Cosmic Buddha's Moblog

Hitogomi

The betting floor at WINS just before the big race.

Betting rag

"Horse"

Scarecrowcrow

A stuffed crow sold to farmers to keep real crows away from the rice harvest.

Fuzzy Primate

Bad monkey.

Mer Bear

My little sis.

Glico Curry

Foil pouch type curry, retro design.

HIMAWARI

Ha! After those last posts, we need some happyhappyjoyjoy around here! LOOK AT THIS PIC! UNBEREAVABLE (Interestingly enough, this oft-heard-on-Jap-TV-pronunciation could be an actual word if spelled like this.)!

Two words are the reason for my joy regarding this photo: No filters.

And no, I am not referring to my work for tobacco companies.

Although my phone does have photo editing capabilities, in fact it's a virtual "Photoshop XLE" (sorry for the geek reference), I have not - to this point - employed any graphis filters or otherwise done any editing to the photos on this moblog. Mainly because it's hard enough to get good photos as is. These photos are hard enough to see cuz they're SO DAMN SMALL that a solarized image of my car just might end up being mistaken for, say, a picture of Gray Davis orally gratifying Ann Coulter at the Pirates of the Caribbean (ride, not movie).

Having said that, I will have to experiment more with my phone and post some edited pics here as long as there's no danger of being accused of posting cyberfelch.

Then again, Net Nanny hates me anyway.

Phallic Awajishima

Stephanie, being French, immediately declared this warming dish phallic. "African chinchin" I believe she said. But in the presence of others in the big dining space at Miketsukuni, a minute from my house, we rephrased it to be a bit more PC. "Awajiesque."

Abuse

Someone is getting their ass kicked, and it ain't the man of the house - or is it?

All the characters and events portrayed in this post are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental, notwithstandingwhichhowever.

Kuroneko

Kuroneko Yamato no Takkyubin - The OG Japanese delivery service

Maguro no Magure

To me, this picture is more ironic than funny, but let's try you first: This is a reheatable foil pouch containing a single seving of Tuna Curry.

There. Get it? I'm a loser who spends time taking pictures of every strange package in the supermarket on weekends instead of being productive. Funny, right? Yeah, go fuck a duck, pal.
(Inside my head, the taunting voice recedes.)

Well actually, this photo is a memento of sorts. You see, Nam and I are trying to eat more fish, which I am morally against since I am a strict vegetarian when it comes to most fish... Well, it's not that bad. We eat fish at least 2-3 times a week. But we wanted more variety, so I suggested trying to make curry with fish instead of meat, since I had eaten good fish curry in Bangkok before. It was a yellow curry with a nice non-oily fish (my favorite type). Not as good as a meat curry, but probably healthier. Well, Nam ended up making this masterpiece which scared the hell out of me when I saw it, but tasted pretty good. She made a red curry with SALMON. When I first saw those pink chunks in our curry bowl, I thought "sacrilege!" and "thoughtcrime!" But it turned out tasting pretty good (Kinda gross for brekky, though.). Nam said we should try making it next time with tuna or some other "meaty" fish.

Lo and behold! Some company already thought of it. A miracle. But not miraculous enough for me to buy it at 490 yen per package. We'll make our own fish curry, thank you very much.

The Italian Job

The Italian joint inside the hotel had an all-you-can-eat deal for 1600 yen. On the expensive side for lunch, but there was a good looking spread as viewed from the cash register where we Please Waited for a Hostess to Seat Us.

Now, I should have been dismayed at the fact that the first three entrees in the buffet line were markedly un-Italian (chow mein, fried rice, egg rolls), but I have been in Japan too long for shit like that to faze me. I piled up heaps of "Me Chinese" food next to pasta, salads, and sea bass cause I had built up an appetite making fun of posters in the elevator ride up (no pics, unfortunately).

The food looked pretty good and my stomach was rumbling as I raced to our table with my spread. Taro and I ate pretty much in silence, because we were still slightly hungover and we were stuffing ourselves. It was a full five minutes until we both remarked on how flavorless the food was. We had been fooled by the presentation of the buffet, nice decor, and efficient staff, and unwittingly stuffed ourselves with the Japanese equivalent of Shitty Buffet Food. The photo shows a plate of mini cheesecakes that I arranged nicely on a plate. This unfortunately did not disguise the fact that they tasted like sawdusty cream cheese lumps.

I would stretch the rant longer, but I am working on self-control recently, and really, is there any better revenge than letting the Shitty Italian Restaurant in the Mitsui Garden Hotel (Nara Branch) underspice its pathetic, bland way into obscurity with much help from its obviously inept, untalented, and most definitely un-Italian chefs & planning staff? Oh yeah, I guess I could always SLANDER IT ON THE INTERNET.

Props out to Al Gore for inventing this shit.

Sidestepper

Taken at BUTTU BAR, Osaka, in hallway to restrooms. Damn, do I have a toilet fixation or what?

Guavas

Rows of Tamanegi

Calf

DETHMOR

Korosi ni

The Ring (CG cut)

The Ring

Char Siu Men

Laotian Cowboy

Unclear Signs

Morning on the Dai-ni-Hanna

Rare Medium

Hope Was Closed