Misaki sings Oku: Hatsukoi

西浦秀樹のめざせ紅白！ 初恋 / 岩佐美咲

Dear WordPress, Tumblr, Google, and Email friends,

I apologize from my break from blogging for a couple of weeks. However, as Douglas Adams wrote in “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” I had to “take a year off as dead for tax purposes”.

I wanted to share this nice little YT video before it is removed by (you know who), or I jump out of my pants.

Iwasa Misaki is my favorite … No, Hanako Oku is my favorite … Wasamin! … no, Oku-san — I am having trouble deciding which is my favorite. Why would I have to decide any-who? They are both other-wordly talented and adorable women.

Miss Iwasa Misaki-san is singing karaoke here at one of those record industry promotions. Those lucky dudes. Here is the whole thing.

Wasamin sings one of my favorite songs by Hanako Oku “Hatsukoi” (First Love).

One of my fantasies is that Misaki-san and Oku-san would someday team up. Since Wasamin graduated AKB48, I think they would be great together … and .. no .. not in THAT way … you. I mean like Simon and Garfunkel. Oku-san could be Paul Simon, the writer, and Misaki-san would be Art Garfunkel, the strong vocalist. Hanako Oku writes much better songs, and Wasamin’s hair is not crazy however.

Starlight: Apple Poly Luges, I will try to catch up with my WordPress subscriptions (i.e. your posts, dear hearts) next week.

Hey —  write, don’t call: Denny.Sinnoh@gmail.com

Pokémon Nicknames: Electrode and Voltorb

Voltorb (in Japanese: ビリリダマ  “Biriridama”) is an Electric-type Pokémon of course. It appears to us like a Pokéball:  a ball that is red on top and white on the bottom.  Voltorb evolves into Electrode (In Japanese: マルマイン  “Marumine”) at level 30, where it remains an electric type. Electrode also looks like a Pokéball, except that Electrode is white on top and red on the bottom. Um …

I will admit, I often forget if Voltorb is red on the top and white on the bottom, or the other way around.

I think that the PERFECT nickname for this Pokémon would be “Cyrkle” or “The Cyrkle”.  This pop trio had a great pop hit in 1966 called “Red Rubber Ball”.

Here is the music video of The Cyrkle.  Sorry for the low volume on the first one. This particular YouTube post was apparently designed for the hearing impaired. It does have the lyrics subtitled in a large, easy-to-read font. This makes it easier to sing along with … at least for those of us who remember the single.  Note the “red rubber balls” in the back ground set. Could these really be Voltorbs in disguise? You know …  similar to how they hide themselves in buildings, such as the Team Rocket hideout?  You think it is a Pokéball ,or an item to pick up, then ZAP — you have to battle the electric balls!

This is a much better sounding YT vid. This does better justice to this proto-power-pop song.

“Red Rubber Ball” was written by legendary singer-songwriter Paul Simon (of Simon and Garfunkel fame). I think it is a well-crafted, perhaps almost “textbook” mid-sixties song. It clocks in at two minutes twenty — leaves you with the hook, and you want to play it again! Although I was just a larva in 1966, I loved listening to my transistor radio under the bedcovers at night. AM radio-pop songs were great at that time. I think that the song composition style of mid-1960s music is the template for everything I would like later.

Unfortunately, Mr. Simon did not like his own composition. He wrote the song for a publishing house, and referred to it as a period when he was a “hack” songwriter. I think it is great. In fact, I like it better than “Bridge Over Troubled Waters”. (What is that one really all about anyway?)

Check out these lyrics from RRB: “The roller-coaster ride we took is nearly at an end – I bought my ticket with my tears, that’s all I’m gonna spend”.

Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel only performed the song as a “novelty” song at just a few live performances. You can listen to that Simon and Garfunkel version linked here. Pretty cool stuff for we pop music historians!

Oh, right … electric balls again …

I named one “Cold-Hearted” as in “cold hearted orb which rules the night” line from the famous poem “Late Lament.”

“Voltaire” is a literary reference for any sophisticated Voltorb trainers.

Other names I have seen for Voltorb and Electrode include:

“Da Bomb” “BOOOOM” or “Ka-Boom” and the like are common, as Voltorb may use moves such as Explosion and Self-Destruct. Some players have named Voltorb after terrorists/suicide bombers — because they blow themselves up.

“Thunderball”, or “Oddball” may be good. How about “RollerBall” as in the classic1975 sci-fi film? Pretty cool metal ball!

Regarding the “balls” names: If you want, add an “s” or “z” to the end as in “Lectro-Ballz”.

Other names for electric types such as “Shocker” or some variant would be OK. I might suggest the name “Shockey” as in the former NFL tight-end Jeremy Shockey.

Electrode has no Mega-Evolved form. If someday there is one, I hope that it will be a Steel and Electric dual type, and look something like the RollerBall in the movie poster.

What do you name your electric balls of steel?  Please comment.