#char: richard hunter

[sundove88]

Maestro Lance (Beetlejuice Casting Parody)

After Alma Madrigal and Dru Gru die in a car accident, they find themselves stuck haunting their country residence, unable to leave the house. When the unbearable Minatos and their teen daughter Yukina buy the home, the spirits attempt to scare them away without success. Their efforts attract Lance, a rambunctious Maestro whose "help" quickly becomes dangerous for them and innocent Yukina.

Three generations of the Minato family return home to Winter River after an unexpected family tragedy. Still haunted by Maestro Lance, Yukina��s life soon gets turned upside down when her rebellious tweenage daughter discovers a mysterious portal to the afterlife. When someone says Lance’s name three times, the mischievous maestro gleefully returns to unleash his very own brand of mayhem.

In honor of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice!

Lance as Beetlejuice (Balan Wonderworld)

Yukina Minato as Lydia Deetz (BanG Dream)

Okabe Rintarou as Charles Deetz (Steins;Gate)

Bayonetta as Delia Deetz (Bayonetta)

Dru as Adam Maitland (Despicable Me)

Alma Madrigal as Barbara Maitland (Encanto)

Malva as Jane Butterfield (Pokemon)

King Dedede as Otho Fenlock (Kirby)

Mama Imelda as Juno (Coco)

Canele Cookie as Maxie Dean (Cookie Run)

Millie Feuille Cookie as Sarah Dean (Cookie Run)

Starscream as Bernard (Transformers)

Mashiro Kurata as Grace (BanG Dream)

Aya Maruyama as Beryl (BanG Dream)

Byron as The Preacher (Brawl Stars)

Bruce Stone as The Janitor (Balan Wonderworld)

Lt. Surge as Road Kill Man/The Messenger (Pokemon)

Lola as Miss Argentina/The Receptionist (Brawl Stars)

Gray as Himself/Miss Argentina’s Co Star (Brawl Stars)

Shadow!Lance as Snake!Beetlejuice (Balan Wonderworld)

Colt as Harry The Hunter (Brawl Stars)

Knockout as Char Man (Transformers)

Gooey as The Minister (Kirby)

Marina Tsukishima as Magician’s Assistant (BanG Dream)

Various Characters as the Netherworld Ghosts

Yuri Brand as Astrid Deetz (Balan Wonderworld)

Sam Witwicky as Rory (Transformers)

Mistress Nine as Delores (Sailor Moon)

Ryotsu Kankichi as Wolf Jackson (Kochikame)

Anxiety as Bob (Inside Out)

Ghetsis as Jeremy Frazier (Pokemon)

Vaati as Richard (The Legend of Zelda)

Here’s your hint for the next casting (It’s Pixar):

💀🎸🥀

[yourheartbeat]

ok, let’s talk about the bold type. spoilers for anyone who hasn’t seen the new episode.

i feel like the reason why sutton doesn’t want kids is due to her horrible childhood. sutton and richard didn’t have a conversation about why sutton doesn’t want kids. there’s also a theory that sutton hasn’t connected the dots to what is the underlying factor to why she doesn’t want kids (her horrible childhood) i also think that if sutton and richard rekindle, they need to go to therapy to help them both understand why sutton doesn’t want kids. in turn richard will hopefully be more understanding and maybe help her to come around to having kids.

[juniaships]

Jora Holiday Bio **Update 2021**

The following paragraphs contains information exclusively for the original series.

Full Name: Jora Ladybird Holiday

Age: 9, 29 (Ben10000); 39 (Ken 10)

Birthday: March 31/April 1 (she was born 11:59pm on March 31)

Species: Human

Race: African American

Fandom: Ben 10 (classic&reboot), The Secret Saturdays (crossover), Generator Rex (crossover), Cartoon Network/CN City (crossover)

Voice Claim: Kimberly Brooks; Brandy Norwood is another alternate choice

Character Role: Friend and love interest to Ben Tennyson

Powers/Abilities: Rot Inducement, Mycokinesis, Poison/Toxin Immunity, Self Healing/Regeneration, Moderate Chronokinesis (Time-Acceleration)

Items: Vials, Mini Lab, Gloves

Relationships

Family: Jeremy (father), Mavis (mother), Tasha (sister), Pattibelle (first cousin) Ginger (family friend); Kenny, Kendrix & Belle (future children), Devlin (adopted son/cousin in law(?))

Friends: Ben & Gwen Tennyson, Max Tennyson, Cooper Daniels, Richard Mortis, Mama G (future mentor)

Acquaintances: Ginger T. Glass, Tamika

Love Interest: Ben is her primary love interest, as seen with their eventual future together as well as hints and blatant displays of "puppy love."

Enemies: Pretty much every villain in this show; her personal arch-nemesis is Kudzu, a lifestyle expert & entrepreneur who initially tried to gentrify Jora's neighborhood & ruin her family's business. Other villains include Master Mortis (Richard's creator), and Kudzu's bounty hunters.

Appearance

- Dark Skinned African American girl

- Chubby, shorter than Ben and Gwen

- Has dark brown hair styled in twisted pigtails, pink hair scrunchies

- Black Bead Eyes//dark brown

- Wears lilac lacy gloves

- Wears three different outfits through the show:

- Season 1: Yellow t-shirt, pink shorts, beige sandals

- Seasons 2&3: Pink and Yellow striped tank top, orange skirt, and same sandals

- Season 4: Pink and white t-shirt, yellow capris with orange belt, and purple shoes

Personality

A sweet and quiet girl, Jora Holiday did not consider herself to be special. She lacked friends in school and kept to herself out of fear of getting bullied. This was because she had to deal with her mutant powers since they came into fruition as a very small child. Jora normally tries to avoid or deflate conflict, though deep down she does get a little fed up with playing peacemaker if the squabbling persists. Jora is compassionate and humble, never boastful but also bashful when it comes to compliments and praise. Of the four kids she is regarded as the nicest.

Because of her powers Jora has clean freak tendencies in her desire to look as normal as possible. She tried to avoid gross situations, although later down the line she learns it's okay to dirty her gloves - literally.

But with sweetness comes sourness, as she does have a passive-aggressive side towards slights, whether real or perceived. She didn't get along with Tasha, feeling as though the latter didn't care for her (which isn't true). Jora tends to be oversensitive and takes things too personally, ans even can be prone to tears if provoked hard enough. She also bears lingering resentment and shame over the partial ailments her element brings; these feelings fade away over time as she grows to accept her powers and adapt to her condition. One of her biggest flaws is her timidness and inability to stand up for herself and others. She also didn't get along with Ben for a while, though they get better quickly.

Jora has a love of nature, as shown with her hobby of collecting flowers and mushrooms. She despises animal abuse of any kind, and strives to be a bit more conscious of the environment. She also seems to have no phobia towards bugs, and thus is the designated "spider catcher" on the Rust Bucket.

Jora has a passion for fashion and a girly sense of style, preferring to dress in bright or pastel colors. Her love of nature and love of fashion could lead to a career based on environmentally friendly beauty products.

Ben 10000: Lavender shortsleeved dress and white apron

Adult Appearance

When she grows up Jora is considerably more capable of handling herself. She gets upset when people see and treat her as a fragile thing, seeing as though they don't trust her. She also is very in tune with nature, spending her days off on long walks in the forests, or at her homemade lab making potions.

In this timeline she was a waitress who worked after shifts as a vigilante. At the time the Hero of Heroes didn't know who this mysterious woman was, although he was struck by familiar feelings.

Ken 10: Mint Green blouse and pink maxiskirt with pink wristwatch (which is actually her transformation device)

Costume: White bodysuit with light purple accents, helmet and visor.

Powers:

Jora has the element of Decay (&Rebirth), which enables her to induce decomposition in organic material.

Techniques

- While not proficient at hand to hand she can run fast in short bursts and have stamina

- Generate spore clouds to obscure vision and block a person's airways

- Increase or decrease the rate the decay

- Increase or decrease the size of mushrooms, from giant prehistoric constructs to miniature samples to be used for medicine

- Create a slippery puddle of rot to make opponents fall

- Throw globs of inky, rotting matter to create fungus or for long range

- Autumn Leaf Tornado

- Create Penicillin (first "upgrade")

- Able to "purify" corrupted Mycellium in the episode "Camp Fear"

- Scavenger-animal Empathy

- Forensics (adult level)

- Fossil Fuel Manipulation (adult level)

- Floral Manipulation (adult level, possibly teen)

- Acid Spit (adult level)

- Hallucinations (teen level)

Weaknesses

- Her power has little to no effect on material such as metal, glass, synthetic fabrics, stones

- Has to wear her gloves at all times which can be tedious and uncomfortable

- Lacks strength and hand-to-hand proficiency

- Weak to extreme heat & cold

- Shroom Constructs can be easily destroyed if not continually reinforced

- Unable to control her powers if under extreme duress

- Requires weapons to compensate for elemental weaknesses

- Requires a source for better potency

Strengths

- Immune to Time related attacks since her powers are considered a form of chronokinesis

- Create healing potions

- Immune to mycotoxins and can decrease and even render dangerous mushrooms safe for consumption (handy for outdoor missions)

- Powers seem to increase in wet environments, the Moon

- Her kind gentle personality makes it easier for her to restrain the dangerous potential of her abilities

- Memorized enough species of fungi and has her own mini lab to safely store and carry samples

- Natural empathy towards others

- Quick learner, continually studies her powers and traits to adapt

Background

Born the second child to floral shop owners Jeremy and Mavis Holiday, Jora had a normal childhood in the comfy small town of Annville, SC. A quiet child, she spent after-school helping around the shop. They were small yet popular with the townsfolk, reputed for their knowledge of plants and colorful arrangements. However that normalcy took a detour when Jora's powers camemto fruition.

When people started to notice more and more plants dying, that in turn led to decrease in customers and soon the shop began to undergo financial trouble. One day, a beautiful woman named Kudzu came into the store offering to buy the place from Jeremy. See, Kudzu was one of the wealthiest and powerful people in town. He refused. The next day Kudzu came again with another proposition. Again Jeremy refused. This occurred all through the week, until finally a very irritated Mavis demanded Kudzu to leave their family alone. That time, Kudzu left and didn't ame back after that. The couple was relieved. Jora was nervous.

One day, just as Tasha and Jora were at the last day of school anf thr parents were off to cash in their winning lottery ticket, the floral shop caught fire! The firefighters were called and put out the blaze, but it left their shop and home in charred ruins.

Jora felt very guilty: if she never had her powers, there wouldn't have been such an awful domino effect. The fire was ruled as a freak accident, however Jeremy and Mavis believed that other forces were at work. They couldn't prove their theories as their suspect had too much power and leverage to be fought one on one. So they came up with a plan: they would spend the summer working to add money to the saved money while their kids go out of town. Mavis called upon an old friend from trade school to take the girls on vacation (somewhere safe from Kudzu).

The next couple of days after staying at a shelter, the girls were able to buy a few new outfits and essentials and told to wait for a brown and white RV. When the RV arrived, out came a older gentlemen in a bright scarlet Hawaiian shirt, with two children trailing behind him. He introduced himself as Max Tennyson, and the two kids were his grandchildren Ben and Gwen.

Trivia

Jora has a nature motif to contrast Ben's aliens and Gwen's magic.

Overall Jora is the most normal member of the team; her family has no connection to the Plumbers or magic.

Jora doesn't have signature color, the closest would be pink and yellow since those are colors she tends to wear the most of.

I made Jora so that there'd be another main girl in the cast and because the show didn't have a black female character (despite having nonwhite female characters of other ethnicities, and black male characters)

She does not have a major role in UAF; instead her storyline is seen as a spinoff (think Static Shock to the Justice League) focusing on smaller-scale plots with occasional cameos from main cast

Jora does come back in Omniverse to replace Gwen as the female lead; she is joined by Dr. Azura (Secret Saturdays OC), Myra Hopewell (GenRex), Ginger T. Glass, and her cousin Patti.

It is unknown whether her power is genetics or a random mutation.

In the Ben 10000 timeline she and Ben broke up because Ben tried to forbid her from going on active missions as a way to keep her safe. Obviously she didn't like that and left. They do reconcile at the end of the episode.

Out of my OCs for this fandom Jora is the lead character, followed by Kendrix

Jora's powers can vary based on the type of fungi she's using at the time. So her colors could range from inky-black to a gorgeous green

She is a candidate to take on the mantle of Mother Nature (currently held by Mama G)

Her hobbies are: reading comics and books primarily fantasy genre, costume design, hiking, floral pressing, DIY crafts, and insects

Due to her timid nature she has a fear of public speaking.

I don't have a claim for her in the live action films sorry!!

Jora is a foil for Kevin in that she was born with destructive powers. Unlike Kevin, she learned to rely on friends to help her stabilize her powers.

- A recurring subplot is the girls encountering and escaping from Kudzu's hired goons sent to track them down.

Jora was going to have standard plants and flowers as her power but I wanted to go for nontraditional elements instead.

The irony is that she's a softie dressed in bright colors and respects life, yet has a power related to death.

- At the end of the show she reunites with her parents and they're able to rebuild their business. She also stands up to Kudzu and exposes the woman for the rotten POS she is

Quotes:

"Pot, meet kettle. Kettle, meet face!"

"I like comic books. My favorite is the Fantasia Legends."

"If you're supposed to be Lucky Girl then why dress up like a black cat?"

"There's a lot of stories hidden beneath these trees. You just gotta know where to look."

"I'm not that scared little girl you used to pick on, Ben. I think you know I can take care of myself."

"Look I didn't get to choose my powers okay! But Kudzu chose to set our family's house on fire and I'm not gonna sit back and watch her hurt anyone else!"

"It's okay. I'll help you."

"It's called having good manners. You should try it sometimes."

"Leave. Them. Alone!"

"Please let this be a normal day this time!"

"You're like a mushroom. Unassuming at first, but something unique and vibrant!"

"Ben I don't know how to say this but... you're not alone. Don't ever think you're alone."

"I hope you'll be able to see that there's more to life than just money and business but until that day comes, we'll all do very well without you!"

"I may make things rot but the both of you are rotten to the core!"

Recent Pictures

Reference sheets for Omniverse

Sketches:

[election-rp]

Após o desastre que havia sido no último evento na mansão, na qual Joe Hoskins havia cortado a energia, atacado Florence Wayne e acabara sendo morto, em legitima defesa, por Noah Morissett, a casa estava sendo vigiada noite e dia, e equipe de produção estava trabalhando dobrado para reorganizar os eventos. Após mais uma reunião que durara horas, o próximo evento estava definido. Fora a vez de Noel Shepard a chamar a atenção com a ideia brilhante. Uma noite de karaokê.

"Mano, é o seguinte...Quando enchemos a cara da galera no Verdade ou Desafio foi fantástico, tanto pra quem curtiu a festa, quanto pra nossa audiência...Mas...Ai que tá, não podemos só mandar todo mundo virar uns shots sem um tema, não é?" - Ele olhava para os lados, vendo se concordavam com ele ou se seriam apenas malucos de querer fazer os outros beberem, não esperou uma resposta. "Então tive uma ideia maneirinha: desde o coquetel eu ouvi gente perguntando onde teria um Bar de Karaokê. Acho que na situação que estamos, uma "excursão" é inviável, mas...E se trouxermos o Karaokê até eles? Um Karaokê na mansão!?" - Todos pareciam prestar atenção no assessor. Aquela realmente parecia uma ideia promissora. “Explique melhor essa ideia, meu filho.” - Até mesmo Michael parecia interessado. "O lugar com o menor potêncial pra rolar merda ainda é a mansão, então em vez de colar num bar...Colocamos uma maquina na sala de jogos, junto com doses cavalares de bebida. E pra fechar, posso planejar com a senhorita Wayne e o "senhorito" Morrisette uma lista de duplas para dar aquela potencializada na audiência...Além de claro, já ter rolado um esquerta até a hora de cantar" - Novamente a ideia era deixar todos mais relaxados, menos vergonhosos, e mais sucetíveis a cantar. "Creio que eu e Florence podemos nos encarregar da lista sozinhos...", Noah completou dando um sorriso para Florence.” - Noah se intrometeu, porém logo se calou ao ser chutado debaixo da mesa pela Wayne. “Acho que todos nós podemos organizar e fazer o evento acontecer de forma tranquila e segura.” - A loira falou com profissionalismo, dirigindo-se ao diretor da produção. E foi assim que a reunião terminou, Michael os mandou pra casa para preparar tudo para o próximo dia. 

INFORMAÇÕES OOC:

Em OOC o evento vai começar na quarta-feira (23) às 13h (horário de Brasília) e será encerrado na próxima quarta-feira (29) às 23:59. Em IC será apenas um sábado a noite.

Nós preparamos duas listas na qual seu char terá que plotar com o coleguinha. Você e o coleguinha terão que escolher uma música na qual o char de vocês irão cantar.

Não precisam ficar apenas presos as listas, podem combinar com outros chars e cantar mais vezes, além das duas que estão nas listas.

Houve um jantar com os mais variados sabores de pizzas e diversos tipos de bebida antes do Karaokê começar.

A cada música cantada TODOS os personagens bebem um shot de sua escolha. Os chars precisam deixar claro em suas interações que eles viraram um shot antes de começar a cantar.

Não há necessidade de look, mas caso queiram postar usem a tag #e:looks 

PRIMEIRA LISTA Amanda - Lavínia Angeline - Mahina Louise - James Nicole - Dick Maeve - Noel Florence - Noah Richard - Luca Hunter - Lorena Benjamin - Adrian SEGUNDA LISTA Hunter - Dick Amanda - Maeve Florence - Noel Luca - Louise Lavinia - Benjamin Angeline - James Mahina - Richard Nicole - Adrian Noah - Lorena

[pigeonesq]

22 Qs!

Tagged by: @shirlynmerlin ❤️❤️❤️ thank you lovely!!! I haven’t done one of these for ages.

Nicknames: Char, Chazza

Zodiac sign: Sagittarius

Height: 5 foot 7

Last movie I saw: I’m currently in the middle of Interstellar. Eeek the suspense was too much last night so it’s on pause!! Last film I finished was What a Girl Wants. I really needed that early 00s Amanda Bynes nostalgia and lols .

Last thing I googled: I’m not sure how ok this is but it was: ‘Richard E Grand gay?’ I just.... love him more than I usually love old straight men.

Favourite musician: too hard? I’m not listening to much contemporary music right now, maybe the composer dvorák if that counts?

Song stuck in my head: I don’t know the title!!! I’m just on my way home after a night out and it’s a 90s club song! I know minimal lyrics so google is no help :(

Other blogs: active ones are owlpostart, my Harry potter fanart blog, and picturethus which is where I reblog inspo and refs and tutorials.

Following: hp fans, hundreds of artists and illustrators, art lovers, fiction reccers, other fandoms like capri, lymond, Hunter x Hunter, comics, memes, shitposts, feminists, LGBT+

Followers: on this blog, I have no idea!!! People who share my interests and aesthetics I guess as I post pretty widely. On the fanart blog, people who are into hp fanart probs!!!

Do I get asks: Rarely! I should be so lucky!!!!

Amount of sleep I get: 5 on a bad day, 7 on a good. 8 is always the aim!!

Lucky numbers: none

What I’m wearing: usually i dress with v v little thought (as I change into painting overalls as soon as I get to work,) so this is a good night to catch me on: Chelsea boots, my fave calf-length black silk Arket skirt with this chunky lace edge, a black sheer top (over a thermal vest, totally ruining the sheerness - but snow??) a camel/latte coloured jumper, red denim jacket, new fave red thigh length puffer coat, red lipstick, black beret

Dream job: ugh to get paid to illustrated the Harry Potter books, basically Jim Kay’s job.

Dream trip: Japan

Favourite food: in this moment I’d kill for some fat vinegar-drenched chip shop chips. Pesto pasta with lots of feta is the next best thing which is what I’m about to make! It’s 12.45am but I’m working tomorrow morning :(((( I’ve got to sober up somehow????

Instruments: piano (not sure if I can still do it though)

Language: English and just enough Spanish to ask for a beer and directions to the loo 😳

Favourite songs: argh too hard in this moment!!!! This very second it’s maybe Got to be Real by Cheryl Lynn as that played tonight and it’s always always one of my faves. Oh and on that disco note, Donna Summer I Feel Love. Ok that is actually my favourite song.

Random fact: I’ve just started mudlarking (basically licensed treasure hunting,) on the river Thames in London at low tide and last weekend I found a very old two pronged fork and a 200-ish year old small leather shoe sole preserved in the mud! They’re both really exciting, (and so is wondering how they ended up in the river??) The shoe sole has now completed dried out and the layers of leather in the heel are flaking apart revealing how it was constructed. It’s basically held together with shards of wood driven vertically through the layers. I’d love to show it to a modern cobbler and see what they think.

Aesthetic: atm I’m all about the big oversized coats, hats that work with my new v short bob, v thick jumpers and boots.

Now you: no pressure to answer!! <3 @silveredglass @thebluepeninsula @dictacontrion @magpiefngrl @harryromper @finalsoul @shiftylinguini @anemonensblog @parkkate @theo-decker

[dweemeister]

Hell to Eternity (1960)

The march of time changes how history is written, how art is consumed and interpreted. Latino involvement on behalf of the United States in the Second World War has been largely underreported, in part because they were tabulated as white. They served in all branches of the armed forces and wherever the Americans fought – on American soil, Asia and the Pacific, Northern Africa, Italy, Western Europe. Closer to home, the United States carried out a policy that was and always shall be a moral disgrace. In a time of war hysteria and popular racist sentiment, President Franklin D. Roosevelt in February 1942 ordered the relocation and internment of more than 100,000 Japanese-Americans – more than two-thirds of whom were American citizens by birth or naturalization. These two chapters of American history converge with the story of Pfc. Guy Gabaldon. Gabaldon, who was of Mexican descent, was raised by a Japanese-American (unofficial) foster family in Los Angeles.

When the dramatization of Gabaldon’s early life and experiences at the Battle of Saipan (American victory at Saipan – in the Marianas – precipitated into the Invasion of the Philippines and brought the U.S. closer to the Japanese mainland) was made into a movie, Gabaldon’s Mexican heritage was completely whitewashed. And though his Japanese-American family is given some attention in the opening half-hour, the film does not take much of a stand against government actions, content only to call out individual acts of bigotry. Through my young, Asian-American eyes, Phil Karlson’s Hell to Eternity is a frustrating watch – erasing entirely Gabaldon’s Mexican background in favor of describing him as an, “all-American boy”, and a spotty handling of his Japanese-American upbringing (Gabaldon served as a consultant on Hell to Eternity). The film’s intentions are noble, but these frustrations and unfocused filmmaking prevent undermine Hell to Eternity throughout.

It is 1938 in East Los Angeles. Physical education teacher Kaz Une (George Shibata) separates Guy (Richard Eyer at twelve-year-old Guy; Jeffrey Hunter as an adult) from bullies taunting our young protagonist for having, “Jap friends.” Kaz, who is Japanese-American himself and older brother of Guy’s best friend George (George Matsui as a child; George Takei as an adult), soon learns Guy’s mother has been taken to the hospital and that his father has passed on. Kaz takes Guy home to the Une household (in real life, their surname was Nakano); after Guy’s mother dies, the Unes unofficially adopt Guy. Mr. Une (Bob Okazaki) is unfortunately not seen much in the film, but Mrs. Une (Tsuru Aoki) will exemplify unconditional love. The film will fast forward to the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor and the internment of the Une family. Guy is drafted, but fails due to a perforated eardrum. But after learning George and Kaz are fighting with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (upon its creation, the 442nd was a regiment comprised almost entirely of Japanese-Americans that fought in the European theater), Guy enlists in the Marines. He goes through boot camp at Camp Pendleton in northern San Diego County in the film’s middle third, with the final third depicting his service at the Battle of Saipan.

Silent film leading man Sessue Hayakawa (1915′s The Cheat, 1957′s The Bridge on the River Kwai) also appears as a general of the Imperial Japanese Army. As the general, his last words to his surrendering soldiers (like all the Japanese spoken in the film, there are no subtitles) recount the folk story of Momotarô – which tells of strength through kindness.

Jeffrey Hunter, in his build, is a much different person than Guy Gabaldon. Hunter is 6′2″, with broad shoulders like the rest of the actors playing Marines in this film; Gabaldon was 5′4″. Hell to Eternity, released by Allied Artists (this film’s North American rights are currently under Warner Bros. via the Turner Entertainment library), was made at a time when top billing to a non-white actor was almost unheard of. There was no major Latino actor during the height of the Hollywood Studio System, and the last Latino superstar in Hollywood was silent film actor Ramón Navarro (still alive in 1960, was largely inactive in cinema, and made his final film earlier that year). Allied Artists had a lengthy history of financial troubles, so their films usually had more modest budgets than something from Paramount or 20th Century Fox. Jeffrey Hunter, with his matinee idol looks but inconsistent filmography (no disrespect intended), is not as compelling a box-office draw as some of his fellow youthful contemporaries. Why not cast a Latino actor? Even if the film’s screenplay – penned by Walter Roeber Schmidt (his only other credit is 1980′s Monstroid) – glosses over Gabaldon’s conflicts of self-identity, a hypothetical Latino actor would be more able to invoke such an identity conflict in his performance.

Compounding this whitewashing is the screenplay’s uninspired commentary about how the United States treated Japanese-Americans on the day of the Pearl Harbor attacks and afterwards. Playground epithets in the introductory minutes transform into suspicious stares and racialized intimidation in a scene where Guy is taking Ester (Miiko Taka) to a drive-in diner. This confrontation is depicted in a way that makes it too much like ‘60s episodic television – there is no connection between the racial hatred directed at Ester in this scene with the internment orders that all too abruptly follow this scene. Guy is given a few moments to exclaim how horrible FDR’s executive action is, but the filmmakers are too uncomfortable in opening uncomfortable, but necessary, political dialogue. Instead, Hell to Eternity makes the Une family’s internment look like an inconvenient, but government-funded relocation rather than a heinous abuse of executive power, a denial of American constitutional rights. Guy’s brief visit to Manzanar in Eastern California is sanitized – emotionally, factually, and physically. The Schmidt screenplay and Karlson’s direction appear willing to make dissenting statements, but only within certain bounds so as not to lose the cooperation of American military in their assistance in the film’s second half. Hell to Eternity should be credited, however, for positively portraying – if somewhat stereotypical with broken English - a loving Japanese-American family.

This lack of care about Guy’s identity and, most prominently, his Japanese-American upbringing, in these American-set scenes negatively affects all the scenes set on Saipan. The Issei (first-generation Japanese-Americans) and Nisei (second-generation Japanese-Americans) disappear by the film’s halfway point, making enemy soldiers the only Japanese characters seen in the closing half. Guy – who proceeds to use his skills in Japanese to convince civilians and soldiers to surrender (the filmmakers are taking historical liberties here, as Gabaldon was not fluent in Japanese) – captures hundreds. On Saipan, little separates Guy’s bloodlust for those who have killed his fellow friends and Marines and quarter for those who look like his family. For the former, Hell to Eternity has a scene where Guy mutilates a Japanese soldier who has, likewise, hacked a Marine into (presumably) pieces. Mutilation is a war crime. but Hell to Eternity suggests – through the editing – that Guy’s actions are justified. Mutilation is a healthy, legal expression of rage, the film says through these images, as long as the all-American boy does it. Only when he remembers the Une family does Guy snap out of this mutilating mindset – his subsequent acts of mercy seemingly absolving him of his ruthless destruction of Japanese corpses and an excessive number of bullets fired at enemy soldiers.

With assistance from the American military to provide the right equipment and to choreograph troop movements as well as the involvement of several hundred veterans of the Imperial Japanese Army serving as extras, Hell to Eternity’s battle sequences are impressive to watch. Shot on Okinawa, the film alternates from beachheads, dense tropical rainforests, the occasional clearing, and charred and cratered hellscapes. But all this technical mastery is undermined by how Karlson portrays the film version of Guy Gabaldon during the Battle of Saipan. Though the film ends decrying the horrible waste of life and his conduct to the Japanese soldiers he has killed, Hell to Eternity seems too celebratory (or, in the best-case scenario, apathetic) and too forgiving of what horrible things this version of Guy has inflicted. But thankfully, the final resolutions in Hell to Eternity are nonviolent.

Despite the erasure of Gabaldon’s Mexican background, Gabaldon enjoyed Jeffrey Hunter’s performance in Hell to Eternity – indeed, Hunter, along with Aoki, gives one of the better performances in this film. The Pied Piper of Saipan captured ten times more enemy prisoners than Sgt. Alvin C. York in World War I but, unlike York, Gabaldon was never awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. After Gabaldon’s death in August 2006, Latino activists mounted a campaign to have the United States upgrade Gabaldon’s Navy Congress to the Medal of Honor – to little avail as of the publication of this write-up.

At the time of Hell to Eternity’s release, this was one of the most nuanced treatments of Imperial Japanese soldiers and of Japanese-Americans. Its takes on ethnic and racial identity were almost nonexistent in early 1960s Hollywood. Today, the execution of this message leaves much to be desired. It is no war film classic. Yet Hell to Eternity’s attempts to have Gabaldon’s struggles with his identity as the avenue in which to resolve situations peacefully make it unique among other war films released during that time.

My rating: 6/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found here.

[hindsight-reel]

Pitfalls of the Auteur Theory

To reduce a film down to one, single author is to drastically understate the amount of work that goes into creating it. This is the first and most obvious fault in the “auteur theory”. 

The only possible way for the “auteur theory” to hold any water is for the director to be the one doing everything - every step of the way, without any outside help. This process must occur in a sort of vacuum devoid of interaction with any other creative influence. Yes, this means writing, acting, directing, editing, etc. Absolutely everything must be done by one person or else they are not the sole author of a film.

Take the movie Payback (1999) as an example: here is a movie that has notably been released twice; two different versions edited by two separate directors. While a majority of the plot remains the same, there are immediate differences upon starting the movie. 

The original release from 1999 starts off with Porter getting his bullet wound stitched up, followed by the sequence of him walking along the car bridge. What is immediately striking is how blue the scenes are. Everything is edited under a blue-grey filter that the viewer gets accustomed to by the time Porter starts talking. And there’s another thing - the voiceover. We hear Porter’s thoughts about his quest for revenge and getting what he’s owed occasionally throughout the film, connecting the viewer to his character on a deeper level.

Now, when starting the “Payback: Straight Up” version that was finally released in 2006 and directed by Brian Helgeland, the original director before getting fired off the project, one will immediately notice two things: gone is the dusky blue overtones to every scene. Porter still walks through the unnamed city that may or may not be Chicago, but now the sun is shining and his skin is a healthy human color. 

The second is the lack of internal dialogue - no voiceover, no explanation for what’s about to go down. Porter is walking and stealing money from grifters and the viewer is piecing together who this guy is and why he’s committed several minor felonies in the first five minutes. 

There is a distinct change in tone between the two versions. Despite the gritty filter and torture scene at the end, the original keeps it lighthearted with some witty lines from Porter in the voiceover (“END QUOTE”) and all the ‘heroes’ make it out okay at the end - even the very good dog. 

Meanwhile Helgeland’s take may allow actual sunlight in the shot, but the themes and characters are at their absolute darkest. In this take, Porter is allowed to be the morally corrupt anti-hero he was originally written to be. He punches his wife, Lynn, in a shocking moment cut from the original due to its obvious effect of making Porter less sympathetic.

These two directors clearly have their own ideas of how this story will happen and how the audience should react. However, the plot must still remain similar to the original source. Payback in any form is still an adaptation of the Hunter novels by Richard Stark. As long as they work with the same source material, neither director can be the one true author of the story if it was already written by Stark decades earlier.

But that can only apply to scripts adapted from prior works - what if the movie is the original? Now one must look at anyone who works on the entire pre-production team, starting with the scriptwriter. A common Hollywood practice is to buy a script from a scriptwriter, whether independent or one employed by a film company, then have the director, designers, artists, etc., review it and tweak it based on what is possible in terms of effects or budget, what their own interpretation of the script is, maybe even what actors they want to be in the movie. After this point, the script will look different from how the first writer submitted it, adding several more people to this theoretical list of authors. 

The next major player in creating the movie are the actors. It may already be obvious which actor plays which character will affect the result. In a previous post, I mentioned how John Boorman, the director of Point Blank, chose Lee Marvin as Walker because he had the right bearing and attitude that Boorman wanted for that character. Marvin played a similar character in Emperor of the North Pole (Aldrich 1973) - cool, competent and confident. Imagine if Ernest Borgnine, who played Shack, and Marvin had switched characters. Marvin, known for taking roles as violent but otherwise level headed characters, as the loud and sadistic Shack would not have the same effect as Borgnine. Not to say it never pays off to cast someone unexpected - Keanu Reeves as Johnny Utah surprised critics who had previously seen him in comedies. Before Point Break, “Reeves was a vaguely gentle comic actor known for his airhead delivery” writes April Wolfe in a review for Rolling Stone. Kathryne Bigelow, the director of Point Break, “insisted he could be an action star” (BMD) and fought for his placement. According to the same article, other actors such as Johnny Depp, Val Kilmer, even Matthew Broderick or Patrick Swayze, who ultimately ended up in the role of Bodhi, Utah’s foil in the film. If any of those mentioned actors had taken the role, Johnny Utah would have been a completely different character. Each one has his own personality and approach to acting which would change how audiences view the story, in effect becoming yet another ‘author’ on our growing list.

Going beyond these major players into the myriad of departments that work on a film - styling and costuming, set design, visual effects - will find us investigating the choices of dozens to hundreds of people who worked on the film and had even the smallest say in the production. Every single person who puts their time and effort into the creation of a film deserves their name up in the credits, thus labelling them as an author of their work.

[starlingsrps]

simone richards char. dev. (long)

BASIC INFORMATION

FULL NAME: simone camille richards

MEANING: "hearkening" for simone, "young ceremonial attendant" for camille

REASONING: simone is for nina simone (sink her, she's white as can be), camille went with simone.

NICKNAME(S): simca

PREFERRED NAME(S): simone or simca is fine!

BIRTH DATE: march 13, 1989

AGE: twenty nine

ZODIAC: pisces

GENDER: female

PRONOUNS: she/her

ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: heteromantic

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: heterosexual

NATIONALITY: american

ETHNICITY: caucausian

CURRENT LOCATION: tbd

LIVING CONDITIONS: excellent and very well designed

TITLE(S): simca13

BACKGROUND

BIRTH PLACE: seattle, wa

HOMETOWN: seattle, wa

SOCIAL CLASS: upper middle

EDUCATION LEVEL: ba in graphic design

FATHER: john richards, 58, jazz musician

MOTHER: kathleen richards, 55, accountant

SIBLING(S): florence richards, 23; sebastian richards, 18

BIRTH ORDER: simone, florence, sebastian

CHILDREN: ---

PET(S): hadley, cat

OTHER IMPORTANT RELATIVES: ezra's family is basically hers at this point

PREVIOUS RELATIONSHIPS: a few

ARRESTS?: ---

PRISON TIME?: ---

OCCUPATION & INCOME

PRIMARY SOURCE OF INCOME: soial media influencer (@simca13)

SECONDARY SOURCE OF INCOME: designer

CONTENT WITH THEIR JOB (OR LACK THERE OF)?: very content

PAST JOB(S): graphic designer, waitress, sweater folder, cashier

SPENDING HABITS: reasonable - she's aware that she's fallen into a hell of a streak of good luck but she's also aware that it could end at any minute so she tries to be responsible.

MOST VALUABLE POSSESSION: ezra's cute ass

SKILLS & ABILITIES

PHYSICAL STRENGTH: medium

OFFENSE: ugh no

DEFENSE: just let her shriek and then fall down

SPEED: quick enough, she supposes

INTELLIGENCE: average - she likes to learn, was a good student, plays trivia with fair skill but she wouldn't call herself brilliant.

ACCURACY: ehhh average.

AGILITY: average.

STAMINA: high! she's in it to win it, even if she starts lagging.

TEAMWORK: good!

TALENTS: simone is a great visionary - she can see things how they could be no problem. 

SHORTCOMINGS: but she sometimes has a hard time seeing things how they are.

LANGUAGE(S) SPOKEN: english, high school level french

DRIVE?: yes

JUMP-STAR A CAR?: no

CHANGE A FLAT TIRE?: isn't that what ezra's for?

RIDE A BICYCLE?: yes

SWIM?: yes

PLAY AN INSTRUMENT?: some piano but not very well. her father weeps.

PLAY CHESS?: no.

BRAID HAIR?: yes.

TIE A TIE?: yes.

PICK A LOCK?: no.

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE & CHARACTERISTICS

FACE CLAIM: lily james

EYE COLOR: brown

HAIR COLOR: blonde

HAIR TYPE/STYLE: medium length and she likes to style it for funsies or the 'gram.

GLASSES/CONTACTS?: both

DOMINANT HAND: left

HEIGHT: 5'7

BUILD: tall and lanky

EXERCISE HABITS: pure barre is her favorite but if there's a workout to be promoted, she'll do it because hey, free.

SKIN TONE: fair 

TATTOOS: nah

PIERCINGS: ears

MARKS/SCARS: various freckles and moles, scar from donating plasma in her early twenties when she was broke af.

NOTABLE FEATURES: big smile, wideset eyes.

USUAL EXPRESSION: happy.

CLOTHING STYLE: oh lord. it varies?? she likes jeans and t-shirts when left to her own devices with cool shoes but she'll wear pretty much whatever.

JEWELRY: lots of charm jewelry if that makes sense - lots of necklaces and rings.

ALLERGIES: strawberries and almonds

DIET: she tries to be healthy but ohh cheese.

PHYSICAL AILMENTS: ---

PSYCHOLOGY

ENNEAGRAM TYPE: 7

MORAL ALIGNMENT: lawful good

TEMPERAMENT: sanguine 

MBTI: ENFP

MENTAL CONDITIONS/DISORDERS: nah 

SOCIABILITY: extrovert

EMOTIONAL STABILITY: fairly stable but prone to being dramatic

OBSESSION(S): good lighting

COMPULSION(S): checking the oven

PHOBIA(S): snake

ADDICTION(S): travelling

DRUG USE: nah

ALCOHOL USE: yes

PRONE TO VIOLENCE?: nah

MANNERISMS

SPEECH STYLE: quick and bright

ACCENT: nah

HOBBIES: instagram, design, being outside

HABITS: look, she's got to post at least once a day. 

NERVOUS TICKS: playing with her hair

DRIVES/MOTIVATIONS: being in a good place emotionally and financially.

FEARS: failure, snakes, planes crashing.

POSITIVE TRAITS: passion, generosity, creative, adventurous, independent

NEGATIVE TRAITS: stubborn, self-absorbed, overly emotional

SENSE OF HUMOR: honestly, she'll laugh at anything

DO THEY CURSE OFTEN?: sometimes yes, sometimes no.

CATCHPHRASE(S): she pretty much calls everyone babe but ezra is special.

FAVORITES

ACTIVITY: traveling, instagram

ANIMAL: otters

BEVERAGE: cold brew

BOOK: harriet the spy

COLOR: blush

DESIGNER: madewell

FOOD: anything with goat cheese

FLOWER: magnolias

GEM: pearls

HOLIDAY: fourth of july

MODE OF TRANSPORTATION: walking

MOVIE: funny face

MUSICAL ARTIST: chris stapleton

SONG: "tennessee whiskey" by chris stapleton

QUOTE/SAYING: 

SCENERY: mountains

SCENT: magnolias

SPORT: ehh no

SPORTS TEAM: see above

TELEVISION SHOW: house hunters renovation

WEATHER: summer

VACATION DESTINATION: the beach

ATTITUDES

GREATEST DREAM: being a successful designer. she knows she can't be an influencer forever and wants to parley this into building a successful design career.

GREATEST FEAR: failing

MOST AT EASE WHEN: the to-do list is conquered an she can just sit for awhile.

LEAST AT EASE WHEN: things are out of control

WORST POSSIBLE THING THAT COULD HAPPEN: falling flat on her face

BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT: turning her instagram account into an international sensation

BIGGEST REGRET: nah

MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT: getting fired from a mexican restaurant for spilling a bowl of queso in a customer's lap

TOP PRIORITIES: ezra, family, friends, instagram

[rhetoricandlogic]

So, this was 2016 in terms of books (incl. December List)

I’m going to make a top-something-or-other separately, so I can dwell a little on my faves 2016 without making this post even longer than it is. 

Here’s what I read this year (as always, the links lead to the reviews, titles without links = the less said about them, the better):

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet - Becky Chambers (December)

The Towers Trilogy - Radiant - Karina Sumner Smith (December)

The Towers Trilogy - Defiant - Karina Sumner Smith

The Towers Trilogy - Tower’s Fall - Karina Sumner Smith

The Lie Tree - Frances Hardinge

A Face Like Glass - Frances Hardinge

Cuckoo Song - Frances Hardinge

Alif the Unseen - G. Willow Wilson

Station Eleven - Emily St. John Madel

The Two of Swords (XII) - K. J. Parker

Servant of the Underworld - Aliette de Bodard

Harbinger of the Storm - Aliette de Bodard

Master of the House of Darts - Aliette de Bodard

Pantomime - Laura Lam (DNF)

Fly by Night - Frances Hardinge

The Invisible Library - Genevieve Cogman

Touch - Claire North

Dragonsbane (Winterlands I) - Barbara Hambley

Dragonshadow (Winterlands II) - Barbara Hambley

Just One Damned Thing After Another - Jodi Taylor

A Symphony of Echoes - Jodi Taylor

A Second Chance - Jodi Taylor

A Trail Through Time - Jodi Taylor

No Time Like The Past - Jodi Taylor

Patient Zero - Tananarive Due

What Could Possibly Go Wrong  Jodi Taylor

The Drowning Eyes - Emily Foster

The Two of Swords - K. J. Parker

The Sparrow - Mary Doria Russell

The Seventh Bride - T. Kingfisher

City of Blades - Robert Jackson Benett

To Be Read Upon Your Waking - Robert Jackson Benett

Dreamsnake - Vonda N. McIntyre

Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’ve Got Henchmen - Richard Roberts

The Devil You Know - K.J. Parker

Fly Trap - Frances Hardinge

The Bullet-Catcher’s Daughter (The Fall of The Gas-Lit Empire I) - Rod Duncan

Unseemly Science (The Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire II) - Rod Duncan

Custodian of Marvels (The Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire III) - Rod Duncan

The Two of Swords (XIV) - K. J. Parker

Heaven Thunders the Truth - K. J. Parker

Against a Dark Background - Iain M. Banks

Verdigris Deep - Frances Hardinge

Gullstruck Island - Frances Hardinge

The Masked City - Genevieve Cogman

The War - D. Rus

The Things We Do For Love - K. J. Parker

The Bridge - Iain M. Banks

The Mirror Empire - Kameron Hurley

The Algebraist - Iain M. Banks

Way Station - Clifford D. Symak

The Folding Knife - K.J. Parker (reread)

A Halo of Mushrooms - Andrew Hiller

the princess saves herself in this one - Amanda Lovelace

The Two of Swords (XV) - K. J. Parker

The Dungeoneers - Jeffrey Russel

Adulthood is a Myth - Sarah C. Andersen

The Slime Dungeon - Silvia Lew

Fellside - M. R. Carey

Sharps - K. J. Parker (reread)

The Goblin Reservation - Clifford D. Simak

The Book of Strange New Things - Michel Faber

The Boy Who Drew Monsters - Keith Donohue

To Say Nothing of The Dog - Connie Willis

Who Killed Sherlock Holmes (Shadowpolice 3) - Paul Cornell

The Doomsday Book - Connie Willis

Leviathan Wakes - James S. A. Corey

The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. LeGuin

Dark Orbit - Carolyn Ives Gilman

Cold Hillside - Nancy Baker

Downbelow Station - C. S. Cherryh

Song for the Basilisk - Patricia McKillip

Ombria in Shadow - Patricia McKillip

Od Magic - Patricia McKillip

Solstice Wood - Patricia McKillip

The Changeling Sea - Patricia McKillip

The Riddle-Master of Hed - Patricia McKillip

Heir of Sea and Fire - Patricia McKillip

Harpist in the Wind - Patricia McKillip

Planetfall - Emma Newmann

God’s War - Kameron Hurley

Hammerfall - C.J. Cherryh

The Vagrant - Peter Newmann

The Malice - Peter Newmann

The Bees - Laline Paull

In the Forests of Serre - Patricia McKillip

Hunters & Collectors - Matt Suddain

NineFox Gambit - Yoon Ha Lee

The Wrath & The Dawn - Renée Ahdieh

The Philosopher Kings - Jo Walton

The Bell at Sealy Head - Patricia McKillip

The Alphabet of Thorn - Patricia McKillip

The Bards of Bone Plain - Patricia McKillip

The Tower of Stony Wood - Patricia McKillip

The Race - Nina Allen

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet - David Mitchell

The Prestige - Christopher Priest

The Sorceress and the Cygnet - Patricia McKillip

Between Two Fires - Christopher Buehlmann

Dark Matter - Blake Crouch

The Lost Child of Lychford - Paul Cornell

The Man Who Was Thursday, a nightmare - G. K. Chesterton

The Affirmation - Christopher Priest

The Inverted World - Christopher Priest

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife - Meg Elison

The Glamour - Christopher Priest

Lexicon - Max Berry

The Library at Mount Char - Scott Hawkins

Kill Process - William Hertling

Avogadro Corp - William Hertling

A.I. Apocalypse - William Hertling

The Last Firewall - William Hertling

Nickel Plated - Aric Davis

[michaelpatrickhicks]

MASS HYSTERIA Summer Sale - Only 99c in eBook!

Amazon  iBooks  |  Nook  |  Kobo  Google Play | Smashwords Audiobook available at: Audible  |  iTunes

Summer is right around the corner and now is the perfect time to start stocking up on your summer beach reads! I wrote Mass Hysteria as a pulpy, gory, splatterpunk horror summertime blast, the kind of big Hollywood-style spectacle that screams warm weather fun...and maybe makes a few readers scream along with it. If you're a fan of extreme When Animals Attack-style horror, like Piranha, The Birds, Jaws, or The Rats, this one should be right up your alley. Mass Hysteria is currently on sale for only 99c for a limited time, so get your copy quick!

If you're not an eBook fan, there is a paperback edition also available, as well an audiobook! If you're an Amazon customer, you can even bundle all three formats together for maximum savings. Buy the paperback and get the Kindle edition for free. Get the Kindle copy, and add Audible narration for cheap. You can enjoy Mass Hysteria all kinds of way!

The audiobook is even up for an award! Mass Hysteria is a finalist in this year's Audiobook Listeners Choice Awards, and if you like the book and Joe Hempel's reading, you can even vote for Mass Hysteria to win. Polls close May 31, so if you get a copy of my book and can check it out before the month is over, be sure to cast a vote, too.

About Mass Hysteria

IT CAME FROM SPACE...

Something virulent. Something evil. Something new. And it is infecting the town of Falls Breath.

Carried to Earth in a freak meteor shower, an alien virus has infected the animals. Pets and wildlife have turned rabid, attacking without warning. Dogs and cats terrorize their owners, while deer and wolves from the neighboring woods hunt in packs, stalking and killing their human prey without mercy.

As the town comes under siege, Lauren searches for her boyfriend, while her policeman father fights to restore some semblance of order against a threat unlike anything he has seen before. The Natural Order has been upended completely, and nowhere is safe.

...AND IT IS SPREADING.

Soon, the city will find itself in the grips of mass hysteria.

To survive, humanity will have to fight tooth and nail.

This edition includes a bonus short story, Consumption!

What Readers Are Saying

"Brutal horror. Raw. Animalistic. I couldn't put it down!" - Armand Rosamilia, author of the Dying Days series

"Mass Hysteria is a hell of a brutal, end of the world free for all. A terrifying vision of a future gone mad with bloodlust, Mass Hysteria will haunt your nightmares." - Hunter Shea, author of Just Add Water and We Are Always Watching

"Fun, horrible fun, from start to finish." - Horror Novel Reviews

"It's fast paced, action-packed, and bloody. Really, almost everything a horror gore-hound could want. ... Undeniably talented, Michael Patrick Hicks shows evidence of a rather deliciously depraved mind..." - SciFi & Scary

"Mass Hysteria was a brutal horror novel, which reminded me of the horror being written in the late 70's and, (all of the), 80's. Books like James Herbert's The Rats or Guy N. Smith's The Night of the Crabs. There are a lot of similarities to those classics here-the fast paced action going from scene to scene-with many gory deaths and other sick events. In fact, I think Mass Hysteria beats out those books in its sheer horrific brutality." - Char's Horror Corner

"If you like your horror bloody and strange, you are in the right place. Mass Hysteria is a unique twist in a crowded field. ... For horror fans looking for something different, well worth a listen." - Audiobook Reviewer

"I'm telling you now, this book isn't for readers with weak stomachs. It is brutal in all the right ways." - Cedar Hollow Horror Reviews

"If you are an aficionado of author Richard Laymon, you undoubtedly will like this book. This is horror at its bloodiest, guttiest and most shocking." - Cheryl Stout, Amazon Top 500 Reviewer and Amazon Vine Voice

"Brutal and well-written. Throw in narration by Joe Hempel and you’ve got gold. ... I don’t think I’ll forget Mass Hysteria for some time." - Brian's Book Blog

Buy the ebook edition of Mass Hysteria for only 99 cents! (Also available in paperback and audiobook formats.)

Amazon  iBooks  |  Nook  |  Kobo  Google Play | Smashwords Audiobook available at: Audible  |  iTunes

[recentanimenews]

Monthly Manga Review Index: August 2017

August was a month of transitions: here at Manga Bookshelf, our long-time colleague and friend Ash Brown announced that he would be retiring his blog at the end of 2017. Though Ash’s reasons for stepping back are understandable, I selfishly wish he’d continue Experiments in Manga. As his recent reviews of My Brother’s Husband and A Small Charred Face attest, he’s a perceptive, elegant writer with a unique voice, and a unique point of view. Here’s hoping that he finds his way back to blogging again!

Further afield, Joe McCulloch just posted his final “This Week in Comics” round-up at The Comics Journal — sad news for anyone who cares about good comics criticism. Joe was always erudite and funny, peppering his writing with memorable turns of phrase and incisive comments. Even when TCJ didn’t have much manga content, Joe tirelessly dug into his own private vault to write about oddities — how’s pachinko manga grab you? — classics — hi, Golgo 13 — and titles that cry out for an English language edition. I can’t imagine who TCJ will enlist for “This Week in Comics,” but that person has a big pair of shoes to fill.

My August yielded a modest crop of reviews: I Hear the Sunspot and She and Her Cat, two coming-of-age dramas about twenty-somethings teetering on the brink of adulthood; Melody of Iron, the latest Tezuka title to be Kickstarted to press; and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, a good-natured comedy about a salaryman who gets a second chance at life as a slime monster. I have a number of reviews in progress for September, including MB favorites Queen Emeraldas, Otherworld Barbara, After Hours, and My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness, as well Jiro Taniguchi’s most recent books Venice and Furari. I’m also in the process of gathering my thoughts on Hergé a Québec, an exhibition I saw at the Musée de la civilisation in Québec City last week. Stay tuned!

REVIEW OF THE MONTH

Stop the presses–The New York Review of Books deigned to publish a manga review! The title in question is Ichi-F: A Worker’s Graphic Memoir of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, which was released earlier this year by Kodansha Comics. Ryan Holmberg’s assessment of Ichi-F is markedly different in tone than most early reviews, which praised Kazuko Tatsuya’s meticulously detailed drawings, and his emphasis on the day-to-day routines of Fukushima workers. In particular, Holmberg takes issue with the fact that the author used a pseudonym, making it difficult to fully assess his political (or economic) motivation for writing Ichi-F:

We know, through press reports, that Tatsuta was in his late forties when he drew Ichi-F, so one assumes a fairly extensive resume of past comics work; what would that oeuvre reveal about his politics and associations if we knew his real name and could look it up? Alas, all we are really shown about Tatsuta is that he earnestly believes in what he sees with his own eyes, in the merits of hard work, and in the good intentions and dedication of his workmates and their employers. And he seems to be adverse to any of the personal or political reflection that transforms a report or recollection into a worthwhile memoir, or for that matter into a persuasive work of journalism.

At the same time, however, Holmberg argues that Ichi-F provides a measured counterpoint to “the superficial, fear-mongering nonsense that infects so much post-Fukushima reporting and art, both inside and outside Japan,” by showing what the clean-up entails, effectively “mak[ing] the threat visible and knowable and, if not controllable, then at least navigable.” Holmberg’s analysis is further bolstered by a thoughtful primer on nuclear politics in Japan, providing some badly needed context for understanding where Ichi-F fits into that discussion.

FROM THE TOP: DEBUTS AND FIRST VOLUMES

Appleseed Alpha, Vol. 1 (David Brooke, AiPT!)

Beyblade Burst (Teh Ooi Sherene, Star2)

Cosplay Animal, Vol. 1 (Sean Gaffney, A Case Suitable for Treatment)*

Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju, Vols. 1-2 (Sarah, Anime UK News)

Don’t Be Cruel: Plus+ (Johanna Draper Carlson, Comics Worth Reading)

Dragon Ball Super, Vol. 1 (Tyler Goulet, All-Comic)

Dragon Ball Super, Vol. 1 (Thomas Maluck, No Flying No Tights)

Girl’s Last Tour, Vol. 1 (Faith Orcino, Anime Ushi)

Haikyu!!, Vol. 1 (Julie, Manga Maniac Cafe)

Haikyu!!, Vol. 1 (SKJAM, SKJAM! Reviews)

Kakegurui: Compulsive Gambler, Vol. 1 (Matthew Alexander, The Fandom Post)

Kakegurui: Compulsive Gambler, Vol. 1 (Keith Hendricks, NerdSpan)

Love & Lies, Vol. 1 (Jordan Richards, AiPT!)

Love & Lies, Vol. 1 (Aaron, Manga Energy)

Love’s Reach, Vol. 1 (Michelle Smith, Soliloquy in Blue)*

Manga in Theory and Practice: The Craft of Creating Manga (Anne Ishii, The Comics Journal)

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED DESTINY, Vol. 1 (Ben Leary, The Fandom Post)

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing Endless Waltz: Glory of the Losers, Vol. 1 (Kate O’Neil, The Fandom Post)

My Brother’s Husband, Vol. 1 (Ash Brown, Experiments in Manga)

My Girlfriend Is a T-Rex, Vols. 1-2 (Faith Orcino, Anime Ushi)

My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness (Katie Skelly, The Comics Journal)

Otherworld Barbara, Vols. 1-2 (Michelle Smith, Soliloquy in Blue)

Please Tell Me! Galko-Chan, Vol. 1 (Al Sparrow, Comic Spectrum)

Plum Crazy! Tales of a Tiger-Striped Cat, Vol. 1 (J. Caleb Mozzocco, Good Comics for Kids)

Plum Crazy! Tales of a Tiger-Striped Cat, Vol. 1 (Helen, The OASG)

Sekirei, Vol. 1 (Matthew Alexander, The Fandom Post)

She and Her Cat (Sean Gaffney, A Case Suitable for Treatment)

Spirits & Cat Ears, Vol. 1 (Matt Morrison, No Flying No Tights)

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, Vol. 1 (David Brooke, AiPT!)

Vampire Knights Memories, Vol. 1 (Leroy Douresseaux, Comic Book Bin)

Waiting for Spring, Vol. 1 (Rebecca Silverman, Anime News Network)

ONGOING SERIES

7th Garden, Vol. 5 (Leroy Douresseaux, Comic Book Bin)

The Ancient Magus’ Bride, Vol. 7 (Nick Creamer, Anime News Network)

Anonymous Noise, Vol. 3 (Gabe Peralta, The Fandom Post)

Attack on Titan, Vol. 22 (Sean Gaffney, A Case Suitable for Treatment)

Behind the Scenes!!, Vol. 4 (Johanna Draper Carlson, Comics Worth Reading)

Bleach, Vol. 70 (Cold Cobra, Anime UK News)

Bloody Mary, Vol. 7 (Leroy Douresseaux, Comic Book Bin)

Bloom Into You, Vol. 2 (Helen, The OASG)

Complex Age, Vol. 5 (Helen, The OASG)

Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 2 (Keith Hendricks, NerdSpan)

The Demon Prince of Momochi House, Vol. 9 (Kate O’Neil, The Fandom Post)

The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 8 (Sean Gaffney, A Case Suitable for Treatment)

Dimension W, Vol. 7 (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)

Erased, Vol. 2 (Helen, The OASG)

Erased, Vol. 3 (Eric Cline, AiPT!)

Food Wars!! Shokugeki no Soma, Vol. 19 (Leroy Douresseaux, Comic Book Bin)

Food Wars!! Shokugeki no Soma, Vol. 19 (Keith Hendricks, NerdSpan)

Girls’ Last Tour, Vol. 2 (Aaron, Manga Energy)

Girls’ Last Tour, Vol. 2 (Keith Hendricks, NerdSpan)

Goodnight Punpun, Vol. 6 (Keith Hendricks, NerdSpan)

Goodnight Punpun, Vol. 7 (Rebecca Silverman, Anime News Network)

Haikyu!!, Vol. 12 (Leroy Douresseaux, Comic Book Bin)

Hunter x Hunter (Megan R., The Manga Test Drive)

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders, Vol. 4 (Sean Gaffney, A Case Suitable for Treatment)

Kaze Hikaru, Vol. 25 (Anna N., The Manga Report)

Konosuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World, Vol. 2 (Matt Morrison, No Flying No Tights)

Log Horizon: The West Wing Brigade, Vol. 5 (Helen, The OASG)

Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt, Vol. 4 (Aaron, Manga Energy)

Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, Vols. 7-8 (Johanna Draper Carlson, Comics Worth Reading)

My Hero Academia, Vol. 9 (Nick Creamer, Anime News Network)

My Love Story!!, Vols. 12-13 (Johanna Draper Carlson, Comics Worth Reading)

My Neighbor Seki, Vol. 9 (Matthew Warner, The Fandom Post)

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords (Jordan Ramee, Gamer Professionals)

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords (Kenyth Mogan, Huffington Post)

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Vol. 2 (Jordan Richards, AiPT!)

No Game No Life, Vol. 6 (Sean Gaffney, A Case Suitable for Treatment)

No Matter How I Look at It, It’s You Guys’ Fault That I’m Not Popular, Vol. 10 (Johanna Draper Carlson, Comics Worth Reading)

One Piece, Vols. 27-28 (SKJAM, SKJAM! Reviews)

One Piece, Vols. 49-51 (Renay Williams, B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog)

One Piece, Vol. 83 (Sean Gaffney, A Case Suitable for Treatment)

One-Punch Man, Vol. 11 (Elizabeth Lotto, The Outerhaven)

Otherworld Barbara, Vol. 2 (Sean Gaffney, A Case Suitable for Treatment)

Platinum End, Vol. 3 (Leroy Douresseaux, Comic Book Bin)

Real Account, Vol. 3 (Johanna Draper Carlson, Comics Worth Reading)

Queen Emeraldas, Vol. 2 (Sean Gaffney, A Case Suitable for Treatment)

School-Live!, Vol. 7 (Gabe Peralta, The Fandom Post)

Sherlock: The Great Game, No. 1 (Todd Young, AiPT!)

Skip-Beat!, Vol. 39 (Anna N., The Manga Report)

Sweetness & Lightning, Vol. 3 (Johanna Draper Carlson, Comics Worth Reading)

Ten Count, Vol. 4 (Johanna Draper Carlson, Comics Worth Reading)

Tokyo Ghoul, Vol. 12 (Elizabeth Lotto, The Outerhaven)

Twinkle Stars, Vol. 3 (Sean Gaffney, A Case Suitable for Treatment)

Umineko, Vol. 10 (Kate O’Neil, The Fandom Post)

Until Death Do Us Part, Vol. 8 (Matt Morrison, No Flying No Tights)

Until Death Do Us Part, Vol. 9 (Matt Morrison, No Flying No Tights)

Welcome to the Ballroom, Vol. 5 (Jordan Richards, AiPT!)

What Did You Eat Yesterday?, Vol. 12 (Terry Hong, Book Dragon)

Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 7 (Sean Gaffney, A Case Suitable for Treatment)

Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 7 (Leroy Douresseaux, Comic Book Bin)

Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 7 (Anna N., The Manga Report)

FROM THE VAULT

3 x 3 Eyes (Megan R., The Manga Test Drive)

The Drops of God, Vol. 1 (A Library Girl, A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)

Hell Girl, Vol. 1 (Greg Hackman, The Fandom Post)

Hell Girl, Vol. 2 (Chris Beveridge, The Fandom Post)

Minima!, Vol. 1 (Sakura Eries, The Fandom Post)

Moyashimon, Vol. 2 (Matthew Alexander, The Fandom Post)

My Heavenly Hockey Club, Vol. 3 (Matthew Alexander, The Fandom Post)

Tower of the Future (Megan R., The Manga Test Drive)

Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms (Faith Orcino, Anime Ushi)

* Denotes a digital-only release

By: Katherine Dacey