User:Seckstu

I do, in fact, attend Simon's Rock College of Bard: The College for Younger Scholars. Well, actually, because that's too wordy, they recently lost the "College for Younger Scholars" part after a furious controversy.

I don't really do much, which is probably why I've gotten interested in the Wiki and Nu pedias. I had intended for my first article here to be about the Ainu, an ethnographically puzzling bunch living on Hokkaido, Japan, but when I found out there was no Japanese History page, I figgured I ought to work on that first.

Aye Chan would probably appreciate that if he weren't in Japan now. Chris Coggins will probably appreciate if I remember to tell him. He's more of a Chinese Ecology guy than a Japanese History guy, though.

The main reason I don't have much to do is that, as of the moment, I'm unemployed. I'm also broke. Generous donations for my work here will not be turned down. All I have left to eat is rice, beans, and Sazon. Oh shit. I'm down to one pack of cigarettes. This is a pickle.

Maybe I should plug things here? Let's see. McCoy Tyner, Thelonius Monk, and Keith Jarrett are, in my mind, the greatest muscians ever. George Clinton, to whom I'm listening right now, is no slouch. Winston Lights are the cigarettes of champions, not just racing fans ( many of whom aren't champions ). John Updike, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, [Phillip Roth], Joseph Heller, and Irvine Welsh are amongst the authors I enjoy. I probably would enjoy Thomas Pynchon, but all I've read of his is the Crying of Lot 49, so that hardly makes me an authority. ( I'll read Gravity's Rainbow sometime ) Oh, and if you want great gin for a great price, I highly recommend Seagram's ( yes they make gin. ) Gin's not good for you though. The juniper berries make you age prematurely. That explains the British, huh?

Oh, right, about me. I'm from Philadelphia, which, despite what most Philadelphians may believe, does have many strong points. I'm an ardent Phillies fan, a team which, despite what many Phillies fans may believe, does have many strong points. I think I'm about 5'8", but despite my stature I'm strikingly handsome, with deep blue eyes. I don't have a scanner, or pictures of myself for that matter, so you'll just have to trust me on this.

If you have any questions or comments, please, feel free to email me at seckstu@simons-rock.edu.

If anyone knows why the double brackets aren't working right here, could you let me know? If you're annoyed by all the double brackets, you can feel free to delete them. I was just trying to be cute.

Welcome to Wikipedia! From your reading interests, I think you might like Tom Robbins, too. Are you familiar with him? If not, why not try Still Life with Woodpecker or Jitterbug Perfume? --Koyaanis Qatsi

Wow. You know, I had actually intended to read Tom Robbins as soon as possible, based on what I'd heard of him. That's both creepy and cool. Thank you.

Dear Sam. Thanks for dropping by, nice word and a mention of Steve Wozniak. I hope I have not stolen your ideas by filling out this entry! :) - I just happen to be an admirer of Woz and wrote a longer article that included his bio. I just pasted it to S.Wozniak entry. If you got more material, please expand. Cheers -- Piotr Wozniak

Hello Seckstu,

Welcome in Wikipedia. It's good to have another creative person who will contribute to our pet project.

It might interest you that one of the first researchers who took interest in Ainu culture was a Polish ethnographer. Don't remember his name right now but some time ago I saw a fascinating documentary on the Polish TV. The most striking in the documentary were special disks with recordings of their chants and songs.

Hope you enjoy being a Wikipedian like I do, Kpjas

Uneducated guess: [Arvo Iho] (actually from present-day Estonia) and his film [Tolko dlya sumashedshikh]?

Man, I wish I spoke Polish ( or Estonian. Or both for that matter. Extra languages can't hurt ). It's so hard to find anything on the Ainu. Most information on them is just off-hand references with even more off-hand assumptions. I'm going to look into the possibility of translations though. Thanks for the lead.

--Seckstu

Actually, I'm embarassed to admit that when I visited that page and glanced at the genre I read "documentary" but it is in fact a drama. D'oh. I'm trying to find the a worthwhile lead now.


 * Here's one made by a British doctor (Neil Gordon Munro) in the mid-30's: Iyomande: The Ainu Bear Festival, described at http://www.sfsu.edu/~avitv/avcatalog/80383.htm, which is also credited to a Kyosuke Kindaichi [here] and [here]. And one called Portrait of Japan, which it seems doesn't deal much with the Ainu, described [here]: "This four-part series, hosted and narrated by Richard Chamberlain, follows the lives of twenty Japanese people in their struggle to be themselves. These are individuals who have the courage to be critical, yet understanding, of their society and seek out their own place in the land of the rising sun."...  --KQ


 * The Polish ethnographer name is Pilsudski and here's a link to a page that might prove useful [http://panda.bg.univ.gda.pl/ICRAP/]

From Philadelphia Phillies: If they make it to the playoffs, I'll update this.

If they make it to play offs, I'll eat my monitor GWO

If they don't make the playoffs, well, I'll eat a bagel or something. I'm not willing to stake too much on it.

--Seckstu