Meddle

I've always had a soft spot for the Pink Floyd but most of my albums went by the late 80's. Recently Todber (Dan) let me have this the Canadian copy (Harvest/Capitol SMAS 832) for free as it needed a bit of a clean and he had 3 other copies of this title ready to sell.
This copy uses American stampers with JAM "Mastered By Capitol" and while not being quite as open as say a good UK pressing, is pretty good actually with impressive bass. Canadian vinyl is very quiet because they use better quality materials compared to that in the States.
I'd play grade the first side VG+ as there are a small number of minor scuff marks that leave the odd 'pop' during One Of These Days while side two is EX (I'm using Goldmine grading)

Diamond Daydreams

Well this was a dvd that I always wanted to get but wasn't able until now as it not issued over here and the individual imported discs were quite expensive.

Based on a story by Ohji Hiroi, this is a collection of tales about six woman in the Northern Japanese island of Hokkaido telling of their trials of love, loss and life.

Meet the women:
Atsuko. 
A hard working, fun loving woman who tries not to let life get too complicated discovers an approaching arranged marriage to a self centred Hotelier. Another man mature and passionate becomes a part of her life too and she torn between them.She has to battle between wanting the comfort of firm stability and the pain of a wanting heart.
Karin. 
She is very ill and her Physician doesn't seem to doing much for her either medically or emotionally being cocky and aloof to her needs.The only thing that keeps her going is her Blog on the Internet as only there does she find some warmth and sanity in her cold confined state.In time her blog develops a following that leads to her meeting a new friend that is kind and caring. She feels this is the one she's been longing for however when she mets him face to face things aren't what they seem.
Kyoko. 
She's an aspiring young filmmaker to whom creating compelling stories and capturing them in an engaging way is her only goal in life.Passionate about this she will stop at nothing to make it happen, spending the college days obsessed with her craft and neglecting all else around her. As her unbridled passion for directing grows the rift between her, colleagues and friends widens. It seems by focusing on her craft she's lost the her touch with the intimacy of her world that a true master of the cinema needs to draw their inspiration.
Suomi. 
You could say she was born to be on the ice commanding her skates to glide using her grace and strength with a delicate ease. In her childhood she with her friend Hanna often dreamed of winning skating tournaments and sharing medals when they grew up.This is well in past now and her star has faded as has her friendship with Hanna. Life indeed has moved on.
Suomi senses an opportunity to perform again but she is engulfed by a flood of memories taking her back to her humble beginnings, her once beautiful friend, Hanna and to a promise made long ago.
Shoko. 
She's a radio presenter doing an agony aunt style show which is very successful, is held in high regard by her listeners and indeed you could say she really couldn't ask for a better job.
We learn that she is having an affair with a married man and this relationship already shaky grows further so, she's forced ask herself some very importantly and emotionally painful questions.
Akari. 
Ever since the death of her mother she's lives alone with her father. She works during the day at the local confectionery and while not there does household chores and takes care of her father.
Her father is an unsuccessful gold digger,.
To make things worse he is a drunk, spending the majority of his time and Akari's money at the bar at the end of their street where every night he gets into fights after drinking a lot resulting in him being kicked out.
Faithfully Akari picks him up and takes him home putting him to bed.
You'd think it could not get any worse but when Akari find out about her fathers illness it does.

Presentation: This is on 3 dvd's in slimcases inside a slipcase so it takes up the same space as a regular dvd and is Region 1 (many players can be made all region).

Suomi eats a cream bun

Brother Beyond

Rewind the trax! Back in 1988 i was infatuated if that's the right world with this boy band pop act.
Comprised of David Ben White, Carl Fysh, Steve Alexander and Nathan Moore their attempts at pop stardom took a significant leap following the involvement of the then in demand production team of Stock Aitken and Waterman who remixed several tracks recorded for this album which include 'The Harder I Try' 'He Ain't No Competition', 'Be My Twin' and 'Can You Keep a Secret'.
The band were also famous for their Buddhist religious beliefs.The second album 'Trust' and singles from it all bombed! I still own and enjoy playing this record my sister in law bought me.
Link:
Brother Beyond - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A window on the past

This project has been a good few years in the making from the heady days of 2004 when I first saw Friends Reunited, joining up in time for the New Year of 2005, finding people from my past schools I hadn't heard much from ages and talking freely about how that boy felt in the classroom as much as what we're doing and where we are living now.

Words that were used were "unforgettable" and "inspiring" and many others that I'd of never of put in any narrative about me cos back then the thin line between acting in "code" and just acting on your natural impulses could of led to people losing respect as I moved from being pretty okay with being a boy and being with boys to the misunderstood points that aligned with the having this feminine side and needing to have a connection let that side out.

It appears decades on that people "got" that and actually respected  how that side made me different. Some used what slim opportunities to the max which were available to help me let that out by letting me in what were otherwise all female spaces and others would find unoccupied storerooms and switch my trousers for the girls uniform skirt as we tried to uncover what was actually me.

That era had its confusions as much as today other peoples attempt to own narratives about them lead to pushing those of us who aren't transgender out of the variance which ultimately male or female a good number of us are.

They knew I was very much a feminine boy who liked to wear skirts and had this feminine side rather than "being" a girl, in so many ways more the boy version of girls world of the Tom Boy who liked being a girl too even if she had a masculine side.

I'm happy using the term Little Sissy Gurl to denote the difference as that child-like non sexual me from any adult "sissy" meanings.

Those of us in that mix own us and the way we take it into our lives.

Mini Me

A recent arrival in my wardrobe is this lovely Death Skull mini skirt from Death Kitty. 

Here I am wearing it with plain black tee shirt, black underwear and stockings with a red bow.
I just love it.

On 2009 and thoughts for 2010

I usually take a bit of a look at the last twelve months on this blog from its inconception in 2006 looking at the things that came up, and sometimes the things that came down.

I continued to explore things around being an adult little boy, looked back at aspects of my feminine schoolboy past and how that ties to other interests such as music, reading and the arts.

For instance music lovers have been treated to some great limited edition re-issues from MoFi and Audio Fidelity taking in artists such as The Cars, The Band, Rod Stewart and Joe Walsh etc.

On the other hand the AF issue of the Pretenders first album was a mess and that was even admitted by the Mastering Engineer responsible!!!

Apple/Capitol-EMI came up trumps in September with their stereo AND mono re-mastered Beatles albums exceeding all expectations for sound quality and packaging. Full review in September's 2009 entries here.

Also EMI made a great start on the Duran Duran deluxe re-masters starting with Rio  and are scheduled to issue S/T and Seven and the Ragged Tiger on March 15 restoring never before available on cd material to the catalogue even adding valuable DVD's too.

Some great anime sets were issued last year such as Moon Phase.

We were cordially invited to indulge at the Ouran High School Host Club where all 26 episodes were issued in two sets at a discounted price in a move that helped to keep piracy under control.

Crunchyroll having gotten legit on the internet streaming side got better with exciting titles like K-On! and Skip Beat and expanded the Asian Drama collection. They even made a start on J-Rock! Princess Nisa kept us entertained at the 'Weird Person" CR group too.

Amazon helped too with getting a DVD player that could be made to play 'all regions' and it was easy to order stuff from the States where the local distributor here hadn't  a license plus NEO never had a less than essential issue with loads of well written features on anime/manga and J Life.

UK television became multichannel as default as more areas include mine went digital only but the amount of anime shown dropped . We even lost the Anime Network on satellite so we are dependent on online streaming that brings issues of regional licensing/lock outs very much to the fore.

I found a lot of real friends who were around where a group of people tried to shut me down earlier in the year.

I explored more around more feminine presentation to make up for the time lost during childhood when that wasn't so possible given conventions and attitudes then, finding what worked and what did not.

They didn't count on my strength with YOUR support to come back stronger than ever with this blog radically improved or stop me posting on site either!

And finally we've made a new decade, the 2010's so enjoy.

Regards, Tammy.