heat wave music

Talib Kweli - Hot Thing



















Kenna - Say Goodbye To Love


Nelly Furtado feat. Missy Elliot - Do It (Remix)

ne-o videos

Cool videos set in Tokyo via ne-o.
"Salaryman6": A salaryman trapped in his mundane daily routine loses his memory. Great cinematography.


"Humanity": Award winning commercial for Toyota cleverly merging man with machine.

japayuki

"Confessions of an Ex-Japayuki" is an insightful firsthand story on pinoyexpats.org about a Filipina who worked in Tokyo as an English language teacher for several years. She talks about overcoming a common perception in Japan that English speakers from Asia are not as qualified as their American or British counterparts. In the beginning, some students requested a different teacher, while others wanted a discount rate because she was a non-native english speaker.

On top of that she had to deal with some grief from fellow Filipinos. While "japayuki" literally means "going to Japan" in the Japanese language, the same word for Filipinos conjures up sleazier images of hostesses or dancers working at nightclubs entertaining salarymen. She was initially disappointed to find such a limited perspective from both countries, but managed to make a rewarding and enjoyable life nonetheless.

Perceptions can be funny. I remember my first visit to Japan - in addition to the culture shock, I was going to meet my wife's extended family for the first time at our wedding banquet. Prior to my arrival, it was announced that I was from the U.S. So, when I walked in the preparation room to meet everybody, I received silence and a lot of wide eyes. I had to adjust to receiving a greeting more formal than the filipino hug and kiss. But I also realized that they were probably expecting some tall blond white guy. They might have been wondering, "I thought he was supposed to be American?!" The moment was initially awkward but funny in retrospect.

E-Jeepneys

The mayor of Makati test drove the first electric jeepney in his city. It seats up to 12 people and tops out at 40 km/hr (approx. 25 mph).

peanut business cards

Check out these business cards (called "Taberu Me") printed on peanuts. Arigatou Co. in Japan specializes in laser-etched food products. They can etch logos and characters cleanly on beans, nuts, rice and pasta.

$50 for 150 peanuts.

transformers thoughts

I had one of those watercooler discussions (except it was in a hallway) last week about the new Transformer movie. I had not seen it yet, but my buddy in the mailroom caught the midnight premiere. This guy is TF fan #1 with the imdb-like ability to number specific episodes, chart storylines and inconsistencies and identify the obscure robots that serve as extras. Not suprisingly, he was overwhelmingly disappointed. I knew he was going to be a tough critic, so I didn't let it deter my need to watch it. It was my duty to watch it.

Like my buddy at work, I have many fond childhood memories of the original. I cosigned on his gripes but realized that the film is more enjoyable if I detached myself from the original. And my expectations weren't too high either. I knew that Michael Bay wasn't going to stick to the script. On its own, Bay's Transformers is not horrible - its an entertainingly mindless summer popcorn flick. I can see where moviegoers who are not familiar with the original may be blown away by the action and pacing, but as a moderate purist, here are my gripes:

* Rendering of the robots made it difficult to identify certain robots - especially the decepticons, who became grey and brown mushes during action sequences. We all knew that Bay wanted to make them more complex and ugly to show their alien nature. But it ignores the original story that they were initially manufactured as military and service machines...but later gained self-awareness. They shouldn't be that ugly. Plus the autobots basically served as advertising for GM's new vehicles. Bumblebee should be a runt, not a camaro musclecar. And no Soundwave! My favorite decepticon was missing. Instead they use this annoying spider critter like robot that easily gets killed.

*This movie is supposed to be about the Transformers, yet it spends more time with the humans. The robots are the stars of this franchise and I wanted to see more personality and interaction between them. This film switches the emphasis primarily as a marketing ploy to make it more accessible to the uninitiated. I like Shia Lebouf, but I didn't need so much of his awkward courtship of Megan Fox or his tiptoeing around his goofy parents. The robots have no personality and limited dialogue - especially the Decepticons. For instance, the whole thread about Starscream/Megatron powerstruggle dynamic is totally ignored except for one sentence voicing Megatron's displeasure.

*The whole story was changed. Instead of accidentally crashing on Earth and remaining dormant for millions of years, the new movie has them landing in '07. Instead of the Decepticons seeking to deplete Earth's energy sources to return to Cybertron and rule, they're chasing some mystical cube that lets them change into any form they please - including a mountain dew machine.

air max 1 premium squares

Its been a long couple months since I fed my sneaker obsession. Copped these Air Max 1 Premium Squares on a good deal in NYC. Dig the pattern and the fresh colorway. My wife wants to count up shoes in our respective closets and see who's got the most. Results to follow.

Asian American Film Festival NYC

Last night, we checked out the second leg of the 30th Asian American International Film Festival at the Japan Society in NYC. We started out with a series of animated shorts created by Japanese independent filmakers. The majority of the shorts eschewed any verbal communication and were scored by ambient/techno music. I appreciated the variety of styles which ranged from lo-fi prehistoric video game flavored graphics to claymation and highly stylized sketch art. The more memorable cuts delivered political and environmental messages through powerfully symbolic storytelling. My favorite featured a parade of sheep which put smokers to sleep, turned off excessive lighting within cities and beamed into space bouncing off satellites and returning to a greener earth. Very cute and resourceful sheep!

The main feature was "Exte"(Hair Extensions) a wonderfully humorous horror film starring Chiaki Kuriyama (Kill Bill). The story centers on a delusional morgue janitor played by Ren Osugi, who steals a female corpse when he discovers that it keeps growing strands of black hair. Osugi is hilarious with his deranged singing, dancing and plain awkwardness. His hair fetish drives him to cut the strands of hair and sells them as hair extensions. The extensions angrily come to life - choking the unsuspecting women who choose to wear them. The evil hair uncontrollably grows - spilling out of eyes, skin and mouths until finally filling the room and suffocating its victim. Kuriyama sweetly plays the heroine/assistant hairstylist, who must overcome her past, deal with a villainous sister and care for her abused and abandoned niece. Plus she has to save herself and her abused niece from the evil hair extensions. Talk about a bad hair day!



A Q&A with director Sion Sono followed the film. It was a treat to hear him talk about the creative process which led to such a wild film. While many of the audience tried to delve into the social messages of criticizing fashion and conformism or abuse, Sono maintained that these issues may be apparent but his main purpose was simply to entertain. He found the popular trend of using hair extensions as strange since no one really knows where this hair comes from. The focus on hair was also a critical parody of J-horror films which often use girls with very long black hair. The funniest exchange occured when someone asked him of his opinion of the Hollywood remakes of J-horror movies such as "The Ring" or "The Grudge". He began to admonish their versions then quickly covered his mouth, eyed the audience and stated he would be happy to direct a hollywood remake.

Aburiya Kinnosuke

Got some great eats in NYC. Prior to watching the Japanese films at the Asian Film Festival, we got ourselves in the mood by sampling the menu at Aburiya Kinnosuke in Midtown Manhattan. This place is the real deal. Traditional and authentic to the point where you feel like you're stepping into a restaurant in Japan. They offer beautifully presented yet straightforward food that you don't usually see outside of Japan - such as my wife's order of Sweetfish (Ayu), a riverfish cooked lightly on a stick. Definitely not the pretentious fare at Morimoto or Nobu. Tables and booths were populated by Japanese businessmen or salarymen in suits conversing with the staff in Japanese. English speakers are in the minority. I recommend sitting at the counter where you get an up close view of the skilled chefs displaying their artistry. It was very entertaining. Only protective glass separated us from our food cooking on the traditional brick and stone stoves. The quality of food matched its beautiful presentation. I rarely get excited by a salad, but their mushroom/seaweed/cucumber salad was light yet incredibly tasty. My eel hotpot deliciously melted in my mouth. The menu is a little pricey (especially the drinks) but the food and the total experience made it worth the while.

cendrillon

Great eats: Day 2.
My wife was very happy with the Japanese cuisine of Day 1. So I sought to balance things out with some offerings from the culture represented by my side of the marriage. After shopping our way from Midtown down to Soho, we checked out a joint recommended by my sister, Cendrillon. The interior was a very warm and inviting loft space with weathered brick walls accented by photographic references to the Philippine homeland. The cultural decor wasn't over the top gimmicky and managed to fit comfortably into its neighborhood. The food seemed very authentic to my tongue. My wife ordered a bountiful beef tapa salad. Lots of greens mixed with thinly sliced beef with sweet flavoring. I chose one of my favorites, the simple yet classic chicken adobo. The rice vinegar and soy flavoring was perfect and even the long grain rice took me back home. I happily noticed that the dish was served with a spoon and fork. I actually got flashbacks scooping up spoonfuls of adobo and rice. Spoon & forking it has like a lost art for me. After 17 years of home training, I've succumbed to the blasphemous single fork technique or my wife-endorsed chopstick method. But its like riding a bike.

We both ordered halo-halo. And this was some heavenly halo-halo. Especially after lugging shopping bags on a hot summer day in the city. I attacked the purple yam ice cream and leche flan at the top before slushing the shaved ice and slurping up the remixed agar, coconut, jackfruit, red beans and assorted sweet stuff. Mmmm, I'm drooling as I'm typing this out.

And while we were finishing up the halo-halo, one of the chefs came to our table to casually banter about the iphone. Tito (my cousins and I refer to any elder filipino we see in public - even strangers as "tito" or "tita") seemed to be on a break and casually hovered around our table to discuss iphone functionality and pricing. He's one of those elder filipinos that takes their time in conversating - even physically walking away mid-sentence only to return at the beginning. Tito concluded by declaring that he didn't need an iphone. For a second, I thought I was at one of my family reunions and one of my relatives that I can't identify had wandered over to chit chat without introduction. At this moment, I thought to myself, "Damn, this place is authentic!"

nathan's finest 07

What a finish!

youtubers unite / happyslip

Youtube star happyslip will be at a youtube gathering on July 7 in Washington Square Park in NYC.

luke chueh

Philadelphia born/Fresno raised artist Luke Chueh wonderfully combines the cute with the disturbing. I enjoy the stripped down boldness of his paintings.

TOTO toilet ad campaign

On my first visit to Japan, I took a camera inside my in-laws' bathroom. And much to my wife's embarrassment, I took a picture of their toilet. That was quite a first impression to make upon my bewildered hosts. But I couldn't help it. The Japanese have the most advanced toilets in the world. And I just wanted a snapshot of the toilet's control panel which allowed adjustments to a crazy number of features including bidet, shower, warm air and seat warmer options. And I was told it didn't even feature the most cutting edge toilet technology.

Toto makes some toilets that even open their lid when sensing a person nearby, then flushes and closes lid automatically after use. Then there's the models with an MP3 player - either for entertainment or to cover the sounds of bashful poopers. Here's their cute "Clean is Happy" ad campaign for new products.




























I can imagine that my butt would smile if had the pleasure to use their wonderful washlets.