tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4135365Sun, 06 Dec 2009 02:14:23 +0000ALL THE WAY FROM TOKYOhttp://upstairsforthinking.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (elliott)Blogger359125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4135365.post-3698352032141054285Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:43:00 +00002009-11-21T12:52:37.214+09:00Great escapes. Stasi files revisited. Life is a yawn. Sixty hours of terror: Mumbai. The philosophy of journalism.http://upstairsforthinking.blogspot.com/2009/11/wall.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (elliott)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4135365.post-877607783953595047Mon, 02 Nov 2009 04:46:00 +00002009-11-02T13:54:05.730+09:00Been a while. A few interesting reads as follows... An epidemic of fear: the vaccination debate. Are liberals smarter than conservatives? The revolutions of 1989. Dying languages. Bobby Fischer: genius and idiot. Monsters and the moral imagination. Battle of Agincourt revisited.http://upstairsforthinking.blogspot.com/2009/11/back-in-business.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (elliott)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4135365.post-1562752151426770509Mon, 27 Jul 2009 03:01:00 +00002009-07-27T12:03:51.609+09:00Moa, a mythical magazine that was not eaten by the Maori in New Zealand because it never really existed in the first place.http://upstairsforthinking.blogspot.com/2009/07/moa.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (elliott)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4135365.post-6710179884704641671Mon, 27 Jul 2009 02:43:00 +00002009-07-27T11:58:14.631+09:00The beop has landed. Tokyo vs the crows. Drunk people yoga positions.http://upstairsforthinking.blogspot.com/2009/07/beop.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (elliott)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4135365.post-7603189804245999014Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:34:00 +00002009-07-07T12:44:57.050+09:00Debito Arudou discusses an invasive new tactic that is being carried out by police in Japan: an "I Pee" check. For a helpful outline of your rights, see his What To Do If column...http://upstairsforthinking.blogspot.com/2009/07/i-pee-checks.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (elliott)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4135365.post-2261456877973247978Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:02:00 +00002009-06-18T23:13:52.090+09:00This is amazing: A South Korean artist who takes a painting that has been done by a child and re-creates them in a photo.http://upstairsforthinking.blogspot.com/2009/06/remaking-kids-art.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (elliott)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4135365.post-5787997623328801316Tue, 19 May 2009 01:55:00 +00002009-05-19T11:08:16.898+09:00Nakameguro in bloom (via Jean Snow). Jeremy Clarkson puts the boot into Honda's new hybrid Insight, a car so Biblically terrible he considered driving it into a tree on purpose. The world's best illusion, really! What is it really like to be a baby?http://upstairsforthinking.blogspot.com/2009/05/nakameguro-in-bloom.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (elliott)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4135365.post-1765482456798438432Tue, 05 May 2009 01:53:00 +00002009-05-05T10:59:48.693+09:00Alone in Tokyo is a short film by Philip Bloom that manages to successfully capture the ambience of the big smoke without anyone uttering a word.http://upstairsforthinking.blogspot.com/2009/05/alone-in-tokyo.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (elliott)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4135365.post-635427519511201313Mon, 04 May 2009 23:16:00 +00002009-05-05T08:27:43.783+09:00Why e-mails are littered with exclamation marks! Most hated font type. Susan Boylemania. Dancing parrots. Attribution lacking. Music as torture condemned. The neuroscience of illusion.http://upstairsforthinking.blogspot.com/2009/05/blog-post.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (elliott)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4135365.post-1320046172950933792Wed, 22 Apr 2009 10:50:00 +00002009-04-22T21:07:52.404+09:00After a long period of self-imposed exile, I return to Hanoi on Friday for the much-vaunted MAG Music Festival on Saturday. Should be a riot. Not literally, Mr Boy in Green. That's Billy Bragg speak for "life is beautiful." Looking forward to catching up with some older friends over a bia hoi and plate of dau ran. Links of note: Baby brainwashing. Facebook of world leaders.http://upstairsforthinking.blogspot.com/2009/04/returner.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (elliott)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4135365.post-3763289086583452977Sun, 05 Apr 2009 09:53:00 +00002009-04-05T19:16:33.510+09:00Well the cherry blossoms are officially in full bloom, and I've been able to spend a bit of time outdoors over the past two weeks instead of being couped up in front of the computer. Thanks to all those who came down to the THREE G (vol.4) at the end of last month, and especially to DJ Ken Frowning, who came up from Osaka and made the gig all the more worth while. Links of interest: The Facebook http://upstairsforthinking.blogspot.com/2009/04/with-cherry-on-top.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (elliott)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4135365.post-1063505266791299578Mon, 16 Mar 2009 02:37:00 +00002009-03-16T12:14:10.641+09:00After the raging success of the last installment of THREE G in February, Mssrs Smart, Cox, Stubbings and MUC have come up with something a little different this time around -- our very first guest DJ.DJ Ken Frowning (Old Man's Beard Must Go!, London/Osaka) cut his teeth on a dilapidated mixer in Acton Town, London, some time back in the '90s (remember them?) and hasn't looked back since. His http://upstairsforthinking.blogspot.com/2009/03/three-g-part-quatre.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (elliott)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4135365.post-8584405023522116522Sun, 08 Mar 2009 12:16:00 +00002009-03-08T21:34:14.846+09:00Preparing the newspaper obituary. Science mysteries. Cut-and-paste writing. Flower, a video game where you can hang out with, er, flowers. Why doctors go to work sick. Lies and books you've not read. Lost in the archives. How strong is a chimpanzee, really? Small talk in the Stone Age.http://upstairsforthinking.blogspot.com/2009/03/paper-chase.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (elliott)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4135365.post-1053352223363785816Mon, 16 Feb 2009 15:31:00 +00002009-02-17T00:32:34.430+09:00The rumour mill has been going into overdrive today following the release of footage that shows Japanese Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa looking decidedly worse for wear in front of reporters at a G7 press conference over the weekend. Some claim Nakagawa was in fact drunk at the event (and he was seen drinking at least one glass of wine before speaking), but the minister defended his behaviour http://upstairsforthinking.blogspot.com/2009/02/taking-his-medicine.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (elliott)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4135365.post-1464415384299709898Sun, 15 Feb 2009 02:24:00 +00002009-02-15T12:00:26.912+09:00Is this what hip-hop can do to a man? Joaquin Phoenix on Letterman. Three years earlier.http://upstairsforthinking.blogspot.com/2009/02/two-sides-of-joaquin-phoenix.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (elliott)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4135365.post-4763630203640551670Sun, 15 Feb 2009 01:52:00 +00002009-02-15T11:09:01.911+09:00How old are you? Why do young male writers love icky, tough guy deadbeats? Cheating death. Missed the train?http://upstairsforthinking.blogspot.com/2009/02/its-all-fun-games-until-someone-gets.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (elliott)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4135365.post-4619507576826618341Mon, 26 Jan 2009 10:45:00 +00002009-01-26T21:03:17.438+09:00How NOT to write a novel. How much do you know about Edgar Allan Poe? He smashed the china, soiled the sheets, sunbathed nude and was either drunk or stoned -- Arthur Rimbaud was an impossible house guest. The mind behind procrastination. The day newspapers died.http://upstairsforthinking.blogspot.com/2009/01/impossible-house-guest.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (elliott)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4135365.post-4326086533354032359Mon, 19 Jan 2009 11:47:00 +00002009-01-19T21:21:25.589+09:00Of course Tintin's gay. Ask Snowy. Who checks the spell-checkers? She stole his heart so he gave her his kidney. And now they're getting divorced, he wants it back.http://upstairsforthinking.blogspot.com/2009/01/ask-snowy.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (elliott)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4135365.post-3317954618590196741Thu, 15 Jan 2009 22:50:00 +00002009-01-16T07:53:23.895+09:00Patrick McGoohan is dead at 80. Number Six, be seeing you...From The Guardian: "Patrick McGoohan's finest moment, for which he deserves to be remembered as long as people are watching moving images on little boxes, was undoubtedly 'The Prisoner' – the psychedelically experimental late-1960s series whose influence is still tangible, but whose vision was far too radical for its time. Without 'The http://upstairsforthinking.blogspot.com/2009/01/be-seeing-you.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (elliott)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4135365.post-9116138312009849812Mon, 05 Jan 2009 03:27:00 +00002009-01-05T13:13:05.286+09:00A few friends of mine throw a house/techno/breaks party at a small club called OVO in Naka-Meguro every couple of months and have been kind enough to allow me to play a few uplifting tunes from Aotearoa at the next installment on January 24 to kick things off from 22:00 before the real beats begin. Entrance is a paltry Y1,500 (with one free drink), so it's not going to blow your New Year budget. http://upstairsforthinking.blogspot.com/2009/01/three-g.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (elliott)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4135365.post-3605401046174347740Sun, 04 Jan 2009 02:12:00 +00002009-01-04T11:28:28.916+09:00Burger King perfume (pour hommes, presumably). End of the road for VHS. The man responsible for helping President-elect Barack Obama to write history.http://upstairsforthinking.blogspot.com/2009/01/license-to-grill.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (elliott)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4135365.post-3890975467835026627Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:17:00 +00002008-12-17T01:30:45.193+09:00In Camp No. 14, the North Korean political prison where Shin Dong-hyuk was born and where he says he watched the hanging of his mother, inmates never saw a picture of Kim Jong Il. Why publishers fail. When writers fail. Jezebels with a Cause.http://upstairsforthinking.blogspot.com/2008/12/great-escape.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (elliott)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4135365.post-671985717672193664Mon, 01 Dec 2008 16:01:00 +00002008-12-02T08:09:23.515+09:00Think of sex addiction on a par with tennis addiction - except only one of them sells books. The Bad Sex Award. Everything you need to know about Hitler's missing testicle. Britain on top in casual sex league. From ancient Pompeiian baths to modern Swiss spas, there's always been something dirty about getting clean. PLUS: Edible fantasies.http://upstairsforthinking.blogspot.com/2008/12/six-in-nz-accent.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (elliott)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4135365.post-8128481451947306272Sun, 23 Nov 2008 15:56:00 +00002008-11-24T01:06:46.925+09:00George Bush's nostrils. Animals speak in colour. The Ubiquitous Child Trap: Over-parenting.http://upstairsforthinking.blogspot.com/2008/11/they-see-red-they-see-red.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (elliott)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4135365.post-4360192433767834318Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:13:00 +00002008-11-07T12:21:19.118+09:00Oslo sent me an educational link that offers an excellent primer on what to do if you ever encounter a rhino that has escaped from a zoo. I can't guarantee, however, that such tactics would work equally well in a dark alley. For one thing, you're not likely to have a gargantuan tennis court net with you... http://upstairsforthinking.blogspot.com/2008/11/when-animals-attack.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (elliott)0