Sun, 27 Oct: Weekly Review 33

Watched some Youtubes. A nice assortment. There was an amazing clip of Twice at the Ninth Anniversary fan show where Nayeon kisses Sana and she falls down. This is footage that we Onces will dine on for years to come. It happened during a performance of new Twice song Sweetest Obsession. It was supposed to be an air kiss but there was contact, and Sana, gripped by gay panic, just crumples to the floor. Then Momo, who was standing between them, stands back and holds her hands up, all innocence. ‘I didn’t do it!’ The other thing is, immediately after the ‘kiss’ Nayeon had to sing her lines to the song and didn’t miss a beat. Then Sana sang her lines as she was getting up from the floor. It was epic. I’m writing this the day after and I’m still thinking about it and re-viewing it – from multiple angles.

Watched some Youtubes. One was a video from GateWorld about Stargate Universe’s Lost Season 3: Stargate Secrets and what might have been in the possible third season. The show’s head writer and executive Joseph Mallozzi revealed there were six scenarios they played with for how the cliffhanger would resolve in episode one. The video went through them all and they were fascinating. The thing is, because the show ended with the characters going into stasis, they could take the story back up any time and the stasis period would explain why the characters (and actors) are older. If I was a billionaire, like Elon Musk, I’d bankroll the rest of the three seasons. Unlike most of Musk’s endeavours, that would be money well-spent.  

I also watched the new clip for Blackpink Rose’s song APT. It’s a duet with Bruno Mars, which doesn’t fill me with joy. Why couldn’t she be solo, why’d they need to drag him into it? Anyway, it’s bogan rock. I might like it eventually. It’s certainly making a stir online and rising in the charts. People seem to like it. It’s a better response than what Blackpink Lisa’s stuff’s been getting lately. Rose looks good. Definitely giving off Rock Star vibes.  

Had one final read of that Essential Anime Guide. Read the chapters on Princess Mononoke, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Your Name. Of the second one I never got through the so-called ‘endless eight’ episodes that make up much of season two. I was interested to see what it was like, but yeah, it was pretty crazy and a little pointless. The writers do an okay job on the importance of these animes but skimps on the details, possibly for fear of revealing spoilers. The book is still a good reference work and I’ll dip into it from time to time for the ones I haven’t seen yet.  

Worked at Realm, bought Bocchi the Rock anime on bluray at JB. Watched three episodes. It’s about a girl called Hitori who has Social Anxiety Syndrome and tries to overcome it by learning guitar and joining a band. Ultimately it’s the kindness and weirdness of others – namely her new band mates – that gets her through. I can’t resist stories about all-girl bands, especially when they’re animes. This one’s shaping up to be a real good time. The show has had some criticism that it treats Hitori’s SAS too lightly, or for laughs, but well, it is a comedy. What do you expect? Their audition performance of Guitar, Loneliness and Blue Planet at Starry nightclub was awesome. At one point Hitori plants her foot and decides to let rip, inspiring the other members to greater musical heights. Such an epic final shot of the four members in split screen as they end the song. The editing and camera work was amazing.  

Watched another three eps of Bocchi the Rock. That’s the half-way mark. The drunken bassist Kikuri from Sick Hack was a strange character. Is she a portentous warning to Hitori of what she could become? I liked the street performance with her and Hitori. Putting some skin in the game. It’s strange though. There is a running joke in the show about ‘kids, don’t do this at home’ when Hitori does various crazy loner things, but there isn’t one for Kikuri’s drunkedness, which is presented as pretty extreme but sort of played for laughs. Feels a little irresponsible. It must be a Japanese thing.  

During a quiet spell on desk at work, I looked up Bocchi the Rock, the anime I started watching last night, and it turns out the Recap film is being shown in Melbourne right at this moment. I’m thinking I’ll see it tomorrow on my day off. Perfecto!    

Bought tickets to Robert Forster gigs. This is a special double concert where Robert will play 20 songs the first night and another (different) 20 songs the next night, and I’m going to both nights. I also see that The Church are performing later in the month at the Palais. I might go to that one, too. I wanted my mate Lui to go with me to the Forster, but he can’t make it. Looks like it’ll be yet another solo sojourn for me.  

I was horrified to discover I missed a big Pearl Jam video night on Rage last night. They were playing everything, including the Eddie solo clips. Damn!  

Had another viewing of Perfume’s Cosmic Treat. The song is really grabbing me. I’ve started listening to the album Nebula Romance Part One in the car. I keep expecting the ladies to announce their retirement, as they’re in their thirties now and I assume want families (they have mentioned it in interviews). Maybe they can do both?  

Borrowed a copy of Shakespeare’s the Tempest. Have been thinking of it lately. It’s one I haven’t read. I like that it is one of the few of his that has fantasy elements in it – as with Midsummer Night’s Dream, my favourite Shakespeare. And it’s one of his last plays. I like that it was the basis for Forbidden Planet and am interested to see the comparisons. I have an old copy of the play, a Signet edition, but I wanted this one to read the extra material about it. I’ve encountered other references lately to it too. JG Ballard’s The Drought, which I’m reading, has some allusions, such as a character called Miranda, and a Caliban-type character called Quilter. But I’m finding that book has lots of literary allusions: there’s some Melville in there too, among others. Typical Ballard. The signs are all coming together to tell me it’s time to read that play.  

In the library at Croydon I was tasked with deleting some items and one caught my eye, a book called Planet World by JP Davidson that has an introduction by Stephen Fry. Its sub-heading is ‘the story of language from the earliest grunts to Twitter and beyond’. I flicked through it and it’s irresistible to me so I asked for it and got it. It’s crazy some of the stuff we throw out, but this one was a bit old, from 2011, so I guess it was considered ‘mustie’.  

Word is finally out on the new Twice Korean album. Sadly, it’s another mini album, not the full album we were hoping for. I think the title’s Strategy. Really can’t complain though. They’ve given us so much this year, the members must be exhausted.  

There was a Tarot display in the library at Lilydale today. It was for an upcoming event called How Tarot Can Help You Plan Your Daily Life. I’d be interested in going but it’s gonna be on a day I’m doing the Flexi, which will at least place me at the venue where the event’s being held. Maybe I can sneak in and see it after my run? So there were a bunch of Tarot books around the place and I had a look at some of them. I also borrowed a dvd, this one’s about the Australian band The Birthday Party. Should be interesting. I like me some Nick Cave.  

I was looking through the ‘Diggin’ Melbourne’ Record Store Guide I grabbed in that record store I went to before today’s film and I have conceived an idea. One of the shops listed, namely Rathdowne Records on High Street in Northcote, has a listing for Japanese and city pop records, and I must go there soon for my next jaunt. There are also other records stores nearby, so it should be a nice day out. I have conceived an idea.  

Watched The Dark Side of the Nineties doco I recorded recently on the PVR. It was about the Spice Girls. Interesting. Their story can’t be called particularly dark, but I guess it has its moments. One of their dancers spilled the beans a little about their romantic hook ups during their European tour, which was pretty much common knowledge anyway. And I knew about the girl Michelle, who was one of the early members, but got kicked out in favour of Emma Bunton when she ‘didn’t fit in’, poor thing. But it was interesting getting the perspective of Chris Herbert, the guy who original set up and formed the group with his father, Bob, only to have them bail on him before contracts were signed. He didn’t seem bitter. They come off as very opportunistic and aggressive, especially Geri, who is defined by Herbert as ‘the leader’ in the early days. The shots of the girls meeting Prince Charles and Geri kissing him and giving his bum a squeeze attest to her aggressiveness. It’s a bit cringe actually. But that’s the Spice Girls. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, they made an impact.    

Then I watched the next three eps of Bocchi the Rock. It was interesting to note what the film had left out. Pretty much all of episodes 7 and 8 were left out. The film only used the end of ep 8 where Ijichi the drummer tells Bocchi she knows she is Guitar Hero, the successful online persona she has created in her solitude. And that’s where the first half of the two films ended. I have to admit I’d like to make my own edit of the series as a film, but I can’t since I have the bluray and can’t convert it into an editable format. I’d like to do this with a bunch of animes I do have on dvd too – feed my rebuild fervour – but even I know I don’t have the time. They are perhaps projects to save for my Magnificent Retirement, a prospect that will occur around four years from now.  

Watched the last three eps of Bocchi. As with the film, I didn’t love the bit where Bocchi does a stage dive at the cultural festival and falls on the floor. This is just after her triumph in saving her solo by playing slide with Kikuri’s sake glass. Why undercut it like that? I think the film did the ending better. It needed a callback to how far Hitori had come. As it is it just peters out. Hitori buys a new guitar and the girls think a bit about their future. I guess that’s why they call this genre ‘slice of life’. It was a nice slice, and is still ongoing as attested to by my Vol 3 manga.  

Listened to a lot of Kessoku Band in the van on the run today. I’m really liking the song Re:Re and another one I don’t know the title of (because it’s in Japanese). I’m also enjoying more and more my Nana Mizuki album that I’m also playing in the car. More great songs keep popping up as I go over the cd.  

Finished my Bocchi the Rock manga and Inuyasha Vol 2. The Bocchi featured an interesting sequence where the band are invited to play at a club in Ikkebukuro, a town in Tokyo I actually stayed at on my trip to Japan. The gig is ultimately a success, but also a learning experience for Ijichi, the drummer, who accepted the booking over her sister Seika’s reservations. The manga is starting to fill out the story of the other band members, their dreams and concerns, which is good. The last part of the Inuyasha featured the introduction of Miroku the lecherous monk. And his story brings Naraku the demon who tricked Inuyasha and Kikyo into the story. I like the scene where Kagome takes a relaxing hot spring bath and little fox demon Shippo joins her. We get to see a whole lot of Kagome (thank you Rumiko!), but Shippo’s genitals are not shown (unlike in the anime version of this scene, where his tiny penis is hilariously on display).  

Flicking through my Twitter feeds I noticed Misamo have another song and video out. It’s called Identity and I can’t wait to see it.  

During booze and dinner I found myself switching from two favourite films on free to air, Yesterday and Edge of Tomorrow, for diversion. In Yesterday our songwriter character was already in the snare of the LA recording system (with that awful money-loving executive bitch and Ed Sheeran retitling Hey Jude to Hey Dude), while in Tomorrow Tom and Emily were preparing for their assault on the Big Bad called Omega, I think. I was hanging out for the scene in Yesterday where the MC visits John Lennon as played by Robert Carlyle, but I ran out of booze and dinner and had other things to do, like writing these notes. It doesn’t matter anyway, as I have the film on bluray. Feel like I might hit up the film after this without the annoying ads, it being Saturday night.  

Read more Inuyasha, the middle section called Earth and Bones, featuring Urasue the Witch and Kikyo’s resurrection. It’s a crucial story in the sequence because it reveals more of what really happened between Inuyasha and Kikyo before she died and Inuyasha was impaled on the tree. The stakes are pretty high. Kagome has her soul stolen by the reformed Kikyo, who is reborn by the Witch and wants only to kill Inuyasha. Mangaka Rumiko is such an amazing story-teller, and many of the panels are large and beautiful and dynamic.  

Watched some Youtubes. Over dinner and booze I watched Twice’s TTT Pocha part 3 which was obscene Twice fun. It turned out Chaeyoung’s wish for Mina was for her and Sana and Momo to give them a private performance of Misamo’s Do Not Touch – or as Chae called it in her drunkedness, Touch Me. They duly obliged with their ‘tipsy’ version to cheers of their members. Then it was time for Tzuyu to do something similar with Run Away, which was done with the help from an enthusiastic Jeongyeon. Mina was asked which member she would like to have for a baby and she chose Chaeyoung, saying she would be ‘manageable’ because she’s so well-behaved. This was charge an incredulous Nayeon found hard to believe. There were so many classic moments, so many soon-to-be memes it’s hard to know what else to mention. A lot of questions were fired off, like What does Once most like about Twice? The main response to that one was that they are nice and get along with each other and are funny, which sounds about right. I would include The Music. I’ll leave off this with Kiamaepineda’s comment on Youtube comments: ‘This is the most intimate and closest to my heart TTT ever. I could just watch them talk and hang out for hours’. Amen.  

I also saw the new Aespa clip for Whiplash. It’s way too early to make much comment, apart from it’s very, uh, stylish. Feels like it’s a bit over-styled, a little bit too try hard. Only time will tell. Well, I’ve got the album on order, so I am committed. I’m sure I’ll love it. I also noticed on the MAMA voting, which is now closed, that Aespa were sitting at #2 for the female rankings, just beneath IU (with Twice at third). How come IU’s so big?  

Spotify has released the entire Whiplash album by Aespa, so of course I’m eager to hear it. They’ve also released the solo stuff and some remixes, so I’ve made a playlist of New Aespa. Now I just need the time to listen to it! 

I watched the rest of my Nana Mizuki bluray concert. It was a strange amalgamation of music performance and theatre. The second half featured Nana in a play with other performers. At a couple of points she sings some traditional songs, and acquits herself well as a theatre actress, but I’d have preferred a full music performance. There was also a Making Of with behind the scenes footage of performance preparations. All this of this was strictly in Japanese, no subtitles. I plan to go back and watch again that portion that was the music performance – about five songs. But that will be it for my Nana bluray.  

Played and digitised my Smiles, Vibes & Harmony album that I bought at the Box Hill Record Fair all those months ago. Such a great collection of Brian Wilson tunes done garage-style by a bunch of indie artists, including Sonic Youth, The Records and Billy Childish and Thee Headcoats. I’m looking forward to hearing it in the car.