Shuffle is really bad for my health, particularly the health of my brain. Why? When I turn shuffle on my iPod on a Friday night, it's like a turn on a bipolar manic depressive disorder. One minute it's headbanging to MTH, the next it's dreaming of adventure with Jack Sparrow, then crooning in Destroy Stadium with Doctor Peace, and then on the run with Green Day, or an intense vocal cover of an artist who's voice is much higher than my own. There's this great thing that happens on an evening where I have nothing better to do than switch on my iPod. If ever there was an overload of awesome, this is it.
It's nights like this, where nearly everything is equal (I do skip songs), where Sora can take the stage with Billie Joe Armstrong, who happens to be opening for Nirvana in a festival hosted by Them Crooked Vultures, that I remember that I really like MUSIC. It's funny, because a really good video game or movie piece will come on and I'll think about how my love for rock has faded...only to be headbanging two songs later to some old jam from a few years ago. And this is without sugar, coffee, mountain dew, soda, or drugs. Music is my all of those things, as stupid as it sounds and as often as it is repeated. Take me to a party and Im a bump on a log, but play a string of songs I like and maybe things'd change. The soundtrack to my life is an infinite playlist.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
It's All Obligatory
So yeah, I go to college. It kind of sucks how that works, yknow? Like I have to get up and go. This semester I've done it so that it just feels like these little blips in my free time...which is unnerving in a number of ways. Of course, me getting bored and annoyed is just me being used to the daily grind again, I guess. hard to believe I've been doing this for almost a month now. Makes me wonder if my head ever left high school. Either way, this is all obligatory.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
The Dark Lord
I'm a Harry Potter fan, and that puts me into a huge company of people from across the world. I think it's good to start out a blog entry with a basic fact like this, you know, since I don't always take a proper amount of time to introduce myself and all of my interests. Anyway, I am a Potter fan, and like so many others, I watched the series come to an end this summer, and yes, I will admit, I felt a part of my childhood end too.
It's funny because throughout my childhood I've had a thing for villains. I wasn't Obi Wan Kenobi for Halloween...I was Darth Vader, and later Darth Maul...and later still Jango Fett. To this day, I fully understand the "Draco in Leather Pants" trope that appears in entertainment today. Villains tend to be very interesting people, you know, so it makes sense to admire them, especially since I've never really seen it be the case where the good guys are in power and they're fighting off a lesser villain destined to destroy them (note to self: write that.).
Interestingly enough, I never felt this with Lord Voldemort. I thought that being an unhibited Dark Wizard would be cool, but I never really had an interest in being a Death Eater or something like that. Upon further inspection though, Voldemort makes a great villain to analyze. He has good points and he has bad points about him. He's not the most successful villain ever, but he's certainly got some good things going for him.
Let's start with the good things. I really like that he's not some sort of ancient Eldritch Abomination that has been released from his can. He's not an ancient evil or something that existed and nearly destroyed the world a thousand years ago. Granted, the only real difference is that he was transplanted from a few thousand years ago to a few decades ago, he's still recent enough to have people remember him from the first time, which is kind of cool. On top of that, we get to see how he was created...and that's one of his most interesting feature.
I have to admit, I'm kind of smitten with Voldemort's backstory. I'd better be, considering that's pretty much what Book 6 was. It pays off though, since it takes a bit more of the "nature" side of the argument rather than the "nuture," in that it was Voldemort's creation that made him what he was rather than having him develop some Freudian Excuse as to why he wants to kill everything. It was expertly done though, subverting a lot of different things about the creation of villains. His mother was the crazy one and did the raping, for one, and the irony that goes along with her wanting the thing that her son ended up hating to death is great. I mean really, she names the kid completely after his aloof father, who poofed out of existence before Voldemort was born, and then she poofs out of existence too, only leaving behind the hope that young Tom would be just like his father. And instead he ends up like her father, who she hated, and who hated pretty much everyone. That was really, really good.
It's a shame, then, that he represses his backstory in later years, aside from making his horcruxes based on them. Which brings me to Horcruxes. It's really surprising that Rowling doesn't play video games, because Horcruxes are perfect plot coupons...just like the Medallions from Ocarina of Time or the pieces of Triforce from...a lot of other Zelda games. It's pretty impressive that not too many other parallels between horcruxes and adventure games came up, in all honesty. The soul-splitting bit was really good too, as it explained a large part about his appearance and composition when we see him in the present time. (And the bits of soul serve as great bosses...) It's cool that our protagonist was facing a villain that had actually obtained immortality.
That then brings me back to the fact that Voldemort was created, not released. Much of his power he acquired for himself, and not through some ancient excuse hole. Granted, Rowling cheated him a bit when she gave him the time honored moniquer of "quite possibly the best student we've ever had." Indeed, they said the same thing about Anakin Skywalker, whose teenage years were much like Voldemort's: they were great at using their new abilities, but they had suspicious judgment. With that in mind, we know how most people felt about Anakin Skywalker...even though I'm sure he'd have been much well received if you removed the names "Hayden Christensen" and "George Lucas" from that particualr neural network. Still, the degree to which Voldemort was explained was a great literary move, and most of the villain's fun came from learning his backstory.
But Voldemort becomes a bit more dull in the present. I understand, spending the better part of two decades as a giant aborted fetus could make you go impossibly loopy, but in the Land of Villains, that usually is a good thing. When he's revived in Book Four, he stops subverting tropes (or rather, he doesn't really subvert tropes, and then subverts them retroactively later). He becomes something like Darth Vader: there as a big bad villain for the whole story until the end where he duels the hero in a nice battle scene. The difference is that Darth Vader didn't wear a black shower curtain. Yes, I understand it's the movie that made him a little less imposing, but...the movie made him a little less imposing.
One big place where Voldemort fails at being the daddy of all evil is that he's not really the daddy of all evil. He's a little disturbing maybe, but he lacks something in his presentation...and yes, it's more than a nose. I can't really suggest what might have made Voldemort look a little more evil other than a pair of shoes, because the barefoot thing is pretty narmy, even if it works as an inadvertant Cruciatus toward anyone at his feet (I was pretty sad to remember that the already dead Cedric was the prime example of his use of feet.) Other than his deformed appearance and cloak of pure darkness, Voldemort is just a skinny bald man...I'm not even sure he's all that tall and for all his snakelike qualities, he didn't have fangs.
I was originally going to slam Voldemort for not even having good followers, but in some ways, that's a good part of his character. Although the ways in which he makes people fear him are pretty cliche'd, it does illustrate how much of a heartless bastard he is. Still, he is not the master of evil, and not even the master of darkness, as he lacks the ability to not only attract those with a proclivity toward darkness, but unlock the darkness within other people as well. Voldemort has been described as the type to want to throw out mooks to do his dirty work...yet he does not manage to make mooks in his image. You would think that someone like Voldemort would be incredibly proud of the power he possesses and...show off a little more, especially while Harry Potter is still alive.
It's on that note that Lord Voldemort suffers the most. He is supposed to be the Dark Lord. He's supposed to be the most dangerous wizard of all time. He kills people all the time...but when it comes to Harry Potter, he's incredibly incredibly impractical. He likes to have people do his dirty work for him, yet he never thinks it's a good idea just to have someone else slit Harry's throat...even after he fails to kill him several times. In the face of Potter, Voldemort just looks stupid. He (and honestly a good portion of the characters) suffers from a great lack of cunning. Yes, he's devoid of warmth and anything relating to it, but he's also the most brilliant mind ever to come through Hogwarts, and he has no inhibitions. In the end he's killed by a terrible case of "Did Not Do the Research." Which doesn't set the bar very high for the intelligence of the wizarding world. You can still be a cocky psychopath without being a moron. It does happen.
Unfortunately for Voldemort, he does not seem to have too much in the way of brute force either. He largely owes this to his overuse of the "Avada Kedavra" spell, which he only doesn't use against Dumbledore (in the books anyway, as in the movie he does a bit more, which I think was brilliant). Voldemort never brought down any buildings or proved his power in any big way (his shattering of the barrier in DH2 was the best example of this, as the MoM in OoTP just needed a few windows replaced). He did not prove that, at any given time, he could do some serious damage to the wizarding world, with or without his followers. He took over the ministry primarily through stealth, which was clever of him, but he did not seem to get very far with this. He took his time getting rid of muggle borns within the ministry, instead of causing a muggle instant holocaust somewhere in the world. No, instead of a great wizard, Voldemort came across as a spammer. I'd really really hate to play a match of Brawl or Halo with this guy.
In the end, Voldemort really was merciful. He did not possess the genre savviness to stop giving his enemies time to recuperate and embolden the only person who could kill him. Right, let's focus on that once more: there was only one person in the entire world who could kill him. You don't wait for a duel or something special, Voldemort. Life does not work that way. Make Hogwarts explode and be done with it. If he was so great a wizard...that is, the darkest of ALL TIME (sorry, Grindelwald, I'm happy for you and Imma let you finish) he'd have known how to take down Hogwarts and at least a few main characters in the process.
Was Voldemort a worthy evil to serve as the main antagonist of the worldwide phenomenon known as Harry Potter? Is he really the next Darth Vader? I don't think so. He's an iconic villain for sure, but his ineptitude lacks reason. He's not all that imposing in a big, villainous way...and he honestly did not get that much screen/page time. I feel like overall, his past self got more face time than the Big Bad version. The old Voldemort was much more developed an interesting. The modern Voldemort was just your average villain with a few neat twists. This is just as well, I believe, as Harry Potter is a series that truly rests on the strengths of its heroes. We see them a lot more, we know them a lot better, and they tend to be at least consistent. All of that means we feel a lot more for them.
So what do other great villains have that Voldemort doesn't? (Besides a nose). Darth Vader had a change of heart to undergo, a very powerful voice and presence, and a unique look. The Emperor was a complete and total asshole who was winning his final fight until his apprentice of 20+ years got angry at him. In a way the Emperor was a flawless villain in that the only thing that could kill him was another villain. His death was pretty awesome too. Look at something like Lord of the Rings too. Sauron was the villain, and he didn't need much backstory...he was only a great villain because he was able to corner the heroes at every single turn (though I admit, the fact that LotR is one big, continuous adventure helps its pacing tremendously). The Joker of The Dark Knight is notorious for being one of the most cunning villains of our age. He HAD no weakness whatsoever. He was an exceptionally good villain because he just was. He didn't have motives...he didn't have a master plan or even one that was incredibly grandiose. In fact, The Joker built himself into a position to where there was nothing to lose on his end, ever...and in the end, he won. Dent died and Batman was forced to become the antithesis of what he really wanted to be.
I could go on and on about villainy...and someday I think I will...but I singled out Voldemort because he's in a series that is destined to become legend. Harry Potter is the closest this generation has to its own Star Wars, and that means that Voldemort is the closest thing it has to its own Darth Vader. I personally do not feel that Voldemort redefines the villain for a new age as the story he's in does for modern epics. He just never gets his moment to shock everyone and shine. Snape stole that moment, and a whole host of other things, from him. Similarly, it's not Voldemort but Snape who will go down in history as the iconic character form this series aside from its hero.
Expect more on Harry Potter in the future. Im interested in reviewing DH2 when I see it again on blu ray. I'm also interested in comparing DH2 to Kingdom Hearts 3 and looking into what that means for gaming. And look for more character reviews like this one, because analyzing the effectiveness of someone else's character might allow me to improve my own.
It's funny because throughout my childhood I've had a thing for villains. I wasn't Obi Wan Kenobi for Halloween...I was Darth Vader, and later Darth Maul...and later still Jango Fett. To this day, I fully understand the "Draco in Leather Pants" trope that appears in entertainment today. Villains tend to be very interesting people, you know, so it makes sense to admire them, especially since I've never really seen it be the case where the good guys are in power and they're fighting off a lesser villain destined to destroy them (note to self: write that.).
Interestingly enough, I never felt this with Lord Voldemort. I thought that being an unhibited Dark Wizard would be cool, but I never really had an interest in being a Death Eater or something like that. Upon further inspection though, Voldemort makes a great villain to analyze. He has good points and he has bad points about him. He's not the most successful villain ever, but he's certainly got some good things going for him.
Let's start with the good things. I really like that he's not some sort of ancient Eldritch Abomination that has been released from his can. He's not an ancient evil or something that existed and nearly destroyed the world a thousand years ago. Granted, the only real difference is that he was transplanted from a few thousand years ago to a few decades ago, he's still recent enough to have people remember him from the first time, which is kind of cool. On top of that, we get to see how he was created...and that's one of his most interesting feature.
I have to admit, I'm kind of smitten with Voldemort's backstory. I'd better be, considering that's pretty much what Book 6 was. It pays off though, since it takes a bit more of the "nature" side of the argument rather than the "nuture," in that it was Voldemort's creation that made him what he was rather than having him develop some Freudian Excuse as to why he wants to kill everything. It was expertly done though, subverting a lot of different things about the creation of villains. His mother was the crazy one and did the raping, for one, and the irony that goes along with her wanting the thing that her son ended up hating to death is great. I mean really, she names the kid completely after his aloof father, who poofed out of existence before Voldemort was born, and then she poofs out of existence too, only leaving behind the hope that young Tom would be just like his father. And instead he ends up like her father, who she hated, and who hated pretty much everyone. That was really, really good.
It's a shame, then, that he represses his backstory in later years, aside from making his horcruxes based on them. Which brings me to Horcruxes. It's really surprising that Rowling doesn't play video games, because Horcruxes are perfect plot coupons...just like the Medallions from Ocarina of Time or the pieces of Triforce from...a lot of other Zelda games. It's pretty impressive that not too many other parallels between horcruxes and adventure games came up, in all honesty. The soul-splitting bit was really good too, as it explained a large part about his appearance and composition when we see him in the present time. (And the bits of soul serve as great bosses...) It's cool that our protagonist was facing a villain that had actually obtained immortality.
That then brings me back to the fact that Voldemort was created, not released. Much of his power he acquired for himself, and not through some ancient excuse hole. Granted, Rowling cheated him a bit when she gave him the time honored moniquer of "quite possibly the best student we've ever had." Indeed, they said the same thing about Anakin Skywalker, whose teenage years were much like Voldemort's: they were great at using their new abilities, but they had suspicious judgment. With that in mind, we know how most people felt about Anakin Skywalker...even though I'm sure he'd have been much well received if you removed the names "Hayden Christensen" and "George Lucas" from that particualr neural network. Still, the degree to which Voldemort was explained was a great literary move, and most of the villain's fun came from learning his backstory.
But Voldemort becomes a bit more dull in the present. I understand, spending the better part of two decades as a giant aborted fetus could make you go impossibly loopy, but in the Land of Villains, that usually is a good thing. When he's revived in Book Four, he stops subverting tropes (or rather, he doesn't really subvert tropes, and then subverts them retroactively later). He becomes something like Darth Vader: there as a big bad villain for the whole story until the end where he duels the hero in a nice battle scene. The difference is that Darth Vader didn't wear a black shower curtain. Yes, I understand it's the movie that made him a little less imposing, but...the movie made him a little less imposing.
One big place where Voldemort fails at being the daddy of all evil is that he's not really the daddy of all evil. He's a little disturbing maybe, but he lacks something in his presentation...and yes, it's more than a nose. I can't really suggest what might have made Voldemort look a little more evil other than a pair of shoes, because the barefoot thing is pretty narmy, even if it works as an inadvertant Cruciatus toward anyone at his feet (I was pretty sad to remember that the already dead Cedric was the prime example of his use of feet.) Other than his deformed appearance and cloak of pure darkness, Voldemort is just a skinny bald man...I'm not even sure he's all that tall and for all his snakelike qualities, he didn't have fangs.
I was originally going to slam Voldemort for not even having good followers, but in some ways, that's a good part of his character. Although the ways in which he makes people fear him are pretty cliche'd, it does illustrate how much of a heartless bastard he is. Still, he is not the master of evil, and not even the master of darkness, as he lacks the ability to not only attract those with a proclivity toward darkness, but unlock the darkness within other people as well. Voldemort has been described as the type to want to throw out mooks to do his dirty work...yet he does not manage to make mooks in his image. You would think that someone like Voldemort would be incredibly proud of the power he possesses and...show off a little more, especially while Harry Potter is still alive.
It's on that note that Lord Voldemort suffers the most. He is supposed to be the Dark Lord. He's supposed to be the most dangerous wizard of all time. He kills people all the time...but when it comes to Harry Potter, he's incredibly incredibly impractical. He likes to have people do his dirty work for him, yet he never thinks it's a good idea just to have someone else slit Harry's throat...even after he fails to kill him several times. In the face of Potter, Voldemort just looks stupid. He (and honestly a good portion of the characters) suffers from a great lack of cunning. Yes, he's devoid of warmth and anything relating to it, but he's also the most brilliant mind ever to come through Hogwarts, and he has no inhibitions. In the end he's killed by a terrible case of "Did Not Do the Research." Which doesn't set the bar very high for the intelligence of the wizarding world. You can still be a cocky psychopath without being a moron. It does happen.
Unfortunately for Voldemort, he does not seem to have too much in the way of brute force either. He largely owes this to his overuse of the "Avada Kedavra" spell, which he only doesn't use against Dumbledore (in the books anyway, as in the movie he does a bit more, which I think was brilliant). Voldemort never brought down any buildings or proved his power in any big way (his shattering of the barrier in DH2 was the best example of this, as the MoM in OoTP just needed a few windows replaced). He did not prove that, at any given time, he could do some serious damage to the wizarding world, with or without his followers. He took over the ministry primarily through stealth, which was clever of him, but he did not seem to get very far with this. He took his time getting rid of muggle borns within the ministry, instead of causing a muggle instant holocaust somewhere in the world. No, instead of a great wizard, Voldemort came across as a spammer. I'd really really hate to play a match of Brawl or Halo with this guy.
In the end, Voldemort really was merciful. He did not possess the genre savviness to stop giving his enemies time to recuperate and embolden the only person who could kill him. Right, let's focus on that once more: there was only one person in the entire world who could kill him. You don't wait for a duel or something special, Voldemort. Life does not work that way. Make Hogwarts explode and be done with it. If he was so great a wizard...that is, the darkest of ALL TIME (sorry, Grindelwald, I'm happy for you and Imma let you finish) he'd have known how to take down Hogwarts and at least a few main characters in the process.
Was Voldemort a worthy evil to serve as the main antagonist of the worldwide phenomenon known as Harry Potter? Is he really the next Darth Vader? I don't think so. He's an iconic villain for sure, but his ineptitude lacks reason. He's not all that imposing in a big, villainous way...and he honestly did not get that much screen/page time. I feel like overall, his past self got more face time than the Big Bad version. The old Voldemort was much more developed an interesting. The modern Voldemort was just your average villain with a few neat twists. This is just as well, I believe, as Harry Potter is a series that truly rests on the strengths of its heroes. We see them a lot more, we know them a lot better, and they tend to be at least consistent. All of that means we feel a lot more for them.
So what do other great villains have that Voldemort doesn't? (Besides a nose). Darth Vader had a change of heart to undergo, a very powerful voice and presence, and a unique look. The Emperor was a complete and total asshole who was winning his final fight until his apprentice of 20+ years got angry at him. In a way the Emperor was a flawless villain in that the only thing that could kill him was another villain. His death was pretty awesome too. Look at something like Lord of the Rings too. Sauron was the villain, and he didn't need much backstory...he was only a great villain because he was able to corner the heroes at every single turn (though I admit, the fact that LotR is one big, continuous adventure helps its pacing tremendously). The Joker of The Dark Knight is notorious for being one of the most cunning villains of our age. He HAD no weakness whatsoever. He was an exceptionally good villain because he just was. He didn't have motives...he didn't have a master plan or even one that was incredibly grandiose. In fact, The Joker built himself into a position to where there was nothing to lose on his end, ever...and in the end, he won. Dent died and Batman was forced to become the antithesis of what he really wanted to be.
I could go on and on about villainy...and someday I think I will...but I singled out Voldemort because he's in a series that is destined to become legend. Harry Potter is the closest this generation has to its own Star Wars, and that means that Voldemort is the closest thing it has to its own Darth Vader. I personally do not feel that Voldemort redefines the villain for a new age as the story he's in does for modern epics. He just never gets his moment to shock everyone and shine. Snape stole that moment, and a whole host of other things, from him. Similarly, it's not Voldemort but Snape who will go down in history as the iconic character form this series aside from its hero.
Expect more on Harry Potter in the future. Im interested in reviewing DH2 when I see it again on blu ray. I'm also interested in comparing DH2 to Kingdom Hearts 3 and looking into what that means for gaming. And look for more character reviews like this one, because analyzing the effectiveness of someone else's character might allow me to improve my own.
Irony of Reproduction
I'm always tickled to the core when I see an awesome, intelligent person say "I'm never having kids." Why? Because they totally need to. This heads into sadness territory, however, when they start talking about how they're going to adopt their kids...and that's great, since nature isn't everything raising kids. But you still need to pass on your awesome genes, preferably by not reproducing with someone who...just generally sucks. When you ace or do exceptionally well on some big smartness exam, you should have to sign a release that says "At some point I promise to help this smartness into the next generation."
I sound like an asshole, don't I? Ah well, i better quit while I'm ahead...although I will hold that there are too many people in the world and that the smart ones need to not be in such a way to where they won't reproduce. We NEED you, smart people.
I sound like an asshole, don't I? Ah well, i better quit while I'm ahead...although I will hold that there are too many people in the world and that the smart ones need to not be in such a way to where they won't reproduce. We NEED you, smart people.
Friday, September 16, 2011
How I Got into Screamo
Hello, today I'd like to broaden a few horizons. Now, on any given day, I avoid listening to that brand of music that is oh so popular today that features some poor soul gagging into a microphone. You know, the kind where they're all wearing black and probably have eyeliner? The one where the song starts and the drummer sees how many different bass pedals he can use while the guitarists see how low they can tune their guitars? Yeah, you know, screamo. Or hardcore. For the average person, especially if you're over 30, this can be one of the hardest genres of music to stomach when someone in the car or room next to you is blasting this stuff. It could be worse though, it could be rap. I'm not a fan of rap either. But you know what a great idea is?
Taking both and putting them together. In the same song. Yeah, I didn't think it'd work either. Actually, when I first heard it, I didn't think too much about it as I was watching a television series as fast as time would let me. The series in question? Death Note. Somewhere around Episode 24, the opening theme changes from a typical dramatic anime opening with some Japanese style song to a psychadelic...something. Generally I just skipped the opening anyway, and given my aversion to screamo, which this song had in its first few seconds, I was even more inclined to now than I was before.
But for some reason, that ended up changing. I must have gotten that opening stuck in my head at some point, because I found myself listening to it...and enjoying it. I didn't like enjoying it because I was supposed to be hating it. And then I found a video like this....and I couldn't hate it under any circumstances.
Now, this wasn't the exact video (especially the second one...but we know how youtube is about removing videos we love), but close enough. Suddenly this band, Maximum the Hormone became the greatest thing in the history of man. They were funny. I mean, Japanese people aren't supposed to scream and rap and all of that stuff. I'd heard the pillows do some great 90s alt rock music, but this? No, this was off the scale. I devoured misheard lyric videos, laughing my ass off at each mondegreen to come up. The greatest part was that later on, I'd figure out from videos and appearances that this band had a bit of a humorous twinge to it even in its native language. I mean, you only need to watch half of this music video to get a feeling for it.
Seriously, when they first appear, look at how much they're kicking ass and rocking out. Then realize that their singer raps low and high. Notice their girl drummer...it was easy enough to believe that they brought in some J Pop girl singer to do the parts they needed for that song. Nope, she's back there on the drums (and to this day she is the best girl drummer I've ever seen). And Ryo, the guitarist. The way he stares cross-eyed at the mic? Classic. And where did this get better? When I heard Black Yen Power G Man Spy and realized that their bassist is Japanese Flea.
You'd think from seeing him that he was just some imitator, using a similar bass and having a similar tattoo on his chest...but the man holds up the House of Flea better than I've ever seen anyone do it (yknow, outside of Flea's contemporaries and elders like John Entwistle and Victor Wooten). After quite a bit of this, I realized that Maximum the Hormone was truly brilliant. Normally you can back up your hatred of a certain musician by citing lack of talent, but with MTH you can't do that. Their bassist kicks ass, their rapping singer hits some pretty wicked notes and switches styles on a dime, their guitarist holds everything together while looking like a beast doing it, and Nao keeps up on the drums...which wouldn't be all that surprising, except she also joins in singing, and not just for backups. No, what we had here was an incredible fusion of styles backed by some really great players.
Tsume Tsume Tsume is the 2nd most played song on my iPod because it's a song that really shows off how MTH works. There's rap, there's screaming, a great guitar riff in the verse, and Nao killing it on the drums and still throwing out a verse in the process. There's really no way to describe this group, and it amazes me how they cram all this sound into so small a space. Oh, and bear in mind that all of this judgment is occuring without lyrics to save any unpleasantness in other areas of the song. My listening experience with MTH is all music baby, and that's kind of the way I like it. MTH don't even need lyrics to make them great.
Apparently this song is about a menopausal robot. Awesome, right? Not as awesome as a song about Frieza from Dragonball Z.
Not only does this song manage to be awesome on the merit of being about a Dragonball Z character, it's freaking awesome on its own. There's that slap bass again, and Ryo's going all out on guitar. You don't see this stuff anywhere else in the world, which is a damn shame, because it crosses genre boundaries so well. If you happen to hate anything they do, it's okay, because within the next few seconds they'll be switching styles and kicking more ass. They're built on a foundation of punk with floors of metal, walls of screamo, windows of funk, and ceilings of rap, with posters of every other genre they dip their feet into. And the best part is that they don't really of this facade of darkness and anger that forces a gimmicky, unpleasant presentation from most other bands that try to do the modern metal/screamo thing. No, Maximum the Hormone knows how much they rock. Even in a music video centered around a funeral, MTH hammers out the headbangs:
This band taught me a whole lot about music, namely that you should always listen before you leap, as behind the screams there's a hella good band that doesn't pride themselves on how inaudible they can make their words (American screaming makes lyrics more Japanese than these guys do!). They use all of these genres in a smart and explosive way that takes the music over the top, as the Japanese tend to do, and makes it incredibly awesome. You can dance, you can headbang, and you can shout along. If you ask me, MTH is just what the doctor ordered in a world where indie's quiet beats manage to reign supreme. Seriously. these guys need more love. So, if you've beared with me this entire time, and watched all the videos, thanks. Hopefully you've discovered a pretty awesome new band. The only thing I regret about this entry is that I couldn't find any good live stuff.
(and if you want to hear the whole version of the song at the end)
Taking both and putting them together. In the same song. Yeah, I didn't think it'd work either. Actually, when I first heard it, I didn't think too much about it as I was watching a television series as fast as time would let me. The series in question? Death Note. Somewhere around Episode 24, the opening theme changes from a typical dramatic anime opening with some Japanese style song to a psychadelic...something. Generally I just skipped the opening anyway, and given my aversion to screamo, which this song had in its first few seconds, I was even more inclined to now than I was before.
But for some reason, that ended up changing. I must have gotten that opening stuck in my head at some point, because I found myself listening to it...and enjoying it. I didn't like enjoying it because I was supposed to be hating it. And then I found a video like this....and I couldn't hate it under any circumstances.
Now, this wasn't the exact video (especially the second one...but we know how youtube is about removing videos we love), but close enough. Suddenly this band, Maximum the Hormone became the greatest thing in the history of man. They were funny. I mean, Japanese people aren't supposed to scream and rap and all of that stuff. I'd heard the pillows do some great 90s alt rock music, but this? No, this was off the scale. I devoured misheard lyric videos, laughing my ass off at each mondegreen to come up. The greatest part was that later on, I'd figure out from videos and appearances that this band had a bit of a humorous twinge to it even in its native language. I mean, you only need to watch half of this music video to get a feeling for it.
Seriously, when they first appear, look at how much they're kicking ass and rocking out. Then realize that their singer raps low and high. Notice their girl drummer...it was easy enough to believe that they brought in some J Pop girl singer to do the parts they needed for that song. Nope, she's back there on the drums (and to this day she is the best girl drummer I've ever seen). And Ryo, the guitarist. The way he stares cross-eyed at the mic? Classic. And where did this get better? When I heard Black Yen Power G Man Spy and realized that their bassist is Japanese Flea.
You'd think from seeing him that he was just some imitator, using a similar bass and having a similar tattoo on his chest...but the man holds up the House of Flea better than I've ever seen anyone do it (yknow, outside of Flea's contemporaries and elders like John Entwistle and Victor Wooten). After quite a bit of this, I realized that Maximum the Hormone was truly brilliant. Normally you can back up your hatred of a certain musician by citing lack of talent, but with MTH you can't do that. Their bassist kicks ass, their rapping singer hits some pretty wicked notes and switches styles on a dime, their guitarist holds everything together while looking like a beast doing it, and Nao keeps up on the drums...which wouldn't be all that surprising, except she also joins in singing, and not just for backups. No, what we had here was an incredible fusion of styles backed by some really great players.
Tsume Tsume Tsume is the 2nd most played song on my iPod because it's a song that really shows off how MTH works. There's rap, there's screaming, a great guitar riff in the verse, and Nao killing it on the drums and still throwing out a verse in the process. There's really no way to describe this group, and it amazes me how they cram all this sound into so small a space. Oh, and bear in mind that all of this judgment is occuring without lyrics to save any unpleasantness in other areas of the song. My listening experience with MTH is all music baby, and that's kind of the way I like it. MTH don't even need lyrics to make them great.
Apparently this song is about a menopausal robot. Awesome, right? Not as awesome as a song about Frieza from Dragonball Z.
Not only does this song manage to be awesome on the merit of being about a Dragonball Z character, it's freaking awesome on its own. There's that slap bass again, and Ryo's going all out on guitar. You don't see this stuff anywhere else in the world, which is a damn shame, because it crosses genre boundaries so well. If you happen to hate anything they do, it's okay, because within the next few seconds they'll be switching styles and kicking more ass. They're built on a foundation of punk with floors of metal, walls of screamo, windows of funk, and ceilings of rap, with posters of every other genre they dip their feet into. And the best part is that they don't really of this facade of darkness and anger that forces a gimmicky, unpleasant presentation from most other bands that try to do the modern metal/screamo thing. No, Maximum the Hormone knows how much they rock. Even in a music video centered around a funeral, MTH hammers out the headbangs:
This band taught me a whole lot about music, namely that you should always listen before you leap, as behind the screams there's a hella good band that doesn't pride themselves on how inaudible they can make their words (American screaming makes lyrics more Japanese than these guys do!). They use all of these genres in a smart and explosive way that takes the music over the top, as the Japanese tend to do, and makes it incredibly awesome. You can dance, you can headbang, and you can shout along. If you ask me, MTH is just what the doctor ordered in a world where indie's quiet beats manage to reign supreme. Seriously. these guys need more love. So, if you've beared with me this entire time, and watched all the videos, thanks. Hopefully you've discovered a pretty awesome new band. The only thing I regret about this entry is that I couldn't find any good live stuff.
(and if you want to hear the whole version of the song at the end)
Monday, September 12, 2011
Rock Stars
So I just watched this pair of videos from the 90s of Nirvana at the MTV VMAs in 93 and 94, and something that likes to hit me a lot hit me again. Where the hell are all the rock stars today? I mean, you can go back to any other decade since the 1950s and pick out names...not BAND names, but the names of people in those bands. And there's plenty of them. And then zip to the 2000s and now beyond. Who do we really have? How many of them were in a band they started in the 90s?
As far as I know, there aren't many. I mean, you could count Jack White because he didn't have a hit until 2001. But really then, who is there that we can quote for their lyrics and point out for their zany antics that were bound to make news the next day? I can't really think of anyone off of the top of my head. So what happened to the idea of the "rock star"?
I have a few theories as to what broke down this concept of a "rock star." It's funny because back in the day, these were people you looked up to and respected and wished you could be. Being them well would pay you in dividends. The girls wet their knickers when they got within a certain distance of these people. Maybe it was all the drugs that made these people seem more awesome than they actually were, but whatever it was, they made lives. Anyone who saw a big show back then would probably be very quick to tell you the exact date of it, with the likelihood of you being able to recognize it much higher than someone who saw someone a little more recently. Maybe it's just that the nostalgia glasses haven't come out yet.
Whatever the reason, the atmosphere is different today, and I love to think about why that is. My biggest idea is that things are being brought down to a much more personal level. Everything is a little more "human," yknow, and at some point in their career, a rock musician is going to come to terms with his/her tender side and show themselves as more vulnerable. When you can get so close to these people, it makes them much more like you, instead of the demigod they look like.
Of course, this isn't a past vs present editorial without talking about the internet, which serves as a major avenue to a rock star's life. If something interesting happens, not only will you know about it within the hour, you'll be able to know about it from 20 different angles within the next day. It's not like a while ago, where things had to get to you by way of other people. The reason so many awesome stories existed was because everyone wanted to have something to tell their friends. It's still the same today really...except the stories have all gone stale. See, people actually had to use their words to tell people about something they saw. Now, they can just show it to you with their cell phone or youtube. They're probably only doing it to be popular too, as having a bunch of views on Youtube has it's perks. This takes away that great effect where you tell a person one thing and when you ask the 12th guy about the same thing the story's a lot different. I wasn't there so I'm not completely sure...but I'd be willing to bet that a few stories got exaggerated pretty well by this method...but as there's no video to prove the stories wrong, they're legend today.
The great part about that is that there are stories that did catch media attention and that band members themselves have referred to. Those public events only served to strengthen the mythos. You wouldn't dare show your wang in public. Apparently, today's artists wouldn't either. I'm not even sure many of them go shirtless. Meanwhile, in the late 1980s the Red Hot Chili Peppers went on stage in two pairs of socks...between all four of them. I'm not saying that to be memorable you have to go through some nude rite of passage. I'm saying it's weird how both censored and exposed things today are.
Most of today's stories come from movie...err...even that's not correct. A lot of the people who become pop culture legends aren't necessarily doing anything with themselves, and when they do, it's only because they want to look legitimate again. May I read your mind? Are the names "Lindsay Lohan" or "Charlie Sheen" or "Britney Spears" coming to your head now? That makes sense, because apparently a good way to get noticed is to completely wreck yourself for a while. If you're Keith Richards though, it doesn't make a damn bit of difference. You've been doing it since no one gave a rat's ass what you smoked or how you shockingly did your hair or talking about a girl you...made love with. A lot of people probably remember him for who he is because it was kind of who they were...only they couldn't play guitar quite as well. Today people are right there not-doing-things right along with their rock star counterparts. I mean, I guess you drink to gear up for a show but...that's just Tuesday, isn't it?
So overexposure, underexposure, wondering what's left to be sacred...it's all part of this weird lack of demigods today. I refuse to accept the notion that things "were just better back then" or "well all of today's bands suck and don't know what real rock is" because that's not true. Rock and Roll and all of its devices were made by the people of the generation. Like I said, people relate to Hendrix and Morrison because they prepared for shows the same way the musicians did: getting high, so before you go counthering with "it was actually all the record labels/promotion's fault," remember that people also bought the records. Waay back in the 60s, I'm fairly certain that it at least took a longer amount of time to bootleg something than it does today. I'm pretty sure there was less need to pirate when there was really only one way to get the music for your own use. But this is all sort of another story.
It truly does say something about a generation. Here in the 00s, we're finally different. Our parents and so on did something that we now do not do in as big a capacity. Things have changed. The torch has been passed and the future of music is now in the hands of the people. It's a cliche message for sure, but it's kind of true. Look at our climate today. Music is something that is very, very divided. There's pop, rock, rap, country, indie...and they ALL have a fairly devoted niche (with divisions in each). We're all about labels today, whereas I feel like "back then" it was just...music. Nowadays it's mentioning a band's name and having the other person say "well I really don't care for them," or (infamously with me) "well they're older stuff was good."
The climate is somewhat hateful as far as I see it. People can't be rock stars because someone is going to vocally hate the living shit out of it. You know who's doing it right today? Lady Gaga. (Yeah, she's not a rock musician). She's a rock star. She has notoriety. She's got loyal followers that see her as otherworldly- because that's how she presents herself. You can pick her out in a crowd. Yeah, people hate her and she's going to have trouble making it into the proverbial league of legends because of how goddamn opinionate we all are in today's world, but dammit, she's made a name for herself. If you ask me (and Cat is going to rape my throat for this) that rock star act she puts on is better than the music she puts out. I think this is totally another story, you know, the balance between theatricality and musicianship, but I enjoy her deconstruction of the whole rock star persona. She's like a parody of this thing that everyone thinks she is, and that's what's Fridge Brilliant about it all. Still, she's also kind of the proof that the ideas of old are dead. She has to pull out some weird stuff to get the stories built up around her, and creating her mythos was, I'm guessing, no easy task.
So as long as people cling to their opinions, or the opinion of the population, there won't really be any rock stars. They really were a period peace; an establisment that existed for a good thirty years before people somehow became cynical and started searching for a different way to look at this whole music thing. This isn't the last (though I make no promises whatsoever) I'm going to say on this topic. I'm always interested in what happened to the names. Why did the demigod Rock Star disappear? I think it's kind of a complex thing to work out, but I know that in the end the big picture will focus on the people. Look at indie. Indie is what's getting the five star ratings right now. In indie music, everything is very subtle and largely subdued. It isn't a place for rambunctiousness or loudness. Sure you will find names, but you won't HEAR them. That's what makes it.
As far as I know, there aren't many. I mean, you could count Jack White because he didn't have a hit until 2001. But really then, who is there that we can quote for their lyrics and point out for their zany antics that were bound to make news the next day? I can't really think of anyone off of the top of my head. So what happened to the idea of the "rock star"?
I have a few theories as to what broke down this concept of a "rock star." It's funny because back in the day, these were people you looked up to and respected and wished you could be. Being them well would pay you in dividends. The girls wet their knickers when they got within a certain distance of these people. Maybe it was all the drugs that made these people seem more awesome than they actually were, but whatever it was, they made lives. Anyone who saw a big show back then would probably be very quick to tell you the exact date of it, with the likelihood of you being able to recognize it much higher than someone who saw someone a little more recently. Maybe it's just that the nostalgia glasses haven't come out yet.
Whatever the reason, the atmosphere is different today, and I love to think about why that is. My biggest idea is that things are being brought down to a much more personal level. Everything is a little more "human," yknow, and at some point in their career, a rock musician is going to come to terms with his/her tender side and show themselves as more vulnerable. When you can get so close to these people, it makes them much more like you, instead of the demigod they look like.
Of course, this isn't a past vs present editorial without talking about the internet, which serves as a major avenue to a rock star's life. If something interesting happens, not only will you know about it within the hour, you'll be able to know about it from 20 different angles within the next day. It's not like a while ago, where things had to get to you by way of other people. The reason so many awesome stories existed was because everyone wanted to have something to tell their friends. It's still the same today really...except the stories have all gone stale. See, people actually had to use their words to tell people about something they saw. Now, they can just show it to you with their cell phone or youtube. They're probably only doing it to be popular too, as having a bunch of views on Youtube has it's perks. This takes away that great effect where you tell a person one thing and when you ask the 12th guy about the same thing the story's a lot different. I wasn't there so I'm not completely sure...but I'd be willing to bet that a few stories got exaggerated pretty well by this method...but as there's no video to prove the stories wrong, they're legend today.
The great part about that is that there are stories that did catch media attention and that band members themselves have referred to. Those public events only served to strengthen the mythos. You wouldn't dare show your wang in public. Apparently, today's artists wouldn't either. I'm not even sure many of them go shirtless. Meanwhile, in the late 1980s the Red Hot Chili Peppers went on stage in two pairs of socks...between all four of them. I'm not saying that to be memorable you have to go through some nude rite of passage. I'm saying it's weird how both censored and exposed things today are.
Most of today's stories come from movie...err...even that's not correct. A lot of the people who become pop culture legends aren't necessarily doing anything with themselves, and when they do, it's only because they want to look legitimate again. May I read your mind? Are the names "Lindsay Lohan" or "Charlie Sheen" or "Britney Spears" coming to your head now? That makes sense, because apparently a good way to get noticed is to completely wreck yourself for a while. If you're Keith Richards though, it doesn't make a damn bit of difference. You've been doing it since no one gave a rat's ass what you smoked or how you shockingly did your hair or talking about a girl you...made love with. A lot of people probably remember him for who he is because it was kind of who they were...only they couldn't play guitar quite as well. Today people are right there not-doing-things right along with their rock star counterparts. I mean, I guess you drink to gear up for a show but...that's just Tuesday, isn't it?
So overexposure, underexposure, wondering what's left to be sacred...it's all part of this weird lack of demigods today. I refuse to accept the notion that things "were just better back then" or "well all of today's bands suck and don't know what real rock is" because that's not true. Rock and Roll and all of its devices were made by the people of the generation. Like I said, people relate to Hendrix and Morrison because they prepared for shows the same way the musicians did: getting high, so before you go counthering with "it was actually all the record labels/promotion's fault," remember that people also bought the records. Waay back in the 60s, I'm fairly certain that it at least took a longer amount of time to bootleg something than it does today. I'm pretty sure there was less need to pirate when there was really only one way to get the music for your own use. But this is all sort of another story.
It truly does say something about a generation. Here in the 00s, we're finally different. Our parents and so on did something that we now do not do in as big a capacity. Things have changed. The torch has been passed and the future of music is now in the hands of the people. It's a cliche message for sure, but it's kind of true. Look at our climate today. Music is something that is very, very divided. There's pop, rock, rap, country, indie...and they ALL have a fairly devoted niche (with divisions in each). We're all about labels today, whereas I feel like "back then" it was just...music. Nowadays it's mentioning a band's name and having the other person say "well I really don't care for them," or (infamously with me) "well they're older stuff was good."
The climate is somewhat hateful as far as I see it. People can't be rock stars because someone is going to vocally hate the living shit out of it. You know who's doing it right today? Lady Gaga. (Yeah, she's not a rock musician). She's a rock star. She has notoriety. She's got loyal followers that see her as otherworldly- because that's how she presents herself. You can pick her out in a crowd. Yeah, people hate her and she's going to have trouble making it into the proverbial league of legends because of how goddamn opinionate we all are in today's world, but dammit, she's made a name for herself. If you ask me (and Cat is going to rape my throat for this) that rock star act she puts on is better than the music she puts out. I think this is totally another story, you know, the balance between theatricality and musicianship, but I enjoy her deconstruction of the whole rock star persona. She's like a parody of this thing that everyone thinks she is, and that's what's Fridge Brilliant about it all. Still, she's also kind of the proof that the ideas of old are dead. She has to pull out some weird stuff to get the stories built up around her, and creating her mythos was, I'm guessing, no easy task.
So as long as people cling to their opinions, or the opinion of the population, there won't really be any rock stars. They really were a period peace; an establisment that existed for a good thirty years before people somehow became cynical and started searching for a different way to look at this whole music thing. This isn't the last (though I make no promises whatsoever) I'm going to say on this topic. I'm always interested in what happened to the names. Why did the demigod Rock Star disappear? I think it's kind of a complex thing to work out, but I know that in the end the big picture will focus on the people. Look at indie. Indie is what's getting the five star ratings right now. In indie music, everything is very subtle and largely subdued. It isn't a place for rambunctiousness or loudness. Sure you will find names, but you won't HEAR them. That's what makes it.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Currently Searching for Something to Do
I really really hate being aimless or having my ideas move so fast that I can't really keep up with them. My head's been in so many places this past weekend it's crazy. For most of the weekend I've been into Kingdom Hearts, but today on top of that I had inspiration to work on MageBoy, my main story and...just a lot of other things. Sometimes I really need to kill my internet. It makes my ideas and my head move around so fast that I just can't focus. One minute it's a video of Scott Pilgrim music, and the next it's an hour reading the comments of exasperated fanboys in pain over Ewoks blinking. And in between it all, I'm trying to do a bit of homework...granted I don't really have a good idea of what it is I'm supposed to be doing.
Basically my hope is that this is just the effects of starting school again. It's like dumping colored water into clear water. It takes time for the color of the water to settle into whatever color it's going to stay. It's just like a splash: everything goes everywhere and it all hits each other mid air before coming down and getting lost again. I'm hoping that my cannonball wasn't so epic. I don't think it was, but when you're the person making a splash, you don't get to admire it.
Parts of this confusion I don't mind: I've done some writing and drawing and even bass playing... The problem is that none of it ends up consequential. It's like my ideas just kind of stop before actually getting anywhere. That's what's annoying to me, especially when the next time I go to work on something it's totally not what I was working on before. Again though, i just have to figure out how to calm myself and be patient...tomorrow I have a class for the first time, so that's probably why I'm jittery. It's funny though, because it already feels like I've been in my other classes for weeks now...
Anyway, I'd hate to rant about school, especially since I don't have evidence to support a Theory of Suck. All in all it's been going pretty well, actually, so I can't really complain. I just hope it'll keep going so smoothly. If it does, I might finally have the chance to organize changes in myself that I've been wanting to make for a long time...
Basically my hope is that this is just the effects of starting school again. It's like dumping colored water into clear water. It takes time for the color of the water to settle into whatever color it's going to stay. It's just like a splash: everything goes everywhere and it all hits each other mid air before coming down and getting lost again. I'm hoping that my cannonball wasn't so epic. I don't think it was, but when you're the person making a splash, you don't get to admire it.
Parts of this confusion I don't mind: I've done some writing and drawing and even bass playing... The problem is that none of it ends up consequential. It's like my ideas just kind of stop before actually getting anywhere. That's what's annoying to me, especially when the next time I go to work on something it's totally not what I was working on before. Again though, i just have to figure out how to calm myself and be patient...tomorrow I have a class for the first time, so that's probably why I'm jittery. It's funny though, because it already feels like I've been in my other classes for weeks now...
Anyway, I'd hate to rant about school, especially since I don't have evidence to support a Theory of Suck. All in all it's been going pretty well, actually, so I can't really complain. I just hope it'll keep going so smoothly. If it does, I might finally have the chance to organize changes in myself that I've been wanting to make for a long time...
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Order
Seing as how Cat would like a blogging friend and I see no harm in having one, I think it's time I actually looked into this blogging business. After all, anything to contribute to my metaphorical domination over the interner, despite the fact that each of my endeavors face less success than the last.
In that way, a proper introduction is in order, I believe. I'm called SgtDrFunk (amongst other things) despite what the random names that Google decides to give me may have you believe. The name was randomly assembled about seven years ago, so no, there's not really all that meaning behind it. There is meaning behind me, of course.
So how will this blog work? Eh, however I feel like it at the time. We'll be lucky if I continue update past the end of this month. I already have outlets for most of my creative endeavors, so their appearing here is unlikely, especially since I don't see too many of them to completion (which is part of my reason for being on the internet, you know, so that maybe someone will take an interest and encourage/challenge me to finish something). I think this blog will largely be for Foamy the Squirrel style rants about topics I'm feeling strongly about, and for reviews of reviewable items that I have purchased, possibly over the years or very recently.
Here's the catch: I'm really really bad at reviewing things. I like to look at the world in a positive light, cynical though I may seem, and thus many reviews I give will be positive, sometimes overly so. There's really a lot of hate in the world, and I don't see why you need me to hate things the way everyone else does. I'll leave you with this, then: The only thing I REALLY hate, is hate itself.
In that way, a proper introduction is in order, I believe. I'm called SgtDrFunk (amongst other things) despite what the random names that Google decides to give me may have you believe. The name was randomly assembled about seven years ago, so no, there's not really all that meaning behind it. There is meaning behind me, of course.
So how will this blog work? Eh, however I feel like it at the time. We'll be lucky if I continue update past the end of this month. I already have outlets for most of my creative endeavors, so their appearing here is unlikely, especially since I don't see too many of them to completion (which is part of my reason for being on the internet, you know, so that maybe someone will take an interest and encourage/challenge me to finish something). I think this blog will largely be for Foamy the Squirrel style rants about topics I'm feeling strongly about, and for reviews of reviewable items that I have purchased, possibly over the years or very recently.
Here's the catch: I'm really really bad at reviewing things. I like to look at the world in a positive light, cynical though I may seem, and thus many reviews I give will be positive, sometimes overly so. There's really a lot of hate in the world, and I don't see why you need me to hate things the way everyone else does. I'll leave you with this, then: The only thing I REALLY hate, is hate itself.
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