Dysfunctional Toaster

Before watching that overly dark film I mentioned in the post below, I watched a completely delightful little Japanese show called "You Gotta Quintet" and that's the title as it appears and is spoken for Japanese TV.

It is the coolest show I've seen so far, but I've only ever seen the tail end of it a couple times but I was able to vidcap sections of these on my computer (a lot of wires are involved). It looks like some kind of Sesame Street show, but I'm not sure. The sections I've watched feature these 4 cute marionettes playing violin, cello, trumpet, and clarinet (that little guy on the human's shoulder jumps up to play the cymbals every once in a while, more like comic relief). Add in a human pianist and you have the quintet. Then they just sit up on stage and play a nice arrangement of some sort of piece (I just heard The Entertainer). The marionette movements are very convincing. Actual musicians or someone well trained in music must be controlling them. The strings move with the music and even do tremelos and scales at the right time, the clarinettist pushes keys in a relatively accurate method (as far as I know), the trumpet doesn't use any of the unused (3rd valve only) combinations. It's just fun because everything is detailed and well articulated. Match it up with the really nice arrangements and you have the makings of a nice show.

There's been a few shows I've enjoyed so far on JTV, but the problem is I don't know when they come on and have no real way of checking. Maybe eventually I'll figure out a schedule of when "the good stuff" comes on. Until then, serendipity all the way.