I'm working quite hard towards my concerts in March. The practising is going well and I'm feeling more and more focused.I don't find it difficult anymore to make sure that practice comes first and find it easier to fight off temptations. I'm feeling good at the moment and am happy with how the preparations are going.

I just saw a programme on TV which was truly inspiring. It was an interview with Mr.Hashimoto,one of the co-writers of A.Kurosawa's films. He talked about how the script for "The Seven Samurai" was written. Apparently,the three writers (including Kurowasa) camped out in a Ryokan (a traditional Japanese Inn) and two of them,Mr.Hashimoto and Kurosawa would both write each scene out.The third writer (who never wrote a single scene himself) was the judge and he would choose which ever scene worked better. Apparently there were times this so-called judge would say that both of them didn't work and so they would write the scene out all over again (without trying to justify their own scene or without any protest! ). Mr.Hashimoto,was saying how meticulously Kurosawa would write out the character of a person,from how he would wear his zouri (shoe) to how he would eat his food and use up almost half a notebook (not half a page!) on just this. Watching Kurosawa writing all this in front of him,Mr.Hashimoto thought this must be the work of the devil.

Later on,Kurosawa published a book called "Attention Like the Devil,Boldness Like an Angel",and Mr.Hashimoto said he was thunder stricken by these words as it was exactly what he had thought so many years before.

I think the word "meticulous" is more appropriate than "attention" for the Japanese word Kurosawa used,but nonetheless,I think this is such an inspirational saying. In any kind of art form,I think we must pursue the ultimate meticulousness,and the ultimate boldness which we think may be beyond our human abilities.