Floetry

So im in the university library, sitting down on facebook (as you do in libraries) and went on this musicians FB page to check out some of his beats. Clicking like a random maniac, I eventually find a beat that transports me across into another world of efflugent soundscapes that shift into new and exciting forms that epitomise the sense of flow. It got me thinking about writing to express the vibe and imagery. I don't think I could do it just by writing in novel form (to be honest, i'm quite terrible at that as you've seen from my horrible short story that I posted a coupla posts back), so the next step would be do to it in poetry. I've written about one poem that I'm actually proud of, but for me that's enough of a inspiration to actually write more of it. Consequently, I really feel like I want to write some poetry and get more involved in it. I tend to shy away from these things because whilst I write them I feel rather pillock-y. Since coming to university though, that sense has sort of decreased but it lurks in the background like a hyena waiting to scavenge on you the moment you die off. Getting back to the point though, I think I may start writing some and posting it up here as this seems to a medium that I quite like to do these things with. So look out for it hokay?

Right, for now, I better get back to work!!

Time Vampires

I've recently had alot of trouble with gmail in trying to reset my password, but finally I've fixed the issue and I'm able to write on this blog again. I can't really think of anything to talk about so perhaps another time! I might start talking about some of the recent films i've watched, in particular The Darjeeling Limited.

Odd World New World

So one day I was walking through the woods, with blades of brilliance stabbing through the shield of the tree tops, and I happened upon a sign. This sign pointed into 4 directions, each one looking more ominous than the next. The first direction was upwards, towards the sun and naturally I'd feel more comfortable going to the golden colored disc of light, but this felt like a one way street. The second direction was to the moon and once again I'd still feel comfortable basking in the ethereal and luminescent patter of light from the sun's sister but something gnawed at me, giving me some sort of sinister vibe that I couldn't quite shake off. Perhaps it was the fact there was a large pair of canines that circumferenced the little old moon. The third sign pointed towards an apotheosis of deserts. Deserts scared me naturally because of their lifelessness so going towards one would scare me even more. The last sign post pointed to the vast bed of blueness that was the ocean. I would have opted for the ocean as they tend to have that Je ne sais quoi that often entrances the mind into a lulled state of awe, however there were sharks in the picture that made me rather tentative.

Now this is where the story gets interesting. See, I could have gone back, but something about going back felt like it would lead to that niggling "what if" sensation. So onwards I had decided to go, but in which direction? Out of all of them and in my fractured opinion, I opted for the ocean - hey at least I'd die a peaceful-esque death right? I think :S. Anyway, so taking that last option I walked on for about 4 klicks and ended up at a deserted beach. It was still daytime, with the sun at its zenith at this point. With the light beaming down, I thought I'd see more here but I was mistaken. So taking a few deep breaths, I jump in and start swimming - aimlessly mind you - to try and find some sort of answer to the signpost. Maybe it was answers to myself - swimming in this vast blue ocean reminded me of alot of things in my own mind. See, I was still searching for something, much like how the ocean has that Je ne sais quoi feel to it, so did this goal in mind. I guess that's why I decided to go ahead and make a choice regarding the sign post instead of walking back and regretting it later. See, life's too short to not live it - so I figure we're all gonna die, why not make life interesting and experience what you can eh? Hell I might get some kicks out of fending for myself against the sharks. Come to think of it, those cut throat sharks remind me of something else....in a certain place with foreign people.

But I digress. So, I began swimming and by chance I manage to swim to a boat that's sort of eerily floating in the water without anyone inside. Nonetheless, I found somewhere on this empty ocean, so why not stay here for a bit and enjoy the break. After basking in the warmth of the sun, I look around the boat for any food - you'd figure I'd be hungry at this point right? Unfortunately, there's nothing available :(. Even so, I've now got a boat so I decided to use it to sail the oceans. Still aimlessly, but with a bit more pace :).

The End

Flowers some Reflection Eternal and a Modal Soul

Today I've just found out that one of my favourite hip hop producers, Nujabes, has just passed away. This is really sad news - for me personally, he was one of the producers that provided the stepping stone into the world of alternative hip hop which I never knew existed. Without his contribution I feel I would never be where I am musically. The details of death state that he passed away in a car accident on the 26th of February, which was the same day a 7.3 magnitude earthquake hit Tokyo and that a private ceremony was held for him.

My first exposure to his music was through Shinchiro Watanabe's Samurai Champloo. His music, alongside Fat Jon's, made half that animé what it was. The music got you more involved with the action, made you empathize with the characters, helped depict the almost oxymoronic world of samurais with hip hop and endearingly too. The music really drew you into the zany world that was being created by Watanabe-San. The funny thing is, I really hated the intro he made with ShingO2 at first! It grew on me and then I finally got the vibe he was giving out and from then I've not really looked back on it musically speaking. Since then I've scouted out whatever music he made and enjoyed every bit of it :). Even now, as I'm listening to Horizon, I'm entranced by the beatism and jazziness of it all. The fact he and Fat Jon practically and single handedly brought me into the world of alternative and jazzy hip hop speaks volumes about their class and genius.

The world has lost a great musician :(.

To quote my friend's blog, which aptly put it:

"Some live, some die, in the name of the samurai, some fight some bleed, sun up to sun down, the sounds of a battlecry"

RIP Seba Kun aka Nujabes.

Build An Ark

My oh my, look what we have here - a decrepit blog with about zero input for god knows how long! too long have you been neglected my voice of the voiceless :). So what's been happening in the intermittent period between the last post and now? well a shed load so let's break it down into the following:

1) I'm in Uni studying medicine

2) I've moved out of London away from home and making friends here

3) Had a few exams and a coursework!

4) Now struggling to be motivated to get my arse into gear - curse you xbox and pc!

Right, that's my list of most interesting things summarized in about four points.

Oh yeah, I'm cooking for myself - not doing too bad, been cookin veggie sausages, yummeh!

Okay, moving on from that (I've noticed I've got quite a scientific vibe going with my listing and such....the joys of scientific courseworks :P) I think I'ma talk about something that interested me more than I thought it would.

About a month ago I had this really strange craving to watch Gundam Wing. I'd been lying in bed thinking about my childhood days of watching it on Toonami and thinking "wow that's is pretty damn cool" but I felt it was a bit too complicated for my DBZ hayday :P. I think being here away from home makes you think alot about who you are and where you come from, both culturally and individually. So on that train of thought, I just remembered this show and decided to download it and watch it. I was a bit hesitant because the copy I had was in dub (eek) so essentially I already was limiting my viewing experience. Put on top a niggling feeling that Gundam stereotypically was about big machines fighting each other (DBZ robot style) and you had the set up of an epic failure. Nonetheless, there was something egging me on to watch it, so that's what I did.

You know what? I was pleasantly surprised. Whilst it was a bit melodramatic (it seemed the characters were exaggerated a fair bit for some stuff that seemed kind of absurd to do so) I liked the ideas they put across. However, these characters, for all their accentuated drama, had understandable notions (apart from wufei - i was confused by his "YOU SHOULDN'T FIGHT, SO IM GOING TO KILL YOU" style), from Treize desire to find a chivalrous battle in which humans can find that despair in what war truly means and why by fighting we can really see how harmful it is to us as a species, to Relena's idealistic (maybe far too much I have to say) notion of creating true peace by having all parties discarding their weapons. For a series that's that single handedly made Gundam famous in the USA, I was intrigued by the notion of peace throughout it. Here you have a series that's choc-a-bloc full of fighting yet there's underlying feeling that all the fights seem...pointless (not to watch, but what their aims were). Looking at it one way, you could say that the fights all highlighted the futility of war. However there's a thin line being tread here - for all the talk of peace, these gundams, which are labelled as symbols of rebellion, are trying to create peace by destroying other ships. It seems kind of contradictory, but when you bottle it down - when can you really and truly have peace without defending it? it is human nature to fight and yet it is also human nature to try and find a peace of mind - even those who are afflicted psychologically try and find resolution by doing what they feel will satisfy their mind-state. In some twisted way, satisfying yourself is one form of temporary peace but it is not the true higher level of peace that many people aspire for, because that kind of peace relies on reducing those carnal desires and finding calm contentment, which cannot be found in those disparaging ways. For me though, whilst the notion of peace was a good mention, I feel that the biggest draw is how history repeats itself in this story. Out of all the aspects covered, this is the one I feel is done the most expertly because you always feel that one dictatorship is being replaced by essentially another under a guise of peace through sheer military force being used to dominate. You see three of these throughout the 49 episode run, giving you a real sense of it.

Overall though, whilst the story had some intriguing ideas, I think the tedious melodrama cuts it down a bit and so you're left with a story that has lots you can extrapolate out from its core, but the surrounding enclosure is full of poor execution.

I'd give it a 6.5/10.

People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm

Right about now I think I am quite disillusioned with myself. In a time where I'm about to leave things just seem so out of place....it's hard to describe it. At home, there are all these plans to renovate the house, with my friends they're all starting to go their own paths as I am going on my own. With that the tangled trees in between our paths just start to get more tangled and greater in number. Deep down I think inside I'm doing this to myself because I am moving away and starting off somewhere else; I'm getting all disillusioned with everything because I'm the wheel in the cog that's getting removed and my place no longer fits properly like it did. For someone who has never really done much for himself (Admittedly and ashamedly out of procrastination and other excuses) it's a big shock to the system. I'm hyping the situation probably and it won't be so bad, but going it alone is such a big change that I can't help worry about these things. See, i'm quite the "stressed eric" and worry and fret and think about things moreso than needed :P. Anyhoo, apologies for this rather depressing post :P.

Water Got No Enemy

Out of all the songs I've been listening to recently, this one has to be the one song that's resonated the most. Maybe that's because of the..er..."time" associated with it, which in hindsight probably does have a big role to play, but to be honest every time I do listen to it I just feel im drifting away slowly into the sunset - like the credits of a massive film called "Life - the end of an era" is rolling and this song is just accompanying those credits with pictures of events in my life. There's something so resolute and positive in this song that it feels like it's high note for the ending. When I think about it though, I reckon it's mostly to do with the ending of an era of me and TK and our free jams - we ended it on a good note and my nostalgic senses have gone into overdrive as a result. That's why I think I keep hearing this song with ending credits - the actors all playing their parts in this film and moving onto their new projects, making different films and getting into new roles, ones you'd never think to see them in.

As well as being positive, it makes me sad at the same time, as nostalgic trips tend to do - in the same way you feel sad if a really good film comes to an end, you also relish the good ending that comes along with it. Still, maybe there's always time for a sequel eh?