It's almost as if Kaela is reading my mind and doing projects with all the artists that I'd been secretly wanting her to collaborate with.
Monday, August 31, 2009
木村カエラxILMARI
ミラクル☆BANZAI. Not bad. Having PES in there would have really put the song over the top, but I'm not one to nitpick.
It's almost as if Kaela is reading my mind and doing projects with all the artists that I'd been secretly wanting her to collaborate with.
It's almost as if Kaela is reading my mind and doing projects with all the artists that I'd been secretly wanting her to collaborate with.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Tekken 6 Shaping Up Nicely
October 29th can't come soon enough. I'm a little jealous of everyone stateside since the North American release is a couple of days earlier. Things are looking good:
Honestly, I could do without the adventure mode. The "Tekken Force" mode in Tekken 3 was kind of bizarre and fun for what it was (CHICKEN~), but the beat 'em up minigames in the subsequent installments never really evolved much. Not exactly sure what to think of some of those customization features (Asuka with a bow & arrow? Bryan with a GATLING GUN??) but I like that Namco is really going all out with the extras. I've actually only played Tekken 6 once, in an arcade in Sapporo when some crazy guy in a business suit challenged me and beat me in 5 rounds, but I really liked how similar to Dark Resurrection the game handled. We don't really do Halloween down here, so I'm going to spend the 31st indoors and wear out my thumbs.
Honestly, I could do without the adventure mode. The "Tekken Force" mode in Tekken 3 was kind of bizarre and fun for what it was (CHICKEN~), but the beat 'em up minigames in the subsequent installments never really evolved much. Not exactly sure what to think of some of those customization features (Asuka with a bow & arrow? Bryan with a GATLING GUN??) but I like that Namco is really going all out with the extras. I've actually only played Tekken 6 once, in an arcade in Sapporo when some crazy guy in a business suit challenged me and beat me in 5 rounds, but I really liked how similar to Dark Resurrection the game handled. We don't really do Halloween down here, so I'm going to spend the 31st indoors and wear out my thumbs.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Okami Sequel?
A few days late on this one, but rumor is that Capcom could maybe, possibly, perhaps be prepping a sequel to Okami. The rumor stems from Capcom's recent trademarking of the term "Okamiden" (which may possibly, perhaps be short for "Okami Gaiden").
Nothing beyond a rumor at this point, but Okami was my favorite Playstation 2 game, so I'd definitely be all over a sequel on the PS3. And who knows? The Japanese people might even buy the second installment.
Nothing beyond a rumor at this point, but Okami was my favorite Playstation 2 game, so I'd definitely be all over a sequel on the PS3. And who knows? The Japanese people might even buy the second installment.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
WWE Signs Bryan Danielson
The American Dragon looks to be headed to the big leagues. Notable because Danielson is quite possibly the best technical wrestler on the planet. I imagine that the WWE's sudden interest in ROH's top star has something to do with how well the CM Punk experiment has been turning out.
Now we get to see whether or not management actually intends to give Danielson a proper push. On the bright side, HBK and William Regal trained him, so a couple of guys with some pull (to say the least) are likely in his corner.
Now we get to see whether or not management actually intends to give Danielson a proper push. On the bright side, HBK and William Regal trained him, so a couple of guys with some pull (to say the least) are likely in his corner.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Two Steps Closer...
...to being able to die a happy sneakerhead.
The Atlantic Penny IIs were my grails, but now that I've finally got a clean pair, it's almost like I don't know what to do with myself. I guess it opens things up for me to finally get after the NY Air Max Penny and the Kaela Dunks. The True Blue 3 I got for retail down here. Non-US release, so this one marks the first time that I've been thankful to be a shoe collector in Japan.
The Atlantic Penny IIs were my grails, but now that I've finally got a clean pair, it's almost like I don't know what to do with myself. I guess it opens things up for me to finally get after the NY Air Max Penny and the Kaela Dunks. The True Blue 3 I got for retail down here. Non-US release, so this one marks the first time that I've been thankful to be a shoe collector in Japan.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Homesick At English Camp
Day 1 - The kids aren't talking at all on the bus. That worries me a bit. • Turns out that we have ラジオ体操 at 7:00 AM every morning. It's pretty much aerobics at old people speed. I'm not real thrilled about it. • Only three of my students are attending the camp. None of the three are particularly keen on active participation, two of them I've never had actual conversations with before, and one of those two, Reina, I'm pretty sure legitimately dislikes me. Not in that shy Japanese "please leave me alone" way, but more of a "you make me sick, get away from me" sort of way. • It's dawned on me that I'm going to have to keep all of the boys in line by myself. So I get to be the mean guy with the flashlight who keeps everyone from having fun in the middle of the night. Probably not the best way to get the kids to like me.
Day 2 - Feels more like day 5. I'm already beat, but can't complain because so are the kids. • We're having breakfast when Shigehito, one of the junior high students, announces that he wants to have sex. I'm sure that most males are thinking the same thing at 14, but it takes a special breed of person to make that admission on day 2 of English camp over the breakfast table. Not sure whether to be frightened or encouraged by this enthusiasm. • The indoor slippers that they gave me are about three sizes too small. Trying to decide what's worse, the heat or the blisters forming on the sides of my toes. • The boys celebrate wildly when they find out that they have to clean the bathrooms. I didn't understand why until I found out that it was an excuse for them to spray each other with water. • I can't stop sweating. Wish they'd turn on the air in this bitch.
Day 3 - We took the kids to the local museum and the beer factory. I know that it doesn't make a lot of sense to take a bunch of children to a beer factory, but we did it. • The boys borrow my camera while we tour the museum. Naturally, they immediately proceed to take detailed pictures of the stuffed horse's junk. • I got pulled aside by the camp director because Sakura was starting to follow me everywhere. I'm used to junior high girls getting clingy and trying to get me fired, but this was the first time that one of the higher-ups actually thought that it presented a legitimate problem. • Yelled at three of the junior high kids because they were up snooping around the girls' rooms past lights out. Motohiro and Daichi jumped into the same bed when I sent them to their room. Funny thing is that they were still there when I went to wake them up in the morning.
Day 4 - I miss my car. • The older kids were being disinterested and rude to the American instructor during the night session, so I gave a stern talk to the entire group after class was over (yes, I've become a mean bastard). I'd like to say that I was simply sticking up for the teacher, but I think that I may have also been indirectly venting some of my personal frustrations as a foreign language instructor myself. But as they say, I wasn't angry with the kids, just disappointed. A little while later, I was sitting around thinking of all the things that I said to them and of all of the things that I should have said to them, when Wahiro pulled me into one of the rooms where the boys were shooting dumb videos and tried to get me to join in. Maybe I'm giving him too much credit, but I'm pretty sure that he was trying to cheer me up.
Day 5 - Afternoon hike, which was a nice change of pace. • The term "walking stick" comes up. Daichi points at Kaito, not exactly the slimmest cat at camp, and says "Walking steak?" I don't get how some of these kids can not understand their lessons but still snap on each other in English so hard. • Kaito gets into a tree somehow, and all of the ants that live in it start panicking and bail with their eggs. • 「先生、カッコイイんですけど。」I don't think much of it when the girls say it, but for one reason or another, it means a lot coming from the boys. • Junkichi, who's an absolute nightmare during the day, knocks on my door at midnight and says that he can't sleep because he's lonely. He's so busy getting into shit most of the time that you almost forget he's just a 10-year old kid who's liable to be scared of the monsters under his bed.
Day 6 - I think I've hit a wall. Instead of warning each kid about every single thing, I've been letting more of the little stuff slide. I guess it's that I'm tired myself and can understand why some of the kids might want to goof off a little. • Blindfold direction game in the afternoon (left, right, go!, etc.) and Shigehito runs full speed into a tree. Too busy laughing with everyone else to feel particularly bad. • S'mores and High School Musical to close out the night, and it's actually starting to feel like a proper camp.
Day 7 - Mei, the tinniest one at camp, thinks it's funny to mimic me during meals. I eat my food as fast as I can until she starts laughing and can't keep up. Cute kid. • Hinako tries to toss an empty steel can into the trash but instead ends up tagging Ibuki in the head. Ibuki bleeds for a bit, but he'd be okay. • We give the kids the afternoon to themselves at the park. Fumiya, Amon and Riku were following me around, so I end up paying their admission so they can see the aquarium. Their faces are absolutely glowing as they run from tank to tank, and I'm immediately glad that I parted with the cash to get them in. Fumiya makes sure that I'm never more than a few steps behind. Before long, they're the little brats who run around and get into everyone else's pictures, but it's kind of funny for a change because they're my little brats.
Day 8 - So tired that I literally feel like I'm floating. Just 4 hours of sleep last night, but better than the 3 that I had the night before. • The elementary kiddies do an activity where they have to cut out pictures of foods that they like and paste them on a paper plate. Aya: ice cream, cookies, pizza, grapes. Yuki: pizza, hamburger, ice cream, oranges. Morita: bicycle, Miller Lite. • I forgot my gym shoes at home, so I end up playing basketball with the junior high kids in my socks. Not smart, but such is the cost of bonding with the boys. My left ankle is killing me. • Last bath. The boys are jackasses as usual, being obscene with the hoses and doing laps in the onsen-style pool. I let them have their fun and tell them not to be late for their night class.「はーい~」they promptly answer, in perfect unison, earnest. • During the evening activity, Reina, who hated me on Monday, sits next to me.
Day 9 - After the morning exercise, little Junkichi walks over to me, takes both of my hands in his, holds them for a few seconds, then walks off. • Closing ceremony. Everyone cries. • The staff does their best to get everybody onto the buses, but nobody wants to leave. • On the ride home, the kids on my bus are already calling the kids on the other bus with their cell phones, and Daichi hands me his. I tell Shige to がんばって and promise Hinako that I'll come back next summer if I can. • I don't cry, but I wear my shades all the way home because I think that I might.
Finally over. I make sure to get everything that I've been craving for the past 9 days: quarter pounder with cheese, fries, ice cream, sleep.
Day 2 - Feels more like day 5. I'm already beat, but can't complain because so are the kids. • We're having breakfast when Shigehito, one of the junior high students, announces that he wants to have sex. I'm sure that most males are thinking the same thing at 14, but it takes a special breed of person to make that admission on day 2 of English camp over the breakfast table. Not sure whether to be frightened or encouraged by this enthusiasm. • The indoor slippers that they gave me are about three sizes too small. Trying to decide what's worse, the heat or the blisters forming on the sides of my toes. • The boys celebrate wildly when they find out that they have to clean the bathrooms. I didn't understand why until I found out that it was an excuse for them to spray each other with water. • I can't stop sweating. Wish they'd turn on the air in this bitch.
Day 3 - We took the kids to the local museum and the beer factory. I know that it doesn't make a lot of sense to take a bunch of children to a beer factory, but we did it. • The boys borrow my camera while we tour the museum. Naturally, they immediately proceed to take detailed pictures of the stuffed horse's junk. • I got pulled aside by the camp director because Sakura was starting to follow me everywhere. I'm used to junior high girls getting clingy and trying to get me fired, but this was the first time that one of the higher-ups actually thought that it presented a legitimate problem. • Yelled at three of the junior high kids because they were up snooping around the girls' rooms past lights out. Motohiro and Daichi jumped into the same bed when I sent them to their room. Funny thing is that they were still there when I went to wake them up in the morning.
Day 4 - I miss my car. • The older kids were being disinterested and rude to the American instructor during the night session, so I gave a stern talk to the entire group after class was over (yes, I've become a mean bastard). I'd like to say that I was simply sticking up for the teacher, but I think that I may have also been indirectly venting some of my personal frustrations as a foreign language instructor myself. But as they say, I wasn't angry with the kids, just disappointed. A little while later, I was sitting around thinking of all the things that I said to them and of all of the things that I should have said to them, when Wahiro pulled me into one of the rooms where the boys were shooting dumb videos and tried to get me to join in. Maybe I'm giving him too much credit, but I'm pretty sure that he was trying to cheer me up.
Day 5 - Afternoon hike, which was a nice change of pace. • The term "walking stick" comes up. Daichi points at Kaito, not exactly the slimmest cat at camp, and says "Walking steak?" I don't get how some of these kids can not understand their lessons but still snap on each other in English so hard. • Kaito gets into a tree somehow, and all of the ants that live in it start panicking and bail with their eggs. • 「先生、カッコイイんですけど。」I don't think much of it when the girls say it, but for one reason or another, it means a lot coming from the boys. • Junkichi, who's an absolute nightmare during the day, knocks on my door at midnight and says that he can't sleep because he's lonely. He's so busy getting into shit most of the time that you almost forget he's just a 10-year old kid who's liable to be scared of the monsters under his bed.
Day 6 - I think I've hit a wall. Instead of warning each kid about every single thing, I've been letting more of the little stuff slide. I guess it's that I'm tired myself and can understand why some of the kids might want to goof off a little. • Blindfold direction game in the afternoon (left, right, go!, etc.) and Shigehito runs full speed into a tree. Too busy laughing with everyone else to feel particularly bad. • S'mores and High School Musical to close out the night, and it's actually starting to feel like a proper camp.
Day 7 - Mei, the tinniest one at camp, thinks it's funny to mimic me during meals. I eat my food as fast as I can until she starts laughing and can't keep up. Cute kid. • Hinako tries to toss an empty steel can into the trash but instead ends up tagging Ibuki in the head. Ibuki bleeds for a bit, but he'd be okay. • We give the kids the afternoon to themselves at the park. Fumiya, Amon and Riku were following me around, so I end up paying their admission so they can see the aquarium. Their faces are absolutely glowing as they run from tank to tank, and I'm immediately glad that I parted with the cash to get them in. Fumiya makes sure that I'm never more than a few steps behind. Before long, they're the little brats who run around and get into everyone else's pictures, but it's kind of funny for a change because they're my little brats.
Day 8 - So tired that I literally feel like I'm floating. Just 4 hours of sleep last night, but better than the 3 that I had the night before. • The elementary kiddies do an activity where they have to cut out pictures of foods that they like and paste them on a paper plate. Aya: ice cream, cookies, pizza, grapes. Yuki: pizza, hamburger, ice cream, oranges. Morita: bicycle, Miller Lite. • I forgot my gym shoes at home, so I end up playing basketball with the junior high kids in my socks. Not smart, but such is the cost of bonding with the boys. My left ankle is killing me. • Last bath. The boys are jackasses as usual, being obscene with the hoses and doing laps in the onsen-style pool. I let them have their fun and tell them not to be late for their night class.「はーい~」they promptly answer, in perfect unison, earnest. • During the evening activity, Reina, who hated me on Monday, sits next to me.
Day 9 - After the morning exercise, little Junkichi walks over to me, takes both of my hands in his, holds them for a few seconds, then walks off. • Closing ceremony. Everyone cries. • The staff does their best to get everybody onto the buses, but nobody wants to leave. • On the ride home, the kids on my bus are already calling the kids on the other bus with their cell phones, and Daichi hands me his. I tell Shige to がんばって and promise Hinako that I'll come back next summer if I can. • I don't cry, but I wear my shades all the way home because I think that I might.
Finally over. I make sure to get everything that I've been craving for the past 9 days: quarter pounder with cheese, fries, ice cream, sleep.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Thursday, August 6, 2009
台風
Playing:Shin Megami Tensei:
Devil Survivor
(NDS)
I'm in the midst of experiencing my first typhoon since coming over to Okinawa. For one reason or another, I thought that it might be cool to head across the street and check out the beach. To make a long story short, it was a bad decision. Anyway, when my spectacular little beach idea failed, I went over to the supermarket to put together a typhoon survival kit, which included orange soda and lots of ice cream sandwiches. You know, strictly the essentials. Part of me hopes that the typhoon sticks around and cancels work tomorrow, but the other part of me hopes that it goes away because I decided to buy orange Fanta instead of candles.
It kind of sounds like my apartment is going to cave in, but this apparently isn't even a particularly strong typhoon. I never really thought much about it until now, but all of a sudden I understand why my windows are lined with metal bars.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Fedor + UFC Not Happening
Rumors were flying that Fedor Emelianenko was close to signing a deal with the UFC, but Fedor opted instead to ink a multi-fight contract with Strikeforce. Many fans thought that they'd finally get to see Fedor in the octagon, especially considering the lucrative deal that Dana White was reportedly offering. Reports suggest that Emelianenko's camp had a 6 fight deal worth $5 million per fight on the table, not to mention an immediate title shot against UFC champ Brock Lesnar. Money aside, Fedor was presented with the opportunity to cement his status as the greatest heavyweight in the world, yet for one reason or another, he turned it down. A lot of people are suggesting that Fedor is ducking Brock, and while Lesnar is indeed a scary, scary dude, I don't really buy the idea that Fedor is "scared" of anyone. As usual, Dana White is pissed....Fedor is a [expletive] joke. He turns down a huge deal and the opportunity to face the best in the world to fight nobodies for no money. I feel sorry for the real fight fans. I wanted to make the deal, but it takes two and it is very obvious Fedor doesn't want to fight the best, and doesn't give a [expletive] about the fans.While it's always fun listening to White blow a gasket, he's got a point here. A lot of MMA fans were dying to see Fedor in the UFC, and it's looking more and more like something that'll never happen. The thing about Fedor is that he seems to be very at ease with his life right now. It appears that he's more concerned about comfort than money, he's not willing to sacrifice that comfort for the fans (which is fine), and while MMA enthusiasts might, it's probably safe to assume that Fedor doesn't obsess about his pound-for-pound ranking and how he measures up to the UFC's big dogs. Point being, Fedor is possibly - well, probably - the best fighter on the planet, but he doesn't feel the need to prove it to the world. It's a shame, because a partnership with the UFC juggernaut would have undoubtedly turned Fedor into a global icon. Then again, perhaps that's simply not what Fedor wanted.
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