I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: ASAF AVIDAN-“One Day/Reckoning Song (Wankelmut Remix)” (2012).

Yesterday I talked about Asaf Avidan and his song “Reckoning Song (One Day).”  His (live) version has 15 million views on YouTube.  But the remix by Wankelmut (which Avidan had asked Wankelmut to take down, but he refused) has almost 150 million hits.

The first song is a slow keening lament.  The remix adds a dancey beat and speeds up the vocals (mostly removing pauses, not really speeding up his voice at all–it’s high enough as it is).  And now that I’ve listened to both versions a few times, I’m totally hooked).

I think I like the verses better in the remix (the drum beat helps), but I like the chorus of the original better–the power comes through a lot more in the chorus of the original.  I’m glad the remix left in the yodelly aspect of his voice in the chorus, though.

I imagine that this remix has introduced a lot of people to Avidan, and that’s a good thing too.

You can see both below, first the original,

then the remix:

[READ: June 20, 2014]  Johnny Hiro Book 2

This book continues the exploits of Johnny Hiro and his beautiful girlfriend Mayumi.  There’s no listing of “originally published” so I don’t know if these came out as individual books, like the first collection of story did. So I’ll just assume that these were first published in this book.

The first story gives us a peek into Johnny’s past when Mayumi is having lunch with a coworker (and Johnny is hauling ass to get to the lunch date on time).  When he skids up to the table, he realizes that he knows the other woman–in fact, he almost moved in with her.  But just as things get really uncomfortable (Johnny never told Mayumi about her), King Kong reaches across the patio and pulls her away.  And, just as Johnny had to save a woman from Gozadilla in book one, he has to save woman from King Kong.

Which means more chases through New York City, a fascinating (if not sad) backstory about King Kong and another hilarious save via Mayor Bloomberg (wonderful to see him again). The connection to L.A. about King Kong is fantastic.

In the second story, the owner of the house that Johnny and Mayumi are staying in comes back for a few weeks, this introduces a new person to play off of, with new concerns–it;s a nice addition.  The only bad thing is that Alex curses like a storm–I don’t recall there being any curses in the first book–so that puts this book squarely into the older teen area (which isn’t really a bad thing, since there is talk about romantic relationships and some behind closed door scenes that kids might have to many questions about–but I feel like the big monsters might entice kids into reading it).

“Big in Japan” looks at Johnny’s boss Masago and his history as a chef in Japan (he was the personal chef for Sumo Joe, a champion wrestler).  Joe’s success is staggering and people chalk it up to Masago. Then Shinto Pete (who was in the first one as Masago’s enemy), asks Masago to open a restaurant with him. Sumo Joe graciously tells Masago to go and be a great chef, so Masago joins Shinto Pete. But when Sumo Joe begins losing, the yakuza decides to take action against them.

Bloomberg makes another appearance in “Party at Gracie Mansion” in which Masago is called in to cater a party.  But the regular caterers are upset by this and decide to sabotage the sushi. But why was Masago called there in the first place?  Because Johnny’s wealthy frenemy Toshi requested them in an attempt to get to Mayumi while Johnny was working.  Of course a fight ensues.

I don’t know if this is an actual diagram of Gracie Mansion, but it certainly makes it seem nice.

The Thanksgiving story allows the characters some introspective time as Johnny thinks about his life and future with Mayumi (and his past with Amanda–what went wrong and how it ultimately was good for him) and Masago thinks about his old days in Japan and we learn how he and Shinto Pete became enemies.

The final story brings back Grand Puba as the gang goes to a hip hop show.  And we can only imagine what the future will bring for these fun characters.

Unlike the first book, this one does not have any comics at the end (which is kind of a shame), although there are some brief interstitial comics (two tor three pages) which are introspective (and sometimes sad).  This book has rounded out the world of Johnny Hiro, bringing more emotions and maturation, but never losing the fun and slapstick nature of the first book.  I certainly hope Chao will be making more stories about Johnny.