if dan were here, i'd be eating lunch by now.....

hater: now, you %#$^*@ up!
me: i know! i missed music monday.
hater: now, you %#$^*@ up!
hater: now, you %#$^*@ up!
hater: now, you %#$^*@ up!
hater: you have %#$^*@ up, now!
hater: now, you %#$^*@ up!
me: will you please by quiet!?
hater: what!?
hater: what!?
hater: what!?
hater: what!?
hater: what!?
hater: what!?
hater: hey!
me: what...?
hater: what!?

ok, so maybe i missed music monday....in what was only the second week of it. but, i have a good excuse. in fact, i even prepared two versions of it. so, you can choose to accept which ever is more to your liking. it's kinda like those "choose your own adventure" books from back in the day. except, instead of an adventure, it's an excuse and instead of a book, it's my blog. anywho:

long excuse:
**deep breath** where should i even begin? well, i suppose the best place would be from the time i had the first chance write a post for music monday, which would've been monday at 12:00am. sunday, i had been studying a fair portion of the day for my systems midterm on monday evening. not to mention, i was feeling terribly swift. so, shortly after finishing up studying, i went straight to bed. on monday, i had to go to work and then i was at the midterm until about 9pm. i honestly can't remember what i did after that, but i'm sure it involved rock band to some degree. tuesday, i went to work, and then more rock band followed. yesterday, i went to work and drove to nyc for a ridiculously awesome aquabats concert which i may discuss in a future blog once. i fully intended on writing the post when i got back, but i was throughly tired at that point and just went to bed. so, as you can see, i was extremely busy with not but a second to be spared for writing blogs even if it was for music monday.....

........come to think of it, that's a load of bull and there were plenty of 15min spans during the last three days when i could've wrote it. i guess you should probably just take the short excuse.

short excuse:
i procrastinate.

now that i've appropriately explained my absence, with no further ado, i present music monday part deux ->

hopefully, you got a chance to appreciate some classic J-Ska last week with TSPO. granted, they are still making music but i still like to consider old bands "classic."

this week, we are going to take a look at a little more new school band known as Ore Ska Band. i originally found out about them from naruto. one of their songs was used as the end credits. i remember the first time i heard it -- i went ballistic. i immediately began googling around to find out what song it was and who sang it. one of my most tried and true ways to find out who played an awesome song that i randomly heard somewhere is to memorize about two lines of lyrics and then google for the lyrics. i found out this is difficult to do when the words are in japanese. eventually, i found a naruto fansite that listed the song. i've been listening to them ever since.

it's a 6-part band (bass, guitar, drums, trumpet, trombone, sax) that is comprised of all girls. how awesome is that? it's rare that you ever see a girl in ska band, much less an entire band of girls. they are all friends and started the band when they were in middle school! they are high school aged now and have already released 3 eps and 1 full length.

currently, they are making a movie with the producers of high school musical called "Lock and Roll Forever." it's about an all-girl japanese ska band (surprise surprise, they cast ore ska band) that travels to the US to make it. personally, i can't wait. i think the movie will be fantastic. as is their music, it's has a super upbeat and happy third-wave sound with some awesome melodies. and, the bass player is awesome. check out a couple of music videos:



i love the kid and old guy dancing at the beginning. note that the next video is a direct continuation of the last previous one.



and, just for good measure, here's one more.



favorite season:
Summer and definitely not winter
i love warm weather despite the fact that me and the sun are mortal enemies. the summer is just so great. you don't have to bundle up to go outside. there's plently of sunlight for playing outside and you can go swimming. meanwhile, the winter blows. literally. it's cold....all the time. it's dark....all the time. and, i hate it....all the time. it doesn't make sense. my skin burns super easy so shouldn't that mean i at least get +2 def against ice? it's just not fair....

Some people call me emo.......

from time to time, something happens in my life, that just makes me stop and say "that sucks." one of these events has recently occurred, so, accordingly, i've been doing a great deal self-deprecating reflection as of late. you know the one - food has not taste, you can't feel the wind, and every time you see someone smiling, you die a little more inside. for me, these periods in my life basically amount to sitting in a dark corner playing STD on my acoustic **one tear rolls down his cheek**. finally, after weeks of contemplation and several gallons of ben&jerry's, i have achieved a great epiphany.

of course, the traumatic event that i am referring to is my blog going stale. and, my epiphany was that i just need to give it some semblance of direction - a purpose, if you will. the problem was that i started the blog to catalog my journey to russia, but, once that ended, the goal had already been achieved - in 6 days... so, at that point, i was left with the remnants of something that use to be a good idea.

for all intensive purposes, this could of just been left as a fledging live-journal and would have eventually floated away into the electrons long forgotten by anyone that might have cared in the first place. now, don't get me wrong. pending the degree of my future infamy, this blog may, in fact, be subpoenaed to bear witness against my evil ways (i'm not sure how you subpoena a digital manifestation of chronologically-ordered rants either, but i'm sure the man would find a way). but, should i never attain a level that would warrant the general populous prefacing my name with 'Notorius', i am as sure that this blog would dissolve into obscurity as i am sure that the giants whipped up on the "golden" boy and his pats last night.

nevertheless, i intend to suck the life out of it anyways by proclaiming today the first ever MUSIC MONDAY! hooray! we all love music, so the fact that it has the same first letter as this day of the week means that we now get to talk about it every week! hooray!

This month on Music Monday we will be taking a closer look at our ska brethren across the big pond in a little series I sometimes like to refer to as "Jammin' with J-Ska!"

The onset of 2008 marks the start of the 23rd year of the Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra. They are one of the best known ska bands in South East Asia. They have already released 16 full length albums and the 17th is due out in March. They play mostly 2nd Wave stuff, which, somehow, generally sounds more upbeat than traditional second wave (if that's possible). at any rate, they are pretty fantastic. i'm a big fan and have been listening to them for about a year now. they are truly perfect for any occasion where you have no idea what to put on. i especially enjoy playing them when i'm with a group of people and i don't know anyone's musical taste. the music is just so happy, and 98% of the lyrics are in japanese, so no one listening can get offended.

just to get a taste, sit back and take in a live performance of my favorite TSPO hit - "Utsukushiku Moeru Mori." make sure to note the reaction of the crowd. we'll be exploring that phenomenon later in the month.




Worst Person of 2k8
Bill Belichick
Congratulations Bill, we are only a month into 2k8 and you already managed to clutch the worst person of the year. it's not possible that anyone could turn out worst within the next 11 months. you are the poorest loser of all time. you couldn't even wait until the game was officially over to leave the field. wow. i know you wanted to tie Chuck Noll's record for most super bowls won (Noll has got 4, while you just a lowly 3). but, you got to understand, that Chuck Noll was a Steeler. you can't touch him. but, if you want a shoulder to cry on, just call up your "golden" boy........