Foreign Prophecies

"Drawing from Memory" by Allen Say

>> 11 August 2012 – book

Drawing from Memory, though at first may seem like a children's book, turns out to be a memoir filled with sketches of Allen Say's early dabbling with the world of cartoon-sketching.

Having been born in Japan, he became an apprentice of one of the most renowned newspaper cartoonist of the time, Noro Shimpei. He attributed Shimpei's dedication and love to him as his ultimate inspiration to become the cartoonist that he is in Oregon today.

Personally, the book reminds me of Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's Totto-Chan, where hues of childhood naivety are imbued every several pages or so. It can leave us inspired, and makes us want to read it to a child in the family....son, niece, or cousin...as the story shows how following inspirations and dreams can make us find our inner callings.

Verdict: 9 out of 10

"From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima: The War in the Pacific 1941-1945" by Richard Overy

>> 4 August 2012 – book

From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima does what it says on the foreword: showing the readers how the Pacific Theatre of WW2 was actually more brutal than the European Theatre. Unfortunately, Richard Overy's style of the typical history-book-narration can get exhaustive at times...he compiled a list of facts and dates and jumbled them all together that can make us readers find it overwhelming.

Overall, it is an interesting book though. The most fascinating thing about this book is the several copies of the drafts and original letters (such as President Roosevelt's Declaration of War in 1941 and Japan's Instrument of Surrender in 1945), together with the original autographs, scribblings, and annotations that enables readers to witness firsthand "what it feels like" to be holding those original papers directly.

Verdict: 7 out of 10

"The Elegance of the Hedgehog" by Muriel Barbery

>> 28 July 2012 – book

Never judge a book by its cover, they say. What seems to be a child's book turns out to be an intelligent compilation of philosophical musings of two seemingly ordinary individuals living their somewhat dreary existence.

A fetching, wholly unputdownable book about the simplicity of life and friendship, this book also adds commentaries of daily lives of those surrounding the two protagonists, art, culture, and religion.

Verdict: 9 out of 10 stars

"The Metamorphosis and Other Stories" by Franz Kafka

>> 21 July 2012 – book

I've never really comprehended the full definition of the adjective "Kafkaesque" until I read this book, which is a compilation of Kafka's stories. But even until then, there are more ways than one to define what "Kafkaesque-ism" really means.

Despite being somewhat distorted narratives, these short stories prove to be a fetching read in its entirety.

Verdict: 8 out of 10 stars

What a Masonic (Freemason) temple of Cincinnati looks like from the inside

>> 20 July 2012 – event, Ohio, USA

This is me during the World Choir Games 2012 in Cincinnati, showing what the inside architecture of a Freemason temple looks like.

In case you do not know, the Freemasons are a secretive bunch of people. Hence, the very fact that I am able to show this video to you is already a historic moment in itself.