badmigraine
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Posts posted by badmigraine
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On getting out:
The things you thought you would miss, you really miss. (This includes everything from onigiri to jackbooted, miniskirted dreamgirls.)
All the other stuff, well, you can't believe you ever put up with it. Especially as you sit in a large, comfortable room...or find a parking place right in front of the shopping mall...or notice that your bathroom mirror no longer stops at your adams apple.
CAVEAT - there's a passel of new stuff that you won't like very much after returning to your own country.
Some of it was always there, but you never noticed it until now. (This includes everything from unbelievably surly shop staff to amazement that it takes 10 calendar days for an out-of-state check to clear your bank.)
And some of it they invented after you left...so you'll just have to get used to it. (For me, this included things like not being able to figure out exactly what is going on with the dozens of long-distance-dialing prefixes (e.g "Dial 10 10 10 9 for the cheapest long distance!!"), and paying $45/mo. for "broadband" Internet that's capped out at 600k but never even gets there on one of its good days...
In dreams and benders I've theorized a new country which has most everything I like in it.
That place doesn't exist.
Until it does, see you all in dreams and benders.
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Here's my non-expert analysis of the technical explanation I found on Head's website.
Head's put piezo-electric fibers at a 45-degree angle along parts of the ski that torsionally flex (twist) the most.
When the ski twists, these piezoelectric fibers bend and produce an electric current. The current travels along wires to a resistor inside the ski. The resistor stops this wildcatting current from burning out the microchip, but still lets the proper current through to the microchip.
This microchip is an amplifier (amps are simple electric circuits, which can be, and frequently are, imprinted on chips for various applications). The chip amplifies the current 7 times, then sends it back along wires to the piezoelectric fibers...the current straightens the fibers, thus stiffening the ski where it was twisting.
All the above happens in 5 milliseconds, which is plenty fast enough to be useful.
Sounds brilliant.
My questions, and there are many, could be summed up as follows:
1. Does it work?!
And we'll wait for your first few runs so you can post back and tell us all about it!
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Nice one!
OK, how about this:
My sister's high school Disciplinary Officer was named "Gary Getzoff".
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Physical deformation of piezo-electric crystals produces an electric current. They are used in some lighters to produce a spark.
The reverse effect is also true: if you apply an electric current to piezoelectric crystals, they deform. They are used this way in speaker systems and, I think, cellphones, to generate sounds.
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A fun thing for someone with a lot of time would be to track down the rave reviews of every single movie name we've posted in this thread so far! You can be sure they're out there.
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Erm...why is she seeing this particular gyno? One would think she'd choose another, if not for her own sake, then for the sake of your relationship and, well, you.
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Obviously the woman is just being shellfish.
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Mogs, you're a kiwi. Nobody is going to call you a sheep.
You know perfectly well how to call your own!
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The Cook, the Thief, the Wife and His Lover...
They found so many new, as-yet unimagined ways to make a stinker...it would take me several paragraphs just to even get close to explaining any of it...
The less said about it, the better.
BAD!!
VERY BAD!!
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This one's been done to death before, but never fails to give me a chuckle.
OK, how about this?
I met a guy here last week named "Dick Pratt".
A fine counterpoint to Dick Nagai, who had no Japanese and no idea.
And don't even ask me about Joe Manko, who came to Tokyo from the home office to "beat the bushes" for investment clients. Nobody had the heart to tell him.
I suppose the silliest one of all was when Milton Suk Dong Kim came to L.A. to solicit investment advice.
I mean, really.
I'd just like to know in which country my name means something to do with bathrooms, bodily parts, or natural functions.
AND THEN I WANT TO GO THERE.
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The converse of this post would be, What do Japanese people do when foreigners stare at them?
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db, nice review and boy are you hot about this one!
Thanks for qualifying it, but the comments about stereotypes that I wrote up originate from my Japanese wife. I thought they were valid, and didn't realize that other white boys were saying things like this for self-aggrandizement. I'm living in a redneck town in Michigan, and am out of the loop on that kind of thing.
As for me, the comment that endures is merely that this movie sucked and was so small compared to the hype.
What you said about QT...I agree totally. I have never been able to look at a pic of his face without thinking "this guy lives to think he is sooooo coool..." I really hate his moistly sneering pouting baby lips.
I don't normally end up judging movies by whether they add something positive to the world. This one must have pushed you to some limit, to whip out this standard of judgment! Upon reflection, I tend to agree with this thesis. The issue then becomes how you define "positive".
Seems a good topic for a beer discussion or a term paper. But I don't think we have to go that far in the case of Kill Bill...the movie is sucky enough without reference this additional thesis.
Obviously it is not going to be a major contributor to the worldwide well of artistic beauty and creation, but its popularity begs the question, "Why do people like to go and see bad movies?"
I guess the answer is that this bad movie maybe did add something to the world for a lot of people: entertainment and good times.
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Check the following, in this order:
1. Is my fly open?
2. Is there a booger hanging out of my nose?
3. Is there a long piece of toilet paper stuck to my shoe?
In most cases, it was #1.
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Miteyak, try that at Motown, and you'll find out that it wasn't a girl.
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Sigh...only too true.
Maybe I could get 3 of his hours doing something similar, only this time for ME...such as fingernail-scraping the carbonized gunk off my hotplates, or scrubbing the baked/caked mud off the underbody of my 4WD.
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For me, this would be that sticky plastic tape at the top of new CD and DVD cases. Even after you take off the transparent foil envelope, this annoying strip is still there holding the case closed. Even pulling on the "pull" tab doesn't do anything more than shred this thing into sticky, annoying little strips that can't easily be removed! How incredibly annoying...when you've gone to the trouble of shelling out all that money for your new disc, you don't want to spend 2-3 minutes per case getting this annoying thing off and perhaps scratching the jewel box or leaving sticky residue on it! And god help you if you have short fingernails. I've probably spent a total of 2-3 hours on these over my entire life.
If I ever meet the guy behind this, god help him! Before I strangle him, I'm going to ask for my 3 hours back!
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I think I did! It's called "carving", and we are all just waiting for you to tell us all about how it goes!!
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Thanks Siren...but I know all about the big-firm lifestyle. I worked at one of those firms for almost 5 years in L.A., then went to their Tokyo office, then was seconded to one of their big clients, then returned to their Tokyo office again.
I'm pretty much burned out on the big-firm attorney thing.
Unemployment suits me much better. Too bad my savings are about run out and it is time to re-enter the workforce...this time I hope to do something more personally meaningful and sustainable.
[/end rant]
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I think you're right...maybe that's why I didn't get the job. I brought the wrong accessory to the interview...
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I've got a subscription to the "National Enquirer". It's the newspaper with the largest circulation in the US, and they are represented by Covington & Burling, the most stodgy, blue-chip law firm in Washington, DC.
I couldn't get a job there out of law school because I didn't have perfect grade point averages in Uni and Law School, and did not edit a journal...they didn't even give me a second look.
That esteemed firm reads the galleys of every issue of the Enquirer before it goes to press, then advises the Enquirer on what could or could not result in a lawsuit. It's a huge moneymaker for the firm.
The fact that the Enquirer rarely loses a lawsuit means this law firm is doing a good job. The Enquirer only publishes things that are not disprovable...that is different from the "truth" of course. But most of the stuff they print turns out to be true and usually comes out in the "regular" press a couple of weeks or months later.
I hope I never get famous. I sure wouldn't want Enquirer photogs falling out of the trees in my backyard, or going through my trash.
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Mogs, how are they treating the other animals at your job these days?
Still on limited rations and same-sex, non-breeding cages?
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How's he going to climb into the ring?
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Just saw it today with my wife. I thought it was OK, but nothing too special or amazing--both in terms of parts 1 and 2, as well as in terms of movies in general.
At least it kind of answers all its own questions, so you aren't left hanging about anything.
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Enough whining about this ultracrowded resort or that pootling, antiquated single chair...
You guys need to get off your duffs and onto user-friendly powered snowboard!
Yes they have powered surfboards and powered skateboards too.
Contenders for Worst Movie
in General off-topic discussions
Posted
Right on, Ocean!
There's nothing like being subjected to yet another fine old Hollywood ass-scraping.
They have stickers warning of "mature content--parental discretion advised".
Why not stickers warning of "disappointing content--different movie advised"?
Now that I think of it, they ought to have helpful informative stickers on jobs and girlfriends too.