popstars sing. rockstars scream.

despite what may seem as a job stuck in a cubicle staring at the computer all day, i'm still an aspiring rockstar.  (lettuce and diet coke was so last year) viva sex and drugs and rock n roll!

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Like a fish out of water, carp struggle to drink sake in strange ceremony

Sake is poured into the mouth of a carp during the ceremony in Tonami, Toyama Prefecture, on Jan. 7.

TONAMI, Toyama -- Some people are said to drink like a fish, but in
a recent event here it was the fish that were getting their fill of
alcohol.

The fish were the drinkers in a strange ceremony dating back to the
Edo Period in which lively carp are made to consume a large dose of
sake as they symbolically take on people's calamities. After drinking
the sake, the fish are released into a river.

A total of 62 people who this year were set to reach an age said to
require care against calamities -- 25 and 42 for men and 19 and 33 for
women -- took part in the Jan. 7 ceremony, praying for things such as
long life and academic achievement.

During the event, which involved proceedings at a Shinto shrine,
carp were captured by men wearing traditional crest-bearing garments,
and a woman dressed in a kimono poured a bottle of sacred sake into the
mouths of the fish before they were released into the river.

Filled up with sake, the carp at first turned belly-up on the surface of the water. But they soon recovered and swam off.

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bacon!