epistasthai

Yowza! Just moved here. Was waaaay too easy (I'm sure I forgot something!).

Would you believe it is May, and we are having Winter Storm Warnings? (We had lovely snow on Mauna Kea!) Lots of thunderstorms, which meant I had to keep my computer off. I just used my tablet to work, so all's well.

Still getting used to Dreamwidth, so my site isn't very well organized yet.

Current Mood: Whoo hoo!
Current Music: Imagine Dragons

I'm just gutted about a Trump presidency. I live in a state that always votes Democrat (and did so this election), but we are all in shock. I had no idea that there were so many bigoted, racist people in the country. I'm ashamed about this, and am bitterly aware that we still have a long way to go. I hope we can get through the next few years in one piece, but I'm not holding my breath. God help us all.

To everyone in other countries, I am so sorry about this.

Current Mood: sick

~~Hurricane~~ Tropical Storm Iselle has come and gone. Thanks for all the good wishes and hugs! Hurricane Iselle was downgraded to a Tropical Storm about 50 miles offshore. So when it made landfall, it was a Tropical Storm instead of a hurricane. It wasn't as bad as I feared it would be, but we still had sustained 70 mph winds with gusts up to 90 mph. So lots of downed power/phone lines, and trees. I spent an anxious 8 hours or so worrying about my roof flying off. It barely held on with only a corner of the porch roof coming off. Thank goodness it held. And my neighbours came out all right, as well. None of our water systems were damaged from flying debris. ( I was half -expecting something to fall on our water tank and collapse it, but fortunately that didn't happen. In the next few days, we'll have to inspect it more thoroughly, but for now it seems okay). And we didn't lose power, although there's rolling blackouts today and perhaps tomorrow, until the electric company can repair all those downed lines. I have to hand it to them, they are out in all kinds of rain and wind, trying to repair the storm damage. And we got rain up to 4 inches an hour for several hours.

The kitties managed fine, although one of them got too curious and fell into the bathtub full of water. I found some paw prints on the tub and a puddle of water by the tub. That one decided to dry off on my bed; fortunately I had a sheet over it so my bed didn't get wet. (I love cats but am allergic to cat fur). They were very scared at the height of the storm, and actually wanted me to pet them. (they're feral, so they usually don't wanna be touched). And this morning when I opened the door, they didn't want to go outside. Today they've spent the day running in and out and in and out.

The second hurricane is moving far to the north, and we should only get rain and wind, but not the actual storm, this weekend. Hopefully, that is. We're leaving the windows boarded up just in case, haha.

I'm going to bed early as I didn't go to bed at all last night.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
m(_ _)m
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Well, we've two hurricanes headed towards my home. The other islands get hurricanes but historically, there's never been a hurricane make landfall on my island. But now, almost certainly, a hurricane is going to make landfall. Hurricane Iselle is due to hit in the next few hours. I've boarded up the windows and taken in everything that isn't nailed down. Filled up the bathtubs, several 5 gallon buckets, and hauled in 30 galleons of potable water. We've our own water system, so I'm not worried about not having water (unless our tank gets damaged by some flying debris). And my hubby is boiling soybeans (yum) from my Father-in-law's garden, and some Okinawan purple sweet potatoes (from the garden as well), to munch on when the power goes. (yes, we've lots of tinned/packaged/ready-to-eat foods, but those purple sweet potatoes and soybeans are delicious anytime). We live up the mountain so high surf or storm surge isn't a problem, but high winds are. I hope my roof stays put. (sorta kidding). Anyway, the power is almost certainly gonna go out, so I might not be online for a while. I don't mind not having power, it happens all the time here anyway (we're smack in the middle of the Pacific, and well, things happen). I just don't like not being able to get online, haha.

Everyone's kinda spooked, because hurricanes have always veered off or broken up before they hit my island. (and then they go on to hit the other islands). So they've no idea what to expect when one does hit here, because there's simply no data to be going on. The cats are spooked as well, and keep following me around. They're feral and not house pets, so I know they're spooked. But they're good company. (and so cute!)

To top it off, this morning at 6:30am-ish, we had a small earthquake (4.5). Not big but enough to feel.

Hopefully the hurricane will fizzle out, but so far it's not. I've got some good books to read for the duration, yay!

Wish me luck!

Is it love or is it just a physical relationship? Today, I’d like to review The World is Full of Cheating Boyfriends by ISHIDA Ikue.

This one had a very different feel than Pride. I feel to some extent that this is because I found the characters in Pride to be likeable from the start. Sure, they had their problems, but on the whole, it was easy to become attached to Amamiya, Morooka, and Katori, and what’s more, remain attached to them. In The World is Full of Cheating Boyfriends, however, the main characters right from the beginning come across as either needy and full of self-doubt, or as cold hearted and arrogant. I didn't warm up to them for some time. (in fact, I disliked one character right from the start). Of course, as with any good storyline, what you see at the beginning may not be what you see by the end. This is not because the characters have changed, but because you’ve changed – you’ve come to a more complete understanding of the character, and this in turn changes the way you feel about them. And then you see what they are doing in a different light. I feel this is what happened to me when I read The World is Full of Cheating Boyfriends.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: amused
Current Location: planet Epistasthai as usual
Current Music: Atlantis by Ellie Goldding

Well this is embarrassing: it seems to be my common refrain: “It’s been a while since I’ve posted”. I am simply gonna have to get myself organized. (oh wait, it's supposed to be, "I'm simply gonna have to make myself get organized").

Today I wanted to talk about a mangaka I’ve recently discovered: ISHIDA Ikue. I haven’t read very much by her, but what I have read, I’ve enjoyed. I’ve read these so far:

Pride v1 and v2

The World is Full of Cheating Boyfriends

All the Time

( Read more... )

Current Mood: chipper
Current Location: planet Epistasthai
Current Music: Wake Up by Arcade Fire

It's been a while since I've posted. Here's a book I've recently read that made me laugh a lot:
Fantasy Paradise by ROKKA Sugiura

Digital Manga Guild Publication
Manga/comedy/romance/shounen-ai/yaoi

It is very telling of a good read when I find myself laughing on the very first page, before I even get to the first chapter. If you’re looking for a gritty realistic story, keep right on looking. But if you’re looking for a light comedic escape from reality, then stop right here at Fantasy Paradise. The vignettes in Fantasy Paradise are a hilarious glimpse into a world that is a half-step outside reality. I say half-step outside, because Fantasy Paradise isn’t a sci-fi or supernatural story. The stories fall into the ordinary categories of unrequited salaryman love and café shenanigans. But ordinary isn’t usually this hilarious.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: amused

Today, as I was reading the Saturday posting of the webcomic, The Young Protectors, by Alex Woolfson, I noticed Alex had a link to a roundtable discussion about the recent uproar over DC Comics hiring Orson Scott Card to do work on Superman. There's a series of comic book roundtable discussions ("Comic Book Roundtable Series" in NYC) and one of them was a discussion on just this issue.
      Titled “The Man of Steel vs. Orson Scott Card”, or "Should You Be Blacklisted, Mr Card?", the roundtable was held Wednesday 10 April 2013. When I first heard that DC had hired Orson Scott Card to work on Superman, I was horrified. (I even posted in my journal here). Not because Orson Scott Card has a different view on human sexuality than I do. Not because he has different religious beliefs than I do. And certainly not because he holds radically different political views than I do. Everyone has a right to hold their own view on such things, and even though I disagree with him on everything I've just mentioned, I still hold that he's entitled to have these views. No, I was bothered because Orson Scott Card has publically, and very vocally, argued against gay rights issues. He has very publically worked to change public and social policy in accordance with his views. For instance, in 2009, he became member of the board of directors of the National Organization for Marriage, an organization that opposes same-sex marriage. He has written op-ed pieces where he argues against same-sex marriage, and against homosexuality.
      I’m generally not for blacklisting someone or refusing to hire someone to draw/write based on their personal beliefs. But when the person in question actively campaigns for, and are very public about promoting, views that I find abhorrent – then I find it difficult to see any good reason to hire/use them. And when they are very public members of organizations that discriminate and are dead set against granting civil rights to certain groups of people, then I have to say something.
      The roundtable had some very interesting comments and brought out some surprising points of view. I found it enlightening.

Here’s a link to a write up of the discussion. (Bleeding Cool, a site full of news, gossip, and rumour). If you can’t find it, or whatever, just let me know. (As I said, I found it via a link to it from Alex Woolfson’s webcomic, The Young Protectors).

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/04/16/should-you-be-blacklisted-mr-card/

Abject apologies for any misspellings or grammar mistakes or whatever. I’m a bit distracted today ‘cuz my spouse has pneumonia (he’s doing fine. But he wants to be up and doing/eating all the things he’s not supposed to be, haha. Which is good, ‘cuz it means he’s on the mend). Also, in case anyone's interested, both of Alex's webcomics are fun to read - Artifice and The Young Protectors. Artifice is sci-fi/yaoi and now available on Amazon; and The Young Protectors is a yaoi comic about young superheroes, currently free online. They're both fun reads.

Current Mood: anxious
Current Location: planet earth
Current Music: Daft Punk

Okay, I'm a little slow at reading the news sometimes, so when I read this today, I was, quite frankly, horrified.

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/02/orson-scott-card-superman/

I'm really disappointed at DC Comics for hiring such a homophobic arse as Orson Scott Card to write Superman. Usually I feel that an author's views on life shouldn't hold a person back from reading their works – it’s generally a good idea to see how others view things, even if I disagree with them. However, in this case, Orson Scott Card is actively campaigning for a hate-mongering society. I despise people like him, and I am really disturbed at DC Comics for this as well. Is anybody else bothered by this?

Current Mood: angry

I've been reading this really great webcomic, Artifice, a sci-fi yaoi webcomic created by Alex Woolfson (writer) and Winona Nelson (artist). It's just now finished, so you can read it complete. I started somewhere in the middle, and so had to wait with baited breath for each week's page. It's really interesting.

This is the tag that got me to go have a look:
Android soldier fights for love and survival against an evil corporation. Smart action hero (who happens to be gay).
Since it is described as yaoi, I went for the hawt action, but stayed for the story.

I like how the focus is on the relationship and not stuck on the same ol' topic of whether or not an artificial life form can have feelings. I'm really hoping Alex decides on an Artifice 2 sometime in the future. I'm sure to read it!

Go have a look if you've time, and tell me what you think about it!

http://webcomics.yaoi911.com/archive/artifice-title-page/

sorry this 'review' is so lame, but I've got a very bad cold and it's gotten worse.

(sorry it has taken me so long to get this posted...)

The last we saw of Sawaragi, (in Takaga Koi daro , or It’s Only Love), he’d been sentenced to 5 years in prison for dealing drugs. Suffering from unrequited love for Izumi, he’d done his best not to involve Izumi in his mistakes. Sawaragi had resolved to put his feelings for Izumi aside and move on. Now, in the sequel published recently by DMG, Aiso Tsukashi or Tired of Waiting for Love, we get to see more of Sawaragi.

( Spoilers ahead! )

NOTIFICATION

I hereby announce that I condemn CI YAOI - http://community.livejournal.com/ci_yaoi - for what they are doing. They steal download links and files from scanlation groups, post and reshare the files without permission from the groups. They have no respect whatsoever to the people who buy the books, scan and translate those projects.

I condemn them and I won't have anything to do with them. I don't tolerate such actions. I hereby state that I am not a member of CI YAOI community and I will never steal from any scanlation group. Nor will I share any material without permission from said groups.

YA lit has some of the best-written lit out there. It's full of angst, fun, love and laughter, meaningful experiences, and philosophical discussion. Not to mention memorable characters. It's the place where young adults go when they want to or need to escape. It's also the place where young adults can get a view of the larger world picture if they're from a small town. Gay young adults have few positive role models. It is outrageous that a publisher would try to pressure an author into changing a gay character into a straight one. (makes you wonder about all the other books on their YA list - what characters have been changed in those books?)

I just read this (thank you serena_dragon!) and thought I'd pass it on:

Originally posted by

darkspirited1 at SIGNAL BOOST: SAY YES TO GAY YA

This comes from an article by

rachelmanija entitled, Say Yes to Gay YA.
(click the link for the full article)

Our novel Stranger has five viewpoint characters; one, Yuki Nakamura, is
gay and has a boyfriend. Yuki's romance, like the heterosexual ones in
the novel, involves nothing more explicit than kissing.

An agent from a major agency, one which represents a bestselling YA novel in the same genre as ours, called us.

The agent offered to sign us on the condition that we make the gay
character straight, or else remove his viewpoint and all references to
his sexual orientation.

This isn't about that specific agent; we'd gotten other rewrite requests before this one. Previous agents had also offered to take a second look if we did rewrites… including cutting the viewpoint of Yuki, the gay character.

It's time to stand up and demand change. Spread the word everywhere if you are just as angry and outraged by this.

He's baaack....

I'm reading Aiso Tsukashi (Tired of Waiting for Love), which is a sequel to Takaga Koi daro (It's Only Love) by YAMADA Yugi and AIDA Saki. Finally Sawaragi finds someone! I'll write more when I finish it! So far it is really fab.

Am setting up my study area. Will be upgrading my computer system this weekend so hopefully I'll be back online by Monday.

Whee! I made it home! Flying from the U.K. to the middle of the Pacific is a 24 hour flight time alone. But since we got stuck in Newark between the earthquake and the hurricane, it took us 24 hours longer than expected. If I'd the money, I would have flown to Japan and then on home.

Have been recovering from this. I always get very ill when I travel long distances. It's not the long flights, it is the several hops in succession that does me in. And I am just plumb stupid for weeks after a trip that long. Consequently, I haven't been home since 2008.

My computer made it, but now have to unpack all my boxes. Somehow I have to make room in the house for more...stuff...

(hey!! manga isn't just *any* stuff! It's my precious reading material, bwahaha...)

And i have to catch up on things. Will get around to everyone eventually. (sorry!)

It's so nice to get fresh papayas and pineapples! yea!

Current Mood: cheerful

tired....
everything is in boxes or scattered all over the flat

just shipped my computer, keyboard, and books (including my precious manga and yaoi collection,heh heh)

can't take my absinth with me but by golly i'm taking my yaoi...

will have sporadic access to the 'net for the next couple of weeks. apologies in advance for not making comments

and i can't find the kwys on this darn regular keyboard

thanks to everyone for all the kind wishes and thoughts toward me during my move

see you soon!

Aargh. I'm moving house in August. (well, moving to another continent, so it's not exactly moving house). Everything is in uproar, because I'm trying to decide what to take and what has to be left behind. (As usual, I'll probably end up taking all the books and none (or few) clothes). I'm in the process of sorting it all out so I can put everything I want to take in one spot so I can see it all. Then I have to sort it into the boxes, which means lots of it will get left behind. That's not so difficult, but I'm supposed to be working on my research at the same time and I just can't concentrate. Plus my research materials are being moved at the same time, so they're all in disarray too. I've a meeting tomorrow with my supervisor but have nothing to give him. I'm way too relaxed about that and that's kinda worrying. It'll all get sorted out eventually, but in the meantime I have to live here....

Still, I did manage to find a shipper, thanks to some very kind words and advice from friends. So that's one worry off my mind!

(I'm taking all my manga, no matter what. They went into my 'keep' pile even before my research materials. I'm so baaaaaad.)

Current Mood: restless
Current Music: the Raveonettes Raven in the Grave

I like to read manga, and some just catch your attention straight off the bat. One such is KUNIEDA Saika's "Future Lovers". This manga features a favourite couple of mine: Kento and Akira. It is alternately hilarious, sweet, and tear-jerking, but very satisfying. I often re-read it when I want something with a realistic feel to it, but which has a happy ending. ( Here's the gist )

The other day someone said that they didn't watch (...) because this show wasn't intellectual enough, and that for entertainment they only watched intellectual films or television shows. Naturally this embarrassed my friend, who had brought up the series in question. So I smiled (with all my teeth, ha ha), and said that deep intellectual work is my DAY job, and when I want to be entertained, I want something that doesn't aspire to be 'intellectual'. I also said that I don't get my intellectual fulfillment from film or any one medium or genre (novels, film, theatre, etc). Deep thoughts are all around us if you take the time to look. I went on to say that some people don't look that deep, and so have to rely on 'intellectual' film, theatre, etc. to get their intellectual fill.

It really annoyed me that this person was being snobby about these things. Since my post-grad work is without question in a deeply intellectual field, this person couldn't argue with me when I said that deep intellectual thinking is my day job. And it really made me angry that this person made fun of my friend, and tried to make her feel stupid because of a film or television viewing choice. Normally I wouldn't say anything, but this time I did, 'cuz someone was making fun of my friend. Not a nice thing to do.

I like action, sci-fi, chick-flicks, comedy, drama if it has some humour, kid flicks, anime. I don't watch horror, 'cuz then I can't sleep. (I'm such a scaredy cat!). Plus, if a person is so inclined, she can find some life changing thought or notion in any situation. Geez.

In case anyone is wondering what exactly is my field of study, well it is philosophy. That's right, I am a philosopher. I'll damn well watch/read whatever I want. And, gasp!!! I read manga in public! (well, not yaoi ). And I've manga next to David Hume and Wittgenstein in my bookshelf, heh heh. (okay, not the yaoi, I put that where little hands can't find it).

Well, off to read some YAMAMOTO Kotetsuko (re-reading Honto Yajuu, it's so cute!). I may watch NCIS later on, ha ha, or indulge in some action-sci-fi flick.

Today when I was out for my morning walk around the loch, I saw a hedgehog!! (Yesterday I saw a deer, wow!). I almost stepped on the poor thing and then it waddled off the path into the brush. I was so surprised that I grabbed my friend's arm and almost screamed, "did you see that?", haha. I've never seen a hedgehog up close in RL. yea! They're so cute!

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epistasthai

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Recent Entries

Just moved from LJ! Yay!

Horrified

Update: Tropical Storm Iselle

Hurricane Iselle

The World is Full of Cheating Boyfriends by ISHIDA Ikue

ISHIDA Ikue, a new-to-me mangaka!

ROKKA Sigiura "Fantasy Paradise" Review

Should You Be Blacklisted, Mr Card?

DC Comics has hired Orson Scott Card to Write Superman

Artifice

Aiso Tsukashi review (finally!!)

stealing or plagiarising work

SIGNAL BOOST: SAY YES TO GAY YA

Aiso Tsukashi

Home at Last!!

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Future Lovers by KUNIEDA Saika

rant of the week: I despise intellectual snobs

Hedgehog!

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May 2017

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