Thursday: 4-4-02 ~ SonMay and Ever Anime CD's - End

It's the end of an era folks.

Both Taiwan and China have joined the World Trade Organization. As a result they must have legislation in affect that upholds International Copyright laws. Neither SonMay nor EverAnime will be allowed within their countries to legally produce bootlegs for international sale.

Most domestic buyers and stores that carry their products have received their last orders, or soon will from the bootleg companies.

A domestic supplier of the CD's informs his customers.

CNN reports the news.





Wednesday: 4-3-02 ~ The Priestess of Da...

Ah... I have been immortalized in my friend Sailordot's online comic, Seekers. I am of course the Priestess of Da. It's amusing, and I love the fact that she patterened the skirt on my outfit off of Chichiri's kesa. I also love the fact I'm an elf, I mean look at those ears! MWAHAHAHAHA>



I mean, isn't that just KAWAII!

Waiting for a friend to return from the land of bad internet connection I had the craving for food, so came up with an AIM away message for her amusement: "I'm turning hobbit and need a snack. Give me a few and I'll be right back." MWAHAHAHA!

And here's a great site for information about Tolkien's Elves and related topics. Yes I am obsessed, and I am not ashamed.



Tuesday: 4-2-02 ~ The Hoax

MWAHAHAHAHA. Yes the previous post was a hoax concerning the doujinshi and fanfiction communities. I actually did post it in April 1st, but fudged the date. Anyone who did a view page source would have seen the truth of the matter. We're so evil. ^+^ And did I mention unashamed?

Congly was wanting to find some nifty April Fool's day joke. He ran a few ideas by me, and I helped him settle on the one that was presented. He wrote it, but his co-conspirators (myself included) helped him both spread it and edit and refine it. We had fun.





Monday: 4-1-02 ~ Gleaming like Burnished Gold...

Legolas is like a god of beauty, grace, and eloquence. He should have his clothes peeled away from him with admiring hands (mine preferably). His body should be anointed with warm and flowing scented oil, and then he should be strewn among the newly fallen autumn leaves that burn in their fiery color. And I would worship my Legolas with focused attentiveness.

Hmmmmmmmmmm





Sunday, 3-31-02 ~ LotR, Easter, and Fandom...

I saw the movie yet again for the 5th time over the weekend. I saw the butterfly clips! Thank you Truth for making me aware of them so I could look for them! Elrond with butterfly hairclips is... such a funny image.

The Two Towers trailer was.... beyond awesome! I am so stoked. 3.5 minutes of film... that has me so excited I can't sleep ^_^ (BTW, it's after the movie, not before).

I'm such a fangirl.

Anyway past my gushing remarks, I hope everyone had a good Easter.

And Since so many of you are ficcers and love doujinshi, etc... I'm copy/pasting an article I came across below. It has some serious ramifications for fanfiction and doujinshi.

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Japanese Policy Shift has Serious Ramifications to Authors and Artists
FR Gelard

A large group of teenaged Asian girls in the Los Angeles Mandarake cluster around looking at "doujinshi", fan comics based on professionally published series, made by her favourite group. This is a common scene in this and other similar stores around the country. It seems shocking to think that such a scene might soon become a memory of the past. A recent announcement by a group of influential manga (Japanese comics) artists and representatives from the animation industry may make the creation and sale of doujinshi illegal. This as of yet unnamed group includes artists and industry insiders such as Naoko Takeuchi, Yukiru Sugisaki, Natsumi Matsumoto and Togashi Yoshihiro. Representatives from Jump Comics, Gainax, and Shueisha were also present.

The few individuals present in Japan during the press conference were utterly shocked at what the artists had to say. Overall, the artists stated that they were going to begin to enforce their copyright over their characters and plots stringently. This marks a 180-degree turn from the policy that had been followed previously in Japan. Originally, others could use an artist's character and artistic designs effectively without consequence.

As communicated through a translator, Naoko Takeuchi, creator of the popular work "Sailor Moon" stated during the conference, "I'm sick and tired of seeing my characters used in this disgusting way" while holding up a copy of "Lunatic Party", a sexually explicit fan-creation. "The value of my characters decreases as this continues. Look, they [two prepubescent girls] are having sex with each other. It's wrong." Ms. Takeuchi continued by talking about how the loss of control she had over her characters was alarming to her. "Stories that my fans write are usually very poorly done and often twist the characters so that they do not reflect their true selves." Togashi Yoshihiro, Ms. Takeuchi's husband, jumped in at this point and agreed with his wife expressing concerns on how several of his characters in his notable series "Yu Yu Hakusho" are interpreted as being homosexual. Mr Yoshihiro pounded his fist on the table shouting "They're not gay!" several times before finally breaking down.

The other participants expressed similar attitudes. Sugisaki Yukiri, creator of the highly popular title "DNAngel" spoke about the loss of artistic control as well including the fact that "the garbage [art] done by fans is inferior to mine. it destroys the beautiful images that I want to put into peoples minds." Ishiro Suzuki, a representative of Gainax, added the fact that they faced, in their words, "a theft of the money rightfully entitled to us. Our work is what puts food on our table; we keep putting out series after series in order to survive."

Ms. Takeuchi, spokesperson for the group, released the official statement of the group, which stated "We prohibit any unauthorised use of our characters, stories, images or other related concepts without obtaining permission first". When questioned by a reporter on what that would mean for doujinshi, art, and fiction creators, Ms. Takeuchi said that strong legal action would be taken against any violators. Ms. Takeuchi then added that a number of manga creators and other industry members would be signing on with the group within the next few days.

Reaction to this news was somewhat muted. Organisers for Comiket, a large sale of doujinshi held twice a year in Japan, were angry at being informed about this decision by the Takeuchi group. The organisers claimed that doujinshi helped promote the artist's work and would lead to greater profits; this would be a mutual relationship all around. The organisers could not understand how these people were breaking so strongly from historical precedent; many manga artists started out with doujinshi and today, still many continue creating doujinshi to do work that could not be done in the context of a publishing company.

Reaction to this decision from North American fans was mixed. Christine Goldstream, an American writer of anime (Japanese animation) and manga fan fiction, was somewhat surprised and puzzled at this announcement and commented on how the lack of publicity initially was sure to hamper the Takeuchi group's efforts. "I can understand the reasoning behind it, and those characters and worlds are the writer's intellectual property. As writers or artists ourselves, we should try and respect that," Ms. Goldstream said. However, Goldstream quickly continued "I'm not sure how they really hope to accomplish this. The cost alone is prohibitive, and that's putting aside lawsuits for freedom of speech, the tangle of legal issues involving international copyright, and the costs involved in alienating domestic and overseas fans."

Not all reaction from fans was as conciliatory. PotterManic55, a writer of Harry Potter fan fiction, seemed to be livid at this decision. "I don't agree with this at all! ... We have the fucking right to write these stories! We have the right to make this art! It's an infringement of our freedoms. Besides, it's not like we make any money off it.it's because we love the work so much!"

PotterManic55's comments contrast with the reality of the situation in Japan. Doujinshi in Japan is almost an industry of its own. There are thousands of doujinshi groups in the country and they all make copies for distribution and sale. Comiket, the twice yearly sale of doujinshi, takes up multiple floors of space and hundreds of million of yen are cleared at each session; Comiket is only one of the multiple events held in Japan each year. Some doujinshi groups do profit and profit quite handsomely. The trend of fans profiting from the creation of fan works is increasing; manga fan art is often found on the online auctioner Ebay.

Not all manga artists agree with the Takeuchi group's proposal. Higuri Yuu, a professional manga artist said "I think they're losing sight of the forest by staring at only single trees." Chiho Saito wondered if hurting and angering the fans will be more detrimental to the artists in the long run. Ms. Saito added she felt flattered every time she saw someone draw something based on her characters. "When I see a picture of Utena [the main character in her series "Revolutionary Girl Utena"], I feel that I've truly affected the heart of someone."

Legal analysts in the US say that the ramifications of this decision could have serious complications for American fans. Fan fiction, although technically illegal had been tolerated typically based on the principle that it would promote the creator's work. Rights holders in Japan had been typically very lax in protection of their rights and so they were weak in the U.S. due to the Berne Convention on copyright. Now, with this move, fan fiction and fan art of members of the Takeuchi group are illegal and those who make it are liable to be prosecuted and sued. This decision will likely affect manga and anime fan fiction writers and fan artists as well, as the Takeuchi group will likely become larger. PotterManic55 feels that this decision will come to affect all fan fiction writers and fan artists; "It's a Pandora's Box. Once it's opened, first one type will be prosecuted, and then another. It's like we're walking targets here." There is precedent for this though; North American authors such as Anne McCaffrey have forbidden fan fiction based on her works. This has been done to both protect their characters and plots as well as to prevent claims of plagiarism of ideas by the author.

Fanfiction.net, one of the largest databases online of fan fiction is sure to be affected by this action. A large proportion of the fan fiction present on the site deals with anime or manga series. Being forced to remove a large portion of its material will certainly adversely impact the site as well as surely have ramifications to the fan fiction community in general. Pursuing legal action against the U.S. based fanfiction.net has interesting ramifications due to the potentially prohibitive cost of trying to enforce rights outside of Japan. To date, the Takeuchi group has no comment on where the money will come from, but an inside source has stated that certain publishing companies are willing to donate money for the cause. No comment from fanfiction.net has been obtained at the time of press.

So, what does this exactly mean for the future? No one really knows yet. One thing is clear though; a number of fans are bitter. In the words of PotterManiac25, "Remember this day...for it marks the first step down a slippery slope in the creation of a schism between artists and the fans. The fans have long memories and will remember this attack."

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Friday: 3-29-02 ~ 'Da Bastard Yahoo! Groups

Yahoo has discovered a sneaky way of getting approval to spam, and release privacy information (through e-mail, address, and phone).

When you logon to Yahoogroups, go to "My Groups" once there look in the right hand upper corner for "account info" click on that, then scroll down to the "Edit Marketing Preferences Tab" and click on that. The next page is the proof of their underhandedness, and the means to disable it as well.



Friday: 3-29-02 ~ Good Freaking Friday

daaa...

I love this, it's a school holiday. So there are no classes. Only main administration is supposed to be here today, and they get off at 1pm, after which point the school goes to "skeletal" shifts, which essentially consist of police and maintenance on call, and RA's in the dorms.

Yet I, poor little computer lab student employee am stuck here for a 7:30am-5:30pm shift.

>_<

I can guarantee I won't see a single person all day!

And to make matters worse, I am in such misery. >_< I still have allergy problems that began during my New York trip. So I'm sneezing my head off to the point I have bruises along my ribs, I'm congested, got the good old lovely pulse nasal drip and subsequent sore throat, itchy eyes, ears, roof of the mouth, and because my allergies are causing such a reaction in me... I'm running a low fever.

Great.

Freaking school idiots. >_<

And of course when I feel bad, I'm very cranky and irritable and go into one of my funks, where I'm really lonely and want snuggies. And I don't even have a kitty to snuggy with.

*wails and da's pathetically*



Wednesday: 3-20-02 ~ The Voyage

On Wednesdat I left work earlier than usual so my parents could pick me up to take me to the airport early the next day. Even when I'm *DEAD* exhausted they make me install a new version of Netscape on their computer and test it out before I can go to bed.... *CRIES* I had to be up by 5am, and out the door by 5:30am... and I didn't get home until 10pm (after detour to Seimei's house to wish a happy birthday and give her the birthday loot)

On Thursday I woke up *WAY* too early. 3am, and can't go back to sleep >_< Airport security.... what airport security? I caught so many lapses >_< at some points people forget to ask for my ticket and id, at others I was never asked the "has your baggage been in your possession at all times? did you accept packages from any unknown persons?" when I should have been. Bleh. they're idiots. The plane ride was *LONG* but uneventful... I just felt like a sardine.... um please do not salt me *glares* I was thankful to finally arrive at la Guardia. Getting my way to heavy suitcase that was packed to bursting (backed up loot can do that, as well as winter clothing). ONce I arrived safe and sound at Tamyris' apartment... I promptly died and went to sleep.

In the following days I conducted my oral history interviews for my research. And when I had time, I saw the town. I went to the Cloister's, it's a branch of the Metropolitan Museum dedicated to medieval arts. There were statues, effigy's, stained glass, doorways, window arches, jewelry, tapestries, textiles, dishes, etc... it was PHENOMENAL. it's located in the only area around the NYC area I would ever consider living in. It's up on a bluff overlooking the water, has trees, and huge boulders sticking out of the ground because of the geologic formations. It is also a very quiet neighborhood :) See the nice thing about the Met is it has a "suggested" price. Meaning you don't have to pay what's listed. My friend paid a quarter for my admission, and since we went to the Met after the Cloisters on the same day, the admission alsso covered my admission to their other facility about an hour or so away. Trying to get to the Met was an adventure. The St. patty's day parade was in full swing, and we were on the opposite side of the street from the Met with the parade between us. I got to hear *LOTS* of bagpipes *sighs happily cause she likes bagpipes* Surprisingly enough most of the songs I'd never have thought could be played well on bagpipes such as : American the Beautiful, Johnny Comes Marching Home Again, etc. Eventually we found a cross street, and explored the Met in full. We went into the Greek and Egyptian wings. Sadly the Temple to Sehkmet was shut down >_< They had it set up for a St. Patty's reception. There's something wrong about looking in through the glass doors and seeing a cross and a crown of thorns in the middle of a temple to the Egyptian Goddess Sehkmet. (The MEt had transplanted the Temple from Egypt years ago). I mean what self respecting curator would allow such culture clash! Pooh. I checked out their 2 floor Asian exhibits. That was fun! ^+^ I wish they had more metalsmith and jewelry objects in their Asian collection however. We also toured the Medieval Tapestry and Surrealism exhibits while there.

I met up with Reirei and we went to Kinokuniya, and this great discount manga/cd/book store called Book-Off. I picked up the Earthian Artbook for $1. Yes that wasn't a typo. Their stuff is CHEAP! And in good condition :) I came hoem with a stack of manga from them for less than 40. The same stack at full price would have been near $200. We also went to ChinaTown, and passed through Little Italy. I was so happy! She took me to a pacle to eat that had *REAl* Sweet & Sour Chicken, the kind I haven't had since 1988. See for some reason the style of Sweet & Sour Chicken found in all the Chinese restauraunts in the South has chicken batter fried with a plain sauce served on the side, the *REAL* kind that is fried in no batter, and served with the sauce over it and bellpeppers, onions, and pineapples. *drools*

At one point I remarked to a friend while in China Town for dinner on another occassion (I visited China Town 3 times in my stay... sadly I found no Ri Hyoujun's while there) that if "I heard a man 'da' I was jumping him."

I went to the Brooklyn Botannical Gardens, and specifically to the Japanese garden. The sakura was just beginning to bud, but a few trees were already in full bloom. It was beautiful. It's been 87 or 86 since the last time I saw a sakura tree in bloom, so that was a very special treat. In the garden is a shrine to Inari. The stone kitsune outside the shrine were so *CUTE* I wanted a miniature version for me.

I went to the Puck Building at Pratt to see the two Yoshitako Amano paintings that I know are hanging there permanently... there I was a door away from these paintings. My first opportunity to actually see an original Amano up close and personal... and I can't see it! *CRIES* There was some damn Prom Fashion Showcase thing going on and they wouldn't let me in. *SOBS* So close... I was so close... and yet so far.

Something (before I went on my trip to the Gardens) was triggering my allergies horribly. I had a really bad sneezing fit and bruised my ribs all the way down. In fact I was running a fever there for a day, and my throat is still sore... *SIGHS* Luckily it didn't mess up my plans too much, but I was unable to meet up with Jujubean because of it, nor help go furniture shopping with Tamyris for her new place.

For some reason... all of my friends who are untalented with decorating want me to decorate their places for them. It's a compliment, and scary too.

The trip seemed over far too fast. I was really kept busy the whole time. @_@ But I was very proud of myself for navigating the subway on a few occassions all by my lonesome.

Getting home was an adventure. La Guardia was very tight with security. I was asked the basic questions. I was wanded down on a spot check, patted down, my bag, wallet, and jacket searched, shoes removed, swipes made of it to run past a machine that I assume checks for explosives.... it was crazy @_@

Once I finally made it past that and to my gate... I had a close encounter of the Trekkie kind. Who would I happen to hear but actress Kate Mulgrew (Capt Janeway of Star Trek: Voyager fame). I didn't bother her, she seemed flustered and was one of a few passengers who had scrambled over to another flight after the previous one had been cancelled. But it was nifty. ^_^ She's supposed to be brining a very good play of her playing Audrey Hepburn to Broadway soon which had it been in town when I was in town I probably would have tried to see.

The plane ride back was bumpy bec ause of alot of turbulence. But it was nice for me. I had 2 whole seats to myself :) and I finished a purely for pleasure book. It was very very nice.

Coming out of the gate to baggage I was concerned. I didn't see my parental units anywhere... and just as I left to the phones, I look aroubnd and see this dark red head... my mother's new bad dye job. Before I left the inital dye job had been bad and came out looking like Tasuki, copper red and neon orange. So they try to darken it and it came out fucshia... then they try to just add brown, and it's looks very very very crimson with fuschia and orange highlights....

poor mother she's so upset by it, and I find it funny. Ah well, I'm a bastard.





Wednesday: 3-13-02 ~ Happy Days...

Happy Birthday Seimei! Hopefully I'll have the opportunity to visit with you briefly tonight. I have loot that will hopefully cheer you up. Why wear Purple, when you can wear Green? And the light frequency for Green is the one most noticeable to the human eye anyway. Wear more green, be more noticed! ^+^

Well I got no sleep last night. I was cleaning, and working on a few graduate school things, and packing, and trying to remember where I had stashed various presents, and burn off a few music cd's as presents... and laugh at Calvin for finally getting a ticket. (His idea of "SAFE DRIVING" is driving 35 mph in the parking garage an an airport.... SUREEEEE. If you ride with him, I hope you're on good terms with the deity of your choice and you have your will in order).

I'm currently debating on if I want to apply for a salaried night manager position. They *REALLY* want me over there, but I don't know if I want to commit myself to 40 hour work weeks from midnight to 8am, whil continuing my graduate studies. The money looks good, the work is equivalent to what I am doing now... but... I really would ahve no social life, 6pm-10pm, I'd be in class. I'd have a lull between 10pm-midnight to study/eat. Then I'd work. Then I'd get off at 8am, and go home and sleep, to wake up around 4-5pm. I really would never see anyone anymore @_@. And I'll still be able to get in some studying at my job on most shifts. It's just a hard decision to make.

Well I have to be at the airport tomorrow by 6am for all the security protocols to catch my 8am flight. I'm heading off for New York to both do some graduate school research, as well as to visit a few friends in the area. On the itinerary: Chinatown, Kinokuniya, The Cloisters, The Met, Pratt University's Puck Building for their 2 huge 50 feet wide Yoshitako Amano murals. *ooooooh... ahhhh....*

I'll be able to meet up with Tamyris & Co. YEAHHHHHHH! ^+^ I'll give your regards to Broadway ^_~



Tuesday: 3-5-02 ~ Send my Regards to Broadway...

It is official. I shall be carting off from March 14 until the 20th to reign my own unique brand of da'ing terror upon New York. They'll never know what hit them. ^_^ I can't wait to see my friends, and if I'm lucky I might be able to hook up briefly with a few others who are now in the area :) I certainly hope so. ^_^