Break the Blinds enters our world

Gosh, I don't blog much here anymore do I.

Well, I made a new song this morning. It's ok. It was a fun way to pass a few hours.
Not too original though.

But it's always fun to play with those nobs and wheels!

As usual, it's loaded into the player on the right, or lazy people can click the link to listen/download/whatever.

Break the Blinds.mp3

Acting climax for your viewing pleasure

Oh dear! I seem to have gone a month without blogging.
These days, the stress of internet life is too much. Myspace, Facebook, Mixi, Youtube, blog.... why are we doing all this?! How long can it last?
For a month I guess this blog has been playing second fiddle to others, despite it being the most "me" of them all. Looking at my Myspace page tells you nothing - except that perhaps I am slightly weird.

So, anyway, I finally got this DVD in the post the other day. I've been looking forward to this one! This was my last big acting job (4 days work for about 1200 pounds), so a pretty good way to go out. It's definately in my top 5. I laughed lots, and so will you (if you have ever met me anyway).

Sorry for the creepy American accent by the way!

Enough claptrap! Let's check it out!!



I know that you won't write a comment, but if you did, it would probably be "rofl", right?

New Nyago song - "tsuyu"

Nyago is back!!

This week I made the brave decision to spend money that I don't have (thankyou plastic man) to get something that I used to have, but then I didn't, but now I do again!

Yes, my KORG K49 was delivered yesterday, and I got some time to use it today.

Now, if something with a name like KOOOOOOOOOOOORG doesn't inspire you to make great music, then what the blazes will?!

I repeat: KOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRG!

KOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

Man, I love shouting that word.

Anyway, I knocked together a pretty meaningless track, I think it's ok. Cubase was being very weird, so I had dificulty with the volume balance. Really must learn how to use that program sometime.

You can play the track as usual in the music player over there ---------->

Or you can download the full version here


tsuyu means rainy season. We had a real downpour for hours. It's cleared up now, so I think I'll pop into town before this weekend disappears forever.

Some worthless images

I don't have anything major to add from recently. So let's just look at some photos together.


Are you comfortable?

I live in a country where dry-cleaners give you profound messages.

But proof-reading goes out of the window when it comes to multi-million dollar acting productions.

A country where I couln't get on the train at 01:04am because there literally was no space left.

It's no wonder people keep on losing their dogs. And wives.

I like Taraco. In pasta. On toast. Even in rice balls. But, when its six in the morning and it so blatantly looks like what it is - a full fish ovary - I have to decline. Can't they just mash it up like everyone else? One thing the Brits are very good at is making meat and fish look like it was never a living thing (or was born shrink-wrapped).






Do you have any lovely photographs? If you do, please, do send them to me. I probably can't remember what you look like anymore.

The MASSIVE Update Part 2 - the era of self

Well, that took more than one day didn't it. Sorry. It really is hard to blog these days, but I want to get it down before my mind hazes over.

I want to start by talking a little bit about the new apartment.

It’s located in Kichijoji, a town about 15 minutes west of Shinjuku on the Chuo-line express train. You can take the Inokashira-line to Shibuya in 15 minutes too.
Sometime I’ll walk around Kichijoiji with a camera, and you can see for yourselves why it’s such a great place to live. I’m pretty chuffed.

The apartment in its current state

It took me a couple of weeks to get the apartment in order, and there are still a lot of things to sort out. But it’s much nicer now than when I’d just moved in!
It’s a pretty old building – made in the 70’s (ancient for destructo-happy Japan) so it has lots of… quirks. I couldn’t cook anything for two weeks because firstly the stove was on the opposite side of the room to the gas taps and it took me ages to find somewhere that sells a 3m hose, and secondly because the electricity went in the kitchen and I was unable to work out how to switch it back on (antiquated system).

No real complaints about the bog, although the lack of a window or extractor fan soon persuaded me to invest in fragrant sprays

There are other quirks too. There are three CATV cables for the TV. Why? Why oh why?
I had no lock on the balcony door for two weeks. And the balcony door is such a bad job. It doesn’t close fully. I can see why – when I asked the landlord to put a lock on the door, he got some cowboy guy around who tried his best to fob me off with just sticking a piece of rubber at the bottom of the door – like a wedge – to stop the door from being opened from the outside. After demonstrating to him that merely by applying strength to the door you could dislodge the wedge, he got off his arse and went to the hardware store to buy a proper lock. Even then, he didn’t remove the old one fully – it just dangles from the middle of the door now.

The balcony, and Kichijoji beyond

But without a shadow of a doubt, the most peculiar aspect of the apartment is the rather bizarre placement of the shower room. It’s on the balcony. You open the balcony door, and there is a pod there that you get into. An individual pod. It’s rather fun. You can sit on the sofa and watch someone shower. If you’re into that kind of thing.

Balcony, shower, TV. Everything you need in one meter.

So a couple of weeks ago I had a little house warming party with 5 friends. We barbequed stuff on the hot plate outside, and played Wii Sports. Unnecessary metal trinkets on the back of girls’ jeans have etched black patterns onto my walls now though. There goes my deposit!

Proof that I have at least 5 friends

I am now determined to make friends. To hang out with them. To expand. For too long I was locked away. People are rather interesting if you give them a chance.

I went to an event for fans of the band “Supercar” in a club in Shimokitazawa. It was fun. I chatted with these Japanese guys and we exchanged business cards (yes you even do that in clubs here). I sent them emails, but no replies. There’s something about Tokyo people where it’s deemed socially acceptable to just not reply to emails. It really boils my blood. Stop being pathetic! I can imagine them waking up hung-over, in a cold-sweat, thinking “god… I made friends with a foreigner! What am I going to do? People will think I’m weird and look at me”, or some such thing. Or perhaps they threw themselves onto the Chuo-line – many other people do after all. Perhaps I have that effect on people.

I’m just kidding! I’m quite amazing actually.
In fact, I’m worried that I may appear “too cool”, if this is possible. When I talk with people, I inevitably mention that I was an actor, and now I work at a video games company, my Japanese is great blah blah blah – maybe they just think “hmm, he probably has loads of swanky mates, and will think that I’m of petty significance in the grand tapestry of his life”.
If they are thinking that, they are wrong! Ordinary people are most welcome. I don’t bite.

Lately, I started doing something that I’ve wanted to do for about 14 years now. I finally started to learn the drums. It’s great.
The studio is half way between the station and my home, which is dead handy. I pop in there every other day for a rat-a-tat-tat. Once a week I meet my teacher who pushes me forward. I can really feel the progress.

My sensei, "Monkey T Nissy"

It’s not cheap, but you know, you have to do these things. I’m 26 already. 14 years of procrastinating right there.

That’s a whirlwind tour of what has been pertaining. Tonight I’m going to Yotsuya to see my friend Matt’s band, Placebo Sound. They’re a good unit, very tight, with some top songs too. Tonight is their last scheduled Live event for now, and it has drink-as-much-as-you-want too. Great! More good for me!
Goodness goodness goodness
I just realised that the words “good” and “god” are very similar. I feel nauseous now and must stop writing.

The MASSIVE Update Part 1 - the deepest well

It's funny how hard it is to blog when a) you have a full time job and b) you don't have Internet at home.



In the end, I have decided to satiate the quenchless thirst of my two's of fans who have demanded a recommencement of my blog.



Without any further excuses then. Let's proceed.





So, I have been working at my new job now for two months. The job that saved it all, and sparked a series of chaotic events that have changed my life pattern in MASSIVE ways (the title has many readings, like an overtly generic kanji).



I've decided not to talk about intimate work-related details on the blog. In fact, I'm not even going to say who I work for. I'm a coward like that. If you want to know, you can always ask me. In fact, if you're reading this, then you probably know already.



I received the job title of 'Overseas Business Manager', and I basically oversee all communications with our overseas clients. Now that quirky, casual games are all the rage, we have come into huge demand, so it's a great time to join the company. I think we are going to succeed quite a lot.



Back in the day, I encountered a lot of frustration applying for all the big companies - Konami, Capcom etc. How lucky I was. How strange fate is. In many ways, my job is perfect. We are not bound by many of the usual problems that beset most Japanese companies. The boss is very forward-thinking, and likes to show trust in his junior employees - he always sits at the back of the room in meetings. There is no "working your way up the ladder" in this company. I am allowed as much freedom and responsibility as is necessary. I feel that my input helps, and I really believe that things are about to go well for us.



I work in Aoyama, which is trendy and nice and the sun always shines. Our office is cosy and colourful, like a designer playpen. I work in a room where everybody except me has had a professional record contract. Or still has one. We rarely work overtime. Sometimes we play with robots.



Yeh, good times.


But anyway.

I'm starting to think that life is like a tripod. It has three legs.

Work.

Love/friendship.

Self.

If one of these is failing, you will wobble a bit, but you can survive. It will eat away at you slowly though.

If two of them fail, you will crash down into depression.

If three of them are buggered, then well, so are you.



Finally, I have one solid leg. The work leg. It is a good leg, and strong, and I'm glad that it's finally there.



With this leg in place, I recently kicked out another one that had been withered down by time. I ended my 4 year relationship with my girlfriend. A most complex affair. Sometimes I wonder if it was the right decision - or if I had made her a scapegoat for all my own problems. For sure, she supported me steadfastly through thick and thin. But now that it's over, there is definite relief. It was a relationship where I felt myself weakening, withdrawing into a shell. I was losing self-respect, and because of that, I was very nervous around new people. Heck, even people who I had know for a year or two. This was a leg of the tripod that was getting so big, and so demanding, that I was sacrificing myself for it.

Hmm, well, I was hoping to find a way to describe this event without looking selfish, but maybe there just isn't one.

We all have to make difficult decisions from time to time.

I had been postponing this one for some time. Maintaining the status quo helps no-one in the long term

It got to the point that even TV shows seemed to holding hidden messages for me. Even Peep Show was giving me relationship guidance.



Two weeks on, I feel better. I'm starting to adapt. Last week was golden week in Japan. Lot's of days off. It was not a good time to have days off. I mostly sat there on my sofa trying to get my head around things.

Luckily I have a very big head, so I'm pretty much stabilised now. I still have the odd wonky patch though.



So. That's one leg of the tripod gone. What of the final one? What of the self?



Things are looking up for the self. It is time for, "the era of self".

Some people - or - well- just my brother - would argue that this era has actually spanned my entire life. But to be honest, I've been feeling like I've been fading out the past few years. I was being watered down. It was easier to drink, but not as tasty.



The first step to this new era was acquiring a new apartment. Wow, seems like a long time ago already. I thought that moving house would be fun, but in truth it was hugely stressful. Because of this I didn't think too much about the break-up until after it had happened, and yes, I was shell-shocked for all of Golden Week.



But I did it. I pulled through all the obstacles. I leaped over the racist barriers. I sidestepped the financial pitfalls. But know I have a pretty sweet apartment to show for it, and not much left to stress over.



Arranging an apartment as a single foreigner with a Japanese estate agent is. very. hard. Most people turn you down flat before they have even met you. A state of affairs that would be deeply illegal in my country. Whilst it may be true that there are numbers of foreigners who do bad stuff - are noisy, do not pay their last month's rent etc - to refuse someone else because of this perception is straightforward discrimination. And the government do nothing to protect us, even though it's endemic in this country. If they want to start becoming more international, then hey, here's somewhere to start.
End of rant.



The moving day was also extremely tough. My friend Matt and I hired a truck and did it ourselves, saving hundreds of pounds. I will forever be indebted to him for this - it was a massive undertaking and a huge favour; more than we anticipated. My new apartment is on the 4th floor, with no elevator. My three-seater sofa was a nightmare. As was the book shelf, and my limitless hordes of stuff. I wish I could throw things away. I just love stuff so much. Why do I need three Neo Geo Pocket Colours? Maybe some day, the answers to all these mysterious questions will become obvious.

Crashdown - April 28th

I was very doubtful that I'd be able to fit so much stuff into my two-room apartment... did I manage it? Or do I have to sleep on the toilet now?

All challenging questions, that will be addressed in Part 2 tomorrow! Don't worry, there will be more positive things in that one.

Ping-Pong-Paint-madness!!

Hello everyone, and welcome, as I introduce to you the new craze that is about to sweep the WORLD!!


Do you ever find yourself stuck in the same place for hours a day, with not much to do? Well, you should team up with a friend and engage in a bout of Ping-Pong-Paint!!!


The rules are simple;

• Open Microsoft Paint.
• Draw something on the default page.
• Save it.
• Email it to a fellow artisian.
• He/she works her/his magic and sends it back
• Continue ad infinitum, until you are both satisfied with it. Then blog it! Or better yet, send them in here! I'll post 'em, fer shnizzle.

To kick things off, here is the first, hotly anticipated Pin-Pong-Paint-piece by artiestes Nyago and Moscow:

Yes, thank you, thank you indeed. It's always nice to see how a work comes into true fruition.

We hope that you enjoyed the interupption to your schedule. Because we did.

N&M

Down Time

I just wanted to report that yeh, I'm still around, still doing my thing. I'm telling ya, having a job sure does hit your blogging time... plus of course, there aren't as many things to blog about.

Surprisingly, there are a lot of things going on at the moment. Will I blog about them? Probably not. Not all topics are appropriate for the internet.

But fear thee not! I will be back soon with fun acting clippings.

In the meantime, I hope that the entire world is enjoying Peep Show. You should be!

Dormant SNES stalks convenience stores across Tokyo

I was in a Lawson convenience store near Tamachi the other day when I saw this:

4 years in Japan, and I never noticed these before

A SNES dashboard. Hmm.

It was a part of this beast;

Is anyone else disturbed by this?

Loppi is basically a mini Box office machine. You can buy tickets for concerts, museums, theme parks etc. there. I was buying tickets for the Gibli museum.

A quick internet search turned this up: http://www.nintendo.co.jp/nom/0011/index.html

Seems that this has been around since 2000, with 163 SNES titles available, and Gameboy games too! You ask at the till and pay per 10 minutes. I wonder if they still work? Has anyone out there had any luck? I flipped the power switch, but there was no sign of life. I didn't have time to ask the staff about it. That's my excuse, anyway.

It's political incorrectness gone made

It's strange how major life events like starting a career can really hit your blogging output. I realise that March has been a skinny month. I've had plenty of things to talk about. They're piling up, but fading in clarity, much as they did in my FFXII obsession era (I haven't touched since, and may never again. Everyone has limits).
I don't really want to go into any great depths job-wise just yet. It's only been two days. Let's see how it pans out though.

What I really want to talk about today is the USA. Yeh, the States, baby! That's one crazy place right there. A fat, pulsating boil that you can't help but look at. I feel that when one looks at the States, one can see a gushing rainbow of humanity's diversity. The good and the bad. The beautiful and the repellent.
To start with the bad, I watched the Al Gore documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth" last weekend.

No witty comments here.

No, I'm not saying that the documentary was bad. Suffice to say, the documentary does not cast the Bush administration in the most angelic of lights.

Let's not beat around the... uh, Bush... let's just beat the f****r directly. Damn, I hate that guy. That will never change. Watching this documentary, it occurred to me that the greatest historical event of the last ten years, objectively, is not 9/11 and terrorism, but a small number of Florida voters in 2000. Would the world be a better place if Gore had become president, rather than Bush? I don't doubt it for one moment. It saddened me deeply. That Bush won that election, and then got re-elected, fills me with profound despair. My faith in my fellow man drops. This guy is filling the world with resentment; promoting animosity and greed.

So I guess it's not too surprising to come across comments like this on the internet. Frequently. I've censored them for you, sweet children.

Rabownsyou (1 month ago)

Christ, I wish I could poke out everything wrong with American's. I f*****g hate them so much.

assimilate (1 month ago)

i hate americans.

phazzydoo (6 months ago)

lol, trying to sell an intellectual quiz show to Yanks, they're fat.

Firstly, it shocks me that people are willing to post comments like this on the internet. Publishing racist comments for the world to see. Secondly, the "intellectual quiz show"in question is "Countdown". Sigh.
I found these in the comments section of a Youtube video. It was an excerpt from Charlie Brooker's "Screen Wipe" TV show, where he shows clips of British TV shows to Americans. He deliberatly chooses campy, extreme examples. Unsurprisingly, the American audience find "The Bill" and "Countdown" to be cheesy, and, well, crap. And let's face it - that's what they are.

What I want to say is that just because we hate Bush (and rightfully so - he is a **** *******, a ***** ******, and ******** **************), it doesn't mean that all Americans are like that. Sure, they elected him (allegedly), but lets remember that only about 35% of Americans voted. and 51% of them voted Republican. So, we should only be disgusted with 18% of Americans.

I have been privileged to meet lots of Americans in my lifetime. And I've liked plenty of them. They aren't deserving of such baseless hatred. They can be funny, intelligent, sarcastic and they are clearly aware of their country's deficiencies.

Let's try to remember that the US has produced books, music, movies, games, TV shows, art etc. etc. of the highest quality and diversity. It would be callous to deny that we like any of it.

So, the Youtube people who stuck up for "The Bill". Can you really tell me that it is better than "The Wire" in any way, and expect me not to guffaw in your face?

I was led to "The Wire", ironically enough, by Charlie Brooker again

I watched all 40 episodes of The Wire in just over a week. Utterly gripping stuff. The UK could never produce anything like this. We need the US. I'm not sure if I'd like to live their myself, but on a visceral level, we need it. It's a mirror for us all to look in; because we all could end up like that. The highs the lows.

If only more Americans bothered to vote.

Good acting is for actors

As you have no doubt noticed, a lot of my acting work consists of cheesy dramatic reconstructions. There is big demand for them on Japanese TV, so there is consequently constant demand for actors.

In the acting industry here, the process goes as follows;

1. The agency calls you with a possible job. If you are available on those days, you give them "First Keep". If you might be available (i.e. you already have a first keep), then you give them "Second Keep" etc.
2. The agency sends your profile to the production company - "Picture Selection"
3. If the production company like you, you'll be invited to the audtion for the part.
4. Some time later, you get a call telling you if you got the part or not.

When it comes to reconstruction jobs, step 3 gets cut, and the production company chooses actors purely from the supplied photographs - basically taking a chance on acting ability. The voices get dubbed, so accents aren't an issue. In fact, you don't even need to speak English. Once, I had a role as a father. I spoke to my wife in English. She replied in Russian. My kids cheered on in Japanese. Wild times! Truly, an international family.
For the record, the pay rate for reconstructions (called Saigen here) is appropriately poor.

Anyway, seems this week that a Saigen director got a bit too big for her boots, and thought it might be a good idea to actually do some auditions this time. Man, I'm pretty sure that I don't want them to pick me for this one! I'm sure the pay is crap anyway.

Anyway, this is what I had to do "off the cuff" in the audition. This should shut up any of you guys who think that this job is a cakewalk. If it doesn't - well - you are welcome to try for yourselves. I guess some people prefer hugging Eastern European models.

Basically, I turned up at the audition along with two blonde females - a Slovakian and a Russian (you would probably have fancied both of them). As the only guy, I had to pair up for the both of them (arf).

First scene. Slovakian girl tells me that she is pregnant. But. She has two wombs**. There are two babies in one of them, and one in the other. The emotions swirl in my head - dazzled by elation, struck by shock, smitten with anxiety... then I do it all over again with the Russian girl.
My emotions frazzled, we move straight onto the next scene. Back with the Slovakian. The doctor looks us in the eye: "I'm afraid there has been a miscarriage...". Cue scenes of disbelief, anger, shock; yeh, we're talking about the whole spectrum here! This is pure gold, so we do it all over again with the Russian girl. She doesn't take the news very well, and crumbles into my masculine arms.
No time to waste, so we plunge straight into the next scene - my Slovakian wife is giving birth - and - just as I had always expected, it didn't look that painful (just looked like they had serious piles to me). The baby is out in no time, and we share our elation with the world. Should I kiss her? Probably not. The doctor shows us our new addition - a beautiful Panasonic remote control has emerged from her designer jeans. Classic prop that - I do hope they find something more realistic for the actual filming though.

Congratulations

No sooner are we celebrating all this than my Russian wife is shoved in the chair. Her feeble hands gently squeeze mine as I command her to must her utmost power to evict the alien mass from her spasming body. As I am whisked once more to the highest of human emotions, the doctor shows us our child - another Panasonic remote. I'm starting to realise why those TV repairs took so long now.

It's all over. The three of us leave the audition - elated, depressed and unsure whether we should feel a common bond or simple humility. As professional actors, we luckily have no emotions of our own save vanity, so we leave it at that.

This post started out serious, but seems to have degenerated into flip-flap based on real events. One can only apologise.

I wonder if I'll get this part. If I do, I will try to cry for you all. That would be a befitting climax, wouldn't it.

**I think both of the girls got confused. Or had never heard the English word "womb" before. They kept on telling me that they had "..two rooms - two babies in one, and one in the other". Luckily, I knew what they were really trying to say. I have a deep understanding of women like that, see.

Deus Ex Machina tops off Ultimate Week!!

Operating Theatre or train? You decide

I'm writing this now at 5:30am Tokyo time, denied my basic human sleep-needs and nursing a hot Tesco-branded Lemsip. I've come down with a heavy phlegm-cold that I used to get once a year, but which now strikes me about 4 times each winter since moving to Tokyo. It's a consequence of 20 million people converging on a limited number of trains day in, day out. When you first arrive here, you think that the mask-wearing train sufferers are just eccentric or hypochondriacs - but soon, you come to respect them. Indeed, you start to loathe the salarymen who don't wear them, as they make barely any effort to keep their nasal audio level down (or control their death-rot breath, for that matter).

It's a cruel way to end what has otherwise been a fantastic week. So, let's un-digress.


Well, I guess that I should start with the big news - that is to say - that - yes, - I have got a new job! My original purpose when I came to Japan was to gather up steam and get a video-game job in Japan. With my visa expiring this month, I was pretty much set to go back to the UK, slightly defeated, to search a job out there. Heck, I've tried hard enough to get a game job here over the past year. Time after time I was rejected.
Well, after reading every - single - job mail-list email that I've received over the past 18 months, yeh, I've finally bagged one! It has been almost uncanny. It just so happens that the president of this company is also the only Japanese developer that I have ever met before - he gave a keynote at the Game Developers Conference in London when I was still a student - and the company is small enough in size that the interview was directly with him. I'm not going to give away who the company is just yet - you never know who might be reading! Heh.
The company is getting lots of demand from Europe and North America, so they really need someone who can handle the bilingual communications. It's a little bit daunting to be the only foreigner in the company, and at times my Japanese ability will be pushed to it's limits. Having said that, this is what I've always wanted - total immersion is the best way to improve after all.
The actual job title is "Assistant Planner", so I should get the chance to learn some production and management techniques - especially considering the size of the company. It's almost too perfect.

Wow, the Lemsip is kicking in already. If there's one thing worth importing to this country, that's it.

So yeh, I start this job in less than two weeks, and so another page (a big page) turns over in my book. Sadly, it looks like I will have to pack in the acting. To begin with I will be outsourced to the company by a recruiter, and they don't allow any days off in the three month "trial period".

It's strange really because lately the acting has been going great. This week I was filming my highest-paid job yet. It was a promotional video for a health products company (*cough* quasi-pyramid program *cough cough*) that they will use to open a conference they are holding for their customers in the Makuhari Messe (where Tokyo Game Show and Comicon is held) in April. The whole thing went very smoothly, the hours were reasonable, and at the end of it they even let me keep the tailor-made suit and shoes that I wore during the shoot! They're pretty nice!
In addition, I have a job with NHK (The Japanese BBC) next week. About two hours of work for 250 pounds. Paid on the spot. All I have to do is smile and make British animal noises for a kids TV show. Usually I'm the one paying other people to make animal noises. **
I've also been offered a part in a video game cut-scene, and have another possible credited movie role - but it looks like I will sadly have to turn these down now. Looks like a cake that I won't be eating.

** Lie told for the purpose of a joke. Honestly.

In other, unrelated news, I got a new laptop this week. My previous PC was a nice little unit, but the lack of an internal optical drive was really annoying. It also had an annoying, incurable virus. So, I imported an 14" Widescreen HP unit from the States. Man, the States is just so much cheaper than anywhere else for PC's. Even after an $80 shipping fee, and after my UK bank had their fun charging ridiculous foreign transaction fees, it still came out as much cheaper than anything I could find in the UK. It's a special edition unit. Very nice.

It even has a mini remote control that stores itself in the PC card slot.
Very nice. But never gonna use it. Never gonna use it.

Well, yeh, that's about it really. Looks like I'll be in Japan for awhile yet. To those of you who were looking forward to my return - well - my apologies. I recently came to realise that I really do like it here. And for now, the future teems with optimism.