Editor's Corner

Editor-in-Chief:    Frank Date updated:    3/28/2010

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New layout, new articles, new writers…yep. Not even two months into this venture, and Green Tea Graffiti has already received its first face-lift. If the website keeps undergoing cosmetic changes at this rate, we’ll be the tenth member of Girls’ Generation in no time! In all seriousness though, the GTG crew is always looking for new ways to improve our site, and hopefully you’ve found the layout changes beneficial.

But there’s so much more to see than when we opened! We just gotta talk about it.

I got my eyes wide open

Our Japanese Music editor, Raymaru, breaks into GTG with his first article, a look into the career of Bonnie Pink. Is she your normal pop princess, with the bright shinies for irises and the make-up and the plastic smile? Well…no. And that’s just the start of what makes her special, if you read the article.

Urchin comes back for round 2 with another one of his patented rants. This week, his verbal evocation is unleashed upon those whom would deny the aesthetic quality of video games. People who view gamers as lovers of pulp interests, beware! Hell hath no fury like a Hedgehog’s scorn.

Also, if you haven’t checked out our culture writer, Matthias’ first article on the nature of a Tiger Year, or Hannah’s Japanese Ska treatise, you probably should.

Also, some jerk (myself) sets out to show why SES’ return to the music scene by the end of 2010 is inevitable.

The sound of a brand new world

According to CDTV’s Japanese music rankings, Yusuke’s smooth pop ballad, “Lion,” has overtaken Arashi’s jumpy rock hit, “Troublemaker,” despite its thoroughly silly stop animation MV. Ikimono Gakari’s “Nostalgia” sandwiches Arashi with more vocal-focused pop, and it seems that electronica’s hold over the charts was as long-lived as the shortest month that was February. Perhaps April will create a different storyline, and another genre of music will overtake the spring ballads?

In Korea, the storyline is simple: get as many attractive girls together as you can and have them dance in time to a hard bass beat with dark clothes on. Brown Eyed Girls may have started the trend with “Abracadabra,” but Kara’s “Lupin,” SNSD’s “Run Devil Run,” and T-ara’s “I Go Crazy Because of You” have taken that bad girl image and…well…bubblegummed it up.

None of the MVs are nearly as provocative as the Narsha/Ga-in encounter at the end of the BEG effort, but all of the singles are raking in the cash…and catching the eyes of adolescent males everywhere. There’s some other gems that came out…Epik High’s “Run,” the first single released from their Epilogue album, and The Quiett’s New York produced “Be my Luv” should make you change your perceptions of both acts’ capability to diversify their sounds, but ultimately, it’s all about female chest bumps.

SPOILERS: Kara wins the chest bump battle. They make up in intensity what they lack in volume. T-ara and Girls Gen. never stood a chance. Even MBLAQ was jealous.

Catch the green tea fever

Apparently, a lot of DA Artists have caught the fever, and the only prescription…was joining the team!

We have eight new artists on staff, and they’ll be drawing images for articles, Forum icons, and anything else we can think of! You can check out our DA page to see our eight amazing artists!

Along with our artists, we have new writers just added to the staff! Look out for GTG’s first full-fledged anime writer, and a new face in video gaming, to come out with an article soon!

Fan service AHOY!

The Forum was abuzz our first month of operation, but especially flying was the video game section. Our most popular topic was started by EJWave, a non-staffer, who asked the question, “What is your favorite Final Fantasy?” There was a lot of debate and back and forth, but ultimately, I still have to hang on for dear life and claim FF VI as the ultimate RPG. Every character but the optional Gogo and Umaro are well-rounded, fully fleshed out people. If you are as old as I was when I first played the game, nine years old, and don’t shed a tear when Cyan’s children don’t wake up from their beds…you’re probably growing up to be Kefka!

I mean, what game has you play a part in the world being destroyed, so you can spend the second half of the game trying to fix the mess that you failed to stop in the first place? Guilt, loss, redemption, joy…these are tangible in this game! If anything underlines Urchin’s point this week, it’s Final Fantasy VI, and that’s my take!

If you happen to disagree with that statement, or would like to comment or ask a question about an article, the site, Asian culture, or anything, hit me up at contact-us@greenteagraffiti.com. Include “Mailbag” in the subject line, and I’ll go about answering your question through e-mail OR by responding here for everyone to see. Hit me up!

The denouement

Must see: Cello of Japan Cinema’s review of “Up the Yangtze.” Japan Cinema tends to treat its content with the kind of intellectual rigor we here at GTG like to emulate, but the content of the movie itself is what makes this piece stand out. I have to admit, I hadn’t heard of the documentary before this review, and I’m very interested in seeing how the displacing of 2 million people affects the Chinese citizenry. To put it in perspective, the partition of India in 1947 saw the displacement of half that many persons, and the human loss was tremendous. I can’t help but feel this is a documentary worth watching, and I gotta give props to Cello for dropping the knowledge. Gracias!

Must hear: If you haven’t heard Supreme Team’s new album Supremier, start with “Shinobi,” which features everyone’s favorite, Tablo! But then keep listening, because E-Sens and Simon Dominic grabbed Primary to help produce most of the album, and have more friends, like Dynamic Duo and Beenzino, to help them out.

Also, Outsider’s new album is out, and hearing his single “Acquaintance,” I have to wonder who the woman was that curb stomped this man’s soul. Every song, he speed raps about being a total loser dislocated from any meaningful human relationship. If anyone in Korea is reading this…can you give him a hug? A puppy? A belated Valentine’s Day greeting? Something to numb the pain!

Last second shoutout: To all of you GTG lovers who also love the World Cup. Whomever of you will join me in reworking our lives to fit the bouncing schedule of La Copa Mundial, more power to you! It may still be three months away from starting, but I have Korea 2002 and Germany 2006 still on my mind…and I know South Africa 2010’s gonna be special!

AND NOW I LEAVE YOU WITH THIS…
A time capsule I hope will be unearthed by the end of this year.