Call Me Call Me: A Love Song Where You’d Least Expect It
Although I shouldn’t assume that a lot of people wouldn’t expect where I first heard this song, but I did, and there’s no going back. Well… I can always edit, but I will press on!
The song is from an anime. I’m a huge anime watcher, but sometimes if someone is new to the culture, or unfamiliar they just associate it with the Japanese style of drawing seen on many children’s cartoons. But the anime’s I’m talking about, are nothing of the sort. But I will save my actual discussion of the anime for another post (mental note, I need an anime section).
The song is from the anime Cowboy Bebop (amazing, my first series) and is called, Call Me Call Me sung by Steve Conte and composed by Yoko Kanno. Yoko Kanno is such a talented musician and composer she does an incredible job with soundtracks. She is so amazing that I will watch a show that is only half good, solely to listen to her soundtrack. Some of her other work besides Cowboy Bebop are; The Vision of Escaflowne, Ghost in the Shell and Wolf’s Rain. There are many more but these are the ones I am most familiar with. Plainly I suppose, I just love her and her work.
The song Call Me Call Me is absolutely beautiful, it is filled with emotion and soul. It is about love found, lost and the journey back to being together again. That’s right all of that in one song. It is incredible, well written, well sung, there’s a mixture of instruments from more subtle instrumentation to an orchestral sound all backing perfectly to Steve Conte’s powerful voice, brilliant.
Why do I love this song so much? Besides loving the sound of the song, I love everything it stands for. The first time I heard this song I was actually in the situation that is being sung about. I had love, let it slip and ran away from it, and I was in the process of trying with everything I had to get it back and to know he was okay in our absence.
Now of course I can’t plug a song and not have you listen to it! I was lucky enough to find this well done AMV on YouTube. I didn’t make it and this was not the scene with which the song was featured in the show. But, it does give you lovely clips from the show in a sort of montage of the series and suits the song none-the-less. I hope you like it!
Movies and Consumerism
I was thinking about how big blockbuster movies end up selling products. There is no way that you can deny that sometimes the placement of a product is deliberate and you wonder how many of that particular product were sold after the movies theatrical release. The biggest example I can think of, is the amount of PT Cruisers that were sold after the release of The Italian Job in 2003.
I began to wonder if products are often sold accidentally through placement, and I started to wonder about the increased sales of pets… How many clown fish did pet stores sell after Finding Nemo? How many beagles after The Fox and the Hound?
Which brings me to my ultimate point. With the recent films Flushed Away and Ratatouille (which were both fantastic movies) will the stigma against rats as pets finally be erased? I know rats are considered vermin and in many cases they are. But the fancy rats sold at pet stores in no way should be paralleled with sewer rats. For one fancy rats look nothing like sewer rats, are not nearly as large and do not carry disease! I myself am a rat owner and I love him to death, he is the greatest small animal companion I have ever had.
I’m not encouraging everyone to go out and get a rat, but I do hope that if you hold a negative view of these friendly rodents that you consider that they’re not all bad and join the army to erase rat stigma. Ok That sounds a little ridiculous, but you get the idea.
Me and My Ratty
Video You Need To See: Manic Gamer Ep. IV!
He’s at it again, the manic gamer is bringing us to Libyca yet again with another episode of The Manic Gamer.
This is episode 4, The Manic Gamer vs. Any Semblance of Structure?
The lack of structure in this video makes it more manic then ever! With a killer intro. And for anyone who wants to know I have seen one of those N64 controllers after a Mario Party marathon and I think that is an accurate analogy haha. He does a little more new game advertising than normal (no he’s not getting paid to tell you about the games) but none the less, it’s awesome.
My favorite part is when he needs a bit of Zen to overcome his frustrations and he picks the most manic game EVER! ChuChu Rocket, which by the way is an amazing game.
In any case enjoy the episode and keep an eye out for more to offer from The Sibylla Group.
My Love Poems
I’ve noticed an increased interest in the love poems I posted by Anne Bradstreet and John Donne.
So I thought I would share one of the poems that I’ve written. Love is my biggest influence and my favorite thing to write on. I hope you like it. (Although it may be redundant of me, I’m going to mention yet again where I’m categorizing this post. I’m placing this in my category of literature, not because I consider my own work great, but because it has to do with writing)
I wrote this poem in my head when I was driving home from visiting with my own partner. There was a thunderstorm moving in and I couldn’t help but feel it was because I was pulling further and further away from him. So my mind starting working with the electricity in the air and this is what I came up with when I had access to a pen and paper.
Driving Force
Never before have two souls been so connected
Every whisper of the wind, calling
Every cloud created by our own longing and lust
Storms roll in when our pining breaks
Is it a blessing or a warning?
A warning to us? Or all others to beware of the strength,
The strength that blooms from our bond
The electric line that connects each line of me
To each line of you
Two hearts lost in one another
Lost and shared
What’s mine is your
And what’s yours is mine
This connection, this bond
Our reality
Is Love
-Cynthe Love
An Ouroboros for unity.
Kidrobot
So I am a huuuge fan of collector toys. I don’t have all that many, I went through a phase where I liked the LOTR movies a lot, so I have a lot of those collectibles, but they’re now buried in a closet.
My new passion in toys are hand made vinyl toys. I love them because they’re 100% original, they are art more than merchandise which is the mistake I made in the past.
The only thing I have is the Labbit I purchased for my partner in crime, but there are an endless amount that I would love to have. First and foremost however, I would absolutely love to have the Gorillaz vinyls. Jamie Hewlett’s art is amazing as it is, and combined with collectible toys *drools* it doesn’t get much better than that.
For anyone who loves these types of toys and would love to collect, or even just peruse like I do a lot of the time, funds are low. Kidrobot is the perfect place to start to see what kind of stuff is out there. The site has everything from vinyl toys, to clothing, to mouse pads. Something for everyone I think.
My only advice is that if you see something you really love, then don’t dilly-dally because they are a lot of the time hand made, and when the stock runs out they’re gone forever. That’s how I missed out on my little Pure Trance cutie. Enjoy the site, and I’ll keep updates on what other new and interesting things I stumble across on this site as well as others.
Kaori the nurse: Pure Trance
(P.S. I’ll be categorizing these posts in Art, I was thinking of making a separate category but I decided the toys really are works of art, and a lot of these sites offer wallscrolls and such that are absolutely beautiful and fantastic. So I’m thinking I will keep them together)
Wall Bricolage Cont’d
If any of you are wondering why the title is called a wall bricolage and not a collage this wasn’t a mistake or a mis-definition. I want my work to represent all of my different interests and mash the genres of my life together into one interchangeable and yet indivisible image, which is why the word bricolage came in.
The first picture is after I’d been working on it the first day.
And the second is of a poem that I wanted to single out.
(I don’t want to make the picture any bigger, but I see now it’s hard to read, so here’s the poem :
The 7 ways we see… open your eyes
Turn minutes into hours
The proof is in the mirror
You can’t hurry Love
Outsmart time
Let the true you show through
There’s a secret
Beware of angels… What’re You Waiting For?
Enjoy!)
Wall Bricolage
I’ve been super stressed lately and today I thought I would devote my energy into creating something out of nothing. I have always found making collages a very soothing thing for me. I take magazines, cut out pictures, interrelate them and stick place them together on a piece of bristol board. They’re just bits and pieces of things that stand out to me, that I find interesting or irritating, anything.
But today that didn’t seem sufficient. I’ve chosen the largest wall of my room and I’m making my collage on it, and I thought I would share my progress. The first picture I took was before the collage started, it’s just of the posters I already had up on my wall. (Two of which I picked up today, the Nine Inch Nails one, and the Gorillaz Family Portrait)
I’ll keep posting pictures as I make headway on covering the empty spaces.
Love Poems
Today is Valentine’s Day, and I have unfortunately found myself feeling the same angst as I do every year when I know I should not.
I have always thought of Valentine’s Day as a cash grab for companies to make some extra money at a time of year when business may be a little rocky. It is such an in your face holiday that I sometimes find it a little overwhelming and frustrating. What about those people who are alone on valentines day because they have no one to share it with, what about those people who have just lost someone and find themselves alone and what about those who have someone but can’t be with them…
Then I realize, I dislike Valentines Day as a lame marketing ploy, but I don’t dislike what it stands for. It didn’t start out as a marketing campaign, it became one. It really is a day to share with your loved ones and my angst this year comes because I finally have someone I want to be spending the day with, but I can’t.
The only thing I can really do to try and make up not only to him, but to everyone who’s feelings I might have hurt with my distaste for the day, I thought I would share some of my favorite love poems, because above all things, I do believe in love.
To My Dear And Loving Husband -Anne Bradstreet
If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were loved by wife, then thee;
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me ye women if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole Mines of gold,
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that Rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee, give recompense.
Thy love is such I can no way repay,
The heavens reward thee manifold I pray.
Then while we live, in love lets so persevere,
That when we live no more, we may live ever.
I chose this poem because when I first read it for one of my classes it really struck a chord with me and I wrote a paper on it.
The Flea – John Donne
Mark but this flea, and mark in this,
How little that which thou deny’st me is;
It sucked me first, and now sucks thee,
And in this flea our two bloods mingled be;
Thou know’st that this cannot be said
A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead;
Yet this enjoys before it woo,
And pampered swells with one blood made of two,
And this, alas, is more than we would do.
Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare,
Where we almost, yea, more than married are.
This flea is you and I, and this
Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is;
Though parents grudge, and you, w’are met,
And cloistered in these living walls of jet.
Though use make you apt to kill me,
Let not to that, self-murder added be,
And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.
Cruel and sudden, hast thou since
Purpled thy nail in blood of innocence?
Wherein could this flea guilty be,
Except in that drop which it sucked from thee?
Yet thou triumph’st and say’st that thou
Find’st not thyself, nor me the weaker now;
‘Tis true, then learn how false fears be:
Just so much honor, when thou yield’st to me,
Will waste, as this flea’s death took life from thee.
I love John Donne, his poetry has so many layers that can be read in so many ways, and he uses metaphysical devices at their best! I mean who else could use the metaphor of a flea to convince a woman to bed with him.
I hope you enjoyed the poems and above all else Happy V-Day!
Video You Need To See: 2097
Today’s subject: 2097: 0.0 pilot- WipEout
One of these days I will find the time to create a post that isn’t showing you videos, but who doesn’t love a thought provoking piece of media to check out every once in a while, I certainly don’t which is why I think you should really check this out.
The description attached to the video is as follows: 2097 explores the gaming industry and the products they create through a cultural context. Seeking an evolving dialogue relating to issues that the industry faces as it begins to define and understand itself in relation to the world around it.
The reason for posting this video is because of a little itty bit of shameless self promotion since I will be helping out with the narration in spring. This is a project that my partner in crime made a couple weeks ago, and I’m sharing it because it has a much more serious tone to it. Although some people may find it to be a little much to take in at first, I find it so refreshing for someone to take the gaming industry seriously and actually taking the time to do some research into the effects of gaming as a prolific form of media. As for content this is the pilot for an episodic show dealing with the game series Wipeout and the way in which it adapts culture and pushes the envelope. If you’re a fan of the series this is definitely something for you to check out because it is actually very very informative.
The video editing is smooth, the visuals are relevant and thought provoking, with a mix of outside material as well as footage of in game play. There is a quick digression midway on the evils of post modernism, or I guess I should say the way in which post modernism is analyzed within this context, which can be forgiven or reveled in depending on the opinion of the viewer.
Now, without creating any more text for you to read through and then also suggesting some viewing I present you with the video. It is a more lengthy than some of the other videos I have posted, and it is presented in two parts. I strongly encourage you to take a look at both parts, even if you check part one out now, and part two out at a later time. In any case, enjoy this new edge on gaming:
The Diviners
Every once in a while I come across a book that really sticks with me. In the recent future I’ve had two of these books, the first was The Awakening by Kate Chopin, and the most recent one now was The Diviners by Margaret Laurence.
I’m currently attending university and I’m an English major, so I do get an awful lot of novels and short stories assigned to me to read. And while some of them I will never touch again not even with a ten foot pole, and they will either sit on my shelf collecting dust or be used as a door stop, some are good and others strike me with a mind quake.
A mind quake happens when you finish reading (or listening, or watching) a piece of work and you stop and think wow, and then spend the following ten minutes staring off into space. You are disappointed the experience is over and you genuinely feel like you’ve learned something. These work differently for everyone, for me they teach me something about myself, I spend my time reading relating to the story and reflecting on my own life, drawing parallels and deviations and ways that I could change and better myself.
This is exactly what happened to me during The Diviners, and when it was over I was upset. Not in tears or anything like that, but I didn’t want it to be over. I spent the next little bit thinking about the characters and the decisions they made and that not all were good and not all are bad, but it was making those choices and finding the means to live with them that made them the people they became.
The Diviners is a must read, because of it’s beautiful writing style which contains the flow of verse but is most definitely prose. Laurence uses very strong imagery, you can see the story playing out in your mind, even the more shocking and sometimes gruesome and grotesque images. Her writing style pulls you in and keeps you there, it encapsulates your world, when you’re reading it you’re lost to it, when you put it down you’re still thinking about it. It mixes in a metaphysical ideas with the main character Morag working on a novel of her own, as well as a lot of song writing in singing. (some editions have the music score included) If you are looking for a deep read that will not leave you disappointed, pick up The Diviners it is a classic of Canadian Literature that should not be forgotten.
