Author Archives: dpkworldwide

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About dpkworldwide

Native Californian, water rabbit, aries, lover of travel, trains, history, music, wrestling, anime, minimalism, stoicism, objectivism and things Japanese.

Catching up from Last Week

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Hello again!

I had quite a lot going on last week, so fell off the blogging wagon, so to speak. I’m starting Monday off fresh by recapping a few of the things I did and some updates on what’s going on.

First off was my trip to the Orthopedic surgeon following my MRI results. The bottom line is that the ACL tear is apparently too insignificant to worry about right now and might mend itself. The meniscus tear, however, is real and the only true way to fix it is with surgery. However, while I save up for those costs and will hopefully schedule it for the end of this year, the doctor suggested I could try cortisone injections and/or physical therapy to alleviate the pain and strengthen the surrounding muscles in the meantime. I’ll probably be starting that very soon.

Weight loss for last week was just over 2 pounds–yahoo! I’m slowly moving in the right direction.

Last week was the final chance to watch the classic anime Nobody’s Boy Remi on Anime News Networks’ streaming service; their license expired Saturday.

A true classic that deserves to be seen...

What an incredibly moving show. It took a lot out of me as I spent the week marathon-viewing all 51 episodes, and I’m glad I had my box of tissues handy–it was an emotional roller-coaster. Based on the novel Sans Famille (or Nobody’s Boy in English) by Hector Malot, it is probably the ultimate in heart-wrenching tales of a poor boy’s trials in life until he ultimately sees all his trouble and sacrifice rewarded in the end. I honestly think that I cried at some point during every single one of those 51 episodes from joy or sadness–or both. Unfortunately, at the moment you can’t legally find it to watch–a true shame, I think. (There was one hopeful blog post from Justin Sevakis on ANN that as they move their streaming to Hulu, he will “strongly suggest” that license owner TMS put it up there for people to continue to enjoy. Fingers crossed…)

In 2007 ImaginAsian entertainment released the series on print-on-demand DVDs and I had been purchasing them. But I screwed up and missed discs 5, 6 and 8, though fortunately have the others and the series case. ImaginAsian and their novel Print-on-demand releasing are now defunct and even secondhand copies seem to have disappeared off the face of the earth. If anyone reading this knows where I can find either the three discs I’m missing or a complete set, PLEASE let me know. I’m definitely going to have to write up a review someday.

So there you go–all caught up. I’ll try to sit down and put some intelligent stuff up here again during the week. I’ve got several reviews in the works, just gotta get around to finishing them…

Disposable Culture

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This is an absolutely fascinating read from a blog I’d never heard of before until an excerpt was posted on Minimal Mac. It hits the nail on the head so far as one of our world’s most intractable challenges goes:

We’re more interested in convenience and immediacy than responsibility and lasting value.

…

From our homes to our digital devices, ours is a culture obsessed with immediate benefit, regardless of the consequences. We forsake our future for the present, while we disavow our role and play at being powerless to make a difference.

I myself am struggling to strip all the unnecessary crap out of my life, all the while trying not to succumb to the next thing that will suck away my money, time and life energy.

Be sure to read the entire post: Disposable Culture on the Surat Says blog.

Minimal Mac: Disruptive

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With this week’s shocking news from HP that they’re leaving the PC business and the Tablet/Smartphone business, it’s a great time to be an Apple aficionado. Maybe HP is actually doing the right thing (albeit in a rather un-elegant way) by finally admitting that they shouldn’t be trying to compete on every platform at every level.

But this post isn’t as much about my position as it is about reblogging a brilliant post by Patrick Rhone from his Minimal Mac blog. I liked this quote, but there is so much more in the full post (linked at the bottom):

The iPad is causing such disruption in the PC business that HP, a company fundamental to the creation of the personal computer itself, is getting out of the PC business.

Wow. Just wow.

His main conclusion is that nobody can compete with Apple on the iPad front (and that they should just stop deluding themselves by calling it the “tablet” front) and instead should begin doing what Apple does: creating entire markets.

Dear Anyone Else Who Thinks They Have A Chance In The iPad Market,

You don’t. The iPad is the fire that sucked all the oxygen out of the room. Apple zigged and you guys are still trying to figure out what a zag is.

…

Apple did not beat you with the iPad. They beat you with the iPad market. A market they created out of the ashes of burning netbooks, low cost laptops, and PCs that no one really liked or wanted in the first place. There simply was no other option at the time available for them to buy otherwise. Apple created that option.

The whole post is really quite insightful, and not necessarily unabashed Apple fanboy-ism either. Read it all by clicking here.

LA International Tea Festival & Nisei Week

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I had a really fun day Saturday in downtown LA.

The first item on the agenda was the 1st Annual LA International Tea Festival at the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo, created and sponsored by my friends at Chado. It was an excellent event and I certainly hope it will indeed become an annual affair.

But it was also nice since it happened to coincide with the first weekend of the annual Nisei Week festivals and celebrations, so the whole area was buzzing with activity. There were so many things to see and do and I was so wrapped up in them I completely forgot to eat lunch!

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