Homunculus (1916)

Homunculus is more of a curiosity than a good film but if you want to see what over 100 years old science fiction movie looks like you can check it. This should be well into public domain by now. You can get automatically translated English subtitles if you want. I think they were good enough to follow. I assume the movie is really weird by modern standards and it wasn’t because of automated translation. Translation from Spanish to English should be easier than from Japanese to English.

Story looks bit like Frankenstein story at first. This is movie about scientifically created man and his life. After first two parts it is less Frankenstein story. First three stories make some sense. Fourth and last don’t Things just happen in them without motivations. To be honest jumps between stories don’t make much sense either. First three stories have some internal logic but not much between them.

Not a masterpiece but interesting movie for science fiction fans. This is real silent film. There is no sound. What you listen same time will affect your experience.

コトフル - 月夜の妖

For the record I liked コトフル before it was cool. Which is now. You can find them with name Kotofull from iTunes. But you can’t find their first album from there. I was told it is currently only from their live shows and their site. Which means it is not released internationally. Which means I can add it to my favorite albums of 2020 list if it is as good as what I have heard from them so far.

If I understood one of their tweet correctly they are have quite DIY attitude and don’t believe marketing too much. But that could be bad translation. Twitter’s translations are either bad or everyone in Japan is weird. I am not sure which one is correct. Their videos don’t look like DIY but they can have friends who know what they are doing. Except that graphics on shots supposed to be shot by video recorder they carry show ISO 100 and F5.6. That is not what you use in low light. ISO should be much higher and aperture should be somewhere around F1.4 to F2.8 if they want something that is not completely dark. ISO 100 and F5.6 don’t look like in those shots. Not problem for normal people but for someone knowing how these things work it is mild annoyance.

I hope full album comes available digitally soon. Their previous records are already on iTunes. Some Japanese bands like to release albums internationally later. So there is still hope.

【LIVE】不条理なパレード【I.D.AndFlyLooM】

I don’t understand how over 1% of this video’s views come from me. I.D.And Fly Loom is one of my favorite idols groups. They don’t make generic idol music. Is that the problem or are they outsiders in idol circles? I just don’t get it. Or is it just that this kind of music appeals more to me than regular idol fans.

This is part of their professionally shot live videos from one of their shows. Production values are higher than live videos other idol groups release. Can’t understand why more people don’t watch their videos.

I.D.And Fly Loom released new EP late last year. It is as good as one I mentioned in one of the best albums of 2019 post. Hoping they release full length album this year.

NEMURIORCA - 君と融通する

Don’t Japanese have similar Christmas cool down as we westerners do? This is first end of the year I follow several Japanese people on Twitter. They seem to have Christmas but everything moves on like nothing special happened. One thing happening close to Christmas was Nemuriorca’s album release. After checking it on iTunes it won’t go to my best albums of 2019 but it could end up there with more listening.

I didn’t make this best thing at the moment post. It is too early for that, But there was something which made me want to share this here. I actually had another video I wanted to share but that has to wait. Nemuriorca has something interesting I can’t put my finger on. Something that needs more listening to reveal itself. Video and song feel quite basic idol group material but there is something there waiting to be discovered. It could be after few more listens it turns out Nemuriorca is like most generic idol groups but there is a change it is something better.

Plans for 2020

I went quite experimental with this one. On both video and music side. It could be taste of things to come. Experimental videos are more fun to make. Next one will be experimental at least on music side. Don’t know how experimental I can go on video side. If it works it could start series of videos. But more about that next time.

Video tells my plans for 2020. I try to get rid of gear acquisition syndrome. There are still something like 360 camera I’d like to have but for what I have I am not going to get something only with minor improvements on what I already have. How that works remains to be seen.

Best thing at the moment: Ototoy Friday

CUTENESS WARNING. I have spend way too much time watching Ototoy Friday’s music videos last couple days. As far as I know they haven’t released full length album. Only singles and EPs. They had crowd funding campaign earlier this year for something. Not sure what it was about. Twitter’s translations are not too good. Translation for their tweet with studio pictures was “Today was a certain activity for Adult Friday”. I don’t even try to guess what crowdfunding was about when translations are this good.

Video above is their most ambitious. I wish there was behind the scenes video telling how they pulled it off. It needed crazy amount of planning and coordination . It looks so easy and effortless but it is not. That is probably why they haven’t tried anything as ambitious after this video. Video for song スプリングフィーバー has both girls on their own frames just like this one but there is no interaction between them. They do things same time but nothing like they do in this. I have to warn you that video can cause cuteness overdose.

Even their less ambitious videos have something interesting in them and songs and girls make them super cute. Their latest video for song Enigma is bit disappointing. It is closer to regular music videos than their other videos. Maybe because it is closer to electronic dance music than their other songs. I hope it is only one off and not change of style. I like their cute and interesting songs and videos more.