Monochrome Heroes 2

Sun Ra

Alfred Hitchcock

Akira Kurosawa

Jonny Greenwood

Cornelius

Monty Python

Jack Rabid

Tom Robbins

Hayao Miyazaki

Nikola Tesla (AKA The Electric Jesus)

Quentin Tarantino 

Lux Interior 

The Coen Bros.

Wes Anderson

Sunny bike rides to Thai delicacies and good luck seagull droppings.  Kraken rum induced laughter leading to light excursions in the spirit world led by fungi guides. 

Tetsuo: The Iron Man

Not like Buddha
Not like Vishnu
Life wouldn't rise through him again

The Monochrome Set

I have to give thanks to Bradford Cox and my lovely wife for helping me discover this gem of a band. Formed in 1978 after singer Bid and guitarist Lester Square left their college band The B-Sides, later to become Adam & The Ants, funky! They released a good amount of singles through Rough Trade, which you can find in compilations White Noise: Early Recordings and The Independent Singles Collection, and three solid albums, Strange Boutique, Love Zombies, and Eligible Bachelors. Their music is full of tongue in cheek lyricism, delivered smoothly through Bid's Lou Reed influenced English lilt , and jazzier takes on the then fresh post-punk sound. Class all the way round. A perfect pairing with some scotch and smirking at the current irony enslaved society. 

Tanuki Treats

These are amazing little snacks that my co-worker came up with and that I am now championing. I chef at a groovy Japanese restaurant, so I get to experiment with all the wondrous Japanese ingredients and come up with new specials, like Tanuki Treats. These little bundles of joy are Inari(sweet fried tofu) stuffed with sushi rice, diced green onions, avocado slices and a wasabi & yuzu dressing. Topped with lots of sesame seeds. They have all the things that tanukis(and kitsune) crave! Goes great with good beer, but especially Kirin Ichiban. 

Leiji Accompaniment

Leiji Matsumoto

Manga Artist,  designer,  cosmic genius.

!!!

Himiko/Jicoo water bus and floating bar/dance club, Tokyo

Galaxy Express 999 Monchichi's ?!?

Fear can be a bum thing

A silly and a dumb thing

Fear can be the one thing

That keeps us in the dark

Pro tip: Do not get Dr. Bronner's soap in your eyes. Ouch.

Video unrelated but awesome.

Pineal Pizazz

Slipping my green jeans on for this one here.....there. Now I'm sure that everyone is hip to the fact that we(especially Americans,) are being pumped full of sodium fluoride on a daily basis. It's in our water, toothpaste, canned foods(really anything that comes in a can,) microwave popcorn, farmed fish, store bought vegetables, non organic milk, meats from corn fed animals and cheap teas. And I'm also sure that everyone knows that this shit is toxic right? .....Right? 

Okay, first a brief history lesson on Fluoride. During the 1940's scientists apart of the Manhattan Project used fluoride to enrich uranium during the production of the atomic bomb and aluminum, which fluoride is also a byproduct of, was also in heavy use in war time factories. After all of that had blown over( ugh, bad pun I know,) they were left an over abundance of sodium fluoride with no place to put it. Hmm. Then it was discovered that instead of just dumping all of this in rivers, lakes and the ocean, they could turn around a make a buck off of using it as an additive for teeth and bone "health". In 1986 the estimated worldwide consumption of fluoride was several million tonnes. Fast forward to what those numbers would be today and a cold shiver runs up your spine. 

Now onto effects. Sodium fluoride can build up in many parts of your body, joints, muscles, bones, but mostly it calcifies in the pineal gland. Which is very bad. The pineal gland is what regulates melotonin production, wake and sleep patterns, seasonal functions, psychological health, and is believed by many metaphysics and philosophers to be the seat of the soul. There is a lot more to it than that, but if you're reading this blog, you have access to the internet and more information. Just watch out for all the left field new-age quack sites.  

Here's a few tips on stripping away some of that nastiness: Try to get at least twenty minutes of sunshine a day and sleeping in darkness. 

Use reverse-osmosis water.

Buy as much organic items as you can afford.

Use toothpaste without fluoride. Tom's makes a few good ones.

Get some exercise tubby!

Use a sauna as frequently as you can.

Vitamin C is your friend

Annnnnd having a good time with some psilocybin a couple times a year actually cleanses the pineal gland. This has been practiced for 9000 years, it's got to have some merit. 

We're all built up with progress
But sometimes I must confess
We can deal with rockets and dreams
But reality, what does it mean
Ain't nothing said
'Cause freddies dead

Late at night my house is midst a heavy ocean mist and the sounds of cat fights and sweet sleep, which keeps teasing at my brain.

Resuscitated  Hermes, my bicycle, and helped the wife purchase her first proper one, a little beauty by the name of Cortina. Rode under the blood orange and lavender evening sky. Slowly saying goodbye to the honeymoon thickness.
  Fitter, happier, more productive. Comfortable...

Phở

Ugh, Pho, beautiful pho.  The culinary love child of French and Chinese cuisine, this bowl of soul power will fit any situation, classy or casual. And it's the ultimate cure for a hangover, sorry burritos. If you've never experienced Pho, lift yourself from your computer immediately and seek some out. Unless you live in the sticks, there is probably a good chance that some Asian restaurant near you serves this up. Here's a short list of quality pho pushers that I compiled that may help:

La Vie - San Francisco, CA

Number 9 - Long Beach, CA

Pho 87 - Los Angeles, CA

Pho Hung - Portland, OR

Pho Bac - Seattle, WA

Maxim Restaurant - Phoenix, AZ

Pho Saigon Noodle House - Austin, TX

Pho 75 - Philadelphia, PA

Pho Bang - Flushing, New York, NY

Pho Bistro 2 - Honolulu, HI

Let me know about some other places that you know. Oh, and it's pronounced "Fuh."

iceage

The american hype machine is currently spasmodic over this Danish band. Listen to satellite radio or open a music mag and you're likely to find them. In punk and indie's current life crisis any band with a gleam in it's eye could be the next standard setters. iceage won't fill those shoes. I doubt any band within the next decade could. Youthful, violent, nihilistic, the wheel isn't being reinvented here, but who says it has to? Their debut album, New Brigade, sounds as though it could have been released in 1979(which saves me the trouble of referencing all of their obvious influences.). An energetic and quick listen, it'll keep music heads interested.

 "I don't want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub." - Grover Norquist

Monochrome Heroes

Jim Jarmusch

J. Mascis

Tom Verlaine & Richard Hell

Nikki Sudden

Thurston Moore

Sonic Boom (Pete Kember)

Mark E. Smith

Haruki Murakami

Kurt Vonnegut

Johnny Thunders

Gang of Four

Bill Murray

Bradford Cox

Iggy Pop & David Bowie

Pavement

Craig Ferguson 

Anthony Bourdain

Robert Pollard

Bruce Campbell