Monday, March 19, 2007

When the music ends you will wake up?
Ok we all know I’m one of the most opinionated ……. In the world, lets face it even when it comes to music I may listen to just about anything but even than my taste has its selections, I can’t stand pop music and I always end up throwing on an old fashion vinyl at the end of the day because I’m screaming that I need some substance. And Mai Yamine is one of only a few modern artist that I actually admire but I think I might have actually found a band that I truely love as much as I do her authentic blues. THE COLD WAR KIDS, damn it truly has been forever since I was able to say that I love a bands music. Not only is the lead singers ‘wailing vocal’ what the godforsaken music industry been craving for all this years, but I have heard that they are all multi-talented to the point whereby each member of the band actually plays more than one instrument within the band. Its like a dream come true, a band that fought its way to the top independently, sings with substance and is nothing like I’ve ever heard before, the only thing I’m now scared off is the fact that no matter how good a dream is you all ways wake up. Will this band be able to maintain its independent creation now that they have finally made their own album and are getting world recognition?
Comments (0) | Permalink

Monday, January 29, 2007

Take your morals and stick them
Anyone who reads Death Note and posts around the forums will have been confronted with the moral discussions of the manga, being asked if they believe what Light is doing is right or would you do if you found a Death Note. Sadly I admit I have participated in these threads many times. But there is something that constantly annoys me about these discussions; I just can’t stand the fact that people constantly simplify the moral issues within the manga. People are constantly trying to distinguish Light as good or evil. When this happens I feel like I’m Donnie Darko in that scene where the teacher is trying to categorize life’s decisions as acts of love or fear and like Donnie I just want to say ‘well you can just stick it up your @#$’
Death Note isn’t a simple case of right and wrong, damn people are always overlooking the in-depth physiological struggles as to whether they can or could justify killing another human. Its instinct versus justice which I know is still a relatively simple way of putting it, but this way you’re looking at a wider view.
When Light kills criminals people can easily accept that as justice but when he begins to kill the FBI agents and people who threaten his freedom. Than he is easily criticized and the standard opinion of him is changed, they begin to further simplify his actions.
What they are forgetting is that Light is protecting himself and his dream of a utopia. It is at this point that Light begins to act on instincts and the story takes an in depth turn and leaves the majority of the readers behind.
Fundamentally we are all animals, as I have argued before. We act according to the situation we are involved in, if we feel that our freedom is being jeopardized we attempt to counteract the threatening actions at any cost. But how we actually act is overall determined by the individual and the situation in which they are involved in.
And don't take this and start screaming that I’m saying killing is ok, because again that would be simplifying the moral issues being discussed. All I’m asking is that people quit according to that pathetic love and fear system and stop trying to simplify the moral issues of the manga series Death Note, and for once in your goddamn lives think about something at an entirely independent level.

Comments (0) | Permalink

Monday, January 22, 2007

   I Thought What I Would Do Was I Would Pretend I Was a Deaf Mute
Ok so we all know that I'm an absolute Salinger fan and the only reason that I ever actually read Catcher in the Rye was because of GITS SAC. But since I grown to absolutely worship Salingers works, and it is so infuriating the way that people seem to only care about that one quote. There is so much more to Catcher in the Rye and GITS SAC, there are many references to Salinger's works not just Catcher in the Rye. Like the poster for a 'Nice Day for Banana fish' in the episode with the directors cyberbrain. And at the end the 'F%#@ You' carved into the railing, and the left handed baseball mit, although that was explained in the series as the result of Tougasa brain being hacked, the boys name Allie, the mit and the writting on the mitt were all references to the novel, there are others. But people are overlooking these references and ultimately mis reading the real messages within Salingers works. People just think that they Aoi is hidding himself from the phonies of the world, but what they are forgetting is that he just doesn't have the strength to fight them. He is ultimately afraid of becoming one of the masses, he dosen't believe he can make a difference so therefore to stop himself from becoming a phonie he disappears, in what he says is potentially like Holdern's quote, but actually he is just following Buddy's style from Seymore - An Introduction.
It's like people are just over looking the Brillance that is Salingers works and I just can't stand it.
Comments (1) | Permalink

Thursday, November 23, 2006

   I’ve found a new literary idol!
Just kidding, the wormhole of cynicism that people affectionately refer to as my mind will always belong to Salinger. But recently a friend kept hassling me to read ‘Interview With The Vampire’. At First I was reluctant, I mean I’m not really in the habit of reading horror unless its J-Horror, in that case I love Koji Suzuki, and the ‘Vampire Hunter D’ collection.
At first I must say that I thought my worst assumptions were confirmed, the whole novel had such a Freudian atmosphere, it was infuriating. The Vampires didn’t believe they could love but they were still experiencing the lust and ecstasy from killing. And I was all set to absolutely abandon my friend for forcing me to read this, when I realised that not once in the novel did Rice ever make one of her characters fall in love in a glorified manner. Ok that sounds kind of strange, but when you think about it, the characters believed that they were unable to love fully, and when they did hold affections for somebody they didn’t ever believe it to be something of purity.
Damn I think I have finally found what I’ve been looking for. Don’t get me wrong, Salinger is great at not forcing this whole concept of pure love down your throat, but his characters always carry a certain amount of innocence, which tend to make their love stereotypical.
After realising this I decided to see if this was true to all her books, that and the fact that I think Lestat is so damn cool. And so far I have read three of her books and in each one it has been the same. Yes her characters may fall in love, but they never try to make it out to be pure they always make excuses, and state that it is just infatuation, or the fact that they don’t want to be alone.
I never thought it would be possible for fantasy to mirror reality as much as is the case with Ann Rice’s novels.

Comments (0) | Permalink

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Screw Food and Water
All you need is Sex, Wow that comes across as bold. But what else is new when it comes to my whining. As your probably aware of, this whole new outburst was spurred on by over-exposure to society. I feel like everywhere I go I am surround by discussions and publicity of sexuality. On the radio, the TV, signs, the internet. Yes I have been spending way too much time on forums, where I’m surrounded by sex-starved teenagers again.

A while ago, as anyone who actually reads my blog would remember I wrote about how the concept of love was ruling the world and that people were afraid of living without existing. Well I’ll admit I was totally wrong, or maybe I was just being naïve. Because I have since figured out that like I originally thought love doesn’t exist the whole concept of love is just a mask for sex. Its not that every where you turn there is love constantly being forced down your throat, but sex. The fairy tales that we are told as children are telling us that love is only what gives us a happy ending, but that is only because we are to young to be exposed to societies real intentions, which is moulding our sexual image.

Ok now no one wants to die, but you see it more often than not that the only thing that is worse than death is not being found attractive. Yes people are still vane as all hell, but it isn’t for the apparently pure reasoning of finding love and having someone cry for you. But the thought that you can find anyone you want to share your bed. Its becoming less about attachment and more about satisfaction. Recently I changed radio stations, because of the constant promotion of increasing sex drive, if I wanted to listen to man and women moaning with satisfaction I would switch over to an adult station.

I’m getting sick and tired of this, and as always it’s spilling over into anime’s. It’s getting harder to find an anime with any kind of substance, all they seem to care about is how much fan service can be fitted into a single episode. Why the hell can’t they tone down the level of fan service and up the level of substance, it can be done Cowboy Bebop and GITS SAC are proof of that.

Back to the bold opening statement, the way that people behave raving about their own stratifications, I swear it appears that this is what they are thinking. There is more than enough evidence to support this statement. Eating disorders generally stem from this, when you think about it. People seem to be fed this notion that nutrition doesn’t matter unless you are found attractive, that is why we have these skinny starved looking idols and models covering most major advertisements. That inturn make teens feel inadequate. Society needs to quite feeding and promoting sex, and focusing on letting individuals develop.

Comments (1) | Permalink

Friday, November 10, 2006

   Illusions are the new reality
Being an otaku I’m not stranger to the concept of the line between illusion and reality being smeared, but recently it feels like everywhere I go I’m entering a chapter of a book or a scene from a film. What the hell is happening, everyone seems to be losing their sense of identity and are trying to live out popular genres.
I know that not many people are going to agree with me on this but hey what else is new, I wouldn’t be an individual if everyone shared the same opinion as me now would I?

Recently I went to a university open day, I was really excited about the whole experience, being able see an environment that would hold the next few years of my life. As everyone who has read my posts knows I absolutely hated school, and still have an extreme distaste for the education system in particular. When I entered this particular university it was great it was like an environment of rebellion against society, everywhere there were posters, and stand where students were lobbying against particular political, social, and environmental issues. But gradually as I wondered around, I began to feel like I was trapped in a chapter of ‘Catcher in the Rye’. It occurred to me that these people were probably not nearly as vocal about these issues while they were school students, and once having completed their studies they would again decrease their enthusiasm, focusing more on their careers. The more I thought about it the more depressed I became about this, I was just about to enter yet another environment full of phonies.
Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying that all who people show enthusiasm towards political, environmental, and social issues only do this when they are at university. But the majority of people do, they see university as their only chance to be heard, before that they are too young to be noticed and afterwards their career choices need more attention.
This is yet another example of societies rules running the development of the individual and making sure that they live within that well crafted socially acceptable box. I JUST CAN’T STAND IT, STEP OUTSIDE THAT FREAKING BOX AND BE HEARD NO MATTER HOW OLD YOU ARE!!!!!!!!!!!!

This whole blur between reality and illusion seems to be taking even more of a hold on the anime forums lately. Every forum I enter feels like I’m watching a scene from ‘The Trainman’. Users are asking other users for advice on relationships, sharing the details of their relationships with total strangers. This totally ticks me off, not only because of the fact that as we all know I don’t believe in love and think that everyone is just wasting their time in a pathetic socially conditioned instinct to find their soul mate. But the fact that no one seems to ever think of talking the issues out with their partner. ‘Seriously where’s the fun in that, if we talk about it enough on the net maybe we’ll become famous and get a movie deal out of it too’ it feels like this is what they are thinking sometimes.

No one seems to be able to think for themselves. Ok so not that they ever were able too, the masses have always just acted according to what was socially acceptable in order ensure approval. But lately it just feels like its been taken a step further and social acceptability is now determined by a movies popularity or literatures impact on the world.

Comments (0) | Permalink

Wednesday, August 9, 2006

   All hail Phillip Brophy, the otaku’s leader to a new even more sex craved stereotype!
I was pretty stoked when I heard that Phillip Brophy was coming to Australia to promote his new book 100 Anime. I hadn’t heard a lot about his book but from my previous experiences of books written about anime I thought it would be great, damn was I wrong. This guy has officially set the social evolution of the otaku and anime back, to the original thought that they were just perverted sex starved geeks, I mean the violent geeks had a much better ring to it don’t you think?
But why this entire experience was so annoying for me was the way in which his speech was totally un-researched, he got dates of anime’s wrong, he got the political and social statements being made by some directors entirely wrong. I mean come on the directors themselves have stated in interviews what certain aspects of their anime’s meant. If you’re going to write a book and then talk about it in front of hardcore fans than at least get you’re info right.
The main misinterpreted point expressed was when he insisted that Japan as a whole has never lost a single aspect of its traditional culture. Damn, it was Miyazaki himself that created the character ‘No Face’ as a representation of the current Japan having lost its identity, HELLO (and he isn’t the only Japanese artist that has stated this).

And than he further insisted on the statement by clumping all anime as a whole. He stated that there are absolutely no differences between (just an example of two) hentei, and Studio Ghibli films except for their content being aimed at different audiences, they both contain the same philosophical and social statements. Ok so they may make similar social statements at certain times but generally that isn’t the case all time. But wait it gets worse this same guy who is saying that we need to look past the pornography to get to the social statement was also saying that its impossible for society as a whole to get past this. HELLO, CONTRADICTION OF THE CENTURY! And the example he used for this was that big-breasted female reporters are not allowed to be filmed on TV because they are provoking sexuality rather than conveying the serious news at hand. I mean what News Programs does this guy watch? The news programs I watch don’t give a damn what their reporters look like. But what really made his argument against societies over sexed imaginations fall apart was the fact that he must have said ‘tits’ at least ten times in two minutes and each time he said this he would have a slight chuckle to himself, NOW THAT IS PATHETIC!
But back to the point of saying that anime is just anime, there are no boundaries created. Ok again please listen to the directors interviews before you make a statement as false as that. There are many directors these days that have stated that due to the mass turn out of anime resulting from its popularity anime series are deteriorating in way of art. Anime is becoming more about profit than actually creating a piece of art that is conveying messages about our negatively changing world.
There are countless statements about the social childishness of the Japanese society due to the mass production of anime and manga.

Comments (0) | Permalink

Friday, July 7, 2006

Stupidity is contagious, with death being the only cure.
The other day I was watching a documentary on Animal Planet and they were talking about Chimpanzee societies and whether they really existed. There were all these recognised scientists talking about the porosity of the behaviourist’s suggestions, and that really ticked me off. But what really made me angry to begin was the fact that all these behaviourists were claiming that they only just discovered this within the last five years. I was sitting there thinking oh my god, Ryuji was right humanity does really have a subconscious desire to become extinct. Ok I should probably explain the whole scene, which is kinda complicated but hey who cares I’m pretty sure no one ever reads my posts anyway.

Lets start with why I was so damn angry to begin with. Humans have always believed themselves to be the highest intelligent life form on this plant for three reasons:
1 They can talk
2 They have culture
3 They are capable of thought recognition (I’m not real sure on the correct wording for this one)
They are all pretty simple matters, but due to stupidly of the intellects that have the money to write thesis, with the help of the media we have been fooled into believing everything we are told. The third one isn’t that big a deal as far as I’m concerned so I probably wont go into any depths of it.

So starting with the obvious we can speak, due to anatomical features that only the human species has evolved with. Now according to this show that was made in 2002 a behavoural scientists discovered that her Chimpanzee’s were also capable of speech just through different vocalisation methods. And she was able to tell what type of food the chimps were being given by their vocalisations. And from that point she was able to research that matter further in her controlled environment. Thus proving that not only did Chimps share 98 % of our DNA but they could also communicate through vocalisation. WOW THAT’S AMAZING. That would be what most people would say, but it’s like HELLO, are you some kind of moron or something. Primates have been communicating through vocalisations since before we even new they existed, naturalists have discussed that for years but because they were not observed in controlled environments and not always by trained professionals their discoveries were not taken seriously. That really tick’s me off.
Next matter culture and society, it was believed that because we use tools, that vary in purpose we subsequently have a society made up of various cultures, again making us the more intelligent ruler of this planet. But than LOW AND BEHOLD a scientist discovered that chimps use tools in their hunting efforts, WOW that must have been such a find. Well maybe if it hadn’t already been discovered and discarded. Again we are looking at the deadly sin of pride, no scientist ever wants to believe that some one without the same training as them has made a great find that every scientist dreams of making. Jane Goodall discovered that the Chimps at Gombe used various tools; rocks to crack nuts, grass to fish for termites and balls of leaves to absorb and drink water. But due the fact that she was untrained her findings were not recognised. But than when other scientists discovered the exact same thing and that there was variation between troops therefore bringing into question the existence of culture it was considered a great scientific discovery and closed the gap between humans and primates even further.
You would think that as our society apparently advances that we would learn from our lessons, at first no one believed Goodalls finding but now it’s considered the law for Chimp culture thus leading to the ignorance of any new findings of chimp behaviour. This being evident through the way the chimps especially of Gombe display violence to the level of sadism, while chimps that have had absolutely no contact with humans are suggested not to display this. But again due to pride this discovery has been discarded with scientist trying to rationalise this behaviour rather than investigate it.

Now that all those major points has been discussed who is Ryuji? Well he is just a fictional character within the novel Spiral (the popular sequel to the Japanese novel Ring) ok, I know you should never mix fact with fiction when you’re trying to make a valid argument, BUT COME ON MAN, BREAK FREE. We all live according to what we are told, which brings me back to the point that Ryuji made, Humans have a subconscious desire to become extinct, although my reasoning is very different to that discussed in Spiral. Throughout this piece I have suggested that pride was humanities downfall or scientists more specifically. What if it isn’t pride but stupidity? Stupidity could very well be the most contagious and life threatening disorder known to mankind. Why, you might ask? Because it’s a known fact that we don’t use our entire brain, but is it that we don’t have the ability or we are just too lazy to do so? We constantly believe what we are told we rarely ever question the facts, and those that do are only questioning within the restraints or are considered crazy until eventually they are proved or disproved, therefore leading to the development of a new barrier (as in the chimp violence case). Therefore by never questioning what we are told we have been slowly delivering humanity to oblivion, because we are to stupid to recognise our mistakes and take a chance. We are like a bird in a glass house with a single open window we panic and keep hitting invisible walls, because we are told so by societies conditioning. But if we break free of the stupidity that is our glass walls and find that open window, we can really experience life.
Ok it may sound a little incoherent, but there is evidence to support what I’m saying, the whole ozone layer argument is a great example no one believed that it was possible to damage it until it was too late.
But the real source of our stupidly comes from societies conditioning of children in schools, from my experiences anyway. I first went to a catholic school where the study of biotechnology was pretty much limited to the basic, so in spite of that I emersed myself in the study of biotechnology and as result lifted my grades tremendously because my work was so original, compared to everyone else’s, but by the time I was 18 and my HSC approached I had began to experience what I like to call conditioned stupidly. Because at my last school there were only 6 students in my Biology class we were allowed to choose our final topic to study, I had almost managed to persuade my entire class to choose Biotechnology when a few decided that they didn’t want to because of the ethics of the subject although I was disappointed, I was really angry when they started using outdated arguments that they had heard on the news. They had no idea on what the real ethics of the subject were because they had only listened to the small shreds of information that were being presented by the media. It only got worse when we had to study biotechnology in Agriculture, what we were being taught was totally outdated rubbish. If the people writing the curriculum had sat down and actually read the fact rather than the accepting the common belief that was so damn outdated it wasn’t funny I think I would have died of shock. Therefore this is where I believe the whole idea of stupidly leading to humanities extinction really becomes clear. Children are educated according to common beliefs and than they grow up to become what is thought of as intellectuals, when really they are stupid to the point of ignorance, only using half their brain and slowly leading humanity to its demise.

Comments (0) | Permalink

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Catcher in the Rye a minor classic ‘like fun it is’!
I really use to hate any type of fiction, when I was at school and I especially hated the class novels so much. For English my first year of high school I refused to read the book and believed that I could bluff my way through the end of year exams, but my results proved me wrong. So after that my teachers would force me and everyone else who hated the chosen novels to read the books by dedicating class reading time, were by each student had to read part of the book, as well as lunchtime detentions for not reading at night. I swear the whole experience felt like that scene from Clock Work Orange were the guys eyes are forced open while he has to endure the footage showing in front of him. The whole experience made me even more determined not to read fiction.
But when I went to my last school I was allowed to choose my own pieces to study, and what was best was the fact that it could be any medium, its amazing how well I learnt to argue that anime was a legitimate source for English. So anyway the sour taste I had developed began to mellow as I got more involved with anime and I started reading books that anime’s referenced. Hence I found my absolute favourite author to ever exist J.D. Salinger.
It’s so damn hard to find his works that I’ve had to order them in and I was totally and utterly stoked when I got Raise High the Roof Beams, Carpenters and Seymour, an Introduction the other day after waiting months to get it, but my world was totally crushed when someone just mentioned to me that it was a sequel to Franny and Zooey, which is the only damn book I don’t have and to make matters worse I have no money left until at least next month, damn it.
But talk about rubbing salt into the wound I just heard that Catcher in the Rye is considered as being only a minor classic novel. HOW CAN THAT BE? That book is totally my favourite book in the world I’ve read it several times, and I love it more each time. The book is such a refreshingly cynically original piece. Sure its about a teenagers struggle with his self but its not angst riddled. The guy may hate just about everything in the world but he still loves his family, and it’s the way he looks at everything so negatively, but still has this indescribable desire to respect that emphasises the innocence of his journey. Ok so he gets a prostitute but he can’t even look at her as he finds her so depressing because of her dress and her attitude. He looks at her in a way a father with a daughter would look at her, finding her supposedly hard attitude childishly cute, and seeing her not as an object but as a person who really wants attention. And he really lives his life for the love of his family, he wants absolute freedom and attempts to seek it out in the coward’s way but (The Laughing Man logo tribute) he can’t leave behind his family, because it is his family that keeps him grounded, or stops him from disappearing. But what I really find the most refreshing about this characters is the way he is able to freely express the facts of life we all hate but don’t really have the guts to admit, he really is an image of the average decent person. He wants to fight the world but he isn’t naïve enough to really believe he can do it he admits that he is yellow. It really bugs me when people have this truly naive belief that they can save the world. It’s ok for a child to have the super hero dreams but after a certain age I think it’s just really pathetic, it sounds harsh but it’s just really hard to explain what I mean.
But the point I’m really making here is that to call Salinger a minor classic is just outrageous, his works are pure cynical genius as far as I’m concerned.

Comments (0) | Permalink

Sunday, May 21, 2006

Does old music really exist?
I’m the type of person who doesn’t really listen to a set genre of music, I like some heavy metal, some techno, some different types of rock, very occasional pop and hip-hop and I can’t get enough Yoko Kanno. But in the end when I grow tired of my varied selection of CD’s I always find myself pulling out one of my parents records and listening to Cat Stevens, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix or Janis Joplin. You’re probably siting there thinking damn my parents use to listen to them, HOW OLD ARE YOU?
I guess these are commonly referred to as old singers, but where I came from these old musicians are still as popular as they were when records were sold everywhere, and not considered collectors items or material for a good rap piece.

When I was in High School in my home town Cat Stevens was the favourite singer of most students in my year, just about everyone new all the words to at least two songs. Everyday in English the guys would insist on entering the room singing ‘Buffalo Soldier’ by Bob Marey (he was considered the second greatest singer in our year). And our year’s theme song was the ‘Gambler’ by Kenny Rogers every major event that our year celebrated ended with the entire year screaming the words to the Gambler at the top of their lungs. It was pretty funny.
But what made it really funny was because these same people were so modern and superficial in every way possible but they never actually considered time when it came to a good song.
The ironic thing here though is that my second High School was minute compared to my first yet they were far more cultured than the other, but when it came to music expiration dates existed expect under special circumstances. They loved the Eagles but had no idea who Bob Marley was.

The whole cultural differences between my two schools was made even more obvious when I was in my home town, I was ones complaining because the Dalai Lama had come to Australia but the tickets had sold out to see him, my friend replied with ‘What’s so great about some dancing Lama?’ it would have been funny but that was who they really thought he was. Now that is how superficial they really were. But at my next school most students had at least heard of him and some had read his books or read some books on Buddhism.

Back to the subject of music not really having time on it, I noticed that many movies and series seem to use this so-called ‘old music’. My favourite being the Disney film ‘Chicken Little’, with songs from the Bee Gees and Aretha Franklin throughout the movie. And that ‘I will Survive’ is used so often that it could never be considered old.
So I guess what I’m trying to say here is that with all the pop idol trash flooding the airways these days we all need some relief with some good lyrics. And at the moment the best way to achieve this relief is to listen to a good record, therefore leading to the assumption that if a song is good enough it can never be considered as old.

Comments (0) | Permalink