Igirisu gin

Heavy week. Taught 6 days worth of lessons in a 5 day work week. Reached boiling point, only release alcohol.

Nursing a heavy head. Warmed the day with a noon glass of wine. Must repeat.

Fortunate to watch a late 70s documentary featuring the reluctant Ralph Steadman and Hunter S Thompson. It seems like they've both been bullied into the act by a cash strapped BBC film crew. Ralph is retiring but as the only straight protagonist is pushed to the fore in an attempt to find the real Thompson.

Heart ripping. It shows nearly 30 years ago why the big man ended it all with a handgun last year. With everyone expecting to meet Raul Duke, Hunter found it difficult to reconcile his fictional creation with his true self. Something he never solved, and ended up a washed out drunk.

I'm seeding the torrent myself so download it here for a great insight into the big man.

Japan, home of the modern automobile, Playstation and Cosplay. In a rigid and inexpressive society, how do you react? Read comic books and dress up like your favourite character... In public... Devote yourself to your art... Oh my.



http://www.youtube.com/?v=heCZR_VsMYM

Got a couple of days snowboarding in recently, no wonder so many people do it; its so easy compared to skiing. After getting fairly good it all went to my head and a bit of showboating led to a rather nasty fall. Despite grimacing, sitting on my arse clutching my wrist and some low drawn out moans (I exaggerate), not one snowboarding angel came to my rescue.

Anyhow, we go to the First Aid centre where, for the sake of pride, I quickly agree that "yes I had been doing some jumps, and no I wouldn't do anymore today". This despite the fact that I had only just mastered front and back turns...

Although a massive bulge was now protruding from my wrist, it was deemed ok and after a wrist support/strap thingy was applied we were sent packing.

After spending a couple of hours getting there and buying a lift pass I wasn't about to quit and spent the rest of the day boarding and desparately trying not to fall over. Any fall was usually accompanied by excrutiating agony, but whatever, the wholeday was damn fun.

A quick trip to the doctors confirmed that I'd been snowboarding all day with a fractured wrist... 3 weeks til the cast's off and I'm back out there.

In the meantime here's my mate Ryuji showing off:

Christmas came early this year in the shape of 11 men dressed in red, no not a plethora of Santas but the mighty Liverpool Football Club. Its pretty hard to watch decent (ie European) football over here, so although I promised myself that I'd never miss it, I sometimes daydream about Match of the Day. Sad I know.

I tried anything to get my fix, even watching Japanese football, that was a big mistake. Some occasional nice touches and skill but its not surprising given that everyone has an acre of space all to themselves. Its a non-contact sport over here and quite frankly it just doesn't cut the mustard. So I was a touch excited when I found out that my team were coming over here to play in the FIFA World Club Championship. Thursday night saw Liverpool take on Deportivo Saprissa.

I prepared with military precision: beer - check, snacks - 4 kinds, beer belly - on its way. A warm glow surrounded me the whole match; Liverpool were dominant, even showboating in the second half. The beer helped too.

What really amused me was the Japanese commentry though, they had the usual sports hacks but also felt the need to include Sanma, a popular Japanese comedian. Peter Crouch, Liverpool's lanky forward, has been the butt off a lot of jokes in the English press and even the Japanese were getting in on the act!!! Its a small world after all, even if Peter isn't:

Piitaa Kuraochii is a god over here in Japan, he's 6'7" which is 202cm about 40 cm taller than the average Japanese. He banged in a superb goal after only 3 minutes and after that the commentary team could hardly contain themselves whenever the ball went near him. Classic comments included "I bet he hits his head when he gets on the train", and just to prove that football is really universal "he's got bood balance for someone so big". Fantastic. If you're a Liverpool fan you'll have heard that god knows how many times in English but in Japanese it was pure comedy.

There was lots of great Japanglish on show too: "subarashii shotto" - "wonderful shot" and the rather non-sencical "heidaa shotto" - "header".

Well thursday was another successful night for the Reds, triumphing 3-0 over some really inferior competition. You can watch the highlights, including 2 fantastic goals by clicking here.

I also stumbled upon some rather amusing before and after photos of last year's Champions League Final on the Telegraph website:

Liverpool at half time, losing 3-0 to AC Milan, boo

Huzzah! The greatest come back in a football final ever sees Liverpool win 4-3!!!! Good luck and good night.