And in manga news, this page has surfaced leading to juicy rumors about Tokyopop and the Fruits Basket series. I hope Tokyopop keeps it up. Both comics and manga seem full of good stuff lately, and it only seems to be getting better.

Here is a nifty rhetorical trick to recognize, for easy countering. A common bigot's trick is to give a criteria that has nothing to do with the right or privilege that they want to withhold from group A, but that (this is the trick) categorically excludes group A. Then they try to say that this is somehow integral to the right or privilege which means group A can't have it, but the real point is just to exclude.

Here is an example from history. A long time ago, there were laws called Jim Crow laws. An example of this sort of law was the grandfather clause. You could vote if your grandfather could vote. However, no blacks could vote because their grandfathers had been slaves, and slaves couldn't vote.

So when you see this sort of reasoning, point it out. I hope I have helped.

Today we have whiteness studies classes. While most classes such as history or art are about mostly whites, this class seems to deconstruct what it means to be white, instead of just being about being white in an unconscious way. Should be required for graduation, in my opinion. Also, some common myths about Affrimative Action, what you need to know before shooting off your mouth.

And yet again people are stupid. Don't buy a pet just because it looked cute in a movie. If you're not going to take care of it, don't buy it. And actually do research, don't just impulse buy a living thing, you total and complete asshats. Clownfish are saltwater fish, not freshwater, but I'm sure most of these people buying them will just think this fish can thrive in a goldfish bowl. Not to mention the danger to the environment posed by taking animals out of the wild just so they can go belly up in a tank.

Still crazy and sick, but you should all read A Child's Life. I am strangely fascinated by Phoebe Glockner, which is very strange, yet I guess even older teens can still have the strange fixtations of adolescence.

Too pissy to blog, so rate someone else's.

Also, it seems to be a shocker that a third of Americans know how to wipe their own behinds without instructions, let alone vote for the leader of the free world, although they probably don't vote since they haven't figured out what a 'president' is. Here is the story.

I just had a there are kids starving in Africa moment! Here's the story. I go to a summer program, in which participants gain teaching in science related subjects such as anatomy and chemistry, a $2000 stipend, and an internship. On Friday, people who were interning at Lebonheur(a children's hospital) were to go and get their shots so they could work there. This one girl who wasn't going there wanted to walk with them, but the medical student who was supervising said only that Lebonheur students could go there.

So instead of complying, she decided to grumble and cuss. I'm surprised at that sort of behavior. You can't just let people walk around the city without anyone knowing where they are. Does this girl know how expensive it is to be sued, and if the medical school got sued over this program that they probably wouldn't have it again? One selfish person could ruin it for everyone.

Not to mention that if you accept their money, you accept their rules. I know some people who would love to have that money and that internship on their resume for doing little more(up to now, we start internships tomorrow) than looking reasonably alert when someone tells us about some subject and looking like we are taking notes. It would take ten weeks of full time work at $5.15 (the minimum wage) to get two thousand dollars if we lived in a magical tax free world. Ten weeks of hard labor, and they are giving it to us for eight weeks of work.

Not to mention, in some parts of the world, two thousand is more than you could get in ten years if you worked all year. I'm not a real activist about that sort of thing- I like my cushy little American bubble too much for good taste, but at least I'm aware that I am spoiled as heck. I think that surviving college on a thousand bucks (although with the supplement of work study, and a two hundred and fifty scholarship check) is a big achievement. However, I am pretty aware that I am not doing badly.

I love my whining, but come on. I've seen this sort of behavior before too. I went to France once, and on the last day, they decided to have a drunken party(at 16!) and then complain when the teacher took away their bottle of wine. Like an authority figure who has a job to do is really going to let them act wild and crazy. Not to mention, these same people spent the whole time bitching about the food. I don't get how people go to a foreign country and then think they aren't supposed to eat any of the country's food. If you wanted to stay at home, stay at home. I saw some more of that bad behavior today. The director of the program decided to take us to an Ethiopian restaurant, and paid for us all to eat.

However, some people just had to bitch about it not being MiccyDs. This guy is paying for us to have an experience together, and people just bitching and being so ungrateful. The food wasn't that bad. That hot chickenish stuff they can keep, but the legumes(tasted like potato salad) and those greens were pretty yummy. But people really need to learn some values. I know I'm not the best person in the world, but I try not to be so much of a bitch. Come on, show some manners.

My marketing demographic has been the same since late adolescence- I'm in the sensitive college kid demographic. Sensitive college kids are just beginning to enjoy the more high brow things in life through baby steps. Maybe the things that seem deep now will seem shallow as ever when experience sets in, but it doesn't hurt to try.

My personality lends it self more to that than the teen/frat boy demographic since I'm low energy and like the more relaxed things in life. For example, I wouldn't be caught dead in the club because that's the territory of high energy hot extroverts who like to dance. I want to relax and just be comfortable.

Dang, they gave Spike Lee the injunction. I love Spike Lee- Do the Right Thing was great, for example, but there are a lot of other things, places and people named Spike out there. He's ruining his good name with such foolery, especially after resting on his laurels so long- although I submit that I haven't seen the 25th Hour.That sucks, because many other black films just plain suck.


I know they are going for the mass audience, which likes feel good tales about attractive people and their easily resolved problems, but I'd like more meat to my stories, and I don't mean sappy Oprah flicks like Antoine Fischer. Just because it's not all sugar and pie doesn't mean we have to get bogged down in bathos.

A lot of good fun today, as a company expresses interest in getting Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared out on DVD. It's good to see quality getting a new life on DVD, since I don't really like to watch TV. It's only on at the time they want it to be on, and I want to be entertained whenever, which is why DVD is more convenient for me. Whenever I get in the mood, I can just pop it in.

Also, on DVD, a good show can be archived years after its cancellation. For example, My So Called Life is one of the best example for future TV writers on how to write a minority character. They didn't pretend Ricky was just a white guy in a different skin color, yet he didn't go around saying "Look at me, I'm a wacky minority here to spice up your life". Ricky's story was treated with the same dignity and respect as the story of all the other characters, which is really hard to do with today's social climate, let alone how TV studios are.

Also, a blog details the funny things people say on amazon reader reviews. It's lots of fun when the whole nation gets together to type their poorly written and edited opinion. Of course, you could say that about blogs too, but since I'm doing it, it's cool.

I watched episodes six and seven of Rose of Versailles today, and it was great fun. By exploiting the inherent drama of the story of Marie Antoinette, and keeping the story moving while still dishing up conspiracies fed by the queen's own mistakes, ROV really keeps from falling into a rut.

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Gary Groth is a bit too honest about his shortcomings as a business man. While honesty may be admired in theory, most people want simple stories about the little guy wronged, not complex stories with the fault being shared and ambiguities in the story. Although, I think it is pretty cool that he is so honest, if anyone wanted to be a comics entrepreneur, they could at least take the lessons of Fantagraphic's hard times to heart.

Also, there are some funny people who have come to Fanta's aid, and also more about Team Comix.

Too tired to blog, but here's some nice comics.

I am offering Chance Pop Session one and Saint Tail Volume one for sale. I'll take the best offer. In other news, I am late, but still glad that Fanta is saved, and also, chilling Japanese suicide pacts.

Man, people should know better nowadays. Animejunkie needs to get off of its high horse. There wouldn't be anything to sub if companies didn't produce anime(Urban Vision coproduced it, it's their stuff!) If you're just a parasite, don't think you're the whole show. Digisubbers, you're just a stop gap til we can get real DVDs into the marketplace.I know it's fashionable to act like all this stuff you're ripping off just magically regenerates, but it's not like that. Anime is a bit harder to defend because it's not a one person in the basement with their banjo affair. It takes time, talent, energy and money, not just a Japanese dictionary and a bad attitude.

And on a lighter note, animenewsnetwork shows us how to review an anime. Instead of merely saying "This was crap, only diehards need apply". It tells us why the reviewer didn't like it, and gives examples. If anime fans want to make their fandom seem less like the providence of little boys and more of a mature fandom, they need to learn how to express themselves. It's so funni!!!! may be well and good for a 12 year old, but by the time you're pushing 14, you better be able to at least express your self in complete sentences, and try to use mostly correct grammar. Also, remind yourself of why you review- it's because people won't go into purchases blind, right? However, being vague doesn't help because most anime is cute, and funny is different for everyone.

I hate strapless bras. They won't stay on, even if you get the tiniest type and hook the last hook so it's super tight. I guess they are designed for women with actual breasts, but my nipples still show. I wonder if I should just buy nipple tape, if I can find any. Band-Aids really aren't very comfortable.

Sorry for blogging so much lately, but really, Fanta is having some huge blowout sales to get rid of that overstock. I have dibs on Ethel and Ernest!

Some nice hard facts about racism. I might disagree on what he says about ability tracking, but it's a good summary of indicators of discrimination.

Being colorblind is not the act of ignoring race. It is the act of knowing the difference and treating everyone respectfully all the same. If you ignore race, you can't do the work required to try to understand others. You don't have the power to control your perception, you are at the mercy of others. However, if you step up to the plate and try to learn and understand, you have the power to change things. Someone said that the antonym of forgetting is not remembering, but justice.

You can not erase the past, but you can try to understand the past in an attempt to create a better future. Also, here is some interesting modern art. Everyone listen to the audio for white chair. As long as you are willing to be educated, there is hope. When you only want to listen to your own voice, well, you're fucked.