Monday, November 08, 2004
I went all the way to Chiba for sports cars and beer, and all I got was beer!
As it turned out, the motorshow on Friday was commercial vehicles only (ie. trucks/vans/buses and the like), so I missed out on seeing the sports cars I had looked forward to. There were a few models (surprisingly the tyre companies had amongst the most attractive ones) and there was also plenty of beer. When you take into account the fact that it got me the afternoon off work, with pay - I guess I still came out on top.
Unfortunately, I have not uploaded any of the photos yet, but there were one or two vehicles that took my eye. Both Toyota, as it happens. The first was an utterly gargantuan crewcab ute (that's a pickup truck, my American friends). While still only a concept, this thing was about the same size as a Hummer. Utterly ridiculous and impractical for pretty much anything, which probably means it will sell really well in the US once the rap stars begin buying these things and pimping them out.
The other vehicle, which was really rather spiffy, was a concept vehicle for the new Toyota Hiace (which, in Australia at least tends to be your standard, white, tradesman's van). This one however, was slightly larger than it's plumber-carrying brethren, shiny purple with retractable plasma screens and an interior that folded out into mixing decks and a bank of speakers and lights. Dubbed the 'Sound Satellite', it was by far the coolest thing at the motor show, and once I get them uploaded, I will provide pictoral evidence that this thing exists.
My Saturday was fairly cruisy, and only moderately eventful. I did a bit of wandering around Sakuragicho and hit up the cinema in the World Porter building with Aki, one of Mike's old ex-girlfriends. I find it a little odd that I end up hanging out with his exes, (well, OK, only two of them - which is just a drop in the bucket really) but if nothing else, Mike seems to be good at dumping/getting dumped by girls who live in Yokohama and can show me around.
Anyway, back to the cinema, after some deliberation (Mike also has a knack for choosing girls with practically no decision-making ability - maybe that's how he get's so many...) we ended up seeing Secret Window, complete with Johnny Depp, Philip Glass soundtrack and based on a Stephen King novella (as well as the chick who played Rosie, the hooker, in Payback - a classic movie of the 'Arsekickery' genre). I really didn't mind this film, it was a pretty typical King-style suspense/thriller and while a little slow in parts, overall entertaining. It was also a poignant (well not really) reminder of how useful, but under-used the humble shovel is as a weapon. Not enough shovel-related combat in movies - or real life for that matter. I want to see the next issue of Lynch Mobbing Monthly with the words "Shovel - It's the new pitchfork" emblazoned on the cover. (There are actually less shovel-related killings in this movie than you would think from my previous few sentences, but I felt that it desevered a mention).
Somewhere in there I made the fatal mistake of going into the HMV. It is no secret that I have pretty much zero self-restraint when it comes to purchasing music - and 4 CDs later, (my point well and truly proven, yet again) I had sated my uncontrollable urges for music. The latest and greatest additions to my collection: Fatboy Slim - Palookaville, Ben Folds Five (self titled), Chemical Brothers - Come With Us and Tom Waits - Real Gone. All four are worth a listen.
Anyway, post-film we headed over to the Red Brick Warehouse (the Aka-Renga Soko, for those playing the Japanese game). I had only ever heard of this place, never actually been in there - as it turns out, it is nothing more than an old (red brick) warehouse from the 1900's which has been converted into a small mall. It was pretty funky inside - some effort had been made to keep the 'old warehouse' feel, and there were some pretty cool furniture stores in there as well. One thing I have noticed in my time here, is that you can buy all sorts of cool furniture over here - if you are willing to pay an arm, a leg and sign away the soul of your first-born. Of course, the fact that I have pretty much zero space for any new furniture, regardless, turns the average furniture-shopping experience into little more than 'sitting on sofas to see if they are as comfy as they look'. For the record - quite often, they are.
Anyway, where was I? Trying out sofas... Well, after all the pseudo-furniture shopping, we wandered into Kannai and hit up an Izakaya that Aki assured me was good. Well, I can't fault her on that. It was. Next time I am in Kannai and looking for dinner, I will probably go back. While I can't remember the name (I just can't, it has nothing to do with the several beers I knocked back once inside), I can remember eating some damn tasty food. The shabu-shabu was particularly good, the fact that they trust you with a portable gas stove in a licensed restaurant and let you cook your own food makes me wonder sometimes, but I guess there can't have been any serious accidents before, otherwise it would probably be illegal.
I headed home after dinner, and despite being tired as hell, had the urge to watch Kill Bill 2 again - so I did.
Sunday I pretty much just lazed around, slept, ate and listened to my new CDs. The new Fatboy Slim album is highly reccomended, for those who are into that sort of thing. The new Tom Waits album, likewise.
Unfortunately, I have not uploaded any of the photos yet, but there were one or two vehicles that took my eye. Both Toyota, as it happens. The first was an utterly gargantuan crewcab ute (that's a pickup truck, my American friends). While still only a concept, this thing was about the same size as a Hummer. Utterly ridiculous and impractical for pretty much anything, which probably means it will sell really well in the US once the rap stars begin buying these things and pimping them out.
The other vehicle, which was really rather spiffy, was a concept vehicle for the new Toyota Hiace (which, in Australia at least tends to be your standard, white, tradesman's van). This one however, was slightly larger than it's plumber-carrying brethren, shiny purple with retractable plasma screens and an interior that folded out into mixing decks and a bank of speakers and lights. Dubbed the 'Sound Satellite', it was by far the coolest thing at the motor show, and once I get them uploaded, I will provide pictoral evidence that this thing exists.
My Saturday was fairly cruisy, and only moderately eventful. I did a bit of wandering around Sakuragicho and hit up the cinema in the World Porter building with Aki, one of Mike's old ex-girlfriends. I find it a little odd that I end up hanging out with his exes, (well, OK, only two of them - which is just a drop in the bucket really) but if nothing else, Mike seems to be good at dumping/getting dumped by girls who live in Yokohama and can show me around.
Anyway, back to the cinema, after some deliberation (Mike also has a knack for choosing girls with practically no decision-making ability - maybe that's how he get's so many...) we ended up seeing Secret Window, complete with Johnny Depp, Philip Glass soundtrack and based on a Stephen King novella (as well as the chick who played Rosie, the hooker, in Payback - a classic movie of the 'Arsekickery' genre). I really didn't mind this film, it was a pretty typical King-style suspense/thriller and while a little slow in parts, overall entertaining. It was also a poignant (well not really) reminder of how useful, but under-used the humble shovel is as a weapon. Not enough shovel-related combat in movies - or real life for that matter. I want to see the next issue of Lynch Mobbing Monthly with the words "Shovel - It's the new pitchfork" emblazoned on the cover. (There are actually less shovel-related killings in this movie than you would think from my previous few sentences, but I felt that it desevered a mention).
Somewhere in there I made the fatal mistake of going into the HMV. It is no secret that I have pretty much zero self-restraint when it comes to purchasing music - and 4 CDs later, (my point well and truly proven, yet again) I had sated my uncontrollable urges for music. The latest and greatest additions to my collection: Fatboy Slim - Palookaville, Ben Folds Five (self titled), Chemical Brothers - Come With Us and Tom Waits - Real Gone. All four are worth a listen.
Anyway, post-film we headed over to the Red Brick Warehouse (the Aka-Renga Soko, for those playing the Japanese game). I had only ever heard of this place, never actually been in there - as it turns out, it is nothing more than an old (red brick) warehouse from the 1900's which has been converted into a small mall. It was pretty funky inside - some effort had been made to keep the 'old warehouse' feel, and there were some pretty cool furniture stores in there as well. One thing I have noticed in my time here, is that you can buy all sorts of cool furniture over here - if you are willing to pay an arm, a leg and sign away the soul of your first-born. Of course, the fact that I have pretty much zero space for any new furniture, regardless, turns the average furniture-shopping experience into little more than 'sitting on sofas to see if they are as comfy as they look'. For the record - quite often, they are.
Anyway, where was I? Trying out sofas... Well, after all the pseudo-furniture shopping, we wandered into Kannai and hit up an Izakaya that Aki assured me was good. Well, I can't fault her on that. It was. Next time I am in Kannai and looking for dinner, I will probably go back. While I can't remember the name (I just can't, it has nothing to do with the several beers I knocked back once inside), I can remember eating some damn tasty food. The shabu-shabu was particularly good, the fact that they trust you with a portable gas stove in a licensed restaurant and let you cook your own food makes me wonder sometimes, but I guess there can't have been any serious accidents before, otherwise it would probably be illegal.
I headed home after dinner, and despite being tired as hell, had the urge to watch Kill Bill 2 again - so I did.
Sunday I pretty much just lazed around, slept, ate and listened to my new CDs. The new Fatboy Slim album is highly reccomended, for those who are into that sort of thing. The new Tom Waits album, likewise.
# posted by Nils @ 3:54 PM 
Comments:
Back to Nilsrant.
Great work!
[url=http://bslnliyv.com/ucgd/iske.html]My homepage[/url] | [url=http://vbvrfefq.com/sjgj/zjov.html]Cool site[/url]
[url=http://bslnliyv.com/ucgd/iske.html]My homepage[/url] | [url=http://vbvrfefq.com/sjgj/zjov.html]Cool site[/url]
# posted by 
: 1:32 PM
: 1:32 PM
Nice site!
http://bslnliyv.com/ucgd/iske.html | http://wlcgajpl.com/hcbz/jhdn.html
Post a Comment
http://bslnliyv.com/ucgd/iske.html | http://wlcgajpl.com/hcbz/jhdn.html
# posted by : 1:32 PM
: 1:32 PM 