by Dyske Suematsu • January 5, 2003
Yesterday I finally had a chance to see the first installment of “The Lord of the Rings”, “The Fellowship of the Ring.” I knew very little about the trilogy and about the writer J. R. R. Tolkien before I saw the movie. Afterwards, I did some research on the history and the background of the book and its author. In short, it was one of the most impressively produced films I’ve seen, and at the same time was one of the most thoroughly boring films I’ve ever sat through for over 3 hours. Read »
by Dyske Suematsu • November 24, 2002
Wittgenstein wrote in Philosophical Investigation, “to say ‘If it did not exist, it could have no name’ is to say as much and as little as: if this thing did not exist, we could not use it in our language-game.—What looks as if it had to exist, is part of the language.” There is a danger in assuming existence of anything that is exterior and/or anterior to language. This is what happens in religion where people dedicate their lives to defining what God is. Likewise, fine arts is a discipline concerned with defining what “Art” is. Both are byproducts of our language where the mere effects of language compel them to dedicate their lives to reducing the meaning of the words. Their involvement far exceeds intellectual inquiries; it consumes them utterly and entirely. What they seek is “transcendental signified”, but no such thing exists. They feel that if the name exists, it must exist. Instead of simply living, the words dictate their living. Read »
by Dyske Suematsu • November 18, 2002
These days, we are all keenly aware of the changing roles of genders. There were days when one had to take on, against one’s wish, a role assigned by one’s own gender because of material necessities. It made sense for men who were physically stronger to go hunting, and for women who were physically equipped to nurture children to stay home. Today, chiefly because of technological advancements, the differences between sexes became less relevant. We all therefore strive to evolve ourselves more ideologically. The question I want to address below is this: If technological advancement renders the differences between sexes irrelevant, then how about the concept of family? Read »
by Dyske Suematsu • November 12, 2002
Last night, Steve and I went to the new Olive Garden on 22nd and 6th Avenue, in the same building where my gym is located. It was the opening night of this branch. I had been waiting for it for over a month. I imagined that it would be empty since this particular neighborhood is not popular among non-residents, tourists and suburbanites, which make up the majority of their clientele. When we arrived there around 7PM, the place was nearly full. The cherry wood decor is decidedly fancier than that of the Times Square branch. It is probably twice as large as the average restaurants in Manhattan, and the tables and the booths are generously spaced to meet the suburban standards. A host with a newly trained smile showed us to a booth for two. Read »
by Dyske Suematsu • October 7, 2002
“Shallow Hal” is a movie about a man who was conditioned by his own father to believe that the ultimate goal in life is to score the best looking woman possible. Hal himself is a chubby, below-average looking man, but he tries in vain to seduce a series of impeccable bombshells. One day, he gets trapped in an elevator with the famous motivational speaker, Tony Robbins. While they are stuck in it, the latter gives him a lecture of his life. Hal is re-programmed to see the “inner beauty” reflected externally, but he is not aware of this perceptual change. He falls in love with a morbidly obese woman thinking that she is the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. Read »
by Dyske Suematsu • October 2, 2002
Nietzsche thought music was the best form of art because it is the most abstract. Another form of art that is just as abstract, if not more, is dance. It is interesting to note that dancing is often perceived as a feminine form of art. There is even a stereotype which assumes that most male dancers are gay. Gene Kelly even had a propaganda to promote dancing as a manly thing to do. Read »
by Dyske Suematsu • September 15, 2002
What to do with one’s own life is a common question in your 20s and 30s. The question itself is so loud that the answer is difficult to hear. Read »
by Dyske Suematsu • August 4, 2002
If socializing was about playing music, how it would manifest politically. Read »
by Dyske Suematsu • August 1, 2002
Men can focus solely on their productive lives, and if they succeed, everything else will follow. On the other hand, with women, their value in the career market is a separate issue from their value in the marketplace of mating, so they must pay attention to both independently. Ironically, for most women, paying more attention to the latter is more effective in achieving a “happy” life in a banal sense of the word. This type of banal happiness is often dismissed by those who see themselves to be beyond it, but it is for most of us a prerequisite for all other types of happiness. This is reflected in the recent trend of online dating services where people are willing to pay over 20 dollars a month for the service, which most other online services can only dream of. Read »
by Dyske Suematsu • June 26, 2002
In the past 10 years or so, I have been noticing a gradual increase in the number of over-the-counter services asking for tips. I first encountered this practice at Katz’s Deli here in New York. It happened to be the first time I had gone there, even though I have been walking by there almost every day for over 10 years. They have a unique system for ordering which involves taking a ticket at the entrance. This confused me a bit, but I eventually managed to get to the counter, behind which there were about 10 guys slicing, grilling, slapping, and wrapping all kinds of meat. I asked for a pastrami sandwich. Read »
by Dyske Suematsu • June 18, 2002
The Polish diner on Avenue A and 2nd Street, one of the last of its kind, finally closed its door. Read »
by Dyske Suematsu • June 12, 2002
Aries II was a mysterious cafe. It was always empty. It came and went very quickly. It was owned by an Eastern European guy (Croatian, I think) who hardly spoke any English. Read »
by Dyske Suematsu • June 11, 2002
Once a location has a bad restaurant, it is cursed forever. It is very difficult to reverse this curse. 77 Saint Marks Place was one such place, until La Palapa, a Mexican restaurant, came and took the curse away. Read »
by Dyske Suematsu • June 6, 2002
Racism in Japan manifests differently from it does in truly multi-racial countries like the US. As I have said in my past essays, there are two independent forms of racism: unconscious/psychological racism and conscious/ideological racism. They must be addressed separately. We are all racists to a degree in the former sense of the term. In the latter case, we choose to be or not to be a racist. Without distinguishing these forms of racism, we cannot effectively analyze racism in Japan. On one hand, Japanese people can be exceedingly nice to foreigners, but on the other, they can be as rude as any nation can be. Read »
by Dyske Suematsu • June 2, 2002
In our late teens to early twenties, we must deal a lot with our own feelings of angst, insecurity, and frustration, and they are often exacerbated by the expectations of the older generations, because the latter often cannot communicate effectively to the former. Many of them feel that their empirical wisdom is inexplicable, so they do not even try. They would say, “You’ll understand once you are my age.” Such expressions feel dismissive to the youths, even if there are no bad intensions. This problem is compounded by the fact that some adults do have negative intensions, and try to make the youths feel naive. This happens because the youths can threaten the adults with their physical and logical superiority. Read »
by Dyske Suematsu • May 16, 2002
Star Wars seems to suffer from the same misunderstanding that afflicts Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment”. Star Wars is a story of Anakin Skywalker, his spiritual quest and transformation, told in a form of science fiction. Dostoevsky explored the same theme in a form of crime/suspense fiction. Somehow many viewers and readers fail to see this central theme of their work. Read »
by Dyske Suematsu • May 8, 2002
These are actual phrases that people typed in at Google to get here. Some of them are understandable, but others are just plain weird. Read »
by Dyske Suematsu • April 21, 2002
In my 20’s, I was always craving to “hang out”. After work, I would go straight to my friend Nadav’s apartment and spend a whole evening hanging out with other friends who commuted to Nadav’s every night. We would watch TV or play video games while bingeing on beers. Nothing productive. Nothing constructive. We just sat around watching the clock go around and around. Now I think back, it seems wasteful, but I don’t regret it. Our 20’s are, in many ways, about a sense of belonging. Part of the process of defining who you are, is to find where you belong. It is ironic that after spending a whole decade trying to find your identity by struggling to belong somewhere, you find that to know who you truly are, is to know that you don’t really belong anywhere. That is, you are you; any differences or similarities that you see are only in your head. Anyone can be similar to you or different from you depending on which aspects you focus on. Read »
by Dyske Suematsu • April 7, 2002
It seems that as we live longer physically, we age quicker mentally. Especially now with our technologically driven economy, we are made to feel that the people in their late 20?s through early 30?s run the world; everyone else is riding on their wagon. I notice now that any inadvertent implication of someone being “old” is swiftly followed by an apology or by an attempt at an explanation of how it was meant “in a good way.” I wonder if this perception of age has always existed, or if this is a recent phenomenon. Read »
by Dyske Suematsu • March 24, 2002
Language is a grid system that you lay over the reality in order to understand and communicate with others effectively. That is, it is like laying a grid over a piece of abstract painting in order to make the discussion of it easier. An odd phenomenon that happens with this is that sooner or later, the grid system takes over the reality. The painting itself becomes secondary to the grid. It takes on a life of its own. This is a “reversal of the over-heated medium” phenomenon where the effect is taken as the cause. Read »
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