Not feeling great edition

The groan up world is going though one of its "We'll have the latest updates every ten minutes "sessions so while as I sit here on Thursday typing away, everything's up in the air regarding what I'd be talking about and given the people involved you certainly don't count on anything until it's happened.

That's hard enough going even when I am well which to be blunt I haven't been all week being generally out of it mentally and Physically ill with covid which is no fun at all so it's all been playing Taylor's albums this week and trying to stay cheerful.

I've also been looking a bit at my camera stuff since I bought it around 2020, what my needs are and to what extent is it meeting them as for everyday point and shoot stuff the Sony compact with its one very wide ranging zoom lens meets most needs, just lacking some of creative control and a proper Macro facility for life size close ups.

Strangely enough my Macro lens for it seems to have gone missing in action and I really don't know why as every other lens and its charger are present and correct.

Might need replacing potentially at some point.

The future of Higher Quality sound and me

 

Sailor Moon was an early special interest of mine, righting wrongs having her own unique quirks which as I sit reflecting on events in the last few days playing some HD downloads back I did find of classical music mainly from 2014-17 considering the future of that.

HD (High definition) is about getting great quality to that of regular cds to reveal more of the music making and venue but in an age that is more focused upon convenience, in the 2000's the iPod with its hundreds of poor quality lossy 128kb files or today with streaming, eating your data allowance on your smartphone when you have no right to expect anything to be there, it didn't become a everyday thing beyond musicians and hifi fans.

Part was and today remains it takes over £800 to get a super audio cd player and then only a few handfuls of discs are issued per year which was why I spent money improving on the regular cd reproduction even though I have a Super audio cd player in  the hifi.

HD Downloads were easier in that you selected them from the store and most digital audio players of the portable sort would just play them - the players could be had for around £100 upwards but much of that marked has moved from playing downloads to streaming music.

It's a pity as while as with anything based upon digital files you need to keep them backed up, they leave your mobiles data allowance untouched and as you own them, there's no question of a performance becoming unavailable in the way sometimes labels and artists pull things on the likes of Spotify.

As the number of  super audio discs Chandos puts out has dropped in the last two years not helped by there being only a handful of plants world wide that can make them, I can see a return to more HD downloads not least where I may have "classic" performances on cd or even record

Summer Wars

Summer is over with, last week's bitter wet weather proved that with getting drenched the Wednesday and having put the fire on in the mornings as the downstairs is cold but there's nothing wrong with looking back.

I bought this awhile but but between the showers found time to rewatch it.

Available on blu ray and dvd as well as a double pack with The Girl Who Leaped Thru Time which is by by the same director Mamuro Hosoda, this is about romance, family life and a cautionary note on putting technologically speaking all your eggs in one basket.

 
We begin with timid eleventh-grader and math genius Kenji Koiso who is asked by older student and secret crush Natsuki to come with her to her family's Nagano home for a summer job.
Kenji agrees without hesitation. Natsuki's family, the Jinnouchi clan, dates back to the Muromachi era, and they've all come together to celebrate the 90th birthday of the driven matriarch of the family, Sakae. Kenji upon arriving discovers his summer job is to pretend to be Natsuki's fiancé and dance with her at the birthday celebration. 

As Kenji attempts to keep up with Natsuki's act around her family, he receives a strange math problem on his cell phone which, being a math genius, he can't resist solving.

 Little did he realize it turned out to be the solution to the mysterious equation that causes a hijacking of the social networking site through which most of the world's social and business traffic flows. 

 
Kenji and family have the difficult task of putting right this AI created situation.
This is one anime that never lets up to the last minute keeping you on the edge of your seat and is strongly recommended.

The second state visit of the President

After all the mess of last week in politics we have the Baby's visit to the U.K.

This should of been the crowing moment in Keir Starmer, the U.K. Prime Minister attempt to walk the diplomatic tightrope to the point of his appointing Peter Mandelson as our Ambassador to the United States in a decision that looks shadier and shadier by the day.

This isn't helped by being linked to the Epstein pedophilia scandal to Donald "Baby" Trump who is facing questions about what he knew and why he was at the same parties so we're trying in the engagements to keep well clear of such things.

Fortunately the Baby although cranky is easily entertained by playing at acting like a King, following a real grown up reviewing the armed services, watching parades and fly pasts, perhaps he can have a model to take home?

He also likes dinners that put the centre of attention on him and that was arranged with expert catering with opportunities to say just how he's enjoying this and yes some good *MAY* come out of this when getting investment in and improving relations that have taken a battering over lack of support for Nato, being pro Russian and the disgrace that was the handling of a meeting with the Ukrainian president before we mention tariffs (although we did get some reductions). 

As I write this he should be having political talks today with the Prime Minister although his grasp of the realities is questionable - perhaps a colour the world map book and  a childs primer of facts and figures of world is what the baby needs to be gifted in order to make sense of what the grown ups are talking about - but he's so sure he knows everything and anyway only the U.S.A matters.

So long as he's happy and doesn't have to go on the naughty step I'm happy and maybe one day we'll have  a adult running America.

is it all going pear shaped?

 

Well it's been such a big fortnight in the groan up world of politics it would of been difficult to had predicted what was going to be around the corner beyond the inability of the government with a massive commons majority to get done what it's leader and Prime Minister wishes.

 

From votes that would of been lost requiring 180 degree turn arounds to losing the deputy Prime Minister for being less than entirely truthful about just how much Stamp Duty she should of paid on her third home following on from the less than accurate work experience details on her Political C.V. the Chancellor or the Exchequer had.

 

The week saw four contenders whittled down to two to be the deputy leader of the ruling Labour Party which not being the same as Deputy Prime Minister has the potential to act as an out of parliament challenge to his authority and losing Lord Mandelson over connections to a U.S. Developer who is a pedophile with gushing set of emails and comments upon his then 50th birthday.

 

And this person, prominent in Tony Blair's days in office from 1997 to 2007for handling the media was seem as a bit a slippery eel then was appointed in 2024 after the General Election to be our Ambassador to the United States of America.

 

Now he has been sacked.

 

Not a good week and bit for Prime Minister Starmer,eh? 

Sorted!

 

September and school's back don't you know!

Between a bit of tidying up, I have been playing a few records as I'm getting used to the changes on the vinyl side changing the cartridges over with have the one I had when I first acquired this record deck in 2016 being unobtainable new today over here although it is based on a design by a well known manufacturer and some recording on the previous set up being a bit bright and lacking in the lowest notes.

They're a mixture of original mono discs, regular stereo issues and the odd "audiophile" versions and at the same I time cleared some duplicates hawing determined which copies I do prefer and it is sometimes quite a subjective thing.

While some might prefer to keep a whole catalogue of variants, I find that's unworkable looking at storage alone and how many copies would I get around to actually playing?

I think I did a decent job of that and now I can enjoy more the records I prefer that'll pay dividends for the future. 

Prétear

I've been recently rewatching this complete Prétear collection four DVD set that presents the complete series for a total of 13 episodes.

Shin Shirayuki Hime Densetsu Pretear is a long title which translates into New Legend of Snow White Pretear. 

What makes Pretear anime special is the story. Its a magical girl show, but its part Cinderella plus part Snow White and a dash of bishounens! You will see a lot of fairy tale parallels with this anime series.Created by acclaimed animators Kaori Naruse and Junichi Sato (SAILOR MOON), the magical-girl anime series PRÉTEAR centres around 16-year-old Himeno, who's widowed father remarries and moves them to his new wife's palatial island estate.

On her way to school, Himeno meets a little boy who asks her to take his hand. When she does, she faints and later she wakes up staring up at a dark haired bishounen! The bishounen who helps revive her turns out to be Hayate, one of the seven knights of the earth. They were looking for Shin Shirayuki Hime Densetsu Pretear (the legendary magical girl that can help them save the earth from ruin and destruction). Hayate, the more temperamental of the seven believes that Himeno is the girl they are looking for.

The story is not just about Himeno and the seven knights. It is also about her home life and her father, Kaoru. Kaoru and Himeno are very close to each other. Natsue, Kaoru's new wife, is jealous of the closeness that Himeno and Kaoru share. 

Natsue also has two spoiled daughters, Mawate and Mayune. Her father, Kaoru, is quite enamored with his new wife and the life he lives that he assumes that Himeno is happy too.

With a stern new stepmother and two stepsisters who either taunt or ignore her, Himeno thinks that things can't get any worse--until she is visited by seven mysterious men called the Leafe Knights. Led by the handsome but disdainful Hayate, the knights inform Himeno that she is a magical being with the power to help them battle the evil Princess of Disaster, who is spreading demon larvae in an effort to destroy the world's life force.

Eschewing the genre's typical cutesiness for truly innovative storytelling bolstered by gorgeous animation and exciting action sequences, Prétear is the rare magical-girl anime that appeals to both female and male fans alike.

I quite enjoyed rewatching this as it deals with sadness, the need to be strong facing down one's demons and the magic of loving another.