Disneyland during the holiday's

Back around the end of November I volunteered to take some kids to Tokyo Disneyland on a field trip for a local English school. Normally Disneyland is over crowded during the normal season weekend but this being the beginning of their annual Christmas Theme season and on a national holiday and it was packed to the gills! We still managed to have fun but I learned my lesson; no more Disneyland on a holiday/weekend. I'd still go on a weekday while people are at work but you'd be hard-pressed to get me to fight those crowds again. I'm talking a 30 minute line up for a drink, pop corn or slice of pizza type day.

Then again, the other day my co-worker told me one of her students went to Tokyo Disneyland on the weekend only to be turned away to Disneyland's less popular Tokyo Disney Sea since they were running at full capacity already. Lunacy.

Anyway, if anyone is wondering what it's like at Disneyland in Japan during the holiday's you can check out this link and look through my pictures which ironically don't have more than a few people milling about in the background. It was busy, I swear!

Happy Holiday's!

Comics are for kids.

Link to full panel



These comics are funny. Although the 3rd panel of the Bush strip isn't funny, I just like the idea of Bush in an Electric Boogaloo. "Curse you...you limber spawn of a goat." Hahahaha. And, I guess the writing for the third comic isn't that great either, I just really liked this guy's style and characters.

The peanut one just makes me laugh for some reason.

Not much point to this. Just wanted to share.

It'su armosuto Kulistmas!

Well, I said it would be done and here it is. The Christmas tree of 2004 appointed to stand over this years gifts. Ain't she a beaut? And you can hang a coat on her too. Now how many of you can say that about your trees?



Also this is just too funny not to post here. In the spirit of Christmas, here's pictures of kids scared of Santa Claus.

Merry Christmas kids!
Click me!

!!!-Live! Live! Live!

!!! (chk chk chk/ boom boom boom/tock tock tock/ect.) did a show in Tokyo a while back in Ebisu's Liquidroom and turned part of it into a Japan only live release. We'll 3/5 of it is live, the 4th track is made up from a performance at the BBC and the final is a remix of "Me and Giuliani down by the school yard (A True Story)" by label mate LFO. (This song has been on the last three albums of theirs I bought, 2 of them being EP's)

Five tracks doesn't sound like much but when you're !!!, each song is a 5-10 minute dance/stomp boogy so that's like getting 5 separate parties all together.

Like I said the first three tracks are live and this is what I bought the album for. To hear familiar songs with crazy vocals and unpredictable tangents from the band; crowd banter and to hear the band in a natural freak out just like all great live records should strive to be.

The first two tracks easily accomplish this, the third is frankly boring. Sounds like they are trying to gain their strength back from the first two songs, but when you're putting out only three live tracks on a live cd I would hope they would choose the shows three best.

The BBC performance sounds like a studio release which is ok I guess if I didn't already have it on their last LP"Louden up now".

The final track remix of "..down by the school yard..." isn't all that great. It makes their style of dance music (live instruments, freak out vocals) into generic four on the floor (do people still say that?) synthesizer dance music. Maybe not as bad as a 1995 release of Jock Jams but it's still not that appealing either. (After repeated listens it went from who needs it to alright but not as good as it should be.)

Some highlights during the concert are when he addresses the crowd like so:

"What's up Japan!"
"..............................(lone guy in the back) WOOOOO!"
".....Anyway.....We're chk chk chk (and so on)"

Isn't that funny!?!?! They didn't no how to respond! HAHAHAHAH.

And in the track "Hello, is this thing on?" near the end when he goes through the songs "I'm at a club on drugs and I'm freaking out maaaan" section and he's yelling,

"Am I making any sense at all? Does anyone here speak English? Does anyone. here. speak. English! DOES ANYONE HERE SPEAK.... heuh, heua...DOES. ANYONE. HERE....everybody's actin'......everybody's. acting....everybody's actin' like I'm f*cking crazy or something....EVERYBODY'S ACTING LIKE I'M F*CKING CRAZY OR SOMETHING.... hyuh..hyhu...EVERYBODY'S..." ect. ect. ect.

Hahaha, I'm sure he had the whole crowd glancing nervously around in a cold sweat.

"Man, this guy's pissed! Someone speak some English to him." *Everyone glances away* Get it? Because he's in JAPAN! HAHAHAHA!

That would have been great to see everybody stop dancing and grow generally concerned for the guy.

It's a good listen but maybe a better name would have been Live! Live! Live! Studio! Remix!

Hobbit-Like Human Ancestor Found in Asia

Link
Scientists have found skeletons of a hobbit-like species of human that grew no larger than a three-year-old modern child (See pictures). The tiny humans, who had skulls about the size of grapefruits, lived with pygmy elephants and Komodo dragons on a remote island in Indonesia 18,000 years ago.

Hmmm...there's a Yumiko joke in here somewhere but I'm going to be mature about this and let it go.

But anyway, this discovery is pretty crazy. Scientests believe that these "hobbits" actually interacted with "modern day humans" (homo-erectus) and were quite intellegent despite only having a brain 1/3 the mass of people today. If human cloning really gets going, we could see these little guys running our gas stations in as little as 50 years!

Abandon Ship!!!

Hmmm, gamesarefun.com is reporting Sony's newly released handheld is having some major problems with defective units.

Slashdot says:
"Among many to report on this issue, OneHungLo writes "GamesAreFun.com is reporting that several defective PSP units have been shipped, suffering from problems such as dead pixels, broken UMD drives, air bubbles in the screens, dust in the screens, and the analog "nubs" not working, or actually falling off. They also have a video of a UMD popping out of the PSP as it's running, due to the unit being twisted/turned. I wonder how long it will be until Sony issues an official statement about this?"

Link to actual article.
A nice movie of a game literally being lauched out during play.

Sony released a small 200,000 units this Sunday in Japan to which some 90% have already been sold. This is Sony's first attempt in the handheld arena so one might guess releasing a system that breaks before or when you touch it doesn't bode well with the consumer. Also the reported 6-10 hours of battery life seems to be a crock too as people now testing the system in real life conditions are saying about 90 minutes for graphic intensive games. (Early figures) And load times a plenty too.

All this bad news is a real bummer too since the decision to budget price the system to compete with Nintendo's DS really spiked my interest in it. When you actually hold it and feel the design and see the huge 16:9 screen sprawled over the entire face you'll be very tempted to jack the sucker who let you play and run away with it football style. Let's hope Sony fixes these sloppy mistakes and develops a battery that would actually make this handheld useful when it's not plugged into the wall.

And great original IP's would be nice too. Not interested in PS2 ports.

P.S.-How on earth did Sony get away with releasing such a shoddy, defective unit to the public? Usually if there's a mistake it's like one thing on a majority of units but this looks like everything is randomly wrong with it. Bubbles in the screen, dust under the screen, dead pixels, square buttons not lined properly with the circuitry underneath, the analog nub doesn't work or breaks off from use and some units won't boot up when you try turning them on. Oh, and games fly out of the system. Read all of that again. Who in their right mind would let this thing go to market? I wish upon them many sleepless nights of tossing and turning; but no twisting cause they might suddenly fly out of bed!

Think of those poor, poor early adopters.

Strange days: The Magic Minute

Ok, so apparently Friday's have turned into some sort of Twilight Zone day.

Two Fridays ago I was driving home along the same route I've driven for the past two years only a few minutes later than normal. My travels are about 35 minutes one way, with 18 kilometers and about 23 traffic signals along my way and during this trip I did the impossible. I found the magic minute.

Now I don't know if it was a freak accident or if the signals are reset everyday at exactly the same moment only to blink for hours and hours leading up to one perfect synchronized chain of green lights, but that's exactly what happened (well except for the one light). It was like the planets orbited for 10,000 years and came upon the one exact moment where they all lined up in a perfect row and gave birth to this perfect portal shaving an easy 8-9 minutes off my travels.

If the lights are reset at sometime during the day that would leave an extremely tight and convenient passage for me to get through to go home everyday, but all I have to do now is find that perfect moment to leave work which was unfortunately found by my being late. So naturally I don't want to really stay late everyday to try and find that moment cause I'd get home at an earlier time leaving at my normal time. But just the fact that the perfect commute is really out there shatters a lot of daydreams I've had about being able to get home without actually making a full stop the whole way.

I did mention one light that I'm not really counting because it was a pedestrian light triggered by a fool who had no idea what they stopped me from doing. But if I were to continue the planet analogy I would call that light the Planet X of signals because it's there and it orbits the sun like all the other planets but it's just not part of our solar system to include in the greater group so I'm allowed to discount it. Another view could be that the person did actually know what they were doing were assigned to ruin my "portal run". That would be weird.

Yon-sama! ヨン様！愛してるよ！ 体元気ダゼェ！！！

In a brilliant attempt to attract in upwards of 4 million new readers I have decided to post an article about every old Japanese woman's #1 Korean boy-toy, Yon-sama!!!

Mr. Yonju Pe (34, Star of Korean soap opera-"Winter Sonnet"/"冬のソナタ") has been riding his wave of unimaginable fandom here in Japan for a few months now and just coming off his recent visit to Japan has become more popular than ever! As news reports, he came for a 5 day visit for promotion of himself, which is, understandably, what the rich and the sexy spend most of their time doing. (Photo: right)

Millions upon millions of old women with nothing better to do have developed a clinical obsession for this man. Casting aside decades of marriage and demanding divorce （ヨン離婚(Yon-rikon)ーYon Divorce）on account of their husbands not being able to provide the love and understanding that Yon can dish out all too easily through his hit Korean drama "Winter Sonnet" (冬のソナタ）*wink*

Yon, as dreamed a million times over

During his recent visit the crazed women were seen waiting at the airport in upwards of 24 hours just to see him off his plane, crying and shaking madly as he passed. (Some were even shown crushed as they never had the opportunity to deliver an expensive gift they felt they just had to give the star. My condolences.) Even a news helicopter got into the fun as they chased his car down the highway level with his window hoping he would flash his brilliant smile skyward. Pandemonium, no wait...YONdemonium in every sense of the word.

2004 is truly is year of Yon!

Let's see what Ms. Tanaka has to say about Yon-sama.

---YON-SAMA!!!



And there you have it.

Tsunami's and auctions and settlements, oh my!

So there was an earthquake in Hokkaido last night, eh? About a 5 (out of 7) and happened right about the time I was ready for bed but as I watched the news with there bantering on and replay after replay of earthquake footage there was a special report! Tsunami!!!

That's right, a monster wave charging the northern island and expected to hit within the hour. How cool is that? So I decide to stay up since the news channel just sat there with the camera pointed at the water waiting for this huge tidal wave most likely carrying night surfers on it's bosom to slap the coast of Japan. And so I waited. And waited. waited...

Oops! Sorry folks, no tidal wave tonight! All is well, go to bed. What the hell, right? But then they said that the wave wasn't that big anyway. Only about 50 centimeters at its tallest point and only three of them at that.

For some reason I had this image of like this sky scraper wall of water building up as it raced toward Japan at unimaginable speeds because "Tsunami" and "tidal wave" are big strong sounding words. But now I figure all they are are waves caused by earthquakes under the ocean floor no matter their size. mmmm...

In other news the base player for Nirvana (the tall guy who calls himself "Krist Novoselic" apparently) auctioned himself off of eBay with the highest bid going for $7300 US. The winner will be picked up from their local airport by the bassest in his little airplane and flown to the city of his choice for a little wine and dine. Proceeds going to charity. Awww... Wait a minute....he's flying???

And woman who the Wachowski Brothers ripped off for the Matrix trilogy gets over 2.5 billion dollars in copyright infringement compensation. It seems she wrote the story back in 1981 and submitted it to the brothers (brother and sister??) which they rejected and later referred to while writing up The Matrix. Oops! Say, if she's getting cash for copyright infringement, how about the people who made "Ghost in the Shell"? Or was that movie used as a source of inspiration only? Shucks.

Start the parade...We're finished!

Hey look! It's another example of writing something and not putting it up for 2 weeks!

Finally after months and months of collecting addresses, history checks translations, declarations and obscure information long forgotten I'd like to proudly announce that Yumiko and I are finished with our immigration papers. They are now in the mail (again, after they were sent back because of a mix up with the post office here) and zooming over to eastern Canada to be processes and judged.

And now we wait. And wait and wait to see if we are worthy to join Canadian society as a power team.

Since the forms are constantly reminding you that any false or inaccurate information could cause your file to be unfairly processed, me and Yumiko naturally became very nervous over any question that posed even the slightest ambiguity.

Looking back now I remember some of our lowest moments. Such as the blank that asks to fill in your name in English and your native language, which sparked to, "Fill in you name in your native language??? But Kanji is from China! Should I fill it out in Hiragana? First name first or last!?! My head!" <--Yumiko

Or filling out the "Contents" section of the envelope. "How many pages are we including? There's an envelope in there! Does that count as one or do we guess how many pages are included inside to make it technically correct?!?" <--Me

Those are just off the top of my head but I'm sure given some time I could come up with some doozies. It's funny how much you question the simples things when put under a little pressure.

Well, now that that's done we can finally direct our full attention to Christmas shopping and what else?...... Ah, that's right, wedding next month. Better get those mock invitations out.

Well I'll be....

Genetically Engineered Plants Detect Land Mines

A Danish company, Aresa Biodetection, has developed genetically-modified flowers that change color when their roots come in contact with nitrogen dioxide in the soil. Explosives used in mines produce NO2 as the chemicals gradually decay. The company plans to sow fields of NO2-sniffing Arabidopsis thaliana (Thale or mouse cress) in areas riddled with long-forgotten ordinance from Angola to Cambodia.

The effort's life- and limb-saving potential is staggering: More than 100 million land mines kill or injure 26,000 people in 45 countries each year. Today's most popular detection method is poking around with a stick.

Link

Cleared!: Halo 2

Ok, after 10 days and only 8 of those actually playing the game, me and my little neighbor friend finished up with playing Halo 2. That doesn't seems like a long time at all, does it? That's because it's not. But it does fit in with various sites reports on what the games length was intended to be. But sadly, it's always attached to the phrase, "...but that's ok because online multiplayer is where you'll be spending all of your time." Hmmm.... no online for this cowboy so that sours the deal a little.

But I wouldn't say I'm upset with the game. The first half of the game was great. The city levels have to have been my favourite in the series but then the later half of the game starts to become repetitive and "dark". Like a "I can't see what's shooting me", kind of dark. Also the end "Boss".... is a kick in the dick. Nothing fun about it. Nothing creative, nothing cleaver just simply shooting at your target until it's dead.

I remember playing the final level of the first game where you had to drive your Wart Hog through one huge obstacle course as enemies from all over where shooting and attacking from all sides as you raced against the clock and the threat of being blown up with the ship. That was exciting, when me and my co-op buddy were finished with that we were exhausted and our hearts were racing. As for Halo 2's finally we were left with the feeling of, "Ok, he was a minor obstacle, bring on the level that wraps the game up with a bang." But after the brief CG scene all we were rewarded with was the credits and loose ends leading up to the next game.

One could say that Halo 2's "Big Bang" is the adventure itself and not just the final great level like it's older brother. Yes, one could say that, but not me. Sure, the entire game boasts huge environments amazing detail and layers but there's no way they couldn't have continued this into the last level. It stinks of trying to (finally) get the game wrapped up and out for the holiday season after numerous delays and long production time. I'm sure an extra few months would have provided the time to really make this game end on a high note.

Although I've written a lot on what I didn't like about the game, I could write a whole lot more on the "Holy Cow!" aspects. The game really did impress me more times than I give it credit for and I'll definitely play through it again which is more than I can say for a lot of other games. Probably because it duplicates the ol' 30 seconds of fun for 10+ hours rule and it does it really well. I'm just dwelling on the fact that I got all hyped up and anticipated this super ending and got dealt what just seemed like another normal, albeit, more difficult task.

Pros

Fun shooting enemies and hi-jacking vehicles over and over and over.

High production value and better than average story.

(What I hear) One of the best online games out for console owners.

Great special edition packaging and informative, well produced dvd showing what Bungie had to go through to make this game. For only $5 more this was a real treat for fans.

Cons

Game really tapers into repetitiveness and bland levels later on in the game.

During CG scenes, texture draw-in is really noticeable and distracting.

On the short side. (Says the guy with no Xbox Live)

Today's lesson

As you all know, I'm an English teacher in a Junior High School in Japan. What you may not know is the type of tripe I have to correct on a weekly basis. Now's the perfect opportunity for some show and tell, don't you think?

Today I had my students hand in what they had four weeks to work on. I repeat. Four weeks. The teacher I work with made the assignment which was for the students to research and write about something from Okinawa. (The small island south of Japan that's also apart of the country.)

I got a few that were nice and expected because they satisfied the tasks of the assignment, but most of them were like the mess italicized below.

Suchiko is a long ago refrigeration of nothing age keep of pork Okinawan tradition dish spread.

Salt soak but no salty it sake of knob as be grad article.

I know Suchiko is food (because he had a picture glued on underneath) but that's about it.

If I handed this pile of words in as my homework in grade school I would be told to do it again without a doubt. Especially after getting four weeks to do it and two and a half years of English lessons. Just a little angry because this is how most of them were and always have been.

And that's how my day was today. I'm going to go home tonight and eat chocolate for supper and make a Christmas shopping list for my family to try and cheer up.

Birds!

A few days ago I was hanging out in my room just watching tv when I noticed the birds outside where louder than usual. So instead of investigating I turned the volume up and continued watching only to notice the little buggers again a few minutes later. Fed up, I went to my window and saw this.



Birds everywhere, millions of them chirping and swooping at little girls riding their bikes. Loitering around on public power lines like they own the place and making a mess only a mother could love.

I couldn't believe their general lack of respect for parking their rear ends outside of my room and gabbing away, so I decided to take action.

"Hey!" I said. "Hey, you on the power lines....Ya, you with the wings! Waddaya think your doing over there? Huh? You best carry on before I start crackin' some heads around here!"

Nothing.

"Hey! Smelly birds! Hit the road! I'm trying to relax and your making a racket. If your going to eat the farmers seed, then do it and hit the next spot cause if you don't you'll be sorry!"

One of them turned. He took notice with me in the window.

"KAW!" He said. "KAW! KAW!" Again. They didn't take kindly to being called smelly, I could tell.

"KAW?" I chortled, "Kaw this ya filthy bastards!" Extending my left arm as far as it would go as I stuck up my middle finger. "That's right, I went there! And there's plenty more where that came from."



And with that little gesture, they were gone. Gone off to annoy another resident of our quaint neighborhood leaving me to feel like the man. Boo Yah!

You dropped her coupons and you were lookin' fine

Sorry. It seems I wrote this about a month ago and forgot to post it. But it can be very exciting as well, like a time capsule of sorts. Let's look back about one month from now to see what I was thinking about...

That's right, Beastie Boys (click me!) are coming back through Japan this January and I snatched up some tickets for me and some friends. Should be a good time so I'll post some pictures and do a little write up after we go.

In other news, Yumiko and I are ever so close to getting our immigration papers finished up. These have been a pain in the butt for the past 10 or so months and I'll (we'll) be more than happy to finally get them out the door and on their way to be processed. Although waiting for the results might be just as bad, but at least we can do other stuff while we worry instead of just gathering information while we worry. And Yumiko is being a brave soldier today. Last week (2 weeks) she got her braces fixed on and today she'll be getting her wisdom teeth removed and a medical exam to boot. I'll have to buy her an ice cream for her troubles.

(update: She looks a little better but still can't open her mouth up all the way cause her cheek has a pocket of tough tissue of something gross like that. She'll be going back in in a few weeks too! Hopefully her face will be normal in time for the wedding.)

Oh and I hear that there was another earthquake today a little before 9 this morning. A 5 in Nigata and a.... I dunno, 4? here. Kuushuu also got a little shake this morning around 5 am. It'll be nice to get off this sinking ship and back to the main land.

Russell Jones Dead at 35

Russell Jones, A.K.A.-Old Dirty Bastard, A.K.A.-Dirt McGirt, A.K.A.-Big Baby Jesus, A.K.A.-Dirt Dog died last night in a recording session after complaining he'd been having chest pains. No other news is available at the moment.


It's pretty sad after he ran from the law for petty everything like shoplifting (he's rich), and speeding all the way up to drug possessions, then getting thrown into a tough slammer for a few years only to get out and suddenly die like that. I'm certainly shocked. I swore the radio said T-Dotty dies suddenly, but then they started playing one of his tracks and figured it out then.

Not much else to say than it's a sad sad day when you see a clown cry and even sadder when Big Baby Jesus/Dirt Dog/ Dirt McGirt dies like that. Given the guys history I thought he'd go out in one of the craziest fashions ever, not that I'd like for it to have happened, but it's kind of what one would expect given the guys reputation to be a complete nut at times.

If you have the chance, look for some of his new tracks on some P2P cause they're just as crazy as anything he did before he was locked up, then go out and buy his album, if they decide to release it, if you liked what you heard. He had probably one of the only rap styles I could stomach out of any other rap artist, so I'll certainly miss him and miss hearing about some of the things he'd gotten himself into.

If feel more Christmas in that Wham! song than I do in Japan

Well, more earthquakes in the night waking up little sleeping me but nothing else is new. I really just wanted to share a conversation that I had around the supper table with the family last night.

It went a little something like this;
Yo: So when's Christmas again?
Yu: December 25th.
Yo: Ah ok. I work on the 25th so how about we have a party on the 24th?
Yu: Eh?! But we already reserved the Christmas cake for the 25th! Why didn't you tell me you worked that day?
Yo: Ah, my mistake. Well, phone the shop today to see if we can change it. While you're at it, phone Kentucky (KFC) and make an order for the 24th too.
Yu: ....ok
Yo: Oooo, Dale, meat!
Da: ......
Yo: Christmas cake and kentucky! Looking forward to this year's Christmas, eh?!

And that's how the last three years of Christmas has played out for little ol' me. A strawberry cake and lining up for Kentucky Fried Chicken with the rest of the Japanese population while shielding my eyes from the tacky "Happy Christmas '99" sign blinking and blinding all who dare look at it.

Another Christmas tradition in Japan is to take the one you love out for a nice meal. You know, to show how much you love them. Too bad half of that time is standing outside with all the other couples waiting for a table because of the first come first serve restaurants that have burned me in the past.

Then after the supper your supposed to go look at "illumination". Illumination is as you may have guessed, is a light show in the spirit of Christmas. And the whole crew is there. Creepy robot Santa's herking and jerking around all corners bringing young ones cheer and joy, banners proclaiming "Happy Christmas!" and "Christmas #1!" hugging your senses and Christmas songs sung in Japanese to really get the holiday cheer stirred up.

"Hey this is Jingle Bells.", I would say, only to hear from the kids around my legs. "Eh? There's an English version of it?"

One good thing to come out of Christmas in Japan has been my personal relationship that I've formed with Yumiko's coat rack. Throughout the year it just stands in the corner of her room doing it's job, but since I've come along, I've asked it for a special favour around the holiday's. And that is to stand over my presents with it's broad branches and thick trunk. I vow to actually decorate it this year and give it a proper uniform for its Christmas duties.

So this year, on Christmas Day, as you gather around a large home cooked meal with family and friends. With the warmth of the house from the chilly winter air and the soft glow from the tree, know that Japan is doing its best to imitate another holiday they have no understanding of.

The List

Ah, November, the start of the holidays (in north america) and the annual cramming every AAA game release of the year into the final weeks leading up to Christmas. I figured I should create a little check list of this generations games I have completed and new games I'm taking on to try and sort this fiasco out in my head. I guess this is my way of notching my bed post to keep track of all the last nights I've had.

Games Completed

GameCube

Mario Sunshine

Pikmin

Pikmin 2

Metriod Prime

True Crime: Streets of L.A.

Viewtiful Joe

Super Smash Bros.

Mario Kart: Double Dash!!

Splinter Cell

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

XBOX

Halo

Halo 2

The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay

Gameboy Advance

Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3

Mario and Luigi's Super Star Saga

Mario Golf: Advance Tour

Advanced Wars

Metriod Fusion

Made in Wario

Castlevania: Art of Sorrows

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon

Astro Boy: Omega Factor

Games Currently Playing

Gamecube

Tales of Symphonia

XBOX

Burnout 3: Takedown

There now, straight and tidy. Naturally I'll add to it as I finish a game.

This album makes me want to...

This album makes me want to...

...do this.

That's right. This album makes me want to take my rad bmx off a sweet jump for like 3 feet of air. I dare anyone to listen to this and think of anything other than running after bad guys in a California sunset, stopping only to give some kids tips on strong and healthy living. This light on the vocals heavy on the horns and drums album was inspired by people jumping, driving cop cars through stacked cardboard boxes and the mustaches of yester year.

Bush?

So, uh.... I guess Bush won. I don't know about in Canada and America but the impression I got living in Japan was that everyone hates Bush and Kerry (who reminds me of a Frankenstein) would win by a landslide simply for being a lesser of two evils. Movies, books, cd compilations and gatherings a plenty all rallying against him, not to mention the blatant proof that his term was a bust with the state of the current economy and his was on terror putting the nations debt at an all time high and started on falsities seems to point in the direction that he wouldn't be back for a second term.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. With America's primitive way of voting and vote counting it almost seems something fishy is a float. I hope they re-think a safe and secure way to cast votes so the outcome of future elections reflect how the people really feel. Cause we all remember the year Bush was first elected into the white house and all the problems the most powerful country in the world had just counting up the ballots. Who's to say that can't happen again.

I know I shouldn't care that much cause I'm Canadian, but America's position of a "world leader" affects everyone so rightfully so I'm concerned. And to think, I'll be 27 by the time America will have a new president. With all the lying and damage we have seen in America's first four years with Bush it's going to be interesting to see what the world will look like after another four. I can't help but feel pessimistic about the entire affair.

A whole lot-a shakin' goin' on

Wow, I just realized how long it's been since I've actually wrote anything in here. It's been a crazy past few weeks here in Japan and I haven't had anytime to burn writing on this thing till today.

The main focus that's been in Japan lately have been the earthquakes. Lots and lots of earthquakes. The first earthquake hit October 23rd around 5:30pm that registered a 6.1 on Japan's scale of 7 in the location it originated from and was said to be about a 5.x in the area me and yumiko were in. That has to have been the biggest earthquake of all of them cause there was stuff falling all over the place in the shop and it's not like we could run outside because just over head is cheaply glassed windows and powerlines a plenty so we just stayed in the shop and waited it out while the shop assistant hugged her Mac to make sure it didn't fall from its purch. After about a good 35-40 seconds when the shaking stopped the lady brushed her front and snapped into her sales pitch again like it was nothing, but me and Yumiko were like, "You crazy! Let's get oudda heea!" Surprisingly enough we lost our mood to shop.

While walking back to my car parked a few blocks away it was eereyly quiet in the downtown area. Really still and unsettling.

We talked about it walking back and once we got back to where we had parked was when the second one hit just as strong as the first, only this time were we outside surround by buildings, concrete power poles and lines and buildings patched up with rippled sheets of tin trying to shake free from the ground. Since it's uncommon for the after shock to be as strong as the initial quake we got pretty nervous and got out of the city and headed towards home. Naturally most other people had the same idea and we found ourselves stuck in traffic listening to radio reports of structural damage in other parts of Japan. (namely Nigata since it's directly above the source of the quakes 10 km below its surface)

At that time the ground started shaking again and we saw powerlines and street signs shaking heavily again and we realized that the second earthquake wasn't a fluke but a part of a pattern of quakes.

From that point on the entire night had an hourly quake that was no where near the strength of the first three but still made people sit up and take notice. It was said that from the time of the first quake to 12 am that morning there was a reported 360 separate seismic happenings and 5 of them had been in the lower 6's (again in a 7 point scale).

Sunday was the same story again with earthquakes throughout the day some strong some unnoticable and monday had maybe one. Later that week there was another big earthquake that registered about a 6 again, after "scientists" predicted that the chance of another quake of the same strength of the first was less than 10%. Guess they were wrong. After that there hadn't been any we could notice and everyone thought the quakes had passed and started to relax a bit, but just this morning at 4:40am another (weak) earthquake woke me up again. It measured a 3 in Nigata and a 1 in Saitama. It's scary cause they always start small and build so even when there's a little one you always think it will keep building.

Later I saw in the news that the small quake I felt in the morning that was reported as a 3 was instead reported as two quakes at 3 and 5. The stronger one being about an hour later. But since then we haven't felt anything which is good. People are still a bit jumpy but things are getting back to normal. I think everyone is tired of nature for the moment seeing as just before the earthquakes, Japan experienced the biggest typhoon its seen in the past decade.

The area I live in is pretty sheltered compared to the rest of the country but it was still something to see. Lots of wind and water which seems to make sense since it was a typhoon. And before the typhoon was a sequence of other typhoons. Rain for about 3 solid weeks. Because of all the wind and rain the vegetable crops have taken a beating and have driven the veggy prices sky high, some people reporting to have seen lettuce going for about $12 in Tokyo.

Around these parts you'll be getting lettuce for about $5 and big radishes for $4 and everything else for 2-3x what your used to paying. But, I'd rather pay through the nose then eat a filthy foreign vegetable. Could you imagine if the government actually imported vegetables to satisfy the demand? There would be illness and disease everywhere. It would be crippling to the national health system. Panic and bad taste all in one! But thank Budda they have not done anything of the least in terms of importing. We must stick together through such tough times. Resist temptation to question anything, and most of all protect Japan's economy and supermarkets!



Look at its big round eyes watching and waiting. You know evil breeds outside our walls.

Final Thoughts: Dogs and Demons

Well, I ended up burning through that "Dogs and Demons" book pretty fast but instead of writing my thoughts on it while it was fresh in my head, I opted to wait a good week to forget a lot of details thus weakening anything relevant I had to say. Success!

All in all, I still strongly recommend anyone read the book with the warning that it can be cynical when it doesn't have to be, and potentially misguiding a lesser educated reader on certain subjects.

One part I found was when he wrote about the school system and how all it is there for is to bleed children of free time to repress personal thoughts (everybody is doing everything the same all the time leaving no time for personal growth) making them easier to manipulate into the system of Japanese life. To train children not to question authority's and to generally "teach them how to be Japanese". He goes on to say that the children all over the country hate school and he brings up all these numbers showing suicide rates among school kids.

Seeing as I teach these same kids he's talking about, I took the time to talk to some kids about what they think about school and generally observe school life and with my findings it doesn't look like they absolutely hate school at all. Everyone had some complaint, but so did I in a Canadian school and everyone had a majority of good things to say about school. You can mark that up to ignorance of not being able to compare it to any other school life, but my point is, school isn't a complete shit fest/ brain wash (well parts of it is) he added it up to be. Even though he is accurate when he says that these childrens school years are almost all spent at school or preparing, studying, thinking, and playing club activities at school and there is an over focus on memorizing facts to simply answer exam questions and not actually build free thoughts but the way he exaggerated it makes me question the other material he writes about in his book.

I'd say all of the stories and examples he brings up are true, but maybe he went a little adjective crazy here and there painting a gloomier picture than what is actually there. But then again, the subjects he talks about can't afford any writer to be modest about things. These are real problems that the fate of the country balances on so anyway he can get some attention towards them I say power to him. Just don't get sucked into it yourself and in some cases subtract what he says by 2 for clearer vision of Japan today and not 2002. (Has the country changed that much since then?)

The entire book was incredibly easy to read through always bringing up fresh ideas and subject matter, although the middle gets somewhat number/statistic heavy but he pulls it back in the end with some interesting stuff.

Recommended.

Next book on the list: Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Mansion Murders

Picked it up at the airport for the trip but didn't start it till now. We'll see.

Skeletons trying on your slacks?

In 2002 Alex Kerr finished up his second book following his previous Shincho Literary Prize (first foreigner to do so) winning book: Lost Japan. His book sets out to dispel all the falsities Japan has built up to keep from losing face and to preserve its image of technological power, peace and stability. The books intent is the educate the reader in hope a change can occur, not to simply point a finger at the countries inabilities and shortcomings.

The book reveals shocking stories of corporate cover-ups and lies, incredible cases of unknown pollution and the blatent lack of concern for it and many cases of how the populations chronic ability to look the other way in times of embarrassment has completely destroyed the country. Almost every aspect of the country is examined from the school system and environment to manga and bureaucracy.

He pulls back the huge curtain of denial surrounding the country to let the reader know how it really is. The only qualm on my part is his cynical tone throughout most of the book makes it a little hard to read without taking that attitude on the current subject too.

Although I'm just shy of the half way point of the book, I'm still shocked at the amount of Japanese wrong doing he presents to the reader. Some of the stories that have come up and to what size and scale past and current problems really reach can't be really understood until you've read a few chapters.

Before reading, I was simply aware of a lot of problems plaguing Japan. But after reading about what causes these things and why they still continue and can't seem to comprehend the complete ludicrously of some of the issues.

For a good example of corporate mind set, cover-ups and trickery in Japanese business lets take a look at Japan's nuclear industry and see what happens when there is a problem.

And I quote: (page 118)
The level of sheer fiction in Japan's nuclear industry can be gauged from the story of how Donen misused most of its budget for renovation work between 1993 and 1997. The problem lay in 2000 drums of low-level radioactive waste stored at Tokai, which began rusting in pits filled with rain-water. Records show that the problem dated to the 1970s, but only in 1993 did Donen begin to take action, asking for money to remove the drums from the pits and to build sheds for temporary storage. So far so good. Four years and 1 billion yen later, Donen still had not taken the drums out of the pits or built the sheds. Nobody knows where the money went-semipublic agencies like Donen are not required to make their budgets public-but the suspicion was that Donen secretly spent it doing patchwork waterproofing in the pits to hide evidence of radioactive leakage. There is no problem, the agency said. One official remarked, "The water level has not dropped, so radioactive material is not leaking outside."

Donen went on to request more money for 1998, stating that renovation was going smoothly, and asking for 71 million yen to remove the sheds it had never built! It even attached drawings to show how it was reinforcing the inner walls of the storage pits. The Donen official in charge of technology to protect the environment from radioactive waste said, "It's true that the storage pits will eventually be reinforced. So I thought it would be all right if details of the project were different from what we had stated in out request for budgetary approval."

When Donen gets money from the government to remove sheds it never built and shore up the walls of pits it never drained, we are definitely moving into the territory of Escher and Kafka. A final surreal touch is provided by an animated video produced by Donen to show children that plutonium isn't as dangerous as activists say. "A small character named Pu (the chemical symbol of plutonium), who looks like an extra from "The Jetsons", gives his friend a glass of plutonium water and says it's safe to drink. His friend, duly impressed, drinks no less that six cups of the substance before declaring, "I feel refreshed!"

This is just one example of what happens when things go wrong. This book cases dozens and dozens more stories like this one but associated with all other aspects the country.

I suggest anybody with any inclination to know more about Japan to pick up this book to expand or garner their opinion on the country. It's a shame to know these kinds of things are happening in such a beautiful country but unless more people are made aware of its problems, nothing will change. Just try not to be such a gloomy guss after finishing the book. Take the information to heart but not the author's attitude.

Check out this link for some reviews and buyers opinion of the book.

Recent Games

Time for another edition of Games Played Recently!



1. After having it for a year and playing it on and off over and over, I'm finally getting into it due to my strictly one game till it's done plan. Too bad I'm almost at the end.

2. I picked up the re-release of Kid Icarus from back in the Famicom Disc System day for the gameboy strictly because I remember my friend Danielle had this game and after playing it a few times and getting hooked she started insisting we play outside or something causing me to never fully satisfy my feeling for this game for the next 18 years. Although it was painful, I've been given a second chance at it and boy is it good. I even passed the third level! Something I've never done because this is possibly the hardest game ever made after maybe Ghost and Goblins.

3. Finally passed it. It was fun but I can't see myself playing it ever again. Looks like a seller.



1. Considered one of the scariest (atmospherically, not specifically gory) games ever made, I found it on the cheap and am waiting for Halloween to dig in.

2. Still wanting to play. Still not enough time. Soon...

3. Picked it up this summer while I was back home and haven't even started it. Not enough hours in a day. Next on my list.



1. Seems like a really fun game but after the second set of levels, the kid I was playing with decided it was too hard and up and left. No point in playing one player so it'll have to wait until I can find another person.

2. With the main mission finished (28 hours) I still keep coming back to the small challenges unlocked during play. These bonus challenge levels challenge you to complete a task with a set amount of pikmin allotted to you at the beginning and within a set amount of time. Once successful, points are given depending on time remaining and Pikmin stricken down in battle. These challenges keep me up all night.

3. Two weeks ago, Capcom release a demo disc for the long awaited Resident Evil 4 in Japan and although it's fairly short, I'm still playing it simply because everytime you start, you can attack the mission in new ways. The AI is so quick and reacts so brutally you can have fun trying out new strategies everytime and not get bored.
---------------------------------------------------------
Other games I'm either close to completion or need to start



And with games like Halo 2, Killer 7, Paper Mario and the Thousand Year Door, Mortal Kombat: Deception, THUG 2, Alien Hominid, Okami, Prince of Persia 2,GTA: San Andreas, Doom 3, Half Life 2, Viewtiful Joe 2, Resident Evil 4, Nintendo: DS and all it's software, plus all the other AAA games I'm forgetting, I'm either going to have to pass up on some of the best games to come out in a long time or give up work and sleep to get through them all. Nice to have this problem but sad I won't be able to play my way out of it without missing some great experiences.

Its time has come

None but the biggest nerd would know of it's existence. It happened a decade ago and was quickly destroyed before any great damage could come fourth.

This is the result of what happens when Nintendo out sources a coddled franchise to those without soul.

As it was told in the good book, the first sign would be one of an old wizard brooding and bad blue screen work.

If thou care not of ones eyes, look yonder.

The second sign has been transcribed from the Latin phrase of nerdious-maximus but shall not be spoken allowed. Animation awaits your gaze.

If thou care not of ones eyes, look hither.

The final sign shows the plague victorious within a forgotten realm but should it be celebrated, the souls of many shall be cast unto fire.

If thou care not of ones eyes, look smither.

The message has now transcended anew but shall be retained within ones mind but never spoken. Shall this challenge proved to be too great, thou ist to jump up to jest victory saying aloud the tarnished phrase... "I won!" Soon after, you will be pointed to and laughed at by the few who were too once educated in this dark matter.

It has been said.

Lest we Forget...

As this current generation of game hardware enters it's final big holiday season, the "Big Three" have started to leak some specs on their new hardware currently in R&D in order to get people talking and the hype machine a whirling all over again.

Sony has its mythological "Cell Processor". Nintendo, its revolutionary new idea. And Microsoft its foot strongly in onlines door.

They've all got compelling strengths closing this generation of hardware and much mystery swirling the outcome of the future. That is until Microsoft, in usual style, decided to march by the beat of its own drum and release the first image of its upcoming "xbox 2" console. (yet to be named)

What effect this will have on Nintendo and Sony have yet to be seen as they have commented on unveiling their successor systems at next years E3 in March. Sony, never one to play catch up, may have to rework its strategy from such a surprise move by Microsoft that these next few months may proved to be very interesting indeed.

Judging by the photo, Microsoft's yet unnamed console shows it to be a very proud system and not giving into the Japanese complaints of size and the complaints of every 8 year olds thin arms by trying to house as much as physically possible which does in fact show it to be promising in terms of power.

Should be a very interesting Q1 next year to see if any other companies jump the gun in hopes of garnering much needed attention.

Finally I'll leave you with the only thing you came here to see, the first image of the xbox 2.


BREAKING: A recent report from Microsoft unveils the companies merge with "Friendly Homes" in an effort to provide "totally cool" living conditions for those war stricken in the Middle East. Microsoft reports its plans to send in excess of 400 xbox 2 consoles for those in need of shelter. God help us all.

Tokyo Game Show 2004

Well another Tokyo Game Show is all over with and this year was a doozy. Lots of big games and new releases I could get my hands on. Games such as Halo 2, Viewtiful Joe 2, and Resident Evil 4 of which I also have 4 demo discs. (he he he)

I saw the newly designed PS2 which was a surprise seeing as I only heard about its existance the day before the show. Looked real nice but the only reason I took pictures of it was because I thought it was a hella thin Olson Twin, and when I looked back through my pictures I found the new PS2 instead. Which, I guess, is ok too.

Mmmmm....what else? I tried out Metal Gear Acid (boo), and the FPS Coded Arms (meh) on Sony's new PSP. The PSP was ok. A little bigger than I imagined. I expected a little more out of it though seeing as people have said its got as much power as the PS2 which I assure you it does not. Maybe the 3rd generation games coming out for it may come up to the low PS2 standard currently set, but I don't see it happening soon. Plus Sony better have one hell of a battery if they want to light up that big beautiful screen for more than 4 hours on one charge, if not then they'll still sell an ass load but there will be a lot of unhappy twenty something's.

One thing that surprised me about it was the analoge. Instead of a control with depth like a normal analoge stick, this was more like a tiddly wink that had horizontal travel. Worked alright but my thumb kept sliding off because the pad is like a meat tenderizer texture and not a rubbery nub, plus it's got some weight to it pulling back to a center position.

And the boo for Metal Gear Acid comes from it being a grid type strategy game. You move your allowed squares and get a menu of options for what you want Snake to do when you've arrived. Lame.

I also just found out that I was on CNN when they showed footage of the show. That's pretty cool. But don't tell Yumiko anything because I was supposed to be at home sick that day. Oops! (Just kidding.)

As for freebies this year, things were kinda slim. I recieved a few demo discs (mostly for PS2, which I don't have, but what else would I expect getting at a Japanese game show.) and passed on all the stupid ads and papers. Capcom was giving away reflective green wrist slappers/wrap around things and Microsoft demo's for Phantom Dust, some SNK fighting game and some other Metal Wolf game I haven't tried yet. Oh and capcom also gave out dvd's with lots of cool new movies on, like Resident Evil 4 and Killer 7. I also filled out a survey at the Famitsu booth but I have to wait for that surprise to arrive in the mail.

If you want to check out all the pictures I took at the show, just check them out here. But I warn you, there's a foxy cross-dresser shuffled into the mix.

You have no chance to survive make your time.

Holy crap, this rocks so hard.

Some guys decided to made a flash animation/music video from the old game "Zero Wing" using the legendary "All your base are belong to us." line and they come off pretty successfully minus a few stumbles here and there.

The main one being the music. First of all the dude that just has to wail on his guitar is alright with me, cause sometimes that's what you have to do, but I hold no patience for the other guy trying to rock on his casio. There is no excuse for that. Just look at Jerry Lee Lewis. The man is dead! You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain, indeed Mr. Lewis.

Because of that fool and his casio key board, I give you permission to just turn it off after a minute or two in, or if you're like me, just keep watching the first half over and over and over.

Links to Stuff

Lately I've been finding some pretty cool stuff on the internet that I think are worthy of a click.

Mass Mania (NOT WORK SAFE)(Offensive material)

*EDIT: NOW POSTED TO THE PROPER SITE.*

First off is this crazy site that is, again, NOT WORK SAFE. Simply because of a pair of boobies in the sites banner and one questionable article which has been censored, but I still say wait till you're at home.

It's just this crazy Japanese man who says he feels it's his job to educate foreigners on the "real" Japan. Anything that he disagrees with he'll flip the bird. He also brings up a lot of funny things that most Japanese people around the nation ritualistically ignore.

Most everyone here has the mind set that if one ignores the problem then the problem no longer exists and in a turn about way fixes the problem without actually doing anything about it. This brings to mind an ostrich and a hole.

Thank heavens for this guy for finally bringing up everything I've complained about only to have people say it's me who has the problem.

Bug Me Not

I'm not sure how I feel about posting this, but I for one think it's a pretty awesome idea. This is a service for those of you tired of having to register to a free site just to view one thing. Just go there, fill in the site you want and use their dummy log in name so you don't have to deal with any potential spamming down the road. Simple and very useful.

This is just awesome.

I'm definitely going to have to work this into a home video someday. Babies first steps? Or toddler falls on dog and learns about life and death. (It's linked to the incredible hulk music by the way...)

Tokyo Damage Report

A site done by the self proclaimed "American Jerk", is updated regularly with stories about the strange and "Underground" parts of Tokyo. Dealing with all sorts of things from punkrock, to chick fights, to visual arts and to all things bizarre in Tokyo, I'd say it's biggest draw is the list of cool things you can see around all the major stations in Tokyo. His diary entries are pretty entertaining too.

The Japan FAQ: Know Before You Go

I wish I had known about this site before I went to Japan. It's pretty overwhelming how much a new resident has to do to get set up for a somewhat permanent stay. (<--Meaning more than a few months)

The information is slightly dated, but touches on almost everything you need to know how to do and has a ton more links to other useful sites. Even if you don't plan on coming to Japan just take a look at how crazy long the laundry list of stuff you have to do is. I would have thought twice about coming if I had seen this first.

And to end off the post I'll leave you with a bunch of Japanese men who just can't let go of the good ol' rockabilly era. In the link, just click "see the video" and take a trip back in time with some dancin' leather and hair grease.

Volcano strikes again!

Well it looks like Mr. Mount Asama erupted again. That's twice in about 2 weeks. Hmmmm..... But Mrs. Kobayashi says that we'll be ok because nothing bad ever happends in their area. Except for earthquakes and murders. And spiders who jump. But never volcanoes. And by "their area" she means their immediate area much like a child believes the world consists of only the living room and the local park. Where as "their area" in Canadian terms would mean much much more in terms of space. Oh well, glad to know I'm so snug inside the comfort zone.

Also, there was reported volcanic ash in Takasaki, some 45km from Mt. Asama, and Takasaki from my house is like *points* right there. I'd say about 20km. So the comfort zone is somewhere with in that range.

If you want to check out the big steaming pile, below are links to numerous webcams pointed directly at it, allowing you to watch in somewhat real time.


Web cam site #1 multiple angles

Web cam site #2 another cam

Web cam site #3 yet another one

An article explaining how minor it was.

Good pictures of the eruption but lots of naughty language so it's NOT WORK SAFE.

If you are still concerned, you can look up more on the subject. The volcano is called Mt. Asama. Not "that volcano they call Asama" like I'm sure everyone was thinking.

And as for the murder that happened in town, I'm not too sure. I thought I would hear some dirt on it but haven't. Sorry.

Genius I Say!

Once again stealing from the Something Awful Forums cause I'm lazy and they're funny, today's piece will be intitled "Swapping Babies Head with Grandpa's Head". It's funny because old people and babies are almost the same, except for the majority of old people being taller than babies.



You can find the other 80 or so entries at this link here.

Sacrificial virgin, wasn't virgin after all...

Recently things have been a little more exciting than usual.

Probably the biggest thing at the front of my mind would be that an eff'n volcano erupted in my area! I wouldn't say it's close but it's really big and I can see it from my house. What is this? The stoneage? Since when do volcanoes erupt? I know things are a little outdated here but this is pretty ridiculous. (HAR! HAR! HAR!)



As we can see from this picture, scientists have concluded that when God was handing out land, Japan thought he said "sand" and said "Make mine hot and bubbling!"

While on the topic of volcanoes, I was talking to Yumiko about it and she said, "Of course Japan has a lot of volcanoes. Why do you think there are so many hot springs?" Then amusingly this article came up blowing the lid off of all the scandalous hot springs around Japan.

And I quote:
"According to research conducted by the Environment Ministry, out of over 2 million facilities in the country that provide public hot springs, not even 10% use pure, uncontaminated water taken directly from the natural source."

"In Kagoshima Prefecture, a hot spring famous for its unusual green color was revealed to be the result of dissolving household "Bath-Clean" bath salts into the water."

"...one of the hot springs of the Shirahone Hot Springs chain in Nagano Prefecture, favored by bath-nuts around the country for its milky white water, has been artificially colored with store-bought bath salts."

Really, how hard would it be to find a natural hot spring and sustain it enough for commercial purpose? Obviously it's pretty goddamn hard according to those who are in the business here.

Of course the water should be treated enough for people to sit in it but this article makes it sound like most hot springs in Japan are nothing more than big public bath houses filled with bath water and store bought salt which is honestly pretty disappointing.

Ok, back to volcanoes the only thing that has personally affected me from the recent eruption is the ash that resulted, sprinkled down on all the delicious cabbage in the area making it inedible. :( And according to Yumiko's dad during supper last week, I ate the last delicious cabbage of the year that night because the cabbage that they buy only comes from our area and cabbage grown elsewhere in Japan is not up to our area's standard. But I'm sure I didn't need to explain that.

Next up:
Murder in Kamisato! (<--- The town I live in...)

rasputans penis

is 30 centimeters long

is currently in a jar

is engorged with not blood, but pickle juice

is making this woman think twice about it

is researching its next role as a chocolate icecream waffle cone

and is hiding in this link because it's shy.

"Hype" Party of one.

This is another post about something that's been around for a while but I am just now hearing about it. I've played it for a while but figured I should sort of archive it on the site for quick reference.

What's all this hub-bub about you ask. Well it's only for the best game ever, featuring a small triangle ninja acting out a physics engine far beyond any flash game has ever seen before. And that game my friends is called "N".

Before your very eyes, watch our hero as he jumps, slides and dodges everything a proper ninja should! Gasp as flee circus' are set ablaze by rampaging jealous male flees and start your hips a swirling as you try to court off some of the women our hero attracts!

It's madness! It's perposturous! It's........N!

Download your latest addiction here.

The Grey Album

Having gone through a recent lull in downloading music or actually pursuing anything new I was happy to have this pop up. I know its been available for quite a few months but you'll have to excuse my tartness for the fact I'm not a white belt wearing hipster who's on top of all things "underground".

What we have here is the result of what happens when someone follows through on an idea knowing full well profit will not come from it and just doing it for the hell of it. Much like other DJ's, DJ Dangermouse took the tracks Jay Z acappellaed a while back for his Black Album and then "borrowed" The Beatles music from the White Album and forced one to fornicate the other for the good of his project. 200+ hours later after the dust settled and the Grey Album reared its big fat head.

Since the lyrics and music are not the artists own creations, the Grey Album, naturally, could not be sold. This is a good thing because now it's free for us. To make you're very own copy to show your friends how cool you are here is everything you'll need to make it a painless process.

Cover Print, Cut and Enjoy!

Bit Torrent A necessary evil. Click "Windows Installer" near the top and at the next page choose North America down the "Download" column and follow from there. When installed you'll have to reboot.

The Grey Album Also check out the clash of Jay Z and Metallica's Black Album on the Double Black Album.

Burning Software Just incase you're without something to burn music with. Or a bi-pedal pig.

And that should be everything you need to make one of my favourite albums in a long time. It gets extra points cause it's free too.

If you don't want to go about it this way you could always look up "Grey Album" or "Danger Mouse" on your favourite P2P or just go to the individual tracks at the bottom of the page and download them to your computer that way. But I'm sure it's not as fun.

HENSHIN!

This is Robotto Keiji (Robot Detective) Seems like he was a detective who also happened to be a robot on a hit (maybe?) show in Japan that ran from April 05, 1973 - September 27, 1973. Robotto Keiji also rates a level of eerie on his ability to have a vague likeness to Robin Williams.

For some more flava' here's some skinny on the show.

Like the jinzo ningen (androids) Kikaida and Kikaida-01, Robot Detective K could register emotion. Normally his eyes were yellow but when sad they would turn blue. When angry his eyes would turn red, this always happened before going into combat. Unlike the kaizo ningen K did not have a human form, but "disguised" himself with yellow hat, red jacket, white pants, yellow gloves and boots. Before entering combat K would remove his hat and jacket, the shirt and pants would vanish as he tossed the shirt away. It wasn't always shown but the large K would sometimes flash, apparently to indicate he was fully charged, before he would use the gun, hidden in his chest, to blow up the evil robots.

Perhaps too sexy for the average youth of today.




If you loyings are burning for more hot robot action check out The Henshin Hall of Fame for more than 20 entries and for a detailed description of just what the minds of Japan would do if they got their monkey paws on Spider Man.

You know you're a dumb-ass when...

...you're english.

SAW

September 17, 2004
Another trailer for SAW has been released. Same type of deal. Someone wakes up in possibly the worst situation a person could find themselves and is soon told they have to make a choice. Number 1 being super crappy and number 2 being super duper crappy.

This movie is going to scare the rice off my breath.

Trailer #1

Trailer #2 (NEW!)

Review of SAW

Interview with James Wan (Director)

Interview with Leigh Whannell (Writer)

Anagrams can be fun but most of the time are not...

Over on Something Awful they have a photo shop article up where the board members would take a movie and make an anagram from the title and photoshop the poster into the outcome of the anagram.... Why the hell did I just explain that? Pretty obvious.

This is funny cause of Ben Stiller.



There are more in this link right here. So convenient.

So Stevey Wonder was crazy...

Here's a keen video of some guy playing Mario tunes on the piano. Grab a cup of Joe before you click though cause it's 10 minutes long. The highlight, I'd guess, is at the beginning of his composition where he plays blindfolded. Cool, but not the main reason to watch. The main reason to click is to watch this guy goes nuts on the piano for 10 minutes with mario tunes and to reminisce of simpler times.

Oh ya, the title was ment because this guy plays blind for a while and his head isn't bobbing and weaving all over. So that means the head dance is probably a black thing, or that Stevey had water in his ear....crazy water!

I think someone should be hired to play my wedding...

If things are expensive, it means they're good.

So a little while back there was a news paper article stating that once again Tokyo is the most expensive city you can ever find. Oh, and Osaka came in at #4, not that that's anything to scoff at but it just goes to prove that Japan is an incredibly expensive country to do anything in. And when you do get to do that something, it's usually of the smallest degree because there are a million other people trying to do the same thing.

I've asked Japanese friends about why certain things are so expensive and they normally just give me the, "I dunno, it just is." line and it's left at that. Why is a movie theater ticket $20? I dunno. Why are all hotels on a per person basis when your only using the one room? I dunno. Why is Japan's staple food so expensive? Dunno. (Hint: They abuse tariffs to protect their over priced shenanigans.) Why is this melon $100? That's a special melon. I don't even want to get started on the obligatory "Thank you" money you have to pay when you move to a new apartment and the other things you are expected of at that time.

So if any of these types of questions baffle you like they do me, then this might be something you'd like to read. It answers why prices with most everything here is so inflated and why you don't see too much foreign influence in Japan. The mindset of ignorant Japanese consumers and the blatantly rigged distribution system.

The more I read about Japan, the less gung-hoe I am about investing in it's future. This isn't to totally rip on the country because there are a lot of good things going for it. I just want to raise some issues that always seem to be skirted around.

Why are Prices in Japan so darn Expensive?

It's a pretty long read but I found a lot of it to be really interesting even if the tone is a little whinny at times.

Breaking!: Gentle Giant Baffles Scientists

As reported last month of the cruising vessel holding worlds largest wad of gum suddenly vanishing in the night. Its fate was deemed discovered yesterday when biologists out on a whale watch saw what appeared to be a killer whale protecting what they then believed the elusive gum.

When they pulled in for closer inspection, the whale quickly made what looked like an offering to finally relieve itself of it's newly acquired burden to which the scientists all too happily obliged.

It wasn't until head scientist, Larry McPeterson, stretched out their new discovery for the crew to discover they had been terribly mistaken.

The gum is still at large.

Penny Arcade redone by Japanese HS students=Funny!

As much as I'd like to just post them on the main page, I can't. The picture sizes mess everything up, so click away!

I stumbled across this a few months ago and it still makes me laugh.
The story behind them is there is this american teaching english (actually pretty close to where I live as I recognize the stores and locations he's talking about.) at a japanese highschool who photocopied a bunch of Penny Arcade comics and had his students redo them in whatever way they wanted and they came up with some really funny shit.

Just like these beauties!

Potty Mouth

I-am-a-pen

Calendar

Ahahahah!

Small home
You can check out the other hundred or so strips here at yukihime.com.

Hullabalooza Canceled!

(Wow, wrote this last week and forgot to post it. Surely old news by now, but oh well.)
That's right, the summer concert festival of the year is cancelled!

Lollapalooza Cancelled!
Interest spikes in next year's festival as Farrell announces addition of his own crying stage
Chris Rediske reports:
In what can only be considered one of the most depressing comments so far on the state of independent music, all dates on this year's massive (and massively reported on) Lollapalooza tour have been cancelled due to poor ticket sales. In a statement on the Lollapalooza website this morning, tour organizer and all-around freak Perry Farrell made the following statement: "My heart aches along with the bands, and all of our employees, whose hard work developed one of the most exciting and important tours that this nation was to see. My heart is broken."

In a slightly more informational statement, co-founder Marc Geiger stated, "I am in utter disbelief that a concert of this stature, with the most exciting line-up I've seen in years did not galvanize ticket sales. I'm surprised that given the great bands and the reduced ticket prices that we didn't have enough sales to sustain the tour. Concert promoters across the country are facing similar problems. Many summer tours are experiencing weak ticket sales." The tour was scheduled to launch July 14th in Auburn, Washington.

What exactly this means to the 30 or so acts-- among them Modest Mouse, Morrissey, Sonic Youth, and The Flaming Lips-- that will now have no summer tour schedule is unclear, although several of the bands in question had already scheduled dates in between their Lollapalooza appearances. What it means to those of you who had already bought tickets to Lollpalooza is somewhat more clear-- you're getting your money back. But not your trusting good nature.

.: Lollapalooza: http://www. lollapalooza.com



In other news: I'll be missing the Summer Sonic Festival again this year seeing as I'll be going home to visit people and things. This year's line-up highlights are as follows:

DAY 1
Green Day
Avril Lavigne
The Darkness
Sum 41
Pennywise
MC5
Peaches

DAY 2
Beastie Boys
Mad Capsule Markets
NAS
N.E.R.D.
Lost Prophets
Jurassic 5
The Music
The Hives

Day 1 looks pretty standard, although seeing Peaches would be pretty cool. Then again, day 2 looks like a once in a lifetime chance. I'll have to get one of Yumiko's friends to tape it for me or listen to all the great stories my friends will have of going.

Japan begins breathing taxes!!!

Seeing as I just bought my wife's engagement ring and our wedding bands in Shinjuku (Tokyo) a little while ago, this is not good news...

Tokyo world's most expensive city; Osaka No. 4 in survey

Monday, June 14, 2004 at 10:14 JST
LONDON — Tokyo remains the world's most expensive city, according to the latest cost of living survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting released Monday.

London was ranked 2nd, Moscow 3rd, with Osaka and Hong Kong rounding out the top five most expensive cities, while Asuncion in Paraguay is the least expensive city in the survey of 144 urban areas.

American cities were absent from the top 10 due to the weak U.S. dollar, with the most expensive U.S. city, New York, dropping two spots from last year to 12.

The survey, drawn up twice a year, ranks cost of living for foreign workers, not local residents, and is used primarily by multinational companies to determine pay for expatriate employees.

"The euro appreciated more than 11 percent in the last six months," said Marie-Laurence Sepede, senior researcher at Mercer. "So that made European cities go up and U.S. cities drop."

Sepede noted that while U.S. cities got cheaper in relation to those in Europe and Asia, the rankings among American cities remained similar to previous years, with Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco all placing high on the list.

Also notable was the climb of Australian and New Zealand cities up the list, a shift caused by those nations' strong currencies. Sydney moved from 67 last year to 20 this year, and Auckland, New Zealand climbed 35 places to 80.

The rest of the top 20 remained fairly constant, although Paris, Vienna and Istanbul made their first appearances so high in the rankings.

The survey took into consideration 250 criteria, including the cost of utilities, food and entertainment.

While the survey looked at a range of living standards, Sepede said the study was most representative of the expenses of people working for big international corporations and maintaining fairly high standards of living.

Mercer said the continued appreciation of the euro against the U.S. dollar could eventually force companies to move employees and reorganize.

"Mainly, the depreciation of the dollar makes it cheaper to send employees to American cities," said Jackie Barber, a spokeswoman for the survey. (Wire reports)

New Games

Over the past few months I've been playing a lot of games and figure I'd share my thoughts on a few.

Zelda: 4 Swords Adventure


Pretty much the only reason I bought this was because in Japan, if you bought this game, you'd recieve lots and lots of "bonus" credits at the Club Nintendo website towards the "Zelda Collection Disc which contains 4 previous titles and is pretty badass. Since I missed out on the north american promotion I figured I should jump on the gravey train now.

Turns out the game was really fun, but I was playing with an 8 year old japanese boy who just wanted to throw and hit things. Trying to carry on in the game became too much of a headache with him and I've decided to put it away until I can play with someone with a little more intrest invested into it.

My Japanese version also includes a game omitted in the NA release because of translation issues and a pack of cry babies. It's cool for a bit, but then you forget about it soon enough.

After shelving this game for the time being I found a copy of Jet Set Radio: Future for the xbox on the cheap.



Great looking and fun to play. I don't think I've logged some many hours in such a little time on any game in the past year or so. Once I hit 30 hours and couldn't figure out where to go next (which is a pretty big flaw in the game, not being clear on what to do next)it was already time to celebrate the release of Pikmin 2!



I've been playing Pikmin 2 now for about a month. Out of 201 collectables in the game, I've gotten 194 and the last few are connected to the final game bosses which wipe out so many of my little fellows at once it makes me pretty uneasy trying to repeatedly attempt them. If you loose too many, then you have to take the time again to reharvest a new army which is fun but quite a deturrent. While I've experienced about 98% of the game and have hit 55 hours, I can reccommend this game unconditionally.

Once I've gotten over the final few hurdles of Pikmin 2, I've got a fresh copy of the Chronicles of Riddick waiting for me.


I found out that the US version is playable on the Japanese xbox just the other day, so I'm happy about that. Another strange thing is, is that this has to be the first movie licensed game that has scored a consiterable amount of high scores from almost every gaming publication.

And once that's finished up with, I have to get back to my neglected copy of SSX:3 and Project Gotham racing: 2.

Curt: Not sure if you read any of this, but I'm thinking about bringing my xbox back to canada this summer. Do you think James can take a look at it for me. It seems to only want to preform the things it's intended to do. Weird. Get back to me sometime in the next few weeks if he can "repair" something for me.