I’ve written a new piece for Dolorous Haze, a piece that was inspired mainly by my recent poring over the works of Greil Marcus and Lester Bangs, two men who have always struck me as music lovers first and critics second, but whose works only recently have begun to turn the cogs in my own music-critic brain. I have a lot of free time to read at work, you see. Well, during our slow season. I’ve muddled through Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung (Bangs) and the brilliant In the Fascist Bathroom (Marcus), two books I previously enjoyed in my early twenties, now with highlighter in hand and a Post-It pad at the ready. Jotting down notes to connect my J-Pop world to those esteemed men and their Western musical world, many times I drew unexpected parallels.

The feature I’ve written for Dolorous Haze is my first attempt at compartmentalizing my idol theory pieces, focusing on a very specific topic for a very specific reason. I’m getting meta here, I know, but I hope at least some of you would like to understand that I’m often ashamed of the jumble of mashed-up gobbledy-gook I sometimes spout out when I sit in front of this keyboard. I want to believe this article is a baby step in the right direction.

Without further ado:

Ayumi at the Crossroads: “A Song for XX” and Its Perpetual Resonance” at Dolorous Haze

But there’s something else I’d like to touch upon in this post, which could easily be a linky-linky and a bye-bye:

Since Ray Mescallado first stumbled upon my post lambasting his “intellectualizing of pedophilia” in early 2007, I’ve had a symbiotic and wonderful professional relationship with the guy. We still disagree on many things (though I’m now more guilty than ever – and unashamed about it – of being a pedobear myself). From International Wota to Pleasure Principled and now to Dolorous Haze, I’ve been offered more kicks in the ass to write quality idol theory than I’ve sometimes known what to do with…all thanks to Ray.

He celebrated a birthday recently, and I’m compelled to do a little public something to pay tribute to the man who has given me so many opportunities in the blogging community. Though we do live relatively close, I don’t think a cake would survive the drive, nor would I be able to get the day off work, nor would I probably be able to leave after sampling the no-doubt delicious food I’d be eating. So there’s this:

Shinoda Mariko says Happy Late Birthday, Ray.