First Day of Actual Blogging from Asia

(29.06.2006) Pics are Here

After pulling myself together from a two week party in Tokyo, yesterday was a welcome relief. After getting into CKS Airport and out onto the street I quickly became aware of how much hotter than Japan Taiwan is at the moment. It’s like walking into a wall of hot moist mist which quickly invades every part of your body and soul. After relaxing on the coach, watching the Garfield movie out of my left eye and some Chinese film about a blind girl getting bullied with my right, I began to slowly acclimatize. So, on Thursday we went out to see some things. First stop was the Miaoli Wood Sculpture Museum, at an undisclosed (ie, I was too tired to find out) location in Taiwan. Its was really nice and cultural, lots of incredibly old and ridiculously detailed things made from wood. Not being able to take any photos inside meant that you only get to see the elephants outside and some of the shops in the surrounding area. The whole town sold wood, wood statues, furniture all way more impressive than anything I had ever seen before, although I must be the world’s worst judge of important and cultural artifacts.

We then pottered off to a deserted railway. Big leap in theme I know, but the place has become somewhat of a Tourist attraction. It was an old ticket booth and railway line which had become an area for restaurants and people, like me taking pictures. The place was so inaccessible however that I wouldn’t be surprised if I was the first white man to set foot out there. Come to mention it I did get some funny looks, and not the look of distrust and fear one sometimes encounters in Japan, but the look of mild, "how on earth did you get here" bemusement. Having wandered back up to the transport and pondered the abundance of wild dogs in the area, I was time to visit Changhua to once again show my face to the people kind enough to support my entire existence whilst out in this fair country. I ate, allot, and not just quantity, It seemed like I ate every food group, twice and not in the natural order. It’s all so good I could not turn it down, but my stomach was not willing to have my back in the argument despite trying to appease the beast with beer and wine. That night I had strange and vivid dreams, slept in late and woke up today.

(30.29.2006)

Saw an advert for Superman on TV today. It reminded me of the real world. It looks awesome; I also realized it was out today. I want to see it, but its late, Ill see it soon. I ate pasta today, kind of a Taiwanese various of chicken pasta Alfredo. We took the kitten to the kitty hairdresser. Kitty was noisy on the way and he kept trying to get me through the bars of his little kitty carrier. Kitty's claws and teeth aren’t quite sharp enough to do much damage but I don’t think I should encourage it to fight humans. We went off to the Supermarket while we waited for him to finish his shower and manicure. Turns out Taiwan has not yet discovered the liquitab, I was genuinely shocked. We picked up Kitty, Kitty appeared to have gained superpowers from the place we took him cause he kept running across the room on two legs with his arms in the air, should have taken a picture. We went to the video shop, Hinokio has just reached Taiwan, all the kids were going crazy for it. I remember when I watched that whole movie all the way through before I realized there were English subtitles. I came back and plugged the old laptop into the wall and realized there was an 8MB connection. If I was an American I would have exclaimed Oh Snap, but I restrained myself and downloaded all the Bleach I had missed up to this point and the new Utada CD for all who are willing to listen.

That’s about all of it up until now. More later

Last Tango in Sheffield

Yesterday I made my final official trip to Sheffield to clean up and throw away the last remaining evidence that I had lived there. Dave and I went for a drink in the city centre and the heat was unbearable. The city was filled with football fans and the first pub we went too was packed out. Luckily we managed to go to two pubs which didn’t have the football on although they were hotter on the inside than it was on the streets. We headed down to the Devonshire Cat and had some German beer in a tall glass, tasted a bit like Banana.

Dave and I chatted about old video games and how we should create something which highlights old video games in a fashion which resists the Knee jerk comparison to the modern day industry which most video game magazines have today. Dave informed me of his growing obsession, one which I share for the classic 2D beat'em up and the inherent lore and design which comes with it. I recently got a hold of Capcom Design works and hold it in very high opinion.

We then went back to the old house and pottered about, reminiscing about times passed. We played with an electric fan for about an hour, seeing what would happen in the event of a) things were thrown into it b) things were poked into it when It was moving c) if things were attached to it, how long it would stay attached without flinging off and hitting someone in the eye.

We decided to finish the night off with a BBQ. The neighbors, who I have never spoken to before then, gave us meat to add to our own stash. We ate and drank heartily into the wee small hours and I slept like a baby on the floor of my bare and empty room for the last time.

I awoke to catch a train back to Derby to celebrate my granddads birthday. I was feeling a little woozy but that was partly because of my hay fever. After diner, I had to sleep for a while. I read through the new issue of edge and came home in the unbearable heat on the bus. Returning home I spent some time messing around on the internet with my brother. We checked out some awesome game trailers off a new site I found. All of the clips are in HD so I enjoyed some FFVIII on the PS3 and next gen Sonic on the Wii. I then chilled out a bit and watched some One Piece. My brother said that it was about the only OP video he found irritating, I myself am a bit of the fan.

Tomorrow I’m on my own again and I leave for Tokyo on Wednesday, I’ve got to pick up my money from the travel agent and meet Tom to chat about final details of the trip. It’s getting to a point where I can’t think about it without freaking out so I’m just not thinking about it till I get to my hotel. Im planning on giving a full coverage on the trip both on here and through video blogs on myspace to if anyone is interested, be sure to check it out sometime towards the end of next week.

Down and out in Burton

I had things to do In town today, my addled brain which had spent two weeks indoors and in front of the TV had other ideas. I lost all sense of direction, motor functions and sanity and had to come home. Its was scary. I didnt sleep at all last night despite trying. Im off to Sheffield today to fetch some of my stuff.

Sentimental Generation

The past few days I havent really been up to much. Ive been in a constant struggle to get up early enough to I can speak to Taiwan before bedtime, so far, failing miserably. Watched Fight Club on TV last night, shamelessly entertaining. My grandfather came to town and spent some time with us, he also gave me a much appreciated massive wad of cash which will help immensly with my upcoming trip, ten days from now. Ive been watching a few series which I have never seen before namely One Piece (Japanese Version) Tsubasa Chronicle, Fate Stay Night and Elfen Lied. Its a little too early to pass judgement but I am throughly enjoying One Piece. Got some screen shots of the new Final Fantasy for PSP. I am very excited about this, although I do not have a PSP. Still enjoying School Rumble: Second Term, I think It is one of the best comedy anime I have ever had the pleasure of watching.

Managed to get a listen of Thom Yorke's The Eraser. First impressions, good. It is a very understated journey through Thom Yorke's hard drive, pops and beeps accompanied by suitably melodic singing. The thing that amazes me about his electronic stuff is how two seemingly unconnected rythems can sound so good together. In part it reminds me of Kid A and it is very much along the same line as the Four Tet remix of Scatterbrain. It definately needs another listen although the opener "The Eraser" and the final track "Cymbal Rush" are stand out tracks for me at the moment.

I was on Youtube and Playstation 3 today and last night, trying to come to a conclusion as to whether the PS3 is going to be any good or not. I checked out footage of "Heavenly Sword", which featured in this weeks Edge. This is penned as a flagship title and I must say I was impressed by the visuals. It did look quite liniar however and I was reminded of how another release title on the PS2 "The Bouncer" looked great but was rubbish and restrictive to play. It seems the PS3 itself is getting released in two versions, the first with 20GB HD is gonna be around 350GBP by my estimation and the next one up the 60GB is around 100GBP more expensive. Now, I now, nor will I have in the future that amount of money to waste and at this rate, so close to the release schedule, the only thing which has stunk of essential is Metal Gear 4 and from what I have seen, has yet to produce actual gameplay footage. If that were the case, it would not be the first time I have bought a console for the purpose of playing one certain game. But at that price, I cant see me being able to get it for years. No I think the only solution is to find the Konami headquarters in Tokyo and collar Hideo Kojima and say look, let me play it for 6 hours, finish it and then get paid to tell everyone in the UK how good its going to be when I get back and how it is worth paying about 500 quid for their latest Snake Outing.