Coming Soon...

Never fear, friends! I've taken almost a month off from blogging due to travel, illness, and holiday preparations, but more updates are coming soon! I'll fill you in on my recent travels, toys, books, and movies. Keep it real, mo-fo's!

Bringin' Out The Monkey

Oh my God! This past Saturday, 02 Dec, was so much fun! First, Paul and I went with Akemi and took her 10:30am Bikram yoga class in Azamino and sweated our hinies off. Then we grabbed some quick breakfast and headed for the Kirin Beer Village in Namamugi (Yokohama) for a group medical/dental tour of the brewery followed by dinner there at the Beer Port Restaurant, then karaoke in Kanazawa-Hakkei. Needless to say, a good time was had by all! I'll let the photos speak for themselves! Kirin rocks!

Paul at "Paul"

Dork-A-Rama

Greetings! The title of this post refers to me! The other day I finished watching all 72 episodes of the animated series Futurama, which I own on DVD. It's a nerd-tastic achievement. The show, which ran from 1999-2003, was suddenly dropped by the FOX network in 2003 when the network expressed their dislike for the show, which was often shown sporadically and out of sequential order. Good news is (or at least the rumor is) that Comedy Central bought 13 more episodes which should come out next year. In case you didn't know, the series is created by Matt Groening, of The Simpsons. It's an intelligent, hilarious, and thoughtful look at a group of characters working for a delivery company 1,000 years in the future in New New York City. The main character is Phillip Fry, a pizza delivery boy, who is accidentally cryogenically frozen on New Year's Eve, 1999 and thawed out on New Year's Day, 3000. The show wittingly spoofs countless sci-fi books, movies, and tv shows. Beautifully drawn and colored, it incorporates a lot of computer drawn objects and backdrops. Simpsons is a classic show, but now I definitely like Futurama more. 'Nuff said!

Thanksgiving Festivities

Here's some photos from our Thanksgiving Day dinner/debauchery. Enjoy the magic...

Oh The Humanity...

Hi again! Here are a couple images from one of my favorite artists/graphic illustrators, Banksy. Technically, I don't know if you can consider him a graphic illustrator, but what he is is a British guerilla/graffiti artist who has left his controversial mark in several urban/famous places around the world. When you hear "graffitti" it evokes images of a bunch of senseless dribble spray painted on the side of your local 7-11. This is different. This is well-thought and planned out, witty, biting, humorous social and political satire usually done via stencils or silk-screening. Nobody really knows his real identity or personal background (except maybe his closest friends), but books of his work are available at Amazon and you can also see most of his stuff at his website, http://www.banksy.co.uk. Check it out!

Love Is All Around

This is a blog post about a whale........NO!!! This is a blog about love! (sorry, Ren & Stimpy reference there)

Just wanted to mention the new Beatles album entitled "Love"...



If you're not a Beatles fan, then stop reading this and go do something else (loser)! If you ARE a Beatles fan, you definitely need to get this disc. It's being sold as just the CD only, or the CD plus audio DVD (which is the entire CD selection in Dolby 5.1). I bought the latter and have been listening to it for the past two days. The concept is this: Long-time Beatles producer, George Martin and his son Giles Martin, were asked to select and remix approximately one hour of their favourite Beatles tracks to accompany a new Cirque Du Soleil show entitled "Love". The connection between that show and the Beatles is that the late George Harrison was car racing buddies with the owner of the CDS franchise. George Martin, the obvious most-qualified person to undertake such a monumental task, takes the songs you know plus tons of additional studio extras and outtakes to come up with the most incredible, continuous mix of the Beatles' best songs ever. The timeless songs are beatifully overlaid and sampled without sounding overproduced, creating gorgeous new textured versions of the songs you already know and love. There are elements in the songs that come out that you never realized were there, creating an incredible aural journey. The only piece of new music which appears on the disc is some additional string arrangements George Martin wrote to accompany Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". I have yet to see a CDS show, but I can just imagine all of the psychedelic imagery they'll use to translate the music visually. I'm looking forward to seeing it if it tours through Japan. Anyway, when you hear this disc it will all come back to you why you loved the Beatles in the first place and how much their music endures, and why they were probably the most influential band ever on modern music.

Also wanted to recommend a movie we watched a couple nights ago called "Brokeback Mountain" - you may have heard about this one. Now, yes, it is a gay cowboy movie, but it's not "A Gay Cowboy Movie". That is, this is not what defines this movie. It is actually an engaging, tragic depiction of two people that share a forbidden love in a time and place in which it is completely taboo. Ang Lee did a fantastic job with the cinematography and direction, and the actors give so much, both verbally and non-verbally, that the film is emotionally-saturated without being a cheesy Lifetime network drama. I think this movie should have taken more awards than it did at last year's Oscars, especially compared to "Crash". There was so much controversy surrounding this film (in fact, it wasn't even shown on-base here in Yokosuka), but there was amazingly very little sexual content. "Snakes On A Plane", on the other hand, was shown practically around the clock at the theaters for two weeks straight. That's a very sad commentary on what we as an American culture consider quality entertainment. Just feeding more Soylent Green to the Sheep, I guess.

Anyway... go rent this movie.

Yokohama Madness!

I'm a cuckoo!

Howdy! Here's a couple of recent photos from a day out in Yokohama yesterday. We went to World Porters, a sort-of mall at MM21/Queen's Square Plaza, to find some replacement covers for our couch cushions and look at housewares. We wrapped things up with dinner at a crazy-loud izikaya and some karaoke with Paul and Brad.





Some other news...

If you're a Nintendo DS owner, and you like dance / rhythm games, you'll love the newly released "Elite Beat Agents".



Just got this game yesterday and am really hooked! It is an American version of a Japanese dance game released last year called "Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!". Sort of a hand-held version of "Dance! Dance! Revolution!", this game takes you through series of crazy scenarios, e.g. a pregnant woman about to give birth in a taxi (!), a babysitter trying to make out with her boyfriend, a down-and-out Las Vegas magician battling some costumed-villains trying to take over the casino he performs at, all which involve a secret-agent team which arrive to save the day through dancing! The game completely utilizes the DS's touch-screen capability, and entails you tapping targets in tempo with the music in order to make the agents dance in sync. It includes some familiar (and bizarrely-selected) tracks like "sk8ter boi" by Avril Lavigne, "I Was Born To Love You" by Freddy Mercury/Queen, and "Canned Heat" by Jamiroquai, amongst others. Though released in the states, the game is still obviously very "Japanese-y" in its depiction of Westerners, its manga-style artwork and comic-book panel illustrations, and its shear surrealness (is that a word?). Very high energy, funky, and addictive!

Later Super-Fly!

What's Going On

Hi squirrels... Just an update on what I've been up to. Friday (Veterans's Day) we did our annual mikan-gari (Japanese orange picking party). Ate some tasty oranges and had a great yakisoba / yakiniku cookout. I'll post some photos soon! Went out to Za-Watami with Paul on that evening for drinks and "oishi" izakaya food. Didn't do squat on Saturday except for reading and watching tv / DVDs, including 'Crash'. It was a pretty good movie, but I don't know if it was Oscar-good. Remember how hyped up it was at the last Academy Awards? It made it seem like every single social interaction on a daily basis in Los Angeles is ready to explode into a racially-charged flaring of tempers with people ripping each other's heads off. Interesting movie, but I got lost in some of the intertwining paths of the characters.

Today, Akemi and I went down to Kura Sushi, a massive "kaiten" (carousel) sushi restaurant where all plates are ¥100. It was sooo good. It's so hard not to overeat there. The fish is actually really good there. You would think otherwise because of the price. I think they can do it for so cheap because the portions are a little smaller. And also, if you want to order something specific, there's a touch-screen computer at each table that allows you punch in what you want. No human interaction. In a couple minutes, voila, your order comes to you on the belt. How dangerous-you can't stop! And then at the end, you bus your own table by dropping all of your plates into a slot at one end of the table. The computer automatically calculates your bill, then you touch another button to call a clerk and she hands you your bill. If that weren't enough, for every 5 plates that you drop into the slot, a digital slot machine comes up on the screen. If you get 3 of the same sushi cartoon characters in a row, a small toy prize rolls out of machine above your table. You think I'm making this up, don't you? It's the model of sushi-efficiency! Would you expect any less in Japan? After sushi, Akemi and I went to the base to pick up some groceries. Oh...and I came to the very sad, sad realization that the NEX stopped carrying Guiness beer. What in the hell?!? I'm going to write my congressman! That's a crime and a travesty!

Have a full 5 day workweek ahead of me! Oh joy upon joys.

If you so have the desire, and you also like my newest most-favorite band in the world, Belle & Sebastian, check out their DVD, 'Fans Only'. It's very well made.

Find YOUR Spot...

Hi spacemonkeys! Just wanted to give you a link to a cool little website that my friend Paul introduced me to called findyourspot.com. Here it is:


If you're up in the air about which part of the country you would like to live, this site helps you out. You answer an eight part quiz about your lifestyle / home / community / cultural needs and climate preferences and it generates a list of 24 cities based on your answers which may suit you. Interestingly, most of the cities on my list were in Florida (including my hometown, Jacksonville), Hawaii, California, Oregon, and Louisiana. I can see how the first four fit our lifestyle, but Louisiana....ugh!?!

Anyway, check it out! It's fun, and you may learn about some interesting communities where you might like to settle down!

Halloween Night

Greetings superfriends! Just an editorial note -- I tried to post some other photos from last Saturday, 28 Oct, but somehow there were some technical difficulties with blogspot. Anyway, Paul, Akemi, and I went to a Halloween party at Cindy Shalom's (one of our periodontists) dressed as a prostate exam, a penguin, and a Japanese schoolgirl respectively. Had a nice time, especially considering we haven't celebrated Halloween for a few years because it also coincides with Akemi's birthday. There are some pics posted on my previous entry.

So, last night we also dressed up and handed out candy here at our house along with our puppies (also in costume). Here are a couple pics! It's kind of funny how so many people thought I was dressed up as Elvis! Come on -- don't you remember a cultural phenomenon called 'disco'?!?





And just to mention real quick -- a couple of movie / music recommendations. We watched the Johnny Cash biopic "Walk The Line" last weekend and really enjoyed. It's good because it doesn't try to cram in so much information about him like a lot of these biographies tend to do. It's a simple story about him wooing his wife, June Carter Cash. It also only spans a period of about 20-30 years, so there aren't alot of cheesy age-progression effects.

Also recently downloaded the latest Keane album, 'Under The Iron Sea'. Very cool, very mellow, and alot 'darker' than their first album. Keane, the non-gay Coldplay (just kidding), is definitely becoming one of my favorite groups -- I sort of tuned them out when they had a lot of airplay on VH1 a couple years ago (as I tend to do with a lot of overexposed pop music). Hopefully they tour Japan sometime soon!

Ciao!

More Halloween Fun

Eating Hakone

Hello monkeys! In case you need reminding (which you probably do), this past Friday was my birthday. Akemi and I took a trip with her parents to Hakone. Hakone is a quaint resort area up in the mountains close to a huge lake (Ashinoko) near Mt. Fuji. There's not so many active things to do there, other than hiking, but there are plenty of museums and great places to eat. Akemi's parents have a time-share apartment there, which has a great onsen (natural hot spring bath). On Saturday, we visited a botanical garden, then had lunch at a great restaurant called "Souan", which apparently is very hard to get reservations at. Akemi's mom booked the place about a month ago! They feature French-style multi-course meals, but of course with a Japanese twist. My lunch consisted of a mushroom chawanmushi (Japanese egg-custard soup), then sanma (a type of pike fish) embedded in a satoimo paste (mountain potato) patty encrusted with pickled eggplant, followed by the main entree of a salmon medallion in a white wine sauce accompanied by baked satoimo, a mashed potato croquette, and shirako (fish testicles!!). It also came with miso soup, a chestnut/yamaimo onigiri (rice ball), pumpkin soup, and dessert (I had the sweet potato creme brulee). (Sounds like I'm making all this crap up, doesn't it?) It was all delicious, and I washed it down with Yebisu beer. It's not often that I eat at that kind of frou-frou, fancy-pants restaurant, but it was a special occasion and it was damn good! The building's interior was decorated in a simple Japanese-traditional style, complete with tatami floors. The staff were extremely friendly (and they weren't vampires!! -- lucky for you Tony!). In fact, our waiter gave us a ride to the bus stop in his own car because he forgot to call us a taxi!! Here are some photos:


Akemi & Mom in front of Souan


Geeks R Us






Akemi & Dad

On Sunday, after a bath and a quick breakfast, we took a cable car down to the Fujiya Hotel. The hotel is a Japanese historical landmark. Built in 1891 (I think; though it had later additions), it's still open for business. I guess it's famous not only for it's unique mix of Japanese and Western architecture, which became vogue with the ushering in of the Meiji Restoration, but also for it's famous guest list, which has included Charlie Chaplin, Helen Keller, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and Generals Eisenhower and Macarthur. We spent about an hour perusing about the old lobby and the vast garden. It was really cool to see this site which has withstood many an era, but I can't imagine that the rooms are very comfortable. And I bet it's haunted.








On our way home, we stopped at a Hakone beer garden, where you can try Hakone's own home brew. After all, what would an outing be without beer? Along with the beer, you can try a Hakone specialty, kama boko, or ground-fish paste cakes. Sounds crazy, but it's the bomb. They mix in different ingredients, like cheese, corn, or edamame, then deep fry it. Oishi!




Later fruitcakes!

In Loving Memory

My beloved father, Herb Hofmann, would have celebrated his 70th birthday yesterday, 17 October. If heaven exists, he's there, and he's not taking any shit off no one!

Here's to you Dad. We love and miss you so very much!

Road Rage Japan!

I'm going to take a minute to rant about the things I hate about Japan the most: crowds, traffic, and parking. Now, don't get me wrong; I love Japan and all it has to offer, but these are the three things that really grate my nerves. Here's a prime example from earlier today - I planned to go surfing with friends at Shichirigahama, a surf spot only about 4 or 5 miles from here. I was on the road by 0830. It took me about 45 minutes just to get out there, through horrendous stop-and-go traffic. Then, once I got to the public parking lot, not only was half of it occupied by a flea market, but there was a line of at least 20 cars waiting, at a standstill along the side of the main road (Route 134), to get into the remainder of the parking lot. A car could enter only when another car was leaving. I waited ~30 minutes in that line, then gave up this futile effort. To my dismay, there were thousands of people (no joke, no exaggeration) out in the water surfing. So, I continued on westward to Kugenama, another popular break with a public parking lot, another 20 minute venture through snail-like traffic. When I finally reached here, I entered the lot, parked my car (yes, amazingly there were actual available spaces), and went to check out the conditions. It seemed at this spot that every person in Japan, and his/her grandma, was out there surfing. And to boot, the conditions were much worse - the sets were shitty little closeout waves, meaning that as soon as they form, they break all at once. So with each wave, about 50 longboarders would take off simultaneously, then all wipe out almost instantaneously. A very pitiful sight! The weather was chilly, the conditions sucked, and you couldn't swing a limp tuna without hitting another Kelly Slater-wannabe, but I guess these people must have traveled much further than me (perhaps Tokyo), and weren't leaving without getting wet. Nonetheless, I paid my ¥400 for parking for a fruitless effort and motored on out of there, aborting the mission (at least I got to use the public restroom for that fee!) It took me another hour to return home, making my entire ass-burning journey over two and a half hours. In that amount of time, I could drive from my parents house in Jacksonville all the way to Disney World in Orlando. What the hell is going on here?!? I was so pissed off and frustrated I could have just puked! I have never witnessed people waiting for 30+ minutes in line to get into a parking lot - a parking lot for God's sake!! That's like if you went to the mall in the states, and waited an hour just to pull into the parking lot. Would you still want to go shopping? -- hell no!! In such a technologically advanced country, you would think they would have worked this out a little better. I know space is a rare commodity here, but it makes driving anywhere virtually impossible. Anyway, I had to get that rant out of my system! Thanks for humoring me...

Surfs up, parking-lot hodads!

Cinema Fantastisch

Hi kids! I recently subscribed to Netflix (after cancelling our shitty cable tv service) and have had the opportunity to see a couple really great movies: 'V For Vendetta' and 'Thank You For Smoking'. Both are great social commentary on the current state of social and politcal affairs in the Western world. Here's a brief run-down of each:

V For Vendetta - Set in Britain ~20-30 years from now, where the country is under control of a totalitarian government which uses religion, patriotism, and media propaganda to sway the masses (sound familiar?). V is a product of institutionalization, forced into a research center which tested drugs on so-called 'social deviants' (mentally/physically challenged, artists, homosexuals, etc.). So bitter against the system, he wages an underground, one-man war against regime officials. Towards the end of the movie he enlists Evey (Natalie Portman) to help him achieve his final goal of blowing up Parliament. Based on a graphic novel, the movie feels very dark and foreboding. V's hidden lair is reminiscent of the Batcave, as are his fighting tactics and gadgetry. The Wachowski brothers (of The Matrix fame) direct this thriller, which is really more a scathing political metaphor than it is an action movie. In fact, there are only a few fight sequences. I really enjoyed this movie because the parallels to the current focus of governments in the U.S. and Britain are too uncanny to be coincidental. I'm sure this flick is not on the current administrations list of favorites. One other great point is that V (so masterfully acted by Hugo Weaving from The Matrix and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert) never removes his mask so that you can view his disfigured face - very unconventional for most masked hero movies. The only peak of exposed skin we get is his severely burned hands in one scene where he is cooking breakfast (!). One caveat - watch this movie with the subtitles on. The monologues and dialogue are hard to follow because they are quickly spoken in British accents, and recorded low compared with other ambient sounds and music.









Thank You For Smoking - My personal favorite between the two movies. I loved this movie and plan to purchase the DVD at some point!! Definitely a keeper. This movie is about Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart), a Washington lobbyist for the Institute of Tobacco Studies, a fictional company which works for a conglomerate of big tobacco companies. Contrary to what you would expect, Nick is absolutely the hero of this movie, while the social institutions out to destroy him (e.g. a Vermon senator with an agenda - played by the fantastic William H. Macy) are the villians. Nick's arguments are so sharp-witted and biting and make him an extremely charismatic character. The story shows a development of the relationship between Nick and his son (and to an extent, his ex-wife) which really ties everything together as Nick rises to the pinnacle of his career, then is nearly destroyed by a meddling reporter (Katie Holmes) as well as a credit-stealing boss. The point of this movie is not tobacco or smoking at all, but about satire in pointing out the ridiculousness of "political correctness". In fact, no one is actually ever shown smoking at all -- which is pretty much an 'in your face' to those critics who may label this movie pro-tobacco. If you consider this movie 'pro-tobacco', you're completely missing the point!! It's beautifully written and acted; a great comic satire. Watch this movie now!

Hot Diggity Doitsu-Fest!

Prost!! Last night Akemi and I went down to the recently opened Red Brick Warehouse restaurant/bar complex at MM21, Sakuragicho for Yokohama's own take on Octoberfest. Let me tell you, the Japanese are kings at mimicry, and they know how to do up a German Octoberfest almost as well as the Germans! On hand was a multitude of imported German draft biers, including lagers, pilsners, and dark beers. We enjoyed a fantastic weissbier and a dark beer, which was more like a bock than a stout. By the way, I have no clue what the hell I'm talking about -- I just really like beer. The prices were a little steep at about ¥700-¥1,000 a glass. Plus, you had to add in an additional ¥1,000 deposit for the glass. When you return the glass, you get your deposit back. The glasses were nice, but not worth ¥1,000. Of course, there was great food for sale; we had a plate of shnitzel with sauerkraut. I spotted some izikaya foods for sale as well, including edamame and gyoza! Entertaining the partiers inside the main tent was an authentic oompah-pah band from Deutschland, which kept the crowd manic with multiple "ein, swei, trei, zoofahs". At one point there was a conga line going around the entire perimeter, turning the place into a veritable moshpit. We spent the majority of the time out on the patio enjoying the cool, breezy October evening. Tonight is the last night of the festivities, which is too bad! I would have enjoyed to go back around my birthday!

So, here's to the Japanese doin' it Deutsche-style! Ein prosit!!

The Genius

Hi folks! Just here to tell you about Beck's new album - The Information. Beck is brilliant, and this album is one of the most bizarre collections of music I have ever heard...but it works. Now, I'm not going to give you a track-by-track break down of the CD. If you want that, go to amazon.com. Anyway, I'm still listening to it. I just bought it tonight, so I haven't even had a chance to design my album cover (yes... the CD comes with decals so that you can do-it-yourself; and yes, the artwork is mighty-freaky). My best way to describe this album is this: if there were a race of extraterrestials living on Neptune, and they were making a movie about Earth, this album would be the soundtrack. How's that?

Interesting note: Beck is credited with the following instruments on the album - acoustic guitar, electric guitar, melodica, piano, organ, keyboards, programming, effects, scratching, sitar, bass, harmonica, kalimba, percussion, drums, drum effects, glockenspiel, and gameboy (!). What more could you ask for?

So... don't just sit there mooching off of my reviews ... go check it out for yourself!!

Peace out, you silly rabbits.

Pimp Daddy

Check out some pics of me and all my special ladies!