Fresh

Published on March 22, 2009 in bike by risu. Closed

freshThe remnants of a late afternoon downpour still darkened the asphalt in spots when I took the bike out for a spin on Friday. I had missed the Thursday Tantalus ride, so felt compelled to get some wheel time in also. Although it had rained moments before I got home, the sun was now dancing amongst the dissipating clouds. My legs were not in top form, but didn’t feel sluggish even though I have been off the bike for most of winter. I kept up an easy spin on the climbs so as not to strain knees already slightly sore from a week of snowboarding.

D = 12.17 km (7.56-miles), Vavr = 17.9 km/h (11.1-mph), Vmax = 39.6 km/h (24.6-mph), T = 41-minutes

Dora the Pre-Teen Hoochie

Published on March 20, 2009 in anime, Culture and rant by risu. Closed

It is funny how much media attention is being paid to the newer “slightly more grown-up” version of Dora the Explorer by disgruntled parents and children’s advocates. It’s just a fictional character people! They are all up in arms as if it were a real little kid – almost as if it were their own child being exploited. Heck, since they personalize it so much, shouldn’t they be proud that the dumpy, androgynous daughter that they are so emotionally invested in has grown up pretty? All the press releases have been very specific that the children’s television program will remain unchanged, and that particular character merchandising effort will also go unchanged. The new pre-teen character is a parallel toy marketing scheme aimed at older kids who grew up with the preschool-aged Dora and are now in the same “tweens” demographic. I bet the same people who are going nuts over this fictional character would be the first to speak out about how unhealthy or sick it is for otaku to be obsessing over fictional annie-may characters!

One Day Geek Fest

Published on March 15, 2009 in Culture and Travel by risu. Closed

Hmm… randon thoughts…

I think I definitely gained weight on this Japan trip.  Ususally I lose weight from all the activity (snowboarding, walking all over the place) and generally healthy fare and correct portioning, but the crab dinner and several viking (buffet) meals have added up to extra centimeters around the waistline.

Let’s see… my flight is at 18:30, so I should be at the airport by say 16:00, so I should leave here at 15:00… If I finish packing by 10:00 when the stores open, I should have around 4-hours to hit all the book stores, Mandarake, the big Book-Off , and maybe swing by the toy levels of the two big electronics stores.  I don’t think there are any new tankoubon out that I need right now, but there are a couple of figures that I’d like if the packaging fits in my luggage.  I saw a Nogizaka Haruka figure at Yodobashi, but the box was a 30cm cube!  That’s not going in my suitcase or boardbag!

That reminds me – I have to leave room in the boardbag for canned microbrew beers from the shop at the airport… 

Time’s a wasting!  Time to pack!

Journey to the East – I Hate Crab!

Published on March 15, 2009 in Food and Travel by risu. Closed

Okay, maybe not hate, but I don’t think I’ll be eating any for a while anyway! A few years back, I got a whole Hanasaki-gani with dinner at an inn in Rausu. It was split between two people, but was still quite a challenge to eat all of it. This time around, in a visit to Kawayu-onsen, the crab dinner came with crab sashimi, crab sunomono, crab nabe, crab miso soup, crab rice, crab tofu, and of course, a platter of whole crabs!  There was no way we could possibly eat all of that crab.  Even with a valiant effort, we didn’t even get through half of it.  Only the dessert didn’t have crab in it!  Unfortunately, it was the first day of a multi-legged onsen tour, so we couldn’t bag the unfinished crab and take it home with us.  Zannen, desu… Continue reading ‘Journey to the East – I Hate Crab!’

Nihon Bound, Finally

Published on March 5, 2009 in Travel by taro. Closed

After I’m not sure how many years, finally making it to Hokkaido Japan in quest for some true powder. Perhaps a little late in the season, but there’s as good a chance on this trip as any before. Anyway, packed the new enourmous travel duffel with gear, more than I usually take. This will be a test of my iPhone in Japan and how well it’ll work as a Net device. I’ll attempt to use it to post to the blog. Be leaving in about 45 mins!

A Spot of Sun

Published on February 27, 2009 in bike by risu. Closed

With the winter giving way to spring, I managed to get home before the sun set today, but there was very little remaining above the Ko’olau crest by the time I got my bike ready and got dressed. I was feeling quite British in my Endura shorts and Hope Technologies jersey, but if I was really feeling the UK vibe, I would have not turned around and gone home straightaway when the weather suddenly deteriorated and it started to drizzle. Oh well, it was nice getting out on the Ellsworth anyway.

D = 9.22 km (5.73-miles), Vavr = 17.7 km/h (11.0 mph), Vmax = 40.1 km/h (24.9 mph), T = 31-minutes

Burton AK Throttle Gloves

Published on February 24, 2009 in Review and Snow by risu. Closed

Finally, I’m no longer “Mr. Astronaut-mummy-hands.” Got a new set of Burton AK gloves on sale from Dogfunk for 50% off. These current gloves are made much trimmer than the early generation version I had originally. I think the ones I had were the first generation Gore-Tex 3L taped gloves. Yes – taped! I’m not talking about a prefabricated Gore-Tex insert here – we’re talking Gore-Tex 3L fabric stitched together into a glove shell and seam-taped!  The palms were a synthetic material that went cracky and peely after about the third use, but since this material was an overlay over the actual PTFE material, there was no waterproofing problem, so I didn’t bother getting warranty service on them. Many seasons later, the grippy material was pretty much worn away, leaving only the fuzzy substrate. I do know that this issue was cleared up the next year with a genuine leather palm Continue reading ‘Burton AK Throttle Gloves’

Cute as a… Ninja?

Published on February 22, 2009 in Culture by taro. Closed

There was a blurb in local paper the other day about ninja, in Hawaii. Damn those sneaky ninja, how’d they get in here? Probably JAL, or ANA. This was a group from Igaueno representing the Igaryu Museum. I’d kind of forgotten about this until Derek gave me a buzz. Hey, it’s ninja, we really should go check them out. Now how much of a tenuous connection these performers have to the actual Iga ninja of feudal times, we will never know, you know how sneaky these ninja are. The actual performance was entertaining, a bit of a circus show almost. Certainly the kids enjoyed it, I’m sure a good many were enthralled and will be going home to play ninja for the next few days. And I think the adults like me who grew up watching samurai TV series were smiling and chuckling as it brought back memories of watching those dramatized sword fights as the hero skillfully slashed his way through the disposable minions as they grimaced and quickly died of screen. It reminded me of how I grew up running around the house in a kimono/yukata, with my little bamboo sword/dagger. How cool was that? When I went back to Japan after a long time away, putting on the yukata to go to dinner, the onsen and wear in the hotel suddenly brought back a familiar feeling. Continue reading ‘Cute as a… Ninja?’

Bilious Demagoguery

Published on February 19, 2009 in rant by risu. Closed

With all the cash and effort the born-again right is throwing against the “domestic partnership” issue before the State Legislature now in the form of rallies and radio spots, it behooves us to stand up against these people who hide behind the catchphrase “traditional marriage” and show them once and for all that in order to protect Hawaii’s multi-cultural diversity, we are sick and tired of them trying to force their religious beliefs down everyone else’s throats. You may not care one way or the other about the domestic partnership issue or the same-sex marriage issue that they are attempting to noose it to, but this is one step of many that they are trying to force Hawaii to take down the road toward a christian theocracy (the next step is getting Dook in office). FTP!

Homesick

Published on February 18, 2009 in Art by risu. Closed

If you happen to be in the Seattle area, Jason Teraoka will be having a solo art show, “Homesick,” at the James Harris Gallery. If you’ve seen his works before, the imagery of people bearing their internal conflicts and experiences as expressions on their faces will be familiar. From the sample images that JT showed me, there are some nice and interesting uses of color and light in this new crop of paintings that I really like. When I told him that I liked his use of impressionistic color and chiaroscuro, I was surprised that he didn’t call me a pompous ass! The show opens tomorrow night at 18:00 and runs through 28 March 2009. Check it out if you’re in the area! Continue reading ‘Homesick’