The Blue and Brown Books

Letters to Nana 9

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 04:23:00 GMT

This is the ninth mp3 letter 'written' to my nana and RSS fed. I ride a bike to school and talk in stuttered phrases due to pedaling or distraction. There is some apologizing for this. After a quick stop at the Family Mart for some lunch we listen to 'One Great City' by The Weakerthans off their Reconstruction Site album[Golden Boy photo from Miss Vincci (cc) on Flickr]. Te bike ride home is spent rambling.

Letters to Nana 8

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 13:56:00 GMT

This is the Eighth Letter to Nana in which I ramble on my way home from a school in North Iwata, and jump on a train to go home to Hamamatsu. In which, I discuss teaching children, change in season / schoolyear / child-development. Also, some Japanese school system attire, upcoming plans for Golden week and we hear "Do You Like Icecream?" 'Lime' Level Unit 11 Song, "Paper Plates" by Butter Vaughn Kingson, along with what it's like to ride on a train in Japan.

The sound quality may or may not be so great due to my lack of meticulousness in monitoring the peaks. Also, there may oor may not be too much "train-listening" time. I may, or may not be apologizing for these things.

Letters to Nana 7

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 14:39:00 GMT

This is the seventh Letter to Nana in the series in which I write from my school in Iwata and walk about 15 minutes to the station to go home for the evening. I discuss my dad visiting, how it's odd living again with my father, and how much fun and frustrating it is to travel with him.

There is some talk about the awkwardness that seems to surround a foreigner living in Japan. This talk may or may not be interesting or insightful or important. I don't feel as though it's offencive, but it may be, although I'm not sure how. What I do know is that it's, for whatever reason, it's awkward to talk about. This is really why I am bringing it up, so that I can explore why it is so awkward.

Although this has been discussed to death, and shown in film and television, It's another thing entirely to experience first hand. I hope I'm making at least some kind of clear case here.

Letters to Nana 6 (video)

Thu, 6 Mar 2008 16:12:00 GMT

This is the sixth in the series of Letters to Nana highlighting Jeannine and Aaronâs trip to Tokyo in the Winter of 2008. Although there is some amount of preambling in explanation of Tokyo and their tripâs itinerary, there is a slideshow of photos set to music during the last (and better) half of this episode. Tokyo is good, and we recommend going there.

The music used is used without permission, but weâre not really concerned.
+81 - Deerhoof
(Aaronâs Karaoke rendition of Everyday by Buddy Holly)
Tout va pour le mieux dans le pire des mondes - Les Breastfeeders
The Stars of Track and Field - Belle and Sebastian

Letters to Nana 5 (Video)

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 15:48:00 GMT

This is the 5th Letter to Nana from Japan in which Aaron and Jeannine travel to Kyoto during the Winter of 2008 and share some of their photos and video.

The music in this video is used without permission. Sorry?
Xavier Rudd - Green Spandex
Jose Gonzales - Heartbeats
The Weakerthans - Our Retired Explorer

Letters to Nana 4

Sat, 22 Dec 2007 03:47:00 GMT

The fourth letter to my nana where there is an apology about the fourth letter not including pictures of the kansai, but an explanation that they will be coming soon.

Christmas in japan is stranger than it is back home. However, they have more reason for it to be a consumer holiday that 'westerners' do...

Speaking of consumerism, I talk a bit about my newest purchase/favourite thing in japan, the kotatsu and the strangely cold-but-not-canada-cold japanese winter.

I mention seeing a punk show, in particular a band called Blue III, and also some troubles with eating vegetarian in japan, and in general missing being looked after in terms of my meals.

Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

Letters to Nana 3

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 16:22:00 GMT

This is the third letter in the series of letters to my Nana In which I review a paper I had written for a seminar several weeks ago concerning getting to know Japan.

Unfortunately, I am a rambling mess. Hopefully this at least gets us thinking about some ideological differences between how 'Western' notions of the individuals are different than those of the Japanese. Fear not, there are many more rambling entries to come I'm sure.

There is also some discussion of my upcoming backpacking trip through the Kansai (Mid-west) area of Japan.

Letters to Nana 2

Tue, 6 Nov 2007 13:07:00 GMT

This is the second letter in a series of letters to my Nana.
In which, there is some discussion of my being sick, and how children are a bit dirty.
Also, a teaser of my discussion of social and political theories of the Japanese social system.
As well, Don, my brother-in-law-but-not-really-in-law is visiting me for a month, and there is some discussion of him sharing limited space with me, what we've done over the weekend including the Daidogei festival in Shizuoka (which is near Hamamatsu), and what our travelling plans are for November.

Letters to Nana 1

Mon, 8 Oct 2007 11:38:00 GMT

This is the underwhelming inaugural letter in the soon to be series of letters to my nana. In this introduction I talk mostly about my new-found home of hamamatsu, touch a little bit on teaching english in japan, and my plans for the 'letters' series in general.

I know this is not much of a premiere episode, sound quality, um's and ah's, road/rail noise, but I figure I need to start somewhere.

b3cast Volume 7: Butter Vaughn Kingson - In the Hay

Tue, 2 Oct 2007 14:21:00 GMT

this is the last in the series of Butter Vaughn Kingson shorts, soon to come are the 'letters to nana' collections of stories, photos, etc. from japan so far. watch out for it! for now, please enjoy the Kingson. check out his myspace please, and keep watching therearecakes.com for more musical project-ness.

b3cast Volume 6: Butter Vaughn Kingson - Sunflowers

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 02:31:00 GMT

Butter Vaughn Kingson, Live in a field of Sunflowers.

Please Visit www.myspace.com/buttervaughnkingson

b3cast Volume 5: Butter Vaughn Kingson - Winter Song

Thu, 9 Aug 2007 18:35:00 GMT

This is Butter Vaughn Kingson doing what he does best, outside in the nature.

Winter Song

b3cast4 - Volume 4: Internet Neutrality

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 18:11:00 GMT

b3cast4 - Volume 4: Internet Neutrality

The loss of neutrality in the way the internet operates would mean the extortion of internet sites to pay telecommunication companies for a greater level of access. All of those sites that do not pay could and would face slower access speeds, and at worst, obstruction or being all together blocked.

What this boils down to is that the user-driven internet that we know today might not be here tomorrow.

see also:
neutrality.ca
savetheinternet.com

For next week, why don't we think about what makes our property OUR property. What sorts of investments and obligations do we have to our objects of ownership??

mail@blueandbrownbooks.com

Volume 3: How am I not Myself?

Wed, 21 Feb 2007 19:10:00 GMT

This week we're extending our last discussion about beliefs. I hope I've made my case clear enough.

For next week, let's try and think about what a person is. Also, I've been thinking a lot about net neutrality and property in general. Perhaps this would interest you more??

Send me pictures of people, and reasons why they're people.

mail@blueandbrownbooks.com

have a great week!

Volume 2: Violence and Evil

Fri, 9 Feb 2007 05:20:00 GMT

b3cast2 release!

hello everyone, let's get away from all the good things in the world, and for a change, talk about evil and violence.

I think I'm really getting to a point now where philosophical investigation is funny. Either that, or I'm not doing philosophy anymore.

I'm looking at making these volumes a bit shorter and having weekly releases. I think this will be not as boring, and more interesting.

Your homework for the week is a challenge to find evil, take a picture of it, and send it to me at mail@blueandbrownbooks.com

Even if you don't find evil, would you please send me some comments, criticisms, ideas for the show or mail-order brides?

thanks.

Volume 1: Definitions

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 03:23:00 GMT

The first b3cast is here! Please forgive this first pancake, the sound is unbalanced and the transitions arenât great. Itâs a work in progress and theyâll get better with time.

For now though, Iâd like you to think about what philosophy is, what ideas are, and what your justifications are for the beliefs that you hold. These beliefs might be everything from âI existâ? to âShe is a good hockey playerâ? to âThatâs a great banjo.â? If you hold such beliefs.

Please add your input below for now, and in coming weeks, hopefully weâll have a bit more organization of feedback, topic suggestions and discussion.

thanks!