Archive for the ‘FLAVOUR OF THE MONTH’ Category
August 20, 2006 – 3:10 pm
Last night I sat on a grassy bank of the Tamagawa River, surrounded by good friends and beer and food, watching brilliant fireworks light up the night sky. The breeze was cool, and our little spot was spacious, and we all gasped and cheered appropriately with each ingeniuous creation.
The week before I was in Tokushima, deep in the drunken revelry of that festival of fools’ festivals, Awaodori. The night as a loud, clashing dream, jostling with all sorts of people, dancing in front of the spectators, watching in awe as men pounded huge taiko drums while their fellow troupe members flung about in perfect syncronization.
And during the day, trips and chats and food and laundry – because, you know, the happi get really nasty with sweat and dirt and five different types of spilt alcohol.
Returning back to Tokyo, stopping in Osaka, riding the supremely crowded bullet train crammed in the deck between cars, visiting the Ramen Museum in Shin Yokohama…
It was a good summer. Even the deep blue funk, of self-pity and irrational jealousy, on that last day, as I sat on the grass in the park while the members of our troupe straggled in, and the alchohol high had worn off… even that I managed to shake off the next day.
It’s nearly over, this summer. Last night, sitting on the grass, feeling the wind, giddy on a crush… feels like I’m 20 again and summer is calling.
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July 31, 2006 – 10:33 am
So ended my summer, on 7/30, with Hekiru’s 300th concert.
I did not expect Nani mo dekinakute.
I certainly did not expect Hekiru to cry.
300th, come and gone. But the rainy season is over, and the sun is bright.
So perhaps, summer has just begun.
Thank you for all the memories, and look forward to new ones.
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July 3, 2006 – 2:05 am
Still don’t care much for Bleach, but this video is pretty cool. YouTube is a godsend.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48qryJku1Zw
Now someone needs to start taping old video games, heheh.
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June 25, 2006 – 6:26 pm
Out the door, down the road, past the trees of Yotsuya, through the infernal snarl of Shibuya and gliding down 246 to Tamagawa – finally arriving at the Seikado Museum to see the exbihit of Japanese swords.
My first time seeing a real masterpiece. Steel crafted with so much devotion, loved by the samurai on whom it had be bequeathed, and probably carrying the invisible stain of who knows how many lives, red blood drawn for the sake of honour. Terribly beautiful. My hands itch to hold one…
Sometimes you wonder why you like the things you do. Perhaps I, who have bizarre fascinations, am but a reflection of indiscipline, for is it not the act of societal integration that which beats the unusual out of us?
And so the weekend ends, again.
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May 14, 2006 – 12:53 am
Another one of those days, when you feel kinda pissed at the world in general, or just frustated.
A friend came to visit, during Golden Week. It was great, being able to talk to someone on a different level. Work worries, life worries, whatever. You know, when you are thinking what the hell you should do or you’re just terribly insecure about you purpose in life… And you dunno if you’re any good at all. Especially when people say you are.
Goddammit, I want someone to talk to about work and life and whatnot. It’s not there at work. I like the people, but while it’s fun, it’s somewhat shallow. Of course, most Japanese people don’t really pour out angst, if anything it’s more like bitching about work, which is safer.
What does it say, if Motoko from GitS SAC is my current hero?
Ah, fuck it, Hekiru live coming up in less than a week. Another way to drown my sorrows, yeah?
Run or stay, what to do?
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May 10, 2006 – 5:20 pm
When I look back, these are the things I will remember about this live.
1) The applause at that first MC, which started politely, seemed to taper down, then swelled and wouldn’t stop, kept going as everyone clapped harder and harder and Hekiru looking suprised and happy at this unpredented outpouring of appreciation
2) Seeing Hekiru running around the stage during the encore, and feeling awfully envious, because I wanted to run around too!
3) The way she performed Color, where she put every single bit of energy into her gestures while looking like she was having the time of her life
4) The Doraemon guitar! And the helicopter made from chopsticks and a paper cup!
And more… The way Hekiru looked at the audience, so carefully and deliberately, so that for 5 seconds you felt that she was singing to you and you alone… The way she gave that shout at the end of one of the songs… How the audience sang for her when she forgot the words to Kaze ga Fuku Oka, and all the stupid puns and great lines.
This was a really special live. Don’t want to ever forgot…
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December 3, 2005 – 10:55 am
Slow food is something people came up with in protest of fast food, basically says that you should eat real food that has been prepared with care, and savour it bite by bite instead of gulping it down from a wrapper while typing on the keyboard or rushing down the street.
I need a slow day, a day when I wake up in a nice room, and I don’t have to go anywhere or do anything according to a schedule, when I can just wing it and look forward to a slow food lunch and then do some slow shopping and strolling. My usual day comprises of waking up, brushing teeth, headed to work where I work almost non-stop, hardly breaking for food, until real late, and I go home and finally unwind by websurfing fanfics, reading the Economist, or manga, for an hour or so and then sleep. And repeat. The day is so packed with Crap To Be Done that, even bone-tired and sleep-deprived, I need to veg my brain for like an hour before sleeping. Sucks.
Today feels like a slow day. I’m supposed to be in for meetings, but I’m feeling pretty wtf about the whole deal (I think it started when I had two drinks and was instantly hammered, last night). Waking up in a nice dark hotel room with nothing to do but wait for an old friend to wake up so we can go snag lunch and dip in a spa, makes it even more surreal. I wonder if Europeans live this way. Definitely not the Americans, who reported hit 75 as their new average work week. Insane.
Slow life is too slow for me. It stresses me that I can’t get everything I want to do done, but I wouldn’t trade this life in for one of a tai-tai who sits around gossiping and drifting from slow food lunch to slow food lunch. Of course, what I really want is the option to switch been the two at will :D So, slow day, here I come.
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November 4, 2005 – 3:00 am
They have this thing going around the social network sites and blogs, it’s called a “baton”. Same baton as in running a relay, basically you have a bunch of questions in the “baton” which you answer in you blog, then you hand the “baton” (questions) over to 5 other friends or so, who in turn answer and pass on. It’s like harmless chain mail, since handing over the baton happens at the end of your post, and only the people who actually read your blog will notice they have been name the object of your baton. Hell, it’s probably a great indicator of your blog’s popularity.
Just the sort of thing the Japanese would come up with. It’s actually quite brilliant for driving traffic. As someone who makes a living from the growth of blogs and communities, I quite approve.
Still, in my case I can’t really imagine 5 people who read my blog, much less I would want to pass on a baton to. But, I was batoned, but good. Ah well… here’s to ky.
The “Alternative” version of the Fetish Baton
■Q1■あなたは何フェチ？
鎖骨、足以外の筋肉ライン
■Q2■同性を見る時、まず何処を見る？
顔と全体（答えになっていないね）
■Q3■最近プッシュ出来る部位
顔と気合と根性（やっぱ話違う）
■Q4■同性の好きな部位５つ
鎖骨 腕 腹 首（後ろ） 足
■Q5■フェチを感じる衣装は？
ストラップレス、バックがオープンになっている
飾りのないシンプルな黒いドレス
（足長く、体が細いのが前提）
■Q6■バトンを渡す５人
Jane、ミナ、ゆうすけ、なべ、まつも
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October 14, 2005 – 2:29 pm
Cannondale R500 Feminine, 40 Green. With carbon fork (because they shipped it with a 700mm fork instead of a 650mm).
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October 12, 2005 – 4:24 pm
Found this article on overworked IT managers in the UK.
What hit home was that stuff about how most loved their job, couldn’t wait to get to work. So perhaps their situation can only be blamed on their high level of work satisfaction! I mean, if every raised a bitch about how they hated their job, they’d probably get paid more, right?
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October 12, 2005 – 2:29 am
I think it’s finally making it’s way into my thick skull… Nothing is worth destroying your body and sacrificing your psychological well-being, certainly not even for love, and definitely not for a job. And it doesn’t matter how much you like the work or the people, it’s just not worth it, because right now I know that I will look back on this time and hate myself for the mess I’ve let my life slide into.
I think it’s time to set some priorities. The really simple ones that destress, right away, plus the slightly bigger ones that mean your quality of life goes up.
I think the bike is a good start. The shelves made me feel good too. Next up is giving my room a good clean, perhaps this Sunday. Then say, I will go home by midnight, unless it’s a real true blue emergency. This means I shall have to be far more efficient and disciplined with my time, which is a good skill to learn anyway.
Last, throw in meditation when I get home, and stress-relief exercise everyday. Perhaps that will stop me from either killing myself, or somebody else, out of sheer frustration.
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October 8, 2005 – 10:19 pm
It’s 10pm on Saturday night, and I’m sitting at home reading fanfic. I’m too tired to go out, a dinner invitation the best I can manage, but turned down, so I console myself on the new Rammstein album, and a Takeshi Kovacs novel, and a cup of awamori that friends from work gave me as a present from their trip to Okinawa. I feel a slight buzz, and I’m now mellow enough to spew shit into my blog, yeah.
Had a talk with the parents today, or mother really, and it’s kinda depressing, I mean, when your younger sister is headed home next month with boyfriend in tow, boyfriend number what you don’t really know, and my mom not to subtly asks when she gets to meet my significant other, fully believing that I actually came to Japan because there was a boy here I was head over heels for.
I don’t have the heart to tell her the truth. And I’m too depressed to ruminate too hard on what significant other should mean, and fuck it, my mom knows and I know full damn well that with my current lifestyle, I’m not gonna make much progress now, am I?
Fuck that shit.
Really, I can’t even tell if I’m just a relationship cripple. Dammit, sick of the whole fucking shitload of crap. Yeah I know there’s no substitute. There’s only fucking bandaiding, so I buy toys and shit, like my new Cannondale R500 road bike, fucking awesome piece o’ shit, fuckin’ lightest bike I ever rode or even touched, amazing tech, ya know I was always thinking what space age shit they would have to throw together to justify a $1000++ price tag on a friggin’ bike, just a contraption on two wheels fergossake, but hot damn, it’s fuckin’ amazing, I rode this thing and I just fell in love like nobody’s business.
Yeah, the alcohol is talkin’ now. Whatever. All I know is, the guys are right, if you can’t get the girl, you can always settle for shiny toys.
Fuck that shit. If it wasn’t drizzling, I’d be ridin’ around town. Helmetless. More than one way to paint the town red, eh?
If Ikebukuro is running Sin City and it’s not too drippy, maybe I’ll head out. Yeah, welcome to Saturday night in Tokyo working for an IT startup.
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September 19, 2005 – 2:14 pm
Because I’m too lazy to write a review, I’ll just let my icq ravings speak for themselves.
1:43:44 PM: http://streamingmovies.ign.com/ps2/article/651/651395/soulcalibur_091505_wmvlow.wmv
1:45:56 PM: I just saw ac on a projector with bose speakers… oh my god
1:46:06 PM: the reflection on the motorcycles!
1:46:23 PM: the fight scenes rock
1:46:32 PM: exceptf for the stupid booster jump
1:46:43 PM: ray-traced reflection is crazy compute intensive.. and so is that subsurface scattering technique they use for skin
1:46:49 PM: and yuffie is cool! I can’t believe I think yuffie is cooler than tifa
1:46:56 PM: no kidding.
1:47:07 PM: oh yeah, that was kinda dumb.. but whole show is pure fan service
1:47:07 PM: cid is the most awesome, again…
1:47:28 PM: heheh.. chong wanted to see more yuffie hoarding materia
1:47:35 PM: listening to my ffvii soundtracks now, hehehe..
1:47:59 PM: nah, but yuffie rocks with the massive weapon, can’t remember what it’s called.
1:48:12 PM: http://www.geocities.jp/our_homepage_brotherhood/clouds_sword.html
1:48:15 PM: way cool!
1:49:38 PM: haha
1:50:34 PM: before I even watched the show, I already called the ending… that cloud would beat sephiroth (who would appear as fan service) using knights of round
1:52:05 PM: the show really does a lot of stuff with unrestrained camera.. long scenes and mad panning
1:52:29 PM: Dah!
1:52:39 PM: I’m only halfway through and this looks awesome!
1:52:49 PM: cool! ps3?
1:53:15 PM: I love the fight chereography
1:53:17 PM: ps2 I think..
the chara creation looks real nice
1:53:18 PM: for ac
1:53:39 PM: atl east it shows you can build on matrix, not just rip off
1:53:56 PM: yeah.. animation rocks… and the physics holds solid throughout… man, look at the leather crease and stuff
1:53:57 PM: i never realized his sword was an amalgam
1:54:03 PM: no kidding…
1:54:09 PM: my jaw awas dropping
1:54:25 PM: but dang it, tifa onl y got 90secs worth of glory!
1:54:34 PM: I still like aeris the best…
1:54:41 PM: vincent was awesome
1:54:46 PM: matrix is weaker in comparison because bullets hurt there… in ff:ac bullets are just annoyance :)
1:54:51 PM: but man man man, cid just looks sooooo cool!
1:55:05 PM: yup.. cid always gets mad detail. heheh
1:55:33 PM: cool to watch the old ffvii cut scenes… 9 years, came a long way
1:55:48 PM: I noticed the sword had at least 3 parts during the show.. didn’t realize 2+3 and 5+6 were different
1:56:14 PM: yeah, I was trying to figure out how he could deatch the same part twice…
1:56:23 PM: hmm..I need to dig up those avis… wonder if I backed em up to hdd
1:56:44 PM: hey, do you have the gussun oyoyo voice rips?
1:57:09 PM: anyway, i gotta see this again… I think I will have to buy a projector and dvd players just for this!
1:57:15 PM: and a ps2 *sob*
1:57:24 PM: they ar eselling for 17000 used…
1:57:46 PM: I dunno if I ever ripped those movies from gussun oyoyo.. think I only watched em using that psx hack thing
1:57:59 PM: heheheh
1:57:59 PM: I want the hekiru voices…
1:58:02 PM: dang
1:58:35 PM: anyway, last night I set up the front of our office, and had like 7 people watching…
1:58:42 PM: oh, voice rips.. dunno if I’ve ever ripped those..
I could do it quickly if I knew where that CD was..
1:58:54 PM: too bad someone was working, else I woulda shut off all the lights and pumped the sound
1:59:10 PM: heh.. man, I wanna watch this on big screen with real dvd, not stupid avi with subs
1:59:27 PM: Need to have my little home theater thingy going… I miss watching movies and stuff
1:59:38 PM: seven out of eight ain’t a bad ratio. haha
2:00:36 PM: but i’ve read so many ffvii fanfics that it’s kinda blur, the real stuff that happened in nibelheim with zack and cloud
2:01:08 PM: the doodz never come watch stuff here anymore.. partly for lack of stuffs to wach
2:01:10 PM: dude, ya gotta get the dvd and watch this proper…
2:01:37 PM: I know! dvd doesn’t come out in US until next year -_-
2:01:46 PM: damn some scenes from soulcal kick as though…
2:02:09 PM: yah want the japanese version? You can bt the subs anyway..
2:02:10 PM: it’s very cool.. gotta pick it up, even though I know I won’t play it much
2:02:50 PM: need a ps2. ugh, can’t believe I finally feel the need for a game machine.
2:03:02 PM: hey watcha think of the nintendo tv remote :D
2:03:06 PM: yah, grab me a copy if you can. heheh
I don’t want the damn subs.. you know subbers nowdays have no sense of pride in quality
2:03:33 PM: http://cobopeko123.hp.infoseek.co.jp/6.jpg
2:03:38 PM: yeah it’s all speed
2:03:49 PM: heheh.. I thought it was a real dumb controller… and then I saw the controller add-on accessory that adds d-pad and a-pad and some buttons, and then I went, ohhhhh….
2:04:04 PM: http://www.geocities.jp/our_homepage_brotherhood/adventchildren.html
2:04:08 PM: this stuff is sweet..
2:04:31 PM: hahah… you just turn it 90 degress for a normal controller.
2:04:47 PM: hmm.. plastic motorcycle looks cooler than in-show one for some reason.
2:05:19 PM: you know what it reminded me of? those snes controllers on the sia airplanes..
2:05:54 PM: yeah, that thing is over a foot long
2:05:57 PM: hahaha
2:06:12 PM: I want the snap fit sword :P
2:06:14 PM: I don’t remember enough of FF7 though.. been a while. too bad there’s no way I could stand to play through 100 hours of that game again
2:06:31 PM: sword transformers
2:07:28 PM: there’s the vincent game too… dirge something..
2:07:33 PM: fp shooter
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August 26, 2005 – 10:10 am
Well, not really. Anyway, on August 1st, we released Laboo!, a car search site for the biggest used car trader in Japan, Gulliver International. I worked on this site as well, pretty much site design and GUI. The final outcome was a bit clumsy, but there’s some pretty cool stuff and funky concepts too, like using user page view and click history to calculate relationships between cars, or using data analysis on surveys to map out what cars people with certain lifestyles (exemplified by their affinity for a certain brand or pet or cartoon character, for instance) prefer to own.
Check it out.
http://laboo.221616.com/
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July 8, 2005 – 10:57 am
I’m just toeing the line.
Yep, weeks of 4-5 hour sleep days are taking their toll on me. My head is fuzzy, and I fight desperately to keep my eyes open during client meetings. It scares me that I would almost commit murder for the opportunity to take a little nap at that very point when the eyelids no longer fight off gravity.
So, work is busy. I’m working part-PM on the community site, I’m sort of involved in brainstorming for other pitches, and aside from that I have no idea why I’m so busy. Somebody needs to wire me some awesome marketing campaigns for use on said community site promotion project.
Personal life… yeah personal life is kinda messed up too. So I’m being psychologically tortured by the whole Hekiru thing, someone I really liked came to see me and battered down walls which I still could not climb over, and I am too tired to deal with meeting people or building new relationships. So, I still can’t figure what I want. When my mind clears, I’ll write it down, and you can tell me if I’m crazy or not, okay?
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