Sugar: A Little Snow Fairy

I have seen this anime around but my impression of it was that it would be one of those vacuous 'cute for the sake of cute' animes about nothing in particular and the most the creator wanted me to take away from it was that 'OMG THAT WAS THE CUTEST EVER WASN'T THAT SO CUTE'. So naturally I stayed away. Despite what I thought initially however, this was actually a good story and yes, it is cute, but not cute for the sake of cuteness.

The story begins with an industrious young girl named Saga. Saga lives with her grandmother and has her life planned down to the minute. She doesn't like disorganization and even makes plans and decisions for her friends. This all starts to unravel, however, when Saga comes across a tiny fairy who almost passes out from hunger. Saga gives her a waffle to eat and the fairy follows her home. At first Saga dislikes the attention and is constantly trying to ignore or get away from Sugar, the fairy. Eventually though, the two become good friends and Saga becomes important to Sugar's mission.

Sugar is a snow fairy. Fairies control to weather, there are fairies who control wind, rain, sun, the clouds, etc. and Sugar controls snow, or will after her training period. Sugar is an apprentice fairy and she, along with other apprentice fairies, must spend time on earth to find 'twinkles'. Each fairy must find a 'twinkle' to make their own magic flower bloom, and only then can they become a full-fledged season fairy. Many of the episodes focus on the fairies trying to find these twinkles.

This show is not only for fairy lovers, there is also a a very strong musical theme. The fairies control their weather specialization with a musical instrument, and Saga herself loves the piano and plays often throughout the series. Music itself doesn't play as big a role as the love of instruments and the hold they may have on our memories.

The characters grow immensely in this series. Saga is not the up-tight girl who clung to a schedule. After she meets Sugar, Saga slowly is forced to loosen up a bit. Normally, people can't see season fairies so they fly out in the open and are invisible to people, but Saga is an exception and can see them. This poses a problem for her because not only do her schedules come under attack, but she is talking to and interacting with things no one but her can see. Over time though, Saga makes room for life to happen and doesn't cling so tightly to her schedule. Both Saga and Sugar experience trials, both individually and together and both grow a little bit from each hardship they face. It's kind of like fruits basket in that it's a sweet story on the surface, but it has a hidden depth to it, it's not as deep or intricate as fruits basket but it does have that double layer of surprising substance even though the characters are so cute.

Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey

This is a great book about a girl with passion for music. The story takes place in a fictional land called Pern. McCaffrey has fully developed this world in a whole series of books, this is only one series of many that take place in this land, but a lot of them are adult novels as opposed to this one which is meant for kids. The book focuses on this girl named Menolly, who lives in a very conservative fishing village; in a time before modern technology and in a world where dragons exist. Menolly loves music, but it is frowned upon for women to participate in music in any significant way, AKA singing in a chorus is OK, but it is unheard of for a woman to play instruments or compose music. To be a 'harper' which is a person treated almost like a scholar or a priest. Men with talent go off to study in a harper school and to be a harper is a very prestigious position. Every little town is sent their own harper to teach the children songs and to preside over the music at ceremonies and events.

So this girl Menolly is very talented and loves music, but because of the society she lives in, she can't enjoy her gift. The old harper in her village recognized her talent and fostered her gift, and because she was a child her parents allowed this, but as the story opens we find that this old harper is dead and the town (of which her father is the chief) has requested for a new harper. Before the old harper died, he had sent off some songs Menolly had written to the master harper, who is the most important harper of all. He really liked these and told the new harper to find this (thought to be male) prodigy. and this is where we walk into the story.

Menolly then goes through some trials, one of which is cutting her hand while gutting fish. This is particularly tragic because she is told that she can no longer play music. She already feels useless because she's taller and stronger than 'a girl should be' and she has no interest in what she should be doing. Her parents, especially her father, are against her playing music. Her father even beats her when he finds her absentmindedly strumming a guitar after he forbid her to make any music, as he doesn't want her to shame their village when the new harper comes. Because of this she makes herself scarce and eventually runs away to live on a cliff with these little dragons called fire lizards. Will she ever play music again?

This is the first in a trilogy and is a great story for both budding fantasy lovers as well as for veterans. It's a quick read, but has memorable characters and a fast-paced plot. Fun for all ages.

Whisper of the Heart (1995)

This movie reminded me slightly of Kiki's Delivery Service. Kiki's Delivery Service was made before it though, and I'd have to say that it was a better story of self discovery. But as Whisper of the Heart is also from Studio Ghibli, the fact that it pales in comparison to Kiki in no way makes it a bad film.

Whisper of the Heart is the story of a girl who is at odds with herself. She has no direction and doesn't know what she will do in the future. She meets a boy who loves music and is inspired by his passion, so decides to write a novel. There isn't a lot of action in the movie, but watching Shizuku struggle with her frustration at discovering what she enjoys and what she should do with her life, and then the passion and effort she puts into attempting to fulfill that endears her to the audience. She struggles with some conventions that the young people of today are encouraged to participate in. I won't say exactly what so as not to spoil anything, but suffice it to say that she resisted this convention because didn't see the use of participating and later returned to it when she saw the use. 

At the end of the movie, Shizuku finds her beginning, and I have to say that the story she is writing bears more than a resemblance to The Cat Returns, another Ghibli film created after this one.

Overall a sweet film, but Kiki does a better job of it on the whole.

Americas – Strunz and Farah

Strunz & Farah are amazing artists. I own several of their albums and each... well they all rival each other for the best among them. The guitar-ing is amazingly well done, the instrumentals this band puts together is among the most intensely technical and passionate music I own. It's good.

Each album has it's own flavour, and this one's kind of jungle-y. There is a rainforest-like percussion that accompanies some amazing guitar work. When I think of this album as opposed to the others, it's a bit more laid back. There's most definitely some rippin' latin guitarin' going on... but it's more lying in the sun music if you ask me.

You owe it to yourself to at least hear some of their work, if you don't plan on going all out and buying the album... it's most definitely worth the listen. Be sure to check out their other albums as well.

Flying In A Blue Dream- joe satriani

Satch is pretty awesome. I've once heard him described as the guitarist's guitarist, and although I'm not a guitarist, I'm not oblivious to the intense level of technicality he brings to what he does. This was more of a mellow album, though it has a lot of intense instrumentals. I most enjoy this album when I'm just relaxing or am on one of those natural highs. Basically any state where I can just sit back and let the music roll over me.

Are You Dead Yet? ~ Children of Bodom

This is a great album, the songs are intense!! Children of Bodom have the talent of creating hard core songs without loosing a varied melody. The instrumentals are technically awesome and have a sufficient range giving each song it's own flavour and unlike a lot of other artists I don't confuse one song with another. On this album I'd have to say that my preferred track is Are You Dead Yet? I've loved this song for quite some time and no matter how many time I listen to it it never gets old or repetitive. Next I guess would be Living Dead Beat... but honestly all the tracks are pretty good.

The Reminder by Feist

This CD's on a lot at work, and I have to say that it isn't that bad to listen to. If left to my own devices, I would probably only listen to one or two songs of my own volition, but the CD in itself has a nice easy flow to it. Some songs can be rather melancholy if you're in the appropriate mood, but on the whole I'd say it's a light-hearted, easy-going album. at the very least worth a listening to, even in passing.

Beck Mongolian Chop Squad by Harold Sakuishi

Beck's a great story, basically about this kid who gets into a band. It's really inspiring and down to earth. The day to day crap was really relatable and was almost enjoyable to watch because even though bad things happens to Koyuki (I think he even says at some point 'when it rains it really pours for me' or something) he still doesn't get majorly depressed and looks at the situation positively. 

I also thought that the passion for music was successfully transferred to the reader and at some points I really wanted to pick up a guitar and start playing, though I don't know how. Some of the ways they related to the American music industry was kind of gimmicky, but it was pulled off a lot better than I've seen else where, like they won't just throw out some musician's name just so that the reader's like 'ooo they know who that is!!!' which I find largely annoying, but the people they did incorporate were given a couple of lines to explain who they were and how they fit into the story so it wasn't that bad. The story did feel like it was dragging on in some places, but those were usually the places that the guitar guy was being a douche, but it gets resolved so I guess you just have to suffer through it (though the story usually makes up for the suffering, and I guess it could be seen as a good kind of tension). I'm not done it yet so I don't know if I'm satisfied with it yet, but there are a few indicators of a happy ending so I think it'll pay off. So to sum up... give this one a shot.

10,000 Days- Tool

I've always liked tool, but this album came together for a bit better than did their other albums. Some songs were almost transcendental. Some of the songs really make you slow down, or even stop what you're doing or thinking about and just listen. The prime example of this for me on this CD was Lost Keys. That song isn't just a song... it's an experience. It's like, the listener is in the head of someone who is lost, confused, scared and lonely. It was brilliant how they got the doctors to talk over the music to the 'main character', but the music over powers their words with the over bearing emotion so that while you hear the words, you don't care about them, because the voices don't care about you and don't understand what you're going through. They just want to 'deal with you' and get you out of there. ... It gets me every time. But it's good. Vicarious is another good one. If not buy the CD, make sure you listen to some songs (in my opinion the ones I mentioned hold the highest priority, of course).

With Oden On Our Side- Amon Amarth

This band is my current favourite, because of the song Hermod's ride to Hel. It doesn't matter what mood I'm in, when i hear that song... it feels like i'm soaring inside. The awesomeness, it fills me. I love the instrumentals. sometimes I focus only one the instruments and block out the voices because they just... sing to me, for lack of better phrase :P but I also enjoy the vocals. as opposed to other, similar kinds of music, I find the vocals to be oddly clear... in a guttural sort of way (if you listen to death metal/ other guttural stuff, you'll know what I mean) its almost relaxing. But yes, Hermod's ride to Hel is my absolute favourite song right now, everything in that one clicks for me, but the other songs are good too. Great album

Evil Dead: the Musical soundtrack

This musical was hilariously amazing! It's based off those old horror movies, called evil dead, about a bunch of kids who go up to an abandoned cottage for spring break aannd get attacked by zombies. The songs are catchy and funny, though in my opinion better watched than listened to, but we won't complain about the awesomeness. I recommend that EVERYONE go see the musical as it's really funny, and after you do that you'll want the cd, because yes its that good. It's like rocky horror picture show, that kind of thing, except you laugh in this one.

Surfing With The Alien ~ Joe Satriani

I really enjoy this album, it's amazing. The guitar's nuts. The songs are technically intense, and sometimes when this happens the quality of the song suffers so that the guitarist can show off their mad skills, not so much the case with this album. All of the songs have amazing range and melody and can be listened to by the average person as just really great songs, not only by guitar students marvelling at what this guy can do, which is pretty intense in it's own right, but I'm hardly the person to talk up this guy's skill. This is more of an up beat album, not madly energetic, but calmly up beat, if that makes sense. I'd have to say that my favourite songs would be surfing with the alien and lords of karma, but quite honestly all of the songs are amazingly well done

Passion and Warfare ~ Steve Vai

Steve Vai knows how to use a guitar and can do some pretty fancy things with one... but listening to the album I couldn't help but think to myself 'if only he could channel that awesomeness into a great song'. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy this album and think it's great stuff, but it's more a showcase of what he can do on a guitar and not so much an attempt at amazing song writing. You could say that the album lacks soul. So while I will enjoy it when I listen to it, I have to be in the mood for it because it's not a song I'm listening to, it's technique.

Something that kind of bugged me a bit in this album was the talking aspects of the songs. Like, the most prominent example, in the song 'the audience is listening', the supposed premise is that an elementary school aged Vai is going to play a composition for his class and his teacher is glowing with praise, but as he starts to play she says it's too loud and wild and bad mouths it... throughout the whole song. Trying a bit too hard to capture that something else. Rebel yell a bit less.

I think the deal with this guy is that he was a student of Joe Satriani, or they had some sort of relationship like that... and I'm sorry to say but he has a ways to go in comparison.

Oh What A Feeling Volume 2

I really enjoyed this compilation. I'm usually hesitant in the compilation department because I enjoy variation... I can't listen to the same kind of music for too long without getting somewhat frustrated, but this collection was great! So many different genres were represented, and by fabulous artists no less. They have the classics like the band, The Guess Who, Rush and such, but they also have modern stuff like Barenaked Ladies, Our Lady Peace and Great Big Sea. There are also the much appreciated presence of artists such as Susan Aglukark, Snow, and Ashley Macisaac. ... it's good.
 
Of course it doesn't have everything... it's true completion could only come with some hard core metal.. which they understandably lack (as it's not exactly mainstream or easy listening.. but w/e)
 
This is the first of this series I've encountered, but I think I will check the others out. Decent overview.