Simply Casually Listening: Joe Inoue

Simply Casually Observing

Is it a coincidence that the only time I'm writing is when I'm waiting for Lakers' games to start? I think not.

Anyway, school is grinding to a halt (mostly because of Turkey-giving break), and I've had quite a bit of down time over the past couple days (a beautiful contrast to the rest of the semester). So, what do I do when I have free time? I, of course, turn up the Marvin Gaye... warm up my hands on the heater... pull down my pants and...

...

Find some good new music to listen to (who doesn't surf the web without pants on?).

I started off in familiar places (what's the latest offerings from my favorite bands), ventured off into a little genre surfing (typing "power metal" into Google and seeing what comes up), and then, took the nerd route. The nerd route is, of course, finding out which of my favorite animes have new OP's (for new people, OP is short for opening theme, because saying "opening theme" in Japanese is not only very difficult, but it also sounds retarded). Well, it just so happens that my #1 currently-being-released anime had just started airing a new OP. Naturally, I had no idea what the title was, nor who it was by, because I'm oblivious to such things during opening montages (montages are my only true weakness), so I had to look it up online. As it turns out, the song is called "Closer" (makes sense, considering one of the lyrics is "you know the closer you get to something, the tougher it is to see") by some dude called "Inoue Joe."

First thought through my head was "whoa, is his name really Joe?" followed closely by "who the hell is that?" (Being slightly knowledgeable of Japanese, I started thinking, "is his name pronounced Joe, like normal people, or is it Jo-eh, like it would be pronounced if the Japanese had such a word as "Joe."). Anywho, I did a little research, and it turns out he's only a year older than me, and he was born in LA. ("Oh! That's why he can actually sing in English without sounding like he has Down's syndrome!"). On further investigation, however, I discovered something that had me immediately hooked...

As it turns out, he plays every single instrument in his songs. Yeap, so he records the lead guitar, bass guitar, drums, and vocals, all separately, then mixes them together after the fact ("How does he perform live?"). Needless to say, I was blown away. "Dude, how can this not be the coolest guy ever? He plays 3 fucking instruments and he can sing," I thought to myself.

So began my quest to acquire his music via nefarious means. Yet, much to my chagrin, I was unable to ascertain the means to acquire said music (Google and Isohunt weren't turning anything up!). At this time, I was quite voracious in my desire to listen to his music, so I went to Youtube, searched for one of his videos, and constantly played it (see bottom for more details). And thus, I was forced to search for Joe Inoue in the most horrendous fashion imaginable.....Direct, Download.

*shudder*

Just typing it sends shivers down my spine. As I scoured the net (mostly asian forums) for direct download links to his songs, I was finally able to procure two items of his: His first EP, "IN A WAY" and his first single "Hello!" And thus, there was much joy in the land of JK. Ever since that fateful night three days ago, I've been enjoying his music on my Ipod on my way to class, on my way home from class, during class, while conversing with friends, while ignoring friends, all that good stuff.

Honestly, his music is not that special. The drum beats are insipid, the bass is droll, the lead guitar is uninspired, and the vocals are passable at best. But, I think it is this simplistic combination that makes me so drawn to it. You can tell it's not music that has been ground to a pulp, smushed together, and re-packaged by the corporate music industry. It may not be the most inventive music ever, but I find it refreshing compared to most of today's music that is constantly trying to be "new" and "fashionable."

With that, here is the video I had on repeat while trying to find his music. The song is called "Nowhere."


And here is the music video for "Closer," the latest Naruto: Shippuuden OP

MNFS: Legend Of The Seeker

"People are stupid. Because they are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they are afraid it might be true."

This is the very first "rule" introduced in my most favoritest fantasy series of ever-time, The Sword of Truth. This line comes from the aptly named, Wizard's First Rule, the first of eleven in the series that made Terry Goodkind famous. I first started reading the books in 2000 as a naive high school freshman, impressionable and romantic. I instantly fell in love with the extremely developed characterizations, the sweeping world-building scale, and the epic themes which seemed both massive and yet individualist at the same time. Naturally, I just about crapped my pants when I saw the first commercial for Legend of the Seeker, a live-action adaptation of Wizard's First Rule (just ask my mom; I gasped so loudly she thought I had lost somewhere between 100 and 5000 dollars). My thought process was (unedited), "oh-em-jee, seeing this will make my life complete." That being merely slight hyperbole, I was very excited.

(Note: I'm not putting in links to the characters names, because they contain HUGE spoilers. If you actually want to get into the series, I would advise not Wikipedi-ing the fuck out of it and instead actually reading the books. Judd, that means you.)

For a little background on the series, the hero, Richard Cypher, basically gets chucked into a quest by a hot chick, the Mother Confessor, Kahlan Amnell, to kill the embodiment of evil, Darken Rahl (which has to be one of the best evil guy names ever. Just say it a couple times, "Darken Rahl..." "Darken Rahl..." It gets more evil the more times you say it). On his quest, he is aided by his old wizard friend, Zedd, who imparts to him little tidbits of knowledge (like the line at the top) along the way. Oh, and Richard uses a sword called The Sword of Truth... Talk about the lamest sword name ever.

Anywho, needless to say, I was as excited as a puppy that sees its reflection in the mirror for the first time. So, I went and did a little research on the series. It was then that my heart sank, as I realized who was the producer of my immaculate series: The bane of all fantasy series'...

Sam Raimi.

As flashbacks of Kevin Sorbo and Lucy Lawless ran through my mind like a tank running through a car, I began to attempt to convince myself that this series wasn't going to be terrible. "It's ok, the source material is good, the author is involved, and this is 2008, not 1998. There's no way Goodkind would allow such desecration of his magnum opus." As my brother has so adamantly professed, there would be no reason to adapt a book into a new medium if there were no changes made to accomodate it. I accept minor changes, such as certain descriptions being less vivid and more implied, and certain thought processes being exposed in dialogue, but I truly denounce any wholesale changes to plotline (unless they A.) simplify the plotline, or B.) enhance the characters).

So, I nervously watched the first episode and was well... happily surprised by the quality. The production level was obviously excellent (other than the fact that it was glaringly obvious that soldiers were getting sliced by swords and there was no blood anywhere), with fast-paced action scenes coupled with slow-motion features that really enhanced the battles. The characters were also well-chosen, with Bridget Regan becoming the perfect Kahlan, and Chase, Richard's BFF, looking exactly like I thought he did. However, I always dreamed of Ian McKellen portraying Zedd, so Bruce Spence's casting seemed a little off (although I have warmed to him as of late.) The only glaring weakness is perhaps Craig Horner, the actor playing Richard, whose acting ability leaves...something to be desired. He looks exactly as I imagined Richard, but he has none of Richard's striking characteristics (like his painstaking approach to truth and attention to detail). Otherwise, the music, pacing, cinematography, and landscaping of the first episode (a two-hour double feature) was excellent. And on that day, I was happy.

Well, at least until the second episode. That was where the story branched off from the book, leading Richard and Kahlan to have several "adventures" to right some random, arbitrary wrongs going on in the world. When the first thought of "wait, this wasn't in the book at all,"struck me, a little portion of my soul died. But, the visualizations were still excellent, despite the plot being utterly inexcusably insipid. And I'll probably continue to watch the series (uTorrent, you are my savior).

If you've already read the books, it depends on how conservative you are (or how much of an asshole you are) in terms of how much you'll like this television adaptation. Some diehards writhe and seethe about the fact that this series is different from the books, while others take Legend of the Seeker with a grain of salt, offering up as a new story, mostly unassociated with Wizard's First Rule. For anyone who likes fantasy, this is an excellent series to watch. The characters are excellently imagined (at least until you get to the acting), and the world-building done in New Zealand is second to none. And last but not least, for all you godless liberals, Terry Goodkind is a staunch objectivist philosopher, so you can enjoy lots of ranting and raving about truth and rationality and the stupidity of those who allow things other than rationality to lead them in life. When I was younger, I found objectivism and rationalism to be fascinating, but now I pretty much read the novels and watch this series in spite of the themes. Yet, the themes are not so overbearing that you can't enjoy a great fantasy story while you're reading.

It's a little too early to rate this series, because it hasn't gotten to the juicy parts (to give you a hint, there's a dominatrix as well as a near butt-rape scene in the book), but overall I don't have too high hopes. As long as they get back to the book's plotline at some point and don't go off into Sam Raimi-land, I'll be happy.

Rating: N/A

Oh by the way, if you still need reasons to watch the series, keep this in mind:

Bridget Regan is OMG-hot

The Last Two Months In Review...

Oh-Em-Jee, what to write about first... I've been gone for so long it seems as if the world has completely changed since the last time I wrote, so there's just so many things I could tackle:

1. America chose as President a black man with the middle name Hussein over a white war veteran (honestly ridiculous, at least at face value).

2. The stock market has tanked to levels not seen since 2003 (and shortly approaching levels not seen since the start of Bill Clinton's second term in office)

3. A TV show (based on my favorite fantasy series of ever-time) began airing in syndication.

4. My #1 and #2 animes currently being released decided to stop sucking!

5. An awesome new season of black guys bouncing a rubber ball around a hardwood floor started.

6. I started research with one of my professors in a project to help poor kids understand math.

7. I got fired from my job at a high-profile asset management firm.

8. And last, but certainly not least, one woman managed to set Women's Rights back 50 years.


Needless to say, I'm prickling with excitement for the future...

Anywho, I could write about any one of these, and God knows its so cold that I could spend hours doing it tonight. But, I'm feeling a little deep tonight, so at least until the Laker game starts, I'll delve into a little my dealings with the passage of time.

It's weird how one moment you can think something will never end, only to realize all too quickly that it will soon end. I remember when I first met my BFF Bailey (Bailey is a dude's name, btb) here at Cornell, and I said something to him along the lines of:

"Man, I don't think I can handle 7 more of these things."

I, of course, was referring to the seven semesters we would have left at Cornell (wtf were you thinking). Now that I look back, that comment was foolish for so many reasons. I hate to admit it, but my time here at Cornell has flown by. I look back with a bit of regret, as I realized all too late that I haven't made the most of my time here. A victim of my own inaction, I failed to heed Ferris Bueller's advice and college has just slipped by somewhat. There are so many things I wish I could change, so many things I wish I could have done (or done earlier). All these regrets really make me wish school wasn't almost over (and make me really want to go to graduate school).

I originally had about 3 paragraphs of philosophical bullshit below this, but I decided that should be spared for another time. In the end, college has made me realize one thing:

Too often, people only care about what you've done. They want to know what you've accomplished, and how you can show that accomplishment to other people. I, on the other hand, believe it is much more important to enjoy yourself while acting, as opposed to just acting for the sake of accomplishing. In this way, one takes great joy in the most pointless of actions. I believe this is the best way to lead one's life.

Preview: JCVD

I have no words for this. Just watch the video.

New Mediums:Vagabond

Often times I find myself engrossed in new art and cultural mediums. Sometimes in the broad sense, I've been studying Eastern religions lately, more often then not it's on a more micro level, simply a new artist, but in the same broader mediums I frequent. Sometimes I become obsessed with a new medium, and stick with it until it's complete, or becomes less attractive. Sometimes I don't find it subjectively pleasing and move on. Sometimes I get the chance to experience something, but then don't have access to further my interests. This could be for a multitude of reasons. Why am I explaining all of this? Well, I've been thinking about a regular subject I could write about for this blog. This subject seems flexible, and interesting enough to do just that. My only parameters will be: It has to be new to me, and it has to be art in some liberal sense. Other than that I won't limit myself. Why those two things? Because, I feel that new things will keep me from feeling a sort of staleness, and art is something I've been reflecting on a lot lately. Rather than bore anyone with philosophical jargon, I'll try to express my views on art in practice. Here I go...

So Saturday I'm in New York City, on a Philosophy field trip. I follow my friend Frank as we (21 of us) break off to find places to eat lunch. Frank is following Dan and Dan's girlfriend (sorry feminists of the world I forgot her name). They mention they are looking for someplace Asian to eat. After about 20 minutes of no luck we randomly come upon Kinokuniya, Manga distributor. Apparently it has a Japanese food quasi-cafe upstairs that is both excellent and cheap (for NYC). After eating an amazing panini and trying some not bad sushi with some sort of plum, I ask Frank if there is a Manga if I should consider. Frank being the connoisseur of anime that he is asks me about my interests, and eventually falls upon what he calls "the manga of his favorite manga artist," Vagabond. So I picked up the first chapter and read the first half wile waiting to get into the Museum of Modern Art.




The first thing I have to say about Vagabond is that this is amazing. It employs so many elements of art that I enjoy so much. The obvious comparisons are Cowboy Bebop, and Samurai Champloo, but also Edward Gorey comes to mind as similar in the drawing style. The use of cross hatching and other line paterns to create texture and to seamlessly integrate while differentiating a background from a foreground. The characters are serious for the most part. They are also violent, sometimes to a extreme. Humor plays a minor roll, but it is good when it is there, and not wacky/over done as some animes/mangas tend to be. I'll admit I've never really gotten into manga before, so I don't know what's typical. I like the use of colored art on only some of the pages. It ads emphasis reminiscent of Sin City (I've only ever seen the movie, as for the graphic novels: as Judd would say, "I hear it's good.")

The plot so far has been OK, I'm expecting it to get a lot deeper. Basically some samurai wake up after a battle surprised to be alive. They kill some guys and run into some thief girls who steal from dead soldiers, then they kill some more guys that are bothering them. I'm only half way into chapter 1, so I'm yet to be too critical about the plot. The action though has been more than to my tastes. The way the manga is set up, there is real drama. It's exciting. If you like exciting, with tons of violence and great drawing, I suggest you try it out.

I'll finish off my post with a rating. (Keep in mind that this is only an initial reaction. I may think this is amazing or sucks sometime in the future, and you may never know.) Vagabond as New Medium: 8/10