groovbusta

Rent a scooter or vespa and explore the city and outskirts like a local... seeing all the hot women from behind isn't bad either!

Have dinner or a drink at Lan Club in the LG building. Completely over the top interior design by Philippe Starck... has to be seen.

In the lounge at Narita now... heading to BKK for new years week. Been to thailand a bunch of times, but only for the beaches and scuba. Have a friend working in bkk now, so will finally get to see what's up... mainly eating, drinking and shopping... will definitely hit Siam Paragon!

Just back from Taipei and wow... they are really getting closer and closer to Tokyo in terms of style and culture. Tons of shops from Japan (Mitsukoshi, Tokyu Hands, Muji, etc.) all over Taipei and since Mitsukoshi owns so much property, they brought over lots of Japanese restaurants (Momo Paradise...) to fill out the retail spaces.

That whole Neo19? bldg near 101 was pretty cool... besides Room18, they had a bunch of stylin lounge/bar/restaurant spaces like Barcode, inHouse and Person that we checked out.

The girls are stylin the Japanese fashion sense too... much more so than what I've seen in Shanghai...

I'm not saying Taipei is Tokyo... because nothing compares to Tokyo... but Taipei is more than a step ahead of Shanghai...

Disintegration - The Cure

Substance - New Order

0898 - The Beautiful South

The Low End Theory - A Tribe Called Quest

Give Up - The Postal Service

Catch-22 - Joseph Heller

Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky

Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand

Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami

The Beach - Alex Garland

raw oysters + beer

fresh sushi + sake

blue cheese stuffed olives + vodka

Nat Sherman's 'Hint of Mint' cigarettes are nice. Friends bring 'em in by the cube since they don't sell them here.

Hosted potluck bounenkai at my apt.

Dranks lots.

Did a white elephant gift exchange.

Watched Talledega Nights.

Passed out on the couch while watching NFL Game Pass.

In Taiwan, check out those beatle stands with the gogo dancing girls by the highways. Also, check out that city that's a mirror replica of Shibuya. Probably, club room 18, although I've only heard...

I heard Ageha (Japan) opened up a club in Taipei... anyone been yet? Gonna be visiting this weekend...

Lucky for me my friend works for a PR firm that is connected with Monocle's Tokyo bureau, so she snags me a free copy from her office every month. Definitely beyond your normal commute reading.

Also saw the Monocle x Porter bags for sale in Daikanyama... very nice.

Big fat ZERO fantasty points from Romo this week... thanks.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

Suntory Super Premium Malts

Westmalle Tripel

Duvel

John Smith's

The women (mom, sis, etc.) in my family usually like photos... Not many people print out photos anymore, so if you print one out, put it in a nice frame or make a calendar / scrap book using one of the online photo sites or something like that.

For the guys... we usually do something sports related. Tickets to an nfl/mlb/nba/nhl game, tee time for golf, etc...

If you're a fan of the book DO NOT go see this movie. They changed the ending and shoe horned in a Christian angle.

If we liked the movie, should we read the book?

I liked the movie in general, but wanted more story development regarding the Dark Seekers. Will Smith was great.

I can't wait until I get my Canon 40D, not released in Thailand yet so I will fly next month to Hong Kong to pick it up. Best Dslr you can get for around 1500$ right now.

Just bought the Canon 40D plus EF-S 17-85 IS USM lens as a kit yesterday. Yodobashi camera (Akihabara) is having a special xmas sale, so the price and timing could not be beat.

Canon 40D + 17-85 IS USM lens kit... Yodobashi camera is having a crazy sale right now...

Do you guys have any recommendations for a great barbeque place in SF?

Thanks guys

If you want to go old school BBQ... try Lilly's (formerly Brother in Laws) on Divisadero. Otherwise head to Oakland!

They have some of the prices on the Softbank website.. for the cheapest phone it's less than ￥５００ per day (incl SIM card)... don't know if they have weekly rates. ￥１５ /sms and free incoming calls...

The food is to die for of course! everywhere you go there will be a drink shop or some kind of food stand for REAL CHEAP!

Some retaurants that are all over Tapei that i recommend checking out are:

-If there is a restaurant or food stand that has lots of people lining up DEFINITELY WORTH the WAIT Taiwanese love food and they will wait as long as possible to eat it.

-Tasty

-Cafe Grazie (not sure if that is the right spelling you'll see it though)

-Shi Ling night Market

-Xi men Ding (a lot of it is crowded with high schoolers if you feel like some OMC steez)

-Zong xiao fujing (not sure on the spelling)

I'm gonna be there for xmas... what's the top 3 牛肉麵 (niu ro mien) joints these days?

herpskizzle - dude I'm not sure yet what to do about a phone or whatever. I think I'm gonna try to rent a keitai in Narita, I heard that's an option? Might as well...

Yes, most carriers rent mobile phones at Narita. Softbank is nice because they have English help over the phone and at their store locations in Tokyo (Shibuya, Harajuku, Roppongi, etc.)

http://www.softbank-rental.jp/campaign/otj/

http://www.narita-airport.jp/en/guide/service/list/svc_19.html

Laos just made the NYT #1 travel destination for 2008... definitely go now while you can still enjoy the orignal flavor...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/travel/09where.html?em&ex=1197522000&en=f973113e5926fabd&ei=5087%0A

why?

the only connection i see here is that tiger woods is sponsored by tag heuer.

Brad Pitt is too... Tag has big advertising posters of him all over Tokyo.

Puma Black Store @ Tokyo Midtown

they are old man shoes

LOL - true, I probably AM an old man compared to most of you regulars. I'm definitely not one to be hanging out in Harajuku or Shibuya like you kids.

Alexander McQueen Puma's - Tendon Patent Low

Had 'em about a month now... so comfortable!