#The Anti-Kenji Society

[starrynightsxo]

ANNOUNCEMENT: I WILL BE BACK

hey guys so I'm gonna be on and off tumblr for the moment as I just wanna limit my social media time lol but nevertheless, I will be here to spew my nonesense!

LOVE ALL MY FOLLOWERS AND MUTUALS SO SO MUCH and I just know you all understand and I appreciate you guys so much! So don't go anywhere cos I'll be here often enough, ready to yap and giggle with you all <3

LOVE YOU ALL 💕

- alims ❤️

my side blog: @bookgirlfanatic <3

cr: Caraval by Stephanie Garber

cr: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

cr: This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone

Books I've read this year 2024 (so far, in order):

Powerless by Lauren Roberts

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas

Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer

Anatomy of a Misfit by Andrea Portes (reread)

Truth or Dare by Sophie McKenzie

Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J Maas

A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J Maas

How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories by Holly Black (reread)

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Destroy Me by Tahereh Mafi

Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi

Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi

Fracture Me by Tahereh Mafi

Restore Me by Tahereh Mafi

Shadow Me by Tahereh Mafi

Defy Me by Tahereh Mafi

Reveal Me by Tahereh Mafi

Imagine Me by Tahereh Mafi

Believe Me by Tahereh Mafi

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

The Final Gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Icebreaker by Hannah Grace

Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross

Dead Poets Society by Nancy H Kleinbaum

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Brothers Hawthorne by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

The Hunger Games Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Reckless by Lauren Roberts

A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Normal People by Sally Rooney

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

I have reviews to most of these if you check my tags somehow lol.

38/30 books this year. YAY! Happy Reading everyone!

A picrew of me <3

[bending-sickle]

speaking of "obsessive research", let's look at this quote that was stuck into this chapter:

"Sexuality is something that surprises us and takes us places we didn't expect to go. Why else does psychoanalysis spend so much time delving into desire and sexual identity?

— Kenji Yoshino, law professor, Yale University"

why do we have a law professor talking about psychoanalyis and sexuality? why is vicki quoting him? what are these choices?

from the wiki:

"Kenji Yoshino (born May 1, 1969) is a legal scholar and the Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law at New York University School of Law.[1] Formerly, he was the Guido Calabresi Professor of Law at Yale Law School. His work involves constitutional law, anti-discrimination law, civil and human rights, as well as law and literature, and Japanese law and society."

still an odd choice for a quote on psychoanalysis (not psychology: pyschoanalysis is a very specific set of theories and frameworks) as it regards to sexuality.

but then:

"His first book Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights was published in 2006. It is a mix of argument intertwined with pertinent biographical narratives. His second book, A Thousand Times More Fair: What Shakespeare's Plays Teach Us About Justice was published in 2011. In 2016, his book Speak Now: Marriage Equality on Trial was published and received the Stonewall Book Award's Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award.

Covering won the Randy Shilts Award for Gay Non-Fiction from Publishing Triangle in 2007. His major areas of interest include social dynamics, conformity and assimilation, as well as queer (LGBT) and personal liberty issues. He has been a co-plaintiff in cases related to his specialties."

how much y'all wanna bet the quote is from that Covering book, or from promotional interviews for it? which would be great context for the quote, and not just "a law professor from an Ivy league university".

- Chapter 5: Discovering the Inner Queer, The Threesome Handbook: A Practical Guide to Sleeping with Three (2007) by Victoria (Vicki) Vantoch

[impossiblebeardobservation]

14 Common Misconceptions About Menemukan Palang Pintu Kereta dan Kereta Api Vintage Cc201

™

It’s difficult to consider a sadder commentary about Hollywood’s sequel fetish as opposed to existence of Rush Hour 3. Dull, uninspired, and redundant, this 3rd pointless Film in an motion/comedy franchise that defines mediocrity doesn’t even seek to disguise the fact that its existence can be a money-seize. I wasn’t a supporter of either earlier Hurry Hour film, but neither felt as exhausted and compulsory as this just one. In addition to some amusing scenes with Chris Tucker and a nice dj vu dance routine to “War” done by Tucker and Jackie Chan, this Motion picture presents nothing at all that wasn’t finished far better in one other outings showcasing these mismatched buddy cops.

The wafer-thin plot has Chief Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) safeguarding a Chinese diplomat through his remain in L. a.. He has top rated-mystery specifics of the Triad crime syndicate but, before he can divulge it, He's shot. Lee, reunited along with his former spouse, Detective James Carter (Chris Tucker), vows to your consul’s daughter, Soo Yung (Zhang Jingchu), that he will discover The person who attacked her father. To accomplish this, Lee and Carter must go after Triad assassin Kenji (Hiroyuki Sanada) to Paris, exactly where These are aided by an anti-American cab driver named George (Yvan Attal), who discovers that he has a style for motor vehicle chases and gunplay.

As was real of Hurry Hour and Hurry Hour two, this movie brings together hit-and-skip comedy with lackluster action. The merakitmainan film doesn’t have Significantly of the pulse, and also the “enjoyment” arrives throughout as pallid in comparison to last week’s The Bourne Ultimatum (While no less than the digital camera isn’t troubled With all the shakes). This Motion picture is probably no additional amusing than its predecessors, although it’s difficult To make certain. Practically nothing in almost any in the Hurry Hour products has been roll-on-the-flooring humorous, and this 1 is not any unique. Particularly lame is really a riff on “Who’s on First” that proves the stars of this Film have nothing on Abbot and Costello. There’s also a parody of psychological times in buddy movies showcasing Elton John’s “Sorry Is apparently the Hardest Word.” Maybe that’s imagined to be an apology into the viewers by Brett Ratner. Also take into consideration a scene that includes a lot of raw sewage which will on some stage be considered a comment about in which the franchise is headed.

On of the numerous locations by which the Motion picture disappoints (Whilst, all points thought of, it isn’t unexpected), it’s in The shortage of physicality displayed by Jackie Chan. At age fifty three, he can now not carry out the sorts of stunts that manufactured him a world star. Putting everyday living and limb in danger in the road of responsibility are matters for younger Adult men. The majority of Chan’s most daring function is handed on to stunt-Adult males and you'll find hints of CGI (Despite the fact that never to The purpose where by it’s distracting). The tip-credit score outtakes, which are generally a horror display of Chan’s muffed stunts, are confined here to verbal bloopers, messed-up lines, and the occasional minimal pratfall. Chan’s gift for comedy appears as muted as his martial arts derring-do. At no time all through Hurry Hour 3 is he Specifically humorous. My assumption is that as Chan aged, he would gravitate far more towards comedy, but this isn’t a fantastic start off.

Chris Tucker picks up a pleasant paycheck but none of the slack. Even so, when it’s a extend to get in touch with him “likable,” a minimum of he’s not as irritating as he was in Rush Hour and Hurry Hour two. Both Chan and Tucker are outmaneuvered inside the comedy Office by Yvan Attal, whose character’s adore/detest partnership with American society contributes to a number of the movie’s wittiest (and I use that word loosely) scenes. Max von Sydow, in “hid poor dude” mode, is on hand to perform what he does most effective with that glorious bass voice. (Now that Bergman is officially in his grave, he can flip around.) And Roman Polanksi includes a cameo as a French policeman who anally rapes Lee and Carter. (Sure, you go through that accurately. A PG-thirteen movie capabilities anal rape – Though, obviously, it’s only implied and is particularly utilized to obtain a chuckle.) Why Polanski would agree to Perform this portion is anyone’s guess; it’s not the type of detail that may help his less-than-sterling reputation. I held looking ahead to Jean Reno to show up, since he constantly seems available in these English-Talking movies set in France.

Does Hurry Hour three deliver what audiences be expecting of it? Only its most devoted enthusiasts will say “Certainly.” The formulation is in position nevertheless the performers are experiencing the motions. It’s a stale version from the earlier videos, they usually weren’t all of that wonderful to start with. A person could argue that director Brett Ratner not less than invested Rush Hour with some Vitality. Even during the climactic struggle on the Eiffel Tower, there’s absolutely nothing resembling that in this article. That is just One more disposable summer months Film – so lackluster that it’s not even worth looking out when it performs on tv. The Rush Hour expertise, which hardly ever attained something resembling comprehensive speed, has come to a crashing halt.

[dr-passionate-production]

People are gathering to be anti-Kenji, join the anti-Kenji group

"Can I join?"

[ouranswer]

Hiroko, Natsu! The evil has been defeated!

“Not yet. He probably still has a bunch of girls who fawn over him, right? He’s tricking them too, fiance or not, since he has more than one. So we gotta weed that out.”

[codenamesazanka]

How is it that Spinner—

—Loyal, caring, tender, loving Spinner, so attentive and empathetic and ready to help shoulder the burdens of others - end up demonstrating/using/directing these qualities for complete Villains? For the League, the most dangerous and deadly terrorist group in HeroAca Japan, full of people who holds very callous attitudes towards mass murder? These guys, of all people, he finds worthy of his love.

(Don’t get me wrong, I love the League.) What I’m trying to say is, I think Spinner is a genuinely kind person, all things considered.

Spinner is determined, he’s willing to work hard, and he’s quite observant and sharp. In another life, he very well could’ve gone down any of the different paths to succeed in HeroAca society. Had things been different.

Had the environment he grew up in been supportive and safe. Had his community not tormented him, had people been not even just kinder, but simply decent.

Had he not feel he needed to retreat from the world as a hikikomori.

What I’m trying to say is, if he had wanted to, Spinner could’ve be a Hero even. That someone has earnest as he couldn’t - and instead was let down, slipping from the grasp of the teachers, the adults, the guardians who were supposed to catch him - is a tragedy.

One might point out that some people are just bad eggs; they were born rotten,

I don’t agree; I don’t believe that sort of determinism - or any kind of determinism - to be true. And in this case, Spinner truly isn’t someone like that. He has principles he sticks with, he wished for a better, more just world, and he is kind.

Yes, no one forced him to join the League, and the path of death and destruction he’s on is the choice he made. For that, it stains him and he bears individual responsibility, most definitively.

But I think it’s undeniable that the environment played a large part in turning him into the type of person who would make a choice like that - a world where remnants of anti-mutant movements still exist, something that at best means very discriminatory attitudes...

...And at worse violence.

It’s a world where people can so casually, dehumanizingly call him (and other people with mutant-type quirks) ‘lizard’. It’s not just Spinner who’s suffered experiences like these: Shoji Mezo, UA Hero student, comes from a hometown with similar prejudices and hides his face to avoid scaring people; Tsuragamae Kenji, the fucking chief of police, gets insulted right in his face.

And so the discrimination, the psychology toll of that, the dwindling possibilities available to people like Spinner-- theses issues are also systemic, woven into the structure of HeroAca Japan, and from that arises Villains.

*

But just now I mentioned Shoji, didn’t I?

Just now I pointed out someone who went through similar things and didn’t turn into a mass murderer. Shoji got into UA, best Hero School in the country, he’s a great guy, a nice boy, he overcame these things—

Why had he needed to *overcome* obstacles like that in the first place? Why do these ‘similar things’, these failings exist in the first place? They shouldn’t. They mustn’t in a proper society. No one (’born twisted’ or not) should come into existence with dangers like these hanging over them.

But that’s impossible. That’s how life can be, sometimes. Try as we all might, we can’t prevent all these little things. You can’t save everyone.

Then what exactly are Heroes for? In the society of the HeroAca world, saturated with them, who claim they try to save as many individuals as they can, who promise the people they’ll be there, who took on these obligations when they threw the cape over their shoulders and named themselves after the warriors of divine blood in Greek legends, representing the original meaning of the word ἥρως: hērōs - defender, protector. And they furthermore say, push the limits, go beyond! Anyone can try!

Plus Ultra.

I’m being a bit unreasonable here, true. It’s not fair to the Heroes to expect so much, to make this huge problem a fault of an individual pro-Hero, even if they had agreed to this duty. It’s too immense a task.

But neither was it fair to Spinner that he had to live with the hard, grinding, heavy weight of the failings of Hero society his whole life.

*

Anyways, I think this is why heroes, whenever any opportunity shows up, should reach out their hands to help even the people who don’t ‘deserve’ it.

[theriverdalereviewer]

I think I’ve got it covered except that it’s annoying that you can’t add all eps at once using this method but whatever. And yeah a list of the eps would be helpful bc the wikia isn’t exactly the most comprehensive

Omg so happy it all worked out for you anon!!! It took me and my sister a good couple hours to figure it out. And yeah the process of adding episodes can be so tedious but its worth it if youre a big fan!! And yeah anon I’ll make a list for you rn

Now you may or may not know but SHS is broken down in 5 eras so I’ll sort the episodes by era. Here’s the full list and just so you know its very long 😭 also here is the link to the walkthrough so that you don’t have to fail the episodes and play them a second time: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/iphone/979746-surviving-high-school/faqs/58319

Football Star

Football Star

Football: Big Man on Campus

Football: Halloween

Football: Valentine’s Carnival

Football King of Spring Break

The Classics

A Summer Fling

Making Some Dough

A Float Is Born

Assembling The Team

The Great Float Caper

Break A Leg

The Outcast

Surviving Europe

From Europe With Love

Skate Video

The Concert

Wrong Side of Town

Best Party Ever (episode version)

Local Ghosts

Spud the Stud

Lost Recipe

Secret Ingredient

Halloween

Writer’s Block

Flex Games

Party Fowl

Road Rules

Winter Queen

Quest Rewards

The Holiday Party

Tom Prince’s Carol

New Year’s Kiss

Prank Wars

Bootcamp Breakout

Guys Versus Wild

Proof

The Crosstown Races, Part 1

The Crosstown Races, Part 2

The Break Up

Andy Canneloni, P.I.

Fair Catch

The Cheer-Lationship

The Prince Plot, Part 1

The Prince Plot, Part 2

Prom Night

The Graduation List

When Howard Met...

Homecoming Queen (optional episode)

Hector’s Guide to Girls (optional episode)

Love Potion Fun Pack (optional episode)

The New Girl (BEST ERA HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU SKIP TO THIS ONE 🚨)

The New Girl: Cheerleading Crush

Best Party Ever (mega pack version)

Spirit Week

Love and War

Green with Kenji

Foreign Exchange

Dance Dance Revelation

Party Crashers

Sam’s Formation, Part 1

Sam’s Formation, Part 2

Surviving Pet Society

Halloween: In Colt Blood

The Quiz-aster

Twinstigators

Long Distance Relation-trip

Pranksgiving (option episode)

Denni and Raven’s Thanksgiving

The Truth About Colt, Part 1

The Truth About Colt, Part 2

A Very Tom Prince Holiday

Holiday Cheer (optional episode)

Bringing Home Christmas

New Year’s Date

School Ski Trip

The Reluctant Matchmaker

How to Fight Nerdy

The Kim-provised First Date

Valentine’s Date

Queen of Hearts

Basketball Woes

Spring Breakup

Wilson High’s Demise

The New Regime

Officer Monte’s Ridealong

Trapped in the Classroom

School Rebellion

Good Chemistry

Anger Management

Sink or Swim

Tough Guy on Campus

Justin for President

Return of the Astrid

Erik’s Date

Breaking News

Broken Promises, Part 1

Broken Promises, Part 2

Spike Must Graduate

Howard’s Summer Bummer

Fourth of July Flashback (optional episode)

Freedom Festival

Girl’s Night In

Camping Trip Visions

French Connection, Paris, Part 1

French Kiss, Paris, Part 2

French Finale, Paris, Part 3

A College Date

Hector vs. Hector

Gossip Files (optional episode)

Back to School

Homecoming Princesses

Ben’s Blowup

Big Shoes to Phil

Homecoming Short Stories (I think the file is just called Sam or Zoe or Taylor or something doesn’t matter which one you choose)

Homecoming: The Game

Homecoming: The Dance

Nerd No More

Halloween: The Second Kiss, Part 1

Halloween: The Second Kiss, Part 2

What Happened to Colt, Part 1 (optional; part 2 is a Cause of Death episode the episode is on YouTube!)

Cheerevolution, Part 1

Cheerevolution, Part 2

Double Date

Thanksgiving Surprise

Taylor the Nerd

Secret Santa, Part 1

Secret Santa Part 2

Holiday Short Stories (optional episode)

Christmas Break

Christmas Exchange

New Year’s Parties

Holiday Tales (optional; these are five separate short stories and the file names are like Dr. Pepper or something idk why)

This Is Spartan

Clash of the Immortals

Valentine’s Dilemma

A Spartan Love Story, Part 1

A Spartan Love Story, Part 2

Amanda’s Valentine’s Day (optional episode)

300s A Crowd

The Contestants

The Spartan Games, Part 1

The Spartan Games, Part 2

The Spartan Games, Part 3

Eyes on the Prize

Faceplace Zero

Real Life Hero

April fools (optional episode)

Photo Op

The Candidates

The Endorsement

The Last Straw

The Campaign Trail

Sara the TV Star

Ballot Breakup

Nice Girl Unleashed

Father’s Day (optional episode)

The New Head Cheerleader

Date Auction

Howard’s Last Day

Wilson Strikes Back

Swim Team Trip

The Island Party

Howard’s College Tour

A Kingston King

The Storm, Part 1

The Storm, Part 2

Getting Over Howard

Surviving High School, The Novel Prelude (optional)

The Super New Girl (optional)

The Super New Girl: The Floating Isle (optional)

The Super New Girl: The Sinking Schools (optional)

The Super New Girl: Return of the Dyre (optional)

A New Start (fyi in between this era and the New Girl, the SHS novel was released so there might be some confusion about certain changes. also somewhere in between episode 36 and 40 of this era, the second SHS novel came out)

A New Start Season 1 (all 5 of the episodes are contained in this one pack)

Novel Bonus Chapter (optional)

Howard’s Return

Swim Team Retreat, Part 1

Swim Team Retreat, Part 2

Howard’s Secret

Psych Project, Subject: Owen

Psych Project, Subject: Paige

The Halloween Dance, Part 1

The Halloween Dance, Part 2

Basketball Tryouts

The Dance Dilemma, Part 1

The Dance Dilemma, Part 2

Paige’s Thanksgiving Party

The Snow Ball, Part 1

The Snow Ball, Part 2

A Fallon Family Christmas

Howard’s Holiday/Paige’s Nightmare After Christmas

Full Court Pressure

Showcase Sabotage, Part 1

Showcase Sabotage, Part 2

Girl Trouble

Paige and Owen’s Valentine’s Outing

Anti-Valentine’s Day

The Art Showcase

Sectionals

The Conned Artist, Part 1

The Conned Artist, Part 2

The Play

Casting Call

Paige Against the Machine

The Show Must Go On

Owen’s Eleven

Perfect Paige

The Debutante Dance, Part 1

The Debutante Dance, Part 2

Ready, S.E.T., Go

Cheer Off

This Friday Night

The Newest Cheerleader

Talent Search

Talent Show

Graduation Stories

Summer Beginnings

Admit Weekend

Sorority Showdown

Rehearsal Dinner

Wedding Smashers

College Stories

Game of Cones

A Clash of Queens

Romeo & Juliet (optional)

Magic School Book 1 (optional)

Magic School Book 2 (optional)

Magic School Book 3 (optional)

OMG St. Patrick’s Day (optional)

Troublemakers

Troublemakers

Dog Days

The Fashionista

Spencer’s Story

The Breakup

The Pumpkin Farmer’s Daughter

The Float

The Unusual Suspects

College Scavenger Hunt

The Tutors

Homecoming Kiss

A Troublemakers’ Thanksgiving

Nate’s Revenge

Getaway

Christmas Stories

The Date

Pyramid Scheme

The Secret Life of Owen Harris

Exposed

Spencer Betrayed

The Winter Dance

Heart to Hart

Hart Attack

The Kimi Dates

Just the Four of Us

Kimi Strikes Back

Prom

Series Finale

Magic School Homecoming (optional)

Battle of the Schools Guy (optional)

Battle of the Schools Girl (optional)

Sierra’s Challenge (optional)

Lauren’s Story (optional)

Peter’s Challenge (optional)

[theikoshq-archive]

LUPERCALIA.

the exact origins of this pagan festival are uncertain, but it was thought that in ancient times LUPERCALIA took place to honor the she-wolf who raised romulus and remus, the founder of rome, and please the roman fertility god LUPERCUS

while traditionally held from february 13th to 15th, it is not to be confused with the later christian tradition celebrating saint valentine — it was not a celebration of pure and courtly love, but instead an intense, sexually-charged, and even perhaps bloody one filled with animal sacrifice and naked ritual

most notable to the festival was the random matchmaking ; during lupercalia, it is said that the men randomly chose a woman’s name from a jar to be coupled with them for the duration of the festival in the hopes of warding off evil spirits and infertility

NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 2021.

this would, in all likelihood, not be something in your mind in the modern day. a celebration that died out ages ago, lupercalia hardly finds a place in the memory of any contemporary new yorker. 

however — that doesn’t stop a beautifully sealed red envelope from showing up on your doorstep, delicate filigree addressed to you specifically and bearing a striking resemblance to an invite long since pushed into the back of your mind

and you think back to the gala, that hedonistic mischief filled night, and the mysterious benefactors behind it. it was well done, lavish and over the top, and idly you recall being asked if you’d be interested in any future events. it hadn’t seemed like a big deal at the time, because it was an exciting evening and what's the harm, who wouldn’t want another night of magic, it wasn’t like you had to foot any bill — so you’d agreed, put down your name without much thought, and moved on with your life. it wasn’t until now, months later, you feel a spark of recognition 

the origins of the sender are not any more clear than they were the first time around ; the invite claims you’re paired to go on some sort of quasi-date with another member, claims it’s so everyone who said they were interested in more events can get to know each other in a more intimate setting than the gala, but otherwise is void of much more explanation. a little off-putting maybe, but the reality of it stares up at you from a perfumed piece of parchment — you’ve already been matched. what are you supposed to do now, be the asshole that stands them up ?

OOC.

the event will take place IC at any time between FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12TH, and SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 14TH — though, your muses will have received the notice in the mail sometime before this, as well as the contact information for their partners

OOC, the event will start on SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13TH. we’ll give you until the following TUESDAY to plot, plan, and start threads with your writing partners, but we’d like for your starters to be posted by then ! feel free to take as long as you need with the actual completion of the threads, though ! 

we’ve chosen an event of this kind to promote our anti-bubble rping stance. we want to create and uphold an environment where everyone plots with as many people as possible, that’s why we think randomly paired events like this could have a positive influence on the climate we have here 

on another note, especially if your character is in a relationship or aromantic / asexual, there is absolutely no obligation to make the thread romantic in nature. although valentine’s day and lupercalia definitely were, we’re not forcing you to have threads that are similar in nature when you’re not comfortable with such things for whatever reason. the pairings and locations are meant to work more as a framework or jumping point — feel free to make it as platonic, or even antagonistic, as you want, have your pair ditch the location they’re at completely midway through, etc. make the thread your own !

finally, please post any event content under #theikosevent002, including showing off any outfits if you so wish, and any event starters under #theikoseventstarter !

PAIRINGS + LOCATIONS.

minni / helena + new york science centre

parker / shepherd + tour at the museum of modern art

miranda / lucie + area 53 laser tag

percy / yujin + chambers pottery

alex / prim + 5 bar karaoke lounge

rosalie / omar + salsa classes at baila society

harley / devon + tour at the red hook winery

henry / amelie +  indoor picnic at the botanical gardens

taeil / kenji + central park zoo

ash / jane + fine dining at coeurs affamés

cass / damien +  cozymeal cooking classes

phineas / levi + frames bowling lounge

poppy / chris + hayden planetarium

zelda / stella + go karting at naskart

alice / mackenzie + new york aquarium

mingyu / zak + ice skating at rockefeller centre

willow / forest + pier 25 mini golf

hadrian / hana + board games night at winners corner

katherine / hajun + escape the room nyc

hunter / felipe + two-bit’s retro arcade

astar / azim + murder mystery at the metropolitan museum of art

mei / ara + rock climbing at the central rock gym

[thomasmartelpublication]

Japanese Postwar Period Drama As a  Modern Metaphor

Japanese Postwar Period Drama As a  Modern Metaphor

Japanese Postwar Period Drama As a Modern Metaphor By Thomas Martel

With globalization cinema as a whole is becoming an art form without country, without borders and even without a definitive national language. An idea that buds in one country’s cinema may blossom in another. Cinema and the ideas that go along with it travel back and forth across oceans and continents. Japan imported it’s first Edison Kinetoscopes in 1896, and Japanese filmmakers immediately utilized cinema to engage the masses at home and abroad. My inquiry is to examine how post-war Japanese cinema took on the role of fictional historical narratives to interact with the psyche of the postwar Japanese nation. In many ways, all films made in Japan since the end of World War II can be considered post-war cinema, because of the way in which that war affected the country, and because of the way of cinema always reflects society. Japanese directors chose to represent the war, its aftermath, and apprehension about the future of the nation as a whole through the medium of chinema, and more specifically, through fictional historical narrative, or jidaigeki.

Jidaigeki, meaning “period drama”, is a term applies to fictional narrative films set before the industrialization and modernization of Japan; typically before or during the Meiji Restoration of 1868 when the Emperor Meiji reclaimed political power from the Tokugawa Shogunate. The Japanese are a very historically conscious people, and often draw on history for examples relevant to current events. Japanese film is no exception, and jidaigeki are full of metaphors for the present day. As American coauthors George Lakoff and Mark Johnson state, “We draw references, set goals, make commitments, and execute plans all on the basis of how we in part structure our experience, consciously and unconsciously, by means of metaphor”.

Indeed, it is through the use of metaphor that Japanese cinema uses characters, dialogue, and imagery to depict modern international relations and concerns, as well as specific fundamental elements of Japanese society, such as ie, or “household;”which was put under significant stress during and after the war. Due to the popularity of the genre, there were, of course, many jidaigeki produced during the Second World War. Take, for example, Kenji Mizoguchi’s 1941 film Genroku Chushingura, an oft- told story of forty-seven loyal samurai who avenge their innocent master’s execution and then proceed to dutifully follow him into death through disembowelment. There have been hundreds of film adaptations of the story, but this is perhaps the only one financed by The Ministry of Information while under military rule to boost morale. Even stylistically it is clear; the soundtrack consists of bugles, trumpets, and deep, plodding drum beats. Unlike many other adaptations, this one doesn’t show any blood, despite the gory nature of the story. The forty seven ronin are heroic, yes, but equally as

heroically depicted are their wives, who, with great strength and resilience remain true to their doomed husbands, not unlike the wives and families of soldier sent to war to die.

Akira Kurosawa’s 1945 film The Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail is also a retelling of a classic history-based story. The viewer follows a young war hero, Yoshitsune, in disguise and on the run with a small band of loyal followers after being betrayed by his own brother- the military dictator of Japan. Because the story was so well known and respected, perhaps it was not viewed as the protest film that it actually was, further, the film was banned by the American Occupation supposedly for promoting feudal values, although the ban may have been in response to the film’s persuasive power. After WWII, jidaigeki re-emerged to perform new metaphorical functions.

Because the real and fictionalized events of jidaigeki are supposedly removed from the events of modern-day they serve as ideal, safe metaphors for a people in need of a means of discussing their present concerns- the disastrous results of imperialism and militarism, both Japanese and Western. Popular cinema was the ideal tool for these demilitarizing metaphors, and that is exactly where they were reinvested. As Japanese- American scholar Marie Thorsten Morimoto has suggested,“a nation’s metaphors converse with its politics. Hence, with the dismantling of the Japanese Empire at the close of the Second World War, the images which shaped the... state also, in a sense, became ‘demilitarized.’ Like the guns and missiles they supported, war metaphors were ‘left over,’ waiting to be reinvested into peacetime Japan.” (Morimoto, 11).

Typically in jidaigeki, samurai cast as the main role in Japanese cinema had represented the Japanese masculine ideal: strong, courageous, courteous and polite, and chaste. However, after the war this masculine machismo was seen as somewhat fascist, and the heroes onscreen changed into imperfect, often lost or wandering swords in a tumultuous, war savaged country. Alternatively, they are disenfranchised warriors in time of peace that has no need for bushido and the real lords are mob bosses and gamblers who dominate the fictional-historical and post-war Japanese and international society.

The 1966 film Dai-bosatsu toge, or “The Pass of the Boddhisattva” by director Kihachi Okamoto is a good example of cinema filled with metaphors. The story follows a young and sword-skilled samurai named Ryunosuke, who, while initially abiding by the samurai code, bushido, more or less embodies opposite. He is quite, contemplative, but also cold and merciless. His peers respect his finesse with the sword, but he is at times seen him as brutal and without remorse. He is constantly challenged by “good-hearted” samurai, and is left with no option but to cut them down one by one. Ryunosuke seems unbeatable. He is an intriguing model for postwar Japan; a nation grasping to traditional ideals all the while reevaluating them as brutal and cold, particularly after the atrocities committed during the Pacific expansion and conquest of China, of which to this day there remains a strong denial. Controversially, events such as the “Nanjing

Massacre” are not even included in Japanese textbooks. Therefore, the only way to speak about these events is through metaphor and cinema.

Ryunoske’s world is thrown upside-down when for the first time in his life, he meets as a sword of comparable ability. Ryunosuke and Shimada play opposites, with an ever growing tension between the two. Despite this, they always remain civil, bound by societal form. These characters represent conflicted and confused views of Japan’s supposedly noble warrior class. Could they be cold, brutal, sociopathic murderers or indeed, honest and humble protectors?

In the end, all of Ryunoske’s brutal acts, such as mercy-killing an old man he heard begging for death, killing an opponent out of self- defense in a tournament, cutting down his wife after she threatens to kill their baby, and other seemingly justifiable acts (just as the atrocities of WWII may have seemed justifiable) drive the anti hero mad with guilt at realization of the impossibility of his circumstances. The film concludes with Ryunosuke drunkenly and madly cutting his way through a burning mansion- an apt metaphor for the state that Japan was left in at the end of the war. He is injured, bleeding, and surrounded by enemies, but he refuses to lay down his sword. It is never revealed if he escapes or is killed, and this represented the uncertainty of Japan’s future that was prevalent in post-war Japan.

Japan had long considered itself the most virile, strongest and superior race in Asia, but defeat by a western power certainly posed a new threat to this nationalistic ideal. In this way Japan’s metaphors became increasingly trans- sexual; submissive to western “barbarians”, yet clinging to the position of an aggressive power in Asia. This persistent attitude became even more apparent during post-war cinema. Feminine characters (who represent Japan as a nation victimized by western powers) are starkly contrasted with brutish, old- fashioned, almost comical masculine characters, as is aptly illustrated in Masaki Kobayashi’s 1962 film Seppuku.

Seppuku tells the story of a young samurai named Chijiiwa who is fonder of the brush than the sword. When Chijiiwa’s father is forced by the Shoguante to commit seppuku, or ritual disembowelment, he goes to live with a family friend in poverty. He is forced to sell his sword, then, when his infant son becomes sick, Chijiiwa goes to a neighboring powerful household to beg for alms by means of threatening suicide, and he is then forced to slowly and painfully kill himself with a bamboo sword. The young and un-warrior like samurai’s body is then dumped off at the house unceremoniously . The rest of the film tells the story of how the family friend, a dangerous and impoverished ronin named Hanshiro, exacts and bring calamity to the household at fault for the destruction of the young and innocent family. Hanshiro arrives at the clan’s gate, threatening, like, Chijiiwa, to commit seppuku. He is admitted, but each of the clan’s assistants that he calls upon to act as a second happen to be home sick that day. Then, when he is about to be killed, he throws on the ground the topknots of each of the

supposedly honorable warriors responsible for Chijiiwa’s death, revealing their hypocrisy and sadistic nature. In the end, Hanshiro is unable to be killed by any of the clan’s warriors, so instead his is gunned down while carrying on his shoulders the clan’s ancestral armor. The empty suit of armor represents the vapidity and non-existence of the so-called bushido that was essentially reanimated for political use during the Second World War. Meanwhile, the dying Hanshiro represents a more realistic view of the nation’s recent past; that of a bleeding population struggling to maintain a dead ideal in the face of vain leaders. Moreover, Hanshiro’s death by a superior technology shows the viewer that modernity leaves little room for tradition.

A film that skillfully represents post-war Japan on an international stage through period drama is Akira Kurosawa’s 1961 film Yojimbo. A “yojimbo” is the old Japanese term for a “sword for hire,” essentially, a masterless samurai willing to sell his skills as a swordsman for assassination, dispute settlement, or protection. The main character of the film is just that, a lone swordsman walking down a dusty path without a name or direction. Like Japan, all he has left is his wit, and a remnant of whatever life he once led- his sword. Unlike the heroes of old Japanese cinema, he is carefree, blown about by the the winds of chance. He is lax, even comical at times. Not only this, but his name is never even revealed to the audience. He is not a famous or noteworthy hero; he represents any man, or every man.

Yojimbo is set in the 1860’s; a time when the warrior caste had essentially collapsed in favor of capitalism. Warlords no longer sought to hire famous or skilled swordsmen, they were too concerned with their own political preservation to even arm themselves to any great extant with modern weaponry. The protagonist wanders into a provincial town that is caught in a war between two rival factions. The yojimbo finds his skills as a swordsman lucrative, but his wit perhaps even more lucrative, as he plays to both factions of the town. He is a gruff, masculine samurai more than proficient with his sword, but he is also very cunning, and uses his wits to dupe the whole town, all the while making himself all the richer. This representation is relevant to post-war Japan primarily as a way of representing the disarmament of military super-power Japan and the transition into the scientific- economic superpower that it has become. “The transition was also one from a society threatened by the scarcity of food, where physical resources translated into physical strength, to a society hungry for knowledge, where young people began competing with their wits in a new game of “human capitalism” (Morimoto 21). Morimoto’s point is true, and can be seen in the rigorous preparation and competition between high school students applying for University. As such, this transition may be seen as beneficial but it also conveys the widespread feelings of nostalgia that the Japanese people felt during the difficult times immediately following the end of the war. Japan, and all of it history and traditions would be sold on the global market.

Besides serving as a metaphor for Japan’s transition from a militaristic

nation to an economically driven nation, Yojimbo illustrates Japan’s position in the Cold War as tension between the United States and the Soviet Union escalated. The village in which the entire film takes place can be seen as a miniaturized version of the world- in a transition phase, shrinking with huge gains being made in communication and transportation, but also dominated by two opposing forces. In the context of the film, these forces are rivaling factions, but in actuality the were the America/ NATO and the U.S.S.R./ Warsaw Pact. Much like Japan during the cold war, the unnamed yojimbo is often both detached and heavily involved in the “mutual assured destruction” of the town. He is ambivalent, an outsider, and the combined forces of the town are far more numerous and powerful than him and yet they both seeks his aid. Fitting with previous descriptions on how Japan views itself, “dominant themes in Japanese cultural self-representations have long been those of uniqueness, isolation, and victimization- hence, of a lone nation struggling against all odds” (Morimoto 22). In the end, the protagonist has prospered even more than either of the two factions, whose battle for dominance has ended in a clash leaving the town a quieter place than before. The “hero” of the film has saved a family, perhaps representative of the Japanese family as a whole, while dogs wander the streets feasting upon the remains of those less fortunate.

There are many more jidaigeki films with equally potent metaphors. Because of the context of film and viewership, we must be careful not to confuse metaphors or imagine them where they do not exist. However, metaphors are a powerful tool in the hands of Japanese filmmakers, and their many uses and examples should not go unnoticed.

Dissanayake, Wimal.1994. Colonialism and Nationalism in Asian Cinema. Indiana: Idianana University Press. Morimoto, Marie Thorsten. 1994. The ‘Peace Dividend’ in Japanese Cinema, Metaphors of a Demilitarized Nation. Indiana: Indiana University Press. Mellen, Joan. 1976. The Waves at Genji’s Door: Japan Through it’s Cinema. New York: Pantheon Books.

Said, Edward W. 1985. Orientalism Reconsidered. New York: Vintage Books. Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson. Metaphors We Live by. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1980. Print.

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

Punisher 2099 #1 Thoughts

This issue far and away blows every other one in this event thus far out of the water!Remember when I criticized the rebooting of the 2099 line on principle.

Remember how I said it was asinine to redo the 2099 line with a 2019 lens of the future?

Well I’ll have to admit to being somewhat wrong about that.

Its still insulting and dumb to reboot the line. And there is still precious little about 2019’s vision of the future that’d be all that different to 1992’s. Or at least if you were trying to still be similar to the latter’s vision.

Buuuuuuuut…whilst those things are still broadly dumb this issue makes excellent use of them. And does so in a way that almost  justifies this direct.

  Lonnie Nadler & Zac Thompson (who I’ve never heard of before this issue) have truly EMBRACED the sci-fi nature of this event and the mission statement of it to reboot and update this vision of the future.

  In this issue they present not just a new spin on Punisher 2099, but a wholesale new spin on the Punisher, at least from my own limited experience with the character.

  The original Punisher 2099 (Jake Gallows) is an important part of this story, but he is not the main character, rather that’s new character Hector Tago.

  At first glance you might think that we’re in a similar situation to F4 2099 wherein the title character is in fact not the main character, but thats not the case here.

  Hector IS the Punisher of this title.

  This is something of a mixed bag, especially if you liked the original Punisher 2099.

  On principle you aren’t going to like such a change, let alone rebooting Jake’s characterization. In all honesty at face value the story could’ve worked just as effectively had Jake been the lead character and someone else (Hector or another original character) filled his role  in the narrative. That also would’ve cut closer to the original character.

  On the other hand though...how many people honestly even liked the original Punisher 2099?

  Seriously, I’ve read it and seen multiple reviews of it and it comes up as unimpressive. It was really just ANOTHER Punisher book amidst the sea of them in the 1990s. What made things worse is that Jake Gallows wasn’t all that distinctive from Frank Castle. Whilst Miguel O’Hara zigged where Peter Parker zagged, Jake Gallows functionally simply wore a different outfit with more high tech equipment and had baseball bat.

  When you look at a lot of the best 2099 reinventions of classic characters they always take something intrinsic to the character’s power set, costume and name and take it in a different direction. Case in point, Cap 2099 does from a free single white male into a sort of enslaved married Hispanic female (who’s RIPPED). Black Widow 2099 is literally a black woman who eats her lovers post-coital. In fact a fair few of the 2099 reinventions of characters operated by taking characters’ names and powers more literally.

  Punisher 2099 wasn’t initially approached that way. But Hector Tago, the NEW Punisher 2099 absolutely was.

  A major theme of this story, perhaps THE major theme, is punishment.

Jake Gallows in his mind is punishing the Thorites for his family’s deaths.

Davis Dunn is punished for crimes he didn’t commit.

Everyone punishes each other via a form of social media (we’ll get back to that), Kenji Wallace being the most obvious example.

And Hector punishes Gallows, but more importantly he punishes HIMSELF!

He views being the punisher as a form of atonement for the sins he committed as part of the authorities, and he is seemingly committed now to fighting the system.

This is almost the polar opposite of Frank Castle isn’t it?

Frank was a man who believed in the system, but felt it wasn’t harsh enough. His objections to it were not so much that it hurt citizens but rather that it didn’t go far enough in protecting them by curtailing criminal elements. Thus when those criminal elements took his family away from him, he resolved to punish them and by extension ALL criminals.

The fact that Hector is in most respects on the opposite end of the spectrum from Frank makes the Gallows in truth all to perfect an antagonist. Due to being so similar to the original Punisher, Gallows on a meta level represents the typical depiction of the Punisher and thus through on the page contrast with Hector more clearly emphasises where Hector zigs where Frank/Jake zagged.

The one thing Hector and Frank do share though is their absolute commitment to their respective missions. For both men, becoming the Punisher was a rebirth and they lived for their missions. One of the best scenes of the comic is when Hector metaphorically burns his old life down. He���s not Hector anymore. He is simply the Punisher!

I pray for the original 2099 line to be restored but if there was some way to fold Hector back into it, that’d be just perfect!

The ONLY thing that doesn’t really work with his character is the fact that there was zero justification for him to adorn himself in the skull outfit. It kind of came out of nowhere and he does it simply because it’s a Punisher book and that’s just expected.

There are other great aspects to the book too.

As I said up top, the title embraces the sci-fi nature of the event and the mission statement of re-evaluating the 2099 from a 2019 perspective vs. a 1992 perspective.

Whilst that’s mostly pointless this book makes it work by zeroing in on several elements that were either not around in 1992 or at least not as talked about:

·       The prevalence of surveillance technology, including facial recognition technology (speculative science fiction in 1992, actual science reality in 2019). This was achieved through the IRIS drones among other security cameras

·       Deep fake technology (see above). This was conveyed through the alterations of the IRIS’s allegedly objective recordings. Its particularly dangerous as its used as propaganda by the authorities.

·       Police corruption and brutality, especially towards marginalized groups (definitely a thing in 1992, but the current zeitgeist in the 2010s is distinctly anti-cop). Literally everything the Public Eye do (especially regarding the Thorites), they reminded me of the Street Judges from Judge Dredd. I might be somewhat misreading the metaphor though because the Thorites aren’t exactly innocent, but one shouldn’t judge them as a monolith I suppose.

·       Greater exposure of homosexual people, trans people and social activists (again a thing in 1992, but very much not as talked about as it is now). Wallace’s character. The comic book presents him as a man in a same sex relationship and it’s no big deal. He then transformed for lack of a better word into a robot, a robot who literally preaches to the crowds about the ills of society. He’s wiped out by the police. What’s most interesting is that not only is being in a gay relationship no big deal but Wallace’s transformation was motivated BY wanting to reconcile with his lover.  

·       Social media and how it’s empowered the court of public opinion. Everyone gets rated by everyone else on social media and you can find yourself essentially exiled as a result.

·       Arguably dangerous prescription drugs, though I don’t know enough about that to really touch the topic.

·       Artificial intelligence, though this is very lightly part of the story, more a background fact rather than something really explored

·       The erosion of objectivity in favour of efficiency

For starters, whilst the text boxes doling out exposition about how technology and prison system work were interesting...maybe show instead of tell? This is a visual medium, showing is actually a lot easier than telling us.·       The Conan 2099 comic had a warning about mature content even though that amounted to Conan cutting some people up. Maybe that does warrant a mature content warning, but you know if so then maybe this comic with it’s literal tree made from corpses should get one too? Just be consistent is all.

One more sort of positive I’ve going to give out, this was the first issue that made the Alpha story seem relevant.

In the Alpha story you SEE stuff that either sets up directly events for this comic or thematically sets it up by establishing the Public Eye’s conflicts with the Thorites. The only downside is that the tease for Jake Gallows, in particular him being Punisher 2099, was false advertising.

Also, if this story was deliberately written with the intention of subverting your expectations by making Hector the Punisher instead then it failed. Because it was obvious from the moment Hector became the character we were following.

Over all I’d HIGHLY recommend checking this book out. Small problems aside it slapped hard!

[littlemisswolfie]

So

It’s late and I’m tired and frustrated and I may end up regretting this, but that’s a problem for future me, not present me.

Underneath the read more, I’m going to post a research paper, complete with scholarly, peer-reviewed secondary sources as well as primary sources, I wrote a few months ago for my rhetoric class. It’ll be posted as a regular text post since I can’t figure out how to attach a PDF to a post like this, but if I figure it out, I’ll change it to the PDF instead. I researched, originally, the broad issue of asexuality, but I found during my research that I could write something else much easier: why straight and gay people seem so distrustful of ace people.

If you’re already angry, my anon is on. Fight me. I’m not sorry I did this research, and I’m not sorry I shared this with a predominantly straight class. I can only hope it helps open dialogues and help ace kids coming to this site know it’s not their fault people are nasty to them.

Raeanne Horton

Professor Garbelotto

Rhetoric 105

29 November 2016

Discrimination Against the Asexual Community

When most people hear the word “asexual,” they probably usually think of plants or cells that reproduce asexually, or without a partner. What many people are not aware of, by no fault of their own, is that asexuality can also apply to human beings. According to the Asexual Visibility and Education Network, an asexual is a person who does not experience sexual attraction. It is, unlike celibacy, not a choice, and one percent of the U.S. and U.K. population identify as asexual (MacNeela et al. 799; Cerankowski and Milks 653). Why, then, do so few people know that asexuality exists? The most likely cause seems to be discrimination by the monosexual community, gay and straight alike, and especially online, where the asexual community is the most visible.

To truly understand discrimination against a group of people, one must first know what makes this group of people distinct from the rest of the world. Sex is a huge part of our day to day lives; it is inescapable. Companies use sex to sell everything from cars to hamburgers. In a society constantly bombarded by images of sex, where does a person who is not excited by it fit? Due to the lack of representation, many people spend years of their life not realizing asexuality is a valid sexuality. Many self-identifying asexuals report feeling like they were broken or strange before finding there was a name for what they felt. Asexuality has also been found in various other species of animals in the wilderness, as shown by Bogaert’s Asexuality: What It Is and Why It Matters: “Within sexually reproducing species, such as mammals, there is often evidence that a percentage of animals have no interest in, or attraction to, potential sexual partners and are thus construable as asexual” (363). This shows that asexuality is perfectly normal. If it can be found in several different species, it becomes harder to refute as a hormone imbalance or as a disease, as some common arguments against asexuality suggest. To back this argument up is Hinderliter’s article How is asexuality different from hypoactive sexual desire disorder? Hypoactive sexual desire disorder, or HSDD, is defined as persistently or recurrently deficient (or absent) sexual fantasies and desire for sexual activity. Hinderliter says, “One of the most important differences between asexuality and HSDD is their valuation of lack of sexual interest/attraction. HSDD regards lack of sexual interest as negative, whereas asexualty value’s lack of sexual attraction as neutral or positive” (173).

Another aspect of attraction, asexual or otherwise, that many people tend to overlook, is that there are several different kinds of attraction. The most common type of attraction is sexual attraction, which describes what genders an individual is attracted to on a sexual level. Romantic attraction describes what genders an individual is attracted to in regards to romance (dating, holding hands, kissing, partnership, etc.). Sensual attraction describes wanting to be touched (not necessarily in a sexual way) by a person. Aesthetic attraction describes thinking a person is attractive without any desire for a relationship. Most people’s sexual and romantic attractions are the same (eg. a heterosexual man is usually heteroromantic as well), but with asexuals, the line gets a little blurred. Asexuals and aromantics are very adamant about distinguishing themselves from each other, suggesting that many asexuals have romantic attractions and aromantics have sexual attractions. This does not, by any means, mean the two are mutually exclusive; there are several aromantic asexuals that are proud of their orientations.

Yet another misconception about axexuals is that they do not have sex. Asexuality is defined as the lack of sexual attraction; it does not, anywhere, mention a lack of sex drive or desire to have sex. There are many asexual individuals that enjoy having sex or have high libidos. Others are very much disenchanted with the idea and want no sort of sexual contact. Asexuality is also on a spectrum: some individuals experience sexual attraction very rarely (“gray aces”), some do not develop sexual attraction until they form a close emotional bond (demisexual), and some experience no sexual attraction at all. This paper does not differentiate between the different parts of the asexual spectrum because these concerns apply to all of them and, therefore, does not need to be broken up.

A monosexual is only attracted to one gender (eg. homosexuals and heterosexuals). They are the most prominent sexualities, as they are the ones most often portrayed in media. As such, one would think they are secure enough in their validity to be unthreatened. Not so: in her article in the Stanford Law Review, Elizabeth Emens describes why the monosexual community is uncomfortable with the idea of asexuality:

In some ways, though, a closer analogy [for asexuality] than homosexuality is bisexuality. [....] [B]oth bisexuality and asexuality lie outside the cultural norm of “monosexuality” (desiring one sex). Many of the common assumptions about asexuals [...] echo those made about bisexuals. [....] Kenji Yoshino has argued that both gays and straights (that is, monosexuals) have an interest in erasing bisexuality, because of their shared interests in “the stability of sexual orientation categories,” “the primacy of sex as a diacritical axis,” and “the preservation of monogamy” (330-331).

This explains why the monosexual community is, at the very least, slightly uncomfortable with the asexual community. In comparing asexuality and bisexuality, Emers shows how similar the distrust bisexuals and asexuals face are. What strikes some as strange is how bisexuals have an undisputed letter in the acronym LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer), while asexuals have to metaphorically fight allies for the A that comes later. The difference between a secure letter and a disputed one may not seem like much, but for some can be seen as a step towards representation. The reason asexuals do not get that A right off the bat may very well be because of our society’s preoccupation with sex.

Discrimination, though, is another matter altogether. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, discrimination is the practice of unfairly treating a person or group of people different from other people or groups of people. As of now, academics have not investigated anti-asexual discrimination thoroughly, but research has been done. For example, in Chasin’s Making Sense in and Of the Asexual Community, he calls on the 2012 research of MacInnis and Hodson, who found that people were more likely to discriminate against members of “Group X,” who were not interested in sexual contact, than they were to discriminate against other members of the LGBTQ+ community (170). This is probably because they can relate to someone who wants to have sex better than they can to someone who does not want to have sex. Chasin goes on to discuss the root of sexuality-centered discrimination, stating “Furthermore, homophobia, heterosexism, and sexual orientation-focused discrimination are largely based on the social policing of gender (170).” This means that the people who practice discrimination against the LGBT community are less mad about the fact that same sex couples exist than they are about a man acting feminine or a woman acting masculine. He also says that asexual/ace people are most affected by this kind of discrimination because they are less likely to participate in conventional activities based on heterosexual desire, putting emphasis on the sexual part. This means that society links femininity and masculinity to the act or desire for sex, which only further helps in the erasure of and discrimination against asexuals.

Another route discrimination against asexuality takes is in the erasure of the sexuality entirely. Instead of being seen for what they identify as and are comfortable as, many asexuals are read as lesbian, gay, or bisexual by simply not acting like a heterosexual person, regardless of what they are romantically attracted to. This results in not only asexuals being erased, but being discriminated against for something the person does not identify as. Chasin attributes this to being asexual in a heteronormative context in which there is simply no space for asexuality, which is extremely problematic.

As it was previously stated, the most discrimination towards asexuals as asexuals comes from online communities where asexuality is most visible, especially on sites like Tumblr. Tumblr is rather infamous for being very open about sex, and, as such, there are many users who are more open about their sexualities than they would be in their day to day lives. With this openness, however, comes discrimination, because the more vocal a group is, it seems, the more vocal their oppressors. Asexuals who are romantically attracted to members of the opposite sex, or heteroromantic aces, are most commonly attacked by some members of the LGBTQ+ community on Tumblr. The following are word-for-word text posts, aside from the censoring of offensive language and the removal of urls to preserve the original posters’ identities, written by members of the LGBTQ+ community that were found in the “ace” (a shortened form of the word asexual) tag on Tumblr.

tumblr user 1: do NOT come out as ace or aro or any  mogai identity on coming out day. don’t come out as straight don’t come out as an ally don’t f**king taking this away from lgbt+ people. coming out isn’t for you, it’s for lgbt+ people, not straights, not aces and not aros,

obviously this doesn’t f**king include lgbt aces or aros but even then don’t f**king come out as ace or aro it’s not what the day is for

#ace discourse

tumblr user 2: you’re right, heteroromantic aces don’t have straight passing privilege-they have straight privilege. because they’re straight.

#ace discourse

This isn’t to say that the entirety of the Tumblr community is hostile towards asexuals, heteroromantic or otherwise. For every anti-aseuxal post, there are two pro-asexual posts. Many asexual individuals use Tumblr as a platform to meet and talk to other asexuals when they are unable to find a community in person, which is hard to do with the low percentage of self-identifying asexuals in the world today. However, because of the way Tumblr’s tagging and search systems work, asexuals and those who are trying to find out if they identify with the label often find these mean, degrading, and invalidating comments, making them become distressed or confused. Most of the anti-asexual posts are similar to the above, claiming that those who identify as heteroromantic asexuals (and, to an extent, non-heteroromantic asexuals) have no place in the LGBTQ+ community because, ironically enough, they are not discriminated against or oppressed.

Jumping back to Emens’s article about asexuality and law, we can find a few examples of how some asexuals could feel discriminated against in the context of the law. She writes, “[...] [N]otable is the fact that many states make impotence a ground for annulment, whereas infertility is not an independent ground for annulment in any state [...], perhaps suggesting that sex per se matters more to marriage than reproduction” (350-351). This could be concerning for any romantically-inclined asexual who is not comfortable with sex, as Emens goes on to discuss how spouses can take advantage of this annulment law out of spite or to save money in a divorce, even if the asexual partner was open with their sexuality. Possibly because of this, there are many accounts of asexuals who have been pressured into having sex with a partner to keep them happy. The law also falls against asexuals in same sex domestic partnerships, as they have stricter requirements in order to be seen as valid. “By contrast, domestic partnership regimes often impose requirements such as cohabitation, shared finances, and monogamy. Some even require sexual consummation” (353). In her post Politics of Asexuality: Issues Faced by the Asexual Community, Stormy O’Brink from the website Matthew’s Place expands on this, saying:

People seeking to sponsor their immigrating spouse are sometimes asked personal questions about their sex life. These questions assume that sex makes a relationship legitimate, and this could potentially lead to issues if an asexual couple is at the center of an immigration fraud investigation. Asexuals aren’t just considered less human--their relationships and expressions of love are also viewed as illegitimate.

In some cases, asexuals can even be discriminated against by religious leaders. According to O’Brink, “Some spiritual leaders claim asexuality is against certain religious texts. For example, Genesis 9:7 is interpreted as a command to procreate. Religious leaders believe asexuals are actively defying this aspect of the bible.” They includes a link to a forum sponsored by a Baptist church, in which Pim Penderson, a man with a PhD in Theophysics, an area that attempts to reconcile physical and religious cosmology, likens asexuals to homosexuals and says “Asexuality is unnatural, for even the unsaved have the decency and the desire to marry and have children.” There are several more upsetting posts in this forum thread, each more discriminatory than the last, and many are also sexist, racist, and xenophobic. Even so, this is a religious forum, and many asexuals are also religious. If the distaste represented in this forum represents even a fraction of what a young asexual might have to face in church, it paints a frightening picture.

Sexual harassment is also a fear of asexual individuals. Many asexuals have received threats of “corrective rape” intended to make them straight. Going back to the Baptist forum, Lukas Ekman, who has proposed a Christian Commission on Human Rights (or CCHR) claims that asexuality is linked to devil worship, and “[The] CCHR suggests corrective rape to remedy the [devil’s] possession.” This is a disturbing reality for many asexuals; Eric Morales explores this in his article ‘I don’t need to be raped’ an Asexual activist speaks out by bringing up asexual activist Julie Decker, who uploads videos about her experience with asexuality on YouTube and has seen several comments saying she just “needs a good raping”:

“When people hear you’re asexual, some take that as a challenge,” she told the Huffington Post. “We are perceived as not being fully human because sexual attraction and sexual relationships are seen as something alive, healthy people do. They think that you really want sex but just don’t know it yet. For people who perform corrective rape, they believe that they’re just waking us up and that we’ll thank them later. [....] I’m not damaged, lonely, or in need of conversion because I’m not interested in sex. I want people who feel similarly to know they’re not alone,” Decker says.

Sadly, this is a reality for many asexuals. In a poll on the AVEN website, twenty-six individuals spanning different genders admit to having been sexually assaulted because of their asexuality. While this is a vast minority, this is simply one poll on one website where you have to be registered to participate. A quick Google search is all it takes to find a plethora of survivor stories about the horrors of corrective rape. I won’t go into them here because of the triggering nature of such stories, but they exist, and they shed an awful light

Now that it seems evident that there is at least some discrimination against the asexual community, the question now becomes, how do we combat discrimination against the asexual community? One step has already been taken: New York’s Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act has included asexuality as a sexual orientation, which is, objectively, huge. This means asexuals cannot be discriminated against in terms of the law. Whether that does much good is up for debate, but the fact that asexuality is explicitly included opens up some discussions. Another step that would be good would be more exposure. By creating asexual characters in popular media like television, movies, and books, creators can open new dialogues about asexuality as well as help individuals who are questioning by providing more options readily available to compare themselves to. Rarely is representation a bad thing, after all. In short, while those who identify as asexual do not face the same kind of discrimination as other parts of the LGBTQ+ community, they face their own kind of discrimination, and this can be alleviated through proper representation and open dialogue about sexuality.

Works Cited Page

Bogaert, Anthony F. “Asexuality: What It Is and Why It Matters.” Journal of Sex Research 52.4 Academic Search Complete. (May 2014) 362-379. Web. 19 October 2016.

Cerankowski, Karli June, Megan Milks. “New Orientations: Asexuality and Its Implications for Theory and Practice.” Feminist Studies. 30.0. Academic Search Complete. (2010): 650-664. Web. 19 October 2016.

"Discrimination." Def. 1. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 2004. Print.

Deluzio Chasin, C.J. “Making Sense in and of the Asexual Community: Navigating Relationships and Identities in a Context of Resistance.” Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology 25.2. Academic Search Complete. (2015): 167-180. Web. 19 October 2016.

Ekman, Lukas and Pim Penderson. “God Hates Asexuals.” Straight 4 Jesus (Back Door Christians). Landover Baptist Church. 5 October 2013. Web. 28 November 2016.

Emens, Elizabeth. “Compulsory Sexuality.” Stanford Law Review 66.2. Academic Search Complete. (Feb. 2014): 303-386. Web. 19 October 2016.

Hinderliter, Andrew. “How is asexuality different from hypoactive sexual desire disorder?” Psychology and Sexuality. 4.2. Academic Search Complete. (May 2013): 167-178. Web. 19 October 2016

MacNeela, Pádraig, Aisling Murphy. “Freedom, Invisibility, and Community: A Qualitative Study of Self-Identification with Asexuality.” Archives of Sexual Behavior. 44.3. Academic Search Complete. (Apr. 2015): 799-812. Web. 19 October 2016.

Morales, Eric. “‘I don’t need to be raped’ an Asexual activist speaks out” Digital Journal. 23 October 2013. Web. 28 November 2016.

O’Brink, Stormy. “Politics of Asexuality: Issues Faced By The Asexual Community.” Matthew’s Place. 30 October 2014. Web. 28 November 2016.

"The Asexual Visibility and Education Network | Asexuality.org." The Asexual Visibility and Education Network | Asexuality.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Nov. 2016.

[india-today-yahoopartner-blog]

Gandu director Q speaks about insulting Satyajit Ray and explains the word 'f**k'

Q (who insists on not being called by his birth name Qaushiq Mukherjee) - dubbed as 'India's most dangerous filmmaker - by CNN, is known for his politically charged, sexually explicit Bengali-language films like Gandu, Tasher Desh and Ludo. Over the years, Q has developed a cult following in India and among Bengali film connoisseurs of experimental cinema.

However, at the same time, Q is often derided back in his birthplace Kolkata for going against the curve and is slotted by purists as a 'porn filmmaker'. For instance, his film Tasher Desh - a revisionist take on Rabindranath Tagore's play of the same name - was criticised by traditionalists, among Bengali film audiences, for not adhering to tried-and-tested methods of filming a Rabindrik text.

As such, Q recently got into trouble for allegedly insulting iconic filmmaker Satyajit Ray, and consequently, Bengali sentiments in a Facebook post, which the director insists was not meant to disrespect the icon.

It all began when Q shared a blog post critical of Bengalis' blind worshiping of all things Ray. Q shared the blog post with the words "f**k Manik. F**k felu. F**k babu." 'Manik' is the pet name of Satyajit Ray and it is common among Bengalis to refer to the Academy Award-winning director as such.

Speaking on the motive behind his choice of words, Q told IndiaToday.in, "The essential idea behind the exact words I used was that I feel stifled as a Bengali by certain benchmarks which cannot be crossed or icons which cannot be questioned."

On the use of the word f**k in his post, Q said that he has been thinking about this four-letter-word a lot these days "for various reasons."

MOVIE REVIEW: Q's Brahman Naman

ALSO READ: 10 films that define Bengali cinema, according to National Award-winner Srijit Mukherji

ALSO WATCH: Rituparno Ghosh brought national viewership to Bengali films, says Prosenjit Chatterjee

"Like gandu (the name of Q's 2010 Bengali film), f**k is a word that has a negative connotation. But it also very flexible. It can be used as a verb, a noun and an adjective. It is fluid. My use of f**k in my post was not to mean disrespect but it was a way of questioning our choice of words. It is very contextual."

Q's Facebook post resulted in a strong social media backlash on Facebook and Twitter. Several fans and followers of Satyajit Ray criticised Q and accused him of insulting Ray for getting 'publicity'.

"How can my post be a publicity stunt? A publicity stunt is a mainstream narrative where one does something to sell or to promote something else, like using a sex video or something to sell a product. But I have nothing to sell and nothing to gain. I have no film in production."

The attack on Q took on massive proportions when Bengali actor Shaheb Bhattacharjee took to social media (both Facebook and Twitter) to criticise Q and called him a "stupid piece of Crow (sic) shit" and added that Q's "14 generation (sic)" won't be able to get an Oscar like Satyajit Ray.

"fuck Manik" really... ??? U stupid piece of Crow shit This man got the OSCAR for his work. Something ur 14 generation will not get. pic.twitter.com/MLmyqCazkZ

— Shaheb Bhattacherjee (@shaheb17) January 5, 2017

When asked to respond, Q said, "Crow shit is something Nabarun da (late Bengali author Nabarun Bhattacharya, famous for his anti-literary establishment work) would be very much interested in. I am very fond of crow shit and its artistic texture."

Like really? Is this how you refer to the one of the greatest, forget India, the world has ever seen? Speechless. https://t.co/oaCAXVu6Ql

— Srijit Mukherji (@srijitspeaketh) January 6, 2017

Regarding National Award-winning Bengali filmmaker Srijit Mukherji's tweet where he said he was "speechless" seeing Q's Facebook post, Q said, "Speechless does not warrant a comment, so I won't say anything."

About the intolerance showed by social media users on his Facebook post and the traditionalist attitude of the commercial Bengali film industry, Q said, "At any point in Bengali history, there has always been an alternative to the mainstream. Harsh words would be spoken about, say, Tagore during his lifetime. This abrasiveness was necessary to help form a new space. The contemporary custom of being all thik ache, we are good, has led to cannibalistic back-slapping, leaving little room for the alternative."

Speaking of his films which explore the underbelly of contemporary society, in contrast to the content of contemporary mainstream Bengali cinema, Q shared an anecdote where filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak questioned art-house director Mani Kaul's viewing of Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's films.

"Because Kurosawa showed export-quality Japan. For real Japan, Ghatak asked Kaul to watch (Kenji) Mizoguchi's films," said Q.

"In our myopia, we (Bengali society) are missing on what is happening right now. Being reactionary goes back to unmasking society itself as a villain. For one f**k, I got a million f**k yous," Q added.

Q also said that he is, perhaps, the only 'porn filmmaker' (like his critics call him) who does not make porn films.

Most of Q's films are now available on the digital video-streaming platform Netflix. In fact, his last two films, the English-language sex-comedy Brahman Naman and the horror film Ludo released exclusively on Netflix.

When asked if video-streaming sites like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime are the future for independent filmmaking, Q said, "It's not the future. It's happening right now. We are in the middle of a revolution. Anyone can, of course, not choose to see it."

Regarding the schism between independent cinema, such as his, and traditionalist mainstream cinema, and on a larger scale, old-school thinking, Q said, "For the first time in (pause) twenty years, we are taking sides and being political. It is an interesting time to live in and question."

On asking what question that is, Q answered "Any kind of question which leads to violence and such a question is, I think, a pertinent question to ask."

(The writer tweets as @devarsighosh)

[bnvupdates]

American Anti-Intellectualism and Social Inequalities in the Age of Trump

We live in the age of Trump. What this means will vary from individual to individual, but for every person who thinks he represents straightforward business, there is another that believes he represents an affront to American intellectualism.

Perhaps it���s because of comments like this, spoken by Trump at a campaign rally in 2016:

“You know, I’ve always wanted to say this—I’ve never said this before with all the talking we all do, all of these experts, ‘Oh we need an expert’—the experts are terrible!”

Nicholas Baer, Harper-Schmidt Fellow in the University of Chicago’s Society of Fellows at the rank of Collegiate Assistant Professor in the Humanities, mentions as much in his article, “American Idiot: Rethinking Anti-Intellectualism in the Age of Trump.” He draws heavily upon the work of Tom Nichols, a book titled The Death of Expertise.

“For Nichols, the anti-intellectual strain in the U.S. has transmuted into an arrogant contempt for intellectual authority due to major shifts in education, journalism, and the media and political environments,” writes Baer. “Taken together, he claims, these shifts have driven American democracy to the brink of authoritarian populism.”

According to Nichols, we’re reaching a point in society where everybody’s opinion is treated equally, whether or not professional credentials or educational backgrounds exist to back those opinions up. Baer continues:

“In the absence of these crucial distinctions, Nichols asserts, public discourse has become degraded by unquestioned cognitive biases and a dearth of informed, evidence-based argumentation … (C)ollege has become what Nichols describes as ‘a consumer-oriented experience in which students learn, above all else, that the customer is always right.’”

Interestingly, statistics from the Pew Research Center seem to indicate that this is a partisan issue. The report reads that “a majority of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (58 percent) now say that colleges and universities have a negative effect on the country, up from 45 percent last year. By contrast, most Democrats and Democratic leaners (72 percent) say colleges and universities have a positive effect, which is little changed from recent years.”

Whatever you make of those statistics, Nichols and others who write about anti-intellectualism in the US, especially when writing critically of colleges and of Trump in kind, don’t sound like complacent Democrats — nor do they sound like critical Republicans. They sound like people who value education for its “utopian” value, and are critical of its current “utilitarian” value.

Utility vs. Utopia

When it comes to criticism of the modern systems of secondary education, there are but two questions you have to ask: how much will it cost, and what will graduates get out of it? To answer the first question: it costs a lot, and it’s getting more expensive every year. Many graduates find themselves laden with debt by the time they’re done with school, as the average median family income is dropping simultaneously.

So what do you get out of it? When you take on the debt of a mortgage, for example,  it’s pretty clear that what you’re getting in return is property and a structure that will (hopefully) retain its value. The thing about a college education, however, is that it’s more of an investment, and the return on that investment will vary depending the “version” of college that students attend. Writing for the NY TImes, Kenji Aoki explains the difference between them:

“… (T)wo distinct visions of higher education contend throughout our classrooms and campuses. One vision focuses on how college can be useful — to its graduates, to employers and to a globally competitive America … As college grows more expensive, plenty of people want to know whether they’re getting a good return on their investment.”

This, he explains, is “Utility U.” We see this utilitarian movement manifesting itself in schools frequently via heightened interest in STEM initiatives, which, Jennifer L.M. Gunn with Concordia-University Portland writes, teaches students to apply math, science, and engineering skills — quantifiable “hard skills,” that is — to diverse projects. Additionally, she notes that STEM jobs tend to pay double the median income of the average U.S. worker, but also that the most recent United States PISA rankings placed the U.S. 38th out of 71 countries in math and 24th in science.

“In some schools … STEM education [has] led to a rapid expansion and segmentation of rigorous math and science courses, taught in largely the same way they’ve always been taught,” writes Gunn. “The result? Saturating students with STEM classes without accounting for engagement or interest has led to some stagnant gains in recent years.”

The other vision of college that Aoki presents is aimed simply at preparing students for life as free men and women in modern society. “Here, college is about building your soul as much as your skills,” writes Aoki. “Students want to think critically about the values that guide them, and they will inevitably want to test out their ideas and ideals in the campus community … College, in this view, is where you hone the tools for the foundational American project, the pursuit of happiness.”

This is “Utopia U,” where the purpose of an education isn’t to garner any one individual material wealth, but rather to enrich society as a whole by bestowing upon students immaterial wealth.

Unfortunately, immaterial wealth doesn’t pay the material bill, which is why that first question (how much does it cost?) is so important. So instead of opting for an in-depth education in humanities or knowledge of the classical arts, students are now finding themselves going to college for the sake of “degree validation” — not because they want to, but because they feel they have to as a prerequisite for job acquisition. What’s worse, many graduates are finding that these jobs aren’t guaranteed, leaving them with an expensive degree in a field they often have no interest in.

In either case, Utopia or Utility, our schools are failing. The relentless pursuit of Utility has left Utopia by the wayside, underfunded, and undervalued.

“It is … the very principle of ideas having value on their own merit, regardless of whether they can be assessed or turned into profits or draw fat grants into the neoliberal academy, that impels us to turn to the language of ‘crisis’ to evaluate our position,” writes Aaron S. Lecklider, an associate professor of American studies at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. “Administrators rattle our cages, asking us to pursue ‘excellence’ and hawk our majors like used-car salespeople, even as politicians and pundits question whether taxpayer dollars should be apportioned to departments more concerned with dismantling gender categories than assisting students in their quest to develop the next killer app.”

This stranglehold on educational value isn’t partisan, it’s socio-economic. The fact is that modern school costs more and deliver less than they ever have — no matter what side of the aisle you’re on.

Anti-Intellectualism Is a Symptom, Not the Problem

It’s easy to say that America in the age of Trump is staunchly anti-intellectual because President Trump is so boldly anti-intellectual himself. As a presidential nominee and as president proper, Trump has told bold-faced lies, banking on the ignorance of uneducated voters to keep his core supporters enthralled.

Max Boot, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former foreign policy adviser to the presidential campaigns of John McCain, Mitt Romney and Marco Rubio, argues that far-right populists within the Republican Party feed off of Trump’s anti-intellectualism. To them it’s the elite intellectuals who are to blame for their problems to begin with.

“That is the core constituency that Trump is appealing to,” he says. “He’s not just ignorant, he’s proudly ignorant — he brags about how he doesn’t read books. For him, this is a point of pride, and unfortunately it is for a lot of his followers as well.”

Still, even though President Trump seems to revel in the drama and misinformation surrounding “Fake News,” statistics show that parents consider it to be a substantial problem in regards to their children’s safety, rivalling, if not just as bad as, the risk of internet pornography. Panda Security’s exclusive analysis of U.S. parents revealed that:

More than twice as many parents consider right-wing website Breitbart more unsafe for children than CNN.

20 percent of parents think CNN is not safe for their kids.

9 percent of parents think Breitbart is unsafe for children.

1 percent of parents consider both Breitbart and CNN unsafe.

9 percent of parents think anonymous sharing is a danger to kids.

What this indicates is that people are concerned with truth, even if they aren’t sure where to turn to find it. With America’s foremost executive telling them one thing that aligns with their beliefs and experiences, and a slough of qualified, perhaps even stuffy, experts telling them another, is it really so hard to believe that uneducated voters tend to believe the former over the latter? Does belief in authority in conjunction with a lack of education truly constitute anti-intellectualism?

Aaron S. Lecklider, in his book, Inventing the Egghead: The Battle over Brainpower in American Culture, believes that the idea of America as an anti-intellectual is historically unfounded. “Inasmuch as America’s supposed anti-intellectualism makes good headlines today, it can hardly be taken as a true portrait of American history,” he writes. “Far from celebrating the ignorant, Americans have often been drawn to brainpower, genius, and have demonstrated fascination with the curious habits of ivy-educated elites.”

Lecklider believes that modern arguments about anti-intellectualism may actually reflect growing social inequalities — which is precisely what Trump latched on to with the working class white voter.

“Today, working-class frustrations over income inequality can, at times, be articulated as distaste for the use of scholarly language to diagnose everyday problems,” continues Lecklider. “And when ordinary women and men describe working-class perspectives as ‘common sense,’ they can be met with contempt from those who think this is a mask for various prejudices.”

This divide is what politicians like Trump have exploited to pit one class of voter against another. As Lecklider notes, “it seems quite unlikely that Americans have really become more anti-intellectual over the past half century – and more likely that we are seeing splits due to sharply rising inequalities of wealth, income, and access to affordable college opportunities.”

Lastly, Lecklider mentions that while attacks on intellectuals may be on the rise in the U.S. today, we need to be aware that this is a recent phenomenon, and likely the symptom of a problem, but not the cause itself.

The good news is that anti-intellectualism isn’t in America’s DNA, ruining our institutions inherently from the inside out. The bad news is that something is causing this recent spate of anti-intellectualism to flourish. Whether it’s income inequality, partisan politics, or something else, we likely won’t cure the symptoms of anti-intellectualism in society until we discover the real root of the problem.

______

Author Bio: Andy Heikkila is a health, tech, and futurism enthusiast from the outskirts of the lush, Pacific Northwest. When he’s not writing, you can find him working on his latest audio mix, going on a run, or rolling d20s with friends. Follow him on Twitter @AndyO_TheHammer.

from http://ift.tt/2pyIYMr

[dr-passionate-production]

Anti-Kenji society is gonna get ya

"Who?"

[ouranswer]

... Who wants to join the harem?

No one manifested themselves, besides disgusted looks and angry noises.

Good. We maintain the order.

[itunesanimemovies]

Ghost In the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society (Dubbed) - Kenji Kamiyama

The year is 2034, and the face of terrorism has changed. No longer restricted to the limits of the physical world, the war on terror has exploded on the net. In an attempt to confront this new threat, an elite counter-terrorism and anti-crime unit was formed: Public Security Section 9. Two years have passed since the team's commander, Major Motoko Kusanagi, resigned from her post. After a rash of mysterious suicides, Section 9 is forced to confront the "Puppeteer," a dangerous hacker with unsurpassed skills. As their investigation of this terrorist threat takes them deeper into the bowels of a potential government conspiracy, Section 9 once again crosses paths with the Major, but is her sudden reappearance no more than a coincidence, or is she somehow connected to the "Puppeteer"? http://dlvr.it/PgSzCT