be human

As I stated in previous post, I love Kanno Yoko music very much. Well in this post I want to share the lyric from "be human" song, which is so good and inspiring for me. Take a note that this song is about Tachikoma, and sung also by a Tachikoma (hmm.. I tell you that tachikoma is robot with splendid AI). Read.. and tell me what do you think about the lyric. For me, as I have said above, this is really inspiring.

Title: be human
Vocal: Scott Matthew
Music: Yoko Kanno

I analyze and I verify and I quantify enough
100 percentile no errors no miss
I synchronize and I specialize and I classify so much
Don't worry 'bout dreaming because I don't sleep --

I wish I could at least 30 percent
Maybe 50 for pleasure then skip all the rest

If I only was more human
I would count every single second the rest of my life
If I just could be more human
I'd have so many little babies and maybe a wife

I'd roll around in mud and have lots of fun then when I was done
Build bubblebath towers and swim in the tub
Sand Castles on the beach, frolick in the sea, get a broken knee
Be scared of the dark and I'd sing out of key

Curse when I lost a fight, kiss and reunite, scratch a spider's bite
Be happy with wrinkles I got when I smile
Pet kittens 'till they purred, maybe keep a bird, always keep my word
I'd cry at sad movies and laugh 'till it hurt

I'd buy a big bike, I'd ride by the lake
And I'd have lots of friends and I'd stay out too late

If I could just be more human
I would see every little thing with a gleam in my eye
If only I was more human
I'd embrace every single feeling that came in my life

Would I care and be forgiving?
Would I be sentimental and would I feel loneliness?

Would I doubt and have misgivings?
Would I cause someone sorrow too? Would I know what to do?

Will I cry when its all over?

When I die will I see Heaven?

Fasten Your Seatbelts

Imagine you were in a car, then looked to your left or right. There you would see some kind of cloth material, with width around 7 cm, hanging limply. For your own safety, you should take that material, pull it from your left or right shoulder across to your hip and then fasten it. This material is known around the world with the term seatbelt. But rest easy, since I won't write anything about car or "100 things you should know for safe driving", but something entirely different, which is music.

You have seen where the red thread would end, or have you not?? If you still haven't grasped what is I want to write about, you should know about 3 things first. The thing that I want write is a band that play really diverse music styles from jazz, blues, rock, country, electronic, and hip hop. The second one is the mastermind behind this great band is Kanno Yoko, a very accomplished composer, arranger, and musician. I love Kanno-san music very much, and I think she is one of the best composers in the world. The music genre she has composed ranging from jazz, rock, orchestra, electronic, to pop. The great thing of Kanno-san is whatever genre she composed or arranged turn out to be good or even great. Her music is usually used for many anime soundtracks. The last is the band performed whole soundtrack of Cowboy Bebop anime series. The story of this anime revolved around bounty hunters in the near future when interplanetary travel could be done very easy and fast.

The band name is The Seatbelts. So why is the band have that particular name?? See in your mind's eye that we lived in the era that humans already made many colonies in outer space, that in some place had lower gravity than earth. So if a band would perform a jam session, they should wear seatbelts for their own safety. Anyway.. The Seatbelts have no lead singer, because they are mainly focused on instrumental work.

A jazz, blues, rock, or country music seems a perfect companion for a cowboy or bounty hunter film, doesn't it?? Well, I can't tell exactly because I haven't watch all the episodes, but very few of those. But I really enjoy all of their works, because I am a jazz lover and love to listen to many music styles such as blues, rock, classic country, pop, and many others (don't give me dangdut please.. :D). All their albums definitely could be enjoyed without watching the film, moreover in my opinion The Seatbelts is the best work of Kanno-san (the second best is Ghost in The Shell - Stand Alone Complex soundtrack). Unfortunately I couldn't find any of their albums of any music store that I have visited. Well of course those can be found at Amazon, but it still too expensive for me to buy online.

Well, enough talking and let me recommends you some great tracks from The Seatbelts. My personal favorite track is "What Planet is This?!", a groovy, up beat, jazz tune with a great solo sax. "Tank!", an instrumental, up beat, big band style jazz, also with a great solo sax, is the opening theme for Cowboy Bebop. Two tracks with a magnificent vocalist, Mai Yamane, are "The Real Folk Blues" (ending theme for Cowboy Bebop with blues tune) and "Gotta knock a little harder" (another track with blues tune and splendid lyric). "Adieu", a rather sad and soft jazz track, is another vocal track with Emily Bindiger as vocalist. You can expect Indonesia in "Mushroom Hunting", a song with simple lyric and catchy beat. Kanno-san wouldn't complete without cat as you could find in a mild blues tune "Cat Blues" or funny tune "Cats on Mars".

With loads of great tracks, I still could write some more, but let me finish it, before go too long. So where could we find these songs from The Seatbelts?? Well, I should say, we should buy it (yes.. I will buy all of their albums). But if you want to try the samples, those could be easily found with a little googling on the Internet. Last advice before you listening The Seatbelts: "Fasten Your Seatbets!!"

Side note:
Image courtesy:

• First image from: en.wikipedia.org
• Second image from: www.last.fm
  

A Listener

What was the first thing that crosses your mind when you read the title above?? Mine is a socket. What is this socket anyway?? Of course it is not about socket wrench, eye socket, or an electrical socket, but an internet socket one. Well, to put it simple, I can say that a socket is like a mouth that can talk (send message) and an ear that can hear (receive message) between two programs in an IP based network (e.g.: the Internet). Don't put your hope to high or run away when you read this Internet socket, because I won't write about this particular socket, but something really different, at the same time have something common too.

So.. what is the relation between listener and a socket?? Well, there is a term in computer network that a socket which has a function to listen and ready accept every connection intended for that socket is called a listener socket. This is a lousy definition, but don't argue with me about this cause I won't write about this topic anyway. Okay now.. this particular function is often called listening, the same term for our ear function, isn't it?? But it is a voice that is listened by our ear. A socket too can drop the connection that has been built before, the same as the ear can be closed so that any voice will not reach it. See the similarities now?? But, once again, I won't write about socket :D

Almost every human on this earth have the ear to listen every voice in this world. And recently I have two questions about this particular function. The questions are "When do you close you ear??", "When do you choose not to listen??"

A socket drop connection after it has received packet data from the other side. Well.. to build a connection, the program that wants to initiate the communication must send a message first to the other program. The causes for the dropping are various, whether the sender is banned, the data is invalid, the other side closes the connection, or anything else. You can see that every connection may be dropped after there is one message listened by the socket. Mark the word after here.

So how about our life with the ear?? We often close it even before the reached it right?? Well.. I have seen so many times, the talking continued on and on without anybody listened. And many of the eyes sent messages to stop the talking. Isn't it kind of sad thing, that the messages of hatred were permeated, even before the talking started?? So then what is the function of the ear, if not to listen??

I guess in this time when the world filled with so many voices, it is not strange anymore that we want to shut our ears off to some voices that we don't want to hear. I think this isn't wrong, but judging before listening is. We have a mouth and two ears, so it is natural that talking and listening become our need. When we are talking, we give a privilege to somebody to listen, otherwise when somebody is talking to us, that certain somebody gives us privilege to listen. I think this privilege is priceless, even when a son gave it to his father, a daughter to her mother, a brother to his sister, a student to the teacher, a stranger to a stranger. But sometimes our judge hammer knocks this privilege down before it is given to us.

I realized that I had been playing this hammer ruthlessly. The more I felt that I despised this kind of person, the more I realized that I had become this kind person. The more I did it, the more I realized it, the more reasons I had to not do it again in the future. When I tried it, I got more than I had imagined, but it didn't matter whether it was more sadness or more happiness. And know this, sometime when somebody is talking to you, that somebody maybe just want you to listen, not to judge or evaluate anything. So lending our ears to listen doesn't seem hard, does it??

So let's keep an open mind with a listening heart and ears to listen more. Because I really believe when we listen, we get something as well we give something. And maybe we could really safe a life just with listening, who knows right?? Oh anyway.. if you have someone that you can talk to, someone that would listen to you no matter what, cherish it. It is one of the God greatest gifts for us in this world.

Side note:
Image courtesy: www.funnychill.com