Movie: "Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears" (1980)

"Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears" ("Москва слезам не верит") (1980) - film which is loved by almost everyone in our country.
According to Wikipedia Ronald Reagan watched it several times to understand "Russian soul" before meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev
A lot of memories in this movie....Life in big city and fate of three women struggling for happiness in Moscow . Generation of our parents is depicted and there is something in it that only Russians can feel - this sense of humour, this warmth of old Soviet movies..
Irina Muravyova who played Lyudmila is really good here -Russian great actress and beautiful woman.

Studying: Noboru Nakamura "Introduction to TeraPad"

TeraPad is text editor program which was developed by Japanese programmer Susumu Terao specially for Japanese language inputting and editing, and along with other editors like Hidemaru and EmEditor is one of the most popular programs used in Japan for coding fixing...In my company I use it for HTML corrections and other daily operation work - and decided to examine it`s functions to speed up my workflow as I am still so slow in it all - even simplest tasks take me so much time ... Should say if you are attentive and curious enough you don` t need any books - just check all the menus and tabs..But anyway it did not take much time to read this book and it helped me to learn basic short-cuts and functions.... Now I am reading another cool book - smth like "Introduction to Web Analytics" in Japanese - really interesting! Almost pass my train stop when going home every night.....

Studying: Yoshinori Ikeya "WEB Design Usability"

Sometimes desperate, sometimes happy - I am still struggling in my new way - web design and IT industry.... Never thought I would do smth related to PC and to tell the truth sometimes felt that I made wrong choice...But every day now brings me so much new - new knowledge, new experience and I really enjoy discovering this whole new world. Usability and User Center design is one of the most interesting topics of web-design as they require skills from absolutely different disciplines: research, psychology, design and sometimes just sort of "sense" - ability to feel best balance of elements... This book which my manager lent me has a lot of clues and hints regarding layout, navigation, color scheme of web site from the usability point of view. A lot of examples, pictures and simple language make it a pleasant reading somewhere in cafe.

P.S. This week has started from introduction with Dreamweaver - everything is so new to me! Bought book on it and trying all these functions - really exciting and so simple (afraid I`ll have to fix all tags though, as code seems so dirty and overweight)..

Shikoku&Kansai Trip

When news in Russian net about "nuclear disaster" and absolute calm of Japanese TV just freaked me out - I decided to go anywhere just away from Tokyo that turned into mad city with disappearing bread, water, eggs, milk.....My friend called me and offered to go with him to Kansai and then to Tokushima City where his family lives. And that was my first trip in almost 3 years in Japan!

It was really nice and I felt so refresh and ready to phone attacks from my mother (" Are you OK?" "Don`t you think about coming back to Russia?" "How about radiation level today?"....and so on)

小便小僧 Manikin Piss ......in the middle of nowhere (Tokushima Prefecture)

In town called Komatsushima in Shikoku you can find sculptures, symbols, pictures, signs of "tanuki" (Japanese raccoon dog ) throughout the city

Osaka was so full of energy! Very positive people

....alive

and back in TYO

Movie: "Lupin the Third: Castle of Cagliostro" (1979)

Classis of Japanese anime - film directed by Hayao Miyazaki and the most famous of series about thief Lupin III. Old-fashioned adventure story

Movie: "Confessions" (2010)

Child violence, tons of blood every 5 minutes, euphoria of sadism - all in best traditions of Japanese violent anime and "Battle Royale".... Mixture of such elements should be sold very well in the West (film was even included in Oscar short list of Best Foreign Language Movie) - but I don`t like it - destructive, ugly world...
Good points: cute merry tunes for scenes when people are cut, blown up, beaten, "stylish" camerawork , and cute girl who played heroine named "Mizuho".

Reading: Edvard Radzinsky "The Last Tsar : The Life and Death of Nicholas II"

I remember this photo in my Russian History textbook in high school...only couple of sentences about last Romanov Royal Family and this photo. I was looking at people on it - young girls, tsar, his German wife, son - all cold-bloodedly killed in the tragic time of Russian history and asked questions to myself: why in our country we haven`t known about family of last Russian tsar for so long time (only in 1993 they started to write about them and public photos in History textbooks), how we could so easily forget about this tragedy - tragedy of history and tragedy of this family in particular...
Radzinsky is very famous writer and TV host in Russia. His books on Stalin, Nicholas II, Rasputin are bestsellers not only in our country but abroad as well...

Should admit that sometimes he is too much melodramatic in this book about last Russian tsar, sometimes not accurate with facts of history and documents when uses only those which match the story he is reconstructing for his reader..But with all that we should not forget that he writes not historical textbook or research work - it is sort of history novel .. Novel which was interesting but very hard to read - the more you follow author - the more depressing feeling of tragedy in last Royal Family carries you away...

It was very hard week - I spent it in Shikoku - checking Internet news and TV every 5 min. and seeing how more and more of my friends foreigners were leaving Japan...This book - especially chapters about Siberian exile of Royal Family even more aggravated depression feeling in this hard time....

But last Chapter finished in shinkansen heading back to Tokyo and tomorrow will be a new day - first working day after almost a week - and it seems all unpleasant thoughts and memories have already gone away with the last page of thebook...

Remember the time

Japan gave me wonderful experience of completely different professions - in only 2 years I was a model, a TV program host, sales man, web designer, translator....
Here is "model"... Nice memories and I really miss the time, but I will hardly do it again..
Now I am struggling not to become Japanese zombie-salariman without individuality as they try people to be like and surprisingly my other professions especially such "childish" like this help me not take it all seriously and enjoy my life.... You never know where you will be tomorrow and what you will be ... so the only important thing is you

**Just realised - in all photos the same pose....
They always said : "just stand like you are standing now..."

Iroquois 2010

GANT (Mitsukoshi Sendai) 2007

IYATAKA Group (Akita) Bridal Fair Oct. 2010

Number (N)ine ("POP-EYE" 2009)
(photo by Yasuyuki Takaki

style by Yosuke Matsushita)

"TAKEO KIKUCHI" (2010 S/S)
photo by Toru Kitahara

"STUSSY"mook 2010
style by Yosuke Matsushita

"UNDERCOVERISM"2010 S/S mook (photo by Katsuhide Morimoto)

Studying: "HTML+CSS Handbook"

Finished!!3 months reading in morning train this heavy 700-page Handbook...I guess for Computer skills and knowledge rather than read books you should do it in practice..but it is my addiction to "written knowledge"..maybe wrong, but before doing smth I should read a book on it. This one was sort of dictionary of HTML tags in it`s first part and CSS in the second . Not bad for beginners- examples (with mistakes sometimes) also help you understand the subject. Next I want to check functions of TeraPad - Japanese text editor I use in my job - all these short-cuts and other functions to speed up coding/code fixing process (TeraPad is not the best editor yet and sometimes just piss me when it cannot read Thai or Korean symbols)..

Movie: "Last Tango In Paris" (1972)

Film by Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci with American actor Marlon Brando (famous by his role in "Godfather").. Passionate physical relationship of Woman and Man - something animal in the way they treat each other...From the first minutes I realised how it is amazing - in European films they depict everything in a completely different way...There is no typical plot patterns , typical heroes you`ve got used to see in Hollywood movies...
In Bertolucci film they are real and unpredictable....
Marlon Brando is really good in his dramatic role and music in the movie is wonderful.

Bouzu

...... Halloween 2009..I feel like it was yesterday. Natalia as Ugly Betty and Dima as Dima.

Hi! ...these 3 months were busy time when I was getting used to working in new environment ... adaption is still in the process but I feel more confident and calm down now..

On the other hand my English is catastrophically getting worse and worse, stranger and stranger and I feel I am transforming in someone who speaks three languages but not well enough all three of them.

Today went to have my hair cut (Great Hair Cutting Day is one of the most stressful days for me maybe after the day when I visit doctor -) you never know what the result will look like and when you ask Japanese hair stylists : "Please cut my hair short " (which is called here "bouzu") they cut your hair "a-la-Nakata Hidetoshi" which I hate so much and every time I have to adjust everything by myself in the bathroom...

This time I found picture in "FACE HUNTER", went to print it out (2 photos with Zoom) and again disaster..And again I am looking for new hair salon for the next time...

anyhow i was supposed to look　like this cool fella with my hand -thick chains...i tried to explain them ...

From end of the year I am in shopping for my new house..
I bought carpet,

all stuff for kitchen

...and "gorgeous" curtains ...next will be refrigerator and washing machine and TV...and table and sofa...and chair....and maybe only then (1 year to wait?) I will feel myself as a normal citizen of this city but not poor Russian immigrant..

Anyhow, life is getting better..It is really warm these days and people are ready to welcome spring.
Me too...Hope March will bring something interesting!

Movie: "La vita e bella" ("Life is beautiful") (1997)

Some unrealistic feeling of describing war in this film - full of radiant Italian humour, Roberto Benigni comedian play and reality of war on the other hand, which transformed into some wonderful game in hero imagination.

Want to watch European movies more- it is completely different way they see world and describe it in art - Italian people have such positive attitude towards reality! And Italian language is just amazing - reflexion of their nationality.

Reading: F. Scott Fitzgerald "The Great Gatsby" (1925)

It was favorite book of Watanabe-kun, hero of "Norwegian Wood" novel by Haruki Murakami, so I decided to read....
Very sad story about pure heart of a man and it`s dissonance with surrounding world...It`s story about ambitious to be on the top of life, which however finally end up in loneliness - how it is lonely to be not as everyone around.
Discovering wonderful American classic literature is my goal for this year

**I read this novel every day in train on my way to the company and back, and from the first page realised that I need pencil to check words - in all junk we hear every day it gives you true "therapy" to read such book , such beautiful language of the author.

Movie:" Hangover" (2009)

Silly comedy in the morning (not so funny actually as I expected) and next is...HTML studying..

P.S. It is snowing in Tokyo now - it reminds me Russia

Movie: "Juggernaut" (1974)

Another terrorist-movie from TSUTAYA recommendation.
Young..(not so young actually)... Anthony Hopkins is surprisingly not main hero and plays some insignificant policeman.. Amazing British accent of actors (film is British) and
Richard Harris (who resembles my father in this movie) as brave bomb-disposal expert...
No CG is so good in this film - and in all disaster movies produced in 70s..

And that thrilling feel when you watch Richard Harris hero at his work :
"Here we have blue and red cords..So which I should cut...3 minutes left...1200 people on board..."

Remember the time: 2010 Catalog for "OVER THE STRiPES"

Japanese street fashion brand "OVER THE STRiPES" - shooting for 2010 catalog last spring or summer: maintenance shop, cool vintage cars, "gangsta tripping" in the middle of Tokyo.

Movie: "Zero Focus" (2009)

Film based on a detective novel by famous Japanese writer Seicho Matsumoto. Intriguing plot and very beautiful reconstruction of post-war Japan. Plus three actress - Ryoko Hirose, Miki Nakatani and Tae Kimura - beautiful women and really good play - especially Miki Nakatani as Sachiko.

Story begins when husband of Teiko who had worked for some period in distant city - Kanazawa and should have returned to Tokyo suddenly disappeared.. She decided to go to Kanazawa and find out what happened to him. And then she found how little she knew about him and his past - complicated relationships, new deaths and mysterious woman in red who kills everybody who tries to find out reasons of Teiko`s husband strange disappearance..

Plus: film depicting strong women and their struggling for happiness - good for those who like such sort of "girl power" stories.