the office , jackie chan, & internet peoples

the new season of the office starts on september 27th at 9pm! that's only 16 days, or 381 hours and 22 minutes, or 22838 minutes, or 1370280 seconds from now, or 0.09948 parsecs, or 13.788 fortnights, or 6 and 3/4 fathoms, or 0.488 migrations of an east african hornet, however it is you prefer to tell time.

let's take some time and inaugurate this momentous occasion~





does this mean we won't get to see the confrontation between on pam, jim, and karen though? gasp. i've had worries about yet another season of the office, considering where the last season left off would have been a good end, but we'll see. i'm still excited for this next season, hopefully nbc doesn't diarrhea all over this show.

and on another note, kudos to JD for sending me the single greatest video i've ever seen uploaded onto youtube.





oh jackie...

and for those of you who are have been there for all the internet fads, from numa numa to jib jab to homestar, then this should bring back some solid memories.

pandas, conchords, and sunshine

With about a week left here in Washington, I finally made it out the national zoo to see those pandas. Me and a couple of other people followed this thing they called the "Asia Trail." They called it that because it was lined with some bamboo, and, as we all know, that's all it takes to make something Asian. They even line some of the habitats with fake plastic bamboo with spiky tops. Now that's dedication.

Today was pretty fucking hot, so a majority of this trail consisted of wading through crowds of little children with unnecessarily expensive cameras, and looking for these animals which were tucked away in the farthest corners of their fake forests, but to little or no avail. In fact, even after walking past 5 "Fujifilm Photo Spots" for the giant pandas, the first panda we found was this one.



Unfortunately, it had wandered beyond the fake bamboo perimeter, and was immediately cast in bronze by lasers. So I took a picture with it. But a little whiles after this we finally find them indoors in their feeding place tank pseudo-mountain top thing.



This is one of those rare instances where the backdrop actually looks somewhat kind of maybe real... kind of.

And here's that image 35 times a second with slight variations inbetween.





TANGENT.

So tonight I caught an episode of this comedy series on HBO called "Flight of the Conchords," and it was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. EVER. It's awkward comedy, akin to the Lonely Island and Stella, but in a New Zealand accent, which makes it even better.

Here's a video that will make absolutely no sense to you outside of the context of the episode, but hopefully it's intriguing enough to make you order HBO and watch it on Sundays.



Oh, and go watch Sunshine, it's fucking amazing. Here's the trailer:



Why yes, the trailer tells you absolutely nothing about the movie, other than the fact the Scarecrow is in it. But still, go see it. It reminded me a lot of Event Horizon, if you remember that movie, only a LOT less creepy and void of a screaming Lawrence Fischburne (which, in the case, is a good thing). And it's as visually beautiful as The Fountain, only with a plot that a normal human being would actually be able to follow the first time through. Point is, I embedded the trailer in my blog, thus alleviating you from one extra step to click a link and then press play. Thus, through the transitive property, you must go see this movie.

pew pew pew

PFOOSH PFOOSH PFOOSH PFOOSH PFOOSH.

And for those of you who are amazingly bored, here's a damn good time-killer of a game. It's the first decent DDR based flash game I've come across. ENJOY IT CUZ I EMBEDDED IT IN MY BLOG VIA MY AWESOME HTML SKILLZ.

ira glass is the man

i'm gonna be an embedding whore now.

here are several videos of Ira Glass, the host of This American Life (guy that was 2nd on my list of fucking awesome voices), giving some guidelines to good storytelling.

i think it's vital stuff for anyone with an interest in writing for film or television, which i don't... so i've seen this a thousand times and still suck at storytelling. i just watch it to listen to him talk.









so there you go. now noone has an excuse to suck at storytelling.
... except for me.

this american life

i've never really had the inclination to "embed" things in my blog. i'm not an html savvy guy, so i figured i'd just provide the link, and they could see whatever it was for themselves.

but i am embedding this video, from This American Life, cuz i saw it a long time ago, lost the link, and finally found it just now. and i think it's worth watching, so here goes:

This American Life is a GREAT radio show, perfect for passing the time when you're doing tedious tasks on photoshop, or just sleuthing on a lazy sunday afternoon or whatever. you can listen to full episodes at www.thislife.org, and see clips from their show on showtime.








'my reputation,' '24 hours at the golden apple,' and 'the allure of the mean friend' are some of my favorites.

and of course, ira glass high up there on my list of fucking awesome voices, second only next to jeremy irons

d.c. metros are stupid.

it's 3:18 am, and i'm in the office, because i really love my job. like, really.



see? there's my 6 monitor set-up. each one of those represents a characteristic of mine that reflects my work ethic.

1) DILIGENCE.
2) PERFECTION.
3) RESPONSIBLE.
4) INNOVATIVE.
5) ASIAN.
6) PANDAS.

shut up.

i'm here because the metro system here in washington fails to see the financial benefits of running 24/7 and actually closes. so now i'm stranded here in the office until it opens.

i should take advantage of this and do a lot work.

but i'd much rather spend the next 5 hours changing everyone's screen-saver to something profane... like a baby chimpanzee jerking it into a banana peel, or this:

american university blows.

it's 1:24 in the morning, and i'm 2/3rds, wait, NAY, 25/36th of the way through writing a script for a documentary i'm getting progressively less interested in completing.

i kinda feel like this



and that is me trying to suffocate american university to death with my claws of fury, cuz this place blows... hard.

their dining hall costs 15 bux a meal. but me and my friend greg figure if we go in with a duffel bag full of tupperware, we can get out 15 dollars worth. so we fill up our shit, and this southern bitch who looked like a walking banana split came and yelled at us, and made us throw it away.

so in the end, i paid 15 bux for some tater tots and to dirty up my tupperware.

and the food tasted like i imagine how this would taste



but i didn't want to leave empty handed, so i took the first thing i could find, which was this basket of napkins.

take that, american university.

shibuyaaaa

I couldn't find much time at Narita airport to do an update, so alas, the final post for my Japan trip is being done back in LA.

One of favorite places to go in Japan is definitely Shibuya; all the lights and gigantic tv screens makes it feel like Times Square, only cleaner.



The pink and blue neon sign in the background is for HMV, probably Tokyo's largest media chain, comparable to Virgin in New York, selling music and movies from around the world.



HMV stands for "His Master's Voice"... sounds kinda totalitarian if you ask me. Good thing they stuck to the acronym... like KFC.





Unlike music stores in America (or those that I've been to anyway), many Japanese music stores have their own sections for indie music.

I didn't snap a picture of it, but right as you walk into the store, you see a rack that has the current top 10. Of what chart, I have no idea, but it does make deciding easier. I picked up a compilation album for a group called Mr.Children (no space), which has actually been around since 1987. Throughout my trip I had their name all over the place, on the subway, on TV, etc, so I was glad to see they has just released a greatest hits album, so to speak, called B-Side.



What I particularly like about them is that their music spans all genres, rap, rock, blues, even electronica, which is rare when for what could be technically classified as a boy band (except they've gotten much older since their start... and man band just sounds weird.) B-Side is a great album to pick up if you ever get the chance to, whether it be in stores or online.

Of course, around Shibuya you'll still find the lesser known artists busking outside of subway stations or on any street corner that can manage the space.



These guys probably had the most elaborate set-up I had seen to date, with a projector and everything. They were reminiscent of a cross between Linkin Park and System of a Down, which I liked, so I picked up their album.



Shibuya, like pretty much any city in Tokyo, has several arcades, and this drum game it by far the greatest game ever made... EVER. They sell it in stores (with a smaller version of the drum, of course), but it can't play on American playstation 2's, which sucks major balls.





Check it out, London Police in Japan, woot.

Here's a wide shot of just a small part of Shibuya.



And the same place at day time. There are a lot less people...so to speak, but it's still cool.



Cuz you can see Asian Bruce Willis, HELL YEAH.





As usual, more picture of Shibuya can be found on my Facebook:

http://nyu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2176930&l=67241&id=839671

And for those of you who know the meaning of televised awesome, here's something for you~

go figure

So, who would of thought, of all the places I'd be able to find a strong pilferable wireless connection, it's an hour away from the city in Shuhoukaku Kogetsu, an old school hotel in rural Yamanashi at the foot of the Fuji Mountain. Check out that view~ GROWL.

10 minutes down the road from the hotel is the Ukai Music Forest, a garden and private collection of European music boxes that's open to the public.







It's a pretty peaceful place, and its cafe has one hell of a view of the Fuji Mountain.



The music halls turned museums house all sorts of music boxes. From old school ones like the one shown below:



To newer ones available for purchase, like this DEVILISHLY CUTE one.



And they have fondue. Kick-ass.



AND SWANS. These are the only two swans the park has. I think they're a couple.



That night, dinner at the Shuhoukaku Kogetsu was pretty intense. It was traditional Japanese fare, with an enormous variety of dishes, all of which in small bite-sized amounts, and all of which awesome.





More photos of the food here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2175412&l=c2432&id=839671

This morning I had to get up at 2am because my dad was intent on seeing the sunrise from an establishment near the top of Fuji Mountain. I spent most of the night watching the season finales of Scrubs and The Office (again), and didn't get to sleep until 12am, so it kind of sucked getting up. But it was worth it in the end, considering I got some pretty sweet pics.











Check that out, Planet Earth status.

More photos on my Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2175401&l=a7e0a&id=839671

// tim

the office

Headed down to Akihabara last night, Tokyo's electric city. It's probably the only place in Tokyo, or the entire world, for that matter, where you can have the opportunity to win what appears to be a catholic schoolgirl uniform from a claw machine.



niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.
I was actually surprised to find a number of bands busking in the streets outside of the subway station here. All the blogs and guides that I've read points these things towards other places like Shibuya and Shinjuku. But right outside of the JR station here, I was fortunate to find three of 'em, each within several yards of eachother.



What you'll often see is artists promoting their own albums, even though they've already been signed. And you can buy their albums right there.



These two were literally 15 feet away from the other girl. They took forever to get ready so I got bored and moved on to the next group, 10 feet away. These guys I liked.



They're a group called Myst, and they remind me a lot of Eric Clapton, but with a traditional Japanese musical influence. Their combination of fast-paced acoustics with old school drum and cymbal beats make for an interesting sound. I bought two of their albums, and I would defintiely recommend checking them out if you get the chance.

So the following afternoon I went back to Harajuku to check out a bridge called Jingo-bashii. Apparently a bunch of cosplay people like to hang out there on the weekends. Here are some pics:









oh, white people...

Anyway, afterward, I headed to Shibuya to watch the season finale of the Office, which was long overdue, but unfortunately inevitable because I don't get NBC in japan...



And I must say, sitting in an otaku cafe in Japan watching the greatest hour of television ever made with a box of vending machine yakisoba... hands down, the greatest experience of my life.

And for those of you who saw the episode, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

// tim

good eats around japan

I'm in Shibuya once again, but this time at Wired Cafe on the 6th floor of Q-Front, which is a lot like Tower or Virgin. Internet here is free when you order stuff, so I got a raspberry tiramisu. I think they ran out of ladyfinger cookies to make it with though, because they used Frosted Flakes... not that that's a bad thing.

Anyway, here are some reviews of the restaurants I visited today~

Omete-Sando/ Harajuku

“Seven Seas”

Lunch Buffet – 1500yen

This is a fantastic lunch buffet very characteristic of the Japanese culture. The cuisine itself is not entirely Japanese, ranging from ham mousse quiches to tonkatsu and curry to bortsch, it’s its preparation and execution that makes his upscale joint a popular place for housewives to unwind while their husbands are away. Flavors are delicate, and don’t overwhelm the palatte, as many American buffets tend to do. When compared to most American buffets, the selection may seem minimal, but as with most of Japan, it’s about quality over sheer quantity. The care taken into each dish is apparent. Dishes aren’t served in large metal tubs, heating over boiling water, but rather in ceramic dishes. For 1500yen a person, the Seven Sea’s lunch buffet is highly recommended even if you're not in the Omote-Sando area.

Ginza Line => stop at Omote-Sando => Exit B5

Restaurant in underground, two escalators up from exiting the station.

Located in a plaza known as Diamond Hills, along the stretch of Omote-Sando hills, ripe with plently of window-shopping locations ranging from Prada to Ralph Lauren. woot woot.

^f-ing AWESOME chicken.

Odaiba

“Gazen”

Izakaya (Japanese-style tapas) => 200yen – 800yen

Izakaya translates to “snack bar,” essentially, but it’s far from the bags of Doritos and the bowl of mixed nuts that one may associate with the term “snacks.” Izakaya can be likened to the Spanish tapas, appetizer-sized dishes that are relatively inexpensive are perfect for sharing. With enough for a generous bite-sized serving for 4 or 5 people, these dishes are popular amongst Japanese businessmen looking to unwind after work. Izakaya restaurants are also a great place to go for wide selection of local beers and mixed drinks.

Tokyo Decks is Odaiba’s landmark mall, home to Joypolis, the amusement park run by Sega. Each floor is decorated to look like an old fashioned street market, with stone pathways adorned by paper lanterns. Each floor is a different culture, for example, the 6^th floor is called Little Hong Kong. Be mindful though, Tokyo Decks is two separate buildings, so manage your time wisely between the two. Little Japan on the 4^th floor of the building opposite Little Hong Kong is definitely worth checking out.

After splurging your holiday budget on all sorts of little knick-knacks, a buffet might not be what you have in mind, especially at 2000yen a person. Unfortunately, when it comes to dinner options, many of the restaurants on the 5^th and 6^th floors of Tokyo Decks are buffets. So instead, give izakaya a try and head up to the 6^th floor to a restaurant called Gozen.

With a view of the Rainbow Bridge that absolutely can’t be beat, and devilishly romantic, Gozen is great place to unwind. Try the ozashiki (Japanese mat) seating for the full Japanese experience. Their tuna and avocado summer rolls and Agedashi-style tofu come highly recommended. Although a seasonal dish, their stewed Daikon radish with pork is an award-winner at competitions. If they have it, it’ll be on a laminated insert. Unfortunately, the inserts are in Japanese, so ask for a translation if possible.

Yurikamome Line => stop at Odaiba Kaihi-Koen

Exit heading towards Tokyo Decks (look for the yellow labels next to the map that’ll lead you in the right direction)

Gozen is on the 6^th floor of the building on the right~

---

So by now I finished my tiramisu and ordered some random tea so it wouldn't look like I was just sitting here pilfering internet, but it turns out this tea tastes like balls. Well, not really, it's one of those odd flavors that only tastes odd because you're not sure what it is you're tasting, but once you know what it is, it's not that odd anymore. You know?

... yeah.

For everyone back in the States, Office season finale tonight!!

// tim