Journey To The West in Space and Time

It's Chinese new year.  Being so this months book cover is a questionable comic book interpretation of the famous Journey To The West story: Adventure of Karate Pig, Ninja Flounder & The 4-D Monkey.

 

This Hong Kong comic, printed in English, features the monkey king travelling around the universe on dubiously connected quests.  It's the year 2988 and the all new four-dimensional (?) monkey king called Sun is created, not from a stone egg, but in a laboratory.  Likewise are his companions, no not Pigsy and Sandy, but Piggy the Karate Pig and Fishy the Ninja Flounder.  It goes without saying that the heavenly armies and demons that Monkey battles are space aliens.  But I said it anyway.

 

 

Piggy is drawn with a Hitler moustache.

 

Celebrity Makeup

Musicians don't even need makeup to change their appearance these days, it's all CGI smoke and mirrors. 

 

I never leave the house without touching up my face with Photoshop.  If you were wondering, the song is Nouveau Parfum (New Perfume) by Hungarian singer Csemer Boglarka more commonly known as Boggie, the lyrics are in French.

 

 

All You Need

Released in July 1967 All You Need Is Love was written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney.

 

The song is notable for its asymmetric time signature and complex changes. The prominent cello line draws attention to this departure from pop-single normality, although it was not the first time that the Beatles had experimented with varied meter within a single song. Throughout this song McCartney's bass implies many additional chords over those played by the other instruments.

 

The song starts with the intro to the French national anthem, La Marseillaise, and contains elements from Glenn Miller's 1939 hit In The Mood, as well as elements from Wayne Shanklin's 1958 hit Chanson D'Amour.  During the long fade-out to the end of the song, elements of various other songs can be heard, including Greensleeves, Invention No. 8 in F major (BWV 779) by J.S. Bach, Glenn Miller's In the Mood (yes again), and the Beatles' own 1963 hit, She Loves You.  Friends and studio people made hand claps and sang background vocals, including Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Keith Moon, Graham Nash and numerous others (although Yoda was not present for the original recording).

Shamone, Manol

Hee-hee!

Chilling Chopsticks

Consecotaleophobia - Fear of Chopsticks.

Although phobias can be of anything, it's still surprising this is common enough to have an official name.  Generally Chinese and Vietnamese chopsticks are notably longer than Japanese and Korean chopsticks so may have a more frightening appearance.  On the other hand Japanese and Korean chopsticks taper to a much sharper point than the blunt ended Chinese and Vietnamese versions, so maybe this is scarier.

 

 

 

But to be fair to people with Consecotaleophobia, chopstick etiquette isn't a simple affair.  Some do's and don'ts:

• Holding chopsticks incorrectly reflects badly on a child's parents.
• Food should not be transferred between chopsticks. Food in need of transportation should be placed onto the recipient's plate or on a new plate for collection.
• Using the reverse end of the chopsticks is acceptable if communal serving utensils are not provided, but it is bad form to eat with them in this fashion.
• Don't tap chopsticks on the edge of one's bowl as beggars make this sort of noise to attract attention.
• It is impolite to spear food with a chopstick. Anything too difficult to be handled with chopsticks should be eaten with a spoon.
• One should not 'dig' or 'search' through one's food for something in particular. This is sometimes known as "digging one's grave" or "grave-digging".
• Chopsticks should not be bitten on, or held in the mouth for any length of time.
• Holding both a spoon and chopsticks simultaneously is frowned upon.
• Resting chopsticks at the top of the bowl means "I've finished". Resting chopsticks on the side of one's bowl or on a chopstick stand signifies one is merely taking a break from eating.
• Chopsticks should not be placed in a "V" shape when done eating, it is often interpreted as a bad omen
• Chopsticks should not be crossed on a table, as this symbolizes death.
• It is considered impolite to point rested chopsticks towards others seated at the table.
• Chopsticks should not be left vertically stuck into a bowl of rice because it resembles the ritual of incense-burning that symbolizes "feeding" the dead and death in general.

 

Serious Engineering

I'm posting mistranslated signs and product labels all this year.

Sporty Pulse

Sport and Music by Pulse.

 

The late 80's was even more awesome in Russia.  Stop pretending you don't want  an awesome leisure suit with matching hat like that one.

Maybe Bat-Slap

I'm done with Marias Sound of Music for now.  It's going to be Batman and Robin this year.