Keyhole TV

I had to quit work early due to puking my guts out after eating a bad sandwich. Who knew salami from the store could be bad when I just BOUGHT THE FUCKER YESTERDAY. So what has this to do with KeyholeTV? Nothing really.

If you've never heard of this application, it's a neat peer-to-peer program that allows you to receive live Japanese tv shows over the internet for free. SO here's the deal: My time zone is exactly 12 hours away from Tokyo; so as I type this it's 7:59 PM but in Tokyo it's 7:59 am Friday.

But watching Japanese TV is really fascinating. First, I have no fucking idea what they're talking about. Sometimes I catch little phrases I recognize like "Hai" (yes) or "hmmmmm" which means: HMmmmmmm! or "ohhhhhh!". Then you get bits of english mixed on the screen and endless in-screen picture-in-picture snapshots.

Let me explain. For some reason the Japanese television shows are obsessed with on-screen character generation and headshot keyframes showing people laughing or reacting to weird scenarios. Unfortunately the audio and video quality is terrible. Although watchable, I can only stand looking at this for 15 minutes at a time. Usually I can figure out what's going on the screen. Either it's a local celebrity on a game show or in-street interviews and such. Then there's the endless Anime videos you can catch. Just the other day I caught some weird show about a highschool guy fighting demons. I have no idea what that was about.

Sometimes you'll see commercials that look suspiciously familiar. Someone will be taking a bite out of a piece of chicken and then you'll hear the phrase "KFC!" And then a few minutes later I hear the 80's song "Anyway you want it that's the way you get it" sung in English. Just fucking weird.