After my first piano and singing performance with my boys, I’m ready to attempt a solo. I first encountered this song in one of my favorite films in recent years, and something about it stayed with me. I’m glad to make it part of my piano journey.
Perfect Day by Lou Reed:
Just a perfect day Drink Sangria in the park And then later When it gets dark, we go home
Just a perfect day Feed animals in the zoo Then later A movie, too, and then home
Oh, it’s such a perfect day I’m glad I spend it with you Oh, such a perfect day You just keep me hanging on You just keep me hanging on
Just a perfect day Problems all left alone Weekenders on our own It’s such fun
Just a perfect day You made me forget myself I thought I was Someone else, someone good
Oh, it’s such a perfect day I’m glad I spent it with you Oh, such a perfect day You just keep me hanging on You just keep me hanging on
You’re going to reap just what you sow You’re going to reap just what you sow You’re going to reap just what you sow You’re going to reap just what you sow
Rental Family. A movie about loneliness, lies, social norms, and what it means to exist and feel alive. Here’s a review (with spoilers). I remember watching Brendan in movies like George of the Jungle and The Mummy when I was younger.
Bocchi the Rock. An anime about an introvert who dreams of becoming popular and having many friends. As an extreme introvert myself, I think Bocchi’s struggle is less about introversion and more about social anxiety, bordering on depression and hikikomori. While part of it might be exaggerated, I think we can relate to many of her emotions. The anime explores these themes in a lighthearted and funny way. I especially enjoyed Bocchi’s solo compositions, which express her thoughts and feelings well. It suggests many of our struggles stem from the mind and the stories we tell ourselves.
Project Hail Mary. A science fiction movie based on an award-winning novel. Judging from the reviews, the book is more technical and science-heavy, while the movie more accessible and has broader appeal to a wider audience. I’m glad I brought my two boys to see it, as we all enjoyed the humor and the film overall.
PS: My boys borrowed and read the original novel (as well as The Martian). That alone is worth it.
Detective Conan the Movie: One-Eyed Flashback. It’s interesting how the anime turns Mori into such a cool character. I also like Detective Morofushi, who is modeled after Zhuge Liang from Romance of the Three Kingdoms. That said, when an anime releases a new movie every year, it is hard to maintain a consistently strong story. From memory, only two or three Conan movies have touched me.
Zootopia 2. The animation is engaging from beginning to end, and the chemistry between Judy and Nick remains strong. Still, I think the first movie was more original and more thought-provoking.
Recent Anime. I watched a few episodes of Witch Hat Atelier, Akane-banashi, and Daemons of the Shadow Realm. It is still too early to say how much I like them, but Witch Hat Atelier stands out for its beautiful animation, likely inspired by the innovative techniques Kamome Shirahama used in her manga. Its opening shares similarities with Fullmetal Alchemist, whose creator Hiromu Arakawa also wrote Daemons of the Shadow Realm.
I share his impulse to create and his desire to be good at things, both of which are great sources of satisfaction for me.
From the Financial Times article on the artist Henry Taylor:
The impulse to create seems to have been with Taylor from a young age. He tried being a writer (“I wasn’t good enough”, he says), and dabbled in theatre before settling on painting. The youngest of eight siblings, Taylor credits high-achieving brothers for pushing him to find something he could excel at. “I had brothers who were like track stars, they were real good at things,” he says. “I said, damn, what am I going to do? I wanted to be good at something.
It’s perhaps ironic that an artist who never set out to follow the conventional path to artistic success is enjoying precisely that. Taylor has now had exhibitions all over the world…
All this is extra and it all came late,” Taylor says. “My mom used to say, ‘put your best foot forward’. And I said, probably the best thing I can do is draw. I may not be the best at it, but I keep working at it.
I can’t resist an anime about art. The characters are well designed and well developed, but what I like most is the beautiful, painting-like background. The setting reminds me of my time studying in the UK: the River Thames, an academy that resembles Cambridge, the National Gallery, the British Museum, Westminster Abbey, Covent Garden, the pubs, and side trips to the Cotswolds and the countryside.
Following our hearts or simply doing what we love may sound ideal, but life is often messier, with no clear optimal path. We cannot fully ignore others’ opinions or societal norms either. Since we only get to live one timeline, there will always be “what if” questions, and we will never know how the paths not taken might have unfolded. But at the very least, we should try to find a path, or create a bubble, where we do not betray ourselves and still have room to grow and thrive.
Quotes from the anime:
“As always, the more I paint, the more I’m confounded by the things I lack. It’s the same things over and over. But then, I guess that’s not so bad. After all, as long as I’m painting, I’m always having fun.”
—Lili Ichijoin
“Actually I’ve never once thought my paintings were any good. That’s why I’m so desperate to paint all the time.”
—Kit Church
“I’ve never cared what other people think. What does it have to do with painting?
All I want is to remember the beautiful things I see every day. If I paint them, I won’t forget. That’s the only reason I paint. Honestly, the rankings mean nothing to me.”
—Kit Church
“That’s why his artwork always grabs hold of people and stirs their souls. And then, as if adding insult to injury, it questions you. Are you being honest with yourself? Are you living life to the fullest?”
—Shin Kobayakawa
“When I was a child, I saw the real thing. At that moment…it felt like time had stopped. Even now, I’ve never felt anything more serene. All I could hear was my own heartbeat. For the first time, a cold marble structure taught what it means to be alive. And then it occurred to me. The contours of memory blur with time and become unrecognizable. But even so, if we can capture a moment in time and give it form, perhaps that memory will never fade.”
I’ve been keeping this blog on and off for over 20 years, and I recently revisited some of the posts I wrote in my 20s. I was more idealistic then, with more questions, more self-doubt, and less self-censorship, along with more grammar mistakes. I wanted to be seen as a sophisticated thinker, and perhaps because of my immaturity, I was less concerned about looking stupid. I wrote corny poems and other posts that make me cringe now. I also interacted more with my readers, even though only a few close friends ever read or commented on the blog. I guess some part of me has always wanted a community of like-minded people.
Looking back, that straightforwardness has its own charm. It feels a little like looking into a child’s unfiltered mind. I like documenting life as a way of preserving memories, because most things are transient, and recording them gives me a stronger sense of existence. Even though I often felt down, unsatisfied, and uncertain about myself and what I wanted to do with my life, I’m glad I captured those thoughts, along with my time studying in the UK and the early years of my working life. I only wish I had started keeping a regular journal earlier, in high school and university.
I blogged for about two years in my 30s. That was the period when I got married and had my first child. Life felt steadier then, with fewer emotional ups and downs, and I focused more on conventional things like parenting and other adult responsibilities. My posts during that time tended to include longer excerpts from what I was reading, along with some on economics. One consistent theme, however, was that I remained eager to learn and improve myself.
I’m glad I kept writing. Life passes quickly, and memory is unreliable. By putting things into words, we give shape to experiences that would otherwise fade. Even if earlier versions of ourselves now seem naive, awkward, or unfinished, they were real. In my 20s, this blog was a place for questions, self-expression, and uncertainty. In my 30s, it became quieter and steadier, shaped more by responsibility and routine. The tone changed, but the impulse remained the same: a desire to learn, to make sense of life, and to preserve something that would otherwise be lost.
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