Cherry Blossom Season...

It's cherry blossom season in Japan right now. Guess where I am? AMERICA! Still over here for now. Still waiting to find my opportunity.
I'll be in Japan for the Cherry Blossom season some year. Whether distant or near.

I was GOING to put pictures here... but fucking worthless wordpress is broken again. I can't click the picture link. It won't pop anything up. I don't have my toolbar... again. I can't use this broken fucking system. JESUS FUCK I can't even add tags! Or change the category! And this stupid fucking bullshit system never even lets me add interesting widgets from around the web unless THEY make them.

FUCK YOU WORDPRESS!!

A Century

1. I love Ashley.

2. My ancestors were crusaders. Unless some jackhole in my family decided to randomly pick the name Jordan. It's from the River Jordan.

3. I graduated from the University of Maine with a degree in Journalism.  It's the most expensive piece of paper I've ever gotten. Plus it has the same functionality as any other piece of paper I've ever owned.

4. I have siblings aplenty. Brothers named Azymandias, Mithridates, Leptis Magna, and Scipio Africanus. I also have a half-sister named Kalykoklyndylyla.

5. I committed petty crimes throughout my childhood. I stole packs of cards from Toys R Us (true), I pissed on a wah-wah Indian's car (true), I vandalized government property (true) and I assassinated the Archduke Franz Ferdinand (true).

6. For some unknown reason I have a great aptitude and love of geography. I know everything about everyplace, and bask in a chance to learn about these faraway (or nearby) places.

7. I love history. From ancient times to the middle ages to the industrial revolution. My favorite classes in college were my advanced history classes.

8. I have a beard.

9. Travel! I love to travel. I want to travel all over the world! I've only been to four countries so far (US, Canada, Bahamas, UK) but hope to go to at least 260 more.  Yes 260.  I plan on going back in time to countries that no longer exist, like Persia, Byzantine Empire, Aetolian League, Mali Empire, etc.

10. I like taking daytrips with The Ashes.  We go all over Maine every summer.

11. Silas is my pet cat. He's the only actual pet I own. There's a cat at my house named Caesar. He's an asshole. Silas is the epitome of cool, even with a broken leg.

12. I have no religion. I'm agnostic. Or maaaaybe Deist, in the Jeffersonian sense.

13. If I could fight any historical figure it would be Mother Teresa, because I'm sure I have better hand-to-hand skills than her.

14. I hate my job.

15. I am a half-Mexican, half-Jewish airplane pilot from Minneapolis. Wait, no I'm not.  I'm a half-English, half-Irish, half-French bastard.

16. I think Nintendo is overrated and haven't had a good console since the SNES. The DS is decent, though.

17. I want to be a writer. A journalist. An editor. A scriptwriter. A travel journalist. A novelist. An author. In the TV/movie industry. In advertising. A PR agent. Something.

18. I once shot a squirrel out of a tree with a BB gun. I couldn't see it and took the shot blind. That fucker tumbled all the way to the ground and died.

19. I've been addicted to Monster Energy drinks since late '07. It used to be Mountain Dew, but EEEEW.

20. If I could be a Final Fantasy job class it would be a Summoner.

21. If I could make any fictional creature real it would be Chocobos. Followed by Moogles.

22. If I was a chick my name would be Lizzie Danger. If I was a guy my name would be Xander Rouge. Wait... what does that make me?

23. My favorite wrestlers through the ages have been Bret Hart, The Rock, Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe and CM Punk.

24. I LOVE LEGOs. I had a shitload when I was a kid. I forgot them for many years and swept them under the rug of memories. Then I found a ton of awesome LEGO websites and got back into it. It's part of my quarterlife crisis.

25. Final Fantasy X is the best FF. There I said it. Tidus is awesome.

26. My favorite actor is Brad Pitt. My favorite actress is Scarlett Johansson.

27. My fists have names. Jorg Jachske and Elliot Reaver-Willow. They beat the shit out of my enemies.

28. I'm slowly wasting my life. But maybe not. I'm still figuring out who I am, because sometimes you don't know at the end of the teenage years.

29. Is it more important to be rich, or to be happy? I don't know. I think I just want to be happy, and I am.

30. I want to live in Japan someday. It's my dream, and I'll never give up on it.

31. My alter ego is Sir Nigel Witherspoon. I produced a number of webisodes of the Nigel & Gerald Show years ago. They're funny. Crude, insulting, and offensive. But funny. I always thought it could be streamlined into something real, but eh.

32. Neil Gaiman is my favorite author. George R.R. Martin is now second (he doesn't produce, he falls down).

33. The Zombie Apocalypse will be the downfall of the world. It will be awesome, even if I die. Why? It's ZOMBIES motherfucker.

34. I bet I could be a fucking decent writer on a television show of some sort.  Even though I'm not Jewish.

35. In middle school I was fat. I was fat in high school. In college I lost a lot of weight. Now I'm a decent, controllable size.

36. I hate dogs. They should all be dead. Except for one Shiba Inu, so that Ashes'll be happy.

37. I'm an elitist. I love people watching because in the end I always judge people to be inferior to myself.

38. I hate douchebags. Self-important, rich and "suave" man-whores they are. They degrade this country almost as much as the idiots.

39. I voted for Barack Obama.

40. Liverpool FC is my favorite soccer (yeah, soccer) team. I have a bunch of merchandise from the team, including a giant flag hanging across one wall of my room.

41. The best concert I ever went to was Red Hot Chili Peppers & The Mars Volta.

42. I'm in love with maps. I guess this is an extension of my love for geography.

43. Netflix makes my life rule. Hulu is awesome too.

44. I have smelly feet.

45. I've been to every major East Coast city except Atlanta and Charlotte.

46. I own a 360. I would like a PS3, if only for the Blu-Ray features.

47. I thought that if I started a video game blog I could really make it take off, and maybe go to E3 this year. I couldn't. I didn't know the right people to get traffic. PLUS, I didn't update enough. And my posts were all irrelevant.

48. I get like 20-30 really workable ideas a week. I carry a notebook with me at all times to write down my best ideas. Even then I only put like 1/3 in the notebooks.

49. I'm a registered Republican, but I vote Democratic. I'm really a centrist.

50. Adolf Hitler.

51. My favorite video game villain of all time is Kefka Palazzo from FF6. My favorite movie villain of all time is Col. Amon Goeth from Schindler's List.

52. I claim to hate anime, but I actually like the really well done stuff. Anything by Miyazaki for example.

53. I really like pictures of cityscapes, urban culture, city streets, architecture, and neighborhoods.

54. Art Deco is my favorite architecture style. It's so retro-futuristic it makes me go EEEEEEEE like a little girl.

55. I've been a male ever since I was born. I've been an American ever since I was born. I've been awesome ever since I was born.

56. My favorite wrestling company is Pro Wrestling NOAH. It may not always be the most exciting in terms of storylines to follow, but it's the best damn wrestling consistently. ROH is second.

57. I once traveled to Philadelphia to go to a Ring of Honor show simply because Mitsuharu Misawa was wrestling. Once in a lifetime experience.

58. I don't like winter. There's no green. My favorite season is summer, which is too short here in Maine.

59. I don't like being in Maine, but I love being from here.

60. I hate lobster. I'm a Mainer that hates lobster.

61. I trained an elephant to tap dance. Ten died.

62. The Simpsons is my all time favorite TV show.

63. My favorite stand-up comedian is Jim Gaffigan, but I think John Oliver is second.

64. I've been Twittering since before it was cool, damnit.

65. RPGs are my favorite video game genre. I rarely have the time to play them nowadays, though.

66. I fucking love rain!

67. I have no connections. I don't have a network. If you don't have connections and you don't network, how do you move up in the world? It really is all about who you know.

68. I'm such a lesbian.

69. I use Axe products all the time. In my armpits, my hair, and my body. I smell like Axe.

70. I have wretched teeth. It may not appear that way on the outside, but I do. I'm very sensitive about it.

71. IDK MY BFF JILL? *SLAP*

72. Fantasy books are my favorite. I love the entire genre of fantasy, beyond the standard fare. It's actually better when somebody does something different with the genre. I'm open to new stuff, unlike many fantasy fans who just want Tolkien retold.

73. I must, at all times, be inundated with at least 3 sources of entertainment. The TV must be on, my computer must be on, and my DS must be on or nearby. I rarely do just one thing.

74. My favorite video game hero of all time is Tidus. My favorite movie hero of all time is Indiana Jones.

75. I like snowy nights, but only because it traps all the light in and makes it extremely bright all night long.  It's a great atmosphere.

76. Transmetropolitan is my favorite comic book series of all time.

77. I'm a pirate. In the modern sense of course. Not the Somalian modern sense, but the modern-modern sense.

78. The South African flag is my favorite national flag. The Bosnian flag is my least favorite.

79. The first movie I remember seeing in theaters was... The Little Mermaid I believe.

80. Post-apocalyptica is awesome!

81. I won't ever get a tattoo because I'd never be happy with anything forever. Tastes change.

82. I was fired from a job as a Zepplin pilot in Italy because a cat in a plane made me crash.

83. I believe in mystical creatures and faerie creatures, but only because it's more fun to.

84. I dress with more style than I used to. Consequently, I look better than I used to.

85. I didn't peak in high school and then give up on life like everybody else. I laugh at those who did, for their lives are now just misery and mine is happiness!

86. I once got hit in the head with a hockey stick.

87. I say wicked. It's because I'm a New Englander.

88. Suikoden, Persona, Wild Arms. The most underappreciated RPG series. Almost every game from these three series are excellent.

89. I hate MMORPGS. They are a MASSIVE waste of time. You basically pay to do the same boring shit over and over and over. No real content, just grinding and item farming. BORE-ING.

90. I really like management style sports games. My favorite sports game is, therefore, Football Manager.

91. I like to blog. The general crappiness and poor functionality of Wordpress, my current blogging tool, has caused me to see it as a bit of a chore.

92. I've never broken a bone.

93. I wish there were more fast food places around here. I like fast food, but all we have is the standard stuff. I want the exotic stuff!

94. I've never shot a gun in my life.

95. I can't swim.

96. I'm on a boat motherfucker don't you EVER forget.

97. NINETY-SEVEN!

98. I don't like my hair. I can never get it to do anything good.

99. I like spicy food. The spicier the better. Curry! Jalapeno! Gimme, gimme.

100. SOX RULE! Red Sox!!! YAAAAA!!! GO PATS!!! PATRIOTS!! YAAAA!! CELTICS RULE!!! GO GREEN!!! YAAAA!!!

Animosity

I used to be a fan of wrestling.  Or rather, I still am in general.  But in particular I'm not a fan of the WWE.  While holding many of the best stars of a still struggling industry, they don't properly utlize that talent.  They really don't make the product for the fan of the 'sport' of wrestling anymore.  Indeed, they never really did.  I argue that they are completely ignoring that fanbase now.  I will admit that they have a few top quality matches in a year.  For the most part it's all punches pulled, no move allowed, punch-kick-punch-kick-finisher.  They have a demanding schedule, I know, but put some HEART back into it.

They bombard us with ridiculous plots and insult our intelligence at the same time.  Not to mention that they often only feature 20-30 minutes of actual wrestling on a 2 hour show.  It's frustrating to want to simply watch some mindless, wonderfully worked matches.  Yet when I have to listen to an uncharismatic 6 foot tall steroid addicted idiot jabber on about god only knows what for 10 minutes, then listen to another guy go "nuh uh" for 10 more it kills me.

Fortunately there are still some highlights.  Edge is still crazy awesome.  He can be the mean badass, he can be the comedic clown, and not to mention he can really bring it in the ring.  What has this earned him?  Like six world championships.  Not bad.  CM Punk will always be great.  He'll jump from feud to feud and perform at a top level.  He may never see the world title again, but he had it and that can't be taken away.

I stopped watching for so many reasons.  Degrading the cruiser title by putting on Hornswaggle (then eliminating it completely), Katie Vick, Al Wilson's wedding, Eric Bischoff, pushing untrained rookies hard over veterans (and then firing them in 4 months anyway), and so much more.  It just added up over the years.  Once I realized that I was suffering through more of a show than I was enjoying, it was over.

There wasn't enough there to really be excited about anymore.  I felt like they were deliberately insulting my intelligence.  That's what it was all along, perhaps, and I never saw it because I could enjoy the matches for what they were.  A performance.  The plots that only the most idiotic, dull-brained, hillbilly could get into (or believe!) ruined the whole thing.  When you step outside of a hobby like that for a while and then look back in you find yourself saying "What the hell was wrong with me?"  The utter horror that was the WWE made me just hate wrestling in general for a while.  I got over that.

I am still a fan of the rest of wrestling, however.  NOAH, NJPW, ROH, AJPW, DG, and so many others still produce excellent stuff.  They don't punish you for watching like the WWE (and even TNA).  The wrestlers go out there and do their damndest to put on a great show.  Japanese wrestling will never change. It's about workrate.  Newcomers like Go Shiozaki, Katshiko Nakajima, and Kohei Suwama are respectful of that tradition and give their hearts in the ring.  This leads to a new generation that will flourish like those before them, unlike America.

Attempts to Americanize it have actually been pretty fun.  The ridiculous storylines in promotions like HUSTLE and DDT are so over the top that you can't help but laugh.  They don't take themselves seriously.  That's the problem in America, they put on these terrible shows with awful acting, and off-the-wall stories and expect you to take them seriously!

Professional wrestling is an interesting entity.  Sadly the show must cater to what the average fan wants.  I'm not an average fan.  I just want some god damn wrestling, is that too much to ask for, WWE?  You don't provide it so I don't watch, but you don't care.  I find it in other places at least, so the sport hasn't totally lost me yet.

Trails to the Rising Sun

I enjoy blogging.  It's an outlet for the random chaos in my mind.  As such I hope that it clears the chaos from my mind and gives me enough clarity to accomplish something.

Anyway, I like blogging and I like reading blogs.  Photoblogs tend to be my favorite.  The high quality and artistic value of some of these photos astonishes me sometimes.

Beyond photoblogs there is another type of blog that I enjoy reading.  Those are the blogs from people residing in Japan.  For the last 6 years I've been reading dozens of blogs on a regular basis regarding the lives people are living in that foreign land.  It's been my only contact with that country of my dreams.  I've been forced to live vicariously through the blogs of these expats and English teachers.  I basically started with a very limited number of blogs and checked all of their links which led me to literally hundreds of others.

I've got more to say on the issue.  Not right now though.  Here's a short list of Japan blogs that I've really liked at one time or another.

Avoidinglife - Jamie-san's (heh, wCw ref) blog.  While it has degenerated into a blog that is mostly trains and wrestling (yay!) it was basically the top blog about Japan in the day.  Plus this motherfucker has been to live M-Pro shows, the lucky bastard.  He touched on the everyday life of living in Japan, which made it a unique experience for living vicariously.

Shanzig in Japanzig - Totally stumbled on this blog waaaay back in the day.  She had a quirky way of describing her experience in Japan.  Plus it was through her blog that I learned about purikura, which I have since totally experienced the greatness of while in London!

Mike's Blender - This guy's blog is quite cool.  Good pictures, good write ups.  Plus it was through this Mike that I found the blog of the other Mike.  His blog was, and still is, one that I enjoy following.

A Gaijin in Japan - Neil Duckett's excellent site.  While it's one that I came upon rather recently, it's still a favorite.  His JR Yamanote line series does a really cool job capturing all aspects of Tokyo.  For a total outsider, this blog continues to make me feel like I'm in touch with Japan.

Kirai: A geek in Japan - Originally a Spanish language blog.  This is another one that I've come across more recently.  It's sorta all over the place but that's what makes it such a good read.  His posts draw me into little tidbits of Japanese culture.  I get just a little glimpse of his Japanese experience, which adds to my vicarious experience.

Photokyo.com - Long dead, now gone completely.  This was a site that focused on photos, oviously.  It had pictures of random Japanese people, pictures of Japanese events, and pictures from the life of the site owner.  I wouldn't call it a blog exactly, but it updated often with new pictures and journal updates. It was well kept during its run, and kept me dreaming of that foreign land.

Sushicam - The original, the first, and still a favorite.  It was the first Japan blog that I followed on a regular basis.  The emphasis was on photography, but the blog posts were really nice as well.  Though it's gone through several format changes, it still holds up strong.  With the focus shifting back to the original owner, it is again redeeming itself.  A classic.

There's another one that I've completely forgotten the name of and the author.  It was a JET blog written by an Asian-american.  I remember he worked in a special-ed school or classroom.  It was basically insane, but that's how I learned about the JET program (of which I will seemingly never be accepted).  Any insight?

Those are some of my favorites, former and current.  I've seen a lot of blogs, the big and the small, but if anybody knows of anymore please feel free to leave a comment.  I'll read any of them, from small personal blogs to catch-all websites about Japan.

Newfoundland and Labrador... not involved

I got a DS and this game for Christmas.  Just an FYI, this game is epicly awesome.



Please let there be more.  I am in love with everything about this game.  The music!  The fighting system!  The characters!  The dialogue (eg "Are you high?" I laughed for like 30 minutes.)

Square-Enix's 360 flops are redeemed by this DS wonder.

Art of the Underachiever

When I was a younger kid I really loved reading comic books.  There was a friend of the family that worked at Mr. Paperback and used to bring me around 30 "acquired" comic books.  No UPC so it was kinda sketchy, but I was a kid and didn't question free comic books.  It's something that a lot of kids get into because they are targeted to that immature mindset.  Well guess what, cabrone, I still have an immature mindset.  So last year I stumbled upon torrents of what was essentially every comic released in that week.  And these were put out weekly.  So for a while I was checking those out to see what comics were like nowadays.  There was a lot that was the same, but also a lot that had changed.

While I'll never be the guy that gets insanely obsessed with comic books, I feel that there is a certain amount of guilty pleasure to be taken in their reading.  I won't endlessly debate the insignificant details of every single page.  I won't argue over who would win a battle.  I won't argue over what the author or director was trying to achieve.  I'm simply going to enjoy them for what they are.

In the past year I've discovered a lot of really cool comic book series' that I weeded out of the generic crap.  Some are finished, and I've read the entire run.  Some are ongoing and I check out the latest issue whenever possible.  The kid in me is delighted that such an old hobby has come back to the surface to be indulged in ocassionally.  It's just a tiny bit of life nostalgia, and it makes me feel... comfortable perhaps?

Here is a list of series that I have picked up and started following in the past year.

• Transmetropolitan


• Knights of the Old Republic


• Girls


• American Virgin


• NYX


• Hedge Knight


• Marvel Zombies


• Thor


• Bomb Queen