After another unplanned hiatus the basement geeks rejoin to much rejoicing and discuss everything they’d been holding off of for months. While bouncing back and forth between topics Carlos and Ben are able to keep the conversation from going completely off the rails.
Category Archives: Anime
COTB 018 – A Geek Christmas
After a small break Carlos and B.J. return for a Christmas review of gift ideas for the geek in your family. Along the way they talk Justice League speculation, the new Superman and Star Trek trailers, and engage in various other geeky topics.
COTB 010 – Batman and Bronies
A review of the popularity of My Little Pony and the creation of Bronies (Ben then surrenders his mancard) followed by some Batman talk to cleanse the palate.
COTB 007 – Game Master tips and classic anime
Carlos and Ben discuss the Tupac hologram, the Avengers movie domination, tips and tricks for new game masters, and great anime suggestions.
Sexism in Geek Culture, with a look at Comics
In the most recent Coming Out of the Basement Podcast, we discuss sexism in geek culture, with a bit of a closer look at comics (along with the Mass Effect 3 ending). For the first subject, I had enough sources and examples that I thought it made sense to do a post on the topic.
I meant to mention three areas:
- the portrayal of women in geek culture media (comics, games, RPGs, etc.)
- the treatment of women in geek culture in real life situations, and
- women in positions of authority in the industries (writers/artists/creators/editors/etc.).
Lots more below.
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Last minute Geek Christmas Gifts already?
Cripes, it’s Christmas already. What’s going on? Well, here’s gift suggestions- maybe for your geek friends, maybe for you.
Of course, I expect lots of folks around these parts are playing Skyrim or Star Wars: The Old Republic. I’m certainly doing the latter at the moment. The only problem looking at those as gifts is that it is incredibly likely your fans of the material already have them. ^^ But it wouldn’t hurt to check. Also, the Humble Indie Bundle 4 looks great, and half the profits go to charity.
Hey, look- The Guild Season Five is now out, just in time for Christmas.
Right Stuf Anime is having a bunch of sales. Of particular note is the remastered Utena DVD box sets. The series had been hard to find for awhile. It’s one of my wife’s favorites. I may have picked up the Soul Eater holiday package…
For the budding RPGer, or someone who might want a bit simpler rule set, Pathfinder’s Beginner Box has been popular. And the Bestiary 3 was just released! Another interesting up and coming d20 game seems to be Legend. It’s a little over the top at times, but it’s an interesting approach to mixing classes, races, and specialties via mix-and-match tracks. That is, you can take a bit of ranger, combine it with a bit of steampunk robot-making, and be a dragon. Or you can be an elven ranger with all of its ranger-y goodness. (I suspect the former option might be more popular, but ya never know.) ^_^ Plus, right now all proceeds go to the Child’s Play charity. Nice. And lest I forget, although I haven’t had the opportunity to play it, the 3rd edition of Mutants and Masterminds sounds fun.
For the eBook fantasy readers out there, check out B. Justin Shier’s Zero Sight and its sequel, Zero Sum. Check out Zachary Rawlin’s The Academy. Both are marketed YA, but fun reads. Of course, if you haven’t picked up Sanderson’s Way of Kings, that’s fun. And Rothfuss’s Name of the Wind and its sequel, The Wise Man’s Fear. If you’d like RPG tie-ins, Paizo’s James Sutter’s Death’s Heretic is really very good.
Come to think of it, I can recommend books forever. =P
Oh, and I did pick up Betrayal at House on the Hill, for board gaming goodness…
And who can go wrong with a squishable Narhwal? (Picked one up for Q, it’s great. ^_^)
Other suggestions?
Summer Wars!
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention a nifty anime movie we saw earlier this year- Summer Wars. Q and I had the opportunity to see it at the ever-awesome Alamo Drafthouse (Ritz location, Austin), where we ran into tons of people we know. :P I really liked it, and Q absolutely LOVED it. It also was a big hit with the local anime club. It’s now available on DVD and Blu-Ray.
The Curious Case of Copyright and Anime
As the others allude to in the About section, in my Real Life I do a great deal with copyright.
The Anime Industry runs on copyright infringement.
Just about everything the fan community does with anime is infringing somehow. This type of statement could be made about fandom in general, but it’s particularly true with anime. And the anime industry wouldn’t exist as we know it without it- in Japan as well as the US.
Introducing Anime Reviews
In an effort to write more, I’ll probably be posting some anime reviews over the next few weeks. In this post, I’m going to briefly discuss my history with anime; in the next I’m going to discuss some Things You Should Know before I get to proper reviewing- particularly involving the nebulous relationship between anime fandom and copyright, and then I’ll start posting reviews.
I’ve been involved with anime for some time now. I met my wife at that anime club when we were undergrads. My first publication of any sort was a story in Animerica back in the late 90s (although that’s my only anime-related publication to date). I helped start the anime club at Syracuse University. I was active at the UT anime club for many years, and I’ve been the faculty adviser to that club in the past (don’t let that fool you, though- I’m only “faculty” in the most technical sense of teaching at a University, but I’m still a doctoral student). And a good part of my current interest in copyright came from my initial brushes with copyright in anime fandom.
Long story short, the subject is one I find important. ^_^
Magical Girl Kirsten Dunst cosplay, made of win
Yeah, I used “made of win.” Sue me!
I’ve always been something of a Kirsten Dunst fan (I should say “we,” since her image long graced the window of Q’s workspace), and this is just fanboy/girl heaven. ^_-
So, Kirsten Dunst + Princess Cosplay + Akihabara + 80s cover!
http://boingboing.net/2009/10/19/murakamis-short-film.html (picture)
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/02/24/murakami-akihabara-m.html (video) (some anime images NSFW)
Akihabara, for those of you who don’t know, is an area of Tokyo famous for its tech goods and its anime/otaku stuff. It is awesome. If I ever get a chance to go back to Japan, I’m spending more time there. ^_^
The comments on the BoingBoing post are to me, shockingly negative. This video made my day. ^_^