...I'm just on vacation. Expect slow news days until March 1st.

We love you madly. Emphasis on mad.

Exhibition: Japan Society Show
In the worlds of art and fashion, Takashi Murakami stands tall, not only for creating a new genre that combines traditional Japanese painting techniques with animé aesthetics, but also for nurturing a pod of talents that include Aya Takano and Ai Yamaguchi. This spring, he curates an exhibition at the Japan Society in New York, called Little Boy, which explores otaku, or the "pop cult fanaticism" of contemporary Japanese art.

Little Boy: The Arts of Japan's Exploding Subculture runs April 8 to July 24 at the Japan Society, NYC, (212) 832-1155, and www.japansociety.org; catalog published by Yale University Press, $45, available in April.

Even if it isn't true, can we just pretend it is...?

Health by Chocolate.

CSPI on Splenda:

To understand how consumers perceived Splenda's slogan, last April CSPI commissioned a national Internet survey that included 426 people who had used Splenda. Only 57 percent of Splenda users correctly believed that Splenda was an artificial sweetener. 47 percent of Splenda users incorrectly believed it was a natural product. Only 8 percent of the respondents correctly believed that it was made from sugar and chlorine. The sucralose in Splenda is, in fact, a synthetic chemical that contains chlorine, something that no natural sugar contains.

Huh. I would have fallen in the artificial sweetner category, but had no idea it was made from sugar and chlorine. I'm not too sure how to feel about that. Ah, inscrutable science...

Thanks, Jen.

So...I listen to audiobooks through iTunes, and one thing that's always annoyed me is that I don't have as much control as I would have with, say, a book on tape. Fast forward and rewind are tricky at best on my iPod and I'm always concerned that I'm going to lose my place.

Someone must have a workaround...?

Educate me.

Jamie called me out. This is going to suck and I'm going to lose all kinds of cool-kid cred -- which I probably never had in the first place...but I do like to pretend.

Okay, this is what I'm going to do: I'm going to answer these questions to the best of my ability. This is what's not going to happen: you are not going to e-mail me to convince me that something I like is actually un-listenable. I am telling you right now my taste is all over the board. I don't listen to much, and I think about it even less. As far as I'm concerned "Emo" is a toy that begs to be tickled. You dig? Okay. Off we go:

1. Total amount of music files on your computer: 148 songs, 1.2 days, 924.1 MB (Rather, that's the number of mp3s in my iTunes. There are several audiobooks in there.)

2. The last CD you bought was: Um...I don't remember. Fraction thinks it was Hang on Little Tomato.

3. What is the song you last listened to before reading this message? Hm. I haven't listened to any music of my own choosing today. There was a bunch of dance crap playing at the salon this morning when I got my roots bleached. I couldn't tell you what it was, though. Oh, wait -- they played that Marilyn Manson cover of Personal Jesus, too. I remember that. And last night in the car, while Fraction ran in to Coffee Girls to grab a cup before we headed to The Blue Gallery, I sang along to Al Green's Let's Stay Together and I had a fine old time.

4. Write down 5 songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you.

1. Funny Face Soundtrack, "Think Pink!": I sing this song. Often and a whole lot. I don't sing or paint well but I enjoy the hell out of both. If I could, I would paint "Think Pink!" (Also, Kay Thompson sings it and Kay Thompson is awesome and she wrote Eloise. It's a beautiful world.)

2. Helen Reddy, "Angie, Baby": (Looking for this link, I came across a band called UNCLE DEVIL SHOW that does a cover of Angie Baby. I haven't listened to the whole song, but I quite liked the snippet. They also have a song called I Had a Drink About You Last Night that references Superman and Lois Lane. I have a mix Superman songs around here somewhere and I'm fairly certain that one's not on it...yet.) I have mad love for vaguely creepy ballads from the 70s. It was pretty much a coin toss between "Angie, Baby" and Vicki Lawrence's "The Night The Lights Went Out in Georgia." Sadly, iTunes doesn't have Vicki's version, but they have Reba's.

3. Dusty Springfield, "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me": I'm fond of all things Dusty Springfield, but this song in particular. The Brenda Lee version is a little more raw, a little more vulnerable, but I still can't bring myself to choose it over Dusty's because, you know...Dusty. "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me" and Dolly Parton's "Jolene" occupy almost the same slot in my brain, but Jolene was, like, an epiphany to me at one point. Maybe I should have made "Jolene" choice #3...? Pretend I did that.

4. Thee Michelle Gun Elephant, "The Redhead Kelly": I was lucky enough to be asked to write the English adaptation of Taiyo Matsumoto's Blue Spring for Viz and in the course of researching that project fell madly in love with TMGE, the band that provided the soundtrack for the film. I'm crazy about a number of their songs -- including "Drop," Smokin' Billy and Mona Lisa -- but because I'm, you know, an egomaniac, my favorite is Redhead Kelly. (I also fancy Frente's "Accidentally Kelly Street" and Boy Named Sue)

5. Magnetic Fields, "Book of Love": Gah. This song just kills me. Mike played it for us at our wedding, got choked up himself and made Amity cry. Neil Gaiman first told me about MF, and Bill and I went to see them when Neil opened for them. Oh, and the first time I heard Book of Love was actually at a reading of Maggie's -- Rick Moody played it. And Courtney and Seth's played it at their reception So, yeah: Mike, Amity, Neil, Bill, Maggie, Courtney, Seth and Fraction -- this song reminds me of some of the most amazing people in my life. But really it's about Fraction. Because I love it when he reads to me.

6. Who are you going to pass this stick to? (3 persons) and why?

1. Han, because. Um, because I thought of him first. Or, third actually, behind Xtop and Fraction. Fraction already got hit and he's probably going to hit Xtop. Wait...

2. Xtop, because he's going to get this plague anyway.

3. Mike, because I'm genuinely curious.

7 p.m. at the Brick (1727 McGee); the door fee is $2. Also at the Brick tonight, David Wayne Reed and Ron Megee of Late Night Theater host a Bittersweet Bridesmaids competition, with music by Hot Fruit and the Rather Nots. Call 816-421-1634 for information.

More in link; click photo.

"The Fuji Digital Mobile Printer MP-70 produces credit card-size 254dpi RGB photos in approximately 20 seconds. It can handle images up to three megapixels and runs on two rechargeable Lithium batteries. The diminutive printer, which Fuji says is about the size of a wallet, is compatible with many models of Nokia, Siemens and Sony Ericsson phones. Fuji expects to ship it in early summer, but no price was announced. A product page was not available." [More in link at MacCentral]

Chicken!!

Fraction and I have been using iWork's Pages application instead of MSWord for a couple of weeks now and I think we're both pleased thus far, with two exceptions: 1) I've got some kind of italics bug that just shuts off that formatting option and 2) you can't word count a selection of text - only the entire document.

Devon Technologies offers this freeware solution to the latter issue:
WordService 2.4.3

Install, restart, then select your text and go to PAGES/SERVICES/STATISTICS for word count.

East Bay Technologies today announced iTube, new US$24 Internet television viewing software... [MacMinute]

These are the del.icio.us feeds I have in my NetNewsWire:

http://del.icio.us/rss/blackbeltjones
http://del.icio.us/rss/warrenellis
http://del.icio.us/rss/fraction
http://del.icio.us/rss/merlinmann

Merlin Mann is particularly useful.

Suggest others?

[Thank you, Theron. Oh my, thank you so very much.]

Testing MarsEdit.

Huh. Merlin Mann's 43 Folders made mention of a Salon article on an unrelated site called 43Things, which according to Salon is an Amazon arm of some sort.

...you still following me?

Anyway, I played around with 43 Things and it seems to be a goal-tracking/list-keeping device. Eeeenteresting.

Does anyone know where I can buy the Cutie Book 2005 online?

I know that link is a purchase site, but I can't read it well enough to place the order or even see if they ship overseas.

Alternatively, I know Kinokuniya Bookstore carries it, but I don't have access to one. Anybody live close enough they could pick it up and mail it for me? I'm happy to reimburse + chocolates for your trouble.

Let me know: kellysue at kellysue dot com.

Also dig the Tokyo snack dish, the lens case and the midsummer light. There is much to love on CB2 today, apparently. (Plush ugly dolls, too!)

I picked up two Me! Bath Ice Cream bath bombs at Beauty Brands and they -- the bombs, not the Beauty Brands folks -- were markedly lame. The one I used was supposed to be cucumber-melon, I think? It fizzled and tinted the water and...that was about it. There were no bath oils that I could discern and almost no scent. Since I generally let the bombs do their fizzing business before I get in the tub, I could have gotten the same effect from a couple of drops of green food coloring and saved myself six bucks.

I was so disappointed that I took the used bomb wrapper and the unused bomb back to the store and got a refund. (BB gave me my money back with no hassle whatsoever, which was great.)

Me! Bath Ice Cream bath bombs? They are teh suck.

LUSH remains the bath bomb king. (I picked up a couple Get A Guru bombs when I was in Florida over Christmas and was pretty happy with them as well.)

The French health committee canned the sale of Red Bull, partly because a study found that rats fed taurine exhibited bizarre behaviour. That behaviour, says Vanrullen, included: "anxiety, irritability, a high sensitivity to noise --sudden jumps in their cages-- and most of all, self-mutilations."

Other countries, like Sweden and Iceland, are also concerned about Red Bull’s stampede onto the market.

Part of the concern is that Red Bull is an energy drink, but it doesn’t replenish the body after physical exertion (like sports drinks such as Gatorade).

In fact, because Red Bull has so much caffeine – it can actually dehydrate the drinker. That means if you’re physically exerting yourself and drink just a Red Bull, the lack of hydration could strain your heart.

...

More in link.

(Of course, my dog's food boasts that it contains Taurine...)

Chip Scanlan on Making Things Happen and Getting Things Done.

Brushing 3 times a day keeps flab away-Japan study
07 Feb 2005 08:51:07 GMT
Source: Reuters

TOKYO, Feb 7 (Reuters) - If you want to keep trim, forget the diet books and gym membership -- you may be better off just brushing your teeth more often, according to a Japanese study.

In a survey of the everyday habits of nearly 14,000 people whose average age was in their mid-40s, Dr. Takashi Wada of Jikei University in Tokyo found that those who managed to stay slim tended to brush their teeth after every meal.

More in link.

I'm not sure I see the logic in the suggestion that it might work in reverse, but hey -- you never know.

Imitation of Christ

Also up:

DIANE VON FURSTENBERG
LUCA LUCA
TULEH
LUELLA
HABITUAL
DOO.RI

On Men's Style:

John Galliano

You really should go look at Galliano. You really, really should.

HERMES Men went up today as well.

My new bike arrived today:

(Thank you, Maggie. Oh my god. Thank you SO MUCH.)

A look at Japanese journalists under political and commercial pressures, in light of a recent scandal in which a public television documentary on WWII was allegedly ordered altered by the Minister of Economy before it was aired.

The program originally included a mock trial, conducted in 2000, that found the late Emperor Hirohito guilty of permitting the sexual enslavement of tens of thousands of Asian women during World War II, Mr. Nagai said. He was ordered to delete that segment as well as testimony from former sex slaves, he said.

...

"The worst thing a journalist can do is become a servant of those in power," said Minoru Morita, a Tokyo-based political analyst and commentator for major networks. "Unfortunately, Japanese journalism today is not really independent.

"I believe one of the basic purposes of journalism is to give hope to the underprivileged. Journalists should pursue their job with love, I would say, humanism. They should also seriously seek truth. That is a fundamental rule."

If that is a rule, it is not taken seriously in Japan, critics say. Moreover, the major press outlets seem to be erasing lines between journalism and big businesses.

...

More in link.

Wink Beauty

Enter "Friends & Family" in the comments box and get a free Double Trouble Duo with a purchase of $50 or more ($18 value). Free shipping, too.

Offer good through the end of February.

Merry sends along this link to Canada's Guide to Healthy Eating.

Thanks, Merry.

The North American Association for the Study of Obesity (NAASO)
invites you to visit its newest Website, http://www.obesityonline.org.

Is anyone watching this?

I don't care much for reality television, but Slate article certainly makes it sound appealing.

[Thanks, Theron.]

[Confidential to Courtney: I finally watched C.H.O. and Knitty Gritty and Knit One, Purl Two yesterday while I was working on the closet upstairs. You are totally my hero for taping for me. I luh you. Thanks.]

[Update: Backstage at Project Runway, again, thanks to Theron.]

"A team of Japanese researchers report that green tea extract boosts the endurance of exercising mice by up to 24 percent. If confirmed in human tests, the extract could show up in sports nutrition drinks or foods, according to an article on foodnavigator.com The green tea extract appears to stimulate the use of fatty acids by the muscles, thereby reducing carbohydrate use and allowing for longer exercise times, the article says. The researchers still do not understand exactly how the green tea stimulates fatty acid metabolism, although they suggest the tea's antioxidant properties may be involved." [Nubella (Health News)]