“Hello everyone. This is Zeldaru - yes I do write
for the Ribbon Room - and this is
a solo blog. Here I will focus on various art mediums, in particular the
written and music. The Ribbon Room will remain a more analytical and
philosophical blog; there I will explore more esoteric matters. To summarize my
relationship to art: I play video games; compose, record, and produce music;
listen to music; read books; in addition to a myriad of other activities.”
July 14th, 2012
And so this blog was kicked off, with my intentions for it laid bare here. I drifted away from the Ribbon Room shortly after starting this blog, though I still, to this day, have not truly retired it. I may find a purpose for it someday. Many of my earlier works were shamelessly taken from stuff I wrote for my world music class. The only real sub-focus early on was Pakistani music, allowing me to reflect on my cultural heritage. One item in particular stands out – my music ethnography – which allowed me to do firsthand research by interviewing a musician I had listened to. Writing the work while in Pakistan and interviewing a Pakistani musician sure went together, or something. Before you question how that is relevant, we talked about how one’s surroundings influences music, which was a fascinating discussion. Through crafting interview questions and then interpreting the responses, I better understood the music-making progress and how nonlinear it is. And I also wrote short blurbs about songs for other posts, but I soon realized that my blog became cluttered.
July 14th, 2012
And so this blog was kicked off, with my intentions for it laid bare here. I drifted away from the Ribbon Room shortly after starting this blog, though I still, to this day, have not truly retired it. I may find a purpose for it someday. Many of my earlier works were shamelessly taken from stuff I wrote for my world music class. The only real sub-focus early on was Pakistani music, allowing me to reflect on my cultural heritage. One item in particular stands out – my music ethnography – which allowed me to do firsthand research by interviewing a musician I had listened to. Writing the work while in Pakistan and interviewing a Pakistani musician sure went together, or something. Before you question how that is relevant, we talked about how one’s surroundings influences music, which was a fascinating discussion. Through crafting interview questions and then interpreting the responses, I better understood the music-making progress and how nonlinear it is. And I also wrote short blurbs about songs for other posts, but I soon realized that my blog became cluttered.
Therefore, I chose to shift the focus of my blog off
of writing about particular songs (for the most part). Now, I write about a
host of mediums – truly I am closer to my original post than when I even wrote
it – though I do not spend much attention on paintings and visual art.
One turning point was in my writing an essay about
the show Hyouka. This essay stands
out for two reasons: I began writing analytical pieces on anime and this was my
first essay where I actually focused on the art style. From said essay, “Throughout the show, KyoAni has a
knack for creating simplistic, realistic scenes that are at the same time
stylized and interesting. At the same time, focus is shifted back and forth
from characters to objects and vice versa, creating dynamic exposition.” For
example, there is a scene where birds are depicted near a pond, creating an
image without the characters present. However, that separation gives more
emphasis onto the characters. I employed a scene-by-scene approach to
understanding the art style. I never again attempted this style of analysis,
making this essay quite unique. It led, however, to me writing more
analytically and wanting to contribute intellectually rather than simply
consume art. This was in February 2014.
The next turning point, it could be argued, was my post about disability in
general. Here I combined theory and my personal experiences. Finally, social
messages of value to me could be conveyed in an effort to help other people –
to me, this brought my blog beyond the artistic and into the meaningful. I was
proud of my ability to use feminist theory, disability studies, and my own
experiences together to create a definition. (Though, admittedly, I will
probably still defer to the definition
provided in the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.) This approach allowed
me to look at feminism and disability separately or together if I wished. I
began moving away from music in the summer of 2014, when the disability post
was written, and focused on this personally relevant topic. Looking back, I
think the fact that I stopped making music (more or less) at the end of 2012
led to my switching gears. (That coupled with 2013 being a terrible year for
me.)
As of late, I have been switching even from disability and have spent time thinking about other analyses, such as the Hyouka post. I would say that feminism has been relatively predominant in my postings lately over disability. However, this blog has become spread out as I try to become more versatile and more active. So, I need to work to establish motifs again in this blog and after August I will officially abandon the one-post-a-day rule for at least one post every two weeks. I hope to also revive the Ribbon Room (again) for collaborative works and other topics; I imagine Ribbon Room will lose its focus on art as a result (if I go this route).
Through this process, I hope that at least some of my posts have been entertaining. I have never expected all of them to be engrossing to everyone who has chanced upon this blog. But that is why I vary topics. If one post is boring, then another could be fascinating. Nighttrail will never be second nature, even if I make it to 20 years. But fear not. I hope to share a music post in the near future so that I can bring this blog full circle. From blurbs about songs to a review of an album with multiple songs – it sure seems like a progression in that regard.
I will keep writing, even as life creeps in, and evolve with this blog.
As of late, I have been switching even from disability and have spent time thinking about other analyses, such as the Hyouka post. I would say that feminism has been relatively predominant in my postings lately over disability. However, this blog has become spread out as I try to become more versatile and more active. So, I need to work to establish motifs again in this blog and after August I will officially abandon the one-post-a-day rule for at least one post every two weeks. I hope to also revive the Ribbon Room (again) for collaborative works and other topics; I imagine Ribbon Room will lose its focus on art as a result (if I go this route).
Through this process, I hope that at least some of my posts have been entertaining. I have never expected all of them to be engrossing to everyone who has chanced upon this blog. But that is why I vary topics. If one post is boring, then another could be fascinating. Nighttrail will never be second nature, even if I make it to 20 years. But fear not. I hope to share a music post in the near future so that I can bring this blog full circle. From blurbs about songs to a review of an album with multiple songs – it sure seems like a progression in that regard.
I will keep writing, even as life creeps in, and evolve with this blog.
Until
next time,
Zeldaru
Zeldaru
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