the American airlines are in areas of service and meals.  Lufthansa had actual silverware (no sporks here, I’m afraid) and in addition to two choices you were given food that was actually edible.  American companies have reduced passengers to cardboard selection A or B and no matter what you choose it tastes basically the same.  I will say that in terms of personal luxury, Americans have the advantage.  Most of the international flights that I’ve been on out of the States have the built-in TVs.  Neither Asiana nor Lufthansa had these – a very sad thing indeed.  I have to also say that I probably wouldn’t be complaining so much if I hadn’t read on the exact same flight that airlines are operating at their highest profit margin in quite some time. Perhaps they could use that money to improve the overall flying experience.

As for Germany (getting back to it), it exceeded all of my expectations.  The country is beautiful, the people are extremely friendly, the food is amazing, and the architecture is extremely impressive.  I was only there for three days but I would easily move there if given the chance.  I’ve finally started feeling at home in Japan (after six years of living here) and I felt a million times more comfortable in just my first day of being in Germany.  I realize that there a million factors at play here, but I truly could not get enough of how personable everyone (including store owners, passengers, drivers, etc.) was.  There’s really so much to say about why I enjoyed the trip that it’s actually hard to write about it.  I will say that one of the highlights of the trip was drinking German beer.  I’m not sure what it is about their brews, but they’re good…really good.  They are a bit tastier than normal, and especially the ales and dark beers were great.  More than anything, if you make it to Germany, you HAVE to try the beer.  I might get into more about this trip in future posts, but if anyone has questions let me know!  Make sure to check out more info about the church you’re seeing in the attached photo.

Next up, I would like to welcome some new visitors to my site. I can’t really say how many there are (I don’t know), but it’s always nice to have some new faces around. I hope you can put up with my constant ranting to find something you enjoy reading. I promise that I’m only complaining 90% of the time. However! Like I promised on my friend Matt’s blog, I’m actually going to open myself to some critique and post my first of two short stories. I’d love it to hear what everyone thinks – even if you hate it – scratch that, especially if you hate it. My writing is prone to some pretty heinous grammar mistakes, but if you can get over that just let me have it. I’m one of those types that learn more from criticism. Oh, and just so you can prepare yourself, the story is a mix of sci-fi and horror.  It’s called On the Edge.

Next up, I found an interesting site that everyone should check out. It supposedly determines your political leanings – although I can’t really vouch for its accuracy. I took the test as honestly as I could and I’m apprently as Liberatarian as Ghandi was (although unless you’re counting Ghandi 2 we’re not quite the same personality wise). Give it a try and see how it turns out. Maybe you’re the next W. – or in anime terms WX.

Oh and last, I just wanted to give everyone the heads up of a great short story I found. It’s called Northwest Passage by Barbara Roden and it’s a short little ditty that will screw with your preconceptions about a lot of things.

Maintaining a blog is an interesting affair. For a blog like mine with maybe 2 or 3 readers it’s hard to actually say that I’m writing for others. Essentially it becomes a diary in all but name.

Some people have themes for their blogs which is what you’re really supposed to do, but to be honest I just like to think of my blog as more of a forum for collecting random thoughts and writing them down. It at least makes for some decent practice so that I don’t forget my English entirely.

Anyway, enough about that, there’s *important* stuff to talk about. First of all, for those game fans out there you need to get your hands on a copy of Bioshock – now! I only tried out the demo on XBL last night, but from my initial impressions it’s a really beautiful game. It’s obviously just another FPS but it has a compelling story, atmosphere like I’ve never seen before, really original concepts, and more importantly one of the coolest combat systems you’re going to see.

In the game you gain control over things like fire and electricity; with those elements you can pull off some pretty amazing feats such as lighting someone on fire in order to make them jump in water just to electrocute them. I know it sounds violent, and it is, but it actually gives gamers something to do that isn’t just shooting some boring guns.

Speaking of games, I’m starting to lose faith in what Nintendo is doing with the Wii. This is a pretty big change for me because I’ve always been a fan of Nintendo. Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of such classics as Mario and Pokemon, has recently been quoted as saying that the Wii doesn’t need traditional gamers as much and that they’re going to continue to focus on the casual segment of the market. I think it’s great that they’re trying to bring in more gamers (especially older people typically unexposed to this kind of entertainment), but doing so at the expense of the tried-and-true supporters of the company seems a bit ridiculous. Not to mention the fact that the factory-line repetition of brain training and mini-games is just crap. I’m willing to bet that once these so-called casual gamers get their fill of mini games it’s going to go downhill from there.

I’ve finished another book from my brother-in-law’s book-list and I’d like to recommend it to whoever is reading this. It’s a sci-fi book called The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham. The book is about what happens at the end of the civilization as we know it and the book is very well written. Strangely enough this is the second book of apocalypse that I’ve read in as many weeks – last week was Stephen King’s Cell. Both were very entertaining but also very different in approach. King’s version is more of a graphic look at how humans behave when literally stripped of their finer programming and Wyndham’s take is about how man will continue to look for stability even when the structure around us crumbles. Wyndham’s book is actually scarier despite its lack of gore, but mostly because of how real the situation seems. Not only that but even though it was written in 1951 it still feels extremely relevant.

Next, I wanted to share with everyone something I found pretty interesting. Apparently scientists have found a shooting star – a real one. Usually when we use that euphemism we’re in fact referring to debris falling towards Earth and burning up in the atmosphere. This time however it seems that scientists actually found a star (imagine the sun) that moves at 291,000 mph. Not only that, but this star is leaving a trail behind it that’s 13 *light years* long. To be honest, it’s hard to even fathom how long that is, but if you check out this website you’ll get a better idea. The universe is such an interesting place and it’s stories like this that make you realize how little we actually know about it.

Last on my list of things to talk about is the new Pixar movie Ratatouille. I’m a big fan of Pixar’s movies but this one just goes way above and beyond the quality you find in other movies. It’s fun for the whole family but in true Pixar fashion this is a movie you want to get a babysitter for and enjoy on an adult level. By far the best movie I’ve seen all year in terms of quality and light-hearted fun.

Things still really haven’t let up at work and so updating this blog has become more of a challenge than I was expecting. I’m getting home anywhere between 9 and 11pm every night now, and between eating and sitting on the couch (sometimes both at the same time) there’s not much time to do anything else. I’ve been trying to catch up on some games that I’ve been really interested in completing, but even that is hard to do. I will say this now and probably as long as I live, but I’ll never figure out why Japanese people work as much as they do. Obviously extra work comes with the territory of being in a marketing company, but even with tight deadlines it still amazes me how late everyone stays. I once heard somewhere (can’t remember where) that American’s consider work to be part of their lives and Japanese people put emphasis on work first – I think this says a lot about the difference in cultures. Here’s an example: in the US, people usually wear sneakers to work and put on their nice shoes when they get to the office. However, in Japan, workers usually (in older offices anyway) wear nice shoes to the office and change into slippers when they get to work. Supposedly, from what I understand, this was to signify the fact that the office was more like your home. This is a pretty antiquated practice now, but the fact that it exists is pretty interesting. I guess what I’m really saying is that when I look at workers throughout the country, I see very little importance placed on spending time with friends and family, and even less on the actual well-being of the workers as long as it helps the company. I’m actually very lucky because my current office has been very supportive in letting me visit the doctor and other various things that need to be done.

Since I’m on the topic of Japan today, I really need to talk about the election that happened this past weekend. It was great! The ruling party, the party that has been in power since World War 2 (with a brief lapse in 1993) was absolutely crushed. What makes this so wonderful is that the people in power were made up of a bunch of old farts who had very little interest in bettering Japan (from a liberal perspective anyway) and they continued to follow the status quo regardless of how much damage it was doing to anything. You might be asking why they have been in power so long, and the answer is really simple. Most of the people who are voting are elderly folks in need of security, and as a result they have continued to stick with the conservative party to secure that peace of mind. However, as if in some kind of Shakespearean comedy, the ruling political party made mistake after disastrous mistake. You probably have heard of some of these on the news, but there have been a number of financial scandals, one in which a politician (and also cabinet member for the prime minister) killed himself, there was the politician who called women “baby-making machines,” there was the politician who said that the atomic bomb attacks were inevitable (a big no-no in Japan), and to top things off there was the disclosure of the existence of 50 million social security accounts with no owners despite the fact that they were being funded by the social security money of tax payers. This last fact basically hosed the ruling party because if you remember, since most of the voters are elderly people, anything that actually puts their potential to receive social security money at risk is the same as political suicide. So the end result – the ruling party ended up dropping from around 65 seats in the upper house to 37 overnight. They still have the majority in the lower house of the Diet, but with this balance of power it will make it harder to pass bills; as a side note, up until this election (i.e. for the last 50 years or so) if they wanted something passed they just passed it – there was plenty of opposition, but since they have always had the majority vote, there was nothing anyone could do about it. Can you imagine the Bush administration passing bills without opposition – oh, wait…

On a side note about games, currently I’m working on finishing my career in Fight Night Round 3 and also playing Vampire Bloodlines for the second time. Both of these games are truly great games, and if you have the chance to get either of these, I highly recommend it. FNR3 is available for Xbox 360 and PS3 I think, and Vampire is available for the PC. Vampire is a few years old now and should run pretty well on slightly older machines – plus, it is available on Steam so you can get access to it very easily. It’s nice hearing from people about my blog, and since my updating frequency has been kind of strange, you should subscribe to this blog using the RSS feed links found on the page.

Oh yeah, one last thing…I finished the newest Harry Potter book so if you’d like to talk to me about the series, feel free to send me an email. Please don’t include spoiler information in the comments because I don’t want anyone to read them. I will remove anything concerning the book that might be considered a spoiler. I really liked the last book, and I felt it was probably the best way they could have ended the series. It’s hard to forget that the books are essentially written for kids/teenagers so having an ending like the Dark Tower by Stephen King would pretty much be impossible. I’ve been reading like a madman lately having finished the 4th book in the George R R Martin series, Old Man’s War, and now this Harry Potter book. I’m going to move to Cell by Stephen King next. Please feel free to send me some ideas for books to read. My brother-in-law has given me an awesome book-list and I’ve been working my way through that lately. Also, no fantasy. The GRRM series has really spoiled me and I would rather read something in horror or sci-fi for the time being.

One of the main reasons I like to read fantasy novels is because of their loose usage of actual historical information. Obviously armor and weapons in fantasy novels are all based on reality, but it’s the little details like the kinds of arrow heads and horses that really fascinates me. I wrote in one of my earlier blog entries that I am reading George R R Martin’s Song of Fire and Ice, but I am particularly fascinated by how much I can learn about real history from his novels. I’m not saying that his writing is shaping the way that I look at history, rather his novels help me appreciate history from a really basic level.

When we think of technology we usually think of computers, but if you really take a close look at artisans from the past, you will also see that they were masters of their trades and made use of technology that is lost to modern society. Types of metals, forging techniques, etc. – we can only hope to learn how things were made.

I’m going to leave you with some totally random but interesting links:

The Japanese Katana [wikipedia]- Read through this description and you’ll see more of what I was talking about. The sword making techniques were all lost in history and know one quite knows how the original swords were made.

Destrier [wikipedia] – This is a type of warhorse once used in the middle ages; expensive and highly prized.

Free time is an interesting thing. There are those out there who get bored if they have nothing to do, and then there are people like me who have so many hobbies that even weekends become an exercise in prioritizing. It would be nice if days were something like 40 hours long. If I had that much time I could probably…probably…get through my list of things that need to be finished, and I wouldn’t go to bed every night thinking about things that I didn’t have time to complete.

However, more likely, if days were 40 hours long, companies would still have us working 3/4 of that time anyway. Oh well…

Recently I’ve been really focused on reading. There is a really amazing fantasy series written by George R. R. Martin called A Song of Fire and Ice and despite the fact that I’ve already read 3 of the books, I’m working my way through the series again. I’ve never read a book more than once before and it just goes to show how great this story is. I highly recommend it to anyone who is into fantasy, but also those into politiking will really like it.