Greece Beats France!

I was talking to my cousins yesterday (cousins in Greece, to whom I have to speak greek), and they were all very excited because Greece beat France (last year's European champions). Ha ha! Here's a pic of my cousins (and everyone else, for that matter) celebrating.



For some reason the picture isn't showing up, but the link still works!

Anti-Liberal Spam

Has anyone else been getting this? I've been getting about 10 of the same email a day, it's a pro-Conservative spam telling me how they are going to cut the debt and taxes at the same time and telling me how I should vote for them. Bizarre.

Scientists lay the Smac down!

From the BBC:

Cancer spreads because a gene which normally kills off cells is faulty in cancer cells.

Scientists at Cancer Research UK say they have been able to get around this problem by inserting this "suicide" gene into cancer cells.

The results were presented at Cancer Research UK's Beatson International Cancer Conference in Glasgow.

The gene that controls suicide in normal cells is called Smac.

Cancer cells have a faulty Smac gene and carry on dividing and growing well beyond their allotted lifespan.

Dr Iain McNeish and colleagues at the Cancer Research UK Molecular Oncology Unit in London used gene therapy techniques to mimic or restore the function of Smac.

Get it? "Smac down"? "Smack down"? Man, this is my best work since "Assyassination".

Death By Chocolate is much more pleasant

I've purchased a new suit--the Canadian suits just weren't cutting it in the Japanese summer. My new suit has no lining, and is made of tissue paper. If you took a suit like this home from a store back in Canada, you'd take it back and demand, "Where's the rest of my suit?"

Which isn't to say I'm as cool as a cucumber. Or even a zucchini. I can't even stand to do up my shirt and put on my tie (wearing a suit jacket of any sort is right out) until after I've taken the train to work and had a chance to cool down and air out in the air-conditioned goodness provided by Japan Rail.

The Japanese summer was specifically designed to kill Canadians--death by melting.

I came very close to purchasing a burgundy suit. That's right: burgundy. Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Fool! How could you pass up an opportunity to get a burgundy suit? I mean, hello!"

Sadly, Kate was with me at the time and she put an end to my burgundy dreams. She wouldn't even let me try one on, not even when the grinning and perhaps slightly mischevous clerk kept bringing me different burgundy suits for my--our--appraisal. (This took a while. Apparently I'm an ambulatory stick even in Japan.)

And just today, I went shopping for new ties--in the 100 yen store, of course--and what did I see but a burgundy tie with diagonal yellow stripes. It was beautiful--how it ended up in a 100 yen store is beyond me--and it would have matched perfectly. Simply tragic.

Omoshiroi desu ne!

I haven't made a post for quite a while now about what I've been up to. Well, last weekend I went down to Enoshima Island (pics on deviantart.com as ever), which was absolutely beautiful. It was great to see the ocean and the rocks and all those lovely trees (I kid you not). The scenery in Tokyo is grey and dull and it's good to see nature once in a while. :D

Other than that, not much is new. I've been pretty busy at work but hopefully that will be subsiding now. Also, I find myself in the strange situation of speaking greek in Japan, my cousins in Skopelos having recently aquired a computer. Text messages would be fine, because they take a while and you can take a lot longer to respond than with actual speaking. But they also have a webcam, which means I actually have to speak face to face. It is very, very hard, so now I am studying greek again. It's very frustrating to be in the middle of a conversation in one language when all you can think of are words from three other languages...

Toby and I went for some really yummy Vietnamese food yesterday. Pho costs about twice as much as it does back home, but it was still worth it! I really miss $4 bowls of pho in Burnaby. :(

p.s.: I'm also sad to report that Nasim (whose link is on this page) is still the best waxer-lady ever. :(

Movies

Italicize what you've seen part of.
Bold what you've seen all the way through.
Underline what you own.
Add three of your own.

For ability to reply in comments, perhaps just include those that you have seen, but still add three.

Hm. I'm going to be liberal with the word 'own'. He he he...

01. Trainspotting
02. Shrek
03. M
04. Dogma
05. Strictly Ballroom
06. The Princess Bride
07. Love Actually
08. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
09. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
10. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
11. Reservoir Dogs
12. Desperado
13. Swordfish
14. Kill Bill Vol. 1
15. Donnie Darko
16. Spirited Away
17. Better Than Sex
18. Sleepy Hollow
19. Pirates of the Caribbean
20. The Eye
21. Requiem for a Dream
22. Dawn of the Dead (the remake)
23. The Pillow Book
24. The Italian Job (the remake)
25. Goonies (Insert sounds of joy here)
26. Baseketball (Don't ask...)
27. The Spice Girls Movie
28. Army of Darkness
29. The Color Purple
30. The Safety of Objects
31. Can't Hardly Wait
32. Mystic Pizza
33. Finding Nemo
34. Monsters Inc.
35. Circle of Friends
36. Mary Poppins
37. The Bourne Identity
38. Forrest Gump
39. A Clockwork Orange
40. Kindergarten Cop
41. On The Line
42. My Big Fat Greek Wedding I couldn't not have seen this...duh!
43. Final Destination
44. Sorority Boys
45. Urban Legend
46. Cheaper by the Dozen (original version)
47. Fierce Creatures
48. Dude, Where's My Car
49. Ladyhawke
50. Ghostbusters
51. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
52. Back to the Future
53. An Affair To Remember
54. Somewhere In Time
55. North By Northwest
56. Moulin Rouge
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
58. The Wizard of Oz
59. Zoolander
60. A Walk to Remember
61. Chicago
62. Vanilla Sky
63. The Sweetest Thing
64. Don't Tell Mom the Babysitters Dead
65. The Nightmare Before Christmas
66. Chasing Amy
67. Edward Scissorhands
68. Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert
69. Muriel's Wedding
70. Croupier
71. Blade Runner One of the few I actually own ;)
72. Cruel Intentions
73. Ocean's Eleven (remake)
74. Magnolia
75. Fight Club
76. Beauty and The Beast
77. Much Ado About Nothing
78. Dirty Dancing
79. Gladiator
80. Ever After
81. Braveheart
82. What Lies Beneath
83. Regarding Henry
84. The Dark Crystal
85. Star Wars
86. The Birds
87. Beaches
88. Cujo
89. Maid In Manhattan
90. Labyrinth
91. Thoroughly Modern Millie
92. His Girl Friday
93. Chocolat
94. Independence Day
95. Singing in the Rain
96. Big Fish
97. The Thomas Crown Affair
98. The Matrix
99. Stargate
100. A Hard Day's Night
101. About A Boy
102. Jurassic Park
103. Life of Brian
104. Dune
105. Event Horizon What a horrible movie.
106. Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
107. Dead Fire
108. The Neverending Story
109. Resident Evil
110. Laura Croft: Tomb Raider
111. Pure Country
112. The Evil Dead
113. The Stand
114. Head
115. Shoujo Kakumei Utena: ADOLESCENCE Mokushiroku
116. The Ghost Goes Gear
117. Perfect Blue
118. Bring It On
119. Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door
120. Ghost World
121. UHF
122. The Royal Tenenbaums
123. Ichi the Killer
124. Lady Snowblood
125. Bubba Ho-Tep
126. Billy Madison
127. Kids
128. Mean Girls
129. The Burbs
130. Beetlejuice
131. Weekend At Bernies
132. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
133. Last Life in the Universe
134. Dancer in the Dark
135. Fubar
136. The Corporation
137. Schindler's List
138. Manhunter
139. Panic
140. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Another of the few I actually own. Classic Trek!
141. Elephant
142. Outland Sadly left behind in Vancouver.

Geekery meets the Iraq debacle

So it's become clear that Chalabi was, at least in part, working for the Iranians. This has led to some speculation that perhaps Iranian manipulation contributed to Bush's Gulf War II. The Guardian tells us that Some intelligence officials now believe that Iran used the hawks in the Pentagon and the White House to get rid of a hostile neighbour, and pave the way for a Shia-ruled Iraq.

This would be an incredible (in every sense of that word) feat on the part of the Iranians. I thought this "plans within plans" stuff could only be found in Dune books and White Wolf games. Who knew it could happen in real life--to America, superpower extraordinaire, no less.

So if this speculation be true, then kudos to the Iranian officials who masterminded it. I mean, sure, it was wrong it all, but that it was also a magnificent feat of intrigue is undeniable.

Shortly after the news broke, some guy on the internet drew my attention to the fact that this reads a little like an episode of Star Trek (TNG). The episode in question is "Conundrum".

At the beginning of the episode, everyone on the Enterprise has their memory wiped, and an alien pretending to be a human named "Keiran MacDuff" (Chalabi) sneaks on board. Using false computer records (intelligence), MacDuff establishes himself in a place of influence and on the bridge (White House), and convinces the crew of the Enterprise that an alien race called the Lysians (Iraq) are a deadly enemy of the Federation (America and assorted freedom-loving countries). And so the Enterprise heads out to destroy Lysian central command (Baghdad). On the way they engage the Lysians, and are disturbed to discover that Lysian ships (the Iraqi military) are no match whatsoever for the Enterprise (the American military). MacDuff attempts to soothe their worries by claiming that despite their generally inferior military capabilities, the Lysians are nonetheless in control of a powerful weapon (WMDs) that can bypass the defensive capabilities of the Enterprise.

The parallels are impressive. But there is one major difference. Unlike Dubya, by the end of the episode the crew of the Enterprise is able to figure out that this race with an utterly pathetic military could not possibly be the Federation's true enemy. And they were able to do so without the benefit of their memories, while Dubya & Co. have suffered no memory loss--unless you count their grossly distorted view (or outright ignorance) of history.

It's too bad that the people in the White House aren't as smart as Picard. Or even Riker, for that matter. Hell, even Worf figured it out by the end.

:(

Ok, by now everyone has heard my many complaints about the heat. But now the rainy season is a few days away (if not already having started) and my worst fears are being realized. It's like a sauna outside! When you step out of the shower (lukewarm to help deal with the heat) the steam doesn't stop, it's there, outside, inside, everywhere. It really sucks. Thankfully, we have two air conditioners at home, and the trains and work are also air conditioned...but still!

In other news: I'm really enjoying the Silmarillion. I don't know why I couldn't get into it the first time, but I can't put it down now...??? Also: has anyone read "Ghostwritten"? I tried to read it, but didn't really get into it.

Weekend Fun

So last weekend we went to see Tokyo Tower - from the bottom. We didn't go up because it's insanely expensive and the view is essentially the same as the (free) Metropolitan Government Office Towers (45 floors up). Still, Tokyo Tower is pretty impressive to look at up close:



Other than that, our search for the reported 8800 yen Playstation II was not fruitful. So looks like I'll need another source of entertainment during the upcoming rainy season. :(

Edited to add: apparently deviantart has found a way to block people showing pictures off-site. The link still works though.