Caws Radio

justifying your muses.

I just have to refer you to the latest post on Click Opera, Momus's livejournal. Or, more specifically, check out the battle that ensues in the comments and threads below the entry. In a nutshell, the post is Momus's take on Brian Eno's view of beautiful women as cultural objects, to be observed and appreciated and studied like places and events in cultural history.

Momus writes a lot. Nearly every day he has a new essay posted on his livejournal, discussing his philosophies and why he thinks the way he does. Hell, if he decides he likes pink Peeps instead of yellow Peeps, he'll type up an essay filled with literary and artistic references to prove that it is historically sound to like pink Peeps. But while reading his Women as Culture post, I soon felt that he was writing too much and setting himself up to be skewered. The longer you explain something the more likely you are to offend or provoke someone, and by the end of the last paragraph I knew there was probably a war going on in the comments area. And there most certainly was. And it's pretty damn funny.

One thing I found amusing is that Momus's livejournal seems to be read by a bunch of people who hate his guts. If you are a fan of Momus, then you know that he loves Japanese women and he hates America's brand of feminism. He hints at it in everything he writes, and he's addressed these points many times before. But as soon as he makes it the subject of an essay, the voices of a hundred western female readers can be heard yelling "now he's gone too far! Yellow Peeps deserve respect!"

VS.
Momus & Marxy: Who can throw his brain harder at the other?

Something else I thought was funny is Momus's constant ripping on Marxy, another musician who lives in Japan and writes about the culture on his own blog. I like how over the past year or so Marxy seems to have become The Misfits to Momus's Jem, so to speak, as Marxy's views of Japan and pop are generally more pessimistic than those of his nemesis, and the two frequently give each other shit because of it. I just want to see them have it out with rapiers aboard a pirate ship, or otherwise just throw their brains at each other.

Momus gets in trouble not for featuring pictures of girls he thinks are attractive, but for featuring them and then trying to start an argument as to why he is justified in featuring them. "I love pink peeps because they are the best, and I dare you to debate me." He got in the same mess when he attempted to explain his love for Japanese women and why nobody can attack him for it, and ended up getting attacked viciously by feminist wolves. You don't need to explain your crushes, man! Don't justify your muses! It's all just a stone grooooove!
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What I mean is, to each his own. I can give props to my muses, my choice beautiful women, my favorite cultural objects without necessarily asserting that you should all appreciate them. For example, my desktop features a picture of Enazo from the band Lolita No.18. I like her because she's a Japanese punk rocker, because she plays a blue FLYING-V, and because she's cute. Or how about Shena Ringo, who gets mentioned enough on this blog to be the Flying Wheel of its namesake. And let me give mention to Mana, a girl I met a few weeks ago, who could inspire me enough to write an entire opera in a day. Y'all don't agree with me and my choice of muses? Well, you can cram it with walnuts, cause I don't care.


Mana and a muse. It's just fun to say- muse.

But I think I would be underestimating Momus's intelligence if I thought he wasn't expecting an argument. I would guess that he enjoys getting hounded on his livejournal simply because he is a master-debator(...heh). No matter what someone says, no matter what anyone throws at him, the guy manages to make them look uninformed or misled. Or he will wait until everyone commenting gets into arguments amongst themselves and then take the opportunity to write a new post and change the subject. "The discussion is over, folks. Pink Peeps are the shit. Now, moving on to why Jack Johnson's a plonker..."

So anyway, in other news, I am hoping to have a new song finished soon. Something you can dance to, maybe.
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