Well a little digging on Youtube brings us this from the Plastinot front.
Presented by a German pederast called der sandmannen (possibly the sandman) he was absent from TCC's portrayal. Though looking at him he'd fit right in. Apparently part of German Sesame Street, hopefully never abbreviated over there, it actually looks like a genuinely great addition to the show.
We got Sesame Street on Channel 4 either as lunchtime fodder or early morning kids TV, but all other stuff has drawn a blank.
The online home of Bear or Bust.
Sunday, 28 February 2010
Don't you trouble, Trouble.
Does anyone remember the early days of British Cable TV when Trouble used to be called The Childrens Channel.
Thought not, nobody remembers cable back then. Our regular TV reception was shockingly poor, so forgive me if I wax lyrical / ramble on about half remembered stuff.
The Childrens Channel was ace and to be fair I was only small when this came out about 7-8 possibly the target demographic. I distinctly remember sitting through such crap like My little Pony and Care Bears to get to the good stuff (Gobots mainly). In fact the best stuff I remember is not the mainstream stuff they had but fucking obscure stuff like, You Can't Do That on Television, Kaboodle (Australian) Tomfoolery (had Groovy Ghoulies), The Barkleys (Dog Sitcom cartoon) and Roustabout with Mick Robertson.
Afternoons was dedicated to Jack in the box, with Playschools Carol Chell as host (If memory serves correct, It Probably wasn't) Kaboodle was part of this as well as another Aussie show that I've long forgotten the name of but was in essence pretty much like Thats Amazing from the Fast Show. They showed you how to make stuff and was presented by two blokes one I'm sure was called Dean. I remember odd bits such as them playing Tip Cat and a fruit that made everything sweet. Though, I think they called it Stevia, it showed a clip of Dean tucking into a Lemon much to the other guy's dismay.
Later they had an old guy with a big mouthed rabbit puppet called Chas. Chas was naughty and had purple hair, sadly thats all I and the Internet know about Chas.
Best of the lot was Stories without words, part of Jack in the Box, with an English and scandinavian intro titles, it was basically a showcase for various Polish and other eastern European cartoons. Beautiful stuff like The Bunny With the Chequered ears, Adventures of Rexy (Rexio), Teddy Dropear, Backyard and the Magic Pencil proves that there was magic in that thar eastern bloc. However the best of the lot are also the most obscure, these are Plasticine animation show, Plastinots, Hen a Pippa, and some cartoon involving alarm clocks ( true and yes I'd dearly love to see them again).
Hen a Pippa was my favourite, a mix of live action and of course a cartoon chicken mixed into the action, only bit I can remember is some folks playing skittles and having the ball switched with an egg, with the totally predictable results of yolk everywhere, nice.
Probably mouldering on some VHS tape back in some Lower Silesian state archives, we've yet to find any info about it on google, and the fact is Stories without words never used the Polish Names for any of the cartoons they showed so we only have their English translations to go on.
Thought not, nobody remembers cable back then. Our regular TV reception was shockingly poor, so forgive me if I wax lyrical / ramble on about half remembered stuff.
The Childrens Channel was ace and to be fair I was only small when this came out about 7-8 possibly the target demographic. I distinctly remember sitting through such crap like My little Pony and Care Bears to get to the good stuff (Gobots mainly). In fact the best stuff I remember is not the mainstream stuff they had but fucking obscure stuff like, You Can't Do That on Television, Kaboodle (Australian) Tomfoolery (had Groovy Ghoulies), The Barkleys (Dog Sitcom cartoon) and Roustabout with Mick Robertson.
Afternoons was dedicated to Jack in the box, with Playschools Carol Chell as host (If memory serves correct, It Probably wasn't) Kaboodle was part of this as well as another Aussie show that I've long forgotten the name of but was in essence pretty much like Thats Amazing from the Fast Show. They showed you how to make stuff and was presented by two blokes one I'm sure was called Dean. I remember odd bits such as them playing Tip Cat and a fruit that made everything sweet. Though, I think they called it Stevia, it showed a clip of Dean tucking into a Lemon much to the other guy's dismay.
Later they had an old guy with a big mouthed rabbit puppet called Chas. Chas was naughty and had purple hair, sadly thats all I and the Internet know about Chas.
Best of the lot was Stories without words, part of Jack in the Box, with an English and scandinavian intro titles, it was basically a showcase for various Polish and other eastern European cartoons. Beautiful stuff like The Bunny With the Chequered ears, Adventures of Rexy (Rexio), Teddy Dropear, Backyard and the Magic Pencil proves that there was magic in that thar eastern bloc. However the best of the lot are also the most obscure, these are Plasticine animation show, Plastinots, Hen a Pippa, and some cartoon involving alarm clocks ( true and yes I'd dearly love to see them again).
Hen a Pippa was my favourite, a mix of live action and of course a cartoon chicken mixed into the action, only bit I can remember is some folks playing skittles and having the ball switched with an egg, with the totally predictable results of yolk everywhere, nice.
Probably mouldering on some VHS tape back in some Lower Silesian state archives, we've yet to find any info about it on google, and the fact is Stories without words never used the Polish Names for any of the cartoons they showed so we only have their English translations to go on.
Sunday, 21 February 2010
Freakish Television memories PT1.
Dedicated to Business Legends The Osaka Way.
Sky TV is a wonderful thing and its even better when its used to deliver minority, 3 men and a dog style programming. Tucked away in the recesses of the News sub group lies the venerable NHK world channel (507 now HD only sadly), Japans take on the BBC. Every show they produce seems to hark back to a better place. Japan Biz cast reminds me of old Tomorrows world (though minus the studio bits) plus they have an entirely electronic incidental music, no identikit music here, though sometimes it will lead with Drum n Bass.
Imagine nation is the videogame show everyone should see, though its mostly manga, they always have room to chat to say the guy who created the Sangoku Musou series of games for instance.
But best of all is Business Legends The Osaka Way.
A bilingual business show shouldn't be comedic gold, talking to a company that grows the Japanese equivalent of mustard and cress (Daikon radish sprouts, which are very nice) shouldn't provoke a titter in any sane person, why then is it funny.
One word Eurotrash comedy dubbing. They seem to all have the voices of middle America making the whole show a parody, like an old Clive James sketch. Having a caption that comes up as 'Pot Points' only adds to the bizarreness that follows. In fact the weirdest thing is the studio bits where the American overdubs are taken to the extreme and the set begins to look like the bastard offspring of Christian Tv and old Japan (complete with lucky neko in the background too). Its on at 11:30 am on fridays if you ever want to Sky plus it or put bits up on Youtube and the like. Further parts are not so easily obtainable so be warned.
Sky TV is a wonderful thing and its even better when its used to deliver minority, 3 men and a dog style programming. Tucked away in the recesses of the News sub group lies the venerable NHK world channel (507 now HD only sadly), Japans take on the BBC. Every show they produce seems to hark back to a better place. Japan Biz cast reminds me of old Tomorrows world (though minus the studio bits) plus they have an entirely electronic incidental music, no identikit music here, though sometimes it will lead with Drum n Bass.
Imagine nation is the videogame show everyone should see, though its mostly manga, they always have room to chat to say the guy who created the Sangoku Musou series of games for instance.
But best of all is Business Legends The Osaka Way.
A bilingual business show shouldn't be comedic gold, talking to a company that grows the Japanese equivalent of mustard and cress (Daikon radish sprouts, which are very nice) shouldn't provoke a titter in any sane person, why then is it funny.
One word Eurotrash comedy dubbing. They seem to all have the voices of middle America making the whole show a parody, like an old Clive James sketch. Having a caption that comes up as 'Pot Points' only adds to the bizarreness that follows. In fact the weirdest thing is the studio bits where the American overdubs are taken to the extreme and the set begins to look like the bastard offspring of Christian Tv and old Japan (complete with lucky neko in the background too). Its on at 11:30 am on fridays if you ever want to Sky plus it or put bits up on Youtube and the like. Further parts are not so easily obtainable so be warned.
Saturday, 13 February 2010
Computer Day
We got Legowelt Dark Days a compilation from Strange life records, Danny Wolfers own excellent record label. As is predicted its brilliant stuff, old techno with more than a hint of Electro. To say I had been after this for ages is an understatement, I do not shop online so finding this in the wild so to speak is the best thing to happen to me. Incidentally we also got United Acid Emirates from Ceephax Acid crew and this must be the cheesiest cover imaginable for ages.
Friday, 5 February 2010
Baku Baku Bonus bits.
One of the joys of emulation is that you're no longer need to bother with region coding or territorial lock out. Any game from anywhere can in theory be played so long as its supported by your emu.
Plus putting a disc in a PC can sometimes bring things up that are totally unexpected.
We bought a new Saturn game, its Baku Baku Animal and only cost a pound from Scope. We have SSF on our system so putting it into the drive to boot it up is a no brainer. However looking through the files is something quite bizarre. There are a series of textfiles, that do not amount to much but the last (titled readme) is pay dirt. In Japanese it lists some of the jobs such as designer and producer (we really can't read much due to poor Japanese skills) and a hyper ending. I'll attempt a dictionary translation but without 1337 Japanese skills it may lack coherence or even meaning.
In that there's a latin name (evident even in notepad) that links to a kind of parasitical flatworm
(Bipellium Fuscatum fact fans) so in actual fact they're not hyper at all just diseased.
So there you are Baku Baku Animal basically a game about worm riddled animals who can't stop eating.
File here for anyone who wants to look through and has a text editor capable of reading Japanese.
Plus putting a disc in a PC can sometimes bring things up that are totally unexpected.
We bought a new Saturn game, its Baku Baku Animal and only cost a pound from Scope. We have SSF on our system so putting it into the drive to boot it up is a no brainer. However looking through the files is something quite bizarre. There are a series of textfiles, that do not amount to much but the last (titled readme) is pay dirt. In Japanese it lists some of the jobs such as designer and producer (we really can't read much due to poor Japanese skills) and a hyper ending. I'll attempt a dictionary translation but without 1337 Japanese skills it may lack coherence or even meaning.
In that there's a latin name (evident even in notepad) that links to a kind of parasitical flatworm
(Bipellium Fuscatum fact fans) so in actual fact they're not hyper at all just diseased.
So there you are Baku Baku Animal basically a game about worm riddled animals who can't stop eating.
File here for anyone who wants to look through and has a text editor capable of reading Japanese.
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Wow we've got a mediafire account.
If the following post reminded you of Superplay, then oh boy do we have a treat for you.
How would you like all of SuperPlay's Fantasy Quest Columns in one easy to read file. Properly transcripted and with translation errors amended and fan translation status, if any, patched in.
Grab them from here.
How would you like all of SuperPlay's Fantasy Quest Columns in one easy to read file. Properly transcripted and with translation errors amended and fan translation status, if any, patched in.
Grab them from here.
Monday, 1 February 2010
Suzu Monogatari
New acquisition from Snesorama. This is a Capcom game from the same vintage as Breath Of Fire 4 but a lot, lot weirder. Forgive me but my Japanese isn't the best, i'll lose a lot of plot here, but going by the first 30 minutes or so this is very Japanese and for that read weird.
A god loses 7 bells when he inadvertantly drops them from heaven, tasked with returning them he's sent to modern day rural Japan to get them back, oh and play a wacky card game with folks.
For starters you have a shovel and a fishing line at your disposal, you can dig up coins and bait (usually worms) to fish with. Talking to folks with a card sign above their heads will lead you to a weird little card game that will serve as your entire battle screen. Playing a sort of rock paper scissors style game, all your cards are either wind, fire or water with a corresponding weakness to each other. Your main aim is to make your opponent lose, and you do this by exploiting his or her weakness. You'll get items and stuff if you win but seeing as you only ever battle snakes its really not worth it.
Graphics.
Nicely done they sort of remind me of a top spec GBA game with an isometric sprite style, that's quite nice. Battle graphics are a bit more shabby but still functional.
Sound.
Quite pleasant, your typical old time Japanese themes here, does exactly what it says on the tin.
Gameplay:
The card game bit is rather dull actually, so the wandering about takes up most of your time. Lovers of Japanese stuff will surely like the neat little touches such as the washerwoman hauling in a giant peach (a nod to Momotaro), or the man selling onigiri from a stall. Mainly though your tasked with fetch quests, such as giving a child buttered toast!. You also have a sidekick in the form of a fairy (though one I don't know the name of). She'll point out stuff for you to do (such as the aforementioned child) and tell you to do your best. Mainly though its you on your own digging stuff up and fighting pensioners and their snakes, in a card game.
Romanization:
I don't know about the hacking side of this much, we don't do programming, but I'd say menu possibly protection. Plus, nearly everyone you can talk to or interact with in some way means you'll need someone fluent to go through the entire script. You can see why we got Breath Of Fire 4 instead now.
Overall ? Impossible to judge.
A god loses 7 bells when he inadvertantly drops them from heaven, tasked with returning them he's sent to modern day rural Japan to get them back, oh and play a wacky card game with folks.
For starters you have a shovel and a fishing line at your disposal, you can dig up coins and bait (usually worms) to fish with. Talking to folks with a card sign above their heads will lead you to a weird little card game that will serve as your entire battle screen. Playing a sort of rock paper scissors style game, all your cards are either wind, fire or water with a corresponding weakness to each other. Your main aim is to make your opponent lose, and you do this by exploiting his or her weakness. You'll get items and stuff if you win but seeing as you only ever battle snakes its really not worth it.
Graphics.
Nicely done they sort of remind me of a top spec GBA game with an isometric sprite style, that's quite nice. Battle graphics are a bit more shabby but still functional.
Sound.
Quite pleasant, your typical old time Japanese themes here, does exactly what it says on the tin.
Gameplay:
The card game bit is rather dull actually, so the wandering about takes up most of your time. Lovers of Japanese stuff will surely like the neat little touches such as the washerwoman hauling in a giant peach (a nod to Momotaro), or the man selling onigiri from a stall. Mainly though your tasked with fetch quests, such as giving a child buttered toast!. You also have a sidekick in the form of a fairy (though one I don't know the name of). She'll point out stuff for you to do (such as the aforementioned child) and tell you to do your best. Mainly though its you on your own digging stuff up and fighting pensioners and their snakes, in a card game.
Romanization:
I don't know about the hacking side of this much, we don't do programming, but I'd say menu possibly protection. Plus, nearly everyone you can talk to or interact with in some way means you'll need someone fluent to go through the entire script. You can see why we got Breath Of Fire 4 instead now.
Overall ? Impossible to judge.
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