Polar Bear is Dying

My Friend's Blogs

2012-01-16T01:51:00.000-08:00

this format doesn't allow for a links section at the side. so, here are the links to my friend's blogs and things, you might find something interesting:

kumaboshi!

hatesphere

The Blog of Michael

bunny bissoux

Danny Rivera

posi-ton

orange cafe

onions have eyeballs

Let me know if I have missed you off the list, and i can add your blog, or thing.

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something fishy

2012-01-09T03:04:00.001-08:00

Space-cup

2011-10-30T06:22:00.001-07:00

On a Mountain ...

2011-10-19T20:23:00.001-07:00

MONSTER!

2011-10-16T06:36:00.001-07:00

Ni-Hao! Makes New Sound!

2011-05-21T19:14:00.000-07:00

flavoured wine

2011-04-23T19:30:00.000-07:00

BANANAS - POpCopy at the IAF Shop

2011-04-16T23:46:00.000-07:00

www.pop0copy.com

BIG WOMAN

2011-04-09T00:22:00.000-07:00

macha

2011-03-21T22:17:00.001-07:00

PAnda POwer Mixed CD

2011-03-10T23:10:00.000-08:00

Ni-Hao! / Buffalo Daughter / HALCALI / Nika Soup & Saya Source / Magical POwer Mako / Aiko Shimada / Satoko Fuji / Midori / Polysics / Masahiko Okaura / Adachi Tomomi Royal Chorus / Mitsuru Natsuno / Doddodo / Hoahio / YaPOos / YoshimiO / Shinsei Kamatte-Chan / Mamoru Fujieda / After Dinner / Namie Amuro.

escalating

2011-03-06T05:50:00.000-08:00

fork biscuits

2011-02-13T05:20:00.001-08:00

three paintings in blue and white

2011-02-08T22:50:00.001-08:00

half-finished painting

2011-02-07T03:31:00.001-08:00

then there were two

2011-02-05T21:35:00.000-08:00

lunch and coffee

2011-01-27T22:05:00.000-08:00

painting by me

2011-01-24T03:11:00.000-08:00

coffee

2011-01-03T22:09:00.000-08:00

new year new rabbit cards

2011-01-02T02:29:00.000-08:00

Birthday

2010-12-26T02:04:00.000-08:00

You go to the orange cafe, and there's a cake for you. And some home-baked gingerbread men. And a card from your friends there.

It's snowing outside, but warm inside your heart.

eating some book. reading some cake.

2010-11-26T02:31:00.000-08:00

come back andy

2010-11-11T02:22:00.001-08:00

The Space-Dog Painting

2010-10-04T06:53:00.001-07:00

Storm

2010-09-21T19:25:00.000-07:00

I'm at the orange cafe when the storm begins. The rain falls in great blobs, accompanied by thunder and lightning. Eventually the road outside the orange cafe turns into a river and even cars are wary of driving through.

"You have to stay here tonight," Ton says with a big grin on her face.

I'm glum about the situation. But the girls of the orange cafe are not worried at all. They pose for photographs beside the newly formed river with big smiles and twin fingers held aloft in peace signs.

The Band

2010-08-25T07:39:00.001-07:00

2010-08-23T06:00:00.001-07:00

Udon Festival

2010-08-22T05:18:00.000-07:00

Recently you have been thinking that the sun wants to kill you.

You go to the Udon Festival, where of course you eat Udon. You also eat a Spam rice-ball and sing the Spam song for Ako.

It's pretty cool just to hang out, chat, pose for photographs and watch people, even if the sun is being a big yellow bastard.

You take a picture of Hana, Ako, Taka and Mami.

That would be this picture then:

In Space No-one Can Hear You Woof

2010-08-08T00:54:00.000-07:00

faces

2010-07-26T05:28:00.000-07:00

TEAM SPACE-DOG

2010-07-22T07:56:00.000-07:00

they made a monster for me, out of berries and bananas and cream.

2010-07-19T03:32:00.000-07:00

Positioning the Stars

2010-07-18T06:55:00.001-07:00

out with my dog friend (but i don't have a dog friend)

2010-07-07T08:13:00.000-07:00

micro-organisms

2010-07-05T03:27:00.000-07:00

the girl

2010-06-24T07:22:00.001-07:00

reading at the orange cafe

2010-06-21T03:17:00.000-07:00

Ton is always full of big smiles and stupid jokes that you would love to understand better than you do. Regardless, misunderstandings and furrowed brows are all part of the fun, you suppose.

Today you aren't drawing pictures. You are reading some newspaper pages sent to you from far away across seas and continents. They might only be pages from a newspaper, but they feel so much more valuable having travelled as far as they have. Ton asks you if you are going to throw them out when you have read them. It takes you a while to understand and you aren't quite sure where she's going with this line of enquiry. Then she puts her hands together as though about to pray and asks you if she can have the newspaper pages when you have finished with them.

When you pass them over the counter, she unfolds the large broadsheet pages and starts reading the crossword clues out loud, trying to best translate them into japanese.

They sound like miniature poems and you wonder if she understands.

"Wakaru?" You ask.

"Wakaranai!" She replies.

You still aren't sure why she wanted those pages covered with english words.

before the rain

2010-06-14T05:23:00.000-07:00

At the orange cafe the girls are all wearing blue T-shirts, the colour of their country's football team.

It's Japan's first match of this world cup tonight and they are ready to cheer at the big TV on the wall. Coincidentally, you are wearing a blue T-shirt too.

You chat about football, fireflies, and the possibility of you playing drums in a saxaphone-clarinet-drum band at a wedding party - an idea that you find very exciting. Later you try to explain how you aren't English, even though you are from the country which everyone calls England here. So you aren't really a supporter of that team. And you try to explain that there are different football teams for the different countries, even though the government is the same for all of them.

Mami is making a poster. "Should I add another 'F'?" She asks, pointing at where she has written "11:00 KICK-OF"

The air feels heavy. The rainy season should be starting soon. They invite you to watch the game with them and you are a little sad that you can't hang around to do that.

lonely

2010-06-12T06:20:00.000-07:00

dogpersonthing

2010-06-08T07:51:00.000-07:00

2010-06-07T03:30:00.000-07:00

the singer

2010-06-05T07:32:00.000-07:00

the hair-beast

2010-06-02T08:25:00.000-07:00

The Turtle's Foot

2010-05-31T03:50:00.000-07:00

Today, my muffin came with a turtle's foot ... a TURTLE'S FOOT ... yes, look what's in the little white dish.

(But not a real turtle's foot. Actually, it's a kind of shellfish.)

mouth

2010-05-24T03:25:00.000-07:00

kitties

2010-05-22T08:22:00.000-07:00

space-dog

2010-05-17T18:35:00.001-07:00

2010-05-09T19:34:00.000-07:00

Space Dog Japanese Mixed CD ---> Adachi Tomomi Royal Chorus/ Yapoos/ OLAibi/ Ryoji Hojito/ Reiko Kudo/ Nikaido Kazumi/ Maher Shalal Hash Baz/ UA/ Haco with Hiromichi Sakamoto/ Ikue Mori/ Kuniharu Akiyama/ Yumiko Tanaka/ Otomo Yoshihide and Yuki Saga/ Mephista/ Hoahio/ Yoshimi P-We/ Asa-Chang and Junrei/ Aiko Shimada.

triangles

2010-05-08T23:18:00.000-07:00

Above the Clouds

2010-05-05T02:26:00.000-07:00

The Tree

2010-05-04T00:23:00.001-07:00

I Dream of Love (But Sometimes I Dream of Animals With Human Faces)

2010-05-03T02:12:00.000-07:00

The Screaming

2010-04-30T05:01:00.000-07:00

untitled

2010-04-20T08:41:00.000-07:00

One Day This Will All Be Yours

2010-04-15T09:23:00.000-07:00

There Are Times When I Feel Like My Heart Might Explode.

2010-04-13T08:08:00.000-07:00

Notes at the Orange Cafe

2010-04-12T03:36:00.000-07:00

If Andy comes, tell him about the new muffin.

- Mami

Return of the Space Dog

2010-04-11T07:08:00.000-07:00

green plate

2010-04-11T07:04:00.000-07:00

Bunny Ears

2010-04-04T05:03:00.000-07:00

2010-03-21T02:51:00.000-07:00

today

sun in the sky

infinite blue

no clouds

lively cafe

happy faced muffin

black coffee

weekend magazines

The Space Between

2010-03-15T06:05:00.000-07:00

A boy and a girl meet in a space between this reality and the next,

where time moves heavy and slow like a glacier.

Her words were like the first footprints

in the fresh snow of silence that surrounded them.

"I could leave it all behind tomorrow," she said.

And it sounded like an invitation to an adventure.

Somewhere in the future

(because it really is a place)

we find them living a life together.

The past fading rapidly,

like rainspots on the pavement on a summer day.

One morning she awakens before him.

The light from the sun is weightless and blinding.

It's the kind of day when it's enough

just to wander and examine the colours.

"This world truly is the best," she thinks.

And the Earth hums with the sound of the living

like the only sound there ever was.

polar bear plate

2010-03-15T02:43:00.001-07:00

This may be the best one yet.

Transmissions from the city

2010-03-08T02:48:00.000-08:00

You head out under a heavy grey sky. The day already feels useless, but you have to go somewhere. You don't really have a plan and you wonder where you will end up today.

Standing on the train into the city you look around at people. Your eyes scan each person, taking in every detail of their appearance in fractions of a second. It comforts you to look at the people around you and it's something you often do when you find yourself in different places to get a sense of your surroundings. However, you don't want to look like you are staring, so after scanning everybody in the carriage you return to looking at the floor to think about nothing inparticular.

You spot a poster for a short film festival. It's on the top floor of some building, so you go up. When you walk in the girl on the entrance says something and pushes a programme into your hands. You walk into the darkened cinema.

The first film is a Japanese animation. You aren't quite sure what is going on, but it is set in summer and you like the atmosphere it evokes. It is set in rooms with large windows through which rays of golden light come dancing in. The main character is a girl who carries a camera around with her, taking photographs. The scene you like best is one in which she returns to her apartment, drops her bag on the floor, falls onto her bed and drifts into sleep with the evening light streaming in through the window like a flock of yellow canaries.

You think about how well you know that light, and how it sometimes feels like the last light you will ever see. Because sometimes tomorrow seems so far away, and sometimes you doubt you will be around to see it.

You leave, nodding at the girl on the door on the way out. Your head is full of thoughts, fluttering around with nowhere to land.

It's later now, and you are doing some of your kanji workbook. You learn a new word - piku-piku suru means "twitch".

You are reminded of the girl you used to go out with. The way her legs often twitched as she slept uneasily. You understood her unease and you remember how close you once felt to her. You remember how good that closeness felt and you wonder if you will ever be close to someone in that way again. You hope that you will.

You take a photograph of some flowers to post on this blog. It comes out blurry.

Kanji

2010-03-02T06:21:00.000-08:00

You are doing your kanji workbook today. The big "1" on it means that it's for freshly born babies, or something.

Anyway, that's what you are doing today.

sakura

2010-02-28T03:24:00.000-08:00

You walk along the street to the cafe. This is your favourite part of the city - narrow streets with some trees and few cars, interesting shops and restaurants. On the way you see a tree upon which cherry blossoms are already blooming.

It's the last day of February.

Your muffin comes with some strange cream and strawberry creatures. You kill them and eat them with your fork.

Abstract Expressionism on a Plate

2010-02-25T08:32:00.000-08:00

Untitled

Chocolate, Caramel and Icing Sugar on Plate

The Mouse

2010-02-22T02:54:00.000-08:00

transmission from the city

2010-02-21T06:00:00.000-08:00

you once told me that life happens in the tiniest details, the smallest moments. like the creases at the edge of a smile before it bursts into a trickle of laughter. or maybe a time when you are looking down at the table, avoiding eye contact with the pretty face in front of you because you are suddenly feeling very shy. and then, when your eyes do make contact, something jolts inside of you like an electric shock.

you told me that life happens in these small moments. so i'm out there, watching, and taking notes.

2010-02-15T02:54:00.000-08:00

You take out your notebook. You write:

The Earth-person dreams of the universe. He dreams of the universe so vividly that he can taste the star dust and hear the roar of the supernova. He dreams of the universe as it is, and as it was. He peers back to when it all began. And in the vastness, he feels his own insignificance.

Next to you, Mami is trying to do the cafe accounts. There she sits, attacking a calculator with her fingers, surrounded by hundreds of pieces of paper with numbers written on them. She is struggling.

"Zenzen wakaranai," she says.

You are drinking black coffee from a black cup. You start to think about black holes spiralling out on the edges of the galaxy. Then coffee cup begins to suck you into it. Down and down you go. And as you are dragged down, the problems and worries that come of living on this earth fade away.

The Earth-person dreamed of the universe, but she wasn't dreaming back. She merely continued in her indifference.

Dancing

2010-02-12T07:30:00.000-08:00

Some Kind of Chocolate Headed Robot

2010-02-11T02:26:00.000-08:00

The New Friend

2010-02-08T02:07:00.000-08:00

Goodbye Card

2010-02-06T18:12:00.000-08:00

Going to miss you.

In the Hills

2010-02-03T07:38:00.000-08:00

The Robot

2010-02-01T03:52:00.000-08:00

In the future, there were giant robots to love us.

In the forest

2010-01-30T06:53:00.000-08:00

dog

2010-01-27T06:09:00.000-08:00

Today - DOG-BOY and DOG-GIRL and BANANA TART.

2010-01-25T02:41:00.001-08:00

share-otsu muffin on blue plate

2010-01-24T02:42:00.001-08:00

painted sign

2010-01-24T02:30:00.000-08:00

The Beauty of the Thing Badly Done

2010-01-23T18:06:00.000-08:00

Sunlight falls on the Earth.

It illuminates the goings on of the people

living there, should you be interested in what goes on.

Today I'm trying to remember something I read

about economists calculating the value of a life.

Was the figure they came up with

a million pounds? or five million pounds?

What's the difference anyway?

From my seat on the train,

houses and offices speed past

as though they have somewere important to be

and it occurs to me that these are the places

where most of our lives are played out

like scenes from cheap daytime TV dramas

yet we hardly ever think of them as interesting.

And we, the train passengers,

are not thinking about the possibility of multiple universes.

We, the train passengers, too busy living in our own inner worlds.

Keeping it all inside.

Keeping it all together for another day,

in the shadows of grand futures,

imagined,

but never to be realised.

Monster

2010-01-22T06:27:00.000-08:00

Shark on a Wall

2010-01-21T07:13:00.000-08:00

In the Trees

2010-01-20T06:08:00.000-08:00

Today is Japanese Udon

2010-01-18T05:21:00.001-08:00

You go to make udon - thick Japanese noodles - with Ako and Mami in the basement of a restaurant. It's all for the udon festival tomorrow. Lots of people have gathered in the basement to make the udon.

Making udon involves kneading big lumps of dough with your feet to soften it. It's kind of fun, like alternately dancing and jogging on a big pizza.

In the dark basement, your photographs come out poorly.

Mami shouts "Go Andy!" Everyone gets ever hotter, dancing on the dough.

Then, "Change!" as one of you hops off for a rest and another one hops on.

Bear-Boy and Dog

2010-01-16T07:58:00.000-08:00

On the Branch

2010-01-15T06:19:00.000-08:00

The Big Cat

2010-01-14T05:55:00.000-08:00

In the Fields.

2010-01-13T06:12:00.000-08:00

Chocolate Monster on Red Plate

2010-01-11T01:47:00.000-08:00

Black Coffee in an Orange Mug

2010-01-10T04:28:00.000-08:00

Today Mami invited me to write my goal for the year, in kanji, on her postcard of new year goals.

I wrote " 友 "

I also gave away two more Captain the Parrot CDs to unsuspecting friends. Oh dear.

New Year Tiger Muffin

2010-01-04T01:10:00.000-08:00

New year tiger muffin, and the cake artist is sitting beside you writing the blog of the orange cafe.

She tells you that sometimes she looks at this blog and she asks you why it is called Polar Bear is Dying. You tell her about how it came from a TV programme you had watched, about polar bears who were dying.

New year tiger muffin, and polar bears are still dying.

drawing new year cards

2009-12-31T01:44:00.000-08:00

Next year = Year of the TIGER!

chocolate cake

2009-12-30T16:50:00.000-08:00

TV HAIR

2009-12-30T03:22:00.000-08:00

Will The Orange Dog Ever Come Back?

2009-12-28T16:59:00.000-08:00

The Dog, Again.

2009-12-27T05:58:00.000-08:00

Christmas Day

2009-12-27T04:47:00.000-08:00

On December 25th my coworkers gave me a cake. It was a late birthday cake. And as part of a strange new counting system they had just invented, the cake had four potato chip sticks stuck in it. The potato chips were supposed to represent my age in some way.

So I blew out the potato chip sticks, and we ate the cake.

It was great, and very funny. I think I will always remember it.