tonari no shibafu

Way too much time on my hands the last few days

Shamelessly ripped off from Planet Dan.

Am I alone?

Or is anyone else watching The Big Bang Theory. Generally I consider 30-minute sitcoms the lowest form of television. Recent exceptions being the short-lived Knights of Prosperity and the first few seasons of Scrubs.

I have found, obvious character tweaking during the writers' strike aside, BBT to be consistently entertaining, if a little generic in its nerdy references.

UPDATE: Forgot to mention 30 Rock. Mea culpa.

Language lesson

雲泥の差

Literally 'the difference between cloud(s) and mud.'

Used to describe things that are very different from each other. Similar to the English 'apples and oranges.'

Language lesson

畳の上に死ぬ。

Literally 'To die on tatami.' This phrase means to die of old age or in a 'normal' fashion. I heard it in the negative (彼が)畳の上に死なない. 'He won't die on tatami.' It was used to describe someone who is considered by his friends to be a bit off and also likely to piss off the wrong person and therefore come to an ignominious end.

A discussion of John McCain's economic proposals

At economist's view what I found an enlightening discussion of some of the misperceptions and distortions that are being endorsed by economists that support McCain's presidency.

For what it's worth.

Cool stuff I've found...

...and need to get out of my newsreader.

Filedropper. Share files of up to 5 GB size for free.

How to burn multiple CDs at the same time with ITunes. (Of course you need multiple burners...)

Jump through files alphabetically regardless of sort order (mac).

Eye-Fi wireless memory card. How'd you like to have your pictures sent wirelessly to your computer as you take them. This would be great at house parties.

FuseCal. Online app to sync ICal based calendars. Perfect for finding time to work out with over-scheduled profs. on vacation.

Fontstruct. Create your own fonts.

Most of the above links go to the sites on which I found these neat things. I was to lazy to make a bunch of 'via X' links.

Columbia University Press

is having a sale. Lots of Asian history goodies to be had.

via Frog in a Well

Now the movies

Nosferatu, A Symphony of Terror(1922)
The General (1927)
King Kong (1933)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Gone With the Wind (1939)
Pinocchio (1940)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Casablanca (1942)
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
On the Waterfront (1954)
Rear Window (1954)
The Seven Samurai (1954)
Touch of Evil (1958)
The 400 Blows (1959)
North by Northwest (1959)
La Jetee (1961)
West Side Story (1961)

via Kottke

Everyone else is doing it...

1001 (fiction) books to read before you die.

The ones I've read are bolded.

1. 2000s Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro
2. Saturday – Ian McEwan
3. On Beauty – Zadie Smith
4. Slow Man – J.M. Coetzee
5. Adjunct: An Undigest – Peter Manson
6. The Sea – John Banville
7. The Red Queen – Margaret Drabble
8. The Plot Against America – Philip Roth
9. The Master – Colm Tóibín
10. Vanishing Point – David Markson
11. The Lambs of London – Peter Ackroyd
12. Dining on Stones – Iain Sinclair
13. Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
14. Drop City – T. Coraghessan Boyle
15. The Colour – Rose Tremain
16. Thursbitch – Alan Garner
17. The Light of Day – Graham Swift
18. What I Loved – Siri Hustvedt
19. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Mark Haddon
20. Islands – Dan Sleigh
21. Elizabeth Costello – J.M. Coetzee
22. London Orbital – Iain Sinclair
23. Family Matters – Rohinton Mistry
24. Fingersmith – Sarah Waters

Smoke on the Water

via varie gatus

Whoa

Just had very big, very long earthquake.

Kevin and I were talking about Rushmore the other day so...

... for Todd

Do you know how disconcerting doing a spit take...

...sitting by yourself in front of a computer with the only other sounds being hammer guns from the latest in a clowncar-esque progression of neighborhood house renovation and the otherworldly caw of crows big enough to eat your face is?

"Well it's business drunk. It's like rich drunk; either way it's legal to drive." -- Jack Donaghy

Cajun style

The (Tokyo version of the) Japan Craft Beer Association's Great Japan Beer Festival is May 5th and 6th this year at Garden Place in Ebisu.

You have been warned.

Finally

Casual Tex-Mex in Tokyo. I don't know why I'm just finding out about this, but better late than never. Unfortunately, most of the 'mexican' in Tokyo is either bad, ridiculously expensive, or both.

Yesterday, on Oly's rec, we went to a place called Junkadelic in Naka-Meguro. Very good stuff and reasonable prices. They even have a bike rack right out front.

It seems pretty popular with the expat crowd, the clientele was more than half foreign, but I won't let that stop me. There's a good chance that Naka-Meguro is gonna become our go-to spot. Baird Beer is opening their second brewery there in about 3 weeks.