Tech Tip: Embedding YouTube, Persona 5 Opening

Persona 5 Opening Cinematic and Song

Wikipedia Trails: From The Boy Who Drew Cats to Pitchy Patchy

1. The Boy Who Drew Cats - (other versions known as The Painter of Cats). Translated by Lafcadio Hearn in 1898. Original manuscript was called The Artist of Cats. The book was printed on crepe paper.

2. Crêpe Paper - paper coated with sizing, a protective, glue-like substance. Made with a paper machine that has a steam-heated drying cylinder called a yankee. Used for party streamers, costume making, soaked in water to make paper crafts, and has had some other really weird uses like toilet paper in the former Soviet Union, in place of corn husks when making tamales, and can be used for lipstick and hair color.

3. Junkanoo - street parade in the Bahamas every Boxing Day and New Year's Day. A parade, music, dancing, and costumes. Many of the costumes are made with crepe paper.

4. Pitchy Patchy - a character from the Junkanoo festival. Wears clothes made of "tattered cloth" which is typically crepe paper. Cracks a whip to keep the crowd and the masqueraders in line during the festival.

(Photo from Pinterest)

Famous Last Words: The Clock is Ticking

We're halfway through the semester. My grad school application deadlines are much closer than they were the last time I gave it serious thought. It's hard to work on those while also working on my classes. I know who I will ask to write two of my letters of recommendation, but I still need a third. And then I have to get my things together and ask them. My research assistant job is about to get rolling. I really thought I'd be knee deep in that before midterms, but it's alright. I'm sure we'll make up for lost time.

In mythology this week, I wrote a story based on one of the extra readings I did last week, a Japanese folktale called The Painter of Cats. My version wasn't the greatest, but the original was so much fun. I also wrote my second story this week. It was definitely not as good as my first. I think the rest will be better, but this one was harder to write.

I'm getting ready to head to the veteran's center for my second week of volunteering. I have been there a couple time this week taking care of business. My heart speeds up when I walk through the front doors, every single time, no matter how relaxed I feel beforehand. I hope I adjust soon, because I'm tired of feeling nervous about it.

Yesterday I had a "mental health day" which for me just means I didn't do any homework. I walked around craft stores looking for ideas and didn't buy anything. I read for fun instead of for school. I probably won't get too many more days like that before the semester ends. I thought it was going to be weird to have a semester in between graduation and grad school, but I am honestly looking forward to it.

(Photo from my personal collection)

My daughter and a friend went to a concert this week, and neither of them are driving yet, so we dropped them off in Bricktown. My reward was a stunning sunset. I really need to start getting out for sunrise and sunset again, as often as possible. I spent a couple of years doing it and it brought me a lot of peace. You can see many, many of the shots I took on flickr. Maybe I need to bring back the sunshine project next semester when I don't have nearly as large of a to do list.

Week 9 Story: The Thief Who Drew Cats

(Photo from Persona Central)

Yusuke Kitagawa had been drawing since he was a young boy. He could barely remember his mother, as she passed away when he was just three years old. Raised by his art teacher, he was rarely without a paintbrush in his hand.

When he became Fox of the Phantom Thieves, he found that he could only draw cats. Black cats, orange cats, striped cats, fat cats, cats in bowties, cats wearing bandanas. The last he attributed to his teammate Morgana’s influence. Morgana was cute both in cat form and in the Metaverse where he walked on two legs, with his adorable yellow bandana.

Yusuke became frustrated with his inability to draw anything else. He decided to ask his friends for advice. “What should I draw? It must be something aesthetically pleasing.”

“You should draw Morgana,” Akira said with a smile.

“What?! Why the hell would he want to draw Mona?” Ryuji asked. “You’re really strange, dude.”

“I think a sunrise would be really beautiful,” Ann contributed.

“Aha! I know what to do now! I have to go, I must paint!” And with that, Yusuke was gone. The next morning he was the proud craftsman of a lovely painting… of Morgana watching the sun rise.

He stopped by the cafe to show Akira his painting. “I don’t understand,” he said. “I can’t seem to stop drawing cats.”

“What’s wrong with cats?” Akira asked. “I think it’s a great painting, don’t you Morgana?”

“Yes, well he did paint my good side, that’s for sure!” Morgana said with a wink.

(Photo by Candra at Deviantart)

Depressed by his strange art slump, Yusuke visited the church for inspiration. He told the priest of his troubles while he was there. “Why don’t you stay with me at the church for a while,” the priest offered. “I can teach you to paint the angels and the sun and all of the prophets.” Yusuke agreed. He packed a bag and spent a week living with the priest. He learned to draw all of the things he was promised, and more, but also still couldn’t stop drawing cats. When the week was up, the priest frowned. “I think you will make a fine artist someday, but for now, maybe you should go draw cat portraits or something."

This put Yusuke in an even more gloomy mood. He was afraid to go back home. What if the others were ashamed of his failure? No, he wouldn’t go back until he succeeded in creating art that didn’t have cats in it.

As he walked aimlessly, he came across another church. This one was strange, full of cobwebs and dust and empty of people. “I wonder where the priest has gone?” Yusuke thought. “Perhaps I will clean up for him while I wait.” He spent hours cleaning the church, sweeping away the dust and the webs. When he finished, he was very tired. “I think I will lay down for awhile. I want to feel rested when the priest comes back, so I can ask him to teach me to paint something besides cats.” Before he went to sleep, he drew one more cat picture, a lovely portrait of Morgana in his yellow bandana on the wall.

(Photo by blazpu on Deviantart)

Yusuke heard terrible screams in the night. It sounded like animals fighting. He rushed out to see what was going on. He found a huge, dead rat in the middle of the floor, and noticed that his portrait of Morgana was now covered in blood. “My god! The drawing must have come to life and killed the rat!” Yusuke exclaimed.

Just then, Morgana popped off the wall, solid and made of flesh and blood. “What are you doing, you idiot! Why did you summon me here? And why are you in the Metaverse alone?” Morgana asked.

“Summon you? Metaverse? Wait…” Yusuke felt confused as he tried to absorb what had happened. “I accidentally activated the MetaNav and entered the Metaverse?” he asked the cat.

“Yep. Then I guess you drew me on the wall, and I ended up here, too. Just in time, that huge rat monster was about to eat you.”

“Forgive me, Morgana, and thank you for saving me.”

“Anytime. But we should probably go home, now. Akira will be worried.”

On the way out of the church, they ran into the priest Yusuke had been waiting for, and he paid Yusuke 100 yen for his cat drawing that saved the church from the rat monster.

When they returned to the real world, Yusuke told his friends the tale of how he got paid 100 yen for his portrait of Morgana. From then on, the Phantom Thieves referred to him as the Thief Who Drew Cats.

Author’s Note:

This story is a retelling of The Painter of Cats from Japanese folk stories and fairy tales, by Mary F. Nixon-Roulet. In the original story, a young boy drives his parents crazy by doing nothing but draw cats. When he draws a cat on his mother’s sash for her kimono, they get angry and send him to live with a priest. He studies and learns from the priest, and enjoys the work, but he still draws cats. The priest becomes angry when he draws cats on the walls of the temple and sends him away. The boy is afraid to face his parents, so he decides to look for another temple. He finds one that is dirty and empty. He cleans it up, draws cats on the wall, and goes to sleep. In the night, he hears animals fighting. A huge rat goblin is dead on the floor in the morning, and his cat pictures are covered in blood. He assumes they must have killed the rat. The priests are grateful and pay him 20 yen for saving their church from the rat goblin. In the future, he tells his art students that the first piece of art he sold was a picture of cats for 20 yen, and they call him the Painter of Cats. In this retelling, I have used characters from the game Persona 5. Yusuke is an artist who is having a slump and asks his friends what he should paint. One of the options for Akira (the main protagonist of the game) to answer with is that he should paint the cat, Morgana. In the game, their group called the Phantom Thieves have the ability to enter a cognitive world called the Metaverse. I thought it would be fun if Yusuke accidentally entered that world, and his drawing lured Morgana the cat in as well, to fight with the rat.

The Painter of Cats from Japanese folk stories and fairy tales, by Mary F. Nixon-Roulet. Web Source.

Reading Notes: Goemon film

(Photo from Pinterest)

Goemon (film) - Goemon's entire family is assassinated in front of him. He is saved by Nobunaga Oda, who has Goemon trained in ninjitsu. He is assigned to protect Princess Chacha, Oda's niece and falls in love with her, but due to having very different status, they don't end up together. Years later Goemon becomes a master thief. He steals a mysterious box, and is pursued by a samurai working for Lord Hideyoshi. He escapes with it, leaving behind a calling card. Goemon gives the gold inside the box to the poor, and throws the box away. A young thief named Koheita finds the box and takes it home. Goemon learns the box was valuable and goes to find it. He hears screams and saves Koheita from a samurai who has just murdered his mother. Goemon takes Koheita in as one of his band of thieves. Another ninja trained at the same time as Goemon, Saizo, confronts him about the box and tells him it is referred to as Pandora's Box. When Goemon is about to be defeated by Saizo, their teacher Hattori Hanzo appeared and saved him. Goemon finds a map in the box that leads him to a contract on Hideyoshi. Hanzo reappears and offers him gold to murder Hideyoshi. Goemon goes to his home and kills him, then hides in the ceiling of ChaCha's room. The real Hideyoshi walks in and Goemon is surprised to learn he killed his fake double. Goemon is shot by a guard trying to escape, and Saizo rescues him from the moat. Both Goemon and Saizo are asked by different people to assassinate Hideyoshi. Goemon deides not to. The guy who paid Saizo think it is done and shoots him. Saizo's child is taken and Hideyoshi decrees he should be boiled to death as a public execution. He tells him his name is Goemon. Hideyoshi kicked him innto the cauldron and threw the child in after him. Goemon confronts Hideyoshi about why he betrayed Nobunaga, and ends up killing Hideyoshi. Tokugawa and Mitsunari fight over who should rule Japan, Goemon charges in wearing Nonbunga and fights them during a solar eclipse. Mitsunari's army is superstitious about the eclipse so they leave. Goemon approaches Tokugawa and everyone assumes he intends to kill him, but he isn't holding a sword, just Chacha's fan. One of his emn stabs Goemon. Goemon admires the fireflies and stars and then dies.

Summary of the 2009 film Goemon. Web Source. 

Reading Notes: Japanese Fairy Tales - Lang Part B

(Photo from Mother Nature Network)

Schippeitaro - This is a different version of The Phantom Cats story that I read last week. It is similar, except instead of a samurai in the forrest, it is a Japanese boy who has reached adulthood, and they called the cat monster The Spirit of The Mountain.

The Magic Kettle - A man living in the mountains finds an old iron kettle that he hadn't seen in years, cleaned it and decided to replace his falling apart kettle with it. When he boils water, the kettle changes shape and becomes a tanuki (a Japanese raccoon dog). It ran around his house, climbing the walls and the ceiling, making the old man crazy, so he had his neighbor come over to help him catch it. They locked it in a trunk and try to sell it to a tradesman, Jimmu, but the trunk is empty, so the old man sells him the kettle instead. In the night, Jimmu hears noises and finds a tanuki running around. In the morning only the kettle is there. His neighbor tells him he should travel with it and show it off to get rich. None of it brought him any happiness, so he returned the kettle and gave some of the money to the old man. 

It might be fun if Akira had a magic coffee pot.

Uraschimataro - a young fisherman catches a small turtle. The turtle begs for its life and promises to repay him someday. Years later, Uraschimataro's boat gets destroyed and he is swimming for shore when he sees a huge turtle. It tells him it's the one he saved and offers to take him the rest of the way back to land. He saw on the turtle's back for 3 days and then they reached the palace of the sea god. The turtle tells him she's the first waiting maid of the sea princes Otohime. The princess fell in love with him instantly and begged him to stay. Eventually he misses his parents and wants to visit them. Otohime says if he goes he will never come back. She gives him a golden box and tells him never to open it, and if he doesn't the turtle will bring him back to her. While he was gone, his parents had died. He opens the box, and purple mist comes out and turns him into an old man. He tries to call the turtle, but it doesn't come, and he dies.



Japanese Fairy Tales from The Violet Fairy Book by Andrew Lang. Web Source.

Reading Notes: Japanese Fairy Tales - Lang Part A

(Photo from Pinterest)

The Two Frogs - Japan - 1 frog lived in a ditch in Osaka, the other by a stream in Kioto. Both wanted to explore the world, set off in each other's direction. They had to climb a mountain and they met at the top. They hit it off and decide that if they stand on their hind legs and hold onto each other they can see each other's town from there. They pointed their noses towards each other's city, but forgot that their eyes are on the side of their heads, so they thought the cities looked exactly like each other. They decided to go home, and spent their lives thinking two completely different places looked just alike.

The Maiden With the Wooden Helmet - A beautiful girl's father becomes ill and dies, and it is only her and her mother left. When her mother gets older she begins to worry about how beautiful her daughter is and begs her to wear a wooden helmet when she goes out to hide her beauty. She promises, and her mother passes away. She gets a job working in the fields. Her master sees her and sees how hard she works and offers her a job as maid to his sick wife. When their son moves back home, he thinks it's curious and laughs when they tell him she won't take it off. He catches a glimpse of her beauty when she washes her face in the stream, and begins asking her daily to marry him. She always says no, until she has a dream of her mother telling her to marry him. On their wedding day, the helmet won't come off, so she gets married in it. After, they share wine and the helmet cracks, breaking into jewels, and everyone is captivated by her beauty.

Made me think of Futaba wearing her mask and everyone finding it startling and weird that she would hide behind it.

The Cat's Elopement - A beautiful cat named Gon lives with a music master, and a lady nearby owns a lovely female cat named Koma. One night the cats both went out for a stroll and met under a cherry tree and fell in love. Gon asks his master to buy Koma so he can marry her, but the lady won't sell her. They ran off together and ended up in a large park. A big dog showed up and scared Koma up a tree, and Gon stood up to it. Koma screamed for help and one of the princess who owned the park's servants came, scared the dog off and took Gon home with him. Koma was left alone and the princess became Gon's new owner. Everyone loved her because she was so nice, and a serpent fell in love with her and she was annoyed by him so the servants kept driving him away. It was sly and would sneak in to scare the princess. It snuck in and tried to kiss her and Gon grabbed it and killed it. She gave Gon love and pets and yummy food and a comfy bed. One morning he was sunbathing in front of the house, and saw a big cat messing with a little one and chased it away. The little cat turned out to be Koma. They were happy to be reunited and told the princess their story, and she said they should stay with her forever.



Japanese Fairy Tales from The Violet Fairy Book by Andrew Lang. Web Source.