Good interview with Russell Peters

A Canadian sent me a link to the Canadian show George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight, which seems like a quality show. But check out the interview with Russell Peters (my favorite comedian). In under 15 minutes, it seems to cover a lot and is entertaining, and George is a good interviewer.

Unfortunately, the video can't be embedded here, so you have to go to the site.

Good business video by a guy I know

I just got this video from Bill Moller, who I met in radio, and who worked in TV news for years.

I'm posting this video here because it's very well done and to let people know that he's really this enthusiastic and friendly. Even though he's had a lot of experience and is successful, he's sincere and treats me well. I've met some people who are snotty because I'm not on their level, or who don't "get me," so they're not too friendly. Or they're just into themselves too much to care about others. And I've encountered such folks inside and outside the media. But Bill is different, for sure.

The hotel I stayed in Detroit is now closed!

This is so weird: the hotel that I stayed at in Detroit a couple of months ago when I was on my way to Toronto is now closed!

The hotel was quite expensive, so I was expecting a nice place. But some of the staff didn't do their jobs as you'd see at comparable hotels elsewhere in large US cities. The hotel seemed sort of dingy and I heard other guests complain about various things that really should be basic at a nice hotel. The restaurant was very good, but in general, there was a deadness about the place and area--right next to the river. And the people in general seemed tough and even hardened, probably because there's so much hopelessness there.

Unfortunately, GM went bankrupt, which affected the hotel. What an awful, sad situation the auto industry has become, especially Detroit.

Check out the TV news report--it's just a minute long. Poor Detroit--I saw how dismal that city is. It's on the decline for sure. It had so much promise before, now there's so much sadness :(

The Most Interesting Man on Trapper John

Last year, I did a post about the language-oriented Most Interesting Man commercial, and today I did a search of the actor's earlier work. Before he did those commercials, he was on a lot of TV shows. Look at the video below, around 7 minutes in. This one is from the mid-80's, like 25 years ago.

Cool site for learning manga and anime expressions

Wow, I didn't know how cool an Anime-Manga site was because it took a while to load, which made me wonder if the site was valid, but it's definitely worth the wait!

I'm so excited about this site, but let me calm down enough to explain: you can learn what phrases mean that are often found in anime and manga. And it teaches you the meanings in dynamic ways: several categories broken down into types of situations, and they give you the option of kanji, kana, or romaji to show the Japanese sentences, and provide the English translation below.

You can choose from several manga scenes, and the meanings and readings pop up. They also have games and quizzes. You can also learn character expressions, which includes audio. Actually, there's audio throughout the site. So it's really a dynamic place to learn Japanese: drawings, audio, games, variety...just a really great site if you're an anime and manga fan who wants to improve your Japanese. Have fun with it!

Didn't know this was about Pompeii

The song "Cities in Dust" came out when I was a teenager, and I still like it. But it wasn't until recently that I found out that it's based on the destruction of Pompeii.

What fushigi is in Japanese

A lot of people have been getting and talking about the Fushigi ball, so I want to explain what the Japanese word is.

First of all, the kanji looks like this: 不思議 (不 = fu, 思 = shi, 議 = gi), and it usually means "mystery", though some sources add "miracle", "strange", and "curiosity".

When I tell Fushigi ball fans that it's actually a Japanese word, they're surprised because they think it's some random word for that product. I've seen the ball, but I haven't tried it out, and don't really intend to. But apparently it makes some people happy.

Plagiarism: Led Zeppelin became rich by stealing music and lyrics from other bands and claimed it as their own

Even though Led Zeppelin is no longer together, it's still a very popular band that still gets a lot of airplay. I'm sure Robert Plant and Jimmy Page are still making a lot of money from the music they've created. But they didn't really create all that music; they stole it, and didn't give any credit to the musicians and bands that wrote it. This is blatant plagiarism, and not enough people know about it, because the videos below with proof of the theft still don't have enough views or exposure.

So I'm posting them here, and feel free to tell as many people as possible. If a band is going to get so much exposure, respect, and wealth, they should have integrity as well. Too bad Led Zeppelin, especially Page and Plant, could care less about ethics and resorted to stealing from other people to reap all those rewards from others' hard work.

I can't believe the French would screw up this translation

Arrogant Polyglot said that the English translation of the French label on his duvet is "The White Goose Below", which is certainly a weird translation for "white goose down".

I am surprised the French couldn't translate that one, unless it was manufactured in China or some other country where they don't bother to hire translators for their products.

The usual unnecessary and wrong use of apostrophes

Gosh, some people either use too many apostrophes or not enough. This sign is an obvious case of wrong usage.

Good trailer for interesting book

Someone sent me info about an interesting book: The Last Speakers, which is about "K. David Harrison's expeditions around the world to meet with last speakers of vanishing languages."

The trailer for it is very well done, which is not surprising since it's created by National Geographic.