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Zeus

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Posts posted by Zeus

  3. Posted

    Instead of quoting your entire post I'll just tag you directly @Uglymouth.


    I've been thinking about what you wrote  in relation to whitewashing in Hollywood and I had a thought. It's more of a different perspective than outright dismissing the claims you bring up and I want your thoughts on it.

     

    Race and ethnicity has been a thorn in the side of the marketing campaign for this movie, because many fans (rightfully) believe the role of the main character should have gone to someone Japanese, or at least Asian. The rebuttal is that we live in a cybernetic world where humanity has transcended race, but I don't accept that. I don't accept that for multiple reasons.

     

    • In the beginning of Season 1, when the Laughing Man hacked all the news stations, cyber brains, and global broadcasts simultaneously to hide his face all the civilians who were standing out in the open couldn't see his face either. The only people that could see his face were the homeless people in the alley he darted past during his escape. That means there's still a reality of "have versus have not" in this universe. This ties into my next point nicely.
       
    • The official story is that when she was six, Motoko Kusanagi got into a plane crash that almost killed her. The government offered to give her a full prosthetic replacement, with the strings attached that she had to work for the government when she came of age. The only bits of human left in her are her brain stem and a bit of her spine.
       
    • Her body is not truly hers until Arise, where she successfully negotiates freedom of her own body from the government shortly before she transfers to Section 9. So no, she did not "choose" her body; it was chosen for her. She maintains a dim view of sexism in all forms and methods; even going so far as to empathize with sex robots. I can't think of a world with sexism but no racism; that fear stems from the same place.
       
    • It's mentioned often that her body is a custom, one of a kind job. This would mean that there are also generic models the less affluent people would have to be stuck with.
       
    • Once again in 2nd GIG, during the episode "Fake Food", Batou and Togusa have a conversation about what it means to be cyberized. Despite the fact that exercise provides him little benefit, Batou enjoys jogging and weightlifting as a hobby. They don't have to eat food but there's an entire economy around making food for cybernetic individuals.. I believe this is because no matter what these people still desire to retain parts of their humanity.
       
    • This era of Japan is still very xenophobic. Check episode 1 of 2nd GIG, shortly before the gang reforms to storm the building. They have a (fast) conversation which sets up the whole back drop for Kuze (which this movie is supposed to be based off of) and the struggle between Japanese citizens who feel the pressure of the economy & the Asian refugees in Dejima who want independence and put a strain on the economy to keep around. It is heavily implied no one wants to take care of the refugees because they are not Japanese and that's money and resources Japan doesn't have after the great war.
       
    • As a more general point. Everyone served in the JSDF. Foreigners cannot join the JSDF.

     

    All of this taken together leads me to ask one question: if we truly live in a cyberized world, then why hasn't anyone moved beyond race within their own universe?  Why do they still celebrate their own culture instead of embracing cultural diffusion?  This is a point I don't see explored enough even among fans of the series. One of the biggest points stressed by the series is the line separating man from machine. It's a modern day Ship of Theseus allegory using humanity as the focus. The Major's body could be racially ambiguous but she has a completely Japanese name, follows Japanese customs, works for Japanese secret service, fought for Japan in the great war, etc. If she wanted to blend in in Japan, she wouldn't be white. She wouldn't even be half-white. She would be as Japanese as you can get because that's just how the country and culture is. There's no pretext to believe the entirety of the Japan would suffer under racial dysphoria, and there's every reason to believe she's Japanese. It's just the simpler, most logical & coherent explanation. Hell, the existence of the episode "Fake Food" lends much more strength to this theory; even when cyberized people can't forget what it felt like to eat, sleep, be human. It makes sense that they're suddenly not divorced from feelings of race & self-identifying as Japanese.

    The creators just came out and said it was okay because they'll never get another shot at a Hollywood live adaptation so they'll take what they can get.


    A more interesting question is what do we think Motoko's answer would be if we asked her her nationality? She is not certain her ghost, or her soul, retains any humanity. In fact, she speculates on the possibility that she's entirely synthetic, with artificially generated memories designed to fool her into thinking she was once human.

    tl;dr -

     

    There's no way anyone is convincing me that Japan is less xenophobic after a war which destabilized the American Empire and prevented Japan from becoming a global superpower in its own right.

    There's also no way that I'm going to be convinced that Japan is a post-racial society while the entirety of Kuze's plan revolves around gaining refugees equal status in Dejima!

    I just cannot be sold on racial diversity this time, regardless of whether ScarJo kills the performance. I will always hold it against her that she's not Japanese. It ruins the immersion for me; why fly all the way to Hong Kong and make sure you get the setting right when no one could be assed to get the main character right?

     

    ty for reading

    Original Saku reacted to this

  6. Posted

    8 minutes ago, DarkWater said:

     

    It is a guy around that age. He is actually really nice to talk to.

     

    However

    He, deleted his email account, there isn't even a way for me to contact him, to tell him to cut the crap off.  even to I fully understand his rage. However enough is enough.

    (>_<)

     

    So if you read this, contact me! dammit! that I can't contact him, feels as a big blame towards me too. my mailbox was always open to listen to his stories.

    Or do I get all the blame now too?

     

     


    He's busy throwing resources behind scripts to attack this forum. He is way beyond talking to now.

    IGM_Oficial reacted to this

  7. Posted

    ∀NTI FEMINISM took this one for me. Kyousouroku is a legendary release a step above 妃阿甦, and THE PIASS hasn't done anything since 2007. ∀NTI FEMINISM is a rotating door of band members, but it's a session band. Everyone that leaves the THE PIASS does so under...less than optimal circumstances. Now that it's got members from THE EIGHT I'm expecting no new music anytime soon.

    Mamo reacted to this

  8. Posted

    If I can be frank for a second, I'm disappointed how easily distracted people are.

     

    It's only been two days and there are already countless arguments about the merits and harms of file sharing. That doesn't address the real point of why we are currently in the situation we are in right now. Our hand was played and the staff was not happy. One member who goes by the name of @Kawaii_Minpha decided it would be cute to troll the staff and the website by threatening to report us to the RIAJ unless we gave in to her demands, which among other things called for banning members she does not like. If you read the messages sent to us, it turns from funny to sad in an instant. What pisses me off personally is how someone would try to ruin what we have going here for kicks. Even threatening to do so is worthy of an instant ban and I should not have to explain why.

     

    As an aside, I don't really care how you feel about file sharing - facts are that if you are here, you are guilty by association - but these last few days have proven that without Monochrome Heaven there's nowhere for anyone to go. Downloads can always find a new home but to find another place where you can have mature, constructive discussions about Japanese music in an open environment will be much harder. And that place could never exist without free music so people can talk about it, because the barrier for entry is too high. We have to recognize the role that piracy plays in all our lives. That's why saying "buy music to support your favorite artists" is not the be all, end all answer. It's a good answer, but it's more complicated than that. No one here woke up one day and decided to buy Dir en grey albums on a whim. Japanese bands became our favorite bands because we pirated music long enough to become devoted enough to pay for it. Some people are at different stages of their fandom. This website has found the perfect balance of both piracy and discussion while also managing to be inclusive of all styles of Japanese music and there's nowhere else on the internet that even comes close to this. That's awesome.

     

    That's why this situation has the staff thinking about what we exist for. This website may not mean much to many members here beyond downloads but the staff has poured countless hours of time and energy into investing in the website and the community. Are we harming the scene? Yeah, no doubt. But we probably do a lot of good as well. With the countless messages I've gotten over the last few days about "where all the free music went" I'm not convinced we can do good without doing some harm as well. The tools are not in place to promote visual kei globally without piracy, and I doubt there ever will be. The scene wouldn't be what it is today if it weren't for all of us here. We either take the good with the bad or abstain entirely.

     

    There is more to this website than just downloads and the constant activity over the last few days proves that this community is strong. Stronger than even we may have realized ourselves. This is awesome, keep up the good work! Having said that, I've thought a lot about Kevin from Batsu and how he freaked out and deleted the download section when he thought the feds were coming for him. His approach was blunt, but I understand how he felt. He figured Batsu could weather the storm and would be better for it...and that unfortunately did not work out. If push came to shove we would make a similar decision, and that's why for the last two years we have been working hard to provide other reasons for people to come back here. While the download section is offline I implore you all to go check out the News, Rumors, Review, and General sections to start. There's enough tea there to keep you sipping until things are finalized.
     

    The staff is still ironing out the details so expect more information soon. I can confidently say that the news will come as a shock to everyone but some people will not notice and others will.
     

    Consider this an early morning rant.

    patientZERO, aetarna, Biopanda and 26 others reacted to this

  12. Posted



    I never intended for the thread I split off to be turned into an example against anyone, but as long as it is I may as well make it a good one. I want @Kawaii_Minpha to walk away from this understanding that lying on the internet is bad and everything is saved somewhere. Nothing is ever truly deleted from the internet and you cannot start over when you make a mistake. I try not to let my opinions be known, but this topic is an eyesore. The initial impressions given off about Japan and the visual kei culture sound like fanciful dreams of anime land, are misleading, and fills impressionable people with these ideas that will never happen in reality (and will only lead to disappointment later). Zero percent of it was based in reality and I know we can all see that. The entire exchange devolved into a mess very quickly and thankfully she rage quit before it got any worse. I thank the people that came here to initially try to correct her because I did not have the energy to, but turning this into a witch hunt and trying to embarrass her after the fact is bullying and I won't have it. Party is over.

     

     

    fitear1590, beni, suji and 7 others reacted to this

  14. Posted

    I understand the band and the family has asked for fans to be respectful, but different people process grief differently. Some people don't want to talk about it and others need to. To meet in the middle and not stifle discussion, I will split the discussion into two topics. This topic will be reserved for paying respects and any updates regarding the situation. If you want to gossip or rumor, do it in this thread. All posts after this point containing speculation will be hidden.

    suji, Waru Chibi, Devilish_Eye and 2 others reacted to this

  15. Posted

    Health taking a sudden turn for the worse always sucks. I have a pretty good idea of what it might be and if so it sucks twice as much. I will spare him speculation at this time however. R.I.P. and I hope RAVE bounce back from this. Bands that do usually grow stronger for it.

     

    Since this topic is purely for speculation I will share my tea @emmny. I think it's some form of aggressive cancer which they caught a little too late. Prolonged treatment = chemothreapy. This explains why his twitter feed over the last few months has no pictures of him recovering - he probably didn't look too good and visual kei is all about visuals. I believe he honestly thought he could beat it and come back but it took the better of him too quickly.

    This may be selfish of me but if this is honestly the case I wish they would raise awareness for it. Cancer is a real disease and can kill anyone, even beloved musicians, and there is no shame in it. Good things may come of it. Of course, this is all speculation and I know nothing but this is what the rumors forum is for.

    Chikage, Yukimoto, emmny and 1 other reacted to this

  17. Posted

    @fitear1590 as far as playing around with the track list goes, I could be doing this forever. Part of the appeal behind an effective album / mini / mixtape is flow. Listeners tend to be more forgiving of an album's weaker moments when their stronger moments can prop them up. The flow for Hallelujah is great but not perfect: there are times when it slows down and I was expecting an energetic follow-up for example. IMO, Hallelujah's biggest shortcoming is that it builds up momentum and then only executes on 50-75% of the energy. This takes me out of the mood of an album. My immediate changes would be to drop "Even Time Ages" and swap "1000 Years" with "!!!!!!!!!!!".

    CAT5 reacted to this

  19. Posted

    On 9/28/2016 at 8:08 PM, itsukoii said:

    unsraw TOTALLY flopped after spiral circle. maybe i'm biased because i love heavy and spiral circle was probably THE heaviest vk album (and one of my first albums).... but why'd they go so soft after it was released???? they were so solid, i can't stand anything made afterwards


    To answer your question, pneumonia.

     

    Yuuki got sick with some rare variant of it that caused him to completely lose the ability to sing or scream and the band to pause for four years. He came back when he felt like he was ready to perform but it wasn't the same. The magic was gone. Half the reason I hated DOAK is because I think Yuuki's voice is getting worse and he didn't sound too great to begin with. He keeps trying to force it. Just compare GATE OF DEATH (UnsraW) to AGEHA (DOAK), look at me with a straight face, and tell me which one he sounds better in. That's not a question, because he can't hold a note like he used to, he's lost a bit of his range, and his growls have no power anymore, but he's traded that in for better control and not attempting to sing notes he can't.

     

     

     

    itsukoii reacted to this

  22. Posted

    Quite a long read, but it's pretty shocking stuff and a good place to start if the South Korean presidency scandals are new to you. There's so much juicy stuff I'll end up reposting the whole article if I don't cut myself off. I just copied context & some juicy bits.

     

    http://askakorean.blogspot.nl/2016/10/the-irrational-downfall-of-park-geun-hye.html

     

    Quote

    In an ordinary case of political corruption, the politician is in it for himself. At most, the politician is doing it for his family, or other rich people who may end up helping him later. Obviously, corruption is bad. But this type of self-interested corruption at least gives some measure of predictability. We all know what self-interest looks like. Even though we would prefer that our politicians are not corrupt, at least we know how corrupt politicians behave.

     

    But not with Park Geun-hye. Her corruption was not self-interested at all. If anything, her corruption was self-sacrificing in favor of Choi Soon-sil. 

     

    Quote

    Park Geun-hye met Choi Soon-sil through Choi's father, Choi Tae-min. The elder Choi, born in 1912, was a pseudo-Christian cult leader. He started his adult life as a policeman and soldier, and at one point he worked at a small newspaper and a soap factory. By 1970s, Choi was fully engaged in the occupation for which he would be known: being a cult leader, claiming to heal people. Choi called himself a pastor, but he never attended a seminary.

     

    Quote

    Choi Soon-sil owned Park Geun-hye just as much as her father did. Peddling the presidential influence, Choi extorted tens of millions of dollars from Korea's largest corporations. When they found a small and profitable company, Choi's cronies would straight-up steal it, threatening the owner of the company with the company's destruction and personal harm. More importantly, Choi effectively controlled the presidential power. Every day, Choi would receive a huge stack of policy briefs from the presidential residence to discuss with her inner circle--an illustrious group that included Choi's gigolo (no, really) and a K-pop music video director (I'm serious.) Choi would receive ultra-confidential information detailing secret meetings between South and North Korean military authorities. Choi would receive in advance the budget proposal of more than $150 million for the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, and distributed them to her friends' projects. Choi went around saying North Korea would collapse by 2017 according to the spirits that spoke to her, and the Park Geun-hye administration may have set its North Korea policy based on this claim. 

     

    Quote

    The major breakthrough occurred on October 24, when a cable TV network JTBC discovered a Galaxy Tab belonging to Choi Soon-sil in the office that she abandoned. The tablet was the Pandora's Box--it had the presidential speeches with Choi's markups, presidential briefs for cabinet meetings, appointment information for presidential aides, chat messages with presidential aides, the president's vacation schedule, draft designs for commemorative stamps featuring the president, and much, much more. The discovery of the tablet was worthy of "World's Dumbest Criminals"--the tablet was simply left behind in Choi's office with no encryption, and the files were available for anyone to open. And just in case Choi Soon-sil denied ownership of the tablet, its image gallery contained her selfie. 

     

    Quote

    Rational people can expect that a corrupt politician may steal money for himself. They can even expect that he may steal for his family. But no one can expect that a corrupt politician would steal money for a daughter of a fucking psychic who claimed to speak with her dead mother. No one, not even the most cynical Korean, expected that the president would refuse to cut ties with Choi Soon-sil, a woman with no discernible talent other than manipulating the president and humiliating her in the process. Koreans may expect that the president would be corrupt, but they never could have expected that the president might be feeble in her mind.

     

    There's so much to this I can't even...

    suji, crossparallel, returnal and 5 others reacted to this

  24. Posted

    8 hours ago, YuyoDrift said:

    Why does this sound so familiar?

     

    Because every time this happens it ends up that one of the members

    • ran away and didn't tell anyone
    • ended up sick at someone's house for a few days and is fine
    • had family issues he needed to deal with

    They almost never end up dead in a ditch somewhere. This sounds a lot like #1, especially with the loans business. They aren't getting that money or equipment back because if I were him and I needed money I would have pawned your shit a long time ago Himitsu Kessha Codomo A style. Hopefully they get some answers but a lot of these bands seem like they walked into a discord chat and typed "lf guitarist 4 vk" and picked the first person to reply who could play scales. If they don't even ~know~ him that well it might be over.

    lovehina, Tokage, emmny and 3 others reacted to this

  25. Posted

    4 hours ago, CAT5 said:

    Awesome review as usual @fitear1590 - I always enjoy your writing!

     

    I enjoy this album, but there just aren't any moments that make me go "UMPHHH!!!" like Koba's shouting before the chorus in "Blood Music.1985" or in "鉄の夢". There are no songs that make me want to just fly off into the clouds with Koba's voice like in the chorus to "Rhapsody in beauty".  Nothing on this album feels as emotionally cathartic as when Koba hits those high notes near the end of "dumb." There are no songs here where I can simply get lost in the beautiful, melancholic guitar interplay and the smooth buttery basslines like in "We" and "はじまりの教会".

     

    But, as I said, it's still a good album - hell, it's extremely solid in fact. It just doesn't reach any of the peaks that the other albums reach for me, and the narrative/flow just isn't as compelling for me. I'd rate this as my 4th favorite album of theirs - with Zeitgeist up first, Rhapsody 2nd, and To melt 3rd - with a fucking razor thin difference between those three.

     

    My favorite tracks from Hallelujah atm are "Black Rainbow", "1000 years", "Just Going Far" and "What Little Love".


    You took the words right out of my mouth! I can agree with the overall sentiment that this is a great album but not their best. For me, the biggest downside is the inconsistent flow of the album. With just a little bit of re-arrangement, the entire album could have come off as more cohesive. When there are sprints of tracks near the end that don't resonate with me, I fall out of the music pretty quickly. The first half of this album is pretty bad-ass but the second half just puts me to sleep. I haven't listened to enough of THE NOVEMBERS to be able to rank them as CAT and togz have, but I know that it's above "Elegance" but below "Rhapsody in Beauty".

    CAT5 and fitear1590 reacted to this
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