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So here we are again. Well, my name is Angus Macdonald, which is a ridiculously Scottish name, so I use the somewhat ambiguous but still rather Scottish name Eggar Gordon, which was my grandfather's name and also acts as a literary pseudonym. I'm 31 but still live like a student.

I've posted on the two previous versions of this site, and am ready to leave senseless and irritating posts on this one too.

Following Lokman's suggestion I'll hazard a little more depth in this introduction. I love Cary Grant, Tintin, Gogol, homaguro sashimi, Green and Black's organic chocolate, Comme des Garcons and getting lost in peculiar fictional worlds of my own creation. I loathe Louis Vuitton bags, franchises, politicians, celebrity culture, tattoos, overweight people showing their midriffs and Chelsea FC. Stories of the human spirit overcoming the odds touch me and George Bush, Tony Blair and the Iraq War anger me.

When will I find out if I've got the job?

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You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and... blow.

welcome to the new digs angus. checkout my post to links to the film noir foundation’s newsletter.

I like the colors of the Murakami (T.) Louis Vuitton bag and I like good tattoos. I understand and respect what you feel though.

I once met a girl who had those Chinese lions (the ones that protect temples) tattooed above each breast. She was a gangbanger. Technically, the tatts were superior and the meaning was very special I thought. To drink from a warriors cup!

Has anyone ever called you Egon before?

My, have you been busy on these boards Alejandro! I just find LV bags to be vulgar displays of wealth or aspirations towards wealth (the fake ones, that is) because they have LV written all over them and we all know how expensive they are. The Murakami design is marginally better than the traditional design, but the owner might as well wear a bag with hundred dollar bills stapled to it as far as I'm concerned.

And the bloody things are ubiquitious. I first noticed their popularity in Japan, but now they are everywhere. This is not good because every time I see one it puts me in a bad mood and my estimation of the owner's intelligence is reduced by half. Will this plague never end?

Since Eggar Gordon is not my real name nobody has even called be Eggar, let alone Egon. However I was called Butty (short for Buttocks) for five years at school

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You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and... blow.

To each, their own. I will now ignore that and continue with:

Just don't pay attention to it. I live in Tokyo and I don't pay them any mind. ALSO...please don't judge them so quickly! My dearest friend here carries a Dior purse...AND he is a (straight) male, an educator, a DJ possessing superior taste in the arts. You know what? He may agree with you about the LV bags but for different reasons. Mainly, if they match his wardrobe or not.

I suppose as a complete slut to Comme des Garcons I can hardly talk about designer things at all.

I've spent some time in Tokyo over the years. Stayed in Hiro-o for a month in the summer of 2000 and over the other side of Roppongi-dori in Aoyama for the autumn of 2003. I miss it. Probably popping over again next year. Where do you live in Tokyo (although the city is so big I'll probably have never even heard of your area)?

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You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and... blow.

I'm actually in Saitama. North of the border about 12 mins or so. I am on the Hibiya line...easy little trip to Roppongi, Ueno etc. etc. etc. What did you do here? You stayed in some not so cheap parts of town!

Yeah, I know Saitama, although I've not been there. My actress friend Kaori lives there. Haha, yeah, I know Minato Ku is about as expensive as it gets. Both times I was staying with friends who worked for international corporations. In 2003 my friend had a massive flat in Aoyama very near Omotesando tube paid for by JP MorganStanley. It was nice to be a fifteen minute walk away from Shibuya one way and Roppongi the other, although I kinda grew out of Roppongi after my first stay.

I was travelling when I was first there and dropped by an old school friend and second time I was going out with a Japanese girl I'd met crossing the Sahara and then she dumped me after I got there. Shouganai ne! That time I was staying on a hippy camp site in Ishigaki in Okinawa, but then I moved north to Tokyo. It's a long story. 2003 I worked for DHC, rewriting translations from Japanese into English. A Japanese person would translate into English, but not very well, and I'd rewrite it into corporate American English, which was sometimes rather tricky because American English is very different from British English.

What are you doing over there? Teaching English?

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You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and... blow.

Indeed, Jeffrey, but one doesn't want to be glib. Anyway, as it happens, my girlfriend is out there teaching English at the moment. And it's at the most anonymous, factory-like school: Nova.

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You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and... blow.

hello eggar (err.. your nick is too long for me, i'll either call you angus or abbreviate your nick). still planning to write you an email but have been slacking off lately due to my upcoming prospectus defense. soon enough i hope.

It is possible to find a job other than teaching English here.

Haha,

Well, the way I got my job was quite remarkable. I was selling a bunch of records on eBay just before flying to Japan in 2003. However I got a complaint from the buyer that a few of the records were scratched and that he would like to return them for a refund. So I said that I would refund him the money, but he could keep the records as I was leaving the country (to go to Japan).

He asked me what I would be doing over there and advised me against teaching English as 'factory line work' and said that as I seemed a good writer why didn't I work for the company he worked for, the DHC Corporation, rewriting English that had been translated by a Japanese person. So this is what I ended up doing, for 3,600 Yen an hour, on a hippy campsite in Ishigaki!

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You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and... blow.

I gotta say, Angus, this combined with what I've read on your site, you have remarkable stories to tell. Who would you want directing the biopic?

Uhhh... are they hiring now? I am looking for a new job. I was looking at doing caricatures but I don't think that sort of pay will cut it here.