November 2004 Archives

Man I am tired tonight. I wonder why? Maybe it has something to do with getting up at 1:30AM this morning to pick Amy and Brian up at the airport... Why you ask? Cause I am nice...

Here are two pictures of Daichi that Yuko took the other day. The first is Daichi being fussy, and the second is Daichi playing in front of the Xmass tree.

We are slowly sneaking up on another fun filled work week here in God's Fozen Land. The snow only lasted for a day, Yippiee. I can hardly contain myself with joy... Daichi hasn't learned to crawl yet, but he has learned to roll to where he wants to go. I gotta keep an eye on him!

Well it has finally done it. What I mean, is SNOW! Yes it is the first snow fall of the year.... It wasn't really all that much to speak of, maybe, and inch or so. Well hopefull this winter is going to go by quickly as they tend to drag on and make me wish for California weather....

Yuko and I and Daichi did make it out to pick out a xmass tree. Here are some pics of Daichi as he is shopping.

Not a lot happening here on the home front. Yuko and I got back late last night from a short trip to the folk's for Thanksgiving. Are you ready for the festivities? I like to keep it at a level 3 at all times....

Festivity Level 1: Your guests are chatting amiably with each other, admiring your Christmas-tree ornaments, singing carols around the upright piano, sipping at their drinks and nibbling hors d'oeuvres.

Festivity Level 2: Your guests are talking loudly -- sometimes to each other, and sometimes to nobody at all, rearranging your Christmas-tree ornaments, singing "I Gotta Be Me" around the upright piano, gulping their drinks and wolfing down hors d'oeuvres. Festivity

Level 3: Your guests are arguing violently with inanimate objects, singing "I can't get no satisfaction," gulping down other peoples' drinks, wolfing down Christmas tree ornaments and placing hors d'oeuvres in the upright piano to see what happens when the little hammers strike.

Festivity Level 4: Your guests, hors d'oeuvres smeared all over their naked bodies are performing a ritual dance around the burning Christmas tree. The piano is missing. You want to keep your party somewhere around level 3, unless you rent your home and own Firearms, in which case you can go to level 4. The best way to get to level 3 is egg-nog.

Not a lot happening here, just a slow Saturday. Yuko got to be feeling better, that was the extent of this Saturday....

Well I have finally made it through till Friday, Yipie! It has been a tough week, but I am still alive. It has really been a nasty day here today. Cold light rain all day...

I have been attending a brain melt session, i.e. tech training all this week for our new e-mail system at work, M$ Exchange 2003. Sitting in a darkened room trying to stay awake while having one on one training is no fun....

I am sending a thanks out to all that have stopped by my site and a big thanks to those people that have left a comment! I will get around to cruising your sites when by brain re-solidifies...

Here are some pictures of Daichi.

While I was doing some research on the 'net about Juon, I found this site and learned that there are really 4 different versions. Well 5 really if you count the recently released American version. I guess the director need to keep working on his vision before it was prefected.

What I like about the Japanese version is that there isn't the gore found in American horror films or cheesey CGI. All of the terror is left to the viewer's imagination and this is what I feel makes this movies so scary....

aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh............

Click to Enlarge

Have you seen this boy? If you have, I am sorry to tell you that you are not long for this world. Ya see there is this jealous ghost out there that will kill anyone that has seen him.
Last night I watched Ju-on, the Japanese thriller that has finally hit these shores.. I watched the original Japanese version in Japanese with English subtitles. I was at Best Buy, earlier, and I couldn't resist picking it up. The story revolves around a jealous ghost of a husband and the ghosts of his family members that what to escape their captor, but can't and their interaction with the outside world of visitors, which is why if you have seen Toshio's ghost, say your prayers..

“JU-ON: a curse born of a grudge held by someone who dies in the grip of powerful anger. It gathers in the places frequented by that person in life, working its spell on those who come into contact with it and thus creating itself anew.”

Over all I give this movie a B+/A. Not gorey at all, but sure is scary.

A Snipet Review:

A bluing hand brushes your naked skin as you stand beneath the shower. A glimpse of something in the corner of your eye - is it only a reflection in the window pane, or something more tangible? A nightmare in which your bed swarms with black cats as you lie there half-sleeping. A teenage schoolgirl blocks the windows of her room with shreds of newspaper to shield her from the hollow-eyed apparitions that stare in from the darkness outside. In the heart of a deserted house sealed up in duct tape, an old woman gazes blindly into space, her face frozen by fear into an inscrutable mask. Skulking deep in the shadows of the attic crawlspace, caught in a limbo between light and darkness, something evil is stirring.

Here are some links so you don't have to take my word for it:

• Yahoo Movies
  
• Subwaycinema
  
• Midnighteye
  

Picture from the movie:

Stay tuned for Ju-on 2.....

I couldn't resist.....

Which Monty Python & the Holy Grail Character are you REALLY?
brought to you by Quizilla

Daichi is not doing too bad in the fussiness department. Here is a picture of the progress.

©Yuko Marquis. Click to Enlarge

I heard this rolling down the highway and I was thinking that now that the election is over, it time to move on and keep looking for what we all want.....I feel it is cheesey, but WTF.

Carry On

One morning I woke up and I knew that you were gone.
A new day, a new way, I knew I should see it along.
Go your way, I'll go mine and carry on.

The sky is clearing and the night has gone out.
The sun, he come, the world is all full of light.
Rejoice, rejoice, we have no choice but to carry on.

The fortunes of fables are able to sing the song.
Now witness the quickness with which we get along.
To sing the blues you've got to live the tunes and carry on.

Carry on, love is coming, love is coming to us all.

Where are you going now my love? Where will you be tomorrow?
Will you bring me happiness? Will you bring me sorrow?
Oh, the questions of a thousand dreams, what you do and what you see,
lover, can you talk to me?

Girl, when I was on my own, chasing you down,
what was it made you run, trying your best just to get around?
The questions of a thousand dreams, what you do and what you see,
lover, can you talk to me?

-CSNY 11.03.1970 "Carry On"

Here are some pictures for Daichi's gums. Here you can see the begainings of his new teeth.... Yesterday was a holy terror with Daichi crying for about 8 hours sight until I got home with the baby anbesol.

©Yuko Marquis. Click to Enlarge

©Yuko Marquis. Click to Enlarge

©Yuko Marquis. Click to Enlarge

©Yuko Marquis. Click to Enlarge

Yuko and I just finished watching a documentary called, Tokyo Girls. It details the lives of the hostess girls and what their lives are really like. It also brought a nice view of the concrete city to our tree stricken life here in Minnesota.

What is funny, is that some of the clubs shown in Osaka are just around the corner from where Yuko and I got married... Maybe I should check it out and bring back photos when Yuko and I and Daichi make a trip in late Febuary....

I personally thought the video gave the viewers (me) a glimpse into the life of the rich Japanese business man who has more money than they really know what to spend it on, but don't know what love is. Some of the customers really turn out to be mob bosses seeking friendship and maybe love in the ladies who are out to chase their money.... Man you see the cars these guys drive.

Take a candid journey into the world of four young Canadian women who work as well paid hostesses in exclusive Japanese nightclubs when the National Film

Lured by adventure and easy money, these modern-day geisha find themselves caught up in the mizu shobai - the complex "floating water world" of Tokyo clubs and bars. Drawn by fast money, some women become consumed by the lavish lifestyle and forget why they came. One hostess calls it "losing the plot."

"I couldn't believe that they were paying me to drink and party and just sit around and talk to people. I thought it was fabulous." Jamie was making a thousand dollars a night when she started working in a hostess club in Japan. Little did she realize that she would eventually flee for safety to a remote Thai Island.

Hilary is a hostess in a Tokyo nightclub to pay off her student debts. Nancy came to Japan to study butoh - a contemporary dance form. Dhana was offered a million dollars to marry one of her clients.

With a pulsating visual style, Tokyo Girls captures the raw energy of urban Japan and its fascination with the new. Shot in Canada, Osaka and Tokyo, this is a riveting inside look at the impact of the "economy geisha."

Tokyo Girls was directed by Penelope Buitenhaus and produced by Gillian Darling Kovanic for the National Film Board.

I am getting closer to the end of the porch project. This weekend has been comprised of tieing up of lose ends. I will try to post pics tomorrow.

Check it out! I got a Mobile Blog or moblog. You can find it in the right had side of the page. Now that I finally got a camera phone (2 years late) I can post some pics from my life.... The crappy thing is that Qwest managed to mess up the way it sends pictures, they are not e-mail attachments, but are embeded in a buch of useless ads and crap.... So it is still kind of a manual thing.....

I have been working on recovering my lost entries after a failed attempt at upgrading my MT to the new 3.12 version. it is a long and slow process that has to be done manually, so it is going to be awhile until Japanish is whole again. Here are some new Daichi pics.....

©Yuko Marquis. Click to Enlarge

©Yuko Marquis. Click to Enlarge

©Yuko Marquis. Click to Enlarge

©Dave Marquis. Click to Enlarge

here is a picture of Daichi playing on his play mat. He is really able to hold himself and I believe that it won't be long before he is crawling around. Yuko has found that Daichi is able to move backwards when he wants to and tells me that it is a sign that he soon will be crawling. I am really excitted to see him moving around the room. Oh then there is the fact that I really need to clean up the place to make it baby safe. It would be nice if we can move all over the stuff out of the living room and leave only the TV and the couches so we can feel safe to set him free about the room.

In other news, i am still in a state of mourning over the election.

Well I am still waiting to hear the outcome of the election. I guess maybe we will know tomorrow. In other news, I have updated my japan links and sweeped out the dead links. I still have more to add and check.... Please stay tuned.

Well the big day is before us tomorrow. I guess we will see if there will be any dirty election tricks. The world will be watching........