Maybe it’s peeling back the kimono, but…

May 15th, 2020

Since we’re almost all doing classes online and doing most meetings as virtual meetings as well, there are some things I wonder about…

I have seen for a few years now these fake suit fronts for slipping into when doing at home video hits for television. Now they’re being hawked as Zoom props.

Certainly as a professor it is important how you look on camera.

I am not doing a lot of live interactions up until now, but I do shoot videos – screen capture, and slideshows with voice-overs, and even stand up videos with a whiteboard (yes, a real whiteboard!).

It turns out that even for the standup videos, you don’t have to wear the full suit!

This is my apparel from a shoot a few days ago.

We are under way and it’s certainly different!

May 13th, 2020

The new semester always brings changes, but this one under the cloud of the Covid-19 pandemic is surely the one with the most changes even since I graduated from Graduate School and started teaching full time.

Almost all the universities in Japan have opened the semester now, and they are being run under a variety of methods and combinations of methods.

Some universities are having online only, and no real time classes, while others are having online classes with real time meetings, and some are doing a mixture of both.

This means there has been a scramble to get materials together and make them presentable and usable in an online format.

It also means that there are a lot of different ways the classes are being delivered.

I am sure I’ll be an expert by the end of the semester, and I feel a little sad that all the things I’m learning so enthusiastically now (Yes, I just dove in, took courses, joined groups, sat in my office till all hours learning to use Teams, and Zoom, and extra functions of the standards from Microsoft.)

I am staying ahead – barely, for now, and that’s a pretty good feeling.

It sounds like bragging, but I’m pretty good in front of a class with a whiteboard and an eager group.

It has been a little difficult to turn up, and keep up the energy shooting stand ups for the classes and not meeting in person.

Not my best artwork, but apropos

Hello! A couple of introduction videos for 2020

March 18th, 2020

It’s really already been a crazy start to the new school year and we haven’t even gotten started yet.

I have some new classes with students who don’t know me this semester, so I wanted to post a couple of videos that I hope will help.

Here is a bit more information on my new seminar class:

And here’s another quick video talking about a concept or two I like to cover in classes:

What is your favorite recent movie?

April 26th, 2018

It’s that time again and we’re off to a good start on a new semester.

I’ve had a chance to watch a few movies over the break and it’s always a favorite topic of mine.

I know how hard it is to name one movie as your all time favorite, so let’s try for your most recent movie you really loved.

I watched a fun movie from a few years back, (maybe 2011?)[Update: actually it was 2008! yikes!]. I’m a fan of many types of movies depending on my mood, and I really enjoy a wide variety of films.

This film as a romantic comedy, I guess you would call it though it was a little more serious in places than the usual comedy. The original title is “Definitely Maybe” but in Japan it was called “Love Diaries”. It costars Abigail Bresnan, who shot to popularity in “Little Miss Sunshine” , as the daughter. I kept thinking how perfect she was in this role; sweet, smart, but not too much – just right.

Anyway, I thought it was an interesting way to tell the story, using the flashbacks and having the guessing game about who was actually her mother by his retelling of who they met and the loves and relationships that led to their marriage, the birth of the daughter, and eventually the divorce which is the basis for the story: the need for her to understand what had happened and why her parents were no longer going to be together.

What about you? What movie have you seen recently, old or new that you really enjoyed?

In the comments below, let me know what was the title, who was the main actor and character they played and why you liked it.

Finally a healthy friend on my walk

January 11th, 2018

On a recent walk I saw a small animal dart into the trail, then back off again. I thought it was a cat at first.

There are many feral cats in the parks here. People regularly dump them I guess, and other people regularly feed them. They have their little places along the pathway where they wait for those kind folks to drop by and leave them food. So, I thought that was what I saw, but it turned out this was another Japanese raccoon. It was so fluffy compared to the ones I had seen earlier that I didn’t recognise it at first.

This one looked very healthy.

It wandered a short way up a side trail and then stood statue still for quite a while. I tried to get close enough to photograph it clearly but I also didn’t want to scare it away. I took some short videos hoping to see it better, but it didn’t move while I was watching it. I gave up after a while rather than disturb his day more.

Here are a few photos so maybe you can see. If you click on the photo you can see it more clearly. Go ahead and click the next photo as well to enlarge it.