The Man Who Invented 800 Toys

 

Adam Ragusea - How I Became the Mariah Carey Christmas Chord Guy

 Or: The Problem with Clickbait and the Tyranny of Twitter...

Strangely, I have a feint recollection that I saw that article and who would've known that years later I would be watching the same guy for cooking videos.

Irish People Try Christmas Cocktails

 

 I'm not big into any particular alcohol but these look great.

Viewing Tape Data

 

Japanese Snack Reviews #1

 Alternating between Korean and Japanese reviews. Let's go...

1.

Translated Name: Unknown

Additional Text: The back says "Kuppy Ramune," does that mean "Cup Ramen?"

Review:

You can probably tell from the "window" in the picture that these are sugar discs very similar to Smarties. They come in orange, strawberry and lemon. They're basically like Smarties, generally, but there is a surprise. They dissolve in your mouth almost instantly, it's very strange. The flavor is like Smarties but they're lighter, more powdery and effervescent. For what they are, they're good.

2.

Translated Name: Cola Gummies

Review:

As the name suggests, it's a classic cola-flavored gummy candy. If you want something available in the west that's similar, get Haribo Gummi Candy Happy-Cola. And I like both a lot, although I kind of overdosed a little on the Haribo Gummis so I don't really eat them anymore. This Japanese version is coated with a thick layer of sugar, as you can see. Good stuff.

3.

Translated Name: Tasty - Cheese

Review:

Here's a unique one. First off, the next 3 are all different variants of the "Tasty" brand. "Tastys" are like giant cheese puffs, the size and shape of a cigar. They look like this:

Doesn't look too appetizing but they are good. It looks like a giant cheese puff and it tastes like a cheese puff (though with slightly less cheesy flavor). There is also a hole through the middle so that it's hollow for some reason. An interesting experience and pretty good.

4.

Translated Name: Tasty - Grilled Chicken Flavor

Review:

I think this is the most interesting one of the group. This is continuing the Tasty series, it's like a long cheese puff, as above, but it's chicken flavor. Except, it isn't chicken as we would guess "chicken flavor" to be. A more helpful name might be "BBQ Chicken" - it's a sweet, barbecue sauce flavor that's really interesting and really does resemble grilled chicken in some way. Pretty weird, quite good, I think, very unusual.

5.

Translated Name: Tasty - Shrimp Flavor

Review:

So, again, same form and general taste as the other "Tastys"... But "shrimp" flavor. Well, this is the Japanese snack I was afraid of - and with good reason. Now, I like shrimp okay. I love shrimp cocktail but I think that's mostly loving the cocktail sauce more that the shrimp. But the weird thing about this is that it doesn't taste anything like shrimp, as far as I can tell. To me, it tastes like a strong mustard taste... and I like mustard too but - maybe I'm overreacting here - but I didn't like it and I felt a little sick after eating it. Not recommended unless for a dare.

So there we are. Ending on a sour note but there were some generally good snacks here. The next review will be back to Korea.

New York 1911 Footage Updated

A while back I found a youtube video/channel where they corrected the framerate of old footage to be correct. I thought I posted it here on this blog but I don't see it now.

Now there's a new version where they also colorize and upscale to 4K using neural networks. Here is New York 1911 but if you like it, there are many more available including Paris 1890 and Japan 1913-1915.

The funny thing about old film, that I only realize now in retrospect, is the speedup and the hinkey-jinkey movement of all the people makes them seem somehow unreal. And this effect subliminally has pervaded all old timey footage of all historical figures I've ever seen.

 Now that the motion is correct, suddenly these are real people doing real things, living real lives. This is the closest thing we have to time travel and it's amazing how close it is. We are seeing the light that bounced off of real objects exactly as it did if we were standing there in 1911. And on top of everything, all the people we're looking at are dead.