500 Thank you 500th

5年前の大晦日にこのブログを始めて以来、年の終わりはブログの記念日にもなりました。自由に好きなことを書いているうちに5年間が経ち、仕事をしてきた年数のおよそ半分にもなります。もともと文章修行とエディトリアルデザインの真似事として始めた記事ですが、初期のものを読み返せば至って拙く、荒っぽく、青臭く、独りよがりで面映い文章が占めています。そう感じられるということは、今は5年前より少しでも向上したのであろうと思いたいものです。読者の皆さまについては、直接存じ上げている方々は20人に満たないのですが、なぜか世界の色々な国からアクセスが続いていることはつねに嬉しい驚きです。以前は読者の目線を想定して記事を書いていましたが、5年が経つうちにそれもなくなりました。公的な記事と捉えていたものが時折私的な領域に近づくことを自らに許可し、さまざまな要素を含めたストーリーを書くことに慣れたお陰でしょう。そんな記事の幾つかに目を留め、読んでいただいた方に感謝を伝えたいと思います。

ブログの5周年記念ということで、何か好きなものをちょっと飾りたかったので、飛行機の模型。ありがとうございます。

Since I started this blog on the New Year's Eve 5 years ago, the end of the year has made itself an anniversary of this blog. I've been just writing freely whatever I like and spent 5 years, which adds up to almost half of the years I spent for working. The original idea here was to improve my writing skills and imitation of editorial design. When reading back the early posts, the mass of them are quite poor, rough, green, self-satisfied and embarrassing. Now that I feel them as such, I just hope my skills are getting at least better than 5 years ago. I personally know only less than 20 readers who I believe might be kindly an watcher of this blog, but for some reasons I've been getting accesses from all over the world, which always gives me the nicest surprise. I was highly conscious of the reader's point of view when writing before, but it disappeared in 5 years. That might be because I changed my mind and sometimes allowed myself to look closer at the private field for writing a post which I used to think as only public, and because I've got accustomed to the change of tone. I really wish to appreciate the readers whoever found some of these posts and read them.

This post caps the 5th anniversary of the blog and I would like modestly to feature something from my favorites, which turns out to be a model airplane. Thank you indeed.

499 Walk With Music

 Keith Haring

At the last minutes of the year I made a quick return to my hometown and just got back. It may be due to the travel itself or the "winter wonderland" holidays in snowy northern town, or spending hours away from daily lives having only limited things to go with, that the return washes away my usual thoughts and makes me clear. Now I feel like wrapping up my 2014. Not about work, but about life. 

I don't want to rank the people or things that I met and liked, so to just name them, "Frozen", Zaha Hadid, Taylor Swift, iPad, and Dance battle. iPad, needs no explanation but it is truly a great contribution to communication. Dance battle, needs little explanation and most people never get involved in such activity. I started it this year for the first time in my 10+ years dancing history. It is fun, tough, difficult and arguably gives some lesson to a dancer. I got 1 victory and 4 loss and still like it very much.

"Frozen" definitely needs no explanation. The vision, the music, the art, everything is harmonized in the story and beyond imagination. Taylor Swift, the greatest and youngest star, could swiftly win and grab my ears and mind. Zaha Hadid, supposedly the one and only talent in modern architecture, whose breathtaking works blew my mind.

It seems the year has been almost filled with delight given by gifted female, It's true but more than that, they are all actually, music, or related closely to music. For more than 30 years I have been living and walking (literally) with music whose creation, recreation and innovation keep me awake, inspired and anew lead me to discovery and encounter. 2014 reminded me that mighty power of music. How about architecture? They say, "Music is liquid architecture, Architecture is frozen music."

498 Wristband

In welcoming the end of the year, the usual and favorite custom of all might be looking back the "10 biggest events in the year" or "The deal of the year", so to say. This being shed light in most media and SNSs, I look at and thank the things that would be small and look less significant but in fact could contribute to some part of the life in this year.  

One of these is an ordinary wristband I started to wear when dancing. It's no special, a cotton-made product, but surprisingly, this small item can not only stabilize and facilitate the move of the wrist, but also fix the mind. It enables me to have kind of fortitude and strength in every dance showcases, cyphers or battles, which doesn't mean it can always lead me to victory, though. 

That may be because it simply looks cool I guess. Appearance, or style of one's own is part of the essential factor in street dance. But it works well beyond the function. Wonder why? To cover, protect or adorn the wrist, like wristbands, bracelets or wristwatches, gives modest but significant power to the owner, doesn't it? They move closely with the arm and hand in the daily actions with much more frequency than neck or ankle. They act busily and are probably less eye-catching than neckless, tie or scarf, but a bit more identified with the owner. I'd like to thank them for being the closest gear.

497 1989

Very recently I've got to know Taylor Swift's latest works of music and really interested in them. They fascinates me so much actually. How will you define Taylor Swift by the way? Even with only listening to 10 plus songs I don't hesitate to describe her as a genius. She seems a bit different from her peers in the industry. Rarely the world's famous celebrities or icons make us think of the personality of them, because we tend to feel their given public images are not what we could get when we meet our our friends and neighbors, if not they are wrong. But sometimes we find so outstanding and obvious talent that enables us to believe in the person what we see through our television and Youtube. 

In the latest album called "1989" Taylor Swift, a talented country musician,   shows the sparkle of her genius in making brilliant pop anthems. They are glamorous, clever, tough and charming. It always surprises me that after so many marvelous tunes over the centuries today's artists still can create brand-new masterpieces. 

496 Playtime

 

At the early time of this blog, I wrote about Jacques Tati's "Playtime". After 4-5 years have passed since then, I was so surprised how my feelings changed, or diversified, not to say matured. Okay, I must admit that I said I felt like sleepy though I loved this film so much.

My first Jacques Tati experience was probably like everyone, "Mon Oncle". It was a striking discover. I understood how I care for modernism (Ultra-modernism, in the film) in the mid-century. Later I've got to know "Playtime", but I simply couldn't get it. I was just overwhelmed by the uniqueness, subtle but plenty sense of comedy, artistic perfectionism and the length.

Now free from the snobbism in youth that values the state of feeling like understanding something so classy and sophisticated, I am lucky to have an opportunity to find the real value of the film. What was it? I dare not explain, because it was really an extraordinary work of art. The sound (each of the footsteps, machine, wind, noise, car klaxon) are all carefully delivered and allocated. The buildings and set design are awesome in every inch, people are gorgeous and lively, and every single scene contains modest seeds for laughter.  It is outstanding, but furthermore, fun to watch.

The last sequence in the restaurant was once a nonsense to me. But now I understand this is a complicated mixture of laughter and sophistication, nonsense and warmth. It is marvelous and beautiful, and ridiculous. What is the most wonderful thing to me is whatever my sense and feelings have changed, the film still strongly fascinates me.

495 Haywire

Steven Soderberghが監督、総合格闘家のGena Caranoが主演の"Haywire"を観ました。第一級のスパイ・アクション映画という柄ではありませんが、むしろその分野の映画には珍しく、控えめで硬派で、タイトな雰囲気が異彩を放っています。この映画の最大の魅力は本物の格闘家が本物のファイトとアクションを見せつけるという点にあるのですが、その凄みを等身大の人間のスケールで追体験できる感覚が斬新です。本物の動きはシーンの振り付けという域を遥かに超え、窮地に陥っても素早く鮮やかに切り返す（という演出効果に過ぎないとしても）姿には、生身の痛々しさと同時に爽快感まで漂います。正確で鋭い格闘にも、街路を一散に走り、屋根から屋根に飛び移り、壁を滑り降る姿にも、作り物でない筋肉の重さを感じるのです。スチール写真ひとつを見ても、その佇まいに緊張と安定のバランスが取れた身体能力の強さが窺えるような気にさせられます。

女優男優を問わず、俳優は宇宙飛行士やシェフや弁護士や科学者から、王様や歌手や妖精やボクサーを演じます。その裏には相当な深さの肉体的・精神的な役作りがあり、自分ではない他の人格への変化を現実にする演技力があります。それでもなお、この映画のようにスタントもCGも編集も一切不要な本物の「人間の動き」の迫力を見せつけられると、まるで野生動物のドキュメンタリー映画のように、観て圧倒されるだけで十分に満足できる映画となるのです。