nerdy
chipper![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
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. chipper
giggly
happy giggly giggly
busyI've been surprisingly busy the past two weeks or so. I'm leaving this weekend for a trip to Greece with kinomakoto, and I'm super excited. My laundry isn't quite done and my apartment probably won't get cleaned before I go, but I'm basically ready. Hurray! Excitement!
A few weeks ago, I was watching one of the millions of animal related TV shows in Japan, and they showed an edited version of a clip known as ( Battle at Kruger. )
Before Crisis, the Final Fantasy VII cell phone game, just came out for my current model of cell phone, so I said "What the hell!" and I downloaded it. ( Cut for those who don't really care. ^_^ )
( Cut for those who actually care about my previous poll... )
soreI feel like it's been a long month. My boss took his week-long vacation to Israel, and all of us tend to get lost when he's gone, so I worked some long-ish nights that week. Then on Monday, I had to take the morning off of work to get my yearly physical done. (Top things that you don't want to hear in the doctor's office: "Sorry!" "Oh dear." "Ganbatte kudasai!" For cereal. >_<) Plus, we received homework at work. In order to receive our bonuses, we have to copy out, by hand, the 65 pages of our 2008 company plan booklet. It's seriously enough to make a girl cry. I'm trying to do 30 minutes after work each day, but then I'll have to step up the pace to get it done this weekend. It's absolutely horrible, and my hand's been cramping for two days straight.
Anyway, here are some links to stuff that's made me smile:
A little article from The Slate had two movie-remake ideas that made me laugh:
[...] "I, Robot with Christian Bale in the lead role, because I'd be curious to see if Bale would have his arm surgically replaced with a robotic arm to prepare for the role."
This is awesome mainly becuase I think Christian Bale would actually do it. Method for the win! But the best movie remake idea was obviously:
I would remake Troy with the Muppets, in the belief that Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy would add more gravitas to the story as Achilles and Helen than the living actors did. I would use a nearly identical script but include Statler and Waldorf (the two grumpy old guys in the balcony) so that they could read from the Iliad and note where the script favors plot points lifted from Steve Reeves and Michael Bay movies instead of Homer. Unlike the original, Muppet Troy would also allow for kid-friendly merchandising, such as Baby's First Trojan Horse.
This was a little find from McSweeney's. Most were fairly funny, but it was the following that killed me:
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
C.S. LEWIS: Finally, a utopia ruled by children and populated by talking animals.
THE WITCH: Hi, I'm a sexually mature woman of power and confidence.
C.S. LEWIS: Ah! Kill it, lion Jesus!
I think that last line is my new catch phrase.
lazykinomakoto's LJ, THEY'RE MAKING A HERE IS GREENWOOD TV DRAMA. Oh be still my beating heart. Greenwood is one of my favorite anime and manga of all time, so I am super-de-duper excited. Having said that... I already disagree with the casting of Shun, and I seriously doubt that anything can change my mind. I honestly think that they should have cast a female actress (for those who don't know the series, the entire joke about Shun is that he looks (and acts, for the most part) exactly like a really cute girl; the lead character Suka-chan rooms with Shun for several days before figuring it out, and that's only because he finally walks in on Shun at a urinal). I'm sure that the guy playing Shun is perfectly nice, but it's tough when you think that they cast a character as the wrong SEX. But the guy playing Suka-chan is cute like a bunny, so we'll see. happy sore
thoughtfulHas everyone seen this? http://garfieldminusgarfield.tumblr.com/
I also read that the final Harry Potter book will be broken into two movies so that they don't have to worry about cutting out information. I will fully admit that my first thought was, "Oh, that is a horrible horrible idea." I understand what producer David Heyman says about it being difficult to cut anything from the book. It's the last book, afterall, so there's no time to slip information into the story at a later point. But making two movies out of the book sounds absolutely horrid.
( More about Harry Potter... )
In random Japan news, there have been recent articles about proposed revisions to the bicyling rules, which actually involve fewer changes and more crack downs on unsafe riding practices, such as wearing headphones, talking on the phone, or holding an umbrella. The reason these changes have been coming up in the news, however, have been because of the crackdown on people who ride with three people on one bicyle: one adult riding with a kid in a back basket and another kid a front basket.
(not)drunkOkay, so I'm translating a catalog right now, and one of the items for sale is 500 ml of Scotch sold in a plastic water bottle. I'm supposed to be writing this crap about how it's so nice and convenient in a trendy portable size, but all I'm having trouble coming up with a way that doesn't make it sound completely cheap and sleazy. "Comes with free paper bag to hide your shame from the world as you glug your cares away in the middle of the park!!" I'm sorry, but it's a freaking plastic bottle of Scotch. It doesn't get much tackier. At least it doesn't come with one of those squirtable sports drink tops. THAT would be awesome-tastic.
FYI, as some of you may have noticed, Senshi Gakuen is completely down. Yes, we know. No, we don't know why. I can't really help from Tokyo, so poor kinomakoto has to try and fix things all by herself. Ganbare, Mako-chan! Faito, Mako-chan! I will, of course, post something once I know what's what. We've never had major problems with the web site before, so it's really strange to have everything crap out within the past few months. ^_^;
bouncyVacation is almost here, and I'm so excited!
( Work Excitement! (Part II) )
( Net Excitement! )
bouncyAs most of you probably already know, I'm going home in a week, and I am soooo excited. I realize that I'm probably talking about it too much, but not only is my first Xmas at home in 4 years, but it's also the first reunion of our immediate family in, like, ever, so I think I get some slack. ^_^ In celebration(?), here's some news from the past week.
Hard Core Christmas Spirit
On my morning news program, they did a little segment about Christmas decorations in Japan, and how people save on electricity bills and all. One of the methods was using non-light-related decorations, like little balloon-type lawn figures and that sort of stuff. But one of the sample houses they showed? One wall of the house featured a giant picture of Mary holding baby Jesus. I thought it was hysterical. That is seriously hard core Christmas spirit for Japan.
My Niece Rocks (Part 1)
I mentioned previously that Detroit Niece started wearing glasses, and she looks too cute for words. She's an active three-year-old, so I was hoping that she wouldn't be bothered by things on her face. But word is that she LOVES her glasses. See, she doesn't know anyone else with glasses at her preschool. And the only other people she knows are adults. Therefore, she has come to the conclusion that glasses are big girl accessories, and that she is obviously far superior to her peers if she gets to wear glasses and they don't. It's rather hysterical toddler logic, and I absolutely adore her super-positive spin on the situation.
My Niece Rocks (Part 2)
Yet another story about why this niece of mine rocks. They've apparently got a fake Christmas tree at their house, so my niece has never been to a tree farm to get their Xmas tree. Therefore, when she first saw a car with a Christmas tree strapped to the roof, she apparently started shrieking, and told her parents very excitedly, "Look! They have salad on their car!!!" Everyone in the family thinks it's a hoot, and no one can figured out why she called it salad. My own attempt at decoding toddler logic says that A) Trees and plants stand upright and B) The thing on the car was not upright, therefore C) The thing on the car cannot be a tree or plant. But D) It was still green and leafy, ergo E) It must be salad.
My Boss is Cooler Than Your Boss (Part 64)
I've mentioned the awesomeness of my boss and his many hobbies before, but after learning Arabic last year and starting to make his very own Middle Age-esque sheepskin book, he decided that it would be fun to learn Arabic calligraphy. And since he's my boss, he doesn't just go at it half-assed. He's apparently in some sort of correspondance course with a calligraphy master living in Israel. It sounds like this calligraphy master is a good teacher, and my boss doesn't want to let the guy down, so he's started practicing during lunch. I have no idea what anything means, but everything that I've seen is pretty impressive. Seriously, I want to be my boss when I grow up.
Danger: Avoid Death
Some of you might have heard of this, but I read an article about some organization chose the best idiotic warning labels of the year. As someone who ends up translating warning labels many times a year, I can honestly say that some of it is pretty detailed. You can see the winners on the web page here, including the best warning label of the year: Danger: Avoid Death. Now, that's a pretty wacky warning label, but seriously? Visit the web site and check out the picture that goes along with it. That's the actual highlight of the warning. I nearly choked on my lunch when I saw it. Ohhh, you gotta love the American legal system that necessitates this sort of stuff....
amusedWell, I turned another year older on Sunday. Happy Birthday to me! In celebration, johnabe invited me over for a Wii party. (Technically, it was a Wii-and-Xbox-360 party, but that doesn't roll off the tongue quite as easily.) Wii Sports was fun (I wasn't particularly good at any of them, but I completely wore myself out boxing and managed to hit a homerun in baseball), and John showed me some things on the 360, including the demo for the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix game (I basically spent the entire time levitating benches and then hurling them into characters) and something really psychadelic involving lots of bright lights and a giraffe.
To celebrate, I present two links for your viewing pleasure.
1. WILL PLUTO PREVAIL?
As I noted previously, poor Pluto was demoted from its planetary status, but now, could the Pluto supporters be gaining ground!? Basically the entire debate makes me laugh, so I am fully willing to follow any and all Pluto news to the end.
2. The best commercial, EVER.
The 6th season of "24" is about to come out on DVD in Japan, and the commercials are simply awesome. In a nutshell: clips play as the Japanese voice actor for Jack Bauer (Koyama Rikiya, for those who are interested), sings a triumphant song entitled, "I am Jack Bauer." I found the following YouTube clip that includes two extended versions of the commercial. (FYI, each of the two extended versions include four of the TV-sized commercials.)
amused contemplativeI am not even shitting you, but I bought the newest Pepsi flavor today in Japan, and it is [drumroll please...]
No, seriously, it's a normal Pepsi, albeit a pale neon green color, with the "refreshing" aftertaste of cucumbers. And it... actually tastes like cucumbers. I wouldn't go so far as to say that it's a BAD drink, but it's weird. It's about 20 stages of weird. And drinking too much at one time makes me feel somewhat ill. It's just... dude, it's cucumber Pepsi.
ETA: Don't drink it too fast, either. Because if the carbonation builds up in your tummy, you'll end up burping cucumber flavored bubbles. And THAT my friends, THAT is a strange feeling.
injuredSo my mommy and daddy are in Canada to visit Canadian Sister and family. Apparently, Canadian Niece #2 is a freak. (lol) She's 7-1/2 months old, and has apparently decided "Screw this crawling shit; I'm learning to walk." She doesn't crawl so much as push herself onto her hands and balls of her feet and walk herself forward, and she already knows how to pull herself up into a standing position. She likes the standing position so much that she gets upset if you stick her in her playpen, which has soft walls that can't support her body weight. Also, and this is even weirder, she apparently cries like a banshee when you try to give her food. I have no idea why. Mom says that it's tricky trying to give her a bottle, because she sobs like someone's pulling her toes off when you stick it in her mouth. Canadian Sister and Brother-in-law said that you just have to keep the bottle in her mouth, and eventually she'll stop crying long enough to drink an inch or two of formula. She's apparently always been like that and won't eat much at one sitting, so they just have to feed her more times in a day. I can't wait to meet her. I've only seen her in pictures, so all I know is that she has absolutely massive blue eyes; she is SO CUTE. I love my weird neices and nephew. ^_^
Also, I found this on a blog somewhere:
1. Go to Google.com
2. Click on "Maps".
3. Click on "Get Directions".
-- From: New York, New York
-- To: Paris, France
4. Read direction number 23. (Note: For me, it was step 21...)
If you laugh, repost this.
I did indeed laugh. Oh, the wonderment of the internets...