I woke up this morning at 5am to go for a morning run. I saw about 5 other runners out there, a couple walking with dogs, and a few early commuters. It was really nice out, maybe around 75°F with a light breeze. I didn’t bring my iPod Shuffle, and it was great to hear the morning sounds, mostly crickets and the pounding of my feet on the sidewalk.

I usually do a post to log my runs, but I also keep a log over at RunningAhead.com. If you are interested, you can check out all of my exercise data there. RunningAhead is a great site, that slices your running data in different ways and let’s you input the courses you run using Google maps, and calculates distance based on that. You can also enter in shoe data, so you can see how many miles you put on shoes, and if you enter in the price you paid for your shoes, it will show you how much it $/mile it really is. You can also enter in other types of workouts if you want, but the site is mostly focused on running. There is also a nice community forum as well. Best of all, it’s free! (Paypal donations are recommended!)

Read this from an article at Gizmodo:

THE PCH? THE LOL.

Sad news for Los Angeles as Hal Fishman has died. We grew up watching Hal on KTLA. It’s strange how connected you get to newscasters. It was sad when Jerry Dunphy died as well. Hal was not only a great newscaster, but he holds several aviation records as well. Although I haven’t lived in Los Angeles for over 10 years, I could always count on seeing him on tv when I visited. RIP Hal.

A while ago I had read the synopsis of Dr. Koto’s Clinic, and was interested in watching it, however for some reason I never got around to it. I think the synopsis I saw was for the second series, Dr. Koto’s Clinic 2006, and when I saw that SARS Fansubs was releasing the first series (2003), I had to get it.

The story starts off with Dr. Koto (Yoshioka Hidetaka 吉岡秀隆) traveling to a remote island and setting up shop in an old run-down clinic. He finds out that the previous doctors who came to the island didn’t stay long and that the local residents aren’t expecting Goto-sensei to stick around either. We also sort of find out that he left Tokyo after an incident at the hospital, and that he separated with his girlfriend, who is also a doctor. Soon after arriving at the island, he meets the two people who he will be working with at the clinic, Ayaka (Shibasaki Kou 柴咲コウ) the nurse (rawr!), and Wada-san (Kakei Toshio 筧利夫) the clerk/helper. These two are pretty interesting actually. The nurse starts off kind of disillusioned with the doctor, thinking he will return to Tokyo like all the other doctors who came before. The clerk has no medical experience, but since there is no one else to help with some of the operations, he helps out the best he can.

The first episode really jumps into the story, with Dr. Koto (actually Goto, but the kids misspell his name on a flag they made for the clinic) performing an emergency appendectomy and earning the trust and respect of his new coworkers. Each episode has some kind of medical emergency, but they are all interesting in their own way. Unlike Gokusen, where each episode follows the same formula (kid gets in trouble, hides it from the teacher, then teacher kicks bad guy’s butt), Dr. Koto’s episodes really build on eachother. It’s not like the plot is just “going through the motions”. Towards the end of the series the plot really getsreally interesting because of the return of a former colleague/love interest, plus the Dr.’s controversial past catching up to him and the effect that has on his relationship with the local residents. Also, the relationship of Ayaka and her feeling towards Koto starts developing.

This dorama is a nice break from the simple romantic comedies that I have been watching lately. The story, based from a manga, is semi-serious, although not too hardcore. One thing about this series, though, is that almost each episode is a tear-jerker. You might want to have the Kleenex box nearby, especially episode 8. That was a tough one to get through. The sad parts aren’t really tragic, however. They are just very sentimental.

There are a few reasons besides the plot why I really enjoyed this series. First, the acting is superb. Yoshioka Hidetaka is excellent as Dr. Koto, and the supporing cast is wonderful as well. Secondly, the island setting makes for some really beautiful scenery. It is filmed with a lot more sophistication than other dorama and you really feel like you are on a southern island. The (how do I say it) audio portion also contributes to the atmosphere, with lots of ocean waves, bird, and insect noises. Lastly, the soundtrack is a cut above the normal dorama. It fits in perfectly with the mood of the story. The overall feeling kind of reminds me of Tonari no Totoro. The ending theme song is amazing as well. It’s kind of a sad and melancholy tune, and the ending credits imagery behind the song works perfectly to create a mix of sad and beautiful feelings. It’s really well-done.

I really have to say, SARS-Fansubs are the best! They did an excellent job subbing this series. Even the ending theme song is subbed in a great style. These guys and gals are amazing. If you have a chance to see this dorama, I totally recommend it. It won a ton of awards at the 38th Television Drama Academy Awards: Best Drama, Best Actor (Yoshioka), Best Scriptwriting, Best Director, Best Musical Arrangement, and Best Theme Song.

Mariko recommended that I watch Papa to Musume no Nanokakan パパとムスメの７日間 (Papa and Daughter’s Seven Days), saying it was really funny. My friend Jeremy also mentioned that it was pretty good, so I started watching last night. This dorama is a short one, with only seven episodes, and I watched the first four, staying up until about 1am. Mariko and Jeremy were right. It’s a great show!

The story is basically a “Freaky Friday” story. Basically the father and daughter are involved in a freak accident and somehow trade bodies. Before the accident, they were kind of a typical family of father, mother and daughter. The father is a salaryman, mother is a housewife, and the daughter goes to High School. The relationship between father and daughter is not so great, with the teenager resenting her father, and the father wondering why they have grown apart. I think it is just the normal teenage years.

But after the accident, things start to get really hilarious. The acting is really good, with the girl (Aragaki Yui 新垣結衣) taking over the mannerisms of an oyaji, and vice versa. And you hear some oyaji-language coming out of the mouth of the cute girl, which is great. Plus, she stands and sits like a man, and talks to her peers in a brusque and straightforward manner. It’s really funny.

Then on the other side, the father (Tachi Hiroshi 舘ひろし) starts acting like a High Schooler, and he does it so well, with funny dancing, texting super-fast, crying when she realizes that she might be stuck in her father’s body and miss out on her youth. There are some really hilarious situations, like when the father goes out on a date, and the daughter follows them around, making sure the father doesn’t do anything crazy.

I can go on and on about the funny scenes, but I will just say that if you have access to this show, watch it! Oh, and the scene where the daughter realizes that the father has to take a bath and will see her naked body (and the solution to that predicament) is so funny. Plus of course the girl is super cute!

I am now about 18 hours into Twilight Princess, and made it through the Goron Mines. It’s been a few months since I picked up the game, but it is still great. I really enjoy the ambience of the Zelda games, and this one is especially cool. The music is fantastic and I was immediately immersed in the setting once again. Really an awesome game.

I had originally wanted to play the game and not look at any spoilers, but I decided to go ahead and read the online guide to speed my way through parts that I couldn’t figure out. This includes learning how to defeat the bosses. I think I consulted the guide three times the other night, and I didn’t feel like I was cheating myself, but rather just saving myself from frustration.

In the Goron Mines, I picked up a new weapon, the Hero’s Bow. This thing is great. It was so cool being Link as a sniper. I can’t wait to combine it with bombs later on. Next, I am going to backtrack a bit and pick up the pieces of heart that I missed earlier. I’m still taking my time, which is fine with me. The game is still so neat.

My bro sent me a link to an article on Engadget showing that Sony is offering upgrades to the hard disk drive in some of it’s Handycam models, of which mine is included. For $100, we can upgrade the 30GB drive to a 60GB drive. This sounds pretty cool, but when I thought about when I was buying the camera a few months back, $599 for a 30GB was within our price point, but $699 would place it too high.

Plus, the 30GB is more than enough room for us. I think on the medium setting, we could record about 10 hours of footage before needing to transfer the data to the computer. In conclusion, it’s nice to have the option to upgrade and turn our SR62 into an SR62A, but we’ll pass. Seems like a real money-maker for Sony, though.

The show continues to be entertaining. It’s turning out to be the kind of story I thought it was going to be, with the romance part happening slowly and the father’s acceptance kind of progressing along at a slow pace. The work part of the story is typical J-dorama fare, with some office politics and the inexperienced assistant’s dedication saving the day. I am always amazed how the writing can be so similar in all of these dorama. I guess I am attracted to the same types of story, so I tend to see the same plot devices over and over again. Still, it’s fun to watch. And there is a nice scene at Aiko’s house where her coworkers come over for a suprise dinner, and one of the girls gets totally hammered. It’s always fun to see a cute girl drunk.

One thing I forgot to mention in my previous review of the show is that one of my favorite actresses from Hana Yori Dango, Nishihara Aki 西原亜希 has a part in Hanayome to Papa. She’s Aiko’s sempai Kanayama Hatsune, and she’s kind of a bitch in these two episodes, but she comes around and it looks like they will have a good working relationship after all, since Aiko kind of saved her ass from being fired. Anyways, I await more subtitles so I can continue this series! In the meantime, I might have to watch some more Liar Game.

Mainichi Daily News Story
Asahi.com Story

There was an Enka show on NHK yesterday, and one of the female singers was warbling like crazy. Bay (5) came up to me and said, “She sounds like she’s about to die.” I laughed. “Ne!”