Sun, 26 May: Weekly Review 12

At work in the library I happened to check out our magazine rack and noticed a copy of Vogue with two members of NewJeans on the cover (it was the January edition). They were Danielle and Hanni, and the title was Hype Girls, Australia’s Next Kpop Superstars, Danielle and Hanni from NewJeans. I borrowed it, which would probably be a first for me. There were some nice photos of the two, and the text was the usual puff piece with some light and fluffy questions answered politely by the girls. Nothing groundbreaking, no revelations, just an article emphasising the Australian angle, but a pleasant read. It was nice to see them in such a high end magazine.

I finished the novel Timescape by Gregory Benford tonight. What a good read, my second time around. It’s one of those novels where the story structure is such, with little revealing details piling up, that by the last fifty or so pages you are completely rivetted.  It was like that for me: I did the last seventy or so pages in this last sitting. The central conceit of the novel, that scientists from a plagued future might be able to warn scientists in the past and thus save their own timeline, is irresistible. Some of the characters were more interesting and well-rounded than others: such as Gordon Bernstein, the scientist from 1962 trying to decipher the cryptic messages from the future; and Ian Peterson, the womanising bureaucrat helping the scientists of 1998 get the funding and equipment they need to send their messages. The earlier storyline, set in 1962/3, adds a take on the JFK assassination that I wasn’t sure was too necessary, but it was a fun detail anyway.  Benford, who is a working scientist, has a feel for time travel paradoxes that leaves most time travel yarns in the dirt. A splendid read, and I can’t wait for the coming sequel.

Read the latest Librarything newsletter. As usual, it was chockers with good info. I read a bit of the science fiction newsboard, where there were lively discussions about the best books of the month and of what others were reading, including a comment about reading the Philip Jose Farmer’s Riverworld series and how it needed condensing. It’s a thought I had when I originally read the series, and it led me to doing my own rebuild of it, essentially condensing the material as suggested by the above reader. Here’s a blog about how I did this in the Archive section. Elsewhere, under Freedom of Expression, there was a report about countries where authors were jailed for their writing. China came out on top with 105 imprisoned last year, with Iran second with 47. There was also a link to the recent ABC coverage of the Cumberland City Council protests in Sydney. It was citizen actions like that that overturned the original stupid decision to have books about same sex marriages banned. In all, the work that goes into the newsletter is quite impressive. There are so many links, so many issues covered in each edition.

I’m so behind in my social media viewing. There have been so many Twitter/X items of interest to me, I don’t know where to start. The Ad Professor’s 12 Most Creative Billboard Ads. thread was a good one. The Viagra billboard has a nice visual pun. During last year’s Twice concerts member Momo wowed us with her pole dancing expertise as part of her solo performance. Her practice clips have just gone up and they are awesome. James Lucas did a nice thread of Historical Photos You’ve Probably Never Seen Before which included Juliane Koepcke, a girl who fell out of a plane in 1974 and not only survived the fall but survived in the Amazon Jungle for ten days; and an amazing photo of a telegraph pole linesman giving cpr to his electrocuted colleague who hangs upside down on the pole. Lil Waist’s Best Kpop Releases of 2024 So Far was heavily weighted towards gens 4 and 5, but I’m not complaining. There were many artists and songs I didn’t know, so it made a good Kpop advisory for little old me. Lastly, good old JRR Jokien’s The Beacons Are Lit meme featuring a picture of a bird seemingly demonstrating just that, was a gem. There are so many more I could list.

I borrowed from my library and watched the start of the anime Maken Ki season one today. This is what’s known as an ecchi anime, basically meaning Hentai (pervert) with a small h. So, not exactly pornographic, but getting there. It’s a peculiarly Japanese phenomenon in anime and manga where it’s okay to have explicit pantie shots of young girls (sometimes so explicit there’s some camel toe!) and very big boobies just a’hangin’ out. It’s okay because the boys who usually amass these harems of girls, and who sexually harass them, are always given some comeuppance for their dirty deeds. When I first saw an ecchi, which was the second season of Maken Ki, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Why were the boys’ noses always spouting blood when they were around girls? Was it a metaphor for you-know-what? Have we time-warped back to the Seventies when Benny Hill was King? Admittedly, some of it was crazy funny: especially an episode of MK season two featuring a lecherous German-accented Teddy Bear (‘My goodness, these are Zeppelins!’ he shouts when a well-endowed girl hugs him to her big breasts). There is actually a story here, and there’s character development, and some of it’s even sweet, but season one is shaping up to be even more lewd than season two was. Call it a guilty pleasure and just leave it at that then, shall we?

I had a listen to Aespa’s Drama album,  while waiting for the new album called Armageddon. The songs You and YOLO are really sounding good to me. You, the final song, is just an exquisite ballad worthy of something Twice might do. I really like the melody change up at the 1:30 mark. YOLO is just a kickass song with a chanted chorus that sticks in my brain in a good way. Y.O.L.O. You go, ‘oh no’, we go yolo. THAT part. It’s interesting, You Only Live Once (the meaning of the acronym) is another of their existence songs, like Better Things, Life’s Too Short and Dreams Come True. Makes a nice change from all that love stuff. They’re too spicy for your heart. Now I feel properly prepared for Armageddon (yuk yuk!).

That great authority on pop music, TeenVogue, put out a list of Best Girl Groups of All-Time (saw this on Twitter/X, in case yr wondering). Actually, it wasn’t too bad. The focus was on girl groups as opposed to girls in rock bands, so we’re talking Sixties girl groups like the Ronettes and Nineties like the Spice Girls and later Kpop girl groups like Twice and Blackpink. Not the Breeders, or the Bangles, the Slits, or Go Go’s, etc. The top spot was taken by the Supremes, and it’s hard to argue with that one. The Sixties girl groups were well represented with the Ronettes, the Crystals and others, but where were the Shangri-Las? In my opinion, the best of all. And where was Girl’s Generation or Mamamoo for the Kpop side of things? Oh well, I do love a good list, but this could’ve been better.

Turns out another Kpop girl group, NewJeans, have got into a little controversy lately (or storm in a teacup, depending on your point of view). It seems, according to an Allkpop article, there was a popular Mexican girl group from the Nineties called Jeans who may have ‘inspired’ some of their concept. I actually don’t care about whether NewJeans was ever based on some OldJeans group (would explain why they’re new jeans though). They’re clearly original enough and good enough to stand on their own, thank you. I’m more interested in the actual fact of the existence of this earlier group. I’d never heard of them, and I already love the concept: a fricken Mexican girl group from the Nineties, who were actually popular somewhere! I want to see them, I want to hear their songs. I want more, give me more! The things you miss out on living in little old Australia.

I had another look at my Buffy Tarot deck. Reading through the booklet it suggested I cleanse the deck by leaving it in the light of the full moon. It just so happened to be a full moon tonight, with a clear sky, so that’s exactly what I did. And just to make sure each card was cleansed, I shuffled through the entire pack, from Major to Minor Arcana, and exposed every card to the moon’s light. It was chilly out there, and I felt slightly ridiculous, but I got it done. I must admit, alcohol may have played a part in this.

I finished the anime Maken Ki season one last night. It never really let up with the lewdness, and the story wasn’t much chop, and it wasn’t as funny as the second season, but it satisfied my curiosity about the first season (yes, I watched it the wrong way around). One thing to note, I watched both shows in dub form, rather than my usual subs. I’m a sub guy mostly, but I watched the second season in dub and it made sense to keep that continuity. The American cast did a good job, especially the guy who did the voice of the main character, Takeru. But I thought the voice of the main female character, Haruko, didn’t fit. She sounded too whiney, where I imagine Haru’s voice should be sweet. You notice these things more when it’s the dub. Another reason why I don’t like dubs generally. The original Japanese voices are either always perfect, or you just don’t notice it so much. There was an extra disc in the set that featured a series of ridiculous lewd exercise videos. Each girl from the series was demonstrating sit ups or squats and other exercises and complaining how the viewer/camera seemed to be perving on their naughty bits. Which it was/we were. I’m not sure why I like crossing this weird cultural divide of ecchi anime. Maybe it’s because I can, or maybe I just get sick of Western Wokeness. I-I can’t explain. I have no words…Forgive me.

And now to something far more wholesome. I watched episode three of Time To Twice: Death Note on Youtube. They’ve upped the chaos factor with this ep and introduced new coloured pens, orange and green, and erasers, and only given a very vague explanation for what they do. Sana is top of the tally with two lives, but that can change at any moment with this show. She spends much of the episode crouched on the floor looking for more pens under tables and chairs, like a confused hamster. The narration suggests she is cleaning the floor, like a human broom. Other, more pro-active members, like Momo and Jeongyeon, swoop up a bunch of goodies, even though they’re not sure what to do with them. Tzuyu goes to the Death Zone and tries writing her name in both green and orange pens to see what that will result in. Going by some directions on a wall, some of the members speculate the orange pen doubles a life. Another feature, the Game Zone, is introduced and first to try it is Nayeon. She plays rock/paper/scissors with the stakes being 20 lives, and loses. She spends the rest of the episode complaining to anyone who will listen that she’s down 20 lives. My girl Mina seems a bit AWOL in this ep, but there’s a nice shot of her happily wandering the aisles looking like she’s already won the entire game. Chaeyoung, Tzuyu and Dahyun enter the Death Zone to write their names, but it seems many of the members are hoarding their goodies and waiting for the final round to be in a better position to know what to do with them. A good strategy. The end debrief, with the girls sitting around a table, reveals Momo and Nayeon with the biggest collection of erasers. How will they use them? Can they swap them for more pens? It’s getting confusing! This is definitely a show that rewards repeat viewings. So many details missed. The comments section also offers some good observations. One thing’s for sure: everyone’s having a good time. Final ep coming up, I think!

I visited my friends Lui and Lisa in the arvo and, after pizza and some booze, we watched some Portlandia episodes, then a bit of Rage. Speaking of Portlandia, I still can’t believe that’s the same Carrie Brownstein who plays such kick ass guitar in Sleater-Kinney, a band I’ve seen live twice. I’ve seen other episodes where her bandmate, Corrine Tucker, appears. One of the eps we watched had Fred Armisen and his nerd buddies threatened by ‘Hunks’, as represented by guest star Ashton Kutcher. The Hunks and the Nerds have an hilarious dance-off that riffs on West Side Story. The guests for tonight’s Rage were Rob Younger and Jim Dickson from classic Seventies punk band Radio Birdman. It was a good selection of bands they played, including The Jam, The Kinks, The Who, Small Faces, The Ramones and Blondie. The Blondie clip was Union City Blue: a good song, but after a good start where the band are playing on a wharf, the clip goes south when the band are seen poncing about in the dark, directionless and lame.

I went to Office Works after work and printed out some more Twice pics. I have a bunch of Minas, so I printed out five good ones of each of the other eight members. They’re so pretty… Whilst there I spied a nice Retro Gaming Mechanical Keyboard with colourful backlights, and bought it. The keys are circular and raised, and it looks like one of those steampunk keyboards, which I love. When I hooked it up and tried it out I found it was very noisy. Lots of click clack clack of the keys, which gives off a pleasant visceral effect. I wouldn’t want to use it where the noise would annoy people, but luckily my brother, who I share with, is deaf as a post. The backlit coloured keys are (like Twice) pretty and I can see them clearly at night when I’m typing, which was the main point of getting it. A nice, semi-necessary purchase.

My audio interface is really giving me the shits. I managed to get an output from the computer to the amp with it, that was fine. But getting input from an amp to the computer with it was highly problematic, let’s say. My computer just doesn’t read the Instr 2 input, even though there’s definitely sound going into it from the amp. I tried a bunch of combinations and settings but nothing’s worked. The Mic/Line 1 input goes through, but it’s doing weird things when I use an amp source. It sends microphones okay, though. It’s very frustrating. At this point I’m thinking I’ll just set up the old desktop comp and audio interface for dedicated digitising and leave it at that. Sorry for the vent, but I’ve gotta get it out.

It’s all over the web how Scarlett Johansson kind of got hacked by the ChatGPT 4.0 system recently. I saw a statement from her on Twitter/X about the situation. They had wanted to hire her to do the voice for the system, because her voice would be ‘comforting to people’. She declined; but when she discovered the demo version featured a faked version of her voice, she sent lawyers letters to the company to explain. The company quickly cancelled the demo. The case brings up interesting questions about the protection of individual rights, but there’s also the irony of Major Motoko (who she played in Ghost In the Shell) being cyberised against her will. Clearly, ScaJo, like Motoko, ain’t to be messed around with.

Speaking of which, I read a bit more of my Ghost In the Shell: Man-Machine Interface manga. Gotta say, it’s becoming a bit of a hot mess. I just read chapter three, where Motoko uses a clone called Clarise to hack an operator, and it goes on and on with so much technical jargon in a cyberspace that looks cluttered and ugly. I just wanted to know what information the operator had that was so important, but it took so long. I still like it – it’s Ghost – but so far all I’ve seen is semi-porn visuals and wilful obscurity in the narrative. I hope it gets better but, at this stage, I see why it hasn’t been made into an anime.

My library is having a sale at the moment and I grabbed a copy of the Disney film Fantasia on DVD. What a great film! I first saw it in the cinema in the Eighties during a special run of a remastered version. The Night On Bald Mountain sequence near the end is the best, with flame and fire and demons running amok. It was strange to me that I didn’t already have a copy. There’s an Italian film called Allegro Non Troppo which does a fantastic satirical take on it. The Bolero sequence with its marching dinosaurs is a particular treat. It’s easy to be cynical about the Disney brand, it’s so ubiquitous. But I’m not. I’ve been to Disneyland in California, and my inner child had a ball. And I think of all the genuine happiness Disney products have brought to children and the world. Yep, it’s a multinational corp. It’s probably evil. But I don’t hate it.

I watched one of my colleagues, Maggie, re-cover a book today. She carefully cut the sticky plastic to size and folded it around the book, and it was good as new. She also explained to me the trick of using glue to stick loose pages back in – but you sometimes have to cut off the edge of the page if it sticks out. This is an old craft used by generations of librarians, but it seems to be disappearing. What Maggie was doing was actually unusual in today’s library climate. We are usually expected to throw out books that even have just a little bit of imperfection about them. Torn or loose page – throw it out. Ratty cover – throw it out. I mean, we do get downright grotty books come in that I happily throw out, but so many could be saved. It’s just not the mentality, especially with management. I mentioned this to another colleague, Belinda, later after Maggie had gone home, and she laughed and said, ‘Keep it quiet, we’re not supposed to do that’. So, just quietly…we have Outlaw Book Repairers at this library.

I watched an episode of Hard Quiz, the ABC show hosted by comedian Tom Gleeson. It’s an enjoyable concept, based on people’s expert subjects, a perfect vehicle for Gleeson to unleash his wise-cracking brand of smart-arsery. And the contestants are often good value. But it’s the subjects they choose that either get me in or make me turn away. For tonight’s ep the subjects were Anne of Green Gables, Alice Cooper, Chickens and some fashion designer. I watched for the Green Gables lady (I love that book series by LM Montgomery, absolutely adore it – even wrote a song about it). And, have to say, she was a bit of a cutey. Unfortunately she didn’t get to the final round. The Alice Cooper guy was interesting: singer in an Alice Cooper tribute band in Adelaide, and he looked the part. Unfortunately he didn’t last long either. So it was down to Chickens and the fashion designer guy, so I switched off. The show always inspires the eternal question: if you went on the show, what would your subject be? For me it would probably be The Kinks.

Then I watched Gruen, which followed it. Hosted by yet another comedian, Will Anderson, this show has a panel of advertising experts talking about the latest ads. There are always two regular experts, the cool and skeptical Todd Sampson, and his complete opposite, the advertising-branded daggy dude Russel Howcroft. It’s often their contrast, and Anderson’s ringleader confidence and snarkery between them, that makes the show. Tonight’s episode looked at a road safety ad featuring the Grim Reaper distracting a car-driving mobile phone-user to their death. Sampson and the two guest panelists enthused about the ad’s use of humour, and threw stats about the amount of people who die in cars because of phone use, and made observations about the ad’s projected demographic. But an outraged Howcroft complained the ad isn’t funny, and shouldn’t be funny. He appealed to Anderson, who, as a comedian, was able to explain to him in slow, lengthy detail why the ad is funny, as though he was speaking to a child. The Pitch section, where the show gets two ad agencies in to do an ad about a tricky topic and the panelists choose the best, was about selling a nuclear power plant in your home town. Both agencies made a good fist of the idea, and the panelists scored them a tie. I wonder if Peter Dutton (Liberal Party leader trying to push for nuclear power at the moment) was making notes? Who knew a show about advertising and marketing could be so entertaining and informative?

Kpop group Aespa are offering a version of their new Armageddon album that includes a special portable cd player with it. It’s a crazy marketing ploy with a touch of genius, because that version of the album is already sold out on pre-sales alone. Unfortunately it’s only available to Korean fans, at the moment. It’s silly, but I guess I’d like a copy too, even though I’ve already ordered the standard version. The cd player looks pretty cool, but as some observers have pointed out, it’s the equivalent of a $30 player going for over $100. This will be the group’s first full length album, and I’m so here for it.

I’m looking for a new car, so today I checked out Car City, a big car sales complex just outside Ringwood. I wasn’t looking to buy, just to browse, get an idea of what I like (it’s been a while since I bothered). The searching was a bit of an adventure in itself. I worried I’d get constantly harassed by aggressive salesmen, but they were pretty chill. One, a black dude, smiled at me and said I reminded him of Larry David, the comedian from Curb Your Enthusiasm. I sarcastically thanked him. David’s doppelganger on Seinfeld was George, and guess what I used to get called by some (cheeky) students when I was a teacher? Yep, George. And I HATED it. I guess the salesman was looking to get a conversation going, but I wasn’t biting. My old car’s a nice Holden station wagon, and I’d like something similar, but they don’t make station wagons like they used to. I’m looking to move on from my usual Holdens or Fords. The Toyotas looked good, especially the Camrys. I liked some Hyundais, too, especially one called a Sonata. I like the musical name. As I looked around the lots it occurred to me that what I was really looking for was a Goldilocks car – one that was juuust right. I was just waiting for a salesman to ask me, ‘What do you want, mate?’ ‘I’m looking for the Goldilocks model. Have ya got one of those, mate?’

I watched the second half of Poppin’ Party’s First Concert, one of the blurays I brought back from Japan with me. They are the musicians and voices behind the characters in the BangDream anime: basically a very cute Jpop girl band. Watching the concert is pretty much like watching the anime in real life (though, truth be told, the anime girls are a little cuter). The songs and performances were great, and the girls’ musicianship and vocals were superb. I wonder if the girls would ever like to establish their own musical identities outside of the anime show they’re attached to. It’s an age old dilemma, most famously represented by The Monkees. I’ve seen a lot of these Jpop and Jrock concerts, and they’re always a good time. Girls with guitars (and drums and keys), it’s a beautiful thing.