Serotonin by Michelle Houellebecq

Finished reading the English translation.
I truly regret I cannot read it in French, but decided to read it in English over Hebrew or Japanese as hoped the translation is better.

Did not enjoy the book. If in the past I used to enjoy his writing and views, “Serotonin” for me is probably the end. Same as the main characters walking on a path of self destruction, so was the book.

From an unclear story about the writer’s Japanese girlfriend and her sexual plays, unfolds the path of destruction. The writer’s reminiscent about his past girlfriends and his impotence, neglecting himself, gaining weight due to depression and Cortisol level (?), or is it because he feels obliged to spend all his money before killing himself.

There are political discussions of Globalization and the effect on French agriculture, but I find it messy like the book.

Luckily, I did not read reviews before reading the book. But now I read and agree to most of what I read.

In the first part of the book I really got angry in the way Yuzu, his Japanese girlfriend, his depicted. A very stereotypical, pornographic and condescending. But reading further, I just feel sorry about the character and the writer. If he needs to use such descriptions and story he must have reach rock bottom.

Samsung T5 on Mac OS Catalina

Update: Samsung just released new drivers (1.6.6) which resolve the issue.

Samsung T5 driver does not work on latest MacOS. The amount of anger and frustration in this support thread is quite justifiable.
It is un accepted that a company which sells SSD does not bother updating their driver. Mac Beta program is very clear and allows enough time for vendor to modify and qualify their products, but it seems Samsung did not bother doing it.

As the thread mentions there are workarounds and it works for me, but I still think this is a very bad customer experience.

Platinum pen All blacks

A bit of humor and marketing flair

Platinum pen published this in their instagram .
Today is the semi final match between England and New Zealand All Blacks

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4ElfSgDRy_/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Idan Reichel – Starbucks Japan playing list

What a surprise.

Was sitting at Starbucks in Tokyo, and was surprised to hear a song in Hebrew. Hebrew in Japan? How possible?

Shazam was very helpful to identify it was Idan Reichel.

What I still don’t know is why? Who selected Idan Reichel to Starbucks playing list?

Cybereason advertisement

Saw a Cybereason advertisement in Shinjuku, which made me wonder “Why?”.
Why advertise in Shinjuku on a wall that is barely seen by passersby ?

Did they just pay the agency and they spread it around town, or did Cybereason decide on this (bad) location?

Oedipus in Bunkamura

Went to see the play Oedipus in Shibuya Bunkamura, directed by Matthew Dunster.

The play obviously attracts a lot of attention due to the cast: Ichikawa Ebizo as Oedipus, Kuroki Hitomi as Jocasta and Moriyama Mirai as the Chorus Leader.

I loved the set and the modern adaptation. A Concrete Shelter, whoever enters needs to go through a contamination process. The guards are dressed in black modern combat gear.

Enjoyed it very much, especially the Chorus and Choreography of the Chorus. Not only talking and guiding the story, but dancing, narrating the story further. A wonderful work by the Director and the Choreographer. Led by Moriyama Mirai, the chorus seems to be assembled by actors and dancers. Some were better as dancing, but not as good in acting and some the opposite. Moriyama Mirai was obviously good at both.

First time for me to see Ichikawa Ebizo acting. As an actor, and not as a Kabuki actor, so was really disappointed in the first part, the hubris part, in which Oedipus is cocky and confident. Ebizo did a better job as the struggling, crying, aching with eyes gauged.
Kuroki Hitomi was good as well as the rest of the acting cast.

Not my day

Sometimes it happens, it is just not “my day”. Everything go wrong, or rather seem to go wrong without any apparent reason.

It happened last week, a rather boring weekend which ended with my flying to Singapore on a Red Eye.

As I was sitting in the lounge, working, drinking Soda, I tipped the Glass and broke it! Fragments flew everywhere, but nobody was injured, just a major embarrassment for me. Also embarrassing for me the fact that I used the wrong work to describe it. In the English and also Hebrew language we use “broken” to describe a broken glass, but in the Japanese language there is a difference between a broken glass, 割れた、to something else, 壊れた。 Hope at least I will remember to use it correctly next time.

After boarding, I tried to minimize space and placed my Rucksack on the suitcase, it felt a bit unstable, and indeed ended falling on my head. Laptop inside, heavy, it was quite painful.

That ended the day. Next day was much better

Selfie Crazy or the end of our Culture

Was on a business trip to Singapore last week and went to exercise at the hotel Gym (Intercontinental) , when a woman in her 30s came in.
She spent the following 15 minutes taking photos of herself posing in the gym, this angle, that angle, smiling, watching, videos and more.

She did not bother exercising or even considered exercising. She was there for the purpose of taking her selfies, probably post on Social Media and look marvelous and interesting. When she was done, she took a Banana from the basket and left.

Hope I am not in one of the photos, but it is not that concerning for me. I am more puzzled (or shocked) from seeing a person dedicating so much time and effort in a Selfie.

染めQ – Leather dye

Was thinking for a while about spray paint on leather so decided to experiment.

Result, not that great. Which means I need to figure out how to do it correctly, or maybe use it in a different way.

Used 染めQ which is available and promoted at Tokyu Hands. As I wanted an original, prepared my own stencil.

Lessons learned:

  1. It is difficult to cut Stencil accurately.
  2. Spray paint should be applied accurately and from a distance. Otherwise, too much paint is applied which leaks out of the stencil. This is exactly what happened to me. I was too eager to spray, when I should have used shorter spray period from a longer distance

Anyway, the result is not bad, a bit cryptic. But this matches what I wanted. A cryptic message.