The Hackenblog

Whoa!

PRESS RELEASE

February 28, 2008

——-
BECOME A PART OF THE MANGA WORLD WITH POP JAPAN TRAVEL’S MIND OVER MANGA TOUR
——-

Japanese dojinshi, comics published by the artist and sold at special events across Japan, have become a driving creative force, and a sensational way to connect with other fans. In the past, Pop Japan Travel has visited these dojinshi markets, but only as spectators. That’s about to change.

This August, aspiring dojinshi creators, established small press comic artists and manga admirers alike will have an unprecedented opportunity. Pop Japan Travel’s Mind Over Manga Tour offers guests the chance to go behind the scenes of one of Japan’s most respected dojinshi events, Comitia — and if you choose, print and sell your own comic or art book directly to Japanese readers!

If you apply and qualify, Pop Japan Travel will:

*-Translate your book into Japanese so that the locals can understand it
*-Print your book and deliver it directly to the event at Tokyo Big Sight
*-Help you sell your book and discuss it with readers at a booth at the event

Since 1984, Comitia has been one of Tokyo’s most popular dojinshi events. Run four times a year, it focuses on original, creative art rather than fan fiction. That has made it a key launchpad for new manga artists, with thousands of circles participating each year. It takes place at Tokyo Big Sight, which otaku will recognize from Comic Party, Genshiken and many other anime and manga series!

Even if you don’t choose to sell your own book, you’ll get an up-close look at the way Japan’s manga market operates. And the tour will also include the chance to meet and pick the brains of some Japan’s most important manga and dojinshi artists, plus a visit to a cutting-edge anime studio and Hayao Miyazaki’s Ghibli Museum.

Naturally, Mind Over Manga also includes our tried-and-true tour of Tokyo, providing a mind-blowing look at the world’s most populous urban area, plus a few excursions outside the city and an optional three-day tour of Osaka and Kyoto, Japan’s thousand-year capital.

The exact itinerary and price for the tour are still pending, but we wanted to spread the word as quickly as possible so you could start drawing!

Tour dates and activities are subject to change. Check out our Web site, www.popjapantravel.com, or contact travel@popjapantravel.com for details.

——-

DIGITAL MANGA’S POP JAPAN TRAVEL is the original and premiere provider of pop culture themed tours of Japan. Since 2003, PJT has operated more than 15 tours with themes focused on Japanese anime, manga, games and more. Pop Japan tours offer a careful balance of the hyper-modern world of J-pop culture and the rich traditions of ancient Japan, and PJT is the ONLY tour agency to provide exclusive experiences such as visits to anime and game studios, meetings with manga artists, and more. Pop Japan Travel tours are organized in cooperation with IACE Travel, one of Japan’s largest travel agencies.

###

Oh. My. God. This is wonderful! For people who like this kind of thing.

See, this is what I need:

Said the woman who just ordered three more bookcases. Sigh. So many book, so little space.

More cool staircases.

danah boyd, Esther Dyson, and Lawrence Lessig flush their credibility on the LJ Advisory Board.

LJ’s problem isn’t that it needs an advisory board, it needs a coherent business structure and doesn’t want one.

Good luck, danah, Esther and Lawrence, for as long as you last.

Wow, I got rated Excellent, how cool. So, although this does not scratch the surface of the complete list of wonderfully excellent blogs I happily read, I rate these blogs Exxxcelente!

WTF is it Now?

Happening Here

The Crone Speaks

Mad Kane

Dandyism

Skippy

Skimble

Mahablog

Drawn!

Little Hokum Rag

Shatnerian

Logonotron

Mr. Dan Kelly

apophenia

Comics Curmudgeon

I blame the patriarchy

Still busy offline, still light blogging ahead, if anyone noticed. Hm.

It’s been really busy around here offline lately, light blogging ahead. But here are a few things to read elsewhere:

Barbara Ehrenreich

Knight Science Journalism Tracker

The Ruricolist

Sign and Sight

Discover

Recording Industry vs The People

Paul Krugman NYT Blog

Paperiaarre

My Handbound Books Blog

Update 022108: Keep your fingers crossed.

Previously…

The City Attorney is trying to toss them out of the facility they’ve been in for 40 years. City Councilman and friend of poetry in LA, Bill Rosendahl, recommended a 25-year lease extension, but the City Attorney is opposing it for some outrageous reason.

So, if you’d like to support the continuing existence of one of LA’s greatest poetry venues, workshops and, oh my God, BOOKSTORE, please call/write/email Councilman Rosendahl’s office with a message of support and encouragement to keep fighting and win the good fight for Beyond Baroque:

Councilman Bill Rosendahl
213-473-7011 tel
213-473-6926 fax
Councilman.Rosendahl AT lacity DOT org
City Hall Office 200 N Spring Street, Rm 415
LA CA 90012

This week is the make or break and it’s not too late. Please send your message of support for Beyond Baroque and Mr. Rosendahl’s efforts to keep it in it’s home of 40 years.

It’s one of the few places in LA I’ll drive across town for. Especially the bookstore, which is one-stop shopping for the best and all kinds of poetry books and ~swoon~ chapbooks ~sigh~ and the only improvement I would suggest is that it be open on Saturday or Sunday when working stiffs like me can get there more easily. Anyway, please help save one of the great LA institutions and places to spend money from whatever the City Attorney thinks should happen to it. Crosspost at will.

Thanks,

Ginger

PS. I know all this because I went there for an event honoring Suzanne Lummis and it was great!

“Regarding Asian American voters, the biggest story was that in California, they voted for Clinton by a surprisingly large margin of 3-to-1. These particular results have led many to ask to what extent did racial prejudice against Blacks (and therefore, against Obama) play in their decisions to overwhelmingly support Clinton.

“Fortunately, others have argued quite convincingly that rather than racial prejudice, the main reasons why Asian American voters in California voted in large numbers for Clinton more than likely included a preference for more familiar, ‘establishment’ candidates, and those who are currently more associated with being powerful and influential, both of which Clinton personifies more than Obama.”
Asian Americans and Super Tuesday results, by Dude, C.N. Le blog, February 10, 2008

Is it November yet?

“I’ve heard many anecdotal stories about U.S. Customs and Border Protection seizing, copying data from, or otherwise accessing laptops of people entering the country. But this is very mainstream:

The lawsuit was inspired by two dozen cases, 15 of which involved searches of cellphones, laptops, MP3 players and other electronics. Almost all involved travelers of Muslim, Middle Eastern or South Asian background, many of whom, including Mango and the tech engineer, said they are concerned they were singled out because of racial or religious profiling.

Some of this seems pretty severe:

“‘I was assured that my laptop would be given back to me in 10 or 15 days,’ said [Maria] Udy, who continues to fly into and out of the United States. She said the federal agent copied her log-on and password, and asked her to show him a recent document and how she gains access to Microsoft Word. She was asked to pull up her e-mail but could not because of lack of Internet access. With ACTE’s help, she pressed for relief. More than a year later, Udy has received neither her laptop nor an explanation.”

~snip~

“Kamran Habib, a software engineer with Cisco Systems, has had his laptop and cellphone searched three times in the past year. Once, in San Francisco, an officer ‘went through every number and text message on my cellphone and took out my SIM card in the back,’ said Habib, a permanent U.S. resident. ‘So now, every time I travel, I basically clean out my phone. It’s better for me to keep my colleagues and friends safe than to get them on the list as well.’”

~snip~

“I strongly recommend the two-tier encryption strategy I described here. And I even more strongly recommend cleaning out your laptop and BlackBerry regularly; if you don’t have it on your computer, no one else can get his hands on it. This defense not only works against U.S. customs, but against the much more likely threat of you losing the damn thing.

“And the TSA wants you to know that it’s not them.”
US Customs Seizing Laptops, Bruce Schneier, February 12, 2008

Oh, Christ…

Schneier on Security

Gibson Blog

BldgBlog

Bottleneck Blog

Architectures of Control

The End of Cyberspace

Relevant History

Notebookism

And this gives me a little extra incentive to add to my massive already blogroll from my bloglines account:

The Mess That Greenspan Made

The Edge of the American West

Credit Slips

Dark Roasted Blend

C.N. Le :: The Man, The Myth, The Blog

Naked Capitalism

Overcoming Bias

LA Times Local CA News

3quarks Daily

Little Hokum Rag

Sea Monkey Project

“There has to be cheap accomodation somewhere in the city so that there are garrets in which artists can starve – a city in which every spare inch is going to be transformed into expensive apartments for financial consultants is going to squeeze its painters and poets until they go elsewhere. No matter how noisy and irritating they are for people in adjacent properties, there have to be night clubs and cafes, or certain sorts of fertile meeting will never happen.

“There has to be tolerance of mildly antisocial behaviour and eccentricity for people to find their voice – it may be regrettable, but is clearly the case, that graffiti artists are as significant a part of the art world as classically trained painters. Bohemians may not be convenient or good neighbours, or polite tenants, but they are a crucial part of the mix of a healthy and flourishing city. Currid makes this point, but not its corollary – that policies like those of Mayor Guiliani may do irreparable damage at the same time that they scour a city clean.”
The Warhol Economy, RozK!, February 10, 2008

Behind the Caracture, Washington Post, um, February 8? maybe, 2008

The Evolution of Tech Company Logos.

Oh…Newton’s apple. I get it.

You’d think people with advanced degrees would have bigger vocabularies, but when that inner fanboy gets loose, we’re lucky they have any language left at all.

I’m glad you had fun guys. Now go write some NSA grants and make us all proud.

“The bridges in question, most of which were constructed between 1910 and 1930, were part of a campaign to deal with a river that was prone to flooding and had destroyed many of the metal truss bridges built in the 1840s.

“Beautification was also a goal: In 1903, the L.A. Municipal Art Commission wrote that the city had to ‘work for the gradual elimination of ugliness from the conspicuous parts of our city.’

“The result was a recommendation to begin construction of the Art Deco and beaux-arts bridges that today extend from downtown to Boyle Heights, Cypress Park and Lincoln Heights. Sculpted into the Washington Boulevard Bridge are scenes that depict the men who built it. In muted colors, the figures are shown drilling, pushing wheelbarrows and carrying beams.”
Looking out for L.A. River’s bridges, By Daniela Perdomo, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer, LAT, January 28, 2008 (via Bottleneck blog)

We do have nice bridges in LA, if you live in the right part of town.

Pdf of the LA Bridges article, if the link is bad.

In honor of Skippy’s very excellent Blogroll Amnesty Day (b.a.d.), the anniversary of the despicable actions of the Bully Blogs and the size-cleansing of their blogrolls, and the fact that smaller blogs, LIKE MINE, run by people who have lives outside of blogging, can last five years and beyond, here is a very small sampling of my list of sympatico blogs, because we are legion, on my blogroll. Actually you could just randomly click on my blogroll and end up somewhere so cool you’ll get cyber frostbite. Some of these blogs aren’t small, they’re just not Bully Blogs or assholes like Markos:

B12 Partners

Wood S Lot

WTF is it Now?

Happening Here

The Crone Speaks

Prince Frankenstein (formerly known as Super Frankenstein)

Philosopher’s Playground

Democratic Veteran

Democratic Strategist

Online Journal

Thought Crimes

I try to add what I’m reading on Bloglines to my blogroll, but I’m reading a lot on bloglines, so there’s actually more than what’s there. I suppose I should put that on the to do list. Or something.

And lest we forget that unfortunate idea of not having a blogroll that was floating around some newer blogs a while ago. Thank God that snob fad never got much traction.

Oh, and by the way, folks, I’m putting together a print version of blog posts IF I get any submissions. The low-down and The Journal of Bloglandia. So get with the template and send me your blog posts, please and thank you!

Update: And, also…

Update 020808: The Fabulous Jon Swift!

Yeah, I’m shocked, too.