May. 2nd, 2008
(no subject)
May. 2nd, 2008 06:56 pmI can't believe I made it through April without buying any books or music. (I cheated and grabbed some DVDs on Tuesday. :-) Slowly I bring the bibliomania under control. Except for the part where today I bought my first yaoi manga, selected pretty much at random. (Actually, Greg already gave me a couple, but this is the first time I've spent money on one.) Anyway, it's set in a school, so it can't be too hardcore, ri - YIKES
Owen and That Spray
May. 2nd, 2008 07:28 pmPosting this for my own reference more than anything else:
In fact, some of the fans who saw the UK airing of "Torchwood" were concerned about the scene early in the series where Owen uses a pheromone spray to attract a reluctant woman. They felt that the woman couldn't consent and so it was a form of sexual assault.http://classic-horror.com/newsreel/torchwood_aliens_monsters_and_sex_coming_to_bbc_america
Chibnall states emphatically that they never meant to give that impression. "Obviously, people can read things the way they want, and that's the great thing about drama. That's not the intention of that scene. It's not directed in that way. It's not written that way. Also, why would we have that character as a hero? No. Maybe we didn't make it clear enough, I don't know, but it's absolutely not the intention."
"The spray only accentuates feelings that are already there," suggests Clarke.
"Yeah," agrees Chibnall. "And actually, if you look at the way the scene is directed - she's looking at him, she's eyeing him up. You know, it's meant to be comic. Really. It's a comic scene. And sometimes I think when you interpret comic scenes in a very serious way, it forces a misreading. It's a tricky one." Chibnall adds, "When you write something, you never know how it's going to be interpreted, you know, and you can't really correct that. You have to let the discussion go."
Go to housesforthehomeless.com.au, prove you're a human, and they'll donate a dollar on your behalf. (Would my overseas readers test this pls?) It works from outside Australia, too! (Thanks guys!) ETA: Blimey, they raised the whole $100,000 in just three days! You can still make a donation, though, at the Mission Australia Web site.
That thing about germs being good for children's immune systems is apparently true: Day care helps ward off cancer, study finds
Spit-take: Jeremy Clarkson has accepted the fact of global warming. Plus he has a plan!
Matching rights for gay couples in Australia: money, not marriage, but it's a huge step in the right direction.
Hicks case flawed all along: prosecutor
Rob Paravonian's Pachelbel rant gets more and more hilarious as it goes on.
That thing about germs being good for children's immune systems is apparently true: Day care helps ward off cancer, study finds
Spit-take: Jeremy Clarkson has accepted the fact of global warming. Plus he has a plan!
Matching rights for gay couples in Australia: money, not marriage, but it's a huge step in the right direction.
Hicks case flawed all along: prosecutor
Rob Paravonian's Pachelbel rant gets more and more hilarious as it goes on.
But before there was yaoi, there was Osamu Tezuka, inventor of useful things like Astroboy and Kimba. I've been reading his eight-volume life of the Buddha, which is positively Old Testament in its blood, guts, and nipples (one character loses hers mysteriously on becoming a nun). I had no idea I could enjoy a manga this much. It's a mixture of drama and serious ponderings on life and death, and huge comedy, with much mugging, anachronisms, breaking of the fourth wall, and authorial cameos, as here:

On the next page, for no reason I can discern (and standing behind Shariputra, lol) is the splendid random frog I have used as the icon for this posting.

On the next page, for no reason I can discern (and standing behind Shariputra, lol) is the splendid random frog I have used as the icon for this posting.
And while I'm on the subject
May. 2nd, 2008 09:46 pmI tracked down two more comix from my adolescence: Kamandi 57 and Ghost Rider 74.

( The Last Boy On Earth! and a man without a soul... )


( The Last Boy On Earth! and a man without a soul... )