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Random Normality of a Graphical Nature
This Week In Normality — Under the Radar *Updated with Comic Goodness*
I’ll be honest, I chose this theme to further my own nefarious ends. You see, about a month ago I finished reading a novel called I Am Not Sidney Poitier by Percival Everett. As I attempted, on several occasions, to write a review and somehow make said review fit into theme after theme, I kept hitting on the same point…no one knows who Percival Everett (or, very few people do) and he’s a genius. That thought then gave rise to the idea that we all (the general all, all of us in the world) love some thing that isn’t popular, and here we have arrived.
It occurs to me, though, that this may become more of a semi-regular topic…say, every six months or so…because I know that I always come across stuff (books and music, mostly) that aren’t wildly popular and I know Stoker could probably rattle off several comics he’s currently reading I didn’t even know existed. We all have our “things.”
Percival Everett, to the best of my knowledge, has never published anything with a major publisher and most of his books are out of print. So unless your a totally insane bibliophile (get your mind out of the gutter…it means book lover) or have take American Lit 1950-Present at Chapman University like I did, you’ve probably never heard of him, which is a damn shame and I lament in more detail in the actual review.
But, of course, “under the radar” doesn’t just mean obscure authors. Jezmon shows us that something can be hiding right in front of us…or more precisely, a show can be on network television, kick ass, and still not get its due.
Stoker enlightens us all on the fact that even someone who is a globally known musician can have creative outlets less well known.
Mustardseed considers how best to deal with the coming magnetic apocalypse of 2012 that no one is aware of.
And, you know what, I like some damn obscure authors so I’ve also highlighted my, hands down, all time favorite science fiction novel which is out of print but readily available online and WILLBLOWYOURFUCKINGMINDISWEARTOGODTHISISNOBULLSHIT!
But hey, I’m not done! Remember I said I like obscure authors <em>and</em> music so why not check out, and rock out to the best band from Murfreesboro Tennessee that you’ve definitely never heard of.
Damnit, I can’t stop! I swear to god, this the last one. Other than So You Think You Can Dance (which is, actually, now done and I can’t believe Jeanine won…the wife says she should thank her boobs), my current favorite show (until Fringe comes back, baby!) can be found on BBC America.
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Aie, I hear you. My current ‘thing’ is South Korean pop music. I love it and I don’t even know what the heck they’re saying. (Though sadly enough, when I read translations it’s… not much.)
There is a girl at my current bookmines who, though she is of chinese descent, listens exclusively to japanese pop and metal in the back room at ungodly decibel levels. No doubt I am much more familiar with far east music than I ever wanted to be…but Korean pop…is there any difference from the japanese variety?
The two big differences that I could discern were 1) that high wail-y tremolo thing the men do? Koreans don’t do that. Their voices sound like something that might be on our radios, not like people who could double as weather sirens and 2) when Koreans insert English into their songs it isn’t just one random word (usually), and you can tell when it happens and what they’ve said. Again, usually. I could the first time I heard someone sing English in a song and was amazed I recognized it. They have the Engrish, and the curious habit of turning every ‘s’ sound to ‘sh’ but it’s quite understandable.
I cannot stand jpop or jrock. It’s a bunch of screeching. If you want to listen to some typical kpop try looking up SHINee’s ‘Juliette’, SNSD’s ‘Genie (Tell Me Your Wish)’ << I recommend that one for you Kilian since it has a lot of hot girls and leg shots, Super Junior’s ‘Sorry Sorry’, or ‘Nobody’ by the Wonder Girls << again lots of hot girls, but two of them aren’t legal.
k-pop sounds more mainstream than j-pop to me. i know of 3 k-pop artists that are trying to debut in the US: the aforementioned Wonder Girls (I like ‘Nobody’), BoA and Se7en. they all have a more hip-hop/r&b/pop/dance feel to them that i associate w/ mainstream US music. but i like all the asian pop music i’ve heard lately, which is really weird since i normally listen to alt-rock.
The Wonder Girls are currently opening for the Jonas Brothers and I know at least one of them speaks very good English already. BoA has an English video out, but her company’s not as aggressive at promoting her (or targeting another audience, whoever they are). Se7en’s just been pulled back to Korea in a move that made no sense to his fans or his American agents, who’d booked him with really good upcoming stuff. But all males in Korea have a mandatory 2 years in the armed forces, served sometime between the ages of 20-30, which is why boybands and male artists have to cram in as much as possible before they’re shipped off. The rumor is that Se7en’s company wants to drag him home to hype his work in Korea before his time for the military comes in order to help him make a possible comeback when he gets out.
I now know much more about asian popular music than I ever thought I would, thanks for the suggestions. Kerri, dayflow, you can be the official NR Asian Music correspondents.