japanese tv

You've probably seen "japanese girls in meat hats versus the giant lizard", but have you also seen "japanese girls versus the giant black man", and "japanese girl in seal hat versus the polar bear"?

I don't know what it is that makes these shows more entertaining than the similar crap on TV here. Maybe it's just that I can't understand them. But somehow I think that "Fear Factor" with the sound down would still just be fratboys eating bugs.

Don't hit stop on this homoriffic dance routine before the boys show up. Also here's a fire-breathing fat man doing some candyraver happy-hardcore bullshit, and for some American horror, please enjoy some Hoff and a furry stripper.

Comment below with links to more videos of absurd Japanese game shows. My scarred inner child thanks you in advance.

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I, for one, welcome our new multi-ton shambling steel robot overlords

Animaris Rhinoceros Transport
The Animaris Rhinoceros Transport is a type of animal with a steel skeleton and a polyester skin. It looks as if there is a thick layer of sand coating the animal. It weighes 2. tons, but can be set into motion by one person. It stands 4.70 meters tall. Because of its height it catches enough wind to start moving.

Watch the video!

More at strandbeest.com; I've linked to Theo Jansen's freaky wind-powered walking machines before, and they're still kind of hard to believe...

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DNA Lounge: Wherein San Francisco burns to the ground.

This April is the 100th anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and the Bancroft Library has a new online exhibit about it, including a bunch of photos I hadn't seen before. In the vicinity of DNA Lounge, there are three pictures of the Jackson Brewery (the building at the corner of 11th and Folsom that now contains The Public and some condos):

There isn't a picture that shows the spot that DNA now occupies, but there is one that roughly shows what you would have seen looking out out door and to the left: this is 11th and Harrison, looking toward the southwest (where the taxi lot is). It doesn't look all that different!

Also, here's 4th and Bryant looking south: I think the building on the right is between Bryant and Brannan; I think it's a bit south of the location of Glas Kat / Trocadero. It looks like it might actually be the building that the Six Apart / LiveJournal offices are in.

I've taken this opportunity to fix the recently-broken links on my Ancient History page (if you haven't seen that one before, check it out: it describes the goings-on in the DNA Lounge building over roughly the last century and a half.)

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