R.I.P Marmalade

On Thursday September 21 at 8.30 AM, Marmalade, president of the seventh North Staffs Tom Cat Club died as I stroked him having been brought in by neighbours found seriously ill on the sidewalk fur covered in dark soil and with black coloured berry in his mouth.
There was little indication to suggest being struck by an automobile as while conscious but with severe breathing difficulties, he didn't yelp while carried or when stroked from face to tail.
He arrived around 2013 from nowhere with his eccentric ways like wanting to be served on a floor table, wanting to bring his own food in like mice to eat in front of the gas fire and going out for all night cat parties at their Tom Cat Club.
He also hacked in to this blog and GT to broadcast his thoughts on things most noticeably on the British General Election  with his feline take on matters.
I'm too upset to say anymore crying right now but I misses him so.

The Best Bat in the School

Between watching the anime I talked about last week I have been reading a book in the St Brides/Maudsley series by Dorita Fairlie Bruce I started earlier on but with a twist.

This isn't a regular 'series' book so much as a compilation of a series of short stories originally published for various Girls Own publications such as yearly annuals she wrote and one which is more of a long short novel which is the main feature  and all involve the characters of we met in the St Brides boarding school  and Maudsley day school although there is sufficient information to make sense of the story if you hadn't.
The main feature, The Best Bat in the School, is set at Maudsley with Nancy, Phyllis, Lois, Charity and the gang and how measures the school adopted to deal with a severe outbreak of Scarlet Fever in the district-placing restrictions on the school girls movements lead  to resent and a girl disobeying them.
The focus of the story is on the cricket match between Maudsley and Larkiston which I'll be honest and say is not a game I have a clue about and the role Lois and Charity have as the girls in charge of making the teams selection.
The issue is Lois saw a girl who go to the theatre breaching the restrictions and feels by putting their own enjoyment over others respect for school rules should be dropped.
What unfolds is the lesson set out by the authoress  around  how a misunderstanding (which girl and why) leads to a condemnation of that particular girl unjustly, how that impacts on the relationships of all the girls bring various people under suspicion and puts into jeopardy the schools honour in the competition which with interventions by Charity working out the actual situation, they do win. 
It is I feel having read it, a very important lesson well told in  this story
Victoria Vixtrix is set at St Brides around a girl who badly needs to win a scholarship to go to University to complete her education when her family are through no fault of their own facing poverty.
We meet again Winifred Arrowsmith, disabled wheelchair user to use modern terms as I was for part of my childhood, crippled by polio, showing clear signs that the more regular, less pitied interaction has developed  into one more sympathetic, just one of the girls
A strength I feel of her work is both her clear understanding of social disadvantage such as poverty, the impact of illness and disability on family welfare and the emphasis on moral education which may perhaps to some today seem a little old-fashioned but one I wholly subscribe to so we better serve ourselves and others.
There is more to us than physical and intellectual abilities and needs.

When Marnie was there

Recently I was going through my collection of videos and dvds, sorting out a few I didn't really need when I saw an anime a friend had suggested I might like a short while back and the copy I ordered a few weeks ago arrived.

Based on the novel by Joan G Richardson, it's about a twelve year old girl called Anna  who believes she is sat outside of a invisible magic circle to which most people belong and she shuts herself away from everyone around of her hating herself.
Anna has Asthma and concerned for her health, Anna's mother has decided the best thing to do is to send her to a sleepy town in rural Hokkaido by the sea for the fresh air.
Dreaming her days away amongst the marshes Anna finds herself drawn to an enigmatic house on the cliff, sitting on the edge.
She discovers there, Marnie a girl full of spirit who appears from nowhere and soon the pair become inseparable.
Marnie one evening makes a heartfelt request to Anna saying "Promise me something - that we'll remain a secret, forever."
Anna soon begins to wonder about the girl and her past,feeling compelled to investigate the truth about her and the start to take turns asking each other questions about themselves.
As in time Anna is more and more immersed in Marnie's world she begins to learn about  family, relationships and kindness.

Although this anime is in part sad, I feel the very real strength of it is the message of love, of self sacrifice and coming to terms with your past.
 

*Some comments on blog layout*

As you may of noticed if you are viewing this via a traditional laptop computer rather than a smartphone or tablet computer, the layout may look different this is because of two things, one I am unifying the layouts between this blog and certain others, for improved legibility and ease of finding things such as pages.

The second is technical which is the template width across the board for all three are now set at 1100 px where originally they were set at 860px because way back in the mid 2000's computer monitors had such smaller resolutions that also were square shaped and today most are at least 1366x768px or better widescreen.

It put simply looks less squashed up and cluttered with Honey Senpai now on the footer matching what has become the middles journal footer.

The original Blogger 'Classic templates were limited to 860px but I changed the templates to newer ones a year or two ago.

Classical sacd round up

You may remember last month I bought and installed the Super Audio cd player that also plays regular cds but wondered about having the discs to play on as if you don't stream or download a lot of your music, the chances are you just have regular cds.
When it comes to older pop and rock titles actually I have a good number because they were issued by companies that specialize in making the best possible sounding editions and many of theirs are of the sort that have a layer for super audio cd players and another for regular cd players so buying them is like buying those dual dvd and blu ray editions in that they allow you to move over from the original format to a better quality one at your convenience .
Until a few months back I hadn't any classical music Super Audio cds, usually buying the High Definition Naxos downloads as they don't make sacd's instead and playing them over my stereo but I was keen to get a few not least cos there just is something in holding a disc in your hand.

I do openly admit to enjoying classical music and had music appreciation classes at my boarding school and one composer I do like is Ravel.
This double sacd recorded in 1994 is quite valuable for having a wide selection of his works such as the Mother Goose Suite and Bolero on it, exceptionally well performed by the late Pierre Boulez and the Berlin Philharmonic in both stereo and also surround sound for those who have player that can output it. The reproduction is simply outstanding.
An enterprising company has lead the way releasing classical super audio cd's is Pentatone Records which as the name suggests are interested a lot in surround sound discs too as the sacd format often allows space for both stereo and multichannel versions.
They have been doing for a period reissues of recordings from the 1970's and early 1980's  from the Philips and Deutsche Grammophon catalogues in this form and it is fair to say I loved the recordings usually on Deutsche Grammophon made by the Boston Symphony Orchestra during that era often having the record or cassette versions.

 While I make no bones about my preferred version on cd of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring being the Claudio Abbado recording conducting the London Symphony Orchestra coupled with a good version of the Firebird suite, this recording from 1972 has an opulence that is lacking in that cd with fuller sounding transfer of the analogue tapes.
The rendition of the "King of the Stars" which is the second piece (I'm used to the French titles but am using English to aid accessibility) is exquisite in its choral moments sang by the Men's chorus of  the New England Conservatory choir.  It replicates the original lp but like most of their discs can be had for around £9 to £10 is good value for money.
In 1974, Seija Ozawa recorded a four lp set of the entire Ravel orchestral output, later issued as a three cd set which doesn't quite equal the sound on record in 1993, but Pentatone have issued a new stereo/quadrophonic transfer of just over one and half lps worth of that original set sounding much more fuller and open that takes in Le tombeau de Couperin, Menuet antique and Valse nobels et sentimentale which runs to about 76 minutes.
As a fan of the originals-they were my introduction to Ravel as a child- theses sound just fantastic in their new Super Audio cd form.
I also got a disc performed by the Boston Symphony Chamber Players of three Debussy's Sonata's which was the first Quadraphonic (four channel surround sound) recording Deutsche Grammophon made which remains a first class performance.

 I was very taken with this work by Berlioz around the age of 12 and 13 which my therapist discussed with me while I was under him at the time and so finding a really good version that matches a need for 'hifi' (wide difference between loud and soft sounds, good reproduction of low and high frequencies) and the ability on the part of the performers to summon up the darkness of the Witches Sabbath with its shrieking torment of the artist in death has been a life long challenge having gotten through many a version.
This recording from 1974 was a favourite of mine but the cd versions sounded muddy until Pentatone mastered this direct from the original tapes and managed to restore the very wide dynamic range and inner clarity that easily makes this the best overall bet with its rich atmospheric feel.
I suspect this will be the last version I'll  buy.