Nerdtour 2012 flashback: Yoyogi Park, Tokyo

Autumn beauty of Yoyogi Park
Just a little glimpse of the Autumn beauty of Yoyogi Park, in Tokyo at sunset.

Anime music: “Witch Hunter Robin” opening and closing themes

So, in honor of “Throwback Thursday”, I present the opening and closing themes to one of my favorite anime from a few years back (12!), “Witch Hunter Robin”. The opening theme is called “Shell”:

and the closing theme is “Half Pain”, both songs by “Bana”:

Very moody and evocative, much like the anime.

Here is an excellent review of the anime, or you can always hit Wikipedia.

Katsucon 2014 pics as promised

So, I said I’d post some more Katsucon pics from last week, and here they are! There are a whole lot more on my portfolio site, if you want to see more. These are what I think are my best of the best, so enjoy!

[cryout-multi][cryout-column width=”1/3″][/cryout-column] [cryout-column width=”1/3″][/cryout-column][cryout-column width=”1/3″]Crunchyroll subscriber[/cryout-column][/cryout-multi][cryout-multi][cryout-column width=”1/3″] [/cryout-column][cryout-column width=”1/3″][/cryout-column][cryout-column width=”1/3″][/cryout-column][/cryout-multi][cryout-multi][cryout-column width=”1/3″]
[/cryout-column] [cryout-column width=”1/3″][/cryout-column][cryout-column width=”1/3″][/cryout-column][/cryout-multi][cryout-multi][cryout-column width=”1/3″]Old school! [/cryout-column][cryout-column width=”1/3″][/cryout-column] [cryout-column width=”1/3″][/cryout-column][/cryout-multi][cryout-multi][cryout-column width=”1/3″][/cryout-column][cryout-column width=”1/3″] [/cryout-column] [cryout-column width=”1/3″] [/cryout-column] [/cryout-multi][cryout-multi][cryout-column width=”1/3″] [/cryout-column] [cryout-column width=”1/3″][/cryout-column] [cryout-column width=”1/3″] [/cryout-column] [/cryout-multi][cryout-multi][cryout-column width=”1/3″] [/cryout-column] [cryout-column width=”1/3″][/cryout-column] [cryout-column width=”1/3″] [/cryout-column] [/cryout-multi][cryout-multi][cryout-column width=”1/3″] [/cryout-column] [cryout-column width=”1/3″][/cryout-column] [cryout-column width=”1/3″] [/cryout-column] [/cryout-multi]

Coming soon: Katuscon 2014 pictures

katsu2014-02I’ve been remiss in updating that often, but last weekend I had an excuse: I was at Katsucon over in National Harbor, Maryland. The con this year was disrupted by the snowy weather, which lead to some guests delayed or unable to attend, and some of the panels were cancelled or re-scheduled as a result. Also, most people who had pre-registered, who would have gone Thursday night before the con to pick up their badges, most of them showed up late on Friday, and thus there was a line that lasted at least 3 hours in order to pick up con badges. I know because I was one of the thousands in that line, and that’s how long I stood there! That caused me to miss a couple of panels that I really wanted to see, but at least I got some pictures of cosplayers in the line!

As if to make up for the disruption from the weather, there were a lot of very imaginative (and timely!) cosplayers this year, and I have pictures of many of them. Of course, since there was a tremendous amount of snow on the ground, there was a plethora of cosplayers playing characters from the movie “Frozen.” So many Elsas and Anas, and even other winter-themed characters like “Jack Frost” from “Rise of the Guardians”. The largest number of cosplayers this year though had to be the “Attack on Titan” characters. This year there had to be more “AoT” characters percentage-wise than any other anime in other years, even counting “Bleach” and “Gurren Lagann”! (Sorry, “Homestuck” kids, you were FAR outnumbered this con!)

At any rate, I will be posting pictures here and on my photo site, at much higher quality than the ones I already posted on my Facebook page.

As an example, here’s a cosplayer who was taking photos herself (Click for a larger version):

katsu2014-01

Blue Man Group and Taiko drums – great together!

So, I wandered around Youtube again, as is my wont, and found a really neat collaboration between two of my favorite things, Blue Man Group and Japanese taiko drummers. I think the group is called “Kodo”, but the caption says “Blue Man Group meets Wadaiko”, so I’m not sure. I do know the name of the song is one of BMG’s titles, “Mandelgroove”. This performance is full of awesome percussion, including the largest taiko drums I’ve seen (although there are probably even larger ones), plus it’s got the signature Blue Man Group humor as well as their excellent coordination and peculiar instruments. I would love to have seen this live, but even on a Youtube video it still has the energy and the power of the performance. BMG is an acquired taste for some, but no one can deny their creativity and their ability to make strange and quirky music (and the instruments to play it!). Of course people that know me and come to this site know I’m all about quirkiness!

So, for this video, if you have good bass speakers, crank them up, sit back and enjoy some good good drumming!

Nerdtour 2012: Riding on the Enoden pt.4: Shichirigahama Surfin’ Safari

Shichirigahama train stationMy journey on the Enoden line continued, leaving Hase and the Great Buddha, and heading for Enoshima.  Along the way, though, through one of the windows on the train I spotted the ocean, and thought “that looks neat, I want to see the beach!”  So, I persuaded my buddy John that we should get off at the next station, named “Shichirigahama.”

 

[one_third]surfers[/one_third][one_third]surf shop[/one_third][one_third_last]lone surfer[/one_third_last]Turns out that it’s well-known for its surf, and there were a whole lot of surfers taking advantage of the mild November afternoon and evening.

 

[one_third]beachcomber at sunset[/one_third][one_third]Man near seawall staring at the ocean[/one_third][one_third_last]couple on the beach, with Mount Fuji[/one_third_last]There were also a lot of people just out enjoying the beach, taking in the sun. There’s something about a beach, with the waves crashing on the shore that’s just peaceful and relaxing, makes it easy to get into a contemplative mood, or even to just “veg-out”.

 

[one_third]John photographs some beach girls[/one_third][one_third][/one_third][one_third_last][/one_third_last]My buddy John also found, um, “other” views as well…  “So, not so disappointed at stopping here now, are you John?”

 

[one_third]Sunset behind Enoshima[/one_third][one_third]Mount Fuji after sundown[/one_third][one_third_last]Shichirigahama Beach after sunset[/one_third_last]Shichirigahama reminded me very much of southern California, especially around the Sunset Beach area I visited a long time ago.  Sunset Beach was aptly named, and Shichirigahama’s sunset was equally stunning, I kept taking pictures and videos every few minutes, just to try to capture the view. I even got to get a picture of Mount Fuji, but just like in 2007, all I could get was a silhouette shot…

 

Here’s one of the videos I took, of the Sun just disappearing behind the mountains beyond Enoshima Island.  You can see more of the pictures at my portfolio site.

Enjoy!

Nerdtour 2012: Riding on the Enoden pt. 3: Hase station and a train ride

After spending about an hour at the Great Buddha of Kamakura, the day was fast coming to a close and it was time to get back on the Enoden, in order to get to Enoshima before dark. AFter getting back to Hase station, there was a little time to kill before the next train, so I took a few pictures of the station itself, and a bit of the surroundings. The Enoden line goes almost as far back as there were trains in Japan, it was first laid down about 100 years ago, and many of the stations (and the neighborhoods around them) retain many traces of the older line.

In some ways, with the old wooden beams and the narrow gage tracks, some stations on the Enoden are reminiscent of some old West train stations, of course without the coal and water feeds that Western trains needed. Some of the train cars are modeled on the earlier cars of the line, as well, although with modern instrumentation and controls.

When the next train came, it was time for a quick ride. This is a short clip for the first leg from Hase, going to Gokurakuji station, one stop towards Enoshima, to give you a feel for what the ride was like. We didn’t actually get all the way to Enoshima, one of the stops before then looked interesting, a town called Shichirigahama, which turned out to be a very nice town indeed.

Oh, and notice the care that the conductor uses, there are specific gestures to each instrument, which work as mnemonics that the conductor uses to make sure that each item in his checklist is complete. The combination of hand and eye motion and examination of the control settings at the same time gives the conductor stronger reinforcement than simply moving his eyes to check the controls. My Japanese teacher used a similar approach to teach us how to write kanji characters, one of the steps was writing the character in the air while speaking the stroke numbers aloud. “Muscle memory” helps the “main memory”.

As always, there are more photos on my portfolio site.

Nerdtour 2012: Riding the Enoden pt. 2: Kamakura

enoden1-044So, after riding the Enoden for a few minutes, it was time to get off at the station in Hase town, where the Great Buddha (Daibutsu) of Kamakura is situated. Like most of the towns along the Enoden, Hase is a tourist town, making the most of the local attraction. A lot of tourists come because of the Buddhist aspect, and a lot more come just to gawk (yeah, I’m guilty of the latter.)

kamakura-038

Not being Buddhist myself, I didn’t get the spiritual feeling, but as a techie, to me the Great Buddha is an impressive engineering feat! Cast in bronze sometime in the 13th Century, the statue is hollow, allowing people to go inside for a mere 20 yen (about 30 cents US).  The temple grounds around are also very impressive, with sculptures both man-made and natural. 

kamakura-046This day was particularly fun, because there was a tour group from an elementary school, and some of the kids were split up into groups, each group assigned to speak to a foreigner in order to practice their English.  The group that approached me and my buddy John did a very good job of introducing themselves, asking if they could ask questions, and handled their English fairly well.  The questions were basic, “Where are you from?” type questions.  It was fun watching them “ambush” other foreigners, too, although I have to wonder if all of the foreign tourists spoke English.

So, here is the gallery of photos I took in and around Hase and the Great Buddha of Kamakura.

Enjoy!