It’s amazing how on the money Monty Python were about politicians in general, considering they were writing in the early Seventies about politicians in the United Kingdom.

From Today’s Big Thing, this song is called Prisencolinensinainciusol, written by Italian artist Adriano Celentano in 1972. It’s like I’m on the edge of understanding the lyrics all the time, but it’s actually all gibberish.

Sometimes, Jaden listens to his playlist just to chill out.

It’s been a while since the last Vigilant update, so to whet your appetite for all things Nullspace, here’s a sketch of our favorite pirate DJ, Jaden Stormchaser, just chilling out to the music, by my friend Jed aka Vagrant Angel.

Click on the image for the full-sized version!

Visit his Deviantart page at vagrant-angel.deviantart.com!

This whole blackouts thing is messing up with my posting schedule. Anyway, while I catch up with my writing, please enjoy this scene from Otaku no Video, focusing on future Otaking Kubo’s indoctrination into otakuhood by the members of the Jack-of-All-Trades Club.

Well, it’s finally happened: I’ve missed a day of posting. Apparently some power transformer blew up somewhere, taking out a large chunk of the power grid, including my condo. My electronics are out of power and I’m at a net cafe charging my phone.

But it’s okay. In fact it’s kind of fun being unplugged. I’ve been rereading The Invisibles. It’s the kind of comic that yields something new every time I read it. And why are so many of my heroes bald?

Anyway, even nailed to the cross, Eric Idle (the main songwriter of Monty Python) reminds us: Always Look On the Bright Side of Life.

I’m going to go enjoy my freedom from the Internet for a while. Catch you later!

On October 5, 1969, a small comedy group of 3 Cantabrigians, 2 Oxonians, and a lone American unleashed a concentrated dose of sheer lunacy upon an unsuspecting world.

40 years later, we celebrate Monty Python’s continued detrimental influence on the world, as we steal their funniest skits and post them on YouTube without paying them one red cent, while they endure our fatuous comments and our blatant theft of their righteous income through royalties.

Or not, as it appears from the clip below that they have simply given up and decided to post their own videos on youtube themselves:

My head is still swimming from last night’s revelry, so bad that I actually reposted an omake I already posted before. Geez, get me some coffee.

Anyway, No Laughing High School is actually my favorite Downtown New Year Batsu Special. The background is, Super Sadist Hamada (which you may remember as Dakuro Kamen from the Gorenjai skit I posted a while back) beat Matsumoto, Endo, Tanaka, and Yamasaki at 4-on-1 bowling. As their punishment (in Japanese, batsu), they have to spend 24 hours at a high school, without laughing.

Or they get smacked on the ass with a bamboo sword. Seriously.

There have been other batsu games before and since, like Matsumoto spending a day at home having cream pies thrown at him and all his stuff, or Hamada having to travel to Russia to get backhanded by a huge Russian dressed as a high school Japanese hooligan. Seriously.

But I think this is the funniest one out of the lot, and I’m happy to share it with you, while I brew myself a cup of coffee. Enjoy! HARD MODE: Try not to laugh either.

Click here for a handy-dandy continuous-playing playlist!

Hi guys, tired from spending a day at the Otaku Taiki 2009 at Megamall. Small venue + huge crowds = standing room only! I’ll be posting my OtaGonzo report on it sometime tomorrow! For now, enjoy another silly commercial from Japan!

End of the Century Heroes Five Range-i!!

Yesterday I posted about Silent Library, one of Downtown’s more famous skits from Downtown Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!! on Youtube. Today, I’d like to post about one of Downtown’s older skits from their other show, Downtown no Gottsu ee Kanji.

Seikimatsu Sentai Gorenjai (End of the Century Heroes Five Range-i) is a parody of Himitsu Sentai Gorenja (Secret Squadron Five Rangers), which as all sentai fans know is the first of the long-running Super Sentai shows by Toei, which includes classics like Choudenshi Bioman and Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger (which was retooled in the US as Power Rangers). Unlike the rest of the Super Sentai, however, the Gorenjai (as opposed to Gorenja — to avoid copyright infringement) are completely inept at their job. In fact they are so bad at it that their nemesis, Dokuro Kamen (who keeps molesting the owner of the same flat every week), refuses to fight them and gives them pointers on how to clean up their acts. They can’t even get their colors right — in episode one, there are 3 Red Renjai and 2 Yellow Renjai!

I’ve taken the liberty of making a playlist of all 13 English subbed episodes on Youtube and posting it here. Click on the video Look out for Falkor the Luckdragon from Neverending Story to make his appearance as a Gorenjai!

Downtown Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende !! -- Japanese for Brain Breakage

Let’s step away from the drama of the past few days for a week, and focus on some laughs.

One of my favorite Japanese comedy duos is Downtown, composed of Masatoshi Hamada and Hitoshi Matsumoto, who to my mind is the funniest guy on Japanese TV.

Downtown is the main owarai duo in the long-running show Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!! which is pretty famous for that ‘Tongue-twister or you get smacked in the balls’ clip that circulated around the net a couple of years back, as featured on Attack of the Show.

My favorite segment of all, though, would have to be the Silent Library segments. The setup is pretty simple — six guys enter a library and draw lots to see who receives a painful, gross, and/or embarrassing punishment, all the while trying to stay as quiet as possible — hence the name. Silent Library clips have been on Youtube for a long time, and most Japanophiles worth their salt have seen the more common clips, like the one featuring Ernesto Hoost from K-1.

(And don’t get me started on the US game show version that recently started showing on MTV. Please.)

Instead, I’m posting an English subbed set of clips, featuring the usual cast. Enjoy!

HARD MODE: Try to stay as quiet as them during the entire segment.

Part 1 of 2

Part 2 of 2