Month: March 2015

Folk Metal

I got tickets to see Korpiklaani, Einsiferum, and TrollfesT in May!

When I was in college, I was really into folk metal. Like, really into it. As an extension of this, I also got into a few troll metal bands.

I’ve always really liked Korpiklaani, but I have never actually seen them live, so I am pretty excited about this show. Shame I didn’t get around to seeing them before they had to replace Jaakko (their violinist) due to health issues.

I mean, just look at this guy in the Wooden Pints video:

I cannot stop watching that video, by-the-way. It is so… nonsensical. And bad. And for this, I love it.

My synopsis: A man hacks into a stump with a hatchet. Another man pops out of an outhouse and starts playing a violin on his hip. He then periodically teleports back and forth between the outhouse and another location where the rest of the band is, including a man wailing on a single drum with a large branch. What is happening??

Russian Roulette of Sushi

Today my mother and her friend came to visit Doc and me in the Mission, and since my mother is vegan we went to Shizen Vegan Sushi Bar & Izakaya over on 14th street. It is a new restaurant in a new building, and we hadn’t actually even heard of it until we researched places we could go.

In the foreground is the dish called "Surprise Ending."
In the foreground is the dish called “Surprise Ending.” Photo by Doctor Popular

One of the fun experiences we had at Shizen was ordering the “Surprise Ending” roll. This roll is served with 6 pieces of identical-looking beet sushi. While 5 of them are cool and mild, one of them is extremely spicy. Whoever gets the spicy piece gets to drink the shot of sake in the middle of the plate as… a prize? I guess?

I actually got the spicy roll, and it was indeed very spicy. But not THAT bad. It wasn’t “I got covered in ghost pepper sauce and forgot to wash my hands” bad or anything. I’ve been trying to identify the spice source, and I think it was a kind of pepper (it was definitely not horseradish or wasabi or anything like that). It was also kind of vinegary. I’m not sure beyond that.

Neither my mother nor her friend can stand even the mildest of spices, so we didn’t expect them to participate, but they did! They were both thankful that they didn’t get the spicy one, and I was grateful that I got to have the sake and the spicy roll, so I guess everybody won. Except Doc, who also kind of wanted to taste the spicy one. Next time, Doc!

 

Please Do Not Give That to Me: a Musical Transcription

Doc and I love making up silly songs and singing them at each other as we walk around The Mission. If you made it out to the latest 8bitSF, you got to hear Doc and me sing one of these songs for you. A song titled “Please Do Not Give That to Me,” which I have transcribed for you here:

Dont-gim-me-dat-4-4-non-violin-with-lyrics-1

Learn it. Know it. Live it. Then you’ll be all ready to sing along at our show for DEATH + TAXES + CHIPTUNES on April 15th.

Originally the name of the composition was going to be “Don’t Give Me Dat” which is a closer approximation of how we sing it to each other as we walk down Valencia Street. But Doc and I cracked up at how formal and official the song looked when I started transcribing it into musical notation, that we thought it would be funnier to give it a stuffier-sounding name. Hence: “Please Do Not Give That to Me.”