Mrs Bloggs has been reading that old people can prevent (or at least delay) the onset of senility by doing maths problems. Apparently something as simple as multiplication and division problems. Her mother, a testament to the fact that if you keep your body nimble (she works her vegetable patches every non-rainy day of the year) your mind usually follows, is going out to buy some elementary school maths exercise books just in case her veggie work doesn't do the trick. I was reminded of all this when I learned of the death of Alistair Cooke. He retired from broadcasting just earlier this month on his doctor's advice, but one wonders if it was his deteriorating health that killed him or the fact that he no longer had anything else to live for? Either way, he'll be missed.
"We are increasingly concerned that the biometric travel document initiative is part and parcel of a larger surveillance infrastructure monitoring the movements of individuals globally," said civil liberty groups Privacy International and the American Civil Liberties Union.
They're not the only ones with those concerns. It isn't just the surveillance factor either. Identity theft takes on a total new meaning when someone nabs this ultimate identification tool. We'll go down this route to our peril. Read more in this BBC article.
Met with the team to discuss Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness'. Not a lot to say about the book itself. We pretty much went over the same ground that hundreds of researchers have done since its publication. It's a metaphor for this or that - although we didn't discuss it, there's someone on the web who even looks at it as a metaphor of Jungian psychology. Here I want to focus on a very tiny line from an essay by Chinua Achebe where he describes Conrad's novella as being part of "permanent literature". Achebe, of course, has more on his mind than 'permanent literature': "The point of my observations should be quite clear by now, namely that Joseph Conrad was a thoroughgoing racist." (I think you get the picture, though you should read the linked article because I think it is impossible to read 'Heart of Darkness' in the 21st century without reference to Achebe's opinion.) For me though I have never thought of certain books being classified as 'permament literature'. I like the term. We tend to think of them more as 'classic literature', but permanent is so much more definitive. From here on I will tend to ask the question of any modern book I read, as to whether it will become 'permanent literature'. A benchmark of sorts.
The cherry blossoms that the whole country waits so patiently for at this time of year are taking their time to bloom here in Kyoto. Mrs Bloggs and I took a 13,617 step (she has taken to walking around with a pedometer!) walk down the river and to town and back, and saw just one or two trees in full flower. I would say that it was disappointing, except the day was wonderful - sublime temperatures and Hollywood skies - and the river is a pleasure at any time of year. There probably is no better place to see how people in this city rest and relax. From musicians playing the bagpipes and trumpets, to jugglers and joggers, and lovers and friends taking a stroll. They're all there. Life in a lower gear, and all the better for it.
The Japanese do surprise me sometimes. They are crap at English - on the whole - but their zeal to learn the language knows no bounds. Went to the video rental shop today and saw seven copies of Bowling for Columbine - five with Japanese subtitles and two dubbed. The five subtitled copies were all out while the two dubbed ones were sitting lonely and ignored on the shelf. Of course it could also be that the movie-renting public is just bored with the same voices dubbing all the movies from Eddie Murphy to Laurence Olivier!
The Bloggs family had just finished eating supper when a call came through on Mrs Bloggs's mobile phone. It was an invitation to go out eating from friends who were neighbours some years back. Naturally the increasingly coruplent Mr Bloggs, and the even more increasingly health conscious Mrs Bloggs declined the kind offer, but the Bloggs boys jumped at the chance. "You know my tummy has no bottom", pleaded the older of the two, and so out they went to demolish a bowl of ramen between the two of them. They could eat a horse and still pine for a pony!
Came across this little site a couple of days ago and thought it might come in useful to those of you who send URL links to people by email - or even have them on your website. When you've got one of those really looooong links that some email software break up, how about turning that link into a Tiny URL. I'm guessing only the geeks among my readers are going to click on that, but next time someone writes back and says "That long link you sent was a dud", you'll be racing back here ... so take note.
Shameless opportunism it maybe, but the decision to re-release the Life of Brian will surely serve as an antidote to the hysteria surrounding the other Christ film at the moment.
I'm not sure you have to be a cricket fan to enjoy this wonderful piece of radio. There really is nothing like listening to cricket on the radio. The gravelly voices of the commentators describing chess-like formations on the circular ground. The pace. The grace. The stateliness of it all. But, as the link amply illustrates, sometimes things just don't go to plan. "Aggers, for goodness sakes, stop it!" (Truly one of my all-time favourite bits of radio.)
The link is to an mp3 file, so you might want headphones, though the content is certainly office-safe. Hey it's cricket we're talking here. Of course it's safe.
It seemed a shame to let yesterday stop at midnight, so I carried over the spirit of the day for a couple of hours this morning and finished reading 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' - one of the purchases yesterday. Not only a very quick read, but an immensely enjoyable one. In brief it is life through the eyes of a young boy who suffers from Asperger Syndrome. A clear, concise, consistent and clean book that paints a picture of autistic-like behaviour from the inside. I'm not sure I can explain what I mean by 'clean', but by the end of the book it's as if the reader is lacking in social skills not the hero Christopher. Recommended.
What a splendiferous day. The kind one wishes could become a kind of Groundhog Day. Imagine waking up to a package that has wrapped within its patterned paper a bottle of this wonderful stuff. Then after a lazy breakfast, depart the house for a haircut - almost a hedonistic pleasure in this country - followed by a rare browse through a bookshop. I am so looking forward to wallowing in the 19th century again. A century when words were used in abandon but so very few were ever wasted. Follow that with a lunch at a French brasserie and then a quick late afternoon snooze. And the day hasn't even finished yet!
Today is St Benedict's day. My middle name is Benedict - a fact I kept well hidden in my youth. Now I think it's quite cool - except I never have the opportunity to use it.
"Can one desire too much of a good thing?"
Took the Bloggs boys to the library to choose books for this week's reading, and for once took a book with me. I don't think I've read anything in a library since my university days. What a pleasant interlude and one that is due for frequent repetition methinks.
Today is St. Joseph's day? That's why I got my name. Even though today is not my birthday.
This one will be playing on blogs today and tomorrow. A video of Donald Rumsfeld backtracking on whether he ever said there was an "immediate threat" regarding the situation in Iraq. Rummy going senile? A good argument could be made for the suggestion that he already was when he came into office.
If I spot an obvious mistake on the Beeb's sports pages I usually send them a quick note via their feedback pages. So far they've paid attention and corrected the bloopers. Today I spotted one in this football story. In the following paragraph they originally said Troussier coached South Korea in the last World Cup:
Qatar national manager Phillipe Troussier - the Frenchman who coached Japan in the last World Cup - has been trying to naturalize overseas players discarded by their national teams.
When I wrote to them I asked if they could change it to "the Frenchman who was Japan's disappointing manager in the last World Cup", but you can see that they declined. They obviously never saw Troussier's team play or they would have written 'Japan's crap manager' without any prompting from me.
The reading team has been having difficulty locating some of the books mentioned yesterday. It led me to do a search on the Net for full texts of out-of-copyright books. There are a surprising number out there. Of course, you've still got to print the bleeders out, so how about audiobooks for free or close to free? Telltale Weekly is a site where you can buy audiobooks for as little as 25 cents. Before you get too excited, I have to tell you they don't have much on-line yet, but the library is growing. Might even record something and upload it myself.
Children's(?) fiction
More obviously adult stuff
Heart of Darkness
The Life and Times of Michael K
After the Bombs
Any suggestions to add to the list?
Is Yasunari Kawabata the most overrated author in the history of literature? Well when you consider he won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1968, he's certainly sitting pretty to take a big hit. And of course sitting pretty is so much of what his novels are about. Open his books and you will have to wade through descriptions of sunrises and sundowns, of glints of light that "seem" this or have the "aspect" of that. Then, of course, you get to the crux of the matter where something is "so beautiful it is almost sad" or "almost lonely". The Nobel committee apparently gave him the prize "for his narrative mastery, which with great sensibility expresses the essence of the Japanese mind". Your guess is as good as mine when it comes to what the Swedes know about the Japanese mind, but the Japanese populace have my sincerest sympathies if the Swedes are on to something I know nothing about.
So is he the most overrated? A most emphatic YES!
Written in reference to 'Beauty and Sadness' and 'Snow Country'.
I read recently that McDonald's is considering introducing WiFi networks in a number of its branches in America. Well here at Kyoto station they already have and the good thing is that it's actually outside the restaturant (is that what they're called?) and they've even installed power outlets for the convenience of those of us with dodgy batteries. The article linked above talks about the possibility of charges being applied to use these WiFi networks, but I think any company that does that is on to a loser. Hotspots are useful, but charge and you're as likely to drive customer traffic away as you are to bring it in. As for the Big M., I don't mind buying a coffee here but the Bloggs boys know better than to ask if they can eat at one. They even joke that my tag-line for the company is 'I'm hating it'. Now, if they had waitress service for that coffee ...
This shunting up and down to yonder capital is getting a bit much. I'm hoping today is the last trip for a long time. Maybe this blog can get back to a rythym again after today.
I've heard before that most people's toilets are cleaner than their kitchens. Now scientists say toilets are cleaner than our computers. The theory, and entirely plausible if you ask me, is that "when someone is infected with a cold or flu bug, the surfaces they touch during the day become germ-transfer points because some cold and flu viruses can survive on surfaces for up to 72 hours". When was the last time you disinfected your computer?
When you've got enough money to last this lifetime and the next few as well, and when you've still got something that people would normally pay for, what's the decent thing to do? George Michael thinks you should give that 'something' away. In his case that 'something' is his music. He's going to release all future recordings on the Internet for free download - though users will be given the option of making a donation to charity if they wish. A very large round of applause to Georgie boy. Frankly more artists should be doing this. How can they possibly need the money any more and surely this is the ultimate way of saying thank you to those who supported them through the early years of their careers. Not to mention the swift kick up the backside it provides to the recording industry as a whole. For the record, I've never bought (or downloaded) a George Michael song in my life.
It's March and what happens in March in Japan? They start digging up roads. Well you have to use up those local authority budgets one way or another. I think it is a case of "use it or lose it". Pisses me off though when I have an appointment and I get caught in a jam because there's only way lane for two-way traffic to use!
I have made a brief reference to Alistair Cooke before, and today I find he is to retire. More than his keen observation of all matters 'America', I think it is his voice, diction and pace that I will remember him most for. He came from an era when radio was king and words were well chosen and ideas clearly expressed. If we were honest with ourselves, we'd admit it was still king now, but these days the glitz of moving pictures and the cult of celebrity gets more attention. The BBC asks if it is the "end of an era?", and I think I'd have to reply "yes". Fortunately, the BBC website has a lot of archives of his programmes and you'll find a link to his last letter on that page.
Imagine being able to read any book you want. Take Rolland's Jean-Christophe, or Balzac's Pere Goriot, or even Tolstoy's War and Peace. Hold on a second, we can. Read any book we like. OK, let's start again. Imagine not being able to read any book you like. Imagine life during the cultural revolution in China when all you were allowed to read was one little red number. Dai Sijie's excellent Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, is a testimony to love, loathing and literature. Especially to literature. The story of two young men banished to the countryside to undergo re-education at the hands of peasants, and their subsequent discovery of love and a cache of translated western literature, lights up the short 184 pages in a way that makes you appreciate both freedom and literature's ability to free the mind. A wonderful read and short to boot. Highly recommended.