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telophase ([info]telophase) wrote in [info]fandom_lounge,
@ 2007-09-29 21:10:00
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Blogger Challenge!
You may or may not have heard by now, but SixApart is offering you the chance to request a $30 gift certificate from them to donate to public school projects through DonorsChoose.org. The catch is that you have to request it by 5 PM Pacific time on Monday, October 1st.

I've donated through Donors Choose before, and a teacher friend of mine has used it to request funding for a project. You can choose whatever project you want, and from what I understand, can even divide up the $30 and fund more than one.

In a fannish turn of mind, I searched and found three project proposals for buying manga for classroom libraries to tempt reluctant readers and to get manga into the hands of kids who are desperate to read more but can't afford it, and set up a challenge to fund them. If you have an LJ and participate in this, or if you don't but wish to give some money anyway, please consider donating part or all of it through my challenge.

Yes, you too can force SixApart to fund future fans. :)

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[info]quartz
2007-10-01 03:16 am UTC (link)
Two?!? Oh my... that's a lot of manga! Not quite enough yet though... but a good start, right?

Why do I have no anime or manga icons? This must be remedied!

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[info]telophase
2007-10-01 03:21 am UTC (link)
Yup! And to think, a bit over a year ago I took all the series I wasn't collecting any more, and all the ones that I'd picked up one or two books to give them a try and decided I hated them, stuffed them in a box, and took them to a used bookstore to sell.

I got $110 for the box. O.o

I'm supposed to be giving a presentation on Manga 101 at a small library conference next weekend, and I should have spent today writing it. Did I? Nooooooo.

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[info]quartz
2007-10-01 03:33 am UTC (link)
*whistles* WOW. They probably cost you at least 4 times that much to buy originally too! Trying out manga is the most expensive part. $10 just to try and even if you like the first two that's not to say the rest of the series will be that good. *mutters bad things about Death Note not living up to its potential* Plus the series like GTO that're 25 issues or more in length really add up, so by the time it's finally over and the books are counted the realization that "I could've bought a new COMPUTER for what I just spent on picture books" hurts. x_x

*starts singing the "Manga Maniac" song* What aspect of manga are you presenting?

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[info]telophase
2007-10-01 03:43 am UTC (link)
Yup! From a friend who used to work at that chain, I know they *usually* give 10% of what they think they can make on the book. I worked out that they had to be giving me closer to 50% of what they think they could make on the book, from which I deduce that they have a really good market for manga.

It may be time for another manga cull soon. XD

I loved Death Note to the end entirely for the art, and not for the story. Once it became clear the writer was plotting from chapter to chapter and didn't have a really good idea of the overarching storyline, it fell apart. But I am an Obata fangirl and would do just about anything to look at his art, so I stuck to the end in the scanlations, and now own all 12 volumes. :)

Mostly the "It's not all big eyes!" "It's not just for little kids!" "Reading backwards won't make your head explode!" "It's pronounced MAHHNGA, not MAYNGA!" sort of things. I bought the first volume of a manga that jsut came out which is basically a novel about a mother with an autistic child, and I'm looking forward to waving it at them to prove that manga is for grownups, too. And I'll give them handouts with other resources and recomended series. And show a bit of how much kids and teens get into these things, with fanart, fanfic, and cosplay.

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[info]quartz
2007-10-01 04:04 am UTC (link)
Yeah, I picked up the first two Death Note in English, then just went to the scanlations for the rest. There's actually a lot of manga I'm picking up in scanlation form first now so I don't end up buying manga I end up disliking. Sadly the site I get them from makes no distinction between licensed and unlicensed, so I'm finding myself getting hooked on unlicensed manga that has very little chance of ever making it to the US. :(

Which manga are you using as examples? I always enjoyed letting people who thought it was just for kids borrow my Petshop Of Horrors manga, particularly the one with the rabbits. *is an evil person* That or X-Day which sadly isn't something the US likes anymore after all the school violence of the last few years. Dratted PC Sensitivity.

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[info]telophase
2007-10-01 04:14 am UTC (link)
I was reading Bleach in the Enligh translation only, until book 20 came out and I was seized with an OMG I MUST READ EVERYTHING ELSE NOW attack, and binged on the entire rest of the series in scanlation in two days. But I bought book 21 this weekend, because I do prefer the feel of the book in my hands as I read. :D

Not entirely sure yet. I'll probably show examples of a number of different ones, just to show the differences in the art. Blade of the Immortal will probably show up at one point, because it's me favorite, although I'll point out it's very violent and very much not for children. Fruits Basket and Naruto because they're popular, of course. Bleach because I'm currently addicted of the same reason. The autustic-child manga. Vagabond for the more-realistic artwork, Nana for the older teen crowd. Maybe Clover and xxxHolic for the stylized art. I'll probably use Fruits Basket to explain the visual cues involved in reading manga which tell you where to go and what the various things mean, since it's one of the best manga for that.

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[info]quartz
2007-10-01 04:49 am UTC (link)
Oh gods, BLEACH. Yes, it's most definitely one of the manga that has to be read all at once. No waiting a month between books, no way! Naruto's kinda like that too in that the action scenes take more than one book to tell. Hellsing has a bit of it too, though it's been stuck at #7 for at least 4 months now depriving me of any more C/Seras kickassery. x_x At least Brilliant Magic finally finished. Angel Sanctuary seems to have no end in sight, so I'm holding off on reading any more of it until I can devour it all in one go. Same with Dawn Tsumetai Te, though that's only in scanlation form right now.

The book-in-hand feeling is why I don't think e-books will ever catch on. The weight of a book, physically turning the pages, there's something comforting about it that makes the whole experience so much better! My weakness is hardbacks, not just because the larger font makes reading so much easier on my eyes, but because of the substance and weight. Hard backs are Real Books! Library bindings are my ultimate bindings though... all the prettiness without the dratted slippery and easily damaged dust jackets!

Do you remember the name of the autistic child manga at all? I'm curious about it now. Are you going to address the difficulties of cataloging manga at all? At my local library some of it gets lumped into the non-fiction comics section while others get sent to the YA section. I've pointed out more than once to them that a certain manga or comic (Hellblazer springs to mind instantly) should NOT be with the YA section due to the mature, or at least 17+ content, and they've told me that they just shelve based on the publisher's recs because they don't have the time to check the ratings. I thought there was a ratings system for manga since I've seen the "13+" logos and 18+ Explicit Content markings on them at the bookstores.

Gah, the visual cues are such a huge part of manga! I'm rereading Here Is Greenwood and because I remember the basic story I keep skipping cues and moving to the wrong panels which just makes the story that much more surreal. So many people get turned off of it because they can't figure out how to read it, yet they can read regular comic books just fine because they know those visual cues.

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[info]telophase
2007-10-01 04:59 am UTC (link)
And a friend got me sucked into Samurai Deeper Kyo. I may end up breaking down and heading for the scanlations on that one, too. It sucked mightily for the first 3 or 4 volumes, but once they decided the series wasn't going to be cancelled and let the mangaka plot for the long haul, it got addictive.

I own Hellsing #8! It came out to almost no fanfare after #7 was the last for a year and a half. (unless you meant 8 and typed 7. :D)

With the Light: Raising an Autistic Child by Keiko Tobe. It's about the best value per pound out there - over 500 pages long and $14.95. From what I can figure, the story is still being serialized in Japan, up to volume 10 so far, and this English edition is the text of volumes 1 and 2.

How could I forget? I was just in Japan for three weeks and bought the Kodansha bilingual versions of volumes 1 and 2 of The Tale of Genji, which is classic literature for Japan in the way Shakespeare or Chaucer is for us. Another example! And I should probably use examples from Mushishi as well - it's readable for all ages, but adults and older teens would probably get more out of it, in general.

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[info]quartz
2007-10-01 05:19 am UTC (link)
What? 8 is out? *makes such an angry face towards her local bookstores* They never had it! They haven't had it! *twitches rapidly and adds bookstores to the shopping route tomorrow* I got #7 in Japanese from a friend right after it came out in Japan, then I had to wait for it in English, and now the wait for #8! >_> I am feeling the need for a good first-person shooter game right about now...

Is Usagi Yojimbo considered manga? While not a true classic, it is incredibly accurate as to what the Edo period was like for clothing, architecture, and it's fairly true to the lifestyle as well if I'm remembering right. What about Lone Wolf and Cub for another more traditionally Japanese manga? Despite the blood and guts it is about a single father struggling to raise a child in a world where men only work and don't take care of children so it also deals with stereotypes and non-traditional family roles! :D I love slanting perspectives!

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[info]telophase
2007-10-01 05:26 am UTC (link)
I only knew 8 was out because a friend mentioned that she'd got it on her LJ. I managed to find the only copy at my local Borders, but I was about ready to break down and order it.

I think UY is technically not manga, but from the perspective of these librarians, it might as well be. :) I could use it - it's certainly something I'd recommend. And how could I forget Lone Wolf and Cub? Aagh! Thanks for reminding me. XD

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[info]quartz
2007-10-01 05:34 am UTC (link)
Everyone forgets about Lone Wolf and Cub! I think it's a survival mechanism. :P It may be a classic, but it's so hard to read! And then the end comes and everyone's going WTH JUST HAPPENED? It's much easier to forget it exists.

May I friend you here on JF? And are you still in need of pictures of friends in gathers, pleats, and other hard-to-paint clothing?

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[info]telophase
2007-10-01 05:39 am UTC (link)
That must be the reason. XD

Sure, absolutely! I haven't been too good at remembering to post things here in addition to LJ, but I'm hoping to change that. XD Yeah - I don't know when I'll have the time to do any practice painting, but it would be wonderful to have something available so when the mood strikes I don't have to go searching for something, because invariably by the time I find it, I don't want to paint anymore. XD

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[info]quartz
2007-10-01 05:51 am UTC (link)
Yay! Thank you! *is a polite person and always asks first*

I've found I've been using JF more and more for actual writings while my LJ I just keep for reading friends' posts and for keeping up on certain communities. LJ/6A has just been rubbing me the wrong way for over a year now with their unclear TOS and odd behavior and at least JF has a nice clear TOS that makes sense! That and JF keeps the under 18's out so I don't have to worry at all about what I post (not that I've ever posted anything blatent anywhere before, but that might change as I get more into writing).

:D When I get my Napoleonic Ballgown done I'll most definitely take pictures of me in it for you! It's got pleats in the front of the skirt, with big poof arms and more gathers than I know what to do with! x_x It's currently being brought in at the waist by almost 6 inches which necessitated ripping out the entire back of the dress and resewing it all without cutting any fabric off! Even for me it's been a challenge! If you ever want to try painting something HARD in the category of fabric, try painting pintucks. They're the devil to sew and worse to photograph so they don't look fake. I don't know if there's any way of painting them to make them look realistic. *has gotten into her sewing mode now*

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[info]telophase
2007-10-01 08:34 pm UTC (link)
Some anonymous donor or donors gave me a permanent LJ account shortly before all of this happened. I'd feel horribly guilty if I moved my main blogging elsewhere. XD And most of my f-list is staying on LJ. I'd probably move if they all went, but for now ... eh.

Thank you! :D Sounds wonderful! XD And that sounds impressive, too. XD

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[info]bigbigtruck
2007-10-01 05:58 am UTC (link)
I bought the first volume of a manga that jsut came out which is basically a novel about a mother with an autistic child,

Whoa, what manga title is this? It sound interesting.

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[info]bigbigtruck
2007-10-01 05:59 am UTC (link)
Hey, how about I read the thread first. Sorry.

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