A Subtle Warning

With Japanese even I can handle. At the top, it says “This is not a toilet”, then next to the peeing (or gushing) man, “No!” or “Bad!”. Incidentally, this sign was posted pretty close to my neighborhood.

Gearin’ Up For Vacation

That’s right folks, 3 weeks away and I’m finally planning the trip. Only snag encountered thus far is that online tickets for the Alhambra are already sold out for the days I’m in Granada. All 2,000 of them. Per day. That means I’ll be waiting in line for about 3 hours starting at 6AM or just skipping the WHOLE DAMN WORTHLESS THING! Anyway, should be a cool trip. I’m getting excited about it.

conbini run

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first moblog post

impressed? i am posting this from my mobile phone (from my room). more to come…

Goodbye, Long Weekend

Ended the weekend by trying Sri Lankan food for the first time. Unfortunately, my cold has completely taken over my nose now, so I really can’t taste much. This was Sri Lankan food, though, so some of it was spicy enough for me to at least get an idea of its real flavor. A lot of the food was indistinguishable from Indian food to me (the curry, for one), but there was some unique stuff, too, especially the sambol, a sort of spread made of ground coconuts and various spices. I want to try it again sometime. And in case you were wondering, the photo is not from the Sri Lankan restaurant, it’s from the front of a coffee shop down the street that includes this statue along with a loudspeaker playing American talk radio shows (today, some kind of religious debate was on). I think it’s an attempt at giving the place some kind of “Americana” feel, but that’s where my understanding of it ends.

A Cold, More Korean Food, Techno, Etc.

Well, I’ve been slacking on the blog this 3-day weekend, mainly due to a cold and an extra bit of laziness that came with it. I somehow haven’t taken a single picture all weekend, either, which is another reason I haven’t posted. By the way, the photo is from a trip to Montana a few years ago. So, anyway, Friday night, H’s friend’s Korean friend introduced us and 2 other friends to an excellent Korean place down the street (if you don’t know yet, I live in Tokyo’s Korea-town, basically) where we feasted on just about everything on the menu. The food was seriously good, some of the best Korean I’ve had, and the 2 friends of H’s (who I didn’t know before) were very cool to hang out with. And then Sunday night was the biggest techno night of the season, no doubt. Lots of music, but Pheek’s set ruled the night, hands down (LFKASS was completely right about this). The music easily stood up on its own, but it was all that much better considering he played in great little underground club with a loud, clear sound system and for a crowd who had no problem waiting until 4 AM for his set to begin.

Acid House History Lesson

As a special treat, I give you quick transcription of the lyrics to Maurice’s ‘88 smash “This is Acid”. It’s pretty cool to hear stuff from this little branch of the Chicago acid house tree that never quite made it into the 90’s (well, at least not too far). It’s as much related to hip-house as it is to acid house. Incidentally, it looks like Maurice is now a Grammy winning remixer.

so many questions have been made
about this new dance craze (grade?)
called acid

what people really want to know
is how the story all goes
about acid

this is acid
i’m gonna give you acid
this is acid
i’m givin’ you acid

(synth tweaking hook)

acid is the latest sound
can you feel it all around
as you dance
acid has a certain groove
that makes your body want to move
when you hear it

when the acid hits your soul
it makes you want to lose control
of your body

acid sounds so unique
you just have to move your feet
when you hear it

this is acid
i’m givin’ you acid
this is acid
i’m givin’ you acid

(synth tweaking hook)

can you feel it
beatin’ on the floor
can you feel it
don’t you want some more
(woman’s sexual moans in background)

can you feel it
acid in the air
can you feel it
acid everywhere
(woman’s scream)

this is ?
and i want to make you rock your body
this is the ultimate acid track
and once you hear it
there’ll be no going back

everybody out there…
jack the house

(bridge with 909 toms and hip-hop loops)

this is acid
i’m gonna give you acid
this is acid
i’m givin’ you acid

(synth tweaking hook)

Chicken Town

Yes, it’s Wednesday, and a slow week (outside of work, that is). So here’s a little leftover fun from the weekend. H and I finally made it to “Chicken Town”, which is basically a ramshackle little tent with folding tables and chairs that sticks out onto the sidewalk of one of the main streets in our area. Chicken Town’s minimalist sensibility is further revealed by the fact that they serve nothing but bite-sized pieces of chicken (not to be confused with nuggets!) covered in a spicy Korean sauce. Hmm, it does seem there are about 4-5 choices in sauce, however. As good as all this sounds (at least to me), the chicken was too greasy, and the sauce was too sweet and artificial for my tastes (and my tolerance for this kind of stuff is pretty high). Anyway, while I won’t be going back, at least I’ve had the experience! Now I’m just waiting for the week to end and for my 3-day weekend to begin. Scion and Pheek both in Tokyo on Sunday!

Sunday Night Television

OK, OK, so this is maybe a little too similar to the last post, but when this came on TV last night, I couldn’t help but think of the blog.

Don Quixote #1

This is the first image in what I’m sure will be a long series from the inside of Don Quixote, a popular chain of stores here in Japan that sell just about anything you could imagine and in a completely claustrophobic, noisy, and disorganized space. Trust me, shopping there is as fun as it sounds. Anyway, I think it would be awesome if a band made these masks part of their on-stage attire. K8?