#Weekly Margaret Magazine | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

osharenippon · 1 year ago

Text

Shoujo Manga's Golden Decade (Part 2)

Shoujo manga, comics for girls, played a pivotal role in shaping Japanese girls’ culture, and its dynamic evolution mirrors the prevailing trends and aspirations of the era. For many, this genre peaked in the 1970s. But why?

Part 1

The Year of 24 Group

Some of the best-selling work by the Year 24 Artists (l-to-r): Yasuko Aoike's "From Eroica with Love," Ryoko Yamagishi's "Arabesque," Mineko Yamada's "Minori no Shoujo," Toshie Kihara's "Yomie no Ishibume," Yumiko Oshima's "The Star of Cottonland," Yuuko Kishi's "Tamasaburo."

Back in the early '70s, there was the prevailing notion that manga was for young kids. Despite the variety in themes, big magazines like Margaret, Shoujo Club, Nakayoshi, and Ribon were theoretically aimed at elementary school-aged girls.

In practice, the reality was more nuanced. Due to being published in Weekly Margaret, "The Rose of Versailles" was for kids. And it did very well with them. Yet, its revolutionary romance also appealed to broader audiences, exemplifying the crossover potential of shoujo manga. It was the title that opened the door for what is known as "the golden age of shoujo," which was further cemented by several other groundbreaking hits.

These hits widened the shoujo manga field, and soon, other editorial houses also wanted to cash in. Shogakukan, which published the powerful Weekly Shonen Sunday, entered the shoujo market in the late '60s. Shueisha and Shogakukan also partnered to form a keiretsu and open the Hakusensha publisher which deals mostly with shoujo manga.

That is the context in which a batch of artists known as "The Magnificent 24 Group" rose. And they were another key reason as to why '70s shoujo made such a mark. These manga-kas introduced themes such as sci-fi and homosexuality to the segment, revolutionized its art, further explored historical and terror narratives, and generally broke barriers of what was possible in shoujo manga. Their work was intellectually challenging, philosophical, and, above all, fundamental for male manga critics and connoisseurs to finally take shoujo seriously.

The Year 24 Group refers to the fact most artists were born around 1949, which is known as the year 24 of the Showa era in the Japanese calendar. These women came of age during the time artists like Hideko Mizuno were debuting and doing revolutionary work in the shoujo field, and they were eager to follow their lead. The success of unorthodox hits like "The Rose of Versailles" and the emergence of new magazines enabled them to be bold.

The two artists who led the movement are Moto Hagio and Keiko Takemiya. Their shared house in Tokyo, known as the Oizumi Salon, became a gathering place for several young artists keen on breaking new grounds for shoujo manga-kas. These women became the Year 24 group. But there were other two people, besides the artists themselves, who were just as crucial for their collective rise.

Firstly, there was Junya Yamamoto. Yamamoto was a young male editor at Shogakukan who had risen through the ranks of the successful Shonen Sunday weekly manga magazine. Noticing they were lagging behind Shueisha and Kodansha in the manga segment for their lack of a robust shoujo presence, the editorial house appointed Yamamoto to launch Shoujo Comic (known as Sho-Comi) in 1968 and Bessatsu Shoujo Comic (known as Betsucomi) in 1970. However, he quickly ran into an issue: most successful shoujo artists already had exclusive contracts with the competing houses, and aspiring names were vying for positions at the already established titles.

In 1969, the "God of manga," Osamu Tezuka, introduced Yamamoto to Keiko Takemiya, then a university student living in Tokushima City. Takemiya had spent her school years dreaming of becoming a manga-ka and participated extensively in the readers' corner section of COM. COM was an avant-garde manga magazine Tezuka founded to nourish young talents and publish stories without the typical restraints of more commercial shoujo and shonen publications. In her first year of college, Takemiya won a Shueisha's Weekly Margaret newcomer competition and had a work published in the magazine. Still, she was persuaded by her parents to focus on her studies instead and to leave manga as a side hobby.

Yamamoto, in turn, was impressed with her talent and convinced her to chase her dreams. Quickly, she found work in all three publishers and started simultaneously publishing in Kodansha, Shueisha, and Shogakukan's shoujo titles.

Meanwhile, Moto Hagio also grew up enamored with the manga world. During her college years, she had a work selected by Shueisha's Bessatsu Margaret (Betsuma) through a competition, but she could not find a fixed slot in the magazine. Then, she got introduced to Kodansha's Nakayoshi editors, who were impressed by her talent. While she did start publishing short stories there, editors rejected most of her submitted work as they did not fit the magazine's mold. One day, an editor introduced her to Takemiya, who, overworked while working for several magazines, was in dire need of an assistant. The two hit off, and Takemiya, who until then had her permanent residence in far away Tokuma City but was planning a move to Tokyo, proposed they both live together. She also decided to introduce Hagio to risk-taker editor Yamamoto, who, impressed by her talent, encouraged her to pursue her path instead of trying to fit into the expected shoujo template.

Then there was Norie Masuyama, who first became acquainted with Moto Hagio before becoming Takemiya's manager. Hagio was from Fukuoka, while Masuyama was from Tokyo, but due to their similar interests, they became penpals. When Hagio first moved to Tokyo, Masuyama hosted her in her home in Oizumi. Eventually, Hagio introduced Masuyama to Takemiya, and the three of them became close. Because both were artists from outside of Tokyo, Masuyama was the one who first circled the idea they should live together (something Yamamoto presciently warned it could turn into a problem), and she was the one who alerted them of a house in her Oizumi neighborhood being up for rent.

Keiko Takemiya and Moto Hagio, estranged since the late '70s, revealed details of their feud in autobiographic books: Takemiya's "Shonen no na wa Gilbert" (2019) and Hagio's "Ichidou kiri no Oizumi no Hanashi" (2021). The dispute, stemming from Takemiya accusing Hagio of plagiarism, was fueled by Takemiya's jealousy during a challenging creative and personal period. While Takemiya appears self-aware and analytical in her account, Hagio's book indicates she hasn't forgiven Keiko, revealing unresolved feelings. The publications triggered intense online debates.

Masuyama came from a sophisticated family that was very involved in arts and, from a young age, got familiarized with the world of music, literature, and movies. Her refined taste impressed Hagio and Takemiya. At a time when Japanese girls dreamed of Europe, Masuyama actually had friends living there and was up-to-date on the latest European trends. She also had a lot of knowledge of European cinema and literature.

As their rented house was old and rusty, Hagio and Takemiya started spending a lot of time at Masuayama's house across the street. She introduced them to films, songs, books, and paintings. It was Masuyama's taste -- including her interest in movies and books depicting gay romance and her desire for girls' comics to have bolder and riskier themes -- that helped to instill a passion in both artists to go further than the safe cliches usually depicted in shoujo works.

In 1970, editor Yamamoto convinced Takemiya to sign an exclusive contract with Shogakukan. The following year, Hagio also started publishing for Sho-comi and Betsucomi. Their work would attract a loyal fanbase, and aspiring manga-ka would flood their mailboxes. So Takemiya made a decision: to select female artists around her and Hagio's age to mentor and train at their shared home. Thus, the Oizumi Salon was born.

Despite attracting attention, Takemiya and Hagio's works were not always popular. In fact, they'd often rank last in readers' popularity polls, which tend to be all-deciding in manga magazines. But they persevered, and Yamamoto trusted them.

Keiko Takemiya aimed to establish herself with a top-rated series through "Pharaoh no Haka" (left) in order to garner the necessary respect from editors to write the series she wanted, "Kaze to ki no uta" (right). Despite her resolute efforts, "Pharaoh no Haka" never secured the top spot in Sho-comi's readers' poll, peaking at #2. Nevertheless, the series succeeded in elevating her fame and earning her the respect she sought.

In 1972, Hagio had an idea for a serial focused on a male European vampire. However, as she wasn't a famous artist, Yamamoto only allowed her to publish one-shots. So she came up with a plan: to write three interconnected standalone stories. To circumvent another restraint - shoujo editors' avoidance of male leads - she put the first story focus on Marybelle, Edgar's sister. Once Yamamoto realized what Hagio was doing, he was amused and allowed her to continue. And so, "The Poe Clan" series began. In 1974, Shogakukan finally started publishing their shoujo titles in compiled paperback format. In another proof of trust, Yamamoto chose Hagio's "The Poe Clan" as the first title of the Flower Comics imprint.

To everybody's surprise, "The Poe's Clan," in paperback format, was a groundbreaking success, almost instantaneously selling out its initial printing. At the time, Hagio had just started a new serialization, "The Heart of Thomas," a tragic gay love story set in an all-boys German school. As usual for her, the story wasn't all that popular with Sho-Comi's readership, and its lackluster results in the reader's poll almost got the series discontinued. But the notable success of "The Poe's Clan" tankobon assured editors, who allowed Hagio to continue the series. "The Heart of Thomas" went on to become another best-seller and a seminal shoujo title. It also attracted critical acclaim and a loyal fanbase to Moto Hagio, which in turn helped put the Year 24 artists -- who were pretty good at self-promotion -- in the spotlight.

Hagio, Takemiya, and several other "Year 24" authors drifted between being popular and underground. They had a sizable, loyal fanbase that followed them and turned several of their works into best-sellers. On the other hand, by finding a way around the usual shoujo traditions, they weren't particularly popular with the average shoujo reader, ordinary young girls across the country.

Their peculiar position forced them to be clever, so they could fulfill their creative desires as well as their editors' expectations, who were there to make sure the stories published were satisfying to the core readership. Takemiya wrote "Pharaoh no Haka," an Egypt-set romantic adventure, to be well-accepted so that she could then dedicate herself to doing what she truly wanted in "Kaze to Ki no Uta," a gay love story set in a 19th Century French boarding school.

Initially overlooked in popular shoujo magazines, Moto Hagio gained success with "The Poe Clan" in compiled format, launching Shogakukan's Flower Comics imprint. Over time, she became a highly respected manga artist, the only manga-ka alongside legendary filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki to receive a Person of Cultural Merit recognition. In 2016, marking 40 years of the conclusion of her first hit, she released a new "The Poe Clan" chapter in Flower magazine, selling out the increased print run of 50,000 copies in a day. This success marked a significant shift for Hagio, who, despite not being a major magazine seller in earlier years, became a valuable asset to the struggling magazine publishing industry decades later. Following the one-shot, she released three more chapters and, in 2022, began a new sequel series.

Besides Takemiya and Hagio, several other notable shoujo artists who went on to become huge names used to frequent the Oizumi Salon and were part of the "Year 24 group." In the early '70s, most published their work on Shogakukan's titles, which had a "free policy" on storytelling compared to Margaret, Shoujo Friend, Nakayoshi, and Ribon. Then, as Shogakukan started being more strict to properly compete with the market leaders, several moved to newly launched Hakusensha titles Hana to Yume and LaLa. Influential names that were part of the movement included Yumiko Oshima, Yasuko Aoike, and Ryoko Yamagashi, among several others.

Despite their unorthodox preferences, they weren't necessarily trying to rebel against the system, they simply wanted to put out good quality work they believed in. Like other Japanese girls from that era, they were fascinated by Europe, and plenty of their stories took place on the continent. In 1972, Hagio, Takemiya, Yamagishi, and Masuyama made a 45-day trip to Europe, visiting the Soviet Republic, France, and several other countries, which had a profound impact on them. Still, their narratives were widely innovative. They often had male leads, introduced sci-fi, "boys' love," and other bolder genres to shoujo manga, and contributed to the evolution of shoujo illustration. Above all, this group of artists was the one who made clear to naysayers, once and for all, that shoujo manga is indeed an art form.

But while their influence in manga history is undisputed, other significant -- and much more commercial -- manga movements also shook the shoujo manga world during that decade.

A Need for Drama

When talking about '70s shoujo manga, it's common for minds to drift directly to iconic series from that time, like "Candy Candy" and "Rose of Versailles." But, unlike in present times, in that decade, the manga industry's focus wasn't on successful, long-running series but on the artists themselves.

As opposed to the struggling publishing marketing of today, major shoujo manga magazines all sold over 1 million copies during that decade. Manga in tankobon (standalone paperback) format was turning into a money-maker field, but being able to sell paperback was very much secondary compared to being a name capable of selling magazines. Keiko Takemiya and Moto Hagio, from the Amazing Year 24 Group, would go on to become household names and had best-selling series, but, at the time, they couldn't compete with the actual shoujo manga superstars who were the signboard artists of the Kodansha and Shueisha's shoujo titles, the ones who actually moved publications. These artists' work was the most significant indicator of what the mainstream readers wanted and aspired to back then.

In a December/1975 issue, weekly Josei Seven spotlights the new generation of superstar shoujo manga artists: (l-to-r) Moto Hagio, Machiko Satonaka, Ryoko Ikeda, Yukari Ichijo, Keiko Takemiya, and Ryoko Takahashi. While contemporary manga-kas are highly discreet about their lives and do not even tend to show their faces, in the '70s, they were treated like superstars, and, in the article, the manga-kas openly discuss their love life and details of their high incomes, including how much they had in the bank and how much they spent on rent and daily utilities.

For Kodansha, the top shoujo artist was definitely Machiko Satonaka, who won the Best New Artist competition in 1964, when she was still a freshman in high school. There have been several high-schoolers making their debut in the industry throughout the decades, but, as the first, Satonaka caused a media frenzy. Her ascent gave confidence to countless other young women -- from "Glass Mask"'s Suzue Michi to Keiko Takemiya (who also won a smaller prize in the same competition) -- to pursue their manga careers.

The attention surrounding Satonaka, who went on to become a public personality with TV hosting gigs and other appearances, is another interesting, nostalgic phenomenon. In the past, it was common for manga superstars to have a strong media presence. Nowadays, the norm is the complete opposite: for manga-kas to be highly private, no matter how famous their work is.

In any case, Satonaka quickly proved herself to be more than a sensational news story as she created extremely popular mangas for Kodansha shoujo titles like Shoujo Friend and Nakayoshi. Her style, widely accepted by readers, became symbolical of the story-telling the '70s girls craved: extremely dramatic with emotionally driven plots and lots of bombastic twists and developments.

In his book on subcultures and otaku culture, sociologist Shinji Miyadai notes that '70s shoujo manga can be divided into very few categories. There is the category the Year 24 artists dominated -- which he defines as the "Moto Hagio domain" -- of works with a lot of artistic value, up-to-par with literature. And then there's the far more commercially viable "Satonaka domain," which represented the mainstream taste.

In the "Satonaka category," the artist depicts a stormy life story as a proxy experience for the readers. Of course, there are universal elements of love, friendship, and insecurity that girls can directly relate to. Still, these stories provide adventures that readers could never experience in the real world.

These facets of the "Satonaka domain" are present in almost all the best-selling, mainstream shoujo series of the '70s, like the revolutionary historical romance of "The Rose of Versailles," the dramatic rags-to-riches story of the beautiful orphan in "Candy Candy," and the rise of an ordinary girl to the top of the sports elite in "Ace wo Nerae." In all of these titles, you'll also spot other defining characteristics of '70s shoujo: the death of beloved characters and well-liked female characters with voluminous blonde hairs and huge, sparkling eyes (a legacy of Macoto Takahashi, the illustrator who, throughout the '50s, created the art that directly influenced subsequent shoujo history).

Yukari Ichijo was the most prominent Ribon signboard artist throughout the '70s, creating popular mangas like "Suna no Shiro" (left) and "Designer (right). Young girls across the country adored her work despite the adult drama in it.

Since these stories are extraordinary and dream-like, many of them use Europe or the US as their setting, another reflection of a time when Japanese youth dreamed with the West.

While Satonaka was Kodansha's star, Shueisha also had its top shoujo artists. For Margaret, it was Ryoko Ikeda who kept creating memorable dramatic manga after the conclusion of "The Rose of Versailles." Other classic '70s dramatic works published in the weekly included Kyoko Ariyoshi's ballet drama "Swan." Meanwhile, over at Ribon, no one shone brighter than Yukari Ichijo. Ichijo's works, which young girls across Japan devoured, contained a lot of adult drama with adult characters. Her 1974 manga, "Love Game," had a bed scene. One of her most celebrated works of the decade, "Suna no Shiro" (Sand Castle), dealt with incest. While Ichijo is the one who stood the test of time, another artist who also enjoyed great popularity in Ribon following this formula was Kei Nogami.

These mangas served as an escape for girls, who left their ordinary school life behind for a few hours to embark on extraordinary adventures. In contrast, one of the main genres in contemporary shoujo is unassuming, everyday high school romance. How could the shoujo segment go through such a drastic transformation? The reasons for that also dates back to the 1970s.

Part 3

#shoujo manga #vintage shoujo #otometique #yumiko oshima #keiko takemiya #yumiko tabuchi #hideko tachikake #machiko satonaka #yukari ichijo #ribon #1970s japan #1970s #year 24 group #moto hagio #vintage manga

80 notes · View notes

justforbooks · 16 days ago

Text

Kate Hepburn

Designer and artist who worked for Spare Rib, the Monty Python team and Pink Floyd

In a career that spanned half a century, the graphic designer Kate Hepburn, who has died aged 77 of multiple system atrophy, displayed great versatility. While an artist aims to develop a distinctive and recognisable style, a designer must be able to alter their approach and technique according to the situation. Hepburn was adept at this, working in fields including leftwing causes, music, comedy and publishing.

In 1970, during Kate’s first year of study at Royal College of Art, London, her sister Alison married Terry Jones of the Monty Python team. This led to Kate working with Terry Gilliam on the animations that punctuated the television comedy series Monty Python’s Flying Circus; in particular he recalled her skill in drawing medieval figures. For The Brand New Monty Python Bok (1973), with its misspelled title, she designed a dust jacket smeared with fingerprints. Those who believed the jacket to be genuinely dirty could discard it – revealing the explicit mock-cover of Tits ’n Bums, “a Weekly Look at Church Architecture”.

The Python books co-designed by Hepburn show her brilliance at recreating anything, from the photo-love stories of girls’ comics, complete with deliberately abysmal picture quality, to classifieds to children’s books to Victorian play manuscripts. She would switch typesetting methods – Linotype for one pastiche, rub-down lettering for another – to achieve the authentic flavour.

In 1972, Hepburn joined the staff of the new feminist magazine Spare Rib. Its format and grid were worked out by Sally Doust, a co-designer. Hepburn’s first contribution was its logo, which the magazine’s co-founder Marsha Rowe said was made “with a mix of typeface and free hand. She designed ‘Spare’ in smaller type, jutting up against the ‘Rib’, the ‘ib’ sloping forward, with a jagged force, resonant of bone.” This reassured Rowe that her choice of title, initially a joke, was the right one. Rowe wanted to attract “women readers who were still nervous of Women’s Liberation”, and Hepburn understood that some camouflage was needed, believing that “the magazine’s design and choice of photos should look like other women’s magazines, only with different content”.

Hepburn left the magazine in January 1973, later telling Rowe that she had “begun to feel the strain of the contradiction in working for Monty Python, which still had an element of sexism, and for Spare Rib”.

In 1974, Hepburn began her occasional work for Pink Floyd. Before a tour of Japan, the drummer Nick Mason asked Hepburn to adapt Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa for his drumkit. “I had the idea, but she picked it up and took it into a 3D world.” Of her oeuvre in general, Hepburn told me that there was a lot of pastiche. But pastiche is a craft in itself, and artworks such as Mason’s drumkit, which Hepburn painted by hand, went beyond pastiche – here, by reinventing a two-dimensional graphic as a sequence of three-dimensional cylinders sitting adjacent in space.

From 1975, Hepburn contributed cover and book designs to the leftwing publisher Pluto Press, often working through the night to meet deadlines. Her designs for editions of Pluto’s themed Big Red Diary show her skill in collaging images from disparate sources to create a dynamic, coherent whole.

In the 1980s, Hepburn’s work branched out into stage design, in collaboration with her then partner Mark Fisher. Her work for Jean-Michel Jarre’s 1981 tour of China featured banners printed using rudimentary Chinese printing, airbrushed posters on canvas and the cover of the consequent live album. This work earned her two D&AD awards.

Born in Blackheath, London, Kate was the daughter of Margaret (nee Hope) and James Telfer. After her parents separated, she lived with her mother in Hampstead. Margaret later married James Hepburn, whose RAF job required the family to move frequently. In 1960 they finally settled in Parliament Hill, London, where Kate attended Camden school for girls. There she adopted Hepburn’s name, thinking it a better one for an artist.

After a year at Bath Academy of Art, she enrolled in 1966 as a graphic design student at the Central School of Arts and Crafts (now part of the University of Arts London), where she received rigorous training in drawing layouts and type by hand: “You had to hand-rule the text with your Rapidograph pen, and trace 7-point type. It was a very lengthy process, devoted at times.” Making thumbnails and sketches had remained important throughout her career, as “a way of letting the client know that you hadn’t taken expensive decisions using actual materials. You were still drawing, still discussing with them.”

At Central, Hepburn began a relationship with fellow student Pearce Marchbank, whose pioneering work for underground magazines applied radical graphic techniques to politically radical content. Early in their careers both Hepburn and Marchbank had to find ways to achieve maximum visual impact with rudimentary means, for clients who had little money. After the couple separated, Marchbank’s technical knowhow remained a valuable resource. In 1987 they collaborated with Roger Waters on his album Radio K.A.O.S., a cover that converts Waters’ name and track titles to morse code. This needed only two inks and no images, contrasting with the extravagantly staged imagery used by other stadium acts at the time.

In later years Hepburn continued with her watercolour paintings, and screenprints of abstract designs conceived during her student days. Despite periods in which she worked in-house – notably at Wolff Olins brand consultancy – her calling was that of a freelance designer and artist whose vocabulary allows them to switch style to fit the circumstances.

She is survived by her daughter, Usha, her grandchildren, Maya and Manu, and her sisters, Alison and Harriet.

🔔 Kate Hepburn, graphic designer and artist, born 11 June 1947; died 26 July 2024

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

#just for books #Kate Hepburn #in memoriam

4 notes · View notes

brookstonalmanac · 2 days ago

Text

Holidays 11.23

Holidays

Arethusa Asteroid Day

Armed Forces Day (Lithuania)

Asian Corpsetwt Day [Every 23rd]

Big Help Day

Can You Find Your Old Rubik’s Cube and Still Work It Day

Chicory Day (French Republic)

Color Photos Day

Cutty Sark Day

Doctor Who Day

Do What the Heck You Want Day (Oklahoma)

Family Volunteer Day

Felt Day

Fibonacci Day

Flag Day (Niger)

Flipbook Day

Giorgoba (St. George's Day; Georgia)

Hadakambo Festival (Japan)

International Day of the Word

International Day to End Impunity

International Image Consultant Day

International Polyamory Day

Jukebox Day

Kinrō Kansha no Hi (Labor Thanksgiving Day; Japan)

Life Magazine Day

Madison Beer Day (New York)

Monkey Banquet (Thailand)

National Adoption Day

National Day to Combat Child & Youth Cancer (Brazil)

National Margaret Day

National Polyamory Day (Canada)

National Survivors of Suicide Loss Day

Nursing Support Workers Day (UK)

Old Clem’s Night (Blacksmith Festival)

One Cup of Tea Day (Japan)

Paranoia Day

Pencil Sharpener Day

Repudiation Day (Maryland)

Rudolf Maister Day (Slovenia)

Seng Kut Snem (Meghalaya, India)

TARDIS Day (Dr. Who)

Thankful For My Dog Day

Thespius' Day (Greek Mischief Ghost)

Traffic Police Day (Kazakhstan)

Virtual Reality Day

Wolfenoot

World Watercolor Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Eat a Cranberry Day

National Bar Day

National Cashew Day

National Espresso Day

Independence & Related Days

Luxembourg (Separated from Netherlands; 1890)

St. Charlie (Declared; 2008) [unrecognized]

4th Saturday in November

Holodomor Remembrance Day (Ukraine) [4th Saturday]

International Aura Awareness Day [4th Saturday]

Salacious Saturday [4th Saturday of Each Month]

Sandwich Saturday [Every Saturday]

Sausage Saturday [4th Saturday of Each Month]

Six For Saturday [Every Saturday]

Spaghetti Saturday [Every Saturday]

Weekly Holidays beginning November 23 (3rd Full Week of November)

Sherlock Holmes Wekend (thru 11.24)

Festivals Beginning November 23, 2024

Burbank Winter Wine Walk (Burbank, California)

Cheese and Chocolate Weekend (Chisago City, Minnesota) [thru 11.24]

Cheese & Meat Festival (Portland, Oregon)

Festival of Trees (Methuen, Massachusetts) [thru 12.7]

Holiday Celebration and Winter Market (Rapid City, South Dakota)

Holiday Fineries at the Wineries (New Paltz, New York) [thru 11.24]

Holiday Light Parade (Baraboo, Wisconsin)

Jingle Bell Chocolate Tour (Jackson, New Hampshire) [thru 12.22]

Magnificent Mile Lights Festival (Chicago, Illinois)

Maine Harvest Festival (Bangor, Maine) [thru 11.24]

Monkey Buffet Festival (Lopburi, Thailand) [thru 11.24]

Mount Clemens Santa Parade (Mount Clemens, Michigan)

Natchitoches Christmas Festival (Natchitoches, Louisiana) [1.6.2025]

New York Craft Brewers Festival (Syracuse, New York)

Serbian Food Festival & Bazaar (Lenexa, Kansas)

Stockholm Christmas Market (Stockholm, Sweden) [12.23]

Tokyo Filmex (Tokyo, Japan) [thru 12.1]

Wi-Does Wine Walk (Eagle River, Wisconsin)

Yankeetown Art, Crafts & Seafood Festival (Yankeetown, Florida) [thru 11.24]

Feast Days

Alexander Nevsky (Repose, Russian Orthodox Church)

Amphilochius, Bishop of Iconium (Christian; Saint)

Chiron’s Day (Pagan)

Clement I, Pope (Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, and the Lutheran Church)

Columbanus (Christian; Saint)

Daniel (Christian; Saint)

D'Aranda (Positivist; Saint)

Derek Walcott (Writerism)

Erté (Artology)

Feast of Qawl (Speech; Baha'i)

Feast of the Wizard-Blacksmith (Saxon; Everyday Wicca)

Felicitas of Rome (a.k.a. Felicity; Christian; Saint)

Fountain of Riddles (Muppetism)

Frederick Nietzsche Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Fred Wah (Writerism)

General Debauchery Day (Pastafarian)

Gregory of Girgenti (Christian; Saint)

José Clemente Orozco (Artology)

Konstantin Korovin (Artology)

Marc Simont (Artology)

Mary Brewster Hazelton (Artology)

Miguel Agustín Pro, Blessed (One of Saints of the Cristero War; Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church)

Niiname-Sai (Japanese Grain Festival)

Paulinus of Wales (Christian; Saint)

Shinjosai Festival (Rice Harvest; Celebrating Granddaughter Goddess of Solar Deity Amaterasu; Japan)

Stendahl (Writerism)

Trudo (a.k.a. Trond or Troll; Christian; Saint)

Wilfetrudis (a.k.a. Vulfetrude; Christian; Saint)

Woofenoot (Pastafarian)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Lucky Day (Philippines) [64 of 71]

Tomobiki (友引 Japan) [Good luck all day, except at noon.]

Premieres

Against the Grain, by Bad Religion (Album; 1990)

Areopagitica, by John Milton (Pamphlet; 1644)

Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2), by Pink Floyd (Song; 1979)

Arthur Christmas (Animated Film; 2011)

The Artist (Film; 2011)

The Atrocity Exhibition, by J.G. Ballard (Novel; 1970)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl (Novel; UK 1964)

Chinese Democracy, by Guns ’N’ Roses (Album; 2008)

The Dance Contest (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1934)

Devotion (Film; 2022)

Doctor Who (UK TV Series; 1963)

Doggystyle, by Snoop Doggy Dogg (Album; 1993)

The Expanse (TV Series; 2015)

The Exterminator (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1945)

The Favourite (Film; 2018)

Fish and Chips (Chilly Willy Cartoon; 1962)

Flying Colours, by C.S. Forester (Novel; 1938)

For Those About To Rock We Salute You, by AC/DC (Album; 1981)

G.I. Blues (Film; 1960) [Elvis Presley #5]

Glass Onion (Film; 2022)

Hugo (Film; 2011)

Inner Workings (Disney Cartoon; 2016)

It’s Only a Flesh Wound or Better Lead Than Dead (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S6, Ep. 322; 1964)

Just Friends (Film; 2005)

The Lonesome Stranger (MGM Cartoon; 1940)

Love in a Cold Climate, by Nancy Mitford (Novel; 1949)

Moana (Animated Disney Film; 2016)

Mouse Trouble (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1944)

The Muppets (Film; 2011)

Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (Film; 1994)

My Sweet Lord, by George Harrison (Song; 1970)

No Smoking (Disney Cartoon; 1951)

Pretty Peaches (Adult Film; 1978)

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (Novel; 1937)

Pride & Prejudice (Film; 2015)

Scrooged (Film; 1988)

Small Fry (Pixar Cartoon; 2011)

Strange World (Animated Disney Film; 2022)

Tampopo (Film; 2016)

Tea For The Tillerman, by Cat Stevens (Album; 1970)

The Ten Commandments (Film; 1923)

Terms of Endearment (Film; 1983)

The Three Musketeers (Hanna-Barbera Animated TV Special; 1973)

Tito’s Guitar (Color Rhapsody Cartoon; 1942)

Wednesday (TV Series; 2022)

The Worrying’ of the Green or The Look of the Irish (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S6, Ep. 321; 1964)

Today’s Name Days

Clemens, Columban, Detlef (Austria)

Aleko, Aleksandar, Aleksandra (Bulgaria)

Klement, Kolumban, Lukrecija (Croatia)

Klement (Czech Republic)

Clemens (Denmark)

Kleement, Leemet, Leemo (Estonia)

Ismo (Finland)

Clément (France)

Clemens, Columbia, Detlef, Salvator (Germany)

Amfilohios, Elenos (Greece)

Kelemen, Klementina (Hungary)

Clemente, Colombano (Italy)

Zigfrīda, Zigrīda, Zigrids (Latvia)

Adelė, Doviltas, Klemensas, Liubartė (Lithuania)

Klaus, Klement (Norway)

Adela, Erast, Felicyta, Klemens, Klementyn, Orestes, Przedwoj (Poland)

Antonie (Romania)

Klement (Slovakia)

Clemente, Lucrecia (Spain)

Klemens (Sweden)

Augusta, Augustina (Ukraine)

Clem, Clemence, Clement, Clementina, Clementine, Crecia, Lucrecia (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 328 of 2024; 38 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 6 of Week 47 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Hagal (Hailstone) [Day 28 of 28]

Chinese: Month 10 (Yi-Hai), Day 23 (Xin-Mao)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 22 Heshvan 5785

Islamic: 21 Jumada I 1446

J Cal: 28 Wood; Sevenday [28 of 30]

Julian: 10 November 2024

Moon: 43%: Waning Crescent

Positivist: 20 Frederic (12th Month) [Campomanes / Turgot]

Runic Half Month: Is (Stasis) [Day 2 of 15]

Season: Autumn or Fall (Day 62 of 90)

Week: 3rd Full Week of November

Zodiac: Sagittarius (Day 2 of 30)

#Holidays

1 note · View note

darklightsworld · 2 years ago

Text

I understand that press releases need to have impact to sell the book, especially if it’s something obscure that the general public will not take into their hands. But to blatantly lie and to spread misinformation by writing that shoujo manga, that did not exist before(!!!), was born in the 60s by Mizuno Hideko writing Fire! is so wrong on so many levels I can’t even 😡 Okay, they write it as “it is said that”, but that’s just decoration, nobody says that.

Shoujo manga did exist before. For convenience I’m going with postwar manga, for the media perspective everything published in a shoujo magazine was shoujo manga, so at least 50s. But even if you want to go with a very narrow-minded definition of thematics (romance, introspection) and visuals (big eyes, beautiful lines, breaking through panel borders, etc), that started already in the 60s before Fire!. Btw, Mizuno was there too, so what do they think to call her pre-Fire! works? 🙄

Fire! was not strictly categorized as shoujo manga that time. It was serialized in Weekly Seventeen, a general magazine (not yet fashion magazine) for an older age group than shoujo magazines. Mainly high school girls and maybe slightly older. It was literally advertised in Weekly Margaret, a shoujo magazine, with the phrase that readers should tell their big sisters about this new magazine (saw the ad, took a photo). This age group was referred to as “junior” in the 60s, and many older shoujo manga artists, who wanted to write about more mature themes and characters “graduated” to magazines aimed at them. This eventually developed into the josei/ladies manga genre. Retroactively you might lump it with shoujo manga, but it never "gave birth" shoujo manga.

I guess it’s easy to write whatever when the general public has zero idea, but this is how fals myths are born and histories get bent. Fire! was amazing, and it was something new, so it would have been better to praise it for its real achievements. Like, it was one of the first long(!) series for female readers with a male protagonist. There is some nudity, bed scene (it is said to be the first, but I wouldn’t bet on it, Friends did some edgy stuff in the late 60s, not to mention other junior manga), some nice imaginary, paneling, complex narrative, societal issues, coming of age and so on.

Anyway, I’m glad Fire! got a new edition and I hope many new readers will discover it. I’m kind of wondering if they used the original genga or scanned the previous editions - I can’t tell from the preview. I know at least some of Fire!’s genga exist, as they have been exhibited (maybe only frontispieces?), but I don’t know about how much is still there. I will get them later, because the price tag is quite steep, even if it’s four books in two… (And hardcover books are hard to read, who needs that?! 😩)

#shoujo manga #manga #mizuno hideko #fire!#vintage manga #classic manga #retro #old manga

22 notes · View notes

royaltysimblr · 1 year ago

Note

LMAOO I am literally making a magazine cover rn😭😭

ANYWAY great question:

1. Vogue - 100% Lorelei she has covered the magazine 3 times already!!

2. Sports Illustrated - Probably George

3. Time - Queen Margaret (rip), shes achieved a lot in her life and is very philanthropic! Also the oldest member of the windenburg royal family

4. Forbes - Prince Michael, he is very business savy in many ways! i dont want to go into detail but i will when his update comes 👀

5. Womens Health - Gotta say Lorelei again!! She is definitely obsessed with fitness and her appearance!

6. US Weekly - Princess Madeleine, primarily because of who she marries 👀

4 notes · View notes

dailydefunctmangamagazine · 2 years ago

Text

Magazine Overview: Shōjo Friend (少女フレンド)

Publisher: Kōdansha [1][2][3]

Demographic: Shōjo

Publication Frequency: Weekly (1962-74), Biweekly (1974-91), Monthly (1991-96)

Publication Period: 1962-1996

Major titles: Princess Knight by Osamu Tezuka, Haikara-san ga Tōru by Waki Yamato, Seito Shokun! by Yoko Shoji

More info: J-Wiki, Wikipedia

Kōdansha's former flagship magazine for the middle and high school subset of the shōjo demographic. Initially introduced as a successor to the general girls' magazine Shōjo Club and drawing on the company's expertise making girls' magazines (namely the aforementioned Shōjo Club and their long-running Nakayoshi magazine) as well as weekly publications (such as Weekly Shonen Magazine), Shōjo Friend debuted as a weekly magazine in 1962. The following year, rival company Shūeisha responded by introducing Margaret and an intense competition between the two publications commenced, which was heightened further once Shōgakukan introduced Shōjo Comic in 1968. Of the three, only Shōjo Friend is no longer being published. After moving to a biweekly schedule in the '70s and a monthly one in the '90s as the magazine's readership fluctuated over the years, Shōjo Friend finally folded in 1996 to much fanfare (as it had been one of Kōdansha's flagship shōjo magazines for several decades and had recently been ranked as one of the Top 3 shōjo manga publications). Many of its titles were continued in magazines such as Dessert and its sister magazine Bessatsu Friend still runs today, ensuring that the magazine's legacy continues despite its suspension.

#shojo friend #shojo manga writeup #vintage manga #retro shojo #kodansha #少女フレンド #講談社

6 notes · View notes

twwpress · 2 years ago

Text

Weekly Press Briefing #22: November 20th - 26th

Welcome back to the Weekly Press Briefing, where we bring you highlights from The West Wing fandom each week, including new fics, ongoing challenges, and more! This briefing covers all things posted from November 20 – November 26, 2022. Did we miss something? Let us know; you can find our contact info at the bottom of this briefing!

Challenges/Prompts:

The following is a roundup of open challenges/prompts. Do you have a challenge or event you’d like us to promote? Be sure to get in touch with us! Contact info is at the bottom of this briefing.

Trope Soup: A Josh/Donna Tropes Fest is open for prompt submissions and claims. Fics were revealed on Saturday, October 22. The collection remains open to submissions. Learn more here.

The November 20 prompts in 20 days are up on Tumblr.

@JessBakesCakes and @thefinestmuffin are hosting a fic reading challenge running through January 7, 2023. Details in this thread.

Photos/Videos:

Here’s what was posted from November 20 - November 26.

Janel Moloney posted a picture of her Thanksgiving meal.

Marlee Matlin posted a video and a link to her cover story for ALZ Magazine.

Marlee Matlin posted a photo of herself and fellow governors of The Academy signing ‘I love you’.

Marlee Matlin posted behind-the-scenes photos from the set of the NBC show New Amsterdam.

Marlee Matlin posted a video of herself wishing people a Happy Thanksgiving.

Mary McCormack posted a photo of herself getting her makeup done, and a plug for some of her favorite lipgloss.

@JanelMilfoney: November 21 | November 21 (2) | November 22 | November 23 | November 24

@down_brad_: November 20 | November 22 | November 23 | November 24

Edits/Artwork:

scott street by dcnnalyman [VIDEO EDIT]

#JOSHDONNA: make you feel my love by JessBakesCakes [VIDEO EDIT]

Creator Spotlight:

We took a week off of the spotlight because of American Thanksgiving! We’ll be back and chatting with another creator next week!

This Week in Canon:

Welcome to This Week in Canon, where we revisit moments in The West Wing that occurred on these dates during the show’s run.

Season 1, Episode 9: The Short List aired on November 24, 1999.

Season 2, Episode 8: Shibboleth aired on November 22, 2000.

Season 3, Episode 7: The Indians in the Lobby aired on November 21, 2001.

Season 4, Episode 9: Swiss Diplomacy aired on November 20, 2002.

Season 6, Episode 6: The Dover Test aired on November 24, 2004.

Editor’s Choice:

In honor of American Thanksgiving, here are a few fics we love that mention or center around Thanksgiving! We are thankful for all of you!

Home for the Holiday by jeaniecregg | Rated G | C. J. Cregg/Toby Ziegler | Complete | Thanksgiving at CJ and Toby’s.

His Will to Make Known by ETraytin | Rated T | Leo McGarry, Margaret Hooper (no pairings listed) | Complete | While CJ is out with the flu over Thanksgiving, her traditional duties fall upon other members of the staff. Leo is left to make an important decision.

Gather Together by Namarie | Rated G | C.J. Cregg, Toby Ziegler, Sam Seaborn, Josh Lyman | Complete | “Should I bring anything?” “Yeah. Do you know how to, you know, cook food?”

Momentary Lapse of Memory by shutterbug_12 (shutterbug) | Rated G | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss, Donna Moss/Jack Reese | Complete | On Thanksgiving, Josh is in search of a distraction.

Transitions by shanegray | Rated G | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete | It’s during their first Thanksgiving in office that Josh really starts to notice the differences between then and now. A glimpse in to the first few years Josh Lyman truly lives his life.

Pilgrims of Another Kind by Socket | Rated G | C.J. Cregg, Toby Ziegler, Josh Lyman, Sam Seaborn | Complete | It's Thanksgiving, Toby acts like a know-it-all and C.J calls him on it.

Fics:

Presenting your weekly roundup of fics posted in the tag for The West Wing on Archive of Our Own. If you are so inclined, please be sure to leave the authors some love in the form of kudos or comments. Be mindful of posted warnings/tags for each story.

Josh/Donna

The Theory of Entropy by Jane_3yr3 | Rated M | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | In Progress

How Will He Find Me by Shinyrosa | Rated T | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | In Progress

i’ll take your invitation (you take all of me) by joshatella (shuuuliet) | Rated T | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete

and what have we done by sam_writes_fics | Rated T | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete

The Airplane by whoa_omo | Rated M | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete

Abbey/Jed

Miracle by imperfectirises | Rated M | Abbey Bartlet/Jed Bartlet | In Progress

Shibboleth by mlea7675, Spybaby47 | Rated T | Abbey Bartlet/Jed Bartlet | Complete

Andy/Toby

you come back to what you need by fleurfemme | Rated M | Andrea Wyatt/Toby Ziegler | Complete

make our steps clear (that the other may see) by jazzjo | Rated G | Andrea Wyatt/Toby Ziegler | Complete

Other Pairings/Gen Fic

laundry day by jazzjo | Rated G | C.J. Cregg/Andrea Wyatt | Complete

olives by rearviewmirror for crossingdelancey | Rated T | C.J. Cregg/Leo McGarry | Complete

dayton, ohio by rearviewmirror for crossingdelancey | C.J. Cregg & Toby Ziegler (no pairings listed) | Complete

The Language of Tomorrow by silasfinch for justdreaming88 | Rated T | Ellie Bartlet/Original Female Character(s) | In Progress

Figures of Speech by Darsynia | Rated T | Toby Ziegler/Original Female Character | In progress

The Other Woman by Morgan [archived by westwingfancentral_archivist] | Rated T | C. J. Cregg/Toby Ziegler | Complete

Where The Hell…? by dumbchemist | Rated T | No pairings listed | In progress

If You Only Knew (The Way I Feel About You) by eowyn_of_rohan | Rated E | Josh Lyman/Sam Seaborn | Complete

Multiple Pairings

Rumors and News by Shinyrosa (The Newsroom crossover) | Rated T | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss, Will McAvoy/MacKenzie McHale | In progress

pray for rain by jazzjo | Rated M | C.J. Cregg/Andrea Wyatt, Andrea Wyatt/Toby Ziegler | Complete

The Times They Are A-Changin' by mlea7675 | Rated T | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss, Ainsley Hayes/Sam Seaborn, C. J. Cregg/Toby Ziegler, Zoey Bartlet/Charlie Young, Abbey Bartlet/Jed Bartlet, Leo McGarry/Annabeth Schott, Helen Santos/Matt Santos | Complete

too wise to woo peaceably by jazzjo | Rated G | C.J. Cregg/Andrea Wyatt, Josh Lyman/Donna Moss, Abbey Bartlet/Jed Bartlet | In Progress

The Sex Life of Punctuation by krazykitkat | Rated E | Danny Concannon/C.J. Cregg, C. J. Cregg/Toby Ziegler | Complete

Not Quite the Parent Trap by eowyn_of_rohan | Rated T | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss, Ainsley Hayes/Sam Seaborn | In Progress

The West Wing Miscellaneous Drabbles by krazykitkat | Rated M | C. J. Cregg/Carol Fitzpatrick, C.J. Cregg/Charlie Young, Andrea Wyatt/Toby Ziegler | In Progress

Just a Taste by kcat1971 | Rated G | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss, Abbey Bartlet/Jed Bartlet, Zoey Bartlet/Charlie Young, Ainsley Hayes/Sam Seaborn | In Progress

THE WEEKLY PRESS BRIEFING TEAM CAN BE REACHED VIA THE FOLLOWING METHODS:

Twitter: @TWWPress

Email: [email protected]

Feel free to let us know if we missed something, if you have an event you’d like us to promote, or if you have an item that you’d like included in the next briefing!

3 notes · View notes

brookston · 2 days ago

Text

Holidays 11.23

Holidays

Arethusa Asteroid Day

Armed Forces Day (Lithuania)

Asian Corpsetwt Day [Every 23rd]

Big Help Day

Can You Find Your Old Rubik’s Cube and Still Work It Day

Chicory Day (French Republic)

Color Photos Day

Cutty Sark Day

Doctor Who Day

Do What the Heck You Want Day (Oklahoma)

Family Volunteer Day

Felt Day

Fibonacci Day

Flag Day (Niger)

Flipbook Day

Giorgoba (St. George's Day; Georgia)

Hadakambo Festival (Japan)

International Day of the Word

International Day to End Impunity

International Image Consultant Day

International Polyamory Day

Jukebox Day

Kinrō Kansha no Hi (Labor Thanksgiving Day; Japan)

Life Magazine Day

Madison Beer Day (New York)

Monkey Banquet (Thailand)

National Adoption Day

National Day to Combat Child & Youth Cancer (Brazil)

National Margaret Day

National Polyamory Day (Canada)

National Survivors of Suicide Loss Day

Nursing Support Workers Day (UK)

Old Clem’s Night (Blacksmith Festival)

One Cup of Tea Day (Japan)

Paranoia Day

Pencil Sharpener Day

Repudiation Day (Maryland)

Rudolf Maister Day (Slovenia)

Seng Kut Snem (Meghalaya, India)

TARDIS Day (Dr. Who)

Thankful For My Dog Day

Thespius' Day (Greek Mischief Ghost)

Traffic Police Day (Kazakhstan)

Virtual Reality Day

Wolfenoot

World Watercolor Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Eat a Cranberry Day

National Bar Day

National Cashew Day

National Espresso Day

Independence & Related Days

Luxembourg (Separated from Netherlands; 1890)

St. Charlie (Declared; 2008) [unrecognized]

4th Saturday in November

Holodomor Remembrance Day (Ukraine) [4th Saturday]

International Aura Awareness Day [4th Saturday]

Salacious Saturday [4th Saturday of Each Month]

Sandwich Saturday [Every Saturday]

Sausage Saturday [4th Saturday of Each Month]

Six For Saturday [Every Saturday]

Spaghetti Saturday [Every Saturday]

Weekly Holidays beginning November 23 (3rd Full Week of November)

Sherlock Holmes Wekend (thru 11.24)

Festivals Beginning November 23, 2024

Burbank Winter Wine Walk (Burbank, California)

Cheese and Chocolate Weekend (Chisago City, Minnesota) [thru 11.24]

Cheese & Meat Festival (Portland, Oregon)

Festival of Trees (Methuen, Massachusetts) [thru 12.7]

Holiday Celebration and Winter Market (Rapid City, South Dakota)

Holiday Fineries at the Wineries (New Paltz, New York) [thru 11.24]

Holiday Light Parade (Baraboo, Wisconsin)

Jingle Bell Chocolate Tour (Jackson, New Hampshire) [thru 12.22]

Magnificent Mile Lights Festival (Chicago, Illinois)

Maine Harvest Festival (Bangor, Maine) [thru 11.24]

Monkey Buffet Festival (Lopburi, Thailand) [thru 11.24]

Mount Clemens Santa Parade (Mount Clemens, Michigan)

Natchitoches Christmas Festival (Natchitoches, Louisiana) [1.6.2025]

New York Craft Brewers Festival (Syracuse, New York)

Serbian Food Festival & Bazaar (Lenexa, Kansas)

Stockholm Christmas Market (Stockholm, Sweden) [12.23]

Tokyo Filmex (Tokyo, Japan) [thru 12.1]

Wi-Does Wine Walk (Eagle River, Wisconsin)

Yankeetown Art, Crafts & Seafood Festival (Yankeetown, Florida) [thru 11.24]

Feast Days

Alexander Nevsky (Repose, Russian Orthodox Church)

Amphilochius, Bishop of Iconium (Christian; Saint)

Chiron’s Day (Pagan)

Clement I, Pope (Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, and the Lutheran Church)

Columbanus (Christian; Saint)

Daniel (Christian; Saint)

D'Aranda (Positivist; Saint)

Derek Walcott (Writerism)

Erté (Artology)

Feast of Qawl (Speech; Baha'i)

Feast of the Wizard-Blacksmith (Saxon; Everyday Wicca)

Felicitas of Rome (a.k.a. Felicity; Christian; Saint)

Fountain of Riddles (Muppetism)

Frederick Nietzsche Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Fred Wah (Writerism)

General Debauchery Day (Pastafarian)

Gregory of Girgenti (Christian; Saint)

José Clemente Orozco (Artology)

Konstantin Korovin (Artology)

Marc Simont (Artology)

Mary Brewster Hazelton (Artology)

Miguel Agustín Pro, Blessed (One of Saints of the Cristero War; Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church)

Niiname-Sai (Japanese Grain Festival)

Paulinus of Wales (Christian; Saint)

Shinjosai Festival (Rice Harvest; Celebrating Granddaughter Goddess of Solar Deity Amaterasu; Japan)

Stendahl (Writerism)

Trudo (a.k.a. Trond or Troll; Christian; Saint)

Wilfetrudis (a.k.a. Vulfetrude; Christian; Saint)

Woofenoot (Pastafarian)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Lucky Day (Philippines) [64 of 71]

Tomobiki (友引 Japan) [Good luck all day, except at noon.]

Premieres

Against the Grain, by Bad Religion (Album; 1990)

Areopagitica, by John Milton (Pamphlet; 1644)

Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2), by Pink Floyd (Song; 1979)

Arthur Christmas (Animated Film; 2011)

The Artist (Film; 2011)

The Atrocity Exhibition, by J.G. Ballard (Novel; 1970)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl (Novel; UK 1964)

Chinese Democracy, by Guns ’N’ Roses (Album; 2008)

The Dance Contest (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1934)

Devotion (Film; 2022)

Doctor Who (UK TV Series; 1963)

Doggystyle, by Snoop Doggy Dogg (Album; 1993)

The Expanse (TV Series; 2015)

The Exterminator (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1945)

The Favourite (Film; 2018)

Fish and Chips (Chilly Willy Cartoon; 1962)

Flying Colours, by C.S. Forester (Novel; 1938)

For Those About To Rock We Salute You, by AC/DC (Album; 1981)

G.I. Blues (Film; 1960) [Elvis Presley #5]

Glass Onion (Film; 2022)

Hugo (Film; 2011)

Inner Workings (Disney Cartoon; 2016)

It’s Only a Flesh Wound or Better Lead Than Dead (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S6, Ep. 322; 1964)

Just Friends (Film; 2005)

The Lonesome Stranger (MGM Cartoon; 1940)

Love in a Cold Climate, by Nancy Mitford (Novel; 1949)

Moana (Animated Disney Film; 2016)

Mouse Trouble (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1944)

The Muppets (Film; 2011)

Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (Film; 1994)

My Sweet Lord, by George Harrison (Song; 1970)

No Smoking (Disney Cartoon; 1951)

Pretty Peaches (Adult Film; 1978)

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (Novel; 1937)

Pride & Prejudice (Film; 2015)

Scrooged (Film; 1988)

Small Fry (Pixar Cartoon; 2011)

Strange World (Animated Disney Film; 2022)

Tampopo (Film; 2016)

Tea For The Tillerman, by Cat Stevens (Album; 1970)

The Ten Commandments (Film; 1923)

Terms of Endearment (Film; 1983)

The Three Musketeers (Hanna-Barbera Animated TV Special; 1973)

Tito’s Guitar (Color Rhapsody Cartoon; 1942)

Wednesday (TV Series; 2022)

The Worrying’ of the Green or The Look of the Irish (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S6, Ep. 321; 1964)

Today’s Name Days

Clemens, Columban, Detlef (Austria)

Aleko, Aleksandar, Aleksandra (Bulgaria)

Klement, Kolumban, Lukrecija (Croatia)

Klement (Czech Republic)

Clemens (Denmark)

Kleement, Leemet, Leemo (Estonia)

Ismo (Finland)

Clément (France)

Clemens, Columbia, Detlef, Salvator (Germany)

Amfilohios, Elenos (Greece)

Kelemen, Klementina (Hungary)

Clemente, Colombano (Italy)

Zigfrīda, Zigrīda, Zigrids (Latvia)

Adelė, Doviltas, Klemensas, Liubartė (Lithuania)

Klaus, Klement (Norway)

Adela, Erast, Felicyta, Klemens, Klementyn, Orestes, Przedwoj (Poland)

Antonie (Romania)

Klement (Slovakia)

Clemente, Lucrecia (Spain)

Klemens (Sweden)

Augusta, Augustina (Ukraine)

Clem, Clemence, Clement, Clementina, Clementine, Crecia, Lucrecia (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 328 of 2024; 38 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 6 of Week 47 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Hagal (Hailstone) [Day 28 of 28]

Chinese: Month 10 (Yi-Hai), Day 23 (Xin-Mao)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 22 Heshvan 5785

Islamic: 21 Jumada I 1446

J Cal: 28 Wood; Sevenday [28 of 30]

Julian: 10 November 2024

Moon: 43%: Waning Crescent

Positivist: 20 Frederic (12th Month) [Campomanes / Turgot]

Runic Half Month: Is (Stasis) [Day 2 of 15]

Season: Autumn or Fall (Day 62 of 90)

Week: 3rd Full Week of November

Zodiac: Sagittarius (Day 2 of 30)

#calendar #Holidays

1 note · View note

celtfather · 3 months ago

Text

Kitty's Gone A-Milking #675

Songs of Ireland and more on the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast #675 . Subscribe now!

Tradify, High Octane, Sassenach, The Drowsy Lads, Altan, Brobdingnagian Bards, Louise Bichan, Hayley Griffiths, Toby Bresnahan, Natalie Padilla, Philippe Barnes, Tom Phelan, Jigjam, Lúnasa, River Driver

GET CELTIC MUSIC NEWS IN YOUR INBOX

The Celtic Music Magazine is a quick and easy way to plug yourself into more great Celtic culture. Enjoy seven weekly news items for Celtic music and culture online. Subscribe now and get 34 Celtic MP3s for Free.

VOTE IN THE CELTIC TOP 20 FOR 2024

This is our way of finding the best songs and artists each year. You can vote for as many songs and tunes that inspire you in each episode. Your vote helps me create next year's Best Celtic music of 2024 episode. You have just three weeks to vote this year. Vote Now!

You can follow our playlist on Spotify to listen to those top voted tracks as they are added every 2 - 3 weeks. It also makes it easier for you to add these artists to your own playlists. You can also check out our Irish & Celtic Music Videos.

THIS WEEK IN CELTIC MUSIC

0:15 - Tradify "Molly Malone & Kitty's Gone a - Milking" from Take Flight

3:35 - WELCOME

7:12 - High Octane "Jurassic Reels" from High Octane

13:14 - Sassenach "A Chuachag Nam Beann/The Cuckoo of the Mountain" from Passages

16:30 - The Drowsy Lads "Up and About in the Morning (Jigs)" from Wide Awake

21:08 - Altan “Gabhaim Molta Bríde" from Donegal

25:32 - FEEDBACK

29:48 - Brobdingnagian Bards "Paddy McCollough" from Songs of Ireland

33:13 - Louise Bichan "Margaret's Walk to the Pier" from Out of My Own Light

39:36 - Hayley Griffiths "Loch Lomond" from Far from Here

43:45 - Toby Bresnahan "Crabs in the Skillet - Ten Penny Bit - Colerain Jig" from All In Good time

48:24 - THANKS

50:37 - Natalie Padilla "Immortal, Invisible" from Paths and Places

54:25 - Philippe Barnes and Tom Phelan "Midnight Accountant" from The Clearwater Sessions

58:10 - Jigjam "Bluebird" from Phoenix

1:02:23 - Lúnasa "Man from Moyasta" from Live in Kyoto

1:06:05 - CLOSING

1:06:53 - River Driver "Home" from Flanagan's Shenanigans! Live at The Celt

1:10:30 - CREDITS

The Irish & Celtic Music Podcast was produced by Marc Gunn, The Celtfather and our Patrons on Patreon. The show was edited by Mitchell Petersen with Graphics by Miranda Nelson Designs. Visit our website to follow the show. You’ll find links to all of the artists played in this episode.

Todd Wiley is the editor of the Celtic Music Magazine. Subscribe to get 34 Celtic MP3s for Free. Plus, you’ll get 7 weekly news items about what’s happening with Celtic music and culture online. Best of all, you will connect with your Celtic heritage.

Please tell one friend about this podcast. Word of mouth is the absolute best way to support any creative endeavor.

Finally, remember. Reduce, reuse, recycle, and think about how you can make a positive impact on your environment.

Promote Celtic culture through music at http://celticmusicpodcast.com/.

WELCOME THE IRISH & CELTIC MUSIC PODCAST

* Helping you celebrate Celtic culture through music. I am Marc Gunn. I’m a Celtic musician and podcaster. This podcast is for fans of Celtic music of all shapes and sizes. Not necessarily from Ireland or Scotland, but from around the globe. Because there is much great Celtic music from around the world.

We are here to build a diverse Celtic community and help the incredible artists who so generously share their music with you.

If you hear music you love, please email artists to let them know you heard them on the Irish and Celtic Music Podcast. Remember. Musicians depend on your generosity to keep making music. So please find a way to support them. Buy a CD, Album Pin, Shirt, Digital Download, or join their communities on Patreon.

You can find a link to all of the artists in the shownotes, along with show times, when you visit our website at celticmusicpodcast.com.

Today’s show is sponsored by Richard Trest of the Middle Tennessee Highland Games & Celtic Festival on Sept 7 - 8, 2024 at Sanders Ferry Park, Hendersonville. You’ll enjoy music from Tuatha Dea, Kris Colt, The Secret Commonwealth, The Devil’s Brigade, The Sternwheelers, Doon the Brae, Nosey Flynn, and Colin Grant - Adams. Plus, there’s a piping competition, Irish step dancing, highland dance competition, ceilidh dancing and so much more. Join Richard just outside of Nashville Sept 7 - 8. And find more details at www.midtenngames.com

Are you a Celtic artist? Do you know one? We are looking to feature Celtic art in 2025. Please send your designs to us. You will be financially compensated if your art is used.

Next week’s show will officially drop Wednesday evening at 8 PM ET on Patreon. If you want to join other Celts to talk about this week’s show.

If you are a Celtic musician or in a Celtic band, then please submit your band to be played on the podcast. You don’t have to send in music or an EPK. You will get a free eBook called Celtic Musicians Guide to Digital Music and learn how to follow the podcast. It’s 100% free. Just email Email follow@bestcelticmusic and of course, listeners can learn how to subscribe to the podcast and get a free music - only episode.

Listen to Celtic Christmas Music in a podcast and find out how you can support the show.

THANK YOU PATRONS OF THE PODCAST!

You are amazing. It is because of your generosity that you get to hear so much great Celtic music each and every week.

Your kindness pays for our engineer, graphic designer, Celtic Music Magazine editor, promotion of the podcast, and allows me to buy the music I play here. It also pays for my time creating the show each and every week.

As a patron, you get ad - free and music - only episodes before regular listeners, vote in the Celtic Top 20, stand - alone stories, you get a private feed to listen to the show or you can listen through the Patreon app. All that for as little as $1 per episode.

A special thanks to our Celtic Legends: Bruce, Brian McReynolds, Marti Meyers, Brenda, Alan Schindler, Karen DM Harris, Emma Bartholomew, Dan mcDade, Miranda Nelson, Nancie Barnett, Kevin Long, Gary R Hook, Lynda MacNeil, Kelly Garrod, Annie Lorkowski, Shawn Cali

HERE IS YOUR THREE STEP PLAN TO SUPPORT THE PODCAST

Go to our Patreon page.

Decide how much you want to pledge every week, $1, $5, $25. Make sure to cap how much you want to spend per month.

Keep listening to the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast to celebrate Celtic culture through music.

You can become a generous Patron of the Podcast on Patreon at SongHenge.com.

TRAVEL WITH CELTIC INVASION VACATIONS

Every year, I take a small group of Celtic music fans on the relaxing adventure of a lifetime. We don't see everything. Instead, we stay in one area. We get to know the region through its culture, history, and legends. You can join us with an auditory and visual adventure through podcasts and videos. Learn more about the invasion at http://celticinvasion.com/

#celticmusic #irishmusic #celticmusicpodcast

I WANT YOUR FEEDBACK

What are you doing today while listening to the podcast? Please email me. I’d love to see a picture of what you're doing while listening or of a band that you saw recently.

Email me at follow@bestcelticmusic.

Jason Denen emailed this week: "Marc, I can't support the latest changes to Patreon, do you have a KoFi or PayPal I can use to send you some money."

Make a donation.

Éirinn O'Coscraigh (pron. pronounced Erin O - Cosgrove) emailed: "Dearest Celtfather and purveyor of fine Irish and Celtic music.

I and the Cosgroves have really enjoyed episode 660! I was cooking up a fine dinner with plenty of Irish stew while the episode was playing on the speakers... and the most common phrase we said was, "Who is this?" Wow. Eight debuts!!! from bands and performers never played on the show before and we have nearly never even heard of them before today!

The Low Kings, The Drowsy Lads, Fialla, The Crowfoot Rakes, Blackthorn, Conor Mallon, Fig for a Kiss, and Luas.... Love 'em all.

Thank you for turning us on to these and many others. We have a lot of favourites who are played regularly on the show.

We Cosgroves raise our glasses to you and yours.

Go raibh maith agat!"

Mattie Dalton emailed: "I am always trying but thank you for letting me know about July.

Yes I want a CD. I have been out of the loop for awhile due to illness. I am doing well in recovery, which is slow... Anyway...love you and family much! Oh, do you have the same number as before you moved? Take care!"

GEOFFREY HUFF emailed: "Been listening to your podcast for 18 years or so. Thank you for staying true."

Bill Arnold sent a photo:

Check out this episode!

#celtic #Irish #Scottish #music #Ireland #Scotland

0 notes

dankusner · 7 months ago

Text

That time I interviewed JASON PRIESTLEY

Gigolo a go-go

Die Mommie Die's bisexual rogue Jason Priestley bounces back after near-fatal crash

By DANIEL KUSNER | Nov 28, 2003

Jason Priestley is quite a gentleman.

After grabbing a fresh pack of Marlboros, he offers his guest the first cigarette.

As he lights up and inhales deeply, the former Beverly Hills, 90210 star looks out over a sun-drenched hotel balcony and explains his new lease on life.

"I've always been very goal-oriented and focused on where I was going — so much that I didn't pay attention to the journey that I took to get there. Now I spend more time enjoying the journey," he says, exhaling a luxurious stream of smoke. "I take more time to just savor the good, the bad, the ugly — the whole thing.”

He's recovered remarkably since his racecar crashed at the Kentucky Speedway last year by slamming head-on into an out-side wall at 180 mph.

Priestley broke his back and nose, and suffered fractures to both feet.

After eight months of rehab, he's grateful to be back in the public eye.

Lately, he's been busy promoting Die Mommie Die!, the satirical, must-see faux-noir starring gender-bent impresario Charles Busch.

In the campy salute to '50s melodrama, Priestley plays Tony Parker, a famously well-endowed gigolo and former TV heartthrob who's servicing a washed up pop-star (Busch), her bitchy daughter (Natasha Lyonne) and her slutty son (Stark Sands).

While many of the film's performances are way over the top, Priestley takes a measured approach to his handsome, hung character — and it's rumored that he was typecast.

"I love doing broad comedies. And as an actor, I consider myself pretty familiar with many types of film genres. I have a fond appreciation for quality camp. Valley of the Dolls is just so bad that's it's awesome," he explains. "For me, what makes playing Tony are the lighter comedic touches. He's justified everything in his mind — a sexual predator who’ll do whomever or whatever it takes to reach his goal.”

Because of his mega-success as a teen idol, Priestley now tries to make savvy career choices.

Although he's still trying to shake the wholesome image of Brandon from “90210," gay fans should note that Die Mommie Die! isn't Priestley's first time in a queer film.

He played a gay solider in the cable movie Uncommon Ground, and was the object of John Hurt's affection in Love and Death in Long Island.

"And if you haven't seen it, please tell people to see The Thin Pink Line," he says.

Priestley is talking about the hard-to-find 1999 mockumentary about a filmmaker who investigates the truth behind Chauncey Ledbetter, a nelly convict who insists he's not gay and not guilty of the vicious stabbing of a high school choir teacher.

"It was never released in the U.S., but it's a hilarious film that's now a midnight classic in Japan. I also play a gay character in that," he says about his cameo in the film, which includes appearances by Jennifer Aniston, Margaret Cho, Mike Myers, David Schwimmer and Janeane Garofalo.

"Coming from 90210, I didn't have to look very far to find guys who were on very successful TV shows and then disappeared. I didn't want to be the next Leif Garrett. So I've tried to expand my horizons. So playing gay isn't a big deal for me," the Vancouver-born actor explains. "And hey, I'm from Canada — the land of same-sex marriages. So there!”

Nov 28, 2003

0 notes

oakendesk · 2 years ago

Text

Weird Tales Jun 1933

Margaret Brundage

Argosy Weekly Jun 3 1933

Paul Stahr

#golden age art #pulp magazine art #pulp art #pulp art 1933 #Weird Tales #Margaret Brundage art #Argosy Weekly #Paul Stahr art #byronrimbaud

1 note · View note

osharenippon · 1 year ago

Text

Shoujo Manga's Golden Decade (Part 3)

Part 1

Part 2

Follow the Trend

Before we move on to the third movement of the '70s, let's take a quick look at an essential characteristic of shoujo manga: its sensitivity to trends.

The early '70s were a confusing time for the industry. There was extreme freedom in certain corners, with Yukari Ichijo, Machiko Satonaka, and other prominent artists drawing very adult-like drama in shoujo magazines for very young girls. In contrast, there was also a lot of moralism. The fact manga wasn't taken very seriously meant magazines could get away with a lot since adults considered them terrible influences anyway. But, at the same time, since manga wasn't a respected medium, they were also prone to hysteria. Nothing illustrates this scenario better than the controversies surrounding "Harenchi Gakuen," the first full-length series by Go Nagai, who went on to become one of the most celebrated manga artists of the '70s.

Shameless! The nudity and erotic jokes in Go Nagai''s "Harenchi Gakuen" were a hit with kids and teens, scandalized parents and teachers, and made the shoujo industry chase after their own erotic hits.

Nagai, already a respected yet fledgling name in the industry, was recruited by Shueisha to be part of Shonen Jump's inaugural team in the late '60s. Jump, as any manga fan knows, is by far the biggest success story in manga's editorial history. However, back then, it was just a newcomer in a field dominated by Kodansha's Weekly Shonen Magazine and Shogakukan's Shonen Sunday. Go Nagai's series, whose translated name meant "Shameless High School," is Jump's initial smash hit and one of the titles behind its extraordinary ascent.

But "Harenchi Gakuen," a gag manga with erotic jokes, scandalized adults across the nation. The Japanese Parents and Teachers Association successfully led a Shonen Jump boycott, getting the magazine banned in several shops across the country and triggering a media circus. At the time, agitated journalists often accosted Go Nagai at airports and public events, aggressively pointing their mics at him, a consequence of manga-kas celebrity-like notoriety during that era.

Meanwhile, the reaction around "Harenchi Gakuen" did not intimidate other manga magazines. In fact, all of them were pursuing their own "harenchi"-like phenomenon and publishing stories with erotic dirty jokes. And yes, that included the manga magazines for little girls. In Ribon, male manga-ka Hikaru Yuzuki was responsible for the "dirty" manga series. At Weekly Margaret, Yuzuki also had a considerable hit with the high school comedy "Elite Kyousoukyoku," which, while not precisely "ecchi," had a tone reminiscent of Nagai's work. At Nakayoshi, the artist in charge of this type of content was none other than a pre-"Candy Candy" Yumiko Igarashi.

Before finding success with the smash hit "Candy Candy" manga, Yumiko Igarashi was the Nakayoshi artist in charge of recreating the "harenchi" phenomenon in the pages of the magazine. Above, in a good display of how public manga artists were in the '70s, Yumiko describes her panties as part of a Nakayoshi feature.

The "harenchi" phenomenon hinted at a shoujo field that wasn't yet wholly solidified and, therefore, was taking cues straight from the shonen segment, which would later become uncommon. But it also illustrates how the genre projects readers' dreams and preferences.

An example of this is one of Ribon's most popular series during the '70s, Yukko Yamamoto's "Miki to Apple Pie." Serialized between 1973 and 1976, this gag high school manga was full of absurd humor and nudity in the "Harenchi" vein. The twist is that it also had everything girls dreamed of.

The "apple pie" in the title was a reference to the lead character's favorite dessert during the time the American apple pie had just arrived in Japan and was considered the trendiest sweet. Miki Miyazawa, a popular and beautiful girl who served as the proxy for readers and was loosely modeled after talento Aki Aizawa, also loved astrology and the horoscope, and the romantic lead was a transfer student named Hideki Nanjo, who was a carbon copy of Hideki Saijo, the biggest popstar heartthrob of the '70s. Basically, "Miki to Apple Pie"'s central premise was "What if the popstars girls go crazy for was your silly gorgeous classmate?".

In fact, a testament to Saijo's popularity was how many shoujo manga romantic partners of the era used him as a model. Besides "Miki to Apple Pie," inserts of him were present in Satonaka Machiko's "Spotlight," Shigeko Maehara's "Kimi Iro no Hibi," Mayumi Yoshida's "Lemon Hakusho," among others.

With nudity, slapstick humor, and numerous references to trends and pop culture, "Miki to Apple Pie" became a sensation in the pages of '70s Ribon. The romantic lead, Hideki Nanjo, modeled after heartthrob Hideki Saiji, frequently performed impromptu renditions of popular hits from stars like Agnes Chan, Finger Five, Momoe Yamaguchi, Junko Sakurada, and, of course, Hideki Saiji himself. Full of shockingly offensive and scatological jokes, very little was considered off-limits, making "Miki to Apple Pie" a quintessential example of the distinctive '70s shoujo manga published during the peak of the "Harenchi" boom. It also serves as a perfect time capsule of its era, satirizing and commenting on everything popular at the time—from iconic products like the Panasonic Quintrix television and memorable TV commercials to celebrities, the toilet paper shortage during the Oil Shock, the Discover Japan campaign, and the widespread teenage girls' fascination with horoscopes. This manga elevated shoujo manga's trend obsession to unprecedented heights and mixed it with absurdity.

Saijo is a relic of the past, but shoujo echoing the trends of its time is a timeless characteristic of the genre. That's why most shoujo artists are women who are close in age to their readers: this sensibility to girls' desires is a vital component of the market. From the way the characters look to how they dress to even the shape of their eyebrows, everything is supposed to reflect its time. Therefore, to successfully create shoujo, one has to understand how girls perceive themselves and also how they want to be perceived. How they dress and look, but also how and what they dream of looking and wearing. What they aspire to and, above all, what they find attractive in the opposite sex.

It was precisely that sensitivity and this unique sense of what girls want and dream of that led to the creation of what is now the number 1 shoujo manga trope: the high school romance starring an unassuming, ordinary heroine. Leading the way was another group of artists that, while not as internationally celebrated as the Year 24 Group, are definitely equally as crucial to shoujo history.

The Otometique Fervor

An "otometique" girl by Mutsu A-ko and some of the artist's popular furoku.

Yoshiko Nishitani, another of Shueisha's top shoujo artists of that era, is often credited as being the first to create a series around ordinary high school love. She did that in 1965's "Marie Lou," published in Weekly Margaret. "Marie Lou" was set in an American high school and had a very fashionable white girl as its lead. On her next manga, "Lemon to Sakuranbo" (Lemon and Cherries), she'd once again achieve immense success by bringing the teen romance closer to reality, using an ordinary Japanese high school as a backdrop.

While Nishitani pioneered this narrative style, the rise of more realistic, everyday stories gained momentum about a decade later. One catalyst for this was the "Otometique boom," a phenomenon that unfolded in the pages of Shueisha's Ribon magazine in the latter half of the '70s.

The term "Otometique" combines "otome," meaning "maiden" or a pure young girl, with the "-tique" (tikku in Japanese) suffix. A-ko Mutsu was the artist who spearheaded this movement.

A-ko made her debut in Ribon in 1971 at the age of 18. Her popularity skyrocketed four years later when her first short stories, led by "Tasogaredoki ni mitsuketa no" (What I Found at Twilight), were compiled into a tankobon that became a best-seller. This success elevated her status in Ribon, and soon her "otometique" style became the talk of the town.

Mutsu A-ko's art.

In contrast to the dramatic narratives of the "Satonaka-domain" faction, "otometique" stories adopted a more straightforward structure devoid of major plot twists and intense drama. Instead, they focused on modest love stories where the exhilarating moments were ordinary occurrences, like spotting a cute boy on the street or touching a crush's hand for the first time. While some stories included sad or supernatural elements, readers were captivated by the uncomplicated, heartwarming moments.

Ako's heroines were ordinary, unassuming schoolgirls, often characterized by shyness and insecurity. Different from extraordinary characters like Lady Oscar from "BeruBara" or the iconic Madame Butterfly tennis star in "Ace wo Nerae," Ako's protagonists were life-sized.

"Otometique" manga often incorporated romantic comedy tropes, such as chance encounters with cute guys on the way to school or the transformation into beauty after removing glasses. The happy endings typically featured a boy reciprocating the girl's love by accepting her as perfect and beautiful just as she was.

In otometique manga, girls were often in cute plaid and gingham check dresses and skirts, while boys were impeccably dressed in Ivy style, as seen in Mutsu Ako's art above.

While the stories may have seemed mundane, their distinctiveness lay in the meticulous attention to detail. As significant as the exploration of falling in love and discovering inner strength were all the visual details in "otometique" art. Girls had braids or long wavy hair and wore adorable clothes with plaids and gingham-check, as well as cute accessories. At a time when most Japanese girls still had Japanese-style rooms, "otometique" heroines had gorgeous Western-style rooms. They hung out in cozy cafes, made handmade goods, and ate tasty-looking sweets. Houses had French windows and balconies. Boys were tall, lean, with fluffy hair, and were always dressed impeccably in Ivy-style clothes. The "otometique" artists created an atmosphere that perfectly matched girls' aspirations at the time.

Girls often dreamed with having Western-style bedrooms like the ones in Otometique manga.

While Mutsu A-ko was the trailblazer, she was soon joined at the top by two other iconic artists, Yumiko Tabuchi, and Hideko Tachikake. Each of them had their quirks. Tabuchi, for example, often had college girls as her heroines, mirroring herself as a student at the elite, trendy Waseda University. While Tabuchi and A-ko preferred short stories, Tachikake had a penchant for longer series with a bit more drama. But they all had a similar aesthetic and relied on the charm of ordinary love.

The "otometique" phenomenon reflected the trends of the time and foreshadowed the emerging consumer culture that would swallow the country in the next decade. The sophisticated visuals attracted people of all ages, from elementary school-aged girls to highly educated women and men. Both the top public and private universities in Japan, Tokyo University and Waseda, respectively, had famous "otometique" clubs full of students who loved the genre and the style. The mangas were so trendy that they were often referred to as "Ivy mangas," in reference to the iconic Ivy style that was the catalyst of Japan's youth fashion, which was going through a second revival around that time.

While projecting an atmosphere that girls dreamed of, "otometique" also showcases '70s youth and girls' culture. Melancholic, simple love stories among young people were also the theme of the big folk hits of the time. Ivy or country fashion and long hair for men were the top fashion trends. Western-inspired ideals- in decoration, fashion, and musical taste- were pervasive. And creating subcultures and hobbies around consumption was the path society was taking. Simple life-sized stories as a narrative preference echoed the reality of Japan, which was stabilizing itself after decades of turbulence. These stories brought what the country was craving: comfort.

Above, a Mutsu A-ko's bedroom that lived in girls' imagination. Below, the room is recreated in a 2021 exhibition of Ako's art.

Meanwhile, the rise of consumer culture among young girls led to a "fancy goods" boom, with stores selling cute stationery, stickers, and small items popping up everywhere around the country. Illustrators and companies, eager to capitalize, spared no time in creating appealing mascots and drawings to adorn these goods, and it was in that period that Sanrio created Hello Kitty.

Ribon and Nakayoshi, which were "furoku" magazines, also benefitted. Furoku are extra gifts that come with the purchase of the magazines. And the "otometique" boom meant Ribon could include "fancy goods" -- like notebooks, stickers, letter sets, and small paper goods readers could assemble -- with the illustration of these highly sought-after artists. Most girls around Japan could only dream of Western-style rooms, a closet full of cute Ivy fashion, trips to trendy cafes, and homes with French windows. But they could recreate a bit of this sophisticated atmosphere by having letter sets, notebooks, stickers, and small accessories with A-ko Mutsu, Hideko Tachikake, and Yumiko Tabuchi's art. These popular furokus and the "otometique" stories were critical for Ribon magazine to surpass 1 million copies in circulation.

Girls admired A-ko, Tabuchi, and Tachikake not only as artists creating heartfelt stories with attractive atmospheres but as personalities. The trio, who were in their late teens and early 20s, closely resonated with their fans due to their proximity in age and shared interests. The readers were moved when Ribon featured an article in which A-ko Mutsu had the opportunity to meet and interview her favorite singer, the rock star Kenji Sawada, a prominent teen idol of that era. The positive response was so overwhelming that, a few issues later, Hideko Tachikake, an avid folk music enthusiast, also had the chance to interview her idol, Kosetsu Minami, the lead singer of Kaguyahime.

An otometique girl by Yumiko Tabuchi (left) and a collection of furoku illustrated by her as seen on a 2021 exhibition on her art.

The popularity of "otometique" peaked in 1977. By 1981, the boom had almost faded, and A-ko, Tabuchi, and Tachikake published their last works on Ribon in 1985. Tabuchi and Tachikake married and semi-retired, while A-ko successfully transitioned to manga for adult women.

Despite the end of the style, "otometique" permeated every corner of Japanese society. Its furoku and atmosphere were one of the bases for the almighty "kawaii" culture which now rules the country. The life-sized heroines and focus on mundane love stories and everyday emotions went on to become one of the main characteristics of the shoujo manga industry.

The Iwadate Domain

For years, the influence of "otometique" has been downplayed, one of the reasons why the movement is almost undiscussed in the West. However, in the last few years, best-selling books reminiscing the style were published, and exhibitions of A-ko Mutsu and Yumiko Tabuchi's works were big hits across Japan. A-ko, who moved back from Tokyo to her hometown in Fukuoka and never stopped creating manga, was recognized by the local prefecture as an honorary citizen and gained a permanent museum in the area, signaling her importance to the industry.

But while the "otometique" phenomenon happened on the pages of Ribon magazine, Mutsu, Tabuchi, and Tachikake weren't the only three attracting a massive audience to this type of real-life love story.

Mariko Iwadate's work was extremely popular from the late '70s to the mid-2000s. Above, a collection of her work from her Margaret era.

Going back to the research of sociologist Shinji Miyadai, three domains divided '70s shoujo. There was the "Moto Hagio domain," which included the Year 24 artists. The Hagio domain was more highbrow and intellectually challenging, and many considered it an equivalent to literature, attracting the intellectual elite that sniffed at manga in general. It is by far the most discussed and debated '70s shoujo movement, as well as the most famous in the West, but it was the least commercially successful at the time. Then there was the "Machiko Satonaka domain," with emotionally driven stories full of drama, plot twists, and larger-than-life heroines. Most of the '70s best-selling shoujo series fall under this category, which includes the work of Yukari Ichijo and Ryoko Ikeda and sports manga like "Ace wo Nerae," among others.

Finally, there's the domain in which the "otometique" stories were created. And Miyadai doesn't name it after any of the Ribon artists, calling it the "Mariko Iwadate domain" instead.

In the Satonaka domain, the heroine served as a proxy for the reader in a fantastical world, while in the Iwadate domain, the heroine represented the reader in the real world. But, after all, who is the influential Iwadate?

Mariko Iwadate, who made her debut in 1973 at the age of 16, rose to prominence by embracing the "otometique" style during its peak in the late '70s. Similar to Ribon artists, Iwadate, who mostly worked for Weekly Margaret, captivated readers with her elegant and stylish art, featuring cute clothes, accessories, and intricate details.

Miyadai's choice to name the category after Iwadate rather than the genre pioneer A-ko Mutsu may be attributed to Iwadate's sustained success. After leaving Ribon in 1985, A-ko remained prolific and had a dedicated audience, but she couldn't replicate her peak. Iwadate's popularity, on the other hand, continued unabated even after she transitioned to adult women's manga. Iwadate's work, recognized for its emotional depth, became a significant inspiration for trailblazers like best-selling novelist Banana Yoshimoto and avant-garde manga artist Kyoko Okazaki. In 1993, when Miyadai wrote his book, Iwadate's fame and respect probably made her a more recognizable figure for readers to associate with the category.

Iwadate's soft girly art and story-telling made her extremely popular and influential.

Mariko Iwadate's narrative, especially her post-80s work, has a more psychological and mature element to it when compared to Ribon's artists. She, as an artist, bridged the gap between "otometique" and another highly influential "Iwadate domain" artist, Fusako Kuramochi.

Fusako Kuramochi, debuting while still a teen in the early '70s at Bessatsu Margaret (Betsuma), initially emulated her favorite artists, Moto Hagio and Keiko Takemiya, before finding her style—a realistic portrayal of romance with a substantial psychological element. Her success contributed to shaping Betsuma, alongside Ribon, as arguably the most influential and commercially thriving shoujo title -- the go-to magazine for high school rom-com.

Like the otometique artists, Fusako Kuramochi first gained prominence with short stories and one-shots. In 1979, she wrote her first series, "Oshiaberi Kaidan," in which each chapter depicted the life of a young girl from junior high to her graduation day. In 1980, she published "Itsumo poketto ni Chopin," a classical music manga that also dealt with growing up as a teenager in the city. From then on, she'd publish about two hit series every year in Betsuma before graduating successfully to adult women's manga in 1994.

Kuramochi's success was due to her great skill in portraying girls going through crushes, heartbreaks, and jealousy. The psychological elements struck a chord with readers and helped her create male romantic leads that were extremely popular.

Another component of Kuramochi's work was her sophistication, a result of her upbringing. Her father was the chairman of one of Japan's biggest printing companies, and she was raised in Shibuya, in the center of Tokyo, while attending an exclusive all-female institution. The fact she spent her youth in the middle of Tokyo's hustle and bustle meant she knew the capital well, and her works were full of references to trendy cafes, restaurants, nightspots, and neighborhoods. Her Betsuma work was published right before and during Japan's ostentatious Bubble years, so many chasing an exciting city life referred to her work.

While her stories reflected the reality and aspirations of the Bubble years, Kuramochi's true gift lay in providing readers with a realistic depiction of growing up and falling in love, making her work immensely popular. In general, consumerism -- displayed through clothes, accessories, and decor -- isn't as crucial to her success as the three Ribon "otometique" artists.

While Fusako Kuramochi is part of the "Iwadate domain," you can argue that Kuramochi evolved into her own category, which was vital for the development of real-life love stories in shoujo in the '80s and '90s and the rise of other highly-influential artists like Ryo Ikuemi.

But going back to the three '70s movements, "otometique"/"Iwadate domain" was definitely the most influential one in steering shoujo manga in its current direction. On the other hand, all of these domains co-existed together and fed from each other. In 1977, during the "otometique" boom, Yukari Ichijo remained untouched as one of Ribon's most popular artists with her emotionally charged dramas. It was the success of Ichijo and other "Satonaka domain" artists that allowed the "Hagio domain" to debut and take risks. In turn, it was the "Hagio domain" that showed there were rewards for young risk-taking shoujo artists.

Yumiko Oshima, known for her girly art and sensitive story-telling, is the inspiration behind the otometique boom.

When asked which artist inspired them the most, both A-ko Mutsu and Mariko Iwadate gave the same answer: Yumiko Oshima. Oshima, known for her quirky love stories and girly art, is an artist who trained alongside Hagio and Takemiya at the Oizumi salon and rose as part of the "Year 24 group," publishing risk-taking manga in Shogakukan and Hakusensha's magazine after a brief stint in Weekly Margaret. In other words, despite the striking differences, the origin of the "Iwadate domain" is the "Hagio domain."

While the influence of the idealized real-life romance is the one we can better observe today, contemporary shoujo would not exist if not for all these three styles meshing together and creating something new. And from that, things kept evolving and changing and gaining new forms. Because, once again, manga, and especially shoujo manga, is about reflecting the girly ideals of its time.

46 notes · View notes

justforbooks · 1 year ago

Photo

Silvio Berlusconi, who has died aged 86, dominated the public life of his country in a way no Italian had done since the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. He was the Republic’s longest-serving prime minister. But whereas he was brilliant at winning and holding power, the use he made of it was disastrous. The “Berlusconi decade” – he held power for eight of the years between 2001 and 2011 – will be remembered as a period in which the Italian economy virtually stood still.

Berlusconi’s influence extended far beyond politics and the economy. It can be argued that he gathered to himself more power than was ever wielded by one individual in a western democracy. At the height of his career he was Italy’s richest man, and there was almost no area of Italian life untouched by his influence. His business empire encompassed property and insurance, debt financing and retail interests. He was the chairman of his country’s league-topping football side.

But, above all, he and the members of his immediate family held sway over a media empire whose potential for influence on public opinion had no parallel in Europe. It included three of Italy’s four commercial networks, two large publishing houses, two national newspapers, the country’s largest film production and distribution firm, and 50 periodicals, including one of Italy’s two main weekly news magazines. Since the state-owned RAI’s three TV channels were also answerable to Berlusconi in his role as prime minister, he directly or indirectly influenced 90% of everything that was watched on television in a country where TV enjoyed disproportionate influence because so few people read its newspapers.

The importance Berlusconi attached to images was characteristic of a society that has invariably placed great stress on appearance. Always immaculately dressed, he sported a tan as unchanging as his smile. But, as he aged, it became increasingly difficult for him to project the image he sought, and in 2004 he invited widespread ridicule outside Italy by having first a facelift and then a hair transplant.

Berlusconi’s career can be seen as one long exercise in getting around obstacles that, in a society less tolerant of rule-breaking, would have stopped him long before he reached government. He constructed a national commercial television network in a country where the possibility had been considered illegal. He entered politics despite a breathtaking assortment of conflicting interests. He survived repeated attempts to have him put in jail for offences including the bribing of judges. He was found guilty on several occasions. Some of his convictions were overturned on appeal. But in the remaining cases, he was saved from the consequences of his dishonesty by a statute of limitations.

In a way that was reminiscent of Margaret Thatcher, he cut across class barriers to construct an ample majority for the right. But, unlike his fellow conservative, he was never fully a politician. Indeed, his admirers credited him with pioneering a form of “anti-politics”. Certainly Berlusconi could be rash, tactless and, on occasions, outrageous. In a period of less than two months in 2003, he compared a German MEP with a concentration camp guard, said Italian judges were “mentally disturbed” and appeared to defend Mussolini’s fascist regime. But, in several respects, he was a product of the established political order he appeared to be challenging.

His success was made possible by patronage from one of its most corrupt politicians, Bettino Craxi. He may also have benefited greatly from his membership of the secretive and conspiratorial P2 Masonic lodge. Berlusconi always claimed that his greatest achievement was to save Italy from communism at the 1994 elections. And Italian capitalism was indeed in deep crisis then. The collapse of the Christian Democrats and the socialists left business people without politicians who could oil the wheels of government for them. Of no one was this truer than Berlusconi, whose patron, Craxi, had fled the country.

The only sizeable movement left more or less unscathed by the scandals ravaging the old order was the Party of the Democratic Left (PDS), which had ditched Marxism after the fall of the Berlin Wall. When he “came on to the pitch” (the archetypal example of his astute application of sporting terms to political life), Berlusconi joined a side with almost no players. Yet within just a few months his team had won, and its “captain” had accomplished at least two remarkable feats. One was to show for the first time that a politician with money and a firm grip on the mass media could win power without a traditional party rooted in an ideology. Berlusconi’s own party, Forza Italia (“Come on Italy”) was created by his advertising agency, Publitalia.

His other accomplishment was to mould a “new right” from the ruins of the postwar system. Apart from Forza Italia, it included Umberto Bossi’s regionalist Northern League and Gianfranco Fini’s MSI which, for the sake of political respectability, reinvented itself as a “post-fascist” National Alliance. Berlusconi’s coalition later took in the more conservative of the remaining Christian Democrats.

The man who for the best part of 20 years was the undisputed leader of the Italian right was born in a Milan suburb, the son of Luigi Berlusconi, a bank clerk, and his wife, Rosella (nee Bossi, though not related to Umberto). He provided early evidence of a talent for making money by ghostwriting essays for his fellow secondary school students. He went on to study law at university and paid for his tuition by selling vacuum cleaners, photographing social events and running a band that played on summer cruise ships. Berlusconi was the vocalist. He was particularly fond of Neapolitan love songs and later in life engaged a restaurant guitarist-singer from Naples to play for him and his guests. He and his resident minstrel made several CDs together.

After graduating in 1961, Berlusconi went straight into business, borrowing the money he needed to set up his first company, Edilnord, from the bank where his father worked. It was not long before he was engaged in a huge project, the development of Milano 2, a complex on the eastern outskirts of his home city that included 4,000 flats, a hotel and offices.

One of the enduring mysteries of Berlusconi’s career is how a young and largely untested property developer was able to get together the capital he needed. He himself refused to say. His adversaries suggested it came from the mafia. His supporters hinted that it was the undeclared savings of rich Milanese who would have otherwise stashed it in Swiss banks.

The roots of Berlusconi’s media empire lay in Milano 2 and a cable television station he set up for its residents, Telemilano. Dodging a law that allowed only the RAI to broadcast nationally, Berlusconi wove a network of local stations that simultaneously broadcast the same programmes. By 1984, when his friend Craxi sanctioned the ruse by decree, Berlusconi’s Fininvest holding company owned three channels: Canale 5, Italia 1 and Rete 4. Two years later, he became chairman of Milan football club and under his indulgent stewardship it once again became one of the most triumphant sides in Europe. He sold the club in 2017 and took over Monza in 2018.

Berlusconi’s first experience of politics was less successful. His 1994 government collapsed before the year was out. Its efforts to curb the powers of the prosecutors who were harrying him provoked a national and international outcry. His attempts to reform the pension system prompted a national strike. And his coalition was beset by internal disagreement. After the prime minister was notified that Fininvest was under investigation for bribing tax officials – while he was hosting an international conference on organised crime – Bossi and his MPs defected to the opposition.

There were times over the next seven years in which it seemed highly likely that Berlusconi would never return to high office. But in 2001 he stormed back in a campaign won, not with a manifesto, but a contract and a biography. On a TV chat show, he flamboyantly signed a “contract with the Italian people” that listed his campaign pledges. As he did so, a skilfully crafted account of his life entitled An Italian Story was being delivered, at Berlusconi’s personal expense, to every household in the land.

His second stint as prime minister was the longest of any Italian politician since the second world war (though, because of a reshuffle in 2005, it technically comprised two governments). After decades of short-lived administrations, Berlusconi’s 2001-06 government marked a unique opportunity to relaunch a country whose economy was already stalling. Instead, he used it largely to deal with issues of personal concern.

Laws were passed that obstructed trans-European investigations (such as one launched into Berlusconi’s Spanish dealings), prevented Rete 4 being moved to satellite, undermined the independence of the prosecution service and provided Berlusconi himself with immunity from prosecution (though that one was overturned by the constitutional court). Pension and labour market reforms were enacted. But the government shied away from the other structural reforms Italy’s ailing economy so obviously needed. Towards the end of its life, moreover, it began to lose its grip on the public accounts.

Mounting concern over Berlusconi’s management of the economy and the public finances coincided with growing divisions in his governing majority. The conservative Christian Democrats became increasingly fractious. An election was due the following year, and as it became clear that the right had little chance of hanging on to power, Berlusconi embarked on a project that – more than any other – betrayed his contempt for the nation he claimed to love. He rammed through parliament an electoral law that tipped the odds in favour of the right and, at the same time, ensured the left would have difficulty in governing if it won.

This breathtakingly cynical legislation made it possible for the winning party to have a majority in the lower house, but not in the upper. There, the odds were in favour of parties, such as the Northern League, whose support was regionally concentrated. Even the politician who drafted it called it a porcata (a “load of rubbish”, but also a “dirty trick”).

The 2005 act did away with first-past-the-post rules that had given Italy both a relatively stable, two-party (or rather, two-alliance) system and single-member constituencies whose parliamentary representatives had an interest in responding to the concerns of their voters. Unsurprisingly, the new law opened a gulf between the electors and the elected that helps explain the revolt against traditional politics, and mainstream politicians, later spearheaded by the comedian Beppe Grillo and his Five Star Movement. However, the immediate effect of the new electoral rules was slight. If the centre-left returned to power with only a two-seat majority in the Senate, it had less to do with the unfairness of the law than with Berlusconi’s genius for campaigning.

Throughout his career, he demonstrated an uncanny ability to monopolise the nation’s attention, often using shock tactics for the purpose. He opened the 2006 campaign by comparing himself to Jesus, and closed it by saying he could not believe the left would win because there were not “that many dickheads around”. In the event, he lost by barely 40,000 votes. And in one of the many ways in which Berlusconi prefigured Donald Trump, he refused to acknowledge defeat. It took almost a month to get him to resign.

The coalition under Romano Prodi that replaced Berlusconi’s government was probably doomed to be short-lived. And its members did not help by squabbling incessantly. But among the causes of its demise two years later was the defection of a senator who in 2013 told prosecutors Berlusconi had paid him €3m to do so.

To the renewed astonishment of Italy’s European partners, Berlusconi coasted to victory in the 2008 election.

More than ever before, foreigners asked how Italians could possibly elect as their leader – not once, not twice, but three times – a man widely viewed outside Italy as a buffoon, or worse. His media power and financial resources certainly accounted for a large part of the answer. But they were never the whole of it. Italians have always loved a winner and he was the embodiment of self-made success. He had a 70-room mansion outside Milan, a villa on the Costa Smeralda, a palazzo in Rome and about 20 other homes. In 1990, he had married the actor Veronica Lario (nee Miriam Bartolini), as his second wife. By the time of their wedding, they had already had a son and two daughters. He had also fathered a son and daughter by his first wife, Carla dall’Oglio, from whom he was divorced in 1985.

Berlusconi’s successful career appeared to offer Italians the hope that, with enough effort and intelligence, they too could escape the rigid curbs imposed on them by their society to have it all. His supporters also liked the way his gags and gaffes marked him out from the normal run of career politicians. But then he was a populist of genius. He was the first modern Italian politician to speak to voters in the language of the streets. Never one to shrink from oversimplifying an issue, he also knew how to push the emotional buttons that would get a response from his compatriots.

He was particularly adept at depicting politics in terms of the family. A scholarly analysis of his speeches concluded he adopted the role of the mamma: endlessly complaining about the sacrifices he made on behalf of his “children”, the electorate, to justify a possessive claim on their loyalty and affection in the form of votes. Perhaps most decisive, though, was Berlusconi’s shameless readiness to appeal to the voters’ basest, most anti-social instincts. His “dickheads” remark was one of many in which Berlusconi sent a coded message to Italians that, if they put him into office, he would not tax them too heavily and would take an indulgent approach to evasion. After 2008, however, the state of Italy’s public accounts, and the obligations imposed on it by membership of the euro, forced him to be more responsible. Nor was that the only promising thing about his fourth government.

Berlusconi had always claimed he had been prevented from carrying out a liberal revolution in Italy because of the obstruction of his allies, particularly the conservative Christian Democrats. But they had split from him in 2006, and the following year Berlusconi embarked on a campaign to forge a united Italian right. In the end, he succeeded only in merging his own party with the National Alliance. But the resulting movement, which he called the Freedom People (PdL), was the nearest thing modern Italy had seen to a mass conservative movement.

By the time of its inaugural congress in March 2009 even some of his most unyielding critics were admitting that he seemed to have learned something from the failure of his earlier governments. Some of his ministers were attempting genuine reforms: imposing changes on Italy’s sclerotic civil service and its hidebound, gerontocratic university system. Then, entirely because of Berlusconi, it all went horribly wrong.

It had long been clear that his marriage was in trouble. As far back as 2002, he had astonished a press conference by commenting on the good looks of his guest, the then Danish prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, and suggesting he might be of interest to Lario.

In 2007, she demanded a public apology after he openly flirted with Mara Carfagna, a former showgirl and glamour model who had been elected to parliament for his party. He gave the apology, but the following year in a move that left feminists open-mouthed he made Carfagna equal opportunities minister. The scandal over her appointment was to pale into insignificance, however, in comparison with what was to come. One theory was that it had to do with the death of Berlusconi’s beloved mother, Rosa, in 2008. She, it was said, had held him back from some of his greater follies and without her restraining influence he lost all sense of proportion and discretion.

The first sign of trouble came, once again, from Lario when she denounced as “shamelessly tacky” a scheme to put up a bevy of showgirls as PdL candidates for the European parliament. Days later, she announced through leaks to the press that she was seeking a divorce and accused her husband of “consorting with minors”. Her accusation brought to light Berlusconi’s never fully explained relationship with a Neapolitan teenager, Noemi Letizia. From then on, it was one sex scandal after another as the public learned of goings-on in the prime minister’s homes reminiscent of the later Roman empire.

First, there were claims that he had used his official plane to fly young women to his estate on the Costa Smeralda. Then came evidence of sex workers mingling with actresses and dancers at dinner parties in his Roman home (one even recorded her pillow talk with the prime minister, which was then put on the internet). But nothing was to be as damaging for Berlusconi as the investigation – and subsequent trial – centring on his relationship with a young Moroccan runaway, Karima el-Mahroug, who was 17 at the time she attended so-called “bunga bunga” parties at his mansion near Milan.

The sex scandals coincided with an accumulation of political and economic storm clouds. Impatient with Berlusconi’s undemocratic management of the PdL, his long-standing ally Fini called unsuccessfully for change before he was ejected, along with a small group of followers in late 2010. Their departure left Berlusconi with a wafer-thin majority, just as his government began to suffer the effects of the global economic crisis. His reaction to the US credit crunch of 2008 had been to insist it would not affect Italy. But the following year the economy shrank by 5.5%, and as 2010 progressed a growing number of Berlusconi’s compatriots began to realise they had been tricked. With the crisis spreading into the eurozone the following year, Berlusconi, his popularity ratings diving, repeatedly tried to avoid implementing the austerity measures demanded of him by the European institutions. Italy’s borrowing costs soared and his supporters grew increasingly restive.

By November 2011, no longer able to command a majority in the lower house of parliament, Berlusconi stepped down to make way for a non-party government headed by the former EU commissioner Mario Monti. Again, it seemed as if his political career was over. But that was to reckon without Berlusconi’s formidable resources and his vested interest in staying in politics, both as a way of keeping out of jail and safeguarding his companies. The following December, after watching as support drained from the PdL, Berlusconi snatched back the leadership, brought down the Monti government and forced an early election.

He did not lead the PdL back to government at the 2013 general election. But by reviving its partnership with the Northern League and promising to restore the proceeds of a much loathed tax on first homes, he saved it from eclipse. His rightwing alliance took enough seats to guarantee it an important role in the bargaining that followed. It ended in a left-right coalition headed by Enrico Letta. Once again, Berlusconi had made himself the arbiter of the Italian government’s fortunes. Or so he thought.

In the summer of 2013, Berlusconi’s legal difficulties turned from an irritant into a nightmare. In June, in a case brought against him because of his involvement with El-Mahroug, he was convicted of paying a juvenile sex worker and then misusing his official position to try to cover up their relationship. He was later acquitted of both charges on appeal.

But in August, his conviction in a less publicised trial involving his group’s trading activities was upheld. Berlusconi was sentenced to four years in jail for tax fraud. Partly because of an earlier amnesty, and partly because he was a first offender, he did not go to prison. But he did have to do community service in a home for elderly people.

Apparently furious with Letta for failing to protect him from the courts, Berlusconi tried to destroy him, as he had Monti. But his party’s ministers in the coalition refused to follow his orders and formed a new party, led by Berlusconi’s erstwhile heir apparent, Angelino Alfano. The rift highlighted the tycoon turned politician’s refusal to choose a political heir. Various successors were proclaimed, but each time Berlusconi’s giant ego got in the way.

Paradoxically, his warmest approval was reserved for an emerging rival: Matteo Renzi, of the centre-left Democratic party, who in early 2014 snatched power from Letta. Soon after, Renzi hatched a deal that pandered to the former prime minister’s vanity: Berlusconi would back the young leader’s ambitious programme of constitutional reform and thereby salvage his tattered reputation. He would emerge from the process as the godparent of a new Italy.

It was not to be. Renzi dumped him before the constitutional reform entered the decisive phase of its passage through parliament – a fateful decision because, without the support of Berlusconi’s party, which had reverted to its old name of Forza Italia, Renzi had to submit his proposals to a referendum, which he lost. By then, however, Berlusconi cut an increasingly baleful figure: the leader of a much-diminished party, surrounded by – critics said, hostage to – a coterie of hangers-on that included his new partner, Francesca Pascale, almost half a century his junior. As the results came in, showing Forza Italia struggling to get into double figures, Berlusconi suffered heart failure and later underwent surgery. It looked as if the curtain had finally come down on the longest running act in the variety show of European politics.

But that was to underestimate the man. Over the months that followed, Berlusconi moulded a new image for himself, as a soft-hearted grandfather – animal-loving and vegetarian, like his partner.

Forza Italia failed to gain any leverage at the 2018 general election, which ushered in a new kind of populism: that of the maverick Five Star Movement. Grillo’s followers were the senior partners in both the coalitions led by Giuseppe Conte that governed Italy until 2021. But Berlusconi’s party returned to power that year as part of a broadly based alliance in support of Conte’s successor, the former European Central Bank president, Mario Draghi.

Less than a year and half later, Berlusconi played a key role in bringing Draghi down. By then, the octogenarian TV tycoon had another improbably young partner, Pascale having left him and formed a partnership with another woman. Berlusconi’s new companion was Marta Fascina, a Forza Italia deputy just 33 years old at the time. Together, they hosted a lunch at one of the former prime minister’s many luxurious residences that sealed Draghi’s fate. Also at the table were Bossi’s successor as head of the League, Matteo Salvini, and Giorgia Meloni, the leader of the Brothers of Italy, a party with roots in neo-fascism that had been steadily eating into the League’s support.

At the general election that followed in 2022, their conservative alliance won an outright majority. But it was Meloni’s party that emerged with the largest number of votes and seats, and the right to take the prime ministership. Though she was significantly more reactionary than Berlusconi on many issues, Meloni, 40 years younger, had a very different conception of the role of women. Indeed, she once publicly criticised his “bunga bunga” parties.

It is profoundly ironic that with his last decisive political intervention, Berlusconi, the very embodiment of condescendingly patriarchal and sexist attitudes towards women, should have opened the way for Italy to acquire not only its first female prime minister, but one whom he found intolerably bossy.

Election to the European parliament in 2019 led to little after his health was affected by Covid-19. When he went into hospital with a lung infection in April he was found to have leukaemia.

He is survived by Marta and his children, Marina, Pier Silvio, Barbara, Eleonora and Luigi.

🔔 Silvio Berlusconi, businessman and politician, born 29 September 1936; died 12 June 2023

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

#JUST FOR BOOKS #Silvio Berlusconi #in memoriam

19 notes · View notes