Archives for the ‘internet’ Category

The too busy (kabuki) blues

By Shay • Nov 4th, 2007 • Category: Site News, internet6 comments

Hey everyone! As you all know, a new post hasn’t graced the frontpage of SparkPlugged in quite some time. For that I apologize and thank you for sticking around long enough to read this.
I’ve been so busy with college stuff these days. I won’t bore you with the details, but assignments are limiting my [...]



Be a Sushi Bar Tycoon with “Sushi Go Round”

By Shay • Oct 6th, 2007 • Category: Japan, internet, video games13 comments

If you’ve ever wanted to be a sushi bar tycoon, here’s your chance.
“Sushi Go Round” is a fun game on Miniclip.com that has you, the player making and selling sushi to your customers.

Its combination of delightfully cute pixel graphics and increasingly fast-paced gameplay make “Sushi Go Round” pretty addicting. As far as flash games [...]



A collection of 60’s & 70’s Asian Pop Record Covers

By Shay • Sep 24th, 2007 • Category: art, history, internet, music, pop2 comments

SparkPlugged has recently featured album art a couple times. Well, here’s more.
A fan has his collection of 60’s & 70’s Asian pop record covers online. David Greenfield’s collection features some 130 Asian pop record covers. The collection consists of records from the 60’s and 70’s from Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Japan, and Thailand.

I must [...]



Need help typing Korean? SP is here to (try to) help

By Shay • Sep 15th, 2007 • Category: Korea, More, Technology, internet7 comments

SparkPlugged’s quick guide to typing Korean
It’s one thing to write Korean but if you’re like me, you want to be able to type it.
The problem: The placement of Korean letters on keyboards is not the same as QWERTY keyboards. The order of the letters is different and not equivilent to the Latin alphabet. [...]



Creative Bus Advertisements

By Shay • Jul 26th, 2007 • Category: Korea, More, Videos, art, internet10 comments

Full wrap-around advertisements on public buses is nothing new. Some catch your eye and others don’t. But there are some that really stand out. These ads don’t use the bus’s flat walls as simple canvases; rather they [...]



Cool Japanese-themed Photoshop brushes

By Shay • Jul 24th, 2007 • Category: Japan, Technology, art, internet5 comments

Free Photoshop brushes are a great thing. They are little clippings of artwork for you to use in your projects. While overuse of these brushes is evident and looks silly, a good Photoshop brush can add depthcharacter to many projects. [...]



What happened to Tofu Records?

By Shay • Jul 18th, 2007 • Category: Japan, internet, music14 comments

Well, maybe I’ve been “out of the loop” for a little too long but I ask this: What the hell happened to Tofu Records?They’ve seemingly dropped off the face of the Earth (Earth in this case = internet). Those great guys that were dedicated [...]



On seeing the 100% perfect girl…

By Shay • Jun 6th, 2007 • Category: Japan, Opinion, art, internet7 comments

One of the most poignant stories that I’ve read recently was the short story, On seeing the 100% perfect girl one beautiful April morning by the great Japanese author Haruki Murakami. 1500 words (approx.) have never moved me so much. The story about lost love [...]



Guitar chords/tabs for Japanese music

By Shay • Feb 23rd, 2007 • Category: Japan, More, internet, music43 comments

Having trouble finding the guitar chords or tabs for some of your favorite Japanese songs? I know I did…until I found XXX SOUND, a Japanese guitar chord/tab site.
It’s been one of my favorite secrets until now, so I’ll share it if you don’t already know of it. XXX SOUND is a Japanese site that [...]



Know the tune but not the title?

By Shay • Feb 2nd, 2007 • Category: More, Technology, internet, music1 comment

Have you ever had a song stuck in your head that you didn’t know the title of?
The folks and midomi.com are here to help you. While it’d be most useful for them to somehow magically erase the tune from your mind, they do the other best thing: help you find out the name of [...]