as lovely as new fallen snow

Today’s yokai profile is in honor of the Winter Solstice, and was written by JP Kit, a fellow yokai enthusiast and culture lecturer. Look for her panels at Anime Central, and on twitter @jpkit

the obligatory stereotyping discussion

There is a certain meme that made the rounds not too long ago that featured a rather telling image: around a dozen people clad in colorful costumes, were standing in a row and posing for the camera in a very public location- possibly at a convention but it could have been anywhere. And the caption added to the image by an editor read “Don’t worry Ma’am, we’re from the internet.”

scraps: "we con" panel notes - nekocon 2011

Below are the notes compiled for the panel discussion "We Con, Therefore We Are," given at 6 PM on Saturday, Nov 5th 2011, at Nekocon. This panel was a collaborative effort between myself and Joe Chen of Animechanics. As this is a scraps note, it only contains the outline of the discussion at hand, and not the full dialogue. That will come later.

Enjoy!

glasgow smiles

It’s late at night, and you find yourself alone on a dark street. Walking past unlit buildings, you scan the shadows for a sign of anything out of the ordinary. As the silence builds around you, you come across the sight of a person walking in your direction. Like you, she appears nervous. She’s clutching something tight to her chest. Her footsteps are rapid, and click loudly on the sidewalk. As you get closer, you see she’s wearing a face mask, undoubtedly afraid of allergies or sickness. She sees you and stops dead in her tracks. You do the same. Seconds tick by. She must be afraid of you. You smile, perhaps nodding to her. She tilts her head meekly to the side and whispers something.

“Watashi kirei?”

kowai

Few things captivate the mind quite like monsters. From the time we are little children until we are adults (and even beyond), monsters are a huge part of our lives. Everyone remembers the nameless beasts that live in our closets, or under our beds, waiting for us to fall asleep before they can pounce. The very notion of fear of the dark speaks to our heritage as part of the animal kingdom- predators who hunt by night, the fear found with confronting the unknown, the whispers we think we hear when shadows fall. Being scared, and the creatures that do the scaring, are a big part of our shared culture, and often reflect the world we live in.