200th Post! w00t!

big news: my brother finally got his blog up - 16 paws and a dewlap. this is exciting b/c i had no idea he was planning a blog. but i'm happy for him and i look forward to reading it.

last night Nepotism Inc was at full force as me, BBx1 & the Dukes took out the Italian contingent of our advisory board. i really didn't want to go but got wrangled into it. so we headed to Japonais downtown... Japonais = swanky, overpriced sushi joint for Chicago's rich and famous. any wonder why that place was chosen to entertain our Sicilian counterpart? goes w/o saying that it wasn't my scene despite the incredible sushi we ate. fortunately BB & i bailed early. i was pretty loaded by that time so i ended up crashing around midnight which is rare for me on any day let alone a friday.

slept late and long finally gettin' up and rolling around noon. had much to do before heading to kev & erica's open house. by the time i arrived it was almost time to head to the 7PM showing of Some Kind Of Monster (the metallica documentary). we hit the Highland Park theater and i was shocked that for that town it was only a $5 admission! that's cheaper than even any of the matinees near me. the documentary is LONG but well worth it for any past or present metallica fan... or music fan in general i suppose. altho for the casual viewer it probably wouldn't hold much appeal. at least now i know the reasons why their last album sucked so much. ah well, i'm glad i saw it.

so much for my 200th post.

no sleep last night/this morning. total hell day at work. another $100 day @Mitsuwa. i'm sick of it.

Nintendo DS - final hardware design revealed
"The new design, which you can see on this page, is the result of Nintendo's search for "a slimmer, sharper look", and one more in tune with an older audience - echoing the company's design for the GBA SP in many ways. It's certainly more akin to the PSP than it is to the unit which was unveiled at E3."

Read the complete article here.

i can't recall the last stretch of days where work was more exhausting than it has been recently. there's a number of reasons for this which i will not waste time going into here. next week is the big SES conference in San Jose, the granddaddy event of our industry, so there's been a lot of ramping up towards it. everything i've been doing in the office centers around the presentation for one of my supervisors next week at the trade show. it has been quite a strain on my mental fortitude to say the least. i'm actually looking forward to the week in San Jose just to get the hell out of the office and get a break from the deluge of meetings and grinding hours in front of a PC screen performing the same inane tasks over and over until 7 or 8PM every night.

my workload and extended hours has taken a toll on just about everything else outside of work -- fortunately i haven't run my car into any more concrete pillars lately. despite this i have been motivated to complete my Karza repaint. i finished the final touch-ups tonight and applied the last clear coat. i look forward to assembling the damn thing tomorrow (i'll post photos, natch). other than that i'm way behind on everything else.

tomorrow i have to return a couple of graphic novels i never managed to cracked once even tho i renewed them for an extra month. i'm not even going to bother renewing them again. i have another pile of graphic novels due in a couple of weeks that i need to make a decision as to whether or not i plan to read them. i want to. however, as always, things get in the way.

RE: Pokemon Silver. i've reached a crossroads of sorts in the game so my playing time has been reduced dramatically. that and the aforementioned factors have slowed down my progress. this is probably a good thing. i have decisions to make as to how i proceed now that i have all 8 badges (which i've had since last week). and honestly none of the choices appeal to me at this stage. i suppose i'll get thru it all but i'm not as compelled these days.

my torrent viewing has come to an almost complete standstill. this annoys me greatly yet i'm stretched, exhausted and overworked that it never takes precedent over most other things going on. i need to work torrent viewing back into the schedule somehow some way, esp. considering i'm still downloading new episodes at a decent clip. from the Japanese mags i've been paging thru lately it appears there's a lot of buzz around Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger (Special Police Dekaranger), yet another Power Ranger spin-off. i watched the 1st ep some time ago; it was okay. but i went ahead an picked up the remaining 8 eps available and will attempt a re-watch to see what all the hype is about.

with Wizard World looming i have to pull back from my aggressive eBay behavior as of late. i've already paid for 8 auctions this week and have another 10 potential bids hanging out there as i'm watching another 30 or so auctions go down. i really need to pay closer attention to my spend otherwise i won't have any money to buy more needless junk at WW (as a matter o'fact i almost dried out my checking acct this week!). i only wish Takara was planning to booth at WW as they did @SDCC last weekend. not only did they have an exclusive Microman figure available for a paltry $5 (which completely soldout by 4pm Saturday) but Takara also had a grand display of much of their past and current offerings (see photo). i'd really enjoy seeing all that up close.

i've been watching the Kill Bill Vol 2 DVD as i pen this (the Elle Driver/Bride fight scene just finished) and i must say that this flick, much like the first, gets better and better w/every repeat viewing!

hrmph, if work doesn't kill me this week, the paint fumes will. i really need a frickin' workspace at home!

i want this CD: Twelve Girls Band. as if it isn't obvious. ;)

day 40: wt.179lb(!!)

I purposely left off The Grudge trailer from my trailer post b/c i would not go see that in the theater. it's the same movie by the same director shot in Tokyo except the remake (and it's barely that) stars Sarah Michelle Geller and Bill Pullman. From the trailer it looks like all the same locations and camera angles a la Van Sant's Psycho remake (but at least that original is a classic). Ju-On The Grudge (the original) is an okay movie at best. a note for note remake w/American actors doesn't make it any better.

ok, i promised movie trailers. and i am here to deliver. before i go on i discovered from my New Type Live mag (w/the Cutie Honey cover) that the Cutie Honey movie came out at the end of May. i'm merely guessing on that but i think that's the deal. so the DVD should hit around the end of year. Trailers are available at the official Cutie Honey site but i think their for windows only (the Real Media file doesn't work).

First worthy trailer on tap is for Lovers (aka House of Flying Daggers) directed by Yimou Zhang (Hero) and starring Ziyi Zhang and Andy Lau. In a nutshell, it looks a little like Hero and Crouching Tiger but very cool nonetheless. definitely one for the big screen.

Next up is MACH! of which i cannot find any info about other than the official MACH! site which is loaded w/goodies if you have the time. this flick looks awesome: 100% fighting 100% of the time. but apparently not your typical action flick w/a lot of stylized muay thai fight scenes and cinematography. very, VERY cool.

and for the quirky Japanese comedy fans in us all i give you Swing Girls. This movie looks absolutely hilarious. sure, it's funny cutesy whatever but it does look like a fun time. quick shot: a bunch of girls form a big band in school and the comedy ensues.

This next one is a complete mystery to me: God*Diva: Immortel (ad vitam). far as i can tell this French Sci-Fi drama came out early last year and is just now making the filmfest rounds in North America. However, from the trailer i really have no idea what the hell is going on. the official Immortel site doesn't offer many clues (but it sure looks nice!). IMdb offers this: "New York 2095. In a strange pyramid floating in the sky, the gods of ancient Egypt are judging Horus. In the city, a young women with blue hair and tears is arrested, but she has a secret power, even to herself..." if nothing else it does look interesting; pure eye candy.

props to phixed for digging this one out (a while ago even). the latest Takashi Miike flick- Izo: The Crotch is an Incomprehensible Demon-Man!. besides looking like another ultra cool Miike flick from the trailer, it also stars Beat Takeshi! hot damn does this flick look great. visit the official IZO site and view the trailer (sadly win media only). but it's worth hunting down a PC to view! here's a couple of snippets from the plot:

"Instead of being extinguished, [Izo's] rage propels him through the space-time continum to present-day Tokyo, where his finds himself one with the city's homeless. Here Izo transforms himself into a new, improved killing machine, his entire soul still enraged by his treatment in his past life. His response to the powers-that-be, whose predecessors put him to death, is the sword."

"His ability to leap through time, slashing as he goes, attracts the attention of the lords of the universe, who are like a pre-war House of Peers, in office for eternity. Izo, however, is not about to bow to anyone, even the lords of creation (he even rapes Mother Earth)."

how can you not love that?

lastly i'll round off this all-trailer post w/some stuff we've all seen already (if not where have you been?!):
Devilman trailer - looks kinda goofy despite trying to be serious.
Casshern trailer - hope this movie is half as cool as it looks in the trailer!
Steamboy - an event anime a la Metropolis. hope this hits the indie theaters.

ok, that's all for this installment. goes w/o saying that i'd see all of the above at the theater... if only we'd be so fortunate. as it stands maybe a couple will actually make it to a big screen near me. ah well. i'll round up some more trailers for another post in a few weeks. hopefully there's some worthy stuff on the horizon. enjoy!

the weekend has come and all but gone faster than i wanted. yesterday caught up w/kev to catch The Bourne Supremacy later followed by an excellent Thai dinner in Highland Park, kev & erica's treat for a belated b-day meal. arrived back @the apt around 10:30PM in time for EbeRoeper's weekly schmucking of the latest in-theater flicks (at least they railed on Catwoman and praised TBS). it was nice to hear them give props to Beat Takeshi's Zatoichi. i so look forward to seeing that in the theater!

btw, TBS was pretty damn good. not sure if it was better than its predecessor but at least it killed at the box office w/a $53million haul (not bad for a $75m budget). Matt Damon has struck a new niche as a contemporary action star. gone are the muscles and machismo of 80s. the story was weaved well ('cept for 1 plot point) and the black ops turns from Damon were slick (i chuckled outloud at most of them). a worthy sequel indeed.

this morning i was up early (after only 4hrs of sleep) and off to catch King Arthur @Crown Village. my busy summer weekends haven't left many openings to see the latest movie fare so i planned to see at least one more flick before the weekend was over. i chose K.Arthur over I.Robot or Catwoman. good choice, me thinks, since Arthur was very good, IMO. i'm pretty sure I wouldn't say that about those other two. Clive Owen does a good Arthur and the movie (directed by Antoine Fuqua) was an interesting take on the Round Table mythology. EbeRoeper criticized the overuse of battle scenes yet there were only 3 main battles in movie (and a brief skirmish in the beginning). again i dunno what they were smoking when they viewed the flick. now the movie ain't perfect (Stellan Skarsgard, a Swede, playing a southern redneck leading the Saxons?!) but i enjoyed it nevertheless. it reminded me a lot of Fuqua's Tears of the Sun as well as Musa the Warrior.

i picked up some more cheapie DVDs before grabbing carry out at Amitabul and heading home for lunch and a nap. i made rumaki tonight (only my 2nd time ever) and they turned out pretty good (i'm in a testing phase trying different teriaki marinades right now). rumaki, btw, is more a hors d'oeuvre than a meal but they can be filling. if you're not familiar w/it, rumaki is a water chestnut & chicken liver wrapped in bacon and marinaded in either teriaki sauce or a homemade recipe then baked for 45min. that probably doesn't sound appealing but trust me, it is.

while i was doing that i started the process of my first Baron Karza repaint - a dark blue Karza. it's a tedious process but worth it if you want a good outcome. i need to pick up some more supplies to finish it off right (i want to add silver highlights). so far all the arm assemblages are currently drying. and thru all this i've managed to watch another 3 DVDs (all ones i picked up today): an old dubbed kung-fu flick, C.H.U.D., and The Wraith (on right now and one of my guilty pleasures flicks - i love this movie!).

i meant to post a whole slew of trailers i watched during the wee hours this morning but that'll have to wait. check back for some upcoming movie goodness. and i have to mention that i am enjoying Yellow Claw immensely. if you haven't taken a look yet do so now... it's worth the read.

oh yeah, for more Takara micro-goodness, check out the upcoming Catwoman (the cool outfit not Halle's bondage queen) and Batgirl MicroLadies! Sweet.

i have some exciting news... capt'n satan has launched his 1st blog: yellow claw! go visit now and ring in w/a comment or two. i'm looking forward to reading his piss & vinegar daily sardonism. should be good.

i was running some numbers last night and determined that Asahiya marks up their magazines (and everything else w/a Yen price tag) on average of 45%! unbelievable but true. sadly they're one of the very few sources for quality Japanese rags.

unbeknownst to me, those little Pokemon trading figures i got? well turns out they print which one is in the box right on the damn box! silly rabbit. I only ended up w/one double out of 5 new ones. At least now i know which ones i need to get to complete the set for this series. only 989 more to go!

not to steal any thunder from yellow claw, at the SDCC Takara unveiled (pun intended) their Kill Bill 1/6 scale The Bride action figure as part of the ongoing CyGirls/Cool Girls line. w00t!! along w/this amazing figure, there will be 4 - FOUR! - new Kerberos Panzer Cops(!) on the way w/the new line. This is just sick news. now if Takara decides to make the other lovelies from Kill Bill (Elle Driver?! Go-Go?! sheesh), things will really get disgusting.

[image courtesy of Figures.com - thanks! -->]

it's friday and nearing the end of the long week of work (nevermind the 2hr report i composed at home last night to bail us out from losing a large client). i figured i deserved a long lunch and trip to mitsuwa to spend more money on unnecessary things. headed straight into Asahiya Bookstore first to check on some Japanese CDs i wanted to order. while they checked the prices i scanned the mags determining which ones i'd come back to buy later. got the CD info and placed an order for one of them. left for j1toy, the toy store across from Asahiya. i noticed on the way into the bookstore that j1toy had rearranged the exterior of the store so now the entrance is at the far end near the west doors into Mitsuwa.

where the entrance used to be (facing East) is now the complete home for both DDR games. sigh. so i scan the few display cases that still face outward before heading into the store. the store has been completely rearranged yet again and there is a lot more space inside to get around the store. there's a whole new corner cavity for gashapon toys but sadly none i was interested in. i perused the remainder of the store. same ole shit: tons of Gundam kits and related items. i was mainly looking for the new Microman AcroLady figures since they told me the last time i was there that they would be getting them. sure enough, they had 'em all right. for 19 bucks a piece. WTF? the $16 microman batman figs i could deal with since that's close to the going rate online but $19 for the AcroLadies? jesus. my cost to get 1 shipped from Japan from HLJ is $14.70 SHIPPED!

I looked thru all the displays now facing inside the store hoping to find that really cool reasonably priced item to drop cash on... but nothing spurred any interest from me. the only things i really liked are all overpriced. my disinterest got the better of me and walked out empty handed. that toy store just isn't the place it once was not so many years ago. went back to Asahiya and dropped $36 on mags (New Type Live: Cutie Honey cover, Figure King, and Cure: VisRock mag). they sell multi-region DVD players there and i have my eye on the panny S-27 - but i forgot to ask the price. dammit. supposedly it's a $70 player but who knows how much Asahiya marks it up since they overcharge for everything else in their store (Panny canada lists it at $200 CAD).

left there to grab some sushi for lunch and walked into the grocery area to find myself pleasantly surprised (finally!) during my trip. Apparently the grocery store has decided to bulk up on gashapon and trading figures and the like. was only a few months ago when it appeared they were dissolving that whole section due to the increased competition w/J1toy. But now they are back on board w/a slew of fine little knickknacks. besides much of the usual fare you'd expect to see, they have the mini-CD anime trading discs. these are pretty cool but i passed for now. instead i picked up a Cutie Honey trading figure (shaking a few boxes trying to figure out which might have 1 of the 2 CH figs in the assortment). I look forward to seeing the movie whenever the bootleg DVD hits. I also threw 6 Pokemon series 3 figures in my basket. with my luck i'll probably get only 2 new ones and end up w/triples of each. oh yeah, there was a plush Bulbasaur in another boxed Pokemon series that i grabbed.

checked out, paying my $40 for the toys, sushi and green tea then returned to the office feeling a little better about having dropped $76 on pretty much nothing. that said i'm still disheartened by the direction the toy store has taken. it seems to be catering more and more to the rich suburban gaijin kids that have bottomless pockets of quarters to spend. ugh. thank hell for the internet.

Only notables today: Black Robotman arrived and is totally wicked. I paid a hefty price to get mine but it's just the coolest thing to me. he's currently standing proud on my widescreen surveying the room. and he fits right in.

 

also got the Sapphire/Ruby box. read thru the manual but haven't fired it up yet. I plan to test that this weekend but it looks very cool. Started watching my Something Weird Video teaser DVD (just loads of trailers) and there is some very disturbing shit on there. probably this teaser disc would make for decent movie night interlude material.

i'm really looking forward to my first weekend in a loooooooong time w/no major commitments or plans. maybe i can finally catch a movie or three.

watching the first few episodes of the original Land of the Lost series (yep, the dvd set arrived today), it's almost shocking to think i loved this show as a kid. i say this b/c it's utterly and completely retarded, esp. compared to much of the live action kids fare today (and by that i'm mostly referring to Japanese imports). then again i shouldn't be surprised at all. at least i can surmise that my proclivity for shitty movies stems from my childhood.

Will: "Filling this place with dinosaurs is sure one heck of way to run a jungle!"

Holly: "Yeah! And it's not even on schedule!"

at least the nostalgic aspect more than makes up for its lack of quality. ah, here we are in episode two: "beware of sleestak" or as Chaka would say, "sarese-ataka! sarese-ataka!" folks i think i may have a new nick! those $10 costumes couldn't be too hard to make. maybe i should create one for halloween. i picked this up in the 1st ep but it appears that Chaka's speech is the same as the Japanese pronunciation. i mean, "wi-ru" "(h)a-ri" "surisutaku"? jesus, this is lame.

ok, enuff about LotL. today was the most i've worked on a monday all year. i'm certain of it. usually my mondays are spent regaining the strength to get thru the week. sadly today i did not have that luxury; i had to hit the ground running from the time i sat down. didn't get out of there until 8pm and some fucktard set the alarm w/o checking the office so of course it gave the countdown when i got up to check the office for stragglers. luckily i heard it in time and bolted to the door to get it turned off w/o the siren going off.

the weekend recap ain't a whole lot of interesting for here. went back home to see my stepsister and her new baby, who is totally cool and never cried once. even tho it was fairly apparent she (Sif) was somewhat frightened by me and really didn't know what to make of the large dark man. i'm sure she'll begin to draw some comparisons w/satan in her first couple of years. at least that's how one of my friends introduced me to his young child, "that's jay; he's the devil."

came home w/a couple of cheapie Brentwood DVD collections: Black Vengeance (4 flicks) and Horror Classics 2 (8 flicks!) for 6 bucks each. Finally nabbed a used Pokemon Ruby cart for $25 that has, to my delight, all 8 badges and decent yet small collection of Pokemon. still waiting for that Box to arrive. also scored the Spawn Reborn She-Spawn 2 and Manga She-Spawn (still need to locate a Mandarin Spawn from that line).

all this while winning a half-dozen eBay auctions and losing another half-dozen others. ah well.

so it's wild... these smart cars were unloaded on the far east side of our parking lot this morning and just sat there all day. now around 5:30PM or so all 4 of 'em were lined up in front of our office right outside of my window w/a small group of gawkers getting a demo. a few minutes ago they all split taking the fortwo coupes for a testdrive.

I must say that up close, they are damn spiffy little cars that would look exceptional in anyone's living room. i'd love to drive one around the office building... inside the office building.

I'm beginning to get worried... it's 7:07PM and they still haven't returned.

so i got to celebrating my one day off to an good start by placing bids on 15 items at Ebay between 1AM and 3AM this morning. all toy auctions. that's fun. if i win that $125 Black Robotman i'll be the happiest mofo around.

 

 

born on the same day as me -->

Holy shit! Joe Satriani and I share the same birthday. I cannot believe I did not know this until today. Yahoo! Happy Birthday!

why doesn't this fucking thing work? it's a goddamn google product, fer christsakes.

I finally was able to order this today... old skool over the phone, which scares me more than online ordering. anyways, should be here by Monday next week. i look forward to firing into Sapphire & Ruby (which I still haven't found a used one yet - 'cept that one that got away).

i've been hacking my way thru Silver and it's much fun. caught the Red Gyarados @the lake of rage last night then went on to hand an ass beating to Pryce (Gym Leader #7) for the Glacierbadge and whirlpool HM so now I can visit the whirlpool islands. so far i'm 90/145 own/seen in my Pokedex. i'm pretty amazed myself how easily and quickly i've geeked out over this game... i caught myself reviewing the various card sets at Revolution Comix today. scary.

email rec'd today:
"Hi i would like ot know if i caould recive a copy of
any psychotica concerts taht you mave have rcorded
because on your website it saidx u recorded one and
psychotica is my child hood heros so pleaze mail me
back i will pay for it if u will get back to me at
this adress thatd be graet this would mean the world 2 me"

at least i got Samurai Reincarnation today as well as my Emperor figures from TonyE at Palisades. so it's been good in that dept... and my iPod arrived yesterday and i only remembered at 3:30 this morning that i forget to break it open and get it running. so no sleep last night. a fuck-all work slam of a day at the office. my mind has been so wiped today that i ran into a concrete piller at the parking garage of my library. crushed the back passenger door - the one everyone hates to open anyways b/c it got fucked in my first collision a few years ago. no need to worry anymore since now it doesn't open at all. wish i could go home on time today but sadly i have more work to complete.

day 20: wt.181lb!

got notices today that my Spider-Man - The '67 Collection (6-DVD set) shipped today from DVD Planet; that my Samurai Reincarnation DVD shipped from DeepDiscount. with little luck i should have both by tomorrow, no later than friday (Land of the Lost is still on backorder). wish i had a free weekend to watch Spiderman... 'tis not the case.

is it any coincidence that Digital Eyes, DeepDiscount, and DVD Planet are all located in Itasca, IL? what is up w/that?!


day 19: wt.184lb :(

(sixx is back, yay!)

my brother just called.... sixx is back! fuck yes.

i'm not of the prayin' sorts but i did pray to someone or something for sixx's safe return... well, goddamn, i guess there really is a someone or something out there.

this is fucking awesome news.

here's the long-short of the july 4th weekend recap:

flew to ABQ-NM friday afternoon and discovered upon arriving that we (my brother & i) were going to house-sit for his best friend for the weekend. cool w/me b/c tommy has an awesome new pad he built himself out near the foothills. and the house is huge; the kitchen/dinner area alone is the size of my entire apt! tommy also has a sweet 60" sony widescreen in his living room (which is also the size of my apt!). so it's us, my brother's 4 dogs, and tommy's 2 dogs. all good.

saturday rolls to a great start. b-fast @iHop; new ink @StarTattoo; off to Los Lunas for microbrews @Tractor Brewing. back to tommy's where my brother and i begin the early evening grill-out festivities. my sister, her fiance, and her HS friend/realtor show up and we eat, drink and be merry until the sun sets. they leave then the Tanoan fireworks launch nearby. that's when all hell breaks loose...

the dogs (all 6 of 'em) go crazy from the loud explosions and run wild back and forth from one end of the backyard and back inside the house nonstop howling and barking the entire time. they're freaking and we're trying to calm them down. my brother notices that sixx is suddenly missing from the pack of dogs running crazy... so he's screaming for her as we turn the house upside down looking for her. moments later he realizes she's not there and must've jumped the 8ft wall surrounding the backyard during the mad panic.

so we search around the house in the pitch black calling for her to no avail. he jets in his Bronco hoping to find her down one of the many roads. later i (& his dogs) join him and we drive and drive for hours hoping she recognizes the sound of his truck. nothing. 6AM sunday my brother and his dogs are out driving thru all the nearby neighborhoods. nothing. i join him in the afternoon and we drive and drive more little residental roads. nothing.

spot a flyer for a found missing dog lost at the same time sixx disappeared. sadly the description doesn't match. check w/the pound. nothing. created "lost dog" flyers to place around a 2 mile radius. no calls. sixx was my brother's first dog. he picked her up when she was a puppy from the shelter just over 2yrs ago. by sunday evening things were dismal. we didn't do much of anything at that point electing to stay in and barely utter a word.

monday wasn't much better as the sinking feeling of losing sixx for good set in. managed a decent meal at Blue Corn Brewing Company opting for the microbrew sampler to loosen us up and start talking again. made some stops looking for a new DVD player i bought for my brother and chilled the rest the evening. didn't get shit for sleep.

up early for my 8AM flight back to chicago and right back into the office for the afternoon shift. fucking depressing to say the least. what a way to remember my 4th of july 2004 vacation in new mexico. i feel for my bro... sixx is an awesome dog.