Category: neat things!

These things are neat!

Nerdtour 2016: Naritasan!

_MG_7989Okay, this is going to be a short one, although today was eventful and productive, I’m about out of energy for the day, and the bed in my new hotel room in Tsukiji is inviting.

I checked out of the hotel in Narita early this morning, and after a very small breakfast at Mr Donut down the road, I set off to find the Naritasan Temple complex and “Peace Park”. When I got there I was disappointed to find that my camera had gotten damaged sometime earlier, not sure where during the trip. Somehow a couple of camera batteries had slipped down beneath the camera, and the live-view screen got cracked when the camera bag was set down or banged around on one of the flights. Fortunately the camera still works fine, the part that cracked was a protective screen to help keep the body of the camera waterproof. It will still need to be fixed though.

At any rate, I managed to get quite a few nice pictures of the temple, including a few of the first cherry trees blooming in Narita. The season just started, and they won’t be in full bloom in Narita until I’m ready to leave. I will be staying the night at Narita before I leave, so I might just get a chance.

After I saw the temple and park grounds, I grabbed lunch at a small shop that was serving barbecued eel, unagi. I had never had it before, but it was good, especially since I was hungry!

Finally I got my suitcase from the hotel and set off by train to the hotel in Tsukiji, not far from the famous fish market. The room is the smallest I’ve had of all the hotels I’ve stayed at, it’s so small I have to step outside to change my mind!

At any rate, here are a few pictures from Narita. Enjoy!

Nerdtour Japan 2016: Once More With Sakura!

Sakura by moonlightSo, once again I prepare to depart for the Land of the Rising Sun, where the cherry blossoms (sakura) are in bloom!  This will be a relatively short trip, only two weeks, but the goal is to take as many pictures of cherry trees in bloom in as many iconic Japanese places as possible, given the short time they bloom.  Plus since the Tidal Basin here in DC is full of cherry trees from Japan that are now also in bloom, I hope to take pictures of them before go, too!

Blogging may be spotty, but I’ll try to at least post something each day.

The Nerdtour 2016 starts Sunday, March 27!

Anime USA 2015!

I managed to attend Anime USA for the first time in over 4 years, since they moved away from the Crystal City Hyatt to the Wardman Park Marriott in DC.

I didn’t get to see everything, but I did manage to get some photos, so enjoy!

Otakon 2015!

Otakon!
Otakon!
The next-to-last Otakon to be held at Baltimore Convention Center has begun! I decided to take a leaf from others and take some photos around the convention with one of my anime figures, “Danboard” from the manga “Yotsuba and!”. There are a lot of people in Japan and other places that are taking photos of Danboard in various famous sites, so I thought “why not do the same?” Here are a couple of pictures I’ve taken so far, with more (hopefully) to come!

Enjoy!

Danboard checks out the Otakon "ice cold waterworks" sign
Danboard checks out the Otakon “ice cold waterworks” sign
Danboard waits patiently outside the main entrance
Danboard waits patiently outside the main entrance
Danboard meets a cosplayer
Danboard meets a cosplayer

Funky 70’s. 1770’s that is…

Screen Shot 2015-05-12 at 11.21.51 PM
Classical music never sounded better than the Piano Guys’ take on it, melding 18th Century instruments and 1970’s funk, as they create a “quartet” playing “I Want You Bach”.

Enjoy!

Katsucon 2015

Decided to put the gallery here instead of on a page, that most people wouldn’t see.

These are shots from Katsucon 2015, held February 13-15, at National Harbor outside of Washington DC.

Enjoy!

MAGfest photos added

Finally posted something new, I took a few pictures at MAGFest 13 in January and posted them on a new page.

Here are a few of them:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The original Iron Butterfly, their final performance

Screen Shot 2014-11-15 at 1.27.58 PMOne of the most famous, if not one of the best rock bands from the 1960’s was Iron Butterfly, and their biggest hit was “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida“, a 17+ minute jam session. The performance included vocals and keyboard by Doug Ingle, Ron Bushy on drums, Lee Dorman on bass and vocals, and Erik Braunn on guitar and vocals.  The song was noted for being so long that it took the entire side of an LP album, and for being a transition from “psychedelic rock” to “heavy metal”.  It was also the first to have a drum solo as part of the flow of music from the vocals and keyboard at the beginning and end, through the guitar- and bass-centric pieces between.  A little-known bit of trivia, back in the days before automated radio stations there were people called “disk jockeys” who selected the songs to be played and “cued up” songs on turntables that they switched between to transition songs.  “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” was a well-known “bathroom break” song, because a DJ that needed a break could cue up this song to play, and know that they had at least 15 minutes before they needed to be back at the control to kick off the next song.  This song, along with the live recording of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird”, Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven”, and the live album version of Peter Frampton’s “Do You Feel Like We Do” were often-requested songs, but seldom played, and if you heard one of them, you could bet that the DJ needed to be away from the console for a little bit.

This performance was recorded in May 2012, just a few months before bassist Lee Dorman passed away.  He was found in December of 2012 in his car, he died of natural causes likely on his way to a doctor’s appointment.  He was 70 years old.  I personally love the fact that even after all the years between the original recording and this performance, the men could still bring their best to this piece, to an appreciative audience.

Enjoy these men in their final performance together, as the effortlessly lay down “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” one last time.