Tuesday, January 10, 2012

FanVid: The Walking Dead: This is War with Lauren as The Victor

FanVid: The Walking Dead: This is War with Lauren as The Victor

Join the VGW crew for some Mario Kart 7!

source (available as a poster!)
Just a quick heads up to anyone who's interested in playing Mario Kart 7 with me and the rest of the crew over at Video Game Writers – we'll be having a community games night on Tuesday (that should be today for most of you reading this!) the 10th at 5-8 pm PST (8-11 pm EST)! That's Wednesday the 11th at... 11 am for those of you like me in Queensland, Australia. Man, time zones are confusing!

Be sure to register the VGW Mario Kart 7 community code: 07-8039-5578-5488

I will be hopping on and off for the whole three hours, so you'll have plenty of chances to beat race me, if that's something you've always wanted to do. Of course there will be prizes going out to those non-VGW members who manage to top the leaderboards, so there's some extra incentive! (Do you need more of an incentive than the opportunity to race me?)

VGW will also be utilizing some amazing technology for a live podcast that you can sign into via Twitter or Facebook so that you can interact with all of us between the action!

And if you just can't get enough of me, you can register my 3DS friend code so we can play together in the future! It's 5198-2487-0725. Just remember to let me know who you are when you add me, or I won't add you back!

I hope to see you all there!

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Japan Envy: Rilakkuma Hot Cake Kit Kats

I haven't done my Japan Envy column in a while and have gained a few new followers around the new year (thanks to all of you!), so just a quick recap: Japan Envy is my (ir)regular column where I talk about cool things/happenings that are only available in Japan that make me jealous or pine for the days when I used to live there. You can head here or click the "Japan Envy" tag at the end of this post to view previous entries in the series!

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Anyone familiar with Japan has probably heard about how the nation is famous for its wide variety of flavored Kit Kats. They've got everything from regional specialties, such as yuzu and pepper Kit Kats from Nagoya, to limited editions and seasonal flavors. Why these are only available in Japan and why other nations have caught on to this ingenious idea? We may never know, but foreigners have been fascinated with Japan's unique take on the humble Kit Kat since its inception. You can even find a Japanese Kit Kat episode on NPR (complete with tastings and audio!), and at least two blogs dedicated entirely to cataloging the huge range of flavors available.

I bet you're wondering what flavors I've tried, eh? Well, I've sampled everything from ginger ale to jasmine tea Kit Kats, but I still have a long way to go if I ever hope to live my dream of being the ultimate Kit Kat connoisseur (one of my many aspirations). Currently, I've got my eye on a very particular Kit Kat, one that combines my love of flavored Kit Kats with another one of my favorite things: the adorable teddy bear who loves to relax known as Rilakkuma.

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What flavor are these Kit Kats? None other than Rilakkuma's favorite snack, the humble pancake (or "hot cake," as they're known in Japan). I, for one, imagine this Kit Kat tastes pretty darn good! If you're wondering why the box is a strange shape, that's because it's not simply a regular Kit Kat bar, but rather 12 individually-wrapped mini Kit Kats (Japan loves miniature things).

If you're interested in trying some Japanese Kit Kats yourself without having to pay for the plane ticket, you can go to JBox to grab a few interesting flavors such as green tea, wasabi, and black honey (now that sounds good!). What flavor would you be most interested to try?