I must be in a wistful mood. Some of the songs making it into my frequently played lists are various openings and endings to dorama and anime. I've long acknowledged how effective the associate between a much-loved show and a much-loved song can be. Here's what I've been listening to...

( four embedded videos after the cut... )
And for search engines and those who can't be bothered to dive into the cut, that was Sowelu's Mamoru Beki Mono, Bonnie Pink's Water Me, Ai Otsuka's Planetarium, and Namie Amuro's Can You Celebrate.

I think I just lost all my manly-man cred. Did I ever have any?

You've all certainly seen these before. Even if it's just for my own sake, below the cut are three videos that I simply adore.

They're "Bathtub IV" by Keith Loutit, "Marry Me" a YouTube video by TROPFEST, and "World Builder" by Bruce Branit. If you've got the time or the bandwidth, watch them in HD, it's worth it.

( Click through to view them... )

The subject line to this post is my favorite line in a video linked in Michael Heilemann's Binary Bonsai.  Yeah, that's why I subscribe to his feed.

We're going on vacation for the week. And guess which videos I've packed for the kids?

Here's the original version of Mothra's song, vs. the crazy new-fangled Morning Musume version.

See you all in a week! (I won't be accessing the Web.)

*Twitter readers will recognize where the Gamera vs. Godzilla tweet came from, now.

[Edit] The author regrets omitting a link to this most excellent Mothra Song Alarm Clock.

TiVo set to record Summer Glau's Terminator?

Check.

Umm, nobody else calls the show "Summer Glau's Terminator"? ::checks self:: Is my fandom showing?

I blame Public School, but my kids have begun singing Rihanna's Umbrella lately. That'd be OK, the lyrics aren't that bad.

Except, well: The part they like to sing the most is, "Ella. Ella. Ella. Eh, eh, eh, eh."  Over and over again.

The other downside? Its video. It's just so sexy. The skin. The wet. The leather. The sensual looks.  Aww, I can't really feel good about sitting the kids in front of the video of the song they like so much.

That's one of the reasons I like Bonnie Pink's So Wonderful so much.  It's got a similar supportive message, but the video is playfully sexy, and still completely fine for kids.  Sure, it's J-Pop, but the video's throw-back groovy style reminds me of Lady Kier from her Deee-Lite days.

Ahh.  Music that's fun.

( Bonnie's video after the cut.... )

I don't expect to be able to post during Productivity Friday. So I leave you now with an old favorite of mine.

Ichi Ni San Shi Go Roku!
Jinsei ii koto mo aruwa. (There are good things in life too)
Uno Dos Tres Quatro Go Roku!
Minna de youki ni kurasou. (Let’s all live together happily)

Back in the day, we could watch real dorama on a local station.  Saturday and Sunday evenings were Japanese Drama heaven.  But the station just kept scaling back further and further until there were no subtitled dramas anymore.

And I've been refusing to rent the tapes from the local Yaohan or Kinokuniya.  (It's not really Yaohan anymore, but I'm being a nostalgic git here.)  Come to think if it, I don't even have a VHS tape player anymore.  I don't know if they even rent them out now, either...

Also, even though NetFlix lists Azumi, you can't get it into your queue.  You never could, even when it was new.  Grr!

I'd pretty much given up.

Yesterday, thanks to TechCrunch, I've discovered CrunchyRoll!  Whee!  Wonder what I should watch first?

First, about the video above: Urusei Yastura and I go a long way back. (That's right. I've got a 20-year-old cassette of Hirano Fumi singing Lum's song's too.) I was investigating Nana Kitade, and was just about to give up when I heard this little gem.

It's good to know that somebody else loves Bonnie Pink probably more than I do. (That's a lot of high grades!) But it's a promising starting point, and I'll have to see what else Lex recommends.

Bonnie Pink played at this year's Live Earth concert. I'm a sucker for a woman who can sing and play guitar (or bass (lest I neglect Aimee Mann)).

Edit: Removed a reference to a bad experience of mine. The internet can be a very dangerous place. Even YouTube can put you in a place you don't want to be. Tread carefully.

Edit: When I bought that UY music cassette in Japan, Nana Kitade hadn't been born yet. And here she's singing the opening theme...

This is my daughter playing Taiko Drum Master. My son yells, "takoyaki" when they jump across the screen in the game. (So I added some to the video, too.)

I just love watching people's faces when they're completely immersed in their activity. That's what this clip is about.

I really like Bonnie Pink, despite the fact that her name sounds like that of a saccharine girl band. And I love this song. At least this video's production is far better than the last song I posted.

But is that enough reason for me to post it? Almost, but no.

Once I discovered the lyrics I thought ended with something like "...beautiful kiss" were actually, "It's bitter, like beer for kids..."

Well, that's awesome. Awesomely bad.

I'm almost afraid the next lyric would be, "It's wobbly, like drunken kids."

I still love the song just as much, and the actual lyrics make it post worthy.

I'm watching Bleach. (I'm not proud.) I know that watching a show affects how much I enjoy its music. What are you gonna do?

I love this tune. It's the first ending song of the series, and it's my favorite so far.

I don't think the video's as good as the song. But that doesn't diminish my enjoyment of the song.

Edward Tufte should be proud. Happy productivity day!

(link via danelope)

It ain't November, but y'all really need to see how one of my favorite authors, Neil Gaiman writes.





And, for a bonus link, please see these awesome animations he recommended.

I searched for "Ice Candy", the ending theme of Kamichu, and came across this article about Mako.

Elsewhere, I've been in threads about Taiko and songs about food.

But once I came across this video, how could I resist posting it? Cute girls, bikinis, drums. A recipe for success!

Thanks to zannah, I've rediscovered a couple of long-forgotten game trailers from the '90s. It's a toss up between this one and the one for WipeOut XL as my favorite.