Showbiz!
-
Not everything is about Japan and nerd shit
I get it. Last week I attempted to address the serious problem of racism with a video of a white guy talking about Japan. This was a follow up to the previous weeks Simpsons reference against it, which brought up the eternal nerd debate: does a Simpsons quote stand alone or carry with it the context of the entire episode? To be honest, I misremembered the quote as being spoken by Jasper Beardly, who is more my guy than Granpa Simpson… Do we need to go all the way down that road? I was trying to avoid invoking the name of Debito Arudo who wrote this article over a month ago now. The thing about Debito is he has all the sensitivity and people-watching skills of a comedian with none of the sense of humor. Just to give him some credit, he did not invent the term microagression, it’s just rarely used by white people in an environment entirely of their own volition. But some of the backlash against him is just as lacking in perspective. He ain’t Rush Limbaugh, he’s Dwight from The Office. If you had to work with this guy in real life, you wouldn’t bother with an entire counter-argument, you’d just put his stapler in a jello mold, right? It’s just not worth it.
-
The Flaming Lips/Badu video
Apparently a lot of people have been carrying around some deep hat towards Wanye Coyne already for some reason, just waiting to unleash it. I always thought he was cool, don’t love all his music, but…yeesh he did not handle this well. I saw the video and, yeah, it does not look like it’s done. I did not want to get involved in an argument about this on twitter but I think it’s worth mentioning in this context. I don’t think it was really about race, unless Coyne was assuming the Badus were way more into drugs than they are (the only theme of the thing seems to be drug-fueled ironic pretension), which…yeah. A bum trip.
-
HALCALI, shiritori & more racism
Some people think just the act of appropriating a culture you aren’t part of is racist and sometimes those people are right. So it can be for some. But that’s not any group any group I like. Then, someone posted this video on tumblr about an African-American doctor who has gone through some blatantly inexcusable racist bullshit. They basically called him a gorilla and tried to make it seem like a harmless joke. (It gets worse from there, watch the whole thing.)
Then I remembered the video for Twinkle Star…oh, right.
OK…the man-in-a-gorilla-costume is a common trope in J-comedy and is not racist by itself. Shaky ground though, admittedly. I think someone stole it from Benny Hill one day like 40 years ago and they just haven’t got enough of it. However(there’s always a however), the gorilla-man is not usually wearing a sideways baseball cap and carrying a ghettoblaster. That’s pretty questionable. But that part at least is part of a visual shiritori game.I mentioned my tumblr was kinda like that, but this Halcali video is the real thing. The last syllable of each object in the video is the first syllable of the next object.
Halcaliハルカリ-ringoリンゴ-gorillaゴリラ-radikaseラジカセ-sentakukiせんたくき-kitsuneキツネ-nekoネコ-concordコンコルド-donutドーナツ-tsunoツノ-noteノート-tokyoとうきょう-usi-no-sippoうしのしっぽ-Polaroidポラロイド-drumドラム-musuu-no-hosiむすうのほし-shikaシカ-kabanかばん
Thank you, truehome8, I had lost my notes on this, and that fansite is down.
[ringo=apple, radikase=boombox, sentakuki=washing machine, kitsune=fox, neko=cat, tsuno=antler, ushi no shippo=cow's tail, musuu no hoshi=infinite number of stars, shika=deer, kaban=handbag]
The second gorilla appearance is a lot worse, when the black drummer morphs into the gorilla. That’s just a callback. A racist callback. The worst thing about it is it makes the first appearance a lot less defensible. It could be random wackiness, but it’s clear the director did intend the gorilla to be a stand in for a black dude. So that’s fucked up. If you think I’m a terrible person for still liking the video, I accept that judgement as a small price for enjoyment of an otherwise awesome vid. Actually, I really really wish that was not in the video. I think the great and try to get other people into it and it does not not to make more obstacles for itself. I hadn’t really thought about it in a while, since I got (legally bought) those first albums shortly after hearing the (illegally posted) songs on youtube and haven’t gone back to them as much as I listen to the records. But anyway, please, do not equate these two incidents. One is unfortunate racial naivety, the other is a man losing his job just because he tried to get an apology for being treated like an edgy insult comic who are the only people who used to (and should) be “roasted” before everyone decided they were comic geniuses. White people!
-
Conservative libertarians
I posted the results of an online political test that has me down as a left-libertarian. I took this test on paper when I was in middle school and got the same result. I took it again and figured it would be a lot closer to some Democrats…somewhere, since I registered as one in 04. Everyone gets more conservative in old age, right? Hey, that’s just how the test comes out. The last left libertarian type politician to actually hold an office that I am aware of was Ghandi. Do not let the label fool you. Ron Paul is not Ghandi. BTW, here’s an excellent point-by-point takedown of conservative revisionism.
-
AnimeNext
In general, if something is going on that costs any amount of money I’m not at it. I used my tax refund this year to see some shows I absolutely needed to see and that money is gone. I am in deep bill-paying hibernation mode until further notice. But I have to post this video:
New Jersey: a place filled with nature where everyone is your friend. I think AKB and various scandals have warped Hello Project into something not as fun as it was. It all started as a goof, and it’s obvious at one point the girls were given certain roles to play but for a while there they seemed to be interacting as genuine people. It all seems very scripted now and it’s not the greatest script. But I love the idea of anyone not having an automatically negative image in their minds of New Jersey. Parts of it really are nice…ish. It’s close to New York, you can’t deny that.
-
Surviving Japan
I donated to this Kickstarter a few months ago and got the digital download. Haven’t watched the whole thing yet because I have a stupid blog that I have to write. It’s worth a look.
%
Recent Comments