And, on that travel-related note, we're off to Tokyo. Will attempt to post from the Meiji shrine, or a pachinko parlour or bullet train, or a place that serves cod sperm, or even a love hotel. Or maybe I'll just suffer a terminal postmodern ironic overload and disappear in a powerpuff of hyperreality.
Mata aimasho!
25 comments:
Well it sounded like a really tough gig! What with the festooning and groaning bathroom and all.
Makes Ryan Air seem a tad uncomfortable now but it's easier to be sarcastic about.
Hmph. I can't read it on this machine that won't do anything.
You're always going on holiday. Are they all press trips?
Are you going to fondle teenage girls on the underground? I think it's the law over there that you have to.
I liked the 'amiable pachyderms' bit best.
Tim, if you do disappear in a puff of hyperreality, take Pynchon with you.
For all you BEE/JM/KA/MA fans, there's an opportunity to work your way through Pynchon's Against the Day in the comfort and safety of others at http://chumpsofchoice.blogspot.com/. It starts next Monday, Dec. 11. The moderator will post something about the first 25 pages for that week, and cover the next 25 the following Monday, etc.
When the hosts posted the admin "rules" for the gig, the comments got out of hand, and they had to turn on the moderating comments function, which is pretty funny itself.
Hmm, to me that Pynchon blog doesn't look so much 'safe and comfortable' as 'aggressive and confrontational'. I think I'll stick with Neal Stephenson.
oooh, well done on the BK posting Tim. That's really excellent. Can we have some photos of you on your holiday please. And stay away from anything sperm like please. Ew!
I hope you have a lovely time. Bring us back something nice.
You lucky thing, how fantastic. I second Molly's request for photos. Have a great time.
Hmmm, I'm up for a bit of a challenge read and I liked the idea of that Pynchon thing.
Until I read the comments. Scary, scary people.
I've live in New York all my life--clearly my sense of "comfort and safety" has been deeply compromised.
My trips are a mixture of press jaunts, tagging along on Small Boo's work assignments (I am, in expat terms, a "trailing spouse"), actual holidays and stuff like the current jaunt, which is cashing in airmiles from the other genres.
Am posting from the 27th floor of the Shiodome Media Tower, looking down at the river. I'm wearing a yukata and sipping genmai chai. Things could be worse.
Who is that guy with the guitar?
A friend of mine was a 'trailing spouse' in Bangkok, Phnom Penh and various other places around there a few years ago. Small boo doesn't work for the world service does she?
A friend of mine was a 'trailing spouse' in Bangkok, Phnom Penh and various other places around there a few years ago. Small boo doesn't work for the world service does she?
A friend of mine was a 'trailing spouse' in Bangkok, Phnom Penh and various other places around there a few years ago. Small boo doesn't work for the world service does she?
A friend of mine was a 'trailing spouse' in Bangkok, Phnom Penh and various other places around there a few years ago. Small boo doesn't work for the world service does she?
'Trailing spouse' eh? Intriguing.
How do you get into that then? I might actually start looking for a husband if I could do that for a 'living'.
I know an American writer in Japan who is a trailing spouse. Even odds you're meeting him this time around.
And kudos to you for the nice poster. I can't imagine how they used to do that without Photoshop. I don't know who alerts Gozilla every time we build a new national landmark. (Hmm, since when, and how often, have you been traveling to Japan, Mr. Footman?) But it's a testament to our national resolve how we manage to rebuild them, right after she knocks them down. Every time. And we still manage to build all those bridges, roads and dams. I am really proud of us.
Come on, foax. One self-aggrandizing weirdo kicks off the Comment Mod. mechanisim, and it's suddenly all "aggressive and confrontational"?
He's buggered off, and the rest of us are having relaxed and happy-fun-ball sexy-time liquid explosions.
hop on in, the water's fine!
Sorry, had power problems on the laptop. Will respond more fully shortly.
And my advice - when in a sushi bar in Jingumae, do not try the sea urchin.
MA: Will check in on the Pynchon thing, but I must admit to being something of an agnostic with regard to his schtick. Lot 49 was amusing - did Pynchon invent the internet? - and I keep trying to read Gravity's Rainbow, but I leave serious discussion to fanboys.
Billy: as Jun suggests, it's somebody having photoshop fun with the original poster for Gojira (1954), the first and greatest Godzilla movie. Apart from that, I have no clue.
Doc: No, she's a committed non-hack.
Spin: It's swings and roundabouts. You might get posted somewhere great, or you might end up in an abject toilet. Bangkok's somewhere in between; it's not quite a punishment posting, but the really high fliers go to HK, Singapore, etc. We only ended up here cos Small Boo speaks the language (although she can't read or write it, which can be terribly amusing).
Jun: Nah, no business, not even networking this time. And can I say how polite and efficient and friendly and eager to please the people of Tokyo have been. I'm not just crawling - if they were unpleasant, I'd tell you. Your TV programmes are bloody horrible, though.
Neddie: Is that a bloody plug? Watch it...
OK, may get a chance to post tomorrow, if not will probably be Wednesday, when I'm back in BKK. Till then, oyasumi!
Sorry, Billy, that last response made it sound as if I thought you didn't know it was a Godzilla poster, which is patently absurd. Please excuse me, I'm tired and still a bit iffy from the sea urchin.
Tim:
The Internet gods have informed me that the poster was actually printed for a movie scheduled for New Year's release in 1965 that had to be cancelled when another film the guy with the guitar was starring in couldn't finish shooting in time.
And billy, the guy with the guitar is Yuzo Kayama, the Elvis Presley of Japanese pop music at the time. Or ELvis Costello, since he wrote all his songs.
where the streets have no name.
check out the swanky school girls. even better than the catholic ones.
Jun: Thanks for that. I vaguely remember seeing Yuzo Kayama on some Channel 4 show. Bit like Dick Dale, Ventures, surfy, that kinda thing. And damn, I missed Shonen Knife by 5 days.
Tree: Yeah, but are the schoolgirls real? See post.
Kidding. You obviously know your Japanese pop music history. Though Kayama was very much a wholesome version of the post-Army, pre-Las Vegas Presley.
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