February 3rd is known as Setsubun in Japan. To learn more about this ancient tradition, read all about it on this Wikipedia page and watch this dramatic video footage from Mantrousers in which he casts out an actual oni, or demon, from his apartment!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igbI1swXp18

And if you need to catch up on Tokyo Panic Living videos, I've created a video playlist for your viewing pleasure on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=72B1C2B412F89316

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, Japan, Japanese culture, festival, matsuri, holiday, observance, ceremony, ritual, rite, spring, demon, evil, mask, soybeans, podcast, bean throwing, Tokyo, 節分, 豆撒き, 大豆, 日本, 年男, 鬼, 文化, 東京

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As it is still winter in Japan* and in the much of the rest of the Northern Hemisphere as well (that is, if you believe the world is indeed round, of course).

In the spirit of winter, here is a crazy video I took out by the Tone (say 'Toh-neh') River in Chiba.  Are these fixies or just single-speeds with freewheels?  I wasn't paying close enough attention, but trying to get it on film rather.

Posted by Rob.

*P.S. "In Japan, we have four seasons." I am often informed.  "How many seasons do you have in your country?"

Tags: NFTOS, tires, towing, cycling, Tone River, Chiba, Japan, winter training, bike path, hiver, inverno, invierno, entrainment, treino, keirin, single-speed, fixie, bicicleta, radsport, bicyclette, le vélo, bicycle, cyclisme, ciclismo, 競輪, 自転車, 利根川, 千葉, 日本

 

 

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When I hit refresh on my iTunes podcasts today, I discovered CyclingNews.com had also done their first podcast of the year, albeit a young and tender show #36.

I listened to our show until a few minutes from the end amassing a slough/slew (?) of notes, links and tags, which will be posted and/or updated in due time.

Tour Down Under video highlights:

TdU warm-up:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiMj6agjk6M

Stage 1:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp5KuengQvk

Stage 2:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eNttZ7165M

Stage 3:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMXtHvrQGxY

Stage 4:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfYtQVK4wVw

Stage 5:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPHFZDiCIGE

Stage 6:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaTJSTIVOsc

Team RadioShack's director Johann Bruyneel named his long list for the Tour de France, so Hans and Rob predict their short lists.

Hans picks: Armstrong, Zubeldia, Kloden, Leipheimer, Steegmans, Popovych, Horner, Rast, Vaitkus

Rob picks: Armstrong, Zubeldia, Kloden, Leipheimer, Steegmans, Popovych, Horner, Rast, Paulinho

Hans' climbing wildcard: Brajkovic

Photo:  A rusty old abandoned cart in the the countryside of Chiba, Japan.

Posted by Rob.

Tags:  NFTOS, Heitz, Hill, Napa Valley, winery, Winning Magazine, VeloNews, competitor.com, CyclingNews.com, Tour Down Under, TdU, Andre Greipel, Columbia-HTC, Team Sky, Walunga Hill, mountains classification, breakaway, aboriginal superfan, pink, Speedo, Nagoya, Love Wheels Nagoya, 2010 Cycling Calendar, Kinu, Mica, Cadel Evans, attack, Luis Leon Sanchez, Alejandro Valverde, Paris-Nice, Alberto Contador, Cervélo, Robbie McEwan, Baden Cooke, Tour of San Luis, Liquigas, Rasmussen, Miche, Brasil, Scott-S. J. dos Campos, Rock Racing, Chicchi, Lodo, Nibali, cyclo-cross, Rabobank, NOS.nl, Lance Armstrong, interview, '90s, RaboSport, videos, channel, Floyd Landis, prologue time trial, Tour of Bahamas, Neil Browne, Browne Eye, Woody Harrelson, The Big Labowsky, Kingpin, bowling, PezCycling, Crankee, distractions, podium girls, Roy Munson, Bill Murray, Langkawi, Qatar, Trek, Livestrong, Taylor Phinney, World Championship, pursuit, Olympics, gold medal, Under-23, farm team, developmental, Axel Merckx, Eddy Merckx, Davis Phinney, Connie Carpenter-Phinney, Missouri, Kessler, Kloden, Tom Zirbel, B sample, positive, over-the-counter, GNC, supplement, product, contamination, steroid, production, trace amounts, Peru, cocaine, Minnesota Vikings, Schumacher, CAS, court of arbitration, Bernard Kohl, Gerolsteiner, Rebellin, EPO, clean, negative, admit, Kloden, Kessler, Marco Pantani, team time trial, spring classics, cobbles, Johan Bruyneel, Vuelta a Murcia, Milan-San Remo, Criterium International, Corsica, Tour de France, Flanders, Amstel Gold, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Dauphine Libéré, Tour de Suisse, California, stronger, Andy Schleck, Vuelta a España, Bjarne Riis, Saxo Bank, wildcard, old farts retire

 

 

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A new lens on Japan zooms in on gourmet ice cream!

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, Shourai Neko, Tokyo, Japan, food, ice cream, アイス, おいしい, 食べ物, 東京, 日本

 

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Here's the direct download for the countdown show:  http://media.libsyn.com/media/newsfromtheotherside/Top_40_Songs_2010.m4a

...and here are the Top 40 Songs *(uploaded since the last Top 40): 40. Brazilian Pizza - Full Propulsion, 39. Absolute Magnitude - Quest a.k.a. Hayden, 38. The Sweet Science - Quest, 37. Chill Bill - Quest, 36. Accelerate - The Musgrave Ritual, 35. Alleluia - Norville, 34. Plink Plonk Muses - Salads in Space, 33. Jumping into the Line - Riu (Full Propulsion), 32. Verano Sin Fin - Quest, 31. Walking in Underwater Shoes - Jerry Gordon, 30. Cinema - Quest, 29. Binary Lullaby - Charles-Éric Billard, 28. We've Been Here Before - BEB & El Gringo, 27. Beam Me Up Scotty - The Musgrave Ritual, 26. Rattlesnake Baby! (vocal track only) - Hans a.k.a. MC Lunchbox, 25. Coconut Grove - The Musgrave Ritual, 24. Ice Climber - J.A.L., 23. My Ex-Girlfriend Walks In - Momiji a.k.a. John Marrese & El Gringo, 22. Bass for Dummies - Quest, 21. Chinese Children & Shochu Man - Jonny Heartbreaker & El Gringo, 20. Taste Test - The If Factor, 19. New Dress - Halo Effect, 18. Night in Nakatsu - The If Factor, 17. I'm Fine, I'm Kenta - Charles-Éric Billard & Alex Brooke, 16. The Moon Again from the Hospital Room - Jerry Gordon, 15. Girlfriend in a Coma (Japanese version) - Alex Brooke, 14. Clowns - Norville, 13. I Want More - Jonny Heartbreaker, 12. Free - Don't Date Me (feat. Russ Leslie, Norville), 11. Luke, I Am Your (Swedish) Father - Fake Pilot's father (voice), Fake Pilot (audio) vs El Gringo (mash-up), 10. A Song for My Girl - Jonny Heartbreaker, 9. Triple Decker (short version) - Charles-Éric Billard, 8. ALT Rap and This Monkey's Gone to Heaven - Jonny Heartbreaker & El Gringo, 7. Days of Grunge - Alex Brooke and Jonny Heartbreaker, 6. Crap Hotel in Nagoya - Alex Brooke, 5. La Stish - Jerry Gordon, 4. Wine Red no Kokoro & The Moon Again from the Hospital Room (mash-up) - Sae, Jerry Gordon & Alex Brooke, 3. Surfer Girl - Jonny Heartbreaker, 2. That Ass Is Your Meal Ticket - Quest, 1...

And the number one song is... You're going to have to listen to the podcast!

Here are links to the previous Top 40 countdown:  Bottom 20 / Top 20.

For links and more info, please check out the original song postings in the music category. Let us know if any of the links aren't working by leaving a comment.  Thanks.

Photo by Hans.  Yes, that's a real rattler.  This picture was taken somewhere in Arizona a couple years back.  To hear about that trip's story, you'll have to listen to Bicicleteiros #36: Toad Whisperer.  Please check out Hans's SmugMug for more cool photos.

Posted by Rob.

Tags:  NFTOS, MFTOS, The Conservatives (featuring Jonny Heartbreaker a.k.a. Greg Morrissey), moontriangle, softlogicmonkie, charlou, music ...

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Our first song of 2010 is from Riu, who gave us a track called Jumping into the Line last year.  It arrives as our 40th music track since our last music countdown, and thus slots in at #40 in our latest countdown.

Image from a political blog (mentirabrasil.blogspot.com/) who probably got it from the URL you see on the image.  I'll take it down if asked by the owner.

Posted by Rob. Tags:  NFTOS, MFTOS, Full Propulsion, trance, psytrance, electronic, music, free, download, .mp3, Pizza Brasileira, catupiry

 

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This is either the last song of 2009 (in the Western Hemisphere), or the first song of 2010 (in Japan and other places where the calendar has already turned over).

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

Image by Quest.  Whatever does it mean?

Posted by Rob.

Tags:  NFTOS, MFTOS, Hayden, Lincoln, Nebraska, electro, electronic, electronica, house, techno, music, download, .mp3, free

 

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1. My Ex-Girlfriend Walks In - El Gringo vs Momiji (John Marrese)
2. Coconut Grove - The Musgrave Ritual (Jonathan Perry)
3. Beam Me Up Scotty - The Musgrave Ritual
4. Cinema - Quest a.k.a. Hayden
5. Verano Sin Fin - Quest
6. Jumping into the Line - Riu a.k.a. Full Propulsion
7. Plink Plonk Muses - Salads in Space
8. Alleluia - Norville
9. Accelerate - The Musgrave Ritual
10. Chill Bill - Quest

Honorable mention: The Sweet Science - Quest a.k.a. Hayden

Photo:  El Gringo accosted by a fan at the awards ceremony.

Posted by Rob.

Tags:  NFTOS, MFTOS, Jonathan Perry, Bionic Monocle, Jerry Gordon, Charles Billard, Rick Tuazon, Full Propulsion, John Marrese, DJ El Gringo, vocals, violin, fiddle, guitar, guitarist, vocalist, keyboards, psytrance, techno, electro, electronic, electronica, house, rock, folk, experimental, instrumental, Latin, countdown, top ten, songs, music, .mp3, .m4a, free, downloads, original, new, Lincoln, Nebraska, Osaka, Chiba, Tokyo, Japan, San Francisco 

 

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...or "Dreaming of a White Christmas."  

In this podcast

Intro music by Full Propulsion. 

Tomeke, Tomeke, Tomeke!

Tom Boonen, Belgium's beloved bad boy of bike racing finally remembers having used cocaine without someone mysteriously slipping it in his drink or something like that.

Austral Wheelrace

The Australian cycling season is well underway, and the magic of the internets has us learning about ancient traditions such as the Austral Wheelrace, a 112-year old event, which is the oldest track event in the world.

Astana are soo camp!

As mentioned in the newsflash below, Astana has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons lately and here's a photo of them in Pisa, at one of their pre-season get togethers, by way of the Twisted Spoke blog:  http://walshworld.wordpress.com/2009/12/11/astana-and-the-leaning-tower-of-pisa-a-training-camp-metaphor/

San Luis race

Ever on the lookout, Hans spotted an article about Liquigas returning to the Tour de San Luis, but here's a link for Rasumussen, also slated to ride it with the Miche team:  http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/2010-tour-de-san-luis-roster-announced

Next time!

In upcoming podcasts we'll discuss some other sporting events on the horizon, such as the NFL's Superbowl and FIFA World Cup.

Bicicleteiros on Twitter

Bicicleteiros is now on Twitter!  http://twitter.com/bicicleteiros  See the little Twitter widget on the right hand side of the screen? Outro music borrowed without permission.  We'll edit it out if asked.  

Not in this podcast

7 unique DNA fingerprints show up on some discarded medical equipment and it has Le Monde quoting French gendarmerie as saying Team Astana may have committed une infraction pénale, meaning they could've committed a crime according to French law.  Ah, doping, the gift that keeps on giving...

Read the original Le Monde report in French: http://www.lemonde.fr/sport/article/2009/12/23/astana-aurait-commis-une-infraction-penale-pendant-le-tour-2009_1284426_3242.html

...or this fairly accurate regurgitating of the Le Monde article in English: http://www.morethanthegames.co.uk/cycling/237899-armstrong-and-contadors-team-astana-trouble-over-tour-de-france-drip-bags

...and in Olympic news, Vancouver is ready to party!! http://www.morethanthegames.co.uk/winter-sports/177777-olympic-ecstasy-not-way-you-think

Posted by Rob. Tags:  NFTOS, doping, dope, coke, cocaine, powder, dust, cobbles, Tom Boonen, cobblestones, bricks, pavé, Paris-Roubaix, EPO, blood, HGH, human groth hormone, ecstasy, OzCycling, Tour de San Luis

 

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Patrick has created a playlist featuring selections from his radio show on the music free archive.  http://freemusicarchive.org/member/patrickwiddess/Headstand_2009

More links
Headstand Radio - http://headstand.209radio.co.uk
Free Music Archive - http://freemusicarchive.org/
Joe Powers - http://www.joepowers.com/

More links and show notes coming soon!

Posted Rob.

Tags:  NFTOS, headstand, Patrick Widdess, Free Music Archive, Joe Powers

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