Why Japan, anyway?

There are so many times people ask the same question: "Why Japan? What do you see in that country?"

It's a valid and good question. Instinct, knowledge, ideas, projections of the future, all play a role, and then there's the fun factor. I could answer with references to a hybrid traditional/practically posthuman culture... Although my abilities in both are limited, I could discuss the endless nuances and beauty of the language, which not unlike my mother tongue, Urdu, has this special way of describing human feelings, experiences and has a unique flavour. I could discuss the communication style of the people, how having the subject at the end of a sentence actually makes people listen to one another... I could discuss the technological and environmental babble that we all seem to notice at first...

But those of you who've sat down with me and enjoyed any one of the animated works of Makoto Shinkai will know. Those of us who understand the meaning of that vision will get it. Unfortunately, not everyone has the same pair of eyes, some of us aren't really interested in "Anime"... As an artform, a storytelling medium, a space for social commentary and of course, just plain wacky humour, no superior visual medium exists. The reason it's not a big deal, though, is because art imitates life. Moreover, life sometimes imitates art.

Such is the case of chobi, a Vimeo user who goes by mockmoon. His visions are like a real-life motion capture of Shinkai's seemingly "None of this can possibly be real" animation. What most people don't know that quality animation is more often than not based on photoreference, and can reflect aspects of nature and reality. I invite you to observe Constant Shatter, and share how it makes you feel...


Nature Time Lapse 2 from mockmoon on Vimeo.

As more of us grow to appreciate this vision... This understanding of our position with respect to our surroundings... Perhaps then we can speak of change.

Get over it, [AK] is kinda into LIGHTS >__<

LIGHTS - February Air official music video


Ok. I´ve been holding back on this one for a while, I can´t take it anymore, so here goes. I like LIGHTS! There. That wasn´t so hard was it? Let´s just ignore that this isn´t at all age-appropriate or even appropriately masculine of me, but meh don´t really care...

Seriously though, when she played at a *cough* certain Computer Store in Montreal a few months ago, I randomly got a chance to hear her live, and I´m telling you: I have no idea how one little girl can have such boundless energy! She´s a powerhouse!

So what about her music? What makes a friggin 23 year old guy like LIGHTS? Honestly, this is all familiar territory, I grew up listening to electronica, in fact I hardly used to listen to anything else in high school. And her approach to the genre is different. After maybe ten years of wall-pounding bass and weird grammatically hilarious European vocals, here´s an Ontario girl who´s doing things her own way. Her basslines are soft and rolly, they brush your eardrums, not slam them with nuclear attacks, her lyrics make sense and are actually kiinda original! LIGHTS even has this really cute, simple voice, and her melodious, candy-flavoured musical style is as delicious as it is addictively fun to listen to. She says it herself on her website ¨When I write songs I think about how my music makes people feel, and I hope that when it goes into your ears you feel happy. Not sexy happy but apple pie happy.¨

I feel like in a time where there´s a lot of semi-depressed emo/post rock nonsense floating around on the net, here´s something fresh and fun, and yeah, I get Apple pie happy!

Enjoy : )