How did that word slip into the American vernacular and when? People who don’t know Japanese are using it on the web.
For those who don’t know, it means “relying on/letting someone else do it.”
e.g:
Me: “Who’s making dinner tonight?”
Wife: “Omakase.” (Short for omakase shimasu.)
Bloggers are using the term when they post information that originally came from readers.
Update: How foolish am I not to have checked Wikipedia first? Sushi restaurants, of course.
The difference between podcasting and just walking around talking to yourself out loud is remembering to push the record button. All the people who looked at me as if I were crazy this morning were completely justified.
Now that I have a mobile phone that takes decent video (320 X 240 @ 15 fps) I’ll try to put out crappy little videos more often. I envy vloggers like Richard Bluestein, the man behind Madge Weinstein’s makeup, who can put out any old video and not be self-conscious about the quality. I want to be more like him. Or her. Whatever.
Podcast (video): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:53 — 28.1MB) | Embed
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Via curry.com via 1938 news via valleywag (so it’s gotta be true): Revver’s circling the toilet bowl. No surprise. The only way to make money in vlogging is in pre- or post-roll ads and getting paid per view/download. Revver’s got a one frame ad at the end which the viewer has to click for the ar-teest to get paid.
Seriously, who the hell ever clicks on an ad on purpose?
Recently my boss was talking to someone from Microsoft Japan who verified the commonly-given advice to wait until SP1 is out before upgrading to Vista. They’re not even using it internally at Microsoft yet because there are too many bugs.
There’s an enormous 5 or 6 story black monolithic building next to the middle of nowhere (a.k.a Kurihashi, Saitama Pref.) that houses every indoor activity imaginable, and it’s called Round1. For 1,700 yen a head, Tony and I played arcade games to our hearts’ content for three hours straight while Andy played in an enormous indoor padded playground and my wife…well, I don’t know what she did. I was too busy playing video games to care.
Here’s a partial list of all the things you can do there. I’m just going to type until I get bored.
That’s it, I’m bored. Go to the bottom of the Round1 webpage and paste some of the katakana words into Google Images to find out more. (Japanese study tip #582)
“Why didn’t you take video?” you ask. Well, I tried. I ran out of tape in about 30 seconds and forgot to bring a spare, so we’ll have to go back again soon.
If anyone wants to go on a weekend, let me know. Seriously, if I’m free I’ll pick you up at Koga station and drive you there. I can fit a max of 4-5 well-behaved extra people in our minivan. I’m totally up for it, and my kids would love to meet you, as long as you’re not a dickhead. (If you are, no big deal. You’ll just have to find your own way back.)
Any real estate moguls reading? A friend of mine needs to sell her house, quickly. NOW. Maybe I’ll get her on a podcast to tell her story. Probably not. I’ve never heard of anyone having as much bad luck as she’s having. It’s the kind of story where you gasp with your eyes wide open, cover your mouth and and go, “NO…really?” She’s a strong person, just not a very lucky one. What happened to her is giving me nightmares.
Somewhere on the other side of the planet, somebody’s getting swamped with good luck that’s being sucked from her karma account. They’re in Fiji…no, they’re off the coast of Fiji, sailing a yacht.
The house is 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath, 2 story, 2 car garage, stainless steel appliances, gated community at Silverado Ranch. Asking $380,000. The houses in that area sure look nice.
Contrary to reports in the US media, only unless you live in a very, very small world, it is not the #1 news story around the world.
The Japanese media does the same thing–blows trivial, sensational news out of proportion when there are far more pressing issues the public should be aware of. Like, for example, how Bush is sending more troops to Iraq quite possibly because he really wants to send them into Iran.
I used to stutter quite a bit. Lately I’ve noticed it’s coming back. The reason might be because recently I started to think about it again–how I used to stutter but don’t anymore.
It’s always been worse when I speak a foreign language. There’s a timing to it, like waves on the beach. I have to be speak carefully, trying to ride the crest of the stutter wave instead of getting bowled over by it. It also depends on with whom I’m speaking.
I’m no longer embarrassed to admit I stutter, but I certainly don’t like when it happens. Especially when I’m having a conversation with someone who isn’t aware I have a problem. It was rough trying to hide it when when I was in my teens, but these days, the way I figure, anyone who’d hold it against me isn’t someone I’d want to be around anyway.
Just thought I’d throw that out there.
Last.fm is a terrific way to explore new and exciting genres of music. Just now I discovered that this “death metal” music I’ve heard so much about sounds like the grumblings my tummy makes when I’m hungry, singing along to a herd of pigs stuffed into car crusher.
Suddenly I feel the urge to crap myself inside out. Perhaps I should turn down the volume.