Norlos

– JAL is bankrupt quite possibly because it gives kids the most kickass toys. Marco got a model JAL 747 plus a little plush bag with baby stuff.

– Here’s reason No. 436 why Japanese women don’t have babies with Japanese men: Women’s rooms in Narita have changing tables, men’s don’t.

– I’ve never flown on a 747 before, and daaaaaaayum that thing is big. Which is good when you have a fussing baby who wants nothing else but daddy to walk him up and down the length of the plane for four hours.

– Four hours not enough? How about five?

– It’s good to have funny-looking people on your flight so, if they beat you to baggage claim, you can easily identify your baggage carousel. Thank you Guy Who Looks Like the Crazy Colonel in “Avatar”, and thank you Girl Who Wears Zebra-Print Pants.

A fella named Chuck Lightning put together the latest installment of the Believer music compilation, which I’ve mentioned a few times before. I still think the magazine’s hit or miss, but every year like the salmon wiggling upstream to get busy I send away back to the States for my copy.

I wasn’t wild about the compilations in 2008 and 2009 (aside from this song) but Chuck’s set really whips the hippopotamus’s ass.

It includes:

A Janelle Monae remix (and thanks Hellx for the intro!) that sounds like something Stevie Wonder might have done in 1973:

Janelle Monáe – Cold War (Wondamix) by Hypetrak

Of Montreal, an alternative band, getting funky:

A great song by a guy named Spree Wilson who I’ve never heard of, called “Chaos.” Interwebs failing me in finding a copy, so here’s something else by him:

And, amazingly, Nina Simone covering Alice Cooper.

Chuck Lightning, one of Janelle Monae’s producers, has a philosophy:

We at Wondaland are inventors. We wear tuxedos everyday. We jump in pools during performances. We wear Civil War hats and rock vintage Jordans. We believe truth can be broken down with the following formula: Truth= Love x Imagination.

We believe songs are spaceships. We believe music is the weapon of the future. We believe books are stars.

We believe there are only three forms of music: good music, bad music and funk.

Can’t argue with that.

It’s 3 a.m. my time and I’m watching Kansas-Georgia Tech via SlingBox. The picture looks like both teams are made up of players constructed from Lego blocks, but I’m seeing enough to believe.

Hellx, which is the outlier here? Victory last week by DoubleOh’s savage people, or today?

The Bison beat KU in Lawrence and all of a sudden the blog comments don’t work? Hmmm…well, I can’t argue much with the KC Star, although it would have been nice if they could figure out that it’s NDSU, not NDST.

And for all that “worst loss ever” rhetoric, consider my current home, where both local teams share the inglorious “toilet bowl” game, which may be the worst ever played anywhere, by any college teams. I quote from the Oregonian,

“1983: Eleven fumbles. Five interceptions. Four missed field goals. The staggering ineptitude of the scoreless game that becomes known as “The Toilet Bowl” marks the low point for the Civil War. On the Ducks’ final play, with one second left on the clock, Chris Miller throws a 15-yard pass to Kwante Hampton, who laterals to Ladaria Johnson. The play nearly goes the 82-yard distance, but Johnson is tackled at the 14. Officials rule he had stepped out of bounds near the 50 anyway. “It was almost like neither team wanted to win,” said UO coach Rich Brooks, uttering one of the most improbable thoughts in the history of the series.”

Go Thundering Herd!

Just sayin’…

Apparently the cat was up there for three days…