Wednesday, October 30, 2013

A Sea Sick Reality

Sorry for the late post, but the eye doctor really zapped all of my time. Turns out my left eye's astigmatism has gotten worse. The extremist in me says I should just put it out, buy an eye patch, and begin my life as a ...

PIRATE!

...seriously though, they've been in the news, and they're not like you'd expect. Isn't the stereotypical pirate that nearly every American envisions is the Capt. Jack Sparrow or Blackbeard figure: powerful, cunning, charismatic leaders, and ruthless with a hint of honor? Well, forget the Pirates of the Caribbean, and start thinking "pirates of Nigeria". They're everything you'd expect from a pirate, except there's a harsh reality in the business. There are no swords. There is no honor code. There is no charm. There is only the money, the guns, and everything else that's in the way of getting it. It's a very bloody mess.

In Recent News...

Nigerian pirates have assaulted an American oil tanker, taking hostage both captain and chief engineer -- both American. No doubt they'll get what they came for, with plenty of booty and more. Regardless of a rescue op or not, there will probably be blood spilt, and those nightmarish devils will recede back into the darkness of the mist-covered ocean...

Personal Input

I am a romanticist. That's the bottom line. To see such a gruesome reality in one of my most treasured professions (if you can call it that), is just so...terribly sad for me. The pirate is everything I, everything WE cannot be -- truly free. He works outside of the system. He takes what he wants, when he wants to, and how he wants to do it. No God (i.e. no enforced moral code), no glory, no king -- only women, wine, and pleasurable wealth. And even though he always plays by his own rules, he never lets his own liberty burden others. If he pillages a village, only hostiles are captured/killed. If he boards a ship, no gun is fired unless fired upon first. The legendary figure I have in my head is a living paradox, called the Gentleman Pirate -- and he's a figure that probably never existed, except in the form of the privateer.

THE KING MADE THE PIRATE WHAT HE IS.

The privateer was quite an opportunist. When the king needed men to work outside the bureaucracy of his regular army, the privateer was ready for the gold. The English monarchy needed men, unmarked personnel, devoid of any national or political affiliation, to attack Spanish ships without the Spanish being able to trace it back to the English. As I know it, any loot they found was theirs to keep, just as long as they attacked the Spanish. Think of them a private contractors, PMCs, or whatever... working outside of the law, for God, Gold, and Glory.

Then, economic decision to hire on "naval thugs" was thought as morally wrong by the king's subjects and so it was outlawed. The approval was gone, but not the privateers. Haven been abandoned by their county and king, they became pirates, ones willing to plunder anything for anything. Legends were made, and the rest is history...

These pirates,

the ones we see in the news, are related to the historical ones, in that they are naval gangs. Either they are contracted to do the plunder, or the profit is in the plunder itself. Regardless, it's a sick sick reality.




On a side note, I will be dressing as Jack Sparrow for Halloween... heheh

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

THE Shutdown

So the Fed shutdown for a bit, now what?


The aftermath seems simple:
  • Who came out on top = democrats
  • Who came out disorganized, and split = republicans
  • There seems to be a substantial amount of debt (more than there already was)
  • There's an elephant in the room.

The Chaos


During, and in the aftermath of the Federal crisis, one thing was apparent: the parties were showing their true character. That is, the Democratic party was holding strong together on their own values while the GOP seemed to be split in their ideals; it shows in their voting. While the Democrats were united in Obama's legislation, "of the Republicans, 18 Senate and 144 in the House opposed the legislation, while 27 in the Senate and 87 in the House supported it." (Roberts, Lewis, Pilkington) The Tea Party, needless to say, was split.


The Debt

Wasn't the skyrocketing debt the reason why the Fed made a "debt ceiling"? And guess what, the debt NOR the ceiling is gone. Along with the $24 billion debt built up by the crisis, our precious U.S.A. still has $60 trillion, more or less, to deal with (according to the US National Debt Clock: Real Time). Get this, this whole Federal nonsense, that has "no economic rationale", says Mr. VP JB, COULD REPEAT! Yup, resolution to the problem just another band-aid, raise the debt ceiling...again. The deal will fund the government until January 15th and raise the infamous ceiling until February 7th. There was alot of disorganization the first time around, let's hope something is properly done -- don't change the band-aid, we need some antibiotics and stitches! (I applaud anyone who can follow my lunacy)

That Elephant...

Sooooooooo, Fed functions are back to normal, everything's s'well, right?...Right?....WRONG! Congress is absolutely scarred by this crisis. The impending stress of another Fed crisis is probably not off everyone's mind, allowing for high tensions. The Republican party has some splits to take care of, and the unified Democratic party easily has the power. With the wrong push, this bicameral system could easily be torn apart by a coup d'etat of sorts of one party over the other...but that's simply an extreme. A bigger problem is afoot -- the lack of bipartisanship! The idea behind our sort of political system was that the differences in the ideals of both parties would complement each other's to create a perfect result: legislature that embodies the best of both worlds for the best of the American people!

With this event, the Fed Shutdown (a.k.a the Elephant), clearly some scars and rifts were made in Congress, and a cooperative (or at the very least, a decisive and practical) future of legislature seems very...fantastical.


Side note: I found what the foreigner said at the end of the theguardian's article pretty funny and enlightening, being that the fall of one party happened in his native land's history -- when Mao Zedong took over.

My, my, that's a lot of debt -- about $60 trillion worth.
A little doodle.

Soto, Steven. "I.O.U." . 23 Oct 2013. Pen & graphite on 4.75" x 9" drawing paper.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Anarchy

So a man was brutally beaten...lets play the blame game.

I saw the video, as I'm sure many have, and what I witnessed was the abuse of the law on both parties -- Alexian Lien (the poor fool, stupid enough to disturb a wasps nest) and the Hollywood Stunz group (a.k.a the wasps' nest).

You just don't do that, Lien.


So yea, the biker group was aggressively blocking major roadways for their fun. They should have found a way to legally reserve some road somewhere, or at least find some other place to do their fun (i.e not a major public roadway that leads to a major metropolitan area). But a guy, with all logic/reason, just doesn't commit vehicular assault on a couple of bikers (with a family in the car) and expect everything to be hunky dory -- especially if every one of his biker buddies will wittiness it! Seriously, is it healthy to poke a bear? Is it reasonable to spit on a lion? Is it OK to kick a horse's hind leg while standing behind it? Then as to why poor Lien decided to piss-off an army of bikers is beyond me...I'm sure the meeting with the boss, or the lunch break, or a beer with the guys, or whatever it was could have waited. "But what if it was an emergency", many would ask. Well, one emergency certainly doesn't resolve another. As anyone who saw the whole video would agree, he would have gotten caught by the traffic either way. Way to go Lien...


Am I supporting the bikers?


Slightly. What they did was extreme and unlawful....but quite human. While I applaud their humanity and desire for justice (again Lien, I'm sure you didn't have to ram your car into them if you wanted to pass...) they didn't have to smash the guy's face in. If one man had the Land Rover's action on camera, I'm sure others did too. The evidence would have been more than enough to convict Road Rage Lien. The authorities should have handled this business.

hah, the law always feels better when the blues bash in the the brains of a road-rage-maniac than when the public takes the matter into their own hands.

Which brings me to my final point...

Where were the authorities? Being that they failed to prevent this havoc, they have the ultimate blame. There was a massive street hunt through town, just to catch and get vengeance on this one guy, AND no cops were around to stop it? I mean, if one kid brings a knife to school, every cop in a 20 mile radius flips (exaggeration), but if a swarm of bikers hunt one guy down in public, no authorities are around to bring the peace? It is this sort of weakness, shown by the local authorities, that gives way to the criminal groups that many fear: gangs, mafias, cartels, you name it. Lucky for us, this show of local force was done by a group of biker stunt artist -- not a gang or self-appointed militia.

Remember, anarchy happens when the will to empathizing ends, and apathy reigns. Lien, next time, don't run over a guy. Empathize with him...try to drive around -- or call the authorities (that should have been there.) 

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Feminist TV Shows? What?

Warning: Personal Confusion

To be extremely honest, the topic chosen for today was a bit confusing. Furthermore, the fact that I don't watch TV often doesn't help either. Any "television" I watch consist of procured anime/cartoon series off the net...So the article I read about the supposed "Golden Age of Television" flew straight over my head! Seriously, the author of the article wrote of names and titles as if EVERYONE is supposed to know and understand them! I knew from the first few paragraphs, the topic was a lost cause.

The Female Influence


From what I did gather from the first few paragraphs, and what actually did make sense to me, was a statement of sexism: that there wasn't enough female influence in rising and history making television. I don't buy it. My childhood, if anything, was drowned in the animes and cartoons of the 90's and 00's -- sorta like today, except then, I'd have to stay up late at night to watch it on the tube. During those late-night hours of glazing endlessly at a screen and in the aftermath of restless nights, I would spend my time admiring not only the heroes of those epic sagas, but also the (stereotypicaly sexy, and much smarter) heroines! Lets jump back in time, shall we?

One of My Famous, Relatively Small Bulleted List (this time of anime Heroines that I've Admired)...

feel free to browse
  • R. Dorothy Wayneright (The Big O, 1999)
    • Okay, so she was a sidekick, but I always felt that without her, Roger Smith, the detective/giant mecha warrior, would crumble. I mean, what's Batman without Alfred? Plus, she's a robot.
  • Faye Valentine (Cowboy Bebop, 1998)
    • Although at many points she plays the role of the anti-hero (i.e. displaying much greed, selfishness, foolishness), her desire to recover her memories and her eventual loyalty to her companions makes her truly fantastic. Simply the fullness of her character, her faults and greatness, make her one to be admired. Not to mention, she can handle a gun pretty well as a space bounty hunter. Cool, right?
  • Major Motoku Kusanagi (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, 2002)
    • Honestly, she's one of my favorite. Without a doubt, she is the star of the show. She's sexy, cunning, quiet, deep, punctual, and deadly. Her absolute courage in the face of terrorism against Japan and her strength as a covert agent cyborg her makes her one to admire, fear, and drool over!
  • Kagome Higurashi (Inuyasha, 2009)
    • The tale is a story of courage and drama, as this high school girl is forced to travel back in time into feudal Japan, only to confront a reality where mythological monsters exist. While there, she has to grapple with the powers and treasures her ancestors had to save the world -- and not to mention with beasts, friends, and foes she'll make along the way. If that's not awesome, idk what is...
  • Chihiro Ogino (Spirited Away, 2001)
    • Haku, the male role, may be a dragon, and everyone else may be a spirit of sorts, but Chihiro is a ten year old girl that has to struggle in order to regain her identity and to see her parents again. Her faith in friendship and kindness is perfect.

Last, but not least...

My favorite heroine from my childhood would have to be...*insert drum roll here*... HARUKO HARUHARA from FLCL (2000)! A spontaneous, pink-haired female from outer-space, Haruko has that perfect mix of lunacy and secrecy to truly make her a full character. Her energy is to be admired, her comedy (even her perverted-ness) is to appreciated, her butt-kicking action is to be feared, and lastly her ruthlessness is enough to make one flip out of their chair (just when you though you knew her, something goes crazy)! As an alien, ironically, she portray what the ideal of a human should be (albeit in an extreme and exaggerated manner): a person her who embraces their flaws with a touch of narcissism (balance), a person who acts with a free spirit (energetic and free), and a person who truly loves music (appreciation for the arts). Yea, did I mention she wields an electric guitar as her companion and weapon of choice? Along with being able to play tunes by Presley, Hendrix, and McCartney, it fires bullets, rockets, and can act like a flying rocket board... IN SHORT, she is one interesting character, and for that, I've appreciated her presence FLCL. <3 

MY POINT?

I don't know anything about HBO, USA, FX, A-B-C-D-E...&c, OR ANYTHING ABOUT THE GOLDEN AGE OF (American) TELEVISION; but I do know about anime. It makes sense to me, and I've seen enough to burn holes through my retinas, so to speak. I know for a fact that the female presence and influence in anime media, which has invaded our soil by storm since the early 60's (remember Astro Boy and Speed Racer?),  has not been absent. One of the greatest selling manga/animes, Fruits Basket, was made by a female mangaka, Natsuki Takaya!

Unfortunately for me, and for you--my loyal readers--I didn't understand a bit of the research that I read on the Golden Age of TV, so I hope you've enjoyed my tangent on to a topic that I did understand. ☺ IF you want to learn about that other junk, go away. GO. AWAY. lol

A greater question...

Is American media more sexist compared to other media around the world? Hmm, somebody bring me an article of that. At least then I'd be able to comprehend what's going on... 

peace.

No original art today--no time--but I did want to share this screen shot of Haruko Haruhara (FLCL)! There's really a lot more chaos going on than you can imagine. I believe this is from the last episode of the series.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Ideologies Become Worshiped. Just look at how it happened before...

My internet has been acting weird, ironically, so this post is a little late...but here we go!!---->

When You Think of "Internet"...

...what comes to your mind -- Do endless nights of Youtube or Netflix fill your thoughts? How about those ever so useful Wikipedia articles and how-to guides? Does Google's chaos of vast free information excite your bones? Personally, when I think of the Interweb and all its majesty--aside from all of my manga reading escapades--I think of memes. Yes, those funny, sometimes annoying, trends that you see rampaging all over Facebook, Twitter, and whatnot, are what I think of. Not only I, but apparently nearly every internet user has heard of their double-edged non-sense (by definition, a meme spreads into a culture like a wild fire, evolving and prospering further).

Who's El Rey of the Internet Realm?

I would argue that, even though they are more current and possibly just as popular, the Rage Face Comics memes cannot uphold to the glory of the King Meme. Any other meme that arises from simply captioning a free-frame of a TV show (image macro) or any meme that arise form celebrities doesn't even compare to it. Whereas many of these second rate memes have arisen from chat rooms, blogs, and other forums like 4Chan, the subject of this King Meme is one that has been active since the ancient times:
  • Their relationship with us has lasted over 9,500 years!
  • In Egypt, their were worshiped as, or associated, with cult deities.
  • In China, they were favored pets.
  • In Norse Mythology, they were fairies that could either bless your house OR steal your soul before it could reach the afterlife.
  • In Russia, they were considered while in America, they're considered bad luck (not a surprise that they're opposites hahah)
Seriously, if you haven't guessed what I'm talking about, you've either been a hermit for the past 10 millennia and or you simply hate the fury subject -- no pun intended...actually, yes.

Cats!

Indeed, the craze over Felis catus is mankind's honorary meme. Ancient memes, such as in stone carving and the like, were as common as today's 4chan's lolcats. From anthropomorphic nonsense to simple cute pictures of kittens cuddling in a flower bed, CATS ARE EVERYWHERE.

The Same Has Become of the World's Ideologies.

Here's the juicy part. Aside from those who hate cats, many people forget the ugly side of cats. The social craze forgets they're animals -- (possibly) flea-infested felines that are utterly useless, unless they're used for pest control or for crazy street fight entertainment. They might serve for pet therapy, but their anti-social nature leaves this area for their counterpart, dog. They can't be used for rescue or as disability aid, again Canis lupis familiaris wins. So what happened, how did these cats become nearly idolized?

Allow me to present a parallel. At the end of WWII, America rose to the top as THE world superpower. America this, America that, everything American was considered golden...but America wasn't the only winner. Russia had gained a major victory over the Germans, and they too rose to the top. In short, terms known as Capitalism and Communism became terms that were considered paramount in their particular place of origin. It didn't matter what the term entailed -- that it meant social suffering or not -- it only mattered that the term was considered the best. Since their origins, the connotation of the terms have taken lives of their own. Today, as in then, the terms are quoted to what they're expected to be, not for what they were originally intended to be.

May it be any clearer? Communism/Capitalism is the flea-infested cat, that's only good for feeding. It's petted, made to be cute, and idolized. It's the rest of us clearheaded fools who have to clean up the cat poo.


To stay in the spirit of cat-a-mania, I've made a quick piece of art of Felicia, of Capcom's Darkstalkers.
"Felicia". Steven Soto. 2013. Color pencils on 8.5" x 7.5" cut out, on  12" x 9" black cotton.