skjam

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Greetings, fellow girls.

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There's even an old paperback with a cover showing a jetliner flying towards the Twin Towers. (Inside, the actual threat was a Chinese nuclear bomb aboard the plane, they weren't planning to hit any one building.)

So this is not by a long shot the only piece of media to show the Twin Towers destroyed before 9/11; it's not even the only Marvel comic.

And you see a bunch of people acting like OMG HOW DID THEY PREDICT THIS or worse think it was some sort of message from "them" that "they" were going to destroy the Twin Towers

Here is the thing to keep in mind, before 9/11:

1975 - a disgruntled worker tried to set a fire in the towers

1981 - an Aerolíneas Argentinas airliner almost collided with the North Tower

1993 - Islamic fundamentalists set off a bomb in the World Trades Center, killing 6 and injuring over 1000

Plus, in 1945, a plane did fly into the Empire State Building due to inclement weather

And even besides that, many times have you seen the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, the White House, or the Golden Gate Bridge destroyed by something?

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Book Review: Apprentice Storm Mage

Book Review: Apprentice Storm Mage by Douglas Van Dyke Jr. Disclaimer: I received this book in an author giveaway for the purposes of this review. No other compensation was requested or received. Thomena is thirteen, an apprentice mage at the Brotherhood of the Circles Mages Guild. She’s very gifted, and is doing well with water and wind spells. Her primary teacher, Master Jonah, thinks she has…

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#apprentices #arson #book #children&039;s #drivers #dwarves #elementals #fantasy #fire #firefighters #honesty #magic #magic school #magic users #missing mom #part time job #religion #tweens

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Captialism!

Captain Marvel Adventures (1941) #45

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Something that's been on my mind recently has been the ways in which hair is such a major part of Ranma 1/2. It's a major plot catalyst in at least 4 arcs (Ryoga's introduction, Super Soba, Dragon's Whisker, and Porcupine-Genma). And obviously I feel like this is thie case because hair is a gendered signifier that effects how the characters move through the world (whether or not it remains a punchline).

For Ranma and Genma, the loss of hair is tied to a loss of masculinity. For Akane, the way in which she does her hair defines her performance as a woman. This is why even as the manga progresses, and the arcs become more ridiculous, over-done, and lack the early introspection of "A Bad Cut," these themes never really go away.

In that early chapter Akane grapples with accepting herself for who she is, rather than pushing herself to adhere to a standard of femininity that both promises social acceptance and the "reward" of heterosexual affection from men. Her unwanted haircut (lining up neatly with her unwanted engagement to a woman) forces her to confront the ways in which she does not conform. It's also a visual tool to explain the thematic concerns to the audience. Despite the devastation she feels in the moment, it's truer to herself, and she chooses to start accepting that side of herself and stop trying as hard.

However, obviously because it's Ranma 1/2, the effort never totally goes away, in her nor in the other characters. The threat of her growing facial hair is just too much deviation from the norm for Akane to deal with, just as the threat of Genma and/or Ranma losing all their hair is too much. The audience is asked to accept these concepts as simple truths, and not to question them as plot catalysts in the way we do Akane's haircut "A Bad Cut." Though the later occurrences lack the nuance of chapter 13, they are very revealing about the gendered pressures all the characters experience moving through the world. The emphasis on hair in a comedy about gender really shows the ways in which, even though deviation is not consciously explored past the second book, hair defines these characters as means of expressing and conforming to their gender/gendered stereotypes.

[skjam]

Thanks!

I think I am "shadowbanned." How do I check to see if this is the case?

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Book Review: Mort

Book Review: Mort by Terry Pratchett

Mort is a farm boy who is completely unsuited to farming.  Or, it seems, to any other occupation.  He’s all elbows and knees and random thoughts.  In desperation, Mort’s father takes him to a village festival where boys are apprenticed.  Mort is the last boy left after being rejected even for beggary, when Death happens by, and takes him on for an apprentice.

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Latest review at my blog, as the prologue finally ends!

http://www.skjam.com/2014/12/28/manga-review-vinland-saga-book-four/

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Manga Review: Vinland Saga Book Four

Manga Review: Vinland Saga Book Four

Manga Review: Vinland Saga Book Four by Makoto Yukimura

SPOILER WARNING:  This review contains spoilers for earlier volumes.  If you have not read them, please see my earlier reviews.

This manga’s main protagonist to this point has been Thorfinn, a young Viking serving in the mercenary band of Askeladd.  Years before, Askeladd treacherously slew Thorfinn’s father Thots, and the boy has sworn…

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Latest review at my blog–especially recommended for Game of Thrones fans who want deep background.  http://www.skjam.com/2014/12/24/book-review-the-greatest-knight/

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Book Review: The Greatest Knight

Book Review: The Greatest Knight

Book Review: The Greatest Knight by Thomas Asbridge

Disclaimer:  I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway on the premise that I would review it.  My copy was an uncorrected proof, and there will be changes to the final edition.  Specifically, there will be maps, genealogical charts, and an index.

William Marshal started life as the younger son of a minor noble, so little regarded that when…

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I review this at my blog, SKJAM! Reviews.  http://www.skjam.com

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Comic Book Review: Showcase Presents: Weird War Tales Volume 1

Comic Book Review: Showcase Presents: Weird War Tales Volume 1

Comic Book Review: Showcase Presents: Weird War Tales Volume 1 edited by Joe Kubert & Joe Orlando

As I’ve mentioned in other reviews, the relaxation of the Comics Code in the early 1970s created a horror anthology boom at DC Comics.  At the same time, the once best-selling war comics were going into a slump, at least partially due to the real-life Vietnam War becoming increasingly unpopular.  So…

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Latest book review at my blog!  http://www.skjam.com/2014/12/20/book-review-that-aint-right/

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Book Review: That Ain't Right

Book Review: That Ain’t Right

Book Review: That Ain’t Right edited by Jeremy Zimmerman & Dawn Vogel

Disclaimer:  I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway on the premise that I would review it.

Howard Phillips “H.P.” Lovecraft (1890-1937) was a minor writer of horror fiction in the early 20th Century.  But thanks to a gift for purple prose, a strong philosophical unity in his stories’ viewpoints and (most importantly) a…

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The latest book review at my blog! http://www.skjam.com/2014/12/15/book-review-the-black-lizard-big-book-of-locked-room-mysteries/

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Book Review: The Black Lizard Big Book of Locked-Room Mysteries

Book Review: The Black Lizard Big Book of Locked-Room Mysteries

Book Review: The Black Lizard Big Book of Locked-Room Mysteries edited by Otto Penzler

The title of this volume is slightly misleading; “locked room” stands in for the general idea of impossible crimes in mystery stories.  A man  is found stabbed in the back in a windowless room with the door locked from the inside.   A woman is strangled in the middle of a snowy field, but the only tracks are…

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