This parody short film titled Rolling Bomber Special by Tetsuya Nakashima came to my mind recently, which formed part of 2001’s SMAP Short Films collection. This 20-year-old upload by Kurea could’ve been the link I saw when I was in uni and this “clip” became viral. So many old clips gone from the internet, so many viral memories.
According to its Namu page, it’s the third in the film series, and because the name of the Super Sentai group is “Freshman,” it’s supposed to be a pun on Flashman.
Stunningly hilarious as it was then. Would love a higher resolution popping up.
Cosplaying as Zarray, the Army of Evil would be hilarious.
Celebrating 100 years of broadcast, NHK has decided to dust off some of its educational mascots for this nostalgic photoshoot for the September edition of Brutus magazine. Featuring Latin America and Peru’s favorite Gonta-kun (of Dekirukana fame) alongside GORORI from Tsukutte Asobo (つくってあそぼ).
Gonta-kun hasn’t aged one bit, I must admit. And Ei Takami’s passing back in May 2023 was felt throughout millennial Peruvian twitter who mourned Noppo-san, a key character in our formative years. RIP, Noppo-san.
Also, you guys- one of the most popular posts on the site is the Okaasan to Issho (おかあさんといっしょ) post I did so long ago, I thought I would update you all that NHK (and Japan in general) has decided to finally enter the digital era, and have set up a bunch of NHK content channel, though I have to be honest, I tried looking up all the content I watched during the special events for the 65th anniversary of Okaasan to Issho and couldn’t find the same clips. I’m pretty sure there was a Poyoyon (ぼよよん) special clip with all the available hosts of the show’s history, and I’m sure I saw a good quality clip of the Power Up song.
Now a general search only gives you a non-official clip of Kinra Kira Pon (きんらきらぽん) on TikTok, which feeds you into this version of the SUPURAPPI (スプラッピ スプラッパ) song for the anniversary. Archive accordingly.
And the YT algo just popped this on the feed, talking about a number of Warner Bros titles that are apparently being affected.
Somebody on forums (!!! They still exist!) posted a list of probable affected titles, and to my dismay, the Greta Garbo and (both) Joan Crawford collections are affected. I just popped Mata Hari and Possessed on the player and seem to be playing fine.
Another one of the fears with (new) media and products that developed in types of plastic is that they’re decaying faster than people expected. I’ve had older (retired) players that were kept on storage that have a general sticky texture after a while. However, this doesn’t seem to happen to players that are in general exposure, not directly with sunlight, but in a generally airy room that’s in use, unlike a display room. I also happen to live in the mildest of climates, though high in humidity, temperatures never go above 30C (above 90F) or lower than 14C (lower than 55F). So maybe these conditions are affecting the storage of physical media.
I did the vast majority of my library collection before 2007, though. I did buy a number of things in between the mid-2000s to late-2000s, so if disc rot is affecting a general batch produced in between 2007-2009, it is a concern. I’m generally more worried with collections I keep in drawers instead of a regular shelf display.
Hyori has been delivering on variety shows and interviews all week- people are loving Hyori’s Bed & Breakfast; I’ve been emo because of that moment when Hyori was teaching IU about life as a 20-something. She’s just full of ‘life as a celebrity’ wisdom. She talks about her marriage, controlling her temper, her insecurities releasing music, not having endorsements or doing commercials for a living, and trying to profit from just music.
She’s just realizing that you can’t make a living doing just music in Korea. I’m actually quite shocked that she says that Psy only made $38k with Gangnam Style. That’s a HUGE shock. I also hope that’s only what streaming and downloads did in South Korea, because I’d be super shocked if that includes the YouTube, iTunes and Spotify fees.
Sometimes I forget to share some of the short films I find online that I love. I was working on some of the MUBI film submissions and this came, which has just won the Irish Film & Television Academy Award for Best Short Film, which shows Emmet Kirwan doing some slam poetry to tell the story of a teenager who gets pregnant and raises her child, struggling to be an unwed Irish mother from a poor household in modern day Ireland.
I came to know about slam poetry via Shane Koyczan and his sequence at the 2010 Winter Olympics [1]. xD
We’re living in a world obsessed with identity, origins and DNA. I’m starting to believe this is a conspiration to get us all to test our DNAs -paying and very much willingly- to see where we ‘really come from.’ No, like- really, where YOU REALLY come from. First it was this overly dramatic flights company, Momondo ad. Followed by this DNA test Buzzfeed video, which got me really really wondering.
Then this Joanna Rants Flama video about hyphen identities~~~ with a shout out to Asian-Peruvian (Protestant)! xD Which in the end sent my head spinning mainly because of my dad’s side. Peruvian isn’t really a racial identity, though some would differ. I don’t know much about my dad’s side of the family, but I know more than my mom’s side~~~ one thing is certain, I’m positively certain my mom is 99,9% East Asian xD which makes me, at least, half East Asian (if not half full Chinese, despite having two Chinese last names~)
I know my grandpa on my dad’s side was mixed Chinese and I know my grandma on his side was mixed Spanish-Afro-Peruvian, but not certain on percentages. I’ll have to ask my aunt around now. But that would make my dad, at least, half Spanish creole (if not more) Afro-Chinese Peruvian xD and that would make me…… Chinese Spanish creole Afro-Peruvian? xD A Queer Catholic-by-culture Franciscan-by-school Agnostic Chinese Spanish Creole Afro-Peruvian. And that doesn’t even paint the political colors. xD
But interesting.
I’m totally into the idea of finding out what’s in me, but at the same time, I’ve been watching too much Orphan Black. lol
Last October I reported about Yu-chan returning to the leading-lady gig with Daigo Matsui’s AZUMI HARUKO wa Yukuefumei (アズミ・ハルコは行方不明). Twitter has just shown me a first still. There’s also a music video by Ishizaki Huwie (石崎ひゅーい) titled Flower Vase (花瓶の花, Kabin no Hana) attached to the press release on natalie.mu, but it’s geo-blocked :*(
I’ve lost most my Japanese powers in the past two years of no Japanese movies, music and television. LOL I can only make out the greeting xD I feel deflated because -crossing fingers- I may be heading to Japan for the holidays in a couple of months and scares the crap out of me because no one speaks Japanese in this trip~~~
My dream is that I’ll meet Yu-chan and tell her how big a fan I am/was. xD Must also remember to stock up on movies (hopefully with subs) and/or Shiina Ringo concert DVDs and discography.
Ah~ I thought I would do a post compilation of the Chulpan Khamatova TV serials that I’ve been able to find on YouTube. Starting with these two~ Children of the Arbat (Дети Арбата) and Pepel (Пепел). I’ve seen Pepel with Google translated subtitles, but I haven’t seen Arbat yet, as subtitles online are incomplete.
