Paprika (パプリカ)…

“What a man can be, he must be” – Maslow

 It will probably come as no surprise that I am a bit of an anime fan. A few years back I watched Paprika. It was an intense piece in true japanese animated fashion. Chris Nolan admitted it as part of his inspiration for the movie Inception. Recently, I’ve been really enjoying the soundtrack and thought I’d post one of the songs here.
‘The girl in Byakkoya’ by Susumu Hirasawa.

There are a number of reasons why I love Japanese film so much. To begin with there are usually so many layers, some overt and some so subtle that unless you have a background or history with japanese culture you’d never even notice them they are so understated. I’m thinking of a lot of the references in My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away that are subtle references to Shintoism and the spiritual world.  I had a disagreement years ago with a professor of mine on the use of melancholy in Japanese film and writing. The term that I love to describe this, mono no aware, has a number of translations but the one I prefer is ‘The sadness of being human’. He held that this is seen less in modern japanese writing and film but I completely disagree… It’s seen everywhere from Ishiguro and Murakami to even some of Beat Takeshi’s films. Though the Japanese by no means have the corner on the melancholy market i’ve always been fascinated by the way it seems to be so much a part of the culture…

In other news, I’m stopping over to visit friends and family in Seattle before i return to DC to continue the job search. I should probably put together a post dedicated to job hunting tips, tricks, and experiences to share… I’ve certainly gotten enough of them over the past few months!

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