The Big Bonanza

This looks like the best anime I've never seen.

Rock It Hard

RAAAAAAAANDY!!!

I have fallen in love with Aziz Ansari's alter-ego Raaaaaaaandy. Pure genius. Low-brow genius.

Spanish Bombs

Does anyone else think that Joe Strummer and Mineta Kazunobu have similar voices? Both sort of airy and hoarse.

Time to pay a parking ticket... who wants to buy zines off of me??? Billz billz billz.

Nobody says that many "bros" if they're not drunk!

28 Drinks Later from Futuristic Films on Vimeo.

A Retrospective on FIve Years of Last.fm

1st track: Unknown - Unknown * ---
1000th track: Unknown - Unknown * ---
2000th track: Unknown - Unknown * ---
3000th track: SPARTA LOCALS - ƒ[ƒ‹ƒh 10 May 2005
4000th track: The Bruce Lee Band - 04 31 May 2005
5000th track: SPARTA LOCALS - Party 26 Jul 2005
6000th track: Crimpshrine - Summertime 31 Aug 2005
7000th track: Les Savy Fav - Hello Halo, Goodbye Glands 21 Sep 2005
8000th track: Dinosaur Jr. - The Post 13 Oct 2005
9000th track: N.W.A - Quiet on tha Set 25 Oct 2005
10000th track: Q and Not U - District Night Prayer 08 Nov 2005
11000th track: Operation Ivy - Bad Town 30 Nov 2005
12000th track: Blockhead - Cash 13 Dec 2005
13000th track: Breakfast - Vertigo 02 Jan 2006
14000th track: Stevie Wonder - Part-Time Lover 02 Mar 2006
15000th track: Sonic Youth - Teen Age Riot 23 Apr 2006
16000th track: Scared of Chaka - Time's Up 07 May 2006
17000th track: Earth, Wind & Fire - September 07 Jun 2006
18000th track: Shinobu - boourns 22 Jun 2006
19000th track: Operation Ivy - Smiling 02 Sep 2006
20000th track: The Weakerthans - Illustrated Bible Stories for Children 16 Sep 2006
21000th track: 銀杏BOYZ - No Future No Cry 04 Oct 2006
22000th track: Miles Davis - Moon Dreams 31 Oct 2006
23000th track: Common Rider - Toss Around 14 Nov 2006
24000th track: Slow Gherkin - Shed Some Skin 29 Nov 2006
25000th track: I Need Sleep - Parasite 11 Dec 2006
26000th track: Yuri Misumi - The Wonderful Star's Walk Is Wonderful 22 Dec 2006
27000th track: Zazen Boys - No Time 10 Jan 2007
28000th track: Modest Mouse - Doin' the Cockroach 27 Jan 2007
29000th track: Slow Gherkin - Baby Snake 10 Feb 2007
30000th track: Jawbreaker - Boxcar 08 Mar 2007
31000th track: Skankin' Pickle - The Dub 27 Mar 2007
32000th track: 曽我部恵一 - 3つの部屋 13 Apr 2007
33000th track: Beastie Boys - Time to Get Ill (Instrumental) 25 Apr 2007
34000th track: Daft Punk - Aerodynamic 07 May 2007
35000th track: Leatherface - Baked Potato 22 May 2007
36000th track: Jawbreaker - Pack it Up 12 Jun 2007
37000th track: Hüsker Dü - Beyond the Threshold 06 Jul 2007
38000th track: Dinosaur Jr. - Almost Ready 25 Jul 2007
39000th track: Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - Da Introduction 01 Oct 2007
40000th track: 東京事変 - Metro 17 Oct 2007
41000th track: Fruity - Love Your Tummy (Live) 31 Oct 2007
42000th track: Dinosaur Jr. - No Bones 21 Nov 2007
43000th track: Bad Manners - Mafia 05 Dec 2007
44000th track: Billy Bragg - The Busy Girl Buys Beauty 22 Dec 2007
45000th track: 2Pac - Keep Ya Head Up 11 Jan 2008
46000th track: Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Barstool Blues 01 Feb 2008
47000th track: A Tribe Called Quest - Electric Relaxation 21 Feb 2008
48000th track: Beastie Boys - Something's Got To Give 11 Mar 2008
49000th track: The Constantines - Goodbye Baby & Amen 29 Mar 2008
50000th track: Public Enemy - Welcome To The Terrordome (1990) 18 Apr 2008
51000th track: The Cherry Tempo - A Conjoining Sense of Togetherness 10 May 2008
52000th track: MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS - ???? 05 Jun 2008
53000th track: Guided by Voices - Hot Freaks 24 Jun 2008
54000th track: Flower Travellin' Band - Satori Part 4 08 Apr 2009
55000th track: Violent Children - Live free or die 19 Apr 2009
56000th track: Dr. Dre - LOLO (INTRO) Featuring Xzibit 28 Apr 2009
57000th track: Buffalo Daughter - Counter Parrot 17 May 2009
58000th track: 2Pac - California Love feat. Dr. Dre 16 Jun 2009
59000th track: four tomorrow - About my unclearly far fuckin' tomorrow song 30 Jun 2009
60000th track: Perfume - love the world 24 Jul 2009
61000th track: 矢野顕子 - Denwasen 24 Aug 2009
62000th track: Gucci Crew II - Sally (That Girl) 17 Sep 2009
63000th track: Thao with The Get Down Stay Down - Bag of Hammers 19 Oct 2009
64000th track: Still Flyin' - Dead Memory Man 07 Nov 2009
65000th track: 7Seconds - Out Of Touch (Live) 19 Nov 2009
66000th track: 細野晴臣 - 北京ダック 30 Nov 2009
67000th track: Yellow Magic Orchestra - Rydeen 19 Dec 2009

It's Not a Day Wasted

Seeing the Slow Gherkin reunion last week had me thinking all sorts of stupid tripe that I wasn't sure should really be put out in to the ether, but here I find myself on the toilet pooping and typing away while the Wire plays in the next room.

Slow Gherkin played such a big part in my development as a person, insomuch as that music has played a huge role in my life, and Slow Gherkin is one of the few lasting musical influences in my life that has withstood the transition from teenager with poor taste to balding young adult with slightly less questionable taste. I was never under the illusion that Slow Gherkin were superstars of any sort, but always thought of them as a band that had made it. A touring band, with records on Asian Man Records, playing all across the country and around the world. I was just happy that I could see them locally a million times a year if I so chose, because other people around the country wouldn't have had the same chance.

Now that I have many of the same achievements under my belt as they did (Asian Man, tours, blah blah blah, poorly attended local shows) I can't help but feel really strange about how I admired them so much. Make no mistake, I still admire the hell out of them, but it's strange feeling extremely ordinary as I do knowing that they are ordinary just like me. There's probably some kids out there who thought the world of Shinobu, not fully grasping how ordinary we really were (and are).

However, I still feel like Slow Gherkin's existence was so much more significant than Shinobu's, by far! But, I found it a bit heartening to think that maybe someone might feel the same way about me and my friends as I did about my teenage heroes. I'm still considering my options as far as continuing to pursue the rock & roll lifestyle, but I'm extremely happy to see these people that I so admire living their lives and being real people. I don't feel so bad about, nor fear, facing my life and living it.

Calm 'n' Punk

I saw a bumper sticker today that said "I'm already against the next war". This was one of the nicest things I've seen in a while.

I find it hard these days to focus on the specifics or details of anything in the world, aside from living my own life happily and surrounding myself with people who make me happy (and who hopefully feel the same way about my presence!). I can't really be bothered with the news, politics, music, TV shows or movies. I do enjoy these things, but I really just like being around the same old awesome people, eating the same old food that I like, and laughing about the same old things.

This seems very selfish of me, as I stop to think about what I'm putting in the proverbial ink here. As of now, however, I'd really like to focus on being positive and optimistic on my own terms and hope that the world takes care of itself without me.

Songs I want to hear tonight:
Talking Heads - This Must Be The Place
Ging Nang Boyz - I Don't Wanna Die
Sokabe Keiichi - Doyou no Yoru
Doobie Brothers - What A Fool Believes

Your Kind of Loving Makes Me Feel So Good

As a sage once said, "No give up."

As the same sage once said, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket."

Every Mother's Child is Going to Spy

Not only is this a great song, but the story behind it is cute.

I have a couch and a xmas tree now!

Naughty Boys x Crass Crew

I think that the first two Yellow Magic Orchestra albums are some of the best music I've ever heard.

東風

Yellow Magic Orchestra - Tong Poo



New neighborhood haunt, Jus' Like Ya Mama's Soul Food.

Horchata

Yellow Magic Orchestra - Technopolis



Crass House in half effect! Gnarboots practice tonight. Gnarboots show on Saturday. Here's to surviving another week.

No Con Chones

Flans - No Controles



Thank you, iTunes, for validating me as a Mexican by playing two Mexican songs in a row while set to shuffle.

I Drive A Flying Car

Ugly Duckling - A Little Samba



Looking forward to establishing Crass Posse HQ! Looking forward to beating this flu!

Let's Chill, Let's Settle Down

Guy - Let's Chill



It's great to have a 2 week long battle with the flu during one of the busiest times of your life. If only the world could share this joy with me!

I'd Hit On Myself If I Could

Wallpaper - I Got Soul (I'm So Wasted)

My Cup Runneth Over

Dennis Brown - Here I Come

You're The One That I've Been Waiting For

The Stylistics - Betcha Bye Golly Wow

The Ex-Factor

It took y'all long enough to catch up!

Thank You

The Dreamoning

The VTA became Muni for a day and I made many friends on the buses and rails:

Friend #1: "Hey man, you know if this train is still running? I just got outta jail, man, they arrested me for drinking in public. I wanna go to my cousin's house 'cuz I'm getting hungry."

Friend #2: "Ahh sup homes! You goin' this way?... Ahh sick homes! I think I'm gonna have to make it out to Empire and 8th to crash with my bitch out there. I got this other bitch out by the Great Mall too, though, wanted to go out there. Sheeeit. I ain't even been home in 3 days, just out drinkin' homes!"

Friend #3: "What they fools talkin' 'bout? What theeey fools talkin' bout?!?! I don't want nothin' less than that yella pussy! Go 'head and get mad! Don't want nothin' less than that yella pussy!!! Go 'head and get mad!"

Amazing

I Love Being A Turtle

PRATT!

Life continues to unfold as a series of Inbetweeners-esque vignettes, but everyone is 25 instead of 16. Something about all of it is still very redeeming, in spite of our constant follies. Just knowing that I have awesome friends is enough for me, really. If I can't get my act together, at least I can bungle it up with good people.

Lazy Cats

This is not unlike what a normal, unemployed day is like for me... GAH!!!!

The Underground Sound

I'll be on the air with DJ Coco tonight on KSCU 103.3 FM. You can listen online at www.kscu.org

NICE!

A Few of My Favorite Things

Who needs an excuse to post excessive cat videos???? NOT ME!

It is NOT what it is

'Whatever' voted most annoying word

I enjoyed reading this article about the most annoying words/phrases in American English. My personal most hated phrase is, of course, "it is what it is".

Obanye

I'm only mildly depressed by the fact that my life is boring enough that such videos entertain me.

Faith In The World

Why are people so stupid? Unfortunately, this video won't answer your question, it'll just frustrate you more.

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/countdown-obamas-speech-vs-right-wing-indo

I'm Over It

Along with forgetting a good chunk of the English language, I also feel like a jerk now for occasionally using big words, because I think that other people probably wouldn't understand them. Thank you Japan, for ruining me.

This video is tight:

Dog People

I've found earplugs in the back pockets of two separate pairs of pants that I haven't worn in more than year. Dope!

I want a cat again:


I think that life in San Jose has the potential to be totally awesome as long as I am not a hermit. This last week has been one of the funnest in my life.

Saiyan

Seen in San Francisco, March 2007, after I had gone to see Go!Go!7188 perform.

Montezu... I mean, Mao's Revenge

I went to China a few weeks back. It was tight. Awesome energy. Dudes rolling up their shirts, exposing their bellies. Cute honeys. Watermelon galore. Tea. Dope, melodramatic C-Pop music videos. I had diar...*ahem* digestive problems for 10 days after getting back from China, and then I started getting some crazy rashes spreading up and down my inner arms. It all went away the day that I left Japan.

Dang... I need a new adventure.

The Office Marathon

I think that living in Japan has given me a healthy disrespect for pointless red tape, and prepared me well for ignoring it whenever possible!

MAJIDE???

Plus
Burritos
Horchata
Weather
Sunlight

Minus
No Bears
No Nihomies.　(Team 3P 4 Life)
No ambition.
No matakano (yet?)

Never Wanna Be Seventeen Again

Seventeen Again made a video for one of the songs on their upcoming album which includes footage that I took of them. NICE! Check it out:

Take me, take me

Chocolate Disco

New Perfume album in July!

Ta[c/k]o

Taco and takoyaki party today!

Post Script

The passage to the roof has been locked!

I go out on Friday and I come home on Friday night before Saturday morning. Star Trek tomorrow!

クリボウじゃない

Very few things annoy me more than the DJing of a party by concensus of the masses. The average person has horrible taste in music, and more often than not, no one else wants the DJ's dope funk mix interrupted by that one Coldplay song that Jane just can't stop listening to, nor the burned Gwen Stefani CD that Mary brought with her. At a party, one should let the host of the party, or the host's designated music dude handle the music selection, and just enjoy the party for all of its many other merits.

This annoyance also extends to John's decision to bring congas to the party. There is a certain energy to be felt by drumming with your friends, but everyone else who is slouching in the couch and trying to talk over your tribal fusion really wants you to shut up and put the Stevie Wonder back on.

Here's to more parties!

Rooftop BBQ, anyone?

Well, I'll be...

On a rational level, Obama's election to the office of President was a happy occasion, but it didn't really do much for me on an emotional level. Of course, I would've been really bummed out if he'd have lost. It would've just been more weight put on to the pile of stress on my back that I have learned to ignore. Luckily, he won, but I still went about life like it was any other day. My mom wrote to me shortly after his election about how excited she was about everything Obama was doing, but it all seemed so distant to me.

Halfway through reading an article today about Obama's proposal to push wind-power I suddenly started feeling really happy. It only just hit me today that he really is the real deal. FOR REAL! There can't be any way that he's pulling a fast one us. He is actually a real good dude, and that's that. All the little things that he's doing to counteract the countless years of awfulness that I've witnessed are just too real to not smile about.

Nice.

Rejected Band Names

Stringer Bell & The Drells

Deli

Tonight I heard Less Than Jake's "My Own Flag" playing as I walked through the mall. For a variety of reasons I've written off Less Than Jake for years, but something about hearing that song tonight really struck me and had me feeling all sentimental and melancholy, especially since hearing Less Than Jake's first album in a Japanese mall is about as unexpected as it gets. I'm not really at a loss for Americana here in Japan, since food and entertainment and everything else American has pretty well infiltrated life out here. I am at a loss for the community and context that would've made Less Than Jake meaningful to me. Maybe that's why hearing this band again brought back the feelings of discovery and excitement that I felt when I first heard Pezcore and stuff of that sort as a teenager.

I came home and found this:

http://www.thetraintracks.org/track.php?id=39

I'm glad that Andrew Jackson Jihad is still around, since they're one of the only groups going these days that really can make me feel music in the same that I would have as an impressionable young dufus.

News From the Homeland

Well...

Forbes Magazine just named one of Mexico’s most notorious drug cartel leaders, Joaquin “Shorty” Guzman, as one of the world’s richest people. He’s worth an estimated $1 billion, ranking him as the 701st wealthiest person on Earth.

I can understand why Obama said that legalizing weed wouldn't be the best way to create jobs. I mean, how many stoners do you know who are motivated to do anything, let alone work??? But, seriously, we ought to give it some thought...

Current music:

I love it when you make me some saaaaalsa

This is the first recorded appearance of the Notorious BIG, but of more note is the insane way that Puffy is rapping. And this 3rd Eye guy... I kind of like his flow...???

Nerdcore Rising

As if my credibility isn't already shot by my unabashed love of 30 year old Japanese pop, I am now listening to MC Frontalot, the man who coined the term "NERDCORE" hip-hop.

Skate or Die!

Guts Man

Here's a video of one of the better records I picked up while in Tokyo last week:



NIIIIIIIIICE!

Just Like Jimmy Carter

In defense of Jimmy Carter:

"In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption.... But we've discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning....

Little by little we can and we must rebuild our confidence. We can spend until we empty our treasuries, and we may summon all the wonders of science. But we can succeed only if we tap our greatest resources – America's people, America's values, and America's confidence."

Read more HERE

Back to stage one

Here's a hip-hop mix that I made for a friend who is learning how to breakdance!
http://phatnphunky.com/mp3/blog01-hiphop.mp3

Let it be known that I am aware that this isn't fast enough for breaking, but she specifically requested slower jams so that she could practice slowly. NICE NICE NICE!!!

Thanksgiving

My friends the Dorseys invited a bunch of folks over for Thanksgiving festivities last night. Somehow, a turkey got cooked in a microwave oven, there were mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, falafels (?), and I brought 10 cans of rare ROOT BEER. Sure enough, the Brits in the house that night thought it tasted like some sort of toothpaste. We also treated ourselves to several boxes worth of KFC, the next best thing in a country seriously lacking in turkey (though that microwaved turkey was actually really good!!!).

Today, through a twist in circumstances, I went to get some curry with some Australian and American friends, and 3 exchange students from America, Sweden and Germany respectively. The American girl smiled and exclaimed halfway through the meal, "Oh my god! This is my Thanksgiving!" A strange cast of characters and an odd setting for one's Thanksgiving, but good times nonetheless.

Following the meal, a necessary Thanksgiving tradition was upheld as I napped away the day.

What's in store for Christmas?

Dream Fighter!!!

I have no explanation or excuses, but here is my latest discovery in the pop music world:

Vote Bob 2016

With every nutjob across the United States trying to stop Obama from becoming president, the claim that he was born outside of the United States was only one of many ridiculous attempts to do so. But, did you know that John McCain was actually born on a naval base in Panama? I heard, however, that a senate resolution was passed to just let him be and not trifle over the definition of a "natural born citizen" as one must be to be eligible for the presidency.

I remember having heard from my high school history teacher, Mr. Hicks, that a certain George Romney had run for president back in 1968, despite having been born in Mexico. Both of his parents were American citizens however, so he was born a citizen as well. Also, Lowell Weicker, a former Connecticut Senator, Representative, and Governor, was born to an American father and Indian-born British woman in Paris, France. He entered into the presidential race in 1980 but dropped out of the running before the primaries even happened.

Under the Act of 1795 it was noted that "the children of citizens of the United States that may be born beyond sea, or outside the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born citizens of the United States: Provided, That the right of citizenship shall not descend to persons, whose fathers have not been resident in the United States."

I guess the only difference between me and Mr. Weicker up there is that I was born to an American mother and foreigner father in a foreign country, so I might be ineligible to run under those crazy old 1795 laws. The odd thing is that there have been other Supreme Court cases wherein children born to American fathers and foreign mothers have had their citizenship revoked because their fathers' paternity had not been proven (Miller v. Albright [1998] and Nguyen v. INS [2001]). In my case, my mother is the American, so my American lineage isn't in doubt at all.

Under one precedent I'm iced out of the presidency, but under the others I'm more of a natural born citizen than Weicker, NO DOUBT! (An unnecessary usage of hip slang if there ever was one!) Looks like I've got my constitutional arguments ready when the time comes for my presidential run to begin.

Consumption pt. III

I think that Weezer's "Buddy Holly" is one of the greatest songs ever. Simple, sweet, sincere, and with a rippin' guitar solo to boot! It popped into my head out of the blue while riding my bike to work, and I was singing it out loud as I passed grannies out for a morning stroll and school kids with their bright yellow hats. There's an understated sense of urgency, or desperation, perhaps, that I think isn't necessarily so apparent in the lyrics, but is really brought out in that brief wailing guitar solo that still sends shivers up my spine to this very day.

I feel like expressing your love of Weezer is like saying that you think Barry Bonds is the greatest baseball player of all-time. You know... they would've been the best, if they hadn't gone and mucked things up for themselves halfway down the line.

Sigh...

Consumption pt. 2

You didn't think that consumption only referred to that of pop-culture, did you???

My friend Rob, who also watches a lot of the Wire, was inspired to start eating/drinking raw eggs with his beer by the dockworkers in the program who down a beer and egg together in the 2nd season. The first time that he did this was at the mall next door to my house, in the food court, with an egg that was meant for his beef bowl, and he just ate that one straight from the shell. The 2nd time he did it was with me and our boy Randy outside of a convenience store in Sakae at about 2 or 3 AM, each of us downing two raw eggs straight from the shell. We were soon treated to a show 10 feet away as two drunks started to scuffle.



The cops came to break up the fight, only to let the instigator walk away and give the erstwhile victim a stern talking-to.

The point is that the tradition had spread to more people.

A few weeks back a few of us finally decided to try those eggs in our drinks. The good news is that the drinks kill the taste of the eggs, which would get a -1 on the -3 to +3 via scale, but it is much less conducive to swallow those gooey lumps of egg out of a glass than it is straight from the shell.

Just this last weekend, at that same convenience store, again at 3 in the morning or so, I ran into some other friends out of the blue. I enjoy the fact that I constantly am running into friends, even just acquaintances, everywhere I go these days. Whether I'm riding my bike back to my apartment and it's my neighbors on the way out to dinner, or arriving at the train station at 11 PM only to see my friends waiting there, people I know grabbing a quick pre-made lunch at the supermarket the same night as I am, or people who are pulling another all nighter in Sakae because they've missed the last train, it's super comforting to know that you'll always have someone around the corner waiting for you.

Yesterday, I brought my new best friend, Tiny Boy, back from the hospital.



Tiny Boy was suffering from a bad case of bad intonation, so my dawg down at the Melody Shop hooked a brother up with a free repair job!!! Yes, Tiny Boy is bright pink, and, yes, that is a koala on my pillow case (fabric courtesy of Joa, case courtesy of Yumico). I almost got hit by a car while bringing Tiny Boy home, holding Tiny Boy in one hand and steering my bike with the other. The gangster-looking Brazilian dudes driving probably would've been mad at me for riding in front of them if they hadn't been laughing at some fool with a pink guitar riding by them.

And now some only half-ancient J-pop for your viewing/listening pleasure:

CONSUMPTION pt. 1

I've been reading a lot of books, watching a lot of movies, and watching a lot of the WIRE recently, on top of my aforementioned obsession with old J-pop. I finally felt like it was time for me to write about the things that have been boosting my spirits in recent weeks.

Well, it's strange to start off with this book, since it's not much of a spirit-booster, but I just finished Underground by Haruki Murakami, which is a series of interviews conducted with witnesses and survivors of the sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo commuter trains in 1995. The interviews are broken up into sections that focus on each particular train line that was hit, painting a narrative for each train from many different perspectives. Every narrative shares some similar points, mainly that of a gradual onset of the symptons of poisoning, the symptoms reaching a head, someone finally pinpoints the source of the problem, and then people scramble to try to survive or help the survivors.

One of the most shocking things about the accounts of the day is the apathy, or obliviousness, most people had to what could have been happening to them. Many of the interviewees witnessed other people passing out and such, but continued on about their merry way, off to work or wherever they were going, despite the fact that they were or would soon be falling victim to the same sorts of symptoms that had hit those around them already. Some of the interviewees, who had escaped the trains and train stations and managed to make it out to the streets, or even to work, acted as if these crazy headaches and blurred vision, etc, weren't anything too bad. Some also mentioned how passersby and even the news media reporting on the incident live and onsite failed to offer a helping hand, unless they were specifically badgered or hounded by someone to do so.

One of the survivors mentioned that he/she (I forget which) believed the attacks hurt so many people because Japanese people have a cultural tendency to grin and bear "it", in this case "it" being some unknown ailment suddenly setting upon them, soon to worsen and eventually be revealed as sarin gas poisoning. This same interviewee, who had lived in New York for some time, thought that Americans would be hooting and hollering and getting something done about it as soon as they noticed the strange smell on the train, or the onset of their symptoms. I agreed to a certain extent that some nosy, perpetually irked, sue-happy Americans would've probably disposed of the sarin packages on the trains much sooner than they were in reality, followed by drawing out a draft of their lawsuit against the train company. However, I don't think that the average American passerby would've done any more to help those suffering around them any more than the people did that day, since people everywhere seem to have the same "it ain't my problem" mentality. Additionally, the emergency response system is painted as inept by the desperation and frustration of the interviewees' accounts, but I get the impression that they were doing the best they could in a situation that very few could've expected (unlike, say, Hurricane Katrina).

There's also a small section of the book devoted to interviews with former Aum members, Aum being the cult that perpetrated the attacks, and that section was super interesting as well. The common thread in these accounts for the most part is of people who don't quite fit in or have any particular direction in life suddenly finding a place where they fit in and embracing it wholeheartedly. This led to people allowing themselves to, initially, be separated from their family and earthly possessions, to, later, being forcibly locked in sauna-like jails, secretly experimented upon with LSD, and given amnesia-inducing electro-shock therapy. Most of the people interviewed in this section had renounced Aum as an organization and the cult's leader as the divine guru after the attacks occurred, but all still appreciated their time in the cult, all having claimed to have seriously experienced great and mystical things unlike any other experiences in their lives. It certainly seems like any other religion in that sense, capable of bringing extreme happiness, but also capable of manipulating people who are at their most vulnerable.

I totally recommend this book, and the interview format makes it very easy to pick up at the drop of a hat, and, conversely, put down at the drop of a hat (or when you arrive at your train station) without breaking up the momentum of the book.


At my friend's Skylar's suggestion I also recently read Superstud by Paul Feig, creator of the beloved TV show Freaks and Geeks. The book is his account of his attempts to find love (and sex) while trying to remain true to his romantic ideals and the engrained pressure of his religious upbringing. Having experienced some of the same stuff as him, I got a kick out of reading what he had to say, though there are parts of the book where things drag. There are some moments of 100% absolute stupidity on his part, though, that equate with comedic GENIUS and make the book a worthwhile read. In particular, the last two major sections of the book have some comedic gold contained within which make it worthwhile to read everything up until then. This one is also an easy read, perfect for those 10 minute long train rides to and from work, or for those 10 minute long escapes to the toilet for a little poopoo session

More later...!!!

Yo Soy Amerikajin

Here's a review I wrote about the Sakerock show I went to in Nagoya about a month ago:
CLICK HERE!!!

Please Make Me Shutup

In a long tradition of idiots who go to another country only to complain about everything, I would like to comment today on how wack I think Japanese fashion is. I'm not talking about Fruits Magazine type crap, because we already knew that ish was wack anyway!



What I'm here to talk about is the hidden, yet very blatant, new wave of Japanese fashion. It's part California surfer-dude, part Blink-182 loving jerkweed, part super-feminine waif, all WACK!!! Let me be more specific, every young person between the ages of 14 and 21 out here has Abercrombie or Hollister-esque t-shirts that say either "California", "Surf", "Santa Monica", "Surf", "Reggae", or "Surf" on them, along with mesh hats cocked to the side, baggy cargo shorts or super tight jeans, crocs, and bleached blond hair (including eyebrows) that makes them look like albino zombies. Perhaps most people are unaware of this new fashion phenomenon, because I suspect that people in big cities where tourists gohttp://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=15628641&postID=1445399750455135130
Blogger: This Song Is Good - Edit Post "Please Make Me Shutup" actually have some exposure to fashion of better taste, but the suburbs of Japan are swarming with it!!!

The other extreme that represents a small, but equally laughable, portion of the Japanese youth fashion scene is the wannabe gangsta, or WANKSTA, as that fool 50 Cent once put it so aptly (I still think he's the worst rapper of the century). I saw one of my students at the mall food court (don't ask what I was doing there) and he walked up wearing some white jeans and jean jacket, both probably 4XL in size, with a bandana around his head, and a ridiculous chain hanging around his neck. This wasn't a typical bling-bling chain, but more like the type of chain that you put around some gigantic box, like a freight cargo container, to keep people from opening it up. This is the same kid with nearly no eyebrows left because he has plucked them all off who greets me in the hallways with "HELLOOOO! YES! OKAY!" on a daily basis. 'Nuff said.

Yes, I have no life.

OH! I did finally buy a record player out here, so I was finally able to listen to this awesome 45 I bought of a girl in a sailor uniform holding a gigantic rifle.
Here's the girl singing it live (skip ahead to 1:35 or so):


And here's another dope jam recommended to me by my boys Shawn and Ric.


I'll be keeping my eyes open for these hits in the used LP sections of my favorite junk stores.

More Stupidity

Last weekend I met up with some of the usual suspects out here in OHGACK! Good conversation, good tunes, and good folks. The only problem was that I was supposed to meet my friend Reiko early the next morning to hang out in Nagoya, and getting to sleep at 3 AM isn't exactly the best thing to do when that's your plan, but I was up at 8, in Nagoya by 10, and at Nagoya castle by noon. Nagoya castle's grounds are pretty cool, a super giant moat, lots of greenery, a nice park where we witnessed a bunch of creepy dudes following a girl around who would stop and pose periodically at different scenic locations... but I'm off on a tangent now. I guess what I was trying to get at was that, even though I enjoyed visiting the castle, it's more of a museum to the old castle than it is a living monument. The inside has way too many visible modern conveniences and an elevator, so I was a bit disappointed. Regardless, though, it was good times.

We headed out to Osu next to meet up with the usual Nagoya suspects for lunch. Reiko wanted to eat specialties specific to Nagoya, so we had miso-katsu, and later on we had tebasaki (super salty chicken wings) and IT WAS GOOD! (imagine the Rock reading Genesis so you can get what I was going for there) Reiko ended up coming back to OHGACK where we met up with the same usual suspects and chatted for a bit and watched a Pteradon video, as well as video from the super awesome 38-band punk festival I went to in Tokyo last week (you're gonna have to wait to read about that one!).

The next day, Reiko had to catch the bullet train back home to meet up with her boyfriend, whose birthday it was, so we stopped off at my favorite Brazilian place for lunch. AND IT WAS GOOD! By chance, there were some pamphlets on the table for an art festival happening in town, but I didn't think much of it, even though I had heard a bit about a different music festival happening at the same time. On the way back to the station to drop off Reiko we happened upon this art gallery whose walls and floor were covered in scrawled gibberish, kind of like a horror movie set or something. It was tight. We also walked through an underground tunnel with rocks that moved on their own accord. N?

Reiko left and I decided to check out more of the festival, which actually ended up being pretty cool. There was a really cool book compiled featuring photos of signs from all over OHGACK, and a camera obscura bus thingy that you could ride inside of and see images from outside the bus projected onto a screen inside. If I ever figure out how to transfer photos from my cell phone to the computer, you may actually see some of the stuff someday, but for now this insufficient description must suffice.

My friend Josh's band was playing as part of the music festival that evening, but since it was raining, they moved the performance into this giant gym so the sound was pretty awful. I was impressed by Josh's skills though, so that was N. The band that performed before him was made up of a bunch of 16 year olds, one of whom was wearing a tuxedo vest, and another who was wearing a sweater-shawl combo thingy. They looked goofy, but they could all shred, so who am I to diss these 16 old prodigies???

Anyway, the next Tuesday a bunch of us went back to check out the art and music again, this time to see some OHGACK hip-hop. There was a giant dude in a Yankees jersey who kept on pronouncing Ogaki as OHGACK, doing his best American-thug impersonation. One of the other bands was this really sleazy, all-girl psychadelic band. Not sleazy in a racy sense, but more just that their music was super dirty and garagey sounding, it was actually alright.

I was pretty jazzed to see some art and culture in Ogaki, even though it was kind of disappointing to find that so few people knew about what was going on, and the events didn't seem too well attended.

Tonight I finally found the one club in Ogaki that hosts live music, and some of us are thinking about starting a band, so keep your eyes open for what may come...

Ah yes, yet another stupid post, hurried due to my rush to finish it before my tenuous internet connection stolen from my neighbor's wireless signal fades...

PEACE!

Life Is Forever

My new favorite TV show is this show called 青い瞳の聖ライフ, or Aoi Hitomi no Sei Raifu, or Blue Eyes' Pure Life (that's my wack translation anyway). It's this show about an American girl named Beth from New York who ends up in Japan somehow at a Japanese high school, and she falls in love with this dufus named Yuu, and her dream is to organize a rock festival at the school and marry Yuu. But, every episode, someone gets hella mad at Beth and they yell at her for being such an insensitive foreign/white/American bitch, even though Beth is unimaginably thoughtful and kind. Beth speaks perfect Japanese in the most ridiculously butchered American accent, and I'm not sure if she is purposely hamming it up, or if she really is incapable of bettering her accent. Heck, I get made fun of everyday by my students for speaking Japanese, and my accent isn't even a tenth as bad as Beth's is (but her Japanese skill absolutely destroys mine regardless). Did I mention that this show was made in 1984? I don't know why they're re-running it on TV here now, but it is the highlight of my cold, lonely, depressing, dreary evenings... *sigh* (I only pay $50 in rent, suckers!!!!)

I dug up as much info as I could on the show, so here's some more info and videos for all of you, who I'm sure are VERY INTERESTED, right???

Here's the opening theme:



Here's Florence Haga, the star of the show, [poorly] singing a cheesy pop song:



Here's some links too:
Screenshots and Info

Japanese Wikipedia Entry



What is wrong with me?

Yesterday...

...was one of those days. All those stereotypes that really annoy foreigners finally popped up all in one day, and more!!! I got a "You're good with chopsticks!" and another "Wow, you can write Japanese!" for the first time since I've been here, which actually didn't annoy me all that much. What really annoyed me was that on my way home some guy commented as I rode my bike by "Oh, a foreigner..." HELLO FOOL!!! There's thousands of foreigners all across this town!!! I even rode next to four spanish speaking women this morning on the train, not to mention all the Brazilians, Indians and whiteys I see every dang day. I'm not so annoyed about having been recognized as a foreigner (because I totally am!) but that it's such a big deal for this guy to comment about it out loud.

ALSO, to cap off the bummer that was yesterday, the rain starting pouring cats and dogs a few minutes before I left work, only to subside completely right about the time that I arrived at the station near my house. I tried to cheer myself by going to my favorite restaurant in town, Landy Shop III, but it was closed inexplicably. On the bright side, I went to Hard Off, the local junk electronics shop, and found out that they're opening a second location in town! WOOHOO!!! I saw the same guy there digging through old LPs that I talked to at another junk store across town. WHICH REMINDS ME that I think all you loyal readers should know about the Warren G record that I found for 100yen in said junk store amongst hundreds of Seiko Matsuda and Southern All Stars records.

This is probably the stupidest blog entry ever.

Otsukaresamadeshita

HELLO!!!
Loyal readers, here I am writing to you live from Ogaki, Japan. My town of 150,000 has a lot of shopping malls, a lot of "snacks" (places where you pay to go sing karaoke and drink with old ladies), and a lot of Brazilians!!! The Brazilians are the good part of that statement, because they make the best dang food in this town, and they also take the heat off of me, because I'm not the only foreign looking guy around.

I always think of stuff to write about while I'm walking around town, but I forget it once I sit down to actually type, so, thus, I will just recap my final weekend for you:

Friday night, I thought about going to the neighboring city of Gifu, so I hit up a few of my homies out there. I went to Gifu and found a little punk rock/hip-hop record store called Sabotage Records, where I bought a 3000yen BREAKfAST 7", then I finally heard back from a friend who invited me to go get sushi. I met up with her and 3 other girls, but we were soon joined by another dude. The sushi was super expensive, but super good!!!!!!! I went home around 10pm, and as I was exiting Ogaki station I ran into my next door neighbor and some other friends who were waiting for someone, and he exited 10 seconds behind me. I ended up hanging out with them until 4am!!!!

The next day we were supposed to go to some posh all-you-can-eat/drink place in Nagoya, but it was on the rooftop of some building and due to the heavy rain we'd been having it was cancelled. A small group of us went anyway, AND IT DIDN'T EVEN RAIN!!!! But, since it had already been cancelled, we just ended up meeting up with my friend Adam in Nagoya and went to this place called Misfits where he works. Apparently it was a bit of an off night for the place, and there was a total dufus playing bad covers on his guitar with drum machine accompaniment, but we all had a good time. After leaving Misfits, a couple of us wandered down to Sakae, the hub of activity in Nagoya, and there we went looking for a place to settle down. Whilst waiting, we decided to be all Rocky-core and down some raw eggs, which may or may not have been a great idea. Right after we had finished doing that, we witnessed an old drunkard grab some young dufus by the shirt and start pushing him around. It was a super tame fight, and when the cops pulled up to stop it, they actually just sat in their car watching for a good minute before getting out. They let the old guy walk off and gave the young guy a stern talking-to. NICE?

We ended up getting some kebabs from a cart on the street, except they were more like falafels (there was no stick). Apparently they call them kebabs in the UK when they're like that anyway, but I digress... Adam ended up meeting up with us again sometime around this point with a friend of his and we went to check out some place that his friend recommended. There were tons of young'uns hanging about, mostly Brazilian, and this one skater fool came up to us and asked us to "go smoke the hemp" with him. I borrowed his skateboard to try and ollie, but ended up bum rushing me from behind, took his skateboard and proceeded to go full speed into a wall. NICE?

This night progressed until we ended up at a ramen shop called Coco Ichiban, where they serve ramen on a spicy scale of 1-10. My Japanese coworkers say that 3 is hot enough, my American friend from Chicago said he could handle 7, but I went for the 10 of course, DUH!!!... What a horrible decision!!! I couldn't even finish it, and I felt pretty disgusting the rest of the night, which I ended up spending napping in a Denny's for about an hour. After that, it was about 6am, at which point I was able to catch the first train of the day back to Adam's house and sleep.

The next day Adam and I explored the town, and I found a rare 7" with the only Fruity song not included on their complete discography CD, and a copy of the first Alkaline Trio LP for super cheap. Ebay, here I come!!! We hit up some other cool places, had dinner with his in laws, and I went home and slept at a reasonable hour.

Good times...? YES!

Love,
B

July 17, 2008

The Unicorns - Jellybones
Pavement - Gold Soundz
Chris Murray - Moment
Sebadoh - Ocean
---
The Hold Steady - Sequestered in Memphis
The Botticellis - Old Home Movies
Otis Redding - Try A Little Tenderness
The Specs - Everything You Wanted
The Weakerthans - Sun In An Empty Room
---
The Television Personalities - This Angry Silence
The Undertones - Teenage Kicks
The HOLiDAYS - Your World
The Muffs - A Little Luxury
Track Star - West Coast Weather
Hockey Night - Style Raiders
---
Mr. T Experience - I'm Like Yeah, But She's All No
The Cribs - What About Me
Beulah - Slo-Mo For the Masses
Apollo Sunshine - Money
The Morning Benders - Damnit Anna
Weezer - No Other One
---
Jason Webley - Almost Time To Go
Modest Mouse - All Nite Diner
Mu330 - Baby Rats
---
King Khan & The Shrines - Sweet Tooth
Harold Ray: Live In Concert - Ain't Nothin' But A House Party
Toys That Kill - Illegitimate
The Soviettes - Bottom's Up, Bottomed Out
---
The Lawrence Arms - Cut It Up
Alkaline Trio - Goodbye Forever
Les Savy Fav - Blackouts On Thursday
All You Can Eat - Their Glass Ceiling
Minus The Bear - Let's Play Clowns
The New Trust - The Lost Language
---
We Versus the Shark - (After)life Things
Unwound - December
---
Spring Heeled Jack - Mass Appeal Madness

July 10, 2008

Minus The Bear - Let's Play Clowns
Unwound - Seen Not Heard
No Knife - Your Albatross
GO!GO!7188 - Ukifune
Modest Mouse - Interstate
---
Death Cab For Cutie - You Can Do Better Than Me
Alkaline Trio - Snake Oil Tanker
Jets To Brazil - Starry Configurations
Boilermaker - Norman
Weezer - Pink Triangle
---
Superchunk - Hero
Track Star - These Horses Carry Blood
We Versus The Shark - I Am A Fantastic Battle
Short Round - Same Old, Day Old
Jawbreaker - Jinx Removing
Pixies - Velouria
Husker Du - Celebrated Summer
---
The Weakerthans - Virtute The Cat Explains Her Departure
Jason Webley - Little Sister
Bomb the Music Industry! - Get Warmer
Bracket - Warren's Song Part 9
The Shins - So Says I
---
The Specials - Monkey Man
Pizzicato Five - Kanashii Uta
Baffalo Daughter - Sky High
Making Time - I Gotta Move
---
Falafle Babies - An Ode To Keith And Ted
:Dz: - I Don't Understand. Do I Say The Right Words?
Augustus Pablo - Ape Man
Dinosaur Jr. - Little Fury Things

June 26, 2008

La Plebe - Mi Tierra
Skankin' Pickle - It's Not Too Late
The Aquabats - Cat With 2 Heads
Slow Gherkin - I Only Smoke When I'm Drunk
The Siren Six! - Burn
---
Satori - Finding Your Place
The Slackers - Henderson Swamp
Bad Manners - Sally Brown
Fishbone - Ugly
Sugarhill Downtown Orchestra - Home Made Song
---
Bomb The Music Industry - Depression is no Fun
Common Rider - Signal, Signal
Toots & The Maytals - Pressure Drop
Rx Bandits - Apparition
Hepcat - Yoko Zuna
---
Blindspot - Right Field
Blue Meanies - Johnny Mortgage
Mu330 - Baby Rats
Operation Ivy - Yellin' In My Ear
Fruity - Cinderella Boy
Shiina Ringo - Mayonaka wa Junketsu
---
Alkaline Trio - Help Me
Alkaline Trio - For Your Lungs Only
Ging Nang Boyz - Trash
Lemuria - Pants
Little Mercury - I'm Not & You're Not
Jimmy Eat World - A Praise Chorus
The Thermals - An Endless Supply
No Age - Here Should Be My Home
---
Minus the Bear - Let's Play Clowns
Boris - BUZZ-IN
Unwound - Unauthorized Autobiography
Bangs - Sweet Revenge
Blue Hearts - Chernobyl
---
The Night Marchers - I Wanna Deadbeat You
Superdrag - My Day Will Come
The Cherry Tempo - Treble Is High
The Buzzcocks - What Do I Get?
---
Andrew WK - Party Hard

Bullet (not the Misfits song)

I never knew that there was more to this than just rumors, but here is the California High Speed Rail Authority website, detailing their plans and ideas for routing and financing the bullet train that will be able to travel from San Francisco to LA in just an approximate 2 hours and 40 minutes. With the prospect of a drive to LA from San Jose looming ahead for me, the idea that I could cut the trip time in by a third and do it for cheaper has me very excited!!! (Note: a projected 2020 completion date has tempered my excitement a bit)

I am McLovin

I watched the movie KIDS last night for, believe it or not, the first time ever. Aside from being totally depressing, I was struck by how much Telly from Kids looks and talks just like McLovin from Superbad. This only exacerbated the feeling in my mind that Telly looked like a total dweeb, so I couldn't understand why he was such a mack in the movie...

Afterward I felt validated (but still kind of depressed) when I did this search online and found this.

We Versus The Shark

Here's a cool interview that Carrie Brownstein did with We Versus the Shark. I saw them at SXSW as well (different show though) and they are truly good dudes.

June 19, 2008

Special Extended Show with guest DJ V-Dogg

Track Star - West Coast Weather
Stephen Malkmus - Phantasies
The Unicorns - Ghost Mountain
Television - See No Evil
The Hold Steady - Stevie Nix
---
Little Mercury - You're Not & I'm Not
Lemuria - Get Some Sleep
Alkaline Trio - Help Me
Underground Railroad to Candyland - Don't Expect For Me To Sleep
No Age - Cappo
The Thermals - I Know the Pattern
---
No Knife - Your Albatross
The New Trust - Absence Makes the Heart Go Wander
Sparta Locals - Ougon Wave
Minus Bear - Fine + 2 pts.
The Dismemberment Plan - The City
---
Just A Fire - Hot Export
Calling All Monsters - Western Style Town
Built to Spill - Sidewalk
Death Cab For Cutie - No Sunlight
Superchunk - Her Royal Fisticuffs
Superdrag - Carried
---
My Korean Friends - Wait Outside These Walls
Magnetic Fields - California Girls
Frightened Rabbit - I Feel Better
Cursive - Some Red Handed Sleight of Hand
Unwound - No Tech!
Afrirampo - Akan Kono Mama Kaesanai
Molotov - Here We Kum
---
NOFX - Linoleum
Going Steady - Kakenukete Seishun
Toys That Kill - Moon=Ghettobird
La Plebe - Runnin'
---
Lawrence Arms - 100 Resolutions
Dillinger Four - Smells Like OK Soda
---
Ging Nang Boyz - I Don't Wanna Die
The Muffs - Oh Nina
Leatherface - Dead Industrial Atmosphere
Reggie & The Full Effect - Food
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Where Have All the Rudeboys Gone?
Nerf Herder - Nosering Girl
The Crypt Keeper - The Crypt Jam
---
Polysics - XCT
Operation Ivy - The Crowd

Reviews!!!

Here's a review I wrote of the S/T EP by Mass of the Fermenting Dregs (yes, that is a very weird name):
http://keikaku.net/reviews/178

I also reviewed Blotto for the same site a while back:
http://keikaku.net/reviews/176

Enjoy!

People

I think that Andrew Jackson Jihad are the bestest thing since the last thing in life that I thought was best (which means that they are super best, nahmahsay?). One thing that kills me, however, is how horribly they are misunderstood by the masses. Let's start off by checking out the lyrics to "Bad Bad Things" below:

Do you remember me?
I killed your family
And now I am going to kill you too
I made your brother bleed
I made your father scream
And I made your mother say those things that she said to me
She said, "Do with me what you want, but please don't hurt my family, don't hurt my family
Take my pride, take my life, take my body but don't take the ones that are close to me.
Oh, do with me what you want, but please don't hurt my family, don't hurt my family
Take my pride, take my life, take my body but don't take the ones that I love."
And I continued without mercy
So I looked into your eyes
And I saw a reflection
Of a coward that you and I both hate very much
And then I grabbed the knife
And I let the blood out of your throat
And I smashed those tiny mirrors inside of your skull
And I got to thinking
If I don't go to hell when I die I might go to heaven
If I don't go to hell when I die I might go to heaven
If I don't go to hell when I die I might go to heaven
If I don't go to hell when I die I might go to heaven
Might go to heaven, but probably not

Does this song promote murder? Is this song about something that AJJ want to do? NO NO NO NO!!! It's a song about a murderer with no soul, integrity, or shred of respect. I will admit that it's a shocking song, but it fits in with AJJ's overall lyrical scope, which will readily admit that the world is a horrible, nasty place at times, but that we should live life to the fullest and be nice to each other in spite of it! Though it may be of little solace to the victims, there is the notion in the song that the murderer has to live with his own self-hatred, and what is the ultimate goal in life but to be happy with oneself?

Some guy named Scientistrock reviewed the AJJ album for punknews and said this:

The simplicity of the music allows the vocals to come to forefront on this record. Bonnette’s nasally warble fits the music pretty perfectly. He passionately delivers lyrics that are sometimes disturbing, sometimes uplifting, but always clever and honest. On first listen, the songs are hysterical. But with repeated listens, laughter turns to contemplation. Bonnette explores motifs as varied as the duality of human nature, his own troubled past, the ethical implications of drug use and burning houses, all with a mix of sharp sarcasm and meaningful insight. Take, for instance, the following line from “People II: The Reckoning”: “There is someone in your head waiting to fucking strangle you.” That line is inherently funny (it almost always elicits a chuckle from me), but the song as a whole demands you pay serious attention to it. And that seems to be the trap that Andrew Jackson Jihad gets stuck in. Most listeners (at least, most people I’ve shown this to) have trouble getting past the humor.

Apparently his circle of acquaintances are equally dense as some of mine are as well (not all of you, sorry!). Overall, Scientistrock's review is pretty spot on about how clever and inspired AJJ are lyrically, but I will disagree with him when he refers to singer Sean Bonnette's "somewhat twisted world view" later on in the review. Is it twisted to acknowledge the inhumane and cruel elements of life but choose to remain optimistic and friendly in spite of said fact? Judging AJJ by the utter desperation of certain select songs is really irresponsible, since those songs fit in with their overall oeuvre of sad vs. happy songs as the temporary sadness that will ultimately be overcome by the human spirit, as this song below, "Jesus Saves", demonstrates:

There will come a day when our cells won't regenerate
and everyone you know will rot away, rot away
Your friends and enemies and all your family
we will all be buried in the ground, in the ground
So make the most of it.
Life's too short to fuck with.

Once an hour a day I get very sad
Once an hour a day I get depressed
When that hour is over I start to feel okay
because I'm reminded I'll rot away, rot away.

I don't have much time to hang out here and cry
and though that may feel nice I can't do that everyday

I've had a lot of friends and they've done a lot of drugs
and those drugs made my friends rot away, rot away
They say that Jesus saves but Jesus doesn't care
because he is in a grave, in a grave
Let's be our own God, take care of ourselves and the ones that we love

The ending lyrics are super shocking, totally bucking the Christian tradition so prevalent in our country, but more than the shock, the lyrics that follow are downright amazing when they suggest that we take the fate of humanity into our hands and that we love and care for our fellow man as if it were a mandate of some inate human code, not just some religious commandment.

Amen, brothers, AMEN!

Updatezors

Oh HEWWO!
I made a flickr account. You can see it here:
http://flickr.com/photos/bobbaloo5/

There you can see some photos I took of Bomb The Music Industry at the Asian Man Records tour stop in San Jose, June 6. What a tight show. I'll be posting video from the San Francisco and San Jose shows when I have some time. (I missed my radio show last week because I was at the San Francisco stop).

Which leads me to today: I'll be missing my radio show to see another show this week! Sooo... see you next week loyal fans! The online streaming is back online again at kscu.org.

Stupid stuff pt. 3,004,286,740

A few weeks ago there was a scare here in Japantown, as the firemen came and closed off 6th Street between Jackson and Taylor. It turns out there was a gas leak at the recently closed cuban restaurant. Now, with the demise of the restaurant there, that makes for three empty and decrepit buildings on 6th Street! The way I see it, either someone's going to come in and spend HELLZOF money to fix these places up, or the next earthquake is going to level them all. Hmm...



They've also been installing all these granite benches around Japantown commemorating all the historic buildings in the area with a little chiseled blurb. That's money well spent, eh...?



Also, I ventured up to the INVISIBLE BICYCLE mural in San Francisco, at the end of the alley on Quincy St. I highly suggest that everyone go check it out for themselves... AMAZING!

May 29, 2008

La Plebe - Plebe Por Vida
Molotov - Frijolero
The Night Marchers - In Dead Sleep (I Snore ZZZZ)
The Specials - Little Bitch
Bomb The Music Industry! - I Don't Love You Anymore
---
Lemuria - Buzz
Track Star - This Is Number Forty Two
Enon - Disposable Parts
Underground Railroad to Candyland - Yuppie Hip Hop Ad
The Briefs - Poor & Weird
Slow Gherkin - He's Gotta Go
Twinkle - The Candidate
---
The Queers - Teenage Bonehead
Hot Snakes - XOX
The Blue Hearts - Owaranai Uta
Spandecks - Paranoia
I Sing The Body Electric! - I Do
The Slackers - Please Decide
---
Billy Bragg - Mr. Love & Justice
Nate Kavanaugh & The Replacematts - Nightcap
Weezer - I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams
Guided By Voices - A Contest Featuring Human Beings
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - The Great Communicator
The Pharmacy - Five Five Five
Death Cab For Cutie - Cath...
---
Islands - Rough Gem
Frightened Rabbit - I Feel Better
Supergrass - Alright
Subtle - The Crow
---
Ben Kweller - Wasted & Ready
Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Alison
The Shins - Kissing the Lipless
The Owls - Isaac Bashevis Singer
---
The Magnetic Fields - Three-Way
Andrew WK - Get Ready to Die
Dillinger Four - Open and Shut
Gunmoll - Less Than You Hoped For
Alkaline Trio - Help Me
---
Andrew Jackson Jihad - Let Us Get Murdered
Good Hustle - Pygar
Ging Nang Boyz - I Don't Wanna Die

May 22, 2008

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Real Emotional Trash
---
The Weakerthans - Civil Twilight
Lemuria - Pants
Underground Railroad to Candyland - Over and O'er
Modest Mouse - Interstate
---
The Pharmacy - Five Five Five
The Hold Steady - Cattle and the Creeping Things
Mission of Burma - Ballad of Johnny Burma
The Undertones - Teenage Kicks
Frightened Rabbit - Who'd You Kill Now?
---
Slow Gherkin - Sally Boulevard
The Shins - So Says I
An Horse - Postcards
The Unicorns - Ghost Mountain
Death Cab For Cutie - Blacking Out the Friction
---
Mates of State - Help Help
Billy Bragg - Mr. Love & Justice
Thurston Moore - FRI/END
---
The New Trust - Wake Up, It's The Nineties
Alkaline Trio - Goodbye Forever
Boilermaker - Ladyfinger
---
At The Drive In - Rolodex Propaganda
Jawbox - FF=66
Avail - New #2
Crimpshrine - Trying Too Hard
Dillinger Four - doublewhiskeycokenoice
This Is My Fist! - You Sank My Battleship
Dinosaur Jr. - The Wagon
---
The Thermals - A Stare Like Yours
The Night Marchers - Panther In Crime
Hockey Night - Saturday Night Gallop
The HOLiDAYS - Friends
Imperial Teen - Butch
---
Scared of Chaka - Wanna Make It Happen
Silworm - Wet Firecracker
Helium - I'll Get You, I Mean It
Jawbreaker - The Boat Dreams From the Hill
---
Superchunk - Her Royal Fisticuffs
Screeching Weasel - My Brain Hurts
Weezer - Across the Sea

Frowning of a Lifetime

After posting up that lil' comic review a few days back, I just felt like I should hype up my boy BILL down in Lancaster, author of FROWNING OF A LIFETIME. He posts an online comics journal of sorts, and I really like how he captures the exciting moments in everyday life through his scatterbrained single panels masterpieces. Super good stuff, if I do say so myself.

This comic, below, was one that I thought was particularly goofy, and sort of unrepresentative of his normal stuff, but still very entertaining.

O HAI

Here's an amazing feature about a lolcat mural in San Francisco. GENIUS!!!

Also, peep this guy's awesome lolcat license plate!!! For those of you who know me, this license plate is the find of the millenium!!!

It's funny 'cause it's racist

Will You Still Love Me If I Wet the Bed?

I've made it through three comics in the last couple weeks by the established and up and coming greats of the autobiographical comics genre.


The first of these is SunDogs (parhelion) by Adam Pasion. The series of short strips within is a daily journal covering 2 months of his life living in Nagoya, Japan. There's plenty of funny anecdotes about his family, work-related stress, and just about getting old! I think that this comic is his first in which the art and storytelling are consistently great. His old Tales From The Sharpie series has it's own dashed-off charm, of course, and The Trouble With Change and Cattlebro both present good stories but they always felt like they were missing a little development or something... I'm not sure exactly what, but, regardless, Sundogs definitely shows Adam hitting his stride. He also avoids the "Japan is so wacky" trap that lots of foreigners fall into when documenting their experiences there, while still portraying in an honest way how he gets by in a setting that isn't 100% familiar yet.

Rumor has it that Sundogs part two is on the way soon!!!
You can order it and many other comics directly from him at BIGUGLYROBOT.



Next up is Delayed Replays by Liz Prince. This is her second book published by Top Shelf productions, her first having been 2005's Will You Still Love Me If I Wet the Bed?. This one continues to collect her strips about life's funnier, sadder, weirder and more poignant[er] moments. I think that Prince has a great knack for capturing the spirit of a moment in just 3 frames, but that the storytelling over the course of the entire book suffers a bit from the lack of a consistent narrative. Certainly, each individual strip alone doesn't shy away from sensitive topics, but seemingly important things seem to slip through the cracks between strips. I also got a little annoyed by the sloppiness of the art, and the visible pencil marks that weren't completely erased. The style of the art itself is great, but I just wish it was a little bit more cleaned up, I guess.

Nitpicking aside, I enjoyed reading the book very much, and I look forward to seeing her next book in which my friend Dave will be prominently featured, as so:

You can read her comics for free on her LIVEJOURNAL or buy them from here at her WEBSITE. NICE!


Finally, I'd like to talk about the newest book from Jeffrey Brown, Cat Getting Out of a Bag and Other Observations. This one appeared out of nowhere to me, even though I'm a big Jeffrey Brown fan. Why was this book at the local Japanese book store instead of at the local comic shop? Regardless, I managed to find it, and it was NICE! This book departs a bit from Brown's usual autobiographical material to become more of a sort of fringe-autobiography featuring the cats in his life as he observes them. Most noticeably, I thought that this comic was a HUGE step up for Brown artistically. His art style remains simple and cute, but with so much more incredible, yet subtle, detail, especially since 90% of the comic is without dialogue. The cat observations are the same sort of thing that every cat lover notices, with a particularly touching introduction about how Brown became a cat owner as a child.

You can order the book from the publisher, CHRONICLE BOOKS, or check out his OFFICIAL WEBSITE.

Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun

I'd like to see Mike Huckabee when he gets a gun held to his face.

CNN reports...

May 15, 2008

Television - Marquee Moon
---
The Weakerthans - Night Windows
Andrew Jackson Jihad - People II: The Reckoning
Track Star - Lifestyles...
Silver Jews - Pan-American Blues
---
Cub - Your Bed
Underground Railroad to Candyland - Square Ball
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Sons of Cain
Mission of Burma - Academy Fight Song
---
Slow Gherkin - Salsipuedes
Frightened Rabbit - Fast Blood
Built to Spill - Sidewalk
Thurston Moore - FRI/END
The Pharmacy - Adieu Adieu
---
Hi-Standard - My First Kiss
Alkaline Trio - She Took Him To the Lake
Silkworm - Wet Firecracker
Husker Du - Chartered Trips
---
Sleater Kinney - Burn, Don't Freeze
Creeper Lagoon - Empty Ships
Pavement - Gold Soundz
Jawbreaker - West Bay Invitational
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Guided By Voices - The Closets of Henry
The Weakerthans - Reunion Tour
The Unicorns - Ready to Die
Cat Power - Ramblin' (Wo)man
---
The Aquabats - My Skateboard!
Skankin' Pickle - Thick Ass Stout
Bad Manners - Lip Up Fatty
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - The Unwanted Things
The Slackers - Mommy
---
Billy Bragg - I Almost Killed You
Pinhead Gunpowder - 2nd Street
Operation Ivy - Jaded
Crimpshrine - Pretty Mess
Armchair Martian - John Wayne

Your DMX News Leader

CNN reports on DMX's latest work of genius: getting himself arrested for cruelty to animals! This comes two days after he was arrested for speeding and driving recklessly! Genius!

Video Recap

SUP!!!!
As some of you loyal listeners (or rather, real-life friends actively engaged in online stalking with me) may have heard, I saw the band GOOD HUSTLE in downtown San Jo last weekend. Here's a video of the show that I took:


Also, here's a commercial that my dad appeared in, for a clinic that I ended up patronizing! Hooray!


A regular Univision superstar, no?

May 8, 2008

June of 44 - Arms Over Arteries
The Sea and Cake - Four Corners
The Big Sleep - Bad Blood
---
Mission of Burma - This Is Not A Photograph
The Pharmacy - Tropical Yeti
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Hopscotch Willie
Chris Walla - Sing Again
---
Kind of Like Spitting - Free advice
The Promise Ring - Skips A Beat (Over You)
Silkworm - (I hope u) don't survive
The Hold Steady - You Can Make Him Like You
Seam - Petty Thievery
---
Billy Bragg - Sing Their Souls Back Home
Jonathan Richman - When We Refuse to Suffer
Going Steady - The Bridge
Cat Power - I Believe In You
---
J Mascis + The Fog - Same Day
Touch Committee - Blue Glass
Calling All Monsters - Wholesale Retail\
Supergrass - Caught By The Fuzz
---
Andrew Jackson Jihad - Jesus Saves
Good Hustle - Dance Like You Mean It
The Slackers - Axes
Underground Railroad To Candyland - Over and O'er
Go!Go!7188 - Ukifune
---
Shuri Eiko - AH SO!
Slow Gherkin - Get Some More
Weezer - Getchoo
Rival Schools - My Echo
Judy and Mary - Over Drive
---
The Silver Jews - People
Ted Leo - Six Months In A Leaky Boat
---
Guided By Voices - Cheyenne
Skankin' Pickle - Special Brew


Tonight's Background Music
Gorilla Seven - The Gorilla Seven's Theme

Jesse Michaels

Punknews reported that Jesse Michaels would be doing some solo shows in LA in August, which led to me finding this blog post that he had written about it.

I've always really admired Jesse, not just for being in Operation Ivy, but also for being so dang modest about it! This guy was the principle force behind the single best punk album, in my opinion, and he's still awkward and nervous about playing his own music. This is in contrast to so many great musicians who start to believe their own hype and pump out a bunch of garbage, ruining their own legacy in the process.

I Choose You!

At Full House Fu's behest, I succumbed and made a MUXTAPE. I decided to exclusively put hip-hop songs on it, for no discernable reason. I have nothing else insightful to say.

May 1, 2008

Good Hustle - Stegosaur-hus
The Unicorns - Sea Ghost
Twinkle - On My Table
Track Star - The One We Play
Frightened Rabbit - Old Old Fashioned
---
Underground Railroad to Candyland - Body of the Bird
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Cold Son
Billy Bragg - I Almost Killed You
Andrew Jackson Jihad - Rejoice
Ben Kweller - How It Should Be (Sha Sha)
---
Silkworm - Wet Firecracker
Chisel - Your Star Is Killing Me
The Weakerthans - Wellington's Wednesdays
The Hold Steady - Stevie Nix
---
The Cherry Tempo - Treble Is High
Built To Spill - Big Dipper
Cat Power - Aretha, Sing One for Me
The Minutemen - This Ain't No Picnic
The Mae Shi - Young Marks
Bruce Lee Band - Go Feet Go
The Specials - Little Bitch
The Siren Six! - Frame Up
The Toasters - Talk Is Cheap
---
Japanther - Pleased to Meet You
Islands - Where There's A Will There's A Whalebone
The Skyflakes - Meathead
Mr. T Experience - Hellof Dumb
Matt Pond PA - The Crush
Mu330 - Baby Rats
---
Calling All Monsters - Lake Wave (So Many)
Hot Snakes - Audit In Progress
Pteradon - Urban Pirate Style
Ging Nang Boyz - Mesubuta
---
Good Hustle - Pygar
I Sing The Body Electric! - I Do
The Blue Hearts - Chernobyl
---
Toys That Kill - Moon=Ghettobird