I grew up in Japan. While in there, I read a lot of mangas. It's a culture thing.
After I came to the US in 1998, I did not read manga at all for a while. I was aware that many mangas made to US through scan-translation and animetization.
Some time in early November 2014 I heard that "Naruto" was going to end in the main arc manga version on 11/10/2014.
As I recall, Naruto was on the Japanese weekly manga magazine "Shonen Jump" forever, since even before I came to the US. But I never read it much in a coherent manner.
So I decided to read them all, 700 episodes in manga. It took a few weeks with some serious sleep time sacrifice, but it was quite an entertainment.
Some of my random thoughts and impressions.
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Naruto was initially described as a loser-underdog, who makes it through friendship, teamwork and hard work. It is a standard format for mangas in the magazine "Shonen Jump".
Later it turned out he is THE elite with incomparable pedigree. Come to think of it, they wouldn't seal/entrust the power of a tailed beast (something with the power comparable to nuclear weaponry) to random nobody. But this development made me wonder the validity of Naruto's preaching to an elitist kid Neji at the early phase of the story, in retrospect.
It is a long story. In a long story, people change. Perceptions of the character's actions change (like Itachi's actions). Even a villain can show some decency or redemption, or get to explain the reasoning behind (like Danzo). That aspect is a true merit of long story in the world of oversimplified one liner characterization. You can see or learn that this world is more complex than a bunch of one liners and black-and-white characterizations that are common everywhere.
There are many (and I mean many) reflections and explanatory branches in the story. Sometimes they seem redundant and almost annoying. Probably it is necessary evil for a long manga whose each episode coming out weekly. In the real life we hardly get any explanations to what's really going on and why it is happening. In manga we get plenty of reminders and explanations. Certainly they can talk while they fight, and that doesn't happen in real life. It's so manga.
I like the view for leadership."It isn't that if you become Hokage (the leader) everyone will acknowledge you...It's the ones who are acknowledged that can become Hokage".
The last part (the Ninja world war arc) was a big epic, but a bit tiring. The "last boss" showed up one after another (Resurrected former-foes and ex-Kages, Madara, Ten-tails, Tobi, Kaguya, and Sasuke) with all time escalation for the final 200 episodes. What the heck with Rikudou Sennin and Kaguya popping out from nowhere?
It was evident that how video game friendly the entire Manga is. I am almost certain that the writers had game translation in mind from a very early stage.
It was fun catching up on all the story in a few weeks. It was nice to see the characters grow.
I did laugh when I saw Gaara's hairstyle in the final 700th episode. They have grown indeed.
On 11/15 Saturday evening I was attending OK/KS state swing dance championship. Not to compete, but just to watch and do some social dancing.
I danced, also watched other people's dances. That reminded me of the different stances and attitudes toward dancing of people.
I wrote a blog entry some time ago, about "Techie"s and "Feelie"s. (link to the article). Yes, you can categorize dancers to Techies (who value skills) and Feelies (who value how they feel about the dance).
Following the notion, let's categorize dancers to four groups with two axes; [skilled-unskilled]("Techie"-axis), and [enjoying-not enjoying]("feelie"-axis).
Now, question #1. Where are you? Which quadrant are you in for this dance?
And, that is not all. Question #2. Where is your partner?
In theory, there are 4x4=16 combinations for a couple (lead and follow) for any social dance situation.
If both of you are in quadrant 1 (skilled-enjoying), that will be great. What we see in YouTube as pro's performances usually belong there.
What if he is "skilled but not enjoying for whatever reason (Quadrant 3)", and she is "unskilled/not-so-good-at-this-dance, but having fun (Quadrant 2)", how will the combination turn out?
This is a thought experiment.
Adding to the game, the quadrant you belong can change. Generally, skills don't change quickly (unless you drink a lot or something), but enjoyment can change quicker.
I read that in some European events, it is banned to ask professionals for social dance. That is probably due to some "consideration" not to turn the Quadrant 1 pros to Quadrant 3 unhappy pros by swamping them with Quadrant 2/4 people.
Well, I hope some of you have as much fun as I had out of this quadrant chart.
OK Tango event in Tulsa, OK, has been run by several people who want to promote Argentine Tango and the Dance community in Tulsa and surrounding cities/states. They invite instructors and have milongas. The event has survived some changes in management/organizers, location and sponsorship, and is still going strong.
Last weekend (11/8/2014), they set up an opportunity for two afternoon workshops, dinner and a milonga with live music by the members of the Q-Tango, Albuquerque-based Tango band.
The instructors were, George and Jairelbhi Furlong from Dallas, and Erskine Maytorena of QTango. George and Jairelbhi had a Sacada class, Erskine and two other band members taught musicality. They duplicated two classes and taught in two rooms, so the attendants would get the same deal, one class from George and Jairelbhi, one class from Erskine.
At the end of the two classes, the dancers (George and Jairelbhi) and the musicians got together, and demonstrated dances with live music in front of all attendants. To demonstrate that the music is "the boss" in Tango, the dancers danced to the same song twice, but the musicians played the song in very different styles. The dancers danced the same song very differently, accordingly to the very different play styles. That was a great presentation for musicality and improvisation.
George and Jairelbhi drove from Dallas for the workshops (about 5 hours drive one way). Since they had their own milonga the next day, they drove back after the workshops. Traveling dance instructor's life seems quite busy.
The QTango members were on their way to St. Louis, then New York, for music festivals. They came, taught, played in the milonga, then went. Traveling musicians' life seems quite busy as well.
The management, Cindy and Walt, made these arrangements. The event attracted about 50 people, mostly from Tulsa area. Some, including me, came from Oklahoma City. A few others came from Arkansas.
Occasional Tango events popping up in smaller cities are supported by efforts by these people; management/organizers, instructors, musicians, and dancers. I appreciate the background efforts by all the people to make things happen.
PS A little nugget. A Tango song comes with a main mood among following three moods; Happy, Romantic, or Dramatic. Taking time to figure out the main mood of the song helps to interpret the song and dance with better musicality.
There is a Polish phrase circulating in the net for some time; "Not my circus, not my monkeys".
The phrase is supposed to mean, "not my problem".
I like the literal image (circus and monkeys). The image is quite funny. Also, everyone can relate to situations the phrase can be used. No wonder the phrase went viral.
At the same time, the phrase made me ask myself, .."then, what ARE my circus and monkeys?"
There are some things I get involved in directly. There are some things I can influence on, control, or change. There are things I do professionally or otherwise. There are things I have been trained to be able to handle more efficiently than the untrained.
They are my circus and monkeys.
Is Ebola outbreak my monkey? For now, it is not.
Is a religious fanatic beheading someone my monkey? For now, it is not.
I seldom comment current affairs and news in this blog. Because, I think they are not my monkeys. At least not the monkey I need to take care of with urgency.
Sure, I can offer my opinions. But in many cases, I am not fully informed nor knowledgeable about all the news coming up. Or, I am not in the position to tackle the monkeys firsthand. If I have to base my opinion on some hearsay report about something I am not an expert in, how much can I even back up the opinion? That kind of opinions are useless.
I'm sure this stance is very different from that of trolls. Politicians are in the position to address to people, so they (better) rely on experts, even if they themselves are not very familiar with the monkeys.
This phrase reminds me of the importance of focusing on my own circus and monkeys.
