Sony's Mastersound cds

I've always been interested in music and one by product of this is I like to have good sounding copies of my favourite recordings so I do sometimes buy two or more versions of an album where the the recording is transferred to cd or record differently.
These cds came out during the mid 1990's being made in Japan by Sony Music and I bought several of them as they purported to from the original mastertapes and were a bit cheaper than those issued by so-called 'audiophile' labels such as MFSL and DCC a factor that was important as being very pawley(tm) I didn't have a lot of spare money to spend on such things.

They were a mixed bag - I couldn't get on with the issue of Boston's self titled album being screechy replacing that by a regular US version - and failed to see the sense and trying to make a audiophile issue of Bat Out of Hell, an album that has lots of mixing issues whatever you might think of it musically.

On the other hand the issues of Toto IV, Bridge Over Troubled waters and Billy Joel's 52nd Street in that series were quite something and continue to provide me with much pleasure upon listening to them.

Ouran High School Host Club

Recently following its arrival I've been watching Ouran High School Host Club which has proven very popular over here.

This part- Series 1 Part 1 (Episodes 1 through 13) - came out Late April in the UK with Part two  set to come out early June so I really must remember to pre-order!

It is set in the institution of the same, a place of extravagance and prestige where learning is secondary to luxury. Bookish Haruhi can't afford to slack, being on a scholarship and out of place among the moneyed.

The Host Club is open - a Japanese notion of a place where for a fee people of the opposite gender are entertained and this school has one!Each Host club's job consists of entertaining and accompanying the female guests, whether it be a tea party, a costume dress up or an afternoon tea

A group of handsome boys dedicated to selling their charms to their bored female classmates, Haruhi is suddenly in debt to the club after breaking an expensive vase in their lair.

Naturally Haruhi has to pay for this damage but how?

By become a Host!!!!

Now this would be fine but we'd be forgetting something important -Haruhi is a girl!!!!!!!!!!!!

Between the wildly inflated ego of the expert escorts and the potential calamities of constant cross dressing, Haruhi's freshman year sure looks like it will be one to remember.

This is witty shojuo anime at its funniest with constant near misses for Haruhi like the School Medical with the Special Boy area screened off, a attempt to have enrolled in an All Girls School so she can their club and bathing suit scenes.

The constant themes include as you'd expect in this type of anime friendship and romance although the more observant will notice the mild sexual references (it is rated 15).

The animation in Ouran is simply gorgeous with some nice delicate shoujo style artwork, coupled with lovely bright and vibrant colours, making Ouran a series you wont want to take your eyes off.

I'd strongly recommended it.

Black and white gloves

These long fingerless black and white woollen gloves really appeal to my girly side.

Kino's Journey & Ah My Goddess

Kino's Journey:



Ah My Goddess:

Games we'd play

This is one the games I enjoyed playing as a young child and still do, Marbles.

It is more fun playing with others so here's how.

How To Play the Classic Marble Game of Ringer
Most children understand the game of marbles the first time it is explained, but to make it easier, these drawings show the most common plays.

FIG. 1: To start a game of Ringer the children lag from a line, drawn tangent to the ring, to a parallel line across the ring, which would be 10 feet away. The child whose shooter comes nearest the line has the first shot. Players must lag before each game. Practice lagging, as the first shot may mean the winning of the game before your opponent gets a shot. In lagging, a child may toss his or her shooter to the other line, or he or she may knuckle down and shoot it.

FIG. 2: This shows child No. 1 who won the lag, preparing to knuckle down. His knuckle has not quite reached the ground, which is necessary before shooting. He can take any position about the ring he chooses. (The process of picking the best possible position for starting is referred to as "taking rounders.") The 13 marbles in the ring are arranged as in tournament play. For casual games, a one foot ring is drawn inside of the ten foot ring and each player puts in some 5/8" marbles, so that there is about a dozen marbles in the smaller ring.

FIG. 3: Child No. 1 knocks a marble from the ring on his first shot and his shooter stays in the ring. He picks up the marble. As he has knocked one from the ring, he is entitled to another try. Players are not permitted to walk inside the ring unless their shooter comes to a stop inside the ring. Penalty is a fine of one marble.

FIG. 4: Here we see child No. 1 continuing play. He "knuckles down" inside the ring where his shooter stopped on the last shot. This gives him the advantage of being nearer to the big group of marbles in the centre of the ring for his next shot. Expert marble shots try to hit a marble, knock it out of ring and make their shooter "stick" in the spot. "Sticking" or shooting seven consecutive marbles out of the ring and winning the game without giving an opponent a turn is usually good for two days of playground bragging rights .

FIG 5: On this play, No. 1 hit a marble, but did not knock it from the ring. At the same time his shooter, too, stays inside the ring. He can not pick up the marble, and whether he is allowed to pick up his shooter depends on the type of play - in tournament play, if your shooter is in the ring at the end of your turn, you must remove it. In casual games, if your shooter is in the ring at the end of your turn, it becomes a legitimate target and any player who hits it out collects a forfeit from you, or even your shooter! (Players should agree in advance whether to use this rule.)

FIG. 6: Child No. 2 may start by "knuckling down" anywhere at the ring edge. In this case he may shoot at the 11 marbles in the center or if he wishes, he may go to the other side and try for the marble that No.1 almost knocked from the ring. In a casual game he might also try to knock the other player's shooter from the ring.

FIG. 7: Child No. 2 chooses to try for No. 1 child's shooter and knocks it out of ring, winning all the marbles No. 1 has taken (and his shooter, if that rule is being followed) and putting No. 1 out of that game. Or he could shoot as shown in Fig. 8.

FIG. 8: Child No. 2 hits a marble but does not knock it out of the ring, yet his shooter goes thru the ring and stops outside where he may pick it up. The target marble remains where it stopped in the ring, and as No. 2 did not score, it is now the turn of No. 1 to shoot again.

FIG. 9: No. 1 "knuckles down" inside the ring where his shooter stopped (Fig. 5). he is going to shoot at the marble nearest his shooter. By hitting it at the proper angle and knocking it from the ring he can get his shooter near the center of the ring for his next shot. Play alternates until one player has knocked a majority of the marbles out of the ring.

How is your Inner Child?

http://www.blogthings.com/howisyourinnerchildquiz/

Your Inner Child is happy

You see life as simple, and simple is a very good thing.
You're cheerful and upbeat, taking everything as it comes.
And you decide not to worry, even when things look bad.
You figure there's just so many great things to look forward to.

Record Collecting

When I first started record collecting the way in which you built collections up differed a good deal from what it is today.
For instance all but the most smallest of towns had actual record shops who held a certain level of stock including all the current releases and could order up any 'back catalogue' items ( titles still available new but not the biggest sellers), for you.
In addition there were mail order outfits which you usually subscribed to a years catalogue and update list which you used to fill out a order form making sure you made clear what to do if any items wasn't available and enclosing a money order or cheque.
Two examples I can remember in the UK were Cob Records and Adrian's in Essex that had massive catalogues covering titles from the UK and all over the world many of which in the smaller towns you'd never see.
One smaller outfit based in Telford, Shropshire was Oldies Unlimited who tended to specialize more in 45's (or singles to Brits) and one thing they quite a few of was special packages of so many singles by named artists that were a very cheap way of establishing your collection.
Recently I received a similar style pack in the mail from eil.com who aren't generally the cheapest place for stuff although they have monthly promotions that help in the same vein.
This was a pack of five singles for the UK market by the female rock singer Belinda Carlisle all mint unplayed copies in their original picture sleeves for just over £10
The titles included were Leave A Light On, La Luna and Summer Rain from her Runaway Horses album, Little Black Book from the Live Your Life, Be Free album and finally Big Scary Animal from belindacarlislereal which came out in 1993 when vinyl singles sales started falling.
I liked her music an awful lot but bought albums on cd mainly back then so I was glad to get this set cheaply.
This is the cover of Big Scary Animal as issued in Europe: