enderzero

I just finished the last book of Neal Stephenson's Baroque Trilogy (which I mentioned starting back in Spring of 04). I have read a bunch of other stuff in between, but it was a strange event to close a narrative thread that has been running through my life for almost 2 years.

Here is a pretty decent article about the reaction to the Hollwoodization of the film and also director Rob Marshall's "artistic vision" of the film not trying to accurately recreate the era. Quote: In Kyoto, the center of Japan's traditional arts, the reaction was more circumspect, in keeping with the western Japanese city's customary discretion. "It's a Hollywood movie. It's just entertainment, so what can we do?" said an official at the Kyoto Traditional Musical Art Foundation, which promotes the music, dance and other arts of old Japan. "Hollywood has always done things lik

It was a bit of an adventure but I got my first day of the season. I arrived at Diableret only to find that the glacier (which is still open for the season) was closed due to high winds (I seem to remember winds plaguing db's trip to Switzerland). So I high tailed it back to the station and asked them where I could snowboard. A bit of a detour but I eventually made it to Verbier which only had two runs open but they weren't too bad. I can tell that place would be amazing when it is running full blast. It ended up being a pretty pricey excursion, but at least I got to snowboard. I will

Quote: Originally posted by Da spud: It was such a good day, if I wasn't wearing a helmut I think I would have got rope burn on my scalp lol - I seem to remember we were actually jumping over the ropes. If my memory serves me, I think Mr. Sparkle and a few others got nabbed and then let go with a black pen mark on their passes so the patrollers would know they had already been warned in case they got caught in the trees again. I don't seem to remember that slowing them down much though. Good times!

My 30GB pod is full up with 5543 tracks - but my PC has plenty of room past the 12,904 already on it. - I own every one on cd, too

Heading out tomorrow for a w/e in Switzerland. I am thinking of heading to Les Diableret since I will be staying in Lausanne and a lot of stuff is still not open. Anyone been to Galcier 3000?

My favorite film of last year was definitely Lost in Transition. Great soundtrack and interesting focus on some up-and-comers in the sport (with some classic faves for flavor too). Bonus of a bit of Japan footage as well. Other strong recs are the Robotfood series Lame and Afterbang (Afterlame is good but it is a bit goofy and more focused on the life of the pro snowboarder than the riding). You can't go wrong with any of Standard's TB films. TB10 - Optigrab is particularly good and features all of the most progressive riders today.

Hey guys - Danz may well end up back at Whistler around the New Year but I won't be able to make it. Some change of plans. Danz and I are debating possibly making it a trip for those two days to Big White instead. I have been to W/BC a whole bunch of times and know the mtn/area very well. However I have never made it all the way to BW. Any comments from the BCers here on how the two compare?

btw - Don Hertzfeldt? You guys know about his stuff??

Quote: Originally posted by Yamakashi: I couldnt imagine that youd keep your job for long when you have to bust people for riding where they shouldnt be and you then go and do it. I couldn't imagine going to Cortina and riding on the piste I imagine with Cortina and Norikura you can keep yourself pretty busy for the first few weeks until you get good and used to the jp riding style. By then you will have a good idea of where you can and can't ride on the mountain to avoid problems. But remember, you are in the heart of one of the densest packed centers of ski life in Japan. There

Canada's Niseko?? That is a very strange comparison. Whistler is 10 times the size of Niseko both on the mountain and off. It is very accessible from Vancouver, one of the largest cities in Canada, where Niseko is a flight and long bus ride from anywhere on Honshu. Maybe you have heard that comparison because they are both particularly good places to ski and snowboard. I love Whistler - or Blackcomb in particular - but it can get very crowded around holiday times. I have never been into the interior of BC, but you will probably want to look at places like the Big White region of the Oka

This week, Octopus Dropkick reports on a new free monthly magazine on the Tokyo streets called GO. Their site has the entire print version in a nice browseable window. This mag seems very different from Metropolis and other free "what's happenin" mags with its attention to aesthetics in the photos and striking lack of text. (Is it really small?) Anyone picked it up? What do you think of the format?

Quote: Originally posted by snowglider: heck they could have been raising money for charity Heck, the domino chain could have opened a portal that the domino gods would emerge out of and enslaved humanity. Maybe the sparrow was a part of an age old secret order of protectors, entrusted with keeping the domino gods in check and humanity safe. ...I mean, as long as we are hypothesizing. Hadn't they ever heard of a net?

Since we are talking about prices I just have to say that the Czechs have really got the economy of alcohol thing down. While most cost of living expenses are similar to a bit less than other places I have lived, the alcohol is incredibly cheap! An average beer (full 1/2 liter - to the line) of very decent beer runs between 15 and 20 Krowns - approx 80 Yen!! And that is in a bar/pub. It is even cheaper from a conbini (btw - the Czech word "potraviny" is almost as fun). Wine is the same. A glass of decent wine in a bar is 15-30. A store bought bottle of wine that would be in the 1000

I'll be right be hind you trying to keep up bud. ...well in spirit at least.

Don't the two pretty much go hand in hand? I would much rather have more crowded slopes and be able to get to the top quicker, though. You can always find a sneaky way down that isn't too crowded.

My initial reaction is to not like the varying hours plan. I guess it works for some people that just want to ride a couple hours a day and maye get a night in here and there - but it punishes you for riding a lot. I can just imagine wanting to go back up for another good run but thinking, "well if I skip this run today then maybe I can get an extra hour tomorrow before the pass expires." When I rode there two years ago, the same 30,000 bought you 28 full days at Hirafu. I certainly rode a lot more than 50 hours with that.

Thanks A - wooo, nyce pic! Is that the whole base are or is it wider?

I rode there for a month in Jan-Feb 2004. It was hard to leave.

Some things never change. So they open that place back up yet?

If you just want to have a fun time living in the big city then I would live somewhere in the general area of Ebisu/South Shibuya. Specifically I think Naka-Meguro is the best. Very easy transport, pretty river, and within walking distance of anywhere you might end up in that area. I could probably be pretty happy anywhere South from Yoyogi to Meguro within a 20 min walk from the Yamanote or near a stop on the upper Toyoko-sen. Of course if you think of all of Shibuya as awful and the only way you would live in Tokyo was if you HAD to - then you might want to move a bit further out (outer

I am not aware of what kind of science the spinsters injected into Creationism to transform it into Intelligent Design (because I really don't care too much). But if it is a viable "theory," then I think it is fair to at least talk about it - aka debate. Noah Feldman wrote a great article in the NYT titled A Chruch State Solution (sorry this is a pay article - but crafty netizens may find certain ways around that) a few months back. I believe this has been expanded into his book Divided By God . Yes, Feldman's stuff is US specific, but the basic principle applies to any secula

Strictly speaking, I would say "racial mixing" (although a rather indelicate term) is all an experiment-in-progress that has, as of yet, resulted in very little success. However, the scope of the experiment is considerably larger than the minimal time period so far allowed. It has only been generally accepted that races other than white were "equals" by whites (and still not all accept this) for less than a century. There will be no complete success until not only all people accept this, but it actually becomes true in practice. This means that a person of any race have the same opportunities

So whatever happened to Tama-chan?

Can someone refresh my memory on Joetsu? I know it is in Niigata, and if I am thinking of the right place it is the one somewhat close to Nagano (Nozawa/Shiga/Myoko area). Is that where Jeff Anderson was staying when he died a few years back?