Friday, February 28, 2014

John Barleycorn: A Ballad


There was three kings into the east,
Three kings both great and high,
And they hae sworn a solemn oath
John Barleycorn should die.

They took a plough and plough'd him down,
Put clods upon his head,
And they hae sworn a solemn oath
John Barleycorn was dead.

But the cheerful Spring came kindly on,
And show'rs began to fall;
John Barleycorn got up again,
And sore surpris'd them all.

The sultry suns of Summer came,
And he grew thick and strong;
His head weel arm'd wi' pointed spears,
That no one should him wrong.

The sober Autumn enter'd mild,
When he grew wan and pale;
His bending joints and drooping head
Show'd he began to fail.

His colour sicken'd more and more,
He faded into age;
And then his enemies began
To show their deadly rage.

They've taen a weapon, long and sharp,
And cut him by the knee;
Then tied him fast upon a cart,
Like a rogue for forgerie.

They laid him down upon his back,
And cudgell'd him full sore;
They hung him up before the storm,
And turned him o'er and o'er.

They filled up a darksome pit
With water to the brim;
They heaved in John Barleycorn,
There let him sink or swim.

They laid him out upon the floor,
To work him farther woe;
And still, as signs of life appear'd,
They toss'd him to and fro.

They wasted, o'er a scorching flame,
The marrow of his bones;
But a miller us'd him worst of all,
For he crush'd him between two stones.

And they hae taen his very heart's blood,
And drank it round and round;
And still the more and more they drank,
Their joy did more abound.

John Barleycorn was a hero bold,
Of noble enterprise;
For if you do but taste his blood,
'Twill make your courage rise.

'Twill make a man forget his woe;
'Twill heighten all his joy;
'Twill make the widow's heart to sing,
Tho' the tear were in her eye.

Then let us toast John Barleycorn,
Each man a glass in hand;
And may his great posterity
Ne'er fail in old Scotland!

Thursday, February 27, 2014

The Kraken Wakes


The little silver fish
Scatter like shrapnel
As I plunge upward
From the black underworld.
The green waves break from my sides
As I roll up, forced by my season,
And before the tenth second
I can feel my own heat —
The wind can never cool as oceans do.

By mid-morning,
My skin has sweated into agony.
The turmoil of my intestines
Bloats out against my skin.
I’m too sick to struggle — I hang
In the thermals of pain,
Screaming against the slow, slow, slow
Rise toward descent.

And the madness of my pain
Seems to have infected everything —
Cities hack each other into blood;
Ships sink in firestorm; armies
Flail with sticks and crutches;
Obesity staggers toward coronary
Down the streets of starvation.

- Hugh Cook

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

The vow

Among the DVDs I borrowed last weekend is The vow. It is a romantic comedy starring Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams. After watching the trailer, I expected to at least cry a river or two and my ice cream pot was waiting for me in the freezer as well as the tissue box carefully displayed on my fantastic kotatsu. Well, my ice cream remained in the freezer and my tissues weren`t of any use! I was really disappointed in that movie! I expected so much more! In the beginning the couple has a car accident and even though they both survive, the wife forgets everything about her husband and their life together. During the whole movie he tries to make her remember and make her fall in love with him again... Sounds super romantic and heart-breaking, doesn`t it!? Well, it really wasn`t! Not going to watch it twice! T-T

The King in Yellow

Along the shore the cloud waves break,
The twin suns sink behind the lake,
The shadows lengthen
In Carcosa.
Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies,
But stranger still is
Lost Carcosa.
Songs that the Hyades shall sing,
Where flap the tatters of the King,
Must die unheard in
Dim Carcosa.
Song of my soul, my voice is dead,
Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed
Shall dry and die in
Lost Carcosa.
 
- Robert W Chambers

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

The emperor`s new groove part 2!

And yes, he`s back! I went back to the DVD store last weekend and rented a dozen more (they are insanely cheap at the moment!). I got the sequel of the Emperor`s new groove and it was really good! Sequels are usually not so good and pretty disappointing but not that one! In this anime, the story is about Kronk, the muscly not so villain who turned into a super chef. He is hilarious in the first movie so I totally understand why the producers used this character to make a whole movie about him (and not only Kuzco who is still an awesome character!)


Any requests?

Hi everyone. 
Do you have any requests for the blog? 
What would you like to see more of? 
Please let us know if you have any ideas. 
Thanks.

Friday, February 21, 2014

Lonely


Hey everyone. As you have probably 
noticed we don't get many comments 
on this blog. (Except from Masa! 
Thanks Masa, you are awesome!!!!!) 
We would really like to see a few more 
questions and comments if you have 
them, and if you are too shy to write, 
please click the interesting button if 
you enjoy a post. We are feeling like 
almost no one reads the blog anymore.

ARE!


Superheroes

MAN OF STEEL
This movie got many very negative reviews, but I thought 
it was quite good. Many people complained it was too dark, 
and that Superman should be a happy/fun character. 
Well I thought its seriousness was much more entertaining 
than the camp old 80's superman movies. It was nice for 
someone to finally really focus on the fact that Kal-El 
(Superman/Clark Kent) is not a human, he is an alien. 
4/5
 

THOR : THE DARK WORLD
Remember the first Thor movie? No, me neither. 
This one, much like the first one was good fun to 
watch but not very memorable. Lots of action, 
cool special effects and the bad guy Loki is 
charmingly evil. I enjoyed watching it at the time, 
but overall a rather forgettable film.
3/5

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Eh....nani?


Fashion or not

I like fashion and I like to see what new ideas designers come up with. I think fashion is a fun way to express yourself and enables you to mix colors, trends, and to experiment. Of course I am always speechless by some popular trends but that`s the thing with fashion, some people are crazy about it and some people just aren't.. Which is a good thing! I absolutely hate it when people all wear the same clothes, which unfortunately lots of people like to do (especially young people in this country!)
I just found these pictures this morning and I was very surprised by the bags. I don`t know if I hate them or not, I really don`t... These brands make me feel so nostalgic! But I have thing for vintage,...hummm... Really confused! But that`s what`s fun with fashion too!




Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Wakura Onsen

Last weekend I went to Wakura Onsen in Ishikawa.
It was lovely! There was no snow as I hoped but the weather
was nice and clear. The dinner was sea food of course,
and it was really good. I was proud that I could eat
the giant clam but I could not eat the sazae.
I tried and it almost killed me.... :P
There is not much to do in town other
than the bath houses, but I had a real nice time.

The Emperor`s new groove

Last weekend I went to the dvd rental store and got one of my favourite Disney cartoons: The Emperor`s new groove. It is absolutely hilarious and no matter how many times I have watched it, I never get tired of it! The story is about a very selfish and arrogant emperor who is turned into a lama after the poisoning that was supposed to kill him failed. This cartoon is just one of those that is definitely made for adults (kids too but not only) so if you want to give it a try!


Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Sliding Olympics

Are you watching the games?


I'm not, I hate the Olympics, 
hell I hate sports in general. 
But the winter Olympics is honestly 
just lots of different kinds of sliding. 

There is stand up sliding, sit down sliding, 
lying down sliding, one stick sliding, 
two sticks sliding, dance sliding, 
hockey sliding etc etc. 

You won a medal? 
Wow good for you! 
You can slide better than some other people 
well done...

More movies...

This weekend I saw,


I'm not big Matt Damon fan, but the director's 
last film (District 9) was really good. Elysium was 
not a bad movie. It had some good action scenes 
and the bad guy was really scary. There were 
however a few big holes in the story.
 3/5

and


This was not as bad as everyone said. Lots of cool 
explosions and horse/train stunts, I thought it 
was fun. Yeah it is just Pirates of the Caribbean
in the wild west, but I liked Pirates of the 
Caribbean (the first one anyway) and 
I love anything with cowboys. 
 4/5

Friday, February 7, 2014

What is it?

Can anyone tell me what this is a photo of ?

COME ON PEOPLE 
HAVE A GUESS!!!
 

IF NOBODY TRIES 
I WONT TELL YOU 
THE ANSWER!!!

Monkey business

You will never enjoy life as much as this chimp.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Too cold, stay home watch movies...

It's been so cold recently that I don't want to go 
outside in the evenings. That means that I've 
been watching more movies than usual.


A cross between Ghost Busters and Men In Black. 
Honestly not very good, but I like the actor 
Jeff Bridges and it had a few funny moments. 
3/5 
(should probably be a 2 but it gets an extra point for the cowboy jokes)


A very long movie, well it felt very long. 
Tells three connected stories one at a time. 
Great cinematography but got a bit boring in places. 
2/5


Funny and cute, this movie tells the story of a man 
with mental health problems who introduces his 
"girlfriend" who is a love doll, to his family and local 
community. You think it will be a one joke movie but it's 
actually quite sweet and never gets dirty as you would expect. 
3/5


Now I know this is an old one and you have all seen it, 
but I never had. It was fantastic! Great to see a strong 
female character that doesn't need a boy to save her. 
Nausicaä puts those pathetic Disney princess to shame.
5/5

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Tovalintinianisim


Don't forget it's Valentine's day next week. 
I you don't already have something special planned 
for your partner you might want to hurry up!

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Osaka Castle in 3D

I went to see the 3D mapping show at Osaka castle last Saturday. The gardens were beautifully lit up and there were some nice food and drink stalls. The 3D show on the castle itself was just OK, kinda cheesy. For ¥2000 (¥3500 if you want a premium ticket) it feels a little expensive. If you want to see it you better hurry up as it only has a few days left before it ends.

The Wolf of Wall Street

Last weekend I went to see the Wolf of Wall Street. It was supposed to be good, got nominated for several globes/awards and I have to say I loved the trailer.
I thought the movie was good actually! Some scenes were hilarious and that is actually one thing that was a bit funny/weird. Of course I would be the only one laughing out loud in the room because the japanese audience wouldn`t get the jokes... I don`t blame them at all, though. It is really hard to translate jokes from a language to another, and we also laugh at different things...
But it was good, funny and colorful to say the least! If you`re at least 18 and you can hold it for 3 hours you`re good!!!