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breezesummers · 3 years

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If you love poetry, especially multimodal/visual poetry, please let me rave to you about these authors who just presented their new books at a live reading I attended:

The live reading, titled “HYBRIDITIES: ‘Daughter Isotope’ X ‘Failure Biographies,’” was hosted by a person named Elæ (they/them), a representative from The Operating System & Liminal Labs.

They began with a note on Land Acknowledgements and each speaker was encouraged to provide a visual description for attendees who were unable to see them for any reason. The group featured a number of nonbinary, trans, and queer artists and authors, and the event was very inclusive!

Every title is posted on The Operating System’s Open Access Site as they are published, in order to keep works accessible and prevent gatekeeping. Please check out this link to access the works for FREE: https://www.theoperatingsystem.org/os-open-access-community-publications-library/

If you can afford it and would like to financially support these authors and artists, please follow the links I’ve included below!

CAConrad (they/them), “Amanda Paradise: Resurrect Extinct Vibration”

Click here to access Conrad’s website and to learn more about this queer author’s poetry: https://linktr.ee/CAConrad88

Here is an excerpt:

"To know glitter on a queer is not to dazzle but to / unsettle the foundation of this murderous culture / defiant weeds smashing up through cement." - CAConrad, Amanda Paradise, from a poem dedicated to all those they had lost to AIDS.

About the book: “The poems in AMANDA PARADISE: Resurrect Extinct Vibration reach out from a (Soma)tic poetry ritual where CA flooded their body with the field recordings of recently extinct animals. Foundational here are the memories of loved ones who died of AIDS, the daily struggle of existing through the Corona Virus pandemic, and the effort to arrive at a new way of falling in love with the world as it is, not as it was.”

Amanda Paradise can be purchased here: https://www.wavepoetry.com/products/amanda-paradise

Bishakh Som (she/her), “Spellbound” and “Apsara Engine”

Click here to access Som’s website and learn more about this transgender artist’s comic poetry: https://www.bishakh.com

Spellbound is Som’s autobiographical work. More information and excerpts can be found here: https://www.bishakh.com/project/spellbound/

About Apsara Engine: “The eight delightfully eerie stories in Apsara Engine are a subtle intervention into everyday reality: a woman drowns herself in a past affair, a tourist chases another guest into an unforeseen past, and a nonbinary academic researches postcolonial cartography. Imagining diverse futures and rewriting old mythologies, these comics delve into strange architectures, fetishism, and heartbreak.”

Apsara Engine can be purchased here: https://www.feministpress.org/books-a-m/apsara-engine?rq=apsara

Johnny Damm (he/him), “FAILURE BIOGRAPHIES”

Click here to access Damm’s website and learn more about his work, which combines multimodal elements such as comics, Depression-era photography and lines from found postcards: https://johnnydamm.com

Here is an excerpt:

“Art of itself is of little or no value if…it does not effect a change / in the behavior of human beings.” - Noah Purifoy via Johnny Dam, Failure Biographies

About Failure Biographies: “ Damm (The Science of Things Familiar) upends the usual fare of celebratory biographies of successful lives by finding inspiration in artists who tried and failed to change the world around them. Using collage techniques to mash up vintage horror and sci-fi comics like Tomb of Terror with WPA photography from the Great Depression, Damm documents forgotten lives and plumbs great meaning via unusual, macabre visuals that manage to jibe with their real-world subjects’ lives.” (From Publishers Weekly)

If you want to hear Damm go deeper into the process of creating 'Failure Biographies,’ check out his interview here: https://medium.com/the-operating-system/true-and-irrevocable-failure-9a4dc2d5db9d)

Failure Biographies can be purchased here: https://www.theoperatingsystem.org/product/failure-biographies/

In addition, you can purchase Johnny Damm’s “FAILURE” t-shirts here (I think these are very cool - follow Damm in embracing failure): https://dammnation.threadless.com/designs/failure/mens/t-shirt/regular?color=gold

The Operating System also has a Redbubble featuring Johnny Damm’s “I am an exhibitionist” Failure Biographies merch (also looks very cool): https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/86916700

Also check out “The Science of Things Familiar” — Johnny’s 2017 OS project: https://bookshop.org/books/the-science-of-things-familiar/9781946031037?aid=4259&listref=os-class-of-2017

And finally, the love of my life:

Vidhu Aggarwal (she/they), “DAUGHTER ISOTOPE”

Dr. Vidhu Aggarwal is an English and visual poetry professor whose work is surreal and utterly brilliant. They also combine poetry with visual elements, such as comic collages. I’ll include photos from Daughter Isotope in a reblog of this post.

About Daughter Isotope: “Daughter Isotope is a book of “hybrid” poems that speaks to multiple iterations of ‘daughter’ tropes across generations, national borders, and timescales. Central to the question of the Daughter Isotope is: What is a collective archive? Within a global, disparate, migrant cultural space. DI is organized in a series of four ‘clouds,’ calling up the vague, penetrable borders of our digital lives, both searching and searchable.”

If you want to hear Aggarwal go deeper into the process of creating ‘Daughter Isotope,’ check out the interview here (also appears in the back of the book): https://medium.com/the-operating-system/a-cloud-poetics-b6f81cb5ac75

A quote I like from the book which I feel reveals an overarching theme:

“The diasporic entity as hacker breaking into this encoded world.”

Daughter Isotope can be purchased here: https://www.theoperatingsystem.org/product/daughter-isotope

There are also two different merch series for Aggarwal’s work on The Operating System’s Redbubble: https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/86922313

Thank you for reading all of this if you have! I really think these experimental artists are doing some cool and important work. Once again, if you would consider purchasing their books or merch and are financially able to, please do! If not, check them for FREE here: https://www.theoperatingsystem.org/os-open-access-community-publications-library/

I hope they inspire you as much as they’ve inspired me.

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ssdiamond · 5 years

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A Breakthrough in Live Video Music Performance

I am not one who normally reviews concerts in which I played. But last Saturday night’s concert at The Soma Yoga Center in Highland Park, NJ was so extraordinary, I think it would be worth an exception. So let’s call it a review not of my concert, but a concert by Don Slepian and video artist Brian Van Korn in which I participated.

A little background first. Though Don is mostly known as a composer-musician, I was introduced to him as an avant-garde video artist back in the 1980s. Don Slepian’s electronic compositions, most notably “Sea of Bliss” is part of the founding canon of “ambient” or “space” music. He also created the ethereal theme music for the classic radio show “Hearts of Space.” Still, I met him first as a video-artist. I had been working on a concept album with the legendary record producer Tom Frost. Tom had been the original producer behind some of the most successful records in classical music, crossover hits such as “Switched-on-Bach” and “The Greatest Hits of 1720, et al. Our project was called “The Greatest Hits of 2150”. What the classics would sound like in the future when played by aliens on different planets. (Tom Frost is much better known though as being the record producer of the likes of Vladimir Horowitz.) So I first worked with Don using real time video synthesis for the music video we were concocting to go along with the record. (You can’t imagine the befuddlement when we presented our video to the august and aged executives at the leading classical music record companies . All this was well before MTV.)

Back then, Don was working with real time analog video synthesis. Much like analog music synthesis, you could also use video oscillators to create pallets of colors and shapes in real time. His goal was to perform music and video live – improvising both in real time. The link included in this post leads to “Sunflower Geranium”, a sample of Don’s work from that time.

So now let’s move forward to last Saturday night. Don has created a new digitally enhanced technology to reintroduce live video synthesis, This time, instead of trying to run both elements simultaneously, he recruited the artist Brian van Korn. The idea was to use live video-art as part of the improvisation. Maybe the best analogy would be to think of an improvising trio, made up of two musicians and a dancer. Though in this case, the dancer is light and abstract imagery.

It is a concept that has been toyed with for years. After all, every major rock or pop concert has a light show of some sort. And today, more and more new music performers are incorporating multimedia elements. But nothing has come close to my reckoning as to what happened last Saturday night.

So what was it like? First, we used a giant LCD screen. Projecting imagery against a movie screen or against a wall creates a pale, 2-dimensional image. The difference between light emanating from a monitor, versus reflected, is dramatic. The colors are rich and saturated and almost jumps off the screen. Van Korn’s computers were preloaded with collections of imagery and software. The “vocabulary” included Van Korn’s own excellent abstract art work, as well as fractal imagery that was constantly evolving and in motion. (Fractals are recursive mathematical formulations that generates endlessly repeating patterns that in theory emulate the organic imagery found in nature.) Another element was video feedback. This is an older analog technique where you set up a camera that films the actual TV screen creating a feedback loop – similar to audio feedback. When used subtly, it creates a rich tapestry of images and flow. And finally, there was additional digital generated images and effects.

The effect? Essentially, it was a jam session – with music and light playing against each other as equal partners. So what is the difference with the light shows seen at rock music concerts? In this case, the light truly was part of the actual improvisation, musician and light interacting, playing off each other in real time. The impact was mesmerizing. The audience was on the edge of their seats leaning forward throughout. Over my career, like any musician, I am pretty savvy at watching an audience and gauging the impact of a set. Rarely have I seen an audience so focused, so intense, taking in everything.

Playing in this new medium had its own challenge. Normally in an improv, I both watch and listen to the other players, picking up both auditory and physical cues. Part of the discipline here was trying to bi-or is it tri-furcate my brain to follow Don’s sound and keyboard gestures, as well as look at the metamorphosing psychedelia on the screen. At times, it was so hypnotizing that I had to remind myself that I am performing and should focus on the music that I am playing.

Like any new technology (the machinery was born a mere two weeks before the performance) there were issues that needed to be refined. And like any open jam session, there were moments when the improv wandered and needed to be tightened. Still, despite the few flaws, the audience loved it. Everyone was buzzed afterward, discussing the possibilities, many excited with their own ideas of where it may all lead.

We are not quite sure of next steps, except looking for other venues to try it out – though hopefully with easier access (hate to admit it, but – we are getting to old to lug all the equipment up narrow staircases).

Finally, Don Slepian once again proved himself. As I have always said: If you want to hear or see the future take the pilgrimage out to Don’s and Jan’s house in the Poconos – a hybrid structure that is part home, theater, and laboratory – a cauldron of new ideas. Some ideas go nowhere, others flower into the very edge of what is coming. But get there sooner than later, for as the world catches up, Don may have already moved on.

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resbang-bookclub · 6 years

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AMA Transcript: bouquet garni

Next up, @skadventuretime, @guacamoletrash and @jamesfalt (Souly on Discord) stopped by to chat about their Resbang, bouquet garni! Here’s some of what went down:

Q: Madi, how did you come up with everyone's characters, like Harvar being a gaming streamer and Tsu and Liz being farmers etc. etc. because I thought those were all really unique and interesting!

madi: Ahaha let's see, I started planning this back last... May? and talking with the beta crew, as one does. And naturally marsh [ @marshofsleep ] , enabler that she is, just put it out there.

madi: And I was just playing a bunch of overwatch at the time and thought he'd be a good gamer nerd, and also I had decided to make this Extra self-indulgent, so I was like “my city now”. I basically poured all of my friend feels into [Harvar] and Anya in particular. The past couple years have been rougher for me, but I've had some really spectacular friends, and I decided Maka and Soul needed them, too.

Q: The part with the sword and stuff, I just…

madi: OH THAT ahahahaha. Okay yeah that was end of Resbang crunch time and me being extra 'fuck it.'

madi: That was what the team thought about that.

Q: Artist-chans, what programs do you use and how does your arting process go? And how is guac so good at playlisting??

Souly: I use paint tool SAI :0 I might still have some of my progress pics, lemme look.

guac: Lol. I don't think I'm super good at it but I do enjoy music a lot and like to make playlists so maybe that's it!

Souly: Yeah here we go. Mid lining.

I did it a lil differently than I normally do. I normally line everything and then do flats but I was actually super behind bc of life stuff so I just started doing flats per character after their lines were done. This is a sample of what the layers look like:

madi: Man how do u keep track of ur layers? Or is it like, a sixth sense?

Souly: I go off of the little layer previews and hope the layer has what I'm looking for.

madi: LOL that sounds like me.

Souly: I also like... tend to set up layers for characters a specific way so I can normally find those?

guac: BRUH THAT'S SO MANY LAYERS.

Q: Did you have a favorite character to write? 8)

madi: I just love writing Star being balls to the walls ridiculous. The saxophone thing came about because I saw this video and was like oh my god it's Black Star in the flesh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMyqasy2Lco . But I also really liked writing Maka being sort of the one with issues, too.

Q: Which character in your fic did you most identify with? And was it purposeful or accidental?

madi: Iiiiiiii'd have to say I identified with [Maka] the most this fic, for once. Usually it's soul, but I ended up pouring a lot of myself into her, and it was both purposeful and accidental how it all worked out.

Q: I’m surprised, because there were a lot of things I noticed about Soul that I know are you-things!

madi: Yeah!!! I definitely can't help that with him, they both got a lot of me.

Q: I know you said this fic was super personal and self-indulgent so was it generally pretty easy to write because of that, or did you have trouble?

madi: Hmmmm yeah I definitely had some trouble. About 20k in, I sort of lost the emotional thread of it, and whined a lot to Bones [ @adulterclavis ] about what I could do to fix it, and it turned out that I just needed to talk to someone about it to find where I wanted to go again, and then it got easier. I still struggled for sure not having a traditional Big Antagonist plotline thing, it was more personal and then Maka's mom… Bones let me cry in her inbox about writing.

Q: What brought about your characterization of Mama Albarn (who i still hate btw >: ((( )?

madi: You are not the only one...

guac: I'm always ready to fight her.

madi: Okay so, basically Mama Albarn came about just from how I used to (and still sometimes do) talk to myself. It's that internalized idea you always have to be perfect, and if you aren't given everything you've been given and have, then you're weak and a fuckup and how dare you not be the best? DEFINITELY a toxic mindset, and Bad. And this fic was sort of exorcising that, a little. This was an external abusive deal, but you can absolutely develop abusive thought patterns towards yourself, and you can also free yourself from them, like Maka was ultimately able to.

Q: Was there a scene in particular you really enjoyed?

madi: I heckin’ loved the butt lamp scene. It honestly kept me going, knowing I'd be able to write that monstrosity. And also drunk Kid, who marsh aptly named Five Drink Amy. AND THEN GUAC skl;dfkld. So there was this, right, and then guac

madi: Which linked to THIS PIC:

madi: And we all could not stop laughing.

Q: What was the hardest part to write?

madi: I got stuck at the end of chapter 3, and I ultimately added another section on to it to make it work, but I think deciding how I wanted to transition from her debauched night out into a Soul POV chapter given what I wanted each person to sort of be faced with was probably the hardest thing for me. This whole deal was largely driven by me groping in the dark at what felt right.

Q: PS I loved the debauched night out. And Patty's drinks.

madi: I loved patty in this!! Bones wanted to marry her, so I know it Worked Out. She was another fun one to write, as were her drinks ahaha.

Q: What was your favorite thing about this Resbang in particular?

madi: Oh jeez, hm. I think my favorite thing was doing a better job fleshing out the side characters in Harv and Anya and Kid and Star. That was something I regret not doing better in my older work, so I'm happy I got to try my hand at giving people other than Soul/Maka some personality.

guac: They became such a cute little chosen family.

Q: Why a food-themed story specifically? What about that appealed to you? (For everyone!)

madi: (Apeeled).

Souly: I fucking love SoMa. [And] the cooking aspect really drew me in... idk why but I've always had a thing for those kinds of things with anime I'm into?

guac: My current relationship started with them teaching me how to cook real food cause I used to eat like a garbage can, so I was like ‘welp this is gonna be hella cute, count me in.’

madi: Omg, I didn't know that, that's ADORABLE.

guac: Shhhhh. I don't talk about my feelings very much. But yeah. I was like ‘a SoMa AU about my life!!!’

Souly: Honestly yeah same, I feel like I also like... connected with Maka about being poor and just buying shit to eat.

madi: Let's see, I had a prompt sitting in my inbox FOREVER that was like 'I’m obsessed with a food blogger who writes about cheap ways to be gourmet in your 20s and I flirt with them over comments but they never post pictures of their face and ALSO there’s a really cute grocery bagger at the store down the street who teases me and always asks to join me for dinner and I definitely want to say yes AU' that I was initially gonna go with, and originally it was a little closer to this deal. My first blush ideas for this sort of had the drama in not knowing who was whom, and the big reveal being the climax, or something like Maka thinking Soul was taken because she thought he was involved with the comment girl and then that whole drama. But then I thought that that sorta thing had been done before, and I wanted this to be less about the drama of the reveal and more about the process of them growing closer, I guess. And I also looooooove cooking and baking, so that definitely bled through.

Q: I thought it was a neat shake up how you didn’t make the reveal the crux of the whole thing.

madi: Ahahaha yeah, I definitely thought about it, but ultimately wanted this to be less 'gasp, it's YOU!' because the reader knows, and if I wanted to make the reader invested, I'd have to keep them apart and do the kinda drama I wasn't feeling for this fic. The insta bit came about because I spend some time looking at food pics before I go to sleep, and that provided a lot of insp for that section. Half of my degree is in nutrition, so I like to see the recipes people come up with, and also roll my eyes at some of the bougie stuff, because insta is definitely a Platform for that, depending on where you end up haha. Also like, I definitely took some things I've experienced flat out and added them in, like Harv shoving Maka electrolyte packets. Last year when I was deep in the sad pit, my diet was terrible, and I knew it, but I wasn't doing much about it. And then one day I was talking to Bones and my leg muscle kept spasming, and she was like dude when was the last time you've gotten minerals and I was like .....oh. So she sent me a link for those packets to hold me over on days I wasn’t getting them from my diet ahaha. Bones is also where some of Kid came from, and bits of Anya.

Q: Where did you get your recipes? I want a cookbook based on this fic p...please.

modi: Okay okay let me find some of the recipes that inspired things:

https://showmetheyummy.com/crockpot-mexican-chicken-recipe/ https://www.instagram.com/p/BfWNxv9HuHg/?hl=en&taken-by=thefeedfeed.

[Bones] was also the steak recipe insp!

madi: The kitchn, thefeedfeed, showmetheyummy, minimalistbaker were all feeds that I was inspired by, and then I just improv’d from there, because I have cooked all or most of the things I described in there. AND IT'S WHERE MAKA'S CUPCAKE GAZING CAME FROM. LOOK AT THE GLORIOUS MOUNTAIN OF ICING https://www.instagram.com/p/BaRGvjGDBpr/?hl=en&taken-by=thescranline

Q: Did you feel like your writing has changed at all during writing this?

madi: Yeah, for sure! I thought that this year I got better at characterizing people, adding some personality to them that was a little more nuanced than I'd done before. I think I absorbed some of Bones's longer sentence style, which I personally tend to like even though I am still getting a handle on it, and I think I got better at describing things in general. Next step is being better with plot and tightening up the language a little more >:) Most of the changes, I think, were sentence style and how I handled dialogue, which is usually harder for me.

Q: Artists: did you learn any new techniques that you plan to practice or improve on any you've been trying to learn?

Souly: Oh yeah, I learned doing flats as I go with lines actually speeds up the process slightly... I practiced a different lighting technique that I never did end up going with but I kinda figured out what I need to do to make it work. It sadly just didn't work with how I set up this pic.

madi: Oooo nice, linework is Intimidating but you made it look easy.

guac: I am just glad to force myself to make stuff. Glad to be here. Thought my drawing of bodies got better (thanks Black Star).

madi: Y'all don't understand the sound I made when I saw guac drew the apron.

Souly: That Blackstar pic is my fave.

Q: WHAT'S NEXT, everybody? ;D

madi: >;) well, I have a secret project that I thought of last year that I am not yet sure will be a Resbang or a chaptered dealio, so I want to pick at that. Then I have a chaptered Star vs the Forces of Evil fic I need to update, and I owe Pip [ @paperypiper ] like two or three Noragami fluff pieces, and SILLY’S BDAY SMUT. Which will proabbly be like a whole year late but whatever I’m sorry, I will try to make it extra spicy.

Souly: I'm signing up for a few zines! I'm currently waiting for them to open apps but I'm looking at an Enstars zine, FMA tarot project, and some YOI zines. I was also recently in the Soul Eater reversal zine that just closed preorders the other day so I'm waiting to be able to post my piece :0

guac: I'm arting for the BNHA big bang and mostly consumed by school. Who knows what will happen next! There's a little pop punk lyrics + anime project I'm working on so maybe I'll show it to the world someday soon. We will see.

madi: OH YEAH I’m writing for that bang too! AND GUAC GOT ME AS AN ARTIST. It's the ultimate resonance.

#AMA transcripts #rbbc #resbang book club #bouquet garni

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deafeningsandwichfun · 7 years

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I saw @imaultrabossbruh‘s post and out of boredom. Why not? If you do not find me anywhere close to interesting, I agree... Bold if you relate and edit in the () Have fun!

APPEARANCE:

I am 5'7" or taller (I’m 1 inch away!)

I wear glasses (I admire them but don’t have any)

I have at least one tattoo (The fear of future sagging skin)

I have at least one piercing (Only my ears...)

I have blonde hair (I’m already yellow so nope)

I have brown eyes (Typical)

I have short hair (I used to but not anymore)

My abs are at least somewhat defined (Wish I got them abus)

I have or have had braces (Nope I struggle with flossing instead)

PERSONALITY:

I love meeting new people (Sometimes? I guess it’s alright)

People tell me that I’m funny (I have a dark sense of humor)

Helping others with their problems is a big priority for me (I care)

I enjoy physical challenges (Depends on how hungry I am)

I enjoy mental challenges (I like crosswords and anything with knotting)

I’m playfully rude with people I know well (My siblings, friends, NEVER my mother because that’s just wrong)

I started saying something ironically and now I can’t stop saying it (I’m not a broken record)

ABILITY:

I can sing well (It’s decent)

I can play an instrument (Guitar until I had textbooks and work)

I can do over 30 pushups without stopping (Bravo! I can’t even do one)

I’m a fast runner (I like to think there’s food running away for dear life in front of me)

I can draw well (There’s always someone better out there, but personally I’m getting there?)

I have a good memory (Yep, I like learning)

I’m good at doing math in my head (Need a calculator sometimes because I doubt myself)

I can hold my breath underwater for over a minute (I broke my nose a few times in my life so I’m a goner)

I have beaten at least 2 people in arm wrestling (I was one of those two people)

I know how to cook at least 3 meals from scratch (I’m proud of my instant ramen trend)

I know how to throw a proper punch (Wish I was Saitama but end up as a wimpy punch)

HOBBIES:

I enjoy playing sports (I got bad aim)

I’m on a sports team at my school or somewhere else (Again I got bad aim if you know what I mean...)

I’m in an orchestra or choir at my school or somewhere else (You need a screeching parrot or a cat on piano? I’m one of those.)

I have learned a new song in the past week ([MV] Zion.T _ Yanghwa BRDG) ; I now play on loop)

I work out at least once a week (Nah... I’m lazy.)

I’ve gone for runs at least once a week in the warmer months (I don’t recall the last time I ran a mile)

I have drawn something in the past month (Slower than a slug)

Fandoms are my #1 passion (Education)

I do or have done martial arts (I’ll wait for the opportunity)

EXPERIENCES:

I have had my first kiss (Nope, I got my Mentos)

I have had alcohol (Yes but never overdrank)

I have scored the winning goal in a sports game (I’m sitting on the bench)

I have watched an entire season of a TV show in one sitting (It’s never enough.)

I have been at an overnight event (I’m staying home)

I have been in a taxi (Cramped in the back)

I have been in the hospital or ER in the past year (Nope)

I have beaten a video game in one day (Yes and I felt like a master until blackout)

I have visited another country (Vietnam)

I have been to one of my favorite band’s concerts (Physically:nope; mentality: yes)

RELATIONSHIPS:

I’m in a relationship (Nope and I don’t plan to)

I have a crush on a celebrity (Nope)

I have a crush on someone I know (Kind of? We never talked after confession.)

I have been in at least 3 relationships (Nope)

I have never been in a relationship (Lust! I tell you lust!)

I have asked someone out or admitted my feelings to them (I was an idiot)

I get crushes easily (Nope, one was enough)

I have had a crush on someone for over a year (Same person on bullet 3)

I have been in a relationship for at least a year (Nope)

I have had feelings for a friend (Nope, just hormones messing around)

MY LIFE:

I have at least one person I consider a “best friend” (Two and they’re all I could ask for)

I live close to my school (15 minutes of slumber on the bus)

My parents are still together (Divorced)

I have at least one sibling (One older sister and one younger)

I live in the United States (I’m a legal U.S. resident by birth)

There is snow right now where I live (Nope, not a single drop)

I have hung out with a friend in the past month (Through hangouts and email, not physically)

I have a smartphone (I got no phone)

I have at least 15 CDs (All from my relative and singers’ mix-tape)

I share my room with someone (My siblings and gosh I’m always falling off the bed)

RANDOM SHIT:

I have breakdanced (I broke myself trying to)

I have had a teacher with a last name that’s hard to pronounce (I was teased a lot because of it)

I have dyed my hair (Nope, I’ve seen too much)

I’m listening to one song on repeat right now (Still there? It’s still [MV] Zion.T_ Yanghwa BRDG))

I have punched someone in the past week (I want to so bad.)

I know someone who has gone to jail (Nope)

I have broken a bone (My nose got no bone, does it count?)

I have eaten a waffle today (Waffle House! Go and get one! They’re delicious. Totally not sponsored)

I know what I want to do with my life (I’m not for certain yet.)

I speak at least 2 languages (English,Vietnamese, and Español (Spanish))

I have made a new friend in the past year (Yes and they’re all the joys to my pitch-black heart)

My next victims are @ask-the-failed-american, @soma-chan3r, @theplaytheroist, @adoreinstore, @srryicntbprfct, @shemzei. Anyone looking at or reading this is automatically tagged.

#me #all about me #I found out how boring I am #Goodtimes

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cosmosogler · 7 years

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today i did a lot of laying around. not literally laying, but otherwise being lazy.

i don’t know why i feel so confused... i feel really disoriented in my dreams, and sometimes i am sort of unable to follow what’s going on as it happens. and then i stay confused after i wake up for a little while. and my head hurts, because of course it does.

in the morning i chilled out i guess. guess what i didn’t work on? that’s right, the self esteem worksheet!!! i will try again tomorrow.

at around 11:30 i gave up hiding in my room because my eyes and head were starting to hurt and made myself some pasta for lunch. i ate a few bites and then threw it away. even a pile of parmesan cheese couldn’t encourage my stomach. then i drove out to my therapist’s office and talked about stuff. i think we got somewhere this time.

it’s hard to explain in non-conversation form. and i’m not sure how to start.

i went through a quick demonstration of my family tree and talked about some stuff regarding the hawaii trip coming up in a few weeks. i realized that i can see her the week we leave though since we’re leaving on thursday and my appointments are on tuesdays. so that was kind of a relief. and i went through my plans in the case that i am unable to continue group therapy, and in the case that my coverage gets re-approved.

and then we talked about my self esteem worksheet. i talked about some of the stuff i brought up yesterday in my post, but i decided not to talk about my dreams because there just wasn’t enough time.

... it’s strange. i don’t particularly like anything about myself, but it’s not like i don’t make what i think are the best decisions in the situations i find myself in. so, like, i’m not being an asshole on purpose at the very least. i don’t understand why i hate myself so much. like yeah i was a pretty nasty teenager... as teenagers can be. but these days? i don’t hurt no one on purpose except myself. and also bugs i guess.

maybe i used to understand why i hate myself, or at least had a solid goal in mind with it, but i forgot. maybe it’s because i’m not eating enough. it’s hard to remember what happened this morning let alone a couple weeks/months/years ago. the plus side of not having enough energy to think is that you don’t think about things too much. the downside is, of course, that you CAN’T think about things too much.

i gotta... look at my worksheet and write some new rules down. i’m too tired right now and my eyes hurt too much. my eyes hurt while i’m typing this too but i gotta think some stuff through and i won’t be able to keep track of my train of thought unless i am writing it down. and i type a lot faster than i write.

we’ll come back to that later. after therapy i had trouble getting home because the construction guys are doing the other half of the roads in my neighborhood. at least i wasn’t the only one who had no idea what was going on. i saw grooves and tire tracks all along the wet pavement on basically every road. some turns were completely blocked off but you couldn’t see that until you were at the turn. i had to get out of the neighborhood to the access road through the entrance. it was pretty lucky that no one was trying to get in. there’s a wall blocking off your view of the access road until you’re halfway onto it.

then i watched three whole episodes of soma which was reallllllllllly obnoxious with my headache. i jumped so hard at one of the scares that i pulled something in my knee. afterward i talked a little bit about philosophy and existence and stuff with asher. like... what would it be like if you met a digital copy of yourself.

after that i took the dogs outside for a while, and watched mom and dad leave for the movies, and made myself some potatoes in the oven. they turned out really good! i even ate most of the meal. about three quarters. and i put away some of the ornaments that my brother and i had taken down from the kitchen shelves to clean. and i dusted, i forgot about that. i might have to dust the game room a lot more thoroughly, or try to convince mom to JUST THROW AWAY THE BARREL MONKEYS. JUST THROW THEM AWAY!!! I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHERE THE BARREL IS??? WE JUST HAVE TONS OF INTERLOCKING PLASTIC MONKEYS SCATTERED AROUND THE GAME ROOM AND THEY MAKE IT HARD TO CLEAR THE SHELVES BECAUSE THERE’S RANDOM JUNK THAT MAKES EVERYTHING TAKE FIVE TIMES LONGER TO GET OUT OF THE WAY. not to mention the plastic mountain that we used to play with my sister’s polly pockets on. it was a completely different color when i had finished dusting it. none of us has touched that thing in at LEAST ten years. mom keeps all our old toys like “oh maybe YOUR kids will want it someday!!!” and it’s like “mom this is a broken jagged piece of a lego.” all of the links have syrup on them from when my brother never washed his hands. we’re still clearing cheeto dust out of the gamecube controllers’ buttons...

there’s so much random crap taking up space on the game bookcase. like “clue jr.” instead of digging through MY room and messing with MY stuff when i’m not home maybe mom could focus on cleaning the public areas of the house???

i’m still really angry that she went through all of my things while i was away. i keep my room devoid of anything incriminating of course anyway but being reminded that she really will just come in here and dig through my box of letters from grandma pearl or whatever was... frustrating. i don’t got “anything” to hide (that’s in my room at least), but that still doesn’t give you permission to just go through it any time you like. you don’t HAVE to know that i’ve used about half of my stationery and have a stash of stamps. you don’t HAVE to know that i kept the paper andrew hussie autographed and it’s in my closet.

i am so glad that i go to great lengths to hide stuff like the queer superhero comic i bought. by keeping it on me at all times. or just keeping my room such a mess that it’s impossible to find anything.

i do need to clean my room... i could do that tomorrow. i got eve to successfully use the stepping stool to get on the bed today. so i don’t really need to block off every other access point to the bed any more. and if she starts trying to jump up there again i can just move the bins back. there doesn’t need to be random stuff all over the floor too.

then i watched another episode of soma and here we are. i spent a while clicking through web sites aimlessly... sometimes you just want to look at pictures of gay space rocks ok? i’ve got two episodes of soma left.

self esteem. i guess the best way to approach having a better self esteem is to not overthink it? overthinking isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it can lead to a lot of uncertainty... it should be similar to the best approach to being “happy,” or at least, at ease. just... invest your attention in what you’re doing right now. crowd out the misery with a bunch of fun things that you want to be part of.

that doesn’t cure depression of course, and there’s gonna be times where you’re just gonna be depressed (or not think highly of yourself), but it’s a good habit to get into anyway.

at this point... i think it’s important to figure out where the low self esteem is coming from, and what exactly it is i’ve been telling myself all these years. i need that information in order to change it. it’s gonna feel bad... but maybe it won’t come back unexpectedly any more.

still not really sure where to go from here. doing the writing exercise might help. i will try to get back on top of my pile of garbage tomorrow morning. i’m going to go to bed early tonight to try to give myself enough time to sleep for once. i haven’t been sleeping enough on top of not eating enough and it’s wearing me out really fast. i also need to call the group facility at like 12:30 to figure out what my next step will be. either i can go back that day, or i gotta wait longer. there’s not really any way to know until 12:30, so i will try not to worry about it until at least 12:00.

another thing i can try tomorrow is, when i finish soma, to load up one of the tv shows i got a few episodes into and then stopped watching. i need to see something new. and i’ve got like a dozen tv shows in my bookmarks that i’ve wanted to get to but never had time/energy. may as well plow ahead now.

i feel like i should wrap up the post soon, but it’s only 11:40, which feels... too early. but i don’t really have anything else coherent to say. just a lot of feelings that i don’t know how to articulate right now.

maybe i should draw some fan art. maybe that would help me feel a little better and less bottled up. i don’t really have a lot of outlets with which to express my enthusiasm. most of the time i just feel like i’m going to explode.

i hope you are doing ok, and that you have a pleasant night. or at least... less unpleasant than usual, if that’s how it’s going right now.

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ais-n · 7 years

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some random updates and manga commentary

I read more manga than books usually, but then don’t always say much about it because idk, usually I just have a thought or two and then move on. Sometimes I do these posts where I mention a bunch of series in one place in passing. If that sounds interesting, read on.

But first:

I’m fucking obsessed lately with One Piece Treasure Cruise somebody stop me I have problems I already spent $10 on it help

Ok, now onto manga mentions, commentary, etc:

I bought the latest Livingstone volume (4) and was all excited to continue reading that series only to realize unexpectedly the other night that it was the end of the series. MAN. It’s been awhile since I watched Deadman Wonderland but I seem to recall feeling the same way about that as Livingstone, only maybe less dramatically so, and that’s this: the creator is the same for both series, and comes up with really interesting ideas and throws in some interesting characters. But then the story itself feels like it ends before it explores the concept as deeply as it could or should. It’s not that I recall Deadman Wonderland’s ending being terrible, and it’s not that Livingstone necessarily had a bad ending either; it’s just that I feel like it ends right as it’s developing, so some of the impact is lost on me because I feel like so much more story still should have been told.

Finally got caught up (again) on Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler and D.Gray-Man. I’m seriously getting worried about Hoshino’s health for DGM :( I’m so worried something will happen to her that is more permanent even than has happened already, and I’m also worried the series will not be able to end properly as a result. Which is really sad to me because I want Hoshino to be okay, and I want her and her readers to not have any regrets about the series itself. I wish she would get an assistant to draw for her while she dictates the story, if for no other reason than to preserve her health more, but I imagine she is hesitant to do so because she has such a beautiful art style and it has to be incredibly difficult to struggle against health issues when you know once upon a time you easily could do far more than now you struggle to achieve. It’s so sad :( I don’t want her to push her health beyond its limits. Ganbatte, Hoshino! :( As for Kuroshitsuji, I swear to god that series is simultaneously the most ridiculous and sometimes most amazing thing XD I’ve been pretty embarrassed by the whole pop star thing because idk lots of reasons, but that’s happened for me before on other arcs that have happened and it always swings its way back. Anyway regardless I love Ciel and Sebastian and everyone and YES UNDERTAKER YESSSSS. Also, it’s been cracking me up seeing how much Soma seems to be having a ball in the latest arc XD

Just realized I’m a couple chapters behind on Magi, that’s the next thing I need to catch up on. Also I need to check on Love Stage!! because it’s been months since I last looked. Yotsuba&! came out with a new chapter too! But I need to read it still. Same with a few BL manga I’m following whose names I’ve managed to briefly forget so I have to track that down to look for updates ugggh I’m real good at this lol

btw did I mention I watched the Seven Days live action movie awhile ago? Because I did. I liked it! I was worried I wouldn’t but I did. I mean, I fucking love Seven Days so that’s probably no surprise, I just rarely watch live action of manga or anime, especially BL, so that’s why I wasn’t sure how I’d feel. But oh my god they paid so much attention even to little idiosyncrasies and movements! Good job, guys, good job

I still need to read Haikyuu!!, I don’t know why I haven’t yet. It’s my goal to do so at some point, because so far I’ve only seen the anime and read the first 2 volumes, and I want to read everything and be up to date with others!

I started Black Clover and was pretty excited about it but then it started pulling full on bullshit fanservice moves in the 3rd volume or something and it annoyed me so much I stopped reading... I should probably start up again but ugh, so sick of unnecessary fanservice

WAIT have I read the latest Noragami?? ....Shit yes I did I FORGOT ok so that series THAT SERIES goddamnit I love that series...

Same with Natsume Yuujinchou like goddamn, just as soon as you think surely you won’t cry at some new story in it because surely you’re immune by now, the series is like “So anyway here’s this really bittersweet or heartwarming-slash-heartrending story I’ll casually throw out there and Bee-Tee-Dubs, just a reminder that as nice as Natsume is, his life will probably always be a pretty sad and precarious mess because he cares too much about both humans and Ayakashi”

which now that I’m thinking about it is a bit Allen Walker-like.... no wonder I love both Natsume and Allen; they both are stuck in between all these other things but don’t use it as an excuse to hurt or hate others; if anything, they hurt themselves while trying not to hurt others. I just really love characters and people who don’t use misfortune as an excuse for harming others

There’s probably more but I’m getting so distracted by this gif faded in the background on tumblr that I can’t focus omg wut

Oh right, I hope Gangsta comes back sometime in the future. They have some spin off out I think, right? Based on Marco Adriano, called Cursed? I’m debating if I should give it a try.... Actually I don’t remember, maybe I bought the first volume and haven’t read it yet lolz0r Anyway if anyone’s read it, is it as good as Gangsta? The thing is, I don’t really care about Marco, so that’s why I haven’t read it yet. Not that I hate him or anything but I feel pretty meh about reading something solely based on him so I’ve hesitated. I mostly like Gangsta primarily for Worick and secondarily for Nicolas, and then I liked others like Doug, and it’s not like I hate the rest of the characters but they work best for me as the background to Worick and Nicolas’ story. So idk.

Similarly, I gave up on Dogs! Bullets & Carnage around volume 9 mostly because I love one character (Badou all the way, motherfuckers!) and am mostly ambivalent or not in love with the rest. Badou totally carried the series for me in the beginning, when he and Heine had all those great interactions, but now Naoto’s more prominent with Heine and I’m like bleggggh not a fan of Naoto almost at all, and Heine’s okay but I feel like he’s kind of a non-character so he doesn’t really work as the primary MC for me. The pacing of the story is not the best so it makes it harder for me to care about what’s going on. Basically I just want the series to follow Badou around and tell me occasionally about the crazy shit the others are getting up to. Give me a spin off on Badou and I’ll buy that any day! Come on! Anyway so if anyone is still reading that, I’m just curious if I should keep going... I’m a little curious about what the hell is even going on with the plot and background and etc but mostly I just want more Badou :( ...wait a second, I just saw there’s a prequel called just Dogs, that may be more along the lines of the story I want to read. I want just Dogs, man! Did I read it already years ago? Fuck if I can remember...

I also gave up on Tokyo Ghoul:re after it was so incredibly different from Tokyo Ghoul and the pacing and just everything kind of fucked around with what I was hoping to read as a continuation of that series, and in particular with me wanting to see more of Kaneki. I’m months behind at this point and idk man. I will probably read further at some point because I do think it’s an interesting world and I liked a number of characters in Tokyo Ghoul quite a lot, especially Kaneki. But :re has just been... I’m trying not to say mean things lol it’s just that I guess the pacing and style and story and character designs and just everything is basically like a whole different series. Which would be fine, if that was what I wanted. But what I wanted was more Tokyo Ghoul, so I’m disappointed so far. idk. I don’t think I’ve given up completely on it. I just think I have to wait until I’m in the right mood...

That just randomly reminded me I never finished Claymore. That was another series that started out interesting but then idk. The pacing or story or what just dragged a lot after a while, or made it difficult to follow. I should finish it sometime I guess. I think I probably only have a few dozen chapters to read to end it.

I did the same thing with Shingeki no Kyoujin/Attack on Titan... I was pretty obsessed with it when I first started reading it, then the story/style started wavering around the same time I got caught up with Japan and had to wait for new chapters, I read as chapters released for a few months, and then idk. At one point I just got too annoyed/frustrated with the series and stopped reading. I guess that’s another series where maybe I should wait until it’s ended and then read it all at once. I’m curious about some of the plot lines but I really only liked one or two characters pretty well and the rest I was ambivalent about or my feelings on them varied too much, and since I’m so character-driven as a reader/viewer I just can’t stick with series that don’t have strong and consistent plots while also having strong and consistent characters and character development. At least not week by week or month by month, one chapter at a time. It doesn’t seem to work for my attention span.

In anime news, I wish we’d get some sequels of some series like re:Zero or K Project or my god wouldn’t No. 6 be nice?? But these are all light novel based so my hopes are probably for naught. Actually, I take that back. K wasn’t based on LN, it just has novels in addition to the anime. But now I’m realizing, maybe I missed some things. That series is kind of weird with stuff all over the place and individualized outside of the anime itself so I probably missed things. Unsurprisingly, I’m sure, Shiro is my favorite, Kuro secondarily. But I primarily watched for Shiro lolz

Wow ok I just managed to use up all my time on StayFocusd rambling on all this shit so there you go, there’s a bunch of random thoughts about a bunch of random series, and I didn’t even cover everything but I had to stop somewhere I guess.

Probably no one even read this far but that’s fine; sometimes I write this even just to remember later my thoughts on some things. Like I said earlier in the year, I wanted to do Voice as my word for 2017, which means not silencing myself on stuff unnecessarily, so for things like this where I want to write a post talking about a bunch of different stuff just touching on them it’s silly to not do it if it’s something I want to do. If that makes sense.

Anyway if you are reading this, I hope you have a lovely day/night/whatever it is for you! And hey, let me know if you have thoughts on any of the series I mentioned or I guess if you want me to go more in depth on something if it was of interest to you. idk, just whatever.

Hmm maybe I’ll make a tag for these kind of posts so I can find them later... I think I’ll do “ais manga ramblings” hmmmm

#ais manga ramblings #manga thoughts #1 am ramblings #rambling like a mofo #and other rambling things wow how many times can I say rambling lets count

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nancygduarteus · 5 years

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How To Sell a $50 Water Bottle

The potential judgement of students can lead a teacher to do strange things. For Monique Mongeon, an arts educator in Toronto, her first job teaching adults sparked a small crisis of confidence. “I was in my mid-20s, and I was looking at things I could do to make myself feel like a person who had authority to stand in front of a bunch of other 20-somethings,” she says. After ruling out fancy bags and shoes for being too extravagant, Mongeon settled on a sleek, $45 water bottle. “I was scrolling through websites thinking, which of these S’well bottles looks like the kind of person I want to be?”

Nine years ago, there was only one S’well, and it was blue. Now you can get the curvy, steel-capped bottles in more than 200 different size and color combinations, including some that look like marble or teakwood. Many are customizable with your initials. The big ones will hold an entire bottle of wine, and smaller versions are made for cocktails or coffee. Teens offer S’well bottles to propose to prospective prom dates. They’re a common sight in Instagram photos of artfully stuffed vacation carry-ons and aesthetically pleasing desk tableaus.

S’well’s success is impressive, but the brand has a host of competitors nipping at its heels in what has become an enormous market for high-end, reusable beverage containers. If nothing in S’well’s inventory calls out to you, maybe you’ll like a Yeti, Sigg, Hydro Flask, Contigo, or bkr. A limited-edition Soma bottle, created in collaboration with the Louis Vuitton designer Virgil Abloh and Evian (itself a legend of designer water), was recently feted at New York Fashion Week. VitaJuwel bottles, which can cost more than $100, promise to “restructure” your tap water using the power of interchangeable crystal pods.

On the surface, water bottles as totems of consumer aspiration sound absurd: If you have access to water, you can drink it out of so many things that already exist in your home. But if you dig a little deeper, you find that these bottles sit at a crossroads of cultural and economic forces that shape Americans’ lives far beyond beverage choices. If you can understand why so many people would spend 50 bucks on a water bottle, then you can understand a lot about America in 2019.

The first time I coveted a water bottle was in 2004. When I arrived as a freshman at the University of Georgia, I found that I was somehow the last person alive who didn’t own a Nalgene. The brand’s distinctive, lightweight plastic bottles had long been a cult-favorite camping accessory, but in the mid-2000s, they exploded in popularity beyond just outdoorsmen. A version with the school’s logo on it cost $16 in the bookstore, which was a little steep for me, an unemployed 18-year-old, but I bought one anyway. I wanted to be the kind of person all my new peers apparently were. Plus, it’s hot in Georgia. A nice water bottle seemed like a justifiable extravagance.

Around the same time, I remember noticing the first flares of another trend intimately related to the marketability of water bottles: athleisure. All around me, stylish young women wore colorful Nike running shorts and carried bright plastic Nalgenes to class. “With millennials, fitness and health are themselves signals,” says Tülin Erdem, a marketing professor at New York University. “They drink more water and carry it with them, so it’s an item that becomes part of them and their self-expression.”

Now, across Instagram, you can find high-end water bottles lurking around the edges of stylized gym photos posted by exercisers and fitness instructors. Usually, these people aren’t being rewarded for the placement by anything but likes. Sarah Kauss, S’well’s founder and CEO, says people have been photographing her water bottles since the company began in 2010. “I’d receive hundreds of pictures a week from customers,” she says. “I wasn’t giving them anything for it. There wasn’t a free bottle or a coupon code or anything other than customers just wanting to show their own experience.”

Kauss says she always knew the bottle’s appearance would be important, even though positioning something as simple as a water bottle as a luxury product was a bit of a gamble. “As I moved up in my career, I was upgrading my wardrobe, and the bottle that looked like a camping accessory really didn’t serve my purpose anymore,” she says. When she noticed fashionable New Yorkers were carrying upscale disposable plastic bottles from brands like Evian and Fiji, she realized reusable bottles could use a makeover, too

Kauss and her contemporaries struck at the right time. The importance of fitness and wellness were starting to gain a foothold in fashionable crowds, and concerns over consumer waste and plastic’s potential to leach chemicals into food and water were gaining wider attention. People wanted cute workout gear, and they wanted to drink water out of materials other than plastic. Researchers have found that the chance to be conspicuously sustainability-conscious motivates consumers, especially when the product being purchased costs more than its less-green counterparts.

Nearly a decade on, the water-bottle trend shows no signs of slowing, and people just seem to like their fancy bottles a lot. The insulated metal variety, which is the most popular, does a far better job than plastic at keeping beverages at ideal temperatures. They’re durable and useful. When I put out a call for opinions on Twitter, I heard from hundreds of people about how much they loved theirs. Rebecca Thomas, a 28-year-old in Atlanta who owns three S’wells, says she once paid a ransom to an Uber driver after she left one behind in the car. (“That’s when I decided I’d never put wine in one again,” she says.) Others were similarly dedicated. “I will be buried with all of my different sizes of Hydro Flask,” says Emily Sile, a travel editor in New York City. “Maybe by then Hydro Flask will come out with a coffin, so I can be buried in that, too.”

The trend’s Instagram visibility might make it seem like high-end water bottles are the sole province of women. Indeed, brands like bkr, whose bottles are pastel glass and can come with a special top meant to hold lip gloss, are explicitly marketed as products of feminine beauty. (Drinking water, after all, is often lauded as the ultimate skincare product.) But the category’s origins in camping gear mean that it started out with a strong foothold among male millennials as well, and brands like Yeti and Hydro Flask have continued to court a more masculine audience. Mike Ferguson, a 37-year-old in Los Angeles, has four Yetis of various sizes that he usually uses for iced coffee and water. “I have very few vices, but this is one,” he says. “Am I a brand loyalist? I don’t think so, but the evidence suggests otherwise.”

Ferguson, like many people I spoke with, got his first Yeti as a gift. Kauss says that’s a popular trend she sees with S’well’s customers, too: People will buy one or two, presumably for themselves, and then come back to the website around the holidays and buy six. Most brands also customize orders for large corporate clients, meaning your employer might hand you a logo bottle at the end of the year. Even if spending 40 or 50 bucks on a water bottle sounds bad, getting one for free can turn reluctant consumers into evangelists.

When those factors are taken together, it’s hard to be surprised that so many $50 water bottles exist, or that people have snapped them up in droves. On a certain level, a nice water bottle fulfils its promise in the way few things do. They hold water. They stay cold. They look nice on your desk. They don’t leave an unsightly sweat ring on your nightstand. For people like Mongeon, the art teacher, they look like things that are owned by people who know what they’re doing. For a lot of people, they spark a little bit of joy in the otherwise mundane routine of work, exercise, and personal hygiene. For a generation with less expendable income than its parents’, a nice bottle pays for itself with a month of consistent use and lets you feel like you’re being proactive about your health and the environment.

A container of any kind, whether it’s a rented storage unit or a decorative basket, promises order and control. Marie Kondo’s Netflix show about organizing American homes in disarray was a hit for a reason: There’s a small amount serenity in finding the right vessel and filling it with the right thing. Consumer choices might not be an effective solution to structural problems like pollution, but it’s nice to feel like you’re making ethical choices. If nothing else, millennials can buy the best water bottle they can afford and try their best to stay hydrated.

from Health News And Updates https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/02/luxury-water-bottles/582595/?utm_source=feed

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ionecoffman · 5 years

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How To Sell a $50 Water Bottle

Article source here:The Atlantic

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recentanimenews · 6 years

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The Manga Revue, 5/14/18

Hey, y’all… apologies for the radio silence last week! I was knee-deep in term papers and final exams, but I submitted my course grades yesterday and am back in the manga-reviewing saddle. As penance for skipping a week, today’s column is super-sized, with review links galore and the low down on Cutie Honey a Go Go!, Seven Seas’ newest Go Nagai offering.

Cutie Honey a Go Go! Original Story by Go Nagai; Story & Art by Shimpei Itoh; Planning Cooperation by Hideaki Anno Translated by Zack Davisson an Adrienne Beck Seven Seas, 400 pp. Rated T, for Teen (Nudity and bloodless violence)

Cutie Honey a Go Go! is not a conventionally good manga. Its plot is riddled with holes, its characters are two-dimensional, and its artwork is an unholy marriage of Nixon-era character designs and Photoshopped backgrounds. Yet for all its obvious limitations, Cutie Honey a Go-Go! is cheeky fun in the manner of an Austin Powers movie; it’s a cartoon of a cartoon, an irreverent send-up of the original source material that simultaneously captures the original manga’s naughty tone while updating the plot and characters for contemporary readers.

The source material is a mixture of Hideaki Anno’s 2004 film and Go Nagai’s original 1973 manga, plucking characters and storylines from both and combining them into something new. Per Anno’s film, the story’s characters are primarily adults, not teenagers, and the Catholic overtones of the original series are muted. Per Nagai’s original Weekly Shonen Champion series, the final act of Cutie Honey unfolds at the Saint Chapel School for Girls, where the transforming android and her human pal Aki Natsuko square off with the lethal beauties of the Panther Claw organization.

Shimpei Itoh’s greatest skill as an adaptor is his comic chops. In Cutie Honey a Go Go!, Aki Natsuko is no longer a blushing school girl with a crush on the titular android; she’s a hard-charging inspector who supervises a bureau of men and faces down danger with the brash confidence of a Harrison Ford character. Most of the manga’s best gags involve Aki and her hapless subordinate Todoroki, who plays Hildy Johnson to her Walter Burns. Itoh also has a flare for introducing the Panther Claw ladies, all of whom look like Betty Paige cosplayers wearing outlandish animal print bathing suits; their entrances are choreographed like musical theater numbers, complete with synchronized minions dancing, prancing, and throwing lethal objects with consummate precision. The sheer exuberance of these sequences helps distract from the clunky artwork and cheesy dialogue, goosing the proceedings with an infectious energy that’s impossible to resist.

As for the fan service, it’s there — Itoh serves up plenty of gratuitous nudity, just as Nagai did in the original. (Cutie Honey’s clothing dissolves to tatters whenever she transforms.) Yet for all the T&A, Cute Honey looks more like a 1962 issue of Playboy magazine rather than a contemporary manga; there’s a pin-up coyness about the cheesecake that renders these images benign. And c’mon… how can you not cheer on a heroine who’s rocking a half pair of assless chaps while saving the world? I rest my case. Recommended.

Must-Read Reviews

Siddarth Gupta pores over last week’s Weekly Shonen Jump Bonus Issue. Over at Hakutaku, Alana posts a thoughtful introduction to Leiji Matsumoto’s Captain Harlock, tracing the character across the creator’s entire oeuvre. And while you’re there, take a minute to appreciate her review of Hello Baby, a one-shot title from Takeshi Obata (Death Note, Platinum End) and Masanori Morita (Rookies, Shiba Inu) that focuses on “wannabe gangster” who “plots to murder a high-ranking yakuza boss.” Further afield, Kelly Chiu explains why every series manga fan should read Fullmetal Alchemist.

New and Noteworthy

Again!!, Vol. 1 (Helen, The OASG)

The Bride Was a Boy (Evan Bourgault, Boston Bastard Brigade)

The Bride Was a Boy (Sean Gaffney, A Case Suitable for Treatment)

The Bride Was a Boy (Maxy Barnard, Friendship! Effort! Victory!)

The Bride Was a Boy (Morgana Santilli, The Manga Maven)

The Bride Was a Boy (Publisher’s Weekly)

Captain Harlock: Dimensional Voyage, Vol. 1 (Evan Bourgault, Boston Bastard Brigade)

Chi’s Sweet Adventures, Vol. 1 (Sarah, Anime UK News)

CITY, Vol. 1 (Tobias, Third Impact Anime)

Claudine (Erica Friedman, Okazu)

Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction, Vol. 1 (Jordan Richardson, AiPT!)

Devilman vs. Hades, Vol. 1 (Evan Bourgault, Boston Bastard Brigade)

Dragon Half Omnibus Collection, Vol. 1 (T. Shapira, Multiversity Comics)

Everyone’s Getting Married, Vol. 1 (Allison Ziebka, Bloom Reviews)

Fullmetal Alchemist: Fullmetal Edition, Vol. 1 (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)

I Give to You (Eric Cline, AiPT!)

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures, Part 3: Stardust Crusaders, Vols. 1-6 (Matt Brady, Warren Peace Sings the Blues)

Kenka Bancho Otome: Love’s Battle Royale, Vol. 1 (Leroy Douresseaux, Comic Book Bin)

Kiss Me at the Stroke of Midnight, Vol. 1 (Faith Orcino, Anime Ushi)

Monoke Sharing, Vol. 1 (Rebecca Silverman, Anime News Network)

Monster Tamer Girls, Vol. 1 (Jordan Richardson (AiPT!)

Monster Tamer Girls, Vol. 1 (Rebecca Silverman, Anime News Network)

Moteki: Love Strikes!, Vol. 1 (Evan Bourgault, Boston Bastard Brigade)

Moteki: Love Strikes!, Vol. 1 (Manjiorin, The OASG)

Perfect World, Vol. 1 (Rebecca Silverman, Anime News Network)*

The Promised Neverland, Vol. 1 (Faith Orcino, Anime Ushi)

Silver Spoon, Vol. 1 (Maxy Barnard, Friendship! Effort! Victory!)

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle, Vol. 1 (Thea Srinivasan, Comic Bastards)

Tales of Wedding Rings, Vol. 1 (Keith Hendricks, NerdSpan)

That Wolf-Boy Is Mine! (Marion, Otaku She Wrote)

Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku, Vol. 1 (David Brooke, AiPT!)

Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku, Vol. 1 (Katherine Dacey, The Manga Critic)

The Young Master’s Revenge, Vol. 1 (Rebecca Silverman, Anime News Network)

The Young Master’s Revenge, Vol. 1 (Allison Ziebka, Bloom Reviews)

Yuuna and the Haunted Springs, Vol. 1 (Sean Gaffney, A Case Suitable for Treatment)

Ongoing Series

Again!!, Vol. 2 (Alisha Taran, Reality’s a Bore)

Black Clover, Vol. 11 (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)

Bleach, Vol. 72 (Cold Cobra, Anime UK News)

A Bride’s Story, Vol. 2 (Allison Ziebka, Bloom Reviews)

Complex Age, Vol. 2 (Ken H., Sequential Ink)

Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju, Vol. 5 (Johanna Draper Carlson, Comics Worth Reading)

Everyone’s Getting Married, Vol. 8 (Johanna Draper Carlson, Comics Worth Reading)

Food Wars!! Shokugeki no Soma, Vol. 23 (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)

Gabriel Dropout, Vol. 3 (Krystallina, The OASG)

Haikyu!!, Vol. 19 (Donovan Bertch, LRM)

The Heroic Legend of Arslan, Vol. 8 (Alisha Taran, Reality’s a Bore)

Imperfect Girl, Vol. 3 (Eva Bourgault, Boston Bastard Brigade)

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures, Part 3: Stardust Crusaders, Vol. 6 (Kyle Lesniewicz, LRM)

Kakeguri: Compulsive Gambler, Vol. 4 (Matthew Alexander, The Fandom Post)

Kiniro Mosaic, Vol. 6 (Krystallina, The OASG)

Log Horizon: The West Wind Brigade, Vol. 8 (Kate O’Neil, The Fandom Post)

Love at Fourteen, Vol. 7 (Krystallina, The OASG)

My Hero Academia, Vol. 6 (Eric Cline, AiPT!)

Nameless Asterism, Vol. 2 (Evan Bourgault, Boston Bastard Brigade)

One Week Friends, Vol. 2 (Justin, The OASG)

Silver Spoon, Vol. 2 (Krystallina, The OASG)

Silver Spoon, Vol. 2 (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)

Skip Beat!!, Vols. 4-6 (Allison Ziebka, Bloom Reviews)

Yowamushi Pedal, Vol. 8 (Krystallina, The OASG)

From the Vault

Angel’s Coffin (Megan R., The Manga Test Drive)

Appleseed Alpha (Ken H., Sequential Ink)

Himeyuki & Rozione’s Story (Megan R., The Manga Test Drive)

Mr. Mini Mart (Megan R., The Manga Test Drive)

Once Upon a Glashma (Megan R., The Manga Test Drive)

Present for Me (Megan R., The Manga Test Drive)

Queen Emeraldas, Vol. 2 (Ken H., Sequential Ink)

SP Baby, Vol. 2 (Thea Srinivasan, Comic Bastards)

Tokyo Mew Mew, Vol. 1 (SKJAM, SKJAM! Reviews)

Tropic of the Sea (Megan R., The Manga Test Drive)

Uncomfortably Happily (Dani Shuping, No Flying No Tights)

Yukarism, Vol. 4 (LG, A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)

* Denotes a digital-first or digital-only release

By: Katherine Dacey

#Anime #News #Manga Bookshelf

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viralhottopics · 7 years

Text

Amid the gloom, there are micro reasons to be cheerful. These are mine | Lucy Mangan

Its easy to despair over Trump and Brexit, but thats macro worrying. Maybe the best solution is to take pleasure in smaller things

Any resistance must begin in the mind, but with Brexit looming and the US as it is, my mind and I believe I am not alone in this is starved of hope and close to collapse. So I have doubled my dose of soma and gone looking for scraps of good news, like the most desperate of post-harvest gleaners stuffing forgotten stray ears of wheat into their sacks. Maybe theres enough for a loaf big enough to sustain us while we wait for the new powers that be to overplay their stubby orange hands and bring a sudden end to this experiment in awfulness.

1. The backlash against clean eating is now well under way. This spiralised arrant nonsense, whose purveyors effectively sanction eating disorders by lauding the benefits of raw, alkaline (no, me neither), gluten-free/grain-full, dairyless, meatless, sugarless, fatless, pick-a-food-group-that-affrights-you-less diets, has wait for it, wait for it, Im about to banish all Trumpocalyptic thoughts from your exhausted mind for a glorious, restorative second with some ferocious wordplay had its chips.

Youre welcome.

The reaction against the fad is such that all its previously most fervent advocates (avocado-ates? Avocadotes? Ill get back to you on this), such as the Spirulina Sisters and the shiny-haired writer of Deliciously Very Little on a Plate are now denying that any of them ever even used the phrase. They were only ever devoted to reminding us all that an intake of only Jelly Babies in hamburger buns swept down our gullets on a tide of Irn Bru might be suboptimal for our health.

Let us cling to all of this as a sign that though the arc of the moral universe is long, it bends ultimately towards slightly less stupidity. Experts, youre still in the game.

2. Federers backhand.

3. A new, 10-episode series of Will & Grace has been commissioned. Some people are taking refuge in opera, literature, art to remind themselves of the heights of beauty and empathy human beings can and will scale again. For the rest of us, there is Megan Mullally as Karen and Sean Hayes as Jack, playing off each other with an elemental and instinctive comic timing that makes even the most beleaguered heart sing with joy.

4. A third Sex and the City film has been greenlit. Theres always a chance they might not muck it up this time.

5. Kindle sales were flat in 2016 for the second year in a row. This suggests that books are going to survive. This suggests that something new, attention-grabbing and apparently overturning and offering a better alternative to everything that has gone before can, once tested, be found wanting and be rejected faster than could ever have been contemplated at its advent, or inauguration.

6. This tweet by The Colbert Report and ex-Onion writer Dan Guterman: @barackobama when do u get back from vacation no reason everything is good just curious.

7. Just this: I had to spend the whole of yesterday travelling round London, on and off tubes, catching buses, walking the crowded streets, going in and out of bustling shops. And God knows, I wasnt looking for them, because I was so depressed about everything, but there was nothing but a million little courtesies and kindnesses out there. People gently tapping one another on the shoulder to give them back a dropped glove or receipt, or ask obvious newcomers without aggression or rancour to stand on the right side of the escalator so that people could walk down the left. People giving up their seats to others less able to stand, the traditional exchange surviving No, Im fine, No, go on, Im getting off next stop. Two strangers smiling at each other when they saw they were each reading the same book. One laden with groceries letting another who had only a box of chocolates go ahead in the Tesco Express queue. Because because why wouldnt you?

I know its all fragile. I know on a macro level it looks very much like everything is royally screwed and that everything is poisoned for ever and things will never be happy and normal again and that its turtles made of shit all the way down. But its not. And the micro level matters. The micro is what we do, where we live, what we are. And it is all still there, in a shuffle to one side, in a shared smile or eyeroll, a restored glove, a patient queue. Ears of wheat to be gathered, ahead of a long winter.