Toshokan Sensou
Description: This story has an interesting premise. In this world, the Media Betterment Act allows the seizure and censorship of media to "protect the public." Fighting against the people enforcing this act is the Library Defense Force, whose job is to protect these material and bring them to the library. Kasahara Iku is the newest recruit to the LDF, and she was motivated to join the LDF because one of the books was interested in when she was younger was almost seized by the censorship police, and someone from IDF saved the book. This series is mostly about her growth and integration into IDF, and also the people she meets there (including her mysterious savior).
This is based on a series of novels, but I have not read them so I don't know how well-adapted the story is. I enjoy the characters, character dynamics and the premise, but probably don't look too deeply in the world-building. Still a fun series though! I'd say this is a light, not too stressful watch. Also, rare Suzuki Tatsuhisa voice type!
For #DecRecs today I'm going to rec having a tea pet! These are cute little ceramic friends that hang out with your tea things. I think you are supposed to pour your leftover tea over them, but mine just sit there and look cute
#decrecs Another podcast I enjoy that I think is very underrated: Mobituaries, hosted by Mo Rocca. whom I know from writing Wishbone, being a talking head on various VH1 "I Love the [Decade]" shows, and Wait Wait Don't Tell Me.
Each episode is a medium-dive into a figure or phenomenon in American life told with his characteristic mixture of humor and sincerity.
Some favorite episodes include the ones on John Denver, Soccer the Dog (aka Wishbone), Laura Branigan, Anna May Wong, the Gros Michel banana, and Jim Thorpe. The one about the end of the "miscegenation ban" in the US made me cry. But all of them are worth listening to.
I love a host who genuinely finds people so interesting and is so compassionate towards them. Mo never sacrifices accuracy for humor either. I really don't understand why this podcast doesn't have a bigger following than it does!
Happy Solstice everyone! It's the longest night here in the northern hemisphere so I am going to rec Sing for the Coming of the Longest Night by Katherine Fabian and Iona Datt Sharma
I love this contemporary fantasy novella about two metamores who must work together to save their boyfriend. Two people who don’t like each other have to team up and learn to appreciate each other story.
I also felt really seen by the "not sure they believe but finds ritual important" Jewish character
Today's #anime#DecRecs is something different! Short animation! 12 mins only, and very old now (it's from 2008), but I still rewatch it from time to time.
La Maison en Petits Cubes
Description: An old man is forced to keep adding additional floors to his house as flood waters rise. After dropping a pipe, he dived down through the layers and reminisce about the past.
It won tons of animations awards back in the days, and it's not surprising, considering the quality and impact of this short film.
For today's #DecRecs I want to recommend The Singing Hills Cycle by Nghi Vo. This series of four (so far) novellas which follow the adventures of the cleric Chih as they collect stories for their order. The worldbuilding is very east Asian inspired and super cool. I also love the theme of storytelling and telling the same stories form different perspectives and having them mean different things!
Time for the usual daily #anime#manga#DecRecs, and today I'm gonna rec Pandora Hearts by Mochizuki Jun.
Japan loves Alice in the Wonderland, and this is another tale with a twist on it. Our main character, Oz Vesalius, was told that his entire existence was a sin during his coming of age ceremony and was banished into the Abyss where creatures called Chains exist. He meets Alice, one of the Chains in the Abyss, made a contract with her to help her regain her lost memories and then together they bust out of the Abyss into the surface/normal world and found out that ten years have passed.
It's very hard to describe the plot... But the series starts off immediately intriguing, and there are lots of mysteries to unfold. Also, there are lots of heartaches and paaain... But the ending is satisfying, imo. And the art is very pretty.
I'd recommend not watching the anime until after you read the manga because the anime is not great (please, someone, readapt it) but the music is great (well, it's Yuki Kajiura) and the cast is A+.
time for week two of my #DecRecs hobby recommendations! what do you mean it's not the second week of december. I refuse to acknowledge the passage of time.
ANYWAY. @MoonRaccoon asked for recs of crafting hobbies that are hand-pain friendly, or thoughts and tools on how to adapt a typical hobby to alleviate hand/wrist/finger issues! I don't personally have any disabling hand conditions (...yet. multiple of them run in my family.) so I'm not speaking from personal experience here, but these are the thoughts I have about the fibre arts particularly, and I absolutely welcome input from people with more experience of hand pain than me!
I have a friend who swears by her ergonomic crochet hooks. you can get crochet hooks with handles that are much larger and easier to hold, allowing for much greater comfort while crocheting!
for knitting, I have heard amazing things about the addi rocket2 knitting needles in terms of improving comfort while knitting for people with hand pain!
And for Day 19 of #DecRecs, I'm recommending @naomikritzer 's novelette "The Year Without Sunshine," which is the most uplifting possible story about a community coming together in an apocalyptic situation to make sure that EVERYONE survives it: https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/the-year-without-sunshine/
Today's rec is Sticky Rice Pu'erh tea! It's so good! It doesn't actually have sticky rice in it, but instead an herb with sticky rice flavor. I love sticky rice and I love pu'erh and I think they taste great together!
Some flavorings in pu'erh get over whelmed by the tea but this makes a nice mix of both flavors
It's a pretty long essay that goes through history of anime and manga, taking into account the influence of western SF, the historical/cultural backdrop and the financial/marketing pressures, and wraps up with a summary of major themes/settings in Japanese SF.
There are many classic titles mentioned in this essay, so you can take this as many recs as well.
Here we go! I ended up writing over a thousand words of a rec post for #EvilAsHumans (and then I wrote it again because autosave didn't auto save) Please read it so I can feel like the rewrite wasn't in vain! (and then please read the book)
Because of the nail polish talk I see on my TL, I wanna rec my fav nail polish brand! The Ueba Esou Gofun Nail series~
I don't like my nail polish staying forever, and this nail polish brand has one day nail polish series (you can literally tear them off after dipping your fingers into warm water). Plus, it doesn't smell at all. No stink! And all natural products (if that matters to you). They stopped shipping for a bit during the start of Covid but I think they are shipping internationally again now.
So let's do #DecRecs and I will recommend another book!
The Dazzle of Day is a science fiction novel by Molly Gloss (who happened to be a close friend of Ursula K. Le Guin).
It's a generation ship story that explores the time before the ship, during the ship, and after the ship through a variety of characters.
What makes it different than most science fiction is a) the more "literary" writing and b) the fact that this particular group of spacefarers are Quakers and Gloss is ACTUALLY INTERESTED in the specifics of how their religion would manifest in their community-building, mostly through the process of consensus-making.
I am quite sure a lot of people would find this book boring or slow, but I love it. It's so rare to find any kind of good [religion]-in-space fiction, and this one also has a believable approach to how people would react upon reaching a planet after living their whole lives on a spaceship.
Just learned about #DecRecs! To make up for yesterday, Day 1 of Dec Recs I'll recommend this Chinese short animated series "All Saints Street" with four seasons. An angel, vampire, mummy, zombie, and werewolf live together. What could go wrong? Really enjoy it for the combination of great art, slice of life, and the supernatural. There's also a comic. It's produced similar to "Hey your cat ears are showing" but more memes and skulls than wholesome uwu. https://anilist.co/anime/114555#anime
For Day 18 of #DecRecs, I recommend trying to shift your perspective a bit. Sleep on the opposite side of the bed. Brush your teeth in the opposite order. Drink a tea instead of a coffee (or the other way around). Wear formal shoes for casual reasons. Be a little unreasonable where no one is looking.
MAL-Sync: Extension that integrates with Kitsu, MyAnimeList, AniList, etc. to auto update your anime and manga trackers. It also automatically recommends sites to watch a show or read a manga when you open a page on the index. This really comes in handy when I'm trying to watch old and niche animes. https://malsync.moe/
Anilist: Anime and manga index and tracking. Also has a social feed, though I don't use it much. Interface is just nicer than MAL and has more active moderation (though not perfect). I was able to import my MAL account pretty seamlessly. Have heard the API is easier for developers. https://anilist.co/
Ryuusei: 3rd party mobile iOS app for anilist with widgets to keep track of new episode updates https://ryuusei.moe/
Paperback: Free manga reader for iOS and iPad OS with no Ads. Pretty nice interface with a wide array of database options and options to download manga offline. https://paperback.moe/ #iOS#anime#manga
For Day 20 of #DecRecs, my favorite movies that I watched in 2023. Coincidentally, they both take place in the 1980's.
🧑🌾 Minari (2020): A immigrant Korean family moves promptly from Cali to rural Arkansas to follow the father's dream of being an independent farmer of Korean crops. Of course, adjusting to their new home is far from easy.
🚕 A Taxi Driver (2017): Based on a true story, this pro-labor movie centers a Taxi Driver on the front lines of the uprising in Gwangju, Korea, thanks to a German journalist seeking to get the message out internationally. #movies
For Day 21 of #DecRecs, "The White Vault" is a horror podcast imbued with ancient magics and the supernatural. It was hard to pick up at first, but once I got into it, I couldn't stop. I really enjoy the diversity of cultures and languages featured. While the first season could have been great standalone, I'm very pleased with the second season and ongoing third season. The production quality is great and I'm so drawn to the lore that has been slowly building up. "It often showcases the found footage format, accurate depictions of modern archaeology, and isolation horror, brought to life by a full cast and detailed soundscape." https://thewhitevault.com/ #podcasts
For Day 22 of #DecRecs, two wearable life hacks.
👖 my waist size fluctuates more than I want to buy different sizes for. I learned how to create a hidden adjustable waist band. It does create some scrunching, but I cover it with a belt if I'm ever really worried about it. It works and looks better than the belt alone. I usually do the "button through the belt loop" trick when not wearing a belt but it wasn't working with these pants. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILJrXOTGz20
💳 I keep my wallet on an adjustable double clasp lanyard and wear it around my waist like a belt. If I'm wearing skirts, I could either wear it above like a charm or below like a secret pouch. If anyone wants to get to my wallet, they can't open it because it's a draw string and they'd have to tug on my waist. Usually I can have it hang out without needing pockets to keep my wallet in. I can also hang my wallet somewhere I'll be able to get to easily between wearing it. Or I can quickly snap my keys on there like a carabiner.
For Day 23 of #DecRecs I'm featuring some artists (in no particular order) from my "Your English is Good (Duh)" playlist, it's a reference to dunking on the forever foreigner label ascribed to API folx when they speak English
Grrl Gang: Indonesian indie pop band
Dua Empat: Indonesian jazz guitar duo
FIG: Malaysian bedroom pop/lo-fi R&B artist
Eunice Keitan: Malaysian Canadian R&B/neo-soul singer-songwriter
AlexTBH: Malaysian queer "twinkpop" artist
Gene Shinozaki: Japanese American beatboxer and singer-songwriter
H 3 F: Thai R&B/soul/funk band
Gym and Swim: Thai tropical pop band
9m88: Taiwanese jazz/R&B artist
The Fur: Taiwanese indie pop duo
Abi the Nomad: Indian alt hip hop rapper
Asha Puthli: Indian jazz/pop singer-songwriter
Cehryl: Hong Konger indie bedroom pop/R&B artist
Audrey Nuna: Korean American R&B/trap singer and rapper
Charlie Lim: Singaporean neo-soul and electro pop singer-songwriter