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Post by abomb on Mar 24, 2009 10:03:19 GMT -5
Ever wonder why mummies are always so torqued when they let them out of the tomb?
Simple really. Imagine just over three millennia of staring at the same four walls, nostalgically sorting your jars full of guts and constantly explaining to the mummified cat that she can't go out because the flippin' door is sealed. It'd be enough to dis-equilibrate most anybody.
It is a betrayal of my stated principles to generate noise without signal, and I've already pulled my own plug for fear that my postings were becoming too . . . well, too. Is the transgression any less if I restrict myself to defacing my own thread? Not really, but at least it's quarantined.
What is graffiti, really? It's something that should not be said but that one nevertheless feels compelled to say. It's the meeting point of the heartfelt and the banal. It is a message in a bottle, thrown not into the literal ocean but into an ocean of roving eyes. It half hopes to evade their glance, and certainly is not for attribution.
Its saving grace is that most people are well able to ignore such graphic pollution. There really is nothing here you need, any more than you need that random "Yu + Ai" or mis-spelled dirty joke. Surely you have something better to do?
But if you're just killing time waiting for the ferry, then by all means peruse or even scrawl. There's a drink machine over by the noodle kiosk, but be sure to save enough for your fare.
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Post by mummifiedstalin on Mar 24, 2009 11:31:22 GMT -5
Ever wonder why mummies are always so torqued when they let them out of the tomb? Simple really. Imagine just over three millennia of staring at the same four walls, nostalgically sorting your jars full of guts and constantly explaining to the mummified cat that she can't go out because the flippin' door is sealed. It'd be enough to dis-equilibrate most anybody. So what are you sayin', man?
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Post by abomb on Mar 24, 2009 13:54:31 GMT -5
Merely a random metaphor, not meant as a comment on anything beyond the pale.
Speaking of palings, Chaka Zulu never said, "He that insists on straddling the fence risks a picket up the backside," though he should have done.
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Post by mummifiedstalin on Mar 24, 2009 14:53:05 GMT -5
Just screwing around.
I can never decide how I feel about graffiti. And it's not just that there's a ton of awful stuff out there. I live south of Chicago, and I see all kinds, some of it amazing. But I can't help but feel that it's a conflicted medium at heart which prevents it from rising up. I mean, there are a bunch of people who champion it as one of the only true forms of urban art, and they love its subversive potential to inject otherwise silenced voices into public view. And that's all something I can get behind intellectually. But the problem is that, first, it will always be an illegal art form, and, second, it's art that can only "say" by defacing something else. Even if it's just some abandoned warehouse wall, graffiti by its very nature requires you to break all kinds of lines of privacy, property, and even certain forms of community.
That's its power and its curse, right? Real graffiti can't be a communal form of art which brings people together because it absolutely has to exclude somebody or something: MY message and not YOUR message. ("Your" being whatever you're writing over or on.) If you're a revolutionary, that's a good thing. If you're not so extreme in your view of social relations, it's drawing a battle line.
From a slightly different angle: what you write in a space reserved for people to write whatever they want can never be graffiti. You're already writing for the man: me. Because you're using the space I made to do what I want you to do. But then that's another problem with graffiti. As soon as someone "official" sanctions it, it's no longer graffiti but state art. Heh.
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Post by abomb on Mar 24, 2009 15:26:10 GMT -5
So, these two salmon walk into a sushi bar, see, and the first one (whose name was Ikuyo) says, 「おいしいそう!食べたいね!」
And the other one (whose name was something else) answers,「そうだけど、お金ないですね。」
「それじゃあ、」the first salmon says,「イクラはいくら?」
外な鮭は "Hang on, are we buying or selling?" を応えた。
So what's the hangup with foreign language postings, eh? How many jokes are worth a side trip to Babelfish, which rarely gives back anything but a hash anyhow? Is it my way of reiterating that I've been to Istanbul? Pretty silly, really, especially given how rusty I'm getting.
Still, "Don't ASCII, don't tellee."
In your analysis of graffiti, it's the exclusivity of it that's the key point. Any resemblance to accessibility, weather living or dead, is wholly coincidental. Still, serendipity is always to be hoped for.
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Post by abomb on Mar 24, 2009 22:18:32 GMT -5
Durnit, should have said: "Serendipity cannot be excluded," above. Please adjust your memory accordingly.
So anyway . . .
Is it possible to be a culture of one?
Of course not, a patently ludicrous idea. Too bad, as it was one of TNG's better lines.
In addition to never having been to Istanbul, I once was allowed to go to McMurdo Station in Antarctica. I went to assist in a charette held by architects (no doubt called "The Architects' Charette").
Your tax dollars at work.
Mind you, these were not just architects but Architects, big cheeses whose names are (or at any rate were at that time) supposed to impress the hell out of one if one were into that sort of thing.
What separates an architect--who happily performs a useful function--from an Architect is the latter's grandiose vision of his trade. It seemed that much of our time (if my fly in the ointment on the wall participation is considered enough to justify that possessive) was spent not in how to design buildings but in how to refashion SOCIETY.
How was this to be accomplished? How could it not be? We design buildings, do we not? Buildings define space, do they not? Society takes place within space, does it not? Ergo, the new society shall be programmed by the space in which it is contained.
Today the breakfast nook, tomorrow the world. Not only can you judge a book by its cover, you can write it by choosing the color.
But I have digressed.
McMurdo was an interesting place to get to know the locals, with the winter-overs being the most interesting. You'd meet ones who could unerringly shoot billiards with one hand or drink a beer through their nose, unique skills that only isolation teaches.
One of them gave me the rundown of why people contract to go on the ice as follows:
First year you go on the ice for the adventure.
Second year you go on the ice for the money.
Third year you go on the ice because all your friends are there.
Fourth year you go on the ice because you no longer fit in anywhere else.
I was never told what happens when the ice melts.
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Post by mummifiedstalin on Mar 24, 2009 22:47:20 GMT -5
I was never told what happens when the ice melts. Fan dancing! Actually that sounds amazing. I've always wanted to go to Antarctica. I have a deep love for isolated places. I doubt I could stay there for long, however. Patagonia's more my climate.
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Post by abomb on Mar 25, 2009 9:07:47 GMT -5
It's very disorienting until you subconsciously learn to tell time by shadow direction rather than length.
Or maybe it was that wisdom tooth I had to lose to go down? That would explain quite a lot, really.
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Post by abomb on Mar 26, 2009 12:40:47 GMT -5
Can the hole outgrow the doughnut?
Absence raised to immanence, it giveth nothing and taketh nothing away. Nothing ventured, nothing lost. A fruitless search for nothing that yields nothing.
Cherish nothing and hold it sacred. Give up nothing, with regret.
Will you do it for nothing? Ask nothing in return? Nothing doing!
Nothing matters, it matters greatly. Seeing nothing, touching nothing, feeling nothing, groping to understand nothing. In the end, screaming nothing at the top of one's lungs.
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Post by abomb on Mar 26, 2009 22:43:41 GMT -5
Apologies, folks. The subtext of this thread hasn't really been warranted.
All I can say in defence is that after a year-and-half back in the States I remain as isolated as ever I was in Japan. You lose touch with a country, and under the circumstances it's hard to give enough of a rodent's sphincter to re-engage. I'd change my screen name to Chris Murphy, but if I do that one more time I'll get confused.
I'll admit to a degree of misdirected anger as well. Furthermore, all BS aside, I'm suffering from the lingering effects of a concussion. Bear with me, please.
OK, so I promise not to be deliberately obscurantist. That said, what I put in this thread will largely be things that interest me, but of which you have never heard, will never hear of again and probably won't care that much about. If you're studying Japanese or thinking of going over you might be interested, otherwise likely not.
Sigh. Whatever happened to Marissa? And Klickitat? Hope all is forgiven.
I was just watching Gamera vs Guiron, and was noticing how much Akio's neighborhood looked like where I used to live. I was also noticing the comfort level of seeing a bunch of Japanese faces. American faces still seem strange to me. My first Japanese girlfriend had an interesting way of describing it (though you need the voice and the gestures to get it fully), she said, "Gaijin face is EYES, NOSE, MOUTH but Japanese face is just sort of alllll together."
She had a point. American faces now seem quite harsh to me.
Anyway, I'm trying to renew my language skills by translating a song, , which I'll post when done, and maybe I'll analyze my favourite drama from which it comes. Unfortunately, being back in the world it's a lot harder to maintain the old "with loud report" threads of Japanese weirdness. Too bad, they do it so well.
By the way, that joke a few posts back actually halfway works. It picks up on a Japanese pun with イクラ (salmon roe) and いくら (an interrogative meaning "how much?") both being pronounced "ikura." So, "How much for salmon roe?" comes out "Ikura wa ikura?"
As Walt Kelly once observed, humour is like a soap bubble: it can be dissected but is destroyed in the process.
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Post by Mighty Jack on Mar 27, 2009 6:43:18 GMT -5
She had a point. American faces now seem quite harsh to me. Yup, I can see what you mean (But I could still stare at Liz Vassey's harsh visage all day) ;D
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Post by abomb on Mar 27, 2009 8:16:57 GMT -5
Yeah, "harsh" has overtones that are too strong, but I still can't think of a good adjective that doesn't.
The supermodel look illustrates the differences well though. Cheekbones are prominent, jawlines angular. The brow area distinctly partitions the forehead, eyes and nose. Noses tend to be sharply defined, angular and (compared to those of the Japanese) prominent.
It's that last that they like best. Japanese models are looking a lot more Western these days because they're getting their noses redone that way.
Pop Gamera vs Guiron in and take a look at Tom's mom. Somebody in Daiei's casting dept clearly said, "Go find me the gaijiniest looking woman you can!" She looks like a moai statue, and I love the moment when Joel & Co recoil in horror from her closeup. On the other hand, I'll bet that a significant portion of Japanese men were thinking that she was hot.
But I'm wandering again. Yeah, even my own face now looks oddly . . . fragmented . . . when I see it in a mirror. Overblown, if that's the right word, which it isn't quite. Exaggerated? Perhaps.
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Post by abomb on Mar 27, 2009 15:59:01 GMT -5
This is a compilation of some really interesting observations on the Japanese by Mishima Yukio. I've often thought that cultures are largely defined by their contradictions, and was interested by what he had to say on that score.
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Post by abomb on Mar 27, 2009 22:27:52 GMT -5
I had originally planned to include some notes with this to illustrate how hard it can sometimes be to make English and Japanese grammar match up. Maybe next time; it would give you some idea of why Babelfish gives such drivelly output with Japanese input.
I'm fairly certain of most of this, though there's a hanging "-te" form that was a little mysterious. I've treated it as adverbial, but then, the adverb is the grammarian's miscellany, isn't it?
Anyway, here is Takashi Sorimachi's "FREE." The theme of Love Complex, which was the best thing I ever saw on Japanese TV. Maybe someday I'll try to explain why.
眩しすぎる 明日に向かって Mabushisugiru asu ni mukatte It's too dazzling. Heading for tomorrow,
走り始める 今この手で Hashirihajimeru ima kono te de And starting to run. Now with this hand
心にある何かを 打ち砕きながら Kokoro ni aru nanika o uchikudakinagara Meanwhile smashing everything in the heart.
目を閉じれば 揺れ動いて Me o tojireba yureugoite If the eyes close, trembling,
見えるすべてを 捨てられるか? Mieru subete o suterareru ka? Can all that's seen be thrown away?
移りゆく日々の中 さまよい続けても Utsuri yuku hibi no naka samayoitsuzuketemo The wandering through aimless days goes on and on.
なぜ感じる なぜ聞こえる Naze kanjiru naze kikoeru Why feel, why be heard?
なぜ求める free Naze motomeru free Why search? free
ただ信じる その瞬間 Tada shinjiru sono shunkan Only believing for that moment,
解き放たれる free Tokihanatareru free Can cut loose the burden, free.
Set me free.
(Middles verse not in clip)
手を伸ばせば 届くだろうか? Te o nobaseba todoku darou ka? If a hand is stretched out might it reach?
汗を流せば 叶うだろうか? Ase o nagaseba kanau darou ka? If the sweat flows might the wish be fulfilled?
誰かの声がした 「風の吹く場所へ」 Dareka no koe ga shita "Kaze no fuku basho e" Someone's voice called, "To the place where the wind blows."
なぜ自由を なぜ時間を Naze jiyuu o naze jikan o Why liberty, why time?
なぜ求める free Naze motomeru free Why request them? free
振り返るな! 向こうに Furikaeru na! Mukou ni Look back! What's on the other side
解き放たれる free Tokihanatareru free Can cut loose the burden.
Set me free
(Clip resumes)
痛みをやり過ごして 生まれ変わってく Itami o yarisugoshite umarekawatteku Passing through the pain and being reborn.
なぜ自由を なぜ時間を Naze jiyuu o naze jikan o Why liberty, why time?
なぜ求める free Naze motomeru free Why request them? free
振り返るな! 向こうに Furikaeru na! Mukou ni Looking back! What's on the other side
解き放たれる free Tokihanatareru free Can cut loose the burden, free.
Set me free Set me free Set me free Set me free
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Post by abomb on Mar 28, 2009 10:17:41 GMT -5
Reading MJ's blog has me wondering why I post this stuff. Sympathy? Guess I'd take it if I got it, not getting much from the cat. It's like sugar though, sometimes you crave a bit but easy to overindulge in. Advice? I'd have to get more explicit. Anyway, I took the best advice in the past and, as even the best will, it didn't work out. The best advice I've had recently is to forget it, but I seem unable to follow that. Acknowledgment? Then why couch everything in such tortuous terms?
I guess it's summed up by the earlier post: I want nothing but I sure want it badly.
But that's not what I've come here to talk about, nor is the draft.
I hadn't really thoroughly checked how my previous post displayed. I don't know what these persistent issues with the kanji not displaying properly are, but no matter. We'll just stick to phonetic transliterations, shall we?
OK, your Japanese vocab for today:
The word for "classroom" is kyoushitsu.
The word for "socks" is kutsushita.
The word for "underwear" is shitagi.
That one's kinda fun, actually. Let's try some proper names:
Yamashita, Shitamachi, Kinoshita, Washita River (Oklahoma).
OK, useful phrase time!
"Please excuse me." = Chotto shitsurei shimasu.
Or we could explore some verbs:
"I play baseball." = Yakyuu suru.
"I played baseball." = Yakyuu shita.
"I am playing baseball." = Yakyuu shite iru.
"Is it OK to play baseball?" = Yakyuu shite mo ii?
And, in closing:
うんこ
Yup, means exactly what you think, but as it's used on TV it should be OK.
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