[Uncensored version. I'll probably be editing this, once Hans has time to hear it and reflect on the more "racy" bits of his proclamations. Or maybe not. -rob]

Hans and Rob talk shop. Four riders now on Hans' Giro d'Italia grupetto. First off we discuss stage 16, the uphill time trial, at Plan de Corones, which turned to dirt and hit gradients of up to 24 percent. Rob mentioned these photos from stage 16 on CyclingNews.com.

Next, Hans outlines the fundamental difference between asthma inhalers, which contain the controlled substance salbutamol, and whippets, which contain nitrous oxide. This in relation to Alessandro Petacchi's 1-year suspension.

Then it's Jens Voigt, who won the latest Giro stage, which features the course which will be used later in the year as the World Championship. Looks like he'll have some extra confidence going into that race.

In other exploits, Hans almost breaks his personal best on the trans-Maryland segment of the Appalachian Trail, despite getting pulled over for speeding and having to wait for a late-comer. Out birdwatching, he discovers another first for dragonflies in Maryland.

Then Rob tells a little more about the Coromandel hike up to the Pinnacles, and pesters Hans about the Whale video link.

Hans gives his Philly predictions. Rob picks Tyler Hamilton. Hans picks Ben Johnson, or someone from Rock Racing, like Santiago Botero to solo. Hans reminds us of a poster Rob made on the back of a Victoria Secret poster, which was popular on the Manayunk Wall a few summers ago...

Back here in Auckland, we've been brewing beer, while in Hagerstown Hans plans to get a wine kit.

Finally, Rob had a great link to David Millar breaking his chain and throwing his bicycle at the end of stage 5, but "Cycling Television Limited" got it taken off. As short as that segment was, it was nothing more than a great advertisement for their DVDs, or however it is they're making a living off cycling. But they don't even have their own YouTube channel! Stuck in the past... However, after looking around a bit more, an even better version, in super-slo-mo was discovered: http://youtube.com/watch?v=xqTKaDmUr1w

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, Giro d'Italia, Hans, Alberto Contador, Alessandro Petacchi, Tyler Hamilton, Rock Racing, Santiago Botero, Philly, beached whale, kiwi, New Zealand, Auckland, Hagerstown, Maryland, trail magic

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Usually I try to steer NFTOS content away from religion and politics, although I let Alex's occasional atheistic profession of faith slip through uncensored, but I forgot to mention one very current issue regarding religion in this podcast, and it concerns Sharon Stone. Someone should issue Eastern Religions' equivalent of a fatwa on her for talking out her self-righteous ass. Maybe she can tell us whose fault it was when Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on New Orleans...

I'm becoming a bit of a hikikomori lately, up at all hours everyone else is not. This allows me to contact those who are awake on the other side. What is a hikikomori you ask? Well, Héctor García can tell you about the phenomena in Spanish and English, so I don't have to. Language nerds, check this out: Geonames. Ever wondered what the name Haiti looks like in every major language in the world? Well, now you can see! Big shout outs to everyone over at LearnJapanesePod forums and at Prapatang.com.

Don't forget to tune into Patrick Widdess' headstand radio tonight from 9:00 to 11:00 p.m. GMT (which is early Thursday morning here in NZ) on 209radio.co.uk. The Pixiphones will be playing live in the studio, and there will be poetry recorded specially for the show from Magic Phil, Hollie and Nick Stibbs. Nick will also be talking about the life and work of Walt Whitman.

Now, I'm not very cool, but I know quite a few people who are, in my humble opinion, and one of them reads another "news" blog called boingboing.net. He's always steering me in the direction of interesting tidbits on the net such as this site which helps the US government track Hassan Elahi by Hassan Elahi himself. Meanwhile, on the cartoon front, foyf informs us on ptikobj that, when a half-eaten dog falls from the sky, it's good luck. This reminded me of an old favorite, explodingdog.com. Well, it's time to go back to sleep, but first I must caress this rusty kettle...

...and to the narcos in Narita Airport, no, you can't have your 142g back!

donuts and regular coffee for breakfast
old glory flapping in the tainted breeze
dawn's early afrodesiac

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, psychotropic, Tropic of Capricorn, Henry Miller, Indiana Jones, Pinnacles, Coromandel, poem, poetry, prose, spoken word, Auckland, New Zealand, homebrew, beer brewing, Celestine Prophecy, Green Brain, Dune

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Hi to everyone at News From The Other Side,

My radio show goes out this Wednesday live on 209radio.co.uk at 9pm local time. Featuring local poets and the magnificent Pixiphones playing live in the studio it promises to be a good 2 hours. If you don't catch it live you can listen again at headstand.209radio.co.uk. You can also subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, just search for "headstand 209 radio".

If you haven't aleady done so, join the facebook group at www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6061328090 and test your knowledge of the show with the headstand quiz http://apps.facebook.com/flixster/quiz?q=908190

Thanks

Patrick

[Alex got 50% on the quiz, Rob got 80%]

Posted by Rob.

Voici La Grande Danse de Robert et Makikomo et porquoi pas?



By Alex and Ben.

Posted by Alex.

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You're in Detroit and you're just getting off work... Well, then I guess you have this to look forward to!

I love the flyer, so I couldn't resist putting it up.

See the previous post for the complete line-up including Los Hermanos, Domenico & the Underground Resistance crew!

Posted by Rob

For all you Detroit Techno-headz...

Haqq says: "Buzz Goree's party featuring Los Hermanos and many good DJ's. We hope to see you there!"

Posted by Rob.

Looooong over due, I've finally decided to fly solo on this one and managed to patch together 6 songs on garage band. After one listen, it should be obvious that Alex is the technical brains behind our two-man podcast extravaganzas (if it wasn't already).

Back in Tokyo, I think Alex is working on a more Latin-Brazilian batch of songs, and he's actually been contacting some fairly well-known artists to get their blessing on his project.

I've got a few friends with music in the hip-hop and folk-rock genres, so I'm hoping to make one podcast of each. Also, it's New ZeaIand music month now, and that's got me thinking of trying to make an all-Kiwi artist podcast in the near future as well.

Playlist:

Intro music by Alex Brooke and Andrew a.k.a. filter.

1. A New Logic - Chris Perren
2. The Smell of New - Seaholm
3. Juicy - Jet Jaguar

Interlude (sorry about the lo-fi recording!)

4. Seven Years (3rd version) - halo effect
5. Sojurn - Noisivelvet
6. Dappled - Quest

Don't forget to subscribe to us on iTunes, and check out our 4 previous music shows in the "musicprogram" folder: http://newsfromtheotherside.libsyn.com/index.php?post_category=musicprogram

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, MFTOS, Alex Brooke, Andrew, filter, Rob a.k.a. El Gringo, Chris Perren, Mr Maps, Seaholm.com, Jet Jaguar, Peter Morris, Halo Effect, DJ Kung-fu Grip, Joseph Baldwin, Noisivelvet, Quest, Hayden, music, podcast, instrumental, ambient, electronic, Tokyo, Chiba, Japan, Auckland, New Zealand, Wellington, Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, Lincoln, Nebraska, Chicago, Illinois

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MUTO, animation on walls by blu on Vimeo.

Discovered by Andrew. Posted by Rob.

Alex and Rob talk about--what else? Japan, life in Japan, all things Japan, but now that Rob is in New Zealand, you can start to expect a bit more about "the land of the long white cloud," The Southern Hemisphere, The South Pacific, The North Island, Auckland, etc.

This YouTube video was previously uploaded here as an .m4v file with the 15 May blog post. Please add it to your favorites, rate it (5 stars, of course!) and forward it to ALL your friends!

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, Alex Brooke, Rob a.k.a. El Gringo, Japan, New Zealand, Tokyo, Chiba, Auckland

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Cycling's Tour of Japan starts in Sakai City, OSAKA tomorrow. It's not one of the major races in the world, but it is Japan's biggest race. The average Japanese citizen has never heard of the race, but there are some interesting stages (i.e. a time trial up to the trail head of Mt. Fuji) and here's always an international field albeit made up of second and third tier professional teams and some U-23 national squads.

May 18 - Stage 1: Senboku Circuit, Sakai City (Osaka) , 140.8km
May 19 - Stage 2: Todaiji Temple - Nunome Dam Circuit, Nara, 146.2km
May 20 - Stage 3: Old Imai Paper Wholesale House - Mino Japanese, Paper Village Circuit, Mino, 164.7km
May 21 - Stage 4: Iida Station - Shimohisakata Circuit - Matsuo - Stadium, South-Shinshu, 155.3km
May 22 - Rest & transfer day
May 23 - Stage 5: Mount Fuji ITT, 11.4km
May 24 - Stage 6: Shuzenji Station - Japan Cycle Sports Center, Izu, 112.5km
May 25 - Stage 7: Hibiya city - Ooi Wharf Circuit, Tokyo, 148.9km

Teams for Tour of Japan: Skil-Shimano, A-Style Somn, Nippo-Endeka, Seoul Cycling, South Australia.com-AIS, Stegcomputer-CKT-Cogeas, Trek-Marco Polo Cycling Team, Mroz-Action-Uniqa, Meitan Hompo-GDR, Team Bridgestone Anchor, Aisan Racing Team, Matrix-Powertag, Pearlizumi-Sumita-Ravanello, Team Comrade-Giant, Narsima Frend, Team JBCF

Stage and team info from CyclingNews.com.

Photo: 2005 first stage, Sakai City, Osaka.

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, Tour of Japan, Tour du Japón, ツアー・オブ・ジャパン, 自転車, レース, サイクルレーシング

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Alex's brother Ben sent me this video response to my comment on his sinkfull of dirty dishes, and my informing him that Vegemite contains GMOs (which is just a terrible rumor I heard), and that he should switch to Marmite. Thanks for the live painting Ben!

Photo stolen from Ben's facebook. Thanks for the photo too!

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, Ben Brooke, Rob, portrait, Vegemite, Marmite, art, painting, cracker, blackmail, dirty, dishes, kitchen, sink, lemon, Tokyo, 東京, 台所, アート

This from Patrick Widdess' YouTube channel, where you can find more videos of Moth Conspiracy and others live at the Boathouse in Cambridge, England, 11 May 2008. Also check out www.mothconspiracy.com.

Posted by Rob.

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ABOVE: "La Cumbia del Mole" by Lila Downs.

BELOW: Alex's and Rob's audio podcast. This is what we talked about...

Giro d'Italia
Dr Conconi, The Godfather of EPO in cycling
Kiwi English - NEW FEATURE!
Japan - 6000 miles on a bicycle (new book release party)
Norville's Greatest Hits
KIX on frisky radio
facebook groups (NFTOS, headstand, KIX on friskyradio, learjapanesepod, bananas prove God exist, etc)
Patrick Widdess and his Harmless Video Podcast #1
Street performance
Fiesta Mexicana
Lila Downs, Oaxaca and "La Cumbia del Mole" (above video) LearnJapanesePod
facebook gift application
Prapatang.com

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, Alex Brooke, Rob, El Gringo, Japan, New Zealand, Aotearoa, Auckland, Tokyo, Chiba, Cambridge, England, UK, headstand, prapatang.com, learnjapanesepod, 日本語, 東京, 千葉県, ニュージーランド

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Here's a link to the blog dedicated to promoting the book by Tokyo resident Leigh Norrie: Japan - 6,000 Miles On A Bicycle. More links and info coming soon. Posted by Rob.

This YouTube video and blog post will go up awaiting Hans for a Bicicleteiros podcast. I'm sure he'll be more excited than usual because Christian Vande Velde, someone he raced against as a kid in Chicago, is in the lead of the Giro d'Italia after his team won the opening "Team Time Trial," a race which would take some explaining for the uninitiated...

After crossing the line first among his teammates, Vande Velde gets to wear the race leader's pink jersey in tomorrow's stage. Most casual sports fans are probably aware that the race leader's jersey at the Tour de France is yellow, but in Italy the jersey color was chosen to remind people of the race's sponsor, La Gazzetta dello Sport, which is printed on pink paper. The last American to wear it was Andy Hampsten, back in 1988! Hampsten now lives in Italy and has a vineyard and an olive orchard...

Besides La Gazzetta's multilingual coverage (Italian, French, English, German, Spanish), you can follow the race with VeloNews' Live Coverage, CyclingNews' Complete Live Coverage.

While we're on the topic of cycling, here's a blog dedicated to promoting a book by Tokyo resident Leigh Norrie: Japan--6,000 Miles On A Bicycle.

Stay tuned for a podcast covering all of the above and more, as soon as Hans gets home from Philly!

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, Bicicleteiros, Giro d'Italia, Christian Vande Velde, Team Slipstream-Chipotle, TTT, Andy Hampsten, Leigh Norrie, Italy, Japan, bicycle, tours, touring, 自転車, レース

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Norville Parchment (Trenchparrots, Sucia, Don't Date Me, etc) has decided to follow in the footsteps of Radiohead and NIN, but he's taking it a step further and making much more of his back catalogue available for download. There are about seven albums worth of material here: http://norville.uber.com/music.

Posted by Rob

This just in from Ian Handsley:

"Please join us for a special KIX show on friskyRadio.com tonight at 11pm JST [2am New Zealand -rob].

It's been a year since I launched KIX on friskyRadio, and I have to say that it's been quite a year. It started out simply as way to connect Kansai DJs with a worldwide community of EDM lovers, but in the course of putting each show together something very cool happened. I saw each and every guest DJ raise their art to a higher level, so what we've ended up with is a community of local DJs who have played to huge international audiences, who have earned every amount of respect they received, and who now know a whole lot more about making Osaka dancefloors rock. Here are the guest DJs we've had so far:

Deadmau5
Bloisy
Shawn Basik
Dan Elliot
bRoTheRmAn
Dom Pang
B-Ko
DJ Nat

This special anniversary edition has a very old and close friend of mine - i-bec - as the guest. I-bec and I met in 2002 out the front of Namba Hatch before an Anthony Pappa gig, and then when he opened Freeza a few months later, we...er...well, did a bit of DJing there. Since then many people have come and gone and much has changed but our love for the tunage has remained, and we've been able to share our journey through electronic music and the dark art of mixing it for a dancefloor. I-bec's a bit of magician when it comes to that, as many will tell you, and his taste in music reveals an appreciation of complex beauty boxed up in trunks of funk. But strangely getting an hour-long mix out him has been an exercise in futility...until today (literally).

So here he comes, finally, for a KIX mix, and since it may be another 6 years before he gives me another mix, you shouldn't miss it."

KIX on friskyRadio.com

Thursday, May 8
7am San Francisco
2pm London
11pm Osaka
Friday, May 9
2am Auckland

1st Hour: Ian Handsley
2nd Hour: I-bec

I-Bec photo by James (BikeClubOsaka).

Posted by Rob.

Patrick Widdess (headstand radio) is joined by Nick Stibbs for the video version of A Harmless Podcast. The banana reference comes from Alex's Prapatang Living solo enhanced podcast series, and the QES reference either comes from our 2-man Talk Show #48, or from my own new podcast Psychotropic of Capricorn #2, I can't recall which at the moment (due to being stuffed up with a cold).

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, Patrick Widdess, Nick Stibbs, 209radio.co.uk, headstand, A Harmless Podcast, Cambridge, England, UK authors, poet, poem, poetry, Queen's English Society, banana

This one's from Brian who says he's seen better. Where? In the big city? In Beijing? Not in Portland, Tennessee, I'll bet! I want the guy's soundtrack. Any way you could find out for me what it is? I find it very motivational! Gonna use it to help me get out of bed in the morning...

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, Brian Ruckle, China, Liaoning, street performer

WARNING: Contains an offensive gesture. Also, please pardon the titles--Alex was just starting to mix his Spanish and Portuguese back then.

Video and photos shot way back on 19 September 2005 at Osaka's Umeda Sky Building, during a festival that was officially labeled "Spanish" (or was it Mexican?) that turned out to be run mostly by Peruvians and Brazilians (which there are many of in Osaka). In this montage, which was shot with a cell phone and a digital camera, Alex pulls out all the post production editing stops he knew of at the time. This saved me from having to use all the same cheesy effects in my first videos! Thanks Alex! Music by Mono Blanco who performed that day.

Here's the original video (much higher quality!) that we posted previously on NFTOS, and another one from our archives to commemorate Cinco de Mayo, Hans with Horns.

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, Alex Brooke, Hans a.k.a. h-monster, Cinco de Mayo, festival, party, video, Osaka, Umeda Sky Building, 大阪, 梅田スカイビル, 日本

What started out as a Latin label in Japan with a monthly event, now has a compilation CD and a radio program on UniqueRadio.jp.

Tune in at http://www.uniqueradio.jp and answer the short demographics questionnaire (in Japanese) by clicking in the appropriate boxes.

The show starts at 21:00 Japan Time tonight.

Posted by Rob.

Armchair linguists, Alex in Tokyo, and Rob in Auckland, get together on Skype for their first Talk Show since when?! More details and links will be posted soon.

Photo taken at Osaka's Umeda Sky Building, during a sort of Fiesta Mexicana, 19 September 2005.

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, Alex Brooke, Rob a.k.a. El Gringo, Tokyo, Japan, Auckland, New Zealand

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Trenchparrots on Headstand Radio!

Accidentally played Yaneka's "Black Coral" as part of the intro, which featured Andrew's ukulele.

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, psychotropic, Tropic of Capricorn, Henry Miller, The Trenchparrots, Headstand, 209radio.co.uk, Patrick Widdess, Alex Brooke, Prapatang Living, olive picking, wwoof.org,

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Words and photo by Jerry Gordon.

Posted by Rob.