Happy New Year!

There are a lot of ways to say "Happy New Year" in Japanese. I think it's important or something.

明けましておめでとう
良いお年を
今年も宜しく

And so on.

We're currently staying at my Uncle's place in Chiba Prefecture, where we had our second (mostly home-cooked) New Years feast. It's a delicious series of dishes, and they're full of positive symbolism and also a real bother to make.

Everyone else is doing top-ten lists for movies and music and such, but neither of us really keep up with new music, and we get all of our movies some time after they come out in theatres back home. So...

Top One Movie of 2004:

1. City of God

Actually, I think even that one was a 2003 (English) release. Harry Potter 3 and House of Flying Daggers were also quite good, but lately it's been hard to find new movies worthy of a top whatever list.

Oh well. Here's a more robust list:

Top Ten War Profiteers of 2004:

1. AEGIS
2. Bearing Point
3. Bechtel
4. BKSH & Associates
5. CACI and Titan
6. Custer Battles
7. Halliburton
8. Lockheed Martin
9. Loral Satellite
10. Qualcomm