koe.

Many of you know that I'm a big fan of Hatsune Miku. Shortly after I returned from my mission, I discovered a song that had been written back in 2012 by my favorite group that uses the Vocaloid program. The group is called supercell (with a lower-case 's'), and they were made famous through using Miku's voice. The group leader, Ryo, leads the band and writes most of the music and lyrics. 

Since supercell's beginnings in 2007, they have used several live vocalists to sing their music. However, Ryo likes to surprise the community by releasing songs sung by Miku every once in a while. His latest song, Odds & Ends, has a very touching story. It is a self-portrait of Ryo's life as he has become big through his music using the Vocaloid program. This song is a tribute to the medium and singer that helped him shine. Please listen, and then I'd like to talk about it a little bit.

Odds & Ends

by Ryo

Lyrics translated to English

You've always been hated
Unlucky, you're made to do things
And at last, get caught in the rain
The wind blows away your favorite umbrella
Saying "good work"
The stray over there steps on your legs

As usual, you're hated
Pushed away without doing anything
Even though you tried
The reason is "vague" and
You're both confused and sad

So, you should use my voice
Some people say it's incomprehensible
And a dissonant
Bad-sounding voice
But I'm sure it will be of use to you
So please let me sing
With your own, your very own words

Spell them out and put them together
Because I will scream out those words
I won't let anyone touch
The ideals and feelings that you paint

And so the voice of a piece of trash echoes
Awkwardly connecting the truth
A loud voice raised to full volume

Eventually, you became popular
I'm also proud that you're recognized by so many people
But eventually, you changed
You became colder, but also seemed lonely

There are plenty of voices of opportunity
"I am myself." And so
You then uncontrollably
Began to hate me
Behind you, someone said
"Even though he's just pretending"
You must have been crying all alone

Can you hear? With this voice
I'll drown out all the insulting words
I understand, you really
Are kinder than anyone else

And so the voice of a piece of trash sang
For no one else, but for your sake
Overcoming the grating and squeaking limits

Together, surely we came up with
A lot of words
But now, we cannot come up with anything
But I understand everything
"I see, this is a dream.
A dream that I'll never wake up from, where I met you"

Wearing a happy expression, the piece of trash
Won't move anymore, no matter how much how many times it's called for
In the conclusion that should have been desired
You cry out. "It must be a lie. It must be a lie."
So you cry out

"I'm powerless.
Unable to save even a single piece of trash"
The emotions turn to tears
And run down those cheeks

At this time
The world immediately
Changes color
Happiness and sadness
I know that everything is
One and the same

In this world where words turn to songs
Once again, I begin to run for your sake
Putting intent into my voice
Now, feelings resound

--------------------------------------------

I love this song. The instruments sound great, and Miku's voice sounds a lot more natural than she does in most of her songs. I love Ryo's use of piano and electric guitar.

What I love more about the song, though, is its story. Vocaloid was created to give song-writers a vocalist that could adapt to any singing situation. Or, I'd like to think in Ryo's case, he was such a small-time artist that he didn't have the means to get a decent vocalist behind his songs. He could make all the music using his own keyboard and some friends that could play instruments, but there was never a voice to it.

Then he discovered Miku. He discovered his voice.

Through Miku, Ryo became big. He became famous. His songs were all over the Internet. They made it into video games and concerts. People wanted more, and he gave them more. He moved on to hire a beautiful young voice named Yanagi Nagi (whose voice I also adore). She was also a no-name musician until supercell found her and made her their lead vocalist. Supercell now has a new lead singer, but I'm honestly not a fan of her.

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that during his time with Nagi, Ryo got kinda big-headed. At least, that's what the song implies. He wrote this song to remind everyone – and himself – of where he had come from, and how he got there.

What I love most about this song is its message of how we never triumph alone. We could never have come this far by ourselves, and we needed the strength of others along the way. I'm not saying Ryo's ladder to fame was made possible solely because of a computer program, but he stuck to a medium and to people that he enjoyed and made a name for himself with them.

It makes me wonder whose "voice" I'm using, or will use, to come out of the dark...

teaching.

Sunday school is one of my favorite parts of church. You go into class, learn from the Bible or the Book of Mormon and hear different life examples from the teacher or fellow students. Maybe even a game or visual representation is involved. There's also the chance that it's simply hearing the teacher speak or everyone reads out of the manual. These are not bad ways that a Sunday school class can be held (except for reading out of the manual, because it can be awfully boring). But today, during my own Sunday school class, I was amazed at how much my teacher lacked to begin class on any good note. I'm not sure if he was able to redeem himself later on because I walked out of the classroom before he even began teaching.

This is the second time I have seen this particular Sunday school teacher begin a class like this. He walks in and calms the class down. He says, "I haven't been here for a while, so I don't know what lesson we're on. But apparently it's Chapter 15." Then he explains, "I'm not going to use the pulpit because I hate speaking, so today is going to be a lot of discussion. I want to hear from you guys." Then finally, to "set up" his "lesson", he asks us to "think of the most worldly possession you want in your life."

That was when I walked out.

Like I said before, this was the second time I heard this particular teacher start a class off this way. The last time it happened must have been a month and a half ago, and I've tried to avoid the teacher since. I didn't choose to go into his class this week. I entered a room with no teacher, and he walked in after. I didn't walk out of the class the first time he made this wonderful introduction, but I probably should have. I talked to my parents about it at home afterwards and they were just as appalled as I was.

This is in no way attacking this teacher's own beliefs or lifestyle. I'm not in any position to judge who he is outside of church, what his dreams are or any of that, because I honestly don't have any clue. I'm not contending against any doctrine or function of the church, either. All I want to point out is how wrong this sort of teaching process is and how it can be done better. I want so badly to ask the guy if he ever served a mission because there are such basic teaching principles that any missionary pick up.

"I haven't been here for a while, so I don't know what lesson we're on." It's ok to not come to church completely prepared for a lesson. You know how many times, as a missionary, I was asked to bear my testimony on the spot, or teach a Sunday school lesson to a dozen people without writing a single note? It happens. And at that point, you can only rely on the Spirit to help you, which it does. But you don't have to go announcing to the world that you are totally unprepared and that the next hour is going to be a bumpy ride of unorganized thoughts. If you appear to know what you're doing, your audience will think you know what you're doing. I'm not saying it's a game of "fake it 'til you make it". I know for myself that anyone that wants to teach the gospel in a spur-of-the-moment situation will be given divine power to do so.

Also, didn't Elder Holland say in a recent conference talk how we shouldn't begin our self-evaluations by pointing the bad things out first? He says "that's like stuffing a turkey through the beak". That blunt phrase (and humorous imagery) really hit me when I first heard it, and I've tried to keep a strong attitude in everything I strive to do, coupled with a meek heart that knows I have many things to improve.

"I'm not going to use the pulpit because I hate speaking, so today is going to be a lot of discussion." Discussion is not bad. The fact that he hates speaking is not bad, either. The church is infamous for calling people to challenging positions, and I'm certain that being a teacher is a challenge for this guy. But does everyone need to know that a) he is in an extremely uncomfortable position for himself and b) he just threw the entire teaching job onto our own backs, and he's expecting us to bear his burden? That phrase alone told me that he didn't care to be there, didn't care what was said, and just expected the Spirit to be found within someone's tear-jerking story at some point. Again, I look in the direction of Elder Holland's message, along with the famous line from Singin' in the Rain, "Dignity. Always dignity."

I'm pretty sure that he was getting a joke out there or something in an attempt to loosen up the class and break the ice, but quite the opposite effect happened. Other than the two infamous teaching sessions, I've sat in his classes a few other times before. There was absolutely no participation from his audience. He asked the class to recount the story of Moses, and I was the only person telling the story (for my personal memory, I want to mention his version of the story of Moses came from the Dreamworks film The Prince of Egypt, which is flawed in multiple ways from the Biblical account). Now, I have a habit it a classroom that I don't like to answer a teacher's question twice in a row so that others may participate and I won't like like a teacher's pet. After I'd answer his question, the next question would be followed by a really awkward silence amongst the ten people sitting there. Anyhow, I hope this illustrates just how uninvolved his teaching audience is even though he makes attempts to break the ice with his distrusting comments at the beginning of class.

"I want you to think of the most worldly possession you want in your life." I think I'm more amazed that he pulled this card in the introduction of another one of his lessons altogether. In fact, it was even worse the first time because it was precluded with reading a chapter out of the Old Testament. Some good, solid, God-driven miracles were happening in that chapter. Then his follow-up question to the chapter was, "what is your favorite movie?" Ok, so it's not the same question, per se, but you'll agree with me that it's basically saying, "now think of something really worldly."

The Spirit was gone in that instant. What is everyone thinking about in the classroom at that moment? Not the gospel. Not about why they're at church, or how they can become more Christlike. With some context, that question can be better, like, "What are some changes we can make in our lives? Are there any movies in our homes we should probably get rid of?" Bam. Implication of Christlike change. "There are some real distractions out in the world today. What are some of the worldly possessions you really desire? What would be something better to invest in or spend more time towards?" You see how a question next to the question can change its meaning so much? But no, this teacher will address the contrast of the two ideas in the middle or towards the end of the lesson, because it keeps you hooked, right? Wrong. It makes you think of worldly things the whole time you sit there as the teacher goes on to read more out of the manual.

*Dismounts soap box* Like I said in the beginning, I don't want to come off as attacking the church or this particular teacher. What I'm trying to address is the teaching method itself, because anyone can make these mistakes. I'm sure I've made them. So I'm not coming away from this thinking, "Man, bishop sure screwed up calling this idiot," because that's God's call. And I'm certain God has a purpose for this man in his calling. What I obtain from this is learning how to be a better teacher. To start off a teaching moment confident, regardless of how prepared you are. To establish that the teacher may guide the class, but everyone can learn from everyone in a respectful way. And last, to always stay on the spiritual side of things and teach to change. Changing is the most important part of this life, and we all have to help each other do it.

I really want to say something to this teacher. I want to help him see what he can do better, but I don't think I have the courage to (or the stature. This guy is one burly dude). I'm afraid, though, that if nothing is done, then nothing will change, and these lessons will become potentially hurtful to other people like they have been to me. That's mostly how I feel. I feel scared. Scared that things won't change.

karsh.

A photo of my mother taken in the style of Yousuf Karsh (see previous post).

crush.

I fell in love with a man today.

A historian, artist, foreigner, romantic, and peacemaker are only a few of the wonderful traits that belong to Yousuf Karsh.

I've been asked to study about him in my photography course. I'd like to say, first of all, that my educational experience so far has never ceased to be a blessing to me because of the many doors professors place in my way that I eventually find to be just what I was looking for all along. I've seen the world through different eyes multiple times, each time so uniquely beautiful from other times past. I've read about Chinese families making new lives for themselves in The Joy Luck Club. I've been in the shoes of a young girl as her Mexican family adjusted to America in The House on Mango Street. Fahrenheit 451 projected to me the importance of cherishing the classical and human part of society and ourselves. I never would have found any of these stories without the guidance of the educational system.

Today, I discovered another man's story. Karsh is a famous photographer who immigrated to the Americas from Armenia at 17. He began as a landscape photographer but eventually moved on to photograph portraits of the most famous and talented names in history. His photos are still iconic.

Told ya so.

What impressed me most about this man was not his photographs, but the stories behind each photo itself. I'm not talking about a short little biography about who each person he photographed is, either. There always seemed to be a pleasant get-to-know-you before each photo session, coupled with creating an environment in which the subject would portray their true inner selves for the camera.

For example, in the instance of Albert Einstein, Karsh asked Einstein what would happen if another atomic bomb was released onto the world. Einstein replied by saying, "Alas, we will no longer be able to hear the music of Mozart." Now, repeat that phrase as you view the picture above of Einstein. Can't you see the wisdom and simplicity in his demeanor? The sad look in his eyes that he is responsible for the most deadly weapon on Earth, and yet contentment that the world around him is a beautiful divine creation worth exploring?

As Karsh photographed a woman named Marian Anderson (a famous singer), he felt as though he couldn't quite capture the image of her that he had envisioned. One of Marian's accompanists entered the room for a rehearsal, and Karsh had the idea of having him play Marian's favorite song. As the accompanist played, Marian hummed along, and captured this image.

Karsh wasn't just a photographer. He was a storyteller with the goal of capturing his subject in their most ideal state of mind, creating extremely personable and emotional works of art.

This guy is so cool~

we are gamers.

Each week, my friends Micah, Stephen, Vanessa and myself come together to play a game. The game played is different with each visit. It can be enjoyed on a TV as we all bundle up on the couch and scream at each other with each quick movement. The game can also be played on a game board littered with dice and character sheets as we sit Indian-style on the floor, breathlessly anticipating the outcome of what each die roll will be. Every game carves its own story and we, as the players, interact with the story in unique ways. Outside of the game’s format, however, we are only ordinary young adults; each with a story inside, waiting to erupt through a virtual medium of spontaneous and random circumstances.

Stephen, the planner, game master and all-around strategist.

Micah, the philosopher, story-teller and humorist. 

Vanessa, the down-to-earth player, the sympathizer and feminine opinion.

Matt, the tag-along, grunt worker and optimist.

2D and 3D

WB: Tungsten  f/4.5  ISO 1600  1/60s  40mm

WB: Daylight  f/4  ISO 400  1/3200s  32mm

twitch.

It's been a while since I last posted anything for the intent of blogging lately, so I'll just cut the fluff and get to blogging.

If you haven't heard, the last two and a half weeks have given birth to a revolutionary new phenomenon. Someone began an online game of Pokemon Red in which any user that submitted an action command to the host site's chat box could control the character on the screen. You type "up", the game makes your character move up. Type in "start", and you open the menu. It's a very basic concept for getting a community to enjoy a video game together.

Then it exploded. Twitch Plays Pokemon has become one of the most trafficked websites on the Internet lately, and for good reason. At time of writing,  over 38 million users have viewed the live feed since its beginnings a couple weeks ago, and tens of thousands of people are constantly giving the game commands to decipher. It's like having a gigantic room filled with over 50,000 patrons inside, shouting orders for a single man holding a Gameboy Color to put into his game. And the man obeys flawlessly, no matter how repetitious or ridiculous the commands may seem.

If you want to catch up to how a majority of the playthrough in Pokemon Red went, you can read it here. The game was finally beaten at 1am on Saturday morning, which was just yesterday. Here are its final statistics as far as game time and viewing traffic. Today began the playthrough of Pokemon Crystal, which has already developed its own unique story.

Now, that's all a lot of information, but what I want to illustrate from it is that Twitch Plays Pokemon is actually a really cool idea. For me and my friends, we're not among the 50,000 people crammed into a room, trying to control a game that is simultaneously being controlled by 49,999 other players. My friends and I are on the outside in a noise-proofed room, watching the game screen as the Pokemon trainer continues to talk to the same people, run into the same walls and fight Level 3 Rattata with a Level 60 Pidgeot. We're the viewers, appreciating the personality and the story that has emerged from the collaboration of so many people that love this classic game.

A couple of my favorite highlights from Pokemon Red are AATTVV the Venemoth, affectionately nicknamed the All-Terrain Venemoth, and Digrat, the Raticate that knew the move Dig. Dig transports you out of caves and buildings, which Digrat was very good at doing at the most inconvenient times. However, I'm not a supporter of the whole Pidgeot is a Bird Jesus thing or the All-Knowing Helix Fossil. Just personal opinion.

Now, only 6 hours into the new game, we have Lasergator the Totodile (since its Leer attack looks like CRAZY LASER ACTION), Admiral ADiiiiiiih the Sentret (nickname is just ADiiiiiiih) and Oxxy Ozzworm the Caterpie (its nickname is OXXOZ). Oh, and Pidgey, but at this point is seems like people are just trying to make it another Bird Jesus, which is dumb. Hopefully it gets released. All these Pokemon are in possession of a trainer named AJDNNW, which roughly translates to AJ Down.

Pokemon games have always been about the trainer. The trainer finds the Pokemon he likes, catches it, and then trains it with moves that he likes to use. The trainer calls the shots, and Pokemon are his property. That is how every game goes, as each trainer makes his own identity through how he raised his Pokemon. TPP (Twitch Plays Pokemon), on the other hand, completely reverses those roles. How can a trainer made up of thousands of personalities tell his own story? He doesn't. The Pokemon do. The Pokemon are the stars of the show now, and the trainer is just a meat puppet that interacts with the humans because the Pokemon can't do it themselves.

TPP also gives rise to a new genre of gaming altogether, called group-playing. I personally don't know if group-playing was "a thing" before TPP, but I know that is sure is a thing now. A game like Pokemon is the perfect platform to play this style on, too, since it's all strategic and not time-based at all. Imagine if the same concept was practiced on a Mario or Sonic the Hedgehog game. There would literally be no progression thanks to the limits of the game. Pokemon allows you to take your time, train, nickname things every once in a while, tragically release your Charmeleon from your team and explore a giant world.

After Pokemon Crystal is beaten, what happens next? Pokemon Emerald? Or will there be a new saga introduced to the group-play mode? I find it so very fascinating, seeing what happens when so many people take hold of one avatar. A game that was meant to be played alone has taken leaps and bounds we never would have dreamed because of the minds of thousands.

Daylight

ISO 100  20mm  f/3.5  1/1000

ISO 1000  40mm  f/4.5  1/125

diva.

Another essay I wrote for my English class, this time about the Vocaloid program. I already tried writing an in-depth article about this topic in a blog post a while ago, but I feel this one is much better.

Ones, Zeroes and A-Flats

            On August 31, 2007, a 16-year-old girl was born. Her birth began the most curious age of pop culture revolution in multiple countries. She entered into multiple homes and recording studios to give people the voice they never had. The girl, Hatsune Miku, came to life. Her music has topped music charts. She has performed multiple concerts in Japan and America to thousands of people. Her popularity and talent have all been thanks to one simple tool: a computer program called Vocaloid. Hatsune Miku exists as a musical computer program that artists can use to insert vocal tracks into instrumental compositions to create a pop song, or any other genre of music. Her popularity as a program and an idol has exploded since her creation over six years ago and continues to grow, along with other voice styles that sing and dance alongside her. Fans of this vocal innovation quickly assume that the fad of a virtual pop star began with Miku herself. The concept and ideas behind the Vocaloid computer program, however, have been evolving some years before Miku’s introduction into pop culture.

            The idea of a virtual singing artist has been around since the 1960s. Many bands were practicing with synthesizers in their studio work. The band ELO became popular from their computer-sounding vocals. HAL, the space station computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey sang Daisy Bell. Many technicians have mixed digital and vocal sounds together to make new sounds; however, the result has always sounded more robotic than real. Making a computer reproduce the sound of an orchestra instrument has been accomplished, with fine-tuning upgrades being made constantly. The most elusive sound to digitally recreate has been and probably always will be the human voice.

            The first fruitful attempt to find the bridge between human and robot sound came from Pompeu Fabra University in Spain (Werde). The way the program works is by capturing a singer’s voice by having the singer repeat a large list of lingual expressions, and then using the program to give musical pitch to those expressions. Articulations such as vibrato and pitch-bending can then be inserted into the lyrics to add more human-like qualities. This operation, backed by the Yamaha Corporation, unveiled its fruits at the German Musikmesse music fair in 2003. The demonstrations of this new Vocaloid program stirred every music producer and mixer at the fair. What they heard from the Vocaloid program was the first step toward real human sounds produced by an electric machine. A Vocaloid-sung version of “Amazing Grace” flew around the Internet. Musicians eagerly awaited the release of the program for public use in January of 2004.

            The birth of the Vocaloid program was highly anticipated, but wasn’t as popular as its creators had hoped. The first two Vocaloid programs were produced by a British-based company called Zero Limited and were named Leon and Lola (Oppenneer). The programs were considered “Virtual Soul Vocalists” since their original purpose, their programmers thought, would be as back-up singers to the big names that the public already listened to (Werde). Producers for bands such as the Gorillaz and The Automaters agreed to experiment with the program in their music. The Vocaloid program won Electronic Musician magazine’s Editor’s Choice award in 2005 for Most Innovative Product (“Vocaloid”). In 2006, Lola’s voice was used in the soundtrack for the popular Japanese movie Paprika. The idea of a computer singing like a human was an attractive one, to say the least.

            One independent company, Crypton Future Media (CFM), jumped into the Vocaloid scene. Their first program, named MEIKO, was released in November 2004. Before, the Vocaloids had simply been voices to insert into a song; but with the release of the MEIKO program, an anime-style girl in a red dress donned the cover. The voice had been given a mascot. Initially, the character and the voice were meant to be by themselves. However, the fans of the program enjoyed the concept of the voice having a character behind it, and MEIKO saw a lot of success on the market. Two years later, CFM released another program similar to MEIKO called KAITO, being a male voice (and mascot) to balance the female one. KAITO did not see as much success as MEIKO did.

            With the fans fueling the flames of Vocaloid’s popularity, CFM decided to take another step in the industry. They wanted to produce another Vocaloid program to build on the hype that MEIKO and KAITO had created. As CFM held auditions for new voices to capture for their next Vocaloid program, they ran into the problem that singers were afraid the program would be merely copies of their own singing style and ultimately replace the real singer (Yuhana). The company decided to shift their focus from trying to capture the voice of real, professional singers and instead focused on Japanese voice actors. These actors were in the habit of changing their voices every day for their different roles, so creating a unique voice was a perfect job for the voice actors to fill. Saki Fujita rose to the occasion, and recorded her voice for the next upgrade to the Vocaloid program.

            Hatsune Miku. 16 years old. 158 centimeters tall and weighs 42 kilograms. Her singing genre is Idol Pop and Dance music. Her suggested tempo is at 70 to 150 beats per minute, and her musical range is from A3 to E5. Her “character item” is a leek (Oppenneer). On August 31, 2007, a program, this time under the new series name of Vocaloid 2, was born with physical and emotional attributes. The emotion, technique and realism of the program’s “voice” were astounding to those that first heard it. Miku’s fan-made music quickly flooded the Internet on Nico Nico Douga (Japan’s video-sharing website) and YouTube. Behind her followed more Vocaloid personalities such as Kagamine Rin, Kagamine Len and Megurine Luka. MEIKO and KAITO were resurrected from their mediocre sales run and ascended to join their fellow mascots.

            Many bands attribute their popularity to the voice of this digital pop diva. Ryo was an illustrator and amateur synthesizer that began posting his songs starring Miku to Nico Nico Douga. As his songs gained more views, he joined himself to other illustrators and musicians that had the same love for using Vocaloids in their work. The band supercell was formed (Santos). “Vocaloid technology doesn’t require one to worry about the range and the key for the person singing,” Ryo explains. “It may be a difficult thing to understand for those who just listen, but I sense unlimited possibilities with the Vocaloid technology” (qtd. in Santos). In another interview, Ryo tells how Vocaloid changed his outlook on music. “I always remember the uplifting feeling I got when I discovered Vocaloid and the new ways it allowed me to create music. That may be the reason and it’s what I can never forget” (qtd. in Jessieface).

            Bridging the gap between the digital and the real has been a goal since the birth of the computer. Voice, the most difficult sound style to replicate digitally, had always been so elusive until now. The Vocaloid program has taken its steps from back-up singing to “performing” on stage as a pop diva through a process of approaches from many angles. Ultimately, it was the fans of the program and the Vocaloid’s new purpose as a singer with its own personality and style that changed the way the program has been developed since 2007. It has also changed the way people create music, implementing a voice with flawless characteristics and pitch. The age of the virtual pop diva has begun.

Works Cited

Jessieface, Kay. “Interview with Ryo from Supercell.” JaME World. JaME World. 9

Nov. 2011. Web. 3 Feb. 2014. <http://www.jame-world.com/us/articles-80560-

interview-with-ryo-from-supercell.html>

Oppenneer, Mark. “Seeking Hatsune Miku.” Seeking Hatsune Miku. N.p., 19 Jan. 2011.

Web. 3 Feb. 2014. <http://seekingmiku.wordpress.com/>

Santos, Carlos. “Interview: Ryo from Supercell.” Anime News Network. Anime News

Network. 21 June 2011. Web. 3 Feb. 2014. <http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interview/2011-06-21/interview-ryo-from-

supercell>

“Vocaloid.” Yamaha. Yamaha. Web.  3 Feb. 2014.

            <http://www.yamaha.com/about_yamaha/research/vocaloid/>

Werde, Bill. “Could I Get That Song in Elvis, Please?” The New York Times. The New

York Times. 23 Nov. 2003. Web. 3 Feb. 2014.

<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/23/arts/music/23WERD.html>

Yuhana, Okada. “Until There Was ‘Hatsune Miku’.” ITmedia. ITmedia. 22 Feb. 2008.

Web. 3 Feb. 2014. <http://www.itmedia.co.jp/news/articles/0802/22/news013.html>