Don't Bother Knocking

Well, finally.

Thanks to Hans, Anna's good decision, and the voice(Morgan Freeman(cameo)) . I couldn't even launch a blog without them. This time I saw Twitter timeline occasionally, I was glad to know that everyone seems to be doing well, and some seemed to remember me unexpectedly, thank you. Especially, Ali, I received a lot of criticisms in the way I cannot fight back during my Twitter service, but your comments were sensible and also full of wit and charming. If I wanted the same thing as you, I would have listened to your sharp comments on my tweet. And your lively cheerful and positive everyday tweet reminded me of good things on Twitter and made me decide to get back to the Twitter world almost. Thank you, Ali. I like you. Thank you, V, if you there. Now I have finished blogging as promised. I don't know if I could have accomplished this blogging adventure without you.

I enjoyed breathing English after a long time.

When an adventure ends, this blog ends. However, the blog stays. If there is anything, you can comment on posts or mail me. I mean anything, "I love you", "I hate you", "I challenge you", "I offer you", "I patronise you", "I feed you", "I stroke you", "I groom you", "I tame you", anything.

If I find the next adventure, I will fly a bird to you.

Until then, farewell.



The wind shines, when Japanese bush warblers tweet.

Hans in the Wind 2: A wind of Japanese Poetry of Spring 1

Kaii Higashiyama, Nature, Me and Others

A feature exhibition at Kyushu National Museum 九州国立博物館; 'Kaii Higashiyama: Nature, Men and Towns 東山魁夷 自然と人、そして町'


Exhibition / Artist

This is a large-scale exhibition and, consequently, divided into two periods. The former exhibition; 16 July - 7 August / the latter exhibition; 9 August - 28 August. I am interested in the both of exhibitions and have purchased a two-times ticket, intend to visit twice after I finished this blogging journey and had a cup of tea. It's already 6th August, wow, it appears this weekend is the last chance.

Kaii Higashiyama(1908 - 1999), a prominent Japanese artist, lived through Meiji, Taishō, Shōwa, Heisei periods, and his last work was finished in 1999, the year the 90-year-old artist died. His view of nature and painting skills are outstanding. His works feel poetic, that's why I like them.

REVIEW: Woman In Gold

'Woman in Gold' is a film, based on the true story of Maria Altmann, an elderly Jewish refugee, who took on the Austrian government to reclaim Gustav Klimt's iconic painting of her aunt, 'Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I', which was plundered by the Nazis.

The trailer of the film caught my attention because it was gold, Klimt, Helen Mirren. The film was compelling.

In the film, young Maria says that the painting is gold but her aunt somehow looks blue. And this is a film of "Blue and gold". The contrast between blue and gold gave me a unique sensation, it made this film alive. "A brisk elderly woman and a young lawyer who has difficulty in his career", "American accent English in a European court", "Painful memories of the defilers in a magnificent city Vienna" and so on. The score has the same characteristic and made this film memorable. Music by Martin Phipps and...Hans Zimmer. I couldn't notice him while I was watching because there was no his signature. In early spring, I heard the news that Hans was saying Auf Wiedersehen to the Spandex, and I've been thinking if he really has retired from "super hero business" what is going to be the next stage? This score might be a hint of it. I am looking forward to his future works.

Hans in the Wind 3: A wind of Japanese Poetry of Spring 2

Fantastic Writer and How to be like Her

Eddie Redmayne, known for the portrayal in 'The Theory of Everything', plays a starring role in the upcoming film 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'. Wow, I cannot miss this film. The film is inspired by the book of the same name written by J. K. Rowling, and she makes her debut as a screenwriter on this Harry Potter spin-off film. Wow, I have to go to the theatre on the opening day. And it is said that she has already finished the screenplay for the sequel. Wow, amazing. I wish I could write as superb as she does.

REVIEW: 'Onmyoji'

Introduction of the films about Heian part 3

Today is the time of Super Heroes. The last decade was an age of Super Hero films. Actually, there is a super hero of the Heian period. There is a film series about him.

Super Hero

His name is Abe no Seimei 安倍晴明, a powerful Onmyoji. Seimei sees what we cannot see, he make Shikigami(sort of lower-class Spirits) serve him, he finds out curses behind unusual things, he chants charms and performs rituals and break them, he practices the art of Onmyō-dō that transcends human knowledge. 

Because he knows what we do not know, he is proficient in Onmyō-dō, he is a gifted Onmyoji.

REVIEW: The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

Introduction of the films about Heian part 2

A short review of 'The Tale of the Princess Kaguya かぐや姫の物語' as a long appendix to the previous post REVIEW: 'The Tale of Genji'.

Film / Director

The film is based on the classic work of the Heian period, 'The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter 竹取物語', and the plot is basically the same as the original.

Directed by Isao Takahata 高畑勲 belonging to Studio Ghibli, the Mochi director, and my Mochi brother. He has the same type of personal qualities as me. I have sympathy for his philosophy of nature and life. His conclusion is obvious; Mochi. It's everywhere in his works. O-Kiyo おキヨ of 'Pom Poko 平成狸合戦ぽんぽこ' is my ideal girl. 

And again he made this film Mochi, this is Mochi film expect the grown-up Princess and Mikado the Emperor. The Emperor is portrayed as the symbol of Money, Power, Vanity. The Emperor's chin and outfit are designed to be the complete opposite quality of Mochi. Maybe Takahata needed to face this motif as a Mochi director before he ends his career.

REVIEW: The Tale of Genji

You have slept with thousand people? Cool. I am sleeping with people of recent thousand years. --Yeah?

Okay, I have finished exchanging "That's not too bad" facial expressions with some of you, now then shall we dive into the Heian period?

'The Tale of Genji 源氏物語' is a classic work of Japanese literature, written by the noblewoman and lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century, around the peak of the Heian period. 

If you ask modern Japanese people about Heian literature, they will mention this work. Because it is so important, some call it the world's first novel, everybody learns it at school. And also because it is a masterpiece, its story is thrilling and sensational.

Heian Max: Furyū Road

The Heian period, from the 8th century to the 12th century, between Nara and Kamakura period, named after the capital city Heian-kyō, which is now known as Kyoto. Heian 平安, literally "tranquillity and peace", was eventually a relatively peaceful and stable period, and that made possible the birth of Wayō and the prosperity of Japanese literature.

Let me introduce my viewpoint on the period this time.

Wayō(Japanese style beauty) / Karayō(Chinese style beauty)

Everything is connected, more or less. However, if there are particular examples of the influence on Japanese culture, that would be China and the U.S. China is the father, the U.S. is the stepfather. Mother? It's the earth--God bless Mother Nature, she's a single woman too--of course. In the 8th century, Japan entered an era of the prosperity of its own art, there was a movement away from Karayō then. Wayō 和様 is a contrast to Karayō 唐様. These terms are normally used in the field of calligraphy but occasionally also in general art. The environment develops human mind, and it's a great inspiration. China gave us great gifts, but our natural environments are very different from each other. 

Upper: Chinese / Lower: Japanese

So when our ancestors looked closely at their environment, when they tried to portray what they really felt in everyday life, Wayō had begun as a matter of course, although it progressed gradually and they were wavering between two styles, philosophies. For instance, they say that Sukemasa Fujiwara(944-998) the Saseki 佐跡 described their contradictory feelings at that time as follows, "漢詩だけでは、また和歌だけでは、何かさびしくものたりない、こうして漢詩における自己充足感の減退と、和歌における未成熟の意識と、こういう方向のすきま、空虚を満たすものとして、和漢をならべたてるという傾向が生まれてくる"

Kanamoji / Brush Calligraphy

When Japanese people were still having communications only orally in ancient times, Chinese character was introduced into Japan. In the Nara period, in the 8th century, people started to describe oral Japanese language by Chinese character. In the early Heian period, in the early 9th century, those Chinese characters were redesigned and simplified by men. And by the end of the 9th century, the movement toward Japanese style progressed, those Chinese characters were again redesigned and developed into Kanamoji by women.

White Day

On Valentine's Day, girls present chocolates to boys in Japan. 

Japanese people like Matsuri 祭-festival, which gives us an opportunity to strengthen community's unity and blow off steam and forget daily, perhaps modest, perhaps suffocating life. In the nineteen sixties, Japanese confectionery industry discovered potential demand through everyday commercial efforts, and Valentine's Day became a large-scale social annual event in Japan. Japanese style Valentine's Day is now some sort of Matsuri.

Why people present chocolates

People give chocolates for communication which can be classified into four classes;

Question

Devotion

Association

Obligation

REVIEW: The Theory of Everything

I had never imagined that I would pay for a love story until I saw this film. 'The Theory of Everything' is the first love story film that fascinated me. 

This is a love story--of three, based on a true story of the theoretical physicist Professor Stephen Hawking. Starring Eddie Redmayne as Stephen Hawking, Felicity Jones as Jane Hawking, Charlie Cox as Jonathan Hellyer Jones. The story describes love in a not overly romantic way, which is very comfortable, and yet there is certainly the excitement of the new relationship. "We are not normal family", Jane says. Yes, their relationships are not simple. But their love was a light, a hope, an inspiration to me.

Acting

Their acting is brilliant. Eddie Redmayne's portrayal is very detailed, and it carries strong conviction. Professor Stephen Hawking has ALS. Eddie Redmayne realistically portrays the progress of the disease, and the character's feelings and traits by limited physicality. Felicity Jones is also a formidable actor, but the delicious part of their performance is not in individual talents or skills, that is in dialogues, face-to-face communications. Their performances resonate with each other, amplify each other. The croquet sequence, for instance, is something beyond play.

Couldn't get THERE, AND BACK AGAIN

I couldn't make it because of troubles. I'm fine but terribly disappointed. I wanted to lead you to a good end of the adventure. I was completely ready to mingle with his fans and talk about how awesome 90' Hans' guitar is, or to dispute with folks about which Hans' work we should choose for the night and have a bar fight in France. It didn't go well, but I believe he and I are connected and "we" will have another chance. 

When an adventure ends, this blog ends.

That being said, I could hardly "share" this time. This company still have to make its way before we get home and have a cup of tea. So let me show you several more entries as an amusement on the way home, as an epilogue of the adventure, as a token of my appreciation.

Enjoy!



P. S. I've never seen a bar fight in French film. French people don't have a bar fight? Are they all...adult? They just have nicely briefly reasonably discussions? Are they all Sartre and Beauvoir?

The Wind of Improvisation

As the bright members of the company of Tazfummy Weaselbrush may be already aware, yes, I am painting pictures for this blog with the painting materials of Nihonga 日本画(Japanese traditional painting). That's very perceptive of you, Master reader! Nihonga requires pigment adhesive--traditionally and practically Nikawa 膠(natural animal glue) which can easily spoil. Whether preservatives are in or not, I think, it goes bad. So the necessary quantity of pigments should be dissolved on palettes, however things don't go just as planned. I found a way to clean up palettes. I play with extra pigments to be disposed, like this

This time I used a failed painting. An alternative version of Michael Jackson 'Black or White', accidentally. It's fun. The cleaning up palette process gives no tension, and sometimes I find interesting results in the end of improvisation. On Twitter, I also uploaded something like this before

Dio-sama by Asagi colour 浅葱色. It's not perfect, but I like this one too. Asagi is one of my favourite colours. Asagi 浅葱, the name is also beautiful, isn't it?



May the wind of improvisation shine upon you!

A Brief History of me and Hans Zimmer

I'm sorry about the slightly fanatical title. I just summarised this article. We are not related to each other. I just listen to his music a lot.

So, well, let me introduce our history, from 'Peacemaker' to 'Interstellar'.


A TEENAGER BOY MEETS HANS ZIMMER

When I was an elementary school student, I couldn't understand why my classmates were so excited about music--especially Japanese Heisei pop music. I had never given it any serious thought until MJ hit me.

When I'm first grade at junior high, Michael Jackson suddenly gave me a great inspiration, like lightning. He started music inside me. 'History(1995)' is the first music CD that I've purchased.

I love motion pictures, grew up with Hollywood movies and Disney animations. I watched action movies a lot.

In 1997, "What is good film?", "How do I define good music?", "Film music? How does it work? It all feels similar to me. What's the difference?", a third-grade 15-year-old boy kept thinking about sensuous things logically and started to classify cultural things to answer his own question. 


Then I met "Peacemaker",

A not shady invitation

Hello,

I am looking for someone to share in an adventure. Oh, you look starving for an adventure. Well, now, this is a fine chance!

The adventure has already begun, actually. I am on the way to the Hans Zimmer show in Europe. 


HOW THIS JOURNEY BEGAN 

On 14th February 2016, I said, "I'm sorry to be late, I've been pressed with an urgent work for days. Here you are, happy Valentine's Day!" and she, Anna Scott, said, "Forget about me, just have an adventure. You can go the distance" and I thought, "Oh, man, I don't have a clue in my head, what I'm gonna do with this" I also said, "I don't wanna get in trouble now", so the voice came, "You must go see Hans Zimmer live concert and write about it on a blog." 


I was once on Twitter and gathering information there, but social media didn't fit me so that I kept my distance from it since last year. That is because I noticed his tour this very late, even though I'm a big fan of Hans Zimmer.

The tour has already begun in early April. I don't know what I can do until the end of the journey. I don't know if I can go see his live performance in Europe safely. But this is about the Hans, and I think this is going to be fun, and besides, I promised someone that I would start a blog. 


WHY I WRITE THIS BLOG

I'd like to make this thing clear. Here is why:

My self-introduction

Once a beautiful man said, "Sometimes you gotta run before you can walk", and I think now is the time."


I am Tazfummy Iseki. Son of Ryoichi. Son of Taichi. A Japanese man, born and raised in Fukuoka, Japan. I start my own blog for the first time. I work at an interior design firm. A designer, a 2D/3D CAD operator, an illustrator, a writer. From now on, however, I'd like to put all these together and simply identify myself as a blogger here on the internet.

I love films. I grew up with Hollywood movies, especially action movies. And I'm addicted to film music, Hans Zimmer is my most favourite composer. It's my everyday music.

I'm interested in Heian period 平安時代, Wayō 和様(Japanese style beauty), Kana-shodō 仮名書道(Japanese brush calligraphy in Kanamoji), Waka 和歌(Japanese poetry), Bungo 文語(The Classical Japanese).

Mochi is a symbol of "Live Long and Prosper".

"Wind Shines 風光る" represents "Spring" in Japanese poetry.

Hope you'll enjoy this blog.

May the wind shine upon you!