Top 4 TV shows in the first 4 months of this year (that I've seen): Maul - Shadow Lord, Frieren season 2, The Art of Sarah, Daredevil: Born Again season 2.

Happy birthday Harold Lloyd, born April 20, 1893!

Happy birthday Charlie Chaplin, born April 16, 1889!

Fire And Water YouTube video by Free - Topic

Because of work, I went two days without sleep. When I finally slept, it was a crash. When I woke up, this song was in my head. I then proceeded to run many successful errands on my day off, and perform many extraordinary deeds. www.youtube.com/watch?v=khMU...

Happy birthday to Emile Zola, born April 2, 1840. A writer who knew that truth was born of honesty and emotion and uncensored reality. A man who lived what he wrote, taking on the powers that be. One of the greatest writers who ever lived.

Happy birthday to Hazuki, singer-songwriter-guitarist for Brandy Senki, born March 22, 2004.

I entered the ticket lottery. I hope I get to see them again. If I do, will this be the fourth time or fifth time? I forgot. But one can never see Brandy Senki live too many times.

Novel 5 is currently 220 pages along, and I estimate I'm about halfway through writing it. If I had more than one day a week to work on it, progress would be faster. But it's fun and challenging, and I think (hope) there are some really good parts in this one. I wish you could all read it.

幻夜 YouTube video by MTDpikeman

"Phantom Night" by Manekineko Kagekidan, a short-lived 1984 side-project from two members of Zelda (singer Sayoko Takahashi and bassist Sachiho Kojima) www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EH5...

ZELDA (ゼルダ) - 空色帽子の日 (Sora-iro Boushi no Hi) | 04. FLOWER YEARS OLD [1985] YouTube video by Victor

It's my birthday today. I'm trying to make the most of it. Took myself to karaoke, ordered a pizza, bought a video game and beer. I even did some work on the latest novel I'm writing. Tomorrow it's back to work and ordinary life, but for 3 more hours, it's my birthday www.youtube.com/watch?v=sflP...

I finished watching "The Art of Sarah". I mostly liked it, but I wonder if the ending had to comply with local censorship laws? Episode 6 seemed to hint at the possibility of a cooler, more subversive and satisfying ending, that episodes 7-8 ended up softening. However, Shin Hae-sun was very good.

New Nihon Falcom game coming this summer! I loved Tokyo Xanadu, and Nihon Falcom is my favorite game maker, so I'm looking forward to this sequel. I'm currently playing Sora no Kiseki on my Switch Lite, and that's how I'll play this one.

My day off tomorrow was cancelled, so I worked on writing novel #5 tonight, managing to write almost ten pages before 2 AM struck. I'm partway through writing a big and important scene, but will have to pause and wait another week to finish it. Sleeping pills and work are interfering evils.

Life is difficult and lonely; the world is falling apart and destroying itself. But one good thing, one thing that really helps, and I mean this sincerely, is the fact that season 2 of Frieren has started airing.

It's hard to explain the relationship between truth and beauty. Aristotle said beauty is a perfect circle. Chaplin said it was a rose in the gutter. I'm more inclined to agree with Charlie Chaplin. But I also know that beauty and truth confound and confuse the senses of us humans.

In a moment of procrastination, I brainstormed my ten favorite Jedi. In alphabetical order:

Aayla Secura
Ahsoka Tano
Barriss Offee
F
Leia Organa
Luke Skywalker
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Plo Koon
Rey
Sabine Wren

Nihon Falcom games always speak to me.

ZELDA #01 Question 1 YouTube video by zelda zelda

Let's keep listening to Zelda (I say to myself): www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WSy...

5 Gentlemen "Mets du sucre dans ton café" YouTube video by fida le rebbec

It's a day off, but outside there are mountains of snow, savage winds, glaring locals, and my bank account is empty. So stay at home and put some sugar in my coffee kind of day. www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmEm...

As 2025 prepares to end, and 2026 begin, I was brainstorming who my favorite contemporary actors are. Many names came to mind from all over the world, but the first seven names I thought of all happened to be Korean:
Kim Tae-ri
Han So-hee
Kim Hye-jun
Jo Yoon-su
Ji Chang Wook
Kim Da-mi
Jeon Jong-seo

Some on this list were better than others, but some noteworthy TV in 2025 included:
Andor
The Apothocary Diaries
The Manipulated
Nine Puzzles
Star Wars: Visions vol 3
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Alien: Earth
Wednesday
Daredevil: Born Again
Cashero
Mercy For None
Tales from the Underworld
Tempest

I'm always early for good things, and good things are always late for me.

Zelda changed styles throughout their career, from punk to post-punk to new wave to funk to reggae. As I explore their discography this week, I've liked everything so far. I'm currently up to 1989, so I haven't reached reggae yet, but so far so good.

Zelda / 時折の色彩 YouTube video by deadmanspeedrock

I stayed up way too late on a work night listening to the first three albums from early-1980s Japanese band Zelda. They genre hop quite a bit, and I like some of their styles more than others, but there were many gems on those albums: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyqb...

가진 것이라고는 서로뿐이었던 미선과 도경이 밑바닥 현실에서 벗어나기 위해 숨겨진 검은 돈과 금괴를 훔치면서 벌어지는 범죄 드라마 ("A crime drama about Miseon and Dokyung, who have only each other, stealing hidden black money and gold bars to escape their rock-bottom reality.") #ProjectY #HanSohee #JeonJongseo

I have thousands of favorite writers, but if I were to attempt to list and rank them it would be impossible. On different days, in different moods, I might change who was #67, or who was #333. The only numbers that don't seem to change are #1: Emile Zola, #2: Maurice Leblanc.

The world outside

Cool, those are both places I want to visit! I'm on a lunch break at work now, but I'll check Instagram later if you put pictures up. Today in Sapporo by the way it is snowing like crazy. Winter is a serious business.

You were in Japan? I thought I saw on Instagram you were in Korea, but I've been haphazardly online recently.

I didn't even feel it. A friend in a different part of town said things were shaking at her place, but I felt nothing. A few days later there was another advisory, which caused some train drama when I was going to work, but I felt nothing that day too.