I have been watching all of the top division bouts at the 2026 Aki Basho (September Grand Sumo Tournament). One of the highlight bouts on day 4 featured Yokozuna Onosato vs Takayasu. Takayasu delivered a brutal hit at the Tachiai, forcing the Yokozuna back. Onosato backpedaled, and circling away, tried to guide Takayasu out of the ring. He very nearly succeeded, but Takayasu gracefully twirled one leg, staying in. Unfortunately for Yokozuna Onosato, he ended up twirling as well, but without the same success as the light-footed Takayasu. YouTube user Wegwezen decided to set the slow-motion highlights to music, and I must say that I fully approve of his music selection. Consider this video a “must watch.”
Tag: music
Missing Brand Music Video Ads
According to a May 27, 2026 report in Marketing Brew by Katie Hicks titled Why so many brands are releasing music videos, ” it seems brand-created music videos are making a comeback as marketers are increasingly feeling pressure to create organic, original content to break through on social, particularly with younger audiences.” This was news to me because I use the internet correctly, so I only learn about what the brands are up to on social media second-hand. In addition to avoiding advertising, I have also generally avoided the latest and greatest trends in music. But I read on. Would any of these brand music videos be “relevant” to me?
- “‘Bringin’ back the Flamin’ Pickle, Cheetos really wanna let the world know,’ Chad Kroeger, lead singer for the band Nickelback, sings in Cheetos’ four-minute-long music video released in March.”
I don’t know who Chad Kroeger is. I think I have heard of Nickelback before. But the only nickelbacks I have ever been familiar with played football. - “The song ‘Pickle’s Back’ is a play on the band’s 2001 song ‘How You Remind Me’ and features rapper Megan Thee Stallion, who helps promote the return of Cheetos’s Flamin’ Hot Dill Pickle flavor.”
I have heard of this “Megan Thee Stallion” character. Why does she call herself a stallion though? A stallion is an uncastrated male horse. I get the idea with Sylvester Stallone or whatever. But I don’t think she’s a male sports and action movie star. - “Hollister’s latest music video with Gigi Perez…”
Never heard of Gigi Perez. - “Last year, [The Gap] saw just that in a big way when its KATSEYE x Kelis music video encouraged thousands of UGC dance videos.”
Are KATSEYE and Kelis people? - “Hawaiian Tropic’s latest ad campaign and first music video features influencer Alix Earle dancing and lip-syncing to the 1990 song ‘I Touch Myself’ by Divinyls.”
I never heard of an Alex Earle. They’re saying he or she is an influencer. But what does he or she influence? I don’t think I know “I Touch Myself” but this song sounds a little questionable. What is Divinyls? Is Divinyls new or is that from 1990? - “KFC took a slightly different approach in terms of replicability with its latest music video for an original song, ‘Finger Lickin’ Machine,’ which, at one point, shows a dancing Colonel Sanders walking up the side of a building.”
I know Colonel Sanders. I thought they canceled him. Glad to hear he’s still doing well.
After reviewing the article, I determined that even if I were consuming advertising content on social media, this content would not be relevant to me, not least because I have little-to-no idea who these people are (except for Colonel Sanders). If you too would prefer to only learn about the influencer content being created by brands for viral consumption second-hand, see my Feeds and Read-It-Later for Online Reading essay and install uBlock Origin (or uBlock Origin Lite if you use a Chromium-based browser that is not Brave or Safari).
New Victor V. Gurbo Podcast Interview
And I don't play things the way that they are written to which I go back to a Dylan quote where he said, I never play my songs the same way twice. ' cause I can either remember, nor am I good enough to play them the same way over and over again. But I'll listen to a song and I'll go, oh, that's really neat. Let me try to figure out if I can cover that.
-Victor V. Gurbo
My good friend Victor V. Gurbo (who has written some articles for NLJ) was interviewed by Charles Zona for an episode of Seeing Them Live With Charles Zona. I read the interview transcript, but you can listen to the full 1 hour podcast if you prefer listening to reading. Victor covers many topics, beginning with his childhood memories of seeing live music for the first time and concluding with some notes about his current music projects. In between, you will hear some stories I recall from the past, including winning the Brooklyn section of NPR’s Battle of the Boroughs contest in 2013, going to a Jack White concert only for Jack White to leave early (he was very happy about that), and his waiting for a custom guitar he ordered that was always slated to be done by the end of the month (which month?). For even more about Victor and his music, you can read my article based on a text-interview I conducted with him last October.
Pook-Emu Bee: Links For 03-12-26
I missed publishing a set of Pook-Emu Bee links yesterday due to an assignment. But that does not mean I was not collecting links. If you enjoy the (almost) daily links and commentary, you can also follow via feed.
Links from around the web
1. Former Watchtower buildings in Brooklyn Heights eyed for new housing (Arun Venugopal for Gothamist. March 12, 2026.)
I would not describe the buildings as being “Brooklyn Heights,” but the one on the hill descending from Brooklyn Heights to DUMBO is more plausible than other Brooklyn Heights claims. Regardless of how the apartment plans go, I am thankful that they re-painted the old Watchtower buildings (see the former color in the second photo in this post).
2. Is the Dude Dying? (Chris Dalla Riva. March 6, 2026.)
I came across this study on the prevalence of dude and dudette pop stars courtesy of Caroline Crampton’s weekly links. I am not familiar with most of the referenced pop stars or what a Harry Stiles is. This, my friends, is why I have only published one music interview.
3. Xbox mode turns any Windows PC into a game console with a full-screen experience (Brad Linder at Liliputing. March 11, 2026.)
Sounds promising for Windows people with big game collections. Of course, if you are a Windows person who does not play games (or is not interested in “Xbox” mode), it may just be more menu clutter.
4. Whoopsie! CNN Accidentally Sympathizes With Terrorists (Andrew Stiles for The Washington Free Beacon. March 10, 2026.)
The media obfuscation campaign about the ISIS-inspired terrorist attack in New York City has been something to watch in action.
5. LibreOffice learns to speak Markdown in version 26.2 (Liam Proven for The Register. March 9, 2026.)
I was excited about LibreOffice’s new markdown tricks when they were announced. It works well. Unfortunately does not handle my markdown footnotes yet. I would be interested in seeing if there is a way it could elegantly handle track changes on markdown files.
6. Google’s Genie 3 world models start to break down after around a minute (Lewis Packwood for Games Industry.biz. March 11, 2026.)
More than enough time to fulfill the essential purpose of creating social media hashtag-content.
Mash “random article” button on NLJ
7. 40 Days and 40 Nights of Rain – VN Review (Nicholas A. Ferrell at The New Leaf Journal. February 20, 2025.)
It is raining in my home Brooklyn, NYC. I hit random article on my website. The random article is my review of a visual novel in which it is always raining. Is the random article button truly random? Note the visual novel I reviewed is free to download and read, so visual novel fans out there many find my review to be of interest.
Yume no Nake e Reference Reminds of Kare Kano
“It’s often the case that when you stop looking for something, you find it.”
These are the lyrics from “Yume no Naka e”, a famous song by Japanese singer Yosui Inoue, and they rang true for our reporter Mr Sato recently when he finally came across a bizarre product he’d given up looking for — the Egg Curry Pan Sandwich.
I hate curry. I do not think it is food. This subject came up the other day with a friend who likes (or loves?) curry. Thus, when I saw an article in my feed reader from SoraNews24 about a new Japanese curry product, I had no choice but to read so I could pass it along. To my surprise, I found my own take-away in the article beyond curry bad. The article began by quoting a Japanese song Yume no Naka e. I know Yume no Nake e, but not because “a famous song by Japanese singer Yosui Inoue.” Instead, I know it because it was used as the ending song for Kare Kano, an anime which aired in 1998-99 and which earned my praise in a New Leaf Journal article (When real people ‘tell, don’t show”) and leaflet (Calling For a New Kare Kano Anime). You can watch one of the versions of the ending animation with the song here. I referenced the song and animation when discussing my pick for the best opening/ending sequence in anime in 2024, Makeine’s Love2000.
Things I Learned: Official Super Mario World CDs in 1991
A website called The Ongaku published an article about the upcoming April 2025 re-release of the Super Mario World soundtrack on vinyl. Did someone say re-release?
Warner Music Japan pressed the Super Mario World compilation on two compact discs in February of 1991, alongside a dual audio cassette edition. Preorders have opened at Tower Records in Japan for the vinyl edition, scheduled for release on April 30th in Japan.
The Ongaku described the original 1991 recordings:
The first disc is dedicated to jazz renditions of series themes composed by Koji Kondo. Dragon Quest composer Koichi Sugiyama served as general producer and Sadao Watanabe as sound producer on the original material. Arrangements are performed by Soichi Norikii on keyboard, Tsunehide Matsuki on guitar, Jun Kajiwara on electric guitar, Kenji Takamizu on electric bass, Yuichi Tokashiki on drums, Motoya Hamaguchi on percussion and Keiji Toriyama on synthesizers.
Little did I know that there was a two-part CD release of the Super Mario World soundtrack back in 1991. I am not an audiophile, but I am sure some people out there will praise the decision to re-release the music on vinyl instead of CDs.
[Source: Super Mario world vinyl sound track planned for late April at The Ongaku (January 15, 2025)]
Friend With Music Prompts and School Days Hot Takes
I started writing Christmas & You in college when a friend of mine prompted me to write a Christmas song that would have no prospect of commercial success. His idea was not that the song should be anti-commercial, but instead that it should be hilariously off-brand next to upbeat popular Christmas songs such as Jingle Bell Rock and Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer.
My good friend Victor V. Gurbo noted over on The New Leaf Journal that his college friend gave him the prompt for a melancholy Christmas song that would have no prospect of commercial success. I addend his post to note that the unnamed friend was a very versatile character. The person Victor refers to is the same person who I described as having changed my opinion for the better of one of the many twisted story lines in the infamous “nice boat” School Days anime (I did not, however, grant his positive opinion of the series as a whole). We can complete the circle by noting that my decision to subject myself to re-watching much of School Days for a review was prompted by Victor, who never watched the series.