Catching Up On Life, Framing it with Things That are Important To Me.

I have been catching up with stuff that had past me by, or I looked at but didn't get back to finishing over the years. Movies, TV Series and other things. Posted about a few already, like SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER and DR.STRANGLELOVE. Or I posted about them from  a different POV in one of my comics.

Another is the works of Mamaru Nagano:

Much of this catching up is that career, family and work meant I had other things to do.  Life just gets in the way of things you wanted to do or try. 

I had my first overseas trip, visiting Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong in my early 20s. Many in the group I was in were in their 70s, and their first or second trip after they had retired. There are lots of steps in many of the main places to visit there, and some couldn't manage them. I guess travel was not important to them when they were younger.

I "retired" (actually more semi retired), 5 years ago during the process of selling our house in Sydney Australia we had lived in for 18 years. 

On getting back to Japan, after feathering our nests to be comfortable, meant we then had the time to go back and do the things that are important to us. But I have done my travelling already. Lived and worked for decades in both Japan and Australia. Contracted in a few different fields in my technical career, and started freelance illustration. Been to America all over as well as Canada, Germany, France, England, Scotland & New Zealand. It isn't overseas travel I need to do now.

In the last 4 years of "retirement in Japan", I've written and recorded songs, an album or two, done a few comic books, done animated music videos, made my art, gone to see others art,  and made miniatures and sculpted. Have been framing my life with the things that are important to me.

So when do you, and about what, will you catch up on  "life"?

We can be found at ArtAndTechnology

DEEP SPACE 9 : My 30 years to Complete

 

Another thing I finally caught up with today. Changing countries 3 times and "life", got in the way of doing somethings. I had seen Season 1 & 2 in Japan in the 1990s. Like ST:TNG and EVANGELION, it was on at 2AM on a Wednesday morning, so I used to record episodes to VHS tape.  

About 5 years ago I almost bought the DS9 Complete Box set at JB-HIFI in Chatswood, Sydney. They were not unreasonably priced. Don't remember now why I didn't, except maybe that with all the free to air digital TV channels and the PVR I had, it was difficult to watch the programs I auto recorded each day/ week as it was. I had plenty to watch if I wanted to waste some time. Had the Sci-Fi channel and 7MATE with all those car shows.  For example Sci-Fi had Stargate Atlantis, which I had never see, with several consecutive episodes on each day.  I had my PVR automatically recording all these, so I could watch them later. I had to make the time to watch, then delete episodes so the massive 6TB HD wouldn't fill.  

A few months back I finished all of VOYAGER on Netflix too.  I don't remember when I got to see the first episodes of that, but must have been the same way via VHS tape.  I have no memory how many seasons of any of these shows were shown.  It wasn't prime time TV in Japan.

Seeing DS9 & Voyager earlier would have helped with getting some of the things PICARD Seasons 1 to 3 had in it, I guess.

I took the approach  of watching DS9 in 82 hours.

The episodes that focus on the core story. Except I would still say some of these aren't really core, even if they are nice character studies. Quite a commitment. I watched an episode, or 1.5 episodes a night for many weeks, then the last 6 all today.

In the 1990s,  I manage to see BABLYON5, all 5 seasons, via swapping Japanese music CDs for VHS tapes of episodes taken from the Satellite feed before the advertisements were inserted with a guy in Louisiana USA. A friend of a friend.  Didn't get the opportunity to do something similar with the Star Trek shows.  

As the comic says, sitting here typing this, I am struck that it took 30years to see it all. Finally, thanks to my wife getting a NetFlix subscription, and not having anything she wanted to watch. 

Deep Space 9 was a very different Star Trek, that had discarded some of the creators rules for its world. It was better for doing that.  

Compared to Babylon5, which was written by the focused creator for the last seasons, DS9 was all over the place. Some stories were so random. Some were completely amazing, such as things involving  Section31. 

We can be found at ArtAndTechnology

The Great Designer MARCELLO GANDINI has passed at 85

 

MARCELLO GANDINI's Lancia Stratos HF and Lamborghini Countach were designs that truly inspired me in 1970.

He, more than any other car stylist, left a lasting impression. I never knew him, but one that made me sad knowing he had past.

My HEAVY METAL GARAGE Comic references his designs more than once 

We can be found at ArtAndTechnology

DUNE PT2 TOHO Cinema first session 2024/3/15

 

I go to the Cinema about once a year, and seeing DUNE PT2 in the first session maybe it for this year. 

I saw DUNE, before they knew it would be PT1, in the same Toho Cinema on its release in one of the smaller screens in the cinema complex in Kuzuha Hirakata Osaka, my closest Mall. It was, maybe, the first time I thought the sound was painfully loud at the cinema, and I was sure the sound was breaking up during the loudest drums and action scenes then. 

For part 2, it was on the biggest screen with Dolby ATMOS sound. And for the first screening on release on a Friday morning, a work day, there was a fair turn out. Maybe 40 people.

It was the standard English release with Japanese subtitles, but they had kept the English subtitles too for all the Fremen language spoken. Good for me.

Three hours is a long time for a movie to me, and it was only the end of a movie. It looks and sounds amazing, but I was physically exhausted when I got home. I guess that is what most people are paying for. The sound was loud, but it wasn't too loud.  

You get charged an extra 100円 per ticket to get the ATMOS sound installed with the biggest screen. That seems excessive to me. DOLBY is getting really obnoxious with their licensing. ATMOS adds ceiling speakers to their previous surround sound system. It also has a more sophisticated way of moving a sound around the cinema space. I noticed this time entering the theatre, the ceiling speakers all had green illumination around them. Guessing that is used to explain what the extra money is for. I don't remember that being the case last time I went. Luckily they turn off the illumination when the movie starts! 

I read the novel in the later 1970s, probably after finishing High School before University started. It was the first time in many years I didn't have something I had to do instead. A friends sister had a huge SF paperback collection, and I must have been loaned DUNE, as well as many STAINLESS STEEL RAT  and other books.  I can't say I'm a fan of the story of Dune's mostly evil, rich families, religious orders and zealots "inspired" by middle eastern oil, Arab tribes and global corporations.  

It isn't a fun experience like Star Wars but I had to see this latest part, and is worth a trip to a wonderful cinema for the spectacle.

I am a fan of the unofficial Spice Diver Fan Edit of David Lynch's Dune, DUNE REDUX ,  that corrects many issues with the original versions released, and have watched it several time. 

I see that as "more complete" than Dune Pt1 & Pt2 released so far. AND it has STING and Captain Picard in it!

So there will now be DUNE PT3, to continue the story, again, maybe in another 2 years.  I will probably see that in the cinema too. But I expect I will enjoy DUNE PT2 on DVD at home more. I did for DUNE PT1.

I got out of the cinema at 12:30PM. That is normally too late to be able to get a table in any of the many restaurants at Kuzuha Mall.  There are ques outside waiting for free tables from about 11:30AM. But a few months ago a new "American Burger" styled place, BURGERLION opened. The name comes from a JOJO character named more like LEEON, than a big cat.

Had looked at going there shortly after it had opened with my daughter and youngest son, but the prices and sizes of the dishes were a shock.  1,450円 for a burger and chips (when McDonalds is just next door) is really expensive, and my sister in law had told me "Japanese aren't going to pay that for an American style Burger".   Not being an American, makes it a place to I would try once or twice. 

So unsurprisingly, I found BURGERLION mostly empty, with only 2 other tables taken, now 3 and a bit months after it opened. Empty, and that was fine by me, so I got a Pulled Pork Burger. They all come with tasty chips. The Hamburger must be almost 3 times the size of a Big Mac and was good, but messy to eat. They give you a brown waxed paper thing to put it in and you eat it out of that. 

The places biggest problem is you MUST order with your smartphone by scanning the QR code to get the menu to place your order.  This strategy would save the capital expenditure to have tablets at each table like most other restaurants do now, but it was slow and didn't work for me first time, and I had to call a waitress for help. I just got 3 deserts as the only menu items!  She restarted the App and it then worked.  What a massively bad user experience. I expect this place will be closed and gone soon. Way better places have closed and gone in the Mall, and I don't see  BURGERLION as a real option. Wouldn't have enough rich Americans to support it. 

We can be found at ArtAndTechnology

Mangaka Akira Toriyama Passes at 68

Seen a lot of (young, mostly comic related) peoples posts on social media about how significant Toriyama was to them on his passing. My take is a little different...

The Dragon Ball Anime was on TV when our oldest son was growing up in the 90s and I thought it was just violet rubbish. The Dr. Slump I saw was of course kids stuff.

A few years ago, the owner of a model shop I visited told me about Toriyama's FINEMOLDS Caricatured military figures and that was the first time I noticed his name, and connection to Dragon Ball and other stuff.

The School Holidays early last year had the SANDLAND movie at the cinema, and I noticed as it, as it seemed to have come out of nowhere. I looked into why that was. Did a one page comic on it.

After that and finding out about his history, I decided to track down a few cheap second hand books of his in Japan here. Did not look down the DRAGON QUEST game artwork rabbit hole though, just his comic work. So many books, but I just got the first couple of collected issues to see what they were all about.

So I ended up reading his one volume SANDLAND, his earlier Dr. Slump and the first 2 books, a complete story, of Dragon Ball, that wasn't anything like the Anime I remember. I appreciate his big head little body style, as that has been a significant style in caricature since the 17 century in Europe or so, and something I also do. Dragon Ball was much better than I imaged it could be, even if for 14 year old boys.

Dr. Slump with its gags may have been his best work, and he had an amazing way with vehicles and machines. He looks like he influenced my work without even knowing directly about him for the longest time. 

68 is way too young. Did he work far too hard in his popular years? Just a day after the voice actress of Chiba Marako-chan died at 63. And with the death of the neighbor in the last weeks really gives this 65 year old something to contemplate. 

We can be found at ArtAndTechnology

A Death in the Street in Silence

 

I have floor to ceiling glass doors in the studio here, leading to a balcony over looking our street corner. Our second story location, on a rather large pedestal the way the land is terraced means I can also see out to Osaka down the valley. 

I imagine other views, such as the quick water colors above, but this is a very different story.

Can hear ambulances every so often, and sometimes one comes into our area, a couple of streets either side of us.  There are many elderly here, and mostly I can catch a glimpse of an Ambulance going up the next street away, between the houses. Also many small delivery vans, many to our house as my sister-in-law was rather involved with Mercari, and as I can't hear the front door bell ring from my second story studio, I rely on hearing the vans come into our street, then looking out the window to see if they stop out the front of our place.  It is my job to handle deliveries here, but checking for that can show other things you didn't expect..   

I can see in plain sight from the balcony window the house on the far corner. We live so close, but not a direct neighbor, so don't really know them.  My sister in law had spoken a few times with the wife over the years as she was her housing group leader, not our housing group, a year or so ago, before we came back to Japan. They have a daughter in her twenties. The wife always drove the family car, and each afternoon when she came home from work,  I could hear the cars unusual reversing alarm as she backed it into the narrow carport. She had gotten a new car in the last few months. She could park that car much faster than I could, was something I thought often. 

A couple of weeks ago, before midday on a wet Sunday, an Ambulance stopped outside that far corner house. Siren stopped, but red lights flashing. The women (just around 50, young for this area) that lived there had been at that morning community meeting my wife attended, and had briefly chatted with. She seemed fine, always friendly, but maybe a little tired. I met her myself at a community meeting a couple of months ago. Struck me as young and community minded.

We saw her carried on a stretcher into the Ambulance. She must have been home alone, husband and daughter out, when she called for the Ambulance.  

I have been taken off to emergency twice myself in the last 10 years, once for Kidney Stones and another for Anemia when I collapsed,  so I don't see an Ambulance as automatically meaning a life and death situation. Just you can't get to the hospital on your own. They will probably be fine....

Three days ago was the first time I had ever seen her husband about. That seemed unusual. There was also a small gray van, from a funeral parlor, parked outside the home. Day after that I saw a Priest enter the home in the evening, when I went outside to bring shopping in from the car when my wife came home. 

Yesterday morning a small gray van parked outside our place with his warning indicators flashing. Expected it was a delivery van, as sister-in-law was expecting a delivery and so she went outside, and the gentleman in the van got out and apologized as he was just here for a short time for part of the funeral proceedings. 

A short time later 2 cars parked in our street and 4 or so people went into the house on the corner. Must have been her and her husbands parents.  A larger gray van arrived, and the gentleman from the one outside our house went in too. The family members formed a kind of line between the house entrance and the bigger van, and the 2 gentlemen brought out a body in a white bag on a stretcher and put it into the back of the larger van. There was much bowing and the vans drove off.

It all happened in 10 days. From a young active community member, to gone.

As she was a part of the community committee, we will hear officially something about her soon, and why she is no longer on the committee.  

Sad.  You never know how long anyone has.  

We can be found at ArtAndTechnology

New BRIGHT POP ART EDM shirt designs (Anime like)

We have updated our Zazzle Store with new BRIGHT EDM shirt designs based on the latest EDM Single Cover artwork. Felt inspired.

In our store, if you look at ALL PRODUCTS,  you will see the latest designs. They shirt and options can be customized.

And others

We can be found at ArtAndTechnology