jet

Yeah, Japanese took on the Chinese character set at some point, and although things have changed a bit heaps of them are used really regularly. Went travelling with some friends, one of whom is a native Cantonese speaker and she could at least get the gist of most signs and notices.

There's plenty of animosity towards Chinese people here... students often try to suggest there's a friendly rivalry that might be compared to Aus & NZ, but I have to remind them that we've never been at war with each other. Anyone who has to visit China generally focuses on the rudeness of the people and their underhanded dealings in business.

Oh yeah, plus all Chinese in Japan are criminals. Have taught several group lessons where students have to talk about experiences with crime and one of the first parts of the description of what happened is whether or not the criminal was Chinese. Not whether or not they were foreigners, but specifically Chinese.

Shellac? They've got a newy out, maybe why you read about them..?

Whoa, the characters for New Zealand are kinda awesome.

It's all fixed.

Oh right, it's 1.30 in the morning there... Sorry. :)

Hmm, maybe not at the end of every post...

I guess there's always nay sayers tho... who knows what'll happen?

Nice work.

I've heard muttering that, with EMI having just been sold on the 22nd, Blue Note and its subsidiaries could well be seen as dead weight to be ditched. That would be after the major flop (in investment vs. return terms) of Norah's last album.

So that's pretty stink timing. Not that I can talk.

With my absolutely awesome knowledge of Japanese (pfft) I can tell you that Asobi Seksu means "fun sex". Pretty lame name, I reckon.

I like the TV On The Radio song... they have two or three tunes I love to bits in a discography I otherwise find bloody boring.

Yeah, a couple of ace tunes, thanks.

Cheers for the link!

Mysterious interview over here:

http://psurkit.net/2007/04/29/beat-up-rx02/

That's a phenomenal video, it has to be said. You want back-slapping and high-fiving? It's all on. And Rick's peroxide poodle cut is just nasty. Had a surreal experience watching that vid in a villa in the countryside of Portugal!?

Can we get local? Peking Man...

Simon Grigg is always interesting to read, I reckon. Some really interesting opinions on there indeed.

Have you heard his older stuff, Drome and Nonplace Urban Field? I had a Drome album, but wasn't convinced, sold it on. Nonplace Urban Field stuff is big in the mighty Wellington Public Library collection, but I was never excited enough to go buy some for myself. Actually, that's basically the story of my life when it comes to the guy... but he is a great producer, makes some great feels. How about the beats on his mix of Serotonin on the Nine Horses EP? Incredible.

I mostly love him for putting together a great comp called Deutscher Funk, back in maybe 95? Had Pole, Mouse On Mars, all kinds of goodies.

Yeah, Blemish is incredible. I didn't like the remixes enough to pick them up. His Nine Horses project is going quite well too... Burnt Friedman and Sylvian's brother Steve Jansen. If you liked Friedman's mix on that remix album you might like it.

Can't be bothered digging up the link, but a friend pointed me to an interview with her on Pitchfork (pitchforkmedia.com) where she mentions in passing that she laid down 7 songs in 3 hours with Timbaland and then spent over a year "editing the fuck out of them". So not so sure how big a deal this whole collabo really is.

Mighty fine.

The Dub Pistols did a cover of Blondie's Rapture recently. It's on their fucken myspace... features the golden tones of Terry Hall (ex-The Specials, but actually I'm obsessed with him singing on Vegas's Possessed and Nearly God's Poems). Anyway, is that the one?