the.[ED]ition

Yes, I’ll get to my Tokyo post but first, I received an e-mail from Matt Harding yesterday informing me that the latest video of him dancing to that funky music, white boy…is up and running. I posted about Matt’s ridiculous but totally awesome “dancing around the world” videos and last September, when he said he would make a stop in Vancouver, I took the opportunity to go meet him and be in the video. Here’s us boogie-ing down. I’m not sure which one of us is better at dancing poorly…or whether that’s actually winning, really.

Here’s the whole video. Yes, it is, in fact, epic as hell and made of win…although the screenshots above are obviously the best part since I’m in it. But what the heck, watch the rest anyways.

Whoever said working in a cubicle farm is boring has obviously never been to this office.

This is actually some decent film-making! Can you imagine working somewhere where everyone’s expense accounts include several entries for “Nerf Guns”?

Stay tuned for the first of many Tokyo-related posts tomorrow!

One of the things I said I wanted to do when I came to Japan was experience the thriving music scene. In addition to visiting a bunch of live houses (small venues), I wanted to go to one of the massive outdoor music festivals. The Fuji Rock Festival is probably a bit larger but so far, the list of acts seems a bit lackluster. However, when I saw the headliners for Summer Sonic, I knew I wanted to go.

Coldplay, Alicia Keys, Vampire Weekend, Fatboy Slim, Justice, Junkie XL, Devo (WHIP IT GOOD!) all play on the 10th of August. The 9th is pretty good too but I’d rather just go on the 10th. I’d rather see Justice and Coldplay than Panic! at the Disco, Death Cab for Cutie, The Verve, Prodigy, One Republic and The Sex Pistols (not really the Sex Pistols anymore…). This is before I even get to the Japanese bands.

Tickets are difficult to come by…not because of supply (the venue holds tens of thousands) but because I can’t read Japanese. Of course there’s an English site as well but it involves…for some reason…getting tickets shipped to me from France. That and it’s nearly $80 more that way. A single ticket for one day is only 15,500 yen (about $155), which is a great price to see all those bands.

You purchase tickets from Family Mart, a common convenience store, through a self-serve ATM-like machine. I can’t read a word but luckily, a nice lady helped me after I showed her a piece of paper with all the information on it. After that, the machine prints out a ticket that you take to the counter and you pay the store clerk. They only take cash so be sure to bring 15,500 with you.

Whilst filming a troupe of drummers near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial, I noticed that Stephen was doing something most of us Asians are quite familiar with: the Asian Squat.

The Asian Squat is done with your feet wide apart and your butt very low to the ground but not sitting. As a result, your center of gravity is very low and it is quite difficult to tip over. However, you do look rather ridiculous while doing so and despite the convenience, we usually prefer to use…y’know, chairs.

For more information on the Asian Squat, you can watch this instructional video.

I’m not sure what needs to be said of this epic twenty minutes of footage that resulted from the Dot Com Pho crew’s drunken night on the town. Yes, we hit the sauce a little too hard at the Thermaltake party…which was the best one we’ve been to since we’ve been here in Taipei, including drunken karaoke (a poor rendition of Queen’s We Are The Champions). Check out the resulting two videos that include Stephen Fung’s opinions regarding Mortal Kombat (which he thinks is a real, historical event), John Chow attacking a man on a scooter, Jason Jacobs from Techware Labs stumbling around trying to grab everyone’s buttocks, an impartial Danish judge named Jon Fabricus, and a comment we will never let Michael Kwan live down…ever…which happens after the end credits roll.

Me? Well, despite drinking quite a bit, the worst that happens to me is that I fall over on the sidewalk and also walk into a wall.

Enjoy…and be sure to give these guys grief the next time you see them.