My "elemental" dragons (calligraphy practice)

The Year of the Dragon is coming, and I was practising the character 龍 (dragon) when I got a bit bored and decided to write a bit like the five elemental (金、木、水、火、土, or metal, wood, water, fire, and earth).

😅

No more rack servers

I migrated to another server a while ago, and ever since, my rack servers have not been really used at all.

So I made the difficult decision to let go of them.

 

First, I called up a local company that advertised itself as "we buy rack servers" but in the end, when their staff came to take a look, they said they cannot take the servers and I ending up passing them some of my GPUs instead for a bit of cash.

 

I then took out what I can from the rack servers (mainly the better CPUs and RAM) and kept them with the minimum needed to function. I then put the CPUs and RAM modules up for sale on Yahoo! Auctions, where I managed to find buyers for some of them, mostly the RAM modules and some of the faster CPUs. I actually got a nice return on them (given the age of the parts), even after subtracting the amount spent on shipping and commission.

 

I also called another local company which was willing to take the rack servers from me for a token (measly) price. But still, it was better than me trying to sell the servers myself, since they are bulky and hard to ship. So while I had wanted a bit more, I let go of them to save myself the hassle.  This company also took a few of the SAS drives and spinning SATA drives that I had no use for, and my NAS that ran on a Celeron J1900 CPU.

 

So now, I am only left with the HP ML110 Gen9 (main server), the HP Microserver Gen8 (which I use for PBS), and the workstations. More than enough to serve my needs.

Using the names of RSN's frigates for calligraphy practice (part 3)

Finally, I have managed to write all of the phrases based on the names of RSN's frigates. Each phrase was written on a sheet of 半切 paper which is about 34.5cm by 135cm.

 

RSS Formidable 威武号

威风壮志镇四海
武德明智服天下

 

RSS Intrepid 刚毅号
刚勇魄力似猛虎
毅然英姿如古松

RSS Steadfast 坚信号
坚守边疆固山河
信誉卓越留青史

RSS Tenacious 强力号
强盛精英日月勤
力护家园万古记

RSS Stalwart 忠诚号
忠义不歇护江山
诚恳全力保民生

 

RSS Supreme 精湛号
精锐之师稳天下
湛湛冰心治万民

This is how the entire thing looks. Obviously, I don't have a wall this big to hang everything for a single photo, so I digitally stitched them together.

 

I also used paper with gold flakes on them for this.

 

Here are the individual pieces on plain paper.

 

Here are the individual pieces on paper with gold flakes.

Watching SPY x FAMILY CODE: White on opening day

SPY x FAMILY CODE: White (劇場版 SPY×FAMILY CODE: White) opened in Japanese cinemas today. The first show of the day was quite early so I caught the second show instead. Waku waku!

The movie is a nice side story. The first 10 minutes also like a quick intro of the characters, so it is entertaining even for people who have not watched the anime or read the manga. The story itself is connected to the main story, but takes place mainly in a different town (and other places) with a few new side characters.

Visually, the movie is appealing but does not detract so much above the quality of the TV series as to make it feel out of place. Even the aspect ratio is the familiar 16:9 that we usually find on TV screens today.

In terms of pacing, the first 10 minutes was used to introduce the characters but without being too narrative. Instead, situations featuring the characters were used to help introduce them. The story progresses at a nice pace as it moves from the main storyline to the actual setting of this movie, the town that it is set in, and then a more exciting setting as it builds up to the climax of the story. And in the end, the story brings us all back to the main storyline so that the Forger family can continue with their lives (and Lloyd with his main mission).

By the way, stay till the very end of the movie, there is one final scene after the credits have finished rolling.

Official website

Winter solstice 冬至

After Daxue, or 大雪, comes Dongzhi, or 冬至, the winter solstice and another of the 二十四節気 24 solar terms. It literally means "extreme winter", and this is the day with the shortest period of daylight.

 

A prim and proper version.

 

Both were written using the mixed hair calligraphy brush I received as a gift.

 

Comparing the anime adaptation of Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window 映画『窓ぎわのトットちゃん』 with the book

I went to watch the anime adaptation of Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window (映画『窓ぎわのトットちゃん』) for the second time last night as I wanted to write something more in depth about it. This is that post. It will be full of spoilers and I highly recommend you read the book before reading further, because I will be making a lot of cross referencing.

There are the chapters in the book, with the chapters not adapted crossed out:

The Railroad Station

The Little Girl at the Window

The New School

"I Like This School!"

The Headmaster

Lunchtime

Totto-chan Starts School

The Classroom in the Train

Lessons at Tomoe

Sea Food and Land Food

"Chew It Well!"

School Walks

The School Song

"Put It All Back!"

Totto-chan's Name

Radio Comedians

A Railroad Car Arrives

The Swimming Pool

The Report Card

Summer Vacation Begins

The Great Adventure

The Bravery Test

The Rehearsal Hall

A Trip to a Hot Spring

Eurythmics

"The Only Thing I Want!"

Their Worst Clothes

Takahashi

"Look before You Leap!"

"And Then... Uh..."

"We Were Only Playing!"

Sports Day

The Poet Issa

Very Mysterious

Talking with Your Hands

The Forty-seven Ronin

"MaSOW-chaan!"

Pigtails

"Thank You"

The Library Car

Tails

Her Second Year at Tomoe*

Swan Lake

The Farming Teacher

Field Kitchen

"You're Really a Good Girl"

His Bride

"Shabby Old School"

The Hair Ribbon*

Visiting the Wounded

Health Bark

The English-speaking Child

Amateur Drama

Chalk*

"Yasuaki-chan's Dead"

A Spy

Daddy's Violin

The Promise

Rocky Disappears

The Tea Party

Sayonara, Sayonara!

Postscript

Epilogue

 

The chapters with an asterisk were not actually adapted but somehow worked into the story. For "Her Second Year at Tomoe", the part about parents taking their children out of Tomoe was mentioned in the adaption of "Shabby Old School". "Chalk" was not explicitly mentioned, but there was a scene of the children drawing with chalk on the floor of the assembly hall. "The Hair Ribbon" also did not take place but there were scenes where Totto-chan was wearing a huge ribbon on her head.

Meanwhile, "A Railroad Car Arrives" was combined with "The Library Car" as a single episode. "Totto-chan's Name" was brought forward, to when she first introduced herself to Mr. Kobayashi in "The Headmaster" as well as when she started her first day in class in "The Classroom in the Train". "You're Really a Good Girl" was also weaved into "The Headmaster".

In "Yasuaki-chan's Dead", instead of lilies (book), the movie had them place white Japanese camelia flowers in the casket, and Totto-chan placed a single red Japanese camelia flower on his chest.

 

"The Tea Party" was changed slightly. Instead of being a send-off for the janitor, who was being sent to war, it was because the children were being evacuated to other parts of Japan, and so they were bidding each other farewell and talking about what they want to be when they grow up.

Some scenes not found in the book:

- Yasuaki-chan challenged Totto-chan to sumo wrestling, but Mr. Kobayashi got them to do arm wrestling instead.

- Totto-chan got herself stuck in a drain while playing hide-and-seek and had to be pulled out by her classmates.

- Totto-chan being told by her father not to use Papa and Mama anymore when the war was announced on the radio.

- Totto-chan put money into a caramel vending machine but nothing came out. (The story about caramel vending machines was told in the book's sequel.)

- Totto-chan was given a pack of 15 soybeans by her mother, who told her this was her bento for the day. Totto-chan complaining about the cold and hungry and being told off by a soldier. (This story was told in the book's sequel, but her walking to the train station with Yasuaki-chan in the rain before being told off by the soldier was not in the book's sequel. However, it is mentioned in the book that Totto-chan often walked to the train station together with Yasuaki-chan, so this could just be trying to capture that part of the book in the movie.)

- The Kuroyanagi family was stopped by a policeman while they were shopping at Ginza, and Totto-chan's mother was told off for wearing flamboyant clothes.

- Totto-chan saw street musicians walking in the apple plantations while she was on the train when being evacuated to Aomori.

- The closing narration by Kuroyanagi Tetsuko herself. (The opening narration was the phrase used in the opening of the book.)

 

I will update this post if I discover anything new (if I watch the movie again...)

Official website (in Japanese)

Mixed hair calligraphy brush from Taiwan (gift)

A friend of mine was having a vacation in Taiwan, and sent over a mixed hair calligraphy brush as a gift.

The hair is 62mm long, with a diameter of 14mm.

I gave it a try the very same day, and wrote this.

The above was also posted here.

The brush itself is from a company called 國秦棉紙有限公司, with stores in Taizhong, Taipei, Tainan, and Gaoxiong (I can't find the store on the internet, except for its pages on Facebook). It writes very well, with goat hair on the outside, covering weasel hair on the inside, and some stiff, blackish hair (probably pig hair) at the innermost core. This means it can hold a lot of ink, but is also springy. I have a similar brush that I bought in Singapore, but this one is a bit easier to write since it has that stiff hair at the very core (the one I bought in Singapore only has goat hair covering weasel hair).

 

Due to its size, it is suitable for writing around 20 or more characters on 半切 paper, or around five papers on a sheet of 半紙. I really appreciate the thought and I will use this brush again when I need to work on such pieces.

Watching Wish (Disney 100th anniversary movie)

Wish, the Disney animation film marking its 100th anniversary, released in Japan yesterday. Being the 100th anniversary movie, I thought Disney would be doing a lot to make sure this movie is a hit, so it should be worth watching. Right?

Well... to be honest, by the time I got back from the cinema, I had already forgotten the main character's name. The story is a very straightforward one. Our villain is the king, who appears to be doing a lot for his people, but is actually quite warped in his thinking. The main character happened to discover this twisted nature by chance, and sets upon to throw the shackles of this king from the rest of the people in her land. She finds some people to help her in this quest, and in a final confrontation with the king, defeats him and saves everyone. And everyone lived happily ever after.

In Beauty and the Beast (animation film), the ballroom dance scene is very much tied to the theme song. In Aladdin (animation film), the theme song reminds you of the flying carpet scene. For Frozen, you can still recall the castle building when you hear Let It Go. Well, in Wish, the theme song is nice but its link to a particular scene in the movie is... weak, to say the least.

And there isn't much character development. I mean, the main character lacks character development, so much so that I cannot remember her name. As for the rest of the characters? I only recall the villain Magnifico. It says a lot that the villain is the most memorable character of a movie.

Still, Disney fans may enjoy the various Easter eggs in this movie. Well, maybe not really Easter eggs, but blatant references to past Disney movies, like the familiar "Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the ___ of them all?" or a youth who wants to fly called Peter. If that is the kind of thing you are looking for in a movie, then this is the movie for you. For others who prefer to watch an entertaining movie with a strong story, it may be better to seek some other show.

Oh, by the way, the animation short film "Once Upon A Studio" aired before the main movie, and it is actually a nice tribute to past Disney works. The credit roll of the movie also featured characters from past Disney works. I guess if anything, the most memorable part of Wish is the short film before the movie, and the movie's credits.

Calligraphy piece 夏日绝句 by Li Qingzhao

夏日绝句 is a short but famous poem by Li Qingzhao (李清照). 

The poem:

生当作人杰

死亦为鬼雄
至今思项羽

不肯过江东

So I used it for calligraphy practice, and wrote this using cooked/sized/ripe paper.

 

I also wrote this using raw/uncooked/unsized paper.

 

I also needed to test out a new mixed hair calligraphy brush that was given to me as a gift from my friend, so I wrote this with that new brush (using cooked/sized/ripe paper).

Calligraphy piece 人生自古谁无死 留取丹心照汗青

人生自古谁无死

留取丹心照汗青

This is a phrase from the poem "过零丁洋" by Wen Tianxiang, who lived during the Song Dynasty, and another phrase that I really like. After writing "时穷节乃见 一一垂丹青", I decided to write this too.

I can't figure out which looks nicer, so I decided to post both.

Update 15 December 2023: I decided to revisit this phrase and wrote this using cooked/ripe/sized paper. I kind of like this one the best since it is more bold.

 

 

The original poem, in full:

辛苦遭逢起一經，干戈寥落四周星。
山河破碎風飄絮，身世浮沉雨打萍。
惶恐灘頭說惶恐，零丁洋裏嘆零丁。
人生自古誰無死？留取丹心照汗青。

Calligraphy piece 时穷节乃见 一一垂丹青

时穷节乃见

一一垂丹青

This is a phrase from the poem "正气歌" by Wen Tianxiang, who lived during the Song Dynasty. So it is only a matter of time before it makes its way into calligraphy practice. 😅

 

I wrote the same phrase on a sheet of 半切 as well as a shorter piece of paper.

半切 version:

 

Shorter piece of paper:

Just a rough draft, actually. I didn't really practise for this.

The entire poem, including its foreword:

余囚北庭，坐一土室。室广八尺，深可四寻。单扉低小，白间短窄，污下而幽暗。当此夏日，诸气萃然：雨潦四集，浮动床几，时则为水气；涂泥半朝，蒸沤历澜，时则为土气；乍晴暴热，风道四塞，时则为日气；檐阴薪爨，助长炎虐，时则为火气；仓腐寄顿，陈陈逼人，时则为米气；骈肩杂遝，腥臊汗垢，时则为人气；或圊溷、或毁尸、或腐鼠，恶气杂出，时则为秽气。叠是数气，当之者鲜不为厉。而予以孱弱，俯仰其间，於兹二年矣，幸而无恙，是殆有养致然尔。然亦安知所养何哉？孟子曰：吾善养吾浩然之气。彼气有七，吾气有一，以一敌七，吾何患焉！况浩然者，乃天地之正气也，作正气歌一首。

天地有正氣，雜然賦流形。下則為河嶽，上則為日星。於人曰浩然，沛乎塞蒼冥。
皇路當清夷，含和吐明庭。時窮節乃見，一一垂丹青。在齊太史簡，在晉董狐筆。
在秦張良椎，在漢蘇武節。為嚴將軍頭，為嵇侍中血。為張睢陽齒，為顏常山舌。
或為遼東帽，清操厲冰雪。或為出師表，鬼神泣壯烈。或為渡江楫，慷慨吞胡羯。
或為擊賊笏，逆豎頭破裂。是氣所磅礡，凜烈萬古存。當其貫日月，生死安足論。
地維賴以立，天柱賴以尊。三綱實繫命，道義為之根。嗟予遘陽九，隸也實不力。
楚囚纓其冠，傳車送窮北。鼎鑊甘如飴，求之不可得。陰房闃鬼火，春院閟天黑。
牛驥同一皁，雞棲鳳凰食。一朝蒙霧露，分作溝中瘠。如此再寒暑，百癘自辟易。
哀哉沮洳場，為我安樂國。豈有他繆巧，陰陽不能賊。顧此耿耿在，仰視浮雲白。
悠悠我心悲，蒼天曷有極。哲人日已遠，典型在夙昔。風檐展書讀，古道照顏色。

Kyoani Muse Labo, a collaboration between Kyoto Animation and Evan Call

Today, Kyoto Animation announced a new collaboration with composer Evan Call. Director Ishidate Taichi (from Violet Evergarden series) is working again with Evan Call to create picture books that come with accompanying CDs. Saito Shigeru is the music producer, with illustrations by Yamazaki Shiori and story by Sato Ayano.

(Image source: Official X account of Kyoani Muse Labo)

"We were alone in the world and met under the stars, brought together by that melancholic song. Let's set off into the night, guided by the stars."

(translated by me from the official website)

 

The first picture book has been announced and ready for order. It is titled はぐれ星のうた (Song of the Lost Star).

(Image source: Official X account of Kyoani Muse Labo)

"Once upon a time, a child was born in the forest. With blue eyes, the boy's name was Lazuli. He was a kind and gentle boy who loved his mother's songs.

When Lazuli turned twelve, he found out that he was not really his mother's child, and ran away from home. Filled with sadness, he met a youth named Eden at a church. Eden had beautiful blonde hair and was about the same age as Lazuli.

Eden knew about the 'blue fruit' that Lazuli was carrying. This fruit was a precious gift from Lazuli's mother. And the two of them set off on a journey to find the place that bears this blue fruit."
(translated by me from the official website)

Links:

Official website of Kyoani Muse Labo

Official X account of Kyoani Muse Labo

First picture book はぐれ星のうた (Song of the Lost Star) page on Kyoanishop

 

Watching the anime adaptation of Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window 映画『窓ぎわのトットちゃん』

The anime adaptation of Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window (映画『窓ぎわのトットちゃん』) opened today in Japan. As an avid fan of the book, I booked my ticket for the first screening at the nearby cinema and made my way there, with a lot of excitement and anticipation.

This post is going to be full of spoilers, so if you have not read the book yet, go read it now.  

I caught the first screening at the nearby cinema, and for a weekday morning show, the cinema was quite full. And it was surprising to see that most of the people there were the elderly. It kind of made me feel young when the audience is mostly people in their 70s and 80s. 😅

 

The movie itself is more or less based on the book, flowing in chronological order spanning 1940 to early 1945. Kuroyanagi Tetsuko (Totto-chan) herself serves as the narrator, with the movie starting and ending with her voice. It starts with the familiar episode of Totto-chan being asked to switch school. Well, in effect, she was expelled because she was making it hard for the teacher to conduct lessons. Hydrangea was blooming so this was probably sometime around June 1940. Imagine being thrown out of school just after two months of starting Grade 1.

When Kobayashi-sensei said those words "You're a really good girl, you know" (君は、本当は、いい子なんだよ), tears welled up in my eyes. This phrase appeared a bit later in the book but I think the director brought it forward just for the impact. I mean, this phrase really changed Totto-chan's perception of herself, allowing her to become who she is today.

Being in chronological order, you have Totto-chan's days at Tomoe Gakuen before the war, with things slowly progressing toward the darker days of leaving in Tokyo during WW2. So you have a film that starts out lighthearted, charming you with the cheerful nature of Totto-chan. Then you start to see a bit of sadness, with the death of a pet. And the second half of the movie which deals with life in wartime Japan and the death of a friend. During the second half of the movie, I was crying so much it was embarrassing, until I realised that the old lady to my right and the young lady to my left were also crying. 😂

But it also has an inspiring ending, like the book, with Kobayashi-sensei saying "What kind of school shall we build next?" (今度は、どんな学校、作ろうか) as Tomoe Gakuen burns down during an air raid. While most of us would be shocked and depressed, he was already thinking about the future, about moving ahead. Even when things look bad around us, I think we need to be like Kobayashi-sensei, looking ahead instead of dwelling in the past.

As a 114-minute movie, there wasn't enough time to capture every episode in the book, so some of them were left out. However, I think the movie captured the message of the book, and was able to portray the events that took place in Totto-chan's life during those 5 years interspersed with some "Totto-chan" perspective scenes that tried to show how she saw those events. I can truly say that this movie is an amazing adaptation of the book into film. Like the book, this is a film that all humanity should watch.

Before the movie premiered, there was a special interview on Tetsuko's Room (徹子の部屋), where Tetsuko interviewed the director and voice actor of Totto-chan. Some of the things shared during this special interview:

- Planning for the movie started in 2016 and it took approximately 7 years for the movie to finally hit the big screen.

- A total of approximately 120,000 frames were drawn, all by hand, for this movie.

- The orchestra scene took about 2 years to complete.

- The film adopts a watercolour look because the book had watercolour illustrations by Iwasaki Chihiro.

Update 9 December 2023: There was a livestream today on Kuroyanagi Tetsuko's YouTube channel, she is in Hawaii right now. I asked if the movie will be shown overseas, and they said that of course, including several countries in Asia.

Update 21 December 2023: I watched the movie for the second time and wrote a comparison between the movie and the book here.

Official website (in Japanese)

Daxue 大雪

After Xiaoxue, or 小雪, comes Daxue, or 大雪, another of the 二十四節気 24 solar terms. It literally means big snow, signifying that the snowy season is here proper and snow is starting to accumulate (in northern China where this system was developed).

 

A more prim and proper version.

 

 

Calligraphy piece 追风赶月莫停留 平芜尽处是春山

While translating a document, I came across this phrase:

追风赶月莫停留 平芜尽处是春山

It sounded like a nice phrase to use for calligraphy practice, which is what I ended up doing.

Update 15 December 2023: I revisited this phrase by writing it on cooked/ripe/sized paper.

 

 

Uncooked, half-cooked, cooked: unsized and sized Xuan paper for Chinese/Japanese calligraphy

The paper used for Chinese/Japanese calligraphy can be sized or unsized. But first, what is sizing? For paper, sizing is a kind of processing that makes the paper less absorbent. This reduces ink smudging as the ink does not get absorbed into the paper and instead dries on the paper's surface.

We often see the characters 生, 半熟, and 熟 used to describe Xuan paper (or any other calligraphy paper, for that matter). They refer respectively to unsized, partially sized, and sized paper. Some other terms used in English include:

生: unsized, raw, uncooked, unprocessed (未加工 in Japanese)

半熟: partially sized, half-ripe, half-cooked, partially processed (弱加工 in Japanese)

熟: sized, ripe, cooked, processed (加工 in Japanese)

Here are examples of 生, 半熟, and 熟, from left to right.

When you look at the reverse side, you can see that the ink has been absorbed into the paper for unsized paper. For the sized paper, the ink has hardly gone into the paper. Partially sized paper is somewhere in between.

The three types have their own uses. Sized paper is used when you need detailed lines to be seen clearly. Ink is not absorbed into the paper, preventing smudging and thus allowing small details to be seen. Unsized paper smudges a lot more and can be used to express gradation of ink colours. However, the smudging means it may be a bit more difficult for beginners. Therefore, there is the partially sized paper that is somewhere in between.

So how is paper processed? It is usually processed with an alum and gelatin solution. This reduces the absorbency of the paper, but at the same time, reduces the durability of the paper. While Xuan paper is said to last a thousand years, sized Xuan paper may not last as long due to presence of alum. This may be a factor to consider when choosing whether to use unsized or partially sized paper, but most of us do not create works expecting them to survive a thousand years. 😅

Kitano Takeshi's "Kubi" 首

Kitano Takeshi's latest movie, Kubi (首) opened in Japanese cinemas last week, and I finally found time today to go and watch it.

The story is set in Japan's Sengoku Period, or the warring states period, and revolves around the people and events leading up to Oda Nobunaga's death at Honnoji Temple. The title "首" is usually used to refer to the neck today, but it can also mean the head, or more specifically, the severed head of someone. And this movie is full of them... and so, if you don't like seeing severed heads, people being beheaded, heads rolling, heads being carried around, heads being thrown, and so on, then this is a movie to avoid.

A movie that runs for 2 hours and 11 minutes, the story portrays ambition, the corrupting nature of power, and how the Sengoku Period was such a chaotic time. A desperate rush to the top, everyone for himself. Loyalty, friendship, family--these are all secondary and can be forsaken for the sake of ambition.

The movie itself has the grand scale of a Kurosawa samurai movie, with big battles. It also has the comic side, with some gags, most likely ad lib, since Takeshi himself started his career as a comedian. But I feel that the gags are there to help balance the otherwise gory and horrifying tale of ambition and death.

Oh, by the way, the movie also depicts sexual relationships between men, a practice that was not uncommon during that period. Those who don't want to see men kissing each other or naked in bed together may want to avoid this show too.

Bottom line, this is a movie that is worth watching on the big screen rather than at home on a TV, because of the scale of action, and I think the impact will be significantly lacking if you watch it on a smaller screen. It needs to be enjoyed with the entire impact that can be delivered in terms of sound and sight at a cinema.