"This is the Voice of Moderation. I wouldn't go so far as to say we've actually SEIZED the radio station . . . "
by liberal japonicus Perhaps some strange juxtapositions, but I just came across this substack piece, entitled Bad Aikido is Bad for Business right after I listened to this NYTimes interview with Min Jin Lee, author of Pachiko. There was a zoom meeting discussing this that I unfortunatley missed (though it seemed like an open event, … Read more
by liberal japonicus I was discussing this article with some other people here in Japan, and I thought it might interesting for the great umatched wash here. It’s a substack article entitled The Digital Shadow: Why Half of Japan’s Youth Are Living Double Lives Online and I think it betrays a Western thinking about identity. … Read more
by liberal japonicus In the moral insanity post, we got to talking about what was up with ICE and Minneapolis, so this NYT Daily, with two reporters puts a lot of flesh on the bones of any speculation. The transcript is here. As the interview points out, ICE cooperation with local law was a given … Read more
by liberal japonicus Being the weekend before Christmas, how about some tunes from the Soviet Army Choir? Here’s Jingle Bells, I love how they have Russlish lyrics. If you are playing Whamageddon, don’t click on this next one! Baba daba dop! Fun fact: At the beginning, the female weathercaster says something like “Oksana says don’t … Read more
by liberal japonicus Not sure this will interest everyone, but this is an interesting piece on Palantir, which goes into (from 16:05) a discussion of Alex Karp, the CEO of Palantir, who has a background in philosophy which is detailed in the video. This piece is a good one for explaining what Palantir is and … Read more
by liberal japonicus I’ve mentioned before that I’ve been spending a lot of time watching comedians on YouTube, and beyond the laughs, I’m always interested in how jokes and routines are constructed. So it was a bit of luck to find the work of Stewart Lee, a British standup comedian. If you don’t like it, … Read more
by liberal japonicus I can’t imagine the bravery required for this student to stand up in the middle of a Turning Point agit-prop rally. Also take note of Vance’s oleaginous reply. The fact that it is at Ole Miss, while unsurprising, is the bit that makes me truely ill.
by russell Last Friday, Joe put up a post about Bad Bunny. That led to a discussion of reggaeton, which took a side trip into rhumba, which sent me off down a rabbit hole about clave. Joe very kindly asked if he could use my comment as this week’s music post, which was more than … Read more
by liberal japonicus Just a short observation. Living with a non-American is always interesting for the observations they make that give you pause. This is one of them. My wife has an interesting pattern with sports. If she likes a sports figure, she then likes the sport to an extent that amazes me. When Asada … Read more