And Now Some Music

Cutie Street, a Japanese idol group that formed last year, asks, "かわいいだけじゃだめですか? " Is just being cute inadequate? Not if cuteness is what you seek and it seems to have satisfied the 31 million people who have viewed the video in the past four months.

This was one of five or six groups that students recommended to me recently. On the flipside are groups like Creepy Nuts and Mrs. Green Apple, the latter now having enjoyed ten years of stressing out Japanese English teachers who are trying to get students to refer to married and unmarried women alike as "Ms."

As someone who's never been convinced that words attaching significance to gender or marital status are inherently bad, I say, long live Mrs. Green Apple.

But is cuteness enough? I suppose it ought to be. But I also like violent video games and savoury foods so maybe I'm a lost cause.

I remain grateful to the student who recommended Sabrina Carpenter to me last year. Her career really seems to be taking off, or at least the old guard celebrity elite in America seem to think so. She had a duet with Paul Simon at the recent Saturday Night Live anniversary show and she recorded a new music video for her song "Please Please Please" with none other than Dolly Parton sharing vocals.

The kidnapped guy reminds me of Meg Myers' "Lemon Eyes". Or maybe Tori Amos' "Cornflake Girl".

I like Dolly Parton but I think I still prefer the version of "Please Please Please" with Barry Keoghan.

I was talking to someone yesterday about how much I used to dislike pop princesses like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilara. With Sabrina Carpenter, Taylor Swift, Carly Rae Jepson, and others, we seem to be in a much better era of pop princesses, which is I guess is one way the 21st century has improved on the '90s. There had to be at least one improvement, you know.

X Sonnet 1920

No dancing dollar woke the jolly bird.
Corruption spurned a sweetened halter top.
Resentment builds another loaded word.
And gangsters hoard a vital staple crop.
A desert day obscured the winter morn.
The takers trudge ahead to find a test.
Another group of figures sure were born.
A school will bulge with Mother Gaia's best.
Excessive plants have broken glass and clay.
The pots were made by stingy folks and worms.
A ruthless snow obscures the brilliant day.
But savage fighters take the angry terms.
A paper fight will cut the tiny thumbs.
A vacuum god will snort the trail of crumbs.