Custom Frame Update

My new frame is coming along nicely, and I have high hopes that I’ll have it before the summer is over.

Joel Greenblatt, of Clockwork Bikes, sent me these photos this morning:

12 Angry Men vs. 12 Gentle Japanese

Warning: SPOILERS. Don’t read this if you don’t want to know the endings.

Years ago I watched the 1957 classic film 12 Angry Men. Turns out, in 1991, Japanese director Shun Nakahara made a spoof of that film. Brian and I watched both movies recently, one after the other, to see how they compared. The original film is of course a drama. Based on a play of the same name, this movie, starring Henry Fonda, Jack Warden, Jack Klugman and Ed Begley, is set entirely in one room and is fraught with tension and suspense. The defendent is a young man accused of killing his father. The 12 jurors are sequestered in a small room where they have to decide a verdict on the seemingly open and shut case. All the jurors but one quickly state that they believe the accused is guilty. They are ready to leave the room, but there is one hold-out - Henry Fonda. It’s a hot summer day, the fan isn’t working, and the heat in the room seems to increase the tension, to mirror the jurors’ increasing claustrophobia. There is also a storm brewing outside. Finally it starts to rain, and slowly, methodically, the jurors are brought around to Fonda’s way of thinking – his arguments are sound. As time goes on, and more jurors switch sides, the tension eases. The storm abates, and Glugman’s character figures out that the fan does work, and things cool down literally and figuratively. The last juror to give in is J. Lee Cobb’s character, who, it turns out, is taking the trial of the young man personally, seeing in the man his own estranged “ungrateful” son. Finally, he faces his own anguish and realizes he is being unfair. The verdict is not guilty.

The 1991 Japanese version of the movie is more of a spoof than a serious attempt at a remake. This is fairly clear by the title, which is １２人の優しい日本人　(juu-ni nin no yasashii nihonjin – 12 Gentle Japanese). The film parallels the original in many ways – it is filmed mostly in one small, hot room (though somehow the jurors get to go outside for a breath of air!), and the jurors must come to a consensus . However, the atmosphere is rather light as the movie opens as 12 seemingly happy, chatty people quickly pile into the room, and the spokesperson begins taking orders for drinks –iced coffee, iced tea, banana juice, Yakult [a yogurt drink] and even a fruit parfait are all ordered amidst a party-like atmosphere. The defendant in this case is a young divorced mother accused of pushing her ex-husband in front of a truck. The jurors sit down, and quickly all but one state that the young woman is not guilty (muzai). They quickly rise, say how fun this get together was, and prepare to leave. However, there is one hold-out – a young, professional-looking man. He has reasonable arguments for the woman’s guilt, while, at first, the only arguments for her innocence are: she’s too cute to do something like that, I can see when someone is lying, it’s a feeling, etc…Eventually, though, after some flip-flopping, it is determined that the woman is, indeed, not guilty, and the hold-out, it turns out, was harboring a bit of a grudge against his own wife. Realizing this, he gives in and changes his verdict to not guilty.

So, the parallels are obvious, the ending's the same, but the process is oh so different. One of the greatest ironies is that Japan does not have a jury system (this may change in 2009 when 6-member juries are introduced), so one has to wonder how effective this movie was when it was released? But for us, at least, it was pretty funny and a very interesting “remake” of the original, with a very distinctive Japanese flavour.

Firefox 3 - Download Day

So today is the day - Firefox 3 has been officially released. As some of you may know, this is my browser of choice and it beats Internet Explorer hands down.

Firefox is going for the Guinness book of world records for most downloads in a 24 hour period. I've already downloaded a copy for my laptop and desktop. Next will be my work pc.

To participate in the FF download day, click here: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/?p=downloadday

To help make the world record, you must download by 7:00 UTC on June 18, 2008. But if you miss this deadline, just go ahead and get Firefox anyway - it rocks!

Custom Frame - the beginning

Construction of my custom frame has begun...here are the first two photos of it "under construction":





This is my top tube and my seat tube. Notice how the top tube is curved - this is so that I will have ample stand-over when the bike is complete. I'm really rather short to be riding a 29er, and there is a lot of controversy among mountain bikers about the whole thing. Many folks say that 29ers are not necessary at all, and certainly not necessary for people who are short (like, 5"7'...I only stand slightly over 5'1"!). However, I've been riding a 29er exclusively for nearly 3 years, and I know that I love it. How much more will I love it when I get one made just for me?

Usami beach, Otsuka minshuku, and a new Pepsi

Beaches in Japan are wonderful. Some beaches are family oriented, others are for those who like to see and be seen. Shirahama (literally, “White Beach”) is one of the latter, and it also has good surfing, swimming and suntanning. The sandy beaches on the west side of Izu are all really nice, though, and once they are officially opened they all have lots of easy access to cold beer and chu-hi (a sweet canned drink made with sho-chu and lemon/lime/grapefruit or whatever). At Shirahama there are even “beer girls” who walk up on down the beach selling cold beer, so you don’t have to get up and go to the yatai (food stall) to buy one yourself!

Shirahama is a bit far, but we wanted to spend time at the beach this weekend, so we decided to spend a couple of days at Usami beach (not far from Atami). It was only an hour and a half or so away, and we got to enjoy a few hours sitting in the sun and savouring the still-unpopulated beach before the crowds converge after the official opening. (Usami officially opened Sunday afternoon, so the other beaches likely did too).

We stayed at the Otsuka minshuku, where we’d stayed once last year. We did not take the dinner and breakfast option this time, but immediately wished we had. The food at the minshuku is fabulous traditional Japanese fare (as we remember from last year), and they are also fairly well-known for their cuisine, which includes unagi and, their specialty, fugu. You can call ahead and reserve a fugu-nabe course, if you feel daring! Otherwise, there are not many options for dinner within walking distance. Luckily, we did find a nice ise-ebi restaurant that also served up pretty good tempura.

The Otsuka itself is a nice but very simple and slightly run-down place. The tatami has seen better days, as has the shoji and fusuma paper. But the owners are very friendly, and the minshuku is super-close to the beach.

Unfortunately, it is also super close to the highway (as in, it is ON the highway), and it was our misfortune to get (again) room 201, which is street level, “ocean view” – a euphemism for “right on the highway”. With hundreds (thousands?) of cars and large trucks speeding past our window, it was much too noisy for comfort. So, while we will stay at the Otsuka again, we will request a different room upon booking…and to be safe, we may request not to have the ocean view, but rather, the mountain view!

Otsuka’s English homepage is here: http://www.izu.co.jp/~otsuka/justa.htm
Or call them: 0557-48-8839 (English is probably ok since the owners spoke English while we were there).

Some photos from our weekend:

Our room at the Otsuka - I love traditional Japanese rooms! (We put futons down on the tatami for sleeping at night).


Me, reading and relaxing in our room:



This summer's Pepsi is Blue Hawaii, with Pineapple and Lemon...though I thought it sort of tasted like spruce beer; on the right is frozen green tea - a great summer refreshment:



A close-up view of the shoji (black and white):


On Sunday, the weather was windy and cloudy, so we drove around Izu for a bit before heading home. We stopped at a small temple and got this photo:


Finally, the sun came out while we were near the Jogasaki coast:

A Weighty Issue

Whenever I read about people shopping for a new bike, or planning to upgrade their current one, a main concern is weight. I knew that this was an important issue for roadies, but was mildly surprised when I first encountered this in mountain biking. I mean – why worry about a few hundred grams?

Many of those who are concerned are racers, and they feel that weight matters. Of course, the lighter, more high-tech the parts, the more expensive they are. When the discussion of weight vs. budget comes up on mountain bike forums (namely, the MTBR forums), one piece of advice that is always offered to the biker looking to drop grams from his (or her) ride without having to spend the cash to do so is: stop eating so much and ride more. The idea being, of course, that the body weight one loses will make up for the slightly heavier bike.

As for me, while I do need a new set of cranks, I am not very concerned about weight on my bike; let’s face it – I ride a single speed and am already past the race-age! However, I do worry about body weight, and in the last year or two, I’ve gained a few kilograms. And I realize it’s not just winter fat, and not going to go away overnight – so, I’ve had to start taking steps to reverse the trend. The major step is that I’ve quit drinking. Sad, but true. I realize I just can’t afford the extra 600 to 800 calories a day that alcohol was providing. My goal is to lose three kilos, and I think with the calorie reduction, coupled with regular rides, I should be able to achieve this within a few months.

Happy Friday the 13th

Friday is always a good day. And everybody knows you coast on Friday! (That's a quote from one of my favourite (and unfortunately cancelled) TV series, Arrested Development).

But this Friday is better than most, because it is also Friday the 13th! Too bad it's sunny, it's ruining the atmosphere...but I still intend to have a little fun and wear some black attire today.

Enjoy the day, folks, and ride if you can.

Violence in Japan

As most people may by now be aware, there was a bizarre attack in the popular Akihabara (a.k.a. Electric City) area of Tokyo on Sunday afternoon. A young man, who had apparently been planning his attack well in advance, drove a rental truck into a crowd of people (Akihabara + Sunday afternoon=masses and masses of people), then got out of the truck and went on a stabbing spree, killing seven people (three died when hit by the truck, and four died of stab wounds) and injuring 10 others. Making the story even more interesting is that the attacker – Tomohiro Kato – was living right here in Susono city where he was a temporary worker at an auto parts manufacturer. Huh. You can read the story here at the Japan Times Online http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080611a1.html

The most remarkable thing about this story, however, is how remarkable it is. Now of course, news programs and talk shows are questioning Japan’s current situation and analyzing the “increase” in violence. But this incident is rare. I would still feel very safe walking down the street in the middle of the night, whether here in Susono, or even in the red-light district of Kabukicho in Tokyo. Japan is essentially still a very safe country. The crimes that occur here are frequently strange, sometimes tragic, but seldom violent. Recently, a middle-aged woman was discovered living in a man’s closet; and she’d been living there for nearly a year before the bachelor suspected anything (the story is here http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080530/ap_on_re_as/japan_closet_woman). I’m not saying that every nation shouldn’t stop once in a while and re-evaluate itself and its social values…I’m just saying that one incident does not define the nation.

Closer to Custom

We had a busy weekend, which involved no riding at all. However, rainy season is upon us, so it's not like we're missing any great weather...But I do want to ride my Rig as much as possible in the next month or two, since it is about to be replaced with a custom-designed frame!

Two months after my first contact with Joel of Clockwork Bikes, we are finally taking the first big steps toward the production of my very own custom 29er single speed frame. It will be an original Clockwork orange. I'm not sure of the ETA yet, but I just submitted my physical measurements, and the measurements of my current bike. I've also had to describe any issues with my current set up/frame - and basically, while it's been the love of my life for the last two years, it's just a bit too big overall.

And so now the countdown has begun...

Macro from the weekend

Just wanted to share a couple of macro shots we took on the weekend.

This was a really tiny spider sitting on an old steel drink can.


This was just a tree stump:

Weekends really are too short, but you have to make the most of them.

On Sunday, we got out for a good bike ride. The weather was perfect – sunny, partly cloudy, and not too hot. A great way to bring in June!

As I frequently mention, every ride involves a lot of uphill. Of course, this is complemented by an equal amount of downhill! When you're riding a single speed and you live in a valley, you get a great workout and plenty of good shin-muscles!

Just for fun, I thought I would share our riding route.


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