西田敏行「あの街に生まれて」
Among all the songs performed in the NHK Red and White Year-End Song Festival, あの街に生まれてwas perhaps the best, the most touching one (Toshiyuki Nishida is from Fukushima).
This is a live performance of the song at a Fukushima charity concert:
The lyricist is no other than the AKB48 mastermind Yasushi Akimoto (秋元康)!
Congratulations!
From her wedding invitation card: “He met her and she met him”
Simple yet elegant.
Congratulations, yanzi!
$6400 smart-toilet
And I thought I have used the best toilet last time I was staying at Capitol Hotel Tokyo… Kohler came out with this $6400 toilet with some very cool features.
I wonder if Toto can top this:
One design flaw: where would I put the remote?
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2011/04/26/tech-diary-get-flushed
NDP
According to the polls, the Orange Wave is coming and it’s going to sweep away everything along its way!
Isn’t that scary? Probably the worst thing that can happen, other than a Green Party majority… but I am very doubtful about the NDP seriousness (outside Quebec). I mean one of their candidates actually travel to Las Vegas to campaign and gamble!
I am perhaps biased but let me just pick one of the campaign promises to show you how ridiculous NDP can be:
Great, Jack Layton will lower the interest rate on credit cards for you… but where is the money coming from? The banks will either charge more fees on your other banking activities, or they will just earn less and pay less tax to the government. Either way, taxpayers or customers will end up with the burden.
And who would actually incur interest on a credit card balance? The correct answer is those irresponsible fuckers with a spending problem. Why should taxpayers or customers pay for their reckless behaviour????
Like I said before, if you are a real liberal/environmentalist, vote the Green Party. If you are a real socialist, vote either one of the Communist Parties (so proud Canada has 2 Communist Parties!)
But if you are a serious voter, the only choices are Bloc Quebecois (got to admire their will to split up a country) and Conservatives.
The only good thing out of this supposed Orange Wave is the end of the Liberal Party. Time for a merge haha
Fuck off!
It was so satisfying to see King Kenny telling the biggest whiner of the Premiership, right in his face: Fuck off!
Arsenal is not a champion no matter how much Wenger whines. It is just sad to see this level of self-denial. Time for a new manager.
P.S. Torres is still without a goal after switching to Chelsea: still walking alone!
Leadership
One of the most touching photos from Japan after the earthquake…
And one of the best written piece on the tsunami…
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704101604576248912271950894.html
To be able to stand up and lead still, after all personal tragedies and the complete destruction of the town… this is leadership.
Election
Another Canadian election… hopefully, it will be the end of this Liberal/NDP non-sense. I’ve had enough of Iggy and Jacko whining.
Now the debate on the debate is whether to include Green Party’s Elizabeth May… WTF indeed…
And then I read this piece in WSJ today, where the author was pleading for people to print their emails haha
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704471904576228712797236124.html
“What many folks don’t realize is that it also may indirectly hasten the conversion of forests to other uses like strip malls, parking lots and housing developments—because the nation’s forest landowners can’t keep growing trees without markets for this natural, organic and renewable product.”
Interesting take.
I just thought of an idea… if the Liberals/Environmentalists are brave enough, why not let the whole world witness a grand experiment?
Forget about Lib/NDP, elect a Green Party majority parliment and see how fast a country will fail under an extreme environment policy!
我是自由的
Oh my… this is quite a message. With the recent events in Middle East, I’m afraid mainland China may actually ban yanzi’s new song… it’s all about Freedom!!
《世說心語》
詞：林怡芬/ Jay Lim，曲：Jay Lim
———
每一天 鏡子前 我看見 同一個臉
卻聽見 在耳邊 呼吸聲 好遙遠
我想笑 我想愛 想奔跑 想擁抱
我是怎麼了 像被困住了 時間滿滿的心卻空空的
有那麼一天 時間停止了
才發現原來心自由才能
真的快樂 單純快樂
每一夜 月陰缺 我學會 不完美的美
心跳聲 在周圍 催促我 有夢去追
我又起飛了 我是自由的 隨風旋轉著開心唱著歌 有那麼一天
時間停止了 才發現心自由才能快樂
這種感動我記得 像出發的那一刻 哪一段才是永久
太多美麗的語言 不比心語的純潔 勇敢奔向新世界
我又起飛了 我是自由的 隨風旋轉著開心唱著歌
在那麼一天 時間停住了
我會知道我心是自由的
*Poem excerpt adapted from “Life” by Sarojini Naidu “Till you have battled with great grief and fears, And borne the conflict of dream-shattering years, Wounded with fierce desire and worn with strife, Children, you have not lived: for this is life.”
是時候
It turns out my prediction was correct… a few dictatorships really got toppled (and more coming)… big news indeed.
But it’s really nothing compare to this: Yanzi is finally releasing a new album after 4 years!!!!!!
What a long wait, and what a fitting title: 是時候
Yes, yanzi… after 4 years, it is time!
He who betrays will always walk alone
This is the best banner I’ve ever seen in a Premiership match:
It would be so funny if Liverpool finished 4th and Chelsea ended up 5th… like Stanley Ho’s lawyer said, “just wait and see, I think you’ll be surprised!”
Yada, yada, yada... 