Downward spiral continues

As if the events of October's election weren't depressing enough, the War on American citizens is picking up steam.

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is suing individuals for sharing crappy movies on the Internet. Unlike their evil ilk the RIAA, they're evidently not just targeting people who are sharing hundreds or thousands of files, but anyone who has shared any file. The MPAA claims pirates are costing the industry millions of dollars, but it's more likely because the movies the studios put out are crap and taking a family of four to the movies and buying snacks requires a second mortgage.

There is also a total garbage bill going through Congress that, among other things, makes "offering for distribution" (aka, file sharing) a crime regardless of intent, outlaws fast-forwarding through trailers at the start of a DVD, and lets the Feds go after copyright infringers on taxpayer money, when it is clearly up to the rightsholders to bear that expense. We should all contact our representatives to let them know this bill is ridiculous.

I'm going to toss out a plug for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is sort of the ACLU for the digital set. If this sort of thing makes you angry, you should head over there and sign up for their newsletter.

Lastly, what is the deal with this Monday Night Football controversy? It's all terribly hypocritical, especially by the NFL, who is up in arms over a woman's bare back, but whose games are punctuated by ads for beer (which are often much more salacious than the Terrell Owens/Nicolette Sheridan sketch) and erectile dysfunction pills.

Who can forget last year's Super Bowl? Most people remember Janet Jackson's bare breast, but what stuck with me is that Cialis users who have sustained erections of four hours or longer require immediate medical attention. When we talk about protecting our kids from being exposed to nudity (or in this case, semi-nudity) during a football game, what about that?

The funniest thing about it all is that, just like Janet Jackson, the networks show the clip over and over and over again to show how distasteful it is. If no one had made such a stink about it, I would never have seen it at all (I was on the way home at that time). Now I see it three or four times a day and I couldn't be more sick of it.

When did this country go back to the 17th Century?

Geez, those trip reports take a long time.

Further proof you can get anything on eBay. Where would you put this thing?

This is horrible. Saw it on the news tonight. I'm sure the press and the powers-that-be will blame this incident on the individual soldiers, as they did with the Abu Gharib scandal. The blame should be directed at the administration, which has kept troops in Iraq under intense conditions for far longer than they were prepared for. The government will hang these guys out to dry. And, oh yeah, by the way, Osama bin Laden is still at large.

Bush wants Condi Rice to replace Colin Powell. Sad to see the one guy who tried to keep America out of war go. So Powell is out and Rumsfeld is still in? To the 52% of Americans who helped make life a living hell for the rest of the world until 2008, thanks a friggin' lot.

I was all set to beat Lou at fantasy football this week...then, with five minutes left, Vinny Testaverde threw a pick and Philly returned it for six. So now I have to wait until the scores are tallied up in the morning to see if Franks and Beans squeaked out a win against the Phurr Burgers. Hopefully the 18 points from Lou's nemesis, Adam Vinatieri, will be enough to pull it off.

I guess I should cheer up. After all, it's Big Game Week, and Cal looks poised for Pasadena. Go Bears!!!

Tokyo Day 4: Monday, September 27, 2004

The number of pictures we took dwindled the last couple days as we tried desperately to get some shopping done.

Monday was by far our favorite day of the trip. Despite some soggy weather, we were headed to the Ghibli Museum, followed by a stop in Nakano to do some serious anime shopping. For those not familiar with Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, Miyazaki is Japan's answer to Walt Disney. If you've never seen any of his films, go rent one. Now. Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke are the two with the most exposure here in America. I think Spirited Away is better, but they're both great, great films for people of all ages. Fans of Lupin III will also enjoy Miyazaki's Castle of Cagliostro

After we met up with our tour and boarded our train, we waited for the Studio Ghibli bus. Isn't it cute?




This is the outside of the Ghibli Museum. Currently, it's one of the hottest tickets in Japan. Unlike some American animation-themed attractions, Ghibli Museum limits the number of visitors so that the museum will not become overcrowded. Because Studio Ghibli is hugely popular both inside and outside Japan, visitors often need to purchase tickets far in advance.



One of the refreshing things about Ghibli Museum is that photography and video are not allowed. We were told Miyazaki wants to keep the museum's exhibits a surprise for people who haven't visited it yet. Also, children are allowed and encouraged to interact with the exhibits, which is much different from American theme parks where you are largely a spectator. Museum admission includes a ticket to a short film from Studio Ghibli, which is rotated periodically.

So alas, I have no pictures of the inside of the museum, although you can take a picture on the balcony with the giant robot from Laputa, Castle in the Sky.



I did buy three books from the bookstore, however: a program with pictures of the museum, a heftier book on the museum and how it was built, and a book on the Spirited Away exhibits. All three books are translated in English, and all have gorgeous pictures of the museum and art from the Ghibli films. Ask me and I'll gladly drag them out so you can thumb through them.

We can't recommend highly enough visiting the Ghibli Museum if you will be in Tokyo. If you have any interest in animation or film in general, the museum's exhibits are extremely inspiring and breathtaking.

Rhonda and I ditched our tour and headed to the Broadway Center at Nakano. On the way we stopped and ate some soba and ramen, finally. We tried to do so many times before on our trip. Each time, we would look at the plastic food on the window and decide what we wanted. Then we would go in the restuarant...and turn around and walk back out. These noodle shops have vending machines, where you pick the meal you want and get a ticket. You take the ticket to the counter, where they make the meal and you go off in a corner and grub on it. Unfortunately, these vending machines are always in Japanese.

This place didn't have too many options, and we were able to run back and forth between the window and the vending machine, trying to match the characters on the plastic food with the buttoms on the machine. We are glad to report we got what we ordered. :)

We got to the Broadway Center at about 6:30 and quickly realized we would have to hurry. We went there because it is the home of both Anime World Star and Mandarake. Once we got past the relatively normal first floor, the remaining three floors were almost all anime shops.

By the way, there is not a Mandarake in Nakano. There are like seven of them! There was one that sold manga, one that sold CDs, one that sold character goods, one that sold cels, one that sold used video games, one that sold friggin' cosplay costumes(!)...we had been to Mandarake in Shibuya the day before, and it was awe-inspiring, but it was nothing like this.

What ensued next was a mad dash through as many stores as we could hit before 8, when Mandarake closed. It was unfortunate, really...I didn't get to flip through the anime cels at World Star (the spines on the binders were in Japanese, I just asked if they had Bebop and left). But we did leave with some cool stuff.

Happy and broke, we headed back to Shinjuku. We were starting to realize we had not planned to spend enough time shopping, as Rhonda still wanted to shop for clothes in Harajuku, we hadn't shopped much in Shinjuku, and we kind of breezed through Shibuya and Akihibara. And we still had to pay a visit to the House of Mouse...

Why I don't live in Stockton anymore...

According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, Stockton has the third-highest vehicle theft rate in the nation.

Not in California. In the nation.

Modesto is first! At least they can make the excuse that the data includes all of Stanislaus County. Stockton's data just includes Lodi.

I knew there was a reason why I bought my Scion tC with a GPS tracking device.

Update

Sorry I haven't been blogging much lately...I've just been so busy with work, and bills, and...ahh, who am I kidding, I've been too busy playing Halo 2.

I'll try to finish up the Tokyo trip report, and post some pictures from our weekend getaway to Monterey. Expect a crapload of posts in the next few days.

R.I.P., O.D.B.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2004-11-13-odb_x.htm

See, I wasn't the only one who said it.

(AP Photo/Richard Lewis)

Seriously, WTF.

Who are the people who made Catwoman sleeping with? First the director's next film is the live-action Akira remake, and now the screenwriter is writing Transformers.

How do these people continue to get work? What drugs are these studio executives taking? And after Tuesday's election, where can I get some of them?

Glimmer of Hope?

In the wake of what I can only describe as a devastating loss for the Democratic Party, I want to believe some of the things I've been hearing on TV and reading in the news. I hear Bush finally realizes how sharply divided America is, and will make some gestures to be more moderate in his policies. I want to believe that, but I'm not sure if he will do that, or even why, since his party controls all three branches of the government.

Bush's victory speech showed some surprising class - he didn't gloat, or go into any rah-rah, "we did it!" rhetoric. (A lot of Republicans could learn from that.) What he did say that caught my attention was, "To make this nation stronger and better, I will need your support and I will work to earn it. I will do all I can do to deserve your trust." We'll have to see if that's just talk or if Bush will make some actual overtures to the 47% of America that is completely pissed at him. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, since, well, I don't have a helluva lot of choice.

The AP is reporing John Ashcroft may be stepping down as Attorney General. That would be a start, as Ashcroft has the dubious honor of being my least favorite member of G Dub's Cabinet. If Bush gets rid of Rumsfeld and some of the other Cabinet members, he has a chance to hit the reset button and bridge the idealogical divide in this country that he helped create.

The cynic in me is ready for the worst though. I think the writing's on the wall that a few Supreme Court justices are going to retire before 2008, to be replaced with very conservative judges. I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking that, since Arlen Specter is warning Bush not to appoint conservative judges in a bid to overturn Roe v. Wade. Also, I can't see why Bush should care about uniting the country when the Religious Right are the ones who got him elected, and you have to figure it's time to paqy the piper.

Rhonda's all ready to move us to Canada, but it looks like there's no room at the inn...

Depressed

Americans sure are stupid.