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22 Jul
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Posted by AnaKhouri
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Sorry I’ve been MIA for a bit- we moved to a new house.
It looks like things are pretty bad when the Japanese PM’s own wife questions his ability to govern.
So, I’ve seen people who fought every day for 50 years and were married forever and loved each other and were secretly happy. And criticizing your man’s lack of cooking skills or bad clothes is fine. But I wonder how smart it is to write a book about what a loser he is when public opinion of him is already pretty low. Unless she wants him to lose his job so he will stay home more and watch the kids and mow the lawn.
But hey, at least she doesn’t think she was abducted by aliens like the last PM’s wife. That’s something.
| Category: Uncategorized | Tag: books, japan, Marriage, politics |
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17 May
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Posted by AnaKhouri
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I honestly don’t care much whether my country’s leader has good fashion sense or not. I don’t really care what they do or wear as long as they can run the country decently. Hell, I didn’t even care if Bill Clinton was fucking interns on the side or whatever, as long as he did an OK job of taking care of the U.S.
But even I cringe a little at that SHIRT.
Although this
a white shirt printed with red hearts which he teamed with a pink blazer.
might have looked kind of cute; too bad they didn’t have a picture of this outfir in the article.
Seriously though, Obama probably has about 20 fashion designers who make sure he looks sharp. Why can’t the Japanese PM hire a couple?
| Category: Uncategorized | Tag: fashion, hatoyama, japan, politics |
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8 Apr
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Posted by Musashi
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I suspect you don’t need me to explain to you what a horrendous douche-bag Glenn Beck is, so I’ll not waste any space ranting about him. But I do enjoy a bit of schadenfreude now and then, especially when the victim is the aforementioned conspiracy-obsessed shitheel.
Enter Haiku Glenn Beck, which lets you craft your own terse Japanese poetry inspired by Beck’s loony rants. A lot of the submissions thus far seem to be inspired by Beck’s war against ‘social justice’ . Here are a few choice samples:
Oh Glenn, don’t you cry
Your magic blackboard is here
To show us the way.
And my personal favorite:
Glenn’s fallout shelter
Ten–year supply of Twinkies
Well, maybe a week.
| Category: Cool Links | Tag: douchebag, glenn beck, haiku, poetry, politics |
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28 Mar
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Posted by Musashi
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23 Sep
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Posted by Musashi
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Nobody knows! Well, nobody who wasn’t there – since the press wasn’t allowed in.
CLSA requested Palin’s speech be closed to reporters so she could make an “unfettered” presentation to investors, according to spokeswoman Simone Wheeler. And Palin, whose supporters have long accused the media of bias and harsh treatment, agreed.
Hari Sevugan, a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee, said Tuesday the group knew little about Palin’s speech.
“We’re curious as to what she’s willing to say in private but not in public,” Sevugan said. “Are there other countries that she can see from her window that she doesn’t want us to know about?”
‘Unfettered’? Is that investor-talk for ‘batshit insane’? To be fair, some of Palin’s speech did make it out of the room, and frankly it sounds like the same kind of stuff she was harping on about during the election.
“You can read a lot of things into it, ‘Is she trying to burnish her foreign policy credentials?’ and the like. But really, it’s a trip that will be beneficial to her knowledge base and will defray some legal and other bills that she has,” Malek said.
Oh, and there’s that, too…
| Category: News | Tag: Hong Kong, legal bills, politics, sarah palin |
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10 Sep
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Posted by Musashi
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The ever-witty Max Blumenthal approached Michelle Malkin at the 2007 CPAC conference and asked her to sign a photo of Japanese-American detainees in Manzanar. Malkin’s reaction is predictable, but entertaining (spoiler: it ends in flee-age).
Best line: ‘You had to issue errata?’
I have to say it though, Malkin is cute when she’s cornered.
| Category: Video | Tag: CPAC, funny, Max Blumenthal, michelle malkin, politics |
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4 Sep
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Posted by Musashi
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Indonesia and Malaysia, like, totally hate each other. Like, the way I understand it is that Malaysia used to date this fine ass guy (I can’t remember his name, but like it totally doesn’t matter – shut up and let me finish my story…daaaamn!) – so anyway, like, Malaysia was goin’ out with this dude and Indonesia was all like ‘Hey, you’re fine – we should hook up.’ No, not to Malaysia – to Malaysia’s fine boyfriend. Use your ears, girlfriend.
Anyway, so Indonesia was all like ‘Come out with me Friday and we’ll party.’ And Malaysia’s dude was like, ‘Damn, Indonesia – you’re pretty fine too…we’ll totally do that…’. So, like, Indonesia and Malaysia’s guy totally went out behind Malaysia’s back and then Malaysia found out and was all like ‘You bitch! You stole my man!’ And like, totally ever since that happened, Indonesia and Malaysia don’t hang out no more.
Oh wait – wait, wait…there’s more…! So then Indonesia had this special dance. It was called the ‘Pendet’ or some shit like that. Well – and this is where all the drama starts – the Discovery Channel is making this series about Malaysia (yeah, I don’t know why either) – but anyway, they like totally made this commercial about the show, and used Indonesia’s special dance in it. Yeah, for real! That’s what I said. And so Indonesia was all like ‘It’s on, bitch!’, and started protesting and throwing this epic fit because their special dance got stolen.
That’s totally what happened.
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2 Sep
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Posted by Musashi
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The wife of Japan’s newly-elected Prime Minister Yukio Hatayama is a certified nut-case. This does not bode well for the incoming government, who inherits a huge goose-egg in the wake of failed Conservative leadership (gee, I wonder what that must be like…).
“While my body was asleep, I think my soul rode on a triangular-shaped UFO and went to Venus,” Miyuki Hatoyama, the wife of premier-in-waiting Yukio Hatoyama, wrote in a book published last year.
“It was a very beautiful place and it was really green.”
Sounds like it would make a pretty awesome anime, though…
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1 Sep
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Posted by Musashi
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So check this: former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin has been invited to address the CLSA Investors Forum in Hong Kong, which sounds real prestigious and everything. However, the whole thing is an elaborate joke – seemingly at her expense. I almost feel bad for her.
CLSA, the Asia-focused broker who invited Mrs. Palin as keynote speaker for an Asian investment conference, is well known for their cheeky takes on investment research.
In the past, they’ve polled Asian fortune tellers for index targets, hired anime cartoonists to draw Japanese research, and generally love to push the boundaries between entertainment and analysis. They are a real research firm, it’s just that they love to sprinkle in some hilarity every now and then as a smart marketing gimmick.
Sarah Palin is this year’s big laugh for them.
Who knows. Maybe she knows she’s being invited just so a bunch of lame economists can chortle at her antics and a free ticket to Hong Kong is too much to resist. Maybe there’s good wolf hunting in them parts.
| Category: News | Tag: business, Hong Kong, politics, practical jokes, sarah palin |
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26 Aug
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Posted by Musashi
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I am so sick and tired of hearing the retarded debate on Health Care in the U.S. – it nice to see a country that can have debates about sensible things. Like cutting budgetary plans for an ‘anime hall of fame‘.
The fiscal 2009 supplementary budget includes money for the government’s plan to build the media arts center, dubbed the “anime hall of fame,” which is expected to be a base for promoting Japanese pop culture at home and abroad.
Fujii, who is regarded as a main contender for finance minister if the DPJ takes the reins of government, unveiled his policy toward the fiscal 2009 supplementary budget in a street speech in the Fukuoka Prefecture town of Shime on Tuesday, criticizing the budgeted expenses for the planned center and Supreme Court facilities.
“It’s dirty. Why are such funds needed for the emergency economic package?” said Fujii. Clearly stating that he would stop budget funds being used for the center if his party takes power, Fujii promised to transfer the funds to unemployment measures as well as nursing and medical care in the second supplementary budget.
Wait – nursing and medical care? Damn – I guess this is about health care after all.
| Category: News | Tag: Anime, health care, japan, politics |
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24 Aug
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Posted by Musashi
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Human rights activists in South Korea and China are saying that the capture and subsequent release of American reporters Euna Lee and Laura Ling caused authorities to more carefully scrutinize their efforts. As the old proverb says, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
Ms. Ling and Ms. Lee were released earlier this month after a visit to Pyongyang by former President Bill Clinton. The impact of their case is still felt in the heightened security in China that is limiting aid groups’ ability to help North Koreans, members of such organizations said.
Paul Song, Laura Ling’s brother-in-law, speaking on behalf of the two journalists, on Sunday expressed his concern for the missionaries, human-rights workers and displaced North Koreans inside China. “The potential for increased crackdowns is a concern for all of us,” he said in a phone interview from Los Angeles.
Mr. Song stressed that Ms. Ling and Ms. Lee repeatedly took steps “to ensure the safety of all aid workers” both before and after their arrests.
If Ms. Lee and Ling’s actions caused North Korean authorities to bring the heat in the wake of their detention, I can certainly see why these groups would be upset. The ultimate blame, of course, goes to the North Koreans whose tyrannical regime is the root cause of all this trouble to begin with – but the situation does beg the question of whether or not investigative reports are worth disrupting ongoing efforts to help people escape North Korea.
| Category: News | Tag: euna lee, hostages, human rights, laura ling, north korea, politics |
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10 Aug
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Posted by Musashi
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I kinda made a silent vow to not post too much about politics here at Yellow Menace in the near future, because frankly the political waters are pretty muddied right now between far-Right and far-Left interests, leaving the rest of us on the sidelines watching the whole retarded ping-pong match. I thought I’d make an exception, though, after reading a comment that struck me as particularly insightful.
Responding to a recent io9 post entitled ‘Are Libertarian Futurists Stuck in the Nineteenth Century‘, user briareosdx scrawled a pretty insightful mini op-ed taking all sides to task for promoting ‘Utopia At All Costs’.
Whether it’s imagining rows of smiling youths accepting everything they’re taught about how perfect their society is, or propoganda is bent towards creating the aspirational ideal person who loves that society such as the “New Soviet Man” or the person motivated by enlightened self interest who never makes mistakes based on any of the numerous passions, foibles, or problems that plague real people.
The truth is, we have to live with all the other people who disagree with our version of perfection. Compromises have to be made, though we can take bits from all across the spectrum. No one ends up happy, and that’s one of the great wonders of human life. Because that desire to find that perfect world is part of what keeps driving us all forward. “Everybody dies frustrated inside, and that is beautiful”, as They Might Be Giants says.
briareos dx then goes on to tie this in with Masamune Shirow’s Appleseed, in particular the Utopian city-state of Olympus – populated with tailor-made clones whose entire purpose is to support the Utopian state. Reading briareosdx’s comments was a tiny little moment of much-needed satori for me this morning.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
| Category: Cool Links, News | Tag: appleseed, libertarianism, masamune shirow, politics, rant, socialism |
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4 Aug
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Posted by Musashi
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Former U.S. President William ‘Bill’ Clinton was airdropped behind North Korean lines last evening, where he secured the release of U.S. journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling. Clinton, his face painted in a fearsome grinning skull motif, single-handedly eliminated nearly five-hundred KPA soldiers using highly-secretive special operations tactics pioneered by Chuck Norris as he made his way to the prison where Ms. Lee and Ms. Ling were being detained.
Slightly delayed by a romantic encounter with a North Korean peasant girl, Clinton entered the Pyongyang prison facility and proceeded to slaughter another one-hundred-and-fifty KPA guards, eventually resorting to CQC (close quarters combat) when his silenced HK MP7 ran out of ammo. North Korean President Kim Jong-Il, his body recently strengthened through a combination of cybernetic implants and genetic tissue grafts, engaged the former President in a mano-a-mano duel to the death which ended when Clinton threw Kim from the tallest spire in the prison, impaling him on a large pointy object which served no other useful purpose than to spear people thrown from high structures.
Clinton’s next mission will take him to China, where he will team up with is wife, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to break up a white-slavery ring run by Glenn Beck.
| Category: News | Tag: bill clinton, black ops, euna lee, hostages, laura ling, north korea, politics |
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31 Jul
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Posted by Musashi
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What do you say about a woman who energized an entire populace to overthrow a dictatorial regime? Her subsequent Presidency left much to be desired, but to Filipinos around the world she will always be ‘Tita Cory’. The People Power movement which toppled Marcos was probably the pinnacle of modern Filipino political history; Aquino, aided by senior members of the military, ousted Marcos with nary a shot fired.
From a makeshift platform, she declared: “For the first time in the history of the world, a civilian population has been called to defend the military.”
The military chiefs pledged their loyalty to Aquino and charged that Marcos had won the election by fraud.
U.S. President Ronald Reagan, a longtime supporter of Marcos, called on him to resign. “Attempts to prolong the life of the present regime by violence are futile,” the White House said. American officials offered to fly Marcos out of the Philippines.On Feb. 25, Marcos and his family went to the U.S.-run Clark Air Base outside Manila and flew to Hawaii, where he died three years later.
The same day, Aquino was sworn in as the Philippines’ first female leader.
Definitely an inspiring figure. She will be missed.
| Category: News | Tag: obituary, Philippines, politics, sad |
