Sun, 24 March: Weekly Review 3

Had a listen to some tracks on my Urusei Yatsura Complete Soundtrack cd which I bought at Tower Records in Shibuya. This is my favourite album at the moment, and I always have it nearby for convenience. The OST songs, which are a mixture of pop, citypop, lounge and rock, and mostly sung by female singers (to represent Lum) add so much texture and charm to the original anime show from the 80s. I have so many favourite songs here, but for this session it was Born To Be Free, a great rock song by Stephanie (no last name), who sounds exactly like Pat Benatar, then Lum’s Ballad, by Fumi Hirano (the actor who voices Lum in the show), a breathtaking ballad from the first film, Only You, that evokes Lum’s sad dilemma (in love with a faithless boy) to a T. I finished off with the rousing all-singing all-dancing entire cast singalong finale of Let’s Meet Again. This was composed and arranged by Kenji Kawai, who also did the Ghost In the Shell soundtrack. Lyrics by Kokeru Morohoshi. There are two songs here. It’s Nice To Meet You Again is where each cast member gets a verse as their characters, in order of Ten, Ataru, Shinobu, Sakura, Ran, Oyuki, Megane, Benten, Cherry, Ryunosuke, Mendo, and finally Lum. The second one might be called Become A Star and has an uptempo Burt Bacharach beat and it’s wondrous. The final lines, at least on my Google Translate translation, are…

When I whisper that I love you, the stars twinkle.
Memories travel to the distant universe.
Even now, lovers draw their shoulders together, painting the entire night sky.
A dream that never ends, a love that never ends.
Become a star, shine in the sky
Shine strong.

Watched episode 33 of Urusei Yatsura. The first half was about one of Mendo‘s baby octopuses (octopi?) going missing. It’s eventually found under his pillow. Love the bit at the start where one of Mendo’s retainers (his family is filthy rich) is doing a roll call of the octopuses and gives them all the honorific ‘sama’ (lord or sir). And they are so damn cute! The second half has Ataru being surprisingly gentlemanly towards a ghost girl (a Rumiko specialty) who hasn’t moved on because she wanted to date him. He even wears the warm wool items she knitted for him when she was alive, even though it’s the height of summer. Watching this, Lum is forced to reassess his qualities. It seems he can be selfless towards people who are in pain or need help, but reverts back to type – selfish – when everything’s okay. He does this over and over in the show. You’d think Lum would’ve picked up on this and used it to her advantage (well, sometimes she does).

Finished the Mall Goth graphic novel by Kate Leth. I liked how the story was set in the early days of net gaming, around early 2000s, with MUDs and online servers. And I get that the story was semi-autobiographical and is an authentic and well-told account of things that happened, either to the author or someone she knew. All good. But the main takeaway to me, theme-wise, seemed to be guys are arseholes. So not the most nuanced treatment of gender politics, but there it is. At least it got me thinking about that, and here are my thoughts, which veer wildly beyond the scope of the graphic novel I just read. That is, let me EXPOUND.

Undoubtedly, we guys can be arseholes. So can women. So what? Cheating’s never fun for whoever’s the victim of it, and so on and so forth. Main thing is, are we going to remain self involved, or will we consider other’s feelings and situations beyond identity? I’m a bit sick of gender politics, actually. It seems kind of (I’m gonna use a very old word here) bourgeois or even conservative in comparison to economic, environmental and workplace politics. I’m thinking of the systemic problems we have under capitalism like inequality, poverty and homelessness. Undoubtedly the so-called patriarchy has a lot to do with this, and speaking truth to that kind of power is definitely a good role for gender politics. And I see how it can align with class politics, when people can be bothered. I’m just not sure its aims are in line with mine. Phew, it was just a graphic novel, after all!

My next reading adventure is A Geek In Japan by Hector Garcia. The subtitle is ‘discovering the land of manga, anime, zen, and the tea ceremony’. The title caught my eye because it could very well have been written for, if not about, me when I was there last November. Skimming through the text I can tell it’s what I call a mid-knowledge read, namely there will be a lot of stuff I already know about mixed with stuff I don’t. A good mid-level comfort read for the aspiring Japanophile. I like it when books contain facts I already know, and pictures of places I’ve already been to. This will only feed my passion and set me up for a return trip, which is the plan.

I read more of the A Geek In Japan book. Suicide rates are high – highest in the ‘advanced’ world. Some reasons are the Samurai code of honor is still strong in Japan, and the pressure to pass exams, and the shame of failing them. A popular suicide method is to throw yourself in front of a train. One train line, the Chuo line, is especially popular with them because it’s harder for drivers to stop in time. Crime is low in Japan, due to tight gun control laws, severe punishments, and the general Asian code of communities and families first, individuals second. The factoids keep coming.

Still on the Japanese theme, I watched a concert bluray I brought back from my trip. It was Silent Siren, Live Tour 2019 31313. Silent Siren are a great all-girl four-piece rock band I like. The gig was at Zepp DiverCity in Odaiba. DiverCity has a giant Gundam (mecha robot) statue just outside the shopping centre, and I saw it. Anyway, the ladies put on a good energetic show in front of a large and appreciative crowd. I liked how they mixed things up with a slower acoustic set in the middle of the concert, which was also peppered with the usual ‘ments’ where the members chat to the audience at length. I only caught a few words (no subtitles) like ‘sugoi’ and ‘arigato gozaimasu’ but enjoyed watching them. My favourite is bass player, Aina, whose playing is astounding. There are lots of great clips on Youtube of musicians, especially women, playing along to her bass parts. With their combo of drums, bass, guitar and keyboard, and guitarist Sumire’s chirpy lead vocals, and their uptempo pop/rock style, they remind me of After School Tea Time, the group in anime K-On!. They just need to add another guitarist for the Asunan role. I see from their bio they did a collab with Poppin’ Party, the group behind the BanG Dream! anime, so clearly the anime link is strong. I also bought a Poppin’ Party dvd whilst in Japan, so maybe I’ll watch that next.

Finished digitising that Ghost In the Shell 2045 album. I really love the song Sustain, by Mili. I only wish it was better produced – it’s very tinny, though that might be my hearing aids as well. Sustain is a reference to a storyline in the show where business conglomerates and the military want a sustainable war they can profit off of continually. Yep, that’s what they do, that’s what they want – just as long as it’s not in their back yard. The show itself was controversial amongst fans for its 3 D animation. I didn’t mind it. It also introduced a new character, Purin (Japanese for Pudding!), a young woman who headed the Tachikoma unit (armored tanks with cute kiddy voices) and who seemed to have a crush on Batou. She was hated by the fandom, but I like her. I actually saw someone in the Animate store in Ikebukuro who looked like her! Same pink hair, same specs and lithe figure. I think she was deliberately emulating her. I so wanted to talk to her. It’s a bit of a tangent, but I also think I saw Perfume member, Nocchi, in the store. She was wearing a mask but it looked like her. It’s the kind of store a known fan of geek culture (I won’t call her an Otaku, as that’s considered a bit rude in Japan) like her would visit. Legendary store, actually. So many attractive customers there going for the copious Yaoi (Boy Love) merch. Anyway, the only thing I didn’t love or felt uncomfortable about was the long scene in the second series of 2045 where Purin walks around naked. I mean, she may be an adult in her twenties, or possibly thirties, but she has the body of a twelve year old. It’s classic Japanese hentai/fan service. But I must say, the character design for this latest incarnation of GITS is very flattering. Kusanagi looks hotter than ever, and even Batou and Togusa are downright handsome – especially in the end credits sequence.

Had another listen to some of my latest Kpop albums, namely Twice‘s With You-th and NMixx‘s FE304: Break. An excellent session. The last track on the Twice album, You Get Me, is my favourite on that one. It’s another uptempo bass-led bop, like The Feels, and Four Leaf Clover before it. Those three tunes would make a pretty good mini playlist. The NMixx album is their best yet. I especially love the song Passionfruit, which, as I’ve said before, sounds a bit like NewJeans to my ears. There’s a nice Youtube video by taemteez called the Genre of Every Twice Song. It’s very useful for working out the different genres they’ve covered, though I’m not sure they’re completely accurate. Is Like Ooh Ahh really electropop? And what is Hyphy (for Do It Again)? There’ve been so many new sub-genres around dance and pop music, I can’t keep up. When Twice started, back in 2015, their company described their music as ‘color pop’, which is a good description of the variety they’ve covered. The same goes for NMixx, although their designation was ‘mixx pop’, because they go one step further: they sometimes change up genres within single songs. Earlier examples of the ‘change up’ were I’ve Got A Boy by Girl’s Generation, and Next Level by Aespa. Nmixx’s first song, 0.0, was a prime example. It was not so much a mix as a melange of styles squashed together. It was brilliant, but fans weren’t ready for it. It bombed spectacularly, even though there was also a popular b-side called Tank. The members are so talented and their songs so good that they cannot be denied. They will be big.

I’ve started a little space minimizing project with my dvd collection. I’m taking the discs out of their cases and stacking them alphabetically into these cd spindles. Then I’m taking the dvd covers out and placing them into a folder, where they are arranged alphabetically according to film title. Saves on space and is just as easy to access what I want. I’ve kept a couple of the blank cases handy in case, say, I’m visiting a friend’s and want to show some of my films. The only issue I have now is, what do I do with those damn cases?

I’ve started putting up some films I’ve made on the site. They go under Films in the Archive menu. So far it’s just a couple of things I did as Will Greeves based on the game Tomb Raider 2. They’re actually what you would call machinimas – films made from game graphics. The copyright issues around these things can be tricky. I’ll be okay with the visuals for these ones because they were self-generated, but the music soundtrack is another thing. I must work out what I can get away with under ‘fair use’, but for now, they’re going up!

I had some very vivid dreams this morning. They inspired the thought, wouldn’t it be great if you could record your dreams like a film? Some smart inventor ought to get onto that right away. I can think of a couple of cinema treatments that cover some of that theme. Douglas Trumbull‘s Brainstorm from 1983 has his characters (one of whom was Natalie Wood, whose last film this was before her untimely death) inventing a device that records people’s thoughts and feelings. It doesn’t quite go into dreams, but at the end it does go into some transcendent areas. The other is Paprika, the 2006 anime film by the great Satashi Kon. In it, a ‘dream terrorist’ steals a device that does actually allow people to share their dreams. As you might expect, it’s quite surreal and a brilliant film.

I bought a new phone today. My old one was doing weird things and not being reliable. I’ve had it for about four years, so I figured it was time to update. Is it just me, or is buying a new phone an amazing rush? No, it’s definitely not just me. It’s the lure of new tech, of exciting new possibilities and shiny new plaything objects. Of course, I no sooner took possession of my new phone when my old phone decided to start working again. This is annoying but handy, as I’ll need the old phone working so I can transfer lots of stuff from it. Shiny.

On the subject of phones, though, I was appalled to find that, especially among school students, there’s a lot of bullying going on around iphones versus androids. A colleague told me her daughter can’t reveal her ownership of an android for fear of being outcast. I read of similar things happening amongst students and youngsters in South Korea too. Is this really a thing?

I followed a new account on X/Twitter called Nippon.com. The byline is ‘Scholarly analysis and entertaining articles on Japan’s society, economy and politics’. They put up an article about the real ninjas of Japan, and it’s deflating. Seems your average ninja looked like a merchant and would walk through the front door, because wearing black and sneaking around wasn’t a good way to spy. You get caught, how do you deny you were spying? Humph! Next, they’ll be telling us they never used shurikens or ran across roofs with their arms held stiff. Anyway, not a day goes by I don’t think of my Japan trip. I dine out on those memories and smile. I definitely left a part of myself behind there. He’s still walking around, taking in the sights and experiences. Guess I’ll have to go back to reconnect with him!

The Box Hill Record Fair is coming up this Sunday and I have to plan my campaign. That mainly means coming up with a list of items I want to buy. These of course will be ‘irresistible purchases’ as opposed to ‘unnecessary purchases’. Luckily, I always keep such a list handy in my wallet (yes, I’m that anal). I won’t share it all with you, but I will go over the most choice items I’ll be looking out for at the fair. Numero uno will be the album Romany by the Hollies from 1972. I have all their albums, except this one, and it’s a good album (I’ve heard it on Spotify). Obsessions and fandoms can get to a certain point where you have to be a completist, and I am with the Hollies. One of my favourite groups of the Sixties and Seventies. Many of the other items fit the same criteria, and here are some of them:

• Summer Side of Life – Gordon Lightfoot
• Where Am I Going – Dusty Springfield
• Unrepentant Geraldines – Tori Amos
• MIU – The Beach Boys

There are some singles, or 7″ records, I’m looking for, mainly for the b-sides. I want New Zealand band Mi Sex‘s Only Thinking, Falling In and Out, Shanghaied and Cast Away singles for this reason. I recently finally got hold of their fourth album Where Do They Go, the only one I didn’t have. A very underrated band, in my opinion. A holy grail of singles for me would be You Got the Magic, by John Fogerty. That one and the b-side Evil Thing were the only official songs he released from his abandoned Hoodoo album. Bootlegs of the album do the rounds, and I have a copy, but the sound quality ain’t great. They say Fogerty had the masters destroyed, but I still hold out hope that a studio engineer or someone secretly made a copy and it will be released some day. Mind you, it isn’t a great album, but damn, it’s Fogerty! Then there are some soundtracks, especially The Warriors and Heavy Metal. I read the novel The Warriors by Sol Yurick recently and it took me back to the film. So good. I should write a comparison review of film and book, which may happen (I’ll add it to my to do list). Geezer Butler in his book Into The Void mentions there’s a different, and in his opinion better, version of The Mob Rules by Black Sabbath on the Heavy Metal soundtrack. One of the regular vendors at the fair is a guy called Eddie, who specialises in rare fifties and sixties albums. I’m hoping he’ll have some more rockabilly albums by the German company Buffalo Bop. I especially love the solo female series. I can’t wait for the fair, which is held at Box Hill’s Town Hall, usually in the chandelier-filled ballroom. The only problem I find with it is that items in some stalls can be completely random, no order, like alphabetical. The problem of randomness. I guess they’re meant to have that browsing lucky dip quality that some people like. Not me: I don’t have the time. I will follow this up with my necessary poichases.

Gave the Stones‘ Hackney Diamonds another listen. Gets better every time, though I detect a dip in quality in the middle. The first five or six songs are so great. Bite My Head Off is so punky, and that riff is relentless! Ballad Dreamy Skies has that classic tasty Beggar’s Banquet sound, all acoustic guitars and country feel. I love it. I really like the sax on second song, Get Close. Keith’s vocal song Tell Me Straight continues to impress with its melody and stark sound. Album highlight, Sweet Sounds of Heaven, with Lady Gaga, really reminds me of Gimme Shelter, as I think it was meant to. I notice the lyrics feature some defensive language, like ‘why are you angry with me?’ and ‘why’d ya bite my head off?’ Mick has a beef. He’s a victim of his accusers, so he runs away for respite to the ‘dreamy skies’, listening to the ‘sweet sounds of heaven’. Album closer Rolling Stone Blues couldn’t be more fitting, and makes a nice call-back to the fine last album, Blue and Lonesome. If they never make another album, this will be a great way to go out.

I got into the Rolling Stones‘ live disc of Hackney Diamonds for my evening listening today. It’s an amazing set, sprinkled with classics and some tunes from the new album. The first ‘single’, Angry, and second one, Whole Wide World, are featured along with the blazing Bite My Head Off and encore of Sweet Sounds of Heaven, with Lady Gaga tagging along. These are great, but it’s the oldies that I’m into at the moment. The set starts with Shattered, then Tumbling Dice and Jumpin’ Jack Flash get an outing in between the others. I’m really loving this live version of Tumbling Dice. The original studio version from Exile On Mainstreet was never much of a favourite, but here it’s reborn and new and fresh to my ears. There’s a chick singer on this one too, but it’s not Gaga, it’s a woman called Chanelle Haynes, and she does a splendid job backing Mick. I definitely have a soft spot for the Stones live. If push comes to shove I’d have to cite their Get Yer Ya Yas Out album of 1970 as my favourite live album ever. It has that definitive version of Midnight Rambler, and the groove they get on Carol is rock heaven. And that cover, with Charlie Watts and the donkey (or is it a mule?). Beautiful! RIP Charlie.

My occasional updates of my No Man’s Sky gaming are becoming a thing. I have this entire psycho-drama fantasy running around in my head and I wanna get it out. It’s to do with how I’ve themed my whole universe in the game around Twice and its members. I have a planet for each of them, and I think I’d like to show you my explorations of them with a profile of each member. I’m filming the game play, editing it, and putting it up on my Youtube channel, where I’ll provide links as I go. The only thing I’m not sure about is whether to add some voiceover commentary or subtitles, or just leave the game atmos as I’ve done so far. I started it yesterday, and if nothing else, I’m really enjoying the whole process, it’s so relaxing. It should also be a good introduction to the game. The mechanics of space flight and planet traversal featured in the game are the stuff from which dreams are made of.

I had to do some stuff for my tax. What a drag! It made me want to escape, so I did, with a session of No Man’s Sky. I left Mina‘s world via the stargate and headed for Jeongyeon‘s planet. She has a nice pad there called Yoo Base by a picturesque lake which she uses for camping. Thought I’d make use of it while she was away: just hang out, maybe do a little fishing and be entertained by the gentle, friendly animals that roam the planet in abundance. I took the hover speeder out to explore the countryside. It’s a pretty planet, with orange grass and deep blue waters and gentle, undulating hills…

I was worried about Jeongyeon when she went on her ‘hiatus’ from Twice back in 2020. The official story was she had injured her neck during the dance rehearsals for their latest song More and More. Then the medication she took for it made her put on weight, which led to an anxiety spiral. Or something like that. It was disappointing seeing only eight members in all them Time To Twice episodes, and her minimal participation in the music videos. But it was amazing to see her come back in 2022, joining the members for the World Tour III in the US. Her hair was blue and she still looked, well, woman-shaped, as she continues to be. Her courage and determination is amazing. She’s still the joker of the group, teasing the other members mercilessly. And it definitely feels like she’s back to stay. She’s Twice’s third lead vocalist, behind Jihyo and Nayeon. Those two have had their solo albums (Jihyo’s, called Zone, just last year). Will we get a Jeongyeon solo album this year? I hope so.

I started reading a graphic novel version of A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle. It was adapted and illustrated by Hope Larson. I read the book a long time and only have a vague memory of it being unsatisfying. But I’ve always wanted to give it another try, and this will be a quick way of knocking it over. Larson’s art style reminds me of the work of Keith Haring. She draws detailed but rudimentary graffiti-looking figures with minimalist backgrounds. It’s just enough to capture the gist of the story. I like it. Her interpretations of the main characters, especially confused, self-doubting Meg, and her little brother, weird genius empath Charles Wallace, are spot on. She gives his face a blank creepiness that promises all kinds of unsettling possibilities. The mysterious Mrs’s Whatsit, Who and Which are updates of Shakespeare‘s three witches from Macbeth. It occurs to me reading the story this time around, with its grand parade of eccentric characters, that this might be yet another early entry in the ‘weird fiction’ genre, following on from the great work of HP Lovecraft. I look forward to rediscovering the book.

Whilst working today I had some time to have a play (call it professional development) with Ancestry.org, the genealogy service my library offers patrons for free. I tried a link on Churches and it took me to a general index of Scottish Presbyterian ministers. Searching randomly under the letter L, I selected one Archibald Lambie as my research subject. I chose this gentleman because he shares a first name with my father. Reading through his biog I was amused by the detail, ‘he intimated his demission of the office of Clerk, “on account of a series of ill-usages, as he could not hold it without pain, being exposed to insults and opprobrious language at every meeting”.’ My god, that reads exactly like my career in teaching! I hear ya, Archie, I hear ya. And look at the details about the first wife, Isobel. If I’m reading this right, over eight years she had four children with Archibald and almost none of them outlived her. His second wife, Catherine, lasted less than two years with him before she died. His third wife, Marion, had five children with him, one of whom, William, lived for 35 years. ‘Died in Jamaica’ – at the point of a pirate’s cutlass, no doubt. Or was he the pirate and was he forced to walk the plank? Aaargh! I love how Ancestry.org can take you down a rabbit hole of some amazing history. So, Archibald Lambie, from down the years, here’s to you, sir. And your long suffering wives.

Still on the past, but a little more recent: I encountered what, to me, was an interesting factoid whilst perusing Trove‘s X/Twitter account. It seems Australia’s very first female newsreader and radio announcer didn’t happen until 1940, and then only because there was a shortage of men during World War 2. Her name was Margaret Doyle. On ya Marge, which is almost but not quite my mum’s name. Trove is a research database covering all things Australia, and is itself a national treasure.

Still on the work theme, I looked through some online copies of the Australian Library Journal (courtesy of Taylor & Francis Online). It stopped publication in 2016, but it’s still one of those invaluable treasure troves of information. I know, it sounds boring to anybody but a library and research nerd like me, but please stick with me here. In Volume 65, Issue 1, there was a book review piece that caught my eye. The title was Start a Revolution: Stop Acting Like a Library by Jane Gibian. Centered around ideas for the promotion and marketing of libraries, I liked one idea in particular that was mentioned. It was for a series of beer coasters that were handed out in local pubs. Besides promoting the library, the coasters included the theme ‘add a word, ruin a book’. Some examples were The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Malfunction, and Fifty Shades of Grey’s Anatomy. I love it, and apparently it went down a storm among the pub-goers. This is meme heaven. What titles can you come up with?

I watched some Twice TV on Youtube. This one was the “New York Promotion Days” Behind featuring their visit to a Barnes and Noble book store where there was an in-store promotion for the new album With You-th. Much banter and laughter ensued, with Chaeyoung cementing her bias wrecker reputation in my heart with her proud purchase of Tyler the Creator and a Prince album on LP. Of course she has a record player. That’s my girl. Then to my main bias, Mina, with another wrecker, Jeongyeon, and their new 2wice’s Date Season Two episode JEONGMI. They were both making Lego cars, mainly because Jeongyeon expressed a desire to do something Mina liked. Whilst working on the cars they chatted up a storm, which is unusual particularly for Mina, who’s an introvert. Jeongyeon, who’s not a Lego expert, struggled with her car, while Mina had hers finished early. The conversation ranged far and wide, but not in the direction I was especially interested in: namely, the possibility of a Jeongyeon solo album. The conversation about diets was revealing. I’d never thought of having bland food to manage a diet, but that’s what Mina said she did. Jeongyeon added that tasty food was no good because it made you want to have more. At the end Jeongyeon said Mina had talked enough for her and now needed a rest. Their comfortable friendship was a balm to the soul. Today, as I write this, is Mina’s birthday (I’m a day behind), just a few days from mine.