Squidbilllies

Been a watching a lot of episodes lately on the old 'you know what'- tube.
Good stuff. Not sure about yo' senses of the old humorousity, 'yall.
You'd best be avoiding this stuff now, ya hear?

Just when you thought it was safe to let little Jimmy write to Santa...

Dear Santa, my name is little Jimmy.
Can you please, please, please send me a replica Jaws deluxe boxed set?
Please, I've been a good little boy this year (I swear, last years thing with the cat and my daddy's pliers and the lighter fluid, then my mom's blender is a thing of the past).
I really, really, really want this toy.
Thank you, Santa.
Little Jimmy.

This is an awesome toy for a 7 year old!

Specifications:
The Jaws Deluxe Boxed Set is a highly detailed 1 foot long attack model based on the infamous boat-eating scene in Jaws. Only 48 Euros!
It's a little boy's dream. The shark, working its way onto the destroyed boat, features a famously bloodstained shark mouth crowded with sharp teeth.
Dark waves break over the sinking boat and its crushed boom, and one of its barrel buoys floats alongside.
The doomed captain also comes with the set in two gory, torn pieces!! You can place half of him in the shark's mouth, or snap him back together and place him on the boat.
The mast and fishing rods can be fitted to the boat and there are nice details such as the cabin with it's table, settee, steering wheel and even a fire extinguisher.

Great for kids! Fun and educational!
The detail is pretty, well, detailed. I especially appreciate the big cleaver type knife that remains lodged in the Shark's side as he devours Captain Quint.

"Argh! Don't come near me! You've been eating garlic!"

"Ooh, looks like I need to paint that ceiling again."

"Whoa, slow down girl! We got all night, baby."

"Ooh, it's dark in here. Hmm ...a little cozy, but I think I'll take it"

Awesome!!!!

"Hey, this replica kit is pretty freakin' amazing! You gotta check it out!"

"Yep, we're gonnna need a bigger boat... ...or a smaller shark."

Jaws, condensed into thirty seconds (with rabbits):


How about the new, digitally remastered Jaws (with extra footage)?


I thought this lego reenacment was very well put together:

American football ad:

Thought it was funny.

Let's hear it for beer!

Hoorah! (Oh, my head hurts.)

What you know about math(s)?

Nice slacks.

a quick night's beer tasting- Ishikawa and Weihenstephan festbier

Oh! The beers kicking in - I just got to a loud point in the music and I banged my head and my headphones fell off.
The alcohol is kicking in, rather.
The beer is simply wonderfull.
Find the right beer and only a kiss from the woman you love or a child's smile or some beautiful piece of natural beauty (a butterfly gliding past/bamboo flowing in the breeze/beautiful sunset/glimpse of a deer in the forest/chance encounter of a squirrel, playing with his nuts) can hope to compare. Mide you, I say the right beer.
The right beer, I say. This will entail not only the right beer but the right set of circumstances and events (taste, feeling, surroundings, atmosphere, phase of the moon, number of the special bonus ball in tonight's lottery, etc.) shall be conducive to the ellusive 'perfect pint'.
Rumours abound that such a pint exists.
But little evidence remains from anyone who has experienced such a phenomenomenomenomenon.
It can perhaps be comparable to the experience experienced by a very experienced astronaut, returning from space. He immediately becomes depressed and suicidal.
"Once you've been into space and seen the whole freaking planet from the outside, what can possibly compare? Why carry on living? Everything else is a dissapointment, by comparison."
Bit drastic?
Obviously, you've never had the perfect pint.

I must admit, I've come close, a few times.
One time was in a bar called Nürnberger Bratwurstglöckl, in Munich.
It's located near the Frauenkirche. Amazing place. Wow.
My favourite bar in Munich (and THAT'S saying something!). The beer in question was Augustiner Helles, served from an oak barrel by a very nice over 60 year old 'wench' (and I mean that in the nicest possible sense of the word), whose son had the same birthday as me. Gorgeous beer and amazing setting.
That was one of my closest to achieving a true 'when Harry met Sally' moment (you've seen that scene, right?)

aNYWAY, BACK TO THE ENTRY...

DANM, GOT THE CAPS LOCK STUCK.FIXED? N OPE!OK?
dAMN. oH! THERE IT WAS! Ok now?
YESSS!! I mean 'yes!!!'.
I typed in upper caps for emphasis. Bit stupid, on hindsight.
But then, in hindsight, my parents would have used protection...or just played the normal version of twister, instead of the 3 dimensional interactive version (and so, using shcb a Chewbacca defense, everything I do, I blame them - teehee!).

Tonight's tasting set includes:

• Ishikawa Brewery's Pale Ale
• Ishikawa Breery's Munich Dark Ale
• Weihenstephaner's Festbier

First up, the Pale ale:

Lovely.

If you like malty, thick, easy drinking beer, then you'll lurrrrv this beer.
Isikawa uses the same water, presumably taken from the Tamagawa river and treated (presumed to be prepresumed), but tasting the same in all their beers.
The results of such similar distinct tasting water is that certain styles are not suited to this specific water type (specifically the Belgian wit beer and the pilsner). However, their pale ale and their bottle conditioned pale ale seem to benefit from the water's taste.
Nice, smooth, evenly carbonated beer. Malty taste and a slight yeasty palate (but then I like to pour all the beer into the glass and not leave the sediment behind).

Very nice.

My only preference to this in the Ishikawa selection is the bottle conditioned pale ale. Similar but slightly superior in smoothy maltiness, if such a term exists - well, if it didn't, it does now.

Verdict: 6.5/10
(great session beer)

Ishikawa Munich Dark lager (based on a Munich dunkel{?}).

Thid baby also seemed to benefit from the water's special taste.
malty, smooth and yet slightly sickly and toffee like.
I would put this as almost a Czech dark ale, but milder.
It has the faint sicklyness of caramel and roasted sugar but also some smoothnes that I would associate with a good dunkelweiss (although it doesn't contain wheat). Lakcs the slight bite of a dunkel or the heaviness (again slight, but there, just the same in a real dunkel). Lack of body dissapoints. Bit too sweet for me.
It seems like this one was adjusted, to suit the typical consumer (being Japanese and having little idea of a Munich dark beer taste - have I mentioned that Disneyland and Universal Studios are ultra popular over here? - The power of suggestion).
Not the ebst beer but not terrible, either.
I drank two of these,a t the Ishikawa brewery.
Still, my favourite has to be the bottle conditioned ple ale or a nicely poured (I mean head wise AND temperature wise - why do Japanese insist on all beers being chilled to freezing point?) pale ale.

Verdict:5.5/10

Next up was a Weihenstephaner festbeer.

I won this baby in the Meguro Taver Brown beer festival.
This ws the firs ttime I had a Weihenstephaner Fest bier.
I've had Spaaten, Paulaner, Hacker Pschorr and many others, but not this one.
It's quie nice!
A malty, dry lager. Hoppy and malty and a good dry taste. Perhaps a cross between a Munich helles and a Czech pilsner? A slightly strong aftertaste.

Verdict: 6.5/10

Ye gods! I must be drunk! Just went to the toilet and instead of flushing, I turned on the light switch.

I think I ned something healthy, top balance this beer out in my system.

I know!


Murphy's Irish Stout!!!!


Aah... just what I needed...


G'night.

Weng Weng - he da mayan!

New Earthlike planet discovered:

Taken from the New Sientist website:

For the first time, astronomers have spotted a cosy alien planet that might be hospitable to life. The planet is not much bigger than the Earth, and it enjoys temperatures of about 20° C (68° F) as well as spectacular scarlet sunsets.

"It's the smallest, lightest planet known at this time," says Stéphane Udry from the Geneva Observatory in Switzerland. "And it's just at the right distance from its star for liquid water to possibly exist on its surface."

Udry and colleagues discovered the planet using the European Southern Observatory's 3.6-metre telescope in Chile. They monitored a small, dim "red dwarf" star called Gliese 581, which lies 20.5 light years away, and is already known to have a Neptune-class planet.

Subtle "wobbles" of the star suggested that it has two additional planets. One is about eight times as massive as the Earth and orbits once every 84 days. The other may be only five times as massive as the Earth, making it the smallest planet ever found around a normal star.

Theory predicts that the small planet should be about 50% wider than the Earth and have a rocky surface. It orbits its dim star every 13 days, and the astronomers calculate that it has a pleasant surface temperature of about 0 to 40°C – just right for liquid water, so the planet might be habitable.

Astronomers have discovered super-Earths slightly larger than this one before. However, they are either too hot or too cold for liquid water to exist. The smallest world circling Gliese 581 is a "Goldilocks" planet with the conditions just right for potential life.

Sunrises and sunsets on the planet must be spectacular. If you could stand on its surface, you would see its red host star looming 10 times wider in the sky than our own Sun appears.

Team member Xavier Delfosse from Grenoble University in France says he hopes that spacecraft missions will probe the world for signs of life over the next decade or two.
"On the treasure map of the universe, one would be tempted to mark this planet with an X," says Delfosse. "Because of its temperature and relative proximity, this planet will most probably be a very important target of the future space missions dedicated to the search for extraterrestrial life."

Supernatural goes South Park.... or vice versa

Very well edited. I watch both shows.
Always liked Supernatural. Monsters, ghosts, guys...

...hang on. That didn't mean to insinuate that I like guys.
I meant GUYS, as in monster trucks, beer and peeing on fires.
Yeah! Now I gotta go spit on the floor and play with my nuts in public.

Ok, as proof I an a mans' man, here's this butch collection of manliness:

There you go.
Oh, I called myself a mans' man, didn't I?
Here I go again...



Okay, so what is it that will convince you guys out there that I'm not...like that?
Ah! I know! Lesbians!!
Yeah, what is more manly than a butch, macho man's healthy fascintation of two women, getting it on?
AND if one of them just happened to previously be a man? Wow - that's too much manly action!
Here's some woman on woman-who-used-to-be-a-man scissoring action:

(warning: not suitable for children or non manly men)

"Oh yeah, scissoring! Scissor me timbers!"

Not all criminals are masterminds

Is this guy trying to rob the store through the power of his farts?

Couldn't resist - he's amazing.

Balls of fury - shamelss ad

"Who the hell say take the cricket from my hand?!"

Don't be a hoser, eh.

...but yeah, but no, but yeah, but no, but...

...3...2...1...and you're back in the room.

Of course, you do know... ...I AM a lady.

I was teaching the senior fist year students today and we acted out the dialogue to a test, rather than use the CD.
One of the characters was that of a young lady.
Well, of course, I had a field day.
I don't think anyone understood the joke in my words.
I managed to squeeze in 'I am a lady' once or seven times, into the dialogue.
Here's one sketch of many, featuring the Little Britain characters in question:

Life in a Welsh village:

There's lovely, isn' it?
The lady - Ruth Madoc, is the only Welsh person in this, with a real Welsh (south Welsh) accent, but 'Dafydd'(Davith) doesn't do such a bad job.....you see.

...and Candice reckoned she could see her spider!

Watch the subtitles try and keep up on this one:

Clinton and Obama resort to drastic measures to raise funds

Reports abound as to what drastic actions Mrs.Clinton has resorted to, in order to pull ahead of Barak Obama in fundraising capital.








Meanwhile, Mr.Obama has associated himself with a well known American. A symbol of strength and purity.
someone the common man can identify with...
...and also someone who wears their underwear on the outside.

The Thrash Zone, Yokohama

The other week, I happened across a new bar called The Thrash Zone.
Idf you check out their WEBSITE, you will see they have a propensity for slayer and other heavy metal.
They also serve some quality Japanese craft beer.
Both of these points were good reasons for me to make my way out there!
It wasn't so easy to find, but once you located the yakiniku restaurant, it was easy.
In case you can't find it on the website, you can open the map in a new window by clicking HERE.

Also, on the webiste, it shows a big, bright, airy room. The first thing I noticed upon entering was that the picture in the website wasn't of The Thrash Zone. Weird.

Here is a photo from inside, on the side opposite the entrance way (seen at the end of the room):

You can see the barman/owner and a few of the regular customers, who come from as far away as Ryogoku! Some of you who know about beer may realise that Ryogoku is actually the station where you can find Popeyes (perhaps the biggest range of craft beer in Japan and of Japanese craft beer in the world). So it says something for this bar that this gentleman journeys all the way down to have a drink or five at this place.
These guys were great and welcomed me into their fold, instantly. Everyone was so friendly.

I happened to venture in on Van Halen night. The manager was showing his DVD of Van Halen's greatest hits.

When I saw this, I jumped for joy. I told the barman "Right now, I feel unchained! You really got me with this great music. This is what dreams are made of! I mean being here, just us humans being together, drinking, relaxing... ...why can't this be love? Now, I have to go to the toilet, because I've got a fire in the hole and I need to go before there's an eruption. There's a poundcake or two, breaking through the seventh seal. No sir, I won't get fooled again. I can dance the night away with beautiful girls later. Dancing in the street. I'll be like a man on a mission and when the dream is over and Jamie's cryin, I'll be up for breakfast. Don't tell me I can't drink more. I say to this beer 'you're the one I want, because without you, I'm black and blue. So, is this love? I know I can't stop loving you. Once is not enough.
You're the one I want. Why don't you finish what you started and make me totally cabo wabo! Wow, this place is better than smoking in Panama... ...or Amsterdam!' Oh, this beer is gooooood! You can't get this stuff no more. I feel on top of the world!"

Well, I didn't actually say this to the barman, but if I did, it would have been really cool.
Another example of how my reality doesn't quite match up to the fantasy. Such is my life.

Okay, so they had loads of heavy metal records on display, high up on the wall and they had about 6 or so craft beers, including one real ale on pump (Minoh Stout), plus a few bottled beers.

Here's the beer list:

Here's another photo of the bar:

It really is a nice, cosy, freindly place.
I can see why most of the people I met that night were regular customers.
A good, knowledgable barman and a nice, smokefree atmosphere makes a recommended place to stop by, if you're ever in the Yokohama area.

In the above photo, you can see a 'gaijin' - a foreigner.
It's my friend, David. He also popped by to check out the bar.

Okay, time to talk about the beers.
I think they change them every month or so, but they have one or two constants, such as the Minoh Stout (not bad) and the Nagahama ale (very, very bitter and yeasty - and popular with the locals, suprisingly).

This time, the beers on tap were:

• Nagahama ale
• Minoh stout
• Minoh pale ale
• Inowashiro weissen
• Beahern pale ale
• Shinano mountain ale

(click on the beer name to go to their website)

First up for me was the weissen:

I didn't want to mix this flavor up with the ales and the stout, so I ordered it first.

It was not quite what I hoped for.

Taste had a hint of grapefruit (but not as strong as the Hidatakayama weissen, which I do not really care for).
Tasted a little off and not so flavorsome.

Aroma was not bad. Tasted a little watery. But had a reasonable creamy head. Retained the head for a while.

Carbonation was okay.



In the 2nd photo you can see the yeast at the bottom of the glass.


Verdict: 5/10.

Next up was the regular beer, the Nagahama ale:

Boy, did this baby taste bitter!!! Also very yeasty.
If I had poured it from a bottle at home, I would have thought it had gone bad and thrown it away, such was the 'distinctive' taste.
However, I stuck with it and about 3/4 of the way through it, it began to be drinkable.



Still, I can't say I like it that much.

Definite like it or hate it beer.

For me, I'd have to pass on this one.




Verdict: 4/10.

My next and final beer was the Minoh Stout:

This baby was hand pumped by the barman.


This guy can pour a good pint (as could the guy who used to pour at Cheers - but sadly, I haven't seen him aorund for a while and I must say, the standard has fallen there because of that).


Still, I was happy to wait for what I hoped would be a nice, creamy stout.

I wasn't dissappopinted.

A nice pint.
The best of the night, for me.
Creamy and smooth and nicely rich so it needed slow drinking. Just the thing to end the evenig with.

Verdict: 7/10.


All in all, a nice evening.

Here are a few more pics of the evening and some drunken rantings from yours truly (what, more?):

The Thrash Zone.
Verdict: 7/10.

________________________________

Later, we popped to Cheers, but all the beers we wanted to drink were sold out, so we left.
I'm not paying 1,000 yen for a beer I know I don't like so much, in a smoky bar.

Nossir.

Dave and I bought some beer in a convenience store, but not before I squashed all of my remaining energy by holding this drink up against my skin:

After having my energy squashed, I needed a beer and a cheap and nasty cheeseburger!

The cheeseburger boyz, signing out.

________________________________________________________

I bought a deep fat fryer!

Yes!! I've been looking for a cheap one of these for a long time.
They are not easy to find in Japan. Well, you can find them in Akihabara, but they are tiny things that will only fry half a handfull of chips.
This baby I bought at the Teasure Factory, recycle store, near my home.
At 1,500yen (with 6 months guarantee), it was a bargain.

When I bought it, it was not in perfect condition. It hadn't been cleaned.
I took it apart with my screwdriver and cleaned out the inside.
I cleaned the filter as best I could (it was full of grease and oil and wasn't easy to clean) and put the thing back together.

Then, it was time for a test run.
I went down to my local supermarket and bought some shoestring potatoes and some crinkle cut potatoes.
The basket on this thing is big enough to make a nice double portion of chips - great!!

I can also make some fried fish and other stuff in this baby!

Anyway, back to the test:
First, I decided to go with the shoestring potatoes. I wasn't quite sure if I had reassembled the thermostat in the right position (took it apart without noting the original settings - I never learn).
I needed something to test the temperature with. A few shoestring potatoes would cook fast and give me fastest results - so in they went!

Here's how the shoestring potatoes came out:

Not bad, but they could have been cooked longer.

Next, it was time for the crinkle cut chips
(oh, I missed crinkle cut chips!):

Nice!!! Especially nice, coated with salt and malt vinegar.

Finally, I fried a few eggs (in the frying pan) and made myself some nice egg and chips.

Lovely!!!

Verdict for my deep fat fryer: 9/10!!!!!

Just try not to laugh at this:

Gotta love the way he celebrated his victory. Very reserved.

Craft Beer Bar, Kannai

After hearing of The Thrash Zone, I also found some information about another new Yokohama Japanese microbrew bar, The Craft Beer Bar. This was in Kannai, not far from the station.
This place has only been open for 2 months now, so I had never been here before.
It isn't the easiest place to find, either. It's down a small side alley.


On entering, I found myself in a small bar/room area, with a short sunken bar to my right.
There were about 10 taps located near the door.
THe barman was dressed imaculately.
The only other customer (whole place seats 8 at bar and another 8 at 2 tables at the back) was a pleasant Japanese gentleman who spoke very good American English.
My beer of choice was tehb Fujisakura doppelbock.
A strong (about 8% aclohol) wheat beer from Fujisakura Kougen in Kawaguchiko, near Mt.Fuji. It was very nice.

Fujisakura dopplebock verdict: 7/10.

You can perhaps see one of the real ale hand pumps, of which there are two, on the right side.

The webpage is all in Japanese but it's possible to scroll down and find the map on the right hand side.

In case you missed it, here it is:

You can see the baseball stadium on the right side.
The beer bar is the star, located up a small alley.

Kannai Station is just 2 stops from Yokohama on the JR line.

This small bar was very clean and spotless.
The glasses were nice. The beer poured well.
The price isn't cheap.
700yen for about 360ml or 1000yen for a pint.
But all the beer here is Japanese craft beer and not bad stuff it is either.

The Craft Beer Bar: 6/10.

Brown beer festival at the Meguro Black Lion

Well, the title says it all.

I turned up for the third and sadly, last of three monthly beer festivals at the Meguro Black Lion pub in Meguro, Tokyo. The first festival was a black beer festival, the second being a white festival (someone told me this idea was based on the classical piece of French cinema, The Three Colors Blue (of course the real title is in French).
As I hoped, I got the spelling write and was not confronted by two dozen large, North American omnivorous animals (brown bear festival?).
Rather, I was welcomed by about 15 or so Japanese craft beers, plus the regular beers on tap.

For a complete list of beers on tap that night, and a decent craft beer blog (much better than silly old me can manage - too busy drinking and then recovering), click HERE.

"Welcome! ...and see you in London!"

To drink, you had to buy tickets from the ladies that wondered around the pub.
There were two choices:

• three half pint tickets for 1500yen
• three one pint tickets for 2700yen

I started with three one pint tickets. Of course.
I started drinking from the area just inside the entrance.

"Just pour it in!"


My first beer was Baird Beer's The Professor Munchner Dunkel.


After trying the 80 schilling ale, I really wanted to try this beer.

Unfortunately, my high expectations were short lived. It wasn't as flavorsome as I'd hoped. I wasn't sure of the dunkel label. More like an alt? I would have prefered a more malty, roasted taste. It tasted a little on the light side and was slightly bitter.

Verdict: 5.5/10






Next up was an interesting number from Ishikawa brewers.

The Ishikawa Munchner Dark:

This one was ok. It tasted smooth, with an almost treacle like undertone. It had the good dunkle malty smell and tasted 'dunkel-like'. Sorry to sound so ridiculous, but that's the way I felt it tasted. I reckon this could make a nice session beer.


Verdict: 6.5/10.







By this time, my good friend, Mike, turned up.
Here he is, he's making a list.
He's checking it twice.
He's gonna find out, what tastes naughty or nice...





What did Bryan think of the beer?
Well, let's check...


Here he is, with his first taster.
Hmm... perhaps that one fell a little short.




Next up for me was to be the Fujisakura rauch (smoked wheat beer).
That was, if I could get past Johnny Ramone.

I eventually gave Johnny the slip and made it to the Fujisakura tap.
A brief exchange of my final pint ticket later and I had a pint of some nice Sylvan's sweetness in my hands!


I already know what this beer is like, so I was looking forward to this one.
A Sylvan's Fujisakura Kougen Weissen Rauch beer:

First impression (besides from being too damn cold - all the beer was chilled using big blocks of ice so most of the time it was just too cold. They used the kind of small draught systems that were designed for lager beers which were fine when chilled but with brown beer, it shouldn't really be that cold (listen to the British in me talking!)) was that is was a little flat. Not as good as it could be. But still not bad. Usually I would give it a 7 or even more but this night it was only worth a 6.

Verdict: 6/10.

I met this nice couple. The guy was actually a brewer from the Ozeno Yukidoke brewery.
Wow! This was the beer that I had recommended to me, just the day before! I asked him about this beer and he said it was good, but apparently the best one they have done is the 10 year anniversary beer. We had some interesting conversations about weissen beer (he alos loves this style) and Munich and of course, Augustiner (best beer in Germany and possibly the world - so there!). Nice pair - I mean the two of them - I mean the lovely couple in the picture - I mean the guy and the gal.

Soon after, I was talking to the nice guy from the St.Bernardinus Abbot brewery. He told me to try their strong beer, which was 10% alcohol! I said I didn't have a ticket, so he gave me a free glass - which was nice.
Here's a funky psychadelic shot (this drunk guy bumped into me as I was taking the photo).
This beer tasted smooth at first, then gave way to a sherry like alcoholic tang. Something I could drink, but not at my usual pace.
But then barley wines are not really my thang. Knowhatahmsayin?

By now, Anthony and I were getting 'in the zone'.

My next up was a high alchohol, number from Hitachino Nest.
This was their XH (extra high) beer.
This was the only beer to be served from a wooden cask (looks nice, doesn't it?)
It was 8% alcohol and tasted it!
I thought it tasted more like a wine or perhaps a brandy?
Pretty strong and a little sweet.
Also had a woody taste that I liked.


Something else that I liked was the lovely ladies who were pulling the pints - they kept refilling my glass! Thank you, ladies!
I think I must have had at least 2 full glasses worth. Nice.




Whoo! Time to hit the toilet...
I was very carefull not to drop my camera, mobile phone or my ever shrinking brain into the toilet bowl.






The view from above was...
..well, just a little strange. Isn't the toilet at an angle, or is it me?







Back in the bar and it was time for a nice, proven German beer. In fact, the only German beer there.

This was a Weihenstephaner Dunkel Weisse.
A nice beer.

Also, when you ordered a beer, you could try your luck at their prize draw! Guess what? - I won!






Here I am, with my beer and...my beer.
Awesome!




By now I was getting pretty plastered (did I mention that I hadn't eaten that day and had hardly eaten the day before?).


I wondered over to the area where the Fujisakura double bock had run out! - dammit!

"Scheisse!!!!"

But all was not lost.

Despite not being able to drink the beer I was saving until late in the evening, I managed to persuade the manager to put on, a nihgt early, the beer I really wanted to try - the Ozeno Yukidoke brown weissen! (remember the brewer from the company I talked to before? Well, he and the guy I met in The Thrash Zone the day before made me really want to try this beer. It wasn't bad, but then it wasn't so good, either.
Verdict: 6/10

By now, I was really getting tanked and the nice guy from St.Bernadus Abbey thingy was back and this time he gave me six tasters (kind of lost two and got two more, then two more)from various beers I hadn't tried yet.
I think they were Rogue Ale's Dead Guy Ale (6% and as my Canadian friend put it "tasted like soda - gross!"), a Shigakougen IPA (nice), an Aizu Beer Beethoven Marzen (can't remember) and something else.

My friend, Steven was now talking to a group of people around one of the standing tbales.
This lovely lady had an interesting t-shirt and I asked her if she was chesty, as she really gave that impression.


What do you think?




Obviously, I was having a miserable time.

Then, it was my turn behind the camera and my good friend, Toby had some fun and high jinks:

(Why he looks suprised, I'll never know. Her look is priceless.)

They were handing out certain safety measures for the evening.
Here Barnaby has two, one hanging from each ear.

It was getting late. Most of the crowd had left.
We were more or less the last people there.
Here are my last two shots of the evening:



Guys, it was fun hanging with you all and inhaling those helium balloons (my voice always sounded like that).

I turned down a great offer from my friend Mathew of a place ot crash.
Instead, my foolish stupid pride and sense of valor made me walk to the station to catch my last train.
I ended up getting off at the wrong station, walking an hour, getting lost, find ing the station again, taking a taxi, realising teh fare was rising above 3500yen, getting out of the taxi as fast as possible, walking the hour or so more to my home and passing out.
Yeah, great decision. Thanks, foolish pride and stupid sense of valor.
Great deal it did me.

But I had a great night and have good memories (apart from that damn taxi and urinating in the street - I have a vague hazy memory of something...).

Thank you to everyone.
Thank you, lovely chesty lady. What was your name? May you remain forever chesty and oh so zesty.
Thanks to my new Canadian friend (sorry you didn't like the rogue).
Thanks to the lovely couple and her boyfriend from the Ozeno Yukidoke brewery.
Thank you to the cool St.Bernadus place (great samples!).
and thanks to my good freind from New Zealand, Sir Reginald Smythe (looking forward to the All Blacks game!).

Another beer festival survived.