Tomorrow

A verse from Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, haunts my thoughts.
One professor said that its quite famous, but just wanted to share it because its so thrilling.

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. 

 

When I'm busy or tired or stressed I'll just read this to perk me up.

It makes me feel more appreciative towards life.

book report

Just a few more tests, reports, and presentations until Summer vacation!
I can't wait for the summer holidays.
I'm still working on my book report, and it's difficult because I have to juggle several different reports, while studying for tests.  Oh, how I long for a good long summer vacation!

Stay Motivated

Hello everyone!

In two weeks I have many exams and I'm not prepared at all. I still need to do book reports and presentations but I'm motivated. I know that there is good waiting for me after I finish all my duties. The day I finish my final exam of the spring semester, me and Madoka are going to celebrate the beginning of our summer holidays. Maybe we go out, have some dinner at a fancy restaurant or we go clubbing. Regardless of what it is, I'm very looking forward to it. 

two books a day

Today, I read two books in order to finish the report. It was very hard for me. I should have started earlier.
I want to go to sleep already today, but I have to prepare for the tests....

Neko Funjyatta

         These days my younger brother (age 6) possesses great passion for playing the piano. The first thing he does after waking up is to go straight downstairs and plop himself on the stool in front of the piano. He then starts warm up practices by hitting notes all across the keyboard. Once his fingers are thus exercised and he feels ready to start, he plays a medley of his two favourite songs. He sometimes deftly repeats the same phrase over and over again, trying to make it sound just right, (though others may think differently).
Of course, he has a limited repertoire. In fact, his repertoire consists of only two songs: Kaeru no uta and Neko funjyatta. Nevertheless, he practices with considerable consistency fit for a professional pianist. The only problem he has is that he absolutely refuses any hint of help. Unfortunately, little does he realize, that it is only when he listens that he really improves.

Apolo chocolate

I ate Mint Apolo Chocolates last week. It was very tasty, and I loved it very much. Mizuki said she loved it too. Since the first day I bought it, I've been buying it once in a two days. It's only sold during summer, so I will keep buying it.

Summer vacation

It's been hat days recently summer is coming and exams are coming. First time to take univ exams so I'm worried but feel it's easier because it's not really studying studying that examinee do. 

Dance circle performance

yeasterday was my first dance performance in my dance circle. This performance is the first assignment for the freshmen. We have to barrow a studio and set a date and time for the performance. Each of the teams , divided by genre, must choreography and perform a dance number. The guests or audience were our dance circles senpais. I am in the lock and wack genre. The other teams that performed was pop, house, hip hop, girls and breaking. Our senpais gave us feed back on our performances which is an honor. My team had very good feed back. Many of our senpais said we had the best performance. I think it is because we don't have many people in our genre and  we had midnight practices together a couple of times for this event. For that reason we all grew very close. Of course the other teams and genres had great performances as well however, according to the feed back our team looked like we were having  the most fun performing our performance. Our genre is lock and wack which is quite funky. There are many aspects of soul in the genre  as well. This is probably why we were able to dance with a smile and and enjoy performing. Over all it was a fun event and our senpais are crazy but when it comes to dance everyone is very focused and works hard to become better and better. That is the best part of my circle work hard play hard! Lol

Awesome sister

Monday was my birthday. However I had had midnight practice the night before and slept through most of Sunday since I didn't have work. So I was in my room  still very sleepy, trying to do some homework. All of the sudden my sister came into my room and turns off the lights! I was thinking what? I'm doing homework here?! And the next thing I know she walks in the door way with a cake with candles singing happy birthday. I never heard her go out the door so I had no idea she had bought me a cake. It was a nice surprise. I'm glad to have such a sister. Thank you!

My tailbone hurts

Yesterday I slipped on the stairs at Omotesando Station. All the reason was the weather. When I realized I was already fell over on my back. It really really hurts....I even can't crouch down.

logorama

This short story was about the lives of logos. It began with a nice and peace day, when suddenly a thief came in and then the huge earthquake, and their peace life went into a huge mess. A lot of people were killed, but it ends peacefully again.

I thought this short story was trying to tell us that we are too into everything we have in this world nowadays, like the advertisement that is everywhere and the environments. We think it as if it will surely happen. But on the other hand, it means that those advertisements are very important to our lives, and we can't live without them. Through this movie, I learned that I am living with a lot of help.

Ice cream

On Saturday, I went to part time job in tennis school. There is a nice guy who works with me. When I told him that I was tired, he bought me a chocolate ice cream. Also after my job was done, he bought me another ice cream. It was a watermelon pop bar, and it was so yummy! 

Logorama

Even though Ronald McDonald was a bad guy in this film, I still like him. There were many logos in this story, and I realized I've seen most of them before in America. I see some of them in Japan too. This film made me realize that many companies are supporting our lives.

My friend

One of my friend from America came to Japan so I met him a couple of days ago. He came as a exchange student about an year ago, so me and my friends from high school went to a internet cafe. We did darts, billiards, and karaoke. It was great meeting him and my friends from high school again. We all changed on the outside, but we will never change on the inside.

Logorama

Logorama is a story about a world made out of logos.The marshmallow men are trying to catch a theif that is Ronald Mcdonald. A lot of action happens. Big boy and harybo are brats. Pringles are ordinary guys mith mustaches. Other logos were all over the place.

I loved the old fashion songs that they were playing. I don't know why but I really liked the evil Ronald Mcdonald. It suited him. The details were really good that in some parts, it was hard to discover that it was a logo.

4th of July

 For 4th of July last Saturday, I didn't do anything special, but I still got dressed up a little. I was wearing red tee that has an American flag on, navy lace skirt, blue bow on a hair, blue eyeshadow, and red lip. I was hanging out with my friend and I ate an Independence Day cupcake I n the cupcake store. After that, we were hanging out around Shibuya crossing. And there was a whole crowd of demo against "Anpo". We definitely guessed that they were doing it on purpose on 4th of July. But to be honest, I feel like why can't everyone be happy and celebrate 4th of July for now? I was a little afraid to pass that area because they might think that I'm Asian American.

Watching the "Logo Rama"

 "Logo Rama" is a film where all the things on a planet is based on logos of companies. It starts from a rural nice day with a nice music but suddently, the McDonald character causes problem and police starts chasing him. Soon after that, there comes earthquake and the magma starts flowing from the bottom. The whole city gets messed up, but ends with a nice music as if it's still a rural day.

 I think what this film is trying to tell us is that first of all, they're obviously trying to offend the McDonald character. And also, they're trying to tell us that the time goes on as if it was a rural day even something huge happens.

Test week

It's already July, and I need to prepare for the test.
The happiest thing for me is that IE classes doesn't have a test!
I need to do my best in remaining IE classes.

Dear Arisa

Aogaku IE3 Daily Blog



I read this article. The situation was perfectly same with me!

I went to the eye doctor lastweek, and was said that my left eye was getting worse.

We need to be careful not to use electronic devises in dark places.

Lets be careful not to make our eyes worser…

Re: weekend

You know, my sister also took the second phase of the Grade 1 exam as well yesterday. It was her second time. Why, I myself had to go through the interview for Grade 1 three times before I got my certificate. Let's hope you can quickly jump up the ranks to the point where you can succeed at the Grade 1 exam - it was difficult even for me, especially the interview, where two examiners challenge you on your speech-making skills and knowledge of current news.

I suppose one important way to study, just like you said, is to immerse yourself in an environment where speaking English is natural. I myself know it well because although speaking and writing English was second nature for me, attempting to fit in with the Japanese environment here was a struggle when I first arrived. Yet, my three years in Japanese high school, where I studied in mainly Japanese for the first time in a few years was helpful in getting me back up.

Today, I went to the eye doctor in order to buy contact lenses. My eyes were getting worse, so I had the degree of the contact lenses changed. Now, my vision is perfect!!

Logorama

In this short film, logos are used in everywhere. I had never watched such a creative movie, so it was very interesting! The message of this movie is the greatness of logos, the ideas of the company. Logos support not only our daily lives but also the company itself. We are reliable to forget that huge numbers of logos are around us, but they are essential for our daily lives.

Exams

Hi it's Umeka

First of all, thanks to Madoka and Taiga for your response to my question!

It was really interesting to read your opinion about traveling alone. Thank you!

This Friday I have my first exam! I had so much time this weekend

but ended up doing almost nothing....I feel so bad now :( I hate how bad I am 

at scheduling. I still need to finish my book report and two other reports.

This week is going to be hard because I want to finish all three reports within this week before Friday. 

Logorama

About Logorama

In the short film Logorama, the story is set in Los Angeles where the city is made up of famous
brands and logos. Two police officers try to catch a criminal who is presented by Ronald McDonald.There is a dangerous car chase and many violent scenes with gun shooting. At the same time, there is a big earthquake which destroys the whole city including all brands and logos. 

This video shows us that we are constantly surrounded by advertisement without really recognizing the huge amount they take up in our lives. Logos, brands and mascots everywhere we can look. 

I think the animation was very entertaining. Especially, the rampage scenes with Ronald McDonald. The music did also fit very well to the story. At the beginning "Good Morning Life" by Dean Martin created a good mood. At the end "I don't want to send the world on fire" by The Ink Spots highlights how the wold is in chaos after the destruction.

Mirage

About Mirage

Sorry for the late post. I totally forgot about it!

The main character is a robot with a human-like face and it is in search of water.
The robots needs to collect water from plants in order to sustain his life.
On its search for water it the robot finds a tree and when it tries to open a fruit to get water,a gold fish comes out of it. The robot takes the gold fish and puts it into his glass chest because the goldfish would die without the water.

The message of this video is that we need to share things to sustain live and that we cannot live alone. I think this video had lots of irony. Firstly, the robot was collecting water to survive although it was the whole time under sea, inside water. Another thing is that robots and water don't really go well together. Water will cause damage to the robot.

weekend

Yesterday, I took Eiken second, oral exam. Last year I failed the test but this time I felt fairly easy. This is probably because I'm with ie3 mates and take English classes and study english unintentionally. This sort of ways is the best way to study languages I guess.  I worked afterwords and went drinking. It's been a while I enjoyed weekend. But I regret I didn't study.

Logorama (logos, logos, everywhere)

I think that the catch line on the poster says it all: "Spectacular car chases, an intense hostage crisis, wild animals rampaging through the city, and even more..." Logorama sends the audience on a crude, action-packed adventure through "Logos Angeles", where the people and buildings are all corporate icons/logos.

The movie is clearly a satire, in my opinion. What first gave it away for me was the story. It was pure, disposable action without much of a clear plotline, along with crude language and hit-after-hit of violence. Let's not forget the logos. What logos are supposed to do is probably the first important way to understand. First of all, who doesn't find logos good to look at? They're all supposed to catch our eye in a pleasant way and be catchy as well - see how many logos you can recognize in the film, if you want to see evidence! And there's clearly no better place to use logos than in films, where celebrities would use products that you obviously will need. Logorama's plethoran use of corpo

The Great Gatsby

I am currently reading The Great Gatsby and, finally, the Great Gatsby has come out! Well, from the beginning, I've been drawn into the story by the vivacious and lively descriptions of the scenery. F. Scott Fitsgerald delicately depicts how people act, and shows how people say what they don't mean. In the previous book I read, The Call of the Wild, relationships weren't that complex. The characters mainly acted according to their own will. In The Great Gatsby, the characters carry complex motives and aren't so straightforward. I enjoy the difference.

Shopping

Yesterday, I went to Nakano to browse some costumes of characters from the Vocaloids.
One of my favorite Vocaloids is Hatsune Miku and I bought a costume of her song "magnet".
The reason I had to buy it is because I'm looking forward to joining a cosplay event of Hatsune Miku which will be hosted in August.
I'm so excited because I haven't joined those kind of events for more than a year.
It used to be my hobby but I couldn't do it since I had to study for entrance examination.
Also, I didn't have much money left so I couldn't get any new costumes.
Now that I have time and money, I'm looking forward to starting my hobbies again.

Logorama

    The video Logorama was very interesting. The logos were embedded in every landscape possible. I recognized some like Domino's pizza, malboro, IKEA, Epson, nintendo, Canada Natural, and Walt Disney. It was fun to find them in unexpected ways, and I was surprised at how much I knew.
   This short film made me realize how many logos there were, and how they affected my daily life and the world. I bought their products and used them. They use our money to make more money. They dominate the world's economy.
    In the film, the mascot of McDonald, Ronald McDonald was depicted as a terrorist. As Dr. Armstrong said, the usage of a big company in a negative way has caused protests by the company. The court turned down the company's attempt to prohibit the film, stating that the use of the mascot was a part of freedom of speech. However, I sort of understand why McDonald would want the film to be prohibited.  After watching the film, I didn't feel like eating at McDonalds.

Logorama

Logorama is a short film created by all sorts of logos.
I could enjoy watching it since the characters of the logos were very comical.
Apparently the characteristics matched the logos almost perfect.
I also found some familiar logos that I used to see in the states.
I could tell that the world is full of ideas since it is possible to create a world only with logos like this film.
Logos cannot be created without brilliant ideas.
I could also tell that the logos fight each other to be the best seller or an advertisement.
We can find countless unique logos that catch our eyes.
I wish I could find more unique logos in the future.

Logorama

Logorama is a animation film which won an accadamy award in 2010. It is about a city made completely out of logos and the people in it are logo characters as well. The city is most likely LA. The story starts off with a conversation between two cops which are the logo character michline men. There is a transmission saying there is a suspicious suspect with red hair and white and red striped socks. At that moment one of the cops spots Ronald Mc Donald who fits the description exactly. A large scale chase occurs. Things get broken, people get squashed and big boy is taken hostage! In the middle of this conflict a gigantic earthquake happens. It destroys the city and causes a large wave that envelopes the whole city. At first I wasn't sure what the earthquake represented however, after thinking about it for a while I think that it represents a new era or a large movement; change in society. The logo city and citizens represent the different logos and brands that influence our daily lifes. Though we may not recognize them they are everywhere and have a large effect on the world around us. I think that is the main message the creators wanted to portray. The influence and strength of logos and labels.

LOGORAMA

First I appreciate it that our professor introduces us interesting films and have me have a habit to see any kind of films!!  

This film was a little difficult for me because I'm not familiar with the slung. But I could feel that the creator wants to show us every stores have bad aspects, bias like we have towards people.

Mirage

A robotical man is looking for water which is the heart for him in a world water remains little. He finds the core machine producing water and breaks it to get. However inside of it fish lives so he decided to live with it. He may die because fish consume water.

This story tells us that we waste tons of water and we are going to be hot water. 

LOGORAMA®

The story was very interesting. I saw it twice after I went back home!! 

I first thought that the directors were so smart. I've watched many movies till now but, I never seen such a unique film like this.

I think the directors wanted to tell us about our rights. They showed us the right and profit of using logos with no permission. I think this had an influence on many companies.

Passport

This morning, I received my new American passport!!!! I felt happy that it won't expire until 2025.

The design was cool and I really really liked it.

Mirage

The main character in this short animation is a robot which is looking and collecting for water.
The little grotesque looking robot splashed its water when falling, and starts
again to search for water.
After finding an apple like watery fruits, he sheepishly takes it for water and a goldfish in it dies.
Even though the fish looked like it died once, the robot puts it in his stomach and it
becomes alive again.
I thought any kind of species should cooperate to live, after looking at this film

Logorama

This story takes place in Los Angeles, lots of famous logos are included.
Ronald McDonald was chased by cops, which were the Michline men.
There were also the Esso girl and the Big Boy as the important character in this short film.
My favorite one was the one when the Esso girl droped something when the Pringles man touched her and the spoiled drink changed into the logo of Nickelodeon.

Even though we are not watching at the logos so carefully in our daily life, we unexpectedly remember lots of logos, and that's what the logos are meant to be.
They have been made to attract customers unconsciously.

Logorama

This short film that was created in 2010 was about a world that is made out of logos. The story is set in Los Angeles and it is about cops trying to capture the criminal. In this film the cop is Michelin Man and the criminal is Ronald Mcdonald. The conflict begins when the cops find Ronald. They try to capture Ronald while he involves other logo characters. While trying to capture Ronald McDonald, a huge earthquake arrives that ruins everything surrounding them.

From this short film I thought that the director was trying to message the viewers that logos are so important in our daily lives and it is at the same time influencing our daily life in a good way and a bad way.

Mirage

It was about a boy who needs water in his stomach. Although he is in the water, he tries to get water. He found a fruit which has water in it, and he tore it. There was a fish inside. The boy put the fish in his tank. This story was grotesque, but I think it taught me to look around carefully.

I found the comments option.

This is sort of like a test post to see if the comments option works. I found someone else enabling it while I was scouring the old blogs.

But then again, I guess we might not need this because we all have our blog posts to answer other people with in the first place...

My new family

A new part of the family came a couple of    weeks ago. He is a dog. He is a whitish chihuahua with big goggle-eyes and a weird underbite. We call him Koo. Although he is the most friendly sweet dog, he can be very evil. He brings things from one side of the room to the other, he would pee if were to get really happy so we put diapers on him, he bothers the other two dogs and so on. Still, i'm happy to have another member.

Mirage

The story is about a robotic boy who needs water to live. He passes out then water drops fall from a tower into his tank. He wanted the water so he went up the tower to find a plant with a fruit like thing with a light inside. The boy gets a pole and stabs the fruit to get water. A fish comes out of the plant which can't breath because it has no water. The boy finds many dead fish around the plant just like fish that is dying right in front of him. He picks up the fish and puts it in his tank. At the end the boy and the fish swims through the sea as a mirage.

I thought this was a very strange and weird story. It is a great short film that shows how precious life is. It made me feel that I shouldn't do things only for my needs.

Omotesando

I realize there are so many Japanese celebrities and famous people in omotesando and harajuku often. Just today I saw yukkina walking the streets of omotesando. Yukkina is a popular Japanese model which most of you may already know. She was with another friend and they were both pushing baby carriages. Many people walking by were look at her and wisphering to each other, is that really her ?? I personally like yukkina and recognized her right away. However she seemed busy and a little annoyed at why the baby carriage's wheels were getting stuck. I feel that even if they are famous they are human and want privacy.

Response to Umeka

Hey Umeka,  it's very kind of you to help your German friend.

well, about your question,

I don't really feel fear for traveling alone regardless of country and destination.

Guess it has something to do with our individual personality such as whether we like exploring new things or not. I personally love trying to visit by myself and experience the new world where I've never seen yet. Sometimes its easy stance brought me lots of troubles but still, I enjoyed all of them.

Including all kind of tough tasks like language, new people and environment where we can't expect what'd happen,  I would call as 'part of great journey' and I'm certain that they will get you so incredible and memorable moment^^

Once you try, you'll know how great they are!

So, don't be afraid for going to journey alone. As long as you are alive, everything will be alright, my advice;) hihi

Madoka

  

Saturday

 Last Saturday, I went shopping to Lalaport Fujimi with my friend Rachel. It was our second time going there. After we went shopping in Hollister for awhile, we went to eat lunch at Komeda cafe just like we did in the first time we came to this mall. We weren't trying to be mean or offensive, but we thought that the workers in the store was kind of creepy. The first man who came to take our order had unbelievably high voice. We could imagine him with a red and white striped clown costume with triangle hat on his head with a rubber to protect his hat from not falling from his head with tiny children's toy drum that is too small for him hanging from his neck. It was pretty creative what we imagined and we literally laughed till our stomach hurted. The second man who brought us our food was talking incredibly fast that we couldn't even hear what he's saying. He didn't even finish his sentence and it was very hard to recognize what he was saying. Then Rachel started saying that she wanted to have her part time job in Komeda cafe back when she was still in her home town. I literally don't know why, but it was so funny. It was pretty good weekend.

 Speaking of Saturday, on this Saturday, it's the 4th of July!! I don't know about you guys, but even though I'm not an American, I have American accent and I am more into American stuff, so I do celebrate 4th of July:) I was coming up with what hair, make ups, and outfit to wear and I am so excited!! Happy early 4th of July!!

Mirage

The main character of this short film is a robot. it seems that he cannot survive without water kept in his stomach. His appearance looks kind of grotesque but actually I felt his human-like emotion when he tried to rescue a soon-to-be-dead fish by taking it into his water tank inside of body filled with plenty of water he've got from a fresh flower.

Watching the "Mirage"

 The robot boy is collecting water from the plant in the sea to put into his body. He climbs up the stairs and sees big red bulb that contains water. He collects water from there, but the goldfish comes out. He immediately puts the goldfish into his body that is actually like a water tank. At the end, he swims away with the goldfish in the ocean.

 At first, I didn't understand at all why the robot boy would need a water in his body if he's already in the ocean. I literally still don't get it, but when the story got to the goldfish part, I felt as if the creator of the movie is trying to tell us to be nice to environment. 

New!!

Today, I got a new iPhone. I'm having a hard time moving the data from the old one.
I'm thinking of looking for a new iPhone case tomorrow:)
Last time when I bought an iPhone, I broke it in four days!!! I really need to be careful not to do the
same thing again!

mirage

The main character of this short film was a robot, which part of a chest is a hollow. The robot is looking for water from some reason. One time when he fell down, he spilled all the water he have collected. After, he found a fruit? or a ball filled with water, and got a lot of water by tearing it. Actually, a living fish was in the water-filled ball, and because the robot didn't know about and torn
it, the fish seemed to have died. Though when the robot  picked up the fish and put it in the water in
it's body, it became alive.

I think the message from this story, is not to behave only by egoism of human, and to behave considering the environment and creature. It was a difficult film for me.