Birthday roundup

So a few weeks ago it was my birthday, May 14th to be precise. I'm old enough now (no, if you don't know already I'm not telling you) to actually NOT look forward to the marking of another year's passage. But then again, sometimes you score sweet gifts as a result of having made it thus far. This year I scored BIG. Check out the lil' beauty above... I call him takisu-chan (tako for octopus and isu for chair). It's a plaster octopus, it's a little chair.. it's both! It's the best ugly gift I ever got. Major thanks to Daigo and Yuichiro and Yumi-chan for knowing exactly what to get me.


But last time we were in Tokyo, before taking off for NYC I gave myself a little early b-day present, the Sanyo Xacti C5. It's a hybrid digital still camera and video recorder. It uses no tape, everything is recorded on a compact flash card; a 1 gig card can hold over an hour of video. And it's tiny(!), I can keep in my front pocket. You can check out a review of it here.


As for quality, it's quite good. You can check out the results for yourself, click on the shot above. It's a clip from a short movie (my first, so be kind) I made while on the plane from Tokyo to NYC. It's from a monja cruise we took in Tokyo bay with a bunch of friends. Be warned however, they are some graphic depictions of both eating and drinking. I made it using Apple's iMovie. It was an outstandingly simple process. I know I sound like I'm pimping for both Sanyo and Apple here, but damn... that's some sweet product. When something is pleasant to both look at and use, it's a triumph of design. And I feel compelled to praise it. So there.

Sometimes it's good to have stuff. Now go look at my movie.