This is a cat toy I found on the magical Miyajima Island of Japan, home to sacred shrines and awesome cat toys.

1. 

   Here's the entrance of the zoo. Looks fun for the whole (band) family, right? WRONG!

2. 

   Behold, the Sad Hippo crying one singular tear which appears to actually have frozen over. I don't know if you can see it, but he's bleeding from one knee.

3. 

   It's hard to see, but that pink thing is the inside-out ass of a monkey, which is lying face-down on its stomach. The scientific name for this species is, in fact, Inside-Out Ass Monkey.

4. 

   Pigeon eating some rotten cabbage.

5. 

   This monkey had such an expressive face!

6. 

   But then I saw these dogs hanging out outside of a building and I felt all right again.

7. 

   And here's that cute fire truck I was talking about earlier. You can't see them, but it was filled with puppies.

8. Japan is the best country in the world!!!!

We bought a travel pussy from a vending machine in a German gas station to go with that vibrating cockring . I was kind of expecting something a little more high-tech, but this'll do, I guess.

We were doing our best Alanis and Barenaked Ladies impressions in the hotel in Amsterdam. Kurt really “won me over” with this rendition.

Me and my friend Shirley dancing to DJ Shadow. We waited for 3 hours in Milan for the stage to be set up before we could sound check, so I entertained myself by making up retarded dances. I think maybe I'll call it Hunchback Skanking. Or maybe it should be called the Mint Milano, because we were in Milan, and the park we played at was very green.

1. 

   We played on a boat called Le Batofar. I think a lot of docking goes on here, if you know what I mean. Dock rock!

2. 

   This was the crowd of cute French people at the show.

3. 

   I didn't realize I was wearing a t-shirt that said BONJOUR on it. Faux pas!

4. 

   Kurt and I DJed at the afterparty. We played everything from Jordy (one of our main influences) to Aztec Camera. I <3 Jordy so much!!!! It's hard being a baby.

5. 

   A bunch of other bands were playing the same night in Paris: Crystal Antlers, Women, Deerhunter, and Vivian Girls. Here's everyone at the Eiffel Tower. It was like a class field trip! But with more high-fiving.

6. 

   And here it is. So much docking and eiffel-towering in one night. Thanks to Kurt for taking the photos.

1. 

   I discovered this author Margaret Drabble when I found all these 1960s British Penguin Classics at a library in Cambridge during our December UK tour with the Wedding Present. She basically writes about how terrible marriage is, but from the perspective of a really relatable female character. The protagonist is negative, over-analytical, and constantly complicating things in her head while the male characters are content to be completely oblivious. Anyway, I first read The Garrick Year on our last tour, and I happened to find this book, A Summer Birdcage at a novelty thrift store in Manchester. I rarely find authors that I really love these days because I'm so particular about writing style and subject matter, but I've got a bit of an obsession with Margaret Drabble.

2. 

   This is the other book I'm reading.

1. Wi-Fi Warfare

   This fast-paced combat game is very similar to a free online combat game called SOLDAT from Poland, but less graphically intense. Two words: ROCKET BOOTS!

2. 2. Sky Burger

   Catching falling hamburger ingredients from the sky is weirdly addictive, much like eating Whoppers.

3. 3. ScribBall

   An insanely addictive game for the non-gaming gamer that involves popping rainbow-colored bubbles. This is the romantic comedy of games, because your girlfriend will like it, too.

4. 4. iShoot

   his game is strongly influenced by an early 90s DOS game, Scorched Earth, but with more realistic terrains and backgrounds. Now that grunge is back, I think I feel an MS-DOS revival coming on.

5. 5. Light Wars

   It's supposed to look like a vector game from the 80s but with modern particle effects (Kurt claims that any game nerd will know what this means, when I looked at him puzzlingly).

6. 6. Eye vs Eye

   This two-player color-matching competition is basically a graphic designer's wet dream of a game. If you'd rather play with Pantone cards than have sex or eat ice cream, this is the game for you!

7. 7. Cuorbs

   Color-changing squares. It'll take you to the Stone Zone!

8. 8. Adrenaline

   Alex says "I've literally never been more stressed out in my life than when playing this game, both physically and mentally. i almost broke down. This game is more stressful than impending unemployment, a taxing breakup, death in the family, etc." It's addictive, if you love being miserable! Which is probably most of the people who like our band.

9. 9. Mino

   Tetris but with net play and two modes, standard and glacier.

10. 10. 7 Colors

    A classic two-player Commodore 64 game that's "kind of stupid" but a fun mix of strategy and luck. Good hangover game when you're too braindead to read a book in the van.

They were selling vibrating cockrings in the vending machine at the club we played at in York! We knew it would be one very long month of touring if we didn't get one of these.

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The Best Links:

1. Check Out More Pains Tour Videos Here
2. ChaCha Knows what an Eiffel Tower Is

An indiepop band autographs a set of boobs in Pontiac, Michigan. For the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, this is probably the apex of their short-lived musical career. It all goes downhill from here.