Exaggeration and Blank Verse

Been a while, hasn't it?

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:29:44 GMT

So, I'm 27. Fuck.

Golden Week Antics

Thu, 07 May 2009 09:03:20 GMT

For those who don't know, the start of May in Japan is known as Golden Week, and we get 5 days off (woot!)

I spent mine in Tokyo/Yokohama with some of the people who've moved from Iwate-ken of late. This resluted in a sadly shit night out in Shibuya - perhaps all the usual club-goers had deserted the city for those days? - but an interesting purchase in a local sex shop. *grin*

I've still not managed to make it to Akihabara, which is the electronics/manga/kinky sex mecca of Japan. It's still on the to-do list.

I did get to see some pretty shrines etc in Kamakura. I confess to being a little shrine-weary only a couple of months ago, but now that all the gardens are flowering it's back to being a different experience as opposed to, "Yeah, and? It's a shrine."

Looking forward to summer!

Sayonara.

Lol Japan: Japanese Hip Hop Boy

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 13:56:40 GMT

Just... watch it.

My name is Tak, I'm hung like I'm black. o_O

On being an Engrish teacher, part 2

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 01:11:02 GMT

At the のみかい
Sensei: He can't get it up.
Me: I beg your pardon?
Sensei: His car won't go up the mountain. He can't get it up.
Me: ...
Sensei: Keira-san, are you all right?
(No, because I am five)

From worksheets -

I think English is useful because I can talk to foreign woman on the internets.

Let's meet at three o'cock.

On being an Engrish teacher

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 06:28:32 GMT

Excerpts from my 2nd years' essays about their school trip to Kansai:

The building is girdled by the lake.

I fell into a scrambled egg in the morning.

I make use of this experience I continue to alive.

I took pictures unconsciously there.

And my personal favourite: For grope training we went to Eigamura.

I get very upset when the students manage to cock up the sentences I put four sodding examples of on the sheet they are writing on, but remind myself that I have no idea how bad my French/Latin exam papers really were. On the other hand I doubt anyone ever had to mark 300+ of them in a day. My brain hurts so much.

That said, my spirits can always be revived by looking at this utter genius bit of a listening exercise from my textbook which I must share with you:

Sue asks Dave if she can use his computer.
He says she can ____________ his ___________________.

o_O

Sayonara from -
Your Japanese correspondent who is, as ever, not making this up.

The cover is a metaphor for the choice made by Eve, apparently. That's never a good start.

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 01:36:42 GMT

Robert, you shouldn't have posted about Twilight. Because it reduces me to ravening feminist rage. Below the cut find spoilers and fury.

Right. So here I am on the far side of the world and the only thing keeping me sane is borrowing books from other people. I read Twilight. It's... ok. Very teenage romancy but part of me quite likes that (shutup) so I read the sequels and find myself becoming more and more and more appalled.

To sum up, Bella, who continually refers to herself as plain, dull, boring, falls for Edward, a vampire, with whom she is so obssessed that even though he has to fight his tearing-her-throat-out instincts every second they're together she describes him as "Beautiful, dazzling, smart, selfless" - please note none of the descriptors of his character are backed up by his actions. Although we hear about his physical beauty ad nauseum, and sweet lord does Meyer go on and on and ON about it, the way Bella sees Edward does not compute.

Edward dismisses her friends as "shallow" except Jake, who is "dangerous" - to the point where Edward has his sister kidnap (srsly) Bella so that she won't be able to see him. Bella's reaction? She leaves him a furious voicemail message but when she sees him she allows him to kiss her into submission. Fail. This actually happens a lot - to the point where in the hospital her heart stops when he kisses her. I am not making this up.

Edward is continually carrying Bella around because she's so "fragile" and "breakable" as a human - it completely robs her of her agency. She's in the centre of a love triangle where we keep being told how much the boys in question care about her feelings but they don't - Edward keeps werewolf Jake away forcibly, only giving in when Bella starts essentially running away to see him, while Jake is continually ignoring Bella telling him that she wants Edward (which I think is stupid of her but ok) and when he grabs her and forcibly kisses her she punches him (yay!) only to break her fucking hand (note the consequences of failing to acquiesce to male demands, girls).

Edward gets Bella to lie to her father which, ok, all teenage girls do, but he does it by manipulating her - and oh yes, it's not teen pregnancy that could be the consequence here, it's Bella's death. So Edward's running around saying "You should really stay away from me for your own good but I'm just not strong enough to stay away from you O fragile rose" and... just... aaaargh.

Edward breaks into Bella's house to watch her sleep - even oiling the fucking hinges on the fucking window. How often are we going to be shown stalking as romance? That is not sexy. That is not sweet. That is a restraining order. If someone is watching you sleep a certain amount of trust is implied and therein lies the romance. So Heroes, Lost, Twilight - stop it. You missed the point.

I could go on. But there is too much so I will sum up.
Edward chooses Bella's friends for her, and slowly isolates her from the people she herself has chosen to spend time with. Edward interferes in the relationship between Bella and her Dad by insisting that Bella cover for him -her Dad's a cop, he knows he's being lied to. Edward tells Bella what to do, and if she does not comply he either prevents her himself or enlists members of his super-strong family to back him up. Edward stalks Bella. Edward manipulates Bella. Edward belittles Bella's independence.

I haven't even gotten to the best part yet.

In "New Moon", the second book, Edward says that he doesn't want to change Bella into a vampire, and then casually mentions that he's thinking of killing himself after she dies of old age/ whatever. No, really. In what way does that differ from the boy who says, "If you ever leave me I'll slash my wrists"? It doesn't. It's vile. This is not, despite repeated reference in the text, Romeo and fucking Juliet (a play which, incidentally, Rylan has made an excellent case for as a comedy). Of course this increases the pressure on Bella. And then there's the whole he thinks she's dead and runs off to kill himself and I am reminded inexorably of the xkcd comic to which the conclusion reads "I'm nothing without you" is a fucked-up sentiment.

That's the real core of the horror of these books. Edward tells Bella she is his life and he's not kidding. Bella slowly finds herself sucked into that way of thinking. In the end she will abandon her human friends and family to spend eternity with Edward as a vampire - and while I've seen that ending done well, here it just stinks. It's the story of a girl who gives up absolutely everything she has ever known to run away with a co-dependent, clingy, "god-like" creature she doesn't even feel like she's on equal terms with.

Fuck. That. Shit.

Sun, 07 Dec 2008 14:05:13 GMT

We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started... and know the place for the first time.

T.S. Eliot

Quote of the day

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:45:26 GMT

"Well, you know how everyone has a conscience. And you know how everyone also has an inner child? What you do is, you imagine a gun and point it at the inner child's head, and then you say
to your conscience, 'Shut up, bitch, or the kid gets it!'

Why did no one ever tell me about Ludo??

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 08:46:33 GMT

We have a thisisgoingtosuck alert

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 12:57:14 GMT

But... whyyyyyyyyyy?

http://timesonline.typepad.com/blockbuster_buzz/2008/02/akira-the-movie.html

Public Service Announcement

Mon, 05 Jun 2006 14:30:23 GMT

This journal is now (almost) entirely Friends-Only.

To be added, comment on this post. I love new friends, I do, but please introduce yourself!