Why is Refined Sugar More Expensive then Raw?
Nothing brings out the miser more than a Japanese summer. The sweat is near constant and everything you touch soon has a sticky grime. It's permanently overcast and when there is sunshine there is no shade. It often feels like walking through warm pea soup (great in wintertime!). Even a cold shower provides little relief. As I'm typing now, I can't tell if I'm drying or sweating.
I've just resurfaced from two days of nothingness. One of those days was spent entirely indoors as I recovered from the previous night. The other was mostly in my room aside from a quick jaunt to the park (which was ridiculously crowded and I didn't take a single photo). I spent my time watching some Canto movies, both by Wong Kar Wai. Of the two, Fallen Angles was the best- a grittier, sexier and darker precursor to The Replacement Killers. Chunking Express was also quite good, though more subdued and neurotic. I recommend them both- they've really made me want to live in HK, Tokyo often feels too 'sanitized'. Just finished downloading Exiled which is a far more recent film but looks good. Should go well with the gyoza that I'm about to fry up.
Also read Lament For A Nation for what could be the 10th time. Something about how that book is written resonates strongly. The message is strong, but the medium is even stronger (still haven't finished McLuhan's Understanding Media but already using the lingo). What really tugs is the last chapter and the afterword by Grant's wife. I think I'd consider myself fortunate indeed to marry someone who understands what I say so clearly.
Studying my Kanji today, for some reason remembered an old Chinese folk tale wherein a man built himself wings out of bamboo and successfully flew (might be messing up some of the mechanics of the flight, but you get the idea). Excitedly he ran to the Emperor's court and demonstrated his radical innovation. Afterwards, as the Emperor gazed out at the recently completed Great Wall he ordered the man put to death.
The man had simply been too clever for his own good.
Sustainable fusion power might already be a reality but even if it weren't, it's development and uses would be severely hampered for fear of the technology being misappropriated or even worse for some, upsetting the balance of power.
Something about the Radiohead tune Let Down always fills me with confidence. I imagine it being used as the last song in a film on my life. That seminal moment before the screen fades to black and the credits roll, right when the anti-hero emerges into daylight after a long night, wincing before he fumbles for his sunglasses. Having bested the bad guy (or at the very least someone more bad then he) walking down an empty street and into the rising sun.
** Today's title has been brought to you by my neighbourhood grocery store. I mean, WTF?
I've just resurfaced from two days of nothingness. One of those days was spent entirely indoors as I recovered from the previous night. The other was mostly in my room aside from a quick jaunt to the park (which was ridiculously crowded and I didn't take a single photo). I spent my time watching some Canto movies, both by Wong Kar Wai. Of the two, Fallen Angles was the best- a grittier, sexier and darker precursor to The Replacement Killers. Chunking Express was also quite good, though more subdued and neurotic. I recommend them both- they've really made me want to live in HK, Tokyo often feels too 'sanitized'. Just finished downloading Exiled which is a far more recent film but looks good. Should go well with the gyoza that I'm about to fry up.
Also read Lament For A Nation for what could be the 10th time. Something about how that book is written resonates strongly. The message is strong, but the medium is even stronger (still haven't finished McLuhan's Understanding Media but already using the lingo). What really tugs is the last chapter and the afterword by Grant's wife. I think I'd consider myself fortunate indeed to marry someone who understands what I say so clearly.
Studying my Kanji today, for some reason remembered an old Chinese folk tale wherein a man built himself wings out of bamboo and successfully flew (might be messing up some of the mechanics of the flight, but you get the idea). Excitedly he ran to the Emperor's court and demonstrated his radical innovation. Afterwards, as the Emperor gazed out at the recently completed Great Wall he ordered the man put to death.
The man had simply been too clever for his own good.
Sustainable fusion power might already be a reality but even if it weren't, it's development and uses would be severely hampered for fear of the technology being misappropriated or even worse for some, upsetting the balance of power.
Something about the Radiohead tune Let Down always fills me with confidence. I imagine it being used as the last song in a film on my life. That seminal moment before the screen fades to black and the credits roll, right when the anti-hero emerges into daylight after a long night, wincing before he fumbles for his sunglasses. Having bested the bad guy (or at the very least someone more bad then he) walking down an empty street and into the rising sun.
** Today's title has been brought to you by my neighbourhood grocery store. I mean, WTF?