http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMRvZTk7QYE

I love Wikipedia. I couldn’t think of this British anthem for awhile, but started reading about Britannia. It’s played quite a bit, especially in American media when showing off something British. You’ll probably recognize it if you fast forward to 3:45. Anyway, Britannia => Rule, Britannia => Youtube. Sweet.

I like her voice (and the eyes, I’m a sucker for crescent-shaped eyes). Apparently she kinda shot herself in the foot by publicly dissing BoA a few years back though, BoA being a music superstar in Asia or something. Btw, what is it with Asian chicks and using the word “fag”? I’m tallying it in my head, and I don’t really see it used by females of other ethnicities very much. Yeah, yeah, I know, localized stereotype. I saw a girl call her younger sister a fag, once. The younger started crying. That was kind of eye-opening. “Huh, didn’t know you could use it on girls. I always thought it only worked on males.” Maybe the young whipper snappers have a different idea of “fag” from my old school, non-Johnny-Tremain one.

But yeah, Asian fans seem super cliquey, defending their idols like crazy, and didn’t take her disrespect too well. She’s definitely got talent, but she and Tiffany of SNSD seem to be setting a precedent of American arrogance when American-born Asians move over to the ancestral motherland to start a career. “I’M FROM AMERICA, BITCHES. I SPRACHEN ZE ENGLISH. BOW DOWN.” Their Confucianism imprint probably got lost being raised stateside.

Not that I think that kind of arrogance is limited to that subset of Americans. I used to think “American arrogance” was hype when I was younger, but I see it all the time these days. The way people perceive foreigners and their accents, the way people perceive foreign movies and cultures vs America’s, etc. I even see it among the so-called liberals who are supposed to be above that, though it tends to be more subtle with them. I imagine it’s the same kind of attitude every great empire/republic has had towards “lesser” states and their peoples. The Romans, the Chinese dynasties, etc.

A few years ago I met this guy who prided himself as being a movie buff. He hated Jet Li’s Hero, and was totally ragging on it. He liked Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon more. I liked both. When I watch a foreign movie, I try to see them from its cultural point of view. The former was more of a movie directed towards Asian tastes, while the later, more towards Western tastes. I told him that in Asia, box office performance was actually reversed, and that Hero did far better over there vs CTHD. He got this look on his face like, “CANNOT COMPUTE! HEAD ‘SPLODING.” He just kind of gave me a stunned, muted response. “Huh.” What can I say, generally speaking, Asians like order and unity and will simply admit it up front. Americans like their individuality, but it was built on lots of conquest. Throw in a “liberal guilt”-style smokescreen about how the cost was too great and shameful while simultaneously enjoying the fruits of said conquest nooo problem, and we have American reviewers finding the “message of Hero troubling.” So…when are the Washington Redskins playing next?

And just for the record, I totally thought the French stereotype of arrogance was hype, too, but when I went over, I definitely got a different vibe than I did from all the other countries I visited, to put it diplomatically. 違う感じ. Go figure.

http://lab.andre-michelle.com/tonematrix

Space bar clears it. You can also right click and copy paste. You can get extra creative by opening up multiple tabs.

The creator’s blog post about it is here.

Hmm so going off his blog, it looks like he based it off something called the Yamaha tenori-on, but each note acts like an omni-directional wave to trigger surrounding notes, but with diminishing amplitude? Or something like that; I actually have no idea what effect the waves have on the audio, if any. Each wave can also bounce off the “walls” or interact with other waves. Pretty neat.

He also has some cool stuff in his lab: http://lab.andre-michelle.com/

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/04/09/billy.bob.thornton.interview/index.html?iref=mpstoryview#cnnSTCVideo

The interviewer, Jian Ghomeshi, rolls pretty well with it, though. Props to him. He’s a bit fazed, but he soldiers on, and doesn’t let himself get steamrolled. Quite frankly, Thornton made a fool of himself, and Ghomeshi really came off as the smarter man. Thornton starts wildly defending against Ghomeshi’s logic by talking about smoking rules.

Ghomeshi: “OK, but do you know that people are listening across the country and across North America, and they might think that’s odd that I would not mention anything to do with your past.”
Thornton: “Well, I think it’s odd that you have to smoke inside a white stripe outside, hehe.”
Ghomeshi: “That is also odd. Yeah, but that’s a little different. That’s a rule and regulation. I’m just trying to do a show and give people context of who you guys are.”

Full eye contact, Ghomeshi is not taking your bullshit, Billy Bob.

Ghomeshi: “Given that you seem to be quite passionate about music, I was wondering about your…”
Thornton: “Would you say that to Tom Petty?”
Ghomeshi: “Would I say that he’s passionate about music?”
Thornton: “Yeah.”
Ghomeshi: “Yeah.”
Thornton: “Really?”

Yes, really you dumb shit. It’s a normal, innocuous thing to say.

I can understand that as an artist, he may not want his music to be defined by his acting, but he’s just being an asshole, and there really didn’t seem to be much basis for his infantile behavior. Some articles claim Ghomeshi implied that Thornton’s musical endeavors were merely a hobby, but I thought Ghomeshi’s intro did well to say otherwise.

Quote: “The Boxmasters is anything but a diversion from the silver screen. he’s always intended to make music, and he just got sidetracked.”

Sorry for the rant. Divas annoy me. You’re not the Queen of England. He needs to be put in a cage match with Chuck Liddell where they can debate about the usage of the term “first love.”

Coincidentally, today I saw a South Park link from Jennifer that deals with Kanye West’s diva-ness. They should make one about Thornton.

http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/220762/

Here’s the youtube version of the interview. It’s more complete.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJWS6qyy7bw
You can see on his screen @2:24 that the producer already has a contingency plan with some new Metric. Hmm, I like Metric. I wonder what song it was.

Cute cover, no?

I get cravings for Asian cinema/television once in awhile. While there’s a lot of variety in American films, they’re also inherently bound to American culture and values, which can get tiresome after awhile. I mean, I live it, everyday. There’s just something about Asian culture that I love, particularly Korean and Japanese. The multiple tiers of linguistic politeness, the mannerisms, the humor, the gender specific speech, etc. I like to keep it strictly separate from American stuff though. Otherwise you get awkwardness like Quagmire dressing up as a geisha. Anyway, I am digressing.

Cyborg She, AKA 僕の彼女はサイボーグ AKA Boku no Kanojo Wa Cyborg AKA My Girlfriend is a Cyborg is a Japanese romantic-scifi-comedy written and directed by a Korean dude, the same guy who directed My Sassy Girl and Windstruck. I loved My Sassy Girl (the theatrical cut anyway; the director’s cut is filled with unnecessary bullshit), but Windstruck was flat out retarded.  Cyborg She, as suggested, is about a lonely guy who meets his dreamgirl, who turns out to be a cyborg.  She looks human, but acts very robot-like; however, she is capable of learning to be human. Think Terminator 2 + My Sassy Girl + AI. Sounds odd, but there’s lots of potential here.

From the start, I could see Kwak Jae-Young’s influence. The characters, particularly the male lead, portrayed a lot of, what I would deem, Korean entertainment mannerisms. For example, lip pursing. Korean actors and actresses occasionally purse their lips in a certain way that I really don’t see very much outside of Korean entertainment.  It was a bit out of place to see in Cyborg She. I don’t typically see that kind of behavior in Japanese media. It was almost like seeing the male lead from My Sassy Girl being copy-pasted into Cyborg She. Eventually, though, that all tones down as the movie progresses.

I would have to say that Haruka Ayase’s portrayal of an emotionless robot was the highlight of the film. There’s definitely homage to T2. She stands by the window, during her overwatch, night after night, kind of like Arnold at the gas station. She’s also referred to as a Cyberdyne model 103. The CG was a welcome surprise, as well. I usually think of CG in Asian film as inferior to Hollywood’s, but it was actually quite good in this movie.

Unfortunately, I think Kwak Jae-Young squanders the movie’s potential. I wanted to see Ayase’s evolution from cold-hearted mannequin to self-aware, feeling AI. Instead, she hardly changes at all, until towards the end, where she gets a little spark of emotion.  Even then, afterward, she’s still portrayed very robotically, resulting in a massive 20-day expedition into the uncanny valley.  Arnold Schwarzeneggar evolved better in his tale of a boy and his beloved death-dealing, robot father-figure. “I know now why you cry.” Kwak just spends too little time developing the bonds between the two, and when he tries, it’s simply too fleeting and weak.

Her little emotional spark then becomes the basis of some very large leaps of love (or rather, obsession), leading to an unhealthy amount of skepticism about the story. Why is the lad so attached to this cyborg? She barely feels anything for him, no, she barely feels, period. He might as well be hugging a very powerful, good looking Dell.  Old Yeller cared more.  It just makes him seem uncomfortably pathetic and obsessed.

In the end, Cyborg She tries to be too many things in too little time, and relegates itself to a physical-comedy/action flick with some creepy romance. An entertaining spectacle if you’re bored. 3/5 or a C+.

Oh, and this is an interesting coincidence. I found this Many Moons music video today from TOKiMONSTA’s blog, which happens to portray an android auction. There’s a cyborg auction in Cyborg She as well. There’s even some similar eye flicking going on. I wonder if someone from the Wondaland Arts Society saw Cyborg She. It’s kind of amazing how much an effect a woman’s hairstyle can have on a guy. Regardless of hairstyle, one can tell that Janelle Monae is very pretty, but there’s a brief shot of her in the video with long hair, and it’s like, daaaamn she is on fire!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHgbzNHVg0c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O2aH4XLbto

Hmm creating his background beats.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maxWVCW-Lqs&feature=channel

Currently, I have “Addio del passato” stuck in my head. Check it out if you can. The one I have is by Filippa Giordano. Which is kind of meaningless to me. But I guess it could mean a lot to opera snobs. These people are like baseball snobs, but for singing. The “experts” seem to know all the stats of their favorite note belchers, what type they’re classified as, what their range is, etc.

Don’t bother looking for it on YouTube, though – the quality there is generally quite terrible across the board. It’s like people recorded through cups and strings. I haven’t been able to find a comparable one, in any case. Different renditions vary widely, and, until I develop my listening skills further, I prefer ones with strong orchestral elements. The LA Opera has a ton of stuff lined up, but unfortunately I’m unemployed right now.

From the following video:

you really dont think this impression is impressive? she sings with no push, she makes it sound effortless at the beginning which many dont. Listen to others who sing it well but drive it to much in some parts and can not diminuendo.Fleming’s tone is pure and clean and controlled. Listen to her depuis le jour and i guarantee you will not hear a more lifted pure not pushed voice.

I feel like a caveman. Oh, and I wouldn’t bother actually watching the video so much as just throwing it in the background and listening to it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z3-yBlDckY

Next, look at how enraged opera aficionados can get. I guess he’s really passionate about it. It happens to be Addio del passato, but I don’t really like it. I don’t dislike it as much as Mr. Angry; I just like Filippa Giordano’s version better.

Why in god’s good name would anyone even consider this acceptable. To the complete moron who asked if anyone could find a more perfect rendition – Try MUZIO AND CALLAS YOU BRAINLESS ASS.

I can assure you, I’ve got just as much “bravado” outside of “cyberspace”. If I were you I wouldn’t waste anytime learning about real singing, by listening to great voices. One more tip – don’t repeat the same embarrassing comment about Hei-Kyung “Dung” around serious, educated opera listeners or musicians – they might actually laugh at you.

Good luck!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnvInILH2t4

Growing up, I always considered that level of “nerdery” to be pointless. Be it baseball, or cars. “What’s the point of knowing all that shit?” “My local team is better than your local team, so that I can vicariously feel better about myself over you. I am part of the other alpha male’s tribe, who doesn’t even know I exist, but I funnel dollars towards him.” I was a young lad then, who could probably still have been classified as asexual at the time. I actually remember my friend going off on the virtues of the female butt, and how he loved to stare at them. Me? I didn’t see the appeal. Times change though. Whereas before I couldn’t tell one brand from another, I’m fairly familiar with cars, now. It wasn’t really by conscious choice, either. It just…kinda happened. And women? It’s annoying how much of an affect they can have on you.

So yeah, it does get annoying when someone persistently insists on their worldview, when they’re knee deep in relative ignorance, but whatever, unless I want to get into a battle of worldviews, it’s probably best to just let go. I’m not going to try learning all the rules of baseball, because I just don’t give a shit, but nor am I going to impose and ask why they don’t add Muy Thai knee kicks to the face.

Anyway, I’m going way off topic. Guess I’ll update the title.

You can find some of the songs at http://www.myspace.com/tokibeats. They’re quite interesting. Kinda reminded me of Nujabes at first, but TOKiMONSTA definitely has its own style. I only wish there were more, or the songs were longer. They make me want to paw the artist’s brain, see how it works and ticks.

Oh yeah, and I just found out that TOKiMONSTA is a chick. That’s pretty awesome. Something hawt about capable women.  Yeah it’s obvious if you clicked on the link, but I swear that wasn’t there before when I saw the page a few months ago.

Look at the attention to detail of her profile pic. Great setup. A true “artiste”, if you will. I think it’s all because of the nice cup of ocha, though. That sets up the piece. Just imagine if she were holding a Pepsi. I want that cup.

Okkk. I’m rambling. She’ll be “producing” this Friday in LA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URef55N7ivU

I want to go but unfortunately I’ll be going to Fall for Dance at OCPAC. Well, fortunately. I want to go to that, too. I wish we had teleportation technology.

I’m not sure I really understand music industry titles, but she’s listed as a “producer.” What does that mean? I don’t know. I always figured producers just bankrolled shit, like in the movie industry, but TOKiMONSTA is definitely creating stuff – just look at the hardware she’s packing. That’s enough to take down a small country or two.

It’s 3:40 now. Need moar.

She’s got a site here, too: http://tokimonsta.blogspot.com/

As for the album, Bell is very good of course. But I wasn’t much of a raving fan of the overall interpretation by the rest of the orchestra. I’m not calling for some old school baroque version or anything, but it just seemed a bit too bright and cheery. “Spring” and “Summer” were fine, but certain other sections, particularly the third movement of concerto #3, “Autumn,” just seemed out of place.  I don’t remember it being so…staccato. The whole pizzicato section sounded too loud, as well, almost barging in.

I felt generally the same way about movement 1 of concerto 4, “Winter.”  Too bright. Here’s the translation of the sonnet that is supposed to go with that movement:

To tremble from cold in the icy snow,
In the harsh breath of a horrid wind;
To run, stamping one’s feet every moment,
Our teeth chattering in the extreme cold.

It kinda sounded more like, “Duuude, I just totally dished out a backside 180 off that kicker!” OK, I’m exaggerating. But just a bit too bright. I think some dude messed up at the end, too. They probably backhanded him in the face for that. And then there’s this one instrument that kinda jumps into the fray oddly at the end. I want to say it’s the harpsichord, but it sounds like a piano; however, I didn’t think there was even a piano involved. Ok, i’m nitpicking, since it was a measly four notes. Good pizzicato in this movement, though.

Anyway, overall, it’s pretty good, but I don’t have any more of my other Four Season versions to compare. Bell was obviously superior in every way to the violinist of The Four Seasons that I saw in Venice, but he was probably just some guy. Oh and the album comes with a bonus track, called the “Devil’s Trill Sonata.” I didn’t like it initially, but it’s growing on me. Maybe because it’s not so happy-happy.

Oh yeah, it looks like Bell will be in San Fran Oct. 23rd signings copies if anyone cares.

http://www.joshuabell.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naKfzm6grDA

There’s raging debate on all “her” videos regarding whether she’s a guy or not, but you can kinda make out an hourglass shape that guys go gaga for. Not enough to really say, though. Such is the fate of women on the internet, eh? Who knows. Either way, cool vid.

Here’s the original song (studio):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEDWndwli9o

Live – louder, but there’s a bit more distortion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxnGaURm3B8

This comment amused me:

Pamathey (3 days ago) Show Hide
0 Poor comment Good comment
Marked as spam
Reply | Spam
It’s so beautiful to hear a man say he was wrong, and sing it SO WELL! lol I bet she came back when she heard this!

Women.