Performed a live music set in Edinburgh from Tokyo via the interweb yesterday. Laptop Lounge is a regular event in Edinburgh encouraging laptop and bedroom producers to meet up and perform and exchange ideas, dance and check each others sounds.

Initially had thought of using Hobnox for the performance though seemed pretty limited for live streaming, so we opted for skype instead.

Had the video up and running audio was syncing nicely....Waved to the crowd and a huge cheer and buzz went around the club (or so I was told) Was the legendary Kovac about to make a rare appearance after his 6 years of semi retirement There were rumours he had been experimenting with a midi clarinet!?

Well, I had as ever prepared the music just for the performance, no rehashes or mixes, all new material as is my rule for live sets, unfortunately 15 minutes into the set...skype failed us and so did the laptop streaming my performance...ah c'est la vie maybe a little longer till the 90's revival.  =)

Click here for a recording of the "intended" set.

This year as with others seemed to be showcasing very little that was "new" or those games that were "new" had already been announced at E3; which seems to now be the platform for announcing "exclusives" in the gaming world. Exclusively for industry insiders only, while we the unwashed general public wait for leaked video exclusives from guest listed journalists, shouldnt the game world be giving us a little bit of a surprise at these events ?

I was walking in Harajuku with a friend the other day when an old bearded gaijin guy came up to me and said "BEWARE the INTERNET it will BETRAY YOU", certainly got my attention more than the usual Goth Lolitas and Rockabillies and handed me this flyer....THE END IS NIGH ! 666 NEW WORLD ORDER ARMAGEDDON !

Turns out he was a missionary for The Family a fundamentalist cult from way back in the 60's still active today. The flyers artwork (very nostalgic British comic style) and contents were what you would expect from a bearded old guy in a park saying "The internet will betray you"....pretty far out there....

Though I must confess I like the occasional NWO nutter and Armageddonists conspiracy spreader or general "Kooks" as described by Donna Kossy.

Just because the ideas seem insane,extreme, out there or just crackpot, the very fact they exist means there must be some minute, sliver of tiny Truth to it; albeit a barking mad one, still "ideas" all the same....

BUT

Sasqwach neither condones nor advocates walking up to strangers and saying "Beware the internet it will betray you"...

We've all been there; Your with your wife, girlfriend, or female friend. They've had a few, there getting to become a handful.

They're beginning to go beyond respectable drunk and going further, the worst there is; yes I'm talking about when a woman gets

"man drunk".

I once heard a man with a lot of sense say:

"A drunk man looks foolish, but a drunk woman looks insane"

There are sure-fire words, actions or phrases that will NOT stop your female company from drinking.

Here are a few that will ensure 100% disaster, fallout, argument and quite possibly a full scale barfight, and woman being dragged into the street showing a bit of her tights or pants with her hair half stuck to her face with vomit.

Now, don't get me wrong, the Japanese Postal service is the most courteous and efficient in the world. They deliver letters to your house at 3 intervals through the day, so effectively you get 3 possible times for delivery in a day.

If you happen to be out at any of these times they will leave a note to say they tried to deliver something, which if you phone within that day up until 7pm they will send a guy out to deliver it to your house whenever you specify (within reason).

This one had to make me laugh a bit though. The sender is marked as "Please do not bend"様 then struck out and an arrow pointing to 外国 - FOREIGN!

Even though it was actually from within Japan, the poor postman, credit to him, gave a go at reading who it was from, carefully wrote it down then probably thought, "That's an odd name... ahhh SHITE  ! Acchh its from someone foreign!"

Made me a chuckle a bit, what if there was a "Mr Please Do not Bend",a kind of very brittle, stiff upright character; unmovable neck, rotating his whole body through life.

Everyday situations being extremely fragile.

"Hey ken I'd like you to meet someone this is Mr Please Do Not Bend, he's from FOREIGN"

"Ah Hi there! Nice to meet you" motions to shake hands.

"DON'T TOUCH HIM HE'LL BREAK !" introducer screams and pulls away hand

"Sorry I should have guessed, My apologies"

As soon as summer hits my Xbox 360 goes and overheats and I get the 3 Red Rings of Death (RROD) AGAIN !

This is about the 15th time I've had to open up my 360 since I got it in 2005.

After a wee stroll this weekend came across a very rustic looking lovely old ramen shop specialising in charsui udon.

Was very "oldie worldie" almost like it was trapped in the showai period (1926-1989)

I don't usually eat ramen but I did settle on a bowl of udon as I'm not a big ramen fan for a three reasons :

• Although tasty, the fat rich soup gives me the trots, leaving me stuck on the toilet for about half an hour.
  

• You can wrap it up in as much eastern mystique as you like but ramen is DIRTY. Its the equivalent of a battered fish served with greasy chips and a pickled egg and mushy peas.If Asians spoke in Glasgow accents they would say "moanan lets get doon tae the ramen shoap and get us a big durtae bowl ah ramen eh!"
  

• Lastly, if your a caucasian who likes ramen you become one of those endless wittering bores who whenever eating a bowl of ramen in any location other than Asia you have to note in a loud voice how "This ramen is good but nowhere near as awesome as the ones I had in Osaka/Tokyo/Shangai/etc", these people always seem to think the act of eating ramen is an aesthetic akin to a martial art and that the food is somehow transferring the exotic asian quality to them.More irritatingly, most always these types tend to pronounce the word "ramen" as "wwrrraaaaamen" in a nasally smug voice.

So Ramen, no thanks...Udon on the other hand....

Recently with bringing my old Dreamcast out of the closet (not that it was it was gay or anything) I've taken a real thirst for old 2D beat em ups like Street Fighter.

When I was a frequent user of the Dreamcast I hardly touched these types of games as I thought at the time:

"Ugh ! My God,they're in 2D!"

This was more my mistake than anything and a common mistake that we all make is "new is good".