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January 24, 2008
CTC to return with some Sumo Talk
I've been too busy to watch as much of the January Sumo tournament as I would like. The few glimpses I've had on the television confirm my belief that this is an exciting time to be following the sport. The two Mongolian Grand Champions (Yokozuna), Hakuho and Asashoryu, continue to dominate. Each of them enter day 13 atop the leader-board with only one loss and three matches remaining.
Seems like a good time to follow through on an idea that's been suggested before. San Nakji has been courteous enough to join me on Friday January 25 for a live Calling Tokyo Calling on TalkShoe to discuss the final weekend of the tournament. There are plenty of sub-plots and drama apart from the looming championship (Yusho) showdown on Sunday the final day of the tournament (musubinoichiban). Together, we'll try to make some sense of it.
And since this will be live on TalkShoe, everyone is welcome to join in and participate - live. It will take place at 7:00 am EST on January 25. If all goes well, we'll consider doing it in a more systematic way for the tournament in March.
image courtesy of Lee LeFever under a Creative Commons license via Flickr.
follow-up note: I've just spent some time trying to familiarize myself with TalkShoe. They've made significant changes to the experience since I last used it. If you want to join, I suggest you try to join a random show to see if you can connect. It is actually much simpler than it was 6 months ago.
Posted by scott at 09:10 PM | Comments (1)
January 23, 2008
My Ears to Your Ears episode 01 - I Remember Seeing Orson Welles on TV
After too many months of dormancy, the ZionRadio Padcast feed delivered three tasty 70 minute mp3s to iTunes this morning. I listened to a hypnotizing episode entitled "music a fe rule" throughout the various stages of my commute during the day. The idea for this audio miniature occurred while listening to twisting-sweep-in-a-swamp sort of jam at the 49 minute mark whilst thinking about Orson Welles on the way home after a long day in the classroom.
Sadly, the ZionRadio website seems a bit out of date. I couldn't find playlists for the recently arrived podcast. Best bet if you wanna listen is to subscribe to feed: http://www.zionradio.com/podcasts/zionradiopodcast.xml.
The image that accompanies this blog post is provided by Daniel Montesinos under a Creative Commons license via Flickr.
Posted by scott at 12:22 AM | Comments (4)
January 18, 2008
TC 108 - Open Gates
(click the magic button to hear or download the 49 minute episode)
| time | segment | links |
|---|---|---|
| 00:00-10:29 | Open Gates | Brezny's Free Will Astrology JapanPodcasters.com |
| 10:29-10:50 | Now or Never | |
| 10:45-31:29 | Pause Talk | JeanSnow Paper Bird Shantell Martin Test Tone Hitotoki |
| 31:22-32-55 | Onarimon Station Noises | |
| 32:46-40:27 | TCTV Talk | |
| 40:23-40:47 | Toto: Child's Anthem | |
| 40:43-49:18 | Epilog | Toto and Boz Skaggs together at MEETSPORT Eric Rice on Identity Hacking Momus on Mask Making Antonin Artoud on Wikipedia |
Thanks to Night Owl City thanks for the above photograph which is made available through a Creative Commons license. Check out more photos from Night Owl City at flickr.
Posted by scott at 11:44 AM | Comments (2)
January 15, 2008
Hitotoki
Over the past week, I've spent more hours than I could afford to spare reading some of the fascinating Tokyo stories featured on Hitotoki. The short pieces of writing on this literary web site seek to capture a singular moment which connects the author to a particular place.
Originally based in Tokyo, the project, since launching in 2007, has recently expanded to include stories from New York and London. According to the site, they are searching for writers and editors in other cities around the world.
If I knew how to better write, I'd consider submitting something. I find myself so inspired by reading the stories that I might even try to take the necessary steps to learn how to write a worthy story.
I hope to share some of my impressions from a couple of particular stories on the next podcast. Until then, take a look and see if something tickles your fancy. And if your up for the challenge, submit something.
Posted by scott at 12:59 AM | Comments (4)
January 09, 2008
Look at the birdie
I had the good pleasure to meet Josh McKible at the January Pause Talk. Josh is a Tokyo based illustrator who's involved in a most interesting project. The Paper Bird is an example of downloadable PDF art with, according to the website, the most simple instructions: "Download, Print, Cut, and Play!"
If you fancy yourself an illustrator, you can even request a blank Paper Bird template from Josh which you can, in turn, design and submit for inclusion on his site for others to enjoy.
Apparently, this is nothing new. Josh cites BenTheIllustrator's Speakerdog Paper Toys as a source of inspiration for the Paper Bird project. A few moments spent at Speakerdog will reveal that this is an enormously popular artifact remix activity - suitable for paper enthusiasts of all ages.
One suggestion: when you make your Paper Bird, be sure to tape a small coin on the inner side of the bottom panel. This will serve as ballast to keep the birdie from flying away or tipping over.
Apparently a video tutorial on how to cut, and assemble the Paper Bird is forthcoming. If possible, I'll try get permission to put it on Tokyo Calling TV.
Posted by scott at 12:28 AM | Comments (1)
January 06, 2008
And the winner isn't...
Seems like only yesterday, my fragile ego was crushed when I read that Tokyo Calling was said to showcase nearly everything that is wrong about podcasting by a thoughtful reviewer (link fixed). And now, nearly one year later, my sources tell me that Japan's first podcaster doesn't even merit a Lifetime Achievement Award in the recently announced Japan Podcast Awards. The anguish is giving me agita. Maybe the reviewer from last year was on to something.
All joking aside, Dan Savage has provided a valuable service to current and future enthusiasts of Japan based podcasts with his recently unveiled directory of podcasts at JapanPodcasters.com. He's clearly done a great deal of research toward writing up thoughtful and frank reviews and put in an enormous effort in putting together a useful and informative site.
Such a directory is long overdue. It features insightful and well-written reviews of many of the current podcasts. There is also a section devoted to several of the important Japan based podcasts that have been discontinued. Dan's contribution to the community is much appreciated. So too are his overly generous kind words toward this podcast and its host.
More importantly, I was delighted to learn that Christopher's Finding Japan was bestowed the 2008 Japan Exploration Award. Congratulations to Christopher, and all of the winners.
The only qualm I have is Dan's exclusion of the Kobe Beef Show from the directory. Judging by the thoroughness of everything else on his site, this matter will be rectified in due course.
Posted by scott at 04:25 AM | Comments (10)
January 04, 2008
TC 107 - The Road to Self-Discovery
Podcast: Tokyo Calling 107 (click to listen)
Getting Started
Inspired by a couple of blogging and self-help gurus, this podcast features a few of my personal and podcasting goals for the coming year. Problogger goes so far as to schedule a Resolution and Goal Setting brunch at the beginning of every year with his wife. I don't know if Mrs. Tokyo Calling or the TC Singers would tolerate such indulgence. Though, I don't doubt its value.
Looked at from another angle, in his Personal Development for Smart People blog, Steve Pavlina discusses letting your intuition tell you what sort of year you'd like to have in a journal in a post from 2006.
Later in the episode
Instead of getting ready for the resumption of classes during the break, my focus has been turned more inward. I'm grateful to BicycleMark of CitizenReporter.org for his tip on a great journaling application for Macs. Simply enough, it's called Journler. It has been a timely discovery which I've used to begin digitally archiving the past nine months worth of hand-written and until now unexamined journals. This has been a rewarding experience.
Finally
I close with an announcement about a contest that could get you a free trip to Tokyo to vlog the 2008 Tokyo International Anime Fair. The graphic with this blog post will also take you to the contest which, as far as I can tell, is sponsored by AnimePodcast.Net. A tip of the hat to Jimmy-khun in Parsippany, NJ for sending his video entry and informing me about this cool opportunity. The entry deadline is February 15, 2008. Good luck, Jimmy-khun.
Also
- Did I mention Tokyo Calling TV is still around? It is, have a look
- Comments and suggestions are welcome
- Thanks to Mark for the kind donation
As Always
Thanks for listening. And may you meet all of your goals!
addendum:
I forgot to add links to Internet Eavesdropping kit mentioned in the podcast:
- Internet Eavesdropping - pdf document
- The article where the document can be found
- The online OPML generating tool mentioned in the document
(Please be careful with this information. In the wrong hands - there could be danger)
Posted by scott at 01:39 AM | Comments (5)
Tokyo Calling 2005