The Truth About Cats (and some dogs).

February 22nd is Cat Day in Japan (Nyan/ Nyan Nyan 2/22 is the Japanese version of Meow Meow) and thus all things Neko get celebrated. I took pictures of these Gatcha ages ago and I can think of no better time than today to showcase them.

 

I didn't get the entire set, though I think these two are valid representations of Ultra-Cat.

 

Sticking with out of this world are NYASA Cats:

 I didn't bother getting any of these, I'm not even sure what's going on here.

Cat bakers?

Cats like to get in tissue boxes so much that this is the third series of them!

 

 

Miira (Mummified) Cat.

 

 Too intriguing, not to try one.

 

Chinese Jumping Ghost Cats

 

Not sure what these are, you may need to click on the pic to enlarge it. Sunbathing animals I reckon.

 

 

Hmm, I took these pics so long ago, I can't remember why I snapped it.  

 

 

I was so perplexed, I bought one. Ah, I got the despairing cat who accidentally left a tissue in the dryer.

 

 

Tucked in kitties.

 

Cats love to wear Halloween costumes especially when they become fruit.

 

 

Yin/Yang furballs.

 

Another Cat Orchestra.

 

Saluting Pussies.

 

 

A UFO CATcher feline. This one, I couldn't resist.

 

Some dogs...

 

 

 

And who really wants these? Enough people to warrant a second series, I suppose.

And the best doggie of all:

Speaking of Olympics, I'm about to watch the Canada vs. USA Gold cup finals in Men's Hockey. 

Break a leg!

Olympic Action.

In honour of the closing ceremonies of the Brolympics I came across an example of early Olympic performance enhancement. It may not have been doping but it certainly was dope!

I have no idea how many medals Japan won (or how few Canada did) nor do I know how many ways the event managed to piss off North Korea but I'd say that the biggest winner of the whole shebang is ME! Last week I was out for some post-fireworks brews at Ernie's and managed to wow one of the patrons with my Olympic witticisms. I bored my pals but not the gals!

I managed to keep her amused throughout an entire marathon and Mio joined me last night for an evening of pasta, passing out*, karaoke and a little Olympic dancing with her galpal Michelle.

*literally

Who's Been Peeing In The Pool?

So the results of our pool have been tabulated and not surprisingly, I came dead last. When will I learn to actually pay attention to stats and not choose my players because I can make a pun out of their names? As Alex points out, the big losers are myself and Andy. Too many Sharks in the pool, I suppose. (His joke, not mine!) I'd like to give Bob a bonus point for choosing Sid the Kid who scammed the Gold for Canada, but that wouldn't be sporting. As you can see, the BIG winner is Jimmy because he chose the correct back-up goalie for Canada (I chose the guy who never played, and Brodeur was ousted after his abysmal showing in the first US/Canada matchup.) Luongo is the way to go!

Sendai Hockey Nuts Olympic Pool Picks:
MICHAEL
Joe Thorton (Canada) 2
Alexander Semin (Russia) 2
Peter Forsberg (Sweden) 1
Chris Drury (USA) 2
Jaromir Jagr (Czech) 3
Teemu Selanne (Fin) 2
GOALIE: Marc-Andre Fleury (CAN) 0 TOTAL= 12

ANDY
Patrick Marleau (Canada) 5
Joe Pavelski (USA) 3
Teemu Selanne (Finland) 2
Victor Kozlov (Russia) 1
Milan Michalek (Czech) 2
Douglas Murray (Sweden) 0
GOALIE: Evgeni Nabakov (Russia) 4 TOTAL= 17

ALEX
Ryan Getlaf (Canada) 7
Sergei Gonchar (Russia) 1
Nicklas Backstrom (Sweden) 6
Phil Kessel (USA) 2
Tomas Kaberle (Czech) 3
Olli Jokinen (Finland) 4
GOALIE: Martin Brodeur (CAN) 2 TOTAL= 25

BOB
Sidney Crosby (Canada) 7
Alexander Ovechkin (Russia) 4
Henrik Sedin (Sweden) 2
Patrik Kane (USA) 5
Tomas Fleischmann (Czech) 3
Mikko Koivu (Fin) 4
GOALIE: Martin Brodeur (CAN)　2 TOTAL= 27

SIMON
Dany Heatley (Canada) 7
Alexander Ovechkin (Russia) 4
Daniel Alfredsson (Sweden) 3
Patrik Kane (USA) 5
Tomas Plekanec (Czech) 3
Mikko Koivu (Finland) 4
GOALIE: Martin Brodeur (CAN) 2 TOTAL= 28

JIMMY
Rick Nash- (Canada) 5
Alexander Ovechkin (Russia) 4
Daniel Sedin (Sweden) 3
Zack Parise (USA) 8
Jaromir Jagr (Czech) 3
Saku Koivu (Finland) 2
GOALIE: Roberto Luongo (CAN) 10 TOTAL= 35

A bit of trivia chosen by our Pool Lifeguard, Alex:
The Olympics' highest scorer was Pavol Demitra (10 points in 7 games), who plays for Slovakia, and the Canucks.

Canada's top point getter was Jonathon Toews, who quietly went about racking up 7 assists, I (big!) goal, and ending with the best +/- in the tournament: 9.

Ryan Miller only let in 8 goals in the six games he played, but 6 of those were in the 2 games against Canada!

Marion Hossa & Marion Gaborik (both on Slovakia) had 6 minutes in penalties each over 7 games. That's extremely interesting!!!

Congrats to Jimmy (and Canada), your no-prize is in the mail...

YATTA!!!

Sid the Kid pulls it off! Yippee!



Stompin' Tom!

Nail-Biting!!

I got a call from an Aussie pal who's watching from his hometown and he guilted me into getting up at 6:30am to watch the game. (I planned to catch it later cuz I'm sick with a cold.) Am I ever glad I got up!

So tense, now into O/T. Does it get any better than this? Now when we win, the Americans have nothing to bitch about!



Still remember the above game. Not the USA, but just as tense. In the spirit of good sportsmanship, "Good l..." Naw, I can't do it. GO CANADA!!

Bound Of The Rings.

As you may have guessed, today's binder is of none other than LOTR which prior to today, I had never opened. I just did and I don't ever recall seeing the items that are supposed to be inserted into it but it is pretty nice nonetheless. The inside covers fold out into a Character Height Comparison Chart from Gollum (4'1") to Ent (17'4").

















I'm surprised that I haven't posted more about LOTR than a brief mention on a previous Oscar post and a mini review of Toronto's LOTR Musical extravaganza. I saw The Two Towers in S.Korea back in the early Naughty-Noughties and the Hamburger joint, Lotteria, had a several promos (click that link for some) including these cardboard cutouts of TTT buildings.






























Ya know if I can think of a CONTEST, these are light enough that I could send them out to some lucky fan. How about if you tell me which of these binders you like best and why, I'll send these along to you. Just commenting on any binder post from now until I'm done will qualify you. If you decide to become a follower, that'll earn you bonus points as well.

While I'm on the topic of Korea, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Kim Yu-na who skated to the James Bond theme. By coincidence, I saw the Korea-based Die Another Day while in Korea and it was more intriguing to watch the audience of SK than it was to watch the flick. Further mention should be made of the cherubic Mao Asada who is running a not-so-close second. Aww Heck, if she wins a medal, I'll throw in a MouseTrap (erm, Mao-strap) to the CONTEST winner as well! But extremely major kudos go out to Joannie Rochette's personal best considering she had lost her mom only 2 days before. Take care!!

Roped By Some Cowboys.

Today's Binder is actually a Card Album, but I have other stuff to talk about, so I'll just make it a quickie. Cowboy Bebop is a pretty awesome anime with great tunes and a funky cast of characters. I'd picked up this Binder/Card Album ages ago cheaply but I have never actually seen the set in question. Here is the front & back cover plus a blow up of the trading card that came with it.

















For my NHK lessons today, I did a follow-up of last weeks Valentine's handout featuring the Meanings of Roses' Colours. It went over well (mainly because I had already translated each of the words) and much to my surprise, one of my early morning students brought in a bouquet of roses representing mostly all of the colours of the print. Here is a copy of the print, plus a few picks of the flowers.













































Which brings us to the finale of the evening which culminated in a viewing of The USA-Canada Olympic hockey match. Thanks to pal, Hitomi, who taped the game, we got to see it at Liga in all its scratchy B&W glory thanks to a tracking problem. After several brews, it was easy to acclimatize our eyes to the proceedings though I wish we hadn't seen Marty Brodeur losing the game for Canada. Despite outshooting the Americans 2-1, Canada managed to lose the game. Granted, though the saves he did make were outstanding, the blunders he made kind of flushed those down the toilette. I'm hoping we'll play Luongo against the Germans so that we can grab a much needed win (though truth be told, it'll be better if we play Fleury so I can rack up some pool-points!)

ps.1: my students stated this morning that 2/22 is considered Twins Day or Cats Day. The twins reference is fairly easy to figure out, but the cat connection is a little more esoteric. The Japanese for MEOW is ニァオ (Nyao) and since 2=ni, 2/22=ni/ni-ni or in ネコ (neko = cat) lingo, "ニァオ, ニァオ, ニァオ" or "niao, niao, niao!" While walking towards the bus stop, I happened to notice a giant cat handing out flyers. I don't think it was just a beer-induced hallucination but it did seem appropriate!

ps.2: I watched the Japanese Curling team fall prey to the powerful and scary German ladies. The Japanese are just so darned cute it was painful to see them lose.
Just so you don't think every sports news today is negative, Mokugohan's Snots won their tournament last night and here is a pic of their trophy. Congrats guys!