Wake up and smell the soullessness

People sense president's soulless sensibility
by Marianne Williamson

Something very important is happening here -- something more than simply a hurricane, or the suffering of thousands who were neglected by their government during a time of great need. Most worldly occurrences reflect deeper truths. What is happening is a gigantic reckoning, as Americans are forced to come to terms with how very, very naked is the emperor who we thought had such incredible clothes.

The Detroit News

Harold and Kumar Save My Day

I've been feeling out of sorts since arriving in the U.S., wondering if mini-malls and super-supermarkets and basic cable are really what I want out of life. I was having my doubts (widely known as "reverse culture shock.") But then I watched Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle on DVD, and I remembered why I love America. Those dudes kept it real.

Tokyo Top Ten: a Farewell

My last day as a gaijin has finally arrived. Well, I suppose I will still be a gaijin when I wake up in the morning, since I leave Tokyo tomorrow afternoon. No matter. I'm already beginning to feel nostalgic toward and appreciative of this metropolis. I'm sure in the weeks to come I will find a renewed desire to crack open my dusty Japanese textbooks. Too bad-- I packed them in one of my "sea mail" boxes. Won't see those for a few months.

Here's a Top Ten List of what I anticipate missing the most:

10. The mass transit system, despite by current state of train overload.
9. Reading American tabloids in public without feeling embarassed or shameful (I won't miss paying $8 for them, however.)
8. Convenience stores, especially Family Mart
7. Izakaya and all their trappings (especially shochu cocktails, sashimi, and kareage)
6. Wearing slippers at work
5. Amusingly named products and slogans (Calpis, Collon, "Time of Happy")
4. Stationery stores / Print clubs (tie)
3. Clean and well-equipped public toilets (such as the one pictured at right)
2. Karaoke
1. Marc-- until he joins me in our homeland on Sep 26. Then karaoke will slide into first place.

Typhoon Nabi, b.k.a. No. 14

There's a typhoon ("bigger than Katrina" as the newscasters here like to throw around) hanging out in southern Japan. I was watching the news yesterday to try and figure out whether its chartered course will disrupt my plans to leave the country. I learned instead just how lame Japanese TV news is. I found the drinking game below posted on a "news" site:

Typhoon TV news drinking game

Take one slug for every reporter standing outside in waterproofs telling you it's rainy/windy.

Take one slug for every shot of waves breaking over a not particularly interesting rocky shore or a tree blowing in the wind.

Take three slugs for the above, but at night time when everything is just a dark blur.

Take two slugs for every shot of a brolly being blown inside out.

Abstain for 10 minutes for each new item of real news about the typhoon - eg, another reported injury/death.

Guaranteed to be plastered within an hour of turning on the telly!

I only wish I knew what a brolly was.

It's all about Trent Lott

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT DURING BRIEFING ON HURRICANE KATRINA
Mobile Regional Airport Mobile, Alabama

PRESIDENT: We've got a lot of rebuilding to do. First, we're going to save lives and stabilize the situation. And then we're going to help these communities rebuild. The good news is -- and it's hard for some to see it now -- that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house -- he's lost his entire house -- there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch. (Laughter.)

President's Remarks

Someone give this man a medal

THANK YOU, Mayor Ray Nagin, for telling it like it is and expressing outrage and disgust on behalf of the New Orleans people. If ever expletives were justified on CNN, surely it is now. You are the ONLY leader emerging from this tragedy.

I recommend listening to the audio of Nagin's interview, but here's the transcript:
Mayor to Feds: "Get off Your Asses"

What the hell is going on down there?

I don't know what your local news is reporting about the situation in New Orleans, but from where I'm sitting (in front of the computer) it looks to be unfathomably dire. And I'm not just talking about property damage and bloated corpses floating around. I'm talking women being raped in emergency shelters, angry mobs preventing cops from interfering in acts of lawlessness, armed gangs patrolling the streets, very pregnant women who haven't had food or water for days, sniper fire preventing evacuation of a hospital, and a guy shooting his sister in the head over a bag of ice.

This is crazy, apocalyptic shit. And it doesn't star Tom Cruise or Don Cheadle.

What are our nation's leaders doing right now? And would they be doing anything differently if the desperate faces of these stranded hurricane victims weren't black? Maybe it's just that Bush makes decisions as slowly as he reads those fekakteh speeches, but thousands of Americans look to have been abandoned by a President and a nation who seem more concerned with rising gas prices than with getting them the hell out of there.

Mayor Issues Desperate SOS
Black People Loot, White People Find