Food for Thought: Student Animation Season 2013

 Commentary  No Responses »
May 202013
 

animationsplashimage

Hey guys Fenrir here with a rather quick bite of some Food for Thought! School winding down for many of us over here in the states — it could be graduation for those of us who are part of the class of 2013, and more generally the start of a much-deserved summer after a whole year of blood, sweat, and toil. And, for those of us in the know, the end of the Spring semester also means the premiere of several student animations – and if you’re really looking to procrastinate that final take-home final, then get ready to spend some quality time with some of the best up-and-coming animated works to grace your Internet browser!

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Give It a Shot! – One-Punch Man

 Commentary, Manga  No Responses »
May 192013
 

Hello and welcome back to another exciting installment of Give It a Shot! Here the writer’s of Moar Powah can share with you the things they love and that maybe garner all that much attention. I’m your host for this week, Starshine, and let’s take a looking at a somewhat popular but mostly unknown manga, One-Punch Man.

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Objection! – The Great Gatsby

 Commentary, Movies  1 Response »
May 162013
 

Great-Gatsby

Be sure to also check out Fenrir’s in-depth review of the film.

Starshine: Hello everyone! And welcome to another action-packed edition of Objection! This week we’ll be discussing the new Baz Luhrmann film, The Great Gatsby. As always I am Starshine.

Silverwolf: And I’m Silverwolf! Personally, I thought the film was great and have few complaints. My compatriot, as you’d expect, holds a different viewpoint.

Starshine: I do indeed. I thought it was an incredibly disappointing film and adaptation. While there are some things to be praised about it, I think it falls flat on its face.

Silverwolf: What do you think were some of the films biggest failings?

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Food for Thought: The Transformation of Mothers

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May 122013
 

Howdy ya’ll, and welcome to another exciting edition of Food for Thought! Fenrir here, and after celebrating a satisfactory Mother’s Day Brunch I cannot help but wonder… we have a very interesting idea of motherhood in popular media, don’t we? Mothers come in all shapes and sizes, they can be nurturing, or pure evil, they can sacrifice themselves as a plot-device and never come back ever again, or they can be selfish and cruel. We’ve got birth mothers, adopted mothers, evil step-mothers, god-mothers — like I said, literally all kinds of mums that play important roles in the lives of a protagonist.

Cause you know, we need to change bodies instead of talk to each other

Cause you know, we need to change bodies instead of talk to each other

But there’s just one type of motherhood trope that I just can’t help but ponder on — and it’s the transformation of mothers, and the idea that motherhood is actually an incomprehensible thing that can only be mediated when an adult woman’s body is transformed into something else. I mean really, what’s up with that?

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Objection! – Iron Man 3

 Commentary, Movies  No Responses »
May 092013
 

iron-man-3-poster

Note: This discussion includes spoilers for the film Iron Man 3. Also be sure to check out Starshine’s review of the movie.

Silverwolf: Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Objection! This time, Judge and I are discussing our opinions on Marvel’s latest film, Iron Man 3. I personally thought it was a solid film, not the best Marvel movie but definitely in the Top 3.

Judge: Hey there, it’s the recluse editor-in-chief Judge here, filling the other side of the debate. While I thought the movie was good, there were a few things that prevented me from placing it in the Top 3, like Silverwolf suggests.

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Objection! – Psycho-Pass

 Anime, Commentary  No Responses »
Apr 252013
 

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Objection! This week, rather than having a two-on-two debate, we’re doing a round table on the popular anime Psycho-Pass. Four of our staff are going to take turn discussing what they liked the best about the show, if we liked it at all! Each writer will present their case one by one, leaving you to decide who you most agree with. Let’s get started!

Psycho-Pass title card

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Food for Thought: On the Topic of Author Intent

 Books, Commentary  3 Responses »
Apr 142013
 

Hello friends, this is Fenrir here, and welcome to another exciting addition to Food for Thought! A few weeks ago we discussed the Bildungsroman, and how awesome it is when we reverse it; this week we’re bringing critical theory back to the forefront in the wake of the newest geekdom viral video that’s been the talk of the weekend. Harry Potter fans are in a bit of an uproar over Rachel Rostad’s 2013 College Unions Slam Poetry entry entitled, “To JK Rowling, from Cho Chang” — and with pretty darn good reason.

Basically, Rostad roasts JK Rowling’s depiction of Cho Chang — who as far as most people can remember — was Harry Potter’s first love interest and token Asian character stuck in the “nerdy house”.  Some fans have found this caustic, and terribly unfair to JK Rowling, or that perhaps Rostad is too “sensitive”. But, and I hate to break it to fellow Potter-heads out there, Rostad does have a point (A pretty good one at that), and she has the right to say it, thanks to a special critical theory I’d like to talk about known as: authorial intent!

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Food for Thought: The CONsent Project

 Commentary  2 Responses »
Apr 072013
 

Heya folks, Fenrir here with yet another exciting addition of Food for Thought! With the summer-months fast approaching, it’s time for con-season to roll around once again! (YAY!) But,while everyone is excited for all the upcoming big name events like say Otakon or SDCC — there’s a sobering issue that’s been raised around the cosplay community, which is a must for con-goers to consider.

consent3real

In light of PAX East’s cosplay harassment story, there’s been a more significant push to get out a positive message to support the community, especially the emotional and physical well-being of cosplayers. And that’s where the organizers of CONsent come in to make the push for community outreach. They debuted at Wondercon 2013 armed with a white-board and a message that really, should be a no-brainer from the average con-goer to handsy journalists:

Cosplay is not consent.

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Give It a Shot! – Samurai Jack and Girls With Slingshots

 Comics, Commentary, Television  1 Response »
Apr 072013
 

SamuraiJackHR

Samurai Jack

Back in the early 2000s, one show topped all others in my adolescent eyes: Samurai Jack. For those that aren’t familiar, the show focuses on the titular samurai who is flung into the future by the evil demon Aku. Arriving in a new time period, Jack sees a world that has fallen under the sway of Aku and fights to return to his own time and prevent these horrors from occurring.

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Food for Thought: The Reverse Bildungsroman (And Why It’s Awesome)

 Analysis, Anime, Comics, Commentary  2 Responses »
Mar 312013
 

Hey folks and welcome to another edition of Food for Thought! Today we’re going to have a brief discussion on a literary device that may, or may not, help you out on your next big English paper. The Bildungsroman–AKA the “coming-of-age-story”–is a time-honored tradition that can be traced in literary history from myths, to epics, and to even modern novels that populate the average English class reading list. The Bildungsroman is also found in many of our favorite anime, films, video games, etc — because of its timeless and nearly universal plot structure. These stories feature a child (Or child-metaphor) taking a journey towards becoming an adult, with a focus on the psychological or moral growth of this child-like protagonist. Character development is integral to the success of the Bildungsroman, with the protagonist’s journey towards becoming a proper adult standing in as  a metaphor for becoming a better person.

“Growing up sucks” is the theme of the reverse Bildungsroman, with a bitter-sweet end and hard lessons for our protagonist

But you know what, as much as we love when things work for our heroes, for them to successfully leave behind childhood and accept the “greatness” of adulthood… We also love it when their plans fail miserably, when the Bildungsroman is actually a recipe for disaster and instead of the triumphant growth of a character, we instead are privy to their failings and the ultimate realization that growing up actually sucks.

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