Trivia that matter
Gunung Agung on Bali may be ramping up to an eruption. If so, this could be more than interesting on the densely-populated island. Agung’s 1963 eruption was VEI5, i.e., at least as large as Mt. St. Helen’s in 1980. It has some noteworthy neighbors nearby on the Sunda arc. Rinjani is visible from Agung’s summit when the weather is clear. Tambora is a bit further east.
Meanwhile, there is a state of emergency on Ambae in Vanuatu.
If Flickr decides that there has been suspicious activity involving your account, or if you want to access Flickr from a different browser or a different computer, you need to prove to them that you are indeed whoever it is that you are. It’s a simple matter. In my case, I need only respond to emails sent to either of two long-defunct addresses.1 This doesn’t quite make sense to me; I used a different address, which they have, to launch my account there. But the ways of IT are mysterious and not for ordinary mortals to comprehend.
At this time, I can log into Flickr only with one browser and only on one computer. It’s just a matter of time before I’m locked out of my account entirely. Therefore, I’ve started a weblog for my photography, here. I’ll occasionally post a picture or two on Zoopraxiscope, but the full galleries will be at the new site. You can see the rest of the pictures from yesterday’s visit to the Great Plains Renaissance Festival there, for instance.
September 23, 2017 in Wichita, Kansas.
September 23, 2017 in Wichita, Kansas.
At the Great Plains Renaissance Festival in Wichita, Kansas, September 23, 2017.
At the Great Plains Renaissance Festival in Wichita, Kansas, September 23, 2017.
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Wichita, Kansas.
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Wichita, Kansas.
Grown from seed many years ago.
Grown from seed many years ago.
From 20 or more years ago at an SCA event. It most likely was taken at the annual Valor Tournament hosted by the Barony of Vatavia, the Wichita branch of the SCA, but I’m not certain of that. It could have been at Lilies, north of Kansas City.
From 20 or more years ago at an SCA event. It most likely was taken at the annual Valor Tournament hosted by the Barony of Vatavia, the Wichita branch of the SCA, but I’m not certain of that. It could have been at Lilies, north of Kansas City.
Can a cat be both a solid and a liquid? That was a topic investigated by one of the scientists honored at the 2017 Ig Nobel Prizes last Thursday. Other researchers receiving Ig Nobels studied such topics as didgeridoo playing as a treatment for sleep apnea and snoring, how exposure to a live crocodile influences gambling behavior, the size of old men’s ears, walking backwards with a cup of coffee, whether identical twins can tell themselves apart, and other recondite topics.
This past weekend was the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield. Never believe anything the weatherman says. He promised clear skies and highs in the lower 90°s. Yeah, right. Here’s what I heard at Stage One Saturday afternoon, when The Outside Track were scheduled to perform:
I decided not to bring the real camera along, which turned out to be a good call, given the weather. So, no pictures this year. I did bring my little sound recorder. Here’s a bit of what goes on all night long at Carp Camp. The tunes are “Planxty Fanny Po[w]er,” featuring Amanda Roberts, this year’s hammered dulcimer winner, and “Liberty,” with an unconventional bluegrass instrument toward the end. The sound is mediocre and the recorder cut the second tune short (grr), but it should give you some idea of what it’s like there.
In a week or two, there should be videos with better sound quality on YouTube and elsewhere.
Other highlights of my visit to the camp included everyone joining in on the theme to “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” and a couple of guys singing Randy Newman’s “Political Science.”
Update: a brief video of the Friday evening contra dance, shot with my toy camera. It’s not great quality, and it shows why I ordinarily use that camera only for snapshots.
There should be plenty of better videos at YouTube soon.
I grabbed a few pictures before leaving for work this morning.
The cactus seedlings are steadily coming along. The hooks of M. pennispinosa, above, are as sharp as they look. I keep a pair of embroidery scissors handy when I repot such little hookers so I can detach them from my fingers when I’m done.
John Salmon mentions the Voyager spacecraft, which were launched 40 years ago in August and September. These, along with Pioneer 10 and 11, launched five and four years earlier, are four of the five spacecraft leaving the Solar System, and are the most distant man-made objects at this time. NASA is planning a quiet little celebration Tuesday.
For the future of the Pioneer and Voyager probes, see the fifth and sixth episodes of Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita, which reveal the true reason for the Pioneer anomaly.
Does time flow forwards or backwards at Amazon.com? Or does it swirl around in little eddies?
It occurred to me that the ideal instrument for playing “minimalist”2 music like Terry Riley’s “In C” would be wind chimes. I spent a few lunch hours recently compiling my own set of wind chime music. It uses five instances of the AAS Chromaphone, covering five octaves. See what you make of it.
Update: Uploaded a slightly tweaked and, I hope, much better-sounding recording. What sounds good on headphones at the office sometimes sounds pretty awful on the speakers at home.
Update II: Let’s drive this into the ground. Here’s a similar piece for heavily corroded wind chimes, featuring three instances of u-he’s ACE and too much percussion. (You might want to turn the volume down.)
I have a notion for one more exercise along these lines, and then it will be back to real music.
I visited the botanical garden yesterday, where I found both the red and white forms of Hibiscus coccineus, the “Texas Star” hibiscus (though it’s not actually native to the Lone Star state) in bloom.
In other Texas news, Ubu remains in Houston despite Harvey and has been writing about the pleasures of life in the time of hurricanes.3
I didn’t have an appropriate filter to place on my camera lens during the eclipse, so I pointed the camera down rather than up.
I took a look at the winners of this year’s AMV awards. Overall, they left me cold, but “Красная Селёдка” does have a curious nostalgic appeal.
Here’s a pop quiz for a Monday afternoon. How many riffs can you identify?
If you found that easy, try some classical standards, or Yes songs, or Black Sabbath or Mahavishnu.
When Tatsuya Yoshida isn’t compiling medleys, he plays a Japanese version of zeuhl. Here’s a concert by Koenji Hyakkei, one of his many projects.
*****
I’ve become quite fond of songwriter and composer 伊藤真澄, a.k.a. Masumi Itou (or Ito, Itoh or Itō), though her singing voice does take some getting used to. Tunes she’s written include the ending themes for Flip Flappers4 and Humanity Has Declined and the openings to Magical Nyan Nyan Taruto5 and Azumanga Daioh. A quick search on YouTube will turn up many more. I recently found some of her recordings on Amazon.jp. Her album Harmonies of Heaven is mostly of her own compositions, but she does include the traditional tune “故郷の空,” above. It sounds oddly familiar.
Crunchyroll recently added Haibane Renmei to its listings. I have long counted Haibane Renmei as my #1 anime, and with it Crunchyroll now has four of my top five. The website these days is streaming much good Japanese animation and is well worth the membership price.
However, Crunchyroll also has tremendous amount of garbage, and even more that is thoroughly mediocre or just plain boring. An anime neophyte picking shows at random is likely to get discouraged. Therefore, I’ve compiled a list of what I think are the best offerings at Crunchyroll for those who are wondering where to start. My taste is impeccable, of course, and my judgement infallible, but some anime enthusiasts might find my choices to be quirky and eccentric. I urge those people to compile their own lists and post them on their websites.
The best
Serial Experiments Lain — The series that convinced me that anime was worth taking seriously.
Shingu — There are aliens and robots and a town with a secret, but the ultimate appeal of this carefully constructed and highly rewatchable series is spending time with the characters.
Mononoke — Kenji Nakamura’s first full-length series, displaying both his eye for design and color and his stringent moral sense.
Lain and Mononoke are not for kids, and small children will probably not appreciate Haibane Renmei.
(Absent from Crunchyroll is my #3 series, Dennou Coil.)
Classics
Cardcaptor Sakura and Madoka Magica — Two very different versions of the “magical girl” story. The latter is not for kids.
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and Kill la Kill — Wild, over-the-top studies in heroism from Kazuki Nakashima and Hiroyuki Imaishi. Not for those with delicate sensibilities.
Also by Kenji Nakamura
Recommended
ACCA — 13-Territory Inspection Dept.
Jubei-chan: Secret of the Lovely Eyepatch — The official English-language title is stupid. Jubei is not ninja trash.
Other noteworthy shows
Problem Children Are Coming from Another World, Aren’t They?
I could add more shows to the last category, but that’s enough to suggest the range of anime.
Want more information? Steven Den Beste wrote about many of the series listed above. His reviews are here, and you can search Chizumatic for his comments on other shows. Steven had his quirks and blind spots, but in general he was the most reliable guide to anime I’ve found.
