Ryu's Blog

Learn and Create

Recent Posts

  • What’s happening in the market

    The cartoon is originally from The Economist, one of my favorite magazines. Krugman reposted it on his blog recently. In case you’re worry about falling stock prices, David Leonhardt said you need not worry if you’re young (same for property prices: good if you haven’t bought a house and plan to buy one), and Milkiel advises people to keep their money in the market.

    A side note: Krugman won the Nobel prize for Economics this year. Although my ideology differs from his, I like his works on economics. Many commentaries are available on the econ-blogosphere. Tyler has a nice summary post with lots of links. I also like this article by Edward Glaeser.

     

  • 雲のむこう、約束の場所

    Seeing Angi posting 雲のむこう、約束の場所　（Ｂｅｙｏｎｄ　ｔｈｅ　Ｃｌｏｕｄｓ，　Ｔｈｅ　Ｐｒｏｍｉｓｅｄ　Ｐｌａｃｅ） on her msn made me want to watch this anime by Shinkai Makoto for the third time. But since I’m a bit short of time lately and there’re still plenty of things I want to do, I decided to just run the DVD and listen to the ending song. I discovered that Shinkai Makoto wrote the lyric, which fits well with the story theme.
    ～君の声～色あせた青ににじむ　白い雲　遠いあの日のいろ

    心の奥の誰にも　隠してる痛み
    僕のすべてかけた　言葉もう遠く
    なくす日々の中で今も　きみは　僕をあたためてる
    きみのこえ　きみのかたち　照らした光
    かなうなら　僕のこえ　どこかのきみ　とどくように
    僕は生きてく
    日差しに灼けたレールから　響くおと遠く　あの日のこえ
    あの雲のむこう今でも　約束の場所ある
    いつからか孤独　僕を囲み　きしむ心
    過ぎる時の中できっと　僕はきみをなくしていく
    きみの髪　空と雲　とかした世界　秘密に満ちて
    きみのこえ　やさしい指　風うける肌
    こころ強くする
    いつまでも　こころ震わす　きみの背中
    願いいただ　僕の歌　どこかのきみ　とどきますよう
    僕は生きてく
    きみのこえ　きみのかたち　照らした光
    かなうなら　生きる場所　違うけれど　優しく強く
    僕は生きたい

    Your Voice (Kimi no Koe)

    The faded blue, the white clouds, the color of that faraway days

    Deep inside my heart, there is a pain hidden from all.
    I had put my all, the words had become distant
    In the lost days, even now, you make me warm.
    Your voice, your shape illuminated by the light
    If it could happen
    If my voice could reach you, whereever you are
    I would live on

    From the sundrenched rails, echo the voice of that distant day
    Beyond the clouds, even now, the promised place is there
    Since when, loneliness has surrounded me, clutched my heart
    In the flow of time, I’m surely going to lose you.

    Your hair, the world where sky and clouds blend, secrets abound
    Your voice, your gentle fingers, and your flowing skin
    Make my heart strong

    Always, a shivered heart, your back
    My wish is only that, my song would reach you, wherever you are
    I would live on

    Your voice, your shape illuminated by the light
    If it could happen, even though we live in different places,
    Gently and strongly
    I would live on

    (It’s rather irrational for me to stay up till 1am to translate this song given that I got to wake up at 6am for work. People are truly driven by emotions)

  • On Travel

    Most of us want to travel more. Maybe we want to broaden our mind and learn more about a different culture, see new places and try more food, or just to take a break and relax. If we haven’t travel much, we might get satisfaction just being to a different country, visiting famous tourist attractions, and trying foods recommended by travel guides. But to get more out of travel and make it an enriching experience is rather difficult.

    Sometimes I feel I haven’t made my travel worthwhile and the time is not well spend. I’m the type of person who’d feel dissatisfied if remain idle or haven’t done anything meaningful for a day or more (killing time is an alien concept for me). I tend to bring books with me wherever I go so at least I got to read and feel like I’m doing something meaningful everyday. I generally bring fiction or other non-work related readings during travel and read them during commute or waiting time when nothing much is happening around. But if not manage well, reading can take the fun out of travel, especially when going out with friends. So I guess the best thing is to make myself a better wanderer (in terms of making my travel a great experience).

    Below are some thoughts on travel from my Japan trip:

    -Travel with friends who you can strive a good conversation with make activities more fun and memorable. Being able to share thoughts and discuss ideas with someone who understands is time well-spend no matter where you are.

    -Enjoy the spontaneity. Let go of your mind from time to time (not something that come naturally to me) and do things you don’t usually do. We’d do more of this in everyday life as well, but I found it’s easier during travel when we’re in a different environment and have a break from everyday regularities. Some of the more memorable things often happen when you get lost, try unexpected things, or pump into a strangers.

    -Keep note of what happen with journal and photos. Since our memory is not very reliable, it’s good to note down thoughts and things that happened along the way. Some people worry that taking photos might take the joy out of travel as we don’t get to enjoy the actual happening and savor the moment. But I think as long as you don’t overdo it, photos are a good way to record what happen, and often viewing the photos afterward make the original activities more satisfactory and fulfilling. Seeing things through a camera lens can also help concentrate your mind and notice things you’d not otherwise notice. Just make sure that you’d time to put down the camera and enjoy the place/activities/events.

  • Back from vacation

    Will update some photos and thoughts on the trip after I get through 600+ emails and catch up with my readings. It’s a good trip overall, seeing new places and trying many good foods. Unsurprisingly, most memorable events are those that spent with friends.

  • Away notice

    I’ll be taking a vacation in Japan and HK for the next two weeks so won’t be blogging for a while. I’d been busy lately keeping up with the market and getting a publication out and haven’t started packing yet. I hope things will get quieter when I come back so I’d have more time to focus my attention on other interesting topics outside the financial market. In case you worry about me, I’m still surviving in my job, mostly due to luck of course. I will post some travel photos after I come back. For now, there’re some new photos taken by a friend from a hiking trip.

  • Movies that made my week

    Mama Mia – Highly entertaining and took away all my tiredness after an 80 hours work week. It’s a movie you want to watch in a theatre. I can’t wait to get the soundtrack.

    Gake no Ue no Ponyo (Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea) – Another gem by Miyazaki about nature, magic, and bonding. For those who’ve watched it or don’t mind spoilers, here’s a review.

  • Wall-E

    I had high expectations for this anime and wasn’t disappointed. The anime is full of delicate portray of emotions and touches on some deeper themes (Spoilers ahead). The anime can easily to made into a dystopia in several ways if we think about the power of robot or people’s tendencies to behave in a situation portrayed in the anime.  On a personal level, Wall-E’s memory loss can be comparable with people with Alzheimer’s disease. If Wall-E didn’t get his memory back, is he the same being as the old Wall-E, and what to make of the shared experience between the two? Robot’s in general identical and replaceable as opposed to human being for now, but this would be questions we have to face if we can successfully make copies/uploads of ourselves in one way or another.
    Here is an interview with the anime director with some quotes below:
    it was literally born from the sentence, “What if humankind left earth and somebody left the last robot on, and it just kept doing the same futile thing forever?” And I thought that was the saddest, loneliest character I ever heard of in my life.
    But definitely it had that first man, first female theme. But I wasn’t trying to replace man in the bigger story. I just loved the poetic-ness that these two machines held more care for living and loving than humanity had anymore.
    The theme that I was trying to tap into was that irrational love defeats life’s programming—that it takes a random act of loving kindness to kick us out of our routines and habit. You could blame consumerism as one thing that’s happening in this film, but there’s a million other things we do that distract us from connecting to the person next to us and from furthering relationships, which is truly the point of living. So I came up with the idea that as WALL•E was picking up trash, it would have all these signs of humanity for him to rifle through, to get him interested in what humans were all about. I loved the idea of WALL•E finding something real. He was fascinated with the idea of living. And what’s the point of living? Something real. He was a manmade object with something real inside him. And he found something real while surrounded by manmade objects. That just was poetic for me.
    I wasn’t trying to make the humans into fat, lazy consumers, but to make humanity appear to be completely consumed by everything that can distract you—to the point where they lost connection with each other, even though they’re right next to each other.

  • Dreams

    Dreams

    Regardless how old we are, or what we do
    Anyone, anytime, anywhere
    Gaze at the sky
    And Imagine a future that’s ours
    It’s all up to us
    To go after our dreams
    And live the life we want

  • Distance

     

    Are we looking at the same sky

    Sharing the same dream?

    Are we hearing the same sound

    Feeling the same breeze?

    If we were in the same room

    Would I recognize you?

    If we talk

    Would our words reach each other?

    Even if we’re world apart

    We might still be able to connect

    The farthest distance is in the mind

  • Recent Updates

    Health

    Feeling sick and seems like getting fatter. Conclusion: not fit enough, ought to sleep and exercise more and cut down on sweets. Hope to recover soon so won’t have excuse to be lazy.

     

    Reading

    Buffet – The Making of an American Capitalist by Roger Lowenstein. Not a book on investment but rather an interesting biography on an extremely smart and obsessive person.

     

    Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky. Talk about how technology changes media, soical orgnizations, and ways we do things. I find the topics interesting and the book’s filled with insights.

     

    Yes – 50 scientific proven ways to be persuasive by Robert Cialdini, Noah Goldstein, and Steve Martin. Ways to become more persuasive using results from psychological research. Prachtical book: interesting for those not familiar with the research, while good reminder for people who want to apply them to everyday life.

     

    Why I hate Saturn by Kyle Baker. A graphic novel about an intelligent woman who can’t stop complaining and be satisfied with life. I found Western graphic novel to be very different from Japanese Manga, with less emphasis on beautiful drawing (at least from my aesthetic viewpoint) but more sophisticated conversation, plot, and nuances.

     

    Books I hope to get through in Summer.

    The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker

    Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchen

    Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift

     

    Movies

    The Dark Knight. I like it: good acting, rather realistic and dark.

     

    Honey and Clover (movie version). Prefer the drama better as condensing 10 books into a movie means lots of cutting. But the OST is nice, featuring songs by James Wendt.

     

    Anime I want to watch: Wall-E, Gake no Ue no Ponyo (new anime by Miyazaki), Gin-iro na Kami no Agito

     

    Also thinking about watching Kimura Takuya’s latest drama: Change