Radio Debut

Posted on May 27th, 2007 in Customary Drivel, Media, Photos by Deas

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I made my radio debut this week on my buddy Josh’s weekly show, the Kessel Run. The show plays on BariBari FM (78.9 mHz), a local volunteer radio station. I basically brought a couple of songs, Josh MC’d and I acted as a guest. We jabbered away in English and broken Japanese. Josh speaks heavy Imabari-ben, so it’s amusing. I speak rather boring textbook Japanese. Anyway, it was a load of fun, 30 minutes long, and hopefully repeatable. Maybe when Josh moves to Matsuyama they’ll let me fill in for him once in a blue moon. Till then, I’m pretty sure we can get a couple more doubled-up shows in. Here’s hoping. :-)

Sidenote: I will be in Kobe for the first year JET recontracting conference, so there will be very little rocking in Hakata until Thursdayish and into the weekend. Until then, folks. KOBE BEEF HERE I COME.

StarCraft 2: Power Overwhelming?

Posted on May 26th, 2007 in Customary Drivel by Deas
Possibly related posts: |Microversal?||SC2 Tidbit||Onmaku 2008||Gyoza Chips||Sharks|

Prepare for serious geekage. You’ve been warned.
I’m not the only one totally stoked about the upcoming StarCraft sequel. The original StarCraft took many a boring summer day (or painfully studious college day…ahem) and turned them into an amazingly addictive competitive futuristic space war. My brother and I played each other all the time. My cousin would play us. My friends would play us. Random people on the internet would play us. It was heavenly. Well, until my brother declared himself “unfairly good” with the Zerg. He wasn’t lying, either. The boy had a gift. Needless to say, I am beyond excited about the sequel. Lots of people are doing the highly professional bellyaching about how it’s not a MMORPG. Whatever. I fell for it as an RTS, and I’ll likely fall for it again as an RTS. It’s a pattern that just works. Works so well, it got its own television channel in South Korea. Seriously. I watched it during my visit to Seoul. StarCraft had has a rabid fan base. It was an amazing game. Hopefully the sequel, StarCraft II, will match up.

I spent some time looking over the movies that have been released so far, and I have come up with the following questions. If you’re interested, feel free to chime in on any of them or add your own.

Metal Samurai

Posted on May 25th, 2007 in Customary Drivel, Unsolicited Commentary, 日本語 by Deas

Found an article as I sat down and “read” the Asahi Shinbun this morning. Here’s the text of the article. You can read the original here. I have attempted another horrible translation, so click the more link if you’re interested.

ネット配信の時代劇映画で提携　東映とコロムビア
2007年05月24日19時47分

東映とコロムビアミュージックエンタテインメントは２４日、インターネットで配信する時代劇映画制作で提携した、と発表した。時代劇の視聴者を増やしたい東映とネット音楽配信の技術をもつコロムビアが組み、新たな販路を開拓する。映画は６月にも複数の動画サイトで公開される予定。

タイトルは「メタル侍」で京都・太秦（うずまさ）の京都撮影所で撮影した。ヘビーメタルギタリストとしての裏の顔を持つ外国人浪人が、ギターを使った技を繰り出して悪者を懲らしめるコメディー時代劇だ。１話は約２５分。ネットで分割配信されることを想定し、１話を約５分ごとのストーリーに区切り各ストーリーに独立性を持たせている。

ネット配信について出演者には事前に了解をとり、著作権を東映とコロムビアに帰属させ、権利処理を簡単にした。

Japanerican Sitdrama

Posted on May 24th, 2007 in Customary Drivel by Deas
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I posted 2 interesting video clips at Japan Probe today. They’re Japanese parodies of American dramas / sitcoms like Beverly Hills 90210. Luke Perry’s “Dylan McKay” character is present, being performed by the comedian Nadagi. (His real-life girlfriend Tomochika, who happens to be from Ehime - Matsuyama to be exact - plays opposite him as his fake girlfriend Catherine.) I learned about this from my buddy at the Mexipan restaurant. She screened the YouTube videos for me as I ingested that amazing pumpkin taco the other day. Mmmm. Anyway, check it out. (You can post comments here too, though.)

Pumpkin Taco

Posted on May 23rd, 2007 in Culinary, Customary Drivel, Unsolicited Commentary by Deas

Say what? Pumpkin Taco.

Some of you might remember my bellyaching about the economics behind my stamp card that I received from my favorite Mexipan food place (Mexipan = Mexican in Japan). I extensively went after that. Ugh. My Race for the $200 Taco ended in shame, because I never actually finished the card off. It was absolutely impossible thanks to my schedule. Oh well. C’est la vie. I have since complained in person and explained my reasoning for refusing the new card when my old one expired. Just not worth it. Anyway, here’s an interesting twist. I ate a pumpkin taco today. PUMPKIN. かぼちゃ. How weird is that? Surprisingly, fabulously weird. I intend to eat many more in days to come. If the pumpkin taco were only 200 yen instead of 250 yen, I’d be inspired to try and fill out another stamp card. Ok, maybe not. But you gotta admit, it’s not everyday you eat a pumpkin taco. Am I right or what?

(Also, they added tapas to the menu, which cracks me up. And they gave me a 10% off coupon because they’re one year old today. Congrats. Great Mexipan food for a year. Ha ha.)

Crosswalks

Posted on May 21st, 2007 in Customary Drivel, Media, Photos by Deas
Possibly related posts: |No related posts|

How do you know that you live on an island in rural Japan where old people constitute the vast majority of the population? By looking at the crosswalk signs. It’s pretty obvious that I live in such a place. Check out these crosswalk signs from my island, Hakatajima.

Did you spot what was weird? The little guy is wearing an old person hat. And the clothes could be old person-ish too. Just made me laugh. Ha ha ha. :-)

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