New chapter and overstocking books.

Hello, I'm back : D
I decided to come back a while ago, but I'm only making it back here now... Why let a good thing end? I'm enjoying writing things down, and it helps to clarify what I want to say. It's good practice communicating, getting your point across about what you like, while of course, trying not to bore the other people. So people, if there is something that you feel is helping you in some way, try and explore it and persevere. Don't let it slip away, you might never come back. OK! Well, it's actually half-past midnight, so I'm off to bed :) Make sure you go out there and get lots of experiences, or work your way up to it at, if you're feeling a little shy. I'm not someone who leaves people behind.

Write again soon, hopefully, although I am going to enjoy this break back home and planning on cooking and cooking and talking all day.

Take care everyone!! :)

Aaah this post will need re-writing Hahaaaa, Not doing it now though..

By the way, I picked up a book in Kmart today, and it was excellent :) Jackie Collins "Chances", it's a mature book, the plot will probably eventually involve a murder, but in the first chapters I read while standing in front of the 'New Arrivals' shelf, it just involves high-living, charisma and sex. Oh, and a mafia family. YAYNESS. Hahahaaaa, I don't normally read these types of books, but it's by an International Best seller, so I'm pretty sure it's not just my opinion, and the book is actually very well written. Incidentally, I noticed that an entire section of shelves was dedicated to 'Fifty Shades Of Grey'; last time I saw that scale of over-stocking was let's see, The Twilight Series; before that Harry Potter; and before that... maybe the ERAGON/IHERITANCE cycle. Incidentally, I met the author of that last series once, he came across as a nice guy. I got proof that day however, that authors are not necessarily good book readers to an audience. I honestly have no idea How he couldn't hear that he was speaking too close to the microphone, maybe he was just too into his infectious enthusiasm to notice. 

Assessment 3 Blog Post

Assessment #3 Blog Post

Hello, Goodbye, The course is over and all the topics are done, goodbye MPI104, it's been interesting :) Over the course of MPI104 We learned the basics about social networks on the internet, a brief history, and quickly how to utilise these sites ourselves. This led to topics on designing on the web, and creating our own sites. The interaction with the internet getting deeper until we got to our second/last (this is a progress assignment) assignment wherein we acually left our own website footprint on the web, pretty cool.


MPI104 Blog 20 Posts; 3 pages; 1 Favicon; 13 gadgets; 2 RSS feeds; 1 counter 
Blogging, on My Blog was an interesting experience, which I'd never tried before. I think it was really useful to be introduced to blogging, and when you take some time and and effort it can really work out well and be worthwhile. SOme of the time though, It felt a bit rushed and forced because it's an assessment and not a natural interest in putting your thoughts out there like a normal blog. I experimented with templates, design layouts, gadgets and making the blog accessible and appealing. I tried to put a lot of effort and detail into my posts, with images, links, written information, and video clips. My favourite part was learning how to embed video, hide the text for a link, and create my own HTML counter when the gadgets were down, from the knowledge we'd got in the HTML topic.
Here are some of my favourite posts:
All things Japan - The Sydney Japanese Film Festivall
All Things Japanese - Yakisoba (fried noodle dish)
All Things Japan - J-pop
All Things Japan - The call of Korean Dramas

My delicious account 11 stacks; 78 links
In Delicious I learned about sorting links into topics, which got more interesting the more I did it. The best part for me, in this section, was learning about what other people find interesting, by looking at the Hit Counter. This led to a better understanding of designing on the web, which will be useful in the future, when I venture out on the web universe.
Stacks and link counter:
MPI104 links 7 links
Mangamania 6 links
Fruit alone 8 links
Popular dishes Eaten in Japan 7 links
Message Hats 4 links
Design Fingernail Art! 5 links
Discontinued modern Olympic Sports 7 links
Guinea pigs 5 links
Language learning for kids (free sites only) 6 links
VOCALOID DESU SHI! 12 links
Secret Garden (Korean): Soundtrack 10 links

My Flickr Account 64 items; 5 sets; 1 gallery; 10 Favourites
Learning about Flickr was an introduction into the photo-sharing community of the web, and gave me an insight into interesting and unusual imagery which I am happy to be amazed by every day. From Flickr I got more of an interest in the photography community, and the networks of image sharingf - how popular and useful they are for getting your work out there and appreciated/judged.

Learning about HTML and creating a webspace would have been way better if there'd been more time for it. I really like the idea of HTML and learning how to write up some script has been pretty useful. Because my webspace didn't upload properly I don't really feel a sense of having accomplished making my own site, and feel a bit of a nube still at it all, which I am but hey! It was brilliant learning about each new thing though, like getting a window peek into a whole new world "programmer world" :D RSS was challenging and linking up the CSS sheet, but it was fun. I wish I had something more interesting to create a web site about though, I hadn't really had many good ideas for reaching other people, it felt like being told to sit down and write a novel when you never really thought about being a writer before.

I liked MPI104. The class atmosphere was fun, although sometimes I couldn't keep up with the speed. :) Thanks for being an awesome lecturer :D'

All Things Japan - The call of Korean Dramas

When I was living in Japan, I discovered the mass-following of Korean Dramas. Japan has it's own thriving TV serial and drama industry, but it is very closely tied to the Korean industry, and would be hard to say which is more popular (as far as I could see, although, statistics would probably have a concrete answer).
I was first introduced to Korean Dramas by my second host family, the lovely lovely Yamaoka-san's (the suffix -san, is a generic polite term attached to names, first or last. In Japanese culture it is not impolite to address a work colleague or classmate by their last name if you are not paticularly close. Or i you wish to convey a respectful distance in your relationship to that person. Or if you just want to show you respect them, and value them For how close you are. Japanese Manners are convoluted but interesting.)

The mother of that family, whom I grew close to in the two months I lived in their apartment by the mountain and the river, was (and hopefully still is) a keen fan of Korean Dramas, and so introduced me early on to them, in an effort to find out what I was interested in, and share her interests with her new houseguest/host family member.

Thus, I met "Ikemen desu ne" - the Japanese title meaning 'Good looking {boy} isn't {he/she}'. And fell in love. Korean Dramas, I found out, are addictive to watch!! I lost whole nights staying up to find out via youtube, what happens in the next chapter. They're just so funny and engaging, much more so than I expected (I really had no concept of what they would be like), and since that time, I've become a die-hard fan, meeting many more people who are interested in Korean and Japanese dramas, a collective interest society I previously never knew existed. Nice to meet you! Welcome, sit down, and tell us what ones' you've seen and what was the best about it?!

"Ikemen desu ne", when I first watched it, was Korean acted and voiced, dubbed in Japanese with Japanese subtitles (because it was broadcasted for the Japanese audience); but online on youtube and drama-streaming sites that allow people with no access to foreign films, inclusion i.e. dramacrazy.net.To be included in the culture they've come to love, many people out there, like me, are very grateful to you uploaders and translators Cheers guys!!

Known to the english audience as "You Are Beautiful!", "Ikemen desu ne", although the very first drama I ever saw in both the Japanese and Korean drama categories, still holds it's quality level after I can now compare the plot, acting and dialogue to a longer and longer list of dramas. You can find out more information on them here :). Here is a clip, not of the pilot, which is slow as is usual for dramas, before the plot builds and all the characters come together and establish a setting and context for their interactions. This is Episode 4, part 4, where the band of three guys and the undercover girl are already put together, and they are preparing for their first performance when complications arise with the rival idols at the studio...


Hahaha, I'm terrible at selling things, it's better than how I can make it sound :) I apologise director and cast etc!

And here is the 2PM parody :D PLease please, let some people who are familiar with Korean pop groups and dramas watch this _ it was like watching the Dream High 1 and 2 cast do Ikemen desu ne, with Jason as Com In Nam :D
Unfortunately there is no embed HTML, so only a link here

Some of my favourite dramas, (since I started watching like a TV addict) are:

Secret Garden (Korean)
A high-class, eich young man with no understadning or interest in the middle and lower classes finds himself drawn inexplicably to a brash and disinterested stunt actor woman, who doesn't interact with him nor he with her in the way they would wish. Complications build, including a soul/body swap :D
(BEST QUALITY is on dramacrazy.net
Here is a clip-mix youtube AMV to one of the theme music tracks; just for video awesomeness (better to watch than to read about a drama :)



Dream High season 1 (Korean)
Set in a performing arts high school for producing idols for the Korean entertainment companies to scout. Featuring real-life Korean idols as actors, playing students trying to make it to the big time for the first time.
(For teenagers more than Secret Garden)
Ep. 13 featuring my favourite singing duet in the show :)



Hana-Kimi (Japanese)
A naive girl disguises herself as a boy and enters a boys-only school in order to pay back a debt she believes she owes to one of the students. Antics ensue
Ep 2 (where she is already in the school)



Koizora "Sky of Love" (Japanese)
A tragedy that, like Romeo and Juliet, forewarns the watcher at the opening, of the death of one of the central characters. It spans many years in time-lapse. Sometimes, dark, and challenging, and usually sad and romantic, this is the first episode, which is the tone-setter for the series:



saa, iku-zo, ja, mata ne.

All Things Japan - J-pop

The other day someone asked me to recommend some good Japanese rock music to listen to. I was stuck for a bit, because really, so much of "mainstream" Japanese music, played on the radio and as soundtracks for anime, and on the Japanese music countdowns - are pretty similar.
It's called "J-Pop" and it means "popular music" "J" bening for "Japanese". Hence in "K-Pop", the meaning is the same, with the "K" meaning "Korean".

Here are some sites that tell you a bit more about J-pop and K-pop.

The current big names in J-Pop in terms of female groups, that I remember from when I was living there last year are probably AKB48 (The whole business of AKB48 is a massive conglomerate), and Perfume. I'm sure there are many more big names, but those two stood out for different reasons. I had to perform the AKB48 song 'Surprise tears" with my class



 for the school festival, and the Perfume song "Laserbeam"



for my HPE dance assessment. The boys and girls had separate subjects, which was backwards as -.-

So when my friend asked me to suggest a "rock" song, I had trouble thinking of many female-voiced songs (there definately are female rock bands in Japanese music, but they weren't on the itunes lists my freinds had offered to my ipod to autofill haha).

Which leaves male voiced songs. And the first one's I thought of were "GReeeN", "SMAP" and "EXILE". Of these, none are rock. hahaha, they were my first thoughts ok!
I do love some of their songs though haha,
so here's GReeeeN's "Kiseki" as sung by a 'gaijin' (foreigner) :D




And after hunting some down, here is some info on Japanese Rock music in manga:

NANA the hit ongoing manga, turned anime, turned live action movie, with Rock singer lead and featuring several bands.
image courtesy of this photobucket site

"Rock You" is an original song, performed in the story by lead character NANA's rival rock group "Trapnest":



If you're interested in the anime a bit now - and even if you aren't haha - here's an AMV "A little Pain" no subs, rolling clips of the anime featuring the painful love relationships between the two title NANA characters (two girls with the same name meet by coincidence and despite living very different lives, by sharing a new room in Tokyo, come to be tied closer and closer together, their complicated lives pulling them forward into deeper depths of love and sadness with the people around them.):



Another rock manga is of course, Princess AI,

Princess Ai, lyrics to "Angel Back in Heaven".
Image courtesy of anime wallpapers

(Princess Love) created by Courtney Love (yes - Kurt Cobain fame Courtney Love) and artist DJ Milky. Beautifully drawn, it's a crime it's not an anime yet, and the lateset set of books has crawled to a very slow production schedule (I'mm not sure why, whether the whole project is on hold, or like NANA's creator, someone integral to Princess Ai is sick at the moment). A manga which also heavily features a rock and roll storyline and original music tracks; like "Suicide Ride", "Broken Leash", "Daughter of Death".

'Suicide Ride', sung by Skye Marsden


'Broken Leash', live performance (really not the best performance) BUT features some anime clips specifically created : D (there is no source anime. So this is pretty special!!)


'Look out for Love' AMV


So there you go. Next time I'll actually have some Rock to recommend :) Awesome.
Hahaha, have a happy ending of Uni Session guys!!

MPI Assessment 2 - HTML WEBSITE

ASSESSMENT #2

Creating a web page was challenging, I'd never tried to do anything like this before. In class we created basic webpages (well, I wrote down the codes in a book, there weren't enough computers) using notepad and HTML language. That evolved to CSS pages, for externally controlling the design of the HTML page. HTML was fun and not too difficult at all, CSS caused a few problems until I got a good grasp on the labelling and linking process to get the two pages to communicate. There was a small but warm feeling of accomplishment when they synced up. Next was RSS, which was a nightmare of unknown blundering about. For RSS I'd recommend you just have to keep soldiering on and trying different options and links until it works for you. I found I had to look on a few websites and discover things that the tutorials had ommitted or assumed, or I was just too.. mentally well-fortified to get quickly. The process of self-discovery of what works and what doesn't, in making a website, was just as important to me as recieving the advice of tutorials, seniors and classmates. There are a few books in the library (challenging a phone directory in depth) to help learn about HTML tag-up language, although the website w3schools was more accessible (speedy links and takes up no space), for learning about crazy option like animation, background image borders, adding audio and youtube. A lot of these codes didn't translate unfortunately, but the idea is exciting. Most of all the interest of others in what you're doing and your own interest in creating a website about something that communicates with you is what kept me going I found. But it's fun once it all starts coming together and the pages are interacting properly. Best feeling :D I don't know if it's the success of Finally succeeding at getting this RSS page listen to the HTML page and CSS page, or it could be the Eminem on my iPod, but either way right now the feeling when it all starts to work together is really good.  The design of my web page is a bit Andy Warhol slightly spacey and random, I'd seen it before in other people's style and I thought it was beautiful and slightly disconnected from reality. So I wanted to try it too haha.

All Things Japanese - Sayonara by Off Course

Beautiful :)

SAYONARA (GOODBYE)

by Off Course

I love this. I love a wide range of things, I try not to leave anything or anyone out, although I often fail, but this - I just absolutely ... love ..

^.^

MPI Flickr Updates

Hey! -Hey. Welcome back, if you're reading this to the live streaming you'll notice how close this post is to the previous one - that's because they're updates people; divided up specifically into Delicious and Flickr to help with the navigating around to what you want to read about specifically :P ok. Now that that's out of the way haha like someone's standing at my shoulder saying "Write it! Write it!", let's get down to business. Or rather, leisure more like. Flickr. Yaaaay...!! More photos are up chaps and chappesses; of my time in Japan. They still need a bit of fine-tuning and sorting when I get my hands on a decent computer (tagging and putting into sets and a few doubles in need of removal), but for now the photos in the raw are up. If you're feeling hungry, or what would be better suited to Flickr - if yourself like LOOKING at food, do go and check out the traditional style Jpanese meals I was served on my school trip to Nagasaki with my Yearmates of Senior Highschool 2nd year - equivalent to Australian Year 11, in French it May be "La Deuxième" (fairly sure I've got the gender and accent wrong there - and hopefully not the word itself) and any other nationalities I'm sorry I haven't a clue. Also uploaded are Akihabara (Electric City) and Tokyo City roaming photos (nothing too flash :), as well as Japanese style outdoor BBQ in the most beautiful domestically cultivated Traditional style garden setting I was ever graced by the invitation into. My charming, lovely host grandparents of my second and deadly sliced host family, welcomed me into their home and garden, about which I was informed in halting but eager English on the "things you need to make a Japanese garden". Wait one cotton-picking-second, I should have them here on me somewhere - be right back, just be a jiffy :) Ah, I'm having fun with these sayings - I slipped "holy mackerel" into a Facebook conversation earlier today hahaha good times:D Japanese garden - Nihongo no niwa Three principles: 1. Be with nature 2. Central Pine tree 3. Big rock like a mountain, with a "fall" hole in the top, reaching down into the stone. Also a pond at the base, and a river - or grass shaped like a river. With Bonzai, it is the most beautiful if it is shaped with a branch out to the side, the plant leaning to the side. The idea is a condensed world of nature, close to the heart. This is the principle of a Japanese garden. Sumi: charcoal Niwa: garden Fuji: type of plant Hashi: chopsticks Ari: ant Mukashi: long time ago Hasami: tongs Yuge: steam Kemuri: smoke Hachi: bee Kumanbachi: bear bee (this big black flying beetle looking thing) Satsumaimo: sweet potato from Satsuma Satsuma: place  Imo: potato Those last words were ones I learned during the course of the BBQ. You've got toget into it and ask questions, there's no other way of tying involved more than showing you're interested, however that comes across for you (standing on their toes and trying to peer deeply into their eyeballs probably isn't the best way to do it though.) Ending in Japanese, because it's a good time to do it ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ until next time ☆彡 もう終わりだね 君が小さく見える 僕は思わず君を抱き締めたくなる "私は泣かないからこのまま一人にして" 君の穂を涙が流れては落ちる 。。。 -「Sayonara」by Off Course If anyone else ever wrote a song like this, and sung it like they did, I'd fall in love with them in an instant

MPI Delicious updates

Hey people, Just putting an alert up there that I've been gradually adding to my other assessment sites, Delicious and Flickr, and so, feel free to check them out and see what's new. It may not be your up of tea, but I've added about five new stacks to Delicious, so chances are there might be one that appeals to you :D Here's hoping. The previous stacks were on "This Assessment links"; "Manga Links"; and "Fruit alone" - which, for Tge biz rarity of its name has attracted an unfathomably large amount of views for a stack just on types of fruit -.^ Not that I'm complaining, that's great (probably, well I can't see any sinister reason) that people are paying more attention to health and nutrition and fruit :D More power to you. For my part I've added a few more links to these older stacks, but here's where it gets exciting *trumpets* dandadaah!! New stacks! I don't know that I'm remembering them all right now, but I'll give it a shot: Popular Meals Eaten in Japan; Message Hats; Discontinued Modern Olympic Sports; Design Your Own Fingernail Art; Guinea-Pigs :D Yes, broad and diverse and interesting haha, I hope there's something there one thing at least for most people - if not, I'll just have to add newer and more interestinger ;) stacks until I get you all on board. Share the huge guys, Happy Wednesday from Australia xox

All Things Japan - Basho's Poetry

Basho is a classic in Poetry history, famous for his haikus - books of them, all written in Japanese, with succinctness and"beauty of concept".
There.
Here is a site with all lists and info - follow it up! Yeah!
Here's the first para from That Site - no copyright infringements intended:
 Bashō was born Matsuo Kinsaku around 1644, somewhere near Ueno in Iga Province. His father may have been a low-ranking samurai, which would have promised Bashō a career in the military but not much chance of a notable life. It was traditionally claimed by biographers that he worked in the kitchens. However, as a child Bashō became a servant to Tōdō Yoshitada, who shared with Bashō a love for haikai no renga, a form of cooperative poetry composition. The sequences were opened with a verse in the 5-7-5 mora format; this verse was named a hokku, and would later be renamed haiku when presented as stand-alone works.

Annnd here are some of his popular poems, translated into English:
  From, once again That Site.

A Ball of Snow

you make the fire
and I’ll show you something wonderful:
a big ball of snow!

Matsuo Basho

A caterpillar

A caterpillar,
this deep in fall--
still not a butterfly.


Translated by Robert Hass

Matsuo Basho

A cold rain starting

A cold rain starting
And no hat --
So?

Matsuo Basho

..and you know what? I'm really thinking that they must lose a Heck of a lot in the translating process.

 

I apologise to all people who came here in seriousness or interest to find the excellent works of Basho. I'll have to update this page later, when I get a good long chance.

 

All Things Japan - Sweet tooth food photos

Hey there -
One of my favourite things to eat are sweet things. Desserts basically. So when I went to Japan I made sure to sample all they had to offer, which was a whole culture of flavours, filling, and cooking and eating techniques. I fell in love with manju (pounded rice) bitten into with a glass of milk, and steamy hot taiyaki devoured in the mall, pocky was crunched down in the packet-fulls, and anko paste became I well-treasured dessert, despite how overly-sickly sweet it tasted at first.

MANJU

Different styles and flavours of manju (pounded rice cakes)
Image thanks to Daily Feed

TAIYAKI

Taiyaki (the fish-shaped ones) being cooked with anko (sweet red bean paste) filling.
Image thanks to  Japanese People, Japanese Life.

A taiyaki.. about to be eaten
The Asia Trip: Japan Taiyaki

A Taiyaki shop in the mall
The Asia Trip: Japan Taiyaki

POCKY

Box of the eponymously branded
(and much  reproduced under pseudonyms)
POCKY
Asian Food Grocer

Pocky in a glass mmmyum...
confectionaries

Here are the photos of some sweet things I ate while in Japan - because when you eat something in Japan, you take a photo of it. Don't question it, it's amazing. YUM :D

Chocolate coated bananas studded with lollies

Lindt bunnies (mailed from Australia for Easter)

Matcha and adzuki bean sauce, with lots of cream; and macaroons

Sponge, cream, fruits, crepe encased Birthday cake. Ah-yum

Cakes in a window

Toffee Strawberry

Crepes menu

All Things Japanese - Yakisoba (fried noodle dish)

Hey guys ^^) - have you found yourself wondering what you can cook up for dinner tonight, or tomorrow - or at midnight when you need a snack to just- keep- animating-! (that last one's not health check supported, ok? Especially if its all chocolate bunnies and cookies&cream ice-cream like me. So don't go cooking up really late at night - your arteries will clog up, die, rise up and Haunt you. Or you'll end up getting a sugar addiction and become too sweet for your own good... hahahahahaha : D)

Well - if you have, which is likely, I introduce... Yakisoba, a very very yummy dish:

YAKISOBA
by google images

Ok, so!  "Yakisoba" -  translates, according to my host mums, as literally "baked noodles". "yaki" reffering to the baking process and "soba" referring to the noodles. As you are probably aware, 'soba' is a style of noodles that are long, skinny (tradionally a mottled grey)and well associated with Japan.

chopping up sheets of soba noodles, image courtesy of this website on cuisine and restaurants 

Plain soba noodles are yummy-ish, if drowned in a lot of good sauce and eaten with chopped up shallots. The sauce is served hot in Winter and Cold in Summer. They also serve it at midnight on New Year's Day and it's good manners (like having a housewarming) to deliver "moving in soba" to new neighbours.There's probably a few other places its expected to show up, it's just that sort of ingrained culturally traditional meal that's survived the passing of time.

"moving in soba" - is hilariously alluded to "Angel Densetsu" a manga by the same author who brought us 'Claymore'. Angel Densetsu is one of her earliest, if not the earliest, published works by Yagi, Norihiro. It's available free on Mangareader.net - the link to the series here and the chapter specific right here.

 My first couple of nights in Japan included being introduced to home-made soba, and both the sauces. It was a little difficult to enjoy the first time to be honest. 

How to eat Soba from ChefTaro - who knows how to eat all sorts of Japanese dishes, and likes sharing his knowledge in fun, cartoon guides *^^*

It's not like in a stir-fry, all slightly baked and seasoned; eaten between bites of veggies...mmm...really could do with some stir-fry right now. But that's not..really... relevant... *gazes off into the distance*

Here's the minimalistic, traditional way of serving it, from the menu of a soba restaurant written about in this guys blog:
Draining on a sliced bamboo matt, the noodles are eaten with chopsticks

Traditional Soba, served in a restaurant. Image courtesy of the blog (see previous para)

The two small, shallow bowls are chopped shallots and garlic (to add to the sauce).
The green liquid is tea. The dark liquid is the sauce.
As you can imagine, dipping the noodles into that small cup and slurping them up after, creates quite a mess. Don't wear white, ok?

Soba noodles. Google images

Yakisoba noodles (the noodles used specifically for this dish) are not this kind of soba. In Australian supermarkets, they can be found in airless-sealed plastic packets; labelled "Hokkien Noodles".

Google images

Yakisoba recipes, apart from their base of noodles, usually vary wildly on the additional veggies. The traditional, and delicious whiel remaining simple version is: Hokkien noodles, baked in a frypan with oil; chopped up cabbage, tossed in with the noodles, sliced up carrot, sliced up onion, and fried up pork strips. Very quick and easy to make and eat. When you buy it from a shop however, it will normally also be served with pink crunchy pickled radish, with a sharp sour taste distinctive to pickles.

This great Yakisoba recipe can be found here:
This recipe, adapted to a more western-style taste-pallet, may appeal to to you more than cabbage, carrot and pork. Here they have shown how to include chicken, prawns, sesame seeds and egg.

Yaki soba noodles

Photography by Ben Dearnley

Use your noodle and make dinner quick and easy tonight!

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 250g dried soba or ramen noodles (see note)
• 100ml reduced-salt soy sauce
• 3 teaspoons caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil
• 150g green prawns, peeled, deveined, chopped
• 1 cup beansprouts
• 1 cup shredded cooked chicken
• 1 carrot, peeled, cut into thin matchsticks
• 3 green onions, thinly sliced diagonally
• 1/2 red capsicum, thinly sliced
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted

Method

1. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil over high heat. Add noodles. Cook, uncovered, for 3 minutes or until just tender. Drain. Rinse under warm water. Set aside to drain.
2. Combine soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil in a microwave-safe jug. Microwave on high (100%) for 1 minute or until hot. Stir and set aside.
3. Heat peanut oil in a wok over high heat. Add prawns and stir-fry for 1 to 2 minutes or until prawns change colour. Add beansprouts, chicken, carrot, green onions, capsicum and soy mixture. Stir-fry for 1 minute. Add noodles and toss to combine.
4. Pour egg over noodles. Cook, tossing gently, for 1 to 2 minutes or until egg just sets. Divide noodles between bowls. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve.

Notes

• Soba noodles are made from buckwheat and wheat flour and are dark brown/grey. You can find them in the Asian section of the supermarket.
• Keep warm this winter with our selection of casseroles, slow cooker recipes, soup recipes and pasta bakes.
  

All things Japan - The Sydney Japanese Film Festivall

Recapping a bit here;
This holidays you may have been like me, lucky enough to go to the Japanese film festival held on the second floor of Chifley Plaza; Sydney. Running from the 16th to the 20th of April, they screened interesting, quirky and popular films for a whole week, everyday at 2:00pm and 6:00pm. The adverstisement went:

Japanese Cinema Week

Promotional design from The official website

In 2012 The Japan Foundation Sydney will be showcasing Japanese cinema during the April, June and September school holidays. Broaden your horizons beyond Godzilla and Gamera and be introduced to the best of contemporary Japanese cinema. 

When: Monday 16 to Friday 20 April.
Where: Japan Foundation Multipurpose Room, Shop 23, Level 1, Chifley Plaza, 2 Chifley Square, Sydney.
What's On: Movies for children will screen at 2pm and movies for adults at 6.30 pm throughout the week. All films are in Japanese with English subtitles. 
More Information: You can download a program here. Admission is free but bookings are essential. Email reception@jpf.org.au or phone 02 8239 0055. Website www.jpf.org.au/index.html


I wanted to go for every screening all week, with my Sydney-sider older sister who told me about it; unfortunately due to delayed study, sudden work opportunities and I suppose.. poor time management.. I ended up seeing only one film. But hey - the Thursday screening of "Sumo Do, Sumo Don't" really was excellent So it all turned out ok :)

Available from the DVD Warehouse website

Sumo Do, Sumo Don't
According to movie information powerhouse IMDb; this film was released in 1992 (Hey! My birthday year :) That's nice)

Director: 

Masayuki Suo

Writer: 

Masayuki Suo

Stars:

 Masahiro Motoki, Misa Shimizu and Naoto Takenaka

It's a foreign foreign language film (Japanese dialogue; optional english subtitles).
 Go see it. Really pretty fun. Synopsis: A struggling Sumo Wrestling club has to gain five members or it will close down; the resulting lack-lustre team of largely unwilling team-mates ensures that the road to a successful competition championship will not go smoothly. A comedy with romantic subplot; which detours briefly into examining Japanese culture in regards to a traditional sport, changing gender roles in sport... and where courage, stupidity, desire for friendship and sheer lack of options may get you.  : D

The team :P (film still courtesy Asiabeam)

However, if you happen to be unfamiliar with Japanese manga and anime - ish storylines, you may find yourself a little.. befuzzled..
I watched it going - hey this is totally from a manga, look what they're doing - people who don't know manga would have no idea Why the plot turned out like that... (in saying that, I'm not sure that it was from a mange, or they just really used a lot of some kind of staple story features - the stereotyping of the foreigner's language skills + sneering attiitude towards japanese culture that undergoes an "enlightening" process; the larger, unpopular girl with courage and kindness whose determination leads her to recognition (not always victory) over her love-rivals; the effeminate boy whose male friends always force into cross-dressing and etc etc
Then again, I didn't ask my sister (a lapse, in hindsight) how she found it, so perhaps it was still interesting. Like watching the Harry Potter 4 movie without reading the book - they made a mess of that one.

ok, having done some hunting, here's the link to a blogger who's got a few more opinions to share on the whole affair.

But how is this all relevant now? It's all over now right?
...Well.
Here's the thing, it was a "testing audience reception" event in some ways - depending on how the whole event went down the organisers - The Japan Foundation, Sydney - are thinking of making it an annual or even bi-annual event, so if you missed out this time, you'll now be all wised up for next time. More thinking space :D
What's more, The Japan Foundation Sydney do a variety of events, workshops and programs throughout the entire year, so now that you've heard about it, you can go to their website and check it out yourself. ta-daa! here you go.
really, it seems like a good organisation people, with strong humanitarian motives behind a lot of their stuff - and that's just from me glancing at the front page; they make it very clear. So that's very good, can't have too much love and awareness in the world - and Heck Yes it's all Japanesey on the side, so that's great too.

Japanese peace crane - cheers google images

google images

Happy Drama viewing :D xx

Assessment #1 blog post

Assessment #1 blog post; the summary...

=Blogger=
+ Posts: 8 This includes MPI104 related and theme related. My running theme was 'All Things Japan', which were the most interesting of my posts, about Japanese art and photography; Language skills and TV dramas; Celebrating your birthday overseas. I tried my best to be consistently interesting though... so feel free to read some of the others ^^)
+ Work done on aesthetics: In Template I customised my blog Template (from 'Travel'); where I also adjusted the widths, layout, and text fonts and colours. I tried for a colour scheme that matched up/complemented each part (i.e. text, background).
+ Comments on other blogs (and the links to the comments) can be found on this post - "Miscellaneous post commenting".
+ The tags I used: assessment blog, Birthdays, blogging, blog viewing, celebrating, comments, crucial post, delicious, first post, Flickr, Gifu FC, Gokusen, Hope Maguire, interesting topics, Japan, Japanese art, Japanese drama, language techniques., Matt Barron Lecturer, mpi104_2012, MPI104, New Gallery, Physical Japan, soccer fans, stacks.
+ Other work I've done on blogger:  I added gadgets to my sidebars (Fish, MP3 player, Diggs) and below posts bar. I re-arranged how the parts of the blog were set up in "Layout". I designed a favicon for my URL - so that ever time you have my blog URL up, it won't have the orange "B" for the blogger site, but my own symbol linking it visually to my site. I added two more pages to my MPI104 blog, that are URL links to the relating MPI104 Flickr and MPI104 Del.icio.us sites. I called the pages "Flickr PLace" and "MPI Del.ic.ious". In settings I checked on all the options and made sure it was formatted how I would like it - blog description, Header, sub header, language, time zone, commenting. I added personal information on the profile page, about my interests etc.
+ That's about it for blogger. Here is the link: Hope Maguire's Blog

=Del.icio.us=
+ The number of bookmarked web pages (Links) is 14.
+ Why these are of interest to me?- they're my hobbies/interests. Why I found them interesting is why I chose them as stacks: MPI104 - with 6 links (My own MPI104 sites - Flickr; Blog; Masterblog; and three other blogs I found interesting) is all course related, and I find this course interesting, I didn't know so much about these websites before, it's pretty cool :)
Mangamania links - with 3 links to manga websites - because I love Japanese manga, Korean Manhwa, and Chinese (not sure what they call it there) manga. And I thought, you know, if anyone else wanted to find out about it - here's the links to some informative, interesting places.
Fruit alone links - with 5 links to websites about just one specific fruit. Because one day I just suddenly pictured fruit as always being in a fruitbowl and I wanted to separate them up into "just an apple" etc, random yes, I think I was red-lining on the lack of sleep front - but fruit is good, its all bright colours and yummy tastes. Come on - who doesn't love fruit?
+ Links to my favourite three web pages:
on pears
a webcomic
a manga website for readings scanlations
+ Here is the link to my delicious profile

=Flickr=
+ Number of uploaded images: 32
+ My three favourite images mosaic plates, cup of tea, Nagasaki city sprawl (own); and by others: geisha; cuban cyclist; rabbit face (from my favourites section)
+ Here is the link to my Flickr stream

=thoughts=
So far it's been pretty interesting; learning about these online social/information sharing websites and ho wmany people use them and how/why they post their opinions and information on the web. Besides learning how to operate these sites, my faourite part of MPI104 has been learning a little bit of coding, and all the random, current geeky information that comes up in class. Definately a workshop a look forward to, in a Uni week. Cheers for the 'funness'.

MPI104 Flickr - new gallery

Hey guys!

Happy holidays/non-contact period! And remember: no touching for two weeks)
Just put up a gallery on Flickr which makes me giggle - and I made it - so I may be biased - check it out for yourself, you may be surprised by your face breaking out a grin. Or a rash.
I wont be held accountable for unexpected side-effects.

Have a wonderful break - and remember - if it's not broken... it might be about to be. -.o

interestingness gallery

Miscellaneous post commenting

So tonight I had fun trawling through a whole variety of interesting and random blogs and commenting occasionally - just showing appreciation for having gotten to read their unique thoughts.
For the assessment: Here are the links to the comments on: a megatokyo blog
a post on mine craft by a classmate, here from a classmate in my workshop - inspiring stuff Jacqueline :)You gave me some good ideas for animation. It's great to find another anime and manga appreciator. I wonder how many Vocaloid songs you know ;)?
And lastly, just exchanging quotes and Dr. Zuess mentions isn't a bad way to pass time.

For the Flicker comment posts here we go: On a image that made me think of my dear old mum On a pink rabbit face And also on a bridge over water (which I can't decide if it's been colour-shopped or not)...I can't link to the comment, only the image and the comment thread.
But there you have it, comments recorded.

Over and out chaps
(For now)

All Things Japan - A birthday overseas

Have you ever had a Birthday party that blew your mind? 

Way to make your Birthday memorable idea #27 Go to a foreign country and celebrate it with a host family. 

My 19th Birthday Cake

Try to keep up with all the native festive traditions and remember to give your mum a call during the day.

It’s a blast – here’s the proof on Flickr Happy Birthday in Japan My 19^th Birthday was celebrated with some of the warmest, kindest people I’ve met – my 2^nd host family, living in an apartment, beside in Nagara River.


They gave me a cake that combined cream, sponge, crepes, fruit and chocolate decorations. To me – it does not get much better.

Xxxx