Time for a little rant

Today I was trying to listen to HIMEKA's (Catherine St-Onge) song Asu e no Kizuna on the Sony Music store. The audio file kept freezing. Then I was told in Japanese: We're sorry you are not allowed to view this file (or something like that). I ended up watching the video on youtube.

Why can't musicians like Himeka, Angela Aki, Olivia, or Puffy have the ability to have their music on itunes? I think it has to do with the Japanese record labels. They are so busy trying to concentrate on their market by putting music on Japanese Ketai (mobile phones), that they fail to see a potential market for people living outside Japan who want to listen to their musicians. It is really frustrating not being able to find the musicians I want to download on the Japanese itunes.

I refuse to download them illegally. I would rather pay the musicians 100 yen for something they earned doing. I am an artist too and I would like to have someone pay for my work.

I am not a music lawyer so I don't want to tackle all of the stuff.

I just want a way to listen to music on my ipod without buying a CD that will just take up space. That is all I am begging the music companies to do.

"Kami-sama, boku wa nihon no uta wo kikitandesu. Onegaishimasu.."

"Here comes Astro Boy..."
To many fans that little tune conjures up memories of watching the show on my family's black and white TV.

On Friday October 23 will be the US release of Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy. The film will be showed using the latest state of the art 3-D animation. The story will still be the same. A father, who just happens to be an inventor, creates an android to replace his son who died. The boy is cast off, but ends up saving the day.

Astro Boy or Tetsuwan Atom (Atom Boy) first started out as a manga, which eventually became an animated show in the 1960s. The show was later revived in the early 1980's. There was a current reincarnation that aired on TV Tokyo and Kid's Station from 2004 to 2006. The character designs were later used in Ravex's "World of Tezuka" video.

Make sure you check it out in your area.

Child's Play Charity begins soon

Greetings fellow gamers and fans. The folks behind Penny Arcade will be starting up their annual charity Child's Play pretty soon. The main idea behind Child's Play is to help kids who are undergoing cancer treatment to have something to do. This charity has been around since 2003.

I have been an active supporter of Child's Play since 2004.

Please do what you can during this holiday season and give something back.

"KNOW YOUR ROOTS."

Anime Screening at JICC

On October 30 the JICC will hold the screening for the film "Mushi-shi." Directed by legendary director Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira and Memories), this film has been fairly popular with anime fans in Japan. Now people in the DC area can get a chance to see the film. The JICC strongly encourages people to cosplay. English and Japanese with subtitles, 131 minutes. Please RSVP to jiccrsvp@embjapan.org.

"Trick or Treat..."