I’ll admit it: Since I was a kid, I loved watching Japanese taiko drumming. The beat. The movement. The booms.

You name it. It has everything a person would want out of a musical art.

So when I heard that The School of TAIKO would perform on Friday at Uwajimaya in Seattle, well, I made sure that my family and I were there.

They were performing as part of the market’s Japanese outdoor summer festival – and there’s another performance scheduled for 3 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 28.

Drop by if you’re in the neighborhood. Or just have a look at these video clips.

I had never heard of this particular group before. But one glance at the musicians showed that they’re a sharp, precise group.

The school is lead by Ringtaro Tateishi, who apparently has performed throughout the world including at Walt Disney World for seven years.

I’m just glad that my family and I had an opportunity to be in the audience.

Even now, as an adult, I could watch these clips over and over.

By the way, if you want to see more videos of The School of TAIKO, the group has its own YouTube channel.

There are drumming videos posted, as well as a few of Japan playing in the World Cup.

Over on Vimeo, Les Fitzpatrick has posted some great clips of another Seattle taiko group – Seattle Kokon Taiko.

I’ve been busy with a few odds and ends recently. But certainly, a flying car – in 2010 – will catch my attention.

The people at Terrafugia are the brains behind this flying vehicle, the Transition, which has received much online and television attention.

I should note that while it captures human attention, there was another flying car from Moulton B. Taylor of Longview, Wash. It was called the Aerocar – and yes, newsreel cameras captured it flying in the 1950s.

The Aerocar is on display at The Museum of Flight in Seattle. And I will say this about the Terrafugia Transition – it is inspiring.

Oh, yes. You also can own a flying hovercraft, if you like.

I’ll get to more blog entries as soon as I can. I know there’s much to talk about these days.

If you only look up at the Victorian architecture in this city that borders the Puget Sound and Strait of Juan de Fuca, you might miss a fascinating human-powered vehicle.

That’s right – this red-and-white tricycle with hearts, beefy tires with fins in the rear, a long-necked steering wheel and wooden pontoons that would make any floating bridge engineer happy.

And you know what?

It apparently works – on land, sand, mud and water, according to a sign left on it.

It’s a kinetic sculpture that the artist left in front of some apartments until its next temporary home can be found.

My parents, wife and son visited Port Townsend in early June. My dad, son and I wandered off looking at the water and the great architectural sites that this city has to offer.

Then, for some reason, we spotted the tricycle, sitting across from these buildings.

I’m sure the Victorian-era building has much history for a visitor to learn. But for some reason, I kept studying the kinetic sculpture tricycle.

After all, it had everything a bicycle has – plus more.

It had a derailleur, crankset, turning mechanism, horn. You name it, it looked like it was there.

It looks just as fun to ride as I’m sure it was to build.

The only catch, of course, is that I didn’t have the chance to take it out for a spin – on the nearby beach and in the water.

That being said, though, my son enjoyed sitting on it for a few minutes. He pretended to drive it around – which was cool with me.

For decades, I’ve found human-powered vehicles to be fascincating, partially because you question whether a goal will actually be reached.

Of course, you rejoice when it is accomplished, whether that’s in the air or on the water.

And this red-and-white multipurpose tricycle and boat just looks great – so much so that I kind of overdosed on taking and posting images of it.

But think about how much fun you’d have riding that to your office, the store or school.

Like I’ve said before: Let the good times roll.

The June weather in Washington state – and specifically, the Seattle area – has been sufficiently cloudy enough that I thought I’d post a stop-motion experiment I conducted during my vacation.

What you see above in the stop-motion series is a bevy of gray clouds floating across the Pacific Ocean and the Kalaloch area of Olympic National Park.

The question is, though, are clouds compelling enough to stop and watch for an extended period of time?

I’d argue that yes, when they’re floating in like slow steamships in the evening. I was in the area on a short vacation with my family and parents.

In fact, the people you see in the bottom part of the photographs are my mom, wife and son. They’re having a blast, building a castle – out of sand.

All of this reminds me – and I’m speculating a bit – is that when you see a weather pattern on a radar, it might look like a large white swoosh over land or water.

But when you sit beneath the clouds, especially at the Pacific Ocean and when they’re rolling inland, you’re so close that, well, you stop and notice.

At least I did.

If I saw this sight on a daily basis, I could care less.

I like looking at my experiment – and I hope you do, too. But if you want a video showing moving clouds that is sharper, have a look at Ben Wiggins’ work - good stuff.

It looks like he used a tripod and a higher-quality camera, which he let roll for long periods of time. I used my entry-level digital camera and kept taking pictures.

My knees served as my tripod, which explains why there was the movement in the photographs toward the end. Basically, my knees moved.

But you know, as long as I can remember, I’ve always enjoyed being out in the field.

Yes, during our trip, the weather cleared up for a sunny day. We pursued more beachcombing.

Given the number of colorful floppy disks attached to the Honda Civic at the Seattle Artcar Blowout, one question needs to be asked: Is a memory stick car soon to be created?

The artcar show is was part of this weekend’s Fremont Fair in Seattle - and before my family and I left Saturday, we walked around in search of some good-looking cars that have been given the tender, loving care that only artists can give to their creations.

And smiles came to our faces when we spotted the whimsical, colorful vehicles sitting in a parking lot.

Diskdrv caught my attention not only for the colorful, square-shaped disks that made an older Honda look, in a sense, like a dot-inspired painting but also for the details.

Yes, when I was younger, I never used the floppy disks that the artist attached to the hood – but my friend, Martin, and his family used them with their old IBM.

But when I was in high school and college, I used those smaller, plastic-covered floppy disks that are seen on the car’s bumper.

Man, I thought those disks were the coolest at the time. I even had a plastic box to hold all of those smaller floppy disks.

Keep in mind that my family once owned an Apple Lisa.

As for the car’s details?

Well, the car’s hubcaps and rear bumper have what appear to be AMD chips from the 1990s, as you see photographed below.

Some of the AMD chips actually have “1996″ stamped on them.

Let’s see, now. Where would that year fall on my Information in a Box timeline?

It’s the timeline I made last year so I could remember points in time and what type of technology or medium I used for news and information.

Yes, in 1996, I was fortunate enough to have been backpacking in China – and lugging an Apple PowerBook 520 laptop (yes, complete with floppy disks).

And in the Other Details Department: The car’s artist attached keyboard pieces around the windows.

In addition, this car is or once was able to park at the Ballard Health Club.

So, if you think about it, what you’re looking at is a combination of old-school high technology, artistic creativity, a fuel-efficient car and a nod to good exercising.

All great things, if you think about it as a whole or on an individual level.

Art Car Central, a blog, has a short interview with the maker of the car.

I wonder whether anyone who once owned one of those floppy disks has ever recognized it on the car and said to the artist: “Hey, that’s the disk I used in 1995!”

And on a closing note, I leave you with The Cars and their popular song about letting the good times roll.

Suffice it to say, all sorts of people attended Saturday’s festivities of the Fremont Fair in the Seattle neighborhood known for, well, bringing a lively, creative bounce to the city.

My family and I were among the masses, um, people.

You can catch other images from the annual parade and fair at other sites that cover Seattle in closer detail. While we were there, we bought our son a bottle of juice – and I know many types of juice like to boast of their goodness in a pure, genuine, unclothed sense.

There’s even a Seattle-based company that plainly states in the open what it is: Naked Juice.

So, if you’re following my hints and have never visited Seattle before, you get the idea of the types of people who might have strolled about or paraded on two wheels before the crowds.

As the saying in the photograph on top says: Wherever you go, there you are.

Or as I like to say: If you have nowhere to go, you’re never really lost.

We opted, well, for the basic type of fun - it was relaxing to stroll along the pavement and soak up the atmosphere. After all, no one can ever beat being at the Center of the Universe.

As you can guess, just about anytime I spot what looks like a Chinese dragon, I’ll stop and look.

I’ll admit it: I have not seen wooden toys – particularly tops – in years. I actually bought one for my son. We’ve spun it once or twice. But more spinning is on our agenda.

My son asked a balloon twister to make a dinosaur, which is photographed above.

And I like the balloon twister’s balloon-twisted hat so much that I’ve included a photograph of it – and the twister in action – below.

Over the past year, I’ve taken many digital snapshots of Seattle. If you’re interested, links to them can be found here.

I’ve only seen a handful of waterfalls in Washington state. But Sol Duc Falls in the Olympic National Park has to be one of the most impressive I’ve witnessed.

I’ve posted three video clips – the other two are after the jump – which total more than three minutes. Really, I could watch this waterfall for more than three hours.

We humans are a pretty brilliant bunch of people (in most cases). If you didn’t see, but IBM has created a supercomputer, Watson, which will compete against humans on Jeopardy!

But I doubt we’d ever have the wherewithal to duplicate the beauty, freshness and clarity that Mother Nature has created in this valley of the Olympic National Park.

If I had this much rushing water at my house, I’d be in panic mode. But in the outdoors, standing under soaring trees, the context of the fast-moving water which hit rocks was just right.

My family and I visited the area last week. Relaxing hot springs – part of the Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort – with three pools of warm water are nearby. We stayed in the cabins for a night.

But on the morning of our departure, my dad and I decided to drive to the trailhead and walk to the falls. I’m glad we did. It was only the second time I’ve seen Sol Duc Falls.

My memory of the roaring sound and gushing water from my first trip pulled us back for this visit.

I think my dad really enjoyed it. He and I used our entry-level but reliable digital cameras to capture the moment. There was enough mist and rain to make my camera – including the inside screen – wet.

My dad borrowed my baseball cap to keep his head as dry as possible. He said that as his hair gets thinner he can feel water on his head much easier. That’s a pretty logical thought – and an honest one.

But I’m glad the video option worked and I was able to leave with three clips of the roaring water. I’ve posted a stop-motion clip of Snoqualmie Falls, which is east of Seattle. For the Sol Duc Falls, I thought I’d go with pure video and include sound.

The interesting thing that I noticed is that the sound of the gushing water is different depending on where you’re standing. That might have occurred to you – but it struck me as noteworthy.

The clip below is what people typically see and shoot of the falls.

There are only so many viewing areas of the falls – but I tried different angles since I knew I wouldn’t have time to return in the near future.

Now that I think about it, I wonder what type of video or still footage a robotic aircraft with a digital camera (an image is in the middle part of this post) could capture.

Here are three images that my dad and I saw on our walk to and from the falls. It’s an entry-level walk – about less than one mile each way, as I recall.

One fact that I’m proud to say about Sol Duc Falls and my former employer, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, is that one of the top three links on Google about this beautiful spot on the globe is a 2001 article from the newspaper.

Writer Karen Sykes gives all the details and history about the falls, if you’d like to visit.

Back in 2001, paper was a bit more of the king in the media landscape. As you see, only one photograph of Sol Duc Falls was included with the online text.

Certainly, the times have changed.

I do like looking at older photographs, though, to see how one place has changed or stayed the same.

And waterfalls remain a popular destination for hikers in the Pacific Northwest. I need to take my family to see more of them.

If you haven’t visited and plan to go, please have a great time.

If you live on the West Coast or just can’t make the fourth annual NYC Food Film Festival, have a look at this enticing video reviewing last year’s gastronomical extravaganza.

It’s great, especially with last year’s tagline, “Watch What You Eat.” 

You’ll get the idea of what you’ll experience should you attend the festival, which runs from June 23 to 27. If you do go, you can study your favorite food being made and eat samples of it, too! Yes! At the same time!

So what type of food shows up at the film festival? Well, last year, there was buttermilk, including this comment maker Earl Cruze:

You know, I don’t know anything that I can do better for the human race, you know, than to make buttermilk.

The Cruze Farm Girl blog is certainly worth a few minutes of your online time – you would have never thought (or at least I would have never thought) that buttermilk could be such a great blog vehicle.

During last year’s festival, people applauded when buttermilk ice cream showed up.

Also making a cameo in this video clip (drum roll, please) from 2009 - shiitake ice cream.

If you’re seeking a selection of digital photographs of the food, fun and people from last year’s event, organizers have posted them on flickr.

Yes, I should thank documentary filmmaker George Motz for organizing the festival and posting the great videos that you see in this entry.

Motz likes hamburgers. He also has taught a class about hamburgers at New York University.

If you like Brooklyn-style pizza – or rather, watching it being made – have a look at the video below.

The topic of food reminds me: In Anhui province in China, there is the annual bean curd festival, which is held each September.

If you’re interested how I came across this festival and all these great food videos, I spotted a link on Huffington Post about food films.

By the way, I’ve always thought that “Eat Drink Man Woman” was a stellar food film.

Yes, after seeing the clip above, the only thing I’m waiting for is an actual online video game in which a person can go to Google maps (or some version of them), pick out a car and drive it (virtually) in a city just like this great video from Honest Directors.

Such a video game might actually exist. But you know, I’m a bit old school. I might be out of the loop.

Ah, yes: Google maps. You can do much with them these days. I actually still have paper maps of China, if you can believe that.

In fact, the whole online world has created a cavalcade (if you will) of online information that can inundate and wash over someone or something rather quickly.

A minor point: TechCrunch is certainly a leader in online news and blogging, especially with that AT&T news. But, um, the image used with this post is somewhat dated. I like the idea and understand it. I also like the old no matter what form it takes.

But the uniforms and equipment are much more modern. There’s also a huge push for more modern buildings – in some areas and in some cases, that has created, well, some discussions.

You know: Out with the old. In with the new. Or something like that.

I gotta run. And if I could merge reality with the imagined – or the layers and ideas between those two realms – I’d do so in a car which zooms down the street on Google maps.

Since I don’t get back to China as often as I’d like, I plan to watch construction, as projects develop, with the help of, yes, Google maps.

As a side note, I like color, too, especially the lucky color of red. And fun is good, as are serious topics.

It is tempting to post a consecutive string of stop-motion clips of various sights because, well, they’re so fun to make.

I was ready to move on to other types of postings since I made stop-motion clips of a larger-than-normal chess match and Snoqualmie Falls in the past few days.

But then, I spotted a pretty big jar of kimchi at a local Korean grocery store. We’ve bought seaweed salad, seasoned squid and kimchi there before. My wife suggested that I buy more kimchi. This $10 jar seemed to fit our needs. We didn’t have any and it was an easy move to replenish our supply.

I know there are some seriously rocky sectors remaining in the U.S. economy. Of course, I hope the country’s economic picture picks up. At the store, I looked at the jar kimchi and thought: Yes, a $10 jar of spicy, garlicky Korean-style cabbage really is a solid investment – at least for us.

I did say that my wife is fighting a cold. Right?

I’ve written about kimchi in the past – including a woman in South Korea who has invented an odorless version and a delicious tuna, tofu and kimchi dish. I first ate that kimchi dish back in 1998.

So, kimchi in and of itself is not new at TofuWatch.

But combining it with stop-motion photography, I thought, might be something different.

I mean, in a strange way, I thought a spinning, moving jar of kimchi would be compelling.

Then again, I like food – especially from Asia.

I know my parents and older sister (and yes, my wife, too) might think that I somehow have too much time such that I can make a stop-motion clip using a big jar of kimchi.

Well, my answer to that would be this: If life lacks fun, humor, memories and meaning, well, then it’s just a series of connected events that unfolds before you.

Life is kind of leading you.

You take each step. You go through the motions of eating and living but if you can’t appreciate it or smile, then, well, you’re kind of missing out on the good stuff of life.

My other answer to having too much time would be this: Yes, I do find time to post blog items. But these days, I also have access to more technology.

Plus: In life, nothing can be something.

And don’t the stop-motion images of the jar of kimchi remind you of a robot? Or is it just me?

I’ll post more serious topics soon.

I hope everyone is enjoying Memorial Day.