Friday, November 30, 2007

それほどでもないけど。。。


「すごい」

。。。だって。たしかに自信だけはすげぇんだけどな。まあ、とりあえず悪くなかったと言っておきます。

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

AC protecting the McNuggets


















Oh snap, Anthony Carter was ballin': 17 points, 7-12 FG, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 steals in 33 minutes of work. The Nuggets lost, but that's ok, because I don't give a shit about the Nuggets. And in case you're wondering, yes, I fully intend to make note of every good game that Anthony Carter and Penny Hardaway have this season.

Not Bad Pretty Good Day

Listening to:
Tsunami Bomb
The Invasion From Within
track: "No Good Very Bad Day"

It's kind of ironic, I only listen to Tsunami Bomb's "No Good Very Bad Day" because it's an upbeat track that puts me in a good mood. I guess that's the point of the song. Work hasn't been bad at all lately, and aside from having to eat leftover turkey twice a day for the past 5 days, I've got considerably few qualms about life at the moment. In reality, I think my good mood has less to do with Tsunami Bomb and more to with my scheduled meeting for tomorrow afternoon getting canceled. Nothing like an unexpected day off to get you and life on good terms huh?

Upcoming movies/Hollywood scuttlebutt:
-Fast and the Furious 4 will feature a returning Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, and Jordana Brewster (!). So who knows, it might actually be a pretty good movie like the original. Not to say that I didn't enjoy the two sequels, because I quite liked Tokyo Drift, and to a much lesser extent, 2 Fast 2 Furious, but you can't deny that they both emphatically fall under that "shut your brain off for 90 minutes & enjoy yourself" category. Not that there's anything wrong with that. One thing for sure, when Vin Diesel is bringing a sense of acting legitimacy to the cast, you're probably not going to get a whole lot of sharp delivery. I'm actually looking forward to this one though.

-A Juggernaut X-Men spin-off is rumored be in the works next, joining the already confirmed Magneto and Wolverine flicks. Given the clusterfuck that X3 turned out to be, solo "origins" type spin-offs might actually be the way to go to give the films a sense of focus. And really, if you're going to lift three actors from any of the X-Men movies to do spin-offs with (Patrick Stewart aside), Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, and Vinnie Jones are definitely the three guys to go with.

-Common has reportedly landed the role of the Green Lantern in the upcoming Justice League movie. Haha. I'm actually not sure what to say about that.

-The live action Dragon Ball Z film is a go. This is notable because 13-year-old fanboys from all over America have been clamoring for this movie to be made for years, and now the rest of the world will have to suffer as a result. I really want to give the idea of a live action DBZ flick a fair shake, but is there any chance that this movie turns out to be anything other than an utter cinematic disaster? I don't actively dislike Dragon Ball, nor do I care about the series enough to be worried about some Hollywood flick sullying the franchise (ha!), but it's clear that the vast majority of animated shows out there don't translate nearly as well to the big-screen as their live action directors would like to believe that they do. Dragon Ball will effectively become the epitome of this rule.

-A live action version of Akira has also been confirmed. What's up with Hollywood deciding to make movies based on successful 80's anime titles all of a sudden? Strange. But along with Robotech, I'm guardedly optimistic about this one. What can I say? I'm a sucker for violent, post-apocalyptic stuff.

-Actress Hayden Panettiere (of Heroes fame) has reportedly gone on record saying that she would, "...love to have an affair with Angelina (Jolie)!" Yeah, well get in line. I'm actually not really sure why Panettiere voicing the opinion of 80% of the world's population qualifies as news.

-Fabio has reportedly called George Clooney "half a man" after the two got into an altercation at a restaurant a few weeks ago. Not that I have anything against Clooney, but this rules, because Fabio is the shit.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Kweli @ Pipeline, UH @ #12 BCS Rankings


My favorite live shows to date:

1) Dance Hall Crashers (Pipeline Cafe, 2003)
2) Talib Kweli (Pipeline Cafe, 2007)
3) No Doubt (Andrews Amphitheater, 2000)
4) Talib Kweli (Pipeline Cafe, 2006)
5) Rufio (Pink Cadillac, 2006)

Being a music fan in Hawaii is tough sometimes, but I guess I've been pretty diligent about catching my favorite acts when they do come down. There's a Lupe Fiasco show on December 27, about a week or so after The Cool drops...I'm thinking that it might be a good opportunity to extend upon some of that post-Christmas afterglow. We'll see.

The latest BCS polls are out, and as of right now, UH is sitting right on that #12 spot. Unbelievable. It's one thing watching the team handle Boise like they did during the 4th quarter of Friday's game, but to think that we're the sole undefeated team left in the nation? Pretty crazy stuff. Of course, all the BCS talk is moot if we don't beat Washington - a team that actually took out Boise State earlier in the year - so hopefully the Warriors will handle their business this Saturday.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

モーニング娘。「みかん」

Listening to:
モーニング娘。
「みかん」

買っちゃた。金ないのに。でもまぁ、新しいバイト始まったから別にいいか。最近のモーニング娘のシングルは全部いい曲ばっかりだよな。「笑顔YESヌード」、「悲しみトワイライト」、「女に 幸あれ」、そして新曲の「みかん」。最近は2位まで行ってるけど、今度は1位入るようにオレもちょっと強力しました。(。。。オレもアホだな)

ガキさんカード付きやで。



出来ればもちろん高橋の方が良かったんだけど、小春以外なら別に誰でもいいか。

Friday, November 23, 2007

Thanksgiving Day

Listening to:
Do As Infinity
Gates Of Heaven
track: "Thanksgiving Day"

More often than not, Thanksgiving is my favorite day of the year. I'm finding that I tend to hate my birthdays, and Thanksgiving isn't like Christmas, where the buildup is so immense and prolonged that you inevitably end up setting yourself up for disappointment on some level. To be perfectly real about it, Thanksgiving is more or less the ultimate excuse to do nothing but eat a ton of food and watch sports on television...which is pretty much what every day would be like in my vision of the perfect world. Have a good one everybody.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

My rapidly receding waistline & rapidly expanding Motorola collection

Listening to:
Rilo Kiley
Under The Blacklight

Something strange is happening. I dropped another 4 pounds overnight. So within the past 6 months or so, I've managed to cut 24 pounds now. I don't know if you'd call that excessive, but it's downright bizarre by my standards. At first I thought it was because I've been stressing out a lot recently, but I don't feel particularly unhealthy, just really lean. So I guess I'm doing ok. I haven't been walking lately (so who knows where all those lbs. are going), but I'm thinking that once I get used to my work schedule I'm probably going to extend my summer exercise regimen to a year-round affair. Say what you will about people who lift weights obsessively, but you can't deny that it's incredible for relieving stress.

After a month or so of debating whether or not I should drop my Boost phone and go exclusively with AT&T, I've decided to stick with both providers and picked up one of these to boot:

Not that I was tired of my i860 by any means, but the i425 was dirt cheap. And now I have a backup Boost phone for my backup Boost phone. I use my Boost almost exclusively for AIM and mobile web (more specifically, ESPN.com), so I really don't need the thing...but we don't really need socks or underwear either, and I rock both of those on the daily.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Henderson/Silva, UH 10-0, Penny, PHX, and Nas' ugly kicks

Weekend sports musings

Word is that Dan Henderson could be dropping to 185 to face Anderson "Spider" Silva for the middleweight title. Awesome. I suppose I enjoy watching Silva break Rich Franklin's face as much as the next guy, but having Silva fight someone in his league for a change will be compelling stuff. Nothing against Franklin, who's a really great fighter in his own right, but whenever I see him eating Silva's knees in the clinch, I can't help but imagine him yelling, "HELP! HEEELLP!!!"

Speaking of compelling, the UH football game sure as heck made for some good TV on ESPN. A solid win considering that Brennan only took 2 snaps, and I think I actually blacked out for a second when Kelly's second kick went through. Haha. The last time that happened was when Tim Thomas hit the trey to send game 6 of the 2006 Suns/Lakers series into overtime. This coming Friday's game is going to be huge, as Boise State has been looking absurdly good recently. A pair of top 20 WAC teams facing off? Who woulda thunk?

Penny Hardaway can still shoot the rock. Miami @ Jersey on Saturday: 6-6 FG, 4-4 3Pt, 16 points.

I've been watching most of the Suns games, and though they haven't looked particularly good as of yet, they're 8-2 through the first 10 games. So they're having cohesion issues and still playing .800 ball? Considering that they started 1-5 last season, I'll gladly take it. Grant Hill has been better than advertised, Amare, not so much. One thing for sure, it's going to be nasty when this team goes on its annual mid-season tear.


In other news, Nas apparently has some new shoes coming out. And as one might expect, they look really, really bad. Considering how much rappers love sneakers, you'd think that they'd make an effort to put out some nicer shoes. The Game, G-Unit, Nelly...they all release the same ugly kicks. The only dude with halfway decent shoes is Pharrell with his Ice Cream line. Everything else is all f***** up. Still, it's Nas' shoe, and the "Disciple" is a cool name, so maybe I'll consider grabbing a pair when they inevitably end up on Champs' clearance rack.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

来た。しかも早っ!


本日来ました。うれしいっす。

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Growing pains

Listening to:
Lupe Fiasco
Food & Liquor


I don't miss attending class in the least, but I'm finding that I miss being on campus from time to time. I know that this isn't necessarily true, but sometimes I feel that post-grads shouldn't be allowed to goof around and be immature. I mean, sure, we've all been "adults" for a while now, but part of me thinks that college is your last opportunity to act like you're not one. And that's another thing. I think that maybe I'm afraid of the real world because I'm afraid of dressing like a real adult. ;-) Not that I can't pull it off, just that I don't always want to. Oh well, I suppose the sneakers and fitteds will always be there for me on the weekends.

Friday, November 9, 2007

DQM and my intermediate writing skills

Playing:
Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker (Nintendo DS)

けっこう楽しいぞ。It's essentially DQVIII + Pokemon, which more or less explains the 1.4 million units sold in Japan alone. After all, what do Japanese folks like more than Dragon Quest and Pokemon? White rice? Impossibly small cars? Baseball? Koda Kumi? E-mail? With the exception of Koda Kumi, that's a pretty select list of wonderful things right there...I'm surprised the game didn't sell 2 million.

Recently I've been chatting a lot with my Japanese professor regarding my application to get into JET, and a couple of days ago, he sort of offhandedly noted to me that I was a good writer. Then, as if remembering that I had a BA in Journalism, he amended that and said that I was actually a "great" writer. Normally, I'd gladly take either as a compliment, but I'm fairly certain that he was just being very amiable. And regardless, I'm at a point in my life where I've come to terms with the fact that I'm merely above average as a writer anyway. I lack the drive and the commitment to become a truly great journalist, and in terms tackling something substantial like a book, I'm really totally devoid of the dedication necessary to write anything of consequence outside of cute feature pieces. It's no longer really all that depressing or even sobering, it just means that I'm very, very normal. Which is fine. Anyway, my old Japanese instructor is such a cool, intelligent cat, and I think that if I had taken a course from him earlier in my college career, I would have seriously considered majoring in Japanese. No joke.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

後藤真希...ゴッチン?

最近まで新しいiPod欲しかったんだけど、やっぱりSansaで行こうかな。正直言うと、この後藤真希の『Some Boys Touch』のPVを見てからそう思うようになったんだ。後藤さんはやっぱ少しかっこええよなぁ。ハロプロから卒業したらしいんだけど、つい最近オレもちょっとファンになったんっす。今度は彼女のアルバム買おうかなと思ってたんだけど、この間モーニング娘のシングルコレクションを買っちゃったばかりだから今は金ねぇしなぁ。まぁクリスマスはもうすぐだし、誰かプレゼントにくれや。=)

ちょっと古いけど。。。後藤真希『Some Boys Touch』



CMもたまに利くもんだな。ハハ。

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Retro Air Penny II Coming


Nike Air Penny 2. Mos definitely my favorite shoe of all time. I remember my mom thinking I was crazy paying $140 for a pair of these back when I was in the 7th grade. If memory serves me correctly, Nike eventually released a hideous black colorway, as well as a marginally less hideous white/white joint with the Penny logo on the side of the shoe, but nothing could top these. What's messed up is that I still have my OG pair - with the 96 next to the swoosh on the back - and they look like I threw them in the wash, the dryer, and the garbage disposal in concession...several times over. A new pair will do my heart good. The retros are slated to come out in Fall 09 (a whole year!?), and you're kidding yourself if you don't think I'm grabbing these.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Like birth, only less dramatic and painful ( I imagine).

Listening to:
Motion City Soundtrack

Even If It Kills Me


So, 1,961 days since originally joining Xanga (we don't really actively count, the kind folks at Xanga just make sure to remind us how long we've been posting on the daily), I've decided to take the not-so-bold step and jump to Blogger. The great thing about blogging as a hobby, is that like reading and getting immunized, you're never really too old to do it. So while the content of this journal may border on being adolescent from time to time, we can all rest assured that the actual activity of blogging is not. At least that's what I tell myself.