Kashimashi!

Only available in R1 I'm currently watching the anime based on the manga that I own. The story is that of a love triangle between three girls but with a twist for Hazumu was formally a boy who declared his love for Yasuna only o have it rejected.
Feeling so rejected from being spurned, , Hazumu took to the mountains and was squashed by an alien spaceship. Feeling sorry for what hey had done in an act of restitution they remade his body but they for it wrong for he was now a girl!
From now on Hazumu needs to learn to be the girl of her parents desire while in the throws of this love triangle between Tomari and Yasuna which commenced when Tomari oversaw Yasuna and Hazumu kissing.
If this wasn't enough the alien responsible for Hazumu's new life reveals she has only 3-0 days to live and only by merging her fate with another can she survive.

Hello World!

I deliberated over where this entry was to go but it's going here.
In 2009 the specialty arm of Universal Music Group, Hip-O that do direct orders issued this unusual 3 cd set that actually is a coffee table book with enclosed music covering the early Motown era solo recordings Michael Jackson made.
What makes this desirable isn't just the lovely photos and the write up about his time at Motown as good as that is its the fact you get 6 solo albums of which two are currently unavailable anywhere in the world and the original versions of the tracks that came out in 1984 on the Farewell My Summer Love 1984 album in overdubbed form for the very first time.
There are contained across the cds a good many of his early solo hits  such as Ben, Got To Be There, With a Child's Heart, Morning Glow (a personal favourite owning the original '45), We're Almost There and One Day In Your Life, the last two coming from the 'forgotten' Dear Michael album of 1975 (and 'One Day' was a UK #1 single in 1981). The albums do hold up well despite their years as examples of quality 70's soul.
Amazon UK are currently offering this for less than £10 which is cheaper than a number of hairdressers I know charge for a hair do so if you don't have it snap this up while you can cos it's a  limited edition.

Michael in death as in his life remains a mixture of contradictions, intensively successful and yet seeming, lonesome with few true friends, impressively innovative for a period  but failing to respond to the rapid changes in black music from the late 80's onward.
For what it is worth, I feel he had an awful lot of the little boy very much in him which can be evidenced by his many animals that he bought as pets and most famously in the Neverland ranch that became his base and to which he sought to share with others in ways that from an 'adult' prospective may have seemed naive and at best easily misunderstood and ultimately caused him more harm.
The same naivety I feel lay behind the row about the initial lyrics for some of the songs on his Dangerous album of 1991 where he was trying to cop a pose without considering it's impact on the wider audience (and his was a much wider one that any Hip-hop artist). He just didn't see the problem with certain words.
This said I feel in the time since his death many have gotten over the 'Wacko Jacko' tag applied since the mid '90's and have rediscovered his very real abilities.
In some respects he never really 'grew up' being a kid-adult.

Recommended listening:
Jackson Five GOLD UK Motown - The band he was big part of in the beginning.
M Jackson Anthology Motown (1995) - a condensed history of Michael at Motown that sounds marvellous.
Off The Wall (1979) - The solo album that set the standard
Thriller - One of the of not THE biggest selling album in History it broke new ground mixing rock with Funk.
Bad - The last really innovative album by him.

Joanne's Uniform part 2

Did I say something about promising you a second part? Is Joanne a good girl???
Well although as you know I was and still am 'pawley' with paw ache I have manged to get this part done although it's not been easy.

Continuing from where we were we've gotten jumper, blouse and skirt sorted - well actually I bought a spare skirt the other day just in case one needs a wash while I feel like wearing it and is this isn't one of those blogs with page after page of knickers (as you brits call 'em) showing you can take from me that's kinda sorted so that leaves us with footwear.
Well I have been know to wear tights both at work and at hometime but somehow wearing this sort of skirt  looks that bit more cute with socks so I did some investigations both online, in real life carefully observing what choices girls made and also seeing what my local market had as I live just outside a market town and often the local knicker man has stuff cheap..
The conclusion I came to was wearing long sock either just to knee height to over the knee worked best and as it happened they were really easy to find.

These over the knee socks actually match the charcoal grey of the skirt really well and wear together instantly transform me to a school girl

 I have quite a few white and black and white over the knee socks as it was so I added these pastel pink ones with a embossed heart design being so quintessentially girlish as well as a similar white pair.
Note how this takes us back to the image I posted a long while back about how I saw myself as a child? The grey skirt, candy colour long socks and that are all there and when you chat with me then that's the LG schoolgirl I resemble.
Amazing isn't it?

Billy Joel, the Piano Man

Billy and I go back an awful long while certainly around the time I was in high school  and I've been collecting recordings by him ever since.

He was born William Martin Joel in 1949 in Long Island, New York formed a band called the Echoes in 1964 the year of the 'British Invasion and later on formed a hard rock band in late 1960's called The Hassles from which a duo with their drummer Jon Small.

In 1973 on the strength of shows in the Northeastern United States he signed a recording contract with Columbia Records  which led to his debut album album Cold Spring Harbour being issued. 
The first two cds by Billy I bought were An Innocent Man and The Bridge in their European issues following up with the Japanese cd made for Europe of Nylon Curtain, The US versions of Storm Front plus River Of Dreams and a minidisc (RIP) of Streetlight Serenade together with Greatest Hits III in 1998.
Recently I have acquired a couple of specialty label cds from Mobile fidelity (Mofi) of Chicago, Ill. by him and it's these I wish to talk about.
In so far as most Britons are concerned he kinda came to notice during Elton (John's) unavailability late 77, Early '78 but actually Billy went back much further than that but simply they'd not heard that early material.

 
Piano Man which remains one of the finest albums by a contemporary rock artist taking his observations on NJ life including the controversial Captain Jack that tackles drug abuse . As well it is worth noting this album is clearly influenced by Elton's Tumbleweed Connection as well as having a Western theme running thru it.
Piano Man is a fictionalized account of his own story working the bars, trying earn a dollar.

Turnstiles was the next one up and was the second just issued by Mofi which features New York state of Mind in it's original mix rather than the remix used for all previous cd versions as well as Miami 2017 and the epic Say Goodbye To Hollywood.
 
I was fortunate to borrow  the the Audio Fidelity 52nd Street which I didn't like  finding it too muddy so elected to elected to stay with my 1994 Sony Mastersounds gold disc.

Joanne's Uniform part 1.

Following on a bit from a bit of yesterdays crazy but super funny chat  featuring an upcoming anime where a certain Squirrel rescues the planet, as I may be a bit busy this weekend I thought I'd get around to doing this post about something that matters to me.

As I mentioned at GT a while back I intend to put together my LG uniform for a whole host of reasons such as resembling how I feel on the inside as well as having an alternative to the kind of stuff I used to put on at 'hometime' from work and for wearing on occasions such as in chat.
I'm very lucky in that I have a more feminine frame and for reasons connected with my groan up life such as having to have work suitable attire it's easier for me to do than for those who have to stay in 'drab' most of the time because I already have the start points in my wardrobe such as girls blouses because I wear them as secretarial wear at work and presently mine are long-sleeved and in white which is one the staple colours of school uniforms in the UK where I'm presently residing.

It may same odd but my first start point on this exercise was to think back to what colours I wore back in junior and junior high and what colours suit my complexion.
Red sure does, so to go with my pre-existing blouses, I bought myself a few red classic schoolgirl v neck sweaters which look good on me. (In the past because of small measurements I often bought children jumpers!).

The next main item was the choice of skirt as I'm not really a fan of trousers and certainly when I was in formal education girls generally didn't wear them to school and seldom at home either so the only question really was the style.
This was harder because firstly I had to decide if I was going for a 'seniors' style close to secretarial work wear or if I was looking at younger infant or junior style fully pleated style.
In the end the fact my LG is 12 won out so being a transitional age I opted for the junior style and as luck would have it it was available off the peg in my size and with the exact right length so it just covered the knees when sat on a groan up chair.
The skirt is pictured below:

The combination of the blouses, red sweater and that skirt looks good on me and achieves the objective in presenting me in my real age transporting me immediately to LG mode. The minute I'm in chat I go straight back and feel at ease with myself.

There will be a continuation piece posted sometime next week with any luck.

Bamboo Blade

I'm presently watching the shojo (girl's) sports series Bamboo Blade.
The story starts with perpetually broke part-time Muroe High School coach Toraji Ashida making a bet with an old school chum: if he can assemble a winning girl's kendo (Japanese fencing) team, then he'll get a year's free dinners at a sushi restaurant.As instructors go he's the laughing stock of all the others which is hardly inspiring.
Sounds corny but you have to hang the plot on something I guess! Ashida-sensei's motives may be less than altruistic, but he manages to recruit a few promising candidates. The wildcard in his hand is short of stature Tamaki Kawazoe, who's grown up in her family's dojo (training complex) and is a likely candidate for a national title. Tama-chan loves Super Sword Squadron Blade Bravers , a sci-fi anime spoof. By playing on her desire to emulate the champions of justice in the series, Ashida gets her to join the team, knowing her skill and speed will inspire the other girls to win.

Play-that'll be £2.50 please?

Imagine a world where feeling like playing in a park you had to ask Mommy for money to go and do that?

Well this is the possibility for residents in the Wandsworth area of London, England where Wandsworth Council have decided to start this - they call it a trail -  at the weekends from September

In Battersea you see there is this park which the council say contains high tech equipment including zip wires, climbing walls and large wooden balancing structures requires constant adult supervision to keep children safe and in order to save money local Councillors (the grown ups who make decisions about money and stuff) decided to levy this charge.

The amount of money the council charges grown ups for its services is the lowest of any council in England and some have suggested that frankly they could afford to charge a tidgy bit more to avoid this (it's only £222,000 per year to run).

But as ever with grown ups things  get a littler cloudier where another justification is offered namely that it's to attempt to keep out people who don't live in that part of London which is odd when you consider when the super big Greater London Council before it was abolished owned this part with the idea it was for all London's children.

Former London Mayor, Ken Livingstone has criticized the idea as creating two classes of children - those who can afford to play and those who can't - and only the kind of idea the ruling Conservatives on the council could propose.

While in its defence clearly the case that unlike a number of authorities they are improving the facilities rather than closing down parks and play areas, it does seem quite unfair that children without that money cannot play there.

What do you think?

Beethoven: Symphonies

Collecting classical recordings often seems daunting with many hundreds of recordings being issued over the decades and made available in differing forms. Beethoven was an early passion of mine from hearing many of his works on the radio or through borrowed discs.
To me at least there is a difference between seeking out outstanding versions of individual symphonies and finding a set to live with, and while there are undoubtedly performances of single symphonies available which could compete with the best, it is as a coherent and aesthetically consistent survey that Cluytens accounts - available in this set - are best considered .
I feel there is a rightness to his judgement which proves enormously satisfying on repeated listenings and there is a special interest in hearing the fruits of a combination of several stellar talents: the virile, robust sound of the pre-Karajan Berlin Philharmonic, the production genius of Walter Legge working in a congenial recording acoustic, the Romantic but never indulgent interpretations of am under-rated conductor who died all too soon, and the especially fine vocal contributions from an unusual team of soloists and the wholly committed choir of St Hedwig's Cathedral - wrapped up in a set available cheaply from the likes of Amazon.

In my teens I became acquainted with Beethoven's symphonies through these performances when they were available as budget LP's on the EMI Classics for Pleasure label collecting the complete set and was worried that many years later my judgement would be clouded by sentimental attachment, however having listened intently to a good many other versions, I find that this set stands up remarkably well. The Pastoral (my favourite of the lot) and the Ninth have long been praised but you will find equally enthusiastic endorsements of every symphony here in one review or you'll be hard pressed to find a discouraging word. They are not the last word in individuality, nor do they bear the stamp of a particular approach, but Cluytens seems to understand and appreciate the spirit and heart of this music. Absolutely no-one captures the cat-like tread of the opening of the Fourth the way Cluytens does; rhythms and accents are beautifully sprung and he pays close attention to dynamics. I was also especially pleased to discover that Nicolai Gedda, was much more impressive than I remembered him in the Choral, and the soaring refulgence of Gre Brouwenstijn's soprano is a special treat.
Herbert von Karajans recordings with the Berlin Philharmonic are often interesting but to me he's never conducted an even as set as this Cluytens set with the same orchestra.

The remastered stereo sound is warm and spacious preserving a sense of being present at the session; excellent for recordings made between 1957 and 1959.

Phil Collins

Here at long last is the entry around a solo artist from a well respected rock group that I never got around to typing about until today.
Phil Collins first came to my attention around 1978 when the Genesis "Then There Were Three" album came out with its hit single "Follow You, Follow Me" playing  on heavy rotation on the radio, following front man Peter Gabriel's decision to leave the band for good establishing his own solo career.It sure was a challenge to hold on to the old fan base who generally liked lengthy tunes with lots of words and a to die for stage show but they didn't just do it immediately they actually grew the fan base! 
Nobody had heard of a drummer becoming a front man and and lead singer before but hey someone had to do it!

By 1981 however Phil wanted to experiment more outside of the constraints of being in a band and so recorded what became the Face Value album which proved very popular featuring the hit singles In The Air Tonight, I Missed Again and If Leaving Me Is Easy.
Strangely enough until recently I never owned this album relying on his 1998 Hits album for these tracks but hearing a brand new specialist edition remastered from the analogue tapes was to be issued by the label Audio Fidelity I was intrigued although I had to ordered it from America as it was way too expensive over here.
I'd never heard Phil's cover of the Beatles number Tomorrow Never Knows and he handles it well.
This sounded really good showing just what improvements in the technology to convert analogue to digital for cd has moved on in the decades since cd was introduced.
Last week (18 Oct 2011)Amazon .com dispatched his 1982 Hello,I Must Be Going album that Audio Fidelity has just released which again being familiar with the singles such as the Motown cover You Can't Hurry Love,Thru These Walls and Don't Let Him Steal Your Heart away
In early 2011 Audio Fidelity issued No Jacket Required from 1985 which despite selling by the cartload I'd never owned either and as I really liked the singles from it such as Take Me Home, Sussudio, Inside Out and the blog titles One More Night a song US President Reagan liked apparently I thought I'd pony up for it.
It didn't disappoint and in some ways of the three I've heard it's the one I like the most.
It's funny how sometimes because an artist is like always on the radio you just fail to pick up their albums but that's what happened and I'm glad to have caught up with them in time.
I might picked up the AF issue of the But Seriously album of 1988 recently.

Bridesmaids Edition tm

Okay I was kind of minded to make this post and although I'm not really well today, I thought I'd make the effort.

If by some strange chance you hadn't heard there was a really big Wedding on Friday last in fact a Royal Wedding and this usually leads to thoughts about the dress of Bride and Groom, the venue and all manner of stuff that I'll leave others to deal with.

My thoughts came back to the roles of Bridesmaids and Pageboys at weddings having attended a few from early childhood although sadly not in a Bridesmaids dress. The days as I recalled at least were a combination of experiences.

Excitement over all the people you would meet, being introduced to by your parents, of meeting distant relatives you might only of heard of and seen the odd photograph of.

Wonderment of the venue usually a Church with it's distinctive architecture - as those who saw Fridays events  no doubt realized Westminster Cathedral is marvellous.

Nervousness hoping everyone remembered their lines and nothing unscripted happened during the formal service.

Being knocked out to be invited to take a role and being fitted for your outfit for the day. It was really for real that you and your partners in crime were acing out for that day only being Prince and Princesses.

It was really the latter that lead me to include this one picture of the Bridesmaids and Pageboys in tunic and breeches taken Friday morning clearly having fun before the serious stuff started.

It captures it beautifully.