Burnt out and not sticking around

This is a piece of Artist Insane Mail Art I got the other day. Eleven burnt out graduates. Or are they? ... Well, I don't know about you, but I'm counting one! What ever happened to the 10 other fellows? 

My investigations led me to the original card as it was sent out, and it looks like those chaps went on a voyage of discovery alright! Makes you wonder. Did they all leave at once, or are the they scattered between Paris and Wakoshi like Tom Thumb's bread crumbs? Who's the boss of them? Why did the fat one decide to stay? Such an interesting piece of mail art and great visual poetry as well! Thank you Dean! (and maybe that glue stick has expired?).

Four Zero

Eh oui, your friend and humble narrator turned 40 a couple of days ago. Spoiled as usual and even more than usual. My mailbox was bulging with sweetness and I just wanted to show you some of it.

Des conseils, des placements, de l'action, hahaha, yes exactly what I needed! :-))

Artist Insane Dean sent a very special package full of goodies. But that's fine, as he had nothing else to do the whole month. The highly suspicious Love Hotel card refers to a certain radiogram he recently got. The Q-tips are inspired by this amazing piece of art you might remember. These are the first building blocks for my own tea ceremony room! It's funny, last week I got two business opportunities. One was cleaning fish in Bergen, Norway, and the other one is starting my own tea ceremony room. I'm still torn. The good thing is I can fill out my own pay check! I'll be fine...

Leaving cheap discounted price tags is a well seated tradition by now :-))

Et la pièce de résistance...

As I went through surgery to get Dean a special birthday present earlier this year he felt that he too had to show thoughtfulness and generosity. OMG!! An original wild bone taken from…. I don't know, was that part of your ribcage Dean? Are you feeling better now? Oh dear I'm already having a cold sweat thinking that next year I might have to give up a kidney to up the game!! :-o

The package also came with an original barcode art piece, of which I am an avid collector as you know. With a real sink drain hole! One of his best (again) I reckon. How much work and patience for those amazing pieces!!

This one arrived a few days earlier and made me laugh out loud. Look at that angelic smile :-)) I think you all remember the Spray Video. Well I'm really happy I didn't have to go through that spraying session in vain, as it inspired this fantastic interactive self-portrait. This was sent without an envelope as per usual, and not a resistor seems to be missing. I haven't pressed start yet, a bit scared of getting sprayed again…

The Great-But-Nonetheless-Humble Grigori Antonin also sends his best wishes, along with an original polaroid artwork by himself in a beautiful visual poetic frame, and a mysterious black and white photo. I love it, Grigori, thank you for always remembering my B-day!

And you recognise Carette of Finland's whimsical packages. I sure drunk up!

Carina sent MANY beauties, I can only show a few of them here but I thought you would enjoy the Finish Art Machine and Rabbit In The Landscape (closely followed by Mini Rabbit Can't Make It, I'm laughing, Carina).

And I am the proud owner of a beautiful handmade box with special boekie inside. Very special, as Carina knows I was living in Stockholm a few years back (well, make it a decade). She also knows I like old maps a lot. Love the erased graphite on opposite pages too! Thank you so much Caruba, you made an old lady very happy :-))

I also got tons of stuff from my dear people back home, too much for one photo, really, but I just wanted to say thank you to everyone!
* And delighted to see that I was born the same year as 50 Cent. Lucky him :-))

Sprayed

What is she spraying on your friend and humble narrator, and why? 

****

Thank you for playing the game! :-)) No green tea essence, wild animal attracting scent or glow in the dark dancing spray (you do have a lot of imagination though). The waitress is spraying Cherry Blossom Febreze as I'm coming out of a Yakiniku (Korean barbecue) restaurant where the stinky smoke saturates clothes with a very unattractive fragrance. Well, at least no one will sit beside you in the metro  after that within a radius of a few meters :-))

Mito Kairakuen - Part 4: Queues

It's been more than a month since plum blossom, so let's wrap up Mito Kairakuen. Since this is Japan the garden comes with its shrine (you can see one of the tree shops in the background) and of course the shrine comes with its queue :-)

Just beside the shrine, more food stands. Mito is famous for nattō, which there was plenty of.
(More natto images, just for fun…)

One of the rare queues that wasn't about food. Waiting to get the chance to get your photo taken with the characters of Mito Kōmon, the longest standing Japanese TV drama in history.

While standing in line you can listen to the soundtrack of the series (yes it's coming out of that plastic "machine" inside that plastic bag) :-)) So much for Japanese high tech.

Of course we did it :-))

From Jimbocho With Love

Do you remember the post entitled Jimbocho - The catch of the day? This is Carina's take on it. I'm laughing uncontrollably now :-)))

Wizards vs. Magic (Part 2)

I almost forgot that I still owe you Part 2 of Wizards vs. Magic. The photos are not great (it's Instagram after all) but it will help documenting the entertainment. And entertainment there was! Not a dull moment. Thinking back, maybe there was more entertainment show than there was actual basketball. Or something like 50/50. Every time-out, every stoppage of the clock by the referee, every break between quarters had to be filled with… errrrmm…stuff.

Interviews of the players, asking them wether they prefer ducks or horses for instance (true story!).

Because I think they trample you? :-)))

(Rubber duckies won)

A wedding proposal after a fake game where she had no idea. 

The Spot The Gecko game. This was all too fast for me and I didn't quite get it. There must have been a gecko somewhere in the audience, dunno.

The Hot Shot Challenge. One shot to get your mortgage entirely payed off!! Mr.Bradley missed the opportunity, unfortunately.

A choreography by the Wiz Kids.

After this, special guest Private Cooper who came back from the war (I can't remember which war it was he came back from, too many wars going on right now) gave a speech, and we all sang one more welled up national anthem.

The promise of free food chick-fil-a chicken sandwich….

And yes, that visiting player DID miss two consecutive free throws!! Free chick-fil-a chicken sandwich for everyone!!  

The Kiss Cam. The best kissing couple on camera wins two season tickets.

Rub. Got a little shoulder action (?) :-o  I think they won!!

The T-Shirt Toss. Always a favorite.

Well that was a very entertaining evening, thank you Wizards!!

Cyndi With An Eye you still got it!

- Cyndi:  Tokyo!!! Genki??

- Tokyo:  … (shy clap clap clap)

- Cyndi:  Genki yo…

- Cyndi:  Tokyo!! Are you tired?? You sound tired. Listen, we all need to gambaro here and have…  FUN!!

- Tokyo:  …

- Cyndi:  And have what?

- Tokyo:  fun..

- Cyndi:  Alright!!



Ah Cyndi, we can see the magic in your hat ful of stars. We truly can. Thank you for a great gig, and please come back next year!








And if you've been good and you have 1hr24min to spend, here is an absolute classic for the 80's lovers that you are. Full concert au Zenith the Paris. A major blast of the past and an amazing performance. Don't you sometimes wish you could go back in time?

Sumo

Are you ready for more faces through holes?

Vizma loved sumo so much she decided she had to marry a sumo wrestler, so off we went on the search for the soulmate.

She was briefly engaged with this handsome chap but after he told her that he was Vegemite intolerant the wedding was called off.

This one seemed like a good match but he doesn't drink. That's a deal breaker.

Aaaaaaah, sumo bum…..

This was the view from our seats (it looks worse than it actually was, one can see fairly well from anywhere in the venue). It was still half empty mid-afternoon when the lower division (Jūryō) wrestlers were on. It then gradually fills up until the climax around 6pm when the best wrestlers from the top division (Makuuchi - "inside the curtain") are competing.

If (like Vizma) you want to see a close up you can sit right outside the venue and watch the matches as they are braodcasted on TV. There is a sumo tournament every two months for two weeks in various cities of Japan, twice a year in Tokyo (autumn and spring), great timing for us! 

It's very easy to come and go during matches and to walk around, buying drinks and food and souvenirs of course.

And what happened to the husband search, I hear you say? Well, we did find one! Yes we did. Vizma never remembers who he is and what he looks like when she watches the tournament on TV, but the proof is in the picture. There is a wedding picture with both of them lovebirds but since I took it with Viz's phone I'm not currently in possession of it. Viz, if you still have your wedding picture please send it to me so that the folks can see it.

Meanwhile, you'll just have to trust me and believe that this is him. The chosen one. He likes pink, and ice cream. Perfect.

* Ahaaaaaa…. an email just came in with THE wedding picture of the century (thank you Swët):

They both look so happy!! (I just noticed the couple was photobombed. Even more hilarious now. I can't stop looking at them!)

This was a very entertaining day out, we'll go again!