Boodlehiemer

Growing up in the 1960’s we used to have a thing called a record player. For you younger folks, a record player was the way we listened to music before CDs and MP3 players.

As a 5 year old child, the single most important record in my collection was Stuart (Stoo) Hample’s The Silly Record. I must have spent days, weeks and months listening to The Silly Record. Amazingly, nearly 40 years later, I am STILL ABLE TO RECITE MOST of it! My wife thinks I’m a freak!

If you don’t know about The Silly Record read no further as this will be of no interest to you. Only a Silly Record fan would care to know that when I was a teenager, in a moment of rare insightfulness, I made a cassette tape recording of The Silly Record. I don’t know what happened to the LP record. And now as an adult I have recently uncovered the tape of The Silly Record and have now ripped it to MP3 for all former fans. Do I dare play this for my 4 year old son? I’m sure he’ll love it, but will he turn out like me? Scary!

So to you 40 to 50 year old fellow freaks out there who actually remember The Silly Record, I present our pal Boodlehiemer in all his glory (Boodlehiemer is the thing with 12 toes standing on top of the record).

I hope Mr. Hample is okay with this post. As this record is currently no where to be found (to purchase) I assume I’m not stepping on any toes.

Right-click the following link and select “Save target as…” to download your copy of The Silly Record (21MB, Mp3 format, 23 mins)

A special thank you goes out to Satoauto.com and his unlimited bandwidth hosting account for hosting this file. I also want to acknowledge PopCereal for having the seemingly only image scans of The Silly Record front and back covers. Also, please visit PopCereal for really complete background info about The Silly Record and Stoo Hample. Groovy!

Parenting | 15 Comments »

Japanese English? In America we speak a version of English called American English. In Japan they use Japanese English. What’s that? Actually, Japanese English, sometimes called Japlish, is not a real language. In Japan it seems that it’s pretty cool to use English words and phrases splashed into marketing messages. First time visiting English speakers are always surprised by the amount of English found in Japan… The “problem” is the interesting way English is used, or abused depending on how you look at it. Actually, it can be quite humorous.

I ran into this little message printed on the side of a car. In this case the grammar used is not too bad. But the content…well… Now, before you think this was just one person’s idea (the car owner) of poetry, let me assure you that this message was factory OEM stuff. You may need to click on this photo to clearly read it.

Can you hear them? Can you hear the carib screaming?

Japan | 1 Comment »

Words of wisdom from my 4 year old boy. While riding in the car…

Son (with a serious tone): Dad? You know I don’t know everything.
Me: Is that right?
Son: Yeah, only God knows everything…. (long pause) …. and Google.

Parenting | No Comments »

It’s official. Today, the Mongolian born sumo wrestler known as Hakuho was promoted to professional sumo’s highest rank, Grand Champion, or Yokozuna. Hakuho becomes the sports 69th Yokuzuna and joins fellow Mongolian wrestler Asashoryu at the pinnacle of Japan’s national sport. The means that the Hawaii Grand Sumo Tournament will be the first public sumo exhibition to feature two competing Yokozuna after 21 consecutive tournaments where Asashoryu was the sole Grand Champion. Hakuho becomes the fourth foreign born wrestler to gain Yokozuna promotion following in the footsteps of Hawaii wrestlers, Akebono and Musashimaru.

For those looking for some background here, please see my earlier posts on Sumo in Hawaii, a Sumo Primer, and Who to watch in the Hawaii Grand Sumo Tournament.

Following is a NHK news clip (in English) that nicely sets up Hakuho winning the Natsu Basho (May tournament) and practically ensuring Yokozuna promotion.

Hakuho’s promotion came on the heals of a perfect 15-0 performance during the May tournament. After also winning the March tournament, his promotion pretty much set in stone upon the completion of this tournament. On the final day, Hakuho manhandled Yokozuna Asashoryu in a way that made him look befitting of the rank. Asashoryu finished with a disappointing 11-4 record. Following is an NHK clip of that final match, in English of course.

In other developments Ozeki (Champion) Tochiazuma retired from sumo during the Natsu Basho after it was announced that he had a brain injury which would make continuing his sumo career dangerous. This sets the stage where the Hawaii Grand Sumo Tournament will feature two Yokozuna (Asashoryu and Hakuho), and now only three wrestlers with the 2nd highest Ozeki rank, Chiyotaikai, Kaio and Kotooshyu. Sekiwake (Jr. Champion) Kotomitsuki finished the May tournament with a strong record and will be seeking Ozeki promotion in July. Look for Kotomitsuki to be highly motivated when he comes to Hawaii.

As always, check out http://www.sumohawaii.com for more tickets and information about the June 9 & 10, 2007 Hawaii Grand Sumo Tournament.

Japan, Hawaii Stuff | 1 Comment »

My 4 year old son is a wonderful big brother. He just loves his little sister and can’t get enough of showering her with rough-house hugs and kisses. Unfortunately, she is not always happy about being the recipient of soooo much physical attention. As my Japanese adopted daughter just turned one recently, I was musing with my boy what her first words might be. The conversation went something like this.

Me to my son: “Just think, soon your baby sister will be talking! What do you think her first words will be? What will she say to you?”

My son kind of shrugged me off and plainly declared: “Get off of me!”

Our adopted baby girl is growing up too fast! Seems like we just brought her home!

Parenting | 4 Comments »