Ah! Those are fantastic gifts, to be sure... I hope you can visit again soon.PS: As I understand it, the main problem with most VCRs you need to watch out for is dirty tape-paths. Ie, all the parts that the video tape runs across/is guided through. The machine actually pulls the tape out of the cassette and into itself in order to read it, and because of how thin the tape is, it's easy for it to get caught in something if some part of the tape guiding mechanism has gotten dirt over time. Simply cleaning all the parts the tape touches with rubbing alcohol every so often will help ensure your VCR never decides to eat your beloved tapes for breakfast. I have a number of video tapes that I occasionally watch, and I certainly would be sad to see them get destroyed.If you still have a VCR and ever want to watch your tapes again, be sure to open up the device (carefully, after unplugging it of course!) and clean the tape path. There's certainly videos on YouTube on what you need to clean.GKids is the current distributor of Studio Ghibli works in the US, their releases are very nice if you want to get the films on DVD/Blu-Ray. -Ellie
"Unless bought from a known and trusted dealer who can vouch otherwise, assume every train for sale requires servicing before use"
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LqD7PVHrI64
Some anime with steam in it. Pay attention to the guy with the squared off white beard at the beginning of this clip. It's hard to recognize, but I'm sure you will all knew who the voice belongs to. Don't believe me? Just make it so and engage the video!
Same me, different spelling!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9cDdJQrO-Nw
Top 10 voice actors you probably never knew did anime.
I should probably watch that one some day... I forget if my brother had the DVD or was just borrowing it from our cousin.On the note of some folks sharing favorite music from anime, I feel the need to share something that's... not exactly from an anime.I don't know if anyone here's seen Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (fantastic film), but it has one of the most wild and frenetic electronic Joe Hisaishi scores. It was preceeded by a concept album (called an image album) in 1983, a lot of the music was used in the film but a couple of the compositions never made it into the final film. One of them was a theme for the Sea of Corruption (localized as the Toxic Jungle in the English Language dub I grew up watching), with a far more opressive and strange personality than the Terry Riley esque music that was ultimately used.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MOpcCUopwYBuckle up, 'cauz it's nothing like Totoro or Sprited Away -Ellie
Well, this thread's been well and truly hijacked!
Who do you people think you are, ME?
That being said, I just watched "Steamboy." That was actually pretty good!
Hijacked? I started it!
You want something train themed Google Galaxy Express 999. It's out there. And I do mean "out there"!
On the other hand, here's what I consider the pinnacle of animation. The parade sequence from Innocence:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgHSZEIYu5I
The music, Ellie, is by Kenji Kawaii. This scene is the centerpiece of GITS2 Innocence and this is a much enhanced score of the original GITS theme he did in 1995. Same song, just WAY better sound reproduction!
Wayne: Steamboy is a great representation of the steampunk concept. A bit unrealistic in the idea of using a steam ball to power things, but visually impressive. I'll bet you watched it to see grandfather Steam! I didn't know it was Patrick Stewart until halfway through the film! The hero boy was voiced by the actress who played Rogue in the X-men movies by the way. And, of course, Patrick Stewart was Professor X in those movies as well!
Kenji Kawai is great Becky, love his stuff. First was introduced to him through Pat Labor, then I heard his soundtrack for the live action film, The Red Spectacles (part of Oshii's Kerberos Saga)How'd ya feel if I told you Kawai did a (small) score that's a lot like the track in that scene, but even better? It's for a feature called "Mezame no Hakobune" (Open Your Mind). There's only 4 tracks on the album, but except for the first, they're all very long (between 8 and 9 minutes, about) and feature the same style vocals and the track heavy percussion elements (particularly track 3). It's a great album, very ethereal and different from most other stuff I've heard from him.When it comes to "the best animation", there's a lot of animation I find impressive. I especially love really zany, wild character animation. But here's an absolutely legendary car chase from a Lupin III film that cracks me up to no end every single time. Car chases just don't get much better than this one, folks. And it's technically not off topic because there's a train in it briefly Only downside of that film for me is that they (presumably to save money that needed to be spent on other aspects of the production) didn't call in the usual voice actors or soundtrack composer. -Ellie
Hilarious! That has Studio Ghibli written all over it!
And for those who may be watching and wondering, first off you pronounce it Gee-Blee. And secondly a Ghibli was an Italian airplane: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caproni_Ca.309
Great clip! I love the police cars driving through the Onsen!
reminds me of a funny story,cue the laugh track.....
In 2001, we were staying in a hotel in Atami,Japan. Off the main lobby was a small sort of video arcade. I found and played one of the video games: the game was about driving one of the commuter trains, like they have in Tokyo. You would have to master the touch of the controls, stopping for stations, and accelerating out. My technique was quite rough. I jammed on the brakes at the station stop, and an animated lady on the video game almost fell over, and then took to mouthing some very sharp and biting words about my train handling skills...
Paul
Reminds me of a game for Nintendo DS that I have called Air Traffic Chaos. You lose points by causing stress to the pilots and passengers of the planes you control.
Here's an animated clip that will guarantee we stay on track.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N2ZjgHqM4dI
Holy (coal) smoke, it's "Lionelville!" With Doctor Z.W. and the Pullmore kids!
I've got that DVD, haven't watched it in a while though.
Me neither. I got mine at Ollie's for a buck.
On the other hand, I did just get through with a DVD double-header, "Susquehanna Steam Express" and "Susquehanna Spectacular," both vintage Mark I Videos transferred to DVD. The quality of that 30 year old videography's pretty darn good!
Becky, that clip didn't have any involvement with Ghibli but it isn't unlikely that parts of it could have been animated by staff who also did work for Ghibli.Paul, I absolutely love that story!Trying to stay "on track" myself, last time I saw the Polar Express I remember remarking that the tender on the toy train was a dead ringer for the classic Marx 'wedge' tender. I never thought to try and inspect closer, I wonder if the rest of the train was also based on Marx stuff.-Ellie
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