GRIZZLY PEAR

written snapshots

Category: Notes

  • After the Rain, Takashi Koizumi, 1999

    I just watched After the Rain, a film written by Kurosawa but directed after his death by one of his proteges. It is really quite good, even if it is not a “classic”.

    My favorite aspect of this film is the domesticity of the story. This is not an epic, it’s a simple drama that happens to have a swordsman in it. Everyone is dwarfed by the forest the story is set in. Beyond that, I think this review most likely sums up my thoughts the best, the key quote being:

    In playing Ihei [the main character], Terao avoids the inevitable comparisons to [Toshiro] Mifune by approaching the role from the opposite direction. Whereas Mifune’s samurai were often traditional tachiyaku (“manly warrior” types) for whom affairs of the heart were out of the question, Ihei is a New Age ideal: dedicated to his profession, while being sincerely devoted to his long-suffering wife. Terao, a pop-musician-turned-actor who appeared in Kurosawa’s “Ran,” “Yume” and “Madadayo,” is not as comfortable with a sword as Kurosawa’s previous generation of samurai (he had reportedly never handled one before taking the part) but he brings a deadpan panache to his fight scenes.

    Also, he is not embarrassed about or contemptuous of the idea of heroism. Instead, in his own low-key way, he embraces it. While not dominating the screen like Mifune, he brings a quiet authority and likeability to his role. Given an impossible assignment — reviving a vanished heroic type — he does a better job than expected.

    “Cinematic storm ends with light rain”, by MARK SCHILLING

  • This Present Moment, Gary Snyder, 2015

    Recently, I connected with a former professor and he mentioned the poetry of Gary Snyder, so I trundled off to the library and picked up the one book of his work that they have in the Clark County system.

    I’ve never been much of a poetry guy, but I have subscribed to the excellent American Life in Poetry email newsletter for a few years now.

    I can see why he is such an acclaimed poet. The writing was so sharp, that it just sliced through the clutter of my mind. I could only read a couple poems at a time before doing something else.

    I suspect it’s poking and prodding into the dark recesses of my brain that doesn’t want to be illuminated. I suspect that’s a reason I really need to keep reading.

  • CNY ads, Petronas, 1997-present

    Petronas, a Malaysian energy company, has been banging out a tearjerker for Chinese New Years video ad every year for the past two decades.

    At this point, my mental clock knows to look up their youtube channel around this time every year.

    I just burnt half an hour rewatching their catalog. Not every one is excellent, but they got a damn good hit rate.

    Perfection is impossible but trying hard to meet your promise is always achievable.

    People respect consistent effort. Showing up is its own virtue.

  • My Pens

    As an architect I’ve always been picky about my writing tools.

    As a draftsman, I started using 2H lead, but learned a lighter touch and transitioned to H lead for my line work. For my lettering I always used HB lead, which Staedtler Mars discontinued during that stint and caused a minor panic, but we bought enough to last me thorugh to leaving for graduate school. And yes Staedtler Mars was a better lead than Alvin.

    I also have picked up a few fancy fountain pens over the years, but ultimately they were too scratchy and have not been used.

    I appreciate the fine points of rollerball pens, but I don’t like the fact they can get cloggy.

    And the micro fine points of razors are nice for about half a day until they get frayed under my heavy hand, at which point they are not at all pleasant to use.

    But my tool of choice is the Papermate Flair pen. It’s a finely crafted writing tool that is cheap enough I can have copies all over the place and feel no pain when it runs out of ink or when one is lost. With a plethora of colors, I can make multiple layers of notes on a single sheet of paper. The felt tip runs smoothly on any type of paper. The point is fine enough to make good notes, but blunt enough to degrade gracefully. It is in short, my perfect pen.

  • 5 is the Perfect Number, Igort, 2002

    It’s a pretty prime number, well balanced.

    And its half a decade.

    A college career plus one.

    You got five fingers on a hand.

    You got head, two arms, and two legs. What else do you need?

    And it’s the title of one of my favorite graphic novels by Igort.

    I wonder if will hold up to a reread, it’s been twenty years since I bought it in a comic shop in LA and so much has changed in the last five years.

  • Please avoid boring music videos

    I have a fondness for listening to EDM while doing chores. If I come across a song I like, I’ll play it on youtube since it’s difficult to repeat songs on the free streaming services.

    That means I’ve come across a wide selection of music videos, and I’ve noticed a genre of videos where it is merely a recording just beautiful young people being beautiful. Instagram in music video format.

    How incredibly dull. Eye candy may be pleasant, but without any story or any hook, it can nearly ruin a song.

    If you’ve been handed a decent song and given creative reins to for the video, please do something with the opportunity. It doesn’t have to be earth-shattering, you can even use pretty people, but at least try something.

    If you’re not going to try to avoid boring, then at least do us the courtesy of just shooting a video of yourself making the music and let it speak for itself.

  • A little bit of salt

    The other day, I added a little bit of salt to my typical steamed bread mix and I could immediately feel the difference when I took it out of the Kitchenaid. Throughout the proof, the dough acted a bit stiffer throughout and ultimately came out pretty nicely, albeit a slight salty.

    This time I had tried 6 grams of salt, next time I’ll try 3 grams.

    In context, my overall dough is 555 grams, so six grams of salt is just about 1% of the overall mix. Just one teaspoon.

    We’ve all heard canard of putting a drop of cyanide in a carton of milk, but it’s another to feel such a small amount make such a big difference in your hands.

    And there is also the pleasure of knowing your hands are practiced enough where such a minor change in consistency is immediately noticed. What a nice indulgence in the narcissism of small differences!

  • Steamed Bread, early 2019 version

    I’ve generally stopped post on about bread, but I thought I’d share our current practice with steamed bread.

    Yes, I’ve stopped doing the artisan bread baked in a dutch oven for a much simpler affair.

    240g all purpose flour
    60g any other type of flour
    180g water
    60g starter
    15g sugar

    So the basic ratio is 1starter : 3water : 5flour. Of the flour it is a 1:4 ratio of fancy to all purpose flour. And not including the starter, it’s basically 60% hydrated.

    This ratio is essentially idiot proof. Not completely, but pretty darn close. I think I had to add another 30g of flour when I tried using cornmeal for the fancy flour.

    We just mix it up in the kitchen aid, take the ball throw it in an oiled up glass bowl, and let it rise. After its risen (about half a day) I ball it back up, and then throw it back in the bowl for a second rise of about half an hour. Then I fire up the steamer, and let it boil for about 40 minutes, but too long is no big deal because you can’t overcook it.

    And here’s the best part. The storage is also idiot proof. After its done, we eat what we want, put a lid on the bowl and throw it in the fridge. (gasp!) When I want to eat some more, I cut out a few slices and throw it in the microwave for thirty seconds. (gasp, gasp!) If there are a few of us that wants it, then we’ll just re-steam the whole loaf.

    I had previously shied away from steamed breads due to some mean things that baking books had sneered about such offerings, but honestly I don’t know what they were grousing about. While you don’t have the burnt flavors of an artisan crust, I think the flavors of the crumb are perfectly sufficient, especially if you’re gonna dip it in olive oil or a touch of butter.

    I also suspect there may be some cultural forces at play as well. With its buns, Chinese folks grow up eating steamed breads all the time, so the lack of a proper crust is quite familiar to me. I don’t miss it, and the ease of making and storing these breads has won me over, for now.

  • A few books on Leadership

    The other day I came across a request for leadership books on a forum and here are four that came to mind

    “Leaders eat Last,” by Simon Sinek, was a really nice overview of leadership from a biological and evolutionary lens. The basic thesis is that humans are biologically motivated to form groups via several chemicals, some of which emphasize personal achievement and others which emphasize group cohesion. Our society has gone out of whack favoring individual glory and the book is a polemic for balance. I am not a big fan of his “Start with Why Book” (it felt like a pamphlet dragged out to book length) but I thought this one was excellent.

    “Leadership Pipeline,” by Ram Charan and Stephen Drotter, is a great overview of the different levels of leadership in management and the different challenges and mindsets required to succeed at each level. With seven levels, most of them won’t apply to one’s specific position, but it’s really useful to see the overall set to contextualize one’s own challenges.

    “Extreme Ownership” and “Dichotomy of Leadership”, by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. These books could be read individually but I think of the pair as an single work. It’s an easy read with a mix of stories from their military service and in the business world, with practical lessons to consider throughout the book, both as leaders and for one’s own individual mindset and performance.

    “Tribes” and “This is Marketing”, by Seth Godin. I’m a huge fan of Seth’s Blog, but not as much of his books. But still he is a great provocateur and these two books deal directly with leadership. Well “This is Marketing” doesn’t exactly deal with leadership per se, but it sets a framework of how we are trying to improve the world in such a way that I consider it a leadership book. And “Tribes” is a good book on dynamics in the digital age and pushes one to take advantage of the opportunities we have in front of us.

  • Coco, Lee Unkrich & Adrian Molina, 2017, and Wreck it Ralph, Rich Moore, 2012

    After having milked the Studio Ghibli library dry (my favorites remain Whisper of the Heart, Pom Poko, My Neighbors Yamada, and Spirited Away), we’ve come back to exploring domestic fare.

    Of those that we’ve seen recently, Coco and Wreck it Ralph have stood out because because they are more than their premises. It’s more than just “a boy’s hijinks in the world of the undead,” or “what if arcade characters had their own lives off-hours”.

    Like any popular film, these movies have both contain rollicking wild stories, but they also go deeper, genuinely touching on kernels of family and belonging.

    We’ve already watched both of these movies a couple times, and I’ll be curious if they hold up in a few years when the boy grows up and we get to watch them anew.