Keitii-chan

2013-03-03T01:03:00.004-05:00

So, I have a new writing portfolio/"blog" over at Un Journal De Pensées par Katie.

To blog, or not to blog: Continued.

2013-02-12T12:00:00.000-05:00

So, I am still planning on taking a break from blogging here; however, I have started a new LiveJournal where I hope to get back to my roots and start really writing again. All of my posts are currently public, so you can easily add my new "blog" to your RSS feed reader. As I said before, I am keeping my blog live for now, so it will still be here, but at some point in the future, I may be taking it down, although I really do not know yet. Well, thank you all for understanding! Talk to you again soon.

To blog, or not to blog: That is the question.

2013-01-29T12:00:00.000-05:00

So, I have decide to take a break from blogging for a little while, a sabbatical, if I may call it that. I have been questioning my presence on the Internet for a longtime now. I have a variety of reasons for having these thoughts, including privacy, loss of close-knit Internet communities, and wasted time. And while I really enjoy talking to the handful of friends I have made through LiveJournal and blogging, sometimes I get this nagging urge to just disappear from the Internet and spend my time doing more fulfilling pursuits.

Since transitioning from LiveJournal to Blogger, I have stopped journaling and really writing. I have all these ideas that I want to pursue, but I tend to put them off in lieu of easier tasks, like posting photographs to Flickr or perusing Tumblr. I have been much better lately about these kinds of tendencies. I have been taking my own photographs instead of lusting over other people's, I have been exploring Hong Kong vigorously, and I have been extremely busy with "real life" overall. Even so, I think that I need to step away and return again when I have a fresher perspective.

I am keeping my blog live for now, so it will still be here, no worries about that. And I will continue posting on Twitter regularly. I will also continue reading everyone's blogs and hopefully commenting more.

Thank you all for understanding, and I hope to return to this space soon.

Michael Wolf's Hong Kong

2012-12-27T12:00:00.000-05:00

I think that I have unintentionally started a sort of "photographer's vision of Hong Kong" series, first with Ghost in the Shell and then with Yiu Yu Hoi's photography, and so today I would like to share Michael Wolf's photographs of Hong Kong.

The Nutcracker

2012-12-25T12:00:00.000-05:00

For me, the Christmas season is not the Christmas season unless I can at least listen to, but ideally, go see a performance of The Nutcracker. Last year, I got the chance to see Septime Webre's The Nutcracker produced by the Washington Ballet and performed in the Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C. The Washington Ballet always puts on a very creative interpretation of The Nutcracker, setting the story in colonial Georgetown, with George Washington as the Nutcracker and King George III as the Rat King, cherry blossoms dancing the Waltz of the Flowers, and many other similar Washington-themed characters. But this year, I would love to go see the 15th anniversary showing of The Hong Kong Ballet's The Nutcracker, produced by former artistic director Stephen Jefferies. It is described in some reviews and advertisements as a "modern retelling" of the story, and the skill and training that The Hong Kong Ballet dancers is world-class.

Lately, I...

2012-12-23T12:00:00.000-05:00

I promise to write a more proper blog post soon, but even though I am now on winter break, I still do not feel like I have much time for writing here. But, if you are curious, lately, I...

...have been wearing my hair in a French braid.
...started running every-other-day, but when midterm hit, I completely stopped.
...finished studying Classical Tibetan language and my first semester in Hong Kong.
...was completely blown away by Puella Magi Madoka Magica and its Buddhist themes.
...discovered that Ceylon black tea is divine.
...have been enjoying Kagome vegetable juice.
...miss guacamole, salsa, and other Southwest foods.
...saw Skyfall and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
...want to read Lulu the Hong Kong Cat.
...played Ib, a freeware horror adventure game about a young girl who gets lost in a haunted art gallery.
...got lost in an art gallery myself and saw a collection of Chinese and Japanese paintings and calligraphy from the Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts. I was most intrigued by a 6th century handscroll entitled "Five Planets and Twenty-Eight Constellations" by Zhang Sengyao. It is the first of two handscrolls (the second is presumably lost) that depict personified Taoist and Buddhist figures of the first 12 constellations.
...started watching Game of Thrones.
...have gotten back in touch with my creative side.
...want to write a novel about magical libraries, enchanted forests, and exotic menageries.

Yiu Yu Hoi's Hong Kong

2012-11-19T12:00:00.000-05:00

I somehow came across Yiu Yu Hoi's absolutely beautiful infrared photographs of Hong Kong today. Her vision seems to transform this very nitty-gritty city into a dreamy world.

Winter Break Reading List

2012-11-08T12:00:00.000-05:00

So, I know that this is an incredibly ambitious winter break reading list, but here are some of the books that I have been wanting to read. I really want to tackle Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy before I see the new film, but at 837 pages, this is a long one. Nagarjuna and the Philosophy of Openness by Nancy McCagney is a very difficult piece to tackle, but lately, I have become convinced that Nagarjuna was the world's greatest philosopher. He might have the answers to a lot of my questions lately, so I would like to try and tackle the Mulamadhyamakakarika, with the aid of commentary of course. I read most of Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian before the library recalled it, but I would also like to find a copy of Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out by Mo Yan. I have realized how little Chinese literature I have read, so being in Hong Kong, I thought I could start brushing up on that, and why not begin with the two Chinese Nobel Prize winners. Finally, I started reading a Kindle copy of When China Rules the World by Martin Jacques, so I need to finish that. W hile living in Hong Kong and after watching a TED talk on the subject, I have become more and more intrigued with the continuing rise of China as a world power.

Wong Tai Sin Temple, Chi Lin Nunnery, and Nan Lian Garden

2012-10-28T12:00:00.000-04:00

Mui Wo and Silver Mine Bay Beach

2012-10-04T12:00:00.000-04:00

The Mid-Autumn Festival

2012-09-29T12:00:00.000-04:00

Tian Tan Buddha (the Big Buddha) and Po Lin Monastery

2012-09-15T12:00:00.000-04:00

Man Mo Temple

2012-09-12T12:00:00.000-04:00

The View From Victoria Peak

2012-09-10T12:00:00.000-04:00

Ghost in the Shell in Hong Kong

2012-08-31T12:00:00.000-04:00

Something triggered my memory today of the scene inspired by Hong Kong in the anime film Ghost in the Shell. After doing a little research, I came across Project 2501 and their article on "Recreating 'Ghost in the Shell' in Hong Kong." If you like art, anime, or Hong Kong, Project 2501 has done an excellent job demonstrating how Hong Kong has inspired the anatomy of this particular scene.

A little shameless self-promotion...Shop Keitii-chan

2012-08-28T15:25:00.001-04:00

So, I have started a little shop on Society6. At the moment, I only have a couple of photographic prints available to buy, but soon, I hope to include prints of India, Hong Kong, and eventually some original paintings. You can purchase art prints, framed art prints, and stretched canvases, but I can also provide laptop and iPad skins, as well as iPhone skins and cases for sale, if anyone is interested.

Sailing on a Schooner

2012-08-20T12:00:00.000-04:00

Carly Waito

2012-08-08T12:00:00.000-04:00

I came across Carly Waito's gemstone and mineral paintings a long time ago. I have used her amazing works of art as my desktop wallpaper, but I would love to frame and hang one of her prints on my wall. "Carly Waito's small oil paintings indulge a lifelong fascination with the natural world—especially the little parts we feel compelled to pick up and keep." These amazing paintings remind me of the fun I had with my sister searching for shells and stones by the seashore and sifting through barrels of minerals and semi-precious stones at science museum gift shops when we were young.

Hong Kong Trip

2012-07-07T12:00:00.000-04:00

"As the traveler who has once been from home is wiser than he who has never left his own doorstep, so a knowledge of one other culture should sharpen our ability to scrutinize more steadily, to appreciate more lovingly, our own."
—Margaret Mead So, I am going to Hong Kong for 10 months starting in September! It is a little out of the blue, but this past autumn, I applied to Ph.D. programs, and I did not get in anywhere, but I also applied to a Buddhist Studies M.A. program that I have been interested in, and about two weeks ago, I got in, so, if everything works out, my husband and I will be moving to Hong Kong for about a year.

I am very excited, but also anxious and nervous, and hoping that everything, including visas and housing, works out. Also, if everything goes according to plan, I am hoping to visit my sister in New Zealand next summer on the way back to the States. I am definitely going to have lots of new blog material and photographs to share, which is great, because lately I have not had much to talk about here.

1Q84 一Q八四 (Ichi Kew Hachi Yon) by Haruki Murakami

2012-07-02T12:00:00.000-04:00

As most of you already know, Haruki Murakami is one of my favorite authors. I started reading Murakami because I love world literature, particularly Japanese fiction, and I think that my initial attraction to Murakami arose from his ability to blend a seemingly ordinary story with extraordinary events. In graduate school, I gobbled up Murakami's novels like sustenance; his magical realist elements appealed to my existential take on life, and I would often finish his novels quickly, leaving me in a daze for days. Now, I still read his novels with the expectation that they will transport me to an alternative reality, but I am also more critical of what I am reading. Undoubtedly, literature is a reflection of society, but it also has an enormous impact on social norms and identity.

I finally finished reading 1Q84! Although the English translation has been out since October, it has taken me a really, really, long time to sift through the novel and make sense of what I have read. At 928 pages, 1Q84 is Murakami's longest and perhaps his most repetitive and drawn-out novel. Of course, it has many of the same elements as previous Murakami novels, like cats, classical music, jazz, communes and cults, spaghetti, sex, and magical realist imagery. But at the same time there was something strangely different about the style of writing this time around. I do not know if it was the English translation, but something about it made me feel uneasy. Overt sex scenes are a commonality in most of Murakami's novels. In an interview with The Guardian, Murakami briefly explains why sex is an important aspect of his writing. As he states, "Sex is a key to enter a spirit...Sex is like a dream when you are awake; I think dreams are collective. Some parts do not belong to yourself." Normally, I have never been bothered by Murakami's sex scenes, and I wasn't in 1Q84; however, there was something weird about the way Murakami described his female characters, especially Aomame, that really bothered me. It is surprising to me that I came to dislike Aomame, since she is supposed to be a different kind of Murakami female lead: She is fully present throughout the novel, and she has a very strong personality. Even so, I still felt like Murakami only scratched the surface of her inner throughs and dialogue, especially by constantly describing her in terms of her breasts.

Women are drescibed by their breasts throughout the novel, even in places where it seems highly inappropriate. For instance, and without giving anything away, Aomame refers to her friends breasts at a very strange moment on page 916: "Aomame thought again of Tamaki. She remembered her smooth, beautifully shaped breasts. So different from my own underdeveloped chest, she thought." I think that this article by Phil Jourdan describes my boredom with these descriptions better than I can. The Plot Shield blog also has an interesting analysis of moé and female characters in Murakami. 1Q84 is unquestionably Murakami's magnum opus and a treat for Murakami lovers. It is a grand assemblage of all of the themes, characters, and social critics that Murakami has developed throughout his writing career, and unlike his earlier works, 1Q84 was highly publicized in U.S. bookstores and mass media. Even so, 1Q84 is not necessarily the most accessible Murakami novel, and it may not be the best book to read if you have never read Murakami before. Norwegian Wood is commonly recommended to Murakami first-timers, but I would suggest Kafka on The Shore or The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Overall, I would give 1Q84 3/5 stars.

Moonrise Kingdom

2012-06-02T22:00:00.000-04:00

So, I have been looking forward to this weekend all week, because I finally had the opportunity to see Moonrise Kingdom! Yes, I am a big Wes Anderson fan, which is probably no surprise. But I really can't help it; I just love all of the details, cinematography, and quirky characters in his films! The Royal Tenenbaums is one of my favorite movies, and it is definitely my favorite Wes Anderson film. It was my very first taste of Anderson, although when I first saw it, I took it too seriously and thought it was highly depressing. Now, I have a better understanding of Anderson's subtle humor, which is why I really enjoyed Moonrise Kingdom.

As with all of his films, the sets, costumes, color schemes, and details were remarkable. I was especially captivated by the books and cover art that Anderson and his team designed for Suzy's character, which were based on fantasy and science fiction novels by authors like Ursula K. Le Guin and Susan Cooper, and now I am waiting with great anticipation for an animated short that will be released this week featuring each of the books shown in the film (it was released on June 7, 2012 at Entertainment Weekly).

The precocious main characters, Sam and Suzy, harkened back to the Tenenbaum children, yet both were uniquely separate characters from Anderson's previous creations. Although some reviewers thought Suzy was a clone of Margot Tenenbaum, I didn't think so: Margot was highly secretive and emotionally detached, while Suzy was much more open and hot-blooded. And although all of the characters kept referring to Sam as emotionally disturbed due to the death of his parents, I thought that he seemed like one of the most mature characters in the entire film.

I felt like this was Anderson's most action-packed film so far, although I am not implying that it is an action film, because it certainly is not at all. It is just that there were a lot of action scenes and stunts in the second half of the film, which surprised me at first. But, for me at least, they added an important element to the film: Life appears to be safe and reasonably wholesome on New Penzance island, especially for the children that live there; however, as the storm that engulfs the island shows, life is chaotic and growing up is complicated. Basically, what I am trying to convey is that Moonrise Kingdom is a coming of age story, and the storm that takes place later in the film is a great symbol of the struggles we all experience growing up.

Anyway, the cinematography is exceptional, the music is diverse and pleasing, and the actors are fun to watch. Overall, I would give Moonrise Kingdom 4/5 stars.

Isn't life disappointing? Part II

2012-05-11T12:00:00.000-04:00

The weekend I wrote the first part of this post, I spent a lot of time thinking; I stayed up late Sunday night watching Ikiru for the first time, and I started the work week with a fresh perspective. Ikiru (生きる) means "to live" in Japanese, and it is one of Akira Kurosawa's best shomingeki (庶民劇) or contemporary genre films. The film is about a middle-aged civil serviceman, Kanji Watanabe, who discovers that he has stomach cancer and will die in six months time. As the opening narration states:

"This stomach belongs to the protagonist of our story. At this point, our protagonist has no idea he has this cancer...Ah, here is our protagonist now. But it would only be tiresome to meet him right now. After all, he's simply passing time without actually living his life. In other words, he's not really even alive...He might as well be a corpse. In fact, this man has been dead for more than 20 years now. Before that, he did live a little. He even actually tried to do real work...But now, there's barely a trace of his old passion and ambition. He's been worn down completely by the minutia of the bureaucratic machine and the meaningless busyness it breeds. Busy, always so very busy. But in fact, this man does absolutely nothing at all. Other than protecting his own spot."

After a night of debauchery and many days spent drifting, Watanabe realizes that in order to feel truly content and fulfilled, he must use his remaining time alive doing one worthwhile action. Sadly, very few people understand his sentiments, and although some of his colleagues are touched by his selfless actions after his death, none of them change their regular daily routines of monotony. There are two scenes in movie in which Watanabe sings Gonodola no Uta (ゴンドラの唄), the most famous of which is at the end of the film and is depicted on many of the film's posters. いのち短し恋せよ少女: "Life is brief," he sings. "Fall in love, maidens before the crimson bloom fades from your lips before the tides of passion cool within you, for those of you who know no tomorrow."

These are the exact same sentiments I felt a few weeks ago and continue to feel at this very moment. I want to live! I want to truly live a fulfilling and genuine life! I want to stop putting off until tomorrow what is better done today. I want to explore and experience new and strange things. I want to feel uncomfortable, and I want to feel blissful. I want to experience everything I can. I am tired of the monotony, of the dangling conversations and superficial sighs, and of people who have never really lived their lives! As Walt Whitman wrote, "Long have you timidly waded holding a plank by the shore, now I will you to be a bold swimmer, to jump off into the midst of the sea, rise again, nod to me, shout! And laughingly dash with your hair."

Anyway, overall, I would give Ikiru 5/5 stars, and I highly recommend this film to everybody, so that you can understand for yourself the feelings I am trying to convey that are sometimes too difficult to put into words.

Isn't life disappointing? Part I

2012-04-21T12:00:00.002-04:00

These screen caps are from one of my favorite Yasujiro Ozu films Tokyo Story (東京物語). As of late, I feel both Kyoko and Noriko's sentiments exactly! If you know me at all, you know that I have at least one existential crisis a day. As my friends always joke, I can get an existential crisis by simply starring into my tea cup! Lately, however, my existential crises have become more serious. I am completely at a loss as to what I should aim for next. All of the choices I have made in my life up to this point have made sense, but right now, I just don't know what I should do next! どうしよう？ As Carey Mulligan's character says in An Education, "If people die the moment that they graduate, then surely it's the things we do beforehand that count." I feel like this is what has happened to me. I am no longer in school, but I am married and happy, I am working a decent job, and I am saving up money for the future, as well as slowly paying off my student loan debt, so things are going pretty well. Even so, I am not really working toward anything, and I can't see myself staying in this static state of affairs forever. I was hoping to go back for my Ph.D. this upcoming fall, but that has not worked out, which I think is partially my own fault, because I've realized that I don't really want to go back yet.

Some people would tell me to be happy in my current situation and take the well-traveled road: Work a job, get a cat and a dog, have some kids, buy a house, and save for retirement. Others might reprimand me for being ungrateful of my current circumstances, but I would argue that I am doing the complete opposite. I am definitely thankful for my current situation in life! It enables me to read what I want, listen to what I want, and learn what I want, and so I simply desire to take full advantage of my good fortune by pursuing experiences that are worthwhile and different.

I've always disliked kitschy, inspirational art, like the cliché photographs you sometimes see of a person standing in the middle of a field, with their arms and faces raised to the sky, smiling and spinning around, as if running through a field of wildflowers will really help you carpe diem. The answers to life's questions aren't in self-help books or inspirational quotes or online courses given by life coaches or yoga gurus or spiritual cults or a daily pill. But, even so, I really like the following quote by Nadine Starr quoted in Spilling Open: The Art of Becoming Yourself by Sabrina Ward Harrison. "If I had my life to live over, I’d try and make more mistakes next time. I would relax. I would limber up. I would be sillier than I have been this trip. I know of very few things I would take seriously. I would be crazier. I would be less hygienic. I would take more chances. I would take more trips. I would climb more mountains, swim more rivers and watch more sunsets. I would eat more ice cream and less beans. I would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary ones. You see, I am one of those people who live prophylactically and sanely and sensibly, hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I have had my moments and, if I had to do it over again, I’d have more of them. In fact, I’d try to have nothing else. Just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead each day. I have been one of those people who never go anywhere without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, a gargle, a raincoat, and a parachute. If I had to do it over again, I would go places and do things and travel lighter than I have. If I had my life to live over, I would start bare-footed earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would play hooky more. I wouldn’t make such good grades except by accident. I would ride on more merry-go-rounds. I’d pick more daisies."

This is the kind of life I want to live, and I want to live it now and not when it's already too late! There's a moment in the film Paris When It Sizzles, which is not my favorite Audrey Hepburn movie I'm afraid, when William Holden's character asks Audrey's character why she came to Paris, to which Audrey's character replies, "Live!" I think that this is what I feel when I read quotes like the one by Nadine Starr. The meaning of life is "to live" and that is what I want to do more of. As Paloma Josse says in The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barberry:

"But above all it is crazy how people think that though they understand nature they can live without it...Living, eating, reproducing, fulfilling the task for which we were born, and dying: it has no meaning, true, but that's the way things are. People are so arrogant, thinking they can coerce nature, escape their destiny of little biological things...and yet they remain so blind to the cruelty or violence of their own way of living, loving, reproducing and making war on their fellow human beings...Personally I think there is only one thing to do: find the task we have been placed on this earth to do, and accomplish it as best we can, with all our strength, without making things complicated or thinking there's anything divine about our animal nature. This is the only way we will ever feel that we have been doing something constructive when death comes to us. Freedom, choice, will, and so on? Chimeras. We think we can make honey without sharing in the fate of the bees, but we are in truth nothing but poor bees, destined to accomplish our task and then die."

I also know that this is what I have to do: Find the task I have been placed on this earth to do, and accomplish it as best I can, with all my strength, without making things complicated or thinking there's anything divine about my animal nature. But this is precisely my main problem lately: I have no idea what I should be doing!

The Breton Shirt

2012-04-14T12:00:00.012-04:00

So, I have been wearing Breton shirts and striped tees a lot lately. I have even started to build a bit of a collection! I have three black and white, one yellow and white, and one turquoise and white shirt. I also have one black and white, one grey and black, one red and white, and one turquoise and white dress. And Louise's blog la marinière definitely does not help quell my infatuation!