Gatchaman

Here's some footage from the proposed "Gatchaman" feature film. Some of you may know it as "Battle of the Planets," as it was known in the States. I think it looks pretty nice. Apparently, it's still in the works for a 2011 release. We'll see if it happens.

14 interesting facts about North Korea

If you think our freedoms are being stripped away, remember these facts about North Korea;

1. You can’t turn off the government radio installed in your home, only reduce the volume.

2. Idolatry in North Korea is such that it is second-nature for ordinary citizens to “rescue” portraits of Kim Il Sung before all else in the case of a house fire (there are even special bunkers for statues in case of war)

3. Many people don’t even know that man has walked on the moon.

4. There is no Internet, cell-phones have been banned.

5. A main cause for all problems are Americans. Mothers teach their children to sing songs about bad Americans, there are many postage stamps showing the death of “U.S imperialists”

6. A six-day work week, and another day of enforced “volunteer” work, ensures that the average citizen has virtually no free time.

7. The very first thing you do when you visit North Korea’s capital Pyongyang is visit and give a flower to a big statue of “Dear Leader”.

8. About 0.85% of the population are held in prison or detention camps.

9. Most traffic control is performed by female traffic directors (reportedly handpicked by Kim Jong-Il for their beauty), as the lights are switched off to save electricity.

10. Dogs are banned in Pyongyang to keep it clean.

11. Avarage wage in 2005 was 6$ a month.

12. Visitors of North Korea are given special guides and can’t go anywhere without them.

13. North Koreans are used to often disappearing electricity and have many candles prepared.

14. North Korea has the fourth-largest military in the world, at an estimated 1.21 million armed personnel

A few more pictures.

This frog let me get really close, which is cool since I almost ran him over with the lawnmower.


This is Hextall.

This is Boo, showing off one of her many talents. Sleeping.

A tulip from last spring. Almost perfectly symmetrical.

Winter pictures.

This is a series of winter pictures that I took. I really tried to evoke the bleak and cold that you endure during the long New England winter.

This was taken on a very overcast day at dusk.

This was actually a pretty sunny day. You would never really know it.

This is my favorite. The sun is desperately trying to break through the clouds just after a heavy snowstorm. You can feel the cold in this one.

Lit only by the street lights, there's a small amount of heat in the cold night.

It always seems colder to me when the snow sticks to everything. Last week that is exactly what happened.

Some random pictures

Here are some pictures I took last spring.

I really like how this fills the frame.

This is a Devil's Walking Stick. I really like how twisted the branches are. Makes for an interesting shape when the leaves fall off.

Moss and rocks surrounding one of our small evergreen trees.

I just like this one.