Hoppy Easter!

I married a couple today (as in performed a wedding ceremony as a Priest, not in some strange three-way nuptials) and no one involved had any idea that today was Easter. I informed the couple and they seemed pleased with the news, while remaining oblivious to the significance. Anyway, a nice wedding day nonetheless.

I had some time to kill before the ceremony so I wandered around the Shozankan area and snapped a few pics of hanami.

  

  

  

After the wedding, I wandered over to Rifu in order to assist a friend with her school's Easter Party. It was fun and I even decorated an egg. I'm so proud, I managed to stay within the lines! (Mostly.)

After that, I hooked up with Kyary Pyamu Pyamu for an Easter Party photo op. She's nice, though a little bit flat.

 I gave each of the staff an Easter KitKat. Custard Pudding flavoured though way too sweet for me.

Unlike your typical mini-KitKat, there are not two wafer sticks, rather they are joined together halfway. I just now figured out why, they're shaped like bunny ears.

I never associated "lucky" to be a term used at Easter-time. I suppose it wasn't so lucky for Jesus on the Friday yet his luck improved after three days.

The only other Easter item I acquired was this pair of liquor filled eggs from a friend who bought them in Spain. Very yummy, very potent!

Happy Easter or Oestre or Ishtar or Passover or whatever the heck you do in the middle of April!

Sing it!

I saw Sing last night and in English! It is rare for an animated movie to be released in subbed and dubbed versions these days (eg. Moana is Dubbed only), so I'm glad they released this one in both formats. It's a lot of goofy fun and if you like musicals or animation, this should be right up your alley.

This is a sheet of stickers that the theater in Natori gave out weeks ago advertising for the flick. I scammed* enough sheets to be able to give each of my students (about 700!) a sticker of their choice. *I'm only aiding in their promotion!

Of course, I had to grab a clear file. None of the other merchandise was overly appealing.

Today, I saw the first Sing goodies on sale outside of the cinema. I bought this bag of grape gummies today at 7-11.

Lots of Gunter and Buster yet only one or two of the other characters.

In addition to the gummies, you get a mini-fusen (mini-post-it notes). It is very tiny, about the size of two postage stamps and you only get about 10 sheets. There are ten different ones to collect.

Note these are the Japanese vocal acts that are dubbing in for the voices and tunes.
（日本語版吹き替え）、内村光良、坂本真綾、山寺宏一、長澤まさみ、宮野真守、大橋卓弥、MISIA、大地真央、田中真弓、石塚運昇、斎藤司、水樹奈々、谷山紀章、村瀬歩、木村昂、柿原徹也、重本ことり、佐倉綾音、辻美優、河口恭吾、MC☆ニガリa.k.a赤い稲妻、Rude-α、
Do you recognize any other than MISIA?

Here is MISIA singing Hallelujah. I may go see it again in Japanese just to hear the Japanese tunes.



I don't know who sings this but it's pretty good!



I must say I was impressed with my namesake Mike.



Whenever the quintet of foxes (I think they are foxes) appeared, I was grinning from ear to ear.

Additional songs featured in the film were "Kira Kira Killer", "Ninja Re Bang Bang, and "Koi Koi Koi" by Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, but were excluded from the soundtrack. (taken from Wikipedia.)

Here is Kira Kira Killer by Kyary Pamyu Pamyu.



It's cool that KPP is sponsoring an Easter Party at Aeon for the next few weeks.

Tomorrow, I go see King Kong! I wonder what goods will be available for it??

Crazy Party Night!

One of the oddest of the J-Poppers to arise in the last few years is Kyari Pamyu Pamyu (Click for her website). She has come out with yet another Halloween video and it's one of the funkiest yet.

Check out her Crazy Party Night (Click for details.)

And the Coca Cola Commercial:




Making of the Coca Cola ad featuring the above song.



You can join in the fun and maybe win a prize by emulating KPP in a Dance Contest.

Speaking of Coca Cola, I landed this little party package when I bought a couple of beverages.

 It comes with a few straws with mouth-masks.

 Which do you prefer?

I'm supposed to able to assemble these together...

...and come up with this:

I really thought I'd posted this before, but this is the video that provided KPP her to leap to fame: Pon Pon Ponder this:



Finally, a couple of Halloweenish tunes.

Kira Kira Killer with skeletons and death and the World Turtle!



Beware the Fashion Monster!



Some Fashion Monster GU ads:



Speaking of commercials:


I would love to see her in concert one day. I'm certain it'd be wacky!

Taking The Edge Off.

I'd been meaning to write about this all week and between work and after-work activities (Tanabata* for one), I never got around to it. My bestest friend, Ed succombed to liver cancer 20 years ago this week and our mutual friend, BigBob suggested I do a TopTen memories of Edge as a tribute. Great idea, but 2 years ago I ran an
EdgeWeek special and that featured some of the highlights of our time together. (That link has all the Edgiest moments if you're interested.) For some reason while drinking last night and listening to live Enka, it reminded me of the time I became an honourary Pole. Ed Kowalski, his brothers and friends were in the back of Chicagos (is it still there?) and singing Polish drinking songs. I felt a little left out so I sang "Popeye, the Sailorman" in Latin.
It goes something like this:
Sum lumen projectum nauta,
Sum lumen projectum nauta,
Fina spinacho et finum pugnabo,
Sum lumen projectum nauta.
Toot Toot!
They enjoyed that and after a few more shots of Vodka and beers, I excused myself, went outside, barfed on the curb of Queen Street, re-entered and continued drinking my beer. With that, I was accepted as one of their own.

(Polish Poster for Son of Godzilla scammed from Go-Go-Godzilla.

Every time I see an ad for a new Comic-book Movie, a funky anime or manga or just a silly toy, I think, "Ed would love this!" or "I wish Ed were here to appreciate this." I do know that he is up there looking down (or down there looking up) and he does appreciate it all.

One thing we often did together was grab a couple of beers, sneak them into the cinema and watch a movie together. He'd probably get a kick out of some of these forthcoming movies and here are few more he'd enjoy.

This one, Rabbit-Horror, 3D
about killer-bunnies or something looks intriguing, as does any movie where the protagonists ride around on a flying panda as in Tekken.

It's Unfair that he had to leave us before he got a chance to see the Comic-related/SF movies such as Planet of the Apes, Captain America, Spiderman,
Tintin, Smurfs, Cowboys vs Aliens, Sanctum or even Green Lantern, SpyKids 4, 3 Mousketeers or Final Destination 5!

I will be sure to see as many of these as possible and carry on the tradition of quaffing a beer while doing so. It doesn't carry the same weight though for it's legal to do so here!

Pon pon way way way may not have anything to do with the above, but it is incredibly catchy. Ed would approve.



*I decided to save the Tanabata bits for another post...stay tuned...