NYAF Part 3- Sunday and Overall Thoughts

Sunday

I starting out Sunday by running the CBLDF booth in Anime Artist Alley. We had a few people return to the booth to take part in the daily manga give away. I again enjoyed the experience. After the manga raffle, we closed the booth.

My only panel for the day was the CBLDF: History of Censorship. Charles Brownstein was the lone speaker at this panel. This was a much more detailed history of censorship and the CBLDF than given at the Defending Manga panel.

He started off by reading the CBLDF mission statement and the 1st Amendment. He briefly discussed Wertham’s Seduction of the Innocent and the Senate subcommittee hearings on comics.

The CBLDF came into existence in 1986 when a comic retailer was arrested for selling adult comics to an undercover cop. Denis Kitchen started the fund to help the retailer. From there the fund has helped retailers and readers defend their to read what they want.

A lot of the work goes unseen because the CBLDF helps to make sure cases don’t go to court but are dismissed during the investigation. They also help libraries fight challenges when someone wants to remove a comic from the collection.

This was an excellent lecture and a must see for everyone. If the CBLDF is giving this panel at your convention definitely go. Also, become a member of the CBLDF and make sure to protect your own 1st Amendment rights.

Overall Thoughts & Impressions

We’ll start with my complaints. First, NYCC/NYAF needs to do a better job at crowd control. I know they want to accommodate as many fans as possible. But when a room runs out of chairs, you should stop letting people in. It’s simply not safe to have people lined up against the walls of a room.

The convention really needs to reevaluate room sizes. When you have a convention of 105,000 people it’s ridiculous to have rooms that only seat 30 or 40 people. I would suggest the minimum room size be 200. Also, unless the room is a workshop, tables are a waste of space. So the only table in a room should be the one used by panelists.

Next, have a strict no signs policy and strictly enforce it. I saw lots of “Free Hugs” signs and a few “Hugs Free, Kisses $2". Every anime convention in the country has banned these and NYCC/NYAF needs to follow suit. The potential for problems is too great not to shut this down immediately. Let’s keep the cons as safe a place as possible.


This brings us to the problems of being press. My understanding is that 10,000 press badges were given out. That means 1 in 10 attendees were press. That’s ridiculous. Because of the high number of press, NYCC/NYAF didn’t have press seating at the panels. This made it difficult, if not impossible, for people who are serious about covering the convention to do so. It meant having to stand in line an hour before most industry panels if you wanted a seat. So you couldn’t cover back-to-back panels.

Let me propose three possible solutions. First, and simplest, limit the number of press badges given out to 1,000 or 2,000. If it means I get dropped from the press list, then so be it. I’d rather make sure the real journalists get the access they need to events and guests then let everyone with a blog in. This would allow you to either have press seating or give press front-of-the-line privileges to most of the events. I understand some panels are simply going to be too popular to accommodate everyone, but those will very few in number.

If that’s not acceptable, then how making the first row at every panel press seating. This way it guarantees some press are able to attend. This would be on a first come, first serve basis. Once the front row is filled, then any other press wanting to attend the panel simply have to wait in line with the rest of the attendees.

Finally, you could try a two-tier press pass system. There would be a regular press badge and a VIP press badge. VIP press would have front-of-the-line privileges and first access to guests. Regular press would simply be treated like regular attendees.

Overall, I was slightly dissatisfied this year. This is the first time I’ve attended such a large scale event. Also, the first time I’ve been to a pop culture convention. I was a little overwhelmed by the sizes of the crowd and the variety of the booths. I like my conventions a little more focused.

That said, I’d be willing to give NYCC one more try now that I know what to expect. I’d like to see if I could make such a convention an enjoyable experience or if it’s simply something not for me.

Kate from Reverse Thieves demonstrating how ridiculously

big the Hasbro bags were. Please note, there is still room for 

a nice stack of comics in the bag!

NYAF Part 2- Friday Afternoon & Saturday

Friday Afternoon

I left the CBLDF booth to attend the Anime Mythbusters panels. The hosts were Rukan Shao and Zhao Chen, both physics students who run the website Animechanics.com. The panel discussed topics like: How fast breasts must jiggle in High School of the Dead to dodge a bullet? (Mach 1.28). How strong would a character's legs have to be to jump 25.6 meters like in Naruto? (Strong enough to leg press 3800 lbs) And how much energy does it take for a Gundam to fly? (128 Terawatts or 8.5 times the current consumption of all humanity)

Shao and Chen certainly knew their stuff and it was fun to listen to them discuss how they solved these questions. I do think they might need to tone down some of the physics.  I don’t think any of the crowd was interested in what equations they used to come up with their solutions.

However the Anime Mythbusters also highlighted the fact that this year the New York Anime Fest was once again ghettoized. First, NYAF was reduced simply to Anime Artist Alley, and the Anime Stage, which is where the fan run panels were held. The anime and manga industry booths and panels were blended into NYCC. This was a slight improvement from last year where even the anime industry panels were segregated out.

Second, NYAF was held on the top floor of the Javits convention center. Mind you, this was a much nicer ghetto with loads of natural lighting. It was also one of the few places in the Javits were non-Verizon customers could get cellphone service. The downside was there was only one set of stairs that took you to the NYAF. So you couldn’t just randomly wander up there.

Finally, all the natural lighting meant you couldn’t see anything on the projection screen at the Anime Stage. This was a problem for the panels using that stage. The Anime Mythbuster panel was running short video clips to introduce each segment and you had no idea what they were showing. So the panelists had to describe the clip to the audience. It’s an understatement to call it a frustrating situation.

There is no reason for participants of the Anime Artist Alley to be segregated out from the simpler named Artist Alley that was connected to main showroom.  The goods being sold were very similar, although there were more handcrafted items in the Anime Artist Alley. The same goes for the anime fan panels. Let’s face it the New York Anime Fest is being treated like the unwanted stepchild of the New York Comic Con. It might be best to drop the pretense and simply delcare the NYAF dead.

My next panel was The Anime Network panel. Honestly, I went to this more out of a sense I should attend at least one anime industry panel than any real interest. The panel was hosted by April Brem, Samantha Stevens, and Stacy Dodson. They opened by showing clips from their current show roster.  They went on to show clips of upcoming shows like Persona 4, Murdock Scramble, and Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere. They announced the Loups-Garous movie would be out next month. They also announced the Broken Blade OVA series will air in January. It was an entertaining panel and the hosts worked the crowd expertly.

I then went over to the Hiro Mashima & Kodansha Comics panel. Mashima is the creator of the popular manga, Fairy Tail. This panel was packed past capacity. There were people lined up along the walls. Thankfully, the Fire Marshall was no where to be found.

The panel began with Mashima giving a drawing demo. While he drew, Dallas Middaugh gave a brief history of Mashima’s career. Then Middaugh asked Mashima questions. It was revealed that Mashima’s favorite current manga is Berserk. He works 6 days per week, with a least one day being 17 hours. To be able to come to NYAF, he had work several 18-19 days so he would have all his required pages handed in ahead of time. He said looking at the NYC skyline inspired him.

Mashima left after they gave away the sketch he did. Middaugh announced the Sailor Moon manga sold so well it there was going to be a second printing. They are upping the print run on future volumes to 100,00. Genskien and Kitchen Princess will be back in print in omnibus format. They announced two new titles Miles Edgeworth: Ace Attorney and Attack on Titan. Also, Kodansha’s iPad launched during NYAF.

Next up was XX: The Women of Queeer Comics. This panel was hosted by JD Glass. The panelists were Paige Braddock (Jane’s World), Jennifer Camper (Rude Girls and Dangerous Women), Joan Hilty (Bitter Girl), Kris Dresen (She’s In The Trees), Abby Denson (Tough Love: High School Confidential), and Erica Friedman (Yuricon & ALC Publishing). My apologies to the panel, I got confused during the introductions and so wasn’t able to keep track of which person was speaking.

They panel started out with Glass asking why did they start creating comics. The panelists talked about wanting to create stories of gorgeous women that were tough, wanting more realistic portrayals of lesbian relationships, and out of a desire to express themselves. They mentioned Howard Cruse and Robert Triptow as being very supportive of lesbian cartoonists.

Glass asked what they saw change over the years. The big change was queer characters no longer exist just to tell the 'coming out' story. They now have their own narratives. They also said the manga boom brought more women to comics reading and creating. They mentioned Archie Comics now having a gay character.

This was another excellent panel that helped open my eyes to a different part of the comics universe. My thanks to the panelists for sharing their experiences.

Erica Friedman wrote up here experiences of being on the panel at Okazu.
You can listen to the panel at Gay-Nerds.com

My final panel for Friday was Vertical Inc run by Ed Chavez with Ioannis Mentzas adding comments. Chi’s Sweet Home has been a huge success for Vertical and helped fund their expansion. Unfortunately with volume 8, Vertical will catch up to the Japanese releases. So there will be a long wait for further volumes.

Here are the other announcements. Chavez feels that No Longer Human will be their most important release this year. Drops of God will be getting a website. New releases for next year are Flowers of Evil by Shuzo Oshimi, the manga adaptation of 5 Centimeters Per Second by Makoto Shinkai and Yukiko Sieke, Sakuran by Moyoco Anno, and Message to Adolf by Osamu Tezuka. Chavez was really excited about Sakuran. It’s a title he’s wanted to license since he first started working at Vertical.

Saturday

My first panel of the day was Super Inspirations. This was part of the Comics Study Conference (CSC) track of academic programming on comics. This was held in a very small panel room and was quickly packed out with people lining up against the walls. Each panel in this series was an hour and half long with three speakers. The presentations were very dense, so I’ll only offer a very brief description for each.

Brad Ricca’s presentation was The Secret History of the Fantastic Four. He looked at Fantastic Four in light of the space race. He saw the origins of the group as a retelling of history where, through the Fantastic Four, Americans are the first in space.

Hannah Means-Shannon presented a paper called Heroic Process: Super Strength and Supernatural in Tom Strong and Herakles. She compared and contrasted the heroic journey taken by Alan Moore’s character Tom Strong and the inspiration of the character Herakles. She made me want to read Tom Strong.

Rich Shivener’s presentation was Joker and Camp. He used Susan Sontag’s definition of camp to examine the history of the Joker and campiness. We can use the Joker to discuss how our perception of camp has changed over the years.

This was an excellent panel, hopefully NYCC will place the CSC in a larger room next year.

Afterwards, I wandered up to the anime ghetto to visit and help out at the CBLDF booth. The “Manga Is Not A Crime” stickers were delivered and we began to hand them out. Nothing will get you attention at an anime con like free stickers. I found the time spent at the booth in Anime Artist Alley very satisfying. I got to talk to a few people and make them aware of the Christopher Handley and Brandon X cases. Unfortunately, we ran out of stickers before the day was over.

My experiences at the CBLDF booth were wonderful and I discovered how much I enjoyed discussing these issues with people. It energized me enough that I’m hoping to get a booth and panel set-up for Otakon next year.

After the CBLDF manga raffle was complete, I went to the CSC panel, Understanding Comics and the Self. For some reason, I didn’t catch the titles for each presentation.

Neil Cohn was the first presenter and spoke on how our brain reads and organizes comics. It’s known that we read sentences in word groupings and not as individual words. It turns out that we do the same for comics. He discussed the details of the tests used to prove this theory.

CJ Suzuki discussed Keiko Tobe’s manga, With the Light. This is semi-autobiographical series about raising an autistic child. This manga helped to raise awareness in Japan about special needs children. The manga even served as an inspiration for a 2004 law to protect the handicapped.

Jeff Barbanell spoke of his experience using comics teaching Native Americans. One way that he used comics was to look at the way Native Americans are portrayed in comics and then discuss the attitudes that inform those images. Terry Moore’s Echo was cited as one of the best depictions of a character with a Native American heritage.

My final panel for the day was the CBLDF: Defending Manga. The moderator was CBLDF president, Charles Brownstein. Erica Friedman and Deb Aoki.

The panel began with a brief history of censorship. Brownstein pointed out that every generation has it’s form of entertainment that it believes is corrupting our youth. In the past it’s been jazz, rock and roll, and comic books. Now it seems like he focus is manga and video games.

The people that prosecutors have targeted has changed too. First it was the publishers, then it was retailers, and now it’s readers. The first manga related arrest was in 2000 when a Texas retailer was arrested for selling Demon Beast Invasion: The Fallen to undercover cops.

Erica pointed out that with Bill 156 now in effect, we can no longer argue that it’s simply a case of misunderstanding Japan culture. A savvy prosecutor can use this bill to show how the manga found offensive by police in the US is also considered offensive in Japan.

The panel pointed out it wasn’t just porn that could get you in trouble. Manga like Love Hina and High School of the Dead feature underage nudity and depending on the mood of the cop or the customs agent could get you arrested for possessing child porn. The only way to be safe is to get the law to understand that a drawing of a child is not a child. Nor is it the photograph of a child. Until such a time, manga readers need to be aware of the risks they face for their hobby.

Erica wrote of her experience on the panel at Okazu

NYAF 2011 Part 1- Wednesday Thru Friday Morning

Wednesday

This year I arrived in New York City a day earlier so I would have time to visit two exhibitions Johanna had mentioned to me.

The first was Jim Henson’s Fantastic World. This is a traveling exhibit by the Smithsonian Institute and is ending it's run at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria.

The exhibit is a retrospective of Jim Henson's life. There are pictures he drew as a child, posters he did for his college's theater department, storyboards from various shows, and original muppets. I didn't know Henson's biography so a lot of exhibit was new to me.

Three short films were shown. The first was an experimental piece that Henson did called Time Piece. One film was an abbreviated version of A&E's Biography of Henson. The final film looked at the legacy of Jim Henson and the Muppets.

Some of the muppets on display were the Kermit used in the 1970s, the Ernie from the same period, the Burt from the 1980s, Rowlf from The Muppet Show, and Miss Piggy. This is the real reason I went to the exhibit. It was quite awe inducing to see icons from my childhood on display. It's a shame you couldn't take pictures.

The Museum of the Moving Image is an amazing place in itself. It celebrates all forms of moving images which include movies, cartoons, and video games. There is a history of the movies starting with the earliest zoetrope {http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoetrope} and going to modern CG animations. Anyone living in or visiting New York needs to make the trek out to this museum. It's definitely worth the time and effort.

You can see some of the earliest commercials and muppet sketches Henson did on YouTube

The other exhibit was Comics Stripped at the Museum of Sex. This was a retrospective of nudity and sex in comics and cartoons.

The exhibit starts with Tijuana Bibles and American comics then ends with a brief section on adult comics in other countries. Unfortunately, the Japanese examples are a tentacle porn anime and the Bondage Fairies manga, which only serve to reinforce stereotypes about Japan. I wish a copy of Manga Sutra would have been included.
Otherwise, it was a good exhibit over all.

The rest of the museum didn't really hold much appeal to me. I understand this is a private museum, but I felt the admission of $19.50 was too steep. Even if they hold further comic and cartoon exhibits, I doubt I'll be back.

Thursday

In the morning I went by to pick-up my badge for the convention. There were some panels in the morning, but most didn't interest me so I decided to do some sightseeing instead.

The convention show floor opened at 4:00 PM for press, professionals, and people who bought a 4 day pass. I went there to purchase an advance copy of Princess Knight, meet the folks running the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) booth, and meet up with fellow manga bloggers. I was successful on all three accounts.

The best part of Thursday was a chance to wander around the showroom before the big crowds hit. The small crowd meant you had room to walk around and exhibitors had time to talk to you. Of course the bigger booths like Marvel, DC, and Funimation were still swamped with people trying to meet artists and get a jump start on the freebies.

I went to visit this year's version of the anime ghetto and discovered that the Anime Artist Alley was closed and wouldn't open until Friday. That was a little disappointing.

Friday Morning

The crowd was noticeably larger on Friday. I'd say the showroom felt about as crowded as it did during the peak last year, which made me worried about trying to walk around on Saturday.

My first panel of the convention was It Gets Better (With Comics!) at 11:00 AM. The moderator was Chris Shoemaker founder of Prism comics. The speakers were: Charles "Zan" Christiansen from Northwest Press, Daniel Ketchum an associate editor at Marvel Comics Ivan Velez Jr. author of the seminal Tales from the Closet, and Rica Takashima author of Rica ‘tte Kanji!?.

The panel was packed and there were people standing up along the walls to attend. I'm not sure why the room had tables in it. They were nice for taking notes, but they used up space better served by bringing in more chairs. Also, this was held in one of the smallest panel rooms.

The discussion started by Shoemaker pointing out that comics (here he seems to mean mostly superhero comics) have gained more popularity in the general culture, but there is still a lack of significant LGBT characters. The panelists pointed out there have been some LGBT characters in comics and there is more open atmosphere toward LGBT characters in superhero comics. The problem is that most creators are still white, heterosexual males. They don't feel comfortable using LGBT characters for fear of offending people. Christiansen pointed it there are many creative restrictions when working with a shared universe and so writers will have to work harder to introduce new LGBT characters. Velez pointed out that you need to start off creating a character that is interesting as a human first, otherwise the LGBT aspects of the character come off as a crutch for attracting an audience. Velez also recommended training in LGBT sensitivity for Marvel and DC writers to help them be more comfortable using LGBT characters in their stories.

Takashima talked about how when she began creating her manga there was nothing for lesbian women. The only comics to feature lesbians were porn for men. She was the first to write about real issues for lesbians in their lives and relationships. She has seen the field of lesbian manga grew up and develop it's own fanbase during the course of her career.

Ketchum pointed out that while there may not be that many LGBT characters in superhero comics, there are certainly themes in some comics that LGBT readers can identify with. He grew up reading Marvel comics and felt many of the stories spoke to him as a young gay man. Especially the themes found in X-Men comics about mutants who feel they are outsiders to ‘normal' society and how they try to find ways to fit in and be accepted.

Next they moved on to the talk about how to balance advocacy, outreach, and support in the comics you write. Velez said he has lots of training as a counselor and so that informs his writing. If you make the characters authentic than it's easy to talk about real issues. Christiansen said the worst thing is to tell lies. The stories have to be honest. Velez said the danger is accepting stereotypes, that's the sign of a hack. Takashima agreed that creators have to be intentional in the characters and stories they create. We can't just accept anything.

The panel discussed the need to get their comics into libraries and the hands of teens. The problem is lack of library budgets, so they can't have as diverse a collection of comics as they would like. Also, LGBT comics get stolen by people too scared to openly check them out. So libraries need help in getting new copies of the books they do stock. Velez and Takashima are putting their comics on the web for free to help reach a wider audience. Christiansen said that Prism will gladly send free books to libraries, churches, or schools.

This was an excellent panel and helped me see a new dimension to comics and to comic readers. All the panelists were passionate and articulate about the potential for comics to reach out and informer readers about LGBT people and the issues they confront in life. Hopefully, there will be a panel like this every year at NYCC and in a much bigger room.

After the It Gets Better (With Comics!) panel, I headed over to help out at the CBLDF booth. There was some miscommunication and the booth that the CBLDF was supposed to have in the Anime Artist Alley wasn't ready. So I helped out at the booth in the main showroom. The crowd was more interested in the books for sale and not the mission of the CBLDF. I got to talk to a few people the two hours I was standing there, but felt a little frustrated we we're connecting to the anime and manga attendees. Thankfully, later in the afternoon the CBLDF was able to set up a booth in the Anime Artist Alley.

Love Hina: A Mirror to the Past

Like Johanna, I discovered Love Hina early in my anime/manga fandom. I had only been a fan a couple of years when the anime came out and it was love at first sight. I remember getting the manga as each volume came out and loving Akamatsu's art and storytelling.

Kodansha's re-release of the series is like having a mirror that let's me look at my past self. I'm given an opportunity to examine my tastes as an early fan. Truth be told, I was hoping to discover I had great taste from the beginning. Or, at least, come up with a justification of my earlier choices.

When I first encountered Love Hina, I hadn't sampled that widely the anime and manga available. I had stuck mostly to the sci-fi genre and some widely praised series like Ramna 1/2. So I didn't know much about harem comedies or the hyperactive humor used by Akamatsu.

I remember being captivated by it all. I had never experienced a cartoon or comic like Love Hina. I was caught up in that honeymoon phase of a new hobby when everything you experience is wonderful. I was still learning about Japanese culture; Love Hina was my first introduction to hot springs, university enterance exams, and New Year temple visits. It was all new and I wanted more.

So ten years later how does Love Hina hold up for me? Not as well as I hoped.

On page 142 of the omnibus, Akamatsu tells us it took 20 submissions and 2 editorial meetings to finally get Love Hina accepted. That's not really hard to believe. The set up for the series feels like it was composed by a committee seeking to engineer a hit manga by including all the female stereotypes fanboys love. You have everything from the older, slightly sluttly woman (Kitsune) to the shy, unsure, younger sister (Shinobu). The main love interest is the secretly sexy librarian type. Take off those Coke-bottle glasses and frumpy clothes and you unwrapped a Playboy playmate.

Our protagonist is the everyman loser than fanboys can both easily identify with and feel superior to. Keitaro isn't a very good student. He's not athletic. He's average looking and has never had a girlfriend. He has lots of self-doubts. However, he is also romantic, a hard worker, sincere, and has a good heart.

Now take our cast and figure out a setting that allows for maximum fanservice and comedic high jinks. How about an all girls dorm that was formally a hot springs inn? It's the perfect setup for lots of chances for nudity and misunderstandings. At this point in my fandom, it's a little hard not to be cynical about the whole premise of Love Hina. It feels designed to exploit male fans.

I find that I don't have much patience anymore for the storytelling in Love Hina. Keitaro's constant tripping and exposing one of the girls gets old before the end of the first volume. Naru's screaming pervert and hitting Keitaro into the sky gets old even quicker. If I wasn't reviewing this omnibus, I would have quit before getting to the halfway point. I'm shocked I was able to read 14 volumes of this.

I can also see the appeal this story had, and to some extent still has, for me. Akamatsu is able to breathe life into these stereotypes. Keitaro's sincerity and naiveté come across as believable, which is hard to do. Naru isn't just the cute, smart girl. She also has her own fears and doubts. Even Shinobu takes on more depth as we get to know her. Akamatsu's skill crafting likable characters that transcend their stereotypes is the real secret to his success.

The best story arc in the omnibus is when Naru and Keitaro runaway after both fail the entrance exam to Tokyo University. The fanservice and slapstick are toned down giving the characters a chance to come alive. There is also room for their relationship to develop. It was a refreshing and much welcomed change of pace.

Another reason I loved Love Hina was the artwork. Even now, there is no denying that Akamatsu is a skilled artist. He has no weakness. Everything in the book is done well from character designs to page layouts to beautiful backgrounds. He's adeptly handles comedy, drama, and quiet emotional moments. The book is still gorgeous and feels fresh.

At it's core, Love Hina has an appealing story of a burgeoning romance. Unfortunately, that's only 10% of the book. You have to wade through a lot of muck for so little gold. I've since discovered many manga that tell the same basic story much better. I won't be re-reading the series. As I said before, I don't have the patience. I'm hoping this is a sign of my maturity as a manga reader.

(The publisher provided a promotional copy for this review)

Otakon Silliness

Sometimes, my mind just wanders. And here is the result. This based on the lyrics used by The Animals for thier version of The House of the Rising Sun.

There is a convention in Baltimore
They call the O-takon
And it’s been the ruin of many a poor boy
And God, I know I’m one

My mother was a cosplayer
She sewed my sailor suit
My father was a moe otaku
Way down in Baltimore

Now the only thing an otaku needs
Is a bodypillow and the internet
And the only time you keep him satisfied
Is when he’s watching anime

Oh mother tell your children
Not to do what I have done
Don’t spend your life on moe and merchandise
In the convention of the O-takon

I got one foot on the platform
The other on a train
And I’m going back to Baltimore
To watch the anime

Yeah, there is a convention in Baltimore
They call the O-takon
And it’s been the ruins of many a poor boy
And God, I know I’m one

Making Light of Scanlations

On occasion, I assume myself by rewriting song lyrics to coincide with some event going on in my life. It stems from a warped sense of humor. The scanslations debates are upon us hot and heavy. Driving home I heard Everybody Plays the Fool by the Spinners and the lyrics were just too perfect to ignore. I especially love it when I only have to peak and tweak a few places in the lyrics to make it fit the current circumstances.

So for your enjoyment, meant solely for entertainment and humor purposes. I present the original song lyrics and the new scanslation relevant verison.

Everybody Plays the Fool
(R. Clark, JR Bailey, K Wiliams)

You're sitting around mopin', mopin', mopin', cryin', cryin'
You say you're even thinking about dying
Well, before you do anything rash, dig this

Everybody plays the fool, sometime
There's no exception to the rule, listen baby
It may be factual, it may be cruel, I ain't lying
Everybody plays the fool

Fallin' in love is such an easy thing to do
But there's no guarantee that the one you love, is gonna love you
Oh, loving eyes they cannot see a certain person could never be
Love runs deeper than any ocean, it clouds you're mind with emotion

Everybody plays the fool, sometime
There's no exception to the rule, listen baby
It may be factual, it may be cruel, I ain't lying
Everybody plays the fool

How can you help it, when the music starts to play
And your ability to reason, is swept away
Oh, heaven on earth is all you see, you're out of touch with reality
And now you cry, but when you do, next time around someone cries for you

Hey, everybody plays the fool, sometime
Use your heart just like a tool, listen baby
They never tell you so in school, I wanna say it again,
Everybody plays the fool

Everybody plays the fool, sometime
There's no exception to the rule, listen baby
It may be factual, it may be cruel, I ain't lying
Everybody plays the fool


Everybody Plays the Fool (Scanlations Version)
(with apologies to R. Clark, JR Bailey, K Wiliams)

You're sitting around mopin',posting to forums, cryin'
You say you're even thinking about dying
Well, before you do anything rash, dig this

Everybody plays the fool, reading scans online
There's no exception to the rule, listen fandom
It may be factual, it may be cruel, I ain't lying
Everybody plays the fool

Buying manga is such an easy thing to do
But there's no guarantee that the one you buy, is gonna be good
Oh, pirating eyes they cannot see scanlations should never be
Scans runs deeper than any ocean, they cloud you're mind with emotion

Everybody plays the fool, reading scans online
There's no exception to the rule, listen fandom
It may be factual, it may be cruel, I ain't lying
Everybody plays the fool

How can you help it, when the scan starts to load
And your ability to reason, is swept away
Oh, heaven on earth is all you see, you're out of touch with reality
And now you buy, and when do, the mangka gets money from you

Hey, everybody plays the fool, reading scans online
Use your heart just like a tool, listen fandom
They never tell you so in school, I wanna say it again,
Everybody plays the fool

My Political Woes

Every once and awhile, I try to figure out my political orientation. I won't lie. I vote Republican because it's quick and easy for me. Socially and economically conservative, with a nice helping of small government rhetoric on the side.

But here’s the rub, I’m a staunch defender of freedom of consciousness. I go as far as defend a pharmacist’s right to refuse to fill a prescription based on moral grounds. (Mind you, that doesn’t mean the pharmacist has the right to seize the prescription. The prescription is the property of the patient. But that’s a debate for another time.) So being a Republican isn’t the greatest fit at times.

Plus, let’s be honest. The likeliness of the Republicans shrinking the federal government is the same as the likeness that Microsoft is going to go open source. They have a vested interest to keep the federal government as bloated as possible.

So it looks like Libertarianism might be a good fit. Ah, but rub number two, I also believe in the place of community. I think the heart of many problems facing our society is our worship of radical individualism. We need solid, stable communities in order to have sold, stable people.

Humans are created to be embedded in a tangled web of relationships with family, friends, acquaintances, and enemies. And I don’t mean virtual relationships. I mean real life, can’t get around them no matter what, relationships.

So what I want is a political ethic that respects both the individual and the community. It’s a paradox, but hey I embrace the divinity and humanity of Jesus Christ, so I’m okay with paradox.

Here are the competing interests for me. On the one hand, I want people like the Amish to be able to form a city and run it according to their beliefs. I want them to have the political power to protect the sanctity of their community. If you want to live in that city, then you will have to agree to live according to Amish principles. (Here I’m using the Amish as the prime example of a community with a specific established lifestyle. You could substitute a commune, Tibetan monastic, Israeli kibbutz, etc. for Amish if you want.)

On the other hand, if you’re living in just a standard city, say, Richmond, VA. I want the city to respect your rights as an individual. Let’s call places like Richmond, VA, open cities. This means that I want you to be able to read any book you want in the privacy of your own home. (I’m NOT advocating reading Hustler at the Elementary School playground.) You have the right to define your life (within reason) as you see fit. So you determine your sexual orientation, your job, your favorite places to hang out, your religion, etc.

Maybe the problem is that it’s hard for me to disentangle my political views from my thoughts on society. But politics is supposed to be about helping people form a good society. We should be seeking to create a society that fosters maximum well being. The problem might be we think of politics as making sure individuals get what they want. Maybe letting individuals run rampant is bad for society.

I think the good society is a blend of individual and community rights. A balance that will need to be constantly negotiated as we try to create a place where people can grow and mature into the person they envision. However, we don’t always know what’s best for ourselves, so we need a community that challenges us. A community that has the right to question what we’re doing with our lives. If someone wants to be a white supremacist, certainly I don’t think a community should be able to stop them. But, it should confront them to make sure they understand the full implications that lifestyle will bring. Once the individual shows the maturity that make that decision then the community lets them down the path they’ve chosen.

Look I don’t have an answer. I don’t even know if there is an answer. I’m just trying to sort it out and looking for a little feedback.