Jacob Carscadden

I hope you are over that rather cliché title.

In the fall of 2008, I took an American history class. The time period was from the Reformation to present day. Funny this is, while we did talk a lot about America, as the class went on, it went more into world history as America rose to prominence.

Mr. Lynn talks about history like rednecks talk about hunting and fishing and trucks and such. He grew up and owns his own farm. He has an AK-47 at home and is ready for China to invade. Towards the end of the semester, I told him if the world ended, I'd want to come live at his house. He said I could and that we could defend our green bean plants from bandits.

The first day of class, every teacher went through the motions they are required to go to. One of those was that the door to the class always had to remain locked and shut for "security reasons" (meaning: in case of school shootings).

Mr. Lynn was a little different. It's been a few years but I'll never forget the gist of what he said:

"We have to keep these doors shut in case a homicidal manic opens fire on campus. There's plenty of cover on campus. In the event a homicidal maniac opens fire on campus, and you are outside, try if you can to make your way to my truck in the parking lot over here where we will then - return fire!"

Needless to say, this class was interesting. I looked forward too it everyday; it was an 8am class. As the class went on, I started writing down all of his random quotes I found funny, interesting, and shocking. This is definitely one of those situations where you had to be there. For years I have been meaning to write down all of his quotes I recorded, and so now I will do so.

Without further adieu, the best of Mr. Jeff Lynn:

Is science the salvation or destruction of mankind?

Populism - when one gets elected from offering "free stuff"

Welfare - the safety net can't become a hammock.

If the FDIC goes out of business, you won't be worried about money. You'll be worried about food, water, and bullets. Lots of bullets. Because it will be the end of the world.

After Jacob Coxey was arrested, his "army" dissolved like sugar in iced tea.

When something belongs to everybody, it really belongs - to nobody.

Regarding communism.

Imperialism - when a strong country takes over a weak country to make money.

This is Columbia, where they grow cocaine and coffee.  I guess they are awake down there in Columbia.

They (Europeans) couldn't conquer Asia and Africa because it was filled with Asians and Africans.

We are China's #1 customer. We won't have a problem with China unless we stop buying their rubber dog doo and concrete yard gnomes.

Americans love cars because of the freedom.

Old people were as rare as rocking horse poo. (During the early 1900s.)

I don't dance - unless I'm intoxicated.

The #1 killer of poor people is obesity. No one liked the thought of chldren going hungry, and now look at what we did.

Never is modern history, have democracies gone to war with each other.

"Yes sir, officer! POW! LUNCH TIME!"

In regards to WWI soldiers not wanting to charge across no man's land into machine gun fire.

In France, a guy tried to mug me without a weapon.

They're nuclear bombs! You don't just throw them around like popcorn in a movie theater!

Humans never innovate until we are under pressure.

The Treaty of Versailles is the worst treaty of all time.

Scapegoating serves ignorant people.

Regarding the anti-semitism in Post-WWI Germany.

When your family lives in the same house since 1914, you tend to acquire a lot of crap.

Joe Biden was wrong and I was wrong.

Regarding whether splitting Iraq into 3 countries based on sects would start wars. 2008 was when sectarian violence was pretty high.

United Nations - the international debating society!

"Let's just put all these countries together and called it Yugoslavia. Bring me another gin and tonic!"

Lynn visualized the leaders of Post-WWI Europe coming together at a cocktail party and drawing up Yugoslavia on a napkin. Meaning that putting those people groups together would lead to war later, which happened in the 1990s.

When I meet an America-hater, someone that thinks we are evil, I know they haven't ever studied communism

Lynn apparently argued with people on the internet quite often.

[Example: People would know this stuff if they would read a book and were] ...not watching Dancing With the Stars all the time

By far Lynn's favorite phrase. He loved to rag on DWTS for some reason. Hard to understand out of context like this, I know. He always said it after talking about something obvious most people don't know or understand.

The KKK was biggest is Texas, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Indiana. It was never in Louisiana.

Because it excluded Catholics. A similar group, Order of the White Camilia, was in Louisiana [1920s].

Charles Lindbergh was racist and wanted to make an alliance with Germany.

FDR was the closest thing to a dictator we've ever had.

If shoe-shine boys are investing in the stock market, it's bound to come crashing down!

Regarding the story of John Kennedy telling a shoe-shine boy about the stocks he owned, and then proceeded to sell them all soon after before the 1929 crash.

They (stock analysts) stay you should hold out because stocks will recover. If they don't, then you need to invest in cabbage seeds and .22 bullets.

When [America's] economy catches a cold, the rest of the world gets the flu.

Not his quote but this was the first time I had heard it.

I tell my kids to work, work, work, because I'm going to spend every penny of it.

On retirement and social security.

All that evil needs to triumph is for good people to do nothing.

Regarding Hitler's "Final Solution". Again, not his quote.

No matter how much hatred one harbors, they [the Nazi's] all broke at the end of the day. Which is why they preferred gas chambers.

Regarding the Rape of Nanking. He read from the book with the same title, and started weeping in class. It was heartrending. Probably the only moment I had like this in college.

Newt Chamberlain said, "We have peace in our time". WWII broke out the next week.

The Maginot Line - about as dumb as Plan XVII, if that's possible.

The French Army will melt away like sugar in iced tea.

On Germany invading France in WWII. This is his second favorite phrase.

During 1946-48, we (the Allies) starved Germany. More children died than as many Jews were ever in Europe.

Between the two of them they killed 100,000,000 of their own people. They would have no qualms killing you!

Regarding Mao Zedong and Joseph Stalin

The purpose of the missiles is to not use the missiles!

Regarding MAD: mutually assured destruction.

The French sent German troops, who were captured WWI soldiers, to Vietnam.

Suburbs - works as long as gas is affordable.

The boycott - as American as apple pie.

[The Cuban Missile Crisis is] One of my favorite episodes of the Cold War!

During the 1960s, Israel had the highest birthrate on Earth.

Relevant due to the wars.

Bid Laden had millions of dollars and ten years of prep time to hide [in Tora Bora].

You know it's bad when even the UN gives up on you.

Regarding Somalians shooting UN aid workers without provocation.

Thanks for reading. I also have a bunch of quotes from my philosophy teacher I'll post one day.

A year and two days ago (March 9th, 2011) after deliberating all week, I decided to move my big move to Japan back 3 months. I had originally planned on coming here in July of 2011. For a number of reasons, I felt it was best I move it to October. I contacted the people involved accordingly.

A year ago from right now (3:47pm), I was asleep. An hour before (2:46pm), the 3.11 Tohoku earthquake happened, causing a devastating tsunami I am sure most everyone knows about, which also triggered a nuclear crisis at Fukushima. When I awoke, the impending chaos was all over the news.

I went to work that day, but I didn't get as much work done as I should have. And probably the same applies to that following week. I spent a lot of time scanning Twitter feeds for more information, news, videos, etc. on what was happening.

I was conflicted. I wanted to help, physically, but felt helpless. I actually wanted to go much sooner. The way I felt about the 3.11 tsunami, I also felt during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Even though I was on the other side of the world, it impacted me tremendously.

I wondered if pushing my move back 3 months was a wise choice since the American media was somewhat blowing the nuclear issue out of proportion. I say that because as I was preparing to come to Japan last September, a lot of people I talked to thought that it was dangerous throughout the entire country. I constantly had to explain that I was going to an area of Japan (Aichi) which is quite far from Fukushima.

The past is important to learn from. I think how we apply what we learn to the future is important.

The Tokai region where I currently live is long overdue for another big earthquake. Tokyo University has released a study saying Tokyo will most likely experience a big earthquake within the next 4 years. And of course, another quake could happened somewhere else where no one is expecting.

Since coming to Japan, I've only experienced a few small quakes, which all happened last year. The last one I felt was on New Year's Day when I was in Kanagawa. It's been quiet here in Aichi.

I hope another disaster like 3.11 never happens again. Not just in Japan, but anywhere in the world.

If it does happen, I want to be prepared.

We all (should) know that bias exists in the media. Sometimes it may be politically motivated. Sometimes it may be accidental. Sometimes details may be cut out in order to conform to editorial standards. Bias in the media is discussed quite frequently, and frankly, it is a horse that's been beaten to point where it's tender enough to eat.

But I'm not going to talk about media ethics and bias and all that. I just want to point out an example where the omission of a few minor details changes the entire tone of a story. I'm not going of the motives of the parties involved. I'm just going to talk about the empirical and tangible aspects of the reporting.

Background: French yacht Dignite-Al-Karama carrying pro-Palestinian* activists and supplies tells Greece they were sailing for Egypt. Unsurprisingly, they decide to go on a little detour to Gaza. The Israeli navy goes through their stringent protocols requiring them to contact the ship and convince them to change course and head to the Ashdod. The French yacht did not comply. They were boarded by the navy and taken to Ashdod by the navy.

For those not familiar with this sort of event, the act of attempting to forcibly enter Gaza with aid and supplies was made popular last year when six ships first had a go at it last May. They were met by Israeli commandos. A violent confrontation ensued on one of the ships, much to the disdain of the international community who didn't (and still doesn't) think too highly of Israel to begin with.

It's common practice for news organizations to provide such context in stories such as these.

In reporting on the Dignite-Al-Karama, Reuters condenses the initial flotilla incident this way:

Israel, whose marines killed nine Turkish activists when violence erupted as they stormed a Gaza-bound flotilla in the Mediterranean last year, has vowed to prevent any breach of a blockade it deems necessary to stop arms from reaching Gaza.

Whereas, the Associated Press provides a few more key details in their reporting:

Last year, Israeli naval commandos clashed with knife and club-wielding activists on a Turkish ship trying to reach Gaza, killing nine Turkish activists. Both sides have said they acted in self defense.

Adjectives can easily change the tone of a story. "Knife and club-wielding" are important because without them, as noted in the bit from Reuters, it makes Israel look as if they massacred peace activists. The word activist does tend to have a peaceful connotation about it, no?

I'm not going to get into the motives of Reuters. That would be based solely on conjecture. However, I do think it's fair to point out that Reuters has been caught twice editing photos that portrays Israel's military in a bad light.

#1: Ynet - Reuters admits altering Beirut photo

#2: Cropped photos [from Flotilla 2010]

(*If I wanted to be mean/biased, I could have called them "anti-Israeli activists".)

I mentioned Blindside last week. This is a track from their newest album scheduled to be released early next month. Blindside used to be my favorite band back in the early 00s. I like it. I've listened to some of the other tracks on the new album. It hasn't changed my life, but it's still pretty groovy. I like the electronica elements. It seems most of the bands/artists I like are gravitating towards including such elements as ancillary instrumentation. All in all I may pick up the album.

Decided to go old-school this week. I imagine most people have heard this song. This is the amazing amazing music video that went along with it. It features an intense ping pong match.

A bit of trivia: the team in blue is the Swedish rock band, Blinside. They were my favorite band back in the day.

It's funny how things from the 00s can now be deemed as old-school. It doesn't seem that era was all that long ago.

Israel Houghton - Others

Israel Houghton: a musician and songwriter who I respect like no other. I just heard this song for the first time today. I got it off the Love for Japan charity album ($4.97 of each album goes towards Japan relief).

I love this song for the following reasons: Israel Houghton can sing, the piano, and the strings. Adding a lush string section/quartet to songs in a manner such as this one makes me like a song approximately ~45% more right off the bat. Enough said.

Akihiko Matsumoto - Overture of the Summer Wars

I decided to include two tracks from the OST of the movie Summer Wars. I saw the movie last year. I recently purchased it on DVD and watched it yesterday. The movie is better than I remembered. Which is a good thing because I didn't recall being very impressed by it the first watch through. I also think the English voice acting is superb, which is a rarity.

The soundtrack is great as well. I selected two tracks from OST: the Overture which will get stuck in your head and Sekae In Action. I selected the latter because it's from a very significant scene in the movie in which the grandmother uses her influence to bring order to a chaotic situation.

Coincidentally, the track's strings and piano are also reminiscent of Others which I have posted above. Also coincidentally, one of the struggles the characters face in Summer Wars is having to choose between saving themselves and saving others. I feel this is an important theme to be discussing and taking action on given the dire situation some people in Japan find themselves in due to the recent natural disasters.

Akihiko Matsumoto - Sakae In Action

The newest from THE BAWDIES. The song has a Ain't No Mountain High Enough vibe to it. I initially wanted to say that Roy Watanabe's vocals lacked energy, but I've concluded they they're just more relaxed than in other songs. I guess that's kind of saying the same thing. I'm not the biggest AI fan. Her last single (collab?) didn't jive with me. But I like her accompaniment on this track. I think the actual recording of the vocals is weak. Or maybe I'm just used to listening to the louder music we typically have in this day and age and this is purposefully (or accidentally) an adage to the recording standards of yore. Because it was a long time ago. A really long time ago.

iTunes Japan has once again announced their picks for 2011. I was curious. I hadn't heard of most of these bands so I decided to dig and check out the songs featured on the iTunes sampler.

Disclaimer: My views are based off of a first listen basis. I have been known to completely do a 180° on bands and artists as I listen to them more. And that goes both ways; good and bad. So, take my views with a grain of salt, listen for yourself and draw your own conclusions. All good artists deserve a chance and I may be overlooking some of them.

So ends my lecture on objectivity and so begins the list:

1 | androp - MirrorDance

Comment: Excellent dynamics. Good vocal contrast in verses and chorus. Good mixing and use of effects. Just the right amount of synthetics. I will definitely be checking these guys this year. A great song to start off the sampler.

Conclusion: The most for your money.

2 | cinema staff - Gate

Comment: BORING! Everyone else on this sampler makes them sound bad.

Conclusion: Next song, please.

3 | [Champagne!] - Rocknrolla!

Comment: This is, in my opinion, the best song on the sampler. It has a nice post-rock vibe and above average English lyrics which may give them an edge on the International music scene.

Conclusion: The best there ever was.

4 | 世界の終り - 天使と悪魔 tr: [Sekai no Owari (End of the World) - Angels and Demons]

Comment: This band has always kind of freaked me out. Instead of a drummer, they have a DJ with a clown mask. I KNOW I've heard that strings riff somewhere. Either in a TV show or commercial. I cannot put my finger on it. (This happens to me all the time!) Or maybe they just ripped it off some other American artist I've heard recently.

Conclusion: Sure, why not. Only because the drumming sounds way better than on their last album.

5 | sonodaband - Soul River_2010

Comment: My first thoughts were, is this a male version of Vanilla Mood or something? I also liked how they magically transformed that micro-grand piano into a Yamaha MO6. Hopefully they can make enough money to get a MOTIF or something. But I guess the MO6 is working for 'em.

Conclusion: I like.

6 | Sonomi Tameoka - Faith

Comment: I found an album preview on her site. One of them is Faith. It's your responsibility to figure out which.

Conclusion: It's jazztronitastic! I think. 

7 | TEE - Denwade Dakishimete (Radio Edit)

Comment: He sure likes him some auto-tune! And this is just the radio edit! In the full version, I wonder if he has some kind of epic auto-tune/vocoder-esque solo...

Conclusion: No.

8 | NIKIIE - 春夏秋冬 tr: [The Four Seasons]

Comment: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.....Oh pretty piano and strings! <3

Conclusion: Give her some slack, she's new.

9 | Violent is Savanna - awairosakuraichiru

Comment: I'm sorry, but with the words "violent" and "savanna" in the band name, I was expecting something akin to African death metal! Sounds reminiscent of Ikimonogakari and Supercell, albeit not as good. They have potential. I also think I read somewhere they are playing at SXSW this year, so there is a very minute chance I'll go see them live.

Please note that no one is playing acoustic guitar, which further supports my claim that they sound like Ikimonogakari by continuing the tradtion of having phantom instruments.

Conclusion: They have potential.

______________

10 | Back Number - Shiawase

No embeddable media available. Click here for the iTunes preview.

Comment & Conclusion: This band was hard to track down! Not much to go with. Sounds like generic J-pop. If in the future I listen again and they sound amazing I'll post a follow up and retract my comment. Maybe.

2010 is coming to a close, so I'd thought I'd share my favorite albums from this year. Here is the rule: I have to own the album, either physically, or digitally. Thankfully, this year, some of my favorite international artists were vigilant in making themselves available on iTunes. I've heard a lot of other albums that would have normally made this list. But for whatever reason I didn't make purchase.

Here we go.

10 | PND - Dirty Words

I already wrote a little about this album here. In short, it's fresh. It's a collab project between two guys I was already a big fan of. And, it makes for great driving in my green 20xx Dodge Caravan.

Lonestar from Humble Beast Records on Vimeo.

09 | All The Bright Lights

This self titled album can be deemed "ambi-rock". Not know what that is? They are oft compared to Sigur Rós and Explosions in the Sky; two bands I'm kind of familiar with (as in I've never have seriously listened to them). I can safely say I've been listening to indie/ambient/rock-ish music for almost a decade, starting with Questions in Dialect and Foxhole. ATBL is a bit different, however. More ethereal.

I met James Duke in Dallas earlier this year. I told him I listened to ATBL as my prep music in the debate nationals. His response was kind of spaced out, to say the least. As if he were surprised anyone would have listened to the album. Well, my comment did come from left field. Anyway, it's a great album and definitely the most relaxing on this list.

08 | Andy Hunter - Collide

This one snuck in at the end of the year. I didn't find out about it till the day it was released. Gotta love Twitter. Andy Hunter is one of my favorite DJs/producers. Collide doesn't disappoint. And it's only $5.

Since it's kind of new, I haven't had much time to listened to it in depth like I have all the other albums on this list. But I love the direction he's going. 

07 | Nobuo Uematsu - Distant Worlds II

When I have to work on something, such as a paper...that's due the next day, I usually listen to instrumental music. 4+ years of university have taught me that music with lyrics is distracting, even if you try to zone them out and focus on your work. Instrumental music is more apt for increasing focus. Especially music as epic as Nobuo's 2nd arranged comp of Final Fantasy music. This album pretty much got me through my final two semesters of university. I still listen to it at work quite frequently. The Man with the Machine Gun is one of my favorite pieces of music of all time, and that's the first full track (if you look past the prelude).

You can listen to the entire album at bandcamp.

06 | Sakanaction - kikUUiki

One of my favorite bands ever!. Why? I'm not sure. Stylistically, I don't really think they are as impressive as other bands I consider my 'favorites'. But the thing is, I can listen to any of their albums and they will never get old. Even their first two albums have high playability. The melodies are addictive and the lyrics are memorable (even though I can't speak/comprehend the language very well).

So, I'm sort of obligated to include them in such a list as this one. But in all honestly, I love the album. I was still enjoying Shin-Shiro from last year when they released this unexpectedly. I guess that's what happens when you go big; an album a year. To me, their sound hasn't changed much since Shin-shiro. But I still dig it. I enjoy listening to both albums back to back.

This is also the third album in a row they've included an instrumental track. 21.1 is the best instrumental track yet. They delve more and more into electronica every time, and that blended with indie-rock sounds awesome. They also have another chorale part. It's on the last song, MegaAkuAiiro. I'd say it challenges the epicniess of the chorale on Night Fishing Is Good from their second album.

05 | SaeLah Poeht-Suroh - ANTI-SWAG Mixtape

So yeah, I know this guy personally. He's really cool. His mixtape is fresh. His lyrics are deep. And he's the only rapper I've ever heard make references to The Beverly Hillbillies.

You can download the his mixtape for free at bandcamp.

03 Drive Slow Freestyle

04 | School Food Punishment - amp-reflection

SFP's first album! I've been a fan since they released their first two EPs back in 2007, so I've been waiting for this for a few years. It was a special release for me so much so that I imported the deluxe edition. I have all these stickers I still don't know what to do with.

To be honest, I kind of miss their old sound. It was slower and more ambient. I feel their sound has a tinge of that feeling a band gets when they graduate from indie to mainstream. Another thing is they released almost half of the songs on album as singles, which I, of course, listened to and wore out pretty fast before the album came out. Still, I love it. Even though I feel it's a little too upbeat and energetic. Yumi Uchimura is one of my favorite vocalists of all time, so I can't complain.

03 | Ling Tosite Sigure - still a Sigure virgin?

This really, really, really, should be at the #1 spot. Don't get me wrong. This album is great. The problem is their last album, just A moment, was also great. Almost flawless. It was hard to top that, and they almost did it with this year's album. Almost!

The jump in sound/style from Inspiration is DEAD to just A moment is much greater than the jump from just A moment to still a Sigure virgin?. This is what happens when bands get signed to major record labels. Selling albums is more of a priority. Albums are usually released every year, thus not allowing the band's sound to evolve as much as it would had they waited 2+ years, like they did in the past.

They do have some new elements worth mentioning. Shandy is one of my favorite songs from this album. It's definitely the most progressive song they've come out with. Unlike everything else, it features pianos and flutes. The mixing on this song is well done. The drums also get electronica-fied. I was music to me seems like they took some of the best elements from Telecastic Fake Show and JPOP Xfile and made another song. It's a fantastic opener.

One complaint, it's short. 37 minutes! I bought Base Ball Bear's Cypress Girls at the same time. It is one minute longer and was half the price. I was let down in that regards.

It also does not include an instrumental track like just A moment. Not a complaint. Just an unrealistic subconscious expectation.

I had intended to write a review for this album. I was busy at that time in my life. It's not relevant enough now for me to do that. And it'd be really long and I'm sure no one would read it. So here is my mini-review/critique.

02 | capsule - Player

Just like Sakanaction and Ling Tosite Sigure, this album was released hot on the heels of a previous stellar release. (It's funny how I'm more critical of the higher rated albums.) There was enough new stuff in this album to keep me happy. My favorite song is the title song, Player. I've seen A LOT of people complain about this song. It's one of the most unique songs capsule has ever released. It features Jamacian rap and a killer drop. The drop is so awesome it makes you want to punch a wall or flip some tables or something. What Do You Want to Do also has a sick drop as well. I really am not too hot on tracks 4-7. Everything before and after is awesome.

Also, I was happy that this album was released on the US iTunes shortly before it was released in Japan. USA is fortunate to get any Japanese releases at all. This probably was not intentional. I've worked with iTunes before and when you release content internationally, the US iTunes store is the first to get it.

01 | DE DE MOUSE - A Journey to Freedom

This is my album of the year. This is my most listened to album of the year as well. My Last.fm stats do not show it. This is driving music for me, so not as much play on the Mac while working.

The funny thing is, I didn't really like DE DE MOUSE all that much in the past. Just not my cup of tea. What got me hooked were his live performances. So the funny thing is, had I heard the actual album first, I still probably would not have liked him all that much.

This also happened:

That was really cool. I would love to see him live one day, like in the videos beloew. I love bands/artists that have great albums, but sound even greater live. Some bands/artists just sound like their CD and vice versa.

Also, when I gave my final speech to graduate from university, I listened to Journey to Freedom (the song) on the drive home. You know, because I was free and all. From university. It was magical and liberating. One of those things I'll probably never forget for the rest of my life.

Honorable Mention 01 | VOLA & THE ORIENTAL MACHINE - PRINCIPLE

This album would have been in the top 3, but I didn't purchase it. It's amazing for the following reasons:

1. It's VOLA. They are amazing. That's inherent. If I could play in any band in the world, I'd want to play with them.

2. Ahito Inazawa uses an iPhone sword app in the song Flag [see video]. On a side note, I like this studio version better than the album version with the psycho saxaphone loop.

Honorable Mention 02 | Base Ball Bear - Cypress Girls

I've liked Base Ball Bear for a few years. Not enough to buy their albums. They ran a fantastic promo campaign on YouTube which convinced me to purchase one of the two mini-albums (?) they released this year. One reason I bought it was because it was cheap. The first three songs are great. The rest are okay. I didn't feel like buying the other album, Detective Boys. If I had, I'd have coupled the two albums and put them in the Countdown.

And that's all folks.

Next up, I'm going to work on a Top 30 list for singles. I thought about doing 10, then 20, and I'm at 30. So I'll see how that goes.