Thank you, Rogers. There's nothing I love more than being in an elevator, or some other such confined space, with a loudmouth dickwad whose ear and mouth is permanently fused to his cell phone. If it wasn't for your magical elevator-penetrating cell phone reception, how else would I know that the guy standing next to me is super-important? So important, in fact, that his important input is so importantly crucial to whatever big important project he's working on that the very important people to whom he's talking cannot bear to wait a whole half-minute to hear his important guy voice again while he rides the elevator. And, since he is so important that he doesn't need to be considerate of whether or not the other people in the elevator want to hear his side of the conversation, that must mean that he has a huge penis.
If I was the other guy in the elevator, I would be staring at him too. But not in awe. I would be looking at him just so I can see where his balls are so I can plant my foot in them to end his inconsiderate blathering.
THAT "YO MAMA" TEXT MESSAGE AD.
Yo' mama is so stupid that she listened to the "Text the word YO!" commercial and now pays $30 a month to get a lame "Yo Mama" joke text message sent to her cell phone every day, even though you can find millions of "Yo Mama" jokes for free on the Internet.
THIS ONE MAZDA COMMERCIAL
It's mostly just a standard car commercial, but it has this one line that rubs me the wrong way; (paraphrasing from memory) "Think of the car you want to drive... the car you really want to drive." But Mazda doesn't make sleek, superfast Italian cars with a yellow emblem with a black prancing horse on the hood. I don't see a Ferrari anywhere in that commercial, therefore the commercial is a lie.
Even if you don't like Ferraris as much as I do, are there any kids who, when asked of their dream car, say, (Rush Limbaugh fake kid voice), "Mommy, mommy, when I grow up, I want to drive a Mazda!" I don't think Mazda's even that popular a brand with the "Ricer" crowd... they seem to prefer cars like the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo or the Subaru Impreza.
Today is (or "was", since March 30th is over in Japan) über-anime-voice-actress Megumi Hayashibara's 40th birthday. Megumi Hayashibara is the most prolific and probably best know of all Japanese seiyuu (voice actors and actresses).
North American anime fans probably know her best for one of the following four roles:
Ranma-chan (girl-type Ranma Saotome) from Ranma ½.
Lina Inverse from Slayers
Faye Valentine from Cowboy Bebop,
Rei Ayanami from Neon Genesis Evangelion.
And that's only scratching the surface of her resumé. She was also the voice of Atsuko "Nuku Nuku" Natsume in All-Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku, Pai in 3x3 Eyes, and Ai Amano in Video Girl AI, to name just three more of her title/main character roles, and she will soon be heard as the voice of Atsuko Chiba in Satoshi Kon's Paprika.
I also like her work in many female supporting character roles such as Achika Masaki (Tenchi's mother in the TV series continuity) in Tenchi the Movie: Tenchi Muyo in Love, and Christina Mackenzie in Gundam 0080: A War in the Pocket.
Megumi is also a successful J-pop singer, a radio show host, a registered nurse, and a wife and mother. Happy 40th birthday, Megumi!(I hope you enjoy being middle-aged! )
TOP 10 FAVOURITE CARS AT THE OTTAWA-GATINEAU AUTOSHOW.
So I went to the Ottawa-Gatineau Autoshow last Thursday... it was the second car show that I've been to in my life (the first was in Montreal in 2001, an event where I'm very, very annoyed that I didn't think of taking pictures), and it was fun... nothing really worth writing a narrative about. I showed up at the Ottawa Congress Centre, looked at cars, took a lot of pictures, and left. My only real annoyance, other than a near total lack of the "booth babes" you get at Japanese auto shows (Hyundai had a couple of young women, though not wearing anything tight or skimpy), was the total absence of Ferrari at the event, though I suspect my beef there is with Ferrari/Maserati of Montreal not thinking Ottawans are worthy enough to gaze upon their exquisite horseless carriages and not with the Ottawa-Gatineau Autoshow.
Here are my photographic highlights:
Certainly, the main attraction for me in the absence of any Ferraris was to see a honest-to-god fully-restored original Shelby Cobra 427. As far as I can tell, it's an original and not one of the thousands of licensed kit-built replicas (it says "Ford" on the side plate), and it's great to see a Shelby Cobra that has a rear end, unlike those front-end-only Cobra replicas that WirelessWave cell phone stores use for attention-grabbing displays.
This silver first-generation Chevy Camaro was totally badass.
As was this Ford Mustang Mach 1.
And this 1970 Dodge Challenger, one Challenger I truly want to see "go at throttle up".
The Porsche 911 Targa 4 is the happiest-looking Porsche ever created. Its anthropomorphic "face" looks like the mutant offspring of Lightning McQueen and Sally Porsche, and would kind of look like Pikachu if you painted it yellow with red cheeks.
Ford had its A-list out.
The Ford GT in cherry red with white racing stripes, just the way I have it in Gran Turismo 4 and now Test Drive Unlimited (which has the expensive Ferrari license on the XBox 360 but not in the Playstation 2 version, grrr...)
Ferrari/Maserati of Montreal might not have been interested in making the two-hour trip west, but John Scotti of Montreal's John Scotti Automotive did, bringing the "exotic" component of the show.
A gaggle of Lamborghini Gallardo and Murciélago cars. Yes, I know Lamborghini uses a bull as the logo, so I should probably say "a pen of Lamborghinis" or "a herd of Lamborghinis", but I think "gaggle" rolls off the tongue better.
And some Lotus Elise Exige cars in red and yellow.
Check the first damn post, though I'm not at the animation college anymore.
January 2005: Moved to Ottawa in December 2004. Not currently in college at all, though I will try and enroll for this autumn somehow.
