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.

Whisper of the heart and a box!

This is a title in the Studio Ghibi Catalogue originally released in 1995 I had very briefly as I had a lot of pausing issues on the original 2006 dvd that proved most frustrating so unfortunately it had to go.

In essence this is a coming of age story around junior high student Shizuku Tsukishima, who is quite popular, has a real talent for writing which can be seen in her new lyrics for the John Denver song Take Me Home,Country Roads which is to be performed for her junior high graduation. 

She's also a very avid reader taking book upon book out of the library that is just switching from paper card booking systems to a computerized one. 

The change saddens her because she likes to see who took out the book previously and notices a boy called Seiji Amasawa has taken out many of those she reads.

Taking the train to the library one day she notices a ginger lone cat sitting next to her who leads her off onto an adventure introducing her to an antique shop who we later learn is owned by the boys grandfather and although things are awkward between them at first in time, it becomes obvious they are in love with each other and both have self doubts about their talents, Seija with his violin making and playing abilities and Shizuku with her writing whose preoccupation with appears to override her need to get good grades to go the a good high school to complete her education.

Spotting in the antique shop a cat statue of The Baron and its story, this inspires her to work very hard for hours per day writing a story that promises to show Seiji's grandfather first and this leads to her exploring her hopes and fears set out in her book Whisper Of The Heart.

That is really the main focus of this anime rather less than the romance between her and Seiji, looking at what it is she wishes to do in her professional life, and indeed the new lyrics to Take Me Home Country Road, is not only about the personal road upon she is set but expresses a nostalgia for the rapidly disappearing rural landscapes of Japan.

I really enjoyed watching this full length anime for its themes and where The Baron 's sequences inspired Studio Ghibi to make The Cat Returns in 2002.

If you were rather observant you may of noticed something on the top of the first picture that hasn't been on any of the anime entries here before.

 

Er yes two words "Blu Ray" cos after the end of the VHS era circa 2000, we had a dvd player where most of my anime titles were first bought on and I bought my last dvd player April 28th 2014 which was a Toshiba that played discs from anywhere in the world.

Since then a number of things happened such as our main tv got bigger (32 inches) and the market has stabilized somewhat with disc prices coming down so I acquired a Panasonic Blu Ray player very similar to Miss Green's.

Mine though has been ahem modified  so the dvd playback is multi-regional which as as well as just over half my dvd's are North American releases while the blu ray section is just Region B (GB and Ireland, Europe and Australasia)

 

It also has RCA sockets for audio output and even composite video which is seriously retro apart from HDMI, the modern does everything including handshake digital standard.

Its reproduction of the anime was extremely good with loads of definition and sharpness on the newer television.

August bank holiday weekend edition

This weekend over here is what is August Bank Holiday, traditionally the week or two before you returned to school where people may spend a day or so at the seaside or be on a late summer vacation taking in fresh air and sun.

So hardly any surprise  my thoughts are elsewhere as type todays extra post, the second but last of the month where I talked about being away, and what I and this blog is about  taking in the odd interest.
I am reading another book in a series I bought earlier on the year to which I'll post some thoughts on later I think as children's literature especially Girls Own plays a part within my regression and so is on this blog.
There have been continuing developments on and around Tumblr that I do wish to address of which the first is my number of followers has increased considerably across this period which was hardly solicited and is considerably  more than the period around last year where I was around one community when much of the current parting of the ways in age regression started.
While I take no satisfaction from it, I think the fact I have been able not only to equal but exceed what it was at that point shows the way in which both I age regress and am respectful of other peoples limits within theirs has a respect that transcends labels and what certain communities would have you believe.
It is less about the label, it's really more about your own standards and respect for the boundaries  of other individuals who share in age regression although I am grateful for the opportunity given by my community for the opportunity to make a fresh start based on principles that both match and also respect mine.
Unfortunately one community on the other side of Tumblr Age Regression (the Age Regression League) have decided any individual who doesn't belong to a community cannot interact with its members. Yes really Teenietots really have done it, not only saying some community's cannot which whatever I may think of their basis I do respect if it troubles them, but actually say any individual who isn't in a community automatically cannot either even though one reason some people prefer this is to avoid the very discourse between communities!
To me that seems very very mean. 
 

Teenbeat XXVII-The return of the Piano Man

The last time in the evergreen "teenbeat" series of posts I looked at the hugely respected singer-songwriter Billy Joel was in August Second, Twenty-fifteen with the specialist re-issue of his Streetlight Serenade album in part five of a series of posts around his music.

In September second Nineteen eighty-five, the first compilation of his many hits was issued on record, tape plus slightly later as it was CBS/Columbia on compact disc as they were late getting into cd and it was well conceived.

First off this it was planned as double lp and double play tape because it would of been hard to have fitted every single hit into a single album even though on the first issue they used mainly singles edits which was changed with the Nineteen ninety-eight remaster to album versions.

By this point the album was only available on tape possibly MiniDisc and cd and with these formats disc or tape side lengths are less of an issue than lp record sides.

They also had the sense to program it chronologically, so you saw how he developed  from Cold Spring Harbour to An Innocent Man lyrically and stylistically rounded it off with a series of special recordings just for the album.

 Over the last few years the specialist cd and record company Mobile Fidelity Sound Laboratory of Illinois, U.S.A., have been re-issuing his recordings from the original master tapes rather than copies using high quality equipment to get the very best sound of his best loved albums on record and also on Super Audio CD and after quite a delay from advertising their intentions to tackle this compilation finally it emerged late July Twenty-seventeen. 

Inside the slipcase the disc itself is sandwiched in a Mini lp gatefold sleeve that my plushies are reading!

Also in the slipcase comes a song book with all the words to featured songs in order of appearance on high quality paper which is a lovely touch and one that was unexpected by many of us who buy these discs.

The disc features the singles mix of Tell Her About It, You're Only Human (Second Wind),The Night Is Still Young issued as singles in nineteen eighty-five and a version with re-recorded sax of New York State Of Mind.

The remastering which is unique was done by Shawn R Britton and is exceptional for the depth and atmosphere he's managed to get from those recordings  making this version of the classic double album most worthwhile.

 
Technically this is a hybrid Super Audio cd (sacd) with a thin top layer for playing in super audio cd players like my new one for improved fidelity and a second layer for regular cd reproduction or copying to a portable music player and so is 99.9% compatible with all players.

Previous posts:
Part one - The Piano Man and Turnstiles
Part two - 52nd Street, Glass Houses and The Nylon Curtain 
Part three - An Innocent Man 
Part four - Songs In The Attic 
Part five - Streetlight Serenade