Trivia that matter
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.
I watched the first episode of Mouretsu Pirates twice in two days. The last series I did that for was Madoka a year ago. Pirates has a lot in its favor, including:
Space pirates.
A meganekko with a hime haircut and a sailor suit.
A bunny, a ducky and a pink bobblehead pig.
An absence of in-your-face fanservice. ((No surprise, given that Sato’s Shingu featured an outstanding example of anti-fanservice.))
There are a few negatives, e.g., green lipstick, skinny ties and really bad haircuts.
The positives greatly outweigh the negatives, and Mouretsu Pirates looks like, at the very least, a fun show. With Sato at the helm, there’s a good chance that the series will be a satisfyingly complex story and not just an excuse to put pirate hats on pretty girls.
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A bit of music:
It’s not just for humans.
If French is the language of love, what is German the language of?
(The latter via John C. Wright.)
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2011 is over. Good riddance. It was a thoroughly crummy year for me, ((2011 was a good year for volcanoes.)) and I am not going to compile any retrospective posts. If you want to know about the year in anime, see Ubu’s recaps here and here.
Here’s some music that caught my ear recently.
Kinoco Hotel has the ’60’s psychedelic sound down cold, straight from the garage.
If Chabrier and Satie formed a string band, they might sound a little like Shugo Tokumaru.
Here’s a piano arrangement of the above tune.
Pop music with a high-gloss finish: Tokyo Incidents, featuring Shiina Ringo.
I’ve also been listening to some “Tokyo virginity pop,” as Urbangarde labels their music. Imagine Hatsune Miku as a real singer in an avante garde-ish band. I don’t like any of their videos — the visuals range from pretentious and silly to pretentious and distasteful (I wonder what percentage of their operating budget goes toward fake blood) — so I’ll just refer you to their website. There are links to videos there; the music sounds better if don’t actually watch the videos but only listen.
I’ll close with another Tokumaru tune.
(Here’s a side-by-side comparison with the CCS opening.)
Is the Brony universe the American counterpart of Touhou doujin culture? Perhaps. However, the main attraction of Touhou for me is the music, and I have yet to hear the MLP equivalent of “Lunatic Princess” or “U.N. Owen Was Her.”
I found time to watch the first two episodes of Mawaru Penguindrum, and, well, I’m not at all surprised that its mastermind was earlier responsible for Utena. It starts off as a shameless tearjerker. By the end of the second episode it’s deep in WTF territory. It’s currently getting high praise around the otakusphere, but I’m skeptical that it’s better than Madoka, as some claim. I suppose I’ll have to watch the rest of it and see.
For no good reason, I downloaded a curiosity called “Ravex in Tezuka World.” I should have bailed out when I saw this
but I foolishly watched the whole thing. The planet of Reearth, whose denizens are escapees from Osamu Tezuka’s various works, is threatened by Dark Silence. However, the cheesy dance music of the Ravex trio saves the day, with some assistance from an altered Astroboy.
Not even Prince Princess Queen Sapphire can save this mess.
Steven found a nice set of Flash puzzles. Some are easy; others are trickier and require finesse to solve. Don’t click on the link unless you have at least a half-hour to spare.
By the way, you have four days left to figure out this year’s little number puzzle while it’s still timely. What is the next number in this sequence? It’s not 71.
23
27
31
39
43
47
55
59
63
(This is the American version. In other countries, the sequence is:
23
39
55
27
43
59
31
47
63
The solution is the same as for the American version.)
Balsa (Seirei no Moribito) is the most heroic character in anime according to visitors to this site, followed by Simon (Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann), Homura Akemi (Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica), Kenshin Himura (Samurai X; Rurouni Kenshin) and Vash the Stampede (Trigun). Others receiving votes are Edward Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist), Nanoha Takamachi (Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha), Nausicäa (Nausicäa), Rem Saverem (Trigun), Togusa (Ghost in the Shell), Allen Schezar (Vision of Escaflowne), Yoshika Miyafuji (Strike Witches), Yoko (Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann), Alphonse Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist), Ashitaka (Princess Mononoke), Spike Spiegel (Cowboy Bebop) and Eboshi Gozen (Princess Mononoke).
There is a now poll up: which is the outstanding romantic couple in anime? I’m doing this one in two stages. Vote for up to three in the first round. The top ten will advance to the final round.
I regret that I had to disqualify a few of the nominees for not being old enough. In a few years Syaoran and Sakura, Hayama and Sana, and Haraken and Yasako will be good candidates, but ten and eleven is a little young for serious romance, no matter what CLAMP thinks.
The remarkable Jun Togawa treats a familiar piece of music with proper respect.
You can read the lyrics here.
Here are the nominees so far for the outstanding romantic couple in anime.
Jinto and Lafiel (Crest/Banner of the Stars)
Keiichi and Belldandy (Ah! My Goddess)
Giroro and Natsumi (Kerero Gunsou)
Kyouichi and Harumi (Shingu)
Ayato and Haruka (RahXephon)
Shichika and Togame (Katanagatari)
Kenji and Natsuki (Summer Wars)
Tomoya and Nagisa (Clannad)
Mikiya and Shiki (The Garden of Sinners)
Renton and Eureka (Eureka Seven)
Noboru and Mikako (Voices of a Distant Star)
Lawrence and Holo (Spice & Wolf)
Shuji and Chise (Saikano)
Shinra and Celty (Durarara)
Rosette and Chrono (Chrono Crusade)
Batou and Kusanagi (Ghost in the Shell)
Ryuji and Taiga (Toradora)
Isaac and Miria (Baccano)
Surely there are more. I’m having trouble coming up with other couples, though — Marco and Gina (Porco Rosso), perhaps? There’s a lot I haven’t watched, and I have no special interest in love stories. If you know of any worthy anime couples missing from the nominations, please mention them in the comments.
I’m not a biker, and I quit watching George Lucas after The Empire Strikes Out, but I have to say that these motorcycle leathers are kinda cool. Utterly ridiculous, but in a cool way.
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Not your ususal Swiss army knife:
This is an excellent tool, but you need to be aware that the time jump utility (tool #713, first control panel on the right when leaving the French restaurant on level 3 through the rear exit) is somewhat limited. I spoke with the telephone support, and they told me that recent models are unable to travel back in time past their manufacturing date. Apparently, they overlooked one aspect of the time travel equations in the early models, and some owners are now stuck in previous ages, unable to return because their knives cannot generate enough power to overcome the energy gradient to the present. If you’re looking to buy one of these knives for its time travel capability, you may be better off considering a different model.
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Planning to vacation in the Ukraine?
A friendly hint, when arrested, put on your most unintelligent tourist expression, just talk a lot in a friendly manner in any language except Russian, after a while they understand that they you will not give them you hard earned cash. They might though beat you up and just take it, but that rarely happens unless you go into the suburbs.
Oh, and “[t]he ‘Dong’ in the side of the car is just the Ukrainian way of greeting tourists.”
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The Hubble Space Telescope Advent Calendar.
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“10 Myths About Introverts.” A useful companion article to the classic “Caring for Your Introvert.”
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Some of these via the Rat, AoSHQ and the Anchoress.
Ubu on $369.98 ($498.98 retail):
I refuse to apologize for bittorrenting any longer, and I refuse to feel guilty, and I refuse to buy any series from anyone, anywhere at that price. Burn in hell, Japan.
If that is indeed what purveyors of anime have planned for us, and if they do finally succeed in eliminating torrents and downloads, then anime will be dead outside of Japan. However, there are other places where good animation can be found. France, for instance. Recently I made the mistake of browsing amazon.com and found both The Triplets of Belleville and Persepolis for $7 each.
Belleville was as good as I remembered, though I had forgotten just how fat the Americans were. Here are a couple of excerpts showing the eponymous triplets in their prime and in the movie’s present.
Madame Souza, who plays the bicycle wheel in the second clip, is one of the great heroic animated characters. She would have been serious competition for Balsa in the current poll had The Triplets of Belleville been a Japanese movie.
Persepolis is a girl’s-eye view of the Iranian revolution, with a sojourn in France. Despite its subject matter, it’s often quite funny.
I highly recommend both movies.
Other bargains I spotted include Chicken Run and The Corpse Bride, each for $5. I also found a two-disc edition of Coraline for $7 at the grocery store. It includes two pairs of red/green 3D viewers.
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Looking for Christmas presents for youngsters? Petite Princess Yucie is on sale at RightStuf for $10. This is an excellent price for a very good series. (Here’s Steven’s review, with which I concur.)
Princess Tutu is on sale for $15, also a good price for a very interesting story, though not as suitable for young viewers.
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Both Jonathan Tappan and J. Greely have been posting pictures of their recent trips to Japan. Visit their weblogs and see.
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Newt Gingrich has an idea for enhancing American defenses.
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Hot stuff:
Who’s missing? Here’s a name: Yes. Here are some other names: King Crimson, John Mayall, the Pogues, Deep Purple, Fairport Convention, ELP, Joe Satriani and Weird Al. I can add many more, and so can you. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame claims that “… musical excellence shall be the essential qualification of induction,” but are the Sex Pistols really better musicians than the band that recorded Fragile? In my lexicon, “critic” is a synonym for “idiot.” It’s nice that someone remembers the Small Faces, but induction into the R&RHoF is as meaningless an honor as the Nobel Peace Prize.
Not entirely unrelated: Twelve extremely disappointing facts about popular music.
(Via Professor Mondo.)
Bonus stupidity: Pearl Harbor? It was all America’s fault.
Romeo and Juliet
Porphyro and Madeline
Heathcliff and Catherine
Tracy and Hepburn
Ignatius and Myrna
Zaphod and Zaphod
These are a few of the great romantic couples of Western Culture. Who are their anime counterparts? Some possiblilties: Jinto and Lafiel (Crest/Banner of the Stars), Keiichi and Belldandy (Ah! My Goddess), Giroro and Natsumi (Kerero Gunsou), Kyouichi and Harumi (Shingu), Ayato and Haruka (RahXephon), Shichika and Togame (Katanagatari).
Who else? Please post your nominations in the comments. If there are enough couples, this will be the next sidebar poll.
A couple of arbitrary restrictions:
• No children. Syaoran and Sakura make a cute couple, but they’re way too young.
• Heterosexual couples only. No yaoi/yuri, please, and no harems.
I used to write a lot about Japanese animation. I haven’t lately, partly because my obsessions vary with time, partly because I haven’t had opportunity to watch much of anything at all, animated or not. If nothing else goes wrong, ((While my luck isn’t Brickmuppet bad, the past 18 months have not been pleasant.)) there is a good chance that I will finally have my place back to myself again very soon, Then I will finally watch the rest of Dog Days and some more of Hyouge Mono, and see what else might be worth my time.
I don’t know if I will be able to afford maintaining an interest in anime, though. Katanagatari, a show high on my to-buy list, is offered in two Blue Ray/DVD “premium editions,” each containing half the series. These sets are available as “weekly specials” at RightStuf for $52 each. Katanagatari is good, but it’s not $100+ good. It wasn’t a Suzumiya Haruhi-level megahit, and I doubt that it will ever be released in an affordable DVD-only edition. Ditto Arakawa Under the Bridge, a series on my to-investigate list. Such prices seem to be what we can expect for most interesting series licensed during the next several years, until Blue Ray discs drive DVDs out entirely. When that happens, this might be what to expect. If so — well, good bye, anime.
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In other anime news, Dennou Coil remains unlicensed in America.
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Gingrich, who would have made a marvelous Marxist ….
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You can read the grim details and take the quiz yourself, if you dare, here.
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Fear the Death Note.
Two weeks’ accumulation of curiosities and silliness.
I recently discovered that Tex Avery’s documentation of the big, bad wolf’s remarkable courtship behavior is available at the Internet Archive.
[flowplayer src=’http://www.archive.org/download/RedHotRidingHood_557/BannedCartoons—texAvery-RedHotRidingHood1943.mp4′ width=640 height=480]
More of Avery’s research can be found here.