Pinky:St Suu

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Pinky:St Suu
Pinky:St Suu

I bought this Pinky:St figurine several years ago, and still like it. I want to get another one from Ebay soon and there are are a few that I like, but Suu is still the coolest one. The only problem is that she is not balanced well, and will fall backwards. I tried heating it up with a hair dryer, and it works ok for a few hours, but then the plastic reverts to its original shape. I guess I need to do a little more research. Or perhaps more heat is needed.

The photo I took was taken using a new adapter I bought on Ebay to fit my old Minolta manual focus lenses to my Sony a77. While they fit ok, the focusing distance is severely limited: the max focus distance is probably around six feet, but the minimus focusing distance is super tight now. Maybe a couple inches!

From Up on Poppy Hill / コクリコ坂から (2011) – Movie Review

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Poppy Hill

I’m not sure how I missed watching “From Up on Poppy Hill” when it was showing here, but I corrected that mistake by ordering the blu-ray version and watching it last week. After seeing some high ratings, I was expecting a great film and I was not disappointed; I loved it! It had everything going for it: beautiful artwork, and interesting setting, likable characters, and great songs and soundtrack.

To me, the story’s setting was so cool. Early ’60s Yokohama is depicted as a busy and hopeful town, and I just loved the small details, like the old posters on the walls. My favorite scene was when Shun was taking Umi to the shopping area on his bicycle, and they were speeding down the hill. That was excellent! I just love slice-of-life stories, and From Up on Poppy Hill was one of the best so far. There wasn’t anything supernatural about it; the only thing that came close was Umi’s dream sequence. But the characters and story really didn’t need any of that. To me, the story was great; my only complaint is that the ending is too abrupt. I wanted the story to develop a little bit more. Is it too much wishful thinking that there will be a follow-up movie? Maybe now that Hayao Miyazaki is retired, it’s a possibility.

Below is the trailer for the US release. I prefer it over the Japanese trailer, although I did watch the Japanese-language version of the film. If you haven’t seen it yet, waste no time!

My rating: 8/10

Bum Knee

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For a few months now, my left knee has been a bit sore. I’m not sure when it started… maybe November I noticed it while playing touch football with Koa, Bay, Taylor, and Kevin in SoCal, but I think I injured it a little before then. However, I have been trying to run here and there, and while the knee is bothersome, the next day it feels pretty good. Today I went for a 2-mile run at lunch and it felt so good to be out in the sun! Exercise is really good mentally and physically, if you didn’t already know!