Alex Ross, in The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, states that Schoenberg’s twelve-tone method of musical composition “… finally reached the silver screen by way of Scott Bradley’s inventive scores for Tom and Jerry cartoons in the forties, notably Puttin’ on the Dog and The Cat That Hated People.” Which gives me an excuse to post some High Culture, courtesy of Tex Avery.

Previews of the summer 2010 anime season:

Trap Academy — A transfer student at an exclusive all-girl boarding school discovers that every single one of her pretty classmates is actually a boy in disguise.

Does Anyone Need Tenchi? Does Anyone Care? — Yet another spinoff of the venerable franchise. In this one, Mihoshi’s IQ approaches the single digits.

Mystery Meat — Students with paranormal abilities investigate inexplicable events in the school cafeteria. Chiaki J. Konaka’s script draws on quantum mechanics, evolutionary biology and feng shui in this account of alternate realities and healthy nutrition.

Planet of the Enormous Hooters — Al Franken’s masterpiece receives an appropriately respectful anime adaptation. The staff includes alumni of the Queen’s Blade and Eiken crews.

Apocryphelion — Aliens attack the Earth as foretold by ancient Mesopotamian clay tablets, and only neurotic adolescents piloting absurdly large mecha can save the planet.

inCurably Pretty — The latest iteration of PreCure introduces 17 more magical girls. The pastel mahou shoujo outfits feature second-order ruffles.¹

Sliders — The intense world of professional shuffleboard is examined in the suspenseful tale of the rising star of the care home circuit. Is her mysterious ability to put the puck dead center in the “10″ triangle every time somehow connected to the fact that she has not spoken to her manager and husband in 53 years? And what about the mysterious reigning champion, who is as stacked as Carol Doda, and as old? The show sets new precedents for fanservice. (The DVDs will feature additional steam.)

Angels and Idiots — An ancient order of renegade priests and a nun in a slinky habit who lives her own version of aggiornamento are all that stand between humanity and an unholy alliance of vampires, demons and lawyers — or is it the other way around? This gnostic extravaganza is sure to be a favorite of cosplayers.

Godot Can Wait — Nabeshin’s first effort for World Masterpiece Theater is a breezy adaptation of Beckett’s play. Nabeshin himself takes the much-expanded role of Pozzo’s slave, Lucky, and finds surprisingly many opportunities for fanservice in Beckett’s barren landscape.

Type Two — Mika isn’t sure how she feels about Kai. Sometimes she treats him with affection, but just as often she subjects him to scorn and violence. Their budding romance abruptly ends when Kai obtains a restraining order against her.

Yokai Cram School — A vampire who faints at the sight of blood, a vegan werewolf, a succubus who made a vow of celibacy, skirts too short to sit down in … and the hell with it. It’s not easy to invent something as stupid as Rosario + Vampire.

1. I.e., ruffles on the ruffles. [↩]

Pete says that baseball is

A game without discernable rules or purpose; I deduced that teams compete to collect points, but those are awarded arbitrarily, so the formal objective does nothing to add any sense to the proceedings.

I just happened to digitize The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart last week. Here’s Newhart’s take on baseball from about 50 years ago:

While I’m uploading audio, here’s a selection from another curiosity I came across: string quartet arrangements of music from Rozen Maiden. Here’s a sample:

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I have jury duty this week, so I’ll probably be spending the days at the courthouse and the evenings at the office. See you all next week.

Update: I was spared jury duty. (Actually, The plaintiff in the case I was in the pool for had suffered a broken ankle and knee injuries. It was no surprise that I wasn’t empaneled, given my own broken ankle and knee problems.)

Vicipaedia needs otaku who can write decent Latin. The anime and manga pages are pathetic. (I had several years of Latin, but that was a long time ago in a different century, and it would take more time than I can spare to regain competence.)

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Another entry for the “ducks in anime” file:

From Negima Ala Alba OAD #2 (not recommended).

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I discovered that the software used to animate Hatsune Miku is freeware, available here. It’s surprisingly capable. Here’s Miku dancing Maurice Bejart’s choreography; compare it to the final minutes of this.¹ Unfortunately, like Miku herself, it’s not for Macs.

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More random nonsense:

An animated stereogram. It works, too. There are more here. (Via Cartoon Brew.)

“Not only does it save time, but it’s really stupid, too.” More poem generators here.

Can’t find anything you like on the radio? Set a few parameters and generate your own music.

I did not need to see this:

show

.

1. I recommend skpping the first six minutes unless you are a Bejart fanatic. [↩]

Odds and ends, some of them involving animation, Japan or spandex.

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What I saw of Hare & Guu left me indifferent, but this ending is an outstanding production number. It’s my pick for the best anime ending, at least for today.

http://tancos.net/flv/wp-content/uploads/GuuDlxEd.flv
Jungle wa itsumo Hale nochi Guu Deluxe, “Fun Fun and Shout” by Sister Mayo.

You can see the videos in full size at my video weblog, and you can compare my list with Astro’s.

Number three:

http://tancos.net/flv/wp-content/uploads/ExcelEnd.flv
Excel Saga, “Menchi Aishou no Bolero” by Excel Girls. I’m not posting the clean version because the words matter, and because some who frequent this corner of the otakusphere might recognize one of the names in the credits.

Astro is counting down his top five endings. It looks like fun, so I’ll probably post my own list, though it will have to wait until next week. Astro’s fourth choice, incidentally, almost made my list. It will be interesting to see if there is something we both pick.

As Astro notes, it’s harder to find good endings than good openings. Openings are intended to sell the show; often the trailer for a show is the opening. Consequently, producers typically lavish great care and expense on the opening. In contrast, the ending usually just serves to list the necessary credits, and the production is consequently perfunctory. Sometimes the ending tune might be worth hearing, but the visuals are rarely interesting. Nevertheless, I managed to come up with five that are worth both hearing and seeing.

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Here’s something I forgot to post back in October. It’s from the ninth episode of Denno Coil.

In a discussion of anime involving classical music, the writer at Transientem included links to several animated versions of Liszt’s second Martian Hungarian rhapsody, including performances by Tom & Jerry

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… from Chuck Jones and Daffy Duck.

(Via Mark Sullivan.)

Bonus video: It has nothing to do with Thanksgiving, but who cares?

(Via Cartoon Brew.)

Bonus video II: Tex Avery, also via Cartoon Brew.

Charles Schultz does Evangelion. (The scanlation is out there if you know where to look.)

Halloween is approaching, so here’s another list.

Creepy, scary anime

1. Denno Coil, episode 19 — The series becomes darker and more intense in its second half. This episode, in which Yasako and Fumie are besieged by “illegals” while Kyoko’s cyberbody wanders in an obsolete space, is surprisingly scary for a show that began so playfully.

2. Mushishi, episode 4 — All of the stories in Mushishi are strange. A few are nightmarish, like this one about dreams.

3. Divergence Eve, episode 8 — The series is creepy from beginning to end, and I could reasonably pick any episode for this list. The eighth has perhaps the eeriest scene, in which Leblanc gives Misaki a tour of a room with unsettling specimens.

4. Vampire Princess Miyu OVA, episode 2 — Do you like dolls?

5. Serial Experiments Lain, episode 12 — Alice visits Lain’s home.

6. Hakaba Kitaro, episode 3 — Forget carnivorous plants. How about a vampire tree?

Squidpunk.

Via a friend: Sex and Flirting in Japan. (There are no pictures, so it’s almost safe for work.)

Lost in the anime zone with John Ringo.

They’re not anime, and I recall posting them on my earlier weblogs, but they’re worth revisiting: Scientific Truth in Warning Labels, and Cognitive Hazards and other modern warning signs. (Via TexasBestGrok.)

“Definitely time to write some AP/RIAA slashfic.” (Via René’s Apple.)

Bonus link: Gainaxing as a source of energy.

Special bonus link: The Costume Hall of Shame. (Via .clue.)

How Obama can win:

Hey, McCain has been ignoring the catgirl vote throughout the primaries, I say Obama should take advantage of this. As a matter of fact, a strong anti-tentacle monster platform would bring in both the catgirls and the Lolis. He could then show show his strength on defense by committing to a crash course of giant robot development. All he would need at that point would be a promise of combat training for all nubile young schoolgirls and he would have the entire geek vote locked up.

On a related note, here’s the most frightening title I’ve heard in a while: The Melancholy of Hillary Rodham.

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That other dealer has Geneon merchandise on sale. Haibane Renmei, Someday’s Dreamers and others are going for $5 per disc, and this time there’s no minimum order.

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Via Pixy, sophisticated technology in the service of sheer silliness:

And some Leeky Star:

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Stranger than anime: the operatic guide to dating.

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Yoshitoshi ABe will be in Minnesota in September. It’s a bit out of bicycle range for me, unfortunately.

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Update: No. No. No. No. No. No.

NSFW edition.
show

From Soul Eater, episode one.

And now for something completely different: Mike Peters‘ take on a Japanese icon:

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… with Youtube. Here’s a bit of occidental animation:

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Some odds and ends while I download Moyashimon:

Does anyone make shows about folks who can focus on saving humanity, or are we doomed to a diet of crappy sci-fi soap operas? If WWII had been like this, Roosevelt would have looked like Professor X and have been crippled years ago by his quasi-enemy, Super Seiyjin Stalin; Hitler would have been the lunatic madman out to conquer/end/dominate/destroy the world, Mussolini would have been the jilted bishie lover of both Roosevelt and Stalin, Churchill would have been an angsty teenager, and Hirohito would have been a cute female high-schooler in a sailor outfit trying to end world militarism in time for this semester’s finals.

“Isn’t chocolate pudding… bad … for the violins?”

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I’m not a fan of Star Wars, but this was uncalled for. (Caution: causes severe ear pain. Blame the LLamas for this one.)

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Here’s an alternate history story: if MGM had said “yes” to Bob Clampett in 1936, would the Japanese now be fansubbing American animation? (Via Aliens in This World.)

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I may be wrong, but as I understand it, the “sei” in “seifuku” is short for “sailor.” I.e., its distinguishing characteristic is the sailor collar. Consequently, I think only one of the outfits in this poll qualifies as a proper seifuku. (Update: I was wrong — see Andrew F.’s comment. Never mind.)

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I’ve added Yumedamaya Kidan to my to-investigate list.

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The next self-help bestseller: Aerophobics: The Easy Six* Step program to end your exercise addiction. It could be helpful in maintaing a proper otaku lifestyle.

*”’cause let’s face it, twelve steps is WAAAAAAY too many.” —SR