A collection of Murakami short stories that are every bit as juicy and delicious as his novels.

An amusing collection of essays on Japanese grammar, culture and language use that are as interesting for being 15 years old as they are for pointing out idiosyncrasies of Japanese language and culture.

Such a pleasure it was to once again embark on the intellectual roller-coaster that always accompanies the reading of Hofstadter’s books. By a few hours into it, I had made copious notes for further research and had taken a crack at translating an ancient French poem while preserving a variety of syntactical features. If you have a passing interest in translation or like the cut of Hofstadter’s jib, the 600-odd pages just fly right by.

This was an excellently done game. In fact, it was a great deal like Ico but with a bit more narrative and a bit more action which kept me involved with the game. I lament that with all the effort put into making the game look and feel cinematic, they made do with a mediocre plot and mediocre dialogue. The plot I can forgive — I don’t mind the occasional formulaic narrative — but the interaction between the two main characters was like a bad sitcom. Couldn’t they find someone to write better jokes? I suppose I should be happy that I can even talk about the “interaction between the two main characters.” Many games that purport to have narrative don’t manage to convey even the faintest idea that the characters could actually be real people with feelings and desires and a propensity to “interact” when they find themselves together in trying circumstances.

Like every other conscious being on the planet, I loved it.

Comments forthcoming (or not).

Hallelujah! Someone has finally made an RPG that I have enjoyed. To be honest, this was at least one-third old-school Mario Brothers platformer, but it was definitely an RPG. They said “Level up!” a good fifty or a hundred times. This game is like the Bugs Bunny cartoons of old, it appears to be for kids but actually demonstrates a sophisticated and clever sense of humor. In many ways this game was way funnier than any episode of Bugs Bunny I’ve ever seen. Between this and Advance Wars, I’m having more fun on my GBA lately than I’ve had on any platform ever.

Comments forthcoming (or not).

An excellent introduction to the origin and evolution of about a hundred kanji characters. For me, it laid the foundation of an understanding of the organic structure of the Chinese characters that play an important part in the Japanese writing system.