407 Once

I saw a movie called "Once" which attracted attention and brought large enthusiasm at Sundance Film Festival and the Oscar. A "guy" plays guitar and a "girl" plays piano (the name of the main roles are intentionally anonymous). Boy meets girl. They produce music together with a one-day band, and then they go back to their each life without saying goodbye. That's all. But just as many movie fans, I was throughly attracted by this film's organic reverberation. The music, rather than the acting, made interesting chemical reaction. 

It would depend on individuals which was the best scene of the movie. I'd name one which they played together as the one and only recording session at studio. This scene was made so carefully and passionately so that audience could feel as if they witness the birth of the brilliant songs. Here music is being made lively and vividly. 

Listening to recorded music is so easy that we almost tend to forget the huge effort of the singers and musicians behind it. After watching the beautiful movie I listen to music a bit differently. They may be a commercial songs. But what matters most is the real people producing it with real voice and musical play. 

If recording sound never deprive of its fresh vibe, how about recording words? Does this blog get lively making flow of words full of life? I hope so and will keep trying for it.   

406 Flame

Flame light is something we cannot fully capture its shape and movement. It's one of the things that cannot be easily photographed. It seems always move back and forth, left and right, up and down. The unpredictable motion looks sometimes fragile, sometimes bendy, or elastic. The light flickers in a subtle way according to the movement. This little showcase of flame is worth being seen for a while without boring the viewer.  

Of course the fact above is nothing new, as we all know the flame light is a typical example of the famous mysterious patterns/tunes nature makes. But to know something and to experience it is always different. And this case the thing is so simple---all you have to do is to light a candle and just look at it.

405 Powered by Breakfast

Very occasionally, I would allow myself to enjoy some luxury. To me it often (not always, but usually) means taking the richest and freshest breakfast at my favorite place. The decent breakfast table is where I can be extravagant from time to time. I had fresh orange juice, vegetable mixed juice, toast, cereals, salad, smoked salmon with cheese, fresh fruit, omlette, steamed vegetables, potato dish, jambon, and plenty of black coffee. That was high-quality and awesome. After all your body is made from, and is moved by what you ate before. Supposing we're inclined to skip or spare less time for breakfast, sometimes it is not wasting of money nor time to invest yourself through these fine meals.

404 Bloopers

”Bloopers"ー映画やドラマの失敗シーンは、ちょっとした笑い（時には爆笑）を誘うものとしか思っていませんでしたが、それが、大好きで繰り返し見ても見飽きない名作や傑作のBloopersである場合は少し違ってきます。殊に俳優が真剣な面持ちで名演技を見せる場面で、台詞につまったり度忘れしたり、なぜか吹き出してしまったりという「失敗」は、可笑しいだけでなく、おそらくこの数分か数秒のシーンのために「失敗」も含め現場では何テイクも重ね、「失敗」しながらも最終的に完璧な演技を残したのであろうという事実、また俳優がどんなに真面目に迫真の演技をしていても、その演技の境地から一瞬にして素に戻って笑い転げる姿に、親しみというよりもむしろ俳優という仕事に要求される尋常ならぬ集中力に感嘆してしまうのです。

403 Smarter Phone

The Smartest artificial intelligence fellows ever. 

Even though I'm not a strong protagonist of latest tech-gadget, I believe in technology and science (actually I majored in the study of the two). I really look forward to truly innovative smarter phone. If smart phone helps you to realize, capture the world around or away from you, I think smarter phone gives you the access to information inside you or about yourself. 

What does it mean? I think the next generation of personal phone should enable you to communicate with your own body and mind, not as spiritual way but scientific and medical way. In fact we should be more and more aware of many signs from our body like fatigue, ill-condition, lack of sleep, languor or pain, but the modern life hardly allows us to take a good time to rebalance ourselves. We are so cornered (usually by our own decision and activities) that we cannot easily take a rest. Yoga training or meditation might be a good solution but if you must rescue yourself from the verge of the serious emergency of health, you just need to speed up the process. If your phone tells you how is your condition, what is the problem and in what critical level you are, when to see the doctors and why you must take a rest for your sake, it may save the issue of high medical expenses and your life. (However I think human originally have natural sense to catch the physical signs and appropriately act according to them.)

Or, if you don't have any medical problems whatsoever, how about the smarter phone which creates your life/career profile through recording and editing your everyday jobs, activities, communications and thoughts? Again originally this could be done if we diligently take notes whenever we hear something valuable or a wonderful idea comes up, but if your smarter phone reads your mind and helps you, it would be great wouldn't it?

402 Real

The latest "The Fast Lane" weekly column at FT by Mr. Tyler Brule was a intriguing one. At the end of 2013 and expecting 2014 he wishes 4 basic things to come true. I Two things especially aroused my sympathy: 

A return to silence
"The men with their newspapers are not on their mobiles: they don't feel the need to be "capturing" what's going on around them and nor do they feel like "sharing" what they're doing…Not every canton deserves a report, not every article or incident deserves comment and the world doesn't need to know there you are at all times."

Be mysterious
"All the digital chatter is not only exhausting, it makes everyone (and everything) less interesting….Making your personal brand - along with the one you might work for or own - bait more mysterious will not only add a layer of intrigue but will also create a greeter degree of desire."

My friends well know that I'm not so digitally updated nor digitally sociable. I sometimes post in SNS, read my friends' and comment them, and most of all write here my blog, which I think is perfectly okay if these activities are in moderate range. But I kind of feel my brain gets actually empty when I look for "something new" or "something funny" and that odd feeling has nothing to do with the news and activities of my friends. The thing is simply, they enjoy or experience the real thing and I look at them vaguely and virtually. It's as if my real feelings and senses are never be used and left unactivated. You never get to know the experience like you do when you see movies or read books. You never actually own the place and make yourself understood even if you comment something or post what you did.

Of all the information gathering / experiencing / entertaining activities I think the radio program is the most effective way to keep yourself with your mind and conscious and never to lose the real feeling during listening to the voices and music.

I know I keep talking about this in my posts. I don't think the reason I am not so good at SNS and has stronger belief and comfortability in classic radio media is just I'm an old type of person. I'm sure many people feel the same as I do, and there should be a logical reason to explain it. So, this new year holidays I just keep listening to the Monocle Radio 24 via my laptop, which gives me slightly strange mixed feeling of access to qualified radio program and still connected to digital convenience.

401 Aspiration / Intuition

新年の抱負や1年の計画といったものは持たない方です。目標とするものは1年間では達成できないほど大きく、長い時間をかけて少しずつ成長しながらそれに近づいていくものであるし、逆に短期間で達成したい目標であれば、1年間を試行錯誤するうちにおそらく軌道修正が必要になるもので、1年のスタート地点で完成形を定義してみてもあまり意味がないと思うのです。人生が荒っぽい航路であれば、計画通りに船を進める準備だけしてみてもあまり意味はありません。
ただ今年は何か気になるものがあります。目標や抱負という具体的なものを語るわけではありませんが、何かこれまでと異なることを試してみようという感覚です。それは、直感が告げるものにもっと鋭敏に聞き耳を立ててみようということなのです。

I don't usually state New Year's resolution often. My objectives are tend to be huge and a year is too short to accomplish them so it takes long time for me to grow my ability to get close to them little by little. On the other hand a short-term goal will need to be a bit fixed during the trial and error of the year so I don't think it makes sense to define a perfect goal at the start. If life is a rough course it's no use of just preparing for the predicted voyage.

But I sense something hit on me this year. I don't mean to talk about my definite goals or ambitions, it's a feeling that urges me to try something different. It suggests I should be more shrewdly keeping my ears open to whatever my intuition tells.

400 LBIA #27 Travel to Hometown

At first I thought of wrapping up my 2013 but I thought twice because if I want to remember or not to remember good things and not so good things in the year, I don't need to depend on record here. I can always search my mind and feelings. Also it seems to be too early to conclude this year. So I chose to look back things more worthy to be remembered. At the last of my photo journey I show you my hometown. Actually there're tons of pictures of it I shot during this 10 years behind these, but probably "less is more" here. 

I'm looking forward to the next time taking off and flying across the sky. 

399 LBIA #26 Picturesque

Looking back these journey through the photos I took was really a fun. It's also interesting to compare the cities I visited and loved. Like the last speech in Roman Holiday "Each in its own was was unforgettable". It's interesting each excitement, surprise, impression, joy and most of all my enthusiasm to capture the beauty of the moment are recorded in the photograph and I can remember not just the beauty of the scenery itself but all these emotions instantly. That's why I love taking photograph.  

In Zurich, like other cities I had lots of such moments at the street, airport and restaurant. It's unpredictable. When I see a certain scene it's kind of switching on something in my mind and that makes me feel like shooting. I personally like these three photos not just they make a good picture (I hope) but they remind me of this special feelings of "switching on" moment.

398 LBIA #25 Financial Center

Of course Zurich was actually an international financial center. I realized it not when I saw the major street was lined with biggest Swiss banks, or apparently banker-like professionals walking fast around and having power lunch in many languages. I realized that when I entered a classy cafe to warm myself--- I had been walking in sleety snow and I felt how my appearance was inappropriate for this chic place (There's no need for the anxiety. they warmly welcomed me). People were having nice time with a cup of cappuccino and chocolate. Then I noticed a Bloomberg television over the counter. A stylish cafe and Bloomberg. I have been to so many cafes at many cities but this combination was new to me. I liked that very much.  

397 LBIA #24 Surprise

When I decided to visit Zurich I hardly knew about the city. The only thing that opened up my interest toward Zurich was a magazine article saying Zurich was "the most livable and lovable city in the world". Usually this kind of ranking I knew was occupied by Scandinavian, Canadian or Australian cities. Zurich I imagined was an international financial center. It attracted my attention. 

On the first day I had warm welcome by this marvelous illumination on the main street. It was literally breathtaking. I never knew this nor expected this and no doubt it was the most beautiful Christmas illumination I ever seen. The sight wiped out my preliminary knowledge. I did appreciate the surprise.