Burainoan's Ramblings, etc.

[Burainoan 0]

Greetings from "flowery Chiba" and all that. just thought i'd ramble on a bit on the off chance anyone cares to read and respond.

anyway, i'm from Southern Cal - the region, not the school - and have been in the Kanto area for about 6 1/2 years or so. the bug bit me on a quiet Sunday afternoon in early July '95, just a week or so after i'd gotten here on exchange, and i turned on the TV to see what was on. that was Shonichi of the Nagoya Basho. i was impressed by the power, and the fact that they looked like Jack Kirby art come to life. (anyone who gets that reference, please announce yourself.) the more i watched, the more i got drawn in, and by the end of the basho, i was a fan. i followed it for the rest of the year i was there, even missing a day of classes - with grudging permission - to see a day of the '96 Natsu Basho. our J. teachers also took us to Azumazeki-beya to meet Akebono, and we all got our picture with him. (by virtue of having the guts to ask, one of our group got "smuggled in" to shitaku-beya and got to see a day's worth of the (Aki?) basho as a guest of Akebono.) i fell a little out of touch after i returned to the States, but then i came back in January of '98 to work, and started following it more actively. i couldn't go initially, but finally managed to make it to the '99 Aki Basho, and have gone to at least one day of every Tokyo hon-basho since. (it's cool being able to circle that "20+" on the Kokugikan surveys.) i've also managed the Fuji Tournament once or twice, the jungyo in Kisarazu (Oct '02), retirement ceremonies for Kotonishiki (my original fave), Takanohana, Sentoryu (got to cut!), and, purely by dumb luck, Chiyotenma (private ceremony at the heya). i've also been to Osaka the past three years, Nagoya the previous two, and Fukuoka in '02. of those, i think i liked Fukuoka's the best. have also been to Senshuraku Parties for Kokonoe, Tamanoi, Tomozuna, Naruto, Takasago, and possibly one other i can't recall now. i'm not sure which was the best; each was interesting and different in its own way.

i have been collecting sumo cards since the '97 series, so if you are interested in trading, please drop a line. most of what i have is regulars - though i have some of the special cards - and i have quite a few extras for some of the series.

other stuff...i like far too many rikishi now, but among my favorites are Tochiazuma, Takami (since the Kato days), Hayateumi (since he first came up), and Kokkai. there aren't really any rikishi i *actively* dislike, though there are some (such as Harunoyama and Toki) that i am "negatively apathetic" towards. as for Asa, having met him a few times, i'm not sure i like him that much as a person - just an "undercurrent" feeling; he was always generally friendly - but i have tremendous respect for his ability and drive. it's also nice to see that - the recent door incident notwithstanding - he seems to have finally understood the importance and benefits of being well-behaved and friendly. (though that kensho-grabbing glare at Uchidate seems to have become a permanent fixture....)

on the sad side, since i will likely be heading home this fall or winter, the upcoming Aki Basho is looking like my last, at least for now. (Applauding...)

as a final note, if you can locate it, Suo Masayuki ("Shall We Dansu?")'s "Shiko Funjatta (Sumo Do, Sumo Don't)" is well worth seeing - and long overdue for a J-DVD release.

special thanks to Nishinoshima for pointing me here; hope to be posting at least occasionally....

[Mark Buckton 1]

Excellent post here and I think it gives a great indication of how 'approachable' sumo and the rikishi are generally. So many people gasp or can't believe you can meet and talk to them but they are often normal guys like you or me. (bar the hair style!)

Hope to see you at Aki then Burainoan. Tossing up between Tamanoi and Oitekaze for the senshuraku this time. Might even go to Hatachiyama (sp) as I have a contact in there too.

PS - when you circle the 20 plus - did you ever win free tickets - I didn't and asked why in the questions box (Applauding...)

Edited July 30, 2004 by Adachinoryu

[Kintamayama 44,910]

I bought that sumo do sumo don't dvd (bootleg from china) last month and have watched it a few times. it really is a great movie. it was called "shiko jyaatan!" in japan. that translates as something like "ooops i did shiko!"

Actually, it was called "Shiko Funjatta" (" Oops! I just stepped a shiko"), a takeoff on the famous "chopsticks" piano melody sung in Japanese to the words "Neko funjatta". (I stepped on a cat)

Edited July 30, 2004 by Kintamayama

[aderechelsea 124]

ha ha ha ha aha ahaaha

GREAT pic John ..... like the first one the most (what where you thinking?)

Nice to have you on board Burainoan san

as a comic book addict and collector i got the Kirby reference ...

being young to witness his art first hand didn't prevent me from discovering his greatness later on in my life.

Still remains one of my favourites along with John Bushema and Jose Laddronn (a more recent Kirby-esque styled artist).

[Burainoan 0]

Thanks all, for the kind greetings. and since i'm too lazy to try to deal with the quote function several times for one message....

Adachinoryu - thanks for the compliment. i usually forget to mention this when people ask me why i like sumo (as i forgot in my post), but the approachability element is a good point. one of the cool things about sumo is that, if you're willing to make the effort, you can pretty much meet anybody. i've spoken to Asashoryu (several times), Akebono, Maru, all the ozeki except Muso, Kokonoe Oyakata, etc., etc. How many soccer fans can say they've met Shunsuke Nakamura, let alone Zidane, Beckham, et. al. How many baseball fans have met Randy Johnson, Ichiro or even Kenji Jojima or Daisuke Matsuzaka? accessibility is a wonderful thing, and most of them *are* pretty down to earth.

Haven't decided on the Senshuraku Party. A German friend is pushing for Sadogatake, which may be fine, though Oitakaze might win out if i haven't met the guys yet. (also like to get back to Tamanoi at least once. had a really nice 45-minute talk with Tamanoi Oyakata about almost everything *but* sumo when i went in January. he's a really nice guy.

And no, i've never won free tix. but with 5 entries from last basho (1st, 8th, and 13th - 15th Days), i'm hoping i'll get a pair this time.

NISHINOSHIMA - glad to know i'm normal. B-) you're one of the few to say so. and thanks for the voucher on the movie. Hope Suo can patch up his differences with the studio, as it would be great to have a legit DVD out there for *everyone* to buy. might even help sumo, too....

btw, the second picture down on the left bears a remarkable resemblance to the guy who starred in "24 Hour Party People"....

Kintamayama - didn't know - though i suppose i should have guessed - that the title was a takeoff on something. guess you're wise in the lore of other things too, thanks.

aderechelsea - greetings, fellow collector! i knew there had to be at least a few of us in here. so, do you agree?

i came in at the tail end of his more active career (late '70s), and liked his stuff then, didn't like it in my teens, and re-learned to appreciate it around my early 20s. i was fortunate enough to meet him once and get his autograph, but was too immature at the time to realize how important and good he was....

i like Buscema, too for some things...but who is Laddronn? does he work in the U.S.? U.K.? Spain? i'd be curious to see samples of his work. my favorite in the Kirby-esque category is definitely Steve Rude. he's got a lot of Russ Manning in him (see his early Nexus stuff), but his recent work is much more strongly Kirby. beautiful, beautiful linework....

but wait, isn't this a sumo board?

almost forgot...another sumo movie. anybody here seen "Secret Society (Koi wa Hakkeyoi!)"? a bit different than i was expecting, but still i pretty decent movie, i thought.

[aderechelsea 124]

@ nishinoshima :

i am not into spiderman much so i would like to ask if you have anything else in Ireland to offer ..... :)

but you enjoyed THE CLONE SAGA ????

don't say that to any spidey fans or else they are going to kill you.It is one of the most hated storylines in the history of comics ...

personally i don't have an opinion on the subject cause as i said i am not into Spiderman and i never read the story ....

[aderechelsea 124]

@ Burainoan :

Ladronn is Mexican and worked for the first time for MArvel in 97.He did various stuff in Marvel but the most important one was his run on Cable (which was trully amazing IMO).He also drew Inhumans for Marvel and then stepped away from monthly comics and tried his luck in his own book called "Hip Flask" (i totally recommend it).His style is more "European" but it reminds Kirby a lot..

if you google his name you can find some stuff ....

Ladronn's homepage

BTW ... if you don't read 100 bullets (Vertigo Comics) i believe you would love the art by Eduardo Risso and Azzarello's writing...

what are you reading (if you actually are) this period ? Are you into superheroes or more down to earth stuff? Personally i give all my money to comics and that is one of the main reasons i find it hard to make a trip to Japan and watch sumo "live" ..... B-)

but the time is getting closer ..... (Eh?)

[Fujisan 532]

Make that 3 comic collectors Burain+Aderechelsea-

Although I'm a DC man myself with over 5000 comics dating back to 1946.

Favourite artist Neal Adams

Favourite writer Alan Moore

Fave comics The Watchmen,Batman,Legion of super heroes.

Fave Characters Batman,Green Arrow,Wildfire,Rorschach.

I have been to conventions in the past and have actually met John Buschema but I didn't know who Jose Laddron was either.

Oh almost forgot "Welcome aboard Burain."

[aderechelsea 124]

i am not into manga a lot.I enjoyed "Lone Wolf and cub" (kozure okami in japanese if i am not wrong) but i already have the whole series in english.

There seems to be another problem with Japanese comics... they are written in Japanese which i am not qualified to read ....

thanks anyway for the offer.

BTW ... i got the Maru figure today ... great stuff .... :)

[aderechelsea 124]

hey Zenji-san .... always nice to see a fellow comic-book collector .

my list of faves is:

artist : Quitely

writer : Moore, Ellis

series: 100 bullets,Fables to name a couple

characters: Havok,Gambit,Beast (x-men),Daredevil,Silver Surfer

sorry Burainoan-san for hijacking your thread to make this conversation ....

[Onnagumo 4]

i am not into manga a lot.I enjoyed "Lone Wolf and cub" (kozure okami in japanese if i am not wrong) but i already have the whole series in english.

(Applauding...) (Clapping wildly...) Lone Wolf & Cub! Yes, they are really wonderful! My hubby also has the whole series, in English, and we both enjoyed reading them very much.

When my father-in-law came to Holland to visit us a couple of years ago, he discovered Lone Wolf too; he spent many hours reading in our garden. But we didn't have the whole series complete then.

Next week we are going to pick him up at the airport for the second time. I bet he will spend a lot of time reading again.... :-)

:-D Oh, I am so sorry, Burainoan-zeki....I got so enthusiastic that I almost forgot to welcome you, I should have done that first...

Well, better late than never. :-P

Edited August 2, 2004 by Onnagumo

[Burainoan 0]

Well, that's what i get for not checking this for a couple of days...

Here we go again.

NISHINOSHIMA - You're talking about the second (Ben Reilly) clone saga, i assume? the first one was weird and not exactly Spidey's finest hour. by the time of the second, i had long since given up on the series, but from the bits i've heard about the second it made an even worse mess of things. didn't it say (or strongly imply) that the current Spidey was actually the clone, and the Ben Reilly one was the original Peter Parker, or something like that? and i vaguely recall Norman Osborn being alive again...? ;-)

and thanx for the Spidey offer, but i have #138 - whenever i gave up (plus scattered earlier ones), so much of what i'd want is way out of my range until i have a much larger and more stable income than i do now....

aderechelsea - thanks for the Ladronn stuff; pretty nice. i do now vaguely recall seeing/hearing his name for Cable etc., though i had never seen his work. his work reminds me of early Barry Windsor-Smith, right around the time he was starting to move away from being a Kirby clone and add European touches to his work. there's also a bit of Moebius in there too, i think.

i've heard of 100 Bullets, but haven't seen much of it; it's one of many things on my "to be checked out eventually" list. my current state is accumulating stuff very slowly at home and trying to hit some of it on visits. even so, with the backlog i have a *LOT* of reading ahead of me when i do head back. i've pared down superhero stuff - though i will probably get back in a little in the future - i think time and changing art styles and themes have put me off of most of the solidly mainstream stuff. i took a look at Superman, Spider-Man, et. al. last time i was home. (Applauding...)

some of what i still get includes The Hulk, Usagi Yojimbo, Tezuka stuff, any new Sandman projects by Gaiman, any new Steve Rude project, any new Mark & Sergio project, and Astro City. some of what i've liked in the past includes Moore's Swamp Thing, Watchmen, Sandman, David's Hulk (best writer the character's had short of the early Lee stuff), Baron & Rude's Nexus, Concrete, Cerebus, Bone, Dark Knight Returns (and his DD runs), Claremont-Byrne X-Men, Byrne's FF, Zot!, Lone Wolf & Cub (the First Comics version was vastly superior to the DH editions) and most of the Wolfman-Perez collaborations, among others.

Fujisan - thanks for the welcome. i think i double you up on the comics (about 11,000, i believe), but most of mine date from the early '70s onward, with a few from the '60s and possibly '50s (they're in the U.S. so i can't check). what do you have from the '40s and '50s? Also have an original copy of SOTI. well worth a read if you can hunt one down. (there was a sequel written about 10 years ago, so be careful not to get that one.)

good taste on most of your favorites. here are a few(?) of mine:

Writers: Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, Peter David, Kurt Busiek

Artists: Steve Rude, George Perez, John Byrne (sometimes)

Writer-Artists: Scott McCloud, Stan Sakai, Dave Sim, Jeff Smith, Sergio Aragones, Paul Chadwick

Characters: The Hulk, Zot, Spider-Man (when done correctly), Usagi Yojimbo

Onnagumo - thanks for the welcome, and glad to hear you have good taste.

who knew there were so many of us closeted? ;-)

[Manekineko 200]

Wow! Comics! (Heart)

My big bro (the bearded one, Darko Macan, I posted a link to his picture somewhere on this forum once) is a comic-book writer and artist (less so), and of course I was hooked from early age... The first English text I read was a (in retrospect) awful Spidey comic - I read only the bold words and got on splendidly. The one word I remember learning from that experience was "beast", since Spidey was fighting that hunter, forgot his name... BTW, went to see Spidey 2 and had a ball! Doc Ock Rocks! (Blinking...)

My bro swears by Moore, and naturally I read all of the great man's work. Fujisan, good taste in comics! (Applauding...) If I had to pick, I'd take Swamp Thing of his work (first one I read), and now the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen... Watchman is like Odissey 2001 - so great it's "too" great. (Laughing...)

Lone Wolf and Cub! Read all the First published (some 40 books) when I was 14, and in one afternoon. *That* is mostly too blame with my fascination with Japan. Other Japanese work I love? Miyazaki's Naushika/Nausicaa, definetly worth a read, or two... Rumiko-sensei's wierd and funny things - Ranma, Urusei Yatsura/Lum, anything! Sailor Moon, of course (hey, I am a girl!), I was hooked by the anime first, though. And the man himself, Tezuka. My favorite of his work is Black Jack (Heart) (Heart) (Heart).

Other things? Too many to number. French (Moebius, Goschinny, Greg, other old stuff), Italian (Dylan Dog and Martyn Mystere, early Alan Ford and everything else by Magnus), Croatian of course.

[Fujisan 532]

Fujisan - thanks for the welcome.  i think i double you up on the comics (about 11,000, i believe), but most of mine date from the early '70s onward, with a few from the '60s and possibly '50s (they're in the U.S. so i can't check).  what do you have from the '40s and '50s?  Also have an original copy of SOTI.  well worth a read if you can hunt one down.  (there was a sequel written about 10 years ago, so be careful not to get that one.)

good taste on most of your favorites.  here are a few(?) of mine:

Writers: Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, Peter David, Kurt Busiek

Artists: Steve Rude, George Perez, John Byrne (sometimes)

Writer-Artists: Scott McCloud, Stan Sakai, Dave Sim, Jeff Smith, Sergio Aragones, Paul Chadwick

Characters: The Hulk, Zot, Spider-Man (when done correctly), Usagi Yojimbo

I have only one 1940s comic to be honest "All American comics #74" with the original Green lantern-

From the 1950's I have a couple of Batman comics,Adventure comics 247(3rd legion of super heroes)Superboy 46 and the first appearance of the silver age Atom in Showcase which I payed

Edited August 4, 2004 by Fujisan

[Sasanishiki 57]

Just to move away from comics slightly and get back to Moti's post on the meaning of "Shiko Funjatta"

I always took the meaning in the movie that the 'funjatta' wasn't "whoops I've ended up stepping (stamping) shiko" but the other meaning of 'funjatta' (funde shimatta) meaning that the stamping was completed entirely.

I took this to mean that the character who utters it (Natsuko?) is satisfied that she finely has completed it. There is no sense in her dialogue that she feels like she has made a mistake.

I'd welcome comments.

[aderechelsea 124]

My big bro (the bearded one, Darko Macan, I posted a link to his picture somewhere on this forum once) is a comic-book writer and artist (less so

(Laughing...) :-O

your brother is Darko Macan ????

(Sign of approval)

i read his Soldier X books he did with Kordey.Great stuff ...

what is he working on now ? I haven't heard about him for a while ..

[Kintamayama 44,910]

Just to move away from comics slightly and get back to Moti's post on the meaning of "Shiko Funjatta"

I always took the meaning in the movie that the 'funjatta' wasn't "whoops I've ended up stepping (stamping) shiko" but the other meaning of 'funjatta' (funde shimatta) meaning that the stamping was completed entirely.

I took this to mean that the character who utters it (Natsuko?) is satisfied that she finely has completed it. There is no sense in her dialogue that she feels like she has made a mistake.

I'd welcome comments.

Shiko funjatta is definitely a takeoff on Neko funjatta. As for the implications, I have no idea, but I can only reiterate my opinion.. I haven't seen the movie either, but the "Funjatta" connotation, in my mind at least, has a humourous connotation-usually, all *.jatta/chatta words are words that come from inadvertantly doing something.- "tabesugichatta", "shinjatta", "wasurechatta", "nakunachatta", etc..all have a humorous overtone to me, like funjatta. Maybe Amanogawa can help us?

[Taizeniki 0]

A big Texas welcome to the SF, Burainoan!

my son LOVES spider man and the hulk... a marvel guy all the way!

[Burainoan 0]

Here we go again....

Manekineko - Darko Macan?? i must confess to not being terribly up on European comics, but i know his name at least. maybe i'm way off here, but didn't he do a Grendel series for Matt Wagner/Dark Horse some years ago...?

i'm also a very big Miyazaki/Ghibli fan (have all the J-DVDs), and was pleased to see the movie was faithful to the Nausicaa comics (unlike Akira...). Takahashi is also great - my fave was probably Maison Ikkoku - though for some reason i've never quite gotten the bug for Inu Yasha.

i think that hunter would be Kraven? i had a few quibbles with Spidey 2, but thought it was great fun nonetheless; considerably better than the first (which was also good). i really hope they change their minds about #3 being the last....

for Moore...his best body of work has to be Swamp Thing, though Watchmen runs a close second. then there's his brilliant Miracleman/Marvelman. "League..." is on my list for paperback procurement when i'm back stateside.

Fujisan - nice collection :-D ; you definitely seem to skew a little earlier than me; i have some of that stuff, but mostly only in reprint HCs and the like.

most of my experiences with pros have been positive. Byrne was fine the times i've met him, so maybe he's changed or you caught him on a bad day. i've never met Moore. (Laughing...) (btw, according to Peter David's blog/board, the JLU animated show just this weekend did what was apparently an excellent adaptation of "For the Man Who Has Everything," the story that hooked me on Moore.) probably the nicest pros i've met/known have been Scott McCloud, Stan Sakai (he put me in a story!), Chris Claremont, Marv Wolfman, Paul Chadwick, Jeff Smith and Sergio Aragones. Steve Rude and George Perez were nice enough, but i only met them briefly, so it's tough to say. the only pro i have a distinctly negative impression of is Phil Foglio; he spent the entire time trying to get me to buy stuff....

have you met Gaiman? i didn't get to till after he was big, so i never really got to talk to him.

various - my take on the "funjatta" bit is that is a kind of "went and did it," usually either an accidental or humorous/cutesy connotation, for which the latter would seem to apply here, though it's been a while since i've seen it.

Taizeniki - "Hulk says thanks to puny Texan! Good statue! Boy smart, too!"

i guess there won't be any "off topic" smilies in *this* thread.... ;-)

[Manekineko 200]

Just quickly about my bro... Yes, Grendel with late :'-( Edvin Biukovic, yes Soldier X with Kordey... Right now he's more into publishing - he's started a comics maagzine in Croatia, Q Strip, and is also publishing Croatian SF. Does some stuff for his soul, and so far no concrete plans for new work for US publishers...

Yes, that sumo in Soldier X was my influence. (Ranting...)

[Fujisan 532]

Thank you Burain-

I must admit some of the comics I said I had where a little incorrect-Like you I dont have my collection close by and found the mistakes when I checked later-

The 3rd appearance of the legion I have is Action comics 267 not Adventure 247 which was actually the Legions first appearance. (Oops! )

Showcase 34 the first silver age Atom is a 1960's not 1950's comic.(Oops! )

Yes I did meet Gaiman but I had the opposite problem to you-I met him before I really got into his work so although I have his autograph to show I met him,there was nothing that stayed in my memory from meeting him.

When I go to conventions I always try to meet as many creators as possible even those I'm not overly familiar with-Just in case they do take off big time.