WARNING: The above blog contains scenes with coarse language, cartoon violence and (im)mature subject matter. Viewer discretion is advised.
Who I'd Like to Meet in 2008:
And all my MySpace friends at least once!! :) :) :)
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About... RUDIE
Music: By some mysterious coincidence, almost all the music I love comes from the UK and occasionally Ireland (see list to left). It could be obscure as hell or a top-40 hit, I don't mind as long as it's a good tune. It all started with Genesis and Phil Collins back in the mid-'80s, LOL, and then my dad got me into The Beatles and I have never looked back! I now enjoy '60s mod, '70s punk, '80s new wave and synthpop, '80s/'90s Madchester, '90s Britpop and 2000s downtempo electronica, esp. trip-hop. Three bands that completely took over my life, in turn, were the Beatles, the Clash, and the Pet Shop Boys. They may appear to have little in common, but all three had the incredible gift to craft perfect melodic pop tunes - none of this modern dissonant nonsense! Well okay there were some hilariously strange moments on "the White Album" and Sandinista (and PSB's weird sci-fi track 'The Sound of the Atom Splitting') but you know what I mean. Lennon/McCartney, Strummer/Jones, Tennant/Lowe: three of the greatest song-writing teams in modern music! :)
Instruments: I can play bass guitar (haven't played for ages but getting back into it), keyboards (ok - had classical piano lessons), and guitar (blah, not too well). I can sight-read but I hate it. I do have an excellent ear - I used to have an uncanny ability to reproduce on the piano almost anything I heard, note-for-note, without any specific training for it. I'd love to try that again. (It's apparently something I inherited from my paternal grandmother. She was even better than me - my dad says she used to accompany singers on the piano, and if the singer could not sing in the original key, she'd transpose the song into a different key right on the spot!) I like to sing, I love karaoke (I am Japanese, after all). But I prefer to do backing/harmony vocals in bands. Very unfortunately, I'm unable to write songs - they don't come to me like they do so naturally to all these other people! :( Wahhh. So, anyone in Toronto wanna form a Britpop tribute band with me?
Sports: I don't play sports, and I rarely follow sports. I am, however, a casual footie (English soccer) fan, if such a thing exists. I catch the occasional match on telly to see how my favourite team Liverpool FC are faring, and check their rank in the Premiership. Three years ago was the pinnacle of excitement when Liverpool defeated AC Milan to bring home the European Champions Cup. Watched the live broadcast down the Scallywags pub where all the Toronto-based Liverpool fans were gathered - it was fookin' insane. Up the Reds! Obviously I support England during the World Cup. Three lions on a shirt, Jules Rimet still gleaming. We're singing for England - arrivederci, it's one on one!
Exercise: So I don't play sports, but I like to practise Yoga and Pilates every so often. It's really good for the mind, body and spirit, so I'd like to do it more regularly.
Foods: Japanese, Chinese, Italian and Indian (all vegetarian).
Drinks: barley water ("We ahh ladies!"), juice, fruit cocktails, smoothies, mango lassi, ice tea, gingerale, cranberry&soda.
Dessert: Dole peach-in-peach-gels (no gelatin!).
Scents: I like fruity fragrances (tropicals and citruses in particular), rose and lavender. I don't like any other florals, nor vanilla, coconut, almond, or sandalwood. I try not to wear fragranced products in public as I want to be considerate of people out there who are allergic (artificial fragrances cause nausea, headaches and coughing - nasty!).
Colours: I love bright, vivid colours (think tropical fish like these). Bluish-green is my favourite colour... it's so gorgeous and calming.
Appearance: Short hair, sunscreen/foundation and a bit of lippy, casual T-tops and jeans usually. I like to wear red and black a lot for some reason, like Emily Strange (but I'm definitely not a Goth, LOL).
Subcultures: I've mixed with Mods, Rudies, Punks and Skinheads (in case that freaks you out, real Skinheads have nothing to do with racism; in fact much of the style of Rudies, Skinheads and Suedeheads originated in imitation of the cool, close-cropped hair and sharp dress sense of West Indies youth who arrived in '60s England. To this day, traditional Skinheads [Trad Skins] primarily listen to ska and reggae, and they despise the right-wing youth who hijacked their subculture).
What Type of Skinhead are You?
You're a Freshcut.not necessarily a bad thing, you still have lots to learn, young grasshopper.
Take this quiz
I think out of all of them, only the Punks could tolerate my outrageous irreverence, my independent way of thinking, my refusal to follow any dress code or restrict myself to only one form of music. I do appreciate the aesthetic style and beauty of the Mods, Goths, and Suedeheads, but I could never 'live the lifestyle'. I can't stand people who take their 'scene' so deadly seriously that they can't laugh about it! And that includes snooty indie kids huddled in alternative record shops, sneering at anyone who shops at HMV. Sure, I enjoy the odd obscure band that no one I know seems to have heard of (Intastella, Adult Net, Revolving Paint Dream), but I'll also listen to top-40 Pet Shop Boys, Madonna, and *gasp* later Bowie if I want to, OK! - chacun son gout and all that. Yeah, I love good pop music, but I will not turn my nose up at lesser-known local indie bands either (as long as it's melody-driven, not dissonant) - if you have any recommendations for cool new bands, do let me know, I'm all ears!
Films: Cool British cinema, coming-of-age '80s movies, children's fantasy, science fiction, action flicks, surreal cult films (long list to left)... As with my music, I can enjoy both mainstream Hollywood blockbusters and odd obscure indie films, as long as they tell a good story. I need help discovering more alternative cinema though - at the moment I'm only exposed to mainstream stuff (plus the odd British film on telly).
Television: I watch way too much TV (see list to left)! Mostly British shows on BBC Canada, Showcase, PBS and TVO, plus the new Doctor Who series on CBC, and 3-letter crime dramas (CSI, SVU), Voyager, Buffy, Angel, and some comedy and animation.
Books: I know, I know - I don't read enough books (small list to left)! I've enjoyed some science fiction in the past, due to my brother's influence. Used to be obsessed with Sherlock Holmes, read the entire Canon and made notes - I should've joined a Sherlockian Society! I'm a bit weird - I like children's books, young adult fiction, fairy tales, folk tales, and ghost stories. I don't often read non-fiction (I tend to read for escapism), but the last one I did read was Beginner's Guide to Jungian Psychology by Robin Robertson. I find psychology fascinating.
Comic Books:
Tank Girl , the original punk rock biatch from down under, fighting the scourge of evil mobsters' dodgy Spunk beer with the help of Jet Girl, Sub Girl, Stevie, Booga and Camp Koala - "Let's lager we puke!"
Blue Monday (named both for the New Order reference and the protagonist's name) ~ Bleu L. Finnegan is a blue-haired British-obsessed teenage girl in an all-American high school in the early '90s. Disillusioned with the arsehole teenage boys at her school, she instead swoons over her Britpop music heroes, old black&white film stars, and her dreamy new substitute teacher Mr Bishop! In tow are: her bestmate the hot-headed punky Irish lass Clover, their friend Erin, Alan the Mod and his bestmate Victor the Rudeboy (and sometimes 'Monkeyboy' Chris). Blue Monday is the closest pop culture approximation I've ever seen to my own adolescent musical and cultural obsessions - they listen to the same music, dress the way my friends and I did, they even speak the British slang and hand gestures, just like we did!
Runaways is about a bunch of kids who live in the Marvel universe (but in LA, not NY) and accidentally discover that their parents are all super villains! Soon they are running for their lives (meanwhile discovering their own latent superpowers), and then must work together to put a stop to their now ex-parents' evil plans. I'm not normally interested in superheroes, but this series is both captivating and hilarious (they have teenage behaviour down to a T) and is really well-drawn.
Art:
I enjoy the Victorian Pre-Raphaelite and Neo-Classical artists (particularly John William Waterhouse) who painted beautiful scenes from Greek myths, English poetry, folklore and Shakespeare; Surrealist artists, particularly Rene Magritte (paintings) and Salvador Dali (sculptures - don't really like his paintings); M.C. Escher who did mathematical graphic designs and impossible skewed-perspective art; modern surreal fantasy illustrators such as Quint Buchholz, Michael Sowa and David Cutter; gothic-humourist Edward Gorey (most famous for the title sequence for WNED's Mystery!); Magic Realism artist Michael Parkes; Marc Chagall and his Cubist/Surrealist depictions of memories and fantasies; Walasse Ting with his colourful oriental ladies and parrots; Nick Bantock who did the Griffin&Sabine books (breath-taking!); and various children's picture book illustrators.
Ethics and politics:
Way liberal leftie! I believe people of all sexual orientations and gender identities should be able to live in this world free to be who they are and love who they love without fear of discrimination, harassment or oppression. I believe that same-sex couples should be able to enjoy all the same rights and benefits - including legal marriage - as opposite-sex couples. I believe in a woman's reproductive choice, and that abortion should be made safe and legal everywhere (particularly in cases of rape, incest, or frail health of the woman). I believe in decriminalizing the use of marijuana, and making it freely accessible for medical use to patients living with painful illnesses. I am totally for all things organic, free-range, fair-trade, and eco-friendly! Obviously I vote NDP (Canada's New Democratic Party ), and Jack Layton and Olivia Chow are my local heroes. I could've voted Green Party and was tempted to, as they're pretty cool as well, but I feel they're not really a big enough party to be able to make a difference compared to the NDP.
Human rights: I recently joined Amnesty International Canada 's Toronto Organization . I hope to help prisoners of conscience by letter-writing, and fight for human rights in places in the world where they are not being respected. The group I'm a part of right now fights specifically for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people who are suffering discrimination and human rights violations (even torture and executions) in countries all over the world. We should put an end to all kinds of violence and abuse. Violence against women by men is an important issue, certainly, particularly in countries where women still do not have equal rights to men. Domestic violence against men by women (other than in self-defence), although much more rare, is equally wrong and needs to be taken seriously - male victims are too often laughed at and not believed. Abuse can also happen in same-sex relationships. Any kind of abuse is wrong, no matter who is doing it and who they're doing it to. Although I don't intend to have children, I am very concerned about child exploitation, abuse and neglect; I think it is a crime against humanity. When I make enough money, I would like to donate to child welfare organizations.
Animal welfare: I abhor cruelty to animals, so I try as much as possible not to buy any cosmetics, personal care and household products that have been tested on animals (I check PETA's lists at CaringConsumer.com ). I'm vegetarian as I am against the cruel factory-farming of animals in the meat and poultry industry. I'd like to be more vegan (as there is rampant cruelty in the dairy and egg industries as well) but at the moment it is too difficult - maybe later. I'm trying to avoid/phase out leather goods as well.
Allergies: Thankfully I seem to have no food-based allergies. But I have the following environmental sensitivities: dust/dustmites, feathers, fur (cats in particular), and cigarette smoke. I can't sleep on feather bedding, can't visit people with cats (unless they're incredibly fastidious with the vacuum cleaner), and can't go near people who are smoking 'cos I can hardly breathe and get a really bad sore throat and cough after!
No smoking near Rudie, please.
Unless you're a cartoon character!
Thank you for your co-operation.
Lifestyle: I don't smoke (obviously), I rarely drink alcohol and I'm not into drugs, but I do love to party and get giddy on loud music (but not too loud - don't wanna end up like Frankie Wilde!), consume fizzy drinks (gingerale or cranberry&soda) and nibble on crispy things! I've come to accept that most people like to smoke weed (luckily I'm not as allergic to weed smoke as I am to tobacco smoke). But I don't think I'll ever get used to the dreaded white powder that is so rampant in the music industry (they're chained to the mirror and the razor blade)!
Personality: I'm really sweet, kind, caring and giving - all that lovey-dovey stuff (minus the Ecstasy tablets, so it's sincere!). Except when I'm pissed off. That's when I feel someone has taken advantage of my good nature. I have a strong conscience, I try to treat others as I would like to be treated, and expect the same of others. I have never stolen anything, including current (or even ex-)partners of my friends - I have been well and truly tested. OK - I've taken a plastic pint-glass and a plastic half-pint glass from a pub in Manchester as souvenirs, but that's it! I admit I can sometimes be a bit uptight and straitlaced. But I love to laugh - I appreciate dry wit and irreverent, satirical humour. I love to have fun. I'm a novelty-seeker with a natural sense of adventure. I'm passionate about the things I love, and curious about those of others if they pique my interest. I might be shy at first when I don't know someone, but eventually become relaxed and playful around people who are easygoing and accepting of me.
Please note: Two things that will really anger me, just so you know. The first is when someone takes me for a 'soft touch' and tries to take advantage of my kind and innocent nature. I'm not so nice that I would have qualms about dropping a selfish 'friend' who ignores my limits and keeps pushing me to see how much they can get away with, or tries to deceive me about something important that affects me, thinking I couldn't possibly figure it out. Sooner or later, I will find out (even when I don't want to)! The other is if I realise a guy friend has had ulterior motives for getting to know me all along. Upon knowing this, I will disappear faster than you can say - what was that Mondays song? Bob's Yer Uncle! I've managed to extricate myself from a series of messed-up relationships. I have finally become a happy singular pronoun and am determined to stay that way, so please don't ask. The fastest way to incur my wrath is to blag your way into becoming my 'friend' and then spring the ol' self-pitying 'You won't go out with me, how come girls never like me' guilt-trip crap, when I've been upfront from the beginning! If you're looking for a girlfriend, just say so, and when I say no, don't take it personally, and for god's sake don't hang about with sad-dog eyes, pretending to be my friend, and hoping I'll change my mind, 'cos I won't. I'll just get very pissed off and leave. Got it? Right, rant over. In the name of levity, I shall end this passage with a quote from a Tokyo hotel room sign: 'If you are not person to do such thing is please not to read notis' (sic). ;)