Beijing: A Short Introduction

The first thing that struck me about Beijing at night was the signs against the black sky. One after another, red signs passed by the car window as a winter haze hovered around us. It was cold, bitingly cold, a cold that Tokyo knows not the likes of. The congested traffic comforts and annoys me. [...]

Tokyo Nights: Howl

I’ve been living in Tokyo for two months now. This is my first update since the move. I relocated from a quiet “bed town” in Ibaraki to a beautiful neighborhood close to Shinjuku. While my neighborhood in Tokyo is relatively quiet, I miss the dead-of-night stillness that comes from being in the countryside. I grew [...]

Zach Galifianakis’s “Visioneers” Screening Dates (October/November)

If you are near Austin, Los Angeles or San Francisco, you may be interested in checking out director Jared Drake’s film, “Visioneers” starring Zach Galifianakis. If you have already seen this film, would like to hear your thoughts. I admire the work of Galifianakis and this film looks promising. The synopsis, from the Visioneers website [...]

Lady into Fox by David Garnett: Thoughts for Consideration

David Garnett’s 1922 novel, reprinted by McSweeney’s, Lady into Fox is the tale of a one Mr. Tebrick, who, upon out walking with his wife one day, finds to his surprise, that she has transformed into an animal, a fox. From this, we follow Mr. Tebrick as he struggles to preserve (keep) the humanity of [...]

Robert Anton Wilson: Namu Amida Butsu

Author and speaker Robert Anton Wilson talks about the Shinran Buddhist mantra, “Namu Amida Butsu.” Links: Robert Anton Wilson’s Official Site Jodo Shinshu Buddhism

Experimenting with Squarespace: the restless modern

Last night I began experimenting with squarespace and may move The Eyeslit-Crypt over to the other side, at some time in the “near future.” The only damaging point is that I’ll probably take a hit in terms of traffic as the number of inbound links will be few and far between. If us “moderns” or [...]

David Foster Wallace: Commencement Speech

Awaking this morning to the sound of a light rain in the dark blue haze of my Tuesday morning apartment. I drink my coffee and scroll through my RSS feeds. Over the weekend, reports of the suicide of writer David Foster Wallace (1962-2008) came to me through my Twitter feed. I thought of my friend, [...]