West Coast Vibes

Soundcloud comment finder

alexjplatt:

It’s really hard to search within comments on a track on SoundCloud. Comments are organized by Time Posted and can’t sorted using more useful categories such Timecode or the Text of the comments themselves.

I wrote a little ruby script to make this easier.

• Reblogged from ajp.nyc

• March 20, 2018, 1:14pm

        1 note

• Permalink

Nihonjiron

Japan is strange. It’s a cliche until you’ve visited and experienced the full gamut of weird. 

It is by far the strangest place/planet I’ve visited.  I’ve been fortunate to travel to over 45 countries and extensively through SE Asia and nothing even comes close. 

I was recently there for the first time to visit my younger sister in Osaka. Upon my arrival, she took me to a seven story Manga porn emporium. Neither she nor I have a special affinity for manga porn, manga or pornography in general. It was more of an anthropological excursion.. which describes my whole trip. 

One the surface, it appears as if Japan has created the world’s largest (and most homogenous) social utopia. They have the world’s lowest homicide rate (and highest suicide rate). No one jaywalks and the streets are so clean you could eat off of them. The homogeny is oppressive to the point that it demands conformity. 

Japan’s relationship with the outside is complicated.  Self-imposed isolation has played a part in their culture since the 1600s under the policy of Sakoku. Until 1853, foreigners could not enter and Japanese could not leave the island on penalty of death. On the other hand, they are also the world’s most masterful cultural re-appropriators. The style of Harajuku Girls appear as if modern pop culture has vomited all of over them. The obsessive and dutiful attention to detail also creates pure cultural re-appropriations especially with food. For example, I had some of the best Neapolitan pizza anywhere in Tokyo. 

To try to better understand Japan’s weirdness, I did some Wikipedia-ing and learned that there’s a whole field of study dedicated to the study of Japan’s unique cultural identity called Nihonjinron. It literally means “theories about the Japanese.” Over 90% of study in this field were published by the Japanese in Japan. 

Here are some specific theses listed about Nihonjinron. Some of which, like the first one, sound ridiculous but are nonetheless interesting:

1. 1. The Japanese race is a unique isolate, having no known affinities with any other race. In some versions, the race is understood as directly descended from a distinct branch of primates.
2. This isolation is due to the peculiar circumstances of living in an island country cut off from the promiscuous cross-currents of continental history, with its endless miscegenation of tribes and cultures. The island country in turn enjoys a sui generis climate whose peculiar rhythms, the putative fact for example that Japan alone has four distinct seasons, color Japanese thinking and behavior. Thus, human nature in Japan is, peculiarly, an extension of nature itself.
3. The Japanese language has thus a unique grammatical structure and native lexical corpus whose idiosyncratic syntax and connotations condition the Japanese to think in peculiar patterns unparalleled in other human languages. The Japanese language is also uniquely vague. Foreigners who speak it fluently therefore, may be correct in their usage, but the thinking behind it remains inalienably soaked in the alien framework of their original language’s thought patterns. This is the Japanese version of the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis, according to which grammar determines world-view. 
4. Japanese psychology, influenced by the language, is defined by a particular cast of dependency wishes or desires that conduce to a unique form of ‘human relationship,’ in which clearly defined boundaries between self and other are ambiguous or fluid, leading to a psychomental and social ideal of the fusion of ego and alter.
5. Japanese social structures consistently remould human associations in terms of an archaic family or household model characterized by vertical relations , clan, and (foster-)parent-child patterns. As a result, the individual cannot properly exist, since groupism will always prevail.

• Tags:
  • travel

• July 25, 2014, 3:59pm

        2 notes

• Permalink

FINDING AN APARTMENT IN NYC

It’s the worst. BuzzFeed sums it up pretty well. 

I’ve been recently going through the hellish process of trying to find a new in NYC. This means sorting through false and double posted Craigslist ads until my eyes hurt. 

It’s amazing that the system still exists as is. The only way to sort is by borough and price range. Over 50% of the posting are either double postings or a bait and switch.The “realtors” themselves are, for a lack of a better word, terrible human beings. Many charge a broker’s fee or the equivalent of one month’s rent for answering emails and showing the place. 

Things I’ve learned from the process:

1. The perfect apartment doesn’t exist: You will have to compromise.
2. Make a list of priorities: Make a list of things you want in apartment: washer/dryer, roof access, a window etc. and rank them 
3. Comfort, convenience and freedom: You can one or if you’re lucky two but never all three. This is true regardless of budget. If you have a $10 million apartment, you’re going to have 

True cost of a roommate: On average in NYC, a studio and 1 bedroom apartments are $1,000 more than a room in a shared apartment. This is how the market has valued the burden of living with another human in NYC. 

Why hasn’t someone/company been able to fix this problem? It’s a huge market and the process is universally hated. I blame Craigslist 

• Tags:
  • THOUGHTS

• March 05, 2014, 9:30pm

• Permalink