From A Distance

of junon and pretty things...

2012-07-31T20:05:45Z

Payday means the japan centre *evil chuckle* and i got my hands on a copy of this month's Junon and... *drumroll* a junjon premium!! they rarely have it there or if they do it gets snaffled real quick, so i now have the lovely nissy/naoya pics as well as some oguri shun which was an added bonus as i didn't know he was in there. *hello boy*

i also picked up a copy of AnAn with Satoh Takeru on the cover crying. Its a nice photo spread and whilst I've only seen him in 'Bloody Monday' i rather liked his character.

Now my forum is closed I am working out the best way to set up the writing rpg, explaining how it works will be a good start hehe

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restless nights and busy day

2012-07-22T20:59:58Z

Last night was a bit of a restless one. People have been writing so many lovely messages about Shinhwa.biz it made me feel terrible and rather wakeful all night that i was closing it down, but in the end well wishers can't substitute for the contributions needed in news and running cost so I am feeling its still the right decision. if this is how it hurts after 5 years i can't imagine what it would be like after more!.

I spent most of today wresting with the forum code on the new server space so that i can still access it and start to prune posts and reorganise it into a manageable archive. I just couldn't see the pages until i found one of the mods for the forum for the thank you posts was incompatible with this version and had to be turned off. oh well, can't save everything I guess as there is no update for it.

So i hope thats the last sunny day i waste sorting something like that out and making my eyes all tired and fuzzy. I even ate dinner at my desk to get it done so i can relax now ^__^

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a sad day

2012-07-21T20:22:48Z

i closed my shinhwa fandom today. it has a week to run on the current server before it goes and tomorrow i will archive it on my other server.
it will be down a month before a quiet reopen to see what the traffic is like. I can't afford to have my blogs disrupted by a spike of visitors so we shall see what happens.

its sad, but in the end i will never get to writing like i used to if it don't stop now. I want to create the RPG for me and the twins and maddy and get back to being the old me before i was in charge of that.

besides, my job is going well and i wanna be the best i can be at that, i have a right to that!

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saharial @ 2012-07-16T21:54:00

2012-07-16T20:58:21Z

of my weekend aims - meeting Karonina for bento and transferring the leehom site was all i managed, but that's not bad going for me. Most of Sunday was spent watching 'Bloody Monday' over a coffee and then some lunch where a cute baby kept trying to talk to me.

Of course today was the big day with the Harry Potter Tour of the Leavesden studios, but its a story that will just have to wait as I am really quite tired now and need to sleep!

I go to Bournemouth for my work tomorrow, proudly wearing my ravenclaw hooded top and will be eating my chocolate frog on the train. cos really, that's where they are best eaten hehe.

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Weekend Aims

2012-07-13T13:26:42Z

1 chinese translation
transferring the leehom fansite to upgraded software
updating the shinhwa website software
watch crows 1 and 2
meet Karolina on Sunday before she heads to Japan to teach English
crochet something...anything!!!

install and prepare a forum for the RPG writing ;)

we shall see how I do. I also need to catch up with some programming so i can impress my tutor when he gets back from holiday!

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One to watch out for

2012-06-12T07:40:45Z

On Monday it was announced that Toma Ikuta will be starring in a movie adaptation of Urio Shudo’s 2000 Edogawa Rampo Award-winning novel Nou Otoko (literally “Brain Man”).In his first “dark hero” role, Ikuta will be playing a mysterious unfeeling killing machine named Ichiro Suzuki who commits murders in the name of justice.
His character possesses an unusually high intelligence and prodigious memory, but is also completely incapable of feeling human emotion.
The role will reportedly be physically demanding, involving intense action scenes. Ikuta has been training in various martial arts for about 6 months in preparation for filming, including the Filipino martial art Kali and Bruce Lee’s hybrid system, Jeet Kune Do.
The story is set in a suburban city in the wake of indiscriminate serial bombings. Yosuke Eguchi (44) will play Chaya, a police detective who discovers Suzuki in the hideout of the bomber, a salaryman named Midorikawa. Yasuko Matsuyuki (39) will play a neurosurgeon tasked with evaluating Suzuki.
“Nou Otoko” is slated for release in February 2013.

Read more at Arama They Didn't: http://aramatheydidnt.livejournal.com/3892582.html#ixzz1xYvbdcJu

http://www.tokyohive.com/2012/06/ikuta-toma-to-play-a-serial-killer-in-nou-otoko/
http://aramatheydidnt.livejournal.com/3892582.html

Yay!!!

I really like Ikuta Toma - i have a small obsession with his rather lovely nose - that he will play a dark 'hero' in a film is pretty awesome - especially a ranpo noir type! Its up against 47 Ronin - the film I am working on right now - so it looks like a good month for me ahah!

I just finished 'akihabara@deep' drama he was in, but really liked his role in 'hana kimi' better. - take a guess at my fave moment of his.. i dare you!!!!

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Have you ever...

2012-04-09T08:26:54Z

heard of a counter tenor?

I hadn't until yesterday when one got up to do a solo praise song at church.
counter tenor = male soprano = a lot of gobsmacked members of church wondering if they had the gender wrong of who they were looking at. I saw the girl who sat in front of me turn to her friend and say 'Namja?' (guy) and he nodded. The guy's voice was amazing but really, if you closed you eyes you'd think it was a woman singing. We have a lot of opera singers and musicians at the Korean church I go to, and usually all the opera singers have a bass or tenor range. so having a complete opposite was a shock!

I think though he knew what he was doing though as he looked awfully pleased with himself before and very smug afterwards.

As always I got mugged for sweets by the little kids before I'd even had my chapchae and BBQ beef, so had to tell them afterwards to which one of them replied "i don't mind having sweets before" hehe.

Went for coffee afterwards with the bible study group and it was really nice to just chill and relax and not worry about getting home too late. Today is a bank holiday so I could relax. I'll be off to see Titanic in 3D in an hour or so, perhaps a trip to the wool shop or Waterstones will get added in there too as I am going super early to beat the queue for ticket. Normally I wouldn't worry, but as I said - its a bank holiday so it might be busy and knowing what I know about 3D i need to get a seat in the sweet spot so i get the best and full effect!.

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where have i been....

2012-04-07T19:34:30Z

I know, I know, I have been absent for a bit. My bad. Or rather work related busy-ness that was inescapable. For most of March I was working 2 projects at the same time, one short one with a very tight deadline (the film is due out on 16th May) and the other the long term one I am the lead for (the cool Hollywood/Japanese one). Three weeks of getting home at past 10pm was exhausting and I've no idea how I managed. Anyway, that's all done with but the long term project is going to be heaps of work. In light of that I've decided to consolidate my random blogs all over the place to being here so I have one place to go and write stuff and that's that. I have a work blog and a film blog too but they stay separate as they have their own domain names. Expect much more variety in posts from now on (assuming i get a few minutes a day to blog of course)

Next week i have a film festival to go to which I'll be blogging about on my film blog (http://countingpulses.com) but I will cross post the last film review with AAA community as its Himizu which has Nissy in.

Right now I am enjoying 'Tumbling' a lot and its made me go all weepy at some episodes. Its such a sweet drama! http://www.mydramalist.com/dramalist/saharial is where you can catch up with anything I am watching/have watched and do add me as a friend if you feel like joining there too! I'd love to compare and get recommendations :)

In other thoughts. I am dropping the very first domain name i ever bought. I never use it and its based off the catchphrase of a singer who i think is being a total jerk these days and has lost direction. I still love his older works, but I think creatively he is a little dried up. Sad thing is so many people worship him and allow him to dominate awards that talented others don't get noticed.

hmm what else... this evening i was 'aftershock' which is a Chinese film about the Tangshan earthquake of 1976. I cried a lot at the end.

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cure my ills!

2011-11-26T14:42:42Z

I am totally wiped out by this lurgy I picked up last week.
Started with a sore throat on Tuesday night and then feeling terrible all Wednesday, Thursday I needed a lumber for my nose which dripped every 5 minutes, Friday was still not great, no runny nose or sore throat but I can feel it in my sinuses. Its still there along with a dry cough which seems to be developing now that my nose has stopped running.

Argh

It feels like the eye of the storm, like the worst is yet to come.

I went to the cinema last night anyway though to see 'Tokyo Park' at the Japan Premiere Season at the Barbican. I got the tickets from a friend at work who couldn't make it and invited my Polish friend Karolina who I know from the Japanese language meet up. She is a big fan of Haruma Miura so was very excited to go see it. It was a really good film, funny and sweet and one i recommend! It made us so hungry though as they ate such nice food in it. I really want a pork bun now and will have to fix that craving on Monday.

Anyway. I am going to go get a cup of tea and a mince pie.
Mince Pies are a good cure for colds right?

oh, and I had to de-friend a guy i knew from my uni days for making rape jokes on his facebook. Lovely.

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Junon goodness...

2011-11-23T14:31:11Z

i got January Junon and its cute!
aAA stuff is awesome, there is some CNblue for my friend in the Philippines and...

Shohei Miura is no longer blonde!

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Steampunk at lunch

2011-10-10T13:13:11Z

www.steampunkbible.com/about/

I couldn't resist going to the bookshop this lunchtime, mostly cos i was not feeling well, and books make me feel better for some reason. I started out in the learn Japanese section because i haven't spent enough on books already </sarcasm> and on my way down the stairs I spotted this and was smitten. A must have. I discovered just how much of my taste in books and movies were close to the whole steampunk genre. I have a feeling which way my NaNoWriMo is going......

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RPG Design-

2011-05-23T17:32:59Z

Was doing a little research into rpg design etc and decided to make a check list of do and don't factors. They are in no particular order as its all about what i find as i trawl the net.

try to stay away from any mechanic that requires referencing a big important chart
design the mechanic around the game
Define your game in the text by what it IS and DOES, not by what it ISN'T and what it AVOIDS.
Don't leave major setting elements for later. If it's important to the game, put it in the guide
include a sample character
include at least one intro adventure
Don't describe something in the flavour text that cannot be duplicated according to the rules
test the system rules for loopholes and potential abuse of rules
Don't use terms before they've been defined. Don't introduce too much jargon at once.
avoid tired old cliche's that have been done a zillion times before, unless you are intending to use them for satirical reasons.
logical order and not scattered to the four winds

Make sure that the reader has a solid idea of:

1) What the game's about
2) What the characters are like
3) What the archetypical example of the game is

there - i think that's enough food for though. of course, those things were aimed mostly at dice and point type RPG, but i think they can apply as a good guide for fic based rpg which is what VR is :)

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Life of their own...

2011-05-21T11:47:02Z

The lovely Hiroki Narimiya <3

So, I saw him in 'LaLa pipo' which i picked up at he film festival at the start of the month and think he's so lovely. He has a very unusual mouth and smile and its utterly charming. I want to use him as a character in VR a potential RPG I was to start running so I did a quick start on a story for the rpg along with another character, an original, with whom i wanted to test the chemistry between. well, they seem to like each other a lot, I mean, it was my intention to write them as a romance possibility, but yeah, they really do like each other! Its really cool, so i guess I will have to design the rpg now hehe. Even if its just me writing for it!

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Rumours of Nudity....

2011-05-02T16:22:46Z

I've heard a disturbing whisper on the net today that ShinJiro's next photobook is going to be a nude one and the concept is male prostitute...

I'm not really comfortable with this at all really. I don't know why because I have no problem with nude photography at all, I think the human body is beautiful. I liked the Shinhwa Wild! Photoshoot - though that was done before I became a fan so maybe that makes a difference.

I'm trying to work out why so here are some possible things that spring to mind...

Perhaps its because its one photobook of one guy all nude for however many pages. It feels gratuitous and voyeuristic.
Perhaps its because Shinjiro is quite slender and it might make him look too young :/
I don't know who the photographer is so I don't trust the angle taken .
The concept is demeaning, not just for Shinjiro but also for AAA
Perhaps because I like Shinjiro but am not attracted to him

*sigh* anyone else out there have any thoughts?

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end of a long week

2011-04-08T07:58:36Z

I've been working late a lot this week as we are now into the last month of Harry Potter 2d and its always during this time that extra bits and pieces for various scenes are needed. These bits always take the most time of course! I have a list of shots to work on and the one I had been working on before the e4xtra work is now due Monday so i might be late again tonight.

The weather is good though, which is always a blessing, but i am feeling a little under the weather and tired, but i think that's just the effect of a long week and watching 'silent Hill' before bed last night. On the train home yesterday a rather drunk lady in her late 40's threw up ten minutes after we left the station - YUK. the carriage smelled like a winery and people (myself included) got up and walked out to stand the rest of the journey in the small vestibules. I don't have a strong stomach for that kind of smell as it makes me want to vomit too, so I was breathing through my scarf and gulping fresh air from the window. Then realised this was the same lady I had seen fall over outside a food shop in the station. I thought at the time she had fainted but it seems like that was from being very very drunk.

I have a long list of things to do this weekend - comm stuff, scanning, finishing up reviews for a film book, watching some of the movies I bought that have now all arrived.

I also want to learn the Bavarian crochet stitch, but the book I bought didn't really have very clear instructions. Its a pretty cool stitch which means that I can blend colours nicely and it looks nice and complex. I should have bought the book on lacy knits, but i guess that will now wait until next month.

I am supposed to make a scarf for my friend in NYC as she bought me a Kindle for Christmas and I wanted to make her something unique and warm. She's not a very materialistic gal, her room is almost Spartan it has such little stuff. something i quite envy! I am selling books and putting them on my Kindle to reduce how much stuff I have as i feel like I am bursting at the scenes. I aim to tackle the garage in may as part of that project!

anyway - I best get on with my work now as its almost 9am. Just enough time to make some toast!!

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Catching up!

2011-03-22T12:08:20Z

Ok, well, the server is down at work so I have a few moments to catch up with all that's been going on here.

I was pretty much glued into the events in Japan since I came into work that Friday morning and discovered what had happened. I spent the week watching the news while at work and praying for the brave souls working on the reactor for the sake of the world (let's face it world... you owe them BIG time - even if the company they work for hasn't been honest all the time).

Of course the world media was disgusting as always and made a big fuss over the radiation and not enough over the humanitarian disaster that was happening and was far more urgent to deal with. The scaremongering got to the point where people wouldn't go near the area and to bring supplies and help those whose lives had been destroyed.

I gave money at the Japanese Centre when I went down there last week. It was easy to see some panic buying of favourite snacks had been going on too as some of the shelves were getting really empty! My favourite Korean restaurant is going to be holding a fundraiser too so I will go to that, but I wanted to do something more than just throw money at the disaster. I got involved doing this...

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=164490464005&v=info

as I always have more wool than I need and that way too i feel i am doing something practical and meaningful too. I sent a whole 2 parcels of excess wool so the organiser can hand it over to the elderly ladies she cares for can help too (this made my mum happy too as she always says i have too much and frankly i hate seeing wool go to waste!)

I'll post a pic of my squares on 31st March when i take a batch to London stitch 'n Bitch - have done 4 so far - 1 pink, 1 orange, 1 pink and green striped and am working on the 4th still.. emerald green!

I'm going to pick up a book on learning Japanese enxt week, though also will be getting another Korean one as watching Korean dramas every day is improving my language bit by bit.

ps: i love when Nissy says any Japanese word that ends in -mas >_<;;;;

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Sunday Shopping Love

2011-02-27T12:24:35Z

London has a wealth of japanese restaurants and sushi places - always irresistable and has a couple of shops in central London too. I am sure there are more in London itself, but as i am only ever in Central, its nice i have a choice of 2 places to go to - especially as one has now moved to be 2 doors down from the other!

Mitzukoshi Department store is there for the Japanese tourists in their coaches who turn up for the tax free (for japanese only i guess) high end goods - Maison de Chocolat, Cath Kidson and a ton of other brands. It feels so upmarket going in there but the staff are quite polite and friendly even though I don't stop on their floor. I always head to the back and down the stairs to the bookshop which sells magazines, anime, films,cds and cute goods. I usually get my 'Junon' and 'what's on' here as they also have a stamp scheme for a discount and i spend enough to actually get one.

I usually just go in once a month as its expensive to get magazines etc and i am always tempted by various goods and cute note pads and stickers like i am 5 years old! Today I picked up a Junon and a what's in and *faints* the pics of Nissy are just to die for!!!! i can't wait to go home and gaze at them some more! I would do that now, but i am eating a croque monsieur at Starbucks in notting hill and i don't want grease to get on everything . Cheese always drips when i eat :/

i also picked up some cute writing paper and stickers!

I then moved onto the Japan Centre (it has a website, go look!) and i usually get a magazine here if they are sold out at the Mitzukoshi book store. We really need a Book Off in London as japanese culture is so popular. They would do really good business i am sure!! anyway - i picked up some Ramyeon, macha powder (for making green tea icecream! woot), some tohato pea crips which i ADORE - i don't eat crisps anymore, but there aren't really crisps.. more of a pea snack... right? They do make me a bit gassy, so I won't eat them before church :P. I also got some panda snacks and a pear juice drink which is another addiction of mine.

*sips chai latte slowly*

so tonight i gotta do a whole buch of things for ... something. Right? Not all the replies are in just yet... so I'll give it until the end of the day before i set things up properly but if no one else replies.... thats that. I think in the end we all have to be decisive... or else all momentum is lost. And i'd hate for that to happen!

so, thats it for my sunday rambling... time to watch another drama episode... r maybe get some work done... aish i can never decide!!!

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"Satoshi Kon's last words"

2011-02-25T09:14:25Z

Back in August last year, Satoshi - director of Paprika, Sky Blue and other anime died. It was reported on the BBC and I was thinking of this the other day as I was listing all my DVDs and had the wish to see Paprika again. I'm not sure how I came across this blog - perhaps via the BBc too, but I wanted to post it here as a reminder - so its not lost in the wash of digital feeds and that I remember it too.

http://makikoitoh.com/journal/satoshi-kons-last-words <-- the original link

I would repost the whole thing - but its very long - do read it though if you get the chance - its poignant and real.

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Inspirations

2011-02-23T21:48:33Z

I started writing a story about a month ago, a small scene that sprung to mind like the start of a movie that I knew was the beginning of a very interesting story. It lingered for a bit, changed a few times like it too wasn't sure what it wanted to be yet. I knew it was a thriller, but there was more to it than that. At first I tried using some Korean actors I like, but they just didn't fit - miscast in this little drama. Its not an unusual situation for this to happen - so I let it be for a while, playing with AAA in my head until it all clicked into place.

and oh boy has it clicked into place - on Tuesday morning I was supposed to go to a talk that the company i work for puts on to tell us about upcoming projects. I never made it - I had to dash into work almost literally to get the basic ideas of the story written down - i was so excited!!!!

I wrote a scene at lunch today that also sprung to mind and I was writing some last night too. I will be finishing the Hidaka scene soon.

I do have a problem though...

I want to share it but i don't want to have anyone take the idea either :( Its always such a dilemma. I'm not yet sure that half way through it will turn into something i'll want to edit and carve into shape to submit anywhere .

any suggestions anyone?

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[Author] Haruki Murakami

2011-02-19T13:26:00Z

I am always very greedy with Murakami and his work. I often liken it to gorging myself on words ideas the same way I used to gorge on cake when I was at university. Hopefully though, Murakami will make me intellectually fatter and creatively stout rather than expanding my waistline! Sadly though, I've got one book left to read of his, not including his untranslated works of course, I really think I will feel quite desolate without any new work (though I think one is being translated right now). I expect i was get 'south of the border west of sun' next week on my kindle!.

I love the unusual angles he takes on ordinary things, how the unexpected happens to the least suspecting people, the surreal and abstract nature of events and their great coincidences and inexorable conclusion. I evangelise to everyone to hasn't heard of him to read his work; I buy his books as gifts because they really are things to treasure and explore.

Vivid pictures with simple words, and through it all there is music.

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[book] Masuji Ibuse - Black Rain

2011-02-14T22:15:36Z

I read this back in 2009 and would seriously recommend it as a very touching and painful portrait of the devastation of Hiroshima. The story centres mostly around the experiences of a Japanese family and their daughter Yasuke as the father transcribes his diaries of the days after the bomb dropped and the effects of radiation on himself, his daughter and the people around him. It feels unbelievable at times - the landscapes he walks through, the devastation - but frightening in a way a horror novel cannot be. simple language and almost calm descriptions of what he sees really hit home at how this affected them.

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Crafty things...

2011-02-02T21:50:15Z

http://www.japaneseembroideryguild.com/index.html <-- may I just say oooooooh

and yay! my 2 new crochet books have arrived! One has patterns for 200 borders - i was desperate for this as borders are the ultimate professional touch right! and the second book was a stitch bible for crochet :) sooo many choices and they all look so lovely!

This was a shawl I made for my best friend Lynne :) Its made from silk wool which is gorgeous to work with but mega expensive! This kind is usually £12 a skein O_o but i picked up most of it at £3 a skein in the sales as its a discontinued colour.

I love the sales, I get very grabby and greedy and buy way more wool than I will use!

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Kimono Making

2011-01-28T21:24:07Z

I was browsing on Amazon and saw this book HERE which is now on my wish list! They had a few books too on Knitting a Kimono! But sadly none that can be crocheted - maybe thats the book I should write then huh! hehe. I'll have lots of opportunity to go looking for material over the next month as.... I got the job I went for a few days ago and I start Monday. I need a new webcam, but after that... a sewing machine! Much as i like the idea of hand sewing something, i just know i will not have the right commitment for that, so a nice sewing machine and table will do me just nicely.

http://www.clothaholics.com/ does some lovely fabrics, though I rather like to feel fabrics first before buying them. The do Genshodo cotton though and the designs are truly lovely. That the designer makes such an effort to recreate Edo period patterns makes me want them!

www.eurojapanlinks.com has a lovely range and do a pot luck of squares - because of course I want to do patchwork as well hehe. They do go to shows, but not ones in the south until Oct/Nov -_- booooo

http://www.fabrictales.com/ hmmm.. possibilities , endless possibilities.

I think I'll get the book first though!

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SOUR '日々の音色 (Hibi no neiro)' MV

2011-01-23T09:43:56Z

SOUR '日々の音色 (Hibi no neiro)'

What can i say ... i LOVE things like this - its so creative and fun and well thought out :) I'd LOVE to do an MV for AAA!!

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Kimono

2011-01-21T22:27:13Z

I want one. Plain and simple as that. I want a kimono. Not a bathrobe in oriental themed fabric, but a proper one. They are of course expensive, and the ones I see are really just not quite what I have in mind. This means that i need to design and make my own. I don't have a sewing machine and I will have to wait until I have a job before i can actually start to make this, but in the mean time i can design what I want and go looking at fabrics and sewing machines etc. I want to make Hanbok as well, but that's a post for another time.

This i guess is a nice classic simple design. Everyday wear? hmmm

I like this modern twist on it, but not very practical or demure ;)

Is this for a guy?

I love the embroidery on this!!!

I love cherry blossoms on everything! But for this i love the mix of light and dark.

Again with the cherry blossoms though nice to see it in red not pink

this might be the easiest part to make :/

Its hard to know what design to go for. On a basic level its all rectangles joined together, but i have a feeling that its more complex than that really. Each bit has its own name. anyway. when I am in London on Wednesday, I will have a peek round the fabric shops in soho. I know a lot of them carry the material used in cheongsams, but that's not what I am looking for really. I know I won't be able to get proper Japanese kimono fabric, so I will maybe use silks/cottons and things that are more fancy.

I'll make a small scale model of it in advance as well with any samples i can get too, which I am sure professionals do. I'm not a skinny gal, so i need to make sure I design it to flatter. Some materials are just wrong wrong wrong on a gal with a big bust and squidgy butt hehe

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