Forging an Art

Daily reports on DragonCon 2010 over at BSC: Day One, Day Two, and Day Three.   Over 400 pictures of the Con over at Flickr.

And what was left out of the reports . . .

The best time to arrive and get in line to pick up badges is NOT three o’clock on Friday afternoon.  That being said, there’s plenty to do during that three hour wait, like take pictures of costumed attendees and laugh back at the businessmen pointing and staring from the parking deck above. 

DragonCon is very educational.  I’m not kidding.  Where else can you learn about crossed letters and medieval poisoning techniques?  You can also discover very quickly what sort of fans are on each track and specifics within each track.  For example – fans of certain anime series.  Why were the only ones excited about my ten year old daughter’s Hikaru (Angelic Layer) costume middle-aged men?  In real life it would be creepy to have strange men grabbing my arm and asking to take my child’s picture . . . and at DragonCon it was, yes, a little creepy to have these men asking just that.  Wearing a costume is asking for attention, though, so we played along and enjoyed it, but I secretly hoped a young girl would approach and recognize my battle doll, just once.

Where else can you find a blue Power Ranger, Gandalf, Afro’thulu, and Obi Wan on stage together, never mind throwing footballs painted as gnomes?  At an actual person.  Standing in front of a sign advertising gnome punting.  This was, obviously, the World of Warcraft party.  Later on the same stage, Finn from Adventure Time approached to choose a raffle prize to shouts of “What time is it? Adventure time!”  He looked back out into the crowd to ask, as he pointed to the prizes, “Which one, honey?” which brought on more laughter . . . later, Finn asked ‘honey’ to marry him during the ‘after hours’ Warcraft gig.  Of course she said yes, because what could be more romantic than a man in a white-eared hat costumed as a child from a cartoon series proposing at a World of Warcraft party? 

The logisitics of ordering pizza for delivery during a DragonCon weekend – an hour on hold, and a three hour wait for delivery.  Upon arrival, the stunned teenager holding pizzas stares at the lobbyfull of costumes.  “What is wrong with these people?” he asks me.  That must be the ten thousand dollar question, and not one we actually ask out loud because after all, if we’re there, he’s asking about us, too.

While waiting for my son to take a turn on Mech Corps, a military simulation game that was very reasonably priced and engaging, the man in front of us – who had a gigantic bag that had a list of why Mythbusters is so awesome written on the side – turned around to complain about a woman who had pushed him around on the escalator.  “I’m fat,” he said. “But she was fatter.  Her fault.  A weapon of ass destruction.”

One of the Tolkien-Lewis panelists, M.B. Weston, caught my interest when talking about her Elysian Chronicles titles.  These sound like must haves for fantasy fans – guardian angel warfare and treason.  Speaking of the T-L panel, I have to mention that someone said The Silmarillion was an academic exercise.  I must must must beg to differ – if The Silmarillion isn’t great storytelling – a long, difficult read, yes, but read it out loud and you’ll see what I mean – I’ll give up coffee for a week.  Okay, a day – but it’s a safe bet and my favorite Tolkien title.

Holly Black, an incredibly popular and successful young adult author, has graphic novels illustrated by the very talented and approachable Ted Naifeh, who allowed me to snap a photo as he demonstrated his talents in the comic artists alley.  Shopping opportunities: we returned diligently to the Dragon Pets booth, where we bought a sweet pink and purple dragon last year, twice; once to buy an armored dragon and again for a multicolored one.  We also found an adorable, soft squid from Cyphre Voudou that has been well-loved and spends his nights sharing a bed with two American Girl dolls.  That doesn’t sound quite right but it’s true.  My quest for earrings – usual travel purchase – brought me back to Ravenwing, where I purchased jewelry last year for myself, my daughter, and my mother, so it was easy for me to pick up where I left off and stock up on some beautiful handcrafted items, including these beautiful beautiful fish earrings in my very favorite color.

Noticed in the parade but too quick for me to catch a photo – in the Star Wars group, a woman with a “Hutters” t-shirt that looked very like a “Hooters” t-shirt.  It took a moment before several men behind me started yelling “Hutters!  Hutters!” and caught her attention.  She turned and waved like Miss America, perfectly comfortable as any Hooters girl would be, but obviously, much cooler.  At least with the DragonCon crowd.

Latest reviews @BSCKids – Ballet for Martha, Turtle in Paradise, Mouse and Mole - and September Mangakissa over at BSCReview.

Alive: The Final Evolution at BSC - and Fashion Kitty at BSCKids.

March Mangakissa over at BSCReview, and the adorable Zhu Zhu Pets at BSCKids.

Two new reviews over at BSCKids.

Kitchen Princess featured in this month’s Mangakissa and The Big Adventures of Majoko at BSCKids.

New site, new reviews . . .

Fairy Idol Kanon
Happy Happy Clover

Up, only at BSCreview.   Speaking of Azumanga Daioh, the lovely interlude where the girls discuss the possibilities of a cafe for the class festival, and the idea of a monster cafe, with the girls dressed like different monsters in order to serve the patrons, made me think of Team Fortress 2′s Prop Hunt.  An umbrella monster is one thing, but a wall monster?  For those who are deprived of the experience of the TF2PH, here you go.

Team Fortress 2 Prop Hunt

Oh, these treasures are full of amazingness – how could they not?  King’s fabulous and hideous tale of well, good versus evil, with a superflu thrown in for good measure, couldn’t be more visually disturbing rendered by anyone but the team of Roberto Aguiree-Sarcas, Mike Perkins, and Laura Martin.  As always, I do appreciate the writer/artist comments on the work process, artistry, and general feelings about working on such an intense and frightening story.  The Stand is one of my very favorite King concoctions, and yes, I did cringe while sneezing during my reading.  Surprisingly, I was unfazed by the nasty dead faces, oozing with snot, blood, and random bodily fluid gore, while eating my lunch yesterday.  Becoming desensitized visually at my age, I guess – but my concern over coughing and sneezing while following the trail of Captain Trips indicates that I am still at the mercy of King’s creative terrorization.

Talkin’ bout the Totoro . . . at BSCreview.

Up at BSCreview.  It was supposed to be October, but such is life . . .

The latest Mangakissa column is here at BSCreview.

The latest Mangakissa – in which I adore cats, as always, here.

This month focuses on Darren Shan’s Cirque du Freak.

The latest – and last – Shojo Beat just arrived and lo and behold, page 209 features vampire manga.  I already covered Chibi Vampire in my last mangakissa column, but the other five included have been unreported on my end.  Rosario + Vampire, Canon, Descendants of Darkness, Millennium Snow, and Trinity Blood are featured in the July issue, along with some tasty tidbits on vampires in manga.

Vampire manga discussed here.

Here at Book View Cafe.

This is hysterical.  Yes, you must have a certain sense of humor to appreciate what is in this book, and I’ll admit that it’s not the most socially acceptable sort of sense of humor, but with it, these comic strips are incomparably amusing.  Some of them take a few moments for the full effect to take over; it’s one of those “aha!” moments before I start snorting at an embarassing volume – read “loud” - that is uncontrollable once it begins.  This title is not for the squeamish or easily offended – in a way, it is like South Park.  You must be able to laugh at yourself as well as others, because there are certainly some pages that may speak to you personally, and not in a flattering way.  Suck it up and have a laugh with Nicholas Gurewitch, creator of the PBF.

Simple and cute. 

Just posted at Bookspotcentral.

When I get my hands on these graphic novels, the world stops.  It doesn’t take long to get lost in the Dark Tower series, with Furth’s articulate adaptation (which at times surpasses King’s original – yes, I am inviting trouble, nothing new) and Lee and Isanove’s delicately horrific art.  This may be a fantasy, but much of the time feels all too real.  Cuthbert, pants down, caught unawares by the stubborn Aileen, reminds us that these characters are children, teenagers nowhere near maturity, caught up in a history and tradition that has made them grow up all too soon.  Those moments – and how can readers not laugh at Bert, mouth open, drawers down, with the serious girl behind him, as we imagine her rolling those eyes at the silliness of boys, as teenage girls do – make us suspend any disbelief we may have in the fantastic, for even in this alternate world, these men, women, and children love, hate, and fear just as we do.

The latest Mangakissa is up at Bookspotcentral.

New Synergy column (Valentine’s special) at Bookspotcentral, along with the first mangakissa column.

With a 2010 release date, Jane Yolen’s original action-fantasy graphic novel, The Last Dragon, will be worth the wait.  The Nebula and Caldecott award-winning writer covers all ages and genres – nothing seems out of her reach.  I am particularly fond of  her children’s and young adult books (How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? and Girl in a Cage, to name a couple of my favorites), and I have am pleased that she is in agreement with me on the subject of the Harry Potter series; that is, neither of us think they are well written.  It’s nice to have support from a reputable source in libraryland, especially when most librarians in my system are Rowling fans.

This graphic novel from Minx, which is a fresh and fun take on high school drama set in my high school era (1987), tackles some big issues in such a small volume.  Author Alisa Kwitney and illustrator Joelle Jones make a great team, combining Kwitney’s sarcasm with Jones’ simple but expressive art.  Fifteen/sixteen year old Shira doesn’t fit in with the other students at her Jewish school, but at least she has her dad and her grandma for support, along with her grandmother’s friend Minerva.  Unfortunately, her dad starts to date his secretary (how prime time soap opera is that?) and the world stops turning.  Shira is the odd man out but finds solace in the arms of bad boy Rafael, who teaches her the finer arts of shoplifing and kissing.  I wish I had this to read when I was in high school.

These are too fun.  I might actually be able to understand math now.  I won’t hold my breath or anything, but still . . .
There are several of these adorable and helpful titles available.  The first, The Manga Guide to Statistics, just came across my desk yesterday.  It has a section in the back dedicated to the use of Excel to calculate statistics, which seems pretty practical.  Excel makes me nervous and I only use it to complete my timesheet at work, but this is readable.
Those of us who need a little help with stats can learn by graphing ramen noodle prices on a histogram, determining the probability of getting an A on a math test (okay, so I am laughing out loud at that one, because I already know the answer), calculate the Cramer’s coefficient to determine how boys and girls prefer to be asked out, and (now this could be interesting, as I have never understood how this works) learn how standard score is used to change tests results when teachers grade on a curve.  That’s just a few of the fun ways author Shin Takahashi teaches the scary stuff. I wish I would have had this book back in high school, when my pet pterodactyl cawed at my side as I wrote on the cave walls.
Others in this series include:
The Manga Guide to Calculus
The Manga Guide to Databases
The Manga Guide to Electricity
The Manga Guide to Physics-Dynamics
The Manga Guide to Molecular Biology

Mancusi‘s latest was my treadmill book last night, and for a short time afterwards.  Cute, fun, not too much work, especially considering that my other read at the moment is Lewis’s Arrowsmith, although he’s not exactly James either.  High schooler Maddy moves, reluctantly, with mother and younger sister into grandma’s after messy divorce issues, and has problems at her new high school.  She doesn’t quite fit in with the Aberzombie crowd and goes quite awhile without friends, miserable and angry, bullied and frustrated.  She finds companionship and romance online playing Fields of Fantasy as beautiful Elfin magician Allora, but realizes that reality doesn’t suck too much when she reaches out to find other students who share her interests and will stand with her against the Haters who rule the school.  My only issues with this quick, feel-good read are: this is A Cinderella Story – the Hater-SirLeo-boyfriend is named Chad Murray; and, the manga magazine referenced is actually Shojo Beat, not Sojo Beat.  I hope that this is a typo, but it occurs more than once.  Not good for the street cred.  I must say that the cover (illustrated by Elise Trinh) is way cool.

David Almond‘s latest work, a graphic novel illustrated by Dave McKean, film director and illustrator of several Neil Gaiman titles, is a short and powerful look at loss from the perspective of a young boy who finds himself the man of the family when his father dies unexpectedly.  Blue admits that he isn’t tough, and provides evidence in the character of Hopper, the local bully who gets away with his behavior because the adults use the traditional excuses and methods for dealing with “bullies” – ignoring and pitying them.  Blue imagines a savage boy living nearby, one who handles the bully the way Blue would like to himself, and the story takes a spectacular turn when The Savage comes to life, and Blue takes the first steps he needs to continue his life without his father but with the love he shares with his mother and younger sister.

The B has developed a fascination with the Babymouse graphic novel series.  It started yesterday when I brought the new Halloween title in the car to pick her up at school.  Within a few minutes, she was cracking up in the backseat, and asked me to bring home all the other Babymouse books I could find today.  I pulled them all from the shelf and have enough to keep her busy the next few days.

Very random:

-playing Super Smash Brothers Melee with my son, who turned 17 on July 1, on an irregular basis, which is good, because I could beat at those sandbags for music CDs for hours
-trying not to tear up my poison ivy, which makes my arm look like I was attacked by a rabid dog
-the ex buying me a tres adorable Totoro keychain and The Gunslinger Born graphic novel
-visiting special collections at KSU with the little one (who is nearly as tall as I am) to see Evelyn Garnaut Smalley’s The Henry James Yearbook, which is very adorable in concept but really engaging once opened. How to find my own copy . . . that will be a trick
-understanding completely why my daughter watched all five DVDs of Angelic Layer in three days; but clueless as to the appeal of iCarly
-interviewing for and winning a transfer to the branch library I have been after since the manager encouraged me to go to library school over eight years ago, and one of my regular patrons at the main library bringing me a present on my last day there (this past Wednesday): the new Fruits Basket Sticker Book.
-going to the library to see HeartBEAT Afrika (Olugbala Manns and Elec Simon) with my daughter and having so much fun.  These two can make a drum out of anything – ladders and bellies included.  
-reading Kim Wilkins’ The Veil of Gold and not enjoying it at all, but feeling compelled to finish it to review. I am so not taking this to Newport with me; Rosa and her boring bear are not ruining my James experience.
-so excited to go to Barberton Speedway tonight with my dad; I need to write about racing, it’s just that time. Junior’s show car will be there, and after a day spent first at a funeral, then taking my daughter to horseback riding lessons, and finally at a picnic where my grandmother used to preside and I now have no desire to attend (and will only because to do otherwise would hurt my uncle’s feelings, and my grandma would not be happy if I did that) – I will be so ready to just hang with the dad and veg out over racing.
-picnic number two tomorrow; film at eleven. Definitely worth telling, as it is my dad’s people, aka The Alabama Gang.