PorkChopExpress86

So I took a class on modern Japan a few years ago and one of our texts was Japan Inc., a manga about being a salaryman in the mid 1980s c. 1986 and translated into english in '88. It was fairly interesting but obviously very dated, they make a bunch of references to how rosy the economic outlook is for the 90s but it was printed in the standard american way of left to right. Here is part of the forward: The preparation of Japan Inc. for English speaking readers raised several technical problems, because Japanese comics read from right to left, Western comics from left to right. One solution was to offer readers a brief encounter with Japanese culture by printing the book in its original order, with a warning that they should begin reading at what they would usually consider the end. This method seemed a little too complicated, however, to impose on a comic book. Another solution was simply to flip the pages and print them backwards, but this one failed to take into account the number of panels in which the artwork and writing--Japanese, English, or Arabic--were combined. If these pages were flipped, a mirror would have been needed to make them legible. In the end, we opted for selective flipping: panels were reversed if necessary to clarify the flow of the dialogue; otherwise, they were printed as they appear in the Japanese edition. As a result, some of the characters may suddenly appear to develop left-handed tendencies. Doesn't selectively flipping panels seem a *little* more complicated? It didn't take very long for the entire US manga industry to go to the raw format. I understand that it might have been very strange for someone who had no exposure to manga or Japanese to pick up a right to left format book in the 1980s, but it certainly hasn't slowed the growth of fandom in the US 20 years later.

dude, i've been going to anime cons for the last ten years... NOTHING gets planned in a timely manner. My most recent one, Anime Wasabi in Denver, didn't have schedules printed until 10pm friday night... five hours into the con. Granted it was their first year, but come on people... you only had 3 rooms to plan for... Still had a blast tho! Anyway, don't worry about things not being set yet, at NDK (also in Denver) the Bleach photo shoot came together through word of mouth the first night of the con... I realize AX is much bigger but i'm sure you'll be fine. Wish I could go, but all my money is tied up in my trip to A-kon in Dallas (5 weeks away!!)

I'm in my mid twenties and I do indeed wear baggy pants but there's a reason for that. The State of Colorado and my local sheriff's department trust my judgment when it comes to carrying a concealed weapon and I exercise my right every day. Can't walk around in Dockers with a gun in my waistband, it would be pretty obvious. As for being a fool, I'm far from it. Now, in regards to the topic of this rant the same complaint comes from every generation: "I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words... When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise [disrespectful] and impatient of restraint" (Hesiod, 8th century BCE). "The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers." (Socrates as related by Plato, ca. 4th century BCE) People have been having sex at that age since the beginning of time so I find it hard to believe that these kids are somehow cheapening themselves. We make the arbitrary distinction that people under the age of 18 are minors and are therefore incapable of reasoned thought, but that is only a recent phenomenon. As for honor, what code do you refer to? Knights in the employ of a feudal lord who held to a code of chivalry as directed by the church were little more then legitimized brigands. Might made right and they did whatever they wanted (murder, rape, pillage, etc.), especially if their opponent was of a lower class, different religion or a foreigner. Were there honorable people? Sure. But were the before times of the long long ago really any different then now? Not really. Hollywood and pop culture have simply sanitized the past and made it seem as though the world was populated by better men then us. Look at the 1950's. We have the images of mom at home making apple pies, dad working hard to bring home the bread, sissy innocuously daydreaming about holding hands with that dreamy boy on the football team, and junior industriously working on that next merit badge. Where did that come from? Leave it to Beaver and all those black and white reruns on Nick at Night. But what was it really like? Minorities were oppressed, religion was forced down your throat, anything that was different was evil, and people that didn't fit into society's perfect mould suffered in silence or were publicly attacked. So stop with the cynicism, it’s all so cliché.

You gotta wonder where it's going to stop... How much more perverse can we get? The japanese and the germans have taken it pretty far and mass marketed porn hasn't really been out there that long. In the 70s it was still a crime to make it in most states so just seeing two people fucking NORMALLY was pretty extreme. Thirty years later we have bukkake and huge gang bangs and no one even blinks. Imagine 30 years from now, bestiality will be on Fox during prime time...

yes... i have no interest in m/m whatsoever.

I have the same issue with it. People keep saying, "Yaoi story lines are SOOOO MUCH DEEPER!" and it's like... no... they're not. The depth of a story doesn't relate to what sex the characters are. Besides, the greatest love stories in history have been written about heterosexual couples, romeo and juliet, othello (he DID love desdemona... he just wasn't smart about how he went about it), and the like. I really think its all about fangirls wanting to be edgy. Porn used to be edgy but then girls started wearing shirts that said "Pornstar" and Ron Jeremy and Jenna Jameson became mainstream celebreties. They couldn't just turn to lesbian stuff b/c that was already acceptable so they jumped on the last thing that might raise eyebrows (before going WAY off the deepend.) I bet in a few years when yaoi is normal you'll see bukkake fangirls trying to push the envelope again. That might not be too bad...

But even if women are expressing themselves sexually more these days, why write/read about stuff they aren't even a part of? It's like they're just teasing themselves... If fanfiction is based on fantasy, wouldn't they want some kind of fantasy that they could conceivably be part of? And what makes m/m pure? heterosexual couples don't get together b/c of pheremones being released at specific intervals like many animals do, how is a hetero choice of mate any less "pure"? I agree that straight sex, when compared to some of the things that make it into various fanfics, is rather mundane but if you're into D/s stuff check out my sailor moon fanfics.

I just want to clear something up about the connection to star wars and harry potter. If any epic comes off as a rip off of the infamous trilogy it's because that trilogy was explicitly based on literary archetypes and established traditions. Joseph Campbell, the authority on the subject of myths and legends and their cultural impact, has written volumes on the concept of the epic and finds that in essence all stories featuring a hero figure are the same. He has also devoted much writing to Star Wars itself and it is well established that george lucas based the triology on campbell's writings. I [Lucas] came to the conclusion after American Graffiti that what's valuable for me is to set standards, not to show people the world the way it is...around the period of this realization...it came to me that there really was no modern use of mythology...The Western was possibly the last generically American fairy tale, telling us about our values. And once the Western disappeared, nothing has ever taken its place. In literature we were going off into science fiction...so that's when I started doing more strenuous research on fairy tales, folklore, and mythology, and I started reading Joe's books. Before that I hadn't read any of Joe's books...It was very eerie because in reading The Hero with a Thousand Faces I began to realize that my first draft of Star Wars was following classic motifs...so I modified my next draft [of Star Wars] according to what I'd been learning about classical motifs and made it a little bit more consistent...I went on to read 'The Masks of God' and many other books (Larsen and Larsen, 2002: 541). So for star wars to incorporate the classic monomyth and for harry potter to mirror star wars is not any indication of plaigarism, it's simply her tapping into the story that has been told since man first learned to weave together stories. The link between Campbell and Rowling has been elaborated on in the following article: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa40...301/ai_n9183049

they also don't use the terms "yaoi" and "yuri" very often either. BL (Boy Love) and GL (Girl Love) are the prefered terms.

Well maybe i'll find out in a few months when i get comissioned...

Rant 1 Couldn't agree with you more on point one. If we want to start fixing the world's problems we need to start at home. Right now all that happens is we give these countries billions in aid and debt relief only to get shit on b/c we "aren't doing enough" which made some asshat muslim feel "desperate" and "downtrodden" so he hijacks a plane and crashes it into one of our buildings. If third world countries don’t want to suck so bad anymore, stop letting warlords and theocrats run your shit. British colonists didn't like being dicked around by their government so they did something about it and formed a new country that worked better. Rant 2 As far as feminism goes; its a joke. I say this with a minor in sociology and currently finishing up a graduate class on the topic. The feminist movement is so disorganized and running off in so many different directions that it can't seriously be called a movement. First wave feminism, characterized by the pursuit of women's suffrage, was the only thing that could be called a movement of any kind. there was a tangible goal (the right to vote) and it was easy to tell when they succeeded. Second wave feminism is responsible for the bra burning and caused such a backlash that many contemporary women activists refuse to call themselves feminists, camile pagila for instance. Third wave feminism is characterized by widely disparate groups that have nothing in common but the label. Some women are pro-porn, some are anti-porn, Some are pro-choice, others pro-life, some demand a career, others want to be able to stay at home and not be looked down on by their own gender, some think miss america is public enemy number one, others disagree. I can't speak to the rape issue; i have not been and don't know anyone that has. It is fucked up when a man rapes a woman, but equally so in any other combination. Let's look at one big issue for "feminists"; the so-called glass ceiling. I don’t have a problem with equal pay for equal work or gender egalitarianism as such. But is a top level female executive officer really doing the same job that a man in her place is? Many countries around the world rank very high on cultural masculinity indices (as determined by Geert Hofstede*, a giant in the field of intercultural study) and in these countries women are not viewed as equal partners in business. A woman simply can't do the job a man can do which limits her value to the company. Further, women are afforded maternity leave and men are not. They are given several months off, often with pay, where men are not. During that time frame, her work has to be shifted to other people causing confusion and loss of revenue. That's hardly equal work. Sorry ladies, i'm keeping my extra twenty-five cents per dollar. *http://www.geert-hofstede.com/ Rant 3 PETA funds domestic terrorism (see links below), fuck them and their hippy agenda. Yes, abusing animals for the sake of some sadistic power trip is fucked up, but committing violent acts against people and destruction of property so that an animal that can't function at higher cognitive levels can be spared a little bit of pain is retarded. http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=17344 http://www.animalscam.com/references/peta_fbi1.cfm

As a straight guy i can say, in my experience, no. None of my friends want anything to do with yaoi and we're all kind of shocked to see how ridiculous some women get about it. If there are characters in a series that are gay, its not a big deal but I will not watch shows/read manga that are specificaly yaoi themed. And let me put the, "guys like yuri just as much as girls like yaoi" thing to rest, because again, none of my friends are particularly enthused by that either. Most of us don't even care about lesbian porn, there's just alot of build up with no finale.

I never had much interest in the character until I started writing my story Black Moon Triumphant. Now I think she's definatley worth exploring and seems to have been passed over by other authors. I'd like to see another take on this character. The obvious pairing is Esmeraude and Demando but I havn't been able to work in a scene between the two of them without it coming off as gratiuitous (my story really focuses more on the senshi that she has enslaved and not on Esmeraude herself) but feel free to pair her with anyone else that strikes your fancy.

yeah, it definatley warrants its own category under the Sailor Moon heading. Key plot points from the anime are different as are several relationships

yeah, that's pretty much how i understood the categories and based on that they'll stay under the general heading.

sounds good. there have been a handful of authors already moving their works just in the last three days so that's a good sign. I moved one of mine to the correct cat b/c its a much more focused (and short) story, but im leaving my two main ones under the general heading for now b/c i dont think they fit into anything else.

Christianity is the original fanfiction. Here's a little story about a man, born of a god and mortal woman, who inspired his followers, was put to death for it by the powers that be, came back to life three days later and rose to the heavens. Jesus? No. Osiris, Dionysus, Mithras, Saturn, the list goes on. Freke & Gandy (1999) outline the numerous similarities between Jesus and many other "pagan" deities: "Like Jesus, in many of his myths the Pagan godman is born of a mortal virgin mother. In asia Minor, Attis' mother is the virgin Cybele. In Syria, Adonis' virgin mother is called Myrrh. In Alexandria, Aion is born of the virgin Kore. In Greece, Dionysus is born of a mortal virgin Semele, who wishes to see Zeus in all his glory and is mysteriously impregnated by one of his bolts of lightning." (p. 29) "The miracle of turning water into wine took place for the first time at the marriage of Dionysus and Adriane." (p. 38) "The gospels tell us that on one occasion Jesus exorcized a man of demons who called themselves Legion, because there were "about 2,000 of them." These demons are cast by Jesus into a large herd of pigs, which rush over the edge of a hillside and are drowned. Exactly the same motif is found in the rites of the Mysteries at Eleusis. As part of the purification ceremony before initiation, some 2,000 initiates all bathed in the sea with young pigs. This bathing ritual banished all evil into the pigs, which were then sacrificed, as a symbol of the initiates' own impurities, by being chased over a chasm." (p. 41) "By partaking of the bread and wine offered by Jesus, his disciples symbolically eat his body and drink his blood, so communing with the Christ. The idea of divine communion through eating the god is a rite so ancient that it is found in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, in which the deceased are portrayed as eating the gods and so imbuing their powers." (p. 48) So people who write biblical fanfiction are really just following the example that the bible provides. Freke, T. & Gandy, P. (1999). The Jesus Mysteries. New York: Three Rivers Press.

looks good. i'm going to start directing people to the forums in my authors notes at the end of my updates. you should do the same zimarah, maybe we'll get some discussions going. also, i'm seconding zimarah's idea about suggesting certain fics be moved. i dunno who's job it would be, but if a fic hasn't been updated for a year or so and the tags clearly say what it is, it should be filed correctly.

those are the japanese names, i dont know if it would really do anything considering fans of the series would know their names

totaly agree. Bleach has become DBZ. ever since the bount arc watching bleach has almost been a chore. I get 2 months behind and then watch all the episodes in one shot just to get through them. I keep watching b/c i'm hoping that somewhere along the way the greatness of the soul society arc will come back. But seriously, some of the characters need to die off, they've introduced way too many of them to keep up with. And am i the only one that wonders if the inhabitants of Hueco Mundo are so hardcore, how has soul society lasted this long? Ichigo has no trouble whooping up on the strongest of captains but barely squeaks by the tripple digit espada??

that could work, they do seem to get more time then any of the other pairings. also, we need more people on these boards. tons of hits seem to come Sailor Moon's way so why aren't they talking?

These are all F/M Venus (Minako)/Kunzite Mercury (Ami)/Zoisite Jupiter (Makoto)/Nephrite Mars (Rei)/Jadeite kunzite/zoisite is M/M Usagi/Mamoru or Sailor Moon/Tuxedo Mask is F/M do they all really need to be split down into such specific categories tho? The ones I write have multiple pairings and so do alot of the ones I've seen. I would think that M/F, Yaoi, Yuri would be sufficient. But even there, the two main ones i'm working on are a mix of M/F and yuri so i wouldn't really know where to file either one... And as for the Jaedite spelling Zimarah, for me it goes back to some fanfics i read when SM was still airing on the USA Network... so it's been burned into me for a long time.

Now i'm as open minded as the next deviant on these forums and although I don't enjoy yaoi or have much interest in yuri, i'm fine with those who are into that sort of thing. But there is no one commenting on hetero sexual relationships? That just seems odd to me...

Jaedite (Jedite, whatever... that spelling has been ingrained in me for a decade)/ Rei has been pretty common, and not just in my stories

That's cool, i'll look forward to that. I did read the start of your latest one set in the 30th century, good start there. I'm in a bit of a dry spell right now... I know where I want to take my two stories I just can't make myself sit down and work on them. Well I hope the manga gets brought back, they're doing it for Gunsmith Cats and Oh! My Goddess, both excellent series. I would love to see Dark Horse aquire the rights, they do really good jobs.