My Brother's Husband Volume One Review

My Brother's Husband Vol.1 Cover

(11/28/2017) --- This piece of manga is quite heartbreaking, and only in America was released in 2017 (Anime News Network), one aspect that is fascinated about this manga is that it was created by the most prolific bondage and sado-masochism mangaka Gengoroh Tagame (Wikipedia).

What it can be a catalyst of the story is the rejection of one character identity and orientation and how it turned to transform a family dynamic. The story centers around Yaichi, a divorced, stay-at-home father who runs a business of leasing apartments that he inherited from his parents while taking care of his daughter Kana.

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Spoilers

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What we learn through the reading is that Yaichi is far away from being the perfect father or even the best brother; as he shunned his late estranged brother Ryoji, but his life turned upside down when Ryoji's widower a tall Canadian "bear" named Mike Flannigan; Yaichi's interaction with Mike are quite strained due Yaichi's internalized homophobia which he tries to channel to his daughter, but his daughter seem to be more open to idea of having an uncle in her life than having none.

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The story itself is quite heartwarming and even on volume one shows some of the dynamics that LGBT+ families face on a daily, the story's setting can be set in Japan but they can be seen almost anywhere in the world. Much of the art within the character designs aims towards Gengoroh preference of drawing beefcakes (Wikipedia) and bears (Wikipedia) which can be seen towards the archetypes of Mike and Yaichi; there is some connotations about homo-eroticism and repression that are aimed to Yaichi.

There are more elements towards the Bara genre but they are quite subtle, almost imperceptible as they are shown as implications but not rather as profuse as how Gengoroh showed them on his seminal work The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame, in which there was bloody violence mixed with some hardcore gay sexy; mostly the style of the design is influenced by Gengoroh's unique approach towards the creation of his cartoon that has an influence taken from Bill Ward.

The family dynamics in certain way are complicated but are extremely lighthearted, as not all the time there is acceptance between the partners and families; especially when there is a deceased family member who never met acceptance from his family (Renna, Cathy), even the outcomes for young LGBT to find some stability become grim without any proper support network, whenever there is incidence for depression, risk of HIV and the use of illegal drugs as well suicide.

There is some symbolism as well some really open scenes in which Yaichi can't hold his curiosity for Mike, as well hesitating about his own sexuality; such as moments where Mike and him go to the gym and found each other attracted to each other but Yaichi doesn't know how to cope with the feelings about that he can be possible a closeted gay man,

Some moments in the story of the first volume, there are hints that Yaichi could be closeted as he had a tumultuous marriage, but also within the epigenetics there could be an incidence and Yaichi was repressing himself up to the point that he expressed homophobia towards his own brother due social factors (Balter, Michael).

Ryoji is probably the central figure on the manga, could it be set as the unseen narrator in which he sets the events that happened after his death but also how homophobia influenced the last 10 years of his life, such as family in Japan and Canada and how died. His story itself is quite tragic as it seemed to be aimed to reconcile with his brother and go back to Japan to meet his young niece but the idea of traveling never happened.

How the tragic story between her uncles probably influenced Kana to look personal relationships in another way, as she seemed to be excited but homophobia also took a toll on her when her friends didn't wanted to meet her uncle due their parents interaction after she mentioned him being a gay man (Chamberlin, Shelby).

Another emotional aspect seen within the content is how Mike copes with the lost of his husband, trying to know the places he and Yaichi used to hang out when they were younger. The context of homophobia could be placed almost anywhere outside Japan, mostly being set in a conservator society in which it can lead any person to leave their country and their family in the sake of finding something better for themselves.

References:

1. Web retrieved: Anime News Network ; Pantheon to Publish Gengoroh Tagame My Brother's Husband Manga: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2016-09-19/pantheon-to-publish-gengoroh-tagame-my-brother-husband-manga/.106639
2. Web retrieved: Wikipedia - Gengoroh Tagame Biography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gengoroh_Tagame
3. Web retrieved: Wikipedia - Beefcake: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beefcake
4. Web retrieved: Wikipedia - Bears: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_(gay_culture)
5. Web retrieved: Renna, Cathy - Family Rejection... Family Acceptance Project: https://familyproject.sfsu.edu/news-announce/family-rejection-lesbian-gay-and-bisexual-adolescents-negative-health-outcomes
6. Web retrieved: Balter, Michael; Homosexuality May Be Caused by Chemical Modifications to the DNA - Science Magazine: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/10/homosexuality-may-be-caused-chemical-modifications-dna
7. Web retrieved: Chamberlin, Shelby - The Effects of Lesbian and Gay Parenting on Children's Development:  https://cola.unh.edu/sites/cola.unh.edu/files/student-journals/ShelbyChamberlin.pdf

Monument Valley 2 Game Review

Monument Valley 2

(9/17/2017) --- I love Monument Valley, first part and second part. The game is not only visually astounding, the puzzles are fun, the art is amazing much as it incorporates tessalations and hyperbolic geometry; also there are metaphisical elements such as the idea of life and death and mother - daughter bond about growing up and finding your own path.

The second part continues with the formula as the first game, it follows a new character named Ro and her daughter in which they come in terms that different generations can't work without each other but also we grow as our parents start to get older.

There is a beautiful symbolism towards the game, a beautiful story that is told without words, as well the perception into reaching the sacred geometry (1) as a form of spiritual growth.

As the first game there aren't many inferences of dialogue that can be a concrete point on the story; much of the story is just left to the player's imagination and how they interpret the symbolism within each puzzle and each scenario.

Sailing away

Within the interpretation of the story, there is a point in which I saw the game could be taken as from the narrative of Ro's daugther when she embarked into her journey of development through the different mazes that compose the sacred geometry.

One aspect of the game that it takes the charm is that is too short; it can be completed within a couple of hours and there is not enough difficulty that can challenge the player; but the difficulty is the least, the part that makes the game less enjoyable is the length. I wish if there is a third part, it could take more time to defeat, more time to enjoy and more time to appreciate the beautiful M.C. Escher inspire scenarios.

The tessellations (3) that are a core element of the games give  a very unique distinct future on the aesthetics, the minimalism that is inspired from the Japanese art are the elements of the gameplay that set from other games in the market. It is quite easy to spot the art of any of the two games.

The forced perspective and every aspect that seems to defy the Newtonian Laws of Physic, can make a player imagination spark towards the adventure, albeit the narrative in which the timelines collide is what gives the game a new meaning on to tell a story with little or no words.

What would you do with time? If you can manipulate it and be able to revive the days you lived long ago?  Would you go and think about your mistakes, the old friendships that you had, what would you do? To fix it the mistakes or to go and continue with your life, even if time is fixed and even if you could revive those moments, those moments are just mere memories.



Reference: 

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_geometry
2. https://ustwo.com/work/monument-valley
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tessellation

Little Witch Academia Feminism Influences

Little Witch 

(9/10/2017) --- This is such a cute animation movie as well a television show (1), I was hesitant at first as I feel it could be just a rip-off of almost any other magical girl show or Harry Potter; but the show is so charming and cute, even the movies are quite adorable.

To give a small synopsis, the show is about the misadventures of a first generation witch named Atsuko "Akko" Kagari as she enrolls in the school of Nova Luna Academy (2) to fulfill her dream of meeting her idol Shiny Chariot and to be in the campus that she also studied; but, Shiny Chariot is nowhere to be found.

There are some elements that the show reminds me of Harry Potter; albeit, it's his own version of a magic school which it wasn't introduce in Harry Potter but just turned the genre more mainstream. I personally would love to see a second series as well a third series, as the characters are adorable and relatable to the audience and the story doesn't get stall at a certain point, it just takes the right pace to conclude the first series on a proper way.

There still material to continue the show at least for a second series, maybe even up to a fifth, to give a proper conclusion to the show as if the students graduated to work on the school or took their own path. I totally recommend this small guilty pleasure to anyone, albeit there is one aspect and that the show got my attention and is the focus on human relations but also of what is to be an independent women in a world that is hostile.

The protagonist Atsuko Kagari or Akko (3) is probably the best example, as she lives on her own rules and tries to be her own person, beyond her admiration of the witch named Shiny Chariot (4) who inspired her to become a witch because of a show that Akko saw when she was younger; but, her actions go that she wants to inspire and make other people happy with her goal of being taken seriously as a witch but as a young woman, who is quite talented and powerful.

Not only the strong character comes from Akko, but from her friend and nemesis such as Lotte (5), Sucy (6) and Diana (7) in which each one of them offers a different perspective towards the inner turmoils of growing up and developing your own persona in a world that can be hostile towards you.

Diana could be the most interesting character from the show, as she seems to be independent and talented but is bounded to the family history, a history in which she feels as enslaved and couldn't even think of happiness. There is a juxtaposition of Diana's character as someone who tries to find happiness but is tied to family traditions, which is a cultural element that can enslave women across the world such as arranged marriage (8)

The fact that on episode tenth (9) Bee Commotion, with the introduction of Andrew Hanbridge (10) as a possible suitor, that he wasn't an influence towards the series but rather much of an ally, instead of a savior or potential romance showed that human relationships within the show were more important than to fall into classical anime cliches such as romance and being a helpless damsel in distress but rather a young person who is growing up, even with the insecurities that almost everyone has to live with.

Reference:

1. https://myanimelist.net/featured/294/Little_Witch_Academia__Studio_Trigger_Puts_a_Spell_on_You
2. http://little-witch-academia.wikia.com/wiki/Luna_Nova_Magical_Academy
3. http://little-witch-academia.wikia.com/wiki/Atsuko_Kagari
4. http://little-witch-academia.wikia.com/wiki/Ursula
5. http://little-witch-academia.wikia.com/wiki/Lotte_Yanson
6. http://little-witch-academia.wikia.com/wiki/Sucy_Manbavaran
7. http://little-witch-academia.wikia.com/wiki/Diana_Cavendish
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arranged_marriage
9. http://little-witch-academia.wikia.com/wiki/Bee_Commotion
10. http://www.mit.edu/~rei/manga-gender.html

Confessions of a Retail Clerk Working in a Hurricane Surge

Empty water shelve

(9/9/2017) --- I am writing this before any power failures. The last seven days had been insane, I can't imagine for health care practicioners, EMT's, firemen and police officers have to deal with the aftermath or what they have to deal during the panic attacks that people have during hurricanes and other weather phenomena.

I always took advantage and bought my supplies before the storm season arrived, at this moment I am missing a good flash light but any lights and batteries have been out of stock everywhere for a week now. What it gets my attention is the behavior of some people who go into a rage frenzy, a panic and ultimately an understanding of their own mortality without even thinking about the consequences of their actions towards themselves and others.

It is madness to work in between a category five hurricane, people just fight and attack the clerks for almost anything; I shouldn't complain too much, because after a trip to the gas station I saw how badly the clerks on those establishment can be treated by people who are rushing into a panic mode. I went to the gas station, I am not going to mention which location but it was a WaWa, after picking up sand bags with a dear friend of mine, people were trying to skip the line and put gas as soon as possible.

On a certain moment, two individuals started to fight, they mentioned racial epithets to each other but their fight suddenly stopped, when one of them pulled a gun on the other, and the one who started with the racial slurs just went back to his car. The attendants who were directing the traffic were alarmed, they started to scream "that someone should call the cops" but the honest truth, there was a cop sitting behind them and didn't do anything.

A long line for water

Going back to the store setting; almost every store that I worked with, they contain one of two water filling stations. On the one that I am right now, we have one on the exit, next to it there are some other coolers with drinks and vending machines; but, the main treasure, the golden objective was to go to the water station, to fill up the gallons.

Lines were insane, just for water, to refill water. They were more people on the other side of the door, almost 30 something people in line, waiting to refill the water, going slowly as possible, blocking the entrance and exist as well the cart receiving station.

It is understandable, water becomes the main resource for survival, mostly when there can be a failure on the sewers due the rise on the water; but, whenever customers start acting aggressive and threat the employees, which they have been working hard to assist the customers, then the experience of working in a tense enviroment turns into a nightmare.

8:15 AM 09/09/17

The last day before any major evacuation and before the store closed earlier; it fell as it was rush hour, but it was 8:00AM, just one hour after we open. The photo on the left, I took it exactly 15 minutes after I arrived, and the store was full. Right now, I am just waiting for the power to fail, anyone who is in Florida, please be safe, be safe.

Mafalda Short Essay

10 Years with Mafalda

(8/31/2017) --- It's been ten years since I had the chance to put my hands in a Mafalda (1) book, better say to see it in person.  To give a brief idea of who is Mafalda and what is her universe? It's the comic strip of an Argentinian girl who was created by Quino (2) in 1964. We need to understand that Mafalda started as an advertisement oriented cartoon and it evolved to be a product of is time.

Beyond the socio-political setting of the 1960's in which each character represents different ideological aspects of the Argentinian culture, the setting can be still applied in the contemporary of today's social panorama in which the rise of populist and neo-nazi parties are creating an urgency in which a new voice such as Quino and thus Mafalda need to be hear. 

Of course we have Doonesbury (3) but over the years Gary Trudeau (4) has lowered the pace of the strip because of age and other commitments, leaving an opening for young cartoonists who have this disposition of media beyond any printed means to reach their desired targeted audience.

What I found interesting, is that Mafalda never struck openly in the United States; it could be due sociological differences; humor disparity or the way the people see society's evolution and how international and regional relations evolve on a daily basis. It is important to have some form of political humor and critique that can reach to the people of every country and make them think about how to change and impact their communities.

On the United States a cartoon as Mafalda is just scarce, there aren't many on mainstream media besides Doonesbury and is actually quite sad, because there aren't any new voices that can impact the readers; I guess, there is always online media and hosting, albeit is difficult to reach an audience without the proper funds.

I haven't found any official translations about Mafalda at least in Tampa, I know online there are some unofficial's, but nothing in particular. Why we need a character as Mafalda? Or at least to read it beyond the language and cultural barriers, because it expose a strong female character who is non-conformist with the rules of the society that she is growing up.

We as readers, we need to understand that the comics expose a great deal of feminist and existentialist tones that transcend the bounds of 1960's in Argentina; it sets a series of examples that we can be whatever who we want to be and hesitate and question our surroundings. It gives an amazing introduction to younger readers about what is to be a female and to try to expose your ideas as openly as possible; knowing that within gender bias there would be a difficulty to expose your ideas.

On an existentialist level, Mafalda is just a prime example towards how the following a retrospective and exo analyses could lead to see solutions on a problematic social enviroment, but also to understand the part of yourself that makes it your own persona; the idea of an existential doubt shouldn't be seen as a bad "thing" as is part of a composed ego and well structured critical thinking.

Reference:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafalda
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quino
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doonesbury
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Trudeau

How do Gorons Reproduce?

Goron from OoT

(8/29/2017) --- Hello everyone, lately I've been hooked up to Breath of the Wild (1) and I been playing the franchise since maybe I was five years old and I always had an obsession with the in real world mechanics that are present in Hyrule and the different locations around the world and time-space.

One tiny aspect that caught my attention a while ago it was that there were no female Gorons or any information if Goron's are compatible with other races such as Gerudo's mating with Hylians to reproduce.

Goron's themselves are quite of a mystery as they seem to survive and multiply no matter the enviroment, the socio-economical conditions or the tragedies that are facing above Hyrule. Then the question is, how they do it?

Around the different timelines Gorons seem to be organized into a patriarcal society (2), becoming almost the opposite of the Gerudo's but being more open to foreigners and trade openly with other cultures and civilizations across the land, it can be inferred that after the Hylians as a group, the Gorons are the third civilization that has ties with almost every single aspect of the land in terms of technology and cultural development just right after the Sheikah.

The idea that Gorons reproduce sexually is out of the range, as they seem to be only socializing among themselves and they refer to each other as "brothers" and in a certain extent they seem to be asexual by nature as none of them seem to engage into any form of romantic relationships with anyone or even themselves.

Probably as a theory, is interesting to think that Gorons are mostly associate to reptiles and if we can place them with a real world reference, Gorons could be extremely similar to Komodo Dragons and the New Mexico Whiptail and their reproduction would be involved with parthenogenesis, which in theory there should be female Gorons, albeit not healthy ones if we set the parallels between the Whiptail and the Gorons.

It wouldn't be strange to think whenever it's mentioned by Nintendo on how Gorons reproduce is not far away from the idea of asexual reproduction or at least a form that is closely related Gynogenesis but the species would be women in their vast majority if that would happen, as the male would only stimuli the egg with his sperm but the genetic material would be on the matri-lineal side.

The most related example I can think is that Gorons reproduce through Hybridogenesis (3) and the Gorons that we meet during the different games are essentially hybrid species of the genus, which can lead why the Gorons in Termina seem to be different from the Gorons on the main universe?

Goron Elder

The best example I can think about it is the Goron Elder (4) in Majora's Mask where we can see he has hair and more human characteristics, probably we can even think that as a race they could be related to the Hylians on a genetic level and the female who could take part in the reproduction is to determine which gametes will pass to the next generations but it would be the male Goron who would take the pregnancy and reproduction of the fetus to full term.

These are just mere ideas, nothing official and nothing serious, thank you very much for reading me.

References:

1. https://zelda.gamepedia.com/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Breath_of_the_Wild
2. http://zelda.wikia.com/wiki/Goron
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybridogenesis_in_water_frogs
4. https://zelda.gamepedia.com/Goron_Elder

Idiotic to say Amazon is a "no-tax" Monopoly

Screen cap

(8/14/2017) --- There is plenty to get entertained by within the Twisterphere, mostly because it is now used as the official channel of communication of the White House. I wish I was joking; but, we can see the musings of the President within such a close-range and we don't even have to turn the T.V. we can see everything under 140 characters or less.

Let's analyze something Amazon had more than US$136 billion dollars in sale last year; yes, that is a lot of money and is also an indicator as a consolidated brand that specializes in e-commerce; but Amazon is not and I repeat is not a monopoly. Let's analyze something really quick, a monopoly happens when a company exists to dominate a market, that it can reduce competition and rise the prices of the goods for more than a brief period of time (i.e. think a supermarket that is central in Georgia and Florida; even if there is some competition as Florida antitrust laws say that there has to be more than five competitors but still that supermarket is the one who dominates the market in terms of quantity and locations, as well placing high level prices on the items which can be found anywhere else for a lesser amount).

There is no need to worry because usually antitrust violation comes within consumer harm and not harm to the competitors... seriously that doesn't make any sense because if you hurt competition you are hurting the customers by not offering variety of services and most complains about Amazon are usually set by the own competition. Yet it shouldn't be complicated, as monopoly laws only take places when a company controls 75% of a any X market, much as when Microsoft was the dominant business of computers in the early 2000 by owning a 90% of the market; but Amazon has always been clear of that term.

Of course our President is more than wrong to say "Amazon is not subject to tax" but as any other business Amazon pays taxes on a corporate income, property, payroll and unemployment insurances. Last year Amazon paid US$412 millions in federal, state, local and foreign last year but still Amazon is not except of criticism that they took advantage of legal loopholes and tax breaks, such as placing their tax burden was 35% on the official corporate tax rate, Amazon just paid a 9.3% of federal income tax.

One aspect that is interesting to mention is that at this moment Trump has't appointed  someone to guide the Federal Trade Commission, and he is still has a high number of vacant positions in his administration; which the Trade Commission must review the acquisition before the deal completion of this planned acquisition.

For a more detailed point of view, click here (3) and you will be redirect to Market Watch which they explain more properly the next steps of the acquisition and how Amazon plans to go into the grocery business.

Reference:

1. Politifact.com - http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2017/jul/26/donald-trump/amazon-no-tax-monopoly-donald-trump-said/
2. ABC - http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trumps-empty-administration-whats-high-number-vacant-government/story?id=47851403
3. Market Watch - http://www.marketwatch.com/story/amazon-to-issue-up-to-16-billion-in-debt-to-fund-whole-foods-acquisition-2017-08-14