Eh-hum # 202

Yesterday, I experienced the longest four hours in my life.

My flight was delayed, and I arrived at the NAIA Terminal 2 at 1:45 pm Philippine time. It took me a while to find my luggage, thanks to all the confusion that was going on around me. Ahhhh, yes, I am indeed in Manila, a city that is completely different from Kobe. Since I only slept for around three hours before leaving the residence/dormitory, my head was throbbing like crazy. The noisy and crowded airport (the arrival area, at least) was not helping either. I was on the verge on declaring it a very bad day, when I saw a familiar face in the crowd. My dad's. And suddenly, I felt like crying.

And I did. I lost it when I saw my mother, who hugged me, and my brother who went out and helped me with my luggage. I remembered not crying when they dropped me off at the departure area exactly one year ago. Maybe it was relief, or that I did not realize how much I missed my family until I saw them again yesterday. One year was not that long and it amazes me how fast it all went by. But I guess one year alone in a foreign country is a big deal. There's nothing like having your family within arm's reach.

Despite of the traffic, the pollution, the endless bad news on TV, I can honestly say I am so happy to be back.

There's more. The kitchen that evening was a sight to behold. And then, my cousins came over and we had dinner together. It was crazy...and it only gets better.

Eh-hum # 201

Sigh.

If I have tons of money right now, I would go (preferably by Shinkansen) to Tokyo just to see Neil Gaiman in person.

And this, if I say so myself, is a really cool picture, featuring three respected, very-talented and amazing people huddled together (According to Mr Gaiman, he had to "digitally messed up this photo" to protect the potentially top secret Ghibli info around them):

(L to R: the Hayao Miyazaki, Neil Gaiman and Toshio Suzuki. Picture from http://www.neilgaiman.com/)

Eh-hum # 200

This seriously killed me.

Ahhhh. The genius that is Robin Williams, here featured in a popular British talk show (this is just part one, there's a part two). Enjoy!

By the way, its my 200th post. Cheers!

Eh-hum # 199

In three weeks time, I will be on my way back home.

I am dead excited. But quite stressed out with all the last-minute shopping, research work (yes, I should've done this last August. But I was busy...frolicking in Hiroshima and Kyushu. Hay) and packing. I hope I can have my balikbayan box shipped by next week, so that I won't have any problems with my luggage. Packing is proving to be tiresome and time-consuming; forgive me if in the next weeks I won't be able to update me blog. Most likely, my 200th post will be typed from the comfort of my bedroom in the Philippines.

***

Watching TV the other night proved to be a treat; I saw Utada Hikaru perform one of her latest singles, Beautiful World, live. More good news: I can actually understand some of the lyrics. Heh, those Japanese lessons are starting to pay off. The said song is the ending theme of episode one of Rebuild of Evangelion (a tetralogy of animated films in the hugely popular series Neon Genesis Evangelion). Has a really catchy tune and the song's message/mood (japanese and english lyrics), goes well with the new Evangelion film.

If you haven't heard the song, please watch the following video featuring the song and some clips from the movie. Enjoy!

Eh-hum # 198

And so it has come to pass.

Last Sunday (September 2) was the season finale of the comedy/musical series Flight of the Conchords. Getting my weekly fix of Bret and Jemaine's misadventures in New York city was a bit of a struggle since I don't have access to cable and the show is available to a limited number of countries (excluding Japan and the Philippines). Ergo, I had to rely entirely on YouTube for the episodes (read: copyright infringement) .

Now that the show has wrapped up, am sure the Kiwis will be taking a long deserved break. Nonetheless, will miss these guys and their equally weird and funny "mates" on the show. More importantly, I will miss their offbeat repartee and ingenious songs. But I guess, we will always have YouTube.

However, all is not lost.

I am happy to share that HBO has renewed FOTC for a second season. They will start shooting in 2008. And that's not all: season 1's DVD will be released on November 6 while the band's full-length album will be available January of next year. Good, if I am limited just to viral videos of them, I would definitely go mad (well, sort of).

They may not be the highest reated show on HBO, but they surely gained a cult following in the US (the birth of more "Mels"). So, in celebration of the Conchords' first flight into the competitive world that is American television, I give you the guys doing some serious "Angry Dancing". Enjoy!

Now you know why my I chose this template for my blog. Hehehe.