You absolutely need to watch the new BBC series ADAM AND JOE GO TOKYO (see my post from yesterday that links to an article on the show). I’ve just watched the first episode and I couldn’t stop laughing. If you come to my site for the latest in Japanese pop culture, well this is the video equivalent, with a great sense of humour. In the show they did a toys top 5, had super-popular comedy duo Tetsu and Tomo do their famous “Nande Darou” song (with English subs), did a piece on cosplay, had a priceless interview with Dr. Nakamats (the guy was just so funny), and they finished off with a live performance by the Polysics (Devo with a Japanese twist), a band I like. For you Brits, it’s on BBC 3, and for the rest of you, start searching those P2P networks.
Month: October 2003
I’ve finally decided to make my RSS feeds public (which should make some of you happy). They come in two flavors: everything, meaning pics and text, or a simple excerpts version. The links to these feeds also appear in the sidebar.
Work continues on the new version of the site (dare I call it 3.0). I’ve got a basic structure I like, and now I’m working on content, how to group things together, etc. Still lots of tweaking to be done with the styles also. It’s fun doing this kind of work again, as I hadn’t really been coding since the last major revision of the site (did a bit of MT work when I had to change servers a few months ago though). It’s also fun creating something new from scratch. Now don’t worry, I think that if you like the way the site is now you’ll still appreciate what I’m doing to refresh it. The colors are also completely changing (no worries Paul, I’m not going back to the sakura version).
Kamukura Ramen
You didn’t think I was going to spend a weekend in Osaka and not take pics of ramen shops, did you? Here is a famous shop called Kamukura, in the Dotonburi area.
As mentioned last week, I wanted to check out some new ramen shops in the area (after the devastation of losing my beloved Komen taste), and Paul‘s visit last night was a good opportunity as he wanted to get some ramen. We went to Masu Masu (mentioned in this week’s TOKYO WALKER, and a shop I spotted a while back but just hadn’t gone to yet), which is located under the Mashman’s Cafe, where we had drinks (I tried a Vietnamese beer called 333). I was really surprised by the welcome we got at the shop, with one of the workers (possibly the owner) greeting us in English (broken, sure, but he was clearly making an effort and wanted to make us feel comfortable), recommending us certain things, giving us free bowls of rice, and then some tickets for free gyoza on our next visit. As for the main meal, it was rather good. The soup was a bit fat, and I prefer thicker noodles, but I was still quite satisfied (and I think Paul was also).
On a side note, when I got back to Ikebukuro after work I stopped by at Parco and picked up the first issue of ART iT at P-BC, as well as a nice little notepad at Delfonics. I’ll wait until I get a chance to read the magazine before commenting on it, but Paul had some interesting things to say about it (especially about the typography, which isn’t something I would have automatically looked at). At first glance, it’s certainly a nice-looking magazine.
Adam and Joe Go Tokyo
Matrix Revolutions
Yes, it’s coming to Japan soon also.
AD-duced at IN-duce
Just as I moblogged Paul tonight when we met in Ikebukuro for drinks, ramen, and coffee, so did he at his site. It was also quite interesting to see him do it old-school style. He took the pic with his Sony digital camera, changed the size in the camera, took out the memory stick and put it in his Sony Clie PDA, and then sent an email through that device with the pic as an attachment (seems like Mfop2 supports PDAs too). I’d never seen moblogging done this way. Hey, whatever works!
Dotonburi River
A shot of the Dotonburi river. The picture I had on the site yesterday is of a sign to the extreme left of this.
The Concorde Lounge
Yesterday while still in Osaka I picked up the latest issue of CASA BRUTUS (pictured in this Tokyo Boy entry), and today I picked up a special CD+BOOK they’ve just released called THE CONCORDE LOUNGE: SUPERSONIC JET SET LOVE. You can buy the CD alone, which is a compilation selected and mixed by Stephane Pompougnac (better known for his excellent HOTEL COSTES series, of which the latest release, HOTEL COSTES 6, is on very high rotation on my Mac and iPod). For a few 100 yen more you get it with a special 32 page commemorative book that takes a look at the history of the Concorde with lots of very nice pics. The artwork in the book was all designed by Groovisions.
MT-Blacklist
After a week of being spam-free thanks to Patrick’s little script, I now got a new bunch just now. Damn those spammers, damn them all to hell! I’ve gone and installed the Movable Type plugin MT-Blacklist, that had been mentioned on the Antipixel blog. I hope this ends it.