Mar 2
I figured it was about time I added something related to philosophy, so here’s essay I recently wrote on Kant’s notion of disinterestedness in his work on Aesthetics, A Critique of Judgment.
Feb 23
I gotta thank last.fm for this gem. I stumbled upon this band through last.fm’s recommendation, and while I usually don’t take those too seriously, I decided on a whim to try this band out - what a great decision, in retrospect. riddim saunter’s music is so unbelievably catchy and upbeat that, in many ways, it defies genre. They have an air of dance music about them, with a definite indie base. However, that doesn’t really capture the spirit of the music, which draws influences from the shibuya-kei and ska movements with a very pop-like rhythm. There’s definitely one word that can encompass their music: catchy. Seriously, this stuff is like crack, and in the past two days alone I must have gone through their Think, Lad & Lass album a solid five times. While obviously the majority of this stems from the band’s ability to make music that catches in your brain and never lets go, the disappointing album length (just shy of 40 minutes, including the useless interludes) does play some role. However, despite the anemic duration of this album, it’s most definitely worth checking out.
Jan 28
It’s been far too long, Round Table.
I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: Round Table never fails to capture my mood in the best way possible. Every album they put out (all three of them, to be fair) exhibits full control over the music, and the sophistication is in another league. However, I was just a bit concerned when I saw the release notice for Distance, because there’s a whopping five singles/b-sides on the album. Given that the album’s total length is really only twelve songs (ignoring the useless intro and outro songs), that’s not a lot of wiggle room for original content. And while this is nothing new for Round Table, I can’t help but feel like each album is a bit of a risk, because there’s not too much room for error, given the small amount of content they’re working with. Nevertheless, they haven’t messed up majorly in any of their albums so far, so I’m not exactly about to reprimand them prematurely, especially considering how solid this album actually ends up being.
Sep 15
Suneohair (the stage name of Kenji Watanabe) is a very talented musician that I’ve been following for quite some time now. I don’t really understand why he’s as obscure (at least in the US) as he is, especially considering that he did ending themes for the acclaimed anime Honey and Clover. Then again, that seems to be the case where really talented bands do great themes for outstanding anime (like Jill-Decoy). I found out about Suneohair randomly through youtube, and he did an awesome and over-the-top PV. His style overall is very quirky and his PVs exemplify this, often exhibiting a subtle and often ironic sense of humor, and are overall very intelligent while still being laid-back. His music, on the other hand, is less quirky, and generally very relaxed. He exudes a singer-songwriter vibe, and this makes for some very mellow and relaxing music, especially present in his latest single.
Aug 14
Round Table Feat. Nino is one of those groups that manage to captivate mood like no other. One needs to look no further than the corresponding ending themes to the Aria anime series to realize the amount of immersion that the band brings to music. I’ve written extensively about it at the NHRV, and needless to say I’m a fan of their sound. There’s rarely a song that doesn’t manage to completely make me forget where I am and soak in the tunes (which is why I make a point to never listen to them while driving). Unfortunately for Round Table, when they miss, they miss badly. There’s usually a couple of songs per album that manage to screw up so badly as to not only sound crappy, but borderline on painful. However, there’s nearly a two year gap between Koi Wo Shiteru and their previous album, unimaginatively named “Nino”. Needless to say, I was hoping that this gap would give them the time to mature their sound and rectify their shortcomings.
Jun 25
This man makes absolutely no sense at all.
His name is Jacques Derrida, and he’s one of the more famous philosophers of the ever-so-trendy postmodern philosophy movement that has been taking the academic world by storm. His philosophy of Deconstruction has been the hottest thing since Kant for professors of philosophy and in general the collegiate left-wing society. The thesis and general focus of his works revolve around the conflicting intent of language - more specifically, the conflicting intent of Western language and writing. His critique of the Western world starts and ends with the binary oppositions of non-normative principles. The famous example is of good and evil - though they oppose each other, there is an inherent bias towards good over evil, even when used in a non-judgmental way. Therefore, even ignoring the context of a specific work, authors are inherently biased when they write, causing the deconstruction of that work, and that the whole system is instable. This is a very simplistic description of deconstruction, and most graduate philosophers would probably laugh at this sophmoric attempt to explain such a complex theory, but it doesn’t really matter, and here’s why:
It makes zero fucking sense.
Jun 23
This is a band that bends the borders a bit. Their genre of music is difficult to define, but “lounge” probably sums them up best. It’s not technically lounge, as it has very pop-like vocals (especially on the song Jolly Jolly) and at times even displays some disco influence, but the feel of the music is undoubtedly velvety-smooth jazz. It took me awhile to get used to the sound they make, because it’s hard to compare it to anything else currently out, but eventually it landed a spot on my playlist and is a band I seem to commonly come back to (which is rare considering my musical interests have several “flavors of the month” that come and go).
Jun 21
This girl is the sole reason why I cannot finish Touhou 10. I love Kawashiro Nitori to death, but she seriously needs to stop destroying all of my lives. Touhou 10: Mountain of Faith is a manic shoot-em-up that basically consists of cute little girls throwing thousands of bullets at you as you try to take them down. The patterns are pretty, and the OST is exceptional (especially considering all elements of the game, including visial, audio, gameplay, and plot, are all done by one guy), but goddamn is it hard.
Jun 19
So I’ve been getting into this genre called Shibuya-Kei recently. The genre is basically technopop with catchy lyrics and an upbeat tempo. I started my foray into this genre listening to PERFUME, which is an idol band that I picked up about a couple of weeks ago (perhaps this is my primer into idol bands, though I’ve yet to find much interest in Hello! Project). After listening to them for awhile, I started to branch out into other electropop artists - including the aforementioned Coltemonikha.
Jun 18
Welcome to the blog of nothingness.
Logomania: an excessive usage of words. Flowery nonsense. Often used to deride academia for their obscure and hard-to-read theses that talk about nothing, in great detail and with much convolution.
Mind you, this isn’t the actual definition of Logomania. Technically, logomania is a medical condition associated with compulsively speaking nonsense, but since logorrhea sounds disgusting I chose logomania. Not really accurate, but more aesthetically pleasing.
I really think this description fits what I want the blog to be about. If anyone reading this knows me (and I’m pretty sure that will be 100% of the visitors to the site), I write formal reviews at www.nihonreview.com. Though I love to write reviews, it’s a very tiring process. I hold myself (for better or worse) to a high standard of writing, and as such it’s an extremely intensive process. I have to make sure that I’m not just rambling, but giving cohesive warrants for why I give a specific anime a given rating. However, I love to ramble, rant, etc. and I’m starting this blog as an outlet for those so-called “creative” desires. I may not have perfect spelling here, or proper punctuation (though I’ll try). Some of my posts may not make any sense. And that’s perfectly fine with me, because I want a space where I can jot down what’s important to me. Sure this sounds ridiculosuly narcissistic, and it most likely is, but hey, it’s not hurting anyone right?
So what can you expect from this blog? Probably nothing. The name implies that there will be little, if any, subject matter. Knowing me it will probably revolve around either some arcane text I’m fascinated with, what music I currently adore, or some anime that stands out to me. Then again, even I don’t know where the hell this blog is headed really. Whatever I feel is worth mentioning, I’ll mention, and I’ll most likely mention some stuff that’s not worth mentioning anyway.
So I’m throwing caution to the wind and hoping for the best.
