Temple Cat

From the Back of a Tuk-Tuk #2

From the Grounds of the First Temple I Visited in Chiang Mai #2

From the Back of a Tuk-Tuk #1

From the Grounds of the First Temple I Visited in Chiang Mai #1

Usually when I'm on one of my conference trips I don't have the time or energy to take many photos. Yesterday, however, we rented a tuk-tuk and took a spin around Chiang Mai to check out some of the sights. I snapped a few hundred shots in the space of a few hours, so it's going to take me a while to sort through them all. Also, since I'm not really into travelogue-type writing, I'm not going to waste time boring you with details about temples (the names of which I don't remember) or other places. Post titles will probably be the only informative thing you'll get from me, but I will add that all posted pictures were taken in the city of Chiang Mai itself.

I guess I should also add that I fell in love with Chiang Mai. I quite seriously can imagine myself disappearing from Miyazaki one day, never to be seen again, and appearing in Chiang Mai with a new identity. It won't happen. But I can seriously imagine it.

I'd very highly recommend Chiang Mai (and Thailand more generally--just try to avoid the airport in Bangkok... well, that's probably not realistic; still...) to anyone who's never been to Asia. Seriously.

Anyway, some pics...

Scene

Small Shrine Next to the Sidewalk

Fish Spa (and Free Internet)

Two Dragons, Black and White

Artwork for Sale

Two Dragons

Sitting in the Back of a Tuk-Tuk

I'm in Chiang Mai, Thailand this week. Bar-hopping by tuk-tuk is a blast!

Some drunken reveler...

Vending Machines, No. 124

Doorway

At Play

Stop Sign

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia [*]

[*]Sorry, but I just felt like saying that.

Say Cheese!

Humbled

It's not easy being exposed as a mere dilettante. From Asiajin:

A Japanese blog “Watashi ha Mainichi (no you ni) Jidou Hanbaiki no Shashin wo Totte imasu. Gomen-nasai” [J], which means “I am taking a photo of the vendor machine (almost) every day. Sorry”, is a blog dedicated for the same coca cola vending machine in Sapporo, Hokkaido with over 5 years’ successful story.

The blog started on August 5th, 2005. The blogger Ryuichi Ikeda has been taking a coca cola vending machine about 20 days every month, which seems his working day. Now the number of photos (and the blog posts) are about 1,300, in over 5 years.

I'll survive this humiliation. Somehow.

Silver Rider

I'm somewhat blown away by the fact that Robert Plant has one of the best albums of the year. This is a really great tune. I'd like to say something else, but hey, it's a good fucking tune, why should I fuck it up with words?



Yeah.

Mushroom

Vending Machines, No. 123

This Side of a Stop Sign

Aphorisms of the Kyklopes #1

Have you ever noticed that people who think that you should worry about what other people think never seem to think much about what you think?

I Try to Separate My Body from My Mind...

Social Distortion are one of my favorite bands. This is an updated version of one of my favorite songs, "Cold Feelings." I was neither particularly young nor impressionable when I first heard heard the line in the post title. I kinda got it, though. And later in the song, "I wanna feel cold winds blow through me like an empty touch."

I've said many times on this blog that I don't usually pay attention to lyrics unless they're really good or bad. We all decide for ourselves, I guess, but this tune both rocks *and* has something to say.



Here's the original version:



Yeah.

White Line

Side of a Garage

Weathered Old Hut

Old Roof Ornament

Old Roofing Tiles and Ornament

Bamboo

Jumble

Mirror

Playground

Old Shop Signs

Broken

Vending Machines, No. 122

Santa Never Goes Hungry at My Place...

I guess this will probably be the last year that we go through this little ritual. If my kid still believes in Santa when next Christmas rolls around, well, I'm afraid we'll have to have a little talk about that. I'm not much into crushing the dreams of little kids, but... there's a bigger picture to consider.

Actually, I'm not especially concerned on that score, because I get the sense this year that she's already either a) employing a pretty strong suspension of disbelief, mostly out of a child's notion of self-interest (i.e. open disbelief, to her, might mean a sharp reduction in Christmas loot), or b) doing her damnedest to humor her old man. Or possibly some combination of both. Picking up my cell phone and threatening to call Santa when she won't do her homework or stop watching TV just doesn't have the same effect it once did. I tried this the other day and she rather flippantly asked if she could talk to Santa while he was on the line. I saw my future in that moment. It wasn't pretty...

Enough of that! Anyway, part of me is a little relieved that I won't have to worry about Santa next year. I'm basically the "Christmas guy" in my house, and Christmas Eve is a bit busy and stressful for me. I'm the guy who helps my kid put out a snack for Santa, who makes sure the presents are under the tree, who goes out and buys stocking-stuffers, who leaves a "thank-you" note from Santa (for the milk and cookies), and all that crap. I'm not complaining, really, but this is Japan, and it's not like there's a whole lot of outside support here! My wife helps by basically staying out of my way. What can I say? I just want my kid to have some idea of something that made me happy when I was a little kid; some small part of the place where her father comes from. Before coming to Japan I spent 39 Christmases at home with my family. Old habits die hard.

Speaking of "old habits," I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

Goofing Around

One More from the Other Day...

My Dark Twisted Review

OK, for the next hour or so I'm going to listen to the new Kanye West album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. It's my first listen. I know who Kanye West is, but I know next to nothing about his music. Since everyone seems to think this is the/one of the best albums of the year, I thought I'd give it a chance. Going in, though, I should stipulate that I'm not a big fan of pop/rap/hip hop blends...

First tune, "Dark Fantasy" did nothing for me. The guy can sing/rap, the production is slick, etc. But nothing. I should stipulate that as far as I'm concerned, music without a readily discernible band has to be something wonderful before it can be elevated beyond the level of dog shit.

Some OK rapping in "Gorgeous." I guess pop artists these days save a lot of money by not having to hire actual musicians. Or do they actually have real musicians play and then make it sound like there aren't any real musicians?

"POWER" samples King Crimson. I'm somehow impressed by this. Nice drum machine beat, too, and some good rapping. This would be cool if I were wasted at a club. An old fart like me, though, couldn't be seen diggin' it at the kind of bar they'd play this at. Better to maintain an aloof sense of cool; mysterious, but not obviously drunk.

"All of the Lights" really sounds like a club tune. Annoying drum machines, over-bearing production, and that angst-ridden, boy-band-sounding "listen to me, look at me, I'm rich, pity me" kinda vocal that reminds me of guys who couldn't do gym because they had asthma. Or something. Ugh.

Hmm... the intro to "Monster" is very promising. Further in sounds more like some pure rap. Of course, Jay-Z and a few other rappers will do that for a tune. Best tune so far. No pop, just rap. I can dig this. I do dig this. I'd pay for an album of this stuff... Er... [And yeah, this geezer likes rap and hates pop. What can I say?] Oh-oh, some sappy shit near the end...

[By the way, I'm not going to say anything about lyrics unless I hear something really stupid or really brilliant. Music ain't about words...]

It was really a sad day when rappers started using fake string sections in the music. "So Appalled" pretty much sums up my impression of this tune. The beat is even limp, and that's about as damning a thing I can say about an alleged rap tune as I can think of. Christ, I just heard some lyrics... "I never met a bitch that didn't need a little guidance..." "Life can be sometimes a little ridiculous..." "I keep bitches by the twos..." "Fucking ridiculous" repeated ad nauseum... No shit.

"Devil in a New Dress" is going for a neo-soul sound that I've heard done better on old Pharcyde albums. I highly recommend old Pharcyde albums, while we're on the topic (and because I'm trying to think of something to say until the next tune). I've heard shit like this before done lots better. Whoa... is that a guitar solo? Pretty bold... I guess...

OK, "Runaway" has got some stuff happening in the intro. "Let's have a toast for the douchebags." Best line of the album! I'm looking and I see this is a 9-minute tune. This is OK, but where's the bridge!? Bunch of echo-y shit... This one note on the piano thing was a lot cooler in "Raw Power" by The Stooges. Hmm... "Raw power, honey, just won't quit/Raw power I can feel it..." Oh, shit... Yeah... Nine minutes... Whoa! Some kind of robot voice! Wow! I'm truly moved. Well, not really. More boring strings with the one-note piano thing and some kind of robot guitar shit. A minute to go. Kanye (or somebody) is breathing heavy like he's actually playing the guitar or something. Auto tune! It was just a matter of time...

Oohh! Funky bass and beat for "Hell of a Life." Good rap shit. Fuck!! Lame auto-tune shit with arpeggio-ated keyboard. Lame drum beat shit ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba... Fuck this. I hear a bunch of special effects pretending to be a song. How a song with a line like "I think I fell in love with a porn star" can suck so hard... really sucks.

Two more songs to go...

"Blame Game:" Like most everything on this album, the rapping is good. But it's surrounded by such crap. Anyone over twenty who's actually moved by this "moving" music needs to get out more and listen to some real music. Now we've got Chris Rock (?) doing some kinda shit about "pussy." He's talking while some sad, "touching" piano shit plays. Fuck, does this ever suck.

The intro to "Lost in the World" actually has a chorus of auto-tuned vocals. If there is a lower form of music (unless performed by Devo), I don't know what it is. There is quite a nice melody in this tune. Now we got some world/African stuff... Sudden ending.

--------------------

Pop music (and that is all that this is) should never take itself so seriously. Pop music relegates the musician to a kind of non-status (at best), or eliminates him/her altogether. It's very status as "music" is questionable. Look, I love a good catchy tune as much as the next person (who's Frank Zappa, in my imagination), but when so-called critics claim that an album like My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is the best album produced in a given year, they sound to me more like industry hacks than legitimate "music reviewers."

Clear your palate with this:



Yeah.

Fluted [*]

[*] Thanks, Glenn.

Furrows

Fence

On the Curative Powers of Hockey

Serious case of the blahs lately... I've spent the past couple evenings watching illicitly downloaded hockey games in an effort to cheer myself up. Just watched a replay of the ass-kicking Canada laid on Russia during the Olympics. It was even better than last night, when I re-watched Canada beat the U.S. for the gold medal. I think it's working... Yes, definitely. I just smiled to myself...

Pink Petals

Intersection on a Rainy Evening

Pink Umbrella

Busy as...

Train

Later the Same Day...

This evening I attended a concert performed by my daughter's singing club...

I'm tired...