imomus | Otherworldly everyday

Hisae is my partner; for the last couple of years we've been living together in Berlin and Osaka. She's a graphic designer by training, a graduate of St Martin's in London, but recently she's also been acting: she featured in Woof Wan-Bau's video for My Angel Rocks Back and Forth by Four Tet, and can also be seen on the cover of the single release, in the guise of a Korean businessman.

Last month Hisae was in London shooting a new film with Woof Wan-Bau, who now goes by his real name of Joji Koyama. From Nose to Mouth will be Joji's debut as a short film maker (in other words, his first non-pop video release). According to the synopsis, the film features Hisae as "a nameless and volatile protagonist in a series of abstract vignettes involving a process of learning and social interaction. Presenting a phenomenological conundrum, the routines and activities are not going very well. “Mavis Beacon” is here to help…" The film features mixed media including 3D CGI, live action, compositing and puppetry, and develops the nasal themes seen in the Four Tet video.

"I'm playing a role of a student who try to learn but always fail and never get right. I will do ice skating wearing ridiculously stupid costume," Hisae reported from the set. "We've just finished three days shoot on a location called 'New River Village' near Crouch End, which is a new developed residential village. Final shoot is on Tuesday in an ice skate link." (Clearly Hisae means a "rink", but I like the idea of a rink being a link, perhaps as the nose is a link to the mouth.)

The first thing Hisae did when she got to London to shoot with Joji was watch a DVD of the film Tujiko Noriko made last year, Sand and Mini-Hawaii. Premiered in July at the Fondation Cartier in Paris, the 50 minute film was shot in Marseille. It's about one day in the life of a girl, played by Chloe Fabre. "It’s got hamburgers,” Noriko explains, “and mini Hawaii, and mini hamburgers”.

Because Chloe didn't really want to speak in the film, Noriko has voiced her character herself.

I haven't seen either of these films, but they sound mysterious and intriguing. Something in the descriptions of what they're about -- and this links them to the contemporary Japanese works in the Berlin Tokyo show I saw the other day, or to the work of people like Koki Tanaka and Yuki Okumura -- is goofy, superficial, deliberately clumsy, fixated on weird takes on eating and digestion, somehow left-

handed... and highly original. There's an anti-lyrical lyricism here, a sort of yuck-turned-poetry factor. It's the place where the supereveryday meets the otherworldly.

I doubt I could even parody this creative mindset; it completely baffles -- yet intrigues -- me. I have no idea where it's coming from, or where it'll go next. I may live with Japanese people, but I doubt I'll ever understand them.

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That video [My Angel Rocks Back and Forth] is brilliant. Thanks.

Have you seen this? (http://guilherme.tv/tyger/)

I knew a girl named Hisae ten years before you did!

And there was I thinking she was the only one in the world!

I may live with Japanese people, but I doubt I'll ever understand them.

As this blog amply testifies...

Yes, I can offer only admiring bafflement. For the one right answer about anything Japanese you need to turn to Neomarxisme (http://pliink.com/mt/marxy/), which today tells us that the word for Japan probably came from the Chinese word for "dwarf".

She's one of the most beautiful people i've ever seen. Like a Japanese girl meets Bobbie Gillespie. So delicate.

Barf.

Dork.

"partner"

Ah, scenes in ice rinks are brilliant. The best I know is the beautiful scenme where four clones of Clare Danes skate in synchronicity and are brutally shot down, from It's All About Love (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0273689/)

Final shoot is on Tuesday in an ice skate link

We have an ice rink here with the amazingly original name of Iceland. Built WWII era. Hasn't changed much since then. That place has patina up the ass.

one further piece of data for you, nick: starring in noriko's next film, alongside chloé again, is khanh-linh la. (o.)

Oh, wow!

I shouldn't be so surprised: Khanh-Linh is a natural star.

You are one lucky guy...again (I thought it was just you and Baker)

For the moment it is just me and Baker. Hisae is in Osaka, where she has a job. We're not entirely sure when she can arrive here, but it's probably July sometime.

it's wonderful to know that Hisae is doing so well! Virgil and I were talking about you because we're such terrible gossips and we were actively wondering "What's going on with Nick & Hisae these days?"

The word "partner" is a bit funny, no? When V & I were filling out our rental application for the apartment we listed each other as "partner", since that seems to be such a popular term for girfriend/boyfriend/spouse/mate/lover in SF. A bit later, the building owner started talking about his partner who is a photographer [and then he started talking about how great he is at cleaning nozzles...for photo printers]. i spent quite a while thinking about how great it was that the owner's father, a WWII vet and also present, was so accepting of his gay son. it took me a very awkwardly long time to realize that he meant BUSINESS partner. anyway...

The "R" and the "L" sound are common language confusions in translations between English and Japanese for Japanese, English speakers.

Thus "Rink" became "Link"....

A child psychologist explained that the confusion is there because of the culture, that when the speaker comes from x area, and they don't use that "sound" in their language, it makes for a certain confusion, just as the "TH" turns to an "F" sound for a speaker of Swedish who learned English after a certain age. But that doesn't explain why so many English speakers slur their "TH" sound into "F"....constantly.

For what it's worth I once wrote an (not very thorough) impression of Sand and Mini Hawaii here: http://www.shanelester.com/blog/archives/2005/10/sand_and_mini_h.html

You're being "Japanese" in your modesty, that is a great description, very useful for those of us who haven't seen the film. And what a great blog you have, I can't believe I haven't seen it until today. Will be reading regularly from now on!

Momus, you should look out for B-17: A Mini Epic; a short film that will debut later this year. It is written, art-directed, composed (with Moogs), and starring a young American girl who has a fascination with Japan and its relationship with the west. I think it is set in a sex-slave chamber and was filmed in her apartment. I have seen a clip and it is very whimsical, surreal and makeshift. I am very excited about it and will let you know if it is coming to Berlin. (I think she is a fan of yours?) -A

do you know if there is a website or more info available for this? i'm curious but cannot find anything.

Not yet!! It is in post-production in Chicago at a company called i^3 and it due for release in mid-August. I'm sure there will be info on the company site before then. I know Sarah (the mastermind behind the whole project) and she is kind of anti-internet-communities, so I doubt she is going to be putting anything up about it on her own. I bet you guys would get along though...I could have her contact you. - A

I live with people, but I doubt I'll ever understand them either...

Otherworldly everyday

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Momus - you are late again!

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Hisae has such a sweet smile

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Peguins

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Look out for B-17!!!

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