nobel

so wat's up with all these nobel talk?

for the whole month of Sep, Prof Pulleyblank has been giving us his 'nobel' lecture of the history of nobels, from the first discovery of nucleotide base all the way to Gilbert & Sanger (he could've dragged it on for infinity if not for his session is up). And he sure has lots tiny bits of stories to tell, whether tabloids of the famous or his own personal gruffs and learnings of harsh reality.

Chem prof was announcing the new chemistry nobel last lec. Said it was a Swiss(?) guy who studied alkene. Alkene? he said! See, you can turn the most dismissed subject into some world sensation. That rings a bell coz one of Prof. Pulleyblank's most famous quotes runs like this - How can you get yourself a Nobel? You have to pick up a totally hopeless project and turn it into something the world will bow its head to. He was referring to Khorana at that time, an Indian scientist who had no choice but to work on cheap Salmon sperms and in the end came up with a method to synthesise short oligonucleotides.

and i just saw on Tree's msn display: wait till my boss gets a Nobel ... hmf. Whatever it means.

Nobel, Nobel, Nobel.

visit http://www.nobel.org for this year's winners
-> as advised by our chem prof.

song of week

This's the song that on first listening, tasted like plain water, dull and easily forgotten. It's a mystery when and how I came back to it with a brewing plethora of feelings. Her voice so clean and somber, touches me to no end. Sen ijou no kotoba wo narabetemo - even lining up a thousand words. There're still things left unsaid and can never be expressed. But funny how everything started with all but one word.

Even Lining Up A Thousand Words
Lyrics by Azuki Nana
Song by Yuri Nakamura
Eng. translation adapted from Ryuichi's Jpop Station

Cutting my hair at the park
I gathered up the fallen locks
You smile, and touch my cheek
Looking up, we saw a vapor trail

It's strange
That there could be such a peaceful ending
Your voice calling my name is so gentle
And I don't want to leave you

I guess I'll watch that overdue video
I think I'll try to feel
something in you I've never known up till this moment

Even if you were to line up a thousand words
There are some things that can never be expressed
Even though there are some things that will start
From all but a single word

It will be like planting a flowerless tree
And looking up at the blue sky
As we entwine and wriggle
On the full branches


Your back as you wait for the bus
I'll be seeing you off today for the last time
I'll smile, just like that day
I'll wave, just like when we met

I'll be waiting for you from tomorrow on
And I'll spend a too quiet time with myself alone
I'll miss you a little bit until I get used to it

Even if you were to line up a thousand words
There are some things that can never be expressed
Even though there are some things that will end
With all but a single word

Memories of our two seeds
That could not go on living in the same soil
Spreading our hands
We'll go on watching each other from afar

NANA the movie

Hachi (Aoi Miyazaki) & Nana (Mika Nakashima)

Manga version of Nana(right) & Hachi(left)

Ai Yazawa's famous manga series 'NANA', which's now adapted into movie is high on Japansese box office chart. The story is centred around two girls with the same name 'NANA' who happen to meet and live together under a strike of fate. One of them(the cool looking one) is a promising punk singer with a complicated past and a wild ambition to make her name in the music industry; and the other chubby and cute one is an ordinary girl who struggles for a decent living and falls in & out of love all the time. It's a story about two women with the same name and entangled fates, but more of life and reality itself.

To make the differences easier to see, the punk singer goes with the name 'NANA'(meaning 7 in Japanese), and the chubby one is nicknamed 'hachi' ('8' in Japanese)

Mika Nakashima (NANA), who's already a popular singer in real life, is perfectly tailored for the role. Cool looks, good voice and a hell of lot personality to go with. Aoi Miyazaki (Hachi), a young rising star on the other hand, is sweet enough for the role although not as spontaneous as depicted in the orignal manga. About the main male character Ren (Nana's lover), well... they could've chosen a less feminine looking actor.


Hachi(voice over): Ne, NANA, atashitachi no deaiyo omoideru?
[Hey, NANA, remeber the first time we met?] -> Trailers

- Links -
Official Japanese Movie Website
TBS NANA the movie[in English]

shunji iwai collage

 


Yeah, Picasa is cool! Thanks for the recommendation Jady!

Shunji Iwai the aestheticist. You probably notice these trademark elements in his films: beautiful looking actors & good use of lighting.

Lighting is important. (although it's probably not Shunji iwai himself in charge of it)

The most striking scenes I remember in which extravagant lighting is used:

All About Lily Chou-chou - the boy's trying to play Debussy on piano. He strikes a few keys, misses just as many and later crouches on the chair. The picture freezes for a few seconds. Morning light is pouring through the open door and his profile shrouded in a warm embrace.

Hana & Alice - that, you can see in the photo above. Hana dancing in that bright room, bright to the point of blinding.

April Story - she slides open the window. It's April and she just moves in her new apartment. It's such a heart-warming start.

Picnic - at twilight , near the coast line where they watch the sun set, she shoots herself. Black feathers flying. An angel falling.

Beauty - a word Shuji Iwai knows well. 

wonder land

 


yesterday's adventure retold in a short summary

So you see we get the back of our hands stamped. That's where the craziness started. Huge human-made pendulum swinging to unimgainable height(althou we didn't go for that) and a crab like megarobot that suddenly jerked its arm up and just as abrupt dropped you down when you were least prepared! There was a man sitting opposite me when we rode the crab. While the ladies screamed their voices coarse, his eyebrows went 8:25 and his head shook in awkard disconsent, 'Oh C'mon laides' was what he was silently suggesting but of course nobody heard.

There was also a 'drop zone' where mad people who wanted a taste of bungee jump were brought up to 20 storey height and whoosh! in a matter of 2 seconds, were back on the ground. The only visible difference was their facial expression. Stunned, horrified or totally erased. 'Holy mother of god!'A man shouted after finally getting his senses back.

The fact that I puked after 3 rides wasn't comforting. I was plainly too scared to torture myself with anti-gravity/acceleration/centrifuge games, where all knowledge on kinematics came back but made no sense.

Humans are the crazist masochists - good lesson learnt. Still, I might just go there again some time ^^