The Yoko Kanno Reviews Master Post

The Yoko Kanno Reviews are a series of posts in which I review albums by one of my favorite composers. Yoko Kanno is a name known to anime fans because she has composed the music to several popular anime series and movies. This master post contains links to all the reviews in the series and will be updated as new entries are added.

Sousei no Aquarion OST I
Wolf's Rain OST I
Be Human
Sousei no Aquarion OST II
Arjuna: Into The Another World
Ashura-jo no Hitomi OST
NHK China Special Chuugoku
Kamikaze Girls OST
23 Ji no Ongaku
Ghost In The Shell Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society OST

The Best Of Year Two: Part II (June 2005-November 2005)

Today is the second anniversary of my blog and to celebrate, I now bring you Part II of The Best Of Year Two. Check out Part I if you haven't already.

June 2005

Demon Days Is A Dark, Pleasant Surprise

The End Of My Time On General Assistance

Stand Alone Complex OST+ Is Another Very Good Kanno Soundtack: Okay, so I'm a Yoko Kanno fan. It's not like I've reviewed every domestically released CD she's done...I don't own the Cowboy Bebop CD-Box.

It's Hot In Here: Notice that I did not attempt to make a lame Nelly reference.

Dancing With The Stars Is More Fun Than It Should Be

You Never Know Who Is Reading Your Blog: I recently read that Sons & Daughters is in production, so I hope it's going well.

The Michael Jackson Verdict

Kanye West's New Video Is A Slight Disappointment: Now, the video for "Gold Digger"? That was a real disappointment.

Batman Begins Is A Great Reboot: I can't wait for the sequel.

A Guide To The Best Of Animated Batman

Pretty Ricky's Music Isn't All That Pretty: This review, which is also posted on Blog Critics, has received hundreds of comments on that site and resulted in one crazy ass Pretty Ricky fan making vicious comments and calling me ugly. Frankly, it could've been worse.

The Degrassi "Not Quite" Every Episode Ever Marathon: As far as I know, "Accidents Will Happen" still has never aired on The N in its entirety.

Thoughts On The 2005 BET Awards

All Or Nothing At All: Given the sales of this album, apparently it's nothing at all.

RJD2’s Since We Last Spoke Is No Deadringer

July 2005

Summer Mixmania! Song List and Summer Mixmania! Bonus

Advance Review: The Cookbook by Missy Elliott: I admit that I like this album a little less than when I wrote this review, but it's still enjoyable.

Water Woes

CD Review: The Understanding by Röyksopp

You Gotta Love Family / Why I Hate My Transportation Options: Times like this, I hate my "accommodate everyone" personality.

Spielberg’s War Of The Worlds

The Reverse Crossover: I bet money that if the beat to "Hollaback Girl" started playing at a club right now, people would get excited.

The Shoe Cleaner Incident: Looking back on that incident now, I dislike what that guy did for one reason. It makes it seem like black people like to automatically call out racism when white people don't do what they would like. I'm not going to call a white person who cuts me off in traffic a racist...I'm gonna call him an asshole.

The Rock Reviews: These are scattered across the span of a few months, but I am linking all of them here.
Get Behind Me Satan by The White Stripes
Now Here Is Nowhere by Secret Machines
Guero by Beck
X & Y by Coldplay

TP.3 Disappointed: Will R. Kelly ever make good music that isn't serial again?

My Favorite 100 Albums (1985-2005): There are probably a few albums I'd add to this list now and maybe some I'd remove.

Thoughts On The 2005 Emmy Nominations: An interesting fact: A One Tree Hill fansite linked to the Blog Critics version of this post because I mentioned that the show was Emmy-worthy.

Review: Charlie And The Chocolate Factory

Oh, The Places The People You Know Go: NU, where ya at?

So They Think Lightning Can Strike Twice?

Review: MeruPuri by Matsuri Hino: If you like shoujo manga, you should be reading this title.

Some Things Are Better Left Unseen: If you like anime, you should avoid Dead Leaves like avian flu.

Ghost In The Shell Stand Alone Complex OST 3 Is Another Solid Kanno Soundtrack: Look for this to get a brand new review if/when it is released in the States.

The End Of An Era On 106 & Park: For me, this show went from appointment viewing to "maybe I'll catch it to see a New Joint."

B5's Album Shows Their Potential: The Blog Critics version of this review, like the Pretty Ricky review, has hundreds of comments. Overall, the B5 fans seem to be a little nicer than those crazy Pretty Ricky fans.

August 2005

29 Years And Counting...: In about eight months, it will be my parents' 30th wedding anniversary.

Anime Series Review: Azumanga Daioh: Man, I miss buying anime.

Create Your Own Comic Strip: Maybe sometime in the future, I'll scan in the comic strips I used to (and sometimes still do) draw.

Two Very Different Movies...One View Of Romance: Only I would think of some way to review Hitch and Garden State together.

Barbershop Is A Waste Of Time, Talent: The series, not the movie.

Kanno’s Song To Fly Is Beautiful, Unusual: Wonderful, wonderful album.

Music Video Review: "My Doorbell" by The White Stripes: Dammit...this song is stuck in my head now.

The Life Things Series
Family Visit
Back To School

A Lucky Set Of Circumstances

The New TV Show Review Challenge: It was an admirable idea that was thwarted by networks bombarding viewers with premieres in a relatively short time. What about those of us who love TV? What are we to do? There is only so much that a TiVo and several VCRs can record. Even though the posts are spread across a couple of months, I'm going to list all of them here.
My Mission, Should I Choose To Accept It...
Prison Break
Reunion
The War At Home
Everybody Hates Chris
Bones
Supernatural
Head Cases
Twins
Threshold
Surface
The Apprentice: Martha Stewart
Kitchen Confidential
Invasion
E-Ring
Commander-In-Chief
The New TV Show Review Challenge Is Over

Thoughts On The 2005 MTV Video Music Awards: The BET Awards has surpassed these awards in every way.

September 2005

A Spectacular Missed Opportunity: Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

Review: G4's Barbed Wire Biscuit

A Tale Of Two Telethons: These two telethons should not have aired on the same day.

A New Look At Stand Alone Complex O. S. T. 2

My Driving Mixmania Song List and The Driving Mixmania Surprise: There is no way in hell I'm ever gonna top that surprise.

A Late Look At Late Registration

When Cultures Collide...

Corpse Bride Is A Nice Little Film

October 2005

Blog Tag

Paul Wall Is A Likable Champ

Rock...Skate! Rolll...Bounce!: Despite the fact that Nick Cannon is all over the DVD box, don't expect to see much of him in the movie.

Meat On Top Of Meat On Top Of...Meat: Never tried the Meatnormous.

From Trois To The Gospel

Who Would Stalk The Night?

Thunder! Lightning! Strike! Go!: If you need a pick me up, get The Go Team's album.

I Have A Digital Camera

Wanting Someone Free Is A Bad Thing?: With Pimp C's pending parole, maybe they'll remove the blur/block of "free" in "They Don't Know."

The Yoko Kanno Reviews: I decided to just group all the reviews of Yoko Kanno albums under one banner. This series is going to continue into 2006, but here are all the reviews that fit the timeline of this post.
Sousei no Aquarion OST I (with Hisaaki Hogari)
Wolf's Rain OST I
Be Human

Book Review: Degrassi Generations by Kathryn Ellis

A Picture Of Me: Your first (and possibly only) peek at what I look like.

Twista Brings A Disappointing Day After

Rosa Parks

The Chicago White Sox: World Series Champions!

Animaniac-ally Happy

MTV News: 50 Cent Warns Dr. Dre About Working On Game LP: Isn't it interesting that the link I put to MTV News no longer mentions what 50 Cent said? Does it have anything to do with all the money MTV has invested in 50 Cent/G-Unit including his movie Get Rich Or Die Tryin' and his book From Pieces To Weight?

The Plastic Bag And Credit Card Mystery: I'm still puzzled by this.

CD Review: The Trinity by Sean Paul

November 2005

Boards Of Canada Take A Look Back With Campfire Headphase: This review was an editor's pick at Blog Critics. Read for yourself and see if you think it's any good.

Danger Doom Has Fun On The Mouse And The Mask

TV Review: South Of Nowhere: My sister can't stand this show.

Book Review: Make It Happen: The Hip Hop Generation Guide To Success

Flo'Ology Is Worth "Studying"

Remembering Biker Mice From Mars: Animaniacs, Pinky & The Brain, Batman Beyond, Goof Troop, and Quack Pack are all getting DVD releases. Why not the original Biker Mice From Mars?

Holidays Schmolidays

A Great (But Nutty) Thanksgiving

The Not-So-Horrific "Black Friday": Watch...next year's "black Friday" will be insane.

Movie Review: Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire

The Sterfish Christmas/Birthday List 2005

That's all for Year Two. Now, let Year Three begin!

The Best Of Year Two: Part I (December 2004-May 2005)

With a little more than a month until my blog's second anniversary, I figured that it was time to start looking back at the best posts of the past year. The posts are listed chronologically for the most part and related posts are grouped together. I've also added some new thoughts about these posts. One of your favorite posts of mine missing from this list? E-mail me and I may add it.

December 2004

Spider-Man 2...Finally: Batman Begins is now the best superhero movie I've ever seen, but this one still isn't that bad.

The Holidays Should Be Fun...Not Creepy: This year's Old Navy campaign is not nearly as creepy.

Degrassi...The Realest Teen Show on TV: What's up with all the ellipses in my titles?

Comments On The 47th Annual Grammy Nominations: These types of posts are some of my favorite ones to write.

R&G (Not To Be Confused With G&R)

John Mayer Has A TV Show...And It's Actually Good!: Come on VH1! This would make a perfect CelebReality show!

The Church's Unseen Face: The sad thing is that I've barely been to church in the year since this post and I spend most of my Sundays now at work.

Christmas (Or Should I Say Holiday?) Musings

A Golden Birthday

Me And My Dad's Family: Even though I have a job now, I really don't see them that much anymore.

Holiday Movie Bonanza: I miss renting movies...

New Year's Resolutions: The only one I kept was the first (and most important) one.

January 2005

More Movies and A Couple More Movies

And Now Some Music...For A Change: Damn ellipses.

My Favorites Of 2004

Gotta Love The Interns: I can't wait until the interns take over the MTV digital channels again.

The Movies I've Seen Many Many Times: The third Harry Potter film can be added to that list.

ReBoot and Religion: Now that I think about it, Daemon Rising probably parodies Evangelicals more than Christians in general.

Always On Beat: It still works, I tell you.

Tha Carter...Coach Carter: I can't believe I made a Lil' Wayne reference in this title.

My Favorite Music Video Directors

Comments On American Idol 4th Season Premiere and Predictions For American Idol Season 4

A Legend In The Making

Comments on The 2005 Oscar Nominations

Push The Button! The Shiny Red Candylike Button!: This is a review of the Chemical Brothers album...not a Ren & Stimpy DVD.

Daft Punk Really Is Human After All: They can do so much better.

February 2005

The Things To Do For Black History Month Series: I don't know what I'll be doing for Black History Month 2006, but I doubt it will top this.

Day 1: Read A Slave Narrative
Day 2: Listen To Some Good Hip-Hop Music
Day 3: Visit A Museum Dealing With Black History
Day 4: Explore The Liberal/Conservative Debate From A Black Perspective
Day 5: Visit Some "Blackblogz"
Day 6: Visit A Black Church
Day 7: Watch A "Blaxploitation" Movie
Day 8: Read Some Black Speculative/Science Fiction
Day 9: Listen To Some Classic R&B/Soul Music
Day 10: Watch A Racially Insensitive Portrayal Of African-Americans
Day 11: Donate To A Charity That Helps African-Americans/Africans
Day 12: Take An African-American Studies/History Course
Day 13: Eat/Cook Some Soul Food
Day 14: Watch A Good Spike Lee Film
Day 15: Go To A Jazz/Blues Club
Day 16: See The Films That Feature This Year's Black Oscar Nominees/Winners
Day 17: Volunteer
Day 18: Watch Some Black Cartoons
Day 19: Read Some African-American Poetry
Day 20: Watch A Black Sketch Comedy/Variety Show
Day 21: Look For Black History Month Programs On TV
Day 22: Attend/Read An African-American Play
Day 23: Remember African-American Sports Pioneers
Day 24: Seek Out Good African-American Novels/Short Stories
Day 25: Read Nigger By Randall Kennedy
Day 26: Watch A "UPN Show"
Day 27: Read The Writings Of Malcolm X and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Day 28: Share What You Have Learned
Addendum: Remember Ossie Davis
Addendum: Animation's First Black Animator
Addendum: Lackawanna Blues
Addendum: Disney's Song of The South Is Headed To DVD!

The Magazine That Wouldn’t Go Away: I still get Complex even though I have never renewed it. I think it's probably the universe's way of making up for getting screwed over by The Source.

Super Bowl Sunday

The Government--Here To Help: I hope that the people I worked with while on General Assistance have been able to get steady jobs.

$1,000,000 Newborn: Titles like this aren't that clever in hindsight.

Comments On The 47th Annual Grammy Awards

NBA Basketball: The Best Way To Liven Up A Winter Night: I am itching to get to another Bulls game.

An All-Sick All-Star Weekend

My Predictions For The 77th Annual Academy Awards and 77th Annual Academy Awards SCORECARD and Comments On The 77th Annual Academy Awards Show

March 2005

Jamie Foxx Did Deserve That Oscar: In hindsight, part of me wishes that Don Cheadle had won it instead.

Lookback Music Review: Moment Of Truth by Gang Starr

Not-So-Pleasantly Plump Actress

All The Best Parts Are In The Trailer: Thank goodness I did not pay money to see Man Of The House.

Jake In Progress Is Definitely A Work In Progress: Will John Stamos's show be better when it returns next year? We shall see...

The American Idol Quitting Controversy: I don't think I've ever been so off the mark in my life. Wow. I can't believe I actually wrote this. I put it in this "Best Of" post as an example of a post I thought was good at the time but I now really hate.

TheAmerican Idol Quitting Controversy--NEW THEORY: That's better.

I Have A Job!

Spongebob, Sports, And Romance

Robots Isn't Clunky: No fart joke has topped this movie since.

Early Late Registration: My brief review of the leaked version of Kanye's album.

Sterfish Presents...10 Questions: The first (and last) time I attempt to do my version of Vibe's always fun column.

Attack Of The Huge Breakfast Sandwich: I have yet to try the Meatnormous Omelet Sandwich.

April 2005

The April Fools Blog 2005 and Guest Blogger Day Revealed: Great idea, but I wish I had prepared a little more.

Sin City Is Delightfully Sinful

Trailer Watching: Movie trailers, that is.

Local Voting: It's sad that my high school is a shadow of what it was.

I Fell For It...And How!: One of my fatal flaws is that I sometimes take everything at face value right away without stopping to think. Hence, it makes it really easy for me to fall (and fall hard) for pranks such as this.

Dreams: I can't remember if I've had any weird dreams since this post.

The Great Unconventional Comedies On Network TV: Of the three shows, one is likely cancelled, one is not coming back until midseason, and one is only still on the air because its star had a hit comedy over the summer.

The Older You Get...The Bigger The Vehicle?: For a while, my dad was obsessed with getting the Buick Terraza as his next vehicle.

Lost...Really Lost: Can you believe that I never found that remote and that I had to order another one from Panasonic?

Oh, The Things You Notice: The best kids cartoons always seem to have something for the adults too.

The Catholic School Days: Mary Of Nazareth Alumni! Where you at?

In The Mix: Mixmania, Sterfish. Sterfish, Mixmania. Jim, Sterfish. Sterfish, Jim.

"Discovering" What Isn't New: This review, under the title "RJD2's Deadringer Is Worth Discovering," would end up becoming my first post on Blog Critics over a month later.

All I Have To Say About American Idol Is...: Where is Scott Savol now?

May 2005

Mixmania CD Song List...With A Little More Detail and Mixmania Fun: The Other Mixes and The Mixmania CD: So much fun.

The Old Young Man: Comment that a fellow employee said to me recently: "I always think you're our age."

My Favorite Albums (Part 1 Of ?) and My Favorite Albums (Part 2 Of ?)
: I only did two parts. This became a little irrelevant because I would eventually do a list of 100 Great Albums.

My Favorite Blogs: As you can see by looking at my blogroll, this list has gotten a bit bigger.

The Fall Lineup Frenzy Series: I learned two things from these posts. First, I learned that it's difficult to figure out how good a show will be without seeing some of it. I also learned to be careful about generalizing shows based on the press releases as you will find out in a later post...

NBC
ABC
The WB
CBS
UPN
FOX
Midseason Edition Part I (NBC, ABC, and The WB)
Midseason Edition Part II (CBS, UPN, and FOX)

A Look Back At My Predictions For This Season Of American Idol

The R.: R. Kelly remains an enigma.

A Good Movie Revenge Of The Sith Was

Defending Electric Circus: Personally, I think this is one of the best reviews I've written.

Common's Be Is One Great Album

That's it for now. Look for The Best Of Year Two Part II on this blog's second anniversary in December.