an t'saoghal dòdach aig Seumas

Everything you should know about the world of Sushi

2006-06-07T11:52:00.000+01:00

These videos will be especially invaluable to anyone studying Japanese anthropology although others will also find them helpful;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b75cl4-qRE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pq2aVRd07Q8&search=japanese
How to apologise;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ads_XnWvMd4&search=japanese%20tradition

Now, I'm not normally one to get excited about new gadgets...

2006-05-01T16:37:00.000+01:00

But throw away your laptops, macs and all your other computers, because this is the kind of gear we could soon be seeing in EVERY HOME!!!
http://www2.grynx.com/wp/20051130

Spring

2006-04-21T11:28:00.000+01:00

So I came back here to London for the last few weeks of my masters (which will involve exams and dissertation planning) to find that spring is here! In Bail Ùr an t'leibh there are buds on the trees, but not much more than that, and there are still quite a lot of skiers on the slopes, but in London, there are leaves on the trees and even blossom! I still hate the place though, even after being back for the massive amount of time of about 19 hours, I already renew my dislikee of everything London. How can people like living in this disgusting, filthy, noisy, impersonal sprawl?

nice little ride

2006-04-21T11:18:00.000+01:00

So just before returning to the vile city of London, after my very pleasant Easter holidays at home, we went on a mountain bike ride in Glen Mòr which was really nice, and we managed to go in a nice 30K circuit, which meant that we saw quite a lot of the Glen. But just as we were getting the bikes out of the car, we managed to put a big green scratch on the car that was parked next to us.Soo like the responsible people that we are, accepting our guilt, we got back in the car, and drove to a different car park. Muhahahaha!Thee perfect crime!

more Gaelic Proverbs

2006-04-10T22:53:00.001+01:00

Bidh an t-ubhal as fheàrr air a’mheangan as àirde.
The best apple is on the highest bough.

Cha mhisd’ a’ ghealach na coin a bhith comhartaich rithe.The moon is none the worse for the dogs’ barking at her.

Am fear a thèid a ghnàth a-mach le lìon, gheibh e eòin air uairibh.The man who always goes out with his net will catch birds sometimes.

Is fhearr fheuchainn na bhith san duil.
It's better to try than to hope.

Ge cruaidh sgarachdainn, cha robh dithis gun dealachadh.
Though separation be hard, two never met but had to part.

Na innis do run do d'charaide gorach, no do d'namhaid glic.
Tell not thy mind to thy foolish friend, nor to thy wise enemy.

Is binn gach eun 'na dhoire fhein.
Sweet sings each bird in his own grove.

An uair is gainne an meas's e is fearr a bhlas.
When the fruit is scarest, its taste is sweetest.

Cha dual grian gan sgaile.
There is not usually sunshine without shadow.

S'toil leum an t'seanfhacal seo

2006-03-18T21:43:00.000Z

Am fear is fhaide chaidh bho'n bhaile Chual e'n ceòl bu mhilse leis nuair thill e dhachaidh

(In English;
The man who farthest away did roam, heard the sweetest music on returning home)

Quotes from the visionary Duke of Edinburgh

2006-03-18T20:49:00.000Z

"Where did you get that hat?"
To his wife the Queen, immediately after her coronation
"British women can't cook."
"The bastards murdered half my family.."
When asked if he would like to visit the Soviet Union
"What do you gargle with - pebbles?"
Said to Tom Jones after the The Royal Variety Performance.
"Everybody was saying we must have more leisure. Now they are complaining they are unemployed."
Said during the 1981 recession.
"You must be out of your minds.."
To Solomon Islanders, on being told that their population growth was 5% a year.
"You are a woman, aren't you?"
Said in Kenya, to a native woman who had presented him with a small gift.
"If you stay here much longer you'll all get slitty eyed."
Said to British students in China.
"If it has four legs and is not a chair, has wings and is not an aeroplane, or swims and is not a submarine the Cantonese will eat it."
Said at a World Wildlife Fund meeting.
"Your country is one of the most notorious centres of trading in endangered species in the world."
Said in Thailand, after accepting a conservation award.
"You can't have been here that long - you haven't got a pot belly."
Said to a Briton in Budapest, Hungary.
"Aren't most of you descended from pirates?"
Said to an islander in the Cayman Islands.
"How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to get them through the test?"
Said to a driving instructor in Scotland.
"If a cricketer, for instance, suddenly decided to go into a school and batter a lot of people to death with a cricket bat, which he could do very easily, I mean, are you going to ban cricket bats?"
Said amid calls to ban firearms after the Dunblane shooting.
"Bloody silly fool!"
Was referring to a Cambridge University car park attendant who failed to recognise him.
"You managed not to get eaten, then?"
Said to a student who had been trekking in Papua New Guinea.
"It looks like it was put in by Indians."
Said after he saw a poorly constructed fusebox.
"Deaf? If you are near there, no wonder you are deaf."
Said to young deaf people in Cardiff, referring to a school's steel band.
"Do you still throw spears at each other?"
To an Aboriginal man on Australia's Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park.
"You were playing your instruments, weren't you? Or do you have tape recorders under your seats?"
Said to a children's band in Australia.
"Do you know they have eating dogs for the anorexic now?"
Said to a blind woman with a guide dog.
"If you travel as much as we do you appreciate how much more comfortable aircraft have become. Unless you travel in something called economy class, which sounds ghastly.."
Commenting during the Jubilee tour.
"The problem with London is the tourists. They cause the congestion. If we could just stop tourism we could stop the congestion.."
Commenting on the London traffic debate, after mayor Ken Livingstone launched his plan to charge motorists £5 to enter the city.
"It doesn't look like much work goes on at this University" Overheard at Bristol University's BLADE (Bristol Laboratory for Advanced Dynamic Engineering) facility, which had been closed in order that he and the Queen could officially open it
"You look like you're ready for bed!"
Said to the President of Nigeria, who was dressed in traditional robes.

万葉集

2006-03-10T23:51:00.000Z

原文；

冬木成春去来者不喧有之鳥毛来鳴奴不開有之花毛佐家礼抒山乎茂入而毛不取草深執手母不見秋山乃木葉乎見而者黄葉乎婆取而曽思努布青乎者置而曽歎久曽許之恨之秋山吾者

古文に訳すと；

冬こもり春さり来れば鳴かずありし鳥も来鳴きぬ咲かずありし花も咲けれど山を茂み入りても取らず草深み取りても見ず秋山の木の葉を見ては黄葉をば取りてぞ偲ふ青きをば置きてぞ嘆くそこし恨めし秋山吾は

現代語に訳すと；

冬が去り、春山は鳥がさえずり花は咲くけど、中は草木で生い茂っているので、花々を愛でることができません。一方、秋山は木の葉を見れば、色づいた葉を手にして思いを馳せ、まだ青い葉は採らずに、ため息がでるばかりです。秋の山は、ひとの心をうらめしいほどまでに魅了します

狸御殿

2006-03-10T19:03:00.000Z

なんというかなー
今週この映画始めて見た。
可笑しい映画を見たかったら、これに限ると思う。コメディとして作られたかどうか解らへんが僕にとってこんな面白い映画はすんごく稀世やと思う。
見て解れたら説明してくれてね！
http://www.tanuki-goten.com/

無極

2006-03-10T18:20:00.000Z

本星期我看見這新中國電影。很奇怪，實際上初我不好好明白的！
風格是臥虎藏龍逕庭可是，是一個很有興趣故事所以我喜歡。
如果你有機會，請看；
http://www.thepromise.sina.com.cn/

ちちゃい「つ」の発音練習詩

2006-03-09T22:22:00.000Z

言ってみて；

かっぱ　かっぱらった
かっぱ　ラッパ　かっぱらった
とって　ちってた

かっぱ　なっぱ　かった
かっぱ　なっぱ　いっぱ　かった
かって　きって　くった

別

言ったって
行っちゃったって
どっかへ
そっと出てったって

Just when you think it can't get any more stupid...

2006-03-09T21:38:00.000Z

This is taken from our textbook!!!!
and there was I thinking that 外人 was just as shortened and slightly more derogatory form of 外国人.
Even according to the Japanese, that is the case. but according to this crappy book.... no
This is what passes for language teaching at SOAS!

Charisma man

2006-03-09T21:00:00.001Z

なぜか全然解らへんがこの間、近年JETをやっとたフラットメートにCharisma manを紹介頂いたとたんジャパンハウスのベン君のことを思い出した。なんでやろうかなー？
(画像にクリックやったら最大化やる)

Va Vis et Deviens

2006-03-06T13:48:00.000Z

Un film fantastique français qui je viens de voir, c'est incroiablement trist mais c'est vachement bien fait et super croiable comme histoire; http://www.vavisetdeviens-lefilm.com/

òran tlachdmhor

2006-03-06T09:34:00.000Z

http://www.leabharmor.net/soundfiles/Pangur_Ban.swf

So how did SOAS get its great reputation??

2006-03-06T08:20:00.000Z

I don't understand it!
Soas enjoys this great reputation for a huge collection of books in the library, renowned language teaching and student support, but from my experiences, it doesn't live up to any of them.
The library has lots of books but the majority are only one copy and so if a whole class has to read something, they are stuck, the library staff are some of the most grumpy and unpleasant people that you could ever come across and they provide no help at all in the event of actually being asked to solve a problem. The language teaching is a joke, I have been continuing my Japanese here and I can honestly say that I have learned about as much thanks to the class as I would expect to learn if I hadn't taken any Japanese class at all! We are using a book from the 80s and beside the fact that everyone in the class has spent at least a year in Japan, we still have to read about how all Japanese women are OLs or house wives!!! (which is clearly not the case). And the least said about the student support the better, don't even bother asking the faculty office anything because they won't know the answer, oh and Don't be surprised if they just lose your details or forget to enter you into a class or exam. It happens all the time!
If anyone can tell me where this image of SOAS being a good university came from, I would love to know

Hi

2006-03-05T22:33:00.000Z

Fàilte gu mo Blog!