On The Surface

We live in a society that is dominated by it's subtext. For example, if I'm talking to somebody and I say that I'm going to a concert tonight, they'll most likely assume that it's a heavy metal concert because of my metalhead-style appearance, and while I do often go to metal concerts, I also like to attend classical concerts (orchestras and choirs and operas) and jazz concerts (small and big band) and the occasional open mic night. This concept doesn't just apply to people who put out an obvious message with their appearance, though, it applies to almost every social interaction in a modern (read: neurotic) society. In fact, it's fairly shocking when you consider just how much the public cares about their appearance compared to their (general) lack of value for anything that I would consider to be of substance (literature, philosophy, space exploration, political ideology, etc.). This doesn't just apply to the American blue-collar, everyman types, but to the elites of our society as well. So many musicians, writers, directors, and other supposedly great cultural muses of this day and age care so much more about maintaining a reputation as being a genuinely deep person than they do about actually making any original insight into the human spirit, society, or anything else for that matter. If the human race is to avoid self-destruction, something has to change in the mainstream consciousness.

Goals

Life is boring. At least to most people. They spend their first few years getting used to it, and then they basically drift along with some sort of mundane goal like raising children or making a lot of money, all the while ignoring the wonders of the world around them. They'll sit around at night, watching TV that's just entertaining enough to keep them awake, drinking beer that's just good enough to get them drunk. If that's enough of a life for them, that's fine, but I for one am sick of constantly being pacified and finding a way to just get by. Screw the will to live, I've got the will to power. I've almost entirely given up watching TV (with the exception of anime that helps with my Japanese and a couple excellent shows), I no longer watch advertisements (I mute them and I have AdBlockPlus in my firefox browser), I am done wasting my time on the good enough. Done with simply consuming whatever doesn't offend my sensibilities. Some may cry foul and claim that I've made a de/ascent into snobbery, but I say no. This is choosing to take advantage of living a privileged life in a very privileged part of the world. To do anything less, in my mind, is to demean those whose height of excellence in terms of quality of life will never exceed mine when it is in the crapper. If in the time I save from not watching TV or playing video games, I learn Japanese, start gigging more regularly, and manage to educate myself about the music business and international politics, I think I may just be able to live up to my loftier new standard. Maybe. Those are my short term goals.

Stagnation

In any complicated system, a simple overall path is almost uniformly followed: grow, stagnate, decay, die. This applies not just to organic life like people, hedgehogs, fungi, etc., but also to computer systems, networks, groups of people, countries, cities, states, and schools of thought. Such is life. You are born, you grow until your physical peak, you stagnate a bit, looking over the edge of the cliff, and then you decline until your demise. I know it's somewhat of a cliché to say, but looking at the world around us, it is clear that the USA has been in a decline ever since the the 70's. Don't get me wrong, technology brought us quite a second wind for a minute there, yet somehow we've never fully shaken off that slow sinking feeling. We're still an economic superpower in the world right now, but for how long? India and China not only have an increasing share of our manual labor jobs, they have rapidly growing economies that are influencing the world by greater and greater amounts. This is not something to be ignored. Recently, a Chinese fisherman and his crew were put on trial by the Japanese government (http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/chinese-fishing-boat-captain-sent-to-prosecutors-over-collision) and the Chinese government had quite a lot to say about the Japan's detainment of a fishing boat that had crashed into some Japanese patrol boats. Among countries with equal international support, this would come down to a bargaining game, but in the end, the Japanese had to give up the fishermen to China. This is an important point. China's powers in the international community are steadily growing, while America's (and resultantly, Japan's) are growing ever more insignificant.

This Blog's Purpose

This blog is intended to be an expression of my impressions of the world around me. Nothing more, nothing less. This is not "Nolan's Music Blog" or "I thought this was funny" or some kind of extra forum for me to express myself as an entertainer. If you're not interested, I don't care, if you don't like me, fuck off, but if you do care and you are interested in the things I have to say, you may feel free to post your thoughts in the comments sections of my posts.