Sunday, September 26, 2010

09.26.2010 SPOKEN!:村上佳菜子

新たなスケートシーズンが始まったということはスケート関係の番組も増え始めるということです。この「SPOKEN!」で浅田真央第二と言われている村上佳菜子選手の性格や笑顔を見ることが出来ました。

この天真爛漫な感じはどこから生まれているのでしょう?山田満知子コーチの影響ですかね?15歳だからという訳だけではないと思います。もう二十歳の真央ちゃんのように、佳菜子ちゃんも笑顔いっぱいで、気取っていることが全くありません。

 可愛い2人!

名古屋市科学館で一日館長を務めた佳菜子ちゃんは他の子供達と遊んで、科学館の色々を体験して楽しんでいました。











スケートにも佳菜子ちゃんの性格が現れているようです。昨シーズンのジュニアグランプリファイナルで、FSのステップシークエンスの間でまさかの転倒をしてしまいました。それ以外、演技はほぼパーフェクトだったので、本当に佳菜子ちゃんに取っては悔しかったと思いますけれど、プログラムが終わったら顔にこんな表情:

笑うしかない?
荒川静香選手がトリノで着ていた衣装に似てますね、可愛い^_^
優勝お目出度うございます!

山田コーチもこのような評価をしていました:

眼鏡代えましたか?

そして、リンクから離れるとまた普通な女子高生になる佳菜子ちゃん:

理想の男の条件ww

シニアデビュー、頑張って下さい!

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Weird Encounters Are Genetic

So for whatever reason, I tend to have a lot of weird, random encounters with strangers or near-strangers. Take, for example, almost every job interview I've ever had. In the interest of not damaging any professional potential I might have, I'll leave those out for now. I also met a strange man who told me about his Korean lady companion who was suffering from stomach cancer that was quite obviously caused by MSG. Oh, and by the way, he writes a lot of poems, so I should stop by his place of work someday and pick up a volume. I suppose that is a story I could get into if I ever feel so inclined.

Anyway, I wasn't sure if these kinds of things happen to everyone, but now at least I know they also happen to my mother (even if it's just once):
Taxi Driver: Where are you from?
Mother: Japan.
Taxi Driver: Ah. I'm from Suriname. So do you play the piano?
Mother: No... but my children do.
Taxi Driver: Ah. All Japanese people play the piano. I know this because my girlfriend is Japanese. We see each other once a year! But soon we will get married.

Feeding the Self

Having my own apartment is lots of fun.  The rent and utilities and all that are a little less fun, but I'm pretty sure they're outweighed by the freedom and intriguing responsibility and yeah... freedom. In an effort to keep myself alive and healthy I've been trying to cook meals that incorporate as many vegetables as possible so that I can consume them before they spoil. Yes, the better idea would be to not buy as many groceries at once, but my parents left me with enough food to feed my entire lab for a week, so here we are.

This one was (too) easy--365 Classic Tomato Sauce with chopped ham, green peppers, and onions to give it some extra flavor. My sister doesn't like multigrain pasta, but personally I am a fan.

Needing to get rid of some 青梗菜 (baby bok choy?), I started hunting around Cookpad. Japanese housewives never fail me! I sort of messed up the order of the steps in the recipe, but in the end everything turned out all right. The spaghetti got a little soft because of the excess water from the baby bok choy, which would have been avoided if I'd boiled the vegetable at the right time, but whatever. I couldn't really taste the ginger that several of the reviewers were raving about, though.

This was an even more desperate move to try to beat the bacteria and molds to my vegetables. A while back I remembered seeing a 白菜 (bok choy?) and pork hot pot dish on one of 嵐's shows, and it looked super easy (after all, it was a bunch of guys cooking) so I decided to give it a try. The original recipe called for a 土鍋 (clay pot?) and alternating layers of pork and bok choy carefully arranged to look like flower petals, so obviously I used a stainless steel pot with vertically stacked layers of pork, bok choy, もやし (bean sprouts?), and えのき (umm... small white mushrooms?). In the end I came to the realization that this was basically a hot pot glorified by five idols, and entirely inappropriate for 70-80F weather. Oh well.

My biggest problem, obviously, is that I do not know how to cook in English, as was discovered on a day I would now very much like to forget.

09.16.2010 vs嵐:「海猿」 + 綾小路翔

お待たせしました、、、中々最初のフォーリングパイプが見つからなくて、一週間以上掛かりました。今週の対戦ゲストは「海猿」のキャストでした:

佐藤隆太さん、、、金髪?

このチームのトークのグダグダさから皆の仲の良さが伝わってきました。楽しそう〜 と言うか、「海猿」チームではなく、「〜藤」チームではないですか?

プラスワンゲストはオーラが凄い綾小路翔さんでした:


今回はフォーリングパイプで始まりました。まずは「海猿」チームの伊藤英明さんがキャッチ、嵐チームの相葉くんがチョイスをしました。実は番組が始まる前から伊藤さんは相葉くんに連番を選ぶようにプレッシャー掛けてたらしいです。相葉くんはそれを呑むことにしたが、その代わり伊藤さんはモノマネをしなければいけないと。Hrm、、、

相葉くんは最初「仲村トオルさんのモノマネ」と言いましたが、伊藤さんによるとそれは佐藤さんの方が上手らしい。自ら伊藤さんは田中邦衛さんのモノマネをすると言いました。

佐藤さんのモノマネに対する反応はイマイチでした。ww伊藤さんは集中していて駆け引き20秒の間はモノマネをしませんでしたが、それに関わらずダブルキャッチにはなりませんでした。


パイプキャッチで生まれた絆?

反対の対決は吹石一恵さん対翔くんでした。今までこの2人は何回も共演したことがあるので、吹石さんは翔くんの弱点や裏話を沢山知っていると期待されていました。そうした中で翔くんは「感が鋭い男だ」と言い張ってました。wwしかし、吹石さんが選んだパイプと翔くんの予想は:


翔くんはこの予想には完全な自信を持っていなかったようでちょっと戸惑っていましたが、チームの後の5人は「感が鋭い男だと言っただろ」と言って許しませんでした。普通は一言も喋らないリーダーまで加わりました:

皆ショック!

吹石さんは何も言わずにタイムが始まった瞬間にパイプを落しました。でもどうにか翔くんは予想の2番を掴みました。

トークがなくてがっかりしている翔くん、、、

(嵐 50点、海猿 30点)

次のゲームはローリングコインタワーでした。嵐の代表は松潤と綾小路さんで、「海猿」チームの代表は佐藤さんと加藤あいさんでした。前回、大島美幸さんが7〜8周が視聴者に取って一番面白いと言っていたが、今回は三週目で松潤が倒してしまいました。


一枚目を置いた時からタワーが倒れると分かった松潤は「無理有り二枚目で押さえたんですけど」ww

押さえようとしてたまま

(嵐 125点、海猿 245点)

第三ステージはクリフクライムでした。先攻の嵐チームのクライマーは大の仲良しなリーダーとニノで、サポーターは翔くんと綾小路さんでした。始まる前からリーダーとニノがまさかの喧嘩:


実は最初に登る人が割と楽なコースで上に上がれて、後に登る人はネズミ返しを通らなければいけませんでした。

綾小路さんはジャンケンで決めるべきだと言ったので:

リーダーの勝ち!

登る前に翔くんが海と釣りが大好きなリーダーは海猿だとか言いました。リーダーの返事が最高:









ちょっとグリップのパスにミスがありましたが、リーダーは無事に上まで上がりました。しかし、それを見て興奮し過ぎた翔くんは間違えてグリップを離してしまいました:








ニノ、危ない!ww

ニノは途中まで登って行きましたが、最後は翔くんが苦手なネズミ返しで止まってしまいました。でも、翔くんと違って、ニノはそこから飛び上がって50のボタンを押しながら下りてきました。カッコイイ〜


後攻の「海猿」チームのクライマーは伊藤さんと加藤雅也さんで、サポーターは加藤あいさんと鶴見さんでした。始まる前に「海猿」の撮影中にしたトレーニングの話もちょっとしてくれました。息止めやウェイトを持ちながら15分立ち泳ぎなどの練習を行なったそうです。


ライム中は特にハプニングがなく終わりました。

(嵐 210点、海猿 220点)

この段階で未だ嵐チームが負けている状態でジャイアントクラッシュを迎えました。


先攻の嵐チームは何故か松潤以外全員モニターの方に集まっていました。松潤一人のアドバイスで3本選びました。「海猿」チームも同じように3本選びました。

酸素ボンベでバランスが複雑になっていたかもしれませんが、根本的にはこのジャイアントは大きいフリッパー二つに均等に重さを支えられていたと見えました。なので、二回目のターンで何故「海猿」チームが2本下ろしてからパスしたかが良く分かりません。

青もう一本!

松潤だけが台に登るシステムでやり続けた嵐チームは早速その青いブロックを下げてから、松潤の意欲に従って後もう少し攻めることにしました。

危なかったけれど、奇跡が起こりました!

この後「海猿」チームが何を選んでもジャイアントはクラッシュしたでしょう。

(嵐 190点、海猿 50点)

最後の対決は勿論バウンドホッケー!逆転された「海猿」チームが先攻でした。しかし、差はたった30点で、 今回もゲストチームがブルーパック3枚で嵐チームは1枚だったので、接戦としか言えませんでした。ゲストチームの6人は140点分ゴールに入れました。ゲッターは金髪がイマイチ似合わない佐藤さんでした。










なので、嵐チームが120点獲得すれば勝利となることになりました。綾小路さんからちょっと意味不明の声援もありました:










綾小路さんの2−ゴール活躍に次いで、130点入れられたので、嵐の勝ちでした!

(嵐 130点、海猿 140点)

対戦が終わった後の最後の集まりで:










そして、綾小路さんの賞品は学ランの生地:



ツアーのファイナルまでにはこの生地を使って衣装を作りたいとか、、、

(合計 嵐 705点、海猿 685点)

Friday, September 24, 2010

10 Things I Cannot Deal With

Sorry, one thing about this blog that I've tried to maintain is to not become self-indulgent, but this week has been a little trying at best and now I need to make a list of the offenders.
  1. Construction that starts at 9 PM. I'm sorry, I know that traffic is heavy and uncompromisable, since ambulances are driving by at all hours of the day, but starting a drilling project at 9 PM is just not okay. Drilling is annoying no matter what time it is, but 9 PM-midnight? I don't think so.
  2. The infernal water dripping outside my window and onto the cooling unit. This started a few days ago and if I actually ever watched horror movies I would be convinced it was someone slowly trying to tap their way into my apartment. But no, it is water dripping from the story above (or maybe higher up and that). It drips and taps all. day. long. Where is this water coming from?! Am I the only person whose apartment is affected? Drip. Tap. Drip.
  3. Heavy traffic that starts at 6:30 AM. Again, I know that ambulances are pretty much uncompromisable and that medical emergencies follow no sort of clock, but it would be much appreciated if I weren't woken up by cars and trucks at least an hour before my alarm clock goes off.
  4. People who invade my dreams. This is no one's fault, I guess, because it's not like anyone can actively enter someone else's dreams (maybe I should watch Inception to get a better feel for this), but for once I would like to wake up not upset. If you have left my life, then you also need to leave my dreams. Or, conversely, if you are going to stay in my dreams, then you need to come back into my life, and properly.
  5. Negative emotions. Apparently "having emotions is part of being a good person." Maybe that's true, but at this point it seems like an awfully poor trade-off. The bad people seem to have quite a lot going for them these days. I could always just stop thinking, but it appears that I can't actually do that.
  6. People who talk too fast and too much.
  7. People who yap loudly in an aurally offensive language next to my desk.
  8. People who do not change their addresses in a timely manner. I do not want your junk mail or your catalogs. I do not want to receive your credit card bills and membership notices. I do not want to be held responsible for your mail. You did not decide to move overnight, so change your damn address.
  9. Incompetence at HR. When I put in a mailing address separate from my permanent home address, it means that all mail should be sent to the mailing address. Therefore, my paychecks should be sent to my mailing address, and not, say, my parents' house in another state.
  10. The government. Let's just say that my tax refund cannot come fast enough.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Yes, Please


His blond hair is wonderfully out of place. Clearly I am just going to ignore the electric guitar, hah.

The katana-in-a-guitar was horribly gimmicky, but I love this music video. And usually I don't even understand why half of them were made.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Nebelhorn Love

Nebelhorn Nebelhorn Nebelhorn! I usually don't get anywhere near this excited for the Nebelhorn Trophy (despite its awesome name--that was the real reason I had to write it four times in the first two sentences, obviously) because it generally showcases new talent that I don't yet care about or older talent that just isn't making it elsewhere. This year, however, there are some aspects to this competition that make it quite intriguing.

In terms of competitors, I am a little mystified that there are no Japanese ladies, as I am sure there is no shortage of girls who dream of becoming the next Mao Asada. Even Kanako Murakami could probably benefit from competing here and getting some early feedback as a senior. There is also only one Japanese male competing, which is also a little odd because there must be many boys out there who think Daisuke Takahashi is really, really cool. Heh.

So in terms of competitors actually competing, I am very excited to see how Felicia Zhang & Taylor Toth and Maia & Alex Shibutani do. They have both moved up to seniors for the first time this season, and sadly history has shown that junior success does not necessarily mean senior success. I have confidence that these two teams have the talent and commitment to pull the transition off, but I do need to see it happen! In addition to seeing where they stand in relation to other senior teams, I'm also eager to just watch their new programs--if I did a little research I could at least know what music they are using, but my Internet is being uncooperative and I think I kind of like being surprised.

Have I said this already? Kevin Van der Perren needs to retire as soon as possible. I should start making a list of skaters who need to retire. So far on this list are Kevin, Fumie Suguri, Rena Inoue & John Baldwin, and possibly Alissa Czisny and Miki Ando. I can understand why Alissa and Miki have decided to continue, but I honestly can't see them getting anywhere that she hasn't been already (or to get where they have already--such as the National and World titles, respectively). Oh, and Rachael Flatt. Please.

The dance field is pretty full (I am not really sure what the rules for entry are here), and includes Anna Cappellini & Luca Lanotte and Nathalie Pechelat & Fabian Bourzat. Hrm. How did I just only now realize that Anna's name means "angel hair pasta"? Anyway, those are two solid top-10 teams that really have no business competing at Nebelhorn, although perhaps they aren't scheduled to compete until the end of the Grand Prix circuit, in which case it would make sense that they would want some earlier feedback and competition. At any rate, it will be interesting to see how the Short Dance (ugh) is performed by some top teams.

Let the season begin! :)