badmigraine

I think one possible answer may be that the brands are using US... The markup on some of this poncey Dope Sick gear is unbelievable. I don't ever remember a time when I felt good about paying top dollar only to end up as a human billboard for some brand name or another. I thought companies had to PAY for their advertising... OK, maybe I did once proudly wear an Izod polo shirt and looked enviously at the LL Bean catalogue. I believe my favorite song in those days was Neil Diamond's "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show"...strong meat indeed for an early teen. Now, a

Hmm, I had to gop over to www.webtender.com to find out what's in one of those Mojitos...and I sure liked what I found! Interesting story over there about its origin and how some bartenders talked it up as one of Hem's drinks. My family of geniuses, drunks and heroic misfits got trapped in Newark Int'l Airport during that New Year's blizzard a few years ago. Just for fun we asked the bartender for a mythical drink called a "Tequila Good Girl" and he acted puzzled until my sister (nicknamed "Good Girl") explained that it was just tequila with pineapple and grapefruit juice in it.

Ocean11, bouyed by the carbonated fumes of this thread, I invested 430 yen in a chilled bottle of Chimay "bruin" (in the low tongues, that probably means brown, not a UCLA football player), and knocked it back with a plate of pasta and salad. Sad to say your assessment is correct...bland and unexciting. I'd have done better to get another blue can of Ginga Kohgen. Even so, that Chimay did a workmanlike job of setting up my taste buds for this nice glass of Wyndham Estate Bin 555 Shiraz (980 yen per bottle, I'm stocking up). Oh and look at that bottle of Laprhoaig over there!

My vote is for allowing, in general, any words to appear in posts, including all expletives. Furthermore, regarding the "systems" that will be put in place to monitor this board, I hope they only do that--monitor--instead of automatically deleting or editing posts. Automatic deletion of certain words that, more often than not, are among the oldest and most expressive words in our language, is a kind of false church-lady reactionism. Maybe it's a topic for another BBS, but in college I used to enjoy going up to the library to read "Maledicta", the international journal of profa

Same at Tokyo's Tokyu Hands...they have the full kit. I sure would like to try doing THAT. But I feel like I need a garage and/or a basement to handle a project like that.

I prefer the blue can but either is fine. I seem to have acquired a giant dai-jokki glass beer mug from a chain restaurant and I keep it in my freezer. On a hot summer day upon returning to my rabbit-hutch like living compartment, I would take a can of that Ginga Kohgen beer out of the fridge and put it, too, into the freezer. Then by the time I finished putting away my work clown suit and perusing the stack of bills and erotic chirashi that daily pile up in my mailbox, the beer would be very very chilly, and when poured into that ice-cold thick mug, would produce tiny slivers and

There's tons of microbrews in Japan. If you're in Tokyo, you can usually find some cans and/or bottles of a few local brews at better booze shops and especially in the basements of department stores where they sell all the food and drink. If you want the full brewpub experience, there's a few of those too. Try T.I.Y. Brewery in Tokyo (you can walk to it from Shinagawa Stn. or one of the Yurikamome Monorail stops--pick up a copy of Metropolis [formerly "Tokyo Classifieds"] and you'll find ads for it and for other places like Ben's Brewpub etc.) There's a bar 2 minutes' walk from

Hey Ben2 You sound like a man who knows his beers. Admirable! I've always been curious about Belgian beers and have read about them in food and wine magazines. I've drunk a couple of the Trappist beers and also had some fruity beers. They were all very good, but I prefer another kind of beer: amber, bitter or half-and-half... I'm sure this kind of beer also exists in Belgium. Can you recommend a brand for me to try? Tx, badmigraine. PS Cheers!

What Speightful, Bitter posts! I'd draught a reply, but it would be bad foam. I'm no EinStein...I've Nevada Pale Ale so I Canter do a bury good job of it. My Guiness! Now you Ale get Bock to your Caffrey lifestyles. After that last coffee, I'm off to pour my own special Nut Brown Ale into the company bowl.

As experienced mountain men know, the best beer is a FREE beer. Ahem. Mogski? I am thirsty again... Hello? Mogski? My glass is empty!!!

Yeah, that's a point for sure. If you take off your mittens to handle something small, you need a fingered glove liner for sure. This doesn't really apply to me, though. Because I only take off my mittens on the slope if I have to pee...and in such a case, the object that I am handling is not small. It is microscopic. HAW HAW HAW HAW HAW!!!

This may be a stupid question, but the whole thing is really annoying me. Before moving to Japan, it had been my experience since childhood that all gloves have "glove" liners (i.e., with four fingers and a thumb). And all mittens have "mitten" liners (i.e., all your fingers get to hang out together in the same big part, and then there is a separate part for your thumb). Fast forward to a couple of years ago in Tokyo, when I needed a new pair and had set my mind on mittens, not gloves. Why mitts? Because they keep my hands warmer. My naked fingers keep each other w

I recommend the tacos at the stall near the big map/escalators at Echigo Yuzawa Station. They are a spicy warm cheap delicious treat that heats you up from the inside and go perfectly with your nice cold beer. For those who haven't had the good fortune to eat real tacos, like those served at King Taco in East L.A. (and believe me, it is nothing like what you get at Taco Bell!), these Niigata tacos are surprisingly close to the real deal, and along with the genuine taste treat you get one of those quintessentially Japanese experiences where you just can't quite figure out what an old

Brilliant idea, lama, and the only thing more fun than making/updating the website, will be hanging around Paddy just to see what happens to him next. Any idea where he's gotten to these days?

It's really annoying. A long time ago I made the decision not to carry a wallet. Because once it was stolen (in Italy--surprise), and another time I lost it. And every damn card and bill and post-it with the phone numbers of hot chicks and important friends was in it. Why put all of your eggs in one basket? Now I spread it out. The cards go in one pocket and I only carry the ones I am likely to need. The bills go folded into another pocket, and thereby hangs a tale. Years ago I decided that it's better to fold your wad of bills with the lower denominations on the outside--s

Yeah, I remember. Mogski and I are--like you--incredibly powerful, animalistically sexual and attractive Men of the type that ordinary people view with envy in Calvin Klein underwear ads and MTV commercials showcasing the most Dope and Sick yet Now kind of style of urban, yet natural, sensitive loner-type artistically virile, genius-type guy, the kind of guy that one minute will pull one of his Lads and somebody's helpless baby from the flaming twisted wreck of an SUV wrapped around a tree just before the gas tank blows, then half an hour later deliver an impromptu acceptance speech at th

Wow, if he didn't have that thick wooly hair...he might've ended up with a head fracture. What a guy!

lama, was it that guy Paddy who caught the 10 winks on cold hard concrete last year?

pchow, I lived/skiied in Switzerland as a boy, and I spent most of the winter of 98-99 living in Vancouver, BC and boarded regularly at Whistler/Blackcomb. My opinion is that you'll find all of the Hokkaido resorts to have good powder snow, much lighter and better than at Whistler, and somewhat lighter and better than in the Swiss Alps. However, if you have seen Davos and you have seen Whistler/Blackcomb, I'm sorry to report that none of the Hokkaido resorts are what you are used to calling "mountains". They are mountains, but smaller and not as steep or interesting or challeng

Have you seen them in person, or are you going by pics in ads?

Thanks for the props, buzzaa! About the drink of choice, you and I have a lot in common. I went to Germany on a business trip last year and in a convenience store next to my hotel I found a bottle of some kind of 20% alcoholic drink that also contained "amino acids including taurine, and caffeine". I had a friend who used to mix S-Cup 1000 with dark rum and that gave an admirable effect. The possibilities are mind-boggling and you can always pick up the genki drinks at any konbini so all ya gotta do is bring up a bottle of the hard stuff, and you can keep recharging that flask all da

"Pickle Farm" "Dude Ranch" "Sausage Factory" All this and more describe the demographic in places like men's prisons, English boarding schools, and certain Roppongi bars. Why even the "smoking corner" in my company excludes the fairer sex... How pleasant it is to spend a day in the mountains in the company of beautiful women. And what a letdown it is that after just 2-3 lessons, even the most callow beginner will graduate to a part of the mountain where feminine beauty is seldom seen. That's because there's no bathrooms, hot chocolate, no bathrooms, no warm smoki

Rngh...rngh...rngh...rngh...rngh... The chair moves slowly up the hill. A a fat flake floats lazily into your coat collar and melts on your neck. On your right is a giggly OL with a "Kissmark" snowboard. She bought that one because the commercial was kakkou-ii!! On your left is a a reasonable facsimile of your buchou. He's wearing exactly what your buchou would wear: purple-pink Mizuno gear that was the height of resort fashion in 1987. The buchou pulls out a smoke. There remain four silent bobbing minutes in the lift ride. So what do you do? You could pull

Mogski, About demo days in Japan...I don't know why you would even ASK such a question, having just spent over \100,000 on new ski equipment. Your demo days experiment is doomed to end badly because you will either: (i) demo something better than what you just spent your life savings to buy, and so be bitterly disappointed and/or go even further into hock, or (ii) demo something worse than what you just spent your life savings to buy, and so have wasted hours of perfectly good ski time at Niseko. Give it up. You're done. You went shopping, and you put down your cash,

Hi Danz Well, I asked a woman about boots for you! But it's not what you think. She's an acquaintance of mine who's been skiing for over 30 years and knows everything about resorts and shops here. According to her, 1. The concept and shop-service of "custom boot fitting", including both stretching and insoles/foot beds is readily available in Japan. 2. If you are in Tokyo, there are a number of shops in Kanda (the big ski shopping area--cool!!) that do this. Just go there and ask around and you'll probably be able to find one without too much problem, and you don't have to