Downright Inspiring
Go to cpanthers.com, and click on `Cardiac Cats: 2003 Panthers`, under the headlines section. As long as you are not a Dallas, Tampa Bay, St. Louis, Philly, or Jacksonville fan, you will be glad that you did. Awesome.

I Knew It!
It's official- Tokyo is the most expensive city in the world. Read all about it here.

I've heard that salaries are often higher here to compensate for the costs, but of course since I'm not a salaried worker, or any time of worker actually, I don't know. I can't imagine living here to be too fun on the wallet though.

I'll try to draw up a 'most ridiculous' list of costs sometimes, if I can get the time.

Read this- "Mainly, the depreciation of the dollar makes it cheaper to send employees to American cities," said Jackie Barber, a spokeswoman for the survey."

I don't pretend to know the ins and outs of business, but outsourcing to America, that would be interesting.

The list of problems facing NHL
is long, complicated, and will be difficult to solve. Don't hold your breath to see the game anytime soon.

Read it and Weep

In another thing that makes you want to cry, Bill Parcells made an absolutely hilarious joke the other day. But since he said 'no disrespect', well, that makes it alright.
Read the whole sad story here

Hey, Bill, no disrespect, but you're fat and ugly.

In other, happier news, Van Halen Is Back!

Van Halen Reunion Tour Offers Old, New, 'Wacky'

Anytime 'Wacky' is in the headline, you know it's gotta be good.

Web Search Update
According to Lycos, Clay Aiken is now the #1 searched for thing on the internet. I am now speechless.

Another Weather Report
June in the Tokyo area is known as "Tsuyu", or just the Rainy Season. Basically, it rains all the time, and when it isn't raining, it's really muggy out. Guess that's a fair price to pay for a dry, snow-free winter and awesome weather day-in day-out in April and May. Once the rainy season ends in roughly Mid-July, Summer officially begins, and the heat hits in full force, and when we you have to walk and take trains everywhere I can imagine that it will be a lot of fun. Compared to the muggy NC springs and summers, I think I can handle it though.

The Airwaves In Japan
Are filled with a lot of crazy stuff. Japanese radio can be full of Bilingual DJs and eclectic content, and I would say that Japanese TV deserves its reputation.

But, since I need a break from the Japanese language sometime, I listen to the American Forces Radio here in Japan a lot. As you may know, this station (Eagle 810 AM) is broadcast by the United States Army from their bases in the Tokyo area. In general, it's very convinient, broadcasting a good variety of music, as well as news and occasionally sports in English.

One thing that I found surprising at first, although maybe I shouldn't because it is the military, is that during the week, Rush Limbaugh is played in the evenings. I find this surprising, because this is a heavily partisan political show, being broadcast on US- Goverment funded radio stations. There was an article about it here . Now, whether or not you think playing an hour or two of NPR is effective balance is a matter of personal opinion, but at least it contains a veneer of sanity and journalistic integrity. Hey, if it pulls in the ratings, what can you do? Because that's all that matters, right?

Popular in the United States


"Some were seen purchasing NASCAR sunscreen and toothbrushes"


Nascar fans, what can I say? Is this even newsworthy though? It's always interesting how the driver themselves become their own brand, which ties in with their brand sponsor... I'd like to see that, something on the marketing of Nascar drivers. Well, maybe.

In another "WTF" moment, somehow UNC Charlotte's own Clay Aiken is the #4 most searched for item on the web, according to this list here . That's above Britney Spears, Dragonball, Harry Potter, the Atkins Diet, and Pamela Anderson. Of course, the Nick Berg video is #1. Which is just sad. Let the man rest in peace I say.

Killin' Em
I finally watched Kill Bill the other night, and being a big action movie fan, I had my expectations running pretty high. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite the mind-blowing action revelation that I was hoping for, although I will hold final judgement on the film until I've seen part 2. I don't know, maybe because I never "got" Tarantino films (Pulp Fiction- good, but great?) And it was so violent, in fact, that it cut into my enjoyment of the action- turns out that the Japanese cut of the film is even bloodier than the US one. And this is coming from a John Woo veteran. It really did make me think about how violent movies should be, and that's a first for me. I understand the stylistic reasons behind it, but for some reason that line of argument doesn't impress me enough with this time.

Going to watch Vol. 2 when I get back to the States. And if any of you bloodthirsty types want to see the Japanese version (remember, no subtitles for the Japanese language!, at least in the one that I watched), let me know and I'll pick it up.

Oh, one more thing
Congratulations to the (former) perennial laughingstocks Calgary Flames and Tampa Bay Lightning on making it to the Stanley Cup finals. Good to see the little guys (and a Canadian team) get some shine. It'll be interesting to see this tough Canadian town going up against possibly the least natural place for hockey on earth. Well, it will make for good sports editorial page fodder at least.

My weekend
I went to a baseball game in Yokohama on Saturday. It was pretty cold and rained for a little bit, and the game ended up running for 5 hours and 40 minutes, but I still had a good time and the game ended with a walk-off homer, which is always exciting. Fans here are pretty crazy, both teams had a large fan section with a small band, huge flags, guys at the front leading the cheers, and general craziness. Maybe I can get some videos up soon that I took.

Also, as a bit of an aside, anyone out there with extensive knowledge of movie Westerns?