Winter Cheese Doritos

Having just ingested quite a few of these, I figured I'd do the review while the aftertaste was still fresh in my mouth. It's funny, I love salty things, and I can't really put my finger on why these taste too salty even for me - because they're not - but they're overwhelmingly salty without actually being such. It's bizarre.


But that's Winter Cheese Doritos for you, enigmatic. I know that Frito Lay is an American company, and that in Japan, Western/American holidays are becoming more and more widespread in celebration. (Halloween was virtually unheard of whenever I was there and whenever we were learning through that US high school filter & through a teacher who had been in Japan the better part of a decade, but now via ex-pat blogs and other sources like ESL teacher friends, Halloween is actually starting to be celebrated as a regular sort of holiday) Americans like swiss cheese. I've worked in a deli before, I've shopped in the refrigerated section of my local grocer, I know Americans buy swiss cheese. Finally, the chips are in the shape of xmas trees. American manufacturer, a flavor Americans probably wouldn't hate, and a Western holiday. Why are these chips only available in Japan? Yeah, I went off on a whole-paragraph tangent about this. Because it is just so weird. Japan has xmas decorations, they have xmas cakes like in the UK, but the UK also has xmas cakes. No one else has Douglas Fir Doritos that taste like swiss cheese (powder).

As for the taste, texture and all things relevant to the actual physical snack, the bag has a picture of a wedge of swiss cheese and calls itself Winter Cheese. The description on the back of the bag asserts that they are called "Winter Cheese" because they've, "sprinkled snow-colored, rich cheese onto Doritos." It also goes on to say that you should, "get the fun feeling of winter through this exciting tortilla chip," or some approximation of that. So how does the actual taste stack up? As I said above, there's this odd saltiness that is not salt. They do have that typical Doritos "overpowering corn chip" undertaste, too. There is a cheese taste there that is vaguely swiss, but it could just as easily be renamed any other cheese and the placebo effect would probably dictate that it's muenster or cheddar successfully if they're put those cheeses on the package. Which, I realize there's only so much you can do with chemical cheese powder.


The texture, which I've tried to capture, but didn't really do successfully (the auto-focus wouldn't cooperate), it normal corn-y Dorito on one side, and it almost looks glazed and feels borderline waxy on the other side. For as drenched in cheese as the waxy side feels, like I said there isn't that much of a cheese taste there, if anything the taste of the corn chip comes shining through more than anything.

The tree shape gimmick is what initially snared me, and I don't hate swiss cheese. Overall these weren't bad, but would I buy them again? Probably not.

Becoming An Heirloom...

I was pretty happy the other day when, upon pure stupid luck I discovered that the button cell batteries in something with LEDs in it that broke on me, fit in this Lotte keychain watch I got in the mid 90's. I thought I'd never replace the battery in it, it died in like 1998, so for over 10 years this little device hasn't worked. It was a gift from my cousin's first trip to Japan, and I've always loved it anyway, even if it didn't have that connotation to it. I honestly didn't even think it'd work even with brand new batteries, after all of this time. But lo and behold, one battery and a careful installation did the trick. I've officially declared this item an heirloom. ^^

Now, I'm an introspective soul, so whenever I would buy anything for the longest time I would think ahead to when I'd had it "forever and ever" (about 20 years) and it would essentially be a conversation piece. When I see something I want - and moreover when I ultimately obtain it - I more or less categorize it in my head as something that will stick with me for a long time, something that's "neat" and will ultimately end up in the closet or in a box somewhere over time, or something that I like but will in the end, sell. That last one I don't really see a long ways off most of the time, i.e. - videogames. Initially, I thought that I would keep most or all of my games for a long time because I am (or was) sentimental about playing games over and over, love nostalgia, etc.

Over time, though, I sort of fell out of love and started to view the games I'd kept all of this time as "wasted space" or hunks of gray plastic. Some of this emerging attitude had to do with the fact that when technology was closer (i.e. - crappier), those games were still very entertaining to go back to. Also, there's that sort of "Crisco on the lens" effect that makes hindsight - as far as nostalgia is concerned anyway - blurry in a really fun way. As I aged more and reality set in, I think that for me at least, I realized that the gameplay aspect was still kind of there (I played through the first two Zelda games again the other day and they both still held my interest quite well, but I realized just how small they were this time around) but in general it's the art form of the game and aspects of design and such, that make the nostalgia hold so well. And that makes me really, really happy. Because going back and playing a game to relive being 8 is one thing, but when I can hear the music, look at a clump of pixels and truly appreciate them, and wade into art and products that glorify this as a medium (not to mention the numerous awesome Flash games and such that draw artistically on the 8/16-bit era), it makes me truly happy.

Some of the reason behind my waning interest was that aforementioned space constraint, and the fact that shelves of anime figures and paraphernalia take up much more space than a few game systems and fixed-form games that fit back-to-back in a drawer. The upside to this is that figures and such aren't uniform and are much more interesting to look at, versus plastic with a sticker on it, or a CD/DVD. And I know that's being completely superficial about it, because after all games are supposed to be about playing them, not thumbing through the manual or looking at the box, but if I'm not going to play the game again anyway, why keep it? I already played it, I have the memories of having played it, what's the difference if I keep it or not?

Finally, a large part of keeping these, since I wasn't planning on opening a museum dedicated to gaming, was going to be sharing them with my kids. Yes, I was geeky and foresight-ridden enough to actually think, "I'll keep this longer, it'll be awesome to share with my kids." But the more and more time rolls forward, well I don't even know any women that are unattached let alone have had any sort of date or anything in forever, so I don't see children in the offing anytime soon.

The Return of Chuck!

So Chuck came back to the airwaves last week (and again on Monday of this week), and is larger and more in charge than ever. This wonderful show was on the bubble at the end of the Spring season, and was initially picked up for 13 episodes, which was later expanded during production 6 more eps for a full 19 episode season.

For as much as I championed Chuck at the end of its second season, at the beginning of its first season I thought of it as merely "something to watch" before Heroes came on, and being technologically-minded, the first five or six episodes were met with some eyerolling on my part because it seemed like it might turn out like every other show attempting to intertwine its storyline with technology it purports to understand but doesn't. After some initial jitters, however, it came across as pretty genuine - far-fetched and implausible at times - but in a self-realizing way that acknowledges it has to be a little bit implausible to make things move along entertainingly. And it did so without losing a beat, losing the story or losing my viewership - and I'm a harsh critic, lulz. I warmed up to it fast, but the reason I'm making these comments is because right before the new season premiered I went back and watched season 1 for the first time since season 1 was on TV. I had watched season 2 a few times because they put it - and kept it - on Hulu a lot. Season 1? Not so much. Somehow the pilot was on Hulu and a few other eps were on the WB's site, and well, I filled in the blanks in a secret fashion.

Rewatching season 1 now, I realized that the series picked up a lot of steam once it hit episode 7. When I first began watching Chuck, I had a chip on my shoulder for series like this, sci-fi/tech stuff that was always improperly discussed or used, because most shows always did such a bad job of it. And the amazing thing is that, the more involved with technology the show is, the worse they tend to be at explaining/utilizing the tech. A good example of this is 24, "uploading" and "downloading" and how much time something would take in the real world, versus in a show where you need suspense and last-minute cliffhangers. Or if we want to talk about movies, Live Free, Die Hard, where, from Kevin Smith's (aka War1ock) computer we're able to access or shut down a whole power grid, etc etc. And that movie was made in 2007. I mean, at least in 1996, a movie like Independence Day had the excuse of PCs not being that widespread yet, to make some cockamamie scheme to invade alien technology with a Mac and a "Jolly Roger Virus" to save Earth plot, work. And the first few episodes of Chuck, aside from the larger plot point of the Intersect, kinda made me cringe at Chuck and Morgan's banter about, "Playing Call of Duty tonight!" or whatever, as well as a few other specific technological things that escape my memory at the moment. Because at first, I thought that mentioning "XBox" or whatever, was going to be some disingenuous attempt at "befriending" the geek demographic to watch this show. I actually couldn't have been more wrong. It was actually very genuine, down to changing the boxes, displays and paraphernalia in the Buy More to reflect recent gaming and tech releases for when that episode is produced/released. And I also understand that Zach Levi is actually a really big gamer/geek so and so in his personal life.

And without going too much further in that aspect, I think that is what made the show a success, but also what put it on the bubble. People claim they want "smart" entertainment, but that doesn't explain how wrestlemania was celebrating its 25th anniversary last year. I think a lot of people enjoy the flashy action and some of the humor Chuck has to offer - and god knows you don't have to be smart per se, to be a geek, so you've got the gamer/sci-fi demo there - but a good bit of what I find to be droll or witty I can imagine being over a good many people's heads. The "genuine" factor seems like it might hinder as well. I believe a good comparison to Chuck is another show in the spy genre that also debuted in 2007 - Burn Notice. Although there are many more geeks out there watching TV than actual, real life spies, both shows try to be genuine about their tech, the way things are put together, and having a smart, often non-linear (at least in TV terms) approach to problems. Both shows also offer escapism in an almost implausible, over-the-top way at times, but the way their characters relate to one another is kinda heart-warming in a completely opposite, real world way. It's in this that people seem to have a problem, seeing as one half of the people on one side want a violent conclusion to a problem so they can feel the main character's vindication in a self-righteous sort of way, and the other half on the other side want characters to relate in a catty, (melo)dramatic way like a soap opera.

What I think makes the show work - and has done so since the beginning - is how the show works in mini-arcs that are clearly under a bigger arc, like filling in pieces of a puzzle. It never lets itself get stale lingering in one plot circle for too long, but it isn't exactly like, oh, say, Heroes, where things jump around so much that we get lost in new plot threads and are left to wonder what the hell is going on. Speaking of, Chuck has also managed an ensemble cast, and meshing what essentially amounts to two casts (and stories) at times in interesting and often hilarious ways.

I feel that Chuck hit its stride in season 2, which a lot of shows do, and I think that perhaps it's going to find itself hard to top. Season 2's plot was pretty great, it had a lot of laughs and the Buy More stuff was just as interesting to watch as the CIA/NSA/spy/asset/action elements. So far, season 3 seems to be off to a good start, with the writers not relying heavily on the Intersect 2.0, which enables Chuck to pull things from the Intersect in his head into some sort of muscle memory/mind interaction. We saw this demonstrated at the end of last season to "know kung fu", and it was used twice or three times for this in Sunday's premiere (and I foresee that being used a lot more in the future, as Chuck refuses to use firearms), but they've already used it creatively, too. Once to enable Chuck to perform covertly in a mariachi band, and once to play doctor, so to speak.

The one and only real problem I have with Chuck is something they've seemed to have semi-cleared up. Chuck and Sarah's back and forth, on and off again relationship kinda had plot relevancy at first because of the whole "cover relationship" thing. But from the middle of season 1 up through the end of last season it just kept yo-yoing for various reasons. I understood the Bryce coming back thing, and they did sort of attach good reasons (mixed with bad timing) to the rest of the times Chuck wanted with Sarah or Sarah wanted with Chuck but one or the other wasn't ready, but it just happened way too often. There weren't even cooling off episodes, it was always one pining for the other, then the other pining for the one right after they realized, "Uh oh, I made the wrong decision, I am in love!" Hopefully something will give here, Kristin Kreuk is supposed to be Chuck's new love interest this season, and the previews at the end of this week's episodes indicated that Sarah will be getting a new interestee as well.

So I guess we'll see how things play out in these remaining 16 episodes. I'm totally pleased so far, even eschewing a new House to watch all three hours of new episodes this week.

Galaga Light & Sound Hallmark Ornament

This was a pretty neat holiday surprise, found it in my local Hallmark shop at xmas time and waited until it was like 40% off after the holiday buying frenzy was over. It plays the Galaga theme and lights up when the fire button is pressed. I was pretty amazed at the level of detail on this, almost up to the level of detail on my Japanese stuff - almost. =P

Choro Q/Q Steer Showroom

The thing on the right is a solar-powered turntable that perpetually rotates the car ^^

I was also pretty surprised by the fact that the Lamborghini was an officially licensed Lambo product.