The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

Well this was going to happen sooner but I got waylaid so here goes...

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

I wanted this so much when it came out around November time last year but if ya hadn't noticed there's a recession on and one consequence of this was threat Beez's UK distributor went into receivership but I managed to get this reissue.

The story revolves around Haruhi Suzumiya, a high school girl obsessed with finding all forms of the extraordinary and supernatural, and Kyon, a cynical classmate who proclaims his non-belief in such matters and narrates the series. 

After being displeased with the mundane happenings at school and the lack of interesting after-school clubs, she forms her own, the SOS Brigade, to investigate any mysterious happenings, with Kyon forcibly drafted as its second member.

She drafts in additional members into the SOS club and in time they are revealed to be the extraordinary characters she is seeking (Yuki, an artificial human created by the extraterrestrial Integrated Data Entity; Mikuru, Time Traveller; and Itsuki, esper), sent by their various organizations to observe Haruhi. 

All see Haruhi as possessing a superhuman control over the universe, capable even of recreating the entire universe in a state of dissatisfaction and attempt to prevent this by keeping her entertained, holding her powers in check, and maintaining the illusion of a normal life.

The series became an Internet phenomenon and in the absence had to make do with a subbed import with so-so quality but have now gotten the UK R2 Re-issue 4 dvd set

Footwear

 

Given my physical disabilities and how they make walking for me very difficult  I tend to stick very much with sturdy flat soled shoes although in my younger days I wore leather sandals a lot which were more breathable.

Any kind of a heel just unbalances me and in practise the only real differences between boys and girls brogues tends to be the motifs on some.

When it comes to socks either girls white socks or boys grey ones with turn over tops works and that is what girls at co-ed Prep Schools wear, essentially the same socks as the boys.

Life at home

This week I'm writing a bit about life it home from my bedroom HQ.

This is a picture of a porcelain doll I've had since my teens called Debbie.

She was bought for me from a doll fair near Macclesfield and she's been with me no matter where I've been living ever since. 

I like the blouse and dress she's wearing.

Feminine Little Gurls like me love our dolls.

As a LSG I live by the rules of the Grown Ups who decide what happens when I break their rules and they are displayed in a very visible place to remind me at all times there are consequences to my actions.

We have standards that I am expected to keep to which are set out on the chart.

Ours is a house which spanks so I will always be spanked firmly to teach me not to do it again which isn't nice but I don't need nice I just need to learn to behave by our rules without question because they keep me safe and teach me how to live right.

Waves! with Mastersound Gold cds

Think of summertime radio and you fall straight back to this Anglo-American outfit known as Katrina and the Waves whose hit Walking On Sunshine written 4 years before charting is THE summer song.

Those of us who were braver back in '85 ventured and bought the album only to find that this was really a bar band with a neat line in well crafted good-time rock. It was followed up a year later by Waves! which featured the European hit Sun Street.

I had the second on imported vinyl but lost the XDR tm tape of their first album a while ago.

Fortunately BGO reissued the albums on a single cd in 1996 in an excellent transfer.
Catalogue number BGOCD 330

These mastersound gold cd's came out during the mid 1990's and I bought several of them as they purported to from the original mastertapes and were a bit cheaper than those issued by so-called 'audiophile' labels such as MFSL and DCC.

They were a mixed bag - I couldn't get on with the issue of Boston S/T being screechy replacing that by a regular US version - and failed to see the sense and trying to make a audiophile issue of Bat Out of Hell, an album that has lots of mixing issues whatever you might think of it musically.

Miles Davis's Kind Of Blue benefited from a new stereo mixdown with the tapes run at the correct speed and a more richer sound than the 1986 Jazz Classics cd issue.

For me the 52nd Street and Infinity albums remain the preferred digital versions despite newer remasters emerging.

People still argue about Reo Speedwagon's Hi Infidelity album on cd and for me nothing beats a good original lp version.

The original Japan for Europe Issue I bought back in 1987 has it's strong points such as the smooth mid range but the lowest notes are reduced and the hi hats on Keep On Loving You are over emphasized.

The Mastersounds has a few drop outs on what was side one and may sound  bit more processed but to me sounds more balenced overall.

Audiophiles also argue about Tapestry, the classic 1971 Carol King album but for me it's all about the mids and this mastering focuses on her voice.

Sony MZ-E 20 MD Player

Now this takes me back a few years, May 1998 to be exact when I ordered this, a portable MiniDisc player up over the phone demanding delivery before 11AM the next day as I had a works meeting to attend.
It's battery consumption wasn't great - 4 hours max on two AA cells - but it sounded really good on pre-recorded discs such as the Sade title in the picture below or those I recorded myself on the home deck I had bought some 15 months previous.
It still works today!

Roxy Music lps list

I used to have extensive collection of Roxy Music albums on cassette that I've been slowly transferring to lp record as they had started to fall apart.

Greatest Hits Polydor UK 1977 2302 073

This is a compilation of singles and album tracks from 1972-75. Marvellous sound

Country Life EG/Virgin RMLP 4 1974/2020 (Half Speed remaster by Miles Showell at Abbey Road)

Manifesto Atco/EG 1979 US SD 32-114 (GP in the deadwax)

Flesh And Blood Atco/EG 1980 US SD32-102. This cut by Robert Ludwig (RL in the deadwax) is amazing.

 Avalon WEA/EG 1982 US 9 23686-1(Masterdisk in the deadwax)

The High Road WEA/EG US 1983 9 23808-1Live Mini LP Recorded in Glasgow and NOT on cd.

Updated July 2020

How to sit in a skirt

 

The 101 sissy gurls like me need.