Saturday 23 April 2011
WHEN AAHHH BURRRRRRRN-AH!
Can't stop listening to this: the vocal recording for Metallica's 1990s hit Fuel. Is there a word for this kind of singing? The scary thing is James Hetfield sounds like he really means it as he bellows out these utterly retarded lyrics. Is it even possible to sound like this without being in some way full of bullshit?
Friday 8 April 2011
Monday 4 April 2011
THE INEXPLICABLE WORLD OF JAPANESE FIGURINES
You may have seen this video before. It's a remarkable clip of a Japanese pop concert with a screaming audience of thousands. Cut to the chase: the object of the crowd's affection is a three-dimensional, all-singing, all-dancing hologram. Her name is Mika Hatsune and like all Japanese cartoon women she looks like a very tall child. Her existence is both impressive and deeply unsettling.
This week an anonymous man in Japan parted with about $6,000 on a Yahoo Auctions site so that he could own a small, naked, plastic statue of Mika. The figurine in question was made by some hobbyist. What in God's name is going on? Even a rabid fanbase as dedicated and giddy as Radiohead's would balk at spending thousands and thousands of pounds on a piece of merchandise made by some Herbert in a garage. Even if it was a model of Thom Yorke with his boobs out.
I have never and hopefully will never understand the nebbish world of Japanese figurine collections. They look awful and are extremely expensive. Usually they're vaguely pornographic too. Displaying a whole collection of them is akin to a person deciding to not ever bathe again. An anti-social gesture, designed to put up a wall between them and all other humans. Once you have shelved and polished your brood of plastic anime sex-children you have effectively snuffed out the light of all future social interaction.
This week an anonymous man in Japan parted with about $6,000 on a Yahoo Auctions site so that he could own a small, naked, plastic statue of Mika. The figurine in question was made by some hobbyist. What in God's name is going on? Even a rabid fanbase as dedicated and giddy as Radiohead's would balk at spending thousands and thousands of pounds on a piece of merchandise made by some Herbert in a garage. Even if it was a model of Thom Yorke with his boobs out.
I have never and hopefully will never understand the nebbish world of Japanese figurine collections. They look awful and are extremely expensive. Usually they're vaguely pornographic too. Displaying a whole collection of them is akin to a person deciding to not ever bathe again. An anti-social gesture, designed to put up a wall between them and all other humans. Once you have shelved and polished your brood of plastic anime sex-children you have effectively snuffed out the light of all future social interaction.
Sunday 3 April 2011
MALLS OF AMERICA
In 1989 Michael Galinsky drove across America to take photographs of malls. And they're great.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
