The Original Nazi Puncher

A nice piece by Jeet Heer on the 100th birthday of Jack Kirby, and his huge influence on pretty much everything these days:

"The superhero stories Kirby created or inspired have dominated American comic books for nearly 75 years and now hold almost oppressive sway over Hollywood. Kirby’s creations are front and center in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but his fingerprints are all over the DC Cinematic Universe too, where the master plot he created—the cosmic villain Darkseid invading earth—still looms large. It was Kirby who took the superhero genre away from its roots in 1930s vigilante stories and turned it into a canvas for galaxy-spanning space operas, a shift that not only changed comics but also prepared the way for the likes of the Star Wars franchise. Outside of comics, hints of Kirby pop up in unexpected places, such as the narrative approaches of Guillermo del Toro, Michael Chabon, and Jonathan Lethem.

If you walk down any city street, it’s hard to get more than fifty feet without coming across images that were created by Kirby or inflected by his work. Yet if you were to ask anyone in that same stretch if they had ever heard of Kirby, they’d probably say, 'Who?' A century after his birth, he remains the unknown king." 

And a reminder -- it's always OK to punch Nazis.

Why We Can't Have Nice Things

Well hot damn, a story that brings together language, video game culture, and long-standing Korean-Japanese tensions, with a dose of crazy impending nuclear doom as well!  A Japanese video game voice actor made a little joke about Korea (not specifically North Korea) lobbing missiles across the East Sea while on stage with some ethnic Korean colleagues and all hell broke loose:

"There are many things to unpack here. First, the word Terajima used is 'Chousenjin' (朝鮮人), which literally means 'Korean person.' The problem is that the word doesn’t make any difference between North and South Koreans, with the word for North Koreans being 'Kita-Chousenjin' ('Kita' means 'North') and the word for South Koreans being 'Kankokujin' ('Kankoku' means 'South Korea').

Koreans make up a large ethnic group in Japan. Those with permanent residency are either 'zainichi Kankokujin' if they are South Korean or 'zainichi Chousenjin.' The term 'zainichi' (在日) means 'Japanese resident.' For example, North Korean schools in Japan are called 'Chousenjin Gakkou' (Korean Schools), which are sponsored by North Korea and teach the students pro-North Korean ideology.

So although the word 'Chousenjin' is used in an official context, the word 'Chousenjin' can be considered a slur, especially if it’s directed at all Koreans. For North Koreans in Japan, 'zainchi Chousenjin' is the proper term and for South Koreans 'Kita-Chousenjin' is correct. The word 'Chousenjin' is, on its own, loaded and seen as offensive.

But the comment is more than that. This weekend, North Korea once again fired test missiles. Now might not be the best time for bad missile jokes."

Complicated stuff for an outsider, but the history and culture of ethnic Koreans (North and South) within Japan is fascinating and I wish I knew more about it.  It's easy enough to see why a Korean person living in Japan would feels slurred by the notion that "all of Korea" is a dangerous, missile-happy Juche paradise.

Because Korea

Miles Davis, Miles In The Sky

All of my classes this semester are on the fifth floor of a building with no elevators.

If it wasn't still oppressively hot I'd be OK with it.

That is all.

This Be The Post

Steven Thrasher might be a bit more effusive than necessary as to what it's like to be single after 40, but I think he's right on with most of his points:

"This is bizarre considering that, as we hit 40, many of my single friends seem much happier and fulfilled than most of my married friends. Many (not all) of my married friends, gay and straight, seem like they are stuck in a script they had to follow. Many seem to feel regret or wonder about what might have been.

This isn’t true for most of my single friends or me. We are largely still seeking and exploring (and often improvising) what the story of the script is. Opportunity still feels before us. We get to discover new authors and look at new art. And when Occupy Wall Street or Black Lives Matter or Hurricane Sandy relief or the Trump resistance need our help, we have more space to dedicate to loving one another, ourselves and our community than many of my married friends.

This freedom can create a sense of being unmoored, but it contains great potential. We get to dream big, radical political dreams and work toward making them real without worrying about a mortgage. We get to risk loving in many ways, getting hurt and loving again."

I actually do still have a dad, and I hope he's around for many more years.  But I also just turned 43, and I keep waiting for some deeply visceral feeling in my gut to shout out for me to finally get married and have some kids.  And as I get older, I realize that feeling was either going to manifest itself in my 30's or never at all.

For some background though, I have to admit that my marriage "role models" have been absolute shit.  One of my earliest memories is that of my mom's father leaving my grandmother, recently diagnosed with cancer, for another woman across the country.  My father's parents?  I never even met them, although I know they had a very ugly divorce.  My own parents?  As ugly as it can get when I was in middle school.

Hell, my beloved dad managed to get divorced three times overall.

The point being, I've grown up with the mental category of marriage as something loving adults do that will ultimately end in disaster.  No doubt that's part of the reason I'm still single.  At the same time, I'm happy to encourage and support others to get married and start families (Weddings are fun!  Your kids are super-cute, as long as they aren't having tantrums!) as long as they respect decisions I've made, quite consciously as a matter of fact.

It's all complicated I guess.  I blame millennials.  (Not really.)

Also, the argument that "not having children is selfish" positively mystifies me.  What could possibly be more selfish than having kids when you don't really want them, let alone can't afford them?

Also, obligatory blog post title inspiration -- Philip Larkin, "This Be The Verse."

Delight and Instruct, Part Infinity

I know it's not the teacher-ly thing to do, but when it comes to the various departments I teach I've got favorites.

I won't name names but this semester all five of my classes are from one of the better ones.

Hopefully this will make up for the bonehead-a-palooza that was last semester.

Maybe not.

Republicans At Work

I wouldn't wish a natural disaster on anyone, but good fucking grief:

"Cruz and Cornyn voted against the final Sandy aid package. During that debate, they voted for an amendment that would have cut domestic spending to pay for the emergency funding. Cruz at the time said that not all the funds were being allocated properly. Cornyn 'voted for a Sandy aid package without the unrelated spending, which included things like repairing fisheries in the Pacific,' said Cornyn spokesman Drew Brandewie.

Both senators wrote to Texas Governor Greg Abbott Friday urging him to expedite emergency funding for the state this time around.

The fiscal bind also extends to the White House. In 2005, Pence, who was then a congressman from Indiana, led an effort called Operation Offset aimed at requiring deep spending cuts to pay for Hurricane Katrina relief."

Summer Books!

By far the best thing I read over vacation was food historian Michael Twitty’s The Cooking Gene.  Twitty re-enacts the slave kitchens of 18th century American plantations, but his project is so much more than that as he demonstrates that what we think of as “American” or “Southern” food is directly informed by the cuisines of Africa and the Caribbean.

Kim Young-ha’s newest, I Hear Your Voice, didn’t work for me.  I’d recommend any of his other novels in English before this one.  Also, while violence and darkness are always part of his books, here the gang rape and torture feels kind of gratuitous rather than deserved.

I’ll admit, China Mieville’s October, a dramatic retelling of the Russian Revolution, was kind of over my head.  Other than Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin, I had a really hard time simply keeping people’s names straight.  Not a bad book by any means, but I probably should have stuck to a more conventional historical introduction.

Finally, Lauren Beukes The Shining Girls was a drag.  I’d heard lots of good things about it but read her much better, more layered Broken Monsters instead.

I guess almost two-for-four isn’t too bad, but by all means get a copy of Twitty’s book.  It’s awesome.

Summer Updates

I've done the unthinkable and joined Facebook (here).  My sister and some other people who I really care about use it, and while I won't be on it too often I figured I'd give it a go.

I tweet here.

I tumblr for ya over here (mildly NSFW at times).

Pike Place Market, Seattle Part Two

Pike Place Market, Seattle Part One

Before heading up to Bellingham to visit my Dad, my sister had the excellent idea of visiting Pike Place Market in Seattle.  It's been about ten years since my last visit.

Even at a very early hour the place was bustling, with the restaurants still opening up the but flower and produce vendors in full swing.

Orioles Game!

Is there ever a bad day for an Orioles game?

The August weather was surprisingly mild, as you can tell by the happy anthropomorphic condiments.

My sister scored us awesome seats, and the O's won over Detroit 12-3.

Smithsonian American Indian Museum

One of the great things about growing up in the DC area are the Smithsonian Museums.  Excellent in their own right, they're also completely free to visit.  (Imagine my shock realizing most museums don't operate this way!)  Opened in 2004, this was my first visit (along with my nephew).

While the Smithsonians are very cool, they're mostly the product of a somewhat bland 70's artistic sensibility.  The American Indian Museum is different though -- the building itself is as big of a star as the exhibitions are.  The exterior in particular incorporates water into its design in really interesting ways.

"Washington Will Burn With Them"

Billy Bragg, "Help Save The Youth of America" live

Back from the U.S.A.  I'm wiped out but for the most part the trip was good.  I can't believe this is the eighth year in a row I've done the Washington, D.C. area-to-Bellingham, Washington circuit.

I've got meetings and paperwork to do this week and then I start teaching again next Monday.  Huzzah!

Lots of pics to sort and upload too.

And I miss Chipotle already.  Fake Mexican food is my greatness weakness.