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Something to Watch: Online

The streaming schedules for various Anime programs from Japan have been broken up by the disaster continuing to happen there, in no small part because all the TV channels have been doing emergency response information and disaster news coverage. Since all the contractual agreements with places like Crunchyroll stipulate that the programs air in Japan before streaming anywhere else, this is understandable. Even though the emergency is still ongoing some of the regular programing is returning to the airwaves, so new episodes of some of the programs are once more becoming available. NHK World is still doing full time disaster coverage, which you can watch online at that link. It is also available on Ustream for those in the Americas, over at Nico Nico Live across Asia, and on their own iPhone/iPad App. Once the emergency is over and they return to regular programing, I have 3 shows to recommend:

1) Imagine-Nation, a weekly edutainment program covering the Manga, Anime, and Gaming news out of Japan.

2) Digista which is running this season as Digista Teens, the high school version. This is all about learning how to create your own media to express yourself, with guidance from industry professionals, and most of the media being created is one flavor or another of animation. This one gives you insights and useful tips for building your own, so it is worth your time if you are considering creating something. Digista was a Japanese program for adults, but Digista Teens has expanded to become part of the Asia-Pacific Broadcast Union helping kids from multiple countries grow their skill sets. If this sounds kind of familiar, perhaps you read my Build Your Own blog entry a few days ago, when I gave the link to download some of the free animation software they are using for this project.

3) J-Melo, the weekly music program covering J-Rock, J-Pop, and all other music formats. They play both video tracks and run their own live concerts from the studio/club, this is a great place to learn about new bands and see some old favorites.

Rocket Man Variations

This song is an excellent tune about the subject of leaving this gravity well, and in 1978 it won the 5th annual Science Fiction Film Awards prize for best song. That was the first year the awards ceremony was broadcast, but it is much better known under the name The Saturn Awards. I have no clue who had the idea that William Shatner should be the vocalist for this presentation, but as musical performances go it has a certain amusement value, and is certainly historically interesting. I have to think he played this up for the chuckle value, considering his excellent renditions of other songs, including Common People from Has Been and the Brutus Rap from Free Enterprise.

My personal favorite from the various artists who have rendered it over the years has to be the Kate Bush version. A noticeable percentage of her work were original science fiction songs, such as Experiment Number 4 where the military was developing a musical weapon. Or Lyra, her tribute to the book The Golden Compass, which someone later used footage from the movie to turn into a wonderful video. Or Cloudbusting which depicted the governments reaction to Wilhelm Reich’s Orgone Energy research, and Donald Southerland made a wonderful Reich. If you are a humor fan, be sure to check out her duet with Rowan Atkinson.

Morning Jacket also did a version of the song, but this is the only one I know from them. Someone did a nice but low-rez job of adding space footage to this.

And finally, getting my vote for strangest video for a planetary exploration song, David Fonseca does the entire song backwards and in high heels as Ginger Rogers used to say when explaining why she was a better dancer than Fred Astaire. No, we don’t actually see the high heels in this video, but based on the makeup I would not be surprised at all if he was wearing them, and he did lip-sync the entire song backwards, which is no mean feat.

Major Tom Variations

Just as the Space Oddity variations grew, so did the sequel song, Major Tom, again focusing on the intrepid space wanderer. Here are a few of the choices, starting out with the Shiny Toy Guns flavor, from LA, and I love the footage that was pulled together to make up this version.

From Germany we have Peter Schilling’s 1983 version:

And then I Hate Kate‘s style…

Still with me? Then here is your reward, a truly unique version of the audio with a world-class build of the video for this song. Extra points for anyone who can correctly identify the band and the language they are singing in!

And the final entry in this segment…

Space Oddity variations

David Bowie’s Space oddity is one of the truly definitive Sci-Fi songs, bordering as it does both inner (mental aberrations and chemical dependencies) and outer (rocket ships and planetary exploration) space. So it should be no surprise that even though Bowie wrote and performed this masterpiece originally, many other artists from many other countries have paid tribute to it over the years. I figured I should present a few of my favorites, just to make sure awareness of these artists got whatever small increase my mentioning them could induce. First off, from Japan, we have Atsushi Sakurai, with his brilliant 2004 live presentation:

Next up, we have the short version of Emilie Simon’s amazing variation. This one has what may be my favorite rhythm structure of any of these, even if the editing that shortened the length cut off noticeable chunks of the song. Of course, you can always hear the full version here.

Bet you didn’t know there was a Natalie Merchant version, did you?

For comparison, here is Bowie’s first live presentation at an awards ceremony for this world class song…

Live Doctor Horrible

I mentioned recently that a live stage version of Doctor Horrible was going live in Las Vegas. That is not the only local it will be showing up in, of course, although it will probably have a much longer run there than in most places. I just heard that it will be presented in Washington by the Landless Theatre Company at the DC Arts Center in Adams Morgan. That is an easy 10 minute walk from the Woodley Park-Adams Morgan metro stop, and will run from March 3rd through the 29th. Since that is also one of the two best metro stops to hit the Washington Zoo you might as well head out early, visit the pandas, and grab a quality dinner at one of a number of excellent restaurants in the area before the show.

Anime Music, Themes

Science Fiction music is always fun, and one of the best sources is opening and closing theme songs of various Sci-Fi shows. Personally, I love all the soundtrack, incidental, and interstitial music as well, but most folks only remember the theme songs, so that is the primary target to go for on any given show. One of the groups that perform such themes to the point they are recognized internationally is AKB48, or The Akihabara 48. Last month NHKWorld Premium played a documentary, called the AKB 48 Documentary (what a surprise, huh?) all about them and their music on Sunday the 9th, and it was quite tasty. Even if you don’t speak the language you will enjoy the music, I promise.

Running a Windows 7 OS and looking for some Anime themes? They have a few good free ones over at VikiTech, like this Full Metal Alchemist theme. Just as in earlier windows versions, a theme is more than a wallpaper instance for your desktop. Each of these themes include a number of switchable wallpapers, custom icons, and sounds from the show. They also made the Anime Angels theme, and others for Naruto Shippuden, Nartuo, Bleach, and a number of others. In their Theme Gallery they ave other categories as well, including Games, Movies, and Space. Not all of them are for straight download; some of them you can only access if you either subscribe to their newsletter or friend them on Facebook.