badmigraine
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Posts posted by badmigraine
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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.
Over the course of the next half-day our gruop of 15 or so ordered a lot of these and the bartender got really good at making them.
Some other customers even ordered them by name, having apparently overheard us ordering them.
My brother was back there last winter and just for fun stopped into the same airport bar and asked for a "Tequila Good Girl"...it was all different bar staff but the bartender just served it right up, didn't even bat an eyelid.
Amazing!
Well, goodnight.
badmigraine in Tokyo.
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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!
As Matt Drudge would say, "Developing..."
badmigraine in Tokyo.
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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 profanity and its etymology. Show me any century's greatest works of literature, and I will show you the dirty words.
Profanity is a real part of our language, boys, though we never see it in Time Magazine or on network TV. In order to keep posts interesting, instead of bland like you might expect from those who can't stand to see profanity in print, I hope there is no such mechanical, ultimately deleterious policing of this site's BBS.
That being said, I agree with what the administrator has said here. In general, I don't want to see posts that are "filled" with profanity.
I do think the site should rightly monitor posts and delete absurd, rudely ad-hominem, profanity-filled, spam-like, combative or other generally unwelcome posts, using human discretion and even-handedness...like they did in Bob's case. Here in this post we can see what happened and learn the reason why, and even comment on it.
Hey, that is pretty damn good if you ask me.
Bob, come on back. The water's not THAT cold!
Rather than simply delete certain words using a software routine, I would hope the administrators simply get e-flagged when certain words appear. Then they can read the entire post and context, and make their own intelligent and informed decision about whether anything needs to be edited or yanked.
What is the standard we should hope they use? How about the US Supreme Court standard on what constitutes obscenity?: "I'll know it when I see it..." and we have to leave that call up to the site's administrators.
Judging from what we've seen so far, we also have a chance to comment on their actions and let our feelings be known. These are early days, and as the administrator wrote, this year the number of posts has increased, so let's figure this one out together as much as we can.
If ya don't like it, make your own BBS and we can all check it out.
We are all posting here by the grace and goodwill of the Ski Japan site, which I think is a rare jewel of the WWW, a fantastically featured, accessible site crammed with the most unbelievably useful and interesting information. I don't know how such a great site can stay up. It doesn't seem real sometimes.
Frankly speaking, every time I click on the URL, I am afraid all I'll get is a "site not found on server" message telling me in plain terms that it was all just too good to be true! But here the site is, and I hope it stays.
So in conclusion I hope that any line that must be drawn, gets drawn somewhere where most of us can respect and appreciate it. So far it looks like that is exactly what is going on, so I think I will open up another Ginga Kohgen and get back to looking at pics of snow on the Daily Report.
badmigraine in Tokyo.
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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.
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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 needles of ice, just like at your finer bars and restuarants...
The feeling of that glorious cold river pouring down my parched throat was one of last summer's secret pleasures...
I sure do like beer.
In high school my best friend spent a year abroad in Heidelberg, Germany. He got in with the locals and was introduced to a "Beer Museum" they have there.
This Beer Museum was open to the public for a small annual membership charge, and when you got inside they had small exhibits and historico-cultural information about beer, beer making down through the ages and of course the various taste and process variations specific to each region, soil, climate, and variety of hops/barley/yeast...
He said it was a pretty small place, from the sound of it not much bigger than the "Tobacco and Salt Museum" in Shibuya or the "Meguro Parasitological Museum". But the grand thing was, at the end of the Hall of Exhibits was this long bar area where you could actually drink some 300 of the types of beer displayed in the museum.
The brews available ranged from current German and foreign concoctions, to representative samples of many types of beer including lager, porter, stout, ale, bitter, hefewieze, etc.
There was also a sizeable number of historical brews on tap, including European medieval and rennaissance beers made from recipes written on parchment and found in old libraries and castles, beers from the Ottoman, Central Asian and probably (I remember reading about this one in the paper) ancient Egypt (they found the recipe in an amphora on a dig somewhere a few years back).
My friend's project for his year abroad was to make it through at least one glass of all 300 brews available in the museum, but he somehow got hung up on number 7 or 8 and never made it past that.
Sort of like when you go to your favorite Italian restaurant, you always order the same three things, and never even bother to try anything else on the menu.
badmigraine in Tokyo.
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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 Shibuya Stn. called Belgo that has tons and tons of imported beers and some Japanese "ji-beeru".
I was in Okayama and walking around a historic area of the city found a small brewery with big shiny brewing tanks in the shop window. They had a lager, an amber, a hefewiesse and a dark/stout type beer. I tried the sampler and they were all delicious and fresh and wonderful, but the amber was my favorite because I like ambers best.
There's Ginga Kohgen beer, a local beer you can sometimes get even in convenience stores.
The chain izakaya called "Tengu" has draft "beer brown" on the menu, and it's their own specially brewed amber. Pretty good!
Last but not least, next to our company is a cheapo chain izakaya called "Chimney", that has 3 kinds of local brews on the menu. Cheap and delicious!! I think they are made in Nagano.
In short, there's tons of local brews in Japan, and many more coming along. They were made possible by a change in the laws about 4 years ago: the law formerly required any beer brewer to make massive quantities, or lose their license. This was essentially monopolistic legislation shoved through by your Kirins, Asahis and Sapporos--the effect was the monoculturization or McDonaldization of beers and the stamping out of the wonderful variety, history, flavor and culture of beers in Japan.
But the law was changed to reduce the minimum required annual volume, making it possible for local breweries to spring back up and ply their welcome trade.
YEAH!!
After writing this, I am drooling for my first beer of the day.
Mogski, don't you owe me one?
I think we may owe Lama one too, but my memory doesn't work right until I start drinking.
badmigraine in Tokyo.
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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!
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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.
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As experienced mountain men know, the best beer is a FREE beer.
Ahem.
Mogski?
I am thirsty again...
Hello? Mogski?
My glass is empty!!!
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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!!!
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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 warm inside the mitten, whereas in gloves they all get a bit cold and lonely.
And as a boarder, I don't need gloves. Mittens do me just fine.
So imagine my astonishment when I found that almost all the mittens in the shops in Tokyo had fingered GLOVE liners inside of them.
What's up with THAT?
Is this something idiotic that we only see in Japan, or is this some kind of industry trend?
Will someone with industry knowledge now tell me that this is "better" for me?
I just can't figure it out. Why on earth would you buy mittens with a GLOVE liner in them? You might as well just buy gloves.
What, did the makers all buy too many cheapo glove liners from some Chinese sweatshop, and now they are foisting them all off on us--the innocent consumers?
I asked one of the shop guys why there were glove liners inside the mittens. His reply was typically Japanese:
"Many of our customers prefer glove liners in their mittens."
Oh. OK. Got it...that explains everything. Thanks.
Another fine answer, heard in a different shop:
"Many customers are used to wearing gloves. So now mittens have glove liners for their convenience."
Oh. Great. OK, now I understand everything. It's for their CONVENIENCE.
I've never bought any Japanese condoms, but wouldn't be at all surprised if they have five holes too. That's OK, though, because I my weenie never gets cold in action, and I could re-use the condom 5 times before throwing it out.
Well, please advise me.
Do they have this crazy glove-liner-in-a-mitt thing going on in any other country?
Please write and tell me I am not off base on this one.
badmigraine in Tokyo.
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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 man is doing making authentic tacos in a little stall in a train station in the snow country...
Had a similar experience in Akasaka in 1998, when the Japanese VP of a Japanese semiconductor maker took me to dinner/karaoke at a "Country Music Pub".
Turns out he was a regular there, and in addition to his bottle-keep of Jack Daniels with his name dutifully scrawled on it, he (and all the other regulars) also kept a big old cowboy hat on a peg behind the bar and wore it at all times, including when he went off to have a slash and also when he sang the famous country hit "If I Told You That You Had a Beautiful Body, Would You Hold It Against Me?"
Not really related to skiing, but do you know what happens when you play a country music song backwards?
You get back your girlfriend, your dog and your pickup truck.
A final thought: wrong thread, but mogski was right on with the notion of Southern Comfort in a flask!!
Yeee-hah!!
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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?
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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--since those are the ones you use the most, you can just peel them off and voila--you're done.
The whole point of this post is to bitch about how annoying it is when you have to somehow insert bills of varying denominations into your stash as the ATM beeps angrily away or the convenience store staff provocatively holds out coins impatiently waiting for you to get your folded stash of bills in order.
Incredibly annoying!!
They just don't give a guy a break in this world.
What a world.
Now for once I have some folding bills, but now they give me grief even about THAT?!
Sheesh.
ATMs should observe 10 seconds of silence here before disgorging my money, my receipt and my ATM card all at once.
Is this bad planning or what?
Even worse, last time I checked, I am paying 100 yen or more for the privilege of being rushed, beeped at, and incited to peptic ulcer levels of stress!!
Mogski told me the savings account interest rate at Japanese banks is less than 1%. I don't know why I bother.
It would be better to keep my pathetic little stash under the mattress, along with my Japanese Dominatrix and Rubber Love magazines.
What a world!!
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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 the Sensitive Male Poets' World's Best Awards that drives the audience of hardened Eng. Lit. profs to tears, and sends 15-20 incredibly sexy artistic young co-eds with long brown hair and boots who have incense and candles in their dorm rooms to the hospital with near-fatal involuntary vaginal convulsions.
Like you, Mogski and I are pretty used to being mobbed and stalked by just about any human with XX chromasomes.
That explains our total amazement upon going up to Niseko to receive our usual favorable treatment by the birds, only to find that the most wooly-headed, completely Japanese-incompetent one among us, was able to pull the chicks as easily and regularly as we pull unsightly nose bougars and hairs in the privacy of our own bathrooms--as we cultivate our sexually potent image.
Unbelievable.
One wonders why one bothers to even study another page of Japanese. Following Paddy's example, it seems better to have blue eyes and a wooly afro, and then you can be All Up In That twot, if you take my meaning.
Unbelievable.
I don't know why I waste my time.
Does anybody on this board know where I can get blue colored contacts?
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Wow, if he didn't have that thick wooly hair...he might've ended up with a head fracture.
What a guy!
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lama, was it that guy Paddy who caught the 10 winks on cold hard concrete last year?
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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 challenging as you have seen in Switzerland and Canada.
Also, almost all of the Hokkaido resorts feature mostly intermediate/beginner type terrain, with only small patches or areas of "advanced" terrain.
This is particularly true of Rusutsu and Alpha Tomamu.
Kiroro and Furano have some challenging parts, but on the whole you might be disappointed at the lack of variety and advanced terrain, compared to Swiss Alp and Canadian resorts.
My recommendation would be that you go to Niseko, for the following 3 reasons:
1. It's really 3 resorts on the same mountain and you can get an "all mountain passport" that lets you ride ALL of the lifts of all 3 resorts. So you'll be able to maximize the amount of terrain for yourself, you'll get to explore a lot, and I'm sure you'll find something incredibly amazing and fun there.
2. Niseko DOES have a good amount of advanced terrain, steeps, and challenging runs of all types...much more than any other Hokkaido resort. There are some good off-piste tree runs and backcountry. You should definitely book a local guide for a day or afternoon to find out where it is, and how to be safe there. Don't go alone!
3. At Niseko, you are in a small mountain town area with numerous hotels and lodges, some great hot spring baths, and some sort of nightlife at either the hotel bars or the local bars. This is better than purpose-built resorts like Kiroro, where you are kind of locked into fixed choices at big hotels, and not much is really going on at night.
4. You'll have to spend about the same amount of money whichever big Hokkaido resort you choose, so why not just go to Niseko (cheapest and easiest and most convenient to stay on the Niseko Hirafu side) and forget about all the others. They're not nearly as good. Others have made the rounds of the Kiroro's, Furanos and Rusutsus (I did!) and I guarantee you they are nothing as good as Niseko. Feel free to learn from my past mistakes, thus partially validating the time/money I spent at those other places that could better have been spent at Niseko!
Luck to ya, and "merde"!
badmigraine in Tokyo.
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Have you seen them in person, or are you going by pics in ads?
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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 day long!!
The only problem with that kind of stuff is, you drink it like juice and it runs out too quickly. I don't have a flask big enough to hold the volume I'd need to drink.
So this year I am thinking of putting in Laphroaig Single Malt Whiskey.
That is, unless Mogski agrees to adapt his new DaKine "Blade" pack's hydration system bladder to alcoholic beverages.
In other drink news we were playing chemistry set bartender at my place and found that Mountain Dew makes a great mixer with booze for Friday night cocktails, given all the sugar and caffeine in it that push your end-of-the-week blues all the way back into Saturday morning, where you'll never even notice them given all the hangover you'll be having to deal with.
Well, thanks everyone for your input, and as initiator of this thread I hereby declare buzzaa the Winner!!
Congratulations, and thanks for fighting the good fight even on the mountain!!
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"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 smoking area, no bathrooms or mirrors, no shops or snacks, no heated comfy rest areas, and--did I mention this yet?--no bathrooms or even any bathrooms up the hill in the more challenging areas.
What a shame.
Against this backdrop any female boarder or skier who can string together a couple of turns really makes the gents sit up and take notice. Then the gents spend the rest of the afternoon bombing straight down the slope to try to get on the lift with her. It may take two or three runs, and then when you finally catch up to her, she turns away from the line and goes into the lodge to get a can coffee, have a smoke and a pee.
You know the game.
Well, the best female Japanese snowboarder I ever saw, I saw up in Niseko in the winter of 1997. She was a hard-booter slipping artfully around and through the bumps near the very top of the mountain where two of the Niseko resorts are connected.
At first I thought it was a male pro racer. Then I figured out it was a gal. Incredible. Must be an Olympian or something. Rather than try to catch up with her, I let her catch up with ME.
By the time she did, I had to go...not to the bathroom, but to keep an annoying appointment with my girlfriend, who was sitting in the lodge at the very bottom, drinking coffee and smoking. She'd put in her twenty minutes of boarding on the expensive gear and all-mountain passport I'd procured for her, and her first words to me were "Where have you BEEN?!"
Sorry to drift from the subject of this post, but for chrissakes.
When are they going to get some really good fun female boarders up there? Me and Mogski are hard chargers...we need women!!
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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 out your flask and have a snort, of course. It's after 12:00 p.m. on a Saturday...so it's allowed under the applicable rules.
Now, for all you enthusiasts out there: what is in YOUR flask?
If you tell me yours, I'll tell you mine!
badmigraine in Tokyo.
[This message has been edited by badmigraine (edited 05 December 2001).]
[This message has been edited by badmigraine (edited 05 December 2001).]
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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, and now you are done!
Stop it!!
I don't want to learn about any demo days in Japan. I have a hard enough time paying for my drinks, let alone new snow tools!
Stop it!!
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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 buy your boots at such a shop to get the fitting service. It's a business in its own right I guess.
3. She got her boots stretched and fitted with a pair of semi-custom ordered insoles at a place called ICI Sports in Kanda. This was a few years ago but she thinks the shop is still there.
4. She may have some old magazine lying around that contains a guide to the Kanda ski shops. She's going to have a look and if she finds the mag and there are any specific contact numbers/shops for custom boot fitting, I'll post 'em on this thread for you and all the others out there with individualistic feet!
*WHEW!*
Now, time to get back to talking about sexy women's feet and legs, which is my true passion!
Badmigraine in Tokyo
Your pants?
in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
Posted
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, as I was...er, what?
Hm?
Oh, alright.
IT WAS ON AN 8-TRACK TAPE.
There, I've said it. Are you satisfied?!
badmigraine in Tokyo.