Birthday...well...a bit late though.

Falling behind...It's been about 2 weeks since I updated here...I need to get on the ball with it. Hopefully this one will make it into the May month for blogs. It was my birthday last week Tuesday (May 25th). As usual for the past I don't know how many years, my mother made the annual Batman birthday cake. Always the best!

My friends got together for a nice birthday dinner at Hifumi restaurant in China town on Saturday May 29, 2010. Got a bunch of great gifts but the best gift was having so many of my friends show up to help celebrate my birthday. The food was good and so was the company. The only minor drawback was that this guy came up to us after while we were hanging around after talking story asking for money for "food". Lawrence was nice enough to take him to a restaurant and buy him some egg rolls but a few minutes later he came back asking for more money before somebody told him to beat it.

On Sunday night May 30, I got to go to the Oahu Fan Force's screening for the 30th anniversary of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Classic movie but I missed the best part! I went to the bathroom and returned right after Vader said "I am your father!".

Kikaida!

For the 6th year in a row, the folks at the Maui Matsuri have asked the Generation Kikaida crew to go up to Maui and participate in the annual festival that celebrates Japanese culture on the island of Maui. The event took place on May 15, 2010 ( I note this because I haven't updated this blog since the 13th and today is the 24th).

Mr. Ban came down along with Mr. Miura for the event. It's always great to see these two guys. Unfortunately, Mr. Ikeda couldn't make it down for the event this year. It was a good turn out, and the audience got involved. It's always a better show when the audience gets involved. The GK store did really well too. We sold out of most things...we probably should have brought more but it's hard to judge before hand.

The following week (May 23) we had an appearance at Shirokiya. Again, it was a really good turn out. The show was scheduled to go from 2:00-3:30 but I think we went till 4. The crowd was there and didn't really slow down until the very end. The number of kids that showed up too was really unbelievable.

It's amazing that a 36 year old show that hasn't been on the air for years continues to draw not only a following but it seems that a new generation of kids are showing up all the time. These young 4-6 year old kids are excitedly going up on stage and singing "Go! Go! Kikaida". A cult following in Hawaii.

Law & Order

Thought this was pretty interesting...

Law & Order: UK. I found this while wandering around Target last night. This is supposed to be the UK's version (duh) of the Law & Order series. The opening monologue is a little different in that the wording and the narrator as well as the opening theme. I watched a clip of the opening on YouTube and was a little disappointed that the opening theme wasn't a UK/British version/take on the US L&O theme. I mean we have the same recognizable theme for each show, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and even the short lived Law & Order: Trial by Jury whose theme is now the CI theme so a British version of the theme would have been awesome.

From what I've read though, the infamous "chung chung" sound as well as the location and time fade overs are still there.

Speaking of which...I've enjoyed this past seasons Law & Order: SVU. Last years one wasn't too bad either, considering that seasons 8&9 were what I thought were so bad I thought they had jumped the shark. A bit of redemption the past two seasons though season 6 is still my personal favorite.

And Jeff Goldblum as Zac Nichols has renewed my interest in the CI series. I don't know if it will ever be as good as the first 4 or so seasons of CI was but it is keeping my interest so far.

Ipod, Iron Man, Free comics and a bunch of catch up!

Well...a quick update on the Batmobile. Initially, I thought I would only need to replace the rear windshield before the girl at Safe-Lite pointed out the dent that was made when somebody smashed my rear windshield. Because of the dent, I have to get that repaired and what was supposed to be a 2 hour job to be completed in less than a day has taken away my car for over a week and more money out of my pocket. The repair shop told me that they had to order a part to repair the dent and that the part wouldn't come in until next week sometime.

In the meantime, I got a rental car on Friday. A Ford Fusion that I'll hopefully only have a few days. I would love for a call telling me that my car is ready early in the week.

I joined the Oahu chapter of the Star Wars Fan Force a few weeks ago. It's a Star Wars fan club and along with Rebel Legion Hawaii, both clubs participated in Free Comic Book Day. Free Comic Book Day is an event held the first Saturday in May every year that various venues (usually comic shops and libraries) participate in and pass out select free comics.

Two Jedi Knights and General Han Solo made appearances to help celebrate the day. (I "borrowed" this picture from Oahu Fan Force) It was nice to see some of the people that came to the event. It's always nice to see the interactions with the characters and the kids but some of the adults that showed up and were excited to see the Star Wars characters too. The Rebel Legion Hawaii and Oahu Fan Force may be getting more members in the near future.

I have to remember to finish my membership in to the Oahu Fan Force by posting to the forums on the website.

I posted in February that I got a new iPod Touch. Because of the way I wear my ear buds (from my belt up my back) I knew that they would wear out after a period of time...usually 3-6 months. It's usually because they get twisted and kinked from time to time. Unfortunately, because the ear buds/headphones have a remote control in them and a mic, they usually cost about $30. I could get away with the $15 regular, any brand ones with my old nano but if I wanted to be able to control the iPod touch "remotely" I need to get the special Apple ones from the Apple Store for $30. So this past week, I went in and got a new pair and then a few days later the original pair that came with my iPod touch died. Luckily, I had the new pair I just bought and was able to switch it right away. The first pair lasted almost 3 months...hopefully this new pair lasts a little longer.

CBG night at the movies went to see Iron Man 2 at Dole theaters this past Saturday night. It wasn't bad but not great either. I loved the technology they made for this movie...Tony's cellphone/pda thing he used during the senate hearings was awesome. 6/10 IMO.

I used Fandango online to purchase our tickets. I love trying new technology to do things. I previously had been using the kiosks outside of the theaters to purchase the tickets in the past, especially when there was a long line at the box office. It surprises me sometimes that there aren't more people using those machines when the box office lines are long. Then again, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. As for the Fandango thing, we had to print out a receipt and take it down to the theater but unfortunately, the kiosks were out of tickets in the machine so we still had to take the receipt to the box office for them to print out our tickets for us.

Okole Puka!

I got a rude awakening this morning as my neighbor tells me that someone smashed my rear windshield. I go outside and find my car with glass all over the road and inside the back of my hatchback. Worse yet (not that it isn't already bad) is the fact that it seems more like some punk was out doing it for fun. Vandalism. Whoever did it didn't even bother to look in the car to see if there was anything valuable to take. Not that I'm glad one way or the other but...

I went to bed around midnight and was up by about 6AM so I figured it happened sometime between then but a young woman who lives around the block said that her car had it's driver's side window smashed around 2AM.

Anyway, the police came and I filed a police report but I'm not sure what they can really do. It's kind of infuriating that some okole puka can do this and get away with it. worse yet is the fact that it seems they smashed the windshield with a bat or pipe and hit the body of the car as well.
Initially it was just a windshield replacement, which was bad enough but after taking it to Safe-Lite to try to get it fixed, they pointed out the dent and said that they could replace my windshield but it not sit properly and there could be leaking problems if we didn't repair the body first.

So what was supposed to be a 2 hour job has now turned into a...well, not sure yet as the insurance company has to get an estimate for the repair now whereas it was already set when we knew it was only gonna be a windshield replacement.

The sky was an ugly gloomy gray color. It was not a great day but hey, they can't all be awesome days right? I got the news they announced the release date of the new Batman movie though...good news at least on this day.

Getting behind...Shake Down...and more...!

Yikes...got off track and went about 10 days without a blog...not really that big of a deal but I wanna keep this up for the year. So...Last Saturday, the CBG gang headed over to Kapahulu to catch Kerry's band Shakedown at OnStage. Even though we missed the first part of the show, they put on a great show. This was the second time we went down to catch their show and it's been a fun, foot tapping show both times. As always, Kerry is quite the performer playing to the crowd which was full of Hawaii News Now workers...

Found this interesting...I'm not sure what to call it. I found it over at Shirokiya earlier today. I like checking out some of the items they have in the back part of the third floor. A lot of interesting things back there. Anyway, this is a spray on, air conditioner in a can. My co-worker Yuko said that you "Shake and spray it on your clothes and it is supposed to help keep you cool". I can't read the complicated kanji directions but I was able to make out the 'coo-lah' from the katakana on the can. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet since I've only been in doors in an air conditioned office and a comfortable temperature room at home. It fits in my front pocket...I'm thinking about going back to more pouches on the belt but my back might not be too happy with that.

Anyway, I'll give it a try tomorrow if it's warm and see how much it helps. If it works, that would be awesome because then I would have the hand warmers if it gets a little cold and this "air conditioner" spray if it gets a little hot.