Video Mashup

Archival footage of Tokyo from the 1940's until present.

Mashup

Mashup of old Japanese films with Nujabes/Tribute to Nujabes tracks Tributetojunken.L by meina

darth vader meme

I'm not a huge Star Wars fan so I felt like the wrong person to make this meme...plus I'm not funny. Still, this picture could not be left alone. I found this Darth Vader photo awhile ago on Tumblr with no subtext at all. Through Memegenerator I tried using Vader quotes (excluding the first one) to go along with the situation.

Original:

Memegenarator:

Cat Memes

The Internet was made for cat gifs.

Google Earth: Tour of places in Tokyo

My experience with Google Earth has been rather frustrating.
I didn't find a helpful tutorial online so I apologize for the poor quality.

This video shows the frequent places I went to while studying abroad in Tokyo.

1. Komagome: I stayed with my aunt in her apartment. It was a small place but very convenient.
I was 15 minutes away from downtown but somehow always late...
2. Yotsuya: My school! I went to Sophia University, commuting everyday in an agonizing morning rush.
3. Shinjuku: Only minutes away from school and a place where I often met up with my friends. It's also a popular place for drinking and staying out all night.
4. Harajuku: A good place to shop and go to cafes!
5. Shimokitazawa: My favorite restaurant is here. I miss their flame-broiled mackerel and bamboo sake.
6. Saitama (Musashi-Urawa): It doesn't show up in the video, but the last stop is my grandma's house which is a little outside of Tokyo.

Memes

"Language is a parasite that we've adapted to..."
-Susan Blackmore


Memes are constantly overused and re-contextualized by how they're operated by language.
Thus their longevity is assured and can continue to exist in an constantly evolving landscape.

Plato's cave/Neo's Matrix

The discourse between Plato's mentor Socrates and his brother Glaucon bears many similarities to the Matrix and the fallacies of "reality," but perhaps may even be compared to our own ever-expanding virtual world. The duality of fantasy and real life, however, may be more complex than a cave of shadows or a world of technological domination. The divide of light and dark purposed by Socrates to demonstrate someone whose whole life was comprised of only shadows and echoes is a question of what is good and bad. Our virtual life, namely the depth of the Internet and social networking, has blurred those lines that separated what we knew as false and true...because what if it's all reality? The way that the virtual world has attached itself to what is natural (non-technological) has shown that not only can it be beneficial (i.e. communication), but lessen previous problems of mobility, costs, and time. This light or darkness that is enlightening and at the same time darkening our perspectives brings into question what the consequences will be. In my opinion, despite the anxieties our current virtual world is associated with, we are ultimately more curious about how much further we can go. And by that time I'm sure it will take more than a red pill to reverse us back.