Week 3: 13-19 January 2020

A bad or let’s say turbulent week, despite delivery of the dōjinshi on Tuesday and the translation on Friday. Maybe I got a bit of PPD. Resistance took a grab at me when I lowered my guard by thinking I had the right to relax. And the delivery made me so excited that I completely forgot about an important meeting, which was extremely embarrassing – this sort of thing never happens to me, which just shows how important the dōjinshi apparently is. We rescheduled for Thursday instead and I was forgiven. And the meeting (an interview which is part of a side job) went great.

On Friday me and S, together with B, saw the show Endangered Species by House of Living Colors as a part of Tanztage at Sophiensaele. S and B were more positive than me. Although I liked the core themes and the monologues, I would have wanted some more “show” in between, to be amazed and impressed. Afterwards we had some drinks at Steinkeller.

Inspired by the show we watched Paris is Burning on Saturday, and I realised that I had never watched it in full before. Vogue balls as a beautiful and heartbreaking way to deal with oppression. I think each time and place needs to find its own innovative ways to fight oppression.

Today I worked a bit and had a late lunch at Kimchi Princess with A and H&H. I also got some ideas for my film and contacted a couple of creators.

Artistic practices

Unit 7: Jonas Staal – New World Summit

• “ARTISTIC OFFICE. Constructing the 7th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art” (Lidia Rossner, 2012, 60 min)

Final project

• Okada, Toshio. 2015 (1996). “Introduction to Otakuology.” In Debating Otaku in Contemporary Japan: Historical Perspectives and New Horizons, edited by Patrick W. Galbraith, Thiam Huat Kam, and Björn-Ole Kamm, translated by Keiko Nishimura, 89–101. London: Bloomsbury.
• Tamagawa, Hiroaki. 2012. “Comic Market as Space for Self-Expression in Otaku Culture.” In Fandom Unbound: Otaku Culture in a Connected World, edited by Mizuko Ito, Daisuke Okabe, and Izumi Tsuji, 107–32. New Haven: Yale University Press.
• Galbraith, Patrick W. 2015. “Moe Talk: Affective Communication among Female Fans of Yaoi in Japan.” In Boys Love Manga and Beyond: History, Culture, and Community in Japan, edited by Mark McLelland, Kazumi Nagaike, Katsuhiko Suganuma, and James Welker, 153–68. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.

Anime

• 1995: Neon Genesis Evangelion. E17–18 (getting great!)

Film

• Paris is Burning (Jennie Livingston, 1990, 71 min)

Show

• House of Living Colors: Endangered Species (Tanztage at Sophiensaele)