Favorite Friday

From 1993 through 2005, there were a series of Sailor Moon musicals performed in Japan. The first actress to play Sailor Moon was Anza. She held the role from 1993 to 1998. An amazing singer, Anza is now the singer for Head Phones President. Here is my favorite performance from Anza as Sailor Moon. Knockin' Down Hesitation.

Tie Downs

I am currently in the process of getting rid of my station wagon. When my husband and I used it for transporting a lot of boxes, we really could have used some good tie downs to stop all the stuff from shifting all over the place. My father has a couple of different sets of straps that he uses on his truck but we never bothered to get any for the wagon. First we didn't think we'd be moving a lot of things. Then we thought that we packed the rear portion tightly enough that things wouldn't shift too much. Luckily, we never broke anything. Our new car doesn't have as much trunk space as the station wagon did so hopefully we won't need to strap anything down back there. This post is sponsored

Jdorama review: Maison Ikkoku

maisonikkoku.jpgTitle: Maison Ikkoku Broadcast date: 5/12/07 Genre: Romance Cast: Itoh Misaki, Nakabayashi Taiki, Kishimoto Kayoko, Kishibe Ittoku, Takahashi Yumiko Plot: Godai (Nakabayashi Taiki) is a rounin, a student who has failed his college entrance exams, with obnoxious neighbors distracting him from studying. When Otonashi Kyoko (Itoh Misaki) becomes the new apartment building manager and moves in, Godai falls in love with her at first sight. He hopes to pass his college entrance exam so he can win her heart. What is good: It stays true to the anime. What is bad: It is boring. Letter rating: D Overall: I did not like the Maison Ikkoku anime. While I generally like romance stories, this seemed to be about people who were either complete losers or completely oblivious to the world around them. This drama sticks close to that synopsis. Very little got accomplished in this two hour drama. We were introduced to some characters and one plotline was completed. Everything else is left hanging. It felt like this was a prologue to a new series or possibly the beginning of a series of specials.

I wish there would have been a bit more external conflict in the series. As it is, almost all of the conflict in the story takes place within Godai. Even the annoying neighbors don't present any real conflict since Godai just lets them walk all over him. If you are a fan of Maison Ikkoku, you might enjoy this but don't expect to get any resolution out of it.

Johnny Depp

I've never considered myself a Johnny Depp fan. I guess, on some level, I still picture him starring in 21 Jump Street. Man, I just aged myself. Anyway, I've found myself enjoying a lot of his recent movies. I absolutely loved him in as Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and, of course, Captain Jack in Pirates of the Caribbean.

While he has so many great moments in Charlie, I think my favorite was when the children first enter the chocolate factory. Willy has a whole animatronic puppet show to introduce him and he's not even up there! He's busy watching the show with the kids! I must have watched the movie dozens of times and that scene still makes me laugh.

I think my favorite scene from the Pirates series is when Captain Jack was running away from the island natives. Something about Johnny Depp in all the wacky makeup running on top of a huge wheel makes me smile. That reminds me, I still need to watch At World's End. I may find a new favorite scene.

In my opinion, Willy Wonka definitely beats out Captain Jack as my favorite Johnny Depp character. Then again, I am really looking forward to his performance in Sweeney Todd What? You haven't heard about it? Go visit the official Sweeney Todd movie site and watch the trailer. Right now. I'll wait.

All done? Good. Doesn't that look like an amazing movie? Tim Burton directing Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Alan Rickman. I predict much awesomeness. I wonder if I can convince my family to have Christmas at the movie theater this year. If you need more information, visit Sweeney Todd on MySpace.

Music review: Five for Fighting - 100 Years

fiveforfighting.jpgArtist: Five For Fighting Album: Battle For Everything Release date: 2/3/04 Video link: Via YouTube

Lyrics: I'm 15 for a moment Caught in between 10 and 20 And I'm just dreaming Counting the ways to where you are I'm 22 for a moment She feels better than ever And we're on fire Making our way back from Mars 15 there's still time for you Time to buy and time to lose 15, there's never a wish better than this When you only got 100 years to live I'm 33 for a moment Still the man, but you see I'm a they A kid on the way A family on my mind I'm 45 for a moment The sea is high And I'm heading into a crisis Chasing the years of my life 15 there's still time for you Time to buy, Time to lose yourself Within a morning star 15 I'm all right with you 15, there's never a wish better than this When you only got 100 years to live Half time goes by Suddenly you’re wise Another blink of an eye 67 is gone The sun is getting high We're moving on... I'm 99 for a moment Dying for just another moment And I'm just dreaming Counting the ways to where you are 15 there's still time for you 22 I feel her too 33 you’re on your way Every day's a new day... 15 there's still time for you Time to buy and time to choose Hey 15, there's never a wish better than this When you only got 100 years to live About the song: Such a sweet song. It's a story about a couple of kids that fall in love and spend their entire lives together. Yet that time goes back so quickly. This is one of those songs that I liked the melody but never listened to the words because it was always in the background of some commercial or TV show I was watching. That's probably a good thing since the lyrics bring a tear to my eye.

HDTVs

With Blu-ray and HD-DVD already on the market, people are scrambling to find the best HDTVs on the market. Would you like a 19" Polaroid HDTV with a DVD player or would you prefer something else? Krillion.com is a huge help. They not only offer product specifications but they will also show you what prices stores in your area have. So if I happened to be looking at a 32" LCD HDTV with a DVD player and digital tuner as a Christmas present for my husband, I can see that three stores in my area are selling it for about $600. That's a lot easier than jumping in my car and driving around town to see who carries it and how much they want for it. I love making Christmas shopping as easy as possible!

Online Casino Reviews

I can't remember if I talked about this before. I don't think I did. I know a lot of people who play online poker. Often times, they have no idea whether an online casino is any good until they actually sign up and start playing there. In my opinion, this is a big waste of time and money. Why should you pay to play at a sucky casino? Pro360.com is a website that reviews online casinos. They use factors such as game experience, trust score and bonuses to help you choose the right casino for you. The best part is that they also accept user ratings. So if you disagree with their editor's opinion, you can enter your own rating. There is also a full review for you to read. You no longer have to rely on just a 1 to 10 rating score anymore. I really think that this is the best online casino review site. They cover everything you need to know before you pay a cent.

Game review: Amazing Adventures: The Lost Tomb

Welcome to Egypt! Amazing Adventures: The Lost Tomb is a hidden object game where you are an archaeologist searching through areas of Egypt to find a lost tomb. Meanwhile, you also need to find clues to direct you where to go next! I thought this was a great game. There are a multitude of things to keep you interested. In the hidden object levels, you also need to find hidden scarabs in order to find a special treasure at the end. And in between the hidden object levels are a variety of puzzle levels including a match game, a jigsaw puzzle and a moving tiles puzzle. None of these were extremely difficult so I didn't find myself getting aggravated with any one piece of the game. While I don't think that younger players would be able to do very well due to some wordplay in the hidden object clues, this is definitely a great game that keeps adults on their toes instead of putting them to sleep.

Price Comparison

In this busy holiday season, most people are looking for two things when shopping online - reviews and price comparison. Everyone wants the best deal when buying, well, anything! Save Buckets helps by giving you a list of prices on over a million products from hundreds of stores. Personally, I was comparing prices on some MP3 players that I'm thinking about purchasing. While the prices are listed in British Pounds, I can still find a good deal before seeing if the store will ship overseas to the United States. Even with the little extra work on my side, it's a lot easier than roaming from store to store trying to find the best deal on my own. I don't have the time to waste surfing websites or driving from one store to another just to save a few dollars. That's why I find services like this extremely helpful. All I have to do is plug what sort of product I'm looking for into their search engine and all the prices are right there at my fingertips.