I became interested in Arabic geometry and zilij around the same time that the “Moroccan trellis” type of quatrefoil pattern started showing up everywhere. I’ve got a camera case, computer screen wipes box, and even a kitty litter mat with variations of this pattern on them. I’m both delighted by the availability of this design, …
The song that most caught my attention on Twin Gate when I first listened to it was “Unforgive You.” It’s such a haunting track, and the specificity of the person described made me wonder who it was written for. Actually, I think that’s how I came to find miko’s blog, as she explains there exactly …
It was a bit hard to keep my concentration up to get through this translation, but I’m trying to do like that one lady told Picard and “Never give up [my] music.” (A gingerbread cookie to whoever gets the reference and can cite season & episode number. Ahaha…) It didn’t help that I recently got …
When I first introduced my project to make an unusual bookshelf, I mentioned that it ultimately was to go in a particular corner of my room. While I’ve already unveiled the finished product in the post about my program’s exhibit this past June, I wanted to show what it looks like in situ. I also …
I had bought issue #44 of Rock and Read back when it came out in 2012, solely for the GACKT article. In 2013 I learned of YOHIO through his collaboration with GACKT on the song “Sakura, falling.” It wasn’t until this year, when I sat down to translate the aforementioned GACKT interview, that I realized …
This interview comes from the November 2012 issue of Rock and Read (#44). The interviewer is Ayano NISHIMURA. Usually, I don’t mind if someone posts a copy to their own site of a fan translation I’ve done (as long as they link back to me), but given how much work I put into this one …
It’s time to slowly reveal the products of this spring’s adventures in printmaking. Woo! I’d shown my warm-up linocut letterforms before, but I hadn’t finished the J at that point. When I did, I hand-printed these letters again to practice registration (aligning the paper to the plate properly) because I figured that would be a … Continue reading
A week ago I accidentally published my draft of The Air Moon Chapter 5 Part 2 in a fit of sleepiness. I immediately changed its status back to “draft” thinking that I could “unpublish” it, so to speak, but it only half worked; the post did become unavailable to the general public, but when I … Continue reading
Sorry if anyone following the blog got the draft version of this in their email; I was sleepy and accidentally hit “Publish” instead of “Save Draft.” ^o^; That version hadn’t been edited for clarity, and was missing the last two pages of this chapter. I wanted to hurry up and finish but things kept popping … Continue reading
The first four months of 2017 were all over the place. I was pretty tired being both graduate student and part-time faculty. It still seems a bit funny to me that this is what I’ve ended up doing. Teaching Japanese while studying Art Education. I was trying to get away from gray areas and here … Continue reading
I spent my winter break preparing to teach Japanese 1020 at my university. As an Education major it amuses me that I can’t teach at most grade schools yet, as that requires state certification, but I’m being allowed to teach Japanese at the college level. Well, it is Elementary Japanese, but still. Of course, having … Continue reading
Japanese text of the lyrics available at Rock Lyric. There is one minor difference between what’s sung and what’s written there, namely that where the lyrics say 「心の中」(kokoro no uchi) what’s actually sung is 「心の中心」(kokoro no chuushin). The meaning doesn’t change much; kokoro no uchi would be figuratively “one’s mind” whereas kokoro no chuushin would be … Continue reading
In late November, with only two of four sculpture projects completed, I struggled to make a semi-autobiographical portrait bust in clay. I’ve gotten better at thinking in three dimensions, and despite being quite familiar with my own face, this was quite the toughie until I rolled out a slab of clay and literally draped it … Continue reading
