Does anyone know where I can get some proper prapatang? "What is prapatang," you ask? This video is an out-take from Loop Line #8 of 8, meaning that Alex must be almost finished with the final episode of our Loop Line adventures filmed just over two years ago. Way to keep the fans in a perpetual sense of NEED. Alex is the qunitisential (sp?) pusherman.

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, Loop Line, JR, Osaka, Alex Brooke, Rob a.k.a. El Gringo

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2007.12.28 (Fri) @ Sunsui
OPEN/START 21:00-5:00
ADV/2,000YEN(W/1D) DOOR/2,500YEN(W/1D)
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LIVE
ddubfactt (AKIO HARA＋元町金次郎)
u-lala
BUNVESTRO
��兄弟
bolshoiz
http://myspace.com/bolshoiz
俺���ロック
ヘニルコーツ

DJ
NKC Parliament
スミダトモヨシ(psybava/organica)
DJ Rob a.k.a. El Gringo
DJ�ー�ラ

More info:
http://www.myspace.com/nuttykingcall 

It's great to be back in Osaka!  Makiko and I crashed the HiJak x-mas party at GARB on the 23rd, and I got to DJ a bit then.  On Christmas Day, we explored the hills of northeastern Osaka, an area we'd never been to, near the Nara and Kyoto borders.  The last few days, I've been hanging out with my pals Claire and Andrew (former Osaka residents and current world travelers).  We've been dropping in on our favorite old haunts and pretending we never left. 

NFTOS regulars will be familiar with many of those old haunts from videos which bear their names, i.e. Chove Chuva (Brazilian music shop & cafe), Barbes (Bar & restaurant specializing in Cous cous and Pho), Kasu Udon (fantastic udon shop near Laba Laba), Cafe Absinthe (if you have to ask...), Omoni (Korean restaurant downstairs from Oasis Lounge) and Bar Uno (which you can see in Loop Line #5 of 8:  http://www.newsfromtheotherside.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=255472 ).  We've also been trying some new places too!

Tonight I'll be DJing at Cafe Absinthe from about 8:00 p.m., then heading over to nearby Laba Laba (the first place I ever DJed) to hangout for the rest of the evening.  I'll try to post the exact times here later today, before heading out.

Right now I'm staying in Suminodo, in northeastern Osaka.  At the moment I am enjoying an early morning cup of coffee and watching the sun come up over Mount Ikoma. 

Posted by Rob.

Tags:  NFTOS, Osaka, bars, cafes, restaurants, DJing, DJ events, HiJak, Garb, Chove Chuva, Barbes, Deligo, Kasu Udon, Absinthe, Omoni, Bar Uno

Hans and Rob re-cap the year of cycling. And oh, what a strange year it was! If you listen past the John Tesh, past the Xuxa ramblings, we finally get down to business. When Hans hits his stride, he turns into a detective as he tries to put together the pieces of the T-Mobile team's shenanigans prior to the 2006 Tour de France. Though the damage has been done, and the former team of Jan Ullrich have lost their title sponsor, Hans wonders out loud what happened to certain riders who may have slipped through the (drag)net.

For now, I'm waiting for a photo from Hans to spruce up this post. If you want to hear a more coherent podcast covering the current cycling happenings, including next year's routes of the three major tours, then look no further than VeloNews's Podcast 35 which you can find on their podcast hompage.

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, Xuxa, John Tesh, Hans, Irmão da Xuxa, Rob, El Gringo, cycling, Ivan Basso, Contador, Vinokourov, Stuary O'Grady, Chopper Reid, Ronnie Johns, Paris-Roubaix, Football, Oil for Drugs, World Cup, ProTour, Marino Lejarreta, Dave Zabriske, Bjarne Riis, Erik Zabel, Confessions of a Soigneur, T-Mobile, Rolf Aldag, Olaf Ludwig, Giuseppe Guerini, Patrick Sinkewicz, Oscar Sevilla, Jan Ullrich, Bobby Julich, Aaron Olson, Landis vs LeMond, Paris Hilton, Mary Kate, Ashley, Olsen, twins, Lance Armstrong, Michael Vick, dogfighting, Shawn Taylor, Washington Redskins, Boston, lead singer, Ramones, Dee Dee, Johnny Ramone, Johnny Cash, Saunier Duval, 24, Hagerstown, iTunes, iPod

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Saturday, 22 December 2007

CREAM LATTE @ The Pink Cow in Shibuya, Tokyo

DJs: El Gringo and Mateus Branco (who recently changed his name to a symbol or something)

Spinning chilled out tunes early on that later morph into who knows what!

A buffet dinner from 7:30 p.m. till 9:00. Come after that, if you don't want to pay the 2,650円 for food.

Details, map: ThePinkCow.com

Or in case I missed something, check Cowlander of events for December, which states:

Sat. Dec. 22nd – CREAM LATTE' Lounge Night Happy Holidays from the CL Crew! 180:productions:live presents Cream Latte' A warm blend of Cafe Lounge, Latin & House grooves with a cream topping of Short films. djs Mateus Branco & el gringo plus guest dj. Visuals by David Ray & QFW directors. Vj kila kila killa! no charge!! one80productionslive.blogspot.com

9:30pm - am?? No Charge!!

DJ's: forensic dj, basal, dj miki & el gringo!

expansion dj & vj event: www.expansionjapan.com

come early for buffet dinner and stay for the music!

Posted by Rob.

Tags: (you can probably figure them out for now!)

Alex and Rob chillin' at Café Barbès back in the day, before it moved from Minami Horie to Higobashi, near Utsubo Park. We order cous cous and mutton burgers, and pass on the ika (squid). I tried to recall the lyrics of King Missile's My Heart is a Flower and managed only part of them, which sounded quite un-poetic coming from my mouth, I admit..

If you're a fan of Café Barbès, you should check out this other equally whacky video by the Flying Koala, Prapatang's the Word.

Please click here for the Libsyn original podcast, which is higher quality, of course.

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, Café Barbès, Alex Brooke, Rob, El Gringo, Minami Horie, Osaka, Couscous, King Missile, poetry, poem, mutton, lamb, hamburger, squid, ika, ��, �堀江, 大阪, �ルベス

Not suitable for decent folk, this audio podcast features Alex in Chiba, Hans in Maryland and me in Tokyo talking about the latest goings on. Alex reads Burroughs, Hans talks about old age and about dating a body builder, Rob reminisces about growing up in Alabama and tries to recall details about the previous night out with Mexican hecklers at the Boca Juniors game in Tokyo National Stadium, and what exactly transpired after the game. If you're wondering what a squat toilet looks like, check out this video by Tkyo Sam.

Video Talk Show #44 is already up, and #43 will be up as soon as we get them edited. There'll be a photo for this post as soon as I get the disposable camera developed. Stay tuned!

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, Hans, Alex Brooke, Rob a.k.a. El Gringo, Boca Juniors, Fondo de la Madrugada, soccer, futbol, Costa Rica, Bar Bonobo, Jingu 2 Chome, 立�飲�や, サッカー, �京

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The weather grows colder as the year draws to a close. We talk about the short film "Rudy Soup," Christmas, Olivia Ruiz, Wales, Whales, having tea, Bruce Chatwin, "In Patagonia," Lumberjacks, Olivia Newton-John, Samantha Foxx, Carrie Fisher, Star Wars and who knows what else. Music from Seaholm.com

The original file was too big to upload, so I had to trim it down a bit. That means the Libsyn version is shorter than the YouTube version by about one minute. Or, put another way, the Libsyn version is shorter, therefor sweeter.

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, Alex Brooke, Rob, El Gringo, Seaholm.com, Rudy Soup, Christmas, x-mas, whales, Wales, Welsh, in Patagonia, Bruce Chatwin, Olivia Ruiz, Olivia Newton-John, Carrie Fisher, Samantha Foxx, limmy.com, Lumberjacks, Star Wars, Kagurazaka, Tokyo, Japan, 神楽�, �京, クリスマス, �正月正月

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Dochi ga hen? Which is the odd one?

This podcast opens with another track by Quest who would like to give a shout out to "all seeing eye bitches! This is a band that did some of the music for the movie 'Everything is Illuminated' which takes place in the Ukraine. The lead singer of the band is in the cast." Download some mp3s at gogolbordello.com

And the good morning greeting came from Nonoko courtesy of YouTube, or sans permission rather.

The podcast had the usual "T-Shirt of the Day" (although I might be repeating this one) and contains another train story. It closed with the usual haiku or two:

sense of completion
pervades gnawing hunger pangs
tokyo 3 AM


tokyo 3 AM
gnawing hunger pangs pervade
sense of completion


Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, Tokyo, Panic Living, haiku, t-shirt of the day, Roppongi, Odaiba, Tokyo Tower, cycling in Chiba, Boca Juniors, futbol, Latin dance parties, Mexican soccer fans, SambaNova, Underground Resistance, MedVacances, DJ Syril, Haqq, Flo-Union, The Pink Cow, Christmas, x-mas, yakiniku, Tokyo Comedy Store, Tokyo Cooney, �京, 日本, 自転車, イベント, 焼�肉, 六本木

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Part seven of eight! Alex will finish editing the eighth and final leg of our journey soon. My chest swelled with pride as I watched the raw footage! A nip here and a tuck there. Some subtitles and it will be finished.

Recently, we recorded several episodes worth of Talk Shows and Tokyo Event updates, so stay tuned!

Edited by Alex. Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, Alex Brooke, Rob a.k.a. El Gringo, Osaka, JR Loop Line, Japan, cycling, bicycle, ciclismo, velo, cyclisme, bicicleta, 大阪, 自転車, 電車

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An idea BEB had which Alex and I went along with. I think she did a good job as director, camera person and editor! Her idea was to do a whole series of comparisons between "American and British English" including words, phrases, expressions, pronunciations and so on (there have been volumes published on this in Japan). We never got much further on it, partly because that's precisely what 2/3 of us did for work everyday back then. Lately, as a full-time chômeur, Alex has begun cooking up a homepage for Japanese people who are studying English via the series of tubes. This may be of interest to English speakers who are studying Japanese, I don't know. This one was recorded ages ago in Osaka, Japan!

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, BEB, Alex Brooke, chômeurs, chômage, Rob a.k.a. El Gringo, Learn English, Japanese, Osaka, Talk Show, accents, water, agua, beber, acqua, aigua, H2O, boire, eau, wasser, 大阪, 日本語, 飲む, 英語

This just in from regular NFTOS art show participant and podcast contributor Joe Baldwin in Chicago. It's called Sojourn in a Foreign Land...

I have new video work online: http://lamewebdesign.com/home/joe/homeless/sojournweb.html - I would love your feedback.

All of the images were created with a homemade camera. Inside the camera is a modified flatbed scanner, and for the optics it uses copy camera lenses. There were actually two cameras modified for this project along with two scanners. The images are in general unedited, but occasionally stretched to release hidden visual information.

The audio is a mix of gathered sound along with a track that is a direct audio translation of the video - using a light densitometer that was facing the monitor while my timeline played. The light densitometer sends the info through a 1/4" stereo plug and converted to an 1/8" plug and into a .wav recorder.

The concept and images are inspired by Zeno's Paradoxes and Abbott's Flatland.

Thanks,
Joe

noisivelvet.com
myspace.com/noisivelvet

Posted by Rob.

Part 6 of 8.

This is Alex's latest editing project of vintage Osaka footage. I found it sitting at the top of the stack when I opened the NFTOS media files folder after coming home from work tonight. This was a joy to find after a long day's work, and having spaced out and not changed trains at the right station (Ookayama) and finally ending up going home via Oimachi, Shinagawa, Akihabara and Iidabashi Stations. Don't even ask me what train lines I rode, because at times I wasn't really sure. However, with my Pasmo card, I just smack it down on the sensor and go through the turnstiles (sp?). I shudder to think how much the detour cost me.

11 Dec. 2007 update: The next video has already been edited, and we'll be posting it in a few days, once the demand for this video tapers off. We've already gotten 144 downloads in the first 3 days--probably a record for our humble podcast. Also, Alex showed me Loop Line #8, the final segment, over the weekend. All he has left to do is add some titles. That should be up by the end of the year.

In the meantime, we have recorded several episodes worth of Talk Shows and Tokyo Events updates. Stay tuned!

p.s. This thing already has 388 downloads as of 15 December! Why? Maybe 'cos Alex blogged about it on his new blog? Alex's new blog connected to LearnJapanesePod.com.

Edited by Alex. Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, Alex Brooke, Rob a.k.a. El Gringo, Osaka, JR Loop Line, Japan, cycling, bicycle, ciclismo, velo, cyclisme, bicicleta, Kyobashi, Osaka jyo koen, 大阪, 京橋, 自転車, 電車

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He's been on at least one of our music shows. Maybe two. I need to go check. But you can probably figure it out yourself with minimal snooping. More links and stuff coming. Pardon any typos. It's late.

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, Kantha, Damien Wardell, Maria Ruocco, Luis, unsigned, electronic, scapism, light at the end of tunnel, safer, child, trip hop

The rhythm is gonna get ya! To get this, you kind of need to check out his previous Oshiri Kagjiri Mushi and maybe look for other related anime / music videos on YouTube.

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, Charles-Eric Billard, Charlou, Osaka, Japan, Quebec, Canada, beetles, rhinoceros, bug, music, video, カブト虫メロディ, 大阪, 日本, カナダ, ケベック

The Universal Culture, random writing cut-up read from Rob's journal meets Dream music and video by Alex Brooke.

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, Alex Brooke, Rob a.k.a. El Gringo, poetry, poem, stream of consciousness, cut-ups, random, dream, William S. Burroughs, Terence McKenna, Osaka, Tokyo, Japan, Cafe Absinthe, Santa, 大阪, �京, 日本

This video was made available as a podcast back in February 2006. Not sure the exact date it was filmed anymore, but we uploaded it on the 6th. Here's the original blog post.

Flo-Union, is a monthly event that takes place at The Pink Cow in Shibuya.

This event has seen several venues, organizers, and has taken on several incarnations over the years.

It is now organized by David Roy who, among other things, does an event called QuickFlickWorld, VJs for various events, does live paintings and digital animation work for Japanese anime.

Back when I still lived in Osaka, I asked Alex and Makiko to check out the Cow on the advice of Guido Saldana, for a NFTOS art show. Filmed and edited by Alex, it features Makiko David and artist Tomoko Ichimura.

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, Flo-Union, The Pink Cow, Cream Latte, QuickFlickWorld, David Roy, Tomoko Ichimura, Alex Brooke, Makikomo, art, music, poetry, live painting, DJ, VJ, event, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, 渋谷, �京, 日本