One of the many great things about our new office building is that the bathrooms have proper ventilation. 👍 The light music that plays from the sound system is an added bonus! 🎵
High in the sky
“Blue Skies” Cedar Park, 2016
Summer traveling will be starting for many people. Safe journeys everyone!
I took this photo at the elementary school athletic field. My son, Koa, and I went there to throw the baseball and enjoy the outdoors. The clouds had been so interesting for the past few days so I was planning on getting a couple nice photos of them, and when this plane flew by, I snapped one of it between the clouds. I adjusted the exposure levels and color a bit in Lightroom, and also bumped up the clarity.
Fun Saturday
“Autographs” Cedar Park, 2016
こんばんは！ Hello! How was your Saturday?
Mine was pretty great! I actually had to work a bit this morning, and I went into the office which was nice because I got to enjoy coffee from our fancy machine (which my friend calls “barista in a box”) and concentrate in a quiet office. Then I picked up my kids from Japanese school, and we relaxed at home and watched the X-Games on tv.
What made the day really fun was that Mariko is working at the X-Games, helping out two Japanese skateboarders who are competing. And one of the skaters, Kisa Nakamura, won the gold medal in the Park event! She did amazing! The other skater, Aori Nishimura also did well competing in the Street event, placing 7th place. And what was really cool was that Mariko got both their autographs for my helmet. 😊 And an even cooler bonus was that she got Mimi Knoop’s autograph too! w00t!
So, today was a good day. I think Mariko really enjoyed the experience… she worked hard but I think it was very rewarding.
I hope you had a great day!
おやすみなさい！
– バロン 
Friday!
“Friday Prints” Cedar Park, 2016
こんばんは！ How’s it going?
As I type this, on a Friday night, the rain is coming down hard outside. ☔⚡ It is so loud! I know people are worried about the flooding, and tonight my be a nightmare for those who live by the rivers… Our house is not in any danger, but I just hope tomorrow is not rainy because the X-Games events start in the morning.
Today’s photo is of the Instax prints that I made this week. Most are very recent, you might recognize them from the photos I post here and/or on Instagram. I love printing the photos out… it is very different from just viewing photos online – it’s way more fun to look closely at the images, and then the instant film color is so interesting too.
I know I mentioned that I would only take black & white photos this month, but yeah, that’s just not gonna happen. Maybe another time, I’ll try to stick with it for a week. But I do love color too much!
I hope you had a nice Friday. Stay dry wherever you are!
おやすみなさい！
– B
Departing Osaka Station at 0:00 旅の贈りもの-０：００発 (2006) – Movie Review
This Japanese movie has been in my queue for a while and I finally got around to watching it this past weekend. “Departing Osaka Station at 0:00” is the type of movie that I really am drawn to because it has elements in it that I love: travel by train, unplanned journeys, a town by the sea… it’s like something out of a dream!
***Spoiler Alert***
There are two main plots, one of possible romance and the other involving a double-suicide, which come together to form a decent, yet unremarkable, story. The title of the movie refers to a special train which starts at Osaka at midnight, with an unknown destination. The passengers have different story-lines and they all come together at the destination town.
The overall ambiance of the film is quiet and calm, with some amount of introspection and character growth, but really there wasn’t enough and it wasn’t treated as deeply or seriously as I think it should have been. That’s my main problem with the movie… there are some aspects that just don’t fit the serious themes, for instance, there are some playful transitions from one scene to the next that you might expect in a straight up comedy. But they just don’t fit here, and they detract from the overall feeling. The subject of suicide is one of the most serious you can bring up, but it’s treated so lightheartedly that it feels almost disrespectful.
I liked the acting very much, especially the postmaster played by the late Hideji Ōtaki (大滝 秀治), and the suicidal teenager played by Hanako Takigawa (多岐川華子). I think her story was a missed opportunity to offer a more serious take on the subject that many people think about. I like that her story mixes with the older businessman’s (played by Shiro Taihei) to show that the problem that affects people of all ages. Unfortunately, the businessman’s character is too comedic to be taken seriously. (He was a comedian, after all)
At any rate, I enjoyed “Departing Osaka Station at 0:00” enough that I’ll seek out more by the same director in the future.
My rating: 8.5/10
