Aino Minako-chan

On Video Games and the Gakuen

2009-11-13T06:29:28Z

And a quick note to translation companies: if you are trying to encourage people to contact your company, you might want to avoid having TWO major typos on the "Contact us" page alone. (Or should I say, the "Contac us" page.) Le sigh. In other news...

Video Games Part 1: Valyria Chronicles 2...
...comes out in January on the PSP, and I am SO excited. I downloaded the free demo and it's pretty amusing. The controls take a bit getting used to (R1 is now the camera, not the switch for targeting mode, so I kept swinging the camera violently instead of shooting), and the maps are slightly different (since I ignored all of the "hints", I ended up completely missing the method for switching between maps... whoops), but it's still super fun. And there are theoretically new soldier classes and more tanks and I can't wait for it to come out!

Video Games Part 2: Bayonetta...
...actually looks really fun. (lol) Again, I downloaded the demo for the PS3 just to satisfy my curiosity after the massive marketing campaign in Japan. And although I thought I would spend most of my time feeling very insulted on behalf of women everywhere over the way that the lead heroine's clothes (what little there are) have a tendancy to fly off at the drop of the hat, the game itself was... actually very fun. Yes, the heroine tends to strike random sexy poses and critical attacks often involve massive high heels of doom and she wears nothing but a cat suit that transforms into a fatality move (or something... and it's possibly not even "clothing" but just her hair? let's just say that her fatality move involves her arching her back into a pose as her clothing literally WHIPS off of her body and forms the shape of a giant dog that eats the enemy). And yet... it's kinda funny. There's something about the music (it's like being in a club) and the movement where the sexuality manages to skirt the line between highly sexualized and hysterically over-the-top, meaning that I end up finding it very very funny more than anything else. Plus, the action is fun, the moves are inventive, and she has gun-heels, which possibly beats even FFVIII's gunblade in terms of ridiculousness. In fact, based on the PS3 demo, my biggest complaint about the game has to be the camera, which was slower than a very slow thing stuck in something slow. With FFXII in December and Valkyria Chronicles 2 in January, I don't really have time for Bayonetta, but I'm definitely thinking of picking it up later on, possibly when it's released as part of the Playstation Best series.

Video Games Part 3: Final Fantasy Dissidia...
...is super-de-dooper amusing. I finally broke down and bought it, and I'm totally happy that I did. ^_^ The idea of Tidus hanging out with Squall and Cloud is so hysterically funny it makes me want to cry. (Technically, ANY of the other FF heroes hanging out with Squall and/or Cloud makes for potential lolz. Most of the other heroes are optimistic and/or genki, while Squall and Cloud are, well, not. It makes for good times.) On one hand, it could take me YEARS to clear the game, but on the other hand, it's nicely designed to support even just playing a few games a day, so it's easy to pick up and put down again.

Senshi Gakuen.com...
...is down again, yes, we know. In fact, Mako-chan and I are so sick of our provider failing us that we're looking into other options. Not quite sure what we're going to be doing, yet, but I'll post once we've decided what the hell is going on.

Mini-update

2009-11-04T03:24:21Z

I was going to make a post about video games and translation and the state of the Gakuen, but instead, I will share the following.

I received a free sample Lemon Vinegar Kit Kat while shopping yesterday, and after one bite at lunch today, I have this to say about the lemony, vinegary taste:

Oh my fucking god. What the fuck is this flavor? It's like lemons died in my chocolate. Oh sweet... I actually had to eat some crackers to get the taste out of my mouth.

More later when I can stop remembering the horror.

Apple Juice Experiment, Part 2

2009-10-15T06:49:30Z

It's a few days late, but have a follow up to my Apple Juice Experiment, Part 1.

LAST TIME ON APPLE JUICE EXPERIMENT:

Minako-chan hand-squeezed an apple. It was fun, but it wasn't perfect. Would using a cored apple produce better results?

EXPERIMENT TIME!!

Just like before, I started out with one (1) medium apple. Since I didn't want to core it, I simply stuck it in the freezer.

I took it out the next day to defrost it. Since it wasn't a cored apple, and since I learned my lesson about making sure that the apples were fully defrosted last time, I just defrosted it at room temperature on a cutting board.

Slight mistake. As you can tell in this picture (possibly... wow, I just realized that they turned out a bit dark), there was a minor apple juice spill as the apple defrosted and turned to room temperature mush. Whoops.

Next, I used a knife to cut an X in the bottom of the apple over the core. This theoretically forms the areas for the juice to come out.

Finally, SQUEEZE!!

The apple was soft and mushy like before (albeit less cold thanks to proper defrosting), making it very easy to squeeze. Also, thanks to the core left in the center, the apple held together MUCH better. There was some slightly confusion as juice also came out of the core at the TOP, so my hands got quite messy, but there was little squirting or splashing. Also, while the apple still fell apart a bit towards the end, it remained solid enough that I could try squeezing from different directions without worrying about the apple completely turning into apple sauce.

The result?

Apple mush and a little over 1/2 cup of juice. Yup, that's a 50% increase over the juice that I was able to squeeze from the core-less apple!

PROS OF APPLE JUICE-ING WITH THE CORE:
1. Easier prep.
No need to core the apple or do any preparation. Just stick it in the freezer, defrost it, and make a couple cuts in the bottom before squeezing. It's soft enough that you could use a dinner knife, and although I didn't try it, it's also possible that you could squeeze juice without making the cuts at all.
2. Less falling apart.
The apple was still soft and easy to squeeze, but thanks to the core, the apple did not completely break apart into little bits while squeezing. Since I wasn't worried about giant chunks of apple breaking off and falling into my juice, I was able to achieve...
3. More juice.
From 1/3 cup without the core up to 1/2 cup with the core. Easy as pie!

CONS OF APPLE JUICE-ING WITH THE CORE:
1. What to do with the apple?
With the cored apple, I actually had the left-over apple mush with dinner the next night. I like apples, so I just ate it as is, but I was also considering baking a mini-apple crumble, or making pork with apple sauce, or making a curry with apple. There were lots of choices. But... you see that picture with the apple mush above? The apple core is STILL IN THERE. Sure, I could have theoretically dug through the mush to pull out the seeds and any tough bits remaining of the core, but by that time, the apple had been squished pretty hard from all directions and you could barely tell which way was originally up. So why bother? I just went ahead and chucked it. Some people might not mind cooking with apple cores, so this wouldn't be a problem for you, but I simply saw it as a waste of an apple.

CONCLUSIONS
If you want to A) just try the apple juice trick for kicks, B) work with as few steps as possible, or C) get maximum juice with minimum effort, work WITH a core.

If you want to use the rest of the apple for something else, work WITHOUT a core.

If you just want gallons and gallons of deliiicious apple juice, go to the grocery store.

Apple Juice Experiment: Part 1

2009-10-11T11:33:28Z

Okay, so a few days ago applcheeks posted the following hysterical video showing Murakami-san from the comedy trio Morisanchu showing off how she can get a young boy ready for school in less than 5 minutes.

Go ahead and watch it; it's hysterical. I'll wait.

........

ANYWAY, although there are many many hysterical highlights of the video, one of the best was when she hand-squeezed about half a glass of apple juice for the kid's breakfast. And I do mean HAND squeezed--no tools involved. For those who didn't catch the Japanese, she explained that she simply froze an apple, and then defrosted it. And I thought to myself, you know what? That... actually makes perfect sense. The freezing would theoretically cause the water in the cells to expand, bursting the cells, and leaving you with a readily-squeezable apple. AND, as I just so happened to have an apple handy, I decided to try it for myself!!

EXPERIMENT TIME!

I started off with a medium-sized Fuji apple.

For some reason, I could have sworn that the video said that she cored the apple, but on second glance, she obviously didn't. Oh well. I cored my apple. ^_^ Since I don't have anything fancy like an apple corer or even a nice fruit knife, I just used a normal dinner knife.

Coring the apple was actually pretty darned easy. It didn't exactly look pretty when it was done, but I was left with the core, the apple, and a few miscellaneous bits left over from me sawing at the poor apple with my knife.

I wrapped the apple in some plastic wrap and ended up leaving it in my freezer for about 24 hours. (Note: You probably don't need to freeze the poor apple that long. I just forgot to take the apple out before I went to bed.)

I took the apple out the next morning and stuck it in a measuring cup to let it defrost in the fridge.

As you can see, a little bit of juice already started gathering in the bottom of the measuring cup, which is why I defrosted it that way. Next step... start squeezing!!

Honestly? The apple was ridiculously easy to squeeze. It was soft and mushy and didn't take that much effort at all. Also, it was just kinda fun! And the result?

About 1/3 cup apple juice and a pile of apple mush!! It's not a whole lot of juice, and it was a bit pulpy, but it was VERY tasty. Two thumbs up!

Would I do anything differently? Sure I would:
1. DEFROST LONGER.
I didn't quite defrost the apple far enough. I should have either left it in the fridge longer, or covered it and defrosted it at room temperature. I say this because my hands went numb while squeezing. I had to run and stick them under tap water to get them moving again.
2. WEAR AN APRON.
It's a bit hard to aim the apple juice. I ended up splattering a bit of juice onto the cutting board and even my sweater. An apron might be a good idea.
3. USE A CHEESECLOTH OR SIMILAR OBJECT.
On one hand, it's extremely easy to squeeze the apple, no tools involved. On the other hand, the apple falls apart VERY easily. A few small chunks broke off and fell into the measuring cup, and the apple itself broke into several large parts as I squeezed. The more you squeeze, the more it breaks apart, so towards the end, I was concentrating more on keeping the apple together than actually squeezing. Something like a cheesecloth or even one of those strong, reusable tea filters or something would have been ideal. I'm pretty sure I could have easily gotten the juice levels up to 1/2 cup or 2/3 cup if I hadn't been so worried about the apple flying apart everywhere.
4. DON'T CORE THE APPLE.
As I noted, I could have sworn that she cored the apple, but she didn't. Looking at the video again, it appears that she simply made a couple of cuts across the bottom near the core for the juice to come out. Would this solve my problems? On one hand, it seems like it would be harder to get juice out of the apple since there isn't as much room for the juice to go. On the other hand, this method would possibly solve the problem of the apple falling apart.

Will I be able to get more juice out of a non-cored apple? Well, I just stuck an apple in a freezer. I'll try to update with more pictures in a few days!

ETA: I updated with Part 2 of the experiment here

Traffic and Olympics

2009-10-09T04:46:23Z

1. Tokyo did not get the 2016 Summer Olympics. Even though I don't plan on still living in Tokyo at the time, I was relieved.

2. Yesterday, the cleverly named Typhoon #18 hit Japan. (Yes, despite the fact that Japan has colorful character mascots for everything from the police to pudding to condoms to Akita Prefecture, they apparently draw the line at naming their typhoons.) The rain hit Tokyo hardest late Wednesday night/early Thurday morning, ending a little after 8 and leaving only windy conditions. But the wind... [growl] Here is what my commute looked like Thursday morning:

7:50
Minako-chan gets to her local train station. She usually rides the 8:06 train, but she can get to work on time leaving as late as 8:20, so she's not worried.
7:52
The train arrives, and is immediately delayed due to high wind conditions at the far other end of the line, which have in turn stopped every other train on the entire line. Minako-chan shrugs and settles in with Final Fantasy 8 on her PSP.
8:15
The rain stops and the sun starts shining.
8:20
The train finally moves, getting into Shinjuku station half an hour late. Minako-chan grumbles that she should have just cut across Meiji Shrine and walked to Harajuku instead.
8:25
At Shinjuku station, Minako-chan discovers that ALL JR trains lines THROUGHOUT TOKYO have been stopped since 8:05 due to windy conditions. (Note that while the private train lines experience delays and short stoppages, NONE are completely stopped like the JR.) Minako-chan laughs and lines up to get on the train, firing off an email to her boss saying that she'll be a bit late.

NOTE: From Shinjuku station, it takes me 15 minutes straight on the Yamanote line to get to Gotanda station where I work. By contrast, taking the subway requires that I A) walk to the other end of Shinjuku station, B) walk several stories down to the Oedo subway platform (as the Oedo line is relatively new, it also tends to be the deepest subway line at any station, and therefore it takes quite a while just to get down to the platform), C) take the subway basically straight across to the east side of Tokyo, D) transfer onto the Asakusa line, which branches off into a line that heads towards Haneda airport and another that goes to Gotanda (as you can imagine, the airport trains tend to be more frequent, and therefore the wait to get to Gotanda can sometimes take a while). In total, my 15-minute commute can easily take 30-40 minutes by subway, even without taking into account crowds and delays, and therefore it is usually faster for me to wait for the JR trains to start up again than to head to the subway.

9:30
Looking up from her PSP, Minako-chan realizes that an hour has already passed. As the sun is still shining, she wonders WTF the JR trains are doing. She decides that maybe she should take the subway instead.
9:35
Arriving at the Oedo line, Minako-chan discovers that everyone and their dog is attempting to get onto the subway. In order to prevent people from falling off of the platform, the station workers are preventing people from even going through the ticketing gate until things calm down a bit. Also, every single subway line is delayed due to the crowds. Also, the Marunouchi line looks even worse. Minako-chan decides that she should probably take her chances with the JR trains again, and fires off another email to her boss.
10:20
It's still sunny, cheery, and even hot. The JR trains are not moving. Minako-chan considers going home and telling her boss that she'll be in at 1:00.
10:30
Deciding that it's better to get to work, Minako-chan heads down the subway station to wait to enter the ticket gate in order to wait for the train.
10:35
Huh, that wasn't bad. The latest crowd begins the long loooong trek down to the subway platform.
10:40
Minako-chan is on the subway! Rejoice!
10:50
Minako-chan and the other passengers are informed that the JR train lines have started up again. A man standing next to Minako-chan curses loudly. Minako-chan feels for him, she really really does.
10:57
A tree falls over, hitting a JR train near Ikebukuro. The JR train lines stop again. Upon hearing this several minutes later, the man standing next to Minako-chan literally laughs "Ha-ha!" in triumph. Minako-chan tries not to laugh, but she really likes this guy.
11:10
The Asakusa subway line is delayed due to crowds. It has to wait for several minutes at every single stop. Minako-chan tries not to strangle someone.
11:40
Minako-chan drags herself into the office. It's time for lunch, and she's tired and ready to go home. WIN.

3. To tie these two topics together, THIS is why I thought it was a miserably horrible idea to hold the Olympics in Tokyo. I mean, THIS is what commutes can look like in Tokyo when large crowds and delays start up. If you've ever been to a big fireworks festival around Tokyo, you know that the stations can get insanely busy when a large-scale event takes place. I was talking about it with a co-worker, and she suggested, "Maybe it would work... if no one commuted at all during the entire Olympics." Yeah, basically. So congrats, Rio de Janeiro! I'm more than happy to cheer via TV.

Life and Final Fantasy VIII

2009-10-03T08:29:20Z

So things are going... Well, they're going. >_< My monitor blew out during the middle of work yesterday (literally, there was a pop and then it turned black) and so I spent a while carting monitors around and hooking them up. THEN, I found out that we have a surprise work day today (Saturday), which is just arrrrrgh. SO not fair; I really hate 1 day weekends. T_T It's hard to get inspired to get chores done or work out or whatever when you've only got one day off.

But in GOOD news, FINAL FANTASY VIII!!!! Just as FF7 was released as a download for the PSP a couple of months ago, FF8 was just released, too, and I'm soooooo excited. It's really hysterical to think that both video games fit onto my little memory card, but c'est technology for you. I'm about halfway through FF7 and just started playing FF8. I always really liked FF8 and have a special place in my heart for it.

Eight Things I Love About FF8:

Characters.
This is one of the few games where I honestly adore all of the characters. (I intially didn't like Selphie, but then I found out that Selphie's apparently a Kansai character, which TOTALLY redeems her; her eccentric cutesy-ness takes on a whole new meaning when you realize that she's a Kansai girl at heart.)
Especially LAGUNA.
Laguna is possibly my favorite character of all time. On one hand, he's a genuinely BAD hero and leader. But on the other hand, he's perfect. Only he could accidentally lead a revolution and become president.
Junctioning and Magic.
A game where you can spend hours running in circles in order to slowly slooooooowly horde hundreds of magic spells from a single enemy? SCORE! For someone like me who likes her RPGs to be flavored with a large amount of patient leveling and a pinch of reference charts, this is pretty awesome. (Seriously, this game make bee-yuutiful charts.) The fact that you're in many times benefitted by hording your magic but never actually using it? EVEN BETTER.
FMVs and Animation.
Obviously it doesn't compare to modern graphics, but coming off of FF7-type RPGs where the characters were lovable 3D chibis? The sight of people-shaped characters was shocking. And even today (or technically last night), the FMVs hold up really well. I still remember first watching the opening to FF8 and being shocked that they had animated the cable knit of Rinoa's sweater. And the parade for Edea? Wonderful.
Story.
I really enjoyed the story for FF8. It's sweeping and complex and time-travel-y, but I feel that thanks to the close ties between all of the characters, it feels simple and cosy once you boil everything down.
Triple Triad.
At first, I hated this card game with the passion of a thousand suns. And then.... I finally started winning. And I was hooked. I treasured every miserable moment with this stupid, stupidly addicting mini-game.
Gun blade.
It's a GUN that's a SWORD. There is nothing more ridiculous than that, and it cracks me up every single freaking time. (Funny side story: when I first played the game, it took me about three discs before I finally figured out how to actually use that stupid gun blade. This is especially hysterical because, in the middle of Disc 1, Cid comments that he's super-happy to have Squall around since he always wanted to have a gun blade expert as a SeeD. It still makes me laugh.)
"I dreamt I was a moron." - Squall (about Laguna)
Best line of dialog of all time. I still laugh every time that I think about it.

I think I'm especially excited to play FF8 again because it's the game where I have the most questions about the original Japanese story/dialog. It's not that the English translation was bad; it's just that even playing in English, there were points where I thought to myself, "What the hell was *that* supposed to mean?" Like, at one point Laguna says something along the lines of, "Look, it's our rescue boat!" and Kiros replies, "It's 'ship', not 'boat'." Every time I play that part, I have to wonder what they were saying initially. Also, I've always wondered why Irvine got a get-out-of-jail free card after the assassination attempt on Edea. I mean, he pulled the trigger! And he's on the float fighting Edea from, like, three feet away! There's no way that they could have missed his involvement. I've never understood why he was free in order to free the others from prison later. That's just an awful lot to try and pass off as "Whoops, my bad!" I've always wondered if maybe there was something implied in the Japanese story that the translators missed that would make this make more sense. (Maybe not; maybe it was always somewhat senseless. Who knows.)

tl;dr I love FF8 and can't wait to play more.

I'm not stupid! I swear!

2009-09-28T08:18:49Z

Okay, so for one of my translations at work, I was translating a catalog, and one product was a lotion with SPF 30. I ended the section with:

"[...] this moisturizing lotion contains SPF 30."

Anyway, I got a note back saying, "SPF is not an ingredient in the lotion, so you shouldn't use the word 'contain'," followed by a link to a Yahoo Answers question about "what is SPF" or something.

Now on one hand, they're absolutely right. When you really think about it, "contains SPF" is a silly thing to say, so I changed the phrasing a bit. On the other hand, people do use the phrase "contains SPF", right? I'm not just hallucinating, right? Because it made me really paranoid. It sounds perfectly natural to me. Sure, it's not completely logical, but I would say that "contains SPF", "has SPF", or "with SPF" are all generally accepted phrases for the general concept.

Also, the Yahoo Answer link kinda pissed me off. Like, I know what the hell SPF is. I don't think that sunscreen contains SPF particles or whatever. I don't know. This was one of those situations where the change was perfectly acceptable, so I did it since there was no real reason to argue against it, but at the same time, I just want people to realize that I wasn't being incompetent, either. People say "contains SPF"! I swear!

Reading with Minako-chan 2009: The Trilogy

2009-09-18T09:17:23Z

It's that time again! I'm still alive and still reading (thanks, Kindle!). Not reading a TON, admittedly, but I'm not doing half bad.

(13) The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
I had heard some good reviews about this book, but I honestly hadn't expected to like it so much. Starting as a story about an orphen thief, the narrative smoothly moves into a story about a con job, and then a story about the mob, and then a story about a cluster-fuck. Well-paced and very excited, I couldn't wait to read each new section. A really great fantasy story.

(14) Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb
I picked up this book, first in a series apparently, because it was free on my Kindle. And, um... it was worth it? I'm really not sure how to review this book. It was... okay. I guess. On one hand, I kept reading it and didn't have to force myself to finish, unlike other books I've trudged through. But on the other hand, it had some big problems the characters and, um, plot. It wasn't slow or plodding it's just... nothing really happened. There's Fitz? The bastard son of a prince who is trained as an assassin? And he grows up in the castle? And... he befriends dogs? It's hard to connect to Fitz. I honestly couldn't quite tell how old he was at various parts in the story, as time skips without warning, rarely referring to Fitz's age and showing absolutely no difference in the narrative voice. Also, I really didn't get a sense of Fitz's connections with any of the characters. Like, late in the book, one character makes a comment along the lines of, "I always thought that you liked me, Fitz," and Fitz thinks to himself, "And I do, I really do like you best of all." And I was honestly shocked by this revelation, because there was practically NO previous mention of this in the story. I knew that Fitz didn't HATE this character, but the idea that Fitz really liked this guy came out of nowhere. On the other hand, there are hints of fascinating story (the creepy raiders who destroy the coastlines and leave villagers "Forged", or the enigmatic and mysterious Fool). None of these aspects are addressed in the first story, merely hinted at (seriously, very little happens), but my curiosity about these plot points and the fact that I honestly didn't struggle to keep reading (despite the boredom) means that I might pick up later books. We'll see. Slow and not particularly likeable, and yet for some reason, I didn't hate it. Weird.

(15) The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie
First thing's first: yes, the author is that Hugh Laurie. Perhaps I'm starting a trend after David Thewlis? Long story short, The Gun Seller is the story of a former British officer who gets caught up in a case involving assassinations, guns, and the CIA. Not only is it exciting and action-packed, but the story is also absolutely hysterical, causing me to howl with laughter in the middle of the train. I should point out that the novel was written in 1996, which is somewhat ironic, because between plot points involving war in the Middle East (he means the Gulf War), American terrorism (he means the Oklahoma City Bombing), bombs on planes, terrorists in Eastern Europe, and Middle Easterners with guns, it reads like something stereotypically written post-9/11. (At one point, we meet a terrorist driving a Porshe 911, and I nearly killed myself laughing.) Plus, since the hero is a witty, 6'3" tall Brit who rides motorcycles and fakes being American, it's pretty easy to picture Hugh Laurie playing the role. But with the humor, action, and more humor, I seriously cannot recommend this book enough. And I can't wait for Hugh's second novel to come out soon!

(16) Warrior's Apprentice by by Lois McMaster Bujold
Since I was in the mood for a sci-fi book and since I had heard good things about the Vorkosigan series, I decided to pick up this book. Good things about the series: the world, the humor, the battles, the battle PLANNING (oh god! the battle planning! nothing makes me happier than reading about strategy and tactics), the characters, the wild and wacky plot development... all solid.

What I didn't like: Er, the protagonist Miles Vorkosigan? I didn't hate him by any means, and even loved him in a couple of points, but overall, I also wasn't particularly taken in by him. He felt like one of those frustrating teenage characters who you can deal with because he's a teenager (see: Harry Potter), but who is written in such a way that you completely forget his age and start to think of him as an adult, thus negating any possible empathy for him (see: Ender Wiggin). I felt that many of his actions and much of his personality seemed simultaneously far above and far below his theoretical capabilities. (For instance, Miles manages to fool everyone into thinking he's a man with age and experience through incredible battles. But at the same time, for someone who expected to become a warrior solely based on his academic skills, Miles knew absolutely nothing about how to run an army. What the hell else could have possibly been on the written part of the warrior test? Critical literary analysis?) Also, there were many aspects of Miles personality that I think we were supposed to view as flaws, possibly attributed to his age, and that we would root for Miles to overcome these flaws in the future... But to be honest, I was left somewhat confused, and I wondered if I was misreading something due to the way that the narrative brushed over these points. Is it simply that Miles isn't self-aware enough at this point in the series? (It's a LONG series.) Or is it that we're supposed to think that Miles is right, at which point I simply have to disagree strongly? I'm not sure. Long story short, I'm somewhat undecided about my feelings for the protagonist, but in the end, the rich world Bujold created is enough to keep me interested in reading another few books in the series.

(17) Magic Kingdom for Sale--Sold! by Terry Brooks
What I liked about this book: it was a quick, easy read, and I got it for free. Otherwise... ai-yai-yai. It's just very very very stereotypical. Rich yuppie loses wife! Is sad and depressed for years and years! Becomes king of a magical kingdom! But it's NOT WHAT HE EXPECTS!! But it's okay, because he's the true king after all!!1! I felt like the author just fired up the Hollywood Movie Plot Machine and transcribed whatever it spat out. And don't even get me started on the female characters. We have the Perfect Wife (dead), the Evil Sorceress (banished because she is teh ebil), and the Gorgeous Fantasy Creature Who Has Been Saving Her Virginity In Order To Please Her One Twu Wuv As Foretold In The Stars And She Will Follow Him Forever And Ever And Answer To Only His Whims And Never Have An Independent Thought And Never Ever Leave Because That's What Awesome Wimmin Folk Do. (No, seriously, she basically shows up in the series, hot and naked and young, and then tells the yuppie that he is unto her a GOD. It's both insulting and fairly creepy. I actually kept hoping that our hero would dump her and tell her, "Dude, you weird me out," but no, of course he falls for her, because no man can POSSIBLY resist the young fantasy virgin. [rereading review] Okay, so maybe this pissed me off more than I thought.) I got it for free, and I finished it quick, so it was worth it. Not so sure I'd be so happy if I had to pay money, though.

I'd also like to point out that I've gotten several of my books this year for free from the Suvudu free library (http://www.suvudu.com/freelibrary/). This is Del Rey's rotating library of free downloadable books, available in PDF or various eBook formats. From what I can tell, they pick authors who have a series or just several books available from Del Rey, and then they offer one of the books for free in order to encourage purchase of other Del Rey books. I stop by once a month or so to see if any of the freebies interest me. For instance, right now, both Magic Kingdom for Sale--Sold! and Perdido Street Station by China Mieville are available. Even if you don't end up reading the book, or even if the book kinda bites, it's free, so why not?

Random Thoughts

2009-08-25T08:29:31Z

Dear Japan Meteorological Agency,

Thanks for the EMERGENCY GIANT EARTHQUAKE warning this morning that turned out to be a total false alarm. It's the first one I've ever seen, and due to the rather dire message of "Duck and cover!" I dove for my doorway faster than I expected to move at 6:30 in the morning. Plus: Your alert system works! Minus: Your predictions apparently suck. Oh well. Halfway there!

Love and kisses,

Minako-chan

Funny but true: Cracked had this satirical article about North Korea and, I kid you not, I completely misread the title. I seriously thought that it said, "Many Glorious Pantsuits In Which North Korea Is Clearly Best." I read the entire article thinking to myself, "How come there's not more about the pantsuits?" It's an easy mistake to make, clearly.

The following is an absolutely hysterical little comic strip that I [heart], about a nubile mermaid and a lanky lad. And a magical dolphin with eyebrows. Oh, it cracks me up. Read it!

http://binsybaby.livejournal.com/640237.html

Tomorrow is my birthday. [shifty eyes] Yeay!

My Summer Vacation by Minako-chan

2009-08-21T09:02:35Z

Things I Discovered On My Summer Vacation

1. One can indeed get sick of ham, cheese, and bread.
After three days in Paris and one too many delicious delicious sandwich, I suddenly discovered that I was utterly sick of the combination. Honestly, if I had one more slice of ham, I thought I was going to scream. For dinner that last night, my mom and I went out of our way to order a plain omlette and spaghetti respectively.

2. I missed Scottish food.
This was surprising to me, since I dislike many "traditional" Scottish foods, like blood pudding or haggis or fry-ups, but I love meat pies and pasties and beans and empire biscuits and leek soups, so I was in heaven. Plus, my uncle (a former butcher) makes a to-die-for lamb stew. Seriously, it was a good few days in Glasgow.

3. My cousin got divorced.
I totally didn't know until my aunt started talking about his new girlfriend, which made me think that she was talking about someone else with the same name for three-fourths of the conversation. It was seriously confusing. No one tells me anything! (Note to kinomakoto : Not R, the one you know; I mean R's oldest brother. R has two little girls btw who are ADORABLE. The older one, age 2, is a doll who speaks with R's strong Glaswegian accent; it's hysterical.)

4. My grandpa has some great war stories.
Like, he told us this one about his earliest memory, which involved him in hospital when he was 3 with scarlet fever, during WWI, watching from the balcony of the hospital as lights lit up the sky to search for bomb-carrying airships (zeppelins, because they didn't use bomber planes in WWI). Or how he mainly worked on convoy rescue ships, which, despite the tendancy to run into German submarines, was the best job (he said) because the ships had lots of extra room and extra supplies since they needed to be ready to take aboard survivors. Or his story about manning a ship to carry a bunch of Americans and their sekrit sekrit package to Italy while being hunted down by more German subs.

That was a really interesting story: He said that he never did find out what they were carrying, but that the Americans they were with weren't military, as the only real military aboard were he and his fellow British gunners; he assumed that the Americans were CIA or something. (I would think that the captain and main crew would have been British military as well, but they apparently weren't; Grandpa was the highest-ranking military member when they arrived in Italy for the debriefing. Maybe they loaned gunners to the merchant marines?) Grandpa said that they were followed by an American naval ship, and he was always amused because he said that the American sailors never seemed to go below deck; there were always people lounging around or even sleeping above deck. But whatever they were carrying, the Germans apparently got wind of it and started submarine attacks. Grandpa said that one night, there was a gigantic explosion, but he didn't know what had happened until the next morning when he realized that the American ship was simply gone.

When they arrived in Italy and unloaded the sekrit sekrit cargo, he said that he and his fellow gunners went to a debriefing with the American military in which he was the highest-ranking military officer and therefore had to deal with them the most. One American military guy got on their cases for looking so untidy and unprofessional, saying that they all looked like they hadn't slept for days, to which my Grandpa replied, "Well, that's because we haven't. Because of the submarines." At which point an apparently higher-ranking American military officer chewed out the first guy for giving my Grandpa and his men crap, and he ordered them to have a shower and some sleep before they came back. Grandpa said that the first American military guy never apologized, but later on, the guy did take a car and drive Grandpa and his fellow gunners to visit Pompei for a few hours, so he supposed that was the guy's way of saying "Sorry I was an ass."

5. You can remove the seatbelts from airplane seats.
Okay, so I had an adventure getting back to Japan... First, my luggage was temporarily misplaced. I had two connections on the way back to Tokyo. My first flight was running late, but I managed to make the connection. Unfortunately, my bag did not. Luckily, I had a long layover, it was a short flight, and there was one more flight that night, so my bags made it in time for the last leg. Then, on the plane to Tokyo, I went to buckle up... only both sides of the buckle were firmly attached on one side. The other side, normally the side with the adjustable strap, was reduced to just a strap. I blinked at it for a while, tried to figure out if I could thread the buckle back onto the strap, and just called a flight attendant. She and another flight attendant discussed it for a bit, and since I really didn't want to move from my nice aisle seat into the only other available seat (a middle seat), the flight attendants simply decided to replace the seat belt by removing the entire thing. It involved shoving one part back a bit and a lot of yanking, but it turns out that the seat belts are basically just hooked onto a bar with a spring-loaded latch. It doesn't come off EASILY (seriously, they were yanking the hell out of the seat in confusion, and I ended up with a twisted strap because they were having trouble installing the new belt right-side-up before the plane took off), but it can be done. You learn something new every day!

Movies Seen On My Summer Vacation
1. Star Trek
Yes, there is nothing better than Star Trek in its full glory on a 7-inch in-flight screen. (lol) But it was fun and I enjoyed it. Also, my mother apparently thought that the Sulu fencing joke (you know, when Kirk goes "What kind of fighting do you do" and Sulu goes "Fencing") was HILAROUS, and it always cracks me up to discover what parts of movies my mommy likes the best. No really, she couldn't stop laughing. It was cute. ^_^

2. The Time-Traveler's Wife
The logic doesn't make a huge amount of sense, and it's slightly creepy when you really think about how he visited his wife as a child, but overall I quite enjoyed the movie. It was just a tear-jerking, sweet romance with a sci-fi twist. Now, to read the book!

OH GOD, NOT AGAIN!

2009-07-31T05:32:13Z

Remember this? I'm going to be an extra in another freaking video for... I have no idea what it is this time. Possibly the same product. It involves a security camera, I know that. All I know is that it will be far less intensive (I'm at Starbucks, but the camera can see me! I'm sitting in the lounge, but the camera can see me!), and thus also far more boring. (It sounds like it's going to take all day to film me sitting in random locations.) I'm also going to be co-starring with Random Foreigner who they pulled out of god knows where, and I'm apparently supposed to be "friendly" and "chatty", the thought of which makes me want to groan. (I don't think that I can be chatty with a stranger for 7 hours! It's just not in me!) With me luck! >_<

Calling anime fans!

2009-07-06T06:19:46Z

Question for work (and I am unfortunately not even kidding you, this is actually for work):

What anime, manga, or cosplay-related sites (informational or sales related) that are only available in Japanese would you like to see in English? (Or any similar sites that just have, say, an incomprehensible English HP would be fine, too.)

(No seriously, this is for work. Don't ask.)

Reading with Minako-chan 2009: 2 B or not 2 B

2009-06-30T05:50:49Z

Wow, I haven't talked about my books in a very long time, but I swear that I'm still reading! Honest! Here's a roundup, homefully without leaving anything out...

(7) The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
What a fascinating story. The Book Thief tells the tale of young Liesel during the Holocaust, as told by Death. It's apparently meant for young adults, so it's a relatively quick and easy read, but it's also a story set in the Holocaust, making it really dark and gut-wrenching in parts. The mixture of humor, melancholy, and poetic prose is wonderful. I can't praise it enough. Definitely a recommended read for most everyone.

(8) Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik
Disclaimer: I'm a big fan of the Temeraire series, so I was hugely excited to read this, the 5th book in the series. This is the "Britain in the Napoleonic Wars, but with DRAGONS!" series that I love so much. For those who follow the series, this is, in many ways, a simpler book that sets aside the globe-trotting for battles in England and lots of interaction between Temeraire and a wide cast of hysterically awesome dragons. A great addition to the Temeraire series.

(9) Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman
Dr. Impossible breaks out of prison. Corefire, invincible leader of the Champions, is missing. In alternating POVs between Dr. Impossible and Fatale, the bionic woman and new member of the Champions, this funny and enthralling book tells the intersecting tale of Dr. Impossible's plto and the Champions' quest. It somehow manages to feel both real and fanciful at the same time while keeping you on your toes with an engrossing plot. I liked how, unlike many modern superhero novels I've read recently, this novel isn't a parody, nor does it feel like it's forcing itself to be "new". It's a straight-out superhero novel, and yet, it manages to be more relatable and relavent than most anything else that I've read recently. In short, I really enjoyed this book and am only sad that I can't find more like it. A wonderful, wonderful superhero novel.

(10) Interworld by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves
I almost feel bad for saying this, but OMG I hated this book. No, I seriously HATED it. The overall premise behind the book is fascinating: Joey Harker, normal teenager, turns out to have the power to Walk through time and space into alternate universes, and by doing so, gets caught up in a conflict between magic and science and joins up with a secret group of Walkers, all versions of Joey from different universes. (There's robot Joey and girl Joey and big Joey from the dense Earth and Joey with fairy wings... it's pretty fun.) Unfortunately... that pretty much summarizes all that's good with the book. The original Joey Harker is boring. His journey to becoming Mr. Awesome Hero Man is unrealistic, trite, and completely unsympathetic. The relationships are forced and don't make any sense. The conflict between the evil magic group and the evil science group is far from fleshed out, with the evil science group appearing in, unfortunately not even kidding you, only one very short scene. About the only character who I actually liked was Hue, the alien blob. The book ends with a big, Hollywood movie, "just wait for the sequal!!" scene, meaning that the book just feels frightfully unfinished. Gaiman and Reaves apparently wrote the book years ago with no intention of publishing it; they were actually trying to develop a TV series around the premise. And let me tell you, it SHOWS. Unfinished, forced, and not very fun, this really should have been left in the bottom of someone's drawer. Calling all Neil Gaiman fans: Stay away. Stay faaaar away.

(11) Storm Front by Jim Butcher
Harry is a wizard. No, I mean the other Harry, Harry Dresden. He's a professional working wizard in an alternate Earth where magic is common and starting to even become accepted. But don't let the magic fool you. The magic is really just a shiny cover over a good, old-fashioned detective novel. Harry is the hero, barely scraping by between clients and consulting jobs with his frienemy, a police detective with a reputation on the rocks thanks to her belief in Harry. Add in a murder, a mysterious job request from a beautiful woman, a sexy journalist with moxy, prostitutes and the mob... No seriously, it's a rather sterotypical film noir detective story. Parts of it make me want to quote ANOTHER Harry, Harry Lockhart: "Your case, and my case, they're the same case!" (Yes, this is technically a spoiler. But in my defense, it's super obvious to anyone who's even heard of the detective genre before.) On the minus side, it's a rather paint-by-numbers plot and Harry (Dresden) has... quaint views about women. But on the other hand, it's a fun story, and the shiny gloss of the supernatural really does make everything look nicer. This is the first book in the Dresden Files series, and I think I liked the story enough to check out a few more books. To put it in mathematical form: Harry Potter + Harry Lockhart = Harry Dresden.

(12) The Late Hector Kipling by David Thewlis
First thing's first: yes, the author is David Thewlis. Yes, that David Thewlis. Having gotten THAT out of the way, the story. This is one weird, surreal, funny book, and admittedly not everyone will like it. It centers around Hector Kipling, a self-centered modern artist, and his life as Hectory contemplates love, death, and why people don't think he's awesomer. It drags a bit in parts, but it's really quite funny in an odd sort of way, but probably only if you're the type to laugh at parody of modern art. Hector only draws giant, distorted faces. One of his close friends only paints silverware. Another does bigger pieces, like a motorized hearse chasing a motorized baby carriage on a track. It loses something in retelling, but seriously, if you don't find this funny, you won't like the book. But to everyone else, I'd recommend it. Where else do you get to laugh at sadomasochism? A bit slow in parts, but over all very quirky and quite funny for a slightly surreal read.

FYI, I got a Kindle as an early birthday present, and it's actually perfect for me, because A) I honestly don't have room for any more paperbacks in my little Tokyo apartment, and B) when you take into consideration shipping costs and general markups added to English books is Japan, Kindle prices are honestly a good deal. Plus, it's much easier to cart on the train! I'm honestly not sure if I'd use it if I still lived in the States, but in Japan, it's really great.

Organ Transplant Debate

2009-06-18T03:55:51Z

For those who are curious, the Japanese parliament is currently starting its debate on reforms to the current organ transplant law (concerning deceased donors). The main catalysts for this change are a combination of A) problems with the current law, especially with the fact that donors must be 15+ years old, thus essentially making transplants for children illegal, and B) changes to WHO rules on transplants in foreign countries (in order to combat the concern of "transplantion tourism" as far as I can tell). I'm not an expert on transplants by any means (although I know people who are!), but it's an interesting debate in Japan, and I'll try to summarize it here.

Current situation and problems
Probably the two most controversial questions concern brain death and age limits. In general, brain death seems to be a controversial topic in Japan. Currently, brain death can only be considered as death if A) the person in question has a written donor card/document that states their desire to take brain death as death, and B) if the family also agrees. Instead, death is usually defined as no respiration, no heart beat, and no response to light (pupil response).

The other big controversy involves the age limits. The laws require consent from the donor, but the laws also don't believe that children (or young teens, apparently) are able to fully give consent. Therefore, donors must be 15 or older. The problem then comes from the fact that young children can't be given adult organs. So what currently happens to kids in need of transplants? Well, they currently have two options: A) hang on until you're a teenager and big enough to accept donor organs, or B) raise all of the money that they need to move to another country (usually the U.S.) and get a transplant there. Of course, with the new WHO rules, option B is essentially cut off for these kids, meaning that just have to suck it up and try not to die. Go go Japan. >_<

Four (!!) possibilities
And so, the parliament has started debating a new organ transplant law. There are four plans, summarized (and simplified) in the table below:

(FYI, for those who read Japanese, the following link goes to a PDF with a more detailed comparison chart between the current law, the four plans, and WHO guidelines: http://www.asas.or.jp/jst/pdf/plan_abcd.pdf)

	Plan A	Plan B	Plan C	Plan D
Brain death	Used (although the donor/family can opt out)	Preapproval from the donor + family approval	Preapproval from the donor + family approval (but with a stricter definition of brain death)	1) 15 and up: Preapproval from the donor + family approval 2) Under 15: Just family approval
Age limit	None	12+	15+	None (but different rules depending on age)
Required approval	Donor+family, or just family	Donor+family	Donor+family	1) 15 and up: Donor+family, 2) Under 15: Family

All of the plans also use the "no respiration, no heartbeat, no reaction" method of determining death. I don't know what sort of difference this actually makes to organ transplants (again, not an expert!) but from the direction of the debates, I assume that including brain death (greatly?) increases the number of viable transplant organs.

The parliament is debating these plans in a slightly odd way: They're first debating just whether to approve Plan A, and if it gets voted down, they're moving on to Plan B, and so forth. As far as I can tell, it makes it more likely that Plan D would be adopted, if only as the last resort, but oh well.

Plan A is the most changed, with the removed age limits and the elimination of written consent requirement for consideration of brain death, making brain death opt out as opposed to opt in. This would probably make the most difference in the transplant situation in Japan; most people, even if they're 100% A-okay with organ transplants and brain death, may not go through the trouble of making sure that they have filled out legal consent forms. This is probably especially the case for teens. How many 15 year olds do you know who have or would go through the trouble of filling out organ donation cards in the face of brain death?

Plan B is barely changed, with just a minor lowering of the age limit (so now you can technically donate from 12 year olds who haven't filled out forms), and Plan C is the weirdest in my option, as it's actually in many ways stricter than the current laws. Because the problem with organ donation and transplants in Japan is that the rules aren't strict ENOUGH.

Plan D is what I think of as the compromise plan, probably somewhere between A and B in terms of strictness, essentially eliminating restrictions on child donors. However, due to the requirement of written approval to consider brain death beforehand, Plan D looks like it could ironically be more difficult to get adult donors. (More difficult as compared to Plan A or even compared to child donors, not compared to the current situation, which is essentially unchanged.) Like Plans B-C, Plan D is essentially opt in for potential donors 15 and up. While technically opt in for all ages, at least family can give approval on behalf of younger potential donors, which makes a difference as it's rather difficult for an adult to opt in once he/she is brain dead.

In general, I think that most people would agree that little kids deserve a chance to get an organ transplants, but the problem comes from the idea of child donors. Some people seem hesitant to donate from people who haven't given explicit consent, even if their family agrees to the donation, and at the same time also believe that children are incapable of giving consent. I completely understand the desire to protect the donor, but at the same time, you're essentially screwing over small children. If the surviving family is a-okay with donation, then what's the problem?

(And in a slight change of topic) Brain death
The morning news did a piece on the brain death part of the controversy, and I must admit that I thought it was a bit creepy. They introduced a woman and her 8-year-old son. The son has been brain dead for 7 years, and (this is actually what the news said) is currently in the 4th grade. (No, I have NO idea how this works. They said it was a "special" school, but I really can't even fathom what this school is doing.) The woman was watching the debates in opposition of Plan A, as she felt it would declare her son dead. (Technically it wouldn't, since it appears that the woman could opt out and refuse to accept brain death, and that would be her prerogative.) I must admit that it made me rather sad to watch because, imho, your little boy is gone. If you really want to keep him on the life support machines, that's up to you, but at the same time, you're really doing it for yourself, not for your son. It's a touchy and delicate situation, but sometimes, I think that you have to let people go. And if parts of your body can help someone else live, even if just for a few years longer, I say go for it. [Note: Edited to reflect the fact that it was a son, not a daughter.]

I have admittedly not registered myself on donor lists or anything (I'm a bit unsure about what to do when I'm in Japan... does it really matter, since I don't have any family around to approve? Even with approval, would they or could they accept donor organs from a non-citizen? For that matter, what if I just died on vacation somewhere? How does that mesh with the WHO rules? I have no idea...), although I have had discussions about it with my mother. (It wasn't a heavy, deep discussion... it just literally came up in conversation one day, and we laughed about it, but she was also serious, so I take her at her word.) My mother said that if she ever becomes brain dead or slips into a vegetative state, I'm supposed to let her go and donate whatever the hell anyone wants. (My mother is rather matter-of-fact about death. I'm reminded of a time in which my father was musing about where he'd want to get buried, my mother immediately responded, "Oh, don't worry about that. I'm cremating you and scattering your ashes," to which my father looked rather flummoxed (this was obviously the first that he had heard of it). He didn't complain, though, so I'm assuming he's okay with it.)

In short, it's an interesting debate to watch. We'll see what happens.

UPDATE: Surprise! Plan A passed in the first house by a rather wide margin. We'll see how it does in the second house.

UPDATE #2: Plan A passed the second house in mid-July. Hurray! Now if we can only get families to agree to donate...

This Weekend

2009-06-17T04:08:47Z

I had a pretty good weekend to combat recent work/life stress. On Saturday, johnabe took me to see "Terminator Salvation" (just known as the more logical "Terminator 4" in Japan). It was my first ever Terminator movie, and you know what? I quite liked it. It has lots of fun action and explosions and some pretty amazing shots (there's a helicopter crash in the beginning that I thought was really well done... it really DID remind me of being in my mom's SUV when it flipped, only, obviously, longer). Plus, it has MARCUS WRIGHT (played by Sam Worthington), who was totally awesome and I loved him like an awesomely awesome thing. Anyway, for some non-spoiler fun, the credits to the movie turned out to be accidentally hilarious:

1. One poor actor was accidentally credited as "Soilder". I loled pretty hard. Go go proofreading skillz!

2. At the very end, when they had the "Special Thanks" part of the credits, there was one line that went something like this: "Special Thanks to the Department of Defense and the U.S. Air Force, but especially to the Department of Defense."

No seriously, it mentioned the DOD twice. I couldn't stop laughing. I imagine a meeting with the producers and the guys from the DOD went something like this:

Producer: ...and, of course, we will make sure to credit both you and the Air Force for your cooperation...
DOD: But we're responsible for the Air Force.
Producer: Um, yes, but the planes are actually being flown by the Air Force, so...
DOD: Well, sure, you have to thank them... but it's thanks to us that the Air Force even exists! So you need to, you know, thank us double.
Producer: Oh, well. I guess we could...
DOD: Can you print our name in big letters?
Producer: I suppose...
DOD: Or make it flash or something? Like, one of those scrolling thingamabobs?
Producer: Er...
DOD #2: What about sparkle font?
DOD: Oooooo...
Producer: ...We'll just thank you twice.

One of my friends invited me to a little livehouse on Sunday night. Her boyfriend is acting as the temporary bassist for this comedic three person rock band. Their music was actually pretty good, and they were also very funny as well. They had songs called things like "My name is Bacteria Man" and "Draemon Ash" (a play on famous cartoon "Doraemon" and rock group "Dragon Ash"). Their lyrics were by turns humorous, surreal, and weird, and I quite liked it. I think my favorite song was one that mainly consisted of instrumental music while the lead singer/guitarist Sugawara-san (I've met him a couple of times) talked, giving a short setup to a joke (about current events, politics, whatever) that lead up to a killer punchline. But after Sugawara-san made a few good jokes, he forced the drummer, Endo, to take a turn, and his joke went like this:

Endo: You know, you hear people talking about all of the horrible things happening to modern Japan, but I don't think people talk about Japanese eating habits a lot. You know, more and more people are cutting back on rice, and they're eating more and more bread (pan in Japanese). And to me, that's the real PANdemic.
Audience: ............
Endo: [attempt to hide behind drums]

I laughed. It was a pretty entertaining show. ^_^

"Spin around. Ninjas!"

2009-06-08T03:41:58Z

This has been making its way around the internets, but I just hate to think that anyone would miss the hilarity. Disclaimer: I love Bonnie Tyler's song "Total Eclipse of the Heart". It's one of those big epic over-the-top rock ballads. Little Minako-chan used to turn it up on the radio and watch the video on MTV, that's how much I liked the song. Having said that, the video makes no freaking sense. It's honestly just mind-bogglingly weird. There's fencers and shirtless schoolboys and a very literal take on the lyrics "Turn around bright eyes". It's just SO weird.

Which is why the LITERAL version of the video, in which the original lyrics are replaced by descriptions of the video, is so good. I weep with laughter every time I see this video.

The Original Version

The Literal Version

In conclusion, it's still a great song, but the video, wtf?

And here is your May update...

2009-05-24T08:59:04Z

I saw him again! As I mentioned twice before, there's an awesome guy at my gym. And today, while walking around in Shinjuku, I think I saw him again! Okay, so I was walking along, and I saw this person from the back. At first, I thought it was a middle-aged woman, but the outfit... yellow turtleneck, yellow socks, Birkenstocks, and teeny TEENY khaki shorts that not only displayed rather significant amounts of ass cleavage, but also appeared to be giving the world's most painful-looking wedgie. As this person also had long hair tied into a side ponytail (with a hairband attached to a giant pink flower) and was also carrying a purse that (although I wasn't close enough to see the entire pattern) would have likely worked as a purse for My Little Pony or Care Bears, I assumed that said person was a woman. But then, as said person turned a corner, I caught a glimpse of this person's profile, and there was a rather significant beard. I couldn't tell for sure if it was actually gym guy, but I'd be rather frightened if there was more than one of him hanging around Shinjuku.

Some videos I should mention... There's a commercial for Combat (a cockroach insecticide) that never fails to make me howl with laughter:

You can watch the YouTube version (bigger but low quality) or you can visit the web site (teeny but high quality). Long story short, it's got the Johnny's-related idol group Butokan doing a very idol version of this insecticide commercial, and it ends with a very dramatic, "Gokuburi (cockroach), to the heaven." Seriously, I WEEP with laughter.

Also, http://www.dothetest.co.uk/ has a new version of their awareness videos. The original one "Basketball" is still incredible, but the new version "Whodunnit?" is equally pretty awesome.

Finally, my parents are currently in Hawaii visiting relatives, and they went to my cousin's graduation. Now, Hawaiian graduations are always celebrated by giving the graduate leis. Basically everyone the graduate knows sends a lei, so every graduate can end with piles of flowers. (Even I, when I graduated in Colorado, ended up with two fresh flower leis and a ribbon lei from relatives.) Monday is Memorial Day in the US. (For non-Americans, this is the day for commemorating soldiers who died in battle. A separate day, Veterans Day, is set aside for other veterans.) In honor of Memorial Day, a large veterans cemetary in Punchbowl (Honolulu) asked for donated leis, as they cover each grave in a lei. They needed 50,000 leis. They apparently now have too many leis, but they're still collecting anyway. My mom said that at my cousin's graduation, they had a box near the exit. Anyone who wanted to donate the leis after the pictures and all were over could drop the leis off in the box. Sounds amazing... I'd like to see that.

OH MY GOD

2009-04-23T12:07:19Z

I literally ran from my dinner when I heard the news so that I could post this as quickly as possible:

SMAP's Kusanagai Tsuyoshi was arrested for public indecency after apparently getting drunk and running around a public park naked.

I shouldn't laugh at someone getting arrested, but I find this to be absolutely hysterical. I'm in tears with laughter after hearing this news. This is the definition of LOLz.

On the minus side, this is Japan, not the States or Britain or somewhere (where this would just be a hilarious story to tell interviewers), and Tsuyoshi-kun's not just a normal celebrity, he's a JOHNNY'S, and therefore technically an idol, and therefore this looks like it's going to be a HUGE deal. There's already been an official statement from Johnny's stating that Tsuyoshi-kun has been temporarily suspended, no indication yet of when he'll be let back in. OH THE DRAMA.

Touched Y/N?

2009-04-17T05:38:14Z

Okay, I've got to ask because I've heard about it on other people's blogs and on news sites and even from my freaking parents... Susan Boyle. Am I seriously the only one who didn't start weeping and having a life changing experience upon hearing her sing? I mean, she's a good singer, and if she were at my karaoke night, I'd cheer nice and loud. But it wasn't exactly the best performance of "I Dreamed a Dream" that I'd ever heard, and I wasn't that impressed, and I certainly wasn't anywhere near tears. (Then again, I was also never impressed by Paul Potts two years ago, either.) It makes me wonder if maybe I'm cold-hearted (although I cry at half of the movies I see), or if maybe I'm some sort of elitist music snob (always a possiblity). So, have a poll!

View Poll: It's like a poll you'd write in middle school:

In other news of a video that DID get me choked up, I watched the latest "Harry Potter & tHBP" trailer, and I was doing fine until the end of the trailer when they showed obviously end-of-the-movie Snape scenes, and I started getting teary-eyed. It's just [SNIFF!] all so very sad, and I will likely blubber like a baby at the end of the movie. July 17th in Japan, gotta mark my calendar!!

Three Video Games and a Movie

2009-04-13T09:12:20Z

Holy cow, I'm exhausted. The filming today took no time at all, but I still spent half of the day in either a car or train, so I chugged a very sugary latte in an attempt to wake up. (Note: Backfired big time. Caffeine is a total crap shoot with me: I'm either insanely wired for the next 6 hours, or I immediately want to curl into a ball and go to sleep. Guess what happened. >_<) Anyway, the video was pretty hysterical; it involved me 10 seconds of me pretending to take money from an ATM, and then getting into a tug-of-war fight with my co-worker Miokawa-san (dressed in all black and looking hysterically suspicious) over my bag. It was pretty awesome. After some debate over when I should shriek and how long we should wait until Miokawa-san started attacking, we got it done pretty much in one take, so I went back to work. (Well, I took the train for an hour and THEN got to work.) But luckily, I had plenty to keep me occupied! And with that, here are my three big video game news items (because good things come in threes):

Final Fantasy VII (PS3/PSP). They just brought this out on the Japanese Playstation Store, so I was able to download the game. Now I can play it on the go with my PSP (as I did today), or at home on my PS3 (note: FFVII on a large high-definition TV is HYSTERICALLY overkill; each pixel is like the size of my thumb). I played it during my long travel time today, so I just got Tifa in my team and we're about to go off to take down Tower 5. It's pretty darned awesome, and I'm totally excited to get further along so that I can just run around and level-slut on my commute. Good times!
Final Fantasy XIII. FFVII:AC comes out on Blu-ray on... Wednesday? Thursday? In any case, I've got a copy on reserve with the FFXIII demo, and I'm totally excited. It looks very very purdy and lots of fun and it's going to be pretty hysterical to play it back-to-back with FFVII. ^_^
Valkyria Chronicles. I had been interested in it when it first came out, and then I forgot about it, but recently I picked it up due to a recommendation from kinomakoto. And, well, I adore it. It's a turn-based RPG strategy game with surprisingly little actually strategy required (lol). Essentially all you need to do is accomplish your goal (normally a capture-the-flag type deal), but you're mainly graded on speed. You can get bonus points for killing leaders and tanks and getting aces and all that, but your main points come from your rank in the battle, and your rank seems to mainly depend on how fast you capture the flag. So while you have five classes of soldiers and a tank, essentially all you really need is about two good soldiers to carve a straight line through the enemies and get to the flag as quickly as possible. And to be entirely honest, plowing through the enemies while attacking like a mad-woman, completely ignoring defense, and focusing solely on the end goal is how I normally play strategy games, so this is a perfect match for me. Add in the beautiful artwork made to look like painting instead of CG and the somewhat hysterical storyline (as Mako-chan described it to me, "It's set in Gallia, a neutral country stuck between warring NotRussia/Germany and NotBritishEmpire. (By location, it would be Poland, but it acts like Switzerland and the people are Austrians. Large plotpoints center on Edelweiss.)"), I really love the game. Two thumbs up so far!

In non-video game related entertainment news, johnabe dragged me to "Frost/Nixon" totally against my will, and would you believe it, it was an awesome movie. I thought it would be rather dry and dull, but instead it's suspenseful and exciting, and despite the fact that it's based on true history, you still spend the movie on the edge of your seat. "It's the final interview... will Frost get a leg up over Nixon!? I just don't KNOW!" It was suprisingly good. Recommended!

This is not in my job description!

2009-04-09T00:31:14Z

Apparently, I get to play "frightened businesswoman A" in a promotional video that we're shooting for someone's security camera product on Monday. I'll be pretending to take money out of an ATM, when Something Scary comes up behind me, and I scream in fright. Seriously. >_< SO HORRIFIC. I don't know know if there's some sort of "after" scene, in which I happily withdraw money from an ATM with said security camera; said scene would presumably involve me happily waving a stack of 10,000 yen bills in the air with glee. "No one can steal from me now that there's a SECURITY CAMERA!!"

Reading with Minako-chan 2009

2009-03-27T04:03:21Z

This actually marks my third year of trying to read more on my commute, and it still seems to be working! Hurray!

(1) Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris
This book is the first of three Christmas gifts from my sisters. A small (teeny) collection of Sedaris essays and stories, this collection suffered the ups and downs of most collections. While the more biographical (or at least "biographical") stories were quite strong, filled with humor and holiday spirit, the pure fiction stories ranged from simply weak to slightly off-putting, generally not funny at all. However, this holiday themed collection is bound to have at least one story that someone will enjoy, making it a pretty good holiday gift for someone. Maybe not a collection that you'd buy for yourself, but a good gift to buy someone else.

(2) The 47th Samurai by Stephen Hunter
First thing's first: this book was NOT my fault! One of my sisters got it for me for Christmas, and I think we can all be glad that I can't remember which one, because this book is HORRID like a horrible thing. Basically, it's about a white, aging American country boy who goes to Japan in order to Become a Samurai (which involves a combination of Japanese samurai movies, daily meals in a local sushi shop, and zero attempts to learn the language... c'mon expats in Japan or people who have friends obsessed with Japanese culture. Tell me that you not only know this guy, but probably want to beat his head in, too). But as it turns out, White Guy is JUST what Japan needs to solve a mystery involving porn, yakuza, and a Shinsengumi sword! After the literary equivalent of a movie montage sequence ala Team America World Police, our hero becomes a sword master, rallies the troops (who were paralyzed with the inability to take action; if ONLY a renegade American could show up to blast through their conservative culture and save them all!!1!eleventy!), fights samurai-obsessed yakuza mano-a-mano, and saves the little Japanese girl from rape so that she can live a happy new life in America. I am NOT even shitting you. I was raging throughout most of the book. And those are only the biggest, most insulting problems. I haven't even gotten into the bad writing, flat characterization, borderline racism, or the fact that most of the major Japanese characters were named things like Philip, Al, Nick, Susan, or Jonathan. It's utterly bizarre, completely unrealistic, and even rather insulting. A book by and for Japan fetish-ists! Otherwise, avoid it like the plague.

(3) The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
When a mysterious man kills a family, only the baby gets away. A ghost couple adopts the baby and raises him as Nobody Owens, but the killer's still out there, waiting. I quite enjoyed the fantastical world, the view of death, and (of course) Silas. (I [heart!] Silas!) I... no, I actually liked Nobody, but it's slightly weird when the ultimate happy ending for a book would be, "And then the little boy died and lived in the graveyard with his friends and family for the rest of eternity. HURRAY!" Which brings me to the biggest question: Who exactly was the book written for? The structure (with clearly defined chapters, each chapter containing its very own plot arc) seems to be perfect for little kids. (Like, the structure is perfect as a "read one chapter and then go to bed" type of book.) However, I can't imagine many parents letting their kids read such grisly subject matter. Although it's not really explicit, the story does contain implied murder and death, knives and weaponry, monsters and general creepiness. With subject matter a bit too intense for young readers, but language and structure a bit too young for older readers, it's a bit hard to tell who it's for. Still, I enjoyed it as an easy read. A kid's book written for older Gaiman fans.

(4) How To Talk to Girls by Alec Greven
If you haven't heard of it, this dating book was original written by a young boy for his elementary school, but the child-like cuteness combined with a good dose of pretentiousness and a surprising dash of good advice made this a big hit. It's possibly not worth the dough to spend on a copy for yourself, but it's a pretty funny read nonetheless. A funny little book that makes a good gift for someone.

(5) The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
This novel tells the story of three people (family) in the background of the US and the Dominican Republic. I... honestly don't know how to feel about this book; I think my overall impression would be "neutral". What I liked: the parts about the Dominican Republic and Dominican culture among immigrants in the States was very interesting (although, I unfortunately now have the firm mental image that all Dominican men are cheating chauvinists, and all Dominican women get beaten up a lot, so, um...). What I didn't like: The choppiness and lack of focus. The story follows Oscar, his sister, and his mother, with a rather off-topic (but very interesting) section about Oscar's grandfather, but the individual stories don't particularly seem to relate to each other. At the end, I was desperately trying to remember what we learned about the sister, and why it was important to give her a chapter. Also, Oscar (the overweight geek) is supposed to be sympathetic (I think), but he's really not. He's actually equal parts pathetic and creepy. In the end, what did I think? Honestly, not much. Not good, not bad, just... there. Good writing with some engaging sections, but overall a bit unfocused.

((6) Confessions of a Fallen Angel by Ronan O'Brien
I bought this book based on the title, so let me get this out of the way: THE CAKE IS A LIE. Not what I thought the book would be about. It actually has nothing to do with literal fallen angels (I totally wanted to read THAT book!), and is instead about an Irish boy (and then man) who has visions of the deaths of loved ones. Sounds interesting, right? But there are a few problems: A) He only ever actually sees the deaths of, like, four people over his entire life, which makes it seem less like "OMG PSYCHIC!!" and more like "Wow, weird coincidence." B) The guy isn't particularly likable. He spirals into depressive alcoholism at several points, and it's not pretty at all. However, despite the fact that the author depicted these lows with somewhat admirable harshness, I felt that the author was still pushing the reader to think, "Oh, poor baby!" and want to protect the guy from evil "psychiatrists" and "people who want to throw away his bottles of vodka before he drowns himself". I could barely stop myself from screaming, "Pull yourself together! There's a difference between grieving and wallowing, and YOU, sir, are WALLOWING. No, actually, you're just committing suicide over an extended period of time!" (Yes, Minako-chan would make the worst guidance counselor ever.) Long story short: A somewhat underwhelming book that I couldn't really get into.

On a side note, have other people read the short story "The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury? I saw another Bradbury story mentioned somewhere, and now I have an urge to read "The Veldt" again. I actually read it for the first time when I was pretty young, like 3rd grade or so, and it's traumatized me to this day. (lol)

Daily Funny

2009-03-24T04:01:26Z

A couple of Daily Show links so I don't lose them:

The one where Al Sharpton didn't show up, but they interviewed him anyway. Classic.
The Banana Episode. If you've seen it, you'll know why it's called that.
The Pancake-and-Sausage-on-a-Stick plus Baconnaise Lite. Come for the political commentary, stay for the gross-out food combination.

On a side note, I was thinking about it, and I realized that I'm actually quite the long-time viewer of The Daily show. I watched The Daily Show back in the day that Craig Kilborn hosted, back when their news stories tended to be gawker-esque weird stories (lots of UFO hunters and foil hats and Bigfoot) and they had classic segments like "the weekend's top grossing films, converted into lira". (Note: It depresses me to think that A) kids these days won't remember this segment, and B) kids these days probably won't remember lira.) I actually remember when Kilborn left and Jon Stewart stepped in; I was SO pissed. Here was this guy who I only knew from a failed talk show on MTV (a talk show on MTV! MTV will show anything and they cancelled his show!) taking over one of my favorite shows. He even stopped asking interview guests the infamous five questions; I nearly boycotted right there. And now look... Oh the irony.

I realize that this article about online child predators shouldn't be funny, but the beginning of the article nearly made me howl with laughter:

[The special agent, posing as a 14-year-old boy,] claimed he was into weightlifting, AC/DC and muscle magazines.

OMG, and you're wondering why people doubt that you're actually 14? Do you honestly think that the average American teenaged boy is listening to AC/DC?

White Day: The Swaggening

2009-03-13T09:30:56Z

I apparently forgot to mention this, but last month, I was kinda stressed from work and had a day off on Feb. 11th, so I decided to make red velvet cupcakes for Valentine's Day. I'm really not a domestic type, but I'm Virgo enough that things like cleaning and baking relax me. They were slight failures (I don't have a mixer, so the frosting ended up with small lumps of cream cheese that I couldn't quite smooth out, and I didn't put enough food coloring in (liquid food coloring is nearly impossible to find in Japan, so I just added powdered red color until the batter looked vaguely bloody), so I ended up making plain chocolate cupcakes instead of red velvet). Still, they turned out well. (I assume. I made ALMOST enough for everyone in the company, male and female, but I was two cupcakes short, so I rather apologetically informed my fellow translator Horinouchi-san that neither of us were getting cake. She didn't seem to mind, but I was honestly a big upset. lol)

Anyway, today (tomorrow, technically, but it's a Saturday) is White Day, so I ended up getting swag from the guys at the office: a bag of cookies, four small chocolates (from 2 different co-workers), a little box of 4 truffles, a little box of chocolates (which my co-worker hysterically hid in a work envelope in order to hide from prying eyes), and apparently some cake from the guys in the Engineering department. \(^o^)/ Hurray! I am the winner!

(No, actually to be entirely honest, it's pretty embarrassing. I wanted to bake because I was bored and stressed; Valentine's day was really just an excuse and a good way to make sure that I didn't scarf a sheet cake by myself. Next year, I'm pooling my money with the other women to buy chocolates. If I want to bake, I'll make sure to do it on a non-reciprical-gift-giving holiday.)

ETA: Once I got home, I realized that I was slightly wrong... my hysterical coworker gave me a box of carmel cookie thingies, not chocolates (suggesting that he has better taste than I ever assumed), and the cake from the Engineering guys turned out to be 6 petit-fours that look AWESOME.

Yes, they're all strawberry themed, and although you can't tell from this angle, the middle one on the left is shaped like a swan. I AM GOING TO GET SO FAT AND HAPPY OVER THIS WEEKEND. I CHANGED MY MIND AGAIN. SCREW YOU, SHAME! I LOVE YOU, WHITE DAY.

A Tale of Two Asian Utahimes

2009-03-07T12:56:35Z

I previously mentioned that Utada's second album is dropping soon. It comes out on March 14th in Japan and March 24th in the States. (The first single is already available.) I'm so excited about the album, however, that I completely forgot to mention the OTHER super-famous Asian singer coming out with a US album: BoA.

Yes, BoA's debut US album hits stores on March 17th. It's supposed to be a hard-hitting dance album, which admittedly makes me blink a bit, because US audiences aren't exactly known for being connoisseurs of dance albums. So far, I've heard two songs from the album: "I Did It for Love" and "Eat You Up".

I quite like "I Did It for Love", but "Eat You Up"... Is it just me, or does that song sound like it's running at half speed? It's one of the least danceable dance songs that I've ever heard. Seriously, it's kinda weird.