Apologies to my regular readers for taking this mini-sabbatical from Mostly Harmless! Probably the main reason I've been too busy to blog has been all the extra time I've been putting into meeting with my students this past month to consult with them on their critical essays and final research projects. Although most of them chose not to do web authoring projects, a good number did; here are links to their work:
I've been looking for ways to put Mo Martin's Ricoh Women's British Open victory in perspective and in context off an on all day today, particularly by examining patterns among 2014's winners on the major female professional golf tours. Here are a few attempts.
This Is No Cinderella Story--It's Attack on Titan(s). Martin's win doesn't really fit the Cinderella scenario. Nope, it's David and Goliath, or better yet, Jack the Giant-Slayer. Taking down Inbee Park, Suzann Pettersen, and Shanshan Feng while other Titans crashed and burned at Royal Birkdale is a huge deal. But it's not unprecedented in 2014, particularly on the JLPGA. 23-year-old Miki Sakai denied Sun-Ju Ahn her 4th victory of the year and 17th of her JLPGA career just a few weeks ago, while 22-year-old Yeon-Ju Jung held off 22-time winner on tour Sakura Yokomine the week before the WBO. Back in May, Yoon Kyeong Heo defeated Ha Neul Kim, one of the KLPGA's big superstars. And even further back, in January, Mi Hyang Lee went low to deny Lydia Ko a victory on the LET. So for those who know the anime Attack on Titan, it makes sense to think of Martin as part of an elite group that's kept the world's superstars from gobbling up every single title in reach. For those who haven't seen it, let me switch metaphors fast, because there's lots of actual gobbling in the anime. Put it this way: Martin's like the Han Solo of the group, though, because most of the winners have been as young as Luke Skywalker was in the original Star Wars movie.
The Global Youth Movement Accelerates. I keep having to update my 22 Under 22 ranking this season because so many pros in the 21 and younger crowd keep on winning! Since my latest update in mid-May, Jessica Korda, Misuzu Narita, Kyu-Jung Baek, and Hyo Joo Kim have won around the world. Kim, in fact, has a 2-event win streak going on the KLPGA. If it weren't for those pesky kids...
The Empire Strikes Back. ...the world's elite golfers would have gotten away with all the titles this year! Narita knocked off Shanshan Feng and Mika Miyazato in May to win her 1st JLPGA major. 15-year-old amateur Minami Katsu beat JLPGA and KLPGA star Bo-Mee Lee to become the youngest winner in JLPGA history. And there's more. But let's go through the roster of big-time world-wide winners: Stacy Lewis and Sun-Ju Ahn have 3 wins each; Karrie Webb, Inbee Park, Michelle Wie, and Anna Nordqvist have 2 each; Paula Creamer, Ji-Yai Shin, Bo-Mee Lee, and In-Kyung Kim have 1 each. But if you really think about it, I don't think anybody would deny that Lexi Thompson, Lydia Ko, Ha Na Jang, and Hyo Joo Kim (all under 22) are also in the Empire, too. Without them, the Empire has 18 worldwide wins in 2014. With them, it has 22. Out of 54.
So there you have it. Roughly halfway through the year, those are the big patterns in women's golf. Can you think of any others?
Imoto turns 8 today. She's an amazing girl. She's into so many things!
She's working hard to get to Level 2 at gymnastics. Don't know if down the road she'll try out acrobatic gymnastics:
Or rhythmic gymnastics:
But right now she's inspired by the Fab Five from the 2012 Olympics:
She also likes to play golf with me. I hope we can do a lot more of that this summer!
I'm really glad imoto likes to laugh. We definitely share a sense of humor. She loves watching How It Should Have Ended on youtube. Here's one of her favorites:
Yup, she loves Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and The Hobbit! Not to mention Frozen, Tangled, Brave, Powerpuff Girls, Pretty Cure, and Winx Club, to name a few more!
Best of all, she's a hard worker, great student, kind friend, and loving sister!
Just saw on Japanese TV that Hayao Miyazaki held a press conference to announce his retirement. At the end, the anime legend told reporters this would be his last public appearance. Miyazaki's films have meant a lot to the Constructivist family and we're sad to see him go. But when you leave behind Totoro, Spirited Away, Ponyo, Kiki's Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle, Nausicaa, and Studio Ghibli, he'll never really be gone.
Which leads me to the end of Futurama. I love the way the last episode tunnels back to the first episode and makes the entire series into a long time loop. Pretty meta way to get at the way all fictional characters end up repeating the same words and actions--and a pretty romantic way to convince us that for Frye and Leela, at least, this would lead to happiness and love rather than despair or boredom. If I weren't so busy, I'd watch every episode in order as a tribute!
In-Kyung Kim is now a contributor to the ESPNW Blog! Check out her 1st post from this Wednesday introducing her interests and those of some of her peers from South Korea.
It's pretty cute that she referred to BoA as a "magician," when she's actually a major international pop star and multilingual musician in Korean, Japanese, and English.
Here's a live version of the 1st BoA song I ever heard (thanks to the Full Metal Archivist):
I guess she is a bit of a magician, after all!
Anime fans may recognize this one as one of the ending songs from Inuyasha!
The past couple of years--since my girls have gotten old enough for me to get back to gearing up for and playing competitive golf--I've been very frustrated with my game. I've been generally hitting the ball very well and putting well intermittently, but what used to be my bread and butter--partial wedges and recovery shots around the green--has become my nemesis. It's been no fun feeling cursed with hands of stone. Well, after my latest tournament disappointments--a bad Utica City Amateur followed by a terrible Buffalo district men's amateur qualifier--in July and early August, I took a little time away from playing golf, and whattaya know, as I've been gearing up for the NYSGA Mid-Amateur qualifier in Rochester in a couple of days, every part of my game is working pretty well. I've been shooting a bunch of 35s, 36s, and 37s of late, due to hitting a lot more fairways and greens, getting up-and-down better when I miss the green, and making more of my birdie opportunities.
I don't know if it's just that I usually play really well in August, but I do know that my mom's advice to just play a little looser and avoid overthinking in the middle of a round has been very helpful, once I actually thought about what she said, that is. Switching over to a Kuromi suito (thermos) with water instead of going with bottled Ito-En teas is helping me remember to swing more freely, too.
Hoping some Onegai My Melody helps me qualify for my 2nd-ever Mid-Am! Here's some relevant youtube for ya until I get my Safeway Classic preview out--hope it helps your game as much as it's been helping mine:
Think I'll be listening to some Cake on my ride to Rochester!
When I left the sleepy media tent at Locust Hill Country Club around 11:30 am today, just as the clouds had stopped opening up (at least for the time being), I expected to head past the putting green on my way to the driving range and my car for a quick drive back to Hamburg, so my parents could have one day off before heading back on the road again to help out with onechan and imoto's cousins in Connecticut. Instead, as I approached the putting green and saw a crowd gathered around it, it felt like someone had flicked a switch and turned the intensity back on. Ai Miyazato, Mika Miyazato, Ji-Yai Shin, and about a dozen other pros had their game faces on as they quickly prepared for their practice rounds and tried to figure out how much the rains had softened and slowed down the greens at Locust Hill. About the only people who seemingly weren't drawn into the serious vibe were Tiffany Joh and her pals, but even their high spirits seemed a product of the heightened energy and concentration of everyone getting ready to play. If you've seen any episodes from the Dragon Ball animation franchise, you'll know what I'm referring to in the subtitle. Don't get me wrong--nobody was going all Super Saiyan just yet...
...but you certainly could feel the players' power levels rising....
Continuing a Mostly Harmless tradition of Japanese stylewatching for the New Year (Gackt, ikemen, and Jero in 2008, Hikaru Utada in 2009, Star Blazers in 2010), for 2011 I asked the Full Metal Archivist what Japanese trends might go viral this year. Her first idea was changing styles of masculinity, a kind of turn toward the feminine among younger Japanese men, which is interesting in itself but also in the reactions it has sparked at home and abroad. Not that this is all that new for 2011--from the moment I first set foot on a plane to Japan, I realized that my usual cues for reading male sexuality were not all that useful among Japanese men--but what is different is the media attention in the past couple of years devoted to tracking what is being framed as a generational shift in Japanese masculinity.
First, some quick definitions:
Soshoku Kei: This is the now-classic "herbivore/vegetarian" generational tag that started making the rounds in 2009. It resulted in a Japanese movie last year, which was part of a larger dialogue that even Newsweek picked up on, portraying soshoku-kei danshi (which they translated literally as "grass-eating men") as a symptom of Japan's economic malaise: "Toyota's fall from grace caps a 20-year economic malaise that is infecting the popular culture, manifesting itself in a preference for staying home, avoiding risk, and removing oneself from the hierarchical system." Heck, even a Carnegie Council writer put his 2 cents in!
To see for yourself what everyone's talking about, check out this clip from Cool Japan:
Compare CNN International's brief overview from mid-2009:
Otomen: OK, to understand what an otomen is, you 1st need to review the definition of an ikemen. So if an ikemen is a teen idol or male hottie, then an otomen is one with a hidden girlish side. For a drama that has about the same relationship to this social category as Douglas Coupland's Generation X has to the eponymous American generation, head on over to dramacrazy.net and watch the 12-episode J-drama Otomen. Me, I'm wondering if the 1st big musical number from Tangled (you know, the one set in the Snuggly Bunny), which imoto and onechan were brave enough to see in the theater last week (1st time evah in the U.S. for both!), is a parody of this Japanese phenomenon.
Gyaru-o, Chara-o, Sholita: I may be wrong, but I think of these as different styles of being an otomen, with the first being a kind of a male bimbo, the second more of a bad boy type, and the third projecting a kind of boyish "moe" vibe. Let's start with the last, for the super-cute character "Honey" from the anime Ouran High School Host Club is the perfect example. Skipping to the first, PatrickMacias provides two recent examples of how big an influence Ernest Hemingway's posthumous The Garden of Eden has had on female and male hostess/host culture in Japan. It's a little harder to find good examples of the sexier, wilder chara-o look, and Daisuke Takahashi doesn't usually sport it, but this image is what the Full Metal Archivist settled on after a while.
So there you have it. Maybe now you can understand what the Full Metal Archivist means when she sums me up as a "soshoku-kei shoujo manga otomen with no domestic skill." Yay! Happy New year, everyone!
Just heard the news of Satoshi Kon's passing. After Hayao Miyazaki, he was probably my favorite anime director. From his contribution to the animated sf anthology Memories (1995) to his first feature film Perfect Blue (1997), to his 2 best movies, Millennium Actress (2001) and Tokyo Godfathers (2003), to the tv series Paranoia Agent (2004) and his last film Paprika (2006), he was nearly always pitch-perfect, mystifying, engrossing. He will be missed.
Hey kids! I've set up a new blog, just around the corner. It's called New Savanna. And it's got photos and writing AND, a longish piece about a dolphin ride that I couldn't post at That Other Place. It's got about 10 seconds or so in Azumanga Daioh, one of the cutest anime series ever (for tweeners, I suppose).
Hannah Yun graciously agreed to continue our ongoing/intermittent email conversation after we signed off on Part I in early February. With the Futures Tour kicking off this ThursdayFriday, we thought it was high time to wrap things up. Technical difficulties aside, I had a great time and I want to thank Hannah and her family for the chance to interview her. I wish her the best this week and over the rest of her golfing career!
[Note to BerubeWatch fans of MH's days of yore (rather than "fore!") (10:01 am): Head on over to Citizen of Somewhere Else for my invocation of Berube's response to the Habermas-Lyotard debate/conundrum in light of the SUNY vs. UUP leadership throw-down currently happenin' in the Empire State. Excelsior!]
THE CONSTRUCTIVIST (2/3/10): Over the years now that I've been following women's golf closely and blogging about it, I've developed an informal taxonomy of kinds of players. To me, it seems like there are bombers like Lorena Ochoa, Ya Ni Tseng, Michelle Wie, Suzanne Pettersen, Vicky Hurst, Maria Hjorth, and Brittany Lincicome who may struggle with accuracy off the tee more (Lincicome, Wie) or less (Ochoa), but who know how to take advantage of their length; there are straight shooters like Cristie Kerr, Angela Stanford, Brittany Lang, Song-Hee Kim, and Sun Young Yoo who may not be quite as long as the bombers but reach the fairway much more reliably; and there are precision players like Paula Creamer, Ji-Yai Shin, Ai Miyazato, Seon Hwa Lee, Morgan Pressel, and Natalie Gulbis whose games are keyed by their ability to hit the fairway most of the time. Sure, there are players who are difficult to characterize--is Miyazato long enough off the tee to be considered a straight shooter instead of a precision player?--and the lines between kinds of players aren't that hard and fast. But generally the bombers average around 270 yards and hit the fairway less than 65% of the time; the straight shooters average between 255 and 265 yards and hit the fairway between 65% and 75% of the time; and the precision players average under 255 yards and hit the fairway over 75% of the time. In other words, to be successful on the LPGA, as all of the players I've named have been, you need to be more accurate the shorter a hitter you are and longer the less accurate a ball striker you are. So what do you think of this breakdown? If you think it's generally accurate, how would you identify yourself as a golfer within it? If not, what other category would you put yourself in and who else belongs in it? What kind of player would you most like to be?
HANNAH YUN: Well one thing that links all those great players together is that they all have a strong short game. Being 5'2" and 120 lbs., I've always had to keep it in play in order to compete. This past off-season I started working on making my swing more efficient, which helped me gain distance while maintaining my accuracy; I normally hit around 10-11 fairways a round. It was nice to see that I was hitting my drives consistently with Maria Hjorth a couple weeks ago because she's one of the longer LPGA players. I personally believe that it's possible to be both long and accurate.
By the way, I realized I never asked what classes you teach.
TC (2/5): Hey, you're not trying to change the subject there, are you? ;) I teach introductory world literature, American Studies, and multiethnic studies courses, intermediate-level courses in American literature, science fiction, and critical theory, and a range of advanced courses, usually on topics in those areas. All my syllabi are online at my home page. Check 'em out when you get a chance! I'll have some questions for you that connect to the American Identities course I'm teaching this semester in a little while, but for now I want to keep the focus on what kind of player you aspire to be. I don't know if you caught my blog post that elaborated on my opening question or fellow LPGA blogger Hound Dog's thoughtful response, but it sounds to me from your answer that you're aspiring to be a very rare kind of player, let's say a "straight-up bomber." The only players I can think of who attained that for any length of time in recent memory have been Annika Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa. Nothing like setting your sights high, eh? If you don't mind sharing the information, what are the normal distances you hit each club (assuming no wind or slope or anything like that)?
HY (2/8): You want me to look at all your syllabi? Why do you think I left school? haha All of your classes seem like they have thought provoking topics, though.
I like to hit my 7-iron 150 yards; I'm not big on trying to max out my irons 'cause I figure that's why we have 14 clubs :P. My coach helped me to be more efficient with energy transfer in my swing so that lets me maximize distance but still maintain my accuracy. We've been tinkering alot with my driver and I just changed shafts to Graphite Design's new Tour AD shaft in my R9 head. I was able to go on the trackman system during a demo day at our club a couple days ago and it said I was hitting it over 260.
TC: Hey, "when you get a chance" can mean 15 years from now! So, OK, in my system, then, you'd have recently graduated from "precision player" to "straight shooter." I've just erased 4 different attempts to politely suggest that your becoming a "straight-up bomber" is dependent on whether you're still growing--each time I looked at one of them, I imagined you reading it and reacting like Ed does in Full Metal Alchemist when anyone comments on his (lack of) height. Let me hasten to add that I'm 5'6" and can sometimes hit a 7-iron 150, and that's only because I switched from forged irons to Callaway X-14 Steelheads some years ago.... I just couldn't see myself playing often enough to deserve Mizunos. :(
Since you brought up equipment, I'm wondering if you have any hybrids in your bag, and if so, how many and when/why you switched to them. Also, have you noticed any patterns in how the new grooves rules have affected your iron play and particularly your wedge game?
HY (2/14): Haha I'm used to people calling me short so I don't mind :) But I've never actually watched FMA so don't exactly know how Ed would react. But if it's like any other anime character that gets upset, I'm guessing flames in the background? haha
I have a 19 degree Taylormade Raylor that I use instead of a 5w actually. I found that I'd rather have an extra wedge to give me more scoring options than having a small gap between my woods. Also, the Raylor is designed to go through the rough better. I'm not sure if you remember, but the concept is similar to the La Jolla fairway woods that came out about 6-7 years ago.
I have the new grooves for all my wedges and irons but thankfully I haven't noticed a significant difference between the old and new grooves. Of course, I don't spin it as much as the guys but the only place I could tell a difference from was the bunker... Good for me I guess :P
TC: Bingo! I'll see if I can embed a youtube clip of Ed losing his temper here when this goes on the blog, but you already have an admirable knowledge of anime conventions. What do you like to watch? And draw?
[Too brilliant an AMV not to link to, even though there's no real reaction to what we've been talking about in it. The contrast between Ouran High School Host Club and FMA is too awesome to pass up.--TC]
[Ah, this one is short and sweet!--TC]
Interesting that you're not seeing all that much difference with the new grooves. From what I've been reading, we might see more "flyers" from the rough with them. If they put more of a premium on hitting the fairway, more power to you, eh? In a post I wrote today giving my reasons why I think Ai Miyazato will be LPGA Player of the Year in 2010, I speculated that the "bombers" on tour might have more of an adjustment to make than any other kind of player. Have you been talking about this with other players? Anything you've been hearing that might confirm my theory?
So you go driver, 3-wood, raylor, then 3-iron and 3 wedges, right? (Or do you skip down to 4-iron and carry 4 wedges?) Have you experimented with different loft combinations since you got the new grooves, or are you happy with your regular configuration?
Sorry to ask so many questions--been saving them up! ;)
HY (2/15): I haven't watched any anime in a while but I think my favorites would be Cowboy Bebop or Samurai Champloo. I read the Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece manga though. I only did a few sketches a couple years ago but I don't really draw a lot; I think I go through phases.
Right, if players see any change it'll most likely be from the rough, since it used to spin the same as when the ball would be in the fairway. The higher swing speed players will see more of a difference since they spin the ball more, which is why the guys will see a bigger difference than the women.
I go Driver, 3w, Raylor, then 4 iron. I used to use a 58, 52, PW configuration but I recently switched to a 60, 56, 52, and PW. I'm still trying to experiment with other lofts but I'm sticking with the one I have for now.
That's ok! Keep the questions coming :)
TC: Ah, an Adult Swim fan! I loved Cowboy Bebop and was fine with Samurai Champloo. But my favorites were Ghost in the Shell and Full Metal Alchemist. These days I'm keeping up with the new season of the latter through youtube and fandub sites like Anime Crazy, as we, ahem, haven't had cable for almost 3 years, ever since we got back from a year in Japan and realized there were only a few channels in the States we ever felt like watching. Through youtube, my girls have gotten into older shoujo anime like Ojamajo Doremi and Pretty Cure. And of course we're all huge Miyazaki fans. But I draw the line at moe romancey stuff like Kimi No Todoke that my wife is trying to get them into. I'll stick to the fantasy romancey stuff in Inuyasha, thank you very much. My older daughter turned 6 last December and is just starting to read in both English and Japanese. I'm really curious to see what manga she gets into. How old were you when you first started reading it? What got you into it? And do you read any from Korea/in Korean?
Makes sense to go to 4 wedges now that you're longer, I think. Having a lot of options from 100 yards in is what it's all about! How much time do you spend practicing with your wedges relative to your woods and irons? What kinds of games do you play to keep yourself focused while practicing those 30-to-100-yard shots?
HY (2/19): Mmm... I think I started getting into anime a few years ago because one of my friends in high school showed me. I've never read any Korean manga, though. Wow your older daughter can read Japanese already?! I can speak Korean well enough but I'm not very good and reading and writing :(
I try to spend an equal amount of time on every area unless I feel I have to focus in on one thing. I get bored easily so I try to mix things up and do different types of drills every day to keep myself competitve and focused during practice. The most important thing in pitching, and ball striking in general, is the strike and distance control so that's what I work on to hone in from 30 to 100 yards. Did I spell that right?
I'll do extra on things if I feel that I'm lacking in that area but I try to even out the time I spend on each part of my game.
TC: Well, she can sound out Japanese, which is a lot easier to do than in English, once you've got the basic hiragana alphabet memorized (she's even got a lot of katakana--mostly used for Japanizations of non-Japanese words--down, which is more than I can say now), because the sounds of the characters hardly ever change. Her vocabulary is pretty decent for someone who only spent 6 months in a Japanese day care center almost 3 years ago now, but we can't wait to get back there for a month or more at a time so she can experience elementary school there and get back in a setting where her friends are using Japanese all the time. She's kind of unilaterally decided that the official language here at home when she plays with her younger sister is English, so neither are speaking all that much Japanese over the course of a day--basically just when they're home with mom and I'm not there.
I'm assuming you grew up hearing a lot of Korean at home and that the Korean/Korean-American communities where you lived in California were large enough that you had friends your age who spoke it, too. Am I right? I'm wondering if there's anything in Korean pop culture today that's drawing kids in America to the Korean language.... What we're finding here in western NY is that there are a small number of American dad-Japanese mom families in Buffalo, but not really a critical mass of kids who have spent time in Japan recently enough for many of them to really get or stay fluent in their once-a-week Japanese class. The interest level in Japanese among the kids is pretty uneven. Miyazaki helps--all the little kids love Ponyo and Totoro, and even the older kids--but the pull of American pop culture and English is super-strong, as you'd expect. Our girls are dual citizens until they hit 21, when they have to choose between the U.S. and Japan (assuming the rules don't change). Do you have dual citizenship? What kind of attachment do you feel to Korean and Korea?
Oh, and by the way, were you all playing in a blizzard on the SunCoast Series this week? Those scores hurt my eyes!
HY (3/6): Sorry, Bruce! For some reason I thought I replied to this and was waiting for the next question.
I grew up speaking Korean with my mom because she didn't used to be very good at English but I don't remember speaking a lot of Korean outside with other kids. In fact, I became closer to other Korean-American kids when I started playing in the AJGA (American Junior Golf Association). I'd say my pronunciation is good but my vocabulary is limited to the basics.
I think Korea is the most popular in all of Asia and is even popular in some parts of the US in the entertainment industry; I know that most people who watch anime also watch Korean dramas. For such a small country Korea has really expanded out into the world, whether it's in business, sports, music, or tv shows.
I was born in San Jose, CA, so I'm a citizen in only the US. We used to go to Korea about once a year when I was little but we haven't been there since I was 10. I'm proud of being Korean and I enjoy listening to Korean music and watching shows online but see myself as an American. There was a big Korean community in San Jose but we moved to San Diego when I was 9 and there weren't that many Koreans there. Then we moved here to Florida when I was 12 so I basically grew up drinking sweet tea haha. This is actually a subject that comes up often between my parents and me because the two cultures are very different and I worry that when other Koreans see me they expect me to follow the Korean culture. Since I grew up here, I'm not comfortable following that although I have an idea on what to do. But at the end of the day, I stand firmly as an American with a proud Korean heritage :).
TC (3/16): No problem, Hannah. Things have gotten crazy on this end, what with New York state politics getting more melodramatic than any J- or K-drama, funding for public higher education becoming even more of a political football than usual, and little ol' me as chair of our University Senate feeling a responsibility to speak up for SUNY. I'm really worried that the state is going to cut us so sharply in the coming years that we'll soon be losing campuses like the LPGA was losing tournaments at the end of the Bivens era.... (Check out this month's posts at Citizen of Somewhere Else if you ever need a reason to get excited again about golf!)
And sorry for the delay on my end--this is the 4th try for getting this email through to your address!
My girls were both born in Dunkirk, NY, but we decided to do the paperwork needed to get them Japanese citizenship. We want them to be equally comfortable in both cultures until they're old enough to decide which country they want to be a citizen of (although why they can't keep dual citizenship their entire lives is beyond me). Now the struggle is as much financial as anything. It's looking very unlikely that we all can afford to go on a summer trip to Japan this year, now that the girls are being charged full fares. Guess who's going to be the odd one out if our tax refund isn't large enough? No fair! (Although the one bright side for me would be that I'd get to start playing golf regularly again, if I were left behind!)
So I'm wondering about a few things now as the Futures Tour kickoff event is about to begin. Obviously, playing golf as your job is a lot different than playing it as an amateur. What have been the biggest differences for you? What would you say you've already learned from/about being a professional golfer? And what are your goals this season on the DFT?
HY: I think it's good to be as knowledgeable as you can about every culture and I don't mean to step out of line but I'm sure your daughters will be thankful to you and your wife as they get older; especially because it's part of their heritage. I've only heard good things about Japan so I do feel bad for you...at least you get to play golf though. Give or take right? :)
It's definitely different playing as a professional than as an amateur. I think the biggest difference is the mindset I have going into a tournament and strategically planning how I want to play the course. Score is always the most important thing but one stroke on the Duramed Futures Tour could be worth hundreds of dollars. My parents have fully supported me throughout my life but I'd like to start being able to take the pressure off them as soon as I can; especially because my dad turned 61 last December and I feel bad for him haha. Plus I'd like to buy my first car this year ^_^. But all joking aside I've realized that I have responsibilities now as a professional golfer so I have to play to the best of my abilities. I also have to play smarter around the course to take as much stress off as possible while giving myself the most opportunities to score. My goal is to always be in contention every week and earn my LPGA Tour card for next year. I learned a lot last year and I'm continually learning but I have much more confidence in my game this year.
Thank you for your time and your patience! I know I took a long time on some questions but thanks for this great opportunity, I had a lot of fun during this experience. If there's anything I can do to help just let me know and I'll be continuing to read your blog! :)
Check it out: there's a new animated Star Blazers movie that's been out in Japan for almost a month!
It goes by Star Blazers: Rebirth in English and Space Battleship Yamato in Japanese.
I encourage you to check out parts 2 and 3 of this promo. Go for the clips from the new movie and original show, stay for the evolving conversation between the cartoony comic relief dad and son--no Japanese needed. Now all I need is the movie to come to the States--with subtitles!
Oh, and there's also a live-action movie starring SMAP's Kimutaku coming out late this year:
The last 5 minutes of that teaser put me in the mood for the theme song of the show my brother, father, and I used to get up at 6 am to watch when I was a kid!
OK, so I'm a little late with this, but I finally finished grading and it's time to celebrate! Actually, T-Joh is to blame for this departure from my usual animeHanukah thing:
That's the real Lady Gaga in there, right?
For background on Smooth-E, check out this youtube timeline of Hanukah-themed parody songs:
[Update 1 (12:24 pm): OMG, I'm such a bad Jew I even got the title and timing of this post wrong! Should have posted it at sundown so I could have called it "'Twas the Sundown Before Honika... Uh, Two Weeks Ago"! Yeesh.]
Here's the anime du jour at the Constructivist household. It's called Kimi Ni Todoke and the Full Metal Archivist calls it "the Bible of moe." What's moe? Mao Asada would like to know. (Hint: Mao Asada is moe and so is her reaction to the question posed to her at the end of the video.) For more details, check out the hottest new anime in Japan and around the world at AnimeKuro. What's striking about "Reaching You" is how a subculture into fetishing the purity and innocence of young girls has gone mainstream via the manga and anime. And what's striking about the Discovery Channel International Made in J-Pop Culture documentary is the subtitles posted on it in Japanese on youtube:
Japanese pop culture is fascinated by how American (and other) pop culture is fascinated with Japanese pop culture. Check out the channel of the samuraitoshi3 to see what I mean.
Me, I'll go back to Karen Tei Yamashita's Circle K Diaries (2001).... Somehow I find the Discovery Channel's borrowing tropes from its nature documentaries less interesting than early Yamashita writing about the permutations and mutations of Brazilian, Japanese, and American identities.
At least Ryo Ishikawa makes 2 appearances here....
[Update 1 (6:36 am): Not exactly an inspired performance by Mao-chan in Moscow this weekend:
But check out the little girl shouting "Mao-chan, gambatte!" ("go for it, Mao-chan!") at the start and "sugoi" ("wow! amazing!") at the end of this home video of her free skate. Cho kawaii!]
[Update 2 (11/9/09, 4:11 am): And now I find out it's not even Ryo-kun but instead Ryota Ito in the video....]
