Japanese Media

Well, there's not much I like about Japanese television, but I'll see about ending this on a high note... damn, too bad I ran out of marijuana. Well, that would probably be good considering I'm in Japan, which followed Western paper companies into banning something considered a gift from god by the Chinese (canabis has too many uses for me to name and less negative effects than many legal drugs). Anyways,

I'll start with their news. A lack of interesting national and local events and of international interest means they have little to talk about. They fill their time by talking about new bad trends in internet use (old for most others), over-analyzing any panic-causing things (influenza and the Korean rocket we're on forever, it's a good thing I have Doraemon's time machine) and other types of filler. Their presentation is mostly done by showing boards with all the important information covered with paper. They tear off the paper as they read. Occasionally they'll use a model. They don't seem to know much about digital effects.

Their talk shows drive me mad (mostly because the Japanese watch them twenty-four seven). Done seemingly mostly by comedians (i.e. people from Osaka), their flashy with cheap, overdone, over-used effects. They range from strange ways of asking questions to straight kanji tests. There aren't as many actors in Japan, so you'll see them a lot. They try mostly to be silly, and while I understand their humour, I don't like it. (They also have very awkwar selections in music, like using "Paint it Black" as background for a trip through Australia.) Their dramas are wroth a few laughs. The overdone style is hard to take seriously in any way, luckily they're not supposed to. Cheesy effects and the awkwardness of Japanese social lives make them worth watching, though I miss something serious (House M.D. specifically).

Anime has been getting worse for a while now. Lower quality, less effort, more bad effects, more moe, slow, dragged out and repeating storylines and cetera have lead to this. Even some otaku don't like the new Gundam. I'm a fan mostly of older stuff. If you like anime, check out Ghibli, Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, the old Mobile Suit Gundam, Fooly Cooly and Haruhi. I'm starting Genshiken and looking for Eden of East.

I also like some of the music here. From their current pop culture, I like GReeeeeN. RADWIMPS is a nice punk rock band with really good use of English. Utada Hikaru has some nice music which I found from games, though she's mainstream. Nobuo Uematsu made some good stuff for the Final Fantasy game series, buy my favourite is Yoko Kanno. Her music is wonderful. "Gotta Knock a Little Harder" is better than the namesake of the movie it's for (Cowboy Bebop:
KNOCKING ON HEAVEN'S DOOR), "The Real Folk Blues" really is something blue, "I do" is soothing to the soul (and in russian, that must have been a challenge).
I'll see about posting links to these and Group of Povery's music.
...hell, Just Google them.

Note: I have never had marijuana, it was a joke, but my brother does live in Vancouver.... just kidding.