The year in pictures

What better way to end the year than by taking a step back from everything and unwinding with the people who saw me through the last 24. While I reflect, here's a look at some of my favorite pictures from 2008.


Shitennōji Temple, January


Sapporo Snow Festival, February


ALT musical, March


Tsukiji Market, March


Kho Phangan, April


Miyajima, May


Umeda Sky Building, July


Naruto fireworks, August


Todoroki Falls, September


Kobe Nankin-machi, October


toasting to Obama, November


Mt. Fuji, December

Witnessing history

What kinds of emotions accompany watching a team go 0-16 in a season? Mostly sympathy. But when you're five MGDs deep at Lambeau and your team is winning for the first time in six weeks, there's a bit of jubilation thrown in as well. Here's what a perfect Sunday back in Wisconsin looks like.


the frozen tundra


the boys


close to sealing the deal


after the win

A holiday tradition revisited

This year I decided to have a little fun with the Christmas album and go with a 2-sided cassette approach. I can't guarantee everyone will like it, but I can promise you it won't get eaten up in your car deck.



Side 1: Osaka Nights
1. MGMT - Time To Pretend
2. Kings of Leon - Sex On Fire
3. The Ting Tings - Keep Your Head
4. Vampire Weekend - Mansard Roof
5. Keane - Better Than This
6. Rod Thomas - Same Old Lines (James Yuill Remix)

Side 2: Kyoto Mornings
7. Coldplay - Now My Feet Won't Touch the Ground
8. City and Colour - The Girl
9. OneRepublic - Come Home
10. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Crossed Out Name
11. Bon Iver - Wisconsin
12. Ray LaMontagne - Let It Be Me

Christmas plans

Hi everyone. I've never before gotten the urge to rob a bank, but if I did, I would wear this.



Merry Christmas.

What's in a name?

Just hours after I was told that one of my seventh grade students has been inexplicably given the nickname "Nicholas Cage," I found this awesome tidbit while killing time at my desk.

From Yahoo! Sports:

I nominate Stylez G. White for best NFL name change of '08

By MJD

Greg White doesn't have the high profile of Bengals receiver Chad Ocho Cinco, formerly known as Chad Johnson. But I do think he's pulled off the best name change of this NFL season.

Buccaneers opponents will no longer be blocking Greg White. They will be blocking Stylez G. White. He made it official in court today.

And for what reason? Because he liked the character Stiles from "Teen Wolf". From The Bucs Report:

White said he picked his new name from a character in the 1985 movie “Teen Wolf,’’ starring Michael J. Fox.

“That was his best friend’s name,’’ White said. “I always liked that name. It’s not that I don’t like Greg White.’’

In the movie, Fox’s friend is named Rupert “Stiles’’ Stilinski. White changed the spelling and adopted the name as his own.

That's fantastic. Normally I'd question the self-esteem of a guy who changes his name to that of a sidekick in a movie, but I'll make an exception if it's Stiles. He's an '80s icon. Not as much as the Teen Wolf himself, but you can't really name yourself Teen Wolf, can you?

If he could find a way to be introduced at home games, and ride into the stadium on top of a van, he would be my hero.

In the spirit

After orphanage visits on Saturday and a Christmas party Saturday night, a trip to Kobe for the Luminarie proved the perfect way to unwind and sink into the Christmas spirit. The Japanese may not buy into the real story behind Christmas, but they sure do know how to light things up.






12.14.08

Quantum leaps

I began packing tonight, which means I now have two large empty suitcases sitting on my floor staring vacantly at me. To say that the thought of collecting my things to come home for vacation is slightly strange for me would be an understatement.

I've read that the first signs of reverse culture shock come within the first twenty-four hours of being home, but I say they happened when it took me and three of my friends ten minutes last night to remember that thinly-latticed American wheat crackers are called Triscuits. For better or worse, this is sure to be a long strange week.

Holiday perks

Bruce Wayne has Batman, Peter Parker has Spiderman, and once a year every December, I transform into a raggedy Santa-san. Hide your children.


before


after

After revision

Twelve months later, this is what my heart and head look like pre-2009.



A bit more crowded, to be sure, but I've found that I'm better at compartmentalizing these days. Here's hoping I can continue to refill the cabinets that have been collecting dust in the coming months.

Smarter than the computer

A bit of snobbery bred from rainy day boredom at work...

(click to enlarge)

Really Yahoo??

Plug and play?

My good friend and Melburnian Josh put me on to this earlier today:

Bonus content for fans on USB-stick albums



The Australian music industry is getting behind a new locally developed music format that will allow consumers to access an ongoing stream of bonus content and listen to their collections from any computer or mobile phone.

From this week albums from Sneaky Sound System, Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu and local indie acts Grafton Primary and Skipping Girl Vinegar will be sold on USB sticks featuring new "DDA" digital album technology.

People who buy the albums register with an online locker system that not only makes a back-up of the songs - which can then be accessed from any other computer or mobile phone - but also provides access to a swathe of bonus content provided by the artist on an ongoing basis such as photos, videos, lyrics, artwork, new tracks and even concert tickets.

Read the entire article here.

While I'm always excited about people coming up with inventive new ways to bring music to the masses, I have to admit I'm a little concerned. Bonus features are great, but they make an artist lazy. Instead of buying the fourth re-release of a record, why can't we just pay four dollars extra for an EP of new material? It's not that I'm against new technology, it's just that...

My parents' old Beatles LPs are timepieces. They look like they did forty years ago, they sound like they did forty years ago, and they contain the same songs as they did when they were first released. What happens when you put that album on a flash drive? Maybe all of a sudden one day the songs are re-mastered. Maybe someone goes in and touches up the cover art file. Perhaps Paul's bridge on "A Day In The Life" is replaced with a guest performance by Jay-Z. When does an album as we know it seize to be an album?

Call me old fashioned, but I think it's worth a think through anyway.