Uso!
30 June 2004, 18:12
Some days you just laugh ‘til you cry…
Click on the image for 1.6 mbs of lovin’.
(thanking Shalome for brightening Kinki’s morning)
Permanent Link | Comments [5]You call that trivia?
27 June 2004, 18:52
When I lived in Japan, one of my favourite things to do, on mind-numbing ANA telephone-testing days (don’t ask, just trust me it was boring), was to spar with Mark over “Trivbot”, a neat web-based IRC application which spurted out general knowledge questions that you had to answer the quickest to get a point for your team. Mark usually creamed me, because, ahem, he was a quicker typist.
Now we’re all back in Australia, it’s time to admit what I knew in my heart to be true. Mark is far far better at trivia than me. Ask him who was the Secretary of the New Zealand Green Party in 1994 or how many pages was the 1999 hardback edition of the “The Ayn Rand Reader” and he’ll know it. Actually, I’m not sure about that last question. That would be a bit sick.
Our bud “Jeremy” bought Trivial Pursuit’s 20th Birthday Edition and last night 7 of us sparred over a game board and a bottle of port. Mark was a gun. He was pure genius. Even the Third Reich of Jer and I, with our outstanding knowledge of medical acronyms couldn’t put him back in his box.
It seems my memory of the last 20 minut… errrr, years has fizzled in a frenzy of dead brain-cells. Mark is never coming to a TP extravaganza night ever again. Unless he’s on my team.
Photo Friday "Clouds"
26 June 2004, 17:35
...and now for something completely cliched…
You knew I had it in me.
Made in Japan?
23 June 2004, 18:44
Last week, Mark, my buddy from Japan, sent me an e-mail. The poor lad is quite new to Melbourne and was whining about a disturbing lack of chuhai purveyors in the city. The only locale, he tells me, is a Japanese grocer south of the Yarra, and everyone knows that if you live north of the river it takes a bomb up your arse to venture south.
So it got me thinking, mainly about drinking chuhai and the sweet mother-love of Kirin Black, but also about where you could go in Melbourne to get yourself some old-fashioned Japanese home-stylin’. If you’re homesick for the Far-East, maybe these links will help…
Japanese grocers
Yes, a disturbing lack of them north of the river…
Fujimart, South Yarra
Omuro, Church Street, Brighton
Suzuran, 1025 Burke Road, Hawthorn
Tokyo Deli, 419 Glenhuntly Road, Elsternwick
Tokyo Mart, Elsternwick [Licensed Japanese Grocer]
Restaurants
Akari 177, 177 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy [Sushi]
Chocolate Buddha, Federation Square, City [Ramen, Donburi and Sake]
Eat Drink Bento, City [Bento, Soba noodles, Tempura]
Ginza Teppanyaki, Chinatown, City [Teppanyaki]
Hanabishi, City
Kenzan, City
Kokos, Crown Complex, Southgate [expensive, but they have a sake sommelier!]
Kuni’s, City
Kyoto Japanese Restaurant, St. Kilda
Momotaro Ramen, Richmond
Tomoshibi, Middle Park [Sushi, Sashimi, Sukiyaki]
Torimatsu, City
Izakayas/Japan-influenced Bars
Iku Yakitori, Brunswick
Izakaya Chuji, City
Robot, City
Ume Nomiya, Fitzroy
Ryokan
Japanese Mountain Retreat, Dandenong Ranges
Shizuka Ryokan and Day Spa Retreat, Hepburn Springs
Homewares/Kimono
Genki, Cathedral Arcade, City
Made in Japan, South Melbourne, Southgate, City, Chadstone
Oriental Artifacts, Toorak
Books and Comics
Anime Zone, Box Hill
Japan Book Plaza, South Yarra [Books, CDs, Anime, Comics]
Lupin and Jigen, City [DVD rental, Cafe, Manga library]
Karaoke
How hard is it to find private karaoke rooms in Melbourne? JEE-zuz.
Club Enka, City
Bathhouses/Massage
Geisha Melbourne, City [Japanese hair (!) and massage]
Ofuroya, Collingwood [Japanese bathhouse]
Events
Asian Film showings, various
Melbourne International Film Festival (includes Chakushinari, a film I desperately wanted to see in Tokyo), 5 venues, July
Miyazaki Film Fest, Cinema Nova, Carlton, August 12
These links are by no means definitive, so for the love of Ayu-chan, leave a comment if you have a recommendation!
Permanent Link | Comments [4]The Great Danes'
22 June 2004, 17:54
My gorgeous superstar girlfriend, let’s call her “Danes”, got hitched on Sunday to her equally superstar Mr. Fixit hunk of a man, “Chris”.
The wedding was beautiful, her dress the most divine excuse for a dress I’ve ever seen. Romantic ceremony, a few (hundred) tears (rumours abounded that Kleenex had sponsored the event) and plenty of champers all round. I even forgave her for not travelling a thousand miles to my wedding. Sniff. Yeah, over it.
So…anyone else getting married soon? We’d be pitching for an invite. Weddings are the bomb. Particularly when you see a dear friend so happy and in love with a perfect man. Even if that man could win a round with your own husband of “Who can tell the dodgiest joke”. Oh, fun times ahead.
Permanent Link | Comments [3]
