While I'm at it...

Just finished "Eon", by Greg Bear, today. As far as science fiction goes, it was quite good, I'd recommend it. It has lots of neat ideas about space-time and relativity etc., etc. I'm now starting the second one "Eternity". We'll see how that goes.

More Adventures in Shinjuku

Yesterday, being our Saturday, we decided to do some more 'touristy' stuff. We decided to head over to Shinjuku to see the Shinjuku-Gyooen Park, reportedly the best in Tokyo, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office Building, which has a public observation deck on the 45th floor of the North and South Towers. Of course, we took pictures, which are, as usual, available on deviantart. A new addition to my wishlist: small, collapsable, portable tripod. At night, if you breathe the picture comes out blurry, which is kinda disappointing. So, tripod it is.

I got some pictures of the kewl buildings in Shinjuku, which you might enjoy:



These were taken on the way back into Shinjuku from the park, which was closed :(. While I was taking these pictures we bumped into this nifty little Go shop, so of course we had to get a Go board and some pieces ;).

After this, we walked into Shinjuku, had a great little meal - salmon and donburi, miso, radish, etc., etc...

Next we were off to the Government building mentioned above. The view was quite spectacular, especially since it was at night:



Finally, on our way back to Shinjuku station, we took a detour through another little park, complete with statues and it's own shrine (pictures of which of course are too blurry to post, due to the lack of tripod). There were an amazing number of cats in the area, and then I (almost literally) stumbled upon the first of many frogs:



Ha ha! Not sure what the strange lighting comes from, other than my flash. ???

Weather Update

We are in the middle of a windstorm, with 20-25 mph winds (sorry Dad, don't know what that is in knots). Anyways, I've never seen the sky this smog-free! :D:D:D

The Third Day

The famed trip to Kamakura. We got there bright and early, but there is so much to see that we didn't make it in time to see the big Buddha statue :(. However, we are definitely going back for the cherry blossoms so no worries. :)

A few things stood out on this trip. One, a different (more modern) giant Buddha statue that we spotted first thing after we got off the train. Here's what it looked like from the station:



That was really kewl, especially since it wasn't on any of our maps or tourist information.

After a futile search for the botanical gardens, we boarded the train once again and headed to Kamakura, home of the Kamakura shogunate. There is a big hill and the shrines are set into it with steep steps leading up to them. Here is a view of two of the major shrines:



We spent some time going up and down stairs and walking from shrine to shrine. We went to the grave of the founder of the shogunate; but nearby his grave was a decrepit stair, which of course we climbed:



After climbing the stair and walking along a cliffside path, we found three quiet tombs set into the hillside. Toby found them first and says they sent a shiver up his spine when he first saw them:



Among other things seen at Kamakura were: a 1000-year old drippy tree, a bird in the first cherry blossoms, and twisty trees at the entrance/gate to another of the shrines. There are far more pictures on deviantart for those who care to look.

Kamakura was very peaceful - it was nice to be by the sea and have some fresh air. Of course, on our return trip we stopped for Greek food at "Athens", of earlier note, and a Miyazaki-themed store. The latter was soooo fun! They have a stuffed animal cat bus - I want it!!! :D

Update on 3 Day Weekend

More on our trip to Tokyo. Two of my favorite pictures from the trip, for all those who can't bring themselves to get to the deviantart page.


A glimpse of the Imperial Palace.


A view of Tokyo skyrises from the Imperial Grounds parking lot.

One other thing that Toby forgot to mention: we saw this really kewl building called the Japan International Forum. It looks like the hull of a boat is suspended from the ceiling. Unfortunately, my pictures were a bit fuzzy so I didn't post them, but here is one taken by Olivier Théreaux:

Blogger Promisory Note

We took a trip to Tokyo Station and surrounds today. Idyllic Imperial forests and such, next to 8-lane traffic and high-rises (an awesome scene to take in, though I doubt either words or pictures could do it justice); thereafter a walk around Ginza, and some great Thai food unlike anything we've had before. Some of the pictures are already up on DeviantArt. A proper blog entry will have to wait 'til tomorrow, as I have been unambiguously ordered to bed, such that our plan to visit Kamakura tomorrow will not join its fellows in the Toby And Kate Graveyard Of Aborted Attempts To Visit Kamakura, Which Is A Must-See And All of Like An Hour Away, Give Or Take.

(Also in the works is a continuation of point 2 of my Cryptonomicon entry, wherein I shall demonstrate the terrifying depths and exhilerating heights of my capacity for obsessive geekery.)

Just how smart is Stephenson, anyway?

I am currently reading Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon. It's taking me a while, because although I plow through it at a respectable speed when I've got it opened in front of me, for the most part I only read it when I'm a) on the train or b) in "my office".

It's a great read so far, and I dig the attention to detail. But.

Possible Cryptonomicon errata

1. Actually, while the next two are only possibly errata, this is undeniably one. At the same time, it's relatively unimportant, since it's basically just a slip in copy editing. On p.87 (paperback ed.), Stephenson shows the last frame of Lawrence Waterhouse's work as he decrypts Commander Schoen's introductory coded message. So far, Waterhouse has filled in the letters A, C, E, K and T. (A and E from a simple frequency count; C, K and T are added from figuring out the initial word ATTACK.) Problem is, also listed is one letter R--not only has Waterhouse yet to do any work on the R, but it is only one R out of 4, the message being ATTACK PEARL HARBOR DECEMBER SEVEN.

The next two are a little more ambiguous, but potentially much more serious, because they may point to blindspots in Stephenson's cultural knowledge--which (given the genre--difficult to name--post-Gibsonian cosmopolitan techno-fiction?) really should be nearing perfection--or at least be close enough to perfection to fool your average English-as-a-first-language Asian-Canadian who was raised in small-town Alberta ferchrissakes.

2. On p. 262 Randy Waterhouse meets a man who hands him a card which identifies the latter individual as "Goto Furudenendu", "Furudenendu" being the Japanese adaptation of "Ferdinand." But I can't for the life of me see how "Ferdinand" could possibly be rendered as "Furudenendu".

I may be missing something: the Japanese adaptation of foreign words depends on a number of parameters which escape easy articulation (as I belatedly discovered when working on a computational linguistics group project that dealt with just this problem). But, try as I might, I cannot fiddle with these parameters in any way that will produce the adaptation "Furudenendu". The closest I can get is "Furudenendo"--this assumes that the name is originally pronounced in Anglicized fashion, and then is adapted in a way that maximally conserves traditional Japanese phonology. Under any such traditional scheme, however, it will be simply impossible to produce the "du" at the end, since there is no such mora in traditional Japanese--unless you count the kana character that is occasionally romanized as "du" but is actually pronounced as "zu", which is a rather poor rendering of a "d" sound. In fact, that "du" at the end is a real sticking point; although it's possible to produce it in modern Japanese, I see no reason why anyone would, since "do" is the standard and perfectly serviceable adaptation of final "d" sounds.

Not an open-and-shut case, but things look awfully sketchy.

3. On p. 386, we are introduced to Howard Li, who is described as, "Founder of Harvard Computer Company, a medium-sized PC clone manufacturer in Taiwan." Soon thereafter, on p. 388, we see Li gesture to an aide, who comes forth, and then:

"Something something Ordo," Li says in Cantonese.

Eh? If Li is Taiwanese, then his native dialect is almost certainly Mandarin, not Cantonese. He should be speaking Mandarin. Of course, maybe the aide is from Hong Kong or some such, in which case he would speak Cantonese--but then why would the boss change his linguistic habits to accommodate his underling? That would be completely backwards, particularly since the boss really is Boss in the Chinese business world (at least, such is my impression).

Alternatively, maybe Li's native dialect is Cantonese. We are not told that he is Taiwanese, after all, only that he runs a company in Taiwan. He could be from Hong Kong, for all we know (see above). But then one would expect him to speak Cantonese all the time; and one would expect his entire entourage to speak Cantonese all the time (see above); and so one would expect Avi to notice this fact, and, as such, provide a Cantonese rendering of the Mandarin "mì fú" (well, I'm pretty sure it's Mandarin), which he utters on p. 408 at the meeting attended by (among others) Li and his group.

Again, I can't be certain this is a genuine problem, but I have trouble making sense of this.

The Moor's Last Sigh

Two thumbs up! If you have some time, I'd recommend it. It's a bit of a slow go (I find all the word play and tricky language make it a bit tedious to read, albeit funny and enjoyable at the same time) but if you can manage it it's rewarding in the end.

Trip to Nagareyama, and Yet More Thoughts On LOTR

Visited the rellies in Nagareyama again today. This time we just dropped by for the evening, seeing as how we have to work tomorrow. Dinner featured a great deal of gyoza, which might have been for my benefit as I am a known gyoza junky. I didn't eat too many, though--probably about a dozen, which is hardly up to standards set in earlier years. After dinner we produced some omiage from our trip to Nikko. Being the busy cats we are, we hadn't had time to drop them off until now. The timing turned out to be a bit ironic, since the uncle and aunt had returned just yesterday from an anniversary trip to--guess where--Nikko.

Oh well. The gifts were appreciated nonetheless, of course, and tentative plans were made for a roadtrip during the spring break.

Right. About LOTR. Some of the scenes were great. The charge of the Rohirrim was great (but see below), and the lighting of the signal fires was breathtaking.

A few gripes.

Theoden's rousing speech before the charge was superb--except that it's supposed to be made by Eomer in a much cooler context, namely, following his discovery of Theoden's dead body and Eowyn's apparently also dead body, and immediately preceding a foolhardy charge straight into enemy ranks just as reinforcements are working their way across the battlefield. This sequence (Theoden's death, Eowyn's stand, Eomer's grief and rage) is quite possibly my favourite in Tolkien's version of RotK, and I'm a little miffed at how Jackson messed with it. What happened to "begone foul dwimmerlaik", or "the houses of lamentation"? I wanted to hear those lines, dammit!

Another issue is how the "world of Men" suddenly shrunk down to just Gondor and Rohan. I think I understand the reason for this--by focusing on just those two Kingdoms we get to build up some sympathy for them or whatever. But I rather liked the many-sided alliance that gathered together at the end to march on the Black Gate.

And the oliphants. They themselves were cool, but the ridiculous stunts involving them were silly. I scarcely thought it possible, but for sheer absurdity Legolas' one-handed takedown of the oliphaunt beat both his horse-mounting stunt and shield-surfing stunt in TT, hands down. And the tactical wisdom involved in the Rohirrim deciding to meet the oliphaunts head-on is a little mysterious to me. Oliphaunts alone are not very well-suited for a siege on Minas Tirith--they aren't capable of breaching the walls, they probably wouldn't even fit on the main road that winds up the city, and even if they did the handful of soldiers manning each one could be picked off by Gondor's archers easily enough. So why take them on on the open field? The real threat to the city comes from the hordes of orcs, who of course retreated behind the oliphaunts, but I don't see why the Rohirrim couldn't have simply trotted around the buggers and cut down the orcs anyway.

And, finally, Elrond's expression during the final scene at Minas Tirith was awful. Come on, Elflord, aren't you supposed to have some dignity or something?

Further Ponderings on LOTR

OK, so I've been thinking some more on LOTR. I heard recently that the extended edition of ROTK is over 5 hours, which I think is good because there are quite a few important bits left out. I know that (spoilers for all the lamos who haven't bothered seeing it yet even though they're in N. America) the scouring of the Shire is left out completely, no matter the version. I think I might be able to live with that - but they didn't deal with Saruman at all, and there were some other scenes that begged explanation. For example, at the end we see Eowyn and Faramir together...how did this happen? Last we saw them, they were both on the brink of death. I think people who haven't read the book might be confused (or maybe not, as the case may be). As well, that is how the King is revealed (partly), since he plays a major role in saving them.

Another confusing scene is when Sam enters the orc stronghold - seconds before a fight has started between a few of the orcs but suddenly all of them are dead. ??? We miss out where Sam uses the ring - which I think is quite important. We come off with a much different impression of Sam, i.e. that he is untouched by the ring, and that he doesn't need it's powers to rescue Frodo.

All that aside, there were some great moments. Pippin's singing (and perhaps Aragorn's, although his is not as nice) comes to mind. I found that scene excellent, it really sets the mood of Denethor. As well, the speech given by Theoden (which is supposed to be given by Eomer, ahem) before the Rohirrim rides on the hosts of Mordor is perfect, and the touching of his men's spears is a nice touch. I might add, the horses looked great. Great battle armour, tack and standards. Much was missed in the battle, such as Eomer's brief madness when he learns of the King's death, but I still think this scene just prior to the battle is a good contrast between the determination and calm of the riders and the chaos during the battle. One other really good aspect of this film, I thought, is the score. Really well paced and it seemed very appropriate for each scene.

Lastly, I'm not really sure why Gollum shows up in the attack on Frodo. I can't really think of a reason to do that except maybe to make us sure that he is not feeling guilty anymore about sending Frodo to Shelob.

We Dwarves Are Natural Sprinters...

To make a long story short, we managed both to see LOTR - Return of the King - and make the last train.

It was very exciting - and we only had to wait in line 1.5 hours! I found some of it a bit choppy - many scenes were noticeably cut out and I am really looking forward to the extended edition. Toby and I both thought the Rohirrim stole the show (especially their way kewl horses). The only major disappointment I had were in Shelob's eyes - they are supposed to be really big with lots of chambers (for lack of a better word) - I just thought they could have made her way kewler. Other than that, the Oliphaunts were awesome, as were the eagles. More to come when I am more rested. :)

Come to Kenya

weebls stuff
Very funny. Check it out.

This Saturday...

...we check for pink leotards.

As it turns out, the release date for Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King is not the February 22, as previous reported, but a full 8 days earlier: February 14. Even better, an advanced screening will take place at select theatres a full week earlier than that: February 7, this Saturday. Today, we found one of those select theatres and bought a two-ticket set for 2400 yen--not much more than tickets back home, which is to say, a steal in Japan. Our tickets came in a little folder akin to the ones that airplane tickets come it, and enclosed was a piece of cell phone flare styled after the leaves of Lorien.

Problem: the movie begins at 8:20. If we take into account the ample 201 minute running time, not to mention the number of ads and trailers that precede movies in Japanese theatres, then we should expect a midnight finish in the best case scenario. This timing must be considered in conjuction with a) our early shift the next day and b) our train route and the train schedule of our local line on the weekends, which is not particularly compatible with a healthy night life.

Prediction: Cinematic heaven will stand in stark contrast to the immediately following events in Real Life (tm).

Passion Flakie

Mel Gibson's Jesus movie must be good. Check out this spam I got about it, quoting a bunch of great guys whose opinions I trust implicitly:

Some say that Mel Gibson's "The Passion of The Christ" is controversial.
Others say that it is the greatest movie ever made. I can say after
seeing the movie that it is life changing. It is a must see for
everyone... Christians will understand the gospel like never before and
non-believers will be challenged by the Truth in a profound way.
Help get the message to your "neighbors" by handing out free materials.
Go to http://www.passionmaterials.com/

By the way here's what others are saying...

Billy Graham
President
Billy Graham Ministries
"Every time I preach or speak about the Cross, the things I saw on the
screen will be on my heart and mind."

James Dobson
Chairman
Focus on the Family
"It is deeply moving, powerful, and disturbing -- a film that must be seen."

Rush Limbaugh
Radio Talk Show Host
"If you've heard the conventional wisdom about this movie, due out during
Lent next year, you should listen to my firsthand account of it. I really
didn't want to give you all the details of the movie, but I did want to
tell you its affect on us. My stepdaughter cried for the last 30% of the
movie, for example. It's that powerful."

Rick Warren
Pastor - Saddleback Church
Author - "Purpose Driven Life"
"It is brilliant, biblical – a masterpiece."

Pat Robertson
Christian Broadcasting Network
Chairman and CEO
"Without question, this is the finest work that has ever been done on
this subject. The casting is superb. The action is gripping, and I
believe that having the dialogue in Latin and Aramaic adds tremendously
to the dramatic effect.
"More than anything your portrayal of the suffering of Jesus is with a
few exceptions in total accord with the biblical narrative. It is
therefore wonderfully authentic.
"It will be my pleasure to use whatever facilities we have available at
The Christian Broadcasting Network to help you publicize this outstanding
work."

Click on http://www.passionmaterials.com/ for your free materials to
promote "The Passion."

I recommend that you forward this to everyone you can so as to get the
word out about what many believe to be the best evangelical tool of the
century.

On second thought, these testimonies seem to contradict the stated opinion of the Almighty. Whom to believe?