PLACES I'VE BEEN IN 2k8
1.Nagoya (名古屋)
2.Takayama (高山市)
3.Tokyo (東京)
4.Toyohashi (豊橋市)
5.Kyoto (京都)
6.Osaka (大阪)
7.Nara (奈良)
8.Mt. Fuji (富士山)
9.Okazaki (岡崎)
10.Nikko (日光)
11.Inuyama (犬山)
------ BOOKS I'VE READ IN 2k8
1.Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
2.Where I'm Calling From by Raymond Carver
3.Planet X by Michael Jan Friedman
4.The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
5.Cien Anos de Soledad by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
6.All Tomorrow's Parties by William Gibson
7.The Stranger by Albert Camus
8.Almost Transparent Blue by Ryu Murakami
9.Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
10.The Spy Who Came In From the Cold by John Le Carre
11.The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
12.The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by D. Adams
13.Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
by Haruki Murakami
14.Life, the Universe, and Everything by Douglas Adams
15.On the Road by Jack Kerouac
16.Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut
17.If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
18.Generation X by Douglas Copeland
19.The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
20.Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
21.Tintin in the New World by Frederic Tuten
22.The Plague by Albert Camus
23.Black Spring by Henry Miller
24.69 by Ryu Murakami
25.Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
26.Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
27.The Ruined Map by Kobo Abe
28.Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
29. The Mystic Masseur by V.S. Naipaul
30.Rabbit, Run by John Updike
------ MOVIES I'VE WATCHED IN 2k8
-Adaptation ($$)
-Amelie ($)
-3:10 to Yuma ($$)
-Stardust ($)
-Halloween ($)
-MST3K: Space Mutiny ($)
-Volver ($$)
-El Mariachi ($)
-Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels ($$)
-Children of Men ($$)
-Bandidas ($)
-High Plains Drifter ($$)
-King of California ($)
-Moon Child (---)
-Airplane ($)
-Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas ($$)
-Mr. Bean's Holiday ($)
-Beetlejuice ($$)
-Ghostbusters II ($)
-Boondock Saints (:::)
-Blade-Runner ($$)
-The Sandlot ($$)
-South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut ($)
-Dog Day Afternoon ($$)
-Naked Gun 2 1/2 (---)
-Futurama: Bender's Big Score ($)
-Blow ($)
-Cannibal! The Musical ($)
-Kikujiro ($)
-Rocky Horror Picture Show ($)
-School of Rock ($)
-Policy Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol (---)
-Run Fatboy Run ($)
-Sunshine ($$)
-Cocaine Cowboys ($)
-Under Siege ($$)
-Groundhog Day ($$)
-Shanghai Noon ($)
-Celebrity ($)
-Casino($)
-Stealth($)
-Cidade de Desu ($$)
-Nueve Reinas ($)
-Lost in Translation ($)
-Casablanca ($$)
-Knocked Up ($)
-My Neighbor Totoro ($)
-Kiki's Delivery Service ($)
-Dark Knight ($$)
-No Country for Old Men ($$)
-The Taste of Tea (茶の味) ($)
-Crows Zero (クローズZERO) ($)
-Sex and Fury (不良姉御伝) ($)
-Sukiyaki Western Django ($)
-Lupin III: Cagliostro's Castles ($)
-Executive Koala (コアラ課長) ($)
-Forgetting Sarah Marshall ($)
-Felidae ($)
-The 有頂天ホテル ($)
-Redbelt ($)
-Idiocracy ($)
-Wall-E ($$)
-Iron Man ($)
-Little Miss Sunshine ($)
-9 Souls (ナインソウルズ) ($$)
-Escape from Japan (日本脱出) ($)
-The Sun's Burial (太陽の墓場) ($$)
-69 ($)
-Only on Monday's (月曜日のユカ) ($$)
-12 Gentle Japanese (12人の優しい日本人) ($)
-Clerks 2 ($)
-A Blue Automobile (青い車) (:::)
-10 Black Women (黒い十人の女) ($)
-Flowers (フラワズ) ($)
-Let the Right One In ($)
-Blood is Drying (血は渇いている) ($$)
-Bashing ($)
-Casino Royale ($)
-Shawshank Redemption ($$)
-Serpico ($)
11.26.08 - Winding down...
My time here in Japan is almost up(!) Only about 6 weeks total... it's a
bit of a big bummer, obviously. There're a lot of folks I'd like to see and so
on, before I head back. Hmmm........ well that's just life, I guess.
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11.16.08 - Super duper good weekend
Cod wrapped in ham - This one is adapted from
Mark Bittman's "Fish wrapped in prosciutto",
instead of prosciutto I used raw ham (生ハム),
covered in a thin layer of olive oil and baby leaf. I tried cooking
this 2 ways, since they don't have typical American ovens in
Japan - one way was with the ham-wrapped-ham fried, then
baked in a fish oven, which turned out pretty good, but the
way more delicious method was just frying until the
fish was fully cooked. Since I was using ham, it brought out
a lot more of the flavor, and I was able
to evenly cook the ham on all sides. Tossed on a little
shredded cheese for an extra kick.
大学さつまいも - This is a pretty basterdized version of
Daigaku Satsumaimo (College Sweet Potato), an izakaya staple.
I cut the sweet potato into halves rather than strips, and
fry them with onions (onions go in first, so they have time
to caramelize), green pepper, a dash of black pepper
and salt, mushrooms and bean sprouts work well to fill the
portion out without distracting too
much from taste. When the potato is about 3/4 ready, drizzle some
honey - when finished, sprinkle some sesame seeds.
Pretty good in my opinion.
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11.08.08 - Uh huh!
Damn straight! Good evening... hanging with friends... can't believe I'm leaving in
a little over 8 weeks... I'm gonna miss this country!
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10.24.08 - Yeah so
Things going on right now;
-Building a haunted house for my school's Halloween party (pics to follow)
-Dragons holding up in the Central League Climax Series (Go Dragons!)
-Continuing on pretty solidly (except for a lapse in textbook study, recently) with
my self-appointed syllabus
-Payday, homeslices!
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10.19.08 - はがき
These are some postcards I made for sale, sold some last night at a small music event, much
thanks to Aki for letting me set up a table!アキさん、ありがとう!
Birthday was good but my Saturday night was way better.
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10.07.08 - What an awesome weekend
Hanging out with awesome people. Radiohead, sold-out show at Saitama Stadium. Good
weather (kind of). Excellent.
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09.29.08 - Tomato-salsa chicken
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09.26.08 - 日本の秋
Crisp fall weather has finally settled over Nagoya - it's quite refreshing, really. Reminds me of
so many good memories. Looking forward to having an actual fall here, considering last year
I was broke about 90% of the time.
In other news, I'm on a quest to watch an assload of Japanese films, any truly good ones
I'll be sure to note.
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09.17.08 - Note to self: Don't smoke cigars in your bedroom
Just a heads up that Nomad Empire will
be back up soon. And much more exciting. And relevant. Okay? Okay!
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08.11.08 - Yeaaahhhhh
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08.10.08 - 久しぶり!
Holy sack of loose teeth, it is hot... my room thermostat says it's 32 degrees, and it's still
early in the morning. That's Nagoya, man...
暑すぎるね...私の部屋のサーモスタットは言う32度であり、朝早くまだあること。
それは名古屋...
These are four of my favorite buildings in my neighborhood.
これは近所の中にぼくの4個の一番好き建物です。
This last one is by far my favorite, this picture doesn't do it justice. I would love to spend
one hot summer night here, drinking cool tea, listening to good music and
reading a good book.
この最後の建物はぼくの一番好きです。この写真はそれを正義しない。私は1暑い夏夜、
ここにおいしいと冷たいお茶を飲むや、いい音楽を聞くや、よい本を読むがほしい。
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08.03.08 - Oh Great Holy Moly
Obviously my updates have been infrequent, inconsistent, and quite possibly
uninformative of life in glorious Nihon, but all I have to say in response
is "Whatttttttt"
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06.05.08 - Things I'm doing right now
1. Working... that hasn't changed much...
2.Preparing for the JLPT 2 test in December. Still six months away, but I've got
a lot to do, including learning about 950 more kanji(!!!)
3.Watching tv online, probably the greatest gift the Internet has to offer.
Currently I'm watching the following:
-Star Trek: TNG (Season 1, as far as I can get)
-The Mighty Boosh
-Futurama
-South Park
-MST3K
4.Riding my bike, eating delicious food.
5.Planning a trip back out to Tokyo sometime within the next month.
6.Still coping with the fact that I can actually splurge and buy random things
if I so choose, as opposed to the tight budget I've had for the past 8 months.
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05.23.08 - YEEESH!!!
Sorry for the lack of updates (as if anyone is actually reading), but I have had
a busy past couple weeks, moving into a homestay apartment. Hopefully my
Japanese will be on the up and up! More soon, I hope...
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04.20.08 - Konichiwa
Boy howdy, got a big trip out to Kyoto coming up
in a week, will keep the folks updated.
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04.07.08 - Sen-shumatsu
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04.03.08 - Nihon no haru
The nerd in me really wanted to check out this bar.
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4.2.08 - Bom dia
Things going on in my life right now:
1.Very likely may have to move out of apartment b/c of I still can't find a roommate
2.In addition to learning Japanese, I've begun to teach myself Portuguese
3.Trying to find a copy of John Lennon vs. the Space Monsters
4.Preparing for my big bike ride from Nagoya to Kyoto in a month
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3.25.08 - Yeeeeshh
Howdy there folks. Man, know what sucks? SQL and php coding! Urrrggghhhhh,,,,
I was gonna put some photos up, but I got lazy. Instead I'll comment on how I read Slaughterhouse-Five today, which, if you've always considered reading but haven't yet,
I'd just like to inform you that it's well worth reading. That is all. End communication.
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3.20.08 - Uhrr Hurr Hurr
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3.20.08 - Genki Desu
Things I've been working on; nomadempire.com,
a small animation for this mini-art show on Sunday, being down with the clown. Sike, I'll never be
down with the clown. The clown can eat it.
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2.1.08 - Doodletime
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1.26.08 - 20 days already!?
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1.6.07 - Bulk Upload
acid mothers temple gig, fantastic shit
takayama winter wonderland
happy new years! long story...
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12.18.07 - WHERE HAVE U BEEN BOY!?
yes yes sorry, no updates in a while. the reality is i went through some tough times, financially
at least. japan recently was a shit-storm of a place for foreigners seeking employment, still kind of
is, but i've managed to lock down employment. i wouldn't want to bore you with the details, of
said shit-storm or of the neurotic intricacies of my new employer. it's an interesting situation, to say
the least. anyways, i've got winter vacation coming up soon, so hopefully i'll be able to bag some
goodness for your peepers. aight.