this cat! it is not a cheesecake!

I'm tired of the previous (outdated) post being at the top of my journal, so I'm making a new one. You may be here for the posts I wrote back in 2005-2006 on manga page layout. Click here for the index. You may be here for other reasons. All are welcome, especially if they're willing to put up with the extraordinary amounts of piffle I post.

Here's the general rules of the road: if you're not willing to comply, you may prefer to hang out elsewhere.

FRIENDING ( Read more... )
COMMENTING ( Read more... )
ART( Read more... )

I know it's been, like, forever since I mentioned new manga around here, huh? Well, two or three of you on my f-list recced Otoyomegatari (Young Wife's Tale), and I finally got a chance to sit down and read the first four chapters that have been scanlated and OMG AWESOME.

It's set in the 19th century, in the central Asian steppes. Amira, the young wife of the title, is a 20-year-old woman who was married to a 12-year-old boy, Karluk, from a different tribe. The first four chapters set up the family dynamic, with Amira just starting to fit in and Karluk slightly embarrassed and nervous about the whole deal. The age difference is handled so far in a sensitive manner, with a few cute moments of sexual panic on Karluk's side when he thinks he might be called upon to do something he's not yet ready to do. What looks to be a main source of conflict for the future starts when Amira's original family decides that they want to marry her to someone else instead, and send her brothers to get her back. (Um, Azer? Her eldest brother? Kind of my type. Here's hoping he doesn't end up a total jerk.)

How much do I love that there's a random anthropologist staying with Karluk's extended family? Or that it's a story set in Asia with a young woman marrying into another family, and they LIKE HER? And she has NO CONFLICT with her mother-in-law? And that she's an awesome hunter and herder and her husband and new family LIKE HER FOR IT? There is also a kickass grandmother in chapter 4. And elaborate, detailed clothing!

And the artwork? GORGEOUS. GORGEOUS. GORGEOUS. GORGEOUS. Well, it's the mangaka of Emma, so you'd expect no less. :D You know how in Emma she'd spend many panels on a simple act like Emma putting on her glasses? She does the same here with hunting, woodcarving, herding, and other acts.

In conclusion: READ. READ NOW.

20 min. 3.5 mi. Total: 775 mi. From Rivendell: 298.5 mi. Turning away from the path up the Pass.

An AuthoShoujo entry for rachelmanija: True Love's Coffee God

Have filled out a rather long art meme on DA (700K). Am now very hungry with no idea what to have for dinner.

( more autoshoujo, natch )

Funny, that doesn't seemed to have solved the hunger problem...

I sent yhlee some sample teas from Adagio recently, and am posting teh names plus the site's description of them here, for her quick reference.

( Read more... )

Deep Discount DVD has a 60% off sale on A&E DVDs right now. I am sorely tempted by the Monty Python 16-Ton Megaset, normally $100, on sale for $40. (With free shipping!)

...and putting off the point at which I have to start figuring out where my CSS went so horribly, horribly wrong in my latest test design by hitting the AuthoShoujo generator. (I was dragged back today by a question on DA from someone wanting to know if s/he could use a title from the generator for their current project. Answer: of course!)

( cut for your sanity )

I suspect there will be some of you out there who will enjoy the blog "The Duchess of Devonshire's Gossip Guide to the 18th Century" as much as I do. Today's post has two commercials for an ice-cream bar with a decidedly 18th century twist. :D

If you need printer cartridges and are OK with non-name-brand ones, Carrot Ink is offering 15% off their prices plus free shipping until July 15. I just bought five cartridges for my big printer for $32.95, which would normally cost me closer to $100. :D (I've used Carrot Ink before and detect no difference in the quality of the printouts. Your mileage may vary, and keep in mind that I don't know how the ink holds up long-term compared to Epson ink.)

This is pretty awesome - making bamboo bikes in Zambia.

Medicus: A Novel of the Roman Empire. by Ruth Downie. Sold as Fiction, but referred to on the back as "the beloved first book in a new mystery series," so they're going for some crossover with the historical fiction there.

Gaius Petreius Ruso, the medicus (doctor) of the title, has escaped a bad marriage and subsequent divorce by running off to a post in the hinterlands of the Roman Empire, in Britannia. He shortly manages to rescue in injured slave girl and discover that the body of a dead prostitute shows signs of murder.

What I liked about the book: Ruso's voice. He's about as cranky and cynical as I get, with deadpan humor. What I didn't like as much: (spoiler protected) the too-quick resolution of the antagonistic relationship between Ruso and Tilla, the slave girl. She goes too fast from being a proud captive finding ways to escape to agreeing to come back to Ruso, as his bedmate, with no real explanation as to why her attitude changed other than he was nice to her. There's a sequel and hopefully Downie will explore the unbalanced master/slave relationship better here (er, not in the porny way :D).


A Beautiful Blue Death (Charles Lenox Mysteries) by Charles Finch. My mom pressed this on me as I left her house weekend before last, with the explanation that it seemed sort of anachronistic to her and would I please corroborate that? I'm only a little way in, and yeah, I'm getting that anachronistic feel.

It's set in 1865 London, starring Charles Lenox, a Victorian gentleman who solves crimes. So far, so good. However, there's a big fuss over fingerprints at the murder scene, and checking Wikipedia tells me that although the utility of fingerprints to identify people was known at the time (for millennia, actually), the London police didn't do anything with them until close to the turn of the century. It's brought up in the text that it's a new science and hit-or-miss, and it's a doctor and the main character doing it, not the police, but ... I'm still somehow not buying it. Also, there's a secondary character who I've met once in the book so far whose voice and carriage reminded me much more of Bertie Wooster, or Peter Wimsey playing the man-about-town, which threw me out a bit more.

And so far I don't actually give a damn about any of the characters, which may be the most damning point of all - I'd probably be willing to forgive the vaguely anachronistic bits if only the characters engaged me. But not so far.

As part of a conversation over on DA, someone who found they liked the song "Teenage Dirtbag" by Wheatus* asked me if I could recommend other songs they might like. As I utterly fail at that sort of thing, if anyone has any suggestions, could you either drop them here or go over there and rec? Thanks! :D




* Coming on from a conversation about why I named a picture of Ichigo "Teenage Dirtbag." :D

Everywhere I turn online today is stories of death, hurt, depression, gross unfairness, etc. I have run out of outrage and I am fast losing any ability to concentrate or function.

PLEASE TELL ME SOMETHING GOOD.

lnhammer has periodically been dropping by my previous Dreamwidth entries with lists of titles and summarizing various of the series, if you're interested. :D


And now for more!
( Cut for the usual )

I have absolutely no desire to go to the Glastonbury Festival because large amounts of partiers like that make me twitchy, but I love photo #2 in The Big Picture's retrospective of this year's festival - an atmospheric, misty dawn with rivers of light.

ETA: And continuing on the misty, atmospheric theme, here is a photo from the Best of China Landscape Pool on Flickr, of the Three Gorges area on a misty morning.

My co-worker, who plays a number of instruments, informs me that back in the day he used to have a fish tank, and when he played the bass saxophone - a large instrument that produces a lot of very low and subsonic sounds - his fish would all turn in parallel and stare at him.

As long as we're running the AutoShoujo contest, you will probably be subjected to lists of titles from me, as I am WEAK WEAK WEAK and cannot resist it. But I shall ( cut it for your sanity. )

I suspect rachelmanija will appreciate this ad that's now showing up on the side in my LJ comment notifications about the AutoShoujo contest.

( cut to prevent them from getting much more keyword traffic )

Our first entry into the AutoShoujo Cover Contest has been submitted!

Oh, man, it's going to be tough to judge the entries, I can tell already!

( Cut because I couldn't stay away from the generator and wanted to remember these titles )