Deck the Halls!

I'll get this out of the way. Merry Christmas those that celebrate and Happy Holidays to everyone else. Now, it's all about ME!

 

The above pic is from a calendar I own. The following were scammed from someone, sorry I can't make out who.

My buddy Hinnie, who makes frequent trips to Japan from Hong Kong, sent me a birthday care package of items that she picked up at a HK 7-11. First up, a deck of cards. And not just any deck, they're sparkly.

The Jokers:

 

The Clubs:

The Diamonds:

 The Spades:

And the Hearts:

 

I think I like the diamonds best. (Who doesn't?)

She also gave me a huge Tote bag (450X400) of Godzilla in battle with King Ghiddorah!

And the pièce de résistance, is this plate. I was going to have my Christmas dinner upon it, but it looks so great, I may keep it pristine for a while longer.

Hmm, it is microwaveable, I may use it tomorrow for leftovers.

Speaking of Christmas dinner, I had a supermarket bought leg and some veggies. Not very elaborate, but tasty enough.

 Other than that, the only other prezzies I received was from my fellow Santa. A barely visible girl...

 and a Graphic Novel.

A little Christmas/birthday mirth.

In case any of you are wondering what age I have just reached, here's a hint. (link to a South Park short, not spam.)

I might as well show off some of the Christmas pics I've taken over the last few days at Royal Park Hotel.

 

The aforementioned Kris Kringle who gave me the X-Men and FF goods. Does this look like an AI photo gone horribly wrong?

Schmoozing with some of the staff.

 

Hey, speaking of Hotel staff, a former student of mine from my Tokiwagi days was tickling the ivories in the lounge, and I managed to show up in time to hear her play an encore.

This is me sipping a tea listening to her. 

 Earl Grey, Hot!

An incredibly boring but pleasant birthday for me. If I get ambitious, I'll post some pics of earlier Santa endeavours going back as far as NOVEMBER FOURTH!

Merry Christmas everyone, and Deck the Halls! 

 

No Red One!

Good news, I earned a few extra bucks teaching at a friend's school tonight. Bad news, 2 new Gatcha machines!

There goes all that earned dough...

Ooh, a new Godzilla Gatcha featuring some rarely reproduced figures. Colour coded capsules, I got 3 green, 3 black and 3 orange, BUT NO RED ONE!

Ooh, a new Rocket Raccoon series! (I never did complete the first series!) I don't know how long this machine has been in operation, I ended up getting the last three, a black, purple and green, BUT NO RED ONE!

Ah well, it's getting late, I'll go through my goodies tomorrow. 

I finished at 9:00 and there was a late show of RED ONE starting at 9:35. With ads and previews, it ended around 11:50, I had to skip out early in order to catch the last subway so NO RED ONE end credits for me. I have no idea whether or not there was an after-credits gag.

Fortunately, the Warners website has a whole heard of trailers and you can watch them all here. Here's a taste:

 It seems that EVERY main actor in this movie has had a comic book movie connection.

Dwayne was Black Adam, Chris of course was Captain America AND the Human Torch, Lucy Liu was Kalisto in Shazam 2, Kiernan was in Riverdale (TV, that counts), J.K. Simmons has been a newspaper guy in both Spider-Man and Superman, Bonnie was in Jumanji (does that count?), the kid Wesley was in WandaVision, even Krampus himself, Kristofer, was in Game of Thrones (does that count?)!

All in all, I really like the movie. I don't think you can portray Santa for a couple of decades and not feel sentimental towards the RED ONE!

Just so I have a little Godzilla content, here are 15/20 stickers that I have wrangled and surprisingly have received no doubles.

I only wish they were numbered in some way so I can find out which ones I'm missing.

FYI, there's a Moomin Pop-up at Sendai Station if you're in the area.

And there's a honking-big Christmas tree up with some unusual ornaments.

I'll show off my Gatcha loot tomorrow.

Merry Birthday!

This was the first Christmas that I had off in decades. Santa duties dry up on the weekdays and especially Mondays so I had nothing to do all day. Oh right, I did spend all afternoon at the Pension office to see whether I qualify. I do, but the news isn't great, I have a few more hoops to jump through and since Canada Pension is mostly in slumber mode until next year, it'll be a while before I get any definitive answer. So I'll continue doing what I've been doing which isn't as much as I wish I were doing.

I received a care package from my fellow Santa on Saturday and took the time to peruse it today. Most of it is stuff he asked if I'd like him to purchase it for me, though there are a few surprises. (Also I had forgotten about the stuff so, even then it was unexpected.) First up, a Justice League BluRay.

Although I already own this movie, he noted that it was only 220 yen, so would I be interested. I was and am glad he bought it. FIVE BluRay Discs(!), including 3D if I ever get such a player. 

I only noticed three discs when I opened it, there are two more hidden as inserts.

A nice little folder showing posters and ads.

Hey, I've been there!

Compare this to the disc I already own.

I just noticed something. NO JAPANESE! No wonder it was so cheap! This is a disc probably from Canada, for it has English and French only.

So why was the 5-disc set sold so cheaply? Someone bought the mega set that included a figure and kept it (or sold it at a profit) and then just trashed the discs.

It was going for 35000 yen, which is a substantial mark-up!

I also scored a Movie Monsters Servum, from one of the Godzilla Anime I think?

And a couple of イラストボード, Illustrated Boards.

And a Pencil case.

Not a bad haul at all.

What did you get for yourself, Michael? 

A pair of socks and a Scarlet Spider Bearbrick that almost completes the set.

A low-key Birthday indeed. 

Still, I also watched several Christmas specials that I'd never seen before. About the only one I liked was the BC one.

I won't bother reviewing them, suffice to say, they won't be getting a rewatch anytime soon.

I'll end the day with the true meaning of Christmas. Kaiju!