Check out My So Called 8bit Life.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned a peculiar character by the name of Robert Villegas in my summary of Japan Nite at SXSW. You may remember him as the guy standing first in line for Japan Nite several hours before the venue opened. I interviewed him because I wanted to know precisely what compelled him to stand in the hot, Texas sun pretty much forsaking a near-unlimited supply of bands he could go see while he waited. I was intrigued by the vigilance of his fandom; especially when he told me that he hadn’t actually listened to any of the bands he was so eager to see.

Little did I know that a few tape-recorded questions outside of the Elysium would lead to Villegas returning the favor a month or so later. It’s a funny, old life, I thought, as Villegas rang me through Skype for a long-distance interview for his brilliant podcast series My So Called 8bit Life. If you wear your nerdiness as a sign of pride; if you could go for a few rounds of video game madness right now; if you have a history of watching anime and ripping Japanese hip-hop albums, My So Called 8bit Life is for you.

As for the episode I’m on, it was a blast to make. We covered topics such as neglecting your teaching duties to go to rock concerts, subtle differences in Japanese mosh pits and maybe (just maybe) delved into the inner workings of a Japanese music-obsessed mind. You’ll notice that when asked if there’s anything I probably won’t focus on so much as I continue Nihongaku, I responded that I’m less than interested in exploring Japanese music’s relationship with anime. What you don’t know is that the very day after that interview, I wrote a blog post about Princess Ghibli; a death metal album that covers music from world-famous Japanese animation producers Studio Ghibli.

It’s a funny, old life.

Give My So Called 8bit Life a listen. You won’t regret it. If you dig it, you can follow My So Called 8bit Life on Twitter.