What Really Killed Off The Dragons.

It wasn't smoking or asteroids that killed the dinosaurs. It wasn't St. George or Peter MacNicol who slew the dragons.
 It was coffee that did them in!

Wonda, the Wondaful coffee maker has teamed up with Puzzle + Dragons  to show their dragons swilling down the sweetened brew known as coffee. Too bad it led to their demise.

The names of these guys in order of the pictures are as follows:  Teira, Preshi, Prakki, Toparitto, Ameritto, Ruby-Dragon, Sapphire-Dragon, Emerald-Dragon, Gold-Dragon and Metal-Dragon. I may have some of the names wrong, blame it on my poor eyesight when trying to read the katakana.

Thank goodness there's only ten of them, if I had to drink more coffee to get these, I may go extinct.



ps. My younger brother who rarely makes jokes had a good line about Dragonslayer. The village was concerned about their virginal daughters being sacrificed to the Dragon, so they hid them away or dressed them as boys. My brother had a more practical solution. "Why don't they just get laid?"

Poppies, Pocky and Pretz.

Happy Remembrance Day everyone. It's hard to get a poppy over here and to be honest I have no direct personal connection to any veterans. I had a few uncles who died in WWII before I was born and apart from my sister's psychotic first husband, I don't know anyone in the military recently. Regardless, I do sincerely feel for those who had died on my behalf and who continue to serve.

That being said, I did do a shout out at 11:11 on 11/11 for by coincidence I was teaching Time to my Grades 3 and 4 today. They are more familiar with today as Pocky Day so I didn't get into the whole War thing. I gave a tasty Pudding-flavoured Pretz to each of the teachers today, so they too were happy.

A few other Pocky/Pretz I have around the abode include some veggie Pretz (can anyone tell me why it is pronounced プリッツ Pritz here?) and some regular Pocky with a funky box.

I dunno who this narrator is but she does seem to be a Pocky expert.



Later Poppy/PockyPretz people!

Bamboozled.

I'm looking forward to  かぐや姫の物語 or Kaguya-Hime no Monogatori = Princess Kaguya's Story also known as the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. 

When at the cinema today, there were two massive posters of the movie and I picked up a flyer for it as well.

 Last week at the Ghibli florist, I picked up an advanced copy of a ticket to the show and for a buck extra, I got a cool little lapel pin.

This story will give you a little background and a 3-minute preview. Or just watch this:



The theme song is written and sung by Kazumi Nikaido and here it is...



According to the Wiki page, there have been several adaptations of the story including this snippet of a live-action version of the Tale. Oddly it turns all Close Encounters near the end of the clip.



Here is a quaint version in English, albeit badly narrated:



Curiously, when Big Bird visits Japan, his tour guide is a surprise.



Within that movie, Big Bird attends a rendition of the Bamboo Cutter, danced adorably by some little Japanese waifs among others.

 

Skip to the 33 minute mark to hear his tour guide, Princess Kagura, (the lovely Maiko Kawakami) sing "Moon, Moon." or just watch this...



I don't know anything about Inuyasha but apparently that gang bumps into Kaguya as well. This is a fan-made video that may or may not show that encounter. (People more patient than myself may enjoy it.)



Okay, since I had already heard about the tale when I had some students enlighten me on some Folk Tales, I'll be going into the movie with a fairly good understanding of it. Unlike when I saw The Wind Rises! Hey, Yvonne*, are you doing anything on the 23rd?

*My long-standing Ghibli date.

What The Samhain Is Going On Here?

I hate coming back to blogging after a brief hiatus. It's tough to reboot the old brain. So I'll just jump in with some photos that I neglected to post from way back on Halloween night.

I spent the evening listening to Irish music (Yay Samhain!) at The Ha'penny Bridge and watching our beloved Eagles battle their Brobdingnagian opponents. Even better, lots of people in silly costumes including the staff.

A quintet of my wedding crew:

The band:

Spooky decorations:

Me in a goofy mask (won from 7-11, it supposedly is a character from Fist of the North Star. I dubbed it the HallowEagle to cheer on our baseball team.) Fortunately the ladies liked posing with me...

Other guys and gals who came and went throughout the night. Too bad it was a school night, I would have partied much heartier.

Eagles won the game (lost the next one forcing a Game 7 but we've already heard that story.) An awesome way to end Halloween.

BONUS: some funky Halloween videos!

The Eagles Have Landed...

And laid an egg upon the faces of the Almighty (occasionally controversial) Yomiuri Giants! After a rather topsy-turvy series against the Giants, including a terrific win by the Eagles on Halloween and a come from behind victory last night by the Giants, the Rakuten Golden Eagles emerged victorious! For a review of the Championship game, here is a lovely link to do so.

Kudos to their manager, Hoshino, star pitcher, Tanaka (ZERO losses in the regular season) and team captain, Matsui who helped them win the Pacific League and ultimately the entire Konami Nippon Championship!

Equally responsible for their victory are the many fans who watched them hatch from their egg, stumble through their first few seasons as hatchlings to fledglings to finally take flight and soar above all the other teams in the league. (Okay, no more bird metaphors.)

A friend summed it up eloquently as follows, "Just over two and a half years ago this area hit rock bottom after the huge earthquake and tsunami devastated the area, killing many people and bringing grief and sadness to those left behind. Those who were here that day will never forget that day and the weeks that followed....but through sport Tohoku came through and today's win was huge and will help everyone in this area....well done Tohoku Rakuten Eagles....Champions of Japan!!!"

This final series was a rocky road (mmm. ice cream) and I admit that I had a few misgivings about the Eagles resolve and took out my frustrations on their dopey mascot, the Giabbit, pronounced Jabbit. Here are a couple of badly filmed videos of my ill-will.





I promise to tilt my camera properly, next time.

Fortunately the Eagles reigned and I didn't need to carry around the beheaded rabbit in effigy.

I celebrated my win not with champagne but with sake and polished off the mini-bottle.

Now it's bedtime and tomorrow, I'll head down and pick up some Eagles goods. The Tackier, the better!!