The Horror... The Horror..

Became extra lazy a few months ago and switched over to posting at Facebook.
Still updating my book list at http://audiobookjunkie.blogspot.com/.

M!

ユネッサン Onsen

 

Lots of family fun in the outdoor wine and coffee pools at the ユネッサン Onsen over the weekend.

First Gig of the Year!

Fun gig in Shinjuku last night at ACB Hall with Dallax, Red Bacteria Vacuum, Psycho Food Eaters...

Cultured is as Cultured Does

 

Enjoying the defining moments in a toddler's life: intending to take the son to see the Degas exhibit at the Yokohama Museum of Art yesterday we somehow ended up spending the day at Mooneyes 19th Annual Yokohama Hot Custom Show instead.

Lounging

 

#170. Firefly Festival in Yugawara

Went to Yugawara last weekend for a little hot spring, World Cup, and Firefly Festival action.

#169. Cliffhanger

Followed by creepy shadows on a deserted cable bridge in Izu.

#168. Holding Court In Nara

Zen Joke: There's a barbecue at the Zen Buddhist Temple, and the Zen Master's working the grill. A young monk reverently approaches. The Roshi looks up, smiles and says, "Wanna tofu hotdog? "The monk replies: "Please, Master, make me one with everything."

#167. May Books

My May reading list included a delightful top-drawer mix of mindfulness, manipulators, sociopaths, and mass murderers.

1. Pride And Prejudice And Zombies (Seth Grahame-Smith)
2. Stranger in a Strange Land (Robert A. Heinlein)
3. The Dilbert Principle (Scott Adams)
5. The Art of Mindful Living (Thich Nhat Hanh)
6. Our Choice (Al Gore)
7. Mein Kampf (Adolf Hitler)
8. Zen Mind Beginners Mind (Shunryu Suzuki)
9. A Gun For Sale (Graham Greene)
10.The Art of Seduction (Robert Greene)

#166. Happy Birthday To Me!

Shooting for another 39 years of slow food and racy wines.

#165. Best Vegan Ramen: Gotanda

I never thought I would see this in japan: vegan ramen, and the vegetables are organic to boot. Although I really enjoyed the plum and roasted-onion broth I have no idea how this shop's compares with its meat-laden brethren.

#164. Got Books?

Books in Home as Important as Parents' Education in Determining

Children's Education Level

Science Daily May 21, 2010 — Whether rich or poor, residents of the United States or China, illiterate or college graduates, parents who have books in the home increase the level of education their children will attain, ... > full story

#163. Summer Wish List: Kiteboarding

Kiteboarding looks like a smile and since I have a beach in my backyard it tops my to-do list this summer.

#162. M-I-C-K-E-Y...

Did the Tokyo Disneyland thing with friends and kids this weekend. The Sheraton had a "78% off special" on their rooms through Travel Zoo. I almost felt guilty.

#161. Clam Hunting

Got back to my Canadian Maritime roots with some clam digging in Chiba.

#160. Bando-Band

Saw an interesting band called Bando-band at House 1891 in Kamakura. I am the handsome well-behave guy on the left in the photo below.

photos by wakana morita

#159. Safety Shmafety in Sangenjaya

Went to a better-than average gig at Heaven's Door in Tokyo last night. Tokyo Yankees and Red Bacteria Vacuum (above) put on great shows and were friendly to boot. 666 ( とりぷるしっくす) the Japanese pro-wrestler and singer of QP-Crazy ended their interesting set by lighting a life-sized police officer effigy on fire. Good fun and smoke inhalation was had by all.

#158. Pippin

TIP (Tokyo International Players) are putting on a production of the Broadway Musical Pippin next weekend.

#156. Kodomo no Hi

"The black carp (Magoi) at the top represents the father, the red carp (Higoi) represents the mother, and the last carp represents the son, with an additional carp added for each subsequent son with color and position denoting their relative age"

Children's Day, formerly Boy's Day, is celebrated here in Japan on May 5th.

Oliver's Kabuto.

#156. Best Midnight snack: Tai

Après Kayak Fishing

Straight-from-the-ocean Tai (Sean Bream) sashimi and a dry sake.

#155. Birthright

#154. Best Sake

Healthy side dishes and a bottle of sake from the Royal Family's private reserve.

#153. Best Engrish

Enjoyed some good Engrish and a little Japanese relaxation culture at an onsen in Izu over the weekend.

#152. April 1st Hero!

#151. March Books

Enjoyed an interesting medley of good and evil with the following English audiobooks this month:

1. Three Cups of Tea (David Relin)
2. The Informers (Bret Easton Ellis)
3. Walden: Life in the Woods (Henry David Thoreau)
5. Tropic Of Capricorn (Henry Miller)
6. Oscar Wilde And The Candlelight Murders (Gyles Brandreth)
7. New Testament (Read By Johnny Cash)
8. The Heart Of The Matter (Graham Greene)
9. Excuses Begone! (Wayne Dyer)
10.Thick Black Theory (Li Zongwu)
11. The 80/20 Principle (Richard Koch)
12. Use Of Weapons (Ian Banks)

#150. Wrong Crowd: Blast From the Past

I was in a couple of Canadian punk bands in the 1980s. Here is a photo of me when I was 16 playing with the straightedge anti-Nazi band "The Wrong Crowd" opening for G.B.H. at legendary all-ages club One Step Beyond in Ottawa circa 1987.

#149. Best Free Online Art House Films

Watch your streamed independent movies here at The Auteurs

#148. Best Japanese Learning Tools

http://www.japanese-kanji.com/

#147. Green Car: Best Ride

Class war? Glug, glug, glug....

With comfy seats plus snack and drink service JR's first class section the Green Car is definitely worth the extra money on any trip over an hour.

#146. NPR: Best English Learning Sites

National Public Radio

#145. BBC: Best English Learning Sites

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/

#144. Big in Korea

Après Tofu Speed-Eating Contest interview with Seoul Korea Channel RTV.

#143. Audiobooks Of The Week

A week of political science, self-help, and science fiction: Thick Black Theory (Li Zongwu), The 80/20 Principle (Richard Koch), Use Of Weapons (Ian Banks).

#142. Freemasonry In Japan

I am often asked questions about secret societies, and especially about the Freemasons, because "we don't have them here in Japan". There are in fact many Freemason lodges (ergo many Freemasons) throughout Japan including the very visible Tokyo Masonic Center (Tokyo Masonic Lodge #2) right next to Tokyo Tower.


Coincidentally, *nudge nudge wink wink*, it is located next door to the "Masonic MT 38 and 39 Buildings" which house The French Trade Commission, The American Chamber of Commerce, etc.

#141. Toronto Zoo: Best Pedagogy

This is the savvy advertising campaign the Toronto Zoo came up with to increase youth attendance.

#140. Audiobooks Of The Week

Child psychology, sinners, spies, and self help this week: One Mind At A Time (Dr. Levine), Moll Flanders (Daniel Defoe), The Human Factor (Graham Greene), Mind Mapping: How to Liberate Your Natural Genius (Michael Gelb).

#139. 津波のような侘しさに

Sunday afternoon's tidal wave warning left me stranded on a deserted train platform drinking Boss Black and listening to audiobooks .

Managed to get to Shibuya O-Nest in time to catch Strike Anywhere and most of the opening bands.

#138. Dorobushi: Best Local Flavors

Dorobushi is a nice upper-scale health food restaurant on the top three floors of the Fancl Building in Ginza. They do serve meat but seem more than happy to whip up full-course vegetarian and vegan meals.

#137. Oliver Suave

Meet Tucker Carlson Junior.

#136. Raising Bilingual Kids

Multilingual Children's Association

is a cool resource for parents raising bilingual kids.

#135. アメーラトマト: Best Tomatoes

Amera Tomatoes from Shizuoka.

Japan is known for babying its vegetables, or in this case fruit.

*According to Wikipedia (the lazy man's Nexis Lexis), although a fruit the tomato was ruled a vegetable by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1893.

#134. Audiobooks of the Week

"Read" six decent books this week: The Next 100 Years (George Friedman), Boy: Tales of Childhood (Roald Dahl), Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella), Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? (Philip K. Dick), Darkness at Noon (Arthur Koestler), The Greatest Show On Earth: The Evidence For Evolution (Richard Dawkins).

*The Next 100 Years: Thought women's curling was tense? WWIII kicks off in 2050 with Japan and Turkey attacking the U.S. from space.

*Confessions of a Shopaholic is surprisingly enjoyable. Kind of like American Psycho minus the bodies and returning of videotapes.

*Zzzzzzzz.... Good but some sections really drag. Recommend the abridged version of "The Greatest Show On Earth".

#133. iCook Cookware: Best Kitchen Unessential

After years of banging and scraping away at throw-away T-fal pans it is taking me a while to get used to pretty cookware .

#132. Norovirus Shmorovirus

#131. Go Team Canada!

#130. Audiobooks of the Week

I like it. This week's protagonists included just the right amount of nihilists, bar flies, junkies, anarchists and con-artists: The Death of Bunny Munro (Nick Cave), Naked Lunch (William S. Burroughs), Direct Action (Voltairine de Cleyre), 90 Minutes In Hell (Charles Bukowski), Catch Me If You Can (Frank W. Abagnale), and Diary (Chuck Palahniuk).

#129. Best Gig: Rollins Band

Photo Sean Scallen

Henry Rollins Band of Black Flag fame at One Step Beyond circa 1988. Everyone in attendance rates it as the best show ever. Sounds good to me.

#128. Ice Ice Baby

Game on!

Not quite Canadian level back-yard skating rink quality but still--first ice of the year!

#127. Books Of The Week

Four good~decent books this week: The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins), A Room with a View (E. M. Forster), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Stieg Larsson), and A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity (O'Reilly). Took a while to get into, but liked “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” best in the end--tasteless pun intended. It's really good. Also enjoyed The Hunger Games (take off on Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery") and A Room with a View. Found O’Reilly’s memoir entertaining but trite when compared to the grittier and better written Irish-Catholic-working-class-rags-to-riches autobiographies out there (Frank McCourt, Denis Leary, etc.). Charlie says I need to read more Nick Cave, so "The Death of Bunny Munro" is indeed up next.

#126. Pearls Before Wine

Finding a pearl in your oyster without chipping teeth: the foodie's equivalent to a hole in one.