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101 days ago
Ok, this is something you have to see to belief, seriously. These elephants in Thailand can draw! I mean, if I showed you the drawing at the end and told you an elephant did it, you’ll definitely think of me as one for the looney bin. So, have a look for yourself:
207 days ago
I wonder whether this piece of writing will make me sound like a puritanical canon imbibing maniac, but what I’ve read about J.J. Abrams’ new Star Trek movie has got me raising shields and going to red alert. Oh yeah, I’ll still definitely go and watch it, and I’m sure the production values are great (except for this thing I keep reading about lens flares…). But I also resign myself to the fact that Star Trek is ultimately some studio’s cash cow, and as a means towards capitalistic gains, we the viewers are subject to any re-envisioning of the medium that stems from the whims of studio executives. Accepting this, however, doesn’t mean that I have to like it. What irks me about the new Star Trek movie is how everything that has come before no longer holds true after the defining moment where Nero kills off George Kirk on the U.S.S. Kelvin. For those of you who still don’t know, this is the point where everything changes because James Kirk no longer has a father figure to guide him, ...
223 days ago
Well, after 2 years working on this piece, I am glad to finally announce it’s publication as a peer-reviewed article in the Electronic Journal of Contemporary Japanese Studies. The genesis of this article has a certain amount of history, although it no longer has any significance in my current context...in more ways than one. What is important now is to offer my heartfelt gratitude to my co-author Jenny, who was ever earnest and diligent in her role as my co-author. Academically, I’ve always felt that this article would be of use to students of Japan since so many of them express opinions regarding Yasukuni Shrine while knowing so little about the history of the controversy. Indeed, my feeling is that the mass media, in Singapore at least, creates a very negative bias towards the shrine. While I’m not saying that the mass media’s point-of-view is right or wrong, I truly hate this kind of paternalism because most people absorb and absorb without critically analyzing what their ...
301 days ago
