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Further Randomosity
The Hilton believes that guests need four feather pillows. This is the closest any hotel has ever come to my reality, which is that I need at least five and preferably six, one of them a beanbag, but I appreciate the thought. The Hilton evidently doesn't believe that anyone can be allergic to feathers; but I'm not, so fine.
I will note that Americans seem not to like soft drinks in cans. Plastic bottles whenever available. I have a fine palate for my cola, and Pepsi in plastic is an abomination. Just saying.
We all agreed that Ima Ichiko is a subtle intelligent multi-faceted social comedian. More surprisingly, she manages to be all these things while drawing mild boy's love and eerie ghost stories (and possibly cockatiels as well: she has at least three volumes of cockatiel manga.) Her works, if they're aimed at teenagers, are clearly aimed at very intelligent teenagers indeed. And if I can one-up most of fandom because she hasn't been translated into English at all, this weekend I got one-upped in turn because![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mvrdrk and paleaswater have read her collections of yomikiri in Chinese, which I can't find over here for love or money. Well, money *might* get me them from amazon.jp, so I suppose I should try.
There's an article waiting to be written about her women. Her women are admirable, I think, on the whole: but there's also a number of terrifying 'whim of iron' types who bulldoze through life on sheer demented willpower. They're always smiling and pleasant and irreproachable, of course: they're Japanese: and they always get what they want. Only the most rambunctious of her male characters are any match for them. The rest- her trademark mildly ineffectual-seeming fair-haired types in glasses- either wilt gently or acquire the paralysis of the sane when faced with the prospect that their dear wife or sister or whatever is mad as a hatter.
I've come across this type of woman in English social comedy and never cared for it. Even when written by a woman (cf Lady Catherine de Burgh) I find that the satire eclipses the character's humanity. (We won't mention Mapp and Lucia.) It's either Ima's genius or the visual nature of manga that with her the humanity is still there: one sees the little details, the tension about the eyes, the occasional sweatdrop, that suggest the desperation that contributes to the character's mad determination. That they're mad about things that don't merit the compliment of madness is what keeps the story at the comedic level still.
I note the one fair-haired male in glasses who turns up in 100 Demons, while essentially ineffectual, is also as demented as the wife in A Step Away from Paradise or Ritsu's grandmother; and does rather more damage in his ineffectualness than even Mr. Red Interval who puts his whole back into the effort. From which I conclude that one should keep a close eye on the fair-haired glasses type in Ima Ichiko's works.
I will note that Americans seem not to like soft drinks in cans. Plastic bottles whenever available. I have a fine palate for my cola, and Pepsi in plastic is an abomination. Just saying.
We all agreed that Ima Ichiko is a subtle intelligent multi-faceted social comedian. More surprisingly, she manages to be all these things while drawing mild boy's love and eerie ghost stories (and possibly cockatiels as well: she has at least three volumes of cockatiel manga.) Her works, if they're aimed at teenagers, are clearly aimed at very intelligent teenagers indeed. And if I can one-up most of fandom because she hasn't been translated into English at all, this weekend I got one-upped in turn because
mvrdrk and paleaswater have read her collections of yomikiri in Chinese, which I can't find over here for love or money. Well, money *might* get me them from amazon.jp, so I suppose I should try.There's an article waiting to be written about her women. Her women are admirable, I think, on the whole: but there's also a number of terrifying 'whim of iron' types who bulldoze through life on sheer demented willpower. They're always smiling and pleasant and irreproachable, of course: they're Japanese: and they always get what they want. Only the most rambunctious of her male characters are any match for them. The rest- her trademark mildly ineffectual-seeming fair-haired types in glasses- either wilt gently or acquire the paralysis of the sane when faced with the prospect that their dear wife or sister or whatever is mad as a hatter.
I've come across this type of woman in English social comedy and never cared for it. Even when written by a woman (cf Lady Catherine de Burgh) I find that the satire eclipses the character's humanity. (We won't mention Mapp and Lucia.) It's either Ima's genius or the visual nature of manga that with her the humanity is still there: one sees the little details, the tension about the eyes, the occasional sweatdrop, that suggest the desperation that contributes to the character's mad determination. That they're mad about things that don't merit the compliment of madness is what keeps the story at the comedic level still.
I note the one fair-haired male in glasses who turns up in 100 Demons, while essentially ineffectual, is also as demented as the wife in A Step Away from Paradise or Ritsu's grandmother; and does rather more damage in his ineffectualness than even Mr. Red Interval who puts his whole back into the effort. From which I conclude that one should keep a close eye on the fair-haired glasses type in Ima Ichiko's works.
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But first, you might want to glance at the last paragraph of this blog post (http://www.twitchfilm.net/archives/007729.html). Spotted it on flist tonight.
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I'm afraid they're everywhere...my mother is one of 'those' types and my greatest fear is that one day I will turn into her! Aargh! Is that genetics at work?
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You know, I can see all the ways the Japanese version manipulates innate cultural asssumptions for her own ends, but it's done so subtly that saying how it works makes it sound too obvious. This is always the problem in describing Japanese anythings. If you have to use words you've already missed the point. And that's why nothing I read about Japan ever captured the way it is in reality.
Is that genetics at work?
Conditioning, which can be overcome. ^_^ With difficulty, because it's a reflex. How many times have I heard parents say 'I swore I'd never do such and such with my kids and then, wham, last night--' Constant vigilance is necessary in the struggle
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*nods head in agreement* ^__^
Its funny how the world works, from wanting to BE like our mothers to not wanting.
I see it with Shahrazad. When she says so proudly now at nearly 7,"I want to be like you Mama". When I get to 70 she will be there picking up after me saying "I hope I don't get to be like you!"
Ah well, I can try I suppose. ^__^
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I'm attending a chinese wedding myself in two weeks and am looking forward to a lovely night out (no cooking and no dishes and an excuse to get dressed up..but still with boots I'm afraid!)
The poor bride, if racial inter marrying could have problems..INTRA racial also comes with its own bag of problems. Mainly to do with traditional differences.
The bride is from a Teochew 'Peranakan' (also called Straits Chinese) family and the groom is second generation Cantonese hailing from Hong Kong...so much so bride is ready to throw in the towel...or should that be trowel!
But glad you enjoyed your Do.
Welcome back. ^__^
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You're still a better man than I am, Gunga Din. Boots to a Chinese wedding where everyone will be wearing 3 inch heels.
Are the intra-racial problems family related, by any chance? "We do it this way and that's the only way to do it"? pressure from both sides. With inter-racial there's occasionally an out, if it's a culture where one side traditionally handles all the wedding preparations. So if the bride's side is Greek and the groom's Punjabi, yes you will pin money onto the bride's dress.
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Experience from my own wedding, Ste's parents were quite happy to have a Malay wedding and soaked up all the culture and stuff, even going so far as to get kitted out in traditional dress, although cooler than wearing suits still must have felt a little odd!
everyone will be wearing 3 inch heels.
Heh! Yes or I will fall down and break my neck, whilst trying to keep the children in tow! Wearing traditional dress, which involves long sweeping skirt...hides a multitude of foot wearing sins!
Yeah one of life's questions for me..."How do the chinese ladies wear those heels and chase their own children around whilst managing to look collectedly elegant?" There must be a secret trick to it! ^__^
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...in fact, I wonder if the local Malay stores, wherever the local Malay stores are, would have them for someone 175 cm tall?
Ahh, the Chinese foot and the French thigh and other wonders of genetics.
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You would be surprised to find out that they do cater for western sizes...over the years our Kurung (and indeed the more fitted version the Kebaya) has become quite popular with Westerners.
There must also be some tucked away in a little corner somewheres around your way for there are quite a number of Malays who have moved out thataway, for various reasons!
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Sayeth the engineer. ^_^ No, actually, I hadn't: only that cans give you a bubbly drink because you drink it at once, while bottles but-of-course go flat very fast. But now you mention it, yes. My Pepsi was plastic tasting and under-carbonized. Sadness.
(Hilton hotels need vending machines. This continent needs vending machines. You know why the Japanese have vending machines and we don't? Because no Japanese would be dumb enough to try rocking something the size and weight of a vending machine to get the money out, and if he did and got squashed flat his family wouldn't *think* of suing the cola company for damages, and if they were demented enough to try the case would be thrown out of court in half a New York second: once it got there, of course. 'You didn't make your machines safe to break into' cuts little ice anywhere but here.)
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The sadness continues: All the vending machines I've seen in the last couple of years dispense plastic bottles, not cans. Perhaps it's a left coast thing.
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But there's also her collection of one-offs, Princess of the lonely island (http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/4257904453/sr=8-39/qid=1160027577/ref=sr_1_39/503-3627220-5980740?ie=UTF8&s=books), as well as My Beautiful Green Palace (http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/4893673890/sr=8-44/qid=1160027577/ref=sr_1_44/503-3627220-5980740?ie=UTF8&s=books) and Song of the Seashore (http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/483426162X/sr=8-13/qid=1160027289/ref=sr_1_13/503-3627220-5980740?ie=UTF8&s=books) and Memories of Flowers (http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/425772143X/sr=8-22/qid=1160027289/ref=sr_1_22/503-3627220-5980740?ie=UTF8&s=books) and Paradise in the Desert (http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/4257721391/sr=8-23/qid=1160027289/ref=sr_1_23/503-3627220-5980740?ie=UTF8&s=books). The last two may only be in bunko format, alas. And feel free to skip anything with birds in the title.
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There's only three other titles of hers that you might find interesting:
雲を殺した男 (http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/4834261727/sr=1-14/qid=1160152635/ref=sr_1_14/250-8402475-7104238?ie=UTF8&s=books)
いとこ同士 (http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/4861340616/ref=sr_11_1/250-8402475-7104238?ie=UTF8)
and the two volume set about the salarymen and junk food. I've the first vol and it's not bad. Good enough that I'll get the 2nd volume if it ever appears in Chinese.
Oh, and I should warn you that I was unimpressed with the Princess of Lonely Island. I don't know if I was skimming too fast or if I was in the wrong mood. If I recall correctly, it's short stories, at least one of which is told in the distant third person and was all 'surreal' and no 'relationship'. The surreal was cool, but I think I was looking for relationship.
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I have Yuki wo Koroshita Otoko on loan from Mimi but I'll need my own copy. It's the one with all the Chinese -_- which for me means work. 'The 2 volume set about the salarymen and the junk food...' Man, just when you think you've reached the end of her oeuvre up pops something new. OK. I leave it to her judgment. But I know M disliked the Daddy-long-legs one, which I'm rather fond of, because the translation was unsubtle and obvious while the Japanese is nothing of the sort. I might like Princess in Japanese better than you liked it in Chinese.
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Books ordered. They don't know if they can get them all, so I don't actually know which ones will be coming. 3-5 weeks from Japan, sooner for those titles they can get from one of the other American stores (the SF store has at least one title).
It's so nice dealing with them, I walked in, they found my name in their computer, I handed them a list of ISBNs and waved goodbye as they started to enter the order in the computer.
Many of these aren't available in Chinese, from what I can tell. So I'll be looking forward to seeing some of the covers!
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Thank you very much. Are they sending them to you all together or as they come in? Err- they *are* sending them to you, yes?
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Thanks for the pointer to that last title.
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OMG believe it. Amazon sends via Purolator. Purolator gets stopped at the border and looked at for possible GST and/or duty. Purolator charges $25 handling fee for the paperwork. Is why I dare not order in any quantity from across the border, and why I was so annoyed that NY didn't have what I wanted.
Overseas merely charges duty, is why my cent demons is sitting at the PO until I cough up $6.50 on a $24 order, snarl. I suppose if the package from the US is large enough (certainly if the value on it is over $60) they might do it too, but so far there's been no problems on packages sent by mail cross border. I'd still recommend envelopes, in spite of your box fetish. ^_^
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