http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Sat, 30 Sep 2006 03:10:46 EDT http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/ Phillip WinnSunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding. Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/09/30/031046.php Christina LittleImagine yourself homeless and earning each meal by playing your guitar. Then one day a random girl, dressed in full punk attire, walks up to you and takes you home with her. You have no clue what's going on and you proceed to play a song for her best friend. This is what happens to Izsak in Christy Lijewski’s RE:Play.Lijewski, creator of the TOKYOPOP manga NEXT EXIT!, brings us her twist on the lives of a locally known punk-rock band, Faust. Cree, the lead singer, is the person who found Izsak. Rail, Cree's best friend and the band's lead guitarist, is like Cree and the band's figurative older brother. Char is one heck of a drummer and is also the fashion mastermind behind everything the band members wear.So where does Izsak fit in? Ed, the old bassist, left the band to form his own. Izsak is said to be better than Ed ever was. The question is: Can he live up to the expectation?Boys and girls both love their music, but girls love their shojo. While there is provided a nice fantasy element later in RE:Play, the manga is more pointed toward the girls who love their pretty boys.The language content is mostly the reason for the OT rating. The use of lingo that this generation of teens uses is blended nicely into the mix. The use of American-based beliefs and infatuations with the supernatural are expressed in a more mature way. Although there are now punk-rock lyrics to go with the flow of this manga, the reader does get a feel of the band's performance.The punk-rock feel of the characters in RE:Play are well-integrated through Christy's art. Everything from the rips in clothes, half skirts, to even the piercings lets the reader know just where they stand. They look like they don't take crap from anyone, even though Cree reminds me of a little kid sometimes.I couldn’t stop reading RE:Play until I was done. I couldn't give RE:Play a full score, because I was disappointed to not have more insight on the band's lyrical choice. I really did enjoy the manga and it makes me want to buy the next volume. There is no release date as of yet for volume two, but if you are interested in RE:Play then check out tokyopop.com for more details. TOKYOPOP rated this manga OT (Older Teen Age 16+). The genres of this manga are fantasy, romance, and drama. Books53661@blogcritics.org Sat, 30 Sep 2006 03:10:46 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/09/19/164954.php Christina LittleA small collection of deeply inspiring stories, Beautiful People Volume 1 is a manga for those who think differently from the rest of the world. Mitsukazu Mihara (author of the TOKYOPOP manga Doll) is known for her gothic tales that really get her readers thinking. Her characters' clothes are modeled after the ever-popular Japanese cult favorite Gothic Lolita. Don't let their looks scare you away, though. Mihara-ka has a way of pulling readers into her tales. From family issues, to the realizations of what true beauty means, Mihara-ka touches everyone in some way that they can relate.One of the stories felt like it was a retold, modernized version of Frankenstein. Although it had a great lesson and ending, I didn't care too much for the fact it wasn't original. There was another story that feels like it's familiar, but I cannot put my finger on it. A third story details the old concept of the end of the world, but it gave a new spin on survivors. The last story in the manga was a vampire tale. It's similar to a few other tales, but it has its own unique features.Her artwork is perfect for the stories they are in. It may not be the most realistic, what with the weird hands in some panels, but her artwork is definitely appropriate. The interesting hair styles some of her characters don't defy gravity - they look like something that real gothic people walking down the street might have. The clothes designs are nicely done. The way something might ruffle here, or fit just right there, really made sense. That's if you know how clothing is supposed to fit.The last story takes place in what seems to be Japan. People reacted differently back in the day, and she made sure to interpret that into her manga. The dialect of the male main character is more mature, which seeing how as he's a vampire, seems appropriate. The mysterious girl, in the story Beautiful People, is awkward. This doesn't surprise me, because the poor girl hasn't really had interactions with many humans.It just shows that even people with not much human contact can still make an impact on people. The other stories use really well-chosen word choices. If it’s a young girl whining about everything or old southern folk greeting you on your return home, it’s expressed well with the wording that Mihara-ka has chosen.Beautiful People didn’t get a full score, because some of the stories felt like I’ve already read them. Everything else was exceptional.All in all, I'd say I rather enjoyed Beautiful People. I had trouble putting it down. Even though I'm not into the whole Gothic Lolita craze, I rather enjoyed the look and feel of the manga.TOKYOPOP rated this manga T (Teen Age 13+). Books53108@blogcritics.org Tue, 19 Sep 2006 16:49:54 EDT