More Political Stuff: Obama up by 8% after the first debate

Have to apologize if you're getting tired of the political posts. I studied American History in college and have followed American politics pretty closely since. And if you're into this kind of thing, the past year and a half has just been incredible political theater. Regardless of who wins or loses, this race will go down in history. This stuff'll keep up until November for sure, but I'll try to get some Japan posts in too.

Anyway- yeah, Obama's up post debate. That's according to Gallup. Rasmussen has him up by 6, and every other major poll gives him a healthy lead. The electoral map shows a big shift to Obama, with gains in important swing states like Virginia.

The word out of the McCain camp is that they're going to...go negative. Even more so, I suppose. So McCain will spend even more time calling Obama naive, and try to give people doubt he can protect the country from Rogue States and terrorists. despite the fact that focus groups of swing voters showed that that behavior more or less directly led to a defeat in public opinion after the first debate. You could literally see peoples opinion of McCain plummeting on the live graph every time McCain used those lines.

Meanwhile, Obama is gearing up to talk about the one issue on everyone cares about now, the economy. Post debate, Obama leads McCain on the Economy 66% to 42%. And when it comes to "understanding your needs", Obama leads 79% to 41%

And their answer to all that is to talk about Iraq and Iran? Good luck with that, guys. They really are a one-trick pony. Scare people with terrorists, and try to make the election about character and personalities. That's really all they know how to do.

The sad thing is John McCain could easily have won this election. Its easy to forget after the past couple years, but he really did used to be a centrist kind of guy that could work with the democrats. The country wanted change, and he could have given it to them, or at least thrown them a bone. He could have pushed to keep Bush tax cuts, but not cut taxes for the wealthy and oil companies even more than before, as he is now. He could have supported a withdrawal from Iraq, but made a big hullabaloo about how they would "win" by doing it, so that the right wingers felt the troops were returning after a victory. He could have started banging the drum to track down Bin Ladin in Pakistan and Afghanistan, which everyone would have been happy about, left, right and international. He could have offered a real plan for creating jobs with green energy, and getting off of oil.

In short, he could have stolen all the center to conservative-leaning stances that Obama is running on, and simply not openly, vocally opposed the liberal-leaning stuff that he's planning. And if he had done that, people likely would have trusted him to do it all over some new guy no-one had heard of.

But he's not. He's digging his heels in Bush-style diplomacy, and sneering at Obama for not seeing the world the same way Bush and Cheney do. His foreign policy is identical to theirs. Rather than just keeping quiet about it and letting the rich and the oil companies keep eating cake in the background, He's planning to run up the deficit even more by cutting taxes for them even more still, playing right into the populist cry that the rich are running the country. And he's been promoting deregulation even as Wall Street falls apart from its own excesses.

I hate to call stuff early, but barring some huge gaffe from Obama or massive voter fraud in a swing state, I think this is the beginning of the end, and its more or less over now. He's not giving a positive vision of where he wants to take the country, just trying to make people fear the other guy. And that just isn't going to be enough this time.

I have one little worry about the Vice Presidential debate though- the expectations for Sarah Palin are so incredibly low after that last interview that all she has to do is show up without vomiting all over the podium to be seen as pretty good. The McCain camp has the debate format changed to a shorter, more sound-bite oriented affair with less interaction between the candidates. So all she has to do is show up, look confident, smile and say a few memorized lines, and everyone will think she's great.

Debate Afterthought

Again, both did well, but looking at the debate again now, Obama came out ahead on this one, subtly, but in the end surely. Not with the "knockout punch" that every partisan wanted to see for their man, not with glitz or a great little zinger soundbite for tomorrow's news, just a steady, consistent performance and demeanor that will serve him well with the people in the center that are still making up their minds on who to vote for.

First, the issues. Obama simply has a more compelling argument for the middle class, which is most people. He talked to the audience, not just the moderator. The polls show watchers are more convinced he would handle the economy well by a wide margin. The economy is what's on everyone's minds right now. That's the main issue of the season, and that's the issue Obama has come out front on.

It's true that McCain did a good job sounding convincing on foreign policy, especially around the 55:00 mark in the video of the debate in the post below. But it was an impassioned argument for the Bush world view of how to deal with Iran and other hostile states. There are conservative pundits claiming that McCain "schooled" Obama on foreign policy, establishing a master and student relationship. But you show me someone convinced that McCain mopped the floor with Obama on foreign policy, and I'll show you someone who voted for Bush both times, and would do it again if they could. He made a great argument for the Neocon view of the world. But as we all know, that's not where the center of the country is in 2008. The majority agrees with Obama on Iraq, and the debate polls show that while he still trails, Obama narrowed the gap on foreign policy last night, bringing McCain's lead from a chasm to single digits. It didn't widen like the McCain camp must have hoped it would.
If anything, all his performance did was demonstrate that on many issues, he really is just like Bush.

Second, the undertone things. McCain doesn't look at Obama once throughout the entire debate. When Obama addresses him, he just stares ahead stonily. When Obama makes a point, he looks down and gets this weird smirky insecure smile on his face.

As partisans, we're all looking for that great little jab by our man, and get excited when the opponent appears to show weakness. But swing voters don't see it that way; that stuff just turns them off, and McCain was doing more of it. McCain's camp is jeering that Obama agreed with McCain 7-8 times, as if that makes him his junior. But they should pay more attention to what swing voters thought. Focus groups using knobs to display approval and disapproval during the debates had no problem with this, and gave McCain considerably low ratings when he used his 5-times-repeated "Senator Obama just doesn't understand that..." line. The swing voters want the politicians to play nice, and Obama is doing a better job of that.

Prediction- McCain showed some contempt for Obama tonight, as if he's resentful that he even has to debate him (perhaps literally, considering he didn't plan to come). I suspect he's holding his temper a fair amount right now, at least by his own standards.

If Obama sees a spike from this week over the next few days, you could start seeing McCain start to flail and become increasingly touchier and on the attack during the next few debates. His base is screaming for blood, and his cheerleaders at The National Review have all kinds of zingers ready for him. He may begin to heed their advice and attack, much as Hillary Clinton did with increasingly desperate and nasty swings during the final debates of the primaries. Obama will keep his cool and not rise to the bait. Gradually, he'll look more presidential, and McCain will begin to look less authoritive and more petulant. And simply by keeping up his current path, Obama will squeak to victory.

This is why I've always thought Obama would do well, even when his poll numbers were lagging and everyone was screaming for him to fight back and change tactics. He has the winning policies, character and strategy, its just a matter of riding out the storms on the way, not getting distracted by the opposition, and getting his message out to lower-information voters that aren't already glued to the news. He isn't winning through spikes in the polls through quick, overnight changes in strategy. He's winning as the slow, steady guy in the race.

Obama-McCain Debate, Friday 9/26: Full Video, Reviews, Reactions and Polls

Here's the entire debate, in case you missed it-


I'm pretty cynical about these debates. Kerry and Gore told off Bush on the facts, but all the public heard were a bunch of sighing, pushy know-it-alls, while Bush came off like a regular guy who had the force of his convictions, even if he wasn't a big pencil-necked arrogant nerd like them. The body-language and tone of voice seemed to matter more than what was actually said. Like it was a task in calming scared wild animals.

So for me, this wasn't about who would win the argument. As far as I'm concerned, Obama won these arguments over a year ago, and McCain doesn't have the facts to change any of that. As cynical as this sounds, it's more a matter of who looks like they're winning, and I was worried. Obama has most of the facts on his side this time around, but he also has a habit of beginning most of his sentences with a series of ums, ahs, and false starts. For a lot of people, that might be all they hear. And while his ability to hear out both sides is a good trait, when it comes to shock-button issues like finding and killing Bin Ladin, that kind of attitude can come off as wishy-washy and weak.

The debate started out with McCain speaking high-mindedly about bipartisanship, while Obama stayed snappy, judgmental and accusative toward McCain and the Bush administration. The early spin-verdict: "He needs to project warmth!" It looked pretty bad.

But surprisingly, McCain took the bait, bought into Obama's frame and started acting the same way. McCain is a skilled politician that has a way of dodging questions without looking like he is, and keeping his confidence and sense of conviction the whole time. Obama wouldn't let up, and corrected mischaracterizations of his positions politely but forcefully and firmly. The result was a tense but measured debate without any major knock-outs on either side.

The big surprise? According to CBS after the broadcast, viewers Obama won this 40%-22%; and almost 2-1 margin. (Minutes ago, they released preliminary results of an official poll, which put Obama as winning among undecided voters 39-25, and leading on the economy almost 2-1). He led on every issue except terrorism, and he only lost that by about 7%. And the funny thing is, I'm pretty sure McCain led by more than that going in. So there's a good chance he actually turned people around on this.

46% of voters left with a more positive opinion of Obama, with only 7% saying they left with a more negative one. That's damn good. And the best part? One of the swing voters CBS kept in a room to gauge reactions from said he thought Obama won because he seemed relaxed and in control, while McCain "showed more emotion". So it looks like Obama is even winning the little mannerism game at this point.

Why such an surge of enthusiasm for Obama over what was at best an average showing by his standards?

My theory is this- Me and most of my friends that are pro-Obama have been watching this race in great detail, so we've seen him at all the press conferences, seen him act this way, and knew that this was what he was capable of, and that he could well have demolished McCain tonight. So for us, this was basically a draw, at best.

But the average low-information voter still doesn't know much about him. They buy into the hype that he's just an empty suit that needs a teleprompter to sound good, and that McCain is a decisive leader who has the experience and knows what he's doing.

Going into this debate with that frame of mind, one could only think, "Wow...Obama is actually a really articulate, knowledgeable, intelligent guy, and what he says actually makes a lot of sense. This guy really can go head-to-head with an experienced war-hero like Senator John McCain."

To that I can only say...well, duh. But I'm glad popular opinion is coming around. Gallups' last day of tracking had Obama up by 6-8 points in wake of the McCain-Campaign-Suspension debacle, averaged to +3 along with the previous 2 days of tracking. Add the response to this debate and allow a few days to let the lower earlier numbers fall off, and you could be looking at a good 5-8 point lead for Obama by next week off all of this. And this time, he may actually keep it.

Update: Video on the poll with changes. New stat- opinions on Obama's readiness to be president rose 13% among undecideds after this, 35 up to 48. Meanwhile, McCain's far superior figure of 79% going in slipped by 1 percent. So bottom line, Obama gained ground during a foreign policy debate that should have been a McCain stronghold, and McCain basically just held even.

Update 2: More interesting Poll results here.



Update 3: Even FOX News's focus group polling shows Obama came out ahead with voters-

Worst Sarah Palin Interview Ever.

I've never posted -and hardly ever even watched- Katie Couric interviews up until now. Now, I'm posting two in one day, one with John McCain, and one with Palin. They must have figured Couric would go easy on them. I'm as surprised as they must have been, but boy, were they wrong. Especially in this interview with Palin.

Palin's speech at the RNC was a Republican homerun, but this interview is everything people thought her interviews would be when the news first hit she was joining the campaign; flustered, insecure, beaten down, uninformed and unsure what to say. Katie Couric looks like she's staring her down and trying to psych Palin out as she talks- successfully, it seems. I actually feel sorry for her at this point. It's awkward to watch.



Bonus- Part 2


The weird thing about this is that Katie Couric has had a reputation of being not just a lightweight, but as a Bush cheerleader. Of all the major media outlets aside from Fox, CBS has arguably been the most conservative-favorable in its coverage. Up until now they've treated McCain evenly even as CNN, ABC and NBC have gotten progressively more pissed off at his campaign.

I was student council president in high school, though a lot of people hadn't really seen it coming. There was a guy in my sociology class that thought only really popular people had a shot at it, and that it was ridiculous even trying to run. But a lot of people supported me, including this sort of ditzy in-crowd girl we'll call Suzy Q and her friends. After the election I saw him in class and he just shook his head and said, "You know, when I heard that even Suzy Q was voting for you, that's when I realized that you were actually going to win."

That's kind of who Katie Couric reminds me of. There's a base of 35-40% that will always vote for a Republican no matter what, but in the center there's been a slow, gradual process where middle-of-the-road people that were generally happy with Bush are beginning to shift over to Obama and away from McCain. Not in a fanatical, caught up in the hype way...just a general, gradual movement in cautious popular opinion.

Video: McCain Suspends Campaign, Does interview with Katie Couric on CBS

He's calling to suspend the debate, which most people see as being a chance for Obama to do well. I just don't know...check this out.


Watch CBS Videos Online

2 things strike out to me-

1. He talks about how now is not the time for campaigning, but here he is on TV and he sounds like he's on his soapbox the whole time, whining about how his opponent didn't agree to town hall meetings 6 months ago, talking about how he likes polls that have him up and hates ones that have him down and it'll be a close election for sure, blah blah blah. WTF does that have to do with anything? Aren't you supposed to be in Washington getting things under control right now?

2. He sounds freaked out, which is really worrying. He goes on about how "trusted, respected people" (Like Paulson) are telling him this could be a huge crisis, and he believes them. He's kind of losing it...the last thing people need is a leader running around in a panic. He doesn't sound like he understands the issues better than anyone else.

Here's Obama's response, when asked if he's considered suspending his own campaign-

"It is going to be part of the president's job to deal with more than one thing at once," he said. "I think there's no reason why we can't be constructive in helping to solve this problem and also tell the American people what we believe, and where we stand, and where we want to take the country."



You know, at this point, it goes beyond politics, policies and political views. Shut your liberal/conservative brain off for a few minutes, and just watch these two guys, as if they were just a couple random people interviewing for the same job.

Pretend you don't know which is the Democrat and which is the Republican. And ask yourself- Which of these politicians seems to have their act together more? Who seems more in control of things?

On that "take advantage of travel opportunities" bit...

Thinking about going to Shanghai en route to Thailand this spring. Someone I know from highschool is working at an advertising agency there, and it seems like a pretty cool setup, so I want to go check it.

I want to go back to Canada for the summer, but family members are pushing for a trip to Sweden, which is where my Mom's side of the family is from originally. I thought it would be too out of the way/expensive to do both, but its actually feasible...

All I need to do is buy a round the world ticket for about 1,600 or so, much cheaper than the tickets would be individually. Head west to Sweden, meet my mother and sister there, then head back to halifax with them after continuing westward. Then do Toronto, maybe montreal, and continue west back to Japan.

And if I'm doing all that, I might as well make some extra stops at some other places on the way to Sweden.

Its a bit of a pinch because I "only" get 2 months off in Summer, and I may be starting a Phd that July, at which point I really would be extremely busy. But hopefully then my job will be going smoothly enough that I can fit in at least 3 weeks for that. The Spring break would be better because its longer and less busy...but does anyone want to spend February in Sweden and Canada?

Good Restaurants in Fukuoka, Part 2: The Minami-ku Edition

Indian: Parkash (Takamiya Station, Takamiya)


For the most part, "Curry" in Japan just means a simple brown powdery sauce poured over rice. But there are a surprising number of really good Indian restaurants run by Indian immigrants in Fukuoka, at least 5 I can think of. One of my favorites is Parkash, above in Takamiya. When you leave the station you descend into a square with a fountain and statues. To your right are two restaurants, McDonalds and Parkash, pictured above (picture from Kenko's blog).

The food is good, it's clean with a good atmosphere, and the staff is really friendly. The main attraction, like most places, is curry with Nan bread. Prices vary depending on times of the day. Ranked in rough order from cheapest to most expensive- Weekday days, weekday evenings, weekend days/holidays and Weekend Evenings. The upside of this arrangement is that if you happen to be around Takamiya around lunch on a weekday, you can get a good vegetable curry set for about 600 yen.

American: Burgers from Okinawa (Noma)
Noma 2-5-13 Open 11:30-22:00, Closed Wednesday
Delivery 092-512-1259
Recently opened from a restaurateur that used to operate in Okinawa, catering to US military. At first glance, the burgers look pretty typical, but the secret weapon is the meat. They aren't kidding when they say "home-made"- the proprietor actually grinds the hamburger himself from base meat each morning and seasons it himself. Other than that, it's additive free. You've never had a burger that tasted so healthy. With most burgers, all the extra condiments basically serve the purpose of masking the fact that you're essentially eating low-grade meat that wouldn't be edible otherwise, but these patties stand on their own. My girlfriend complained it looked small for the price, but a lot of that has to do with the shaping; its two or 3 times as thick as most burgers.

Click to enlarge the menu. As you can see, prices range from 450 yen for a small standard burger to a whopping 1450 for a "regular" (read: American size) double Avocado special. I recommend the Hawaiian burger, with bacon and pineapple. Looking at it now, the menu says it's especially popular with foreigners, and sure enough, I made a beeline for it. Click the photo of the menu to enlarge and get a taste for what you're in for.

Directions- head south down Takamiya-dori from Tenjin until you get to Ohashi. Past the post office, there's a large intersection (Noma intersection) with a large tunnel on your right and a bicycle shop ahead on the far right corner. Turn right down the tunnel. Out the other side, it'll be on your left. If you live in the neighborhood they also do delivery.

Thai: Osha (Ohashi)


Abe Bldg. 1F 1-23-21 Ohashi, Minami-ku, Fukuoka 092-551-2175
Open: 11:30 ~ 14:00 / 18:00 ~ 24:00 Closed Monday

Most Thai restaurants try to go upscale and charge an arm and a leg, which is a shame, because if you've spent much time in Thailand you know that the really good food to be had is at the cheap roadside stalls. How come every Thai restaurant has to have a dress code and zen Buddhist statues by the door? Why can't you just get the cheap stuff? Now at Osha, you can. I remember coming directly from Thailand and finding it too a bit lacking, but now that I have some distance from the original food and have lowered my standards a bit I think its great, at the least some of the best food of its kind in Fukuoka. They put a good deal of effort into getting the original ingredients. Even basic spices and vegetables that can be bought in Japan are imported if the Thai variety differs in any way. They were kind enough to give me fresh thai ginger for my own cooking, for free.

Music Review: Van She "V"

Everything old becomes new again. It seems like we constantly mock the styles and fashions of the decade past, but honor those of the decade before as even cooler than we realized at the time. When I was a kid in the late 80's the 60's were cool, and the 70's were considered an atrocity on all that was good and pure. In the 90's, movies like Dazed and Confused and Boogie Nights and shows like, well, That 70's Show, hit their stride, and it became okay to admit disco was actually kind of kind of fun.

In the past few years even the darkest corners of 80's fashion has gone from lame to de rigeur, with Girl Talk lacing southern rap with shades of shocking Miami Vice pink. There's also been an upsurge in bands that use sythesizers to back up the standard drums/bass/guitar lineup, creating a type of synthpop reminiscent of Depeche Mode, Human League or New Order.

Which brings me to Van She. I had always known Van She as a techno remix outfit, as you can hear in the video above (They also did this great remix of the Klaxon's "Gravity's Rainbow"). I was surprised to discover that by day they're actually a pretty typical band from Australia, complete with drummer, guitarist and lead singer. It's really not bad at all. I like their new album V better than anything by the Klaxons. While they still don't have a big hit on their hands that really distinguishes them from the crowd, their music is remarkably consistent and will grow on you. A video tour-

Kelly, their first single. Very 80's.


The Cat and the Eye. Not my favorite song by them, but you can see why the label made it the single.


These are the tracks with videos, but I like them best when they lace the sugar pop with a snarl. Check out "It could be the Same" on the album, a blistering indie-rock number backed by overdriven synthesizers.

Goals

The other day a (western) professor came down from the Economics department to talk to me about a class we're both working with. He was chatting with me and another lecturer and I idly asked him how his summer had been. As it turns out, he had:

Gone to Germany.
Gone to Istanbul.
Gone to Vietnam to study the language.
Taken a 13-day motorbike trip across the northeast.

At first, we got that flash of envy that everyone always gets when they hear someone else talk about doing great things. That sort of reflexive, "Gee, I wish I could do that, only I don't have enough time/money/lack of responsibilities" line we always tell ourselves as an excuse for not doing cooler stuff with ourselves.

But then it occurred to me- This person has almost the exact same life situation I do. Its true he earns more than I do, though even that probably balances out with the part-time work I do elsewhere. Its true he's tenured and I'm not, which can make a big difference in terms of work. I have a paper due in a month and two presentations to prepare for in late October. (I'm also in the office on a Sunday right now, which says a thing or two). But even the busiest people I know don't work every day. Bottom line, given the free time I have, if I don't find/make the time to do at least half of those things even amidst all the other stuff I have to do, it's on me as much as on any external excuse I can give.

I made some goals for myself a few years ago. I wanted to live in Fukuoka, have a university job, lots of surplus time and money, and someone to share it with. It took me a while to do it all, but one by one, all those things fell into place, and all the things that have traditionally held me, (and presumably most people) back from doing more- vacation time, money, career goals, etc- have more or less ceased to be issues.

So the future is now. The old goals have been met, and its time to make some new ones.

Random, probably ignorant observation

This is just in my own experience. Someone will probably jump in the comments and point out gaping exceptions. But anyway...

I know several half-Japanese, Half-western people, and a few half-Chinese, Half-western people.

The bulk of the half-chinese people I know tend to look predominantly Asian. Once you know one of their parents is white, you can see the features. But they don't strike out at first.

However, nearly all the half-Japanese, Half-western people I know look predominantly white, and it often isn't at all obvious one of their parents is Japanese unless they tell you. Again, the features are there, but if you saw them on the street back home and weren't looking for them you would often just assume they were white.

Kid's Energy

There was a get-together at work with family invited the other day. 2 kids worked out a game- one would chase the other around the restaurant, around and around and around in circles, shrieking the whole time (we reserved the whole place). It wasn't even like there was ducking and weaving or anything, just on a single, uninterrupted, repeating path.

An hour later, they were still at it. Non-stop.

The department's youngest Dad told me he had read a study where a professional marathon runner was put in a room with a 3 year old, and ate proportionately what the child ate, so they got the same amount of energy for their body mass. Then, they told the athlete to do whatever the child did.

After a few hours, he just couldn't keep up. The kid exhausted him. It's not that anything they do requires a lot of strength, but its this uninterrupted charge of movement and random activity.

Where do they get the energy from? The kid had eaten almost nothing, even given his size. It literally seems to defy the laws of physics. They actually seem to expend more energy than they take in. Forget windpower...to solve the energy crisis, we just have to study little kids, and find out how they can run around for hours on end like that on a half an order of small fries and a mott's fruit cup. Or better yet, we could just strap them up to a turbine so that they generate electricity as they chase each other.

Obama vs. O'Reilly: The Complete Interview

For the past year, Progressives have been intent on trying to undermine Fox News Channel's credibility as an objective, unbiased news source by pressuring Democratic politicians to not dignify it by appearing on it. After the channel parroted unfounded internet rumors that Obama had attended a Madrassa as a child in the Philippines, the candidate all but boycotted the station.

It was with mixed feelings on both sides that Obama agreed to an interview with conservative pundit Bill O'Reilly, (albeit during the RNC, guaranteeing him a huge conservative viewership). Some diarists on Daily Kos protested that Obama was weakening the entire party by allowing O'Reilly to shout down the party's presidential nominee (the nominee being, you know, him). A lot of people on the Left take it as a sign that Obama is just rolling over and playing dead, and losing by allowing the Right to frame the arguments, and playing by their rules.

But actually, doing this is very much in character for Obama and consistent with his philosophies. During the primaries, Obama was billed as a moderate that had the respect of Republicans, because they trusted him to hear them out and deal with them respectfully. In this interview, he proves he can walk the walk as well as talk the talk on the line, all the while advancing his own position. Any Obama fans that didn't watch out of principle missed one of the liveliest and most persuasive interviews he has ever given. He was assertive, but gracious. He schooled O'Reilly on the facts in a way that no liberal on the Factor ever has, without once losing his cool or treating O'Reilly with anything less than respect.

While it's true O'Reilly tries to talk over him on several occasions, focusing on that misses the bigger point: Obama came out of this winning O'Reilly's respect, which most on the left would never have thought possible. And while I doubt he'll be switching candidates just yet, O'Reilly has now even told his viewership that he trusts Obama on foreign policy. If Obama can win over this guy, he can win over anyone.

Here's the entire interview, Parts 1 to 4, Thursday September 8 to Wednesday September 10.

Part 1:Foreign Policy, Iraq, Pakistan


Part 2: The Economy and Taxation


Part 3: Jeremiah Wright, Ayers and the Left

The one interview where Obama flounders a bit. In the end, asked to give the name of a conservative friend, he stammers and can't say anything. Then he protests, "If I name someone, people will complain I'm comparing them to Bill Ayers!" In a perhaps unprecedented show of grace, O'Reilly chuckles, concedes the point, and lets it go.

Part 4: Oil, Green Energy, Relations with Europe, More Foreign Policy



Actually, this interview could mark a sea change for Obama on Fox. Apparently, behind the scenes of all this, Obama has formed a tentative truce with Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes.

Want to hear some really good Japanese Electronic music?

Not novelty weird stuff on the internet good, but actually might track down the album and really get into to it good? Check out Sonpub. I like it as much as Justice and all the new stuff coming out in the west.

Embedding is disabled, so link one is here.

This video is pretty bad, but the music is great. Ride out the house-y beginning and let it hit its stride.

But the sad thing? Those youtube videos were put up by UniversalMusic Japan, a major company, and yet so far they only have about 2000 views each. That's shameful. But apparently he opened for Daft Punk recently, so its probably only a matter of time before he reaches a wider audience.

Long Term in Japan

It's beginning to look like I could be in Japan for a long time. Its not that I necessarily plan on doing it, or that I'm applying for permanent residence. A lot of it depends on my career and other factors. But the fact remains, if I got a tenured position in this city, and things shaped out that I would live here for the long term, I'd be quite happy with that.

That surprises a lot of people at home. It didn't surprise anyone I stayed for a few years, but it does that I wouldn't move back to Canada. Why?

To start with, the basic stuff- I really like the city I'm in, and it's dependent on that as much as the country it's in. Living in Fukuoka is a lot different from living in, say, a small village up North, just as living in Toronto is a lot different from living in the Yukon, or living in San Francisco is a lot different from living in Alabama. And it has everything I want from back home in terms of food, books, movies, clothes and other creature comforts. It's true I don't see my family more than once a year or friends from back home very often. But with the net and skype, no-one really seems that far away if you really want to keep in touch with them. And beyond that, one thing I learned after college was that moving was going to be a reality anyway. Most of my friends all moved to Toronto after graduation, some to BC, some much further. Realistically, I would have had to have relocated and made new friends no matter what I did in Canada. And the distance between say, Toronto and Nova Scotia is so wide I realistically wouldn't have seen my family more than once a year anyway.

There's a second level to it too, though, and that's the comfortability level of living in a different culture. Living out in Asia seems like the kind of thing that would be fun for a year or two, but that you eventually move on from. As a friend speculated the last time as back, "At first, everything is new, but eventually you get used to it, and then it's just another country".

Very true. While you might make Izakayas, sushi and sumo wrestling a regular part of your life, the fact remains that after a few years, the novelty wears off, and it just becomes everyday routine. The upside, though, is that if you like your life, that's really not a bad thing. In fact, it's a good thing, because at that point, you end your vacation and just get back to normal- you just happen to be doing it here instead of somewhere else. I don't really have any of the frustrations of adjusting to things that I had in my first couple years here. As far as the few that remain, what I began to realize was that they were well within the threshold of frustrations I'd face anywhere in the world. Let's face it- are you really comfortable with the way things go in your home country 24 hours a day, all the time? What about last week when comcast put you on hold for an hour, and then gave you the runaround with your bill? What about that rude nurse that gave you a hassle about visiting your friend in the hospital because there were only 10 minutes left to visiting hours? What about the traffic? What about the calls from telemarketers?

We accept these things as "the way it goes" and just get on with things, and yet if we experience somewhat novel inconveniences in other countries, we chalk it up to a problem with the entire culture. When you think about that, that doesn't make a lot of sense. Not like it's a deal breaker either way, but the truth is when I think about it, after several years out here, I actually put up with fair deal less hassle in my everyday life here than I do in Canada, not more.

I know people out here that have been in Japan over a few years, and aren't happy about it. But if you look more closely, there are other things going on. Maybe the main reason they came out here and stayed was for the girls and to have a good time, and now they're a bit older and that just isn't enough anymore. Maybe they're stuck teaching English conversation, and hate it, but can't find other work. Maybe they never learned to speak Japanese, and just get frustrated not being able to communicate with anyone outside of their little bubble. Worst of all, maybe they just stay not because they're happy with it, but because they're just not sure what else to do with themselves.

All good reasons to not like it here. But do they really involve Japan itself that much? It reminds me of people that go to New York, don't really get to where they want to go there for whatever reason, and then spend all their time blaming New York City itself as the root of their problems, as if the very concrete conspires to make them unhappy. Its easier and more tempting to blame an entire foreign country and culture for your problems and frustrations, but in the end it makes about as much sense; its not that the place is fundamentally bad, per se, just that in your given situation, its not all that good for you.

Once you get used to it and get in a situation you're happy with, a city in Japan just becomes another place you feel at home at and another place you could live. Some people from back home moved out to Toronto, some England, or the Netherlands, or Shanghai. And you're where you are, one other place on the list of places you could be.

Songs from the back of my hard drive

I was cleaning out my computer yesterday and came across some songs I did on my old laptop when I first came to Fukuoka.

It brought back some memories. I had come to Fukuoka with almost no money to start with and no job arranged, and was making ends meet with little part-time things. In winter, I started a couple weeks of unpaid vacation from my already low-paying main part-time job. I didn't have any money so I couldn't really go out, and it was cold and drizzling rain so I couldn't even enjoy outdoors. There was a girl I was dating, but she lived far away and had to work long brutal shifts for all but the last few days of the stretch. So I downloaded a music sequencer at a net cafe, burned it to CD and took it back to my internetless laptop, got some tutorials via long distance phone call from my friend Kunal in Toronto (he paid), and started programming little songs on it huddled under my blankets to save on heat.

The main claim to fame with them is that none of the riffs are pre-made loops taken from the internet; I put everything together note by note. Doesn't sound as good as if I had just used stock beats from a pro, but I'm prouder for having done it myself. I'm a little surprised by how quickly I learned to program the tracks and put them together.

Listening to them now, they sound pretty cheesy. The sequencer was consumer-grade to begin with and is already showing its age, and the keyboard sounds literally remind me of the muzak they play in low-end Japanese department stores. But it brings back memories.

And now you can download them...absolutely free!!

Without You

I think this would actually be good enough to play as muzak in a quality 100-yen store.

Good Times in Machine Hell

The distorted piano is *supposed* to be an electric guitar doing power chords(the software didn't have a guitar sound worth a damn). If you squint your ears and pretend that's what it is it sounds a lot better. The horns, however, are actually just supposed to be horns. I was inspired by watching the band play on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

Saliva

Longer than the others, but probably my favorite. The main piano is supposed to be an electric guitar, and the big chords are supposed to be guitar powerchords. The lead piano line is supposed to be the vocals.

Sarah Palin

Boring to most people that read this blog and gets lousy traffic aside from a few liberals such as myself on the google prowl, but I've been following John McCain's VP pick Sarah Palin far too closely not to write something about it...

Conservative David Frum, in a rare moment of candor off official party line-

Maybe [the gamble picking Palin] will work. But maybe (and at least as likely) it will reinforce a theme that I'd be pounding home if I were the Obama campaign: that it's John McCain for all his white hair who represents the risky choice, while it is Barack Obama who offers cautious, steady, predictable governance.

That's the funny thing about all this. All through this campaign, McCain and Clinton before him have hammered home that Obama is a virtual unknown, inexperienced and therefore a risky, dubious choice for the highest office. As McCain's ads ask ominously, "He's a celebrity...but is he ready to lead?"

Its the one credible thing they can say about him in the face of his charisma. And for a while, it looked like it might work. McCain, if you don't pay attention to his policies, as most people don't, seems familiar and reassuringly boring. The kind of boring that makes for a safe choice. And the media didn't do anything to break that notion. Dazzled by Obama, they more or less left him alone all summer, which was for the best. McCain might not have gone up much in the polls, but all the while, Obama went down, until the two were even.

The Palin pick changes all that though. Its what I call a flail, when someone in a high stakes battle loses their poker face and reveals their true insecurity by making a dumb, desperate move. By making a transparently political lunge toward women and Clinton voters, they've robbed McCain of the one advantage he genuinely had in this race. How can you keep railing against Obama for lack of experience when you've just put a 20-month governor and long-time small-town mayor a literal heartbeat away from the presidency?

Just as badly, it shows off McCain's impulsiveness, and tendency to make snap decisions without thinking it through. McCain has frustrated his staff with last-minute changes that leave them hanging in the wind before, but most of it was under the radar and not noticeable to anyone but wonks. This move puts his unpredictability out where everyone can see it.

I think the McCain campaign assumed that no-one in the media would dare attack her because to do so would be "sexist". Long have they loathed political correctness, perhaps they thought they could make it work in their favor for once. But it was a very tone-deaf choice. Clinton is over 60 and comes across as a matriarch. Even her worst critics concede she's made of steel. There's nothing 'sexy' about her for a tabloid to claw at.

Palin is 44 and attractive. Have you ever known the media to go easy on an attractive woman with a list of bizzarre personal scandals? The media has already been ferocious on her, unearthing literally more scandals and rumors than I can count (not the least of which that her 17 year old daughter is pregnant, pretty bad for a abstinence advocate that cuts funds for sex education). Most damningly, US magazine is running a tabloid-style cover story on her entitled, "Babies, Lies and Scandal". She's getting the full Britney Spears/Lindsey Lohan coverage. Say what you want about how far we've come with equality, our society still places an enormous amount of scorn and ridicule on younger women that are less than perfect.

Palin is smart and talented politically. I have to say, despite her policies and behavior I can't help liking her when I see older interviews with her. She may turn out to be a good campaigner.

But I don't think she can get out of this. It's too much mud, coming too fast, with too little time left in this election to learn on the road and turn things around. Her scheduled appearance at the RNC yesterday was cancelled, signalling that McCain's camp doesn't know what to do. They can't even boot her, because by doing so they would have to admit that they didn't know what they were doing.

Obama, to his credit, has pointed out that his own mother was 18 when she had him, stated that candidates' families, especially their children, are off limits, and said unequivocally that if he thought anyone in his campaign was trying to dig up dirt Palin's teenage daughter he would fire them. Experienced running mate at his side, Looking more like the grown-up in this election than ever before, he contines to walk forward, closer and closer toward the White House.




Update- Just saw Palin's postponed speech at the RNC. Like I thought she might be, she's a great campaigner, certainly the highlight of their convention.

The base was riled up and Republicans are ecstatic. She played up the "maverick" image and made them out to be a Red Change team to counter Obama's blue one. Smart. And she definitely brings energy to the campaign. It'll be really interesting to see how it plays out in the polls. The dems will see a bite out of their lead for sure.

What I wrote earlier stands, though. Obama still looks steadier and more dependable. She's good, but it seems...risky. She was kind of mean-spirited with some of her digs at Obama, speaking with sarcasm and putting aside all that "my opponent is honorable but..." stuff thats been going back and forth between Obama and McCain. It has spunk, but the whole line of attack seems smaller. I don't know if that kind of thing will be enought to move swing voters.

Some Okinawa pictures

No big narrative, just some random shots. Really nice trip, although my knees got sunburned to blackness.

Rented a scooter and drove around Zamami island, an hour speedboat south of Naha. Nice view.


Hitomi. She was also travelling alone, on a secret, more-or-less-unauthorized vacation from her soul crushing job in Saitama. We wound up hanging out the whole day.


Obscure American drinks like Dr.Pepper are popular in Okinawa, but I was having trouble finding it. Turns out I just didn't know what it looked like here. If you look closely, there's a standard Dr.Pepper can between her breasts.


The message of hope and change reverberates around the world- even in local Okinawan politics!


Once more, the beaches of Zamami. Sigh...I can't get back soon enough.