Initial belles lettres

I’d been writing my own travel diaries and sending postcards to loved ones during my sojourns around the globe. Naturally I took up blogging, once I was aware of it. Way back in March 2005 I was about to start the next venture into a mysterious culture… Japanese! I started writing in the (Google hosted) blog o vfowler during preparations for my first work gig as an English language teacher. In 161 posts, such as Ending of Sleepless in Brunswick, and bike police, I began to indite some of my misunderstandings and musings for the next year and bit.

Fulfilling a personal multi-purpose

As a public travel diary, my first blog served several purposes brilliantly. First, it allowed me to communicate with family and friends back home. Second, it gave me a place to practise writing and publish some news style articles combined with my photos. I’d started my flickr account at the same time, so it was a great tie in. Third, my travel narratives sufficed as the base script upon which I proudly produced my DVD trilogy - something like a slide-show on steroids.

This blog that your reading right now, vfowler blog, didn’t have a lot of direction initially. Mostly it was my laboratory for experimentation in what was possible on a self hosted WordPress powered blog. With the bells and whistles of additional media formats (audio and video), mapping, tags, categories, search, monthly archives, RSS, podcasts and vodcasts, interactive polls, calendars, communications and so on… I guess this is a web 2.0 blog. Currently vfowler blog is doubling as my required course blog for NET11.

Blogs for others

I kicked off a blog for my English students to practice writing with a real audience. At http://hawthornenglishclass.wordpress.com is where most of my class first understand the term blog - I still find this amazing. Thanks largely to my best friend, I’ve come to learn the flexibility of WordPress as a Content Management System (CMS) and have been punching out a couple of sites for friends using it.

Citizen Journalism - unlikely

http://www.nowpublic.com claims The News is NowPublic.com, albeit with a by-line of Crowd Powered Media. Generally I agree with James Farmer’s post Citizen journalism sucks, that there ought to be a level of professionalism associated with the term journalism. (Farmer, 2006) Sadly, I’d also concur that the average citizen is not very good at the skills involved. Only through teaching English as a second language have I come to realise how poor the average punter is with his/her first language. I studied photography at university and have some awareness of what makes a better photograph. Now the odds of the average camera wielding person producing an acceptable shot are improving. Still, my preference is to see the kind of photos that get into Lonely Planet publications rather than the rubbish that comes from my mobile phone camera. Needless to say, it frightens me when garbage is published.

Content is king

Whilst the average citizen isn’t skilled enough for publishing to a broad public audience, there are no fewer than millions of high calibre blogs out there appealing to our many niches and interests. Blogs are at home when new content is frequently published. Just like newspapers, one way to measure the quality of the content is by readership. The really great content is always forwarded on to others, similar to the way we discuss news articles that have impacted upon us. Although, how far reaching a blog post is, may be less important than reaching the right audience.

References

Farmer, J (2006 , October 5). Citizen journalism sucks. Retrieved August 18, 2008, from The Age Blogs website: http://blogs.theage.com.au/media/archives/2006/10/citizen_journal.html

Come along and see Tezuka: the Marvel of Manga, a special exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria, before it finishes on the 28th of January. It’s $12 to get in and we can meet beforehand this Saturday 13th January 2:30pm at Federation Square.

TEZUKA Osamu is heralded as an icon of the Japanese manga movement; acknowledged in Japan as an artistic master, and revered as the figurehead of the manga and anime industries. Creating over 700 manga titles during his lifetime, he is best known in the West for his cartoons of Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion, which were serialized for television in the 1960s. Tezuka’s work is acclaimed for its complexity and originality and his drawings showcase an extraordinary calligraphic dynamism. His prolific manga work contains two main streams: manga ‘comic pictures’ for a youth audience, including Astro Boy, Kimba and Princess Knight; and gekiga ‘drama pictures’ – more seriously-toned, adult oriented narratives such as Song of Apollo and Ludwig B, that stress realistic effect and emotional impact. This exhibition features both aspects of his work, introducing Western audiences to the complexities and extraordinary range of the manga form.

This exhibition has been negotiated through Tezuka Productions in Tokyo. Comprising original drawings, designs for manga covers and posters, the exhibition will introduce Western audiences for the first time to the full scope of Tezuka’s artistic output.

What grabbed my attention is a few of the podcasts from curator Philip Brophy, in particular:

3. Philip Brophy talks about postwar Japan and the birth of Astro Boy (duration: 11 mins)
   
6. Philip Brophy talks about how, in Japan, ‘cute’ is not always cute (duration: 9 mins)
   
8. Philip Brophy delves into the darker side of manga (duration: 8 mins)
   

ADVISORY MESSAGE
Life is full of interesting stuff. If you need your parent/guardian to hold your hand, perhaps you should stay at home and live a sheltered life.

Woah! Well let’s say the advisory message should be acknowledged. Among the expected cutie characters drawn up on the walls, are some ideas, concepts and characters that certainly took me by surprise. After discovering mountains of porn on a visit to Fuji-san, some of Tezuka’s sexual content on show didn’t raise an eyebrow. What did catch me off guard, was some of the psycho imagery and depressing stories. Some such as humans contracting a disease that brings out canine features, may be explained by the fact that Japan suffered for decades after the infamous A-bomb was dropped. However, others including a murdering phantom horse, write your own religion, and an ongoing theme of gender-switching folk gave me something to think about. The great contrast Japan is renowned for: there is nothing hidden about Tezuka’s mindset, yet Japanese society remains the most secretive I’ve ever known. Let’s call that a love-hate thing.

A recent trip to the Robot Bar included more than I bargained for. On Tuesday nights there are free Japanese animation movies projected onto the window curtain screen. I was rather impressed at the quality after watching Appleseed with a couple of friends tonight. This isn’t just bug-eyed Astroboy on steroids. Perhaps an overdose of visuals stolen from The Matrix, Aliens, and two bags full of US military in a post-global nuclear holocaust setting nothing at all like Mad Max, but the message was unique and quite humane. If you haven’t for a while, try some Japanese animation.

Two new friends from Japan made a bet on the Melbourne Cup. What are the odds that two Japanese competitors would win and place second? Highly unlikely, nevertheless it became reality.

Japanese raider Delta Blues has just held out Katsuhiko Sumii-stablemate Pop Rock to win the $5.1 million Group 1 Emirates Melbourne Cup (3200m).

Our friends Takako and Takeshi had a wager on their national steeds and won!

The next day they brought their luck to our house, cooked a delicious okonomiyaki and watched Raiders of the Lost Ark together. Nothing but the best of great food, excellent company and fun entertainment.