Things to do when you're bored

This is for Derrick. Or for his father-in-law...



Another Flash version can be found at YouTube here.

Old CalorieMate Commercial

Rough translation of Japanese dialogue:

Student 1: Aw, man, we've got another test tomorrow!
Student 2: To be ready in 24 hours is impossible isn't it?

(English dialogue)

Announcer: Real-time balanced nutrition. CalorieMate.

And yes, they made a whole "season" of these. Some were just text-only stories, though.

Holy #$¥!

I've been collecting various odd facts and witty stories lately, trying to decide what my next blog post should be, but this little bit of news took me by surprise.

Today, the exchange rate from yen to dollars fell to less than ¥96 per $1.00.

That's the lowest it's been since 1995.

I'm not sure what to make of this yet. It has both positive and negative aspects, I guess...but the one thing that looks certain is that the US economy seems to be in the crapper. Although some Japanese companies are in a better position to deal with this than the last time the yen got really strong (i.e. in 1995, over 50% of Isuzu's export sales were to North America; now it's less than 20%), many here are worried that the Japanese economy will be dragged down as well. Not to mention the world economy, of course....

Today's non-sequitur

Right now, the game show "Neptune League" is on. One of the contestants is wearing a shirt that reads:

FUCK
AUTHORITY
subciety

ooooh...ALMOST a complete thought!

(Remember: Much as Chinese characters are used as decoration without regard to meaning in the west, Engrish is used the same way here)

Too Much. Free Time.

It's another one of those online test/quiz/game thingies....



edited to add:

のど自慢, the epilogue

Remember that singing contest that I tried out for a few months back? Well, last night was the のど自慢 contest of champions, where a large number of winners from last year duked it out for the title of "2007 のど自慢 Grand Champion". They were all really, really good. The winner from the show I tried out for was on, and did a good job, but didn't win.

The show is coming near here again in August. Should I make another attempt?