Pink Panther - Cartoon-

03-14-09

Don't know why but I got this urge to get a Pink Panther Cartoon DVD last night...
I just remembered I watched it with my family when I was a kid.
Before I went to Arclight to see "Coraline", I stopped by Amoeba to see if they have
any. When I was there last time they didn't have any, but I found a complete collection this time. :) I love 60s-70s cartoon and just make me feel warm to remember my family and I laughed together while we watched it.

なぜか昨晩アニメ版のピンクパンサーが見たくて映画「Coraline」を観に行く前にレコード屋アメーバに行って探しちゃいました。前回、アメーバで探した時はなかったのに、今回はあった、あったww　しかもコレクション版。　このピンクパンサー、良くうちの家族と一緒に笑いながら観てたよな〜。懐かしい〜。最近のアニメとかあんまり興味ないけど、こういう60−70年代のアニメって大好き。

The Twelves @ Avalon

03-13-09

We (ahh.. of course it's Meg! lol) went again to see the Twelves now at the Avalon Hollywood. The last time at Dragonfly was their first time, but now their fan/audiences got much much bigger. They played from around 12ish to 1:30am in the morning... For whole an hour and a half, they played such a great mix for non-stop!! My god, our legs were tired but it was worth it.
They just really know how to make us dance with up beats for all night! I just love them so much.

We talked to them before the show (we talked to one of the left in the pic), he was really friendly and he was like "hey!" and hugged us! We asked if they have any CDs out. Their answer is... "NO"! Ohhh come on, Twelves! You have to have it by now. They said it's ok to have their music for free online so then it's easier to spread the words (for now...). They are such cool people to talk with too. :)

またまた来ましたよ！The Twelvesが！！前回はDragonflyというところで初ライブだったけど、今回はもっと大きいベニュー、Avalonでライブが行われました。もっとファン、観客が多くなってロサンゼルスでもThe Twelvesの人気が急上昇中というところでしょうか。
彼らが１２時頃から朝の１時半までの間、ノンストップでめちゃめちゃノリの良いミックスを掛け続け、最後、私達の脚はもう。。。棒のよう。。。でもこうも調子の良い音楽を掛けられたら踊らずにはいられないよ！！

ライブの前に彼らがステージに向かって歩いているのを見つけて思わず話しかけちゃいました。超フレンドリーで「Hey!!」って友達のようにハグまでしてくれてww　嬉しかったです。
CDは売ってないの？の質問に彼らが答えたのは「まだCD出してないんだよね〜。でも今オンラインでフリーで音楽聴けるからそれが僕たちの良い宣伝になってるんだよ」。
なるほどね〜。うらちみたいにお金出してでもCDを買いたいという人達がいるっていうのにな〜。でもまーこれも彼らなりの戦略方法なんでしょう。ライブが終わった後も話そう！なんてめぐっぺと言ってたんだけど、結局疲れてとっとと家に帰りました。また来いよ〜！

The Twelves Black Kids - Boyfriend (The Twelves Remix)
This is the most popular Remix. これが一番人気のあるリミックスかな。



Meg took me a interesting pic.
メグッペが面白い写真を撮ってくれた。

Kauai, Hawaii

03-06-09 - 03-09-09

Hawaii... here I come again! hehe. Around the same time, I was in Oahu for my friends' wedding last year. And, this time again... I was in Kauai island for another good friends of mine's wedding. Out of all the islands in Hawaii, Kauai the one has so much rain, especially March... Why now..? But March 8th is very very special day for Diffenderfers. And I was so happy to be there to witness their special day.

I arrived in Kauai with my friend on the Friday night, and stayed until Monday morning. We got a lot of rain unfortunately. EXCEPT... on the wedding day! :) It was beautiful day. I feel blessed, and I was amazed how much the Sunny Girl, Jun affected the weather. She was the lucky charm. On top of that, as soon as they are done with ceremony and we were about to move on to the reception, it started to rain again HARD! Wow... I felt really a bless. I am not religious but I had to thank to God... :)

Over all, the Kauai was much more on country side like I saw chickens walking around in town all over like a stray cats or dogs. And top of that, all the animals I wanted to see such as Dolphins (Na Pali Coast), Whales (Na Pali Coast), Wild Goats (Na Pali Coast), Sea Turtle (Poipu Beach) showed up for us.

The most important part of this trip: Diffenderfers' wedding was beautiful, fun and a lot of laughs. It was just perfect. I've never had a fun wedding like this. I guess good people gather at the same place, good energy comes in naturally and we can naturally have a good time. I was so content even though this trip was super short...

ハワイにまた行って来ました。去年の今頃もハワイ、今年もハワイ。すべて結婚式です。 去年はオアフで、今回はカウアイ。カウアイはハワイの島の中で最も雨量が多い島だそうで、、、。降られました。結構降られました。友達と金曜日の夜に到着し、月曜日の朝までいた訳ですが（最短旅行、、）、結婚式以外雨ばーーっかり。でも式の日は朝からずーっと晴れていて、式が終わった途端、ざーーーーー！と再び雨が、、、。晴れ女じゅんちゃんの力はすごい！これは本当に恵まれてるなーと信仰心があまりない私はめずらしく神様に感謝せざるを得ませんでした。でも感動する式だったし、披露宴もめっちゃめちゃ楽しかった〜。たくさんの笑いあり、良い人達に会え、良いエネルギーがたくさん集まったパーティでした。

カウアイは初めて行ったけど、にわとりが町中歩いてるぐらい田舎だった。でもこの田舎さがいいんだわ〜。野良犬とかいるかな〜とも思ったりしたけど犬はさすがに見かけなかった。そこまで田舎じゃなかったみたい。。。 せっかくなんだからと出かけたNa Pali Coastクルーズ（雨降っていたにも関わらず計画続行、、）ではくじら、いるか、山壁にぴったり張り付いて模型にしか見えなかった山ヤギも見えたし、Poipuビーチではあざらしにウミガメにも会えちゃったし。ヘリコプターに乗ってカウアイ島全体見れたし。とても楽しくて楽しくてロスに帰りたくなかったで、結構満足な旅行だったわん。また同じメンバーでハワイ行きたいな〜〜。


With beautiful bride, Jun.
超綺麗な花嫁さん、じゅんちゃんと。















A bit nervous groom, Jed.
ちょっと緊張気味ぽいかな？ジェドくん。











The Best Saimin Noodle in town. "Hamura's Saimin Stand".　The flavor is very light. Not oily either. My friends said they have had better one than this at L&L (L&L one tastes like ramen, something I have tasetd before), but I like this one.
If you have a chance to visit, you must go here.
ハワイ名物「サイミンヌードル」。この「ハムラ」で街一番のサイミンヌードルが食べられます。
このヌードルとってもあっさりしてて食べやすいです。あっさりしてるけど味はちゃんと腰を据えてるって感じ。唐辛子入り酢を入れるともっとおいしいww　ちょっと沖縄そばに味が似てるかな？

Hamura's Saimin Noodle Stand

Address: 2956 Kress St, Lihue, Kauai, HI 96766
Phone: 808-245-3271
Price: less than $10












Na Pali Coast Cruise The ocean is covalt blue!!
ナパリコーストクルーズで。 海が真っ青！














It started to rain in sun a bit. I love this moment. Just beautiful. This is from inside of helicopter.
お日様が出てる中での雨って最高。ヘリコプターの中から。














I forgot the name of this fall... but it was filmed for a movie "Jurassic Park". It was a beautiful view.
滝の名前忘れちゃった、、、でも映画「ジュラシックパーク」で使われた滝だそうな。
きれい〜〜。











Nice, isn't it? Amzaing, isn't it???
めちゃめちゃ綺麗だよ〜。















The last thing not least... my friends and I played a momery game. Guess what the theme was... yes... "Mole". You think you can draw it easy but wrong! Look at top of two! WTH! A monster? A dog?? LOL. おまけ、、、寝る前に皆でメモリーゲームとやらをしてみました。テーマはなんでしょう、、そう、「もぐら」です。頭に浮かぶから簡単に描ける！と思ったら大間違い！一番の上の２枚見てみて！モンスターかよ！犬かよ！おいっ！！

Day Light Saving

03-10-09

Day Light Saving has come again... Now I feel like this is a start of summer even though it's still cold. But I like having longer day time. :)

Day Light Savingがまた来ましたよww　１時間早くなったから１時間余計に日が長くなった気がして嬉しい〜。夏がもうそろそろ来るかな〜ってな気持ちにさせるけど、実際まだ寒いよ．．．。日本の皆さん、ロスの時間を１時間早くしてください〜。

Pop Levi + Fujiya & Miyagi

03-03-09

Fujiya and Miyagi, Fujiya and Miyagi, Fujiya and Miyagi... Vanilla, Strawberry Vanilla Strawberry... hehe If you know which songs I am talking about, you'should think this is funny! lol

This time Meg and I went to the Echo to see Fujiya & Miyagi who is from Brighton, England.
It was a good show, however unfortunately we had to realize we really like their sound but after all we had to think their sound is all same over 20 songs.... Lyrics from every songs fits to one sounds. Their beat is about same, the vocalist sings in same style... Their sound is not bad at all and actually I loved it when I listened their 3rd album "Transparent Things". But 4th album "Light Bulbs"... Hmm...? I have heard this sound before... And I had to think a moment, and realize the sound is similar to "Transparent Things"!
You should listen to "Photocopier" (Transparent Things), and "Ankle Injuries" (Transparent Things) and "Knickerbocker" (Lightbulbs) . They are all same. I am pretty sure Fujiya & Miyagi reads won't this article, but in case if they did read my article, I have to say "Sorry!" but this is how I felt... I like each songs individually though! :D

One of the opening band, Pop Levi was pretty cool except the vocalist plays like Jimmy Hendrix-ish... And his play was pretty comical. I loved it.

Fujiya and Miyagi, Fujiya and Miyagi, Fujiya and Miyagi... Vanilla, Strawberry Vanilla Strawberry... ははは、もしこのバンド知っててどの曲のことを私が言ってるか分かったらこれ、結構笑えると思うんだけど、どう？？ひひひ。

今回はThe EchoでFujiya & Miyagi (前座：Pop Levi)をもちろん、私のバディ、めぐっぺと行ってきました。ライブはなかなか良かったのですが、今回気がついちゃったことがあるんです。このバンド、全曲を一曲づつ、（続けて全部ではなく）聞けば「全部大好き！」って言えるんだけど、２枚のアルバム(Transparent Things と Lightbulbs)を一気に立て続けに聴いてしまうと、なんと音が皆一緒！歌詞が違うだけで、リズムも歌い方もほぼ一緒だから、「あれ、さっきこれやらなかった？」と錯覚してしまう訳です。。。ちょっと残念なバンドだわー。もったいないーー！
皆さんに聴いてもらいたいのが、「Collarbone」、「Ankle Injuries 」、「Knickerbocker」。最初の２曲はTransparent Things (サードアルバム）、で３曲目のがLlightbulbsから。フォースアルバムです。

"Collarbone" (これ結構有名かも。CMで使われてます）結構むごい動画だな〜。初めて見たけど。。。



"Ankle Junkies" ビデオ面白いよ。by Wade Shotter



"Knickerbocker" この曲結構好きなんだけどな。。。by Wade Shotter



"Sore Thumb" This is cool video by Wade Shotter ( I guess this band loves Director, Wade Shotter!)



Left: Fujiya - Steve Lewis (synths, beats, programming and backing vocals)
Right: Miyagi - David Best (vocals and guitar)






なかなかにっこりしないボーカルだったけど、ちょっとニヤリする時、なんかハニカんでる感じでちょっとかわいかったww







Pop Levi. Their I mean his performance was pretty comical. He made me laugh... (he was serious though)










Pop Leviのショーは結構突っ込みどころ満載で、歯ギターあり、熱血ギター弾きあり（ジミヘンみたく）、芸人さんも笑い転がる面白顔もあり、、、で、楽しかった〜。








歯ギターまで見せてくれたよww











Extra/おまけ：Pop Levi "Sugar Assault Me Now"　Funny Video..結構笑えるビデオです。

Zazen

3-2-09

Lately, I feel stressed out from my work because things don't just go the way I want it. And my projects are not single-person task, so of course it takes the team to work the project running. It wasn't the case for this particular project... I was frustrated, and irritated and seems like I feel this way at the end of the day "always". And I didn't like that at all how I felt... well who does, right? But I just don't have time to chit chat during work hour and I just carry the frustration over to home. And this happened repeatedly. Can you see how much frustration I have now?
One day, my friend invited me to a dinner to have some soon tofu with her, and I spilled my frustration at work out to her over the dinner. I guess I needed someone to talk to and she was a perfect person. :)

It's not that I needed to complain about this particular situation, I was also frustrated that I am not strong enough to accept these type of envitonment. I know I can't change the person, so, I need to change myself so then I don't have to feel frustrated much. What can I do in order to be strong?

So my friend took me to this Meditation workshop in Santa Monica last night. The regular teacher wasn't there, and some substitute who teaches you ZAZEN there. I was surprised I would do this in United States. I haven't even done this in Japan!

Anyway, I learned a bit from Zazen, I think... When I stared a white wall in front of myself (he told us not to close eyes because you WILL start thinking so many things. By opening your eyes and staring at blank wall, you won't have much disturbance during the session), millions of things came up in my mind, but also I started to learn to let them go since I knew I wasn't supposed to "think" anything. And it gave me relaxation, and calmness since I didn't have think anything. All the stuff which frustrated me on that day just discharged from my body which means it went back to ZERO point and I can start a new day next day. That was a great feeling to have at the end of Zazen. :) I think I will go back there again to attend Meditation workout next Monday...


About Zazen >>

最近仕事にやられてる気がします。思うように事が運ばない、、、。毎日（いつも午後あたりから）こんな調子でしかも忙しいから喋ってる暇もなく、休憩も取らずに仕事をずーっとしてることが多い感じ。この「喋る暇もない」っていうのがやばくて、イライラしながら家に帰り、また喋ることもなく次の日を迎えるということもざら。だからストレス溜まってた。
この間、ちょうど友達がご飯一緒に食べない？って誘ってくれたから、その夕食時に溜まってたガスみたくバーーーーーっとそのイライラ感というかこういう状況をどう変えられるか、どう自分が強くなればこの状況を乗り越えられるか、みたいなことを一気に話したら、この友達、超いい解決法みたいなことを提案してくれた。

で、、、メディテーション（瞑想）のワークショップがあるから行かない？って誘われてサンタモニカまで昨晩行ってみました。瞑想のクラスではなく、座禅のクラスだったけど、これがまたなんか気持ちよかった。座禅なんて日本にいた時もやったことないし、そんなに知識ないけど、とにかく目の前にある白い壁を目を開けたまま、みつめなさいという指示に従って、30分間座禅を組んでみました。座禅＝無ってことになると思うんだけど、これがまた難しい！でも「無」をトライして、まだ何か頭に浮かんでくるからまた消して、、みたいなことをやってるといつの間にか、何も考えなくなる。さっきのイライラ感もどっか消えたし、仕事のこともどっか消えたし、なんかゼロに戻って次の日新しい日を始められる感じだった。座禅を組む事によって、体のバランスも脳みそのバランスも素に戻るからこれも気持ちいい。ちょっと何か習ったような気がします。一緒にクラスを取った人達も同じように精神的に強くなりたいっていう人達だったからクラス後話していてちょっと仲間を見つけたような、、、。また
来週行ってこようと思います。（変な宗教とかそういうんじゃないから、ご心配なく）

座禅について＞＞

Common Sense / 当たり前なこと

02-25-09

Wow, it's been for a while since I wrote something last time... I've been lagging, and somehow I just didn't feel like doing anything lately... I don't think I'm depressed but maybe I am... who knows...

Anyway, I found this sign at the metro station I always use in the morning at Hollywood & Western. I thought "Let exit others before you board the train" is such a big common sense already even before you mention on a sign like this. Maybe I think that way because I grew up in Japan and used train all the time. We already have the common sense naturally. But I'd always surprised when those people who don't let others go in who wants to exit. Or they put their legs up on the extra seat in front of them even though there are so many other people standing. I feel like some of American are selfish.　Well, I shouldn't say that though... Los Angeles is such a huge multi-cultural melting pot. I am pretty sure each of people got some common sense of their own culture. But before they mix those different cultures well together, I guess some of those common sense don't make sense to others. Then those selfishness comes in... Mmm.. I know it's not that easy to say but that's how I see it...

When you try to consider others, those "common sense" will naturally come in to you. And I need to work on that part sometimes also. People are not perfect, and neither am I. I would like to grow more even though I am already an adult. :)

Additon: Don't get me wrong. I've seen many other people who are nice too. Especially a lot of Hispanic guys try to give their seats to women, no matter if she is young or old. And to older/ill/pregnant people too. I thought that's nice. I think the rate of giving seats in general is much higher than Japan.


今朝、いつも使ってる地下鉄のエレベーターの前にこんなサインがあった。

「電車に乗る前に降りる人に出入り口を譲りましょう」

一瞬こんなサインがわざわざあるのに驚いた。でもこの地下鉄を使う人達の中で結構譲らない人って多い。私はもちろん日本で育ったから電車を頻繁に小さな頃から使ってたし、こういう常識ってものが自然に身についていたんだと思うから驚いたんだと思うんだけど、やっぱりこういう風に書いてないと気をつけない人って世の中多いんだな。アメリカ人の中でも常識ある人も多いけど常識ないも人多い。結構混んでいる電車の中で目の前の空いてる席に平気で足上げてたり。人のこと考えて思いやりながら接していたら自然にそういう「常識」って生まれるんじゃないかなーって思う。ロサンゼルスって多国籍な街だから各人は常識あるかもしれなけど、国籍が違うと常識も違ってくるからお互い学び合ってうま〜く調合するんじゃなくて、ぶつかりあって自分は自分になっちゃったのかな。それとかお互い理解できなかったとかね。悲しいね。ま～私も自分のこと、棚に上げてる場合じゃないけどね。自分勝手なところたくさんあるし…。こんなサインを見て、我が身を見直した今日でした。

追記：常識ない人多いって書いたけど、そうでない人もちゃんといます。誤解されないように書いておかないと．．．。男性、特にヒスパニックの男性は年老いた女性、若い女性関わりなく席を譲ってくれる。もちろん年寄り、病人、妊娠してる女性などなど、席を譲る人の率って日本よりも多いかもな。