Break N Enter in Brighton Emcee killa cappo karizma foz

Electro Funk Daddy Superstar Brake

Dangerous Drums - Saturday Oct 13th

This October Dangerous Drums duo ED2000 and dj Vela touch down in Hiroshima again for 2 nights of Breaks, Electro, Dub Step and whatever else they fancy.

The main event is on Saturday 13th of October at Bar Edge. We haven't been there for a while and we're very much looking forward to getting back down underground.

Alongside ED2000 and dj Vela we are also proud to present

CA2 (CoA 3KBreaks)

Moco (ELECTROROCKERH)

Godfarm (Heartbeat of Dragon)

and your hosts GHB and, little old me, Windcheater

Saturday night will be a good ol' fashioned 3KBreaks night and costs 2000Yen in advance, 2500Yen on the door.

On Friday (12th October) night, we're having a little pre-event at Lotus. ED2000 and Vela will be spinning again, with a very different flavour to Saturday. Expect lots of Dub Step and records played at the wrong speed :)

Joining us on this night will be the Sleepeye boys, and it's free.

Come and chill out on the friday, then put on your d****** shoes for Saturday. Just don't tell the rozzers.

Making of the Doctor Who theme (full)

lovely stuff

Victims Family - In a Nutshell

I have a bad right ear. I've had it ever since I was about 17....after going to see this band and standing a bit too near the speakers. One of my favourite 'hardcore' bands at that time :)

beat box - nouvelle star

ho hi ho hi ho

If I keep smiling...

crikey!

Windcheater ringtones?

Showing just how much attention I pay to things, I've only just noticed that Beatpick have a ringtone of my track Apathetic on their MySpace page. It's free and comes in 3 formats, none of which seem to work on my phone. Hohum.

Don't forget (as if you would) Apathetic is available in it's entirety to listen to and buy (yes buy!) on my Beatpick page.

What are you doing this summer?

Finowfurt, Germany: 1,200 computer enthusiasts from Germany and elsewhere have gathered for a five-day summer camp, Chaos Communication Camp 2007, which describes itself as an 'open-air festival for hackers and similar lifeforms'

Hope they all remember to pack their sun cream.

New track - Long Time Rocker

I've finally put a version of my latest track Long Time Rocker, out there. You can hear it on my MySpace page.

Hopefully it will be the first track you hear when you go there, and it should be at the top of the list.

Any comments, fair or foul, always welcome.

DJ Hype again

After a mental 2 weeks at work, it finally finished late on Sunday night and I went down to Mugen, for DJ Hype who was back in Hiroshima. Last time GHB posted a review on GH, in which he wondered whether the local Drum and Bass scene hadn't hit it's peak. When we arrived on Sunday it did seem that way. Looking at my photos of the last time, it's clear there were a lot more people there, and even from the pictures its also obvious that the crowd were much more up for it than on Sunday. And what is it with the sound in Mugen? This place offered local clubbers a bit of hope when it opened amidst all the raids and other club's closures. It was bigger, better and newer than anywhere else. Unfortunately, noone seems to know how to get the best out of the sound system. Either that or its just a shit. Drum and bass requires, as the name suggests right? a lot of bass. The highs were ear piercing for a lot of the night and you could see Hype wasn't happy at the beginning of his set.

That said, enter the large presence of MC IC3 (WARNING! - IC3's MySpace site is covered in Chelsea pictures). What a brilliant MC. Really funny, really energetic, he transformed the fairly flat atmosphere in Mugen (what happened to lights and smoke guys?) which was no fault of the tunes Hype was playing. I don't think I have ever seen an MC make a night so much. I thought perhaps he's just doing it cos that's what he does but as Hype dropped his last tune, he was asking him to do another hour. Big otsukare to him, if I were one of the D'n'B promoters in Hiroshima I would be getting him back for every night they do.

Also, big big up to the Sleepeye boys who played some fantastic tunes after Hype. I was ready to go home drunk and tired as usually the music gets ramped up even harder after the big name leaves the stage, but not this time. Tanoshikatta.

Good news on the 3K front too as we look to be heading back to our roots sometime in October....will, ofcourse, keep you posted.

www.suiko1.com

Not so long ago, almost back home, I was suddenly confronted by this amazing piece of graffiti. I spotted on MySpace yesterday and so was able to track down the artist. You can check more of his work on his homepage or, if you live in Hiroshima, keep your eyes peeled for more of his stuff around town. There's a nice shop front next to the Ramen place at near the crossing of Chuo douri and Heiwa douri.

Lovely stuff.

Jurassic 5 - Concrete Schoolyard

Summer's here.....

hopefully

Peep Show - Mark has therapy

:)

Plan B- No Good

Justice - D.A.N.C.E (Version Finale)

Haven't heard as good an 'electronic' album as this in ages and I've only listened to the first 7 tracks. Great video.

A NEW POPE

Adam Buxton! Hooraah!

Choo choo!

I love the Shinkansen because it's fast, comfortable and efficient and it usually means I'm going somewhere fun. Slightly different reasons to this guy's enjoyment of the pleasure's of travelling by bullet train...

Excited train buff Koichi Inoue, a 40-year-old civil servant from Yokohama, said before his departure, "No matter what, I needed to be aboard this very first train. During my ride, I plan to examine how much the car will tilt" on curves.

Full story here, although it isn't all that interesting. I just love hearing about fellow geeks :)

The Time The Place, Chris Morris

Never seen this before. The genius of Chris Morris....

blaaah

Cock on your sock. Lovely. Not as good as the 8ish year old girl I saw the other week with SPUNK cheerfully emblazoned on her sweatshirt in big bright colourful letters. Post spunk on chest jokes in the comments section please.

I really have almost finished a new track. Will post it up here when it's done and dusted (probably about October).

Listening to the Breakspoll 3 mix by Ed Solo and Skool of Thought, who I caught at Audio back at Xmas. It is, as expected, verrr good :)

Tou3Kasan

Toukasan is brilliant isn't it? For those of you that don't know, it's a festival here in Hiroshima in which almost everyone comes out in their Yukata. Far more popular with the locals than the dull Flower Festival, it was really nice to hear how excited the kids I teach were about going.

It did mean that Saturday's 3KBreaks was slightly less well attended than the last 2 but when all the women (and Mendel) turn up in Yukatas, who's complaining. The look on 3 guys faces as they left only to see around 6 yukata clad ladies coming up the stairs was very funny....er, should we really go?

On Sunday I went to Sumatra Tiger for their 3rd anniversary party. Turned out to be excellent with the Spins in fine form and owner Keisuke-san's other band, whilst not being my cup of tea (think American Metal), putting on an amazing show. It was like watching a stadium rock band....in a pub. The vocalist had some of the dodgiest hair I have ever seen but a really incredible (metal) voice. Drummer had a tache and a perm (yes!) and ofcourse, unlike anywhere else I've been in the world, the women of Japan just refuse to be left out, so there, amidst these 4, hairy, rocking men with their flying V guitars, was one lady on keys.

In a yukata.

Well it was Toukasan after all.

Micall Parknsun- So What

Golden Week shenanigans

Bit late I know but...

Had an enjoyable (fully paid up!) Golden Week. I already mentioned the Kemby's 8th anniversary that kicked things off on the Monday. Fast forward to Saturday and we were at Roxis again for the 3rd 3KBreaks there.

Myself and GHB aren't the most prepared of DJs so in an attempt to make things a bit easier for himself in a week in which he ran 70km (nutter), he took the decks and mixer down on Wednesday and got it all set up. Thursday night, Roxis got broken into and the mixer was nicked. Never prepare kids! Hopefully they'll be some insurance money...The night itself was a real success, especially considering it was the end of Golden Week and that is was pissing down outside. CA2 bought along Sugi (pictured) to spin some broken beats at the beginning of the night. Had no idea what broken beats were but they turned out to be housey/breaksy/funky beats. Very nice guy, Sugi and his mates know how to have a good time. He plays every Thursday at Commune if anyone is interested in checking out the broken beat sound.

Rewind (selector) a couple of days and I also spent a few days in Fukuoka and Nagasaki. I've been to Fukuoka before, it's very nice, you should go. Nice people, nice ramen and very cool places to wander about like Daimyo. I went to Nagasaki for the day so completing my Peace Park pair. It's funny how I can live in Hiroshima and yet know so little about Nagasaki. Bomb history aside, it's a very pleasant place, and quite strange for a Japanese city in that they built on the mountain-sides. Felt almost European. Nagasaki is famous (amongst other things) for being the first port opened to foreigners (I'm paraphrasing here, can't be arsed to check the details) some time ago. Mostly Dutch and Portugese it also means there's loads of churches all over the place, which probably influenced the naming of this car park.

So, fun over, it's back to work (not such a bad thing) and wondering how to shift this waist I seem to have developed.

SONGS OF PRAISE (WITH SUBTITLES)

been trying to post this for ages.....better work this time

grrrrrr

Hisashiburi

For various reasons I haven't had much of a heart for blogging recently but I thought I should try and get back in the saddle, if only, to try and convince the 2 of you reading to come down to Roxis next Saturday for the 3rd 3KBreaks. The last one was a lot of fun so hopefully we can build from that.

What else has been going on? Well, a couple of weekends ago DJ Kentaro was in town. One of my acclaimed keitai videos of the man himself can be seen right here. He was ofcourse very very good, and I was amazed to see him keep it up for at least an hour until he started mixing some drum and bass. Having said that, dance music it ain't and it does lead to a crowd made up of mostly head nodders. Very happy to have seen him in the flesh though.

I was amazed that I was the only noticeably foreign punter there. I was talking about this last night with a friend. When I first came to Hiroshima, at events like this there would always be a healthy group of gaijin but recently people seem to have disappeared. It seems most these days are just happy to get pissed up and go to the usual venues. It's a great shame. Tokyo and Osaka Hiroshima ain't but there are some great nights out to be had if you scratch the surface.

Talking of which, last night's Kemby's 8th anniversary turned out to be great fun. I was wondering whether agreeing to DJ there had been a good idea or not - 8 hours for 6 bands and 4 DJs but despite playing tunes whilst bands tuned up it all went really well and hopefully a few new faces might find their way to Roxis because of it. Best of all was the Taiko group whose name I criminally didn't get. Check out some of their antics on my BlipTV site. Is there any better Japanese 'culture'? I don't think so. Kabuki schmabuki. They created a fantastic atmosphere and I was a bit ashamed to hit play when they had finished. I did enjoy triggering samples as Saemi was trying to MC though ;) Again though, the crowd seemed distinctly different to a usual Kemby's crowd and apart from a group of some of the most obnoxious, tragically unfunny foreigners I have come across in a very long time, the crowd seemed to be mostly Japanese. By the end of the night there was a lot of illegal activity going on (dancing) and a lot of very happy very knackered staff.

One special otsukare to Nochi though who had the nightmare task of doing the sound for all those bands and DJs and even found time (and energy) to DJ at the end. And all with a smile on his face, as always.

Finally, I put a mix up on Yousendit which I think can be downloaded 25 times. Lots of MCs, lots of bass, and quite a lot of tunes in 30 minutes. So stick that in your ipod and smoke it.

Time & Underground - Together 91 RAVE

those WERE the days

The Chop Shop :When I'm Licking Windows (Formby Vs. Aphex)

lovely stuff

DJ Kentaro - Loop Daigakuin(Bird's-eye view Ver.)

He's coming on Saturday! :)

Alan Partridge Abba Medley

the harmony they get at the end isn't that bad...

Bin Laden tape interview

Sod my blog, I'm just going to post up Adam Buxton videos....

'I dunno we just got it ya know? like, received it yeah?'

Downloads and nights outs

Just a reminder about next Saturday's (April 7th) 3KBreaks night at Roxis.

It's free and starts at 11pm. Nuskool Breakbeat rules the roost but if it's got a break, we'll play it.

Wondering what the frig I'm on about, DOWNLOAD THE LAST 3KBREAKS MIX BY CLICKING RIGHT HERE

Also, if you're interested in more free music for your MP3 player, why not download Jay Cunning's Breakbeat Sessions show in which yours truly featured. Right click and save here and forward to about 34 minutes if you just can't wait to hear my name on air.

I am actually working on a new tune after brilliantly deleting all trace of the last one I was working on.....god knows when I'll finish it but it's not sounding too bad....

Help The Police

It's a hatrick of Adam Buxton videos on the WCBlog.

Brilliant stuff - 'looking for the bicuits, thinking every chap is selling some chocolate'

ODD REPORTER (SIGNING FOR DEAF)

sorry did I say the post below was the funniest thing I'd seen EVER? I was wrong...

YOU SAY WE PAY

I've been trying to hold off posting stuff just cos of my Kiss thing but this is possibly the funniest thing I have seen. Ever.

New E.P. available on Beatpick AND Windcheater airs on Kiss FM

I've got a new E.P. available on Beatpick which you can listen to (and buy) in it's entirety RIGHT HERE.

Track Listing
1. Occassional Confusion
2. Dune ft Lewin
3. Mark Zero
4. Back Track

Thanks again to my mate Messyman for his mastering talents. Have a gander at his fantastic photos, get him to photograph your wedding, buy my E.P. and have the first dance to it.


annnnnnd, last Tuesday, the first track off that E.P. Occassional Confusion, aired on Jay Cunning's Kiss FM Breaks Show. Well chuffed about this. Apart from the great exposure, it brings back happy memories of listening to Colin Dale on Kiss in the heady days of the early 90s.


Unfortunately I can't seem to stream the archive....anyone else able to? All I can do is stare at the playlist (click on picture above to see) and imagine what might have been said about it....

3KBreaks back in (almost) full effect

What with last years crack downs and the subsequent shutting down of a couple of smaller venues here in Hiroshima we've been content to lounge about at lovely Lotus for the past few months or so, and no doubt we will be back for more 3KL action in the near future. For now though, 3KL's bolder, badder, bigger (3B?) brother (4B), 3KBreaks is back.
After much searching for a permanent venue we have finally ended up in Roxis. The sound is pretty good and there's a lot of space, so who knows, as people begin to relax again, maybe the dreaded 'D' word might return to Hiroshima's smaller clubs.

It all starts this Saturday (3rd of March) and from then on, every first Saturday of the month the 3K Breaks crew will be taking over Roxis for a night of Nu-skool breakbeats over a surprisingly robust sound system. Expect to also hear some of the better side of Drum and Bass, UKGarage, Grime and the kind of Hip Hop you usually don’t hear on a saturday night.

It’s free so there are no excuses, and we start picking up the tempo from about 23:00. We'll be there until late....

Labelled “nu-skool” these tunes have a higher tempo than orthodox breaks, and feature samples and effects from just about every genre of dance music slapped on top of beefy basslines. So, rather than hearing the same thing all night, you get elements of everything from rock to rap and techno to dub strapped onto lovely, wobbly beats.
If you’re indering what the sound is, you can download the last 3KBreaks mix, selected by yours truly, RIGHT HERE.

Residents will be your usual hosts GHB, CA2 and Windcheater. Expect to see some monthly guests too.

Read more about Roxis

naked fat man - YES!

Straight outta Brighton vol.2

Pigeonhead - Battleflag [Lo-Fidelity Allstars Remix]

Straight outta Brighton vol.1

PCs Vs Macs

One strictly for the geeks and I can't say he's speaking for me but Charlie Brooker is good inee?

I hate Macs
Charlie BrookerMonday
February 5, 2007
The Guardian

Unless you have been walking around with your eyes closed, and your head encased in a block of concrete, with a blindfold tied round it, in the dark - unless you have been doing that, you surely can't have failed to notice the current Apple Macintosh campaign starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb, which has taken over magazines, newspapers and the internet in a series of brutal coordinated attacks aimed at causing massive loss of resistance. While I don't have anything against shameless promotion per se (after all, within these very brackets I'm promoting my own BBC4 show, which starts tonight at 10pm), there is something infuriating about this particular blitz. In the ads, Webb plays a Mac while Mitchell adopts the mantle of a PC. We know this because they say so right at the start of the ad."Hello, I'm a Mac," says Webb."And I'm a PC," adds Mitchell.They then perform a small comic vignette aimed at highlighting the differences between the two computers. So in one, the PC has a "nasty virus" that makes him sneeze like a plague victim; in another, he keeps freezing up and having to reboot. This is a subtle way of saying PCs are unreliable. Mitchell, incidentally, is wearing a nerdy, conservative suit throughout, while Webb is dressed in laid-back contemporary casual wear. This is a subtle way of saying Macs are cool.The ads are adapted from a near-identical American campaign - the only difference is the use of Mitchell and Webb. They are a logical choice in one sense (everyone likes them), but a curious choice in another, since they are best known for the television series Peep Show - probably the best sitcom of the past five years - in which Mitchell plays a repressed, neurotic underdog, and Webb plays a selfish, self-regarding poseur. So when you see the ads, you think, "PCs are a bit rubbish yet ultimately lovable, whereas Macs are just smug, preening tossers." In other words, it is a devastatingly accurate campaign.I hate Macs. I have always hated Macs. I hate people who use Macs. I even hate people who don't use Macs but sometimes wish they did. Macs are glorified Fisher-Price activity centres for adults; computers for scaredy cats too nervous to learn how proper computers work; computers for people who earnestly believe in feng shui.PCs are the ramshackle computers of the people. You can build your own from scratch, then customise it into oblivion. Sometimes you have to slap it to make it work properly, just like the Tardis (Doctor Who, incidentally, would definitely use a PC). PCs have charm; Macs ooze pretension. When I sit down to use a Mac, the first thing I think is, "I hate Macs", and then I think, "Why has this rubbish aspirational ornament only got one mouse button?" Losing that second mouse button feels like losing a limb. If the ads were really honest, Webb would be standing there with one arm, struggling to open a packet of peanuts while Mitchell effortlessly tore his apart with both hands. But then, if the ads were really honest, Webb would be dressed in unbelievably po-faced avant-garde clothing with a gigantic glowing apple on his back. And instead of conducting a proper conversation, he would be repeatedly congratulating himself for looking so cool, and banging on about how he was going to use his new laptop to write a novel, without ever getting round to doing it, like a mediocre idiot.Cue 10 years of nasal bleating from Mac-likers who profess to like Macs not because they are fashionable, but because "they are just better". Mac owners often sneer that kind of defence back at you when you mock their silly, posturing contraptions, because in doing so, you have inadvertently put your finger on the dark fear haunting their feeble, quivering soul - that in some sense, they are a superficial semi-person assembled from packaging; an infinitely sad, second-rate replicant who doesn't really know what they are doing here, but feels vaguely significant and creative each time they gaze at their sleek designer machine. And the more deftly constructed and wittily argued their defence, the more terrified and wounded they secretly are.Aside from crowing about sartorial differences, the adverts also make a big deal about PCs being associated with "work stuff" (Boo! Offices! Boo!), as opposed to Macs, which are apparently better at "fun stuff". How insecure is that? And how inaccurate? Better at "fun stuff", my arse. The only way to have fun with a Mac is to poke its insufferable owner in the eye. For proof, stroll into any decent games shop and cast your eye over the exhaustive range of cutting-edge computer games available exclusively for the PC, then compare that with the sort of rubbish you get on the Mac. Myst, the most pompous and boring videogame of all time, a plodding, dismal "adventure" in which you wandered around solving tedious puzzles in a rubbish magic kingdom apparently modelled on pretentious album covers, originated on the Mac in 1993. That same year, the first shoot-'em-up game, Doom, was released on the PC. This tells you all you will ever need to know about the Mac's relationship with "fun".Ultimately the campaign's biggest flaw is that it perpetuates the notion that consumers somehow "define themselves" with the technology they choose. If you truly believe you need to pick a mobile phone that "says something" about your personality, don't bother. You don't have a personality. A mental illness, maybe - but not a personality. Of course, that hasn't stopped me slagging off Mac owners, with a series of sweeping generalisations, for the past 900 words, but that is what the ads do to PCs. Besides, that's what we PC owners are like - unreliable, idiosyncratic and gleefully unfair. And if you'll excuse me now, I feel an unexpected crash coming.This week: Charlie watched some episodes of Larry Sanders (on his PC). He played the customised Fawlty Towers map for Counterstrike (on his PC). He listened to the Windows startup jingle every 10 minutes as his PC repeatedly rebooted itself.

Rushing my shacks off

Went to Ed Rush and Optical last sunday on my own, but had a lot of fun. Once again, big respect to Heartbeat of Dragon for getting such big names down here of a sunday even. Also on the bill, downstairs at Mugen was 3K's very own CA2. Whilst almost everyone was upstairs they really were missing out on some much better music. The turn out was perhaps a bit below average but then again you really never know with a sunday night and at the end of the day, it sounded very good and I had fun so what more could an international DJ want?

In other developments, I should have another EP out on Beatpick by the end of the week. The follow up to my massive selling last one....

Oh, and I seem to have somehow got roped into DJing at the Shack at their 4th anniversary party.....better get some music that people like then...

Sometimes...

Just sometimes, I find it within my very unpatriotic heart to be very very proud of being English....

click here to find out why

Dj Shadow This Time (I'm Gonna Try It My Way)

what a great video

Ping pong!

Why the frig do delivery men always come around when I am having a shit or am in the shower? Two came today! One after the other. Still, the lucky guys got to see me in a towel....

Stuck between 'We Japanese' and 'The Japanese'

There's a good article about opinions by Charlie Brooker in the Guardian; 'If there's one thing I can't stand, it's opinions' is how it begins,and that's
pretty much how I feel most of the time these days, and I don't think it's any coincidence that I live in Japan. A hell of a lot of westerners that arrive in
Japan will arrive here 'knowing' what Japan and Japanese people are like. Either that or they have come to 'discover' Japan and the Japanese, but they
already know. They may have only just got here last week, but they know and anything they experience will serve simply to confirm what they already knew
about 'the Japanese' and what 'they' are like. Seek and ye shall find. Especially up your own backside, and in your search your bound to be helped out by
people who are like you but from the other side of the fence and are keen to keep alive a sense of 'we Japanese'. As I said, if you go looking for it you're
going to find it and if you're interested in Geisha and the 'Japanese mind set' there are always going to be people to around to answer your questions, spout
off, have your cameras/microphones pointed at and let you stroke your chin infront of them. I mean Geishas? I'd love to see some travel books on Britain and
the bear skin guard communities of London. About as relevant. So whilst visitors/foreign residents, whatever, accuse people in Japan, with some
justification, of being overly concerned with Japanese-ness, the rest of the world is just as obsessed with pigeon holing this country. It's a vicious
circle, but great for publishers.

I'm no great traveller. I've lived in the UK, Japan and Spain without doing anything too exciting other than live in the 3 places. Comparing living in Japan
and Spain has always been interesting for me though, especially in how other non-Spanish/Japanese react to the two places, and so we get back to opinions.
The difference in the 'amount' of opinion in the 2 countries is massive. Your average foreign resident in Spain will have thoughts on this and that about
Spanish culture and life for sure, but here? Jesus. Have you ever seen Spirited Away? When Chihiro feeds the massive, bloated Kao Nashi (pictured above) the thing the
river god gave her, he starts to projectile vomit up everything he had gorged himself on over the previous few hours. That's more or less what it's like
listening to a lot of people give their thoughts on Japan. Except it's worse. I was always surprised at how what is surely the same thing, could be viewed so
differently in different countries. There are sex shops all over Madrid and hardcore porn is easily buyable (and in public view) at street Kiosks
(apparently, hoho). Sex and porn is highly visible here too. Noone talks about it in Spain. the Spanish male isn't inherently perverted and yet here...? I
once read that in America, in LA alone I think, 10,000 porn movies a year are made. that's around 27 a day? A mind boggling (amongst other things) figure.
Are white Americans seen as perverts? Never heard that opinion put forward before myself.
People seem very keen not to have their stereotypes challenged, after all that would have meant they were wrong and us westerners don't like being
interrupted in full glorious flow. I met a guy who'd been to Madrid a while back. He started talking about the easy going-ness, relaxed lifestyle *insert
general Spanish happy clappy stereotype that us anglos love* of the city. I had to say that my experience wasn't anywhere near as positive mainly due to the
racism my Japanese wife experienced on an almost daily basis.....slight pause, 'Yeah so like I say,, anything seems to go in Madrid...people are so relaxed'.
Erm, yeah, did you hear what I said? I'm sure his experience was very positive, as many people's are (I'm not trying to diss Madrid nor say the Spanish are
more racist than anyone else, that argument's for idiots, go, it's lovely in Spring) but my little tale didn't sit comfortably with the whole cuddly Latin
image.

The writer Alex Kerr pointed out (somewhere) the huge amount of right wing nationalist literature in Japan about Japaneseness. I would love for someone to
tell me about the flipside of the coin.....the book on Japan by the outsider. I have no factual evidence whatsoever, just a hunch that there's more of it
than say books about the French written by intrepid travel writers. Alex Kerr is a great example. A historian and environmentalist who writes very
interestingly on both subjects but just can't help himself and has to resort to 6th form American pop psychology and write about everybloodything else. I
read a laughable bit in his 'Dogs and Demons' book on animation where he makes some cack handed point about Pixar showing, I dunno, that Japanese animators
are stuck in the past, in that they were embracing computer techonology whilst Studio Ghibli were still doing things by hand. Whilst grudgingly admitting
that Miyazaki Hayao wasn't that bad, the point was there - CONSERVATIVE. Hey, Pixar make great films but I'm not going to be watching Toy Story anywhere near
as many times as I have already seen the aforementioned Spirited Away. And what a load of shite anyway. What lazy tabloid journalism. Is any animation head
going to go, 'Yeah the animation scene in Japan is just sooooo dull, stick on Nemo again'. There's another terrible section on Japanese mums. I like Japanese
mums, hmmm perhaps I should rephrase. I spend a lot of time with Japanese mums....doh! Well, I do. It's part of my job. One of the nicest things about that
is seeing the way they interact with their kids and other people's kids. The love, patience and plain fun of it all. To read Kerr on Mums you would come away
thinking they are all utterly shallow, obsessed with clothes and hairdos and only making friends with people who look just like them. Again, shoddy, shock
tabloid journalism. If you want to go to America and interview gun toting red neck neo nazis, you can, make a programme about it, and then an awful lot of
people are going to accept that as the way things are in the US. I've seen my fair share of 'documentaries' like that.
Japanese women though are amongst the first in the firing line. From Japanese men, foreign men and foreign women. The amount of shit that gets said about
women here as if that's the way 'they' are is shocking. And their 'sisters' from the west are amongst the worst offenders. There's no feminism in Japan I've
heard. Well, er, maybe there isn't the feminism you know, from a western perspective, in English, cos, come on, that's what you mean, I never say to women
who have said that to me. You're married to a Japanese women? -pause with surprised look- 'Are Japanese women who travel abroad different to Japanese women
here?'. Oh fuck off you patronising fucking hippy, I, again, didn't say. In my experience Japanese women are always ready to do things and carry them through
and are less about, yep! opinions. But again that's bull shit generalisation. At least I'm being positive though. I'm interested in music obviously.
Hiroshima is full of talented female DJs, artists, musicians and singers. I struggle to remember anywhere near quite so many active women in areas that men
usually dominate.
Here's a really shit blog - Gaijin Smash - The idea behind Gaijin 'Smash' is that.....oh I can't be arsed to type that wank out. Go here to find out the full
horror of immaturity. It serves me well in my rant against knowing fuck all but claiming to know everything with a lovely tale of suppositories. Read it here
but in brief. Twat goes to doctor, gets medicine that goes up bum, has never heard of it before - THEREFORE everyone and everything else is STUPID and this bizarre medicine was invented by insane Japanese chemists. And going
back to women again, apparently the only women worth knowing are 'Americanised' women.... The kind of opinions expressed there are not in the minority. I had
to stop reading Japan Today because of the forums which ranged from mildy annoying to downright racist. In fact it's this kind of bollocks that finally
provoked me to get it off my chest in my own hypocritical opinionated rant.

I read this quote on this blog the other day -

If you want to live in Japan for a long time, then you must be reborn. You must forget everything you know and everything you believe in, and start over. You
must value age and experience over book learning. You must do as you're told and blank your mind to any other thoughts. You cannot feel resentment against
the system, not even for a single moment. You cannot demand fairness or equality, or even hope for it. You must learn to believe in a society that is based
on hierarchy. It is a completely different way of thinking, of living, of being. If you do not accept it utterly, into your soul, then you will not survive.

Its from a book called 'In search of Wa' by Karin Muller, and my god, doesn't it sound hideous. I'm going to have to hope it was correctly quoted and I have
no idea of the context. A quick visit to Amazon and, oh yes! It's got a geisha on the front. Here's what Publisher's Weekly says about it -
Having previously traversed the Ho Chi Minh trail and the Inca path, Muller retains an engaging freshness as she goes about "prying open the doors to
traditional Japan." She observes some well-known traditional communities (geishas, samurai), some less familiar (taiko drummers, pachinko parlors) and some
more recent (the criminal yakuza, the gay community). A keen listener, Muller lets an ensemble of voices speak, among them a swordmaker and a crab fisherman.
She's also a participatory learner, taking on tasks like harvesting rice. The diverse activities and excursions to far-flung places make this a fine travel
memoir, but it's the backbone of Muller's voyage that gives her book resonance and richness. The deterioration of her relationship with her host family is a
looming presence; even as it collapses, Muller acquires an intimate sense of customary values from the urbane Genji Tanaka and his conservative wife, Yukiko.
Muller's search for the traditional, culminating in her participation in a 900-mile trek to 88 sacred Buddhist temples, also shapes the narrative. Muller
went to Japan to find wa: a quality of dedication, inner strength and spiritual peace. Her memoir isn't an account of achieving those goals, but it is an
engrossing, rewarding record of her travel toward them.

Geisha, Samurai, taiko, swordmakers, rice harvesting, traditonal, sacred temples, conservative wife, inner strength and spiritual peace. FFS. Forgive me if I
won't be reading this one. Maybe it's excellent, I don't know, but from what I have seen of it I don't think I want to risk wasting the time to find out.
Personally I find that original quote from the book disturbing, and in many ways, racist. If I think of my family, friends, colleagues, guys I play football
with, people who sell me onigiri, and then read that quote, where does it tally up? Where do these mindless robots of which she is speaking exist and am I
destined to become one of them? Where's the salsa dancing Ojisan who gave me a massage last week? As Charlie Brooker said -

'If there's one thing I can't stand, it's opinions'

Next week, Windcheater racially profiles the Dutch. Part 37 in a 92 episode series.

Must go and make some music now...

League of Gentlemen - Herr Lipp in Royston Vasey

Just finished re-watching the excellent 3rd series of the League of Gentlemen. Here's a compilation of my 'favourite' character Herr Lipp....

Jehst - Nuke Proof Suit UK Hiphop Video

and some 'proper' UK Hip hop

Just Jack - Starz In Their Eyes

Heard about Just Jack after reading a crap article on UK hip hop in the Guardian. Not hip hop as you can see and apparently number 2 in the UK and as such being played to death everywhere. First time I'd heard it though and my god it's catchy. Partcularly appropriate song with the wank-fest that is Celebrity Big Brother going on...

Cheer up!

Life is shitty and it's a bit nippy but not to worry, download my mix, stick it on your ipod (or whatever) and tap your toes to some UKHipHop and a lot of Breaks.

You can get it here.

3Klounge - Saturday 27th January - 10-3am - FREE

Myself, GHB and CA2 are all at Lotus again this Saturday for more breakbeats in Lotus' lovely lounge setting. No doubt there'll be the kind of hip hop that you don't usually hear on Saturday night too.

We'll be there from 10, it's free as always, come on down, the breaks are tight.

After finally working out I had to pay for the software to download stuff off my phone I can get my Vlog up and running again. Hurrah! 30 second clips of random rubbish filmed on a keitai.

What did you do last saturday?

I,

Saw Nekomushi. As soon as Izumi Goto started singing I was transported back to the Haunted House in Odaiba. If you've seen Nekomushi, imagine being chased around an old shack by a child sized Izumi.

Then I enjoyed Nothing Face from Columbia. 8 bit bleepy tracks played on an MD player and tales of, well, just about everything I think. Many a time I wish I spoke better Japanese and this was one of them. He was really, really good. Very entertaining even though I thought one of his tracks was a love song. It was actually about losing a screwdriver.

Next up was....I don't remember their name unfotunately but they were also a lot of fun. Many costume changes, famicoms and a tiger.

Gig over, football in the form of Liverpool beating Chelsea, hoho, and then a hip hop night at Chinatown. The music was fairly poor, but they did have BMXers and dancers.

A fairly eclectic night allround I'm sure you'll agree.

edit: Just checking the stats on my Vlog. Most videos have been watched between 10-20 times. One has been watched 28 times, there's then a little jump......the Dancing maids clip - 130 times. Wonder why.

My guilty secret

Omiyage, for those not familiar with the term, means kind of like souvenir. Most Japanese people after some kind of trip, will bring back Omiyage for friends, family and colleagues. After spending a while here you start to feel that you too should join in, especially when you've been stuffing your own face with other's omiyage. I kind of hate it cos, A. I often forget and B. It irks me a bit that I sort of 'have' to get them.

Anyway, this Xmas I brought back a few things (mostly of the sugary variety, I was in England after all) and for some of the kids I teach, decided that as it was now January, Easter Eggs would be in order. Got a a couple of bags of Cadbury's mini eggs to dish out. Thought I'd crack open a packet today to have one or two with my cup of tea. My god they are nice. Half a packet later, I'm deciding how I can ration them out so that each kid still gets some. 3/4 of a packet later, it's plan B and Friday's class is getting Japanese sweets from 7/11. Sod it, they don't care, do they?

Happy Easter everyone!

Time for a diet

Back and brrr it's cold, but what's that he says blinking in the glare....blue......sky? sun......shine? It was pretty damn grey back in the UK. Beautiful the day I left though.

From my last post on the trip I continued in a familiar vein of eating (mostly cheese), drinking, playing with niece, punctuated with the odd trip to Brighton and London. New Year was spent down on the coast at Bust the box which was excellent. An eclectic mix of music with a lot of drum and bass (old skool) and a fantastic chunk of old skool (old skool) for old gits such as me. It was also hilarious watching the men folk desparately search for their new year's 'mate'. After things wound up there we went to a party at Cakeboy's Brighton abode. Saw a lot of people I hadn't for a while and wound up the night infront of Trisha opened mouthed at the complete turds pretending to be human beings on it. Certainly made me feel better about myself.

Which leads me on neatly to Telly. Good god! Us Brits have a kind of fond nostalgia of TV at xmas time, all that great telly! Infact in general I think we like to think our TV is a cut above the rest. There are the gems ofcourse, I already mentioned Peep Show, but just turn on at any time and behold, the festival of shite that pours forth from the screen. Being away, I have thankfully avoided all the celebrity reality shows but the fact that I am aware of a lot of their names kind of lets you know how big they are. Over Xmas I came across all kinds of celebrity nonsense (mastermind, 15 to 1...) worst of all, in that it seemed the most popular; Celebrity come dancing. I think this was on prime time on xmas day. Jesus, Jesus would be spinning in his tomb. Or at the right hand side of god, depending on your viewpoint. Thank Christ Only Fools and Horses wasn't wheeled out, although a Dr Who special was one of the BBC's big players this year on the 25th. Eh? What year is it? Suppose it doesn't matter to the Dr.

So anyway, it's 2007. Hope you all have a good one. I'm going to try and get back into producing some tracks.....might just watch a bit of telly first though....

AARRGH!

Pendulum - Slam

or perhaps this is a more appropriate example.

Wow

Happy New Year. This video should give you an idea of how I was dancing last night. More or less.