Author: Heather Meadows

I spent the day reading Michael Gruber’s The Witch’s Boy.

It was very good.

Mari lent it to me, so I knew it would be, but I wanted to be clear on the point ;>

I am, as you well know, the type of person who likes to try to figure out where a story is going, so this book was perfect. Gruber threw in all sorts of fairy tales, such that I kept saying, “Oh! Hansel and Gretel! Oh! Rumplestiltskin!” And I was typically pleased when I was right, though I was also a little trepidacious, because I cared about Lump, even as I hated him.

There were a few things that I felt had to be references, but I wasn’t quite able to identify. One of them came as the woman and her little family were fleeing the cottage. She stops and goes back in to get a rose. I felt like that was a reference to some fairy tale, a very oblique one–maybe to Beauty and the Beast, maybe to Snow White and Rose Red–but I don’t think anything more came of it, unless it was something subtle that I missed.

The other part I am almost positive is a reference to something occurred at the very end of the book, so I won’t spoil it. It’s in the last paragraph, for those who’ve read it. Feel free to enlighten me in the comments, or engage in speculation.

It’s a very good book. Reimagining old stories is interesting in and of itself, but this book also presents a new story, and weaves everything together expertly. Well done.

Happy News: Smithsonian shows artwork by Hokusai

A show opening Saturday at the Smithsonian Institution’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery includes Hokusai’s original color print – a tsunami-like breaker threatening a small boat, with Mount Fuji in the background. Japan’s sacred mountain was a favorite subject and this scene comes from one of his most famous books, “36 Views of Mount Fuji.”

[…]

The exhibit ranges from a 47-foot scroll, too long to be completely unrolled in the show, to samples from his 15 volumes of random sketches called “manga.” It’s the same word used for the comic books that are now favorite reading on Tokyo subways. On the scroll, one of the many scenes shows a cat gazing at a butterfly.

I was lucky enough to see “Great Wave” in the Tokyo National Museum in 2001.

I was looking forward to seeing it again in 2003, but it wasn’t there. (The Smithsonian’s site lists it as belonging to “The Mann Collection, Highland Park, Illinois”. Being as famous as it is, I’m sure it gets around.)

“Great Wave” is an ukiyo-e, or “woodblock print”. Hokusai created it by carving the image into a piece of wood, then applying the proper colors to the wood, and finally pressing the block to paper.

The Tokyo National Museum gift shop sells “reprints” made using the original block. I wanted to buy one both times I was there, but both times I was dissuaded by money. Maybe next time :)

In the meantime, the Smithsonian’s show is looking mighty appealing.

Smithsonian: Hokusai Exhibition: March 4-May 14, 2006

The exhibition of more than 180 paintings, prints, drawings and printed books brings together for the first time 41 paintings from the Freer Gallery of Art, the largest and most important collection of paintings by Hokusai, with masterpieces from museum, library and private collections throughout the world. Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), founder of the Freer Gallery, collected most of the Gallery’s Hokusai paintings, drawings, and prints between 1898 and 1907. “Hokusai” celebrates the 100th anniversary of the official gift by Freer of his art collection and museum to the United States.

(I love that “largest and most important” bit. Arrogant much? ;>)

Kobayashi Shinobu is “one of Japan’s foremost writers on bento“, and she has an article in the Mainichi today about the kind of ekiben she likes to get for hanami in Kyoto.

On my way to cherry blossom viewing in Kyoto, I usually pick up a Takekago Bento, an ekiben sold in a bamboo basket. Takekago Bento, a widely loved and top-selling ekiben since its 1997 release, is one of the ancient capital’s most popular bento.

The loosely woven bamboo basket, with a red and white paper suitable for a red-letter day at the bottom, is packed neatly with a colorful combination of rice bale-shaped rice balls, norimaki and homemade Obanzai.

A pair of dishes made with namahu — a green yomogifu and a chestnut-colored awafu — are dressed with rich miso paste. Popular obanzai dishes, yakiyuba, koimo and dashimaki tamago are also included. Sawara, selected to represent the spring, and tori no sasami age, are also in the ekiben. Tori no sasami age is chicken breast coated with brown rice and deep-fried until crispy. The perfectly fried aroma goes really well with wine.

The elaborate bamboo basket can be thrown away, but that would be a shame. It could be used as a candy box or a seasonings holder at home. And it even looks nice when used as a flower holder.

I have to try it!

Well, I’ve made it through my first week.

I’m hesitant to say this because I might jinx it, but what the hell:

I love my job.

It is really exciting to be a part of disseminating the news, and fascinating to hear all the stuff that doesn’t get on the air. I love the editorial control I have over the website, and I love the responsibility of my position. I’m getting into a groove already with the work, so I’m able to pace myself and make time for side projects, like adding features to the site or making custom graphics. It is really great to have a set schedule of things that absolutely have to be done, but yet have so many things different day to day. (For example: there are recurring segments on some days, but reporter packages are always different.)

It’s fast-paced and I have a lot of responsibility. I feel important, and it’s obvious that what I do matters very much.

Yesterday someone in the newsroom said to me, “You’re doing a great job!”

I’m really excited about this. Not just because I finally have a decent-paying job, but because this is something I can actually see myself doing long-term. I am far too old to keep bouncing around from job to job looking for something I like. I need to get settled in and start planning for the future. Up until I got this job, I couldn’t imagine really doing that. I didn’t think I would ever find a job I could stand for years and years.

Happily, I stand corrected.

It’s possible that the newness might fade after awhile and I might get to the point that I’m bored or dissatisfied, but I’m optimistic that those effects will be lower than they’ve been at other jobs due to the fact that so much is new every day. There’s always something different going on. And being responsible for the whole website means I can always be tweaking something, which really satisfies my OCD.

In all, I’m very happy, and I look forward to a long career with this TV station.

I dunno, I was tired of “pics”.

As usual, it’s really too bright at midday for pictures. But they’re okay.

I loved seeing that lizard sunning himself on the fishing dock. Right after I took the picture above, he slipped down through that crack. I guess I got too close to him.

I took some decent pictures (I think). They’ll be up later, along with some pictures I took at the Greeneway on Wednesday. Yesterday I went to a doctor’s appointment during lunch, so no pics from that :>

Mainichi: Hitachi successfully tests first revolving elevator

With the increase in high-rise buildings, elevators with high transporting ability and shorter waiting times have been in high demand. Up until now, elevator makers had responded by making elevators faster and producing double-decker elevators, but there was a limit to how fast elevators could go, and with double-deckers, the people in one car had to wait when the other car stopped.

Revolving elevators had been seen as a key to the problem, but lack of the technology to move them proved an obstacle. Designers considered a linear motor system using electromagnets, but the huge amount of electricity they used and safety concerns in the event of power failure remained problems.

The revolving elevator Hitachi produced was developed for a 20-story building, using eight elevator cars. The system uses cables, like conventional elevators, but rather than fixing the tops and bottoms of the cables, four pairs of cables are arranged in rings to carry the eight cars. The carriages are placed at opposite angles, and the elevators move in pairs, with one car going down while the other goes up.

Since the elevators operate in pairs, when one of the elevators in the pair stops, the other one does too, but the system is still more efficient than double-decker types.

Is that crazy or what?

Kurama’s on fire :/

I was just looking at a picture I took there the other day, of the Hina Matsuri dolls they have in the waiting area.

I hate to think they’ve lost all their great authentic Japanese souvenirs/collectibles…:/

Update: Here are some pictures. Here’s the Chronicle’s story.

See, this is why Language Log rules.

A discussion of the phrase crazy talk–what it is, and how it may have come to be.

Now they just need to investigate devil woman, and their analysis of Kevin‘s speech patterns will be complete.

With a name like that, how could it not rule?

The new product coming out in April merges the companies’ most symbolic products into one just as the two toy makers have fused together.

“Pocket Monster Advance Generation Game of Life” requires players to race toward a goal, collecting Pokemon, forcing them to fight competitors and striving to achieve qualifications such as a Pokemon doctor along the way.

Unlike the regular “The Game of Life,” where players’ pieces are model vehicles, the Pokemon version uses Monster Balls. “Pocket Monster Advance Generation Game of Life” will cost 3,780 yen. A pocket version is due to go on sale in June at a recommended retail price of 892 yen.

I used to love the Game of Life when I was a kid.

I was very pleased when I first learned the Japanese months. ichigatsu 一月, nigatsu 二月, sangatsu 三月…hey, they’re just counting! How easy!

Imagine my surprise today to learn that in the past, the Japanese used month names like we do. The names have some interesting meanings, and are still used in literature.

Read all about them on About.com.

My favorite is shiwasu 師走, the “month of running priests”. :D

Pictures forthcoming.

Things to bring next time:

1. Something to sit on
2. Rollerskates, so I don’t spend all my time walking to the river and back

[Edit 11:24 pm:] Pictures are up, such as they are.

The lighting wasn’t really conducive to photography, but I got a couple of decent shots.

Whew, what a day.

It seemed like it was nonstop from the moment I arrived at work.

First I had to put up the videos I hadn’t had time for on Friday. Then I had to do stories and videos for the weekend. There were other miscellaneous updates to do. I started amassing information for the 5 and 6 pm updates as early as possible, and ended up working through lunch. (I ate a turkey and Swiss sandwich, a yogurt, and a peanut butter and chocolate chunk granola bar while I worked.)

The news meeting at 2:30 was a nice reprieve, and, just like on Friday, I enjoyed hearing how the news got discussed and planned for dissemination. After the meeting I threw together the web content for 5 and managed to get it all done before the news aired. Then I was free to pay attention to recording the live broadcast, and then snagging clips from it. I put together the 6 o’clock news quickly too, but I had to wait for the encoded video to upload to the server, so I wasn’t able to do clips until 6:45 or so. If I make shorter video encodes they upload faster, but I was busy with text stuff during the 6:00 broadcast and didn’t stop the recording during the commercials.

Ultimately I did get pretty much everything done that I needed to. I also learned a few more things about the job and what I have to accomplish. There’s kind of a schedule for certain kinds of content. It’s not just the same thing every day. That’s nice, as it keeps things new.

I realized today that I really have to have a good idea of what’s going on in local news to do my job well. That’s fine with me, though.

The most exciting part of my day was when a breaking news story came up at the meeting and I got to put it on the website. It was kind of thrilling to be one of the first ways people might have heard about the story.

Mainichi: DPJ admits sender, recipient of ‘Horie mail’ may be same person

DPJ Secretary-General Yukio Hatoyama is set to hold a news conference Tuesday to announce the results of the party’s investigations into whether the e-mail is genuine.

When asked about whether the sender of the e-mail is identical to its receiver, Hatoyama said, “There are such observations.”

“If it’s true, it raises questions about why the sender sent the e-mail to himself. We must look into the purpose of doing so,” he told reporters.

Gee, I wonder what the purpose might have been? ;P

Check out my new Wish List! It’s over on Amazon.co.jp, and currently is filled with the Maru Ma manga. X) Shoji Kawamori Macross Design Works is still on there from several years ago, too…I wouldn’t mind having that again, but my main priority is more Shibuya Yuuri.

Apparently there’s a character in the manga/novels who wasn’t in the anime. His name is Badwic, and you can see him at the bottom of this page. I don’t have time to mess with a full translation right now, but my limited Japanese ability indicates that he has something to do with the study of women’s fiction in Shin Makoku. Maybe he’s the publisher of Anissina’s books, I dunno.

Time for bed!

(P.S. 460 yen is, like, $3.96. Just so you know.)