Hugi Magazine #33: MP3 Power

Asian Democulture

The lack of Japanese Demosceners doesn't mean their elements are excluded from our sceenish screen presentations, no. Japanese and Asian themes have always been hotter than their tea, it's not a trend in the demoscene, it's a lifestyle.

I belong to those who didn't surf the first Anime-wave. Instead I collected the shells and pieces of Asian culture getting stranded on the beach.... I always found it mysteriously cool when different demos like Remix or Deus ex Machina from Limited Edition showed the signs. Not only for the higher intellectual level, those demos fooled me due to some 2d graphics, but the aestethic level of beauty without meaning was standing in the dark for us. So while I drew question marks in my fonts, other sceners had already come further. For instance the symbol shown together with Pink/Abyss is the symbol for 'happiness'. Not to forget the Japanese lover aka the graphician Made/Bomb who had explored those things for years.

Today my admiration of the Asian culture has grown to an obsession. As a kid my dream was to go to the States in order to buy toys. Today that has without doubt been replaced with Japan.

Now the article begins

And it's actually here the article begins, while I'm standing in front of the mirror trying to get a polite expression in the face. Feeling so integrated with the Asian culture, I imagine a Japanese there and I want to show them my honest respect for them. Loudly I say:

- Arigato gozaimashita

I'm echoing to the mirror without getting an answer. Instead, the answer arrives in a visual form, revealing me that I could never fool myself to signalize that polite expression a Japanese does. I can't be everything. My arrogant face just shimmered through the kind surface. The mask. What a fake I am. I can never show this polite face. Perhaps as a facade, but behind the slippery mask I see something else. I gave up and walked out the bathroom again.

Roles vs Grow up

For the people in the scene, its all about taking roles. A role game. In the scene we take roles and we keep them. C'mon, you can't seriously say you know those guys in IRC or www.favorite-forum.org? In a forum many are showing one way of behaviour and stick to that. In reality they are something else. Sometimes roles emerge with how we are, that's called 'being grown up' :) but the roles about our acting are there as a thread spun through our daily life.

Different Arts

Some people have a friendly tone and continously keep this. Others seem to know everything, or have a comment on everything being said. Some are humble, some are innocent, some are besserwissers, some are copycats and some are fakes. We put on our disguises to be recognized and to get the cheers from others how they expect us to be. Always take your monkey dress with you wherever you go, or put yourself in the corn field and grow up :)

Lolita Demo Trend

As I mentioned earlier, I didn't belong to the first anime-enthusiasts. Today I follow the new trends better, especially Japanese music styles like j-rock or Visual Kei. So I did snap the new trends in japanese culture when the 'Gothic Lolita' phenomenon made the break through in society. If you have not heard of it, I gladly explain: it's an ideal to beeing dressed in a cute way, puppet like. And for the gothic mode, its more b/w than orange and yellow. Lolita = woman, almost always. Over the years, the Gothic Lolita has expanded. The demoscene earlier contained cool signs, round kicks and heavy armed heroes. The new art which is going to influence the demo scene is the Lolita. Men today have switched their heroic ideals and for being a 21st century digital boy, we are not too shy anymore to show love, feelings or to get dressed pink in public.

This kind of art will be transferred more and more to the Demoscene. Containing cute girls with warmer colors are to be seen instead of cold steel themes. That's my prediction at least.