Crazytown

HOW TO JUDGE A SINGER BY THEIR APPEARANCE

And then completely fail on live television
By Jennifer Lin (Music Director)

South Korea's "I Can See Your Voice" is a television show with a pretty interesting premise. The show invites a celebrity singer each week who has to choose a person from a group of 7-8 pre-selected contestants that the show's producers and writers have screened. The celebrity then has to perform a duet with the chosen contestant with no prior rehearsal. 

The main catch? No one knows if the contestants are actually talented or completely tone deaf.

ICSYV goes hard in each extreme. Either the contestants are incredibly skilled (some have used their newfound spotlight to launch singing careers) or absolutely, horridly terrible. Now in its third season, the show doesn't allow the contestants to speak at all. Instead, celebrities must judge their potential duet partners based on their appearance, ability to lip sync, and the deductions from a panel of other celebrities and singers. If the contestant is tone deaf, they win the equivalent of $5000. If they're talented, they get the opportunity to record and release a digital single with the celebrity singer. 

Whenever I need a good laugh, I go through YouTube and watch all of the duets with tone deaf people. Here to start you off is singer Hwanhee (of Korean R&B group Fly to the Sky) and the lucky girl he chose to sing with:

 

Incredibly, because the show encourages tone deaf people to participate and treats them with a sense of awe, I don't get the feeling they're being exploited like the poor American Idol contestants who all get cut into a terribly depressing reel. (Also, she got paid $5000, and the joke is really on singer Hwanhee, who was so incredibly confident she would be skilled.) So more power to you, tone deaf people of South Korea! Long may ICSYV air on your television sets.

JENNIFER LIN has very emotional connections to inanimate objects and is obsessed with polka dots. She works in and around Los Angeles as a music director/teacher, which means she drives way too much, drinks a lot of tea, and is constantly eating.
EMAIL HER | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | OTHER POSTS BY THIS AUTHOR

BOY BAND BLUES

Or: How the disbanding of a Japanese pop group made me feel old
By Jennifer Lin (Music Director) 

There's nothing like the disintegration of a 25-year-old boy band to make you feel like your youth is officially over.

That's not a typo, the band itself is 25 years old. SMAP (short for Sports Music Assemble People) and its agency, Johnny and Associates, announced earlier this month that the group would officially be disbanding at the end of 2016, after over a quarter of century spent working together (releasing 26 albums and 55 singles). They had made a live television appearance in January to assuage concerns about their breakup and reassure the public they were actually staying together, but after months of hiatus and failed negotiations, they've set their official end as Dec. 31, 2016.

The members of SMAP. Image via DramaFever

The NYTimes ran an article on SMAP's imminent end titled "An Aging Boy Band Calls It Quits, but Japan Can't Let Go", which puts into perspective the effect their disbanding will have on Japanese pop culture - the 5-member band currently hosts a variety show that has been running for nearly 20 years and is one of the most-watched shows on Japanese television. Each of its members has starred in multiple television dramas, hosted their own weekly radio shows, and been the face of innumerable Japanese products (either alone or together). SMAP ranked No. 1 in a Rakuten Research poll asking which artist should perform the official Tokyo 2020 theme song; their song "Arigato" (Thank You) was used during Rio Olympics coverage by the Japanese station TBS, and they were one of the celebrities already supporting the Paralympics. SMAP even served as unofficial ambassadors to China in 2011 when they gave a concert in Beijing. 

MIDSUMMER RESOLUTION PART 2: YOUR DESK IS ALSO A MESS

Dear Guilt Trip, are you there? It's me, Jen
By Jennifer Lin (Music Director) 

Nope, my car isn't clean yet.

And there's also this:

That's my desk. Granted, it's actually the desk in my room at my parents', so I'm not using it on a day-to-day basis. However, it's also looked this way for months.

Every visit home, my mother has asked with a mixture of hope and resignation, "You think you'll get around to your desk this time?" 

My response has always been "........maybe?"

So I'm starting here, because it's (a little) less messy than my car and I can clean while in my PJs and blasting J-pop. I'll let you know if the maternal guilt trip works any better than the paternal.

JENNIFER LIN has very emotional connections to inanimate objects and is obsessed with polka dots. She works in and around Los Angeles as a music director/teacher, which means she drives way too much, drinks a lot of tea, and is constantly eating.
EMAIL HER | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | OTHER POSTS BY THIS AUTHOR

A TV GUIDE: THE SHOWS I USED TO WATCH

AKA: strolling down Asian TV nostalgia lane
By Jennifer Lin (Music Director) 

The Lin household's TV was always predominantly showing Asian channels when I was growing up. I remember watching Chang Fei, a shaggy-haired bearded singer who had a penchant for sunglasses and leather loafers, host a variety show in Taiwan called "Big Brother of Entertainment" (no relation to Big Brother show in the US), where celebrities and musical guests would come to play games, do skits, and perform new songs. It was a blend of interviews, interactions, and entertainment that perhaps only Saturday Night Live gets close to reproducing.

There also used to be a video rental store near my favorite boba stop that somehow recorded Japanese television shows onto tapes and rented them out to the local clientele. My father and I would go into the store every week in search of the next episode of "TV Champion", where a different topic would be chosen every week, and the show would search Japan for all the people who excelled in that topic (therefore finding the "Champion" of that week). Some memorable themes included spicy food, for which the preliminary round was to eat cookies made with spicy pepper with a dried chili in the middle; a Pokemon competition where one of the rounds was identifying the Pokemon by the sound it made in the original Gameboy Blue & Red versions (back when there were only 151 or so Pokemon to memorize); and a costume contest, where one participant hand-built human sized wings made completely from raven feathers he had collected in a park. I would sit glued to the screen, fascinated by the dedication each competitor had in their own respective field (and slightly jealous of the people competing during the Pokemon week). Take, for instance, this video of round 1 of the origami competition:
 

I also grew up with the original "Iron Chef" series, where the flamboyant host Chairman Kaga ruled over his "Kitchen Stadium" and had the Iron Chefs battle challengers. Another Japanese cooking show called "Dotch", which roughly translates to "Which one", featured two celebrities who would each choose a chef to prepare meals, each featuring a different main ingredient. The two celebrities and their respective chefs would then attempt to have the guests choose their side - the winning side (and those who chose it) would get to eat, while the losing chef would have to eat his own meal by himself (and his celebrity sponsors would all have to watch the winning team eat).

In this clip, the battle is between green tea and chocolate parfait. Try not to drool as you watch:

 

I'd like to thank the recent Pokemon Go craze for making me rewatch Pokemon, start feeling sentimental for my childhood, and dig up all of these old shows. YAY NOSTALGIA

JENNIFER LIN has very emotional connections to inanimate objects and is obsessed with polka dots. She works in and around Los Angeles as a music director/teacher, which means she drives way too much, drinks a lot of tea, and is constantly eating.
EMAIL HER | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | OTHER POSTS BY THIS AUTHOR

PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD

How do you prefer your vegetable (orchestras)?
By Jennifer Lin (Music Director) 

Had I had been smart enough to choose a woodwind as my primary instrument, perhaps I would've be able to create and play my own version of a vegetable instrument. As a pianist (and a very bad pumpkin carver), however, I have to merely observe the "organic orchestra" from afar.

If you prefer your music more on the avant-garde side, you can watch Vienna's Vegetable Orchestra perform an original work (at TEDxVienna):

 

For shorter fare, you can scroll through Junji Koyama's YouTube playlist and find a song or instrument that interests you. The Japanese school teacher has been posting various food instrument videos for almost a decade. His upbeat personality and joy at sharing his creations is pretty darn infectious.

Or, if you just need a quick laugh, you can watch the London Vegetable Orchestra attempt "Thus Spake Zarathustra".

 

JENNIFER LIN has very emotional connections to inanimate objects and is obsessed with polka dots. She works in and around Los Angeles as a music director/teacher, which means she drives way too much, drinks a lot of tea, and is constantly eating.
EMAIL HER | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | OTHER POSTS BY THIS AUTHOR

CATS VS OWLS: AN ANIMAL CAFE COMPARISON (PART 2)

At last, the final avian installment in my two-part, highly scientific series.
By Jennifer Lin (Music Director) 

So you're in Japan and you think cat cafes are cool, but you want to try something a little more out there...what's a tourist to do? Our answer: go to the owl cafe Akiba Fukurou (especially because you can't just have owls in the U.S. as pets without a class five falcon license*) (*This is something we were told by another patron of the cafe who was very eager to share his knowledge of all things owl-related. I'm taking his word for it).

Akiba Fukurou (which literally means Akihabara Owls) is located in the capital of geekdom, Akihabara, usually known as a paradise for anime- and manga-lovers. Down an unassuming little alleyway, however, is this small white shop with pictures of owls in the windows.

You have to send an email reservation three days before you'd like to visit Akiba Owls - space is limited, and each group of patrons is only allowed to be inside for an hour. You pay 1500 yen cash for your trip (though now it looks like the price has gone up to 2000 yen), which includes a nice glossy commemorative photo. The white stools are for the customers who are waiting to enter - as you line up, you are handed a guidebook that talks you through how to handle the owls (no petting like cats or dogs - owls only like to be touched on their head) and warning you that the owls may, in fact, poop on you.

LIFE WITH INTERRUPTIONS

In other words, normal adult life, which I am not equipped to handle.
By Jennifer Lin (Music Director) 

Several things have happened within the last couple of weeks that have slowly added up to an enormous amount of stress that I didn't fully realize I was carrying around with me.

1. I temporarily moved out of my own apartment so that I could accommodate a subletter. I was happy and willing to do so, as the subletter is filling a room that we would have had empty in July, but the turnaround was fairly quick and I only had a couple of days to make the room habitable for someone else after living in it for over 2 years.

2. My boyfriend and I adopted a kitten. We're ecstatic to have her, but I haven't slept deeply since we brought her home. I feel like part of me is striving to stay awake in case we hear her cry in the middle of the night. Also, we have to leave her alone for several hours at a time when we're both working. On the surface, we comfort each other by saying "She'll be fine," but internally we're both freaking out that she'll get stuck somewhere or hurt herself while we're gone.

3. BF is also going overseas for a month. On top of adjusting my life around the new kitten, I am also trying to prepare myself for the fact that my boyfriend will be in another country where the time difference is +15 hours, and that I will be solely responsible for the kitten while he's gone. His trip happens to fall during both of our birthdays and the Fourth of July. I try to tell myself that the dates are inconsequential, but the irrational part of me gets upset that we aren't able to celebrate those days together.

4. There's a massive wildfire threatening my parents' home. My father, who is slow to panic, sent me photos of enormous plumes of smoke that were looming over their neighborhood. My parents and I have dealt with fires near our home before, but prior experience doesn't make the disaster any less terrifying. Two neighborhoods nearby are already under mandatory evacuation, and I'm refreshing our city's police department Twitter account like a madwoman in case I need to drive back to my parents and pack valuables.

But aside from all of this, everything's fine! I just needed to write down all of my woes so I could realize how whiny I sound. Next week, I'll be waxing poetic about owl cafes.

JENNIFER LIN has very emotional connections to inanimate objects and is obsessed with polka dots. She works in and around Los Angeles as a music director/teacher, which means she drives way too much, drinks a lot of tea, and is constantly eating.
EMAIL HER | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | OTHER POSTS BY THIS AUTHOR

CATS VS OWLS: AN ANIMAL CAFE COMPARISON (PART 1)

First, we visit a cat lover's dream.
By Jennifer Lin (Music Director) 

As you may or may not know, Japan is ahead of the game when it comes to cute things. Though cat cafes have been around in Japan since 2004 (side note: to give credit where credit is due, Taipei is home to the world's first cat cafe, which opened in 1998 - Japan just took the idea and ran with it), North America didn't get its first kitty haven until 2014.

This last trip we took to Japan led us to the very trendy cat cafe MoCHA, which has several branches throughout Tokyo. We stumbled upon their Harajuku location on our way to the Meiji Shrine and decided to go after we'd visited the shrine.

This is a real place that exists and I want to go here all the time. The trees are part of the forest that surrounds the Meiji Shrine.

You pay in increments of 200 yen for every 10 minutes, and you can pay an extra 350 yen for unlimited drinks from the vending machines. MoCHA also makes you put your shoes and bags away and gives you a pair of slippers to wear inside the cats' room. The drinks were satisfactory - not particularly noteworthy - but the space itself is beautiful and airy, with plenty of fun places to find cats. There's also a great view of the comings and goings of people down below in Harajuku.

ANATOMY OF A CHILDREN'S RECITAL (FROM AN ADULT'S POINT OF VIEW)

Bonus stress points if you're a teacher or a parent
By Jennifer Lin (Music Director) 

As a child, I performed in too many recitals to count, but I never quite got over the nerves that accompanied each performance.

What I didn't realize, however, is that the nervousness of being a kid performer is nothing compared to that of the teachers and parents. Some examples (that may or may not have happened to me over the weekend, when some of my students were performing):

• When a kid starts a song too fast/slow, there's nothing you can do except nod your head to the tempo they should be going at and hope that the wind of your head moving back and forth somehow reaches them and telepathy will tell them the correct BPM

• When a performer makes a mistake and stumbles, you want to sing the next section so they can continue on, but all you can do is grit your teeth and try not to grimace

• And finally, the worst thing - when a child completely freezes up in the middle of their piece, every second that ticks by feels like an eternity, your heart feels like it's stopped, and every part of you that can sweat (and some you didn't know about) immediately releases several liters of nervous water, and you're doing everything you can to not just run to the piano and finish the song for them

I had done a short hike in the morning before the recital, and I think I sweat more during the one hour concert than I did on a 7 mile hike. Recitals: the new hot yoga! (Not recommended for the faint of heart, and not approved by any doctors or yoga trainers.)

JENNIFER LIN has very emotional connections to inanimate objects and is obsessed with polka dots. She works in and around Los Angeles as a music director/teacher, which means she drives way too much, drinks a lot of tea, and is constantly eating.
EMAIL HER | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | OTHER POSTS BY THIS AUTHOR

PERMANENTLY SLIGHTLY SICK

What does being 100% healthy feel like again?
By Jennifer Lin (Music Director) 

I recently came back from a trip to Japan, where, on the second day of a 6 day trip, I got food poisoning and was consequently uncomfortably ill the rest of the time.

Upon returning to the US, my stomach woes ceased and were replaced almost immediately by congestion and a sore throat, which, I've realized, had plagued me for months on end before I went to Japan. I don't remember the last time I didn't have at least one little thing health-wise wrong with me. Sometimes it's been lots of lower back pain from simple things like walking; other times I seem to have lots of interesting things in my phlegm that shouldn't be there. Part of me wants to attribute this to hypochondria, but another is wondering if it's almost a new normal for me now. Maybe my body handles stress/lack of sleep by being a little bit under the weather. Also, my weird sense of guilt (I call it "first generation guilt" - thanks, Mom and Dad) prevents me from taking more than one sick day at a time on my freelancer schedule, so maybe I never fully recovered from an illness months ago and it's still taking its toll on me.

No matter what the reason, being always slightly sick sounds like an appropriately passive aggressive thing my body would do, so I'm not surprised.

Image via Gunshow

JENNIFER LIN has very emotional connections to inanimate objects and is obsessed with polka dots. She works in and around Los Angeles as a music director/teacher, which means she drives way too much, drinks a lot of tea, and is constantly eating.
EMAIL HER | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | OTHER POSTS BY THIS AUTHOR