Before we begin...

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT (ONCE AGAIN):
I AM CEPHEID NEBULAE.
Moving on, today's layout-destroying picspam also doubles as a test to determine how well you know me--if the cast shot below remotely resembles anything that I, in your opinion, would watch willingly, you fail the acid test of friendship. It's funny: the cold opening features a pair of schoolgirls getting their skulls caved in with a baseball bat, and for some reason, you're still surprised when the series turns out to be a compelling, genuinely creepy murder mystery instead of Azumanga Daioh with the occasional ax-murder.


( Like a Sleep-Over at Leatherface's )

Incidentally, my brother (who introduced me to the series via the English dub) was wondering, hypothetically, whether any American studio has plans for a live-action version of When They Cry, set in, say, a rural Midwestern town (with presumably non-Asian actors) instead of an isolated Japanese village...which was met by a resounding "JESUS CHRIST FUCK NO" from me.

So I asked him if he'd be willing to watch a live-action version of the Lord of the Rings played by Japanese actors and set in Feudal Japan. That shut him up.

Tags: higurashi, meta, review
Opperation Mode: moe moe
Current Music: "Reddish" by D'espairs Ray

A very brief review of "When They Cry" (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni):

( cut for spoilers )

EDIT: This is Cepheid Nebulae. Got a rename token--sorry for the confusion.

Tags: higurashi
Opperation Mode: gloomy
Current Music: "People = Shit" by Slipknot

Some of you following my journal might associate me with the term "cafeism", either as "cafe gaiism" or "cafe feminism". But can anyone hazard a guess as to the actual origin of that phrase?

Café Minimalism - to espouse a philosophy of minimalism without actually putting into practice any of its tenets.
- Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture.

It started out as "cafe Gaiism", which in turn relates to that fad that died out about a year ago in which Naruto fans would pretend to like Maito Gai, parading his name around like street cred to impress the "in crowd". This particular breed of fangirl acted, for all practical purposes, as if being attracted to unconventionally attractive characters were the equivalent of befriending the unpopular bully-magnet. They actually looked down at other fans for daring to like the main cast or think pretty boys are pretty.

To reiterate: pointless post is pointless. Anyway, I was digging through some of my entries when I discovered this:

( New Fangrish Dictionary of Internet Psychosis )

It was basically created during my Inuyasha fandom days (around four years ago, when my livejournal cherry was popped) to describe a number of obnoxious behaviors I observed in the fandom. It just made me realize how, uh...special the Inuyasha fandom was. Ah, memories!

Tags: dictionary
Opperation Mode: creative
Current Music: "Stormbringer" by Deep Purple

So, if you're a longtime Naruto fan and even remotely connected to the online community, you've probably noticed that series creator Masashi Kishimoto's gender dynamics has recently become very controversial. Well, let's not beat around the bush. The anime/manga has been called a "clusterfuck of genderfail" by popular fandom opinion-makers, and not without good reason. And incidentally, if you're a typical Naruto reader, you would rather be chased around the kitchen table by timber wolves on a newly waxed floor while wearing socks than call yourself a fan. Ah, Naruto fandom: the eternally unreleasable fanbase.

Not surprisingly, the recent influx of feminist critique re: Naruto brought recommendations for series published in Shounen Jump like Soul Eater and Yankee-Kun to Megane-Chan as a sort of progressive, liberated answer to Naruto. Now, it's not exactly difficult to be less sexist than Kishimoto as a writer. Nor is it difficult to find higher quality reading material intended for preteen boys, let alone college-educated adults. In fact, it's rather easy to cherry-pick through a popular, long-running Shounen fighting series like Naruto for evidence of poorly implemented sexual politics, especially if it leaves you with nothing but withering contempt. It also helps if feminism happens to be one of your personal crusades.

Something troubles me about parading newer, less mainstream works as these dazzling paragons of female empowerment. Where were these observations about the role of women and girls in Naruto five years ago? Are we just turning a blind eye to less obvious examples of gender straightjacketing and male privilege?

We as fans tend to be soft against authors that we respect, even admire. Yet almost all examples of modern media contain themes that don't exactly mesh with most self-described feminists' concept of the modern woman. Isn't one of the most common defenses for popular books, TV shows, movies, etc. with unfortunate implications on fandomsecrets "Hey, I'm a feminist and I LOVE Gurren Lagann! Therefore, it's not sexist!"?

I have a very vague idea for an experiment, perhaps in the form of a meme. Basically, participants would each pick any five of their favorite series or one-shots (not necessarily fandoms) and find at least one example of undeniable, indefensible sexism. Preferably, a work that gets your hackles raised whenever someone badmouths it and ESPECIALLY if you would otherwise consider the gender dynamics to be perfect. If my hypothesis is correct, most participants would have at least some difficulty looking at their favorite series with a jaundiced eye.

( First Guinea Pig = Me )

Most of my criticism is somewhat subjective, a collection of impressions that I, personally, walked away with, although I did make a attempt to check my biases. But it seems to me that these fictional characters are all struggling with various issues that real-life women face every day. With Mulan, it's a glass ceiling. With Yubaba, it's the choice between career and family. With Leela, it's "nice guy" syndrome. What makes each series problematic is that these issues aren't resolved or quite frequently, even addressed at all.

I'm also not condemning the authors above. Does anyone rememeber that letter to Pixar studios regarding the lack of female characters in the recently released "Up"? If Hayao Miyazaki had written/directed that film, Carl Fredricksen would have been an 8-year-old girl. (By the way, before you criticize Pixar, read this story. And bring a hankey, just in case you have a soul.) It just goes to show that no matter how wonderfully enlightened you are, or think you are, there's always room for improvement. To quote American social critic Elizabeth Janeway, "We haven't come a long way, we've come a short way. If we hadn't come a short way, no one would be calling us 'baby.'"

Anyone who wants to try this meme is more than welcome.

Tags: feminism, futurama, hellsing, his dark materials, meme, meta, mulan, spirited away
Opperation Mode: cynical
Current Music: "I'm so Sick" by Flyleaf

I'd hardly call myself a Potterite, but I couldn't pass up this interesting, even unique analysis of the character of Severus Snape from Lady Claudia‘s Why Snape? fan-site (go to Melancholicus under "fan essays"). Not because I'm particularly interested in J. K. Rowling's work, but because, simple put, how many opportunities do you get to have your personality analyzed via your phlegm-to-bile ratio? Here’s how it works:

The four temperaments according to the Galenian system
(Galenus, Greek philosopher and doctor, 2th-1th century BC)

This system is based on a long tradition in Greek nature-philosophy, which defines four elements, qualities, hemispheres, seasons, etc, in creation and human life. In the Middle Ages this system became more and more elaborated, but suited the contemporary physicians well. This system of four corresponds to four types of people, in other words four ‘temperaments’.

The elements which define the temperaments are these:

Elements: fire, air, water, earth
‘Qualities’: warm, cold, dry, moist
Body fluids: blood, slime, yellow gall, black gall
Seasons: spring, summer, autumn, winter
Hemispheres: north, south, east, west
Times of the day: morning, noon, afternoon, night
Phases in life: childhood, youth, adult, old
Zodiac signs: Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius, Taurus (these are the central four in this system)
Celestial bodies: Sun, Moon, Jupiter, Saturn (idem)

And a lot more, but these are the most important. In medieval times, four stood for the creation. (1-God; 2-two natures of Christ; 3-H. Trinity; 7-perfection; 8-eternity, etc.). Systematic as they were, the middle-agers marvelled at the absolutely harmonious way in which the Creator had organized everything, and they did their utmost best to decipher Gods blueprint.

Myself, I'm a toss-up between the slimy Phlegmaticus and black-galled Melancholicus: sure, I’m somewhat “indecisive, sometimes--heh, heh…frequently--lazy” and “quiet” but also perhaps a bit “solitary, hard, cold, an intriguer, intense, complex” (tsk, tsk: egomaniacal, much?) and “someone with a lot of scars on [her] soul” (RAWR! surely you tremble in the wake of my trauma). Not particularly “tranquil, feminine” or “gentle“, and one must catch me in a outstandingly foul mood for me to be awfully “vindictive” or “cruel“.

The rest? Definitely a night person, fond of winter (Phlegmaticus), but a Scorpio and an adult (Melancholicus). I’m tall, not particularly attractive (Melancholicus), and though pale (Phlegmaticus), after years of weight-training, not exactly a cripple (Melancholicus’ are supposedly unhealthy and Phlegmaticus‘ tend to be physically weak).

But who’d want to choose between a goat or a pig?

Tags: harry potter, trivia
Opperation Mode: calm
Current Music: "Hush" by Tool

SILENTHILL FANART PIC SPAM

Silent Hill has an aesthetic like no other. It aims to disturb rather than disgust, creating raw, visceral imagery from which you simply cannot look away. Which is good, because the game is probably standing behind you right now, just waiting for you to turn around.



( There was a cut here. Now it's gone. )

Tags: fanart, silent hill
Opperation Mode: pleased
Current Music: "Enjoy the Silence" by Lacuna Coil

Subnormality is clever, original, well-drawn, and very appropriate for someone who reads this little gem by Pat Robertson:

"Feminism is a socialist, anti-family, political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."

and thinks "Yep, that me, alright." And the author? Is a GUY.

Subnormality also manages to be an unapologetically liberal soapbox without winding up as the kind of pretentious garbage that deserves to end up on a Stuff blog.

It's hard to tell what, in my opinion, is the most awesome strip is, so here are some random favorites:
Hypothetical Situation Probably one of the most witty commentaries on abortion rights I've ever seen. Did I mention I love this guys's ability to send a message without being preachy?
The 7 Dichotomies in a Bar It's just so damn TRUE. One of the things I've always loved about comics is their ability to illustrate concepts, however simple, that would unmistakably lose something in translation to words alone.
Sweding This is more bitterly ironic than humorous.
If TV was a Person Ever wonder why watching television online is so popular? Because a few weeks without staring a television set five hours a day inevitably leads to what I call "commercial intolerance".
How to Get a Job More bitter irony.
The Atheist Apocalypse This is the type of thinking that usually gets mislabeled as militant atheism, but actually, it's a brilliant satire on organized religion. If there is something to complain about (and there is), it's the fact that the Four Horsemen are all White, American, and male.
Lady of the Night It's surrealistic humor mixed with a rather pointed analogy about the nature of addiction. Now I kind of wish "prostitutes" like this actually existed in the real world.
Constellation of Trolls More analogies. Today's lesson: never flame someone who can draw.
Sphynx III This is my favorite Sphinx appearance, if only for all the different monsters. And the Jehovah's Witnesses getting eaten by them.
The Future I love this strip for the phrase "insane donkey sex". On a more serious note, what really makes it funny is that it's incisive social commentary on a future that doesn't even exist yet.

I think this strip in particular is appropriate considering what's been happening in the news lately.

( The Line )

Tags: recs, webcomics
Opperation Mode: thoughtful
Current Music: "House of the Rising Sun" by the Rolling Stones

...I'm back, baby.



Anyway, this meme is relevant to several discussions I've been having over the last few weeks about my preferences in regard to fiction, as both a reader and a writer, myself. Unfortunately, I've never heard of this supposed perfect literary match, probably because I'm more of a science fiction reader than fantasy enthusiast, AND most of my favorite books were written around a half a century ago.

( Which Fantasy Writer Are You? )

In other news...I'm bored. Like "sensory deprivation-induced catatonia" bored. Industrial-strength bored. Whatever. I'm fighting to get oxygen to my brain here. I'm waiting for an episode of Dexter to finish loading because one of the DVDs from my boxset is scratched. So anyone reading this, please take it as an invitation to spam the everylovin' blue-eyed fuck out of me. Recipes, movie reviews, anime recommendations, music videos, pic spams, memes, serious discussions about race and religion, pairing manifestos for TV shows I've never heard of, photocopies of your ass, whatever you've got.

EDIT: I haven't updated in so long, I'd actually forgotten how to do some of the fancier coding and what-not on lj. Apologies in advance if I temporarily destroyed someone's f-list.

In fact, I need to revamp my entire journal. And not got two years without updating. Hopefully, a cattle prod will not be necessarily.

Tags: livejournal, meme
Opperation Mode: fish out of water
Current Music: "Eyes without a Face" by Billy Idol