The Crappapellis, a short about a musical family by Erin King

back to the link list... i've added a few good ones...

Michael Turton's The View From Taiwan is all Taiwan all the time with lots of handy links. I've been visiting his blog for along time, as has anyone who's even surfed 'taiwan blogs'. He's well known to anyone into the Taiwan blogosphere. A genuine cyber celeb. I'm probably the last Taiwan blog to even mention him. That aside, his blog is the Taiwany-est and well worth a visit. The Blogfather!

The Chocolate President and the Hungry Donkeys is well written, smart and funny. This is the domain of Erin King , formerly of Taichung, currently of Taipei. Erin played music with Taichung live act Milk for years. He's associated with Albatross Productions , a Taipei based film group.

Check out The Crazy 8 - Erin stars as a Taipei pool hustler.

ch-ch-changes

i've redone my link list, finally. changed the font too. now it looks like old school typing. not that this is going to make any of these posts more fun to read but it looks better to me anyway. when i got up this morning the background was pink, or salmon or some kind of pastel color. it looked fine but i've changed it back not 'cause it was gay but just because it was either unintentional or unauthorized. i'm leaning towards the unintentional change. that's what happens when you play with your layout drunk i guess. a friend once advised on blogging, "...don't blog drunk. or high. well maybe high's ok, but never drunk..." i'll try to heed his advice from now on...

anyway back to the links...to be continued cause ivo wants to read a book...

I came across this blog the other day.

Rebel Frequencies' - 'Ten Musical Reasons To Be Cheerful in 2007'

baseball batting robot video

looks kinda like a jedi blocking death rays, no follow through, but hey it's got endurance...

Ramen Man

What would millions of Asian students be snacking on without Momofuku Ando?

inventor of the instant noodle dies at 96.

I'd heard of this man before but didn't realize that he was born in Taiwan and lived here until he was 23 before moving to Japan...

"The Singhsons" intro - the Simpsons are reincarnated as Indians!

speaking of superman IVO loves to pretend he's flying, especially on slides...

shot in Taipei on the 24th, not the the 23rd like the title says

if you haven't seen this yet, check it out... 'how superman should have ended'

IVO in Taipei 12-23-06

Sandy talks to Ivo about his last day as a one year old.

Happy New Year everybody! Let's hope '07 is full of things good and giggly for all!

Yesterday marked my 10th year in Asia... I landed in South Korea on Dec 31st 1996...

In retrospect, it wasn't the best timing for arrival in a foreign country as everyone was away on holiday and I had to sleep on the floor... but young and impatient I was as opposed to old and cranky I am...

Blue skies today and we're taking the boy to the park!

BBC lists 100 things you didn't know like

panspermia is the belief that life on earth originated on another planet

camel's milk has ten times the iron that a cow's has.

thinking about your muscles can make you stronger.

and apparently the egg came first.

xmas card from a student

Ivo, 2 years and a day!

We took Ivo to the Taipei 'Astronomical' Museum in Shi Lin District on Saturday.

"Rocket to the Moon!" is one of Ivo's favorite phrases.

Jon Stewart says "Goodbye Rumsfeld" (video)

"Squid-type robot"

News - well, news to me - in robotics and underwater propulsion.

Japanese scientists have built the Squid Robot (video and pics)

Buzz Aldrin talks about Apollo 11 UFO sighting

Ivo Blackwell to be TWO next week

Thanks again to Charlie Taylor for venturing 'over the mountains' from Hualien to play at the Grooveyard Wednesday night. I had a blast!

I so rarely get out during the week anymore, but once I'd settled the family in for the night, I hit the road and got to Grooveyard by 9:30...

There was an experimental jazz trio playing when I got there so Charlie went on around eleven and played a solid set featuring Eternal Hangover in Hell, Women, Southern Comfort, Ain't No Hippie, Rockin in the R.O.C., the "you're a little bit fat but your face is pretty" song (I Want You?), a beautiful version of Turning Women Gay - the crowd really got into that one.

And a few new ones on me, Dear Santa for one and the encore which Charlie introduced as having been played only once before live and that this would probably be the last time he ever played it. Too bad, good song.

I can't recall the name now, but I thought it was an appropriate closer for the raucous crowd who had lined up to see Charlie in his only Taichung performance of the season...

Patty got the video, would love to see some of that rendered.

Roger played bass and high-hat.

Sorry to hear about .22's bassist Steve Taylor breaking his arm recently. Best wishes Steve, heal up quick!

Charlie said he's going to play a show in Hualien before he heads off to winter on the beaches of Koh Chang in Thailand...

Safe travels Charlie and see you in the Spring!

...more Charlie Taylor

Charlie sings "Women Are Just like People" at spring scream rooster, '05...

first part is a little shaky, the camera I mean...

Charlie Taylor Live...

...in Taichung tonight at the Grooveyard!

Welcome Charlie! Here's my favorite Charlie Taylor performance ever!

NPR's most important American music of the 20th century - complete with 8 to 12 minute conversations about each piece of music.

the Black Sabbath Show

Vince Guaraldi's A Charlie Brown Christmas has never been out of print since its release in 1965.

We've been listening to it lately ay my house and I love it. Very Peanuts but very very jazzy...

hear some tracks here

Mars had water, 'recently'

as recently as in the last few years...it's all about those 'gullies' on the surface... they're changing shapes...some scientists think it may just be liquid CO2 though...

story

tech before its time...

from 80 BC, the Antikythera Mechanism

ROCKETGIRL REPRISE

from the depths of hell...the return of ROCKETGIRL?

I published this by way of Blip TV before. Dusting it off again 'cause I heard Leon is back on the island with that crazy drummer Rock Starkey in Taipei. Ran into Anthony dressed as a robot on the weekend too. Will they play again? Check out Charlie Taylor's blog for news of his first night back in Taiwan...

Reminded me of another show they played but this is the one I have readily available for now...

US to build moon base in 2020

...space shuttle flights to be scrapped by 2010... or so says Bush if you can believe that shit...

Full story link here

dylan interview on the simpsons

I doubt this is really bob but it's funny anyway

jj cale and eric clapton "the road to escondido"

an interview with cale and clapton. if you don't know, cale wrote "cocaine" and "after midnight", mainstays of clapton's set for years.

more good news about red wine

For years I've heard about how moderate consumption of red wine is good for your heart.

Chemicals called procyanidins are responsible and a new study reports that wines from south west France and Sardinia have the highest concentration...

Coincidentally I've been drinking more wine of late 'cause after the the ball tourney I'd had my fill of beer... making me fatter and stupider than I need to be.... anyway

here's the full report

"the 'uncommon sound' of left-handed guitarists"

from npr's weekend edition

Dynamite Club SS '05

Dynamite Club live at spring scream rooster. playin in the rain when suddenly the drummer drop kicks the guitarist right off the stage!

Taiwan Tees

I saw a t-shirt the other day that read -

Please do not

drop the bomb

on my little sister.

thank you!

Odd sayings or expressions on clothing are not at all uncommon here in Taiwan. I was struck by this one because everything was spelled correctly and the grammar was right too! Amazing!

"Official Dictatorship in America"

4 minute video from Halifaxion

*The Michael Richards apology on Letterman has been mostly removed from YouTube due to copyright complaints from CBS...

Here's Jon Stewart from mid November talking about roaches, the new congress and Bush.

New Tom Waits Collection

An interview with Tom Waits on NPR's All Things Considered

Richards apologizes on Letterman

Michael Richards sounds pretty broken up about what happened at the comedy club - talking to Dave and Jerry Seinfeld... video

Notice how the audience's tendency is to laugh at the situation in the beginning of the interview...

Michael Richards loses it on stage

The former Seinfeld star loses it on 2 black guys at a show... video

new look

Beta blogger has provided html idiots like myself waaay more options for customizing a blog... so far seems good, I like the most recent posts feature on this template...
This template style is called 'jellyfish' a cousin of the old template I was using on the vlogpond... I just got so damn sick of that orange bar... beta blogging and beyond!

Tourney Stats

leading hitters, best era, most rbi, most wins, innings pitched, runs scored, etc.

Cuba takes Cup

Here are the final standings to the tournament.

Cuba beat the Netherlands in the gold medal game 6 - 3 in 11 innings.

Chinese-Taipei beat Japan 4 - 0 to take the bronze.

Japan didn't score a run in the last 2 games. The Cubans seemed to play like mortal men during the last 3. The Dutch team almost came out of nowhere to take it all. Good fun!

Last day of Baseball Tourney

Cuba beat Chinese-Taipei last night 5-4. Another 1 run game... wow. What's with the Cubans? Or is the Taiwan squad just playing way over their heads? Cuba faces the Netherlands tonight for the gold medal. Tpe will go at Japan at 1pm for 3rd place...

Neanderthal DNA

Neanderthal DNA breakthrough

Baseball Today!

Japan vs. Netherlands at 1pm. The winner will play in the gold medal game tomorrow against the winner of the Cuba vs.Chinese-Taipei match up tonight at 6:30...

John Kuhel is going to be commanding his rag tag troop of Tainaners up to Taichung this afternoon... reports are they'll hit the parking lot for a tailgate party a couple of hours before the evening game starts... if you're going, get tickets as soon as you can 'cause I reckon it'll be a packed house tonight...

See y'all at the ballpark!

Dark Energy

Dark energy is kicking the universe's ass!

Chinese -Taipei defeats Cuba

WOW! I can't believe they won! 4-3 if you didn't watch it. Zhang Tai-shan clubbed a 2 run homer that turned out to be the difference. the cuban bats went to sleep for the last few innings...Netherlands beat the Aussies to finish 3rd.

so, for the medal round the top 4 are cuba, japan, netherlands and chinese-taipei...

japan vs. netherlands at 1pm tomorrow...

cuba vs. chinese-taipei at 6:30...

Final standings for round robin play

simpsons movie trailer, in theaters next summer.

fresh standings

cuba undefeated, taiwan drops tough one to the netherlands in 10...

australians outlast koreans 10-9...

baseball update

yesterday was an off day for the baseball tournament...

the standings after 4 games per team are cuba and japan at 4-0, chinese-taipei, australia and the netherlands at 2-2, korea and italy at 1-3 and the philippines at 0-4...

battle of the undefeated today at 1pm... cuba vs. japan..

cuba has outscored opponents 44-3, japan 13-7... japan is 3-0 in one run games...

you'll recall the japanese knocked off the cubans to win the wbc tournament earlier this year...

taiwan plays the netherlands today, the philippines tomorrrow and cuba on thursday...

they need to take at least 2 of 3 to get into a favorable spot in the medal round... they need to score more runs too, they've been outscored 26-19...

if you haven't seen it yet in the Compass, here's the

Intercontinental Cup Baseball Schedule

Iraq comment censored on The Simpsons...

Simpsons Treehouse of Horror..."You said we'd be greeted as lib-er-a-tors!"

A while back Stephen Colbert commented on Google's purchase of Youtube...

This is an old clip but I'd never seen it before. Seriously funny!

Stephen Colbert, George W Bush's words

.22 live @ bollywood II

the boys cover ween's 'piss up a rope'...

video by the sandstress.

The Deported Live in the Canal

The Deported played an inpromptu show down in the canal on Hua Mei St Oct 30th, 2004. Taichung cops broke it up pretty quickly, around the 2:30 mark.
The only song they got off was "Cannibal Cafe", once for sound check then once more until the whistles started blowing. This vid was been re-edited for length...

Happy Halloween everybody!

The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert Service

I remember liking this poem a lot in high school.

As read by this old guy on youtube...

18 year old John Cool

John Cool in So Cal with Will Ferrell in the 80s... another nice one from Les Arthur...

more pics...

A couple of years ago a few of us went down to tainan to see a couple of games of the world university baseball championships... what a blast! there's nothing like an afternoon and then evening ball game complete with screaming multitudes, good friends and cold beer. looking forward to the taichung tourney...

here are a few pics from that day...

Taichung to host Intercontinental Cup

I got this email from John Cool last week, hope he doesn't mind me publishing it. Nobody read this stuff anyway... I notice it was sent to many others... sounds fun although I don't think the US or Mexico is coming... There's a new stadium in Taichung though!

howdy folks

next month in taichung there is

an international baseball touney

from Nov. 9th to the 20th

Mexico,Cuba,Japan,States,The Mighty Dutch, South korea,Taiwan

so on the 18th/19th

Im gonna try and

herd some of my baseball buddies

and some other Tainaners

and head north

to hang/watch baseball and laugh

id like to have a bbq/buffet/pot luck

in the afternoon then head to the game

in the evening

afterwards

maybe a game of cards

or i will try and get a hold of Mexican team

and see if they want to hit the town

looking for a host/hostess

bbq

.22 unplugged



those who live in the taichung

there will be some great baseball during the week

with nobody really rooting or going to see a mexico vs. s korea

cuba vs japan

it would be a great chance to go and chat with

players

and try get them to the Q

let me know,

ah fu

sideways water

Shrimp Running on Treadmill (video)

.22 live @ bollywood

.22 performs 'Huggy Bear' aka 'Dry Humpin'... Oct. 14th... Fresh video!!!

Invisibility Cloak Explained

(Video)

'Scientists create invisibility cloak'

Cool!

Double Curse in '86 Series?

Baseball and especially Mets and Red Sox fans remember the '86 Series for many reasons. The most common being Bill Buckner missing Mookie Wilson's grounder in the 10th to give the Mets the win... it's been 20 years since that fateful play- well, 20 years next week, the 25th to be exact... It's been beaten to death to say the least and Ol' Bill is no doubt sick of hearing about it.

However, Uni Watch reveals a startling bit of info...

Was Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner actually wearing a Chicago Cubs batting glove under his mitt? And if so, what the hell was he thinking?

Paul Lukas posits he never had a chance...

Trailer Park Boys:The Movie

Released last week. Nice review here.

Check out the trailer here. Looks funny. I'm pretty sure it'll never come to Taiwan.

Trailer Park Boys web site

Athletes who have died in plane crashes

Yankees pitcher Corey Lidle dies in plane crash

If you've been enjoying the demise of the Yanks this year, then this list is for you...

Top ten Yankee collapses.

Joe Kuhel

We were lucky enough to run into John Kuhel, grandson of major leaguer Joe Kuhel, the other day as he was passing through town. We talked about baseball. John's on a team in Tainan and is known to the locals as A-Fu. He says it's a blast.

We talked about the MLB playoffs. It's nice to see Wang Jian-min do well. Other than that we're not shedding any tears for the Yanks.
Watching those games you could just tell the Tigers wanted it more. Pitching is key in the playoffs and this year, the Yanks just didn't have it.
Too bad about the Dodgers, I thought they could have made more of a run.
The Mets are looking good offensively but I reckon their pitching will let 'em down in the end...
I'm calling Mets vs. Tigers in the Series. Tigers in 6.



John's grandfather played first base for the Washington Senators and Chicago White Sox from 1930 to 1947. A career .277 hitter, he played in over 2,000 major league games.

Here's a link to his career stats. John sent me his baseball card pic a while ago...

"Juuuuice!"

Ivo likes his juice in the morning.

this one's a little grainier... up early before breakfast...

Ivo

...got a new phone with a camera feature. this is the first one I took. Ivo went with me to pick it up.

ab-so-lute-ly!

from the fark wire, grab yer dame and throw on yer glad rags! it's slang from the 20's!

live action Simpsons intro...

These lists are arbitrary and debatable, but the stiffs at NPR put together a pretty decent one this time... the top 300 songs of the 20th century alphabetized...

Happy Teacher's Day...

The California Nebula

...or NGC 1499, 100 light years long...

Charlie Taylor "Ain't No Hippy" SS Monkey: Silhouette Version

Watch the video

Charlie opens his '04 morning set... spring scream monkey kenting taiwan..

update: change of gov't in NB

Liberals end Tory rule...

vintage Miracle Saru...

Spring Scream 2000 footage of Miracle Saru, courtesy timogan at youtube...

...here too at a different angle...

more Miracle Saru...

This one from Karen Lee, spring scream '06

Miracle Saru Spring Scream Rooster

The Lost Spaceman has been listing his top ten favourite rock shows of all time... coming in at #4 was Miracle Saru in Kenting last April...

Here's the first little bit of their set...

The Tank is 90 this week

They first appeared at the Battle of the Somme, deployed by the British against the Germans as a 'mobile machine gun destroyer'... first code named 'mobile water tanks for Mesopotamia'... the name stuck, well 'tank' did anyway... 31 of the first 49 delivered to the trenches broke down... 2 broke through German lines all the way and the tank's usefulness was realized... the French and Germans were both soon developing their own...

new Dylan video - When the Deal Goes Down

I'm a Dylan fan and I am thrilled he's still making quality music after all these years... I love the way this vid looks... starring Scarlett Johanson...mmmm... summer days, lazy days... I gotta get back to Namerica next summer...

WTF?

If this is true it's the dumbest thing I've ever heard... well so far this week anyhow...

Irwin fans 'in revenge attacks' on stingrays...

I want to read this book...

A friend of Sandy's brought back the Sunday New York Times from the states last week and as I was reading the Book Reviews...

this one caught my eye, Severance by Robert Olen Butler... he 'imagines the last thoughts of the decapitated' throughout history... and what was really interesting is that he posits the head actually remains fully conscious for a full minute and a half after separation from the body... click the link to read the review I read... I like the part where his original title for the book was 'Talking Heads', but was discouraged by his publisher who deemed it in poor taste... I really want read this book... I feel an Amazon order coming on....

The only thing I've read from Butler is his collection of stories about Vietnam, which apparently won a Pulitizer, called Good Scent From a Strange Mountain... read it before my trip to Vietnam back in '02... good read...

Tungurahua follow up...

Tungurahua means 'throat of fire'... here's how the people from the area are coping with the destruction of their farms...

Always remove your CD player face...

We got robbed yesterday. Someone smashed the glass out of the passenger side door of my car, climbed over my son's car seat and ripped my CD player out. The car seat is worth more than the damn CD player but I guess whoever did this doesn't have kids... Nothing else was taken. Not even CDs... the car was parked right in front of my house too and may or may not have happened in broad daylight...can't be sure... I think it may be due to the fact that the city has had the street lights shut off in my neighbourhood for more than 2 weeks now, making it dark as all hell...hence the video camera at the end of the alley was also powerless... my neighbour introduced me to the neighbourhood LI ZHANG and he assured me this was being taken care of and he would inform the police... Sandy called the foreign affairs police on Wen Xin and they refused to help. Refused! Refused to connect her with the local precinct despite having a smashed car and a sleeping toddler in the house.. A pox on those assholes is what I say! Anyway, Sandy knows this great family mechanic and he came over immediately and replaced the window for only 1500 NT... pretty sweet... just when you hate all things Taiwanese, someone shows you how kind most Taiwanese can be....

If you have a car in Taichung, always remove the face of your cd player when parked.

Top Ten Most Dangerous Animals

I'm sure this list is highly debatable... Personally I'd divide it up into two lists, one for poisonous creatures and one for those that just eviscerate you... According to Live Science the top ten most deadly animals are...

10. Poison dart frog... neurotoxins, baby, neurotoxins! One frog has enough to kill 10 humans...

9. Cape Buffalo... 1500 pounds of stampeding terror..

8. Polar Bear... amazingly strong... will eat you...

7. African elephant... Bart Simpson called his pet elephant 'Stampy"....

6. Australian Saltwater Crocodile.... huge and nasty...will eat you...

5. African lion... master hunter...will eat you dead or alive...

4. Great White Shark... most feared of they sea creatures, well the most famous...will eat you...

3. Australian Box Jellyfish... 15 foot tentacles... 5,000 stinging cells... enough toxins to kill 60 humans...

2. Asian Cobra... highly poisonous...

1. the Mosquito... responsible for 2 million deaths a year... malaria is still a big problem, obviously...

All about Stingrays....

Stingray defense explained... Serrated and venomous tipped spear at the end of the tail...

R.I.P. Croc Hunter

I just found out about this. Steve Irwin dead at 44. Killed by stingray, barb through the heart... I feel bad about this for some reason...

The Matter of the Bullet Cluster

I just love this title... mapping dark matter

NB calling

I'm from New Brunswick and am considering moving my family home for spell...

I have a kid and another on the way...

Provincial election Sept. 18th...

NB expats say 'show me the money' to premier Bernard Lord... Yes!!!