After a couple of weeks being stressed to pieces, it has been nice to actually have had a weekend that allowed me to get my stress levels back to normal. (I.e. not gone, just less extreme. That's me.)

Anyway, some of the random stuff I've been able to notice during my moments of trying to calm down:

V for Vendetta turned out to be a much better movie than I had expected.

Quantum of Solace turned out to be just as I expected. That is, a somewhat decent action movie which gets a lower rating in my mind than it should have got had they not called it a Bond movie. Because there isn't really much Bond left in it I fear, so why insist on calling it that?

Bleach - yes, we're in manga territory now - and more recently the probably less known Skip Beat! apparently have started being published in Swedish translation now, something I've totally missed. As late as a month or so ago I concluded that the local manga wave seemed to have slowed down to a lull after a brief overview of the bookstores. Guess that's what happens when you're more geared toward the English language market than the Swedish one. What's more interesting than the actual title - since I had a look at Bleach years ago but didn't found it interesting enough back then, and now 33+ volumes of a shonen series feel too much to go for - is the fact that it seems we actually have started to get a wider group of translators here. That's nice. Maybe. Because I haven't actually read their translations, so I shouldn't say too much.

Oh, and I have discovered that when it comes to doing nature science computer models, I suck at understanding the math formulas used, but I am somewhat better (not exactly good though, "better" is a relative thing) at understanding it when swapping to the computer syntax version of the models. Which - unfortunately - is the exact opposite of what the instructions assume that you should do.

Because dzioo had it, and it was too tempting not to bite. I still can't make up my mind about how the sometimes somewhat extensive lack of knowledge from my side should be interpreted. Good or a bad thing? (It could, of course, also be seen as lucky (for me) that the selection of titles here seem to be somewhat odd...)

And to improve my standing a little at least, I let the Escaflowne one stay on too. It was after all there when I first started to write my answers on the version nicked from Dzioo ;P

( Looong anime/manga meme follows here )

Watched a part of SVT's "One night for anime" broadcast while breakfasting (because I for some odd reason prefer to sleep during nights, so yesterday I gave up after having rewatched the latter half of Spirited Away and left the rest for the video recorder). Anyway, the choice of SVT to choose to show a Canadian mini-documentary on anime's growth in the world felt in my eyes very much a documentary on anime fandom in North America, and I don't know how much it has to do with the Swedish version of the fandom. Especially not since I'm not very familiar with it's local versions. All I can say is that for a boy who once grew up on Super Channel/Sky Channel/various random European TV-channels and then rediscovered it by German TV, I have trouble identifying with the American anime history. Just like I have a very hard time identifying with the American view of comics history. In some instances I can feel I'm very much an European. (If isolated Scandinavians can be considered Europeans, that is.) I also, as usual, feel I'm a very bad, laid-back fan in this area just as in everyone else. I'm just not cut out to be really obsessing over things I fear. Not that I know if that's really a bad thing. Lots of interests, bad at obsessing and being a total nerd. That's me. (My old Swedish teacher preferred the label "renaissance man" for that. And I think she had a good idea there.) Without going into the finer points of semantics, I feel - rightly or wrongly - comfortable with the geek title now and then though.

I don't know if I have said it before, but Simon Lundström - who is for Swedish manga and anime fandom what Stefan Diös is for the Disney duck and mouse fandom - is in my opinion very good in his role as anime ambassador. It's unfortunate that I never can get really comfortable with his manga translations, even if some comes off better than others. Not knowing Japanese for real I have no possible way to judge them in that aspect, so it's more of a choice of word things that bothers me every now and then. Maybe it's just my classical upbringing on Diös, Emond, Janzon et al translations that shines through.

I don't care if it's a stupid thing to think that things sound better just because they are in English, but... Maskinbrynja?! WTF? There MUST be something better to name it than that!
[English literal retranslation: maskinbrynja = machine mail; and yes, it's Ed's automail translated into Swedish we're talking about here] And again, yes, maybe automail sounds hilarious too when you start thinking of it in detail, but at least it doesn't give me mental images of steam-powered machines clad in small metal rings.

(No, I still haven't bought Fullmetal Alchemist in Swedish, only flipped through it in the store again. And, well, if they're going to call it that, I don't think I manage to buy and read it. The laughing would kill me.)

So BonnierCarlsen is apparently about to start publish Fullmetal Alchemist in Swedish. And translated by the usual, it seems. If I hadn't already been trying to emigrate for other reasons for longer than I want to remember by now, this would be one very good reason too. Could you please stop raping the Japanese comics I read, please?

Yes, I know, I sound horrible elitist now. But then I am elitist. (And besides, I'm not sure if this statement is proof of me being a comics elitist or a Swedish language elitist. Probably both.)

It's interesting that while many - in other words five, since that's all there are in the two towns I call home - bookstores nowadays have a pretty good assortment of Japanese comics in the Swedish language, there's always one title that is missing. And since that title is "Gravitation", it sometimes makes me want to know if there's a reason for it being that particular title. Much in the same line that Carlsen comics, who usually publish the same titles in Denmark and Sweden, for some reason chose to only sell "Manga Love Story" in Denmark. Yeah, I picked up the first volume when in Helsingör in June. Not that I really can say I'm in a huge need of the informative help it offers in that particular field it covers. But it's an... interestingly different manga for these parts of the world for sure, and I would have wanted it to be sold here, just for seeing the reactions. Yes, I'm evil, I know.

(This post was from the beginning intended to be about something else, which included words like "job application", "rejection", and such, but seeing I have already written and deleted whiny posts several times lately, I think I'm better off this way. Or at least the few who reads this will be.)

On photo art
Great, when I for once run into a non-boring photo opportunity, I haven't got a camera with me. Oh well, not that the fox in question would have been caught in pixels anyway. Not with the speed he zipped off through the forest when he spotted me. But I still had wanted to try.

On anime
You know, it's hard taking the rabiate "I'm the total expert on this anime" people seriously when they seemingly don't even know the standard spelling for names and such. Please use either the exact kana transcription or the official latin spelling, no home-made variants inbetween if you want to be seen as anything like an "expert".

On "manga"
And I still don't know if I should laugh or cry when I see things like this.
( Piccies )

So, let's make a very unusual thing and scrap the earlier post of today. Too late for that now. Oh well, then you'll just have to survive it. It's been to much negative things written here lately, and I apologize for that.

Now, for some more normal writings to try to counter the previous posts.

Spent most of the day outside in the cold, and among other things, for once found myself staring at a woman walking in front of me wearing a pretty short skirt. And before someone screams "pervert", I better add that it wasn't for the obvious reason that I stared. It's still the dead of winter here, -2 degrees Celsius, snow! Icy winds! You don't have bare legs in such a climate, unless you're a Japanese schoolgirl, that is.

After my little shopping trip, I've finally started to read "Gravitation" in the Swedish language and finds it readable. The translators do a decent job as far as I can see. Which of course only means that it's good enough for me not to squirm of agony when I read. After all I don't have a Japanese original to compare it with, and even if I had, it wouldn't do me much good. I am going to compare the Swedish and German ones later on though.

It seems that "Suzuka" somehow made its way onto my list of anime shows worth watching after all. Don't know why really. But I find myself liking the school romance drama for some reason. Maybe its nostalgia, or maybe its only my sappy romantic side that's in need of some nourishment. Anyway, the show's good in that subdued, relaxing way. Of course, this newfound interest in Suzuka made me want to read the manga too, but naturally it's not available in any useful language for me. Not English, not German, not even French. Or Swedish for that matter, but I'm not sure that's a negative thing...

While looking around in a vain hope that some company would have discovered the Suzuka manga, it struck me that Euro-American manga publishing seem to have narrowed in on their selection lately. At least I get the impression that they seem to concentrate a lot on stories in more or less flowery shôjo styles. And not necessarily the best stories in those genres either. What I'm trying to say is that I'm getting afraid that the publishers look more for a specific kind of art style than for good storytelling, and I don't really like that evolvement.

I visited the Skänninge fair today, as it is a tradition by now. Not to mention it's fun, even though I don't find all that much to buy nowadays. That said, I still follow my old route between comics stands and video stands, it's more of a case me being more picky. And more inclined to compare prices. It doesn't really make economical sense to buy overpriced manga on a fair, when I can go buy it for less money any other day in a local store. Or, if I really want to save money, by ordering it by mail. Old comics are a somewhat different matter, but the vendors at this particular fair mostly have outrageous ideas when it comes to pricing. No, I'm not paying 175 SEK for a Swedish Elfquest album, and no, I'm not paying 275 SEK for that particular Swedish Spirou album from the 1980s! I regret that I didn't bought a lot of the Swedish editions of Elfquest and Spirou back in the early 1990s or whenever those particular albums were published, because now it's too late, obviously. Because I'm that weird kind of comics collector who buys comics because I want to read and enjoy them, not keep them in mint condition as an investment.

At least I finally got my hands on a Manga Mania back issue with "Tokyo by night" - the infamous "Swedish manga" by Åsa Ekström (not that I have put a lot of energy into searching for it; it happened to be on top of a pile). So now I have read it all and not only the first page. Not that it changes my verdict very much. The artwork and story is bland. Nothing particularly out of the ordinary web comic or fanzine. But then, she is an aspiring artist after all, so one can't expect too much I guess. (Yes, I know I'm too lenient, but I'm in a good mood right now.) And all this "Swedish manga" hyping still irks me a lot.