this post was submitted on 03 Jan 2025
819 points (98.7% liked)

Greentext

4895 readers
634 users here now

This is a place to share greentexts and witness the confounding life of Anon. If you're new to the Greentext community, think of it as a sort of zoo with Anon as the main attraction.

Be warned:

If you find yourself getting angry (or god forbid, agreeing) with something Anon has said, you might be doing it wrong.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] PhilipTheBucket@ponder.cat 120 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

It’s that way in almost every country that isn’t America or America-light. Japan does it in over-the-top performative ways, but pretty much everywhere else, people care about random strangers, people invest time into their days and activities being nice just for the simple pleasure of human stuff and taking time to be a human and be pleasing with other people. Food, gifts, clothing, respect and value for travelers and gestures of good-will. If you’re from America, it feels “normal” here but something is clearly missing, and if you ever spend any length of time overseas you see exactly what it is and how badly wrong things are here, that it is missing.

I’m not trying to be prejudiced about it, just saying that every culture has its good stuff and its failings and not giving a shit about other people or life in general is definitely an American one.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 52 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] Serinus@lemmy.world 23 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Europe took a long stroll in that direction too, but there are some major differences. First, most of their cities were established before cars. Second, they're making more of an active attempt (in some areas) to be walkable again.

In short, in America 75 years is a long time. In Europe, 75 miles (120km) is a long way.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 34 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

First, most of their cities were established before cars.

That's true for America too, and isn't an excuse. American cities were not built for cars; they were demolished for cars!

For example, downtown Houston, TX in 1957:

vs downtown Houston, TX in 1978:

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 11 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Are those the same location? I can't see any common landmarks

[–] yimby@lemmy.ca 6 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Same location, look for the tall white tower with the vertical stripes and balconies, which is in the middle of the bottom photo. Top photo is slightly more zoomed out.

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 10 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Forgive me, I'm gonna need some help here

[–] AFallingAnvil@lemmy.ca 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Center of the picture,the building at the top of the color picture seems to be the same one as is found 5 or six buildings north west of the building in the center of the picture in black and white

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 6 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

I'm still not quite seeing it

[–] silasmariner@programming.dev 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I would bother with these images tbh since the bottom one is clearly cutting out an unknown amount of the built-up centre...

[–] grue@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Sorry about that; these were just random images of the right place/times from a low-effort web search. I remember seeing a side-by-side comparison somebody made that was better, but I couldn't find it again. (I could only find side-by-sides of 1978 vs 2011, when they started removing the parking lots and filling it back in.)

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Arcka@midwest.social 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

There are some blatant disinformation peddlers on Lemmy and it seems like Grue and yimby should have that reputation because the developed area in the second pic barely overlaps that of the first. How could this be anything but intentional?

Here's a side-by-side with as close as I could get with current imagery:

Identified in each is the 1910 Harris County Courthouse which is many blocks away from the are of the second pic.

Here's a comparison of the two and an intermediate perspective from modern imagery. The approximate area of the two pics are outlined in different colors, and a few buildings that are common in all three have been lettered. These are now some of the smaller buildings in the downtown area. It makes sense that lower-density / less-efficient buildings would be replaced with more modern structures (though one of them was replaced with a park 💚🌳). The implication from initial juxtaposition of the original pics that a bunch of tall buildings were torn down to make parking lots is a flat out lie.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] ThoGot@lemm.ee 7 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

That's so absurd it almost doesn't seem real
(from my european perspective)

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] HonoraryMancunian@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

What's 75 years in metric?

[–] muix@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 3 weeks ago

2.3652 gigaseconds

[–] wise_pancake@lemmy.ca 31 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I’m Canadian and we’re very America lite.

I grew up in a small town and I miss being young and spending so much time getting to know my neighbours or random people at the diner.

People feel less friendly the last few years, but when you get to know people they are nice. But that consideration for our fellow man is weak lately.

[–] bobs_monkey@lemm.ee 8 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

This is why I moved out of a metropolis to a small mountain town. We have our share of assholes and dipshit tourists, but a lot of people genuinely care up here and it's much easier to be of that mindset when you're around people of a similar ilk.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Louisoix@lemm.ee 13 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

Not sure what it has to do with America, but the European countries (or people's relationship) I've lived in are extremely far from being that nice.

[–] idiomaddict@lemmy.world 15 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

I’m in Germany, which feels pretty unfriendly to me (and I’m from Connecticut), but there’s still a back current of something. I don’t know if it’s best described as a sense of community, solidarity, or shared humanity, but I work at a bakery (culturally comparable to a diner, imo, and I worked in the US at a few diners) and the clientele as a rule sees me as a person in a way that they didn’t always in the US.

It’s also the first place I’ve worked in a city that didn’t have an oppositional relationship with the local homeless population, because my boss treats them like people, and doesn’t allow anyone to do any differently.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] PhilipTheBucket@ponder.cat 4 points 3 weeks ago

I ws defining most of Europe as "America light" here. People in Central America, the Middle East, and Africa all have a particular human way of interacting with each other that is absent in America and sort of muted in a lot of Western Europe. Then at a certain point my perspective flipped and I realized their way was normal, and it's us that have something unusual about us.

The world is a big place with a lot of variation, and I'm not trying to romanticize any particular place. Just saying that a lot of looking out for each other and being kind has been forgotten about in a lot of America.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] GrumpyDuckling@sh.itjust.works 6 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

I sell on ebay and while I don't go that far out of my way I do put a little thank you stamp on the packing slip, make sure everything is packed correctly and I go out of my way to make sure that the item is shipped either same day or next day if they order later in the day. People are always grateful that they get their items so fast. I often sell spare parts for things off of already broken items, but even things like cassette tapes I imagine that they want it for the weekend or it's for a gift for someone.

[–] Varyag@lemmy.dbzer0.com 42 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Oh I love this one. It introduced me to Casiopea and they're a PHENOMENAL band. Which sent me into a hole of finding more stuff like that, and now I love J-Jazz.

[–] AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net 11 points 3 weeks ago (8 children)

Recommendations? Not even limited to J-jazz — I used to do a lot more active music searching and I'm trying to get back into that, part of which involves asking random people who like different music than I do for recs

[–] sushibowl@feddit.nl 7 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

I'm not a huge Japanese jazz aficionado, but this is some stuff I've found over the years and enjoyed:

  • Himiko Kikuchi - Flying Beagle
  • Masayoshi Takanaka - All Of Me
  • Jiro Inagaki - ファンキー・スタッフ (Funky Stuff)

If you like jazzy stuff in general, maybe you'd like:

  • Lund Quartet - Lund Quartet
  • Portico Quartet - Memory Streams
  • Colin Stetson - All This I Do For Glory
  • BADBADNOTGOOD - IV
  • Snarky Puppy - Lingus
[–] childOfMagenta@lemm.ee 4 points 3 weeks ago

https://everynoise.com/engenremap-japanesejazzfusion.html

Everynoise is the website for exploring genres. Warning: Time will fly.

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] quixotic120@lemmy.world 40 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I haven’t bought a record in a while but I used to buy a ton and buying used from Japan was always my favorite. It wasn’t like this if you bought from corporate stores obviously but almost every time I bought from just some dude on yahoo auctions or discogs or ebay or whatever I would have a similar experience. Handwritten note, candy, good luck charm from a shrine, etc. almost made up for the astronomical shipping

One time my friend ordered a book from Russia and got similar treatment except they got tea. We made it and it was the most horrible tea we had ever tried in our lives. It came with a sweet letter though so the sentiment was nice

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] tuxiqae@lemmy.dbzer0.com 29 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Now I'm curious which tea they got

[–] peteypete420@sh.itjust.works 29 points 3 weeks ago

I'm curious if they left a positive review

[–] recklessengagement@lemmy.world 27 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

That album fucking rules. Can also confirm the Japanese vinyl store experience, they love to add personal touches.

[–] Pilferjinx@lemmy.world 10 points 3 weeks ago

Japan does jazz really nice. Look up Soil and Pimp for a more spicy metal jazz experience.

[–] Mac@mander.xyz 6 points 3 weeks ago

Fun fact: Casiopea released an album last year. It isn't nearly as good, but still cool.

[–] eli@lemmings.world 25 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Huh this makes sense now

[–] doublenut@lemm.ee 23 points 3 weeks ago

Oh man thank you for reminding me of casiopea. Haven't listened to them since like early high-school I think. Back into weekly rotation now!

[–] NotSteve_@lemmy.ca 18 points 3 weeks ago

I think I ordered a Ratatat vinyl from the same seller, or Japanese discogs sellers are just the best. They sent me a free 1970s Japanese city pop vinyl and a bunch of stickers for fun.

[–] FinishingDutch@lemmy.world 12 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Huh, that’s actually pretty cool music.

[–] eestileib@sh.itjust.works 4 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

A lot of the people doing video game music in the 80s were Casiopea fans, so there is a big overlap between their stuff and game music.

Their track "Countdown" being a very cleae example.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] pieter91@sh.itjust.works 12 points 3 weeks ago

I watched a great Japanese animated film last year about a jazz musician: Blue Giant. Can definitely recommend.

[–] Hayduke@lemmy.world 10 points 3 weeks ago

That is a good album. Those cats jam, and jam well.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 8 points 3 weeks ago

Listening to Dolphin while playing Wave Racer 64

[–] frunch@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago

I ran into a live performance they did in 1985 the other day while i was doing yard work. It was really good, they're all phenomenal musicians. The crowd response was nutty, it was cool to see/hear that many people loving the hell out of the music and the band.

https://youtu.be/ilOZZp8zWKE

[–] Gemini24601@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago

Yes this Greentext introduced me to Casiopea and jazz fusion, Mint Jams is still my favorite album of theirs. Other notable works of the genre include Miles Davis’s In a Silent Way, Masayoshi Takanaka’s On Guitar, and ISSEI NORO INSPIRITS’ BEAUTY.

[–] FiskFisk33@startrek.website 4 points 3 weeks ago

They remind me of Gran Turismo

load more comments
view more: next ›