When I was younger, a science teacher once mentioned that it had been proven that each generation of people become smarter, more aware, and more perceptive of the world around them than the preceding one. My work in the IT field has reinforced this concept. While the generation of the people that came before me in the IT field has demonstrated a specific level of knowledge and application, my own knowledge and experience dwarfs those. Likewise, the younger generation that is slowly rearing its head behind me has demonstrated a technical aptitude that dwarfs my own. We are, as a species, getting smarter with each passing generation.

You can see the advancement of humanity through works of art as well. From crude charcoal drawings of animals on cave walls to massive works of art that dwarf us in size and scopes. Mammoth statues dedicated to concepts and ideologies. Works of music that penetrate through the veil of time to reward us with beautiful and abstract representations of emotion and sensation.

Likewise, we have discovered new and ingenious ways to kill each other. From sticks and rocks to engineered plagues and nuclear weapons, the drive to overcome, the drive to assert ourselves over each other and our environment can also be praised.

Human nature itself is worthy of our praise. Whether we use it to destroy and bring low or build up and exalt, to compose or to butcher, that force of will is worthy of my respect. I can’t think of any stronger or more dynamic force than that of human history. Because of human will we have driven species to extinction, mapped the entirety of our world, created forms of travel that exceed our biological limitations- we have even begun to step beyond our world. Yet beyond that we have barely begun to scratch the surface of our potential.

We’ve made gods in our own image- from fickle and capricious gods that demand sacrifices and war, to compassionate gods that ask for nothing but that we believe, we’ve created abstract moralities and philosophies and mores and laws to govern ourselves, to channel that very nature into different avenues of expression.

From the very beginning, when we hunkered around a fire to drive back the terrifying shadows, we have lived and we have driven back the unknown. We have turned the illumination of knowledge on the shadows of superstition and pushed them back. We have tamed animals and built nations and written glorious poetry and now that we have conquered our world and left an indelible mark of our presence here, we have turned to the impossibly far flecks of light in our skies, and we dare to challenge the stars as well.

I believe that we have a manifest destiny. That manifest destiny is just as fickle and as capricious as the very nature that I have faith in, but that manifest destiny is for us to reach beyond our world and eventually subjugate the stars. We are assertive and challenging, we are cold and calculating, we are viral and infectious, we dare to hope and we dare to dream.

We may all die, victims of our own human nature. We may destroy our world and make it unlivable. We may conquer the stars and discover like-minded species beyond the heavens. We may simply die, not with a bang but with a whimper, but that unknown future can only be realized through the exertion of human will, and that is what I place my faith in.

I love humanity in its most stupid. I love humanity at its most beautiful. I love humanity at its most petty. I love it at its most compassionate. everything we do, we do because we are driven by our very nature, and that is what I believe in. Humanity, fuck yeah.

How many times did I see the collapsed bridge from the earthquake in 89? how many times did the slick media engine extoll the horrors with a practiced sweep of the camera lens?

I didn’t start feeling a real sense of disgust towards the media until Columbine. Live coverage of suffering, chaos, and mayhem. On and on and on, even Marilyn Manson castigated the media for their disgusting lack of tact in their coverage.

Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised. Does anyone think the Civil War was the least bit civil? If television had existed, you could be sure they would have been there to cover it, or maybe even participate in it, like their violent car chase of Princess Di. Disgusting vultures looking for corpses, exploiting, fucking, filming and serving it up for our hungry appetites in a gluttonous display of endless human stupidity.

When it comes down to who’s to blame for the high school murders in Littleton, Colorado, throw a rock and you’ll hit someone who’s guilty. We’re the people who sit back and tolerate children owning guns, and we’re the ones who tune in and watch the up-to-the-minute details of what they do with them. I think it’s terrible when anyone dies, especially if it is someone you know and love. But what is more offensive is that when these tragedies happen, most people don’t really care any more than they would about the season finale of Friends or The Real World. I was dumbfounded as I watched the media snake right in, not missing a teardrop, interviewing the parents of dead children, televising the funerals. Then came the witch hunt.

It’s really only gotten worse. Or, if it’s at the same level, there’s more suffering for the media to cannibalize and regurgitate. Katrina, Haiti, the shooting of that arizona lady, and now Japan. Why do we have to glamorize and publicize human suffering? why do we have to squeeze out every drop of human suffering on national (or international) television?

I think it’s more of a travesty that we capitalize on the pain of others for commercial gain. For ratings.

Back in 2002, in one of my classes, there was a particularly odious little fellow that loved Rurouni Kenshin. Every single day he’d butt himself into every conversation, uninvited, and turn the conversation into his favorite subject: Rurouni Kenshin. To him, everything was Rurouni Kenshin and Rurouni Kenshin was everything. He’d talk about how many times he’d rewatch an episode each day. How he practiced the sword techniques. How he wished for his own large, obtrusive facial scar. It didn’t matter that he was uninvited, that nobody liked him, that he was quite rude in his butt-ins. Everything was Rurouni Kenshin, and Rurouni Kenshin was everything. It got to the point where I simply hated Rurouni Kenshin out of spite. Eventually he went away, and even though it’s been nearly a decade since I met that guy, I can’t countenance the thought of watching Rurouni Kenshin. I literally get physically ill at the thought of watching it.

This is a contributing factor to everything I watch, now. The scope of this is actually significantly larger, though. It’s not just a personal grudge against every Jared Riches that goes out and ruins every anime out there for everyone else. You see, here’s how it works: A good portion of anime is targeted marketing. It’s designed to appeal to a specific demographic. The idea is to encourage consumerism: buy the DVDs. Buy the Blu Rays. Buy the figures, the games, the apparel, the T-shirts, the pencil boards, the dakimakura, etc. Setting aside the consumer aspect and refocusing our attention on the demographic-targeting, you understand that specific genres of anime are targeted at age and gender demographics. A good and clear way to differentiate whether or not a particular show is right for you is to look at its destination- or more appropriately, its fanbase. Is a large part of the fanbase idiots? Are they inarticulate neckbearded Internet Warriors? Are they teens? Young adults? Children? Do they fit into the same social strata that you yourself fit into? Consider the possibilities carefully. You could be the only 25 year old man that watches a show that is targeted towards little girls, aged 9-12. You wouldn’t want that, now would you?

This of course brings to light all sorts of hilarious tangents. Let’s say you have an anime that is typically targeted to girls, aged 9-13, but the demographic just hasn’t historically created the market penetration you’re hoping for. You instead take that show and retarget it towards another demographic while keeping the elements functionally the same. In that case, you might be a 25 year old man watching a show that’s for girls, aged 9-13, but has been modified to include adult males between 18-25. Ain’t that some shit?

A second tangent would be the worst tangent. Let’s say you watch a show that’s relatively popular. You happen to be fairly intelligent, clean-shaven, sophisticated, and you can tie your own shoes. Every single other fan of this show is drooling, slack-jawed, runs around yelling BAKA KAWAII NEKO SUGOI DESU NE~. People are very quick to associate one thing with another. They think “This show = This fan.” Do you want to be lumped in with that?

I think it’s perfectly acceptable to avoid a show because of the fanbase.

Is it a genre I don’t follow? – I don’t particularly have a genre I don’t follow per se, except shows targeted at specific demographics that I don’t fill.
Where have I heard of a plot like this? – I started watching anime because the shit I saw on american TV was predictable. I want to see things I haven’t seen before. I want to explore new ideas and settings. I don’t want to say “Oh look, it’s this. Again.”
Is this based on a manga? light novel? visual novel? – Where it comes from is important to me. If there’s a manga, I may skim a few pages. I read pretty quickly, and if it’s something that catches my eye, I’ll pick it up. If it’s a light novel, well, there are sources for those too and while my japanese reading comprehension isn’t perfect, I can pick out the gist of things without exerting myself. If it’s a visual novel derivation, I won’t watch it, period. Too many experiences with bad adaptations.
Is [series name here] a derivative of another show? – This is important, and I think a lot of people disregard this unnecessarily. If you see a show with a spineless male lead, a tsundere childhood friend, and it takes place in high school, what’re the chances that the next show that has the exact same elements won’t do the exact same thing in this series? If you’ve seen it five times, or fifty times, what value is there in watching it a hundred and fifteenth time? sure the characters’ names may change, the art may change, but the same principles are there, the same tired, recycled dialogue is there- so what is the point? The answer is, there isn’t. It doesn’t matter if there are well-known voice actresses or it’s done by a unique studio. a story is just that: a story. If it happens to be the same story you’ve seen repeated ad nauseum, then it’s simply time to set it aside and go watch something else.

Questions like these filter things down pretty well. I usually end up watching 1-2 series per season, sometimes one more. There are of course a couple of notable exceptions to this season, the ones I’ve decided to follow are Level E and Kimi no Todoke 2. Before I talk about why I’m following them, I’ll take a brief moment to explain what I’m not.
First, the word on everyones’ eyes and lips is Madoka. There’s three main reasons I can point out why people follow it:
1. It’s SHAFTxShinbo. What will they think of next?
2. GRIMDARK DARKBAD PLOT
3. Yuki Kajiura is doing the music.
My response to those three points is this:
1. It’s always the story, and never who tells it. A good story will stand on its own, regardless of who tells it. People that watch SHAFTxShinbo often forget this and go on and on (at length) over how amazing they think SHAFTxShinbo is. They pore over thesauruses and congratulate themselves over how unique their superlatives sound in each others’ ears. Ultimately, it’s the hysteric and masturbatory fans that ultimately drive me away- it’s never about the show, it’s aaaaaaaall about SHAFTxShinbo.
2. It’s nothing more than a nihilistic Theatre of the Absurd. If you think about it, ALL of SHAFTxShinbo’s works fall into this category in some form or another. Again, if thought were given, there are dozens of magical girl shows that deal with despair, death, tragedy, etc going back ten or twenty years. If you disagree, then simply say that it’s a magical girl show with faustian overtones and leave it at that. If you look at it that way, It’s nothing we haven’t seen before, and thus not particularly worth my attention. How many magical girl series have existed since, say, the 80′s?
3. Yuki Kajiura, fuck yeah. Ain’t gonna lie, she makes some good music.
So yeah, if there’s a gripe, then it’d be that.

On to Kimi no Todoke 2: I don’t know why I picked up the first season. I’ll have a look at the MT archives and find out. It’s not my typical fare- why did I pick it up? I remember I was going to drop it at several points, but kept watching. Sawako is pretty sweet, and of course the long hair is definitely a selling point for me. Somewhere between the first season and the second season, however, I became … disenfranchised. I no longer saw it as a sweet and endearing show about a sweet and endearing girl. Instead I find myself more and more thinking of it as a overdramatized, saccharin-dosed show about a socially retarded aspergers girl. Every new episode I watch is a struggle to recapture… whatever it was I saw about the first season. I’m still watching, so either there’s still a heart left somewhere in me, or it’s all pointless discourse anyway.

On to Level E: By far, this is the show I’d recommend above others. I find myself at a lack for words when I try to describe, explain, and recommend it to you, though. I think it’s pretty intelligently written. There’s a good dose of humor and seriousness mixed in, and the first three episodes present things in a way that keep you engaged. I like the art style- in some ways it reminds me of the stuff I watched in the 90′s. On the other hand, the CG is pretty obvious, so you can’t take it entirely too serious. It’s about aliens. Of course, all the aliens live on japan, and that of course means hilarity ensues. Give it a shot.

My favorite albums to date are “Hurtbreak Wonderland” and “The Lie Lay Land”, though I’ve got a special spot in my heart reserved for the track “All Imperfect Love Song” from the “Dreams End Come True” album.

Today, I’m going to talk to you about “Seven Idiots”, WEG’s latest album.

I’m not going to do a song-by-song analysis, but I’ll touch on some points: the pre-release tracks ‘Virgin Babylon’. Anne, and Green Greem are fucking amazing. If you can listen to them before actually listeing to the rest of the album, I recommend you so so. It’s got a sort of ethereal feeling to it in the beginning, like you’d see at the start of a fairy tale movie, but there’s some jarring inconsitencies towards the end that make it that much more awesome. It’s subtle and yet jarring. It paints an almost entirely different picture of how ‘Seven Idiots’ will play out. So, like I said, if you can, listen to those three tracks, and then listen to the rest of the CD.

The first track of the CD, “The Divine Comedy Reverse” starts out a lot different than what we expect a WEG album to start out, given his track record, but when it breaks out into the full classical just after the initial tease, you can’t ever think it’s done by anyone else. It keeps going with this electric energy through every succeeding track.

My personal favorite, the one I keep coming back to, over and over again, is ‘DECALOGUE minus 8′ it’s got this feeling like you’re in this jazz club that’s illuminated with blacklights and splashed with gaudy colors and not all the patrons are entirely human. It’s got this dark vitality that makes you want to move… like you’re being chased.

An offhand track mention goes to: ULYSSES GAZER, this aggressive track that plays like an opening to a series. It’s got these mellow pieces, aggressive strings, and this guitar and drum overlay that drives it in and carries it through. There’s this part a couple minutes in where it breaks off into this piano and you’re like “oh shit, okay, I get a break”, and then it’s right back in.

Overall, this is a very strong album and I think it’s deserving of all praise it can get.

Honestly I think that’s what they want. They want us to buy into their hate-mongering fear-machine.

You know what a terrorist is? They do violent, unpredictable shit so that you will respond out of fear and terror.

So… fuck that.

If there happen to be any crazy, off the wall irrational radical muslims incapable of reason out there, then here’s something I drew just for you:

Since drawing muhammad causes you to shit yourself in apoplectic rage, I have drawn him. It’s not “draw muhammad day”, but I felt like it.

Also, I recently shit ALL OVER the Qur’an. Just saying.

Edit: Before you (or anyone else, for that matter) says I’m being culturally insensitive, I would prefer it if you had a objective perspective on this. I’m against oppressive religion in all its forms. Radical muslims are just the vocal tip of the iceberg. And yes, I am trolling.

This of course has caused a great deal of uproar, primarily from the narrow-minded, short-sighted individuals who see this for something that it is not. You see, it’s believed to be some sort of dramatic demonstration, mud in the face, an insult to muslims everywhere, etc. On a certain level they are right, because that’s exactly what it is, but in a larger picture, with a broader perspective, it’s not about that at all. They also think it’s “against the law” or instigates future acts of violence. In this they are wrong.

Firstly, it doesn’t matter at all if a koran is burned or not. A terrorist will do what he is compelled to do. Secondly, it’s not illegal. you can burn a koran, a bible, a Mein Kampf if you were so inclined and no one can bat an eye at you. It’s your right. You can burn whatever you want. It’s when you do it specifically to send a message, that’s when it changes from simple combustion to an imflammatory demonstration.

Historically speaking, book burning has been a form of information control. It’s about power and the propagation of propagandist messages. If you control the flow of information, you control everything else. Concurrently, it’s about oppression or the desire to oppress. From Wikipedia: “From China’s 3rd century BC Qin Dynasty to the present day, the burning of books has a long history as a tool wielded by authorities both secular and religious, in efforts to suppress dissenting or heretical views that are perceived as posing a threat to the prevailing order.” This is a twofold act: One, you’re condemning one form of information. Two, you’re aggressively enforcing your own information.

Where do I stand? Don’t burn books. Don’t attempt to control information. In an abstract sense, information is far more powerful and exists on a higher level than religious dogma, political ideologies or even geographic borders. It persists as an insubstantial yet tangible achievement of mankind to rise above our trappings and create something above our own limitations. Destroying books, censoring information and regulating ideas is more damaging than any terrorist act because you’re crippling the future enlightenment and intellectual development of humanity.

If you really wanted to do something substantial, book a flight and hunt down the people that want to destroy your way of life instead of grandstanding for media hype and celebrity status. Be a hero, not a retard.

You can do more good for your society, for your beliefs, and for your social situation by being active and supportive and creative, rather than being petulant, destructive, and ultimately damning.

This isn’t elegant, it’s not pretty, you don’t give it four stars because it’s got a beat and you can dance to it. It’s tasty, it’s cheap, and it doesn’t take too long to prepare. Got it? Good. Screw your brains back onto your neckpipes because here we go.

First off, Ingredients:

Linguine. You know what the fuck this is, go buy some.
Chicken breast tenderloins. You may not know what the fuck this is, so go to your goddamned store and look at labels with that retarded sheeps’ expression on your face until you find them.
Cream of Mushroom Soup. Okay, limpdicks, I’m not talking about the condensed add one can of water, I’m talking the real deal. If you don’t know what the fuck I’m talking about, get yourself a couple cans (that’s TWO, retards) of Progresso cream of mushroom soup. Om nom nom, bitches, yeah.

All right, now that you got your shit, let’s fucking cook.

Grab your cans o’ soup and dump em in a skillet. Rocket science, I know, but bear with me.

Dump your tenderloins in. Holy fuck, difficult as all hell. I have the utmost confidence in your skills though, so fucking do it. I choose a skillet because it’s easier to raise to a simmer and flip the chicken around in.
Simmer the chicken for an hour or so. Simmering is easy, and accomplishes three tasks: cooks the soup into the chicken, cooks the chicken, and boils off the excess moisture.

This gives you about 40 minutes to carve each letter of the alphabet into a cucumber, jam it up your ass, and then shit them out in fun phrases.

Cook your linguine. You DO know how to do that, right? Boom, we got cooked pasta. It takes about 12-20 minutes to cook linguine, so don’t get too absorbed in shitting cukes out your butt.

By now the soup has gone from a soup and turned itself into a sauce. God damn, this ain’t cooking, it’s SCIENCE. serve the pasta and hold the fucking phone, ladle the sauce and chicken over the goddamn pasta.

you’ve been learned.

Listen: If you feel you are somehow ‘enlightened’, or you think that the other people around you are ‘mindless sheep’, ‘drones’, or ‘slaves to the corporation/ government/ fire hydrant’ or if you’ve ever had the idea that people need to ‘wake up’, congrats. You’re part of the fucking problem.
Any first-year revolutionary will tell you that the government is corrupt, society is weak and complacent, Mass Media and the infoglut are part of the problem.
Any first year punk rocker will tell you that revolution is coming and that the only way to avoid being sucked into the nine-to-five rat race is to fight the power.
Any first year sociology student will tell you that all of these things fit together to form the society as a whole. That it doesn’t matter at all where you stand or what you stand on, you’re simply fulfilling a role. Eat your fucking breakfast.