End of Year Goeth / New Year Cometh

It’s the end of the year and I suppose I should type something out so anyone who has been reading my blog doesn’t think I’ve turned into worm fodder…although by being in Japan, I guess that when I do pass on I’ll be cremated, as per the law. So even if I do up and die, I won’t be in any “the worms crawl in and the worms crawl out” situation. Just up in smoke, as they say.

Hmm… Now that’s a rather odd way to start an end-of-the-year blog entry.

In a lame attempt to make up for being so morose, I submit  the top photo on this entry for public consumption. It's something I took at Wonderfest over the summer. It might well be my favorite of all the photos I've taken this year.

With that said, things have been going well work wise and 2015 has shaped up to be my biggest year since I set down the path of Japanese cinema related work. In a nutshell, I did stills on two feature films and subtitled around twenty full-length movies. Lot of other things too…none of which are coming to mind now, but I’m grateful for all the work I’ve received and already have a number of things lined up for 2016.

I took a trip to Kyoto earlier in the month and that was a lot of fun. I visited many of my favorite temples and Kyoto spots. Even though I was there right after the 2011 Earthquake, which was a sort of panic trip and did give some filmmaker thingy-event speech there during the shooting of the film “Danger Dolls” in 2013, it was my first time to really visit the city in almost sixteen years. Best of all, the weather was immaculate. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect two days. I even chowed down on some Yudofu, which I hadn’t eaten since the ‘90s.

I added 30 or so photos I took to my photo website if anyone wants to have a look (Click the photo, OK?):

As it’s the New Year, one of the biggest holidays in Japan, I went to a number of bonenkais. As always, the best one was given by director Shusuke Kaneko. I go to his every year and for some reason this year’s was one of the best. It was jam-packed with people, nearly all of whom I know, and everyone was in super high spirits. I’ve got one more to go to tomorrow (more like a private “countdown” than party) and after that I’ll take it easy and just focus on work.

In any case, this nothing of a blog entry is simply here to wish everyone and no one in particular a happy new year.

Oh, yeah, and to brag a bit, I managed to watch every single Rankin / Bass Christmas special before Xmas hit. Even the idiotic Little Drummer Boy! How’s that for dedication!