A different kind of manga gender swap

I sometimes go down to my local public library and pick up half a dozen "new" manga starting with the first volume. I like to expand my tastes by picking up some random books, and sometimes this nets me a new favorite (like Skip Beat).

One of the good ones from this group is called Otomen. It has a tendency to get zany and play up the girly manga tropes but I think it's still good. The basic premise is about a young 18 year old guy named Asuka who is your classic all around male on the outside. He reads books about the warrior way, studies kendo and judo, and is well respected around campus. But all is not well for our hero, because he secretly loves really girly things like knitting, cooking and frilly sparkly pink things. He hides out pretty well, until he falls for a cute girl in his class and then things start breaking out. Add another pretty guy who mysteriously knows his secret and a famous manga (self referencing it's own genre) that is eerily like his life and things start to get really fun.

Japan and the western nations share a very strong patriarchal past, although it seems to be stronger in Japan now. This seems to be the basis of conflict in this manga, men are expected to be manly and any intrests that aren't manly are looked down upon. While some people know Asuka's secret others put a great deal of presure on him, either on purpose (his evil mom), or by accident (other students). He can't be himself anywhere except at home and at lunch with his friends. It's pretty sad.

I don't think there are any problems for picking up this manga. I've only read the first four volumes but so far the relationship has progressed to holding hands only. There are the occasional fight scenes, and even a run away bull that Asuka has to fight, but the violence seems minimal. All in all I don't think there is any reason not to pick this up, it's smart and self-referential, it has interesting characters, and it has a premise that I haven't seen before. Or and there is soooo much cute. :)

Murray Library at night

Murray Library at night, a photo by keu482 on Flickr.

This looked much nicer on my little camera window, but then I am an amateur. :)

Encyclopedias

One thing I liked to do as a (very geeky)child was to comb through encyclopedias for the weird and wonderful. My grandfather was an encyclopedia salesman so we always had a copy somewhere. As I grew older we bought a copy of encarta which had a game that introduced strange trivia topics and you could explore them as they came, or choose to ignore those you found boring. And now we have Wikipedia.

Wikipedia is cool because it has entries on almost everything. It has an entry on madeup countries and what their flags look like. It has entries on the most obscure animel, vegitabe or mineral. I know that all that is there, but how do I find it if I don't know to look for it. It's like a library of information with out call numbers to sort and organize it. One upside is that you can go straight to the info if you find something online, or even IRL, by typing it into a search engine. It usually pops up in the top three. I guess both ways are good, as long as I have access to the weird and zany.

Lightbox

As I was processing new journals today a quick mention of this site caught my eye. Another way of showing photos (I think you need t o sign up, and possibly pay for services), other than Flicker and Picasa. I went and looked at photos of the devestation in Japan, the numbers are impossible to process but the photos will hit you right in the heart.

Biting off less than I can chew (for once)

So I've been looking at the amount of new stuff to do this week and I've decided to do this in small bite sized pieces instead of a full meal. That means lots of smaller posts when I have time, instead of in a great big chunk.

The first post is about how I haven't even gotten to the photos yet. I have seen Flicker photo streams before (some really wicked cool wedding cakes, for instance) but this time I got to the 365 library days project and I hit a snag, namely the introductions page. Wow, so many different types of libraries and librarians. Some from Pakistan and Singapore! And all of them are promoting their libraries and being engaged. Also someone will mention a specific talent and another person will ask for their help on a project. Or offer advice about something. I haven't seen a single library photo and I can already see the use of this as a collaborative tool and marketing gadget. I'm pretty excited about tomorrow and what I can learn then. Tune in tomorrow boys and girls, same bat time, same bat channel.

Library cat video

I've always thought that having a library cat would be a fun thing. I know it's not really feasible at an academic library but here is a library that has one. Meet Pages, the library cat.

Just like Owl from a Milne book...

...the Owl at Purdue University is very wise. All the way through the last half of my undergrad and my entire library tech class the Owl has shown me how to cite. I had the 2009 version of MLA in book form, but of course I routinely left it at home when I needed it. That's why having a clear, electronic form at your fingertips is a great thing.

If anyone is interested in checking it out they can be found at the Owl at Purdue
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/08/

Those old collective cookbooks

Does anyone remember those? The ones that are made by a group of dedicated older ladies or by a class that brings in mom's favorite recipe. The ones in which every recipe has been made at home for dozens of years, and been simplified or added to until each one is just perfect. The ones with randowm uplifting quotations or jokes on the pages where too much space lived. Not even the big glossy books published by world famouse chefs can compair to those.

I mention this because last Christmas my husband Brain's Grandma bought one for me! They still existed! I had seen copies of them in my mom's recipy cupbourd and mourned the idea that their time had passed and that I would never own one for myself. But the best things in life are never truly lost, and that makes me happy. Now I'm going home tonight to make me something that I know has been loved, and that will be loved my my family.

Mahalo Wikis

Yeah, I seem to be one of the few people who isn't instantly in love with wikis. I wonder if that's because I haven't really done much group work before. I use wikis, sometimes I even just go to wikipedia (I can hear my Lib Tec teacher screaming). I can even see the use of creating a wiki for students and library patrons, since there's just so much for people to know about us. I just can't see how I would use a wiki that was only for staff. Maybe other, more experienced people could let me know?

Ignore if you don't like the silly

Sorry guys, I saw this and couldn't resist.

Fly you fools!

So it's Starbucks' birthday or some such thing, and they're giving away free cake on a stick. My advice gentle readers? RUN! That stuff is evil. The texture, the flavour! And now the lingering sugar headache. Never again guys, never again.

I live in a pod, but I definately don't podcast

Maybe it's just because I'm shy, or because I have nothing to say, but I really don't see myself creating a pod cast or a youtube video. Mind you I once thought I would never blog either and here I am, so maybe someday. I notice that no one has linked any of the podcasts they found so maybe I will at the bottom of this post.

I find that the Miro program and my new MP3 player are great motivators to play more with this Thing, something I had never had interest in before. The Miro program is great because it organizes pod and video casts for you, and you can play them on the program itself with out transfering it elsewhere (right on your computer screen). The MP3 player is portable, but small and videos have to be converted first before they will play. It comes with the software, but converting a video takes a looooooong time.

I think that no matter how much fun these two Things are a lot of work is necissary to really make them a part of my life. The reward is worth it, but I don't know if I have the time or inclination.... oh! I'm just lazy, probably.

Well here are some sights I found:

For the CBC lover here is a list of all the podcasts they make, news, local content and music: http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/

For the forward thinker here are the TED talks; lectures from great tinkers on many different subjects (these are video): http://www.ted.com/talks

And to download Miro, if you're interested: http://www.getmiro.com/

Finding those little lost podcasts

So I'm using Miro to find and sort through podcasts. It seems to have both audio only and video, which is pretty cool. Apparently my new MP3 player (remember the old one wound up under a bus or something) plays not only audio podcasts but video too. Since it's so new I haven't checked that out yet, I'll get back to you when I do. I'll also post a podcast I like once I've listened through a few of them. One my husband likes is the "Onion News."

P.S. Keep in mind the news casts are fake.

How YouTube might work for libraries

So I saw this in my Library Tech classes and remembered it when I needed to do this project. It's a silly training film on customer service in libraries, but it could have been library cart drill teams instead. Pretty much any form of training, from how to use the specific machines like microfiche to how to do a reference or readers service interview, videos can make it fun and easy. Sometimes it just looks hokey, but at least it's better then sitting through a half hour lecture.

Cookie Monster at the Library

Love this clip, although I think the librarian needs a vacation or maybe a cookie.

The Prezi pretzel

So I love Prezi. One thing that bothered be about Microsoft PowerPoint is the squareness and the liner aspect. That's just not how I roll. But Prezi is so different, it looks the way I think, by grouping ideas and concepts together. This is the first time I could visually map out my leapfrog brain, not that every thought is there but it's a loose approximation. So yeah, it's a little random, but come see my prezi pretzel. http://prezi.com/taw9g9kelwu6/music/

One thing that troubles me. In power point you can add sound files, but other than the YouTube videos I can't seem to add one to prezi. Kind of funny, all these presentations about music but you can't add any in the background to listen to.