If you are in need of a public Notary, check with your local bank. Our Capital One has a notary service that is free for its customers. So convenient! I also read that you can check with your local library as some of them also provide the service. Can save a bit of lunch money.
In case you didn’t know, I have another blog dedicated to my motorbikes. Oh, and I got a new bike! Vroom vroom.
The theme song from Magerarenai Onna. I’m becoming a big fan of Aiko.
I’ve been watching a few older doramas starring Kanno Miho lately, and have also been following her show that has just concluded. Magerarenai Onna is the story of an idealistic woman who is in her 10th year of trying to pass the bar exam to become a lawyer. With that underlying plot, the story unfolds with her finding a couple friends, having troubles with her boyfriend, the resolution of her relationship with her mother, and ultimately her taking the bar exam. Kanno Miho is a pretty good actress, and the supporting cast do a good job as well. There isn’t a whole lot of character development in the main character, but all the supporting cast are affected by her idealism in one way or another, and their lives change dramatically. This dorama has a lot of funny scenes, and is pretty lighthearted, so if you are looking for something realistic and serious, look elsewhere. However, Magerarenai Onna kept me interested the whole way through, and the conclusion was satisfying and fun. While not an excellent dorama, I’d still recommend it.
I’m not sure how I missed this dorama when it first aired, but I’m happy to have found it and watched the whole series in a couple days. (A couple long nights, actually) I’m a fan of Miho Kanno and thought she did a great job as Kiina, a detective who handles the odd cases that the regular detectives find either too goofy to take. Each episode is about a single case, usually involving some kind of supernatural angle, but ultimately is solved by some kind of scientific explanation. It’s pretty easy to figure out who the culprit is but the interesting part is how they explain how the crime was done. What makes Kiina (the character) special is that she has a photographic memory, and picks up on obscure clues throughout the investigation. She’s also very idealistic, and her partner serves as a counterbalance to her personality. It’s a pretty good dorama, and I recommend watching it. My only complaint was that the subplot involving the chief wasn’t very interesting, or the resolution of that subplot wasn’t as fulfilling as it could have been. But still, each episode is pretty fun to watch. Also, each episode features a different guest star who will be familiar to regular dorama viewers.
This year we celebrated Chinese New Years at the Hsiang Yun Buddhist Temple. Koa performed with his Kung Fu class, and there was an amazing Lion Dance. In the evening we ate a great vegetarian Chinese dinner, then went to the Lantern Dharma service. It was a long day, but lots of fun!
There are three Japanese doramas I am watching right now. Ryuusei No Kizuna is the one that both Mariko and I are both interested in, so we watch more or less at the same time. (I have to wait a little longer for the subtitles to be released, but that’s just a few days) This story is about three siblings whose parents were murdered when they were youngsters. Now in their twenties, they try to find the solution to the mystery that has eluded both them and the police for all those years. The story has a bunch of interesting sub-plots, and what looked like a simple motive to the crime has become complicated and there are a couple of good twists. The acting is pretty good, with the main three roles being acted out convincingly. It’s a little hard to identify and fully sympathize with them, however, since they aren’t the most likable bunch. They part-time as swindlers, and the oldest brother is the mastermind, but he’s also kind of weak and pitiful. Then there’s a couple romances starting to happen, and one of them just seems too kimochi warui (bad feeling). Apart from those small things, I am finding this dorama to be fun to watch, and I look forward to each episode, wondering how they are going to resolve all the small subplots as well as the main story. I’m also a big Toda Erika fan, so it’s nice to watch her every week. She’s actually a pretty good actress!
I’ve really been enjoying my new phone’s multimedia features, especially the video player. It really is easy to watch Japanese dorama on it. I just need to prepare the episodes using the excellent xvid4psp converter beforehand. That converter has a batch feature which makes converting an entire series a breeze. I have found that the iPhone/iPodTouch preset works well for the G1, and the beautiful screen in the phone makes reading the subtitles super easy.
Right now I am catching up with “Mop Girl”, which isn’t so great after two episodes, but I’ll stick with it for at least a couple more to see if it picks up. At least the main character is a cutie!
This morning while driving Bay to his school, I noticed one of the houses that had a McCain/Palin yard sign had an American flag displayed. Except it was at half-staff. In contrast to this, when I arrived at Bay’s school, a school bus pulled up, and the kids were all chanting “O-Ba-Ma!”. It was really something!
