Bubble Man

A little bummed. I followed something Matt said somewhere (you can tell I'm a writer, I'm so specific)...to Boing Boing where they talked about Jenna and the AW forums. And that was cool. But they did my ice cream thingy. I thought I was digging pretty deep to find that, evidentally not. So today I'm going to the store and going to find me some scrumdiddlyicious salad ice cream and try it out. I will not be out-Boinged!

Other news, The King of Pop is still in Japan.

Here he is getting the MTV Legend Award. I guess yesterday he rented an entire bookstore, browsed, and ending up buying five boxes full of books. Now, That I am jealous of...can you imagine just going into a bookstore; this and this, and this, oh that over there...tossing them behind you while someone carefully scoops them up and places them in a cart for you. Now that is success, my dear!

More when I find my aisu, アイス. I wonder if Japanese characters show up on this puppy.

It seems you can.

Okay, I have given up on ice cream. Nothing but honestly good looking stuff at the store. Instead, I found Bubble Man, a carbonated soda drink put out by Suntory. What I can't seem to get across to anyone is the sublime meaning behind the commericial. (I cannot find a link intact, darn it.) But basically it is a whole team of Bubble Men shaking --rather vigorously-- their drinks. Did I mention they are holding said drinks near their crotches?

In time the drinks explode sending a shower of foamy soda across the crowd. I blush everytime I see it. I do. I have found that they have a 'rare goods' giveaway for twelve rolls of Bubble Man toilet paper. You know I'm gonna try and get that!

The cool pictures I took of "Space Flavor" and "Play with me" are not uploading and I don't have anymore time to play with it. Maybe tomorrow.

Aisukuriimu

"I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream."

Man, it's getting hot, almost summer. You know what I use to do to take the bite off the heat? Well, I use to fill my freezer with a little chocolate chip mint or a tad of french vanilla. Not anymore. I mean you only live once, right, why stick with the old favorites? Why not try something new and original? This year I'll be stocking my fridge with some of Japan's more interesting ice creams. Soysauce?

Oh, that ain't nothin'. Let's see other intriguing flavors include raw horseflesh, ox tongue, eel, chicken wing, whale even Dracula and Dracula Cool (with mint!).









I can't go on, I can't see for the tears in my eyes, just look at the slideshows!

Having said all that I must also say I adore Lotte's Yukimi Daifuku. It's icecream wrapped in a thin skin of sticky rice. Man, a box of that doesn't last too long around here. Nope.








Hey, I just learned that May 9th is Ice cream Day in Japan. How cool (yes, intended) is that? I'm a little late but I think I may just go and celebrate with a nice heaping cup of pit viper icecream. Yea!

※Don't go thinking that Japanese people down a quart of goat flavored ice cream like I would say the same amount of Wavy Gravy. No. They think it is just as weird as we do.

This Really Steams My Clams

Once upon a time there was this painter named Yoshihiko Wada. He goes on to win awards and gain fame. He's quite good, you know. In the 70's he went to study in Italy where he met another artist named Alberto Sughi. Yoshihiko says he recieved much artistic influence from the man. Let's just look at how much "influence" he recieved.

This is a Sughi original.


This is a Wada picture.










Damn! Or how about this?
Sughi original











versus Wada...










That isn't all of them either. There are more! And you know what Wada says?
He says, "They are not plagerized. I didn't steal them." He says it, really. With a straight face too.

You know what his once good friend Sughi says? He says, "The man visited me every year, he complimented my work and took photographs of it. He stole them."

The only reason this was called to light was because of an anonymous tip. Who was it? Why are they anonymous? How much money has Wada-jerk made off these forgeries? How long will he go to jail? Am I overreacting?

I'm reminded of two years ago when the poetry/essay book that the lovely Nachi (Natsumi Abe) of Morning Musume released was discovered to be, well, not her work. She, or someone working for her, just went around and copied a bunch of stuff, published it, made a lot of dough. I don't believe she gave back any money or spent any time in jail. Apologized. Disappeared for a bit. All better.

Tomorrow something much less frustrating.

Twenty Worst Agents

Scammers aren't usually very stupid. At least the ones who make loads of money aren't. They are still rotten to the core though. These days anyone can have a prety homepage and get get a PHD. It doesn't make them honest.

Check out the twenty worst agents: This is the version from Writers Beware. This is the fancy version. And this is the story behind why it is so important not to let these people win.

Also check out Preditors and Editors before getting involved with any agent or publisher.

Michael Jackson in Japan

You know, I was really tempted to go to Tokyo and try and find him. Not that I'm a huge MJ fan. I'm not. Although I'll admit to spending an entire summer driving to and from the beach listening to "Off the Wall". That's about as far as I went. Never did the one glove thing. Never tried to moonwalk. Okay, yes, I tried to moonwalk, once.
The other night the King of Pop attended a party in his honor where he greeted one hundred special guests with a handshake and a smiling "I love you" (I kid you not). One of those in attendence at the party was the drummer from
X Japan, Yoshiki.

Yoshiki tried to sneak off a little after ten pm but Michael had one of his staff stop him stating, "I have something to discuss with that man." Wonder what that was about? He also spent happy/chatty time with these two,

the Kano Sisters (I still think they're cyborgs, but more on that later). The article I just read said they went into a special room, just the three of them....ya think?....naaw...
Mr. Jackson ended the night by slipping into a pachinko parlour. Did you know he has his very own pachinko machine? They say it really paid off really well for him and he was very, very excited. And they say those things are fixed...

Otanjoubi Omedetou

...a kind of a birthday.

I'm going to try my hand at this blog thing. Mostly as a way to keep in touch with the family and friends who seem to be so vigorously sprinkled all over the place, but also ... I may learn something!



※A great big thanks to Matt who makes it all look so darn-tooting fun. Buy one (or both) of his books!