Electro-duo Streetlab, neighbors and high school friends of mine, have recently released three new tracks for consumption and enjoyment of the general public. You get an original song (which has been in my head more or less constantly since its release) and a couple of new, well wrought remixes (songs by Thieves Like Us and INXS). And if you haven’t checked them out before, there’s plenty more on their site to listen to. MP3s are also available, via links here.
HL and I finally watched the final six episodes of Hikaru during yesterday’s holiday, after saving them for a month or so. Nice to have a full anime catalog under my belt, and especially that one. Now I’ve gotta get to work on that manga…
More recently, I found out about Go Go Igo, a series of documentary shorts that aired following the original TV run of Hikaru no Go. Hosted by Umezawa Yukari 5-dan (now Yoshihara Yukari), who served as go consultant for the manga and anime, it’s a fun, graded introduction to the game of go. Although primarily aimed at kids, it’s good enough (and fun!) for anyone interested in the rules and play of the game. You can see all(?) of the episodes, subtitled and concatenated into seven segments, on YouTube:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
I’ve also learned that the people who made Hikaru, in addition to the rigor they applied to the games in the story, paid a lot of attention to detail in the various real-life locations that appear in the show. That is, the Nihon Ki-in building looks a lot like the real thing in Tokyo, as do the tourist sites devoted to Shusaku, in Hiroshima and, I understand, several other places.
As for my go, well, it’s in the works. In the meantime, enjoy those videos, and let me know if you want to play a game on one of the various game servers, or on my real-life board.
I’ve been away from blogging for a while now, despite intentions. Hopefully said intentions will soon be realized. But in the meantime, let’s celebrate my friend Betsy, in all her aspects:
Our New England adventure concluded with unexpected (and unwelcome) excitement on Wednesday afternoon as HL, atop a brand-new snow tube, engaged a local, sturdy tree at high speed. This entailed an immediate great deal of assisted transportation and a visit later on to a nearby emergency room. Although things didn’t seem as bas as they might have been, we wanted to be sure she hadn’t done severe damage. Fortunately she sustained only injuries that should heal on their own — a sprained hip and assorted contusions — although she’ll be crutch-bound for some time and has little experience being literally lame. Figuratively, it’s pretty lame, too, but we’re glad she’s as well as she is. Her brother and I managed to get her back to Brooklyn without too much difficulty (I-95 traffic notwithstanding) and have been helping her out whenever possible.
On the bright side (or, shall I say, making light of the dark side), the ER is always a locus of inimitable humanity. After being admitted, but still waiting for an examination room, for instance, we happened to overhear a cousin of John Wayne Bobbitt, who had just had some wound or other sutured up, waxing at length about his family name, said cousin, and various of his peculiarities, taxing even the most patient nurses’ patience. “I haven’t seen him since I was six years old,” he said, “and I tried to drown him.” His aunt later suggested, according to his report, that he should have gotten the job done when he had the chance.
A more touching example of the ER complement that evening occurred earlier, in the waiting room: A elderly man, his hand wrapped thickly with bandages and his clothes spattered with blood, was led by family members in from the ambulance bay. All reeked strangely of a campfire. Overhearing their fitful explanations we learned that he had saved his dog from a fire in the family’s home, and the poor dog in its terror bit him as he carried it from harm’s way — a heart-wrenching story. As the man stood in the triage office doorway, the nurse asked him, “What happened to you?”
He held up his bloody bandage and proclaimed, “I got bit by a hippopotamus!”
A little late on this, I know, but I’ve been pretty consistently distracted from the computer this week. We’re in Maine again — I wanted to head out to Illinois for a third year in a row, but couldn’t quite make that happen. Still, the weather and the company here in Kennebunk have been most pleasant, and I’ve had a number of adventurous holiday pastimes to keep me occupied!
First of all, HL’s mom’s house is full of student instruments, so I’ve spent a bunch of time tooting away on flute, recorder, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, trombone… the list goes on! I’ve also gotten some valuable instrument maintenance tips from the resident music teacher herself (HL’s mom).
Our other adventures have had largely to do with gifts exchanged, although they began a little before Christmas came to pass, when HL’s mom took us on a generous shopping spree at a couple of our favorite Portland fiber-arts stores (KnitWit and the Portland Fiber Gallery). I grabbed a handy wool reference (In Sheep’s Clothing) and some spinnables (wool sliver, of course, and my first silk hankies!), plus a big half-price pile of black RY Silk Wool DK yarn. Looks like it was silk-and-wool day. HL also got a bunch of fun things to add to the sack.
Then, as Christmas proper came to pass, so grew our pile of fibersome fun. Mostly books: Cat Bordhi’s Treasury of Magical Knitting (with a very applicable interchangeable cable needle set!), the Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook, and Meg Swanson’s Gathering of Lace for me, and Mason-Dixon Knitting and the Yarn Lover’s Guide to Hand Dyeing by Linda La Belle, propriatrix of our dear local Yarn Tree.
Unfortunately, I have a bunch of (sigh, Christmas-related) projects that I am bound to finish before I get going on any of the spinning or knitting ideas newly rolling about in my brain, but they shouldn’t take too very long. Then, some sort of Möbius, some sort of lace project, and introducing lots of twist to lots of novel fiber.
My other adventure has been further down the go road. HL gave me a study book and the next three installments of the fun- and inspiration-filled manga Hikaru no Go, and my mom managed to find a copy of Graded Go Problems for Beginners, Vol. 3. So, when not reading, knitting, or playing woodwinds, I’ve been sitting in front of my flexi-goban pondering problems of life and death.
Breaking News: An interview with Justin, straight out of the Solomon Islands, appeared on this morning’s (Friday, 14 December 2007) edition of The Bryant Park Project. I am happy to hear that he is focusing as much on the rights of historians, war veterans, and other interested individuals to go and see these war relics themselves (without this kind of trouble from local governments, of course) as he is on his own detention and unfair treatment.
Although tangential to those issues, it is also important to note that the Solomon Islands government is currently in upheaval, as a vote of no confidence lately passed through their legislature. Let us hope that the people who stood to gain from illegal salvage of the war relics are losing what leverage they had.
A few details on the issues I mentioned briefly yesterday…
A very old friend of mine has run into some trouble overseas. Justin Taylan, an American citizen and founder of the nonprofit organization PacificWrecks.com, which is dedicated to documenting and preserving the physical remains of World War II–era military history in the Pacific theater (aircraft wrecks, human remains, and so on), was arrested in the Solomon Islands on November 6, 2007. He was held on “boat arrest” for weeks without charge, and then charged falsely for entering the country illegally. He and his team of three others (also arrested) were exploring a mother lode of largely undocumented historic treasures when the Solomon Islands government, elements of which want to salvage and sell the wrecks, halted their progress and placed them under arrest. Their trial began today (December 12, 2007). I won’t go into any more detail, but please look at the abundant resources (particularly the press kit) available at the Taylan Defense & Support Fund website if you are interested in legal justice, military or WWII history, or anything else about this difficult situation. Most importantly, please pass the word on to others with pertinent interests — Veteran groups, historians, media outlets, or anyone who may be able to help develop awareness of the captives’ predicament. Thanks!
Well, that makes another year. Sunday night, as noted, went well. Yesterday did, too, although some bits of disturbing news darkened the day. I’ve already mentioned that my old friend Justin has been unjustly held on boat arrest for the last six weeks — his trial is beginning (began?) today — and I also learned of an espcially destructive suicide bombing in Algiers.
On the lighter side, I had a fantastic dinner at Diner, opened some birthday presents (see below), and got to enjoy the fine sounds of this topical holiday greeting.
As noted, I now have in my possession a few new choice items. My parents sent me the Cottage Creations pattern for the Wonderful Wallaby and a long-desired power drill/screwdriver tool. Both will come in handy, I’m sure. My sister sewed me up a knitting-project/book bag from some really wonderful fabrics. HL took me out to dinner, of course, and also gave me a nice flashing-red LED safety light for my bike, something I’ve been meaning to get for quite a while now. And another go study book, along with the first three editions of the Hikaru no Go manga! I’d already read them in crappy translation, but it’s nice (and fun) to have the hard copies.
Here, check out this Dufus appearance on Phoning It In — spin forward a minute or two unless you want to listen to the Australian inventor of the papilloma virus vaccine talk interestingly about public health for a bit — stuff sounds good and lo-fi! Dufus’s new album is on the scene!
Please visit Taylan Defense Fund and read about what is happening to my childhood friend and neighbor, Justin Taylan. In particular, check out his latest diary entry, the website of his nonprofit, PacificWrecks.org, and look at the press kit for more info.
Last night was a pleasant, if fairly mellow, celebration of my birthday. After knitting for about an hour over at Stain with the nascent Williamsburg SnB, HL & I met with a couple friends of mine (one of them the bartender) at K&M. A handful more trickled in over the following few hours, and kept things moving. Finally, Jonny showed up with a lovely topical birthday gift, a Set set, which occupied our attention for much of the rest of the evening. I hadn’t played Set in years (and thus performed quite badly, at least compared to memories of playing at the campground over summer vacations) but enjoyed it nonetheless. Then the karaoke got started, and a few of us sang a song. Yeah, me too. Not usually my thing, karaoke, but the time was right. For me to enjoy it, anyway, if not anyone else…
Later on, a few of us headed down to Bembe, where my friend Andy was funking the place up with his bass guitar and a few musician friends. Tired by this point, but we shared some fun hangouts and a whiskey or two too many with some of my closer friends.
The following day was rough; I even ended up unexpectedly missing my class at the temple for the first time. I didn’t peel myself off the bed until, well, way too late. Ugh, but I guess if there’s one day a year it’s worthwhile to wake up broken, it’s the day after your birthday party (thanks to Alie for the excuse). And now that it’s the real day, I’ve got a whole new opportunity to abuse myself with better foresight and fortification…
