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canonmisogynyvictimstournament · 10 months

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PRELIMINARY ROUND - BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER/ANGEL THE SERIES

PROPAGANDA

Fred Burkle

1.) She is chronically a damsel in distress in the canon even though she has demonstrated her intelligence and ability to use weapons. The canon consistently takes away her agency over her body and ability to make decisions just to further plot. Why does she die because she gets possessed by a god for no reason </3

2.) ok I promise I'll be more normal about the other ats female characters than about cordy. fred was introduced as a genius physicist who had spent five years stuck in a demon dimension where humans were persecuted, surviving on her own and trying to somehow find a way back home. after being rescued from the demon dimension by the show's main characters, she joins the main cast and starts trying to readjust to the normal world. the setup for her character is really interesting, with her having a lot of trauma from her time in the demon dimension, feeling helpless, and struggling to become comfortable living in the human world again. but I guess because she's a Woman the show instead reduces her to just being at the centre of a love triangle with two of the other main characters, which she has almost no agnecy in and gets stretched out over like two seasons. and then after she breaks up for good with one of the guys and it looks like MAYBE she'll at least be freed from love triangle hell, the show introduces a NEW love interest for her just to keep the love triangle drama going. she basically never gets any focus or to be an active player in the show's plot aside from in a couple of episodes, pretty much being reduced to just a damsel in distress. and as if all that wasn't bad enough, fred's story ends with her being killed by a demon that takes over her body and destroys her from the inside out in a way that isn't Technically a mystical pregnancy but is like. close enough to one and presented close enough to one for it to count. (if you read the cordelia submission and are perhaps thinking to yourself jesus christ did they actually fridge both their main female characters in exactly the same way? Yes. Yes they did.) the demon in fred's body then allegedly becomes a new member of the main cast but the show does pretty much nothing with this character and she doesn't play any important role so it really does just feel like fred died for no reason other than to make her boyfriend sad. This is because fred died for no reason other than to make her boyfriend sad. It fucking sucks but I guess it's not like she got any agency or development when she was alive either

3.) Poor Fred. Amy Acker is a fantastic actress and Fred had the potential to become a truly wonderful character - a brilliant scientist who goes through intense trauma and finds her purpose in helping other people. I have a lot of love for her. Unfortunately she was the victim of a lot of really misogynistic writing. For starters, a lot of her characterisation falls into the ‘quirky weird girl who’s hot but doesn’t realise’ camp which Joss Whedon is fond of. Like other examples of this, her trauma is turned into something quirky which fades away once they get bored of it. Also, she becomes completely sidelined and silenced in a love triangle where the feelings of the man pining over her are given all air time, and her own opinion is never mentioned. Additionally, she’s constantly sidelined in the final season after being made the token girl, and is finally killed off unceremoniously to generate drama and pain for the aforementioned man who was pining over her. And you know what the worst part is? She still gets off more lightly than Cordelia.

Cordelia Chase (CW: Pregnancy)

1.) (downs an entire bottle of vodka and slams it back on the table) SO. CORDY. Cordy started off as a supporting character in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. At the start she was your typical high school mean girl character, but as the show went on we got to see more depth to her character: her insecurities, her courage, her capacity for incredible acts of kindness. Then after the third season she moved into the show's spin off, Angel, where from the beginning she was basically the show's secondary protagonist. Her and Angel were the two mainstays of the show's main cast, she gets the most episodes centered on her out of all the characters aside from Angel (and yes, I've checked), and we really got to see her grow from a very shallow and self-centered and kind of mean person to a true hero who was prepared to give up any chance at a normal life to fight the good fight while still never losing the basic core of her character. There were some… questionable moments like the episode where she gets mystically pregnant with demon babies and things got a bit iffy like halfway through season 3 where the writers seemed to run out of ideas for what to do with her outside of sticking her in this romance drama/love triangle situation with the main character but overall, pretty good stuff right? THEN SEASON 4 HAPPENED. In season 4 she gets stripped of literally all agency and spends pretty much the entire season possessed by an evil higher power, and while possessed she sleeps with Angel's teenage son (who BY THE WAY she had helped raise as a baby before he got speed-grown-up into a teenager it was a whole thing don't worry about it) and gets pregnant with like. the physical manifestation of the higher power that's possessing her. it's about as bad and stupid as it sounds and also is like the third time cordy's got mystically pregnant in this show and like the fourth mystical pregnancy storyline overall (you will be hearing more on that note in other submissions I'm so sorry). after giving birth she goes into a coma, in which she remains for the rest of season 4 and the first half of season 5. SPEAKING OF WHICH DON'T THINK SEASON 5 IS GETTING OFF SCOT FREE HERE. yeah so in season 5 the show just FULLY starts trying to erase cordy's existence. she gets mentioned ONCE in the first episode and then never again until halfway through the season where she wakes up, helps out Angel for a bit and encourages him in his fight against evil, and then goes quietly into that good night and dies so it can be all sad and tragic. I'd call it the worst fridging of all time but even THAT feels generous because the whole point of fridging is killing off a female character so a man can be sad, and after Cordy dies basically no one's even sad about it because the show immediately goes back to pretending she never existed. she is not mentioned ONCE in the two episodes after she dies. in the whole stretch of time between her death and the end of the season she gets mentioned exactly four times. again, I counted. anyway the fun twist to all of this is that all of this happened because the actress who played cordy got pregnant before season 4 and joss whedon was so pissed off about this affecting his plans for the show that he decided to completely fuck over her character and then fire her and write her out of the show. so cordy's a victim of both writing AND real life misogyny!! good times!!

2.) OH SO MANY THINGS they menaced by giving her terrible hair cuts, making her seem like she'd get together with the guy she loves (and who loves her back) but instead she was killed and when she was brought back, she got possessed by an evil entity who used her body to give birth to itself. afterwards she was in a long coma and died. her character was so throughoutly assassinated

3.) She got demonically pregnant TWICE - there was this real sense of a womb/ability to get pregnant as like, a place for evil to get in. She got positioned as femme fatale and evil mother. The actress basically got fired for being pregnant, and when she agreed to come back for a single final episode she specifically said they could do anything but kill off the character. Guess what happened

#polls #preliminary round #cw pregnancy

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dangopango00 · 1 month

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The Amazing Digital Circus and Escapism

A/N: Just watched and I LOOVEEEE cooking theories for these kinda of Youtube Series even if they turn out to be wrong so Heres the incomprehensible youtube comment I made just now bye

I like to put preliminary theories for series like this and my theory for this is that the circus is some kind of representation of escapism and/or maladaptive daydreaming

1. There's a shit ton of religious symbolism, maybe suggesting that the circus is supposed to be “heaven” although it has underlying hellish elements. For example, cain being portrayed as god and the fact that he doesn’t seem to really get why anyone would want to leave. In contrast, his name references the brother of abel who was cursed by god for his jealous rage. Not only this but, how everything is generally upbeat but there are momentary mental breaks when they are brought back to reality.

2. Reality is often blurred: The characters are real people but its suggested the lines are easily blurred like in the fact that pomni gets attached to a character that was never real to begin with or the fact that cain hints that it can be hard to tell the difference between real characters and npcs

3. Anecdotal but the fact that everyone seems to have a different vision for how the adventures should be played out: Jax wants action and violence, ragatha just wants something stimulating and pomni wants something comforting; the fact that jax gets upset when his vision isn't fulfilled feels very similar to mishaps when maladaptive daydreaming

4. Glitches and the video game setting overall: Idk if its just me but in maladaptive daydreaming its very easy for the mind to wander or mess up, causing a “glitch” in the story which I think is very similar to the glitches in the show

More UTC

5. The concept of VR itself is pretty much one step away from active escapism and although a bit of a stretch, I think the fact that the characters can’t take off their headset references their unwillingness to live in reality rather than actually being forced

6. Character behavior: How pomni goes from extremely weirded out to accepting and even slightly enjoying the circus feels very reminiscent of how it feels to first start maladaptive daydreaming as its an entirely odd thing to do but when you get into it it turns out to be fun and you keep doing it for hours. Ragatha is also interesting because she seems to ignore reality in favor of keeping herself sane, even ignoring devastating truths she realizes when she moves on from her mental breaks so quickly which is pretty much what maladaptive daydreaming is.

7. Exit: When pomni makes it to the exit and sees the desk setup with the headset, she began to lose her mind and instead of going forward to the next door she started going back (i think). I think this was her momentarily remembering how she felt like nothing in real life but in the circus she could be the main character (i think she struggled with feeling like nothing in the real world because of how much she brings it up and sympathizes with gummigoo, probably feeling like an npc irl) though either way she leaves the scene, likely not wanting to remember how her life was before.

8. Abstraction: Since we haven’t seen much of it Im still not completely sure but if I had to guess— I think abstraction is when you completely separate yourself from reality and live in a daydream full time since abstraction means “The quality of dealing with ideas rather than events” which is pretty much what escapism is; I think abstraction is likely a state of complete delusion as is hinted in the show by saying people who abstract are crazy

Overall I think the digital circus is probably either about escapism in general and/or a commentary on how we distract ourselves from serious topics almost as if we are children protecting ourselves from real life.

#the amazing digital circus #digital circus #amazing digital circus #tadc pomni #tadc #tadc jax #tadc ragatha #tadc theory #tadc caine #tadc gangle #tadc kinger #tadc zooble #ITS SO GOODDDD #I need a new episode NEOW (i just watched the new one)#I didnt research much into this but #just watching for the first time this is what I thought

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skeletonpunching · 1 year

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Buddy Daddies scriptwriter interview

Interview with Shimokura Vio (Nitroplus; original story idea, series composition, scriptwriter) and Kakihara Yuko (series composition, scriptwriter)

Interviewer: Shimokura-san, you handled the original story idea for "Buddy Daddies"; how did you establish the premise for the story and characters in the initial stage?

Shimokura: I came up with the preliminary outline. "If the setup is 'two contrasting male characters get stuck raising a child on the spur of the moment', the story will probably play out this way…" I wrote a provisional outline with that general vibe. Later on, Director Asai joined the production, and he had a very clear image of the characters right from the start, so the premise was solidified from there. The overall storyline is similar enough, I think. I first laid out a fairly orthodox flow of events, and then the director, Kakihara-san, and the producers gave their opinions, and we put it all together.

Interviewer: When the two of you were in charge of the series composition, what sort of discussions did you have in advance?

Shimokura: I don't think we had that many detailed discussions, did we?

Kakihara: There was something of a tacit agreement that Shimokura-san would do the work-related (assassination) episodes, and I would do the parenting-related episodes. After all, I do really have a child, so it's easier for me to come up with stories about children, while Shimokura-san is better at hard-boiled assassin stories - so I relied on Shimokura-san to deal with that, and when it came to the parenting stories, I boldly thought, "Now it's my time to shine!" (laughs) I guess Shimokura-san may have felt the same way.

Shimokura: That's right. Before I came on board this project, Producer Toba once asked me for advice, along the lines of, "I don't have kids myself, so I don't really know how to approach parenting." Back then, when I was still an outsider, I casually told him, "The crux of this project is people who don't understand parenting being confronted with it, so your perspective is vital as well, Toba-san!" But when I got involved myself, I realised what an outrageous thing I'd said. (laughs) Since it dealt so heavily with parenting, there were parts that I felt like I didn't truly understand. But Kakihara-san and Producer Tsuji have children of their own, and have many thoughts and practical experiences related to parenting; I counted on them to share the responsibilities as well.

Interviewer: And so you were able to enhance the realism of the parenting scenes.

Kakihara: I thought it would be fun to show cool men who usually have nothing to do with children being confronted with parenting, and finding themselves in dire straits, and all the challenges they go through. So when it came to those scenes, I deliberately made them as uncool as possible - there's nothing pretty about that portrayal. I hoped that this would make for an interesting "relatable parenting" story.

Interviewer: Amidst all of this work, was there anything each of you personally got hung up on?

Shimokura: Essentially, I was always concerned with the classic theme of "Can assassins burdened with sins find happiness?" and that was on my mind when developing the overall storyline. And something I personally enjoyed was the fact that a 4-year-old child's thought processes are totally incomprehensible. When setting characters in motion, there's usually some chain of cause and effect tying things together - "this character thinks this way, and so they act like this", and the question is how we direct that flow to develop plot points. But you really have no clue what a 4-year-old child will come up with. And on the contrary, that made things incredibly interesting. I also enjoyed hearing all the anecdotes about parenting 4-year-olds that came up during the planning sessions; everyone seemed to be in full doting-parent mode. (laughs)

Kakihara: As for me, thanks to the original outline that Shimokura-san created, my work went extremely smoothly. I was wondering, well then, what can I bring to the table? And then during a script reading, some members of the production staff very kindly said, "Now I've understood how hard it is to be a parent." When they've just brought Miri home, there's a big scene of chasing her all over the place, but that was actually written based on my own stressful experiences… (laughs) And how even her going to the toilet takes a whole lot of effort. The fact that people commented, "This must be so tough," and found it a little amusing - that brought me a new sense of joy. So, rather than approaching the parenting scenes with thoughts of "it would be cuter this way", I decided to deliberately run counter to that. I emphasised making things realistic, and that made it more fun for me as well.

Interviewer: When it comes to our duo of assassin protagonists, what do you find appealing and interesting about each of them?

Shimokura: (Suwa) Rei might seem like a certain archetype of a cool-headed character, but when you delve into him, he's full of the kind of passion Director Asai has. As scriptwriter, I was thinking in terms of "what would be more natural", but the director reflected his own thoughts and views on family, and that leaves an incredibly vivid impression. In that sense, he seems cool-headed, but has a surprisingly raw side to him, and that really fleshes him out and makes him a compelling character.

Kakihara: It took me some time to get a grasp on the relationship between the two protagonists, but the director had quite a solid image of it, and nailed down the details; thanks to that, I was able to bring things together. Rei is the kind of so-called minimalist character where you have no idea what he's thinking, but there's also a surprising level of variation between his seemingly similar expressions and lines of dialogue. Like the distinction between "blue" and "bluish purple" - that's the sort of subtle gradations he has as a character. And as a result, the impression each viewer has of him is going to differ slightly, depending on their perception; I think that's his charm.

Interviewer: Then what about (Kurusu) Kazuki?

Kakihara: The director made some significant revisions to the way Kazuki ends his lines - he ended up speaking more "coarsely" than I was thinking. I guess that's the mental image the director had. (laughs) When the director was revising the scripts, he changed all the hiragana "n" characters to katakana "n" instead. (laughs)

And with such a clearly defined image, Kazuki's character really came alive. I felt like I was chasing after Kazuki, searching for my own image of him, but I think he ended up being a brighter and more fun character than my initial notion. I also rather like the good-for-nothing Kazuki we see when he goes out drinking; when he got lured in by those girls and frittered away all his money, I remember thinking "this is an interesting guy".

Shimokura: And when that scene was actually performed by the actors during the recording sessions, it became all the more interesting. I think as a result of Toyonaga (Toshiyuki)-san's incredible performance, Kazuki also became a more theatrical character. When we recorded the bonus drama CD for the blu-ray and DVD, during the break, Toyonaga-san and Uchiyama (Koki)-san were in the booth going over the script, and we could hear them faintly over the microphones. And the director and I reflexively exchanged a glance, and said, "This is just perfectly Kazuki and Rei, huh..." In this series, the characters' charm is often enhanced by the way the actors make them their own, but I think Kazuki was a real standout in this regard.

Interviewer: Are there any other characters you are fond of?

Shimokura: I'd say (Hanyu) Anna-sensei from the daycare. In a story about parenting, it's also nice to have a presence who brings a sense of security or, how should I put it, "mama mood" - but in between, she also provides a lot of comic relief, and it lightens things up. I think that's great. She's a broad-minded character, and that type of character hasn't shown up much in the scripts I've written; she brings me a real sense of security too.

Kakihara: I like Kyu-chan (Kugi Kyutaro). Like what I said earlier about Rei's subtle gradations - I think Kyu-chan is also a character who leaves the audience with room for individual interpretations. It's very easy to run wild with fantasies of "my imagined Kyu-chan", so in the staff meetings, everyone came up with their own ideas; it was a lot of fun having everyone put things out there.

Shimokura: At first, we couldn't quite settle on an image of Kyu-chan's character; he was a vague "cafe owner" presence. Depending how things played out, he could possibly have ended up being a brawny man with a shaven head, like Umibozu in "City Hunter". (laughs)

Interviewer: But in fact, he became a mysterious and cool character.

Kakihara: He became a character who it's worth watching interact with Miri.

Shimokura: I feel like we have to thank (character designer) Enami Katsumi-san for that. (laughs)

Interviewer: As for the episodes that have already aired, what did you find memorable during the production process?

Shimokura: When coming up the idea for episode 1, I remembered us discussing "should the finale be a Christmas episode?" during a planning session. And after all, the first episode is an episode where something special happens; when I was wondering how to properly bring out this feeling of specialness, it occurred to me that it should be set during Christmas - that alone would be enough to cast a sort of magic over the script. And it would strengthen the sense that something special was really happening here. I thought that would be great.

Kakihara: At first, we had lots of trouble developing episode 1, but as everyone threw in their ideas - "Christmas might be fun", "that means there'd be a cake…" and so on - we got very excited about it. And as we considered how (Unasaka) Miri would act amidst all that, we went from "I want her to act like this" to "since she's a kid, she'd end up doing this". Everything really came together - it was like watching a chemical reaction take place. It was a lot of fun. Making it a Christmas scenario added just the right touch of playfulness, and I really enjoyed building out the story from there.

Interviewer: Now, please tell us what you think are the selling points of this series "Buddy Daddies".

Shimokura: Single men with no children, and how they lead a haphazard life from day to day - personally, I wanted to write about that aspect. Rei and Kazuki are grown men sharing an apartment; they probably don't think about the future at all. They have a sense that their current daily life as assassins will go on forever. And then the two of them find themselves confronted with the child Miri, and they start to think about their future. That's a fascinating series of events, and I put a lot of care into portraying the details. For the first time, they're seriously facing one of the possibilities for their future. I think that's what this story is about. So I hope that people will pay attention to this aspect.

Kakihara: Looking back on the series as a whole, I hope that people will enjoy watching the drama of Kazuki, Rei, and Miri… I'd say. The story has quite a solidly crafted progression, and each of them shoulders their own painful burden, but ultimately, I think it's a lot of fun watching Kazuki and Rei's relationship, and the slapstick comedy introduced by Miri's addition to the mix. The characters are each cool in their own ways. I think the most important thing is to just have a fun, relaxing time watching.

Interviewer: Finally, please give a message to everyone who is anticipating this series.

Shimokura: From here on, the full-fledged parenting episodes will start coming out. Even if you have some awareness of the struggles of parenting, you can't understand those struggles unless you have actual experience raising children. And I'm guessing you haven't really imagined what it would be like to actually share space with a 4-year-old. By having this scenario suddenly flung at you in the form of an anime, you can be exposed to a world which is unknown to you, through this fictional story - I think that will be a good experience. At least, it was an excellent experience for me. I would be very happy if everyone has a similar experience through "Buddy Daddies".

Kakihara: If I may be so bold, I'll go with the exact opposite of what Shimokura-san said. It's a story about parenting, but there are some surprisingly hard-boiled developments waiting for you in the second half of the series. Even in the planning sessions, you could feel a difference in the level of tension - the previous week we were talking about parenting, and now this week we'd be discussing people’s attitudes towards life. But it also wouldn't be right to handle those serious elements so roughly - and how should we find the right balance in our portrayal of an assassin's job? We grappled seriously with these questions, and talked through all of them. So it's a fun story of parenting, but of course, some complications crop up in the second half of the series. I hope you will accompany us through the second half of the series, including all of that.

#buddy daddies #buddy daddies interview

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jacquelinemerritt · 1 year

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Dragon Ball Z: Abridged Episode 19 Review

Originally posted on October 9th, 2015

Go Space Broncos!

So enters the Ginyu Force, and with their flamboyant style also comes one of the best streaks of episodes in Dragonball Z: Abridged. The entirety of the Ginyu Force arc (mini-arc?) is excellent, partially because it plays to Team Four Star’s strength by being a series of back-to-back high energy battles, but mostly because Team Four Star uses this series of battles to free themselves from their perceived constraints and experiment with changing the content of the show significantly.

With that said, this episode doesn’t do much of that, with the exception of Gudlo’s first attack and the Wheel of Death, as it spends its time introducing us to these fairly ridiculous characters. And it does so in a way that harkens back to the strengths of their first truly great episode, “Saiyans? On My Planet?”, by having the cast of villains and the cast of heroes engage in a shouting match/preliminary gameshow before they fight. This team of flamboyant villains interacting with our well-established and fearful heroes works incredibly well, and their brash personalities play off Krillin’s insecurity particularly well.

Episode 19 also does a really good job of humanizing Guldo, establishing him as one of Vegeta’s surely numerous punching bags, which allows us to fairly easily empathize with him, since our heroes have very recently been in a similar position. And when Vegeta throws a dog treat at him, we’re left with a twinge of pain alongside our laughter, which makes Guldo’s death all the more hilarious and poignant, as Vegeta decides to humiliate him one last time before ending his life.

The other villains don’t get this same empathic treatment this episode, but that’s alright, as they are all as well established as time could’ve allowed, with Ginyu coming off as a calm and confident leader, Burter as the “fastest in the universe,” Recoome as a classic wrestling champion, and Jeice as the charming charismatic Space Australian. It’s all a wonderful setup, and it leaves me incredibly excited for what’s to come.

Rating: 4.5/5

If you liked this review, please consider supporting me on Patreon.

Stray Observations

If you’re curious as to why I don’t refer to Episode 19 by name in this review, it’s because the title is entirely in hiragana, which I cannot read.

Ginyu: “Ginyu Force, assemble!” Burter: “Speed of light, and strength of all,” Recoome: “The Ginyu Force shall make them fall,” Jeice: “Lord King Cold’s Army’s strongest force,” Guldo: “We’ll beat them all, secure the course,” Ginyu: “If trouble meets us as we pass,” All: “We’ll shove our fists right up their ass!” Ginyu: “Ginyu Force, move out!”

Goddamn, I love Maximum the Hormone, and it makes me happy that Freeza does too.

Jeice: “Space Australia. Or more specifically Space Brisbane. Go Space Broncos!” I swear to god, this is my favorite line in the series, and I honestly couldn’t tell you why.

Gohan: “Any strategies?” Vegeta: “Throw dog treats at him.” Gohan: “How will that help?” Vegeta: “I’ll find it hilarious.”

Thank you Team Four Star for slipping in one of the best Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure references I’ve ever had the pleasure to witness. (ICYMI)

#dragon ball z abridged #dragon ball z #team four star #dbza #film criticism #dbza ep19 #👍

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govindhtech · 5 days

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Samsung Galaxy S24 FE vs Samsung Galaxy S23 FE Specs

Now that the wait is gone, Thanks to high-quality renders that trustworthy tech insider @OnLeaks leaked, we have our first look at the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE. Fans of Samsung phones on a tight budget will be excited by these renders, which provide a thorough look at the impending Fan Edition phone’s design.

Identical Designs but Thinner Profiles The Galaxy S24-inspired design is seen in leaked renders. As before, the phone has a punch-hole selfie camera on the screen and a vertically stacked triple-lens rear camera system.

After closer study, some important differences appear. Compared to the Galaxy S23 FE, the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE has thinner display bezels. Subtle changes, especially on the top and side bezels, modernise the design. Reports say the bezels are thicker than the premium S24 despite being slimmer than the S23 FE.

The location of the SIM card tray is another obvious distinction. In the renders, the tray is seen moving from the Galaxy S23 FE’s bottom edge to the Galaxy S24 FE’s side of the phone. As a result, the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE fits well with the current trend in smartphone design.

Possible Departures and Speculative Features While the design is the main emphasis of the renders, rumours about the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE’s features have also started to surface. A bigger battery is one anticipated improvement. Though reports indicate the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE may have a more robust 4,500mAh battery pack, previous FE models haven’t always had the most amazing battery capacity. For those looking for longer endurance on a single charge, this would be a great enhancement.

An additional intriguing detail stems from conjectures on the CPU. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon CPU powered the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE. Regarding the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE, there are, however, contradictory reports. Some reports indicate that it may continue with Samsung’s Exynos series, possibly using an underclocked Exynos 2400 chip, which is anticipated to power the top S24. Others make vague references to the potential for a Snapdragon model, but hard proof is still hard to come by.

While the exterior appearance is the main emphasis of the images, speculation and leaks have provided some insight into the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE’s potential internal characteristics. Here’s a sneak glimpse at what we may observe:

Processor Samsung’s Exynos 2400 chip, which powers the S24, is the most likely contender. It has been scaled back. Though there isn’t much hard proof, there are rumours about a Snapdragon model.

Display Rumour has it that the size is approximately 6.7 inches, which puts it on the larger end of the spectrum. As with Samsung’s Galaxy line, an AMOLED screen with rich colours and deep blacks is anticipated for the display type.

Camera Specifics are unknown, but anticipate a respectable front-facing camera for video chats and selfies, as well as a strong triple-lens back camera setup. It’s unlikely to match the S24��s top-tier camera experience, but it should still provide decent image quality.

Battery A 4,500mAh battery, according to rumours, could last a considerable amount of time for most people.

Aiming for the Power User Who Is Costly Offering flagship-like experiences at a lower price range, the Galaxy FE series has made a name for itself. Renders that were leaked indicate that the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE will carry on this custom. The primary design features and functionality that Samsung customers have grown accustomed to are still present, even though it may not have the thinnest bezels or the best chipset available.

Good news includes the rumoured larger battery and maybe thinner bezels. For prospective customers, the decision between the Exynos and Snapdragon processors will probably be a major one. If Samsung gives the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE a potent but effective processor, it might further establish the phone’s appeal to customers looking for outstanding value.

A Preliminary View Up Front It is imperative to bear in mind that the final design and specifications may vary from the leaked renders on which these are based. Still, they offer an insightful look into what Samsung may have planned for the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE.

Tech aficionados could anticipate a rush of further leaks and rumours in the upcoming weeks, since the actual debut is probably not too far off. Undoubtedly, the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE appears to be a compelling competitor in the mid-range smartphone segment, with a blend of a recognisable design, maybe enhanced functionality, and an affordable pricing.

Samsung Galaxy S24 FE Release Date A few months following the primary release, Samsung usually unveiled the FE variant of their flagship phones. We can anticipate the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE’s release in the autumn of 2024 if this pattern continues. Prices are not known, although given the FE emblem, it ought to be less expensive than the S24.

Read more on Govindhtech.com

#ChatGPT #AIMerge #Phone2 #smartphones #ChatGPTIntegration #chatbottechnology #technews #technology #govindhtech

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bitcofun · 2 years

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Tl; dr: In this piece we share vital lessons about the nature of the Celer Bridge compromise, assaulter on-chain and off-chain strategies and strategies throughout the event, in addition to security suggestions for comparable tasks and users. Developing a much better crypto community implies constructing a much better, more fair future for all of us. That's why we are purchasing the bigger neighborhood to make certain anybody who wishes to take part in the cryptoeconomy can do so in a safe method. While the Celer bridge compromise does not straight impact Coinbase, we highly think that attacks on any crypto service are bad for the market as a whole and hope the details in the blog site will assist enhance and notify comparable jobs and their users about dangers and methods utilized by harmful stars. If any dapps or provider believe they've been affected by a frontend hijack like this, please connect to us at [email protected] By: Peter Kacherginsky, Threat Intelligence On August 17, 2022, Celer Network Bridge dapp users were targeted in a front-end hijacking attack which lasted around 3 hours and led to 32 affected victims and $235,00 0 USD in losses. The attack was the outcome of a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) statement that appeared to stem from the QuickHostUk (AS-209243) hosting service provider which itself might be a victim. BGP hijacking is a special attack vector making use of weak point and trust relationships in the Internet's core routing architecture. It was utilized previously this year to target other cryptocurrency jobs such as KLAYswap Unlike the Nomad Bridge compromise on August 1, 2022, front-end hijacking mainly targeted users of the Celer platform dapp rather than the job's liquidity swimming pools. In this case, Celer UI users with properties on Ethereum, BSC, Polygon, Optimism, Fantom, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Metis, Astar, and Aurora networks existed with specifically crafted clever agreements created to take their funds. Ethereum users suffered the biggest financial losses with a single victim losing $156 K USD. The biggest variety of victims on a single network were utilizing BSC, while users of other chains like Avalanche and Metis suffered no losses. The opponent carried out preliminary preparation on August 12, 2022 by releasing a series of destructive wise agreements on Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain (BSC), Polygon, Optimism, Fantom, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Metis, Astar, and Aurora networks. Preparation for the BGP path pirating happened on August 16 th, 2022 and culminated with the attack on August 17, 2022 by taking control of a subdomain accountable for serving dapp users with the current bridge agreement addresses and lasted for roughly 3 hours. The attack stopped soon after the statement by the Celer group, at which point the assaulter began moving funds to Tornado Cash. The following areas check out each of the attack phases in more information in addition to the Incident Timeline which follows the opponent over the 7 day duration. The attack targeted the cbridge-prod2. celer.network subdomain which hosted vital wise agreement setup information for the Celer Bridge interface (UI). Prior to the attack cbridge-prod2. celer.network (4423521669) was served by AS-16509(Amazon) with a 44.2240.0/11 path. On August 16, 2022 17: 21: 13 UTC, a destructive star developed routing pc registry entries for MAINT-QUICKHOSTUK and included a 44.2352160/24 path to the Internet Routing Registry (IRR) in preparation for the attack: Figure 1-- Pre-attack router setup (source: Misaka NRTM log by Siyuan Miao) Starting on August 17, 2022 19: 39: 50 UTC a brand-new path began propagating for the more particular 44.2352160/24 path with a various origin AS-14618(Amazon) than previously, and a brand-new upstream AS-209243(QuickHostUk): Figure 2-- Malicious path statement (source: RIPE Raw Data Archive) Since 44.2352160/24 is a more particular course than 44.2240.0/11 traffic predestined for cbridge-prod2. celer.network

began streaming through the AS-209243(QuickHostUk) which changed essential wise agreement criteria explained in the Malicious Dapp Analysis area listed below. Figure 3-- Network map after BGP hijacking (source: RIPE) In order to obstruct rerouted traffic, the assaulter developed a legitimate certificate for the target domain very first observed at 2022--08--1719: 42 UTC utilizing GoGetSSL, an SSL certificate supplier based in Latvia. [ 1] [ 2] Figure 4 -Malicious certificate (source: Censys) Prior to the attack, Celer utilized SSL certificates released by Let's Encrypt and Amazon for its domains. On August 17, 2022 20: 22: 12 UTC the harmful path was withdrawn by numerous Autonomous Systems (ASs): Figure 5-- Malicious path withdrawal (source: RIPE Raw Data Archive) Shortly after at 23: 08: 47 UTC Amazon revealed 44.2352160/24 to recover pirated traffic: Figure 6-- Amazon declaring pirated path (source: RIPE Raw Data Archive) The very first set of funds taken through a phishing agreement happened at 2022--08--1719: 51 UTC on the Fantom network and continued up until 2022--08--1721: 49 UTC when the last user lost possessions on the BSC network which lines up with the above timeline worrying the task's network facilities. The attack targeted a clever agreement setup resource hosted on cbridge-prod2. celer.network such as https://cbridge-prod2.celer.network/v1/getTransferConfigsForAll holding per chain bridge agreement addresses. Customizing any of the bridge addresses would lead to a victim authorizing and/or sending out properties to a destructive agreement. Below is a sample customized entry rerouting Ethereum users to utilize a harmful agreement 0x2A2a ...18 E8 Figure 7-- Sample Celer Bridge setup (source: Coinbase TI analysis) See Appendix A for a thorough listing of destructive agreements developed by assaulters. The phishing agreement carefully looks like the main Celer Bridge agreement by simulating a lot of its characteristics. For any approach not clearly specified in the phishing agreement, it carries out a proxy structure which forwards contacts us to the genuine Celer Bridge agreement. The proxied agreement is distinct to each chain and is set up on initialization. The command listed below highlights the contents of the storage slot accountable for the phishing agreement's proxy setup: Figure 8-- Phishing clever agreement proxy storage (source: Coinbase TI analysis) The phishing agreement takes users' funds utilizing 2 methods: Any tokens authorized by phishing victims are drained pipes utilizing a custom-made technique with a 4byte worth 0x9c307 de6() The phishing agreement bypasses the following approaches developed to instantly take a victim's tokens: send out()- utilized to take tokens (e.g. USDC) sendNative()-- utilized to take native properties (e.g. ETH) addLiquidity()- utilized to take tokens (e.g. USDC) addNativeLiquidity()-- utilized to take native possessions (e.g. ETH) Below is a sample reverse crafted bit which reroutes properties to the assaulter wallet: Figure 9-- Phishing wise agreement bit (source: Coinbase TI analysis) See Appendix B for the total reverse crafted source code. During and instantly following the attack: The enemy switched taken tokens on Curve, Uniswap, TraderJoe, AuroraSwap, and other chain-specific DEXs into each chain's native possessions or covered ETH. The assailant bridged all possessions from Step 1 to Ethereum. The enemy then continued to switch the staying tokens on Uniswap to ETH. Finally, the assaulter sent out 127 ETH at 2022--08--1722: 33 UTC and another 1.4 ETH at 2022--08--1801: 01 UTC to Tornado Cash. Following the actions laid out above, the assaulter transferred the staying 0.01201403570756 ETH to 0x6614 ... fcd9 which formerly got funds from and fed into Binance through 0xd85 f..4 ed8 The diagram listed below highlights the multi-chain bridging and switching circulation utilized by the enemy prior to sending out possessions to Tornado Cash: Figure

10-- Asset switching and obfuscation diagram (source: Coinbase TI) Interestingly, following the last theft deal on 2022--08--1721: 49 UTC from a victim on BSC, there was another transfer on 2022--08--1802: 37 UTC by 0xe35 c. aa9d on BSC more than 4 hours later on. This address was moneyed minutes prior to this deal by 0x975 d. d94 b utilizing ChangeNow. The assailant was well ready and systematic in how they built phishing agreements. For each chain and implementation, the assaulter fastidiously evaluated their agreements with formerly moved sample tokens. This enabled them to capture several release bugs prior to the attack. The assailant was really acquainted with offered bridging procedures and DEXs, even on more mystical chains like Aurora revealed by their quick exchange, bridging, and actions to obfuscate taken possessions after they were found. Significantly, the danger star picked to target less popular chains like Metis, Astar, and Aurora while going to excellent lengths to send out test funds through numerous bridges. Transactions throughout chains and phases of the attack were serialized, showing a single operator was most likely behind the attack. Performing a BGP pirating attack needs a customized networking capability which the assailant might have released in the past. Web3 jobs do not exist in a vacuum and still depend upon the standard web2 facilities for much of their crucial elements such as dapps hosting services and domain registrars, blockchain entrances, and the core Internet routing facilities. This dependence presents more standard dangers such as BGP and DNS hijacking, domain registrar takeover, conventional web exploitation, and so on to otherwise decentralized items. Below are numerous actions which might be utilized to reduce hazards in proper cases: Enable the following security controls, or think about utilizing hosting service providers that have actually allowed them, to secure jobs facilities: RPKI to secure hosting routing facilities. DNSSEC and CAA to safeguard domain and certificate services. Multifactor authentication or boosted account defense on hosting, domain registrar, and other services. Limit, limit, execute logging and evaluation on access to the above services. Implement the following tracking both for the job and its reliances: Implement BGP keeping track of to find unanticipated modifications to paths and prefixes (e.g. BGPAlerter) Implement DNS keeping track of to find unforeseen record modifications (e.g. DNSCheck) Implement certificate openness log keeping an eye on to discover unidentified certificates connected with job's domain (e.g. Certstream) Implement dapp keeping an eye on to discover unforeseen wise agreement addresses provided by the front-end architecture DeFi users can secure themselves from front-end hijacking attacks by embracing the following practices: Verify clever agreement addresses provided by a Dapp with the job's main paperwork when offered. Exercise watchfulness when signing or authorizing deals. Use a hardware wallet or other freezer option to safeguard properties you do not routinely utilize. Periodically evaluation and withdraw any agreement approvals you do not actively require. Follow task's social networks feeds for any security statements. Use wallet software application efficient in obstructing destructive risks (e.g. Coinbase Wallet). Coinbase is dedicated to enhancing our security and the larger market's security, along with securing our users. Our company believe that exploits like these can be alleviated and eventually avoided. Making codebases open source for the public to examine, we suggest regular procedure audits, execution of bug bounty programs, and partnering with security scientists. This make use of was a challenging knowing experience for those impacted, we think that comprehending how the make use of happened can just assist even more fully grown our market. We comprehend that trust is constructed on reputable security-- which is why we make securing your account & & your digital possessions our top priority.

Discover more here Funding2022--08--1214: 33 UTC-- 0xb0f5 ...30 dd moneyed from Tornado Cash on Ethereum. Bridging to BSC, Polygon, Optimism, Fantom, Arbitrum, and Avalanche2022--08--1214: 41 UTC-- 0xb0f5 ...30 dd starts moving funds to BSC, Polygon, Optimism, Fantom, and Arbitrum, Avalanche utilizing ChainHop on Ethereum. BSC release2022--08--1214: 56 UTC-- 0xb0f5 ...30 dd releases 0x9c8 ... ec9f9 phishing agreement on BSC. NOTE: Attacker forgot to define Celer proxy agreement.2022--08--1217: 30 UTC-- 0xb0f5 ...30 dd releases 0x5895 ... e7cf phishing agreement on BSC and tests token retrieval. Fantom implementation2022--08--1218: 29 UTC-- 0xb0f5 ...30 dd releases 0x9c8b ... c9f9 phishing agreement on Fantom. NOTE: Attacker defined the incorrect Celer proxy from the BSC network.2022--08--1218: 30 UTC-- 0xb0f5 ...30 dd releases 0x458 f. f972 phishing agreement on Fantom and tests token retrieval. Bridging to Astar and Aurora2022--08--1218: 36 UTC-- 0xb0f5 ...30 dd moves funds to Astar and Aurora utilizing Celer Bridge on BSC. Astar implementation2022--08--1218: 41 UTC-- 0xb0f5 ...30 dd releases 0x9c8 ... c9f9 phishing agreement on Astar. Polygon release2022--08--1218: 57 UTC-- 0xb0f5 ...30 dd releases 0x9c8b ... c9f9 phishing agreement on Polygon Optimism implementation2022--08--1219: 07 UTC-- 0xb0f5 ...30 dd releases 0x9c8 ... c9f9 phishing agreement on Optimism and tests token retrieval. Bridging to Metis2022--08--1219: 12 UTC-- 0xb0f5 ...30 dd continues moving funds to Metis utilizing Celer Bridge on Ethereum. Arbitrum release2022--08--1219: 20 UTC-- 0xb0f5 ...30 dd releases 0x9c8 ... c9f9 phishing agreement on Arbitrum and tests token retrieval. Metis implementation2022--08--1219: 24 UTC-- 0xb0f5 ...30 dd releases 0x9c8 ... c9f9 phishing agreement on Arbitrum and tests token retrieval. Avalanche implementation2022--08--1219: 28 UTC-- 0xb0f5 ...30 dd releases 0x9c8 ... c9f9 phishing agreement on Avalanche and tests token retrieval. Aurora release2022--08--1219: 40 UTC-- 0xb0f5 ...30 dd releases 0x9c8 ... c9f9 phishing agreement on Aurora. Ethereum release2022--08--1219: 50 UTC-- 0xb0f5 ...30 dd releases 0x2a2a ...18 e8 phishing agreement on Ethereum and test token retrieval. Routing Infrastructure setup2022--08--1617: 21 UTC-- Attacker updates IRR with AS209243, AS16509 members.2022--08--1617: 36 UTC-- Attacker updates IRR to manage 44.2352160/24 path.2022--08--1719: 39 UTC-- BGP Hijacking of 44.2352160/24 path.2022--08--1719: 42 UTC-- New SSL certificates observed for cbridge-prod2. celer.network [1] [2] 2022--08--1719: 51 UTC-- First victim observed on Fantom.2022--08--1721: 49 UTC-- Last victim observed on BSC.2021--08--1721: 56 UTC-- Celer Twitter shares reports about a security occurrence.2022--08--1722: 12 UTC-- BGP Hijacking ends and 44.2352160/24 path withdrawn.2022--08--1722: 33 UTC-- Begin transferring127 ETH to Tornado Cash on Ethereum.2022--08--1723: 08 UTC-- Amazon AS-16509 claims 44.2352160/24 path.2022--08--1723: 45 UTC-- The last bridging deal to Ethereum from Optimism.2022--08--1723: 53 UTC-- The last bridging deal to Ethereum from Arbitrum.2022--08--1723: 48 UTC-- The last bridging deal to Ethereum from Polygon.2022--08--1800: 01 UTC-- The last bridging deal to Ethereum from Avalanche.2022--08--1800: 17 UTC-- The last bridging deal to Ethereum from Aurora.2022--08--1800: 21 UTC-- The last bridging deal to Ethereum from Fantom.2022--08--1800: 26 UTC-- The last bridging deal to Ethereum from BSC.2022--08--1801: 01 UTC-- Begin transferring 1.4 ETH to Tornado Cash on Ethereum.2022--08--1801: 33 UTC-- Transfer 0.01201403570756 ETH to 0x6614 ... fcd9 Ethereum: 0xb0f5fa0cd2726844526 e3f70 e76 f54 c6d91530 dd Ethereum: 0x2A2aA50450811 Ae589847 D670 cB913 dF763318 E8 Ethereum: 0x66140 a95 d189846 e74243 a75 b14 fe6128 dbbfcd9 BSC: 0x5895 da888 Cbf3656 D8f51 E5Df9FD26 E8E131 e7CF Fantom: 0x458 f4d7ef4fb1a0e56 b36 bf7a403 df830 cfdf972 Polygon: 0x9c8b72 f0d43

bachelor's degree23 b96 b878 f1c1f75 edc2beec9f9 Avalanche: 0x9c8B72 f0D43 BACHELOR'S DEGREE23 B96 B878 F1c1F75 EdC2Beec9F9 Arbitrum: 0x9c8B72 f0D43 BACHELOR'S DEGREE23 B96 B878 F1c1F75 EdC2Beec9F9 Astar: 0x9c8B72 f0D43 BACHELOR'S DEGREE23 B96 B878 F1c1F75 EdC2Beec9F9 Aurora: 0x9c8b72 f0d43 bachelor's degree23 b96 b878 f1c1f75 edc2beec9f9 Optimism: 0x9c8b72 f0d43 bachelor's degree23 b96 b878 f1c1f75 edc2beec9f9 Metis: 0x9c8B72 f0D43 BACHELOR'S DEGREE23 B96 B878 F1c1F75 EdC2Beec9F9 AS: 209243 (AS number observed in the course on routing statements and as a maintainer for the prefix in IRR modifications) Ethereum 0x2a2aa50450811 ae589847 d670 cb913 df763318 e8 BSC 0x9c8b72 f0d43 bachelor's degree23 b96 b878 f1c1f75 edc2beec9f9 0x11 f8c7cdf73 b71 cd189 bb2a7f285 dabfe8957 f9c 0xc8dd7eadef50 a659 c480 c6fa18863 e354 e12 fc4f 0x5895 da888 cbf3656 d8f51 e5df9fd26 e8e131 e7cf Polygon 0x9c8b72 f0d43 bachelor's degree23 b96 b878 f1c1f75 edc2beec9f9 Fantom 0x9c8b72 f0d43 bachelor's degree23 b96 b878 f1c1f75 edc2beec9f9 0x458 f4d7ef4fb1a0e56 b36 bf7a403 df830 cfdf972 Arbitrum 0x9c8b72 f0d43 bachelor's degree23 b96 b878 f1c1f75 edc2beec9f9 Avalanche 0x9c8b72 f0d43 bachelor's degree23 b96 b878 f1c1f75 edc2beec9f9 Astar 0x9c8B72 f0D43 BACHELOR'S DEGREE23 B96 B878 F1c1F75 EdC2Beec9F9 Aurora 0x9c8b72 f0d43 bachelor's degree23 b96 b878 f1c1f75 edc2beec9f9 Metis 0x9c8b72 f0d43 bachelor's degree23 b96 b878 f1c1f75 edc2beec9f9 The following reverse crafted agreement is based upon the bytecode at 0x2a2a ...18 e8 pragma strength ^ 0.8.0;-LRB- import "./ IERC20 sol";-LRB- agreement CelerPhish eips.ethereum.org https://twitter.com/CelerNetwork/status/1560123830844411904 https://slowmist.medium.com/truth-behind-the-celer-network-cbridge-cross-chain-bridge-incident-bgp-hijacking-52556227 e940 https://mailman.nanog.org/pipermail/nanog/2022- August/220320 html https://stat.ripe.net/app/use-cases/prefix/bgplay/S1_442352160%252 F24 _ bgplay_TMAST1660694400000 ET1660867200000 Read More

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believersiasacademy · 2 years

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Action Plan for UPSC Prelims 2022 in 75 Days?

This is when you must put in your best effort and work smart.

It would be best if you started at the end of any exam, whether it is UPSC or another. Your preparation for UPSC 2022 is complete when you see your name in the pdf. There are three obstacles. It is important to examine the plan using a strategy that was used in the previous.

Interviews with mains and prelims will be the final hurdle. The timeline will be accordingly.

Interview:

Interviews are conducted in the same period as mains, provided that candidates have received appropriate training. As you can see, you have less than three months to complete Mains once you have passed your Preliminary exam. This is not enough time for candidates.

A candidate preparing to take the 2022 Mains exam should also complete the Prelims preparation.

Mains:

We recommend that aspirants integrate their prelims and main preparation for the first 1–2 months. For mains, we recommend you allocate more time for Optional, then GS Paper III and then GS Paper II in that order.

Write two answers to each optional question every day. Two for GS. It is important to show it to your mentor or someone you trust every day/once a week so that they can provide trusted feedback.

Prelims:

Knowing each subject’s basics well, you can build a solid foundation.

You can read a newspaper, preferably the Hindu, religiously (only focusing on the exam angle).

Preliminary preparations are now closed. Preliminary exams will be held in April 2022.

We assume you have read all the NCERTs and the basics. Here are some basic hacks you can use for the remaining 75 days.

Follow the syllabus FIRST! Now is the time to ensure that you have completed the syllabus. You can finish any unfinished topics quickly or create a plan to go along with your current preparation.

Test Series! To get evaluated, it is time to join a test series. This will allow you to self-assess, which is a vital thing to do. One test per day will lead to 7500 answers before D-day.

Previous year’s question papers! Review the last ten years’ papers, and then SOLVE them with proper test setup (e.g. timing, etc.)

Stick to your timetable and follow the instructions!

Study in conjunction with the exam timings. Avoid sleeping at noon, and be active between 9 AM and 5 PM.

Daily learning should include Current Affairs and Revision, as well as question papers, tests, and questions.

Revise, Revise! The most important thing that often gets lost is the last leg. Three sessions of revision are required: One in the morning to review the topics of the previous day; second, at any hour of the day, to review the topics of last week’s most volatile topics/facts etc. and finally, third, at night before bed to revise the topics of that day.

Although it may seem excessive, it will not consume much time since the first session was the one that was the last day’s revision. It’s extremely useful for candidates.

For all subjects, go through your NOTES.

Avoid meeting gatherings like marriages, friends meet-ups etc.

Take care of your health. Taking care of your health is important, as Covid cases are on the rise.

Minimum of 7–8 hours sleep. Do not try to compensate for sleep.

#UPSC #Upscexam #upsccoaching #upscaspirants #upsc2022 #iasexam #ias academy #IAS officer #ias coaching #Bangalore

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dereksmcgrath · 2 years

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Going live in a few minutes at 11 AM EDT at twitch.tv/dereksmcgrath and youtube.com/dereksmcgrath.

On today’s stream:

Unaired ToonHeads episodes surface.

Why labor unions in both animation and education need your support.

And a live-reading of the newest chapter of the musically-focused series PPPPPP!

A preliminary transcript is below and will be corrected later.

A YouTube recording will be posted here after 12 PM EDT.

Intro

Let’s get started. Today is September 4, 2022. This is Sunday Morning Manga. I am Derek S. McGrath, my pronouns are he/him/his. I’m here every Sunday, 11 AM EDT on Twitch and YouTube. You can read my writing on Tumblr and WordPress, @dereksmcgrath, and email me at [email protected].

If you like what you’re hearing, consider a monetary contribution. Putting together this stream takes a bit of work, and your tips help pay down costs for setup and subscriptions. You can donate on my Ko-Fi, ko-fi.com/dereksmcgrath. Thank you for your consideration.

Today’s Topics

On today’s stream:

Unaired ToonHeads episodes surface.

Why labor unions in both animation and education need your support.

And a live-reading of the newest chapter of the musically-focused series PPPPPP! If you would like to read along, open up the chapter on the Viz web site. I’ll put this and other links from today’s stream into the chat window.

Postscripts

Let’s start with some postscripts from last week, continuing conversations started in last weekend’s livestream.

Shameless Plug: My Hero Academia

And, shameless plug, last Monday I had not one but two posts about the newest developments in My Hero Academia. First off, I told you why what Edgeshot did makes sense in terms of his powerset, and thematically, but in structuring the plot doesn’t really work. And second, I took bets on which members of Class 1A I think will die by the end of this, the final arc of My Hero Academia, and one character I am 100 percent certain will not die. Check these posts out–they are on WordPress and Tumblr, @dereksmcgrath.

I would like to say more about My Hero Academia, including why Bakugo as the sacrificial lamb is not working–but I’ve said enough about this plot point for at least a month, so I’m really going to try to suspend most remarks in this livestream until something more significant happens.

Personal Life

Now let’s talk about personal stuff going on. Each week, a rapid-fire list of stuff I’ve been working on since the last stream.

Web Site Updates

My WordPress, @dereksmcgrath, has more job postings shared.

Job Applications

Job Applications: I am likely having to give up on one job application, as I’m not sure I am best suited for that position. I’m still on the look-out for additional work, so any job leads sent to my email, [email protected], are appreciated.

What I’m Watching

What I’m Watching: I am behind on some viewing, so I hope to get back to certain weekly anime. I was watching a lot of content coming out of the White House, including Biden’s Philadelphia’s speech against fascism–go watch that speech, vote for Democrats this November.

What I’m Reading

What I’m Reading: This is more like “What I Want to Be Reading”--Scott McCloud this week promoted a book, Sailor Twain, a collection of the 2010 to 2012 webcomic by Mark Siegel. My research is in the nineteenth-century United States, so aside from the book being “a character named Twain who finds a mermaid while on a steamboat,” this book got my attention because real-life authors like Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and Edgar Freaking Poe show up. I want to check this one out. Why didn’t someone tell me about this back in the 2010s when I was working on my dissertation?!

What I’m Listening To

What I’m Listening To:

Just in time for this week’s Labor Day weekend discussion, RadioLab had a good topic, about how difficult it is to earn any money through Uber, Instacart, and similar gig jobs…but, editing-wise, I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t stand trying to listen. The audio keeps switching between hosts within the same edited segment for no reason, and the quirky background noises and irritating music were driving me up the wall.

In more melodically pleasing news, and maybe to get into today’s live-reaction to PPPPPP, I have been trying to hunt down, not piano music, but decent mashups of the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 theme to “Ice Cap Zone” and the original version of that song by the Jetzons, titled “Hard Times.” I finally found one that actually took a more hard rock approach like the Sonic Adventure games, without losing that chilly cool factor the original “Ice Cap Zone” theme had. It’s a remix by Cisconic and Teslarossa–link is in the chat.

Lectures I Attended

I forgot to include this in the slides, but Thursday I watched a YouTube lecture about ainu in documentaries, ahead of an ongoing free online film festival of ainu documentaries, hosted by the Japan Foundation of Toronto. The documentaries end tonight; registration link is in the chat.

And on Wednesday I sat in on a remote online seminar hosted by the American Antiquarian Society, where I was fortunate to have spent part of a summer with their pre-1900 Americas collection. The seminar was titled, “The New England Primer: Perspectives from the Collection.” One presenter was Kyle B. Roberts, and some of his remarks emerged from his essay, “Rethinking The New-England Primer,” available free online until October–link is in the chat. The primer was important for what it says about not just education in letters and reading but also domstic guidance, cooking, religion,politics–which, yeah, if you think you can talk about anything without bringing up how religion factored into it, including how it’s factoring into this current wave of rightwing terrorim, you’re fooling yourself. Roberts also went into detail how, even when it was published and taught after the American Revolution, and as it was being rerevised over and over again from its prior iteration in England, it remained a book connecting the Amricas back to English colonialism, with explicit servitude towards the King metamorphosing into skepticism as to the King’s inherent rule. This seminar will be shared in the next weeks on the Society’s YouTube page. The Society will soon have another livestream seminar with Kirsten Silva Gruescz about their book on Cotton Mathers and Spanish in the Americas.

What I’m Teaching

And speaking of Cotton Mathers and colonial America–

I had teased this last week, and now I will announce it:

The fall semester has started, and while I’m between teaching positions, I need to keep my skill set in practice.

Therefore, I have decided to do what any person with a PhD in my position would do:

Host a twice-a-week Twitch/YouTube stream where I lead an online class–with no zero credit hours available, and not affiliated with any accredited institution of higher education, so pretty much a glorified reading group, in which I offer nothing that will help any of you get credit hours towards completing any degree you are seeking, aside from gaining knowledge for free!

Yay.

Starting the day after Labor Day, I will host a stream of the American Literature I survey–that’s “Early America to the Civil War”--Tuesdays and Thursdays, starting at 11 AM EDT and ending around 12 noon EDT. The course will run for 15 weeks, skipping Thanksgiving Thursday, and it’ll wrap up on Thursday, December 15. Authors we will read in the course will have all of their assigned texts available free and legally online, including works by Edgar Allan Poe, Frederick Douglass, Phillis Wheatley, and William Apess.

As I said, this is not for credit hours, there are no grades, I will not be doing any grading or accepting submissions…but I am teaching this class for three types of audiences: anyone who is in college and needs a refresher on these authors, teachers looking for models for teaching these authors, and anyone who enjoys literary analysis.

The livestream schedule is on my WordPress–check it out, and feel free to join the discussion starting Tuesday at 11 AM EDT. I look forward to seeing you there!

Fandom Report

Let’s move onto this week’s Fandom Report for Sunday, September 4, 2022. This segment looks at recent news, not only in manga and anime but in larger pop culture, too.

Funimation Raises Subscription Prices

Funimation will be increasing subscription prices, starting October 5, with rates increasing two dollars per month for monthly subscriptions and three to seven dollars per year for annual subscriptions.

I don’t know what the point of this price raise is, or what it says about what corporate sibling Crunchyroll will do, but my advice would be to do comparison shopping to see what is the best option for legal viewing of content you enjoy.

Cartoon Network Toonheads Missing Episodes Now Online!

This week, someone leaked online two missing episodes of the incredibly informative Cartoon Network series Toonheads, a documentary-esque series tracing details about the history of animation. One episode is about some of the weirdest, most poorly animated series out there, and the other episode is about Bugs Bunny cartoons not commonly seen on TV due to their intensely racist and outdated stereotypes. The latter requires numerous content warnings with regard to racist caricatures of people who are Black, indigenous American and Native American, and Japanese. The other episode is about what it calls the best of the worst cartoons ever made. More on that in a moment.

I’m not going to share the links–go find them yourself, we can’t afford to have this content taken down.

I remember reading about these specials years ago, and I’m surprised they have finally emerged. And…I got to say, as much as I appreciated the Bugs Bunny missing shorts special, the other one, about the best of the worst, left me cold. Subpar animation is a guilty pleasure: the campiness, the goofiness, the experimental nature in storytelling, acting, music, and even animation shortcuts–if it’s not entertaining you, then you have to admit it is at least innovative, albeit derivative with the number of Scooby Doo clones. But what was particularly galling in that episode, even if you can say, “Well, they didn’t know at the time,” was the last short featured, a Droopy Dog short, that the episode just hates–but says the one shining light is that it features animation by Ren and Stimpy creator John K, which…if you know about John K, no. No. There is no bright spot to having John K involved. That actually is what sours me on that short, not the poor animation, not the weak plot–the animation by John K. Who in 2003 when the episode was written would say, “Yes, John K–that’s the bright spot here!” Ugh.

Speaking of toxic content: all of that racist content in the Bugs Bunny special is also difficult to approach. Yet that is content that is preserved, if not aired publicly, for historical value. And aside from their historical value, there is another reason to preserve such content: as we have seen, Warner Bros, owners of Cartoon Network, now owned by Discovery, does not care about preserving content, and as they are purging non-white talent from corporate leadership, the directors’ chairs, and in front of the camera, as well as shutting down animation projects, we all are going to have to do a lot more work to retain, restore, preserve, and share content that Warner Discovery is not going to release. There is something bizarrely hypocritical, and I can’t quite word it how I want to, that Warner refused to air the ToonHeads episode about racism in Bugs Bunny shorts due to how offensive those shorts were, then later decides to remove so much animation and content that is more inclusive, that is anti-racist, that is in response to the racist history behind Bugs Bunny. So, it comes across less as “we don’t want to air the Bugs Bunny special because it is racist,” so much as, “we don’t want to acknowledge racism exists at all.” It’s a failure to permit race to be discussed at all–and while I agree with removing the racist Bugs Bunny shorts, removing inclusion like the Batgirl movie is just dumb.

But, hey, just because we’re losing a Batgirl film doesn’t mean there won’t be something better to substitute for it–like more cheap-to-produce reality TV schlock from the Discovery Channel!

…Ugh, how on Earth was Ted Turner better at running a part of Warner Bros than AOL, AT&T, and Discovery?

Go Animator and Actors Unions!

And that leads to Part 1 of today’s Labor Day discussion: the importance of unions in animation and voice acting.

A lot of this is old news, but throughout 2022 there has been a lot of talk about the importance of labor protections in animation and voice acting. There have been victories: I saw remarks circulating on social media how actors working on Crunchyroll productions had pay increases for their dub work. Speaking of which, please check out the Coalition of Dubbing Actors for more information on work to be done between industry and the SAG-AFTRA actors union to improve pay and working conditions.

But then there is the value of unions for animation–as we have seen with how Warner Discovery is screwing over animation. As you have probably seen, Warner Discovery not only removed animation from its HBO Max platform but also from YouTube and other online legal sources, out of what was likely an effort to avoid paying royalties to people who worked on those animated productions. But here’s the thing–royalties are typically for actors in animation, and musicians in animation–and not typically for the animators themselves. Whatever money Warner Discovery saved, was not money that was getting back to the animators at all.

I don’t pretend to have an answer for fixing this: animators are likely at the whim of for-hire work, where residuals for your work is limited if not impossible. We already have Titmouse forming a union, we have complaints about Disney not paying their visual effects artists, animators, and staff well because they pretty much aren’t unionized.

But the Warner Discovery business is another incitement that should be motivating you, if you are a fan of illustrated work like comics and animation, to give your support to the creators far more than to the corporations profiting off of this work. It helps to commission artwork from independent artists; it helps to fund them directly. But when a corporation is able to retain the content from an animation product, and refuses to release it, thereby denying eyeballs on the work of those animators, those animators now have what is essentially their public artist portfolio taken down with little opportunity to promote their art.

Support the animators and artists you enjoy; support their unions. Go unions.

Academic Corner

And onto the next part about the value of unions this Labor Day Weekend, as I turn to this week’s next segment, the Academic Corner.

One of my specializations in teaching is in comics, so there is some overlap in this stream about what I like to read in manga, and what I like to teach from it. In this segment, I talk about recent developments in education, not all of which always connect to manga, or my teaching interest in comics, but I hope it’s of interest to you.

CFP: Due Today, Journal for Women and Gender Centers in Higher Education

Before we get to the union talk, I want to promote a last-minute project. The Journal for Women and Gender Centers in Higher Education, an open-access peer-review journal, seeks submissions from past, present, and future women and gender practitioners, as well as scholars who study women and gender centers. Manuscripts are due today at [email protected]. Manuscripts should be APA 7th edition, Word documents, and 15 to 20 pages double spaced, not including references.

What School Unions Should Do

And on this Labor Day weekend, I want to talk about the value of school unions, and why, even when they are imperfect or are not doing enough, are more necessary now than ever, and must do more to better protect the rights of workers.

Since I entered graduate school, I have worked with unions, I have been a representative of a union, I support unions.

That doesn't overlook what all unions can do better. I know that this is Labor Day Weekend, and I want it to be absolutely clear, that unions are needed, and anything I’m going to say is in support of the presence of unions, the importance of being a union member–and the importance of pushing your union to do better for all workers, especially those who are marginalized, those who are abused, and those who are trying to survive this pandemic.

A union is only as strong as its weakest links. One of those weak links was I: I didn’t go to enough union meetings, I didn’t keep an eye on enough union elections coming up, and I didn’t file complaints to my union when I thought I was being exploited.

But I also thought my union was not expressing an interest in what I was going through, or what I see happening in education.

If the union is not concerned with supporting the most marginalized amongst us, it is not living up to its full potential.

For example, I can appreciate how UUP, my previous union in Buffalo, New York, recently came out in support of reproductive rights after the Supreme Court's idiotic decision on Roe, local Buffalo Starbucks union organizers, and also came out in support of strippers unionizing. All of that is good.

And yet I rarely see messages reminding us that our teaching should be anti-racist, that our work spaces should be unequivocally in support of LGBTQ+ rights, and that COVID is not over. I can look at how university unions are failing educators and staff. I have stories to tell, such as feeling pressured to come into work before I had completed my COVID vaccinations, to do in-person work that could be done from home.

This week the White House hosted a 90-minute online talk with the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association, to discuss COVID responses. The talk began with Joe Biden’s efforts to re-open K-12 schools. I look at COVID spread in this nation, and I know there are schools without what they need: mask mandates, remote learning options, ventilation in buildings. We are not doing enough. We need unions to do more, to dig in heels to demand these guidelines.

Universities and colleges have lost many protections against COVID; in my previous position, as I was exiting it, there was no requirement for employees to be vaccinated, while students were required to be. After I left that position, mask mandates went away. After I left, remote working options are going away–and, as I alluded to, contingent on my contract renewal was a return to in-person work that could have been done remotely for my safety but was not clearly offered as an option. What kind of a union can’t fight to make sure the most vulnerable are protected against COVID? And no, a wishy-washy “we can’t make you be vaccinated, but we encourage you to get vaccinated” is not enough.

I have seen unions in the past make deals that I now think were not as helpful as they could have been to the employees they represented, I have seen unions install people who, personally, I think were not only unqualified for those positions but, based on what I experienced firsthand when working alongside those specific people, they created toxic work environments for me and others and hence had no business defending workers from the same kind of toxic work environments they were creating. Historian Tim Lacy wrote this week on Twitter, “A not insignificant number of academics pursue the brass ring of tenure for use as brass knuckles on fellow academics.” I have seen such academics; I have seen them rise in power within institutions; to then see any of them given leadership positions within any union is a joke.

I know all of that probably sounds miserable. It is. And that’s not even getting into another story too long to tell here, about how, in graduate school, as I directly and explicitly and loudly supported a plan to raise wages for graduate students, somehow that got to my department chair who said he heard I had said the opposite, that I was advocating to pay graduate students _less_–and how that moment made me more reticent to speak up in defense of labor if some liar was going to tell the department chair I was saying the opposite.

Despite setbacks, all of what I said above is why you need a union, because you still need them, and need to reform them to be better, so that everyone feels that they are protected in the workplace and do not feel like they can’t come forward to ask for help. My support for unions is in spite of setbacks, not only out of an ideal that workers deserve safety and compensation that is not only fair, not only life-sustaining, but more than that, but also because pragmatically they work--without unions, our ability to create better working conditions are at the whim of employers that cannot be trusted a priori but whose trust by us is based on our knowledge that we have legal protection for our wages and protections, and that we have a united response to walk out.

(Granted, this requires a long discussion about how, as a New York State employee, walking out was not a legal option, and how being in Florida a lack of a stronger union base compromises any strike, but those are topics for another Labor Day. On this Labor Day weekend, go unions.)

Other Resources

I don’t want to end on a downer about how much more work remains to do in labor’s fight for protecting workers. So let’s see what other resources are out there to help educators, beyond protecting your job and your health.

Cathy Davidson and Christina Katopodis [KA-toe-poe-dis] will host an online interactive session about their new book, The New College Classroom, with sample teaching strategies and activities that are more inclusive and anti-racist. The free online event goes from 3 to 5 PM EDT on Wednesday, September 7; pre-registration on Zoom is required; registration link is in the chat.

The web site science-latte.com shared advice for PhD recipients preparing for job interviews in industry.

The Disabled Academic Collective provides resources and spaces for discussion if you are a disabled individual in higher education or know someone who is a disabled individual in higher education.

SA Chant and Clarion West are hosting a fiction writers’ workshop online titled “Building Trans-Inclusive Worlds,” November 5 and 12, tuition for both is $120 with discounts available for those of limited means and free seats set aside for BIPOC writers to attend for free. Link is in the chat.

And Dr. Tolu Noah has a resource for how to use Google Documents' built-in citation feature.

Live-Reading: PPPPPP Chapter 47

Okay, I’ve been talking about a lot of stuff. If you’re listening on video, you’re hearing me. But many of you may be following along to the transcript for this livestream. And I want to talk about what happens when traditionally visual content is trying to represent auditory content. In particular, how do comics represent music? So let’s wrap up this livestream as we do every Sunday, with a live-reaction to a new chapter that has come up and that I haven’t read. And today’s live-reaction will be trying to enjoy music without getting to hear any music–not just because of copyright strikes on YouTube and Twitch, but because comics are usually a silent medium. This is PPPPPP, Chapter 47!

I am going to get into spoilers for PPPPPP, so if you want to read along, open Chapter 47 on the Viz web site–I’ll include the link in the chat.

In the previous chapter, Chapter 46, Lucky’s sister Mimin cast her vote for Meloli in the piano competition that they were both competing it–and both said they loved each other. Whether to read that as romantic, I’m not sure–but given the cover to Chapter 45, let’s go ahead and say it is. So, Mimin voted against herself in her own competition to give that vote to Meloli. Meanwhile, Sadame, the protagonist from the prequel to PPPPP, is about to start his competition against Sorachika, Mimin’s sleepy and melancholic brother, and the odds Sadame will win is unclear.

But that was what happened last week–let’s talk about what the series is first.

Beginning in September 2021 and written and illustrated by Mapollo Sango, AKA Mapollo 3, PPPPPP is about Lucky Sonoda, a boy who has been considered a failure.

Reading from TV Tropes:

“Lucky Sonoda was born as one of the septuplets in a music family. His father, Gakuon Otogami, is a world-renowned pianist who won a lot of acclaimed and prestigious concurs. Naturally, Lucky has always been fond of playing the piano. However, after the divorce of his parents, separated from his siblings, and being shunned by his maternal relative, he becomes reluctant to play one. He is aware that his mediocre talent and lack of fantasy are the roots of all and source to blame. Lucky also set into a mediocre life, contrasting his siblings, who now get billed as The Otogami Sextuplets, geniuses of the music world. Seeing this, his bedridden mother encourages Lucky to play piano and enroll in a musical school, both for proving Gakuon wrong and granting Lucky's own wish to play together again with his siblings on the same stage.”

PPPPPP is not the first comic about piano playing and it won’t be the last. Two of my favorite anime and manga have music as a core component; Nodame Cantabile and Soul Eater. But those two series had the benefit of me encountering their anime first before ever looking at the manga, so I got the audio long before I read the manga.

Maybe it’s me, but I have such a pet peeve about visual content trying to represent music without having an audio component present. That’s a silly complaint where I come from and where my accessibility needs are. After all, comics themselves have always translated auditory to visual content; look at word balloons in a comic, the very essence of transferring what you hear to what you can see.

Still, with so much discussion about making comics more accessible to people with visual impairments, I wish it was more mainstream to have audio components to comics. I wish it was almost like those children’s picture books that sometimes had a battery-power audio sampler, where when you saw an icon in the book, you were to press a button to get that audio sound. Granted, video comics–vomix–that Shueisha sometimes includes for their Jump series is one option, and I’ll talk in a moment about that with a PPPPPP vomix that Shueisha released last week. But it doesn’t feel like enough.

Almost a year ago to the date, on August 12, 2021, I attended an online symposium, “Adapting Comics for Blind and Low-Vision Readers,” hosted by the Longmore Institute on Disability at the San Francisco State University, and it was so informative, making me aware of accessibility limitations in comics that I had not considered, and introducing me to technology that was making comics more accessible by use of smart devices, touch, and the haptic vibration setting on your phone to indicate when you change to a new panel, new speaker, new page, and so on. What do you do, then, when you have a comic like PPPPPP that is not auditory but trying to communicate what is auditory, and what happens when you can’t see it to hear it? I don’t have an answer–this is a lot of rambling as I try to figure out what we as comics scholars and appreciators should be doing to make stories and art more accessible, and I’m still trying to find solutions.

Without sound, PPPPPP depends on visual cues to communicate the music, and what it makes you feel. That’s not really new: without doing a “dawn of time” argument, since we had illustrations, we have had to use them to communicate not just what we see but also what we smell, taste, hear, feel, and think.

Sometimes, a comic can quickly represent a sound very quickly without needing much more set up. I think it was Chad Thomas who drew Blues in the Archie Comics adaptation of Mega Man, and all Thomas needed was one panel to communicate, “There, that is how Blues learned the Proto Man whistle.” But communicating what that sound makes you feel is complicated. For something like Mega Man to work, you needed to know the games to realize, “Oh, I remember that Proto Man sound!” It’s a comic that still depends on intertextuality, on your familiarity not just with the Mega Man franchises in video games and animation but also with the sounds of them. Again, the comic by itself is not doing enough.

I did a live reaction weeks ago to Akane-banashi, regarding the challenge of showing how a rakugo performer pulls in the audience with their acting skills, when comics don’t let us hear the changes in voice or the pace of speech to get into the performance. One way illustrator Takamasa Moue works around that limitation in Akane-banashi is by having the rakugo performance on stage fade away until we have an illustration of the story they are telling. But that’s not the same as translating music. Akane-banashi just shows you the plot of the rakugo story in illustrations; how do you show music when it’s what you hear, not what you see? It’s like that old Lewis Black routine where he screams that music videos suck because everyone’s experience with music differs, and making it something concrete like a music video saps us of so many other ways to visualize that content. It’s why AMVs are both a blessing and a curse in anime fandom: sometimes, there is one video that you think is the best ever at using Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” so that you can never do another one with another anime, and other times there are 4,000 versions of Marilyn Manson’s “This Is Halloween” set to various Halloween-y themed anime, and most of them are Soul Eater.

But PPPPP has an even bigger challenge, that being, how to represent music as a communal listening experience. This manga has numerous piano concerts. Each one is making that audience see and imagine one thing. I don’t know how that works–I’m not that musically inclined, but imagining that every member in the audience would imagine the same thing hearing the same music is not persuading me. I still think each person’s experience is going to differ, even when an audience’s reactions re fueling each other. But PPPPP does what we’ve seen in Nodame Cantabile and other music-based comics and animated series, that being, the audience starts picturing locales and actios and set pieces to make up for what the music can’t show.

And a lot of that does work. PPPPPP is trying to do that approach from Monsters University: you may not be the best at something, but you are still good at what you do, even if you are “mediocre.” The series does try to equate being mediocre with being authentic, which, that can be divisive: it’s more like, “authentic could mean you are mediocre or great–it’s not inherently going to lead to only one of those results.” The story is, even if you don’t think you are good at something, if you enjoy it, keep doing it. And, boy, is that a general piece of advice applicable to a lot of us who think we suck at the stuff we enjoy doing: writing, talking, teaching, or even playing video games, getting through our jobs. I can tell stories about jobs I really enjoyed–and then lost them because of toxic environments.

Another detail that works in PPPPPP is the “family separated” plotline, which helps propel the serialized narrative–almost like a collect-athon arc of many shonen series, or a tower crawl arc, where Lucky has to retrieve each sibling, has to beat siblings in piano contests. Nothing comes easy, characters don’t just win their competitions, there are setbacks, the main victory is deferred. Whereas a sports series like Haikyu or Hajime No Ippo has to have the protagonist win enough matches before we give up on the hero, given how subjective art can be, we can accept Lucky and his siblings not winning all of their auditions and competitions, because art is subjective.

As well, the artwork is unique and quick to identify as distinctly Mapollo’s, but it’s also evocative of Madoka Magica. And when you look at a video comic released Thursday on the Jump YouTube channel, once you add some animation and music, all of that increases the Madoka vibe. I think that was the right choice, because the characters’ faces, eyes, expressions, and poses, combined with the trippy imagine spots when the audience surrenders to the music, and the heavily symbolic choices in those character designs and in those imagine spots, all lend an uneasy atmosphere that complements just how violent and traumatic have been the experiences for Lucky and these other musicians. Compare this to, say, Your Lie in April–which, remarks for another time, but I _hated_ that anime–where the trauma is at the forefront, compared to PPPPPP, where the representations of trauma are more subtle, inherent to every symbol and bit of art, permeating throughout, so that such a vibe is ever present and not just kept for moments of shock value.

So that’s all that is well-done in this series. But what isn’t working in this series? Well, for one thing, there are many characters that I lose track. As a collect-athon, where Lucky is trying to reunite with each of his six siblings, that is an unavoidable challenge for Mapollo to address. And I’m not sure the story pulls that off.

Each time I read a new chapter, if that chapter is not about Lucky, I get less invested. This sadly includes the current plot around Mimin and Meloli, which occupies a lot of the previous chapter, including a love confession. That should rope me in–but it’s not, their story is not speaking to me as much as that of Lucky, are protagonist.

But even when my focus is on Lucky, our protagonist, even his motivation is not grabbing my attention: he was motivated to reunite his siblings before their mother died, and I don’t even know whether his mother has died of her terminal illness yet. The doctors in the series anticipate she has two more years to live, but we’ll see.

And while I praise the art a lot, I admit I do get lost in a lot of it, and I end up speeding through a reading, more for the images and paneling than the story–so, yeah, I am a hypocrite, after spending years whining about anyone who is reading comics for the art more than the story, while I tend to skim through PPPPPP each week just to see what bizarre choices Mapollo is making in the art designs.

And a lot of my opinions on this series are out of ignorance. I admit there is a lot more about the series I’m not familiar with. I only just learned it’s technically a prequel to a one-shot by Mapollo, Dadadadaan. In fact, the protagonist of that prequel, Sadame, is the last person we see in the cliffhanger from Chapter 46. So, a lot of that prequel has some relevance to this plot, but so far it has been more like, “Oh, same setting, so you are bound to run into those same characters.”

And I’m guessing that is what will be happening here, running into those same prequel characters as we jump into the live-reaction to Chapter 47 of PPPPPP!

[LIVE REACTION TRANSCRIPT TO BE INCLUDED HERE]

Contact (and Hire) Me!

Thanks for listening to this week’s stream of Sunday Morning Manga! Did you enjoy this new chapter of PPPPPP? Or do you have other remarks? Please add them to the comments section–I will respond to whichever ones I can.

And if you did like what you heard, then all I can say is: hire me! Borrowing a line from The Professional Left Podcast with Driftglass and Blue Gal, this is not only something I want to do, I consider it a job. I work in teaching and conference organizing, a decade or close to a decade of experience in both. I am currently seeking work in teaching, copyediting, research assistance, writing, or conference organizing. Job leads are welcome: please email them to [email protected].

And Ko-Fi tips are appreciated: feel free to kick in a few bucks at my Ko-Fi–the web address is ko-fi.com/dereksmcgrath–no spaces or periods or underscores in my name.

And that’s not a photo of me–that’s a photo of two authors in my American Literature I course, Frederick Douglass and Phillis Wheatley. Teaching about the nineteenth century is important to me: so much of our current popular culture emerged from that time period. And a lot of my drive is getting to talk about it. So if you would like to hear my thoughts and join a discussion about the literature of this time period, please join me in the new livestream starting this Tuesday. The American Literature I survey will meet twice a week, Tuesday and Thursday, starting at 11 AM EDT and running for about an hour. This livestream is intended to help any students who need a refresher or are preparing for such a class, teachers who want to see sample lessons and how to connect these authors to each other, and just anyone who enjoys literary analysis. Please check out the stream this Tuesday at 11 AM EDT on Twitch and YouTube, username dereksmcgrath. Thank you for your consideration.

Next Time

And thanks again for joining this stream, and if all works on my end, I will now direct you to another stream, the Black Comics Chat on Twitch. I’ll be back next Sunday for another Morning Manga edition, where we look at extraterrestrials as an allegory for immigration and family separation–I’ll be looking at the newest chapter of the recent series Aliens Area. I’ve been Derek S. McGrath. You have a good afternoon. Bye.

Links from Today’s Stream

My Links

Twitch

YouTube

Tumblr

WordPress

Ko-fi

Series Discussed

My Hero Academia

PPPPPP (vomix)

Soul Eater

Nodame Cantabile

Aliens Area

My Shameless Plugs

Bakugo’s Resurrection

Who Will Die in Class 1A?

Live-reaction to Akane-banashi

Personal Life

Biden on democracy

Scott McCloud on Sailor Twain

RadioLab on gig economy

Cisconic and Teslarossa perform Sonic 3

Ainu documentaries free online this weekend

“Rethinking The New-England Primer”

American Antiquarian Society upcoming livestream on Cotton Mathers and Spanish in the Americas

My American Literature non-credit course, starting Tuesday

Fandom Report

Funimation will be increasing subscription prices

Coalition of Dubbing Actors

Disney not paying their visual effects artists well

Titmouse unionizes

Academic Corner

The Journal for Women and Gender Centers in Higher Education seeks manuscript by today, [email protected], APA 7th edition, Word documents, and 15 to 20 pages double spaced, not including references

White House talk with the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association to discuss COVID

Tim Lacy on abusive tenured academics

The New College Classroom Zoom talk registration

Advice for PhD recipients preparing for job interviews in industry

The Disabled Academic Collective

“Building Trans-Inclusive Worlds” workshops registration

Using Google Documents' citation feature

Other People’s Awesome Stuff

One Punch Man / “Don’t Stop Me Now” AMV

Professional Left Podcast with Driftglass and Blue Gal

Black Comics Chat

#toonheads #labor unions #pppppp #manga #livestream

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