Drawing Restraint 9

Last year I drove from Osaka to Kanazawa for three hours to see a film by an artist called Matthew Barney. The film was "Drawing Restraint 9". It came highly recommended.

Three hours later I drove home.

The six hours I spent driving my small car on big roads with big cars were far more pleasant, relaxing and spiritually rich than the two through which I endured "Drawing Restraint #9". Dodging trucks and trying to stay awake on the way home was interesting. I got to talk to an old friend who came along for the ride but was spared the DR9 ordeal. That more than made up for the trucks.

Drawing Restraint 9 was:

Two hours of Mr. Barney and his wife Bjork doing serious, deep, and spiritual things. Apparently, when you are doing serious, deep, and spiritual things your facial muscles are paralysed. I didn't know that before.

They get picked up by a whaling ship. The ship fishes what looks like a big piece of wax from the ocean. Mr. Barney gets his beard shaved off. Bjork soaks in a bath filled with yuzu. They get married in a parody of a Shinto ritual, turn into whales, and chop each other up.

That paragraph makes the film sound quite interesting. It only took five seconds to read though. The movie goes for more than two hours.

I have friends who loved this movie, who raved about it. These same people recommended we go and see an exhibition by another artist I hadn't heard of, Bill Viola.

I had grave, grave doubts.

Fire

The last couple of days I've been putting out fires. Literally. Pouring water onto burning wood.

In front of my house is a rice field. Next to it is a large vegetable garden. The other day one of the old ladies that grow stuff there started a fire. I don't know what was in there but it kept burning for the next ten hours. I could smell a little smoke when I left for work but when I returned my house smelled like a smoke factory. I grabbed a bucket and spent the next 15 minutes dousing the smoldering ashes. It felt pretty manly, taking matters into my own hands.

Same thing again today. Smaller fire but again too much smoke.

Battery arrived yesterday. Everything seems to be back on track again.

The Way it Should Be

MacBooks are proving to be quirky little beasts. The Rev 1 ones, anyway. Last Monday I let my battery drain completely and the MacBook went to sleep: all as expected. The next couple of days were very real world busy and I didn't get around to plugging it in. When I finally did there was a cross through the battery icon in the menu bar. I found an Apple document online outlining what to do: reseat the battery, reset the SMC; but nothing worked.

I called Apple this morning expecting to wait on hold for ages, be asked to do things I had already done and finally be directed to a Genius Bar. I was ready for a fight. The nearest Apple Store is about an hour away. What followed was a nice suprise.

No waiting. I got a real live person immediately. I explained what had happened and what I had done. The first question was: "Do you want us to send you a new battery?" I'm still dizzy.

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Apple's Repair Status pages are in Japanese and English (and probably a slew of other languages too).

Natto Cheese Toast

If you ever get the idea of eating natto on toast topped with melted cheese, forget about it. Far from being better than the sum of its parts, it's not as good as any of those parts eaten seperately. Disappointing.

The iPhone Question

I can't believe Steve Jobs stood onstage blathering on about the iPhone for half the morning without answering the one question that needed a clear answer; the one question that surely sprang to the tips of everyone's tongues the minute they saw the onscreen keyboard:

Will it support the Dvorak layout?

What an amateur!

The God Delusion

I really enjoyed listening to the audio version of Richard Dawkin's The God Delusion. It clarified a lot of my thinking about religion and made me think about some things that I had just taken for granted.

The reading, by Richard Dawkins and Lalla Ward is mostly great. Having two narrators was a bit confusing. There seems to be little logic behind the switches between Dawkins and Ward. Sometimes they switch to quote someone but sometimes there seems to be no reason. It was jarring at times.

I'm delighted to see this book sitting at Number 4 on Audible's Top Download list and Number 6 on the NY Times Bestseller list.