Friday Video – World Order – Informal Empire

You all have watched more times than you wish, probably, my posting of World Order videos.  This is one of the newest and to date, is one of the more serious ones.  Filmed on location in London, the guys do have wonderful moments of fun:  eating fish and chips, riding in the top of a double decker bus, a tribute to the Beatles and of course, reactions from the people around them.  In their personal notes they do say “…on location in this great country…”  There are scenes from vintage WWII film coverage of battle.  No, they are not commenting on the wrongness of the war. Look up the definition of “informal empire” for yourself.  I could go on and on about the symbolisms in their choreography for all of their songs, but I will not bore you with that.  Suffice it to say, the world has moved a long way so that a Japanese music group can film on location and in some tricky places.  Sudo dings his own country/perceptions in several of his videos.  In the channel lineup at the end of the video, click on my all time favorite, Last Dance.  I think this is the most beautiful of words and choreography and an excellent companion to this video.

Genki Sudo, former MMA World Champion, underwent a vast change a decade ago and now signs his name as Peace Walker with a vision of unity, We All Are One.  This shows up many times in a fun way – the people and children who imitate the boys as they dance in their public venue.

So here is the takeaway:  The words to this song.  Sudo has written a song with more English than any of his others making the meaning more accessible to more people:

“Your life is in motion
So don’t turn back
Believe in yourself…”

Let me see a raise of hands:  how many of you have ever received messages that maybe, you aren’t quite good enough?  Well, look at these words and listen – Believe in yourself.  The video is both a  message and a warning to us and it is also a hope for us…The words are as intricate and arresting as the choreography. …”Find hope…” …”Dream of freedom…”

Now sit back and enjoy the video.  The English lyrics became a major ear worm to me this week.  The choreography is more contained in this song – closer in with more clockwork precision. I confess to seriously working on some of the choreography in the privacy of my back yard.

The final dance sequence is staged in front of Lord Jacob Rothschild’s Mansion, Waddesdon.  This was built for his ancestor, Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild.  The Blue Flag with five arrows that flashes near the end is the flag of the Rothschild Banking Family.

But….Your life is in motion
So don’t turn back
Believe in yourself

 

Friday Fun and Saturday Smiles: Have a nice day!

A fun video today from my favorite Japanese robotic group, World Order.  I’ve posted vids from them before but they are usually serious.  This one is just for fun and giggles:  the guys out on the town, listening to CDs, eating street junk food, going to an ice cream parlor and flirting with the servers, cruising the mall, pie at an automated Japanese restaurant, getting light sticks in anticipation of going to a “sophisticated” girl show….lots of energy in the video and music.

So, have fun doing whatever you are planning on for the weekend and –  良い一日をYoi ichi-nichi o – have a nice day, nice day!!!

A few of the lyrics, translated for you:

HAVE A NICE DAY
Sunday morning flashed bright
Let’s go back to town today
Favorite jacket
Everyone’s waiting at the intersection

Today, HAVE A NICE DAY
Passing through this Love Pattern
Seems to disappear when I put it into words
My feelings are like bittersweet chocolate

So! Like a cloud passing overhead
I already know your answer
Passing sky told me “Shall we meet again?”
My love doesn’t reach anyway

良い一日をYoi ichi-nichi o

 

 

 

 

 

Two Music Videos – Japanese

I’ve posted about World Order before – one of my favorite groups. Combine electronic music with hypnotic robotic movements to explore crass commercialism, mystic beliefs, boy meets girl fun, the power within you to change, and the newest, Last Dance. Genki Sudo, retired kickboxing champ and martial artist, is front man, singer, choreographer. Last Dance epitomizes “mono no aware” = the pathos of things, the sadness felt at the passing of an era. We see anti-nuclear protests, trees that survived the tsunami bolstered up in the midst of a massive mall, a segment on the beach with Fukishima Power plant in the background, depersonalized automated food/medicine/whatever production, and to me, most wistful telling of times in Japan, a stormy Fuji in the background showing the bare minimum view of the infamous Suicide Forest.

I love Japan, but I think most of you know this. Seeing Last Dance evokes the mono no aware in me – thinking of the Japan I knew 30 years ago and the changes but also, the things that stay the same. Knowing several engineers from Fukishima who are now based in the US, I look at this video and see the movement of the waves, the enveloping, the taking away in the dance movements. I know these men who have lost everything they hold dear.

I hope rather than make you sad, this video will remind us of how we on this Earth, are a family. From mudlides in Washinton, plane crashes, tsunamis – we all weep when we lose a loved one, are stirred to help, pray for those affected, and hope for a brighter future. The kindness of (un)strangers. Let us be kinder.

A lighter video – Change Your Life (forever) bespeaks the power within us to change, reinvent, improve our lives.

I hope you enjoy. I enjoy sharing!

Last Dance

 

Change Your Life (forever)