Today marks the two year anniversary of my trip to Japan. I know this is going to sound pretty silly, but as much I roll my eyes at dorks around these parts for constantly professing their love for the land of the rising sun, primarily when they act as if it’s this grand paradise for all lovers of comics, cartoons, toys, and video games, I must admit that such a point of view is not completely unfounded and I do miss it quite dearly.
Not going to go as far as to say that my soul belongs there, or how the Japanese are vastly superior to us in every single way (I’m not that much of a raging Japanophile, thank goodness), but it was indeed a magical time and place. I believe I easily speak for my travel companions at the time, Joe and June, when saying that we all still hold very powerful and dear memories of our eastern adventure. Once you get a taste, you’ll simply want to go back, especially when one sees something like this…
… That?s a life-sized scale version of a Gundam mecha under construction. I guess I’m a tad bit bummed about Japan since there’s been talk about a return trip later this year, which as time goes on, appears to be less and less of a possibility, for reasons I really don’t need to get into at the moment. Oh well. I’ll return eventually (though I kinda want to hit a few other places first, like the motherland, Korea, plus Katie and I have discussed a trip to England and France, after she finishes grad school). In the meanwhile, I will more likely be joining Joe and June later this evening, to reminisce over the good times (and the not so good, but still quite hilarious, looking back) times later this evening, just as we did on the one year mark.
BTW, the above pictures are from Danny Choo. I don’t believe I’ve ever mentioned the guy before, but long story short, he’s the dude I secretly aspire and wish to be. Just some uber geek in Japan that basically blogs about his stomping grounds as a whole, as well it’s primary exports, mostly toys (though I will admit, he’s now totally ga-ga for dolls, which ain’t my cup of tea. Plus, he’s mostly known as dressing up as a Storm Trooper and dancing around downtown Tokyo, though I try not to hold it against him. But anyhow, he’s a really good source for the more slice of life type stuff, like this recent post about the Japanese are less than pleased about the notion of jury duty, and the efforts being employed to convince the masses, plus his pictures are always excellent, mostly because he has a super dope camera, as evidenced by his always entertaining “a week in Tokyo” posts.
EDIT: one more BTW: what’s the absolute one single thing I miss about Japan? Easily the food, without a doubt. So on that note, I should perhaps mention that my very first review for AmeriCurry is finally live!
Back to traveling, I’ve also been depressed by the fact that, once again, I’d be missing out in E3, coming up just in two weeks. Well mostly annoyed actually, by the constant reminders of this fact by the now steady barrage of PR people calling to set-up appointments. Until I realized that if I went, there would be no way I could ever prepare for my Conneticut Film Festival appearance and the MoCCA Art Fest the following weekend. Plus, apparently most of the cool folks (from Japan) aren’t even bothering, due to the swine flu. Oh well. And hey, I guess I just causally threw out one of the bigger highlights of the week: Katie got accepted to grad school! Yay!
Anyhow, it’s Friday, and in honor of the land of totally bat-shit insanity, how about a dip into the random pictures thread from the forums?
And because it’s been a while, the very best of random videos as well…
- To kick things off, I’m sure everyone by now has seen the already classic Japanese school kids vs. zombies clip, what about the translated version?
- As anyone else out there heard of the film Cat Shit One?
- Yet as much as I love Japan, I will still admit, it clearly is destroying the youth of America.
- Related: here’s one angry Asian dude. Fun-fact: most Asians are super racist, but mostly towards each other.
- His name is 1/2 Price, and he’s half a rapper. (maybe slightly NSFW)
- One of the better attempts at cashing in on internet superstardom. I guess?
- Meanwhile, here we have the internet’s latest superstar!
- The secret to great looking calves!
- Dr. Shine and Dee-Dee, God’s Top Gun of Deliverance.
- Somewhat related: THE VAGINA IS FULL OF AIDS. (I really wish I knew if that dude was serious or not)
- When a mother promises a squirrel sandwich, she should always deliver.
- What appears to be another routine skateboarding vid slowly becomes comedy gold. BTW, here we have the remix.
- Also somewhat related, and for you fans of the The Room out there, here’s the rap.
- Now here’s a tour guide who clearly loves his job.
- And here we have a totally retarded clip that is totally enhanced by the somewhat bizarre choice of music. (a tad bit NSFW)
- Again, the audio makes the video. That and “longing for a donging.”
- Hey, you know keyboard cat, right? This one might be my favorite, found from here. Plus now now you can make your own!
Yet now that it’s officially hit the mainstream, all I can say is the joke was funny while it lasted!
- Who the hell needs CNN or Fox News when we have the Auto-Tune the News folks?
- And forget all this summer’s blockbusters, because it’s all about Shark vs Octopus, starring Debbie Gibson.
- I had absolutely zero idea that Gary Oldman played a midget in a movie a few years back. Huh.
- When exactly is it the right moment to become physical with a woman? The answer is simple: date number three.
- Without a shadow of a doubt, the one YouTube hack to rule them all.
- And here’s one I whipped up myself.
- Though this one might be the best of them all.
- Finally, we have the new greatest YouTube vid of all time, at least for this week: how to survive edged weapons.
