Saturday, March 07, 2009
Chromosomal Coin-Flip Complete
We could have gone outside today, with the rain having let up and having no particular plans, but it turns out Mako and I couldn't come up with a good enough reason to get ourselves out the door. It's OK, since I had so much to do in recent weekends, it was nice to have a quiet day at home for just the two of us. Well, three if you include the TV.
I'm kidding! Three includes the tiny baby gestating inside Mako's womb. As of yesterday's doctor visit I can finally declare...it's (going to be) a boy! I know, huge surprise right? I mean it was either a boy or a girl - there were no real third options. Anyway, I'm thrilled to finally have a proper pronoun to use for the baby instead of "it." You just can't fall in love with an "it." There's an affection gap that saying "he" or "she" erases.
I was surprised at how much time I spent on Skype this afternoon. First The Trout called and we spoke about, um, everything for a good two hours. Then Chad called while we were watching the World Baseball Classic (Japan beat Korea in a rout). And just as we were preparing for bath and bed, my mother called! It's great to catch up with so many people but after a few hours my headphones really pinch my ears.
There was one outrageous thing on TV today that I can't just let go. I expressed my anger via Twitter but that's just not enough. We were watching a special about the new Yatterman film which is based on a old Japanese cartoon. One of the film's stars flew to New York for a screening and also did a bit of asking around about the popularity of anime/manga in the United States. Now while Yatterman is no household name in America, there are certainly a few Japanese titles that are getting quite big. Hell, that awful-looking Dragonball movie is only a week or so away. It's actually opening in Japan ahead of the US, a fact that actually drives me nuts when you consider how many movies sit in limbo while I wait for them to open on these shores.
OK, I'm digressing. No more anger about movie release dates. Today I was angry about a quasi-interview with some guy concerning the rapid growth of Japanese comics and animation in America. This stuffed suit actually had the temerity to claim that the rise in interest had something to do with the September 11th attacks. If I had been drinking a beverage I would have spit it out in total disbelief. I know "9/11 changed everything" but are you fucking crazy? Comic books? No, no, no.
It's pretty simple: Japanese stuff has been slowly building an audience in the US over the past twenty years. When my friends and I were buying poorly-dubbed VHS tapes of Fist of the North Star and Golgo 13, we were simply ahead of the curve. By the time I was in college there was a full-fledged anime club. And before the millennium there were already regular TV airings of Dragonball Z and Pokemon all over American television. You don't need to be a media expert or a marketing genius to figure out what happens next: popular imported entertainment breeds more importing. But you do need to be a total asshole to imply that the long-term entertainment needs of children were somehow influenced by the murder of 3000 people in a national tragedy.
Yes, I know this guy was only doing his job as a shill in trying to over-hype the importance of manga in the US and this clueless schmuck has the same bad habits we all do in trying to attribute greater meaning to unexplainable phenomena. You won the lottery? It wasn't chance, it was a MIRACLE, I know...but my rage is pretty straightforward. Linking massive destruction and an upswing of interest in Naruto is beyond irresponsible. It's tasteless and downright rude. Obviously the Japanese broadcasters didn't bat an eye because 9/11 just isn't thought of in the same way around here. They don't even mention it on the "history timelines" I see in elementary schools, despite prominent inclusion of the atomic bomb droppings and the...2002 World Cup coming to Asia?!?
Dammit Japan, can't you take anything seriously?
Tonight's meandering message was yet another Write or Die collaboration.
つづく...(Click here to read more)
I'm kidding! Three includes the tiny baby gestating inside Mako's womb. As of yesterday's doctor visit I can finally declare...it's (going to be) a boy! I know, huge surprise right? I mean it was either a boy or a girl - there were no real third options. Anyway, I'm thrilled to finally have a proper pronoun to use for the baby instead of "it." You just can't fall in love with an "it." There's an affection gap that saying "he" or "she" erases.
I was surprised at how much time I spent on Skype this afternoon. First The Trout called and we spoke about, um, everything for a good two hours. Then Chad called while we were watching the World Baseball Classic (Japan beat Korea in a rout). And just as we were preparing for bath and bed, my mother called! It's great to catch up with so many people but after a few hours my headphones really pinch my ears.
There was one outrageous thing on TV today that I can't just let go. I expressed my anger via Twitter but that's just not enough. We were watching a special about the new Yatterman film which is based on a old Japanese cartoon. One of the film's stars flew to New York for a screening and also did a bit of asking around about the popularity of anime/manga in the United States. Now while Yatterman is no household name in America, there are certainly a few Japanese titles that are getting quite big. Hell, that awful-looking Dragonball movie is only a week or so away. It's actually opening in Japan ahead of the US, a fact that actually drives me nuts when you consider how many movies sit in limbo while I wait for them to open on these shores.
OK, I'm digressing. No more anger about movie release dates. Today I was angry about a quasi-interview with some guy concerning the rapid growth of Japanese comics and animation in America. This stuffed suit actually had the temerity to claim that the rise in interest had something to do with the September 11th attacks. If I had been drinking a beverage I would have spit it out in total disbelief. I know "9/11 changed everything" but are you fucking crazy? Comic books? No, no, no.
It's pretty simple: Japanese stuff has been slowly building an audience in the US over the past twenty years. When my friends and I were buying poorly-dubbed VHS tapes of Fist of the North Star and Golgo 13, we were simply ahead of the curve. By the time I was in college there was a full-fledged anime club. And before the millennium there were already regular TV airings of Dragonball Z and Pokemon all over American television. You don't need to be a media expert or a marketing genius to figure out what happens next: popular imported entertainment breeds more importing. But you do need to be a total asshole to imply that the long-term entertainment needs of children were somehow influenced by the murder of 3000 people in a national tragedy.
Yes, I know this guy was only doing his job as a shill in trying to over-hype the importance of manga in the US and this clueless schmuck has the same bad habits we all do in trying to attribute greater meaning to unexplainable phenomena. You won the lottery? It wasn't chance, it was a MIRACLE, I know...but my rage is pretty straightforward. Linking massive destruction and an upswing of interest in Naruto is beyond irresponsible. It's tasteless and downright rude. Obviously the Japanese broadcasters didn't bat an eye because 9/11 just isn't thought of in the same way around here. They don't even mention it on the "history timelines" I see in elementary schools, despite prominent inclusion of the atomic bomb droppings and the...2002 World Cup coming to Asia?!?
Dammit Japan, can't you take anything seriously?
Tonight's meandering message was yet another Write or Die collaboration.
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Labels: anime, family, Japan, manga, pregnancy, Write or Die
つづく...(Click here to read more)
