new thom yorke video: harrowdown hill

lost at sea in japan

I just realized that the Sæglópur EP that I got in Japan has one extra track that is not on the European or North American version of the EP. Here it is, enjoy.

Hafsól
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buy Sæglópur EP here

japan: tokyo pt. i

Here’s the craziness that went on while I was in Tokyo: I stayed at a hotel called Sunlite Shinjuku, my room was sooooo tiny, but I didn’t care because the location was amazing! The first night, I went to this festival thing near my hotel. There were a bunch of food stands and people dressed in traditional Japanese attires drumming and dancing around. That was probably the most Japanese thing I witnessed so far.

After that, I went to Harajuku to see what's all the hypes all about. Unfortunately, I didn’t see any crazy 'Harajuku girls'... maybe I did, but everyone in Japan dresses so unique and crazy already.

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The next day, I went to the best museum ever! It was the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka. It was a Hayao Miyazaki museum... the place was set up like a studio: showcasing sketches, paintings, photographs, and different stages and processes in making Miyazaki films... oh, including the actual full storyboard to Grave of Fireflies!!!! The museum was absolutely amazing... actually, I cannot describe how much I enjoyed that place; it is definitely my favorite thing in Japan so far!!!!!!! Sadly, I was not allowed to take pictures inside the museum (even though I tried to take a few, but they were all blurry)... nonetheless, I was able to take pictures outside and I took a bunch of the flying robot from from Castle in the Sky... that thing was huge... it was soooooo cool! Ok, you are probably tired of hearing about how much I loved the Ghibli Museum, so I’ll move on to my next destination in Tokyo.

I traveled to Ebisu to check out the Yebisu Garden Place. I walked around there for a while, went to the Sapporo Brewery Beer Museum and got some free beer... it was sweet! I was planning to go into the Museum of Photography, but it was a little expensive; they were charging like 7 bucks for each floor… I thought it was a rip-off!

I did more traveling, this time to Hamamatsucho for the Zojyoji Temple, Tokyo Tower, and the bay area. The Zojyoji Temple was kind of sad: it had "rows of little statures of Jizobosatsu, the protector of the souls of stillborn children. Mothers who have experienced stillbirth or who have had an abortion may dedicate an image of the deity and decorate it with baby clothes, toys, and little windmills." Haha, that was take right from this Tokyo pocket guide book... btw Liam, that book is awesome!... I totally planned my trip mostly according to it, thanks!!


After the temple, I went to see the Tokyo Tower. I just walked around the outside area and to the first and second floor of the tower. I thought the funniest thing was how there was this large picture of the tower in front of the entrance and people were getting their pictures taken with it. I mean, WTF?!?!?! The real thing is right there and people were taking pictures with a photograph of it, how strange!

The last thing I did in Hamamatsucho was just walked around the bay area, or the harbor front. I had a beautiful view of the city and the water and wind was a nice and refreshing contrast from the extreme heat I felt for the entire day. I hung around there for like an hour or so, bought some dinner and went back to my hotel. This post has been extremely long, so I will leave out my last day in Tokyo in another post. Peace-out kids!

see my Tokyo pictures here

i like you

Hey kids, I am in Osaka again. Tokyo was pretty awesome; I went to so many places... including the best museum ever! I will tell you all about that plus have a full post about my Tokyo trip very soon. For now, I want to post about Xiu Xiu. Remember the Pussycat Dolls' cover I posted a few weeks ago? Well, it turns out that it is from Xiu Xiu’s new EP, Tu Mi Piaci. This thing consists of five cover songs by Xiu Xiu, but I don’t really know any of the original tracks… other than the Pussycat Dolls one. So, this EP is more like new songs by Xiu Xiu rather than covers for me, anyway, I hope you enjoy them.

He Needs Me (Nina Simone)
Blue Berry Mine Shaft (Nedelle)
Kangaroo (This Mortal Coil/Alex Chilton)
All We Ever Wanted Was Everything (Bauhaus)
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buy Tu Mi Piaci here

japan: what a beautiful town... but what a terrifying view...

I went to this crazy fireworks festival thing the other day... I think it was supposed to be the biggest firework display in the world or something like that. The thing lasted for about an hour and the finale was absolutely spectacular! There were so many fireworks going off at once that the entire night sky turned red... at one point, it was so bright that I had to close my eyes... I have never seen anything like that before!

Oh, and check this out... I got really strong during my stay in Osaka and managed to lift this gigantic blowfish!!!

Yesterday, I went to the city of Nara with Jesse. We saw a shit load of shrines, temples, and deer. The main temple there was probably the Todaiji Temple. The place was massive... it had a handful of huge Buddha statues inside... definitely a pretty astonishing place!! After, Jesse and I went on an endless hike through the mountains... seriously, we hiked for like hours!

We ended up at the top of this one point and witnessed an amazing but terrifying view of the city. So, we were pretty much lost for the most part, and we ended up following this road for cars downhill... oh, did I mention that it was getting dark as we were wandering through the forest/mountain... it was kind of scary! Anyways, we made it through and now I am getting ready to head to Tokyo for a few days!!

go here to see more Osaka pictures
go here to see more Nara pictures

japan: first music update

I don’t know why I have never posted these up… even though there are so many of you out there who love the Metric. I got these songs from Emily Haines’ solo show at the church a few years ago… or last year, I don’t really remember. Anyways, they are completely different than Metric, so enjoy!

Sprig*
Detective Daughter
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japan: build your castle, stop collecting stones

Holy crap, I’ve been in Japan for almost a week! Let’s see, I actually don’t have too much to tell... I stayed over at Jesse’s mom hotel at Yodoyabashi for the past two nights... which was in the middle of nowhere! We did the whole tourist thing yesterday: went to Osaka Castle and a traditional Japanese restaurant.

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I loved the restaurant!! It was such an amazing experience! On the other hand, the Osaka Castle was kind of disappointing... I mean, the Castle and its surroundings are pretty incredible, but I was definitely disappointed by the inside of the castle. I was totally expecting the inside to be all traditional, old looking, etc., but it was renovated to become a tourist info guide about the castle... it was all modernized with hallways, elevators, and shops.




I am currently looking for hotels in Tokyo... I am planning to leave early tomorrow or the next day. Anyways, I have added more pictures to the Osaka set, you can check them out here.

japan: day three and four

Let’s see, what have I been doing in Osaka so far? The first day, I went to this mall called Hep-Five. Omg, what an experience! There were absolutely no old people at the mall... just a bunch of crazy-fashion young kids. Oh, and the place was freaking huge, it had like ten floors or something! Sure, there is some really cheap stuff here, but most of the clothes I saw were pretty expensive. There’s a Virgin Mega Store there... I got the Japanese version of Sigur Rós’ Sæglópur EP for about $15... I was pretty happy about that, but damn, most of the CDs there are soooooo expensive!!! I also went to a shopping arcade at Shinsaibashi. That place was amazing! There were like billboards/advertisements everywhere and again, thousands of shops and foodstands. I got a black blazer and a pair of red Converse All Star, the former was $19 and the latter was $28. I know, I still can’t believe that I got a blazer for $19!!!!!!! So I eventually wonder out of the shopping arcade and started walking around the side streets, etc., where there were more stores and I even found an American Apparel! I got majorly lost and I actually got some guy at a store to draw me a map on how to get to the nearest station. I did not understand his directions at all, but lucky, I ran into a train station shortly after.


The second day (yesterday), I went to Uemachi Daichi Historical Site Promenade near the Shitennoji-mae Yuhigaoka station. That place was gorgeous! There were so many temples and cemeteries. It felt really good because the area was extremely quiet, and I think I was the only tourist there. I talked to this monk for a little at one temple, he was extremely nice... he asked me what I was from, what I was talking in school, etc. Anyways, after that, I hopped back onto the train and went to Den-Den Town. Den-Den Town is this area full of electronic, used CDs and DVDs, Manga, toys, and random porno stores. Liam, I will probably be able to find your CDs here for cheaper, but I forgot the list at home that day. Don’t worry, I am hitting up Tokyo soon... I am sure there’ll be used CD stores there, and if not, I am planning to go back to Den-Den Town later, so I’ll get them then. So again, I got pretty lost there and ended up asking for directions at a police station. Anyways, I think that’s about up to date on my adventures in Japan, see you kids later!

Ps, I am soooooooo missing diet Pepsi right now... apparently, it doesn’t exist in Japan... WTF!!?!?

go here to see more pictures from Osaka

japan: day one and two

Hey kids, I am in the foreign land, aka Japan, aka Osaka right now. It is hot as hell as and I am actually kind of used to it already. I arrived a couple of days ago in Osaka, but went straight to Kyoto to meet Jesse’s Mom. The first night, we just walked around a little and went out for dinner. I had my first "problematic" Japanese restaurant experience: I ordered a dish called Vegetable Spaghetti, but when the waitress brought me my meal, there were bacons in it. WTF!?!?!? After a short discussion with the waitress, she showed me the menu and pointed to a very small print below Vegetable Spaghetti that said "with or without bacons". Anyways, I ended up picking all the bacons off my spaghetti, I was kind of disgusted and it was not fun!

During the second day in Kyoto, Jesse and I went to check out some temples in the morning and just walked around residential areas. We then meet Jesse’s mom at Starbucks (btw, I am in so love with Shaken Lemon Green Tea). We took the train to the Shijo-dori and Kawaramachi-dori area, where the shopping arcade is located. Shopping arcades are freaking crazy in Japan, they are these outdoor malls that extend to about the length of a thousand football fields... well, maybe not a thousand, but you get the idea. But seriously, there are like thousands of stores at the shopping arcade in Kyoto! It was totally overwhelming!!! We also checked out the Kamo-gawa river and old old temple at night: both were very beautiful.

Jesse and I took the train back to Osaka that same night. I met his roommate Shane, and we went to a bar near his apartment. Apparently, Shane has gone to a bar for 61 days straight. Oh, and I found out not only do you don’t tip at restaurant in Japan, you don’t need to tip at clubs/bars neither, how great is that! Afterward, we ran into Jesse’s friend, Audrey, and bought some food and alcohol and went to "the river", a popular hangout spot among Jesse and his friends. There, we meet up with Jesse’s Japanese replacement of me, Barry. He is a pretty crazy guy as he showed up with a bag-full of fireworks. We drank and set up explosives... anyways, this post is getting a little too long, so I’ll just have to end it right now... I’ll update again very soon... probably later today... or tomorrow.

go see my Kyoto pictures here

souvenirs and lost luggage

I am leaving for Japan in a couple of hours. This will be my last post before I head to the airport. But no need to worry, I will update this blog throughout my three weeks trip... so keep visiting this blog!!!

Some may say that Asobi Seksu’s new record, Citrus, is a rip-off of Kevin Shields/My Bloody Valentine. I think Citrus is more like a modern version, if not a tribute to Kevin Shields and My Bloody Valentine. ...Let’s just say, Asobi Seksu’s music is enormously influenced by MBV, you can definitely hear that on tracks such as "Thursday" and "Red Sea"! Oh… and especially on "Strawberries", the drum rhythms sound extremely similar to "Just Like Honey". In my opinion, Citrus would have sounded like any other noise pop record if the vocal was carried by a male lead. On the contrary, Yuki’s layback and beautiful voice, as well as the way she incorporates both English and Japanese lyrics in Citrus, gives the band a peculiarly lively and unique dimension. It is true that at times, the music, in particular the guitar effects are so loud that it overshadows Yuki’s voice, but that fits perfectly with all the different musical elements throughout Citrus. Before ending this post, I want to leave you with one last thought: Yuki’s vocal style reminds me of a singer from the 80s or perhaps the 70s, but I can’t figure out who... listen to the songs below and see if you can tell me.

Strawberries
New Years
Thursday
Strings
Red Sea
Nefi+Girly
Mizu Asobi
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buy Citrus here