Tuesday, September 30, 2003

iPod's Unreplaceable Battery Lasts Only 18 Months Just bumped into this via v-2. Here's a direct link to iPod's Dirty Secret by the Neistat Brothers. It's a taped converstation w/ Apple's tech support regarding the iPod's battery life. Pretty funny stuff. The cost to replace the battery is almost the same as buying a new one. The iPod I have is the first gen 5GB model. I haven't noticed the short battery life as the only time I listen to anything is during my daily work commute, which is around 40 minutes one way. So my battery lasts at least over an hour. NWA ... ah, that's what I grew up on. ** UPDATE ** After a quick search using the Google It! link I bumped into Klint's Journal w/ an update on the iPod battery issue and some info on the video. More info on CNet. 12:27:56 PM      Google It!   trackback []   comment []

Kichijoji Aki Matsuri Delayed post. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Blog-clog. Here are some pics and videos of a local Aki Matsuri, Fall festival, in the town of Kichijoji, which is 2 stops away. Photos were taken Sunday, Sept. 14. These booths are givens at the festivals in Japan. 1) Omen: plastic masks of popular characters for kids. Like the awesome Anpan-man! 2) Yaki-Tomorokoshi: BBQ'd corn w/ shoyu. Burning shoyu smells good, and so Onolicious. 3) Anzu-Ame: Mikan, Pineapples, and Ume on a stick in corn syrup. The outer corn syrup candy will give you cavities for the rest of your life. Surprisingly, I thought the salty/sour Ume balanced it out. You get to Jan-Ken-Pon with the lady to see if you can get one for free. "Saisho wa goo, jan ken pon!" We lost, but she felt sorry so gave us one anyway. Obachan Arigatou! 4) Kingyo-Sukui: hmmmm ... catch goldfish w/ a Monaka (thin wafers) cup before it rips. There was a turtle version too. If you get a turtle and you can turn it in for 1000 yen. A kid (teenager, damn I feel old!) turned in three in a row. 5) Bataa-Imo: Baked potatoe w/ butter. Direct translation. Looked good and best bang for your buck. 6) Okonomiyaki: squares ones. And they don't cost $15 like at Chibo! A beer and a hot Okonomiyaki ... now that's an awesome combo. Note: You can drink alcohol in public. Not that I do, but there are people cruising at the train stations drinking beer, and public parks during Hanami is insane. Quicktime Movies: Anzu-Ame Obachan Omikoshi Massive pile of Yakitori 3:03:40 AM      Google It!   trackback []   comment []

	Friday, August 15, 2003

Hero I'm gonna go check out the road show for Hero this Saturday. I think I've seen the previews for it every single time I watched a movie, which is like every weekend. The posters are everywhere I look, and now it's on TV. I hope all this advertising and build up in my mind doesn't kill it. Here are some reviews: Breaking it Down with Dan - Martial Arts Movies The Yale Herald - culture counter: 'Hero' to please audiences, eventually 2:02:41 PM      Google It!   trackback []   comment []

	Tuesday, May 13, 2003

Haircut in Harajuku and Street Performers I got my haircut on Saturday from MilkyWay something .. also called Orange or at least that's the main color of the joint. I love the place cause it's got ENERGY. Young "kids" (to me they are since I am now officially an Ojisan) running around on the streets looking for people to try their haircuts on. I was the oldest person in there, but I didn't care. I have the Ojisan blindness, where I can't see how "UNCOOL" I am. I just want friends ... Can you be my friend too? They sell this hair product that's edible .. honestly, I tried. Tasted like Elmer's glue. Probably should've used Elmer's on my hair, cause at least the glue is more affordable. Movies (Quicktime 320x240 stream from Playstream): Orange staff 1 - they think I'm gonna take a photo .. looking at me and thinking, c'mon man we don't god all day. Just take the damn shot. Orange staff 2 - now that they know the camera can take video, they make their debut of Happy Orange. I think my career as a Director has just begun Harajuku street performers - in Oahu we've got Uke players on the streets, but in Tokyo there's the up-and-hopefully-coming ROCK petite(puchi)-bands. 1:53:22 AM      Google It!   trackback []   comment []

	Friday, May 02, 2003

World Entertainment Wrestling "YEEAHHH! Slam em into the barbed wires! SLAM Him again! Oooh, F*CK he's bleeding. Ahhh, ha ha ha!" Stress relief. I never thought watching "PuroResu" (professional wrestling) would be so much fun, but was I wrong. I often ridiculed pro wrestling, because watching it on TV .. it seemed so phony. Play fighting. My friend made the point, "Movies are phony, but nobody says so, it's entertainment". I'm in the school of if a movie looks too fake or full of bad actors, then the movie sucks. Watching professional wrestling on TV, to me, seems so fake that's why I never really got into it. Maybe numbed by the "real fighting" at the K-1s or UFCs. Going to a live professional wrestling match changed my view. The excitement in the room, and watching these huge "actors" perform crazy stunts was entertaining. No, it was friggin AWESOME. We went to a lunch session with interesting matches including a Go Ranger look alike vs. some monster, and florescent light "Death Match". After our first session we headed straight for our second round on the other side of Tokyo. So did all the wrestlers. Both sessions were an education for me about "Indies" (term for Independant .. non-major). There aren't that many performers that can HANDLE the CRAZINESS @ the INDIES. Please enjoy the photos and videos (now in Quicktime format). Movies (Quicktime 320x240 stream from Playstream): flip off of a corner post - even the skinny guys got into the action. the heated crowd - the Uber-fan is in the photo below .. can u find him and hear him chanting in the video. slammed by the ladder - doh! failure to dive off of ladder - this looks bad. BAD. Itai yoo! Mama! start of the florescent light "Death Match" - he's bleeding, Yeah! head first into the lights - oh my god .. did you see that! Here's a link to background info regarding the World Entertainment Wrestling. 2:07:14 AM      Google It!   trackback []   comment []

	Tuesday, April 15, 2003

Honda Accord Commercial (Honda Cog) Honda Cog I am so proud to present you with an advert for Honda I did NOT work on but still manages to be bloody great!!... [IN-duce] KEWL 'CM' (That's what Japanese people call TV commercials). I didn't know what a cog was .. Dai looked it up. It's the tooth of a gear. Or that's one of the definitions. Here's the link to the video. 12:12:17 PM      Google It!   trackback []   comment []

	Friday, April 11, 2003

Aso Bit City I love games. I love places that sell games. I love Aso Bit City! This is an eight story building in Japan dedicated to NERDS. The ground floor is all console games. Entrace area has the newest Japanese titles lined up against the walls. XBox, PS2, and Nintendo basically rule this floor. Here's the breakdown by floors: Console games Music, Movies, and Anime .. like Tower Records & Videos + Anime (only Japanese) Books .. mostly gaming books Omocha (toys) .. worth mentioning are the remote controlled mini-tanks that shoot infra red Models of guns, Guns, Gundam, and Gundam (Japanese only)  PC games .. BOUGHT Command & Conquer GENERALS (foreign[US] games available) including a PC gaming LAN w/ broadband connection preinstalled w/ various games. AV (Adult Videos) .. basically porn and Anime porn. Events area (click to see larger photos) Streaming video of a PS2 taiko (Japanese drum) game: - PS2 Taiko No Tatsujin (Windows Media 240x180 stream from Playstream) Downloadable movie: - Final Fantasy X-2 (Windows AVI format / NOT streaming) 1:30:37 AM      Google It!   trackback []   comment []

	Thursday, April 10, 2003

Suica (JR East / Sony) I got myself a Suica card yesterday. Currently the Suica cards are used as passes for JR railways in Tokyo. The Suica card system will eventually be installed in many stores in the stations to pay for various goods/services. Docomo iMode phones will support this system by the end of the year "Docomo Suica". Instead of having an IC card, the technology will be inside the keitais. The technology behind Suica is by Sony and is called Felica. Hong Kong's rail/subway/taxi systems also use the Felica technology. Here are the multiple ways of paying for the JR fares: Buy a ticket from a machine. Usually you would look at the rail map above the machines to see where you want to go to check the price. Get a Teiki, which is a prepaid fixed destination pass (i.e. Teiki between Ogikubo and Yotsuya, you can get on and off anywhere between these points as many times as you want). (1st photo of the light green pass) IO Cards are prepaid passes, but unlike Teiki the destinations aren't fixed. The fares are the same as buying tickets except the advantage is you don't have to buy tickets everytime you want to go somewhere. (2nd photo) Suica cards! This is an IC card that can function as both a Teiki and IO. When you travel between your usual set route it knows not to subtract any amount, but when you need to go somewhere else it'll automatically subtract from the IO prepaid amount. (3rd photo) (click to see larger photos) Here's a video taken today of how fast the Suica card is: - Suica (Windows Media 240x180 stream from Playstream) Some links to Suica info: Suica - The Smart Card! (japan.box.sk) Tokyo smart cards challenge cash (BBC News) Mobile phones to be used as commuter passes, prepaid cards (Mainichi Interactive) Sony Felica Case Study of Suica (Sony) High Number of Electronic Cash Transactions in Hong Kong Octopus System (ePSO Newsletter) 1:17:15 AM      Google It!   trackback []   comment []