Post 6/6: Tokyopop going bankrupt

I heard from a friend last week that Tokyopop is going bankrupt. Tokyopop is a manga publishing company that played a big role in the manga revolution in the U.S. Tokyopop introduced many popular manga series, such as Sailor Moon, Chobits, and Love Hina in the "unflipped" (meaning that the book reads from right to left) format for the first time. It is one of the most well-known companies that publishes manga here in the U.S., but they have announced recently that they are shutting down their U.S. operations as of May 31st. Their German office will stay open to handle publishing rights and their film division will continue.

I know next to nothing about the closing of their U.S. office, but in a way I am not surprised. I have been sort of disappointed with the selection of manga recently, whether from Tokyopop or another publishing company. Tokyopop is responsible for many of the mainstream popular series, yet many of those series to me are becoming pretty boring. There was a time when I was interested in all of these mainstream plots, such as characters with big swords and magical powers, but I'm getting a little tired of all that. I have lost a lot of faith in manga because of this, and there have been very few mangas that I have seen that pique my interest and seem to contain a unique plot. However, I heard from someone else that the main cause of this bankruptcy is because of Tokyopop taking the rights from the creators of these series. I haven't found anything about that yet though.

http://www.comicsbeat.com/2011/04/15/end-of-an-era-tokyopop-shutting-down/
http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/19869.html
http://manga.about.com/b/2011/04/16/tokyopop-to-close-its-u-s-manga-publishing-offices.htm

Post 5/6: Outflix Film Festival

The Outflix Film Festival, the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center's international film festival, will take place from Friday, September 9th to Thursday, September 15th at Malco's Ridgeway Four theater. Movies, which all deal with the topic of LGBT issues, includes a wide variety of films from documentaries to feature-length comedies and everything in between. Those interested in purchasing tickets can choose from several different options:

1 Feature Ticket: $9.00
3 Feature Tickets: $24.00
7 Feature Tickets: $45.00
All Festival Pass: $75.00

One film of particular interest to me is Circumstance, an Iranian film about two girls living in Iran that fall in love. My mom is Iranian and I am very much in touch with my Iranian culture. I don't know of many Iranian movies, but am interested in expanding my horizons and finding some to watch. I am also surprised at how the creation of this film was possible. Homosexuality is an act punishable by death in Iran, and if this movie was indeed filmed in Tehran (which is where it takes place), then it must have been quite risky. Either way, I am very excited to see this film, and perhaps others that the festival has to offer.

http://www.livefrommemphis.com/memphiscalendar/details/5906-circumstance-outflix-saturday-films
http://www.memphisdailynews.com/news/2011/sep/6/outflix-brings-glbt-issues-to-screen/
http://www.outflixfestival.org/

Post 4/6: Bookstores dying and the growing popularity of e-readers

An e-reader is a handheld device in which books can be purchased, stored, and read. Amazon's device, the Kindle, as well as Barnes and Noble's nook, Apple's iPad, and many other e-readers, have been growing in popularity recently. People like how easily many books can be stored and read on one device, rather than packing around many bulky physical copies of books. Because of this, one begs the question (rather, questions), are e-readers going to change the way we read books? Will the traditional paperback soon become a thing of the past? Are bookstores across the country dying? It certainly seems that way. Amazon's Kindle is growing in popularity, and seems to be the most preferred e-reader out there. Amazon states that for ever 10 physical books they sell, they also sell 6 e-books.

I, for one, take this as terrible news. I love to read, and I love books, but I would refuse to use an e-reader. The only time I ever considered trying it was when I received one for Christmas. I was in disbelief, but figured, "it's the thought that counts. Who knows, maybe I'll give it a try." I took it back to the store several days later. I love the feel of an actual book. I love being able to look at my bookshelf and see what all I have collected throughout my life. I love the smell of a new book, and the variety of copies that exist of a book when I walk into a bookstore. I usually tend to choose the books that don't have the footnotes or the obnoxious introductions by erudite scholars trying to pick the book apart (I can do that part myself, thanks). When asked in my senior year of high school, "Do you think that books will become a thing of the past?" I said no. I felt that there were plenty of people that loved the same things I love about books that would ensure the longevity of physical books. Now I am disappointed to see the Barnes and Noble near my dorm closed, upset to hear that the Borders a little further away is closing, and fearing for the Barnes and Noble in my home town that is so close to my house. Over the summer break, I walked into a Walden Books in one of the malls back home, and saw that the store was closing. It was one of the only stores in that mall that I enjoyed, and suddenly the threat e-readers placed on actual books became real to me. Books have endured for centuries. I refuse to see them go away.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8353305/E-readers-growing-in-popularity-as-publishers-predict-the-year-of-the-e-book.html
http://www.mndaily.com/2010/02/11/popularity-e-readers-rise
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/why-your-bookstore-is-going-out-of-business.aspx

I hate this so much...

Post 3/6: Freedom in Iran

In Iran, the Islamic government has many controls on the things that the citizens of Iran do. Two years ago, an election for president was held in Iran, and many people saw a contradiction in who they voted for, and who is currently president. While many people in Iran voted for one person, the "results" claimed that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had been re-elected. Frustrated with a rigged election, many Iranians took to the streets in protest.

My mother and her family are from Iran, and I am very much in touch with my Iranian culture. I hope that the fight doesn't stop and that people in Iran don't give up protesting for the rights that they deserve.

http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/protest-songs-resound-iranian-car-windows
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2010/jun/04/neda-agha-soltan-iran
http://www.iranpresswatch.org/post/5402

Post 2/6: Gay rights

Not only in the U.S., but throughout the world, gay rights is a touchy subject. As of now, many gays and lesbians are fighting for the right of same-sex marriage. As of now, only several states in the U.S. either allow gay marriage or at least recognize it. They are fighting not only for the right to get married, but also for the other rights that come with marriage. To be able to do every citizen's deeds, such as pay taxes (which some same-sex couples would like to do together, but are unable to because they are not recognized as a couple), is just one of the rights being fought for. Others include being able to visit their loved ones in the hospital.

My opinion is that if the U.S. is a country founded on the idea that "all men are created equal, that they are endowed with certain unalienable rights," then we should practice what we preach. Our country is a melting pot, and to exclude one group from a certain pool of rights would be a great injustice. Some believe it's a sin to be gay, some think that marriage should only be between a man and a woman, that being gay is some temptation of the devil, but gay marriage is nothing new. Many kings and rulers of the past had same-sex sexual partners. Even today, gay marriage is a part of some cultures' way of life, and it is considered normal.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/08/31/libertarians-view-gay-marriage/ (written by John Stossel? THAT MAN. Go him!)
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/09/01/3876269/gay-marriage-fight-headed-for.html
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/08/31/new-gay-military-magazine-headed-for-base-newsstands/?intcmp=related

The Hunter and the Lion

I have been sooooooo busy with life and school and lack of sleep, so here goes my blog updates (apologies for the lateness).

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 The Lion and the Hunter

There was a hunter who often went into the bush to hunt.  Hunting was his work.  No other work was so sweet to him as hunting.  Every day he was trying to find where the most game could be seen.  The bush was all known to him.  He knew that in some places there was game and in other places there was none.

One day when the hunter was far in the bush looking for game, he heard a noise that sounded like something coming toward him, but he could not see anything.  In a moment he saw a large lion almost on top of him, and it was coming toward him.  The lion was so near that it was no use to think of running.  The hunter trembled with fear, for he did not know what the lion was going to do with him.  Any moment the lion might catch him and kill him.  Even if he had wanted to run he had no strength in his legs, because they were shaking.

The hunter noticed that as soon as the lion saw him he began to show him his troubles.  The lion opened his mouth, and the saliva was running down "lo-lo-lo." The hunter noticed that the lion was very poor, instead of being fat as lions usually are.  He laid down his bow and quiver and took off the shooting ring from his thumb and knelt down before the lion.  All that he could do was to praise the greatness of the lion.

The lion began to move his tail back and forth in a friendly way and came up to the hunter.  When the lion was very near the hunter, he lay down in front of him, and raised his mouth up to him.  The hunter looked into the lion's mouth and saw a large bone which was stuck in the lion's throat.  The lion had not been able to get it out for himself.

The hunter was very, very sorry for the lion.  He went to a nearby stream and washed his hands until there was no dirt left on them.  He came back and reached his arm into the lion's mouth and took hold of the bone which was fast in the lion's throat.  He carefully removed it.  When it was out, the lion gave a big sigh, "mmm."

Now the lion was free from the trouble which had overtaken him.  He went down into the little stream and lay down in the water and rolled.  Then he got up and shook himself and took a drink.  Again he lay down and washed out his throat and bathed his whole body.

When he came up from the water he went to the hunter and thanked him over and over again.  He licked the hunter's body and moved his tail back and forth in a friendly way.  The lion showed the hunter that he should stay where he was until the lion came back.  The hunter sat down to wait.

Before the lion had gone far he saw a large herd of roan antelope.  Quickly he ran ahead of the front ones and turned them toward the hunter.  When the hunter saw the large herd of roan coming, he put on his shooting ring and, taking his quiver and bow, he lay down flat on the ground and waited.  The herd of roan came right toward him.  In an instant he was on one knee shooting at them.  He hit three.  The lion caught three more large males.  The lion took the hunter and showed him the three large roan which he had caught for him.
 
The hunter went back to the village and called all the people in village to come and help skin the six roan, The hunter selected some of the best meat and took it to the lion where he
was hiding himself.  The rest of the meat was carried into the village.

This is how the hunter and the lion became great friends.  If the lion does not see the hunter each morning he thinks that something must be wrong, and he goes to hunt the hunter so that they may salute each other.  The hunter is not without meat, because his friend always drives it around to him.

Invisible Cities

I've decided Persian culture would just be too complicated to use for this project. So much stuff that is kind of unclear and not really... just no.

I've decided instead that I'll use Japanese culture from the Edo (or Tokugawa) period and the culture of Pompeii. I've been to Pompeii and the city is really interesting, especially the art they have in the houses and around the city. Like in the brothels, which are surprisingly one of the big things people want to see when they tour Pompeii (I was not aware until I went there).

Invisible Cities!

Spring Break is over. And I got little done.

That's NOT to say that it won't be done LATER! And by later, I mean ON TIME.

So, this next project is the Invisible Cities project, where we read these descriptions about these cities and choose one to design. The one I think piqued my interest most was probably Esmeralda, "city of water." This city is filled with canals and streets that intersect each other. Its inhabitants are always taking new routes to their destination, and can choose to walk on the street, travel by boat in the canals, or mix it up along the way. "The most fixed and calm lives in Esmeralda," it says, "are spent without any repetition."

Here's another passage I really liked:

"Secret and adventurous lives, here as elsewhere, are subject to greater restrictions. Esmeralda's cats, thieves, illicit lovers move along higher, discontinuous ways, dropping from a rooftop to a balcony, following gutterings with acrobats' steps."

We have to research two different cultures and I guess use this research to design our city. Besides that, we also need to write about "A Day in the Life" of an inhabitant of the city. While I could just do an average, ordinary inhabitant of the city, I think it would be really cool to write mine from a thief's perspective. OR someone who's sneaking around with someone other than a spouse. But I think the thief would be more fun.

As far as cultures I'd like to research, I think I would really like to research the culture of the Persian Empire, and maybe... Hm... I'll look around for another culture. And report back with my findings. c:

ELEMENT RESEARCH!

The next project is to illustrate an element from the Periodic Table. I'm not big on science, and I don't really know a whole lot about a lot of them, but we have to research them, so whatever.

I had absolutely NO clue which elements I was interested in, but after browsing, I was able to think of a few. We need to develop little thought maps about the element, making personal connections and also finding out about the history or mythology surrounding it, and so far I only have a few connections that I've made.

-Arsenic: Arsenic was the first I thought of because I felt like it was easier to make arsenic more narrative and personal. Also, from what I can remember, when they tried to kill Rasputin in Russia, they gave him cyanide (and I thought maybe arsenic, but just cyanide). Okay, Arsenic is out of the question.

OKAY, but Rasputin has a SUPER crazy death story! I remember from my World Civ. class sophomore year of high school. My teacher was obsessed with Russia, so we learned everything from the beginnings of Russia to the Cold War.

So that leaves me with either Carbon or Nitrogen, because they are the things that make up cyanide, and Rasputin's murder is just waaaaaay too crazy to be ignored.

-Carbon: Now in the running for my element. See above.
-Mercury: I have no personal connections with mercury, but I remember that my mom said that when she was a kid, my grandma would break thermometers and let her and her siblings play with the mercury from the thermometer. Apparently it all holds together... I guess like silly putty! Sort of, only more toxic?  HA!
-Silver: A lot of people might pick this one, and it seems generic, but not only is silver used in jewelry, but vampires and werewolves are weak against silver! Silver bullets! Silver for photographs, which vampires supposedly cannot be detected on! But I would have to do other research about silver as well...
-Gold: Gold is also very generic, also used in jewelry, but when I thought of gold, I thought of something we had talked about in Gothic Literature recently: The philosopher's stone, which was a stone said to be able to turn lead into gold. And... ALCHEMY! I don't know much about alchemy (unless I think of whatever I remember from Fullmetal Alchemist, but the second I bring up an anime in Illustration 2 will be the day my life ends because I will probably be shot by everyone in the class).
HOWEVER!!! When I was researching gold on one of the links provided by my teacher, I discovered that GOLD is found in SEA WATER!! A man by the name of Fritz Haber researched this extensively after World War I, because he wanted to find a way to extract the gold so Germany could pay off its war debts (which I find quite interesting and QUITE hilarious). So Fritz here took to trying to figure out how much gold is dissolved in sea water, and based on current estimations, there are apparently 13.7 million tons of gold in sea water, yet NO WAY as of yet to extract it.

As of now, I think my favorite options would probably be Carbon and Gold. We'll just have to see.

Research!

Soon going to do some research of different things to do the first Illustration project on. We are to find a piece of art and make a tableau of it.

MORE DETAILS WHEN I GET A SYLLABUS!