I'm writing my 70-100 page thesis on the pillows, and will be using shit-tons of articles, interviews, etc etc in this process, and assume that I'm going to learn a ton of really badass/cool new stuff about them in the process. I plan to fully translate every interview that I use to the best of my ability, as well as give occasional updates on interesting facts that I learn in the process. For example, today while reading the first article Utsu scanned for me, I learned that the jacket for Fool on the Planet was photographed on the rooftop that inspired Sawao to write "Okujou ni Nobotte" from Living Field. In the interview, where he says a little blurb about each track on the album, he talks about how when he first moved to Tokyo from Hokkaido and lived on the fourth floor of an apartment building, he went up onto the roof and had this view of Shinjuku that made him really realize he wasn't in Hokkaido anymore, and he would go up there and drink and listen to music on his walkman. The song isn't about that roof in particular, just about the sort of feelings of that time for him.

Anyway, if you guys have links/files of good video interviews or scans of magazine interviews (along with citation information for a bibliography, this is going to be academic), that would be hugely appreciated. I'd buy everything, but most of it is physically unavailable/not sure if I can get funding lol. Basically, I'm asking IM to help be my library in this. Don't do work on my behalf, but if you have something, it would help if you basically let me borrow it via the internet. I'll translate and everybody profits.

I have the scans they did for an interview on some Anime / Manga thing for FLCL.

And a 70-100 page paper?

[quote="MrkJulio"]And a 70-100 page paper? [/quote]
I hope that's an Ivy League thing. Anyway, best of luck!

Holy shit Mare, you've got me excited! I've been waiting so long for someone to translate these interviews for info EXACTLY like this Climbing on the Roof blurb. There's so many details, blurbs, etc. we don't know about, and to know now we'll get to finally find out the contents of these interviews is just great. I'll help in anyway I can, I'll try scouring the web for some articles. I'm glad you have a legitimate reason to drive you to do this. People try to do things like this for the community, but it's always something on the side for them to do when they have free time. It's good to know you're gonna have to get this thing done for the sake of your grade! Can't wait to see what you uncover!

@Apalca: Yeah, it is, and school here can really be shit sometimes because of things like these. I also had to write two 20-page independent research papers as a junior (one each semester) on top of classes.

I figure this is going to be awesome because it'll help me get through the nightmare of doing a gigantic thesis AND provide all sorts of awesome info that we're all wanting to know, so hopefully things will turn out really well. It helps that Utsu picked up a gigantic collection of articles and interviews off yahoo auctions.

Damn bro, this senior thesis sounds really interesting. I would love to read it once when your finished, I'll remind you about it if you forget. Translating interviews for a Japanese major. Kool stuff

Sounds interesting. I'm looking forward to it.

The weird thing, though, is that I majored in English and I don't think I ever had to write a paper longer than 10-12 double-spaced pages. Of course, I tended to write a bunch of papers for each class, so maybe the total number of pages at the end of the semester is about the same as someone who just writes one really big paper?

It depends on your school, your major, and your degree. A student in community college has likely never had to write a paper more than ten pages long. The curriculum is often designed around the capabilities of the student - if your school is not very selective, it will undoubtedly be less rigorous.

Now, if you majored in science, mathematics, or engineering, your workload is likely to be far greater than if you majored in art history, communications, English, philosophy, political science...you know, the usual suspects. Even in a school of business, there is a Great Wall of China between accounting, economics, and finance majors and management and marketing majors.

Also, different degrees have different standards - B.A. programs (which English falls under) are often far less intense, lacking the focus on academic research that B.S. programs feature. It's like the difference between Columbia and NYU, but within the same school.

However, the curriculum is a little different at schools like Princeton. When every student is of the highest caliber, there are no non-rigorous curriculum choices - this is why a degree from such a school is so intrinsically valuable. While he may have chosen a major/degree that's worth a sack of testicles at any other school, his degree will still be worth something because a completely different set of standards apply to him. Of course, if he had majored in, say, biology, his degree would be that much more valuable, but there aren't too many majors whereupon you can write your thesis on the pillows.

In any case, you're comparing apples to really tiny, rotten apples, there, Thinliine.

Big surprise, Sheer makes some more completely baseless assumptions about my life based entirely on ignorant speculation and wanders wildly off-topic into masturbatory, condescending exposition!

I graduated from the third largest university in Georgia, not community college as you apparently fantasized. As far as bang for the buck goes (thanks to a state scholarship, my education was basically free), it's a good value either way. No student loan debt is always a nice place to be. Now that I think about it, my senior seminar professor said we split the writing workload between several assignments so that the final paper could be read to the class. That's tougher to do when it's 100 pages long, I suppose.

Enough off-topic, I should probably know better than to feed the trolls but whatever. Mare, what exactly is the subject of your paper on the pillows, anyway? Is it mainly on the band's history, their relevance to the Japanese music scene, or something else? I expect this will be an interesting read regardless.

[quote="ThinlineTele"]Big surprise, Sheer makes some more completely baseless assumptions about my life based entirely on ignorant speculation and wanders wildly off-topic into masturbatory, condescending exposition!

I graduated from the third largest university in Georgia, not community college as you apparently fantasized. As far as bang for the buck goes (thanks to a state scholarship, my education was basically free), it's a good value either way. No student loan debt is always a nice place to be. Now that I think about it, my senior seminar professor said we split the writing workload between several assignments so that the final paper could be read to the class. That's tougher to do when it's 100 pages long, I suppose.[/quote]

I never asserted that you went to community college. I used community college to demonstrate that inferior schools are less rigorous than superior schools, which is hardly a questionable assertion. This is true all along the continuum. MIT is more rigorous than CalTech, which is more rigorous than RPI, which is more rigorous than NJIT, which is more rigorous than community college, which is more rigorous than University of Phoenix. Of course, similar schools are similarly situated, and there are certain exceptions - USC is a terrible school academically, but it is able to be selective because of its successful sports programs, as well as its traditionally wealthy student body. Anyway, I did not make any assumptions as to where your school may be on this continuum.

However, university size is irrelevant to this discussion, so I'm not quite sure where you're going with that. However, I can assure you that none of the five largest universities in Georgia (University of Georgia, Georgia State University, [b]Kennesaw State University[/b] [I'm guessing this is you], Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia Southern University) feature anything even marginally resembling the academic rigor of Princeton. Furthermore, as far as academic rigor goes, a B.A. in English is bottom tier, plain and simple - which is not to say anything about the quality of student who would pursue such a degree. That's just the way it is.

Hell, no offense to Mare, but even going to Princeton, the lack of rigor in his choice of study is evident by virtue of the simple fact that he is writing his Senior Thesis on the pillows - but the enhanced rigor is also evident in the fact that he has to write a 70-100 page academic paper in that choice of study. Anyway, I was merely trying to clarify the apparent confusion that you were demonstrating. I am not entirely sure how or why you took personal offense to that, but your unreasonably hostile response was unwarranted. The simple answer to your question: You didn't have to write a thesis. This is not unusual. Mare does - probably due to the heightened level of academic rigor at Princeton.

I'm not picking on you, and I'm really being as objective as possible here.

Though we'd all enjoy witnessing the clash between Thinline's asspain and Sheer's presumptuous elitism, this thread is not big enough for such lulz. Keep it directly relevant to Mare's thesis or keep it out.

Thesis != paper. I think that's sufficient explanation.

[quote="Marekenshin"]It helps that Utsu picked up a gigantic collection of articles and interviews off yahoo auctions.[/quote]

Share with me please?

I have a July 2008 Ongaku to Hito article that I never scanned which I can provide you, unless it's already in that collection.

Hmmm...presumptuous elitism or objective truth?

Anyway, I think you should upload regular drafts onto IM. Not only are we all interested in the content, but I would assume that each of us would be willing to proofread the thesis and offer constructive suggestions. Those of us who have degrees in English would be especially qualified, especially if they studied in one of the largest universities in Georgia.

I'd be glad to keep you guys updated. I feel like the brunt of the work will take place over winter break, and I'm a really lazy SOB about shit lately, so we'll see how the pace of things go.

@Terra: I actually have that magazine myself, as well, but if you have the sources for any of the translated interviews up on IM/other stuff, I'd be more than happy to get access to it.

You should write to the pillows and ask for a job. Maybe you can intern for a year or two, and eventually they may give you a paid position, or you can go do something else. I mean, this does fuck all for any other career you might be considering, but you'll get to work for your favorite band (and get to know them personally), you'll get experience in the music industry, and you'll get to work for your favorite band. As a graduate of Princeton University with a focus on East Asian Studies...and a [i]thesis[/i] on the pillows themselves, they would be remiss to ignore your request.