my-wasabi.com in America

My-wasabi.com, this formerly Japan-only business has finally set up an American online store for their Japanese-themed console skins. Check out some samples below, then hit the link to check out their online store.

The at1UP podcast

(12.0 MB) - Length: 0:26:11

One of the things I've been working on is the weekly at1UP podcast from 1UP.com. We're on our fourth episode now and starting to get into our groove. Check it out if you get a chance and subscribe to it on iTunes.

This particular episode is special because of the last three minutes or so (yes, we totally ripped off Camp Michael McDonald).

Champion of the Week: Langdon Alger

Champion of the Week: The Coalition Against Police Executions

One week after an organized peaceful protest against BART police and officials broke out into a riot through downtown Oakland, the Coalition Against Police Execution decided to hold another protest in front of Oakland City Hall.

Even after their previous gathering ended in thousands of dollars of damage to stores who's owners had nothing to do with the protest. AND even after the BART police officer, who shot a handcuffed man in the back, was arrested in Nevada earlier that day.

Protest organizers STILL decided to go ahead with their second protest. And what happened? You guessed it. Another riot.

I'm not against the right to protest. I'm just against stupidity. Even though, as in the first riot, the people causing the trouble was a small splinter group--the organizers HAD TO KNOW another riot was possible. But once again, an entire afternoon of peaceful protest was overshadowed by news coverage of people breaking windows and running wild through the streets of downtown Oakland.

The thing that's really annoying is that the protest organizers get away scott-free. For all the property damage caused by the vandals, the people that gave them an excuse to riot won't be held responsible for anything. I wonder if those idiots will plan a THIRD "peaceful" protest next week?

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Runner-up: The CAPE--Coalition Against Police Executions Blog

From their blog: "On January 14 CAPE had a beautiful community event in Oakland, y'all! There were speakers, singers, preachers, organizers - amazing. Sean Bell's mother sent a letter which CAPE Co-founder Dereca Blackmon read to us at the rally. We pulled together security from the community and were able to really maintain the safety of the crowd throughout the event. The formal event ended, and folks moved out into the night."

Folks moved out into the night? I guess that's one way to put it.

You're welcome.

Champion of the Week: Target Customer Service Girl

I knew it would be hard to return a game without a receipt, so I made sure to talk to someone ahead of time at Target's customer service counter to make sure I'd be able to do it. I bought the game for my nephew as a Christmas gift, but he already had it. The other thing was I took the wrapper off to make sure there was a game in the box (you'd be surprised how often there are no games inside game boxes).

And, yes, I officially could return it for store credit -- when games are returned, it is now Target's policy to remove the shrink-wrap, anyway, to make sure there is a disk/cartridge inside the game box. So sorry, SoG, no more stuffing your used underwear in Atari boxes and trying to return them.

So the next day I came back and saw that a different person was working the CS counter -- but I gave her the game and explained to her my story. She saw it and was like, "...uh...you can only trade this in for the same game."

"Why would I trade it in for the same game? I told you my nephew already has this game, that's why I'm trying to return it."

"...uh-huh. But yeah, you opened it."

"Right, only because I wanted to make sure there was a game in there."

"I know. But you can only get the same game."

"Why would I want the same game I'm trying to return? I already said my nephew has this game, that's why I'm returning it. And I know it's your policy to open any returned games anyway to make sure there's a game in the box. So you would have opened it anyway."

"...uh...hold on." (attitude at 4.5 bitch-o-watts)

Trapped by my circle of logic, she called in her only ally and last hope at preventing this loyal Target customer my shot at a refund (that I was just going to turn around and by something else with).

The manager came over, she explained my story...and said, "Yeah. He can return it."

YES.

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Runner-up: Chrysler--America's Car Company


Check out the Chrysler motors blog -- they've got a post thanking America for their big $4,000.000,000 bailout. The comments are priceless.

Here's one: "What a total waste of money. That useless ad money could have been put into research and development to make better quality and fuel efficient vehicles. This has got to be the most expensive thank you card ever written, providing better products would be just as sufficient."

The sad thing is--now that they have taxpayer money--if America doesn't support Chrysler, those billions of dollars spent to bail them out will be lost.

Whatever, I'm sticking with Japanese-made.

John McCain/Barack Obama Dance-Off

Awesome! ...but kind of creepy.

Take On Me ...or is it?

$700 Billion Bailout Solutions: AIG Edition

Insurance company AIG gets called out on how they spent money after receiving their taxpayer bailout $$$:

Naked Guy in "Japanese Moat Adventure"

From Metro.co.uk

"Japanese police detained a man - believed to be British - who went skinny dipping in a moat ringing the Imperial Palace in a busy Tokyo business district, attracting a huge crowd, officials said on Tuesday.

"The naked middle-aged man jumped into the moat, then threw rocks and splashed water at two policemen who chased him in a rowing boat, a Tokyo Metropolitan Police official said."

Thai Food, Clone Wars, and Mighty Muggs

I could probably write three separate blogs about Coriander Thai, the Clone Wars CG movie, and the awesomeness of Mighty Muggs, but it would be SO much easier to just do one blog with quick notes on each.


Coriander Thai at Westfield Center San Francisco
A favorite lunchtime destination during the work week (when I'm not going to The Sentinel), Coriander Thai is in the "fancy" food court at the downtown SF Westfield Center (not to be confused with the "janky" side of Westfield that has the Burger King and Panda Express).

The fancy food court has lots of great places to eat -- Bristol Farms market has a great steam table, there's a Sarabol Korean BBQ, an Askew, a Buckhorn, Bistro Burger, etc. But despite all those choices, I always end up at Coriander Thai. Their best dishes are the Spicy Catfish and Sweet Chicken with Basil. Son of Gigan and I were there once, I got the thai, and he got some sort of pizza -- but kept coming back to my plate to try the catfish (totally stereotypical of Gigans).



Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Why was this a movie? Even more important, why did I see it? I think George Lucas was able to embed something into our generation's DNA that forces us to watch anything Star Wars-related no matter how bad it is.

Not that the Clone Wars was completely terrible. The CG action looked cool -- a tricky balance between looking too much like the movies and looking too cartoony. But as hectic as the action got, I never got the sense that the main characters were never in any real danger. First, because we know all their fates beforehand; second, because the voice actors never sounded like they were "in the action," as evidenced by Obi-Wan's permanently calm tone no matter what the situation.

Anyway, I'd probably forgive the movie's flaws if it had aired as originally intended: as the first three episodes of the Clone Wars TV show. In a half-hour TV show, it makes sense to have one big battle per episode, it also makes sense for characters to make an appearance one show and then disappear for a few episodes, and it makes sense for characters to still be introduced throughout a show's run. It doesn't work as well in one movie when Mace Windu has two lines of dialogue and then isn't seen again (even worse when General Grievous is only seen for two seconds and mentioned briefly in line of dialogue).

I could go on and on with the movie's flaws -- like Anakin and Ahsoka hiding under a metal box to get through a bubble shield, but then in the very next scene, Obi-Wan and an army of Clones pass through the forcefield without any kind of shielding -- but I'll still tune in in November to Cartoon Network when the series starts it's run. ...dammit.


My Mighty Muggs Collection
Pictured above: Venom, Thing, Darth Vader, General Grievous, Boba Fett.
Boxed in the background: Raiders of the Lost Ark Idol, Spider-Sense Peter Parker, Movie Iron Man.
Cropped from photo: Hulk, regular Iron Man, Stormtrooper
On my desk at work: Spider-Man, Black suit Spider-Man, Doctor Octopus, Thor, Captain America, Wolverine

Sachiko Kodama art piece

The science here has to do with magnetic nanoparticles called ferrofluids. Kodama used a computer to program/manipulate electromagnetic fields to make the fluid "dance." Awesome stuff...


...ok, now that you've seen it. I call bulls**t. That's not ferrofluids. Anybody can tell just by looking that it's a VENOM ALIEN SYMBIOTE.

Creep factor dialed all the way to 11

Taste the Magic!

The Blog Knight.

YODC's very first entry was just my quick commentary that people should watch Batman Begins. I saw that film with Son of Gigan and I remember him saying, "Fuck Tim Burton and Michael Keaton," about twenty minutes into the film.

As for this anniversary post? Yes... FUCK JACK NICHOLSON.

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Also, Fuse has a show called Rad Girls -- it's basically Jackass, but with chicks. I can't tell if they're funny because they're kind of hot...



...and for your Google-image-search convenience, the girl getting waxed is Ramona Cash.

Your fart doesn't count.

Rest in peace, Heddy.

"That's Hedley."

Raspberry Cheesecake Parfait

The Harvest Buffet at Cache Creek is okay. The entrees are average at best, but their desert bar is pretty damn good. They serve real Dreyer's ice cream (not self-serve soft serve), a Bananas Foster that you'll probably get drunk from, and my newest desert god -- the Raspberry Cheesecake Parfait.



This isn't just a regular slice of cheesecake, as you can see it comes served in a classy wine glass (also note the classy photo my sis took above; it's got glass-warped old people in the background). This elegant three-layer presentation of raspberry reduction, whipped cheesecake, and graham crumbs puts all other cheesecakes to shame.


Executives at The Cheesecake Factory are probably yelling obscenities at each other for not thinking of this. So the next time you're at the Creek, before you blow all your cast at the Wheel of Fortune slots, hit the buffet and get one of these.

Persian Babes

All right, Weinstein, you wanna curry this blog all up? How about a little magic carpet with that curry? That makes no sense.

This is Sarah Shahi -- she played some DJ on "The L Word" and currently plays a detective on the excellent cop show "Life".

Midnight Train to Georgia