Wasting time

I came across yet another damned book meme over at Robbo’s, and I thought that adapting it for anime might be a pleasant way of spending a lunch hour.

• What anime are you watching now?

The only current series I’m following is Macademi Wasshoi, and if there are more episodes like the fifth, I’ll drop it, too.

• What is your favourite time to watch?

Evenings, after dinner.

• And your favourite place?

The only available place is the uncomfortable chair at the computer.

• Who is your favourite auteur?

The snap answer is either Yoshitoshi ABe (Haibane Renmei) or Mitsuo Iso (Denno Coil). However, each has really only one show to his credit. ((Lain was a group effort, and while NieA_7 is based on characters created by ABe, someone else wrote the scripts.)) Perhaps Junichi Sato or Akitaro Daichi, or maybe Masaaki Yuasa? I think I’ll go with Satoshi Kon for now.

• Your favourite OST?

Still Haibane Renmei‘s, though that of Oh! Edo Rocket, swing ripoff though it is, has been frequent listening for over a year now.

• What is the most difficult anime you’ve ever watched?

Serial Experiments Lain. I could also mention Angel’s Egg and Cat Soup, but I don’t think either adds up to much more than what you see. (I read somewhere that Oshii himself doesn’t remember what everything signifies in the former.) ((Incidentally, Angel’s Egg is the reason I started downloading torrents. I had read about it and was very curious, but there was no legal way to watch it.))

• What was the first anime you remember watching?

Shonen Sarutobi Sasuke, in the theatre in Brigham City, Utah, on a Saturday afternoon with my girlfriend Gloria a long, long time ago. Many years later came Princess Mononoke.
Update: Here’s a trailer for Magic Boy, as Shonen Sarutobi Sasuke was called in the USA, and here’s a website with screen captures.

• Do you have a comfort show that you re-watch?

Random episodes of Cardcaptor Sakura or Animal Yokocho.

• What is the most erotic anime you’ve watched?

Not Divergence Eve. Nothing much comes to mind; that’s not what I look for.

• Which classic should you have watched?

Monster, I suppose, or Legend of Galactic Heroes.

• Which series did you never want to end?

A good episodic series like Mushishi or Galaxy Angel A could be spun out indefinitely as long as the creators have ideas, but in general, a show isn’t good unless it ends well.

• What is your most overrated anime?

Neon Genesis Evangelion. I watched the first disc, and that’s two hours of my life wasted that I’ll never get back.

• Which character could you have an affair with?

This isn’t the sort of thing I fantasize about lest I end up like Sidney Kugelmass, but perhaps Lexshue from Crest of the Stars.

• Who is your favourite character?

Isako, from Denno Coil.

• Which character do you most dislike?

Kimura, from Azumanga Daioh.

• Which character do you identify with most?

Reki, from Haibane Renmei.

• Which anime changed your life?

None.

Update: Jumping on the bandwagon are Steven, Kiriska, Wonderduck and Mark. And Pixy. And Aziz. And Evil Otto and Nick. And Astro. And Ken the Brickmuppet.

Linkety-link

I’m going to be busy not watching anime for the next few weeks. There may be an occasional trivial post, but don’t expect anything more. I’ll probably be back around the middle of December. Until then, here are a few links of interest.

I would have thought that this was obviously true, but apparently it isn’t clear to some people. Further discussion here.

Fred Kiesche discovers Ghost in the Shell. His reaction reminds me of mine to Serial Experiments Lain the first time I watched it. (Lain, by the way, was first broadcast ten years ago this summer, so I think it’s old enough to officially call a classic.)

Back in February, I had other things on my mind than following the otakusphere. Consequently, I missed Martin’s survey of the worst anime has to offer.

Here’s a preview of this winter’s new series. A couple might be worth checking out. Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou is a continuation of what was probably the best show of the summer, and Kemeno no Sou-ja Erin is based on novels by Nahoko Uehashi, who wrote the books Seirei no Moribito was based on. Update: Here are a couple of additional surveys covering more shows, here and here.

Has the internet indeed gone too far?

Ken the Brickmuppet writes about his uncle.

I’d been considering whether to look at Tytania, but Pixy points out a serious defect.

*****

This week’s frightening search term: “life sized anime bishounen cutouts.” For target practice, I presume.

Just testing, part 2

Below the fold is the same brief video as in the previous post, this time as an flv file. In the past, I’ve used ffmpegX to generate flv files. It works, but it’s a pain to use. It often takes several tries to convert a Quicktime file to flv, and even then the video and sound are apt to drift out of sync. (See my video weblog for examples.) I was wondered if it was possible to skip the formatting headaches and embed Quicktime files in posts, but that presents a different set of problems. I recently found a couple of WordPress plugins that take care of the messy stuff, which I tested in yesterday’s post. They work, but it turns out that at least two of my readers, and probably quite a few more, refuse to install Quicktime on their computers. So embedding a Quicktime file is not an ideal solution.

This morning I looked for alternatives to ffmpegX and found a few. Some of them look dandy. Unfortunately, either the price tags have three digits to the left of the decimal point, or the system requirements are beyond the capabilities of my geriatric Mac. I did find one possibility, On2 Flix, the cheapest version of which is almost affordable at $39. I downloaded the demo, and it worked right the first time. You can see the results below the fold.

Continue reading “Just testing, part 2”

The Listening Room

John Salmon notes that René Magritte‘s 110th Birthday was last Friday. Coincidentally, one of the LPs I recently recently transferred to CD was the first Dreams album, the cover of which is based on a Magritte painting. I posted one of the tunes here. ((Beck Ola, another album with a Magritte cover, will probably be in the next batch that I digitize.))

Those are the Brecker brothers, Billy Cobham and their bandmates floating in the air.

Below the fold are a few more of the albums that I pulled out to digitize recently. CDs have a lot of advantages over vinyl — they’re far more convenient; they don’t skip or get stuck (usually); there are no pops, clicks, hisses or rumbles — but for cover art, they can’t compare to LPs.

Continue reading “The Listening Room”

Hammers, strings and keys

I’ve got about fifteen CDs of music freshly digitized from my ancient vinyl, or about thirty LPs’ worth. That’s enough for now. Here’s one last batch of old favorites that I haven’t heard in years.

Pentangle, “Sally Go Round the Roses”
[mp3]http://tancos.net/audio/Sally Go Round the Roses.mp3[/mp3]

Metamora, “Bicycling to Sassor/Rhubarb”
[mp3]http://tancos.net/audio/Bicycling.mp3[/mp3]

Argent, “Lothlorien”
[mp3]http://tancos.net/audio/Lothlorien.mp3[/mp3]

Colosseum, “Bring Out Your Dead”
[mp3]http://tancos.net/audio/Bring Out Your Dead.mp3[/mp3]

Update: Here’s the original version of “Sally Go Round the Roses” from 1963.

Word games

Here’a a curiosity I came across: a 2002 interview with Hiroyuki Morioka, the author of the Crest/Banner of the Stars novels. One disappointing revelation: in its genesis, the Abh language has more in common with Pig Latin than Quenya:

Question: How was the Abh language developed?

Answer: It’s based on Japanese Actually I just changed the sounds of the words. First write it down using the alphabet, using consonants and sounds. Then mark the same vowels first. The basic idea is to group similar sounding vowels then shorten the syllables. Randomize the consonants. I’m sure no one will understand this explanation.

***

Question: Could you translate a word into the Abh language?

There was a demonstration next. He started with the Japanese word Takamagahara. He then changed it to TAKMGAHAR by reducing the number of vowels. One feature of Abh language is a consonant before a vowel changes. It finally became LAKMHAKAR. He doesn’t recommend anyone memorizing this.

Nevertheless, this has hasn’t stopped fans from compiling Baronh dictionaries.