Oh man, Andrew W.K. was just on WARATTE II TOMO. He was participating in a game with the regulars where they show two images, and one person says the Japanese word, and Andrew and a bandmate had to guess what it was. Everytime he got it right he was freaking out, jumping up and down and headbanging, and you could tell that the girls in the front of the audience were kinda scared. It was so funny. My wife had no idea who he was, and just thought it was an average gaijin they had on the show for the game.

The numbers are still going up on this site, and I’ve added an average of about 200 daily visitors this month. I found this out while checking out the stats for the first time this month, and got surprised to see that I was already getting ready to pass my bandwidth usage quota. I’m presently going through the process of upgrading my service, but if the site goes down before then, rest assured that it will be back up quickly.

It’s been raining almost non-stop since last Saturday, when our daily temperature average jumped down 10 degrees (and it’s staying there). Sure, I was complaining about the hot weather, but I didn’t ask for all this rain! The above picture is of my neighbor’s roof.

I don’t know where this comes from, but at the WBCD site you can download a bootleg trailer for KILL BILL. It’s a mix of cheese and good stuff, and shows off somes sequences I hadn’t seen before. The countdown continues, only a few more weeks until the release…

Link via Arne Schmidt.

Another reminder that you should be checking out Ziboy‘s photolog of Beijing. We might be heading back there this winter.

Watched TOMIE FORBIDDEN FRUIT last night, 4th film in the Tomie horror series, and based on the manga by Junji Ito. I’m of course a huge fan of the Ito books (you can get English translations), and own the first film on DVD, so I was looking forward to seeing this. The verdict? Well, it’s still as creepy as you’d expect (Tomie is a bad, bad girl), and it was better than what I was expecting a 3rd sequel to be. I think you’ll enjoy it if you’re a fan of Japanese horror films, and especially if you’re into the Junji Ito stuff.

Yuko getting ready to go out.

I’ve mentioned the site in the past, but this is just a reminder that TokyoDV is definitely THE place to check out videos of Tokyo. I’ve linked to the culture page, but check out the other sections also.

I just finished watching the documentary NO MAPS FOR THESE TERRITORIES, a look at cyberpunk author William Gibson. This was shown at the onedotzero_nippon festival last year (it was even the subject of one of my first posts on this site), and although I couldn’t see it then, I’ve been patiently waiting for a chance to see it. Quite interesting if not ground-breaking for someone who has followed Gibson through the years, it’s definitely worth checking out not just for the subject matter but also for the very visual edits. If interested in getting it on DVD, you can get more info at this site. Gibson was writing a regular blog up until last week, when he announced that he needed to get back to work on a new novel, and that he felt like updating a blog would interfere with this. Too bad. I’m still waiting for the paperback release of his most recent book, PATTERN RECOGNITION.

If you look in the sidebar, you’ll notice the above icon, which is your link to the new issue of GEISHA. As I mentioned the other day, it’s a bit different from past issues. No worries if you don’t like it as the next issue will be a return to photo based designs. This is like a tiny sidetrip, something I was thinking of doing in the past. If you use the Safari browser (like me), there’s still a bug that ads a tiny white border on the left and the bottom, so those aren’t supposed to be there. Looks fine in IE.

A rooftop in Ikebukuro.

I really feel like picking up the album RE.SORT by Sora (actually Takeshi Kurosawa). Here’s the review on REALTOKYO:

The Plop label introduces with sora another original artist who presents on his first album an extremely well-balanced mix of playfully twisted electronic textures, acoustic sounds and carefully programmed rhythms. Jumping from electronica via ambient to relaxed pieces with a touch of bossa nova here and there, sora creates a type of jazz fans of Jan Jelinek will like. Representative is track 3, which develops from a minimal, electronic intro to a lounge bar number with acoustic bass and piano sounds, closed by decent applause from the “audience.” While cutting-edge programming gives the album a contemporary touch, accessible melodies and a slight Latin flavour make it a timeless, almost easy-listening experience with accents set especially in the steamy “jazz club” passages.

You can listen to 3 beautiful samples at the Plop label website.

I’ve been really getting into mountain trekking of late, and as I mentioned, I need to get some new equipment. When I was in Canada, I used to swear by MEC, but now I’m looking into other brands, and one that stands out at the shops I’ve been to is the Japanese owned Mont-Bell. I’ve been to a hiking goods shop in Ikebukuro that stocked most of their stuff, and they also have their own outlet shop in Ebisu. I need a 25-30 litre backpack, some new hiking boots, a tent, and some good rain gear. Yesterday I was checking out Seibu’s 8th floor, and they had quite the large selection from a few different brands. I was really attracted to some bags by Aigle and Millet, two French companies. Yuko was really into a pink North Face bag…

A shopping street in Ikebukuro.

TOKION magazine (I’ve linked to the shop as the home page seems to be down right now) is back in Japan after a 2 year absence. Although they kept publishing an American edition, it seems that the Japanese edition had disapeared because of problems with their distributor. But now, with issue of 37, there’s a brand new Japanese edition on the stands here. Major difference is that the magazine is not bilingual anymore, and that they are going to continue with seperate Japanese and English (for the US) editions as they feel it lets them put more pictures and feature longer articles. I checked both and they do share many articles, but the Japanese edition seems to have a lot more content. Also of note is that they’ve opened a new Tokion shop in Nakameguro (and if you’re in the area, also check out the Gas design shop).