"If you can't be pretty, you might as well cause trouble" – Florence King
Posted in Distractions, videos on Mar 3rd, 2009
I was poking about on YouTube today and came across this promoted video for how to make a hinamatsuri diorama poster. They’re displayed on March 3 for the annual Girls’ Festival. (for the Boys’ Festival, decorated carp-shaped banners are made and flown). I recall learning about both the Boys’ and Girls’ festivals from books when […]
Posted in Distractions, videos on Feb 21st, 2009
When I was listening to the newest Morning Musume single, “Naichau Kamo” the other day, I thought that it reminded me of two of their previous songs. Iroppoi Jirettai, from the early days of 6th Gen and a fairly recent single, Resonant Blue. It’s got that Latin sound of Iroppoi, and the Thwarted-Love/Playing-Tease theme of […]
This was the incredulous question posed to me by one of my highschool classmates who eventually became one of my buddies, early on in our schooldays together. He had looked over my shoulder to see that I’d been idly pencilling the iconic “fishhook” M on a page in my notebook during a dull lecture in […]
Posted in Distractions, nostalgia, Recommendations, videos on Feb 19th, 2009
There are a lot of bands I like and a lot of albums I like, but I’d have to say that my favorite album of all time, could listen to it straight through, both sides, is The Black Crowes‘ second album, Southern Harmony & Musical Companion. The whole album just flows so smooth, and the […]
Posted in Car Drama and trauma, Distractions, nostalgia, videos on Feb 18th, 2009
My love of covers is well documented. I really love how different bands can put their individual stamp on a song, and so here are a couple of wildly different takes on the same song. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sS5jSbV0Vg] First we have Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys, doing a “western swing” version of a super-cool song about […]
Posted in Distractions, Utter Silliness, videos on Feb 11th, 2009
Someone from Hello Online made this ages ago. It’s a capture from Ayaka’s Surprise English Lessons, where Kimura Ayaka from Coconuts Musume would ambush members of Morning Musume and teach them useful (or not so useful) phrases, and usually reward/bribe them with desserts. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXj6RnaK4Pw] Here’s the episode it came from. Ishikawa Rika was learning about […]
Posted in Distractions, videos on Jan 29th, 2009
You might recognize the little orange fairy in the lower left corner of this tableau. I wrote about her a few years ago when I randomly discovered that she wasn’t just a miscellaneous cute figure but was actually a character from a Japanese kids’ show called “Ojamajo DoReMi.” The Internet, which has grown to contain […]
Posted in nostalgia, Utter Silliness, videos on Jan 24th, 2009
Man, I so dug this band. They broke up some while back, but man, they just amused me silly. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFtywrOTnHw] I remember the first time I heard this song on the radio, and I totally thought they were something leftover from the ’80s, some obscure hair band that I somehow missed during my junior high […]
Posted in videos on Jan 12th, 2009
Kusumi Koharu’s newest solo single, which is the closing theme for an anime in which she voices one of the characters, is probably about the best thing Koharu has performed to date. It’s still basically the syncopated chirpings of a helium-inhaling parakeet, but somehow it is rather fun and charming. Koharu is, at least among […]
Posted in Art Projects & Making Things, videos, Well I'll Be Darned on Jan 3rd, 2009
I was looking for the video of the chainsaw dragster I saw a few years ago. I was telling the ACME crew about it today…we were on the topic of contraptions as we’re all contemplating our Trashboats for the first-ever Kansas City Regatta come June-ish. Anyway, on with the dragsters – there’ll be more about […]