Disappearance Diary by Hideo Azumi (Manga Mature)
This is a black and white Japanese manga translated into english. It is a three part "slice of life" story. The content is mature, but not salacious.
The author, Hideo Azuma went through three dark periods in his life. The drawings are very unrealistic because they give an upbeat mood to some very dark situations. This creates a deep contrast between the actual content and the situations being described.
In the first set of stories the author loses his ability to draw and wanders off into the woods becoming homeless. It describes him scrounging for blankets, searching for food in garbage cans, and setting up shelters with plastic sheets and avoiding people.
The drawings are free hand and very detailed, but not photorealistic. Scenes show him scrounging for money in vending machines, going through bottles for wine and saki, hanging out at the library and sitting around in the park. Some of the scenes in the library are quite interesting. Eventually, he gets picked up by the police and returned home. He has been listed as a missing person.
The second part is him wandering off from home again and eventually becoming a laborer and then advancing to becoming a pipefitter. He meets a variety of obnoxious hard drinking and womanizing working class men. Many of the characters in this manga are eccentric or very unpleasant. The characters create a lot of conflict which makes the stories gripping. It is clear at this point Hideo Azuma is an alcoholic. Parts of the manga story remind of the classic novel On The Road by Jack Kerouac.
There are moments where he describes his career as a manga artist. He becomes very successful. So successful, that he has too much work and does not know how to say no. This drives him to drink more. His editors pay his tab at the bar. This segways into the third and final part of the story, where he is in the hospital as an alchoholic. The story is very exacting; it describes his alcholic anonymous meetings, medication, and his hospital stay.
This is an excellent and interesting manga. It won the grand prize at the 9th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2005. The book was translated into english in 2008.
Showing posts with label manga. Show all posts
Showing posts with label manga. Show all posts
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Good Evening
Fyodor Dostoyevsky is one of my favorite writers of classic fiction, The Brothers Karamazov is one of my favorite books. Good Evening
Today has been another extremely busy day. I spent time preparing to show a Tyler Perry film at the library. I really enjoyed it. We had seven people who sat through the whole film and a few others who came in and out. It seems that I am doing much better with the poetry readings than the films. They are moving the films to a Sunday matinee for families once a week. I think this will work bettter.
Right now, they are showing an anime film, Claymore, in the fiction room. There is an anime club at our library which brings in the teenagers. They also play Magic the Gathering card game at the club as well. It looks like the attendance is decent.
I also spent some time talking to an artist who did papercrafts in the childrens room. She also teaches tissue paper watercolors, as well as illustration. About a year ago, she started doing manga classes. The manga classes are what interest me most. I was thinking we could do a program that would be for teens and adults to draw manga.
Of course, I did the regular activities as well, more weeding in the social science section, and maintaining the central display.
On the way home, I tried to read How To Do Everything With Your Web 2.0 Blog by Todd Stauffer, but found I had already done everything that I wanted to do listed in the book. I am not going to start a wiki, or do podcasts, start a forum, or do video blogging, at least not yet. I am not that fond of Technorati, and I already have Sitemeter. This book would be a good introduction to blogging, but I have found I am past the introductory stage at this point. It did, however remind me to ping my blog with pingomatic.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Good Morning, Manga Sixty Years of Japanese Comics by Paul Gravett
H.P. Lovecraft and his Wife Sonia Green.Good Morning
Two books came in for me to read yesterday, The Taint and Other Novellas by Brian Lumley. This book is printed by Subterranean Press which is a specialty horror publisher. They print nice affordable copies of quality horror, science fiction, and fantasy titles. http://www.subterraneanpress.com/ . The other book is a mass market paperback, Dead To Me by Anton Strout.
I was a bit tired on the train this morning, so I did not do any reading. Last night, I tried to take a break from doing my short yoga session and my body rebelled. I did it so I could get to sleep.
This morning is not too bad, I did some more work on my reorder list. I am discarding the books as I compile the list. Things are fairly smooth right now.
Today was very typical. I weeded a lot more books today. I also made several phone calls. I am trying to get a local organization to do a presentation on protecting your home from foreclosure for local homeowners. I think I might have a local agency lined up.
You might call today rather inane. I had one of those absolutely normal conversations that say absolutely nothing. I was talking about the merits of having a little black address book. It was uttlerly typical. I'll probably pick up a new one for work tomorrow.
Manga Sixty Years of Jpanese Comics by Paul Gravett
On the way home, I read more of Manga Sixty Years of Japanese Comics by Paul Gravett. This book definitely is for adults. There are some pictures which aren't for children. I could never really understand the idea of Shonen Ai, books for teenage girls about pretty gay guys in high school. Just as odd to me is the lolita style of manga with highly sexualized young girls. These are not things which we can buy for our public library in America that readily.
A while ago we had some problems with men looking at Sailor Moon on the internet. There is something a bit creepy about it. It is not typical for Americans. There are some cultural differences which make some of what would be fairly innocent in Japan to be rather odd in the United States. A comic like Princess Knight by Osamu Tezuka which features a girl who dresses as a boy to pass as a knight wouldn't be that readily accepted in the childrens room which is what it is written for.
Although, The Rose Of Versailles looks like something we might get for the adult room. It is about a cross dressing woman in the time of Marie Antoinette. We keep Ranma 1/2 in the adult section, although it is really for teens because of the comic story of water turning the character from a boy into a girl then back.
There is a decent section on sports manga, something which I could never really get into. The boxing manga, Tomorrow's Joe is featured prominently in the section on sports manga. I really haven't read that much sports manga. Although, we did buy a few issues of Harlem Beat, a basketball manga.
There are a number of manga which are shown which we already have, Maison Ikkoku, Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind, Akira, Vagabond, Lone Wolf and Cub, and Black and White which we already have in our library. I think I want to read Parasyte. I have not read many horror manga.
In a way this book was a trip down memory lane. It reminded me of the anime cartoon I used to watch with my friends when I was a teenager, Robotech, as well as the classic anime , Space Cruiser Yamato.
The illustrations are beautiful, full of action and color. Look through this book just for the illustrations. Although, there are some sexy comics in the book, there are no tentacle monsters.
I think the book is a nice survey of quality titles from the beginning of manga. If you want to learn the basics of what manga is, this title would be a good title to read. The copyright on the book is 2004, so manga is much more popular and varied now. The cover has a picture of Astroboy on it.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Good Morning, Dororo by Osamu Tezuka
Good Morning, Dororo by Osamu Tezuka
Good morning. Last night on the train, I read Dororo. We have the first two volumes at our library. I put the third volume on hold. The author is Osamu Tezuka one of Manga's most famous writers. He is best known for Astroboy, and won the Harvey and Eisner Awards for his manga Buddha.
This ranks with one of the strangest manga I have ever read. Dororo is a young orphan thief and troublemaker who wanders around during the warring states period of feudal Japan. He meets up with a wandering Ronin, Hyakkimaru who is a very odd character.
Hyakkimaru was born without any body parts. His father gave 48 pieces of him to various mythological demons. A doctor found him, raised him, and replaced his parts with prostheses. Now Hyakkimaru is wandering the countryside seeking the demons and killing them. Each time he kills a demon, a body part grows back, and he no longer needs a prosthesis.
This makes for a very bizarre story. The two heros wander through the ravaged war torn countryside seeking out demons. The demons are all different. There is a moth demon, a demon that steals faces, a demon that grows as a face on peoples bodies, a fox demon, and many other strange creatures from Japanese legend. Dororo is always getting into trouble with the villagers stealing food and valuables and Hyakkimaru is always trying to make Dororo act good.
The art work is in black and white. It has a kind of cute quality to it with big eyed innocent looking characters. It is written for boys. There are allegories throughout the story about seeking to become complete. There is a lot of fighting and bloodshed in this manga.
The cover art is unique on this series. The publisher is Vertical, Inc. who publishes a lot of better quality manga that is not quite mainstream. I really enjoyed reading this. It may not be for everyone. I do not think this was originally written for export and translation.
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Good morning. Last night on the train, I read Dororo. We have the first two volumes at our library. I put the third volume on hold. The author is Osamu Tezuka one of Manga's most famous writers. He is best known for Astroboy, and won the Harvey and Eisner Awards for his manga Buddha.
This ranks with one of the strangest manga I have ever read. Dororo is a young orphan thief and troublemaker who wanders around during the warring states period of feudal Japan. He meets up with a wandering Ronin, Hyakkimaru who is a very odd character.
Hyakkimaru was born without any body parts. His father gave 48 pieces of him to various mythological demons. A doctor found him, raised him, and replaced his parts with prostheses. Now Hyakkimaru is wandering the countryside seeking the demons and killing them. Each time he kills a demon, a body part grows back, and he no longer needs a prosthesis.
This makes for a very bizarre story. The two heros wander through the ravaged war torn countryside seeking out demons. The demons are all different. There is a moth demon, a demon that steals faces, a demon that grows as a face on peoples bodies, a fox demon, and many other strange creatures from Japanese legend. Dororo is always getting into trouble with the villagers stealing food and valuables and Hyakkimaru is always trying to make Dororo act good.
The art work is in black and white. It has a kind of cute quality to it with big eyed innocent looking characters. It is written for boys. There are allegories throughout the story about seeking to become complete. There is a lot of fighting and bloodshed in this manga.
The cover art is unique on this series. The publisher is Vertical, Inc. who publishes a lot of better quality manga that is not quite mainstream. I really enjoyed reading this. It may not be for everyone. I do not think this was originally written for export and translation.
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Friday, September 26, 2008
New York Anime Festival
New York Anime Festival
Alright, I have to go to my convention. I usually do a few things first. First, I bring a large shoulder bag, some pens, and a pad of paper to take notes. The shoulder bag will be empty except for som very light reading which is my obsession.
I like to look at the floor plan before I go as well as the list of author talks or presentations.
I am going to visit Booth 201 Bandai Entertainment, Booth 241 Anime insider, Booth 308 Diamond Book Distributors, Funimation Entertainment 504, Random House Del Rey Pantheon Booth 314.
I hope to go to the panel on Anime Journalism Room 1A24 1:45-2:30 P.M.
And I also hope I get to see Hideyuki Kikuchi the author of Vampire Hunter D 5:30-6:30 P.M in Room 1A24
Anime Next is running a Manga Library so I'll probably go there as well. Room 1 B 01.
I like to have an idea of where I am going before I go to conferences and be prepared. I usually do something different from what I originally planned, but that is alright.
When I got there it was completely different from what I expected. There were people all over in costume, cosplay. They were dressed up as different anime characters, everything from the Transformers to Naruto, to Fruits Basket. It was kind of fun to see the girls and guys in some very funky and sometimes revealing costumes. There were a lot of brightly colored maid costumes, not just in black, but also pink. People were wearing rabbit ears, fox ears, and cat ears. Some people were dressed up as cats. I bought a ten dollar cat ear hat. I think I might wear it on halloween. The young adult librarian wants to do a cosplay party as part of the anime club at the library. She bought a disposable camera to take pictures of the costumes.
There were tons of toys as well. All sorts of different stuffed plush toys which came from different anime shows. There were booths with an incredible variety of costuming material and prop fantasy weapons. Eight foot long wooden swords, ninja outfits, kimonos, cat costumes, doll costumes, superhero outfits, corsets, funny hats, buttons, masks, and all kinds of oddities. There was even a magazine devoted to this Otaku magazine. A lot of it was cute, harmless, and fun. However, the lolita material is a little bit disturbing. We are very careful at our library about lolita material and teenagers. http://www.otakuusamagazine.com/ME2/Default.asp
I skipped the animenewsnetwork panel and went to hear a panel on independent j rock, Japanese Rock. There were two bands who were talking Karaterice and Echostream. In the program guide there were eleven musical guests.
The variety of different types of things associated with anime was incredible. There was a Naruto videogame, anime card games, there was even a lightsaber dueling club. The convention was a kind of fun house for adults and late teens. Anime is stretching into many aspects of popular entertainment.
The show floor had a lot of very risque material. People were selling x-rated material, hentai and yaoi. I was quite surprised at the amount of this kind of material. I thought it was a little over the top. Some of it was quite salacious. The material ran the gamut from childrens material to very adult material. We can buy R rated material and some unrated material, but for the most part we don't buy x rated. Selling x rated material can drive away some of the buyers who are looking for more conventional material for children and adults.
There were not a huge amount of publishers there. I did not see Viz or Tokyopop at the convention. Bandai and Funimation were at the convention. Del Rey Manga was there as well. There was very little free material.
There was an interesting attitude prevalent at the convention that they were there to make money at the convention, not later. Everything was focused on the immediate sale. This was less prevalent at New York Comic Con. At New York Comic Con there seemed to be more of an understanding that some of the professionals might be ordering large amounts with long term accounts.
I did pick up several free magazines with information on the bestselling animation and manga; anime insider, and ICv2 were two of them. I also picked up a free copy of Previews from Diamond Comic Distributors, which is a magazine which lists all the forthcoming comics and items for the next month which are going to be sold in comic book shops.
I bought three Vampire Hunter D novels from Darkhorse Press for myself. I really enjoy Hideyuki Kikuchi's work. He was one of the featured guests at the conference. Unfortunately, I could not get them autographed. The tickets for the autographing table had run out by 10:30 a.m. for his book signing.
A criticism which I have for a lot of the people at the conference is that very few people had paper catalogs. Being able to read about a book or video in a full page spread is quite helpful. Catalogs are tactile. Most people have difficulty wading through websites. I have said this before; people read slower on the internet and don't like scrolling through large amounts of material.
I have been to both New York Comic Con and Book Expo America in the Jacob Javits Center. Almost all of the publishers there had paper catalogs. Preferred referred me to their websites http://www.media-blasters.com/ (This distributor had classic martial arts films-- Shaw Brothers films like Five Deadly Venoms), http://www.manga.com/ , and http://www.kinokuniya.com/ Only one publisher had a paper catalog which they gave to me, Vertical Inc.
I think I drove the AnimeNext Library people crazy. They had a library of donated manga. There were a number of manga which I had wanted to look at. I spent about an hour and half looking at different manga. I was hoping to select a few titles to order for the library. Looking at manga in booths where you are expected to buy it immediately can be uncomfortable. We buy with our discounted accounts from distributors like Baker and Taylor at the library.
Six titles stood out among the manga Absolute Boyfriend, Aria, Case Closed, Record of the Lodoss War, Samurai Legend, and Silent Mobius. Animenext is another large convention in New Jersey. http://www.animenext.org/
I was just a little annoyed that a professional pass did not get you in early like in New York Comic Con or Book Expo America. We got in at the same time as the fans. They did have a seating area for professionals on the exhibition floor which was a nice touch. I also liked the idea of the Maid Cafe. The food at the Maid Cafe was good. I got a cobb salad and a bottle of green tea. It was a bit expensive $8.25 for the salad and $3.00 for the tea.
There were some areas that I am not exactly sure about. I walked through the section of artists tables. I really was not sure what to make of them. The Anime Festival catalog had very little on the artists biographies. Knowing what an artist does before you look at their art can make a big difference.
Another missing element which might have helped in this conference are some of the producers of anime and manga instruction materials, both books and films. Anime and manga are great, but it is even better when you can buy instruction materials on how to draw manga and make anime films. Also, having artists biographies can be quite interesting.
I realize this is the second year that this convention has happened. I really enjoyed going to the conference, but it was flawed.
There were more professionally oriented panels for manga and anime at the New York Comic Con than at the New York Anime Festival. I saw only a single panel specifically for librarians, Starting an Anime and Manga Club at a Library on Sunday. I would have liked to see a panel called how to select anime for your library.
There were quite a few librarians who I saw that were attending. There were two other people from my library at the conference and several people from surrounding libraries in the county. I went on company time. It was fun, but it was also business. Our anime club is for teenagers.
I was surprised that Kinokuniya was the official bookstore of the conference. I have never been to Kinokuniya bookstore. I might stop by there sometime. When I go to Manhattan, I often go to Forbidden Planet to look at both graphic novels and manga. I would have liked to see more publishers, bookstores, and distributors of media.
If I had more time, I would have gone to the screenings at the conference. There were anime screenings all day long for anime films. It was impossible to visit even a fraction of what was available at the show in a single day because of the variety of panels and showings.
I also really liked the catalog design for the conference. The description of panels, floor layout, and inclusion of a story by Hideyuki Kikuchi was top notch.
The highlight of the show for me was the translated talk by Hideyuki Kikuchi who is an amazing writer. I learned a number of points during his talk. D in the Vampire Hunter D novels is based on the character Shane in the classic western novel by Jack Schaeffer. Many of the scenes in his novels are based on westerns. The other major influence on the novels are the classic Hammer horror films.
Hideyuki Kikuchi is supposed to have written 300 novels. He has produced some 20 Vampire Hunter D novels in 30 volumes. He says that the greatest number of pages he has produced in a single day is 94 pages. He claims that when he becomes absorbed in his writing he does not sleep.
His first novel was Demon City Shinjiku which he based on the John Carpenter film Escape from New York. When he was young he would go to the movies or read comics. There was not as much entertainment available to youth as there is now. He wrote his first novel because he ran out of stories to sell as a magazine writer.
His process for writing a novel is that first he decides on a location, then he creates a hero, after that he makes it up as he goes along.
It was truly fun listening to him talk, even though his words were translated. I really like the new Vampire Hunter D manga, I reviewed one of them earlier. As I do this blog, I am learning more about how to look at comics and manga. The Vampire Hunter D novels in english which are being distributed by Dark Horse comics. Hideyuki Kikuchi says that D is a complete fantasy.
Alright, I have to go to my convention. I usually do a few things first. First, I bring a large shoulder bag, some pens, and a pad of paper to take notes. The shoulder bag will be empty except for som very light reading which is my obsession.
I like to look at the floor plan before I go as well as the list of author talks or presentations.
I am going to visit Booth 201 Bandai Entertainment, Booth 241 Anime insider, Booth 308 Diamond Book Distributors, Funimation Entertainment 504, Random House Del Rey Pantheon Booth 314.
I hope to go to the panel on Anime Journalism Room 1A24 1:45-2:30 P.M.
And I also hope I get to see Hideyuki Kikuchi the author of Vampire Hunter D 5:30-6:30 P.M in Room 1A24
Anime Next is running a Manga Library so I'll probably go there as well. Room 1 B 01.
I like to have an idea of where I am going before I go to conferences and be prepared. I usually do something different from what I originally planned, but that is alright.
When I got there it was completely different from what I expected. There were people all over in costume, cosplay. They were dressed up as different anime characters, everything from the Transformers to Naruto, to Fruits Basket. It was kind of fun to see the girls and guys in some very funky and sometimes revealing costumes. There were a lot of brightly colored maid costumes, not just in black, but also pink. People were wearing rabbit ears, fox ears, and cat ears. Some people were dressed up as cats. I bought a ten dollar cat ear hat. I think I might wear it on halloween. The young adult librarian wants to do a cosplay party as part of the anime club at the library. She bought a disposable camera to take pictures of the costumes.
There were tons of toys as well. All sorts of different stuffed plush toys which came from different anime shows. There were booths with an incredible variety of costuming material and prop fantasy weapons. Eight foot long wooden swords, ninja outfits, kimonos, cat costumes, doll costumes, superhero outfits, corsets, funny hats, buttons, masks, and all kinds of oddities. There was even a magazine devoted to this Otaku magazine. A lot of it was cute, harmless, and fun. However, the lolita material is a little bit disturbing. We are very careful at our library about lolita material and teenagers. http://www.otakuusamagazine.com/ME2/Default.asp
I skipped the animenewsnetwork panel and went to hear a panel on independent j rock, Japanese Rock. There were two bands who were talking Karaterice and Echostream. In the program guide there were eleven musical guests.
The variety of different types of things associated with anime was incredible. There was a Naruto videogame, anime card games, there was even a lightsaber dueling club. The convention was a kind of fun house for adults and late teens. Anime is stretching into many aspects of popular entertainment.
The show floor had a lot of very risque material. People were selling x-rated material, hentai and yaoi. I was quite surprised at the amount of this kind of material. I thought it was a little over the top. Some of it was quite salacious. The material ran the gamut from childrens material to very adult material. We can buy R rated material and some unrated material, but for the most part we don't buy x rated. Selling x rated material can drive away some of the buyers who are looking for more conventional material for children and adults.
There were not a huge amount of publishers there. I did not see Viz or Tokyopop at the convention. Bandai and Funimation were at the convention. Del Rey Manga was there as well. There was very little free material.
There was an interesting attitude prevalent at the convention that they were there to make money at the convention, not later. Everything was focused on the immediate sale. This was less prevalent at New York Comic Con. At New York Comic Con there seemed to be more of an understanding that some of the professionals might be ordering large amounts with long term accounts.
I did pick up several free magazines with information on the bestselling animation and manga; anime insider, and ICv2 were two of them. I also picked up a free copy of Previews from Diamond Comic Distributors, which is a magazine which lists all the forthcoming comics and items for the next month which are going to be sold in comic book shops.
I bought three Vampire Hunter D novels from Darkhorse Press for myself. I really enjoy Hideyuki Kikuchi's work. He was one of the featured guests at the conference. Unfortunately, I could not get them autographed. The tickets for the autographing table had run out by 10:30 a.m. for his book signing.
A criticism which I have for a lot of the people at the conference is that very few people had paper catalogs. Being able to read about a book or video in a full page spread is quite helpful. Catalogs are tactile. Most people have difficulty wading through websites. I have said this before; people read slower on the internet and don't like scrolling through large amounts of material.
I have been to both New York Comic Con and Book Expo America in the Jacob Javits Center. Almost all of the publishers there had paper catalogs. Preferred referred me to their websites http://www.media-blasters.com/ (This distributor had classic martial arts films-- Shaw Brothers films like Five Deadly Venoms), http://www.manga.com/ , and http://www.kinokuniya.com/ Only one publisher had a paper catalog which they gave to me, Vertical Inc.
I think I drove the AnimeNext Library people crazy. They had a library of donated manga. There were a number of manga which I had wanted to look at. I spent about an hour and half looking at different manga. I was hoping to select a few titles to order for the library. Looking at manga in booths where you are expected to buy it immediately can be uncomfortable. We buy with our discounted accounts from distributors like Baker and Taylor at the library.
Six titles stood out among the manga Absolute Boyfriend, Aria, Case Closed, Record of the Lodoss War, Samurai Legend, and Silent Mobius. Animenext is another large convention in New Jersey. http://www.animenext.org/
I was just a little annoyed that a professional pass did not get you in early like in New York Comic Con or Book Expo America. We got in at the same time as the fans. They did have a seating area for professionals on the exhibition floor which was a nice touch. I also liked the idea of the Maid Cafe. The food at the Maid Cafe was good. I got a cobb salad and a bottle of green tea. It was a bit expensive $8.25 for the salad and $3.00 for the tea.
There were some areas that I am not exactly sure about. I walked through the section of artists tables. I really was not sure what to make of them. The Anime Festival catalog had very little on the artists biographies. Knowing what an artist does before you look at their art can make a big difference.
Another missing element which might have helped in this conference are some of the producers of anime and manga instruction materials, both books and films. Anime and manga are great, but it is even better when you can buy instruction materials on how to draw manga and make anime films. Also, having artists biographies can be quite interesting.
I realize this is the second year that this convention has happened. I really enjoyed going to the conference, but it was flawed.
There were more professionally oriented panels for manga and anime at the New York Comic Con than at the New York Anime Festival. I saw only a single panel specifically for librarians, Starting an Anime and Manga Club at a Library on Sunday. I would have liked to see a panel called how to select anime for your library.
There were quite a few librarians who I saw that were attending. There were two other people from my library at the conference and several people from surrounding libraries in the county. I went on company time. It was fun, but it was also business. Our anime club is for teenagers.
I was surprised that Kinokuniya was the official bookstore of the conference. I have never been to Kinokuniya bookstore. I might stop by there sometime. When I go to Manhattan, I often go to Forbidden Planet to look at both graphic novels and manga. I would have liked to see more publishers, bookstores, and distributors of media.
If I had more time, I would have gone to the screenings at the conference. There were anime screenings all day long for anime films. It was impossible to visit even a fraction of what was available at the show in a single day because of the variety of panels and showings.
I also really liked the catalog design for the conference. The description of panels, floor layout, and inclusion of a story by Hideyuki Kikuchi was top notch.
The highlight of the show for me was the translated talk by Hideyuki Kikuchi who is an amazing writer. I learned a number of points during his talk. D in the Vampire Hunter D novels is based on the character Shane in the classic western novel by Jack Schaeffer. Many of the scenes in his novels are based on westerns. The other major influence on the novels are the classic Hammer horror films.
Hideyuki Kikuchi is supposed to have written 300 novels. He has produced some 20 Vampire Hunter D novels in 30 volumes. He says that the greatest number of pages he has produced in a single day is 94 pages. He claims that when he becomes absorbed in his writing he does not sleep.
His first novel was Demon City Shinjiku which he based on the John Carpenter film Escape from New York. When he was young he would go to the movies or read comics. There was not as much entertainment available to youth as there is now. He wrote his first novel because he ran out of stories to sell as a magazine writer.
His process for writing a novel is that first he decides on a location, then he creates a hero, after that he makes it up as he goes along.
It was truly fun listening to him talk, even though his words were translated. I really like the new Vampire Hunter D manga, I reviewed one of them earlier. As I do this blog, I am learning more about how to look at comics and manga. The Vampire Hunter D novels in english which are being distributed by Dark Horse comics. Hideyuki Kikuchi says that D is a complete fantasy.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
New York Anime Festival, Good Morning
Anime DVDsNew York Anime Festival
I think I am going to go to the New York Anime Festival on September 26 with a free professional pass. Librarians get in free on professional day. I think it will be fun to do. Plus, I want to see all the swag. This would be a perfect day to get lots of free giveaways so we can give them to the teenagers during programming. There should also be some manga and martial arts films, I hope.
Hopefully, it should be interesting. I went to New York Comic Con. I think this might be even bigger than New York Comic Con. A lot of the teenagers really like anime. We have an anime club at our library. http://www.nyanimefestival.com/
I think I am going to go to the New York Anime Festival on September 26 with a free professional pass. Librarians get in free on professional day. I think it will be fun to do. Plus, I want to see all the swag. This would be a perfect day to get lots of free giveaways so we can give them to the teenagers during programming. There should also be some manga and martial arts films, I hope.
Hopefully, it should be interesting. I went to New York Comic Con. I think this might be even bigger than New York Comic Con. A lot of the teenagers really like anime. We have an anime club at our library. http://www.nyanimefestival.com/
I know this seems to have nothing to do with books. However, we also order books on drawing manga and anime. I also have bought some books on how to do cartooning.
Good Morning
I just had my morning coffee. I am waking up a bit.
Good Morning
I just had my morning coffee. I am waking up a bit.
I spent pretty much the whole day finishing up weeding the business management books. The section ends with the advertising books. At least, I have looked at all the books in the section so I will have a much better idea of what to order. Next, I have to focus on doing the oversize computer books, the oversize business management books, and finally, the social science books. I have lots and lots of weeding to do.
Later this week there should be more items from my orders coming in. Things have been both busy and very predictable.
I have been spending a lot more time lately answering questions at the reference desk. It has been a bit of a vacation season.
Nothing new has come in for me to read. I still have to review a few books. I am a little tired right now.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Morning Thoughts, Afternoon Thoughts
This image was taken by a government employee. I think this image is in the public domain. Anyways, there it is a great photograph of Elvis with Nixon.Morning Thoughts
I don't know what happened to me yesterday morning. I couldn't get myself to write anything at all. Right now, I am drinking my coffee a little bit before noon. I read a little bit of Snopes this morning. A little odd and humorous news.
http://www.snopes.com/daily/index.asp
I am trying to do very little. I went to the laundromat yesterday and read some more of Manga The Complete Guide by Jason Thompason. Jason Thompson is an editor for Viz publisher which publishes manga. It was a very interesting book to read through. One of the huge faults with this book is that it only reviews manga from Japan that has translated into english. There is no coverage of original American manga from companies like Tokypop, Del Rey Manga, or Darkhores. There is now a lot of manga style comics being written by authors from others countries than Japan like Korea, China, and Canada.
Still the book is quite interesting. It reviews manga from the very beginnings starting with Four Immigrants Manga all the way through 2006. It uses a star rating system for the different manga comics with stars and half stars. I think it is pretty accurate. There is a lot of material covered Ranma 1/2, Lone Wolf and Cub, Iron Wok Jan, Harlem Beat, Sailor Moon, and a huge variety of subjects are covered.
In addition to the coverage of individual reviews there are two page overviews of different subjects in manga like Cooking, Crime and Yakuza, Fantasy, Japanese History, Otaku, Martial Arts, and many other subjects. This is quite interesting. It also includes discussions of the more risque material in manga, cross dressing, gay and lesbian, and sex.
There are separate review sectsions for Yaoi and Gay Manga, and Adult Manga. As part of its rating system, the book discusses many of the issues with differences in culture. The Japanese have very different taboos about nudity than westerners or people in the United States. They also have a tendency to include sexual innuendo about little girls. This is something we are careful about in our library.
We have had some interesting issues with Sailor Moon and older men (There is even a "Sailor Moon" fan made dating sim which is quite creepy.) Because of the issues of sexuality, we have to be very careful when ordering things for teenagers. Some of the material goes right to the adult section where there are less problems.
Ranma 1/2 for people in the United States also has some interesting connotations. When water is thrown on him, he turns into her. For some people in the United States this is more x-rated than sex. It would be no problem in the adult section, but some people sometimes object to it being in teen section or getting the book at all.
Still even in the adult section, the material can be quite explicit. I was surprised at how explicit Path of the Assassins was. It is on the top 50 bestselling manga by Diamond Comic Distributors. Just because something sells well does not make it non-explicit.
There is a glossary and an artist index. The artist index includes the titles they have published as well as links to their website if it is available.
The book has numerous black and white illustrations of covers. The back has a photo credits section. There are also a few panels from different manga in the book.
I think that this is an excellent guide to Japanese Manga. The key here is that it only covers manga in translation to english from Japanese. This is an awful lot of material.
Afternoon Thoughts
I don't know what happened to me yesterday morning. I couldn't get myself to write anything at all. Right now, I am drinking my coffee a little bit before noon. I read a little bit of Snopes this morning. A little odd and humorous news.
http://www.snopes.com/daily/index.asp
I am trying to do very little. I went to the laundromat yesterday and read some more of Manga The Complete Guide by Jason Thompason. Jason Thompson is an editor for Viz publisher which publishes manga. It was a very interesting book to read through. One of the huge faults with this book is that it only reviews manga from Japan that has translated into english. There is no coverage of original American manga from companies like Tokypop, Del Rey Manga, or Darkhores. There is now a lot of manga style comics being written by authors from others countries than Japan like Korea, China, and Canada.
Still the book is quite interesting. It reviews manga from the very beginnings starting with Four Immigrants Manga all the way through 2006. It uses a star rating system for the different manga comics with stars and half stars. I think it is pretty accurate. There is a lot of material covered Ranma 1/2, Lone Wolf and Cub, Iron Wok Jan, Harlem Beat, Sailor Moon, and a huge variety of subjects are covered.
In addition to the coverage of individual reviews there are two page overviews of different subjects in manga like Cooking, Crime and Yakuza, Fantasy, Japanese History, Otaku, Martial Arts, and many other subjects. This is quite interesting. It also includes discussions of the more risque material in manga, cross dressing, gay and lesbian, and sex.
There are separate review sectsions for Yaoi and Gay Manga, and Adult Manga. As part of its rating system, the book discusses many of the issues with differences in culture. The Japanese have very different taboos about nudity than westerners or people in the United States. They also have a tendency to include sexual innuendo about little girls. This is something we are careful about in our library.
We have had some interesting issues with Sailor Moon and older men (There is even a "Sailor Moon" fan made dating sim which is quite creepy.) Because of the issues of sexuality, we have to be very careful when ordering things for teenagers. Some of the material goes right to the adult section where there are less problems.
Ranma 1/2 for people in the United States also has some interesting connotations. When water is thrown on him, he turns into her. For some people in the United States this is more x-rated than sex. It would be no problem in the adult section, but some people sometimes object to it being in teen section or getting the book at all.
Still even in the adult section, the material can be quite explicit. I was surprised at how explicit Path of the Assassins was. It is on the top 50 bestselling manga by Diamond Comic Distributors. Just because something sells well does not make it non-explicit.
There is a glossary and an artist index. The artist index includes the titles they have published as well as links to their website if it is available.
The book has numerous black and white illustrations of covers. The back has a photo credits section. There are also a few panels from different manga in the book.
I think that this is an excellent guide to Japanese Manga. The key here is that it only covers manga in translation to english from Japanese. This is an awful lot of material.
Afternoon Thoughts
I looked at 101 Ways To Promote Your Website by Susan Sweeney, C.A. . In a way I was not impressed with the book. On the cover it says "Main Selection of Computer Books Directs book club" I wanted to see if this club still existed, so I looked it up and the membership is closed. There are also a lot of complaints Computer Books Direct from various people. This knocked the book down a little bit in my mind. I also read the very short section on blogs and was not impressed with her suggestions for promoting blogs. They were very basic. So, I am putting the book down for now.
I also took a few minutes to start reading, Wikinomics How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams. It seems entertaining so far. They have a blog promoting the book which has a nice fluffy branded feeling to it. http://www.wikinomics.com/blog/
I went to my local library today. However, I got there a bit late. The computers were closing in fifteen minutes so I decided to take a pass. I picked up a few items to read, The Darkness, A Vampire Huntress Legend by L.A. Banks and The Discworld Graphic Novels The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett. I am hoping this will have a nice dose of humor in it. I also picked up a DVD, Inuyasha, I have not watched any of the television series anime, I have watched quite a few anime movies that are stand alone. So, this will be a slightly different experience for me.
Entrecard is still not working on my home computer. I wish they could tell me what was wrong with it, but they have not been able to.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Evening Thoughts
Evening Thoughts
I was surprised with the latest bunch of grapic novels and manga which I took out. I did not expect the manga, Path of the Assassin to be basically X rated with lots of steamy sex in it. Because of this, I would not recommend it. It looked like it was the same kind of thing as Lone Wolf and Cub. Lots of samurai violence, but very little sex. Path of the Assassin is truly steamy. It includes everything from palace intrigue, sex, and ninja assassins. You would call it humanity laid bare at its most base level.
I also found League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Black Dossier, by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill to also have gone a little bit too far. The section called The New Adventures of Fanny Hill in the book was pretty extreme. It had a lot of erotic drawings done in a very similar style to Aubrey Beardsley. I like Aubrey Beardsley, but this goes pretty far. Also, the ending is done in 3D. There is even a pair of 3D Glasses included in the book.
Kevin O'Neill is drawing, "The Blazing World" or a kind of higher dimensional space in 3D. It is very strange looking. The actual pictures have a 3D quality, while the text bubbles appear flat. The effect is very mind bending, almost psychedelic in quality. There are all sorts of odd things in the pictures, whales, superheroes, buildings, and other things.
There is a lot of material that is truly over the top in this book. I could not begin to create what Alan Moore has written. Alan Qatermain and Mina are being chased through a 1950's style dystopia by the agents of a kind of big brother style government.
This is one of those books written with a singular purpose to confuse and blow your mind. It breaks pretty much every convention. My favorite part, and one of the few pieces that I found readable is "The Life of Orlando", a series of panels recounting the tale of an immortal person who changes sex every hundred years or so. It tells a story of a man consumed by warfare and intrigue traveling all of histories byways.
This book will not be for most peoples taste. If you want something very odd to read or something quite mind expanding, almost psychedelic read this book. Large portions of this graphic novel were very hard for me to read. Alan Moore wrote the comic book V for Vendetta. He also wrote one of the most famous comic books ever written, Watchmen. Watchmen is being made into a movie. I think at this point in his career he is free to write almost anything which he wants.
I did not read much that I wanted to review or write about so far this weekend. The Complete Guide to Manga by Jason Thompson is not bad. It covers all the basics. I am looking through it right now.
I was surprised with the latest bunch of grapic novels and manga which I took out. I did not expect the manga, Path of the Assassin to be basically X rated with lots of steamy sex in it. Because of this, I would not recommend it. It looked like it was the same kind of thing as Lone Wolf and Cub. Lots of samurai violence, but very little sex. Path of the Assassin is truly steamy. It includes everything from palace intrigue, sex, and ninja assassins. You would call it humanity laid bare at its most base level.
I also found League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Black Dossier, by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill to also have gone a little bit too far. The section called The New Adventures of Fanny Hill in the book was pretty extreme. It had a lot of erotic drawings done in a very similar style to Aubrey Beardsley. I like Aubrey Beardsley, but this goes pretty far. Also, the ending is done in 3D. There is even a pair of 3D Glasses included in the book.
Kevin O'Neill is drawing, "The Blazing World" or a kind of higher dimensional space in 3D. It is very strange looking. The actual pictures have a 3D quality, while the text bubbles appear flat. The effect is very mind bending, almost psychedelic in quality. There are all sorts of odd things in the pictures, whales, superheroes, buildings, and other things.
There is a lot of material that is truly over the top in this book. I could not begin to create what Alan Moore has written. Alan Qatermain and Mina are being chased through a 1950's style dystopia by the agents of a kind of big brother style government.
This is one of those books written with a singular purpose to confuse and blow your mind. It breaks pretty much every convention. My favorite part, and one of the few pieces that I found readable is "The Life of Orlando", a series of panels recounting the tale of an immortal person who changes sex every hundred years or so. It tells a story of a man consumed by warfare and intrigue traveling all of histories byways.
This book will not be for most peoples taste. If you want something very odd to read or something quite mind expanding, almost psychedelic read this book. Large portions of this graphic novel were very hard for me to read. Alan Moore wrote the comic book V for Vendetta. He also wrote one of the most famous comic books ever written, Watchmen. Watchmen is being made into a movie. I think at this point in his career he is free to write almost anything which he wants.
I did not read much that I wanted to review or write about so far this weekend. The Complete Guide to Manga by Jason Thompson is not bad. It covers all the basics. I am looking through it right now.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Afternoon Thoughts
Vladimir Lenin reading the newspaper, Pravda. Lenin is gone with the old Soviet system which in my view is a blessing.Afternoon Thoughts
It seems like the day disappeared in the blink of an eye yesterday. I try to post every day, but right now, I am finding it more than a little difficult to do.
This morning, I did some more desk cleaning. I like having a clean desk before going on vacation like most people. So, I went through piles of papers and sorted things to put in different places. Mostly, I put things in the trash.
I also did a whole lot more business book weeding. I also picked out a few more business books for the display stand. It has been a slow but steady day.
Before going on vacation, people like to pick out books to read. I have a stack of them. Space Vulture by Gary K. Wolf and Archbishop John J. Meyers. This book claims to be in the tradition of the old science fiction pulps. Gary K. Wolf wrote Who Killed Roger Rabbit, so I am hoping they write something similar to Alex Raymond or Tom Godwin.
I also have Groundswell, Winning In A World Transformed by Social Technologies by Charlene Li (Forrester Research) and Josh Bernoff, c2008. It is printed by Harvard Business Press. It is about how social networks are affecting corporations. Another business book I intend to read is 101 Ways to Promote Your Website by Susan Sweeney, C.A. It is the sixth edition.
For comics, I picked out Dan Dare, by Garth Ennis and Gary Erskine. It is a new interpretation done by Virgin Comics. It is c2008 released in April. So, it is very new.
And for something a little different, I picked up The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Black Dossier by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill. This had very mixed reviews. It looks wildly over the top with some very unusual illustrations. This is a graphic novel for adults.
I also picked out some Manga, Manga The Complete Guide by Jason Thompson, and Path of the Assassin by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima, Volumes, 9, 10, and 11. There is a parental advisory on the cover.
I still haven't had a chance to write a review of Saturn's Children. I have quite a bit to do. So, I have a quite bit to read on my vacation. I hope it is also a chance to relax a bit.
It seems like the day disappeared in the blink of an eye yesterday. I try to post every day, but right now, I am finding it more than a little difficult to do.
This morning, I did some more desk cleaning. I like having a clean desk before going on vacation like most people. So, I went through piles of papers and sorted things to put in different places. Mostly, I put things in the trash.
I also did a whole lot more business book weeding. I also picked out a few more business books for the display stand. It has been a slow but steady day.
Before going on vacation, people like to pick out books to read. I have a stack of them. Space Vulture by Gary K. Wolf and Archbishop John J. Meyers. This book claims to be in the tradition of the old science fiction pulps. Gary K. Wolf wrote Who Killed Roger Rabbit, so I am hoping they write something similar to Alex Raymond or Tom Godwin.
I also have Groundswell, Winning In A World Transformed by Social Technologies by Charlene Li (Forrester Research) and Josh Bernoff, c2008. It is printed by Harvard Business Press. It is about how social networks are affecting corporations. Another business book I intend to read is 101 Ways to Promote Your Website by Susan Sweeney, C.A. It is the sixth edition.
For comics, I picked out Dan Dare, by Garth Ennis and Gary Erskine. It is a new interpretation done by Virgin Comics. It is c2008 released in April. So, it is very new.
And for something a little different, I picked up The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Black Dossier by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill. This had very mixed reviews. It looks wildly over the top with some very unusual illustrations. This is a graphic novel for adults.
I also picked out some Manga, Manga The Complete Guide by Jason Thompson, and Path of the Assassin by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima, Volumes, 9, 10, and 11. There is a parental advisory on the cover.
I still haven't had a chance to write a review of Saturn's Children. I have quite a bit to do. So, I have a quite bit to read on my vacation. I hope it is also a chance to relax a bit.
The diner where I sometimes go take my lunch is also on vacation next week. I read the paper there during lunch. I have coffe with my lunch and a paper. It really doesn't work too well lately reading the paper on the subway.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Car Troubles, Queens Library
Postage Stamp of the National Library of Faroe Islands.Car Troubles
Like many of you, I have car troubles. I had to take my car in for an inspection. They told me that it hadn't been driven enough, I had to take it out and drive it around for at least an hour on the freeway or else the inspection equipment wouldn't pass the car. It has been quite an annoyance.
My car is still in the garage getting maintenance done. They have to change the oil, rotate the tires, change the battery, and a bunch of other things to get the car in proper shape.
Right now, I am sitting at the main library in Queens, New York. Queens Library has the highest circulation of any library system in the United States. In other words, more people use it than any other library system. In some ways, it is laid out very differently than most libraries I have been to.
First of all, the library is heavily merchandised with lots of display racks for a variety of subjects including computers, self-help, mythology, new books, bestsellers, and any of a number of different subjects. You could spend a whole day wandering through the merchandised sections of the library. The bookshelves run along the walls, while the merchandised sections are in the center. Green and white signage hangs from the ceilings which is quite visible.
I went through and looked at a bunch of different subjects and wrote down a variety of new titles for computer books. They have more computer books than I have seen in most large bookstores. They also have a greater variety of subjects on computers. I still have a couple thousand dollars of computer books to order.
Sometimes when I go to libraries or bookstores I carry a small notebook to jot down titles which I am interested in. I have several pages of books jotted down after this visit. After walking through the computer books section, I walked through the social science section and noted down a few books that looked interesting. One title which really stood out was The Blue How To Profit By Investing In A Better World by Daniel De Faro Adams and Joe Andrew.
After I was done with the more serious works, I went to the manga and graphic novels section. There were a few things that interested me. Herge's Tintin can be quite controversial, but I think we might want to get a couple for the adult section. Some people consider them to be quite ethnically and racially biased. I also am going to probably order a few books by Goscinny who does the Asterix books. These in a sense are comics classics. I am also considering getting a few reprint volumes of Segar's Popeye.
Not everything in comics is about graphic novels and manga. We still have to get editorial cartoons and comic strips. Aaron McGruder is fairly popular at our library. We also don't have many popular strips. I intend to get a few of Scott Adam's Dilbert books for our collection after looking at the queens collection.
We have a very large African American population where we work. Three cartoonists which stand out who are African American are Lance Tooks, Aaron McGruder, and Kyle Baker. All do excellent work.
The computer station where I am sitting is very busy. There is a very large line to use the computers. It has a very large variety of people in the lines. Queens is also one of the most ethnically diverse places in the United States.
It is odd looking at the screen because they have set the standard type to very large to help the visually impaired. It is like reading a large print book. I don't particularly find it comfortable.
I have an hour to sit here before I go back to check on my car. I checked back on my car and it won't be ready until tomorrow. It is one of those things where unexpected things happen. I'll deal with it as I go along.
Like many of you, I have car troubles. I had to take my car in for an inspection. They told me that it hadn't been driven enough, I had to take it out and drive it around for at least an hour on the freeway or else the inspection equipment wouldn't pass the car. It has been quite an annoyance.
My car is still in the garage getting maintenance done. They have to change the oil, rotate the tires, change the battery, and a bunch of other things to get the car in proper shape.
Right now, I am sitting at the main library in Queens, New York. Queens Library has the highest circulation of any library system in the United States. In other words, more people use it than any other library system. In some ways, it is laid out very differently than most libraries I have been to.
First of all, the library is heavily merchandised with lots of display racks for a variety of subjects including computers, self-help, mythology, new books, bestsellers, and any of a number of different subjects. You could spend a whole day wandering through the merchandised sections of the library. The bookshelves run along the walls, while the merchandised sections are in the center. Green and white signage hangs from the ceilings which is quite visible.
I went through and looked at a bunch of different subjects and wrote down a variety of new titles for computer books. They have more computer books than I have seen in most large bookstores. They also have a greater variety of subjects on computers. I still have a couple thousand dollars of computer books to order.
Sometimes when I go to libraries or bookstores I carry a small notebook to jot down titles which I am interested in. I have several pages of books jotted down after this visit. After walking through the computer books section, I walked through the social science section and noted down a few books that looked interesting. One title which really stood out was The Blue How To Profit By Investing In A Better World by Daniel De Faro Adams and Joe Andrew.
After I was done with the more serious works, I went to the manga and graphic novels section. There were a few things that interested me. Herge's Tintin can be quite controversial, but I think we might want to get a couple for the adult section. Some people consider them to be quite ethnically and racially biased. I also am going to probably order a few books by Goscinny who does the Asterix books. These in a sense are comics classics. I am also considering getting a few reprint volumes of Segar's Popeye.
Not everything in comics is about graphic novels and manga. We still have to get editorial cartoons and comic strips. Aaron McGruder is fairly popular at our library. We also don't have many popular strips. I intend to get a few of Scott Adam's Dilbert books for our collection after looking at the queens collection.
We have a very large African American population where we work. Three cartoonists which stand out who are African American are Lance Tooks, Aaron McGruder, and Kyle Baker. All do excellent work.
The computer station where I am sitting is very busy. There is a very large line to use the computers. It has a very large variety of people in the lines. Queens is also one of the most ethnically diverse places in the United States.
It is odd looking at the screen because they have set the standard type to very large to help the visually impaired. It is like reading a large print book. I don't particularly find it comfortable.
I have an hour to sit here before I go back to check on my car. I checked back on my car and it won't be ready until tomorrow. It is one of those things where unexpected things happen. I'll deal with it as I go along.
I don't really have to worry about driving it unless it is the weekend or I have a specific trip I have to make. I usually take the train to work.
Something I noticed about the Queens main branch is that it is not that effectively designed for reference work. Because almost all the collections are focused on high circulation and there is not as much reference material, there are a lot less people seeking reference questions.
People come in to check out material and use the computers more than anything else in Queens. There were no really identifiable special collections at all. I did not even see a multicultural collection. There is a very large Job Information Center collection. This seems to be the main specialized collection for reference in Queens.
It seemed that an emphasis on circulating material limits the amount of research being done. A research collection is structured differently than a circulating collection. In a more research oriented collection like New York Public Library there tends to be a lot more older material and much greater depth to the collection. It also is much more prestigious because of the depth of the collection. Most of the material in Queens was new material on the shelves. I did not find this particularly appealing. It reminded me too much of a bookstore model for libraries.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Black and White Tekkon Kinkreet All In One, Taiyo Matsumoto, Review
Good Morning
I was reading Tekkon Kinkreet Black & White All In One by Taiyo Matsumoto on the train in from work. It is a really incredible manga. Some of the content defies definition. It is about an orphan pair of children who look to be about ten or eleven years old in a run down city, Black and White. There are some very unusual things about them. They are extremely violent, they also can fly which makes for a very strange story. In an odd way, they are almost super powered.
They are in conflict with various denizens of the city including the yakuza, foreign criminals, and other street gangs. They seem to be the spirit of a city which has turned into a rather nasty slum. The characters are interesting. They get help from a drunken old man sometimes. Interspersed with their violent dealings are various episodes like visiting a video arcade, eating apples, going to the public baths, pickpocketing money during a boxing match, and mugging people for their watches.
The art work is stunning. It has an odd feeling, somehow. It is mostly drawn in black white. The drawings are not traditional, they have a rough quality to them which makes them both childlike and at the same time very dark. Towards the end of the story, Black gets separated from White and takes on the spiritual aspect of the Minotaur, the destroyer of men. He fights two assassins who also can fly and kills them. At moments there are pictures of a good Black and a Black that is the essence of evil.
White weres a kind of a weird outfit with a lion mask, and regular all white childrens clothes, Black wears a necklace of a big skull, aviator goggles, and black clothing. This makes them odd. They also sometimes carry big metal pipes.
There is a lot of strangeness in this story. For example, Black and White meet another pair of street children, Dawn and Dusk with powers. You see them on top of buildings, sitting on telephone wires, jumping on moving cars. The two children are completely without fear. Also, they sleep in an old rusted out car. There is a little plot of land where White has planted an apple seed.
The villain is a foreign asian man with rings on his fingers and in his ears. He is trying to build an amusement building for children and take over the town. The villain wants to change the whole character of the city into something like Disneyland. He wants to unite the yakuza and tear down the old strip mall which they hang out at.
Sometimes the police talk to them. They don't know what to make of the children. They have a record of violence. In one scene they attack another little kid and take his backpack. The whole story is very surreal. The story at least ends with peace in the city.
This story is definitely not for children. It is an adult story despite having super powered street orphans as the main characters. The main characters, Black and White sing naughty childrens rhymes, swear, and cause mayhem. The villains are violent. There is some nudity and sexuality. One of the yakuza is depicted talking to his wife while he is in bed about having a child. There is an odd mix of real life and otherworldly powers.
The book is an odd size 7 inches by 10 inches making it very large for a manga. The panels are also larger than usual. They are not laid out in a traditional manner and vary from page to page. The book was turned into an anime film in 2006. It is very avant garde. I am surprised that this was published. It is very unusual. There is a parental advisory symbol on the front of the book which says "Parental Advisory, Explicit Content."
I was reading Tekkon Kinkreet Black & White All In One by Taiyo Matsumoto on the train in from work. It is a really incredible manga. Some of the content defies definition. It is about an orphan pair of children who look to be about ten or eleven years old in a run down city, Black and White. There are some very unusual things about them. They are extremely violent, they also can fly which makes for a very strange story. In an odd way, they are almost super powered.
They are in conflict with various denizens of the city including the yakuza, foreign criminals, and other street gangs. They seem to be the spirit of a city which has turned into a rather nasty slum. The characters are interesting. They get help from a drunken old man sometimes. Interspersed with their violent dealings are various episodes like visiting a video arcade, eating apples, going to the public baths, pickpocketing money during a boxing match, and mugging people for their watches.
The art work is stunning. It has an odd feeling, somehow. It is mostly drawn in black white. The drawings are not traditional, they have a rough quality to them which makes them both childlike and at the same time very dark. Towards the end of the story, Black gets separated from White and takes on the spiritual aspect of the Minotaur, the destroyer of men. He fights two assassins who also can fly and kills them. At moments there are pictures of a good Black and a Black that is the essence of evil.
White weres a kind of a weird outfit with a lion mask, and regular all white childrens clothes, Black wears a necklace of a big skull, aviator goggles, and black clothing. This makes them odd. They also sometimes carry big metal pipes.
There is a lot of strangeness in this story. For example, Black and White meet another pair of street children, Dawn and Dusk with powers. You see them on top of buildings, sitting on telephone wires, jumping on moving cars. The two children are completely without fear. Also, they sleep in an old rusted out car. There is a little plot of land where White has planted an apple seed.
The villain is a foreign asian man with rings on his fingers and in his ears. He is trying to build an amusement building for children and take over the town. The villain wants to change the whole character of the city into something like Disneyland. He wants to unite the yakuza and tear down the old strip mall which they hang out at.
Sometimes the police talk to them. They don't know what to make of the children. They have a record of violence. In one scene they attack another little kid and take his backpack. The whole story is very surreal. The story at least ends with peace in the city.
This story is definitely not for children. It is an adult story despite having super powered street orphans as the main characters. The main characters, Black and White sing naughty childrens rhymes, swear, and cause mayhem. The villains are violent. There is some nudity and sexuality. One of the yakuza is depicted talking to his wife while he is in bed about having a child. There is an odd mix of real life and otherworldly powers.
The book is an odd size 7 inches by 10 inches making it very large for a manga. The panels are also larger than usual. They are not laid out in a traditional manner and vary from page to page. The book was turned into an anime film in 2006. It is very avant garde. I am surprised that this was published. It is very unusual. There is a parental advisory symbol on the front of the book which says "Parental Advisory, Explicit Content."
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Thoughts For Today
Thoughts For Today
I read the July 7 Publishers Weekly this morning. There was an interesting title listed for graphic novels. It is War Eagles by Carl Macek. There is an introduction by Ray Harryhausen. Ray Harryhausen currently is working on a new animatronic film called War Eagles. This is the graphic novel adaptation of the film.
Also, we had a Dominican lady come in and talk about her new poetry book. We may be doing a poetry reading in Spanish which should be quite interesting. We just have to make the arrangements for the program.
I am almost done reading The Public Domain.
I have a copy of Usagi Yojimbo Tomoe's Story, Volume 22 by Stan Sakai. I think this is my favorite manga and possibly one of the best comic series I've ever read. I love the story and the style of the artwork. Usagi Yojimbo means "rabbit bodyguard". The main character is Miyamoto Usagi, a wandering rabbit ronin inspired by Miyamoto Musashi. It is an anthropomorphic or furry comic book. Stan Sakai was inspired to write the story while he was a letterer for Groo the Wanderer.
It has numerous elements from Japanese folklore including ghosts, tengu, spirits, and demons. There are also ninja, assassins, bandits, and other adventures which Usagi runs into. He fights numerous duels with the sword. There are also different furries some of them present unique challenges. Stan Sakai has a website at: http://www.usagiyjojimbo.com/
I read the July 7 Publishers Weekly this morning. There was an interesting title listed for graphic novels. It is War Eagles by Carl Macek. There is an introduction by Ray Harryhausen. Ray Harryhausen currently is working on a new animatronic film called War Eagles. This is the graphic novel adaptation of the film.
Also, we had a Dominican lady come in and talk about her new poetry book. We may be doing a poetry reading in Spanish which should be quite interesting. We just have to make the arrangements for the program.
I am almost done reading The Public Domain.
I have a copy of Usagi Yojimbo Tomoe's Story, Volume 22 by Stan Sakai. I think this is my favorite manga and possibly one of the best comic series I've ever read. I love the story and the style of the artwork. Usagi Yojimbo means "rabbit bodyguard". The main character is Miyamoto Usagi, a wandering rabbit ronin inspired by Miyamoto Musashi. It is an anthropomorphic or furry comic book. Stan Sakai was inspired to write the story while he was a letterer for Groo the Wanderer.
It has numerous elements from Japanese folklore including ghosts, tengu, spirits, and demons. There are also ninja, assassins, bandits, and other adventures which Usagi runs into. He fights numerous duels with the sword. There are also different furries some of them present unique challenges. Stan Sakai has a website at: http://www.usagiyjojimbo.com/
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Vampire Hunter D -- Hideyuki Kikuchi-- Adapted and Illustrated by Saiko Takaki
Vampire Hunter D -- Hideyuki Kikuchi-- Adapted and Illustrated by Saiko Takaki
This is a manga novel for adults. The themes and the violence give it a rating of 16+. It is quite graphic. The illustrator is translating a Japanese novel into manga form. She includes a few short comic strips on this process at the back of each manga. Despite being very action oriented, there are some interesting characteristics about the way the vampire hunter is drawn. He is physically lithe and beautiful to women. The lady monsters and vampires find him very attractive as well as the women he ends up protecting.
The setting is quite interesting. Long ago there was a nuclear war which annhilated most of civilization. Mutants and horrible things roamed the earth for thousands of years. Then out of the darkness rose the nobility vampires who ruled humanity for five thousand years. This rule collapsed eventually. Now, hunters roam the land, men, women, and others who unceasingly try to protect humanity from the dark creatures while a new civilization is being built. It has elements in it that remind of Jack Vance's the Dying Earth, gothic horror, a post apocalypse west, and classic horror novels.
Vampire Hunter D is a dhampir, half human and half vampire. He can walk during the daylight. He constantly seeks out the nobility which is what the monsters call themselves and kills them. He often draws sustenance from the nobles he has defeated. He dresses elegantly in a wide brimmed black hat, black leather armor, a dark cloak, and carries a sword. He also has a hand which is possessed by a ghost or spirit which talks to him sometimes.
When he is not fighting, he is talking to the local townspeople. He comes across as a kind of chevalier in his personal manners. He is shown riding a kind of mutant horse in the beginning of the story.
In Volume 1, D helps a young woman, Doris Lang, who has been bitten by a vampire. He must seek out and destroy the vampire lord which has bitten her. It reveals the inner tension inside him, as his hand says, you wanted to drink her blood more than you wanted to lay down with her. It seems that numerous of the local men have the hots for the woman he is supposed to protect as well. He must convince them to leaver her alone.
First D must face down the local townspeople who either want him dead or to leave very quickly. He also has to fight off a team of mutant hunters who want to kill the vampire lord themselves. There is constant fighting with lots of swordplay, monster fighting (a giant snakebodied woman, a werewolf, a golem and a few other creatures as well).
The manga is full of action sequences. The drawing uses very thick dark flowing lines. There is also a lot of jagged lettering used to show the fight sounds. During the fights, creatures use mystical powers against each other. For example when a creature sends a cloud of spiders to enwrap him, he uses his ghost hand to suck in all the spiders. The characters have big eyes and big hair, and finely drawn clothing.
There are three settings in which most of the action occurs, the farm of the girl and her little brother, the town which looks like something from the old west, and the gothic castle of the noble vampire.
The climactic battle is between the vampire lord Lee and Vampire Hunter D. Vampire Hunter D is revealed to be a possible scion of Dracula who most people never speak of the name of. D defeats the lord and all is put right again for the moment.
I really enjoyed the feel and style of this manga. I had seen the anime earlier. It is not for children. It is written for adults. If you like fantasy and vampire stories, you would probably like this manga.
This is a manga novel for adults. The themes and the violence give it a rating of 16+. It is quite graphic. The illustrator is translating a Japanese novel into manga form. She includes a few short comic strips on this process at the back of each manga. Despite being very action oriented, there are some interesting characteristics about the way the vampire hunter is drawn. He is physically lithe and beautiful to women. The lady monsters and vampires find him very attractive as well as the women he ends up protecting.
The setting is quite interesting. Long ago there was a nuclear war which annhilated most of civilization. Mutants and horrible things roamed the earth for thousands of years. Then out of the darkness rose the nobility vampires who ruled humanity for five thousand years. This rule collapsed eventually. Now, hunters roam the land, men, women, and others who unceasingly try to protect humanity from the dark creatures while a new civilization is being built. It has elements in it that remind of Jack Vance's the Dying Earth, gothic horror, a post apocalypse west, and classic horror novels.
Vampire Hunter D is a dhampir, half human and half vampire. He can walk during the daylight. He constantly seeks out the nobility which is what the monsters call themselves and kills them. He often draws sustenance from the nobles he has defeated. He dresses elegantly in a wide brimmed black hat, black leather armor, a dark cloak, and carries a sword. He also has a hand which is possessed by a ghost or spirit which talks to him sometimes.
When he is not fighting, he is talking to the local townspeople. He comes across as a kind of chevalier in his personal manners. He is shown riding a kind of mutant horse in the beginning of the story.
In Volume 1, D helps a young woman, Doris Lang, who has been bitten by a vampire. He must seek out and destroy the vampire lord which has bitten her. It reveals the inner tension inside him, as his hand says, you wanted to drink her blood more than you wanted to lay down with her. It seems that numerous of the local men have the hots for the woman he is supposed to protect as well. He must convince them to leaver her alone.
First D must face down the local townspeople who either want him dead or to leave very quickly. He also has to fight off a team of mutant hunters who want to kill the vampire lord themselves. There is constant fighting with lots of swordplay, monster fighting (a giant snakebodied woman, a werewolf, a golem and a few other creatures as well).
The manga is full of action sequences. The drawing uses very thick dark flowing lines. There is also a lot of jagged lettering used to show the fight sounds. During the fights, creatures use mystical powers against each other. For example when a creature sends a cloud of spiders to enwrap him, he uses his ghost hand to suck in all the spiders. The characters have big eyes and big hair, and finely drawn clothing.
There are three settings in which most of the action occurs, the farm of the girl and her little brother, the town which looks like something from the old west, and the gothic castle of the noble vampire.
The climactic battle is between the vampire lord Lee and Vampire Hunter D. Vampire Hunter D is revealed to be a possible scion of Dracula who most people never speak of the name of. D defeats the lord and all is put right again for the moment.
I really enjoyed the feel and style of this manga. I had seen the anime earlier. It is not for children. It is written for adults. If you like fantasy and vampire stories, you would probably like this manga.
Friday, July 4, 2008
R.O.D. Read or Die-- Anime Film-- Review
Read Or Die is an original short anime series. It consists of three episodes. The main character, Yomiko Readman is a bibliomaniac who loves to spend too much time in books. She is a supposedly a literature teacher. However, in the film she is Agent Paper, a superpowered secret agent for the British Library. In the movie, she forms a glider out of paper, makes a samurai sword out of paper, stops bullets with postcards, and many other neat tricks.
In this story, the British empire is still a superpower, their main spy agency is the "British Library" headed by "Joker" who is Agent Paper's handler. I happen to like the tongue in cheek literary references throughout this short series.
It is full of action. The evil I-Jin are trying to get books which will allow them to wipe out a large portion of the human race. It is up to Agent Paper to stop them. They are seeking a 19th century Beethoven symphony which causes people to committ suicide when they hear it.
Numerous fight scenes abound. Agent Paper fights giant mecha grasshoppers, electric powered samurai, ghost women, and a glider pilot. The opening is fantastic the white house in the United States is destroyed by Gennai Hiraga, a historical personage from ancient Japan who has been cloned brought into the future and given superpowers. Although, it is not in the scene, the Library of Congress is also destroyed. The I-Jin are stealing forbidden books.
I like the action in this film. It does a good job of combining far aways shots with close ups. One of my favorite scenes is where another agent, Miss Deep, who can turn into a ghost, falls through the Statue of Liberty. It is pure entertainment. I think it tries to bring tongue in cheek humor like Maxwell Smart, or James Bond.
This short series won the Anime Expo 2002 awards. There is also an original manga (Japanese comic book) which goes with the show. This goes with my interest as librarians as superheros.
In this story, the British empire is still a superpower, their main spy agency is the "British Library" headed by "Joker" who is Agent Paper's handler. I happen to like the tongue in cheek literary references throughout this short series.
It is full of action. The evil I-Jin are trying to get books which will allow them to wipe out a large portion of the human race. It is up to Agent Paper to stop them. They are seeking a 19th century Beethoven symphony which causes people to committ suicide when they hear it.
Numerous fight scenes abound. Agent Paper fights giant mecha grasshoppers, electric powered samurai, ghost women, and a glider pilot. The opening is fantastic the white house in the United States is destroyed by Gennai Hiraga, a historical personage from ancient Japan who has been cloned brought into the future and given superpowers. Although, it is not in the scene, the Library of Congress is also destroyed. The I-Jin are stealing forbidden books.
I like the action in this film. It does a good job of combining far aways shots with close ups. One of my favorite scenes is where another agent, Miss Deep, who can turn into a ghost, falls through the Statue of Liberty. It is pure entertainment. I think it tries to bring tongue in cheek humor like Maxwell Smart, or James Bond.
This short series won the Anime Expo 2002 awards. There is also an original manga (Japanese comic book) which goes with the show. This goes with my interest as librarians as superheros.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
A Visit To My Local Library
A Visit To My Local Library
Here I am sitting at a reserved computer at my local library. I took a look at the kids videos and picked up the Wiggles, Scooby Doo, and Autism Is A World. Anyways that was pretty brief.
I also took a look at their manga section. They have a lot of manga for teenagers. Some of the interesting titles were Bleach, Dramacon, Fruits Basket, Full Metal Alchemist, and Prince of Tennis. They also had Blade of the Immortal in the adult section, along with Osamu Tezuka's Buddha. Buddha is actually quite interesting to read. We have it at our library. I have to do an order which combines manga and speculative fiction.
Something which we don't have a lot of are science fiction series books. I took a look at a few of them, Star Wars Sacrifice by Karen Traviss and Star Trek Klingon Empire A Burning House by Keith R.A. Decandido are two books which I am going to read. Sometimes it is fun to read a little light entertainment. It is the lone ranger, or uboats in space.
I also think I might order a few of the books here for my own library, Halo Contact Harvest by Joseph Staten and Battlestar Galactica Unity by Steven Harper.
I intend to balance out my order of speculative fiction with a few titles I had read earlier and reviewed on this site, Rainbow's End by Vernor Vinge, Ragamuffin by Tobias Buckell both of these are inexpensive paperbacks. I just learned that Ragamuffin is a Hugo nominee this year. I also think I will probably get Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow. Another person who there is some demand for is Octavia Butler. I am probably going to order Clay's Ark, Wildseed, and Patternmaster in paperback.
Tomorrow, I'll probably visit the local bookstore and see what is there. I'll probably buy a single mass market paperback. It is a Barnes and Noble and I am ambivalent about buying anything from them.
I also took a few minutes to look at the graphic novels and the computer section. But, I focused on that yesterday, so it might not be as interesting for you to hear about this. There were a few things which I thought might be useful.
I am glad that it is pretty quiet here. Much of the time it is a lot quieter than the place I work at.
This morning has been peaceful so far.
I haven't made any more adjustments for to my website layout. I would like to know if you like the changes. Anyways, my half hour at the computer is up soon and I don't want to stay here any longer.
Right now, I am enjoying reading Star Trek Klingon Empire A Burning House by Keith R.A. DeCandido. I am reading a passage with ambassador Worf from the federation. There is plenty of intrigue in this book.
Here I am sitting at a reserved computer at my local library. I took a look at the kids videos and picked up the Wiggles, Scooby Doo, and Autism Is A World. Anyways that was pretty brief.
I also took a look at their manga section. They have a lot of manga for teenagers. Some of the interesting titles were Bleach, Dramacon, Fruits Basket, Full Metal Alchemist, and Prince of Tennis. They also had Blade of the Immortal in the adult section, along with Osamu Tezuka's Buddha. Buddha is actually quite interesting to read. We have it at our library. I have to do an order which combines manga and speculative fiction.
Something which we don't have a lot of are science fiction series books. I took a look at a few of them, Star Wars Sacrifice by Karen Traviss and Star Trek Klingon Empire A Burning House by Keith R.A. Decandido are two books which I am going to read. Sometimes it is fun to read a little light entertainment. It is the lone ranger, or uboats in space.
I also think I might order a few of the books here for my own library, Halo Contact Harvest by Joseph Staten and Battlestar Galactica Unity by Steven Harper.
I intend to balance out my order of speculative fiction with a few titles I had read earlier and reviewed on this site, Rainbow's End by Vernor Vinge, Ragamuffin by Tobias Buckell both of these are inexpensive paperbacks. I just learned that Ragamuffin is a Hugo nominee this year. I also think I will probably get Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow. Another person who there is some demand for is Octavia Butler. I am probably going to order Clay's Ark, Wildseed, and Patternmaster in paperback.
Tomorrow, I'll probably visit the local bookstore and see what is there. I'll probably buy a single mass market paperback. It is a Barnes and Noble and I am ambivalent about buying anything from them.
I also took a few minutes to look at the graphic novels and the computer section. But, I focused on that yesterday, so it might not be as interesting for you to hear about this. There were a few things which I thought might be useful.
I am glad that it is pretty quiet here. Much of the time it is a lot quieter than the place I work at.
This morning has been peaceful so far.
I haven't made any more adjustments for to my website layout. I would like to know if you like the changes. Anyways, my half hour at the computer is up soon and I don't want to stay here any longer.
Right now, I am enjoying reading Star Trek Klingon Empire A Burning House by Keith R.A. DeCandido. I am reading a passage with ambassador Worf from the federation. There is plenty of intrigue in this book.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Ordering Graphic Novels, Hot Text
Panel From Krazy Kat by George HarrimanGraphic Novels Ordering:
Good afternoon, life has been quite busy. I have a small reprieve, I spent most of the afternoon ordering graphic novels about a $1000 worth. First, I looked through the bestseller lists from Diamond Comic Book Distributors for the last several months. They list the top 50 bestselling graphic novels for each month. Most of this is superhero comic books which would be sold in comic book stores.
After I looked through the Diamond Comic Book Distributors list, I took some time to look at the bestselling graphic novels on Amazon. Again, this is mostly superhero comics. People are focused on a few characters, Batman, Superman, Spiderman, the Hulk, and Ironman. Then it switches to teams like the X-men, and the Justice League of America. There is a small sprinkling of other material like DMZ, Sandman, Fables, and slightly alternative titles.
Following Amazon, I looked through Publishers Weekly and chose the graphic novels with starred reviews in their review sections. Following this, I went to the award sites. There are three major comic book awards, the Harvey Award named after Harvey Kurtzman the founder of Mad Magazine, the Eisner Award named after Will Eisner, one of the creators of Captain America and the Spirit, and the Ignatz Award which is an alternative comic book award, it is named after Ignatz Mouse in the cartoon Krazy Kat.
I took a minute to look at Fantagraphics and Pantheon two of my favorite alternative comics publishers. Most of the material being presented was pretty boring. There was an interesting book on Fantagraphics called Rebel Visions The History of the Underground Comix Revolution 1963-1975 by Patrick Rosencrantz which looked quite interesting. I also took a minute to look at the Midtown Comics website. Midtown Comics is in Manhattan. Virgin Comics is putting out a revised version of Dan Dare done by Garth Ennis. I was a little surprised at this.
I tried to create a mix of alternative, slice of life, superhero, and comics lit in the inital order. I have to wait and see how much of the order will be out of stock, out of print, and back ordered in a while.
After I looked through the Diamond Comic Book Distributors list, I took some time to look at the bestselling graphic novels on Amazon. Again, this is mostly superhero comics. People are focused on a few characters, Batman, Superman, Spiderman, the Hulk, and Ironman. Then it switches to teams like the X-men, and the Justice League of America. There is a small sprinkling of other material like DMZ, Sandman, Fables, and slightly alternative titles.
Following Amazon, I looked through Publishers Weekly and chose the graphic novels with starred reviews in their review sections. Following this, I went to the award sites. There are three major comic book awards, the Harvey Award named after Harvey Kurtzman the founder of Mad Magazine, the Eisner Award named after Will Eisner, one of the creators of Captain America and the Spirit, and the Ignatz Award which is an alternative comic book award, it is named after Ignatz Mouse in the cartoon Krazy Kat.
I took a minute to look at Fantagraphics and Pantheon two of my favorite alternative comics publishers. Most of the material being presented was pretty boring. There was an interesting book on Fantagraphics called Rebel Visions The History of the Underground Comix Revolution 1963-1975 by Patrick Rosencrantz which looked quite interesting. I also took a minute to look at the Midtown Comics website. Midtown Comics is in Manhattan. Virgin Comics is putting out a revised version of Dan Dare done by Garth Ennis. I was a little surprised at this.
I tried to create a mix of alternative, slice of life, superhero, and comics lit in the inital order. I have to wait and see how much of the order will be out of stock, out of print, and back ordered in a while.
Tomorrow, I think I will probably start looking at the computer books I have to order. I really have to take some time to visit a place where there is a lot of manga and look around carefully before I order any manga books. I don't know manga as well as I do graphic novels.
____________________________________________________________________
Hot Text
I finished reading Hot Text Web Writing That Works by Jonathan and Lisa Price on the train to work. This book has a lot of material in it. The book describes how writing for the internet is very different than writing for the printed page. The attention span of the reader on the web is much shorter, people do not like to scroll through pages of stuff, and want their answers much more immediately. I am going to start working on a review of the book, either tonight or tomorrow in the morning.
Friday, June 6, 2008
The Adventures of Johnny Bunko The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need-- Daniel H. Pink-- Review-- Manga
The Adventures of Johnny Bunko The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need by Daniel H. Pink is a manga about career choices and success. The art is by Rob Ten Pas. I would call this manga more about motivation and making choices than about career success.
A young person who has made a set of bad career choices and is in the wrong career track is sitting at his desk eating noodles when he breaks apart his chopsticks and out pops a genie. It is the career genie who gives advice on how to get on the right career track.
Each time he breaks apart the chopsticks, the genie gives him a new rule to succeed. The art work is entertaining and some of the choices are kind of funny. He gets a total of six rules on success that remake his life. I won't give away the six rules, you'll have to read the manga.
The artwork is in black and white. The lines are simple and clean. The story is kind of fun at times. For example, in the story, the character invents a battery charging shoe to power cell phones. There is a similar real life device that uses kinetic energy to light an LED at the front of a shoe.
There are several different people in his office who help him out as he solves his way from being an account to being in marketing, to doing a successful marketing campaign.
This book would be good for teenagers or people just starting in the workplace as a conversation starter or motivational book on careers. It would not be that good as a practical book. It is kind of like the Power of Positive Thinking. It creates the right attitude. It is a fun book to read.
A young person who has made a set of bad career choices and is in the wrong career track is sitting at his desk eating noodles when he breaks apart his chopsticks and out pops a genie. It is the career genie who gives advice on how to get on the right career track.
Each time he breaks apart the chopsticks, the genie gives him a new rule to succeed. The art work is entertaining and some of the choices are kind of funny. He gets a total of six rules on success that remake his life. I won't give away the six rules, you'll have to read the manga.
The artwork is in black and white. The lines are simple and clean. The story is kind of fun at times. For example, in the story, the character invents a battery charging shoe to power cell phones. There is a similar real life device that uses kinetic energy to light an LED at the front of a shoe.
There are several different people in his office who help him out as he solves his way from being an account to being in marketing, to doing a successful marketing campaign.
This book would be good for teenagers or people just starting in the workplace as a conversation starter or motivational book on careers. It would not be that good as a practical book. It is kind of like the Power of Positive Thinking. It creates the right attitude. It is a fun book to read.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Thoughts for Today
This morning, I read through Reference and User Services Quarterly, the magazine of the Reference and User Services Association. There was not much that was new that was striking. There were a few new reference books worth looking at. I have a late day so, I won't be leaving for work until 10 a.m. This gives me some latitude to relax for a bit.
Unfortunately, I could not get into reading A Writer's People Ways of Looking and Feeling by V.S. Naipaul. The writing was crisp, clear, and understandable. However, the subject and voice distracted me. A lot of the early book was about the literary life in Trinidad. I am sure this will fascinate some people. Unfortunately, it did not fascinate me. There is some material on the development of literature in the Caribbean. I put it down after a while. The point I put it down was when V.S. Naipaul was describing his life living on the margin in England, starting his career as a writer.
The Reader Over Your Shoulder is turning out to be a much better experience. It gives some excellent examples on how to write clearly, eliminate bureaucratic language, and get rid of ambiguity.
Goblin War by Jim C. Hines came for me as a reserve today.
I put The Man On The Ceiling By Steve Resnick Tem and Melanie Tem on hold. It is a horror novella of sorts. It is supposed to be a little bit different.
I ordered some more law books for reference this morning and read the latest issue of Booklist magazine.
I also printed a bunch of the short poems which I wrote on this blog to read tomorrow at the poetry open microphone at my library.
In addition to Invincible which I reviewed today, a few other graphic novels came in. One manga which a lot of teenagers read is Azu Manga Daioh by Kiyohiko Azuma.
Unfortunately, I could not get into reading A Writer's People Ways of Looking and Feeling by V.S. Naipaul. The writing was crisp, clear, and understandable. However, the subject and voice distracted me. A lot of the early book was about the literary life in Trinidad. I am sure this will fascinate some people. Unfortunately, it did not fascinate me. There is some material on the development of literature in the Caribbean. I put it down after a while. The point I put it down was when V.S. Naipaul was describing his life living on the margin in England, starting his career as a writer.
The Reader Over Your Shoulder is turning out to be a much better experience. It gives some excellent examples on how to write clearly, eliminate bureaucratic language, and get rid of ambiguity.
Goblin War by Jim C. Hines came for me as a reserve today.
I put The Man On The Ceiling By Steve Resnick Tem and Melanie Tem on hold. It is a horror novella of sorts. It is supposed to be a little bit different.
I ordered some more law books for reference this morning and read the latest issue of Booklist magazine.
I also printed a bunch of the short poems which I wrote on this blog to read tomorrow at the poetry open microphone at my library.
In addition to Invincible which I reviewed today, a few other graphic novels came in. One manga which a lot of teenagers read is Azu Manga Daioh by Kiyohiko Azuma.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Daily Thoughts
It is going to make me a while to read The Ten Cent Plague. It is quite interesting, some of the material on Wonder Woman is quite funny in darkly humorous way. There was an article on Library Journal's blog today on the New York Comic Con.
There are some very nice pictures of the convention on the blog.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/blog/770000077/post/270025227.html
I went to my local library today. I sat for an hour using their computers again. Mostly to fool around with the various social networking sites. Then I looked around the library to see if there was anything I wanted to read. There wasn't anything to read, however, I noticed there was a completely new selection of manga for the teenagers. Manga is not something which I know a lot about. Sometimes, you visit other libraries to see what they have to help you find material. There looked to be an interesting selection. Bleach, Case Cloaed, Fruits Basket, Full Metal Alchemist, Naruto, Peach Girl, and Yu-Gi-Oh were there. I think Yu-Gi-Oh and Full Metal Alchemist are on Nickelodeon or the Cartoon Channel.
I think I saw one of the librarians from my local library at New York Comic Con. I think she orders the graphic novels for my local library. I really didn't say anything at all.
I requested three books on socially responsible stock investing at the information desk. I didn't ask for any titles. I'll probably send one or two of them back after I look at the books. I am very interested in this type of investing. Today, I got some relief, Time Magazine has an article on a stock which I am intested in Finavera. This issue is for earth day, April 28, 2008. So the article is forthcoming.
I know this has very little to do with librarianship, or books but I feel that I should post it anyways. This is a film from Youtube on the technology. It is not fully developed yet, so there is a considerable amount of risk involved. However, it is a potentially disruptive alternative energy technology. The technology is called aquabuoy.
Everyone is talking about Earth Day. I don't think too much about it. But, I will tell you this. Everyone spends too much time in their cars. Maybe, I am a little strange. I try and walk a little bit every day. I like being outside, not in a car or a bus. I walk to the library, the deli, the produce stand, and the park. I am glad that I live in livable community, not a giant urban sprawl where you have to get in your car and drive five miles to do anything.
Go outside today and if you can make it a habit, go outside a bit every single day. You don't hear it much anymore, but my father used to insist that I went outside a little bit every day to play when my freinds came by. Now, everyone is inside all the time glued to computers and television. It is unhealthy.
There are some very nice pictures of the convention on the blog.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/blog/770000077/post/270025227.html
I went to my local library today. I sat for an hour using their computers again. Mostly to fool around with the various social networking sites. Then I looked around the library to see if there was anything I wanted to read. There wasn't anything to read, however, I noticed there was a completely new selection of manga for the teenagers. Manga is not something which I know a lot about. Sometimes, you visit other libraries to see what they have to help you find material. There looked to be an interesting selection. Bleach, Case Cloaed, Fruits Basket, Full Metal Alchemist, Naruto, Peach Girl, and Yu-Gi-Oh were there. I think Yu-Gi-Oh and Full Metal Alchemist are on Nickelodeon or the Cartoon Channel.
I think I saw one of the librarians from my local library at New York Comic Con. I think she orders the graphic novels for my local library. I really didn't say anything at all.
I requested three books on socially responsible stock investing at the information desk. I didn't ask for any titles. I'll probably send one or two of them back after I look at the books. I am very interested in this type of investing. Today, I got some relief, Time Magazine has an article on a stock which I am intested in Finavera. This issue is for earth day, April 28, 2008. So the article is forthcoming.
I know this has very little to do with librarianship, or books but I feel that I should post it anyways. This is a film from Youtube on the technology. It is not fully developed yet, so there is a considerable amount of risk involved. However, it is a potentially disruptive alternative energy technology. The technology is called aquabuoy.
Everyone is talking about Earth Day. I don't think too much about it. But, I will tell you this. Everyone spends too much time in their cars. Maybe, I am a little strange. I try and walk a little bit every day. I like being outside, not in a car or a bus. I walk to the library, the deli, the produce stand, and the park. I am glad that I live in livable community, not a giant urban sprawl where you have to get in your car and drive five miles to do anything.
Go outside today and if you can make it a habit, go outside a bit every single day. You don't hear it much anymore, but my father used to insist that I went outside a little bit every day to play when my freinds came by. Now, everyone is inside all the time glued to computers and television. It is unhealthy.
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