GRIZZLY PEAR

written snapshots

Category: Notes

  • Studio Ghibli

    A straightforward ranking.

    • Top tier
    Whisper of the Heart
    Pom Poko
    My Neighbors the Yamadas

    • Almost top tier
    Spirited Away
    Only Yesterday

    • Really good
    My Neighbor Totoro
    Kiki’s Delivery Service
    Grave of the Fireflies (should be near the top by its heavy)

    • Quite good
    Porco Rosso

    • Good
    Princess Mononoke
    Howl’s Moving Castle

    • Maybe good?
    Castle in the Sky
    Arrietty
    Naussica

    • Decent but too long
    Ponyo
    Tale of Princess Kaguya

    • Doubtful quality
    The Wind Rises
    The Cat Returns

    • Definitely not good
    When Marnie was Here
    From up on Poppy Hill

    • Bad
    Tales of Earthsea

  • Specials and Secret Menus

    I’m a fan of the animal burger at In-N-Out, but that is the exception that proves the rule.

    What really matters is getting the main menu squared away. Make sure each item is a blockbuster (or get it off the menu). Do it again tomorrow. And the day after that.

    Once you’ve got that set, then you can play with these one-off items, or if you want to be cute, go ahead and add something on to the secret menu that is actually a main menu item, just unwritten.

    But let’s be honest, how many of us actually got the main menu down?

  • Twitter (for Nevada)

    Like most people in my demographic I haven’t figured out how to quit Facebook, though I won’t shed a tear for its demise. However, right now it has become my best spot for friends news, national opinion, and random art (since I refuse to go to IG).

    I also have this blog which has become a repository of all my deep thoughts. Privacy? Aww, lets just make it 100% public!

    So where does Twitter come in? In one of my better decisions early in this young year, I decided to completely overhaul my feed to be focused on the State of Nevada, in part due to my new gig and the legislature session happening up north.

    I’ve kept two national figures on my feed – Bomani Jones and Atul Gawande – but otherwise it is all Nevada and local reporters, politicians, opinion makers, and government agencies. Anyone that is consistantly national with their perspective gets booted off the list (I’ll find out bout the most recent outrages in Washington DC via the Nevada Senators and House Reps).

    It has been really nice to differentiate between my Facebook and Twitter feeds for their own own specific use-cases, and so far, twitter has functioned really well as a “local newspaper”. We’ll see how long this lasts, but so far, it’s definitely worth a shot if you have a languishing twitter account.

  • After the Rain, Takashi Koizumi, 1999

    I just watched After the Rain, a film written by Kurosawa but directed after his death by one of his proteges. It is really quite good, even if it is not a “classic”.

    My favorite aspect of this film is the domesticity of the story. This is not an epic, it’s a simple drama that happens to have a swordsman in it. Everyone is dwarfed by the forest the story is set in. Beyond that, I think this review most likely sums up my thoughts the best, the key quote being:

    In playing Ihei [the main character], Terao avoids the inevitable comparisons to [Toshiro] Mifune by approaching the role from the opposite direction. Whereas Mifune’s samurai were often traditional tachiyaku (“manly warrior” types) for whom affairs of the heart were out of the question, Ihei is a New Age ideal: dedicated to his profession, while being sincerely devoted to his long-suffering wife. Terao, a pop-musician-turned-actor who appeared in Kurosawa’s “Ran,” “Yume” and “Madadayo,” is not as comfortable with a sword as Kurosawa’s previous generation of samurai (he had reportedly never handled one before taking the part) but he brings a deadpan panache to his fight scenes.

    Also, he is not embarrassed about or contemptuous of the idea of heroism. Instead, in his own low-key way, he embraces it. While not dominating the screen like Mifune, he brings a quiet authority and likeability to his role. Given an impossible assignment — reviving a vanished heroic type — he does a better job than expected.

    “Cinematic storm ends with light rain”, by MARK SCHILLING

  • This Present Moment, Gary Snyder, 2015

    Recently, I connected with a former professor and he mentioned the poetry of Gary Snyder, so I trundled off to the library and picked up the one book of his work that they have in the Clark County system.

    I’ve never been much of a poetry guy, but I have subscribed to the excellent American Life in Poetry email newsletter for a few years now.

    I can see why he is such an acclaimed poet. The writing was so sharp, that it just sliced through the clutter of my mind. I could only read a couple poems at a time before doing something else.

    I suspect it’s poking and prodding into the dark recesses of my brain that doesn’t want to be illuminated. I suspect that’s a reason I really need to keep reading.

  • CNY ads, Petronas, 1997-present

    Petronas, a Malaysian energy company, has been banging out a tearjerker for Chinese New Years video ad every year for the past two decades.

    At this point, my mental clock knows to look up their youtube channel around this time every year.

    I just burnt half an hour rewatching their catalog. Not every one is excellent, but they got a damn good hit rate.

    Perfection is impossible but trying hard to meet your promise is always achievable.

    People respect consistent effort. Showing up is its own virtue.

  • My Pens

    As an architect I’ve always been picky about my writing tools.

    As a draftsman, I started using 2H lead, but learned a lighter touch and transitioned to H lead for my line work. For my lettering I always used HB lead, which Staedtler Mars discontinued during that stint and caused a minor panic, but we bought enough to last me thorugh to leaving for graduate school. And yes Staedtler Mars was a better lead than Alvin.

    I also have picked up a few fancy fountain pens over the years, but ultimately they were too scratchy and have not been used.

    I appreciate the fine points of rollerball pens, but I don’t like the fact they can get cloggy.

    And the micro fine points of razors are nice for about half a day until they get frayed under my heavy hand, at which point they are not at all pleasant to use.

    But my tool of choice is the Papermate Flair pen. It’s a finely crafted writing tool that is cheap enough I can have copies all over the place and feel no pain when it runs out of ink or when one is lost. With a plethora of colors, I can make multiple layers of notes on a single sheet of paper. The felt tip runs smoothly on any type of paper. The point is fine enough to make good notes, but blunt enough to degrade gracefully. It is in short, my perfect pen.

  • 5 is the Perfect Number, Igort, 2002

    It’s a pretty prime number, well balanced.

    And its half a decade.

    A college career plus one.

    You got five fingers on a hand.

    You got head, two arms, and two legs. What else do you need?

    And it’s the title of one of my favorite graphic novels by Igort.

    I wonder if will hold up to a reread, it’s been twenty years since I bought it in a comic shop in LA and so much has changed in the last five years.

  • Please avoid boring music videos

    I have a fondness for listening to EDM while doing chores. If I come across a song I like, I’ll play it on youtube since it’s difficult to repeat songs on the free streaming services.

    That means I’ve come across a wide selection of music videos, and I’ve noticed a genre of videos where it is merely a recording just beautiful young people being beautiful. Instagram in music video format.

    How incredibly dull. Eye candy may be pleasant, but without any story or any hook, it can nearly ruin a song.

    If you’ve been handed a decent song and given creative reins to for the video, please do something with the opportunity. It doesn’t have to be earth-shattering, you can even use pretty people, but at least try something.

    If you’re not going to try to avoid boring, then at least do us the courtesy of just shooting a video of yourself making the music and let it speak for itself.

  • A little bit of salt

    The other day, I added a little bit of salt to my typical steamed bread mix and I could immediately feel the difference when I took it out of the Kitchenaid. Throughout the proof, the dough acted a bit stiffer throughout and ultimately came out pretty nicely, albeit a slight salty.

    This time I had tried 6 grams of salt, next time I’ll try 3 grams.

    In context, my overall dough is 555 grams, so six grams of salt is just about 1% of the overall mix. Just one teaspoon.

    We’ve all heard canard of putting a drop of cyanide in a carton of milk, but it’s another to feel such a small amount make such a big difference in your hands.

    And there is also the pleasure of knowing your hands are practiced enough where such a minor change in consistency is immediately noticed. What a nice indulgence in the narcissism of small differences!