ThePeteMiniTV: Watch as Abe-san and Takenouchi-san teach us how to do a dance featured in "Apology King".

http://instagram.com/p/d4fnE6Srkj/

via http://instagram.com/p/d4fnE6Srkj/

Sadao Abe and Yutaka Takenouchi doing a Q&A earlier tonight after a screening of the #Japanese #movie "Apology King" here in #NYC.

via Instagram http://instagram.com/p/d3bU1vyrpF/

ThePeteMiniTV: Lenticular "Apology King" promo card in action.

http://instagram.com/p/d2wAXpyrsi/

via http://instagram.com/p/d2wAXpyrsi/

About to see an "Apology King" screening thanks to New York+Tokyo. Yay!

via Instagram http://instagram.com/p/d2vu6ESrsD/

Draw Every Day #169 6/17/12: ??????? (Kimono Woman)

Decided to go 'normal' today. No robots, no goofy juxtaposition or even social commentary. Just a woman in a kimono. She's based on a screencap from a period samurai drama called "Yoshitsune". My goal wasn't to make an exact copy, just to draw something that looks like it is what it's supposed to be. I think I did all right.

Draw Every Day February 7, 2012: ??????????????

This was inspired by yesterday's DED piece, but unlike yesterday's DED, this one is not based on an actual cartoon I saw in a handout from a class I was taking. I'm thinking about doing a series of these.

 

 

Draw Every Day February 6, 2012: ????????????

This was inspired by a recent handout I received in Japanese class. :)

Draw Every Day for January 31, 2012: NIHON (kanji)

Today I start a new level of Japanese classes at Japan Society and I've been cramming for the last week to prepare. I've got Japanese dripping out of my ears, so it seemed appropriate to draw some kanji. Technically, I draw every time I write in Japanese ????

In fact, as this picture posts on my blog, my class is just starting!  ?????

Draw Every Day for January 7, 2012: Ryoku, Japanese kanji for strength and power.

Starting to play around with lines a bit.

According to #MyJapaneseCoach for #NintendoDS, I'm a 4th Grader! ???????!

According to #MyJapaneseCoach for #NintendoDS, I'm a 4th Grader! ???????!, a photo by thepetecom on Flickr.

I don't believe it! Seriously, I think MJC is way easy on me.

Got my #Japanese studying done early today. Lesson 40 in #MyJapaneseCoach covered ???? (fruit).

Got my #Japanese studying done early today. Lesson 40 in #MyJapaneseCoach covered ???? (fruit)., a photo by thepetecom on Flickr.

Most of them I knew, but not ?? (peaches) or ??? (grapes).

Just finished lesson 39 on #MyJapaneseCoach for #NintendoDS. Better late (at night) than never...

Just finished lesson 39 on #MyJapaneseCoach for #NintendoDS. Better late (at night) than never..., a photo by thepetecom on Flickr.

It's super late, but I studied Japanese today(ish)! I know it's not the perfect way to study Japanese but it's super convenient and structured. So I feel like I'm making progress. Unlike when I study kanji and it just seems like there are stacks more od them to go.

Japanese Studying for the day: More Progress on #MyJapaneseCoach for #NintendoDS--I unlocked lesson 39!

Japanese Studying for the day: More Progress on #MyJapaneseCoach for #NintendoDS--I unlocked lesson 39!, a photo by thepetecom on Flickr.

Moving right along!

My grade level on #MyJapaneseCoach for #NintendoDS

My grade level on #MyJapaneseCoach for #NintendoDS, a photo by thepetecom on Flickr.

It used to be higher but somehow I lost my savegame for it.

My latest Lego Acquisitions: Lego Samurai, Lego Geisha, Lego Gojira, Lego Hula Girl, and more!

My latest Lego Acquisitions: Lego Samurai, Lego Geisha, Lego Gojira, Lego Hula Girl, and more!, a set on Flickr.

It's now gotten impossible to decide which of my new minifigures I like the most. The contenders are probably the Japanese-themed figs. Lego Samurai, Geisha and Gogira (aka Godzilla) are probably tied, though I really love Cleopatra (and her viper!) and the boxer is awesome because he can be happy or beaten up :)

????????????????????????? -Nietzsche

From my tumblr:

nemoi:

sntr:

gkojax:

uessai-text:

2009?8?25???????? ?????????

(via uessai-text3)

?????????????????????????

????

???????????????????????????????

"I am not a man. I am dynamite."

Nietzche

A bit more context:

"I know my fate. One day there will be associated with my name the recollection of something frightful, of a crisis like no other before on earth, of the profoundest collision of conscience, of a decision evoked against everything that until then had been believed in, demanded, sanctified. I am not a man. I am dynamite." -- FW Nietzsche, Ecce Homo.

Basically, I think he was saying: "History will make me out to be way worse than I really was, and in that sense, I'm not just a man, filled with positives and negatives, but as something with the power to challenge everything."

I feel like he is both recognizing his own limitations while accepting that society will take those limitations away, but in a way that isn't very controllable.  As a commenter says on the page I link to above, in Nietzsche's time, dynamite was a new, fearsome explosive that would have been the atom bomb of its time.  So, that's why I interpret the original quote including the idea that the power society gives him is uncontrollable.

I love seeing western quotes translated into Japanese because of the words the translator uses.  The original quote, taken literally, uses the word "man".  However, in the Japanese translation the word "ningen" is used, which means "human".  Interesting since the word "otoko" is the literal translation of the word "man."  What this does, for me, is focus in on the meaning Nietzsche was getting at--he wasn't just saying "I'm not a man," he was saying "I'm not a member of the human race, I'm a monster, a force of nature."

I'm a writer! Of course, I'm going to get off on little things like this :)

Kyou no Nihongo no benkyou (Today’s Japanese study): Finally getting to Te-form! SUGOI!

Kyou no Nihongo no benkyou (Today’s Japanese study): Finally getting to Te-form! SUGOI!

The great mysteries are about to be solved! Te form!  According to Akai-sensei (my first Japanese teacher) Te Form is where it all begins—real speech in Japanese, like native Japanese speakers use to communicate instead of what I know now, which is what I call “pigeon Japanese”.  Wish me luck!

What approximately $20 got me at Book Off this weekend

That book on the left is called ?????? or Perori-chan. It’s a compilation of simply drawn comic strips. Then there’s a book about the Peanuts comic strip which I think is called “All of Snoopy’s something something”.  OK, the “somethings” are just where I couldn’t translate. But literally it says “????????(kanji)(kanji)???” or “Sunupitachino(kanji)(kanji)hanashi” I think “hanashi” is talk. So maybe it’s “All of my talks with Snoopy”?

Then there’s a manga starring ????? or “Doraemon”. I’m puzzled as to why the first two characters are in katakana but the rest are in hiragana.

The big magazine in the middle is called “Weekly Shonen” (shonen=boy) and is about an INCH thick with comics—insanely great price at $1.00 used and only a couple of months old.

Then, volume 1 of “Moonlight Mile” which was recommended to me by @tomzer1 because he said it was similar to “Planetes” which is an AWESOME anime that I HIGHLY recommend.  However, in this manga, there’s a group sex scene almost at the very beginning of the book! Maybe Tomzer was referring to the anime adaption of “Moonlight Mile”? O_O

And finally we have “Black Jack: The Best 12 stories by Osamu Tezuka”.  If you’re not familiar with Black Jack, he is an outlaw surgeon who can basically do almost anything with a scalpel but charges you a million every time no matter how hard the procedure is.  He’s a classic anime/manga character in Japan.

So, why did I spend $20 on books I can’t yet read? I’m using these books as a reason to study more. I have them on a shelf, right next to my desk, so I’ll see them always and (hopefully) feel inspired to study hard so I can one day read them.

What approximately $20 got me at Book Off this weekend

That book on the left is called ?????? or Perori-chan. It’s a compilation of simply drawn comic strips. Then there’s a book about the Peanuts comic strip which I think is called “All of Snoopy’s something something”.  OK, the “somethings” are just where I couldn’t translate. But literally it says “????????(kanji)(kanji)???” or “Sunupitachino(kanji)(kanji)hanashi” I think “hanashi” is talk. So maybe it’s “All of my talks with Snoopy”?

Then there’s a manga starring ????? or “Doraemon”. I’m puzzled as to why the first two characters are in katakana but the rest are in hiragana.

The big magazine in the middle is called “Weekly Shonen” (shonen=boy) and is about an INCH thick with comics—insanely great price at $1.00 used and only a couple of months old.

Then, volume 1 of “Moonlight Mile” which was recommended to me by @tomzer1 because he said it was similar to “Planetes” which is an AWESOME anime that I HIGHLY recommend.  However, in this manga, there’s a group sex scene almost at the very beginning of the book! Maybe Tomzer was referring to the anime adaption of “Moonlight Mile”? O_O

And finally we have “Black Jack: The Best 12 stories by Osamu Tezuka”.  If you’re not familiar with Black Jack, he is an outlaw surgeon who can basically do almost anything with a scalpel but charges you a million every time no matter how hard the procedure is.  He’s a classic anime/manga character in Japan.

So, why did I spend $20 on books I can’t yet read? I’m using these books as a reason to study more. I have them on a shelf, right next to my desk, so I’ll see them always and (hopefully) feel inspired to study hard so I can one day read them.

Bad-ass Japanese-style Star Wars art:

Bad-ass Japanese-style Star Wars art: STEVAPALOOZA!: Samurai Wars 4: Obi-Wan Kenobi



I love reinterpretations like this.