Inuneko Report

I introduced the showing event of a film Inuneko before. It was held last Sunday. I want to write about this below.

The showing was taken place twice, and both of them were practically full. After that, Director of the film Nami Iguchi talked about the film in front of the audiences. They also asked a lot of questions. They appeared to be satisfied with the showing and the talk, so I, a volunteer staff, was very happy.

After this event, we held a drinking party. I talked a lot with Director Iguchi over delicious food and drink. She told me how hard it is to finish a film, how strong power a producer has, her new film information, and so on. It was very valuable experience for me to be able to talk with a great and famous director.

Finally, I will give you information. 8mm version Inuneko DVD is released August 26(35mm version DVD is on sale). If you are interested in these films, please watch them. I hope you'll enjoy them, and I'm looking forward to talking about it with you.

How long has the rainy season lasted?

It was fine today but the rainy season hasn't ended.
Do you think this year's one is a little long?
I dislike damp weather because my motivation to do everything become bad...(-.-)

Please end the rainy season!!
After that the summer vacation is coming, and we will be able to enjoy some summer festivals, such as Nebuta, Neputa, fireworks display and so on.
But before that, we have to get over exams and reports...(；一_一)
Anyway, let's try our best!!

The Blues

I hope you enjoyed today's class.

As I mentioned, The Blues Brothers was one of my children's most popular videos. I think most children have fantasies about acting the way John Belushi and Dan Akroyd did in the Chez Paul.

Alan Lomax was an amazing collector of folk music, not just in the US but around the world. I use his books and recordings in my folk ballads class at Akita University. Some of his collections are available from the Library of Congress. Others are available commercially. One song, "Po' Lazarus", a ballad he recorded in a penitentiary, was even included in the movie "Oh, Brother". The soundtrack from the movie, mostly traditional folk music, went number one, and was best album at the Grammy Awards that year (2001). Not best folk album. Not best Country album. Not best film soundtrack album (well, it did also win that). Best album.

"The Land Where the Blues Began" is one of the most popular videos I have shown to my American students at Misawa. The American Patchwork series of videos doesn't seem to be available at the website for PBS anymore, but the American Roots Music series is.

Traditional American music continues to be popular. Amazon.com was advertising Bruce Springsteen's new folk music CD on its front page, and the CD was number one even before it was released.

Visiting a buried cultural properties center

Hi! How are you doing?? Are you enjoying your weekends?

Yesterday I visited Inakadate village with a friend for archaeology homework.
Inakadate has a great buried cultural properties of Yayoi era.
The remains of paddy fields. Before this remains were found, most of archaeologist thought there was no Yayoi era in northern tohoku area. That was a really big finding. The center was really good. The most interesting thing was that we could walk on the Yayoi ground!! And you can see footprints of Yayoi people. Isn't that so interesting?

And we also visited a museum which shows paintings, old fariming tools, old furnitures and so on. That was interesting too. We had really good time. I loved the center a lot.

But... there are not so many people who visit this center which holds great remain, a staff sighed. The problem is... there were no signs or information for the center! And there is a big 'Michino-Eki' in front of that, so people never notice the center.
If you are interested in archaeology, please visit Inakadate and have a look!