We’ve Moved! (And: Oh the Shame! I Changed My Name!)

The new blog is at this location and will contain all new posts.

It also signals my change of name from newgeekphilosopher to Asperger’s Anime Blogger. I will express the reasons why I am doing this.

The change of hosting gave me an opportunity to change my username, which many bloggers found pretentious. It was a persona that didn’t do me or anybody else any favours. And now I want to set things right. So I’m the Asperger’s Anime Blogger now. You can still see all my old posts on the new site, so don’t be afraid to brush up on your favorite posts of mine.

Read Full Post »

What I picked up today at Kinokuniya

Whenever a girl rejects me for a lunchtime date, Kinokuniya is usually the place I go to sulk in Romance/Comedy manga. Today was no exception.

But I had other motives for going there, because I wanted to see if the R.O.D. Vol 2 copy I ordered had come in yet. Turns out it was there, so I bought it. Ah, the perils of geek love, when your heart is broken and the only thing complete in your life is the set of volumes you own of your favorite manga series…

I also picked up Volumes 1 and 2 of Sorcerers and Secretaries, a complete set in itself because the series is only two volumes, economically sound and short enough to enjoy during a HSC year. It’s sulk-a-riffic if you’ve just had your heart broken and it deals with a romance between a fantasy writing woman who retreats into her fantasy world when life is too much, ignoring the people who love her for the sake of pursuing a dream guy who isn’t real and just one of her imaginings… oh dear… This is scarily starting to sound like what I would be like if I was born a woman or had a sex change… I write fantasy books and retreat into them when the world is cruel as well, the main heroine even wears similar glasses to me…

Excuse me while I hit the Twilight Zone panic button. There we go. Nice big flashing lights and loud noises. This doesn’t mean I’m not enjoying the series, and it’s really enthralling, it’s just a scarily accurate mirror of what my love life is like, only I don’t even have any girls interested in me like this heroine has boys interested in her. Quite simply I’m going to do some reading.

Read Full Post »

The Pencil Vs. The Eraser: Tips for Mangaka and Illustrators

There’s a difference between “aspiring mangaka/illustrator” and “practicing mangaka/illustrator”. That difference is that aspiring mangaka and illustrators tend to give drawing a try but keep abandoning their projects because it’s never quite good enough. Practicing mangaka and illustrators in my mind are people who draw and improve on their drawings gradually over time, whether they are employed as a professional artist or not. Either way whether you’re aspiring or practicing, neither distinction should matter. The only thing that should matter is the Art, and you making it.

Read Full Post »

Akihabara Massacre (and reflections on Geek Life)

This is terrible.

There are times when even the Anime Geeks of this world are affected by a tragedy in what is known as their most sacred of districts. And this really floored me.

They say that Asperger’s people have difficulty empathising with other people around them. As an Asperger’s person I don’t think this is true. It is simply that our reactions don’t match our emotions as quickly. I can’t bring out any tears right now, but I want to.

Why? Because only an hour ago I finished helping my best friend through getting the courage to ask out the girl he loves. This friend of mine is so cherished by me that I can’t imagine what my life would be like without him. We need other people to let us share our humanity. And when the inhuman tragedy of violence occurs, how can we possibly react to the deaths of seven people we never met or knew?

I think of it this way. Imagine, if you will, if your friend was cut down there. How would you feel if a loved one was taken away? For all the escapism of the Anime and Manga subculture there are terrible realities and horrors that occur in places so far away, but so close to home. How many Geeks dream of visiting Akihabara? Then, imagine how many people among them could have easily been one of the dead had they been there at that moment?

But what surprises me of all things is that I never could speak a word about how school massacres such as Columbine and Virginia Tech affected me, but it’s a slaying in Akihabara that makes me rage and say “no more”? Maybe Anime and Manga bring attention to the human condition in more ways than we think…

Read Full Post »

Consumerism in Anime fandom: The Aesthetics and Ethics

Now I am as guilty of materialism as the next Anime Geek, but what role does consumerism play in my hobby?

I’ve caused a ruckus with my critique of the Otaku Room Post phenomenon, but what remains interesting to me after offending so many people and feeling so awful about it, is the matter of consumer pride in how we display the spoils of our wealth, such as Anime posters, wall scrolls, and DVD box sets/Manga volumes all neatly arranged. Is it right to flaunt our riches spent on Anime stuff with all our effort, or should we be more subtle in how we arrange our belongings?

Read Full Post »

Whenever I put on my “Professor” hat I get into trouble

Clearly there’s a pattern in my postings. Whenever I try to don the “Professor” hat when it comes to blogging, I usually come off as pretentious or smug. You know what kind of Professor I mean, tweed jacket and pipe sitting in a library. But what consequences occur when the Professor hat is Oxford donned? (groan, bad pun, BAD!)

Read Full Post »

The Meaning of Geek Philosophy

Nothing says “philosophy” quite like a picture of Carl Jung. Just look at him, it’s like he’s got philosophy written in his wrinkles!

Read Full Post »

Anime Schedule Update: June 7th 2008

I haven’t watched an episode of Speed Racer for two weeks but I intend to pick it up again. Especially since I’m using it as an example of how Animation is popular culture for my Society and Culture assignment. Hey, if you have a better example that fulfills the curriculum criteria of a commercialised, easily accessible to mass audiences animation that isn’t The Simpsons (which every other student and their dog is using as their example) I’d like to hear it. And don’t say Lucky Star because that has jokes that aren’t as accessible to the average person in it, we’re talking MASS audiences.

I also watched the first two episodes of Genshiken. Man have I been missing out, I had no idea this great Anime show existed until I saw it referenced in an IGN.com article. Clearly I’ve been living under the Anime rock, because since then I’ve found major fanbase of this show online. I’ll definitely watch the whole thing if I get the chance, but I am quite busy at the moment.

Manga is a pet love of mine, because it is an artform that needs to be appreciated within a specific mindset. That mindset isn’t so much the “OMG Schoolgirls” mindset, but “Gee, the cinematic structure of the panels tell a story which is well illustrated in a school of art which can be as subversive as it can be derivative in some cases”. I like Manga a lot, because it gives me something I can enjoy in between studying and writing/drawing. The important difference between me and the average Manga artist fan is that the only time I draw in the Manga/Anime style is when I’m trying to comment in my work on the artform in a visual and merged textual form (the illustrated novel). As an illustrator the worlds I construct should have characters who look different from the Anime characters they identify with on screen, visually they shouldn’t be too much like the Anime characters. I’ve needed to keep this in mind for an illustrated book I’m writing about Australia and Japan’s relationship.

I’ll probably do a lot more Manga reviews here in future as I acquire more Manga to read, as well as reviews of the Manga I already have on my shelf. (I only bought Vol. 1-4 of Love Hina so I could learn to draw Anime girls, I swear! I usually buy the tasteful stuff, mmkay?)

Read Full Post »

Asperger’s Anime Blogger: Looking at Lucky Star the Aspie Way

Lucky Star: Exploring the minute details of life from dining habits to studying.

Read Full Post »

Technical Difficulties

Having problems with my internet connection. Will post soon.

Read Full Post »