tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40814012008-09-05T02:28:01.448+09:00"He sat down on a grassy bank and looked at the city that surrounded him, and thought, one day he would have to go home. And one day he would have to make a home to go back to." -- Neil Gaiman, "American Gods"Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03439434026067990024noreply@blogger.comBlogger357125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4081401.post-43226226831992958812008-09-05T02:20:00.002+09:002008-09-05T02:28:01.463+09:00

(the famous billboard outside MSP) I love this show. I wish I could see it more often. Video Pwnage: I can't see the Japanese pulling off a show like this...although there are satirical-news-type shows (the one I've seen most often has the words "This is a COMEDY show" mounted on the set, in huge glittery golden plastic...in English), none of them go off on actual news. It's all fake

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03439434026067990024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4081401.post-60089300403568406312008-09-01T21:22:00.003+09:002008-09-01T23:08:50.617+09:00

I'm watching the NHK "NewsWatch 9" show right now, and they had been discussing various aspects of Japanese parliamentary politics for about 20 minutes. The opposition party is having a private election to choose a new party president, etc. At one point, the anchors mentioned former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and I idly pondered the fact that although Abe's name is easy for me to remember, I

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03439434026067990024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4081401.post-27362628609918252572008-09-01T15:13:00.001+09:002008-09-01T15:15:38.270+09:00

...but not as you remember it. See how quickly you can spot this one:

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03439434026067990024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4081401.post-20551450545147365242008-08-24T22:54:00.000+09:002008-08-24T22:54:58.689+09:00

This article is rather odd. It was posted on the Yahoo! Sports page six minutes ago, and talks about how the closing ceremonies were a success, and that the torch has been extinguished. Except that the closing ceremonies are still going on (Jackie Chan just sang something), and the torch is still lit.

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03439434026067990024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4081401.post-23191863521172511232008-08-24T22:19:00.003+09:002008-08-24T22:42:59.948+09:00

Okay, so the Beijing Olympics closing ceremonies are on, and the Japanese announcers WON'T SHUT UP. The bit where the London 2012 crew did a cultural presentation was odd, but interesting. It started with a modern dance performance...representing a queue at a bus stop. They laid a zebra crossing down on the track and everything. A double-decker bus (marked "London--Beijing--London") pulled up

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03439434026067990024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4081401.post-85569303686758765862008-08-22T01:57:00.002+09:002008-08-22T02:05:51.151+09:00

In that last wall 'o text post, I mentioned SHINY FOIL ENHANCED CARDS!!!. This is an example of one of them. Lorelei (text added by me, of course) She's the ultra-rare card for the Scale Guild (mostly sea creatures). The actual card art is cooler looking than this, but hey. Lorelei (I'm not sure how to spell her name, actually) is a level five creature with fairly impressive stats, but I've

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03439434026067990024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4081401.post-15039679887897289802008-08-12T22:41:00.004+09:002008-08-12T23:58:51.998+09:00

Last year, Square-Enix (of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest fame) tried their hand at making an arcade multi-player game. They partnered up with Taito (of Space Invaders fame) and came up with an interesting concept: A collectible card roleplaying game. They called the result 悠久の車輪〜Eternal Wheel. The concept is pretty simple. You are a summoner, doing battle with another summoner on a small

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03439434026067990024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4081401.post-8459186280404822542008-08-10T17:40:00.005+09:002008-08-13T00:01:37.683+09:00

(No, that's not a Street View pic, of course.) Well, it appears that Google Street View has come to Japan. Now you can find images of Japanese neighborhoods in Google Maps, including the candid shots of people doing things that they wouldn't be doing if they knew they were on film, just like Street View anywhere... ...and that may be a problem. In a lengthy blog post (translated here),

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03439434026067990024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4081401.post-32170780638840865412008-08-02T20:49:00.001+09:002008-08-02T20:50:44.789+09:00

Regular gas prices surge as high as 196 yen per liter after wholesale price increase - Mainichi Daily News Here in Tottori, it's ¥183 a liter. At today's exchange rates, that's about...$6.44 a gallon. It's a GOOD thing that the really cool game center, which was underneath the nice movie theater, both of which are a good 40 minute drive away, is closed for remodeling. Of course, when I say "

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03439434026067990024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4081401.post-21870154193988921622008-07-21T22:52:00.002+09:002008-07-21T22:54:21.727+09:00

Just...wow.

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03439434026067990024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4081401.post-36163305103641677242008-07-20T16:31:00.002+09:002008-07-20T16:35:02.989+09:00

It's a 12 question quiz covering current events related to the United States. I was somewhat surprised to learn that I'm more informed than 97% of the US public, according to this quiz. And I don't even live there at the moment... On a totally unrelated note, this is the first website I've seen that has a toggle for color/black & white, for all those colorblind folks out there.

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03439434026067990024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4081401.post-50410521245764124312008-07-14T05:05:00.002+09:002008-07-14T05:09:18.651+09:00

My faithful computer just had a kernel panic -- the second in as many days. I've noticed the hard disc sounds...louder than I think it should be. Perhaps it's because it's 5 AM and there are fewer ambient sounds, but I'm...worried. I need a new computer, and sooner rather than later. Not sure how I can afford one, though... The past few weeks have been annoying. I'll leave it at that.

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03439434026067990024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4081401.post-28934211780004307352008-07-02T02:21:00.002+09:002008-07-02T02:24:22.957+09:00

Like I said before, gasoline prices go up every month, on the first of the month. During the month, the price fluctuates, but never back to what it was the month before. And the price of gasoline for the month of July in Japan: $6.50 per gallon. (¥182 per liter, at today's conversion rates) I don't go very far away from home these days.

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03439434026067990024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4081401.post-70422688745496405902008-06-30T21:23:00.003+09:002008-07-01T21:40:47.850+09:00

On the news right now, they're talking about how the Ministry of Education has mandated an increase in class hours for elementary schools. They've read off a list of things that were removed from the curriculum 10 or so years ago when they reduced the number of class hours. Among other things (students must learn about all 47 prefectures, including names and locations, students must learn how

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03439434026067990024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4081401.post-41983388161558817562008-06-29T09:07:00.002+09:002008-06-29T09:16:42.581+09:00

I have a seven-year-old iBook, and it's on its last legs... Every time there's a security update (not as often now, since I can't run the newest version of Mac OS X), and I have to reboot the thing, there's a greater than 50% chance that the reboot will hang at either the grey screen or the blue screen, and I have to do the ol' 3-finger salute to get it to boot up. This runs the risk of hosing

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03439434026067990024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4081401.post-59416114039668005482008-06-28T01:46:00.002+09:002008-06-28T01:58:17.989+09:00

So I went to the big used shop yesterday to look at...stuff. I was browsing the Nintendo DS games. Sometimes they have American games, too -- I don't know where they get them. I hadn't bothered to get any of them until yesterday, when I saw that they had an American copy of Pokemon Diamond for really really cheap. (I have the Japanese version, but still...) (Yeah, yeah I know, Pokemon?!?

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03439434026067990024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4081401.post-82796352935167176532008-06-23T17:58:00.001+09:002008-06-23T18:07:50.987+09:00

So, get home, fire up the ol' Firefox, bring up one of the news aggregator sites I often browse, and NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Damn it. George Carlin, R.I.P. Here for your amusment, a random list of 101 of theGreatest George Carlin Quotes. I think I may have posted this link before, but it's still funny. Not for the easily offended, of course -- and Carlin went after all sides. If you’ve got a

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03439434026067990024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4081401.post-78560987088332711642008-06-22T05:15:00.001+09:002008-06-22T05:16:47.891+09:00

Special guest on the Colbert Report: COOKIE MONSTER

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03439434026067990024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4081401.post-76088409508513592172008-06-15T23:25:00.002+09:002008-06-15T23:35:51.106+09:00

It's a camera phone picture, so you can't really see the details, but this car is loaded with Ferrari badges. That's right, this joker expects you to believe that Ferrari made a really stupid looking compact car for the Japanese "kei car" market. The marking on the rear says "Ferrari F20", which is in real life a widescreen LCD monitor from Acer. I mean, really...what's the point?

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03439434026067990024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4081401.post-44570522558148183862008-06-06T00:07:00.003+09:002008-06-06T00:20:02.141+09:00

This month's gas price here in Tottori: About $6.25 a gallon. (Still better than in Europe.) Some localities in Japan, further away from the processing centers, are over 200 yen a liter...that's over $7 a gallon. The price of gas in Japan includes a ¥30 or so per liter tax, earmarked for road maintenance and construction projects. This is a temporary, provisional tax. Temporary, despite the

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03439434026067990024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4081401.post-34899961731139641322008-06-04T00:11:00.002+09:002008-06-04T00:16:02.000+09:00

This article caught my interest for a couple reasons... First of all, because I'm actually thinking about buying a new cell phone. Considering how little I use the one I've got, though... And second, because at work I see elementary schoolers who, when their parents are late picking them up, whip out a cell phone and give them a call. According to the article, "About a third of Japanese sixth

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03439434026067990024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4081401.post-50163779827631747912008-05-31T23:04:00.002+09:002008-06-04T00:14:03.448+09:00

Every Saturday night there is a popular TV program, called エンタの神様 (God of Entertainment). It's basically a variety show, with various comedian-type people doing five minutes or so of their current act. Recently, one of the more popular recurring performers is a woman whose shtick is to do an over-the-top lip-sync of an American pop song. She usually chooses songs by black singers, I guess

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03439434026067990024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4081401.post-85228747041596566662008-05-22T03:23:00.002+09:002008-05-22T03:36:50.571+09:00

So a few days ago, a flight attendant set fire to his airplane during a flight from Minneapolis to Regina, Saskatchewan. Why did he do it? "Because he was mad at the airline for making him work that route." This guy's little temper tantrum forced the plane to descend 30,000 feet in 8 minutes, to make an emergency landing in Fargo. Now, instead of being forced to work an undesirable flight,

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03439434026067990024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4081401.post-65147604734495681182008-05-11T16:11:00.003+09:002008-05-11T16:35:44.219+09:00

So one day in the distant past, I was working the back cashwrap at the big Barnes & Noble in town. (Yes, they call it a cashwrap. No, I don't know why.) Now at that time, the section of the store surrounding the back cashwrap was Religion. So, most of the books displayed around and behind the counter were books on various aspects of religion -- fiction, theology, and such. Official store

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03439434026067990024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4081401.post-75357289543828474202008-04-28T02:30:00.001+09:002008-04-28T02:32:51.876+09:00

Good grief. How is babby formed? (Flash animation) Although I surf the internet pretty much all the time, there are some places I never go. Yahoo Answers is one of those places.

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03439434026067990024noreply@blogger.com