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<description>Keith Watanabe's Website</description>
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<title>My Company and Country Modeling 1984</title>
<link>http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2004/9/6/fe30dd769b754d95d76fd4aac0faef44.html</link>
<description><![CDATA[I picked up my old college book, 1984.  Strange how relevant the text is when comparing it to corporations and the neo-despotic America.  Tomorrow I intend to distribute a bunch of books I'm no longer using anymore at work....I'm thinking of dumping 1984 right on the free magazine area.  Ironically, the log reviewers sit just a few seats nearby.

After reading the novel, I contemplating that someone in my company must have read 1984 and used it as a MODEL for building our IT infrastructure, (along with the SEC).  Now, was Orwell that prescient for his time or was someone inspired by the dystopic of Oceania to recreate it in the work environment?  Audit at work is completely synonymous with 1984, where we're encouraged to tell on each other.  It seems that the Communist Fever and the Salem Witch Trials that sparked similar comparisons are something of human nature.  The killer points in the novel of controlling people by fear and through the mind are some of the most profound statements.  Not only did Orwell remark about such things but Machiavelli in the Prince also supported such ideologies (which many MBA students seem to revere)]]></description>
<pubDate>Mon, 06 Sep 2004 01:55:45 -0600</pubDate>
<guid>http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2004/9/6/fe30dd769b754d95d76fd4aac0faef44.html</guid>
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<item>
<title>Pattern Recognition</title>
<link>http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2005/1/23/ccb2bac0f7e01d8b9446a373c20e3587.html</link>
<description><![CDATA[This is an interesting read by Gibson.  I haven't completed it yet.  However, it is and isn't standard flare by him.  He's still caught up in the sociology of meaningless name dropping.  This time though he's doing something in the present, which makes this piece novel (no pun intended).

However, it seems that most of it was written through the eyes of a TV/Internet news aggregator and several field trips around the world (notably London and Tokyo).  The Tokyo portion again has been an amusing read.  He writes those portions as a tourist.  There was an article off Wired Magazine on his views of Tokyo which parallels  PR.  I think though the funniest part was where the protagonist gets lost in Kabuki-cho.  It sounds more like a real life experience for Gibson since the details seemed too real.

The other portion that was odd was the 9-11 section.  It seemed like he was attempting to reflect on those events, but so far I'm attempting to discern what relationship it has to the rest of the story outside of, perhaps, a tribute to the situation.]]></description>
<pubDate>Sun, 23 Jan 2005 19:31:14 -0700</pubDate>
<guid>http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2005/1/23/ccb2bac0f7e01d8b9446a373c20e3587.html</guid>
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<title>My Novel</title>
<link>http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2005/1/25/b8b22dd85bb5006e1239ad201c92df8c.html</link>
<description><![CDATA[Been writing a novel now. It's up at 107 pages or so.  Cyberpunk/Sci-fi, no working title yet.  Don't really want to put a genre on it either since a lot of what I write is realistic; the sci-fi portions are more of a function of guestimated enhancements to basic theories or practices we have now.

Been doing a lot of research on biotech, nanotech and space exploration.  It's really rewarding getting a chance to read upcoming topics for those branches.  Some of my keen interest include the usage of nanotechnology for the environment, space propulsion, and medical applications.

Also, I do a lot of news reading.  Always have, but I keep my eye out on major developments.  China is a key player for me, not so much as someone I directly encounter in my writing, but as a background player.  I expect major development in China in 3-5 years, especially with their recent announcements for space exploration.  The US seems to not using its potential for this field, instead opting to spend its reserves in military.  I can't say how China is spending their money, but their increasing interest in space might prove to be something that jumpstarts competition for colonization outside of Earth.  I'm sure India won't be far behind either.

The rest of the world (namely the US and  EU) will be concerned with Mars.  Titan just made a huge impact by the unveiling of its premordial surface.  However, the distance and temperature makes this world at this moment, only a speculative object.  Same with Europa.  However, examine the number of probes being sent to Mars.  One this year with its arrival in 2006.  One launched in 2007 and more conceivably being sent per year as discoveries and science improve on the planet.

Still we are so far behind in what could be the period of space exploration because there are only a limited amount of worlds we can realistically get to at the moment.  Venus has no reality for us.  The outer planets are scientific wonders but serve no pragmatic cause.  Only the moon and Mars are realistic options.  I'm really surprised at the lack of involvement in having more lunar missions.  It's an obvious candidate for exploration and colonization with its proximity to Earth.

I make the guestimate that India and/or China will be the ones demarcating their territories on the moon.  People seem more interested in Mars at the moment.  It seems the tenuous atmosphere acts as a stimulant for scientists since they insist that there's water locked up somewhere.  Problem is that atmosphere or not, you still have a distance problem.  Scientists....]]></description>
<pubDate>Tue, 25 Jan 2005 10:54:17 -0700</pubDate>
<guid>http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2005/1/25/b8b22dd85bb5006e1239ad201c92df8c.html</guid>
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<item>
<title>Sample From My Novel</title>
<link>http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2005/2/1/b14b474d653de6454fd0c5048de5df46.html</link>
<description><![CDATA[During the broadcast from the Mars colony, Keith would note every single thing and diagram layouts as they were demonstrated.  The greenhouse plantation was expanding rapidly as the scientist were producing fertilizer from ammonium nitrate and human byproducts, and harvesting a few edible plants and trees.  With the few successful botanical experiments, the scientists were given an okay to push forward with expanding another bunker, which were being manufactured by an automated factory.  Another feature coming to fruition was the photovoltaic farms.  An enormous layout what looked liked metallic flowers were laid out underneath a protective glasssteel dome, connected partly to monolithic capacitors and lining back to the colony.  While these didn't provide a high degree of energy, the cheapness, size and ease of manufacturing of them would be temporary solutions with the abundance of silicon located in Mars' soil.  An estimate of a single dome could power at least two hundred people for one day, with capacitors conserving energy for two.  Finally, the big announcement was the generation of massive indoor type of lake.  It was massive on a relative scale; more like an Earth pond that was going to be housed in an extremely controlled environment where melted water vapor from the polar caps were being partly siphoned to the oxygen conversion units and partly now to this through the water purification facility.  On the upcoming shipments, green algae and other lichen were going to be imported along with various species of fish.]]></description>
<pubDate>Tue, 01 Feb 2005 22:01:04 -0700</pubDate>
<guid>http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2005/2/1/b14b474d653de6454fd0c5048de5df46.html</guid>
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<title>Pattern Recognition redeux</title>
<link>http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2005/2/21/5451f1dd6bc3a4efbf817e432516acb8.html</link>
<description><![CDATA[Finished this novel by Gibson today.  One of the key premises is that the protagonist, Cayce Pollard, has this ability to recognize patterns as the title suggests, where she utilizes it in her day job of marketing and finding trends.  Part of the reading of this ability is masking or extending Gibson's view of sociology, which is name dropping.  A good portion of the writing here is heavily detailed in the environments, but specifically goes after buzzwords, kinda like the way marketing and businesses shoot off neologisms at every turn.

Another interesting aspect of this book is that it really is Gibson's first crack at writing something contemporary.  You can pinpoint the timeframe just with the 9/11 reference alone.  He works that aspect into the book with Cayce's father disappearing mysteriously near that scene, a sort of epiphany or condolensce from Gibson to the unheralded victims of 9/11.

However, one thing that I'd like to say about the book's writing is that technology and the world has caught up to Gibson such that he can utilize our current setting for his material.  The globalization aspect, WWW, google, ebay, hotmail, everything that a sci-fi writer could desire is right here at this moment, ready to be exploited.  Tons of stories just from reading the news can conjure up a sci-fi/postmodern praxis. ]]></description>
<pubDate>Mon, 21 Feb 2005 14:11:07 -0700</pubDate>
<guid>http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2005/2/21/5451f1dd6bc3a4efbf817e432516acb8.html</guid>
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<title>Good Literature/Storywriting</title>
<link>http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2005/9/16/0e3b4dcbae40fcaf73c031f341e7c52a.html</link>
<description><![CDATA[by reading this you probably realize that i'm not a fan of current television broadcasts (minus the japanese ones).  i would call most of the current television series "commercial."  not in the sense that it's supported by commercials, nor that they're produced by big companies.  but that they're souless, meaningless, and provide little social value (decadence is the first word that comes to mind).

but my feeling is that the writing that goes into these shows are a result of mass marketing efforts to reach as many viewers as possible based on surveys and research.  take a look at movies these days.  they cater to some crowd.  more than that though they have formulas.  all these elements make current writing lacking in appeal for me.

so what *IS* good writing then (for me at least)?  i'm a firm believer that good writing is extremely selfish, attempts to please no one but the writer, and is extraordinarily personal. my friend from college, John Cann, once told me that true art is that feeling of the unexplainable, the notion of something deep within you that you can't just seem to tell another person, yet requires release.  

This is why I say the current writing has no soul.  There's no personality in it.  It's so formulaic that you already know what to expect without having been told the ending (pop music is the same way).  Occasionally, you do have avant garde elements like in movies such as Lost in Translation or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.  But those have to do more with the way things are shot.  The stories aren't as linear nor formulaic, but they're still missing something....an edge.

my writing is, of course, attempts to address all those elements that i feel is lacking.  there might be a structure in that i want to reach a conclusion at  a certain point, that i want things to climax and that characters should experience growth.  in between those elements, comes a rawness in my writing that involves sloppiness and a goal of not having the perfect dialogue.  in other words, things are more natural.  i think one of the best compliments i received from a friend whom i sent one of my (unfinished) scripts to was that the speech seemed normal/natural.  in other words, you can hear two people discussing things the way i write it down.

my dialogue is logical.  i try to put myself in the speaker's shoes.  or i relocate my mind as if being part of that conversation.  it's a fantasy in some way.  the hardest conversations are the ones where i really can't fantasize.  

the other thing about my writing is that i like to present a social issue (or many).  the problem is that i feel as though people don't listen to me, so the only way to get my point across is to contextualize it through a story.  if i wrote pure expository, i would sound like a whiney little bitch.  with a story, i can show people what i see in this world.  the viewpoint is narrow, but i need that to demonstrate my argument.

and of course i heavily personalize my story.  because the main character must involve me.  i've found that it's nearly impossible writing a character that isn't me or an extension of my personality.  creating other characters is not a problem, but it's my reflection off of them that creates this world.  it is this element which i believe makes writing (at least mine) unique.  it's not simply about the structure of a story, but the elements in the world that *I* find fascinating.  i do think that society does care about these issues as well which makes my writing seem stronger.

so why would my writing overtake something say the 40 Year Old Virgin or Stealth?  you might argue that someone decided that it might, indeed, be someoene's story.  Or that in the case of Stealth, someone was a big fan of fighter planes.  but that doesn't necessarily *JUST* make the whole story (not to mention that Stealth is a shitty rehash of the far superior Macross Plus).  in the case of the 40 Year Old Virgin, it sounds like a bad running joke some guys on the Sunset Strip had while drinking latte at the local Coffee Bean shop.  i find in both cases that neither having anything social to say.  yeah the whole 1984 Big Brother theme reprises itself in yet another form to create technophobia along with masturbatory special effects.  but it's renewed.  how does it address anything today?  i mean, how poignant is it?  they use North Korea like a Bush buzzword.  in a few years, Bush will be gone (the world prays!) and the issue of North Korea would lose prominence.  it just shows how transient that form of writing is since it attempts to discuss future events alongside what seems to be a modern crisis.  but there's of course little explaination detailing how we got to that point (after all, it's just a movie).

on the other hand, the 40 Year Old Virgin is just....pathetic.  Densha Otoko would be comparable because you had this pathetic being that finds true love.  however, despite being a comedy, it takes itself quite seriously and knows how to return to several important issues.  it does address a contemporary phenomenon in Japan, but it's really much more than that.  it talks about the mentality of a nation as well as entire subculture (or two).  also, it's based on a true story (i still argue someone wrote about me...) which makes it even more relevant.  whereas the 40 Year Old Virgin seems to exist solely for the purpose of making fun of blokes who never had sex.  this comparison between to similar ideas show where Dante's opinion of comedy over tragedy is dead wrong.

either way, for aspiring writers my advice to you is that you abandon what they teach you in college or whatever institution attempts to make you conform.  you can learn basic rules but why follow them?  i think they're only there to help literary critics identify elements in the story.  good writing should be natural and flow from your gut, not the grammar you write, not the size of your vocabulary, not the similarity in prose to Shakespeare.  besides if you followed these rules, how would you find your true voice in writing?]]></description>
<pubDate>Fri, 16 Sep 2005 02:18:17 -0600</pubDate>
<guid>http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2005/9/16/0e3b4dcbae40fcaf73c031f341e7c52a.html</guid>
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<title>Da Vinci Code</title>
<link>http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2006/5/20/f2c947312d80ca6e819ea0ad9f261624.html</link>
<description><![CDATA[Just finished up the book last night.  After hearing all the hype I decided to check it out.  Thing that interested me was not just the hype but the mystique surrounding the novel.  Essentially, the novel's genre is murder-mystery.  It reads like an episode of CSI as the historical details are deep and connected somehow.  At the same time, the characters are extremely shallow (you can barely call them "characters") and the plot mostly moves through them piecing clues together.  Worse yet, the style is abhorrent because it comes in the vein of "tell don't show", which, in my book, violates the principles of good fiction, much less murder-mystery since it's up to the reader to pick up on the facts by themselves.

That said, the piecing of the clues and the interrelationships are what make the novel a fascinating read.  The presentation of the clues read like history and there's even a disclaimer at the beginning that mentions the accuracy of what's said in the novel in an attempt to boost it's credibility.  Whether this is a device to garner speculation and hype is irrelevant as the notes in the story are intricately brought together using the lense of Leonardo Da Vinci as the focal point.

Despite the "tell don't show" style of the author, the book attempts to demonstrate a line of thought that demystifies Christ and the history of the church.  Namely that idea comes from Gnosticism where Jesus was married to the whore Mary.  But more than that, the fact that the church has covered up this fact for centuries to consolidate it's power base.  With those overarching themes as being the truth that the book and a character, Teabing, attempt to bring to light, the book attempts to balance both sides in not trying to preach that one side is correct or the other.  Quite the contrary, the book tries to illuminate how certain members of the church (and in society) on the abuse of power and fanaticism.

The core issue here is not that Jesus was married to Mary.  The core issue is how the church people manipulated masses using religion to increase their power.  Along those lines the Opus Dei in the novel runs parallel to the way the church in history (the Roman Catholic Chruch) had done to improve their standing.   They too are reported to use brainwashing techniques to increase their ranks.  However, it's revealed at the end how the Vatican itself abandons Opus Dei for their misconduct and abusive means, demonstrating that the church itself isn't the problem, but the institution of power and the hunger to strive for such a thing.

Yet at that moment, the Bishop of Opus Dei himself realizes his own foley, but is too late in being able to save himself and Silas, the fanatical assassin, from this misguidance.  Both the bishop and Silas are redeemed in their final understanding of themselves and what they've accomplished, which again demonstrates that it's avarice which accosts them.

Again this aiming of the gun away from the church but at individuals manifest when it's revealed that Teabing has master minded this plot in an effort to bring Truth to the world.  However, if we were to examine some basic principles in the end, we realize that Teabing's desire supercedes some fundamental laws of humanity which is to not to harm others.  However, the deaths of the heads of the Priory of Sion along with his own butler, the Bishop of Opus Dei and Silan make him "unworthy" to view the Holy Grail.  Again we see one's sense of pride, greed, and values superceding societies, which is what the author problematizes about society.

The other issue is that the situation of whether Jesus and Mary were married and had children while being covered up by the church ought to be revealed.  The specifics about that actually become irrelevant because both Sophie and Langdon recognize the social implications of releasing that information.  Here, the author attempts to demonstrate what religion really is meant for (well at least for some of us): structuring society.  Religion helps provide foundation for morality while giving people an abstract sense of hope.  The crux of the problem isn't the crimes of the church, as Teabing sees it, but rather removing the belief system of people that they hold dear.  The thing that moves people and creates a sense of stability, these are elements that form a basis for society.  

The funny part is how this allegory plays into society all the time.  For instance, patriotism is the primary example of how this works in society.  If you live in a country and are indoctrinated into a way of life, you don't want to change.  Most people have difficulty accepting other belief systems.  Just check out how homosexuality is viewed in the world.  Or blacks vs whites.  This is the politics of similarity and difference at work, which is central to how humans as animals behave and why order in society is required to a certain degree.

One of the interesting things to me is the response from religious groups (as usual) against the novel.  I've read things from banning the novel to people disagreeing with the view of Mary being married to Jesus or the church murdering for the purpose of power.  Then some fanatics go as far to say that the novel is the work of Satan.  Ironically, like South Park the Movie, this novel seems to deconstruct itself and anticipate the moves of these people by demonstrating blind fanaticism.   These people are similar to Silas who lack control of their own thought and are run by a simplified, narrow view of the Bible.  These are the same people that are willing to bomb abortion clinics for their belief systems and yet not see anything morally wrong by killing others.

But these people to me are those usually in the lower rung of society, meant to scrap by at gas stations while others who are mentally superior drag them around with an invisible rope.   To me these people are not the fittest to survive in society, especially in a day whether mental capacity, flexibility, etc. will carry one far more than raw strength and abstract will.  These people are the termites of the world, waiting to be swept over.  Or maybe they're like ants who somehow serve in the scheme of things, but are mostly out to annoy us who are on a picnic.  Either way, these are people to be ignored as they serve little purpose outside of the front lines in a military campaign, flipping burgers unquestioningly, clicking on ads to make some of us rich, buying the latest Britney Spears album because they have no taste in music, etc.  And I bet these are the same people that will go to see the movie.]]></description>
<pubDate>Sat, 20 May 2006 00:14:29 -0600</pubDate>
<guid>http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2006/5/20/f2c947312d80ca6e819ea0ad9f261624.html</guid>
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<title>ayn rand</title>
<link>http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2006/8/26/973944b3972b37f806668c513fbcbfea.html</link>
<description><![CDATA[i've always had conflicted views about her material.  of course, the only thing i've read was her Fountainhead novel.  there are naturally very controversial principles in that book.  but if there's one lesson i do take away from it (for the purpose of this blog) is that one should never compromise their principles.

i just realized that the past few years i've been doing just that.  and i've suffered.  i think i'm going to return to an uncompromising way of existence and see how this goes for me.]]></description>
<pubDate>Sat, 26 Aug 2006 15:30:52 -0600</pubDate>
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