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Erochica Bamboo

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erocica-bioErochica Bamboo is a Japanese burlesque dancer who often performs at the Amaranth Lounge (I just found out about her after she left a comment in a post I had written about the Amaranth). Do yourself a favor and check out her site.

Here’s some bio info:

Hailing from Tokyo Japan, the lovely Miss Erochica began her dance career when she was 18 years old while a student attending a Tokyo art school. Tired of waiting for her oils to dry, she let a friend talk her into trying ‘Burlesque’ at a local Cabaret and she loved it very much and found her way! As a result, ‘Erochica Bamboo’ was born. She has been performing at many cabarets and night clubs and gay parties not only TOKYO but also around the world. Enveloped in feathers and sequins, she delights her audiences with sensual and tasteful performances. She has quickly risen to stardom, becoming one of Japan’s premiere burlesque dancers , photo models and film actresses. A career highlight happened this past year when she was crowned the prestigious title of ‘Miss Exotic World 2003’.

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Danwei Is Back

Just a quick note to mention that Jeremy Goldkorn’s great blog covering media and advertising in China, Danwei, is back (with a bit of a new look also). He had run into problems after the Chinese government started blocking all TypePad sites (which is still the case).

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Batte Royale for Real

Ten students have been arrested for disrupting classes on March 12 by occupying the broadcasting room of their junior high school in Ota Ward, playing the soundrack of the movie “Battle Royale,” in which junior high school students kill each other, and attacking five teachers who tried to put a stop to the ruckus. Police said Wednesday the 10 told them they wanted to become “school legends” before graduation. They formed a barricade with desks, aired the soundtrack of “Battle Royale” throughout the school and told students: “We are now going to have you start killing each other,” a line from the film.” (Kyodo News)

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Japanese Is Dead

TV and the Internet are eroding reading skills and cell phone babble is replacing rational speech.

Writer Saiichi Maruya, saying the Japanese language is being reduced to chaos. (Bungei?Shunju)

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Juon: The Grudge

All you North American fans of the Japanese horror film JUON (and I know there’s a lot of you since it’s always one of the top searches that leads here) will be very happy to hear that before the American remake, THE GRUDGE, starring Buffy, huh, Sarah Michelle Gellar gets released, Lion’s Gate will be distributing the original in theatres this July. Prepare to get the shit scared out of you.

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Mario Doucette Versus Moncton

I know it doesn’t have much to do with what I usually cover on this site, but I want to take a moment to point out this great little interview that is now online at the CBC’s ZeD site (something I’d never heard of) on one of my very good hometown friend’s, Mario Doucette. The piece is about a show he did to protest the unattractive urban developments taking place in Moncton (my hometown).

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TB.Grafico

Night Market

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One of the things that me and Yuko enjoy the most when we travel in Asia is getting food at street markets, and the 2-3 night markets we visited in Taipei certainly did not disapoint. We mostly had meat-bun type foods, but also pancake style treats (wrapped around vegetables or meat), and some delicious egg tarts. These pics are from what is supposed to be the biggest night market in Taipei (sorry, don’t really know the name).

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OZ Does Ikebukuro

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Weekly town magazine OZ has started a new series of special issues called “My Happy Town,” and the first issue covers Ikebukuro. I picked it up today on my way back from work (they had a big display at one of the bookshops), and after leafing through it I think I might have found a few places that might be worth checking out (that I didn’t know of). Pause gets a big mention.

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Samurai Champloo in da House!

SAMURAI CHAMPLOO, the new series by COWBOY BEBOP director Watanabe Shinichiro, has finally launched and, oh my, it’s sizzling. From what I could see in the first episode, we’re getting a samurai story, but told in a modern way (like with the dialogue), and with a very strong hip-hop influence. Watanabe has not only managed to give the genre a new life by using hip-hop beats in the soundtrack, but the visuals also take a cue from scratch culture (cuts between scenes are “scratched”). It’s still way too early to tell if the storyline is going to live up up to the visuals and atmosphere of the show (we mostly get an intro to the characters in the first episode, mixed in with plenty of cool-looking fights), but I’m certainly excited by what I’ve seen. Don’t get me wrong, I still wouldn’t put it in the same league as PARANOIA AGENT, but as far as stylish action goes, this is by far the best I’ve seen in a while.

Oh, and regarding all the shows I mentioned in my new Spring anime posts last month (part 1 and 2), the only show I’m still following is MONSTER (and PANDA-Z too, but only because they’re shorts – don’t think I could stand much more).

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Land of the Scooters

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So I’m back from the weekend in Taipei, which was lots of fun, but also very tiring as I had to endure a damn cold the whole time (still not completely over it). I’ll write some more about the trip in a future post, but for now I’ll start posting some pics. As you can see, Taipei is the land of the scooters. Reminded me a bit of Rome.