Okay. Okay. I'm going to do more of this blogging thing. I've been feeling guilty. My blog conscious are getting the best of me. Today at work, I booked Dick Cavett. Which is better than the last job I had (during my depressive non-blog existence) which I got paper cuts and lived in a constant state of existential dread. I'm a researcher and writer for a show on the History channel. I'm reading

Sad. This is just sad. My blogging has been utterly remiss. I'm back and I'll try, really really try, to keep on this thing. I'm currently working at the lovely Ten Worlds Entertainment in sunny downtown Hollywood. The prostitutes across the street in front of the 7-11 have legs like trunks but the building itself is charming. Rumor has it that Alfred Hitchcock used this very office, this very

Merry Bloomsday to all... Jussi, Sean and the gang came down to LA for the week. Good times all around. Maybe I'll fill in more later when I have time. I don't now. LA Moment 1) The other day at the Coffee Table, I saw Zack De La Roche of Rage Against the Machine fame reading a copy of "Trosky for Beginners" Everyone's reaction was something along the lines of "shouldn't he have already

Hello one and all. I realized that it's been almost a year since I posted something on this fine blog. The news in brief. I'm back from Japan. Ruriko's back too. We moved from the howling desert wasteland of Santa Clarita to the verdant hills of Silver Lake near downtown LA. I worked for a TV on Fox called Cracking Up, which is now cancelled. Oh and we have a cat now, named Shacho.

Yesterday, I received this sad news in the mail·. 08/22/03: Rock Star Wesley Willis Dead at 40 Dear Friends and fellow Wesleynauts, We are deeply saddened to report that one of our artists, Wesley Willis passed away yesterday, Thursday, August 21st. Wesley will be greatly missed by all that had the privilege to know him, as well as the fans who have been fortunate enough to experience his

Howdy all. Iām back in the US of A, struggling to shrug off the waking stupor of jet lag. In the morning I feel fine, but as the afternoon progresses I can feel my brain spinning down, shedding IQ points by the hour. By the time 6 or 7 rolls around, Iām a drooling idiot who losses keys and who forgets what he was saying in mid-sentence. Feels like being old but without the bladder control

Hello all. Iām in Tokyo now watching a TV show with some Japanese starlet in Peruvian jungle suffering through a meal of turtle penis. Every time I go to Tokyo there is some new building or development being thrown up. The other day I dropped by Roppongi Hills -- a shiny new complex with a huge movie theater, a sundry of overpriced shops and an impressive collection of bad public art. This being

Iām in my last few days of living here in Kumamoto. On Tuesday or so, Ruriko and I are heading to the bright lights and big-city bustle of Tokyo where Ruriko is finally going to shoot the bulk of her thesis. Yesterday, before Chakko returned to Fukuoka with her mom ö Rurikoās aunt ö she gave me a picture book that cataloged every weird ghost and spirit in Japanese mythology including a ghost for

Hey gang. Yes, Iāve been an errant blogger as of late and to my legions of loyal readers, I bid you a heartfelt apology. Today was clear and not the blazing inferno it has been for much of the week. On Wednesday or so, the temperature here in Kumamoto was the same as Santa Clarita, that high desert suburban armpit where I call home, only Santa Clarita doesnāt have 85% humidity. Just walking

At work today, I was merrily reading about the myriad of corporate interests plotting again Tyrone Sloproth in Gravityās Rainbow, when I noticed that the single aging computer thatās connected to the web was free. After briefly checking my mail, I happened upon a startlingly bizarre news story that seemed like a continuation of Pynchonās tome. Apparently John Poindexter at the Total Information

Itās noisy here in the Sumi residence in the morning. Around five or six in the morning, these mutant-sized crows start cackling at each other. Then some other bird ö Ruriko told me the name in Japanese but I havenāt a clue whatās it called in English ö starts making this weird whooping sound. And then the lions, tigers and bear in the adjacent zoo start roaring and growling. In response, the

Itās Monday and Iām not at work. Today is a holiday in honor of the ocean. In America, all our holidays are either political or religious ö we honor dead presidents, dead soldiers, and the all-but-dead labor movement. In Japan, they natural cycles of life such as a holiday for the spring equinox, the autumn equinox and old people. Well itās still raining here. Like a bad case of the clap or

If I wrote this missive yesterday, I would have said something like the rainy season is basically over and Iām spending most of the day feeling my sweat pooling in my socks. My sweat may be still pooling in my socks, but itās raining outside something fierce. The backyard, as such, of the Sumiās is flooded and the tram has shut down. It seems that Ruriko and I are stuck in the house for the day.

Boy, itās hot and humid today. I think that the rainy season is beginning to loosen it death-grip on the skies. Yesterday, Ruriko and I did what we usually do during the weekends ö take the tram into town and hang out. Last week, we bought a book listing all of Kumamotoās numerous coffee shops and have since been exploring. Thereās a few Japanese-themed shops, complete with tatami mats and

I realized the other day that I havenāt had a conversation in English in about two weeks. Most of this week has been pretty quiet here. On Monday, I aided a shoot for a documentary about working mothers in Kumamoto prefecture. We interviewed a few people in Kumamoto proper and then packed up our gear and drove to a mountain village called Yabe, which is famous for an ancient stone bridge and

Hello all. Itās raining again here. When I first came to Japan last week from Los Angeles, I thought, ćOh hey rain.ä Now the novelty has worn off and like every other person in Japan, Iām griping about the weather. Anyway, itās been a busy week. On Tuesday, I went to location scout in a resort town north of Kumamoto called Yamaga. Itās primarily famous for a massive festival it holds in August

I just spent the last two or so hours watching Japanese TV. One program featured a segment that pulled drunken salarymen off the street after the bars closed and put them in a sort of ad hoc quiz show. At one point an announcer drilled a sloshed fat guy in an ill-fitting suit who had downed eight beers that night about the origin of turmeric. The fat guy retorted that his house burned down a few

It's a lazy Saturday morning here in Kumamoto. I'm sitting on a tatami mat next to a shoji screen. It's hot and cloyingly humid and the smell of soumen is emanating from the kitchen. It would all feel very Japanese if it weren't for the sound of lion roars and monkey squeals. Rurikoās house abuts the Kumamoto zoo. Anyway, I started work at a small production company that in spite of (or

I haven't left yet. I'm hurriedly trying to clean and do all the stupid things you have to do before you travel. But I did find this great little Japanese web site dedicated to making art out of cocktail weenies.

Well, it's the end of an era. The other day, I lit a few candles, places some fake flowers a few polaroids around my computer, bought some champagne and invited a few friends over. Yes, I was holding a funeral of sorts for all the footage of my thesis film Beautiful People, which with a few mouse clicks, I flushed from my hard drives. 100 gigs now gone and my film, now completely finished after