Midaregami

When I get home, I am going to start building a home recording setup. I am very excited about doing music again. There are many ways to approach this problem. My problem is choosing one.

I plan to record my drum set, which automatically requires about six microphones and a mixer to bring them down into two channels. That I know, and I know how to do it.

What I can’t decide is whether I should spring for a purpose-built 8- or 16-track hard disk recorder, or go for one of the various computer-based options.

Last Sunday we (that is to say, me, J, and M) went to City with the Castle and accomplished the following:

• Ate lunch at “Ren,” which has Thai Green Curry whose deliciousness I cannot even begin to set down on this page. I was looking forward to this all week.
• Bought some used CDs; a couple of Orange Pekoe singles (eh), a Tamio Okuda album (haven’t listened yet) and a Hysteric Blue album (eh)
• Saw Harry Potter (it was excellent. The best so far.)
• Bought some new CDs. Damn you, Tower Records. Damn you and your encyclopedic selection of sound! I bought Quruli’s “The World is Mine” and Number Girl’s “Num-heavymetallic.” The former is really growing on me, and the latter hasn’t been played yet. Also, I got the new Tommy single. I wish she’d go back to the Brilliant Green.
• Ate dinner at the new Subway (hey, it’s novel for us.)

It was a day of good food, good movies, good music, and best of all, good company. A prelude, perhaps, to next weekend.

Before then, however, I have a whole lot I have to do. Sweet Shiva, have mercy.

(Also, in the Tower Records button giveaway, I got both the Shena Ringo/Tokyo Jihen button and the Spitz button. Blue skies, comin’ my way…)

Having just helped Julia finish her translation of an album, I’m not sure if it makes sense to proclaim a single word “the most untranslatable.” However, if a word I use every day is number three on the list, what the heck.

Here’s the last part of the interview. I plan to do more translation of stuff like this in the future.

Here’s part two of the Nana 7.8 fanbook interview. There are some editorial notes this time, which are clearly marked. I actually did research for this section. For this, I petition my audience for tribute in the form of goldfish crackers. I love goldfish crackers so very very much.

Rolling out a new category here at Midaregami is part one of an interview with Ai Yazawa, creator of the stupendously amazing girls’ comic “Nana.” This is from the “7.8” fanbook published between (yes) volumes 7 and 8 of the comic. The interviewer is supposedly a character from the comic; I don’t know who it really is. Perhaps Ms. Yazawa herself. In any case, there are some interesting tidbits for fans to be found here.

I may not have mentioned Nana previously in this space, but that’s because I was too busy reading it. I have finished the first 8 volumes and am well on my way to demolishing 9. It is the tale of two girls named Nana, who live in Tokyo. One’s a flightly, girl-next-door type who loves too easily and too much, and the other is a take-no-prisoners punk rock girl on the verge of stardom.

It reminds me of Strangers in Paradise, but prettier, and Japanese.

As far as I know, it is not available in English. I have heard tell of a rare and mysterious bird known as a “scanlation,” that you may know by its Roman Alphabet-shaped plumage. I have never seen this creature, though. My decade of Japanese study serves me in its stead.

There are vague spoilers through volume 7. Parts two and three of the translation will be posted tomorrow and the next day, respectively.

My Super Deluxe Ultrafine Headcold 2000 Hours GOLD continues to mutate.

Meanwhile, I have developed a tripartite solution to the Venusian heat and pressure that even now rises in my furnacelike apartment:

• Cold Water
• Fans
• Nudity

I’m sick, so I haven’t been doing much. I expect that things will continue to be boring for a few days, so to tide y’all over here’s a picture of a gecko that dropped into the sink last night as I was doing dishes.

Geckos sure are cute.

I quit watching Ainori after missing the 2-hour Asa-chan climactic episode (I still don’t know what happens, but look forward to watching it with Bianca in a couple of weeks.) However, an enterprising reader of my sporadic Ainori updates (holy cats, people read this stuff?!) has taken it upon themselves to create an entire fansite devoted to the show, complete with weekly updates, screenshots, FAQ list, and more.

It’s impressive. And apparently inspired by my half-assed wisecrackery. I’m flattered.

I’m going to be in Japan a bit longer than I expected; until August 4.

The Fuji Rock Festival is July 30-August 1.

I’ve almost talked myself into going. Look at the artist lineup. I mean, look.