Knitwit!

Darn it. I was going to post this last month but never got around to it. I was hoping to give this to a nutter knitter in Toronto but that plan was quashed when my trip home during spring break was postponed.

Anyway, this is a pretty cool little gimmick. Part one has a couple of bundles of wool and a pair of needles for only 390 yen. Unfortunately, future editions will cost about 6 bucks more and you only get one bundle.

Here are a couple of items that you can make if you collect them all (dog not included.)

Follow the following 7 steps and you'll knit yourself a dandy little tea-cosy:

If you can't fathom the Japanese, click on any of the pics to enlarge them and just follow the fingers.

Finally, here is a handy list of stitches. Keep it in your knitting basket for easy reference.

I hope this has been of some use to you knitpickers out there. Volume Two includes a binder that you can stick all these pages into or just use for your patterns. Let me know if you'd like me to track one down.

Rider Unmasked.

It's been a while since I've been to the 石ノ森萬画館 Ishinomori Mangakan and since I'm off for Spring Break, I may venture down there again. There was a Grand Renewal on March 23rd and I was lucky enough to have my picture taken with a few of the more famous creations featured there. These were taken at a booth set up downtown Sendai with hopes of promoting visitors to the Tsunami-shaken structure. 

Check out the home page for more information. I also suggest you view some of these Magna-ficent photos taken before and after the disaster.

Do you think anyone would recognize me in my guise as a Masked Rider?

A Parody?

No, a Paratea. What appears to be a relatively new brand of tea, Paradise Tropical TEA, is a rather tasty and presumably healthy tea produced by UCC. What caught my eye was not the blend of four flowers: Marigold, Rose, Cornflower and Swizzleflower (?) nor the catchphrase: "You can enjoy the tropical aroma. It's just like a paradise!"

No, what I found intriguing are the 6 different animal bottle caps that you can get. Place it over your freshly bought pet-bottle and it can easily twist it off. Useful if you're at all arthritic and cute too. As you can see, there is a tiger, rabbit, bear, zebra leopard or frog.

If you've got a spare 11 minutes, here is Meatloaf's most famous tune.



Ah, it's just like I'm back in High School!

If There's Any Justice...

The eventual Justice League movie will use these figures as their prototype.

I picked up two of the blockheaded figures and, sure enough, I got two of the same. Fortunately one is standard and one is "Metallic Color".

These badges are okay, but not worth dropping 2 bucks a piece to pick up. Unlike these which were totally worth wasting my money on.

I saw the trailer for Superduperman, Man of Steel and it looked pretty good. Short on action, high on angst.



Let's see how it fares in this Superhero summer!

Jack Attack!

I just came back from Jack the Giant Slayer and it was quite a fun little romp. Great dialogue, magnificent CGI motion-captured Giants and terrific acting by some new and recognizable faces. I knew neither Jack nor the Princess Isabel but I did espy two Trainspotting alumni and Willow! Go see it. I saw it in 2D and found no real reason why I should see it in 3D (unlike Oz.)

I recycled this picture from a previous post because it is awesome.

We had some yummy Crayon Shinchan popcorn. Teriyaki and Mayonnaise flavoured, it was really tangy.

I snapped a few other pics of some up and coming pics as well. IF (a big if) it is shown in English, I plan to see this:

 Unfortunately they were roped off so I couldn't get up close and personal with my namesake nor Sully.

It's coming in July which I think is comparable to the overseas release date. I sure hope we get it in English here or I'll have to head to Tokyo next summer.

Jack was only released in English in 1/3 theatres, a few years back there were several simultaneous bilingual releases, now not so much.

A movie that did NOT get released in English is Wreck it Ralph Sugar Rush so I never got to see it. Ah well it's already on DVD stateside so I'll have to make do with these stickers, jelly beans, candies and choco-eggs.

I will certainly go see Ironman 3 and have already picked up some advance tickets. Here I am hanging out with Tony & Pepper.

One movie that I'm fairly sure that I'll avoid is this one, Hentai Kamen, (Ultimate Pervert Mask) it looks pretty creepy!

Nice package!

Why I'll Miss Soma.

It's been a good run these last 11 months in Soma. Driving took between 90-120 minutes one way, I almost got killed twice in the mountains (oncoming truck and got clipped by a farmer en route to work.) It was all worth it, the kids were great, all  most of my co-teaching staff were terrific (one woman was the worst teacher I've ever had the dishonour of knowing; fortunately for the kids, she's gone next year.)

But what will I miss the most? The conbinis on the way. Occasionally I'd have to skip brekkie if I were running too late, otherwise I popped into a 7-11 7 or Lawson for breakfast on the way there, a Family Mart or a Daily Yamazaki for a drink on the way home. My favourite was the Lawson off Route 6 just before it forks into the bypass.

Last week, the clerk gave me 5 sheets of Dragonball stickers, other times I've received other premiums such as AKB48 cell-tapes, postcards or extra clear files. Because I'll miss them, I picked up some of their most recent promotion, some Rirakuma goods. I landed two towels, a figure and an umbrella!!

I have plenty of other goods to show you from these stores and will do so later. Now it's time for the season premiere of The Walking Dead!

Hey, If I Dangle These From Strings...

I can make a Bat-mobile!

Last year, Hot Wheels released 8 different Bat-vehicles and I bought them all* cheaply at 299 yen a piece.
(*Not all...I'm missing 7/8, whatever it is.)

Nice looking and good quality.

After a few pints of Guinness on St. Patrick's Day, I popped into a Sunkus and discovered a quintet of new cars. Nice looking and fine quality BUT really expensive at 735 yen each!

I bought the lot and disappointingly missed out on Number 2. If you see it, let me know, they're too damn expensive to buy randomly!

I don't think this guy is overly impressed with his purchase.