Fantastic "History of Japan" video

Hi folks. Long time no see.

I wanted to introduce you to this ridiculous(ly good) YouTube video on Japan's history posted some two weeks ago. But first, I shall stall a bit and address the proper niceties by introducing the video creator Bill Wurtz. He is a cool and kooky guy (strictly interpreted from his internet personality) that writes jazzy and outdated music to funny videos. Most of his videos are 10 seconds or less, if that gives you any indication on what you're getting yourself into. Here's a little taste.

Kind of reminds me of 5SecondFilms. Love those guys. Anywho, this Bill guy just randomly picked the country of Japan (about which he knew nothing), researched it, and created this nine minute masterpiece as a warm up (aren't you excited for more? Oh, well, watch the video then.)

I'm not an expert on Japanese history and completely understand that he has added some intended embellishments into this historical narrative. Do any fact-checkers out there spot any glaringly wrong details?

So what's next for Bill? He plans to either cover a lot of "topics" or "all of the countries...in a month" next. I'm sensing some snark, but what would you expect from such a filmmaker? Oh, and here's his website to complement all of the other interactive resources I've posted here.

The Japanese: Cute and Physically Fit

Here are some super-genki pre-schoolers. photo

This time of year happens to be the time for Sports Festivals at most (if not, all) schools in Japan. (It really irks me that an outdoor sporting event like the Japanese Sports Festival would happen to coincide with the beginning of the rainy season. But that's another topic.) So, when I say "all schools", I mean all schools from high school on down to nursery schools. Everyone spends about a month practicing strange events. (If you're a little lost now, please refer to my Undokai Article—if only for the pictures...)

Every Friday I travel to one of my farther elementary schools to teach English.There is a nursery school right across the street. From where I sit in the teacher's office, I can hear when all the little nursery kids are outside playing. Now, you may or may not know that I love kids, especially the little ones. I gush over the new first graders that when given a chance to ask me any question can't seem to form a complete sentence or ask a real question. It goes something like this:

Teacher - Okay kids, now you can ask Mr. Dan anything you want. What food does he like? What's his favorite color? Let's find out!
Me - Ummm, you! (pointing to one of the serious-yet-seriously-interested face kids).
1st Grader - What's your favorite bug?
Me - Hmm, I like butterflies and ants! Okay, next...you!
Next 1st Grader - (stands up, pushes his chair in) I go to English class on Wednesdays.
Me - Oh really?
Teacher - That's not a question. Nice try. Remember, ask Dan-sensei a question.
Me - Ok, you, in the back!
Another 1st Grader - This morning, I woke up and my dog was barking at the. (sits down with blank expression)
Teacher - That doesn't make any sense. We can understand what you are trying to say. Okay, hmm... Kotaro, ask Dan a question.
Kotaro - Do you like bugs?

I guess my problem here is with the teacher. Either that or the confines of my job. I just wanna lay down on the floor and help these kids build a block castle while they tell me about their barking dogs.

This kind of conveys my feelings.

But this scene is very low on the adorable scale when compared to nursery school kids participating in Sports Day. They have their little reversible red or white hats on. They march like dandy little soldiers with their arms swinging higher than their heads. There's always a few kids that are either just too young or they forget everyone is watching them so they tend to drift off into la-la land and/or pick their nose. This is especially funny when the gun sounds for a race and one kid is left standing at the starting line until the teacher scrambles out on the field and gives him or her a push in the right direction. And that's not to mention when the kids finally does start running it becomes obvious he hasn't exactly fine-tuned his motor skills yet and is still about 5 years off from understanding the concept of "dork". So, his strides are way too high and wasteful while his small arms (ending in plump fists) pump in strange directions.

I could just squeeze that kids cheeks till they split open. Out of love, of course.

So, every Friday, sitting in the teacher's room, I can here those little romper-stompers lining up for the pre-Sports Day stretch. Now, it may be important to know that Japanese schools seem to be underfunded, and nursery schools seem to be in an even worse position financially. You can tell this by the Dumbo-like character statues planted in the playground right next to jungle-gym equipment that make John Travolta (circa Saturday Night Fever) seem like someone from I-Robot. This school also has a fantastic metal slide from the second floor balcony all the way to a sandbox in the playground. (I haven't seen this used, though, so I'm guessing it was outlawed along with lawn darts and the Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab which included uranium ore).

So, of course, their warm-up/stretching song is this little gem called "Hoto Poppo" maybe from the 1950s or 60s. Please, indulge in this throwback, and imagine it blaring at unsafe sound levels out of scratchy speakers.

Pigeon Coo Coo

(roughly translated)

Coo, Coo Coo
Pigeon coo, coo
If you like beans
Come down
Let’s eat altogether

Coo, Coo Coo
Pigeon coo, coo
If the beans are delicious
Eat one and fly away

You might not have noticed, but everyone is laughing because these brave actors are mimicking little preschool kids. Now imagine that song with these kids:

Now what's funny about warm ups like this is that it's not just cute little grade-schoolers and toddlers doing these stretches. In fact, they're quite common in the Japanese workplace. Here, a bunch of construction/factory workers (?) warm up with their work belts on.

And this next clip is of the business man variety with the most popular "Radio Calisthenics" which used to be broadcast every morning (it might still be).

 Go Go Japan! Stay Genki! Let's healthy body! This concludes the Japanese lesson. Bow. Thank you.

Monthly Music Recommendation

I say monthly, but...who knows? Any shit, I stumbled upon a gem when I was perusing youtube. I was actually looking for that college choir that covers indie songs (they make guitar sounds and all). I still didn't find them. Does anyone have a clue who they are? [Update: Off the Beat] But this is what I did find:

A kid's choir cover of Listzomania by Phoenix.
If you don't like kids just skip this one.

If you have been caught up in the recent Phoenix boom, do peep the steez. The first is "1901" in front of the Eiffel Tower. The second is "Listzomania" on the ride to the Eiffel Tower riding atop a double decker bus.

And here's the aforementioned "Gem". A string quartet covering the whole "Deloused in the Comatorium" as well as the three songs off of the "Tremulant EP" from The Mars Volta. If you're not currently in the know, The Mars Volta and Sparta are the split offspring of At The Drive-In. (Also, Sparta has updated their sound...what do you think? hmmm.)

So this TMV cover is really, well, exciting. Granted, this Vitamin String Quartet doesn't play the full 7 and 12 minute length songs that TMV has in this two album span. But the four stringed instruments combine to mimic Cedric's vocals, the guitar and rhythm, and even the bass. It's like that beautiful opus that made us all very, very scared of drugs in Requiem for a Dream. The sound ranges from a seductive bossa nova take on Inertiatic ESP to a cover of Drunkship of Lanterns reminiscent of Animal Collective and Dj Spooky. Or maybe, their is no spin at all and the sound is all just Mars Volta's weird style still shining through a stripped down cover.

If you aren't in the know about the real The Mars Volta sound, well, I will put my surprise on hold and offer their website...you can stream a few new songs (although not quite the punch of previous albums). Still, it's quite different from the String Quartet's version.

This string quartet has supposedly covered around 232 albums so far including Tool, Tupac, AFI and even MJ. They have quite a discography.

Also, if you haven't played RainyMood.com in sync with a few of your favorite songs, you're missing out.
Christ, why did N'Sync have to ruin that expression for everyone?
How about some others band names that hurt to hear?

"Here, your change is a NICKLEBACK."
"I have a real SIMPLE PLAN."
Or any reference to a SLIPKNOT.
I also avoid using the words CREED or EVANESCANCE.

I hope you all have horrible days now. I feel like a guy who just remembered all the shitty songs stuck in his head from the day before.

I'd like to leave you with this new series that interviews people that make music from weird sounds.
Sound Builders on the band Peaking Lights.

Indie Pick of the Month

So Ricky Martin came out of the closet. Was anybody fooled? I think it was the skin tight white bellbottom pants, his penchant to show off his chest (preferably with hot wax dripping on it) and the frosted tips of his perfect gay-style hair. Maybe it was just that whole Livin La Vida Loca video. Don’t be fooled by the hot girl. Hot gay guys always have a few hot girls nearby. It helps attract other men. Not that there’s anything wrong with being gay. But imagine if he came out in 1999…all of the brainwashed TRL preteen girls’ heads would have exploded…and Carson would have exploded too, for converse reasons.

Speaking of super hot artists, here is a band of not-so-popular, average-looking guys. (I pride myself on transitions). The Brooklyn-based indie quartet to which I’m referring is Grizzly Bear. Their sweet, sweet harmonies puts barbershop singers to shame—even with those snazzy hats, armbands and bowties. And, ohh, the layers. Collectively, the band plays approximately [embarrassingly large number] of instruments and utilizes them in a way that will make you start to hate guitar rock monotony and find fault in the sometimes crowded Arcade Fire/Godspeed You! Black Emperor sound. And they accomplish this with ear pricking tones similar to when Andrew Bird lowers his violin to grace you with his whistling. Yeah, goosebumps.

I first got wind of these geniuses on Daytrotter last year before it became a membership site. Grrr (That's my grizzled hatred of memberships...even though you can listen without being a member and membership is free). Well, I scrolled past their name and decided a shitty band would be doing the name Grizzly Bear an injustice. Let’s be real, we live in a moderately-talent-soaked age where you can select artists by any number of irresponsible ways; mine just happens to be band names. I’ve come to be sort of good at matching skill and the genres I like with band names, so you could imagine my surprise when I stumbled across Neutral Milk Hotel (weirdos?) and My Bloody Valentine (trendy hardcore?).

They surely made the inde star-status rounds, with their strangely soothing Blogotheque set from a bathtub, their David Letterman appearances, and I’ve seen them twice featured in Spin while only having read a handful of recent-ish issues. (Am I the only one to notice Spin’s fervent recycling of material? Is every Featured artist plucked from the previous month’s Reviews?) As the band’s sound ranges from haunting and yet melodic vocals in “Colorado” to the whispered lyrics and soft melodica hidden by blips and cracks reminiscent of a turntable in “Shift”…you may need a few informal meetings with the sound before you can add them to any normal playlist of yours. They are a well-oiled machine which is daunting considering I heard (maybe on NPR?) that they practice on tour.

That being said, some of their music videos might haunt you dreams. Makes me shudder.

I'm not in love with all of their songs, of course, but I'm sure you'll find a handful that will top out your last.fm charts for at least a few months. If you're very critical of lyrics you might have a few disagreements with Grizzly Bear's vaguely depictive style. There's the persona and some other person, there's some sort of friction and you get a grasp of some images that lead you somewhere in your mind. Here's an example of the vagueness and simplicity in the complete lyrics to their "Knife" song:

I want you to know
when i look in your eyes
with every blow
comes another lie

you think its alright (x4)
can't you feel the knife? (x4)

Granted, not all forms of creative writing need to be fleshed out and I do appreciate their sometimes witty writing style.

Also, if you've been caught in this recent indie-turned-electronic fad, their complete Horn of Plenty album has been remixed by other bands. Take it or leave--there are a few gems. And, they did a savory collaboration with Leslie Feist of Feist fame. I had know idea that was her last name. They've toured together and covered each other's songs which makes me all the more antsy-in-my-pantsy to see this band live.

If you're not sick of clicking (or avoiding) links by now, I just found their interesting website today.