Hey, so it's been a really long time since I've updated my blog. Maybe you can partly blame that on me being caught up in work (things have gotten busy lately and my research has been becoming more significant)(or, ok, maybe not my research, but the software I've written and am supporting has become more important to more people) or you can blame it on ... other distractions. Today was the first day I was able to solve the Megaminx without the help of a solution guide (I was able to solve it down to 5 (out of 62) pieces out of place about 4 months ago with no guide, but it's just beyond my attention span to work out the algorithms to switch edges, rotate corners, etc.)
Desperate for Input
So I went to download Monday's Colbert Report... but then saw that there was none to be downloaded. I guess it's Presidents' Week so they're on vacation.
No South Park yet (next episode airs on March 11th... I'll be at an international robotics conference then, so I'll try to catch it live in the US!) ... so I went to colbertnation.com and ended up getting sidetracked on his interviews with prominent feminists.
Awesome Feminists
First, Ariel Levy is awesome. I'm going to buy her book, "Female Chauvinist Pigs" if they have it at Kinokuniya. I think that living in Japan has really raised my awareness and interest in sexuality and sexual identity. This is such a weird place coming from an American viewpoint. But I could write a book on that topic.
His interview with Shere Hite was awesome too... both of these interviews were in 2006 but... I was busy? I'd like to read "The Shere Hite Reader" (covering 30 years of her work) but maybe that will be afterwards.
Then there was his interview with Jane Fonda and Gloria Steinem (also in 2006) which was brilliant. I went to check out their website and it's been shut down already, but I read some reviews on why it was shut down and found a link to Air America, which I have heard of but never really checked out.
Air America
The two articles I checked out there were "Bill O'Reilly - Consistent Sexist?" and "Closing the Polls on Peace". Both interesting.
Bill O'Reilly
The Bill O'Reilly thing... hmm... Basically they're calling him sexist for some of his comments regarding Helen Thomas. I disagree. I completely agree that he's slamming on her disproportionately for being liberal / disagreeing with his opinions, and that he's kinda harsh on her about her age, but I really don't think what he says is particularly sexist by comparing her to "The Wicked Witch of the East". I mean, I really think he'd rip on an 88-year-old guy just as hard, with some other (probably offensive) metaphor. The video segment does correctly point out that his ridicule of her question is misplaced, and it points out the hypocrisy of his rebuttals against Courtney Martin from the Women's Media Center, who demanded an apology.
I guess my point here is that I think we have this culturally-ingrained oversensitivity to sexism (which I think is not the real issue here), without a proportionately healthy regard for other offenses, like personal attacks against people (regardless of age or sex) and rhetorical offenses, like making analogies that seem appropriate but are misleading. Actually, come to think of it, I'm probably guilty of the latter. What I'm saying is, I think it his statements were not only really mean (from a moral standpoint) but also wrong (from a logical standpoint), but I don't think they were particularly sexist per se.
Israel and Gaza
The other video I watched was "Closing the Polls on Peace". That was just really disturbing. Ann Wright, a retired US Army Colonel and former member of the US State Department, gives a firsthand account of a rare look at the devastation inside Gaza during this period of war. It was quite disturbing, and I guess the reason I feel that way is that I completely believe that she is honest and giving a true account of what is happening there. So many people give politically-biased reports from one side or the other, but sometimes you see someone who is really just committed to doing what is right. The same reason I (and most Americans, I guess) trust Barak Obama... just an intuition that he understands what is going on and says what he means.
Anyway, the situation in Gaza is horrific. The things the Israeli military is doing are sinister. Destroying their industries, tearing up their crop lands... using ineffectual Hamas rocket attacks as a pretext for destroying the livelihood of an entire people.
It's so hard because, having lived in Israel, I have good Israeli friends, and also Palestinian friends. I think what everyone really wants is peace. I guess from a really cynical perspective, if the Israelis drive the Palestinians out from Gaza and the West Bank, then after a few generations maybe people will adjust to the new status quo and there will be more peace than we have now. But then again, the Romans might have thought that 2000 years ago, and look at the situation now. Yes, I know it's a bad analogy. But... I just don't know what to feel.
Like, take this disturbing Flash game for example. You play the Israeli military and your job is to blow the crap out of Gaza. Your score depends on the ratio of Palestinian casualties to Israeli casualties. As in: if you kill more than 25x the number of Palestinians as the number of casualties on your side, then you win. Or something like that... I played it a few weeks ago and don't remember the exact details. But you get the point.
So... yes, I absolutely think the Israeli military is responding disproportionately to the threat, and yes, I think the US government is wrong for supporting them unconditionally. I don't think Hamas is "right", as in morally right, in their policies, but they may or may not be "right", as in effective, in what they do. I guess if getting a reaction from the Israeli military is their goal, they're pretty effective. :( In the long run, I'm not sure what will result in the greatest happiness for the greatest number two or three generations from now. But it's just terrible to hear about the destruction in Gaza. In these modern times, nobody should have to suffer like that. And as war zones go, I'm not really that well-informed, but I'm pretty sure that there are other places where things are much, much worse. When will we get beyond such primitive ways of settling our differences? I'm disappointed in the human race.
Peace on Earth?
I may sound like a hippie, but I really believe that the only way to get ahead is to embrace an abundance paradigm, so that the haves feel comfortable sharing with the have-nots, and we can actually start worrying about the best ways to help each other instead of the best ways to protect ourselves from each other.
Maybe we have to wait for times of better economic prosperity before people will feel comfortable doing that. *Sigh*...
And sorry I haven't blogged for a while. I miss all of you.
18 February 2009
16 October 2008
Ups and Downs
Up: I got my new fiber optic internet service this week!
Down: I've spent two long nights trying to configure it, and it seems to be about as slow as ADSL... plus it looks like I'll no longer be able to receive incoming international calls. :(
Up?: I've ... gotten lots of Japanese reading practice trying to configure the system?
Up: The weather has been cooling off lately. Yay! I can finally walk around outdoors without being constantly drenched in sweat!
Down: I heard my first Christmas song in the shopping mall today on the way home from work. CHRISTMAS!!!! The song was "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" in case you were wondering.
Up?: Now I can stop complaining about the fact that Halloween decorations have been up since the end of August?
I don't have a third up-down-up pattern for today, but I did have a "Dylan moment" on the way home from work. I was sitting down on the train, sleep-deprived as usual, and I saw a poster for an LPGA tournament (evidently the Ladies' Professional Golf Association, as I would later retrospectively infer from the many pictures of ladies playing golf on the poster). The way it registered in my head, of course, and which seemed completely reasonable at the time, was that LPGA must be the Japanese branch of the Role Playing Game Association! Only later did I realize the alternative explanation...
Down: I've spent two long nights trying to configure it, and it seems to be about as slow as ADSL... plus it looks like I'll no longer be able to receive incoming international calls. :(
Up?: I've ... gotten lots of Japanese reading practice trying to configure the system?
Up: The weather has been cooling off lately. Yay! I can finally walk around outdoors without being constantly drenched in sweat!
Down: I heard my first Christmas song in the shopping mall today on the way home from work. CHRISTMAS!!!! The song was "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" in case you were wondering.
Up?: Now I can stop complaining about the fact that Halloween decorations have been up since the end of August?
I don't have a third up-down-up pattern for today, but I did have a "Dylan moment" on the way home from work. I was sitting down on the train, sleep-deprived as usual, and I saw a poster for an LPGA tournament (evidently the Ladies' Professional Golf Association, as I would later retrospectively infer from the many pictures of ladies playing golf on the poster). The way it registered in my head, of course, and which seemed completely reasonable at the time, was that LPGA must be the Japanese branch of the Role Playing Game Association! Only later did I realize the alternative explanation...
11 October 2008
07 October 2008
Evolution
So, I finally downloaded and watched the US Vice Presidential debate. And like countless others out there, I feel the need to blog about it. I haven't blogged in ages, and what better to start off with than a good ol' political rant! :)
In short, it was disappointing, basically because it wasn't a debate. They got away with dodging too many questions and let issues rest unresolved... Of course I and everyone I know wanted to see Biden tear Palin apart, but they just took turns reciting their memorized speeches. Kinda lame. Maverick, Maverick, Maverick, Scranton, Scranton, Scranton. Speeches and sound bites calculated by analysts and strategists to generate optimal public opinion impact.
I am thankful they didn't belabor any ridiculously divisive issues like gay marriage and abortion, simply because nothing useful would have been said whatsoever. I guess the political market has stabilized on the answer to the gay marriage question, as they agreed right off the bat to the most "voter-acceptable" response to that.
The Candidates
I thought Biden did a good job. He came across to me as intelligent, informed, and yet trustworthy and human in a way that John Kerry never seemed able to pull off. He made a few slip-ups, as did Palin, but we should forgive them both for those. The big issues are too important to dwell on who misspoke which words.
Sarah Palin made a much better impression on stage than she did on any of the news clips I'd seen before. I wish she hadn't. And she said a lot of things that I agreed with. At least... I agreed with the words she said. But even when she and Joe Biden said exactly the same phrases, I noticed sharp increases in my bile production every time she said them.
At first I thought it was because every word out of her mouth was either a double-edged lie or a slimy, twisted, sugar-coated, venomous dodge, topped off with a gosh darn down-home kitchen table mom smile and delivered with that irritating backwoods accent that made me homesick for George W. Bush's affected cowboy twang. And for the most part, yes, that was true. They were all lies, or at least every statement she made had an unspoken asterisk after it.
And polarization is such an easy groove to fall into, so I was enjoying despising her, but then every once in a while I caught myself and thought, come on... nobody can hate McCain! He seems like a good enough guy. I like him. But yet, that slimy venomous aftertaste persists...
Evolution - The Real Issue
But for me it's not about the people. I like Obama. I like McCain. I didn't know much about Joe Biden before, but I like him after seeing his debate performance. Palin makes me shudder, a haunting reminder of all the miserable, painful parts of growing up in *wince* small-town backstate America (Not that there weren't great things about it! But she doesn't represent those things to me at all). And besides the fact that she doesn't belong up there on stage at all, well... my real issue is not with her specifically.
It's the ridiculousness of what the debates represent. Both candidates were basically saying the same thing, but with different assumptions. "XXX is a problem. Let {Government, Industry} take care of it for you!" (Now, before I rip on the Republicans too hard... moderation in all things here. I would never say that unbridled socialism is unconditionally great, but looking at the miserable state of affairs in the US these days, we really do need a good solid hit of it!)
But as for the Republicans... Basically it always comes down to putting your faith in massive corporate power, in corporations already so enormous that they far outstrip the government's ability to regulate them. They regulate the government instead. Mega-conglomerates transcend nations in their power. They are self-propelling, living entities with no morality, no accountability, and no mercy, and we are the mindless, expendable parts, cast aside like scabs and dandruff when we have outlived our usefulness.
In a not-so-metaphorical sense, they are the next step in evolution, engulfing us whole, not unlike the transition from prokaryotes to eukaryotes! These massive organisms live symbiotically (parasitically?) alongside government and we are but organelles churning away inside them. To take an analogy a few steps too far, I see blue-collar workers as the mitochondria, engineers and consultants as the ribosomes, and the executives as the cell nucleus...
Or is society itself like a cell too, with farmers as the mitochondria, artists as the ribosomes, and educators and parents in the nucleus, propagating the DNA? In fact, I'd love to try to piece together an analogy likening the ATP-ADP cycle to the interaction of media, information, and religion in society, but it's past 2am on a worknight and Bio class was a long time ago!
So... speaking of biology and religion in a completely non-contrived segue... :P
Evolution - Not the Issue at All
You know, every search I come up with on the net talking about the debate brings up flamewars of vitriolic fervor, with creationists and evolutionists angrily ranting away, pro-life and pro-choice beating each other up. So many of the debates come down to Christianity. Why doesn't anybody see that the issues aren't about Christianity at all? I mean literally, NOT AT ALL. Religion is just like this brainwashing drug that America is hopelessly addicted to... and big business is holding the syringes.
It's this weird, completely nonsensical slippery-slope thing, this synesthesia of capitalism and Hebrew mythology, where people lose consciousness of where the moral parables of religion end and physical reality begins.
"I believe that abortion is wrong, because the Bible says that life is sacred." - ok, I follow that. I mean, I disagree, but I see its consistency with some interpretations of that set of beliefs. I think this issue is a special case, though, because it is so easy in this case to draw battle lines between religious beliefs and individual rights. (as opposed to, say, medical marijuana, where I'd say it's not so clear-cut)
"I believe that homosexual marriages are wrong, because there are passages in the Bible that condemn homosexuality" - ok, again, I think it's debatable even among those who generally follow the Bible's teachings, but sure, ok, somewhat relevant, possibly.
"I believe in privatized health care / deregulation of industry because God gave us freedom as Americans" - I don't know if anybody literally makes this direct connection in their heads, but it sure sounds like something you might hear, and I genuinely believe this is a critical muddling in the American mind. What I'm saying is WHERE DID THIS LEAP COME FROM? It's the sports fanatic mindset, soaring from fundamentalist religion into fundamentalist capitalism on the wings of sheer nationalistic pride...
"I believe we shouldn't ever put timelines on withdrawing from Iraq because, um, God bless our troops!" - Ok, so I never got exactly what that phrase meant, is it that we're asking God to bless our troops but not the people on the other side? Shouldn't God want peace, love, and harmony between all of his/her children regardless of national boundaries? Certainly I believe we should appreciate the great sacrifice that the soldiers in our armed forces are making for us but HOW IS THAT IN ANY WAY A JUSTIFICATION FOR KEEPING THEM OVER THERE IN HARM'S WAY?
Although I did appreciate Biden's last comment, "...and selfishly, god bless our troops." I don't think it was intended in the way I prefer to interpret it, but basically it sounds like a perfect response to my last paragraph.
Common Sense?
But please, America, learn to sort out your values and clear up some of that cognitive dissonance. Here's a start...
Religion can provide some good moral lessons, but it shouldn't be used as a pretext for going to war and CERTAINLY should not replace science and logic.
Science can help us study, predict, engineer, and understand the world around us, but Darwinism shouldn't be used as a moral justification for, say, unbridled capitalism.
Capitalism is useful as long as it doesn't get out of hand and defeat the market-regulating forces that keep it functional and useful through healthy competition. Don't believe in it unconditionally like a religion.
You know, I write these things and I feel like I'm writing to a kindergartner. Seriously, how is it that this election could possibly even be close?
Yet somehow, We The People seem to be awfully confused...
*sob*
In short, it was disappointing, basically because it wasn't a debate. They got away with dodging too many questions and let issues rest unresolved... Of course I and everyone I know wanted to see Biden tear Palin apart, but they just took turns reciting their memorized speeches. Kinda lame. Maverick, Maverick, Maverick, Scranton, Scranton, Scranton. Speeches and sound bites calculated by analysts and strategists to generate optimal public opinion impact.
I am thankful they didn't belabor any ridiculously divisive issues like gay marriage and abortion, simply because nothing useful would have been said whatsoever. I guess the political market has stabilized on the answer to the gay marriage question, as they agreed right off the bat to the most "voter-acceptable" response to that.
The Candidates
I thought Biden did a good job. He came across to me as intelligent, informed, and yet trustworthy and human in a way that John Kerry never seemed able to pull off. He made a few slip-ups, as did Palin, but we should forgive them both for those. The big issues are too important to dwell on who misspoke which words.
Sarah Palin made a much better impression on stage than she did on any of the news clips I'd seen before. I wish she hadn't. And she said a lot of things that I agreed with. At least... I agreed with the words she said. But even when she and Joe Biden said exactly the same phrases, I noticed sharp increases in my bile production every time she said them.
At first I thought it was because every word out of her mouth was either a double-edged lie or a slimy, twisted, sugar-coated, venomous dodge, topped off with a gosh darn down-home kitchen table mom smile and delivered with that irritating backwoods accent that made me homesick for George W. Bush's affected cowboy twang. And for the most part, yes, that was true. They were all lies, or at least every statement she made had an unspoken asterisk after it.
And polarization is such an easy groove to fall into, so I was enjoying despising her, but then every once in a while I caught myself and thought, come on... nobody can hate McCain! He seems like a good enough guy. I like him. But yet, that slimy venomous aftertaste persists...
Evolution - The Real Issue
But for me it's not about the people. I like Obama. I like McCain. I didn't know much about Joe Biden before, but I like him after seeing his debate performance. Palin makes me shudder, a haunting reminder of all the miserable, painful parts of growing up in *wince* small-town backstate America (Not that there weren't great things about it! But she doesn't represent those things to me at all). And besides the fact that she doesn't belong up there on stage at all, well... my real issue is not with her specifically.
It's the ridiculousness of what the debates represent. Both candidates were basically saying the same thing, but with different assumptions. "XXX is a problem. Let {Government, Industry} take care of it for you!" (Now, before I rip on the Republicans too hard... moderation in all things here. I would never say that unbridled socialism is unconditionally great, but looking at the miserable state of affairs in the US these days, we really do need a good solid hit of it!)
But as for the Republicans... Basically it always comes down to putting your faith in massive corporate power, in corporations already so enormous that they far outstrip the government's ability to regulate them. They regulate the government instead. Mega-conglomerates transcend nations in their power. They are self-propelling, living entities with no morality, no accountability, and no mercy, and we are the mindless, expendable parts, cast aside like scabs and dandruff when we have outlived our usefulness.
[Note: please nobody ever show this next bit to Mr. Henry or I'll retroactively fail 10th grade biology!]
In a not-so-metaphorical sense, they are the next step in evolution, engulfing us whole, not unlike the transition from prokaryotes to eukaryotes! These massive organisms live symbiotically (parasitically?) alongside government and we are but organelles churning away inside them. To take an analogy a few steps too far, I see blue-collar workers as the mitochondria, engineers and consultants as the ribosomes, and the executives as the cell nucleus...
Or is society itself like a cell too, with farmers as the mitochondria, artists as the ribosomes, and educators and parents in the nucleus, propagating the DNA? In fact, I'd love to try to piece together an analogy likening the ATP-ADP cycle to the interaction of media, information, and religion in society, but it's past 2am on a worknight and Bio class was a long time ago!
So... speaking of biology and religion in a completely non-contrived segue... :P
Evolution - Not the Issue at All
You know, every search I come up with on the net talking about the debate brings up flamewars of vitriolic fervor, with creationists and evolutionists angrily ranting away, pro-life and pro-choice beating each other up. So many of the debates come down to Christianity. Why doesn't anybody see that the issues aren't about Christianity at all? I mean literally, NOT AT ALL. Religion is just like this brainwashing drug that America is hopelessly addicted to... and big business is holding the syringes.
It's this weird, completely nonsensical slippery-slope thing, this synesthesia of capitalism and Hebrew mythology, where people lose consciousness of where the moral parables of religion end and physical reality begins.
"I believe that abortion is wrong, because the Bible says that life is sacred." - ok, I follow that. I mean, I disagree, but I see its consistency with some interpretations of that set of beliefs. I think this issue is a special case, though, because it is so easy in this case to draw battle lines between religious beliefs and individual rights. (as opposed to, say, medical marijuana, where I'd say it's not so clear-cut)
"I believe that homosexual marriages are wrong, because there are passages in the Bible that condemn homosexuality" - ok, again, I think it's debatable even among those who generally follow the Bible's teachings, but sure, ok, somewhat relevant, possibly.
"I believe in privatized health care / deregulation of industry because God gave us freedom as Americans" - I don't know if anybody literally makes this direct connection in their heads, but it sure sounds like something you might hear, and I genuinely believe this is a critical muddling in the American mind. What I'm saying is WHERE DID THIS LEAP COME FROM? It's the sports fanatic mindset, soaring from fundamentalist religion into fundamentalist capitalism on the wings of sheer nationalistic pride...
"I believe we shouldn't ever put timelines on withdrawing from Iraq because, um, God bless our troops!" - Ok, so I never got exactly what that phrase meant, is it that we're asking God to bless our troops but not the people on the other side? Shouldn't God want peace, love, and harmony between all of his/her children regardless of national boundaries? Certainly I believe we should appreciate the great sacrifice that the soldiers in our armed forces are making for us but HOW IS THAT IN ANY WAY A JUSTIFICATION FOR KEEPING THEM OVER THERE IN HARM'S WAY?
Although I did appreciate Biden's last comment, "...and selfishly, god bless our troops." I don't think it was intended in the way I prefer to interpret it, but basically it sounds like a perfect response to my last paragraph.
Common Sense?
But please, America, learn to sort out your values and clear up some of that cognitive dissonance. Here's a start...
Religion can provide some good moral lessons, but it shouldn't be used as a pretext for going to war and CERTAINLY should not replace science and logic.
Science can help us study, predict, engineer, and understand the world around us, but Darwinism shouldn't be used as a moral justification for, say, unbridled capitalism.
Capitalism is useful as long as it doesn't get out of hand and defeat the market-regulating forces that keep it functional and useful through healthy competition. Don't believe in it unconditionally like a religion.
You know, I write these things and I feel like I'm writing to a kindergartner. Seriously, how is it that this election could possibly even be close?
Yet somehow, We The People seem to be awfully confused...
*sob*
02 August 2008
Rubik's Cube
Hey, so I've been meaning to blog about several things lately... I canceled all my plans for the weekend so I can catch up on work, do my laundry, put my kitchen back together (had to clear it out for construction this week), and ideally catch up on emails and blogging and such.
But I don't think I'm going to write about my life tonight. I just wanted to share the latest xkcd comic with you. I laughed out loud when I saw this one!
But I don't think I'm going to write about my life tonight. I just wanted to share the latest xkcd comic with you. I laughed out loud when I saw this one!
09 May 2008
Tozai to the E
Three months ago, exhausted after a long day of work and a hard hour of voice lessons, Lito and I sat at the counter facing the window, looking out over the city below us. A decision needed to be made.
"You know, I've been really busy lately. I don't think I can put in the time to really do a good job at this."
"I've been feeling the same way. But I'd like to do it if we can."
"Sure, I just don't want to commit to something I don't have the time to deliver on."
"Look, why don't we just do it for fun... it'll be good practice, and if we lose, no big deal. We'll just do the best we can."
"Ok, I'm in."
And thus the two-man vocal duo, "Tozai Express", was born.
You can imagine my surprise when we were chosen to go on to the semifinals in the Miki Gakki 2008 Duet Competition. Or perhaps you imagined it when I blogged about it about a month ago.
As the date of the semifinals drew near, we both found ourselves caught up with other things, busy, seldom able to get together to practice. We squeezed in some rehearsals at each other's houses late at night, or in hurried half-hour sessions after our voice lessons and before he had to run off to other rehearsals.
In our second-to-last rehearsal, we totally mixed things up, throwing in alternating rap and voice percussion parts during the bridge. In the last days before the competition I found myself frantically practicing my rap, quietly in my room, at 3am...
The competition itself was an incredible production. The lighting systems were amazing, and the event started off with a video worthy of network TV pre-Olympics hype. Slow-motion shots of last year's competitors singing their hearts out, and the winners overcome with tears of joy, powerfully narrated with a moving voiceover and triumphant background music. A bit dramatic, but it set the stage well.
Many of the other groups were quite amazing, and after about five groups had gone, we had already conceded defeat. These people were amazing singers, with tightly choreographed moves and meticulous costumes. They had obviously spent long hours practicing and it paid off. The genres were spread across the board, ranging from Disney songs to traditional Hawaiian music, to cutesy teeny-bopper music and Aretha Franklin.
We went on stage 10th out of 30 groups, and I was far more nervous than I had anticipated (considering that I perform on stage about once a month). This was evident in the fact that, standing in the middle of the stage in the blazing spotlights, in front of hundreds of people, with our backing track blasting from the massive speaker racks to either side, the song barely begun, I noticed something...
... nobody was singing!
And then I noticed something else...
... I was the one who was supposed to be singing!
Whatever my frantic heartrate had been a moment before, it spiked severalfold as I realized I had just ruined the song we had been practicing for months, and we hadn't even finished the first verse!
At the same time, though, it was like a pressure valve had been released... I had already screwed up the song, and we had already lost. So basically it was the two of us on stage with a captive audience for another 4.5 minutes. There was nothing for us to do but rock out and have fun!
Of course the most challenging part came afterwards, when they interviewed us on stage in Japanese... I ended up saying some stuff that sounded kinda ridiculous, but we got some laughs from the audience, so it was all good. Except that my Japanese teacher happened to be in the audience as well... I'm gonna get it on Friday! :P
Anyway, our friends were very supportive and everybody said we did a great job. There were still around 4 hours of performances to sit through before hearing the results, and most of my friends left soon after we finished.
Finally, it came time to announce the winners. By this time I had made a mental estimate of about a 35% chance of us being selected among the top 8 groups, on the off-chance that the judges decided to be forgiving of my brainfart at the beginning of the song.
There was more production drama, and they built up lots of tension in the style of any good awards show. As they were about to announce the winners, they rattled a bunch of stuff off in really fast Japanese, and I totally missed it. But Lito and I agreed that even if we did get chosen, we could just follow the lead of whoever got chosen before us.
And then they announced the first winners: "Number 10, Tozai Express"...
...
numb shock
...
"Dude, that's us"
...
"Really?!"
"What the @#$%^&?"
We stumbled up onto the stage, not knowing what to make of this.
The crowd was cheering wildly, and we both bowed. Then one of the judges came up and presented us each with ... a medal! Standing there in our vests, bowing our heads to receive our medals, the only image in my mind was of the last scene in Star Wars. Sans Princess Leia of course. ;)
So that's it. We're going to the finals!! We're really going to try to start early and do a solid job this time. This is so awesome.
A heartfelt thanks to all our friends who came to support us. If anybody wants to come cheer for us at the finals on June 8, drop me an email!
"You know, I've been really busy lately. I don't think I can put in the time to really do a good job at this."
"I've been feeling the same way. But I'd like to do it if we can."
"Sure, I just don't want to commit to something I don't have the time to deliver on."
"Look, why don't we just do it for fun... it'll be good practice, and if we lose, no big deal. We'll just do the best we can."
"Ok, I'm in."
And thus the two-man vocal duo, "Tozai Express", was born.
You can imagine my surprise when we were chosen to go on to the semifinals in the Miki Gakki 2008 Duet Competition. Or perhaps you imagined it when I blogged about it about a month ago.
As the date of the semifinals drew near, we both found ourselves caught up with other things, busy, seldom able to get together to practice. We squeezed in some rehearsals at each other's houses late at night, or in hurried half-hour sessions after our voice lessons and before he had to run off to other rehearsals.
In our second-to-last rehearsal, we totally mixed things up, throwing in alternating rap and voice percussion parts during the bridge. In the last days before the competition I found myself frantically practicing my rap, quietly in my room, at 3am...
The competition itself was an incredible production. The lighting systems were amazing, and the event started off with a video worthy of network TV pre-Olympics hype. Slow-motion shots of last year's competitors singing their hearts out, and the winners overcome with tears of joy, powerfully narrated with a moving voiceover and triumphant background music. A bit dramatic, but it set the stage well.
Many of the other groups were quite amazing, and after about five groups had gone, we had already conceded defeat. These people were amazing singers, with tightly choreographed moves and meticulous costumes. They had obviously spent long hours practicing and it paid off. The genres were spread across the board, ranging from Disney songs to traditional Hawaiian music, to cutesy teeny-bopper music and Aretha Franklin.
We went on stage 10th out of 30 groups, and I was far more nervous than I had anticipated (considering that I perform on stage about once a month). This was evident in the fact that, standing in the middle of the stage in the blazing spotlights, in front of hundreds of people, with our backing track blasting from the massive speaker racks to either side, the song barely begun, I noticed something...
... nobody was singing!
And then I noticed something else...
... I was the one who was supposed to be singing!
Whatever my frantic heartrate had been a moment before, it spiked severalfold as I realized I had just ruined the song we had been practicing for months, and we hadn't even finished the first verse!
At the same time, though, it was like a pressure valve had been released... I had already screwed up the song, and we had already lost. So basically it was the two of us on stage with a captive audience for another 4.5 minutes. There was nothing for us to do but rock out and have fun!
Of course the most challenging part came afterwards, when they interviewed us on stage in Japanese... I ended up saying some stuff that sounded kinda ridiculous, but we got some laughs from the audience, so it was all good. Except that my Japanese teacher happened to be in the audience as well... I'm gonna get it on Friday! :P
Anyway, our friends were very supportive and everybody said we did a great job. There were still around 4 hours of performances to sit through before hearing the results, and most of my friends left soon after we finished.
Finally, it came time to announce the winners. By this time I had made a mental estimate of about a 35% chance of us being selected among the top 8 groups, on the off-chance that the judges decided to be forgiving of my brainfart at the beginning of the song.
There was more production drama, and they built up lots of tension in the style of any good awards show. As they were about to announce the winners, they rattled a bunch of stuff off in really fast Japanese, and I totally missed it. But Lito and I agreed that even if we did get chosen, we could just follow the lead of whoever got chosen before us.
And then they announced the first winners: "Number 10, Tozai Express"...
...
numb shock
...
"Dude, that's us"
...
"Really?!"
"What the @#$%^&?"
We stumbled up onto the stage, not knowing what to make of this.
The crowd was cheering wildly, and we both bowed. Then one of the judges came up and presented us each with ... a medal! Standing there in our vests, bowing our heads to receive our medals, the only image in my mind was of the last scene in Star Wars. Sans Princess Leia of course. ;)
So that's it. We're going to the finals!! We're really going to try to start early and do a solid job this time. This is so awesome.
A heartfelt thanks to all our friends who came to support us. If anybody wants to come cheer for us at the finals on June 8, drop me an email!
21 April 2008
New toy - a green laser pointer!
Haha...
So my parents came to Japan - FINALLY - last week, and we had lots of adventures that I'd love to blog about. But one thing they brought me was a new green laser pointer! (which I had actually bought myself and had shipped to them, but details, details)
Anyway, it totally rocks, and I've been playing with it all weekend. Just thought I'd post this picture which, though juvenile, is still, in my opinion, cool. ;) Taken on long-exposure night mode in a pitch-black room.
By the way, on a related note, check out this cool application presented at the last Human-Robot Interaction conference - "A Point-and-Click Interface for the Real World"
So my parents came to Japan - FINALLY - last week, and we had lots of adventures that I'd love to blog about. But one thing they brought me was a new green laser pointer! (which I had actually bought myself and had shipped to them, but details, details)
Anyway, it totally rocks, and I've been playing with it all weekend. Just thought I'd post this picture which, though juvenile, is still, in my opinion, cool. ;) Taken on long-exposure night mode in a pitch-black room.
By the way, on a related note, check out this cool application presented at the last Human-Robot Interaction conference - "A Point-and-Click Interface for the Real World"
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