totti-’s Neighborhood

今年は暖冬の影響からか、関東では今週からようやく冬本来の冷え込みになってきました。

Xmas tree

【概要】

• Illumination Hunt投稿大募集！

【Illumination Hunt投稿大募集！】
先月末から街中にはイルミネーション・クリスマスツリーがディスプレイされています。今年は、東京表参道のイルミネーションが10年ぶりに復活するなど、イルミネーションに関する話題も豊富です。
明日のVox Huntで街中で見つけたイルミネーションやクリスマスツリーのフォトの投稿を出題します。今日から、街中で見つけたイルミネーションやクリスマスツリーの写真に「illumination」と「xmas tree」のタグを付けて投稿してください。携帯カメラで撮ったフォトでももちろんOK。例年盛り上がるこのイベントにぜひ参加してください。

集まったフォトは例年同様12月24日にチームVoxブログに記事を掲載し、ご紹介します。たくさんの投稿をお待ちしています。

--チームVox

I like science fiction and fantasy very much. Recently, I have read the first volume of the Song of Ice and Fire series, called A Game of Thrones. The series consists of four books altogether. I found it very interesting. First of all, the writer's style is very good, something which often is not true of science fiction and fantasy. And the ideas are very interesting. Most of the book feels a little like historical fiction, but there is also a fantasy element.

I also like science fiction. I have just started reading Hyperion, a book by Dan Simmons and the first book in the Hyperion series. This is a very well-regarded series, and critics say it has many interesting ideas. However, from reading the first few pages, I feel that the style is not very polished, so I'm wondering how enjoyable the book will be.

ぐうたら休日(ホリデー)―リラックマ生活〈7〉

8月より、Amazonアイテムのサービスが利用できない状況が長期発生しておりましたが、本日早朝に不具合の修正が完了いたしました。

不具合修正完了日：2009年11月3日（アメリカ時間帯11月2日）

不具合修正まで長期にわたりご迷惑をおかけいたしました事を心より深くお詫び申し上げます。

良い休日をお過ごしください。

--チームVox

I haven't had time recently to go to the movie theater, and anyway there haven't been any movies that I really wanted to see. But I did get a chance last weekend to see Gran Torino on DVD. Gran Torino is Clint Eastwood's latest movie; he directed it and starred. Many people think it might be his last movie, too, because he is now very old (79 years old). He has acted in and directed many movies. Do you know the Dirty Harry series?

Anyway, Gran Torino is about an old man, played by Clint, who lives in a neighborhood that used to be all-white but now has many Asians, including his next-door neighbors. Clint is very grumpy and appears to be hostile to his neighbors, to the point of racism. But as the movie progresses, he discovers that his neighbors are human beings just like him, and that in fact they have more in common with him than his own family does. I recommend that you check out this movie!