Boxeo De Oro

The Japan Society event seemed to go OK and managed to bring in around 130 people. I raced through a slideshow of images from Anime City and tried to duck and cover from a pack of high school kids demanding free books…all a blur, really.

Immediately raced through a tight deadline for my next Figure King column. This month’s subject: Why female song stylists Puffy AmiYumi and Hikaru Utada aren’t bigger stars in the US. My thesis: they’re TOO Japanese, if you know what I mean. Thanks to Eric Nakamura, of Giant Robot magazine, for turning around some quotes for the piece super-fast.

Reviews are coming in for the latest batch of Home Vision / Adness Sonny Chiba DVDs. 10,000 Bullets has write-ups for Ninja Wars, G.I. Samurai, and Legend of the Eight Samurai. I did the liner notes for all three.

Japanese classes are going OK. From years of futzing around I can read and pronounce like a whiz, but my grammar and sentence structure needs work. Also, my written hiragana is rusty. Weekends are now devoted to lying on the floor in a state that kind of resembles study.

There’s a big black bruise on my left side from boxing class. When you defend yourself from body blows, your elbow can mash into your pelvis. I think it looks pretty cool. I love punching and working on combos, but my footwork has been neglected. Need to get it on fast. In another month, I’m going to try sparring.

Why? I’ve no idea.

Comments

[Daniel Zelter]

You have a point about Utada and Puffy. It's taken this long for the brothas and sistas to get the market share they have now, considering that MTV likes to hype artists who fit their Aryan flavor of the month. Although a lot of fans seem to really hate Hikki's newest album, and while I don't listen to her music-or most music for that matter-her new look is what disappointed me. I mean do we really need another J. Lo? But I guess if they're going for looks, then they should just get the Morning Musume girls a record deal here. Still, the only way that j-pop is going to be accepted here, is if it becomes a watered-down version of itself.
Or, like hip hop, if they get a white vocalist who can sing Japanese. =p

Oh, and if there's one regret, it's that I didn't take Japanese when it was free in high school. If I ever get the chance, I'll try to take a college course.

[Carl Horn]

Perhaps the widest exposure Americans have gotten to some good Japanese music recently was not on MTV, but the Cartoon Network, with Adult Swim's enthusiastic airing of FLCL. Word is The Pillows are going to play South by Southwest this year, with a four-city U.S. tour to follow. Assuming this is on the for real, the following post has surfaced on the message boards:

Hello. My name is Sawao Yamanaka, the singer of the pillows.
We are officially entried in SXSW held during 16th-19th March, 2005.
I am sooo happy!!
After that we are planning to tour Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco and LA.
We'll be touring with noodles, the band that I produce.
I am looking forward to it very much but at the same time, I am worried for
it will be our first tour in America. We can't speak English.

Answers are being posted here:

http://www.pillows.gr.jp/english/kakikomitai.cgi

This is something I can't pass by. I also want to see if I can't get these guys to destroy an anime con if at all possible. Visual-kei isn't my bag.

--C.

"Changed my name for anonymity's sake
But a four foot dwarf that be on television's hard to miss."
--Bushwick Bill, "I Tried"

[Patrick3]

Hey Carl, there's a review of the new Outrageous Cherry CD in the current issue of Entertainment Weekly. I think they got a "B." It's too bad they haven't done any music for anime since that's what it takes to get the kids to listen
to Power Pop these days.

[Carl Horn]

If I get the chance I'll see if I can't rectify that. OC = opening credits. Verse, chorus, episode. Remember I tried to hook Elektra Records up with Gainax back in '97, to see if they couldn't do the music video for (Urusei) Yatsura, that there Scottish band.

[Carl Horn]

One splendid thing about the Mac is its ease of use with Japanese. In a few hours, and with the use of my dictionaries, I can bang out a semi-reasonable letter. Understanding other people's responses may be a different story, however--as would trying to write that same letter by hand. I wouldn't be surprised if things like kanji menus popping up after entering a few hiragana aren't causing a similar erosion among young Japanese on their own PCs. Perhaps their knowledge and my ignorance will eventually meet in the middle.

[Daniel Zelter]

You know, Patrick, I'm beginning to think you're right. I can understand the old white guys at the Oscars ignoring Innocence, but there's no excuse for Yoko Kanno to lose Best Music in an Animated Series at the Annie Awards to Duck Dodgers. That's just an insult.

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