Time To Ask..

Gomen for the dead signal all these long, near torturous months. From this point forth, there should be a great deal more news and fun coming to these pages shortly.

Let's settle back into things shall we?

As of right now, I'm knee deep in practicing methods of asking others for favors. This comes in handy when something is in dire need of assistance. And since the statements change depending on the role of the person being asked, it is important to know those differences.

When asking someone close to us, say a friend (tomodachi), asking the question tends to end with a very casual
てくれない(tekurenai)

When asking someone a little less close, such as your host mother, try ending the request with
てくれませんか。(tekuremasenka)

Stepping back a little further, and asking the help of someone who is more like a stranger, ending with ていただけませんか(teitadakemasenka) A much more polite form of this method.

Some examples:

Asking a friend to help me with a task:

ちおっとてつだってくれない.
chotto tetsudatte kurenai?

Asking my host mother to help me study:

べんきょうをてつだってくれませんか。
benkyo wo tetsudattekuremasenka?

Asking the assistance of a stranger:

ちょっとてつだっていただけませんか？
chotto tetsudatte itadakemasenka?

Late Spring Cleaning?

Not sure why I never considered doing this before,but since Memorial Day is here(and so is more time now that classes are out)..Any who are curious as to more of my personal tastes in nihonjin media, hobby, movies and more may find my mother of sites, Variable Zero to their liking?

A pet project that had been laying dormant for years has finally started to bubble into reality, and it's high time to share with my です readers!

Not only will it be a home for reviews, and reports all things geek, it's also the home to personal art projects, short films, and my personal musical project, テツジン! So check it out, drop me a line and tell me what you think!

やすみだ！でも、じんせいわとってもいそがしいですな！

So visit, onegaishimasu!

TSH To The Rescue!

Now I'm not 100% sure of the who's and why's, but a strange phenom has been nagging at the back of my atama, and it's all about guys wandering around in public areas, wearing what seem to be animal masks, particularly Horse ones. Years ago, I ran across one featured on a really bizarre short online that featured Shibuya street performers which was both deafeningly awesome, and stupifyingly creepy.(honestly, if I could present it here I would)

But several months ago, the phenom returned in an albeit more straight humorous fashion with Tokyo Subway Horse. Nothing says rupturing the flow of time and space in Japan like walking around in a Mr.Ed head.



And then another day in Starbucks...(listen for the crying baby!)



I love this dude.



........久保君，しゅしょくきまったのかな。

Yokota Is Bleeding

The more and more I watch of it, the more I'm encouraged to just let loose with it and have fun. Chris Nahon's Last Blood may not be the gritty actioner that Kitakubo directed years ago, but it at least looks like a good vamp-slashin' time.

And Jい-Hyun Jun fighting Koyuki in eigo, with Corey Yuen fight choreography just raises the squee meter for me.

This Summer-It's War..

The instant the last frames came to a dim on 2006's Toki Wo Kakeru Shoujo (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time), my mind was thoroughly fixed on what Mamoru Hosoda could possibly do next. His already smooth, expressive style had adorned films like the Digimon movie, and now this film had been the one to blow the doors open, leaving a very tangible taste that this guy may very well be the next Miyazaki. Tokikake's blend of beautiful animation, lush backgrounds, and mutidimensional characters signaled a subtle, but potent emergence of fresh, singular talent.

So when I heard last year that he was going to pull off a more fun film to be released this year, I went all a goo. And sure enough the first trailer's here! Get a first dig at SUMMER WARS!

Kaz Is Back

It can be argued that Kazuya Kiriya's filmmaking style is not unlike that of a certain Zack Snyder; eyeballs deep in green screen and visual artifice. But there was indeed something in his live-action CASSHERN that affected me far more than even Snyder's take on WATCHMEN,and that was likely a sense of not only adventure in what the films set out to do, but a sense deeper, and far more emotionally grey than Hollywood tends to offer. It takes the best of anime-like exaggeration of action, and combines it with a surprisingly visceral emotional gut punch. And despite the mas negativity surrounding Kiriya's last project, I still found plenty to enjoy from repeat viewings. And so when it was announced that he would next take on Goemon, I instantly set to keep close tabs, and now..here we are.

At a huge budget, and an even more impressive cast including Eguchi Yoske, Hirosue Ryoko, Terajima Susumu and others, this looks to be this year's answer to 20th Century Boys..




ほんとうすげえ。

いっさしぶりい！

Ah yes..Finally, and after much toil, the files resume. There's been so much activity over the last few months that it's hard to begin listing many events that led to such a long moratorium. So stay tuned, so much studying to share, as well as so much cool stuff!