367 Friends

I've got break down from illness twice this year and both time one thing I really needed besides doctor and medicine was laugh and fun. Both time I turned to "FRIENDS" series. 

One; Sitcom is best for the purpose because it's long enough to watch several seasons all day long, as well as it's always short enough to stop at the end of any story. 

Two; Laughter makes people away from worried thoughts about illness and I guess that's the greatest way to get over illness.

Three; "FRIENDS" is still one of the most wonderful and warmhearted shows of all time and it's my generation. 

366 Jelly means

I surely hesitate to talk about this, because I'm such a grown-up person, but one thing that always have troubled me since I was a kid is, swallowing pills.

Anybody else?

But of course to cure the illness I have to manage it. It's not impossible. But it requires tons of water, needless tense(fear of making failures), and making failures. If the tablets are able to be crushed, and the capsules can be opened if I want to, I definitely try them. 

This time I'm facing a challenge to swallow 2cm-long  2 tablets after every meal. Those who have no difficulty taking pills might not understand, but to whom not, this is really a tough work. 

The truth is I found a great product to ease my task. "Aid-jelly", lools just like fruit jelly, basically for babies and children who naturally hate medicine, which is to wrap tablets or capsules and deliver them to the throat just like gulping a jelly, finally helps me to get this done very easily. Wondeful! 

Swallowing this aid-jelly means actually swallowing much larger volume than the medicine itself. But the texture makes it possible without any effort. 

365 Maintenance

So many things happen to me this year. But ironic thing is the illness is not totally unpredictable. Now I've got a disease, but not wishing to talk about it. I just feel my illness is kind of a maintenance. (Well I might just be trying to see the good side.) I feel myself like an aircraft in a hanger, waiting to be fixed and repaired. During the maintenance it cannot fly at all, but when it's properly finished, it's again qualified to be ready to take off. 

This is how I imagine healing process and how human mechanism probably works as accurately as high-tech aviation.

364 Night Out

 Almost full moon. 

Moonlight is so much different from sunlight,

it's like a mirror to reflect sunlight, 

but sometimes

it shines so strongly and brilliantly too!

363 Personal Space

パーソナルスぺースとは、米国の文化人類学者Edward Hallが定義したとされます。大学に入りたてのころ文化人類学の講義でこの話を聴いて、正直なところ、そんな当たり前の感覚をことさら学問にする必要があるのだろうか、と感じたものです。もちろん今は、その知識が何の役に立つのかなどとは思わず、むしろその知識を学問を越えて常識に導き、誰もが当然にわきまえて行動できるようにならないものか、と考えています。

intimate distance/personal distance/social distance/public distanceの4種類に定義されるパーソナルスペースは、当然のことながら国や地域、人種、性別によっても異なるとされています。何となくですが、自分自身は周りの人よりもパーソナルスペースが広い、つまり本能的なプライバシー空間の意識が鮮明なように思います。広々として開放的な地方都市で、人混みもないところで育ったためかもしれません。背高のため手足の置きどころに人よりもスペースを要するからかもしれません。しかし何より、自分と違って他の多くの人がパーソナルスペースの侵害を受けても割合と平気なように思えるからです。人混みや地下鉄の中で、自分が見知らぬ人にある一定程度を超えて接近されたときに本能的に芽生える警戒感や不安定さを、その相手はまるで持たぬように見えるのです（相手から見れば、こちらも見知らぬ他人であるのに）。

ある意味、パーソナルスぺ―スを狭くすること、持ちすぎないことは大都会で平穏に生活する術なのかもしれません。しかし人間も動物である以上、生まれつき備わっている動物的本能は、とりわけこうした身を護るための感覚は大事にこそすべきで、鈍らせてはいけないように思います。

パーソナルスペースの意識が強いと生活しにくいのは事実です。ただ悪いことばかりではありません。intimate/personal/social...の仕切りがより明確に意識されているということですから、見知らぬ人の接近に対する警戒感は、家族や家族同然の相手に対する親しみや安心の度合いもそれだけ大きい、ということではないでしょうか？

362 Olympics 2020

Tokyo will host 2020 Olympics. I should get interested in the news in many ways--- welcoming top of top athletes, local business opportunities and economic impact, intercultural-international event, and so on But so far the only one thing gets my attention; the new national stadium designed by Zaha Hadid, shown above. First impression is purely amazing. Surely, a big stadium is usually a landmark and stands out, but this is beyond. This is stunning and striking. Though I'm not yet sure about the architectural concept, I'm already excited, while I do remember what I saw and felt in Zaha's real work at Vitra in Basel last year. At least I'm quite sure sometimes great architectures arise strong sensitivity of human mind, like great natural landscape.

Zaha's arena clearly seems to feature the most futuristic design ever. The actual impact is of course remained to be seen, but I'd congratulate and continue to be curious how this is realized, and how it keeps amazing us. 

Tadao Ando, chairman of the competition selection panel reportedly said;
'I believe this stadium will become a shrine for world sport for the next 100 years.'

361 Skyscraper

Now every large cities and business areas have its skyscrapers. It's not so uncommon to see them in rather unknown town. When looked up from the street, skyscrapers don't seem to be that special, because they're so familiar with the city sight. This is just a sight. But when you look at them from inside of the neighboring (and as much high as them) building, there is something you cannot help admiring and appreciating those masterpieces.

Say, you're on the 35th floor of one building and you see 40-stories curtain wall made of steel and glass (and usually with people in it) in front of you. This is quite a strange feeling. You and the the building you see are both far separated from the ground, you and the people you see are standing not on earth but the carefully manufactured structure made by human, assuring people safety and stability. Just the fact is amazing enough but today's skyscrapers have to deal with so many things; highly elaborated IT system, saving both energy and emission of CO2, strong resistance to fire, wind or earthquakes, finest concord with environment both in design and ecology, aesthetics, being a landmark and intelligent piece in the business world, sustainability, offering lots of jobs to the community, and of course a whole success to the developer, architecture, constructor, property management firm and all concerned.

And that's why skyscrapers attract people and always will be one of symbols of human's respectable spirit of challenge.

360 The Loan Ranger

往年の西部劇を現代版で描いた"The Loan Ranger"はいわゆるブロックバスター映画で、夏休みに丁度良い冒険活劇といったところです。少々、ダークな味付けもされていますが、全体としては大人も子供も楽しめる笑えて爽快なアクション映画の趣でした。

主役コンビの一人となる奇妙なインディアンを演じるジョニー・デップは、大ヒットした海賊映画のジャック・スパロウと雰囲気が似たような役だとか、素顔がわからない変なメイキャップで風変わりな主役を演じるのが多すぎるとか、そんな批評も受けているようですが、俳優が「似たような役を続けていて、変わり映えがしない」と苦言を呈されるのは、ややアンフェアな気がします。ひとつには、その役者の長いキャリアを通してみれば実に多様な幅広い役を演じてきていること、もうひとつには、観客に人気を得られる得意なタイプの役を演じてばかりいたとしても、それがその役者の才能を活かす最善の方法であれば、一体何の問題があるのかということです。

ジョニー・デップの映画は数えるほどしか観ていませんが、近年の出演作がステレオタイプだと批判するのが合わないと思われるのは、前者の理由です。変な風貌でおかしな主人公をコミカルに演じるようになるずっと前、ジョニー・デップは"What's Eating Gilbert Grape"に主演していました。この映画はブロックバスターでもアクションでもコメディでもなく、繊細かつ断固とした若者の精神を田舎の家族の中で捉えた、非常に優れたドラマです。その主人公を演じた俳優が、飄々としておかしなインディアンのコメディ・リリーフを演じたのと同じ人物とは俄かに信じがたいほどの違いがあります。俳優が何をもって役を選ぶのか観客には知るよしもありませんが、ともかく「似たような役」に没頭する期間が長いか短いか、キャリアの前半なのか最盛期なのか、それは俳優自身の価値観であり、傍から見ていて判断できるものでもなく、文句をつけるようなものでもないように思います。

359 Dad's work

Sometimes, but not very often, I ask my friend of what their father did for living. This is not a kind of topics you can casually say to your friend like "What's up?". It sounds a more private question. When I have interest in this theme it's usually linked to the childhood of the person. Where he or she lived, what it was like, or how was their Christmas holidays, something like that. For example if the place they lived as a child is a rare nation, it is probably related to the father's job. 

Recently I came to know the father's occupation of three of my friends; employees at international airline, oil company, and construction company. 

These profession not only affected the place their family lived. Besides the geographic influence, mental and intellectual impact from their father's job might took place, like why their father had chose that job, what kind of things these dads talked to their kids (dads always like to talk about their job), what kind of friends they had (dads often make friends at workplace), and most of all what kind of value they had. My own father worked at PR agency and production firm and did advertisement / design campaign works. 

Did it affect me anyway? Definitely yes, though my current job is not at all related to it.