Holy Shit, Tornados (Yes, Plural) Hit Raleigh!

Jesus God, what on earth?! Parts of Raleigh got tore the fuck UP by a bunch of dang tornadoes yesterday. One of my friends spent her afternoon in a closet with her three dogs. (Dani, call me back, dammit.) A trailer park not far from my brother's neighborhood got leveled. Those poor people had no chance. My brother works at 911 dispatch in Raleigh and spent hours fielding the most horrific phone calls.

There but for the grace of God, etc.

Jukebox: Pizzicato Five

Time for more Japan love. Pizzicato Five were a hyper-prolific Japanese pop band of the "Shibuya-kei" style (an eclectic mix of jazz, pop, and electro-pop that originated in the Shibuya district of Tokyo) who released bunches of albums in the late 80s and 90s and were introduced to the U.S. in 1994 via the bouncy single "Twiggy Twiggy vs. James Bond" (video above) and a compilation album called Made in USA. P5 are the quintessential Japanese creation in that they took quintessentially American/western influences and filtered them through their Kitschy Nippon Weird-o-Nater to create something wholly and sublimely Japanese. And hella awesome, or, as the Japanese say, "へラ　アーソム".

Bonus clip below of the single "Baby Love Child" in which lead singer Maki Nomiya sings in English.

Wanna Throw Up? This Should Help.

Hey aspiring writers! Have you pretty much given up on ever typing your way to any kind of decent income in this era of people only interested in reading free blogs and not wanting to buy any book not written by a trusted celebutard? Good thing, because today brings this news from Publishers Marketplace:

Top celebrity blogger Perez Hilton's THE BOY WITH PINK HAIR, the story of a child born with a shock of fabulous hair that sets him apart from his peers, who uses the opportunity to find what makes him special and share it with the world even as some find this difference hard to accept or understand, with illustrations by Jen Hill, to Raymond Garcia for Celebra Children's, with Steve Meltzer to edit, for publication in September 2011.

Ugh, is there a pair of words in the English language more dreary and depressing than "celebrity blogger"? No, there isn't. Yes, Perez Hilton, the much not-admired gaywad who types mean/stupid things about dumb famous people for a living, has a book deal. A children's book deal. Somehow this is worse than Bristol Palin getting a deal to write a memoir. Bristol's a Palin, therefore she's a grifter who will gladly take the wads of cash that right-wing publishing imprints throw at her with abandon. We expect her to and would be a little disappointed if she didn't.

But this Perez shit is just crazytown. Are parents clamoring for more books by awful pink-haired humanoids? Who is going to buy this bullshit? For their kids? And read it to them?

In conclusion, I would sooner read Going Rogue: Children's Edition to my gay son (if I had one), because it's never too early for a gay boy to practice reading a bitch.

Today in Movie Poster Improvements: Hop

Your gay kids are gonna love this movie.

Letter from Tokyo

I received this update from a Japanese friend in Tokyo. He took the above picture was of Shibuya Crossing, which is one of the most lit-up places in a city with a LOT of really lit-up places. Those of you who have seen Lost in Translation might recognize it from the scene where Scarlett Johansson goes exploring and passes that giant dinosaur on the screen. Anyway, here's the latest:

People around Tokyo scare about radioactive and equally scared electric shortage. Night in Tokyo, no much lights in street. Attached picture is taken at scramble crossing in Shibuya. If we keep short the electricity till summer.... I don't want even think about that...

People in Japan are more or less obsessed with this disaster and living with sad feeling. We shouldn't forget victims but we need to release our mind apart from this sometime. Otherwise we are stifled with the sadness...