Saturday, January 29, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Skateistan: To Live and Skate Kabul
We're skipping the cartoons this week to bring you something that is so awesome you have to see it to believe it.
Maybe there really is hope after all.
I highly recommend watching it in full screen mode.
You get the Kirk Stamp of awesome!
Maybe there really is hope after all.
I highly recommend watching it in full screen mode.
You get the Kirk Stamp of awesome!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Saturday, January 15, 2011
The "Real" Ghostbusters
And the reason why "real" had to be thrown into the title when the boys crossed streams and went animated:
Friday, January 14, 2011
Is it the weekend yet?
Here comes the Friday dose of random:
Black sesame seed soft serve. Oh yeah, they did. You know what it tasted like? It tasted like black sesame soft serve. What?
Wednesday i was peckish with an hour to kill before an appointment so i stopped at a little cafe under Hankyu Umeda station called "Natural Cafe." Nice little lunch set with a scrumptious BLT, a delicious egg-donut, and an absolutely awful cup of what they claimed was cafe latte. Note to the staff: you need to rinse the dishsoap out of the cups before putting the next drink in. Ew.
Just look at this building! Just look at it! WTF??
Symian is: drowsy with the almost weekend blahs.
Currently Reading: --
Currently Listening: "99 Problems" by Hugo (orig. Jay-Z) - courtesy of Coverville.com - Episode 735
Kanji of the Day: 寝技／ねわざ／sleeper hold
Black sesame seed soft serve. Oh yeah, they did. You know what it tasted like? It tasted like black sesame soft serve. What?
Wednesday i was peckish with an hour to kill before an appointment so i stopped at a little cafe under Hankyu Umeda station called "Natural Cafe." Nice little lunch set with a scrumptious BLT, a delicious egg-donut, and an absolutely awful cup of what they claimed was cafe latte. Note to the staff: you need to rinse the dishsoap out of the cups before putting the next drink in. Ew.
Just look at this building! Just look at it! WTF??
Symian is: drowsy with the almost weekend blahs.
Currently Reading: --
Currently Listening: "99 Problems" by Hugo (orig. Jay-Z) - courtesy of Coverville.com - Episode 735
Kanji of the Day: 寝技／ねわざ／sleeper hold
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Look what Azusa made!!
My sister-in-law, Azusa (well, my wife's brother's wife - does that still count?), is a bit of a whiz with the dry flower arrangements and craftwork. I think she takes a course and it has been a hobby of hers for years. This makes for pretty cool centre pieces and birthday bouquets.
The crappy old iPhone pictures really don't do them justice. They are both quite large and very rich in colour and texture.
The first picture here is of the massive centerpiece she made with wax roses and other stuff for my in-laws for Christmas.
The second photo is of the door wreath she made for them for new years.
The crappy old iPhone pictures really don't do them justice. They are both quite large and very rich in colour and texture.
The first picture here is of the massive centerpiece she made with wax roses and other stuff for my in-laws for Christmas.
The second photo is of the door wreath she made for them for new years.
Monday, January 10, 2011
成人の日 - Seiji no Hi
"Seijin no Hi," called Coming-Of-Age Day in English is a celebration in Japan of the crossing from youth in adulthood. Officially this happens when one turns 20 years old, so on January 10th all the 20-year-olds in Japan don nice kimonos with long sleeves for the unmarried women and dark suits for the guys. They head back to their hometowns (an increasing logistical difficulty since so many travel away to university these days) for an official ceremony and then reunion parties with their high school classmates and friends.
This year Seijin no Hi was moved to the 10th from the traditional 15th as part of the "Happy Monday" policy to make more long weekends and make national holidays more convenient. The number of people, according to the news, is roughly 1,240,000, the lowest number on record.
Here was Google's header today:
Having no immediately accessible pics from this or past years, here are some stock photos plucked from the InterWebs to give you an idea of what it looks like...
traditional dress:
traditional displays of archery in some areas of Japan:
photo op:
what the look city ceremonies look like:
Kimonos on a roller coaster?! Weeeeeeeeeeee!
Symian is: feeling a bit old and cold.
Currently Reading: Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn (re-reading)
Currently Listening: "Life" by Keith Richards &James Fox / Audiobook Narrated by Johnny Depp & Joe Hurley
Kanji of the Day: 成人の日／せいじんのひ／"seijin no-hi"/ Coming-of-Age Day
This year Seijin no Hi was moved to the 10th from the traditional 15th as part of the "Happy Monday" policy to make more long weekends and make national holidays more convenient. The number of people, according to the news, is roughly 1,240,000, the lowest number on record.
Here was Google's header today:
Having no immediately accessible pics from this or past years, here are some stock photos plucked from the InterWebs to give you an idea of what it looks like...
traditional dress:
traditional displays of archery in some areas of Japan:
photo op:
what the look city ceremonies look like:
Kimonos on a roller coaster?! Weeeeeeeeeeee!
Symian is: feeling a bit old and cold.
Currently Reading: Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn (re-reading)
Currently Listening: "Life" by Keith Richards &James Fox / Audiobook Narrated by Johnny Depp & Joe Hurley
Kanji of the Day: 成人の日／せいじんのひ／"seijin no-hi"/ Coming-of-Age Day
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Nodame Cantabile
Sunday we spent the day relaxing (mostly). I got a bit of work done, but most of the time was whiled away watching Nodame Cantabile. Originally a hugely successful manga by Tomoko Ninomiya, it was turned into both an animated series (2007) and a live action series (2006). Ulala has just finished reading the whole manga series and so we are now working our way through the live action TV show as an excuse for me to practice my Japanese (i watch with the subtitles on). It's an entertaining love comedy and the music is pretty good - the majority of the plot takes place at a music college and the main characters are aspiring classical musicians.
If you really want o know more check out the Wikipedia article.
Symian is: reading the TV too much.
Currently Reading: Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn (re-reading)
Currently Listening: a little o' the ol' Ludwig Van...
Kanji of the Day: 音楽／おんがく／music
If you really want o know more check out the Wikipedia article.
Symian is: reading the TV too much.
Currently Reading: Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn (re-reading)
Currently Listening: a little o' the ol' Ludwig Van...
Kanji of the Day: 音楽／おんがく／music
Saturday, January 8, 2011
ThunderCats
The first one is the intro i remember and the second one was on YouTube and seems to be a full explanation of the show. Maybe because someone at some point said "Hey, maybe magical warrior cat-people in space might need some background..."
Friday, January 7, 2011
Shin Kabuki Theatre Relocates
This is the old Kabuki theatre in Namba, Osaka. It closed a while back and i was afraid i would miss the chance to take some pictures. It's quite a nice old building. So i took these pictures a couple of months ago. I went by the other day and the building was still there, so i guess they're not i a rush to take it down just yet. The new Kabuki theatre is located just a block away from our apartment in the new Yufura shopping centre at Uehommachi-6-Chome.
architect: Togo Murano 村野藤吾
location: Namba, Osaka, Japan
completion year: 1958
The new one, which is really hard to take a picture of due to being built into the shopping centre.
The pic i took:
Another two pics from a quick Google Image search:
architect: Unknown (despite much searching of the Net - if you know, please let me know! thanks)
location: Uehommachi-6, Osaka, Japan
completion year: 2010
Symian is: probably still not going to go see a kabuki show, even if it's only a block away.
Currently Reading: Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn (re-reading)
Currently Listening: "Life" by Keith Richards &James Fox / Audiobook Narrated by Johnny Depp & Joe Hurley
Kanji of the Day: 歌舞伎座 / かぶきざ / Kabuki-za = Kabuki Theatre/Group
architect: Togo Murano 村野藤吾
location: Namba, Osaka, Japan
completion year: 1958
The new one, which is really hard to take a picture of due to being built into the shopping centre.
The pic i took:
Another two pics from a quick Google Image search:
architect: Unknown (despite much searching of the Net - if you know, please let me know! thanks)
location: Uehommachi-6, Osaka, Japan
completion year: 2010
Symian is: probably still not going to go see a kabuki show, even if it's only a block away.
Currently Reading: Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn (re-reading)
Currently Listening: "Life" by Keith Richards &James Fox / Audiobook Narrated by Johnny Depp & Joe Hurley
Kanji of the Day: 歌舞伎座 / かぶきざ / Kabuki-za = Kabuki Theatre/Group
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Jan 3rd
Feeling restless. Today is the last day of my holiday break and i'm actually itching to get back to work. I don't do well with unstructured time off. I like my free time, but i like to have stuff to do in that free time. And i DO have lots of things to do but somehow this holiday break has been a lot of waking up late and sitting around watching television. Probably because my wife and i are home together, so we just want to relax and hang out together. We did try to go to the sales (Japan always has big sales in the first week of the new year) but it was WAY too crowded. Meh.
Here are a couple hipstamatic pics from the new year.
Symian is: not so young but still restless.
Currently Reading: --
Currently Listening: "Life" by Keith Richards &James Fox / Audiobook Narrated by Johnny Depp & Joe Hurley
Kanji of the Day: 落ち着きのない / おちつきのない / "ochitsukinonai" / restless
Here are a couple hipstamatic pics from the new year.
Symian is: not so young but still restless.
Currently Reading: --
Currently Listening: "Life" by Keith Richards &James Fox / Audiobook Narrated by Johnny Depp & Joe Hurley
Kanji of the Day: 落ち着きのない / おちつきのない / "ochitsukinonai" / restless
Monday, January 3, 2011
New Year's Day - First Day of The Year of The Rabbit
Happy New Year! 明けましておめでとうございます！ Happy Year of the Rabbit!
As mentioned before, we spent the better part of New Year's Day driving between Osaka, Kobe and Takarazuka to see Ulala's family. They are nice and all, but it is exhausting (especially with the ever-present language barrier). Next year i am determined to be somewhere else for the new year and we can go and visit people when things are calmer... A nice plan but unlikely.
Here was our day:
First to Kobe to make the required new year's greetings to Ulala's father. His apartment tower always has the nicest holiday displays in the lobby. This pic doesn't really do it justice. It has many new year's symbols; red, bamboo, whatever those are with the berries, the white flowers are often given for celebrations (are they orchids?), and the cards strewn bout are part of a traditional Japanese game, called 百人一首かるた ("hyakunin isshu karuta")、played at new year gatherings. Actually the ones seen here are いろはがるた ("iroha garuta"), a simplified version for kids.
Our lunch place setting. Year of the Rabbit
O-sechi, traditional New Year's food, comprised of many many types of foods, most of which have some symbolic or pun meaning long-life or health. I can't even begin to describe them all.
O-zoni, a traditional soup eaten on New Year's Day. I love the broth but not the giant soft rice cake in it.
The view from Ulala's dad's apartment overlooking Kobe port.
Out in Takarazuka with Ulala's mother's side of the family.
Ulala looking nice for the New Year. In case you are wondering, most of Takarazuka is built on a series of very steep hills.
The temple in Takarazuka we went to for hatsumode.
Back in Kobe with Ulala's dad's family. We ate a massive sukiyaki dinner.
Symian is: stuffed with sukiyaki and o-sechi.
Currently Reading: --
Currently Listening: "Life" by Keith Richards &James Fox / Audiobook Narrated by Johnny Depp & Joe Hurley
Kanji of the Day: 明けましておめでとうございます！ / "akemashite omedetou gozaimasu" / Happy New Year! (said at the start of the new year, when you see someone for the first time that year)
As mentioned before, we spent the better part of New Year's Day driving between Osaka, Kobe and Takarazuka to see Ulala's family. They are nice and all, but it is exhausting (especially with the ever-present language barrier). Next year i am determined to be somewhere else for the new year and we can go and visit people when things are calmer... A nice plan but unlikely.
Here was our day:
First to Kobe to make the required new year's greetings to Ulala's father. His apartment tower always has the nicest holiday displays in the lobby. This pic doesn't really do it justice. It has many new year's symbols; red, bamboo, whatever those are with the berries, the white flowers are often given for celebrations (are they orchids?), and the cards strewn bout are part of a traditional Japanese game, called 百人一首かるた ("hyakunin isshu karuta")、played at new year gatherings. Actually the ones seen here are いろはがるた ("iroha garuta"), a simplified version for kids.
Our lunch place setting. Year of the Rabbit
O-sechi, traditional New Year's food, comprised of many many types of foods, most of which have some symbolic or pun meaning long-life or health. I can't even begin to describe them all.
O-zoni, a traditional soup eaten on New Year's Day. I love the broth but not the giant soft rice cake in it.
The view from Ulala's dad's apartment overlooking Kobe port.
Out in Takarazuka with Ulala's mother's side of the family.
Ulala looking nice for the New Year. In case you are wondering, most of Takarazuka is built on a series of very steep hills.
The temple in Takarazuka we went to for hatsumode.
Back in Kobe with Ulala's dad's family. We ate a massive sukiyaki dinner.
Symian is: stuffed with sukiyaki and o-sechi.
Currently Reading: --
Currently Listening: "Life" by Keith Richards &James Fox / Audiobook Narrated by Johnny Depp & Joe Hurley
Kanji of the Day: 明けましておめでとうございます！ / "akemashite omedetou gozaimasu" / Happy New Year! (said at the start of the new year, when you see someone for the first time that year)
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Dec 31st - Goodbye to 2010!
Happy New Year! 良いお年を！
On New Year's Eve this year we relaxed at home and ate nabe, drank wine and watched the countdown on TV with our good friends Peter and Yuki. This is also what we did last year and i like the tradition, though i do miss the big countdown parties downtown. Just as well, though. We were still up until 3:30am and New Year's Day was filled with driving around visiting my wife's family in Kobe and Takarazuka.
Peter and Yuki brought these delicious and incredibly rich little cakes from a shop in Ishibashi:
After dinner and dessert and the countdown, we wandered over to Ikuyama Shrine (where Ulala and i were married) and were a bit surprised to find a line of people stretching out from the shrine all the way to the street at 2:30 in the morning! I know that everyone wants to do 初詣 (hatsumoude - first shrine visit of the new year) but we thought it might be cleared out until daytime, when most people go. Almost all the people in line were young people up late, so the atmosphere as we waited was fun.
Symian is: welcoming 2011 with open arms and mind.
Currently Reading: --
Currently Listening: "Life" by Keith Richards and James Fox / Audiobook Narrated by Johnny Depp and Joe Hurley
Kanji of the Day: 良いお年を！ / よいおとしを / "yoi oh toshi oh" / "Have a good year" - said at the closing of the year; a different phrase is used at the start of the new year.
On New Year's Eve this year we relaxed at home and ate nabe, drank wine and watched the countdown on TV with our good friends Peter and Yuki. This is also what we did last year and i like the tradition, though i do miss the big countdown parties downtown. Just as well, though. We were still up until 3:30am and New Year's Day was filled with driving around visiting my wife's family in Kobe and Takarazuka.
Peter and Yuki brought these delicious and incredibly rich little cakes from a shop in Ishibashi:
After dinner and dessert and the countdown, we wandered over to Ikuyama Shrine (where Ulala and i were married) and were a bit surprised to find a line of people stretching out from the shrine all the way to the street at 2:30 in the morning! I know that everyone wants to do 初詣 (hatsumoude - first shrine visit of the new year) but we thought it might be cleared out until daytime, when most people go. Almost all the people in line were young people up late, so the atmosphere as we waited was fun.
Symian is: welcoming 2011 with open arms and mind.
Currently Reading: --
Currently Listening: "Life" by Keith Richards and James Fox / Audiobook Narrated by Johnny Depp and Joe Hurley
Kanji of the Day: 良いお年を！ / よいおとしを / "yoi oh toshi oh" / "Have a good year" - said at the closing of the year; a different phrase is used at the start of the new year.
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