cat /proc/claus

This week we had the presentation for the Kashima Shinden Jikishin Kageryuu Club at the Waseda University Culture festival.

The culture festivals, for those who don’t know it, are events where the universities many “student clubs” gather to present their activities to the community. Many clubs just set up some kind of shop, while others prepare some kind of performance.

When I joined the Jikishin Kageryuu Club, it was just one month before the Wasedasai. So I just got to take some pictures. That time, it rained very heavily, but the members did the kata all the same, which was REALLY cool looking.

Now, two years later, I was ready to take part of the presentation myself. This time, I was actually the third eldest member, out of five. Although Ito-sensei made more of an cameo appearance, since he doesn’t really have the time to come to the club recently.

I even got to perform the second Kata, the Tounou Kata. I was kinda nervous, because I had just finished learning it, but things wen’t quite smoothly. Differently from the houjou kata, the Tounou is quite intense and fast, so it is quite attractive to an audience (although a well performed houjou kata can be even more energetic). In our presentation, the public started clapping before the kata was finished, which took us by surprise.

The picture here is from the beginning of the tounou kata, the 5th movement (out of 14). It was taken by a friend of mine with a mobile phone, I’m actually quite impressed by the quality of the picture itself. Anyway, it inspired me to put on some pictures of other jikishin adventures that I was supposed to put on the website long ago… click on the thumbs below and enjoy.

Ok, nothing new to report right now. The curious might have already noticed, but I uploaded a buttload of pictures to my photo albums these last two days.

First there are the pictures of my new apartment:

Since I have received a lot of donations from kind and generous souls, my home doesn’t look so bare anymore. But it is nice to remember one’s origins.

After that, a whooping 150 selected pictures from my 4 day trip to okinawa.

Without further ado, have fun!

So today I decided to give japanese cinema another chance, and went to see “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” in the a theater in Shibuya. No hassles with the theater this time, fortunately, except for the excessive number of trailers, but Brazil has recently been getting worse in that aspect as well.

About the movie. I went to the cinema with great expectations. I had some very fond memories of “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”, which I saw when I was a kid. I also have a deep admiration for the work of both Tim Burton, and Johnny Depp. Well, never go to a movie with great expectations…

Not to say that the film was bad. Specially the scenarios, if you are expecting some outlandish fantasy scenarios like those from edward scissorhands, sleepy hollow, and finding neverland, you’ll certainly get them. Depp’s Wonka, on the other hand, seems kinda weird. I can’t place it very well but, uncharismatic. The Oompa Loompa were terrific, and very memorable, although the transition to their songs, except for the last one, were not really smooth.

The plot is reasonably different from the 71’s movie, although the main elements (the 5 kids personalities, the contest for entering the chocolate factory) remain the same. I can’t really compare both movies, because my memories of the first one are kinda biased due to nostalgy. All in all, it is not a bad movie, but I don’t know if it was worth going to the theater to see it (specially here in japan, where the cost/benefit of going to the movies is so low).

BTW, for some trivia, both movies were actually based on a novel, named “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. It seems that Tim Burton’s work is closer to the original than the older movie.

On a side note, I have put some more pictures in my photo album. They are mostly pictures that I took last week on my laboratory, so you can have an idea of my workplace. Unfortunately, I forgot to shoot everything that I wanted to, so there are some representative pics missing, like the student sleeping room, the bath/cleaning room, and better pics of the spider.

Anyway, enjoy!

First, I would like to say that I’ve put a few new pictures online. Go there see them. I was also trying to see the new “Chocolate factory” movie, but the theater in shibuya was full. I supposed that shibuya, being one of the big entertainment centers in tokyo, would have more than one movie room with this title, but oh, well.

Anyway, now for the alarming news. Reading the news tonight, I found out that there is a growing problem of dihidrogen monoxide in the dairy industry. The dairy companies are feeding this chemical to the cows, so that they produce more mild. Cows that ingest dihidrogen monoxide are said to produce more milk than those who don’t. However, the chemical is highly addictive, so that when consuption is stopped, the animals quickly die.

The problem is even more serious, because large quantities of this chemical are passed into the milk that we drink. The effects of dihidrogen monoxide are not completely known on humans, but large quantities of it have been found on tumors. I would like everyone who reads this to get more information on this substance, and support a ban of DHMO.

For more information: www.dhmo.org

Well, I’m not sure If I did the baka gaijin part 1, but here it goes. Sometimes you just do stupid things. Specially when you are in Japan. The funny thing about doing stupid things in Japan, is that the japanese are incredibly cool about it.

Anyway

• A week ago, I forgot my umbrella in the international centre. The thing is, japanese buildings usually have many different places, in halls, in corridors, before rooms, where you can leave your umbrella, so even if no one took it, it is not hard to lose one. So I bought a new one when it was raining. One day I took my new umbrella with me, and in the way I found the old one! To make things worse, although it was quite cloudy in the morning, the day turned up to be sunny, so there I was, walking around in a sunny day with TWO umbrellas.
• Then this other day I was up late (3 am, like today) doing silly things (like my japanese homework). I had class the following morning, and I thought I wouldn’t be able to wake up in time to take the train to go to class. Thus I decided to just stay up until classtime. When I get to the campus, at 7:30, I find a note saying that class had been cancelled. Bummer… So I go catch some sleep in the International Student’s lobby, and a few hours later I’m woken up by a startled japanese teacher who wonders If everything was ok with me. Anyone who has been in Japan will doubt me, but I swear it is freaking true. Of course she was floored at listening to my explanation.
• Then today I was buying some stuff at a convenience stop, and couldn’t find my wallet. I spend like 10 minutes in front of the clerk looking for it in my backpack, about to think that I had lost it, when the clark asks me politely “Is this what you’re looking for?” It turns out my wallet was hanging out an outer pocket of my backpack. DUH
• Ok the last one isn’t exactly stupid, but to keep on with the spirit, today I scared a japanese girl into not entering the elevator with me. I guess a maniacal looking computer geek clutching “The art of computer programming Vol 1″ against his chest is such a fearsome image.

That’s it folks. And there are a few new pics of my classmates in my picture album. They’re not “the monkeys” but are (mostly) nice people.