Damn Radiohead. Seriously! Because they brought forward by a whole friggin' 24 hours (an eternity (or two) for any Radiohead fan expecting a new album), I couldn't listen to it straight away but had to wait HOURS before I could go home to download it.....which I am doing now

Seriously, some days, life ain't fair!

And no, I am not AT ALL exagerating :p

And now I can spend the rest of the day listening to it (and probably most of the weekend too *g*)

Hi everyone, long time no see!


Firstly, a belated happy new year to all of you. Whatever 2010 brought you, I hope 2011 will prove better ^-^


Just wanted to shortly update you all on a few things:

(1) Asian-center website (and more online projects): I am working on reviving my website on Asia. I've actually been silent here mostly because I've focused on doing some background work, including taking notes from Japanese books (which is a VERY time-consuming task since I'm far from fluent yet, so lots of technical terms - and a few common ones as well - to look for in a dictionary) and I've just made a first draft of an updated layout. Friends have been pretty positive about it, so I'm hoping to see it go live sometime in the next 3-4 weeks. I'll have more about it soon

I've also met today with a friend I haven't seen in quite a while and we're looking into making a blog and/or a website about Switzerland, but also about traveling abroad. But more about that once we start to get something solid to show for it ;-)

(2) Japanese design and travel mags for download: I've scanned a LOT of Japanese interior and travel mags over the last couple of months which I've uploaded at the Japanese mags community for free access, but entries there are members-locked. I am thinking of actually making a master list here: it would be friends-locked (I don't want to share it with people I don't know, also for obvious copyrights reasons; although arguably, almost all the mags I upload are out of print anyway) so that you could have access to them without having to join that community - and they would all be in one place which would be more convenient than having to go through a couple of years' worth of entries at the JM community anyway

Let me know if that would be something that could interest some of you and I'll do it ^-^

(3) DVDs for sell: I'm also picking up my movie reviews where I left them. While doing that I will also be rebuilding my DVD collection by buying better versions (i.e. Blu ray or improved DVD box-sets) of movies I love when available. Since throwing away those I currently own would be a silly waste as they are usually in excellent shape and are mostly multi-discs box sets, I'm looking for people who would be interested in them

I am not interested in making money out of them so I would sell them for something like $5 if new and $2-3 if watched fully once or more (even if they are box sets of 2 or more discs), excluding shipping. Again, would anyone be interested in having the list up here and they could come and see if there's something they'd like? I'd rather sell them for a token price to someone I know at least a little rather than going through Amazon or Ebay, to be honest :-)

Anyhoo, I think that's it for now. Hopefully I'll update soon (possibly with a new entry about my holiday in Japan last autumn and some Japanese mag news

I prepared this post yesterday but only got around to actually post it here one day later. Sorry about that! My post for day 2 will follow sometime today (Japan time)



As some of you already know, I've traveled over to Japan for a three-weeks trip, which should take me to some of the most famous destinations there (and hopefully help me prepare later trips to some lesser known areas). I'll try to give you both an account of what my travel, share pretty pictures (and maybe pretty videos) and give a few tips should you ever wish to visit Japan based on my experience here


I took the plane from Zurich, Switzerland, on Monday early in the afternoon. I really dreaded the almost 12-hours flight since I really don't like taking the plane, but I was nowhere near as uncomfortable as I thought I would, although I couldn't sleep. Interestingly enough, the plane was full as far as I could judge but the travelers were for the major part Japanese, except in business and first class where the majority was Westerners. Apparently, the flights from Switzerland catter mostly to Swiss/European businessmen rather than tourists. It's a shame in that it means that it's not that popular as a tourist destination. The good news though is that the schedule caters to businessmen's need, i.e. an early morning arrival! We landed a little after 7 AM, almost half an hour ahead of schedule and proceeded through the airport


( rest of the account and PICTURES! under the cut )

Ok, before going any further, I'd like to really encourage you to go read tempertemper's great review here (maybe if enough people leave her feedback she'll do that on a regular basis? *eg*)....



( As for what *I* thought - no spoilers for episodes beyond S06E02 )

I've posted online the Chapter 3 and 4 of the FF XIII walkthrough: chapter 3 is complete with fiends list and maps while chapter 4 will have a complete fiends list by tomorrow and - hopefully! - the maps up by the end of next week



Final Fantasy XIII walkthrough - Chapter 3

Final Fantasy XIII walkthrough - Chapter 4



I'm working on Chapter 5 but that may take some time to go online: expect it in a couple of weeks or so - at least I expect to have it up before my trip to Japan



And finally, "Bones" is back! I had to wait one more day than some of you in order to watch it (the one downside of living in Europe I guess, LOL), but hey, what's a day compared to the agonizing weeks that led up to Thursday's premiere, right? So, was it worth the wait?



Well, you can read tala_hiding's great review here and find out what she thinks about that.

Edit (September 27): there's another great review that's been posted a couple of days ago by fourth_rose - very insightful (I found her take on Booth particularly interesting in the face of all the negative reactions in the fandom....)

( And then, if you're still interested, you can read my two cents - no spoilers for episodes beyond S06E01 )

97

But first:

Dear Hart Hanson,

I intend to watch the last two episodes of Bones Season 5 this evening, after which I would very much appreciate to get my brain back, at least until season 6 starts.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Aria

I've had a great day/evening yesterday:

Squee! worthy moment 1:I've received the Criterion's "First Films of Akira Kurosawa" box set, which includes the extremely rare "The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail"(I'm not even sure it ever made it to DVD in Japanese before, let alone in English or in French!) which I'm planning to watch this weekend. I hope I can also take the caps/post the reviews for all 5 movies before I go on holiday *fingers crossed*

Squee! worthy moment 2:The first video promo for Bones Season 6 went online and Season 6 will start in less than a month now! *squee*

Squee! worthy moment 3:I've had confirmation that there will be a lot of Masaya Kato on Japanese tv through September, and in particular during the week starting September 13 with him having a main role (I think) in a 2 hours tv drama on TBS, then appearing on several talk/game shows (apparently starting with Nep League - I hope this is true because I absolutely love that show, and last time he was on was absolutely hilarious, what with Marie-san hitting on him all the time :p). I imagine the tv shows run is for the promotion of "Umizaru - Last Message" which will be a major movie release in Japan (on September 18, if I remember correctly)

Squee! worthy moment 4: in exactly two months from now, I should be in Tokyo, whoohoo! I can barely believe it, mostly because I've made most of the reservations a long while ago and now it's ALMOST there :p

by "Bones".

It's really funny because I had already seen a few episodes here on tv (btw, we're one season late, i.e. they'll start showing season 5 this automn), but because only the dubbed French and German versions were at convenient times for me, I've actually avoided watching most of it until I would get the DVDs and watch it in English. Then there was always something that took precedance and I ended up never getting it.

But about two weeks ago, I actually downloaded the first few eps of season 1 (which I've since then bought on DVD - because I'm a good girl like that :p)....and now I'm well into season 5, and I've seen EVERY episode in between. Trust me, that's a lot of tv in two weeks. In fact, I've never watched so much in a row - and will likely never do that again :p But damn HH & all, I really, really got hooked. It's not perfect, but it has, like Booth would say, a lot of heart, enough for me to forgive its occasional shortcomings. In fact it has more heart than probably any ongoing show that I've seen. I like Law & Order SVU and Criminal Intent, I like House, and I definitely am a Doctor Who fan (not big on CSI though, no matter how well made this show is). But for me Bones works on a completely different level.

On totally different news, I'm about halfway through writing the walkthrough for the main story of Final Fantasy XIII. I have only uploaded two chapters yet - but they are complete with maps and fiends stats. Hopefully I can get the next two up soon, that is as soon as "Bones" has given me my brain back

I've been on a bit of a roll lately when it comes to scans and got yet another mag uploaded, this time 幸せの賃貸インテリア vol 2 - Happy rental interiors vol 2. As you may already have guessed, it's an interior design mag in the zakka style, and definitely one of my favorites (lots of ideas and DIY solutions for cramped spaces and other small flats *g*). As always, you can leave me a message if you aren't part of the Japanese Fashion mags scan community but still want to download it

Speaking of which, I think I'll soon organize all of my magazines in a friends-locked post here - I think it's only fair I share them with my small circle of friends when I do so with the much larger mags scans community!

On to a totally unrelated subject now. I don't know about my fellow travellers here, but planning for a far-away trip made me also realize how much there is to do and see nearby that I haven't done or seen yet (or that I have done a loooooooong time ago, back when digital cameras didn't exist, LOL). I mean, people come from all over the world to visit my (admitedly) small country, so obviously, they must think it's interesting enough to make the effort *g*

With that thought I decided I would start to make some trips - first close to home, then further away - during weekends as soon as the weather would permit. And the weather finally decided to clear last weekend so I jumped on a boat for a short (55 minutes) trip around the Lake Geneva shores within the canton of Geneva (which is really one of the smaller cantons in Switzerland, hence why the trip is so short *g*). I really loved it, even though I got one hell of a headache once I got home :p

You can see some pictures here

Enjoy!

Right, so I've been through all the stuff that needs scanning and there's a LOT of it, so I've decided to step it up a little and scan about one mag per week. Here's a list of what I've uploaded since my last post:


-Oggi May 2010
-Zakka Catalogue October 2008
-Madame Figaro Japan 06/20 2009



All links are "members only" at the jmagazinescans community, but as always contact me if you'd like the link for the downloads. I'll probably do some sort of master post as well here with all the mags available that will be friends only

And I've posted the Goemon (2009) movie review over at the Muses' Garden. I will also post it at Ancient Worlds with more pictures: I'll have the link here as well. If you feel adventurous, it's definitely a movie you should see. I love it, but it's never gonna be everybody's cup of tea....

Namely the Mori Girl interior design reference book for which I got a request and that is now scanned and uploaded. You can find the download link in this post over at the Japanese Magazines community (you'll need to be a member - if you aren't but would like to download the mag, leave me a comment and I'll send it to you privately).

Also I have posted everything related to Samurai 7 (the play, not the movie or the anime series) here, all 100something pictures of it *phew* I did not remember that Masaya was seen quite that much during the group interview, although it does make sense - mind you, I am not complaining one bit!

As for the next movie review, I am revising my initial plan of writing about "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" because it's actually gonna be released along with the rest of the Man with no name so-called trilogy on Blu-Ray next month. Since I'm also posting the caps at the same time as I'm writing the review, I figured it is worth waiting for the Blu-ray quality. I already watched the Korean movie "The Good, the Bad and the Weird" though, so I might write a review for that in the meanwhile. I must say I was both amazed and somewhat disappointed with that movie: amazed by the visual quality, not particulary the special effects but rather the sets and the sheer quality of the picture which is really to be commended; but disappointed by the plot. I knew it wasn't a remake of the Leone movie and I didn't watch them back to back or trying to draw too many comparisons there, but the plot must be one of the thinnest in any film I've seen in quite a while. It's still very entertaining but it just doesn't stay with you after the curtain has fallen, so to speak....

I might also rewatch and write about a couple of Kitano movies, with his new one out now and all that *g*

And I am now officially over with the tranlsation of the Tokyo part in Kodansha International's "Japan's Most Famous Sights" - i.e. I'm a good 100 pages in, whoohoo! I've just gotten started on Kyoto but I won't be writing anything about it until I get a book on Kyoto I found that was written in English. I'm really looking forward to that, both for my research and to prepare my trip there in a few months time now *doing excited little danse*

Anyhoo, more reviews and mags scans should be coming your way pretty soon, so stay tuned!

When I said I'd post those Masaya pictures soon, I didn't think it would be so soon. But I was done with what I had to do and didn't have enough time to watch a whole movie, and it was too late to use the scanner (because of the noise) so the first batch of Samurai7 screencaps are up here

Masaya Kato is playing Kanbei in this one. Btw, the play is based on the anime "Samurai 7" and not on the movie, hence the steampunk look of everything. Of course, the anime is directly inspired by the movie....

Two funny/interesting things I remember from when Masaya was promotting the play. One is that he is the oldest of the main cast in the play. However he said he felt a whole lot older when he realized that one of the other samurai actors' father was younger than he was. And then he went into a "but I'm gonna give some pride back to 40something guys and show that you can still do it at this age" tirade and even though he looked very serious, it was so obvious that he was taking the mick (precisely because he looked very serious, which he rarely is during promotion outings). However, it got the press completely confused and it was funny afterwards to see them try to infuse it with a deeper meaning it wasn't supposed to have....

Something that I found totally cool on the other hand was how he chose to have almost no make-up to make himself look more "tired", both literally and figuratively, as his character is supposed to be. People commented on how it was a courageous choice, but I think mostly it was the right choice, as it completely worked in favor of making his character credible

Well, it's been busy here of late! One of the main reasons, apart from work, is that I'm in the middle of translating a book on Japan's famous landmarks for Ancient Worlds. Ok, so "translating" is too strong a word because most of the book is written in both Japanese and English. But each landmark has an introduction that can be pretty long and is only in Japanese, and overall, I'm going through the whole text and create an extensive vocabulary list for reviewing. Hopefully it will make reading Japanese-only books on the same subject easier *g* At any rate, I've been taking notes that I hope to incorporate into two projects I have for the Japanese part of AW and for my own site when I develop it....stay tuned for more!


I've also completed the review and screencaps of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". The caps took me time because I had the blu-ray and it's not as straightforward a process as with most DVDs. Anyhoo, thanks to a post elsewhere on the net, I was able to figure it out and here they are (also x-posted in this community)! If you aren't a member of either, you can view a fairly large selection with the review here. It's also posted at my blogger account here


Next I'll really keep working at the translation, but I've also started to take new caps of Masaya Kato - now that I've finally figured out what movie/tv/stage appearance I wanted to cover next :p - so that should come pretty soon. I've also got a selection of japanese mags, so I'm hoping to complete one whithin one or two weeks. AND I've got my next movie review(s) lined up: I say reviewS because it's going to be a dual one. Indeed, I shall attempt to review "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" and "The Good, the Bad and the Weird" back to back....wow, that would be my first non-Asian movie since I've started that Blogger reviews thingy - by now most people who read me here and over at Blogger must believe I only watch Asian movies :p

....but my former philosophy teacher in high-school, Tariq Ramadan, has just been on Amanpour's show on CNN International a few minutes ago! I must say it's a bit funny to see him facing Christiane Amanpour now :p

Of course, they (including James Zogby, President of the Arab American Institute) were discussing Muslims, both in America and in Europe. It was very interesting and while I have doubted a few points Ramadan had argued in the past, I find myself having to agree with what I've heard him say during the show (I missed the first 5 minutes of it), such as: the Palestinian resistance is legitimate, but their means should be as well, i.e. targetting innocent people is not legitimate no matter how much the cause itself can be. And he also is against the burka ban in France, suggesting instead to go talk to Muslim women living there and who believe that this is the right thing to do with regard to their faith, that it truly isn't, namely that Islam does not impose the burka on women, and thus not wearing it is not a violation of their faith. But of course, why would politicians choose to that when 1) it would make them look weak in the eyes of the more conservative voters and 2) opening the dialogue a long-term solution that cannot make a visible difference from one day to the next, unlike a law (at least that's what they're delusional enough to believe, because I fail to see how that's gonna be enforced anyway). Politicians put their job on the line every few years at the elections. You do the math

The one thing though that annoyed me was when Zogby's intervened to explain the difference between the global situation of Muslims in the US and in Europe. It is true that the press here in Europe, as well as quite a few politicians, try to make it an "us vs. them" issue, something that doesn't exist in the US, generally speaking (i.e. save for the post 9/11 trauma) and that integration is, one the whole, more difficult in Europe than in the US (and I would add, not just for Muslims, but they have been more stigmatized of late than other groups). Zogby said that it had to do with how America was, in essence, more tolerant and welcoming (although he didn't use those words. I'll try to catch a rerun and write down how he put it exactly), and more maleable, welcoming people would would very quickly feel assimilated by society while society would also be changed by them, in a 2 ways exchange, while Europe was much more rigid, and, he even saidm because of the bigotery there.

Well, that's all fine and well, Mr. Zogby, but let's not forget that identities of European regions (and not nations - nations are very recent, and sometimes artificial, constructions) have a much longer history that that of America and that, for the vast majority, Americans are immigrants, and pretty recent ones at that. Identities of European nations although more recent, have been forged and solidified in the fire of countless wars on the continent: of course, they are less malleable, as a result, than American identity, to accomodate important groups of immigrants with a completely different culture.

And let's not even go into the centuries of war between Muslims and Christians.....

Anyhoo, if you get a chance to see it on the CNN international channel, please try to do so!

....were limited due to the temptation of playing FF XIII and extremely annoying neighbors (it's to who will scream the loudest, above the sound of their tv sets or their laundry machine - preferably both - and for the longest period of time. It all started this morning at 9.30 AM and still going strong as I write this, twelve hours later....let's just say it is NOT my idea of a relaxing Sunday.....)

Unbelievably, I did manage to write and publish my review of Drunken Angel. It's not beta-read yet and there will be some tweaking here and there, but I think it represents pretty well what I wanted to say about it. You'll also find the last of the caps from the movie under the cut

On the other hand, I haven't started on the next magazine to scan - not sure yet what to choose. I have a shortlist of movies, both for the reviews and for the Masaya caps, and I have a pretty good idea what will come next, but I also need to focus on doing some academical writing. I've promised to work on the city of Nara over at Ancient Worlds, and I've also got lots of notes on woodblock prints that wouldn't require all that much work to make for passable articles.

And then there's the yet-unread books pile that threatens to crash anytime :s


( Drunken Angel caps - part 4 )

I have been watching the figure skating this week - well, I am watching it right now as the last group of the free dance is beginning. I prefer the Canadians' free program to that of the Americans, but I absolutely adore both their short programs. I have not seen a creative dance as beautiful as either of theirs since Denkova/Staviski's baroque ball dance program, back in 2003! To be honest, I could live with either winning tonight :-)

And I am ever so thankful Takahashi won the men's event yesterday, both because I loved both programs this year (my favorites for this season; I prefered Lambiel's exhibition program from those of the rest of the field though *s*) and because I was not looking forward to seeing either Chan or Joubert winning - Chan still needs to grow up (he's made some ridiculous comments over the last two years, beating even Joubert in that department) and while he has amazing lines and edges, maybe the purest of the field, I find him still lacking in terms of interpretation (but he's very young so there's no reason why he shouldn't improve). I am not at all a fan of Joubert's skating (nor of his arrogance at times) but I was nonetheless happy to see him redeem himself after the terrible disappointment of the Olympic Games, because the lynching he received from a huge part of the French press (thank you, Eurosport France, for not giving into that!) was totally uncalled for and took ridiculous proportions

When there was no skating, I took the opportunity to progress with the English version of FF XIII. I'm happy because I now have the confirmation that I had understood most of it in Japanese, but there is no denying that it still takes me a lot less effort in English :p I've now just finished the Palumpolum chapter (and managed to score a five star ranking in that highly irritating boss battle at the end of said chapter - I finally, finally, got the hang of that one *g*)

Apart from that I completed the Shiro and Marylin caps-a-thon which you can find here. Not sure which Masaya Kato film or series I'll cap next but I'll probably get started either this weekend or sometime next week. I've also uploaded an older issue of Madame Figaro Japan essentially dedicated to French patisserie (you'll need to sign up to the Japanese magazines community to see the post, but if you want the link without joining, leave me a comment here *s*)

And of course there's Drunken Angel! I've finished taking the caps, and you'll find part of it under the cut (the rest will be posted here sometime this weekend). I'm hoping to write the review and publish it this weekend *fingers crossed*


( Drunken Angel caps - part 3 )

I received FF XIII's pal limited edition today, which means I will be playing this evening. But I won't stay away as long as I did when I received the Japanese version back in January. I've already played it twice, so it's just a matter of understanding some finer points I didn't quite get in Japanese....

However, I'm planning to continue with my list of the other day no later than tomorrow, especially seeing as I should leave work a lot earlier tomorrow (since I go there an hour an a half early), so stay tuned for more really soon *g*

For the first time in forever, I actually completed my absolutely-needs-to-get-done-this-Sunday list. I added quite a few Shiro and Marylin caps to the thread I created the other day and am now about half-way through the movie. Same for Drunken Angel (see under the cut). On one hand I'm sorry for having waited so long before picking things up where I left them, but in that instance, I'm actually discovering details I had never paid attention to in this movie, like how Sanada (the doctor) at one point leaves his chopsticks sticking vertically in his rice (which is a big no-no in Japanese eating etiquette seeing as it's something usually done at funerals). Or how Sanada stands all clad in white at the head of a half-passed out Matsunaga like the angel of the title....

I've also spent some time scanning one of the many Japanese fashion mags I haven't touched in the last few months - this time last year's 10/5 issue of Madame Figaro Japan: I'm hoping to have it available for download by the end of next week. And all that while watching the nordic skiing (the Norwegians won all four competitions, whoohoo!), ski jumping and nordic combine events in Oslo, he! I'm a bit sad this season is already coming to an end - one more week and then it will be an almost 7 months wait before the next season begins (apart from tennis, there are very few summer sports I'm remotely interested in watching - oh well, I guess that means more time spent productively :p)

But now for the Kurosawa goodness!


( Drunken Angel caps - part 2 )

I really don't know what kind of madness took me when I bought my previous laptop. I mean, I always buy Japanese when it comes to audio-video and electronic equipment (mostly Sony and Toshiba) and the one time I buy another brand it quits on me in less than a year. Lesson learned (ps: I am totally aware HP and other European and American brands create great products. It's just my personal experience with them doing the talking here *s*).

Finally got the chance to get started with my new computer and am very happy with it so far. It's a Sony Vaio VPCF11M1E. It's not as sexy as the HP, the screen is smaller (16.4 in. against 20 for the HP) but I'd take reliable over sexy and day so, just like with men, really So far so good (*fingers crossed*)

Also getting back into the swings of things movies-wise. I've started posting caps from "Shiro and Marylin" (マリリンに逢いたい in Japanese) over at the chinese Masaya Kato board. I'm unlikely to post a review for that one seeing as it's never been released outside Japan or translated as far as I know, and it's not exactly a masterpiece either - essentially, it's a cute family movie from the end of the 1980s (1988 to be precise) in the Disney tradition (the "hero", Shiro, is a dog) but based on a true story and slightly less sugary than the Disney stuff. But I had promised those caps months ago so felt it was only right to start with that. I had watched the movie a while ago and didn't remember Masaya was looking quite THAT young (he was 25 at the time, but he looks all of 18 throughout most of the movie - some things never change....) nor that the puppy dog was THAT cute (pic from an older cap session)

I also need to complete the caps and review of "Drunken Angel" before reviewing anything else (not sure what that will be - I might not have watched many movies over the last few months, but I sure have bought just as many as usual *sigh*)

I love technology, most of the time.

There was a moment yesterday when I thought this was all a cosmic joke. The day I decide to invest more time into my activities online, my computer crashes. You can't invent that. Prognosis according to my bf is not good, and I may well not get back what was on my hard drive. Great. Luckily I had a backup for most of the really important stuff, but a lot is lost also.

Just in case, never ever buy a HP notebook. My boyfriend had warned me that they have the highest failure rate in the first three years of usage of all computer brands. But I thought that I would cheat the statistics and believed I would be fine.

Needless to say I was wrong.

Even if I can somehow get the HP salvaged, I don't want to be reliant on it anymore so I've bought a new one (a Sony this time), which I should receive at the end of next week. In the meanwhile I'll just have to make do with my 6 yo Toshiba: it has its problems, it's very, very slow, but at least it works. If I'm very lucky I could even complete my to-do-online-list for this weekend regardless

So yeah, last night I was really pissed and disgusted at the whole world. But then cosmos decided to put me back in my place and show me that this kind of stuff is really not worth getting your knickers in a twist for

This is

I hope this report from the BBC will make enough noise that a independant inquest commission be set up to know if weapons used during the 2004 fightings are responsible for this. And whoever responsible is forced to make amends and caugh up the money to help a population they have so endangered that women are now recommended not to have children (please, please, please go read the article, but do so when you're in a quiet environment and not about to eat. If you're like me, this is likely to make your stomach turn and your eyes cry in both anger and sadness)