Odds and ends, some of them involving animation, Japan or spandex.
Category: Music
Theremins are for wimps
Going boom …
Today’s mental picture
And to make matters worse, the other events were a cheerleading convention and a Christian youth group convention. I mean, not necessarily antagonistic if physically separated… but apparently the Witchblade cosplayers kept walking into the youth group talks, and that’s just not going to end well….
She’s also been posting singable translations of the songs from the Natsume Yujinchou series. If I understand what she’s doing correctly, these are paraphrases of English translations she’s found.
*****
I’ve been doing everything but watching anime lately. I’ll get back to it — I’ve got Tokyo Godfathers sitting next to the computer, and I want to watch the rest of at least the first season of Natsume Yujinchou — but right now there are other priorities. In the meantime, here’s a curiosity: a piano version of a tune you might recognize.
Air power
Barry has a new t-shirt.
Medieval head-bangers
If the regional Renaissance Faires would bring in bands like Corvus Corax, I might start attending them again. CC’s “best of” album arrived today, and I’ve been listening to it continuously since I got home.
Freddy and Elvis in Japan
Some more of that good old traditional Japanese rock ‘n’ roll:
Smoke on foreign water Firemen of Edo
(Via Wonderduck)
Update: Here’s a higher-quality version, via J. Greely, who also has romanized the lyrics so you can sing along and translated them (they’re not what Ian Gillan sang).
*****
I’m going to be away from the computer for a few days. Things will be even quieter here than usual.
Quiz answers
Here are the answers for the album cover quiz. Click on the thumbnails to see the entire cover.
Pop quiz
After looking through this album cover quiz, I knew I had to put together my own. Here are portions of 51 covers from the age of vinyl. See how many you can identify. Most are progressive rock and British folk, but there are classics from other genres as well. Many were fairly well-known in their day; others may be challenges to identify. I’ll be astonished if anyone ((other than Steven)) gets them all. I’ll post the answers in a day or two.
Finally
What I saw of Hare & Guu left me indifferent, but this ending is an outstanding production number. It’s my pick for the best anime ending, at least for today.
[flv width=”640″ height=”480″]http://tancos.net/flv/wp-content/uploads/GuuDlxEd.flv[/flv]
Jungle wa itsumo Hale nochi Guu Deluxe, “Fun Fun and Shout” by Sister Mayo.
You can see the videos in full size at my video weblog, and you can compare my list with Astro’s.
Almost there
Number two. Astro and I have very different tastes, but we agree on this one:
[flv width=”720″ height=”480″]http://tancos.net/flv/wp-content/uploads/Maromi.flv[/flv]
Paranoia Agent, “Shiroi Oka – Maromi no Theme” by Susumu Hirasawa.
Merry Christmas, everyone, and I hope you didn’t get Maromi plushies among your presents.
Now see if you can guess what number one is. Go on, I dare you. I will be astonished if anyone comes close.
At the midpoint
Number three:
[flv width=”640″ height=”480″]http://tancos.net/flv/wp-content/uploads/ExcelEnd.flv[/flv]
Excel Saga, “Menchi Aishou no Bolero” by Excel Girls. I’m not posting the clean version because the words matter, and because some who frequent this corner of the otakusphere might recognize one of the names in the credits.
Counting them down #2
Number four on my list of best endings:
[flv width=”704″ height=”400″]http://tancos.net/flv/wp-content/uploads/dennocoilending.flv[/flv]
Denno Coil, “Sora no Kakera (????; A Fragment of the Sky)” by Ayako Ikeda. (The karaoke is annoying; I hope this is licensed soon so I can post a clean ending.)
Counting them down
Number five on my list of best endings:
[flv width=”704″ height=”400″]http://tancos.net/flv/wp-content/uploads/oedo-ending2.flv[/flv]
Oh! Edo Rocket, second ending, “I Got Rhythm” by Natural High.
[flv width=”704″ height=”400″]http://tancos.net/flv/wp-content/uploads/oedo-ending1.flv[/flv]
I like both endings, so here’s the first as well: “100 miles~Niji o Oikakete” by Santara.
Testing, testing
Janacek, Sinfonietta, first movement: Allegretto
London Symphony Orchestra, Claudio Abbado, conductor
Can you see the mp3 player?
How about this one?
If you don’t see either player, click on the title of this post to open it in its own page, and see if that makes a difference.