Random thoughts

Hey don’t you think avril lavigne is just a little too much like Madonna?

Her latest single is called DON’T TELL ME, released just 2 years after Madonna released the single DON’T TEL ME. They both have international sucuess…and they’re both…like…girls…

V2- yeah totally dood!

That’s one short segment or interruption of a skit or something .. haha good idea Jordon you’re a loser

and I can click the button on my mouse 260 times in 60 seconds.

this would also be a good time to share the most awesomest youtube video ever:

It took wordpress almost 60 seconds (that’s like hours in internet time) to load the “write a new post” for this blog, probably because I almost forgot about it.

I was thinking how great it would be to have a place on the net where I can catalog cool places I’ve visited in the city.

I had an interview with Icelandic electronic pop group Mum last week at a cozy cafe in Shibuya called Colabo Cafe.  It seemed like a great place to get lost in a book on a rainy day and escape things for awhile. It looks like you can rent the cafe for days at a time, so might not be the best place to just ‘drop in” to.  They have (what seems like) a frequently updated schedule on their website, so check it foo!

PS. Happy 2008!

via boingboing 

UPDATE: YOU MISSED YOUR CHANCE! Borrow, beg, or steal and get that album. Because Paris already did.

Gold!

Today it’s crazy windy. Makes me wanna fly like this salaryman:

Mindless surfing can prove fruitfull! In a search for N-Tyce Entyce- Hush Hush Tip I found this crazy good mixtape. Sconeboy killed this shit:

http://users.warche.st/~pip/SconeboyOct05.mp3

l da head toucha – too complex (minus a couple of small hitches cause soundforge is kaka!)
de la soul – the bizness
quasimoto – microphone mathematics / microphone mathematics remix
peanut butter wolf feat. rasco – run the line / run the line lord finesse remix
artifacts – wrong side of the tracks
ghetto concept – deifitrec
n-tyce – hush hush tip
large professor – the mad professor
smif n wessun – bucktown
dj js-one feat. oc – beyond
dj krush – meiso (dj shadow remix feat. black thought)
ghost feat. verb-t and asaviour – exactly remix
red hot lover tone – 98
grand puba – i like it (buckwild remix feat. sadat x)
paula perry – extra extra
the wascals – the dips
beatnuts – get funky
jaylib – raw shit // masta ace – born to roll
blak twang – u know
mad skillz – the nod factor
biggie smalls – i got a story to tell
lg + biscuit – sonshine
outro: ramp – everybody loves the sunshine….

1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that’s playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool… a lot of the songs fit with the setting

Opening Credits: The Clash – Train in Vain (Stand by Me)

Waking Up: Weezer – No One Else (Black Sessions)

First Day at School: De La Soul – Talkin’ Bout Hey Love

Falling in Love: Ryoji Ikeda – Zone 3

Fight Song: Modest Mouse – Missed the Boat

Breaking Up: Wilco – I am Trying to Break Your Heart

Prom: The Specials – Ghost Town

Life: Chain Reaction Records Comilation – No. 3 (Debit)

Mental Breakdown: Theoretical Girls – You Got Me

Driving: De La Soul – D.A.I.S.Y. Age

Flashback: Kai Japanese Language School – Conjugation Drill Vol. 2

Getting Back Together: The Slackers – Motor City

Wedding: Thee Head Coateese – Have Love Will Travel

Birth Of Child: The Strokes – Ask Me Anything

Final battle: De La Soul – WRMS’ Dedication to the Bitty

Death Scene: Slim Gillard – Make It Do

Funeral: Slow Hands – Interpol

Ending Credits: Kai Language School – Shadowing Vol. 1

—-

 De La Soul is good, but if itunes loves the hip hop so much where the hell is Eric B. & Rakim?

on my way home from work…

Originally uploaded by A Malchik!.

i almost died

Daddy Long Feet

Originally uploaded by A Malchik!.

My favorite photo taken from last weekend’s Daddy Long Feet / Nanox event last weekend.

According to my blog stats, people are actually visiting here.

…..

but why?

I’ve been neglecting this site because I’m really good at neglecting things that I shouldn’t be neglecting.

The other week someone actually said to me “now isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black.” I went ecstatic. I must have heard that phrase a million times before, but it had never applied to me. It made me feel great!

Tokyo is wonderful this time of year. All the trees have turned golden brown, and sometimes in the evening there is a thick mist. I usually notice this after the first turn, walking from my office on my way home. It reminds me of when I started smoking in middle school. Sneaking out to underneath the footback fields’ score board to puff a fag and act tough.

Hangin’ Tough

(just get on the floor and do the new kids dance)

this guy is amazing!

charts to make sense of it all..

via arbroath

no wonder 80% of Japanese people are frightened of foreigners…

AllHipHop.com: So is the lyricism more a focus on this joint?

Snoop Dogg: Yeah. The song I like most out of all the records is a song I got called “Think About it” where I just lyrically I’m just gone on some other s**t. When Dre heard it he was like, “N***a, I ain’t never heard you rap like that. That’s some s**t!” [The song] pressed me to another level. See, what had happened was, me and my eldest son were riding in the car one night and we were listening to the radio to XM Satellite and Cassidy came on, that’s my lil’ homie. So I’m like, “You like cuzz?” And he’s like, “That’s my favorite rapper!” I was like, “What! That’s your favorite rapper??” So my littlest son in the back, I’m like, “Yo, who your favorite rapper, Lil’ Snoop?” He’s like, “You.” So [to] my oldest son, I’m like, “Yo, why I ain’t your favorite rapper?” He’s like, “I mean you cool. You flow but…you don’t be like, bustin’ like Cassidy and them.” So I went and made [“Think About It”], and I played it for him and he was like, “God damn Daddy! I ain’t know you did it like that!” And I was like, “Yeah n***a!”
[link]

Tokyo teachers win anthem fight

Last night I went to a 2-tone ska show at Shinjuku’s ACB live house.

Yes:

• every song almost sounded the same
• by the end of the night the stage was a swamp thanks to brass excrements
• I counted 14 pairs of loafers
• almost all the billed bands start with “the”
• the cutest girl in the club was a trumpeter
• I would have felt under-dressed in just a shirt and slacks.

I had met Yuseke from The Laurels about 3 months ago in my neighbourhood and promised him I would go to the show. The Laurels played a tight set considering they came all the way from Nagoya that same day (later in the night they would drive back home – wow!). Just so happens The Spyzz, a fun Tokyo 2-tone band were also on the bill. Fun show…

BANDS:

1. Jumpin’ Boots (?)

2. The Spyzz (Tokyo)

3. The Scandals (Nagoya)

4. The Laurels (Nagoya)

5. The Clocks (?)

6. Skanky Old (Fukushima) Jumpin’ Boots





The NEF files I converted the above photos from look much richer in quality. Somewhere along the converting stream I fucked up. I exported the NEF images from photoshop to JPEG’s (quality=10), then resized them using FLICKR’s resizing tool. Can anyone see the flaw?

Technorati Profile

I get in these podcast rutts where I listen to the same podcasts every week without searching for new content. Isn’t a like a sin to not keep up with the current programming? Every 3 months I realize this, search and find an interesting podcast (or single episode), then slap myself for lagging behind.

Last week I ventured out and found a gem of an episode (i have yet to listen to other episodes) from the creators of the Canadian Podcast Buffet. They interviewed Montreal-based podcast guru Julien Smith. Smith comes across arrogant, sometimes short, and unbelievably captivating. Here is a guy who sees the big picture, where even the small picture is so small most people barely see it. Check out the episode here.

After listening to the podcast I realized that some people take their “playtime” on the internet quite seriously. Listening to Julien; it’s quite obvious he’s making (or trying to) make a living out of this new form of media. Somewhat of a podcast consultant? The main reason I have yet to start my personal podcast is because it’s such a time consuming hobby. I even find holding up a blog is difficult. Social Networking sites like Myspace (Mixi in Japan), Friendster, www.mymatchiswaitingsomehwere.com, etc are time consumers like SUV’s are to gas. I consider myself a medium-heavy user of the internet, but still barely find time to keep up with email’s and my subscribed RSS feeds. I have never thought about a time manager for my internet time, but it sounds like I could use some help!

So I’m in a Hong Kong Starbucks and sitting next to me are a couple in their 40′s with their 9 or 10 year old daughter.

The little girl is not looking good: bag’s around her spaced out eyes, being held up by mom.

Then out of NOWHERE, she starts spewing this strong stream of chunks just like Stan fron South Park or even that girl from the exorcist – all over her dad. In my past I’ve always associated throwing up as a negative, holy crap I feel so bad I want to die, feeling. But the little girl’s face wasn’t even sad, just sort if indifferent. Come on, I’ve got better things to be doing here kids.

Here’s a photo of what they left behind:

“You think you’re better than me?” Boy George yelled. “Go home. Let me do my community service.” [NBC5]

OK, second article of the day.

This one’s TWO good to be not post.

The Hour has a great article about Roger Steffens. Bob Marley personally dubbed him “Ras Rojah” back in 1979 when they travelled together. He has chaired the Grammy Awards reggae committee for 22 years, hosted five radio shows on NPR, including the award-winning Reggae Beat that was syndicated to over 130 stations worldwide during the 1980s.

“The residual effect of all that publicity has harmed the careers of regular artists who do not harbour these feelings or sing these despicable lyrics. There are fewer [reggae concert] bookings around the world now because Jamaican music has been tarred with that broad brush of homophobia. It has pitted old artists against new artists. I think if Bob was still alive he’d be heartbroken because the music has been cheapened.”

The rest of the article can be found here.

I had no idea youtube pays $1,000,000 US a day in bandwidth charges to keep the site up.

Article here.

my roomate calls him a "cyclone" – Roberto Benigni [.]

the best restaurant in the world [.]

mile high mayham R.I.P [.]

absolute madness [.] – just look at the bassist or keyboardist!

Yesterday met up with some friends in Shibuya.

Luckily Kris knew where the Maple Leaf pub was, a Canadian bar that serves poutine. I was somewhat dissapointed with the whole experience – the pout' stank, the service was horrible, and there was not a piece of plaid in the whole bar (lumberjack discrimination).

On the way to the bar I saw Japanese reggae legend Rankin Taxi walking down the street and asked for a picture.

After the first picture didn't turn out, he's all like "come again".

big upz

EDIT: Turns out not even my Japanese friends know who Rankin Taxi is. I wonder if Rankin thinks I need help…

Is a movie Gus Van Sant is working on. It stars Tom Hanks as a recently laid off ad exec who learns life lessons making latte's.

I am not a huge fan of Tom Hanks, but am curious as to why he still makes blatant ad movies. You would think that once you became an accomplished actor you would leave the heavily product-placement movies to the rookies and make your own films. Was The 2 hour advertisement that is Cast Away not painful enough? It all reminds me of that scene in Wayne's World with the Pizza Hut and Pepsi parodies. Did you know that when they show Wayne's World on TV, they cut that part out of the movie? That's one of the funniest parts…
Commercial Alert's is an organization co-founded by Ralph Nader. It's mission is to keep the commercial culture within its proper sphere, and to prevent it from exploiting children and subverting the higher values of family, community, environmental integrity and democracy. 

I have always had a soft side for the Japanese delicacy of Natto (fermented soybeans). As revolting as it is to some, I've never had a problem chowing down. Maybe it's the disgusting odor, maybe the vinigar/soy sauce packet, maybe the stringy texture. Whatever it is, it keeps me healthy and happy.

A couple of months ago roomate-N told me that true natto fans believe the more stringy-er the natto, the more healthier it is for you. So yesterday when my co-worker showed me this internet site, I had to share (sorry, Japanese only).

Challenging the 400 stir "deep vesel", this woman has mixed a bowl of natto 10,000 times. After 1 hour and 40 minutes of mixing (which gave her finger blisters) she was pleasantly surprised the natto looked like peanut butter and tasted a little like crab brains. She encourages you to try it yourself.