My dad just learned today that Obama is black.
Okay, yesterday, since it’s past midnight, but the point still stands: a few hours ago, when we were having dinner and Obama’s Kenyan father came up, and my (lifelong Democrat) dad goes, “Really! I thought he was Arab!”
…He’s not usually an idiot. I swear.
(Under the fold: a bit on ethnicity and naming, with mild spoilers for tonight’s TDS.)
It’s International Blog Against Racism Week. Follow the links, do some reading.
There’s not much I can say that will add to them, so I’m going to borrow an idea from a friend, and participate with art.
Give me the name of a character of color (that’s everyone who isn’t white, for those of you playing catch-up), and I’ll draw them. Any series is fair game, from the ones I always talk about to your favorite obscure thing that nobody else has ever heard of. If you have a preference for hairstyle/costume/setting/anything else, just point me to a pictorial refererence, and I’ll be all set.
I’ll fill ten requests, with possibly more if I have time. First come, first serve.
Ask away.
ETA: the list!
1) Cleopatra (as played by Leonor Varela), for SlytherinPuddle@DA:
++Queen of the Nile
2) Katara (Avatar: The Last Airbender), for puff222001@DA:
++Make A Splash
3) Karako Koshio (Deadman Wonderland), for Darkkako@DA:
++Game Fowl
4) Barret Wallace (FFVII), for Asphodels@DA:
++Big Guy, Little Cat
5) Wyatt Cenac ‘n’ Aasif Mandvi (The Daily Show), for fenellaevangella@DW:
++Let’s check in… [Wyatt'n'Larry]
++Mine’s Bigger [Aasif'n'Wyatt]
6) Daja Kisubo (Circle of Magic series), for seagullsong@LJ:
++Copper Rose
7) The Ancient (Ronin Warriors), for Misali-aka-Besu@DA:
++Shadow Of The Moon
8 ) Mister Trick (Buffy), for for Mizzdestiny@DA:
++Never Miss A Trick
9) Seiya Kou (Sailor Moon), for Xuanwu:
++To Reach Our Princess
10) Jeffrey Roland (Overcompensating), for itypeslow@DA:
++Sensible Consumer Advice Man
Possible extras:
11) Sailor Pluto (Sailor Moon manga), for puff222001@DA
12) Zoe Washburn (Firefly), for Mizzdestiny@DA
13) Eleanor Holmes Norton (US House of Representatives), for my own entertainment
14) Holly Short (Artemis Fowl), for Hetalia8P@DW
This is not your mother’s periodic table. (…It’s funny if your mother is a chemistry teacher.) Look closely for elements like “podium”, “goofinium”, and “jazz.”
Ever read On Beyond Zebra? Dr. Seuss’ letters have their own Unicode extensions. My inner typeface geek (okay, it isn’t that far in) is flailing.
Speaking of geekery: a handy guide for getting into P. G. Wodehouse. Jeeves and all.
Opening titles to a vintage Krazy Kat cartoon. In fact, it turns out there’s a good mattering of Krazy on YouTube, including several animations by Herriman himself. Hand-drawn. In 1916.
Media personalities as Harry Potter characters. Jon and Stephen are Fred and George, and more. (I lol’d at Malcom Gladwell as Professor Trelawney.)
Speaking of the news, Sarah Palin’s farewell speech explained: it’s slam poetry! Masterfully performed here by William Shatner.
Via StrangeMaps: All 50 states, arranged into a heart. ♥
The sunset on Mars.
(Via this collection of space photography.)
Axis Powers Hetalia/Dilbert
Elbonia-kun (art | Elbonia, a pig | worksafe)
Fake News
Puppy Love, part 1 (fic | Jon/liberal!”Stephen”, a puppy | PG-13)
Fake News/Strangers With Candy
Why Should I Care? sketchdump (sketches | George/Seamus, Jon/”Stephen”, Chuck/Geoffrey, Jerri | worksafe)
Hellsing
Seifuku Helena (art | Helena | worksafe)
Angel eyes (sketch | Lisa | worksafe)
Otakon ‘09 – Cat Toy (art | Seras, Schroedinger | worksafe)
Otakon ‘09 – Hug (art | Schroedinger, fan | worksafe)
Hellsing/Vampire Hunter D
Just An Old Grandma Now (art | old!Integra, ickle!D | worksafe)
Pretty Anchor Sailor Jon
The Inners (art | Sailor Rob, Sailor Ed, Sailor Sam, Jason, Sailor Steve | worksafe)
Inner Attacks (art | Sailor Rob, Sailor Ed, Sailor Sam, Sailor Steve | worksafe)
R.O.D
Action Girl Anita (art | Anita | worksafe)
United States of Tara
Every Now And Then I Fall Apart (mix | Tara/Max, the alters, the family, Dr. Ocean | PG-13, spoilers)
Miscellaneous
FSM-chan (art | the Flying Spaghetti Monster | worksafe)
Next Week in Shine:
Otakon gets recapped, and Alucard and Integra have an intimate (wink, wink) moment before sending Alucard off into battle.
Shiny new trailer, featuring Seras and her far-more-gigantic-than-necessary new gun.
Two days until OVA 6 goes on sale!
It’s already Tuesday, and I’m still riding the rush of energy from Otakon (that’s Friday through Sunday, for those of you not keeping up). From being surrounded by fandom. Being saturated with it. Getting an injection of otaku geekery directly into the bloodstream.
I love the panels that go into minute details of cosplaying (did you know that there’s an optimum number of fake eyelashes for women who crossplay?), and I love the panels that degenerate into drunken flailing. I love the giant box of pocky walking around, along with a Pac-Man, several Waldos, one Billy Mays.
I adore the four-year-olds being led by their parents: teeny Naruto, itty-bitty Princess Serenity, a mini Soul Reaper. They’re like chibis in RL form.
I love the girl in Pikachu ears and a yellow bikini. I love the spontaneous Naruto conga line. I love the squadron of guys walking around in Saiyan warrior armor made of paper colored with crayon.
I love loling over terrible dubs, and getting engrossed in excellent dubs, and loling when the video feed malfunctions right as an Angel fires into Tokyo-3. I love groups of people breaking into the Hare Hare Yukai dance, some in seifuku, some in bunny outfits.
I love the geeky shirts. (Horton Hears Cthulu! I will not brew decaf; decaf is the mind-killer. TARDIS Shipping: for when it absolutely, positively has to be there before you sent it.)
I am not so keen on the autograph session lines filling up within five minutes of the con doors opening, or the utter lack of good last-minute deals in the dealers’ room this year. But they are a small price to pay.
I love helping host a panel on using comics to teach kids, and having thirty people show up and start asking piercing questions: How can I use this in my classroom? How can I adapt this to adult education? What does it take to get started?
I love having random people come up and pet the giant stuffed dog I carry around.
And I can’t say I mind having people say “You do And Shine Heaven Now? Can I hug you?”
I sit by the fountains and pull out my sketchbook, and turn out half a dozen drawings, followed by two weeks’ worth of comics in a matter of hours, while cosplayers mill about below me and La Soldier blasts in my headphones.
I look up, and I see a gorgeously costumed Super Sailor Moon greet a Gundam so large that the costume probably doesn’t fit on the escalators, and I think:
I’m home.
Fairy Tales
The Princesses / Washing / Chess Lesson (art | Snow White, Briar Rose | worksafe, some blood)
Fake News
Red Sweater Boy (art | George, Stephen | worksafe)
Your Last First Kiss (mix | teenage AU Jon/”Stephen” | worksafe)
Hellsing/R.O.D/Witch Hunter Robin
Crispin Freemanpuffs (art | puff!Alucard, puff!Puppycard, puff!Joker, puff!Amon | worksafe)
Where’s Waldo
Waldo gets some style (art | Waldo | worksafe)
General
Long White Cloud (New Zealand mix)
Next Week in Shine:
If you’ve read the Hellsing manga, you know where this is going: a floating fortress, a dramatic entrance, and a master plan.
Website Updates
New bonus wallpaper on the voting page.
Shine now has a Wild Mass Guessing page on TVTropes. Share your crazy theories.
Also: Otakon stuff!
Manga, Literacy, and Children
(Xuanwu and Erin, co-hosts)
Friday, 10:15-11:15 AM, Panel 2
Hellsing cosplay photoshoot #1
Friday, 1 PM, Charles Street Lobby fountains
And Shine Heaven Now Fan Meetup
Friday, 3:00 PM, Pratt Street Lobby (location)
Make a Manga!
(Xuanwu and Erin, co-hosts)
Friday, 4:00-6:00 PM, Workshop 2
Hellsing cosplay photoshoot #2
Friday, 7:30, outdoor fountains (by the skywalk, on the way to the mall food court)
Crispin Freeman: Autograph session #1
Saturday, 9:30-10:30 AM, Autograph 2
Crispin Freeman: Q&A #1
Saturday, 11:00 AM-12:30 PM, Panel 4
Make a Manga! (reprise)
(Xuanwu and Erin, co-hosts)
Saturday, 12:00-2:00 PM, Workshop 2
Hellsing cosplay photoshoot #3
Saturday, 1:00 PM, Charles Street Lobby fountains
Crispin Freeman: Autograph session #1
Saturday, 1:15-2:45 PM, Autograph 2
Crispin Freeman: Q&A #1
Saturday, 3:00-4:00 PM, Panel 4
Ultimate Hellsing Ultimate Panel of Ultimateness
Saturday, 11:30 PM-1:00 AM, Ballroom 2
The news out of Iran has slowed, but the chanting on the rooftops goes on, as strong as ever.
Also, some of these women are freakin’ amazing. (Read the whole story. It’s worth it.)
The brown-haired guy who’s not Steve Doocey thinks Americans should stop marrying other species. I’m so glad TCR is back on-air tonight.
Simple fifteen-minute writing exercise does wonders for black students’ achievement. With effects that last years. This sounds way too good to be true, but there’s the study…
Double standards in sexy photography – a pose that we find hot when it’s a woman is considered silly when a man tries it. Which sucks, because I would love to see more scantily clad men in feminine poses.
Thursday Next/Lord of the Rings crossover. This fic contains everything that is wonderful about the Thursday Next books. READ IT.
Google Earth has street-level visuals of the buildings used as models for Yomiko’s home. The R.O.D animators are seriously dedicated.
Rachel Maddow is the Doctor. This makes a surprising amount of sense.
And Crispin Freeman (Alucard’s voice actor) likes the Hellsingpuffs. *basks*
