* MARK WILKIE, YOU ARE MY BFF FOR SENDING ME THIS.

* Kyoto train station

...uuummm, I'd like to leave my mind games at home, thank you!

* Kyoto

* Kyoto

* Kyoto

And the answer is...155!! Isn't that shocking?? And of those, 41 won. Thanks for playing!!

Between 1988 and 1997 there were roughly 96,000 felony indictments in New York so on average, just under 10,000 per year during this 10 year span. Of the 96,000 cases, how many defendants entered a not guilty plea by reason of insanity or diminished capacity? They don't need to have won the case. Simply, of the 96,000 homicide cases tried in New York, how many of these pleas were entered during this time?

Let me know what you think and I'll post the answer. Then, I'll tell you of those cases, how many won!

I am pleased to report that my second day of classes was great as well! Social Psychology and the Law was the class I was most looking forward to and it didn't disappoint. We will be reading lots of legal cases and doing mock trials in class! Our term paper will be written in the style of a legal brief. I couldn't be more excited. My last class is Developmental Psychology which also seems good albeit a little less exciting. We'll be learning all the messy details that comprise our stages of psychological development as well as school violence. The thought crossed my mind today more than once, how fantastic it is and how fortunate I am to be studying the precise subjects I'm most interested in!

* Syuri Yoshida, last night in Nagoya

* On Shinkansen from Nagoya to Kyoto

* Seian University of Art and Design ad

I have been loving TV Land's Elvis programming. It has been a profound reminder of what a formidable, breathtaking, original talent Elvis was. Listening to his voice and watching him perform brings tears to my eyes more often than it doesn't. And it's not just because he was painfully hot.

LONG LIVE THE KING!!

Here are some of my favorite songs and performances:

1956 - Love Me Tender: THIS IS WORTH CLICKING ON even though I'd like instead to boycott this video uploader for not allowing embedding - he was all genius and no baggage at this point.

1970 - Suspicious Minds - his dancing is off the hook:

1972 - You're Always On My Mind:

1973 - Can't Help Falling in Love - Live from Hawaii - do rockstars kiss fans on the lips all throughout performances anymore?

1973 - Blue Hawaii - a great song and one of my favorite movies of all time - no joke!

1973 - You Gave Me A Mountain:

Six weeks before his death in 1977 - Unchained Melody - playing the piano and crooning like there's no tomorrow:

This picture should be proof enough that people of different cultures are so so so different. Can you even imagine an American being this early for his train, so properly and rigidly poised and patient?!!

* Her wrists are bandaged due to arthritis :-(

My first two classes, Psych of Criminal Behavior and Statistics were fantastic and my Criminal Behavior professor charmed me off my feet! I had just purchased a globe so I walked into class carrying a big box. I suppose I could have alluded to the box containing my ex-boyfriend's head but I held back. It was only my first day of class!

For those of you curious what my courses are this semester click here.

Finally, did you know that John Jay (since it's a CUNY school) is costing me Jonah $3000 a semester, $6000 a year??!! Pretty great huh?? Yeah CUNY! YEAH JONAH!!

* by Zee.

* My brother Hiromi in Mitsukoshi department store in Sakae, Nagoya.

* Sakae region of Nagoya.

First day of grad school...wish me luck!!

Upon further investigation the front door doorknob had a sign hanging on it - something about the house being open for the exterminators - might have been why the place was not locked! Lily and Sandy shopped for less flea-laden shoes and a shirt and we ran for the ferry. Unfortunately a mother flea made its way to the big city via Lily - we didn't have the heart to kill it so Lily's working on a flea circus.

Oh Hinoki...you make me weak in the knees...

During our trip to Hakone last week we stayed in a ryokan with several onsen and rotenburo (outdoor hotsprings which are my preference). While my mom and I bathed ourselves before stepping into the rotenburo we used the hinoki oil infused shampoo and conditioner the inn provided and the smell was divine. I fell in love instantly. Then my mom told me all about hinoki, its antibacterial qualities and its use in construction including for bathtubs (the one we were about to step into was made of hinoki). Of course I had to ask, "but how can wood withstand so much water?" and the amazing answer is that it's resistant to rot - some claim for over 1000 years! Incredibly durable, healing and fragrant.

A promise to no one in particular: If and when Jonah and I move into a place we own I will have a hinoki tub made and installed - preferably outside!!

* So psyched that BuzzFeed covered this - to learn more check out these links!

Ze showed us this last night and I almost cried. Here's the incredible backstory you should read before watching the video.

1) Wear a summer hat
2) Hold your sister's hand
3) Have a lightness in your step
4) Nonchalantly carry a 7-11 bag
5) Be an adorable, little Japanese girl

* Taken by Zee!

Jonah and I went to the screening of this film last night thanks to New York - Tokyo. It is a very good film and a tremendously tragic story. If you don't know about the Japanese families who lives were shattered by North Korea's abduction of their children, you must see this film. This film pays just enough attention to the big picture and all the families affected without straying from the main story which is the kidnapping of Megumi Yokota, a 13 year old girl from Niigata, Japan and her parents' continued search for her. The DVD is due out in September and hopefully the film will make it to the big screen here and receive the rave reviews its enjoyed internationally. In the meantime here's a trailer.

A few highlights [warning - spoilers below]:

- Former Prime Minister Koizumi does the right thing by withholding food and medical aid to North Korea for the acknowledgment and subsequent return of (some of) the victims they kidnapped. However he then appears less honorable when he faces the weeping father of Megumi and explains that while the abduction issue is an important one so is that of nuclear weapons. 'Abduction issue' is such dispassionate wording! I can't even begin to imagine how incredibly difficult being a politician must be.

- The sponsor of the film screening, ANA (All Nippon Airways), was also the airline that flew home five of the 13 abductees. After the film and before the Q&A session with the film directors, an ANA representative told us that his boss was on the flight with the returning abductees. His boss offered one of the abductees a cigarettes which happened to be the very popular Japanese brand Mild Seven. The abductee politely declined saying that he could only smoke cigarettes of his country - meaning North Korea. Keep in mind that this is a Japanese guy who was abducted from Japan in his twenties. More and more I believe the disturbing notion that most people can be brainwashed without too much trouble.

- According to witnesses, Megumi arrived in North Korea after a 40 hour boat ride, without fingernails. She never ceased crying for her mother nor scratching at the iron door of the tiny compartment she was locked in.

For up to date information click here.

* Syuri Yoshida at Teppanyaki dinner in Nagoya.

* Thanks again to Nikon for their fantastically generous gift-loan of the D 80 - comes in especially hands at times like during teppanyaki dinner!

* Shinkansen ride from Tokyo to Nagoya to visit our Japanese family, The Yoshidas.

* On the Inokashira Line to Inokashira Park at Kichijoji station.

* On the Inokashira Line to Inokashira Park at Kichijoji station.

* Although I'd like to claim I braved the men's bathroom, I can't. Taken by my brother in former baseball star Kaku san's Taiwanese restaurant in Nagoya.

Peggy is so awesome and Stereogum has picked up on this. I was at BuzzFeed late one night when they were practicing and I got to listen to their melodic, beautiful music all to myself...with Peggy's dog Lammy.

* At the grocery store down the street from our apt in Sakuragaoka.

* On Aoyama Dori between Shibuya and Omotesando.

* Starring Syuri Yoshida, taken by my Japanese brother Hiromi at a teppanyaki restaurant in Nagoya.

I've always been ambivalent about psychotherapy's efficacy. This article emphasizes a good fit which is of course important but I wonder about situations in which patients choose therapists that merely indulge them? For example I know of narcissists who (consciously or unconsciously) see therapists who feed their narcissism and simply make them feel good about themselves? I suppose there will always be outliers but interesting (to me) nonetheless to think about.

This family vacation was deeply satisfying - it felt like one big love fest and silly fest - the best fests! Missing them and Japan a lot right now - I hope to spend more time with both in the near future.

I don't think I've spent a happier night than last. After delighting in the surprises Jonah presented upon my arrival of an utterly delicious mushrooms-clams-corn-basil-onion-garlic-black pepper pasta he cooked for two hours, a bowl of strawberries for desert and fresh flowers!, I snuggled into the sanctuary of his arms, reveling in memories of this family trip and quickly drifted into dreamland with an unfettered smile.

While catching up on my Perez Hilton studies I was reminded that Madonna had a birthday on August 16th and I fondly reminisced on the Madonna of old. I loved her. She was my greatest inspiration as a youngster. She was a true star.

* A gem captured by The Cameronfactor.

Still as intriguing as ever, here's New York Magazine's take.

Give me a B! Give me an I! Give me a TCH!

Anyone wanna hang out tomorrow at 4:40 AM?

Well of course it does! This is my favorite kind of science - that which supports what I intuitively know!

In the first season of the television drama “Nip/Tuck,” two plastic surgeons named Dr. Sean McNamara and Dr. Christian Troy hire a staff psychologist to determine whether their patients are psychologically equipped to handle cosmetic procedures. In one episode, the psychologist denies treatment to a severely depressed patient who later commits suicide.

In real life, although plastic surgeons sometimes refer patients for counseling, they typically do not have a psychologist on staff. But new research may prompt doctors to consider it. Continued...

I'll be trying out Air Canada today (I'll be sure to let you know if anything exciting happens) and stepping foot in Toronto for the first time. Oops - my mom just told me I've been to Toronto - I was four, we went to Niagara Falls, I wore a checkered dress and my brother who was one at the time wore a striped shirt.

!!!

Laterz!

As soon as I felt the earthquake last night I reverted back to the baby I am when it comes to earthquakes. I grabbed for my mom sleeping in the futon next to me and moaned, "Mommy~~Mommy~~". She held me and told me not to worry since all the buildings (especially new ones - but of course we didn't have time to get into details!) are built to withstand earthquakes. It actually made me feel better, well actually my brain felt better but my heart was still pumping strong. I suppose one has to somehow pay for the fortuitous prevalence of hot springs but it's still frightening. Makes sense that I live in no-earthquake NYC!

THERE WAS JUST ANOTHER EARTHQUAKE A SECOND AGO AND MY DAD BARELY LOOKED UP FROM HIS STUDIES, MY MOM STAYED GLUED TO THE JAPANESE SHOW SHE WAS WATCHING AND A TICKER RAN ACROSS THE TV SCREEN READING, "THERE WAS AN EARTHQUAKE AT 8:20 THIS MORNING".

I want to be calm about it too!! Searching for a qualude...

* Early August, uptown Bloomingdales.

* Spotted by Paul Ohan at uptown Bloomingdales.

* Thanks to Alex for a deliciously fun evening last week!

The other day while singing Rihanna's Umbrella in the shower, Jonah busted in, flung open the shower curtain and shoved this umbrella at me...here's Andrea's Umbrella, photographic version:

It feels great to be back home in Tokyo. Woke up this morning with that deeply content and peaceful feeling to be back where you come from!

Not sure how this happened but...I am white.

My brother is brown. My mother is yellow.

If he's titillated you, you can read more about him here.

* Thanks for designing these, Sally Rumble!! LOLOLOL.

* Thanks to Annie Maxwell for having a google alert on 'Hello Kitty'! LOLOLOL.

Missing Jonah and our fun, colorful breakfasts together!

I will be traveling today and arriving in Tokyo tomorrow Thursday evening. Will post AESOP!

xoxo,
AH.com

American Apparel continues to gross me out.

Interesting comments and post.

New Yorkers are silly and easy to love!

* Two Boots on Bleecker btw Broadway & Lafayette.

Saw this modern day application of physiognomy and had to tear it off the shelves and purchase it aesop. Check out an example - it gets more silly and racist - fun reading and an excellent coffee table book!

* Chinatown, NYC.

* Chinatown, NYC.

The most revealing article thus far which paints not such a nice picture of Theresa but feels like a more whole picture than has been reported thus far. Interesting quotes, the first of which makes one suspect mental illness in the family:

“She claimed [her father] had serious mental-health problems and was notorious around town for doing bizarre things,” recalls Gesue.

Art dealer and gallery owner Christine Nichols, who had known the couple for years, told the Weekly that Duncan sometimes found it hard to see Blake working with anyone but her. Their relationship was so intertwined, Nichols says, “You were either in complete agreement with everything they said or you were an enemy.”

Jeremy, having met Theresa when he was only 23 (she was 28 at the time - note the emotionally significant ages and the vast difference in maturity between them) embodied the younger man looking up to the older woman dynamic. Theresa's career was firmly established and on the rise. Undoubtedly she taught him, supported him and was a crucial ingredient to Jeremy's success. Over the years however while Jeremy's career took off, Theresa's was flailing and she increasingly lost touch with reality as she saw conspiracies as reasons for her failed projects . Her despair and fears permeated Jeremy the way any close couple shares their pain but this situation was insidious because her mental problems went largely unchecked because she was an artist and a writer and they say and do wacky things and it's extremely difficult for people on the outside to know when there's a real problem. In this atmosphere Jeremy was the younger guy taking the lead from his older woman - whatever she said portrayed as reality was his reality. Their paranoia became a self-fulfilling prophecy - the more skeptical friends and family grew of their accusations, the more they felt misunderstood and even attacked by their surroundings and reinforced the belief that they could only trust each other. Jeremy's mother is quoted saying Jeremy was a loyal caretaker - how incredibly apt. That statement plus Jeremy, seemingly out of left field, accusing a colleague of trying to ruin Theresa's reputation all point to him as an impressionable guy so wrapped up in Theresa's perspective it became his and he was doing all that he could to protect her and ultimately them. He wasn't able to step out of the dynamic and see things differently than she did. In terms of his art and whether he was able to conceive of going on in life without her, she was his one worthwhile audience member and critic. His critique of the art world was growing as was her/their paranoia and the two of them became sealed as each others trustworthy muse and critic. In the end he couldn't go on without either. To the core, Jeremy was influenced by Theresa and until the end lived and died by her perspective. As his suicide note simply says, he wanted to be reunited with her. After all, the only adult life he knew was with her and in the last few years of their lives, insulating and endangering themselves in the 'us against them' cocoon they built.

Another article with a little more info.

Wow. The most comprehensive reporting to date on the deaths of Jeremy Blake and Theresa Duncan.

Two snippets:
In a 27-page "chronology" written by Blake in October in preparation for a lawsuit against the church that was never filed, he alleges the couple was "methodically defamed, harassed, followed and threatened" by Scientologists. The document lists Tom Cruise, filmmaker-artist-author Miranda July, writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson, former Viacom Chief Executive Tom Freston, alternative rocker Beck and Art Forum Editor Tim Griffin, among others, as players in the dispute. In addition, a number of Hollywood talent agents and major league art collectors were accused of being in on the conspiracy.

"I think Theresa, in one of her rare moments of self-reflection, recognized she had burned all of these bridges in Jeremy's career with the paranoia," Schlei said. "Jeremy was her creation. And she was killing the thing she created, this great, terrific artist. She realized what she had done. To let him live, she had to go. But in a symbiotic relationship, one couldn't last without the other."

Two of my many banana designs I like to present to Jonah as part of breakfast party-time!

Look carefully:

Choose wisely:

This picture delights me to my core.

If you haven't yet been to the NY Aquarium, you should!