#Jocelyne Allen

[graphicpolicy]

Soichi is a Junji Ito story collection that's more weird than anything else

Soichi is a Junji Ito story collection that's more weird than anything else #manga #comics #comicbooks #graphicnovel

Soichi, the unhinged second son of the Tsujii family, chews nails and makes them clatter and clack as he spouts horrific curses to bring about the most bizarre happenings. Whether it’s summer holidays or a birthday party, Soichi can turn any occasion into a nightmare in a heartbeat. Writer: Junji ItoArt: Junji ItoTranslation and Adaptation: Jocelyne AllenLettering and Touch-Up Art: Eric…

[cicadabooks]

「冷徹な殺人機械のはずなのに、弊機はひどい欠陥品です」

Heh, that's neat :D

Above is the Japanese edition translation of "As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure."

Other fun notes, from looking at the Japanese listing/preview (on amazon):

-The 上下 set being sold is the first two books, All Systems Red and Artificial Condition. (Books in Japan are often sold as a set of 上 "top" 下 "bottom" and maybe a 中 "middle" if its a three-set. I'm not sure why. It could be for portability of the books.)

-There's a "Characters who appear in the story" glossary thing in the front.

-The furigana on 殺人ボット is saying that you should read this name as "Ma-da-botto", aka the "Murderbot" English pronunciation. (And not "satsujin botto" which you might otherwise read this as, given the characters used.)

-The first time 弊機 shows up in text (pic below), it also gets furigana, so that everyone knows how this made-up first person pronoun kanji is intended to be read. After that example, no more furigana, you're on your own to remember how to read that.

-In the excerpt, Murderbot speaks pretty polite Japanese when talking to Mensah and other humans, which makes sense. (I wonder if the politeness level changes when its being really snarky later.)

-Murderbot also uses decently polite Japanese in its own narration. I guess I was expecting something more casual? Interesting.

I guess the English narration is no-frills but still precise, so we went with this tone? But there is a lot of casual speech in the English narration... Now I'm looking to see if a funky word like "borked" got translated into anything in particular. (Looks standard so far, at least in that passage.)

-The cover has Murderbot drawn in an anime manga style.... and conceptually that's fine with me, I've seen other Japanese prose books do that style of cover... but this covers shows Murderbot's face and I don't like the decisions around pale skinned light hair blue eyes murderbot face.

There is (IMO) a somewhat androgynous thing going on with the face, which is interesting. (Also, IMO, murderbot looks like a shonen character here and I was expecting maybe like a little older?) Fun design of clothes for the cover of Artificial Condition, tho. Also I just noticed the covers extend into each other with that ship in the background. (I mean the covers are fun, I just have chara design qualms.)

Chat, what do we think of these covers

Anyway, I have been spoiled by fan art.... brown skin, South Asian, Black, various illustrations of murderbot, save me... I can't deal with this pale skin light hair illustration and the TV show casting version....

Speaking of which -

-(not about the JP book version) My English kindle version of All Systems Red now has a new cover image. I guess it's the TV show promo image with the white guy actor's face....? No. Gimme back the cool drawn scifi no-face armor Murderbot cover. Don't change up cover images like that. I need to buy a paper copy of the older version, before the only murderbot books I can get have covers of the TV show actor.

Also I recognized Jocelyne Allen's name in the posts above, from translations of manga. (I mentioned her in an earlier post about Nonnonba). She seems neat.

link: https://bsky.app/profile/brainvsbook.bsky.social/post/3llc72lyhu22j

google translate defaulting to chinese at first

okay but for those of us with interests in both the murderbot and the daomu biji fandoms this is kinda hilarious

(english-side-only really, i get that the kanji and hanzi are completely different)

our good (air)ship murderbot! thanks google

[tigger8900]

Mimi's Tales of Terror, by Junji Ito

⭐⭐⭐ 1/2

Whether you call them urban myths, creepypasta, contemporary legends, or something else entirely, there's power in the stories that might have happened to a friend of a friend. This volume retells nine such stories (plus one bonus) from an earlier Japanese collection — Shin Mimibukuro, by Hirokatsu Kihara and Ichiro Nakayama — adapting them for manga through the eyes of Mimi, a student who can't seem to stop stumbling headfirst into horror. In these pages, she will encounter everything from spooky shadows and leaping monsters to corpses that stalk lethal waters and spirits that watch from beyond the grave. Just remember: everything told here really happened. Honest.

When we sit down to enjoy a horror story, there's a certain comfort in the agreed-upon fact that it's fictional. Stepping out of that safety zone into the realm of things that could have happened, that maybe did to someone just a few small degrees away from us, adds a particular thrill to the horror. I've long been a fan of the sub-genre, devouring Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark (all three volumes!) as a child, and in adulthood discovering the carefully-curated suspension of disbelief of the /r/nosleep community on reddit. So I was excited when I heard about this re-issue of a collection of such stories from Junji Ito.

I found them to be satisfying, but nothing to write home about. There's a good mix of shorter scares and long tales with elaborate set-up. But they never quite hit that "this really happened to a guy my cousin knows!" spot that I associate with a good urban legend, I suspect due to the use of Mimi as a protagonist. I could never get away from the feeling that I was reading a fictional story, because the recurring protagonist was getting in the way of true immersion.

That said, the stories themselves weren't bad by any stretch of the imagination. I think I would have minded less if it had been billed as a collection of short spooky manga adapted by Junji Ito rather than the marketing specifying that these were meant to be read as "true" urban legends. My favorites were Just the Two of Us, Sign in the Field, and the bonus story Monster Prop, but there were none that I particularly disliked. Junji Ito's art is, as always, on point. I'd recommend it to fans of his work, or spooky manga in general, but not to people who are looking for urban legends in particular.

[cicadabooks]

Cat + Gamer manga: the English edition dilemma

You - Would like to read another adorable funny volume of Cat + Gamer manga. Perhaps the English translated editions, which are available for free through the local library system.

Zack Davisson - Creates the sloppiest manga translation I have seen from him. I'm distracted while reading, because I stumble over questionable translation decisions and some outright translation mistakes. I am pretty sure I have read fan scanlations that put more care into their work. I do not understand how this man is a professional translator.

Zack Davisson - Unfortunately, the project I am referring to here is the Cat + Gamer manga.

Your choices - read adorable Cat + Gamer manga :) vs Zack Davisson translations :/

(PS At one point the main character in the manga gives an explanation and joke about swords! Unfortunately, it doesn't really make sense, because I suspect Zack Davisson just outright mistranslated part of it. If you sub out the suspected translation error, then it does read as a pretty good gag.)

[starburst0822]

Boyz Crazy moment (Gravity Falls moments with Bob's Burgers)

[calciumcryptid]

Elseworld 64 | Jocelyn Jackman

Jocelyn Jackman is the illegitimate daughter of Mark Mardon, and the wife of Nora Allen-West. She is a respected artist, and works as a gallery attendant in Central City. Jocelyn is the host of two altars. As Misty Mardon, she is the criminal Weather Witch. As Auretta Allen-West, she is the hero Watercolor.

HISTORY

After a one-night stand, police officer Julie Jackman discovered she was pregnant. Nine months later, Jocelyn was brought into the world. For the first five years of her life, she was raised with love.

At five years old, Jocelyn came across the body of her mother who had been murdered by a cult. The moment caused her latent mutant-gene to awaken, and unknown to the people at the time her first altar.

After a paternity test, social workers were shocked to discover Jocelyn's father was Mark Mardon.

Upon discovering her existence, Mark Mardon kidnaps her to dissect her to better understand his own powers. Fortunately, the other rogues strong-armed Mark into properly raising her so Mark renamed her Misty Mardon.

He came to appreciate this as Misty proved to be as powerful as him and used them to aid him on crime sprees. The media took to calling her Weather Witch, which she took in stride with great pride.

Though the Rogues started to slowly notice something was off. Misty would flicker between wanting to commit crimes to wanting nothing to do with the lifestyle. She'd show an interest in painting, only to ruin the canvases the next day. There was a difference in whether or not she could use her powers as well, including which powers she used.

It culminated in Misty running away, but when they tracked her down she was using her powers sporadically which went against her careful training. She didn't respond to her name, instead Jocelyn and how she wasn't sure why she was kidnapped by the Rogues but she wanted nothing to do with them.

Despite the immense power she held, the Rogues managed to talk her down and explained everything much to Jocelyn's disbelief. Mark had no interest in this side of his daughter, but Roy G Bivolo took the reigns and taught her art. Under her mother's maiden name, Jocelyn slowly started to build a reputation as an artist and got a job at the local gallery as a tour guide.

One day, while working as a tour guide in her teens, the gallery was attacked by another rogue. Nora Allen-West was the speedster who answered the distress call, and encountered a woman named Auretta who used her knowledge of the gallery to help. The two ended up taking the rogue out together, which cemented a crush on one another though they were unaware of each other's identities.

Later, Nora attended the gallery to ask about Auretta only to be told there was no one with that name that had worked there.

PERSONALITY

Jocelyn Jackman is an elegant and mature woman, who is highly intelligent able to navigate the art world and the upper elite. She has invested in keeping the life she built for herself intact, carefully utilizing the eccentric artist narrative to her benefit.

Misty Mardon is a chaotic and fun-loving gal, who uses her powers openly and sporadically. She loves experimenting with them to the detriment of the environment around her. She has an impulse to steal art but doesn't know why, so she always returns the pieces at the end of the day. She is openly flirty, particularly with Timestream.

Auretta Allen-West is compassionate and kind, though she comes off as more bashful and self-conscious in comparison to the elegance of Jocelyn and the will of Misty. Auretta has an intense moral code, and will selflessly put herself in danger to protect others even at her own detriment.

POWERS

Weather Manipulation: Just like her father, Jocelyn has the ability to localize weather, creating hail, lightning, and other destructive forms of weather. She can produce blizzards, summon lightning bolts, fly using air currents, produce fog, and generate winds. Essentially Jocelyn can produce any type of weather pattern imaginable, as well as another phenomenon such as tornadoes. For a good chunk of her life, each altar could control a different part of the weather with Misty controlling storms, Jocelyn controlling air, and Auretta controlling water.

ABILITIES

Art Appraisal: Jocelyn can examine paintings, sculptures and antiques to determine their market value by identifying the quality of art.

Gardening Proficiency: Misty is a skilled gardener, as similarly to her father she used it as a way to master her weather powers.

Painting Proficiency: Jocelyn is skilled in all associated painting skills and techniques.

TRIVIA

Important Note: This is my first character with Dissociative Identity Disorder, so feedback is immensely welcomed.

All three are trans women. This is a nod to her being a gender-bent version of Joshua 'Josh' Jackman, who was a comic canon son of Mark Mardon and Julie Jackman.

Due to Elseworld 64 Mark Mardon being asian, they are biracial.

In Elseworld 64, Mark Mardon is a metahuman who uses a wand to channel his power rather than being the source of his power.

@insomniac-jay

[antellas]

Convivial Design Studio participated in creating audio / video assets for the open access online version of "Women Making History: The Revolutionary Feminist Postcard Art of Helaine Victoria Press" by Jocelyn Cohen and Julia Allen. Included in this 2024 Sinister Wisdom Salon recording is the book trailer.

Julia Allen and Jocelyn Cohen’s book, "Women Making History: The Revolutionary Feminist Postcard Art of Helaine Victoria Press" (2023), is the first book to demonstrate the relationships between the feminist art movement, the women in print movement, and the scholars studying women’s history.  It is available from Lever Press, which is funded by a consortium of small liberal arts colleges, and dedicated to the principle of open access, but also offers print editions of their books.  Read it and see many archived images here.

[ostberlinanalogue]

Crazy P - "Something More"

"Something More" is an amazingly good song, but while searching for an equally amazingly good video to go with it, I found Jocelyn Allen. I can not stress enough how much joy watching her videos has brought me. If you've been a fan of my posts, you know how much I love people dancing to music. Here's a link to her YouTube, channel, 10+ years of her really wholesome dancing!: https://www.youtube.com/@jocelynfreya

[smokefalls]

Broken-down, miserable, kind of a mess maybe, but still we’re all doing our best out here.

Eto Mori, Colorful (translated by Jocelyne Allen)

[jariten]

2024 Year roundup! (Part 2)

小さなお茶会 (Chiisana Ochakai), Nekojuujisha

グーグーだって猫である (Gou Gou Datte Neko de Aru), Yumiko Oshima

さとう菓子の家 (Satou Gashi no Ie), Kyouko Fumizuki

ドラゴンクエスト ダイの大冒険 (Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai), Riku Sanjo & Koji Inada [Trans. Gregory Werner]

巨人の星 (Kyojin no Hoshi), Ikki Kajiwara & Noboru Kawasaki

わたしは真悟 (My Name Is Shingo), Kazuo Umezz [Trans. Jocelyn Allen]

What more can be said about Kyojin no Hoshi.... its one of the pillars of timeless manga references in manga. Essays about the excessive but beautiful and real emotions of the characters have been written since its serialization in the 60's. The near textual romance between the protagonist and his best friend had the first generation of fujoshis go: "wait, there's something going on here", the scenes of Hoshi's father almost killing his son in the name of baseball regularly go viral on Japanese social media. It's a series where u have to shut off the cinemasins in your brain that want to ding the ridiculous scenes and contrived reasons for why just about anything happens or works. Let its emotional narrative and what it has to say about the great human cost of professional sports not just wash over you but swallow you whole then spit you out by the end. Truly a pillar in the sports genre. (And currently being scanlated!)

[graphicpolicy]

The Liminal Zone 2 features Junji Ito's familiar style but doesn't shine like his other work #comics #manga #ncbd

[elysian-33]

Who is the Quartet? - More Theories

Before today’s episode proves all my theories wrong, here’s who I think the remaining Quartet members could be with my reasons why.

These aren’t facts, they are ramblings.

Ben Alder

Suspicions: 

Was first seen in a therapy session with Raoul Greenstreet in Violations, who is killed by the Quartet in the very next episode, Violences. He could’ve been scouting Raoul out as a potential target.

Misgenders Percy twice in same session, even after being corrected by Raoul. Maybe he’s too traumatised for pronoun etiquette. Nevertheless, the Brass Mask also deadnames Percy, perhaps Brass knows his deadname from an old piano his family once owned~?

Was among the Coda mob when they went to hunt for Shank. Makes sense the Quartet would want to see and ensure the Coda attacked and enraged Shank to bolster their message of ‘hate the monsters’ and maybe aggravate Shank to fight back to do so as well.

Perhaps Ben’s trauma from finding Broken Teeth’s corpse (Solomon’s fiddle ghost), has left him wanting monsters out of Scout City and inoculated him to the Quartet’s homophobia.

Maybe he copes with/blames his Percy/ghost trauma by channeling his inner Solomon. Using some messed up version of “if you can’t beat them, join them” logic.

Issues:

Seems to resent the Instrumentalist for the harm he’s cause his family. Wouldn’t make much sense to follow his example.

Jemimah Wicker

Suspicions:

When Cole asks why the Quartet killed who they’ve killed in Plots, Fiddle answers first by explaining Abraham Walker was a “faggot” fabulous man who stood against Fort Freedom when they wanted to kill Big Mikey. Suggesting one member of the Quartet was affiliated with Fort Freedom

Seeing how Buck is in France and Rick is yet to rejoin society. The only remaining characters of interest in FF are the Wickers

Jacob, “a sister”, and “a brother” are confirmed to be elsewhere when the Quartet encounters Percy in Ignitions. Johannah, Jed, and Joel are with Jacob when they visit Russell in Tripwires, suggesting Jed or Joel might’ve left the group in Ignitions.

Jedediah did seem fine with the Church wanting to sacrificing him in S3 but he is described as “meek and apologetic for his family’s actions”, not seemingly vengeful.

Considering Clem’s attempt to help the Wicker family, makes me believe Jocelyn wouldn’t want to harm her as Quartet do in S4

This leaves the youngest Wickers Jemimah and Jessica. Assuming Jessica too young to be a murderer, that leaves Jemimah.

In their fight with Shank, Keys is briefly referred to as a ‘she’ (Vendettas). This could be a mistake as Drum is also being called a ‘she’ was we’ve learnt who Drum is at this point.

The Piano mask’s dialogue and nature comes across as more childish than the rest (yaps and taunts more) Examples: “Run, piggy piggy”, “He’s the sheriff’s boy, he’ll tattle”, and “Do you think he would have loved us more, if we were his children?”

Keys is also familiar with Scout City’s “classrooms” claiming they promote Queer and Monster acceptance, “make the abnormal normal” (in Plots).

Jemimah, being raised my Kellyanne, would be familiar with a religious and homophobic viewpoint.

Issues:

Joshua Wicker was one of the Quartet’s displays, although he was killed out of mercy after being left for dead by Shank, Jemimah would have to be okay with this. Additionally, it’s suggested that Fiddle killed Joshua on their own in Cases: “What I did was a mercy”. Maybe Keys didn’t have to be there for it.

Jemimah’s only been mentioned directly once throughout the entire show, in a bonus story. Perhaps she’s taken to a life of murder in order to be noticed by her family.

Mulder Allen

Suspicions:

The Quartet’s first appearance was when Fiddle captured Shelby and trapped her in a coffin. The Fiddle talks with Shelby and mentions how they want her to see their reckoning come to fruition: “This is where you should be. Quiet. Hidden. While the angel of death passes from door to door.” - Cases

But why didn’t they straight up kill her? Leverage against Clem? Probably not, the Quartet find her pretty quickly in Puppets. Does a Quartet member want to keep Shelby safe?

Mulder too was part of the Coda mob, and grows suspicious when they find Shelby outside her shop where she lies about Shank being housed inside. Moments after this encounter Shelby is captured.

That’s about it

Mulder is an architect for Scout City, a useful skill set for the Quartet to have on their side for planning attacks/getaways 

Mulder is a letter different than Murder… so it’s gotta be him

Issues:

My weakest guess for sure

If Mulder is part of the homophobic group of killers then he’s hidden his homophobia quite well from Shelby and Clem

When Fiddle speaks to Shelby, she doesn’t recognise their voice, possibly suggesting she’s never met them before.

If Mulder is Fiddle, then he changed into uniform and broke off from the Coda fairly quickly in Calculations to catch Shelby. Not an impossible feat to do tho.

Mulder seems close to Shelby, I’d doubt he’d be on board to put her in a position where she’d end up losing a hand.

Charybdis Blackletter

Suspicions:

In Plots, Cole enters the “Church of the Black Eternity”, a title belonging to Urnandurn who the Blackletters ‘likely’ have a covenant with.

The Fifth string is described as “prone” and lies on cushions, suggesting they suffer from injury or old age. Perhaps Friday’s fire hurt Blackletter quite a lot

Blackletter is familiar with Solomon’s work and ghost binding method, as Clara gave it to her in a S1 bonus story. Blackletter would also be capable of securing another Spooky Cabinet for ghost-binding means

The Fifth’s mask shows six sunflowers made from brass pipes. Mimicking the floral aspect of the painting where Tiberius (The Church of the HN’s founder) was imprisoned.

Issues:

Blackletter shouldn’t have any beef with Scout City. Unless she randomly just decided to avenge a very late business partner of her’s one morning.

Blackletter isn’t homo/monster-phobic, might be using the Quartet’s hatred to get them to do her dirty work. 

Downing Hill had beef with the Church of the Hallowed Name, which the Quartet supposedly works with. Charybdis kept the painting of Tiberius among her collections, so why work with his church later?

Harrow seem quite confident xir mother is in the her library

Seeing how Indrid Buckley retrieved Tiberius’ painting at the end of S3, it might make sense that she’d be the Fifth string. However that raises question like: “Why is she following Solomon’s example when the Church shunned him” and “how is she binding ghosts without his exact methods?”

Here’s my lineup, I doubt I’m 100% correct here but until I figure something new I believe…

Fiddle might be Mulder Allen, but probably isn’t...

Brass could be Ben Alder

Keys might be Jemimah (or Jessica) Wicker

The Fifth String might be Director Blackletter

[daily-yuri]

Kase-san and… by Takashima Hiromi (translated by Jocelyne Allen)

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

Top 5 comics that aren't bat related?

GOD okay I'm admittedly so so behind on my non-Bat comic reading because trying to read Everything Published In A 15 Year Period is fucking TIME CONSUMING, but! but but but!!! I have some fun ones!! also as always these are not in ANY particular order!

Thirsty Mermaids (Kat Leyh, 2021)

first off: yes we are including graphic novels! that's just a honkin big comic! nobody @ me! anyway, I read Thirsty Mermaids in one sitting on an airplane earlier this year and it was delightful. it follows three mermaid besties who turn themselves into humans and go ashore in search of booze, only to get stuck when the party mage can't remember how to turn them back. what follows is a mix of shenanigans and genuinely heartwarming character development as the trio cope with being landlocked and try to survive capitalism. there's a high potential for a story like this to get cloyingly oversentimental, but Thirsty Mermaids struck the right balance for me the whole way through and never went overboard.

also, the character designs are soooooo fun. look at them!

2. My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness (Nagata Kabi, trans. Jocelyne Allen 2016)

MLEWL is one of those books that actually completely lives up to the hype and then some, and it totally knocked me on my ass the first time I read it. I didn't really know what to expect going in, but I was totally blown away by how boldly Nagata's willing to share the ugliest parts of her life through this reflection. it's so much more than romance and yearning (and that isn't even really resolved by the book's end! Nagata continues to struggle with interpersonal relationships in later books, which you should also read!), and it felt really refreshing to see such an honest depiction of how much being depressed and anxious and insecure can just fucking suck. but at the same time, Nagata's ability to turn all of that into art and process what she's experienced in a really levelheaded way as she finds the will to grow and change is really affirming.

I have to give a special note of appreciation to the actual sex scene and how intimacy is negotiated between Nagata and the sex worker she hires, especially the ultimate realization that sex is just an act and losing her virginity didn't really change anything about why she was unhappy in her life. as a sex educator, I really appreciated the honesty and sheer practicality of how it was all framed.

3. Nimona (ND Stevenson, 2015)

hi okay yes basic bitch alert I'M AWARE, but I reread Nimona last year to remind myself of why I didn't want to watch the Netflix adaptation and I was so right for that, because OG Nimona fucks so much harder. it's heartfelt but also chaotic and violent and funny and deeply jaded; I think when I mentioned it in my monthly reading synopsis here I described it as weird art for pissed off queer people by a weird pissed off queer person. and I stand by that! if you haven't read it already or if you haven't in a while, it's right there waiting for you with an open invitation to burn the entire corrupt government to the ground.

I know the word feral is overused and therefore cringe but christ, comic Nimona is feral. come on, man. just let her kill your ex. he's a cop.

4. Superman Smashes the Klan (Gene Luen Yang and Gurihiru, 2020)

I had to get one DC comic in here, sue me! it's not Batman-related at all! it's a really rad Superman story that takes place in the 1940s and loosely reimagines an old radio serial, "Clan of the Fiery Cross," the was pretty much a 16-part hit piece on the KKK that was hugely successful in tarnishing their reputation and getting membership to drop. how cool is that? in this version we follow Lee family, Chinese-Americans who have just moved to Metropolis and are met with harassment from the local Klansmen, contrasted with Clark, early in his hero career, still figuring out the full extent of his alien abilities. you get some really nice parallel storytelling between the Lee kids, Tommy and Roberta, exploring what it means to be part of two different cultures at the same time Clark is going through something similar figuring out how to be a representative of two totally different planets, and it all works out in a way that's really sweet. now that I have a friend who's a baby I can't wait until he's old enough to get a copy.

it's an extremely comic book-y comic but in, like, the best way possible.

5. Hawkeye (Matt Fraction and David Aja, 2012-2015)

I can't believe I almost forgot to list tumblr darling Matt Fraction's Hawkeye! what do I even say about this series that hasn't been said already? I love the way Clint Barton is a sadsack piece of shit who's repeatedly ruined his own life, and I love rooting for him anyway because he's just trying so goddamn hard. and also because there's a teenage girl who stole his name and gimmick bullying him the whole time. (Kate Bishop you are everything to me and you will always be famous.) there are costumes and crime fighting but it's first and foremost a slice of life about a life that fucking sucks but keeps on trucking anyway, and that's so up my alley it's not even funny. a lot of the humor probably feels dated now but fuck it, the series is iconic for a reason.

MCU, eat your heart out.

bonus because I wrote out the whole thing and then decided I wanted to include a different one: Paper Girls (Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang, 2015-2019)

I'd be lying if I said that the thing about this series that I love first and foremost wasn't the art, because Chiang's art is breathtaking and I'll read anything ever if he does the art on it. but it's also just a super cool twisty, time-bending story about four girls getting roped into some high sci-fi bullshit when they're just trying to finish up their paper routes the morning after Halloween and having everything go to hell around them. I really respect a series that is committed to being weird and doesn't really care if you don't understand what's going on for a decent chunk of the plot, especially because it all comes together in a way that's pretty satisfying. waiting to read the whole series in one big run once it was all published so that I could track all the little hints and clues and things coming together across time travel bullshit was mwah, delicious.

also more than anything it's a story about how you Do Not fuck with 12 year old girls, especially in packs, because they're metal as hell, and I'm really about that.

[baesimss]

wedding party + some reception photos.

(keep reading for breakdowns on who's who)

bridesmaids (left to right):

kiera gates | naomi's sorority sister

shanice boudreaux | naomi's little sister

hope davis | dion's big sister

robyn thompson | naomi's cousin & maid of honor

billie jang | naomi's childhood bff & sorority sister

corina scott | naomi's sorority sister

groomsmen (left to right):

d'marcus boudreaux | naomi's little brother

cedric rosas | dion's childhood bff

tre emmanual | dion's frat brother & best man

dwayne rowell | dion's frat brother

giovanni boudreaux | naomi's little brother

kamari allen | dion's frat brother

parents:

naomi | camilo & rain boudreaux

dion | kurt davis & cassandra days

the kiddos:

jenell boudreaux | naomi's little sister

ashanti tate | naomi's niece (shanice's daughter)

brenden boudreaux | naomi's little brother

serenity & savannah hays | naomi's cousins

cartier currie | naomi's cousin

sade thompson | naomi's cousin

sofia hays | naomi's cousin (in dion's arms)

chanel currie | naomi's cousin (in naomi's arms)

last photo is just a cute one from the reception with naomi, shanice, robyn and their cousin jocelyn daniels.

twitter | tiktok | instagram

[arwainian]

Reading This Week 2025 #15

had a weird week! but i saw a bunch of cool movies and attended many library events

Finished:

Shaman's Crossing by Robin Hobb, narrated by John Keating I am not sure I trust the set up of this trilogy in the hands of a white usamerican author. we are in like very high alert noble savage trope territory, and trying to balance having a white protagonist from the ever expanding conquering kingdom up against strange and mystical native peoples is... delicate to say the least!

The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn't a Guy at All, Vol. 1 by Sumiko Arai, translated by Ajani Oloye okay i see what the hype is about

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, narrated by Rob Inglis absolutely a classic for a reason. this packs so much adventure into it. its not as if Tolkien hasn't already had Fucking Enormous impact on what the fantasy genre looks like, but i do think that a fair number of modern fantasy authors could stand to go back to the hobbit and really study what he does here, how the prose works, how its paced and how it moves from one story to another at a very solid clip

What Did You Eat Yesterday? Vol. 14-15 by Fumi Yoshinaga, translated by Jocelyn Allen this is my emotional support middle age men slice of life

Blue Box, Vol. 8 by Kouji Miura, translated by Christine Dashiell oh my god I love Ayame. she's so excellent and a great balance to the other characters in the cast. i can't wait to see what chaos she is going to cause. also i'm starting to read Chiaki as like aro-spectrum, maybe demi-romantic from how she describes the seed of her feelings for Taiki, as not liking him yet but there being potential for her to fall for him

Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch, narrated by Michael Page doesnt live up to the first book, but what could? the pirate stuff is interesting but plain and simple it takes Locke and Jean far away from the rest of the interesting stuff they were doing and sorta kills a lot of momentum and build. not sure if there's a satisfying way to wrap up the time delay poison plot as the series goes on, i feel like any resolution to it would be kinda a let down

Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite fun! tho has the classic flaw of scifi setting mysteries of locking the key to howdunnit behind world building that it doesn't estabish early enough to give the reader time to try and puzzle it out

Abandoned:

Make Room for Love by Darcy Liao started this lesbian romance bc i heard good things about there being a butch love interest. and she is great, i do indeed love her and her butchness. however there is a pattern in this book where in one chapter there is a Conflict, someone's feelings get hurt, or there's a miscommunication or something- classic "why are they not together yet" fodder- but then by the next chapter, or even within the SAME chapter, that conflict would be resolved with emotional maturity and grace. and... I guess I get that that is the romantic fantasy that this book is delivering? but it is not for me. it really killed the tension and drama when there wasn't a chance to stew in any conflict and instead everyone always knew the right thing to say after a couple pages

Started/Ongoing:

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson, narrated by Christine Marshall hold for the audiobook came in at the library. i am finally reading another of the series that the lesbians on my tumblr dash love

Point of Dreams by Melissa Scott & Lisa A. Barnett yay more of this series! only two chapters in and excited for more