Sorry for not giving news in so long. Just been busy really *s* Between work, crossing fingers for Federer at Wimbledon (try typing while you do that, I dare you! Oh, and while I'm at it: Dear Roger, thank you for the wonderful fortnight and for this great victory but please, no more 4 hours+ thrillers in finale, I had stomach cramps the whole evening and my nerves were all but shot for the following days. Thank you.) and getting somewhat back at Ancient Worlds (sort of, really, I'll see where this whole thing gets me). Oh yeah, and I'm back in the saddle for the FF XII walkthrough which I have abandoned somewhat over the last couple of months....

Anyhoo, a few things that I am about to/ have ticked off my list:

- I'm almost done with scanning the latest issue of Shel'tter which should be online this weekend

- The review for Red Cliff part 1 is online (thank you Beth for the beta-reading!), along with the picspam (here for the complete - but access-restricted - one and there for the somewhat smaller, but public one)

- Just posted the picspam for the second installment in the Sasori (Female Prisoner: Scorpion) series here (I'll make a smaller, public picspam alongside the review when I have that one ready)

- Started translating the first book in an illustrated history of Japan series. I am still wondering if it will be worth making longer summaries of what's in there, but at any rate, I'll posting short notes in English about it and the first one, on Paleolithic Japan, is here; threads will change according to the period, but I'll post links here anyway

- Am currently posting Masaya Kato picspams from the KiraKira Kenshui series over at a chinese discussion board dedicated to him. But the access is public so I'll post the complete list of links (there's one thread per episode) here if anyone wants to have a look ;-)

Oh yeah, one of the other things I've been busy with IRL is that I found out early this month that Nara (Nara Prefecture, Japan) will celebrate next year its 1300th anniversary of becoming capital of Japan. They will hold events throughout the year. And since it's been a while I've been thinking of going to Japan within the next few years, I thought I might just change my plans and go a bit earlier than first planned *g* : Nara was definitely a place I wanted to visit (I am a history geek, after all) and it will be easy to travel to Osaka and Kyoto from there. I will probably stay in that area for a week and in Tokyo for another one - at least that's the early plans I have in mind

So sorry I went AWOL for almost two weeks, but I caught a cold. In June. After I went through winter without even sneezing *sigh* I just CAN'T do things the way normal people do, it seems. It was pretty nasty and for all I know, it might have been Swine flu. If it was though, it doesn't seem I've passed it on to anyone. I have a good idea when I caught whatever I got, and after that I've only been with colleagues and a few friends, and haven't been in close quarters with other people until I was really ill, and the couple of people I know who also got ill actually became so before me. Anyway, whatever it was, I must have had a touch of hay fever thrown in the mix, because I would feel worse at my workplace (my eyes start to sting, my nose runs constantly, etc.) and I know from experience there must be something growing there that I'm more sensitive to, as I've had hay fever symptoms at work around this time of the year since I've been there. And of course, the whole thing would block my sinuses which led to heachache after headache.....


Anyway, I'm better now. I've managed to scan the whole of Madame Figaro Japan February issue which is in answer to a few requests made over at jmagazinescans - I just need to photoshop the lot and upload it, so the matter of a couple of days, normally *fingers crossed* Started also taking screencaps from Red Cliff part 1 which I have now seen two times; I must say I've come to really love Nakamura Shidou (Japanese kabuki and movie actor) in this: he just has these great facial expressions that had me laugh and want to hug him simultaneously. Generally speaking, I found the generals more entertaining than the leads (I think John Woo seriously overindulged in his "men coming together" fetish to the point that it becomes distracting in the middle section of the movie) with the exception of Chang Chen who has a more complex character and plays the nuances well


I've also seen Female Prisoner #701 - Jailhouse 41 again which I'll probably review right after Red Cliff part 1. And I've seen the last part of North and South over on BBC Four and must say it was one great episode! I know I owe salimbol to write at least some details about it but it will come in another post - it's already getting pretty late :p

Another thing that I'll owe her and quite a few other people are more Masaya Kato pics - I WILL get to it, in fact I *am* getting to it *hint hint* especially since I have more dvds coming in over the next couple of weeks AND he'll be in a new tv show starting next week already (in a guise we haven't been used to see him in so far, as he warned in his blog. Unfortunately I don't have any good quality picture to show, but let's just say that when I saw a tiny illustration of what he meant by that, I spit my tea all over the keyboard :p). Now let's hope that KeyHole TV does its job this time around and that I actually get to see it when it is broadcasted on TV Tokyo *shake fist*


( Because I'm such a tease and it's just too funny not to share )

Got around to write my first entry for my review journal here; it's a review of the short animation movie Tsumiki no Ie which I've mentioned in my previous post

Also managed to move my *ss and actually got around to scan the Wolverine coverage from Studio Magazine and post it at jackman_daily. Now I only have the ton (ok, maybe not, but certainly a dozen or more) Japanese fashion mags to scan. I don't know when I'm ever gonna find the time to do it, but I WILL eventually....hopefully :p

Ok, I SWEAR I hadn't planned to watch it before the gazillion other dvds I had received before that one. It was an accident, as I was only trying to locate one scene in order to take a cap.....and ended up watching the whole first part of The Man in White, the other yakuza flick by Miike which also stars Masaya Kato. To be honest, I wasn't that impressed with it when I fast forwarded through it the first time around, which was rather disappointing considering how Agitator had blown me away pretty much from the word go. However, really watching it, I found it strangely compelling. I can't really explain why: Kenzuki and Higuchi in Agitator are characters which are immensly likeable from the very beginning, the nature of their occupation nonewithstanding. On the other hand, characters in Man in White are more difficult to connect with, but it's still riveting stuff. Maybe I'll be able to elaborate more when I have seen part 2, we'll see.....

Oh yeah, and it was THAT scene I was looking for. I just love the composition of the first, and the overall impact of the second. And you can guess why it's called "The Man in White" in English (even though the title in Japanese really translates as "The Unforgiven"). Sorry for the quality, but the DVD transfer is not that great.....then again, it's so difficult to get with subs that I am not really complaining there :p

( images under the cut )