marukun
The somewhat mundane adventures of a guy who keeps ending up in Asia... and his random musings.
coffee I haven't been posting anywhere near as much as I would like, and my last few posts have had almost nothing to do with living and working in Japan. I suppose it's because I've been here a while and I've gotten quite used to it... nothing strikes me as particularly noteworthy as of late.
That doesn't mean that I'm depressed or that I hate Japan or the people around me or anything... in fact quite the opposite. Now that I have fallen into a good routine and I know what I can and can't get away with at work I am rather comfy. Plus I will have a nice, long summer vacation in a mere month and a half. I can't wait to visit friends in Tokyo.
I've also been staying good to my word and writing at least a page a day, most of which I just delete, but a few that I feel pretty good about. And of course I have been mixing songs a lot and reading.
On a Japan related note I taught at a kindergarten today which made me very happy. The kids were fun and responsive... we played duck duck goose and made animal noises. The teachers were surprisingly helpful too.
The one problem is that when I arrived they served me coffee. Iced coffee. I am not a fan of iced coffee, both because I tend to get sick to my stomach when I drink it and I am still of the opinion that "iced" coffee is just a nice way to say "cold coffee". I know I wouldn't serve anyone cold coffee; it just seems in poor taste (pun intended).
Anyways my big idea now is that I might start a podcast featuring my mixes and, if anyone actually listens, other peoples mixes as well. I'm into eclectic and old school stuff lately, but if you look online you will mostly find mainstream hip hop, house (all kinds) and the occasional D&B mix podcast. I would like to feature stuff that deveates from the typical club scene... like what I did in It Goes in Cycles with the Gremlin Rag/Check the Skillz mash-up. I have two mixes in the works now, both with heavy 70's influences. The first is a pure disco mix which I have been kicking around for a while now and the other is a funky 70's funk revival thing. I figure once I have 8 mixes that I am happy with I will do this... like once a week or every two weeks. I will have 9 mixes (including my old jungle mixes that I am happy with) once I finish these two I am working on now.
Speaking of podcasts, I thought I would go ahead and list the ones that I subscribe to here. Any archaeologist will tell you that the best way to learn about a culture is to find its garbage. Well, this is kind of like my internet garbage I guess... so here is a list of what I listen to/watch, why, and why you should too.
This American Life:
An hour long radio show produced from my hometown of Chicago. Host Ira Glass guides us through on average three stories each week covering a variety of topics. Each episode is themed, so one week might be "Fiascoes" and the next "How and why the housing loan industry almost took down the world economy". The stories are sometimes funny, sometimes sad, sometimes thought-provoking. One of the things I love about the show is that it can't be labeled as "comedy" or "drama" or the like. Not every episode is gold, and some can be downright boring (I'm looking at you, "Ghost of Bobby Dunbar"), but most are at least worth a listen.
BBC Newspod and Global News:
This is where I get all my news from. The BBC is probably one of the most reliable sources for news out there, so I try to listen at least once a day. Global News is really just a rehash of the Newspod, but it often includes stories from areas not covered in Newspod, so subscribing to both is a good idea.
Channel Frederator:
Great source of original animation. Very experimental styles are the hallmark of the podcast and they often have catchy songs attached to them. One of the neatest ones that is still available for download is the Drinking and Drawing animation, wherein a cartoon was made in a bar by scribbling on paper while getting drunk. It's a cool idea and is executed really well.
The Meth Minute (by Dan Meth) is an extension of Channel Frederator and is worth downloading in tandem. You can only subscribe through iTunes.
The Wubbcast:
Adorable Children's animation about a little animal of sorts named Wubsy, created by Bob Boyle. The podcast also includes select animations by various unsigned artists. The quality of the art and story-telling is top notch, and if you have an eye for animations I highly suggest this one.
They Might be Giants Friday Night Podcast:
For Kids! For Families! For you! My girlfriend told me about this one. Hosted by puppet versions of the two Johns of They Might Be Giants the podcast features a host of songs from the bands' DVD "Here Come the 123's" and "Here Come the ABC's". A lot of the script is ad-libbed making for some great off-the-cuff comedy.
The other podcast by They Might be Giants is simply titled They Might be Giants Podcast. It isn't aimed at kids per se, but there isn't anything I wouldn't let my kids listen to in it... if I had kids. This one is kind of a natural extension of the Dial a Song thing that They Might be Giants used to (still?) do, as the podcast features a bunch of unreleased and unfinished tracks. If you don't like They Might be Giants, this podcast is obviously a bad idea. If you do like them or are indifferent, I highly suggest these, especially the kids' one.
I'm also subscribed to The Best of Youtube, but that could really just be called "Look at this funny viral ad/animal/guy getting hurt!" It's good on rare occasion, but it's primarily "internet funny", so expect to see the best stuff used to death, resurrected, killed again, and repeat.
So that is the bulk of my debitage. I have a new hip hop mix that I will post soon, hope everyone likes that too.
-Maru!
That doesn't mean that I'm depressed or that I hate Japan or the people around me or anything... in fact quite the opposite. Now that I have fallen into a good routine and I know what I can and can't get away with at work I am rather comfy. Plus I will have a nice, long summer vacation in a mere month and a half. I can't wait to visit friends in Tokyo.
I've also been staying good to my word and writing at least a page a day, most of which I just delete, but a few that I feel pretty good about. And of course I have been mixing songs a lot and reading.
On a Japan related note I taught at a kindergarten today which made me very happy. The kids were fun and responsive... we played duck duck goose and made animal noises. The teachers were surprisingly helpful too.
The one problem is that when I arrived they served me coffee. Iced coffee. I am not a fan of iced coffee, both because I tend to get sick to my stomach when I drink it and I am still of the opinion that "iced" coffee is just a nice way to say "cold coffee". I know I wouldn't serve anyone cold coffee; it just seems in poor taste (pun intended).
Anyways my big idea now is that I might start a podcast featuring my mixes and, if anyone actually listens, other peoples mixes as well. I'm into eclectic and old school stuff lately, but if you look online you will mostly find mainstream hip hop, house (all kinds) and the occasional D&B mix podcast. I would like to feature stuff that deveates from the typical club scene... like what I did in It Goes in Cycles with the Gremlin Rag/Check the Skillz mash-up. I have two mixes in the works now, both with heavy 70's influences. The first is a pure disco mix which I have been kicking around for a while now and the other is a funky 70's funk revival thing. I figure once I have 8 mixes that I am happy with I will do this... like once a week or every two weeks. I will have 9 mixes (including my old jungle mixes that I am happy with) once I finish these two I am working on now.
Speaking of podcasts, I thought I would go ahead and list the ones that I subscribe to here. Any archaeologist will tell you that the best way to learn about a culture is to find its garbage. Well, this is kind of like my internet garbage I guess... so here is a list of what I listen to/watch, why, and why you should too.
This American Life:
An hour long radio show produced from my hometown of Chicago. Host Ira Glass guides us through on average three stories each week covering a variety of topics. Each episode is themed, so one week might be "Fiascoes" and the next "How and why the housing loan industry almost took down the world economy". The stories are sometimes funny, sometimes sad, sometimes thought-provoking. One of the things I love about the show is that it can't be labeled as "comedy" or "drama" or the like. Not every episode is gold, and some can be downright boring (I'm looking at you, "Ghost of Bobby Dunbar"), but most are at least worth a listen.
BBC Newspod and Global News:
This is where I get all my news from. The BBC is probably one of the most reliable sources for news out there, so I try to listen at least once a day. Global News is really just a rehash of the Newspod, but it often includes stories from areas not covered in Newspod, so subscribing to both is a good idea.
Channel Frederator:
Great source of original animation. Very experimental styles are the hallmark of the podcast and they often have catchy songs attached to them. One of the neatest ones that is still available for download is the Drinking and Drawing animation, wherein a cartoon was made in a bar by scribbling on paper while getting drunk. It's a cool idea and is executed really well.
The Meth Minute (by Dan Meth) is an extension of Channel Frederator and is worth downloading in tandem. You can only subscribe through iTunes.
The Wubbcast:
Adorable Children's animation about a little animal of sorts named Wubsy, created by Bob Boyle. The podcast also includes select animations by various unsigned artists. The quality of the art and story-telling is top notch, and if you have an eye for animations I highly suggest this one.
They Might be Giants Friday Night Podcast:
For Kids! For Families! For you! My girlfriend told me about this one. Hosted by puppet versions of the two Johns of They Might Be Giants the podcast features a host of songs from the bands' DVD "Here Come the 123's" and "Here Come the ABC's". A lot of the script is ad-libbed making for some great off-the-cuff comedy.
The other podcast by They Might be Giants is simply titled They Might be Giants Podcast. It isn't aimed at kids per se, but there isn't anything I wouldn't let my kids listen to in it... if I had kids. This one is kind of a natural extension of the Dial a Song thing that They Might be Giants used to (still?) do, as the podcast features a bunch of unreleased and unfinished tracks. If you don't like They Might be Giants, this podcast is obviously a bad idea. If you do like them or are indifferent, I highly suggest these, especially the kids' one.
I'm also subscribed to The Best of Youtube, but that could really just be called "Look at this funny viral ad/animal/guy getting hurt!" It's good on rare occasion, but it's primarily "internet funny", so expect to see the best stuff used to death, resurrected, killed again, and repeat.
So that is the bulk of my debitage. I have a new hip hop mix that I will post soon, hope everyone likes that too.
-Maru!
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