Torika.info

& it’s contagious…

100 Pop Stars’ Real Names

Dido Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O’Malley Armstrong – yes please.

edit: I knew 9. For shame.

Well, I haven’t posted in a while. Mainly because I can’t think of anything interesting to write (I’m already over the fact that nothing will ever actually be valid).

Instead have some sample mp3s for My Best Friend Is You. Look at all of those Explicits; it has to be good. The downers so far are Don’t You Want to share the Guilt? (the demo is one of my favourite songs of all time; it’s a mess here, imo) and “Mansion Song” (she sounds like a Mockney hag).

I like nearly everything else, though. I can’t decide whether I want to buy the CD for this, the iTunes download or get a gratuitous download after a few days. I bought the CD for Made of Bricks the day it came out, but I hardly ever play CDs now, and I feel as though iTunes are going to rip me off for something where I can’t even throw it at the wall if I don’t like it.

(I got an iTunes card a little while ago. Most of my expenditure has been on Dave Days’ parodies. I don’t know if that’s shameful or not.)

Also, I got a last.fm account at about the same time.  My username there is cello_tape (you can point and laugh at my charts if you want. I imported most of my iTunes and WMP plays from the last few months, and there are some random dregs I can’t remember being obsessed with.)

.Le fin.

OK, it’s not new (the site I found it on is from early February) but it’s deco Pocky and I think it’s hilarious.

This isn’t exactly strange for Japan – wearers of girly fashion styles like gyaru and lolita often deco and add 284393904923 phone charms to their electricals and other tools, such as nail clippers, lighters and cutlery. This is also the nail art (and possibly food styling) capital of the world.

So deco Pocky is plausible. I think it’s kind of brilliant, and it does seem really obvious, to be honest, considering you can get all of the sugarcraft materisals even here in England. I do wonder, though, how they’re packaged without being damaged in transit. A gigantic foam tray, maybe.

I’m reposting this from egl, where it was shared by the maker (hotcake5).

WATCH IT. It’s only 2:25 and it’s really good!

Isn’t it incredible? I can’t even begin to comprehend how long it must have taken… my favourite part is the table-pan, where there’s cake and the tea is being poured. The colours are really perfect in that shot.

(Aside: I may actually have found an Emilie Autumn song I like. Miracle.)

The video for ‘Do Wah Doo’, the first single for her new album (the one that was supposedly called Crayon Full of Colour, but is actually My Best Friend is You) .

http://www.katenash.co.uk/video

I really preferred the live version, but eh. The chorus adlib is especially naff (but it is part of her ~style~, to be honest, so…). They really did try with the video, it’s a lot more expensive and organised than her previous ones.

I am looking forward to her new album – ignoring the renames and recuts, it looks like she’ll be able to get across the message she wanted on Made of Bricks without the crappy Mockney getting in the way.

The first film adaptation of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, as restored by the British Film Institute. I love silent films; this one has a piano accompaniment, and I think that it works better than dialogue would.

The film is so worn, it’s glorious. I love how damaged and old it looks.

With the exception of the Tina Majorino version, which (I believe) was filmed for television, this is probably the only Alice film I’ve liked.

In all fairness, I do have a special reverence for Carroll’s works, because I read them obsessively as a child (and frequently still do); perhaps it’s because of this familiarity that films never seem to do the books justice.

I can’t help but feel that the new one is just a huge image tribute to Johnny Depp  – the to main aspects are the 3D imagery and the fact that Johnny Depp is plastered over every part of the film and its merchandise.

I somehow can’t help but dislike every Depp film, even when I try to appreciate it – it just seems too much like his characters are written to fit his personality, and to be ~*~dark and mysterious~*~. This attempt at being edgy ruined Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for me.

I don’t like Pirates of the Caribbean either. Maybe I just lack the perspective. If anybody understands the appeal of Depp and his peers – Robert Pattinson and Daniel Radcliffe come to mind – could you tell me please? I just can’t work it out.

The latest parody offering from davedays, Justin Bieber’s ‘Baby’:

I’ve been looking forward to this since he put the preview on his dave channel. I think this may be the best one yet – the filming is really good, and I’m impressed (?!) they got Tay Zonday in to do it!

The behind-the-scenes is hilarious too! I love how he’s started making so many extra videos, I guess it shows how popular he’s got. It also means I have more material to make others watch.

Spamming my own blog remorselessly. This is what my iTunes Top 25 looks like right now (click!):

… yeah. I’m not sure whether that’s worse than usual, or better.

(Regarding the UK Top40, I like about 2 songs, & hate the rest. It’s great.)

I have too much time on my hands. Here’s some graffiti’d money notes:

I thought this one was impressive. I don’t know what it’s going on about (pizza with the Rubens? Vasectomies?), but that is committed graffiti.

http://moneymumbojumbo.co.uk/fun-articles/30-bizarre-examples-of-defacing-money

Most of the British ones are rubbish, but eh. Some of these are really amazing because of the amount of time/effort put into defacing them  – I wonder if the good ones were actually spent.

Has anyone’s money ever actually been refused?

^ a discussion on Flickr (it’s actually on a pool where people upload their defaced money).