The です Files

Time To Ask..

2010-03-22T23:41:00.000-07:00

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?

2009-05-22T14:44:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-05-20T19:09:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-20T18:46:00.001-07:00

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..

2009-04-08T09:46:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-29T20:42:00.000-07:00

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！

2009-03-29T11:41:00.000-07:00

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!

In Search Of...

2008-06-09T21:11:00.000-07:00

うわばきスリッパ、Also known as Indoor School Shoes...It's been a tough bunch of sifting, but there's only so much time before convention time!

- Also in search of solace for the victims in that horrible incident in Akihabara this weekend. May that guy never get a shred of his wishes.

Aspirin ga tottai!

2008-05-11T21:03:00.000-07:00

Yes! No sooner that a decent weekend comes about, that we at class finally get a crack at expressing things we'd like to do! Seriously, this is something that had been on my lesson wish list for some time. The prime difference in these sentences seems to be the modifications within the verb. So for instance I say I'd like to eat something [食べます」＋たい turns it into something you'd like to do.

for instance if i expressed a desire for cake..

ケッキをたべたいです。

Adding more depth to this would be that わ will become が . So por ejemple:

ケッキがたべたいです。

LOL...So when my pally and I started to play with potential statements, sensei creeped up behind us and gave us some pointers..and here are the results!

にっぽんじんともだちがつくりたいですよ。

にっぽんじんかのじょがつくりたいですよ。

Ok...Well..it'd be pretty cool anyway. ^ ^

The tale of a boss posessed by his designer wig?

2008-05-06T09:30:00.000-07:00

Fans of recent Asian Cinema take note, it's very rare that Japan actually produces action films. They may have a killer Miike film, or Kaijyu, or even genre adventure from time to time, but Japan isn't really known for hard-bitten action these days. Not since the halcyon days of Kinji Fukasaku anyway. But if this latest vehicle for Tatsuya Fujiwara(Battle Royale,Death Note,etc) is any indication, we're hopefully in for a teeth-shattering good time with Chameleon.

It sports a tale in which a group of swindling toughs led by Fujiwara, are witnesses to a kidnapping, only to fall in further to where (ulp) it becomes PERSONAL! LOL

Looks cool. But is it me, or is Fujiwara trying to sport an Oh-Daesu knockoff wig here? なにこれ。

おす！

2008-05-04T17:58:00.000-07:00

Breathing in the reality that you, yourself, are going to take on another language, this alone can be considered a decent challenge. But when it comes to taking on Nihongo with a specifically focused lens, creates a behavior not unlike obsession. And as such it probably requires it, especially when you reach my age.::laughs:: I'm sure that if I had tried my hand at picking up the japanese language as a teen ,it would probably been a little easier. Regardless, the language requires a great deal more time and concentration than others, as it is so filled with intonation necessities, as well as three entirely unique text systems. This element alone has been the one thing that has require the most of my attention. And as such, it never fails that something else gets missed...

No problem..This is where managing your away-from-class time. And despite the fact that my penmanship has never been remotely stellarific, this helps create even new capabilities,and understandings. There is an entirely new set of dimensions that come from taking in an almost new volume of context into a wholly new piece of greay matter.

I think my firsts sensei expressed this best by calling Nihongo education "creating an entirely new section of the brain, like growing a new muscle that was never there before."

Now I myself have my own set of reasons as to why I put myself through this. So this is where I ask those young and old to remind themselves as to why. I love the culture,and have always had a love for the sounds and feelings emitted by listening to it express itself. A lot of my reasons are uniquely packed within these feelings as well as the more surface reason.

I can't clearly explain all my reasons on a blog, let alone any kind of text-based scroll, but the riddles are always nudging me forward. Now here's to seeing it through and finding out where it leads.

Forget the 500 death combo...One lost です is killer.

2008-05-02T16:16:00.000-07:00

Funny that this particular blog just comes in just as classes are abruptly turning into lessons of a more conversational tone. While this is in no way unwelcome(in fact I prefer to know more nihongo that can be used at a random izakaya with total strangers), it is more than a little jarring. Well with this in mind, I really do dig how we're taking the overformalized speech and making it more relatable to the atypical nipponjin today. (please let this be more relatable, please let this be more relatable)

To better explain the "desu" of my namesake, it is best to perhaps remember the days of early nihongo lessons in which american students would tend to be called up for their latest grammar drills. The student would step up, remember and recite their line........

Get it right....

Only to forget that in many formal nihongo sentences to follow their object with....(and cohorts and myself just silently straining, in hoped of psychically implanting the expression into the students' minds) DEEEEESU!!!

It became something of a running gag with our sensei, as we kept seeing him, exhasperatedly reminding students the importance of the neglected particle.( we sometimes would envision a lone podium with a dying,straining hand protruding up from behind with the final gurgle of "....です" everytime this would happen) Poor, poor です..Don't worry... even after we evolve beyond mere formal pleasantries, we still love you.

(Hell...I still say we should make です！ T-Shirts.)

Atarashii Kutsu!

2008-04-28T07:59:00.000-07:00

Welcome to what will likely be a strange attempt at a new form of journaling for me,and hopefully a fun trip for those dropping in.What makes my insides all squishy about Nippon past, present, and future will be the focus here as well as perhaps updates on my nihongo studies, and personal life pertaining to an entire core of my hobby and waking life. There's definitely going to be a lot of strangeness here, but hopefully we'll find a good tempo to work with. For those wishing to know more about your author, please check this.

Here's to today!