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This is from a translation of a blog by a Japanese musician named Kiyo, from a band I’ve never heard called Janne Da Arc.¬† I found his blog one day when searching a phrase on the Internet, and I’ve been reading it ever since.¬† He usually opens with some sort of funny statement like, “This is Kiyo, who likes stew.”¬† He often includes a lot of pictures of food, which makes me ask, what is it with Asians and taking pictures of food?¬†

Anyhow, there was a touching entry a few days ago about one of his teachers.  Here it is:

http://community.livejournal.com/kiyo_blog/65854.html

Sleepytime guy

Originally uploaded by MFinChina.

I saw this guy on the subway the other day, his mouth hanging open and everything. I had to take a picture.

For those of you with easy access to HK, there are two cool film-related events coming up, sponsored by the HK International Film Festival Society.¬† There’s an anime and fantasy festival from July 27 to August 6, and then a Summer Pops festival from August 8-27.¬† Everything in the anime festival is Japanese, as are the majority of the films in the Summer Pops festival.¬†

Here’s a link to the English page.¬† Click on each festival for specific info.

http://www.hkiff.org.hk/eng/events/coming.html

Here’s a link to the Chinese page:

http://www.hkiff.org.hk/chi/events/coming.html

Here’s a link to the animated short ODE TO SUMMER by my former student Xu Yi/Ron Hui.¬†

http://renderaid.com/FilmsInfo~id~1020.aspx

I found this link on Sinosplice (www.sinosplice.com), a blog by a foreign grad student at my school.

Enjoy!

Just in case I go for a long time without posting, it’s because I’m going on vacation.¬† I’ll be leaving for my parents’, and then going to Bloomington, IN, and then back to NY state.¬† I’ll try to post in the interim, but I don’t know about my computer access during that time.

Fido al-Daido.

Originally uploaded by MFinChina.

Interesting crossing of cultures on a convenience store billboard, Shanghai. Now we know why we don’t see Fido in the US any more — the CIA probably put him on some dumb no-fly list after seeing this ad!

Stories about sexual dysfunction or dissatisfaction in Japan are very popular in China, where people seem to consider these problems some sort of cosmic revenge for all the rapes committed during the Japanese occupation. 

According to an article in Mainichi Daily News, 10% of Japanese men in their 40’s are still virgins.

Couldn’t get the stitches.

Originally uploaded by MFinChina.

Taken a couple days ago.

No matter what I tried, I couldn’t get a clear picture of my stitches, which I think looked kind of cool. Three of them ended up falling out on their own, and I got the other two removed today.

I saw this on IMDB today:

Drunk Jackie Chan Interrupts Concert

There was another incident back in the 90’s where he appeared on a Japanese talk show drunk and slapped the hostess. Not a pretty thought.

I finally fell asleep at like three last night, and then couldn’t get up to go to Chinese class. At first, I thought I’d make it, and then I thought I’d come a bit late at like 9:30, and then I thought I’d come after the break at 10:30, and then the next thing I knew, it was 1:30 in the afternoon.

After a few days of insomnia, morning-long Chinese classes, and evenings spent at the British Council, I am officially tired.

I’m actually feeling much better now.¬† I’m getting more used to my new face, although I do kind of like the stitches I’ve got.¬† If people ask about them, maybe I should say I just woke up one morning and they were there.¬† They just grew suddenly!¬† It’s like “Morgellon’s Disease,” or whatever.

Today was also the first day of Chinese class.¬† I’m happy to say I’ve moved up one level to zhongji ban three.¬†

I just got the bandage removed today, and I’m horrified and upset.¬† It’s not that the operation wasn’t a success, it’s just that I don’t like how I look now (although to be honest, I didn’t like how I looked before …).¬† I feel that my face looks bland and fat.¬† I’m angry at myself, also, that I didn’t get the one on my cheek removed first, when that was the one I really didn’t like.¬† I was sort of okay with the one I got removed first.¬† I guess I just did it first because other people had suggested it.¬† But why did I listen to them?!?¬† I guess I’m just dumb.

I’m so disappointed that I feel nauseous.

To be rational, I’d be thinking of getting these removed since I was in college, and I’ve always hated them.¬† So if I hadn’t done it, I’d always wonder about it.¬† I also know that maybe in time I’ll get used to the way I look now.¬†

But now, anyway, it’s painful.¬† I feel like I’ve made a mistake.¬†

Currently, Cha Tae-Hyun, of MY SASSY GIRL fame, is starring in three different 10:00 pm shows I get on my TV here.¬† I guess I can call them “ten o’clock shows,” because there’s a new law stating that foreign serials can’t be shown in prime time anymore — they have to start at ten.¬† It was enacted after CCTV made some big expensive historical epic, which nobody watched because they were all watching the Korean show DA ZHANG JIN.

¬†Anyway, it’s good that a lot of channels run the name of the program continuously in the frame, otherwise you could get totally disoriented if you channel surfed.¬† You could see Cha, for instance, and think you were watching one show when really you were watching another.¬† “Wait!¬† I thought this was PURE LOVE, but it’s really THE PRINCE’S ________________ (I can’t translate that part of the series name!”¬†

Just today while I was waiting my turn at the plastic surgery clinic, I saw an ad for ANOTHER serial of his that’s going to begin showing next week.¬† So that’ll be four total!¬†

 Congratulations Mr. Cha!

(I have no idea why he doesn’t annoy me like that guy with the glasses does!)

 

One down, one to go.

Originally uploaded by MFinChina.

I finally got de-moled today! Well, just the one near my lip was removed, and if all goes well, I’ll have the one on my cheek removed before the new school year starts.

Here’s an article on his second son, “The Funky Leader.”¬†

As vague as that complaint is, I bet like 500,000,000 people in Asia would know who I’m talking about instantly!

I went over to talk to the Dog Man tonight (but he was busy playing cards), and found his dad, who I hadn’t seen for a while, was REALLY feeble.¬† The left side of his face is sagging a little.¬† I wonder if he had a small stroke?¬† I found him very hard to understand tonight, and even his no. 2 son had to ask him what he was talking about.¬† I guess he felt sick today so they took him to the hospital, where he was just given an IV.¬† Did they even test him to see if he’d had a stroke?¬†

Just giving someone an IV is typical at Chinese hospitals.¬† I feel like you might as well use a magic 8-ball to find out what your diagnosis is, because no matter what happens, they either say “gan mao le” (you’ve got a cold), “drink more water; have a rest,” “you need a shot (a.k.a. IV), “you have too much internal heat,” or “you have a kidney stone.”¬† You could come in with a severed arm and they’d say you had a cold.¬†

Anyway, I think things don’t look good for old Mr. Zhao.¬† His family didn’t seem too concerned.¬† Maybe they are just accepting it as something natural that will happen because he is so old?¬† Or maybe they are concerned, but I’m not seeing it because I’m not really part of their family.¬† Anyway, he is 78 years old now, and smokes too much, and the weather is extremely hot and humid.¬†

Is it mean to talk about something like this so openly?¬† I feel like I’m going to bring him bad luck by saying this.¬† But I did think he looked really bad.¬†

After my surprising E-bay experience, I’m filled with a feeling of foreboding.¬†

Actually, the E-bay thing was really upsetting to me.¬† I feel singled out and accused.¬† I want to find out what I supposedly did wrong (I was told by an online rep that I had to contact the “Safety and Trust Team” to find out) and clear myself.¬† I’ve written a couple e-mails asking for clarification, but haven’t received an answer.

Now I have this fear that a bunch of other things will go wrong too.¬† It seems like that happens in real life, sometimes… I was thinking about the Japanese TV series I’ve seen, and how in the last couple episodes, they pour on these unimaginable misfortunes, one after the other.¬† Then I thought, “Well, that’s not unrealistic!”

I do have this amulet I got in Xi’an that is supposed to “make your luck turn.”¬† I could try wearing that.¬† The last time I wore it, though, I broke my glasses.