Wednesday, January 18, 2006

First batch of Japanese Lit Survey Journal Entries (with an afterword regarding nicknames for San Francisco and some various other things of slightly

less interest)

Is that the longest title ever?

Yeah, I decided to post this...just because it's here and I'm writing it. I have to keep a journal all semester, so we'll see if I can come up with anything vaguely intelligent.

This is from Donald Keene's Anthology of Japanese Literature: from the Earliest Era to the Mid-Nineteenth Century btw...

MAN'YOSHU (insert the bars please)

Well, I never HAVE gotten along terribly well with poetry. I can ya tha tit's more fun to rea dthe sappier ones now that I'm stuck on a guy who lives a couple hours away. ("Do you desire our love to endure?") I'm not sure what I'd think if he wrote and said his sleeves were all soggy...I mean, I SUPPOSE that's a "good" thing, but it's pretty over the top...

I took a complit class fall '04 (whoa...time travel) and had to analyze, or rather EXPLICATE "A Dialogue on Poverty." I had no idea what to say. Instead I compared three or four translations. what struck me the MOSt wasn't the differences in the wordings or whathaveyou, but the fact that no one could aree how long the thing was. I think the version in this book is even more complete (I suppose than teh one I had picked as "definitive" back then. Kind of ridiculous. And then my teacher didn't really appreciate the fact that I completely avoided the assignment.

I think my favorite out of this batch was "Referring to flowers." It made me think of htis song that's been in my head lately by Asobi Seksu [sic?], "I'm Happy But You Don't Like Me." Anyhow, I thought it was pretty cute.

It seems that I enjoyed the shorter ones more, in general. Maybe that just speaks to the fact that I don't have a whole lot of patience for poetry (although I got pretty into Bukowksi last semester...)

THE LUCK OF THE SEA AND THE LUCK OF THE MOUNTAINS

OK, first, I want this to be a poorly translated retro arcade platformer. I'm not sure how, but maybe you could fight things in the ocean. (I have brief vision flashes of fireball breathing sea horses...) Fire-fade is just too priceless a name for a prince! Also, that line, "There is a beautiful person at our gate," just SOUNDS like it belongs in a pixelly cut-scene...

Err..I've always sot of wanted to read the Kojiki, but it's always seemed pretty daunting. Maybe like the Bible. It has some interesting stuff, some culturally relevant stuff, but also a lot of stuff that nobody really cares about. Maybe I'm off the mark? (I remember being in something like 3rd grade and tryin to force myself to read the Bible in its entirety...)

Anyhow, this story was decent. It did'nt really al make sense. Asking for water so you can cement a jewel to the cup with your spit? I'm not sure I like the implications of his having a happy ending after abandoning his crocodile wife either... I don't really get why he was allowed to triumph over Fire-shine either (either either...either) It was Fade's idea to switch luck and HE lost his brothe'rs hook. Then he gets to ruin any luck Shine has left and connive his loyalty by saving his life which needn't have been endangered in the first place? Whaaaat?

Dude though: angry, thrashing, crocodile-in-labor-on-the-beach superboss...WORD!

KAIFUSO (bars!)

I enjoyed the brown-nosery of the last one. I mean, no...heh, I'm sure that was quite sincerek, but it's positively saccharine today.

The idea of emulating Chinese stuf, I realize, is a pretty constant part of earlier Japanese history, but it was making me think of the fellows on display at the Asian Art Museum in Frisco (sue me ;p) who were into Nanga [there follows a kanji inquiry that is irrevelent here...]

Poetry...err...yeah...not so much to say >_<

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WHY DO I HAVE IN-JOKES WITH...MYSELF? X_X That has got to be the most extreme lameness ever conceived. Maybe I should just DISCUSS my issues regarding nicknames for San Francisco with EVERYONE and then THE WHOLE WORLD will be able to-- and it's not even a joke, see; it's like an in-...in...security lol GOOD LORD *insert fork in eyeball* It's an IN-INSECURITY ;p WHO STARTED THIS? That's what I'd like to know. At some point, someone bashed me for using a nickname I heard from a guy who lived there for a while. I figured, HOW CAN YOU GO WRONG USING A NAME SOMEONE FROM THERE USED? I MEAN HE PROBABLY PICKED IT UP WHILE HE WAS THERE!!! Give me a break ;p I don't think it was a good one though.

Here are my opinions on the ones I've come across thus far (this really should've been a separate post...)

SF - short and sweet...mistaken for "science fiction" in vague contexts e.g. I love SF, I want more SF, I miss SF.

San Fran - disgusting, makes me think of smelly, unpleasant old ladies (without accidentally implying here that all old ladies are smelly and/or unpleasant, or that people named Fran are smelly/unpleasant/old/displeased with their name)

Frisco - definitely hot, I think I've mentioned that before.

So that's really what I have to say. I'm sure there are plenty of other ways to say San Francisco, some that are not so benign I would imagine, as well. These are really just convenient abbreviations. Actually San Fran isn't convenient at all. It's too awful to be. Maybe I should apologize. I know there are people who DO call it San Fran...and I understand how this form COULD seem tempting as one of the available abbreviations. KEY: "ONE OF" Please LOCATE YOUR SENSES and feel your tongue savoring "Frisco" FEAST YOUR EYES on the "isco" and the "Fr" and the devinely inspired deletion of "anc!" Finally, FOR YOUR AURAL PLEASURE, just say it. Say it over and over and over and ENJOY IT. Frisco! You win! YEZ ;D

----

On the way to the mail room today I remarked that the ground seemed awfully flat. I guess after two weeks + a couple days of walking EITHER up OR downhill overwhelmingly more often than not, it's a bit strange.

I got some books today...and my
  • ANGRY BEAR HOODIE
  • I also got the broken heart shirt which is fairly ironic. Mebbe I should've gotten the IRONY shirt *makes a lame joke drool face*

    (Dude, it's not really a drool face. I've just coined that though, because it sounds right.)

    What did I get? Not the one I REALLY needed!! ;p Ok there were two I really needed and I did get ONE of them, but the SEVERELY REQUIRED one is still out there somewhere . I guess though I intended to and really in memory DID hit the button to PAY EXTRA for a SPEEDIER delivery, it will actually just take forever. Luckily my prof roxxorz and lent me his copy which suspiciously resembles the copy (complete with decimal code sticker) out from the library.

    Damn, it's midnight. When'd that happen?

    2 comments:

    Emily said...

    Wow, check that out. Pretty ghetto, or something. Desperate. I can't remember how to hyperlink. There has to be a short-cut. You can TELL I CUT AND PASTED FROM THE TEMPLATE CUZ THERE'S THE DAMNABLE BULLET

    hee hee

    That is SO LAME :D

    BadMonkey said...

    Cool, I didn't even know you'd ordered the angry bear hoodie! QC rules!