#And the fun is the most important thing. Academia is fun. This pop-culture thing is fun. Let's combine them without making it one or the

[breitzbachbea]

I love it actually when people combine a primarily non-related popculture thing to an academic interest of theirs. what if we view this story through a lense of Roman Republican Historiography symbolism. What if we take this simple premise and dig deeper into it with real biology about the certain types of flowers. It's grand.

[missnight0wl]

This game is a walking headache, so I'll ask about fashion! Could you tell/show a bit of Helena and Jacob's style? 💕

Alright, but seriously, this is a really cool question! And thank you for asking! 💖

However, I can’t into fashion, like at all... and so I’m not sure if what I came up with is even cohesive and whatnot. Nonetheless, here it is! Finally! And it’s a bit longish...

In general, both Helena and Jacob are familiar with Muggle fashion. Their father is a Muggle, so their connection to the Muggle world is pretty strong. Of course, it absolutely doesn’t mean they’re fashionable. Oh no, no, no… Still, they are kind of influenced by what they see on the telly or simply in stores while they’re back at home. Therefore, it’s not obscure for them either. Now, with that in mind, let’s discuss some details.

Helena

Helena’s style is kind of all over the place, really. There’s a lot of typical 80s fashion: mostly jeans with colourful T-shirts or jumpers. She also likes to wear Jacob’s old flannel shirts. “Old” means that they’re smaller than you’d think looking at Jacob now, but… they’re still quite too big for Helena. It takes a while before she decides to make them more fitting (by using Reducio, for example).

By the end of the fourth year, Helena’s style becomes a bit more “rocker”. It's actually inspired by the game itself because around this time, we got that galaxy hair and the black leather coat (it was shortly before the Weird Sisters TLSQ was originally released). And honestly, I liked it so much that I decided to keep it canon. I didn’t find the exact coat I imagine, but the story is basically that Helena found it in a second-hand one day, and pretty much everyone hates it – but Helena loves it.

Helena’s rocker phase lasts for some part of the fifth year, and then, it turns sort of into a mix of both her 80s and rocker styles.

I also want Helena to have some fun bag. I didn’t figure out the exact design yet, but I included what gives me more or less the right vibes. I’m thinking that perhaps it was even her mum’s bag previously, and Helena was quite surprised when she found it, because currently, Alice has a rather proper style.

Helena doesn’t wear a lot of accessories otherwise. It’s usually just her watch (a present from her grandparents) and a piercing in the upper part of her ear she got from Tonks.

After Hogwarts, her style becomes more… mature? I guess you could qualify it as Light Academia or maybe Dark Academia. (Please, keep in mind that I don’t really know what I’m talking about.) Either way, it starts shaping in the seventh year already, probably. She wears more dresses, and skirts, and whatnot. On top of that, she wears some subtle jewellery a little more often.

This trend continues into her adulthood. Of course, it also depends on the situation. She still likes to go back to her more casual style, and she has a pretty prominent grunge phase in the 90s. It’d probably be the preferred choice for most of the curse-breaking assignments, too: her Docs, jeans, and some leather jacket.

Jacob

Jacob’s style is quite simple. He just needs a T-shirt, his flannel and/or a jeans jacket, and he’s ready to go. Since he is a bit of a geek, he likes T-shirts referring the pop culture: either music bands or films. He prefers dark and neutral colours – and it stays true for the rest of his life.

The truth is that Jacob didn’t really have a chance to work on his style as a teenager. I mean, it was never a priority in his mind at Hogwarts, then he started working for R, and then… well, he got imprisoned. And after he gets out, he basically wears what he has – which means that his style doesn’t change much for quite some time. And that’s fine, actually, because he feels rather comfortable with it.

The one more important thing that changes during that period is that he wears the coat he got from Patricia a lot. Pretty much all the time when he’s outside. I plan to make a proper design of it one day, but so far, I was inspired by various search results like this, for example:

It doesn’t exactly fit his style, but he somehow makes it work.

He also keeps carrying his leather bag (a present from his parents). Similar to Helena, he doesn’t accessorise much otherwise.

After the nightmare of the Cursed Vaults is over, Jacob is being influenced by some people eventually, and so his style changes a little more. It becomes slightly more elegant, but nothing too extra. He doesn’t abandon his old style entirely, so I’d say it’s sort of hipstery as a result. He pays more attention to accessories as well, but it’s still nothing too extravagant.

Now, I don’t know if you can tell already that I’m trying really hard not to say that Jacob’s style is basically Hozier… but it kind of is. Like, when Patricia gave him the coat and said: “I thought it should be good for your height. Though it’s a bit loose. Then again, most things are on you…”, this is pretty much what I had in mind: click!

The funny thing is that Jacob is honestly not based on Hozier. I got super into Hozier fairly recently, because in 2020, I believe. I knew some of his songs even earlier, naturally, but this was when I fully discovered him. And Jacob was pretty fleshed out by then! But the more I watched Hozier, the more I was like: “Oh yeah, it’s Jacob vibes”.

What can I say? I guess I simply have a type – and Jacob was always a very self-indulgent character 😅

Also, if we speak about Hozier already, it obviously means… A MAN BUN!

And yes, this one is actually influenced by Hozier.

Finally, here’s a little bonus: I tried to put together some outfits in The Sims 4. They’re not perfect, of course, because TS4 has its limitation (and I didn’t download any custom content just for that), but I’m rather happy with the results anyway!

[belladonnasatenaeum]

'Dernière Danse': The Underlying Message

There's a French song you likely might have heard on TikTok, used more often than not in Gothic TikToks or even some Academia TikToks. One TikTok I recall seeing it in was a vampire aesthetic based TikTok, with someone lipsyncing to the chorus of the song. Sometimes, you find out later what the song is actually called, and my goodness, the quick 15 second videos on TikTok do not do any justice to the song. The song is called 'Dernière Danse' by the singer Indila, the title roughly translating to 'Last/Final Dance'.

When you first listen to the song, you would naturally think of balls within a dark manor, candles flickering and lighting the space within its warm amber glow. The unique element of orchestra and pop elements creates a song quite like nothing you've ever heard, and something I've yet to hear other musicians do. However, if you think this is a song of love, you would be sorely mistaken.

You see, Indila isn't just some pasty white woman. Sure, she is kinda pale, but that doesn't take away from her heritage. You see, she has ancestory from Algeria, India, Egypt and Cambodia - so much so that she calls herself "a child of the world." And it seems, 'Dernière Danse' does have a lot of emotion to it, but not of a romantic kind. It is one of deep, immense pain and sorrow. The song tells the story of a young immigrant woman who must endure racism throughout the day as she desperately wishes to escape the torment and comfort herself from the harsh judgement of the people around her.

There is some incredibly interesting wordplay in the lyrics for the song, one only those who speak French can spot and breakdown for those who can't. But once they have, it forever sticks out in your mind. If you want to understand what is being sung, then please follow this link here: https://www.frenchlyricstranslations.com/derniere-danse-lyrics-translation-indila/

The word play comes in the line "Ô ma douce souffrance" (Translation: "Oh my sweet suffering"). This is our indication of what is causing this young woman her pain and misery. It's right in front of you, and yet it takes a keen eye to spot it. This wordplay actually indicates that France itself is the cause of this woman's pain. And let's be real for a second, France is just as guilty as Britain, Spain, Germany and The Netherlands when it comes to colonialism, and thus the rampant spread of racism and all other horrific things that come with colonial rule. And after the terrorist attacks in 2015, 2 years after the release of "Dernière Danse", racism has been sadly seeding it's way into French way of life such as with France's ban on face coverings which could impact specific cultures and religions such as Muslims, which, more often than not, many immigrants making their way to France are. While the bill does try to bring about good - by essentially making it illegal to FORCE someone to wear a face covering veil if they don't want to (especially in the case of children, where I personally believe that religion should be kept away from children until they are old enough to understand it), it could also become a slippery slope to what a certain President Orange-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named attempted in the US, and in some degrees succeeded.

Which leads me to think, while it is a brilliant song and many can relate to it with its feelings of sorrow, how do I feel about seeing white people - like myself - lipsyncing to it? I've not heard any complaints, and as I mentioned, the song is very relatable, and it can be applied to things outwith racism - grief, loss, bereavement, breakups, stress, mental illness and so on, but is it really a song for white people to cling to? The song contextually is about an immigrant, so how come most of the TikToks I've seen with this song are everyone but immigrants and BIPOC people? The ones I've seen get shared on YouTube in compilation videos usually are skinny, white women/AFAB people. When BIPOC creators have made TikToks with this song. In fact, here's a TikTok made by a Black creator also following a vampire theme: https://www.tiktok.com/@tatendaluna/video/6939523674877758722?lang=en&is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1

And yet it seems, as I am scrolling through TikTok, the vast majority of the videos are by white people. Sure, white people emigrate, but we will never truly understand the pain of the immigrant who arrived in France to hatred and disgust, getting abused day in and day out. Now, there could be a logical explanation; maybe more white people just happen to know about the song? Given when I first heard it, I only had the melody to go off of, and Googling "da da da da da-da da da da" isn't going to get me anywhere. But even having that as a factor, there is a known history of TikTok promoting more white people's TikToks over the creations and hard work of BIPOC people.

So, do I think white people should lipsync to the song? I mean, if it's all in harmless fun, then sure. It's a song - we all love to sing and lipsync, it's not gonna harm anyone, even if you sing like a cat just got scared down a dark alleyway. However, I think it is also incredibly important that we understand and recognise the context of the song - it's not a song for vampire lovers to sing, it's not a song for witches to sing during a ritual, it's not even an Academia or aesthetic song; the song is a harsh reality for many immigrants fleeing war and persecution, and wherever they land they are immediately slammed with hatred.

'Dernière Danse' is one of my favourite songs to listen to. It is a beautiful blend of orchestra and pop that never get tiring, and for the people who do like vampires and witches and academia I can see why this song would stick out. For crying out loud, I'm one to talk - I'm a Goth Pagan from Scotland! And with this 'essay', I do not wish to shame people from creating TikToks with this song. On the contrary, actually. This song is brilliant and as an artist myself, the amount of ideas this song brings to me is wondrous. However, I think it is high time that people understand that 'Dernière Danse' is, and will forever be, a song for the immigrants. It is their song to express frustration and pain; and I implore you to look out for your immigrant neighbours. Recently, the city of Glasgow stopped the deportation of some Indian men, which when I caught wind of it made me incredibly proud to be a Scot. Sadly, though, the fight is far from done. It is our duty to fight for those seeking security and safety. If I recall correctly, that's exactly what Odin asks us to do in Stanzas 2-4 of the Havamal, correct? To be hospitable to those who come to our doorstep. Now, I may question Odin's logic from time to time, but on this I think his words are sound wisdom. If even the All-Father tells you to be hospitable to immigrants, then you best take his advice.

At the very least, I hope that either you got the chance to discover this song, or you found a new way to view the song, from my little 'essay'. As mentioned, I do not intend to shame anyone who likes the song. Indila is a brilliant artist and I heavily enjoy her works. I merely hope this highlights the underlying message that I think often gets overlooked. I hope you found some enjoyment in this. If I am incorrect about anything, please do feel free to correct me. I am always open to learning. Until next times, yours

~ Belladonna

[recentanimenews]

OPINION: The 20 Series EVERY Anime Fan Needs to Watch

Editor's Note: This is a republication of a feature by Danni Wilmoth that originally appeared on Crunchyroll News on 6/5/18.

  ---

  There’s a lot of anime out there. With each passing season, everyone’s queue only gets larger and larger. And as more and more shows pile up in your backlog, it can be hard to figure out which ones to go back and give a proper shot. Fortunately, I’ve got you covered. I personally combed through the backlogs and narrowed down twenty shows that absolutely every anime fan NEEDS to see (in no particular order).

Gurren Lagann

  With its over-the-top setpieces and gut-punching twists, Gurren Lagann has been blowing anime fans away for more than a decade. Its bombastic action and pulse-pounding attitude make it a surefire can’t-miss pillar of the mecha genre.

  Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure

  Breathe deep, strike a pose, and let the voice of love take you higher with this generation-spanning shonen action series. Vampires, serial killers, and perfect beings of evolution all stand in the way of the Joestar family in an adventure that can only be described as completely and utterly bizarre.

  Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun

  Romantic hijinks abound in this comedic sendup of the shojo genre. All your favorite archetypes are turned on their heads, and the result is as heart-throbbingly cute as it is gut-bustingly hilarious.

  SHIROBAKO

  You already love anime, so why not learn about the people who make it? This workplace comedy about the goings-on of a fledgeling anime studio tackles the real-life realities of what it means to make an anime.

  Sound! Euphonium

  A triumph both visually and emotionally, high school concert band has never been as captivating as it is in this low-key drama. Sound! Euphonium stands as testament to the power and depth animation can add to seemingly normal settings.

  Flowers of Evil

  This incredibly unique series offers a much more horrifying take on high school life than your average show. There are no otherworldly threats at play, but in Flowers of Evil, the alternative is much more terrifying.

  Ping Pong the Animation

  One of the most unique takes on sports anime from one of the most unique minds of anime, this series is much more than initially meets the eye. You won’t find anything else out there quite like Ping Pong the Animation.

  Kyousougiga

  And you’ve never seen a family quite like this! A non-stop barrage of out-of-this world ideas come together to form the crazy, jaw-dropping romp that is Kyousougiga.

  Lucky Star

  Lucky Star is a show all about the fun of simply hanging out with friends doing nothing at all. This show’s adorable cast of characters and their laid-back discussions about whatever comes to mind have sealed it as a champion of the slice-of-life genre. 

  Cowboy Bebop

  The jazzy, kung-fu neo-noir that became a timeless pop cultural icon, Cowboy Bebop hardly needs an introduction. Follow the planet-hopping adventures of the Bebop and its ragtag crew and find out for yourself why it’s become such an important piece of anime history.

  Hourou Musuko Wandering Son

  Empathy is a powerful trait, and Wandering Son has it in spades. This heartwarming coming-of-age drama will leave you a blubbering mess for all the right reasons.

  Wakakozake

  After a long day, sometimes you just wanna sit back, unwind, and enjoy some good food. That perfect experience is wrapped up into just a few relaxing minutes in this short anime. Pshuuu!

FLIP FLAPPERS

  From giant robots, to classroom horrors, to magical girl fights in a post-apocalyptic desert, FLIP FLAPPERS has it all. You may not know what to expect next, but you can always be sure it’ll be cool as heck.

  Flying Witch

  To a witch whose life consists of flying brooms, fabled figures, and mysterious spells, sometimes the most magical thing of all is the peace and quiet of countryside life. Sit back deep into your sofa and let the comfiness consume you with this incredibly charming slice of life.

  Fate/stay night

    The Fate franchise has already taken the world by storm, so why not find out where it all began? There's no better entry point to the series than this adaptation of the iconic, pulse-pounding battle royale.

  My Hero Academia

  If this series’s intense battles and huge cast of lovable characters aren’t enough to grab you, its inspiring heart will. My Hero Academia understands exactly what makes superheroes such fun and inspiring figures and perfectly captures that essence from episode to episode.

  Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju

  This period piece/love letter to a dying art form is a rare find as is, and Rakugo Shinju's top-tier direction puts it in a league of its own. This portrait of a dying artist is not only an educational glimpse into a rarely discussed piece of Japanese culture, but also a captivating, generation-spanning drama.

  Samurai Flamenco

  Everyone loves heroes, and Samurai Flamenco is all about them! This action-packed comedy about a self-made superhero shows just how much the things we love shape us for years to come.

  Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

  The beloved action series seen by anime fans all around the world, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is a must-see. Thrilling fights, heartbreaking loss, and bonds stronger than steel are only a few of the great things this iconic series has to offer.

  Space Dandy

    This universe-hopping comedy about a ragtag group of alien hunters shows that nothing is impossible when you get the right people together. Some of the most creative minds in and outside of anime came together for this series, and the end result is as remarkably hilarious as it is truly unforgettable.

By now you've probably found something new to watch, something that's been sitting in your queue for a good long while, or maybe you've found one of your favorites on this list. Whatever the case, now is as good a time as ever to begin watching or re-watching any of these fantastic shows. There's always something great out there you could be watching. Which one will you be tackling next?

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Danni Wilmoth is a Features and Social Videos writer for Crunchyroll, co-hosts the video game podcast Indiecent, and has her own massive queue to get started on. You can find more words from her on Twitter @NanamisEgg.

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[everydayanth]

Disaster-Movie Children -_-

Let’s talk about them! And why do they suck?

I was watching the new Netflix movie Extinction because the basic plot that I got from the trailer seemed interesting - in an attempt to balance strained family relationships, a hard-working man ignores his PTSD-nightmares about a trauma that hasn’t happened yet, but then it does. 

Kind of like Arrival, these alien-invasion/mixed-timeline disaster movies often utilize extremely controversial anthropological theories to base the “problem” part of the story on, so I tend to hate them, but find myself watching them to reanalyze my understanding of the debates being tossed around in academia.

Like Arrival’s use of linguistic determinism and application to the classic sci-fi invasion plot. (Currently available on Amazon Prime if you wanna talk about it with me ;P)

Anyway, no spoilers, but I got real fed up with the children in Extinction right quick. I’m at 40:02 and I hate them. They are just so conventionally unrealistic. And this frustration got me thinking about a bunch of things - does how we portray our children in disaster movies reflect what we think about them? Are there common themes that can be gathered from the child-representation from many movies? I don’t watch enough to feel confident in this, but, from the few I have seen: obnoxiously unable to cope, devoid of instinct or rationale, and unadaptably stupid all come to mind, along with lacking a personality beyond being the “innocence” the protagonist attempts to save or protect - the children are almost always McGuffins, ugh. 

These questions reminded me of a post-grad dissertation I edited for an archaeology friend of mine way back in 2012, which was about progressivist psychology and expectations of modern archaeologist that has created an astonishingly false narrative of the human past by ignoring or, more commonly, accidentally overlooking the archaeological contributions of women and children. That is to say that artifacts were regularly attributed to adult males without any evidence for or against such an assumption (buttons, teeth, socks, calendars, etc.) and she was using some applications of modern psychology in an attempt to address why that is (progressivism and lack of diversity/culture-training of archaeologists), as well as how to implement teaching tools and techniques to minimize these false assumptions. 

But here we are in 2018, still portraying children as lacking anything resembling a personhood, existing for the sole purpose of parental struggle. Is this a reflection of society or just a bad film? 

I love the Norwegian disaster film The Wave, it’s one of my favourites. The characters are generally all somewhat rounded with at least more than one dimension, the mother is struggling to survive as much as the father - he is no saviour here, he is more of the helper, an equal partner in the survival of the family unit, and so are the children! We see peripheral characters come together to help one another, and death to some of the side characters that do or don’t matter (and also I’m learning Norwegian and the dialogue was simple enough to follow, if it was in my native language, I doubt I’d find it as stimulating lol). 

Extinction, so far (still at the 40:00), has shown a few of these somewhat balancing traits - the father fights off the alien, but the mother saves him by killing it (not important, really), the mom protects one child while the fathers go off to find another - and we don’t see competition between them, but cooperation, which is a nice switch-up, but the kids are so freakin’ dumb that their mother is relegated to herding them constantly. The mothers in disaster movies have been taking more of a part in the survival of the family unit, but are quickly distracted by unreasonable children while the father saves the day, we also see this in the recent film No Escape, which has a whole slew of other problems I don’t have time to get into (side note: why is the dumb kid always a Lucy? Is this some inverted Narnia shit or what?).

The problem with the portrayal of dumb children in disaster movies (beyond the unfair reduction of a person to a plot device), is that it reduces the caretaker’s role to mitigating impending disaster. That caretaker, who is almost always the female or the mother in American films (yeah, they’re different, sometimes the mother is a horrible person who dies and our like, totally awesome white female protagonist adopts the neglected child, but there was diversity, so... that one’s Ocean’s Rising if you wanna have a look, also, I’m starting to think I have much more experience with disaster movies that I realized, I’d like to thank the rise of teen-dystopians in the early 00′s) is put in constant position of guarding the briefcase, just in this case, it’s a child. Perhaps I’m only watching the bad movies because I’m a chicken and the good ones freak me out, but South Korea has given us Train to Busan and The Flu with male caretakers, and they were both incredible!

In our American films, however, it seems the mom/female caretaker is rarely contributing to the overall survival of the group, she’s the emotional support to the male, sure, but she’s not coming up with solutions and working out the best plan, nah, that’s a man’s job, because she has to make up for her stupid kids’ mistakes or lack of cooperation. Whoever made this movie has never seen a child in crisis, they are so resilient and capable of adaption. Journey to the Center of the Earth may be an off-genre comparison, but one of my favourite things is that the kid, Sean, gets separated and totally gets himself closer to where he needs to be, the female lead, Hannah, has a moment with Brendan Fraser, but he needs to go after the kid, and she’s not going to die waiting for them, so they go opposite ways, and if they hadn’t, we are lead to assume they’d be dead, this is further emphasized in the film by their initial counting of who saved whom and end decision on it not mattering, which may be an allusion to relationships, or else to the male-saviour trope. In the end, it’s Sean who ultimately “saves” them after they’re out of mortal peril, with his wisely-collected bag of gemstones. He had agency in the film, and while it’s not the most correlated example and probably a bit of a fallacy, I just want to know why disaster-movie kids are so... bad. 

There are hundreds of theories that could be applied to Extinction’s portrayal of children in a pop-culture-disaster film (though it only has a 5.8/10 on IMDB and a 4/10 on Rotten Tomatoes, so can it even be considered as a representation?), from portrayal of gender roles (especially given the 50s/60s influence on fashion and society portrayed cinematically, like it was trying to be an updated 1984), to the insinuation of childhood, to the paternalism of the adults, or even the lack of identity/agency of the children. Were all the girls meant to be interchangeable? Why is it never a little boy? Are they not innocent enough to protect? *sigh*

But ultimately, my purpose in writing this post, beyond the fun of applying anthropology theories to films and finding that they often cherry-pick on the bad ones (lookin’ at you Mermaids by Animal Planet and your Water-Ape nonsense), was really to point out that when I got frustrated enough to google “why are movie kids so dumb,” Extinction was the first result, and I had a good laugh and then checked my anthropology at the door, because clearly not enough people thought this film a good enough representation of culture to interpret any further meaning from it. 

And that was my lesson for today - not everything is bad anthropology, sometimes it’s just bad art. 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️ 

Or is there no such thing as bad art...? 😱😲😧😬🙄

[sparda3g]

My Hero Academia Chapter 183 Review

Okay. I can definitely say this is the end of the arc; I’m 100% certain. Kohei decided to go through a montage or quick run of other events from the Festival. It’s probably for the best in my opinion due to how they don’t hold that much prestige to focus thoroughly. That being said the chapter did end on a nice note for an overall enjoyable arc.

If there’s one event that I would have like to stretch out more, it would be Class-B play, which is practically “I understood that reference” moment. I know not everyone is into pop-culture references, but I thought this was amusing for what it is. It would be a joy if it lasted more than a page, showcasing the ridiculous amount of storyboarding. Regardless, it was a funny moment.

One thing I remember from the anime is smartphone’s existence makes communication easier in today’s world for better or worse. It seems that Kohei has to keep Deku irresponsible when it comes to it. That way the plot or battle would ensue solo, though it can get redundant. Breaking the phone made sense in the Training Camp, but anything more would be head scratching.

I thought Deku would get some punishment for the action earlier, including how he should have rely on other heroes. The sad part is this moment would have been more effective if Deku purposely left others unnoticed to keep the Festival going. It would have been a good life lesson for him and the fans; instead, it only comes off a lesson learn that he’s already aware of. Remember, he only lie about the severe of his battle against Gentle, so it’s not like he purposely ignored the concept of heroes.

In any case, he is allowed to roam free and have fun with his friends, because Hound Dog is a good boy. Granted, he knocks him away, but you know, dogs can be rough. I’m going to save Eri’s part later, so in the meantime, let’s cover the other aspect of the Festival. Class-A gets praised for the performance. I would say  it’s only because they have main characters, but they were the opening act, so this scene is appropriate to exploit. It may be a bit too much, but it’s the main class.

I really don’t think it was needed to have committees from the Departments to be haters only to be convinced otherwise. It didn’t have much ground to begin with, so it didn’t hold much importance to the overall. All I remember is Bakugou saw those guys and never really reflect more until last chapter. Sure, it gave them a reason to go hard, but it can be said with any reason. Oh well. At least it was settled, so that’s that.

The Beauty Contest is shown and for what it is, it’s fine. I didn’t mind too much since this chapter is largely a relax one despite not really caring much of these events. Again, that Class-B play should have gone on a bit longer. At least we got to see what made Kenranzaki stand out; that’s probably understatement. She brings in some vehicle that could be in the next Twisted Metal game with her face on it. That would also include those eyelashes. It’s actually a funny visual with how it looks like it has fangs. It even pops out with a small body; how she won before is a mystery.

It’s predictable that Nejire is going to win this content, especially how this is her last year. I assume she lost last time because she tried to be flashy like Kenranzaki; dare I say there is no try. Instead, she goes out there and be herself, do what she does best, and her quirk is good for her quality to dance like a fairy. Sadly, the visual only shows her in the midair and that’s it. I guess Kohei is still exhausted from the last chapter in which we will get to that shortly. But really, it is him getting done quick as possible. Later, she is voted as the best, so good for her. It must be a bone thrown of Kohei because well, you know.

The scene enters a montage of everyone enjoying the Festival. I thought it was neat and probably for the best to get the narrative across of the students having fun. I would have like more of it, but when the series got mixed with the training and battle portion, one may get sacrificed in the importance level. I don’t recall at this moment on which series balanced it well, but I thought this could have done so. That said there are points that Kohei did good on.

The moments with Eri is charming and although you could argue that her development should have been taken care of last time, this was a fitting time as well. It’s nice of her to gain a human personality, let alone a child’s, so she can actually express her opinion with joy. Kohei did have two routes to choose and he chose the good side. It’s rewarding of its kind and I like it.

Deku did his job, so good for him on that regard. I like how he even got her an apple candy, so she can taste the sweetness. It’s a good end for her and although I don’t know when we will see her again, I wouldn’t mind. She obviously has an ability that can be helpful, so we will most likely see her again. It probably take time since controlling quirk is different than just gaining humanity. Other than that, I enjoyed this.

The other part that I like is the ending for Gentle and La Brava, mainly the former. I once had a feeling that Gentle being the main target for development, let alone sympathetic backstory, would mean something more. He too learned something from his confrontation and probably the only villain that has good morale than being completely evil. Because of his timing and lesson learned, the Gorilla cop, which is comical, let him know that he should be grateful that he is a rare one that actually got something out of it rather than laze around.

I like it because it shows how his character was the main focus in development term, since others kind of just get it on the spot without any action. Jirou’s development gets told about music and off she goes; somewhat undermined later on. Eri is a child, so it’s fine. Gentle gets the shine because he wasn’t a real villain, just a sympathetic guy. It’s no wonder he received it this way. Plus it helps the concept of the Festival bringing a change in a person for the better.

There’s a suggestive tone that maybe Gentle and La Brava will not go to jail or at least sentenced for a long time. Cops were impressed with La Brava’s hacking skill, but she only does it for her darling, Gentle. Maybe having both of them work for them is an ideal, like a service community. If so, that would make the development more reasonable and not just a one-time moment because jail and all. Granted, we will lose the villainy portrayal, but there are other points that can shine their characteristic. I guess we have to wait and see.

The visual is good though pretty simplistic this time around. It is better than sketches no doubt, though the amount of white background is plenty enough to make it feel a bit hollow. It’s kind of ironic if you ask me. The only time it was detailed was the beginning with the play. The character design is simpler like no need for shades or anything, though that’s fine with slice of life being the focus. I hope Kohei is healthy but I am probably overthinking.

This was a nice end chapter for the arc. It covered the last remaining pieces and it ended nicely for certain characters. While I don’t think it rejuvenated my attachment greatly like during the current run of the anime, this was meant to be relaxing. If the next arc is a serious one, I hope the joy of it will come alive like before. With this arc ended, it’s only matter of time to see what’s next.

[derpcakes]

Spookyfic Author’s Notes: Ghosts and Heroes and Metaphors

Via Yesterday’s Print

I said I’d do one of these every two chapters, didn’t I? Alas, Life Happened. The irregular schedule continues because this meta about The Ghost and its allegory got really long.

I said last time that the main catalysts for this fic were my brain melting post-semester and Night in the Woods. In the midst of all my NITW feelings, I considered the fact that Shirou would probably hate university. What do you even study, when your dream is To Be A Hero? I doubt the structure of academia would gel with him at all, much to his distress. Kid just wants to be functional, helpful, useful—nothing terrifies him more than the concept of him being useless, being a burden when he feels he owes the world so much. And isn’t a ghost story all about studying fear?

Another catalyst, which really helped to ground this fic when it was just a swirling cloud of “wouldn’t it be fun to write a murder mystery?” thoughts, was a paper I came across during the semester that melted my brain: Men, Movies and Monsters: Heroic Masculinity as a Crucible for Male Violence by Aaron Kipnis. I mentioned it in this post way back in April—as you can see it got into my head and got me thinking about a lot. It was an indispensable piece because it was one of the few I found in my wanderings through the subject of heroism and gender that said hey, listen, this idea that The Hero is always a manly man hurts men as much as it hurts women, though in ways we as a society don’t like to talk about. Kipnis suggests that chasing the ideal of The Hero—imposed by both modern action movies and ancient epic myths—has led generations of men to their deaths, whether in search of glory on a battlefield or as a result of self-harm.

If you can’t live up to the impossible ideal of The Hero, what do you fall back on? Well, you become a Monster of course. Kipnis observes that a lot of male-coded monsters, from vampires to the serial killers in thriller movies, have the same traits we celebrate in Heroes but warped and taken to their natural, nasty conclusion. This idea of The Hero and The Monster, two character types that stand in opposition to each other, being two sides of the same coin was fascinating and honestly kind of heartbreaking to me.

More realistically, though, if you can’t live up to the impossible ideal of The Hero, all you’re left with is a crippling feeling of inadequacy that society has in no way prepared men to deal with. A Hero is infallible, self-reliant, can take down entire armies singlehandedly, and certainly never falters or doubts himself—so in Kipnis’ own words, “Heroes can’t ask for help when they need it.” Someone who aspires to save the world surely has no need to save themselves.

And so we come to Shirou, a boy who Wants To Be A Hero and who has intense survivor’s guilt, trauma, and can’t stand to be a burden on anybody. I said the Most Shirou Line was that part where he says “I’m fine” and then faints, and I wasn’t kidding (there’s a part almost exactly like it in UBW, where he assures Saber he’s okay, and the next shot we see is him groaning and gritting his teeth in pain, hidden in his room)—this is a boy who bites down and buries everything for fear of being a nuisance, and defines his worth in the world by what he can do for other people. It’s a potent combination, and not a healthy one either—thus, the perfect aspect of his character to explore in a story, the most important thing to help him work through for writer and reader catharsis.

And so we come to The Ghost. Now, it is literally his ghost, but it’s also a neat bundle of metaphors for the emotional issues he refuses to acknowledge—like all problems, the ghost gets bigger when you push it away. The only way to “defeat” it is to face it head on, even if it’s scary, and accept that it’s part of you and try to find a way to move forward. He needs some help doing this, and that’s okay. I love that final scene in Part 6 a lot—after five long chapters refusing to cry, he finally lets it all out, lets himself feel those pesky and frightening negative feelings, lets himself say “it’s not okay”. And the people he love just hold and support him and accept him as he is.

Mental health is used as a horror device pretty often, and pretty often it gets exploitative—think every ghost story set in an “insane asylum” ever. I guess I wanted to look at that a little bit (though I’m no expert on the genre beyond what analysis I’ve read of these tropes and what bits and bobs I’ve picked up from pop culture osmosis). The horror element of this ghost story is the physical manifestation of Shirou’s trauma, which is intended to be acknowledgment that it’s natural to be scared of such things. Trauma is scary! Dealing with your issues is scary! The prospect of other people seeing how messy your head is is scary (Shirou is, after all, especially horrified that the ghost would try to hurt Sakura—i.e. he’s afraid that his own issues will hurt Sakura if she learns about them)! But in the end, I hope, the message is yes, these fears are justified, but you can’t keep avoiding these problems. Self-care is not hitting the physical manifestation of your PTSD repeatedly with a baseball bat in a Denny’s parking lot. Self-care is opening up to people you trust, gathering their support, and facing your problems so you can try to start to heal.

Just to show that you don’t have to get entangled in the supernatural to achieve this, we also have the parallel story of problem-facing and recovery with Sakura. The most blessed beautiful irony about these two is that they care so much for each other but routinely dismiss their own needs. I’m very fond of that “Even if you’ll never understand why, I love you” line because I feel like it sums up the way they look at each other: they see the imperfections, the broken bits, the self-esteem issues, and they accept them and try to help each other become better. Along the way, they learn to care for themselves little by little too (as we see in Sakura’s “can I say something selfish?” dialogue). It’s a relationship with mutual support and healing at its core, which is why it’s the emotional centre of this story.

It is, of course, a big ol’ canon parallel that Sakura sees Shirou’s ghost and says “well, that sure is a shadow monster messing up the town. But I still love you. Now let’s go fix this so we can go home and have a hot meal and try to get better.” Shirou needs a superhero of his own sometimes, too.

In the end, The Hero and The Monster are proved to be one and the same… but also, Shirou doesn’t have to be A Hero or A Monster and is allowed to just be Shirou, a sad and anxious young guy who wants to do good. The epilogue is still yet to come and wrap up these last emotional threads, but as of that climactic scene, he’s made the first scary and brave steps to trying to get better. He’s standing in ruins, after all, but they’re ruins overgrown with new greenery and new life.  

[imm-blog1]

4/12/11 NOTES FROM GM HIP-HOP SURVEY SESSION 3 of 3

4/12/11 NOTES FROM GM HIP-HOP SURVEY SESSION 3 of 3 (also included at bottom is session 1) [ To see the rest of this, if it gets cut off, go to hearingtheword2.posterous.com/41211-notes-from-hip-hop-su… ] HIP-hop session #3 of 3 (B. Santelli leading) : [he’s reviewing some books as I arrive] …Tricia rose, hop hop wars..I took her place at rutgers….another..written colloquial….book..new history of.."big payback"…also nelson George..fellow journalist..jersey,,opinionated, but well-written.I was a rollng stone writer.. ‘500 greatest albums"..not many hip hop..very white..mtv did a series on greatest hop hop..wanted to go over greatest emcees. 10) ll cool j, 9 eminem, 8) ice cube 7) big daddy kane 6) krx-1 5) nas 4) rakim (william griffin, aka ra) 3) notorious b.I.g, aka biggie, 2) tupac 1) jayzee [conversation]..rock roll hall fame..they put us rolling stone writers..together..sppsd to pick 500..sppsd to be fun, but..by wed we were @ eachothers throats..who’s missing? No females. Lauren hill? ..[what about lil wayne?] …& the albums? 10) pub enemy, nation of millions 9) tupac 8) 7) nwa 6)jayzee 5)run dmc raising hell 4) biggie, ready to die, 3). ..2)? 1)paid in full (eric b. & rakim [spare, stripped down..rhyming, flawless,..his fav, raising hell ..6 of 10 from gangsta rap era ..[has this guy abandoned anglos..has he caved? Or is he speaking to his primary audience ? Only a handful of whites in the room of maybe 50]…hip hop orig was new york centric..like 50’s in memphis & orleans..but now things changing..begin. here in L.A. large af am pop in late 80’s..lot of kids rapping , deejaying..public enemy (long island), ..why so amazing..first class..am bl roots of hip hop ..we mentioned gil scott herron..changing..g.master flash.. some dies..pub enemy brings it back.chuck d. Knows his …pub enemy makes a political mess. ..from a white perspective..bob dylan…Fear of a black planet..nation of millions..huge..brought over to white…white intells..get more intrsted..then nwa and tupac..gangsta rap..west coast..using what pub enemy doing back east..more outrageous & angry than pub enemy.. …What we hear..chuck D….at rock of fame..had him come & lecture ..he said it was a refl of blues..language previously couched..in blues..now able to scream it..listen to tupac, … in harlem..best pedigree..black panther..he was deep into it..early life a mess..what tupac … shakur.this man had a..he was a 5 tool player….genuine anger..he was intelligent..bitter but intelligent..most important..listen to cadence of words..anyone can rhyme..but cadence…..Eminem..too many words..don’t apprec his stuff as much..tupac best ever..right in middle..perfect storm..east west..1990’s..mid 90’s..bitter rivalry east v west ..ironic …and tupac …then —– killed..neither murder solved..//Why a feud ? East jealous? Tupac..death row l.a..; bad boy east..so 2 diff schools forming.. Then puff daddy..sean combs (aka diddy, p diddy, puff daddy, p daddy) .west… tupac….2 "m words" .1) MEDIA..hip hop mags..source..vibe..’88 mtv raps ..2) MONEY ..early 90’s..can make money..on radio…mtv..also white element..beastie boys..middle class white kids in suburbs.. …Bold personalities..incendiary..tupac murdered..later biggie (notorious B.I.G, Real name Christopher Wallace, aka biggie smalls) killed..media gets hold of it ..society says its out of control….when Biggie dies..album..double platinum.. Also the tree..acid jazz, socially conscious hip hop, funk jazz, trip hop, some from england ..england didn’t embrace hip hop at first ….Arrested development..? Hip hop? Some music lost relevancy..blues, big band ..glenn miller..ragtime..some become "historical"..mid-90’s..hip hop not dying, but branching out..moody blues..I hated it…but difference between hating versus respecting [I actually liked moody blues & saw them @ hollywood bowl]…Who else ? Outcasts, wootang, lords of underground, onyx,.[several others shouted out] .hip hop 90’s taking over…Now beyond nyc & LA..master P…new orleans..tree exploding..geographic connections..diff sound..good businessman..he also played b-ball..also atlanta…in south, but northern sensib.,,,also houston..health..multi-billion $ business..mainstreaming of hip hop,,,gangsta rap dies out…invention, re-invention…..also, rise of detroit..eminem..major figure…brings detroit to forefront..making detroit hip..and then kid rock ..real..metal..fringe genres..coming together w/ hop hop..limp biscit, korn,…Today? Hip hop becoming irrelevant? ..making lots of money..stop changing..less experimentation..less bold, ..fashion from hip hop …u know u become mainstream when grammy recognizes u..heresy for me to say but….Recording academy..being in biz..producer, writer, ….[Plays vid eminem & elton jon..given hip hop’s homophobic culture..this was seminal] [ was it a seminal moment as the beginning of the END of hip-hop, as it lost its verve?] ..2006 nas comes out saying hip hop dead..didn’t want to stay stuck in rut…had nas here….rock hall of fame brings in hip hop, grammy awards..world knows hip hop …After we did whitehouse thing..state dept..calls..cultural diplomacy..obama revived it.. they asked me to organize hop hop to go to muslim countries.[hip hop to muslim countries as a form of diplomacy ?! Please explain how that would appease muslims or appeal to muslims who already think of America as godless] .as did armstrong & ellington 50 yrs ago …I couldn’t run it….Where is hop hop now ? Ring tone..commercialize..sound same..its on life support now..homogenized..mentions nicky menaj opening for britney spears in upcoming tour..360 degrees ..piracy..economy ….Country music still buys cd’s ..loyalty..not download..not w/ hip hop….need audience with means to support act ..when economy of art form goes away..trouble ..younger gen doesn’t feel the concept of spportin.."////BELOW are the NOTES from SESSION 1 of 3 (I missed session 2 ) ——————————–

3/29/11 NOTES FROM HIP-HOP SURVEY COURSE (1 of 3) taught by Bob @ GM: "…learn more abt music forums….like hip hop..whats a middle age white guy teaching hip hop..I’m a musical historian…af am music my specialty..not hip hop.this class not like the elvis class.this is a survey course..3 periods as an overview..will have other courses..hip hop america’s pop music now last quarter century..its a survey class..people who live this culture..if u want to add, embellish..can never learn too much..my expertise. Af am music..also reggae..after hip hop comes bob marley exhibit..a hip hop museum ready to launch..in bronx..I’m on board…maybe russel simmons on board..anybody see him here a few weeks ago….others coming chris blackwell, ..pbs special..kate..@ whitehouse..kate did this exhibit..don’t need to agree..its interpretive..subjectivity..otherwise just read in book ..used to teach @ rutgers..this is not academia..try to do this in colloquial way..not preach to u..meant to be entertaining..some here b/c I asked u to come..I didn’t come quickly to hip hop..even tho I was there in the early 70’s…think of 20th century..america’s century..come to age as superpower..after fall of comm ..also musically, no country can touch what we have given to the world musically in 20th century..separate bl & wh culture..look @ af am contribs..as to amt..# of new forms..brilliant artists..overall impact.entire world..not all clear cut..jazz black music form..but dig down.others contrib too ..but in general..louis armstrong et al..blues blues jazz, soul, funk, r & b, disco, hip hop, bee bop swing, cool, fusion,,of all these forms..all given due..endorsed exported..except hip hop until now…revol music..challenges..polit..most recent..hasn’t gotten its due.celeb gospel blues…maybe too controversial to get credit..still…what made it so..give & take of african cult..also anglo irish..also racism..extra tension..in nutshell..bl & wh celbr..where r we now..first time..af ams bouncing …haven’t had major music..lately..last was grunge..late 80’s, 90’s..music slowed down ?ess imp..25% decrease in concert att…here to ..soul music..motown..also…and atlantic..golden age..also rock roll..then 1970’s..chronolog..musically ’63 to ’73..that’s the 60’s music era..hip hop..not 60’s ..bronx..how go from soul ..then..to funk…I don’t know re hip hop in ’73 ..have to wait 6 years..before recorded artifact..rappers delight ..sugar hill gang..why in this ? .69 71 motown losing lustre..stevie wonder..migrated..motown leaves detroit comes here..but not like it used to be..sly & family stone..loses sensib as..couple key bands & artists..2 huge..gil scott herron ..last poets..black..music…."when revol comes.."..gangsta rap..not on radio..last poets..many blacks didn’t even know of this music..marvin gaye..more known..cnsdrd greatest of all times..70-73 ..clip.."far too many of u dying.."…[red hat]..also "sounds of philadelphia"..the oj’s..signed in cleve but rcrded in phillie.."love train" ….revolution vs love..this is backdrop to bronx ..no q..rock surfaces memphis ..why hip hop fr bronx..music to be created & sustained..not just artist but audience..in bronx..it was like beirut or baghdad..suffered incredibly..ny in bad condition..bronx pushed aside..gangs ..drugs..south bronx..maybe mother cabrini projrcts chicago..maybe south l.a….become so isolated..create in a vacum w/o outside interference or ack..seattle..grunge..a seam..pearl jam, nirvana..already formed b/f world knew..a lot carribeans settled nyc ..jamaicans..brooklyn..1962 jamaica indep..many got out..s. bronx…late 60’s..kid campbell..clive ..from jamaica..brings..reggae..sound systems..everything outdoors ..disc jockey….toast over dub plates..jamaicans come to usa with this..clive campbell..longs for jamaica..wonders what he’s doing in bronx..sound system..he didn’t know he was creating history…invit..come to dj cool hercs party set up jamaica style..earliest hip hop…rap..part of af am cult..verbal battles..here at herks party..af ams and jamaicans together..’73..sudden concept of spinning records..unique way, art form..74 75..another frm..also hispanic & gay..disco..gets no respect…but it was important..w/o disco no m. Jackson, no usher..in manhattan..records..disc spun..if white grate dead, almond bros,..underground movement, black hispanic gay..dance again..mixing..never leave dance floor..77 sat night fever..mst imp of all time..j. travolta..exported disco cult..drugs..all this happ.. bee gees..trammpps…burn baby burn..disco inferno..red & white outfits..early hip hop would borrow from.some day will do disco shoe exhibit….or rush..sex pistols.springsteen..u had to select what u would embrace….people dressed their music..

Then bob marley..new sensib..lively up yourself..all this happening..rappers delight..sugarhill gang….soul train on tv..imp for black..this was seminal..just happened to catch it on camera..not the best

Three main entities..curtis blow..then up to run dmc ..hip hop is developing a consc style.that will explode…grand wizard theatre..scratching..then grand master flash. Popularized it..then .barbada (?)..flash a seminal giant..

Dj & mc..back then dj..was the guy..age of mc in future..dancing why they’re spinning records..bee boy bee girl..bboy break dancing..some of best break dancers were latino ..

Tagging..grafitti..becomes part..cey dams..tagging did a piece here ..been dodging cops for 3 decades…there’s a f you mentality in bronx..didn’t want to be part of discos..taggers..socs & psys studied.. I was in zurich..most expensive place in world..cab..graffitti wall..

[He periodically makes some of his prejudices obvious..re "conservative zurich"..wouldn’t apprec it in des moines iowa.."no offense to des moines"..let’s "rock n roll"..(it was a term for sexual icourse)..he’s talking to white christians….jazz also fr black culture ..means sex icourse.."

Posted by VANDERKOK on 2011-04-14 00:16:15

Tagged: , curtis blow , run dmc , grand master flash , grand wizard theatre , tagging , graffiti , nas , black planet , ll cool j , eminem , big daddy kane , mtv , krx-1 , public enemy , rakim , gangsta rap , diddy , puff daddy , p diddy , sean combs , arrested development , outcasts , wootang , nwa , shakur , tupac , ice cube , beastie boys , lords of underground , jayzee , lil wayne , santelli , grammy moody blues , bronx , russel simmons , sugarhill gang , last poets , marvin gaye , ojays , clive campbell , dj cool herc , saturday night fever , travolta , disco , bee gees , trampps , disco inferno , burn baby burn

The post 4/12/11 NOTES FROM GM HIP-HOP SURVEY SESSION 3 of 3 appeared first on Good Info.

[fatphobiabusters]

Mod Ade can you please share your experiences of being fat and intersex? Any challenges with family, healthcare, academia, peers, work etc...

If you loves are okay with me making long posts, absolutely. I don’t know if you already saw my previous answer, but I touched on the topic a bit here: http://fatphobiabusters.tumblr.com/post/162494359738/question-for-mod-ade-you-said-you-are-intersex It’s more about my experience in general being intersex, so I’ll try and correlate also being fat in this answer.

**TRIGGER WARNINGS- child abuse, fatphobia, fat shaming, trauma, menstruation, self-harm, homophobia, intersex erasure

I’ll start with family since it’s the biggest topic for me. I’ll try and keep this short as possible because I could write an entire novel here, but I’ll focus on the major points. Having my intersex birth covered up and force raised as cisgender female was already hell and has left me with a lot of emotional damage. Being fat on top of it only added to the mess. My father did not want another child, but my mom did (he had children with another woman, so I have a half brother and sister both 15 years older than me who he thought were perfect since they’re both cisgender and skinny). Much less did he want one that was so “imperfect”, the complete opposite of my older siblings. I come from a white, southern, Christian family, so you can fill in the gaps there of the standards that were expected of me if you know anything about the disturbing culture of the deep south. Long story short, I had one parent who told me I was everything, and one parent who made me believe I was nothing. My father would harass and shame me to the point that I was too afraid to eat much or anything in front of him. Sometimes he would threaten to do things to my mother and even physically abuse her if I didn’t do what he wanted. My mother felt sorry for me, but wouldn’t go against him because of it, and would feed me extra portions in secret. Basically, it messed my metabolism all to shit and I could never keep my weight down, no matter how much I was made to exercise, starved, or put on diets. Growing up I was constantly put on crash diet after crash dietbecause my father was never satisfied with my weight (or my appearance in general). I was never good enough for him, even though I look just like him. To this day, even though he says he loves me and misses me over the phone, he still harps on me about my weight/appearance and refuses to accept me as his son. My mom loves and supports me though and if it wasn’t for her I would just completely cut ties with my entire blood family. Most of my immediate family refuses to also accept that I’m intersex, much less a man, and are disgusted about my weight. And they wonder why I never come home to visit anymore. It contributed a lot to my development of DID and later self harm.

Healthcare has been a nightmare. I’ve had a bit better experience since I’ve been in California, but even then it’s still not been the best. At age 9, I had my first puberty, and with it my first period. I don’t remember much (I have a lot of amnesia among my childhood memories from my DID that I'm currently working through in therapy) but I do remember crying and just feeling wrong. As I got older, it got worse and worse. But because I was labeled cisgender female on all my papers and my family constantly reinforced that I was, I was simply told to “suck it up” and that it was “normal”. I never had a regular cycle, it came and went whenever. Sometimes 2 weeks, sometimes 4-5 and every now and then up to 6 or more. Every time it registered 8-10 on those pain scale charts you see at the doctors, but I had to endure and ignore it because I only got reprimanded when I complained. I dealt with this all the way until nearly turning 30, which at that point I was bleeding black and had large clots that were full of decayed tissue more than blood. Last year I was finally able to get everything checked out and it turns out I had an abnormally formed uterus. Because of my second puberty, it was almost working against itself and practically a “dying” organ. I was able to be evaluated and approved for a hysterectomy, and I’ve never felt better. Back to weight though, in NC whenever I was taken to the doctor they always recommended to my mom anything to make me lose weight because I was “too obese” for a child (especially a “girl”), even though I had no problem carrying my weight. As I got older the same story. I’ve been seen about the sciatica on my right side, and my messed up back in general from carrying heavy art portfolios and working warehouse/builder jobs for many years. Every time my weight has been brought up, especially when I popped out my knee cap due to twisting the wrong way because someone parked like an asshole and I couldn’t get in. I’ve found some healthcare in the past year that has been more fat friendly, but every time I have to go somewhere new or for something new I get nervous that they’re just solely going to make it about my weight and not address the actual problem, or give me a proper diagnosis because they’re too hung up on my size. Perfect health record as far as blood pressure, diseases, tests, etc. go, but let’s ignore all that and point out I’m fat and “do something about it.”

Academic wise was no better. Children can be cruel, especially to those seen as abnormal or different than them. Sex Ed was a joke and I didn’t get a proper lesson on it till college, where I leaned that it was okay not to “fit the box” and that gender and sexuality were not black and white. Until then I felt very out of place and not belonging to either gender because neither of them really fit what all I was experiencing. Because I was forced to identify as cisgender female, being fat and “unattractive” got me a lot of unwanted attention. My size kept me out of most physical fights though, as I’ve always been big at a young age. And when I hit my second puberty, started putting on even more muscle mass along with the fat. I was constantly teased and ousted though for being so “weird” looking. My fellow classmates absolutely could not accept the fact that I didn’t look like (according to backward standards) one specific gender or the other. It just got worse as I got older and my body physically started shifting more masculine. I was seen as a freak, showered in my clothes when we had to take group showers for band trips or gym class (which eventually caused such a ruckus they had to separate me entirely), and taunted constantly to see how far they could push a rise out of me. Cisgender boys were curious about, but also downright cruel to me. Cisgender girls were disgusted by and afraid of me. It eventually got to a point where everyone just wanted to know what was in my pants or what was wrong with me. Homophobic remarks started going hand in hand with insults about my weight and appearance. I became more and more numb and reclusive and my mental illness worsened. Still, I maintained good school work at least, spending a lot of time alone. Graduated Valedictorian in middle school, Salutatorian in high school, and completed a Bachelor’s degree at a 4 year liberal arts college.

Among my peers now, I feel that I’m seen most often in a positive light as I’ve changed a lot from my days spent back home and have built an entirely new life out here in California. I still sometimes get confusion upon meeting new people and at times have a negative experience in public with strangers who don’t know me regarding my weight and looks. But overall the experience is good and I am often well received when I come out as intersex or share parts of my expansive history. I believe mostly due to surrounding myself with safe and understanding people, while cutting out a lot of toxicity (as well as unlearning that same toxicity) from my life.

Work has been about the same as academics, except not quite as explicit since I was a young adult when I started working. At college and coming back home I had issues with gender, especially when I had to use the bathroom. I always had to go into the women’s, and it was never a pleasant experience. I was also made fun of a lot for being the youngest (and one of the biggest) on shift. When I went to work for Amazon in TN, it was the first time I consistently went to the men’s bathroom (I had done so out in public places where I knew no one knew me, but not frequently). When I got promoted and transferred out to Cali, I continued the tradition. I would be lying though if said that there weren’t times I was very nervous about going in there alone because I did get some rude remarks at times, but thankfully no one was willing to lose their job over starting a fight because they didn’t like me being in there. As an assistant manager, most of my associates liked me as a supervisor and were favorable in working with me because I was a fair and helpful, but no nonsense leader. I got misgendered often due to my androgynous appearance and the high turnover in the line of work, but I enforced the idea that I was very much a man and would not tolerate any phobic remarks otherwise. I did have some who did not like the idea of having a younger, fat, questionable gendered person running the department and managing them. But at the end of the day, what I said went so they either had to deal with it or go find their bigoted ass another job.

Thank you loves for reading up to this point if you have, and I’ll end on this. If no one else has ever told you or made you feel that way, you are beautiful and so important. You are valid, you are loved, you are somebody, and someone cares very much about you. Never let anyone take your self worth away and deny your existence.

Apologies again for the lengthy post. Thank you for the ask!

-Mod Ade

[pixelatedlenses]

Hi! I'm a recently accepted JET and I found your blog. I'm trying to research what it's like to be at school. I think people post a lot of the good stories online but have you had any bad days?

Hey there, anon. Good morning from Fukushima City! I saw this ask on my tablet when I woke up, and wanted to reply to it as quick as I could. Unfortunately, I got caught up in cleaning, and am returning to this in the afternoon but fear not: here is ar eply!

I’ll agree: I often talk, primarily, about my positive life experience here, and while I think that the realism of living daily life in a foreign country is important, it does mean that I don’t reveal my bad days often.

So I don’t forget to say this, most of my issues have not come from JTEs. I am very blessed and thankful to have a whole cadre of JTEs at my base and  visit schools that genuiely want me to hep introduce American English and American culture through my experiences in the classroom. The treat me as an equal, and help me understand what students need when I ask, and work with me, never against me. I really valuae that, and wish that everyone had my JTEs: they’re great people and have helped me evolve into a better ALT. I also hve two great supervisors: one last year and one this year, both of whom are wonderful, caring, and want the best for me. They’ve helped me to doctors, with documents, classes and so much more. Trust me when I say they’re both getting some nice Christmas gifts as the beginning of a lot of thanks.

Truly, I’ve got some great peple.

Now, let’s get into the meat of this.

Now, as you’ve pointed out, not every day is good.

Outright, thee worst days are days when I can’t connect: that happened mostly during Winter. Living in a valley basin, the nights are so long, the weather intense at times, and the school super cold. Coupled with a lack of a car and a dependence on public transportation, I often found myself sulking at my desk from January until late March. They weren’t necessarily because of students, but because of Winter depression. There’s a lot of little days like that, when my own personal emoions bleed out into work. I think that’s one of the risks of living abroad: you have to battle yourself.

The worst days at school though? Days when you think the students hate you. And you will, I think, at some point, because you will forget how it was to emote as a teenager when you’re mad or sad or hurt, when your own life is slipping into work, when no plans or lessons or activities are going how you planned, evne when you accounted for flexibility. you’ll forget that there is a why, just for an instant, and then you’ll snap back into yourself and think, “Let’s confront this and find out the why.”

It’s days when the kids are all battling weariness and just won’t listen, because that’s simultaneously the same day a teacher pops in to watch you.

It’s days when you feel like no one actually wants to learn, and that frustrates you, and you cry at your desk and feel so utterly embarrassed. You’ll go shopping to help, eat a really bad dinner of all junk, and cry yourself to sleep again, wondering if things are worth it, and if recontracting was ever a good idea. That’s the lowest you’ll hit.

I think it’s only right to admit that you will have low points. It’ll be culture shock, it’ll be homesickness, it’ll be very, very human.

Thankfully, those moments are overwhelmed by a feeling of being part of something bigger, but they do happen. In fact, one of my visit schools hosted primarily boys: out of the single class -it was a satellite campus- there were 28 boys out of the 34 students. And let me tell you, outside the day I played The Proclaimer’s 500 Miles, I often dredded visiting because I felt worthless save to a few students who really wanted to get o know me and practice language in a genuine way. 

In fact, here’s some of my great hits:

Students just flat out not listening, then getting mad when I wouldn’t help them with the assignment because I was instructed to let them work alone by the JTE

Boys making fun of other boys who liked English

Always the inappropriate comments, especially when they derailed things

Having only 30 minutes of class instead of 50 because the students wouldn’t calm down

Boys making very inappropriate comments about my body when I asked questions about the lesson; for a while, it made me stop wearing skirts or dresses until I got angry and seemed to settle things

Students making fun of my Japanese when I tried to give a goodbye speech to them. It resulted in my crying, very publicly, in front of them. Awkward laughter did ensue, which meant more tears.

The day I left and went back up the cliffside that led to the station to lead me home, I wondered hard if I’d ever done a good job. Certainly, I had friends with the staff, but I didn’t feel like I was every liked by any of the 34 students under my study. It was a horrible feeling.

Until this March.

I actually ended up visiting their original school on the coast of Fukushima. I was invited by the staff to celebrate ths chool closing, and decidedhey gave me a shikishi board, a card often present at graduation. It was half in English, half in Japanese with furigana because they remembered I have trouble with kanji since I’m still learning. The overwhelming message?

Thank you for being our teacher. We love you and miss you. We appreciate you.

(I definitely cried. Snot and all, cried my heart out, especially since some wrote that and making the shikishi board was completely the students idea.)

I realized that honestly, I wasn’t the issue, and that often, an ALT is not the reason for a student disliking English or school in general: they disiked school and English before you. You’re just a new object of dislike..Certainly ,that doesn’t excuse 3rd Year Students acting the way they do, but it gives -and gave- me a reason to help understnad that all-important why.

And the why is that you cna’t take a lot to heart. Students are human.

Bad days almost always have a silver lining, I’ve found: there’s something more happening in the picture. your students are students, but they are also -especially in SHS- becoming adults. Though the age of legal adulthood here is 20, that doens’t meant that becoming 18 doesn’t change things. They’ll be loosed into the world soon, into a world where they’re expected to meet certain expectations. 

And just like I was at 18, they won’t want to conform to social values completely. They’ll try to change the world, make it their own, work with others to realize happiness, and move ahead from public schooling into work or higher academia. 

But you know what they’ll remember as they grow up and try to change their world? 

You and the encounter that you had. 

They’ll maybe think of that first or second or third foreigner they personally met, and maybe, they’ll share culture a bit more as they do grow into adults. They’ll remember you and not necessarily the bad days, because memory is like that sometimes, and they’ll think of a shikishi board for you possibly, or of finding you online.

That’s beauty of being a student’s next step in life, to be honest.

so yeah it’s not always good, but good always exists in my job. I think that’s a very honest thing to admit. Certainly, I’l have bad days coming uo: days when my desk is a mess of marking, days when I have no breaks and my ankles aches, days when I don’t feel present. But I’ll think about the shikishi and the students and give it my best and take care of myself always.

I’d say, easily, my job is 95% happiness. I feel worthwhile, feel like I can see a path ahead of me, and feel valued. The 5% comes in with the things above, and when I’m tired: when I feel a bit overwhelmed by a desk covered with marking -too much that I might have taken on- and when I don’t have breaks because I decided to accept more. Know your limits to mitigate frustration later: it’s so key when you’re dealing with the added stress of always acclimating to another country. 

And hey: always remember that when ou need a moment, talking and communicating that is best. Most JTEs will instantly understand and even try to help you: they’re human too, and want your best. 

p.s.: don’t ever take work home. That keeps tons of bad days from happening!

Sorry for the long message, but I just got going. Thanks so much for your question. Please feel free to visit again!

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE: My Hero Academia is an Important Part of My Workout

  Izuku Midoriya’s journey in My Hero Academia is nothing short of quintessential battle action fun. Between impeccable animation, inspiring character development, and sweeping emotional soundtracks, My Hero Academia pumps me up with every episode and each new season. I’m always motivated by Deku’s ambitions and the growth of the prospective heroes of Class 1-A. It’s for exactly that reason I don’t watch My Hero Academia on time on Saturday and save it for my workout week when it starts on Monday, instead.

  When it comes to keeping up with any anime, it’s only natural for fans like us to want to stream the latest episodes as soon as we can to keep abreast of all the excitement. This is especially true when it comes to My Hero Academia, one of the most popular ongoing action anime in recent memory. Normally, the show is there to spice up a Saturday morning, much like the cartoon blocks of yesteryear. But the very nature of Izuku’s story, a young boy who trains hard and overcomes insurmountable odds while trying to achieve his dream, makes for a better pre-workout in my book than any energy drink.

    My workout regimen typically goes through Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On each day, I try to focus on different areas of my body that I want to keep fit. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I wring myself out with some stretching and yoga to recover and stay limber for the next day. Of course, the only thing more important than how I work out is the music and media I workout with. That includes a playlist filled with anime openings and video game soundtracks — and when My Hero Academia is airing, the show kicks off my mood like no other.

  It’s become something of a tradition whenever a new season pops up. I carve out a little time before jumping into a workout on Monday to check out the latest episode that aired over the weekend. And almost without fail, the episode’s action and emotional stakes provide more than enough hype to help kick off my workout week right. This new season is especially good at keeping things moving and getting my blood pumping.

    In the latest installments, Class 1-A of UA Academy is facing off against Class 1-B. Both classes of prospective heroes pit their Quirks against each other in an intense joint training session. As the matches between each class are underway, seeing how our favorite student heroes have grown with their Quirks as they face off against the odds is nothing short of uplifting. Even side characters like Tokoyami and Kaminari get their chance to shine as we get a glimpse of how much they’ve grown throughout the series while main protagonists like Deku have been off on their own adventures. Regardless of who wins or loses each match, I look forward to seeing how far 1-A has come on their way to becoming reputable heroes. That in itself gets my pulse-pounding even before I pick up my first weights on Monday. 

    Of course, I don’t necessarily lack proper anime workout material whenever My Hero Academia is between seasons. But you can be sure I still weave in the show in any way I can. From time to time, I find myself rewatching epic scenes from the anime like All Might’s United States of Smash or Deku’s fight against Overhaul. In my workout playlists, I certainly weave in some My Hero Academia songs like “You Say Run,” “Hero A,” or literally any of the opening themes. Even when I’m all caught up on the anime and have to wait a while for the next season, these epic and emotional songs make sure that My Hero Academia remains part of my workout routine all year long. 

  It’s hard not to be inspired by Izuku and the Class of 1-A after they’ve overcome so much on the way to fulfilling their respective dreams. As our heroes become stronger with every new season, I’m always driven to join them in several ways. That includes my regular workout regimen. If I’m not always caught up on the show when it updates each week, that’s most certainly on purpose. Otherwise, my workouts wouldn’t feel the same without My Hero Academia. 

  Do you watch My Hero Academia as soon as it's streaming or do you save it for later? What do you think of the new season? Comment below and let us know!

      Carlos (aka Callie) is a freelance features writer for Crunchyroll. Their favorite genres range from magical girls to over-the-top robot action, yet their favorite characters are always the obscure ones. Check out some of their pop culture pieces on Popdust and Looper as well as their satirical work on The Hard Times.

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: Carlos Cadorniga

[fandomsandfeminism]

Today I want to look at traditional depictions of witches in both the west and in Japan, how the magical girl genre developed out of the blending of the two, Sailor Moon being a witch, not in a crappy Madoka Magica “corruption of innocence way”, just like, she’s a witch and, by extension, how this makes Vegeta a wizard?

Closed Captioning coming soon.

Transcript below:

I have an idea: Sailor Moon is a Witch, and I think that makes Vegeta a wizard.

Today I want to look at traditional depictions of witches in both the west and in Japan, how the magical girl genre developed out of the blending of the two, Sailor Moon being a witch, not in a crappy Madoka Magica “corruption of innocence way”, just like, she’s a witch and, by extension, how this makes Vegeta a wizard?

Let’s begin with a simple definition: in the broadest terms a witch is a woman who has magical powers. English has a lot of words for magical women though: Sorceress, fairy godmother, enchantress. Witch has a certain connotation in our culture, and varies wildly when talking about other cultures.

So Let’s start with the familiar: depictions of witches in America and Europe. The witch is one of the standard halloween tropes of the west. A staple of movies and books, horror and fairy tales. While there are plenty of variations some of the most common features of witches in media are: Black cloak Pointy hat Crooked nose (a feature based on anti-semitic stereotypes, by the way) Rides a broomstick Brews potions Has a magic wand Uses incantations to cast spells Has a familiar, often a black cat Often have the ability to transform herself or manipulate other people’s perceptions Get their power from the devil

Traditional witches can be found everywhere from fairy tales to Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Within western media we see plenty of variation, subversions, and inversions of these tropes.

As pop culture and TV and movies became a larger and larger part of the western media landscape, our cultural portrayals of witches have also shifted. Wizard of Oz, for example, had both the very classic “wicked witch” as well as Glinda, a “good witch” who looks more like a traditional fairy godmother. This is even further deconstructed in the musical Wicked. Harry Potter keeps many of the traditional features- cloaks, animal pets, broomsticks, potions, incantations, but completely loses the “powers from the devil” angle. Shows like Bewitched and Sabrina the Teenage Witch play with making witches modern for their time and fun, largely subverting or abandoning the connotations of evil. -

So, how have witches and magic traditionally been depicted in Japan? In Japan, depictions of the supernatural are heavily drawn from Shinto tradition, a largely animistic religion (which attributes life and spiritual significance to the natural world) with a polytheistic pantheon. Supernatural phenomenon are largely seen as neutral forces in Japanese folklore, neither inherently good or evil, simply powerful. Some spirits may be dangerous, other benevolent, some fickle, some tricky. As a result, witches don’t have the heavy association with evil in Japan that witchcraft does in the west. However, there are some stories of witch-like ghosts or demon women leading travelers astray or battling samurai.

Most common though, witches in Japanese folklore are associated with familiars- foxes instead of cats. Foxes, along with tanuki, are considered to be magical creatures in shinto, and a woman who is able to bribe or befriend a fox into using their magic for them is a common staple. We also sometimes see the foxes themselves transform into beautiful women. (Which...I think happens in an episode of Pokemon actually? Like Brock has a thing for a Ninetails? I don’t know)

- And That brings us to the anime of the 1960s. Anime was still a young industry, and looking at anime from this time feels more like watching early Disney shorts than anything resembling modern anime. Disney, and western media as a whole, was a huge influence on the growing artform. And in the mid 1960s, two very important things happened to our story: Bewitched and Mary Poppins were both subbed into Japanese and released in Japan. They were very successful and would be heavily influential for years to come.

In 1966, Sally the Witch, considered to be the very first magical girl anime, was released by Toei animation. 3 years later in 1969, Himitsu no Akko-chan followed. Both of these really feel like the grandmothers of Sailor Moon. Sally comes from a magical kingdom. Akko-chan uses a compact mirror to transform. Other than the girls being magic, and Sally literally being called a witch, though, these early magical girls don’t quite feel...witchy.

Western media continued to influence Japan’s pop media culture though, and the magical girl genre continued to morph and change with time.

Looking at modern anime, the “western witch” trope is easy to spot. Flying Witch, Kiki’s Delivery Service, and Little Witch Academia all include many, though not all, of the elements of your traditional western witch. Most magical girl shows, with their bright costumes and superhero mentalities, seem pretty divorced from both traditional western and Japanese depictions of witchcraft. - But let’s look at Sailor Moon specifically. Sailor Moon is a manga, and then anime series, that ran all through the 90s. It’s about a normal 14 year old girl who finds out she’s actually a magic space princess and uses magic to fight evil and it’s great.

Here is what makes her a witch: She is a girl with magic She transforms using magic She has a magic wand She has a black cat familiar She shouts incantations when she is using a spell

That, friends, is witch  behavior. Usagi is this great blend of normal japanese teenager, space princess, and witch that really makes her memorable. No, there’s no black cloak or broomstick, but she’s arguably more witchy than, say, Sabrina the teenage witch. And that makes her a witch enough in my book.

Ok, so, I mentioned Vegeta at the beginning. If we are arguing that glowing, magic power attacks are witchcraft (and we are), and bright, colorful transformations are witchcraft (which they are), and shouting the name of a magic attack is an incantation for a spell (which it is)… Vegeta is a wizard, yall. A tiny, buff, space prince wizard. And I think that’s beautiful.

Thanks for listening to this video. I’ll see yall down in the comments. As always, if you’ve enjoyed listening to this queer millennial feminist with a BA in English, feel free to subscribe.

[liz-and-the-blue-bird]

2016 Year In Review

Where Kurt talks about literally everything.

Totally not late 👌.

(Recommended Sountrack. You may just want to put it on loop.)

(Alternate soundtrack. This is what I listened to for the majority of writing this.)

Top lists are a sort of fun exercise for me. They present a unique challenge: to sell an idea well but short enough so the full list is reasonable to read in an afternoon. They also allow me to flex my own creative muscles by talking about many topics and concepts all at once. One of my favorite parts about anime is writing and talking about it after all. So top lists let me do that all of that for a bunch of different shows all at once. Also they’re pretty interesting to compare to other critics who are much better than me and like, do this for a living. I find that when I compare top lists to each other, they tend to agree on what each individual show is doing, yet disagree on which is the best. But I digress.

Anyway, if you read last years’ post, thank you—the writing in it sucks compared to how I write now so I don’t blame you if you don’t read it. Secondly, I’m changing the format a bit: I’ll still do a top five list, but I also have a few anime that I’ll just call “notable.” To me they aren’t good enough to put in my top list, but have interesting ideas or execution that is worth talking about (also, some other people may believe that they are worth their top list, which is a discussion topic in and of itself). Then I’ll just list off the rest of the shows I watched this year and give them little cute bite-sized reviews. I’ll also give star ratings out of 5 to everything (2.5 is the “average show,” but I refuse to rate with a fraction). Now then, we have a lot to get through so let’s get cracking.

Top Five New Anime

As always, in airing order.

Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! (KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World!)

Jan 14, 2016 to Mar 17, 2016; 10 episodes; Studio DEEN (btw is it Deen or DEEN? I can’t seem to find any consensus on this.)  

So like, think SAO, but not edgy. KonoSuba takes the inherent absurdity of the SAO premise and puts that at the forefront. It opts out of the darker concepts that most of these “stuck in another world” anime tend to take in favor of hilarity. This is mostly done by creating a world that is legitimately wonderful as opposed to fake-difficult. Which means that the ridiculous problems the protagonists have are not at all because the world sucks, it’s because they suck. Each of them are jerks or weirdos in their own way and how they play with each other and the world is a riot. The show also does lots of clever things with its videogame world like: how luck stats affects quest rewards, how one develops their own skill repertoire, how dying works—hell, the first episode uses a literal pause as a method of conveying the protagonist’s thoughts. It feels like a DnD campaign that went off the rails in the best possible way. Even the show’s weakness, the occasional moments of terrible or rushed animation, are leveraged into comedic beats. It’s only 10 episodes (and a fantastic OVA) and a sequel is coming out soon. It’s definitely worth the watch.

★★★★☆

I didn’t expect to ever put a DEEN show on this list.

Mother’s Basement did an OP analysis along with Re:Zero here.

Boku No Hero Academia (My Hero Academia)

Apr 3, 2016 to Jun 26, 2016; 13 episodes; Bones

Many hero shows nowadays are trying to be a dark and intense, discussing themes of loss or the responsibilities of power. My Hero Academia handles hard concepts like that as well (especially in the most recent arc in the manga), but, first and foremost, it absolutely loves heroes. The original writer is a huge fan of old American comics and this show is a shonen recreation of the original Golden Age of superheroes. They explode onto the scene. They smile in the face of overwhelming odds. They always beat the villain and save the day. The best heroes are those that just want to be heroic and this show understands that. It’s world, like the author, loves heroes. The school loves heroes. The main character loves heroes. This incredibly positive view just emanates from the show and can be felt in every aspect. By far it’s biggest weakness is Bones seems a bit afraid to take risks: the fights a bit too true to the manga and the pace afraid of running out of material. But the character writing, the world building, the soundtrack are all top notch. A sequel is in the works and there’s also an OVA story that isn’t in the manga. An easy recommendation.

★★★★☆

One of my favorite critics, Nick Creamer, did a review on ANN. He also reads the manga and talks about it often on his blog, Wrong Every Time.

Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu (Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-)

Apr 4, 2016 to Sep 19, 2016; 25 episodes; White Fox

The opposite of KonoSuba—Re:Zero instead takes the SAO premise and makes it legitimately dark. It does this, not by making a main character whose defining character trait is “I’m cool,” but by crafting a world that is half high fantasy and half intangible, unceasing horror. The show leans on the uncertainty of being thrust into a new world and the agony of respawning again and again while talking to people who killed you as if they weren’t ticking time bombs. However, this story is not built to crush you. It carries heavy elements, not to present meaningless challenges to a blatantly overpowered protagonist (cough), but to push the protagonist to strive harder. In this way, it creates a relatable character. A character who we know is not strong and sometimes doubts himself, just like how we do when we face our own monsters. Then he faces his problems head on, sometimes by himself and sometimes with friends who don’t really understand the depth of his struggle. It says to the audience “this is not the end of your story” in a way that fills us with determination to reach our own happy endings. And that is a story worth telling.

★★★★★

This is probably the best story about being thrown into another world since…KonoSuba. 2016 was pretty good about this premise tbh, especially when you also consider Grimgar was released as well.

Mother’s Basement did an OP analysis along with Kono Suba here.

Flying Witch

Apr 10, 2016 to Jun 26, 2016; 12 episodes; J.C.Staff

Flying Witch doesn’t really have anything important to say. It doesn’t have a deep meaning like “one’s journey to personal peace” or “the intrinsic strength of the human spirit.” It’s just a slice of life story put in a casually magical setting. Like every good slice of life, episodes aren’t super related, and once you know all the characters you can watch it in basically any order. Some episodes don’t even show off any magic. All it does is carry a carefree lighthearted tone for 12 episodes. The show does this by establishing the world with many, many wide environment shots and then dropping so many quirky-cute characters whose interactions are so lovely and so charming that you just have to come back. In many ways, this show is K-on! except the captivating music scenes are replaced with equally stunning magical scenes. And I adore its sound design. Many of the most iconic tracks are reprises of its main theme at different tempos or with different instruments, creating a very cohesive experience throughout the series. In particular, its flying theme is gorgeous. Just like K-on!, it’s one of those shows that you watch on a rainy day and it will be just what you need. Flying Witch has quietly entered my personal favorites.

★★★★★

None of the critics I follow have made long articles about this anime. What this is telling me is I need to find more anime bloggers. Now taking suggestions.

Yuri!!! on Ice

Oct 6, 2016 to Dec 22, 2016; 12 episodes; MAPPA

To say this show was an endeavor would be selling it short. Yuri!!! on Ice tackles something like seven or eight parallel stories and relevant backstories of characters who all have different cultures and goals, and then it also has to explain enough about professional skating for you to actually care and understand the performances the show takes so much time to show and, if that wasn’t enough, it’s also LGBT. You have to give it to MAPPA for trying. The success of each of these aspects is middling, but, at the very least, it handles the stories of Yuuri, Yurio, and Victor fairly well. I’ve already touched on many of the techniques it uses to develop it’s expansive cast, but setting that aside, there is just a lot of show here. In order to communicate the number of ideas it tackles, the show presents everything full of purpose. Most scenes work overtime here and the resulting dialogue pops. Even the commercial break cuts are used effectively: they are foods that are native to the region that the cast is currently in which establishes a sense of place. At the same time, they’re food, so they refer back to the Yuuri’s in-joke about being a pork cutlet bowl and also maintain the lighthearted, happy tone of the show. Yuri!!! on Ice is efficient like that. It’s also one of those rare shows that sneaks into the public eye, so supporting it feels a tiny bit like supporting animation as a medium. But, before all that, it’s a story about a guy who follows his dream. That’s about as grand a story as anyone can tell.

★★★★☆

Notables 

Hai to Gensou no Grimgar (Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash)

Jan 11, 2016 to Mar 28, 2016; 12 episodes; A-1 Pictures

If you read just the premise, this show should suck. It’s just another one of those “stuck in another world” anime that come out every season. However, it has an interesting secondary hook: it’s actually a slice of life. Some of the most interesting portions of SAO and Log Horizon were how the videogame world interacted with the daily lives of the characters, so a show about this should be good, right? Unfortunately for Grimgar, it seems to be in the business of ruining it’s own emotional beats. The first episode is a good example of this: they open with a goblin hunting section that would be high tension, yet the animation struggles to provide the necessary impact. A training sequence occurs, but ends up paying too much attention to the instructor’s fanservice to offer anything meaningful. Then there’s a bit where the main crew gather round the campfire for some casual conversation which also stumbles because their topic of discussion is witch girl’s breasts. In fact, a lot of potential emotional hits snuff themselves out by becoming fanservice beats instead. A real shame. 

★★☆☆☆ 

Flip Flappers

Oct 6, 2016 to Dec 29, 2016; 13 episodes; Studio 3Hz

Well, I’ve already talked about how I feel about this show, but it just keeps popping up. To me, Flip Flappers comes across as trying too hard and losing focus and meaning as it tries to rationalize its own absurd world. It fails to explain bits and pieces, and, once you go down this rabbit hole, you have to hit everything. So we end up with this sort of half-done mess. However, people are still talking about it, so I think your assessment of Flip Flappers is a personal measurement of how much BS you can handle before you reject a plot idea. And the plot really is the “only” thing that grinded me about Flip Flappers. It had interesting characters, clever world building, and its ability to play with its animation style produced lots of great single episodes. It’s not a bad show, but it depends on what kind of person you are to tell if it’s a great show.

★★★☆☆

Short Answer Section

Ok, hopefully this goes by faster. 

Winter 2016

Prince of Stride: Alternative -  Madhouse does sports anime sounds like a good show. Unfortunately, this is less sports anime and more otome game. The parkour/running scenes are well animated (it’s Madhouse), but the character beats don’t work very well. All in all, ok. -  ★★☆☆☆

Musaigen no Phantom World - Flip Flappers but bad. How disappointing. -  ★☆☆☆☆ 

Sekkou Boys - Honestly? Not terrible. It’s a short, so attempting to put any sort of character development is kind of a crazy idea, but at least it was hilarious. -  ★★☆☆☆

ERASED -  2/3rds of a great show. The first 8-ish episodes are tightly written and well directed. The next 4 are…less so. At least for the writing part—the direction is still pretty good. ERASED fails to explain some character developments in ways that really make sense. This is similar to my problem with Flip Flappers, but, as ERASED is a mystery thriller, it is a much larger oversight. In short, the director once again proves himself much better than the works he has been given to adapt. -  ★★★☆☆

Zootopia - Disney does not suck, usually. Zootopia, in fact, is one of their better films. The setting is actually self-explanatory enough to work without too much info dumping, so it uses this kooky setting to tell a story that is relevant to our own world. Being a mystery/detective thriller, the plot is required to be more tight than Disney animated movies usually are and for the most part Zootopia delivers. It’s probably the best animated Disney movie this year. -  ★★★★☆

Spring 2016

Uchuu Patrol Luluco - Trigger at their Trigger-iest. Luluco actually manages to reference (“reference” aka “directly call out”) every single Trigger show in this short mini-series. It’s actually a really fun ride, in the same way that Gurren Lagann is, but because of how much it meanders it loses some of it’s punch. Still, I’d recommend it because honestly, at 13*6=74 minutes total running time, what have you got to lose? -  ★★★★☆ 

Gyakuten Saiban: Sono “Shinjitsu”, Igi Ari! (Ace Attorney) -  Ace Attorney shows us that some things are much better played than watched (like some other shows). But, all in all, it didn’t suck. It’s actually pretty good for people who don’t have the time to play the games. And I did get a lot of notes on that one post… - ★★☆☆☆

Netoge no Yome wa Onnanoko ja Nai to Omotta?  -  For the most part, a generic harem anime except the archetypes are marginally more interesting and the secondary hook is unconventional (videogames as opposed to…super human high school. We live in a world where super human high school is more common than just videogame club). The fanservice is expected. The comedy is ok. Overall it’s just kinda eh.  -  ★★☆☆☆

Sakamoto desu ga? -  This show is actually just one joke repeated for twelve episodes. I mean it’s a pretty good joke; you could call this the slice of life One Punch Man. But I liked One Punch Man—I put it on the top list last year, so what’s wrong with this show? Well the strength of One Punch Man is not actually Saitama (haha), but rather the cast of side characters. Since Saitama is a static character, the development is shipped to everyone else so we get our character beats from them. Then, Saitama is used only for comedic beats. Sakamoto, on the other hand, fails to do this, and instead uses a rotating static character cast, so it has to rely entirely on comedy to compel you to watch. And, like I said, it’s just one joke repeated for twelve episodes. - ★★☆☆☆

Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge -  Like Sakamoto, Tanaka-kun is also just one joke, but it spends a bit more time developing the surrounding cast since that joke isn’t as potent. It’s slow pace reminds me a lot of Flying Witch, but it uses its characters more than its environment for the jokes. In fact, that’s probably the more important difference: there are more jokes. Flying Witch is content to let you stew in the world for a while, but Tanaka-kun feels pressured to hit you with another joke right after another. It’s not a bad show, but it’s a bit clumsy in its execution. - ★★★☆☆

Kiznaiver (2/12) -  I touched on this already, but Kiznaiver is an interesting enough topic to revisit. Often for character shows, a director will take one of two ways to show relationships: 1) understated gestures and close up camera angles on expressive body parts—this is the stance KyoAni and PA Works likes to take—or 2) metaphor as shorthand to character mindsets, anywhere from expressive skating performances to personal demons gone physical. Neither of these is really Trigger’s style, so for their own character story, Kiznaiver, they turn the relationships into an actual physical connection and then use force to move relationships. I still haven’t gotten around to finishing it, but it’s a clever workaround and very Trigger even if it’s not their usual director. I’m excited to see how it’s done. -  ★★★☆☆?

Finding Dory -  I…don’t remember much of it. Usually that means it’s just kind of ok. A “just kind of ok” Disney movie probably means it’s above average so let’s go with that. (I am a serious critic who seriously critiques things with seriousness.)  - ★★★☆☆?

I need to start writing shorter opinions or we’ll be here all day. 

Summer 2016

That scroll bar is getting pretty small…

Love Live! Sunshine!! (3/13) - Of the 3 episodes I’ve watched, this seems very much like “Love Live! 2, Love Liver!!” It still has this weird problem of taking itself too seriously (remember “I love school idols!” ?), but Sunrise is a roll here, given another iteration we might have a very good character comedy. - ★★★☆☆?

New Game! -  Aside from having the most adorable OP of 2016, this show isn’t really notable. Yeah, it’s cute, it’s Doga Kobo. Yeah, it’s funny, it’s Doga Kobo. There’s some fanservice, often leveraged into comedy a la Monogatari, but that’s kind of it. For the most part, this is Shirobako channeling K-on! which sounds amazing but ends up just being pretty ok. I wonder how much better it could be given a two cour season. -  ★★★☆☆

Taboo Tattoo (1/screw it) - I was coerced into watching one episode of this thing. It has like almost an interesting premise but every time they introduced another character I just got more disappointed. Please send help. - ☆☆☆☆☆

Amanchu! (1/12) - J.C.Staff has this weird artistic style that seems to change completely whenever they are making a joke. This works for some anime, but it’s not very subtle. In the case of Amanchu!, I think they needed to deliver it with a more softer style overall, but it’s not a deal breaker. I just haven’t gotten around to watching the rest. -  ★★☆☆☆?

Kono Bijutsubu ni wa Mondai ga Aru! (3/12) - Comedy anime about girls in art club falling in love with a dense otaku and surrounded by other quirky idiots is not a new concept. To be different, Konobi tries to provide more structure to its story, evident just from the first episode. Well, I’m only 3 episodes in but I’ve found the comedy weakens the plot and the plot weakens the comedy. Often with short seasons, it’s better to focus on only one aspect, as dividing your resources like this results in a mediocre show, but I still haven’t gotten that far. I’m hopeful. - ★★☆☆☆?

Fall 2016

WWW.Working!! (6/13) - It basically plays out like Working!! lite. WWW.Working!! was the original “rough draft” for the Working!! manga after all, so it kind of makes sense. It’s alright. Working!! is a stronger show overall and has a rare multi-season full adaptation, so, choosing only one, I’d choose Working!!. That was probably really confusing. - ★★★☆☆?

Shuumatsu no Izetta (2/12) - History drama meets magical girls. You know, maybe we should stop making so many “x + Magical girls” anime. It’s an interesting take and the direction it goes is pretty fun. Instead of following a WW2 titan, you follow a small country that needs the magical girl to keep themselves from getting totally destroyed. I’m not sure I’ll finish it, but if that’s your kind of vibe, Izetta is the show for you. - ★★☆☆☆?

Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku (1/12) - Continuing the theme of “x + Magical girls” anime, this one is Magical Girls meets Battle Royal. At least, that’s what it’s supposed to be. The pace is so incredibly slow that the little premise you read on MAL tells you the story past the first episode already. I don’t think I’ll be coming back to this one. - ★☆☆☆☆?

Cheating Craft (2/12) -  Calling this an Anime is kind of hazy but luckily this post is about more than just anime. The first episode is sort of a flashback type deal that explains the concept and the next episode is the first of what seems to be a series of tests. Instead of the subtle strategic type of show I expected, it’s actually just ok-ish action with poorly defined characters. So it’s been dropped. - ★☆☆☆☆?

Hibike! Euphonium 2 - I’ve talked about this so much you guys probably already know my stance on it. It’s hampered by the nature of adaptation as the Mizore-Nozomi arc could probably be removed. But the Asuka arc shows KyoAni has still got it. One of the best shows of the year. - ★★★★★

KEIJO!!!!!!!! - You know what’s interesting about this show? In story structure, it’s the most generic shonen ever. But the base premise is so absurd and so confident in itself that it carries pretty well. The absurdity even spreads to the title: all caps and eight exclamation points. This show knows what it’s about. - ★★★☆☆

Gi(a)rlish Number (2/12) - Oregairu is well written show. Gi(a)rlish Number is also a well written show. Thanks Wataru Watari. But because of how cynical they are, they’re really hard for me to watch. So I’ve only watched two episodes. Thanks Wataru Watari. I’m sure I’ll have lots of opinions about this so I’ll talk about it at a later time. - ★★★★☆?

Haikyuu!!: Karasuno Koukou VS Shiratorizawa Gakuen Koukou - Carrying from the momentum of the previous season, Haikyuu!! remains good. I think this is the weakest season so far in terms of emotional pay-off (probably because it’s, ya know, 10 episodes), but it’s still my favorite sports anime. Hopefully the next season isn’t too far away. - ★★★★☆

Moana - Compared to Zootopia, this Disney film is more hand-wavy with its plot. It’s not like the world is harder to build, one of them has demi-gods and another has talking animals, the world just isn’t as important for this type of story. On the flip side, it has arguably the best sound design of an animated feature in 2016. I enjoyed it, but all I ever think about with Disney princess films is how cool the Kingdom Hearts world is going to be. -★★★★☆

I’M DONE. 

Holy cow I didn’t realize how much stuff I watched last year. And I didn’t even finish a lot of shows I wanted to. 

Man. I hope one day I get paid to write about this stuff. 

Thanks as always for reading. Let me know if I missed something! 

[jobtypeblog]

DEATH OF RAVE

The Death Of Rave is a vinyl and digital imprint, housed within Boomkat, rooted in Manchester. There is little information online about the label, but it’s contributions to UK sound and arts practices speak for themselves, and have continually caught my interest in their redirecting of rave culture, avant garde sonic practices and sound composition as a medium for philosophic contemplation about the entanglements of electronic music and culture. The more I dig into their catalogue of releases, the more I appreciate the impact of this label has had to my listening for the past several years. I am always unpacking contingencies within the community of electronic production and sound art. The Death of Rave roster is home to a few artists in particular whos work has sat in the ambient subjectivity of my creative mind in the past few weeks.

Notable artists and releases that have shaped my understanding of a sound art approach to contemporary electronic club sounds will be briefly discussed below:

Mumdance, Logos and Shapednoise: The Sprawl - ‘The Sprawl - a sindicate of mutant sound carriers individually known as Logos, Mumdance and Shapednoise. Mastered and cut to vinyl by Matt Colton. Artwork by Dave Gaskarth.William Gibson's uncannily prophetic novel Neuromancer was the 1st in a set collectively known as The Sprawl. The same term also refers to a fictional Megatropolis covering the entire Eastern US seaboard in the books, and was also the title of a staggering, standout track on Mumdance's pivotal Take Time EP. The Sprawl is now also a noun for Logos, Mumdance and Shapednoise's new collaborative trio))), which was first conceived at Berlin's CTM15 festival, and now makes their recorded debut with EP1 of a rolling series to be archived by The Death of Rave. Inspired by Gibson's notions of uploaded consciousness in a post-human society, and the way in which the sensory-scrambling effects of technology have played out across our collective reverie, EP1 ventures four cuts of retina-scorching dis-torsion and chrome-burning modular synth work attempting to emulate the physical and mental impact of SimStim overload and fractious hyperreality. Head first, Drowning In Binary rinses us thru a maze of recursive techno chambers and convulsive noise, acclimatising us to the temporal displacement in preparation for the retching, body-quake detonations and finely-contoured synthetic sensuality of From Wetware to Software to take hold. On the other side, their references become more explicit, and violently dynamic, as the gutted late '90s tech-step structures of Haptic Feedback glance in the direction of classic Prototype and Reinforced Recordings, before Personality Upload steadily dismantles your mental firewalls with a gyroscopic sense of weightless delirium. Ultimately, EP1's mostly beat-less dynamics lends it to polysemous reading; at once comparable with elements of La Peste's late '90s french flashcore or the unquantised designs of FIS, and likewise, it's applicable as both 'floor-shocking DJ tools, or as a prop in your own, private sci-fi fantasy.’ - press release description for ‘The Sprawl’ on Soundcloud.

The trio of The Sprawl are known collectively, and in their individual outputs for their love of analogue hardware sound systems and exploratory sample and synth modulation. Composition is a defining methodology in electronic music and sound design, and in the case of Mumdance especially, the rearrangement and performance of deconstructions/reconstructions of Grime, Hardcore, Noise and Stockhausen-style musique concrete and Cagesque industrial ambience have remained integral to his practice. Combined with regular DJ sets, mixes, and a backlog of instrumental backings for UK MCs, Mumdance has made efforts to pioneer a new terminology for this re-engineering of audio culture: ‘Weightless’ refers to ‘the sound, the movement that traces the liquid space between spectral grime, sound design & electronic experimentation’.

Gabor Lazar:  Hearing for the first time the slapped out laser resonances and hyper synthetic drum programming of Gabor Lazar’s ‘Unfold’ EP last year was a pivotal moment in my perception of the potentials of forward-thinking dance music. Reading as much terminological music journalism as I have been doing, phrases appear in my mind when attempting to descirbe the sounds of this Hungary based engineer across his live performances and physical releases, phrases such as  hyperprismatic mutant elek-trance. Gabor Lazar is an artist who has the discipline to properly explore an idea with composition, to recallibrate technique over a significant duration to increase potency >>  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYzSvepYwuI

Yorkshire Sound Artist Mark Fell, who has a number of solo releases on Death of Rave, as well as a collaborative album with Gabor Lazar, has been equally  ear-opening for me, and has informed a more sophisticated conceptual understanding of the entangled concepts of sound, technology and meaning>> https://www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/essays/collateral-damage-mark-fell

http://markfell.com/media/2015_fowleryoungs_sleevenotes/mfell_REvERsE_pRacticE.pdf 

^This is a sleeve insert to a record by Luke Fowler and Richard Youngs on which Mark Fell contends with certain philosophies of media theory and listening using (amongst other methods) digital technology and computer software. The text is extremely useful in applying aspects of Marshall Mcluhun’s ideas to the search for meaning and creativity in the saturated media landscape of contemporary society. Imagining and engineering sound as ‘truth’, simulation and ‘the real’ produces fascinating philosophical conundrums, especially when you place the magnifying glass over the dance music and sound art worlds. The record is intended as ‘research music’ to document interactions within and between vibrational phenomena and technoculture. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUspVAx9FKA

^A video depicting important research into technological advancements in the last few decades that have defined sound culture for generations.

Sam Kidell: Sam Kidell’s work sits in a very specific mode of sonic art and UK music culture that deeply resonates with my own preconceptions of a progressive sonic practice that combines sound composition with social theory. Kidel credits grime as an ��enduring influence’ on his work, which takes a significant departure from the conventions of this nearly 20-year-old movement, and brings as much care, attention and conceptual motivation to the accompanying artwork. and visual performances. Operating as a designer of sound pieces and installations within his solo work, and as part of the Bristolian Young Echo collective, who experiment with sound and performance to explore the intersections of collective consciousness, identity and contemporary existence with a forward-facing take on ambient, dub and post punk.

SUPERMARKET! (2015): This is a deeply hauntological and brilliantly simple ambient inversion of pop r&b into 

Adam Harper writes: “The one thing you can say about underground music in 2015 is that it’s talkingpop’s language. No longer are its stars enemies to be derided - now they are appreciated for their perfection, the craftsmanship, their transcendental demi-god status, and, displaced from their original industrial contexts, as totems of everyday listening.

As SUPERMARKET!, Sam Kidel of Bristol’s Young Echo collective offers the latest and one of the most surprising re-engineerings of pop. He takes acapella R&B vocals from Aaliyah, Brandy, Destiny’s Child, Ciara, Timberlake, and Beyoncé and wraps them in fine fragile films of quaverous machine breath and the stultified knocking of a rapturous trance in which no other response is possible. In doing this, SUPERMARKET! is a way of listening, encoding a strange, otherworldly response to pop that couldn’t be more different from pop, but that finds again the awe and wonder that gets lost among the shopping aisles.”

Disruptive Muzak (2016):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdAjgt3MR10

‘Sam Kidel’s debut for The Death of Rave is little short of a modern ambient masterpiece. Following a celebrated debut for Entr’acte in 2015, the Young Echo and Killing Sound member’s sophomore solo album is a playful, emotive inversion and subversion of Muzak - that “background noise” variously known as “hold” music, “canned” music, or “lift” music - employing government call centre workers as unknowing agents in a dreamily detached yet subtly, achingly poignant 21 minute composition, backed with a DIY instrumental in case you, at home, want to get your phreak on. Drawing on research by the Muzak Corporation (the company who held the original license for their eponymous product), and his concurrent interests in the proto-internet technique of phreaking (experimenting or exploring telecommunication systems - Bill Gates used to do it, and thousands of kids have probably made a prank call at some point in their time), Sam played his music down the phone to the DWP and other departments, not speaking, but recording the recipient’s responses; subsequently rearranging them into the piece you hear before you. Aesthetically, the results utilise a range of compositional styles - ambient, electro-acoustic, aleatoric - and could be said to intersect modern classical, dub and vaporware, whilst also inherently revealing a spectrum of regional British accents rarely heard on record, or in this context, at least. But make no mistake; he’s not making fun at the expense of the call centre workers. Rather, he’s highlighting a dreamy melancholy and detachment in their tedious roles and tortuous, Kafkaesque systems, one known from first-hand experience. Disruptive Muzak may be rooted in academia, but it’s far from pretentious. We really don't want to give it all away, but the way in which he executes the idea, both musically and conceptually by the time the final receiver drops the line, is deeply emotive without being sentimental; making tacit comment on questioning our relationship with technology, economics and socio-politics in the UK right now: in the midst of right wing policy delivering swingeing benefits cuts and zero-hours contracts which damage those on the margins most, and a scenario where corporate composition and electronic sound form a blithely ubiquitous backdrop to capitalist realism.’ - Boomkat Description of ‘Disruptive Muzak’

‘Sillicon Ear’:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uoM8FmfXZk

‘Following his compelling comment on the modern-day culture of call centres, Disruptive Muzak – awarded Album of the Year 2016 by Boomkat – Sam Kidel turns his analytical artistry towards the ominous gatekeepers of online communication with a rave-inspired rebel spirit to match his scientific methodology.’ 

“Chamber music meets free-party-scene warehouse-invasion”  First exhibited at EBM(T) in Tokyo, Live @ Google Data Center trespasses in Google’s data centre in Council Bluffs, Iowa to perform electronic music amongst the humming banks of servers and endless cable runs, without actually breaking in. In a process he describes as “mimetic hacking,” Kidel used architectural plans based on photos of the data centre to acoustically model the sonic qualities of the space.  The resulting acoustics on Live @ Google Data Center simulate the sound of Kidel’s algorithmically-generated notes, rhythms and melodies reverberating through the space, as though a bold illegal party was being held in the maximum security location. Kidel’s manipulation of his generative direction of the music, all inspired by images of the data centre. “Music that deafens the silicon ear” The generative audio patch Kidel used to make Voice Recognition DoS Attack seeks to disable the functionality of voice recognition software by triggering phonemes (the smallest units of language). The project, first developed for the Eavesdropping series of events in Melbourne, exploits a weakness in voice recognition that cannot distinguish between individual voices. When you speak while the patch is playing, the cascading shards of human expression mask your speech and thus protect you from automated surveillance, questioning our vulnerability in the face of global data giants. In amongst these displaced sounds, Kidel fed additional musical elements into his patch to create the version of the project heard on this release.’ - 

Mark Leckey:

Masters lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJHyg4g8MzQ

‘Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dS2McPYzEE

Next year, on January 2nd 2020, The Death of Rave will be reprinting their inaugural release to vinyl, the soundtrack to the Turner Prize Winning video and installation by Mark Leckey - ‘Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore’ (1999). This seminal work that defined a career for Leckey was in many ways a response to the ‘heady critical thinking’ he had struggled with in art school. The work for Leckey presented an oppurtunity to tackle something he was familiar with in a creatively satisfying and nostalgic sense, though the final 15 minutes of footage presents more melancholia than it reminiscing. The narrative of the video gives glimpses into the miserable reality of late capitalism and the absurd and sublime world of British dance music. Leckey confronts cultural phenomena and the history of his own identity in relation to society. Through nostalgic collaging, abstraction and manipulation of the temporal quality of archival media, Leckey presents a hauntological speculation of his cultural and societal position as a child growing up 11 miles from Liverpool’s city centre. 

‘A phantasmic and transcendent collage of meticulously sourced and rearranged footage and sound samples spanning three decades of British subculture - from Northern Soul thru '80s Casuals and pre-CJB Rave - it may be considered an uncanny premonition of the Hauntological zeitgeist which has manifested in virulent sections of UK electronic dance and pop culture since the early '00s.This record severs the sonic aspect from the moving image, offering a new perspective on what rave culture maven and esteemed author Simon Reynolds calls "a remarkable piece of sound art in its own right." Detached from its visual indicators, Leckey's amorphous, acephalic cues are reframed as an ethereal, Burroughsian mesh of VHS idents, terrace chants, fragmented field recordings and atrophied samples cut with his own half-heard drunken mumbles. At once recalling and predating the eldritch esthetics of Burial or The Caretaker; it's an elegiac lament for an almost forgotten spirit; an abstracted obituary to the rituals, passions and utopian ideals of pre-internet, working class nightlife fantasias, now freeze-framed forever, suspended in vinyl. It's backed with an edit of another soundtrack to a Mark Leckey video installation: 'GreenScreenRefrigeratorAction' (2010). In stark contrast, the original video features a black Samsung Bottom Freezer Refrigerator stood in front of a green screen infinity cyc, recounting its contents, thoughts and actions as narrated by the artist in a radically transformed cadence. Taken as a wry comment on cybernetics and the ambient ecology of household appliances which permeate our daily lives, it's an unsettling yet compelling piece of sound design whose subtly affective dynamics reflect the underlying dystopic rhetoric with visceral and evocative precision. The piece has since been used in a collaboration with Florian Hecker for the Push and Pull exhibition at Tate Modern in 2011.’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CATey5LcEF4&t=116s Leckey quotes in a video interview on the Tate’s Youtube Channel: ‘I think it put me in a position where I felt outside of the action... on the periphery of the action... on the edge of the dancefloor looking in’, a perspective that articulates a sentiment that has in many ways shaped my own creative thinking and world view with regards to the topics I choose to contemplate with my creative work. I even draw a similarity with my very first electronic compositions and Leckey’s installation ‘Exorcism of the bridge@Eastham Rake’, as it was a motorway bridge underpass where me and my friend Archie would discuss and listen to our first compositions, and imagine alternate possibilities of living through music. We even codified the accompanying texts to our music with the longitude and latitudes of the bridge where we conceptualised our creative endeavors.

I inhabit urban environments temporarily, but ultimately am a stranger to a life subsumed by industrial machinery and the concrete and metal of urban sprawl. Perhaps this is what has led my creative mind to embrace the dystopian hyperstitions of late modernity as aesthetic strategies for radical art-making and sound production. I have lived in the same house, 10 miles from Leeds city centre quaint middle-class rural countryside, and feel an affinity to the slow pace, fresh air and wildlife. I contend with the stresses of urban and industrial living, but ultimately with the knowledge and experience of a ‘better place’, or more natural environment... ‘it stood me in good stead for being an artist. You become more observational in a way’. You take an interest in things that might seem humdrum, or might not excite other people in the same way that I would’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8HlSHTEtdc

Leckey describes himself as the kind of person who has ‘perpetual crisises’, and often questions the meaning and person of art practice in the modern economic and political landscape. As Steven Shaviro points out in an article on E-flux, ‘transgression no longer works as a subversive aesthetic strategy. Or, more precisely works all too well as a strategy for amassing cultural capital as well as actual capital’. He gives an image of his works as being ‘exorcisms’, moments where he is ‘overbrimming’ with nostalgia or curiosity and in turns creates temporal, sculptural and experiential manifestations of the things that have buried themselves into his sensibility.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS18_iVTQEs&t=731s 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWMfnK7bEg4

- Dream English Kid 1964-1999AD was one of Leckey’s earliest videos, which contemplated the anxieties and mystification of living with and between electronic and mechanical technology. Leckey explains in an inteview about the moment he found an audio recording of a Joy Division gig he attended on Youtube, which inspired within him a fantasy of timeless recalling of history, and an exploration of how audio-visual software has changed our relationship with our past. Leckey put together much of his most important video work in a time that predated the speeds of the modern internet. Through the laborious process of sourcing footage, writing to people and waiting for responses and VHS tapes, Leckey talks about getting drunk and editing the video alone, often to the point of tears, which can be heard in the backing track.

[travelcafemt-blog]

Fun Cities for Bleisure Travelers

New Post has been published on https://www.montanastravelagency.com/fun-cities-for-bleisure-travelers/

Fun Cities for Bleisure Travelers

Denver, Colorado

While the actual label “bleisure travel” might not be top of mind for business travelers, the concept of combining business and leisure time in one trip is becoming an increasingly popular idea. In fact, in its 2018 Bleisure Trends Report, the travel management company Egencia noted that 68 percent of travelers mix business with pleasure between one and three times a year. That study also reports that a whopping 74 percent of North American business travelers are either planning or considering a bleisure trip in the next six months.

To that end, here are some of the best cities to enjoy a bleisure trip:

Chicago, Illinois:

Chicago-style: The adjective seems to attach itself to everything in Chicago—from the vibrant downtown, stunning architecture and political machines to deep-dish pizza, hot dogs, the arts and blues music. Chicago residents do things with their own distinctive flair, creating innovations that resound far beyond the city’s borders.

The result is a world-class city with an internationally acclaimed symphony, champion sports teams such as the Bears and Cubs, a host of renowned museums such as the Field Museum, great hotels and miles/kilometers of gorgeous beaches and lakefront paths that many use for bicycling, rollerblading and jogging. Most first-time visitors are surprised by the city’s cleanliness and the profusion of plants and flowers.

Dallas, Texas

With Dallas’ concentration of technology companies, corporate headquarters, and wholesale trade markets, the nation’s ninth-largest city is a Texas metropolis devoted to business. Residents of Dallas, Texas, seem to enjoy spending money with the same passion with which they earn it. The result is a mercantile mecca that appeals to visitors: The metropolitan area of Dallas affords shopping opportunities that rival those in New York City.

Dallas is also known for the arts; spanning 19 city blocks in the heart of downtown, the Dallas Arts District is the largest urban cultural district in the country. The AT&T Performing Arts Center, a multi-venue center for music, opera, theater, and dance, is the most significant performing arts complex built since the Lincoln Center in New York.

Denver, Colorado

Denver, Colorado, is often associated with the Old West, but the New West has left a more visible mark. Modern Denver is the financial, business, administrative and transportation center of the Rocky Mountain region. The Denver area is a major livestock market and headquarters to mining companies. Denver’s leading manufacturers produce aeronautic, telecommunication, electronic and other high-technology products.

Thanks to its wealth of nearby ski and mountain resorts, national parks and frontier historical sites, Denver is also an important tourist center. Denver attractions draw numerous visitors every year. Sports fans also flock to Denver to watch its many professional teams.

A skyline of gleaming glass graces downtown, and even the historic areas shine with fresh varnish. Nowhere is this clearer than in LoDo—Denver’s Lower Downtown District—where run-down warehouses have been renovated into classy Denver attractions such as jazz clubs, bookstores, restaurants and art galleries. High-rises offer chic downtown living alongside historic buildings that have been transformed into lofts. It all takes place against the glorious backdrop of the Rocky Mountains.

Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta, Georgia, is a bustling, world-class city, with a skyline full of impressive architectural designs that complement rolling hills and abundant foliage. Atlanta is consistently ranked as one of the best places to do business in the U.S., and more than 750 of Fortune’s Top 1,000 businesses have offices there. The Atlanta airport (Hartsfield-Jackson) is usually ranked as the world’s busiest, and its airport code, ATL, has become the city’s nickname among locals.

Atlanta’s fast-paced, ready-for-the-future attitude is evident in its booming convention business. Other Atlanta attractions include pulsing nightlife, showplace museums, sophisticated fine-arts facilities, and painstakingly restored historical landmarks.

Miami, Florida

Miami, Florida, has always billed itself as a travel destination. Warm weather, sandy beaches and bright sunshine were selling points more than 100 years ago, just as they are today. But Miami’s allure extends beyond its shores. People from all over the Caribbean and Latin America have settled in Miami, giving the city its distinctive, lively international character.

The warm-weather fun is still a big attraction, but the biggest draw is the cosmopolitan flavor coupled with all the great restaurants, sports teams (Dolphins, Heat, Hurricanes and Marlins) and upscale sheen—plus a long list of TV shows that have “Miami” in their titles.

South Beach, with its cheerful, sherbet-colored art-deco buildings and palm-tree-lined avenues, is the center of Miami’s trendy dining and nightlife scene. Other corners of Miami, including Coconut Grove and Coral Gables, offer their own versions of fine living and colorful happenings.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Old City, a hip neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is today much as it was when Benjamin Franklin walked its streets. One of the most progressive citizens of his time, city-father Franklin would surely approve of the many art galleries, trendy shops and vibrant restaurants that dot the downtown Philadelphia landscape.

Philadelphia’s rich history is still visible today in the superb Historic District: That is where you’ll find Independence Hall, where the nation’s Constitution was hotly debated, and the Liberty Bell, which became a symbol of the new government. The city’s museums—more than a dozen, including the excellent Franklin Institute and the Philadelphia Museum of Art—are world-class institutions that mix old and new in surprising ways.

Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix, Arizona, is a truly modern city—it didn’t really boom until after World War II. Nonetheless, mixed among Phoenix’s office towers and the abundance of resorts, spas and restaurants are museums dedicated to pre-Columbian, Native American and pioneer history. Though Phoenix proper is just one of several cities in the Valley of the Sun, it’s the largest by far and serves as the center of the metropolitan area. The explosive, sprawling growth of the Phoenix metropolitan area—which includes Glendale, Mesa, Scottsdale, Chandler, Peoria and Tempe—is due in part to its attractive desert location (cacti and mountains are never far from view) and in part to the city’s refusal to respect the limitations a desert imposes.

San Diego, California

San Diego, California, is sunny and mild—not just in weather, but in personality, as well. This is a place where the people are friendly and the sun shines more than 300 days a year. To top it off, San Diego is blessed with considerable natural beauty: broad, gorgeous beaches on its west side, creviced canyons in the east, and sweet-smelling tropical flowers everywhere.

A quintessential U.S. Navy town, San Diego has also boomed in recent years. The trendy downtown and Gaslamp Quarter, plus such nearby attractions as Balboa Park, continue to pull in locals and tourists alike.

Boston, Massachusetts

Boston, Massachusetts, is inundated with visitors every year and for good reason: It’s partly a walkable historic park (especially the Freedom Trail) and partly a modern waterfront metropolis (the “Hub of New England”) with no lack of things to do once darkness descends. Fenway Park—one of the nation’s most hallowed baseball stadiums—is a destination in itself.

Although the city has never stopped reaching for the future and now welcomes leading-edge financial services and high-tech companies, it has lovingly preserved the treasures of its past. Boston cherishes its patriotic connections with the Boston Tea Party and Bunker Hill. It is a living symbol of the melting pot early residents fought to create, including lively ethnic neighborhoods, sophisticated centers of academia and sedate sanctuaries of old wealth. Each seems a world unto itself, yet each is an integral part of Boston’s urban identity.

Seattle, Washington

The combination of water, hills and lush greenery in a mountain setting on the shores of Puget Sound make Seattle, Washington, one of the most beautiful urban areas in the U.S. With its efficient bus system and compact downtown district, Seattle is also user-friendly.

Seattleites have plenty to brag about: There’s the Space Needle and Pike Place Market, plus the Mariners, Seahawks and Sounders FC sports teams. There are fine restaurants, good museums and a vigorous arts scene.

Even Seattle’s infamous rainy winter weather has a good side. All that rain helps make Seattle the evergreen “Emerald City” and produces wonderful flowers. And Seattle is where Starbucks got its start, in 1971, at Pike Place Market

New York, New York

New York City has always been a city of superlatives: largest, tallest, trendiest, best. It’s also one of the world’s most dynamic places. The skyline seems to be ever-changing, and exciting new restaurants and shops continue to pop up in unexpected neighborhoods. First-time visitors and natives alike will experience variety at every turn.

New York offers more to see and do than you can manage in one visit. You’ll find the finest selection of entertainment, museums and restaurants in the world. Some stunning new attractions have opened, and some old favorites have been rebuilt and refurbished like an old Broadway musical. But the New York City skyline is still the awe-inspiring star. Two amazing icons are still mourned, but the new Freedom Tower has already taken its place among the city’s other world-famous landmarks: the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, Lincoln Center, the Flatiron Building and the bridges—Brooklyn, Queensboro, Verrazano—to name just a few. Most reassuring of all: The Statue of Liberty is still there, waiting to say hello.

While these are some the most popular bleisure destinations, most cities offer attractions that business travelers can enjoy. On your next business trip, why not take a little extra time to take advantage of your time there for some R&R too?

Check out our travel guides for the 25 most popular US destinations to learn all of the activities you can tack onto your next business trip.

[floridageekscene]

Otaku culture values a lot of things–community, open-mindedness, art, pocky… But two valuables I find especially prevalent among anime aficionados are “breadth” and “depth.”

Breadth is the desire to enjoy variety—that spice of life that broadens our appreciation for culture, genre, and style. Breadth, for example, is the ability to watch anime genres as opposite as Attack on Titan and Bunny Drop side-by-side and acknowledge (if not enjoy) both of them.

If breadth is valued by otaku culture for its ability to expand horizons, however, depth is what internalizes those experiences and makes them meaningful. A desire for depth is a craving to dive as far into one particular series, genre, or author as possible and churn the soil for its richness. The deeper I plunge into a series, the more mastery I wield over it and the more of it I am able to apply it myself and the world around me. It’s when I internalize the anime I’ve watched that it’s able to shape my perspective, my beliefs, and even my comprehension of focus subjects like the Meiji Era (Rurouni Kenshin), volleyball (Haikyuu!!), and mythology (Fate/Zero).

Florida Anime Experience not only grasps the importance of depth, but also acts on it. Since its creation in 2011, FAE has been religiously dedicated to becoming, not the largest of Cons, but the most focused of them. Six years later, FAE is still a passionate love letter to otaku, bringing all forms of Japanese entertainment—video games, manga, maid cafes, J-Pop, cosplay, and, of course, anime—together under one all-but-pagoda-shaped roof.

The Scoop:

What – A three-day event centered on Japanese culture, with special focus on anime and manga’s influence on creativity and culture

When:

Friday, March 10th: 10:30AM – 10:00PM Saturday, March 11th: 10AM – 11PM Sunday, March 12th: 10:00AM – 4:30PM

Where – Radisson Resort & Conference Center

Who – Amanda Miller, Cherami Leigh, Cristina Vee, Kate Higgins, Stephanie Sheh, Al Aki, Noise Complaint, Nerdy Karaoke, and Maid Café Mikkusu

Price – $20-$25 (single-day), $45 (weekend)

Perks – An anime viewing room, costume contests, a vendors room (with over forty booths), an artist alley, a Japanese video game room, a maid cafe, and more

My first, and only other, trip to Florida Anime Experience was in 2013—a year when the closest thing I’d ever experienced to anime was Kingdom Hearts and Avatar: the Last Airbender. While I felt very welcomed at FAE 2013 by open-armed staff and conversational cosplayers, I wasn’t able to engage the event from an otaku’s point-of-view and felt very much like I was looking through a window into a wondrous, unfamiliar world. My previous convention experiences had only been with Con giants like Megacon and Metrocon—both events with worthy fame to their names but that focus on scooping up as many fandoms as possible into their weekends. In other words, Cons that, quite successfully, go for breadth.

Four years and 150 anime, manga, light novels, and OVAs later, I returned to Florida Anime Experience, eager to finally participate as a fully-fledged otaku. By the end of the day, I left feeling like I’d become Hokage.

To be more specific, Florida Anime Experience provided (and attracted) everything I’d ask for from a Con centered on Japanese culture. More importantly, I left the event with many experiences, ideas, and keepsakes that I didn’t have when I entered. I believe that’s a true mark of success for any convention.

For example…

I stepped into the Anime Viewing Room and caught a few minutes of My Hero Academia—more than enough time for me to scribble it down on my lengthy to-watch list. I tried two new flavors of taiyaki. I witnessed a round of Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA in action. I met three voice actresses for the first time and obtained six signatures. I put on my first kimono. Most significantly, I made a new friend while waiting in the autograph line.

It’s said that you get from something what you put into it. I think that’s true when attending most any Con. In the case of Florida Anime Experience, though, the process became almost subconscious. New experiences burst around every corner and from every vendor’s table, many of which I ran out of time (or money…) to try for myself—boba tea, the manga library, the maid cafe, henna… Fortunately, hundreds of other otaku were able to experience these novelties, with no table ever left unoccupied by a curious passerby.

Vendors reflected Florida Anime Experience’s distinct themes with katana-sharp pin-pointedness. Figurines, phone strap mascots, rare blind box collectibles, window-sized wall scrolls, dakimakura, and weapon replicas maintained a very strict emphasis on otaku interests. Video games, film, music, literature, and snacks originating in Japan also found their way into vendor’s wares, in-between all the Yuri on Ice, Haikyuu!!, and Naruto merchandise. Despite being of Western origin, RWBY unsurprisingly managed to carry a significant Con presence through both cosplay and fanart.

The Artist Ally wrapped around the centralized vendor’s hall like a picture frame. While there weren’t as many artists as there were merchants, I got the impression that FAE selected them very deliberately. No two were alike, and I don’t just mean that in the “all art is unique” sense. Each artist had a particular medium they specialized in—felt character magnets, clay chibi dolls, three-dimensional shadow boxes, traditional art, digital art… And, of course, most art was inspired by Japanese media. Not all of it, but most. It seemed FAE wanted to honor its artists’ liberties, as long as a certain portion of their wares were dedicated to the Con’s theme.

Due in large part to FAE’s selection of voice actresses, Sailor Moon was a frequent sight all around. I lost track of the number of blonde hair buns and magical staffs I passed, and that’s to say nothing of the themed panels, fanart, figurines, wall scrolls, and other memorabilia based on the Senshi.

Amanda Miller, Cherami Leigh, Cristina Vee, Kate Higgins, and Stephanie Sheh held two autograph signings each day, which idealistically allowed for everyone to participate in the meet-and-greet. I stood in line for an hour on two separate occasions and was the cut-off in front of a few dozen people the first time around. Fans patient enough to try their luck a second time found themselves rewarded, and the convention staff put a limitation on autographs and photography in order to ensure as many attendees as possible were able to meet the actresses.

Despite having never watched a single episode of Sailor Moon, I went home with six autographs from other series. Amanda Miller, Cherami Leigh, Cristina Vee, Kate Higgins, and Stephanie Sheh have impressive resumes and have starred in many of my favorite anime—Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, Trigun: Badlands Rumble, and Naruto. (As it was Higgins’ first time in Florida, I was especially excited to get a Saber autograph.) Essentially, whether I was a Sailor Moon fan or not was far from a deal-breaker in the autograph line, much to my delight. My encounters with the actresses were brief but pleasant, and I took away the impression that they enjoyed being among the fans and hearing their personal stories.

The actresses also shared some stories of their own. A Sailor Moon Q&A with all five special guests allowed both Senshi and fans to lay their hearts on the table. Amanda Miller related how the role of Sailor Jupiter helped her overcome a period of heavy depression. I could feel  silence weighing the room as listeners took in her story.

That sense of transparency characterized Florida Anime Experience. The staff were very personable and the attendees responded in kind. I never felt as though I were being “babysat” by the convention staff. Instead, I was treated as though I were “part of the show,” spoken to as an equal and subconsciously asked to help keep things running smoothly by playing my part.

When I obtained my press pass, I was informed that I wouldn’t get any special access with it—because FAE wanted me to experience the Con from a regular attendee’s perspective. Florida Anime Experience is a “by fans, for fans” event, with the playing field courteously levelled. It’s one of the most laidback Con experiences I’ve had the pleasure of attending. Other Cons would be wise to take note.

At the beginning of my review, I made a big deal about Florida Anime Experience going for depth, rather than breadth. Naysayers may argue that FAE limits itself by restricting its theme, but it’s this singular focus that allows FAE to dive as deeply and precisely into its own Con culture as it does. If you are a fan of Japanese media—especially anime—and you live in Central Florida, then Florida Anime Experience should be on your list of annual pilgrimages.

And if you have no idea what kawaii means, who Tezuka is, or which way to read a manga, but you have a curious and open mind, then you’re guaranteed to get a hands-on, cultural crash course more fun than any other at Florida Anime Experience.

Florida Anime Experience is a three day pop culture convention celebrating anime, manga, and Japanese pop culture.

Visit the FAE Official Website

Follow FAE on Facebook

Photography by Amy Covel

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  Florida Anime Experience 2017 Otaku culture values a lot of things--community, open-mindedness, art, pocky... But two valuables I find especially prevalent among anime aficionados are "breadth" and "depth."