Daft Cinema: Showcasing American Stupidity
I’ve started a new blog to chronicle the highlights and pains of working in two different movie theaters. Customer service is a thankless and nightmarish industry where the true human condition is revealed in ugly clarity. Sometimes the antics of the patrons are hilarious, sometimes they are down-right astonishingly rude. The stories I have from this job always seem to amuse others, so why not share them with the cyber-world too!
I can make this stuff up. I’ve tried and it just doesn’t work. You won’t believe some of the things people do, or the stupid things they say, even when they do something as simple as go out to the movies. Come join the fun!
Awesome Chopsticks!
One of my favorite things to collect is chopsticks. Not just any ordinary chopsticks though. They must be unique, decorative, or from a special event, otherwise I’d have a mountain for a collection. The funny thing is, I’ve barely figured a way to hold and eat with chopsticks, a method which I’m sure is incorrect and only works for a few minutes before my hand cramps up. Years of trying, it’s been hopeless. Until now! In my search for fabulous Asian utensils, I’ve come across something to help those of us who can’t seem to get it just right.
Designed for easy use this unique set of tongs-meets-chopsticks resemble a human form with arms, legs, and a head. The Q-Man Chopsticks are dishwasher safe, come in 4 colors, and are easy enough for children to use properly. If you’re anything like me, the Q-Man Chopstick set is both a novelty collectible and a stylish but practical addition to the dining table.
Available on Amazon for under $10, these would make cute stocking-stuffers or terrific gifts for you favorite blogger. ;-)
Japanese emoticons for everyone
＼(＾▽＾*)いらっしゃ～いっ(*＾▽＾)／
A Westerner’s cheat sheet for Japanese emoticons. We’ve all seen them, especially on twitter. Our Japanese friends make the most intricate and adorable emoticons out of their characters and text. I’m going to show you a website that lets users with a Roman alphabet keyboard integrate Japanese words with 2byte emoticons.
(*≧▽≦)オハツでっす♪
Here you can learn the differences between Western and Eastern emoticons (1byte and 2byte respectively) as well as the breakdown of the Japanese characters in each. The page is categorized with brief descriptions of what each is trying to convey. Technically you don’t have to “know” Japanese to use these, but it’s helpful since some have slight variations on meanings when different kanji are used. Nonetheless, don’t be afraid to use this as a resource to add some charm and variety to your tweets, blogs, and FB statuses.
La Carmina & The Pirates
Popular blogger, fashionista, and tv host La Carmina, and a band of her friends have opened a new business the help you do what they do! La Carmina & The Pirates specialize in youth culture consulting, on-camera hosting, and location arranging (fixing) to fit almost any need. These Tokyo TV Fixers will help you find the newest trends, the perfect shooting locations, translate interviews, and will even host your program with style. La Carmina and her Pirates are not only knowledgeable in fashion & music trends who are intrepid coolhunters, but are also competent in professional business practices. In short – they get it done, look good while doing it, and make you look good too!
Check out their website for a lot more information including bio sheets, affiliates, and video clips!
http://www.lacarmina.com/pirates/
Let La Carmina & The Pirates guide you on your next television expedition through the stormy seas of the Tokyo scene!
J-Rock Video of the Day: xTRiPx
xTRiPx – “Glitter”
xTRiPx have been around since 2003 with a steadily growing reputation in the indies fanbase. This song is so easy on the ears. I love the guitar solo and the vocalist has a beautiful voice. They fall somewhere between O’share kei and indie rock, giving them a distinctive marking in a sea of clownfish. They’ve had some lineup issues but in 2009 released some new, very limited, material which marked their reunion.
I’m still getting hits on an old post that has a preview of “Naked arms” the new single from T.M.Revolution. Since that video clip is merely a sneak peek prior to release, I thought I should post the full-length song and complete PV for any searchers who land here.
So here it is. The majestic, awesome, amazing new video and single from His Highness, T.M.Revolution!
http://www.videouncovered.com/play/29885/tm-revolution/naked-arms.html
Sorry for the external link. Unfortunately, Youtube is diligent about stripping as much T.M.R. off their site as possible, including this hot new hit, so I had to go elsewhere for it. The good news is that website has every T.M.Revolution video ever made, so while you’re there watch some of his other PVs!
Zillow Zollo’s A-Z of Music: A
A is for abingdon boys school
So my uncle began posting an A-Z of noteworthy bands on his facebook page and no sooner did he get to letter B than I decided to steal the idea for myself. And in keeping with tradition, I can’t simply post a youtube link and leave it at that, so I might as well use the opportunity to populate my blog some more.
First up is abingdon boys school, a modern hard rock band from Japan led by pop vocalist T.M.Revolution (Takanori Nishikawa). This band, who always insists on having their name spelled out entirely in lower case letters, is the collaborative effort of T.M.Revolution and his support musicians working together as a band instead of a solo artist + back-up players. The result is a more grungy, post/alt rock amalgamation and T.M.R. gets to show off his aggressive vocal chops that we haven’t heard since his days with indie visual kei act Luis-Mary, all the while experimenting with a more frequent use of English lyrics. Guitarist Sunao also gets his chance to shine that amazing talent of his with some terrific solos throughout their catalog.
With a stylized school boy theme running throughout their albums, singles, and PVs (promotional videos), abingdon boys school have struck a popular chord with the Asian youth and are making waves across Europe. The U.S. is, as always, the last to jump on board but the band has announced they are planning more worldwide tours in the near future. I think they’d be a great addition to one of the major “radio rock” tours like Warped Tour or even to the Lollapalooza festival.
It’s hard to say who the band will appeal to in the Western market but I’d venture to guess that somewhere between Wolfmother and Mastodon, abingdon boys school will find their fanbase.
A ZZWW Review of ‘Splice’
Today’s horror movies have become gagged up and irresponsible. The same could be said for romantic comedies, but this review isn’t about either type of film. Splice, the latest film by director Vincenzo Natali (known for his cult favorite, Cube) is less of a horror movie and more of a commentary on the human condition wrapped in sci-fi robes.
Much like Cube, Splice has elements of suspense and certainly takes the viewer in a new direction that couldn’t be imagined. Splice is by no means a great movie, but it does not make my list of horrible horror celluloid.
At face value, Splice is a terrible sci-fi suspense film that fails at truly gripping the audience and is too bizarre even for the post-Avatar diehards. Where to presentation excels is in it’s subtext. Splice takes on a multitude of intangible topics like love, ethical morality, the mysterious web of relationships, and what it means to be “human” and to have “humanity.”
**Spoilers Ahead**
Read more…
“Throw yourself into the road, darling!”
Well, it’s that time of year: graduation is upon us. I assumed it would stop meaning anything to me when I left college last year, somehow forgetting, as self-absorbed as most people, that my best friend still had a year to go at the same institution. So a few days ago I saw him off; into the same world that’s treated me indifferently over the course of the past year. He has the wanderlust (while in spite of my travels, I’m essentially a domestic creature) so I don’t know when I’ll be seeing him again; besides which, our friendship was so intense, and so tied to the miserable place in which we found ourselves, I think we both sense we need a sort of…mourning period before that relationship can become something else. Anyhow, it put me in mind of what is possibly the funniest, and certainly among the most depressing films ever made: the British cult comedy Withnail & I.
KPop on On Demand
2NE1, SHINee, U-KISS, and more all appear on Comcast’s On Demand this month, along with several Asian movies and children’s programing, in an effort to expose modern and traditional Asian culture to the West. It’s quite a nice surprise to see so much being given to the Kpop bands in the music section, each video being available for free until 6-1-10.
A little confused at the selection, though. I mean, if a major U.S. cable provider is going to put together a package labeled “Asian Entertainment” for the Asian Heritage Month celebration, one would think something from Japan would be included, yes? Apparently not if you’re Comcast. Also one would think that if you’re trying to push the On Demand purchase of Ninja Assassin, starring a world-famous Korean pop star, you’d have at least one of this songs available in the music category too. Guess again. At least there’s a Super Junior song, albeit a strange medley/lounge remix of two songs from the recent release, and at least they gave some attention to more recent Kpop acts like U-KISS and Beast, but where’s the DBSK? Where’s the Rain? Where’s anything from Japan or China or any of the other Asian country?
At least Comcast was decent enough to include some extended-play collections from the Philippines, not forgetting to count them in the Asian collection. But still…. not one song from Japan. Why not an Ayumi Hamasaki, Utada Hikaru, or Koda Kumi at least? Eh…. partial fail, Comcast.
We can be thankful for the mass exposure of some Asian music to the general American populace, so if you have Comcast, go check out the On Demand selections under Top Picks and show that the U.S. does care about foreign music.
Zillow Zollo
kokusaijin
Noire de la Lune
