Merry Christmas

This just doesn't get old.



Merry Christmas everyone. Have a good one.

Air Penny Overload pt. VII

Oh my.



I need this issue.

サイヤ人の王子、ベジータ

I've found ベジータ. Never thought he'd be in Okinawa.



I think I spent almost my entire weekend in my car.



I've been running on two things: steamed buns and Zidane Juice.

Jason Richardson A Sun

Suns trade Raja Bell and Boris Diaw to the Bobcats for Jason Richardson. Big move. A starting lineup of Steve Nash, Jason Richardson, Grant Hill, Amare Stoudemire, and Shaquille O’Neal is pretty scary, but losing Diaw off the bench will hurt some. The Suns haven’t had a playmaking 2-guard on the perimeter since Joe Johnson left for Atlanta, so it’ll be interesting to see if Nash will benefit from having a backcourt mate that isn’t strictly a spot-up guy. J-Rich isn’t nearly as good as JJ, but I’m nonetheless digging how the Suns now have legitimate offensive threats at every position. If there’s one thing that Richardson can do better than JJ - and most other players in the league - it’s finish at the rim, so at least Nash will have a Shawn Marion-esque target on the break. Here’s to hoping that Porter will let them run. Bell's defense will be missed, but Richardson is shooting a pretty staggering 46% from beyond the arc this season, so it isn't likely that the team will miss Raja's outside touch.

On the other hand, Steve Kerr, in his attempt to build a "defensive squad," has managed to trade away Shawn Marion and Raja Bell, the team's two best defensive players. I love Matt Barnes and Richardson, but they're clearly guys who would be better suited to running in D'Antoni's system. Bottom line: the starting 5 has the potential to be one heck of an offensive juggernaut, but trading Bell and Boris for Richardson does nothing for the defense. I agree that a shakeup was necessary, but if you're going to pick up players who are built to run, you'd better let them run.

As Joey Styles Would Say: "OH MY GOD!!!"

Ok, now this is great stuff. Taken from PWI:

During the recent trip to Iraq, JBL was harassing former WWE announcer and now WWE.com head Joey Styles. JBL was basically bullying him, being rude, condescending and also spilling a drink on Styles at one point. JBL seemed to target Styles since it was his first trip with the company to Iraq, something Styles was looking forward too. Many people in the company don't like when JBL does these things, but they feel that they have to deal with it due to the fact that he is a tenured veteran and has a lot of political stroke backstage.

After a few days on the tour, JBL (who was drinking) did something to Styles that upset him so much that he physically retaliated. Several wrestlers tried to break up the situation, but JBL broke free. This is when Styles threw a punch that not only laid out JBL, but also blackened his eye. Many within the company feel that this is karma, due to the fact that JBL has "hazed" people for years, including the Blue Meanie beat down at the first "One Night Stand" as well as the European Tour where Smackdown talent Palmer Cannon quit the company due to the actions of JBL.

This was the talk of the locker room last night at Raw. JBL was reportedly very out of character, as he was quiet and subdued backstage. Styles tried to downplay the entire incident when people brought it up. Most feel that this is a double embarrassment for JBL, first of all because he got punched out by an announcer, and secondly because he is very instrumental in setting up the Iraq tours.

Not that I’m that big of a JBL hater (I’m not) or that I’m that big of a Joey Styles fan (I’m not), but this is absolute gold. A former WWE champ getting dropped by the guy who oversees WWE.com? I don’t know if there’s any real cure for douchebaggery, but this would probably be the closest thing.

2 More Weeks

It wasn’t my intent to be one of those people who count down the days until they get to fly home, but there it is. I think I’m just looking forward to speaking English for two weeks straight. If there's one thing I'm bummed about, it's this:

12/20/08: Air Jordan 11/12 Countdown Pack
12/21/08: When I get home

Crap. I'm usually all for release dates being moved up, but this is a different story since the 11/12 CDP will likely be sold out within 24 hours. Oh well. My backup plan is to pick up another pair of Spizikes (I'm really into the Cactus ones) and a pair of these if they're in stores:



Air Max 95. Old school colorway.

My (Not Yet Fully Operational) Death Star

Now that things have settled down a little, I’ve been furnishing my apartment with things that I’ve bought myself. The stuff that my predecessor left me is functional, but it kind of makes me feel like I’m living in someone else’s house. I’d been getting really restless during idle moments at home, but I think that this may have something to do with the fact that my apartment doesn’t really feel like my apartment. I’ve started small and have bought new trash bins, lamps, magazine racks, clocks, etc., and it’s been curiously addicting. Next up? Some curtains which aren’t pink. I never really bought into that feng shui business, but I moved my television and my couch around the other day and felt strangely revitalized. I’ve also got a table with four chairs in my kitchen, but have yet to actually eat on the thing…I may have to look into trying that out sometime.

NHK紅白

This year's lineup:

Red:
aiko (7)
Thelma Aoyama (Debut)
Junko Akimoto (Debut)
Ayaka (3)
Angela Aki (3)
Ikimono Gakari (Debut)
Sayuri Ishikawa (31)
Ai Otsuka (5)
Miyuki Kawanaka (21)
GIRL NEXT DOOR (Debut)
Kumi Koda (4)
Natsuko Godai (15)
Sachiko Kobayashi (30)
Fuyumi Sakamoto (20)
SPEED (4)
Yoshimi Tendo (13)
Mika Nakashima (7)
Mitsuko Nakamura (13)
Ayumi Hamasaki (10)
Perfume (Debut)
Yo Hitoto (5)
Ayaka Hirahara (5)
Ayako Fuji (16)
Fujioka Fujimaki and Nozomi Ohashi (Debut)
Kaori Mizumori (6)
Akiko Wada (32)

White:
Masafumi Akikawa (3)
Aqua Timez (2)
Hiroshi Itsuki (38)
EXILE (4)
Saburo Kitajima (45)
Takeshi Kitayama (4)
Kimaguren (Debut)
Yusaku Kiyama (Debut)
Kobukuro (4)
Jero (Debut)
Shuchishin (with Pabo) (Debut)
SMAP (16)
TVXQ (Debut)
TOKIO (15)
Hideaki Tokunaga (3)
Kiyoshi Hikawa (9)
Ken Hirai (6)
Akira Fuse (24)
Porno Graffiti (7)
Kiyoshi Maekawa (18)
Kenichi Mikawa (25)
Mr.Children (Debut)
Yutaka Mizutani (Debut)
Shinichi Mori (41)
Naotaro Moriyama (3)
WaT (4)

No モー娘。:-/ And how is it that Mr. Children are making their first appearance? Not sure why I never noticed that before. Looking at that lineup though, I think I might just skip this year's show. I suppose I wouldn't mind seeing TOKIO if they're performing「雨傘」, and I quite like SPEED and いきものがかり, but not enough to sit through the rest of that stuff. I'm actually into GIRL NEXT DOOR and Perfume as well, but their live performances are pretty brutal.

ガキの使い

VOL#１２： ￥６８００



But worth every yen.

The Jordan Brand: Why Sneakerheads Die Broke

So it looks like the XI/XII pack is going to be Bred/Taxi. I was really hoping for a Concord/Playoff combo, but this is still easily the best countdown pack in the series, and the only one even remotely worth the massive MSRP.



With that, I give you my top 5 Jordans. I’m not really that big of a Jordan head, but I’d be willing to sell my soul for some of these.

5) Playoff XII



These are a piece of work, and I was straight praying that they would be in the upcoming XI/XII countdown pack. If I’m not mistaken, MJ wore these en route to his first championship since coming out of retirement. A lot of kids had the red/black ones back when we were in the 6th grade, but I was way too busy salivating over the Air Max Penny to bother. Remember the days when we were only allowed to have one pair? It’s good to have a job.

4) Nick Anderson X



I was a pretty huge Orlando fan in the 90s, and believe it or not, it was Nick Anderson, not Shaq, who was my second favorite player behind Penny Hardaway. People will never forget Nick’s 4 missed free throws in game 1 of the 94-95 Finals, but not everyone remembers that this dude could score with the best of them. The Chicago Bulls edition with the 45 stitched on the side is probably be the most coveted incarnation of the X, but there’s just something about the Anderson PE that calls out to me. It’s essentially impossible to find, but we can all dream.

3) True Blue III.



Widely recognized as Tinker Hatfield’s first contribution to the Jordan brand, the III came out before I was in the game, so I won’t even pretend that I’m an expert on them. I was probably about 4 when they dropped, so I don’t think that I was really into anything besides Sesame Street and chocolate milk. What I do know is that they remain a really great looking sneaker to this day, and that the elephant print featured on the shoe opened a lot of doors for the wild designs we see now.

2) Quentin Richardson XIII.



Aside from the XX3, the XIII remains my favorite incarnation of the Jordan to date, and Q absolutely blew my mind when he rocked these player exclusives during the 04-05 season. What’s funny is that Q apparently thought he was Jordan when he wore these, as he went on to set a Suns franchise record for the most 3-point field goals attempted (and made) in a single season. I’m probably one of the few people out there who’d lose it over some orange Jordans, but as a Suns fan, it don’t get much better than these. I still can’t help but feel that the hologram is a little corny, but the design of the XIII is just so sleek and clean.

1) Old Love XX3



Or whatever they're called. I’m probably in the minority here, but this is my favorite makeup of the XX3. The titaniums are incredible, but it just seems fitting that the cleanest XX3 is a Chicago Bulls colorway. The new trio set to release later this month (UNC/CHI/Motorsports) are beautiful as well, but I guess I'm just a really big fan of white. Simply put, the XX3 is such an incredible shoe that it barely matters what colors you throw onto the thing. It’ll set you back $185 to land a pair, but the shoe’s intricate balance of cutting edge & classy is simply unparalleled. Arguably the most stunningly crafted sneaker ever made, Jordan or otherwise.

Contextual Fury And I

Listening to:
YUI
My Short Stories

The A in ALT stands for assistant, but I’ve been teaching classes by myself since last week. The teacher for the first graders has been out tending to a serious family issue, so I’ve been running all of her classes in her place. I actually don’t mind given the circumstances, but considering that I have no formal training in the field, managing 35 students at a time can be quite a challenge. Ideally, the foreign teacher (me) should be a warm, approachable figure, but the reality is that you can’t always be that when you’ve got a class to keep in line. I already lost it once and yelled at a pair of students who were goofing around in the middle of the lesson, and the dead silence that followed was a step or two beyond uncomfortable. One girl standing at the back of the class had a look on her face as if I had just murdered someone. Now, I’m here to help the students learn English, not scare the shit out of them, but I guess that the two can go hand in hand within context.

One of my friends from one of the outer islands came to stay at my place over the weekend, and he couldn’t stop talking about GTA IV. I hadn’t thought particularly much about gaming over the past few months, but now I’m finding that I really want a next-gen console. I usually find a suitable reason not to take the plunge, namely money, but that isn’t so much of an issue for once. We’ll see. With T6, SFIV, and FFXIII all due out in 2009, I can’t see myself not having a PS3 by next year.

Brock Lesnar, UFC Champ

Believe it.

ビールと枝豆の炊き込みご飯

I'm not ashamed to admit that I take cooking tips from comedians from time to time.



That's the good stuff right there.

My (Favorite) Mistake

Listening to:
Sheryl Crow
The Globe Sessions
"My Favorite Mistake"

I usually take my lunch in the teacher's lounge, but in an effort to get to know my students outside of a classroom setting, I've also started to eat with the kids from time to time. The students down here have lunch in their homeroom classes, so it's a bit different from the states, where cafeterias are the norm. The first time I ate with one of the classes, we had a real chill, mellow conversation about Hawaii, Okinawa, sports, Stevie Wonder, and entrance exams. My intent was to have a comfortable chat about life with some of my students, and I certainly felt that I succeeded. But for one reason or another, I made the mistake of assuming that lunches with different classes would all follow a similar script. To say the very least, I was incorrect. I decided to eat with my favorite class the other day, and what ensued was not lunch, but sheer pandemonium. I never really stopped to consider what it'd be like to literally have 40 teenagers trying to talk to me at the same time, but needless to say, it doesn't make for very favorable lunching conditions. After not eating for a good half an hour, we finished with an impromptu photo shoot and a considerable amount of incomprehensible shouting. I didn't get to chat about life with them, but I did learn that, simply put, my favorite class is utterly incapable of shutting up. But I guess that's probably why they're my favorite class.

R.I.P. Jeff Foster

I stopped playing fantasy ball years ago, but damn:

Amare Stoudemire - 49 points, 17-21 FG, 15-15 FT, 11 boards, 6 dimes, 5 steals, 2 blocks, 1 homicide.



I know it's only been 5 games, but the dude is dropping 25 per on like 70% shooting.

Steve Nash. Like Us. But 10x Better.

His days as the league's best point guard may be behind him, but he's clearly the funniest dude in the game.







It's like, you know, people say, "Hey, you don't wanna swim with sharks," but I'm faster than sharks, so it's not a big deal.

考え事

Listening to:
GO!GO! 7188
竜舌蘭
「考え事」

One interesting thing about the schools down here is that they have chorus competitions in which the classes compete against each other in the hopes of moving on to larger regional meets. For what it’s worth, I spend roughly the same amount of time in every class and should thus be unbiased when watching competitions that pit the kids against one another, but the reality is that I tend to like some students and classes more than others. Whether or not you perceive that to be a dent in my moral character is up to you, but I think it’s a little silly to pretend that teachers are above subjectivity. It’s our duty to give each student the same opportunity and the same degree of attention, but I think it’s unfair to expect instructors to be sub-human to the point that they don’t feel differently towards the students who make the most of those opportunities. To be perfectly honest, I still don’t consider myself a real teacher - at least not by the high Japanese standards - but I nonetheless like to think that I have a lot to offer the kids here. Anyway, one student that I’m particularly fond of was the conductor for her class during the aforementioned chorus competition. She’s one of my favorite students, not because she’s really great at English (she’s not), but because she makes an honest effort with her studies and unfailingly greets me with unbridled zeal when our paths cross. Her homeroom class, which I’m also quite fond of, had high hopes of landing first place and moving on to the regionals. The class unfortunately came up a little short, but she went on to receive an award for most outstanding conductor. She had tears in her eyes she went up to accept her award, but not tears of joy; she was absolutely crushed because her classmates weren’t being recognized with her. It generally takes me a while to get emotionally invested in anything, but it really broke my heart to see her crying when she conceivably had every right to be celebrating. Much like any other junior high, my school has its share of brats and bullying, but I’ve also seen a brand of camaraderie and warmth that I think is unique to the culture here.

Taste Of Home (Sorta), STAT's Goggles

I guess one my aunts down here suspected that I was missing America, so she bought me some food from McDonald's and a bunch of American snacks.



It's not that I was particularly craving any of the above, but it was a really quirky, thoughtful gesture.



I’m actually kind of digging Amare's goggles. I’m glad he elected to go with the Bo Outlaw look instead of the Horace Grant one.

伴都美子 「Van.」

伴都美子がニューアルバム「Van.」を12月10日にリリースすることになった。

先ごろDo As Infinityとしての活動を再開させた彼女。ひさしぶりのオリジナルアルバムとなる本作には、2006年6月発売の1stソロシングル 「Flower」から今年6月にリリースされた「東京日和」までの全シングルのほか、初めて作曲にチャレンジした新曲などを収録。“ソロアーティスト・伴 都美子”の魅力あふれる、等身大の内容となっている。ある意味、ソロ活動3年間の集大成といえるアルバム「Van.」。Do As Infinityでの彼女とはひと味違った歌世界を、この作品からじっくり味わってほしい。

本人の名前をイメージさせるアルバムタイトルだが、ほかにも“ヴァンガード（先駆者）”という意味を示すとのこと。タイトルに込めた彼女の強い意思と姿勢を感じ取ってみよう。

http://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/3862049/

Air Penny II

12 years later, the Penny II remains my favorite sneaker of all time. Now I'm just waiting on Nike to retro the blue ones.










And just in case anybody forgot how damn good Penny was...

Things That I Miss About Living Back Home

Top 20, in no particular order:

1. Roads wide enough to accommodate cars traveling both ways.
2. My shoes. My ultimate fear is that I’ll snap and start a second sneaker collection down here.
3. My subwoofers.
4. Ala Moana shopping center. I was initially excited when I heard that there was a mall across from my apartment. Unfortunately, by “mall,” they apparently meant “massive furniture store.”
5. Pop-Tarts.
6. Driving through Waiks at night.
7. Automated teller machines that I can understand.
8. DVDs that don’t cost 5,000 yen a pop. I never thought I’d miss Best Buy as much as I currently do.
9. Not having to divide my rubbish into a billion different sub-categories w/ corresponding color-coded trash bags.
10. Fruits. Everything will cost you an arm and a leg here.
11. My dog.
12. Paper towels in public restrooms. I still haven’t gotten into the swing of carrying a handkerchief with me whenever I go out.
13. Jason’s couch.
14. SportsCenter.
15. Watching SportsCenter on Jason’s couch.
16. The weather. Not that I was particularly fond of the weather back in Hawaii or anything, just that the weather here is sort of bizarre.
17. Tylenol.
18. The gas prices. Yeah, it’s that expensive over here.
19. Non-McDonalds fast food joints. I’m gonna live at the BK Lounge when I get back home.
20. Speaking English.

Things That I Love About Living Here

Top 20, in no particular order:

1. Rocking Dunks that are $80 USD, but 16,000 JPY to everyone else.
2. Having a convenience store across the street.
3. 丸一唐揚げ chicken. Pretty much the best fried chicken that I’ve eaten. Ever.
4. The really nice people.
5. 100 yen stores, because sometimes you really need both a spatula and some magnets ASAP.
6. Actually being able to make meaningful purchases with coins.
7. People at work cutting you slack because you’re a foreigner. Regardless of your job, you’re bound to make mistakes at one point or another, so it’s always nice when people interpret your stupidity or carelessness as a “cultural misunderstanding.”
8. The snacks.
9. The shoe game. Nothing beats being in the states, but I guess that you can find decent kicks anywhere if you look hard enough.
10. Afternoon drives along the 58.
11. Never having to worry about finding a public restroom or a vending machine.
12. Okinawa soba.
13. Being able to pick up new CDs and manga on the day that they drop. No place quite like Japan to satiate a case of shameless fanaticism.
14. UNIQLO.
15. Having an air conditioner in my room. I literally run that thing all day on the weekends.
16. Japanese television. Even the nature programs over here kick ass.
17. The stray animals everywhere. I’ve seen turtles strolling along the road, cats with bow ties outside of my apartment, and dogs running around in the supermarket. It’s like Ace Ventura left his door open.
    
18. Being able to drink in public. I haven’t done it yet, but one day when I’m feeling particularly wistful, I’ll probably walk across the street to the store, grab some awamori, walk over to the beach, and watch the sunset.
19. Getting crazy gas mileage on my go-cart.
20. How safe my town is. I often see kids from the elementary school riding their bikes around in the middle of night. It's kind of surreal.
    

ネオパーク

I’ve been making it a point to visit some of the places from my childhood memories, including this old bird park way up in Nago. The exotic birds walking around all over the place initially makes for a cool experience, but all the birds kind of start to look the same after a while. There used to be a pretty amazing toucan exhibit there, where the birds would fly down from the trees and perch on your shoulders so you could feed them, but I guess something happened to one of the birds (or one of the humans), because all the toucans are chilling out in cages now. I'm nonetheless a sucker for any kind of zoo or aquarium, so I quite enjoyed myself.



I distinctly remember the place being much larger when I was 6, but I guess it was just one of those cases of the world appearing much bigger to you as a child.



They’ve also got giant fishes.



And pigs. I didn’t come to Okinawa to study animals or bask in the nature, but I’ve been getting substantial doses of both. When I go to the local athletic park for a jog at night, I have to keep a cautious eye out for poisonous snakes and low flying bats. Seriously.

Tekken 6 Console Release - Fall 09

Looks like we won't be seeing a console release of the standard Tekken 6 after all. Instead, Namco has announced a Fall 2009 release of Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion for both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. Bloodline Rebellion, much like T5's Dark Resurrection, will likely fix balancing issues that T6 had, and will feature a pair (at least) of new characters. I was excited until I actually saw what the new characters looked like.





I'm a die hard Tekken fan, but these character designs look somewhat retarded. Lars Alexandersson (top) dresses like a vampire from the future, and Alisa Bosconovitch (bottom), who's apparently a cyborg of some sort, looks more like she belongs in Xenosaga or something. Logic suggests that she's likely related to related Dr. Bosconovitch in some way, hence the "Bloodline Rebellion" title.

Guilty Pleasure

Listening to:
Allister
Guilty Pleasures
"チェリー"

I went to a club the other weekend, where I remained absolutely sober for a good 4 hours. Maybe it’s because I’m used to clubs full of idiots who know that Soulja Boy dance by heart, or maybe it’s because I was in a club in a foreign country for the first time (or maybe it was the total absence of alcohol in me), but it turned out to be an interesting experience. One thing that caught me off guard was the DJ playing a rock version of Spitz's「チェリー」. I did a little bit of research when I got back to my place, and it turns out that the cover was done by the band Allister, of “Moper” fame. I distinctly remember listening to them late in our high school lives and hating on their cover of “I Want it That Way” with Ono, so Allister is probably the last band that I thought I'd be revisiting in my mid-twenties. Their take on「チェリー」is really great stuff, and I actually like their version better than Van Tomiko's (and that’s saying a lot). Granted, it’s kind of hard to mess up a great song like「チェリー」, but there’s nothing wrong with calling a good cover what it is.

Playing Like Erick Dampier

I played basketball with my students the other day, and was thoroughly gassed within 5 minutes. I’d been in fairly decent shape prior to coming over here, but I guess two months of lounging around and eating exorbitant dinners can take a toll. I’m thinking that I’ll have to start running again, if only because I don’t want the girls basketball squad to be leaving me in the dust on a weekly basis. I prefer to play with the boys team, because there’s just something inherently wrong about swatting a 13-year-old girl’s shot into the stands. Then again, as someone with the stamina of a 70-year-old man, I guess I’m not in a position to be picky. I didn’t come here with the intent to train, but on the other hand, there’s a lot worse that I could do with my free time.

Oh, and I'm back in the game.

Do As 復活

Listening to:
Do As Infinity
TRUE SONG

So Do As Infinity played their first real post-reunion set last week, and word is that they haven’t missed a beat. They apparently plan to do live shows for the remainder of the year, and will then hit the studio to work on new material for next spring. With another Van Tomiko solo album slated to drop later this year, I’m really quite excited about all the DAI-related releases coming up. I’m still in the midst of finishing up my complete Do As Infinity discography (all singles, albums, comps, DVD lives), but having some new releases on that calendar is really what makes being a fan so fun.



According to Ryo, they’re “never breaking up again,” so that means I’ll get the opportunity to finally see my favorite band live.



But maybe not for a little while.

Hyperdunk STAT PE

I was planning passing on the Hyperdunks (and probably still will), but these Amare Stoudemire PEs are mighty fine looking.



If anything, I might just wait on the Hypermax. It's totally a "power forward" shoe, but a really sleek looking one. Must be the flywire.

Me vs Yoshimitsu's Flag

There's one of those weird Japanese flags attached to a concrete pillar next to my parking stall. It's pretty much one of those things that Yoshimitsu has attached to his back in the Soul Calibur games. I don't know how else to describe it.



Anyway, some kind of engineering savant apparently decided that it would be sensible to erect the flag using nothing but a couple of feet of chicken wire. With the typhoon winds coming and going, the dumb flag would get blown horizontally into my car's path on a semi-daily basis. I finally sick of fixing the thing and drove right through it this morning, effectively knocking the flag & pole clear off the pillar and onto the curb somewhere. I don't care particularly much for my car, and I hated the bloody flag, so it wasn't a real difficult decision to make. I just hope it's not getting added to next month's rent.

"May I Eat This Cake?"

Listening to:
くず
「くずアルバム」

Or as one of my students said today:

"May I eat this cock?"

On occasion, this job is the greatest in the world.

TOKIO - 「雨傘」

If nothing else, TOKIO has always been the most talented of the Johnny's groups, but「雨傘」is probably the first song of theirs that I've really been into.



This damn track has been stuck in my head since I've been in Japan, and I've just found out that the song was written and composed by Shiina Ringo and Tokyo Jihen. That explains a lot.

OH, NO WAY!!!

Cro Cop is still kind of a big deal here in Japan, so they were showing highlights from his DREAM.6 match the other night on television. His fight with Alistair Overeem was eerily similar to his fight with Cheick Kongo, as Mirko took what seemed like a thousand knees to the groin before the match was thrown out. I guess opposing fighters have decided that the best way to avoid Cro Cop's head kicks is to clinch and repeatedly knee him in the junk. What's crazy is that trainers ringside were reporting that Mirko had taken a low blow so hard that his right testicle had gone inside his body. Now, I'm no doctor, but I didn't realize shit like that was even possible. The injury is supposedly a lot worse than it sounds, but as far as injuries go, a disappearing testicle sounds REALLY BAD. It's kind of sad how Cro Cop has gone from being the most feared striker in the business to the guy with the giant bullseye on his crotch. As a fan, I'd certainly like to see him return to his former glory, but maybe it's about time for Mirko to hang up the gloves.

My "Moped"

Okay, it's not really a moped.



Its horsepower is just comparable to that of one.

My Moped

Not to discourage anybody from ever visiting me, but...



I can't haul too many people in my whip. ;-)

EVA 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone

Watching:
ヱヴァンゲリヲン新劇場版:序

This thing has been out on DVD in Japan for a while now, but I finally caved and bought the LE version the other night. The DVD comes packed with 5 frames of animation from the actual movie, which is pretty darn cool, and as R2 releases generally go, the packaging itself is top notch. The feature is a spectacular visual piece, and though there really isn't much new from a storyline perspective, it's definitely worth watching for the new storyboards and the CG bits. The Ramiel battle (which serves as the climactic scene) has been totally overhauled, and should be pretty breathtaking stuff for fans of the show. No Asuka here, but the trailer for 2.0 looks pretty incredible. Can't wait.

Milk & Eggs > Kicks

I found a local store selling the low XX3 in black that I'd been ogling for months. Those things are stealth.



BUT I really don't think I need a third pair of XX3s, and that's a hefty sum of money that I could throw at groceries instead. Decisions, decisions.

See You Later...

It's Respect for the Aged Day here in Japan (which I honestly had no idea existed until I played Persona 3). My grandma, whom I loved dearly, passed away last week, and it really hit me hard that I wasn't back home with her when she passed. I was seriously considering flying home during my second week on the job, but my aunty sent me the following in an email:

Her ashes will be scattered at Kuhio Beach on Saturday morning. Part of the reason is that her first son drowned there. She also did not want people to have to come back to a specific spot to pay their respects to her. The idea is that all the earth's waters eventually connect, so wherever we are in the world, we can place some flowers on the ocean, or in a river or stream, etc. and think of her. So, after Saturday, you can pay your respects anytime that you're near a body of water - even in Okinawa.

You know what? I like that.