GRIZZLY PEAR

written snapshots

Category: Medias

  • Paranoia Agent, Satoshi Kon, 2004

    Two years ago, I wrote these sentences to start my notes:

    Awesome psychological thriller anime by the legendary director. Highly recommended, available for free (with ads) on Funimation.

    All that I remember now:

    That was a fucking crazy show.

    ~

    Paranoia Agent hit my key checkboxes at the time.

    • Genera fiction: Detective, Fantasy, Slice of Life, Horror. A collage with everything.
    • Auteur: Narrative told in a quirky way with an open ended resolution.
    • Weird: A crazy story that toys with artistic effects and taps my favorite gimmick — busting the fourth wall.

    ~

    If you haven’t seen anything by Satoshi Kon before, here is a 1 minute short to whet your appetite.

    ~

    Since this was the last piece of Satoshi Kon’s catalog, I should rank his major. It happens to follow the path of heartwarming at the top to darkness at the bottom. But Perfect Blue is still better than almost any other anime film you could watch, it’s a classic like Jin-Roh and competes with the best in Ghibli’s catalog. All are highly recommended.

    • Tokyo Godfathers
    • Millennium Actress
    • Paranoia Agent
    • Paprika
    • Perfect Blue

    Here is an hour long retrospective of his catalog.

    ~

    Paranoia Agent is a wacky piece, but after watching a couple reviews of the series on YouTube, I agree that it falls in in line with the rest of Satoshi Kon’s catalog.

    It’s a mind bending animation that explores the intersection of delusion and media. Kon explores the idea that our brains and our realities exist on different planes which are mediated by mass media. As one review said, it’s an “animated fever dream”.

    However, I heard two critiques that are worth countering.

    Someone wondered on a podcast if Satoshi Kon lost control along the way. I agree that Kon plays a high wire act where everything spins all over the place. Midway through the series you’re praying that it all comes back together. But he never lost command of the story. The trajectory could have ended badly but he pulled it off.

    Also another reviewer thought that a couple of the tangents felt like filler. At a macro level, any narrative could be boiled down to a simple sentence, but the reviewer didn’t mention which episodes could be cut. Since nothing felt like filler to me, I’d say that the show hit its 13 episode length perfectly. This was an expansive, twisted universe that didn’t overstay its welcome.

    ~

    Here is the my ranking of the anime series I had watched:

    • Mindbending favorites: Space Dandy, Paranoia Agent
    • Fun Classics: Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Hilda
    • Almost Classic: Arcane, Cyberpunk Edgerunners
    • Decent with weaknesses: Kids on the Slope, Kipo and the Wonderbeasts, Terror in Resonance
    • WTF, but still worth watching: Neo Genesis Evangelion
    • Flawed with a few great moments: Carole and Tuesday
    • Honorable Mention (no storyline): Love Death + Robots

    Will I watch rewatch Paranoia Agent anytime soon? I doubt it. I moved on after spending a couple of days scrolling through YouTube commentaries. It takes a lot for me to commit to longform media — my protestant work ethic doesn’t allow me to do regularly indulge in such unproductive activities, even if I already know I’ll love it.

    If I were to rewatch anything on that list, it would be Space Dandy. That show hits all the wild stuff with a comedic edge, which my wimpy self prefers over the light horror of Paranoia Agent.

    Ultimately, both Paranoia Agent and Space Dandy are great works that routinely surprised me. More often than not, I’d end an episode with my jaw agape, OMG what did I just see?! That wuz fucking Brilliant!?!!

    What more can you ask for at 22 minutes a pop?

    ~

    If all this didn’t do it for you, then at least check out the opening and ending credits that was played for each of the shows, with music by the incomparable Susumu Hirasawa (who also composed the excellent Paprika soundtrack)

  • Stefania, Kalush Orchestra, 2022

    Congratulations to Loreen for winning this year’s Eurovision Contest with “Tattoo“. But power ballads aren’t my thing.

    So let’s celebrate this most flamboyant of contests with last year’s ridiculous winner. “Stefania” is exactly what I want from a Eurovision winner — an over the top, earnest mix of pop and ethnic sounds, and a little (or lot) trashy. As a cis hetero male, I don’t mind a little titallation, but this sausage party checked every other box as well as being a geopolitical sentimental favorite.

    I first heard about the song contest on an early No Agenda podcast (before I tired of its conspiracy theory schtick) and followed it with the rise of Youtube. One of my favorite memories in Houston was watching all three broadcasts of the 2011 contest as the computer overheated in our small apartment.

    Then two little humans got in the way of this time-wasting pleasure.

    We live in an artificial world where the seasons are blunted by technology. It’s helpful to overlay texture onto the year. It’s one of the appeals of sport and Eurovision does the same with it’s process of submissions, national, preliminary, and final contests.

    Not as nourishing as a CSA box, but a lot more outlandish.

    Between the kids’ school calendar and work’s legislative cycle I’ve got all the artificial seasonal markers that I can handle at the moment. Maybe I’ll return to Eurovision after I retire….it might be more fun than adopting a liturgical calendar.

  • Fractured: Fairy Tales Remixed, Tara Trudel, 2023

    There’s only one possible option for today’s #MondayNightMusic — Fractured: Fairy Tales Remixed!

    Tara has been sharing her journey towards releasing this album for past half year….and now it’s out!

    Bandcamp Link

    I hope we will meet many more Tara’s online and IRL — accomplished, funny, thoughtful, enthusiastic advocates for everyone to share their art.

    When I first joined Post.news, I was overwhelmed by comparing my own stuff against best of the world. I considered clamming up. Her encouragement nudged me to keep sharing — which naturally led to more making.

    And of course the album’s great! You think she’d release anything less?

    Congrats!

    If something is holding you back from sharing, let me help you shove your self-doubt down the stairs Nomi Malone-style.

    The things you make are enough. Putting them into the world can feel risky. It’s also powerful.

    You never know when a piece will resonate with someone, or help you form a community, or catapult you into something totally unexpected.

    imPOSTer Syndrome

    Ooh, an apple! What could go wrong?

    ~

    PS: Shoutout to James Yang, the cover illustrator.

    ~

    PPS: Check out Tara’s post on the Goal Pyramid.

  • OPM.39 (notes on) Dream Big, Greg MacGillivray, 2017

    Dream Big is a modern industry propaganda film with the all-American narration of Jeff Bridges, sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

    It highlights the altruistic sides of the engineering profession — building a bridge in rural Haiti, earthquake analysis in Nepal, and teaching robotics to disadvantaged children. It didn’t convince my daughter to enter the industry, but I enjoyed the heartwarming reminder of why I got into this business.

    We joined this profession for a good job, but we didn’t just stay for a tidy nest egg. We change physical reality — we walk over, under, and into our projects. Other professions can’t provide such tangible results.

    Taken one step further, this is why I joined the government. There’s great psychic value in knowing that my projects will directly benefit the public. All real estate development involves spreadsheets, but my numbers come directly from the people to serve the people.

    It’s an awesome responsibility to be employed by my fellow citizens to spend their tax dollars. And it’s damn satisfying to hand them a properly constructed building, on budget and on time.

    ~

    Jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal passed away at 92 in mid-April. Ted Gioia celebrated his work with a great essay.

    I’m slowly borrowing Jamal’s albums on Hoopla, one week at a time (I’m currently enjoying Volume IV which has a great cover). Each of album so far has had a moment that sent tingles down my spine — 3 for 3 is a great hit rate!

    Of the three so far, my favorite is The Awakening, which was sampled by many hip hop artists (as outlined in this blog post and video). It’s easily a classic alongside Waltz for Debby and Brilliant Corners.

    ~

    black and white photograph of the Brooklyn Bridge focused on the suspension wires with a figure breaking the bottom frame in the foreground.
    Brooklyn, Bridge, Jet Lowe, 1982

    ~

    Thanks for reading!
    Justus Pang, RA

  • Summer, Joe Hisashi, 1999

    In January 2020, the Vegas arts scene was struck with an early tragedy when Alexander Huerta suddenly passed away.

    Given our fears of the incoming pandemic, I skipped his wake, though I left some offerings outside his studio before the world shut down.

    I met Alex in his studio during a First Friday art walk soon after moving to Vegas ten years ago. He was working on a series of collages with old black and white magazine images on a black scratchboard background.

    As an architect, I was struck with the sparseness of the series with its urban perspectives. I lent him an exhibition monograph of black and white collages by Romare Bearden.

    Over the years, I’d deliver old architectural sets to his studio. I was excited to see his work exhibited at the library — some of my drawings had been incorporated into his collages! We enjoyed the occasional chat, where I learned that he used to valet cars at a casino, but taught himself how to paint, rescuing himself from alcoholism with the brush.

    These chats didn’t happen nearly enough, because of the arrivals of my daughter and then her brother. One day, I planned on introducing him to my kids, when they were old enough to understand what it meant, “Here’s a real artist!”

    Then again, the kids see him every day, in two small paintings I picked up from our time together. The best money I’ve spent in Vegas.

    perspective of a black and white collage with the artist in the background.

    February 2020 was a long month, processing the loss and watching the pandemic inexorably work its way towards our shores.

    During that time, I listened to this song on repeat. I was lucky to find something that meshed perfectly with my emotional turmoil.

    In America, Joe Hisaishi is known for his collaborations with Studio Ghibli, but this song isn’t from one of those films. Maybe that’s why it touched my soul. I could imprint this music with my own memories.

    Even though those personal and global tragedies came in winter, I always think of this song when it gets hot.

    The air conditioning kicked on for the first time yesterday.

    Welcome to “Summer”.

    I never reclaimed that book, I should replace my old copy.

  • Nobody Speak, DJ Shadow feat Run The Jewels, 2016

    I was waiting for Election Day to share this banger with Run the Jewels.

    But today (with the twin firings of Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon) was too perfect not to share.

  • Infected Mushroom, Guitarmass

    My musical secret is that I’m a sucker for EDM.

    When the deadline is threatening, I’ll be jamming to the heavy beat.

    When a deadline isn’t threatening, I enjoy the candy of the lighter stuff filling the background.

    My tastes vary wildly with no depth. To be honest, I don’t follow Infected Mushroom, but I did listen to Converting Vegetarians on repeat in the mid 00’s when my wife (then girlfriend) gave me a copy that a studio-mate had shared with her. Almost two decades later, that album might have been our only successful cross-pollination in our wildly divergent musical tastes.

    For Monday Night Music I’m sharing a recent song that I’ve been running on repeat. Here is an interesting reaction/analysis video of Guitarmass.

  • Monday Night Music

    A few months ago, I started sharing a song on youtube every Monday on Post.News

    I just transferred the archives back here onto Grizzly Pear under its own WordPress Category.

    I’m also tracking it on Youtube as its own playlist.

    At the start of the year, I also culled my subscriptions. Youtube is an amazing platform … and incredible timesuck. I also blocked channels from the recommendation algorithm, especially the ones with entertaining videos.

    In making Youtube boring, the algorithm was freed to unearth richer content. The latest random viral video pales against all the musical output that’s being shared at scale.

    Youtube may be the best music provider on the internet, you just have to get rid of all the other videos.

  • I’ll Overcome Some Day

    Once in a blue moon, diving into an internet rabbit hole pays off.

    This video by Genie Deez tells the story of the song, tying 1960’s Pete Seeger to a Sicilian mariner’s hymn from the 1790’s.

    That lead to a flurry of searches, my favorite being this lively congregational call and response from South Carolina.

    To go deeper, here is the published hymn by Charles Albert Tindley, a teacher’s guide about the song, and a lovely rendition by Caroline Disnew and Annastasia Victory.

  • Nuala’s Tune, Maura Shawn Scanlin

    This is a new channel with only one video, but it should have way more than 900+ views and 51 subscribers.

    Here’s to more of this joy in the coming weeks!