October 2024 miscellaneous calligraphy pieces

These are some other calligraphy pieces that I wrote in October 2024.

 

Some random pieces

 

I needed to use up some leftover ink, so I wrote 江心秋月白

 

and 門前馬鞍稀

Rubbish generated in two weeks

 

Plus generating more trash...

 

September 2024 miscellaneous calligraphy pieces

October 2024 calligraphy "homework"

The "homework" pieces that I submitted for October 2024.

Hanshi kanji 半紙漢字: 獨自下寒煙

 
Single character 一字: 遥


Unsubmitted pieces:

I also made a mistake and thought the 半切漢字 piece that I was practising was for November when it was for October... in the end, I didn't submit it with the rest of the other pieces for the month, missing the deadline.

 

September 2024 calligraphy "homework"

Note: I also submitted my piece for Onchikai Shodo Exhibition 温知会書道展.

Watching A Few Moments of Cheers 数分間のエールを

A Few Moments of Cheers (数分間のエールを) actually started screening in Japan way back in June. I was slightly interested in it, but in the end, didn't really find time to catch it. However, a few days ago, one of my favorite anime reviewers on YouTube gave it a strong recommendation, mentioning that it is back in cinemas (Dolby Cinemas and those with Dolby Atmos sound) now for a limited period of time. So I did my best to adjust my schedule (including working a lot more on weekends and at night) to squeeze out time to catch the movie today at the local Dolby Cinema.

 

The story is about a high school boy who recently got into making music videos using 3D animation (the movie actually had a scene showing him using Blender). He saw someone singing with a guitar at a bus-stop (or taxi stand?) one day and was so impressed by her voice that he decided he would make a music video of her song. This is a story that will resonate with anyone who dabbles in some form of art, who strives to create something in hope of being recognised by others. I was moved to tears several times during the movie (I stopped counting after two), which says a lot since this is a short movie at 68 minutes.

This movie is produced by Hurray!, the team that creates music videos for Yorushika, so the music videos in this movie can really be actual music videos by themselves. In the end, to those of us who pursue an art, this movie is kind of like asking us: Why are you doing this? What do you seek? I really really recommend this movie to anyone pursuing any form of art, who creates anything for others to appreciate.

 

Spoilers after the photo

 

The protagonist is Asaya Kanata, and the person he saw singing with the guitar turns out to be his new English teacher in school, Orie Yu. Orie was actually singing her 100th song, the song that she wrote as a final work for her singing journey, after having tried to create a career as a singer but not making any headway. Meanwhile, Asaya only started making music videos when he entered high school, so he is still very passionate about wanting to create something that would move the hearts of others.

I think all of us who pursue art in some form would understand this initial passion, to want to create something that move others, that others appreciate and praise. We all seek that recognition, even though recognition may not be the sole or major reason for our pursuit of art. But along the way, with time, some of us may realise that we will never get that recognition. Those who seek to make a career out of their love for their art may realise that such a day may never come. Such setbacks over time may eventually lead us to drop our pursuit and seek something else. Such was the case for Orie, who decided to stop pursuing a singing career, and took up a job as a teacher.

Meanwhile, Asaya was just embarking on this pursuit. He sees things positively. Even when Orie's 100th song was one about giving up, Asaya interpreted it in a more positive way, and made a music video with a positive story for that song. Yet that was not what the song was about, which led Orie to reject his first music video. But through talking to Orie, and seeing his good friend Tonosaki give up going to art school, he remembered his own feeling of giving up once. Back in junior high, he used to draw, but when his friend Tonosaki won the prefectural governor's award, Asaya gave up drawing, and eventually found a new passion in creating music videos. Able to better understand Orie's 100th song, he gave his second attempt at creating a music video for her, and this time, he was able to create a more fitting music video, and his passion even influenced Orie to give singing a second try.

 

Official website of 数分間のエールを (in Japanese)

Calligraphy scroll 百年好合

I wrote the phrase 百年好合 and had it made into a scroll as a gift for my sister (who just got married recently).

This is how it looks.

Scrolls aren't exactly cheap to make, but it is nice to have a company (actually, a few companies) in the area providing such a service. 😊

Lesson: Don't tell them your budget. They will make full use of it. 😅

Photographing comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS

Photographing C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS was a challenge.

 

It started with trying to find the comet. Instead of trying to strain my eyes, I just took photos using my camera in the general direction until I found something that looked like the comet, then zoomed in to see if I can get a better photo.

 

In the end, I managed to take two photos that turned out quite okay at a focal length of 400mm, f/6.3, shutter speed of 2s, with difference between the two being one at ISO 1600 and the other at ISO 3200. It was very windy so any exposure longer than 2 seconds didn't turn out very well.

 

Canon EOS 550D, focal length 400mm, f/6.3, exposure 2s, ISO 1600

 

Canon EOS 550D, focal length 400mm, f/6.3, exposure 2s, ISO 1600 (zoomed in)

 

Canon EOS 550D, focal length 400mm, f/6.3, exposure 2s, ISO 3200

 

Canon EOS 550D, focal length 400mm, f/6.3, exposure 2s, ISO 3200 (zoomed in)

 

All this in 16 degrees Celsius cold... I didn't think it would be so cold and didn't wear a thicker jacket (the temperature was close to 30 degrees Celsius yesterday, after all), and ended up suffering for more than an hour.

My 100-piece trauma

About 10 years ago, when I was preparing for an exhibition, I wrote about 20 pieces and sent the best to my teacher (who was helping me to submit for the exhibition). If she had no comments, then she was going to submit it for me.

Well, she came back saying that, not specialising in kanji calligraphy (she specialises in kana calligraphy), she asked a fellow teacher for comments. And the other teacher only said, "You need to write at least 100 pieces when preparing for an exhibition."

I went back and wrote about 100 pieces.

Since then, this experience stuck with me, and so I end up writing 100 pieces (actually, more than 200 or more) whenever I am preparing for an exhibition. In the process, I use up a lot of paper and ink, and generate a lot of trash.

Exhibition season is here again, with submissions due in October and November. I am in my final leg for these upcoming deadlines, plus I also need to start thinking about what to write for the other exhibitions with deadlines in the first half of next year.