Sheru! » Edinburgh

Tweetup

Shell — Wed, 12 May 2010 17:20:59 +0000

Tonight is the second of my “twitter” excursions. Heading over to IllegalJacks on Lothian road for a South-West Grill then drinks after with a crowd of local tweeters.

It’s fascinating the community that has grown up around Twitter. I’ve met more interesting people in Edinburgh over the past month than I have in the past 10 years (however I’m not sure what that says about me other than ‘Get out more Shell!’). There is a thriving active community here of folks who meet up regularly: twice hooked up with twitter folks to see films at the Filmhouse cinema, not so long ago the grand scale charity even of EdTwestival.

It has also put me in contact with some of my heroes: I’ve tweeted with writers, artists, designers, even film stars, making me feel part of a strange virtual global community…

Girls on Film

Shell — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:45:22 +0000

Tonight is the first film from the Japanese Foundations “Girls on Film” tour, which has now reached our favorite local cinema The Filmhouse. It’ll be refreshing to see some contemporary Japanese films having somewhat overdosed on the recent Ozu film season.

Most looking forwards to “How to become myself” and “Asyle”, both of which have interesting write-ups.

UPDATE:

TVBombs review of Non-ko here: http://www.tvbomb.co.uk/?p=1515

Films being shown:

Non-ko Kaj tetsudai (Kazuyoshi Kumaakiri, Japan 2008) - March 10th
Asyle Park and Love Hotel (Izuru Kumasaka, Japan 2007) - March 11th
Kamome Diner Kamome Shokudo (Noako Ogigami, Japan 2006) - March 12th
German plus Rain German + Ame (Satoko Yokohama, Japan 2007) – March 13th
How to Become Myself Ashita no Watashi no Tsukurikata (Jun Ichikawa, Japan 2007) - March 13th
Fourteen Juyon-sai (Hiromasa Hirosue, Japan 2006) – March 14th

Yasujiro Ozu: Good morning…

Shell — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:08:22 +0000

Tonight was our next film in the fantastic Yasujiro Ozu season at the Filmhouse in Edinburgh. Again tonight’s film was a new one for us, and somewhat unexpected after the serious nature of the Ozu films that we have seen. “Ohayo…” (Good morning…) was a beautifully realistic slice of Japanese life, set in and around the breakfast tables of shoulder-to-shoulder suburban family homes. Very funny (fart jokes abound, I’m not kidding!) and telling (the nosy neighbors with nothing better to gossip about), this tail follows the antics of two young brothers up to mischief. It’s a great film, but desperate for some restoration love!

More over at the BiteSizedJapan blog…

PS: Nachos and IPA at the Filmhouse bar = love.

Water of Leith stroll

Shell — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:52:47 +0000

While much of the UK is snowed in, we decided to take a stroll up the Water of Leith on Saturday (rather than risk a trip outside of the city). Gorgeous and bitingly cold morning, but the river was really pretty. Much of the lower end of the river was frozen over, leaving the resident ducks looking peckish!

Ozu

Shell — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 16:15:49 +0000

Seems to be part of being an editor is to read and watch absolutely everything to do with your magazines subject. Maybe that’s obvious, and I’m not complaining.

Over the next few weeks Sirin and I are following the Yasujiro Ozu season up at The Filmhouse Cinema. I have to confess I’d never seen any of this classic Japanese directors work, and we were pleasantly surprised by “Tokyo Story” last night. Unexpectedly accessible for a Japanese a movie of the 50s, with exceptional attension to details: the relationships between the depicted family members was almost painful to watch at times as our “hands” (as mere voyeurs) are tied and out vision fixed by the static knee-high camera work. It’s a great film, the characters believable and the story down to Earth, and as someone who studies Japanese culture this film really felt like a snapshot of “real life” in post-war Japan.

We’ve posted a review over at BiteSizedJapan.

Happy New Year!

Shell — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 12:29:35 +0000

2010 is here, the year of flying cars, spaceships, alien worlds… or was that 2000? Anyway we saw the night in from the top of Calton Hill, Edinburgh, with a fantastic view of the castle and Princes Street. Really great atmosphere, and a brilliant way to see the new year in!

Edinburgh Hogmanay: Fire & Light

Shell — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:52:29 +0000

Last night we trekked up to the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, to check out the Fire and Light installation. Sadly the weather was awful, with high winds meaning most of the planned show was canceled. But we were treated to some cool street installations, and a rather good atmosphere. This event is repeated on January 1st I believe. We shot some video, which you can find attached.

St. Andrews

Shell — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 13:22:36 +0000

Trying to clear out some of the mountain of partly-used video tapes and came across some footage from St. Andrews mid-2009. So I slapped together a quick edit. Sadly it wasn’t a particularly nice day weather-wise, and not being a huge golf fan we weren’t that impressed. The harbor is very pretty, but I think Sirin and I both prefer Crail or North Berwick (down the coast).

Bonenkai

Shell — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 20:14:48 +0000

Yesterday we had the pleasure of meeting up with some of the local Japanese community for a “Bonenkai”, a sort of ‘forget the year party’ at Bonsai restaurant across town. We met some interesting folks, drank plenty of sake and had a rather good time! A Japanese singing group also entertained us with 3 rather lovely songs (sadly short!). I think Atsuko has posted the audio we recorded over at her blog.

I won’t bore anyone with pictures from the meal, but Bonsai’s toilets were worth a few photos (!):

Nausicaa

Shell — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 20:28:31 +0000

Yesterday, film night at the Forest Cafe in Edinburgh with Atsuko and friends: the wonderful Studio Ghibli anime Nausicaa and the Valley of the Winds. This film continues to amaze me: so beautiful, and more relevant today than ever before. Following the film we had a discussion group. Is there really a sound ecological ‘green’ message to Nausicca? Just why does director Miyazaki focus on young female protagonists? Is the film a more abstract metaphor for the time in which it was created (the 80s)?

Well I for one would hate to be someone who reads to much into ‘art’: for me it was a beautiful (sometimes frightening) fairytale, and lets leave it at that…

You can see Atsuko’s notes from the viewing here.