B-B-B-Badminton! FTW!

Some of the shock has worn off due to my delay in posting but I guarantee that Sunday was still full of surprises. The day previous had seen me partying at the Pure Malt Club house - schmoozing but not boozing - some might enticed by the sound of that and want details, but I'm moved to talk about the results of my badminton tourney today because that's where the months of hard work, discipline (like not drinking at a party!), and training went. And what a surprise it was! As a way of lessing what was sure to be disappointment later I had only told a small circle of people. (I remember explaining graphically to a friend how bad I was expecting to lose.) Held in nearby Makubetsu, I and another teacher were entered into the mixed doubles category. We had only played together once the week before, but both of us play weekly. Warming up I was getting worried watching teams with matching tops. The first game of the first match we lost. I take much responsibility because I couldn't tell where the lines were to save my life. After that first stumble we continued to win. My partner was helpful in yelling out (as opposed to quietly suggesting) when shots were out and communication was generally good. (We also improved once I told her my Japanese was not that speedy and to please use English.) My serving was good whereas my partner's serving was deadly. Nakamura-san was exceptional at the net all day and the opposing team had no choice to pop it up to the back of the court. In this type of play there is still a lot a person like me can mess up, but my smashing was solid, laying it right at the feet of the opponents, even eliciting some "wow's". I only put 2 or 3 in the net the entire day which is the reverse of how practice games normally go for me. With all the teams in the mixed round robin it was evident everyone had experience, but normally one had more than the other. I felt bad continuously hitting to the weaker player but I think this behaviour is programed deep in the brain. In the split second between getting into position and contact, careful consideration about relative player strength rarely comes to mind. In the final game we played a team we hadn't played nor observedbecause they were in group B. They were serious and had matching shirts to prove it. I thought, here is where the dream stops. It was the best serving we saw all day, they had excellent control side to side, and were just plain scary reading the lines. We took both games but had some epic rallies. We won the most anti-climactic way possible on one of their errors where they sent it out. I remember laughing so hard with Nakamura-san once we finshed the game. It was the last thing either of us had on our minds as we started the day. I know for a fact I was way more surprised at winning than the teachers and organizers were at a gaijin in the tourney. Afterwards on the way home I treated myself to the nice onsen in Makubetsu.

My Music has Rights!

I'm writing this on a computer and you’re probably reading it on a computer and thus it’s fair from time to time to examine issues facing the 'net. Digital Rights Management has consequences for every Canadian. This week Minister of Industry Jim Prentice withdrew his legislation that would have seen some of the toughest copyright restrictions in the world for Canada. Included in the legislation were absurd restrictions like no device shifting (don't you dare think about putting that CD on your iPod), no back ups (just plain inconvenient) and a rollback on fair-use exemptions for education and political comment which would have resulted in a tightening of free speech. The reason the proposal was withdrawn is simple; it represented a dream list of laws as conceived by the world's biggest media content companies and their lobbyists. More disturbing for me than the legislation was the apparent attempt by the government to quietly pass it without public debate - debate being the key world here.

There’s no denying Canadian copyright law is in dire need of updating. Laws written in 1997 don’t any good in today's internet and technology dominant age. And I’m not really a radical in this regard—I believe in paying for music—but any changes must represent a balance between with all stakeholders—musicians, consumers and lobbyists. With the age of digital, a remix cultural has emerged and the behaviour of record companies is truly backward (Suing music fans anyone?). Despite the ease—one might even say naturalness—with which digital information is moved around the world and altered, the media companies have seen fit to move in an army of lawyers rather than change one thing about their business model. Which is all good and fine—the market will take care of it—this makes record companies poor investments since their structures are becoming top heavy with legal departments (you know, instead of finding great new bands that would sell records). Small artists generally like the internet because—take something like the CBC radio3 podcast—it allows them to have a global audience where once all they had to look forward to was a life of endless local gigs. Taking the view that music should be paid for, I lament that music fans are starting to view music as free, however, artists are quicker than multinational companies to shift business models and many artists have found success in cutting out the middle man, directly connecting to fans. I think this is one of the things that most upsets the large record companies.

Probably the most alarming fact for me is that media companies, through the heavy use of digital rights management that protects content, are giddy at the prospect of controlling content even after it has been purchased by the consumer. They are ready to pull western civilization back several decades. Say you bought a CD to play in your stereo, the record companies believe you should pay again to have the honour of playing it on your iPod and another fee if you want to play it in your car, and on and on. This flies directly in the face of widely used modern technology that already allows this to be done cheaply and easily. That's why I want claim media companies want are pulling backward. Crippleware is another great facet to this debate. Industry wide there is pressure to cripple data devices with DRM. Window’s Vista is by far the best example. Here is an OS that is designed bottom up to protect the rights of other’s over the user’s. All at the expense of stability, operability, and even logic as users flee to any other OS besides Vista, be it Mac, Linux or even WinXP. Vista’s implantation of DMR causes the OS to act paranoid to the point of uselessness. This is only the first in what is sure to be a long sad parade of crippled devices. And don’t think for a second any tech company wants to cripple their wares. That just gives sales to companies with more open and useful platforms. In a remix culture, the ability to buy a movie, rip it, put it on a one gig USB drive and to show it at a friends, just as we did with DVDs before and VHS before that is threatened by DMR. And consumers should say yes to a balanced review of copyright in Canada.

Sorry for the Thusday delay.

Meetings and classes have been going longer than usual the last couple of days and then there has been stuff waiting for me at the office when I get back. All this limits the time I'm able to blog. Something will be up for Friday I promise.

Dodgeball Part 2

This box was sitting at work looking too interesting to be ignored (click to enlarge). Upon further inspection, it contains a set of comic books. The box proudly proclaims it is educational manga about the history of Japan. Cuteness is probably the most ubiquitous thing in Japan, but manga might run a close second. It's questionable how historically accurate elementery school manga is. Reading some myself, it certainly approaches the topic with a certain amount of romanticism, but does nothing to shield the readers from the bordom and monotony that is true history. Parts of the books seem recreate the passing of time. My heart has finally returned to it's normal pace after playing dodgeball with the grade five and sixes at Tsumei Sho Gakko. It was a small group of three students against three teachers. There was a reason no small kids played which will become clear. I wanted to use a normal nerf ball but the kids wanted to use was a very hard, heavy, volleyball-like ball. I asked them why and, sure enough, they showed me written on the ball is, "Offical Japanese Dodgeball Tournament Ball". Discussion was closed as far as they were concerned about what ball to use. Two questions hit me at once: one, that such a thing exists and, secondly, why it would be composed of such hard materials. What kind of masochist wants that thing thrown at them? It certianly motivated me to get out of the way. The type of ball used dictated the game: absurbity is one way to describe it, with both teams sticking close the walls, as far as humanly possible from each other. When you see a grade six, arm raised, holding that ball, they may as well been holding a ball of flaming pitch. The game was reduced to the ball slaming into the back wall with a satisfy thwack, and also it slamming into things; pianos, soccer nets, unicycles, a pile of brooms, furnaces (sounds like a fun gym doesn't it?). I nearly had my head taken off a couple of times and dove for my life more than once. I think the kids like the rush but there is no way my conscience will let me throw it as hard as I can. They get mad at me for not trying if I obviously miss or lob it gently, so it required a certain amount of acting on my part make them think they were being hunted while also aiming carefully so as to leave a safe distance between the kids and the ball. When things were reversed, exiciting is not how I would discribed it. I got hit squarely in the back by a mistake on my part when I zigged when I should have zagged. Ouch. After the bell rang, my chest was hurting from my pounding heart having literately just dodged a life or death situation.

Something to Make Monday Great!

On most days I eat lunch with my students. It creates a day with no breaks until the kids go home but I definitely enjoy it. Lately I have been switching between one of two grade one classes at Shikaoi Elementery School. A lot of what happens at lunch revolves around students' craving for attention. On the rare occasion this is manifested through poor behaviour; it definately gets the person in authority's attention when you threaten to through food. However, the majority of the time the kids turn into perfect angels, in fact, sometimes things go a bit far in the other direction and they get scrapy. Everyone wants to show me where to sit; everyone wants to clear my dishes; everyone wants to sit beside me. I have learned pretty well to navigate these potential landmines with promises of "next time" or just doing it myself. I also love observing the culture surrounding lunch time the kids have created from their imagination. For instance, on the milkbox there meaningless single digit number - probably a lot number - every lunch it's imperative to share that number and check for matches. In case you think this is an orgainized process, you're wrong, it consists of yelling out your number and thus I end up answering the same question several times. During lunch the kids love love love creating quizes for each other, the broader the topic range the better, but this is in light of a 6/7 year old's world that consists of school and home. My most successful question today was asking my group if "Blair likes space vegtables?" which had the group evenly split and created a lively discussion. Wouldn't this type of lunch make anyone happy? It makes me tired just thinking about it, but I digress: Today everyone was in high spirits because today's school lunch was curry-and-rice. A meal that's very hard to mess up and thus is always tasty and filling.

The Music Issue Pt. 2

Changing subjects now to Radiohead's new ablum which was released digitally all the way back on Oct 10th; I have to say I really like the album. In Rainbows is Radiohead's 7th studio album and, to say nothing of the uproar it's released causein the music industry, it is one of their best. A lot of the eletronic beeps seemed to have been worked out of Thom Yorke's system which led to a much more relaxed sound. Throwing back to the times when there was far less to prove for them and it was all about the music. There are only two tracks I consistently skip over, which is not to say they are bad, it's just they're not up to the high bar set by the other strong tracks on the disk. Reading the music forums about this disk it was great to see the varitery of tracks people picked as their favorite, it was almost evenly distributed across the entire album. That is a rare occurance and should show something of the albums quality. My favor tracks are:

"15 Step"; One of two rockers on the disk in my option. Tight drumming from Phil Selway. This is probably the most electronically inspired cut on the disk and also the closest thing Radiohead has ever done to R'n'B.

"Nude":This song has been played live for 10 years, become a huge crowd favorite. It has never been put doen until now. I have several bootlegs and the studio version is very good.

"All I Need": Probably my favor cut off the disk, it's a bit darker. Love the subterranean bass. It's a slow builder that doesn't fail like the last track on the album. When the crash symbols come in, one knows this track is flying.

"Reckoner": The other rocker on the disk that one can turn up proudly.

"Videotape": The last cut on the disk that in live shows exploded. Here we are offered a slow burner. Radiohead still pulls it off however, creating a great closer in line with OK Computer's "The Tourist." Lots of the track show strong writting and this is as a fine example as any on the ablum.

Will this album ever gain the status of 1997's OK Computer? Not it my book but time will tell. However, one thing I hate hate hate about this album is it's lame title. In Rainbows? How is Radiohead going to take over the world with a title like that? I'm not alone in my views as suggested by a fan made satirical cover displayed below. Isn't that what everyone was thinking when they first heard the title of the new disk?

The Music Issue!

Announcing I had received my new headphone amplifier just before my birthday raised the level of curiosity surrounding my hobby. Directly never making mention of it again was wrong. In an effort to reverse this deficiency, I henceforth offer an excess of numbers, statistics and details. I will describe my new headphone unit while strictly ignoring questions about why one needs a dedicated headphone amplifier.


Wide angle view of the Yamamoto HA-02. (Click to enlarge)

The Yamamoto HA-02 is a singularly beautiful piece of audio equipment. Hand-made by Shige Yamamoto in Hyogo prefecture outside Tokyo, it uses two type of exotic woods, a hand-wound transformer, gold-plated tube guards and a life time of experience in electrical engineering. Asking “why tubes?” opens a topic that threatens to overtake my blog. The short of it is is that there must be some type of inherent value in a technology that perseveres even though it was far surpassed by modern offerings by any scientific measurement 50 years ago. At risk of ignoring large parts of the topic, like the clipping characteristics of tubes or impedance curves, I will start at the point I find most interesting having to do with the different types of harmonic distortion found in audio circuits (feel free to jump to the pictures at this point); odd order harmonic distortion versus second order harmonic distortion. Smarter people than I have put it better:

…tubes have more measured distortion. However this distortion is primarily 2nd order, lessening greatly as we go through the higher harmonics. Distortion characteristics for solid-state however, tend towards higher odd order harmonics (5th 7th etc), albeit in smaller amounts.

Scientific studies have shown that humans perceive even order distortion as being musically consonant while odd order distortion is perceived as musically dissonant. Anecdotal evidence shows that while up to -5% of 2nd order distortion is audibly tolerable, only -0.5% of 5th order distortion is audibly tolerable.[thanks head-fi.org!]

Staying on the topic of harmonic distortion, the harmonic distortion found in audio circuits is what allows the human brain to distinguish between a recording and a real instrument. Because such low levels of odd order harmonic distortion are audible to the human ear, solid state manufactures have gone the very edge of material science in a quest to lower harmonic distortion. On the other hand, second order harmonic distortion is the type associated with the decay of a note in space and time or a chord being struck. Called “musically consonant” in the quote above. A tube amplifier’s high levels of 2nd order harmonic distortion in effect accentuates the decay of notes and creates a sonic glow around harmonies, though the exact mechanisms of such are lost in the workings of the brain. One could almost say that tube circuits sound “hyper-realistic.” This is the characteristic euphony that many listeners describe ultimately leading to a more musical presentation at the expense of accuracy.

My Yammy, as it has been coyly named on the internet, uses two Western Electric 408As tubes. The WE408A themselves have an interesting history that prove it did not find its way into the Yamamoto HA-02 by chance. The tube was initially used in underwater telephony applications in the early 60s. This gives the tubes excellent reliably and longevity compared to other tubes. Most tubes are designed for higher output levels than needed for headphones amplification, meaning they are not working within their optimum range. However, the WE408A’s optimum working specs sit exactly in the micro current range needed for headphone amplification. Coupled to the tube circuit is a transformer output stage. Glossing over volumes of electrical engineering theory, a quality transformer is essential and this is where lesser amps fail. Shige-san guarantees quality by providing an in-house built, hand wound design. If you are familiar with what goes into hand winding a transformer, than you know this means serious dedication, and ultimately, along with the circuit design and tube selection, defines the sound of the Yamamoto HA-02; which is transparency, coherence and musicality. The Yamamoto HA-02 has a life-like flowing midrange. Over the years, I have read comments from the hi-fi community that music lives in the midrange. My Yammy has certainly turned me into a believer. (Upper Left: "Pilot Lump"? Just to prove it's a product from Japan, there's an English error included on the front.)

My description has probably raised questions in the reader as to why one would ever need anything beyond an iPod with those white things. Again at great risk of ignoring large swaths of the discussion, I can touch on two major positives for myself. Headphone listening in my opinion, offers a great value, even in light of the law of diminishing returns that defines hi-end audio. I could probably never afford a tube amplifier for a stereo rig but because of the lower power requirements of headphones it offers a possible solution. Top-shelf headphone gear can offer surprisingly high sound quality. Consider, for example, the stereo system needed to distinguish between a $1000 CD player, $3000 CD player, $10,000 CD player and a $50,000 CD player; it would take speakers in the $20,000 range to say nothing of ancillaries. A headphone system can do the same trick at a fraction of the cost. Secondly, a stereo system deserves a home. Hi-fi hobbyists are not a condo association’s best friend. Because home ownership is far off for me, headphone listening offers the perfect balance between sound quality and the ability not to drive roommates or neighbors crazy.

I probably didn’t change too many people’s opinion about my hobby. However, I offer this warning: if any reader feels a slight tickle in their brain to try, please do yourself the favor of first giving a trusted friend or family member your wallet.


Macro shot of a Western Electric 408A out of it's socket. (Click to enlarge)


The Yamamoto HA-02 at work. One can see the headed cathodes and the blue plasmas created by the electrons jumping the vacuum. I believe Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Major was playing.

Seen at a Japanese Construction Site

This made me smile (and nearly drive off the road). Now I can say I'm ready for Christmas.

Monday on my own

I'm going to make this a brief update because I'm planning for a longer post tomorrow about two things I have neglected for a month. Today, all the Japanese English teachers in Shikaoi, and Austin, who is a JET-affiliated English teacher, are in Sapporo for a two day teaching conference. I wasn't invited, I'm guessing because I'm privately contracted with the town of Shikaoi. This left me on my own. Instead of sitting in the office all day, I offered to teach. This left me in charge. In consultation with the other teachers, normal classes were eschewed in favor of a christmas craft class. The only thing special I did was get to bed extra early last night. The classes could of gone smoother, but that was really a function of time. I also went for a really super good run last night. Not quite sure where that came from; I wish I knew because them I would bottle and sell it. My feet were so light and I kept a great pace. Why can't everyday be like that?