When I was in Tokyo in 2009, I discovered the most wonderful thing on earth: mameshiba. Mameshiba is a Japanese cartoon based on various types of beans with doggy features that come to life and freak out people by stating rather obscure facts about various things, typically food and biology. If you’re familiar with mameshiba though, you probably just know the edamame bean, which is most famous for being an adorable keychain novelty where you pop him out of his pod and he’ll have a funny face:
But there are many other types including a peanut, black bean and coffee beans and they all have some random facts to give their unsuspecting “audience” (victim might be a more appropriate choice given the reactions the beans tend to get). In fact their name is a play on the Japanese word for trivia “mamechishiki”. Literally the name means “bean dog” (a shiba is a breed of dog) which is basically the most adorable thing I have ever seen in my entire life!
Mameshiba is so big now, apparently 78% of Japanese adults recognise the characters! It’s also infiltrated the USA and Canada and one can only hope it will make its way to Australia shores soon. You would not believe how much merchandise you can get. Personally I got a couple of bits and pieces while in Tokyo (notepads, stickers, keychains etc) but at Supanova last year one stall had a giant edamame pillow that I simply could not refuse!
If you’d like to get into mameshiba and their wonderful world, I suggest checking out all of their videos. Then once you’re hooked, you can get all of them as wallpapers! You’d better believe my work desktop now scrolls through all of them throughout the day!
Japan, have I told you lately how aesome and CUTE you are?
About Ruby
My name is Cara (but you can call me Ruby) and I like the colour pink, swearing, fist shaking, daggy dancing and 90s RnB music. Often all at once. I live in Brisbane which is always warm and is famous for its zombies.
I've been listening to cheesy RnB jamz lately, like they're going out of fashion. HA! We all know that'll never happen!about 2 days agofrom webReplyRetweetFavorite
I am such a suburban cliché. Mowing the lawn and washing my car in a bikini. Whatever, prudes, it's bloody hot outside!about 3 days agofrom webReplyRetweetFavorite
Boy howdy, I have been neglecting the link love! I’ve been a very good girl and don’t surf the net at work, so I don’t come across as much as I used to. At least, not enough to justify a decent little post about. But I’ve rounded a few up for your enjoyment, so here goes:
Which Brisbane Roller Derby team do I support? Sun State Roller Girls, of course. They help us so much with the zombie walk and can’t thank them enough.
I have a confession. Pink might be my favourite colour but purple has been taking over my life lately. It’s so in and so cute right now! Agent Lover and her blog about lavender has only made my affair worse.
Can you believe it’s been TWO months since I posted a nails blog? I am ashamed! The thing is, I’ve done some very fancy nails in this time but for some reason I was too slack to post about them. I managed to take a photo of one set (pink and blue leopard print, which wasn’t quite as effective as I hope, but I still liked ‘em). The last set were midnight blue with sparkles and gems but I lost too many gems before I remembered to take a photo and was too embarrassed to show them off, which is a damn shame.
These ones are simple and required no skill, but I have never gotten so many compliments before! The pink is such a perfect Barbie pink which is probably what people notice, as it’s the most attractive colour in the world. The skulls are just cheapo nail stickers but skulls with glitzy eyes = AMAZING! I’ve never mixed up the sticker colours before but god I am enjoying the look and will probably recycle this design again soon!
I’ve also gone back to squared tips. The rounded style was nice but they look too “natural” and I do not get my nails done to look natural! They also give me more space to work with and look longer so it’s a win-win. Hope you like them!
OK so I know I only just wrote about wanting a puppy and asking for advice. But um, guess who got a puppy on the weekend?
He’s a long-haired chihuahua x silky/Japanese chin. He was born on June 7th which means he’s only 11 weeks old. He is TINY, I can hold him in both hands easily and he’s so light you feel like you’re holding a ball of dense fluff. He has skinny feet but a super fluffy body and the tiniest nose I’ve ever seen. He’s mostly brown but has black down his back, on his tail and around his ears. He also has some white on his chest and a white spot on one hind foot.
Can you tell I’m in love?
We’ve named his Rhaego. If you watch Game of Thrones or have read A Song of Ice and Fire then you’ll know what that means. I only watched the finale two episodes of season 0ne last night and so didn’t realise the fate of the character he’s now named after, but it’s still a cool name and so we’ll keep it. I love geeky names :D
As he’s such a new addition to the family, I don’t have too much to report yet, so I will leave you with a video of him playing with his new tiny tennis ball from earlier this evening:
I have something I have to share with you all. I am absolutely obsessed with the idea of getting a dog. It is pretty much all I think about lately, and it’s totally consumed me. My poor friends and family have pretty much heard nothing from me unless it’s about puppies and how badly I want one. I spend hours looking up dogs online and accidentally discovered the most amazing site full of the tiniest teacup puppies you have ever seen (that’s one of them in that photo, awww). Believe me, if I had $5000 spare and the means to bring dogs over from the USA, I would have one of those guys right now. SO CUTE!
But realistically, I am looking for a small dog that can live in our unit who won’t be too yappy and won’t be too high maintenance. Not that I’m not willing to put in a lot of effort, but I nearly got a miniature poodle last week but when I realised it was 7 months old and hadn’t been trained at all, I realised I couldn’t commit enough time to get it used to a brand new home on top of going through all of the basic training when I don’t have the option of taking a lot of time off work.
So I am asking you guys to help me. Please tell me a breed of small dog that is well suited to living in an apartment, that doesn’t have a reputation to be yappy, that likes to go on walks but doesn’t have to have one every single day, and is generally going to be a an amazing friend. Although I’d love something super-duper, sickeningly cute, I have learnt through my mum’s dog Lily that it’s what’s on the inside that counts. I’d also love advice on how to train and look after dogs that live in inner-city apartments. I have a very large unit without a balcony (well we technically do have one but it’s fully enclosed and used mostly another room).
On Tuesday night Australia had it’s Census night, something that only happens once every five years and aims to “accurately count the number of people in Australia, their key characteristics, and the dwellings in which they live”. For a survey-loving nerd like me, it’s something to look forward to, especially as this is the first time I’ve done it as an actual adult (I was overseas during the last one in ’06 and before that I was just a gangly teen living with my parents).
So it was with great disappointment that I completed the eCensus, since the lazy girl didn’t give us a paper form (yes I have the damn internet but I like paper forms!) when I realised just how little data they really get from us. They could collect some really interesting data from us all, stuff that would reflect the real Australia and help make some really important changes to how things are run in our country. But instead it was all about where we live, who we live with, if we work and where, if we’ve studied, what’s our religion and have we had babies. BORING.
This is the sort of thing I would have liked to have seen on the Census this year:
What is you sexual orientation?
Do you support gay marriage?
Do you regularly practice your religion (ie. attend church each week, daily prayer sessions etc)?
(If not currently working) Are you currently on maternity/paternity leave?
(If unmarried) Do you plan to ever get married?
(If currently childless) Are you planning to have children?
Should Australia become a republic?
Did you cry at the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows?
There are endless possibilities and we’d learn a huge amount about the people who live in this country if the questions went a lit bit deeper than “What religion are you” or “do you have a job”. Then there’s the fact a lot of the questions don’t delve deep enough, like whether or not you’re on maternal leave which is why you’re not currently working. Or as this person points out, the fact there are different levels of disability than being unable to look after yourself and needing assistance from another human being to complete certain functions. And I mean, what better way to help decide if gay couples should have the right to marry than to ask the Australian public what they think about it? Imagine how much Australian politics would benefit if we could all give our opinion on matters such as the carbon tax, stance on refugees and whether or not we should become a republic? Of course there’d need to be an option of “no answer” for the boring lot who can’t stand the idea of innovation or revealing the tings they actually believe in. But I think most people would be very receptive to these sorts of questions.
In 99 years when all of our info becomes public, the people of the future will learn little to nothing about how society was in 2011 except X amount of people walked to work on Tuesday 9th August 2011 and 40% of Australians still think it’s funny to write “Jedi” or “Pastafarian” as their religion. YAWN. There was so much potential and it was wasted. I can only hope thing will spice up in the 2016 census, and get asked questions that will actually help shape our damn nation and not to see what mode of transport I took to get to work on that day (which incidentally did not reflect the way I usually travel to work every day and pains me greatly).
What questions would you have liked to see on the 2011 census?
Well it was a massive 5-week month but July is over, which means Dry July is also over. So, how do I feel? AMAZING! I’m sure it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that abstaining from alcohol will do nothing but good for you, but I am absolutely floored by how great I feel. OK so the last two weeks were spent with cold and horrific migraines BUT they were caused by non-alcoholic related sources, and so I know I recovered a hell of a lot quicker by being dry for three weeks previously than if I’d been hitting the piss all month.
I admit my sweet tooth went into overdrive without my usual sweet champagne’s, ciders and wines to placate it, but I have only managed to lose weight because no matter how many cupcakes and sweets I eat, nothing is worse than the liquid fat that is alcohol. I also realised it is actually not that difficult to not drink. I managed to go to a few events, including a gig, a boozy work function and a friends birthday dinner and not feel tempted to pick up a glass of wine. OK so there was a tiny bit of temptation, but it was super easy to resist and I felt awesome being able to get up the next morning feeling the marvelous clarity of sobriety.
So what have I learned, in summary? It’s really not that hard to say no. You feel amazing if you keep off the booze for a decent period of time. Friends will try to get you to drink at times, but good friends will take “no” as your final answer. Drinking a glass of water for every alcoholic drinks is really important. That last one is a big one I have never been good with, but will put into practice immediately. I will also remember to drink less and just say no if I am not really in the mood or have to do something the next day. They all seem simple enough but the lure of a naughty little drink is hard to resist.
Right now I am drinking my first alcoholic beverage for what has been just under six weeks. If it wasn’t for some special events next weekend, I probably wouldn’t even bother drinking at all this month either. But as I have promised to share a few drinks with a visiting friend, I am slowly introducing our evil friend back into my system. I have a feeling I will be asleep by 10pm at this rate, it’s already starting to hit me!
So I actually saw more than three films this month, but three of them happened to be the final Harry Potter movie. I’ve decided not to review it as I don’t want to nerd you all into a coma and also I think I need to see it one more time before committing to putting my thought to paper (or keyboard, as the case may be). So count your lucky stars and enjoy the latest trio of film reviews!
BRIDESMAIDS
This is without a doubt, one of the funniest films I have seen in a very long time. Possibly ever. I don’t often laugh until I cry but I absolutely did during this film. Due to its popularity and the fact I have poor time management skills, I wound up being in the front row right to the side, which didn’t even ruin the experience. That is how damn good this movie is.
They say it’s the female version of the Hangover but that’s a bit of a cop put, because in reality it’s actually nothing like the Hangover but then again, if there was going to be a female version of it, this would be about it. I doubt there’s a woman under the age of 70 who wouldn’t identify with at least one of the characters, particularly the lead character Annie. The poor girl is having a shit time at life and now her best friend is buddying up to a stuck up rich bitch who is taking over all of the things she, as maid of honour, is meant to look after. There are some seriously gross parts, but mostly it’s laugh-out-loud funny and also very sweet (not in a sickening, girly-flick kind of way though, thank god). And the temper tantrum scene is just about the best scene in comedy history, I kid you not.
SUPER 8
I had very high expectations for Super 8, and fortunately for me the film exceeded them. I saw a teaser trailer for it months ago and was fascinated, but I managed to avoid as much of the hyper surrounding the film as I could so I wouldn’t know too much about the film to ensure maximum enjoyment when I finally get to see it. I did hear someone describe it as the Goonies meets Jurassic Park, which did spoil the plot a little bit, but not enough to ruin my experience.
Think back to your favourite film from the 80s where a group of young boys have some sort of adventure that sums up your childhood and always makes you happy (and possibly makes you want to go on an adventure on your own ASAP). For me this is Stand By Me or the Lost Boys. Now imagine if that film was made now with a supernatural twist and awesome CGI, but still maintaining that child-like innocence. That would be the best way to describe Super 8. Make sure to watch the end credits too!
TRANSFORMERS 3: DARK OF THE MOON
First off, let me just say that 3D movies are not very impressive these days. For the price you pay for a movie ticket to a 3D film, I expect things to pop out of the screen and look friggen awesome. Sadly, the best you get is the occasional bit of ash coming off the screen and the background looks a little bit further back than the characters. The new Transformers is no exception. There were a few key scenes that would have made for some mind blowing 3D, but sadly they didn’t take advantage of them. I was also disappointed that the trailer looked fucking amazing in 3D but the film was nowhere near is in-your-face spectacular.
But that’s not to say the film was bad. It was actually pretty good and a huge improvement on the 2nd one, much of which can be thanked by the absence of Megan Fox (god I hate her). It was fun, action-packed and featured some kick-arse robot battles. Like the first two films though, the dialogue is kind of… odd. They talk too fast and the story goes all over the place quickly and without being properly explained. It can be a bit disconcerting, particularly when you’re trying to work out which robot is good and what the hell is going on. But then again, I doubt few people saw this film for the dialogue and story line, so maybe I’m getting a bit carried away by trying to dissect this film too much. It is excessive and loud, but it is fun and robot battles are awesome.
