Hey gang, so the month of may saw a huge increase in my video output on youtube. I was pumping through a load of japanese horror reviews, as well as a special tokyo swan 2 video where I revealed my placement in japan for my new english teaching job. Here are all the videos since the last post on here collected below. Also, I just picked up "Tokyo Gore Police" on DVD today, and I'm excited to watch (and review) that one. Though, i've already started work on the next review and I've got an idea for a bonus video for the first half of the week perhaps. Anyways, enjoy the vids and see you next time!
Swan's Japanese Horror Reviews 44: Uzumaki.
Swan's Japanese Horror Reviews 45: Dead Waves.
Swan's Japanese Horror Reviews 46: Zoo.
Swan's Japanese Horror Reviews 47: A Snake of June.
Tokyo Swan Back in Japan!
Thanks for watching the videos, plenty more on the way! I should really try and update this blog more. Especially now that I'm graduated from college and have a lot of free time before I go back to Japan. I'll try my hardest haha.
rodger
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Update Videos
Here are the latest two videos I've posted to youtube, with the Tokyo Swan 2 teaser and the new Japanese horror review of Evil Dead Trap. More reviews to come!
(Tokyo Swan 2 teaser)
(Evil Dead Trap review)
(Tokyo Swan 2 teaser)
(Evil Dead Trap review)
Sunday, March 1, 2009
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.
So, certain Best Buy stores right now are clearing out their anime selections with a giant 50% sale that starts today. No exclusions, if your store is going to cut back on their anime selection (poor economy and niche market...), then all anime DVDs in the store will be half off. I went to my local best buy today as it was on the list for the sale. After the sale finishes on the 21st, then these stores (nearly 500 of them across the US) will only offer about the top 20 most popular anime titles. I picked up "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" special edition 2-disk set with the bonus soundtrack CD.
This was a theatrical release from 2006, and it actually had a limited theatrical run here in the states not too long ago. It was a pretty enjoyable film, nice animation, humorous scenes, emotional scenes, an intriguing story, and had a nice love story at the heart of it all. Here's the trailer for the film, so I suggest that if you are near a best buy that is having this massive sale you pick this one up! As a side note, since I'm a big Japanese literature fan, it was interesting to see that the original story of this was from Tsutsui Yasutaka, an author who just had his first English translation released with his short story collection 'Salmonella men on planet porno.' Hopefully this movie will give more exposure to his work, as he is a really creative writer.
That's it for now, see you next time!
rodger
This was a theatrical release from 2006, and it actually had a limited theatrical run here in the states not too long ago. It was a pretty enjoyable film, nice animation, humorous scenes, emotional scenes, an intriguing story, and had a nice love story at the heart of it all. Here's the trailer for the film, so I suggest that if you are near a best buy that is having this massive sale you pick this one up! As a side note, since I'm a big Japanese literature fan, it was interesting to see that the original story of this was from Tsutsui Yasutaka, an author who just had his first English translation released with his short story collection 'Salmonella men on planet porno.' Hopefully this movie will give more exposure to his work, as he is a really creative writer.
That's it for now, see you next time!
rodger
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Nostalgia.
Hey gang, it’s getting closer to midnight here, but I felt compelled to write something before heading off to sleep. Been working on my upcoming translation a lot today, so now I’m feeling a bit tired haha. Translation is a long and time consuming process, but it’s a great way to advance my Japanese skills. Also, I just found myself rewatching some old Tokyo Swan episodes on youtube. I don’t watch my work often, but when I do it does fill me with an incredible sense of nostalgia. Even little things in the videos such as a quiet river, a busy road, various food- these little things trigger so many memories for me. Ahh, sweet, sweet nostalgia.
Next week is spring break. Truth be told, I’ve gotten everything I need to get done already finished this week, so I’m just sort of coasting through things now. A friend and I are going to see the new street fighter movie on Friday, so that should be pretty fun. Of course, I think the movie looks awful, but that’s why we are going heh. No plans for spring break, but I am looking forward to relaxing for a few days.
The new Depeche Mode single ‘WRONG’ is now on itunes, so I got that today. Brilliant track… and the music video is so creepy! Look it up if you get the chance. I’ve been following this new DM album so closely, I find myself glued to my chair in front of the computer reading a variety of fan forums trying to learn the newest information about the upcoming album.
Ok, well that’s really all I have right now haha. Just want to get into the habit of writing in here more and not abandon it like I did before. Time for bed. See you next time!
rodger
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Depeche Mode: WRONG!
The new Depeche Mode single 'wrong' has hit radio and debuted in Germany yesterday for the Echo Awards. It's 3 minutes of pure anti-pop with Dave's vocals in fine form for Martin's darkly humorous lyrics. I've had the song on repeat all day, and I can't wait for the new album to come out in April. Anyways, enjoy the performance above!
-rodger
Thursday, February 12, 2009
February Update.
Hey gang, I realize that it's been a while since I've written on here (or posted many videos hah), but I found some free time today to just update what has been going on. Where do I even begin?
1. School. Currently I'm taking two grad level English courses (romantic and renaissance literature) as well as an independent study for a translation of a Japanese short story I'm working on. I talked a bit about that in the last Swan Update video. Anyways, as you can imagine with such high level courses the workload is much greater than the standard undergrad courses and it is keeping me busy.
2. Translation. So yeah, one of my 'classes' right now is that independent study translation and so far things are going great. The story itself is 11 pages long, and right now I'm on page 7 of just going through the initial draft. For the end of the semester, I'm to turn in just the initial first draft (so everything will not sound as clean as it should) and the final draft will be submitted for publication next year. Those familiar with translation already know that it is a massively time consuming project, and so hours upon hours have been spent looking up kanji in the dictionary. I am working on the project with the head of the Japanese department here, and so I feel like I'm really gaining a lot of good experience and it's crazy to think I'll be a published translator in the near future!
3. Work-Writing Center. I don't think I've mentioned it on video or in print, but I've been working at my university's writing center since last August. I've gained a lot of great experience working with English as second language students, and in particular this has allowed me to make some Japanese friends in the process. I work one on one with students (undergrad and grad level) on whatever papers or projects they might bring in. I also work in the classroom as a tutor for the entry level English 1000 course, so as you can imagine this sort of teaching experience looked good on the JET application (more on that in a bit). I'll also be leading a talk on 'bilingualism in the writing center' at Purdue University in April, at the national writing center convention. Exciting times!
4. Work-Tutoring. A few weeks ago I accepted a tuoring job for a Japanese businessman in town. This has been a fantastic opportunity for me, as I've gotten even more teaching experience and I work with a really great guy. I prepare weekly English excercises for him, and so far things are going great!
5. JET. Ok, so like I said in my last video update I made it to the interview stage. Now, I have my interview in Detroit on the 20th (next friday!), and I'm pretty confident about things. With my experience in Japan, and the work I've done here, I know I'm a qualified applicant for teaching English in Japan. I was actually quite nervous about messing up the application, so I gave a huge sigh of relief when I heard I made it to the interview stage. I'll be preparing more for that as the week goes by, but in general I feel good about things and I'm excited for the interview.
6. Social Life. I've made some great Japanese friends here at WMU, and I'm happy that I've been able to still keep in touch with many of my friends from my time in Japan. I also tend to hang out with my close group of friends who all live in the same apartment complex here, so even though I've been busy with work and school, I've been able to relax and just enjoy watching movies or hanging out.
Wow, when I list it all out like that it does look like I'm quite busy these days! Hopefully that explains some of the reasons why my presence here and on youtube has decreased significantly. I'll be posting another update video next week after the interview though, so that's something to look forward to. As for now, I have to get going to work again, so I'll finish things up here. Hope everyone is doing well!
oh yes, and I'm still mega excited for the new Depeche Mode album in April. SOUNDS OF THE UNIVERSE!!!! I can't wait, and the new single is going to debut next week!
Rodger
1. School. Currently I'm taking two grad level English courses (romantic and renaissance literature) as well as an independent study for a translation of a Japanese short story I'm working on. I talked a bit about that in the last Swan Update video. Anyways, as you can imagine with such high level courses the workload is much greater than the standard undergrad courses and it is keeping me busy.
2. Translation. So yeah, one of my 'classes' right now is that independent study translation and so far things are going great. The story itself is 11 pages long, and right now I'm on page 7 of just going through the initial draft. For the end of the semester, I'm to turn in just the initial first draft (so everything will not sound as clean as it should) and the final draft will be submitted for publication next year. Those familiar with translation already know that it is a massively time consuming project, and so hours upon hours have been spent looking up kanji in the dictionary. I am working on the project with the head of the Japanese department here, and so I feel like I'm really gaining a lot of good experience and it's crazy to think I'll be a published translator in the near future!
3. Work-Writing Center. I don't think I've mentioned it on video or in print, but I've been working at my university's writing center since last August. I've gained a lot of great experience working with English as second language students, and in particular this has allowed me to make some Japanese friends in the process. I work one on one with students (undergrad and grad level) on whatever papers or projects they might bring in. I also work in the classroom as a tutor for the entry level English 1000 course, so as you can imagine this sort of teaching experience looked good on the JET application (more on that in a bit). I'll also be leading a talk on 'bilingualism in the writing center' at Purdue University in April, at the national writing center convention. Exciting times!
4. Work-Tutoring. A few weeks ago I accepted a tuoring job for a Japanese businessman in town. This has been a fantastic opportunity for me, as I've gotten even more teaching experience and I work with a really great guy. I prepare weekly English excercises for him, and so far things are going great!
5. JET. Ok, so like I said in my last video update I made it to the interview stage. Now, I have my interview in Detroit on the 20th (next friday!), and I'm pretty confident about things. With my experience in Japan, and the work I've done here, I know I'm a qualified applicant for teaching English in Japan. I was actually quite nervous about messing up the application, so I gave a huge sigh of relief when I heard I made it to the interview stage. I'll be preparing more for that as the week goes by, but in general I feel good about things and I'm excited for the interview.
6. Social Life. I've made some great Japanese friends here at WMU, and I'm happy that I've been able to still keep in touch with many of my friends from my time in Japan. I also tend to hang out with my close group of friends who all live in the same apartment complex here, so even though I've been busy with work and school, I've been able to relax and just enjoy watching movies or hanging out.
Wow, when I list it all out like that it does look like I'm quite busy these days! Hopefully that explains some of the reasons why my presence here and on youtube has decreased significantly. I'll be posting another update video next week after the interview though, so that's something to look forward to. As for now, I have to get going to work again, so I'll finish things up here. Hope everyone is doing well!
oh yes, and I'm still mega excited for the new Depeche Mode album in April. SOUNDS OF THE UNIVERSE!!!! I can't wait, and the new single is going to debut next week!
Rodger
Saturday, November 22, 2008
The Anxiety of Influence
Well what do you know, the new video is doing amazingly well. Wow, it's actually doing much better then I ever could have thought. I was very happy with what I had put together, but I really doubted if audiences would also embrace it. Turns out, I was wrong and people seem to enjoy the new approach. Imagine that heh. I've got a slew of ideas swimming around in my head on what I want to do for future episodes (monolouges, certain camera angles and shots I want to try, etc), but as of right now I can't say when the next episode will see release.
Right now, we're just about ready for finals at school, so I may have to put youtube on hold for a week or two to concentrate on that, but perhaps making a review video for next week won't be too difficult. We'll see.
Woody Allen indeed.
Rodger
Right now, we're just about ready for finals at school, so I may have to put youtube on hold for a week or two to concentrate on that, but perhaps making a review video for next week won't be too difficult. We'll see.
Woody Allen indeed.
Rodger
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