REMODELING.
As you can see, I've updated my template. I did this for a few reasons: 1) Blogger's new templates are more open to customization, 2) the built-in comments feature is more reliable than the old comment button I added myself, and 3) my archives are once again available for viewing (when I switched over to Blogger Beta a while back, all the archive links disappeared from my old template). Now you can go all the way back to my very first post, and then observe how I gradually become more and more cynical as the years progress. Thanks, Blogger!
Monday, November 12, 2007
Sunday, November 11, 2007
glam echoes: just to recap...
Kylie Minogue, 2 Hearts, 2007
Goldfrapp, Ooh La La, 2005
Kylie Minogue, 2 Hearts, 2007
Goldfrapp, Ooh La La, 2005
T. Rex, Hot Love, 1972
...A woman acting like a woman acting like a man acting like a woman.
Funny how the boys these days aren't too keen on reviving glam. The girls do an alright job, I guess, but it's not as outrageous; part of the fun of seeing Bowie all dolled up is that there was a man under all that makeup. Nope, nowadays rock music is dominated by a bunch of pseudo-masculine guys who take themselves too seriously and worship at the altar of metal. Maybe someone should remind them that the metal god they kneel before started out wearing spandex and listening to Slade and T. Rex.
.
Funny how the boys these days aren't too keen on reviving glam. The girls do an alright job, I guess, but it's not as outrageous; part of the fun of seeing Bowie all dolled up is that there was a man under all that makeup. Nope, nowadays rock music is dominated by a bunch of pseudo-masculine guys who take themselves too seriously and worship at the altar of metal. Maybe someone should remind them that the metal god they kneel before started out wearing spandex and listening to Slade and T. Rex.
.
Monday, November 05, 2007
woman shall inherit the earth.
I just read this interesting/troubling little article: Are Boys An Endangered Species?
The focus of the article is on a couple populations of indigeonous peoples, whose diets of local chemically contaminated foods are resulting in less boys being born. The disturbing angle is that this may be a forecast for a global problem, as hinted in the last line: In the United States, more boys are being born than girls, but the gap between the two has declined in the last 30 years.
From an evolutionary standpoint, an even balance between boys and girls is not necessarily required to sustain population. As long as some boys continue to be born, and we rely on Dr. Strangelove's mating ratio of 10 females to each male, we should be alright. ...More than alright, if you're one of the lucky endangered males.
Perhaps this is the beginning of the end. Maybe that's how humanity will go out; men will slowly die off until we are left with a woman-dominated earth (a world with terrible television, a world of global emotional paranoia, where wars are all passive aggressive and casualties are all from a knife in the back), whose inhabitants will no doubt attempt to create artificial insemination machines to completely replace the role of man in reproduction. But the irony will be that, since all the asian men have gone extinct, there will be no one to repair these machines when they break down, and eventually the women will go the way of the men. And what will be left? That's right; cockroaches and Keith Richards.
They live!
.
I just read this interesting/troubling little article: Are Boys An Endangered Species?
The focus of the article is on a couple populations of indigeonous peoples, whose diets of local chemically contaminated foods are resulting in less boys being born. The disturbing angle is that this may be a forecast for a global problem, as hinted in the last line: In the United States, more boys are being born than girls, but the gap between the two has declined in the last 30 years.
From an evolutionary standpoint, an even balance between boys and girls is not necessarily required to sustain population. As long as some boys continue to be born, and we rely on Dr. Strangelove's mating ratio of 10 females to each male, we should be alright. ...More than alright, if you're one of the lucky endangered males.
Perhaps this is the beginning of the end. Maybe that's how humanity will go out; men will slowly die off until we are left with a woman-dominated earth (a world with terrible television, a world of global emotional paranoia, where wars are all passive aggressive and casualties are all from a knife in the back), whose inhabitants will no doubt attempt to create artificial insemination machines to completely replace the role of man in reproduction. But the irony will be that, since all the asian men have gone extinct, there will be no one to repair these machines when they break down, and eventually the women will go the way of the men. And what will be left? That's right; cockroaches and Keith Richards.
They live!
.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
e-disHarmony.
I remember a TV ad telling me that eHarmony.com uses a comprehensive database system to provide the most exact, reliable, successful method of matching up people with potential "soul mates," and that viewing these matches is completely free. Well, today I was bored, so I thought I might just see what kind of "soul mate" they could come up with for someone of my breed. After completing a 15-minute personality and preference survey, they gave me this:
Rejected from online dating! How tragic! The most advanced matching system on the web, and I still come out single. It's like a big online joke, and this page is the glorious punchline. I like their line about how they "sometimes choose not to provide service rather than risk an uncertain match." Because I suppose they have their reputation to worry about; they wouldn't want to match a defective like me up with somebody who might complain.
Then again, they do mention that their matching system is created through research with married couples. Perhaps they could ascertain from my answers that I'm not the marrying type, so naturally I don't belong on a site that boasts "90 marriages a day." But I answered honestly, just as they asked. I also noticed that their questions seemed primarily concerned with how well you can solve conflicts and whether you are a "leader" or a "follower", as if it were some kind of job questionnaire. No room for followers here! Only leaders will get ahead in a relationship! Be firm and commanding with your employee/mate! Experience preferred!
.
I remember a TV ad telling me that eHarmony.com uses a comprehensive database system to provide the most exact, reliable, successful method of matching up people with potential "soul mates," and that viewing these matches is completely free. Well, today I was bored, so I thought I might just see what kind of "soul mate" they could come up with for someone of my breed. After completing a 15-minute personality and preference survey, they gave me this:
Rejected from online dating! How tragic! The most advanced matching system on the web, and I still come out single. It's like a big online joke, and this page is the glorious punchline. I like their line about how they "sometimes choose not to provide service rather than risk an uncertain match." Because I suppose they have their reputation to worry about; they wouldn't want to match a defective like me up with somebody who might complain.
Then again, they do mention that their matching system is created through research with married couples. Perhaps they could ascertain from my answers that I'm not the marrying type, so naturally I don't belong on a site that boasts "90 marriages a day." But I answered honestly, just as they asked. I also noticed that their questions seemed primarily concerned with how well you can solve conflicts and whether you are a "leader" or a "follower", as if it were some kind of job questionnaire. No room for followers here! Only leaders will get ahead in a relationship! Be firm and commanding with your employee/mate! Experience preferred!
.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Sunday, October 14, 2007
you're the one listening to it.
I thought I'd respond to an article that I read recently. I mean, feminism vs. emo? How can I resist? The article: Emo: Where the Girls Aren't by Jessica Hopper.
It is my belief that the guys in emo bands are merely the boy-band type who have undergone stylistic metamorphosis, emerging from their spike-studded chrysalis singing a song of self-pity instead of self-promotion. However, their lusts haven't changed; the girls they write their angsty songs about are essentially the same "summer girls" that those hair-gel models LFO wrote their shitty single about back in 1999. You remember; that ode to materialistic fetishism that boasted such poetry as "when I met you I said my name was Rich/you look like a girl from Abercrombie and Fitch." Back then, rich boys knew they could woo shallow teeny boppers by wearing confidence in the form of an expensive polo shirt.
These days, the emo boys have made a grand discovery; that if they act hurt and sensitive, not only will they attract the Abercrombie girls, but the Hot Topic girls as well. Their ballads about being fed up with flaky girls are nothing more than a means to attract more flaky girls. I suppose my main point is that any girl who actually listens to emo doesn't deserve "better songs" written about them. They date the misogynistic guy, they stroke his musical ego, and they proceed to buy the album he writes about their breakup. How can you rip the singer for being a jerk and a sore loser when the girl was only dating him to show off to her friends? The verdict: the poet and the muse are BOTH IDIOTS. Emo is silly overdramatic music written by silly overdramatic boys for silly overdramatic girls. Everyone else need only stand back and chuckle. So what is Ms. Hopper getting so worked up about?
Being from Punk Planet, which I believe is somewhere in the Iggypop System, she seems to be upset because Planet Emo, while quite a great distance from the Loureed Sun, is nonetheless eclipsing her own world and drawing several colonists of the younger generation. She realizes that, unfortunately, emo is what the kids are listening to these days, and she doesn't like the idea of such a dominant form of American rock music having such a damning message towards women. I guess I can agree with these sentiments, but I wouldn't prescribe Bikini Kill for this illness. Call me a fag, but I don't think the answer to whiny boy rock is obnoxious, aggressive grrrl rock. Early in the article she mentions being forced to retreat into the "cavelike recesses of electronic, DJ and experimental music." Oh, the horror! Music that doesn't have distorted guitars! So I guess her reasoning is that the only alternative to crappy anti-woman lyrics is crappy anti-men lyrics, or no lyrics at all. Hm. Such is life on Punk Planet...
I was afraid Ms. Hopper would bring up "Under My Thumb," and sure enough, here it is once again as exhibit B in the case against woman-bashing rock. It's become an old feminist favorite, hasn't it? Yeah, it's a rough song, but if you really want to toss The Rolling Stones in with the woman-hating emo, tie it up with a conversation you had with some jackass you associate with, and say "Here I have a bag full of reason to hate rock'n roll for being misogynist," I'm afraid it says more about you than about the history of pop music. Sure, it is true that a good 90% of rock songs - or pop songs in general - are written by men about women, but that isn't sexism. No, that's just the tail end of a couple thousand years of sexually frustrated, artistically-inclined men who want desperately to impress a woman but can't afford a Cadillac. But you see? That's a different can of worms altogether. And as far as Zeppelin goes, even die hard fans will agree that the band doesn't have the deepest lyrics. To attack "Communication Breakdown" on the grounds of it being misogynist is like shunning "You Are My Sunshine" for having rapist undertones.
One last thing: "We deserve better songs than any boy will ever write about us."
You're right. I'm going to tell Mozart, Beethoven, Gershwin, Elvis, Otis Redding, Bob Dylan, and The Beatles that they were all wasting their time. They can't hold a candle to Bikini Kill. And they better start saving for that Cadillac.
.
I thought I'd respond to an article that I read recently. I mean, feminism vs. emo? How can I resist? The article: Emo: Where the Girls Aren't by Jessica Hopper.
It is my belief that the guys in emo bands are merely the boy-band type who have undergone stylistic metamorphosis, emerging from their spike-studded chrysalis singing a song of self-pity instead of self-promotion. However, their lusts haven't changed; the girls they write their angsty songs about are essentially the same "summer girls" that those hair-gel models LFO wrote their shitty single about back in 1999. You remember; that ode to materialistic fetishism that boasted such poetry as "when I met you I said my name was Rich/you look like a girl from Abercrombie and Fitch." Back then, rich boys knew they could woo shallow teeny boppers by wearing confidence in the form of an expensive polo shirt.
These days, the emo boys have made a grand discovery; that if they act hurt and sensitive, not only will they attract the Abercrombie girls, but the Hot Topic girls as well. Their ballads about being fed up with flaky girls are nothing more than a means to attract more flaky girls. I suppose my main point is that any girl who actually listens to emo doesn't deserve "better songs" written about them. They date the misogynistic guy, they stroke his musical ego, and they proceed to buy the album he writes about their breakup. How can you rip the singer for being a jerk and a sore loser when the girl was only dating him to show off to her friends? The verdict: the poet and the muse are BOTH IDIOTS. Emo is silly overdramatic music written by silly overdramatic boys for silly overdramatic girls. Everyone else need only stand back and chuckle. So what is Ms. Hopper getting so worked up about?
Being from Punk Planet, which I believe is somewhere in the Iggypop System, she seems to be upset because Planet Emo, while quite a great distance from the Loureed Sun, is nonetheless eclipsing her own world and drawing several colonists of the younger generation. She realizes that, unfortunately, emo is what the kids are listening to these days, and she doesn't like the idea of such a dominant form of American rock music having such a damning message towards women. I guess I can agree with these sentiments, but I wouldn't prescribe Bikini Kill for this illness. Call me a fag, but I don't think the answer to whiny boy rock is obnoxious, aggressive grrrl rock. Early in the article she mentions being forced to retreat into the "cavelike recesses of electronic, DJ and experimental music." Oh, the horror! Music that doesn't have distorted guitars! So I guess her reasoning is that the only alternative to crappy anti-woman lyrics is crappy anti-men lyrics, or no lyrics at all. Hm. Such is life on Punk Planet...
I was afraid Ms. Hopper would bring up "Under My Thumb," and sure enough, here it is once again as exhibit B in the case against woman-bashing rock. It's become an old feminist favorite, hasn't it? Yeah, it's a rough song, but if you really want to toss The Rolling Stones in with the woman-hating emo, tie it up with a conversation you had with some jackass you associate with, and say "Here I have a bag full of reason to hate rock'n roll for being misogynist," I'm afraid it says more about you than about the history of pop music. Sure, it is true that a good 90% of rock songs - or pop songs in general - are written by men about women, but that isn't sexism. No, that's just the tail end of a couple thousand years of sexually frustrated, artistically-inclined men who want desperately to impress a woman but can't afford a Cadillac. But you see? That's a different can of worms altogether. And as far as Zeppelin goes, even die hard fans will agree that the band doesn't have the deepest lyrics. To attack "Communication Breakdown" on the grounds of it being misogynist is like shunning "You Are My Sunshine" for having rapist undertones.
One last thing: "We deserve better songs than any boy will ever write about us."
You're right. I'm going to tell Mozart, Beethoven, Gershwin, Elvis, Otis Redding, Bob Dylan, and The Beatles that they were all wasting their time. They can't hold a candle to Bikini Kill. And they better start saving for that Cadillac.
.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
feed your inner Japanese kid.
I have an inner Japanese kid. He's the one who periodically screams "I need ramen!" or "I need green tea!" or "those people are too loud!" And I usually listen to him. Here are some things that have been appeasing my inner Japanese kid recently:
The Taste of Tea
Katsuhito Ishii's wonderful film about...well, nothing really, but featuring a string of strange situations and charming characters. Movies like this make me wonder if it's possible to make a bad movie in Japan, since there are so many great things to film over there. Simple shots of country roads and high school interiors just look so good, and Ishii really embraces that. It also stars Tadanobu Asano, that guy who is in every Japanese movie.
Ryusuke Works
English blog by the manga artist Ryusuke Hamamoto, who still manages to stand out in the endless sea of global manga artists. You can browse his beautiful drawings on his DeviantArt page. I read his blog for the great Engrish poetry that makes up daily posts:
"I'm eating a lunch with my friend.
I choise a vegetable curry and spinach salad.
My friend choise a honey toast with ice cream.
it's dericious! and I want to eat a honey toast too!"
Merry Daily
Merry Daily is the blog for a Harajuku clothing store called Tokyo Bopper. There are great photos and "style samples" of slick outfits. I'm glad to see Tokyo kids leaning toward more colorful fashions again- the goths and gangstas got old fast.
.
I have an inner Japanese kid. He's the one who periodically screams "I need ramen!" or "I need green tea!" or "those people are too loud!" And I usually listen to him. Here are some things that have been appeasing my inner Japanese kid recently:
The Taste of Tea
Katsuhito Ishii's wonderful film about...well, nothing really, but featuring a string of strange situations and charming characters. Movies like this make me wonder if it's possible to make a bad movie in Japan, since there are so many great things to film over there. Simple shots of country roads and high school interiors just look so good, and Ishii really embraces that. It also stars Tadanobu Asano, that guy who is in every Japanese movie.
Ryusuke Works
English blog by the manga artist Ryusuke Hamamoto, who still manages to stand out in the endless sea of global manga artists. You can browse his beautiful drawings on his DeviantArt page. I read his blog for the great Engrish poetry that makes up daily posts:
"I'm eating a lunch with my friend.
I choise a vegetable curry and spinach salad.
My friend choise a honey toast with ice cream.
it's dericious! and I want to eat a honey toast too!"
Merry Daily
Merry Daily is the blog for a Harajuku clothing store called Tokyo Bopper. There are great photos and "style samples" of slick outfits. I'm glad to see Tokyo kids leaning toward more colorful fashions again- the goths and gangstas got old fast.
.
Friday, September 28, 2007
"Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon"
...The title of Devendra Banhart's new album, which is excellent. In these days of easy music pirating and pricey CDs, my album buying has been limited to those discs by artists whom I trust to produce a full package of great tunes, and Smokey does not disappoint.
Here he is playing on a boat in England:
And here he is apparently forgetting the words to a song:
Actually, I just put that clip up to make myself feel better, because during my show last night I flat out forgot half the words to "In Your Muscles." But I will always believe that forgetting the words to your own song is more noble than having the lyrics written out in front of you. That's cheating.
.
...The title of Devendra Banhart's new album, which is excellent. In these days of easy music pirating and pricey CDs, my album buying has been limited to those discs by artists whom I trust to produce a full package of great tunes, and Smokey does not disappoint.
Here he is playing on a boat in England:
And here he is apparently forgetting the words to a song:
Actually, I just put that clip up to make myself feel better, because during my show last night I flat out forgot half the words to "In Your Muscles." But I will always believe that forgetting the words to your own song is more noble than having the lyrics written out in front of you. That's cheating.
.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Disney tricks us with...crap.
Crap. Bullocks. Terrible. Contrived, stupid, lame, silly, retarded schlop. Unnecessary bullshit. A cascading stream of media piss onto my senses. This is the kind of thing that at first just annoys me and then makes me flat out angry the more I watch it until I become irate to the point of homicidal intent. But this isn't just harmless YouTube crap, I'm afraid. People are going to great lengths to bring this gut-wrenching tripe into your life.
Meet Marie Digby, a girl with a guitar who can kind of play and kind of sing. She makes videos on YouTube of herself playing and singing other people's songs (she has one or two originals...like that's impressive). A lot of people started responding to her videos, and she was very humble and grateful and put up some more, hoping that maybe she'd finally catch on and get that big break that she really, really doesn't deserve.
The sour note is that she had already gotten that big break. She was signed by Disney's Hollywood Records a year before she even joined YouTube. As Blogging Stocks puts it, "Her YouTube-based PR campaign was carefully constructed by Hollywood Records to launch her in a way that would gain the cache of authenticity viewers grant to user-developed content." Basically, Disney knew that if they presented another boring pop star through the traditional avenues of popular media nobody would care. BUT, if they placed her innocently in everybody's internet path, they would stumble upon her and feel they were discovering her. That old charm of the diamond in the rough. Except this time, the diamond had been already brushed off by the corporate hand, and then carefully, conspicuously, placed back in the rough, with a hidden string leading back to that hand's gold-ringed finger.
What I wish I could point out to everybody - the corporate as well as the commoner - is that this diamond doesn't shine so bright, or rather, that's all it does. Take a look at that video again, and it'll become obvious, if it wasn't already, what this girl's real talent is; her looks. Disney is selling a fantasy, a wet dream, a piece of eye candy wrapped in a singer/songwriter foil. Young girls see her and think "I want to be a singer...and look that good." Young men just see her and think "I want to do her." I mean, the song they are trying to sell as her single is somebody else's song, one that wasn't that great in the first place and actually sounded better in its original form (I hate to give props to Rihanna, but hey... lesser of two evils). On her video home page, "jjax5" leaves the comment "there is something stunning about you that people are really going to like..." It disturbs me that he doesn't specify that 'something' as being purely visual.
The great thing about YouTube...the only thing about YouTube... is that it's all about the homemade, the amateur, the DIY, the unprofessional. And dammit folks, these words should be exciting. There is nothing exciting about professionals pushing a girl to sing songs by other professionals just so, hopefully, she will become a professional. There is a freedom in broadcasting yourself, a freedom of expression that is ours to utilize, even if it means writing and singing an absurd ballad about chocolate rain:
It may not be the best song of the year, but in the dim light of Marie Digby, Tay Zonday becomes an internet hero. As it reads on his YouTube profile:
"I am a singer-songwriter-vocalist. I might do anything. No style is off-limits. No two videos are alike. From Bach to Tupac, Expect the Unexpected!"
.
Crap. Bullocks. Terrible. Contrived, stupid, lame, silly, retarded schlop. Unnecessary bullshit. A cascading stream of media piss onto my senses. This is the kind of thing that at first just annoys me and then makes me flat out angry the more I watch it until I become irate to the point of homicidal intent. But this isn't just harmless YouTube crap, I'm afraid. People are going to great lengths to bring this gut-wrenching tripe into your life.
Meet Marie Digby, a girl with a guitar who can kind of play and kind of sing. She makes videos on YouTube of herself playing and singing other people's songs (she has one or two originals...like that's impressive). A lot of people started responding to her videos, and she was very humble and grateful and put up some more, hoping that maybe she'd finally catch on and get that big break that she really, really doesn't deserve.
The sour note is that she had already gotten that big break. She was signed by Disney's Hollywood Records a year before she even joined YouTube. As Blogging Stocks puts it, "Her YouTube-based PR campaign was carefully constructed by Hollywood Records to launch her in a way that would gain the cache of authenticity viewers grant to user-developed content." Basically, Disney knew that if they presented another boring pop star through the traditional avenues of popular media nobody would care. BUT, if they placed her innocently in everybody's internet path, they would stumble upon her and feel they were discovering her. That old charm of the diamond in the rough. Except this time, the diamond had been already brushed off by the corporate hand, and then carefully, conspicuously, placed back in the rough, with a hidden string leading back to that hand's gold-ringed finger.
What I wish I could point out to everybody - the corporate as well as the commoner - is that this diamond doesn't shine so bright, or rather, that's all it does. Take a look at that video again, and it'll become obvious, if it wasn't already, what this girl's real talent is; her looks. Disney is selling a fantasy, a wet dream, a piece of eye candy wrapped in a singer/songwriter foil. Young girls see her and think "I want to be a singer...and look that good." Young men just see her and think "I want to do her." I mean, the song they are trying to sell as her single is somebody else's song, one that wasn't that great in the first place and actually sounded better in its original form (I hate to give props to Rihanna, but hey... lesser of two evils). On her video home page, "jjax5" leaves the comment "there is something stunning about you that people are really going to like..." It disturbs me that he doesn't specify that 'something' as being purely visual.
The great thing about YouTube...the only thing about YouTube... is that it's all about the homemade, the amateur, the DIY, the unprofessional. And dammit folks, these words should be exciting. There is nothing exciting about professionals pushing a girl to sing songs by other professionals just so, hopefully, she will become a professional. There is a freedom in broadcasting yourself, a freedom of expression that is ours to utilize, even if it means writing and singing an absurd ballad about chocolate rain:
It may not be the best song of the year, but in the dim light of Marie Digby, Tay Zonday becomes an internet hero. As it reads on his YouTube profile:
"I am a singer-songwriter-vocalist. I might do anything. No style is off-limits. No two videos are alike. From Bach to Tupac, Expect the Unexpected!"
.
Friday, August 31, 2007
sense of humor -vs- sense of morals.
"Kodomo no Jikan's story revolves around a male twenty-three year old grade school teacher named Daisuke Aoki employed at Futatsubashi Elementary School (双ツ橋小学校 Futatsubashi Shōgakkō). Daisuke is in charge of class 3-1, and one of his students, a mischievous young girl named Rin Kokonoe, has developed a crush on him, and has gone so far as to proclaim herself Daisuke's girlfriend. Rin continues her efforts to be with her teacher despite the fact that he will lose his job if she gets too close." (from Wikipedia)
Sounds like a hit, right? I mean, a 3rd grader making sexual advances on her adult teacher...that's what comics are for! But I'm afraid Kodomo no Jikan, or Nymphet as it's been dubbed in English, has been causing quite the controversy in the US manga market. A while back, Seven Seas Entertainment announced that they would be translating and releasing the series in the US. Seven Seas has published several popular Japanese comics in English, and Kodomo no Jikan had already made such a splash in Japan that it seemed ripe for the Yankee picking. When debate sparked up regarding the pedophilic undertones of the story, Seven Seas head Jason DeAngelis defended the title in this statement, saying that the comics were harmless, reflecting Japan's "wacky" sense of humor, and that "if it’s good enough for the Japanese, then it’s good enough for us."
Then, abruptly, the company announced that it would not publish the books, and DeAngelis released a lengthy second statement. Now it appears he has changed his tune, saying that his decision to cancel the title came upon reading later volumes of the series which featured pages and situations that "cannot be considered appropriate for the US market by any reasonable standard." Let me just note here that Seven Seas also has the publishing rights to Wicked City, a story which features women being sexually violated by parasitic tentacle demons. But I guess the tentacles and the women are all over the legal age of consent, so it's okay for Americans.
So what about the "good enough for Japan, good enough for us" philosophy? Apparently DeAngelis came to the realization that the wacky, bizarre sense of humor that thrives in Japan translates into an inappropriate, dangerous breach of morals in America. It turns out what's good enough for Japan isn't always good enough for the US, or rather, what can be laughed at in a harmonious, progressive society is still threatening and abhorrent to a turbulent, conservative one. The author of Kodomo no Jikan, Kaworu Watashiya, hinted at this on her blog: "The boundaries of depictions of lolitas and so on vary with each locale, era, and culture, so if people there decide that it's out of bounds, then that's that." However, Watashiya is a little off on pin-pointing what actually caused the ban. She goes on to assume that the offensive pages were those involving adult and child relatives taking a bath, thinking that this would be viewed as incestuous and not suitable for Americans. But in fact, as Wikipedia explains, DeAngelis specifically described the most inappropriate pages as those depicting a scene in which the young girl and her teacher are stuck in a cold room, holding each other to keep warm. The girl "accidentally rubs Aoki's crotch, who gets an erection." I guess Watashiya didn't find that part very provocative.
Above are a couple Nymphet pages I found, showing that wacky Japanese sense of humor ('ejaculate inside me!' What a punchline!). Call me deviant, but frankly, I can see how this concept could be a comical goldmine. The whole joke is that the story is essentially a "what if" scenario, where this poor guy, Aoki, is relentlessly hounded by forbidden temptation personified by the girl, Rin. The comics could be viewed as a sharp satire of manga's tendency to consistently over-sexualize female characters who appear or act very young (the whole Lolicon universe); the only difference between this title and countless other titles is that this one goes as far as to say that the girl is actually a 3rd grader, not just a youthful looking character that is, say, 17.
Nymphet and a Battle Athlete. Can you detect a 10-year age difference?
Of course, I haven't read the books, but something tells me that this story will find it's way to the States. After all, considering that Kodomo no Jikan was a major hit in Japan, with a cartoon series in production, chances are there will soon be several new titles cashing in on the subject matter. How long will Seven Seas be able to stay in the business if they start picking and choosing which comics cross the society-values line and which are merely wacky or bizarre? Thanks to all this publicity, already Nymphet has become a highly desirable forbidden fruit. You can't tell the public how racy and unacceptable a series is, immediately after praising its creativity, and not expect the public to salivate more. In a way, this series and its controversy are a major turning point in the evolution of Japanese comics, and readers want to see what the fuss is about.
But the main point, folks, is that Kokomo no Jikan is a fantasy, a parody, and a comic, not a piece of literature that children are going to read and model their behaviors after. It's meant to be taken as somewhat of a dirty joke, making you laugh while at the same time shocking you with its boldness. If you get the joke, then you know that this is not necessarily art imitating life, so there is no chance of life imitating this art. Japan gets the joke. Too bad the U.S. doesn't.
.
"Kodomo no Jikan's story revolves around a male twenty-three year old grade school teacher named Daisuke Aoki employed at Futatsubashi Elementary School (双ツ橋小学校 Futatsubashi Shōgakkō). Daisuke is in charge of class 3-1, and one of his students, a mischievous young girl named Rin Kokonoe, has developed a crush on him, and has gone so far as to proclaim herself Daisuke's girlfriend. Rin continues her efforts to be with her teacher despite the fact that he will lose his job if she gets too close." (from Wikipedia)
Sounds like a hit, right? I mean, a 3rd grader making sexual advances on her adult teacher...that's what comics are for! But I'm afraid Kodomo no Jikan, or Nymphet as it's been dubbed in English, has been causing quite the controversy in the US manga market. A while back, Seven Seas Entertainment announced that they would be translating and releasing the series in the US. Seven Seas has published several popular Japanese comics in English, and Kodomo no Jikan had already made such a splash in Japan that it seemed ripe for the Yankee picking. When debate sparked up regarding the pedophilic undertones of the story, Seven Seas head Jason DeAngelis defended the title in this statement, saying that the comics were harmless, reflecting Japan's "wacky" sense of humor, and that "if it’s good enough for the Japanese, then it’s good enough for us."
Then, abruptly, the company announced that it would not publish the books, and DeAngelis released a lengthy second statement. Now it appears he has changed his tune, saying that his decision to cancel the title came upon reading later volumes of the series which featured pages and situations that "cannot be considered appropriate for the US market by any reasonable standard." Let me just note here that Seven Seas also has the publishing rights to Wicked City, a story which features women being sexually violated by parasitic tentacle demons. But I guess the tentacles and the women are all over the legal age of consent, so it's okay for Americans.
So what about the "good enough for Japan, good enough for us" philosophy? Apparently DeAngelis came to the realization that the wacky, bizarre sense of humor that thrives in Japan translates into an inappropriate, dangerous breach of morals in America. It turns out what's good enough for Japan isn't always good enough for the US, or rather, what can be laughed at in a harmonious, progressive society is still threatening and abhorrent to a turbulent, conservative one. The author of Kodomo no Jikan, Kaworu Watashiya, hinted at this on her blog: "The boundaries of depictions of lolitas and so on vary with each locale, era, and culture, so if people there decide that it's out of bounds, then that's that." However, Watashiya is a little off on pin-pointing what actually caused the ban. She goes on to assume that the offensive pages were those involving adult and child relatives taking a bath, thinking that this would be viewed as incestuous and not suitable for Americans. But in fact, as Wikipedia explains, DeAngelis specifically described the most inappropriate pages as those depicting a scene in which the young girl and her teacher are stuck in a cold room, holding each other to keep warm. The girl "accidentally rubs Aoki's crotch, who gets an erection." I guess Watashiya didn't find that part very provocative.
Above are a couple Nymphet pages I found, showing that wacky Japanese sense of humor ('ejaculate inside me!' What a punchline!). Call me deviant, but frankly, I can see how this concept could be a comical goldmine. The whole joke is that the story is essentially a "what if" scenario, where this poor guy, Aoki, is relentlessly hounded by forbidden temptation personified by the girl, Rin. The comics could be viewed as a sharp satire of manga's tendency to consistently over-sexualize female characters who appear or act very young (the whole Lolicon universe); the only difference between this title and countless other titles is that this one goes as far as to say that the girl is actually a 3rd grader, not just a youthful looking character that is, say, 17.
Nymphet and a Battle Athlete. Can you detect a 10-year age difference?
Of course, I haven't read the books, but something tells me that this story will find it's way to the States. After all, considering that Kodomo no Jikan was a major hit in Japan, with a cartoon series in production, chances are there will soon be several new titles cashing in on the subject matter. How long will Seven Seas be able to stay in the business if they start picking and choosing which comics cross the society-values line and which are merely wacky or bizarre? Thanks to all this publicity, already Nymphet has become a highly desirable forbidden fruit. You can't tell the public how racy and unacceptable a series is, immediately after praising its creativity, and not expect the public to salivate more. In a way, this series and its controversy are a major turning point in the evolution of Japanese comics, and readers want to see what the fuss is about.
But the main point, folks, is that Kokomo no Jikan is a fantasy, a parody, and a comic, not a piece of literature that children are going to read and model their behaviors after. It's meant to be taken as somewhat of a dirty joke, making you laugh while at the same time shocking you with its boldness. If you get the joke, then you know that this is not necessarily art imitating life, so there is no chance of life imitating this art. Japan gets the joke. Too bad the U.S. doesn't.
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Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Hoodryde.
Japan has a way of picking up the misplaced pieces of a foreign subculture and reassembling them into a vibrant, cartoonish doppleganger of the original. Photographer Akif Hakan Celebi has done a series that beautifully documents one such "doppleculture."
Presenting HOODRYDE.
(and you MUST have the sound turned on.)
.
Japan has a way of picking up the misplaced pieces of a foreign subculture and reassembling them into a vibrant, cartoonish doppleganger of the original. Photographer Akif Hakan Celebi has done a series that beautifully documents one such "doppleculture."
Presenting HOODRYDE.
(and you MUST have the sound turned on.)
.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
flour power.
Pair arrested after making flour trail through parking lot.
More evidence (in addition to the whole Mooninite scare) that America is in danger of becoming one of THOSE countries. You know, the kind of country where stupid shit like this happens. And, once again, a city official releases another disturbingly paranoid/idiotic statement. This time it's the aptly-named Mayoral spokeswoman Jessica Mayorga, who utters this as she announces plans to seek restitution from the "terrorists":
"You see powder connected by arrows and chalk, you never know...It could be a terrorist, it could be something more serious. We're thankful it wasn't, but there were a lot of resources that went into figuring that out."
A lot of resources? Like what, the daft police officer wasting his breath by asking "Is this flour?" How many millions did the city spend in cracking this case? For fuck's sake, the guy biked back to IKEA once he heard his flour trail was stirring up the local morons and told them all it was only flour. Any damages, financial or emotional, can hardly be blamed on he and his accomplices.
And what does Mayorga mean by her cryptic suggestion that flour could be evidence of "something more serious" than a terrorist? Wouldn't a flour-armed Al Qaeda be bad enough? Could she be suggesting a more ancient evil, something inhuman, something Sumerian perhaps, something that has been lying dormant since the dawn of man, waiting for the right time to rise up and invoke the wrath of the Old Ones by way of flour?? The WHITE DEATH??
Pair arrested after making flour trail through parking lot.
More evidence (in addition to the whole Mooninite scare) that America is in danger of becoming one of THOSE countries. You know, the kind of country where stupid shit like this happens. And, once again, a city official releases another disturbingly paranoid/idiotic statement. This time it's the aptly-named Mayoral spokeswoman Jessica Mayorga, who utters this as she announces plans to seek restitution from the "terrorists":
"You see powder connected by arrows and chalk, you never know...It could be a terrorist, it could be something more serious. We're thankful it wasn't, but there were a lot of resources that went into figuring that out."
A lot of resources? Like what, the daft police officer wasting his breath by asking "Is this flour?" How many millions did the city spend in cracking this case? For fuck's sake, the guy biked back to IKEA once he heard his flour trail was stirring up the local morons and told them all it was only flour. Any damages, financial or emotional, can hardly be blamed on he and his accomplices.
And what does Mayorga mean by her cryptic suggestion that flour could be evidence of "something more serious" than a terrorist? Wouldn't a flour-armed Al Qaeda be bad enough? Could she be suggesting a more ancient evil, something inhuman, something Sumerian perhaps, something that has been lying dormant since the dawn of man, waiting for the right time to rise up and invoke the wrath of the Old Ones by way of flour?? The WHITE DEATH??
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
practice lookin' hard:
the blindingly bad artwork of rap albums
The artwork that graces an album will always be an opportunity for the recording artist to express visibly the feeling, theme, or stylistic stance of the music within. In the past we've seen fine artists use record sleeves as canvases, from Andy Warhol to H.R. Giger, and we've been exposed to the work of countless relatively unknown designers and artists who bear the task of creating an image that will not only represent out favorite musicians, but serve as a permanent stamp that will forever be associated with that collection of songs in the listeners' collective consciousness.
When browsing the gallery of hip-hop cover art, a viewer will no doubt be struck by the brightness of the images, the sparkling streamlined texts, and the unflinching hardness expressed by the posing rappers. We may stop to question the aesthetic and compositional decisions made in these pieces, or we might just laugh, but one question will no doubt plague the viewer as they inspect every bling-tastic work: seriously, what is wrong with these guys?
A classic. Note how everything is shiny, and that Snoop apparently lives in Chateau de Chenonceau.
This one seems to tell a story, and I assume that by listening to the record you find out who the dork walking around in the "SNITCH" t-shirt is.
This one's just cute, obviously a group of small-timers wanting to look like the big-timers. But what a weird choice for a title.
Pretty homo-erotic, and judging from the rappers' faces, quite uncomfortable also. What the hell is he cooking for Raekwon?
I had to throw in the above Dr. Dooom cover, because Kool Keith seems to be the only one who gets the joke of the baffling, throw-everything-you-can-think-of-into-the-frame cliche. (Note the baboon watching from the roof.) Although I should point out that, as far as representing the depth, artistry and quality of the music within, ridiculous rap covers usually do their job perfectly.
.
the blindingly bad artwork of rap albums
The artwork that graces an album will always be an opportunity for the recording artist to express visibly the feeling, theme, or stylistic stance of the music within. In the past we've seen fine artists use record sleeves as canvases, from Andy Warhol to H.R. Giger, and we've been exposed to the work of countless relatively unknown designers and artists who bear the task of creating an image that will not only represent out favorite musicians, but serve as a permanent stamp that will forever be associated with that collection of songs in the listeners' collective consciousness.
When browsing the gallery of hip-hop cover art, a viewer will no doubt be struck by the brightness of the images, the sparkling streamlined texts, and the unflinching hardness expressed by the posing rappers. We may stop to question the aesthetic and compositional decisions made in these pieces, or we might just laugh, but one question will no doubt plague the viewer as they inspect every bling-tastic work: seriously, what is wrong with these guys?
A classic. Note how everything is shiny, and that Snoop apparently lives in Chateau de Chenonceau.
This one seems to tell a story, and I assume that by listening to the record you find out who the dork walking around in the "SNITCH" t-shirt is.
This one's just cute, obviously a group of small-timers wanting to look like the big-timers. But what a weird choice for a title.
Pretty homo-erotic, and judging from the rappers' faces, quite uncomfortable also. What the hell is he cooking for Raekwon?
I had to throw in the above Dr. Dooom cover, because Kool Keith seems to be the only one who gets the joke of the baffling, throw-everything-you-can-think-of-into-the-frame cliche. (Note the baboon watching from the roof.) Although I should point out that, as far as representing the depth, artistry and quality of the music within, ridiculous rap covers usually do their job perfectly.
.
Monday, July 23, 2007
SCB.
Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix is good wholesome heathen entertainment. I enjoyed the scary parts and the special effects and the more scary parts, and the characters tirelessly keeping important secrets from Harry. I was impressed by the young actors who still manage to carry these movies with their earnest performances, especially Ryan Nelson who plays Slightly Creepy Boy.
What the hell? That's the best they could come up with? They give other background characters names like "Parvati Patil" and "Professor Grubbly-Plank," but this kid is dubbed "Slightly Creepy Boy"? Where's the magic in that? I suppose it is better than being just plain creepy. And it's easier for the casting director to say "Don't worry son. Your character is only slightly creepy."
Well, that got me curious as to who exactly Slightly Creepy Boy was in the movie, so I image-Googled him.
Hm. I guess it all makes sense now; that dude's not slightly creepy, he's REAL creepy. Look at his eye thing. Good thing he's standing a good 10 inches from that other kid, who I found out is billed "Somewhat Doubtful Boy." Yeah, I'd be somewhat doubtful, too. Although, as good as Ryan Nelson is, they probably should have given the part to Brian Peppers. You want slightly creepy??
owned!
.
Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix is good wholesome heathen entertainment. I enjoyed the scary parts and the special effects and the more scary parts, and the characters tirelessly keeping important secrets from Harry. I was impressed by the young actors who still manage to carry these movies with their earnest performances, especially Ryan Nelson who plays Slightly Creepy Boy.
What the hell? That's the best they could come up with? They give other background characters names like "Parvati Patil" and "Professor Grubbly-Plank," but this kid is dubbed "Slightly Creepy Boy"? Where's the magic in that? I suppose it is better than being just plain creepy. And it's easier for the casting director to say "Don't worry son. Your character is only slightly creepy."
Well, that got me curious as to who exactly Slightly Creepy Boy was in the movie, so I image-Googled him.
Hm. I guess it all makes sense now; that dude's not slightly creepy, he's REAL creepy. Look at his eye thing. Good thing he's standing a good 10 inches from that other kid, who I found out is billed "Somewhat Doubtful Boy." Yeah, I'd be somewhat doubtful, too. Although, as good as Ryan Nelson is, they probably should have given the part to Brian Peppers. You want slightly creepy??
owned!
.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Alejandro Jodorowsky.
"Terrible things and beautiful things go together."
"The world is ill. We need to make therapy pictures. If art is not the medicine of society, it is the poison."
Discussing his preparation for The Holy Mountain:
"Because I wanted to know the mind of a master, I hired a guru. He came to teach me how to be a guru, and he gave me LSD."
"An artist needs to be free, not to do what others want... To be authentic."
Jodorowsky's films El Topo, Fando & Lis and The Holy Mountain have all be restored and released on DVD. I urge you all to see them, but keep your mind wide open.
.
"Terrible things and beautiful things go together."
"The world is ill. We need to make therapy pictures. If art is not the medicine of society, it is the poison."
Discussing his preparation for The Holy Mountain:
"Because I wanted to know the mind of a master, I hired a guru. He came to teach me how to be a guru, and he gave me LSD."
"An artist needs to be free, not to do what others want... To be authentic."
Jodorowsky's films El Topo, Fando & Lis and The Holy Mountain have all be restored and released on DVD. I urge you all to see them, but keep your mind wide open.
.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
what a nightmare.
Last year, The Nightmare Before Christmas was released as a special edition DVD, and along with it came a newly remastered double-disc soundtrack. The bad news? A handful of lousy covers from bands like Fall Out Boy and Marilyn Manson. Here's his version of "This Is Halloween":
The first YouTube comment for this video reads thus:
Is it just me, or does DarkDemonicMari sound like Manson's publicist presenting the ideal response to their little marketing venture? A little too giddy, if you ask me. Then again, her name is Dark Demonic Mari. And I find it funny that the song she heard provided more "artistic-ness and creepiness" to the original track, because the song I heard was silly, obvious, cliched, stupid and unnecessary. Kinda like goth culture as a whole. And it seems to me that if Manson "sees things differently" and "doesm't care what everyone else thinks about him," he would deliver a less predictable interpretation. And I won't even comment on Panic! At the Disco's version of the song, because it is bloody fucking awful.
If I recall, the lesson Jack Skellington learns in The Nightmare Before Christmas is that appreciation doesn't require appropriation. Jack hijacks Christmas, and after applying his own Halloween values to it finds that he's created something that bastardizes the essence of each world. He realizes that the idea of Christmas, no matter how foreign or different it appears to him, is valid and admirable in its own form and deserves to be left that way. Shame that Manson couldn't agree in regards to the soundtrack, which is already phenomenal without being dumbed down to the language of teen angst.
The problem I've always had with Marilyn Manson is that he speaks so eloquently about his art while his art tends to say nothing other than "Boo! Don't I disturb you?" In a way, like a musical Witkin. What I fear is that young people viewing Nightmare for the first time will go buy the soundtrack and forever associate the timeless story with these hardly-timeless bands. Hopefully, though, they will hear the bonus demos Danny Elfman recorded himself and understand that these songs, and this movie, are brilliant without distorted guitars, heavy drums and angry vocals.
.
Last year, The Nightmare Before Christmas was released as a special edition DVD, and along with it came a newly remastered double-disc soundtrack. The bad news? A handful of lousy covers from bands like Fall Out Boy and Marilyn Manson. Here's his version of "This Is Halloween":
The first YouTube comment for this video reads thus:
DarkDemonicMari (1 hour ago) Marked as spam
"omg, that was a great video. you did a really great job! I love how Marilyn see's things differently than everyone else, and how artistic he is. He really doesm't care what everyone else thinks about him, and I admire him for that. I also love The Nightmare Before Christmas. Having him sing that song just brought more, artistic-ness and creepiness to the song. I mean, it created a whole other darkness to the movie...I love it man!"
Is it just me, or does DarkDemonicMari sound like Manson's publicist presenting the ideal response to their little marketing venture? A little too giddy, if you ask me. Then again, her name is Dark Demonic Mari. And I find it funny that the song she heard provided more "artistic-ness and creepiness" to the original track, because the song I heard was silly, obvious, cliched, stupid and unnecessary. Kinda like goth culture as a whole. And it seems to me that if Manson "sees things differently" and "doesm't care what everyone else thinks about him," he would deliver a less predictable interpretation. And I won't even comment on Panic! At the Disco's version of the song, because it is bloody fucking awful.
If I recall, the lesson Jack Skellington learns in The Nightmare Before Christmas is that appreciation doesn't require appropriation. Jack hijacks Christmas, and after applying his own Halloween values to it finds that he's created something that bastardizes the essence of each world. He realizes that the idea of Christmas, no matter how foreign or different it appears to him, is valid and admirable in its own form and deserves to be left that way. Shame that Manson couldn't agree in regards to the soundtrack, which is already phenomenal without being dumbed down to the language of teen angst.
The problem I've always had with Marilyn Manson is that he speaks so eloquently about his art while his art tends to say nothing other than "Boo! Don't I disturb you?" In a way, like a musical Witkin. What I fear is that young people viewing Nightmare for the first time will go buy the soundtrack and forever associate the timeless story with these hardly-timeless bands. Hopefully, though, they will hear the bonus demos Danny Elfman recorded himself and understand that these songs, and this movie, are brilliant without distorted guitars, heavy drums and angry vocals.
.
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