Lost In Translation

Murakami Accepts Award In Israel With Message Of Dissent

Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami goes to Israel to give his message of fighting the machine reprinted at Salon:

Today, however, I have no intention of lying. I will try to be as honest as I can. There are a few days in the year when I do not engage in telling lies, and today happens to be one of them.

So let me tell you the truth. In Japan a fair number of people advised me not to come here to accept the Jerusalem Prize. Some even warned me they would instigate a boycott of my books if I came. The reason for this, of course, was the fierce battle that was raging in Gaza. The U.N. reported that more than a thousand people had lost their lives in the blockaded Gaza City, many of them unarmed citizens -- children and old people.　

Any number of times after receiving notice of the award, I asked myself whether traveling to Israel at a time like this and accepting a literary prize was the proper thing to do, whether this would create the impression that I supported one side in the conflict, that I endorsed the policies of a nation that chose to unleash its overwhelming military power. This is an impression, of course, that I would not wish to give. I do not approve of any war, and I do not support any nation. Neither, of course, do I wish to see my books subjected to a boycott.

Finally, however, after careful consideration, I made up my mind to come here. One reason for my decision was that all too many people advised me not to do it. Perhaps, like many other novelists, I tend to do the exact opposite of what I am told. If people are telling me -- and especially if they are warning me -- "Don't go there," "Don't do that," I tend to want to "go there" and "do that." It's in my nature, you might say, as a novelist. Novelists are a special breed. They cannot genuinely trust anything they have not seen with their own eyes or touched with their own hands.

And that is why I am here. I chose to come here rather than stay away. I chose to see for myself rather than not to see. I chose to speak to you rather than to say nothing. 

Food Stall Appreciation

Chicken and pork noodles (and my favorite picture). All of these shots were taken at a little stall market at the end of the street from my friend Jason's apartment. 

My second favorite shot.

How Hollywood Ruins Novels

William Davidson has an interesting piece in Slate about how movies ruins great novels. He looks at Sam Mendes' version of the Richard Yates novel Revolutionary Road and Paul Schrader's imaging of the life and three works of Yukio Mishima:

This is what the movies do to literature, typically: There's so much plot to get in that there's no time to tell the story. Perhaps it's the insecurity of Hollywood: Inflated by the borrowed prestige of books, producers and directors won't stray too far from the guide-ropes of the story.Revolutionary Road, for instance, feels less directed than curated. But in this bargain, Hollywood makes an unnecessary concession, in effect admitting that movies are dumber than books. How could we think otherwise when smart books are continually turned into witless movies? It's the ultimate head-to-head competition, and movies are the Washington Generals. Are there reverse examples, where a mediocre movie is turned into a good book? I can't think of one, though I've heard that the novelization of The Harder They Come is remarkably successful. No, until recently, I'd just about decided that film deserves its reduced reputation as the flashy, gelled-hair cousin to literature.

****

So much for theory. Mishima is an achingly pleasurable movie, a formal work of art that offers visceral pleasures: From the shots of the writer's ridiculously baroque house at the beginning of the film to the blazing red sun that ends it, Schrader works with a wide palette of colors and settings that string the viewer along from scene to scene. This is the luxury of film, that it can cohere a narrative through color or even through technical devices such as panning and focus.

Bangkok 2009

A local temple near my friend Jason's apartment in Sala Deng.

Bangkok living.

The New Cult Canon: The Limey

Stephen Soderbergh is one of my favorite directors and The Limey is a really enjoyable noir film that gets the AV CLub nod of approval and makes me wan to get The Criterion Collection version:

But even by his high standards, Soderbergh’s commentary with screenwriter Lem Dobbs on 1999’s The Limey is something special, a heated feature-length argument that couldn’t be further from the ego-stroking sycophancy of most tracks. It’s a case study in what happens to a script after it’s run through the sausage factory of production; even with a sympathetic director at the helm—Soderbergh championed Dobbs’ script for Kafka before making it his second feature, and the two remain friends—the writer will always get the shaft in the end. That’s why writers tend to be miserable cranks, and Dobbs is as cranky as they come; for his part, Soderbergh is magnanimous enough to take his licks and give a little back in return. Here’s Dobbs near the beginning of the commentary, setting the tone:

 

“I’ll say, in your defense and mine, that screenwriting is a hopeless profession. My God, if Robert Towne can complain about Chinatown to this day, what do you want? Didn’t I fax you that interview with [writer] Alain Robbe-Grillet complaining about Last Year At Marienbad? [Director] Alain Resnais just totally fucked it up, Delphine Seyrig was completely wrong, ruined the whole movie. So if the screenwriters of Last Year At Marienbad and Chinatown can complain about what directors did, then what do you 

expect?”

From that opening salvo, Dobbs and Soderbergh scrap pointedly about The Limey’s evolution from a violent B-movie written by a 19-year-old (“the stupid version,” Dobbs calls it) to a shooting script with richer backstories and character detail to the stripped-down, achronological, semi-experimental daylight noir that Soderbergh created. At bottom, Dobbs respects the choices that Soderbergh made, and the two have fun teasing each other over issues minor and major, but the discord is genuine, too. Dobbs snipes at critics (like “that motherfucker in Variety”) who failed to give him credit where it was due, challenges Soderbergh over the ruthless pruning of his script, and even laments scenes that were filmed exactly as written, but didn’t come out like he’d imagined. At a certain point, Soderbergh can only sigh and ask, “When are you going to direct?”

The main issue is Soderbergh’s decision to focus heavily on Terence Stamp as a British ex-con who flies to Los Angeles after learning of the dubious circumstances surrounding his estranged daughter’s death. There’s a sizable supporting cast around him: Peter Fonda as the slimy music-business hotshot likely responsible for the girl’s murder, Luis Guzmán as another ex-con who tips Stamp off and becomes his partner in revenge, Lesley Ann Warren as an aging actress and voice coach who knew Stamp’s daughter, and Barry Newman as Fonda’s shrewd security consultant. Soderbergh sketches them all vividly, but save for Stamp, they’re limited to just that—sketches. Fresh off his triumphant studio thriller Out Of Sight, Soderbergh pushed that film’s fractured style more aggressively this time out, emulating the feel of late-‘60s/early-‘70s classics like Point Blank, Petulia, The Long Goodbye, and Fonda’s trippy Western The Hired Hand.

 

Zoku

There was an interesting post on the meaning and history of the usage of the kanji "zoku" in Neomarxisme recently:

Anyone interested in the history of Japanese youth culture is already familiar with the word zoku (族). Essentially meaning “tribe,” the word has been used to mark off a certain subculture from the mainstream and other youth groups. The 1970s working-class motorcycle gangs that terrorized rural neighborhoods in kamizake jumpers were called the Boso-zoku (暴走族) — “The Reckless Tribe.” The late 1970s kung-fu dancers in Yoyogi Park became known as theTakenoko-zoku (竹の子族) — “The Bamboo Shoot Tribe,” in reference to their favorite clothing store, Boutique Takenoko (Boutique Bamboo Shoot).

Not every youth subculture has taken the zoku suffix: for example,Kogal/Kogyaru, Rollers, or the Shinjinrui (”New Breed”) of the 1980s. But the word zoku by itself has come to connote “subculture” in a generally anti-social form: zoku are not just new “consumer segments,” but wayward youth with values antithetical to mainstream society. Zoku feels like “tribe” in the sense that “good society” spied into the wilderness and discovered them in the midst of some jaw-dropping primitive behavior.¹

Surprisingly, however, this sense of zoku as “subculture” only dates from the post-war. As Mabuchi Kosuke explains in his book The Post-War History of the ‘Tribes’ 『「族」たちの戦後史』, the word fell into its usage in a somewhat roundabout way. The key lexical element for zoku’s derivation is not minzoku(民族, “ethnic group”) but the word kizoku (貴族), which means “noble” or “aristocrat.” (The word kazoku 華族 also basically means the same thing.) When Americans abolished Japan’s feudal aristocratic titles (Baron, Prince, etc.) and took hundreds of upper class families off the government payroll immediately following the war’s end, most of these families were forced to sell their property and belongings to generate a source of income. This organized impoverishment of the upper classes was best captured by author Dazai Osamuin his 1947 book The Setting Sun — Shayo 「斜陽」in Japanese. The post-war media found his book the best descriptor of the social phenomenon and started referring to this class of fallen aristocrats as the shayo-zoku (斜陽族). In this case, zoku was meant to reflect the aristocratic zoku, not the ethnic zoku. In other words, “socioeconomic class,” not “tribe.”

Blow Up

I finally got around to watching Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1966 film Blow Up. I wasn’t sure what to expect, I guess I figured it would be an art film that might be a bit tedious to get through. However, I was happily surprised by an artistic film a compelling plot. It also documents the swingin' 60s of London with girls in miniskirts, the Yardbirds smash up a guitar, and the photographer played with intensity by Dave Hemmings tools about town in a trendy convertible. Vanessa Redgrave was also impressive as the murder accessory and woman of mystery. There were some interesting uses of sound, and cinematography. I am intrigued enough to want to go back and take a look at his older black and white Italian films alike La Noote, L’Aventurra, and L’Eclisse.

My 25 Random Things

This is for those few not on Facebook:

1. I was the editor-in chief of my high school paper for two years. I still wonder if journalism was my true calling since I love reporting and writing about subjects that interest me. I just didn’t want to have to work the city council beat in Yakima for 5 years before getting a decent job. The way print media is slowly dying-it looks like I made the right decision. 

2. I have been professionally published in newspapers and magazines. My first paid free-lance publication was a book review of David Mitchell’s debut novel Ghostwritten in The Daily Mainichi News August 12, 2000. I have also published articles in Tokyo Classified (which is now known as Metropolis), The Asahi Evening News, The Japan Times, and Eye-Ai (an English language Japanese culture magazine). 

3. I still publish, but only dry academic pieces about teaching English as a foreign language in small university journals. This year I wrote two separate articles about project based learning.

4. Before moving to Seattle I was signed up for classes at the University of San Diego, but I decided not to enter after my Grandma reneged on helping me with the tuition. I never regretted the decision; I met/established most of my best life-long friends while in college in Seattle.

5. The reason I chose to go on the JET Program was so that I could have a one-year experience abroad. I have been in Japan for more than 11 years now. I have lived longer in Japan than I have in Seattle.

6. Before I came to Japan I filled out an application for the Peace Corps, but I didn’t turn it in because I thought “2 years” was a too long of a commitment to make.

7. Before I got my MA in Education at WWU I tried to get into several English Literature Ph. D programs, but was turned down by them all. However, in a sense I have become a university professor, but, I would much rather be teaching English literature than English language. 

8. I still feel a bit guilty about being a teacher in Japan. I got into teaching as a form of public service and because I love reading and writing and wanted to share that enthusiasm. In some ways I feel my proper place is teaching The Great Gatsby in some inner city high school in America.

9. I have been to 32 countries-mostly in Europe and Asia. I love to travel and love to experience foreign cultures-especially the food culture. I think I need to branch out in my travels: South America, Africa, and the Middle East? My next trip will be to Thailand and Cambodia for a conference in Phnom Penh. I am also contemplating doing a conference in Bangladesh in September.

10. Traveling and living abroad has taught me to be satisfied with fewer possesions and has made me realize how incredibly lucky we are to have been brought up in a wealthy and relatively free country like America.

11. Living abroad ahs made me more patriotic. I frequently have to defend our country over criticism by other foreigners. I always admit that there are things the government does that I do not support, but I point out that America is the best and worst of many things. So I point out the things that make me proud like the constitution, the superior higher education system, the history of dissent seen in people like Thomas Paine and Patrick Henry, and all the great leaders like Jefferson, Lincoln, FDR, etc…

12. I often also have to defend the people of America as well. Some foreigners think that we are a nation of religious yokels. But I tell them that most of my friends have advanced college degrees, passports, have traveled outside America, speak foreign languages, and are deep thinking liberals.

13. I really love to read and learn: books, magazines, websites, journals, menus, everything. I think I average reading about a book a week-usually between 45-50 a year. I never thought I’d be fluent in a foreign language, and I don’t think I’m there yet, but I feel that my speaking ability is getting close.

14. I would love to write a novel someday, but I fear I am more of an expository writer/memoirist rather than a fiction writer. If I ever do write a novel I am sure that one is all I have in me. 

15. In high school I had made plans with friends to buy a bass so we could form a cover band. I am still planning on getting a guitar and learning how to play. Next year…

16. My first rock concert was Quiet Riot/ Lover Boy.

17. I have only had one car accident: a head on collision outside the city of Shannon in Ireland. Mel Marquis was in the passenger seat and was thankfully unharmed.

18. I’ve basically been working since I was 14 with a paper route for The Spokesman Review. I have worked at Chuck E. Cheese, Pier 1 Imports, in a Sony TV factory for a month while in San Diego, Benetton, The Boisere Café, a summer as a construction worker/laborer, Ray’s Boathouse (a restaurant), AAA Emergency Road Service, Bullie’s (a restaurant in Bellingham), a shoe shop in a mall-besides teaching jobs for the last 12 years. Last year I did one wedding as a celebrant in Japan (not my thing).

19. I went to a Catholic grade school and when I was in the fourth grade I pulled a veil off a nun. I still don’t why; she was one of my favorite teachers.

20. When I was 14 or 15, I refused to get confirmed into the Catholic religion. My mother wasn’t too happy. I recently took a religious quiz and it said my beliefs were most in line Buddhism and least in line with Catholicism. I don’t believe in religion. But I don’t think that means I’m not spiritual.

21. I grew 2 inches and gained 20+ pounds between the ages of 18-20. Before that I could dunk a volleyball with one-hand. I think I can still touch the rim though. 

22. During garbage time of a big loss I scored 6 points in less than two minutes in a high school JV basketball game: outscoring the point guard I replaced by 6 points.

23. One of my nicknames in high school was “Dubbage”-because I didn’t smoke it. The others are: “Catfish”, “Night Train”, “Porkchop”, and “LeCoy”. I made up “Catfish” and “Night Train” myself-don’t ask why. I was at Mike Visaya’s house for Thanksgiving and we were hungry before dinner so they fed us pork chops. Nobody calls Mike “Porkchop”-why is that?

24. I have had more friends than family members visit me in Japan.

25. I work at five different universities and when class is in session I teach Monday through Saturday (20-90 minute classes a week) . But I still get about 5 months paid vacation a year. I don’t teach again until April 8th, which is why I have time to write this.

Burn Notice

Burn Notice is another entertaining TV series set in Miami (like Showtime’s Dexter), but this one, unlike Dexter, is about a former spy, Michael Weston (played by Jeffery Donovan) who has been given a “burn notice.” He is no longer has the support of the government and all of his money and assets have been frozen. He ahs landed in Miami where his mother, brother, and a former agent friend Sam (played with roguish charm by Evil Dead star Bruce Campbell) live. His ex-girlfriend gunrunner (played by the lovely Gabriella Anwar) an ex-IRA operative has come to Miami help him and reignite the romance. The voice over narration by Weston explains the ins and outs of covert ops and how to manipulate commons goods into bugs, explosives, and other tools of the trade. All in all, it’s a very entertaining show.

25 Random Things

Here's a nod of support to the Facebook 25 Random Things list from Robert Lanham at Salon:

 I was in the middle of typing up my "25 Random Things About Me" list on Facebook when a funny thing happened. I hit clear and decided to abandon the whole time-wasting endeavor. I'd made it through what I intended to be my sole entry before coming to my senses:

1. I like certain books and films and things that taste good. Also, kittens. Thanks for including me in this important social experiment. Now, please stop tagging me.

Over the past two weeks, I'd found my steady purr of status updates on Facebook interrupted by the ever-growing, viral cacophony of the "25 Random Things About Me" chain letter. In case you haven't been "tagged" yet (fear not, you will be) the concept is simple. Generate a list of 25 "things, facts, habits or goals" about yourself in the notes section of your profile and hit submit. Then, annoy 25 of your Facebook friends by encouraging them to do the same. "If I tagged you," the instructions explain, "it's because I want to know more about you."