Interesting Developments on Twitter
Hello, all!
Sorry for the lack of translations recently, but life is very demanding right now. Still, I am closely monitoring our dear Mr. Hirasawa's latest actions on Twitter and will probably post a more detailed update on it as things play out a bit more and I find the time to translate it coherently.
But I'm so excited, so I thought I'd jot down some notes about these developments:
- After the 3/11 disasters in Japan earlier this year, Mr. Hirasawa was traveling around a lot with his Geiger counter and reporting on the radiation levels he was measuring.
- More recently, he seems to have become quite obsessed with making his own homemade yogurt from soy milk. This led to him tweeting often at odd hours of the night (Japan time) whenever he was up checking on the progress of his yogurt-making bacteria. In the last week (or so) he kept reporting on his yogurt and saying he'd wake up his followers at 3:30 AM again to update them, and whatnot. It all seemed like the usual good-old Trollosawa routine.
- Then, on June 23, at 3:30 AM, No Room posted a link to something referring to "Stealthman." I was unable to access it, and it appears it was available only for a VERY short time. (TROLLOSAWA STRIKES BACK.)
- Reports indicated the random link was a song, and by now you can find lyrics and uploads of it on NicoNico. It is a remake of the P-model song "Boat" in the Kangenshugi-style Mr. Hirasawa has used on his last two albums (i.e. very string heavy and awesome). It sounds catchy and energetic. The lyrics, however, are BLATANTLY anti-nuclear power, explicitly referring to Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well as Fukushima and sharply criticizing the government and the media.
- As if that wasn't enough, Mr. Hirasawa is now telling a story. A story of how at 3:30 AM on June 23, he felt like he was hit over the head by something, and when he woke up, he found himself tied up and saw this wallpaper on his computer with the character "Su" written on it. (And a boat. Which fits the song "Boat.") "Su" happens to be the first syllable of his first name, Susumu, as well as the first syllable of "Stealthman" in Japanese. Who is this mysterious "Su"?
- Interestingly, the Teslakite online store on his website is undergoing server maintenance today, which suggests something big is coming soon.
- Just a few minutes ago, Mr. Hirasawa tweeted a summary of the "Su" incident. More details have been added, and now it seems like he is saying that this "Su" character is a virus like Stuxnet, which is thought to have infected Iranian computers and damaged Iran's nuclear facilities. He claims it's possible the virus came from the damaged reactors in Fukushima. He claims this virus-like being is occupying a portion of his website (hence the server maintenance).
It'll be interesting to see how this fictional story develops, but it's sounding like he has a whole new character in mind, a superhero Stealthman who fights evil nuclear power, or something like that. What's most fascinating to me is that it seems that Mr. Hirasawa FOUND this storyline within his own actions. I don't think he started measuring radiation or making yogurt at night as part of grand scheme to make a random protest song go viral. I think he did those things and--being the genius he is--discovered the potential story and is now elaborating on it every day, teasing us with more details that paint an ever broader picture. It's also rather interactive, since he seems to be doing it all via Twitter right now (and even though he denies it, it is VERY clear that he does read the responses he gets on Twitter, at least sometimes).
It feels like we're watching a master storyteller improvise a new tale with a few random elements and before we know it, we might witness how that random tale takes the form of a legend. ;)
Perhaps I'm overly excited, but I can't wait to see how this plays out!
This entry was originally posted at http://phonon-belt.dreamwidth.org/14923.html.
Sorry for the lack of translations recently, but life is very demanding right now. Still, I am closely monitoring our dear Mr. Hirasawa's latest actions on Twitter and will probably post a more detailed update on it as things play out a bit more and I find the time to translate it coherently.
But I'm so excited, so I thought I'd jot down some notes about these developments:
- After the 3/11 disasters in Japan earlier this year, Mr. Hirasawa was traveling around a lot with his Geiger counter and reporting on the radiation levels he was measuring.
- More recently, he seems to have become quite obsessed with making his own homemade yogurt from soy milk. This led to him tweeting often at odd hours of the night (Japan time) whenever he was up checking on the progress of his yogurt-making bacteria. In the last week (or so) he kept reporting on his yogurt and saying he'd wake up his followers at 3:30 AM again to update them, and whatnot. It all seemed like the usual good-old Trollosawa routine.
- Then, on June 23, at 3:30 AM, No Room posted a link to something referring to "Stealthman." I was unable to access it, and it appears it was available only for a VERY short time. (TROLLOSAWA STRIKES BACK.)
- Reports indicated the random link was a song, and by now you can find lyrics and uploads of it on NicoNico. It is a remake of the P-model song "Boat" in the Kangenshugi-style Mr. Hirasawa has used on his last two albums (i.e. very string heavy and awesome). It sounds catchy and energetic. The lyrics, however, are BLATANTLY anti-nuclear power, explicitly referring to Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well as Fukushima and sharply criticizing the government and the media.
- As if that wasn't enough, Mr. Hirasawa is now telling a story. A story of how at 3:30 AM on June 23, he felt like he was hit over the head by something, and when he woke up, he found himself tied up and saw this wallpaper on his computer with the character "Su" written on it. (And a boat. Which fits the song "Boat.") "Su" happens to be the first syllable of his first name, Susumu, as well as the first syllable of "Stealthman" in Japanese. Who is this mysterious "Su"?
- Interestingly, the Teslakite online store on his website is undergoing server maintenance today, which suggests something big is coming soon.
- Just a few minutes ago, Mr. Hirasawa tweeted a summary of the "Su" incident. More details have been added, and now it seems like he is saying that this "Su" character is a virus like Stuxnet, which is thought to have infected Iranian computers and damaged Iran's nuclear facilities. He claims it's possible the virus came from the damaged reactors in Fukushima. He claims this virus-like being is occupying a portion of his website (hence the server maintenance).
It'll be interesting to see how this fictional story develops, but it's sounding like he has a whole new character in mind, a superhero Stealthman who fights evil nuclear power, or something like that. What's most fascinating to me is that it seems that Mr. Hirasawa FOUND this storyline within his own actions. I don't think he started measuring radiation or making yogurt at night as part of grand scheme to make a random protest song go viral. I think he did those things and--being the genius he is--discovered the potential story and is now elaborating on it every day, teasing us with more details that paint an ever broader picture. It's also rather interactive, since he seems to be doing it all via Twitter right now (and even though he denies it, it is VERY clear that he does read the responses he gets on Twitter, at least sometimes).
It feels like we're watching a master storyteller improvise a new tale with a few random elements and before we know it, we might witness how that random tale takes the form of a legend. ;)
Perhaps I'm overly excited, but I can't wait to see how this plays out!
This entry was originally posted at http://phonon-belt.dreamwidth.org/14923.html.