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I love Japanese ramen. Love it.
And now, I can be it!
Hakone Kowakien Yunessun, a spa theme park located in Hakone, has just unveiled a new themed bath.
The new themed bath is… yes! A bowl of ramen noodle soup! The Mainichi Daily News describes the bath as:
The bath, shaped like a ramen bowl, contains pepper-flavored water colored a light, milky brown, to like tonkotsu (pork bone) ramen soup.
<simpsons sound=”drool”>aaaaaauuuuuuhhhhhh forbidden ramen…</simpsons>
2 Comments | Posted in: Food & Drink
10 Comments
Aaah, reality television. It’s not truly reality, you know. It’s unscripted, sure, but there are camera crews, a director which calls the camera shots, a team of editors that take hours of real footage to be carefully crafted into 30-minute sound bytes. It can be very misleading and to some reality show contestants, potentially slanderous.
Which is why I love it. Seriously, I’m a huge reality show junkie; you can ask ANY of my friends - I was watching reality shows before Survivor, where I watch as seasons and seasons of The Real World would pass without any Asian man in sight. Over the past couple of years - and especially with the last two seasons of Survivor - I’ve gradually seen more diversity among its contestants, including Asian Americans. And that’s all warm and fuzzy, but honestly - what is the point of reality shows, if we can’t make snap judgments against people we don’t know at all?
Which is why I am branching slightly off the usual link-to-this-website format, to write a Top 6 list of my own: The Top 6 Asian Reality Stars That Make Me Cringe. Ready? Let’s go.
10 Comments | Posted in: Discrimination, Entertainment, WTF
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This is the tagline of startdrawing.org, “the Asia drawing portal.” As Ernie said when he provided the link, “who knew such a thing existed?” Prepare to spend some time on the site if you are a fan of illustration. This brilliant portal created by artists Josef Lee and Sam Lay spotlights art and artists from Asia. The founders also often write insightful and informative commentary on the featured illustrations.
I began to bookmark some of my favorites, but then realized that entire sections were my favorites. The site is well-organized, with the illustrations divided into categories (some are in more than one) as well as by the artist’s country of origin. It’s also really interesting to browse by country, as your preconceptions about a particular country’s “style” may or may not be fulfilled.
My favorite category is Fine Arts. The style, subject matter and media run the gamut, from impressionist to realist to abstract to surreal. Another category which will hopefully expand is Motion. Here you’ll find the work of renowned manga artists as well as an a link to Rinpa Eshidan’s (an awesome art collective) YouTube channel.
If you want a suggested tour (and trust my eclectic taste), my individual favorites were:
2 Comments | Posted in: Lifestyles
5 Comments
Last week a Beijing news reporter reported that steamed buns sold in some of the neighborhoods in Beijing were actually chemically soaked card board mixed with pork fat. This week he is in jail for making up the story.
I remember first hearing about this last week, wondering if people could actually taste the difference between chemically soaked cardboard steam buns, and the real thing. I headed down to the closest Chinese bakery and attempted to make an imaginary comparison. I took pieces of cardboard soaked in acetone and added pork fat. I took the real pork filling out of the steamed bun and added my own Beijing concoction. Surprisingly I could not taste the difference. I mean I did have stomach pains and spent the rest of the night praying to the porcelain gods, but for that split second I could not taste differences between cardboard and the real thing.
Suffice it to say I’m glad that the reporter is getting jail time. It serves him right. He’s getting his just desserts, or more like his just cardboard steamed buns.
5 Comments | Posted in: Food & Drink
Regarding these entries: enough with the Rain references already! I know you’re pissed with his concert being overpriced and then canceled - in any case, to ease your concerns, he’s apparently going to make up for it - at some point - after he finishes shooting Speed Racer in Europe.
So winners for Round #3 for Spring Waltz Caption This are:
Man, I can’t believe she just sucker-punched me like that… why am I always dating the abusive girls?
JB from Baltimore
…and…
I think that if I concentrate on that car with all my might, I can make it move! concentrate…
(3 hours and some minutes later…)
It’s moving, it’s moving! I did it! Oh wait, there’s a driver in it… *sigh*, back to square one. concentrate…
Lucy from Louisiana
If you think you can do better, the show me in Round 4 of Spring Waltz’s Caption This Contest. This is your last chance to grab at a DVD Boxed Set of the drama! We’re giving them to 4 winning entries!
Remember - you can enter as many times as you like and at both Popcast88.com and 8Asians.com. Good Luck! (Continued)
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Thanks for all who wrote in!
New music this week from Ayumi Hamasaki and Fly To the Sky, plus some old skool … really OLD SKOOL Kpop requests with contest winners announced for Round 3 of the Spring Waltz Caption This contest.
Also, enter for you chance to win Will-W’s brand new CD Connections - they’re selling out very quickly!
As always, questions, suggestions, feedback and requests can be made at Popcast88.com or email me directly at christine [at] popcast88.com.
1 Comment | Posted in: Entertainment, POP 88, Promotions
1 Comment
So yeah, read the subject line. The new website design is a tad bit prettier than the old one, no? You can thank illustrator supreme Ki Han for all this prettiness, while yours truly actually coded the site together. I’m fairly sure I might have missed some stuff, so if you have any questions or comments, let me know.
Also, you might have noticed there are now two empty spots. We’re always looking for excellent bloggers.
Update: As you’ve noticed, there’s been times when the website has reverted to the old layout, or has been down altogether. Give us some time while we work on the kinks - thanks!
1 Comment | Posted in: Meta
Now I’ve seen Home Alone and most of the sequels, but this tops it. How many asian kids do you know, who can drive at the age of 9, from their own kidnappers. I’m sure they are going to put this in the Rush Hour 3 sequel, or if not, the next Home Alone. Here is to hoping.
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