While watching tv I saw a show that featured this little boy whose finger was chopped off by a door, and when he was taken to the hospital the doctor used a drug called pixie dust to grow his finger back! There was a bit of a debate as to whether or not the powder actually grew back the boy's finger, but there is a powder out there and it's being used to grow tissue back!
This is an anime about a girl who is entered into a music contest because she can see a fairy on the first day of school. The plot is a little bit like A Little Snow Fairy: Sugar, but unlike that one, La Corda is aimed at more of an adolescent audience whereas Sugar is more juvenile in its execution. Meaning that there wasn't as much angst or as many love triangles. Sugar was much more effective than this one in terms of story line and progression, but this one did an alright job in conveying the love of music and the time that goes into nurturing your talent.
The story begins with the protagonist, Kahoko Hino, who is running late for the first day of class. All of sudden she hears someone calling out to her and discovers a small fairy flying toward her, very excited that she can hear him. The fairy's name is Lili and lives at the school due to past events. Every year he finds a student that can hear him, he rings a bell, which signifies a school-wide music competition. Kahoko is chosen for the competition, which shocks the rest of the school because in a school is split into two sections, the students that specialize in music and the student who are in the general study program, and Kahoko is in the latter and knows nothing about music. To solve this, Lili gives her a magical violin that will allow her to play as long as she feels the music. As the competition progresses, Kahoko learns more about music and grows more and more self-conscious about the fact that she actually knows nothing about music.
In addition to the whole 'finding yourself' plot line, there is the romance part which is also central to this story. Besides Kohoko, there is one other girl (who is very shy) and 5 guys, all of which develop sort of a thing for Kohoko. Typical high school/ romance/ drama/ comedy anime.
This is a story about an elementary aged school girl named Hinamori Amu. She’s known as the cool girl, or the tough girl in her school because of her non-nonchalance and tough-guy attitude, but really, Amu is very different from her exterior. One day when she wakes up, there are three eggs in her bed, and one by one these eggs hatch into little guardian beings the represent who Amu would really like to be. Amu is recognized as a ‘character bearer’ and is asked to join an elite club at school called The Guardians, the members of which also have guardian beings of their own. As the plot progresses, Amu finds out that there is something or someone out there trying to take the dreams of children away and turn them into negative self-doubt, for some unknown and evil purpose. It is up to Amu, with the help of her new friends, to save the dreams of these kids and stop whoever is behind the attacks.
The basic premiss of the show is that all children have dreams and hopes and desires in regards to who they want to be when they grow up. Some may want to be really good at baking, some may want to be really good at art, some may just want to make other people happy. In the show these dreams are represented by eggs, which is nice in theory, I mean you give birth to this wish but don’t know what it is until it hatches into something. But I have to very honest, it’s only after watching two seasons of the show that I was able to stop cracking up at the whole egg idea (yes? yes.). To top it off there are these magical items in the show, a lock held by Amu, and a key held by one of her love interests, and these are called, wait for it…. the Humpty Lock. And the Dumpty Key. I laughed my way through the first ten episodes. I mean the episodes were good… but sometimes the execution was just ridiculous. Oh Japan, how I admire and love you.
Aside from some funnier elements of the show, the story was actually really well done. The plot, while dragging in some places (as do most in the magical girl genre.. what with the capturing and everything), was surprisingly well thought out and intricate compared to others in the genre. The show is basically playing with the idea of having a dream or a goal, or even an idealized version of yourself that you’d like to one day achieve. But of course, everyone has doubts and fears, especially when what they’re dreaming for is very important, and sometimes that fear or that lack of self-confidence can get the better of you and make that dream seem impossible. One of the main objectives in the show was that Amu cleanse all of the ‘x eggs’ or the eggs that were consumed by self-doubt. While this got a bit tedious by the second season, for the most part a little lesson about the human psyche was learned with each cleansing. Sometimes through the dialogue of the characters, sometimes just by observing the situation. This is coming to me at a time in my life when I’m also struggling with these issues, so I might be over-playing the whole ‘finding yourself’ theme.. but it’s good.
The characters were also well done. None of the characters were one dimensional… which can sometimes happen in animes. There was at least one episode devoted to developing each of the side characters to augment the personality they usually display. I won’t go too much into character development because one of the best things about these kinds of shows it the anticipation of wondering when certain things will happen, and the surprise when they throw you something from left field. If you’re familiar with manga and anime, the surprises won’t be entirely shocking, but if you’re not… they might be. And if you’re not I suggest you get into it!! If you are willing to go there, I don’t know what it is, but the Japanese are some of the best when it comes to emotional turmoil, both romantically and not. Anime/ manga or tv drama, it is definitely something to experience.
But yes. All of the characters are pretty strong, each in their own way. And what I enjoy about Amu (in terms of personal strength) is that when the show opens she has this tough, ‘strong’ exterior that she almost hides behind, and many people might consider that exterior to be true strength, but as the show progresses she finds a new kind of strength. If I were to relate Shugo Chara! to anime’s that have come before it, I’d say that it’s a combination of Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura. It’s like Sailor Moon because of the purifying souls idea, and the team of helpers that can all transform, but unlike Sailor Moon, Amu is very self-confident and doesn’t rely on some guy to fight her battles, nor does she enter into any unhealthy relationships. And it’s like Cardcaptors because the show is really about personal development and inner strength, but there it more magic and transforming than Cardcaptors.
So again, though some parts of the show might be hard to swallow at first, if you stick with it you’ll be rewarded with cute story about personal strength!
And just to clarify, the Guardian Characters aren't technically faeries, but they look close enough... and some people could say that faeries are a representation of your hopes or wishes... and fairies are mentioned in the story!!!
Here's the intro I watched the whole thing on crunchyroll.com. No this hasn't been officially dubbed in English yet. Yes the manga (where the story originated) may be obtained and read in English.
Oni are defiant spirits of chaos and mischief from Japanese folklore. The word Oni can be translated to mean ogre or troll, but unlike the trolls we see in traditional western belief, these trolls are very intelligent and have magical powers. Some believe their magic is so powerful that their limbs are able to instantly re-attach themselves to the Oni's body once removed, making them very formidable opponents. Not all Oni are evil either. Since they love a good battle, some may take it upon themselves to banish evil spirits just for the fun of it.
Some sources say that Oni like the taste of human flesh, and from this belief came the belief that Oni are spirits of death. In Buddhism, the Oni guard the gates between various hell and death realms (watch out Dante, there are 18 levels). Here's a link with some pictures of the different stages of hell, and you can see Oni torturing the people here. Some sources say that Oni predate Buddhism in the far East however and were later incorporated into Buddhism to assist with assimilation. Their role changed from guardians to evil beings with the rise of the samurai class in Japan. Stories then featured samurai facing off against the evil Oni (knight vs dragon).
While there are supposedly female Oni (and they are supposedly growing rarer and rarer), Oni were originally pure spirits who did not keep up population by sexual reproduction. As legends have it, when men die while they are overwhelmed by excessive anger, they transform into Oni.
Oni have horns, tusks, and fangs. They have either red, blue or black skin and are often clad in a tiger skin of sorts. In more recent times, Oni statues are used to keep out bad spirits, kind of like gargoyles in the West.
There is a legend about a man named Shoki who would battle the Oni, and you can read more about that here
So I was surfing ye olde web when I came across this little article here http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/definition/pixie-dust. The article is about IBM's antiferromagnetically-coupled (AFC) media technology, which basically has to do with data storage technology, and they called it Pixie Dust for it's seemingly magical properties!!
"The "pixie dust" used is a 3-atom thick magnetic coating composed of the element ruthenium sandwiched between two magnetic layers. The technology is expected to yield 400 GB (gigabyte) hard drives for desktop computers, and 200 GB hard drives for laptops by 2003. In information technology, the term "pixie dust" is often used to refer to a technology that seemingly does the impossible."
The article was written in 2001, so I don't think you'll be too impressed with the capabilities... but try to think back to that time and re- experience the amazing power of 200 Gb!!!!!!!
But I think that last part there is kind of interesting, 'In information technology, the term "pixie dust" is often used to refer to a technology that seemingly does the impossible.' And so it is!!
This is an artist from Russia who is an art photographer. She does primarily photography by the looks of it, but she has some paintings as well. The collection concerning this blog is titled 'distorted gravity' and, is you could imagine, deals with the subjects floating around or struggling with gravity.
This is a really cool site selling bronze faerie figures. Some are small figurines and some are large enough to be garden fixtures. The faeries strike whimsical poses and the artistry is very fine indeed.
This film is about a dark lord who wants to destroy all that is good in the world and take over it, so sends his minions to kill the only thing that could stand in his way, the personification of light and purity, which happens to be unicorns. At the same time, a princess named Lily and a feral child named Jack meet up in the forest. They're in love and Jack decides to show Lily the unicorns as a present of sorts, and the dark lord's minions follow them in the shadows. When they meet the unicorns the goblins shoot a dart into one of the unicorns, scaring them away, and then steals the male's horn. The female unicorn and princess Lily are also eventually captured and taken to the dark lord's lair, and at this point it is up to Jack and the forest faeries to save the unicorns and the princess.
I only heard about this movie a couple of months ago and after I watched it, I wondered why. It's on the same level as The Princess Bride and The Neverending Story, but I suppose it wasn't a book first. I was kind of skeptical when I first picked it up because Tom cruise is Jack. He was never one of my favourite actors, and he I wouldn't peg him as being able to pull off a fantasy film... but he's actually pretty good. Also, Tim Curry is the Dark Lord. Enough said.
I suppose the thing that would turn most people off about the movie would be the fact that there are unicorns in the movie, and I guess I can understand why that may put some people off. It's very rare that you'll find a serious, adult movie with a unicorn in it. Unicorns are almost synonymous with little girls and tea parties, and any attempts at showing their heroism or prowess are often side-lined, if at all existent, at least in pop culture. I promise you though, you will not think that this is a movie for children and may even find that you have a soft spot for our horned friends, not that they have a lot of screen time. In addition to a non-childish representation of unicorns, I also enjoyed the other faeries in the movie. As is so often stressed in faerie lore, the use of riddles and a battle of wits saves Jack many a time when he's dealing with these inhuman friends and foes. I think you have to watch the Director's cut (or the Goldman version) though, because the other version cuts out some of that banter. Here is one of the parts where Jack faces Meg Mucklebones
One of the things I didn't like so much was how the fall of the unicorn was sort of blamed on Lily. She went to go touch the unicorn despite Jack telling her not to, and when she touched it the goblin shot his dart. After that she was more or less blamed for goblins taking the horn. This doesn't really sit well with me. I don't know a lot of unicorn lore, but I know that girls are supposedly the only humans unicorns can really stand, so why would a girl touching a unicorn be a bad thing? It wasn't her touch that cursed humanity, it was the goblins. Unless she was somehow meant to personify the dark lord and his evil, but that might be getting a little too biblical in its blame.
Something interesting about this movie is that, according to my Legend of Zelda friend, this film is the basis for the video game 'The Legend of Zelda'. Wikipedia says that the inspiration for the game came from the creator's "explorations as a young boy in the hillsides surrounding his childhood home in Sonobe, Japan where he ventured into forests with secluded lakes, caves, and rural villages." I don't know whether or not Wikipedia is right (you never do) but I do know for a fact that this exact explanation is how Miyamoto (the creator) came up with the idea for Super Mario Bros. ... so maybe they're just copy and pasting. Plus, Zelda was released in 1986 while Legend came out in '85. You do the math. Knowing this you'll be able to pick out the similarities very easily, if you know anything about Zelda that is.
I was watching How I Met Your Mother the other day and the episode called 'The Mermaid Theory' was on. Great show by the way. Barney was in Marshal's office and started talking about how Marshal might become attracted to his very homely secretary. Marshal laughed this off because one, he is very much in love with his wife, and two, his secretary wasn't very attractive. Barney then goes on to explain the Mermaid Theory which goes as follows; even very unattractive women will become attractive to a man after a certain period of time. It's called the mermaid theory because Barney made up a story about how fishermen used to be out at sea for long periods of time and they would see these manatees lying on the rocks. After a while however, with the low-level of sexual activity, the manatees started to look like hot fish women.
Here's a clip of Barney telling the story
Now this is a comedic story commentating on the horndoggery of men, but if we try hard enough, which we always are able to do, we can see how this little story is able to open up a discussion on the creation of faeries. Some people believe that 100% no word of a lie faeries exist and are active in the every day (oh Marshal). A more popular belief in most developed countries is that faeries are mythological beings that are told in fairy tales and (really stretching it here) history/ english class. This would be a theory for the latter group.
If you don't believe in faeries, you have to wonder how the idea of them came into existence. If you look at almost every culture, at some point or another there was this belief in these supernatural beings that manifested themselves on earth through nature. Faerie is one of the more popular words (as it is the word the English used for them and we were all conquered by the English and now speak their language), but there are many different names and different kinds of beings recognized around the world.
It's interesting to think that at some point, someone came along and thought that this idea was important. Necessary. Why would thousands upon thousands of people not only believe but live their lives according to the fact that there are magical people who live in trees? Or under mountains? Or in oceans? Maybe it was to discover some truth, understand the rhyme and reason of the universe, to just know more about the earth. Maybe it was to put fear into the people. To keep them safe and out of trouble, to take care of their surroundings. Maybe it was to just have a bond with the universe that could be understood personally, humanized if you will. There are a lot of different theories floating around and a lot of time and paper have gone into trying to understand this fascination, and the seeming necessity of supernatural belief. On a semi related but very much tangential note I read an interesting book a while ago called The Faith Instinct by Nicholas Wade. If you're interested.
There has always been skepticism with the topic of faeries, or anything requiring faith or belief, magic or miracle, but despite that constant skepticism, that faith and belief is always there, even when you don't see it. And when you don't see it is when it's the most important because it means that it' is intrinsically a part of you and you're too close to the situation to notice. This is kind of what I take out of the mermaid theory (in this context). Nothing is ever just as it seems and your mind will always be messing with you, but the degree to which you begin to believe in a fantasy and the context of that fantasy dictates whether or not we think it's acceptable. If I were to walk into work and tell people I believe in gnomes and nymphs I might be labelled as a person who's not all there... maybe wasn't love enough as a child. If I were to listen to someone talk about this 'mermaid theory' however, I would be able to relate that experience to how people interact with each other and think to myself, oh man isn't that guy just an observant son of a gun. Both ideas are talking about the mind recognizing a truth that your eyes may not understand, but only one of the stories would be deemed credible because of the setting and the audience. Something to think about.
Apparently Pixie Dust is also being used on some of the soldiers in Afghanistan as well article here.
