Link: http://smt.blogs.com/mari_diary/2006/06/a_new_craze_spo.html

Mari has an interesting article about a new craze in Japan surrounding a character named 'Spoo'. It all started with this video clip (edit: actually this clip) from one of my favorite Japanese kids shows. In it the two hosts try to draw a picture of one of the show's main characters, Spoo, with pretty funny results. The guy draws him correctly, but the woman's drawing is really, really far off the mark. Much like what happened with that Star Wars Kid a while back, the clip has inspired countless Japanese Internet nerds on 2CH to create their own spoof videos. Will he have the same impact on English speaking nerds as Domokun did a few years back? Since nobody outside Japan knows the original character, I kind of doubt it.



Update: I found this other Spoo drawing video from the show. This time Spoo himself joins in the drawing fun as everyone waits to see what the female host comes up with this time. Sadly it seems like she has learned to draw a pretty good Spoo since the first episode aired, though it's still the worst of the bunch.

Link: http://www.secretspain.org/dukes.html

I've had way too much free time lately and have been spending a good chunk of it surfing the web, looking at blogs and generally staying in a mostly vegetative state. I was getting pretty disgusted with my sloth like behavior and was about to close my laptop and get some fresh air when suddenly, as if sent down by an angel from above, I discovered on Screenhead the most awesome thing that I have come across on the net in years. As you've already guessed that wonderful discovery was this great website featuring MP3's from The Dukes of Hazzard Album, a recording that even this aficionado of novelty TV music had previously never heard of. What an amazing find indeed! This album ranks right up there with such classics as The Wrestling Album, Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers The Album: A Rock Adventure, The Baywatch Soundtrack and the Star Wars Xmas Album.


The Dukes of Hazzard was one of my favorite shows growing up, and I still think it's one of the best shows ever made. I'm still kicking myself for missing the critically panned, Uncle Jesse-less second reunion movie "Hazzard in Hollywood" a few years back. Hopefully, God willing, I'll get a chance to see it someday. Anyway, if you're feeling nostalgic for the Duke boys and were thinking about checking out this sad excuse for a movie, save your money. This album and your imagination is all you need! Thank you Internet. I promise to never go outside again, unless it's for Dukefest 2006!






Update: If you've listened to the songs and wondered about who it was singing, you can find more information about the album at SoudTrackCollector.com.

Merry Christmas Avoidinglife fans and random people who stumbled on this site! This year for Christmas I've decided to just lay low in Noheji and chillax. This has given me ample time to prepare this wonderful Christmas gift for you all... songs from the classic novelty album "Christmas in the Stars: Star Wars Christmas Album". Back in the 70's and early 80's George Lucas didn't have the force choke hold over the ways his Star Wars franchise was marketed that he does today. This led to the creation of lots of truly wonderful and bizarre creations, such as the incredibly bad yet fascinating Star Wars Holiday Television Special, that George has been trying to bury ever since. Anyway, back to Christmas in the Stars. What makes this album so important that I've decided to share it with you? Take a gander at this paragraph from I-Mockery's review:

So what makes this album so bad? Well let's see here... first off you've got both C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) and R2-D2 actually trying to sing Christmas songs. You've got a bunch of horrible actors trying to sound like Droids. You've got random Star Wars sound effects thrown into the middle of regular Christmas songs. And last but not least, you've got an 18-year-old by the name of John Bongiovi fronting a high school choir on one of the songs. Yep! Bon Jovi, before he became famous! Can it get much worse than this? Trust me, it can. Mere words cannot truly explain what a painful experience listening to this album is.

I-Mockery was also kind enough to provide the following MP3's from the album:
Christmas In The Stars

Bells, Bells, Bells
The Odds Against Christmas

What Can You Get A Wookie For Christmas (When He Already Owns A Comb)
R2-D2 We Wish You A Merry Christmas

Sleigh Ride
Merry, Merry Christmas

'Twas The Night Before Christmas
The Meaning of Christmas


If that wasn't enough for you, here's a guide to many more Star Wars inspired songs. For Chewbacca fans, here are more songs about Wookies. Also, don't miss this huge archive of Star Wars sounds and music including many more famous Star Wars novelty songs by Meco, like this great re-imagining of the music from The Empire Strikes Back. I also found this link to a low quality Real Video copy of the Star Wars Holiday Special. Trust me, it's for the best that you can't really see what's going on. The only thing good about this special is the Boba Fett cartoon and this one funny part where an Imperial Commander rips the head off Chewbacca's son Lumpy's toy bantha. Yes, that's right, Chewbacca has a son named Lumpy. Not that any of you probably care, but I'll try to post a few good quality clips from those parts if I can find them. I'm gonna go cook me a smoked turkey leg and some spare ribs. Have a great Kurisumasu everyone!

There really are only a small number of famous Japanese names that anyone knows outside of this country. There are a small handful of baseball players, Yoko Ono and of course Godzilla. I don't really care much about baseball, and nobody cares about Yoko Ono (other than the still lingering hatred of Beatles fans), but ever since I was little I've always liked Godzilla. I have lived in Japan for over a year and a half and never written once about Godzilla on here before (I think) so I guess it's high time. Growing up in Toronto I would often watch those really crappy Godzilla movies made in the 60's and 70's on Buffalo 29 on Sunday afternoons when nothing else was on TV but fishing shows and church services. They always seemed to play the especially bad ones, like the one where Godzilla teams up with that dumb ultraman looking guy that grows for some reason. Still, they made Japan look way cooler in my eyes than any other country in Asia. Why no other country seems to want or be able to make movies about giant monsters blowing stuff up is still a mystery to me. Well tomorrow the latest (and supposed last) Godzilla movie is coming out. Of course it won't be the last, but it will probably be the last one to come out while I'm still living in Japan anyway. From what I've seen of the reviews (albeit mostly done by the easily excitable nerds at Ain't It Cool News), this one is supposed to be really good. It has the biggest budget for a non-American Godzilla movie ever (9 million bucks!), and was directed by acclaimed Japanese movie director, Ryuhei Kitamura. Supposedly for the first time ever, the humans in the story aren't horribly boring and there is lots of action from start to finish. The big selling feature is that Godzilla destroys just about all his previous foes in one movie, with the crappy American Godzilla thrown in for good measure too. Anyway, if you're not already sick of reading about Godzilla in these fan-boy ramblings, here's a great article that tells the whole 50 year story of the Godzilla franchise. I didn't go see last year's Godzilla movie when it came out but I'm sold on the hype this time. Hopefully I can get someone to go see "Final Wars" with me, but if not I'm sure I won't be the only otaku in the theatre by his lonesome.