• Roo-ing the Day

    Packing a Roo in the Days of Pac-Man

    Kangaroo was a mildly successful arcade video game released in 1982. Launched in the same year was the phenomenally successful Pac-Man and notorious Custer’s Revenge. Kangaroo also came out in the same year as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (video game), the flop largely blamed for the video game industry crash of 1983. Kangaroo required players to take on the role of a mother roo who dodged falling fruits and punched primates to rescue her joey, who had been stolen by the monkeys. The game started as an arcade game before Atari made versions for its 2600 and 5200 game consoles. The…

  • Strine Songs

    Oz Rock Legend Malcolm Young Dies  豪ロック伝説的な人マルコム・ヤング氏が死去

    Rock legend Malcolm Young, co-founder of Australia’s biggest ever band AC/DC, has died. He was 64.  オーストラリア最大ロックバンドであるAC/DCの伝説的な共同創立者のマルコム・ヤング氏が死去した。64歳だった。 Young formed AC/DC in 1973 with his younger brother, Angus, who remains the only original member of the band still playing.  1973年にヤング氏は弟であり現在バンドの唯一オリジナルメンバーとして現役のアンガスと共にAC/DCを結成した。 Young played rhythm guitar for AC/DC until he left the band in 2014 to receive treatment for dementia.  2014年に認知症の治療を受けるためバンドを退会するまでヤング氏がAC/DCのリズム・ギターを担当した。 He had overcome lung cancer, heart problems and alcoholism.  肺癌、心臓病やアルコール依存症を克服していた。 Young was described as the driving force behind AC/DC, which has sold about 200 million albums, making it among the best-selling artists of all time.  売れた音楽家の一つとしてAC/DCが約2億枚もアルバムを売上げ、ヤング氏のバンドの原動力と言われた。 AC/DC toured Japan early in the…

  • Roo-ing the Day - Strine Tucker

    Oh, La La! Kangarou Pizzas, C’est Magnifique! … Plutôt

    Kangarou Pizzas are a French fast food chain. The chain appears to be based in Thionville, with outlets in Metz, Nancy and Varangéville. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the chain specializes in deliveries. It’s logo is a bouncing kangaroo, or kangarou in French! Being from the land of culinary delights, you’d expect Kangarou Pizzas to be a popular choice. Perhaps because of its origins, customers are more demanding, but the chain gets only average reviews on Trip Advisor, with 60% rating it as either “poor” or “terrible,” though it appears disgruntled users were more miffed by poor service than lousy food. Still, it’s…

  • Roo-ing the Day

    Hopper Gives U.S. Satellite TV Network Viewers a Roo-ed Awakening

    Hopper is the (brilliantly original!) name given to the kangaroo used to promote U.S. satellite TV network Dish. Hopper was probably at her most prominent in the mid 20-teens as Dish launched a huge campaign to popularize Internet telly. During the 2014 campaign, Hopper was voiced by portly Strayan actress Rebel Wilson, then at the peak of her career. The campaign centered on Dish’s universally praised digital video recorder, which is also called Hopper, like the kangaroo that promotes the network. The line of recorders further extends the kangaroo link by naming the compact version of the DVR, Joey, which…

  • Roo-ing the Day

    A Kangaroo Was One of the Earliest Advertisers of Cognac

    A kangaroo was one of the earliest live animation advertisers of cognac. An artist called Georges Maresté (1875-1940) made the above advertisement to promote Prunier Cognac sales in Australia early in the 1920s. Many Maresté works featured his birthplace of Cognac, France, which is, of course, itself the birthplace of cognac brandy. Prunier has a history of 250 years of selling cognac, so it’s unlikely to have rued the day it roo-d the day by using Australia’s national animal to plug its wares down under.

  • Japanese Kangaroos - Strange Strine - Strine Biz - Strine Strife - Strine Tucker - Unknown Nichigo

    Kangaroo Cooking…Roo Meat: It’s Tasty if Ya Cook It!

    Japanese have been legally eating kangaroo for longer than most Australians. Kangaroo meat was imported to Japan and being served in Tokyo restaurants from 1988, five years before meat from the national symbol was legalized for consumption by Australians in all states other than South Australia, where kangaroo could be eaten legally from 1980. (Indigenous Australians had continued eating kangaroo, a traditional food, regardless of the ban.) Despite the head start, kangaroo meat never really kicked on in Japan, despite its reputation for being a healthy, high-protein, low-fat alternative to beef or pork. RooMeat was promoted in Japan as being…

  • Indigenous Strine (Woiwurrung) - Strine Strife

    ウルルを登れなくなる

     オーストラリアの象徴のひとつでもあるウルル(昔はエアーズロックと呼ばれている一枚岩)を岩登りが出来なくなる。  ウルルは、オーストラリアの先住民にとって聖地であり、岩登りが観光活動の一つとなったことはウルルの所有権者であるアナング族にとって昔からの痛みでもあった。  アナング族は、多くの観光客がウルルを尊敬しないで、聖地でありながら汚しているため、所有権が返還された1980年代から岩登りを禁止しようとしていた。  今月、「ディズニーランドじゃないよ」と言いながら、アナング族がやっと岩登りを禁止することを宣言した。  禁止命令が執行するのは2年後となる。 Why we are banning tourists from climbing Uluru ウルルの英語版ウィキペディア(日本語版のページが間違っている情報を掲載している) Uluru climbing ban: A history of disrespect atop the rock