Cigdem Göle

John, It's the nature of all art forms i.e., creating a fantasy world where the characters do/say things which people in real life usually don't. Manga is based on this fantasy. The female figures in it are often forward and determined, therefore successful. Also they represent innocence. They experience romance in a childish way, which is meant to show the notion "good girls don't". The cartoon characters live in a different world and their experiences are extraordinary. That's why they are popular. I don't think Manga or any other cartoon format aims to imprison women. They should be seen as fantasy not as a concept to blame.

Hello Dan It's good to see you're back As you said, it is normal for a woman to worry in such a situation. I don't think there are many women who would feel comfortable in travelling with two strangers. Anyway, the aim of this thread was to focus mainly on Nakasawa's art and his depiction of the atomic bomb disaster. The above drawing disturbingly shows the effects of this incident.

Of course there is culture involved. How can it be the opposite? Maybe she just couldn't or didn't want to lie. As far as I know, Bushido means "way of the warrior" and refers to The Samurai. "wordplay-mindplay?" I look forward to your own explanation for this. I want to ask you one thing about your previous post. "....I suspect it is, and is not..." is that meant to show that there's an ironic aspect to your way of thinking?

That's right. The main character in manga is often Bishoujo (beautiful young girl) portrayed as a good hearted, innocent schoolgirl with a uniform whose skirt occasionally fly about. Although there have been an increase in the number of female manga authors, the sexist attitude changed very little. The reason for this lies in the solid structure of the manga industry and the group of readers it has been aiming at. The gender roles depicted in manga reflect the traditional Japanese society and culture.The Mother or The Older Sister in manga is the adult/mature version of Bishoujo, a maternal figure with a pure heart that the main character asks for advice when she is in trouble. One difference of Bishoujo and modern Japanese girl is that the manga character is more outspoken and always determined. Interesting. One thing that strikes me is my misunderstanding is partly that I probably am a target and therefore while I intellectually am a feminist, I'm old school. Perhaps at best what has been derisively termed a snag. Food for thought. Do you feel that Germaine Greers' "Damned Whores and (or?) Gods Police" concept can help understand the cultural background or is it more complex or subtle than that? I suspect it is, and is not, as Japanese culture when looked at through Kurosawas early works, the young girls were hidden away in movies such as Seven Samurai. In many cultures until quite recently in written history woman, unless married, or under parental/family protection, could be taken as property by any man who comes across her. A friend of mine regularly had visitors from Japan, (usually young fruitcakes who thought cycling across Oz pre higher ed was a cool thing to do), as her sister had taught English there some years preiously. Anyway, one night after a dinner party, one young Japanese women needed to get somewhere and as I was driving a guy home we suggested we drop her off. She immediately looked worried and didn't know what to say, or, how to say: no, that would not be proper. As we later had it explained to us. So, this young Japanese woman seemed perhaps typical in fitting into a rather incongrous role that spoke of both prison and freedom. That's quite a broad subject to cover in a thread on Manga, but at least on the last point you made, there is also the possibility that the young Japanese woman was only normal in not feeling comfortable about travelling with two men she met at a party.

That's right. The main character in manga is often Bishoujo (beautiful young girl) portrayed as a good hearted, innocent schoolgirl with a uniform whose skirt occasionally fly about. Although there have been an increase in the number of female manga authors, the sexist attitude changed very little. The reason for this lies in the solid structure of the manga industry and the group of readers it has been aiming at. The gender roles depicted in manga reflect the traditional Japanese society and culture.The Mother or The Older Sister in manga is the adult/mature version of Bishoujo, a maternal figure with a pure heart that the main character asks for advice when she is in trouble. One difference of Bishoujo and modern Japanese girl is that the manga character is more outspoken and always determined.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!

A Brief Guide to Scientific Literature Phrase / Translation It has been long known --------I haven't bothered to check the references It is known --------------------I believe It is believed-------------------I think It is generally believed----------My collegues and I think There has been some discussion----Nobody agrees with me It can be shown-----------------Take my word for it Of great theoretical importance----I find it interesting Of great historical importance------This ought to make me famous Some samples were chosen for study-----The others didn't make sense The values were obtained empirically-----The values were obtained by accident The results are inconclusive------------The results seem to disprove my hypothesis The most reliable values are those of Jones.-----Jones was a student of mine. It is generally believed that----------A couple of other guys think so too. It is clear that much additional work will be required before a complete understanding----I don't understand it.

The Lake House Plot Summary When two people "connect" the bond between them can be so pure and simple as to stir hearts in heaven. When they connect in all the right places at all the wrong times, heaven weeps for broken hearts. To heal these broken hearts, heaven breaks time. Written by Blithe Spiritus Kate Forster is moving out from her lake house, built all of it with glass. She is a doctor and has just begin to work in a hospital in Chicago, moving to a new flat in the center of the city. Alex Wyler is the new owner of the lake house, a young architect who's working in the construction of a new complex of houses at the city skirts. Alex and Kate are maintaining a correspondence, talking about the house matters, sending each other letters, which are put in the lake house's letter box. But a strange thing is happening, because both of them find out that the letter box is working as a kind of time communication channel, between the year 2004, where Alex's living, and 2006, the year that Kate's actually living. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0410297/

Cem Adrian (a voice extraordinaire) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBRH8py9vzI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxPcN9CHko8...feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWSjdty5FfE...feature=related

Thank you for your reply. I've looked at the link and the material there seems to be quite useful. I especially liked Vocabulary and Talking Exercises sections.

Congratulations Grandpa! So your disco days are over If you'd ever seen me dance...........Thanks Cigdem. Nostalgia, its not what it used to be. Yes, things are not what they used to be but still I think every age has its own beauty and excitement .

That's quite an interesting list, Jerry. I don't know if you're totally serious about the nominations but regardless of that thank you for your vote (on both categories). I also thank Stephen and Steve for nominating me and condemn DW Dunn for not doing so!

Congratulations Grandpa! So your disco days are over

I don't remember the author of the below quote but it seems to apply. "Middle age is when you're sitting at home on a Saturday night and the phone rings and you hope it's not for you."

Corpse Bride - 2005 Plot Summary When a shy groom practices his wedding vows in the inadvertent presence of a deceased young woman, she rises from the grave assuming he has married her. A fabulous scene...

Goebbels was a racist low life. IMO, comparing these two people is extreme and inappropriate.

Passtime Poets - Denmark http://www.myspace.com/passtimepoets There are four tracks on the band's my space page. Venice Is Dead, Snowflakes on Mt Everlast and Can't Fool Me are brilliant.

As an instructor who is costantly suffering from the subject, I object to Foreign Language being compulsory. I teach in the School of Foreign Languages (Ankara Univ) and half of the students who come to school are there because their college/faculty requires a certificate of proficiency in English/German/French before it accepts the students to academic programs. Therefore, a great deal of these young people have to follow a very intense language program for one year out of their own will, which naturally causes many problems.

12 Angry Men - Sydney Lumet, 1957 It was difficult for me to choose one specific scene from such an excellent film. Plot Summary The defence and the prosecution have rested and the jury is filing into the jury room to decide if a young Spanish-American is guilty or innocent of murdering his father. What begins as an open and shut case of murder soon becomes a mini-drama of each of the jurors' prejudices and preconceptions about the trial, the accused, and each other. Based on the play, all of the action takes place on the stage of the jury room. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050083/plotsummary

In fact, the only band that is compared to Coldplay is Nem. This band is not so popular (even in their hometown Ankara). I met the band members last spring in METU (Middle East Technical Univ) campus, where they gave a great concert. The frontman Hakan told me that Coldplay had a big influence on their music so it was inevitable that they would be compared to them. All the songs in their debut album, Güneşte Yanlız, have similar melodies to the one I posted the link to. The others, Mor ve Ötesi, Emre Aydın and Teoman are very popular musicians here. And their albums sell hundreds of thousands of copies. They're the mainstream bands/musicians of Turkey. Unfortunately,local bands like Nem, who make much better music IMO, don't become as popular because as in most countries, alternative music has fewer listeners.

Best of Garbage Special --------- Mor ve Ötesi (from Istanbul) Deli http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwKYxeI8Ebc ------- Emre Aydın MTV EMA winner Afilli Yanlızlık http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3i1cYJa90i8 ---- Nem (from Ankara) They sound a bit like Coldplay Nükleer Kış ---- Teoman Kupa Kızı (my cell phone ringtone ) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPFIEXIWrC4

You might also like The 12th Planet by Sitchin. His books are the most detailed ones on the Sumerian texts that I've read so far. Of course, his interpretations of the texts are a subject of debate, especially his claims about the connections of certain words that appear in the texts with modern languages. Such as, Adamu (Sumerian for working slave) and Adam. Whether what he claims is true or not, his books are indeed interesting to read. Çiğdem

Steve, I don't have any idea of what's going to happen on 12 December 2012 or 21 December 2012 (end of the Mayan calender). We'll wait and see. One of the things I find very interesting (as a linguist) in Sitchin's The Cosmic Code is the connection between the words Eridu, Earth, Erde (and many other words with the same meaning in different languages like Arz - old Turkish) and the constellation Eridanus. http://www.greatdreams.com/eridanus.htm From Zecharia Sitchin's book 'The Cosmic Code', we find on page 42, "There was a time, the Sumerians told, when civilized Man was not yet on Earth, when animals were only wild and undomesticated and crops were not yet cultivated. At that long-ago time there arrived on Earth a group of fifty Anunnaki. Led by a leadere whose name was E.A. (meaning "whose home in water"), they journeyed from their home planet NIBIRU ("Planet of crossing") and reaching Earth, splashed down in the waters of the Persian Gulf. A text known to scholars as the 'myth" of EA and the Earth describes how that group waded ashore, finding themselves in a marshland. Their first task was to drain the marshes, clear river channels, check out food sources (found to be fish and fowl). They then egan to make bricks from the clay of the soil and established the first ever settlement on Earth by extraterrestrials. They named the habitat ERIDU, which meant "Home in the Farawa" or "Home away from home." That name is the origin of the name "earth" in soem of the oldest languages. The time: 445,000 years ago.

Richard Hawley - Tonight The Streets Are Ours http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eBkrs4YpzI Do you know why you got feelings in your heart Don't let fear of me then fool you, what you see sets you apart And there's nothing here to bind you, it's no way for life to start Do you know that Tonight the streets are ours Tonight the streets are ours These lights in our eyes, they tell no lies Those people, they got nothing in their souls And they make our tvs blind us from our visions and our goals Oh the trigger of time it tricks you so you have no way to grow But do you know that Tonight the streets are ours Tonight the streets are ours And these lights in our hearts, they tell no lies And no one else can haunt me the way that you can haunt me I need to know you want me, I couldn't be without you And the light that shines around you No nothing ever matter more than my darling But tonight the street are ours Do you know how to kill loneliness at last Oh there's some much there to heal dear and make tears things of the past But do you know that Tonight the street are ours