The audio quality is balls because I didn't balance it properly; and the video quality for the first minute or so doesn't fare much better - I knocked the focus ring just as I was lifting it to record the video, without noticing. I do get around to correcting it after a while.
It's exceedingly interesting watching the parallel evolution of these kinds of things. I say parallel because the first two dances are Samoan rather than Fijian, but the relaxed style of all three certainly suggests a shared heritage. They might not all agree on that, however...
In other news I played for the Lion corporation at the weekend. We were beaten by a team that ground us down, our fitness wasn't enough despite having a points advantage going in at halftime. I got on with thirty minutes to go, with a massive cold that reduced my lung capacity to barely functional. I did okay though, and next week I'll get the DVD of the game so I can put up a few highlights or something. We were in full defence mode when I arrived, and the game didn't change tempo while I was on.
In other news, I took some photographs of Tokyo tower. The now defunct Eiffel Tower ripoff is still quite large, but thanks to the new skytree it's a bit underwhelming. I also love how people in Japan are touting the skytree as the largest tower in the world. I've even heard it described as a symbol of Japanese 'greatness.' True, in the world of architectural lingo, the skytree is the worlds biggest tower, but it's nowhere near the worlds tallest building.
The Burj Khalifa is an absolute monster. Not only does it dwarf the skytree, which can be seen from every-bloody-where in the greater Tokyo area, by the way, it annihilates the previous world records held by big buildings.
All the other competitors were fannying about making the fastest elevator, or the most number of floors, i.e. they were specialising. The Burj came along and took all their prize pieces away, cantering into a magnificent record stealing lead.
The 'great,' skyscraper building period of the late eighties and early nineties was decades ago, so the materials technology and computer modelling necessary for the Burj are obviously far more advanced, leading to the ability for such a gigantic advancement; but I still can't help but be impressed by the scale. It is a fantastic thing - something humanity can be proud of (assuming it doesn't fall down).
I can't personally envisage another tower of this size being constructed within the next thirty years, simply because no one has any money. China, who own the entire world now, aren't in a position to chance their arm with a two billion dollar vanity project for a few reasons. Firstly, the poor farmers who complained about the wasted money of the olympic legacy won't be impressed. Not that anyone cares in china; they've put the average peasant through the ringer without any major revolts or setbacks so short of poking them in the eye with a pointy stick, they're fairly secure in that regard (but it pays to be careful with totalitarian regimes). Another restraint is technical know-how. The chinese aren't particularly knowledgeable in classically america-centric areas of massive design and production, and they're the least likely nation on earth to outsource for any aspect of their construction. The Abu-Dabians were purely interested in flashing the cash in an ill-fated attempt to outrun their reliance on oil. That kind of exploded in their face, but we have a fucking great big building out of it, that a few bankers committed suicide as a result of the melt-down is a positive side-effect we couldn't have foreseen, what with bankers having no souls.
Another reason the chinese won't be able to build a vanity project of this magnitude is probably as much phallic as anything. These towers are massive penises, created to cover up for qualities lacking elsewhere - just look at Donald Trump. The chinese have long since reconciled their paucity of phallic aptitude (let's call it) and will therefore be less inclined to reach for the skies.
If anyone is to do it, it'll be the chinese; but like I said before, I don't think it'll happen for a very long time.
Of that picture highlighting the size of the Tokyo attempt, notice it doesn't have the other major players on the 'tall things kaleidoscope,' instead preferring the iconic, and substantially smaller offering of things like the pyramids and the defunct Petronas towers - it's very important that you only pick things that make you look impressive! That's why so much care is taken at mens urinals...
Anyway, enough penis talk for now, onto a few pictures!
The first thing everyone was doing (it was quite late, but there were still a few camera toters) was looking at the tower. They kept looking at me like I was mental, because I had my back to the tower itself. I thought I was being really clever, but then I saw this picture a million times on the internet. Oh well.
So I went back to taking pictures of the tower like a normal person.
Boring, but the design itself is interesting enough in a recurring, ever-repeating-pattern kind of way.
The park in front is quite nice with no one in it, but I fear this kind of green space in the middle of Tokyo would become crowded the second any light is shone upon it.
On the way back to my digs I crossed over this river, a quite interesting proof that not all of Tokyo is clean.
And that's it, I can't think of any more phallus jokes so we'll leave it at that. Bye!
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