Heroes 1x07 Nothing to Hide

As a side note, I was in the airport and saw the EW issue with Hiro, Claire and Nathan on the cover! Eeeee! Hiro! Claire! I am somewhat surprised (in a good way) that it's the two of them and Nathan, usually my favorites aren't necessarily the popular favorites. But I am so glad Masi Oka is getting the attention, and ditto for the actress who plays Claire, because I really like them.

Also, I didn't realize the show was a surprise hit type thing, so that makes me happy as well, particularly because of all the people of color in it. And it makes me triply happy that one of the more popular characters seems to be a Japanese not-heartthrob who doesn't even speak English for most of the show. Take that, network execs!

( Spoilers )

Moraga, Cherrie, and Gloria Anzaldua, eds. - This Bridge Called My Back

(subtitle: Writings by Radical Women of Color)

I read this way back during IBARW, and am only blogging about it now. I wanted to actually spend time and write good and deep and intelligent things, but mostly that just meant that I put it off for forever.

So... instead, the short and random edition!

I am sure it surprises no one that I adored this book. rilina had posted some Mitsuye Yamada quotes while she was reading this, and I loved them so much that I ILLed the book.

The book is a mix of essays, poems, and stories, some of which I enjoyed, some of which I didn't. The editors tried to include Asian, Latina, Native American, black, mixed race and homosexual women in the interests of coming up with an anthology that would try to cover all women of color.

The main thing for me was finally being able to read a book on myself. The anthology tackles issues of racism and sexism and how women of color are often caught in the middle, explaining one side to the other, having to constantly defend feminism from accusations of racism, or anti-racism from accusations of sexism. The opening poem from which the title comes was particularly moving.

I don't know how critical I can be about this book. It gave me tools and vocabulary during a time I really needed it (and still do); it included me and a lot of my issues, which isn't something that I tend to find that often (something including all my particular issues would have to address race, nationality AND gender). I've always felt like I had to defend Asian culture from accusations of sexism, or at least find ways to critique it without rejecting it all together. But because I didn't think about racism that much before, I never really concentrated on critiquing feminism from an anti-racism standpoint. It's an odd space to live in.

While I liked most of the pieces in the book, the ones that affected me the most were the ones on the Asian-American experience. A lot of this is because I haven't read that much on the Asian-American experience, and because a lot of the anti-racism books I was reading at the time focused largely on the black experience.

I'm not really putting this very well, but this is a book that is very important to me, and I found it at a time I really needed it.

Links:
- minnow1212's review
- sanguinity's review

Mizushiro Setona - 1999nen 7 no Tsuki Shanghai, vol. 01-04 (no spoilers)

Or: in which I continue to play catch-up with book write-ups.

The title is apparently a very old-fashioned way to say "July, 1999, Shanghai."

Unsurprisingly, the story starts in Shanghai during July, 1999. Actually, this may very well be a surprise, given the complete randomness of most manga titles.

coffeeandink has described this several times as "Romeo and Juliet set among Hong Kong gangsters right before the hand-over to China." I actually totally missed the part about Hong Kong and thought the whole thing was set in Shanghai, but that may be because I was attributing too much logic to the title ;).

But yes. It is angsty, star-crossed gang yaoi. Xiaoxue is the sniper for one gang while Dawu is the second-in-command to the boss of another. They meet, they have angsty sex, they fall in love, numerous complications come up, due to the aforementioned gang war, much angst is had, and there are some scenes that push my buttons so hard that I am not even rational about it (the one at the end of vol. 1? With the gun? And how it's repeated? $#%(*&@%!!!GUH).

It took a few pages to get used to the mangaka's style, which is disconcertingly like eighties shoujo. But it gradually gets bolder and less wispy, and the hairstyles thankfully start becoming more distinct. Also, thankfully, the cast of characters remains small, so I could finally figure out that even though Xiaoxue and Xianglong have black hair and names that start with "x," Xianglong has bangs in his eyes.

Facial identification takes me a very long time, particulary when the hairstyles aren't distinct.

My quibble with this series is how the sole female character is handled.

I also found myself falling for Lu of all people, but then, the unrequited yet non-emo love thing is such a button. Plus, Mizushiro takes time on the other characters, and she manages to plot convincingly, instead of letting the entire series become a long string of misunderstandings and feints. It's also good that the series is only 4 volumes long; I wasn't sure how long she could sustain the forbidden love thing, since sneaking around gets old fast, but she manages to put enough twists in there and make me care about enough of the other characters to make it work.

Also, the ending is perfect.

ETA: also, I forgot to nitpick the mangaka. The Chinese celebrate Qi Xi according to the lunar calendar, as opposed to Tanabata in Japan (solar calendar), even though it's basically the same holiday. Also, I was very happy that they met on Qi Xi, despite the date being wrong, because it is a holiday centered around lovers who are literally starcrossed! Hee!

Links:
- coffeeandink's review and write up in her 2006 favorite unlicensed manga post

Hoffman, Nina Kiriki - Spirits That Walk in Shadow

Ok, is this a sequel to something? Or set in the same world as another of Hoffman's books? I keep feeling like there's a giant other story in there about Jaimie and her adolescence, but I wasn't sure if it had already been told in another book or not.

Kim thinks in paintings and visuals and colors. Jaimie was raised in a magical family isolated from real life. They fight crime! become college roommates. Kim's depressed out of her mind due to a traumatic high school social incidence, and Jaimie and her cousins eventually figure out that's it's because of a spirit that feeds off of emotion.

They fight crime! solve the mystery!

I dunno. The book didn't work for me. It wasn't bad, but it was very prosaic. I wasn't surprised by anything, I didn't really like any of the characters, and I wasn't particularly interested in what happened to them. Also, I don't particularly get along with many made-up words for magical techniques.