excess verbiage

Hope you all had a nice Christmas, and I hope 2009 was good to everyone. Looking forward to next year. Can't wait!

Every single time this commercial comes up on tv, I wind up laughing so damn hard. I bet there are lots of guys out there who secretly talk to their cats that way. LOL

Someone was telling me about a friend whose fiance informed her that he had cheated on her during a business trip. If you were that girl, what would you do? I know what I'd do - I'd call it off. For me, it's a no-brainer. I just don't tolerate any of that sort of thing. I don't care if you're technically married on paper, or if you're common-law, or if you've just been dating for several months. If you're in an exclusive relationship, then you don't cheat. Period.

But for a lot of people, it's not so black and white. Many women - and men - put up with infidelities from their significant others. Why? I'm sure there's a myriad of reasons - to maintain a lifestyle and appearance of the happy relationship they want people to think they have; for financial reasons - fear of separating and having to support themselves; to continue the family structure for their children's sake; fear of being alone. I'm sure there are plenty more reasons out there.

Even if your significant other was truly remorseful and really didn't have another indiscretion for the rest of the marriage, I think that you'd always have a dark cloud of doubt in the back of your mind. In other words, you probably wouldn't be able to trust that person again, not truly, deep down. Doubt, lack of trust, fear, and jealousy can push you over an emotional edge if you have to deal with it day after day over time. It's just not healthy. Maybe you could turn a blind eye for 5 years, 10 years, maybe more. But I would think that a lot of people would snap one day and say that's enough, whenever that day might be. Though of course, there are some people who are somehow able to accept it and go on with their lives. I'm not sure if I admire their stoicism, or if I feel sorry for them.

What are your thoughts on the subject?

This is awesome. Forgot how much I love Gonzo, Fozzy, and check out Animal rocking the drums! Piggy's still a bitch. ;)

With the endless crappy weather we've been having, nothing would hit the spot better right now than a piping hot bowl of Japanese ramen. I'm not talking about instant ramen - I'm talking about proper fresh-made chewy al dente noodles and a broth that's been boiled for hours on end, resulting in the most amazing soup. Of course the accompaniments are just as important: the melt-in-your-mouth slices of pork, medium boiled egg, the veggies, a side of gyozas. YUM!

Since there's nowhere in Vancouver that comes close to what I had in Tokyo, I'm going to have to just sit and reminisce about the best ramen I had. The one in this picture was described to us as just a cheap ramen. But honestly, even the cheap ramen over in Japan is still way better than the best that we've got here, which would be Kintaro, Benkei, and Motomachi Shokudo.

Now let's all drool over this food porn together.... mmmm.....

I've been seeing and reading a lot of interviews lately where you hear about how the celebrity has it in their contract that the reporter can't ask certain questions. And if the reporter refuses to sign, then the interview isn't granted. Just this morning, I read about how Ryan Seacrest got shut down by Robert Pattinson's publicist because he dared to ask about whatsherface.

Honestly, this shit is getting out of hand. Last time I checked, it was an interviewer's job to ask questions. No matter how uncomfortable the questions may be, it's their job to ask. And if they're an actual proper journalist, then they should be asking real questions, not just the kind that make the interviewee feel all warm and fuzzy. That's not to mean that they should be jerks either, but at the same time, a question's a question.

If the person doesn't want to answer it, then fair enough. Say "no comment" or else, "I'm not going to answer that, thank you." And then move on. That's it. Simple as that. It's polite and professional. The interviewer will get the point that the question isn't going to be answered and they'll move forward with the interview, which by the way, is to the interviewee's benefit - to promote whatever project it is that they're supposed to promote.

I realize that it's the publicist's job to protect the "brand" of the celebrity and to have them seen in the best light possible, but making demands on what questions a reporter is or isn't allowed to ask is bullshit. If you don't want your client to look like an idiot, then have them take a class on public relations and media. They have those, you know. I've taken one. They're really quite helpful, and in the end, your client will know how to dodge the questions they don't want to answer and not look like some diva bitch about it.

Even the Sarah Palin and Katie Couric thing made such big news. Honestly, I think Katie asked the right questions. Was she tough? Yes. But why shouldn't she have been? She was talking to someone who could've potentially been the 2nd in command as vice president. If Sarah Palin thought she was bitchy, it was only because she couldn't answer the questions and wasn't prepared.

I think that a celebrity, politician, or whoever can come off in a positive light in an interview if they know how to handle the questions - comfortable or not. It really is a skill, and when the questions get tough, you don't just go running off. And trying to get interviewers to sign clauses about what not to ask, that is against any sort of unwritten journalism laws there are out there. It's an insult when an interviewer is told "you can't ask that!" - Why yes, actually, they can ask anything they want to ask. If they couldn't, then that's called censorship, my friend. And that's bullshit.

It's sad that it's getting to the point where an interviewer might censor themselves because they're worried about pissing off the celebrity or whoever. Watching an interview with Oprah, you can tell that she asks celebrities a lot of "soft" questions. And when you have this new breed of celebrity bloggers who think that they're actual journalists but really don't know what the hell they're doing (um, Just Jared, anyone? Alliteration is not everything, buddy), you can see that all they're doing is asking a bunch of insignificant suck-up questions just to get the celebs to like them.

That's the thing - the celebs or anyone you interview - they don't need to like you. And you don't need to have them like you. If they do like you, that's great. But that's not the point. The point is that you need to do your job to ask questions, the right questions. And it's their job to answer them or comment as best as they can. And that's it. So publicists and celebs out there with your demands on what it's okay to ask you - get a clue.

Watching this interview from Jimmy Fallon just made me love Gerard Butler that much more. The accent - it's the accent!

One day, we were walking around the streets of Yokohama and one of our hosts bought some street food. We asked what it was and he said the english word is "marron". My friend and I looked at each other and were like, "Huh? What's a marron? Never heard of it." And then our other hosts all piped in and asked how we couldn't know what it was, because marron is definitely the english word. They even looked up the translation on their cell phones (their cell phones are huge bc they need larger screens for all the info they look up - watch, we'll catch up to that in about 4 years maybe. heh).

So we looked more carefully and then tasted it. Immediately we both knew what it was - a chestnut! We said we didn't know what a marron is, but that is definitely a chestnut. And we had to convince them that no one in the english speaking world would know what a marron is. It's "chestnuts roasting on an open fire", not "marrons roasting on an open fire." And then we kept seeing it all over town at different stores and many of them did have the word "marron" on their signs.

Even McDonald's was selling a "Gateau Marron McFlurry". My friend tried one and said it was good. It was a chestnut cake McFlurry. Forgot to take a photo of it, but here's the picture from the McDonald's site. See below. I just think it's so funny that an entire nation is convinced that the english word for chestnut is marron. I really have no idea where that word came from at all.

Airplanes are really pretty cool when you think about them. One minute, you're in your home country. You look out the window and everything is as you know it. Step aboard, sit down for some hours, and when you step off the plane, suddenly everything in front of your eyes is different. Walking through the airport corridors to get to customs and immigration was slightly nerve-wracking because they were telling us on the plane how there's this quarantine room, where, if they think you're sick or have h1n1, then they'll keep you there. And then I was worried about going through customs because I don't speak Japanese. Customs was actually pretty easy. They don't ask too much, but they do make you give your thumbprints and get an iris scan. And then you go get your luggage and you're off.

My friend and I got picked up by her relatives and immediately it felt strange because I couldn't communicate and needed her to translate everything. You feel powerless and it's just strange to have people not understand you, and vice versa. Anyway, the drive in the car was long, because it was a long weekend and there was a lot of traffic, plus they live in the burbs. It was on this drive that it really truly hit me - holy shit, I'm in Japan! Looking out the window of the car, it was amazing to see a different landscape than I was used to. The stores, restaurants, gas stations, convenience stores... everything was different - and it was awesome. Plus they drive on the other side of the road, like in the UK.

The air was thick and humid, like a sauna, and it would stay that way for the entire two weeks I was there. Which is to mean that I was sweating for two solid weeks! Hey, what can I say? I'm from Canada after all. heh. So while we were driving, one of the first things my friend and I noticed were how little and cute the cars and vans were over there. They're different shaped than what we've got here. Literally looks like a box on wheels. We found out that those cars are the eco-friendly cars and if people buy those ones, then they get a huge discount. People with larger, regular cars obviously pay more of a premium.

We dropped off our luggage and were given a tour of the house, including instructions on how to operate the shower and toilet. You might think, why would you need a lesson on that? But let me tell you, I could've used another 10 minute lesson on how to use it! The shower and toilet would become the bane of my travels. *shakes fist at sky* More on that later.

After freshening up, we went out for dinner. Not sure if they did this for our benefit, but we wound up eating at a chain restaurant called "Jonathan's Coffee and Restaurant". Really Japanese-sounding, right? haha. It was like an American style diner in design and the menu was half western food, half Japanese. The cool thing was that you didn't have to flag down the waitress. Each table had a button to press, that signalled the waitress to come over. Brilliant! I wound up ordering something that was pretty much a salisbury steak that was served with rice and miso soup. Not terribly adventurous of me, but it was a long day of travel and I just wanted some sort of comfort food. It was exactly what I needed.

After that, we went back and then I was ready to pass out. I had made it to Tokyo. Woohoo!

Been away for a couple of weeks in the land of the rising sun. It was an eye-opening and fascinating trip, and there are so many things swirling around in my head. Translation: lots of blog fodder. So I'll share some of the stories over the next little while. And of course, the geek that I am, I've got a bunch of food photos too. hehe. Travel stories to come...