Heading home on New Year's Day 2007, after DJing at ノScrub and greeting the first sunrise of the New Year at Oasis Lounge. We had been given the keys to lock up, and we were supposed to put them in the *secret place* afterwards. When we got home to Alex's pad where we were staying, I realized I had put Alex's keys in their *secret place* instead, so we had to go back to Oasis to exchange keys. It was a long long morning.

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Tags: NFTOS, DJ El Gringo, Osaka, ノScrub, Oasis Lounge, Miyakojima, Sakuranomiya, Japan, ノScrub Oasis Lounge, HiJak, New Year's party, January 1st, DJ El Gringo, makikomo, 新年, 元旦, 都島, 桜宮, 大阪, 日本

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This podcast was recorded about 3 weeks ago, but I was unable to upload it because we didn't have internet at home.  This brings to a close almost 2 months of depending on computers and internet at cafes, the library and at work.

I can't remember what it was about now...

Photo by Ben Brooke borrowed without permission from his facebook album.

Posted by Rob.

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Since we've been offline for awhile, I thought we'd celebrate by uploading some vintage NFTOS footage! Previously unreleased footage from July 2007!

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Tags: NFTOS, Omaha, Lincoln, Nebraska, Hans, Makiko, Rolf, airport, interstate 80, SAC, Martin Buscaglia, CSS, Cansei de Ser Sexy

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Tonight, four of us are going out to catch Phoenix Foundation member Samuel F. Scott & The Bunnies On Ponies (I think that's what they're called).  That's kicking off in about 2 hours at the Whammy Bar on K Road.  Opening act:  White Swan Black Swan.  Should be good craic.  Bought the tickets at Real Groovy yesterday afternoon, for the not-so-bad-price of $15 each (can't even buy a caipirinha for less than that in this town!).

Before the show we'll be checking out Tanuki's Cave (an izakaya on Queen Street) for some eats and drinks.

Tomorrow we should finally be getting internet at home, so I won't have to keep on coming out to the library to check my e-mail, and that means I'll also be able to upload podcasts regularly again!

Just in time too, because a terrible storm is on its way for the weekend...

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10523423

Posted by Rob.

P.S. Expect photos and/or video of the distruction, if we survive it!

P.P.S.  Tune in to Midnight Japan on Planet FM 104.6, Saturday night from 10:30 p.m., if the storm doesn't end up being so bad that we're not able to drive to the studio...

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Tune in to Headstand Radio with Patrick Widdess on Cambridge, England's 105 fm (http://headstand.209radio.co.uk) tomorrow, from 21:00 to 23:00 GMT.

This month's Headstand promises to be a real mixed bag (as usual) featuring live music in the studio from Clare Connolly (www.myspace.com/connollyclare) and another mini lecture from Nick Stibbs on the life and work of William Blake.

There'll also be an interview with Yako from Tokyo's legendary hardcore punk band Melt-Banana. (www.myspace.com/azap)

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Last night we went to Nonbe, a tachinomiya on Queen Street.  It's one bar in a row of Japanese-owned shops along one side of the street between Wellesley and Mayoral.  The first thing you see when you walk in, besides the smiling matrons, is the huge phallic nose of a tengu mask.  The decor is a kitschy mix of traditional Japanese, and "Oh my gosh!  This looks so Japanese" (from a Western perspective) nick-knacks.  There are overturned ban kasa for lamps, images of tanuki, a hyottoko mask and a little red man shaped like a kite (this description escaped Makiko's knowledge of traditional Japanese images, so I'll have to look it up at the library when I have internet). 

 

There are rows of sake bottles along the top shelf (presumably empty, just there for decoration), but the bottles on the second shelf are well within reach of the knowledgeable staff.  For example, a purple bottle of Wakamurasaki looked like it might be a sweet shochu at first glance, like Tantakatan, but I was assured a manly man such as I could drink it and not lose face.  It had a much more complex and interesting flavor than Tantakatan has, and at $8 or $9 (New Zealand, of course) I highly recommend it.  "And who are you to be recommending Japanese sake" you might be asking?  Well, please allow me to introduce myself... Sometimes known as El Gringo, I am also known as Shochu Man!

 

My first drink of the night was a mug of Asahi draught beer (NZ$7), and Makiko had  Hana-awaka, a sparkling sake drink ($9) perfect for the girlier members of your posse.  I had to have one of the same drinks I had last week, Ikkomon (NZ$9), an imojochu listed as being made from kumara, the local word for imo, sweet potato.  There is also Sapporo beer on tap, and bottles of the big four (Asahi, Kirin, Sapporo and Yebisu) in the fridge.

 

Although you'd be better off going to Tanuki (an izakaya up the street) for a meal, Nonbe offers "Japanese tapas," a.k.a. otsumami.  Last week we tried some meat on a stick with a fancy name, but our memory of our first time there is a bit hazy.  It was yummy though.  In short, there is a long list of items to choose from including edamame and takoyaki.

 

The music is a very un-Japanese, blend of electro & alternative which makes the vibe way hipper than most tachinomiya you'll set foot in in Japan.  However, don't let that put you off, as it's played at background volume.  Makiko was happy to see her coaster artwork still up in the same place it was last week.  Mine was too!

 

The customers are mostly friendly locals or residents of various nationalities, although it is not unlikely for the random (very) drunk Irish traveler to stumble in, as Nonbe is on Auckland's main drag. 

 

Nonbe is open Tuesday-Satruday from 5:00 p.m. onwards, and is located at 309 Queen Street, Auckland City.  Phone:  09-379-5152.  http://www.sakebars.co.nz

 

I'll get a photo of the place the next time we go.

 

KANPAI!  CHEERS!  SLAINTE!

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...but I'm stuck in an internet cafe waiting for makikomo.com to finish a translation.  What?!  On a Sunny Sunday?  Yes, she does translations, Japanese to English, and English to Japanese.  She'll do them at any hour of the day or night, and if she's doing them into English, that means I'm also in business as a proof-reader. 

So, what else is on my mind today?  Why, it's that Tour de France thing, of course.  Can't wait to chat with my brother regarding the latest developments, particularly the rise of Kim Kirchen (Luxembourg) and the demise of former Lance Armstrong lieutenant Manuel 'Triki' Beltrán.

But don't rush to make conclusions they tell us... alleged EPO use in the 1999 Tour, Heras, Hamilton, Landis, Contador and now Beltrán.  Hans will probably be able to name a couple more tainted former Postal/Discovery riders off the top of his head, but don't worry, we are not rushing to conclusions, we're just letting the circumstantial evidence pile up.  Whenever we get around to it, there'll be all that to discuss and more, on another edition of Bicicleteiros. 

Make sure you tune into it and to my solo podcast, Psychotropic of Capricorn, both of which you can subscribe to separately if you like on iTunes.

Posted by Rob.

 

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Oh, the tribulations of not having internet at home.  Today I bought some quiche, a muffin and a flat white at an Esquires Cafe on Lorne Street, so I could use their internet.  You get 1 hour & 60MB with any purchase.  After about 20 minutes, and this upload of about 3MB, plus a software update (not sure how many MB, but it didn't seem like that many), I suddenly found myself without any internet.  When I went to ask the cashier/barrista, he reiterrated the above details to me, to which I replied that I wasn't anywhere near my 60MB limit.  He repeated the bit about the 1 hour, to which I responded, "have I been here an hour?"  He just shrugged.  Customer service anyone?

Now I'm at the library, where I'm having a heck of a time with multiple page reloads, just trying to get from the homepage login to the libsyn publishing tool that I'm typing in now.  It's taken me 20 minutes!  It's time to get some internet at home, now that I can afford it again.

Anyway, here's something shot back in Kagurazaka, Tokyo, where the internet flowed like the MIGHTY MISSISSIPPI and the champiñones were sizzling...

Photo coming soon.

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Tags:  NFTOS, El Pulpo, Kagurazaka, Tokyo, Japan, Auckland, New Zealand, coffee shops, bad service, library, slow internet, mushrooms, champignons, cogumelos, kinoko, champiñones

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I chose this video because I think it's been the most exciting stage so far. Paul Sherwen commentating at 1:50, in the heat of the moment, saying something Hans would've said: "Cadel Evans, in about 4th position, he's pretty happy just to be there..."

Anyway, here are links to videos from the first 5 TdF stages on YouTube:

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4: Time Trial

Stage 5



With no prologue to sort things out from day one, I'd have to say Valverde (Stage 1), Schumacher (almost on day 1, Yellow Jersey from Stage 4), Kirchen (active on day 1, 2nd overall now), Cancellara (always in the hunt) have been the most impressive so far. The time trial was a bit too short and too early to have much of an impact, I think. Let's wait till the mountains before making any further prognostications, although Hans, who has been watching it all on conventional TV, will surely have something to say on the next Bicicleteiros!

I've chosen a variety of sources, in English, Dutch?, Spanish and so on, to show the global scope of the Tour. Let me know if any of the links go dead...

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With special guest Courtney, who has a life-in-Japan, travels-in-NZ, US-reverse-culture-shock blog at bakalicious.blogspot.com.

Photo by Courtney.

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Tags: NFTOS, bakalicious, Courtney, Japan, New Zealand, Auckland, Seattle, hiking, tramping, backpacking, wwoofing, travel, photos, stories, poetry, writing, blogging, etc

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