through the looking glass

So here is a list of manga I’m currently following. I recommend these being as they are not shite, unless noted.

Vagabond
バガボンド

A must read. From the creator of Slam Dunk. This IS manga.

20th Century Boys
20世紀少年

Not yet available in the US. It was hard to place this as #2 on my list of recommendations. A character driven thriller that hooks your heart and soul with every page. I get emotional reading this series…it’s just crazed.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure
ジョジョの奇妙な冒険

Best action manga since Fist of the North Star. Araki’s art style is amazing and his characters just too cool for school. Domestic release starts at a later section in the story which is a minor disappointment.

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Mass media and torchbearers are so quick to jump against anything Rockstar does. I agree Grand Theft Auto shouldn’t be played by children. If only parents would stop buying it for their kids. So quickly people bashed the upcoming game Bully without a clue as to what the game was like. An interview with GTA creators sheds some light on Bully:

…Jeronimo Barrera, the lead producer of Bully and a Rockstar veteran. Barrerra used his own personal history as inspiration. He’s 34, an ’80s kid, a guy who worshipped at the altar of the Hughes classic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. When he was in the seventh grade at A.P. Giannini Middle School in the Sunset District of San Francisco, he used to fight off “the punk kid” who would steal his friend Robert’s Dungeons & Dragons book. Robert was in a wheelchair.

Robert also works at the same company I do. His desk is right next to mine. Robert has also done voice work in Rockstar’s The Warriors. Robert still plays D&D. Robert is a damn nice guy. We asked him about this story and he confirmed it.

You damn devils at Rockstar. Curse your ways of defending others from bullies and your enduring friendships that span decades…

Jeronimo is a rad name.

Link

A former guild leader post his story about leaving his guild that he managed and quitting the game completely. A bittersweet tale of the life of an escapist and addict. I use(d) gaming as an escape inconsistently and know how harsh it can be to become addicted.

The thing that kicked me in the ass more than anything else was I really cared if my guildies were getting what they wanted out of the experience. I truly thought my efforts would make them happy. I wanted to make a difference to them. The greedy and socially phobic high school kid I thought I could help through the game, all of the couples (both married and not) who were falling apart because of the game I thought I could rescue, the girl who was deeply wounded by a guy who left her for the game
but was herself addicted I thought I could save, not to mention a host of others, I thought my efforts were helping.

Link

Vampire hunters rejoice. A film regarding the epic battle against the dark lord Tepes is under way. Blessed by Warren Ellis himself.

Apparently I can now tell people that I窶冦 writing a CASTLEVANIA animated film for Project 51 Productions. So, um. Yeah. Project 51 will be setting up a production blog for CASTLEVANIA in the near future.

Kingpin and alien hive mind Patrick Macias has created a volume of text for the Japanese reader. Japanese readers who want to know what American otaku are and what the hell they are thinking. There’s a bit about Visual Kei in there as well, and some talk about yours truly discussing the same. If you can read the Nihongos, then by all means buy this book. [Click here to see what it's all about]

I’ve been using iTunes since vers. 4. I first began using it because I like the browser layout. Then I began enjoying grouping, smart list, decent m4a encoding, and works all right with my iPod. One thing that always made me hate my PMP is the lack of gapless play back. So I rejoiced when iTunes 7 fixed that flaw. Too bad iTunes 7 is a resource hog. Too bad I can’t run apps while it’s running without playback errors and heavy cpu loads. Too bad it crashes on close. Too bad it goes into pause mode when it reaches end of track at the end of a playlist. Way to release a shoddy revision Apple. You fucked up. That’s okay. iTunes 6 is back on my desktop. I’ll stick with that till you guys get your public beta done.

So I’ve been reading a stack of manga titles, I should get around to posting a list here some time with recommendations. I’m also reviewing a few game based titles for a friend who happens to be writing a book on the subject.