#sadly this translation is. not my thing but i adore the illustrations

[catominor]

A 1964 illustrated Satyricon, translated by William Burnaby and illustrated by Antonio Sotomayor

[enlitment]

Top 5 lines written by Catullus!

Thank you for the ask (and for indulging me!). I may stretch the definition of what can realistically be considered 'a line' a bit, but it's for the sake of context, I promise!

C 31: Sirmio

O what freedom from care is more joyful/ than when the mind lays down its burden/and weary, back home from foreign toil/ we rest in the bed we longed for?

This one is just incredibly relatable for anyone coming back home from any long trip! It is just as true now as it was more than 2000 years ago.

2: C 99: Stolen Kisses: to Iuventius

you have handed wretched me over to spiteful Love/nor have you ceased to torture me in every way/so that for me that kiss is now changed from ambrosia/to be harsher than harsh hellebore

I've included this line mostly because I love the contrast between ambrosia and hellebore. I also think that there is something powerful and effective about taste metaphors, yet I don't see them used very often. Here, it manages to beautifully illustrate poor Catullus' feelings in this particular situation! (Though obviously, you shouldn't go on kissing people out of the blue. That's kind of on him.)

Poor Catullus, getting rejected by both women and men, left and right

3. Attis

So, rapidly, from sweet dream and free of madness/ Attis recollected his actions in his thoughts/ and saw with a clear heart what and where he had been/ turning again with passionate mind to the sea.

Nothing like the pain of the morning after, am I right?

In all seriousness, all of Attis is amazing. The language (even the translations, I sadly cannot appreciate the original), the imagery, the links to mythology, it's all so beautiful. It's also such a rich area for analysis - I've thought about it a lot, but I'm sure if barely scracthed the surface at this point.

I personally see it as an expression of the fear of emasculation that comes with being deeply obsessed with a female lover (as he was with Lesbia)? I cannot claim any expertise beside having read all of his work and knowing some of the context of his life + the Roman views on masculinity. I've also read a few opinions of people arguing for a possible trans reading, which is incredibly interesting as well.

4. C 9: Back from Spain: To Veranius

You’re back. O happy news for me!/ I’ll see you safe and sound and listen/ to your tales of Spanish places that you’ve done/ and tribes, as is your custom, and/ hang about your neck, and kiss/ your lovely mouth and eyes

I don't know, just something about him expressing such genuine joy about being reunited with his friend seems incredibly sweet. (Also introduces the idea of kissing someone on the eyes which. Um. Seems to be an ongoing thing for Catullus. Sure, you do you.)

5. C 64: Epithalamium for Peleus and Thetis

The Minoan girl goes on gazing at the distance/ with mournful eyes, like the statue of a Bacchante/ gazes, alas, and swells with great waves of sorrow

Again, I just love the whole poem. It is probably my favourite Catullus poem (along with C 50, but they have very different vibes). I find it fascinating that a male poet can empathise so much with the female perspective (which is a bit of an ongoing theme in his poetry). I cannot help but think that he must have personally related to Ariadne's pain, being rejected by his former lover - Lesbia - like she was by Theseus. It would certainly help to explain how he was able to portray her state of mind with such incredible depth and complexity.

I also adore the beauty of the language and the many references to Greek mythology of course.

[bookaddict24-7]

REVIEWS OF THE WEEK!

EVERY WEEK I WILL POST VARIOUS REVIEWS I’VE WRITTEN SO FAR IN 2024. YOU CAN CHECK OUT MY GOODREADS FOR MORE UP-TO-DATE REVIEWS HERE.

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111. Where We Go From Here by Lucas Rocha , Larissa Helena (Translator)--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really enjoyed WHERE WE GO FROM HERE and the important messages it had for the reader. I think this is the first book I've read where some of the characters are HIV positive and it was interesting to learn more about how care works now, and how the world's perception of it has either shifted or (in some instances) remained the same.

The dynamic between the characters was great, although I think one of the characters was given a little bit too much of the benefit of the doubt. I find that sometimes in order to have a "happy ending" some things are sometimes compromised and some characters are pushed to react in a way expected by the adults writing the story themselves. Granted, I'm a stubborn and sometimes petty person, so I'm probably not the best judge of character here.

I liked seeing the different families (or lack thereof) because it was such a realistic portrayal of the differing reactions families (especially Latine ones) have when they learn that their son or daughter is queer. In some instances, it's heart breaking, but also sadly realistic.

From the very beginning of the book, I was pulled in and I couldn't stop listening to the audiobook. I think that even though this is a translation, Rocha's writing was addicting and powerful. Will definitely want to check out their future work! I'm finding that I have a soft spot for Brazilian YA authors.

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112. Delinquent Daddy & Tender Teacher Vol. 1 by Tama Mizuki--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

There were so many great layers to this manga. Not only was this a sweet romance between the dad and the teacher, but also the dad and his son, and the teacher and the little one.

The dad and sons' relationship was adorable, especially as the son slowly comes to understand how much his dad loves him. Seeing him go from telling his classmates that that isn't his father, to calling him "daddy" by the end of the volume was stinking adorable af.

Also, the progression of the love story was heartwarming. I want only the best for them, especially since one essentially saved the other. I also loved that they had that past connection!

Can't wait to read more of this one!

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113. The Bride by Ali Hazelwood--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

While there may be some tropes in BRIDE that are in the usual Hazelwood book, this book presented a story that was so new compared to the STEM series that I didn't even focus on the popular tropes. I enjoyed BRIDE so much more than I was expecting. I went into this with zero expectations and I'm so glad I did.

Since we mainly see the story from the perspective of a vampire, we don't really get the "running through the woods" moments we usually see when werewolves are involved, but it was still a fun experience. I actually liked it because we very rarely get an outsider POV when werewolves are involved.

I liked the romance between the MC and her love interest. It was one of those slow build ups that even though it's clear where it's going, the MC is still ignorant of the fact. They had some great sexual tension, but keep in mind that this isn't an overly sexy book. I'd go in hoping for a cute and tense romance, not an overly spicy story.

Anyway, I enjoyed this and had a lot of fun while reading it. Definitely impressed with Hazelwood's dive into this genre!

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114. The Promised Neverland Vol. 1 by Kaiu Shirai , Posuka Demizu (Illustrator)--⭐️⭐️⭐️

I had a mild idea of what I was going into when I started THE PROMISED NEVERLAND, but it wasn't entirely THAT. That reveal was nightmare inducing.

The artwork was gorgeous and incredibly intricate. The storyline was interesting and I had to remind myself that these were incredibly intelligent kids, since sometimes they acted a little bit like mini adults--which granted is fair considering their situation.

While I was interested a few times and I do have that level of curiosity of where the story is going, I don't know if I care enough to read the next volumes. I'm lucky that I enjoy a lot of the manga I read, but this was one of those rare ones where I was counting down until the last page. I just thought it was a bit drawn out, but nothing felt like it was happening. Maybe I WILL read volume two, but it's not with that same level of urgency I've had in the past.

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115. Mindy Kim & the Trip to Korea by Lyla Lee--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Mindy Kim continues to be adorable af. Her family goes to Korea in this one and I loved seeing the country through her eyes. I also enjoyed seeing the interactions between the family members, even if they were somewhat wary of Mindy's dad's GF.

These books are wholesome. They explore family, the ways life could change, and the curious mind of a young child who is just trying to find her place in her world. I love the life lessons always presented in these books and I hope the little ones reading these books are also learning from the experience!

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116. Graceling by Kristin Cashore--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

After having GRACELING on my bookshelves for over a decade, I knew it was time to check it out. I listened to the audiobook alongside the physical book and wow, what an experience. It's a full cast and they have music that plays on occasion (which, admittedly, made me think of the NANCY DREW audiobooks, lol).

I'll admit that I almost DNFed this book a couple of times because I was having a hard time connecting or falling into the story. A friend encouraged me and so I kept going. Thankfully, too, because I ended up really, really enjoying this one. I loved the character growth and the romance between the MC and her love interest. His interest being obvious from the beginning, while she was unaware is one of the best romance tropes out there.

I also really liked the adventure. I love a good road trip type adventure where the FMC is a badass that people sometimes underestimate.

The one thing that was very different in this older fantasy book from more present ones is the tone of voice of the narrator. This one was very straightforward, no quirky dialogues or over the top situations. Although, I will admit that sometimes the full cast threw me off--especially when the FMC would literally yell at the love interest with a bit too much gusto.

Anyway, I really enjoyed this and I'm glad I gave it a shot! It's not a favourite, but it was a very fun read. If you want a FMC that knows her mind and is steadfast in her decisions, then I think you'd like this one.

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117. Hooked by Emily McIntire--⭐️⭐️

In my opinion, HOOKED started out strong. I loved the few tropes being introduced and the jealous friends-not-friends thing was very early 2010s romance era. I was even a bit into the dark MMC and how he didn't give a shit about going for what he wanted. He knew who he was and he didn't shy away from that.

And then we hit a moment where this book just lost all seriousness for me.

The FMC is the innocent protagonist that wants to prove to the world that she isn't this naive child. A great way of showing the reader that was by the insta-lust and insta-love with this admittedly dangerous man and the lack of a backbone when he did a big no-no and she immediately gave into him again. I expected her to be that not-naive girl she claimed to be, but there was no grovelling and close to no anger. She made allusions to HOW she knew she should react to him, brushed it off so quickly that it left me nervously giggling. Absolutely zero backbone.

Also, I just want to say that it was super weird that Peter was her dad when he was always a love interest. Although, the inclusion of names and the twisting of certain things was very clever.

This book often also felt like a badly scripted telenovelas with revelation after revelation--by that point I was rolling my eyes so much, I feared they might get stuck to the back of my head. Also, how many times will we be reminded that Hook's dick will split women in half? I just. Yeah, I don't know.

I'm glad I read this one because now I know that the rest of this series might not be for me. Not because of the adaptation aspect--that part is cool--but the writing is just very much not for me.

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118. Sasaki and Miyano, Vol. 1 by Shou Harusono--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

These two are incredibly adorable, but I definitely need to read more of their story to fully gage if I'm truly interested in continuing.

I did like how the one guy is the one that's chasing the pretty one, when it's usually the other way around. It's weirdly refreshing and adorable. I can't wait to see how the character growth looks on them. LOVED the artwork, especially with how the characters were presented (how the one looks innocent but secretly loves BL manga, and the other looks like a scary bad boy, but is actually a sweet cinnamon roll).

Will read the next volume to fully make my mind up!

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Have you read any of these books? What were your thoughts?

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Happy reading!

[dreamerwitches]

Manga reviews!

I’ve read quite a few of the Madoka Magica manga, mostly to find witches.... So I thought I’d do a little review of the ones I’ve read! Enjoy! (also, they’re my own opinions and it’s meant to be a little funny so I exaggerate a little... so please don’t get angry!! Also kinda spoiler-y)

Madoka Magica (og manga)

Just a really compressed version of the anime. Has some changes but not often good... I only have the first one in physical and I think it’s the only one I’ll get cause it’s the most interesting part. 0/10 cause they completely removed Gisela... Also not too fond of the art style, some things are drawn really badly.. Though I’ve fallen in love with manga Gertrud. Not too fond of it but I like having the manga on my shelf. 4/10 watch the anime instead

Madoka Magica Rebellion

Will be biased cause I love rebellion. A really lovely manga, better than the og manga cause it doesn’t compress the story and even expands it. Suits three volumes better than the original. Treats familiars really well, we get bonus bartels, dora and polina~~! Doesn’t have all the fun of the movie cause it obviously doesn’t have the amazing soundtrack but it’s a really nice manga anyway. Bebe is drawn really well but the Clara Dolls aren’t. 9/10 almost as good as the movie

Kazumi Magica

Plot: seven magical girls trying to do good stuff and Kazumi, the protag, has amnesia I was surprised how much I loved this manga... I enjoyed it so much and got attached to almost all the characters. Though, spoilers, all my favourites either died or turned out to be evil... Lots of plot twists. LOTS. A wonderful lack of kyubey too... I found the story to be so intriguing. It took a spin on the original series far better than - imo - Oriko did. Really ace witches too. Only downside was sometimes the art. Too many ass shots thanks. Also a lot of the magi outfits were a tad distasteful (and some distasteful jokes too). 8/10 pretty darn good

Oriko Magica

Plot: two girls want to kill Madoka cause they know about Homu’s shenanigans. Has a pretty out there story, gets quite serious at the end. First time reading I didn’t care about it but I’ve grown fond of some of the main characters like Oriko, Kirika and Yuma. I found Kirika annoying and op first time reading. The addition of the original Madoka characters feels weird even though they are in the same universe. Original characters are also sometimes unrecognisable because of the art style. I almost never recognised Kyoko... The bonus stories are really fun, I liked them a lot. They’re short but nice. New and interesting witches too! I probably preferred Extra and Sadness prayer to the original story (Sadness prayer is like, basically a retelling of the og Oriko story but better) 6/10 for main story (feels a bit like babies first fanfic), side stories are probably a 7/10 (writer probs had more experience)

The Different Story

Plot: Mami and Kyoko backstory plus a spin on the original story. A really fun and interesting read, especially if you like Mami or Kyoko a lot. I loved the expansion of the original characters, it’s really great. I got a bit lost at the end but I was kinda scanning through... Art is by the same artist as the original manga but it’s certainly improved. Really amazing witches too~! Read it again when I got volume 1 for Chrimbo and its far sadder than I remembered... hm. Lovely art though, and very powerful scenes 7 or 8/10. I’d need to read it in full again to give a better judgement

Suzune Magica

Plot: Very edgy, lots of die. Never got attached to Suzune like I did with the Oriko characters. Some costume designs are also gross and pervy. Didn’t find it memorable and didn’t care much about the characters. Nice witches though. 3/10

Haven’t read Tart magica and don’t have any opinions on it yet. Hate the artist so I don’t think I will ever read it. (witches also look like afterthoughts... boooo)

Wraith Arc

Gave it a scan aaannndd.... didn’t enjoy it...... found it so boring. Wraiths are so boring as the enemy. Bland and have no character or inu curry flair. I feel you’d really enjoy it if you adored Homura and Madoka. I don’t so... I don’t think my opinion would be justified for this one.

Homura’s Revenge

Plot: Homura, Madoka and Kyubey go back in time before Madoka turns God. I. HATED. This one. Sigh.. It was the most frustrating manga I’ve ever read. Kyubey just gets in the way and not in a funny or clever way. Kills off Mami too early too. The witch designs are also crap like the artist don’t care about them. Illustrated by the same artist as Tart Magica and they’re a creep so it’s an automatic ‘euch’. Homura just resets in the end anyway. Just like Wraith Arc, I feel you’d like it more if you really liked Homura and Madoka 1/10 I liked the part with Elly and that’s it

The Veranda of Madoka

Plot: All five girls are living in the same house as sisters. Spoilers, this is my favourite manga... it’s so so cute and lovely! It’s a 4Koma (four square panels for a joke/story but sometimes has longer stories) manga with cute humour and fun stories. You really care about the girls and want them to be happy together. I’ve only read volume 1 cause it’s the only one translated but I really wanna read the rest cause it seems to add Nagisa. Only downsides are it has some tasteless jokes like breast sizes and Homura’s sometimes kinda pervy towards Madoka (remember, they are sisters in this one) but those things are rare in the long run. Has lesbian Hitomi which increases the score tenfold. The art style is also adorable, I prefer it to PAPA’s current style honestly. 9.5/10 would be 10 if it didn’t have some questionable jokes sometimes

Mitakihara Anti Materials

Plot: Homura accidentally winds up living with Mami. I thought I was gonna hate this one. Turns out I love this one. If you ship Homura and Mami, it’s the best, but it also works well for a platonic friendship. It’s a lovely slice of life with lots of fluffy bits with Homu and Mami but also the other girls. Sayaka also for some reason has the super hots for Mami (I mean, who wouldn’t). Sadly, has some tasteless jokes like Veranda which bring it down. Taking pictures of people against their will and body-swapping, I just wasn’t into it... Art is pretty generic but works just fine. 8/10

Mami Tomoe’s everyday life

Plot: The girls are older. Excuse me while I vomit. Read a few pages and quickly ran. CLEARLY written by a perverted old man. The girls are all married and only talk about husbands and their weight and things men think women talk about. Also. Homura is married to Tatsuya, excuse me while I hurl again. Just look at the covers and you can tell the artist is a porn artist. -10/10 kill it

Welcome to Cafe Grief Seed

Plot: The girls work at a cake cafe. I um, love this one, it’s so soft and wonderful. The art style is so adorable, I’ve shamelessly stolen it for some of my art cause I love it that much. It’s a sweet mix of Sailor Moon and Ghibli. The pages are laid out like 4Koma but like Veranda, they often have longer stories. The take on the witches are really fun and imaginative too (they’re simply problematic customers). A really nice and harmless read (no pervy jokes, thanks). 9/10 wish it was longer and the artist seems to have not done anything else...

Pomu Magi

Plot: Homura is tiny and chibi for some reason. Reeeaalllyy didn’t gel with this one. Seems kinda like someone’s fetish... Just felt weird, I stopped reading quickly. Not disgusting like Everyday Life but made me feel uncomfortable. 0/10

Mahou Shoujobu

Plot: the girls make a magical girl club in a school shared with witches. Although it apparently involved witches it barely included them. LIES. Disappointed, Homura was also really weird too. 1/10 got to see witches but they weren’t portrayed well

Homura Tamura

Plot: take a look at lots of different timelines. I liked this one but damn it was all over the place. Every chapter is a different wacky timeline, and I mean wacky. A world where Mami rules and everyone wears hair drills, a world where Sayaka drives an Oktavia mech. Wacky. Kinda hard to follow first time through. But funny and quite charming. Made me laugh out loud sometimes. On a re-read for images I enjoyed it just as much as the first time, even more. 8/10 good if you like humour and silly jokes

[trickster-whim]

So, my sister and I had kind of an amazing trip to Goodwill!!

(Kind of long, so I'm gonna put it under a readmore. Also nothing at all explicit, but slightly adult for doujinshi and body pillow covers)

I'm going to go out of order but in the order I took pictures, so first up are these two Dungeon Tiles Master Set boxes! They're really cool, especially since we've been playing dungeons and dragons more lately. Also there were some people's printouts of dnd books, which is adorable. The only thing is that the sets were kinda mixed up, and they were the most expensive single items we got ($6.49, I think?), so we left one behind at the store and who knows what was in that one??

But I definitely want to try to use these sometime, and the boxes themselves are really cute, so ✅

The thing that drew us in and convinced us pretty quickly this was going to be a wild trip, though, was a stack of Japanese novels and doujinshi! This was the same goodwill that I once found a gay space furry retelling of Beauty and the Beast (which turned out to be v good, btw), so there's precedent for some choice smut, but I've never found doujinshi before!

Mostly it's things I'm not super familiar with, and it all appears to be in Japanese, so we can't completely read it (although my sister's kinda learning it in her free time), but it's still awesome.

The non-comic books were these three Gankutsuou novels. Of course I've never seen it, but I did read Count of Monte Cristo in high school! (I remember reading it during my welding class lmao. And I had the teacher who tested us when we got to school over minutia that wasn't in the abridged versions, so yes I read the whole book.)

Can't read it, still cool.

The doujinshi/fanbooks I'm having a harder time finding info about, despite the fact that most of them list an author/illustrator and date. Again, they're in Japanese, but these have (more) pictures 😎. And they're quite nice pictures too lmao.

Three of the books are fanbooks from Magi (I'm not sure if that's Magi the Labyrinth of Magic, but I've been reading that, so I guess I'll see within ~300 chapters), two are from Tiger and Bunny (which I wanted to watch but just haven't gotten around to it), and one from Heat Guy J (which I've never heard of, but it looks kind of great, but it's not available for streaming right now).

Again, I haven't seen any of the anime these are from, and they're in Japanese, so I've been using an online translator to translate (and the pictures help ngl), but I fucking love them. Some aren't 100% my style (I was literally talking the day before about how many fetish-y amputee mods there are for Fallout, and one book is about a character with amputated limbs in a way I'm not sure isn't fetish-y, but it's not, like, offensive I don't think), but I'm a big fan of smut idk ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (Also! I forgot to add that the art is very good. I'm going to keep looking up the artists to see if they've done anything else I might also like :p )

(I do have to say: these books are mostly censored [that is, no explicit shots of genitals without censor bars], but they are very adult, and they were just sitting out there for anyone to stumble on. Like when I found a Torchwood book in the kids section of Bookmans. Idk.)

Anyway! The next stuff is not smutty (sadly): Daisuki Magazine!

I hadn't heard of this magazine, but it's a mid-2000s German-language manga mag, so almost exactly a one-to-one match for my interests lol. My German is rusty, and some of the words are specific, so it's slow going reading it, but look! Fruits Basket! Which we called Frubba when we were kids because we had a million inside jokes!

(I also went back later and got Juni 2007. Also heatstroke because it is hot as all hell here.)

And lastly was another impulse purchase but also amazing: a Nightwing body pillow cover by soltian!!

Sorry for the terrible shot lmao. I wanted to put it on my pillowcase-less pillow immediately, so I had to wash it quickly.

I love this art (༎ຶ ෴ ༎ຶ)

I don't follow comics, but I read almost every DC (especially Batman) comic in our city's library system when I was in high school, so yeah. Also I really do like the art; it's very cute.

(Side note, all of soltion's art is cute. They have charms, and the digidestined are absolutely perfect and I love them. They also have the pillowcases in stock right now so, you know, support the artists! I'm really eyeing those keychains honestly!)

A better(?) picture of the pillowcase which also shows off the last thing I got while we were out: new bedclothes!

We stopped at Walmart because my mom had a gift card, and they had a nine-piece sheets and stuff set for $9, and I've been looking for a new blanket and pillowcases, so score! It was full size, and my bed's a twin, so it's very large, but who cares? I get almost all my bedclothes at goodwill, so I'm pleased :p

Anyway back to the goodwill trip. It was expensive, ha. Everything we got cost between $2 and $7, which is amazing but adds up, and I am so, so grateful that goodwill has a 20% off $20+ coupon and also that my sister who has a job bought this lot UwU

So it cost about $37 for a stack of doujinshi, manga mags, light novels, dnd tile sets, and a body pillow cover. So, um. Yeah. My sister and I were freaking out lmao. I don't know if we'll find such a good haul again, but I'm super happy with all this. Now I just need to make room on my packed shelves.

[thenightling]

hey i just wanted to say i'm really enjoying your blog (started reading sandman because of you) and i just read that you like goethes faust - i'm german so i had to read it in school (and was one of the few who actually enjoyed it) and our teacher told us about a theater production by peter stein where they read every single line. i thought maybe you'd enjoy it. it's in german but the actors are pretty good and if you have the translated book you can read while watching and use it like subs.

Oh, thank you very much.  I’m glad you like my little space of nonsensical rambling.  Sometimes Neil Gaiman likes it too, other times I think I might succeed in pissing him off.

 I hope you’re liking Sandman.  I was very late in getting into Sandman but it’s been my primary obsession for over a year now.

Faust is not required reading here in America, in fact it’s sadly semi-obscure in America and those that think they know it only know part 1 or Marlowe’s version and don’t realize Goethe’s version has two parts and ultimately ends with Faust saved and reunited with Gretchen.  (By coincidence my mother’s name had been Marguerite and her grandparents had been German immigrants).

 My first introduction to Faust was when I was about thirteen.  I saw an episode of Wishbone that covered the story and I liked it very much.  Wishbone was a kid’s show where an adorable (I believe) Jack russell dog was used to reenact classic literature with the dog in the lead role so essentially it was puppy Faust and I liked it.  The show was kind of a guilty pleasure for me as I love classic literature and there were few shows about literature on TV at the time, outside of Disney’s Gargoyles using Shakespeare and folklore.  (I loved Disney’s Gargoyles).  Rock star Alice Cooper seems to be a Faust fan, he references it in some music videos and his appearance on The Muppet Show.  He also likes the Corinthian in Sandman.

After Wishbone I saw the references and allusions to Faust in Anne Rice’s Tale of the body thief when I was about fourteen but I didn’t finally read Faust until I was slightly over twenty-five-years-old (I’m thirty-six now).  

I found a fairly good online translation that kept the rhymes in tact.  There are some horrible, actually printed and published, translations out there by translators who don’t even realize The key of Solomon is an actual Grimoire and somehow think he was talking about a literal key or they describe the flight scene in a way that makes it sound like Faust wore an inflatable coat instead of a levitating cloak, or they don’t realize that the druidenfuss is a pentacle… 

Some of the bad translations feel the need to change Heinrich Faust’s name to Harry or Henry or Henri.   That’s become my litmus test for a good translation: “Do they have to change Heinrich to Harry?  If so it’s probably crap.” 

I also really like the Faust illustrations by Harry Clarke.  They’re gorgeous if you have ever seen them.  

My favorite adaptation of Faust is the silent film by F. W. Murnau.  I know very little German but I doubt I could hold a real conversation in it.  I think my vocabulary level is on par with a three-year-old.  

I tried to teach myself German using Muzzy a few years ago because I really liked the German production of Frank Wildhorn’s Dracula das musical.  The German version is so much more passionate and the songs sound better with electric guitars and I’m a lyrics lover.  I have to know what the lyrics are saying and I know they were changed for the German.  My favorite song in the German production is Zu Ende, which didn’t exist in the first English language run of the play.  Now American productions have the song and call it “it’s Over.” 

The power metal band Kamelot has a double set of albums called Epica and The Black Halo and if you play them together they tell Goethe’s Faust parts 1 and 2 as a rock opera. They just change Faust’s first name to Ariel and Gretchen’s name to Helena.  Mephisto’s name is left alone.  It’s actually really good.  It’s tragic to me- how few Kamelot fans realize these albums tell a story and that the story is Goethe’s Faust Parts 1 and 2.   

I do really like Faust but it has to be parts 1 and 2 together because I like when Faust is saved by learning to care about others, that the moment he wished for that would never end- the thing he bargained his soul for- the ultimate life experience turned out to be love, caring for others, and so the demon lost and his soul was saved.

Anyway, I’m rambling, sorry about that.

I’ll try to track down the Peter Stein adaptation of Faust.  And I’m glad you like my blog and I hope you continue to enjoy it.

[abcdnochu]

The Little Prince

It was the year 1943 when Antoine de Saint-Exupery brought the world a charming tale about a little prince and the stranded aviator. But how did a tiny book with whimsical hand painted watercolor illustrations manage to keep translators busy telling the tale in 95 different languages?   

 The book “The Little Prince” is like an optical illusion, with its simple drawings that would make it look like a children’s book. It’s not just about a little lost boy but rather it is a gorgeous classic about friendship, love and life.

      I bought my copy of the book, thinking it would be a fresh and light read. Beyond the illustrations, my first impression of the story was adorable and strange and other-worldly and child-like. But after reading it 11 more times, I realized that there was so much more to the little prince’s great odyssey through the universe. 

      Starting off with the narrator’s story of his drawing, when he was young, of a boa constrictor swallowing an elephant. When he asked adults if they got scared of the picture, they replied, “Why would one be scared of a hat?” They then later told him to give up his dream of being an artist and learn things that were actually “essential”. And so the narrator gave up on art and became an aviator.

        One unfortunate day, his plane crashed in the middle of the Sahara dessert. Exhausted, as he tried to fix his plane, the aviator thought he was hallucinating when a little blond boy in a silly green suit asked him to draw a sheep. “When a mystery is too overpowering, one dare not disobey,” so the aviator attempts to draw a sheep.

        He learned that the little prince was from a planet called Asteroid B-612, and that he needed a sheep to eat the baobabs that were growing in his planet while they were still tiny, to prevent them from ruining his planet which was quite small. This led him into telling stories about this planet and how one day, instead of the infamous baobab, a single red rose grew. Rosy red and beautiful. He took care of his rose for he loved her because she said that she was one of a kind. After a while, she grew needy and hard to please. His feelings about her got messed up and he decided to leave and journey to other planets in search of knowledge. So he enclosed his beloved flower, then went on the journey via a flock of wild birds. 

    After arriving on different planets meeting the confusing adults that inhabited them, who were all too consumed in their own nonsensical professions, he eventually landed on Earth, where he befriended a snake who offered to help him return to his planet – but at a price. The prince refused and continued on his journey.

      He then befriended a wild fox which he then tames “The important things in life are visible only to the heart” the fox said. One day, they stumbled upon a rose garden. The prince was hurt to see that he got caught in a lie. Many looked like his rose back home. But the fox helped him and said that his time away from the rose makes the rose more special to him, and that love makes a person responsible for the things that one loves. The little prince realizes that, even though there are many roses, his love for his rose makes her unique, the time and effort that he has put on taking care of her, that, and not her physical appearance, makes her special.

        It is now the narrator’s eighth day in the desert, and at the prince’s suggestion, they set off to find a well. The water feeds their hearts as much as their bodies, and the two share a moment of bliss as they agree that too many people do not see what is truly important in life. The little prince’s mind, however, is fixed on returning to his rose, and he begins making plans with the snake to head back to his planet. The aviator is able to fix his plane on the day before the one-year anniversary of the prince’s arrival on Earth, and he walks sadly with his friend out to the place where the prince landed. The snake bites the prince, who falls noiselessly to the sand. The aviator takes comfort when he cannot find the prince’s body the next day and is confident that the prince has returned to his asteroid. The aviator misses the prince deeply but he remembers the words that the fox that the prince reiterated, “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.” It makes him remember what the adults told him when he was young, about only focusing on the essential, and he realizes the true meaning of the fox’s words. So when his heart seeks for the boy clad in a weird green suit and blonde hair, he looks up at the stars, and is comforted by them; in which he now hears the tinkling of the prince’s laughter. But still one’s heart will wonder, oh little prince where could you be?

     Indeed, the aviator and the prince had a lot in common. And up until now, the two of them have the place of being my favorite book characters in my poorly-lived 15 years of existence, for the important values that they have taught me. They found adults odd, because both believed that it is not growing old that is the problem, forgetting is. They learned to share a lot of simple joys together, like the pleasure of looking at a single flower, or taking a drink of water when you are really thirsty and believing in the uniqueness of everything because of the love we feel for it. Just like how the prince loved his rose and how the aviator took comfort in the stars knowing that his friend will always be there smiling over him. 

      After 74 years, Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s timeless masterpiece still instills child-like dreams and glints of  hope to the readers. With unclear messages filled with stories of serendipity, it might still be quite hard to understand the whole message, but if we look with our hearts, past the childish appearance, we will, because just as the book’s famous quote says, “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

[thedarkcheessmaster]

The Book

Rating: Teen and Up

Word Count: 2089 words

Summary: He found the library still open and instantly dismissed it as his wife losing sense of time. He could picture her with her nose in a book reading intently. Instead she was in the floor of her library with papers scattered around and a book by her side.

Notes:  My Submission for the Rumbelle Revelry 2017.

Prompt used: The old book in the back of the library.

Read on AO3

Beep… beep… beep… beep… beep…

It’s a strange thing to be comforted by the beep of that machine. During his firsts days here, he had hated it. It was loud and obnoxious. Now it gave him comfort. The steady beep of the machine that monitors her heart, announcing to the world that her heart is in good condition, even if something else inside her is not.

For now, she is stable, but for how longer?

She looks so pale, tinier than she already was, so infinite small and helpless. His sleeping beauty…

If only it was so easy, he would kiss her and she will wake up. But this was no fairy tale, this was the real world and nothing was that easy…

His lovely Belle was in a coma, it was the crude true.

The doctors didn’t know what could have caused it, they tossed around many improbable hypotheses but none fit with the symptoms she showed, or better worded the symptoms that she didn’t showed.

No one knew what had happened and there was no logical explanation to her state.

Exactly one month before, he had gone to the library to pick her up for their date. He had been nervous that day, having prepared a big surprise for their third wedding anniversary and he wanted everything to be perfect. Belle was a beacon of light that soothed his darkness and he wanted to please her.

He found the library still open and instantly dismissed it as his wife losing sense of time. He could picture her with her nose in a book reading intently. Instead she was in the floor of her library with papers scattered around and a book by her side.

He felt his world collapsing over him. He run frantically to her side, trying to arose her, checking if she was breathing and looking for a pulse. He had screamed for help and in a moment of illumination he had called the hospital.

Now a month after that fatidic evening, the doctors hadn’t found anything new. And Belle didn’t show any signs of waking up soon.

He tried not to worry too much. Belle was strong, she would recover and she would survive. But he couldn’t shake the dreadful felling that maybe, just maybe Belle would never wake up.

In the deep of the forgotten, the darkness stirred impatiently. It had been centuries since his imprisonment and it could feel the moment of his freedom approaching slow but certain. The twelfth soul had already been collected and it only needed one more thing to be free of its prison.

Soon. —It thought.

He went home more tired than usual. The doctor’s words still ringing in his ears.

“Mr. Gold, I’m going to be frank with you. Belle is not making any progress, but at least she’s no getting worse…”

He made a simple dinner, and then tried to look up any new therapy that could help Belle. That was when he noticed the book.

The same book he had found next to Belle, one month ago. When he had read the theory that comma patients could heard what is said around them, he had thought of reading some books to her. With that in mind he had gone to the library for the first time after the accident, to look for any book she might have been reading that afternoon. Surely, Belle would like to know how the story ended, he remembered many nights when Belle had read until well past midnight because the book was reaching its climax. The library was exactly as it had been left that fatidic day, paper scattered around, and the book unceremoniously dumped to the floor. With a knot in his throat he collected the papers and lift up the book. He had skimmed through it, trying to get a general idea about the topic of the book, when he discovered an interesting detail, the book wasn’t written in any language he could recognize, and looking through Belle’s notes it was obvious she was attempting to translate it.

He had brought it home thinking of investigating more about the book, maybe there was a translation already available. Sadly, his research bore no fruit, he couldn’t find any clue about the book. But an idea had already beginning to form in his mind, he would translate the book as a gift to Belle so when she woke up she would read it. It would be a difficult task but he could manage, he was good with languages and he was doing this for his dearest Belle, he could manage.

Now weeks later, he still hadn’t begun the translation, but today was as good as any day to start. With that determination, he poured himself to the task.

Fist he examined more intently the book. Comparing the letters to many different alphabets, but he couldn’t find a definite math, the letter to strangers and didn’t resemble anything he could think of, even Chinese writing.  

It seemed to be a collection of short stories. The book was divided in 13 sections, 14 if you counted the many blank pages in the back of the book.

In what he assumed what was the first story and which occupied a bigger part that the others were three illustrations.

In the first picture, there was the outline of a horrible monster, the next one looked like scared people were adoring the monster, another one depicted people dressed in white capes with hoods that covered their faces trapping the monster in a box of sorts.

Curiously, in that illustration the ink was still fresh and it had coated the tip of his finger with a mark that couldn’t be washed away no matter how hard he scrubbed his hands.

That night he started to have strange dreams, of that he was sure. He couldn’t remember then but left him agitated as is something important had happened while he was asleep but he couldn’t remember once he wake up.

—Robert... Robert —he knew that voice, it was just a whisper lost in the wind but he could recognize the familiar tone even if he could remember the owner. Suddenly the intensity of the voice increased until it was a shout in his ears and he woke up having discover the owner of the voice in the last moment, it was the voice of his sweet Belle.

That left him perturbated, and he went to the bathroom to slash some water in his face. He was drying his face with a towel when he noticed the ink in his fingers and he spend over half an hour trying to wash it away, until he gave up. It was late and he needed to start getting ready for work. After Belle had fallen in comma he had altered his schedule, he spent the mornings in the shop and the afternoons in the hospital keeping Belle company. Rent week had been last week and he still hadn’t actualized his ledgers.

—Robert… —He was in a room of stone, lying in a pile of straw. And Belle was there, over him, her lovely face just inches from his.

—Belle‽

—Robert, hear me out!  We don’t have much time. You have to stop trying to read that book.

—Why?

—That book is what has me in this state.

—What?

—There’s no time to explain. —She put her hands around his face and saw directly into his eyes —Remember this: YOU HAVE TO STOP READING THAT BOOK.

—What? I… I don’t understand…

Belle opened her mouth but she didn’t have time to say anything, because in the same moment it was heard a terrible voice that said:

—Your time is up…

And he woke up.

He was sure he had dreamed something important, something about Belle, but the dream itself evaded him. It frustrated him. But it was only the tip of the iceberg, Belle was still in comma, and she showed no sign of getting better, and he hadn’t make any progress in his self-imposed task of translating her book, despite his efforts.

He was tired and worn, but he had to stay strong, for Belle. She needing him to be her rock and he wouldn’t disappoint her.

With that in mind, he decided to double his efforts in translating the book. Thinking of the amazed look in Belle’s face when he delivered his present.

He had been in this room before, it looked familiar somehow. —Robert… — That was Belle’s voice. She was here! Where? He felt someone tackling him from behind and spun to catch whoever they were, discovering it was the same person he was looking for.

—Belle!

She looked distraught.

—Robert, burn the book! You have to burn it, or it would consume your soul and the world will be destroyed.

—Belle, you’re not making sense, what are you talking about?

—The book you’re trying to translate for me. That book it’s a tramp. Centuries ago a great evil, known as The Dark One was trapped in that book by twelve sorceresses. To freed itself the Dark One needs the strength of twelve souls and a host. You have to destroy the book before it is too late.

­—But what about you?

—I’m already doomed, my soul has already been bound to the book. I founded it in the back of the library and like you I tried to decipher it. But the harder I worked on it the strongest it spell was becoming until it robbed my soul. —There were tears in her eyes and in his, how could he had not notice this was happening to his wife?

—Don’t felt guilty, I didn’t notice too —Was she reading his mind? Or did she know him so well to guess his thoughts? —If you want to save me you have to destroy the book and quickly, if not my soul would be destroyed when the Dark One gets free. You don’t have more time, it had robbed twelve souls already and has marked his host. —She took his hand, the one with the little patches of ink in the tips of the fingers. —It has marked you.

He woke up in his bed covered in cold sweat, but his mind has clear. He hobbled to the bathroom to dress. He had a book to destroy.

He was in his shop ready to burn that book to his ashes when he felt the pull. He tried to fight but his heart hurt so much, every beat felt like it was being parted in two. He was dying, he though in a moment of clarity, his soul was being replacing by the darkness and soon it would be free to impose its reign of terror in the world.

—Robert, ¡Oh my God! Robert.

Belle was there, she looked pale and a little bit transparent, was he so far gone that he could see ghosts? Or was he dreaming? He decided it didn’t matter, she was there, and that was important.

—Belle! —He tried to touch her face but his force failed him, he was so weak that it was difficult to keep his eyes open but he did it, trying to see the Belle’s face one last time. —I love you.

She was sobbing, and he could fell her tears in his face mixing with his tears.

—I love you too. —And she gave him a kiss. He could feel all of her love in the kiss and he could feel its warm extending all over his body.

He opened his eyes in time to see the darkness, being pulled out of his body. Immediately his heart started to beat more normally and the pain was fading by the minute.

—Belle. It was a… a…

—A true love kiss. —Belle’s smile was glorious, and her ghost like form was becoming more transparent.

—You have free me, you have free us.

When he woke up, he was lying in the floor of his shop and he could remember everything he had dreamed or rather lived. He could remember Belle saying that…

He ran to the hospital, nearly forgetting his cane in his haste to get there. It must have shown in his face how anxious he was because no one dared to get in his path. He opened the door to Belle’s room and saw her reclining in the bed with her eyes open and a soft smile in her face.

—Belle, you are awake!

And he kissed her.

[movies-are-magic]

Moana (pt. 1)

Moana (called Vaiana in many countries of Europe for copyright reasons) is Disney’s latest animated feature film. It garnered outstanding success as well as critical acclaim all over the world. This being more of a review than an actual piece of analysis, here are some thoughts on why its positive reception is so well-deserved. Because of the length of this piece, I'm posting this in two parts, this being the first.

part 2

WARNING: Contains heavy spoilers. If you have not seen the movie, chances are that this text will be difficult to understand.

It is difficult to pick one aspect of the film to begin this song of praise, but maybe the beginning is the best anyway. I do not often watch animated movies because many are noisy, packed with unnecessary giddiness to make them ‘fun’, but finally quite boring when it comes to the ever-the-same story. Moana is none of this, and because of the trailers as well as a personal interest in Polynesian culture, I was eager, but also a little reserved, to watch this movie. Would Disney treat Polynesian people, their world and beliefs, with the necessary respect? Would it be possible to translate so much into something as little as a ninety minutes film?

From what I can say, the first scenes of the film cleared that up with a big YES. Whether it’s the creative way of blending 2D and 3D animation, the telling of legends by Gramma Tala, or that the goddess who gave life to everything is at the heart of this tale, it all flows together beautifully. Better even, it turns out that just as we have been audience to Tala’s story, so have been the village kids of whom Moana is one. After a cute scene of comedy with the kids being frightened by their Gramma’s story, there is one of the most natural and heart-warming depictions of a toddler ever animated. By the time Moana has become friends with the ocean, there is no way of not having been moved to tears by this story already.

These very short moments at the beginning of the film illustrate the immense amount of work that went into its making. The creators of the movie not just did their standard research journey to several places in the Pacific, they also invited a full board of experts of Polynesian culture, most of them Polynesian, to watch over the story process and give critical feedback. This might not sound like much to some of you, but sadly, it is very rare for moviemakers depicting a culture they are not directly familiar with to go to such lengths. It should be standard, but it is absolutely not.

You could say that the story of a young protagonist finding their way by believing in themselves and becoming a hero is not exactly original. How many big-budget Hollywood movies of this type with a female Polynesian protagonist can you name though? With exact precision to culture, highly detailed characters, jokes that are really funny and appropriate for all ages, and without platitudes? With the heroine being the heroine not because she is a) a princess or b) turning out to be better than everyone for some oddish reason, but because she cares about her world and her people and does what she can for them? Who is shown as a realistic person? Exactly.

The realism of both the animation as well as the storytelling is probably what draws in the audience so quickly. The depiction of nature isn’t just incredibly beautiful, it is almost photorealistic. I have never seen water rendered so well before, nor natural light. Just as much work went into the characters. Maui, for example, is introduced as a trickster, an ambiguous character, who causes the mysterious darkness to be born from the goddess Te Fiti when he steals her life-giving heart. That in itself is a wonderful metaphor, the way Maui on one hand does everything to make his fellow humans happy, bringing great things to humanity, but more or less because he wants to be appreciated, not actually because of higher morals. Still, it is a very relatable way of acting, one that is easy to understand. On the other hand, he is more or less the villain of the story that way. He is never actually vilified though, nor fully excused for what he did. Like a living, breathing person, Maui has to stand up for what he did and acknowledge that he was responsible and at fault. That’s never taken off him. He does get the chance to make up for it though, and be a stubborn, full-of-himself, fun, resourceful, and surprising character with a whole lot of character facets – without taking the spotlight from Moana. Also, mini-Maui? Genius. The animation of 2D on 3D was apparently very difficult, but it is such a great way to bring the significance of tattoos into the storytelling.

Speaking of tattoos, let’s talk about Gramma Tala. She is one of Disney’s comedic characters, but a sharp one, one who chooses being the ‘village crazy’ as she calls herself because it gives her freedom to do what is right, and live life the way she wants. Nobody stops her at this, in fact, she seems to be greatly revered, and my, look at the artistry, the wisdom, and the knowledge of that woman! Much more than anyone else, it is Gramma Tala over and over who teaches Moana to go her own way, never to have herself pushed into a box, both by telling her so and giving her granddaughter the means, but also by living this way herself. Her stingray tattoo and the way she dances with these animals, only to turn into one herself, are fantastic elements that deeply enrich the story.

What I also very much appreciate about this story is how the village life is depicted, and how Moana is shown as part of it, not as a rebel. You see people who work with and for each other as a peaceful community living together, not just next to each other. In times like ours, where more and more young people leave their communities because of poverty and the apparent glitter of Western lifestyles in the big continental cities, where aggressiveness and elbow-thinking are so widely spread, it is important to remember that living closely with all your neighbours, caring for each other and what is best for everyone, creates quite a different kind of home and individual mindset. Gramma Tala educates all the children, not just her own core family, and when the kids are scared, they all run to Chief Tui as if he’s everyone’s papa. Because he is there fore everybody.

Moana understands this right at the beginning of the movie, as she is shown growing up. At first we see her trying to sail the ocean on her own and being disgruntled when she is kept from it. But as she gets older, she realises more and more that she is happy at home, living with her people, that she is one of them, and that she wants to be chief because that’s good for everyone. She works very hard, she understands every aspect of the village life perfectly, and people are openly proud of her achievements as her parents teach her to be their successor. There are moments when she glances wondrously at her grandmother, but they are much shorter than in the beginning. Still, they dance together by the ocean, and that is so beautiful.

Mind you, this is the beginning of the movie. Moana’s actual doubts whether she wants to be chief are already over by then. This is not Merida who openly opposes her people’s way of marrying her off. In fact, and I love this, Moana’s story comes completely without romantic love. No princes, no dashing adventurer to steal her heart – the only heart stolen is Te Fiti’s, and that wasn’t romantic at all. In fact, Moana even sets out to restore that heart, because its theft brought nothing but evil.

Not many Disney movies show a fully functional family, but Moana does, and it does so well. It is a family where Dad sometimes gets loud, but not because he doesn’t understand his daughter. He understands her too well. Actually he is not wrong in making sure Moana becomes a great new chief, and he is not wrong at all in worrying about her going sailing out on the ocean, as he is be worried about everyone. Moana understands that somehow, too. It is important to notice though that she does not actually rebel against her culture. Quite in contrast, she doesn’t even think of going away alone anymore after that first disastrous attempt. Instead, what truly sets her off is her grandmother’s explicit command on her deathbed to take the boat her ancestors built and find Maui: her grandmother, who has prepared her to see that alternative in her way of living all her life, just as her father has prepared her all her life to become the next chief. Moana feels pulled back and forth between those two ways, only to find out that they are not split, but in fact one path: her ancestors, whose tradition and way of living she is supposed to continue as chief, were sailors themselves. She was not wrong or odd at all, she was actually right! Her own culture approves of her ‘wayward’ wishes much more than she had ever known.

What I also very much appreciate is that Moana is not shown as a loud, I-can-do-everything teenager. She is allowed to be noisy, loud, she can be wise, clever, even cunning, and a mature young woman, but she also stomp her foot and insults the ocean in very funny ways when she doesn’t understand. On her journey, she has a nightmare of her parents encountering the darkness. Being afraid of Maui, she stands up against him either way. She is a young woman with a lot of inner strength, inner struggles, frustration, happiness, but also a lot of kindness. This might not always be so obvious, but it is shown as one of her first noticeable traits. Even as a little kid, Moana already protects the weak, shown as she helps a little turtle find the ocean. Later, she is shown with Pua, her adorable pig, and if it were not for her, the rooster Hei-hei would be soup already. The person who softly explains to the bird that the ocean is not to be feared, that is the same person who once defended a tiny turtle against birds almost as big as she. We will come back to this later.

Another big relief is that Moana being female is never given as a reason why she should not do something. Apparently there was a story arc once in which she had several brothers and prove that she could sail much better than them, but wasn’t allowed to set out on the journey for reasons of being a woman. Of course it is important to point out that such rules are rubbish, but you know what’s even more important, but so very rare? To tell stories where the question of male or female is never even asked. Where it is absolutely normal that Moana, as a woman, becomes chief and an explorer. This message is much stronger than any lecture could be, however well-intended. Maui does call Moana a princess when he wants to insult her, which is a bit much, but I guess they did want to make the message clear for people who needed it spelled out.

The gender aspect is very well depicted in this movie: you have well-drawn male characters, such as Chief Tui, Maui, even Tamatoa is fantastic, but also a great cast of female characters who are all directly linked: Gramma Tala has a lot of influence in raising her granddaughter, but Moana’s mother Sina as a quiet, gentle character is just as important, even if she has less screen time. When Moana is in despair over her grandmother dying and the terrifying quest bestowed on her, it is Sina who, without words, helps her pack food for the journey and sees her off, thus encouraging her daughter in her ways. It is then Moana’s quick mind and gentle heart that releases Te Fiti from her agony.

It should also be pointed out that Gramma Tala’s death is not a cheap story device to create an emotional reaction and cause the hero to become active. It is a good move to depict the death of an elderly relative realistically, but also to give the (younger) audience a way of coping with that that comes directly from Polynesian culture: the belief in ancestors.

Just as living in the community is important, so is the knowledge that your ancestors are still around, still guiding. For Moana Gramma Tala is the most important here, but also her ancestors from many hundred years ago, who show her that her people were once sailors. This gives her courage, in fact, it’s what I would call the heart of the story. But I will come back to that at the end of this.

DISCLAIMER: I’m not Polynesian, so if you are and you spot something in this essay that’s not okay, please don’t hesitate to call me out on it. I’d be very grateful!

[cannibalhouse]

RDC3 Personal Highlights (spoilers: feels!)

So it’s been a few days since RDC3 and I still have not finished processing all the emotions. But I wanted to post my personal con highlights while they’re still fresh in my memory. Brace yourselves--it’s going to be a long one!

Firstly, let me get a few basics out of the way. It was beyond wonderful to see my wonderful fannibal family again. Truly, you guys make my life better every day in every imaginable way. In fact, my only real regret is that I was running around like a mad woman on a mission all weekend, and didn’t spend as much time with friends old and new as I wanted to. I didn’t even give out many of my posters! I hope you all forgive me <3 

I got a chance to meet a couple of my favourite artists, @camilleflyingrotten and @theseavoices - I think I kept my cool and didn’t fangirl too hard. I also briefly ran into @bansheegrahamtao who sadly did not throw wine at me again, I was very disappointed :P 

I would also like to thank everyone for all the amazing and thoughtful gifts and swag I came away with--including a beautiful handmade scarf from one of my dear friends. I will cherish it all, and plan to plaster the art all over the walls when @the-winnowing-wind and I officially move in together this month.

Onto the guests, who were all fantastic. Ellen seemed lovely, though I missed her solo q&a on Sat because I was stewarding. Demore was an absolute delight and so, so funny and sweet! Scott and Aaron were on their ‘best behaviour’ after their shenanigans at the first con... So naturally this translated into 50 Shades of Hannibal, featuring such scenes as Scott wearing Hannibal’s actual collar from ‘Digestivo’, Scott in high heels pretending to be Hannibal while Aaron as Will cried and smacked him with a riding crop, Aaron on his belly kissing Scott’s feet, and an actual adorable kiss. Love these guys so much. Myself and the co-writer of CopCop also had a chance to explain the upcoming comic to them, and they seemed excited at the prospect so watch this space!

(We’ll talk about Bryan in a little bit. I have a lot to say about Bryan.)

Hugh Dancy was just such a friendly, genuine person, and he seemed to have such a great time the whole weekend. He was so up for everything, dressing up with Bryan for the costume contest, doing all the crazy poses in photos... Speaking of which:

I said ‘I’m going to freak out’ because my mind went blank and I couldn’t think of a funny pose. Bryan said ‘should we freak out too?’ and then Hugh... Oh Hugh. There are no words for how much I love this picture.

I sadly missed the fannibal musical because I was taking part in the costume contest, but let me say that I’m so proud of everyone involved, and really grateful that I got to contribute in small small way with a few illustrations in the booklet. I’ve heard the performance was beyond amazing!

As for the costume contest, everyone looked amazing. In what is becoming a weird con tradition, the Chesapeake Stripper made a return, despite her utter terror at doing that in front of Hugh and Bryan. Luckily, she was joined by a friend--the fearless and fabulous @violetdebauched as the Stripper!Will to my Stripper!Hannibal. The pictures I’ve seen of the guests’ faces are amazing, and I’ve heard Hugh’s jaw dropped when Stripper!Will came out. And even though I ever so slightly... fell over in my stripper heels... right in front of my idols... Well, we looked fierce :P

I’d also like to share a pic of my Hannibal vinyl which I’ve had signed this con and last, and which now bears the sentiment ‘Great Stripping’ from Mr Aaron Abrams. This is the kind of positive affirmation I need in my life ha ha!

Now. Let’s talk about Bryan. Sit down, we’ll be here a while. 

I’ll start by saying I had a few moments with Bryan that I can’t talk about publicly, either because they were deeply, deeply personal, or because they relate to something which may happen in the future but I don’t want to jinx it.

Bryan was just a bundle of energy and enthusiasm and love the entire weekend. From yelling ‘I want to crowd-surf!’ and going running around the hall slapping high fives, to signing autographs on Sunday for 8 freaking hours straight without taking a break (except to do the closing ceremony, and going straight back to it), he was just incredible. He was just so excited to see everyone and could not be stopped from jumping out of whatever he was supposed to be doing to take selfies or snap a pic of someone’s costume or tattoo (he took a pic of my arm ha ha!). 

Speaking of his marathon autograph session, I stewarded it the whole time (3.30pm-11.30pm, phew!) and I don’t think he stopped smiling once that entire time. He was insistent on spending time with each and every person and it was a real delight to witness. Towards the end of the session, when there were only a few dozen people left, I remembered I had some of these posters in my bag and handed them out to the people queuing to spark some conversation with them, since we were all tired by then. I went back to guarding the door, when a fannibal ran up to me and said Bryan wanted one of the posters--he’d seen someone holding it, but I don’t think he knew where it had come from. I didn’t have any left on my person, so the lovely fannibal gave hers back and the staff let me slip it onto Bryan’s table (lovely fannibal, if you’re reading this, let me know who you are and I’ll send you a replacement and something pretty to say thank you!). Sadly, this almost ended in tears because one person at the end of the queue did something shockingly spiteful and unkind which resulted in Bryan losing the poster... I won’t go into details because it’s not worth the drama. But thanks to the kindness of the staff, and possibly because I have good karma, we got him a spare and he told me he wants to frame it. I don’t know if he will, but it was so sweet of him to say I just cried! That was the second time he made me cry that day! As for the first time...

As many of you know, I was compiling a fan book for Bryan featuring art, letters, poems, and pictures from fannibals all over the world. I got around 200 submissions, so thank you all so much for making that happen! Bryan already knew about the book because he somehow found my post on Twitter, and had said he was super excited. Boy was he excited.

I spent weeks working on the book, culiminating in two sleepless nights before the con feverishly finalizing the proofs, and sent it off to the printer Thursday morning. Kudos to my printers for hearing a frantic fannibal on the phone begging them to rush the order and doing such a great job of it! It arrived at the hotel shortly I did on Friday, and I began taking it around for people to sign and write messages on the inside covers. After all, I had titled it the Fannibal Yearbook, so that seemed appropriate. Thank you all for the enthusiastic and heartfelt response!

On Saturday morning, I had a photo with Bryan and decided to get one of us holding the book, because I was really attached to it by now and wanted something to remember it by. Bryan’s face lit up when he saw it and he said he’d been looking forward to it, but I told him he couldn’t have it yet and shouldn’t look at it! He said he loved it already and squeezed me after we’d taken the picture:

On Sunday, with the book now chock-full of messages for him, I decided the best time to present it to him would be during his q&a panel with Hugh, so everyone could enjoy his reaction (it wasn’t my book, so many people made it possible and they all deserved to share that moment). I got in line, and when I got to the mic and told him we’d like to present him the book, his reaction was amazing. He grinned and said something like ‘I’ve been looking forward to this all weekend! It’s the last day of the con and I thought, where’s my book, I want my book!’ Then he hopped down off the stage to take it, and gave me a huge hug.

(photo by @solamentenic on Twitter, whose tumblr name momentarily escapes me!)

(Photo by Naomi Roper Photogaphy)

I believe what happened next was Bryan thanking everyone for all their lovely art and letters, etc... But I was suddenly very emotional and didn’t want him to see me cry (again, that resolve lasted all of about 10 hours) so I went back to my seat and had a wee sob. Thanks to the person who gave me a tissue! 

I hope he loves the book, and maybe he will tweet some pictures at some point! Then earlier today, someone sent me a link to these pictures on the Starfury Instragram account:

These pictures were already EVERYTHING. And then I noticed which page they were looking at in the first picture. It’s this one:

The one in the bottom right corner that Hugh seems to be looking/pointing at? That’s a piece of my own art that I included: The Brides of Hannibal pastiche poster, aka my favourite thing I’ve ever drawn. I don’t know if they’re looking at the same page in the second picture, but that reaction is so beautiful and pure that, whatever caused it, it’s giving me life! Just think guys--we made Bryan throw his head back laughing, we did it!  High five!

I’m going to wrap it up there because this has taken 3 hours to write already, even though I’m definitely forgetting about 100 amazing things that happened. Thank you all for the hugs, the gifts, the laughs, and just basically for being the most lovely and caring group of people I’ve ever had the privilege of associating with. I love you all, and I can’t wait until we dine together again!

Yours totally functional and more or less sane,

Sam xx

(p.s. I think I’m right in saying Bryan confirmed Will and Hannibal are switches?? This makes me suuuuuper happy)

[recentanimenews]

My Week in Manga: September 18-September 24, 2017

My News and Reviews

I was running a little behind my intended schedule last week (and today for that matter–this seems to be somewhat par for the course lately), but over the weekend I was finally able to post my review of the ninth omnibus of Vinland Saga, an award-winning historical manga by Makoto Yukimura which has become one of my favorite series currently being released in English. Last week I also attend a talk by Hiroshi Yoshioka, a professor at Kyoto University’s Kokoro Research Center, called Hiroshima, Fukushima, and Beyond: Borders and Transgressions in Nuclear Imagination. Yoshioka’s research addresses the portrayal of nuclear power within popular culture, whether that be manga like Keiji Nakazawa’s Barefoot Gen, Sunao Katabuchi’s In This Corner of the World anime adaptation, other visual arts, or even Giant Baba’s “atomic drop” in professional wrestling. I won’t be doing a full write-up of the talk (although perhaps I should), but I did find it to be fascinating. A couple of other interesting things that I’ve come across recently include Ryan Holmberg’s two part article “Yokoyama Yuichi and Audiovisual Abstraction in Comics” as well as an edited version of a talk by Tyran Grillo, the translator working on the Legend of the Galactic Heroes novels, about the series and its author Yoshiki Tanaka.

Quick Takes

Frau Faust, Volume 1 by Kore Yamazaki. The German legend of Faust, a scholar who sells his soul to the Devil in order to gain great knowledge and worldly delights, has had numerous interpretations over the centuries. (Considering my background in music, I’m personally most familiar with the various operatic and symphonic renditions of the tale.) Faust being the subject of a manga would be enough for me to take an immediate interest, but the fact that Frau Faust is by Yamazaki, the creator of The Ancient Magus’ Bride which I greatly enjoy, made it a series that I absolutely knew I needed to read. One volume in, not only am I intrigued, I am completely on board with Yamazaki’s reimagining of the classic tale. As can be gathered from the title, Faust in this case is a woman. Johanna is strikingly enigmatic, the complexity of her true nature slowly revealed over the course of the first volume of the manga. The pacing of Frau Faust is excellent. Plenty of mystery remains by the first volume’s end, but rather than the story feeling like it’s being unnecessarily drawn out, it simply makes me want to read more. The only real complaint I have about the manga, and it’s a relatively minor one at that, is Johanna’s eyeglasses which tend to inexplicably appear and disappear from one panel to the next and I can’t tell if it’s meant to be intentional or not.

Kiss of the Rose Princess, Volumes 1-2 by Aya Shouoto. Since I’ve been enjoying The Demon Prince of Momochi House I’ve been making a point to try some of the other manga by Shouoto available in English. Sadly, I haven’t been nearly as taken with Kiss of the Rose Princess, one of Shouoto’s earlier series. I think that part of my lack of interest in the series stems from the fact that there’s not much of a plot even hinted at until the second volume. It’s almost as if the first volume, and much of the second, is devoted to a side quest before really getting to the meat of the story. Anise is a high school student who quite unexpectedly finds herself in command of a quartet of knights (who are also her classmates) that she can magically summon, a situation that hasn’t been fully explained. More than anything else, the setup comes across as a convenient excuse for the series’ heroine have a number of young men who are in some way bound to her if not vying for her attention. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but at this point most of the characters come across as “types” and any convincing romantic tension is nearly nonexistent. Everyone is very prettily drawn, however. Shouoto seems to be favoring silliness over seriousness in Kiss of the Rose Princess, which again isn’t necessarily bad, but a satisfying balance between the tones hasn’t been reached yet.

Queen Emeraldas, Volume 2 by Leiji Matsumoto. In addition to being a classic manga, which I’m always happy to see more of in translation, I found the first half of Queen Emeraldas to be wonderfully engrossing, so I was looking forward to reading the conclusion of the series. One of the things that particularly appeals to me about the Queen Emeraldas is the mood that Matsumoto is able to create–the melancholic atmosphere of the manga as well as the portrayal of the great expanse and loneliness of the universe. (I also adore Matsumoto’s illustrations of space.) Emeraldas is a woman traveling the stars, her ship her only constant companion. However, her destiny still frequently crosses paths with those of others. Hiroshi Umino repeatedly finds himself drawn into her orbit as he tries to establish a life of freedom in space. The chapters of Queen Emeraldas are loosely-connected stories with the presence of Emeraldas as the uniting factor. She herself is frequently the narrator of the tales, but the focus is often on the follies and arrogance of the men she meets. I was actually hoping to learn more about Emeraldas and her personal story, but by the end of the series very little has been explicitly stated about her past. Even so, Emeraldas is a marvelously charismatic character, capable of great empathy and compassion but dedicated to justice.

By: Ash Brown

[momobage]

Mystic Messenger Review: 2D phone calls

Mystic Messenger (수상한 메신저) is a South Korean otome game (乙女ゲーム) or female oriented visual novel game made by Cheritz. The goal of the game is to choose the appropriate responses through group chats, phone calls, and text messages to establish a romantic relationship with one of the five available love interests. As the player progresses through different character routes, the story unfolds and the deep secrets within the RFA organization becomes revealed.

The game was released in July 2016 and I started playing in late August after seeing a few screenshots and fanart on Twitter. Like most games, I didn’t know anything about the gameplay or characters, but the art was pretty and I never played a Korean mobile game before. So I thought I’d give it a try! Although I never thought I would enjoy playing a dating game this much, Mystic Messenger left an impression that typically isn’t found in other otome games.

Main gameplay: 4/5 ♥♥♥♥♡

The gameplay for Mystic Messenger is simple, addictive and very interesting. It is available in both Korean and English, making it easy for anyone to navigate through. There are not any extra game functions, like puzzles or levels since the game is strictly story-based. It is similar to reading a choose your own adventure book. Unlike other dating games, you progress through the game because it synchronizes with the player’s time zone. I think this aspect of the game is very unique and keeps the players wanting more. Even if you are not currently in the app, your phone will still receive notifications from the characters (see image below). It creates a real emotional connection with the characters. Even if you were feeling lonely or a bit bored, there would be someone who checks up on you and ask how you are feeling. I think most people would like that companionship that might be difficult to find in real life. Plus, having a cute character call them and sweet things is always nice, even if they are two-dimensional.

When I started playing the game, I first chose the character I liked the most and went through the route blindly. However, after realizing that there were multiple ending routes, I looked up some walkthroughs to make sure I didn’t play the same route twice. If you are really determined to collect everything perfectly, all the photos and different routes, then walkthroughs will be very helpful. I recommend looking at Otome Obsessed and Otome Dreamworld since their walkthroughs for Mystic Messenger are easy to understand and very detailed. But I think if you really want to know the characters and understand the story it’s better to play at your own pace.

Like most games, it is free to play, but does have a “currency” called hourglasses which can make phone calls, unlock a conversation or an entire day in advanced. This feature is helpful for people who end up missing a lot of chats due to busy schedules or they want to sleep and cannot look at their phone every one to two hours (see image above). Sadly, I have no self-control and spent even more money buying hourglasses to finish routes in advance. I think in the four months I played, in total I spent a little more than $500 in total on Mystic Messenger hourglasses and related merchandise. There were many benefits to buying official merchandise such as getting special interviews with voice actors, official soundtracks, all the members phone calling cards and more. But I regret buying fan-made merchandise when I really didn’t need it… but they are very well made, so I can’t help it! You would think I learned my lesson by now, but clearly mobiles games make me a bit crazy with money [deeply sighs].

Overall, the gameplay is very simple and fun for anyone to enjoy. The interaction with the characters and the amazing voice clips make the relationships feel so natural and authentic. It makes each experience really meaningful. There are some minor flaws like some jokes are too repetitive and the reaction choices are not the most ideal. However, that could just be the Korean to English translations.

Characters: 5/5 ♥♥♥♥♥

In the entire game, there is a total of eight important characters; five are dateable and the other three are for support, context and drama. Within the five, each character has a unique personality that is somewhat stereotypical. (From left to right in the photo above) Yoosung Kim is a college student who likes to play video games. Zen (Hyun Ryu) is an actor who is very good looking and flirtatious. 707 (also known as Seven and Luciel Choi) is a genius hacker who has a quirky personality. Jumin Han is a rich businessman who loves his cat too much. Jaehee Kang is Jumin’s serious assistant who never has a day off. However, as you progress and really get to know them, you learn of their other hobbies, dreams and other sides of their personality that is not show to the public. This aspect of each character makes them very relatable and realistic. It’s not just about how cute or funny they appear to be, but that they have complex thoughts which creates an honest connection.

Artistically, I really love how each character’s designs reflect their personality based on colours and clothing style without even starting the game. They style of colouring also is not too bright and does not overly exaggerate their features. Like other otome games, there are illustrated CG photos that are sent to you throughout group messages and visual story chapters (see above). These photos help better visualize what is exactly happening in the scene or are just funny images from the characters. I really love the emotion each photo shows, from humor to angst, from love to sorrow, it completes the whole dating experience. You can’t help but fall in love with these characters! However, in the new event stories that got released (For Christmas and Valentines specifically), they changed the illustration artist. I know other people have their own opinions but I don’t think it accurately portrays the characters I love. But I don’t hate the style, it is still very good, I just think it suits a different type of game.  

Other than design, each character’s personality is special and intriguing especially after getting to know them. For example, although Zen can be narcissistic and always look for compliments, he often calls the player for a boost of confidence because he feels insecure about his acting ability. He worries whether his fans like his performances or just his face. This type of insecurity is so common and relatable to anyone that it easily touches my heart. The selection for voice actors is also contributes to the authenticity. While some of the actors like Yongwoo Shin (Jumin) and Yeong Seon Kim (707) have previously voiced and sung for other Drama CD’s and anime dubs, Korean voice acting is still not as popular as Japanese voice acting. Therefore, I really appreciate the work they accomplished with Mystic Messenger. The character’s voices are so important to each conversation and help form a deeper relationship with the player. Some of the phone conversations are incredibly moving and thoughtful. I remember crying after completing each ending because it was either so sweet or so sad. Especially for Zen and Jumin, since they are my favourites, I really felt hurt whenever they were upset or stressed. I wanted to hug each of them and tell them everything was going to be okay. One of Zen’s phone conversations, to this day, always makes me cry like a baby (Erizu on Youtube has an animated sketch video of the phone call that emphasizes how wonderfully sweet Zen can be).

Story: 4/5 ♥♥♥♥♡

While the character artwork is the first thing I notice in any game, it is not as important as story. The entire story behind Mystic Messenger is without a doubt amazing. Besides the adorable and comedic parts, the story is also complex, suspenseful, and dramatic. The amount of diversity due to the difference choices and routes available never makes you bored even when playing the same routes over and over again. I don’t want to spoil too much of this story since it is so interesting, but I applaud how modern this game is compared to others. Since this is a Korean dating game, that is specifically directed towards a female audience, it is extremely wonderful that they added the choice to date another female. Although in the original route you are more best friends than lovers, in the other events you become much closer and kiss on the cheek. It does not seem that revolutionary compared to western media. But for an Asian game whose audience is largely straight or from countries where gay marriage is not legal yet, it is a step forward. Introducing LGBT relationships into media other than dramas and TV shows also brings equality, especially to players of typical otome games.

Overall: 4.33/5 ♥♥♥♥♡

Mystic Messenger will always have a special place in my heart. Despite the few criticisms I have, they do not compare to the wonderful adventure I’ve experienced and the relationships I’ve created with these characters. I think this game, made me value each character’s personality much more since their backstories were so captivating. It helped me understand other characters from different games better and even people in real life. I encourage other beginners to play Mystic Messenger because it is a good introduction to otome games that is constantly interesting and easy to follow. The connections with each character contributed to my current obsession with loveable characters with complex backstories and fascinating storylines.