GinBaby’s Neighborhood

Kimura

Resident Evil, Tokio Hotel, maNga and Asia Argento

Something was wrong with my head (which has always been that way, I know (^ ^), but it felt even more wrong than usual:-), so last night I took aspirin (headache is my lifelong friend. Another of my lifelong friend is depression, but somehow I haven't seen him for a while), stayed home and (a) finished playing Biohazard (aka Resident Evil) 5, (b) watched MTV European music award, and (c) continued my reading of "Descent into chaos".


As for Biohazard 5 (It's the original, Japanese title for Resident Evil), I had picked it up quite a while ago from a bargain bin (don't ask me how it got there), but the control scheme was so cranky I decided to let it marinate for a while. Then somehow I read on the net that there were several control options available, I went back to it and found one that worked for me, then it went fairly smoothly- though I think it's pretty dumb that you can't move and shoot at the same time- and contrary to my expectation, I enjoyed it quite a lot. Sheva Alomar has to be the hottest cyber babe ever invented on a game!!

And this year's MTV European music award was held in Berlin, (everything seems to be taking place in Berlin this year because of 20th anniversary of The Fall of The Wall) and what was interesting watching it was not Biyonce or Shakira, but the fact that there's a Turkish band called "maNga" (I am not making this up) and also there's this apparently quite popular German band called "Tokio Hotel" (I am not making this up either) !! I thought that was pretty funny! None of the members looked Japanese, and I have no idea if any of them has been to Tokyo- but maybe someone here should form a band with a name like, you know, "Berlin Love Hotel" (^o^) Their song was actually pretty cool.
Again, I am a bit worried about the whole Japanese pop culture taking over the world and the weird image of Japan spreading all over... But I guess it's better than sliding into complete oblivion, which, if not complete oblivion, seems more and more likely in terms of business world (ask someone in the auto industry about this year's Tokyo motor show compared to Shanghai motor show)... Wait, maybe "manga" means something else in Turkish. Sorry about my utter ignorance if that is the case.
I was glad I'd watched it because U2 did a great performance. Oh, and Asia Argento is so hot!!!

Reading "Descent into chaos" today is kind of weird, because I may have been reading about life and career of Musharraf one night and the next day, Musharraf himself is on GPS talking to Fareed Zakaria about how paranoid he is about India, just like the book said:-) Kind of like multi-media education on Central Asian politics:-)

Post a comment Tags: me, music, games, manga, biohazard, resident evil, asia argento, musharraf …
Kimura

iPod Touch

I'm definitely not one of those people who just jump at supposedly "hot new stuff" they try to sell. When I spot something interesting, I start monitoring news and reviews on the net to see what's up with it, if anyone seems to be complaining about some faults/ bugs/ glitches/ whatever.


So I've been watching a whole lot of people start using iPhone and going blah blah blah about how great it is. It seemed okay enough (although SoftBank, which is the service provider for iPhone in Japan, tends to feck up every now and then and their network goes down- but that's not  Apple's fault, I guess), and I have been curious about the whole new phenomenon, but wasn't ready to (still not) jump from DoCoMo.

Which is kind of why I got an iPod Touch, which is pretty much iPhone without phone capability. You can download and use the apps for iPhone and do pretty much the same thing. Downside is that, the thing is designed to be used in the environment always connected to the Internet- which you can't get out on the street unless you sign up with some data-steaming services (not particularly cheap; I would rather just get me an iPhone along with my DoCoMo keitai. Some people do this though).
I've set up the network so it can get in on my home wireless network, and it's pretty interesting. It feels, you know, future:-)
Must be bad for my eye though. I should probably invest in contact lens manufacturers. This and all the mobile device will produce a generation of people with cool gadgets and bad eyes in no time. (^ ^;)

1 comment Tags: iphone, techie stuff
Ninja

You can hear but are you listening?

http://www.relta.org/browse.asp?ContainerID=testforpilotsafter11august

OK folks,

If you have a few minutes to spare and nothing else better to do, try this listening test to see if you can taxi/take-off/fly and land an aircraft safely.

Listening and looking are still the key fundamental skills required in aviation. It's called situational awareness.

Ninja

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Ninja

Look at me, look at me!

Silence Twister
Silence Twister

Folks,

No, that's not me at the controls - I wish!

Come on, you can't say this isn't a beautiful aircraft - even if the Germans have created this Spitfire-inspired kit plane?

I'm impressed.

Ninja

4 comments Tags: silence twister
Ninja

Germans building a tricked-up Spitty?? Brilliant!

http://www.pacificaerosport.com/twister.htm

Folks,

My heart's racing a bit after seeing this. Granted it's a single-seater but heck, she flies well (when have the eliptical wings of the Spitty ever faltered?).

And the price is bloody eyebrow-raising, too... in a pleasant way. The performance specs for the price, is serious value for money.

I've gotta keep looking at this as motivation to get my wings! It could be my second kit aircraft.

It's sweet irony, isn't it? That this souped-up aerobatic kit version of the Spitfire would come out of Germany in the 21st century.

Ninja

Post a comment Tags: twister kit spitfire aerobatic
mcco12

I've never been to Alaska.

So I rented this movie a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it. Then I ordered the book and I love the book even more. I read about 80% of it in one sitting: I just picked it up and couldn't put it down.


I really like the blend of journalistic technique mixed with pure storytelling and Chris McCandless is such a character, you feel his personality just leaping off the page.

Great book!


4 comments Tags: alaska, into the wild, jon krakauer, christopher mccandless
Kimura

Quote of the week

"My love for Albertine had been but a transitory form of my devotion to youth."

Marcel Proust

2 comments Tags: france, quote, literature
mcco12

Twenty years ago tonight....

I was 18 years old and walking home to my apartment on Franklin Avenue in Boise from work as a waiter at Plush Pippin on State Street. As I zipped along the street, Eric, who was Wendy Belcher's boyfriend (my first boyfriend Jerry and I lived with her), was playing football in the field at Boise High and he saw me passing at shouted out: "The Wall fell down, maaaaaan! Those Germans are freeeeee!"


I was like: "Huh?"

So he shouted: "The Berlin Wall! It's been knocked down! It's over, maaaaaaan!"

And that's all I remember. I vaguely recall a conversation later that evening with someone much older than me who talked about how this was an historical moment and that I would remember this night. Who was that? Russ? Josh?

I did know a lot about Germany since I started studying German when I was 12 years old. But I was much more interested in German language and literature and not so much about politics. Then (I was only 18!). So I didn't quite know what an important process had started that night.

We had all these friends who lived in (what we called) "the Franklin house," a huge old mansion a few doors down from our apartment. I do remember being up in Heather and her sister's attic apartment, holding their kitten, and listening to them talk about Germany and all the changes these developments would lead to. Haha, my most vivid impression of that old house, though, is the "water wars" that were constantly going on (the water pressure was terrible and everyone had to fight to be in the shower first or there would be no pressure anywhere in the apartment) and how STDs made their rounds throughout the entire building (we called Mindy "Clamindy" and Lea "Gonnolea" haha). All these straight kids screwing each other non-stop. In our apartment, we just had our crazy roommate, Wendy (who kept a mannequin, Mona, dressed up in the living room year round: at Christmas, she'd be decked out in slutty Christmas clothes, in summer, slutty summer clothes, etc etc) and her boyfriend Eric. They'd get drunk and beat the shit out of each other (not him beating her, them beating each other). Oy. How long did Jerry and I live there? Six months? 

Woops, got sidetracked wallowing in the past. The Berlin Wall. In the long run, I guess this hasn't really affected me personally very much. Or who knows, maybe the hand of history is so far reaching that its effects are impossible to truly understand on an individual level.

All I can think about now, these 20 years later, is my own life and how far I've come since that November night so long ago. It seems like I've lived 10 different lives since then, many countries, a few relationships, many friendships. 

Here is the Franklin house today. It looks similar but much more upscale. When I lived there, it was full of poor young students and stoners. It was practically falling apart. Our place (just a few doors down on the other side of the street) has been torn down and replaced by an office building. Too bad, too. It was such a beautiful place: it had this sun room in the back overlooking the garden that was one of the most beautiful rooms I've ever lived in. It was my favorite place to sit with a book. 

Ah, well. Time marches on. As the Chinese say, "You can't welcome the new until you get rid of the old."

Franklin house, Boise, Idaho

2 comments Tags: history, germany, youth, boise, berlin
Kimura

November has come

It's that time of the year.


It won't be of much concern for the unfortunate souls who are not gamers, but most of the game publishers from the West, particularly America, have this strange fixation that every big-name title HAS to come out in so-called Holiday season (which in their part of the world starts with Thanksgiving, I understand). So there is this deluge of games coming out from November to January, mostly in November (and December).

This is clearly very stupid. One hot game coming out in August will completely dominate the fecking market, but I guess the suits are still under the impression that average gamers are 12 year olds who need their gift from grandma to buy games they want.

And this year's holiday season will just be crazy. There are so many titles that any sane gamer just can't miss. This will have seriously negative impact on my intellectual readings (I'm immensely enjoying reading "Descent into chaos" by Ahmed Rashid; if you have any passing interest in current Afghan conflict or the whole Islamic extremist movement, this is a must-read).


3 comments Tags: game, suit, november
Ninja

Line 'em up and bring 'em in: Oshkosh 2009

Airventure Oshkosh 2009 VFR FISK arrival

Folks,

I thought I'd post this to give you an idea of the chatter that goes on as pilots join circuit on approach for landing.

For those who don't know, Oshkosh in Wisconsin is THE biggest aviation show in the world. And each year the Oshkosh airport is like a mecca for general aviation enthusiasts from all over the world. A tonne of these people fly in to the show and that truly makes Oshkosh the world's busiest airport for the one week festival. I'm told that Avalon in Victoria doesn't even come close to matching Oshkosh.

The tower guys have their hands full trying to keep the traffic flowing nice and safe for everyone to come in.

The interesting thing you will hear in the chatter is the ATC guy asking some pilots to "rock your wings" if they understand. And this is really important to pilots everywhere. Language, instructions and airport procedures all have slight variations, plus the fact that every pilot is trained and used to something that's a bit different to others. Good to know that the traffic controllers recognise this and use plain language to guide the planes in as they join the circuit to come in. And if something's not working out, they will not hesitate to ask pilots to go-around.

I'm not sure what "FISK" means - I think it's the US version of what we call ATIS (automatic terminal information service) in Oz. This is a regularly updated generic aerodrome flight condition status that's pre-recorded. Planes can tune into the ground frequency to check for things like wind speed, wind direction, which runways are for inbound-outbound traffic, QNH settings (altimeter setting specific for the airport) etc.

I've got an eye on being at Oshkosh next year and see the fuss for myself.

Ninja

2 comments Tags: oshkosh