Gary J. Wolff's Blog Archives
October-December, 2018
This page shows archived posts for Gary J. Wolff's blog from
October-December,
2018.
Enjoy...
Cheers,
Gary
Dec. 28,
2018 - 2018, The Year In Pictures (a video!)
A 3-min. movie of 2018 highlights, created with the "Memories" feature
in the iOS Photos app. Many of the pics are of my Feb. trip to Pattaya,
Thailand, LOTS of beautiful flowers, my Sept. trip to Texas, some of my
wonderful Tokyo musician
friends, and the absolutely stunning Japanese fall colors. Enjoy!
Best wishes for a super-duper 2019, the Year of the Pig! (oink, oink)
2018, The Year In
Pictures
(If player above is not visible, you can view video
at YouTube here.)
(The full-size versions of the 65 photos in this video can be viewed in
my Flickr album: 2018,
The Year In Pictures)
Merry Xmas to all my dear friends around the globe! This Flickr album
shows just a few of the many interesting Japanese Christmas trees I've
had the pleasure of viewing over the past quarter-century in Tokyo,
just another testament to the amazing creativity of the wonderful
Japanese people: https://flic.kr/s/aHskqXkiDd
Japanese Xmas tree photo collage
(view full album at Flickr)
Dec. 24,
2018 - My all-time favorite Xmas music video - Andrea Bocelli &
David Foster performing "White Christmas"
'Tis the Season! This is without question still one of my all-time
favorite Xmas songs by 2 of my all-time favorite musicians. I'm feeling
especially blessed these days and would just like to wish a very joyous
Happy Holiday season to my family and many wonderful friends, for
whom I am
extremely grateful. And Happy New Year 2019, the Year of the Pig, oink,
oink...
Andrea Bocelli
& David Foster performing "White Christmas"
(If player above is not visible, you can view video
at YouTube here.)
[Andrea
holds that last note for the word "white" a remarkable 18
seconds! WOW!]
Hondoji Temple (本土寺), the "Temple of Four Seasons," is famous for its
beautiful
scenery year-round, including cherry blossoms, hydrangeas, irises, and
stunning fall colors. It's located in Matsudo, Chiba near Kita-Kogane
Station on the JR Joban Line.
Why can't we have anything like this in my home state of Texas?!
Hondoji Temple (本土寺) fall colors - Dec. 2, 2018
(click here to view all 25 full-size pics)
The amazing video below caught my eye on Facebook a few weeks ago.
Do you think you use your phone too much? Are you addicted to it?
The video shows a number of scenes where folks are clearly over the top
with the use of their phone.... some humorous, some serious. In the
last 5 years, it's been viewed over 51 million times.
Wow...
I Forgot My Phone
(If player above is not visible, you can view video
at YouTube here.)
Dec. 12,
2018 - Mental Ward
Please come visit me...
Mental Ward - "We're All Here Because We're Not All There"
Dec. 2,
2018 - Nighttime lightup of Japan's gorgeous fall colors
It’s that time of year again. Even after 27 years, I just can’t seem to
get enough of Japan’s stunningly beautiful fall colors. Nothing even
remotely close to this in my home state of Texas, yet many of my
stateside family and friends still don’t get why I love Japan so
much.
Last night I saw, without question, one of the most beautiful things
I've ever seen in my whole lifetime. And to think I'd never even HEARD
of such a thing as the nighttime lightup of fall colors before coming
to Japan. God is very skillful
with his paintbrush.
Click here
to view all 25 pics of the beautiful yellow ginkgo trees (ichou, イチョウ)
at Gaien Ichou Namiki Dori and the red Japanese maple (momiji, 紅葉)
trees at the 316-year-old Rikugien Garden.
Nighttime lightup of Gaien Ichou Namiki Dori (whole album)
Nov. 25,
2018 - Animusic's Pipe Dream
This
is without question one of the most impressive things I think I've
ever seen. I first saw this on Facebook about a week ago. Animusic,
based in Ithaca, New York, is a computer animation company with the
singular
focus of animating music.
Animusic's Pipe
Dream
(If player above is not visible, you can view video
at YouTube here.)
Nov. 18,
2018 - "The Birds" are BACK!!
The starlings in Ichikawa, Chiba have been going crazy in the past
couple
weeks. Reminds me of Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 classic horror film, "The
Birds." Noisy, noisy birds!
Massive swarm of
Tokyo starlings. OMG! Taken November 17, 2018.
(If player above is not visible, you can view video
at YouTube here.)
Nov. 4,
2018 -World’s oldest barber still working full-time
107-year-old Anthony Mancinelli is still working full time, cutting
hair 5 days a week from noon to 8 p.m. in a cheery hair salon in New
Windsor, about an hour’s drive north of New York City. Eleven years ago
when he was already 96 years old, he was recognized by Guinness World
Records as the world's oldest working barber.
Mr. Mancinelli, who sports a full head of snow white hair, says he has
never smoked or drank heavily, and was never big on exercise.
Diet-wise, he said, “I eat thin spaghetti, so I don’t get fat.”
107-year-old Anthony Mancinelli, world's oldest barber
(photo credit: New York
Times)
Longevity does not run in his family, and he only goes to the doctor
because people tell him to, because he has "no aches, no pains, no
nothing. Nothing hurts me,” he says. He has all his teeth, is on no
daily medication, has never needed glasses, and never calls in sick.
One motivating factor for continuing to work is that it helps him stay
busy and upbeat after his wife of 70 years, Carmella, passed away 14
years ago. He visits her grave every day before work.
Mr. Mancinelli lives alone, not far from the salon. He drives to work,
cooks his own meals, shops for himself, does his own laundry, pays his
own bills, and likes watching TV — he's a big pro-wrestling fan. He
even trims the bushes in his front yard with no help.
One of 8 children and who now has 6 great-great-grandchildren, Mr.
Mancinelli was born in 1911 near Naples, Italy, and emigrated with his
family to New York when he was 8 years old.
He dropped out of high school at age 12 to cut hair full-time, back
when a haircut cost only 25 cents. Now, a haircut from Mr. Mancinelli
costs $19. Yep, that's right... he's only 5 years shy of having cut
hair for an entire CENTURY! Wow.
Source: New York Times
Oct. 31,
2018 - Gyotoku
Festival (行徳まつり), Sunday, October 28, 2018
An amazing all-day event, featuring Bon Odori dancers in beautiful
colorful kimonos, taiko drumming, Halloween costume-clad families, and
even a marching band in full military attire. Yee hah!
Gyotoku Festival
(行徳まつり), Sunday, October 28, 2018
(If player above is not visible, you can view video
at YouTube here.)
Oct. 21,
2018 - Metamorphosis of Sir Sean Connery
Cheers
to one of my all-time favorite movie stars, Scottish actor and producer
Sir Sean Connery, who was the first actor to portray British secret
agent James Bond 007, starring in 7 Bond films between 1962 and 1983.
The metamorphosis slideshow of Sir Sean Connery below is one of the
coolest things I think I've ever seen...
Metamorphosis of
Sir Sean Connery
(If player above is not visible, you can view video
at YouTube here.)
Oct. 14,
2018 - Yale University's most-popular-ever "Happiness 101" course now
available online for free
In the Spring 2018 semeseter at Yale University, approximately 1200
students, or 1 in 4 undergrads, enrolled in Psychology professor Dr.
Laurie Santos' class named "Psychology and the Good Life." That’s the
largest enrollment ever reported for a single class in Yale’s 317-year
history.
Now an expanded online version of the course called "The Science
of Well-Being" is available for free at Coursera. Here's part of the
course description:
"The purpose of the course is to not only learn what psychological
research says about what makes us happy, but also to put those
strategies into practice. The first part of the course reveals
misconceptions we have about happiness and the annoying features of the
mind that lead us to think the way we do. The next part of the course
focuses on activities that have been proven to increase happiness along
with strategies to build better habits. The last part of the course
gives learners time, tips, and social support to work on the final
assignment which asks learners to apply one wellness activity aka
"Rewirement" into their lives for 4 weeks."
The free online course includes access to all assignments, quizzes, and
video lectures, but to receive the course certificate after completing
all course requirements, you'll need to submit the $49 tuition fee.
I've been keenly interested in this topic of "positive psychology,"
ever since last year viewing psychologist and Harvard professor Shawn
Achor's May 2011 TEDx talk, "The happy secret to better work," one of TED's 25
most popular talks of all time, now viewed a remarkable 18.4 million
times.
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