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
"Unless bought from a known and trusted dealer who can vouch otherwise, assume every train for sale requires servicing before use"
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!
Me neither. I got mine at Ollie's for a buck.
Same me, different spelling!
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.
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
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
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
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
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!
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!
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!
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
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9cDdJQrO-Nw
Top 10 voice actors you probably never knew did anime.
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!
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
LeverettrailfanWayne- I've heard of Girls Und Panzer, considered watching it but I haven't it seems like a goofy fun show though.
It must have been a BIG hit in Japan, it even got the Tokyo Philharmonic treatment!
(By the way, this is the best arrangement of "Panzerlied" I've ever heard!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSQKdpDnX2w
Our VHS tapes of Totoro and Ponyo were gifts to my daughter from my wife's family in Japan. We are waiting for Japan to lift Covid restrictions to go back for a visit. It's been a while....
Wayne- I've heard of Girls Und Panzer, considered watching it but I haven't it seems like a goofy fun show though.Paul- that's nice you folks have a subtitled version. I like the fox dub, but original language & subtitles is hard to go wrong with imho. Who distributed it?My family has Ponyo too, ours is a DVD I think, I forget if it has a subtitled option or if it's english language only. I like a lot of the others more, but it's no slouch, I'm very fond of the mother's zany driving while she's trying to get to work on time (why am I forgetting her name?)Wayne, I wonder what you'd think of the rail tank that makes a brief appearence in Laputa: Castle In The Sky-Knowing Miyizaki, it was definitely at least based on something that really existed. It certainly has the look of a classic 'rail tank'. I highly recommend the film, it's a fun story of adventure and discovery, and old rumors of a long lost, technologically advanced civilisation who supposedly built a city in the sky. I best not say more, lest I spoil something.
Just be sure to watch the subtitled original if you can, Disney flubbed a lot of important lines when they made their english dub (though the voice actors they chose all sound fantastic). The disney version also has a different soundtrack from the original, but both the olriginal and the re-scored soundtrack are good.-Ellie
https://link.shutterfly.com/KiSnMJ2ehqb
I doodled up this multiped years ago using the
3D modeling program Metasequoia. In the GITS
universe, the Tachikoma have artificial intelligence
and the mentality of a pre teen girl (armed with
lethal weaponry). They provide both comic relief
and operational support.
I also built a 1:48 scale model by kitbashing parts
from Gundam models I got cheap at Big Lots. I'll
try to find it.
pennytrains Watch for the 4 legged blue mini tanks in the opening sequence
Hmmm, a bit bizarre for my taste. Personally I prefer those Tigers, King Tigers, and Panthers that unlike the real ones actually work reliably!
Different song for season 2. These are elite ex military cyborgs by the way working as police officers in a counter terrorism, counter espionage, counter cybercrime and occasional simple bank heist role by the way.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KAE_NL6dhmg
I prefer multiped weaponry. Tachikoma to be specific. Watch for the 4 legged blue mini tanks in the opening sequence from the Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex TV series:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QxkMzn4et2U
The version of " Totoro" we have is a VHS tape in original Japanese, with English subtitles. We also have a film called " Ponyo". Since they are VHS, haven't watched them in years....
All the Studio Ghibli films have a distinctive look. Just love it!
Well, I have heard of this silly Japanese show called "Girls und Panzer," which the YouTube algorithm threw at me one day. Looks marvelously goofy all right!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhgo5QLs7U8
Paul, no way! I hear it's increddibly difficult to get a slot there because of how popular it is. Totoro was one of my favorite films growing up, and still is a favorite. Somewhere my brother has a plush doll of the cat bus, about beanie baby size. Me & my siblings grew up watching the 20th Century Fox release... it has a different english language dub (by streamline). I haven't heard the Disney dub, but I hear that people who are used to the fox dub don't like it, so I'm hesitant to try it That story about the Helms man is way cool! I've never checked out Astro-Boy, but maybe some day I'll explore it. There's an awful lot of anime out there, and even more manga... and not all of it is for everyone.My first introduction to anime outside of Ghibli films was a Lupin III feature film that Hayao Miyizaki directed, Castle of Cagliostro. It's a lot of fun, even if like me you went in blind with no prior familiarity with the franchise. Has a fantastic car chase early in the film, for anyone who loves a good one of those!-Ellie
Check it out, homies!!!
I'm da O.G...
I grew up with Astroboy, we loved it. Early '60's. I remember the Helms man coming by with his wares(. Foot note: the Helms man was a delivery truck that would deliver baked goods from the Helms bakery. You would put a sign up in your window that was a drawing of a ship's helm). At one point they advertised on T.V. That the helms man had some pictures of Astroboy for sale also. Life in suburbia, So Cal in the early'60's. The Helms man is long gone...
Also, " My Friend Totoro" is a Rock Star in our household. Our daughter had many Totoro items, a back pack pencil case, etc...She visited the Studio Ghibli museum in Japan....
Perfect Blue is a bit bloody. But of course, it's only red ink.
Ah! Satoshi Kon! I haven't seen Perfect Blue, been debating if it's going to be a bit much for me or not. I've seen Milenium Actress.In general horror is a little intense for me. I do really enjoy the short "Chicken Man and Red Neck" from the anthology Robot Carnival, which is sorta horror. It's so whimsical though that it's hard to be scared!-Ellie
Another good movie to search for is Perfect Blue. It's a Hitchcock-esque horror film. It centers around a J-Pop star who quits the band and performing to go into acting instead.
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