tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31159752024-03-12T23:03:49.779-05:00The View From NowThis blog is a dictatorship. It is <i>all about me.</i> If you don't agree with my views, I don't care. If you badger me because my views don't coincide with yours, you will be dealt with by firepoker or toe-cutter. This blog is my outlet, and nothing you do is going to change that.mystickeeperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17144983932304505633noreply@blogger.comBlogger3982125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115975.post-39337350360425611022010-09-04T08:10:00.002-05:002010-09-04T08:15:47.851-05:00An AnnouncementHi Everyone,<br /><br />Here is the deal.<br /><br />For a long time, I have been cross-posting entries between here and LiveJournal.<br />LiveJournal has been making a bunch of changes lately that I think breach its users' privacy and trust. So LiveJournal will no longer be my main journal.<br /><br />My home-base journal will now be at Dreamwidth: http://laceblade.dreamwidth.org<br /><br />As always, everyone can see public entries; you need to "Friend" me to see locked posts. You don't need a Dreamwidth account to do that; you can use OpenID. If you have accounts with LiveJournal, Google, or a host of other websites, then you have OpenID.<br /><br />Unfortunately, Dreamwidth cannot yet cross-post to the Blogger platform.<br />The alternative is to manually copy-and-paste entries, but to be frank, I never get comments over here anyway.<br /><br />If Dreamwidth does one day allow cross-posting to Blogger, I will look into it.<br /><br />So for now, this is the end of new posts here on Blogger.<br /><br />I am still working on copying all of my old posts to Dreamwidth, and locking them. (Most of these were embarrassing high school posts; more recent posts on anime/etc. will stay here for your reading pleasure.)<br /><br /><br />If you have any questions, leave a comment.<br /><br />Blogger, you've been good to me. But it's a lot easier to build communities on sites like Dreamwidth.<br /><br />Thanks everyone for reading; I hope you'll follow me in the new space.mystickeeperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17144983932304505633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115975.post-84199768211011154532010-06-11T18:49:00.001-05:002010-06-11T18:49:42.100-05:00Upon watching the first 2 episodes of Hetalia: Axis Powers....This is what people have been excited about for the last couple of years? Seriously, what the hell?<br /><br /><br />Watch it streaming at Funimation.com!mystickeeperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17144983932304505633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115975.post-33263961355564638202010-06-04T20:45:00.001-05:002010-06-04T20:49:13.174-05:00RageElsewhere on the Internet, in a post that is unfortunately locked, various things have been purported.<br /><br />I am sick to death of motherfuckers telling me that entire aspects of my identity do not exist because of the labels they ascribe to me.<br />Because I am Catholic, there is no way that I could hate my bishop, want women to be priests, or be adamantly supportive of the separation of church and state.<br />Because I am religious, I must have never given any serious thought to politics (even in spite of my major in Political Science), why rituals are performed, or what the Bible actually says. Clearly, I am a sheep - right?<br />Because I spent two summers working as an unpaid intern for a Republican, there is no way that I could be a Democrat (at least, not according to nearly every Democratic office in the Wisconsin State Legislature).<br />Because I am a 24-year-old woman, I must want to get married as soon as possible.<br />Because I am pro-life, I must not be a feminist.<br /><br />Extremism in any form is dangerous. And taking away someone's ability to construct their own identity is harmful - even moreso when we are all potential allies.<br /><br />We are all angry about something. What I'm angry about is everyone buying into the soundbytes created from false dichotomies that assure us that our goals are not common, that our enemies are each other. And that we must stay busy fighting one another, so that we are incapable of waking up, banding together, and doing something.<br /><br />In the end, I think that everyone wants to make the world less fucked up than it is now.<br /><br />The way to start is to think, to dialogue, and most importantly, to challenge people around you every day to analyze and deconstruct their own lives.<br /><br />And to stop acting like jackasses.mystickeeperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17144983932304505633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115975.post-7741707509710883752010-06-03T20:26:00.000-05:002010-06-03T20:32:42.356-05:00WisCon 34 Panel Write-Up: Intersectionality in Fandom<u>Panel Description</u>: A more advanced discussion for those ready to work past 101-level panels. A discussion of how disabilities, race, gender, sexual orientation, and other oppressed statuses affect each other. How do we decide which one gets our last remaining spoon?<br /><br />Panelists: Ian K. Hagemann (moderator), Candra K. Gill, Beth A. Plutchak, Victor Raymond, Naamen Gobert Tilahun<br /><br /><hr/><br />My notes on this panel are VERY sparse; I think this is when I started freaking out about having my first panel later in the night, and I didn't write much down.<br /><br /><hr/><br />In the beginning, it's noted that we are at a time in WisCon at which we can move beyond establishing, "Does this oppression exist?"<br /><br />NGT: Likes the word "confluence" more than "intersectionality" - it implies fluidity, that the systems of oppression themselves change are intermeshed with one another moreso than single points of "intersection."<br /><br />The line in the panel description, "How do we decide which one gets our last spoon?" is dissected a bit - there is no "last one." You can't defeat systems of oppression one by one - the point is that they are intertwined, that by becoming an ally to deconstruct one, you must work for the good of dismantling them all.<br /><br />Even if race or class or etc. is your "thing," take a step back - nobody is an expert on everything.<br /><br />IH said a lot of things about the societal narrative (reality, I think? I did a really poor job of following this thread) and societal counter-narrative (the story that those in power tell us to keep things the way they are). One of the catch-phrases of the counter-narrative is, "Everyone can succeed if they pull themselves up by their bootstraps." IH points out that's not true - whose hard work do you benefit from? Is it yours? Your parents? Those who came before them?<br /><br />We must dismantle the institutions that are organized in such a way to keep power where it is.<br /><br />BAP (I think?!) brings up Sarah Palin - however much you disagree with her, the media and comedy culture derided her for being a woman, being uneducated, and being from a rural area.<br /><br />The point of media is to make a counter-narrative.<br /><br />I think that someone makes a point about other kinds of media, faster communication of news via sites like Twitter.<br />IH brings up that things like iPods, iPads, etc. are made with unfair labor practices. So even the tools you use to "tweet the revolution" (phrase is mine, not his) are things you bought in ways that help keep the current systems of oppression in place. It is bodies that are producing these new media.<br /><br />Buffy is not a feminist show; it is a girl-power show. The media/etc. capture revolutionary/deconstructive ideas and make them bite-sized, palatable for society to consume and feel good about themselves.<br /><br />NGT brings up another example: a breast cancer awareness campaign in which Kentucky Fried Chicken sold food in breast-cancer pink buckets, totally ignoring the fact that chemicals/preservatives in KFC cause cancer in the first place.<br /><br />The media captures pieces of our own narrative and feeds it back to us.<br /><br />There are some oppressions/etc. that don't have names yet; we don't even have the language required to discuss them.<br /><br />Subject turned to: How do I recognize which narrative I'm in?<br />--Subvert the counter-narrative. Reject false binaries. It is always more complicated than black/white, male/female, rich/poor, etc.<br /><br />And now it's really obvious that I wasn't writing notes that had headings or anything USEFUL....<br />Another example of the media spoon-feeding what we want to hear. The Ad Council always puts out "messages" that focus on an individual solution to a systemic problem. We are told "don't litter," versus something that would actually make a difference and require a societal change: "Don't allow our factories to make pollution."<br /><br />It takes a long time to make people aware of their own self-interest and privilege.<br /><br />Talk to people and shake up their worldview. It is difficult and uncomfortable.<br /><br />I think that this is the point at which BAP said she distrusted large organizations and sociologists (except Victor, fellow panelist).<br /><br />NGT suggests: join small organizations. They won't eat up your life; it's easy to know everyone, so they're not as shady; the differences they make in your community are visible, and matter.<br /><br />How do you find them? "Google-fu."<br /><br />Change is hard. The convenient, effective protest doesn't exist.<br /><br />Talk to SF fans about what to do now. SF fans know about many potential futures, but not about how to get there.<br /><br />We must articulate our own narrative.<br /><br />Talk and listen to people. The discussion does not end.<br /><br />When you're talking, what do you mean when you say, "We?" Do you mean white people? If so, then name it. Don't make assumptions. Not "We generally react in this way to this issue," but "White people usually do X."<br /><br /><hr/><br />Hopefully someone else has more coherent notes than me!<br /><br />I left this panel feeling very strongly that I was ready to DO things and be active in my community, aware of how I have conversations and what I choose to say, etc. This was very much a theme for me at most of the panels I went to.mystickeeperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17144983932304505633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115975.post-80429169392472147232010-06-01T20:11:00.000-05:002010-06-01T20:19:32.331-05:00WisCon 34 Panel Write-Up: Rated E for Everyone? Increasing Diversity in Games and GamingAgain, it's not an exact transcript because I do pen/paper notes.<br /><br /><u>Panel Description</u>: In some ways, the gaming industry is the last glass ceiling of geekdom; in spite of its increasing diversity, gaming culture has largely assume white, male, able-bodied, and heterosexual biases. Gaming communities like XBox Live, MMORPGs, D&D groups, and even retail stores can be noninclusive or even hostile environments to women, people of color, gay people, or the disabled. There are exceptions: Bioware's <i>Dragon Age: Origins</i> was highly lauded by GayGamer.net for its inclusion of same-sex relationships, and won AbleGamer.com's Most Accessible Game of 2009. This panel will discuss how games can get it right (and why they often don't). We'll also explore ways to make the gaming community more accessible, and brainstorm strategies for surviving hostile encounters in the gaming world.<br /><br />Panelists: Chris Hill, Robyn Fleming, Jacquelyn Gill, Nonie B. Rider, Anastasia Marie Salter<br /><br /><hr/><br />The sub-culture of "gaming" is very broad, so the panel began by establishing different interests.<br /><br />CH: Role-played in the late 70s and early 1980s, and is now into computer gaming.<br /><br />JG: Roleplayed D&D and White Wolf. In college, more into computer gaming. She noted sometimes feeling uncomfortable online, in stores, etc. Also dislikes being told what she "should" like, as a girl gamer (i.e., not violence).<br /><br />AS: Just finished a PhD in (?!) gaming narratives (sorry, I wasn't paying attention and didn't write that down properly). She likes to focus on the gender dynamic in computer gaming - how those playing with female avatars are usually assumed to be male; how this is now complicated by the addition of voice-chat, etc.<br /><br />RF: Writes gaming columns, etc. Plays D&D, is bad at 3-D navigation. Would like feminist gamers to stop demonizing the hyper-femininity of some games. She <i>likes</i> the Barbie games. Please embrace them.<br /><br />NR: Only into tabletop gaming.<br /><br />Press coverage of a quote of fail was made reference to: apparently, when asked why Modern Warfare II contained no women (you know, to be modern), the person answered that in order to take the time to render female characters in the game, time would have to be taken away from other detail-work, such as crumbling walls. So apparently, crumbling walls in video games are more important than the option to see/play as female characters.<br /><br />AS: doesn't play video games to necessarily "be herself," but why don't the games have more options?<br /><br />RF: Gives props to Mass Effect (highly customizable avatars)<br /><br />More games that have customization options are using it as a selling point.<br /><br />Dragon Age is very accessible, and also explores other classes. Sometimes, "customization" is cited as being prohibitive to telling a linear storyline. Dragon Age disproved this for games that have storylines.<br /><br />Also, for MMORPGs, which have no linear plot, there is still a lot of work to do on making avatars more representative of the human race. The "linear plot" argument is indefensible here, if it is in fact defensible anywhere.<br /><br />At some point, there was a lengthy digression about the new rules put out for D&D. (Basically, for the 3rd edition, non-male pronouns were sometimes used (gasp!), but they were all or mostly male again for 4th edition. Also, even when the pronoun-usage is evenly dispersed, the pictures on the page show women in voluptuous/revealing clothing. There is a disconnect.<br /><br />At some point, City of Heroes was also brought up as a game that allows a lot of customization (even fat characters!).<br /><br />Team Fortress II was brought up as a game that had 9 classes of men in it. Online gamers are creating detailed hacks for female classes, too.<br /><br />Hacks are fan-created works.<br /><br /><u>Ways to make the gaming community more accessible/let people know that gamers are diverse</u>:<br />--If a game pisses you off because of its treatment (or complete lack of) POC, women, disabled people, etc., then don't buy it. Also, tell gamers in your life why you're not buying it. Write about it on the Internet.<br /><br />--Find ways to hack the games, and play as different characters.<br /><br />--Be a presence in gaming stores. Instead of buying things online, physically go to stores, let the employees know you exist, you play games, and you're giving them money. JG said she makes a point of going into gaming stores and asking intelligent questions about current games.<br /><br />--Write online. Be a frequent commenter on the websites of companies that frustrate you. Let them know what frustrates you.<br /><br />--Support game-producers who are not EA or ActiVision. Don't let huge companies be the cultural gate-keepers. Open-source games are awesome. There is a belief in the world that free games are not necessarily "good" games, because they're not mainstream. This is false. Use them. Smaller projects can afford to be more experimental than the Big Two Companies because they don't have as much money riding on a project. So if you support smaller projects and prove that experimental wonders such as including fat avatars or more POC can be successful, there will probably be a trickle-up effect.<br /><br />--Download a free game, play it, and tweet it to the WisCon tag.<br /><br />--Tweet to the #HackGender tag.<br /><br />--Be a pusher of inclusive games to younger kids/teenagers in your life. They will be receptive.<br /><br />--Use the Bechdel test on video games.<br /><br />--Read <a href="http://borderhouseblog.com">Border House</a>. From their own website: "The Border House is a blog for gamers. It's a blog for those who are feminist, queer, disabled, people of color, transgendered, poor, gay, lesbian, and others who belong to marginalized groups, as well as allies. Our goal is to bring thoughtful analysis to gaming with a feminist viewpoint and up-to-date news on games, virtual worlds, and social media."<br /><br /><br /><hr/><br />I really took a lot away from this panel, particularly the To-Do list. The idea of supporting small companies (and small book presses) is one I've always supported in theory, but looking at my habits, do not do much to support financially or through promotion. It was because of this panel that I realized I had never purchased a book put out by Aqueduct Press, despite this being my fourth WisCon. (I then bought four books from them.)mystickeeperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17144983932304505633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115975.post-67842403853843034462010-06-01T18:03:00.000-05:002010-06-01T18:04:28.273-05:00WisCon 34 Panel Write-Up: Class Basics[My notes are very sparse. Feel free to use my notes + your memory/notes to make a For Reals Record. I'm just offering what I've got to the community at large.]<br /><br /><br /><u>Panel Description</u>: Of all the "isms" and oppressions in the United States, class is one of the least explored and least understood, and yet having an understanding of how class issues affect people here and around the world is vital. As with race, ability, and other issues, it is not the job of people who grew up dealing with class barriers to educate the rest of us, but sometimes we find folks who are generous enough to give their time to teaching. If you feel like you don't know enough about class, classism, and how class background and class privilege inform the world around you, come join us. Serious information, given with patience and humor.<br /><br />Panelists: Debbie Notkin (moderator), Nisi Shawl, Jennifer K. Stevenson, Chris Wrdnrd<br /><br /><hr/><br />It was established at the beginning of the panel that the goal was for audience members to ask questions, etc.<br /><br />Panelists were asked to described the kitchen of the place in which they grew up, and also answered why they decided to be on the panel.<br /><br />Jennifer, who has written a novel (or possibly more?) about stage hands in Chicago, comments that she is intrigued by those people who to college and end up "not using" their education.<br /><br />An audience member asks something to the effect of, "Can you explain the 'anger' that some people have for those who do have an education?" Audience member told that her question will eventually be addressed. [As a side note, I don't think it was directly addressed, but it sort of is further down when people are talking about different 'markers,' etc.]<br /><br />A generational difference between the importance of certain class markers is discussed (I think by Nisi). For example, children of the middle class might find running outside shoeless "freeing," but parents in the working class class find shoe-wearing extremely important. For parents of working class kids, going to college is incredibly important in order for upward mobility. For Nisi, it was less important, because she got there and felt they weren't actually teaching her how to write, so she left.<br /><br />At this point, Jennifer makes several weird comments. Debbie intervenes to note that we need to be careful not to equate education with intelligence.<br />Jennifer goes on to discuss how people who go to college learn to be "world citizens," and learn how to be in a different class (?). She also spends some time discussing the disparity between different types of stage hands - those who push boxes, and those who work on the more technological side of stage-work (I'm assuming this means lights, sound systems, etc.).<br /><br />Thankfully, heyiya stands up and asks if the panelists can define "class," as it seems they are discussing different things. (This was much more articulately asked than that, so hopefully someone else has notes!)<br /><br />Nisi says that class is defined by where you come from, and what you expect [to have happen in your life].<br /><br />Jennifer says that when she was a kid, it was basically education. Later on, she learned that class was something different. She mentions health care as a marker. A weird comment is made about how people of different classes are "the same species but different species." (Unfortunately, this was after The Gathering and I don't remember the context.)<br /><br />Wrdnrd mentions it as being the economic reality of her youth.<br /><br />An audience member is called upon, states that to her class is defined by choices and ownership. What choices do you have? What choices have you had? What do you own? Your body? A car? Do you feel secure? Etc.<br /><br />A book by Ruby Payne is brought up, although I can't remember which one.<br /><br />Multiple audience members stand up to ask questions, usually prefaced by the establishment of their class background. It is clear that this is a raw issue for many audience members.<br /><br />Someone in the audience asks about how to talk about class issues with her husband, who comes from a different class background than she does.<br /><br />raanve stands up to discuss the differences in viewing signifiers/markers of class. People from different class backgrounds look for different markers to identify class. These things are not abstract - usually someone's house, their accent, etc. I think she was pointing out how to understand where people are coming from in discussions involving people of different class backgrounds (please correct me if I'm wrong!).<br /><br />Nisi said it helps to say something like, "This is what this signifier means to me; what does it mean to you?"<br /><br />Class can also be defined by answering the question, "Who accepts you as a peer?" (Cannot remember who said this), and pointing out that how you define yourself is not necessarily how the word defines you (in terms of class).<br /><br />Someone else in the audience stands up to talk about how she raised her daughter while being extremely poor, taking free meals from churches, etc. Extra money that came their way was spent on passes to science museums, etc. Her daughter was eventually able to go to law school, and with help from wealthy people who took an interest in her, got a good job. She was embarrassed by her background, though, and eventually cut off contact to her mother, who hasn't spoken with her in something like 7 years.<br /><br />I wish there was a better way to end the post, but I think that's all I remember. Toward the end, at least a few people stood up to say that they best understood how to discuss class/better understood where other people were coming from, and why some responses are inappropriate because they are overly defensive. Thus, I think that the panel was successful.<br /><br />I was unable to make it to the other two panels focusing on class at WisCon this year, but at the end of our Studio Ghibli panel on Sunday, an audience member did ask us to discuss class! The seeds, they spread!<br /><br /><hr/><br />Hopefully, this will be the most incoherent of my panel write-ups!mystickeeperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17144983932304505633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115975.post-712357637575613232010-05-31T10:11:00.000-05:002010-05-31T10:18:01.052-05:00WisCon 34: Demands and LinksIf you attended WisCon 34, please visit WisCon's website and <a href="http://www.wiscon.info/survey.php">fill out the surveys.</a> As a member of the ConCom, I can tell you that all responses are read and considered when planning for next year. As an example, a single comment was all that it took for me to decide to stop having latex balloons as centerpieces at The Gathering.<br /><br />Also, throughout the convention, I kept hearing people make comments about "the items that Programming put onto the schedule." PROGRAMMING DOES NOT MAKE UP THE PANELS. YOU DO. I cannot stress this enough. If you want quality programming, then suggest some quality descriptions. Suggesting a panel does <i>not</i> mean that you have to be on it. Takes notes throughout the year. Let ideas percolate until you have the perfect notion. <b>And then submit them.</b><br /><br />You can already suggest panel ideas for WisCon 35. If you would like to do so, <a href="http://wiscon.piglet.org/idea">go here</a>.<br />Also pay attention when sign-ups happen later in the year. Panelists are necessary to making sure that a programming item makes it on to the schedule.<br /><br /><hr/><br />--<a href="http://allochthon.livejournal.com/164207.html">A list of books and TV shows</a> from the "Writing the Other: Shout-Outs" panel.<br /><br />--<a href="http://damned-colonial.dreamwidth.org/484233.html">The Vid Party's playlist, complete with download links</a> This party was epic.<br /><br />--<a href="http://wintercreek.dreamwidth.org/675023.html">Liveblog of the Avatar panel</a><br /><br />--<a href="http://starlady.dreamwidth.org/326827.html">The Politics of Steampunk panel liveblog</a><br /><br />--<a href="http://yhlee.dreamwidth.org/1027305.html">A Field Guide for Editors panel writeup</a><br /><br />--<a href="http://yhlee.dreamwidth.org/1026524.html">Dreamwidth panel writeup</a><br /><br /><hr/><br />Non-WisCon Added Bonus:<br />aycheb writes about <a href="http://aycheb.livejournal.com/109915.html">fashion in Buffy Season 8</a> [spoilers]mystickeeperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17144983932304505633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115975.post-30435382948403543822010-05-23T13:32:00.000-05:002010-05-23T13:44:48.401-05:00A Review and Some CommentaryI really enjoyed the first season of Spice & Wolf, and would recommend it. The anime is based on a series of light novels originally written in Japanese (and the English translations put out by Yen Press are pretty fantastic - and I often dislike translations of Japanese fiction). Although there will be a second season, the first season definitely has a sense of closure. I liked the characters, mood, and setting very much, and I recommend it!<br />When I first saw advertisements for this series, I was afraid that it would be a little moe, but was glad to find that this was not the case.<br /><lj user="etrangere"> has a nice review in the second half of <a href="http://etrangere.livejournal.com/302853.html">this post</a>, complete with a couple of pictures.<br /><br /><hr/><br />With the closing of DC Comics' CMX line (which mostly translated/distributed shoujo comics in the U.S.), there have been <a href="http://www.comicsbeat.com/2010/05/20/cmx-demise-draws-ire">many intense blog posts</a> (basically, DC never did much to promote CMX; they shut down their Minx line [also for teenage girls] in recent memory, etc).<br /><br />One intense post focuses on the supposed "detrimental effect" that distributing/reading scanlations has on the sales market of manga in the U.S. It's <a href="http://okazu.blogspot.com/2010/05/my-point-of-view-on-scanlation.html">here</a>, written by Erica Friedman (who writes a lot about yuri manga). In this post and many others, I sometimes find classist assumptions in the anime/manga fandom: basically, that "every manga you read is one that you did not buy," which I find highly presumptive.<br /><br />While I understand the principle that "voting with your dollar" certainly matters (hello, I work in an independent bookstore a few weekends per month), the idea that everyone has an equitable (or infinite) disposable income is ludicrous.<br /><br />I don't mind paying money for a quality product (see Del Rey's releases of xxxHolic and Tsubasa, or Viz's Signature Line releases of Pluto, 20th Century Boys, etc). But in many cases, the money you pay does not result in a quality product. Take the Sailor Moon manga I own - they are extremely valuable because they are out of print in the U.S., but the glue job was so shoddy that half of them are falling apart despite my militant care-taking. Take also Viz's questionable translation of Fumi Yoshinaga's Ooku - yeah, I'm still buying it, but I remain displeased with Viz's translation.<br /><br />Additionally, I'm probably not going to invest in Volume 1 of a 28-volume series without having read a bit, to make sure that I like where the story is going. This is about an intelligent use of my money.<br /><br />To think that I would drop $8-14 on a single volume (usually readable in one 2-hour sitting - usually much less) without having read it first? For me, at least (and I will go ahead and admit that I am pretty cheap), this isn't even a question. Of course I will sample it first. And if it's not readily available at my public library (which I do use quite liberally), then yes, you'd better believe that I will download and read scanlations.<br />Even when I do buy manga, it is rarely at full-price - I go out of my way to scour used bookstores (and, full disclosure, even when I do buy them "new," I get an employee discount, so it's still not comparable to the average consumer).<br /><br />And this is the thought-process of me, who comes from a privileged economic background and is fortunate enough to have a job that allows me to easily provide for my own needs. Especially in the state of the current U.S. economy, most people do not have the money it takes to support a single series (especially if it comes out in rapid succession, like Naruto).<br /><br />Friedman goes so far as to condemn the scanlation/digital distribution of manga series not even available in English (i.e., those new in Japan, or which were never chosen for U.S. distribution). What exactly are we supposed to do? To suggest that everyone who wants to read a series not licensed in the U.S. has the leisure time to learn a foreign language (not to mention afford to buy all of the series on the Internet and have them shipped here) is nonsensical to me.<br /><br /><br />I get that buying things is the optimal choice, and if you've ever been inside my apartment, you're aware that I am certainly trying my best. However, in some cases, people do not have a choice, and I think that it is elitist and classist (or occasionally both) to assume otherwise.mystickeeperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17144983932304505633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115975.post-48509488786117706362010-05-17T22:47:00.000-05:002010-05-17T23:07:25.286-05:00Cardcaptor SakuraI am so pleased that Dark Horse is putting out a new translation/packaging/etc. of Cardcaptor Sakura that I have been giving some serious thought to re-purchasing the entire series as it comes out (even though I already own the entire series). It's really exciting to me that a company cares about shoujo manga originally published about fifteen years ago.<br />(Okay, maybe they care more about the fact that CLAMP sells really well, and people will want to reread it after they finish xxxHolic and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles.)<br /><br />I really wish that an American manga company would do this for Sailor Moon - I have all 18 volumes, but they were made pretty shoddily, and many are falling apart.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.rightstuf.com/1-800-338-6827/catalogmgr/hsLTx7Azp5bxQpHPgY/browse/item/86757/4/0/0">La!</a><br /><br /><br />Unfortunately, it looks like they're giving Chobits the omnibus treatment, too. Chobits.....*shudder*mystickeeperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17144983932304505633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115975.post-37525019909173919982010-05-12T23:30:00.001-05:002010-05-12T23:30:36.562-05:00About ThatFor those who don't follow anime/manga news as it relates to the U.S., distribution companies have been tanking for the last couple of years. Geneon, Central Park Media, and ADV went out of business. It came to most people as a shock when the powerhouse TokyoPop slashed both its title list and its staff members.<br /><br />In the last couple of days, it's been reported that Go! Comi has let its website lapse and is out of business, and that Viz has had to cut its staff a lot, too. It sucked when Viz stopped putting out issues of Shojo Beat (containing manga written for women) and only ran Shonen Jump ("for boys") monthly. But budgets matter, and it was the first inkling.<br /><br />I didn't read a lot of stuff by Go! Comi, but I enjoyed their releases of Her Majesty's Dog and Cantarella.<br /><br />It's sad to me that these companies are going out of business, as it will ultimately limit the diversity of titles available in English. <br />On the Internet, there seems like a lot of things are he-said, she-said. Many fans and commentators seem to blame the digital distribution of fan-made translations ("scanlations"), but I've never seen proof to support these claims. For example, I would never spend money on anime DVDs unless I had already seen the series first.<br />I might buy a manga volume I've never read before, but only if I've heard a lot about it from other people who have.<br />Etc.<br /><br />I'd like to be able to better support companies like Viz, Funimation, Right Stuf, Del Rey, and Yen Press. Other than making my own purchases (which to me is a very obvious way), maybe the best way to ensure that these companies can continue running and producing great products is to make more of our friends into people who consume in these two forms of media, rather than constantly pointing fingers.mystickeeperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17144983932304505633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115975.post-72926354431995277902010-04-11T09:56:00.001-05:002010-04-11T09:58:56.935-05:00Issue #34WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!mystickeeperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17144983932304505633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115975.post-23802836138889357682010-04-04T11:21:00.000-05:002010-04-04T11:22:29.585-05:00EasterEaster Vigil at any Abbey is pretty sweet. Not only was the homily superb (the abilities of a priest as a homilist will pretty much make/break him, in my esteem of him), BUT THERE WAS A GIANT TORCH TO LIGHT THE EASTER CANDLE. Seriously, that pole had to be 20 feet long, and there were GIANT FLAMES that made me fearful most especially when the dude tried to get the thing through the doorway. Easter Vigil: arguably the most bad-ass mass of the year (except for that one time at Pentecost when we purposely lit the baptismal font on fire).<br /><br />On a more serious note, I really appreciated the homily. Easter is not just about butterflies and cute bunnies and candy. It means a lot because of the suffering that comes before it, because of the seriousness required by Lent. It's kind of the time of year to screw your head on straight, and then Easter comes and floods your heart with light, and you realize that Spring is here.<br /><hr/><br /><a href="http://www.thegalaxyexpress.net/2010/03/hunger-games-vs-battle-royale.html">A discussion on whether 'The Hunger Games' was cribbed from the Japanese novel/movie 'Battle Royale.'</a> People have pointed out the similarities in general premise to me before, but the argument made here lays out a series of incredibly specific things that happen in both. An interesting read, even if it doesn't convince you.<br /><br />The Onion's AV Club <a href="http://www.avclub.com/madison/articles/a-room-of-ones-own-more-than-just-feminist-35-year%2C39281">had a nice article about A Room of One's Own, on its 35th anniversary.</a><br /><br />I think that <a href="http://honeyheavenly.livejournal.com/3836.html">fan-made crafts like these</a> are really cool. In addition to creations focused on by the OTW (fanfiction, fanart, fanvids), I think that crafts are really neat, too. I've been collecting lots of paper cut-outs of various fandoms, along with a few extra Buffy comics. I'd like to make my own, even though I'm not totally skilled in the realm of craft-making.<br /><br />With everyone lying about what's actually in the Health Care bill, I found this Washington Post link useful: <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/what-health-bill-means-for-you">Answer 4 questions and find out what the Health Care bill means for you.</a><br /><br />Also, really liked <a href="http://buffyfest.blogspot.com/2010/02/fanvid-sunday-twilight-takeover-edition.html">this Buffy Season 8 vid.</a> DO NOT CLICK UNLESS YOU'VE READ THE TWO MOST RECENT ISSUES OF S8. For serious.<br /><hr/><br /><u><b>Help Out Your Fellow Fan!</b></u><br /><br />--were_duck <a href="http://were-duck.dreamwidth.org/150241.html">seeks recommendations for the WisCon Vid Show.</a> Specifically, she'd like some AMV recs, as she's generally unfamiliar.<br /><br />--meganbmoore <a href="http://meganbmoore.livejournal.com/1162583.html">seeks old school shoujo anime.</a> Bonus if you can tell her how to get a hold of it, :D<br /><br />--littlebutfierce <a href="http://littlebutfierce.dreamwidth.org/276067.html">both recommends and seeks more baseball anime.</a>mystickeeperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17144983932304505633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115975.post-4168752020244538712010-03-31T19:14:00.000-05:002010-03-31T19:23:55.182-05:00Because being called out on harboring child molesters is JUST LIKE being persecutedI don't usually love Maureen Dowd, but I've gotta say that every time in the last two weeks that I've wanted to write a blog post about how much I despise Benedict XVI and the priests who represent the face of Catholicism to the world, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/opinion/31dowd.html?src=me&ref=homepage">she goes ahead and does it for me.</a> It's just...UGH. IT IS HOLY WEEK, SIR. HAVE A LITTLE HUMILITY. Instead of saying shit like "We will overcome the people who are being mean to me right now!" How about saying, "I crawl on my knees and ask forgiveness for the horrible things I've done. AND NOW PEOPLE WILL GO TO JAIL FOR WHAT THEY DID."<br />I also liked <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/28/opinion/28dowd.html">A Nope for Pope.</a><br /><br />I am so disgusted right now.<br /><br />And the next time that someone asks me, "Why are you still Catholic?" or "How do you feel about that?" they will get kicked in the neck.<br /><br />I FEEL REALLY GOOD ABOUT CHILDREN GETTING MOLESTED, THANKS FOR ASKING.<br /><br />When congressmen molest boys, nobody says, "Shit, I'm going to stop being American!"<br />Nobody says, "Wow, doesn't that make you want to stop feeling patriotic?"<br />Nobody says, "Wow, so Mark Foley molested a boy. How do you feel about that?"<br />Because those questions are absurd and the answers are self-evident.<br /><br />But when the situation is about a different aspect of someone's identity - their faith - THAT SHIT IS TOTALLY DIFFERENT, and it's okay to be abhorrently inappropriate.<br /><br /><br /><br />.....OR IS IT?!mystickeeperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17144983932304505633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115975.post-18988527330026931452010-03-28T11:08:00.000-05:002010-03-28T11:09:39.584-05:00Sunday Points of Interest--Viz editor Pancha Diaz <a href="http://www.haikasoru.com/science-fiction/pancha-diaz-on-ooku">shares thoughts on Ooku, after it won the Tiptree Award.</a><br /><br />--<a href="http://homepage2.nifty.com/nonrain">A site with neat Sailor Moon fanart!</a> [Yes, I am still on my Sailor Moon kick. Expect a post on Season R in the near future.]<br /><br />--<a href="http://sasha-feather.dreamwidth.org/409887.html">Legally Blonde and How It is Awesome</a><br /><br />--<a href="http://raanve.livejournal.com/741871.html">30 Rock Meta!</a> Which explains some of the complicated feelings I also have toward 30 Rock. (The conclusion being....I love Liz Lemon! Most of the time.)<br /><br />--<a href="http://www.mangablog.net/?p=7492">Dear Manga, You are Broken.</a> I'm not sure if I agree with *everything* here (for example, aren't manga prices in the U.S. similar to those in Japan? There is only so much that a publisher can do, although I agree that prices can be expensive. I am very grateful that the place I live has a pretty healthy used-book market that includes manga.<br />At any rate, it is a pretty inclusive summary of issues in the world of manga publishing, whether you are an outsider to the fandom or not.<br /><br /><hr/><br />I just made it through the first disc of Spice & Wolf from Netflix, which contains episodes 1-7.<br />I didn't expect to like this series because I was afraid it would be a bit moe.<br /><br />However, it is so not. I love it so much!<br /><br />A merchant and a wolf-god of the harvest travel together in a European-ish world. It is about economics and Autumn and what it means for people to lose faith. Also, apples.<br /><br />I love the ending sequence. The lyrics are pretty non-sensical, but it makes me want to sing along: <i>I want to dance with the peanut butterflies!</i><br /><br /><center><object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0zmfrUrPTn0&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0zmfrUrPTn0&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object></center><br /><br />For a more sensible preview, read <lj user="etrangere">'s write-up <a href="http://etrangere.livejournal.com/302853.html">in this post</a>.mystickeeperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17144983932304505633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115975.post-47831547999293409432010-03-21T22:46:00.001-05:002010-03-21T22:56:08.920-05:00A friend directed me to Maureen Dowd's <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/opinion/21dowd.html">article in The New York Times</a>, which discusses the divide between Catholic nuns and Catholic bishops on the health care reform bill. (You should be able to read the article for free; The New York Times allows anyone to read a NYT article when it is linked to from a blog.)<br /><br /><blockquote> On Friday, Tim Ryan, an antiabortion Democrat from Ohio, took to the House floor to say he had been influenced by the nuns to vote for the bill.<br /><br />“You say this is pro-abortion,” he said to Republicans, and yet “you have 59,000 Catholic nuns from across the country endorsing this bill, 600 Catholic hospitals, 1,400 Catholic nursing homes endorsing this bill.”<br /><br />For decades, the nuns did the bidding of the priests, cleaned up their messes, and watched as their male superiors let a perverted stain spread over the entire church, a stain that has now even reached the Holy See. It seemed that the nuns were strangely silent, either because they suspected but had no proof — the “Doubt” syndrome — or because they had no one to tell but male bosses protecting one another in that repugnant and hypocritical old-boys’ network.<br /><br />Their goodness was rewarded with a stunning slap from the über-conservative Pope Benedict XVI. The Vatican is conducting two inquisitions into the “quality of life” of American nuns, trying to knock any independence or modernity out of them.<br /><br />The witch hunt has sparked the nuns to have a voice at last. Vulnerable children were not protected by the male hierarchy of the church, which treated sexual abuse as a failure of character rather than a crime. The men were so arrogant it never occurred to them that they should be accountable to the secular world. In their warped thinking, it was better to let children suffer than to call the authorities, embarrass the church and risk diminished power.<br /><br />Now the bishops think that it’s better to deprive poor people of good health care than to let the church look like it’s going soft on abortion.<br /><br />Under the semantic dodge of ideological purity, the bishops also are doing the bidding of the Republicans, trying to kill the bill and weaken the president. But the nuns are right when they say that “the Senate bill will not provide taxpayer funding for elective abortions” and that its protection of pregnant women is the “real pro-life stance.”<br /><br />The nuns stepped up to support true Catholic dogma, making sure poor people get proper health care. (Which would lead to fewer abortions anyway.) </blockquote><br /><br />I feel Maureen Dowd's sentiment in feeling fan-fucking-tastic that the Pope would rather bully American nuns with his heinous "investigations" instead of the pedophiliac exploits of his good old boys.<br /><br />I think that a lot of people allow Catholicism to be defined by its most vocal and powerful members. But they do not speak for all Catholics.mystickeeperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17144983932304505633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115975.post-36128947301038876612010-03-21T15:44:00.001-05:002010-03-21T15:44:41.602-05:00PSANow that Ponyo has been released on DVD here in the US, Disney has re-released My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, and Castle in the Sky, all on 2-disc special edition DVDs. The latter three have been out of print for a couple of years, I think.<br /><br />They should be available most places; I scored My Neighbor Totoro last night at Target, and it was very difficult not to grab Kiki's Delivery Service and Ponyo all at once.mystickeeperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17144983932304505633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115975.post-56294656054387683842010-03-07T10:35:00.000-06:002010-03-07T10:39:19.307-06:00#33Spoilers beneath the black, and for serious, you really don't want to be spoiled if you already haven't been.<br /><br /><span style="color: #333333;background-color: #333333"><br />So reading the spoiler of Twilight = Angel is what made me so interested in catching up on the Buffy/Angel comics a few months ago.<br /><br />The pay-off is pretty worth it. I liked this issue a lot, and I really have no idea what Joss has planned for his arc, which will close-out the season. [Does anyone know if there's going to be a Season 9?]<br /><br />I haven't see anybody else writing about it, so I'll assume that I missed something, but when Giles recognizes Angel's voice, Angel makes some comment like, "Now that your witch isn't here to cover it up," or something - does this imply that Willow is in league with him? Or did he mean that Amy had been masking his voice? Probably the latter, although the former would be more interesting!<br /></span><br /><br />This season floundered quite a bit in the middle, but it looks like the many, many loose strings have been pulled taut for a neatly pulled-off ending.mystickeeperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17144983932304505633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115975.post-53971120894291786822010-02-25T18:24:00.005-06:002010-02-26T23:52:13.233-06:00Sailor Moon, Season 1I am no stranger to Sailor Moon, although this is the first time I'm attempting to write about the show in any great detail.<br /><br />I collected the manga in volumes as it was released by MIXX/Tokyopop. Sailor Moon was my first anime, although I didn't grow up watching it on TV when I was a little kid. My best friend showed me the R movie when I was a freshman in high school, and at that time, SuperS was airing on TV after school.<br />My Sailor Moon history is pretty extensive, but it's also an extensive fandom.<br />--I have read and reread the entire manga many, many times.<br />--I have seen S and SuperS (seasons 3 and 4) a fair number of times in English dub, S once in sub.<br />--I have seen the entire live-action series.<br /><br />This is the first time I've seen Season 1; my goal is to watch the rest of the series, and then I might try watching fansubbed copies of the Myus (Sailor Moon live-action stage musicals).<br /><hr/>When dubbed and edited for American broadcast, DiC made a lot of alterations that changed the tone of the show. I feel that this is best shown (concisely) by the different opening sequences. The Japanese OP focuses a lot on duality (Sailor Moon v. Usagi), and is very flowery and twirly. The American OP focuses on action, speeds up a lot of the animation, and adds gaudy frames and electric guitar. [Note that the Japanese Season 1 gets a new OP after Jupiter and Venus join the team.]<br /><br />Japanese opening:<br /><center><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-E1Lw-4un_k&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-E1Lw-4un_k&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></center><br />American opening:<br /><center><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qdybnq0tSFk&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qdybnq0tSFk&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></center><br />I really like Serena's voice in the first few episodes of the dub, before they change it. She actually sounds like a 14-year-old girl.<br /><br />After about 20 episodes, Serena's best friend Molly (before she met the other Sailor Senshi) accidentally falls in love with one of the enemy! Serena tries to tell her not to love Nephlite, but Molly doesn't listen. She knows that deep down inside, he has a good soul. Too bad that in the English dub, Nephlite sounds like a total pedophile, and her trying to save him just ends up being confusing and WTF. "MOLLY, HE'S EVIL," doesn't hold sway with Molly.<br /><br /><center><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/j4DDBnbiwBY&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/j4DDBnbiwBY&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></center><br />After Nephlite bites the dust, Queen Beryl asks Zoisite to attack the Sailor Senshi. Zoisite does so, while fellow Minor Big Bad Malachite watches on.<br />At times, Zoisite can be a little effeminate - crossing his legs and holding his fingertips to his lips when laughing.<br /><br />It is soon apparent that Kunzite and Malachite are totally in love. Kunzite dies in Malachite's arms, and later Malachite angsts over a photograph of himself and Kunzite. So of course, in the DiC dub, Kunzite is made female. (This becomes more disturbing in Season S, when the lesbian pair Sailors Uranus and Neptune are referred to as "cousins" in the English dub.)<br /><hr/><br />While I didn't mind Mamoru in the manga, I basically hate Darien in Season 1 of the anime. He's so mean and useless! The dramatic plot is stupid too - he already has amnesia, so then when he's captured, he gets amnesia AGAIN.<br /><br />I won't spend a lot of time on it because so many other people have elsewhere on the Internet, but Sailor Mars is my favorite sailor senshi (although it is really hard to choose....I love everyone except for Mercury). And in the anime, she's boy-crazy and constantly nagging/arguing with Usagi. In the manga, she's arguably the most mature of the Inner Senshi, and ends up taking a chastity vow for Sailor Moon. She has absolutely no interest in men (and Naoko Takeuchi loves to draw her provocatively with Sailor Venus).<br /><hr/><br />DiC edited the series pretty heavily throughout. While the write-ups at this site are irritating to me <a href="http://www.smuncensored.com/series.php">this site</a> comprehensively describes the changes made to every episode of Sailor Moon. None of the editing was as extensive as the editing done to the last two episodes of Season 1 (at least, not yet).<br />The ending is much more dramatic in the Japanese version; Sailors Jupiter, Mercury, Venus, and Mars all die, in addition to Tuxedo Mask. After Sailor Jupiter dies and Sailor Moon wants to capitulate to Queen Beryl to end the death, Sailor Mercury actually slaps her. All of this was deleted from the dubbed version.<br /><br />The sacrifice of each Senshi is so moving! And I love how Usagi is so naive, and how the other girls are all in silent agreement that this is necessary. After Sailor Mercury volunteers to stay behind, Sailor Mars leads the way forward while Sailor Venus literally pushes Sailor Moon away so that they leave Mercury behind, taking advantage of her sacrifice in getting farther away.<br /><br />Hearing their death screams is also a lot more dramatic than DiC's dub, in which the girls always give quips about the "Negaverse" (apparently "Dark Kingdom" wasn't a badass enough title) being "Negatrash," etc.<br /><br />I take personal satisfaction in that Sailor Mars' death was the most dramatic - her screams were most nightmare-inducing, and I LOVED her grabbing the tail of the second youma after the youma and Sailor Moon both thought she was dead, and yelling, "I'm not done yet!" and then killing the youma with Fire Soul.<br /><br />It's also way more dramatic when she faces the mind-controlled Endymion (/Darien/Tuxedo Mask) - he holds her up by the neck while she screams.<br /><hr/><br />It's probably because I just re-watched all of Buffy, but there are a lot of parallels. Buffy as a whole is a better-developed show, and Buffy is not so whiny as Usagi, but it's relatively the same: a blonde chosen one who experiences a lot of growth over the course of the series as she is helped by her friends (oftentimes much more mature than she) to defeat supernatural enemies. When Endymion gets mind-controlled, there are many overtones of Angelus. And I'll probably revisit the parallels when I write about the S Season, specifically between Dawn and Hotaru.<br /><br />Pioneer used to own the license to distribute Sailor Moon in the U.S., but they have gone out of business. Currently, nobody holds the license. Because the DVDs/etc. are out of print, it is possible to watch them online at YouTube. I highly recommend <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailor_moon_episodes">using Wikipedia</a> to keep track of episodes (Japanese and U.S. numbering are different, as the US cut some episodes).<br /><br />Reward for making it to the end: a fan-made version of the OP, in which Japanese fanboys make a live-action version. American fans who are unfamiliar with Japanese fandom: YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT HEINOUS IS. [My favorite part is the man in the cat-suit.]<br /><br /><center><object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/V_mz9DPzvTY&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/V_mz9DPzvTY&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object></center>mystickeeperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17144983932304505633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115975.post-53394302889936977952010-02-20T08:31:00.000-06:002010-02-20T08:32:38.589-06:00Lost in translation?I keep bouncing really hard off of novels/stories originally written in Japanese and then translated to English.<br /><br />I'm not trying to read The Tale of Genji or anything, but they are three different types of stories (<u>Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit</u> by Nahoko Uehashi; <u>Usurper of the Sun</u> by Housuke Nojiri; <u>Hardboiled</u> by Banana Yoshimoto).<br /><br />I think it's the word choice that bothers me the most. I'll be in the groove, and then suddenly there's a string of overly sentimental statements decorated with adverbs, and it takes me a minute to gain my footing again and keep going. Except that now I've kind of stalled out on all of them.<br /><br />I don't have this problem with manga, but manga, like comics, is almost always pure dialogue and very little narration.<br /><br />I'm sure that it would be different if I were able to read the books in the original Japanese.<br /><br />Does anyone else have this problem with reading English translations of Japanese novels? Or possibly any recommendations of really well-translated books?mystickeeperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17144983932304505633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115975.post-46284996774952201072010-01-30T11:53:00.000-06:002010-01-30T11:54:35.109-06:00I watched last night's episode.........and I can't even believe how terrible Caprica is!<br /><br />IT IS SO BAD. HOLY SHIT.mystickeeperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17144983932304505633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115975.post-53020330925117268822010-01-26T19:56:00.000-06:002010-01-26T20:00:57.183-06:00It began succinctly, but then I kept talking.It's getting to the point that I can't stand watching coverage of Haiti any more. Watching a well-fed white man in a clean polo talk about the hunger of Haitians <i>while standing right next to them</i>, and then switching to another camera showing how <i>these Haitians</i> were much nicer when getting <i>their</i> rations of food and water, and that's how things ought to be, makes me sick.<br /><br /><hr/><br />On a more shallow note, but related to the broadcast company responsible for the aforementioned coverage:<br />Peter Jennings, it's getting harder to stay loyal to ABC! My love for George Stephanopoulus is great, but so is my loathing for Jake Tapper.<br /><br /><br />I think it's telling when my favorite, most honest news coverage comes from The Daily Show: I loved Jon Stewart biting his knuckle last night while talking about the recent Epic Supreme Court decision: "A nation in which corporations spend money to control political elections.......what would THAT <i>be</i> like?!"mystickeeperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17144983932304505633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115975.post-84739064241812308682010-01-25T18:18:00.000-06:002010-01-25T18:19:36.470-06:00Buffy rewatch: Seasons 5 and 6I haven't been posting much about my Buffy re-watch lately because I feel like in the later seasons, I blogged enough that I've already said what I needed to say about things.<br /><br />Currently, my ranking of the seasons (best to least best) is: 5, 3, 2, 6, 4, 1.<br /><br />Apparently I like seasonally-structured story arcs!<br /><br /><br /><br />I've been very caught up with Buffy in general, lately. I read a good spoiler for the Season 8 comics, and have thus been reading them and catching up on Angel: After the Fall (I'll probably have at least a minor post on that in the future). Have also been reading recently-acquired academic essay books on Buffy, which have been awesome-sauce.<br /><br />Does this mean I like Buffy more than The West Wing?? I don't know! I need to re-watch that shit.<br /><br />In the meantime, A note with minor character-arc spoilers for Seasons 5-7:<br /><br /><span style="color: #333333;background-color: #333333"><br />I'm learning that I really like Dawn as a character. I don't think most people find her irritating in Seasons 5 or 7, but mostly in 6. But in my re-watch, I'm learning that, unlike Xander, I don't find her irritating at all. In fact, it isn't Dawn who suddenly matures in Season 7 - it's everyone around her, especially Buffy. It's the way they treat her that make her scenes more enjoyable. Dawn's just getting the treatment she's wanted all along. Also her lines, frequently make me actually laugh out loud ("I gave birth to a pterodactyl.")<br /><br />Maybe I sympathize because it took until college for my parents to respect me, in addition to loving me - like as soon as I moved out, I magically became a different person or something.<br /><br />I think Xander only annoyed me in the re-watch in Seasons 1-3. He is much more tolerable now.<br /><br />Still like Spike. Still love Buffy the most (does this make me narcissistic and/or self-centered??)</span>mystickeeperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17144983932304505633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115975.post-5211949223284686672010-01-24T16:11:00.001-06:002010-01-24T16:13:28.441-06:00Caprica: PilotI watched the pilot of SyFy's new show Caprica, which is a prequel taking place 58 years before the events of Battlestar Galactica. I'm not really into posting plot synopses, because I feel like that is what Wikipedia is for.<br /><br />Even though I broke up with Battlestar Galactica (I still haven't seen the end of it, but I will some day), the involvement of Jane Espenson [Buffy writer/executive co-producer/executive story editor] as one of the producers was enough to lure me in.<br /><br />I pretty much dislike all of the characters except for Lacy, for whom I have a lot of hope. Yosef/Joseph Adama might turn out to be cool, but I'm thus far undecided. I hope that William Adam's grandmother stays in the picture, and doesn't just conveniently fade out.<br /><br />The plot itself was not terribly interesting.<br /><br /><span style="color: #333333;background-color: #333333"><br />I hate Zoe, and I think that she and her father almost ruined the pilot for me. She is such an arrogant, spoiled brat. I hate her father, too. Waiting to see about her mother. And as for Mr. Graystone.....At least Gaius Baltar was interesting to watch.<br /><br />Graystone is an awkward last name to say. "Gray" or "Stone" would have been fine. Preferably "Stone," as "Grey" is all, 'Are they good or evil?! We don't know! We'll be sure to make their surname reflect their ambiguous nature!'<br /><br />Zoe and her mom argue. Her mother berates her Zoe because Zoe's a spoiled brat, and tells her she doesn't know what it's like to work for what she has. Zoe says something like, "I guess I'll have to learn how to marry into money like you did." A few scenes later, it's revealed that her mother is a successful surgeon. WTF.<br /><br />I find it interesting that a lot of the promotional advertisements for Caprica show Zoe (naked, of course, this is BSG we're talking about) munching a large bite out of an apple, a clear reference to Eve (especially since they say the series takes place "58 years before the Fall"). I'm not really sure it's fair to implicate Zoe, though. She clearly makes a virtual avatar of herself, but it is her father - not Zoe - who brings the avatar into the real world and downloads it into a robotic body. It's her father who won't leave it alone, even after she's dead.<br /></span><br /><br />My hope is that Ron Moore's involvement will be minimal, that Espenson can help pull out the possibilities for strong storytelling.<br /><br />In the end, this mini-series pilot doesn't really hold a candle to the one that opened Battlestar Galactica. Still, I'm going to keep watching, mostly for Lacy, and also hoping that things get better.mystickeeperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17144983932304505633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115975.post-20485468864658712242010-01-21T19:27:00.000-06:002010-01-21T19:41:13.394-06:00Trufax1) I spend a lot more time planning the checking out of books/comics than I do planning my finances. I mean, I always pay my shit on time, but sometimes it gets down to the wire, you know? But with library books, my little basket is always well-stocked.<br /><br />2) In my wallet, I carry lists of:<br />--Which Animorphs books I need to complete my collection<br />--Which Angel: After the Fall comics I need (my Buffy Season 8 collection is current, thanks very much)<br />--Which anime episodes I'm missing in various collections<br />--Which volumes of manga I need in no less than 19 different series.<br /><br />3) I think that I value a sense of humor in a person much, much more than anything else, especially the weird sense of entitlement that tends to accompany people who happen to be intelligent.mystickeeperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17144983932304505633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115975.post-15757736634915242802010-01-09T14:08:00.001-06:002010-01-09T14:08:44.418-06:00Harry Reid: still a fucker<a href="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/01/09/reid-apology-for-negro-dialect-comment">But he's "really sorry" about being racist!</a><br /><br /><blockquote>Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid apologized Saturday following reports he had privately described then-candidate Barack Obama during the presidential campaign as a black candidate who could be successful thanks in part to his “light-skinned” appearance and speaking patterns "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one."</blockquote>mystickeeperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17144983932304505633noreply@blogger.com0