Miscellaneous things make a post

[oyceter]

1. I am lazy and do not feel like writing things up, even though I am super behind on sequential art posts. On the plus side, Bride of the Water God is out to volume 5 here, which really beats waiting another EIGHT MONTHS for Dark Horse to release v. 3 in the US. Also, I have copies of Umino Chica's new manga, Yoshinaga Fumi's new food manga, a Mizushiro Setona series I have never read, and more Nan Kongyuu books! Also also, I have found another manhua I like! This one is called Fried Chicken Princess (Ji Pai Gong Chu) and is all about a girl who starts a club to appreciate fried chicken (the Taiwan kind, like fried chicken steaks, heavily seasoned)! What other unlicensed stuff should I be keeping an eye out for here?


2. Who is going to Wiscon? Does anyone have panel ideas? I want to suggest another one on shoujo manga but I cannot think of one outside of something like "Shounen Bodies: Women's and girls' bodies in shounen manga" which is clearly not on shoujo. Also, I probably have not read enough shounen to be a good contributor.


3. Dunkin' Donuts is now in Taiwan, and they are copying Mister Donuts' round mochi-esque donuts! I would be annoyed, except this means I can get my tasty round mochi-esque donuts at more places now.


4. I cannot find the old place that sold egg cakes, but the new one nearby is just as good. Yay!

Comments

[jiawen]

Are you going to do something about Chinese fantasy, or otherwise following up from "Not Just Japan" somehow?

[oyceter]

Oh that's a good idea! I was contemplating volunteering someone else (eh heh Vandana Singh) to do a lecture on Indian SF/F, since I don't think there would be enough knowledgeable panelists, and I'd rather have a lecture than listen to people who don't know anything about it. And I am debating suggesting a panel on HK wuxia fantasy movies, since I binged on those last year for Not Just Japan, but I am not sure how many people outside of me and possibly you (?) would be interested!

[jiawen]

A whole lot of people know about wuxia, at least in the RPG communities I tend to run in. (Many people pronounce it wrong, but they know what the genre is.) I bet interest would be higher than you'd expect.

It'd be cool to do something specifically about transgender issues (not general gender-bending, but specific transgender stuff) in manga, or East Asia, or something like that... Hmm...

[oyceter]

Yes, definitely! I would so go to that.

[jiawen]

But not be on that (she asked, carefully reading through the lines)?

[jiawen]

And: Should I suggest a panel? I'm almost tempted to suggest that I just do a presentation on transgender life in Taiwan, even though I'm not Taiwanese. I know a bit about manga, but it's not my forte -- I'd need other people to be on the panel with me (nudge, nudge) if it were going to go into that.

[oyceter]

Do suggest it! Or do a presentation! I would totally go to that, especially since I am guessing there's not a giant pool of people at Wiscon who know much about transgender life in Taiwan (sigh).

[jiawen]

I'm worried it might be cultural appropriation... I'll think more about it.

[oyceter]

Hrm. I would consider it? Though it's hard to say, because I'm trying to limit myself to being a panelist on only two panels just so I don't go nuts. But also, I feel like I'm not really educated enough on trans issues and politics to be a very good panelist, and have not actually read that much manga that is about an transgendered character (any recs very welcome! I am still trying to keep my eyes out for the one you mentioned last year), as opposed to the gender-bending that frequently goes son.

[jiawen]

Unfortunately, I don't think I know enough about trans manga either... I've read a few titles that had at least nominally trans characters (F. Compo, Futaba-kun Change!, Ranma 1/2, and one that I don't know the Japanese name of), but not enough to speak with any real authority. Hmm.