" 'Like' and 'don't dislike' are millions of light-years apart, you know."
When my piano teacher told me I liked music, I was genuinely surprised.
First of all, having someone tell you what you really like is already a deviation from the norm. Supposedly, the person who knows me the best should really be myself. To have someone telling me what I like is probably considered a failure on my part by many, especially in this competitive globalized world where talent must not only be possessed but also presented aptly. Secondly, the statement comes off very strange to me since no one has mentioned it before. It is hard to get me interested in something, as I have figured out these years, let alone like something and actively display traits of an enthusiast subconsciously.
Throughout my earlier years, music has been rather like a burden. It was not that I despised music, somehow like a typical over-stressed Asian child under the influence of their parents would say, or how Kousei would cry in front of his mother in Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso. My parents put much greater emphasis on academics than extra-curriculars, which perhaps saved my already desolate interest in music slightly. Yet, I was more than glad when I got my grade 8 certification in violin, meaning that I do not have to partake in this extremely paranoia-inducing process of musical exams. The same feeling was produced when I was emancipated from the grasps of the primary school orchestra and, to some extent, the Chinese orchestra that plagued my time in junior secondary (cf. The Missing Beat). Many might think that because I study science and do relatively well academically, I must be very organized and determined. In fact it turns out I am quite impulsive and prone to giving up unless I am forced to stay in a particular activity, during which I will begrudgingly drag myself on, but that would fall wide of the area in which one would consider someone "interested in what he is doing".
To this apparent paradox, I turned towards the very root of the problem: What does it mean for someone to "like" something? First and foremost, it is important to distinguish between liking something and liking someone, a topic I do not wish to discuss at length here. However, there are some significant similarities between these concepts, some of which might appear here or in future posts.
It is often the case that when someone claims that he likes something, and keeps talking about it with flashy facts and dazzling enthusiasm, he would appear to be rather ill-informed and possibly will be ridiculed by real experts in the field. Indeed, some consider "liking" something to be fully encompassing the attractive aspects as well as the boring and tedious aspects of the thing of interest. This would not be a bad description of liking, somehow mirroring the commitment required for "loving" someone, and coincidentally would quite definitely put me in the camp of "not really liking music", since all I had in mind was to pursue music as a side hobby and not devote my entire attention to it (or even, the majority of my attention). I only wanted to be able to play something to entertain myself, not endure the hard practice to be an absolute expert.
You might be able to sense something wrong with the last sentences of the last paragraph already. If "liking" something means to be able to put up with the nastier attributes, does a hobbyist like what he is doing? Here, I refer to hobbyist as in someone who is not ready to give up his entire life, somehow opposed to "professional" or "die-hard fan" if you will. There is limited commitment, and the prime reason for this limitation would be, exactly, the unsavoury work that one has to overcome before reaching the results of enjoyment that one seeks in a hobby. This is why the description of hobbyist is often used to contrast that of an expert, because a hobbyist would not be able or willing to put in the efforts to train himself to be an expert. Given that the hard work required to be an expert vanishes, which hobbyist would not want to be one?
It is perhaps because of precisely this that I have been somehow avoiding over-commitment in music (running away, as Shinji would put it). I do not want to go into the circle of people who actually "like" music, as per described above, and find myself sticking out like a sore thumb, unable to fully commit to this cause. Also because of this, I was afraid to admit that I like anything, for fear that someone might have the impression that I am willing to commit my full attention to something, when in fact I am merely a hobbyist, and will come up as a disappointment when I fail to meet their expectations. This is perhaps why the statement that I like music caused such resounding feeling. It turns out that this feeling stems from fear of expectations, perhaps one of the most prevalent feelings in my life so far.
In this world of exhibitionism, a person with no interests, or who "likes" nothing, is often considered a deadweight to the society, since he cannot contribute to anything with his full enthusiasm, and someone more enthusiastic must take up all the hard work behind the eventual results. The hobbyist, therefore, is often deemed a lazy person and would attribute to nothing constructive. Along with the lack of creativity, the lack of interest is one of the things that this world would no longer accept in the face of globalization. Where would be the escape for the hobbyist? This is something I no longer know, and no longer bother to find.
OP Discussion 6: Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu OP, Bouken Desho Desho?
"The answer is always in my heart"
Throughout my earlier years, music has been rather like a burden. It was not that I despised music, somehow like a typical over-stressed Asian child under the influence of their parents would say, or how Kousei would cry in front of his mother in Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso. My parents put much greater emphasis on academics than extra-curriculars, which perhaps saved my already desolate interest in music slightly. Yet, I was more than glad when I got my grade 8 certification in violin, meaning that I do not have to partake in this extremely paranoia-inducing process of musical exams. The same feeling was produced when I was emancipated from the grasps of the primary school orchestra and, to some extent, the Chinese orchestra that plagued my time in junior secondary (cf. The Missing Beat). Many might think that because I study science and do relatively well academically, I must be very organized and determined. In fact it turns out I am quite impulsive and prone to giving up unless I am forced to stay in a particular activity, during which I will begrudgingly drag myself on, but that would fall wide of the area in which one would consider someone "interested in what he is doing".
To this apparent paradox, I turned towards the very root of the problem: What does it mean for someone to "like" something? First and foremost, it is important to distinguish between liking something and liking someone, a topic I do not wish to discuss at length here. However, there are some significant similarities between these concepts, some of which might appear here or in future posts.
It is often the case that when someone claims that he likes something, and keeps talking about it with flashy facts and dazzling enthusiasm, he would appear to be rather ill-informed and possibly will be ridiculed by real experts in the field. Indeed, some consider "liking" something to be fully encompassing the attractive aspects as well as the boring and tedious aspects of the thing of interest. This would not be a bad description of liking, somehow mirroring the commitment required for "loving" someone, and coincidentally would quite definitely put me in the camp of "not really liking music", since all I had in mind was to pursue music as a side hobby and not devote my entire attention to it (or even, the majority of my attention). I only wanted to be able to play something to entertain myself, not endure the hard practice to be an absolute expert.
You might be able to sense something wrong with the last sentences of the last paragraph already. If "liking" something means to be able to put up with the nastier attributes, does a hobbyist like what he is doing? Here, I refer to hobbyist as in someone who is not ready to give up his entire life, somehow opposed to "professional" or "die-hard fan" if you will. There is limited commitment, and the prime reason for this limitation would be, exactly, the unsavoury work that one has to overcome before reaching the results of enjoyment that one seeks in a hobby. This is why the description of hobbyist is often used to contrast that of an expert, because a hobbyist would not be able or willing to put in the efforts to train himself to be an expert. Given that the hard work required to be an expert vanishes, which hobbyist would not want to be one?
It is perhaps because of precisely this that I have been somehow avoiding over-commitment in music (running away, as Shinji would put it). I do not want to go into the circle of people who actually "like" music, as per described above, and find myself sticking out like a sore thumb, unable to fully commit to this cause. Also because of this, I was afraid to admit that I like anything, for fear that someone might have the impression that I am willing to commit my full attention to something, when in fact I am merely a hobbyist, and will come up as a disappointment when I fail to meet their expectations. This is perhaps why the statement that I like music caused such resounding feeling. It turns out that this feeling stems from fear of expectations, perhaps one of the most prevalent feelings in my life so far.
In this world of exhibitionism, a person with no interests, or who "likes" nothing, is often considered a deadweight to the society, since he cannot contribute to anything with his full enthusiasm, and someone more enthusiastic must take up all the hard work behind the eventual results. The hobbyist, therefore, is often deemed a lazy person and would attribute to nothing constructive. Along with the lack of creativity, the lack of interest is one of the things that this world would no longer accept in the face of globalization. Where would be the escape for the hobbyist? This is something I no longer know, and no longer bother to find.
OP Discussion 6: Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu OP, Bouken Desho Desho?
"The answer is always in my heart"
I suppose that around this time, the time for instrumentality and the Third Impact, I should really be discussing the OP/ED of NGE, but I feel that I have more to say about this piece instead, and after all this is also the OP of the movie (Disappearance), which occurs around the time of Christmas, so I would say that it is an apt and festive choice as well.
The OP starts off with a shooting star, a symbol of wish and fantasy, stuff of legends perhaps. Immediately we are thrown into an atmosphere that is mystical, magical almost, with a hand of god prhaps reaching out to grab Haruhi, who gladly accept the invitation to the mystical realm of the night skies, now brilliant, abreast with hopes and dreams of the supernatural. It mirrors the event which kicked Haruhi into motion, into her eccentric yet relentless search of the extraordinary, the night of the Tanabata detailed in Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody. It could be inferred that the hand is then Kyon's/John Smith's. Regardless, this short segment sets the entire tone of the adventures in the show, just as effectively as it serves as a foil of Kyon's opening monologue.
While a lot of non-action themed OP's serve us still shots of characters, or simply shots where the character is not in a great deal of motion (cf CLANNAD), this is not the case here. Haruhi is rather restless, as one might say, always walking or cheering, being active that is, while characters such as Nagato are not filled with motion at all. Not to mention the various visual cues of the characters' "real identities", the OP is a clear reflection of the characters we can expect in the show.
The most memorable part, and indeed what makes this OP one of my favourites, is from 0:48 onwards. With Haruhi waking through what seems to be the universe of her imagination, and various characters she manifests, it almost seems to revive a part of the innocence lost with these years, bringing back memories of the time when nothing seems to be hindering us from dreaming about impossibilities.
When I say that Haruhi saved me from the darkest moments I had last year around this period, I refer to the energetic optimism displayed in the show, and that is especially well encapsulated in this brief OP. This is why I would say it is this 10-year-old classic which brought me into the world of anime (and becoming a damn weeb).
Credits to /r/AnimeThemes.
The most memorable part, and indeed what makes this OP one of my favourites, is from 0:48 onwards. With Haruhi waking through what seems to be the universe of her imagination, and various characters she manifests, it almost seems to revive a part of the innocence lost with these years, bringing back memories of the time when nothing seems to be hindering us from dreaming about impossibilities.
When I say that Haruhi saved me from the darkest moments I had last year around this period, I refer to the energetic optimism displayed in the show, and that is especially well encapsulated in this brief OP. This is why I would say it is this 10-year-old classic which brought me into the world of anime (and becoming a damn weeb).
Credits to /r/AnimeThemes.
