”Nexistence, noun, plur. -s, denotes the doppelganger self that is created through communication through the World Wide Web or similar electronic/ digital medium. Especially important to Web 2.0. A really stupid neologism coined by yours truly.”
|Last.fm|Criticker|Goodreads|vndb|Super Fanicom|
Urururururururururu
mi~
I... I love Rollins.
1.0a præjudice. x (20:42:07): the old guy is coolest x (20:42:14): he doesnt seem very suicidal Kaiserpingvin (20:42:17): yes x (20:42:20): more like a cool old guy Kaiserpingvin (20:42:32): well, suicidal people arent all the same Kaiserpingvin (20:42:35): you damn suicidist.
1.0b præjudice.
二元コンはいいことだよ。
For of it the VHEMT will be extended.
Just from being here, this level of reasoning is possible for Kaiserpingvin! What do you think, everyone? <Good>? 3.2 the good things in life.
Roadmap to understanding the world: L. Wittgenstein (Philosophical Investigations), A. Curtis (all his documentaries, foremost The Trap), N. Chomsky (Understanding Power), R. Penrose (The Road to Reality, skip the dreadful chapter on platonism), D. Hofstadter (Gödel Escher Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid), J. Diamond (Guns, Germs and Steel), C. Darwin (The Origin of Species), J. Pilger (Hidden Agendas), R. Stoll (Set Theory and Logic), B. Bryson (A Short History of Nearly Everything).
Boni: D. Bordwell and K. Thompson (Film Art: an Introduction), K. Frampton (Modern Architecture), P. Barry (Beginning Theory), W. G. Lycan (The Philosophy of Language: An Introduction), B. Russell (Basic Writings of BR), F. P. Ramsey (Philosophical Papers).
3.z the bad things in life.
Most overrated (hall of too much fame): Plato, Jacques Derrida, Ernest Hemingway, Ayn Rand, Ergo Proxy, Higasi no Eden, parliamentary 'democracy', capitalism, hierarchy, order, metaphysics, postmodern philosophy (but not the art, which is nice).
yotta.zetta the best things in life.
Well, best things in life which I also happen to like. There might be things I like more but I'm staying with the less fluctuating thing here - quality. There are of course also good things I don't like, quite some of them. They aren't here either. movies: Citizen Kane (O. Welles), Il Conformista (B. Bertolucci), Burn After Reading (Coen Brothers), Der Untergang (O. Hirschbiegel), Snatch (G. Ritchie), Hot Fuzz (E. Wright), The Treasure of Sierra Madre (J. Huston), Ladri di Biciclette (V. de Sica), Survive Style 5+ (S. Gen) books: Ulysses (J. Joyce), Homage to Catalonia (G. Orwell), Philosophische Untersuchungen (L. Wittgenstein), Dandelion Wine (R. Bradbury), l'Etranger (A. Camus), the collected works of Franz Kafka alba: Hurtbreak Wonderland (Wonderland Falling Yesterday), The Ichtyologist (Giant Squid), Deathconsciousness (Have a Nice Life), Cicadidae (Kammerflimmer Kollektief), Mutations EP (Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble), Bone Machine (Tom Waits), A Shoggoth on the Roof (H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society) Oh, When The Animals Unionize (The Human Flight Committee), Not for Want of Trying (Maybeshewill) Clube Da Esquina (Milton Nascimento & Lô Borges), This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours (Manic Street Preachers) anime: Legend of the Galactic Heroes (I. Noboru), Monster (M. Kojima), FLCL (T. Kazuya), Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion (H. Anno), Baccano! (T. Omori) manga: Hiroki Endo no Tanpensyu (E. Hiroki), The World is Mine (A. Hideki), Nizigahara Holograph (A. Inio) graphical novels: Watchmen (A. Moore), Sandman (N. Gaiman), Transmetropolitan (W. Ellis)
Don't trust any of these, especially not the album one, which is really just an approximation of what I have listened to the most the last year or so.
4.42 so where are we going/we are not ready for drowning.
I also write stuff here. Philosophy! Politics! Culture! I guarantee you, if you are not bored yet, this will not let you down!
I should have tell you that he is poet, so the similarities are much more about his life (jew who lived in Prague and died quite young, worried about his life and little inclined to existencialism).
I have also hacked your favourite music - from your Last.fm. music list I know L. Cohen (Which album do you like the most? I guess "I´m your man" is quite worth of recommendation), Manics and ofc H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society. Though I don´t like Soggoth on the Roof so much ...
Fully agree with your idea about EU (I´m quite sick of that all-time-hardcore bureaucratic system) ... from politic it´s just small step to philosophy which looks like one of your favourites branch (oh my imperfect english again - I don´t know if I can use this phrase favourite branch, in context of humanities, eventually I´m sorry,). What do you think about English empirism (Hume, Berkeley ...)?
Well, you don´t look like big fan of G. But we will probably fight over Urumi ^^
Anyway if you like Kafka, try to read something written by J. Orten. He may resemble Kafka in few ways.
This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours and Know Your Enemy as well ...
Maybe .. EU should be in Hall of too much fame too
I never did respond to your question about human extinction and then when I got into a big conversation with someone else, it feel from my mind. I was a bit worried
While I'm not sure if I ever want to have kids or not, I don't want all humans to die. However, like some of my crueler thoughts such as the controversial ones I've held on eugenics, I wouldn't mind something of a similar nature.
I don't want all humans to go away and my reasons for wanting them to decrease are not by purely ecological ones, though that is a heavy one for certain.
I would be honestly a bit relieved if the world somehow could go back to a population of half a billion. Or even less, really. I also certainly don't idolize having children like some humans do. I honestly think it's overall a more respectable choice to go life without having children than having them. And such a method of promoting having less children, is certainly more ethical if you emotionally believe in such standards, that some of the things ecofascists profess.
So, you might not consider me the same. But, a bit similar.
Oh, and don't worry, I actually prefer short posts. I just have the tendency of making my own posts far too long, which leads to a mutually destructive word count arms race. 'tis a bad habit.
I see, I see. I could be wrong on Pony Theory - I used a single image from 4chan as my basis for understanding it (this one). And perhaps there are variations of Pony Theory.
So from your observations on Kanon, I take it you're a fan of Shannon = Kanon? I'm not sure on that one. I think it can be used as a technique for explaining certain episodes (EP3 first twilight, specifically), but I have a hard time believing that there was never a Kanon to begin with. How in the world would they have managed that underneath Krauss and Natsuhi's noses?
Also, in EP1 we have the (somewhat vague) red text that the identities of all unidentified corpses are guaranteed. I would assume that this includes Shannon's corpse, and if that is the case, whence cometh Kanon?
I suppose you have to accept the theory in order to reduce the number of people on sufficiently for Beatrice to exist, but that would be a case of bending facts to fit theories, rather than building theories from facts, no?
As for a response to your response to my theory, I have to agree that your complaints are fairly valid. The motivations of the servants are the biggest weak point, I think. Either I'm missing a piece, or that part of the theory is wrong. I can only assume that Krauss did not inform Natsuhi of his plan, or that for whatever reason, the servants have a reason to betray Natsuhi.
To not take the culture topic off topic: Good movie choices, and seriously, Burn After Reading?
I thought I was the only one to love the movie enough to mention it again and again. Just mentioning it makes my insides giggle like crazy [or I am having a heart attack]. That brightened my day. I think it was the pinnacle of comedy.
Ignore me, I'm mostly talking to myself. I am very amused.
Yeah, I tend to procrastinate as well. Mostly because I just feel no need to bother with something I could do within about 3-5 hours or so. Though sometimes I wish I didn't because sometimes I end pretty much not sleeping the entire night doing it.
Exams come off to me as being relatively easy, though. I guess it's mostly because I'm much smarter than most but also because they never bother me. A lot of people tend to be scared shitless of exams, and though understandable, that's never the approach the go with them. Which is why a number of people flunk them, I guess. That and they're just not good at certain topics.
Maybe it'll be harder after I get into university next year?
I haven't been following the discussion among the Umineko fanbase as a whole (rather, just discussing it with some friends), so I had to look up Pony Theory. I'd agree with the basic premise - that Battler's sin is a promise he forgot about. However, I think that's one thing from the VN that's fairly obvious. From what I can tell, the only other important part of Pony Theory is that Beatrice III exists and is somehow involved... which I have no idea about. What part of it do you disagree with?
As for my own hunches without much evidence:
Shannon = Beatrice seems likely to me. Mostly from the scenes where Shannon remembers Battler's english spouting tendencies, and from the scene in EP4 where "Beatrice" is on the balcony taunting Battler about his english spouting tendencies. Seems like Pony Theory relies on those two scenes pretty heavily, as well.
Also, I'd agree that the whole of Umineko is both more interesting and more important than any individual case, but after all, mysteries are built on extrapolating grand theories from many individual details, so working from the ground up seemed as good a place as any to start. EP1 is described as the easiest episode to work through, so that's where I'm at.
Here's my best guess at EP1 so far. Much of it is unverifiable guesswork, but it might provide some interesting food for thought nonetheless:
1. It begins with Krauss. He knows that the gold exists and is crazy for money, but he has been unable to solve the portrait's riddle. Thus, at this next family conference, he plans to provide some potent motivation to get the rest of the family members working on solving the riddle.
A few facts to back this up:
- During episodes 1, 2, and 4, when Krauss goes out of commission early on, very little work is dedicated toward solving the portrait's riddle. In EP3, when Krauss gets to stick around, the riddle is solved. 5 is difficult to gauge because of the influence of Erika.
- In EP1, when the siblings corner Krauss, he insists that if the gold is found, he will benefit most from it.
- It has been established that Krauss has been scouring the island to make it into a "resort"
2. Krauss convinces Shannon to help him, and Shannon dresses up as Beatrice in order to give Maria the letter in the Rose Garden. Really, this could have been anyone, but Shannon seems likely from the ideas I mentioned earlier. It's also possible that Shannon does it for reasons of her own, and is not necessarily in league with Krauss.
3. Eva and Hideyoshi discover Krauss's plot by bribing Gohda (or otherwise convincing him), and decide to turn it back on Krauss, abandoning the search for the gold in favor of simply becoming the next head of the Ushiromiya family. They murder Krauss, Rosa, Rudolph and Kyrie in order to eliminate competition. Gohda is killed because he knows too much about Eva/Hideyoshi, and Shannon is killed because they think she is allied with Krauss (also, Eva has never liked her). Natsuhi is spared in order to diffuse suspicion from Eva and Hideyoshi (Eva also considers her the stupidest of the adults). The magic circle on the shed and the bloody marks on Natsuhi's door were pre-drawn by Krauss - his motivation was to get the riddle solved, not kill his family.
Evidence:
- Eva and Hideyoshi are the only two whose position is improved by the murders of the first twilight
- Hideyoshi already suspects that Kinzo is dead (leaving the position of the head open)
- Eva uses the receipt-in-the-door trick to make Natsuhi look suspicious, and Natsuhi is the only other surviving adult
4. There is one further complication. All of the servants (or at least more than just Shannon and Gohda) had been informed of Krauss's plan. Now that Krauss is gone, they quickly formulate a strategy to eliminate Eva and Hideyoshi and regain momentum. Kanon hides in their room and kills them when they let their guard down. He then leaves, locking the door behind him. The chain on the door to Eva and Hideyoshi's room was never set - Kanon severs it with the garden shears on his way into the room to create the illusion of a closed room.
Evidence:
If you look at the time periods involved with this incident, there are some very fishy things going on -
- Kanon and Genji reach Eva and Hideyoshi's room, and attempt to wake them, but find the door locked and "chained"
- Genji sends Kanon out to the store house with Kumasawa to go get the gardening shears, while Genji goes to inform Natsuhi
- Somehow, Kanon and Kumasawa go all the way out to the tool shed, and all the way back to Eva and Hideyoshi's room, BEFORE Genji can make it to the parlor and back with Natsuhi. My guess is that Genji was painting the magic circle on Eva and Hideyoshi's door while Kanon and Kumasawa went to get the gardening shears. Genji was probably the one who painted the first magic circle as well (the meticulous attention to detail fits his character), and this is probably why Krauss involved him with the original plot.
5. Kanon fakes his death in the boiler room. Or perhaps it is not faked - maybe Kumasawa attacked him because it was decided that a sacrifice was needed to prevent the remaining survivors from suspecting the servants, but she fails to do a proper job of killing him. Either way, Kanon does not die.
Evidence:
- Kanon not dying is realistically the only way out of some of the EP1 red text: # In short, no kind of human or dead person on the island could have killed Kanon!
# Kanon did not commit suicide
# Kanon did not die in an accident!
6. Genji plants the letter in Kinzo's study (it has another magic circle), effectively getting all of the conspirators (the servants) out of the room. They head to the parlor to discuss their next move. However, Kanon, dressed as Beatrice, meets and kills them there. Perhaps he decided that they were expendable, or perhaps he really was betrayed by them.
Evidence:
- more red text dodging: # Maria, who was in the same room, did not kill them!
# And of course, the three were killed by other people!
# Regarding the unidentified corpses, all of their identities are guaranteed. Therefore, no body double tricks exist!
# Genji, Kumasawa, and Nanjo are not murderers
7. Kanon lures Natsuhi away and kills her.
Evidence:
Red text dodging again: # Natsuhi was killed by another person!
# There are no unidentified corpses, and all of the survivors have alibis!
# The bullet buried into Natsuhi's forehead was not fired from Natsuhi's gun!
# The thing that shot Natsuhi wasn't a trap, it was a real shooting murder with a gun raised and trigger pulled!
8. What happens afterward is lost, unfortunately. We are given no real clues, no red text, no narrative. All of the people remaining disappear mysteriously. Perhaps they escaped to Kuwadorian, perhaps they died.
It's not a very elegant theory (involving at least 4 separate groups of culprits), but it doesn't rely on tricks like hidden passages or mysterious poisons, or body doubles. It also satisfies all red text, and all of the culprits have motivations. Whaddya think?
(I didn't come up with all of this. Giving credit where it's due, much of this theory was revised and added on with the help of BadSeafood and Endaso from backloggery, as well as input from hirahira and dioptase from MAL)
Phew. Now that is a wall of text if I've ever seen one.
