OK, one last thing before I head off to karaoke. If you haven’t had a chance to see Torchwood yet, do it. It’s a great show. Excellent writing, great cinematography and whoa what a bunch of great stories. It is a spinoff from Doctor Who and it is sweet!
Warning: this is a very intense show. Some of the stories are quite disturbing and they are acted bloody well. Oh, and lots of kissing and sexual innuendo. This is not a show for little kids.
OK, now you got me thinking about this whole English vs Japanese opening thing. Probably the best example of how an absolutely beautiful Japanese opening was KILLED by the English version is Escaflowne.
Check out the English version of the opening from Fox Kids.
and now check the FAR, FAR superior Japanese opening
So, the English version is just Escaflowne repeated over and over again. Wow, that’s inspiring. Also, the opening is recut and completely different. One would think this show is about Van and battles and the like. That would be wrong.
Escaflowne is a story of balance. It is the story of Hitomi and her travels, her “visions”, of another world, Gaea and a battle suit named Escaflowne. It is also a tale of love. Hitomi’s love for both Van, the young boy who is king of Fanelia and pilot of Escaflowne and Allen Schezar, a Knight Caeli and pilot of Scherezade. Most importantly, it is a story of Hitomi learning to love herself. The pendant swinging is representative of the uncontrolled and back and forth feeling Hitomi has about her own life. Conversely, the angel taking flight and spreading its wings is a symbol of the freedom and happiness Hitomi feels once she does manage to balance her life and wishes. It is not until this balance is achieved that Hitomi can truly “take flight”.
It is also significant that we see Hitomi holding her pendant and smiling just before we see the angel motif. Excellent telegraphing of the emotion of ecstasy and the feeling of freedom as here we see Hitomi at last come to balance and happiness.
The lyrics in the song “Yakusoku wa Iranai”, the Japanese opening, are beautiful and accurately describe and take inspiration from the show’s plot. I will take just one section here and the ending for description.
kimi o kimi o aishiteru
kokoro de mitsumete iru
kimi o kimi o shinjiteru
samui yoru mo
It is you, It is you that I love
I gaze upon you from the depths of my heart
It is you, It is you that I believe in
Even in the coldest of nights
There could not be a more accurate interpretation of Hitomi’s feelings than this chorus. She loves both Van and Allen. She believes in both of them. Part of the story is Hitomi trying to achieve balance in her feelings for both these gentlemen. In the end she does love them both and she does learn to believe in them both as well, “even in the coldest of nights”.
Notice when the chorus plays the point of view shifts to Allen and Van then Hitomi. Great editing in order to show the deeper meaning of the words.
The ending stanza is also quite touching.
namida de ima yobi kakeru
yakusoku nado iranai
kimi ga kureta taisetsu na tsuyosa dakara
I call out to you now with my tears
I have no need of promises
For this is the strength that you have given to me
Hitomi clings to promises and hopes in the beginning of the show. She clings to what she thinks the world should be. It is not until she can reconcile that the world is not always what we want and that is OK that she truly achieves balance. Hope and wish is fine for motivation, but hope and wish will not get you anything. Hope require action otherwise it is a hopeless dream. This was one of the lessons Hitomi had to learn.
It saddens me to see such a deep and beautiful theme torn apart and reconstructed to be mindless drivel and fighting. The fighting in Escaflowne had a purpose. It was not meant to be seen in such a pointless way. This show is about the heart and the soul not a bunch of machines fighting.
Since I have gone this far, I think I should also share with you the ending scenes from this amazing show. I can not watch this video without crying. It is absolutely perfect and one of the most touching scenes I have ever experienced in anime. The song is “The Story of Escaflowne” and it has been performed for kings and presidents and is quite powerful and magic. These final scenes are what every tv series aspire to be.
If you have never seen Escaflowne, please do. You will not regret it. Just promise me you will watch it with the subtitles on and Japanese dialog. The English dub is pathetic and empty. This show is deep and beautiful and I would not want you to miss a moment of its love.
“Yuzurenai Negai” was my email sig for a couple years actually. It means Unyielding Wish and it is the theme song from Magic Knight Rayearth. Another inspirational song, it is a favorite to sing at the karaoke group. The show is pretty good, not the best, but decent and fun. The song; however, is heavenly. I love it.
The opening sticks in peoples’ heads for sure and is quite memorable with its clear vocals and chiming notes. Please enjoy!
tomaranai mirai wo mezashite
yuzurenai negai wo dakishimete
Aiming at the unstoppable future
Embracing the unyielding wish
And if you ever needed proof of how screwed up American English versions of anime are, here it is. The lyrics are not bad, but the singing. Come on. I know people who can sing better than this.
“To the Stars”, thought by many to be the most tear jerking song and ending of all time, composed by Randy Edelman. This song has been used in so many tributes it is unfathomable. It is one of the reasons the soundtrack to Dragonheart is in my top 5 soundtracks of all time.
It is iconic.
It is unforgettable.
It is one of my favorite pieces of music and here I share with you the ending from Dragonheart.
Look to the stars, Bowen.
Look to the stars.
I thought I would also share one of the best fan videos I have seen. It is the story of Dragonheart set to a song from Pokemon. Yep, Pokemon. The song used for this video is from Pokemon 39 - Pikachu’s Goodbye. Here is the original. Careful, if you are a sensitive soul this is also a real tearjerker.
To pump myself up for tonight, I am listening to several pieces of music. One of them is the theme from “The Last Starfighter”. If you have never seen this movie, get to NetFlix and rent it. Serious. This is one of the most inspirational movies ever and the music is super hot! I love it! I so love it!
Craig Safan, the composer, transitions from trumpet fanfare to soaring strings with a noble and upbeat theme that makes one’s heart just feel like bursting. The movie, the movie is beautiful as well. It is a tribute to all those who ever wanted to be among the stars. To all those who have dreamed an impossible dream and hoped with all their might to see it come to fruition.
The theme just brings tears to my eyes it is so inspirational I don’t even know what to say.
I Stand Alone, sung by Steve Perry, from the movie, Quest for Camelot. If there ever was a theme for druids in World of Warcraft, I would think this is it. Steve Perry is one heck of a singer and this song really touches my heart.
We are going to be doing a bit of a different thing tonight at karaoke. We are going to do a Quest for Camelot night. This is really weird for us since we usually sing Japanese songs not English, but this has been in the works for quite awhile and I am really excited about it. I am singing this song, “I Stand Alone”.
I am a little intimidated by “I Stand Alone”. There is just no one in the world that sounds like Steve Perry. I don’t even hope to come close to his quality of voice or timber. But, I will give it my best because it is such a wonderful song. Below is the version I am singing. It is the version from the music video, but I did put back in the stuff about seeing the world with these very eyes etc. since I like that verse more than the one in the video.
I try not to post sad stuff too often here, but I thought you might like to see the reprise from the movie as well.
You don’t understand.
In Camelot, she’d only see me through their eyes.
Not a knight.
Not a man.
Not anything.
I share my world with noone else.
All by myself, I stand alone.
My friend Aiko is going to be singing “My Father’s Wings”. Sweet song.
We are all singing “United We Stand” and should be pretty nice. Maybe, maybe, I will even post a recording of it :). You know I never post my singing as for some reason I am too, well, no matter we will see.
If you have never seen Quest for Camelot, please do. It is a kids movie, the original script was much, much darker, but it is still a good view and a good lesson for kids. Honor, Justice, and Valor are never something to trivialize and this movie does a more than adequate job of bringing life to the Arthurian Mystique.
Thanks to the most gracious Prodon, I managed to get the Midsummer Festival outfit tonight. The crown, dress and shoulders look sharp. Tomorrow, I will do the shoes. Thanks Prodon!
Real movie theater popcorn tastes significantly different from other types of popcorn. It has been a “holy grail” of mine for awhile, but not one I had really tried to find until recently. Well, I am happy to report I have found the answer to “how do I make movie theater popcorn at home?”.
The answer really comes down to a couple of factors.
This is the “secret ingredient” that is probably most responsible for how good movie popcorn tastes. Surely, it can make even mediocre popcorn taste better and when combined with really good corn this is just whoa!
Gold Medal Products is THE place for popcorn, snocone, cotton candy machines and supplies. They are the supplier to many of the theaters in the country and state fairs galore. Check them out!
Third is Coconut Oil. No great pic here, but just order some and try it in your popper. Oh man, you will know you hit the jackpot as soon as the popping begins. You might have to set up a defensive position as your neighbors will start coming by to see what the heck that smell is! Bottom line, use coconut oil to make popcorn or it will not be movie theater like at all. I just about cried when they stopped using coconut oil in theaters due to the hacks at the Center for Science in the Public Interest ( what an oxymoron coming from these people, but that’s another story ). Luckily, there has been a backlash against this and I have noticed theaters starting to use the “good stuff” again. Thank you for small miracles.
Lastly, get yourself a good popper.
I have a #2660GT Antique Popper from Gold Medal and a couple other little stove top things. The cart one is sweet and really makes awesome corn! There are lots of other oil based poppers out there too and many people really like the West Bend 82306X Stir Crazy. It is a classic and does make great corn.
One of the greatest special effects artists ever, Stan Winston, died on the 15th of June at his home. Stan was the master who brought Jurassic Park and Terminator and Edward Sissorhands and oh, so many other movies.
I have met Stan a couple times and both of them found him to be a wonderful and energetic person. He had a lust for life few people have and truly was a endearing and inspirational individual.
Stan, you will be missed and I wish I could have known you better
Thanks Prodon! 
