Beloved Invaders!

Beloved Invaders is on my Top Ten Best Rock and Roll Movies Ever Made list. The movie is essentially a feature length travelogue following The Ventures through their first tour of Japan in 1966 (the core members eventually moved there for good). In between scenes of The Ventures walking around Japan and learning the culture are white hot excerpts of their performances on the tour. It was only released in Japan and the only soundtrack currently existing is a Japanese dubbed track, but that does nothing to squash the impact this movie has on a viewer.

The opening of the film is one of the best ever. It starts in the countryside, where a bell is rung by a monk to start the day. We cross cut to a bustling city, people starting their day and teenagers playing "Group Sounds". A boy walks up to a jukebox and makes a selection: Out of Limits, by The Ventures. We're then treated to a montage of a record pressing plant manufacturing discs by the hundreds. The discs are put in sleeves and shipped off to record stores where rock crazed teens buy them up. All this happens before the opening credits and it's marvellous. Then... the credits start and the world is treated to one of the best opening credit sequences ever in a motion picture. I'm not exaggerating or throwing out hyperbole. It's really what life is all about; youthful exuberance captured in Cinemascope!

Here it is in all it's glory.





If this doesn't get you going, then there's no hope for you.

The meaning of life, man. The meaning of life.

Papermoon!

Did you have a good Halloween? I did. It was a quiet one. I didn't even dress up. I wasn't even tempted. Strange days...

Well, if you were looking at the photo above, you'll get the hint that Tommy Heavenly6 has released a new MV. It's called Papermoon (single out Dec. 10th) and it's yet another great one from Ms. Kawase (yes, I know that's her maiden name). The song (the theme to the new Anime, Soul Eater) is prime Heavenly6 material and the video plants viewers into new territory. Whereas, Tommy February6 once did a video as Alice (In Wonderland; the video was for the song Bloomin'), this is the first second time Heavenly6 has donned a famous costume (the first time being Snow White in the Heavy Starry Chain Vid. Thanks to k' for correcting me!). She's decked out as Dorothy from MGM's The Wizard Of Oz and, as you can see from the photo above, she's absolutely smokin'. Yes, I suppose it's true. I only hang around Kaela and Kumi to pass the time until my true Jpop/rock love comes back around. Forgive me, girls. Tommy's my true love!

Here's the video. It's Youtube and it's likely to get banned. I'll keep changing the links as much as I have to to make sure it's available for your viewing pleasure.



Yep, had to replace it. This one has English captions now. Just click on the triangle on the lower right had corner and choose CC. We'll see how long this one lasts...

The Scarecrow in this video, I'm told, is named Jimi Blumer from a Visual Kei band called Laverite. That explains all the fey and precious looks he's shooting the camera with in his shots. What's Visual Kei? I don't want to go too long into it, but it's kind of a really Flamboyant Goth style. Read about it here.

If Google is your friend, then Wikipedia must be your guide.