The NYT previews an IMAX film, in 3D, about the odds-beating Mars Rover program. Space and 3D: two great tastes that would go great together, if there was any way to actually experience depth perception beyond 100 yards in a vaccuum.
Spencer and Viv and I had the pleasure of viewing the Ron Howard / Tom Hanks jernt aboot ye Luna, which is also a space-themed 3D IMAX film, and I think that Spence and I also screened “Space Station 3D” chez IMAX. Seriously, it’s the best.
After much thought on the topic of where on earth I would obtain a large enough chunk of wood to use as a splitting stump, I was pleased to recall that there was an 8-inch by 12-inch by four-foot support beam chunk under the deck, apparently left over from the 1968 remodel of the house. So I lugged it out to the back yard in the gathering gloam to see how my 98-pound weakling stems would manage the task of directing seven pounds of sharpened steel though the evening breeze.
My back hurt, and the moment I attempted to actually apply muscle to the momentum of the axe head, it would deflect from the intended target, but as long as I only attempted to harness momentum and gravity to the whistling downfall of the woodsman’s blade, wood splinters flew satisfyingly in many directions. My wrists hurt quite viciously, but I did get a full aerobic workout and drench my longjohns with precious bodily fluids of the perspiration variety.
The curious confluence of minimal exertion and correct control is also my experience with bowling. If I ever attempt to muscle a thrown ball, I am guaranteed to go wide; as long as I release with no directed force, the ball glides as smooth and true as a straight razor.
Things is particularly tasty today. I’d buy them/him/her a pint at the local, if i could. Where the smegging hell is Web 3.0 when you need it?
Seattle swoons over Sweet Nick Licata’s trumpsh as City Council Prez today. What? There’s some sort of sporting swindle distracting folks from this good news for the paroletariat?
Shocking.
Dan Savage is liveblogging the Seahawks game. He’s amusing, unsurprisingly:
UPDATE IV: Miller Light. Coors. Budweiser. What, no commericals for Lillet, l’aperitif de Bordeaux? Am I the only man in America drinking a chilled glass of Lillet during the game?
Now, where are the Pioneer Square webcams at?
Matt’s added onboard jabber/iChat support to MeFi! Crap! I will no longer accomplish a single personal goal.
Eric at Fanta points out a new Joe Sacco piece published online by the Guardian as an 8-page PDF .
Brian Chin posts to his P-I Buzzworthy blog, announcing that the online version of the P-I is abandoning their staged, time-based publication strategy (“dayparting”) after two years.
I was just pulled out of my weekend slumber by the closing story on NPR’s Weekend Edition a profile of a Japanese alternative pop singer called Ayano Tsuji, who specializes in simply presented songs featuring mostly her voice, melodies with an insistent quality, and a ukelele. The segment may have been originally produced for the NPR afternoon magazine The World, which has a more extensive page on a story about the singer by the same producer, Robert Rand. That story aired in November, though, so maybe Mr. Rand is just a fan. It does seem that I’m not alone in my interest in the material.
As I listened to the story, I became more and more interested in the woman’s music, which sounded to me very much like some of my very favorite Dale Lawrence songs, the tunes that Dale was writing just at the end of his time with the Gizmos.Certainly, at least, Tsuji’s aesthetic lines up with the simplicity of some of Dale’s songs from that era.
I am blogging this so that my memory of the songs doesn’t erode away under the winds of sleep, and so that I can unearth Tsuji’s material for a closer look.
Happily at least one song, Neko no Onagaeshi, is available in transliteration. This song appears to have been used in the anime film “The Cat Returns.” Cori Chan also has a few lyrics and a translated song or two. Here are a few more English translations.
Here’s an MP3 of Kaze Ni Naru, which may actually be “Neko no Onagaeshi”. This does apppear to be that song, which is a fully-orchestrated version. It seems that there was also an acoustic-only release which I have yet to dig up. In general, it seems that her older releases featured simpler, sparer arrangements, based on commentary by others out in the intarweb.
The artist’s extensive site at her label, Speedstar Records, includes listenable samples from a recent release, Calendar Calendar, which appears to be a concept album of sorts. Interestingly there is one track (for July, it seems) produced by James Iha, late of Smashing Pumpkins, so perhaps I’m not imagining that Midwestern thing.
The label page also links to the artist’s official site. Kawaii!
Happily, she is appears to be an active blogger, which Google semi-successfully translates.
The Greatest Bus Driver in the World weighs in with the kind of blistering hometown critique that warms the cockles of my heart. I see your sucky Frisco, and I raise you by one Puget Sound! There’s nothing I love more than this kind of thing.