Car Trouble.

As you may have noticed, I've been incommunicado of late. You can blame it on my current head cold (getting better), busy at work (not really), partying like a demon (I went out once) or my prospective paramour (well, we did have one date over the weekend, things are progressing nicely) but I think the main culprit would be Candy Crush. That damn thing is addictive. In the last week, I have conquered up to level 63. I'm presently out of lives so that gives me time to blog.

Tonight  Last night, while eating dinner, I heard a big bang and the building shook. I thought it was yet another earthquake but when I stepped outside, I discovered that a car had rammed into one of the main pillars of my apartment!

I'm finally in the proper blogging mode and my damn computer won't upload my photos! Okay, it finally uploaded, it just ages to do so. Hopefully it'll continue to upload.

When I went out to the car, there was NO driver. The car was still running and no sign of why it decided to smash my Apartment column. Note, if it had goon a few feet to the left, it would have taken out the staircase. If it had gone to the right, it would have taken out MY car!

The driver did show up and I looked around the side and he had been T-boned and forced into my building. Obviously, he disappeared trying to chase down his hit and run nemesis.

The cops finally came and were interviewing the guy as it started getting dark and rainy. I had to interrupt their chat to ask if the driver could put on his hazards seeing as he was jutting out onto the road. The cop never bothered to secure the scene.

The cop had left and the poor guy was standing in the rain taking photos of the damage for his insurance company. I offered him an umbrella which he refused but he did accept the coffee I provided. Once he left, I assessed the damage. It was certainly lucky he hit the one spot that would do the least amount of damage to my building (not even many cracks after the Big Quake, I'm in a pretty sturdy foundation.) All it needs is a big bandage.

Where did I get the coffee and how can I connect this to a blog about cars? Well, I just happen to have 8 cans of coffee sitting around  so I could get this set.

Cool little Ultra-mobiles. As always, the villains are the coolest so I had them facing off against the Ultra-men. To make the battle more contentious, I added some Moomin characters into the melee.

Here are some close-ups.

If I get any more news about the accident or there are any developments in the Moomin/Ultraman war, I'll let you know.

Ironoodles.

After a round of bridge yesterday, I wandered about downtown again, only this time I didn't go UFO catching, I did a bit of imbibing. I discovered something I'd only seen in an ad. Ironman 3 Red Chili Noodles.

In honour of Tony Stark's alcoholism, I gave out cups of these to my favourite bartenders.

First up was the proprietor of Jazz Spot Count. After quaffing two quart bottles of Kirin while playing WELDER WARS on my phone, I presented the barkeep with a cup and he was more stunned than satisfied.

Getting hungry, I wandered over to Dragon Diner for a homemade pizza. Suu-san was suitably impressed with his Ironoodles.

Final stop was over to Ernies Bar featuring the eponymous owner. He underwent an astounding transformation upon reception of his Ironoodles!

Of course a night at Ernies wouldn't be complete without me scoring a few hugs from the gals.

Oh yeah, I also saw the monkey again and this time s/he did some awesome tricks.






Oh and by the way, the Ironoodles aren't bad. Pretty spicy and plentiful.

Monkey Business.

I presided over a wedding today and for a change I made no mistakes. Consequently I was in a pretty good mood and decided to wander downtown. Nothing like a sunny day to waste away in the UFO Catcher facilities. First win of the day was this lovely Toy Story Clock. It wasn't until I got it home that I realized it's the Alien...my favourite! (Kind of ironic to win it in a Crane game, don't you think?)

Much to my surprise, I came across a monkey and his owner. I stayed for the first two acts, neither of which were stupendous and gave up my space in the crowd for other onlookers. Much to my chagrin, I learned later that he/she/it performed several tricks that I missed out on.

Took me 8 or 9 tries but I finally landed this Rilakkuma Toilet Seat Cover and Mat. It'll make a nice house-warming gift but I think I may just keep it.

Not much else there so I head towards home and made one more stop but not before seeing this cardboard beetle. So cool! For the first time in Japan, I have seen some Swiss Chard! I'll boil that up for lunch tomorrow and add vinegar, just like mom used to.

At my final UFO Catch-stop, I continued my Rilakkuma splurge and won a nice pan. Not sure how to cook upon it, but I'll give it a try. I also landed a Kumamon mug and a few bear-heads, a blue Gloomy, a Catbus and a Gromit with a suckling lamb!

To make my day even better, my pet cricket is back! I think I'll use it for target practice.

What will the next three days of Golden Week hold? Stay tuned...

After Ass.

I saw Arnie make his Last Stand against a drug lord (nice to see that Harry Dean Stanton is still around even though his appearance is uncredited. I had really low expectations and was thus enormously entertained. It held my interest throughout and I enjoyed all the tongue in cheek dialogue. Here is a little video I made a while ago that summarizes the movie.



I also watched Killing Them Softly (known here as Jackie Cogan.) I knew absolutely nothing about this movie going into it and I came out of feeling rather empty. One or two good shoot-em-up scenes but vapid dialogue and slow pacing made for a dismal viewing experience. At least it was cheap movie day!

I bought a few advance tickets for forthcoming movies including this adorable Kal-El from Man of Steel. I do believe it'll join my keychain. We don't get to see it until the end of August and Japan is the last country in the world in which it'll be released. Sigh.

After Ass (アフター・アース After Earth sounds like After Ass when pronounced in Japanese.) comes out in mid-June and I got a little bouncy globe as a premium.

 I am NOT impressed by the trailer (it looks more like a cross between PotC Parts 3 and 4 and Wild Wild West) but Depp as Tonto should be fun. Got these two sweet clear files which I'll probably enjoy more than the movie.

Sometimes the Japanese title for a movie is so much better than the American one. End of Whitehouse instead of Olympus has Fallen is so much better!

This looks to be a horror movie in the Ringu vein, yet I would love to get this big punching bag of Minoru!

Super Heroics.

These are the photos that I tried to upload the other day. I saw Ironman 3 again last night and it was just as good the second time.

This is a pair of gloves that I bought. It'll go well with the helmet that I picked up last year. AND the gloves are warm and practical.

Has anyone not heard of  Hadoken yet? Click that link for lots of examples, but this is the best of the bunch. That it stars my friend Alex and several of his students in no way biases my opinion. (Be sure to click on the pick to super-size it!)

Frustrating is a good word to summarize my feelings. These two pics uploaded, others will not! Grrr.

It's Ironic!

More like iconic. We here in Japan got the jump on North America enabling us to watch the latest Ironman movie a week before overseas neighbours. Usually we have to wait months to see a Comicbook, SF or Animated movie and by the time it gets here, all has been spoiled. Now I have a chance to spoil this flick for the masses and the ironic* thing is, I don't want to spoil it!

(*not really irony)

I will though offer hints about the contents of the movie. (Note: some of the following statements are untrue, you'll have to figure out for yourself which.)

RD Jr. is the new MacGyver. His dialogue is always amusing and he kicks butt as usual.
There's a kid in the movie who isn't irritating and obnoxious and is actually endearing.
Rhodey changes the name of War Machine. Take a guess to what, I propose Whore Machine.
Pepper Potts is spunky and holds her own quite well.
I wasn't sure how they would work Fin Fan Foom into this movie but they did a magnificent job doing so.
I've never heard of Aldrich Killian before but Guy Pearce is quite nasty in the role.
The Mandarin is not who he seems!
Whiplash returns!
Don't blink or you'll miss Stan Lee's cameo.
Happy Hogan remains happy.
There are a few explosions and scenes of destruction in this movie. I saw it in 2D, not sure if 3D would improve much.
Be sure to sit through the credits. (If I had to, you have to.)

Here is the one true SPOILER ALERT!!

There are some cool goods for sale in the lobby and I partook.


Aaaand for some stupid reason my damn computer is NOT uploading my photos!
I have to get up early so I'm off to bed thus I'll try and upload them tomorrow! So here's a trailer instead...

Lollygagging Lolitas.

Part two of my Steampunk experience includes a plethora of post-pubescent performers. Some of the lasses were more than willing to have their photos taken while others were less photogenic and the pictures had to be snapped more surreptitiously.

My favourites were the Zombie Schoolgirls.

Lots of artists and vendors:

 This gal below on the right is a Kuchisake-onna (口裂け女, "Slit-Mouthed Woman").

A miscellany of guests, shoppers and gals who just like to play dress-up.

This beauty with the bodacious bosom ran up to me afterwards and handed me a present! Great way to end the day!

Tomorrow I hope to show off several of the postcards, photos and pieces of jewelry that I purchased. I bought something from nearly every table!