Okay, this is the second time I’ve heard about a fake flushing-sound device installed in womens’ toilets in Japan.. You push the button when you’re having a bowel movement, and nobody hears the sound of what happens when you do what you’re doing. The reporter comments: Such gadgets might seem a dainty, modern excess of a shame-obsessed society, but the Sound Princess has deep roots in Japanese culture. The Japanese are notoriously fastidious: the daily bath is practiced with near-religious fervor, and walking inside with your shoes on is considered filthy. The Japanese word for clean —”kirei”—also means beautiful. And …
Month: October 2004
George Soros and Bush
Am I actually quoting George Soros? Yes, I am. President Bush ran on the platform of a “humble” foreign policy in 2000. If we re-elect him now, we endorse the Bush doctrine of preemptive action and the invasion of Iraq, and we will have to live with the consequences. As I shall try to show, we are facing a vicious circle of escalating violence with no end in sight. But if we repudiate the Bush policies at the polls, we shall have a better chance to regain the respect and support of the world and to break the vicious circle. …
Perdido Street Station
I finished Perdido Street Station, the stunning and gigantic novel by British author China Miéville. Note that, while it is a genre novel, I didn’t specify which kind. I think it definitely is genre, but not like any genre fiction I’ve ever read before. Miéville’s work has been compared to the writing of Mervyn Peake, which my friend Joleen tells me is quite something. I picked up a copy of the Gormenghast Trilogy (in one huge volume) while I was in Texas, and I plan on reading it by the time the year is out (or, at least one of …
Urethra Friend of Mine Or Not
Yes, after two bouts of tonsilitis and a few rounds in the ring with a swollen area surrounding that pesky wisdom tooth that is still (since sometime last year) pushing its way out, I thought the old Rider on the Horse of Pestilence would leave for greener pastures, but no… he just picked a new spot to, well, pick at. So Lime and I got on a bus to Seoul Saturday morning. At the rest stop, about halfway there, I found that I really needed to pee. So I did. And it hurt. The rest of the way up was …
Polyphonic Spree Game
Whether or not you like the band Polyphonic Spree, this flash puzzle-game that is supposed to promote their most recent album is a good little distraction my friend Charlie passed over to me.
On Korea’s Pin-Up Girl Culture and One Artist’s Take On It
Of all the works of art I saw at the Kwangju Biennale, and all the names of artists and works that I scribbled into my notebook, only one has come up at all on my internet searching: a work called “The Pin-up Girl Project”, or, in Korean, “Pin-up girl 되기” (Becoming a Pin-up girl”. I’m feeding these photos from a news article on Naver.com because, seeing as this is a work of art by someone who assumably cares what is done with her images, I’m not going to copy them and provide them on my own page. (Unless Naver asks …
The Kerry-Bush Debate
So I spent some time this morning reading through CNN’s transcript of the Presidential foreign policy debate this morning. I wish I could have seen it on the screen, but since I don’t have a TV, this is the only way for me to access it, I think. Anyway, I have a question about something Bush said: The reason why Prime Minister Allawi said they’re coming across the border is because he recognizes that this is a central part of the war on terror. They’re fighting us because they’re fighting freedom. They understand that a free Afghanistan or a free …
I Am Not Sure, But…
Your attention please. Lime says this is not a joke. I’m not sure, but I thought I’d bring it to your attention just the same. Just go look. http://www.malepregnancy.com/ Yes, really.
How One Man Dealt With a Shitty Work Environment
I wrote recently about the French approach to workplace resistance; here’s a rather different form, Texan style, called The Mad Shitter. I bet the Big Hairy Hominid‘s gonna love this. I found the link through Adam, who’s also mad… but it’s his crossbows you need to watch, not his rectum.
Yes, Attendance Is Mandatory
Today, Cheolseong and I were laughing like madmen when a student of Mike’s came in and started to talk to him. Why? The first thing she said was something like, “Uh, it’s Chuseok.” Mike said, “Are you in my class?” When the girl claimed she was, he asked, “Then why have I never seen you before?” This got us laughing so hard we couldn’t stop for a minute. Why? As of today, there have been nine classes. Any student who has not bothered to show up at class by now has, as of the end of today, automatically flunked their …