General Reviews

N-Viro International Corporation

2010-03-27T04:17:00.000-07:00

This is a new company I just found out about, I'm sure it's going to be making massive waves in the future. Basically N-Viro International Corporation is all about converting waste to energy, especially municipal bio-solids and other organic waste products. I think it's awesome that they're trying to get the word out there about their activities, because with increasing awareness about the dangers of over-reliance on oil, governments around the world are looking for alternative energy sources. Unlike oil, converted waste counts as renewable energy because people will always produce waste.

This is one of the the CEOs of N-Viro:

The product I'm most excited about is N-Viro fuel, which can be thought of as a kind of clean coal: it's an alternative combustive fuel that's compatible with anything else that uses coal. Cool, right? I'll be following them in the future to see how far they can go with their environmentally-friendly efforts at opportunity fuels.

Making your blog look nice

2010-01-09T05:38:00.001-08:00

Since I started this blog, I've been looking around for tips and ideas on how to make it catchier and more interesting. Just today I found an article on web-info called The Web Sensibility,
with a number of tips on creating a more effective blog. Here are some of the more relevant tips.

First the writer makes a distinction between the easier changes, like altering pre-existing widgets, and actually getting to the nitty gritty and messing with the CSS, etc. The most important point he makes, to me, is that web design should essentially boil down. "a focus on simplicity, where the function of a page, ideally, inspires its design." So for example a general blog like mine can look like anything, but a blog about cooking should have cooking designs, a car blog should have car images, etc. Good idea, to me.

Other helpful tips he gives include using lots of white space (always a good idea for improved readability), using bold simple type - this is definitely good - and using colors and icons instead of relying on images. Well for me an image speaks a thousand words, but I can see the use of striking colors and icons as well. So long as you don't go overboard and turn it into a Myspace-type horror. At the end he talks quite a bit about editing the XHTML of the site directly, something you need to think about before doing, if you're a newbie like me.

All in all a good article for the beginning blogger. I've been reading other articles on the web-info site as well, such as this one: Advice for the Wise Home Owner. It's never too soon to start thinking about home ownership!

Ayumi Hamasaki

2010-01-09T05:14:00.000-08:00

Known as the Empress of J-Pop in certain circles, she is almost certainly the most successful female j-pop artist to date. She's been outsold on an album-by-album basis, but in terms of consistent success there's nobody that can hold a candle to her right now. She was actually the first artist in Japan to have an album debut at number-one for 11 consecutive years!

It's a mystery really. She can't sing that well, in fact her voice is kinda bad. She can't dance that well. In spite of lots of plastic surgery, she's not that pretty. She doesn't look very friendly or down to earth, in fact I've heard rumors of her being a bit of a diva. So why is she so successful? Search me? I'm not a fan.

Born in 1978, Hamasaki spent several months running around Shibuya doing goodness knows what before being discovered in a nightclub by famous producer Max Matsuura, and the rest, as they say, is history.

In spite of her massive success, she does nothing for me personally. I have no Hamasaki songs in either my album or mp3 collection. Nevertheless there are two songs she has that I kinda liked, Seasons and Dearest, which was used as the ending song for Inuyasha (where most western fans first found out about her). Apart from those...meh. Next!

First a mouse, now cockroaches

2009-08-31T01:35:00.000-07:00

I posted a few months ago about my struggle with vermin, particularly one dirty, nasty, filthy little mouse. My final solution for that mouse, which is now an ex-mouse, was POISON. Yes, rat poison. I bought some yummy tinned sardines, mixed them up with poison and deposited them all around the house. After seeing neither hide nor hair of the blasted creature for a few days, I finally noticed a very unpleasant smell around my piano. Oh, ewww >___<

Like hell I was going to open that and see something gross and stinky. I eventually enlisted the help of brave relatives who took care of the offending carcass while I was away at work. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Unfortunately my refuge at work has also been invaded...this time by cockroaches. I have a pretty good idea where they came from (it involved bananas bought from the market) but what matters is where they're going now, which is the morgue, if I have anything to say about it. I'm flirting with the idea of buying a can of roach spray and spraying out my desk right before I leave work tomorrow. We'll see. I HATE BUGS!!!

Brideshead Revisited

2009-08-15T10:15:00.000-07:00

We've had this book lying around the house for years so I finally picked it up last week. First off, I want more Evelyn Waugh. Second off, why hasn't any writer written their own version of what happens next? Does Charles Ryder ever find happiness? Does Julia ever remarry? What becomes of Sebastian in the end, does a brilliant young man like him truly end his days as a porter for a monastery?

It's such a tragedy, of no discernible cause. Why does Sebastian hate his mother so much that it drives him to drink. From all I can see his family is a bit odd, a bit eccentric, a bit cold to each other, but not to the extent that it would drive him to despair. But I guess the point of seeing things through Ryder's eyes is to show that each family has its strange dynamics that no outsider can ever truly appreciate, no matter how long they spend with the family. And so in the end poor Charlie finds himself booted to the curb and the family goes on as dysfunctionally as ever. I can only hope they found some measure of contentment in their final decisions.

I hear there's a movie and a TV series out now, but I don't think they could capture the true magic of the book, because most of it depends on the power of your own imagination. I might give them a shot one day, though.

Infernal Affairs

2009-08-08T11:08:00.000-07:00

Quick Review
I watched this famous Hong Kong film starring Tony Leung and Andy Lau last weekend. Tony stars as Yan, a police mole deep within a triad gang. Andy stars as Lau, a gang mole high up in the police service. After a botched gang cocaine trade, both higher ups charge their moles with the finding the identify of the other group's mole. And so a deadly game of cat-and-mouse begins.

First, spoilers for the ending. Yan dies, Lau gets away with everything.

The acting is brilliant, the music is really good. Lights, action, cinematography, everything is brilliant except one thing...the plot. The characters are really too stupid for words. What bothered me the most?
1. Lau managing to get all sorts of information to his triad boss during a stakeout, with the rest of the police force sitting right by him. Eventually it's revealed that the guy next with him was in the triad too, which is why it worked, but at the time it really pissed me off.
2. Yan picking up his phone after Inspector Wong died. The first thing he should have done was trash that thing and hope the number couldn't be traced to him. Better hope he had a special phone only for Wong affairs.
3. Yan trusting Lau immediately and going along with him, all while knowing of the existence of a triad mole within the police. Dumbass.
4. Yan having solid evidence of Lau being the triad's mole and choosing to blackmail him with it instead of turning it straight into the police. THIS DID NOT MAKE ANY SENSE AT ALL! Did he have a deathwish? I can only conclude he had a deathwish.
5. Yan confronting Lau face-to-face before making arrangements to have the evidence sent to the police. This allowed Lau to get clean away with everything once Yan has been killed by a bad cop. What an Idiot!

The Lau Wins ending evidently went down pretty badly because eventually they trotted the same actors out for Infernal Affairs III (IA2 does not deserve to be mentioned) where Lau eventually pays for his sins. Yah, whatever. IA was really gripping, but now that it's over I don't think I want to watch it again. But I was impressed by both Andy and Tony, so I'll be looking for more films by them in the future.

Sumo, final day

2009-07-26T03:25:00.000-07:00

The moment Kotooshu lost to Hakuho, the end result of this Nagoya basho was clear for all to see. Hakuho kept up his fine form, defeating Harumafuji yesterday and toppling Asashoryu today to win the tournament. It must be a welcome win for him, after losing out to Harumafuji last time and Asashoryu the time before. I'm happy for him, since I can honestly say the best man won this time round. Kotooshu needs to work on his stability, though I suspect some of it is due to his height (6 ft 3, right?) giving him a higher center of gravity. If he can conquer that and stay in good health, maybe all the hype won't have been for nothing.

I hear Bulgaria wants to honor him with their highest award, btw. Interesting.

Sumo, day 11

2009-07-22T01:48:00.000-07:00

Wooo hoo, what a day! Upset after upset, shock after shock! Yesterday was boring so I didn't bother to report it.

First, Harumafuji got his kachikoshi against Baruto, improving to 8-3 while Baruto dropped to 7-4. All Baruto has to do to maintain a winning record is to win once more so I think he'll be fine.

Then...Chiyotaikai! I swear, that wily old goat just came into this tournament to ruin everyone's shit. First Asashoryu, then today he dropped Kotooshu in a shocking move, sending him sprawling face first into the dirt. All well and good, 10-1 for Kotooshu doesn't take him out of the running, and 6-5 for Chiyotaikai isn't half bad.

But the surprises just kept on coming: another slippery veteran, Kaio, dodged Asashoryu's advance, gave him a swift push and sent him running out of the ring like a bull. Cue a few cushions thrown into the ring, but nobody expects much from Asashoryu any more so the crowd didn't get very worked up.

Next match, last match of the day...SHOCKER: Kotomitsuki powers Hakuho out of the ring! It was obviously a hardfought match, but he did it! A rain, a downpour of purple pillows! Yes! Yes! Sorry, it's good to see Hakuho lose sometimes, and this throws the whole tournament wide open! It's anybody's game now, with Hakuho, Kotomitsuki and Kotooshu all at 10-1. The match-offs between these guys in the next few days will show who wears the crown. In the end, there can be only one!

Sumo, day 9

2009-07-20T02:26:00.000-07:00

A very exciting day, all told. I missed days 7 and 8 over the weekend so it was a shock to me to realize Aasashoryu had lost once on Sunday. And then he lost again to Chiyotaikai (of all people!), cue the audience tossing their cushions into the ring. Asa 7-2, Chiyotaikai 5-4. It pains me to note that this tournament is one of Chiyotaikai's best performances in recent years. He really needs to retire.

And then Kotomitsuki beat Harumafuji with a quick overarm toss. That makes Koto 8-1 and Haru 6-3. 6-3 is bad, he's out of the running. On the other hand, Kotooshu had a thrilling match with veteran Kaio, stalled in the middle of the ring for almost three minutes. Kotooshu nearly ran himself out of the ring with his initial charge, but once he got his hand on Kaio's waistband the rest was a matter for the history books.

Kotooshu and Hakuho, both still at 9-0. Hakuho still looking the most dominant. If Kotooshu makes a false start against him like he did against Kaio today, it won't be pretty. Still, as Asa proves, upsets are what make this sport exciting, so I'm looking forward to more ups and down in the last week of the tournament!

Sumo, day 6

2009-07-17T12:27:00.000-07:00

Nothing remarkable happened today, except hometown favorite Kotomitsuki lost to Kisenosato, dropping down to 5-1. Kisenosato's at 5-1 too. Kotooshu, Hakuho and Asashoryu won to stay at 6-0, but Hakuho is still looking the best out of the three. Unless he gets sloppy or someone gets lucky, he's probably going to win this one. It might be too early to call, but he's looking really good right now. But for the record I'm supporting Asashoryu! I always like flashy sportsmen.

Sumo, day 5

2009-07-16T05:46:00.001-07:00

Alas, poor Harumafuji is almost certainly out of the running after today's loss to Aran. To Aran, of all people (no offence to all the fine Aran fans out there). It was a funny match to watch, the way Harumafuji just dove out of the ring like a ballistic missile due to a fine sidestep by Aran. Textbook classic, well done Aran.

That leaves those in the running for championship at four: Kotomitsuki, Kotooshu, Hakuho and Asashoryu. Kotooshu and Hakuho are looking pretty strong, especially Hakuho. Hmm, well, we'll see how things turn out.

Sumo, day 4

2009-07-15T02:08:00.000-07:00

By which point you must be wondering whether my posts for the next two weeks are all going to be about sumo. The answer is Yes. They only happen a few times a year, so I make sure to enjoy them as much as possible for as long as possible.

So far so good. Harumafuji won a tough battle today to stay in the running. Kotooshu and Kotomitsuki, stable mates, are both going strong at 4-0 each. I'm expecting good things from both of them this time round, none of the previous mediocre performance. Hakuho survived an early scare to win against ...who was it? Ah crap, I forgot. But Asashoryu beat Tochiozan almost entirely by luck, making it both yokozunas and the two I mentioned before at 4-0. Who will be standing at the end of the day?

Sumo, day 3

2009-07-14T02:21:00.000-07:00

Ahh, crap! Poor Harumafuji! He was hoping to win the natsu basho and possibly advance to yokozuna within the next few tournaments, but today he lost badly to Kotoshogiku and dropped to 2-1. It's still early so he might stand a chance, but hmm... Asashoryu, Hakuho and Kotomitsuki are still at 3-0 so the competition is tough. Speaking of Asashoryu though, Goeido really gave him a tough time. Maybe he's not up to competing with the young 'uns any more? In contrast Hakuho is in really fine form. He's the clear favorite to win this one, now that Harumafuji's chances look bleak.

Sumo!

2009-07-13T02:35:00.000-07:00

Yes! The summer sumo tournament is under way! I've been a sumo fan ever since I accidentally caught a sumo special on ESPN several years ago, and now that I have access to NHK, I make sure I watch every tournament every day. My favorite wrestler? Asashoryu! I tend to like flashy, controversial sportsmen, so long as they can actually deliver the goods. Asa's been a little short on the delivery part recently, but he's still more fun to watch than the other stuff, sour-faced cleancut kids like Hakuho and Harumafuji. I used to like Kotooshu too, but maybe all the adulation went to his head because he's been very meh over the past few years.

Anyway, it's only the second day of the tournament so there's a long, long way to go. And I'll be loving every minute!

Eeee! A mouse!

2009-07-11T06:11:00.001-07:00

There's a rat in my closet! EEEEEEEEEEEEEK! I saw it two nights ago, when I opened my bedroom door to see that filthy nasty, dirty, ugly creature running around my bowls, yuck! I have no real way of telling whether it's a mouse or a rat, but it looked rather long and lithe, at least as big as my hand so I'm going to think it's a rat. And then that night I left a bunch of bananas by my bedstead and when I woke up in the morning...they'd been nibbled at! Mr. Rat, these are your last days on earth. This weekend, I'm going to get some rat poison, mix it with the tastiest piece of fish I can find and put it out there for you to eat. And you're going to eat it, and you're going to die. Screw PETA! If they want to make themselves useful they can come pick up the dead rat body and dispose of it for me, so I ain't touching that nasty thing. Brrr...vermin! Maybe I should call an exterminator.

Dear Margo

2009-07-08T00:00:00.001-07:00

I'm taking a break from work today. I've been down with a cold since last Wednesday, and sitting in an office all day with the AC on isn't really good for me. As soon as I step in there my nose stops up. So anyway, before I get in bed for some more rest, I thought I'd introduce another one of the agony aunt columns I read. This one's Dear Margo, written by Margo Howard. It's updated every Thursday and Friday at wowowow.com. I've been following Margo since she wrote Dear Prudence for slate.com (before the current one took over), and to be honest I've never much liked her advice. She's a little too permissive - anything pretty much goes, and even when the writer is clearly an idiot she comes down very gently on them. Much of her advice is fine, just not as tough as I would like. Stylistic differences, maybe?

Pros: Has a comments part for readers to give their opinions.

Cons: Only comes out twice a week, advice a little too namby-pamby

Japanese e-book treasure trove

2009-06-30T03:47:00.000-07:00

Remember I posted about Swedish a while back? Yeah, I wasn't really serious about that. And I'm having second thoughts about the Swedish company anyway, firstly about whether I even want to work for them and secondly about whether it's worth learning a whole new language for a company I'm not planning to work at for very long. I hear most Swedish people speak excellent English anyway.

So it's back to my first love: Japanese. Learning Japanese may be time-consuming, but the pay-off is almost immediate in terms of the fun you can have with it: not just anime and manga but also tons of good books, music, movies, dramas, comediets, etc. Today I hit a mini-goldmine of books about learning Japanese. Unlike the results I occasionally get on mininova, these are all uploaded on free file-sharing sites, so no need to worry about seeds. I found them here: Japanese e-books, but since you need to register to see the links (which I recommend you do because they have lots of other great stuff), I'll just list the results below:

Nihongo Notes
Teach Yourself Beginner's Script
A Short History of Japan From Samurai to Sony
Japanese Children's books - Practice reading Hiragana
Remembering the Kanji I, II, III
Remembering the Kana I, II
CultureShock! Japan: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette
Read Real Japanese: All You Need to Enjoy Eight Contemporary Writers
Knuckles in China Land! (it's a video game, not an e-book)
Guide to Reading & Writing Japanese: Third Edition
Kana de Manga
Kanji Mnemonics - Instruction Manual for Learning Japanese Characters
101 Japanese Idioms
An Introduction to Japanese Syntax, Grammar and Language by Michael Kamermans
Japanamerica
Making Sense of Japanese Grammar

Think we'll all be experts by the time we're done wading through this giant pile of books? We can only hope! See you next time!

RIP Michael Jackson

2009-06-28T12:50:00.000-07:00

I guess every blogger in the world must have blogged about this in the hours since the news hit. I was too shell-shocked in the beginning to think about writing anything. Actually I didn't even believe the news to begin with, I thought my brother was bullshitting me. I checked CNN, same thing. BBC, same thing. Yahoo, same thing...realization slowly started to dawn. RIP Michael, I'll miss you.

I don't have a "how I met Michael's music" story. I was born listening to Michael Jackson. My father, my mother, all my older siblings were huge fans. We would blast his music at full volume and dance around the living room all evening long, who knows what the neighbors thought! We watched 'Moonwalker' over and over again until the tape tore, then patched it together and watched it some more. We would reenact his music videos in our rooms, we would try to do the moonwalk. And it wasn't just us: I remember in third grade just after the Dangerous album was released my teacher made us all learn to sing "Heal the World."

His legal troubles never meant much to me. Were the accusations true? We'll probably never know. And to be honest now I'll never care. All I'll care about is the legacy of amazing music he left behind. All I'll care about is the way he changed the face of pop music universally forever. Rest in Peace, Michael. Maybe in death you'll find the peace you never had in life.

Update: chocolate cake

2009-06-23T12:07:00.000-07:00

I posted yesterday about how disappointed I was in a chocolate cake I made and how I was going to throw it out as soon as I got home.

So I got home and it was sitting on the counter, still in the tin the way I'd left it. And so I decided to cut a slice before I threw it away, just to see how bad it is and to remind myself never to use bad ingredients again.

Mmm, it was delicious! It may have been flat, but it was cooked through and through. The edges were a bit dry, but the middle was nice and warm, and leaving it for a day had made the top yummy and sticky. Sweet! Of course I'm exaggerating a bit since the difference between my expectations and reality was huge, but it really was a good cake. With a nice buttercream frosting it might even edge closer to fantastic. I gave a piece to anyone who would try it and we all agreed it was great.

So the moral of the story: don't make dumb mistakes in the first place, but don't knock something till you've tried it. The cake is all gone, btw. I might make another one this weekend and this time I'll be sure to take a picture.

When comfort eating goes wrong

2009-06-22T03:05:00.000-07:00

I'm even more depressed today than I was yesterday. In an attempt to cheer myself up and forget about the coming Monday. I decided to make a chocolate cake last night. This is the recipe I chose, Dark Chocolate Cake I. Looks delicious, right? And I had all the ingredients ready, no problem.

Or so I thought... It turns out there was a Judas in my food cupboard. Yes, I'm talking about the baking soda. I've had that thing for years, never thought twice about it. Until today. So I measured and mixed everything according to plan and put it in the oven. 30 minutes later, it was cooked alright, but it hadn't risen an inch! Instead I had this hard, solid, pancake thing skulking at the bottom of the pan, looking up sheepishly at me. I almost took a picture of it, but then I'd have to mosaic it out, it looks so disappointing. I was so pissed off I didn't even try the cake. I just covered it with a cloth and left it on the counter. It's probably still there even now. When I get home I'll throw it out :'< style="font-style: italic;">your weekend?

Lazy Sunday afternoon

2009-06-21T05:28:00.000-07:00

I can't stand how quickly the weekends move! It's like BLINK and it's gone! It pisses me off so much I can't enjoy myself! Saturday and Sunday are the same length as Monday and Tuesday in theory, so why does it take so bloody long to get through the week and then the weekend flies by in a blitz?

Okay, let's review. Hmm, woke up around 7 on Saturday. Did I eat something? Can't recall. Surfed the next a bit. Played around on my DS a bit. Tried to start Shining Force Feather but it wouldn't work because I'm a dirty pirate. Will have to review that, download a fix. Took a nap from 10ish to 1ish. Puttered around a bit, read the weeklies. Took another nap from 3 to 5:30. Ate an early dinner. Surfed 4chan till 2am, played Hearts and Solitaire till 4am, watched a Southern All Stars Special till 6-ish and then slept. Come to think of it I woke up around 9:30 so I underslept.

Time to hop back in bed! Time's-a-wasting!

Dear Prudence

2009-06-18T04:56:00.000-07:00

Dear Prudence comes out every Thursday morning at slate.com. Both the questions and her answers are very detailed, and afterwards you can jump into The Fray, as Slate calls their forums, to discuss her answers further. The annoying thing is that few of the problems are real problems. Most of them are from people who know what they should be doing and just want an advice columnist to tell them to do it, which Prudie does faithfully. E.g. "I think my husband's stepson isn't his, should I tell him?" Ma'am, you know you shouldn't, that's why you're writing in instead of telling him.

The current column writer has been criticized for a pro-marriage pro-baby stance, as if that's a bad thing, but since I'm pro those things as well I'm in her corner. I wished the corner came out more often, so Slate answered our wishes by creating a live advice chat corner on Mondays. That's just as interesting and features more questions, albeit more trivial ones.

Pluses: Detailed questions and answers, good advice, archives going back all the way to 1998, forums for more discussion

Minuses: Only comes out once a week, a lot of the answers are obvious, Prudie's bad puns grate on the nerves sometimes, sometimes she's a little too liberal for my tastes.

Ask Amy

2009-06-17T02:51:00.000-07:00

Another agony aunt column I discovered recently. Ask Amy runs in the Chicago Tribune and probably elsewhere as well.

There's no really much to say about Amy's advice. Both the questions she gets and the answers she gives are usually quite bland. Yes her advice is good, but the issues themselves are often so mundane it's hardly worth the trouble. E.g. "I had a piece of ham on my plate at a party and I asked to take it home. My husband thinks that was rude." All well and good, but not really rocket science, right? It's possible her column is aimed more at the 50s-60s crowd than at young 'uns like us.

Pluses: Comes out every day, three or four problems daily, short and to the point, Amy's advice is generally sound.

Minuses: Boring and mundane, no comments section, archive doesn't go back very far.

Annie's Mailbox

2009-06-16T06:31:00.000-07:00

a.k.a. the Get Counselling column. Annie's Mailbox is an advice column that comes out every day of the week online. I believe it's nationally syndicated too but I haven't bothered to check.

I'm a bit of an advice columnist junkie, I must confess. Most of the stuff they write applies to people with significant others and kids so it's rarely relevant to me, which is probably why I get so much pleasure out of reading them. I'm always on the look out for new columns, and Annie's Mailbox is scratching my itch.

Pluses: Comes out daily, at least two or three problems a day, the columnists give generally sound, unjudgmental advice, a variety of issues are covered, there's an extensive archive for a good long binge, there's a "Comments" button where readers can give their views on the days problems.

Minuses: Every other answer they give is "get some counselling." It's so repetitive. I wonder if they're getting kickbacks from the National Association of Therapists or what. They even recommend counselling in clearly no-hope cases, just because. Also about 30% of the letters seem to be from couples in sexless marriages. My husband won't sleep with me, my wife won't sleep with me. Once or twice was okay but now it's repetitive.

Still it's not stopping me from continuing my binge. I read it all day yesterday and despite my efforts to resist I see more Annie is my near future.

Learning Swedish?

2009-06-14T03:43:00.000-07:00

Have you heard of All Japanese All the Time? You can just check out the site for the details, but basically it's one man's tale of how he learned Japanese to fluency (or so he claims) in 18 months just by immersing himself steadily and constantly in the language. This means listening to only Japanese music, watching only J-shows, reading only J-sites, etc. The idea is sound. It's like Sink or Swim. If someone dropped you in the middle of Timbuktu one day I bet you'd pick up the lingo in a hurry.

So how does that apply to me? Well I was thinking of applying for a job with a certain Swedish organization. There's no way I'd learn enough Swedish in time to land the job, but afterward in the time I'm working there (if I decide to apply and if I get the job) I'd be surrounded by Swedish people and materials. It's a good chance to pick up a language I'd never actually learn left on my own.

With that in mind, I checked out a few resources for learning Swedish. First need to get some textbooks and materials, and then need to find music, books, radio stations, etc to complete the environment. This was all a few days ago now to be honest my desire is waning, but I think I'll list them here in case I ever do get round to learning it.

Foreign Service Insitute courses - Haven't tried them yet, heard good things

U-Z Translations site - Massive number of textbooks and materials but you need to sign up first

How to Learn Any Language search results - it's a forum for language learners

Learn Swedish with Swedish LingQ - Self explanatory title. It looks like a blog with podcasts and other materials for the intermediate learner.

Off Course

2009-06-09T08:21:00.000-07:00

Known in Japanese as オフコース, Off Course was a Japanese "folk" band active between 1969 and 1989 when they split up so lead singer Kazumasa Oda could pursue a solo career. Although they termed themslves a "folk" band, the majority of their songs could be classified as pop, with an emphasis on smooth, soulful ballads powered by Oda's silky, unforgettable voice.

Band Members
Kazumasa Oda (小田和正) - Lead vocals, keyboard
Yasuhiro Suzuki (鈴木康博) - Guitar
Shimizu Hitoshi (清水仁) - Bass, vocals, chorus
Ooma Jirou (大間ジロー) - Drums
Matsuo Kazuhiko (松尾一彦) - Guitar, harmonica, vocals, chorus

History
Oda and Suzuki met as classmates in high school. Together with Shinushi Michio they formed a group that went on to win several local singing competitions. They made their record debut in 1970 with "Gunshuu no Naka de (Inside the Crowd)" but met little initial success. Shinushi left the band in 1971, and in 1976 they added Matsuo, Hitoshi and Ooma to the band. In 1979, 10 years after they started, Off Course finally got its first big hit in the form of "Sayonara Goodbye)" and maintained a huge level of popularity with a long string of mega-hits until they disbanded in 1989. Although fans have repeatedly called for reunion, Oda in particular has made it clear that the band is finished.

Off Course was famous for their western-sounding pop ballads, simple love-focused lyrics and smoothly-blended harmonic choruses. Even today their songs continue to be covered contemporary artists and sung throughout Japan.

How I discovered Off Course
Purely by chance back in 2005 when I was looking for Japanese learning materials, I downloaded an album of old Japanese "natsumero" (nostalgic melodies) off Youtube. I didn't listen to it then, though, just stashed it away for later. Fast forward to 2008 and I was bored one day. Loaded up those files on my mp3 player and was completely blown away. The album had songs by other great J-bands like RC Succession and Tulips, who I'll write about eventually, but Off Course was definitely the star of the show. One listen of YES-YES-YES and I was putty in their hands. The sound! The lyrics! Since then I've acquired about half of their songs (illegally, but I'm working on better ways) and I still think YES-YES-YES is their masterpiece, so I've uploaded it below for you to check out.

Key songs
Nemurenu Yoru
Aki no Kehai
Ai wo Tomenaide
Sayonara
Yes-No
Kotoba ni Dekinai*
YES-YES-YES
Kimi ga, Uso wo, Tsuita

So Long, and thanks for all the Fish (1)

2009-06-08T06:44:00.000-07:00

I love the title, but the fourth book in the Hitchiker Quintology just doesn’t do it for me. For those unfamiliar with the series, it’s a series of books about the literally out-of-this-world adventures of an ordinary earthling, Arthur Dent, thrown into space after the Earth is demolished to make space for an intergalactic bypass. It’s as crazy as it sounds, and each volume is jam-packed with impossible happenings, fantastic new locations and colourful characters of all shapes and colors (my personal favorite is the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal, btw).

Then you come to So Long and everything takes a turn for the worse. I’m about a third through it and I bet it picks up later, but I’m really bored so far. Actually I’ve read the whole series before way back in high school and I don’t remember this one being quite so bad, so we’ll see.

What’s wrong with it? Firstly, you’re just dealing with Arthur Dent so far. He works as the straight man to a host of nutters, but as a character on his own he’s dreadfully boring. Secondly everything takes place on Earth, and not just Earth…Britain! The least romantic nation on the planet. Thirdly, nothing’s happened except Arthur’s got a crush on this girl and he doesn’t know how to handle it. Well whoopdy-doo! Color me unimpressed!

Ah, it's good to get that off my chest. 90-10 odds that things will pick up very shortly and make this slog worth it (I distinctly remember Arthur and Fenchurch making love on the wing of an airplane, which is seriously gross), but man, what a let-down after the last three.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (1)

2009-06-03T09:02:00.000-07:00

If you're at all interested in self-improvement, you must have heard of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. It's become something of a bible in this modern day. Schools recommend it to their students, bosses to their employees (and vice versa), I bet even hospitals recomend it to patients sometimes.

Just because something is popular or bestselling, though, doesn't necessarily mean it's good. I will come straight up and admit I haven't read the whole thing yet. I've only read the first few pages. I agree with his overall idea, that instead of changing our personalities we need to change our principles and our deep thinking in order to be more effective. That's a good idea. Better than good, it's true.

What I have a problem with is the preachy, excessively wordy, downright disheartening way these ideas are expressed. A book at least has to hold your attention before it can proceed to inform or educate you, or even educate you. Stephen R. Covey fails at the very first step, with his cheesy metaphors, self-flagellateing examples and plodding writing style. I'm thinking of buying the audio version instead. I mean, there might be something good in there since it's spawned so many spin-offs and rip-offs, but getting to it...that's another matter.

Guin Saga Episode 1

2009-05-30T12:41:00.001-07:00

After much hesitation, I finally sat down and watched the first episode of Guin Saga.
I say hesitation because I heard the original novels the anime is based on has been running since the seventies for hundreds of volumes, and I hate starting things that have no end. Either the anime runs on for a long time with no resolution or the writers make up their own, usually-unsatisfying anime-only ending and calls it a day.

Still I had the episode sitting on my computer for a while and eventually I ran out of things to watch, so I gave it a go. It's not half bad at all. It seems to be moving very quickly, which is always a plus for long-running series. The animation is clean and crisp, and while the characters look a bit squat and chubby, they move very fluidly. The action scenes were over the top, but this is a series about a man with a leopard head and a psychic princess, so I don't think anyone's looking for realism here.

The story hasn't broken new territory yet: royal twins, kingdom sacked, parents dead, all alone, rescued by mysterious man, chased by the bad guys...or are they, etc. etc. It's only one episode so it could go any way. Indeed the ending sequence featured some other characters we haven't met yet, so I'm looking forward to finding out more soon. Until then!

The Richest Man in Babylon (2)

2009-05-22T06:44:00.000-07:00

Seeing as it's such a short book, it didn't take me long to finish The Richest Man in Babylon. The very last chapter was a short history of the Babylonian kingdom. Nothing you couldn't look up on Wikipedia in five seconds, but extremely interesting nonetheless.

I also liked the debt reduction plan Clason introduced in later chapter: devote 10% of your earnings to savings, 20% to paying back your debts and 70% to profit-making investments. Of course the nature of your debt determines whether this is feasible or not, e.g. if your house is on the verge of foreclosure I'm not sure the bank would go along with this plan. But for someone with a reasonable amount of debt, it's a feasible method that won't break the bank.

If I had to cite one problem I had with the book, it's that it's nothing but platitudes and generalities, there are no concrete suggestions on how to go about doing any of that stuff. For example he says to protect your investment, and even uses a long drawn-out metaphor about the walls of Babylon to illustrate it, he doesn't explain what he means by it. Does he mean insurance? Does he mean putting it in the bank? What?

Another thing is that he advices against procrastination. If you see a good opportunity, jump. At the same time, avoid unsafe opportunities and only take financial advice from people in the know. Good. BUT! When he gives examples of people who procrastinated and missed out, all those "opportunities" sounded highly shady and not at all what a sane man would invest in! In other words, Clason doesn't make any clear distinction between sound and unsound opportunities or tell you how to avoid them. It's only after the fact, after something has succeeded or failed that his characters say "Oh, I knew I should/shouldn't have done that." That's not particularly helpful.

All in all it was a good read, a swift kick in the pants if you've been living day to day without thought of saving. Using Clason's methods will probably not make you rich, but you will have enough to retire comfortably on, at least. Check it out.

The Richest Man in Babylon (1)

2009-05-17T12:38:00.000-07:00

I've made it my goal recently to read a few self-improvement books every day. Today I picked up an old copy of The Richest Man in Babylon lying around the house and dug in. It's very short, less than 150, and packed with common sense. On one hand this is all stuff any finance-savvy person would know, seeing as the ideas in it appear in just about every wealth-making book to date. On the other hand, this book was published in 1926, so it's likely they all copied The Richest Man in Babylon.

I'm only about halfway in so far, so this is just the first part of the review. The writing style is interesting, if archaic, and all the ideas are simply and lucidly presented. The major ones: save 10% of your income, invest only in sound opportunities, only take financial (and other advice) from people in the know, own your own home (easier said than done) and improve yourself so you can earn more. All sound, solid advice. So far, so good.