Thanks very much for your continued support!
Monday, April 12, 2010
Incubus Tales has moved!
Just so you're aware, if you weren't aware before, because of SmackJeeves administration being idiots in general, Incubus Tales has moved to ComicDish. Please update all your links and bookmarks to the following address, to continue to follow and support Dhiar and all his adventures:
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Put Your Foot Down...Yes You!
Generally I don't take the time to write about causes unless they mean something to me. In the past year I have written about the need to stop environmental destruction, awareness of one's diet, and one of the most important causes for myself and any artist: censorship. But it goes beyond that now, and the recent SmackJeeves fiasco has set me to thinking, as well as my interactions with various people I've discussed the matter with during the past week.
Something that has got to be stopped is overreactive legislation on art, especially sequential art storytelling, or the medium will be destroyed before it really has its greatest chance to blossom. One of the most controversial topics regarding this is the portrayal of young-appearing characters in comics, and this is one of the topics about which I feel most passionately.
I will say first of all that I am vehemently opposed to actual child pornography, and also to exposing people to sex too soon in life. Responsible parenting should be employed at every stage of a child's life, to ensure healthy development. Note that I say 'responsible parenting', not 'trying to get laws passed so you don't have to do your job that you agreed to do when you got yourself knocked up and decided to keep it'. There is a significant difference, and it is unfortunately missed by many in the modern world.
In any case, actual child pornography has nothing to do with legitimate pornography and adult films. There are so many rules, regulations, and standards in adult filmmaking today that it makes the MPAA look like a bacchanalia. One of the things that I find most objectionable about the way anything adult-oriented or made solely for adults is discriminated against, especially in the last decade, is that so often the people who never watch, purchase, or otherwise enjoy it are the same people trying to put more and more limits on it for the people who do enjoy it. That would be as ludicrous as someone asking me to write up laws regulating the packaging of meat products.
As vexing as this is dealing with real people, it's even more infuriating when the characters are fictional, the situations invented, and the locations nowhere in this world. Some countries have passed laws prohibiting even ficitonal characters who 'appear underage' from engaging in any activity of the naughty kind, under the claim that it is to combat child pornography.
There are a number of reasons why this is a complete load of nonsense.
The first of which is the fact that it attempts to criminalise things by way of 'looking' or 'appearing'. Even in real life that would raise a complicated issue, the first facet of which is: who is going to judge? Many people may look underage to a person who has little experience with people under the age of 30. And it is no secret that most politicians and other law-related professionals not only tend to concentrate on the over-30 demographic, but are also in that same bracket themselves.
The second facet of this is: even if someone does seem to look underage, the quickest show of identification would prove they are not. However, that is generally only required when making a formal application of some kind or attempting to make an age-restricted purchase, such as adult videos, alcohol, cigarettes, et cetera. The law cannot prevent someone from having a relationship on the basis that they 'look too young'; there have been cases where people have successfully sued, and rightly, for being discriminated against because someone wrongly mistreated them, thinking that they were a different age than they are. And that does not even begin to consider the people like Gary Coleman, who will appear to be childlike for his entire life. What about young-looking actors like Alyson Hannigan and others who portray teenagers successfully into their 30s? If they were so discriminated against, they'd be in and out of court with a successful case in no time.
The second reason is, as these are fictional characters, fictional situations, and fictional locations, they cannot be judged adequately by laws established to govern completely different worlds, societies, and people. The easiest example of this is the Vampire: whatever age they are bitten at, they tend to stay for the rest of their lives in appearance. One of the most famous examples of this, Claudia from Interview with the Vampire, is clearly not a child after some years, despite still having the appearance of one. If we apply the laws as they are conceived, does it really protect...anyone? If we were to judge the situation as if Claudia were an actual person in this world, would it hold water? No, of course not; we could examine documents and see clearly that she was born long enough ago to be old enough to be someone's mother. Is it, then, permissible to discriminate against her by saying that because she has a youthful appearance, she may not enter into a sexual relationship? No, it is not.
Do most people in this world live to be thousands of years old and exist in a land of eternally-blooming flowers and magical fruit? No? Well then why should a law applying to this world apply to the denizens of that one? Are there races of shapeshifters well-known in this world? No? Then why should it apply to them, when they could take the appearance of any age that they please?
Look at the Elves in Lord of the Rings. Or even better, look at the Hobbits. So, because Hobbits generally look youthful for decades, any Hobbit-sex is criminalised? An Elf could look like a young teenager and be the age of an average human's grandfather, so they're not supposed to have sex? Good luck telling them that!
The third reason is, this cannot be evenly enforced at all. There is no real standard, only subjective judgement, and typically by those who do not understand art and are not qualified to assess artistic value. Are we supposed to destroy works of past masters of the Renaissance if they depicted 'underage looking' subjects in sensual situations or poses? Doesn't that show rather flagrant disregard to their time period, in which they may have been considered adults? Adolescence is a relatively recent invention, historically speaking. Even modern masters such as Maxfield Parrish depicted youthful exuberance in various states of undress or suggestive draping; does that, then, make it illicit?
What about differing styles? Absolute age cannot be objectively applied to artwork, because each and every artist employs a different style. Take a look at some European cartoons for adults, with their youthful and strange, almost inhuman, proportions. Now look at Japanese manga. Now look at Peanuts. Look at Garfield. Try to apply an absolute age to any of the characters; you're likely to be wrong. Look at Picasso and try to apply an absolute age to some of his subjects.
To choose a specific individual feature that is often a stylistic choice, let's take body hair: some artists draw it all, some pick and choose where to have it, others don't draw it at all or feel they can't. Many adults do have body hair, it's true; but many also shave, trim, and wax. Some adults keep their bodies completely smooth: I need only point out swimmers, bodybuilders, and the like, the majority of whom rid themselves of all body hair. It doesn't make them somehow not-adults, but some who attempt to condemn, for example, Japanese yaoi stories, have tried to allege 'underage looking' antics because they don't have enough body hair. It just further demonstrates utter ignorance of art, specifically by disregard for stylistic differences and aesthetic choices.
Art is a deeply individual, personal, subjective experience. What one person judges about a piece of art, another person will judge the exact opposite. It cannot be tied down and dissected. Art is expression, and each individual person will derive something different from it, because art speaks to personal experience, personal judgement, personal aesthetic. It cannot be held up to a legal standard because frankly, art is as inscrutable as magic. There are methods to self-expression through art, but there is no method that can ever be tought to give one person the ability to assess any individual piece of art for every possible meaning it can have to every possible person who experiences it.
It's one thing if it's a clear attempt to just apply some sloppy Photoshop filter to a photograph to get around a legal loophole and make it into a drawing rather than a photograph. But making any kind of 'drawn pornography' (a stupid term in any case) illegal is nothing short of laziness and attempts to thought-police. It's clear they have no comprehension of the creative process, or they'd know that most artists don't work with actual models and don't require a photographic reference to draw something. Where does it stop? Whether or not the things appeal to you, stop and think: is it really logical for them to step in and make restrictions for anthropomorphic animals, pregnant males, and other creatures that don't exist in this world? Can there really be any reasonable standards applied legally to them that would be legally sound if they did? With a legal precedent showing that they can step in and say 'you can't draw this sort of thing', what's to stop them from taking a little bit more and cracking down on something else?
The only thing that can stop them is if creators, publishers, and other concerned parties -- especially voters -- get together and put our collective foot down. Government, especially the United States' government, has acted like a spoiled child for over the past decade, a spoiled child whose parent never told it 'no'. Now is the time to say 'no'. We are the voters, we put them in office. And more and more, they're willfully refusing to upload the freedom of expression established in the United States and many other countries. That's not doing their job. It additionally seems to indicate an inability to differentiate from reality and fiction, which is not something that I applaud in people who command as great a social influence as politicians do.
Do you really want someone deciding the future of your country if they can't tell the difference between a real person and a fictional character?
Recently creators, actors, and publishers banded together to defeat a proposed law in Japan that would be more of the same morality legislation, criminalising depictions of imaginary characters in imaginary situations. I can only hope and encourage people in other countries to show the same kind of solidarity.
To quote a sequential art legend in one of the most thought-provoking political works of sequential art from the past 50 years -- V from V for Vendetta -- 'People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.' And this is true. Governments should not feel like they have carte blanche to do whatever they please, as long as they put a certain spin on it or try to shame people into agreeing with them. Each and every politician should be aware that he or she is accountable to each and every voter and each and every person who is affected by their decisions. Morality cannot and should not ever be legislated, especially when there are plenty of more deserving issues that need addressing; when millions of people are starving because they're unable to find work, who honestly cares if someone has naughty comic books?
There is much more protection for novels and the written word; they wouldn't dare to pass a law restricting the sale of Nabokov's Lolita, for example. So why, then, is it permissible to attack sequential art?
If people are punished for possessing or creating pornography of imaginary characters as if they were real people, it's a logical progression that they can be punished for possessing or creating stories that depict illegal acts with any imaginary characters. What's to stop them, after a legal precedent is established, from punishing a creator for having a character die during the story? Is it murder or manslaughter? You may think this sounds ludicrous -- because it does -- but it's exactly the same sort of situation. It's exactly as ridiculous as holding someone responsible for drawing a comic or having a comic someone drew, with other situations that would be illegal...if they were real people. Which they aren't.
When one legal step is taken and supported, accepted, subsequent steps are much easier. When it is allowed to punish people for one thing, albeit a controversial thing that doesn't appeal to everyone, it opens the door for other things to be controlled or done away with outright. Even if you think 'that could never happen to what I like', think again. It starts with something that is an easy target and an easy foothold, easy for unscrupulous politicians to cast shame on its supporters and proponents. They're just using it as a stepping stone to get to where they really want to go, to control what they really want to restrict.
This is punishing someone for thoughts, ideas, and creations. And that is unquestionably wrong, and unquestionably in defiance of, at the very least, the United States Constitution.
I urge each and every one of you to go write your political representatives, locally and nationally, and to support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. You can find the official website here:
Something that has got to be stopped is overreactive legislation on art, especially sequential art storytelling, or the medium will be destroyed before it really has its greatest chance to blossom. One of the most controversial topics regarding this is the portrayal of young-appearing characters in comics, and this is one of the topics about which I feel most passionately.
I will say first of all that I am vehemently opposed to actual child pornography, and also to exposing people to sex too soon in life. Responsible parenting should be employed at every stage of a child's life, to ensure healthy development. Note that I say 'responsible parenting', not 'trying to get laws passed so you don't have to do your job that you agreed to do when you got yourself knocked up and decided to keep it'. There is a significant difference, and it is unfortunately missed by many in the modern world.
In any case, actual child pornography has nothing to do with legitimate pornography and adult films. There are so many rules, regulations, and standards in adult filmmaking today that it makes the MPAA look like a bacchanalia. One of the things that I find most objectionable about the way anything adult-oriented or made solely for adults is discriminated against, especially in the last decade, is that so often the people who never watch, purchase, or otherwise enjoy it are the same people trying to put more and more limits on it for the people who do enjoy it. That would be as ludicrous as someone asking me to write up laws regulating the packaging of meat products.
As vexing as this is dealing with real people, it's even more infuriating when the characters are fictional, the situations invented, and the locations nowhere in this world. Some countries have passed laws prohibiting even ficitonal characters who 'appear underage' from engaging in any activity of the naughty kind, under the claim that it is to combat child pornography.
There are a number of reasons why this is a complete load of nonsense.
The first of which is the fact that it attempts to criminalise things by way of 'looking' or 'appearing'. Even in real life that would raise a complicated issue, the first facet of which is: who is going to judge? Many people may look underage to a person who has little experience with people under the age of 30. And it is no secret that most politicians and other law-related professionals not only tend to concentrate on the over-30 demographic, but are also in that same bracket themselves.
The second facet of this is: even if someone does seem to look underage, the quickest show of identification would prove they are not. However, that is generally only required when making a formal application of some kind or attempting to make an age-restricted purchase, such as adult videos, alcohol, cigarettes, et cetera. The law cannot prevent someone from having a relationship on the basis that they 'look too young'; there have been cases where people have successfully sued, and rightly, for being discriminated against because someone wrongly mistreated them, thinking that they were a different age than they are. And that does not even begin to consider the people like Gary Coleman, who will appear to be childlike for his entire life. What about young-looking actors like Alyson Hannigan and others who portray teenagers successfully into their 30s? If they were so discriminated against, they'd be in and out of court with a successful case in no time.
The second reason is, as these are fictional characters, fictional situations, and fictional locations, they cannot be judged adequately by laws established to govern completely different worlds, societies, and people. The easiest example of this is the Vampire: whatever age they are bitten at, they tend to stay for the rest of their lives in appearance. One of the most famous examples of this, Claudia from Interview with the Vampire, is clearly not a child after some years, despite still having the appearance of one. If we apply the laws as they are conceived, does it really protect...anyone? If we were to judge the situation as if Claudia were an actual person in this world, would it hold water? No, of course not; we could examine documents and see clearly that she was born long enough ago to be old enough to be someone's mother. Is it, then, permissible to discriminate against her by saying that because she has a youthful appearance, she may not enter into a sexual relationship? No, it is not.
Do most people in this world live to be thousands of years old and exist in a land of eternally-blooming flowers and magical fruit? No? Well then why should a law applying to this world apply to the denizens of that one? Are there races of shapeshifters well-known in this world? No? Then why should it apply to them, when they could take the appearance of any age that they please?
Look at the Elves in Lord of the Rings. Or even better, look at the Hobbits. So, because Hobbits generally look youthful for decades, any Hobbit-sex is criminalised? An Elf could look like a young teenager and be the age of an average human's grandfather, so they're not supposed to have sex? Good luck telling them that!
The third reason is, this cannot be evenly enforced at all. There is no real standard, only subjective judgement, and typically by those who do not understand art and are not qualified to assess artistic value. Are we supposed to destroy works of past masters of the Renaissance if they depicted 'underage looking' subjects in sensual situations or poses? Doesn't that show rather flagrant disregard to their time period, in which they may have been considered adults? Adolescence is a relatively recent invention, historically speaking. Even modern masters such as Maxfield Parrish depicted youthful exuberance in various states of undress or suggestive draping; does that, then, make it illicit?
What about differing styles? Absolute age cannot be objectively applied to artwork, because each and every artist employs a different style. Take a look at some European cartoons for adults, with their youthful and strange, almost inhuman, proportions. Now look at Japanese manga. Now look at Peanuts. Look at Garfield. Try to apply an absolute age to any of the characters; you're likely to be wrong. Look at Picasso and try to apply an absolute age to some of his subjects.
To choose a specific individual feature that is often a stylistic choice, let's take body hair: some artists draw it all, some pick and choose where to have it, others don't draw it at all or feel they can't. Many adults do have body hair, it's true; but many also shave, trim, and wax. Some adults keep their bodies completely smooth: I need only point out swimmers, bodybuilders, and the like, the majority of whom rid themselves of all body hair. It doesn't make them somehow not-adults, but some who attempt to condemn, for example, Japanese yaoi stories, have tried to allege 'underage looking' antics because they don't have enough body hair. It just further demonstrates utter ignorance of art, specifically by disregard for stylistic differences and aesthetic choices.
Art is a deeply individual, personal, subjective experience. What one person judges about a piece of art, another person will judge the exact opposite. It cannot be tied down and dissected. Art is expression, and each individual person will derive something different from it, because art speaks to personal experience, personal judgement, personal aesthetic. It cannot be held up to a legal standard because frankly, art is as inscrutable as magic. There are methods to self-expression through art, but there is no method that can ever be tought to give one person the ability to assess any individual piece of art for every possible meaning it can have to every possible person who experiences it.
It's one thing if it's a clear attempt to just apply some sloppy Photoshop filter to a photograph to get around a legal loophole and make it into a drawing rather than a photograph. But making any kind of 'drawn pornography' (a stupid term in any case) illegal is nothing short of laziness and attempts to thought-police. It's clear they have no comprehension of the creative process, or they'd know that most artists don't work with actual models and don't require a photographic reference to draw something. Where does it stop? Whether or not the things appeal to you, stop and think: is it really logical for them to step in and make restrictions for anthropomorphic animals, pregnant males, and other creatures that don't exist in this world? Can there really be any reasonable standards applied legally to them that would be legally sound if they did? With a legal precedent showing that they can step in and say 'you can't draw this sort of thing', what's to stop them from taking a little bit more and cracking down on something else?
The only thing that can stop them is if creators, publishers, and other concerned parties -- especially voters -- get together and put our collective foot down. Government, especially the United States' government, has acted like a spoiled child for over the past decade, a spoiled child whose parent never told it 'no'. Now is the time to say 'no'. We are the voters, we put them in office. And more and more, they're willfully refusing to upload the freedom of expression established in the United States and many other countries. That's not doing their job. It additionally seems to indicate an inability to differentiate from reality and fiction, which is not something that I applaud in people who command as great a social influence as politicians do.
Do you really want someone deciding the future of your country if they can't tell the difference between a real person and a fictional character?
Recently creators, actors, and publishers banded together to defeat a proposed law in Japan that would be more of the same morality legislation, criminalising depictions of imaginary characters in imaginary situations. I can only hope and encourage people in other countries to show the same kind of solidarity.
To quote a sequential art legend in one of the most thought-provoking political works of sequential art from the past 50 years -- V from V for Vendetta -- 'People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.' And this is true. Governments should not feel like they have carte blanche to do whatever they please, as long as they put a certain spin on it or try to shame people into agreeing with them. Each and every politician should be aware that he or she is accountable to each and every voter and each and every person who is affected by their decisions. Morality cannot and should not ever be legislated, especially when there are plenty of more deserving issues that need addressing; when millions of people are starving because they're unable to find work, who honestly cares if someone has naughty comic books?
There is much more protection for novels and the written word; they wouldn't dare to pass a law restricting the sale of Nabokov's Lolita, for example. So why, then, is it permissible to attack sequential art?
If people are punished for possessing or creating pornography of imaginary characters as if they were real people, it's a logical progression that they can be punished for possessing or creating stories that depict illegal acts with any imaginary characters. What's to stop them, after a legal precedent is established, from punishing a creator for having a character die during the story? Is it murder or manslaughter? You may think this sounds ludicrous -- because it does -- but it's exactly the same sort of situation. It's exactly as ridiculous as holding someone responsible for drawing a comic or having a comic someone drew, with other situations that would be illegal...if they were real people. Which they aren't.
When one legal step is taken and supported, accepted, subsequent steps are much easier. When it is allowed to punish people for one thing, albeit a controversial thing that doesn't appeal to everyone, it opens the door for other things to be controlled or done away with outright. Even if you think 'that could never happen to what I like', think again. It starts with something that is an easy target and an easy foothold, easy for unscrupulous politicians to cast shame on its supporters and proponents. They're just using it as a stepping stone to get to where they really want to go, to control what they really want to restrict.
This is punishing someone for thoughts, ideas, and creations. And that is unquestionably wrong, and unquestionably in defiance of, at the very least, the United States Constitution.
I urge each and every one of you to go write your political representatives, locally and nationally, and to support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. You can find the official website here:
The time for sitting by and hoping for the best is long past. Creators, readers, and everyone else are having their rights trampled on by people who are not qualified to make the decisions they are doing. And it is the power and the responsibility of every responsible citizen to put a stop to it. Write your politician and say this isn't acceptable. And make sure to let your voice be heard in any and every situation where this is applicable.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Midnight Down begins!
Check it at http://www.booksie.com/fantasy/novel/hushicho/midnight-down
I hope you enjoy! Please do help me out by signing up for booksie and supporting Midnight Down there! It'll be updated weekly on Sundays, during active chapters (with a week or two between chapters). I really appreciate your support, in advance. Do be sure to show that you like Midnight Down, because it's only through your support that I will know it's worthwhile to continue.
For those of you unfamiliar with it, Midnight Down is a tale of a buxom sorceress, a gay vampire prince, a delightfully manly lycanthrope, and a dandy demon. Their adventures are always a tongue-in-cheek look at the pulp history of horror...and there are pictures too!
I hope you enjoy! Please do help me out by signing up for booksie and supporting Midnight Down there! It'll be updated weekly on Sundays, during active chapters (with a week or two between chapters). I really appreciate your support, in advance. Do be sure to show that you like Midnight Down, because it's only through your support that I will know it's worthwhile to continue.
For those of you unfamiliar with it, Midnight Down is a tale of a buxom sorceress, a gay vampire prince, a delightfully manly lycanthrope, and a dandy demon. Their adventures are always a tongue-in-cheek look at the pulp history of horror...and there are pictures too!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Potentially Serious Problems -- PLEASE READ!!
Please head to the forums for regular updates and interaction. This is actually reposted from there just in case anyone who reads the blog isn't a member. The forums are the best place to keep up to date, so please, if you can, go to http://hushicho.freeforums.org and join us!
Well, since SmackJeeves's Terms of Service have been updated, I feel like our days there are numbered. This is extremely unfortunate and I'm extremely upset, not only because I liked SmackJeeves before now, but also because I'm sick of this sort of frankly bullshit that goes on with so many sites.
Basically they've gone the 'obscenity' route, and I just want to express why this is so bad.
Essentially the term 'obscene' is an extremely, extremely subjective word. It's so vague that, in terms of legalese, it's immensely vague and difficult to determine. Oftentimes it's left up to a consensus or a judge, or something like that. To simplify, for something to be classified as 'obscene', it must have no redeeming value artistically, politically, et cetera.
You can see where I'm going with this, I think, and why I am so upset about it.
It's a term that makes flagrant abuse of power look more and more like a reality. Because anyone can accuse something of being obscene, as long as it lacks value in their opinion. It's extremely difficult to determine in a court, but it's not so difficult for someone at a website to insist that something is obscene, even when it may not be.
It's also immensely insulting. When you work as hard as I do on a comic...bleed for every line and every word, wrack your brain for the best way to do something, develop yourself constantly and hold yourself to ridiculously high standards to continually improve...the very possibility that this might happen is maddening. If I seem to be overreacting about this, I'm honestly not; I've just seen this sort of thing go sour very quickly, in the past.
And then there's the huge chore of reposting all of the previous pages on a new site. It takes hours, if not days, when you have a comic as long as Incubus Tales. It's insane, it's daunting...
And it's also tedious, because I'm sure whatever I go with, I'm going to have to design a new site from scratch, work in all the ads, work in all the code...I'm not exaggerating when I say I barely have time to eat my meals between all my art and comics work. This is going to throw a huge spanner in the works, if it happens.
Of course, let's hope it doesn't. But I don't like feeling like Damocles, and that's exactly how I feel at SmackJeeves now. I've made a post on the topic, but who knows if they'll actually listen. It would be nice if they would. I'd like to have a potentially awful situation resolve in a pleasant and easy way, for once!
But I'm just warning you ahead of time: if anything happens, just check here and I'll make sure you'll be updated. If you can, I hope you'll voice your opinions on that topic too, in the SmackJeeves forums -- please do let them know this won't be tolerated, in advance! They haven't done anything...yet. But that doesn't mean they won't. And this is a chilling precedent for something like that.
Well, since SmackJeeves's Terms of Service have been updated, I feel like our days there are numbered. This is extremely unfortunate and I'm extremely upset, not only because I liked SmackJeeves before now, but also because I'm sick of this sort of frankly bullshit that goes on with so many sites.
Basically they've gone the 'obscenity' route, and I just want to express why this is so bad.
Essentially the term 'obscene' is an extremely, extremely subjective word. It's so vague that, in terms of legalese, it's immensely vague and difficult to determine. Oftentimes it's left up to a consensus or a judge, or something like that. To simplify, for something to be classified as 'obscene', it must have no redeeming value artistically, politically, et cetera.
You can see where I'm going with this, I think, and why I am so upset about it.
It's a term that makes flagrant abuse of power look more and more like a reality. Because anyone can accuse something of being obscene, as long as it lacks value in their opinion. It's extremely difficult to determine in a court, but it's not so difficult for someone at a website to insist that something is obscene, even when it may not be.
It's also immensely insulting. When you work as hard as I do on a comic...bleed for every line and every word, wrack your brain for the best way to do something, develop yourself constantly and hold yourself to ridiculously high standards to continually improve...the very possibility that this might happen is maddening. If I seem to be overreacting about this, I'm honestly not; I've just seen this sort of thing go sour very quickly, in the past.
And then there's the huge chore of reposting all of the previous pages on a new site. It takes hours, if not days, when you have a comic as long as Incubus Tales. It's insane, it's daunting...
And it's also tedious, because I'm sure whatever I go with, I'm going to have to design a new site from scratch, work in all the ads, work in all the code...I'm not exaggerating when I say I barely have time to eat my meals between all my art and comics work. This is going to throw a huge spanner in the works, if it happens.
Of course, let's hope it doesn't. But I don't like feeling like Damocles, and that's exactly how I feel at SmackJeeves now. I've made a post on the topic, but who knows if they'll actually listen. It would be nice if they would. I'd like to have a potentially awful situation resolve in a pleasant and easy way, for once!
But I'm just warning you ahead of time: if anything happens, just check here and I'll make sure you'll be updated. If you can, I hope you'll voice your opinions on that topic too, in the SmackJeeves forums -- please do let them know this won't be tolerated, in advance! They haven't done anything...yet. But that doesn't mean they won't. And this is a chilling precedent for something like that.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Utakata
My favourite word in Japanese is 'utakata'. Its literal meaning usually refers to bubbles on the surface of liquid, sometimes used to describe sea foam. It also has another meaning: something ephemeral, something transient, something that does not last.
Today I was out for my piano lesson, which went as well as could be expected considering I've been sick and haven't been able to practise as much as I'd like in the past week. I went and did some shopping and finally was able to go back to my usual grocery, which is in a place called Downtown West. There are a couple of ethnic groceries there and some great cultural things, one of which is Karaoke Studio. Karaoke Studio is a karaoke box, which is a Japanese-style place where you go, pay a small fee, and get your private room to sing karaoke, on your own machine and television. You can bring friends, refreshments, everything. I've always loved the Japanese approach to karaoke, and anymore I sang more Japanese songs than anything, usually enka.
I came to know the owners, Tomo and Sei, and we became friends. Tomo would come and sing with me for a few songs when she got some time. I would learn new songs to sing with her, and it took me down a wonderful sort of memory lane -- her favourites were mainly 80s and early 90s, but sometimes we'd sing later songs or enka. My favourite song to sing was and is 'Tsugaru Kaikyou Fuyugeshiki' -- an enka standard. The machine even had a hard rock version, which was challenging and entertaining. One of my friends that I would occasionally go to the box with came to refer to 'Tsugaru Kaikyou Fuyugeshiki' as my song, since I always sang it when we would go.
To be honest, Knoxville -- where I live -- is not a very nice city. When I came here, ten years ago, I was happy to be out of where I was. This place is better than that one was, certainly. But Knoxville is a place where there is nothing much to do. Anything truly interesting, artistic, beautiful, or cultural tends to be choked away and vanish, leaving nothing but half-assed gentrification to an otherwise dump of a city, administrated by some of the most notably corrupt government in the country. And that is certainly a pity, because once upon a time it was a beautiful place that was nice to live in, although now even the scenery is being eaten up by ugly new buildings, incomprehensible and ill-conceived road construction, and electrical towers -- not that they help anything, especially the latter: power grid problems are as bad as they always were.
This is a university town, so there is at least a somewhat broader spectrum of culture and ethnicity, but when it all boils down to it, you have basically hollow consumerism, bars, and football in Knoxville. The one single place worthwhile to go, the Old City, is the poster child for what the city has lost and why: owned largely by flakes who refuse to renovate but refuse to sell, the most happening part of town consists of barely a single city block, punctuated by empty storefronts and buildings that could be exciting and interesting...if their owners bothered to give a care. Not that the art crowd is better here. It's essentially a bunch of housewife dilettantes for the most part, who really are playing at art. The sad thing is, they've fooled plenty of people, myself and other actual artists included, and it only makes one a bit sadder when realisation dawns.
I don't go out; I hate bars, full of smoke and full of mostly nasty crowds who want nothing to do with anyone else. If I want to be alone and drink, I can stay home and I can even be naked if I want to! Once upon a time there was an informal gathering called Temple, where classic 80s and 90s music and retro fashion, as well as goth crowds, were the order of the day. But unfortunately, like all the great aspects of Knoxville, that went away.
And now I must say farewell to the single remaining thing that I ever had to do in Knoxville for entertainment. It was a wonderful five years of karaoke. It helped my kana and kanji comprehension with speed-reading a necessity. It helped my pronunciation and made me stronger in Japanese. But it made me stronger in other ways too. When I hit a depressive streak a few years back and became paranoid, I went to the karaoke box at least once weekly, and that helped me through it. When my mate passed away three years ago, I did the only thing I could to heal myself emotionally: I sang. Karaoke Studio is one of the few places around here that I can say I've made memories at, and it's something that has legitimately helped me in life, in a significant way.
They close their doors in August. I don't know if I can go back again. But if I don't, then I must say goodbye inside myself. And even though my groceries are still in Downtown West, it will be hard to go there anymore, because the wound of seeing where I once spent so many happy hours and sad hours, hours of emotion and hours of healing and recovery, will be too much for me.
I'll leave this with my favourite song by tommy heavenly6. It's called 'Lost my pieces'. My translation, on the fly, appears underneath the original Japanese.
I lost my pieces,
Falling into stardust
Like rain they've scattered around
Why are they leaving me?
Must everything betray me...
I thought that's forever
Everything goes away...yes, everything
I had a dream so...in my dream
Under the starlight, baby...
I'll say goodbye to you...ok?
everything is just a dream
so...when I wake up
I lose you from my head
...oh yeah
I don't remember you
when I see you in downtown
Where are my pieces?
Wherever I go
I find it hard to breathe
It's too narrow
I can't bear it
I had a dream so...in my dream
Under the starlight, baby...
I'll say goodbye to you...ok?
everything is just a dream
so...when I wake up
I lose you from my head
...oh yeah
My tears fall
The noisy bell rings out
God, I can't follow you!
I don't remember you
When I see you in heaven
I had a dream, so...in my dream
Under the starlight, baby...
I'll break it apart
You were everything to me
But my eyes have been opened
I had a dream so...in my dream
Under the starlight, baby...
I'll say goodbye to you...ok?
everything is just a dream
so...when I wake up
I lose you from my head
...oh yeah
I don't remember you
When I see you in heaven
Today I was out for my piano lesson, which went as well as could be expected considering I've been sick and haven't been able to practise as much as I'd like in the past week. I went and did some shopping and finally was able to go back to my usual grocery, which is in a place called Downtown West. There are a couple of ethnic groceries there and some great cultural things, one of which is Karaoke Studio. Karaoke Studio is a karaoke box, which is a Japanese-style place where you go, pay a small fee, and get your private room to sing karaoke, on your own machine and television. You can bring friends, refreshments, everything. I've always loved the Japanese approach to karaoke, and anymore I sang more Japanese songs than anything, usually enka.
I came to know the owners, Tomo and Sei, and we became friends. Tomo would come and sing with me for a few songs when she got some time. I would learn new songs to sing with her, and it took me down a wonderful sort of memory lane -- her favourites were mainly 80s and early 90s, but sometimes we'd sing later songs or enka. My favourite song to sing was and is 'Tsugaru Kaikyou Fuyugeshiki' -- an enka standard. The machine even had a hard rock version, which was challenging and entertaining. One of my friends that I would occasionally go to the box with came to refer to 'Tsugaru Kaikyou Fuyugeshiki' as my song, since I always sang it when we would go.
To be honest, Knoxville -- where I live -- is not a very nice city. When I came here, ten years ago, I was happy to be out of where I was. This place is better than that one was, certainly. But Knoxville is a place where there is nothing much to do. Anything truly interesting, artistic, beautiful, or cultural tends to be choked away and vanish, leaving nothing but half-assed gentrification to an otherwise dump of a city, administrated by some of the most notably corrupt government in the country. And that is certainly a pity, because once upon a time it was a beautiful place that was nice to live in, although now even the scenery is being eaten up by ugly new buildings, incomprehensible and ill-conceived road construction, and electrical towers -- not that they help anything, especially the latter: power grid problems are as bad as they always were.
This is a university town, so there is at least a somewhat broader spectrum of culture and ethnicity, but when it all boils down to it, you have basically hollow consumerism, bars, and football in Knoxville. The one single place worthwhile to go, the Old City, is the poster child for what the city has lost and why: owned largely by flakes who refuse to renovate but refuse to sell, the most happening part of town consists of barely a single city block, punctuated by empty storefronts and buildings that could be exciting and interesting...if their owners bothered to give a care. Not that the art crowd is better here. It's essentially a bunch of housewife dilettantes for the most part, who really are playing at art. The sad thing is, they've fooled plenty of people, myself and other actual artists included, and it only makes one a bit sadder when realisation dawns.
I don't go out; I hate bars, full of smoke and full of mostly nasty crowds who want nothing to do with anyone else. If I want to be alone and drink, I can stay home and I can even be naked if I want to! Once upon a time there was an informal gathering called Temple, where classic 80s and 90s music and retro fashion, as well as goth crowds, were the order of the day. But unfortunately, like all the great aspects of Knoxville, that went away.
And now I must say farewell to the single remaining thing that I ever had to do in Knoxville for entertainment. It was a wonderful five years of karaoke. It helped my kana and kanji comprehension with speed-reading a necessity. It helped my pronunciation and made me stronger in Japanese. But it made me stronger in other ways too. When I hit a depressive streak a few years back and became paranoid, I went to the karaoke box at least once weekly, and that helped me through it. When my mate passed away three years ago, I did the only thing I could to heal myself emotionally: I sang. Karaoke Studio is one of the few places around here that I can say I've made memories at, and it's something that has legitimately helped me in life, in a significant way.
They close their doors in August. I don't know if I can go back again. But if I don't, then I must say goodbye inside myself. And even though my groceries are still in Downtown West, it will be hard to go there anymore, because the wound of seeing where I once spent so many happy hours and sad hours, hours of emotion and hours of healing and recovery, will be too much for me.
I'll leave this with my favourite song by tommy heavenly6. It's called 'Lost my pieces'. My translation, on the fly, appears underneath the original Japanese.
I Lost my pieces Falling into Star dust 雨みたいに 散らばってく Why are they leaving me? すべてが裏切るの I thought that's forever… 何もかも消えて そうすべて I had a dream, so… in my dream Under the star light, baby… I'll say goodbye to you…ok? everything is just a dream so…When I wake up I lose you from my head …oh yeah I don't remember you when I see you in down town Where are my pieces? どこへ行っても 息が詰まる 窮屈だわ 耐えられない I had a dream, so… in my dream Under the star light, baby… I'll say goodbye to you…ok? everything is just a dream so…When I wake up I lose you from my head …oh yeah 涙があふれ落ちて うるさいベルが鳴り響く 神様 追いていかないで! I don't remember you When I see you in heaven I had a dream, so… in my dream Under the star light, baby… 壊れてしまうわ あなたこそがすべてだった でももう瞳をあけるわ
I had a dream, so… in my dream Under the star light, baby… I'll say goodbye to you…ok? everything is just a dream so…When I wake up I lose you from my head …oh yeah I don't remember you When I see you in heaven
I lost my pieces,
Falling into stardust
Like rain they've scattered around
Why are they leaving me?
Must everything betray me...
I thought that's forever
Everything goes away...yes, everything
I had a dream so...in my dream
Under the starlight, baby...
I'll say goodbye to you...ok?
everything is just a dream
so...when I wake up
I lose you from my head
...oh yeah
I don't remember you
when I see you in downtown
Where are my pieces?
Wherever I go
I find it hard to breathe
It's too narrow
I can't bear it
I had a dream so...in my dream
Under the starlight, baby...
I'll say goodbye to you...ok?
everything is just a dream
so...when I wake up
I lose you from my head
...oh yeah
My tears fall
The noisy bell rings out
God, I can't follow you!
I don't remember you
When I see you in heaven
I had a dream, so...in my dream
Under the starlight, baby...
I'll break it apart
You were everything to me
But my eyes have been opened
I had a dream so...in my dream
Under the starlight, baby...
I'll say goodbye to you...ok?
everything is just a dream
so...when I wake up
I lose you from my head
...oh yeah
I don't remember you
When I see you in heaven
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Sick. :|
For everyone who is checking here for updates about when my break will be over and Incubus Tales will start perhaps its most exciting chapter yet, I have a date for you: 2 March 2010!
It was going to be this coming Tuesday, but well...as the subject states, I'm currently ill and that means I've lost a couple of days of work and I'm not where I want to be before starting the new chapter. I'd much rather be at my goal so that I can bring you even more great stories.
The story, if you're interested, is like a convergence of awfulness. My housemates have had a touch of a cold or something that they passed to each other, but once they started feeling bad they told me to keep my distance so I didn't get sick. Unfortunately it was a couple of days too late, but that didn't become clear until later. The thing that really set it off was that one of them decided we needed to refinish our wooden countertop. This would otherwise be great, but since it's in the middle of an especially chilly winter, there was inadequate ventilation and we couldn't really open the windows and doors like should have been done.
So the day after that I started feeling especially cruddy. The same symptoms my housemates have had, made worse by the reaction to the intense fumes of the wood finish. I think the worst of it is over, but that doesn't change the fact that the aftermath is horrid: scratchy throat, mild fever (and the headache that goes with it), congestion...I'm just going to have to take it easy for the rest of the weekend.
But next week I'll be working to achieve my set goal and then on 2 March, Incubus Tales returns! So look forward to that, and I'll see you there.
Until next time, be well!
...and don't refinish your wood surfaces without adequate ventilation.
It was going to be this coming Tuesday, but well...as the subject states, I'm currently ill and that means I've lost a couple of days of work and I'm not where I want to be before starting the new chapter. I'd much rather be at my goal so that I can bring you even more great stories.
The story, if you're interested, is like a convergence of awfulness. My housemates have had a touch of a cold or something that they passed to each other, but once they started feeling bad they told me to keep my distance so I didn't get sick. Unfortunately it was a couple of days too late, but that didn't become clear until later. The thing that really set it off was that one of them decided we needed to refinish our wooden countertop. This would otherwise be great, but since it's in the middle of an especially chilly winter, there was inadequate ventilation and we couldn't really open the windows and doors like should have been done.
So the day after that I started feeling especially cruddy. The same symptoms my housemates have had, made worse by the reaction to the intense fumes of the wood finish. I think the worst of it is over, but that doesn't change the fact that the aftermath is horrid: scratchy throat, mild fever (and the headache that goes with it), congestion...I'm just going to have to take it easy for the rest of the weekend.
But next week I'll be working to achieve my set goal and then on 2 March, Incubus Tales returns! So look forward to that, and I'll see you there.
Until next time, be well!
...and don't refinish your wood surfaces without adequate ventilation.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Bangles! No, really...
I have great news for you! I've been working on a comic collaboration involving bangles, which are extremely important accessories in India, traditionally. You see them virtually everywhere, and you usually buy bunches at once because they're worn several at a time. Additionally, since they're glass, inevitably a few will break, so you'll want to have replacements. There are even whole markets dedicated to them.
They have a very special place in my heart, so I hope you'll await news of the collaboration with bated breath! I think you'll all be touched by it.
Tangentially, I bought some new bangles for myself recently. It was just a little reward for completing this collaboration, and something to commemorate it. I looked around the net, but a lot of places didn't have sizes listed or simply didn't stock extra-large, which is the size I require. However, I found a great site called Beachcombers! And they have been fantastic. One of the owners, Jody, custom-made my set of bangles and even provided a helpful video, because believe me...it has been a really long time since I last wore bangles. They send free extra bangles with every order, their custom sets are incredibly affordable, and honestly I can only encourage you again and again to look around at Beachcombers! They stand behind their products and their work, which goes a long way with me. Tell them hushicho recommended you. The bangles I received are of the highest quality, and they also ship internationally. If you've been waiting for a convenient opportunity to try bangles -- or bindi (forehead jewels), mehndi (henna tattooing) or khussa (traditional shoes) -- then take a peek at Beachcombers's fantastic selection.
Anyway, please do stay tuned as they say, check back for more news on the upcoming bangles project and other projects in the works. There are plenty I'm working on, and so many fun things to share with you in the upcoming months!
They have a very special place in my heart, so I hope you'll await news of the collaboration with bated breath! I think you'll all be touched by it.
Tangentially, I bought some new bangles for myself recently. It was just a little reward for completing this collaboration, and something to commemorate it. I looked around the net, but a lot of places didn't have sizes listed or simply didn't stock extra-large, which is the size I require. However, I found a great site called Beachcombers! And they have been fantastic. One of the owners, Jody, custom-made my set of bangles and even provided a helpful video, because believe me...it has been a really long time since I last wore bangles. They send free extra bangles with every order, their custom sets are incredibly affordable, and honestly I can only encourage you again and again to look around at Beachcombers! They stand behind their products and their work, which goes a long way with me. Tell them hushicho recommended you. The bangles I received are of the highest quality, and they also ship internationally. If you've been waiting for a convenient opportunity to try bangles -- or bindi (forehead jewels), mehndi (henna tattooing) or khussa (traditional shoes) -- then take a peek at Beachcombers's fantastic selection.
Anyway, please do stay tuned as they say, check back for more news on the upcoming bangles project and other projects in the works. There are plenty I'm working on, and so many fun things to share with you in the upcoming months!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)