Almost every summer in Japan for me has been a routine.

For the first couple of weeks I stay in the house during the rainy portion of the summer. I don't really know what it is about rain that attracts me to it, but during this part of summer I usually take advantage of my evening walks with my dog and go out without a raincoat or umbrella.

When the clouds start to clear and the grey gloomy days pass this sginals the start of the true Japanese summer. The tempratures soar, the humidity kicks in, air conditioning becomes a necessity, and かき氷 (Shaved Ice) becomes a part of ones daily diet.

It's at about this time when a friend of mine from the states comes over for his annual summer Japan visit. He used to live here and left more than 6 years ago, but I've been able to touch base with him almost every summer because of his visits. He just finished his Freshmen year at College.

As July melts into August my family takes the annual refuge in the mountains of Nagano. We own a cabin near lake Nojiri. That may sound quite nice, but theres nothing nice about living in a wooden shack infested with mosquitos for two weeks. Actually it's not THAT bad. Theres a community of cabins there and I meet up with friends who also have taken refuge with their families to this sancturary beside the lake.

My summers in Japan usually follow this routine with slight variations each year. Routine can be monotonous but at times it can be comforting.

This summer is no different.

This is an actual Haunted Rubber Ducky that has been sold on eBay...

I've often wondered what it takes for an entire album of music to be good. Not one of those mediocre albums where the single off of it is great but there are only 2 other songs that are decent at best. Oh boy I've bought my share of those...

What I'm talking about is one of those magic albums where every single song is good. One track after the other.

Those are pretty hard to come by, and I often wonder what sets them apart from other crap albums out there. Is it just that each song has be be great? Is it continuity? Is it the flow? Or is it just that the album eventually "Grows" on the listener?

No one has the rubric or formula which produces a great album, but I think it must be an aspect of the recording industry that has been deeply looked into. Ultimately I think the quality of the album depends on the listener.

I do have a theory though, I think an album is something that needs to be thought of as one whole piece, not a collection of songs. Like a great painting, an artist must choose the perfect colors and fill the whole canvas (Unless its abstract or minimalism, Augh...) The songs in the album are like the different colors of paints which must be used to "Paint" the whole album resulting in one work of art. That's my corny little theory.

I've only come across a couple of albums that are amazing from begining to end, literally two! These albums (In my opinion) are works of art...

"Throwing Copper" By Live "Mad Season" By Matchbox Twenty

Check these out!

Those who know me well know that my sense of humor when it comes to flash animation is...odd...

Face Dance

I know I'm going to get bashed for opening this can of worms but I really don't understand hip hop. Someone once told me that hip hop is not a genre of music, but its a life style. What?

I don't really know what it is I don't like about Rap. I think the lyrics on some of the songs are amazing, but for the majority I think its all mainstream pop music.

I think it's more of the hip hop culture that annoys me more than anything. When Japanese people wear doo-rags (Is that how you spell it?) along with their jersey outfits I just can't take it seriously.

I think that's my problem, I can't take hip hop seriously.

I once heard that Rap is music for anyone who has a tough life and its a way to vent their frustrations. But tell me, how many frustrations do you have when you make it as a rapper, get a record contract, and live in Beverly Hills?

"What's wrong honey?"

"Oh, I'm just so frustrated, I don't know if I should take the Cadillac or the BMW to the beach this weekend"

"I think you should go with the BMW"

"...Ok, I'll go with the BMW, which one though?"



Let the bashing begin...

You can tell a song is really good when you think to yourself, "Man that should have be mine!". I just felt this the other day when riding back from Kobe on the train with my trusty companion the iPod.

The song that should be mine is Ben Harper's "Walk Away". It's an acoustic piece with just him and an acoustic guitar, accompanied by the soft chirping of insects the background. I find it amazing when a song can have so much emotion with the bare minimum of production, just a guitar and vocals.



The lyrics that really got me were "You put the happy in my ness", so simple and yet really clever. Also "They say time will make all this go away, but it's time that has taken my tomorrows and turned them into yesterdays."

It should have been mine...

Anyone have those kind of songs?

This past school year really made me realize how fast time can go by. I also found that I wasn't the only one who came to this realization. Everyone that I spoke to said in one form or another, "Man...this year was so fast". As I congratulated the seniors at graduation, I couldn't help but think about next years batch of seniors and the ones after that (My class).

These events really made me think about time. I thought it was interesting how human beings celebrate the end of things more as opposed to the start of things. You hear of celebrating birthdays, graduations, anniversarys, which all represent the end of things. The one major "start of something" celebration I could think of was New Years, which is in a way celebrating the end of the previous year.

ANYWAY I don't want to get too far off track.

I came to an interesting thought, humans fear death. We all do, the idea of not existing is horrifying to us. But isn't death the ULTIMATE end? Why don't we celebrate death with a party as opposed to a funeral?

So anyway, these were the kind of thoughts going through my head as I looked at the clock and realized I had just turned 17 this morning.

Greetings all. Welcome to my world (?) I don't exactly know why I started this blog, I guess the summer heat is finally getting to me. I hope everyone is having a good summer and not spending it infront of their computer screens like I am.

This summer it was brought to my attention that Kyoto is famous for being the most humid city in Japan, lucky for me I guess...Kyoto is famous for being extremely hot in the summer and cold in the winter... But the plus side is that wherever life takes me from here I can always say, "Well, it's not AS bad Kyoto" (Unless I end up in Antarctica or Some Desert)

Well, wherever the summer has taken you, remeber to cool off with a Cold Beverage now and again.

Check out"Cold Beverage"By G. Love & Special Sauce

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