Tiny Little Full-Blown Obsession

So. Yesterday I received my New Every Two® phone from Verizon (the LG Cosmos). Naturally, one of the first things I did was start looking for Naruto ringtones. While randomly perusing the internet for said ringtones, I came across "Itachi's theme" here.

My initial reaction went something like, Holy crap, this is awesome, how in the world have I never noticed this before? Once the excitement faded a tad—I admit, that took a while—logic kicked in and I thought, Wait, if this really is Itachi's theme, why don't I remember it?

1.) He is one of my favorite characters in all of Naruto. If he had a theme song, I would remember it (I know Sasuke's when I hear it, and his is pretty lame).

2.) This tune's style doesn't sound like the rest of the show's music. Don't get me wrong, I love some of the songs in Naruto—just to name a few, "Sadness and Sorrow," "Main Theme," "Kakuzu," "Orochimaru's Theme," "Akatsuki's Theme," and practically all the opening and closing songs are very good. But if "Itachi's theme" were part of the show's repertoire, it would definitely stand out, and I'm pretty sure I would have noticed.

3.) This song doesn't fit with the show thematically. This is cowboy music. And while that makes sense for Itachi—he is undoubtedly a bad man who has done bad things (albeit for good reasons), a wanderer, a loner, arrogant, skilled, and in search of atonement—it doesn't make sense for a show set in a ninja universe. Again, I feel confident I would have noticed such discordance.

So. I did some digging. Many people on the internet feel very strongly about the fact that this is really Itachi's theme (for evidence, see YouTube). Some people say it appears in the anime. Like in episode 114 or 121 or 140. Some people say that this is Itachi's theme, it just isn't used in the show. Some people say this song appears on one of the show's official soundtracks. Some people say this is Itachi's theme in the Naruto PlayStation games. Having watched and re-watched relevant episodes and looked up (and re-looked up and re-re-looked up) the playlists for the Naruto CDs and games, I feel fairly confident in saying that these people are suffering under some grand, viral, internet delusion.

In reality, this song is "Thunder Cloud" from the album Theme From Shaft & The Horse by The Ventures. Before it was known as "Thunder Cloud," it appeared under the title (and perhaps here is the origin of the mass confusion) "Naruto" on Golden Pops/Pops in Japan '71. 

So. There you go. Mystery solved. And I was not at all obsessive about it and it only consumed five to seven hours of my life. Go me.

Sasuke, Sasuke, On the Wall

(Note: This is a primarily knitting-related post. Read at your own risk. Dashful cannot be held liable for any massive yawns or bouts of drowsiness that may occur.)

Now that "stripy" is out of the way, meet "razory":

"Razory" is a lacy tank top that took me about a month to knit. It was based on the Razor Cami and was my first lace project. I'm really pleased with the result. It's a good length, fits well, and I like the way it looks on. I may have screwed up the pattern a couple of times at the beginning (bottom), but I decided to follow a rule I read online: If you make a mistake, put your project down, then go do something else for five minutes. Come back, stand a few feet away from your knitting, and if you can't see the mistake, ignore it and carry on. So I did, and probably no one will ever notice the errors but me.

In terms of modifications to the pattern, I added some length and ribbing to the top front for a more symmetrical and finished look. I also decided to clasp the straps together in the back for a make-shift halter top, because I knit the front and back straps too close together and didn't feel like frogging them and re-knitting.

While I enjoyed working on "razory," toward the end it was mostly guilt driving me on. I really wanted to begin a new project, but felt like I had to finish this one first. That new project is the Sasuke Shirt.

As anyone who knows even the tiniest bit about me is aware, I adore Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke in particular. So, I've decided I would like a little piece of Sasuke with me at all times. (Well, not all times. I would wear other shirts sometimes. Probably.) Thus, the idea of the Sasuke Shirt was born. It will entail making "stripy" shorter, smaller, in black, with a really high neck, and the Uchiha crest (which I have charted myself) intarsia-ed onto the back between the shoulder blades. I've never done intarsia, let alone in the round, but I think I've done the research to make it happen, so hopefully this shirt will be awesome and not a disaster.  

The Curious Case of the Omnipresent Johnny Yong Bosch

What is with this guy? He is everywhere. Everywhere, I tell you.

I was recently on a JRPG kick. I knew Gamefly was never going to send me the two games I really was curious about (because that's just the way it works): Final Fantasy XIII and Resonance of Fate. So, I threw a bunch of JRPGs on the queue to ensure I got at least one of them. I ended up playing Magna Carta 2 and The Last Remnant back to back. (Although "playing" might be a bit of an overstatement. I couldn't finish either of them. While I appreciated Magna Carta's non-loading screen, real-time, military campaign-ish fighting, relatively easy-to-follow plot, and Rue who, though officially labeled a "lightning wizard," was actually a ninja (with the shuriken, clones, and katana to prove it), it was repetitive and easy to the point of brain-oozing boredom. And while I appreciated Remnant's relatively innovative, mass battle formation fighting, I couldn't tolerate its laugh-out-loud clunky mechanics, dialogue, plot, characters, world, etc. etc. etc. Hey JRPGs, here are some things I never want to see in you again: amnesia, absurdly big swords, loading screens before and after fights, walking, hammer-wielding fish, women fighting in severely less-than-practical armor, boss fights in which you just have to keep hitting the bad guy and stay alive until he falls down: no matter what you think, this isn't hard, just tedious. Anyone listening? SQUARE ENIX? Sega?) And what do you suppose the protagonists of these two games, the amnesiac Juto and the dumb, plebeian Rush had in common? Why there were both voiced by Johnny Yong Bosch, of course.

This is not the first or second or fifth or probably even the tenth time I have stumbled across Johnny Yong Bosch's voice while gallivanting through the realm of animation. Just off the top of my head, I have noticed that he also plays: Ichigo Kurosaki in Bleach, Viscount Albert de Morcerf in Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo, Vash the Stampede in Trigun, Fugue in Eternal Sonata, and Genma and Sasori in Naruto. This is not to mention, of course, his run as the Black Ranger in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. I have a certain fondness for Johnny Yong Bosch's voice, even if I loathe the innocent, naive, happy-go-lucky, goody two-shoes characters whose throats that voice often emerges from. But what is up with this? Is it written in the man's contract somewhere that he has to have a part in every single piece of Japanimation that gets dubbed in English? How did he become that guy? How can I body snatch him? What a freaking dream job.

In knitting news: I have completed the garment I have affectionately termed "stripy," which is really Lion Brand's Raglan Tee.

I pretty much hate the way the underarms and the transition to the collar look when laid out, but it looks good and is super comfortable when worn, so I consider it a success. Onward to the "razory"!