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No. I am not, nor will I ever be pregnant. |
I've forgotten the password to this site more times than I can count. |
But back to the title. I've currently outlasted the majority of the foreigners I came to Japan with. The ones in my area that are left are all men. All of them are married. And within the past few years the majority of them have decided that they are going to spawn. And yes, their wives are Japanese. |
What I've discovered through these men is that they are no more enlightened about pregnancy than their Japanese counterparts. |
1. My first shocker was hearing that epidurals are not a typical part of the birth process. My next shocker was that of the three foreign men I've talked with recently, all of whom have kids or have wives that are about to give birth, none...NONE of them knew what an epidural was! Whether their wives want to have one or not is up to them. But the fact that the guys, who are all university educated, couldn't be bothered to research this fucking obvious part of birth kills me. |
What's more is that two of them didn't seem to give a fuck. "I don't know what that is, I'll just let my wife decide" tee hee hee. Funny, huh? |
2. The next thing you may or may not know of is tearing, known as perineal tears, which sound about as nice as you can imagine. This shit is serious enough to have a burn... |
Except in this case, it's the result of your gaijin husband's huge gaijin baby tearing its way through your body. If it seems like there's not enough space, the doctor or nurse will take a pair of scissors and cut from your anus to the hole where the baby is coming out, this is called an episiotomy. So, you're lying there, pushing this huge fucking baby out of your cootch, with no anesthesia, when someone pulls out the scissors to cut open your asshole. Again, nothing to numb the pain...confirmed by my coworker this past week. |
I should mention that having your asshole either split open or cut open during birth is not something unique to Japan. |
3. Finally, I wash shocked at the lack of knowledge about things such as pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes, postpartum depression, and any of the other slew of birth-related and post-birth related issues. |
I don't expect men or even women to be 100% on the ball on everything that goes on with pregnancy and birth. But, I really can't describe how thoroughly pissed I feel at these men who really just left everything to their wives. I'm sure they are more supportive than the average Japanese guy, but, really...the three points outlined above are HUGE. They can impact the whole pregnancy and marriage. |
What's worse is that most Japanese women are NOT open to talking about these kinds of things with their husbands. And so, these guys don't know that their wives probably have stitches up their assholes and don't want and can't have sex for at least a month. Three, four, five months after having a kid, I go to forums and see these foreign men bitching that their wives don't want sex anymore. Can you imagine why? |
While their wives are stuck being pregnant, these smug motherfuckers are just sitting around like they're the coolest thing since sliced bread. I don't know if I'm overacting, but there's something about this laissez-faire attitude that really irks me. None of these guys, that I know, seem like the types that have given any serious thought to the issues that surround raising a multiracial child. None of them seem to understand the "mama-tomo" interworkings of female-mother friendships, school expectations, and more that they will be faced with as their kids age. |
Other sources on pregnancy/birth in Japan include: this, this, this and this. |
I know you are there Art, I wonder where you are, how are you? |
Are you alright? Do you understand what has happened? are you near or far? |
It seems you have gone away, was the sun shining? what were your thoughts of this day? |
I remember when once we met on a sunny Yorba Linda day, you were young, life was okay, |
Those were the days of innocence, we were safe to what was coming our way, chances we take. |
A smile you had always on your face, from day to day you aged as we all did, today you went away, |
I know you are somewhere, I can feel it as I imagine you traveling to a far off unimaginable place. |
You were here, could it be that you are still around, I thought I heard you laugh, remembering the sound, |
You left your mark, a reason heaven needed you now, I saw you yesterday Art, It seems so long ago. |
Many friends were yours, I think at times you didn’t understand, you were born on a day, with god you now stand, |
I’ll always remember and think of you dear friend when I recall those neverending Summer days so long ago. |
Keith Garrett |
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Saturday, 16 October 2010 |
Nagina (1986) |
Nagina (1986) |
Sridevi: "I've worked with many directors but director Harmesh Malhotra is one of a kind. He's so sweet and understanding. If I as much as said I wasn't feeling well, he'd promptly cancel the shooting. |
The credit for the success of Rajni's dances in the film goes to Sarojji (Saroj Khan). She gave me excellent dance steps to execute and I'm 100 per cent sure that the film would not have been a hit without her dances. |
Incidentally, everyone thinks I'm a good dancer but aisa kuch nahin hai [It is nothing like that]. I've never undergone any formal training in dance and whatever I know, I've learned on the sets. It was Sarojji who gave me my dance style and taught me how to emote while dancing. All those expressions you saw in Nagina were hers - I just copied them." |
-- Sridevi spoke to Meera Joshi about NAGINA, for Filmfare magazine. |
Sridevi in and as Nagina |
Amrish Puri with Sridevi in Nagina (1986) |
Rishi Kapoor and Sridevi in Nagina. This movie was a gargantuan hit back in 1986. A suspense thriller with mythological and super-heroine (with all those superpowers, surely Sridevi was the first 'superhero' on Indian screen?!) tendencies, Sridevi's finale dance number carried the, often absurd, film. |
Filmfare Awards were not held that year (nor in 1987) but surely Sridevi would have won an award for her extraordinary performance. If there was a retroactive reward for stellar performances, Sridevi's mantle would have a trophy for Nagina in 1986 and Mr India in 1987. |
Sridevi, Harmesh Malhotra, Rishi Kapoor |
Also in this collection, a rare gem of a pic, Sridevi with director Harmesh Malhotra and co-star Rishi Kapoor at the Silver Jubilee success party of Nagina. Not one for the party scene, it is hard to find superstar Sridevi attend events without reason. As she has said before, when she was working, she rarely attended parties or did the cocktail circuit, but she made exceptions for her own movie events. |
1. sri devi is v humble and she did a great job in this movie greatest than any other actress could have ever done. there were 100s of snake movies made after Nagina but none left an impact. I just loved sri devi in this movie. she is versatile. beautiful confident and acts v v well. |
2. what were the shooting locations of movie Nagina(1986) |
By Matt Pigott - July 15th, 2016 |
The second installment of our three-part series on content and the art of brand storytelling |
Social platforms lead a return to the long-form |
While some lament the fact that storytelling has become something of a dry buzzword, the essence of it sucked out by overuse, it’s worth noting that nothing beats it, and that brands need to get better at it. It's one of the reasons brands are often bypassing agencies and making a beeline for filmmakers and journalists to craft their narrative for them. Why is this happening? Predominantly because of social media and the elimination of restrictions on video length. Despite supposed short attention spans and scanning by viewers, the long form is making a rampant comeback, and both filmic and journalistic skills are in hot demand. On top of this, consumers increasingly expect a brand narrative. The caveat here is that whatever story gets told needs to be good – convincing, informative, sans BS, relevant, timely, engaging. It's a tall order. Just ask Coppola and Scorcese. |
Or, you could keep it short and sweet |
Still, anybody who thinks that telling a great story is synonymous with delivering a protracted yarn would do well to consider Ernest Hemmingway’s shortest story ever told. |
For sale: Baby shoes. Never Worn. |
Short and sweet, it hits the spot. The apocryphal tale (the story around the story if you will), is that Hemmingway took up a bet that he could write a six-word story that would make people cry. Put another way, he believed in the power of words to transform thinking and touch the emotions in less than the two or three seconds it takes to read his six short words, pounded out on an old typewriter. |
Kleenex mops up with emotion |
Kleenex happens to agree with Mr. Hemmingway. In an effort to make people cry and have them reaching for their favorite brand of tissues, this summer Kimberly-Clark, the company that owns the brand, launched a new campaign entitled Time for Change. The campaign resonates with the Pay it Forward ethos of helping people when they’re down, and making the world a better place. |
Although selling on the basis of facts and functionality, things like texture and absorbency, have hitherto been the go-to strategy, Kleenex is now going straight for the heart with ‘share care’ videos. In the words of Eric Higgs, Kimberly Clark’s general manager, a Kleenex tissue isn’t just a tissue, but a “gesture of care”. The strapline someone needs one reflects the brands shift away from the product toward some of the emotive situations in which the product will be used. Other brands are also framing themselves in similar ways. |
The bell tolls for luxury homes (in a good way) |
Take Toll homes, the biggest luxury home building company in the US. The reason Toll homes has managed to successfully connect with consumers is that it isn’t focusing on itself, it isn’t saying “look at us and the fabulous homes we build”. The focus instead is on the experience that takes place in the spaces the company creates. Videos on its lifestyle channel – lifestyle being the big clue here – run the gamut from wine storing tips and outdoor home maintenance reminders, to fully fledged three-minute cooking shoots with award-winning chef, James Beard. The point is, focusing on the product is what people expect, and Toll has gone beyond expectation to drive phenomenal engagement. In a test launch, its 'grilled shrimp and arugula' video had 1.6million views. But the more important metric is that 90 percent of people watched more than 70 percent of the video, highlighting the demand for quality content. |
Delivering the unexpected keeps people engaged. And here it seems that the age-old adage: sell the sizzle (or shrimp), not the sausage (luxury homes) still applies. |
A novel idea, or are brand stories in a league of their own? |
One of the questions that springs to mind when thinking about storytelling is this: is telling your brand story similar to telling other types of story, such as novels, fairytales, and screenplays, or is it different enough to be treated as a unique discipline in its own right? Does telling a brand story need to be handled in a completely different way? The short answer to this would be, yes, handle it differently, and here's why... |
Go to any movie, read any book from cover to cover, and something becomes apparent. If it’s any good, it will engage the emotions, stimulate the mind and lead to deeper thought and possible conversation. In other words, it will stick. But a movie will end, and a book will end, whereas a brand story never ends. A company established for a hundred years is no doubt bursting with potential stories. The difficult thing is choosing what to say, and getting behind an emotive message that will resonate best with the target audience. |
MorningStar Farms boxing clever |
As mentioned, many brands are turning to professional filmmakers and journalists to convey their sentiments, employing a documentary-style approach to their messaging. MorningStar Farms made "The Veg Effect", running with the strapline: ‘5 stories, 5 different veggie full lives’. |
Using stories to promote a vegetarian lifestyle, the brand called on a butcher (ironically), tap dancer, beer brewer, stuntwoman, and hip-hopper to tell their individual vegan and vegetarian tales? |
Real stories, real people. Carefully curated, the subjects have been expertly filmed in their specific environments to talk about their vegetarian lifestyle choices. Once again, the camera doesn’t linger on branded products but draws the audience in with stories that resonate at the human level. And lest we forget, these real, emotive, visually captivating stories aren’t there to sell veg per se but to sell a specific type of veg-based product, namely products made by MorningStar Farms. They’re not shouting their name from the rooftops, or even the farm furrows, they're getting behind stories that people can relate to, and it’s working. |
Find out more on this topic in our third and final installment of content and the art of brand storytelling |
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Real World article |
(written from a Production point of view) |
Hollow Men is a Pocket DS9 novel written by Una McCormack. Published by Pocket Books, it was first released in April 2005. |
Sisko and Garak travel to Earth to take part in the first Allied talks between the Federation, the Romulans and the Klingons. While there, Sisko informs Starfleet of the extent to which he and Garak were involved in the death of Senator Vreenak. |
Summary Edit |
From the book jacket |
At the turning point of the Dominion War, Captain Benjamin Sisko of Starbase Deep Space 9, facing certain defeat by the overwhelming and relentless forces of the Jem'Hadar and the Cardassians, went through with a secret plan to secure the aid of the Federation's longtime adversaries, the Romulans. What began as a desperate attempt to save lives became a descent into an abyss of deception, moral compromises, and outright criminal acts, as Sisko sacrificed every ideal he held dear in order to presever the civilization that espoused those selfsame principles. |
Background information Edit |
Characters Edit |
Benjamin Sisko |
Elim Garak |
William Ross |
James Leyton |
Kimara Cretak |
Jadzia Dax |
Julian Bashir |
Kira Nerys |
Miles O'Brien |
Jake Sisko |
Joseph Sisko |
Judith Sisko |
Luther Sloan |
Marta Batanides |
Alynna Nechayev |
Vic Fontaine |
Tomas Roeder |
Former crewmember of the USS Livingston, agent of Internal Affairs and now Earth's most vocal anti-war protestor. |
References Edit |
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External link Edit |
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