Classic Rock Music Monday

The stuff that now passes as "music", particularly rock 'n roll, leaves me cold. So, to start off the week, here's a video of a classic rock artist.

To start off the week, we have the Australian rock band INXS with their 1990 hit "Suicide Blonde" from their seventh album, X.

From Wikipedia:

INXS (a phonetic play on "in excess") were an Australian rock band, formed in 1977 in Sydney. Originally called the Farriss Brothers, founding members were bassist Garry Gary Beers, main composer and keyboardist Andrew Farriss, drummer Jon Farriss, guitarist Tim Farriss, lead singer and main lyricist Michael Hutchence, and guitarist and saxophonist Kirk Pengilly. For 20 years, INXS were fronted by Hutchence, whose stage presence made him the focal point of the band. Initially known for their new wave/ska-pop style, the band then developed a harder pub rock style that included funk and dance elements.

 

Classic Rock Music Monday

The stuff that now passes as "music", particularly rock 'n roll, leaves me cold. So, to start off the week, here's a video of a classic rock artist. 

To start off the week, we have AC/DC out of Australia with their 1980 hit, "Back In Black".

From Wikipedia:

AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock and heavy metal, although the band calls it simply "rock and roll". They are cited as a formative influence on the new wave of British heavy metal bands. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003 and have sold over 200 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling artists of all time.

Karoline Leavitt Blasts Democrats’ ‘Disgraceful’ Behaviour

 Sky News of Australia reports on the Democrats last night:

Gavin Newsom Slammed For ‘Inane Nonsense’ During LA Fires

 Leave it to Australia's Sky News for telling it like it is!

Australia's Sky News Sees Democrats' Desperation

The lamestream media (MSNBC, et al.) and the Harris campaign are trying, in their desperation, to compare former President Donald Trump as a Nazi. Most recently, comparing his Madison Square Garden rally last night to the Nazi rally there in the 1930s. This is likely to backfire on them.

As we cannot get a fair, unbiased view of the campaign from our media, Australia's Sky News sees things as they actually are: desperation.

They pointed out that Trump lives in New York City and Madison Square Garden is the premier venue for sports and non-sports events.

What It's Like To Be Traveling To Japan Today

Above, a geisha photoshoot in Asakusa, Tokyo near Senso-ji temple. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Foreign tourists are now allowed into Japan. But there is a process for doing so.

Traveller.com has posted an article on what it's like to be traveling in Japan today. It is from an Australian perspective, which I find interesting to read.

They begin with:

It's not ideal to spend a week in Japan with a Cher song stuck in your head. Still, these last seven days I've been walking around Kyoto, around Hamamatsu, and around Tokyo humming the same chorus to myself: "If I could turn back time…"

Because being in Japan right now is like turning back time. Remember Australia about a year ago? Remember the way we thought about COVID-19 back then, the way we treated it, the way we planned our lives and our lifestyles around it? That's Japan, now.

Getting into Japan as a foreign tourist is very reminiscent of getting into Australia back in December last year. Then, Australia had the DPD, the dreaded, buggy app that every prospective entrant into the country had to deal with, to register all of their personal details and upload their vaccination certificate and scan their passport and start the whole thing afresh for every trip.

Now, Japan has Japan Web, a less-buggy website that performs essentially the same function, and is equally laborious – this time with the extra spice of cross-cultural confusion. You get there, in the end. But it's a process.

To read more, go here. 

Transforming Seawater Into Drinking Water By Sunlight

Above, the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

An interesting article just came to my attention.

Scientists down in Australia have harnessed the power of the sun to convert seawater into fresh drinking water.

My Faith News reported:

According to a UN report more than 780 million people worldwide lack basic clean drinking water, and by 2025, half of the world’s population will be living in drought affected areas, along with a staggering population growth of over 10 billion people by 2050, and over 10.9 billion by 2100.

Ironically, about 71% of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, and almost 97% is ocean seawater, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Seawater, up until now, wasn’t safe for human drinking consumption. However, thanks to a group of dedicated scientists in Australia they have been able to transform seawater into safe, clean drinking water using the power of the sun along with metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), in less than 30 minutes.

To read the full article, go here.

Pfizer and AstraZeneca Paid Lobbyists to Direct Australia’s Leaders to Push Vaccine Mandates

When I got vaccinated back in February, it was by my choice and not from any government mandate. I got the Pfizer vaccine.

If someone does not wish to get vaccinated, I believe that it is their right not to. Many have their own reasons why. Some just have very bad reactions to vaccines in general.

It is has been revealed that some of the vaccine makers has been lobbying for mandates down in Australia.

From the Gateway Pundit:

A former Australian member of Parliament came out and said Pfizer and AstraZeneca are paying lobbyists to direct Australia’s leaders to push vaccine mandates.

Clive Palmer, leader of the United Australia Party claimed ousted New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian was told she wouldn’t be charged in a corruption probe if she imposed a vaccine mandate.

Palmer made these statements a couple weeks ago but it has garnered a lot of attention this weekend after Berejiklian resigned in disgrace following a corruption probe.

Two weeks ago, Palmer said Pfizer and AstraZeneca were paying lobbyists tens of millions of dollars to direct Australia’s liberal leaders to push the double jab.

A slight conflict of interest, don't you think? This couldn't be happening here, right?

To read more, go here.

Japan, Australia and Argentina Reveal Reopening Plans

Above, visitors can visit Godzilla again in Japan. But, there's some hoops to jump first. 

So it was World Tourism Day on September 27. Well, I and probably many others, weren't even aware of this.

But, that aside, some nations have revealed reopening plans and this includes Japan.

KION reported:

It was World Tourism Day on September 27 this week, but it’s safe to say it’s been another bad year for tourism globally. If you’re wondering where it’s safe to go and when, and what you need to do to get there, CNN Travel is on hand with these weekly round-ups.

Here’s what we learned in pandemic travel this week:

Along with Japan, other nations include Australia and Argentina.

To read more, go here.

First You Lose Your Guns, Then Your Freedoms

If one is wondering why supporters of the Second Amendment fight tooth & nail against any restrictive gun control laws put forward by radical leftist Democrats, just take a good hard look at what's happening in Australia right now.

From the Western Standard:

Armed citizens are a deterrent to politicians and bureaucrats hankering to subdue and control the masses, stripping them of basic freedoms.

The day the Aussies gave up their guns triggered the beginning of the end of their liberty.

Now the land Down Under is a full-blown police state. Proud, strong, free, productive Australia is gone. 

This harsh, bitter transformation should be a warning to nations still clinging to the God, guns, and freedoms the hard-core left deeply despises.

Aussies protesting totalitarian COVID-19 restrictions, the harshest in the free world, are fighting a seemingly hopeless battle for basic rights and freedoms by pelting rocks, bottles, golf balls, and batteries against heavily armed riot police.

To read the full article, go here. 

Australians COPE With EXTREME Lockdowns

If you thought things are bad in the U.S. with government restrictions on personal liberty, then you haven't seen what's going on in Australia.

If liberals tried that here, there would be a revolt for sure. The big difference is what we have guns. Australians have extreme gun bans that were enacted a few years ago. The Democrats would love to have this power.

Watch this video and pass this on to family and friends!

Review: "Godzilla vs. Kong" Reawakens The Franchise

We're five days away from the release of Godzilla vs. Kong (Legendary Pictures/Warner Bros.) to the U.S., provided that your state's governor allows movie theaters to open for business. Unfortunately, New Mexico is one that still has its theaters shuttered thanks to Gov. "Malevolent Michelle" Lujan Grisham. I will have to go to the nearest theater showing to me, in Show Low, Arizona.

But I digress.

ABC News (the Australia one, not the U.S. one) has posted a review of Godzilla vs. Kong. For those who are concerned, there's no spoilers to ruin your future screening. 

They start it with:

It's a rumble for the ages — or at least the last 60 years, ever since Japan's most famous radioactive reptile first squared off against Hollywood's 'Eighth Wonder of the World', the Empire State Building-scaling simian with a bad temper but a big heart.

Complete with an actor in a wonderfully ropey ape suit, Ishiro Honda's King Kong vs Godzilla (1962) jumpstarted Toho Studios' classic Shōwa era of kaiju (or: "monster") showdowns — films that drew as much on professional wrestling as they did the studio's original, dark vision of an apex predator born of man's atomic folly.

Curiously, these two titans would never face off again — until now.

Godzilla vs Kong, directed by American horror filmmaker Adam Wingard (The Guest; You're Next), is the third in Legendary Pictures' iteration of the franchise, which has stomped an uneasy path from sombre blockbuster spectacle (Gareth Edwards' 2014 Godzilla) to unsuccessfully tangling with the Japanese films' more outlandish monster-verse (2019's Godzilla: King of the Monsters).

Wingard's film follows both those movies and Legendary's Kong: Skull Island (2017), an agreeably pulpy smash-up that gestured toward the less tasteful, and more rewarding, terrain of B-movie mayhem.

And after what seems like an eternity away from big, noisy Hollywood cinema, the new film — with its widescreen cityscape destruction, stock characters, and splashes of neon — already feels like a throwback to another time at the cinema.

Above, a U.S. poster of the 59 year old King Kong vs. Godzilla.

To read the rest of the review, go here. 

Coronavirus Toilet Paper Hoarding

The so-called (but media driven) crisis over the coronavirus has cause fights over...toilet paper!

In Australia, women were filmed fighting over packages of toilet paper, one of whom already had a shopping cart full of rolls:

There's several ways of resolving the problem:

1. Use leaves (wide ones).

2. Use pine cones.

3. Use corn cobs.

4. Use newspaper.

and, 5., Get a Japanese toilet with a bidet:

Above, a Japanese toilet with bidet. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

What's next? Condoms?

Monster Hybrid Tumbleweeds In California

Above, attacking tumbleweeds from the Outer Limits.

In October 1964, the Outer Limits television show broadcast the episode, "Cry of Silence". In this episode, tumbleweeds possessed by an alien intelligence are attacking people in a rural area.

Every time I see a tumbleweed, I think of that episode. It's one of my favorites.

Now, here's a story from Newsweek concerning monster hybrid tumbleweeds that are taking over California.

They wrote:

Monster Hybrid Tumbleweed Species Is Taking Over California, Scientists Say 

August 27, 2019 A new invasive species of tumbleweed that can grow up to six feet in height is taking over parts of California—and scientists are warning it could spread even further as climate change makes its growing conditions more favorable. 

Salsola ryanii was first identified in California in 2002. It is a hybrid made up of two other invasive species—Salsola tragus, which is native to Russia and China, and Salsola australis, from Australia and South Africa. The latter, scientists say, is "one of the world's worst weeds" and is currently found in 48 U.S. states. The new species, is however, far bigger and faster growing than its parents, reaching about six feet in height.  

Maybe these tumbleweeds will gobble up more than a few radical leftists.

"We control the vertical. We control the horizontal."

To read more, go here. 

Monument Valley. A Slice of Hollywood

Above, filming of The Searchers takes place with the Three Sisters in the background.

Three years ago, I paid my second visit to Monument Valley. I stayed there several nights at Goulding's Lodge Campground. Although the days were brisk with a cold wind and the nights got down into the 20s, it was an enjoyable experience.

For those who are movie buffs, particularly westerns, a visit to Monument Valley is a must-do.

Australia's New Idea website has an article on Monument Valley's place in Hollywood history.

Above, John Wayne's Cabin from She Wore A Yellow Ribbon in 2016. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Here's a snippet:

I’m on Utah’s Highway 163, with the majestic Monument Valley rising up like a red-rock metropolis behind me as I attempt to capture my own slice of movie magic – mindful of the cars, of course. 

Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, to use its official name, is huge – 371-square-kilometres – and it’s seriously remote. To get here, I fly into Utah’s capital, Salt Lake City, hire a car and drive south. For hours. Because the journey is more than six hours, you might want to break it up with a side trip to a place like Moab (see box, right, to find out why this is worth your while). And although I approach the valley from Utah, Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, is actually in Arizona – about a three-hour drive from the Grand Canyon. 

It’s hard to escape that eerily familiar feeling as you arrive at the valley. That’s because you’ve seen it before in numerous US westerns, with director John Ford using the valley as the backdrop for movies such as Stagecoach (1939), Fort Apache (1948) and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949). Ford’s vision became our impression of the American West. 

But saying you know Monument Valley from the movies is a bit like saying you know Italian food because you’ve eaten a tin of spaghetti. Nothing can prepare you for its sheer size. It’s a panorama of pinnacles; a marvellous monument to the eroding power of wind and rain over time. You can drive yourself around, but the best way to explore this iconic spot is with a local, so I book in for a sunset Jeep tour of the valley with Gouldings Lodge on the Utah-Arizona border. It was original owner Harry Goulding who introduced Ford to the valley. I meet my Navajo guide at Gouldings, and, during our winding 27km trip through the valley, check out some of the area’s highlights including East and West Mittens, the Three Sisters, the Totem Pole, Artist’s Point, the North Window and, of course, John Ford’s Point.

Above, the Three Sisters in 2016. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Ford also used Monument Valley as a backdrop in My Darling Clementine (1946) and in The Searchers (1956).

To read more, go here. 

A First-Timers Guide To Tokyo

Above, nighttime shoppers in Ginza. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

This blog has been in operation for ten years and I have used it to provide information on Japan for those who have a big desire to pay it a visit.

Naturally, the main gateway into the Land of the Rising Sun is the nation's capital, Tokyo. It is such a big and varied city that even in ten years of blogging about it, I probably hardly scratched the surface.

The Advertiser out of Australia has a good article on Tokyo for the first-time visitor and I heartily recommend giving it a good read.

It begins with:

Flights descending past Mount Fuji’s snow-capped peak, illuminated by an oversized crimson sunset, offer just enough Japanese iconography to make the first-time visitor to Tokyo irrepressibly giddy, but the jolt of landing can be utterly destabilising. 

There’s much to be said for preparation before a trip to a city so densely packed with new experiences, sights and sounds. Gaining a little local knowledge before being swept up in the perpetual motion of this intense megalopolis will make everything so much easier.

To read the full article, go here. 

Audio Reveals Creepy Details of UFO Mystery

Above, a display at the International UFO Museum in Roswell, New Mexico. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The other day, my "honorary sister" Diane passed along an interesting article from Fox News on a 1966 UFO sighting in Australia. This is one I've never heard about.

The article begins with:

In 1966, over 300 children and staff from a Melbourne school reportedly witnessed multiple UFOs silently flying through the sky before landing in a nearby field.

It is the largest mass UFO sighting in Australia, yet hardly anything was reported on it at the time.

Over the years, there have been differing reports about the details of what happened on April 6 at Westall High School, such as people claiming there were three saucerlike objects, while some thought there was just one. 

In the 52 years since, there has been wide speculation about what people saw, with some believing it was an alien encounter and others pointing the finger at the government testing new technology. 

Throughout all the years of speculation, however, one particularly interesting piece of audio has been greatly overlooked. 

An American physicist known for his research into UFOs, Dr. James E. McDonald, conducted an interview with a science teacher from the Westall school, Andrew Greenwood, who witnessed the event.

The article include an audio of the interview.

To see more, go here.

Baby Diaper Changes: Parents Should Ask Babies' Permission First

The Looney Left Report

Each time some leftist loon comes up with something ridiculous, I often think that they couldn't get any loonier.

Then they come up with something even crazier.

Here we are again!

The Blaze reported:

Parents should ask their babies’ permission before changing their diapers — in order to advance a “culture of consent” in the home, a sexuality and relationships expert said. 

Deanne Carson told Australia’s ABC News in an interview that a parent could say something along the lines of, “I’m going to change your nappy [i.e., diaper] now, is that OK?” 

She continued, “Of course a baby is not going to respond, ‘Yes, mum, that’s awesome, I’d love to have my nappy changed.’ But if you leave a space and wait for body language and wait to make eye contact, then you’re letting that child know that their response matters.”

Well, I guess that purple hair color she sports has to tell you something.

To read more, go here. 

Joshua Tree National Park: Best Camping Experience In The World

Above, the terrain near Cottonwood Campground. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

A recent camping adventure at Joshua Tree National Park has been recounted at 9Elsewhere, an
Australian news and features website.

It seems they were impressed with the park.

They begin the article with:

Three hours west of LA sits Joshua Tree National Park, a magical desert oasis every camper needs to visit at least once. 

"It’s a little underwhelming, isn’t it?" I mused to my boyfriend from the passenger seat, as we drove towards Joshua Tree National Park. From the window there wasn’t a Joshua tree in sight, just never-ending brown desert. Within an hour, I’d realised how completely wrong I’d been. The park where we spent the next four nights was anything but underwhelming. 

We were halfway through our two-month road trip across the United States when we landed at Joshua Tree. We arrived at the park thinking we would only stay a night, but ended up leaving after four. Those nights ended up being my favourite of our trip.

Joshua Tree sits where the Mojave and Colorado deserts meet. Each desert has its own unique ecosystem of plants and animals, including tortoises, coyotes, rattle snakes, squirrels, and 18 different species of lizard.

To read more, go here. 

15 Awesome Things To Do In Tokyo

Above, for incredible views of Tokyo, go up the Tokyo Skytree. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

When visiting Tokyo, there is no shortage of findings things to see and do.

To help you along in planning a Tokyo visit, the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) (of Australia) has a list of "15 Awesome Things To Do In Tokyo". Many of these I have done over the years.

They begin with:

Welcome to Tokyo, the only place in the world that you can eat Michelin-starred food for under $10, sleep in a capsule, or watch live baseball at 4am in the morning. It is without a doubt one of the busiest, craziest, more bizarre cities on the planet! The list of things you can do here is literally endless, so I’ve made a shortlist of my top 15 picks of the most awesome experiences to have in Tokyo.

To see what they are, go here.