Xanga problems

Comment of the day... The work load isn't that heavy for the film class, but Onigiriman's other courses require a lot of time. He can be a rough grader on essays, too. -- Posted 2/8/2004 Purin_kun --

Is Xanga acting up again. For awhile there, I had no problems leaving comments and got into the habit of not copying my comment before submitting. Of course, this means some of my recent comments have disappeared into hyperspace, again. And from what I've heard from others--most recently from ElliottSez--its happening again. Don't forget to copy guys: ctrl+a, ctrl+c.

Ask and ye shall be heard
zettonv: so you require your assignments be turned in in japanese? if not you should!
I don't require assignements in Japanese. The film course is open to everyone and as it fulfills the general curriculum requirement, I get all manner of students, most of whom do not know Japanese. Films are in Japanese but all are subtitled. There are a lot of movies I wold love to show--right now I wanna show Go (about Koreans born in Japan), but its not available with subtitles in the US. So the assignements are in English and so relatively easy, despite what Purin_kun says in Comment of the Day. I mean, c'mon, one to two pages. Oh, and you and your brother and ddsb take the same class? You do readings and film in Japanese? That sounds like a cool class. Since yours is a language course, I hope there are no subtitles in your films...

Low Yield

Comment of the day... An absolute text for me is the Tao Te Ching. In 9th grade I started collecting translations of it because I loved how everyone seemed to get a different idea from these very small pieces of text. It is absolute in its ability to change via the minds of many. -- Posted 2/7/2004 GT_Ninja --

Yesterday's entry garnered the fewest number of comments in a while. I think I got more comments on the Superbowl prediction entry, one that I thought would definitely be low yield. I did get some enthusiastic responses from those who have likely spent time considering the implications of change, particularly in there own lives. I suppose the entry was a little philosophical than usual, perhaps more so than most want to think about. Why expend energy on something like that on a weekend? But I would rather think that my readers were actually running around, having fun, getting a good start to the weekend. Now that's a reason I can understand.

Speak and ye shall be heard
BarbEric_Bojo: man, i so would like to take a movie watching class. I would ace that class.
Hahahaha. Yeah, my class is pretty easy. All my papers are short and there is no mid-term. Here's a portion of my syllabus.

Assignments and Final Exam There are eleven (11) weekly quizzes, seven (7) response papers, two (2) movie reviews, two (2) short essays, and a final exam (comprehensive).

Weekly quizzes will commence after the second class. Quizzes will require you to respond to questions dealing with the film, reading assignments and lecture from the previous week. The quizzes will be conducted electronically through Blackboard. Familiarize yourself with it. Assignments will be conducted through the "Testing" link. Quizzes will be online for 24 hours from 6PM on Monday to 6PM Tuesday. You can only open the quiz once. You can only take the quiz once. There is a 30 minute time limit. Do not miss a quiz, There is NO MAKE-UP except with verifiable excuse--illness with a doctor's note, accident with police report. In such cases, make-up quiz will be a hard copy quiz in my office.

Response papers (one page, approx. 300 words) will be written based on a specific question or issue announced in class and/or on Blackboard. The Response must correspond to the question or issue specifically.

Reviews (two to three pages, approx. 500-750 words) should discuss a specific film as it relates to one aspect of Japanese culture. Any discussion or information you provide熔utside sources, script/text, cinematography洋ust be related to one significant cultural aspect of Japan.

Essays (two to three pages, approx. 500-750 words) will be written based on a predetermined question announced in class and/or on Blackboard. You should use assigned and other relevant readings to develop your discussion.

If you have further questions or concerns, feel free to contact the instructor during office hours, after class or make an appointment. Due dates are provided on Blackboard. Late papers will not be accepted. If you cannot make class due to an emergency, hand your paper in early or have a classmate hand it in for you. Ultimately, however, you are responsible for the submission of your own paper. I will accept assignments sent as an e-mail attachment only in verifiable emergencies; you will need proof of you emergency.

So do ya still wanna take the class? The movies are interesting...

Nothing Stays the Same

Comment of the day... For a while I hid my subscriptions cuz I didn't want bad blood - I didn't want my subscribers to see that I wasn't subscribed to them, or even that I subscribed to some site that they didn't like. Then I said screw it, and showed them all. -- Posted 2/5/2004 CultofDizzo --

The flow of the moving river does not cease, and moreover it is not the same water as before. The floating foam on it's pools, forms and disappears; there are no instances of it staying for long. The men and his dwelling of this world are also thus. -- Chomei

This is a translation of the opening paragraph of the Hojoki by Kamo no Chomei (ca. 1220), perhaps the most influential essay in Japanese literary history. I quote this cuz I've been reading a number of blogs lately that have dealt with changing and/or differing circumstances.

As Chomei expresses, water seems like a constant, even in a river where water just seems to be water. But it is always flowing, and it is never the same water that flows by. Even in the pools of standing water created by boulders or crooks in the river, the foam bubbles up and then disappears, never existing for any length of time. All these things are like us.

We are constantly moving, working, playing. Even if we consider the more mundane aspects of our life--eating, sleeping, brushing our teeth--they seem to be the same action, but in reality, it is never the same. A sound sleep may affect our moods, and thus effect a pleasant day, whereas a fitful night will bring grouchiness and a short temper, affecting even those around us negatively with perhaps lasting effect. Even our houses seem to be "real"--as the term real estate suggests. But like the foam on the water, it are built but never last forever.

Is this a negative approach to life? No way. It is the way of things. Things change regardless, and there is nothing that is absolute. But this is a good thing, isn't it? Do you want to be the same person you were ten years ago? Or ten years in the future? If you go abroad for an extended time, returning to a home that is unchanged provides a sense of security, but this is unreallistic, because your home is actually always changing. It just doesn't seem to be changing if you are changing with it. It is your absence that makes it appear so different.

Relationships are also the same. As humans, we are all dynamic. Perhaps the most boring among us change at a slower rate, but we all change nonetheless. When a single unit involves two dynamic--always changing, always evolving--people, there are times when these people grow in different directions, often the result of external stimuli as we are affected by others as much as we affect them.

I could go on, but I don't want to bore anyone. Just keep in mind that change IS the standard. Change IS the constant thing in life. Without it we would be bores. Next time, I'll talk a bit more on absolutes--or lack thereof--especially with reagard to texts.

Are texts absolute to you? Does the "meaning" of a word remain constant? Can a person or group of people "reinterpret" the meaning of a word?

Ask and ye shall be heard.
ZettonV: You said you have a filmography class, what movies you show?
Here is a list of the moves I intend to show--or students are required to see--this year.

• Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai)
• The Makioka Sister (Sasameyuki)
• Ballad of Narayama (Narayama bushiko)
• MacArthur's Children (Setonai shonen yakyudan)
• Twenty-four Eyes (Nijushi no hitomi)
• To Live (Ikiru)
• When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (Onna ga kaidan wo noboru toki)
• Shall We Dance
• The Family Game (Kazoku geemu)
• Tokyo Story (Tokyo monogatari)
• The Funeral (O-soshiki)
• A Taxing Woman (Marusa no onna)
• Woman in the Dunes (Suna no onna)
• Tampopo
• Rashomon
• AfterLife (wandafuru raifu)

Gulp! RateMyProfessor.Com

I went to Sorjen's site, and she had a link to her professor. I clicked on it to see what it was all about and found that I could see ratings of instructors from any university, as long as someone added the name. Well, I went to my school and found my name! Gulp... It wasn't a bad rating but there were only two. So for those of you who know me, please feel free to Click here and rate me. Believe me, there is no way I can trace you, so be honest--as I always tell you when you do your evaluations at the end of the course. BTW: the link only takes you to DC universities, so only those who actually know me can rate me. Of course, if you were to Google me, you'd learn who I was in an instant.

Comment of the day... i just write how i feel at that moment and thats that...people can say what they want but it'll never change what i wrote or feel. -- Posted 2/4/2004 EndlesSkye --

Ask and ye shall be heard.
Takunishi79: Oh, so who was your 15,000th bitch to hit the page??
I have no idea. The bitch wouldn't tell me. But if you guys wanna read an article on the use of "Jap" by a major US company in a public advertisement--man, this is pure coincidence--click on Takunishi to read it!

detachable: damn, your site always make me go and do some lateral thinking. now why is that?
I have no idea. But your site always make my eyes do some cross-eyed glancing, but I know why: you're great pix...

SleepingCutie: dude, i was hit # 15,125! does that count for anything?
No, but your honesty does. If you guys haven't visited her yet, go now. Read me later. Her honesty is as good as it gets. Makes me wanna turn into a bottle of vodka.

ddsb2000: I saw lost in translation last night.I thought it was really good but I was wondering about one thing. At one pt. in the movie there was this guy who pulled out a gun that appeared to shoot lasers. What was that thing?
I don't remember the scene, but if it was his weewee I would have remembered, so I'm pretty sure it wasn't that. Which reminds me, I have to buy that DVD now that it just came out. Great flick, hope it gets recognized with at least one Oscar...

Xanga and Me II:
Personal Guidelines 2
Subscribing: Another aspect of Xanga that relaxes me is visiting other sites. Going here and there to read what others are writing is fun and ultimately relaxing. When I was a little Xangan, I used to look through blobrings and try to identify interesting people, much as ElliottSez is doing now--man, its comforting to know that I'm not the only 40 something on Xanga, check him out. Being JA, one of the first blobrings I went to is Japan by ringleader JustAJapGirl--another user of a racial epithet as a self referent; there certainly a number of them, aren't there. But they had something like 300 members and I--the narcissist--figured I would not stand out. So I went to Japan II by ringleader Sleetse, which was new and had less than 20 members, which meant that: Damn, I could NOT blog for three days and still be on the first page of the blobring! Hahahaha. But then, no one else would come either, but so what. It's about me--I should mention that Sleetse (pron. sleazy) is one of those who attempts to rile readers up by ragging on others with racial slurs and stereotypes, but I find it funny because I know it's tongue in cheek, for not only does he slam others, he slams himself and other Japs just as hard in a funny, Hey-I-wanna-be-a-badass-jap-too kinda way. Heheheh, sorry Sleetse, but not to worry, "I got your back" (ref. F-Raccoon).

Anyway, I rarely visit blobrings anymore, even the ones I subscribe to, because I just don't have the time. Instead I usually visit the sites to which I subscribe. Currently, I subscribe to 81 Xangans (of the 100 who subscribe to me). Generally, I subscribe to those who subscribe to me, but there are a few stipulations. First and foremost, the person has to update regularly, at least three to four times a week. And I will wait awhile to see the subscribers updating habits before I subscribe to them. Also, um... hmm... actually, that's the only stipulation. I don't judge on content, as l believe that Xanga is a place to talk about whatever you want, whether I agree with you or not. It is, in my view, a liberating place where you can write without fear of being graded by anyone... although I must admit that I have been tempted tell some to work on their grammar... and of course, Hanzo picked out a typo for me, Sheesh, ME!

And Unsubscribing: If a person does not update regularly, or seems to have given up their Xanga, I will cancel my subscription, which I have done a few times. Unless, of course, the profile pic is cute, like masumi. Ah, life is unfair...

So what compels you to subscribe to someone?

Xanga and Me II:

Comment of the day... if i were still in school, u'd inspire me as well. but seeing as i can't even remember school. it's a moot point. -- Posted 2/3/2004 PaikyPoo --

Personal Guidelines 1
I was gonna talk about someone who has her own "special" blogspace and called Xanga a "whore". A WHORE! Well, if Xanga is a whore, then I'm her john, even though I don't pay for premium. Hehehe. Well, I just realized she now has her own Xanga site! Dahahahahaha! But I will refrain from comment.

Full Disclosure: I know this otherwise nice person.... *sigh*

Anyway, there are a couple of things I'd like to say about my Xanga habits. Its really not a big deal, I suppose, but periodically, I get comments like, "Why don't you comment on my site," and such. So I thought I'd share my guidelines.

Topics: As with most other Xangans (we sound like a bunch of aliens in a 50s movie, don't we?), I write about what interests me, or what strikes my particular fancy on any given day. Last week, I read something by Consummate_Leah and was moved to discuss the topic of "intelligence". Again last week, I was struck by the number of comments regarding quizzes and such--all in good fun of course. Other times, I feel like writing a review on a movie or I wanna talk about my favorite subject: ME. But whatever I write, I try to put down what is honest and true to me. I don't write to please or to impress. God knows I would only fail if I did. I write for myself, as Xanga has become a release for me. I don't bitch about my work, per se: "so-and-so did this, pee-pee-head said that". I don't use Xanga to vent personal issues, although I may have done it a couple of times early on, and when the Bruins play the trojans... But, much like running is a good way to relieve stess, I find that the act of writing itself is a release as well. So I write and I write and I write. I have had students ask me, "Where do you have the time?" "Don't you have to grade?" But Xanga helps me grade and teach better since it sorta relaxes me.

So what are you? A ranter who writes about the personal crises that occur in and around your life? A commentator who jots down observations and opinions of your own life? An observer who notes the happenings around this world? Personally, I think I'm an crammentator, one who comments while periodically ranting about personal things... besides, it sounds nasty...