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Click here to go to the Topatoco store!

(Please reblog!) =D

Playing Uke at the new place from Yamino on Vimeo.

I just moved into my new dorm in Plymouth, UK with my brother (he’s in a room just upstairs, but we’re planing to hang out in my room most of the time because it’s a disabled room- eg. it’s HUGE.) I’ve gotten a bit better at playing uke since the last time I uploaded a video!

This was inspired by my discovery that I can turn my voice into a guitar.

Smoker is the vocalist of Freen in Green, the animated band! I not only provide her vocals, but all our album/concept art, too. Here’s our site if you want to hear our music! http://freeningreen.wordpress.com/

You can also see the rest of my FiG artwork and news by clicking my Freen in Green tag. <—Or clicking… here!

I met a reader of mine who offered to let me use his Mac to finish coloring my page, but my external hard drive didn’t actually back up the file… so I wasn’t able to load it. That, and his mac didn’t have the Wacom tablet driver i needed, and the pub we were in has no internet. Speaking of the pub, it was an awesome place! And I’m not even a pub kind of person. It’s called La Fleur en Papier Doré. It has a photo in the back showing its most famous customers standing outside the building… great artists including Matisse and Herge (creator of Tinin.) I also met some nice strangers who overheard me talking about book signings and got interested in my comic. I often forget that these sort of things happen when you don’t live in front of your computer all day. XD;

Despite the prior setback, I’m planning to go to go to the house of previously metioned reader on Saturday, where I will at least have the materials to make a nicer filler page than the one that’s up now. =)

And now, for the story that gives this post its title.

The most amazing thing happened as I was on my way home last night. The sort of thing that you only see in movies.

I was waiting for my subway train, when out of the corner of my eye I noticed a drunk man stumbling towards me, slurring greetings to every person he passed, including me. I gave him a small smile and a “Bon soir” in return, in the cautious sort of tone you use when you’re not sure if any acknowledgement will be taken as an invitation to further conversation, but also fearing that no response will be taken as an insult.

As he was about to reply to me, a well-dressed, stubbly-faced guy about my age walked past us both, making a very theatrical “thumbs up!!” greeting to the drunk guy. Then the guy continued to sit at a bench near mine.

Drunk guy, seeming a little bewildered by the enthusiasm this stranger showed him, returned the greeting with a cheerful wave. At this point, I noticed that Drunk Guy was holding a pair of spoons in his hand. He gestured to me and Enthusiastic Guy to make sure we were watching, and then proceeded to shake his spoons, alternatively hitting them against his leg, causing them to jingle loudly in a fast-paced musical beat. Surprisingly, he was quite good. Enthusiastic Guy was absolutely enthralled by this, and started waving his hands encouragingly as would a Maestro.

The whole time, i was sitting between them, watching the scene unfold in amazement.

The train arrived. All three of us got on. Enthusiastic Maestro sat across from me, and I gave him a questioning look, as if to say “Are you with that Drunk Dude?” It seemed so THEATRICAL and practiced, I thought they must know each other.

Meanwhile, Drunk Dude stumbled over, and tried to speak with Maestro. Maestro pulled out his earbuds and made a genuine attempt to understand him. I could tell through their exchange that Maestro wasn’t fluent in French, but to his credit, no French person could have understood this Drunk Guy. Maestro gestured to the spoons and said “J’adore” and “S’il vous plait, continuez!”
And so Drunk Guy DID.

And for maybe a full minute Maestro put on a very serious and encouraging look while he conducted this old drunk bum. And I was the only passenger in the car who wasn’t ignoring the entire scene out of embarrassment. It was AMAZING.

After a few stops, Drunk Guy bid us goodnight, stepping off the car. Maestro put his earbuds back in. And this is where it got really funky.

Maestro closed his eyes, and started conducting to the music playing in his ears, with no regard to the people’s awkward glances. He moved his hands so gracefully, like a dancer, tiptoeing across an invisible piano and then suddenly jumping up in crescendos audible only to him. At first, I just stole glances, but after I while I realized he was on a totally different planet, and I just openly stared in amazement. At points, he should suddenly open his eyes and stare around him, his mouth slightly slack, as if awakening for the first time and revelling in some sort of music-rush that we were all oblivious to.

I really wanted to talk to him now, but he was SO into his music… you just don’t interrupt something like that.

When he arrived at his stop, I smiled and asked him what he was listening to.

“Beethoven”, he said, “I study be Maestro.” he added with a grin, and then stepped off the train.

…I wish I’d had a chance to exchange email addresses or something. He strikes me as the type of person I’d LOVE to be friends with. XD

…I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for Maestro every time I pass that station from now on.

Also, I fooled around a bit with melodies and harmonies:

Hula Girls from Yamino on Vimeo.

I had the pleasure to walk in on this free hula event, which featured highly talented girls of all ages showing off their hula dancing skills. They are all trained by the same teacher, (the woman playing ukulele and singing in the back) and they compete in nationwide Hula competitions. Cool! (Also, check it out… Not really related, but… Hawaiian Roller Derby Girls!?)

There’s also a very strong sense of cultural pride in this ancient tradition, one of the few that has survived the sad watering-down of the Hawaiian culture due to tourism. There are still many places where you can find more “honest” luaus held by locals that don’t have all the kitch of the touristy ones, and if you are given the chance, you can see some local girls (and sometimes even boys- hula is NOT a girl’s only tradition, despite what a lot of non-Hawaiians think!- showing off their skills in preparation for competitive events and historical celebrations.

This is a video of a hula celebration we stumbled across on our first day on the Big Island.

Hula Girls from Yamino on Vimeo.

This is a video of a hula celebration we stumbled across on our first day on the Big Island.

I think it was in memory of the last Queen of Hawaii. The famous Merry Monarchs played, while a group of young girls performed the hula. The cutest one was this TINY little Japanese-Hawaiian girl, who looked very unsure about what she was doing most of the time, and kept looking to her mom in distress. Aww. There was one older girl who was very smug and had a feisty attitude- when her father (who had been bragging about her to us throughout the performance) told her to smile more, she stuck out her tongue at him. XD

On the subject of Hawaiian musical culture, I bought a few CDs while I was visiting, to round out my family’s Hawaiian music collection. I noticed they don’t have ANY Hawaiian ladies, just IZ and the Cazimero Brothers, who are admittedly probably the most famous contemporary Hawaiian musicians. I wanted to support some lesser-known, but still very talented sistas: Raiatea Helm and Brittni Paira.

Anytime I travel to a foreign country, I try to pick up some local music, particularly in support of women musicians.  We girl artists gotta stick up for each other!  For that same motivation I made the logo and will soon be making the website for Kimly, the musician friend of mine who I recorded with in LA two weeks ago.  I’m looking forward to getting the final cut of our song, so I can post it here! =)

Also, this is unrelated, but too awesome to share. My New year’s resolution will be to do everything I can to make my life more like a Bollywood Music Video.

Here are some really great “remixed” trailers I found of the movie:

<3