Several shows are on hiatus over the new year holiday, but a few new shows have sprung up on CR. Nothing outstanding though, but a few are not terrible. Read about them after the page break! Continue reading ‘2013 Post-New-Year Anime’
Archive for the 'Review' Category
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Seasonal offering from Sam Adams. Pours with light head, medium dark amber, almost red. Nicely balanced, crisp. It does have addition of some spices but it really is subtle, I don’t think I could point it out if I wasn’t told. Nice drinking beer, one of the better winter seasonals I’ve tried so far!
3 out 4 ginger sipping monkeys.
Here we go for another music extravaganza from Japan. With the declining economy, the presentation has been getting progressively sparser, but hopefully the talent will shine and carry the day. We’re doing this live, so bear with the typos and frequent updates! Ikimassho! Continue reading ‘2013 63rd Annual NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen’
With temperatures of -6 to -8C and wind at around 3 to 8 m/s, I tried Propper softshell pants (no laminate membrane nor fleece inner layer) over Patagonia Capilene 1 long underwear. The cold could be felt more than less-breathable pants, especially when the wind blew. These pants would probably be OK in these temperatures for highly aerobic activities like snowshoeing or skinning up on a splitboard, but the urban comfort level gives out around 0 to -3C or so without a heavier baselayer.
Well, “like” Mexican. As I experienced many years ago at Sombrero in the basement dining arcade in the Paseo building adjacent to the JR Sapporo station, it looks right, but doesn’t taste right. The fried chicken and fries weren’t really “Mexican”, but the chili con carne and enchilada were… somewhat. They did a lot better than last time. To this day I don’t know what that white stuff that came with my burrito was, but it wasn’t sour cream (I think it was cream cheese). Continue reading ‘Mmm… Mexican’
Okay, temperature around 0 to -2C, windspeed around 3 m/s, TAD Ranger fleece with Stealth LT uninsulated softshell was fine over just a tee-shirt on 20-minute walks. It did get hot inside heated stores, and my tee-shirt did get sweaty where my pack was against my back, but the highly breathable materials did allow for a decent amount of moisture transport, so I didn’t chill out once outside again. I’d probably have been a little wetter with the eVent jacket. Could probably take this combination down to about -10 to -15C before adding more layers underneath. A technical baselayer and midlayer would easily extend the temperature down another 10-degrees, or extend exposure time.
For S&G, I tried wearing a Patagonia Capilene 3 half-zip long sleeve top over the same tee-shirt, and put a Patagonia Nano Puff vest and TAD Stealth LT softshell over that. The temperature and wind were still about the same, but it was night, so no warming effects of sunlight. Fail. Cold. Colder than the heavyweight Polartec Wind Pro TAD Ranger hoodie alone. The Cap3 and Primaloft are pretty good insulators, but I guess nowadays I’m not pumping out as much heat as I used to. After a moderate amount of activity, my core did warm up, but my arms were still cold.
Whoa! Sweet! These are like German ninja boots! After slipping and sliding in Danner Desert boots in the snow last year, I got a pair of Lowa Couloir GTX boots to try. These incorporate Lowa’s G3 sole unit which has dual-compound rubber lugs with textile “studs”. Between the softer rubber lug center compound and the textile, these boots are just short of metal studs insofar as grip on packed snow and icy surfaces. I’m not sure how they came up with the textile idea, but it works. The normal compound lends the sole normal traction, feel, and noise on everyday surfaces at normal to cold temperatures. You’d be slipping and sliding on concrete and tile if you had metal studs, or didn’t take yout Yak Trax or similar traction devices off. With the G3 sole, the transition between clear sidewalks, icy streets and snowy areas is seamless. The only surface that these still have traction issues are streets covered with churned-up brown tire slush, which is where you’d really need the metal spikes or crampons. The Partelana wool/polyester fleece lining and wool felt insole kept the insides warm. These are seriously the best thing I’ve ever walked in during winter hands down. As a bonus, they’e not made in China! Like my Scarpa Kailash GTX’s, they are made in an Eastern European republic.
Highly recommended
Four out of four monkeys not falling on their asses on the ice
Okay, the conditions this afternoon were -3 to -4C with winds between 5 and 7 m/s. I had on my TAD Ranger fleece (heavyweight Polartec Wind Pro) over a tee-shirt, and TAD Covert pants (50/50 NYCO ripstop) over Patagonia Capilene 1 underwear. The wind was what killed this setup. I would have been otherwise about right if it wasn’t for the wind cutting through the outer layers. Capilene 3 long underwear and a shell layer would have fixed things, but that would have made it hot when transitioning into interior spaces, and the resulting sweat would have made returning to the outside even colder. Had to put on gloves. Wished I had hat. Had keffiyah, but didn’t bust it out, as I looked suspicious enough as is.
From the internet, this Suntory 100% malt beer appears to be a Japan 7-11 exclusive. The name, Fukumi no Zeitaku means literally “depth of extravaganceâ€, intending to convey the over-the-top rich experience of flavor the drinker is supposed to encounter with this beer. Of course, as has been shown in the past, the best intentions and best technique and best ingredients can still yield a marginal product. I wouldn’t say in this instance the product is sub-par, but it is really just average. On first taste, there is a sweet that hits you – not quite the painful sweet of like the gnasty Sapporo Fuyumonogatari “Winter Tale†beers, but a sweet nonetheless. I’m thinking this is an unattenuated sweet and not a hop sweet. There is a decent amount of hops, as the bitter in the finish is evident, but the sweet really seems like a sugar sweet, indicating unmetabolized sugars from the strong decoction. That’s strong, considering the yeast managed to hit 6.5% ABV and still had sugar leftover when they died. Considering the little yeasty beasties went whole hog on the sugars, it is surprising that the carbonation level is so low. The 100% malt part is borne out in the rich malt flavor that overtakes the sweet through the middle and finish, with that hop bitter co-mingling at the end. It’s a bit of a shame that the initial taste is rank, since the finish is so nice. It’s tantamount to going from homeless smell to frying bacon. Continue reading ‘Beer Is Good – Suntory Fukumi no Zeitaku’