Japan trip (Spring 2013) Gero Onsen

Cherry blossoms at Gero Onsen

 I can't believe it's been 13 years since I went to Japan with my mother-in-law.  I thought in honor of that 13th anniversary, I'd post some of those trip memories.

It was April 2013 that she and I spent a month visiting family and friends, experiencing cherry blossom season, and in general getting in all kinds of trouble, eating too much, and making lots of embarrassing language mistakes - and late night karaoke and sake.  

It was so fun the wander all the side-streets and take in all the details.

Gero Onsen's mascot is a frog, which makes the sound "ge-ro ge-ro" as in "ribbit"

Why frogs say "ribbit" in English,... I have no idea

Gero is also incredibly hilly, how kids and bike to-and-from school I'll never know - more power to them!  We walked uphill quite a bit but were rewarded with spectacular views.

cherry-blossom flavored things everywhere to celebrate the season. 

More on this trip, the amazing hotel and karaoke fun next time.

🎵 🎶

Yuki Matsui - "Night Rain"

Alan Bean paintings, Apollo stuff

 

 

 Andy and I watched the Artemis II launch last week, which was exciting, and the subsequent splash down.  We thought it was pretty cool that the orange and blue suits the astronauts wore were made locally by the Clark company, just as they did for the original Apollo flights. 

 A while ago I was really into the Apollo missions, reading lots of books on the subject, watching the Tom Hanks HBO series and some great documentaries. 

I also got really into Alan Bean's paintings.  Bean was the fourth person to walk on the moon, he was the third man on the Apollo 12 mission.  He went into space again as a part of Skylab, but his time in space made him appreciate his artistic heart, and he went into painting full time after retiring from NASA.

 

Title:  "HELLO UNIVERSE!!"

 

The title of this painting:  "Is there anybody out there?!" 

 

 A few years ago, the kids got me this absolutely incredible book of Alan Bean's paintings - AND he SIGNED IT! (Not to me... because by this point he had died... but he signed it to this lady named Emmaline, and it's possibly she has also died because I can't imagine she'd want to get rid of it... ) but  anyway- many thanks to my lovely family for the beautiful gift.

I enjoyed these, for what it's worth:

For All Mankind (1989)

Composed of actual NASA footage of the missions and astronaut interviews and music scored by Brian Eno, the documentary offers the viewpoint of the individuals who braved the remarkable journey to the moon and back. While compiling the material for the film, Reinert went through more than six million feet of film of these historic moments.

 

The Last Man on the Moon (2014)

The story of Gene Cernan, the last person to walk on the moon, on December 14th, 1972.

** Apollo 11 (2019) 

**  This one is just phenomenal, it's made up of previously unseen footage, developed from film canisters frozen in NASA's archives for decades.  In fact, I gifted the blu-rays to a few people. 

Just beautifully done.  Recommended

 Armstrong (2019)

A biographical documentary about the life of Neil Armstrong, narrated by Harrison Ford.  It highlights his impressive military fighter pilot career, his ability to stay calm under immense pressure, and his endearing humility - which became the reason he was chosen to be the first man on the moon over Aldrin.

  In a recent interview with the Artemis II astronauts, one person said "You don't know what we go through up there, you just want to go home..." and that echoed the same sentiments the Apollo pilots expressed.  Many of them felt a crushing sense of loneliness and desolation, "the second we got out there, I realized I just want to be back on Earth with my family."

Definitely takes a special kind of person to withstand the physical and psychological tolls of all that.  (I don't do well with turbulence, so pretty sure space travel is out of the question haha :D )

⭐

............................................................................................................................

♫ ♪ 

Pink Floyd "Dark Side the Moon" (full album)

A Simple Plan (1998)

  I was talking with my brother-in-law about 'The Quick and the Dead", a Sam Raimi movie he recommended (and I took that recommendation - it was a fun one) and it reminded me of how much I enjoyed Raimi's "A Simple Plan".

Raimi has a reputation for being a fan of camp, gore, fantasy-comedy etc - and "A Simple Plan" is a sharp turn away from these things.  (NOTE: It does have bloody violence, just be warned.)

A small-town family man finds himself compromising his moral code when confronted with the presence of $4.4 million in cash found inside a downed plane, the pilot dead.  Along with his brother, wife, and friends, slowly his principles erode, the pressure mounts, and the consequences become more dire.

a beautifully composed shot here.

I really enjoyed this crime-thriller a great deal.  The chemistry between Bill Paxton, his wild-card brother played by Billy Bob Thornton, and his wife (Bridget Fonda) is excellent, and the tension builds steadily with few drags.

 Have to give this one a solid A

(I tend to agree with all of Roger Ebert's reviews, and this one is no exception.)

Never Say Never

A panel I penciled, inked and colored for "Never Say Never" - out via Comixology in the future...

 ♫  Every day is pretty much a draw-a-thon, as it has been for oh... 11 years now I wanna say?  Which is fine by me.  The deal is this: I get to listen to music all day, and sing along - annoying approximately zero coworkers - possibly one Andy, if I'm loud enough to bother him, but luckily he doesn't seem to mind.

While looking up reference material, I ran across this 'zine, and it also made me smile because it looks like someone drew me from freshman year of college (the exact time I went through a riotgrrrrrrrl phase).

Sometimes while working I prefer to listen to something long, like a movie or set playlist, since it wouldn't require getting up and breaking the work-flow.  Sometimes it's best not to listen to anything with lyrics since they can be distracting, and sometimes I depend on old favorites to just put me in a really good mood.  

♫

I really love this one lately:  "Carolina Blues" by Blues Traveler

The Sting (1973)

   I remember when my dad exposed me to this movie, which I really enjoyed - enough that it prompted me to try to learn "The Entertainer" on our small keyboard at home.  At one point I could play quite a bit of it, but never with the second hand on the lower chords.  Maybe someday I'll be able to do both things at once, like typing, but won't hold my breath.

   I really enjoy caper-movies, especially with great villains like Robert Shaw and likable frontmen like Paul Newman.  

Many years ago I heard from friends that Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward used to go see local theater  productions at the Bradley Playhouse in Putnam, Connecticut.  They had a dog, and one would stand outside with the dog for the first act, and then switch, the other spouse catching the second half.  Then they'd fill each other in on their respective reviews on their way home.  How sweet!

Apparently this Bob Seger song was written after he was inspired by a scene in the movie.  (I have a hard time with this one, mostly because the two characters in that scene have absolutely no chemistry whatsoever!  But that's just me.)

.... 0% chemistry....

Listening to this makes me want to go back and listen to this whole album now...