Makiko Itoh : Not a nameless cat.

Besides that last blog post, something else that Satoshi Kon posted on his blog - on August 18th, just a few days before he passed away - was a list of the 100 movies that were "chosen by the Yume Miru Kikai team".

There may be some things about Satoshi Kon's last words that may be puzzling to non-Japanese readers, so I'm going to attempt to clarify some of them. Note that this is not based on any kind of personal knowledge of Mr. Kon or his family, but just on general principles that are atari mae, commonly held mores and principles, in Japanese culture.

Satoshi Kon, the director of anime movies Perfect Blue, Tokyo Godfathers, Millenium Actress and Paprika, as well as the TV series Paranoia Agent, died on Tuesday, August 24th at the age of 46. (NY Times obituary.) He left behind a rambling but extraordinary document, which his family has posthumously posted on his blog.

As far as I know there's no translation of the whole document into English out there, so here's a rough attempt here it is. (Edit: I've cleaned it up quite a bit since I posted it last night. It should now be quite close to the original. It is indeed rather long and rambling - he wrote it like that. I'm sure he didn't sit down to outline it before he wrote it. I have tried to keep the feeling of the original.) It's not authorized in any way, and if I receive objections from interested parties or see a formal translation up somewhere I'll take this down. In the meantime though, here's a chance to read the words of a dying artist, waiting for his flight to come.

My recent jury duty experience.

To "Victoria": I tried to email you back but your email inbox is full.

So it's really you, not me.

A recent article in The New Yorker dissing Amazon's Kindle made me snort with sarcastic laughter. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

Given the current state of the economy and so on, I've become increasingly aware that, as far away as it might seem to be, I should really plan ahead for when I am no longer able to work and earn a living. But still, I know that I am not very well prepared, and my savings are not nearly what they should be.

But today, I heard something that has really affected me.

Well, forget the last post. Just Stuff I Like hasn't worked out at all, because other things have gotten higher priority now. For the moment Twitter is where I spout my short thoughts, and I'm back here for longer stuff, eventually.

Where previously, little fragments of ideas may have gradually accumulated, building up to a big idea in the recesses of your mind, participating in Twitter drains away those ideas as soon as they float by. At the end, you are left with an empty void, and a vague feeling that something is missing.

It was quite heartbreaking to see Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang have to pull out of his Olympic event due to injury. I have to admit that I am now very curious to see how his country reacts to a fallen hero with such big expectations on his shoulders.