Monday December 14, 10:21 a.m.
Trying to get all the Xmas shopping done yesterday...still not totally successful. I went over to
Yodobashi Akiba to try and find some paraphernalia for The Anime King. Did find some books to go along with his game, but the lineups for the cashiers were way too ludicrous so I've decided to hold until after my lesson with Miss Prissy to head back to
Akihabara. However, I did find the game soundtrack for him at one of the other main stores,
Gamers. As for the toy for my niece, I wasn't too successful there; went over to the
Tokyo equivalent of
FAO Schwarz,
Hakuhinkan. Scoured through all four floors and lots of harried parents and overcaffeinated kids to see absolutely nothing that she would like. The same was true for
Takashimaya up in
Shinjuku....you'd think the largest stores in the largest city on the planet would have something.
Did pick up another disc for the parentals at
HMV, and I bought a J-Pop Xmas CD at
Yamano Music for myself. It's a self-cover of the classic
Jun'ichi Inagaki tune
"Christmas Carol no koro ni wa" as a duet with 90s pop queen
Kohmi Hirose. She was well known for a soaring soprano that could melt steel, but I guess the years have brought that down to earth somewhat. In any case, the original is still the one to beat.
Met up with a large crew to catch
"Public Enemies" last night. It was MB and his wife, The Satyr and his significant other, Skippy, Frodo and Tiberius. We had our dinner at my
ramen shop of
Foo Foo. I was feeling quite filled from my usual menu, and from the fact that I'd had an
Akiba ithiyar (a bare-bones version of the
doner kebab) earlier in the day. I think my Holiday binging has officially begun.
"Public Enemies" was quite good. Glad to see that
Johnny Depp could get back into the saddle from the nonsense that was
"Sweeney Todd" (although The Sylph and Frodo were bored by it). The performances were fine, and
Billy Crudup definitely buried himself as
J. Edgar Hoover; made me forget that he was
Doctor Manhattan earlier this year. And
Marion Cotilliard is hopefully a future star-in-waiting and will not end up like
Cuba Gooding, Jr. or even
Leelee Sobieeski...who actually was in the movie in a very minor part. Getting nommed last year for her role in
"Piaf" doesn't hurt.
Had a good session with Cozy. And the bossman had his hat-in-hand look on his face as he asked me to teach an extra student since he's under the weather. Ugh! And I got Mr. TOEFL to do along with The Medicine Man. But not surprised that Speedy is sick...he's been working hard and burning the midnight oil right down to the bare wick for the past several weeks. Something had to give.