Friday, December 7, 2007

日本語のクラスはどうでしたか?

そうですね。。私のスビーチは日本語のクラスついて。。だから、下のさくぶんを見てください! (JK)

I agree with what most people are saying about the interview, that it'd probably be beneficial for us to do it more frequently to improve our oral skills, though doing it for a grade may be a little discouraging. As for the speech, it was not fun to memorize, and definitely not fun to present in class. Most people were very uncomfortable up there, which is usually not the case when we do our skits because we have a partner to share the stage with. I was quite nervous during the speech, and paused for whole 30 seconds...which wouldn't have happened if I hadn't been nervous. I probably would have liked it better if I can just deliver my speech in front of sensei alone, that way I wouldn't be as nervous. But, that's just me.

I enjoyed this class for the most part and had a lot of fun in it, especially with the skits. Sato sensei is a very devoted teacher, and though she's strict, it pushes me to work harder. Although...maybe...a bit too strict with the whole grading system. ^^ But I appreciate her dedication.

Monday, November 19, 2007

私は日本ごのクラス(Second Draft)

私は、日本語のクラスが大好きです。さとう先生は、よく、学生を手伝いますから、優しい先生です。先生は日本人ですが、英語も話します。それから、クラスにたくさん中国人の学生がいます。私も中国人ですが、中国語をちょっとはなします。十歳ぐらいの時、私はアメリカに来ましたから。アメリカがすきですが、日本もだいすきです。だからこのセメスターで、日本語のクラスにはいって、日本語を学びます。

日本語のクラスでは毎日たくさんのしゅくだいがあります。それからよくテストもありますから、たいへんです。だから、私はたいてい、クレモンスの図書館にいて、そこでしゅくだいをします。私はいい学生ですが、よく家にしゅくだいをわすれますから、クラスにもっていきません。それから時々、朝はLLに行って、夜まで日本ごのテープをききます。私は、毎日二十四時間ぐらい、日本語をべんきょうしますから、ぜんぜん暇な時がありません。だから、ごはんをあまり食べません。それから、ぜんぜん寝ません。だから、私はいい元気じゃありません。でも、大丈夫です。来年日本の上智(じょうち)大学に行きますから、今は日本ごをたくさんべんきょうします。上智大学は東京にありますから、私は東京に四かげつぐらいいます。来年の一月に上智大学に行って、そこでも日本語を学びます。だから今は、がんばります。

Friday, November 16, 2007

私は日本ごのクラス(First Draft)

私は日本ごのクラスがだいすきですよ。さとせんせいはやさしいせんせいですから。でも、時々こわいです。それから、クラスはとてもたのしいです。ぜんぜん しずかじゃありません。そこにがくせいはよくにぎやかですから。だから、私はすきなクラスは日本のクラスです。でも、ク ラスにたくさんのしゅくだいとたくさんのテストがありますから、日本のクラスは私の一ばんむずかしいクラスです。まい日しゅくだいはあります。だらから、私はまい日よくクレモンスのとしょかんに行って、日本ご をたくさんべんきょうします。時々もLLに行って、日本ごのテープをききます。私はぜんぜんひまな時がありません。まいにち二十四時間ぐらい日本ごの しゅくだいをしますから。ぜんぜんねませんよ。それから、よくいそがしいですから、ごはんをあまり食べません。だから、私は元気じゃありませんよ。 でも、だいじょうぶです。私は日本ごがだいすきですから。それから、らい年日本のとうきょうのだいがくに行きます。だから、今日本ごをたくさんべんきょ うします。がんばります!

Saturday, November 10, 2007

日本語のクラス101


私は日本ごのクラスがだいすきですよ。さとせんせいはやさしいせんせいですから。でも、時々こわいです。それから、クラスはとてもたのしいです。ぜんぜんしずかじゃありません。そこにがくせいはよくにぎやかですから。だから、私はすきなクラスは日本のクラスです。でも、私の一ばんむずかしいクラスです。クラスにたくさんのしゅくだいとたくさんのテストがありますから。まい日しゅくだいはあります。だらから、私はまい日うちとクレモンスのとしょかんで日本ごをたくさんべんきょうします。それから、よくLLで日本ごのテープをききます。私はぜんぜんひまな時がありません。まいにち二十四時間ぐらい日本ごの しゅくだいをしますから。ぜんぜんねませんよ。だから、私は元気じゃありませんよ。 でも、だいじょうぶです。私は日本ごがだいすきですから。それから、らい年日本のとうきょうのだいがくに行きます。だから、いま日本ごをたくさんべんきょうします。がんばります!

Friday, November 2, 2007

日本ごのクラス ^^ 




私は日本ごのクラスがだいすきですよ。^^ さとせんせいはやさしいせんせいですから。(でも、時々こわいです。>.>) それから、クラスはとてもたのしいですから。それから、クラスはにぎやかですから。でも、たくさんのしゅくだいとたくさんのテストがあります。私はぜんぜんひまな時がありません。まいにち二十四時間ぐらい日本ごのしゅくだいをしますから。ぜんぜんねませんよ。だから、私は元気じゃありませんよ。>.< でも、だいじょうぶです。私は日本ごがだいすきですだら。それから、らい年日本のだいがくにいきます。だから、いま日本ごをたくさんべんきょうします。がんばります!

Ps: The drawing I put up there has no relevance to what I wrote...it’s only there to make this post look more visually pleasing. =]

Monday, October 29, 2007

ハロウィーン(Halloween)のパーティー

私はともだちと日曜日のごぜん一時にハロウィーンのパーティーでいきました。私ははらじゅくの女でした。私のともだちもはるじゅくの女でした。パンダガーデンでパーティーがありました。そこににぎやかでした。 それから、そこにあつかったでした。そこに人がたくさんいましたから。ともだちとおんがくをききました。ダンスもしました。パーティーはとしもたのしかったです。そこで私はしゃしんをたくさんとりました。この下にしゃしんがあります。





私はともだちとパーティーに一時間いました。それから、私のうちにかえりました。しゅうまつはよかったですよ。

Thursday, October 18, 2007

わたしの一ばんのデジタルのアニメション



これは私のデジタルのアニメションです。私は先週うちでアニメションを十五時間ぐらいしました。だから、私はあまり食べませんでした。でも、コーヒーをよく飲みます。それから、私はちょっと寝ました。たいてい午前五時に寝ました。だから、毎晩五時間ぐらい寝ました。。。ベリファンですよ。^______^

What makes a good blog?
- Use Japanese as much as you can
- Write about how you're doing in class, such as what you're having trouble with..
- Write about things that you enjoy..about your day
- Share interesting facts that you know about the Japanese culture .. such as sharing anime movies or manga books ^^
- Response to other students' blogs and comments
- Have fun =]

Friday, October 12, 2007

Digital Animation

There will be NO incessant rants on the overwhelming amount of schoolwork I have this time. I've written enough posts with complaints about school, so I'm going to leave that topic alone for a while. Let's talk about something more interesting, something worth looking back to this entry for.

As many of you already know, I'm infatuated with digital animation right now...infatuated because I have trouble committing to one medium, but I may grow to love it. My goal is to land a job at a big digital animation studio such as Pixar, and then maybe open my own studio so that I'd have more freedom in my work. ^^ Oh..my grand dream...hopefully with an ambition to match.

Soo..let's talk about digital animation. Seeing that some of you have expressed interest in this topic, I'd like to share some information on the making of digital animation. It's an arduous and frustrating process, but in the end, rewarding. :) Let's just say that I sat on my ass for 8 hours just modeling the character, haven't even started animating him...

Animation crash course 101! Now, I'm very new to this myself, so don't expect too much. But, I'm hoping that this will inspire and motivate you to try digital animation yourself... ^^

Before talking about the process of making a 3D animated clip, some information on the appropriate software to use is in order. A software company known as Autodesk is responsible for distributing two of the mostly widely used 3D animation software, 3D Studio Max and Maya, both of which have an outrageous price of around 三千ドル. BUT, there's hope yet...Autodesk offers a free personal learning edition of Maya 8.5. If you are interested in playing around with it, you can download it here. That's the version I'm using right now...unfortunately, they're making it very clear that this is only a learning edition by watermarking the entire workspace.

Now, let's look at some helpful books ... I highly recommend these two books for beginners (I especially love the first one..it's easy to follow with great visuals):



それから、let's talk about the process of creating a character in Maya. I'll use the project I've been working on for my animation class to explain the process:

1. A 2D character design sheet is first created to get a sense of what your character looks like in different views. This usually involves a side view, a front view, a back view, and a top view.

Meet Bubble Boy ^^
(He's made an appearance in one of my previous entries.)

2. Now, this is the tough part...modeling the character in Maya. What that means is that you are sculpting him as a 3D figure in this program. The program provides 4 main views to make the modeling process easier: a perspective view (it's the 3D view...which can be altered), a top view, a side view, and a front view. Even with this feature, modeling can be very tricky at first because depth isn't easily detected on a 2D screen. So, you must constantly switch between views to find the right placement.



3. After constructing the character's basic wireframe, it's time to apply color and texture to it. On the last image, I've added lighting.




4. In order to animate the character, a skeleton must be placed within the model. But..we won't worry about that right now...it gets to complicated. I've rendered the quality of the model at this step, so he has a smoother appearance.



5. The finished product: (I used a simple animation technique here to rotate him 360 degrees.)



I'm still working on the storyline, and attempting to animate him. I won't go into the animation process since it's too complicated. If you're interested, you should look into Earl Mark's class in the Architecture school. Or you could learn on your own, and get one of the books I recommended...I learned more this way.

Oops, this post has turned out to be extremely lengthy... I hope you guys still enjoyed it. I need to find a place to incorporate some にほんご。。。

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Overwhelmed...

So it seems that all the school work that's been piling up is finally catching up to me. I have an entire book and 10 articles to read for my Art History class...in time for the midterm next week. Not to mention over hundreds of paintings that I have to memorize. I'm screwed. I also have to create a 2 minute animation clip by next week. Only 2 minutes...? No big deal, right? Let's see, that's 24 frames per second x 120 seconds... >.> Uh.. wish me luck. Then there are about 3 paintings that I have to complete and some that I have yet to start on. I'm not necessarily complaining about the workload, well maybe I am for Art History, but I'm concerned that I may not be able to produce quality work in the given time...though I am most productive and efficient under pressure. I hope the 4 day weekend will provide me with some time to catch up on my work, though I doubt it'll be sufficient....

しゅうまつはぜんぜんがっこうはいきません。でもわたしはよくとしょかんはいきます。このどようびにとしょかんでげいじゅつのほんをよみます。それから、このにちようびにニューコムゲームルームでピンポンをします。(I feel obligated to incorporate some にほんご in this entry...)

But...I haven't been totally slacking. I've been feverishly painting one self-portrait after another, though I can't say they look much like me... :( No, I'm not a narcissist. Haha. I've just been painting so many of them because I am never quite satisfied with them. Yes, I'm doing this for my painting class. Anyway, in case you're wondering how they look like, I've posted them below:

You can click on the thumbnails to enlarge them, but it may take a while to load...



Do you have a favorite?

Friday, September 28, 2007

Broken mirror, Black cat, Spilled salt, and September...

I'm convinced that this month is cursed. I've experienced a series of very unfortunate events all within these couple of weeks. UGH.

But anyway, as to how this semester's going, I guess it's been quite enjoyable in terms of the classes I'm taking. I only signed up for 四つのクラス, though they do add up to 15 credits... ballin'!

List of Classes:
Digital Animation
Intro to Painting
れきしのげいじゅつ(Since 1945)
にほん

The workload in カァスのにほんご is certainly enough to make it count for two classes, not to mention that it's taken over my life (I'm sure a lot of you are feeling the same way...>.<). But, I have no major complaints since I love this class, but the grammar seems to be getting pretty tricky. Though we're moving at a fast pace, it's reasonable enough that I can still keep up with it without much trouble. Plus, I enjoy bumping into everyone outside of the class, it gives me a fuzzy feeling inside. :) As for my other classes... well, intro to painting is a very relaxing and meditative class. We're given a lot of freedom, so I end painting outside a lot. As for my art history class...I have a lot of readings piled up that I need to get to...before the midterm...which is going to be in a week >.>

Onto my absolute favorite class...Digital Animation! My goal in life is to work for Pixar, at least for a little bit to get a taste of what it's like to work in a professional animation film studio. Or maybe I should work for Studio Ghibli ... with Miyazaki!! I heard he's working on a new film, "崖の上のポニョ" (Ponyo on a Cliff), which will be released in 2008. Ano...back to my animation class...my current assignment for that class is to create a 2min clip of a character involved in an interesting plot. I'm going to animate a character I created a couple months ago, but I have to make a model of him in Maya (the animation software) first. I'm afraid that my ambition for this project may be exceeding my level of animation skills. ^^; The storyboard for this animation is going to be submitted to PULSE, so that I can have a comic published as well. Two birds with one stone right? Below you'll see what I have so far:


Cover Page Page 1

Hopefully I'll be able to finish all of the pages in time for the project and the submission...

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Sick... :(

Darn. I caught a cold or more likely the flu that's going around two days ago...and I've been feeling miserable. I was hoping someone would bring me chicken noodle soup, but no such luck. >.> I don't even have energy to type this right now...and I'm trying to fight off my fever without taking any medicine. I didn't want to go to Japanese today, but I don't think having a fever is a legitimate excuse unless I get a note from the hospital...I don't think I would go to the hospital for a flu fever. *sigh* Anyway...you guys should be careful not to catch it...



So my current 漫画(まんが) obsession is デスノート... thanks to Derek-san. :) L is my favorite character from the series. What a brilliant character...the way he sits, the way he thinks, the way he talks...perfect character design. I's curious to see how he's portrayed in the live action movie...I hope it won't be a letdown. I just finished book 6, so it's going to be a while before I finish. I'll be getting 7&8 from Derek-san tomorrow...can't wait! (In the picture above, the guy on the left is Light Yagami (夜神月), the main character, and the monster next to him is a Shinigami (Death God) named リューク.)


That's a picture of L. He always sits like that. And he's always drinking coffee or eating cake.


Friday, September 14, 2007

おやすみなさい みなさん!



First post..woo..! At 3 o'clock in the morning... >.>

はじめまして。 わたしは りん です。
ばあじにや だいがくの がくせえ です。 いま にねんせい です。 はたちです。
ちゅうがくの ふじあん から きました。
にほんご すき です! はは。

Well, self-introduction is just about the only thing I know how to write in Japanese as of now. I'm really enjoying the class. I love how interactive it is, and how comfortable everyone is with each other...good vibes ^^


About My Header: となりのトトロ = My Neighbor Totoro. It's a film by my favorite Japanese animator, Hayao Miyazaki. I decided to pay tribute to Miyazaki by choosing Totoro as the theme of this blog, since this is a Japanese blog. You can watch a short clip of my favorite part from the movie, where Totoro is waiting for the Nekobus in the rain:

Waiting for the Nekobus
Totoro's Theme Song!

どおぞ よろしく おねがいします。 じゃあ、また!