The Stuff

Kickass Woman Drummer of the Day: Nao from Maximum the Hormone.

Yes, the music is extreme and Japanese.

Earlier I posted about my interest in buying a new car, in particular a Saturn Sky. Dave wrote in to suggest I get a vintage Honda Forza scooter instead. I have to admit it looks cool and futuristic — a 1950s vision of the future.

Years of listening to Shonen Knife, Cibo Matto, Puffy AmiYumi, and watching Vermilion Pleasure Night, MXC, and Morning Mesume clips have prepared me for the wonder that is Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show.

Thanks to the Multimedia Darling for sending me the link to the USAVICH site. USAVICH is/are 3D animated cartoon shorts featuring two bunnies, a Pacman Toad (yes!) and a bird with human lips. The weird part (well the lips are weird enough) is the toons feature the bunnies in prison or on the run from the police. The animation is unique; colors are soft and the 3D animation is smooth and never crappy (like the Nasonex bee). The humor is in line with 50’s Looney Toons or MGM (think Droopy Dog) cartoons.

Watch every USAVICH cartoon!

Animetal Lady is a heavy metal band from Japan that sings the theme songs of Japanese animated movies and TV shows (Anime). Their original singer was MIE from Pink Lady (and Jeff) fame, and their latest singer, well her name is 未唯. I purchased their latest CD (oh so expensive import) recently, Animetal Lady Marathon 2, and although my exposure to 2000’s metal is limited (Dimmu Borgir, Slipknot, Cradle of Filth, Ministry, Dethklok) I think it’s the best metal disc of the 21st century so far. The metal music is solid metal (never false or nu) and flawlessly played, the vocals are over-the-top Otaku, and the energy and excitement of the songs is non-stop from start to finish.

The sad thing is I believe both Animetal Lady and their masculine counterpart Animetal have broken up. :( For more info, here’s the Animetal site.

Okay, now all that said, the point of this post is to show you this video of Animetal Lady in concert performing one of my favorite Anime theme songs, Cutie Honey:

Tiki: Tiki nostalgia is alive and well on blogs like Swank Blather. Viva Polynesia!

Cryptozoology: Mental Floss (publisher of fun fact books and a magazine) has a list of 9 things that might kill you (if they actually exist). Do mind the Mongolian Death Worms.

Music: my friend Pat is crazy for the band Slim Cessna’s Auto Club. You can download 3 of their songs for free on the Alternative Tentacles web site.

Art: 3 Types of Unusually Legal Urban Street Art: colored manhole covers in Japan, murals on traffic signal switch boxes and light post sculptures.

Science: Quirks and Quarks is a CBC Radio podcast about all things scientific in nature.

Autos: There’s an air freshener in every junk car. Have you have seen Repo Man?

Comic books: The Justice League: New Frontier movie looks promising.

Science Fiction: Watch the the Turkish version of Star Wars on Google video. It can’t be be much worse then the Star Wars Holiday Special.

WOW: The Mr. T and William Shatner World of Warcraft commercials are awesome! (Disclaimer: I’ve never played the game.)

Vans from Japan: Tiny versions of classic American vans made in Japan.

Space: Gorgeous space photos from the Hubble telescope.

Comedy, Caucasians: Conan O’Brien and Jim Gaffigan are the Pale Force! Conan and Jim visit Little Canada.

Gaming: The fugliest video game boxes of the year.

Holy mackerel! Check out this trailer for Machine Girl, a new Japanese action/gore film coming in 2008. Revenge-crazed Japanese school girl with a machine gun arm!

JAXA (sounds like some XML module for Java) is Japan’s version of NASA. JAXA, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, has released some exciting Earth rise photos taken by their Kaguya (Selene) moon orbiting exploration satellite dealie.

There’s also high-def images and video of the moon. Very cool.

With other countries like Russia, China and India interested in going to the moon (they’re all after the Tritium), and the U.S.A. spending our money on war, the U.S.A might lose the space race. These photos are evidence that we are slipping.

Black Black is still my favorite gum. Some say it’s an acquired taste — a spicy taste I acquired immediately. Aside from being from Japan, the cool thing about Black Black is it has caffeine in it. I think it’s the least boring gum in the world.

Hey folks, check out the ridiculous and possibly offensive chopstick bra:

Amusing depending on your mood and perspective.