Rafting in Gifu

This is a leap of faith, and I'm hoping for a soft landing.

Entering my last days in Japan, I feel like I'm being drawn and quartered. Trying to get my bags packed, ship boxes home, finish my grad school application process, get my financial aid application in, negotiate the hand over of my school, train Brian to take my place, and say goodbye to everyone!

I wish I had time to properly write about my last weekend trip, but it's not gonna happen at the moment. Anyway, please check out these pictures. They're worth a thousand words each.

Rafting in Gifu Gallery

Thanks to everyone for making the trip happen.

Enjoy.

Monk-E-Mail

Evidently, as I'm told by this monk-e-mail, I've been neglecting my friends back in the US, and I hope to remedy that in the near future.

Funny stuff.

Whitney Music Box

whitney music box var. 0 - chromatic - 48 tines

Music theory visualized.

Wow.

Lazy Ramadi

Watch the original:

NBC.com > Video > Web Favorites > Saturday Night Live: Chronicles of Narnia

Now watch the US soldiers in Iraq spoof it:

BitTorrent inks studio distribution deal

BitTorrent inks studio distribution deal | CNET News.com

BitTorrent, the creator of the file-sharing software that for some has become synonymous with piracy, has struck a landmark distribution deal with a Hollywood studio.

Warner Bros. Entertainment Group has agreed to use BitTorrent's peer-to-peer system to distribute movies and television shows, including "Dukes of Hazzard" and "Babylon 5," beginning this summer, the companies are expected to announce Tuesday.

Tiff's Slideshow

My good friend Tiffany recently returned to Japan from France. She made a surprise appearance at the Heiwa Matsuri last week by sneaking up behind me and giving me a big hug.

Amidst all the party people, she managed to snap quite a few funny pictures; including some of embarrassing shots of me trying to cut the rug.

Click here to check out some of Tiff's pics from the past few weeks back in the land of the rising sun: Tiff's Olympus Slideshow

Neil Young: Living With War

allmusic ((( Living with War > Overview )))

In a move that deliberately echoes the rush release of "Ohio" in the wake of the Kent State shootings, Neil Young bashed out his 2006 protest record Living with War in a matter of days, sometimes recording songs the day they were written, and then seized the opportunities of the digital age by streaming the entire album on his website only weeks after it was recorded, with the official digital and CD releases trailing several days later. It's the best use yet of the instant, widespread distribution that the Web has to offer, and it also hearkens back to the days when folk music was topical, turning the news into song.

04.282930.06 平和

The cold of winter is officially over and the warmth of spring is emitting energies and emotions straight through the stratosphere.

My old hometown friend Brian arrived in Japan last week to move into my Heiwa-cho house and assume my English teaching responsibilities. He’s settling in really well; he even started a blog called The Fire That's In Me to write about his first impressions, and I think he’s got a great attitude towards living in Japan. He’ll do well.

At the same time, my good friend Cem left to begin a job writing for the Japan Times. He will be in Casablanca, Morocco for the next three and half months interviewing businessmen before departing for his next worldly destination. He will be deeply missed.

To celebrate this emotional changing of the guard, so to speak, we pooled our efforts to host a three-day squat party in Heiwa-cho. We had live didgeridoo performances in the living room, multiple DJs spinning dance music, fire dancers, a pot of curry to feed 50 people, a BBQ outside, a full bar that included three kegs of Tokyo Ale, another fridge full of bottled beer, and Brian’s very own liquor carousel shot dispenser. Hell, we even printed T-shirts!

Check out some of my pictures from this Peace Town blowout, please click here:
04.282930.06 Heiwa Picture Gallery

To all my friends,

We is were are Rolling Stones. Somebody call Keiff!