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Squared Sevens Blogging Corp.
Sunday, 8 August 2004
Frohman's first DVD Review
Well, I'd like to talk about some junk that I acquired recently, so I can help others with their buying decisions. The big purchase that I got recently was the Indiana Jones DVD box set. Like any other grown-up kid I've been a fan of Indy for a long time. His outlandish adventures and the classic character of Indy himself always provide an outstanding movie experience.

However, being a Lucasfilm entity, I approached the box set with guarded enthusiasm. As everyone knows now, Good Ol' Beardy McBeard is more than willing to change (i.e. ruin) everything people have loved about his movies. Just mention "Greedo shoots first" to any Star Wars fan and check their facial expression to see what I mean. Fortunately, everything more or less remains intact. The picture and sound quality on these DVDs are both dynamite. The movies are sharp and full of details, and Indy's whip never sounded better. So, in that respect, this is the best way you're going to be able to watch the Indy movies short of a movie theater.

Now, on to the special features, a crucial part of the DVD experience. Frankly, I was a little let down on this part-the content is solid, but overall I missed out on the "behind the scenes/insider" feel that makes DVD Special Features so great. What you get is a Full 4th DVD of Special Features, but they are only slickly edited features and documentaries- these are all well done, but make no mistake there is plenty of self-praise involved, and the whole process goes a long way towards making everyone involved looked good.

There are no outtakes, deleted scenes, commentaries, or in-depth interviews- the way that I saw it, nothing that would make Speilberg, Lucas, or the rest of the crew look bad. Maybe I'm too hard on them, but I saw the lack of deleted scenes as a way of almost saying we never made a mistake on these films- a sort of arrogance and hubris and that I've come to dislike increasingly.

So overall, Indy fans should still get these DVDs as the overall presentation and quality of the films stands up over time, although I still have nit-picky complaints about each one (The ending of Raiders, trying to make Temple of Doom a horror film, the lack of risk-taking in Crusade). Just don't expect, like I did, any earth-shattering special features. And yes, I know that this DVD set came out like 9 months ago. Cut me some slack, ok?

Posted by nc/frodaddy at 12:05 PM EDT
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Tuesday, 3 August 2004
DSL is slow, folks
In other news, Dave Chapelle (Of Chapelle Show and Robin Hood: Men in Tights fame) recently reupped with Comedy Central for $50 million dollars! Phew! That's a lot of dough, but I think the guy deserves it, he's truly funny.

One thing that I'm glad to see back in the States is some beautiful blue skies and panoramic views again. See, Japan has probably the world's most ugly, jumbled and disorganized power line system. Concrete poles stand out about every 10 feet or so (I mean that literally) with dozens of power lines running any which way. It ain't pretty, and I have no idea why people put up with it.

It might have something to do with the fact that power lines are practically never buried in Japan, something discussed in length in Alex Kerr's book "Dogs and Demons" (a good read for Japanophiles). It's a real shame too, because from practically anywhere on the islands there are majestic mountain views to be seen. Anyway, it's good to look up now and see skies and night stars, and not a cobweb of power lines in the way. Living on the lake doesn't hurt either, of course.

Posted by nc/frodaddy at 8:30 PM EDT
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Sunday, 1 August 2004
Mike Mike Mike
You bought these Haichews to give away as gifts, but sure enough you just eat them all for yourself. Of Course.

In other news, Mike Tyson got beat pretty badly by some guy. I saw the fight, I couldn't believe it at first, but we shouldn't have been surprised. First of all, the guy is 38 years old. I mean, that's old. People still have this invincable image of him for some reason, I think that's pretty much all but gone now though.

Good news, I bought NFL 2K5 for about 17 bucks, which is just incredible. They're practically giving this game away, folks. And the rest of the game is as good as the price, my only problem is that I suck at passing and throw way too many interceptions. Other than that, I'm having a great time.

Finally, about the last post, I didn't mean for it to come off as negative or complaining, but I guess that it did. It was just an observation that I had made, nothing more, nothing less. And, that's about it.

Posted by nc/frodaddy at 10:11 AM EDT
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Friday, 30 July 2004
Frohman's Special Thoughts
Well, I'm back in the United States. Everything is in English, I know what all the foods are, I know what to do and where everything is, I have car transporation to anywhere. I guess that it's pretty solid overall, but I definitely want go back to Japan soon. I mean, I left a lot of people that I like behind there. But, I like my family, and my car, and my house. But life in Japan is so much more interesting. Yet, life in NC is more relaxing. See where I'm going with this? I could go either way. Bottom line- it's great to be home, but gotta to go back to Japan someday.

My goal of this trip was to be challenged and rewarded, and I definitely think that happened in the past year. I handled a lot of crazy situations, and improved my Japanese, so that's not too bad at all. I wanted to go to a foreign country for the first time, and also get a chance to see the USA from a new perspective after living in another country for a while.

And after coming back from Japan, my first observation was, Why do we need such big things in America? Why do we need such huge sodas? Huge cars? Cable with 60 channels? Big Houses? Big people? Big roads? I'm not questioning the reason for their existence, just why does everything have to be so big here? Hope I'm not complaining to much, but this is just what I've noticed since coming back.

Posted by nc/frodaddy at 5:08 PM EDT
Updated: Friday, 30 July 2004 5:19 PM EDT
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Monday, 26 July 2004
Back in THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Hello readers, I made it back to North Carolina safe and sound, and in one piece. Had a nice long layoff at Houston Airport, and had to throw out a bunch of junk from my luggage at Narita, but other than that a pretty pleasant trip. Got home, and had Taco Bell, which was nice. Not much else gonna get done today I think. Tomorrow, I'll get something done. I swear. Send me some email people!

Posted by nc/frodaddy at 7:48 PM EDT
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Friday, 16 July 2004
What's going on here
A lot, actually. I bit the bullet and laid down the cash for Spiderman 2, must say that I don't regret it at all. Some finals down, some more still to go. Got a part time job, 6 page report, fireworks, meeting host family, gift buying, packing, canceling the cell phone, and Tokyo trips to attend to, so it's going to be quiet around here. Probably. As usual, I'll update when I can. Departure date is July 25.

Posted by nc/frodaddy at 3:09 AM EDT
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Friday, 9 July 2004
Canton, OH will determine the future of this country
No, really. According this article, it comes down to who wins Stark County, Kerry or Bush. With extra added intrigue of Timken as well! Exciting.

Apologies to all that don't live/have never been to Canton, OH.

In news that's also got me excited, there's gonna be another series of Famicom Mini games! Click!! Too bad I'm not going to be here to blow all my cash on it though. I'll find a way to pick them up somehow though.

Posted by nc/frodaddy at 12:11 AM EDT
Updated: Friday, 9 July 2004 12:14 AM EDT
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Thursday, 8 July 2004
It's HOT out there
July as come, and with it the crazy summer heat. Take this from a veteran of sticky North Carolina summers, this is rough. It's so hot, I'm sweating on the inside. And the cool (well, not cool) thing about Japan is that it doesn't cool down at night! Yep, that's right, at about 11:30 last night the temperature was still 28 celsuis with 110% humidity. No wonder people walk around here with towels all the time. Well, at least the trains are air conditioned.

In other news, with the end of the school year and the end of my trip in Japan coming up, I'm going to be pretty busy with assignments/errands/social events, etc., So don't count on too many frequent posts for awhile. I'll try to update when I see or do something interesting though. Later.

Posted by nc/frodaddy at 12:24 AM EDT
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Tuesday, 6 July 2004
10 Years after
I don't know if you've ever seen the documentary movie "Hoop Dreams", but even if you don't like basketball at all I recommend that you do. It's probably the most compelling movie that I've ever seen, and you're totally there in a movie full of twists and turns, successes and defeats. And to top all of it off, for better for worse, it happened for real.

So, a decade after the release of the movie, the Washington Post has done a follow-up on the charachters involved, why don't you check it out and then watch the movie? Or better yet, watch it first then read the article? Just make sure you watch the movie, above all else.

Link Here

Posted by nc/frodaddy at 3:49 AM EDT
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Sunday, 4 July 2004
My 4th of July in Japan
It's been interesting to be in Japan during all the major American holidays, and see what it's like over here. Thanksgiving, Halloween, and Easter were no-shows, Christmas was just an excuse for department store sales and to decorate the town, and New Year's was a blast. Couples do stuff for Valentine's day, but I don't remember what exactly- I think you just buy chocolate for your loved one or something.

That leads up to the Fourth of July, which has become one of my more favorite holidays recently. For obvious reasons it isn't celebrated here, except on military bases. I didn't get on base this time, and we kind of got in trouble for fireworks earlier this year, so options were limited.

What I ended up doing was going to the "tanabata" festival. It has to do with the Milky Way, or something along those lines, but more or less it was thousands of people strolling around, eating Japanese fair food from stalls, and looking at extravagant laterns. Maybe I'll have some pictures up soon. It was pretty cool all around, especially with many people dressed up in yukata (summer kimonos). So, it wasn't exactly patriotic, but I did do something interesting on the Fourth of July this year.

Hope that everyone had a good Independence Day. Drop a line and let me know what you did.

Posted by nc/frodaddy at 11:18 PM EDT
Updated: Sunday, 4 July 2004 11:50 PM EDT
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