My commonplace has completely filled up this week, despite only half a year of use (with going several momths without writing barely anything!). Since it's a catch-all for my short little revelations, I'm finally going through it and dumpping all of those thoughts onto my blog so I can start a new commonplace book with a clear conscience. Please enjoy my deranged ventures.
I'ts pretty clear that nothing on this blog is to be taken too seriously, as these are all jumbled thoughts I've scrounged up while only putting forth half of my attention. Most of these will be word-for-word entries I've written throughout the months in my spare time. Take everything I say (ever) with a grain of salt.
Objectivity in Art
I think every sound person to believe that the soul of a piece of art is manifested through perception. The subjectivity of art is what makes it so beautiful! Art is obsolete without a mouth to awe agape at it (que Farmer's "On est tous des imbéciles"); Atsushi said, "To be alone completely is to not exist. No memory, no words, no proof of living..." or something to that effect. I think is why proof of concept is so important in art. Despite my inconsistent pondering, I've yet to conclude what the role of art is in civilization and how important perception is. Meaning is objective to a certain extent (Lolita certainly isn't about how extraordinary predators are, just as Alice in Wonderland has never once thought to be a metaphor for whether humans have a right to technology), but what use does truth hold? I want to know that an artist intended something, but I've heard that, "Does it matter? If believing it was intended to push a different idea is what you make the most of, wouldn't you prefer it that way?" I really don't know. To what extent does intention matter? Especially when the beauty of artistry lies in the eyes of the beholder... If we can't associate art with a time/era of our lives, it is truly useless. The personal expereince is what makes art great. At what point does the viewer's experience outweight the value of the original intentions? I've spent years wondering. Some ancient philosopher probably concluded something marvelous 2000 years ago that I've yet to discover, so I guess I'll just have to keep an eye out.
Aging
Age and time gives people more than anything else. I'm proud that with I'm smarter than I was a month ago, and I'm ecstatic that that will likely remain a constant in my life. Time flows regardless. Baudelaire wrote:
Impassive clock! Terrifying, sinister god,
Whose finger threatens us and says: "Remember!
Although L'Horloge was a poem about Mr. B's fear of mortality, I mean to quote him in a much more positive manner. Time's hand ushers us forward indefinetly, welcoming and embracing new beginnings, new losses, and new life. Our petals may eventually all fall and wilt, but impermanence is exactly what makes life so beautiful. Aging is to be celebrated! With age comes wisdom, maturity, sensuality, and newfound abilities that are physically impossible to replicate as a youngling. Nothing replaces experience. Not to get too nerdy again, but Nabokov said:
“We live not only in a world of thoughts, but also in a world of things. Words without experience are meaningless.”
Time holds more power than anything in the cosmos. It lets us grow, heal, and improve. That's the only hard part—we have to do it ourselves. Noone will grow for you. I believe Cayce said something about how time gives art new meaning. Their original meanings twist and morph as the years pass and political atmospheres change. Their original meanings were there at first, but they can be given new ones, the piece may grow to be associated with a particular time or idea, etc. It's like how Atsushi singing Kodou or Iconoclasm with his little shorts in 2022/21 sounds so, so, so much more meaningful than it would've in 1995/1998. They carry not only their original meanings, but how Atsushi has grown over the years and repurposed those meanings to better describe him now. We change, but we still honor our past. We'd be nowhere without it.
Music
The grotesquely shallow approach people have to music is very telling of the times. Everyone mourns the breakup of their favorite band but refuses to explore the members' solo work. For example, just about every Malice Mizer member pursued music as a lifelong career post-breakup; yet they're all poor as hell with no supporters!!!! There is always extraordinary art out there that you'll love. That is what encourages me to keep looking—I have spent my life believing that there is probably a completely perfect piece of art out there just for me. It embodies my way of life and my tastes to a tea. Buck-Tick is the closest thing I've gotten to that so far, but there's probably an even better one out there. I just have to keep looking. There is always more to love.
This isn't as relevant, but people also have no sense of self-awareness in regards to their knowledge regarding musicians. Everyone has a very fandom-like approach, harvesting as many fun facts as possible about their favorite artists. They think that the more you know, the "better" of a fan you are. Quite the contrary, the most enlightened and dedicated fans I've met for my favorite artists seemed to learn so much when talking to newer fans. This is because farming as much information doesn't tell you anything. You have to understand the art and artist as a whole. This is such a stupid example, but I recently saw a little poll in Buck-Tick circles on Twitter about "who the most nonchalant BT member is." Everyone picked Imai. It's astonishing: he's popular and doesn't smile often, and people think that's all they need to know. Nobody seemed to know a damn thing about his personality. That man is one of the most emotional and silly musicians on stage, and he makes it obvious! He jumps around and kicks his feet, giggles loudly to himself in interviews, cracks jokes with people on the street... how on Earth is he stoic? It's like when somebody asked me, "Does Imai like sci-fi?" I don't think there's another man whose written more songs about radiaton, post-war society, and monsters on this entire planet. Of course he likes sci-fi, he's written songs referencing On the Beach and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. These are people who dedicate their lives to this band. It really goes to show that demeanor and initiative dictate output.
The Lazy Capitalist
I'm surprised about how many people complain about prices yet still comply. Someone will yell and scream about how expensive something is, yet still go ahead and purchase it begrudgedly instead of looking for something cheaper. "Why is everything so costly?" I'll hear beside me, only to see them pull up in a McDonald's drive through with their car and AC on in 70 degree weather. I once went on a trip with some friends on a very, very hot July afternoon, and watched all of my friends whine and complain about the prices of drinks (reasonably so, they were thrice the listing price at the gas station) right before buying several. I was the only one who waited out my thirst until we went out to eat, where I got several refills. Things are expensive, but only so much. It's all about how much convienence you're willing to sacrifice. I've met so many people stuck in a cycle of poverty because they refuse to stop driving 40 minutes out to buy overpriced, polyester clothing at a disgustingly common chain store. Short-term gratification and impulsivity guide these people through life.
Being frugal is the best thing you can do. Your dollar is your word. You want cheaper, better quality goods? Then go spend your money at a local business: create competition that eradicates monopoly and forces businessowners to actually sell the best product. And you get to support a community member! You want to watch a show/movie? Borrow it from the library or pirate it. Clothes too expensive? Thrift/sew your own crap. Most libraries have all sorts of crafty machines (such as sewing machines) for the public to use. Please to God, just use your local library. Bored? Learn a hobby or go somewhere with free/cheap entry. Go to the park instead of the store. Read a book instead of getting coffee. Wait until you spot that local water fountain instead of purchasing a drink. Fix your old stuff instead of buying new ones (new stuff just gets worse and worse anyway). Only buy decoration if it truly blows you away, and then fill your house will things you genuinely love. For the same price of a meal at McDonald's, you could get 2 or 3 groceries that could cook breakfast for a week. Living frugally makes you evaluate what you truly value investing it, and leads to an ultimately happier life. That's how it is for me, at least. Not everyone will enjoy it, and that's good, too.
Visual Kei is Not Political (On White People Assuming Everyone is Just Like Them)
Why do most visual kei bandmen end up being "problematic?" Because culture is different!
If you've ever spent anytime focusing on the angered rantings of 13 year old 'bijuwaru kei' fetishists online, you've probably come across the absolute shock that overtakes westerners at the realization that their honmei has done some bad shit. Here is my theory on why.
First of all, most visual kei fans do not love the scene because of the message. Why would they? It's based around shock value! Every bandmen is gay for pay! I think a lot of people that aren't from the East tend to forget that and grow terribly attatched to bandmen that end up being horrible people, and consequently defending their actions. Alternative groups in the west formed BECAUSE of political advocacy. That is why leftism, queer culture, being "alt", etc. are all so closely associated around here. You will develop the habits and beliefs of the people you surround yourself with. That is basic biology. With all these different taboos being discussed and traded in political groups, people grew to accept and embrace all of them collectively. That is why most "odd" people in the West are leftists of some sort. It's such a commonly accepted fact of life that many of us forget to leave our egocentricism out the door and assume the whole world is the exact same. Visual Kei was formed soley as a musical and stylistic scene. They borrowed Western glam, punk, etc. looks, but it's a caricature if anything. It's based on shock value for a reason: shock, not advocacy. This is why most visual bandmen have no interest in politics and end up being pretty bad people.
I think this is an excellent opportunity for each of us to reevaluate ourselves. Why do you enjoy what you do? How are those values benefiting you? What does pariticpating in the culture do for you? What about your honmei is so special?
Reformation
Change is nothing without reformation. I've never seen anyone else talk about this. Advocacy is good; transformation is good. Getting women the right to vote was a lot more important in early 1900s America than changing how the woman was viewed was. However, these issues are still there. Schools are like prisons right now because we keep signing laws and making new rules, yet noone ever thinks for even a second how these new rules might combat the old. What old ones should be rewritten so that people's lives aren't so restricted?
Besides, the less we have, the better we do. Revolutionary advancements don't get made when you have every tool at your fingertips. We get creative when we have to. The simpler, the better.
More Short-Formed Content Ramblings
If there is one thing everybody who loves me knows about me, it's that I hate social media. Reducing everything to a short, superficial burst of content to interest someone momentarily and water down the meaning of great art is one of the worst things someone could ever do. Oddly enough, I don't see anyone mention how the nature of posting something is isolating oneself. It's not socializing or interacting. Indefinetly being able to ramble without anyone having the ability to interject is dangerous. It lets people revel in their own pride. The act of writing is entirely different. Although it's always been dangerous (the most ill people have probably written or coded thousands of rants), writing, blogging, coding, etc. about something at least takes skill. It takes either some mental work or you at least picking up a damn pencil and doing something.
Aesthetics vs. Authencity
People often mistake being skilled in decorating your art with being intelligent. Using flowery words doesn't mean you can write something of meaning (the most moving art I've enjoyed was said simply and repetitively). A diverse vocabulary and gorgeous prose is handy and admirable, but useless without respective expereince (Nabokov strikes again). If you're smart and have something meaningful to say, you're going to say it as simply as possible. Transparency reaches the widest audiences. Orwell saw beauty in simplicity, and I think his word is credibly considering how important language was to him.
Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
Never use a long word where a short one will do.
If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
Never use the passive where you can use the active.
Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
Besides, the more intricate your word, the father you step away from the original meaning. Depressed. Melancholic. Forlorn. Sorrowful. Despondent. These words may hit hard, but none of them hit quite as hard as just saying it: I'm sad. I'm truly sad. Bleak as it may be, it drops your heart more than any of those other words might've. This is why I often can't stand to sit in poetry circles or help peers review their linguistic art. Valuing the beauty of your words is simply pretentious.
Originality
Originality doesn't exist. What pisses me off is when people use this as an excuse to be artistically lazy. "Everything has been done, so I might as well not make art at all!" "It was easier hundreds of years ago when things weren't as explored!" Yes, everything has been done before, but people forget that they haven't been done until they've been done by you. Your unique experiences have shaped you and how you percieve the world, giving your interpretations of stories and ideas a spark that nobody else can replicate. Have you ever heard a cover or seen a redo of a movie? It has a similar essence, but remains starkly different. Always. Originality in art doesn't truly exist. Only interpretation does.
This is also, I believe, what makes every person truly unique. We may be a combination of various traits and interests, but the precise expereiences and reactions that you have lived are entirely unique to you and you alone. Your friend or sibling may have lived almost the same life as you, but you are different people. With so many of us in the world, our circumstances are what divides us.
Moral Degeneracy: Shootings
School shootings are a very common concern in American society at the moment. Whether or not most schools are actually in danger isn't the problem: the fact it's considered normal for children, parents, and faculty to walk into a school and accept that there may be a shooting at some point is appalling. I'm not denouncing gun control in any way, but it doesn fascinate me that people always utilize this to explain why guns are bad, yet never to acknowledge that there is a moral problem in modern day society. People are getting shot.
People have always gotten shot, bad things have always happened. But the rate at which community centers are becoming victims of shootings is disgusting. Guns have been in America as long as the country has existed (even though we had crappy little ones back when the US was first starting out), so I think it's fairly obvious that the people are the problem. We all know that we're more divided than ever, but our communities are more split than ever, as well. These aren't just troubled, evil adults. Children are walking into schools with a desire to kill poeple. Why does nobody offer a helping hand? Are children ever asked about how they're feeling anymore? Does nobody stop to think for two seconds what on Earth has happened to a child to make them want to truly hurt others? Our kids are growing up to be miserable.
Even in regards to adults—I find it incredibly hard to just be mad at people. When messing up, how often does someone have malicious intentions? Almost every time I see someone get mad at another person, it's because they made an honest (yet harmful) mistake. We all do it. Even if they do have malicious intentions, why? What made them want to hurt somebody? Was that desire prompted? Were they wronged prior? If not, there's a problem at hand. They have an abrupt and irrational yearning to do wrong; that is something which should be helped.
I think this bounces back to my belief that prisons should be rehabilitation centers of sorts. Yes, prisons should still act as prisons, but we're all just people. Drying up in a cell doesn't make somebody a better person, it lets resentment fester and paranoia flourish. Smacking someone on the hand doesn't explain what they did wrong, it teaches them that they screwed up at some point for some reason. If you want your community to be safer, then people should be treated well while they serve their time. Libertarian as I often sound, I think community is at the core of human civilization. It takes a village.
The Internet and Monopoly
I think one of the most harmful things about the internet is the power it gives to monopoly. For anything online to exist, it has to be hosted. It has to be owned. It has to be stored. It has to be documented. Everything you've ever posted, said, replied, commented, liked, favorited, etc. is sitting in a data center. It' not yours. You have nothing of your own. The lack of privacy and ownership is one thing, but the power of these companies is what I mean to harp on. Everything you'd ever loved and done online can and will be deleted in a second. For everyone to congregate somewhere, everyone has to be on the same couple sites. That means that just a couple sites own absolutely everything. It's becoming completely unquestioned that people have no personalization online, save for their bio and pfp. It's accepted that people have to censor their words and say shit like "grape" and "sewerslide." It's accepted that you can't post explicit pictures or videos. These are unwavering rules that everyone seems to follow blindly. This wasn't how the internet worked 10, 20, 30 years ago. You did what you wanted. You got away with shit because criticism rules over censorship every single time. If we've longed passed the cowboy days of the internet, we've definetly entered the prohibition days. We can't do whatever we want anymore, and, in fact, can hardly do anything now. I mean, people are only just starting to realize that putting everythnig important in your life in an app is a terribly idea, frantically running around when the company goes bankrupt and just deletes it.
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