little thing

We saw something on Curb the other day that reminded us that it's a great show. Larry starts using the word "fierce" to describe things, which is now pretty much theater slang probably adopted from some exurban star's onetime local lexicon. I hasten to say "fierce" constitutes the zeitgeist of the urban diva language adopted by musical theater culture, in which I have been proto-immersed in for some time now. Though this word, and the attendant lip pursing and hand waving, represents an admirable mixing of cultural and gendered speech patterns - the value of which may be questionable anyway - it may be a less remarkable morphine of the Tina Turner drag queen's language over the preceeding decades. Curb gets right to the heart of the gay actor stereotype by using "fierce" without pause, in the same way Crazy Eyes spewed now-realistic/now-fantastic ghetto slang a few seasons ago. Larry uses these new patterns in a conversation with his manager, the sound of which is the meat of the joke. Obviously, Larry adopting this pattern to his casual conversations carries a lot more easy laughs than had he continued to pick up Crazy Eyes' historically incendiary language. In casual use, "fierce" may actually be a useful respite from the formal "wonderful" or the technical "engaging" and hackneyed "magnetic" superlatives.

Also the crux of Superbad is not that it is a buddy film, but that the characters tell explicitly the story we create from experience and project on others we find attractive. It's a story about their imaginations.

Also, We've been reading fakesteve almost hourly and it's very amusing.

Missed Een USA

I'm donating to this, as soon as I can find my eCheckbook.

Windows

I got this from fakesteve, and it's funny

Windows RG version leaked

yeah

The end of the Japan experience contained a few excellent parties. The first was, as always, at outback steakhouse. No problem there, except for the forgivably inedible food. BTW, the house wine at Outback Japan is Franzia. BTW2, hearing your crimp-haired Japanese waitress try to say Franzia is amusing but not as amusing as her pronounciation of “grilled” and “really.” There are many things we are not meant to understand about the far east, and this is one of them. Outback holds few surprises except for the offering pictured at right.

The next unexpected party came at an authentic Tapas bar we stumbled upon (literally, ref:Franzia) in the afternoon. It was a gorgeous tiny place where the door could barely open far enough against the barstools to squeeze in and greet the puzzled staff. The tendress was eager to talk and was a jazz dancer or something, but without a partner.

Later that night there was some business up on a roof garden with blacklights. Then there was a trip to an English pub. Getting there required the guidance of a young Algerian who was returning home the next day after 10 years in Japan, leaving his fetching young mate behind, (and his mate’s behind too for that matter), hopefully to become a stripper. Our next guide was a Japanese woman who apparently lived near this bar and refused my taking her picture, one of only two people to do that in a month of asking. The sell Absinthe at these places, but I think drinking barbicide would do more for you than buying a shot of that stuff. It was cute enough, though, for me to down a couple of shots and do the running man for my fans. I think they also sold beer. I tried to take a lot of pictures that night with the lens cap off, luckily the Kiwi behind the bar would remind me of this as he saw me contentedly staring through a dark viewfinder.

Vacation

The Manufacturers know this blog has been on a break while I absorbed Japan and elsewhere. It has been hard to write the same narrative that I’m used to posting about events that have been so complicated and bizarre. I’m happy that I’m the top google hit for my name and job field, though. I used to be on like the 9th page. Pretty soon, I’ll be dugg to the top and google ads will support my many fancies, Finnish pop (below) among them. Then my posts will be enriched by the scent of fame and an aura of being there as the next vanguard of cool is published recklessly over the airwaves.

Now that I have some nonymity to the greater world who cares to look for me, I can feel the addiction to the internet really setting in. I realize that blogspotters like fakesteve and mom2my6pack, mistressmatisse and noimpactman (a typepad member, actually) all started by writing to themselves, and came to constitute the core of a frivolous and interesting way of communicating in my circle (the circle of life, I think).

Then this happened

This suits my fancy.

flickr album

featuring 200 selections from our japan trip. Enjoy, and I may post more on my own site soon.

mike flanagan flickr page

wa

I may write about our trip to Kyoto, but for the tone of this entry it’s useful to skip to the last few hours on the great island and to another bout of Karaoke. The experience at Karaoke is emblematic of our basic lack of understanding even after 32 days of working and touring there.

This Karaoke-Kan had cool black-light up Caribbean scenes on the wall, which became visible when you started to sing and the regular lights automatically dimmed. There were three remotes, which started us off on the wrong foot. More buttons with kanji characters on them means trouble, always. Even pressing the “door open” button to keep from being body slammed by the very agressive elevator doors was a continual gamble. Somehow I managed to turn the system off before we even made a peep. The guys came in and didn’t seem to think anything was wrong, except that I was singing What a Fool Believes in a terribly high key and with no control over timbre or pitch. While this was happening, one of our lot found out how to press the buttons on the actual console, ignoring the three remoters. She programmed about 10 Michael Jackson songs for herself, and Waterfalls by TLC. It became a performance that I was thoroughly glad to witness, and take part of as Paul McCartney in the two catalog offerings that duo produced. With about 2 hours left until our flight, we escaped the Karaoke place (they are open until at least 6am everywhere) and went for a last spin around the AM-PM convenience store. Having a little skill from the dozen or so late night trips to these places under our belts, we headed straight for the salty and garlicy pretzels and peanut themed snacks. Let me tell you, finding food that does not taste like fish, pork or crab requires a lot of free time, and water to wash it down. The hit of the trip was some bag of banana shaped rice crackers with spicy peanuts. This could be eaten by the handful.

Feelings

I asked this a few days ago and received a response that does not answer my question. I last withdrew funds in July. As it is now August, I must be able to withdraw an additional $500. I am not interested in "fulfilling two out of three" steps, I must know immediately when my withdrawal limit will reset!

By not publishing exactly when the "month" is over that defines a period wherein $500 may be withdrawn, PayPal is acting against the good business practices of a financial institution.

In summary: I am looking to receive an email that includes a date, e.g. "August 6, 2007" on which I may withdraw funds from my paypal account. Additionally, I am looking to understand the schedule by which your monthly limits govern my use of your service.

Yeah

Last night there was a party for the cast and crew at a really nice restaurant. The food was the best I’ve had in Tokyo, which means it had the least pork and was the most familiar. The bartempters were unbelievably good looking as well. I’m quite sure I snapped a picture of them with someone else’s camera. Look on saucypinkjesus flickr for potentials there. I drank a great amount of Shochu and said the phrase “you know, in America we….” many times, so that must have been amusing if anyone I said it to spoke English, which is doubtful. The night ended on a low note when I dropped the bathroom phone in the toilet, while using it (the toilet). I rinsed it nicely and will not touch it again.

Today I waltzed around the neighborhood and found some cool tiny stores and stuff. It’s very hot and windy due to the typhoon. There is a chance for us to go to Hiroshima next Tuesday, which I think we should do despite the $160 train tix. There aren’t too many spots (enough?) where more than a hundred thousand people died at once, and it seems like a good price for the train.