Electric Eel Shock- Scream For Me (Japan)
Lillies and Remains-- Moralist S.S (Japan)
Riddm Saunter- Fresh (Acoustic) (Japan)
Outsider- Like A Man (South Korea)
Kotoko- Lament (Japan)
Artist Spotlight: Gackt
Gackt- Vanilla (Sixth Day Version) (Japan)
Afterschool- Bad Guy (South Korea)
Skunkrice- One (Japan)
Trilogy Of Tracks- Music inspired by K-League
Sugar Donut- We (South Korea)
Go! Go! Star- Champion Parade (South Korea)
Lunatic- Let's Go (South Korea)
Tokyo Pinsalocks- Circle (Japan)
L'arc~En~Ciel- I Love Rock n Roll (Japan)
Polysics- Rocket (Japan)
Monday, 25 October 2010
Wednesday, 20 October 2010
The evolving tastes of Too Many Fandoms aka Blog 100
I've found that in the past year or so my tastes have changed, evolved however you want to call it. At one time I would horde comics and CD's in order to maintain and complete my collection but now I'm pickier, I've chosen necessity over obsessive compulsive buying.
Comics
With comics I have found that I am looking at titles with a more serious eye for the details I dropped Marvel's Avengers (which was one of my favourite team books) because I dislike the current writer's style of decompression where only a few pages of the story are relevant the rest is filled with clunky dialogue which just repeats itself and/or sounds completely out of character. This has made it rather difficult to enjoy other Marvel titles because other books were being influenced by the revelations that were being spun from the Avengers though not in a way that I would be completely lost (Wikipedia helps to fill the gaps).
There are some like Spider-Man which I've dropped because of editorial mandates which I didn't agree with (the of marriage between Peter and Mary Jane being wiped from everyone's mind including theirs) I felt that they could have done the more mature thing of having them divorce though it was argued that it ages the characters, even though they've aged pretty well over the last 48 years or so.
In fact my appreciation of Marvel Comics has wavered after their constant summer events crossover storylines which altered the status quo of the Marvel Universe for 12 months or so before the next event, during which time those titles affected by it would tell about three stories because nowadays comic stories are more often than not written for the trade paperback audience.
While my appreciation of Marvel Comics has wavered it has meant that my appreciation of DC has strengthened. At one time I wasn't too fussed on the two Trinity characters that weren't Batman but now I've come to like Superman and Wonder Woman because I can see them as really deep characters. Superman is more than just a survivor of Krypton who is practically invincible until faced with Kryptonite, he is an analogy of an immigrant who is paying back the society which took him in and accepted him by protecting it. Wonder Woman on the other hand is a character who is a walking contradiction as an ambassador of peace who will take up a sword to defend those who need protecting.
The stories in the DC Universe are all fairly self contained so you don't have to read JLA to understand what's happening in Batman or in The Flash, it's a story archetype that has worked for years and as the saying goes, 'if it ain't broke don't fix it'.
I've also started to read comics outside of the superhero genre, reading titles such as Fables, Joe The Barbarian and Y The Last Man to name but a few. It's a good change of pace to read comics where no one is running around in their underwear. It also makes me appreciate the superhero comics that I do read as well.
I admit that I am a trade waiter now because it’s easier to keep track of where the issues are in my collection though I have only recently begun cataloguing and properly storing the hundreds of comics I have amassed over the years. It's a great gauge as to whether I'm interested in a story or if I was just buying into the hype surrounding it at the time.
Music
My music collecting has changed a lot more than my comic collecting, for one thing I'm going to fewer gigs, having only been to five gigs this year where previous years I would have been to at least double that by now. I used to grab whatever E.P the support bands would be selling if I thought they were good but I found myself not even bothering to watch the support band at the last gig I went to (Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly) preferring instead to listen to the music on my MP3 player.
As I mentioned, I'm something of a hoarder, I tend to try and get a bands discography even though I may have only liked a few tracks from their previous album so with the aid of sites like Youtube I'm cutting the crap as it were and I'm not just buying on impulse only to regret it at a later date.
I've also gotten out of the habit of listening to mainstream western music because of my Asian Tour show, having become immersed in that side of music, though there are a few bands whom I'll still listen to on occasion. I think he main reason I chose to immerse myself into Japanese and Korean music in particular has been the fact that I like the mystery of not knowing what a song is about and coming up with my own interpretations that turn out to be completely opposite to what the artist or group intended.
However I feel that the western music industry has become too reliant on these 'design your own pop star' shows like X Factor or American Idol and while its good that the public get to choose the 'next big thing' it's kind of a cheat on those artists and bands who struggle to get a record deal when its handed out so readily if your prepared to subject yourself to the ritual humiliation of being on the TV for a few months before you debut with the finished product.
Now I realise that what I've written sounds like I have turned my back on the struggling artists who rely on people to buy their E.P's at venues where they are supporting a headline act and yes it's true, but I feel that in order for music to not start sounding stale I need to distance myself from it until such a time when my music taste changes again.
I know that the factor that changed my taste in music has been working at a radio station where you're constantly exposed to the top 40 and other tracks on a daily basis. I've experimented with so many different types of shows from rock shows to new music shows to chart shows to the drive time, lunch time and even breakfast slots and doing that variety of shows has expanded my musical pallet, it's certainly made me more appreciative of different tastes and I think it's made me a slightly more informed person
I think it's impossible for a person's taste in whatever they love to remain a constant, and with multimedia offering so much choice now it has become easier to experiment with new things.
Comics
With comics I have found that I am looking at titles with a more serious eye for the details I dropped Marvel's Avengers (which was one of my favourite team books) because I dislike the current writer's style of decompression where only a few pages of the story are relevant the rest is filled with clunky dialogue which just repeats itself and/or sounds completely out of character. This has made it rather difficult to enjoy other Marvel titles because other books were being influenced by the revelations that were being spun from the Avengers though not in a way that I would be completely lost (Wikipedia helps to fill the gaps).
There are some like Spider-Man which I've dropped because of editorial mandates which I didn't agree with (the of marriage between Peter and Mary Jane being wiped from everyone's mind including theirs) I felt that they could have done the more mature thing of having them divorce though it was argued that it ages the characters, even though they've aged pretty well over the last 48 years or so.
In fact my appreciation of Marvel Comics has wavered after their constant summer events crossover storylines which altered the status quo of the Marvel Universe for 12 months or so before the next event, during which time those titles affected by it would tell about three stories because nowadays comic stories are more often than not written for the trade paperback audience.
While my appreciation of Marvel Comics has wavered it has meant that my appreciation of DC has strengthened. At one time I wasn't too fussed on the two Trinity characters that weren't Batman but now I've come to like Superman and Wonder Woman because I can see them as really deep characters. Superman is more than just a survivor of Krypton who is practically invincible until faced with Kryptonite, he is an analogy of an immigrant who is paying back the society which took him in and accepted him by protecting it. Wonder Woman on the other hand is a character who is a walking contradiction as an ambassador of peace who will take up a sword to defend those who need protecting.
The stories in the DC Universe are all fairly self contained so you don't have to read JLA to understand what's happening in Batman or in The Flash, it's a story archetype that has worked for years and as the saying goes, 'if it ain't broke don't fix it'.
I've also started to read comics outside of the superhero genre, reading titles such as Fables, Joe The Barbarian and Y The Last Man to name but a few. It's a good change of pace to read comics where no one is running around in their underwear. It also makes me appreciate the superhero comics that I do read as well.
I admit that I am a trade waiter now because it’s easier to keep track of where the issues are in my collection though I have only recently begun cataloguing and properly storing the hundreds of comics I have amassed over the years. It's a great gauge as to whether I'm interested in a story or if I was just buying into the hype surrounding it at the time.
Music
My music collecting has changed a lot more than my comic collecting, for one thing I'm going to fewer gigs, having only been to five gigs this year where previous years I would have been to at least double that by now. I used to grab whatever E.P the support bands would be selling if I thought they were good but I found myself not even bothering to watch the support band at the last gig I went to (Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly) preferring instead to listen to the music on my MP3 player.
As I mentioned, I'm something of a hoarder, I tend to try and get a bands discography even though I may have only liked a few tracks from their previous album so with the aid of sites like Youtube I'm cutting the crap as it were and I'm not just buying on impulse only to regret it at a later date.
I've also gotten out of the habit of listening to mainstream western music because of my Asian Tour show, having become immersed in that side of music, though there are a few bands whom I'll still listen to on occasion. I think he main reason I chose to immerse myself into Japanese and Korean music in particular has been the fact that I like the mystery of not knowing what a song is about and coming up with my own interpretations that turn out to be completely opposite to what the artist or group intended.
However I feel that the western music industry has become too reliant on these 'design your own pop star' shows like X Factor or American Idol and while its good that the public get to choose the 'next big thing' it's kind of a cheat on those artists and bands who struggle to get a record deal when its handed out so readily if your prepared to subject yourself to the ritual humiliation of being on the TV for a few months before you debut with the finished product.
Now I realise that what I've written sounds like I have turned my back on the struggling artists who rely on people to buy their E.P's at venues where they are supporting a headline act and yes it's true, but I feel that in order for music to not start sounding stale I need to distance myself from it until such a time when my music taste changes again.
I know that the factor that changed my taste in music has been working at a radio station where you're constantly exposed to the top 40 and other tracks on a daily basis. I've experimented with so many different types of shows from rock shows to new music shows to chart shows to the drive time, lunch time and even breakfast slots and doing that variety of shows has expanded my musical pallet, it's certainly made me more appreciative of different tastes and I think it's made me a slightly more informed person
I think it's impossible for a person's taste in whatever they love to remain a constant, and with multimedia offering so much choice now it has become easier to experiment with new things.
Thursday, 30 September 2010
Beards Asian Tour Playlist 15/9/10
T.M. Revolution- WHITE BREATH (Japan)
BoA- Rock With You (South Korea)
Capsule- Starry Sky (Japan)
Chang Chen-Yue- Secret (China)
Fact- A Fact of Life (Japan)
Artist Spotlight: Gackt
Gackt- U+K (Japan)
GilMe ft Outsider- Love Wars (South Korea)
Nightmare- Alumina (Japan)
Versailles- Revenant Choir (Japan)
MC Sniper- So Sniper ((South Korea)
Labor Day- Cyclone Effect (Acoustic Version) (Japan)
Friday, 10 September 2010
Beards Asian Tour Playlist 8/9/10 (Japanese Special)
Aya Kamiki ft Takuya- W Boiled Extreme
Zebra Queen- Zebra Queen No Theme
Ayumi Hamasaki- Marionette
Malice Mizer- Illuminati
HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR- Re:ache
Artist Spotlight- Gackt
Gackt- Mizerable
Miyavi- Survive
Misono- Lovely Cats Eyes
Trilogy of tracks: Fruity
Natccu- Apple z
An Café- Cherry Saku Yuuki
Electric Eel Shock- Goodbye Peach
Tommy Heavenly6- Hey My Friend
Saturday, 21 August 2010
Beard's Asian Tour playlist 4/8/10
New Pants- You're My Superstar (China)
Hyori Lee ft Natsun- U-Go-Girl (Korea)
Tucker ft Ken One- Horror Hop (Japan)
Trilogy of Tracks: Bands I've seen live this year
Hyori Lee ft Natsun- U-Go-Girl (Korea)
Tucker ft Ken One- Horror Hop (Japan)
Trilogy of Tracks: Bands I've seen live this year
- Sunset Drive- We've Got To Talk (Japan/New Zealand)
- Lillies And Remains- Wreckage(Japan)
- Gackt- EVER (Japan)
Zebra Queen- NAMIDA (Japan)
Sniper Sound- One Nation (Korea/USA)
Polysics- Pretty Good (Japan)
Outsider- Acquaintance (Korea)
MC Mong- Chun Ha Moo Juk (Invincible) (Korea)
The TRAX- Paradox (Korea)
An Cafe- Kakusei Heroism (Japan)
T.M. Revolution- Meteor (Japan)
Sniper Sound- One Nation (Korea/USA)
Polysics- Pretty Good (Japan)
Outsider- Acquaintance (Korea)
MC Mong- Chun Ha Moo Juk (Invincible) (Korea)
The TRAX- Paradox (Korea)
An Cafe- Kakusei Heroism (Japan)
T.M. Revolution- Meteor (Japan)
Five For Friday 20
5. MC Mong- Chun Ha Moo Juk (Invincible)
4. Gackt- EVER
3. Ayumi Hamasaki- Marionette
Ayumi Hamasaki - Marionette - MyVideo
2. Gackt- Uncontrol (Live)
1. Ayumi Hamasaki- Evolution (Live)
4. Gackt- EVER
3. Ayumi Hamasaki- Marionette
Ayumi Hamasaki - Marionette - MyVideo
2. Gackt- Uncontrol (Live)
1. Ayumi Hamasaki- Evolution (Live)
Thursday, 29 July 2010
Happy Birthday OAP Wonder
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| Robin's first appearance in Detective Comics issue 38 |
Last year Batman celebrated his 70th year in publication, this year Batman's first partner in crime Dick Grayson (aka Robin, Nightwing and now Batman) celebrates his 70th year in publication, not too shabby for a former Boy Wonder or should I say OAP Wonder.
In April 1940 just eleven months after the emergence of Batman, creators Bob Kane, Bill Finger and Jerry Robinson gave the caped crusader a moral compass in the guise of Dick Grayson aka Robin. In an origin that somewhat mirrored Batman’s own, the young Dick Grayson witnessed his acrobatic parents death at the hand of crime boss Tony Zucco who arranged for the trapeze wires his parents were using to snap. Batman as Bruce Wayne also witnesses the Grayson’s death and takes Dick in as both ward and sidekick eventually bringing Zucco to justice.
Batman and Robin shared many adventures in the comics and even on TV most notably the live action television series where Robin was portrayed by actor Burt Ward who often exclaimed 'Holy [insert word] Batman' like “Holy haberdashery, Batman!”there is a full archive of Burt Ward's sayings here. he was a prominent character in the Batman comic up until the late sixties when the current writer Denny O’Neil felt Batman had to be a much darker character which meant the light hearted Robin was written out of Batman’s life and sent to college though features in a backup feature in Detective comics.
It was also during the sixties where Robin met fellow sidekicks Aqualad (Aquaman’s sidekick) and Kid Flash (Flash’s sidekick) they teamed up to battle a villain called Mr Twister before adding Green Arrow’s sidekick Speedy and Wonder Woman’s sidekick Wonder Girl to the ranks becoming the Teen Titans. Robin became the defacto leader of the team which soon expanded its ranks including Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven and Dick’s on and off girlfriend the alien Starfire. Dick’s leadership skills have also seen him lead a substitute Justice League of America when the main team was incapacitated and also the Outsiders.
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| Robin's progression into Nightwing |
Depending on what version you read, Robin’s graduation into the costumed identity either came out of being weary of being Batman’s young sidekick or he was fired from being Robin after a nasty encounter with Two Face. Though despite the conflicting origins (one being pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths and the other was post-Crisis on Infinite Earths) the inspiration for the name Nightwing came from a story Superman told him about a hero from the Kryptonian city of Kandor.
Distancing himself from Batman, Grayson moved to Gotham’s neighbouring city Blüdhaven a corrupt city where the cops were as bad as the villains that operated in it. Dick joined the police force there in an attempt to help the city in the day as well as the night. During the Knightfall saga Dick was called in by the third Robin (Tim Drake) after Batman had his back broken by Bane and had asked the unstable Jean Paul Valley (Azrael) to take over the mantle of the bat, though Robin brought Nightwing in to help out after Jean Paul shunned the current boy wonder’s help. After Jean Paul was brought down by a recovered Bruce Wayne, Bruce asked Dick to take over the mantle of the bat until he had fully recovered Dick reluctantly agrees but asks why he didn’t ask in the first place which Bruce states he thought Dick wouldn’t want to do it as he was his own person now though Dick reveals he would have done it if asked.
The rift between Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne mended over time as Grayson helped out during Gotham’s period of being classed as a No Man’s Land after a giant earthquake wrecked through it as well as helping out during a gangland war instigated by Batman’s fourth Robin Stephanie Brown. During Infinite Crisis Batman told Nightwing that he did something Batman never could, keeping up relationships within the superhero community while Batman neglected them.
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| Dick becomes Batman |
After the Crisis and healing from a near fatal wound from Alexander Luthor (which at the time was going to be fatal as DC at the time had planned to kill Nightwing off) Dick Grayson found himself in New York trying to rebuild his life after Blüdhaven was destroyed. however this didn’t last very long as Batman was thought killed by the evil New God Darkseid (In reality Batman was time displaced) at first Dick was hesitant to allow the Batman legacy to continue however when a recently returned Jason Todd (the second Robin who was killed by The Joker) took up the mantle of Batman and began using aggressive tactics which went against Bruce’s no guns and no killing policy, Dick fought Jason and beat him, before picking up the mantle of Batman Dick chose the illegitimate love child of Bruce Wayne and Talia Al Ghul, Damian to be his new Robin so that he could keep an eye on him. In the process he angered Tim Drake who was already feeling sidelined by the emergence of Damian after only just being adopted as Bruce Wayne’s son. Dick explained that Tim would always been an equal to him, never a sidekick.
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| Batman Vs Robin |
And so the new Dynamic Duo set out fighting foes such as Professor Pyg, The Flamingo and Jason Todd in his identity as The Red Hood (an identity he had held before) as well as fighting against one another (though it was revealled that the villain Deathstroke was controlling Damian). Dick also faced off against Two Face once again, this time as Batman and managed to convince Two Face that he was fighting the actual Batman.
The new dynamic duo is different from previous incarnations as there is now a Batman who is more light hearted while the new Robin is much like his father, however Damian has since grown to respect Dick as Batman as they search for clues to bring the time displaced Batman back while facing The Joker and Dr Hurt who may be Bruce Wayne’s father. But with Bruce Wayne returning in the autumn where does that leave the former Boy Wonder? Only time will tell.
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