Trivia that matter
I recently came across this graphic. It’s a nice thought, but there seems to be something missing.
*****
Daniel Pinkwater has made a number of his books available for free download, including this odd little story, “Ducks!”
Other books include Lizard Music, about lizards, pod people and a chicken; Borgel, a journey through space and time in search of the Great Popsicle; Slaves of Spiegel, about very fat space pirates; and, Young Adult Novel, about the avant-garde and fascism.
Two weeks’ worth of random stuff.
Of all the mysteries in Mouretsu Pirates, the most puzzling, and the least likely to be satisfactorily explained, are the Sailor Moon shout-outs. This Princess Serenity is anything but a ditzy airhead.
By the way, it is impossible to watch just one episode of Shingu.
Which is the outstanding romantic couple in anime? Please vote in the poll at right.
How long must you allow a car alarm to blare before you can lawfully take a sledgehammer to the car?
Spring doesn’t officially start in Kansas until the first tornado warning, but it’s getting close.
82 years ago today, Elm Farm Ollie, also known as Nellie Jay and Sky Queen, became the first cow to fly in an airplane, and also the first cow to be milked in mid-air.
In other news, Fujiyama is not erupting at this time. Neither is Hekla — probably — though that can change without warning.
Crunchyroll began streaming Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica today, so I watched the first episode during lunch. I was curious to see how it looked at 1080. I took several screencaps; click on them to see them full-size. They look nice, but they’re not razor-sharp. I would guess that the video was upscaled from 720. (The monitor screen is 1920 x 1200, hence the letterboxing. (The images from Madoka’s dream were letterboxed to begin with.))
More screencaps below the fold.
Shingu had the Cat’s Eye Nebula; Mouretsu Pirates has V838 Monocerotis.
Real life keeps getting in the way, but I make time every Saturday to watch Mouretsu Pirates. So what if the premise is unlikely and that there numerous minor details to nitpick? As long as the characters are interesting and the story is good, I don’t care that miniskirts aren’t suited to zero gravity. I think the pacing is fine. Tatsuo Sato knows exactly what he is doing. Constant action is boring. I’d rather get to know the characters and situation before the battles start. I enjoy spending time with Marika, and I look forward to 20 more weekends with her and her crew.
I enjoy the soundtrack, too, and I hope it’s licensed. I apparently am in the minority on this point, but I even like the opening theme, despite the singers. It would be much better with a less cluttered arrangement — ideally, just drums, bass and Marty Friedman — and a singer who can properly belt out the tune. Can Bruce Dickinson sing Japanese?
Sato makes anime that is more complex than it at first seems and which ultimately mostly makes sense, e.g., Shingu. There’s already much speculation on the history of piracy and related matters in Marika’s universe at Steven’s place.
Just wondering: One of the spaceships is called the “Odette II.” Will there be an “Odile”?
Update: Here’s the “sailing” theme.
Update II: Steven calls the tune “Odette II.” You can download a clean version from his site.
Etna is doing her thing again. You can watch the show though numerous webcams, such as this or those here. You can listen to the explosions here as well as see them when the camera is working and the server isn’t overburdened.
Update: the show is over. You can see pictures here and some videos of the eruption here. If you’re lucky, you’ll also see a cheesy Italian commercial.
There are three pages to the score for Terry Riley‘s In C. Two of the pages are performance directions; the actual music all fits on a single page. It consists of 53 numbered phrases ranging in length from two sixteenth notes to 32 quarter notes. The performer plays each phrase in sequence, repeating it as many times as he wishes, before moving on to the next phrase. Riley suggests a group of about 35 musicians. Performances normally run between 45 and 90 minutes, according to Riley.
Although I’ve occasionally read about In C — it’s perhaps the first example of musical “minimalism” — and I’ve looked at the score, I’ve never actually heard it. A few days ago, I heard Riley’s A Rainbow in Curved Air for the first time in decades (not counting its use in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy radio program).1 It was more engaging than I remembered, and it occurred to be that I didn’t need to round up 35 musical friends to get an idea of what In C sounded like. I could just launch Logic and sequence as many voices as I wanted. Which I did.
This is a stripped-down, streamlined version. It’s a little over eleven minutes long, and there are only five voices — six, if you count the “pulse.” I didn’t plan it out beyond shifting loops nicely out of phase. It probably doesn’t truly represent what In C should be, but it might suggest how the music works. I likely will revise and expand this arrangement sometime soon. You can download the score here if you want to follow along or organize your own performances. There’s also a 50-minute orchestral “realization” of In C at the site — unfortunately, using what sounds like an undistinguished general midi soundset.
You can imagine Mikuru Asahina playing the repeated high C eighth notes if you wish. Or Zooey Deschanel.
Update: Uploaded a new version with additional voices and a few tweaks.
Here’s a curiosity from 1997 I ran across today on YouTube. It’s no surprise that it’s a Studio 4°C production, but there are some noteworthy names in the credits, e.g., Yoko Kanno and Masaaki Yuasa.
Visitors here, reading posts such as this, might assume I listen only to Japanese music. That’s not quite true. I listen also to Finnish music. For instance, Gjallarhorn:
This weekend I got a months-long domestic mess straightened out, and my place is finally, once again, my place. I can listen to ear-melting music without headphones and watch Divergence Eve without people looking over my shoulder. It’s good to be alone.
However, today is the second anniversary of my sister’s death. I miss her.
Suppose the translators responsible for The New American Bible took on Shakespeare:
Existence or its opposite? That’s what I am asking myself.
Whether it be more or less dignified to put up with
The barbs and darts of brash Luck, or to use weapons
Against distress’s oceans, to stop them from happening.
More Shakespeare, sorta: What is the connection between Interstella 5555 and the House of Percy?
There supposedly is a genre of iyashikei, or “healing,” anime, such as Aria or Ikoku Meiro no Croisee. I find most such productions irritatingly bland, rather than soothing or refreshing. ((The only example of the genre I find rewatchable is Someday’s Dreamers, which has a serious story underlying all the niceness.)) If you seek therapeutic anime, the works of Tatsuo Sato are much more effective:
A rewatch of Nadesico helped me get through the first few days of living with a broken arm, and Shingu was good for a flu and high fever.
Update: I just watched the second episode of Mouretsu Pirates. It looks like it’s going to be at least as good as Nadesico. Whether it approaches the level of Shingu remains to be seen.
“You don’t have to rely on a healthy body image or self-respect any more”:
Fotoshop by Adobé from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.
Hmm. I have Adobé, but I’m as ugly as ever.
You’d think it’s obvious that creativity requires solitude, but evidentally the fact periodically needs to be restated.
Nyamulagira continues to challenge Etna for the title of The Greatest Show on Earth:
Cooking with gas is passé. Let’s cook with lava. ((Hey, Erik.)) Here’s a recipe for pahoehoe game hen. Prefer a steak?
I don’t know if you can “cook a tasty chicken on lava”, but I know you can cook a steak of meat on an Hawaiian lava flow! I did it! You just lay a sheet of aluminium on the lava; you spread some some oil on the steak, possibly with some herbs. Then, you put the steak on the aluminium sheet and let it broil a few tens of seconds on each side. I can assure you it is delicious, all the more with a glass of Californian wine! I’m French; I know what good cooking means!!
See this for the Icelandic version.
