the coolest nerd

I’ve been eating a lot of ramen lately, it being cold and all. I can easily say that I’ve eaten more ramen this month than all of last year. I even made a trek to Santa Ramen down in San Mateo — and was surprised to see a line of twenty people waiting — and it wasn’t going to open for half an hour!

After a few trips, I sat there wondering if there were some sort of etiquette to it, sort of like sushi — and well, the magic tubes of the internets never seems to disappoint. Watch and learn! (Submitted by the Chairman) (The video is from Tampopo, the movie in which Tanpopo is named after)

I thought long and hard about what kind of wheels would really go on a yellow Miata. It was a long and tough decision but I think I found the *perfect* ones.

Ronal Bear wheels! What do you think? Super pimp right?

There is no other TV series that is more precious to me than Macross (マクロス). I even enjoyed those parts that are lambasted by most; Macross II (isn’t considered canon) and Macross 7 (kiddy and repetitive). As a kid, Robotech introduced a generation to mecha and is “frequently credited as the series that helped spur a greater American interest in Japanese animation, leading to the current anime industry in North America.” Now I don’t consider myself an otaku, but I love all things related to Macross. I’ve bought numerous copies of the show, soundtracks, and even still collect some of the toys.

That said, I don’t like Macross Frontier (マクロス F). It started airing in Japan just a few weeks ago, and coincides with the 25th anniversary of the original series. I’ve only seen the first episode, so it’s a bit early to start complaining, but it suffers from a lot of the same issues that I find with current day anime. Unlikeable, somewhat anonymous characters (especially the enemy, they look like something out of Neon Genesis Evangelion), annoying kids (Air Gear), and well, it’s following it’s preceding shows a bit too closely. Just how many concerts are going to be uninterrupted by alien invasion?

There is a lot to like though, and I will continue to watch — it has some amazing visuals and it’s soundtrack is composed by Yoko Kanno, one of my favorite composers of all time. If you’re curious, you can easily find an English dubbed copy from various sources online. I really hope it improves.

What a fun new years party. Thanks to Anna and Ning for providing excellent service as always and for getting us a table. Neil supplied most of the photos taken that night. I was slacking off — I probably should carry my small camera for situations like this. It’s hard to maneuver right with a range finder style camera.

It was such a special occasion that even the Chairman made an appearance!

I can only speak for myself but I could probably say that fun was had by all. If I learned anything from NYE, it’s that nine bottles of cheap champagne is bad news. (-_-);;  I’ve had enough to last the entire year!  I’m glad I got that out of my system early this year.

There are 88 photos in the gallery below. Enjoy.

[View with PicLens]

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