67 replies to this topic

[ciardha]

Heh, I doubt if my geeky ramblings will be all that interesting to that many people, but blogging about my geek life is fun for me.


Start it off with the enjoyable moment at work today where I was able to express my geek knowledge to answer a question. A person asked "Why are they called anime cons, there's manga too, isn't there?" (speaking strictly of the convention phenomenon in the US)

The answer is- When the first cons happened in the early-mid 1980's (interestingly, most of those early cons were centered around universities in Dallas Texas....) translated manga was almost completely unavailable. There was the "I Saw it" one shot and the excerpts printed in Fred Schodt's classic text- Manga, Manga. The series that launched anime convention was "Star Blazers" the English dub of part of the Space Cruiser Yamato series. The first gathering was an impromptu event at New York City's Creation Con in early 1982 was dubbed "Star Blazers Mini Con"- it was basically a video room with some fan discussion. The next event was at Grand Rapids, MI in September of 1982 at the Star Trek themed Babelcon. Called "Star Blazers/Yamato Micro Con". It was of a similar set up as the earlier con in New York, except there was more a schedule with the panels.

Then came Dallas, Texas and Yamato Con I in September 1983. It was still just a single day event, but this con was the first stand alone anime con, with multiple rooms- including a dealers room. It took until March 1986 and still was a 1 day event called Yamato Con II, but attendance picked up significantly from I. The first general Anime con followed in September 1986 in Dallas, Texas first called Animagic (not to be confused with the later anime con of the same name in California) It was a 2 day event. (Progress! . Still, even in 1986 there was no new translated manga (that would soon change though with First and Viz in 1987), but dubbed anime was beginning to boom, and the first fansubs were beginning to emerge. (They were on videotape- sadly they were fuzzy and you could barely read the subtitles though.)

Dallas, Texas universities continued to be the source of anime con development for the next few years, culminating with the creation of the 3 day anime con in 1990- Project A-kon in 1990. A-kon still exists as a yearly anime con in Dallas, Texas.

That is why they are called anime cons.

[ciardha]

Ah, blog of a middle aged female geek, this should be interesting... Always interested to hear your thoughts.

Thanks!

Not a geek post tonight- a <sigh> not again post.

Big water main break right around the same place one broke just a bit over 1 month ago- this time paired with a natural gas pipeline break. The have the water main break finally shut down, but the natural gas break is still spewing out. It's very close to the big university in town. (about 5 miles from my house)

http://www.wdrb.com/...d-crittenden-dr

Edited by ciardha, 12 August 2011 - 04:11 AM.

[Phantom_999]

I am Interested to hear your Thoughts ciardha please go on

[ciardha]

A meme is going around deviantart- Your top 10 fandom favorite couples. Heh, I have so many favorite couples from various different fandoms that I would be hard pressed to picked just 10, and in some fandoms like Naruto I have several- in fact, I'd probably come close to hitting 10 in that fandom alone. Oh Kishimoto, you are far too modest in thinking you don't do romance well- better than a lot of mangaka actually....

I'm just going to have to limit it to one couple per fandoms- in some that's easy, in others (like Naruto it's difficult)
Think I'll take this in a roughly chronological list from oldest fandom to most recent.

Beatle related couples- John and Yoko! (No contest there, no one else comes even close... If pressed I'd say George and Olivia for second favorite though) My only real life favorite couple- they were kind of spiritual mentors to me as well. I was twelve (in 1978) when I came to be fans of John and Yoko.

Star Blazers/Yamato series- Derek/Susumu and Nova/Yuki (although I like the pairing better in the recent live action movie better- I like Yuki more strong willed and love her being a fighter pilot. Hoping the new anime remake will retain the stronger willed Yuki of the movie- would like her to also retain being a fighter pilot...)

Star Wars- Han Solo and Princess Leia (another no contest couple, Mara and Luke are just kind of there for me, not annoying, just not terribly interesting, and as for the prequel trilogy premiere couple, completely unromantic to me. I stopped reading the sequel novels when Han and Leia's son went evil and they started killing off characters like Chewbacca, etc...so I couldn't tell you if any pairing involving Han and Leia's daughter and someone would interest me...

Elfquest- Redlance and Nightfall (top fav couple in that fandom, but several strong runner ups)

Titans (DC comics)- Raven and Jericho (wow did DC lose out there, by almost immediately going into the "lets turn Joey evil and kill him" plotline. A plotline Marv Wolfman now admits was a colossal mistake. And every time Joey gets revived Raven is usually directly connected to it, with plotline bits about their attraction)

X-men (Marvel comics)- Gambit and Rogue. (no contest, no other x-couple comes close for my favorites)

BTVS- Buffy and Spike. (no contest, no other couple comes close) Whedon, every so often will admit this surprise couple ended up being the best one of the series- both characters struggle to grow emotionally as their feelings become deeper for each other, while their previous relationships had held them back in teenage crush style relationships: Spike's with Dru and Buffy's with Angel and Riley (especially with Angel but Riley wasn't much of an improvement, although the ex relationship was far more healthy than the ex relationship with Angel)

Anita Blake- Anita and Jean-Claude (again, no contest. Some of the other guys are okay- Asher, Jason, but Richard was a self-righteous hypocrite and a jerk, and Micah is even worse- a Gary Stu and Nathan is just Micah's attachment. Hamilton needs to send Micah and Nathan off into the sunset together, they just drag down the story because Micah is just perfect in every way- ugh, and Nathan just is anyone's lapdog- again, ugh. Jason and Jean-Claude are the most interesting of the lot and the story just sparks when Anita is interacting with those two in any fashion, not just romantically.

Inuyasha- Miroku and Sango (I enjoyed and rooted for Inuyasha and Kagome, but the couple that I loved to see scenes with them interacting was Miroku and Sango)

Naruto- Naruto and Sakura (my top fav, but several other couples in close seconds- Minato and Kushina, Jiraiya and Tsunade, Shikamaru and Temari, then a few other couples I'd like to see more of Chouji and Ino, Hashirama and Mito, Hiruzen and Biwako, Asuma and Kurenai, Shikaku and Yoshino


Had to leave out several other top favs from various fandoms to cut it off at 10, like Haruka and Michiru from Sailor Moon, and Mikoto and Mitoki from the live action Sailor Moon, both couples fitting within my top fav range, along with others, like Guy and Ice from Justice League, Tonda and Balsa from Moribito, Andre and Diane from the Diane Tregarde novels, Andre and Lady Oscar from the Rose of Versailes, Riot and Jem from Jem (Rio was a self righteous jerk- ugh, at least Riot's ego was mostly a defense mechanism+ stage persona), etc....

[ciardha]

Watching "Sound of Music" on ABC tonight. Something about that movie adaption of a musical never gets old- I watch it every time it comes on TV.

[Phantom_999]

Don't you find the ending a little UNfinished though? I mean It was a GREAT movie but the ending was kind of a cliff hanger more than conclusion.

[ciardha]

Don't you find the ending a little UNfinished though? I mean It was a GREAT movie but the ending was kind of a cliff hanger more than conclusion.

Open ended but not a cliff hanger, they got away to Switzerland (neutral country but safe from the Nazis) Story is somewhat different from what happened to the real Von Trapp family, but they did leave Austria in 1938 (but by train to Italy, then to the US, by stating the partial truth- they were going on tour. In the real story, Maria married Georg in 1927, and they had two more children- daughters fairly quickly, and Maria was pregnant with the third child when they left- he was born in early 1939 in the US. The seven kids by the first wife (her name was Agathe) were of different ages and mostly different names than in the musical very loosely based on the family's story. The Von Trapp family singers already were famous in Austria before the Nazis took over and actually performed more Renaissance period songs rather than folk style music. Georg was offered a naval position in a similar fashion though, and they did leave because Georg had no intention of serving the Nazis. The two older Von Trapp sons served in WWII for the US. All the Von Trapps other than Georg became US citizens. Georg died in 1947 in Vermont, Maria in 1987. The only member of the family that returned to Austria was Johanna- the second youngest of the older seven children after her marriage. The seven older kids real names and ages were: Rupert, 1911–1992; Agathe, 1913– 2010; Maria, 1914– ; Werner, 1915–2007; Hedwig, 1917–1975; Johanna, 1919–1994; and Martina, 1921–1951, the three kids of Maria and Georg: Rosmarie, 1929– ; Eleonore, 1931– ; and Johannes, 1939–

Photo of the real Von Trapp family singers with all 10 kids:
http://cdn.babble.co...ily_320x240.jpg

[Phantom_999]

Where'd you get that info? Merry Christmas by the way!!

Edited by Phantom_999, 25 December 2011 - 08:13 PM.

[ciardha]

From their website- They opened a resort/lodge that is still in operation today- Johannes (the youngest child) runs it now.

http://www.trappfamily.com/story

[Phantom_999]

Talking about the movie though. You can't know that by just watching it.

[ciardha]

Talking about the movie though. You can't know that by just watching it.

Do they not teach WWII European history in school anymore? Switzerland was a neutral country during the war, thus once an Austrian citizen reached Switzerland they were safe, because not only was Switzerland neutral during WWII, it had a long history of accepting refugees, especially political refugees.

The musical was written in the 1950's when memories of WWII were quite sharp, but even in my generation (those of us born in the 1960's) we knew from history classes and our parent's childhood memories of that time period, and frequent news retrospectives on the evening news, etc...

[Phantom_999]

Do they not teach WWII European history in school anymore? Switzerland was a neutral country during the war, thus once an Austrian citizen reached Switzerland they were safe, because not only was Switzerland neutral during WWII, it had a long history of accepting refugees, especially political refugees.

The musical was written in the 1950's when memories of WWII were quite sharp, but even in my generation (those of us born in the 1960's) we knew from history classes and our parent's childhood memories of that time period, and frequent news retrospectives on the evening news, etc...

Not in my world they don't. How'd you know it was Switzerland?

Edited by Phantom_999, 29 December 2011 - 03:26 PM.

[ciardha]

Not in my world they don't. How'd you know it was Switzerland?

They don't teach you about WWII, even in high school history? When I went to public school (1972-1984), here in the US, we learned about it even in elementary school history, extensively in High School (Gloss on the "Colonial" perod, heavy emphasis on the Revolutionary War, quick gloss on the War of 1812 and the two border wars with Mexico in the 1830's and 40's, exhaustive emphasis on the US Civil War- all of which I know they still do as I see even elementary school teachers come into the library and check out a collection of books for their classes, quick gloss on the Spanish-American war of the 1890's- and during the time I was in school they even dared touch on the negative aspects of our actions in this war in junior high and high school history classes... WWI only got a passing mention until high school history because of everyone's questionable actions in that war and immediately after- but a good thoughtful discussion in our high school classes, then an exhaustive focus on WWII, and finishing- only in high school, with the "Cold War" (1947 onward) history because it was controversial and still ongoing at that time .

Canada was even more intimately involved in WWII in Europe than US but your school ignores it? What do they teach you about in the 20th century section of history class?

Because they say so several times that they going to Switzerland: in the scene right after Georg reads the telegram, in the scene where they are pushing the car out of the estate, and the scene with nuns telling them the borders were closed.

[Phantom_999]

Well maybe we did but did not talk about it TOO much BECAUSE it was a neutral country well anyway I just felt they could have shown more of their new life in Swizterland before the end credits but that's just how I feel

[ciardha]

Well maybe we did but did not talk about it TOO much BECAUSE it was a neutral country well anyway I just felt they could have shown more of their new life in Swizterland before the end credits but that's just how I feel

It was just following the script of the musical, which ends at the same point. It's meant to be triumphal, yet with a subtle undertone of sadness- they successfully escaped into Switzerland, where they will be safe, but they had to leave their country, which they loved.

Sound of Music actually has a more uplifting ending than many of the other popular musicals first produced 1957-1967 (and made into movies in the 1960's-1970's) : West Side Story, Man of LaMancha, Camelot, Fiddler on the Roof, Funny Girl, Cabaret, Sweet Charity, Hair. Even Jesus Christ: Superstar (1969) has a much darker, more cynical tone although the final song is upbeat. There were some light comedic musicals during that time- Hello Dolly, Mame, Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, but dramatic musicals tended to have rather somber endings, Sound of Music is probably the happiest of the dramatic musicals until 1969's historical musical 1776 (and even it doesn't flinch from the issue of slavery...).

[Phantom_999]

Okay. Fair enough. anything else we can discuss?

[ciardha]

My history of shipping.

That term isn't that old as far as my history as a geek goes. It wasn't in common use amongst geeks until around 2001, and the name combos too. What did we do and call it before then, you might ask...

We said we were fans of ___________and_______________ (characters full names, we did sometimes shorten it to ___________x________ or ___________/____________ but no name combos.

(The whole "Team __________" for triangle relationships is even more recent, I don't recall seeing online it prior to the first Twilight movie. )

Heh, we old school geeks had kind of a sneering reaction to the term shipping and name combos at first, it just sounded too twee to our old geek ears, but you notice we adopted the habits and the term after a while Honestly, it's less cumbersome that the classic geek way... and narrows the search better when you are looking for fanart, fanfiction, or forums.

Now all that is a prelude to my history of shipping. It's hard to say why I ship, since I've shipped in some form since my earliest memories of geekery. It maybe originates from being a very young child in the late 1960's- the whole hippie ideal, etc... one of my earliest memories is of seeing the animated Beatles movie "Yellow Submarine" which effectively gave the hippie message in a pure, innocent form that even a very aware two year old (me) could grasp and "love". (Reinforced by yearly replays on TV that I never missed from around 1969- when I was 3, to around 1976, when I was 10) It was my favorite animated movie for years, only Disney's Lady and the Tramp came anywhere near it in my young heart.

Becoming a fan of John and Yoko when I was 12 in late 1978, I'm certain, laid the groundwork for the type fictional couple I prefer to ship. Their relationship had such an incredible impact on how a romantic relationship was lived throughout the industrialized world- including Japan. It was the real world origin of what became the boy woos tsundere girl plotline. Not the old standards Alpha guy "tames the shrew", or wimpy guy is "hen pecked" by his "shrewish" wife, or adoring nonpopular (Shy or ditzy) girl wins the love of the most popular handsome guy, etc... but guy falls hard for strong, independent, smart, humanitarian gal. She rejects him at first- the come ons are too obvious and shade into crude, but she finds herself not being able to get this guy out of her mind and doesn't understand why she is so intensely drawn to him, and feels the most alive she ever has when she's around him. He finally discovers the words that make her say yes to him and a permanent relationship with him. And that, was just the start of the story in the real world version. They then did what was to revolutionize how romantic relationships between men and women were envisioned. John and Yoko became equal partners in every sense of the word. John made the term "househusband" a normal word, not a term of derision, when he decided to become a full time father to their child, while Yoko took care of managing the business side (and very well I might add). Both stepped away from the music world for Sean's early years. Only when they were preparing for Sean to enter kindergarten did they decided to step back into the music world.

But how John and Yoko fell in love made me especially drawn to stories where the fictional couple's love story is influenced from that real world prototype. You see the earliest hints of this not in western popular fiction, but in Japanese anime and manga in 1972. (Go Nagai's Mazinger Z and Riyoko Ikeda's Rose of Versailles) The first western popular fiction that I can recall evoking this was Star Wars with the development of Han Solo and Princess Leia's romance through that trilogy.)

[Phantom_999]

As in Yoko Ono and John from the Beatles?

[ciardha]

As in Yoko Ono and John from the Beatles?

Yes.