So, I bought the above yesterday out of curiousity. I know. I'm such a sucker... They only had them in yellow or black so I opted for the lighter colour. It's... I dunno. Close but not the same? The buttons seem a fraction too small and although the soft rubber is a nice touch, the pressing motion requires a lot of pressure and finger strength. I think if the rubber were a bit thinner I would be more inclined to rave about it. Anyway, complaining aside, the best feature is every 100 clicks gives you a sound effect of some sort. A bark, meow and a few others. That's the most addicting aspect of it and for a mere 8 bucks, it's definitely worth the 5 minutes of entertainment.

Moving on.

This news is a bit late by Japanese standards but I recently heard a rumour regarding the film Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbour Totoro) that was really interesting and I had to share. The Japanese wiki page has this info but the English one doesn't for some reason. I think someone needs to update this.

The gist is that Satsuki and Mei's shadows cease to appear half way through the movie, leading to speculation that they have both died and that Totoro is actually death. This explains why their father couldn't see them and that the entire story is, in fact, the father's memoires of his daughters. The final scene where the corn cob is left on the hospital window sill with To Mom scratched into the husk is, basically, a message from the dead. This has been categorized as an urban legend and has been refuted by the studio, btw. Still, hearing this adds a whole new angle to the movie and is worth a bit of pondering. Not to mention a collective "What the fuck!?".

TAK