From Deutsche Welle TV

In Japan the term Visual Kei encompasses optically striking musicians, whose music has been shaped and inspired by a whole array of genres from past and present. The phrase consists of the English word “visual” and the Japanese word “Kei”, — meaning clique, origin, system or style, and describes a medley of punk, glam, rock and manga.

20 years after first appearing in Japan, bands are now also rocking German stages, and young European girls are dressing up in gothic Lolita-costumes and dancing to the beats of Japanese metal-rock. We went to an “X-Japan” concert, the biggest “Visual Kei” gig of the last decades and will explore how German youths are catching on to the special craze and making their own bands, one of which is “Cinema Bizzare”.

The second video after the jump chronicles a visit to Japan by rapper Mos Def on a promotional tour for his latest album The Ecstatic.

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The Berlin Wall was symbolically brought down marking an end to the Cold War and setting the scene for  the eventual economic unification of European states in motion…

“Art imitates life“, we all know the discourse surrounding that phrase.  It is particularly relevant when considering the ban of Dancehall (ragga) music from the airwaves in Jamaica due to profanity and violent lyrics.

The question of whether music, movies and video games (entertainment in general) are a reflection of as opposed to the root cause of moral decay will always abound. There has been a long history of banning ‘subversive’ and ‘morally questionable’ entertainment that goes back past Elvis Presley’s gyrating hips. Artists mostly defend themselves by referring to their freedom of expression while others argue that they are merely reflecting the harsh realities of life. The fact that art forms like Dancehall and Hip Hop and Rock and Roll in it’s day break class, generational and other social boundaries to reach new audiences is cause for the alarm of would-be censors.  The truth however is somewhere in the middle, some artists recognise their potential to influence their audience and see themselves as having a social responsibility while others do not. The questions is rather about the appetites of the audiences for truth and authenticity.  Would 50 cent and others be as popular and financially successful if they had different life experiences prior to rap or had chosen not to rap about them?

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New t-shirts for the Pathfinder Project 2009 www.under17driver.co.uk

The Lisbon Treaty has finally been ratified and is expected to enter into law in December 2009 in what could be a defining moment for the greatest experiment in the history of  international co-operation and global governance. The Treaty’s proponents believe that it will rejuvenate the decision-making procedures of the EU institutions, making the functioning of the 27 member state more efficient and democratic. They state that the European Parliament, the only institution directly elected by the people, will receive more powers and that the Treaty will help harness Europe’s economic, humanitarian, political and diplomatic strengths to promote European interests and values worldwide, while respecting the particular interests of the Member States in Foreign Affairs. Whereas its opponents argue that the Treaty will centralise more power in Brussels, thus weakening democracy by moving more power away from national parliaments. Consequently, they also bemoan the loss of more than fifty national vetoes, the the lack of transparency and accountability, the inefficient outdated policies; which they claim will actually end up maintaining the status quo.

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