Today I’m looking at an age old problem: when confined to a corrupt system, do you try to fix the system from within, or do you live outside the system? But in this age of enlightenment and compassionate conservatism, how could the system possibly be corrupt? Let us respond in the languages available at the […]
Month: February 2025
Due to a series of mishaps, missteps, malfeasants, misadventures, and a few misdemeanors, WLBOTT is forced to cancel its sponsorship of the Super Bowl LIX at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. The first misstep involved our product placement and a spelling error. Turns out “bowl” and “bowel” are two separate and distinct concepts. We […]
Today we look at the stories portrayed in the 1964 Japanese ghost story anthology film, Kwaidan. The Black Hair “The Black Hair” (黒髪, Kurokami) is adapted from “The Reconciliation” and “The Corpse Rider”, which appeared in Hearn’s collection Shadowings (1900). An impoverished swordsman in Kyoto divorces his wife, a weaver, and leaves her for a […]
Lafcadio Hearn’s short story, Mujina, from Kwaidan – Stories and Studies of Strange Things, depicts a creepy Japanese supernatural creature called a noppera-bō, or mujina. No-Face / Spirited Away No-Face is a fascinating character in the Japanese animated film Spirited Away. Insightful article on Comic Book Resources: The CBR is a pretty cool web site. […]
The following short story is from the 1905 edition of Kwaidan – Stories and Studies of Strange Things, by Lafcadio Hearn. Illustrations by Elder G. MUJINA On the Akasaka Road, in Tokyo, there is a slope called Kii-no-kuni-zaka,—which means the Slope of the Province of Kii. I do not know why it is called the […]
Lafcadio Hearn, author of the book Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things, moved to Japan in 1890. He initially arrived to work as an English teacher in Matsue, a city in the Shimane Prefecture. Hearn became deeply fascinated with Japanese culture, folklore, and traditions, eventually settling in Japan permanently. He married a Japanese woman […]
Through an interesting stream of consciousness, we came across one of the most interesting people on our World Tour: Lafcadio Hearn. Stream of Unconsciousness So, due to a combination of quantum effects, uncertainty principles, and tidal forces, the HBO algorithm suggested Kwaidan. The poster was creepy enough to draw me in. Kwaidan (Japanese: 怪談, Hepburn: […]
WLBOTT has long recognized the spiritual, cultural, and gastronomic impact of eggs. At the time of this writing, we have 34 blotts that reference eggs. In fact, some of our earliest AI-generated images were egg-themed. And who can forget the blott of Pope Benedict performing a benediction for Eggs Benedict? But now, due to the […]