Country roads take me home to the place where I belong.
Posted on March 12th, 2006
Filed under: Reviews — Karl Olson @ 3:12 am
So, I recently acquired the latest wave of Ghibli films on DVD, namely My Neighbor Totoro, Howl’s Moving Castle and Whisper of the Heart. Howl I caught in the theater, so I’m not hot to watch it right away, but I did watch Totoro and Whisper saturday night. Totoro was quite a fun family film, and undoubtly the best film to introduce kids to Ghibli (and animation in general even,) but it’s definitely an upbeat, straightforward family picture.
Whisper, on the other hand, really connected with me in ways I’m not even sure I can properly describe. The characters in that film, particularly Shizuku and Seiji, resonate really solidly with me. I can completely understand the mindset that drives them, that holds them back, that gives pause to doubt themselves, that makes cry and that makes them smile. This is not only as a creative person striving to hone craft like the characters I mentioned, but also as a person who has been through that feeling of having to better oneself for the sake of another. Further still, the musical elements of the film hit me on multiple levels, and the advice Nishi gave to Shizuka hit me in the same way. The overall ability of the film to wordlessly capture both mono no aware (the pathos of things) and the genuine connections that can form between human beings was simply stunning. Unless Only Yesterday manages to ring even more exactingly with me, Whisper of the Heart is probably my favorite Ghibli film ever.
“Country Road, tomorrow, I’ll be the same, you know
I want to go home but I can’t, farewell, Country Road.”
-from the Japanese lyrics of Country Road.
Comments (2)
Eventually, this site will have hours of music.
Posted on February 27th, 2006
Filed under: Music News — Karl Olson @ 11:20 pm
For now, my back-catalog repository (which may end up growing to into something more at some point in the very distant future,) Nekodashi.com only hosts one measly CD (revision 4920,) albeit in a better quality of mp3 than I could host on the limited account I have this site on. Eventually, the rest of my back-catalog (which will be broken down by album when possible) will be up there. At point, I might end up radically tweaking things here or there for greater integration, but for now it works. By not using a ready made blog system at nekodashi, I’m getting a lot more experience with php, and at somepoint, I’ll probably either change that or I’ll build a program that allows me to automatically generate pages, but for now, it’s keeping me sharp.
Comments Off on Eventually, this site will have hours of music.
Documentary’d and stuff.
Posted on February 25th, 2006
Filed under: Music News — Karl Olson @ 3:53 am
Yeah, I’m going to be in this, and I am excited about it. I hope the camera man doesn’t get stuck filming me in boring panels all day when it comes to the convention though (actually, I like panels, I just doubt me asking questions of a rep makes for great footage.) Granted, the whole idea of being press being filmed is sorta weird. It’d be like someone making documentary about a war reporter, thus having a camera filming as scene being filmed. Very recursive or Escher-esque I suppose.
Hopefully, my second CD is actually done by the time the director flies out to shoot interviews and such because that would be a nice little boost to my over all perception of being a nerdcore artist to have more than just one CD. It shows a commitment to the genre in my opinion.
Meanwhile, I hung out at AK, went with a group of those folks for food at Crossroads, then capped that at Denny’s with the BCC crew. Very fun stuff. I mean, Chicken Teriyaki, Peppermint Earl Grey Tea, Smothered Fries and Hot Cocoa, all with a side of great friends? That’s a lovely evening, even if it freezing outside. All in all, I think I could get used to this kind of social interlude. Really unwinds me for the weekend, allowing me to attend to other things because I’ve gotten my destressing from the week’s worries. Certainly did today…
…Well, atleast until I heard news of 4kids getting Pretty Cure, compounded by the CEO of 4kids repeatedly saying at an anime con “kids don’t read,” apparently ignorant of that whole Harry Potter thing, apparently ignorant of the success of manga, even in the target demographic he’s after. There goes my leisure because I’m going to have to camp the Toon Zone Anime Forum this weekend to put out fires. I guess that’s balance for ya.
Comments Off on Documentary’d and stuff.
Social Butterfly & Other Non-Such
Posted on February 18th, 2006
Filed under: General — Karl Olson @ 12:54 pm
So, I was very productive yesterday in my own way. Turned in a program that I should get an A on into Comp-Sci, hung out with two different social circles (Anime Kingdom and BCC,) went to three different restaurants in the process of that (one Chili’s and two different Denny’s,) payed for some webhosting for my secondary new website that’ll allow me to better promote my music (100s of GBs of bandwidth + GBs of webspace + Dedicated Domain == hay guyz my back catalog is online in it’s entirety for the first time ever,) received a disc full o’ fansubs from an acquaintance (Pretty Cure, because even though I know it’s going to be pedantic fanboy fodder with a psuedo-shoujo coating, a lot of the same staff will be working on the upcoming PPGZ and I want to really confirm whether they’ve got the chops to pull it off) and I tryed a new soda.
BTW, the second Denny’s I went to was running a survey on where Denny’s should put more restaurants, and one of the questions was “where did you just come from.” I had to fill in the other option, and I filled it with “another Denny’s.” Probably about the only time I’ll ever get to do that, but that was fun. Oh yeah, I ended up at two different Denny’s because the BCC crew couldn’t fit in one.
Meanwhile, the new soda I tryed was “Vault,” Coke’s attempt to get at Mt. Dew AMP/Mt. Dew MDX. It’s pretty tasty and definitely caffinated and sugarnated to the extreme, but I’ll still take real energy drinks over it because they’ve got the vitamins and herbs that last longer than a caffeine/sugar rush alone.
And that’s about I have to say today. 🙂
Comments Off on Social Butterfly & Other Non-Such
PAX 2K5 DVD Screencap(s)
Posted on February 2nd, 2006
Filed under: General — Karl Olson @ 12:28 am
Ok, it’s barely 2 pictures, and only from the concert DVD, but it’s something, and it’s a nice memento of the event.
Comments (4)
Someone said they wanted pictures of the shirt.
Posted on January 17th, 2006
Filed under: General — Karl Olson @ 12:53 am
I think they are crazy: See?.
Bonus picture: Xmas Gift.
Edit: Extra Bonus Pictures – Me from the PAX 2005 DVD trailer. 1 and 2.
Comments Off on Someone said they wanted pictures of the shirt.
And now, I have a modded shirt.
Posted on January 15th, 2006
Filed under: General — Karl Olson @ 7:34 pm
Thanks to my mom’s lovely sewing machine skills, I now have a Tohru Honda from Fruits Basket shirt modified for me. One of a kind. Take that Funimation! (Just kidding, I could never stay mad at them, after all, they did quote me on back of Spiral vol.5.)
Meanwhile, I continued my own home-ec skills by ironing on a new patch (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Laughing Man patch) on to my jean jacket/shirt, then reinforcing that patch with amazing hand stitching skills.
Otherwise, a fairly uneventful day. This week will probably busy and interesting though. Hopefully.
Comments Off on And now, I have a modded shirt.
Domestic Endeavors.
Posted on January 15th, 2006
Filed under: General — Karl Olson @ 12:53 am
Previously, I mentioned getting a Tohru Honda (Fruits Basket) shirt from Hot Topic. Well, I’m now roughly half-way through modifying it into a male-style shirt, thanks to a two buck shirt from walgreens offering up a pair of sleeves, and a few hours of removing stitches.
Tomarrow, grafting. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll learn enough about this kind of stuff to make cosplay. Granted, I don’t intend on giving up my press status any time soon, which means I’ve got to dress atleast semi-professionally at cons, which means no cosplay for con anyway. Ah well, atleast I can clothes-mod now.
Comments Off on Domestic Endeavors.
Mic Check Mic Check / Mass-Market Counterculture.
Posted on January 14th, 2006
Filed under: General — Karl Olson @ 4:32 am
This post will be a test of my blog, which is now operating on Version 2.0 of WordPress. Already, I’ve got some issues (no mySpace crossposting, again. LJ is up only because a different plugin, and that plugin needed some pruning of annoying blog-plugging code.)
Anyway, class was cancelled in the second day in the row (teacher has a rip-roaring cold,) so after my usual general gabbing at BCC, I made my way down to Anime Kingdom, where I got some new stuff and chatted with people. I went by Starbucks while I was there too, I got a Chai Tea Latte w/ some friends and family (thank you mom for footing the bill for everyone :D,) came back, hung out some more, and then made my way down to Hot Topic in Southcenter to meet back up with Zoe, Lucy and Mike (some of the other Anime Kingdom regulars for those of you just tuning in.)
Now, this is where the fun comes in. Normally, I don’t shop at Hot Topic. Maybe when they get an anime shirt in, or some cool Drum n’ Bass EP falls into their record bin for some odd reason, I’ll buy, but usually they are just to expensive for my blood. I can’t justify more than 40 bucks for pants, especially pants that a nerd like me can’t pull off. I mean, I’m a practical guy, so as much as I’m enamored with design and thus at points fashion, particularly counter-culture fashion (albeit mass-marketed, pre-packaged, nationally sold counter-culture fashion,) because I like the DiY (well, psuedo-DiY) attitude of those designs, I just look at things in terms of function over form most of the time. However, today, they had stuff that was already on clearance with an extra 50 percent off on top of it.
Oh snap! Bargains? My kryptonite.
So, for a mere 18 bucks including tax) I now have a Tohru from Fruits Basket t-shirt (originally meant for a woman, but with some modifications, I can make it a man shirt. Besides, it was 5 bucks. That’s worth the risk of wrecking the shirt, and/or wearing a girly shirt,) a mooninites wrist band (1 buck!??! the moon definitely rulz #1 at that price) and a cooler-than-me jacket that at about 10 bucks I couldn’t pass up on. If I put on one of my geek shirts under the jacket while wearing one my pairs of cheap and now well worn-in jeans and I’ll probably be “ironically hip in some flip universe.” Or something like that… 🙂
Comments Off on Mic Check Mic Check / Mass-Market Counterculture.
Private: “Eat At Taqueria / [Write For NewsPapers In] Korea” – Beck, Hollywood Freaks
Posted on January 5th, 2006
Filed under: Music News — Karl Olson @ 9:09 pm
So I wrote a game review for the JoongAng Daily. Yay for having friends that have connections, jobs at newspapers and very tight schedules that result in me getting in the paper. Well, it’s probably only for the online, but still, woooooooo.
————————————
*blatant ad for my annoying music*
BTW, the nerdcore CD is up for sale again . Supplies are limited, paypal only (and I mean paypal – no credit or debit via paypal. If you want to email me about entrusting a check to the postal system, I’m up for that too) and US only (unless you want to email me so I can find out how much it’ll cost to ship a CD to your locale.)
————————————
On a related note (in as much as it’s nerdy rap,) here’s a link to something you’ve probably already seen. However, I still find it funny. “You can call us Aaron Burr / From the way we’re dropping Hamiltons.”