sex warehouse

First off, a new podcast of an interview with me is up. Click here to listen. Same old stuff from me again…

Also, if you haven't, please read part one of this article below, or at least just the quote from Dogen. It's a good one (the quote, I mean).

The guy who ran away from our retreat wrote me yesterday. He was upset I called him an asswipe on this blog. I’m sorry about that. I thought it was obviously a joke. I didn’t identify him in any way, so it was clearly not a personal attack. My intention was more to make the point that running away from a Zen retreat without notice is not proper behavior. I hoped that by saying so I might make future attendees — not just of our retreats but of Zen retreats in general — aware of this fact. A Zen retreat is not a visit to Disneyland or Club Med. You are not a customer or a guest. It is not the job of the organizers to serve you or cater to you. You are a functioning participant who is expected to work with the rest of the group to make the retreat happen. Leaving without notice is like deserting your job without notice. Everyone else has to take up your slack and that’s a problem.

According to him, “My reason for leaving was simple: It was your attitude. You come off as a self-centered, know-it-all prick in robes – with your conception of Zazen being the only one that matters.” He complained about, “the completely impersonal, mindless format of the retreat itself,” and said, “perhaps if we had been given more time to talk with and get to know each other personally, that wouldn’t have been a problem.”

These are points I think need addressing not just to him but to everyone who reads this page since some of you may be considering attending one of our retreats or attending Zen or Buddhist retreats held by other teachers.

If you attend a Dogen Sangha Zazen retreat it means you are agreeing to spend the time doing Dogen Sangha style Zen under a Dogen Sangha teacher’s instructions. This is the same with any retreat. If I go to an Ashtanga Yoga retreat, I expect to do Ashtanga Yoga and I can’t complain that it’s not Iyengar Yoga. I guarantee you that every decent Zen teacher believes that his or her conception of Zazen is the only one that matters. In fact I’d even say that if you find a teacher who does not appear to believe that you should stay away from that person. That’s one of the clearest telltale signs of a teacher who’s no good and will probably rip you off. All my teachers have been self-centered know-it-all pricks.

As far as the impersonal, mindless form of the retreat, our retreats are probably the warmest, fuzziest, most get-to-know-each-other retreats in the Zen business. From what I’ve heard when you attend a retreat by this fellow’s hero Mr. Thich Nhat Hahn not only can you not talk to the other participants, apparently you can’t even look them in the eye. I’m not sure it’s TNH who does this actually (I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong), but I know it’s the case in a great many retreats. The dude in question wanted to know if he could hold his arms a different way from everyone else because he wasn’t familiar with our form. I encouraged him to do it our way. Shit, if you tried doing it a different way from everybody else in some retreats they’d scream and then whack you with a great big stick! No exaggeration. Sometimes I think we’re just way too fucking nice. Actually we expect our attendees to be a bit more mature than to need to be hit with sticks.

But the point isn’t whether our retreats are warm and fuzzy or not. The point is that you really ought to do some research before you sign up for a Zen retreat. Not just the guy in question, but you out there reading this. Not just our retreats either, but any Zen retreat. Or any other meditation or Yoga retreat. Every time someone gets disgruntled about our retreats it’s because they haven’t got the vaguest clue what to expect. I imagine this is not a problem confined solely to our retreats.

Before I went on my first Zen retreat I'd already read as much as I could about Zen retreats in general so I’d have some idea what to expect. And kids, this was in the days before teh internets so it wasn’t like I could just Google “Zen retreat” and get a million people’s diaries of their retreat experiences. Shit, you were lucky if you could find three books on the shelves of the Akron Public Library about Buddhism. And those were all written in 1874. I’m not just trying to give you the old “I used to walk ten miles through the snow to school” thing here. It’s just that I really can’t excuse anyone in the year twenty-ought-seven for not making the tiny bit of effort it takes to find these things out. Our retreats are basically like a nicer, easier version of whatever you find described elsewhere.

In any case, before next year’s retreat I’ll be making some kind of a guide book or something I’ll put on-line to let people know what they should expect from our retreats.

So sorry again to you, Mr. Wipe. Nothing personal. But thanks for the opportunity to make these points. And again, please understand this is not directed at you alone (I wouldn't waste the two hours plus it took me to compose this just to get back at some specific person). It’s really a much more general and widespread problem.

Over and out.

ADDENDUM:
Just to be clear, it is always perfectly acceptable to leave a Zen retreat at any time for any reason. But when doing so you need to tell one of the organizers directly. This goes across the board for all retreats in all traditions.

My long time friend Kenneth Walsh of Kenneth in the 212 fame, recently exposed naked pictures of what everyone assumes is ex-CNN Headline News Anchor and current "The Insider" feature reporter, Thomas Roberts.

Yesterday, I came across this video response from a guy who expresses outrage with Kenneth for posting the pictures. In my mind, there is nothing better than a cat fight, although it is obvious that this guy is not that bright.

Check out Kenneth's original post here and then watch the video response below.

I'm back in Tokyo now after the annual Dogen Sangha Zazen Retreat in Shizuoka, Japan. A good time was had by all. Except for one guy who literally ran away. Well, I'm not certain if he ran or walked. But he left the zendo during one of the kinhin periods and just never came back. This created some problems for us later on because we began finding certain jobs left not done as they'd been assigned to him. So if you're going to leave a retreat, leave. But tell someone you're leaving. Or risk being called an asswipe on this blog.

Asswipe.

A little aside while I'm thinking of it, you must RSVP for the day-long micro-retreats in Santa Monica. In case people show up by accident thinking it's a regular Zazen day, we'll start announcing it's a retreat at the beginning. But if you see a lot of food service stuff being brought in, that's a clue. The schedule, once I know it, is always posted on this blog in the links over there to your left. And speaking of that, you're allowed to help us carry stuff inside, people. I guess everyone's too busy chatting to notice us huffing and puffing and lugging a million things into the house.

The Shizuoka retreat went well. What minor problems there were all came from people who spaced out and did not pay attention to what they'd been assigned to do. For example, five minutes before the beginning of Zazen a big wooden thingy is struck to call people to the zendo. This only actually happened at about half of the sittings and never once happened at the mid-morning sitting. I've got too much on my plate at these retreats to go yelling & screaming about stuff like this. I may need to hire a drill sergeant type for next year.

A couple of people were really concerned about what to do mentally during Zazen. Dogen's instructions in Fukanzazengi just say "Think the thought of not thinking. This is different from thinking." Some people really, really wanted me to give them permission to count breaths or to do one of those Tich Nhat Hahn-isms where you're like, "Breathing in I breathe the thought of compassion. Breathing out I breathe the thought of a pizza with mushrooms and anchovies." Or whatever. Actually the dude who left was the one who wanted to do that.

Here's what Dogen says in Eihei Koroku regarding breath counting:

In our zazen, it is of primary importance to sit in the correct posture. Then, regulate the breathing and calm down. In Hinayana, there are two elementary ways (of beginner's practice): one is to count the breaths, and the other is to contemplate the impurity (of the body). In other words, a practitioner of Hinayana regulates his breathing by counting the breaths. The practice of the buddha-ancestors, however, is completely different from the way of Hinayana. An ancestral teacher has said, “It is better to have the mind of a wily fox than to follow the way of Hinayana self-control.” Two of the Hinayna schools (studied) in Japan today are the Shibunritsu (the precept school) and the Kusha (the school based on Abhidharma-kosa).

There is also the Mahayana way of regulating breathing. That is, knowing that a long breath is long and that a short one is short. The breath reaches the tanden and leaves from there. Although the exhalation and inhalation are different, they both pass through the tanden. When you breathe abdominally, it is easy to become aware of the transciency (of life), and to harmonize the mind.

My late teacher Tendo said, “The inhaled breath reaches the tanden; however, it is not that this breath comes from somewhere. For that reason, it is neither short nor long. The exhaled breath leaves from the tanden; however, it is not possible to say where this breath goes. For that reason, it is neither long nor short.” My teacher explained it in that way, and if someone were to ask me how to harmonize one's breathing, I would reply in this way: although it is not Mahayana, it is different from Hinayana; though it is not Hinayana, it is different from Mahayana. And if questioned further regarding what it is ultimately, I would respond that inhaling or exhaling are neither long nor short.

Next, in case you're wondering, the image on this post is the cover of the new Puffy (I refuse to call them Puffyamiyumi) CD, Honeycreeper. It was just released in Japan and it's fuggin' awesome. Plus the photos in the little booklet make me melt.Here's the new video for the song "Oriental Diamond." Dig the glokenspeil.



Also check out "Kuchibiru Motion" (the sexiest promo video ever created) and "Boom Boom Beat" (with the line "You all wanna see, us act happily, not reality") also from the new record.

I'm staying with Ren Kuroda swordsman extraordinaire and his tolerant wife Hiroko and cute baby Ton-chan (little pig). The view out the window looks exactly like a miniature set from a Godzilla movie. I'll see if I can upload a photo.

Finally, some people talked me into adding the Google ads to this site and the very first one that came up is for the dreaded Holosync. The Holosync sucks. Don't buy it! I'm working on elmininating that ad. I don't know if I'll keep up with this ad stuff if it keeps being for bullshit products.

to be a blogger sometimes.

Or rather, to be a blogger who says out her views.

(Warning: Super long blog entry...)

I haven't been reading the comments, but I'm presuming that loads of you must be asking me to blog out my next entry - but I just don't feel like it.

I am saddened and hurt by something that happened some time ago - and I decided not to blog about it, but yet, I keep getting abused for nothing, and it's time for me to defend myself.

Some time ago I wrote a blog entry about my Just Shoot 3 (it's a Chinese talkshow) appearance.

In that blog entry, I mentioned the questions that were posed to me, as well as commenting that some of the questions were asked rather rudely.

Of all people to respond, I never expected host Dasmond Koh to, because he was the most civil to me that day, and I liked him and thought he would be neutral about me too.

His post is here, read it.

I read his article with my jaw open. Seriously?

I mean, what was so offensive about what I wrote on my previous blog entry?

I merely stated out the questions that were asked - I WASN'T COMPLAINING, WHINING, OR OTHERWISE DISGRUNTLED about the questions.

Obviously, I knew difficult questions were going to be asked before I got on the damn programme, and I was prepared to answer everything.

The only seemingly bad thing I wrote was (besides about Steven Lim, but that's taken for granted that everyone writes bad things about him...) that the questions were asked to me in a rather rude way.

AND THEY WERE.

You can view the clips:





To say that I don't use my brains when I blog and then snigger, isn't that rude? IT IS WHAT. **


But the rude questions were not asked by Dasmond - they were asked by the fat pock-marked bespectacled man who knows nothing yet talks about everything, and the scrawny ex-councilor who tries to teach others important life morals.

I felt really upset because this was one entry I didn't expect backlash from - its content being all innocuous - but yet I still got it.

Let me give you an example.

How would you feel, if one day, you said, "Wow, the weather is so hot today!"

... and immediately, people all sneer at you, saying loudly, "SO HOT FUCKING GET OUT OF SINGAPORE LA! Apparently even the bloody weather is not good enough for the fucking princess! Spoilt bitch."

Won't be upset meh?

It's just a bloody innocent comment I made leh!

However, I understood that Dasmond might have thought that I was referring to him as rude and got offended by what he misconstrued as my complaining, so I wrote him a long comment.

In the comment I wrote for him, I stated the following points (although by now I have almost forgotten what I wrote).

- What I wrote on my previous blog post was not meant to be complaining about the questions asked me but merely stating for my readers what they can expect from the show if they watch it.

- I like Dasmond and Quan Yifeng very much and I understand that they were just doing their job of asking questions...


And lastly, I told Dasmond I was sorry for spelling his name wrongly, for I've always known his name to be Zhen Rong - back in 1996 when he was my favourite DJ in 93.3 and his Xian Ge Ji Yi show always brightened up my nights.

I posted the comment, feeling an influx of emotions due to nostalgia... Here is Zhen Rong, a celebrity I've liked since I was so young, disliking me. Am I really so disgusting? I merely sat on that stool that day and answered all questions shot at me, rude or otherwise, with a (I think) rather benign demeanour. Not so unlikeable what. And I definitely would never have said anything bad about Dasmond.

Below his seemingly mild blog entry were venomous comments - most of them banking on what he said...

What's most scathing is that... these comments were all approved by Dasmond.

Going on his programme and getting accused at is not enough - I had to get all these things written about me... Looks, intregrity, baseless libel... it was as if I raped a young child to deserve all these, but what I did was to just go onto a damn programme.

Some said I can't handle people being straight-forward towards me, some said I had my comeuppance for being rude to others, some fucking absurd guy said I edit my comments even though I haven't even read them for ages.

Honestly, I can't even be bothered to refute these comments.

(Even got Maia and her "friend" commenting lor! They are fucking full of nonsense.)

I only cared that Dasmond would see the comment and understand that I meant no harm.

The next day, my comment was not approved (it was moderated), and there was an influx of even worse comments appearing.

I'd never know if Dasmond didn't receive the comment, or he deleted it...

Perhaps he would kindly let me know, but until he does so, the most possible thing I can presume is that he deleted it, and that, my readers, is most disheartening.

I'm heartily bothered and I keep thinking I don't want to blog because I don't want to get attacked for some innocent thing I write about again.


**Mr Cai Shen Jiang, if you fucking think you, or any other person, can do any better than me at blogging, than I cordially invite you to fucking set up a blog and TRY.

You know, you act like Steven Lim and I are morons - vapid and fake.

I don't know about Steven, but since I presume you have never read my blog, your presumptions about me are all based on the fact that you know I periodically criticise people.

If you think about it, YOU AND I HAVE BASED OUR CAREER ON ENTIRELY THE SAME THING - criticising people and getting our opinions heard.

You and I are not so different, you know. (We might even have came from the same institution in our youthful years - when our morals values were most strongly imbued into us)

You think your opinions are more valid than mine - but they are merely different.

People have different interests, yours is perhaps in editing Chinese news, playing the gu zhen, or perhaps role-playing as Chang Er this festive season with your pet rabbit, I don't know.


But just because my interests lie in frivolous stuff doesn't mean I AM NOT CAPABLE of being as knowledgeable, or as intellectual as you like to act like you are. I am just interested in other things.

Perhaps it is time for you to learn that not everything that is different from you is bad.

And try as you might, I would bet you can never write a blog more awesome than mine, so you know what? Don't underestimate what I have achieved, and SHUT THE FUCK UP.






Digressing, let's talk about feelings.

I'm gonna talk about Harry Potter again.

Often, in the book, Draco Malfoy insults Hermione and looks down on her being a Muggle-born, just because he thinks that by virtue of the fact that his ancestors were all magical, he is somehow more qualified as a wizard.

There was once he shouted at her to shut up, saying, "Nobody is asking for your opinion, Mudblood!" or something like that. I felt soooo unjustified for Hermione that I almost punched the book - which didn't cease my anger at all, so I punched Mike.

That's complete BULLSHIT, because who knows, Draco's mother might have been a horny slut and fucked the muggle postman thus giving birth to him, and people would be none the wiser (memory charm obviously done to the postman).

Hermione's mom might have also been, perhaps, a more discriminating horny slut too, and fucked the last heir of Ravenclaw (I know she is a girl, but imagine la...), thus giving her the same blood status as Voldemort.

But whatever, all these doesn't matter, because as Hagrid said, "They haven't invented a spell that our Hermione can't do," thus making Hermione blush maroon or something.

How do you feel when somebody unworthy looks down on you?

Like how Umbridge was talking down to Hagrid and acting like he is a retarded person - when she herself is so prejudiced and cowardly and evil! Just feels so... URGHHH! for Hermione and Hagrid, you know?

I get that fucking feeling all the time.

I don't (always) feel like I am superior to whoever is talking down to me, but most certainly I don't think people like Cai Shen Jiang has a right to criticise my flaws when he has not proven himself worthy, you know?

Is he the best at what he is doing? No, he is not, unless you count being most irritating on television, in which he has a good few contenders. What was he even doing at the age of 18? By that age, I've started to entertain thousands with my writing - so who is he to be yakking so much?

I don't mind if some smart professor insults me lor...

But these unknown online critics? Who the FUCK are they?

My point is just that there should be a word for this sort of feeling you get when you get looked down on by an worthy person!!

Imagine it is "orapple" or something... (mixed orange with apple...)

A sentence could go like,

"I'm feeling super fucking orapple because today the road sweeper told me that me graduating from Harvard is easy and he could have done it."

Yup, the English (and come think of it, even Chinese) language doesn't seem to be complete.

Another word I always wanted to be included in the dictionary is the disgruntled feeling you get when you think somebody is unworthy of credit.

Often, people call this particular feeling "jealousy", but it is not! Jealousy is when you wish to be the same, but in this situation, you are obviously not looking forward to BEING like this person because you think this person is not even good enough.

Paris Hilton, for example, seems to evoke this reaction mostly among men, who are often saying she is unworthy of fame or adoration because she is a talentless whore.

This feeling, let's call it "oranana" for now, often creates feelings of bitter dislike for the subject, especially after hearing prolonged praise about the subject.


Example:

Guy A: "This fucking F4 (boy band) is fucking gay. I don't understand why you stupid girls are so interested in them. They are not even good-looking!"

Girl B: "Oh, cmon... You are just jealous of their smothering good looks!"

Guy A: "I AM NOT JEALOUS. I am just oranana. Hate them."

Well, if you there are existing words that you know which can aptly enough be used for orapple and oranana, please let me know!



Moving swiftly on to happier and more frivolous things... PHOTOS!


(the pumpkin recipe credits to Shuyin and Weili)

COOKED BY MOI!


I AM A HOUSEWIFE AUNTIE CAN??

Mike was complaining that I don't cook for him anymore, so I made my way to NTUC White Sands (renovating some more, so irritating) to buy groceries!!

Last time every time I go into a supermarket I always think that aunties will look at us young 'uns like we were wrecking havoc at their territory, but I don't know whether it is me... the aunties all seem to have accepted me as one of them now!!

Bah.

Weili and Shuyin are even more auntie and uncle lor... That day for our Mid-autumn celebrations, the duo decided they would cook and Weili taught me two important new supermarket rules:

1) We were looking for something, when I found it and grabbed the first one that I saw.

Weili smacked me on the hand smartly, put my item back, and took another brand two rows below.

"Items on the eye level shelves are the most expensive!" he proclaimed with the wisdom of a age-old supermarketer.

"Perhaps not your eye level..." he added unnecessarily.

2) "I want to eat watermelons!" Weili announced to the entire fruit-shopping clientele at Giant Tampines. I told him I am very anal one, if watermelon not sweet I don't eat.

Thinking this would persuade him not to buy a watermelon which I am not keen on, I was proven wrong immediately when he happily said, "OK! I choose sweet one!"

I thought maybe the darker green the sweeter, but was greeted with a funny sight at the watermelon bin.

A mass array of aunties were curiously smacking the watermelons while having their ears near to them, as if the watermelons have been quite naughty and didn't dare to protest above a whisper.

Weili made a beeline and took up an melon which had just let an auntie down, smacking it with his fingers. "Hear! Got hollow hollow and will reverberate one then is sweet!"

"Ahhh.... This one not bad. I find one not sweet one for you..."

"SEE! This one not sweet! Not hollow hollow one!"

I asked enthusiastically, "I want got fen fen (powdery) inside one leh... Can you pick those out for me???!"

Weili ignored me.

Aye, the things one can learn when one becomes auntie.

Just in case you think Weili seems more auntie than Shuyin, you would be proven wrong now because Shuyin once said if you want to wash coloured clothes that run, just pour vinegar into the water and the colour won't come out lor!

AUNTIE!!! Auntie with shrill voice.

Back to my cooking! The beef looks very raw but Mike says he liked it! He ate 4 pieces of it. -_-






Although the egg is not cut properly and the sauce is a premix, I am still very proud of myself coz it is so delicious!

There was a bit of sauce leftover and I put maggi mee inside... YUMMY!





Plastered outside the greasy walls of Mustafa was a random Nokia poster...

I walked past it and did a double take.



I'm sure it is not him, but still? That smile, the nose and the bowl-cut hair... quite handsome hor!!

To think our Prime minister can be Nokia model lor!

*chuckles to oneself*






Ming invited me to a Charity dinner organised by food blogger cum doctor Leslie Tay, whose food blog is getting increasingly popular!

I also wanted to come up with food blog last time but my whole point was to eat free food and earn money - but I don't seem how I can be completely honest when I earn money/get free things so I dropped the idea.

But I really admire these foodies, they can really take the effort to travel to different places to eat and actually pay for their food lor! (Or don't they??)

I can't stand being hungry - if you asked me to go look for some particular restaurant all the time before I can eat I will confirm become super grumpy one. Mike is scared of my "hunger anger".

So, the charity dinner! Ming bought 6 tickets on behalf of Nuffnang.


My hair is uncharacteristically horrible for event standards. I washed it before going out, and the fucking hair won't dry fast enough for me to curl it! Grrr...

With me is Estee, and we are designing placards! There is a compeition, so I took it very seriously lor!


I think Mine is chioer than the winner's lor (not shown), whose card admittedly had a lot of effort put in but look a bit like a garden, haha!

Is it very sore loser ah? haha... But I don't love my own artwork who will, right? :D


The food at the newly opened Aston something something (so sorry I forgot!!) is at Joo Chiat (you can check Dr Leslie's site if you really want to know) and the food there is fab!


Oh man, the beef is so fresh and it just melts on your mouth, and there's such a thick slab of it!

Selling at $46 (I think) with red wine sauce.

(Don't worry la Indulgz, I still love you all the most, different price range mah!!)


I honestly think this is the best salmon I've ever had. It's so fatty, the bloody thing just brings you right into heaven can? I rate it 700/10.

Yeah la yeah la, I can't be a food critic coz my judgements are always so extreme.


He raised like $7000 plus that day for charity lor!




Mike's 26th birthday!

I organised a surprise BBQ party for him.



You know how much the bill from Giant came up to?

$251.

That's right! I bought SOOOOO much stuff (which, fairly enough, also included bed sheets and some lingerie), and all these bottles of soft drinks/beer/raw food were all chunked into the over-stuffed fridge the night before.

MIKE NEVER NOTICED A THING!

He just thought I bought all the groceries like I do normally!

One hour before he reached home, he was still under the impression that he and I were going to have a quiet dinner at Al Forno's and messaged me "Super can't wait to go to Al Forno's, baby!".

He is damn kua kua lor!

I didn't take a lot of pics coz I was busy bbq-ing, not to mention sweaty, sun-burnt and ugly.



Can see immediately that it's a girl who did this hor? Judging from the coals la, dumbass, I'm not talking about her hands!


Damn tak glam.

The boyfriend...


Stop asking me if U zap works! I never use it enough to know leh... Stupid purchase.

Kelvin is a changed man lor. He is now a reliable workaholic!



By night...

See our guests all using pink plastic cutlery!! :D

Wah... I really worked damn hard for this, ok?

I scurried around the whole day, marinating the salmon, mushrooms, prawns, scallops (chopped garlic, lump of Plantas butter, slice of cheese) and cleaning the house myself!

Thankfully got QQ who came early to help me lor! AI NI!


By the time he blew the candles, he had drank about 20 or so cans or beer (I might be exaggerating, but I think it's close) and the alcohol transformed him from quiet geeky engineer to loud life-of-the-party.

It's a remarkable sight that everyone was giggling at lor.

At one point he even stood in front of everyone and announced his pleasure that they had all come to give him an excuse for his intoxication.

While speaking animatedly, he splashed some beer on the floor ("oops!") and continued by candidly announcing, "If you all want to splash beer on the floor, you are welcome to as well!"

I gave everybody a look that plainly said if they do so, I will personally see that their family clans are eradicated, then screamed at Mike to clean it up.

That belligerent drunk merely informed me that the beer will evaporate soon enough, and I had to stop my mahjong game to clean it lor!

ANGRY! Thus explaining the explosion graphic on my face.


I don't think he noticed that there was cream on his face until several hours later, but he was indeed very, very happy that night.


Thanks to everyone who helped, especially QQ, TSY and Uncle Robert for bbq-ing!






I got inspired by this:



Almost done, but it's already 6 in the morning (I started at midnight) so I'm damn sleepy!

The whites need to be touched up, they are not opaque enough.


Mike drilled up my mirror yesterday! I am super happy. Soon you guys can see it when it's completed!



Are you saddened because you are reaching the end of my blog entry, where your internet experience becomes bland and pointless again? Fret not! There's always internet TV Xiaxue to watch!




If you are bored of waiting for me to blog, at least you know that every week my show will confirm be shown on Click Network!

This week's ep is fucking funny (in my opinion la) and involves me and Kay Kay bimbo-shopping for slutty clothes at City Plaza!

Just in case you are wondering, when I was asking for sexy clothes from the shop auntie I was MAKING FUN OF THE AUNTIE, OK! Not serious one hor!



Hosted by Debbie Wong and Howard Lo (such newscasters' names), and I can't get enough of their mad China news la! This ep is about a fake China Disneyland and the top 10 men desired by Cheena women.

Go watch!!

It has just started raining! I shall go read some more Harry Potter and sleep!

p/s: My mood changed drastically throughout the writing of this blog post.

UPDATE: Zhen Rong messaged me to clear up the misunderstanding (although I keep forgetting to reply, sorry!!!). As it turns out, my comment for him somehow got into his spam folder, it wasn't that he deleted it.

No hard feelings dude... Please stop insulting his entire family in the comments la!

Meanwhile, Cai Shen Jiang wrote some beautiful prose in Mandarin about a metaphorical "xia xue"!

I shall unabashedly presume he is talking about me, or rather, my stupid internet nickname.

Blah blah blah, say what snow used to be pure and innocent, but after being downtrodden by the city and its vices, became... eh... a puddle of evil water!! HAHAHA!! My literal translation!!

And he concluded in his moral superiority that snow is dirty and shameful - or something to that effect la.

You know what old fart?

FUCK OFF LA!

Don't act like you fucking know me so well lor! What cb pure and innocent at heart. Well... fuck you! I'm evil and horrible at heart! And stop acting like people's mother la, want to insult just do it la, must whimper around and talk in circles. I spit uncivilisedly on the parquet flooring of my room.

I love being childish to people who act so dignified. HEHE

If you liked this video, click here to browse through more than 50 other video shorts by the bad boys and/or girls of Crack.

You could not make this shit up. A new flavor of jelly bean at my hometown Wakarusa Dime Store makes the newspaper. But the best part was the lead of the article:

"What's an inch and a half long, blue all over and stains your tongue?
If you guessed Wakarusa Dime Store's new blueberry jelly bean, then you've answered correctly."

Curious as to why Honest Abe is sitting on the Delta Shuttle from NYC to DC? Discover the reason behind this picture here. (DCist)

First off it's Brad's new favorite song time! A new feature I plan to update every time I feel like updating it. Hooray!

Today's song is IMAGE DOWN. Here is the original version by the Japanese new wave band Boowy circa 1982. I heard this while shopping in a video store here in Tokyo the other day. And here is a late Nineties cover version by Puffy aka Puffyamiyumi to folks in the US of A. The Puffy version may be the keeper, although the original gets props for being the original. Have fun. I'll take these down soon to save my bandwidth. So those of you reading this in the future (hello, future people!) may find only dead links. Don't write me complaining about it, though. Especially don't write me complaining about it from the Ganymede colonies in the year 3567.

I'm in Tokyo meeting with the company I work for who just got sold. That's going weird as Hell.

Nishijima is alive and well. Very sharp and very much on the ball.

Tomorrow begins the annual 4-day Zen retreat in Shizuoka. That should be fun.

My new column on Suicide Girls has gotten more Diggs than any ever before, although the little Digg indicator at the top disappears every other time I access it. I don't even really get this whole Digg thing. But it seems people either like or are infuriated by it.

I'm staying in a section of Tokyo heavily populated by embassy people. There are little children outside the window talking English. It's strange to hear that over here.

Wish I had more to say. You want some Dharma? Shee-it.

What is unironic about this video is that my friend Rich, the King of Hipsters, sent this to me. He found it to be hilarious, and so did I.

Much has been made about Kathy Griffin's comments at the Emmy Awards and the Miracle Theater's response in a full page ad in the USA Today. The reality is that they both are smartly marketing themselves.

Kathy's target audience does not include a lot of Christians, so she can say "Suck it, Jesus" without a backlash from her fans. Also, her new comedy video is titled, "Everybody Can Suck It" so why not say something provocative to promote your new video. Anyone who watches "My Life on the D List" should know that Kathy is a marketing machine, always thinking of new ways to promote herself and make money.

Then comes the condemnation from the Miracle Theater in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee in the form of a full page ad in the US Today. The outrage they expressed was designed to be "picked up" by bloggers and entertainment and cable news shows. They only spend $95,000 for the ad and in return receive millions of dollars in advertising exposure. They ad asks Christians to sign the "Enough is Enough" petition on the website where they are collecting thousands of email addresses to market their show. Very smart.

I encourage you to check out the Miracle Theater web site to watch their promotional video which encourages church groups to get a bus and see their show, buy mementos at the gift shop, eat at the concession stand, and visit Noah's Ark Petting Zoo where you can ride a camel. It left me wondering if the Miracle Theater is about making Christians or making money?