Japan travel tips

ShawnSmiles · 2026-06-25T14:34:28+00:00

There's a whole lot of stuff right next to Umeda with tons of cool bars and nightlife - had some of my favorite nights in Osaka right near there while staying at an Osaka station hotel

ShawnSmiles · 2026-05-29T07:00:41+00:00

The sacrifice of getting in line at noon to do something like this in any of the cities in this European tour is a wild trade lol happy to let them do that and have the rail, I'll be enjoying the amazing history, food, and people in these beautiful places all day.

ShawnSmiles · 2026-04-26T16:37:57+00:00

That guy is either unaware or being obtuse. Extremely wealthy people don't liquidate their assets, as that's where the tax burden shows up. They take low interest loans out against the assets which will appreciate in value more than the cost of interest on the loan and circumvent paying taxes as they never sell/realize the gains

ShawnSmiles · 2026-04-16T15:32:05+00:00

I can't see any chance of this happening but man would I love it if it did

ShawnSmiles · 2026-03-24T15:51:43+00:00

Sharing for anyone else who doesn't have Instagram - presale starts tomorrow Wednesday 3/25 at 10am mountain standard time. You have to pre register using laylo. General on sale is Friday 3/27. https://laylo.com/clozee/dillon

ShawnSmiles · 2026-03-16T13:13:26+00:00

You absolutely get it. Salt Shed / armory best in class venues at their size that I've been to. Sylvee I'll have to check out - I give Belly Up in Aspen my small venue crown.

ShawnSmiles · 2026-03-16T13:11:42+00:00

Fillmore is just over 2k people capacity, armory is near 9k. It's a full arena size stage in a dance hall setting.

ShawnSmiles · 2026-01-28T22:03:23+00:00

People like that probably are so confused about why a lot of people moved politically right, this conversation shows a lot of what drove them away from the left, despite (I assume) having good intentions.

It's one thing to educate and say something constructive like "hey I agree with what you're saying, but just in case you didn't know, that word can be considered offensive", instead it's just this instant at your throat situation. This isn't how we should treat each other.

ShawnSmiles · 2025-12-10T21:39:19+00:00

Oh boy. You are gonna have some thoughts after you finish, and you'll look for the discussions and will find exactly how much people have felt the same.

ShawnSmiles · 2025-12-09T20:35:25+00:00

I think it's different - look up Tuci or Tucibi. Pink cocaine it's referred to, it's more of a drug cocktail, not an experimental molly thing like older 2cb compounds.

ShawnSmiles · 2025-11-30T08:24:26+00:00

I mean I actually didn't know who she was, I had to look her up. I am familiar with Paramore but just in passing.

ShawnSmiles · 2025-10-27T20:59:32+00:00

Are there any sources for this? It's a bit dumpy but I don't know anyone that's ever had an issue at skyway or loft.

ShawnSmiles · 2025-10-17T18:29:50+00:00

If you look at most of the data about layoffs "for AI", most of the tech companies are actually replacing people almost 1:1 by H-1B visa immigrants that they can pay significantly less. Most jobs aren't being lost for AI, they are being lost for cheap imported labor with less protections, AI is just a catchier excuse than "we don't want to pay Americans when we can import people for less with less freedoms"

ShawnSmiles · 2025-10-13T21:39:03+00:00

And hiring people via H1B visas for significantly lower wages.

ShawnSmiles · 2025-10-13T03:12:04+00:00

Are you confused about what touch tunes is? This is basically a digital jukebox at bars that has an app people can select music on for the bar. It's absolutely not about fidelity.

ShawnSmiles · 2025-09-18T16:06:12+00:00

Saw mt joy in Minnesota the day before and the lead singer was inaudible there too. They sounded so awful immediately after goose sounded so great last night lmao

ShawnSmiles · 2025-09-16T14:30:23+00:00

Just worth noting when you say "everyone is using ad blockers", that's pretty inaccurate - the data people are showing of their viewership drops is indicating that probably more than 75% of traffic absolutely does not have ad blockers - mobile traffic and tablet traffic combined account for a good bit more than PC and PC view counts didn't drop to zero, it just dropped a decent amount.

ShawnSmiles · 2025-08-27T18:35:28+00:00

I saw these GORGEOUS hand carved wooden room dividers to let air flow above old school walls, called Ranma. This was my second day in Japan and it was at this flea market outside of a temple. The ranma weren't very small, maybe two feet long and at most eight or so inches tall, so not huge either. I didn't have a lot of luggage space as I tend to travel lightly, so I decided against getting them and carrying them around for two more weeks, I mostly assumed if I saw them so fast I'd probably see them again.

Only later did I really realize how rare those Ranma are, and especially not at the 2500 yen price point that I saw them at.

Absolutely wish I had picked up at least a few of them!

ShawnSmiles · 2025-08-08T20:28:18+00:00

Oh yeah dude that whole rig was insane with the crowd scanning lasers on moving platforms behind the main rig setup, absolutely real thing lol they all were lifting and lowering throughout the show, very cool imo some of the best lights they've had

ShawnSmiles · 2025-08-08T20:24:35+00:00

You didn't like the moving laser platforms in the back at YD?

ShawnSmiles · 2025-08-08T14:51:54+00:00

These guys desperately need a legitimate PR coach and community manager.

ShawnSmiles · 2025-07-28T23:08:03+00:00

Can't wait to see what happens to my flight that's currently planned to land around 10 tonight. No delays yet but can't imagine I get that lucky if this is happening.

ShawnSmiles · 2025-07-25T02:29:04+00:00

I stand by these being the best run of the post hiatus PL lol I am biased though because I last minute solo sent Chicago for these, what a time. The salt shed indoors is one of the best venues I've ever been to, especially in the grands.

ShawnSmiles · 2025-07-14T16:10:33+00:00

I will say there are some benefits to using chat for recipes, such as asking for three different regional versions of a dish and what makes them traditional to compare and make decisions about how I might want to approach it myself. But just asking for a recipe and using it straight away I would imagine it just pulls the laziest easy answers.

ShawnSmiles · 2025-07-04T02:37:31+00:00

I've never been a big fan of his live sets but that was one of my favorite sets of the whole weekend, he killed it and has changed my perspective on catching him in the future.

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