Favorites

I watched what has to be one my favorite movies of all-time last week. It inspired me to share some of my favorite things.

The movie is The Razor's Edge with Bill Murray. I believe it was his first serious movie role. It has been universally under-rated, but I would recommend it to anyone. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I haven't read the book. That's not always a bad thing to say of favorite movies, but I think I'll be adding the book to my "Must Read" list.

Food always comes up in questions on favorites...esp. with me. The problem is that it fluctuates so much and so often, that it's difficult to talk about except in the context of "right now". Restaurant-wise, there is this little Thai place in Ginza that Taka and I really like. It looks like a total dive...unless you've been to Thailand and realize that the owners must be very proud of what they've achieved. It's clean and very authentic. The food is just fabulous. We don't tell too many people about it because it's also very small (and they seem to do pretty good business without our endorsements). We have to be careful of what we order because of our diet. Neither their Japanese or English is good enough for special requests. They do have a picture menu that includes Japanese translations along with the Thai though. Everything we've ever had there has been fantastic. Their green papaya salad is like something served at a very good street stall on the streets of most any city in Thailand and their curries are to die for. If you like sweating your way through dinner, this place is for you! Most everything that we can have is pretty hot, but the flavors are brilliant.

I don't even know what to say about music. My tastes are so eclectic, I wouldn't know where to start. As I type this, I'm listening to Radio Paradise (www.radioparadise.com). Very eclectic, commercial-free and by far my favorite when I'm sitting at the computer (which is more often than I care to think about). A glance at their playlist will give you an idea of just how eclectic (and commercial-free!) they are. Recent iPod selections have ranged from Bob Marley to Avril Lavigne (damn the French and their spellings), Bare Naked Ladies to Fine Young Cannibals to Pink Floyd to Tom Waits, Ben Folds, Counting Crows...the list goes on, and that's just the short-list.

Beer is my favorite drink of choice. I love Ichibanshibori from Kirin. Their Autumn beer, Aki Aji, just came out. It's only sold for about two months. Most years, that's my favorite by far. Last year, I didn't esp. like it. This year it's pretty good. Beer from other (Asian) countries I like includes Bintang and Shingha. I also like vodka&cranberry in the summer (most vodka's are off my allowable foods list though because they are filtered through bone ash). I won't even get into the fact that cranberry juice is almost ¥500/liter ($20/gallon) when you can find it. On a hot day, I enjoy dark rum and pineapple with a splash of coconut milk and good Margaritas...which are damn near impossible since whatever company that was licensed to sell Cuervo Margarita Mix in Japan folded without selling the damned license. I am also a bit partial to Southern Comfort on the rocks.

Have I mentioned that one of my very favorite things is following the news (and letting it totally engulf me with astonishment, anger, frustration, disbelief, excitement and sometimes even joy)? This is a bit like one of my other favorites (drinking) in that it's best enjoyed in moderation...but what fun would that be?

Favorite Deep Thoughts (attributed to Jack Handy):

-If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.

-It takes a big man to cry, but it takes a bigger man to laugh at that man.

-When I die, I would like to go peacefully, in my sleep, like my Grandfather did. Not screaming and yelling like the passenger in his car.

-I love to go to the schoolyard and watch the children jump and scream, but they don't know I'm using blanks.

-When Gary told me he had found Jesus, I thought, Yahoo! We're rich! But it turned out to be something different.

-Of all the imaginary friends I've had, I don't think there was one that I didn't end up having to kill.

-Probably the saddest thing you'll ever see is a mosquito sucking on a mummy. Forget it, little friend.

-If you ever fall off the Sears Tower, just go real limp, because maybe you'll look like a dummy and people will try to catch you because, hey, free dummy.


Well, that's all the favorites I can handle in one post.