Emily the Strange

News from the Cartoon Art Museum:

Strange Love with Emily the Strange Saturday, February 14, 2010 from 1pm to 3pm Cartoon Art Museum Bookstore Event: BookSigning with: Rob Reger and Buzz Parker

Free and open to the public
San Francisco, CA: Celebrate Valentineís Day at the Cartoon Art Museum with Emily the Strange Creators and Illustrators Rob Reger and Buzz Parker. Emily the Strange came to life in the early 1990's and quickly became a beloved counterculture icon all around the world. In her earliest years, she was a quiet but sharp-witted stranger, slinging philosophy and cultural observations in a series of hand-screened t-shirts and stickers. As her presence grew and became a standard in the cultural underground, Emily's own story began to emerge in a series of gift books, then comic-books and graphic novels, and now a novel series for young adults.

Emily's not your average thirteen year-old-girl. Pink is her worst nightmare...she wears the same black dress every day. She loves math and science. Her best friends are her four BLACK CATS! She's into old rock & punk, but also digs newer bands like My Chemical Romance.

Today, Emily continues to be a voice for individualism and self-awareness, and her appeal is especially strong among alternative-minded young women and girls who identify with her signature singularity. Her presence in the worlds of art, pop culture, literature, and fashion celebrates non-conformist and reminds us all to cultivate that which makes us unique.

This event is free and open to the public. Sweet treats will provided by From Scratch.

A Different kind of Kannon

This week I have an entry I wanted to do earlier as part of the Kannon series. However I lacked an example from anime or manga until this week.

This Kannon entry is for:

Canon, Inc. キャノン [株]

And yes there is a link from the camera and office equipment company and Kannon.

Feb 2, NOTE: I have made a few changes as suggested by Ono Masahiro in Tokyo who often assists by providing excellent comments on the entries. Thank you Ono-san, you are the type of editor a poor writer like me needs.

Hanami in DC

A few days ago I got a nice email from Erik Braunitzer of the National Museum of Crime & Punishment asking if I could place a link on my web site to their page on the 2010 Washington DC Cherry Blossom festival. Well I don't do event links so I told him I'd mention it here.

If you are in DC for the festival do check out the museum it sounds like creepy fun.

Seimei jinja 晴明神社

More and more anime and manga fans are learning about the famous ommyōji of the old capital Heiankyō (modern day Kyōto) Abe no Seimei. However did you know that there are shinto shrines and buddhist temples either dedicated to him or where he is also enshrined?

This week's entry to the Anime Companion Supplement is on this.

Seimei jinja (Seimei shrine) 晴明神社

The Mongol Invasions Of Japan 1274 And 1281

Yesterday I walked into the store at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco and spotted a new book by Stephen Turnbull. The Mongol Invasions Of Japan 1274 And 1281 and bought a copy. Now why would the Cartoon Art Museum have a history book on samurai warfare? Well they have the Drawing the Sword: Samurai in Manga and Anime exhibit going on. I do have to confess playing a role in this book being in the store. I advise the store on things Japanese and when they wanted to get books on samurai to have on hand for sale during the exhibit I simply recommended everything in print by Dr Turnbull. I cannot recommend his works too strongly, if you want well researched and written works on samurai and Japanese military his are some of the best you can get. I did recommend plenty of books by other authors.

All the Kannon for now

The last of my current series of posts on Kannon.

This one is on Maria Kannon マリア観音. This time it is not a Buddhist deity but a representation of the Virgin Mary.

If I find other forms of Kannon I'll add entries for those.

Hum, what to do next week?

Suggestions welcome.

And even more Kannon

Another Kannon entry. This one Fukūkenjaku Kannon Bosatsu 不空羂索観音菩薩.

I have another Kannon entry lined up for next week. After that I'll keep an eye out for others as there are several I have yet to see in anime or manga.