Return from the Asian Vacasian

So I've been back in my home country for a few days now and finally got up the energy to post about my amazing trip to Asia with Jenny. It was incredible.

The first stop was Japan. My first impression was of how clean the area outside Narita airport was. Japan in general was probably the cleanest place I've been my entire life. On the first full day, we drove to Kamakura where we visited the 12th-century Shinto shrine of Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, shopped and sampled bean cakes and pickles on Komachi street, and gaped at the 37-foot Great Buddha statue. Our next stop was Odawara Castle, the inside of which had been converted to a museum of relics from the samurai era. We ended the day in Atami, where we stayed in an onsen resort that was the highlight of the Japan tour. The hotel was designed like a traditional Japanese room, complete with tatami mats and rice paper screens, and we slept on the floor. Both Jen and I were a little reluctant at first to get naked iin front of these people we had to sit on a tour bus with the whole next day, but we did, and we liked it so much we went back the in early next morning. The onsen was really cool; they had outdoor and indoor baths, and I particularly liked the one full of floating rose petals. Dinner that night was a traditional banquet-style affair where we wore yukata and sat in long rows on the floor. The meal culminated in karaoke, which was awkward since the guide insisted upon my singing and I chose Basketcase by Green Day having completely forgotten that I would have to sing "I went to a whore" in front of a bunch of Asian-American parents. haha.

The next day we drove to Fuji-Hakone National Park, which was kind of a bummer because of the weather. On a clear day we would have been able to capture specatacular views of Mt. Fuji, and take a boat out onto Lake Ashii, but on that day the fog was so thick we could barely see twenty feet in front of us. We went up to the Yellowstone-esque Owakudani Valley, where the sulfur and steam made the whole place look beautiful but smell like rotten eggs. We ate the legendary eggs boiled in sulfur, which turns the shell black, and supposedly added seven years to our life spans. We also took the Hakone cable car for the "view," but could really only see the ground immediately beneath us throught the horrible fog. At last we went to Tokyo, and stayed in the Shinjuku district. We discovered that Japanese malls are equally as overpriced as American ones, we explored the brightly lit and club-stacked "midtown" where the fun's at; and found an EXCELLENT ramen place where no one spoke English at all, not even the menu. Completely at the mercy of our intuition, we ended up ordering the best meal we ate the whole trip. IT WAS SO GOOD.

We explored more of Tokyo the following day. We went to the Government Office, which supposedly had views but I just bought a bunch of stuff for my friends and a Totoro plushie for myself. Next came the Meiji Shrine, which was gorgeous -- I love the old Japanese architecture so much. They were selling all these charms at the shrine, including "A Charm For Passing An Entrance Exam," which I thought was hilarious. Then Akasuka, for more temples and a LOT of streetside shopping, and the Imperial Palace, situated by a beautiful bridge. We hit up Ginza, the expensive shopping district where we bought nothing but enjoyed the huge Sony store. Last came Rinkai Fukutoshin, a recently-built entertainment area. We checked out the futuristic Toyota showcase, ate hot pot, and watched an AMAZING sunset over Rainbow Bridge. I wish we’d had more time there to check out the SEGA Joyopolis, the trendy shopping, and the store called “Condomania,” but all the more reason to go back.

The next day we flew to Shanghai and met up with Jen’s college buddy, Sun, who’s been living there for a year working as a designer. His dog is the cutest, most hyperactive thing in existence. He took us out to meet his friends for dinner and then drinks on the roof of this bar where we could see the riverfront skyline. Shanghai is a beautiful city in a very different way from Tokyo. People talk about China as a “developing” country, and I felt it here in the most literal sense; there were huge skyscrapers being constructed everywhere you turn, including what will be the tallest building in the world when completed.

Our China tour was very different from our Japan tour. The tour guide was young and much less like a mother, and the group consisted of only seven people. This was kind of annoying for a relatively long tour, because every meal was eaten family-style in a private room, so we had to be social, and one of the men was super annoying. It’s hard to explain his obnoxiousness adequately, but he drove us nuts. His 13-year-old son was really cool though, and turned out to be a pretty big fan of both Bleach and Naruto. We both realized we get along better with 13-year-old boys than with our fellow “adults.” Haha.

Day one of touring was all Shanghai. I love the architecture there – the skyline is fantastic. We drove through some of the main parts of town, hung out in Century Park, checked out Xintian Di (juxtaposing historical buildings with a rich foreigner coffee shop district), and shopped on Nanjing Street. At night we flew to Huangshan, where we would spend the next few days.

On our way to Huangshan, mountain we went to Hongcun, the ancient Hui-style village village where Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was filmed. It was really hot there, but it cooled off when we got up to the mountains. Huangshan is full of amazing scenery, with names like Beginning to Believe Peak. The fog was thick but incredibly fluid, and kept revealing and covering different parts of the mountains such that you could photograph the same thing within five minutes and it would look totally different. It looked like one of those monochrome ink paintings. We hiked around there to various viewpoints, up steep and winding stairs. It was definitely a highlight of the trip, and we stayed overnight in a hotel at the top of the mountain. More hiking the next day, and I was grateful for the more tolerable temperatures.

When we drove down to Hangzhou, an ancient city that has turned into a tourist mecca, I realized how much I hate heat. Ugh was it ever hot. But it was very beautiful, home to West Lake, which is full of tiny islands with temples on them. We took a self-described “gaily painted pleasure boat” to several of these islands, hearing stories about the various legendary spots in the area. We went to the Grotto of Peak Flying From Afar, a cave full of carved Buddhas, many of which had had their faces smashed during the Cultural Revolution, and to the magnificent Ling Yin Temple.

Next came the water town of Wuzhen and the city of Suzhou, which hosted amazing craft workshops. We went to an Embroidery Research Center (way cooler than it sounds), and a silk factory and watched the workers separate silk from the worms and spin it into beautiful quilts, which we bought for our parents. WE also saw the ancient Tiger Hill Pagoda, China’s Leaning Tower of Pisa, which is probably going to fall down at some point and surrounded by other cultural relics with legends behind them. The Lingering Garden was lovely, one of the most famous in the country.

Returning to Shanghai, we met up with Sun again and revisited the Bund and Nanjing Street by night, bought cheap music, had a delicious dinner and went to karaoke. It’s all private lounges there, which is much more fun because we can make fools of ourselves without embarrassment. XD

Jenny’s grandparents and uncle picked us up when we landed in Taiwan, our final stop. They took us to a temple and a traditional craft center, a hospital (boring, I know…it’s complicated), and a delicious restaurant in Taichung, where they live. They also took us to the museum of natural history that Jen frequented as a kid. They had an awesome newish hi-tech interactive exhibit on the human life cycle that was probably the best museum installation I’d ever seen, as well as the old school animatronic dinosaurs that made Jen all nostalgic. Her grandparents are so sweet, and kept insisting on buying stuff for us. And for some reason, the Taiwanese cuisine was my favorite I tasted. I even liked the Taiwanese take on Shanghai food, which we ate at the bequest of Jen’s grandpa, better than the real thing.

After two and a half days in Taichung, we joined Jen’s family friends in the awesome city of Taipei. This family is the coolest family ever. The father is a sitcom writer, the mother runs her own spa, listens to pop music, and looks like she’s 20, and the kid Eric is our age and has got the most adorable sense of quiet dry sarcasm. For dinner we went to the night market, where blocks and blocks of street vendors had all kinds of food for sale. It was very hot and crowded with young people – apparently the night market scene is kind of a big deal. The next day we went to the National Palace Museum, where most of China’s great artifacts came to reside to protect them during the Cultural Revolution. It was awesome. Then we went to the biggest bookstore I’d ever seen, and to Taipei 101, the tallest finished building in the world. It was pretty cool – the night views are stunning, and I love the design. This trip turned me into an architecture geek, which I had almost no interest in before. That night we went to a jazz club, which was kind of a cultural disjunction but really fun. Our final day in Taipei we ate donuts dipped in soymilk and went shopping for $3 Engrish T-shirts. We bought so much we were feeling a bit of buyers’ remorse at first, but when we actually got home and tried on our stuff, we both wished we had bought more! It was the perfect way to cap off our trip.

That's the short version. Without pictures. Because facing 1000 pictures is kind of overwhelming, really, and I'm lazy, and everyone who reads this has seen them and heard the stories firsthand anyway. It's just for the record, and because when I'm explaining things to you the first time I didn't have any of the names on me (thank you, pdf itinerary!).

Asian Vacasian

I am going to JAPAN tomorrow!!! I am so psyched. Then CHINA. Then TAIWAN. This is such a dream.

Welcome to the White Parade

Okay, I really don't know how I feel about the Pumpkins' video for "Tarantula".



I love the song. I love Billy, even if he does look old now and I want to put eyeliner on him. But.

White appears to be the new black. I like the striped sleeves -- even if they look lifted from The Black Parade -- but the asymmetrical midriff thing doens't do it for me. And William, at this point in your life, do you really need a cape? He must think he does, because apparently he also wears it live.

Next thought: Wow, they replaced James and D'Arcy with...twenty more musicians. It's like a game -- Spot The Real SP Recruits -- not the best move if you're trying to hide the fact that half your lineup is newbies. The people lip-synching are especially strange. Like, it's obvious Billy is singing the recorded lyrics, even the backup vocals, so don't have a GIRL and a BLACK GUY pretending they're singing, because it just becomes funny. And not in a good way. Turns out the real band members are wearing white like Billy. In fact, Jeff Schroeder, the guitarist, is also wearing a cape. Bassist Ginger Reyes, however, apparently declined the offer. "No thanks boys, I'd rather blend in with the crowd and, you know, not look dumb."

On the other hand, it's nice that the boy seems to be enjoying himself. I love the little thing Billy does where he tosses the microphone from hand to hand after he sings "I wanna be there when you're happy," and then in the middle of "I wanna love you when you're sad," he starts smiling in a way that almost looks totally spontaneous. And then he twirls his mike around just offscreen! It's simply adorable. Almost enough to make me like the video.

And then, at 1:34, Billy shoots lasers out of his eyes. I KID YOU NOT. And they're not even very bright or very exciting lasers. They're...just kind of little flat pink lines. They look like some kid thought it would be funny to doctor the video and put lasers in there. Any credibility this video had went out the very-low-budget window at 1:34.

I understand the the idea of juxtaposing of the black-and-white figures with the changing colors as kind of a throwback to the pseudo-psychedelia of their very earliest videos, but honestly, those videos were no better than this. It was only around the release of "Today" that the Pumpkins became -- and stayed -- a notably great video band. I was going to post links to all of their videos to prove my point, but then I realized the self-indulgence of that and went with three examples.

Today (1993) -- This is probably my favorite video of theirs. Hell, maybe my favorite video EVER. How can you get any better than Billy driving an ice cream truck, and James in a dress?

Tonight, Tonight (1995) -- I remember when I saw this on MTV even before I was really aware of the Pumpkins, and I was like WHAT IS THAT. It gave me this weird feeling. A few years later, I heard them again, I realized I wanted that feeling back, and I plunged into Pumpkin fandom like that couple plunging from the blimp. My journey was just as fantastic.

Stand Inside Your Love (2000) - This is here to show that even in their last days, SP were capable of gorgeous videos. Creepy, flouncy side characters had become standard fare by that time, but the elegance of the direction and the style (that little black frame; that one moment of color at the end) make this one a keeper.

And now we have...8-bit laser eyes. Billy, if you're going to make a grand comeback, don't let yourself get out-videoed by the likes of My Chemical Romance. Right now they're trouncing you on flair, if not on street cred. And if the "Tarantula" video is indicative of the quality of the new album (modestly titled Zeitgeist), SP might even drop in the latter arena.

But ultimately, I'm just bitter because I didn't win K-ROQ's free tickets to the Fillmore show. I'm pretty hopeful for the album, because the song is good. Maybe I'll even grow to like the cape. We'll see.

New Webcomic!

My webcomic, "Intelligently Resigned," launched today! I hope to update it semi-weekly (Wednesdays and Saturdays, perhaps, depending on what my schedule and access to scanners look like at Harvard).

Unlike this blog, I am not going to be particularly shy about pimping out InRe. If I really enjoy doing the comic and it seems like people are reading it, I might invest in a domain name and a decent website. Right now it's temporary home is Blogger, which shrinks my drawings until you click on them but has a nice layout. We shall see.

I've got a couple drawings stocked up already and it's all I can do not to post them all at once. XD

Note to self: There is a reason this is a JOKE.

I wish I could say I drew it, but I'd've spelled "tasty" right. Hey, is "I'd've" actually legitimate? Can you double contract? Because it's definitely a common pronunciation. Hm.

Oh, Conor, you elude my grasp ;_;

I WISH I COULD GO TO THIS SHOW SOOOO BAD! D:

Why can't it just be in August? Every band I want to see seems to think Boston is the place to play in the summer, and L.A. is the place to play in the fall. No fair. D: D: D:

It Was 40 Years Ago Today

It really had been awhile since I'd listened to a Beatles album front to back (talk about an anachronism), but I was vaguely aware that this month marked the 40th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. I'd listened to that album more times than I can count, both during my cycles of obsessive Beatle fandom and in between cycles when I just want something lush and shiny in the background. I've read everything about the making of the thing, and I really thought I knew it inside and out.

The media have all paid tribute to the anniversary, mostly repeating the same points. Pepper was not the only influential album released in the Summer of Love (which saw breakthrough releases by The Doors, Hendrix, and Jefferson Airplane), and while there is no critical consensus on the best Beatles album (and never should be), the debate has moved away from Pepper and now tends to center on either its predecessors Revolver and Rubber Soul, or the final days of the band, Abbey Road and Let It Be. But tellingly, nobody blogged about Revolver's anniversary last year. In terms of "defining moments of rock," the Sergeant still is the king.

In terms of the Beatles catalogue, Pepper was something that in retrospect seems inevitable. Songs about subjects other than relationships appeared as early as Rubber Soul (Nowhere Man); by Revolver, cryptic lyrics were everywhere, and experiments with classical (Eleanor Rigby), Indian (Love You To), and electronic instrumentation (Tomorrow Never Knows) were underway. But it took until Pepper for the world to really understand what the Beatles had become -- and what rock and roll could become -- and it hit them like a ton of bricks. Aside from the wackiness of the whole thing -- the "alter ego" band, (which everyone from Bowie to MCR would imitate), the consistent yet eclectic sonic atmosphere that floated seamlessly between the psychedelic and the twee, all those damn horns -- and aside from the sheer beauty and genius of the songs (A Day In The Life...nuff said), Pepper was a watershed moment for the rock industry. It changed radio, with songs that were longer than three minutes and a rich orchestral backdrop that took full advantage of stereo, thus impacting the switch from AM to FM. It changed the way albums were conceived of, both musically as a cohesive, conceptual whole, and artistically as an object with its elaborate, fold-out cover and lyrics printed on the back. (Alas, the latter is quickly disappearing in the age of digital downloads. I have acquired entire albums with barely an idea of the cover image, much less the design on the disk itself, or the booklet printed inside. It's a shame, because the aesthetics of an album package are somehow inseparable from the musical experience.)

So I didn't really think there was anything new or interesting to say about this album. But then I saw an article called "Everything You Know About Sgt. Pepper's Is Wrong." And lo and behold, it kind of is:
"If Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band doesn't have a concept, it does have a theme. It's a record about England in the midst of whirling change, a humorous, sympathetic chronicle of an old culture convulsed by the shock of the new—by new music and new mores, by rising hemlines and lengthening hair and crumbling caste systems. In short, it's a record about the transformations that the Beatles themselves, more than anyone else, were galvanizing."

I had never before thought about this, but it rang true to me, and more than anything else, it made me want to listen to it again. I popped it out of its technicolor jewel case and inserted it into my CD stereo, silently mourning the lack of vinyl and needles in my life. And the act we've known for all these years played again, for the first time.

Oh to be TWO again...

I saw this shirt in the L.L. Bean catalogue, and I was in love. I really wanted it.























Then I realized it was for TODDLERS.

*FAIL*

Once she figured out how to embed videos she found she could not stop

The guy who made this is Drew from the semi-famous husband and wife team of Drew and Natalie, creators of Married to the Sea, Toothpaste For Dinner, and Natalie Dee. It's just so cute. I want a dog. Even if he has a licking problem.

It's reassuring that prehistorical questions can, in fact, be answered.

Just one more way in which the New World was not so new.