hawkeye’s thoughts of tomorrow

Good news everyone! Japanese girls are getting even hotter.

[via Reddit]

This is probably going to be a helluva lot easier than emailing a bunch of stuff every day…besides, this way other people (yeah, like anyone actually reads this) can see interesting stuff daily too.

Idiots are almost always amusing…especially when smarter people abuse them bitchchecker (for some reason in my head I read it as bitchhacker)

Veritas Airways
I laughed pretty hard at this one. Good thing stupid people won’t read it or they might start getting uppity about the silly hoops we have to jump through on planes. (That clear-air turbulence shit ain’t no joke either, scared the hell out of me

Chernobyl
Seriously beautiful and tragic pictures, it’s amazing to see how nature takes over like that, especially in just 20 years. The bizzare scattered artwork is really amazing. Also reminds me how everywhere, even Chernobyl, is more beautiful than Florida.

Borat
This review needs some serious spoiler tags, but the last paragraph is almost worth it.
When you laugh at something that is bad, it loses much of its power.
That sentence alone needs to be plastered up everywhere, on every billboard and street sign. We’re all funny, black/white/asian/hispanic/etc, every culture has it’s funny and weird quirks. We have to understand that and more importantly that we each have our own perfectly normal (to us) and hysterically bizzare (to others) traits. Why beat someone up because they’re different, when you can laugh at them instead? When someone laughs at you, why get offended when he’s just as silly as you in his own way. We need to realize (both the mocker and the mockee) that they’re just generalizations, maybe not every black dude drinks grape soda and eats fried chicken…but a large percentage do (and why not, it’s goddamned tasty). Not all white people are educated damn fools (no common sense, lots of high-falutin’ knowledge), but there sure are a lot more percentage-wise, than other races. We need to admit that we’re all pretty bizarre and that it’s something to celebrate for it’s absurdity.

Speaking of being different…girls are weird. Guess this pretty much dispproves that women are equal to men…unfortunately it proves they’re better ;(

I don’t know how a livejournal post made it on Reddit, but mentos answer to this girl’s question is hilarious.

Bush = Nazi (Not that one, another one)
Guess it just goes to show you, that family is all in it for the profits. (BTW that article was tl;dr, so forgive my foxnews style summary)

Tonight was…interesting to say the least. Went up to Ueno (park) and saw the Tokyo Museum of Western Art. Pretty standard museum with your standard western art (needs more Salvador Dali). Then wandered around Akihabara a bit (couldn’t find the Sanyo Xacti for a decent price), then wandered around Shinjuku for awhile. Shinjuku changes alot at night, more black dudes who speak english trying to get you into their “clubs” (read: “buy-me-a-drink” bars, like strip clubs but more expensive). After seeing that for a bit I headed home. I did find a really nice asian couple at an Irish pub though, gonna meet with them tomorrow and probably go to Roppongi with them, it’ll be nice to have Japanese speakers for clubbing tomorrow night.

Went to the Mori Art Museum in Roppongi today. Pretty standard modern art stuff, except the whole museum is on the 52F and it’s got a 360 degree view of Tokyo, really neat what you can see from up there. Reminds me of Dallas/Fort Worth in the way that it just keeps on extending into the distance as far as the eye can see. They also had the “Pixar: 20 years of animation” exhibit which was absolutely amazing. Concept art and sculptures from all the Pixar movies, and we all know how much I love concept art. Roppongi’s an interesting place. Kinda imagine CityPlace but more Tokyo (compact and vertical). Basically super-overpriced things at fancy shops. Lots of english speakers there too, which was a nice change. Managed to find an Irish Pub that wasn’t lying (unlike Denny’s…grrrr), irish beers with chicken and chips (yes they had fish and chips, no I don’t like fish and chips). Really cute waitress who was fun to talk (read: flirt) with too. She’d just spent the last year at Boston University and spoke excellent english, she was headed back to the states next year to go to Denver, Colorado. Really nice girl but I had to resist the urge to invite her out to dinner ;Roppongi Pics

That’s pretty much it, easy day (I could’ve gotten more accomplished but I failed at finding Roppongi)

Made it back from Nagoya just fine. Great trip is was really great to hang out with Achim while I was here (there, whatever). I didn’t realize Nagoya was such a nice city or I’d have planned to spend more time there. Achim, Yurika, and I went up to Kyoto for the day. It was supposed to rain but turned out bright and sunny, perfect for the views from the shrine on top of the hill, some gorgeous vistas. Saw a bunch of other neat stuff too, little shops with various nick-nacks. Went back to Nagoya that evening and got to spend Monday on my own in Nagoya. Unfortunately the one day I got to wander around was Monday and most of the good museums were closed Still had fun checking out Osu Kannon and Nagoya Castle. Osu was the first place I could actually afford anything, picked up a couple good t-shirts while I was there. Also saw my first real arcade since I’ve been here. Remind me to NEVER challenge a japanese person to anything, they’re playing games that even in English would probably make my brain hurt. Ikaruga’s a child’s game compared to these. They did have Time Crisis 4 though which made me happy. Left there to check out Nagoya Castle, really neat artifacts and stuff inside, beautiful views from the top. Met up with Achim after that and had dinner (Hitsumabashi, Nagoya’s famous food, special eel over rice, delicious). We hung around and talked for a bit then I jumped on the Shinkansen and headed on back, then proceeded to pass out. Fun but exhausting, I’ll be glad to get back home. Two weeks is almost too much in one strech, certainly by yourself. Not sure if I’ll get anything done today, it’s already like 3PM. Maybe head out late and check out the night-scene.

Forgot to link the pics

Today was pretty simple, went over to Harajuku to see if I could find any silly cos-players. Nothin much on that front but I did see some hilarious goth/punker kids. The stores are awesome too, got some good pics but don’t really have any way to upload them till I get back home on Tuesday. Important thing is, Bullet Trains are cool. It’s basically like being in a fuselage strapped to a set of wheels…except way more comfortable than a plane. Like 5 times the legroom.

I’m in Nagoya, it’s cool, I’ll probably be back to my normal schedule by Tuesday, till then who knows when I’ll post.

Museum’s a silly looking word.

Set out with one purpose today, ok two. A) Get a nice hearty meal at Denny’s B) To find a bookstore that sold English books. Well the Denny’s part went…ok (see the pictures but apparently Kinokuniya at Takashiyama Times Square does sell English books. So I went there and got Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Neuromancer, and Lonely Planet’s Tokyo Pocket Guide. After I left there I stopped at a Starbucks (I swear the Chai Tea had a taste of seaweed in it, blech) and read the guide, settled on the Tokyo-Edo Museum and headed out there. First off, that building is MASSIVE. Apparently it’s meant to be as tall as the main castle keep was before the Kanto earthquakes, but something about it’s design just makes it feel oppressivly huge. Got my ticket and headed up to the main exhibition where I learned all about Edo/Tokyo (same city, changed names). The history stuff was pretty neat, you don’t generally hear about Japanese history and in a lot of ways it’s similar. Also interesting to me was how early western influences set in. From basically the Meiji emperor onward they were heavily influenced by western culture in some way or another. The WW2 section was neat too. Though they decided not to mention in all the plaques about how many people died in one bombing or another, that they started the war with us. I didn’t realize we’d bombed the crap out of Tokyo though, worse than Germany hit London by their accounts.

Left Edo to check out the Ryogoku Kokugikan (Sumo Stadium/Museum) but it appeared to be closed, found a neat little park next door though! Got some lunch, got my ticket for the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) to Nagoya and headed home.

Plan for tomorrow is to go to Harajuku to check out *drum roll* cosplayers! *giggles* Then I’ll be off to see Achim.

Well I was going to hang out with Ben, except it took me 2.5 hours to get to Atsugi. Apparently the shortest distance is not a straight line, it’s the long way around (but with faster trains)

I say again, GRRRR >:(

On the plus side though I’ve almost finished Dune: Messiah. I’m turning Japanese, first I was sleeping on the train now I’m reading (while standing mind you…and walking). Only down side is trying to find a bookstore here with an english copy of Children of Dune :\

Change of pace today. Went the opposite way out to Oume to see Mount Mitake (Mitakesan). I actually headed out to see Mitakesan and Takaosan but Mitake was a bit bigger adventure than I thought it would be. Anyways, the trip out was very different. The trains are much older (read: rickety) than the ones in Tokyo & the people are much more…normal. Less designers and less suits. Also a lot less money in general, the houses are more like what you’d see in an old Asian movie, nice but definitely showing their age. Beautiful areas though.

Made it to Oume without trouble, I was starting to get a little nervous as more and more signs were in Japanese only and I was off the map. But sure enough Mitake was right there. Got off the train and wandered for a couple minutes. Luckily their was this adorable tour group of 4 elderly Asian women who were totally obvious that they were going to Mitake, so I subtly followed them to the bus that takes you to the cablecar. The cablecar ride was interesting, it was more like a train up a 60 degree incline, but I guess that’s a cablecar. I always pictured them suspended by a cable. Once at the top of the lift I was on my own, since the little old ladies went to lunch. So I headed off in the most obvious direction…left (there wasn’t a right). After following the trail around for a bit and going up an inordinate amount of stairs I came upon a beautiful…if a bit old and somewhat run down shrine. From their I found miscellaneous trails that weaved through the forest in every which way, saw a sign for a waterfall, totally had to check it out. The sign of course didn’t mention (or didn’t mention it in English) that the waterfall was quite a ways away through very rough terrain. Doesn’t matter though, totally worth it (checkout the pics). Once at the waterfall there was another neat looking trail so I followed that, within a few minutes I saw a sign for…another waterfall! So as I proceeded to get further and further from civilization and hungrier all the while (skipping breakfast + hiking = stupid…no seriously) but of course I couldn’t go back when I was almost to the end of the trail, so I forged ahead into the great wilderness following the trail through amazing streams and waterfalls, beautiful overlooks. Ok, well there would have been beautiful overlooks if there hadn’t been so much fog…or really clouds, it was pretty high up there. The fog kept it cool though, otherwise I’d probably be dead. I actually got to thinking about that whole, “Never go hiking in an unfamiliar place alone” axiom I’d heard in Boy Scouts…oops ;( I didn’t die though so that’s what’s important. After getting back to the tourist part of the Mitake area and eating a bit (I didn’t even care that I was drinking green tea…ok maybe a little, green tea is god damned FOUL) I took the cablecar down, rode the train back and now I post to thee.

I’m extremely glad I went today. I was kind of getting down on Japan, all the shopping made it seem like one big flea market, but this really kind of redeemed it. I mean I kinda realized that not all of Japan would be like big city Tokyo, but to see real people made it kinda hit home. While going up to Mitake I got to a fork in the road and an old woman was sitting at the bench, seeing that I was confused (read: lost) she said, “Jinza?” which of course I had no idea what that was at the time (it’s the shrine at the top) but I went along with it and she didn’t lead me astray, it was exactly what I was looking for. Also while I was waiting for the bus for instance, an elderly woman who was also waiting, just walked over to me and offered me some of her snack. I can’t remember what she called it but basically it was a shortbread cookie shaped about like a KitKat bar, very tasty, nice lady (that comma there makes all the difference in the world).

Pictures aren’t labeled yet, I’ll do that when I get back from hanging out with Ben. Everyone wish Ben a happy birthday!

Well I woke up to lovely cloudy skys and rain, lots of rain. I figured, “Hey, It can’t last all day, right?”. So I curled up and finished reading Eldest, when I looked out the weather was perfect, still cloudy but not really rainy. Headed out to Akihabara to look for a couple things I’d forgotten to check out last time I was there. Well by the time I’d gotten there it was raining again, which it proceded to do for the rest of the day. Wandered into an action figure/doll/figurine store, saw some figures with absolutely massive breast, like 50%+ of their total body weight…though I will admit they were good recreations of the animes (judging by the pictures behind them). I did get what I wanted accomplished (price on blue-ray player and a present for Kyle) but didn’t really get a chance to wander, oh well, still got plenty of time. I got some breakfast hoping the rain would subside, super cute waitress, good breakfast. I did realize something though, any game I have requires clever speech which seeing as I speak nothing more than basic japanese makes it difficult…probably for the better though I guess, keeps me from being tempted

Got a couple photos of japanese people and their ultra preparedness (umbrellas everywhere!)…oh! and one special photo that I found in Takashiyama Times Square (big mall, 13 stories of shopping and restaurants, 5 floors of which are for women)

Tomorrow I’m going to try to get some pictures of the totally awesome engrish shirts with some of the most spectacular grammer I’ve ever seen. For now I’m just gonna sit around and read Dune: Messiah, probably run out for some dinner later, sushi place right down the street looked pretty good.