  Glastonbury, The U.K.’s biggest music festival, held in the Vale of Avalon since 1970 will this year attract 175,000 visitors to over 100 stages on 1,200 acres of land. It is, however, bracing itself for the arrival of so called ‘super rats’ – rats immune to conventional poisons such as diphacinone and chlorophacinone…
Quiet, reserved, shy, these are words foreigners often use to describe the typical Japanese person. Anyone who has tried to coax a group of students into volunteering for a question or has been the target of disapproved glances for speaking too loudly on the train knows this. However, music has and always will be…
Thinking back to the summers when I was an angst-filled teenager, I remember always looking forward to the Vans Warped Tour. My friends and I would lather ourselves with sunscreen, wear our coolest band clothing (mine was a Thrice t-shirt), then pile into a parent’s van to be dropped off and picked up later…
 Mobile Suit Gundam was principally developed by renowned animator Yoshiyuki Tomino and made its tentative first steps as the rather more punchily titled Freedom Fighter Gunboy before its initial TV debut on April 7, 1979. The original series was based upon a premise that recurs frequently in the milieu – that of a child…
With rainy season all but over, it is now time to enjoy summer’s sunshine whether that is by heading to the beach or having a barbecue with friends. Of course, nothing quite says summer like an outdoor musical festival in the foothills of Mount Naeba in Niigata, Japan. Fuji Rock Festival, presented by Smash Corporation,…
Last month Common Sense Media came out with research detailing somber news; current American teenagers are reading far less than teenagers from previous decades. Although the reasons for such a decline are not completely clear, the study does point to advancements in technology as playing a substantial role. Lacking data to present a comprehensive…
It’s time to pull out the old iPod, blow the dust off the touch screen, and plug in those headphones for a walk down memory lane. This month’s album anniversaries will take you back to a time when CD players were still the dominant medium for listening to music on the go and rather than…
The Takarazuka Revue is a whirlwind show; blink once and you’ve probably missed a costume change or two. The town of Takarazuka is famous for two reasons: it was the home of a famous manga artist and it plays host to the Takarazuka Revue, an all-female company that performs plays, musicals, and dazzling dance numbers….
Fireworks for the Ears When asking friends if they happen to be fans of Explosions in the Sky, one of two reactions often occurs. The first, and often more awkward of the two, is that a friend will slightly turn their head in puzzlement, cock an eyebrow, and nervously laugh while they ask for clarification,…