Gowe Obsession Korean Rapper Powerful lyricist

Through this journey of music of Asian Americans I found that Korean rapper Gowe has made it to my top list of popular culture throughout Asian Americans. This Korean rapper for this next song has done something that was so powerful to me. To take a classical type of song and blend it together into hip hop. Featuring Erin Kim. Beautiful voice. Hopes go out to Gowe for this one. Also had Korean subtitles. Powerful lyrics. Prayers and praises to Gowe and all other Asian Americans going through this. One Love.

Click here to view the embedded video.

 

Mississippi Masala

In this complex yet enjoyable movie there was somethings I really thought was interesting. I like that part where Denzel Washington was explaining to Jay that they are in way similar. Color shading. Denzel, “You are only a couple shades from his face he pointed at.” I like that cross connection because even if Jay and his family came from Africa, Denzel made a good point. Jay expressing that he doesn’t know his struggle. Denzel, “I’m a black man born and raised in Mississippi, there ain’t a damn thing you can tell me about struggle.” That right there hit me hard because my dad would say the same thing because my dad was born and raised in Mississippi. I thought that everyone in the U.S had something good going for them and my dad was like nope. In Mississippi it was a struggle everyday because not only having 13 brothers and sisters like he did, but to grow up in a state where it seemed as he explained it,”A state that was so slow in economy, production and all other things.” I think also they chose that part of Mississippi because of the country parts because imagine if the movie was in a inner-city? My dad also said that when he got back from visiting Mississippi that they are still behind. My dad also said and to this day, I was shocked beyond something fierce. My dad told me when he was little and to this day that Mississippi was considered the poorest state in the whole U.S. of A. What? No way and he said yeah. I really like that Mississippi Masala was a good movie and showed a lot of cross connections of African and Indian Americans. Home is where the heart is and I like that Jay said that even though he went back to Africa to see how it was, but seemed like the same. I would like to make a trip to Uganda and see what has happened there ever since the regimes. Reading it isn’t the same as seeing it for yourself. Hope everyone had a good weekend. Peace

A Tale for the time being-Nature

This crow that appears on page 349 and I wanted to acknowledge that this crow is well put in here and each letter describes the animal in a way. It feels a puzzler. Crow. On page 349, The word appears on the horizon, black against the unbearable light, and as it comes closer, it starts to turn and spiral, elongating its C to create a spine, rounding its O into a sleek belly, rotating its R to form a forehead and a wide-open beak. It stretches wide Wings, flaps them once, twice, thrice, and then, fully feathered, it starts to fly. In a way the bird seemed like a guide for Ruth just to put the crow in this form and to see how the word has value an plays a part in Ruth’s part in the book. Nature in the book was a big part of a theme environment that I noticed a lot in this book. I like that this crow was in here because I wanted to know more on why this crow was in here. I guess in this part played a guardian crow in a way, but all in all I really like the jungle crow. Thanks for nature in this Tale for the time being.

A Tale for the time being- Suicide

I found a reoccurring factor and this was suicide which is a form of death. I read it on page 245 where Nao was talking about the mass suicides of soldiers at a place called Attu. Called it Gyokusai which was a suicide attack, human wave attack. I wonder was there a massive scene of suicides by soldiers on this Island. I’m also thinking about was Gyokusai a traditional thing because also in the description says, “A great man should die as a shattered jewel rather than live as an intact tile.” Is this traditional or just happened during the Tojo Hideki which was the prime minister during the time of these massive suicides. What was the point of the suicides? Were they suicide bombers or just massive suicides knowing that they were going to lose the war? Suicide in war and what it can do to people is something else entirely.

A Tale for the time being- Communication

Throughout the book, but in the section I found some communication about the tsunami and what happened after it. The after effects of what nature does. When April 4, where the update log Tepco received permission from Japanese government to release 11,500 tons of contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean. After that it stated that is equivalent to five Olympic swimming pools. Wow and lasting for five days. Poisonous water into the Ocean and I’m wondering with all this communication why wouldn’t they filter the water before releasing it into the Pacific because someone will more than likely get radiation dose from it later saying that and I just wanted to know. Why just dump it, I know that’s a lot of water, but could they spare some time cleaning it first before dumping polluted water into the Pacific to later create more problems down the line. What could have happened instead. World of communication, maybe ask another country for help. Radiation and the effects are dangerous, but it is already been done. Just noticing communication of after effects of nature. Like that some communication that had to do with nature problems and the outcome to them. Anyone got any thoughts on this? What would of you done? Suggestions/ ideas?

A Tale for the Time Being: Time/Age

Other than life/death, I think the strongest theme in A Tale for the Time Being is the theme of time or age and how that can be interpreted in a number of different ways. Time plays a huge role, both in terms of the timeline difference between Ruth and Nao, but also how each character handles their time. Nao feels that at the age of 16, she has already wasted all her time. She feels as though she has accomplished nothing in her life, and fantasizes about ending her time on earth. She refers to herself as a Time Being, something Ruth embraces in the end as well. Ruth is lost in what could be described as writer’s block, and has felt as though she has wasted a lot of time not working on her memoir. Reflection and memory is a huge component of time, and the characters in this novel reflect upon the past a lot.

Nao is always thinking about the “happier” times – her life back in Sunnyvale, her old friends, her father’s happiness – and Ruth thinks about her life in New York as well as her mother before she died. Before long, Ruth begins to pour most of her time into this diary, and despite their difference of age, connects with Nao at a most personal level. At one point, Ruth refers to writing as the “opposite of suicide”, meaning that writing is “about immortality. Defeating death or at least forestalling it”. The theme of life and death are very much tied to time and age, and Nao’s diary preserves her 2001 teenage self as if she poured a bit of her soul into it (harry potter reference!), which lends to the idea that writing is a form of “time travel”.

Hunger Fu

After watching many films about Kung Fu and different fighting styles, it reminded me of the Hunger Games. There are all these different styles of battle in the movie. After the 24 tributes are reaped they are all put into a room to show the sponser their skills. For instance, Katniss has archery, Peeta is strong, morphlings are good at camoflauge, Finnick can swim/spear, etc. And Kung Fu, though they are all modes of battle, they are different.

There are many ways to teach the different styles of Kung Fu. In Shaolin Ulysses, many Asians have little temples, or studios where they can teach martial arts. Many people join in to have a sense of self-defense or stay in shape, or for the simple love of the art. In Black Kung Fu Experience many of speakers had lived in harsh times where Kung Fu had been their option for protection. Some also used it for art and expression. In the Hunger Games it is very similar to Black Kung Fu Experience, where survival is the drive for learning. Some tributes who get reaped may not have much of a special skill for survival; Rue, was good at climbing, running, and hiding, basics.

 

Ozeki p. 204-304; Theme of Age

The theme of age has been a consistent, yet under the radar theme in A Tale for the Time Being, appearing mostly throughout pages 204-304. Why this part of the book in particular? Because this section is when Nao is arguably having a coming of age, and even some of the other characters as well….and maybe even a ghost character; Nao’s great-uncle, Haruki #1.

“Something was wrong. I didn’t want to be rude and stare, but I couldn’t help it. He looked like a younger version of my dad, only a couple of years older than me, but he sounded different, and the clothes were all wrong, too.  And that’s when I figured it out: if this ghost who had answered to my father’s  name wasn’t my father, then he must be my father’s uncle, the suicide bomber” p. 213. When Nao first meets Haruki #1 he is the same age as when he died. He also does not talk to Nao very much, kind of similar to how many younger people feel defensive and keep to themselves. But later in this book’s section Haruki #1 opens up to Nao like a mature adult. “Is that you?” I whispered as softly as I could. “Haruki Ojisma…?” They gave us rifles. They showed us how to use our big toe to pull the trigger. How to lodge the tip of the barrel in the V of our jawbone so it wouldn’t slip…” p. 240. Clearly the way in which Haruki #1 is talking about death is on the same level as a very mature adult. So mature, the intensity of the topic and his description of suicide would scare most teenagers.

Maybe Haruki #1 did or didn’t have some sort of coming of age as a ghost, but I still think it’s a pretty cool theory. Wouldn’t you agree?

Ozeki Reading Question

8. Death is a prominent theme in the book. The classmates bullying Nao stage her mock funeral; Haruki #1 writes of his decision to be a pilot as a means of choosing his method of dying; Nao’s father attempts suicide; Jiko dies of old age. Since death is inevitable, what do you think Ozeki is saying about life by creating unique situations about death? 

For my final Ozeki post, I have decided to use this question since it works with my plan to choose death as my final theme of the book. It is very clear that death is inevitable in both the book and in real life. How the book translates how it takes us, I think that Ozeki is trying to tell us that there are many ways to “die.” We all know that. But what I am taking away from this is the fact that someone can still be alive.

First, I would like to start off with Old Jiko. She is 104 years old and she lives in a temple. She does not do fun and outgoing things like a typical person would do. She stays in a temple, prays a lot, does not travel regularly, and she can hardly see. Some people can say that Jiko’s life is not very lively. Some can say that that is not life at all; however, Jiko is content, Nao loves her and everything that Jiko does is enough for herself. I’m sure some people can say that Jiko had “died” the moment she decided to be a monk. Or, in Nao’s case, someone can say that she died just on old age. The point is, death or something that is dead, does not mean it is not alive.

On a more clear note, we can look at Nao’s father and her great-uncle, Haruki #1. Haruki #1′s diary reads that he is obviously unhappy with his decision to join in the war. His letter reads him off as already being dead. He is still alive and breathing (at the time of the note) but cannot feel anything other than depression; thus, his decision to end his life the way he chose was born. Nao’s father was practically the same way. He created a program that ended up being used for war. This upset him and made him feel completely awful. It affected him so much that he was practically dead inside and tried to end his life multiple times.

Lastly, I think Nao’s the allegory for most humans. Nao is on the brink of debating whether or not she is alive or dead. Nao has been bullied, she had a mock funeral, she almost got raped, and her father is “pathetic.” Jiko was the only thing that Nao had that she had felt happy about. Back to my point about this fine line of life and death and Nao, she had already explained in her diary that she practically was dead. She was dead to her classmates and her teacher; but when she saw that the video had all these hits she felt proud. She excited that all these people are seeing HER die. But, she died, so what did it matter to her? She ends up doing this prostitution act and feels non chalant about it, even after the bathroom rape scene. Overall, I think Nao bounces back between feeling alive and feeling dead inside, just like anybody in the real world.

A Tale for the Time Being: Death/Life

One of the strongest themes in A Tale for the Time Being is the theme of Life and Death and what this means for the character of Nao. For my money, I felt that both Ruth and Nao’s stories emphasized different sides of the same coin, meaning that I took the theme of death from Nao and the theme of life from Ruth. Nao is a girl who is obsessed with suicide, and speaks about it very casually through her diary. She almost glamorizes it to the point where it would seem like an honorable thing, but you can tell that the thought of her father’s suicide greatly disturbs her. Through her diary, we can see that death seems to loom over the life of her family. Her great uncle Haruki #1 was a suicide pilot, and Nao becomes enamored by his story to the point where she “unfairly” tries to compare him to her father. When it came to her father’s botched suicide attempts, Nao basically tells him “Man up like Haruki #1. If you’re gonna do it, do it properly”, which speaks more about her frustration with her father than her “words of encouragement”.

Even ghosts seem to make their way into this story, like when Haruki #1 returns in spectral form to Nao. Haruki’s letters contain a certain air of death, like storm clouds shrouding the country side, due to the nature of his position during the war. These letters reveal a deep personal shame of Haruki, and the darkness of his inevitable death resting in his mind. The truth that Haruki #1 chose to die on his own terms instead of taking the lives of others only strengthens this theme. Through all of this, Ruth becomes obsessed with Nao’s life and is taken by the idea that she needs to “save Nao”, possibly from death or from herself. Ruth’s own life has become bored and unproductive as she has been sitting on an unfinished memoir for years and I think Nao’s diary gives Ruth a much needed kick start in terms of getting her inquisitive mind going again – meaning something to focus on.