Linkin Park: A Thousand Suns - A Review

There's a lot of nostalgia goggled controversy over the new Linkin Park album. I like the new direction, personally. Truth is, the first two albums had some really memorable moments for a twelve year old me, but they don't age well with a few exceptions. My December, Breaking the Habit, Session, Nobody's Listening, Forgotten (and it's remix), Pts of Athrty, and In the End are all classics in my book, but the rest is largely forgettable.

The third album, Minutes to Midnight, was a choppy mess. The best thing that came out of that era was New Divide, which had some kinda cool progressive bits, which kinda brings us to the direction of the new album, A Thousand Suns.

 Thousand Suns, despite the Rubin production, is not at all like Minutes to Midnight. This is a billion times smoother (when listened to as a straight track, it all flows near perfectly) and more organized than Minutes to Midnight, and thus much more listenable. It's also got their strongest lyrics ever, which is cool. Chester actually has something to sing about besides his own self loathing, and Mike is capable as both a singer and rapper.
This album is exactly what I wanted it to be: stronger than Minutes to Midnight, and going in a new direction yet still keeping hints those elements that made Hybrid Theory and Meteora such nostalgic albums several years later.
And even though they had Rick Rubin producing, it's got quite a few touches of a **** The Record Label album. A few songs are radio friendly, but overall you get the feeling that this was made as a concept album first and a singles collection second.

I've listened through this album a few times, and it's holding together pretty well

Song by song (For a benchmark 7 is average, 5 is listenable):

Requiem/Radiance: Sets the pace for the album. A little long for an intro on such a short album, but not bad. Recalls nuclear themes and specifically the Bhagavad Gita quotes made famous from the Manhattan Project. 7/10

Burning in the Skies: A slower song, and the only one that really recalls the old Chester's Self Loathing Ballads of old. However, there's a certain magic to this one that makes it much stronger than stuff like Shadow of the Day; the lyrics are somewhat mystical, the melody holds together really well with the vocals unlike most Linkin Park songs, and it generally just holds up. Mike Shinoda's singing sounds great, and even CHester isn't too whiny, which is relaxing. A few of the lyrics do stumble over awkward metaphors, however, and it could be a little bit shorter, which is a general flaw with a few of the songs on the album. However, it's not so repetitive as to be awful for it. 8.5/10

Empty Spaces: A filler track with some military-like samples. Not long enough to make an impression at only about 19 seconds, really only makes sense when listening as an album. No rating.

When They Come For Me: Effectively Nobody's Listening with a tribal drum beat instead of a sampled Japanese flute. This is filled in with some heavy drone beats and a sampled organ. This is some of Mike's strongest rapping. He makes a few metaphors about the direction that Linkin Park is taking. There's also a chorus of some interesting sounding Indian-style singing. Around 3/4ths of the way in, Chester makes his obligatory entrance as the song goes into the "final minute wind-down". Ends on a heavily Indian-styled fuzz note, which sounds awesome. Ultimately, this is a fun song and one of my favorites on the album. 9/10

Robot Boy: A slow soft piece, evoking images of the old instrumental song Session, but with vocals added. Nothing too special, but it's nice and calming after the violent throwdown from the previous track. A little repetitive, but deliberately atmospheric. Kicks into a higher gear midway through to stay interesting. 7.5/10

Journada del Muerto: My favorite filler track since Tool's Eon Blue Apocalypse. Despite the Spanish title, the lyrics are in Japanese. Leads into Waiting For the End. 8/10

Waiting For The End: This is an interesting song. It starts off with what basically amount to 90s pop vocals, but for some reason this is not necessarily a bad thing. Mike and Chester kick into a duet for the middle verse. Mike finishes off with a rap. This is a song that evokes a few of the cliches from the old style Linkin Park lyrics, but with a more inherently positive twist and more variety. It's strange but pulled off well. 8.25/10

Blackout: The first half: Sounds like a NIN remix of a Mindless Self Indulgence song. This would be the least out of place on Hybrid Theory or Meteora out of every track on this album, mostly for the lyrics. Not particularly strong, but not unlistenable. The second half: Mike Shinoda sings what feels like the second half of Robot Boy but with a heavier beat and this song's piano part. If it were two songs split along the middle breakdown, it'd be better, but ultimately it's not very strong. 5.75/10

Wretches and Kings: Begins with a sampled speech, and then kicks into another tribal-beat rap. Evokes the old reggae-numetal band Skindred. This is not a bad thing, because I loved Skindred. Hearing Chester rap in that reggae style is a little odd, however. This song feels a little forced after the superior and less repetitive When They Come For Me, but it's arguably the most single-worthy song on the album. 7.5/10

Wisdom, Justice, And Love: A rather beautiful filler piece sampled from a Martin Luther King Jr speech. However, the end could have been less staticky and drawn out. 7/10

Iridescent: Continues the piano piece backing the previous filler piece. A little cheezy; continues the "reaching out" lyrical theme from Robot Boy and Waiting For The End. Still kind of a cute song, and the vocals are nice, so I can't really hate it. 7.25/10

Fallout: Repeats the chorus line from Burning in the Skies as an atmospheric mantra. Blends from mechanical to non-distorted for a cool effect. 7.25/10

The Catalyst: The lead single off of the album thus far. The somewhat common theme of Sigur Ros-like repetitive vocals for atmosphere kinda peaks here, but in terms of abuse rather than quality. It's a decent song in the flow of the album, but it's too repetitive to really hold up on its own, even with a minute chopped off for the single release.  6.75/10

The Messenger: The only acoustic song I know of by Linkin Park, though I could be wrong. Another cheezy "Reaching Out" song, which ties in nicely with the last few. However, it's an odd note to end the album on, and conflicts with the song just before it. Your Mileage May Vary is in full effect here, and you'll either hate it or think it's decent but ultimately a bit out of place. At least it's short. 4.75/10

Ultimately, this is Linkin Park's strongest album. It's not perfect, but Linkin Park has matured and found a new direction a good six or seven years after nu-metal grew passe, saving themselves from dissolution. This album manages to experiment and genre bend while knowing what it wants, which was the third LP's major flaw. At the same time, there are still a few throwbacks to 2003, reminding you that this is still the same crew that gave you good times and fun tunes back in the day. I hope their next album sees even better songwriting and fluency, because this is almost exactly where I was hoping Linkin Park would go.

8/10

Japanese McD's and the Aquarium

Every time I sit down to write one of these, I feel like Lt. Winters in the episode of Band of Brothers where he sits down at the typewriter to consolidate an incredible amount of experience into a logical written format. Just a random thought.

Anyways, I tried McDonalds in Japan today. Besides the M-Saizu drink being an American Small, there wasn't much different. The meat is probably a little better quality. My SYA buddy Shelby, who has some experience with farm life, tells me the beef that American McD's likes is the worst quality possible. You don't want to know. Apparently Burger King buys the best cows out of all the major fast food chains in that part of Washington state. 

Also, Japanese mayonnaise is delicious. And I don't really like mayonnaise at all outside o tuna salad at home, so when I go for it you know it's gotta be better. It's more savory.

We also went to the Gifu Freshwater Aquarium. Lots of Japanese river fish (apparently trout come in every shape and size here), Chinese fish, a whole hall of Japanese salamanders and frogs in every shape and size, and several continents of exotic fish. From SE Asia and India, there was a tank of Meikong Giants and a couple Goonch catfish (the Goonch is the mother of all nightmare fuel after that episode of River Monsters. The biggest ones feed on people.). From the Congo, a bunch of weird catfish and other giants, plus a tigerfish (also nightmare fuel after watching River Monsters). From the Amazon, they had the two most beautiful fish ever, the Arapaima and the Flatheaded Sorubim. There was also a close relative of the Flatheaded Sorubim that was staring at a Japanese couple and just kinda nodding its head. This amused them. I brought my camera but it died before we even got to the aquarium, so no photos, sadly. 

Also went to an old tea place that seemed right out of the Meiji era, mainly due to the extensive Victorian architectural influence. They had delicious cake. There were a ton of Victorian photos and posters, all originals, on the walls.

A Salute to Stale

This one's not about me.
There's a guy I know, goes by the name Stale on the Penny Arcade forums.
Stale's taken a lot of crap over the years from his body. He's basically had every disease known to man. This has left him with a rather minimal degree of walking ability with out cripple sticks. He also fought a zombie possum once. Anyways, his teeth have begun to abscess recently, meaning Stale's getting them taken out pretty much any day now, bottom row first. After that, he's stuck on liquid food for ever. This is arguably his most dangerous surgery ever; everyone at PA is kinda worried about him. His insurance isn't the best either, so he's had a lot of difficulty in getting the whole thing done. He was actually supposed to get the surgery done as I write, but he couldn't get the right antibiotics from his plan. Apparently he got pretty mad over that one. I quote:
"I was not pleasant. Nor was I professional. I was country.
"*censored*" may have been shouted into my phone in the middle of a very nice sushi restaurant I was having soup in."

Normally, he's a little more civil about his discourse. Anyway, it should be done sometime next week. Should be. It's already been two weeks delayed.

Good-news-everyone-Edit: He found a dentist who cares

But there is a cool story to this. Stale got his last meal. Basically, even without the surgery, regular eating is just getting painful. Right now the man is in the market for a good blender.
Basically, he started a discussion on what his last meal should be. A general agreement was steak. And eventually, some of his friends in meatspace got Stale's story out to one of the top chefs in Atlanta. Stale got his steak.
And it looks like it was delicious.
Here's another little slideshow:
http://s221.photobucket.com/albums/dd66/zerogummi/The%20Last%20Meal/?albumview=slideshow

Godspeed you, Stale Gummibear*

*because nothing is tougher than a stale gummi bear.


But seriously, keep Stale in your prayers and hopes and meditations and Satanist rituals. He really needs it.

Bike

My bike (which I just realized I have no pictures of) is my primary means of getting around town. And my host family bought it for me, which was awesome.

It's still a piece of overweight steel. All Japanese bikes that aren't a gajillion yen or more tend to be. This one was about 12800 yen. And for some reason, even though the Japanese have the most disposable income on the whole planet per capita, they like really cheap bikes. A Japanese bike is like an American muscle car, decent enough in a straight line, but try throwing it into a turn without being careful and you can/will eat asphalt. God help you if it's not fresh asphalt. The thing is top heavy, especially with a six foot gaijin on top, and has absolutely no shock absorbers. So it's not even really the best in a straight line. I guess I could trim a few kilos by taking off the wheel caps and the basket. The brakes would still be a little sticky, the gears would still all feel sloppy, and the frame would still be hugely overwrought, but a little bit of weight goes a long way, and I think the handling improvement would be half decent. I would also not have to push as much torque into the initial few pedals, which tend to be a strength test on even the lowest gears. A set of much wider tires would also be nice. These dainty little road tires make the whole overweight affair even less stable and therefore infinitely more awful.

Remember the bikes in Tanzania, family people? Next step of quality up. At least this baby has brakes.

Thank whatever deity that, at the very least, Ichinomiya has absolutely no hills. If I threw this bike into a few of the 90 degree uphill turns I abuse my Gary Fisher with at home, I would be more scarred up and broken than the time I forgot to wear skate pads and bombed Conservation Avenue's Far Side.

But hey, it was free. So I can't complain.

Dinner was the Japanese equivalent of a casserole, with a schfancy bento on the side. Not bad.

Pokemon Black - Initial Impressions

So once again, the world finds itself with a new iteration of the best-selling monster series. Pokemon Black and White are the fifth generation of such (in the main line of games, spinoffs don't count), and have what actually amount to some pretty significant upgrades under the hood. The most noticeable is the graphical engine, which runs a billion times smoother while looking much better than the previous DS-platform Pokemon games did. The camera also switches angles every once in a while from the standard 3/4ths isometric view, which is a cool touch. Anime cutscenes take place when you are on the phone and in several story points, which is nice looking and actually lends more flow to the whole in game phone affair compared to a tiny dialogue box that prevents yo from walking. Pokemon are also much more animated in battle.
The second big one is that the battles themselves flow much more quickly than ever, and in a game where you have thousands of battles, this can actually shave off a hundred or more hours. The whole interface is nice, and I've managed to figure out most of it despite my very limited Japanese. You also get your Pokemon, running shoes, and the Cut HM very early on. I am also fairly sure TMs are reuseable.
The third, which some people will be very happy to hear, and has the most profound implications, is that the competitive game has been incredibly streamlined. It used to be, for the last few games, that Pokemon were created along very complex guidelines called IVs which influenced each stat on a 31 point scale. Along with EVs, which were influenced by battles, and natures, which are also inheret and affect IVs directly, there was a lot of stuff to juggle in creating the perfect mon. All of that still exists, but IVs are on an 8 point scale and once you beat the game you can go into a place called the Dream World where you can effectively tailor your own Pokemon. However, this requires some online janks I haven't figured out yet, but I imagine I eventually will. You can also import old Pokemon from the GBA and DS games using a feature similar to the 4th generation's Pal Park. I have yet to do a lot of research on the other new features (I'm not very far into the game itself yet, so this isn't a review) but they are there.
I like what I've seen so far. The new Pokemon are generally well designed, and you never see any non-Isshu region pokemon, which is unique to every Pokemon game except for the obvious exception of the originals. Pokemon's been around for a long time, but it seems like this time around, GameFreak has managed to completely revolutionize what many were believing to be stale.

Fashion wa Zetta Takai neee

So I went to Aeon Mall today. Actually, the whole Pokemon thing was a little anticlimactic, as my buddy Nick put it. Very, very few people in line, and the event going on outside of Toys R Us was not Pokemon, but the local baseball team from Nagoya. I bought the game, and then explored the mall a little. Winter fashion is beginning to hit the stores.

The first shop I went to was King's Road, a Gothic accessories shop. Lots of pretty good quality Sterling silver merch, including a couple showcases of New York and London designer jewelry. Lots of skulls, crossbones, and general awesomeness, if you have the cash. Also a 9800 yen t-shirt.

Next was Union Station, a pretty decent punk store. A little expensive, but most of the merch was pretty nice quality. I might pick up some of it later.

There was a Studio Ghibli merch shop. I looked through it, but doing so was so incredibly overpowering that I probably teared up a little. So much nostalgia. Also a thousand dollar, five foot tall Totoro plushie.

Another two cool stores were Semantic Design (more punk and gothic stuff) and Method (kind of a cross between hip hop and punk, plus a shelf of One Piece merch in kind of a hip hop style. It's as cornily awesome as it sounds).

Village Vanguard is a bit like Japanese Spencers, but change the sex toys section into an anime merch section and you've pretty much got it. They also had a rack of customized Zippos and rarer, more eccentric lighters.

Lunch was Takoyaki. Takoyaki are doughballs with minced and diced Octopus tentacle.They are also covered in delicious barbecue sauce, mayonnaise (Japanese mayo is infinitely better for some reason), and bonito flakes. Oishiiiiiikataaaa neeeee~

TGIF

I think I'm gonna list what I had for dinner that night at the start of some blog posts, since I tend to write these at about 9:30 or so. Also, because Naoko-san's cooking is delicious.
Spaghetti with pea soup
Dessert was a fruit tart. pie thingy.

Autumn is coming, which means I'm not marinating in my own sweat anymore, which is nice. In a few weeks I'll bet it's gonna be pretty terribly cold, however.

Three day weekend. I need the RnR. Japan's been amazing but draining. My friend Helen has dubbed it Transitional Exhaustion. I like that term.

 PokeMon Black/White comes out tomorrow. Aeon Mall is gonna be hectic. Screaming Japanese kids everywhere.

The Legend of WheelStand

I was thinking about talking about Japanese fast food, but I haven't eaten at Mos Burger yet so I can't quite comment just yet.

So I'm gonna tell a little story.
This is about a week ago.
Buncha us SYA kids are walking to the station, and I've got my bike with me.
Ty, our resident motorcycle racer and general crazy guy/daredevil, asks me for my bike. Something about a trick. Says it's called a wheelstand.
I figure "why not?"
He rides up about twenty meters, turns around back to ride at us, and then does a wheelie. On the front wheel.
Now, this bike is weighted kinda strangely. It's a cheap piece of Chinese steel, with a rather heavy frame and a surprisingly heavy basket.
Ty kinda realizes this as he's popping the wheelstand. It's impressive, but very quickly he overtilts. There's kind of an "oh crap" look on his face as he yells "WHEELSTAND!". By this point, he's going too far forward, too fast.
Ty flips forward, pretty much faceplants. The bike follows him, and comes down right on top of him. I wish I had gotten video. I'm almost kinda worried (helmets don't exist here), but then he's fine, so we all get a good laugh.

Dude It's been three weeks

Yup, three weeks since I stepped on the plane from LA. It's been long and short at once. I guess that's what you call average time flow. So now for some random thoughts I've had or am having:
-Coffee Boss is my hero

-Ichinomiya would be longboard paradise if it weren't raining

-I miss my old Damon Ferrari Custom mask

-My mom probably tore apart my room trying to clean it

-Watching Wee Man skateboard dressed as an Oompa Loompa on Jackass is just as funny as it was in 2000
--Actually, Jackass 3D looks like it could be epic.*

-My desktop has an SoC Gunbuster on it

-YAKINIKU IS THE BEST OHMYGOD

--Except for Naoko-san's cooking, which is awesome

-Dealing with a pregnant host mom is gonna be hell

-For a Buddhist monk, my host dad sure drinks and smokes

-Public baths are less awkward than you'd guess. just keep your eyes away from a certain latitude.

-Hiro Protagonist's U-Stor-It under the LAX taxi lane really exists.

-Mr. H is gonna kill me for missing a couple blog posts

-Usavich is the best MTV cartoon since Daria


*Warning: This Blog Contains Sentences Either Written by Abroad Students or Under the Supervision of Japanese. In either case, GREGTV insists that neither you or any of your dumb little buddies  attempt the nerdy crap in this show.

Tiny cars

This should be obvious by now: cars are smaller in Japan.
Well, okay, things in general are smaller. Drinks, roads*, dogs, my ego, department store corridors, etc.
The only things I've seen that tend to be really big are my room, Tokyo, and price tags on anything that isn't ramen, cigarette, or beverage related. Also 100 yen shops, which whup the ass of American dollar stores by a million miles.
But yeah, small cars. The average size around here tends to be in the old-school Mini Cooper and Fiat 500 range. Basically, this means anything the size of a shoe. Also, cars like the Nissan Cube and Scion xB are huge here.
Japanese minivans look much cooler and have much better handling than they do in the states.
Honda Civics and similar cars are huge looking here. A Mercedes E class is enormous.
The only truly big cars I've seen have been either Toyota Land Cruisers or the following list: a pimped out Chevy pickup, two H2 Hummers, and a jacked-suspension F350. The F350 is pretty ginormous even in Eagleland, but when one drives down the streets of Ichinomiya, you can hear Godzilla, Rodan, Ultraman, King Ghidora, and Jet Jaguar all yelling "Oh, crap, a new Enemy of the Week!"
I could get into detailing the implications of such an F350 and the self confidence/masculinity of the owner, but I have family who read this blog and so it is therefore not worth it.

Next Time on Tokusatsu SUPER - Gaijin Special: Godzilla and Anguirius - Ultimate Team Up! Fight Against The Yankee Vehicle Monster, Effu Suri Fifuchi!

*Though sidewalks tend to be massive. Dad, find a skateboard box please

Ramen

Ramen are actually Chinese noodles, oddly enough, but this hasn't stopped them from spreading across Japan. There is one big reason for this: pork broth is delicious. I've been to three ramen shops in Ichinomiya so far. On the first day, we went to one, a tonkotsu ramen place in south Ichinomiya. For lunch a few days ago, Hyden and I went to the one right by school for some Shoyu ramen (soy sauce ramen, my favorite). Then today, we tried Hakata Ramen at Baribarai-Baiken, a decent shop just past school. Hakata ramen is made by allowing the broth to get every nutrient and bit of pork possble, so the broth turns white. I guess it's the Guiness to regular ramen's Budweiser. Baribaribaiken has had probably my favorite atmosphere. The kitchen is wide open to the world, so you get all the noise and rush of the ramen chefs. Bo Jovi, Rolling Stones, Offspring, and other rock pours through the speakers. I think I'm getting a little less pretentious about my rock music, because a year ago that combination would have driven me crazy before I could wolf down my noodles. Also, Baiken allows you to select the toughness of your noodles (I recommend 3 or 4 out of 5) and, even better, buy a second helping of the noodles to put in your still piping broth for just 120 en, a killer deal.
Long story short, real ramen is worlds away from cup ramen. Too bad real ramen-ya are almost unseen in most of the USA. Also, for SYA people, check out Baribari Baiken.

Manga

Slight confession, which should be fairly obvious to most: I like anime and manga, though I don't consider myself obsessive. However, since I'm in Japan, I do bother to indulge in the nerdiness just a little bit. Probably the biggest thing that the Japanese love, even though it's a bit less common in America, is manga (pronounced, for those of you unfamiliar with the subject, mahn-guh, not mann-ga on mayn-guh). There are reasons why it's so popular here. For one, a volume, or tankobon, is about half the price. North American fans can expect to part with anywhere from eight to eleven dollars. In Japan, expect to lose anywhere between 400 and 575 yen. Also, Japanese manga come in a massive variety of sizes (there are large print volumes, valuable for series with massive spreads, and mini pocket volumes, along with a typical trade paperback size). Another big difference is the feel. American manga volumes tend to be fairly rigid, while Japanese style manga will bend to your hand readily and then return to their previous shape. Far more comfortable. I just hope you like reading Japanese.
My host family owns a decent library of manga, so I've been checking out a couple, especially Hokuto no Ken (Fist of the North Star) and Paradise Kiss. I also bought volume 59 of One Piece yesterday, because that arc was HOLY CRAP levels of insane awesome, and because 400 yen is payable in pocket change.

Opening Post - Irrashaimasse!

Welcome to my blog, the only official website of Greg Steffensen. This will be a pretty much daily record of thoughts on living in Japan, and also part of a writing grade in my English class. Maybe some language, but nothing NSFW.

The name Redneck Katana refers to Neal Stephenson's post-cyberpunk work Snow Crash, where at one point in the book the main character Hiro Protagonist is seen training his kenjutsu forms with a meter long rod of iron rebar, wrapped on the grip end in gaffer's tape, which he nicknames the Redneck Katana. It's a heavy, imprecise training tool that requires a lot of effort to master, but his training with the tool saves Hiro's life several times during real fights with real weapons in the penultimate battle sequence of the book. I think this serves as an adequate metaphor to my life in Japan: often clumsy, but ultimately enlightening, albeit after some effort invested.And it's a Snow Crash reference, which is always welcome.