spockitty

Oh! I can chime in on that. 
 
Let me preface this by saying that I like their early music more than what they do these days, it used to be more hiphop than pop, but I can't begrudge them their international success.
 
ANYWAY, first of all, Big Hit Entertainment, which they're signed under is NOT that big of a company, at least comparing to the industry giants like YG and SM. BTS is their only viral act. And if you know a bit about the underbelly of kpop, how much money can your label throw around, is basically 85% of your success. Initially that made them the underdog, coming up on top not because of money, which they didn't have, but on talent alone. 
 
Furthermore, they write some of their music/lyrics, which very very rarely happens in kpop AND some of those lyrics are pretty controversial by korean standards, criticising society and whatnot. 
 
Their MVs were also pretty popular for the entire choreography being shot in one take, which frankly, is pretty damn impressive (but probably had something to do with little funding). 
 
/end of a kpop rant no one asked about

I actually like SE's. 
 
Sometimes when I hate the vocalist's voice and love the music, I just keep the album intros and all things instrumental and dump the rest.

i don’t like ice cream.  🤔

Also one more opinion from me:
 
Shitting on popular things makes you an asshole and shitting on things someone enjoys isn’t funny, it’s immature 

Vk's like a telenovela~ it's been on some local, obscure TV channel for 20 years, you're on the 1537th episode and by this point 75% od the cast has been replaced and you can't even remember the original actors. 90% of the characters had at one point slept/married/divorced each other. Some of it is subbed but some is not, and honestly either way it doesn't really make much difference. Someone is gesticulating wildly while crying and half of the set is on fire. 
 
Also it's almost 2am and I'm drunk on a Wednesday.

Lol. Isn’t like every black metal
band controversial to some extent? 
 
Regardless, as someone who’s pretty left leaning, I often live and let live for an actors political opinions. Hell, most of the time they rarely announce them unless something shitty happens.
 
I don’t mean to be rude or harsh in anyway but I feel like that word is overused wayy to much. I agree that some SJW’s can be extreme, but I feel like that word is used wayyy to much to describe someone who is just wanting equal rights even if they are not crazy SJW’s
 
“You’re pro gay? SJW LIBTARD!!”. I’ve seen it many times
 

Uhuhu, hello! ^^
 
I'm starting to wonder if there are any new fans of the genre or it's just us, dinosaurs coming out of the woods to wave at the flaming meteor coming right at us~ 

For the first time in YEARS I'm having irl friends to go out with for after office drinks or stuff. The downside is my social life online is suffering from it :S

Thank you for the warming welcome, guys^^
I'm glad that I decided joining here^^

Hey hello! ^^ 
 
I checked out your youtube channel, great stuff  Not much vk scene commentary on youtube, hope you guys keep it up. 

For as much as I love visual kei, there are plenty of practices I detest. I could go on forever. It wouldn't be fair to celebrate all of the good in the scene without admitting the bad as well. There are so many things that make me sad, make me irate, or make me want to rip my hair out that it was hard to settle on just five. Here's five commonplace practices in visual kei that's a total ball ache for any international fan invested into the scene.
 

 
 


 

 

 
Like I said above, I have way more than five things that annoy me about the scene. Does anyone else want to fill in the gaps with practices that they hate that they've come to accept within the scene? Come share your frustrations and horror stories with me. We have plenty of tea and live-distributed crackers for you.

Hello! I've spent years knowing this forum existed and checking it out every once in a while... but I never made an account... I don't know what compelled me to do it today but here I am! 
I guess a quick introduction... I've been into jrock & vkei for as long as I can remember, I met Diru back in 2006(though I barely remember it ; _ ; ) and I was listening to stuff before then so there's kind of an idea of how long it's been...  Diru is probably my all time fave band, though really, it's just Kyo so Sukekiyo is also a top... 
I don't really know what much else to say, I'm not too good at intros... 

Vk's like a telenovela~ it's been on some local, obscure TV channel for 20 years, you're on the 1537th episode and by this point 75% od the cast has been replaced and you can't even remember the original actors. 90% of the characters had at one point slept/married/divorced each other. Some of it is subbed but some is not, and honestly either way it doesn't really make much difference. Someone is gesticulating wildly while crying and half of the set is on fire. 
 
Also it's almost 2am and I'm drunk on a Wednesday.

Many people in the entertainment industry have done many shitty and awful things. From murder to sex scandals, it has it all. Visual Kei is full of drama, ranging from tax evasion, scandals with label's. sex scandals, and many more. 
 
So like always, many fans of artists who have committed such crimes always have a hard time coming to terms with their favorite artists actions, As such, many people have started to separate the art from the artist. This has always been a defense of people who are still fans of many controversial artists. This does not go for music but in many other forms of entertainment as well. I think mostly everyone has done this, myself included, mostly with Kisaki. 
 
So as for questions:
 
1. What artists do you separate their art from their actions?
 
2. Is it a legitimate argument?
 
3. Do you think that one persons actions should generalize a whole band? (Ex. Kisaki and Phantasmagoria or any of his past bands)
 
EDIT: Just to clarify, I do NOT support Kisaki. He has done tons of shitty things and I absolutly despise him as a person. I'm on the whole "like them as a musician, hate the person"  
 
EDIT 2: Geez, this did not go well

Lostprophets, bands w/ Denis Stoff, Michael Jackson... there's a bunch tbh. I do think it's a legitimate argument. A voice is an instrument, people are canvases, and a song is what you make of it.  However, music and performance is interpreted from individual-to-individual differently. If someone is uncomfortable with a band, artist's, or community's actions because that's what "makes" the experience for them, then that dislike is reasonable. One person's actions shouldn't generalize a whole band and said person's success (or the band's success) shouldn't be blamed as the reason for "x". Individuals (or multiple individuals) are culpable for their own actions. Bands have many, many individuals behind them when it comes to production, post-production, advertising/marketing, stage preparation, etc. that attribute to their success. I'm certainly not going to hold all those individuals accountable for one person's misdeeds.

Ya know. Despicable as it is, people lie all of the time. You have people that lie for absolutely no reason, you have people that think telling white lies somehow makes it less of a lie. You've got lies of omission. You've got ppl who deliberately lie for selfish and/or nefarious means. Even some of the most upright folks will lie if it benefits them. And hell, most of us lie to ourselves on a daily basis. People lie.
 
But what amazes me is that some people have a hard time even just entertaining the possibility that many things that have been accepted as fact or that people put their trust in, whether we're speaking about history or modern times, could indeed be lies.
 
Maybe it's because being so-called "woke" has become such a meme that people seem less inclined to consider ideas that might directly contradict the status quo or history as we know it? I don't know. But I don't even think it's a matter of being woke, honestly. I think it's a matter of common sense: Just because one has a title like historian, scientist, politician, banker etc....that does not exempt them from fallibility, corruptibility, or the human condition.
 
Everything we put our trust in is the product of other human beings, most of which are just as fucked up as we are (if not more). That's a sobering thought. Knowing how humans are, it just makes me wonder how many personal/political/religious agendas and biases have shaded the lenses through which we view the world.

Vk's like a telenovela~ it's been on some local, obscure TV channel for 20 years, you're on the 1537th episode and by this point 75% od the cast has been replaced and you can't even remember the original actors. 90% of the characters had at one point slept/married/divorced each other. Some of it is subbed but some is not, and honestly either way it doesn't really make much difference. Someone is gesticulating wildly while crying and half of the set is on fire. 
 
Also it's almost 2am and I'm drunk on a Wednesday.

I'm not at all surprised about Ryuya leaving, but Taishi is a bit of a shock for me. I've known he's had health issues for a while but I didn't think it was getting to such a point that he'd be quitting music. He's always feeling his oats on stage.
Ryuya's been dropping some pretty strong hints for a while, though. For several months now he's had little no to motivation at lives, and while the others don't really update SNS that much, he completely stopped for a while other than retweeting announcements. In addition, he looked 100% done at their live on Monday. My friends who are fans of his left that live feeling really down and disappointed.
I feel bad saying this because he's a nice dude but Ryuya's a very mediocre guitarist and it sounds like he's admitted defeat. You can get better bro, you're still young.

Vk's like a telenovela~ it's been on some local, obscure TV channel for 20 years, you're on the 1537th episode and by this point 75% od the cast has been replaced and you can't even remember the original actors. 90% of the characters had at one point slept/married/divorced each other. Some of it is subbed but some is not, and honestly either way it doesn't really make much difference. Someone is gesticulating wildly while crying and half of the set is on fire. 
 
Also it's almost 2am and I'm drunk on a Wednesday.

DIMLIM's Gt. Ryuya & Ba. Taishi willl depart after their oneman live on August 17, 2019 at TSUTAYA O-WEST.
 
The band will continue activities with the remaining 3 members.
 
 

Initial'L THE END digital single. 
 
I was so shocked to find this in a Polish digital store, I stumbled over my thumbs to buy it in case it dissappeared in the next five seconds or sth. Especially that it costs not even 4 bucks. 
 
If any fellow countryman stumbles here, here's a link. Initialize is also up there woot.

Vk's like a telenovela~ it's been on some local, obscure TV channel for 20 years, you're on the 1537th episode and by this point 75% od the cast has been replaced and you can't even remember the original actors. 90% of the characters had at one point slept/married/divorced each other. Some of it is subbed but some is not, and honestly either way it doesn't really make much difference. Someone is gesticulating wildly while crying and half of the set is on fire. 
 
Also it's almost 2am and I'm drunk on a Wednesday.

Vk's like a telenovela~ it's been on some local, obscure TV channel for 20 years, you're on the 1537th episode and by this point 75% od the cast has been replaced and you can't even remember the original actors. 90% of the characters had at one point slept/married/divorced each other. Some of it is subbed but some is not, and honestly either way it doesn't really make much difference. Someone is gesticulating wildly while crying and half of the set is on fire. 
 
Also it's almost 2am and I'm drunk on a Wednesday.

I've been thinking a lot about the death of the age of individual genius.

No one calls it that, but that's what I've taken to calling it. Humanity has progressed so far that most, if not all, of the "low-hanging fruit" of scientific discoveries has already been discovered, studied, and refined. There are plenty of things left to create and discover, but that will be done by teams of scientists working together. But it is not the same. Humans have a fascination with the number one, because it's one of the few numbers humans can conceptualize mentally. Teams of scientists don't have the same ring to it that "John Bale, M.D." does, and that got me to thinking if Einstein's theories would have penetrated pop culture as deeply if he worked closely with another scientist and they proposed their theories together. A large part of me thinks that it wouldn't have, because "Einstein & co." isn't as marketable psychologically as "Einstein". With one you can spin a story of team work and collaboration, but the other you can deify into a figure whose last name becomes synonymous with genius. Everyone alive is looking for a way to earn a footnote in the history books, and inventing some new math or new technology is an easy way to do it. Or is it? This is where I see the idolization aspects of American culture eating away at cultural progress. Think back to a few months ago when we captured the first ever photo of a black hole in space, and how quick the press was to assign credit to only one person for a good example on this.

Our society is addicted to technology, dependent on it even, and we're constantly pushing people to enter STEM to advance the fields, but we can't name the inventors of many of these technologies without looking it up. Cell phones? Internet? GPS? Wi-Fi? Artificial Intelligence, machine learning, and neural networks? Self-driving cars, voice recognition software, graphical user interfaces? A lot of this stuff expands past casual conversation and requires some real thought to work through, so when things get reduced to simplest terms it turns out that credit doesn't matter if it benefits humanity all the same whether the person knows your name or not. Maybe other scientists read your paper and give you credit, maybe your name hits the newspapers, maybe you win the pop culture lottery and people remember your name for longer than fifteen minutes. Most likely, you'll end your lunch break to get back to those open-ended, graduate level problems in your queue.

When it comes down to it, credit shouldn't matter and the discovery should stand as a testament to itself. But our society requires that you have clout in exchange for funds to continue existing research and start new research, and that begins with making a name for yourself. But it's hard to do that when most work is collaborative and your name never appears first on any of the work you do, and you don't get full credit for the work that you do. It's difficult to see the point in continuing to do what I do everyday when all of these "benefits to science" aren't benefiting my pocket or my resume. I've done some crazy impressive shit while people are waiting for the next Einstein to enter the field and do some crazy impressive shit, and it's almost as if people aren't looking for what they say they are.

It's twice as depressing knowing that yesterday someone gave a 45 minute talk casting doubt many of my clients have on the value of what I provide to the institution, as if I haven't spent five years of my life untangling 60+ TB of twenty seven of the most poorly managed big data sets I've ever laid eyes on.

 

When you’re talking to someone and they have no clue how happy they’re making you just by talking to you, it’s such a good feeling and I’m happier than I’ve been in a long time ❤️