tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post7751420974286820583..comments2024-03-26T09:56:34.296+09:00Comments on The Blog-Tick Phenomenon: Of Moons, Jackets and BaseballsCaycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05982217665840858486noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-35883333748335623092018-02-10T16:04:49.039+09:002018-02-10T16:04:49.039+09:00I second that statement: Cayce, you are a precious...I second that statement: Cayce, you are a precious treasure that should be honored! There's no translation, no article, no snarkiness that I ever read with more pleasure than yours.Ivynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-77262900852910370812018-02-09T21:37:01.338+09:002018-02-09T21:37:01.338+09:00My previous comment and this I write now are the o...My previous comment and this I write now are the only comments of mine in this post. I say that because I think you might believe that I'm the anonymos that was writting before I made my comment above. I did not mean the lines around the star making a letter, these are clearly there to show that it shines. I meant the three thick horizontical lines written in the wall with black colour in between the lines of the rocks used for the wall (between the label of No.0 and the star that jumps on the ground, around midway of their in beetween distance), it makes a Ξ or something different I don't know about. Since I saw that letter (or the possibility of it) I started thinking numbers. Might have to do with something, I don't know. I just thought number 60, they will be in their sixties, others sooner and others later, choosing to continue. Just random thought of the moment. The real answer to everything is known to the creator only. I just wanted to thank you for your work and maybe try to help because one person cannot see completely all. I didn't mean anything bad. And I forgot to mention that I am not an english speaker which propably helped with misscomunication. I'm sorry.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-34557403857178650582018-02-08T23:17:32.201+09:002018-02-08T23:17:32.201+09:00I'm quite sure the radial lines around the sta...I'm quite sure the radial lines around the star are just there to indicate that it's shining, which is a common artistic convention. Like I said, I think the obvious Japanese association of the triangle is the maru-sankaku-batsu set of symbols, so I think diving into letter order of the Greek alphabet is probably taking things a bit too far down the wrong rabbit hole, but who knows.Caycehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05982217665840858486noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-65259214166653168582018-02-08T20:44:30.297+09:002018-02-08T20:44:30.297+09:00Thank you Cayce! As for the Δ I cannot help but se...Thank you Cayce! As for the Δ I cannot help but see it mainly as a letter as it is something that I see in daily life, and everyone writes it a little bit different. By the way, Δ is the fourth letter of the alphabet and it also is number four, and before the door that the star comes out is also written a Ξ. Ξ is the fourteenth letter of the alphabet and it also is number sixty. I hope that I helped in any way. Also, all arts seem to be like the art of writting in a way. Everyone looks how an other person writes in order to learn and in a way copy the letters, but, always the end result is different for everyone, whether it is ungly or beautiful it is unique to every individual person.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-90629656354219661292018-02-07T13:53:58.070+09:002018-02-07T13:53:58.070+09:00Those people must lead terribly boring lives...Those people must lead terribly boring lives...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-52702997459002554942018-02-07T12:47:20.214+09:002018-02-07T12:47:20.214+09:00Thanks for clearing things up! I have had to argue...Thanks for clearing things up! I have had to argue before with people who are convinced that a single interpretation is the only valid one, and that's no fun. Delta is not one of the symbols that popped into my head in my initial inspection of the cover, so thank you for adding it to the list.Caycehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05982217665840858486noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-15748364798666405512018-02-07T07:35:01.622+09:002018-02-07T07:35:01.622+09:00I didn't mean to make any assumptions about yo...I didn't mean to make any assumptions about your knowledge, but wanted to point it out upon getting excited that I recognized the symbol as a delta & it's possible layers of meaning it could add. In my haste of writing a comment, I did word it in a way that sounded like it could only be a delta and not mean anything else. This is far from what I actually think, as you are correct that art can be interpreted many ways. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-83627281390584519592018-02-07T06:33:07.520+09:002018-02-07T06:33:07.520+09:00Thank you for this. As usual, you’ve managed to ve...Thank you for this. As usual, you’ve managed to verbalize so much of my frustration with laser accuracy. My ““favorite”” example of this is referring to a band or individual as “the Japanese _____”, as if they’re nothing more than a crappy knock-off cover band or cosplayer. Why do we never call Johnny Depp (annoying pill that he is) “The American Sakurai”?<br /><br />You’re a treasure, Cayce, and I hope other B-T fans appreciate you as much as I do. You should have a patreon or something. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-74136993784026639982018-02-07T02:02:16.120+09:002018-02-07T02:02:16.120+09:00Fun fact #1: Once upon a time, Cayce took a great ...Fun fact #1: Once upon a time, Cayce took a great number of calculus classes, and thusly integrated the knowledge we derived from said classes into our general knowledge of the world. Therefore we can verify your veracity in stating that delta is used to represent quantities of change, among many other mathematical uses.<br /><br />Fun fact #2: Not all triangles are deltas, but all (upper case) delta are triangles. Therefore, we must disagree with you on your first point.<br /><br />Fun fact #3: Symbols can mean multiple things at the same time - semioitics is fun! To a typical Japanese person this is likely to register first as a 〇△✖ symbol system reference, due to widespread usage of these symbols in Japanese culture, but the Triangle in Question may also simultaneously represent all the other things that can be denoted by a triangle. In mathematics there is often a single right answer, but in art there never is.Caycehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05982217665840858486noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-72538954863686594432018-02-06T23:39:44.264+09:002018-02-06T23:39:44.264+09:00Hi Cayce! I couldn't help but notice that it&#...Hi Cayce! I couldn't help but notice that it's not a triangle, but rather the delta symbol. In math & science it's used to symbolize change, which goes swimmingly with your analysis of the art. <br /><br />Thank you as always for the wonderful article!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-59964919727828470032018-02-06T21:28:28.996+09:002018-02-06T21:28:28.996+09:00One of the reasons this irks me so much is because...One of the reasons this irks me so much is because I especially see it a lot in cases where Western critics are reviewing Japanese artists, and in that context, it contains a profoundly troubling undercurrent of racism/colonialism which I am committed to rejecting on this blog. Why is it so hard for Japanese bands to get popular in the West? Why are most of the artists who did make it big ones who overtly parodied Asian culture? YMO are unassailable music legends but don't try to claim that their success in America didn't have to do with Orientalist stereotyping. They may have cannily exploited it, but it was still there.<br /><br />Everyone reading this blog knows that while Buck-Tick have clear influences (just like every other artist ever!), they also have a highly original vision. Part of the pleasure of interacting with their work is seeing how they've taken ideas from elsewhere and thoroughly digested them and make them their own, even when the level of reference to previous works is a lot higher than for this album cover - look at "21st Cherry Boy." Despite being an obvious homage/parody of T. Rex's "20th Century Boy," it's still a strong enough song that you could put it on a mixtape back-to-back with the original and enjoy both equally.<br /><br />The Alice in Wonder Underground PV was a shameless ripoff of The White Stripes' video for "Blue Orchid," which was the fault of the video director, not the B-T members, but I'm also going to state the controversial claim that Buck-Tick's version is better than the original, because Buck-Tick tell a coherent story in their video that's directly related to the song, and the White Stripes don't.Caycehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05982217665840858486noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-39230214369900378232018-02-06T21:28:12.248+09:002018-02-06T21:28:12.248+09:00I'm sure the Buck-Tick members give input into...I'm sure the Buck-Tick members give input into the album cover designs, but first, let's be clear about the fact that in large part, album covers are the work of the artists who designed them, especially in the case of Akita Kazunori (who also designed the covers for 13kai and Anarchy in a similar style), so if you're going to condescendingly laugh at anyone, condescendingly laugh at him. Credit where credit is due.<br /><br />The Bowie homage is in there, sure, but there's a lot more in there, too. Writing the whole thing off as homage is selling Buck-Tick's cover way short. <br /><br />The Ziggy Stardust cover is static, brash, bold, and down-at-the-heels. Bowie is front and center, facing his audience, carrying a messenger bag, with his foot up on a pile of trash boxes, basically sticking his balls in your face, like "look at me!" The street is full of cars and windows behind him are lit. He's in a populated world, it's a bad part of town, and he has nothing to hide.<br /><br />No. 0, on the other hand, is full of a sense of mystery, trajectory and romance. The figure is anonymous and in motion, following something down an empty street of nothing but dark windows, and we're left to wonder who he is, what he wants, and why he's carrying the moon, of all things. He looks a little secretive about what he's up to - after all, his body is hidden in a coat, and you can't see his face. The trolley car is the only vehicle in the picture, and it's also in motion - where is it going? Did the figure in the foreground ride it to arrive at his destination? Where is everyone else? Is there someone else, just out of sight, following our hero? The lightning on the train's pantograph gives the whole scene a feeling of crackling tension and portent. What will our hero find when he walks through the No. 0 door? Will he find who or what he's seeking, or a ghastly surprise? And what's with that triangle door? Bowie's cover only had a single door, with a clear word on it. I find it significant the Buck-Tick's cover has two doors, and both are labeled with non-linguistic symbols, as if we could be on an alien planet that just happens to look like Paris at night.<br /><br />Bowie's album was about an alien, but you couldn't tell by looking at the cover. Buck-Tick's cover overtly has one foot in outer space - there's that shooting star overhead, which, like the figure and the train and the star on the ground (and unlike Bowie and his parked cars), is in motion - will it reach earth? Is the star on the ground coming out to meet it? And, of course, the planet, which, by its very nature, is something that moves in circles and cycles - and not something to be found on the surface of another planet, normally. There's a strong sense of presentiment before a fated meeting, a kind of "when worlds collide" moment, and I don't see that on Bowie's jacket.<br /><br />I don't normally write comments of this length, so perhaps I will repost this into a real post when the album comes out, but this is really a pet peeve of mine. I see a lot of lazy music critics avoid discussing the actual characteristics of the work they're reviewing by doing nothing but compare it to previous works. I'm extremely resistant to this critical style because it has an elitist, patronizing, gatekeeping sort of attitude, as if everything good has already "been done," and to be influenced is to be somehow less.<br /><br />That's not the way art works. Every artist is influenced by artists who came before. All ideas are recycled. Analyzing a work's cultural context and influences is part of criticism, but focusing on influences to the extent that you refuse to respond to the work on its own merits is tantamount to saying the artist isn't worth listening to because they're nothing but an imitation of some superior earlier work. Caycehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05982217665840858486noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-75451548569815031752018-02-06T15:02:13.890+09:002018-02-06T15:02:13.890+09:00I find the album cover to be a seriously un-subtle...I find the album cover to be a seriously un-subtle homage to Bowie's Ziggy Stardust album. I guess the boys finally get to be both nerdy and artsy to give a proper tribute right now lol. monsoonhazardhttp://reddit.com/u/monsoonhazardnoreply@blogger.com