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| "Kawaii!" (Kah-wah-ee) is the Japanese term for cute. And I was just about to write an entire page about the idiosyncratic "kawaii-do" or way of cuteness that the Japanese love so much. But then I came across a great book of marketing and pop philosophy that forced me to rethink my site philosophy. I know what you're thinking.... Yes, my site does have a certain philosophy. Well, maybe not so much a philosophy as a certain quirky internal consistancy that is an external manifestation of my internal world. Since this is the case, it seems obvious that I should have a manifesto to go with my manifestation. (Any gay man knows how to accessorize, after all!) So here's the accessory to my site. First, let me say that it is wrapped in the concept of kawaii. This is a concept I learned to love and simultaneously hate while in Japan. Sure, it's nice, at first, but when you're forced to live with it everyday, it becomes a little sicko. (And not sicko in a good way....) The ubiquitous Hello Kitty is the very embodiment of this concept. To be kawaii, there are several requirements: |
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| Child-like features, |
| A sense of helplessness, |
| A marked lack of a mouth and |
| Nothing at all intelligent to say. |
| Luckily, the lack of a mouth really facilitates the lack of speech. The polar opposite of kawaii is the predominant design philosophy of most websites. To quote marketing genius Christopher Locke, that would be the design scheme made up of "mega-dollar-java-animated-web-banner" style sites. This would be the opposite of mine. Mine is decidedly not mega-dollar nor java-animated. Instead, my style is mostly, well, um ... kawaii. So, after having explained the concept of kawaii, I should now explain my site manifesto. Here are some of the editorial mandates that Locke has suggested. I hereby promise to... |
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| > cam archive 2 > home > j-blend journal > haiku > occidental tourist > my reading list > my links > whipped words |
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| Kawaii Blender Manifesto |
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| > cam archive 2 > home > j-blend journal > haiku > occidental tourist > my reading list > my links > whipped words |
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| Assume that anyone who disagrees with me is a patent imbecile. |
| Insult readers at every opportunity; impugn their motives; question their cognitive reach. |
| Use arcane vocabulary demanding recourse to out-of-print editions of unabridged dictionaries. |
| Publish lurid personal confessions, often entailing wanton sex and the use of illegal pharmaceuticals. |
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| Drop gratuitous equal-opportunity racial, religious and gender slurs. |
| Brutally mock people I care about and/or keep in my life. |
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| Make endless lists about which no one in their right mind could reasonably be presumed to give a rat's ass. |
| Publish yet more lurid personal confessions, often entailing wanton sex, in the hopes of continued readership. |
| So, there you have it: my kawaii blender manifesto. I hope that you'll now be able to sleep at night. I hope that you can avoid the dreams of blood and sorrow that haunt you until the wee hours. I wish you joy, and happiness. But above all these, I wish you love. Cause Ieeeeeyaaaaai... will always blend you! |
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