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The Wife is laying down in the living room, watching the movie Unbreakable. (If you haven’t seen it, this is one of the best comic book hero movies made, although it’s not even based on a comic.) The movie is on a part near the end, where the main character, David (Bruce Willis), is walking around in the train station after Elijah (Samuel L. Jackson) tells him to “go where there are people.” What really impresses me about this part isn’t the cinematography or storyline — both of which are excellent — but rather the music, which is a contemporary mix of string orchestra (with emphasis on the middle to lower range) and techno. Even though the key changes often enough, the music itself doesn’t sound atonal, so it’s fairly easy on the ear, yet in this particular scene it takes a role as prevalent as any of the actors: perfectly placed and convincingly a part of the scenery.

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Before you start reading, know that this article came from the now-defunct Gnorb’s UltraKitchy CyberXtreme iBlog. (”Because one cliche is not enough.”) The site was dedicated to Japanese influences in today’s culture, especially J-pop music, movies, and video games. This is the last feature I’ll be reposting from there. Enjoy.

I spend a good amount of time — a really, obscenely good amount of time — listening to the Jpop stations in Shoutcast and other services. (JPopSuki TV being my biggest source of J-pop music videos.) Artists like Morning Musume, Sakamoto Maaya, and Utada Hikaru have become to me what 50 Cent, Trisha Yearwood, and Dave Matthews are to most everyone else around here. (Not that Morning Musume, a collection of teen-aged Japanese girls singing happy pop songs, sounds anything like 50 Cent, a 30-something muscle-bound black guy rapping about inner-city problems, but that’s beside the point.) Eventually, this got me wondering if there are any Japanese pop(ish) artists planning to tour the US any time soon.

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Twice have I gone to the theater to see the new film The Pursuit of Happyness and twice have I failed to get tickets. It’s the strangest phenomenon. The shows would be available while we are there on line, but would be sold out while we are just a few people away from acquiring our tickets. It wouldn’t just be the timing we wanted to see but also any showing within a reasonable time to wait for it.

If you haven’t heard about the movie, it seems to be doing rather well. I am not too familiar with the storyline, but I believe it is about a man and his son who are overcoming life’s obstacles after having suffered some kind of loss. I really can’t get any more specific (or generic) than that.

Now since I haven’t seen that movie, I can’t write about the impression the father made upon the son in his ability to always look ahead and set an example for the young one to follow. Instead I shall talk about the movie I did see when this one became unavailable the first time: Rocky Balboa.

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This is a trailer for the Dixie Chicks’ new documentary, Shut Up & Sing, which chronicles the hostile and sometimes threatening conduct directed towards the Dixie Chicks after one of the group’s members criticized President Bush during a 2003 concert. It even features John McCain at his best. (You know, when he still had a backbone and still fought against torture instead of condoning the administration use of it in interrogations.)

Still the biggest problem with the Chicks was that their statement came out at a time when the people in the US were still buying the WMD line with Iraq (you know, at about the time it became popular to hate the French for disagreeing with us) after they had just taken the bait for invading in Iraq, hook, line, and sinker. The strongest support for this, of course, came from the same crowd that made up most of their fan-base. Needless to say, it offended more than a few people, so while the freedom of speech which they were exercising — as is their fundamental right to do so — is fine and dandy, that freedom of speech doesn’t also entail freedom from consequence (so long as it’s not the government doing it). If your fans love Bush and his war and you go speak against him, then you better be ready for the fallout.

This whole thing reminds me of the saying “I don’t agree with a word you say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.” I wonder if any of the people who protested against them ever uttered those words. Probably not. It also reminds me of the quote by Hermann Goerig, Hitler’s Reich-Marshall at the Nuremberg Trials after WWII:

Naturally the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.

(Emphasis added to specify which parts I was reminded of the most.)

Let freedom ring, indeed. Personally, what I’d like to know is how you reading this felt at the time this was said versus how you feel now. As for me, while I didn’t agree with the reasons for the invasion — I always felt them to be circumstantial at best — I believed that we wouldn’t go out and invade a country, risking American lives, unless it was absolutely necessary. (For example, Afghanistan was, I still feel, a necessary war.) In other words, I believed in Bush, Powell, Rice, and even the ever-so-creepy Cheney. I didn’t agree at the time with what the Dixie Chicks said — I thought they said it for the wrong reasons, out of trying to be Hollywood-chic without going over there and becoming human shields for Sadam — but I knew they had a right to say whatever they wanted to, just as I had a right to not like them for it. I can’t really say anything here other than I was on the wrong side, fooled like every other American and willing to allow things I wouldn’t in the specter of 9/11. (This is why I now fight so hard against the fear-mongering the Republicans are doing and the ignorance it preys upon.) While I didn’t think we were being told everything, the fact that Colin Powell was in front of the United Nations making the case for this was enough for me to think “Well, I guess if Powell says it, there must be a real threat.” Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.

(Props to CrooksAndLiars.com.)

By the way, this documentary is only being shown (as far as I know) in New York and L.A. Too bad I only live close to this backwards little podunk town, Miami. I wish we gots them big city girl documentaries here once in a while, instead of the incredibly crappy What the Bleep Do We Know About Quantum Physics which qualifies as quite possibly the Worst. Propaganda-posing-as-a-Documentary. Ever. I would’ve liked to have gone see it.

No, I’m not talking about the latest political candidate. I’m talking about the new Weird Al Yankovic video, White and Nerdy. I’m asking all readers who care just a weensy little bit to vote for it over at the VH1 Top 20 Countdown list. Just find his name on the list and drag it to the #1 slot (or one lower, but #1 is best). From there on, vote for whatever you want. (I ended up putting Gnarls Barkley at #2 and Evanescence at #3, with the rest being pretty much guesses.)

If you haven’t seen the video, you can catch it over at Weird Al’s MySpace page. (If you haven’t been to a MySpace page, you’ll want to stop the player which automatically starts up. Scroll down a bit on the page, just past the Straight Outta Lynwood picture, and click the Play button on the first video player.) It’s hands down one of his best songs ever, since it’s not just funny, but actually really good. If you liked Amish Paradise you’ll definitely love this, which all by itself pretty much pwns anything in his previous CD, Poodle Hat.

Anyway, go and watch it, then vote for him, capiche?

By the way, if you like the video, and you support artists who arent self righteous and pompass about their celebrity status, grab yourself a copy of the Straight Outta Lynwood CD. After all there aren’t too many artists that will go as far out of their way for their audience as this guy will. Might as well vote with your dollars, right?

Finally, I’ve decided to put this video up for all of you thinking of not buying this CD, instead choosing to go the LimeWire or Gnutella route. Enjoy.

Edit: I didn’t know this before, but MySpace gives you the code to put the video on a Web page (like, say, this one). Here’s the White and Nerdy video. Still, head over to Weird Al’s MySpace site to listen to a few more of his songs. And remember, BUY THIS CD (using this link, please).