Walker eventually took his high wire act to Kansas State. After sitting out a year because a torn ACL, he teamed up with Michael Beasley last year and tookK-State to the NCAA's where they upset his boy Mayo and the USC Trojans.

I thought Walker was a 1st round talent, but questions about his knee dropped his stock. Walker was drafted in the 2nd round by the Boston Celtics and if you had any questions about his knee, I think he answers those here on this highlight Good Gracious!!! That shit was off of a drop step!!!

The best part of this highlight is the bench's reaction lol they knew it was coming. Half of them jumped with Walker as he rose high above the square to throw it down. Its pretty obvious Mr. Walker has served up a couple of dudes in practice. The squad is just glad he's dunking on someone else for a change. 

Couple more angles for you

I doubt he gets much playing time for the defending champs, but I'll hit you all up with my Top 5 rookies to watch this year a little later.

BC

Holy batman-flippin biscuits it's the Joker by aaronwty!!!

Awesome artist, cool and humble person...just a great interview!

Questions by me awesome bat-butt-kickin' art by aaronwty!

Well, thanks again bro for taking the time for the interview!  Let's get things started with a brief Bio about yourself. Name (not required if you don't want) age, and your background with art. Any schooling or classes or formal training?

My name is Aaron Wong and I studied in an art college in Malaysia, my home country, for 3 years taking diploma in Illustration. I loved drawing since I was very small, but until I stepped into college I only realized that I couldn't really draw so well all that while, during the 3 years of studies I improved alot and I worked as a concept artist in the animation line in malaysia for more than a year after graduation. In a week time i'm going to UK for final year for a degree in Illustration and continue my journey of exploration in art.

Talk about determination! You are truly a blessed artist who doesn't mind working hard to improve!

Gotta start with HOLY-FREAKIN' BATMAN! Are you serious! Those joker pieces are the Best I have seen on the net! What drew you to the character Joker from the Dark Knight to illustrate him so many times? (All are fantastic by the way!)

After I watched the dark knight, I almost cried and I was really stunned and touched by the effort that heath ledger put in to the character Joker. I have never seen any acting as good as that and the whole world was amaze. Other than the joker, the dark knight is one of the best movie ever in the sense of storyline, acting, action and so on. It shows the industry that in end a good movie still comes back to the basic foundation of storyline and acting. Not fancy specialy effects with no meaning. And this movie really brought back my passion of painting because I rarely drew for my own interest since I started working. Heath made me feel like I wanna draw again. I was slowly losing the passion. so I decided to create some really nice tributes for him to remember this great actor we lost.

You have a great style with traditional media and digital. Do you think there needs to be a balance or can a person just jump into digital mediums like photoshop and painter without getting an understanding of the traditional things like paint or inks?

Yes I think that in order to master digital art we need to learn the foundation of traditional mediums like water colour, pencils, and acrylic. Especially pencil. I think that if we master the skill of pencil sketching, you can do well in most of the mediums. Cause that is the basic foundation of drawing and it trains your art sense and observation. I dont believe that a person who cant draw with traditional medium can suddenly create brilliant digital art. unless he uses photo montage.

Any particular games you are playing now? (Here is one for you to watch for!) [link]

I used to play warcraft 3 DOTA but I sucked at it.. most of the time i just play winning eleven on ps2. i have been playing since winning eleven 4 until winning eleven 11 now.. I hardly get sick of the same game.. haha.. maybe football games hardly repeat when we play.. so its always interesting

What are your plans for your future in the world of art and design. Are you making this a career move?

When I studied in college I thought about doing covers for movies, novels, comics or albums. But once I started doing concept art I fell in love with it and I think I can do that for my career. Now my dream will be doing concept art for movies, and it will be nice if i can draw concept art for movies like Dark Knight or other cool movies. I worked as an environment concept artist and also a character designer for an animation project previously.. so most probably I will continue with that.

Who are some artist that you admire?

I always admired DrewStruzan, especially all the great movie posters he did for star wars, Harry Potter, Hellboy, Indiana Jones and so on. I also loved Slam Dunk the manga alot but i dont remember the artist's name in english cause i read it in Chinese. And I also like a Chinese artist called zhuzhu. His works are very special. The strokes are so simple but yet so realistic and nice.

(Deviant Art can't remove this one!)

I love your digital painting tutorials! How long have you been working in photoshop. Could you give a brief statement about your process work and how long it takes to finish a piece.

It depends what I draw. It's really different the way I draw environments, portraits and character designs. If it's a portrait I normally open a blank canvas in photoshop, A4 size and 300 DPI. I start with the outline in one layer, a rough sketch first. Then when the rough sketch is done I trace a neater outline over the rough one in a new normal layer. When the outline is done I open a new multiply layer and start painting the major colours in darker tone from light to dark. and finally I open a normal layer and paint opaque colours from dark to light. Always paint the big areas first and do the details at last.

You are a big fan of films and pop culture. How do these things affect what you wish to create with your art.

I always tell myself that I only wanna draw the things that I like. Because if I have no interest in something no matter how hard I try to paint or draw it I dont think it will look nice. That is why I drew so many football and basketball players, movie stars and batman characters because I like them and I enjoy it alot when I draw them.

If you could work on any project/ film/ video game/ television what would it be.

I would definitely wanna work in the next Batman movie! haha! or Superman, or any basketball or football related movies.

Favorite video game of all time?

Winning Eleven 5,6,7,8,9,10,11!!!

Thanks again Aaron! Good luck on your adventures in the UK! Click here to see his whole gallery!

Uma recente pesquisa da Oricon, entrevistou 300 jovens (de 14 à 19 anos) para falarem quais são as séries de mangá que eles já leram. O mangá "One Piece" ficou em primeiro, seguido do clássico mangá de basquete "Slam Dunk".

"Dragon Ball" e "Death Note" empataram em terceiro, enquando a séries de comédia "Gintama" ficou em quinto, segudio de "Lovely Complex" dividindo sua colocação com "Nodame Cantabile" em sexto.

Em oitavo ficou "Detective Conan", e "Fullmetal Alchemist" empatou com "Hana Yori Dango" em novo lugar.

A recent Oricon survey asked 300 teenagers (ages 14-19) to name the most interesting manga series they had read. The long-running adventure manga "One Piece" was ranked #1, followed by the classic basketball manga "Slam Dunk.""Dragonball" and "Death Note" tied for 3rd, while the comedy series "Gintama" took 5th. "Lovely Complex" split the #6 spot with "Nodame Cantabile."

At #8 was "Detective Conan," beating out "Hana Yori Dango," which tied for #9 with "Fullmetal Alchemist."

Source: Oricon

CHECK OUT THE NARRATOR'S CLASSIC VOICE, WISH I TALKED LIKE THAT

Here are my Top 10 Favorite Anime series:

10. Naruto / Bleach / Flame of Recca.
Let me start by prefacing that the Recca anime ended awfully - they skipped/changed a bunch of things during the last round of the tournament (so many tournaments in fighting anime) and then ended the series there, which was like only the halfway point of the manga. But hey, Naruto and Bleach anime aren't perfect either - I still can't forgive the Naruto series for that year or so of awful fillers, while Bleach fillers were at least relatively watchable. Anyway, I finished the Recca series as manga and currently only read the manga forms of Naruto and Bleach, and of the three, I couldn't decide which deserved to be by itself in the 10 spot. I thought the Sasuke Retrieval arc of Naruto was alot better than the Soul Society arc of Bleach until Aizen dropped the hugest plot twist of the series, and even though the Hueco Mundo arc in Bleach as been good, Shippuuden has definitely had its moments, albeit in between some really slow and useless chapters (Tobi's convo with Sasuke about Itachi was interesting until they drew it out for like a month and a half). And Recca is just a really solid fighting series with what turns into a very awesome overall plot to tie everything together.

9. Gungrave
Gungrave is kinda like two series put into one. The first half is a huge flashback about how Brandon Heat and his friend rise up through the yakuza/crime syndicate that they join, and then the second half is about how he's resurrected as Beyond the Grave (not a really a spoiler, you'll understand after the first episode) to get revenge on the people that betrayed and killed him. The second half was action packed, but not nearly as good as the first half, and I really feel there should be more like this in the yakuza/mafia genre. Think something like all the backstory behind Spike Speigel from Cowboy Bebop, and you'll get an idea of what the first half of Gungrave is like. (Speaking of which, Cowboy Bebop prolly deserved a place on this Top 10, but I first watched the series in English dub, which I generally don't care for)

8. Getbackers

One of the few instances where I started by reading the series at a Barnes & Noble one day and continued to buy and read the US distributed volumes. I really believe that the success of a action/fighting series is based on how interesting its characters are and how novel their fighting techniques are, then on how good the story is. Even though Ginji is basically a lightning element user, some of the ways he uses it during the series is more unique than simply blasting the opponent with electricity or charging limbs for melee fighting. And while Ban's Evil Eye is basically genjitsu, the ways he tricks his opponents is interesting, and the one minute and three times daily limitations keep it from being too cheap of a hallucination technique. The series has finished publication in Japan, but I'm currently only up to Tokyopop's most recent release of volume 25 (of 39). Its also important to note that the series is illustrated by Rando Ayamine, so it wasn't surprising why I really liked the animation style because...

7. The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi
Probably one of the most notable titles of 2006, I'm happy to have watched it while it was still coming out before it reached the near epidemic popularity its enjoyed more recently. The show is hilarious with even its eccentricities in good taste, and Haruhi is definitely one of my favorite characters all-time (and I'm typically not a big fan of tsundere characters). "Hare Hare Yukai" is one of the most iconic anime ED themes in recent pop culture, and "God knows..." is one of the best insert songs I can think of. I'll be a little honest though - I only liked "Hare Hare Yukai" the first 100 times I've seen it. That said, I'm trying to temper expectations while I wait as anxiously as anyone else for the second season. BTW, Aya Hirano, the seiyu for Haruhi and the main vocalist for a lot of the show's songs, followed up this breakout role with roles as Misa Amane in Deathnote and as Konata Izumi in Lucky Star.

6. Ichigo 100%
My friend introduced me to this manga and I was really surprised at how quickly I went through it. For romance series, especially ecchi harem types, I typically wade through it, enjoy it if its funny, then forget about it when its done, but somehow for Ichigo 100%, which seriously only has a small harem of three contenders, I really took the story and characters to heart. Even before I finished it, my friend and I were already arguing over who the main character should/would end up with (I was in favor of Nishino, but later kicked myself when I found out Noto Mamiko, my favorite seiyu, did the voice for Toujou in the anime). I should also note that the anime and OAVs don't come close to finishing the story like the manga does, and the series is a Shonen Jump comic, if anyone cares in terms of series popularity or intended target audience. Ichigo 100% also features one of the most ridiculous confession scenes in all the anime/manga I've ever seen near the beginning of the series. I'd be impressed if it ever worked in real life.

5. Detective Conan

Into the top 5, this series has been around for forever (Wiki says 1994), and even though I heard rumors that it was getting ready to end about a year ago, it just keeps on rolling. I haven't been keeping up with the most recent releases, but I am pretty proud to have gone through 627 of the 664 chapters. Every 50 chapters or so, a major story arc with the Black Organization occurs to progress the overall plot, but the large majority of the series deals with individual cases usually lasting between 3-5 chapters. And despite some repetitiveness, especially in the same formula of intro chapter -> investigation chapters -> deduction chapter, a lot of the murders and how Conan solves them are pretty ingenius. I think I like being impressed by how clever a lot of the things are (while others can be just really far-fetched) and thats what keeps me reading even after the hundreds of chapters. The rotation of recurring side-characters also gives the series a sense of continuity, even when its mired in a long span of episodic cases without much overall plot movement. And as Conan says, "There is only one truth", and that truth is that if I didn't really like this series, I wouldn't have devoted some much effort into reading it all these years. It is pretty ridiculous though how they manage to run into so many murder cases (even when theyre on vacation). And also that people like Ran still haven't figured out that Conan is Shinichi.

4. Slam Dunk
Another old school series (started 1990! and ended 1996) that I ended up watching during college after seeing it on TV during a vacation in Hong Kong a while ago. The anime ends before the Nationals tournament though, replacing it with a not very good "all star" pickup game with players from other schools that they beat in the series. I reread the manga version with the continuation to the series end, and it did not disappoint. Sakuragi is one of my favorite all time characters with the same goofy but zealous "otoko spirit" (I just made up that phrase, otoko means 'man' or 'manly') as some of my other favorite characters (maybe you can guess the some of the next few series with that). As hilarious as the series is, I found it to be also very motivational. Sakuragi initially joins the basketball team to impress a girl and practices to beat his rival, but he later realizes that he's come to love basketball, and his determination makes his triumphs motivational and his failures heartbreaking. I remember watching this series freshmen year, and because the matches last around 6-8 episodes, I ended up being late to or missing a lot of classes that week (you shouldn't skip class) because I just couldn't leave until I saw how they ended. I was really satisfied with the series ending too, and that's really important to me (Recca and Ichigo 100% both also had really great endings).

3. Code Geass
Let me just say that I know there are people out there who don't really like this show and think its overrated. If there were an equivalent for 'narutard' or 'harutard' for geass fans, they'd probably be flaming people with it. But I also know that a lot of people really like this show, and I'm of the mind that this is one of the best shows I've seen in my anime experience. Yea, people say "its gundam seed 2" and there were a lot of similarities, but I've been impressed with a lot of the other mechs in the show after lancelot (the guren in season 2 is awesome). And yea, other people make comparisons to Deathnote, but I personally hated Light after a while (I feel like there's a point when he becomes less "I'm going to outsmart and trap you" and more "I've become so twisted with power that I don't really care what other important things I lose.") Lelouch remains a tragic hero for me even after the last few episodes, and that makes a huge difference in my opinion. The show also manages a fine mix of comedy, fan service, and drama that separates it from shows with similar genres like Gundam and Deathnote. Heck, go ahead and even call it a harem, as there used to be no clearcut frontrunner between C.C., Kallen, and Shirley for Lelouch's affections, assuming he doesn't have the same kind of ending as Light. Overall, there haven't been many series around that make me shiver with anticipation before and after every episode quite like geass does (I honestly couldnt fall asleep a couple months ago after watching a certain episode at around 2am just after the fansub had been released). And if Code Geass can end well in the next few episodes, it easily deserves its spot in the top 3 of my list after I enjoyed watching it so much.

2. School Rumble

I've based the #2 ranking going to School Rumble because its one of the few shows that I regularly rewatch/reread and find its just as entertaining the sixth time through as it was the first time. Its also great when you can just randomly pick an episode to watch, think 'oh, its this episode, sweet', then laugh and smile during the next twenty minutes. Aside from the trainwreck that was the last 2-3 chapters of the manga (and I know Kobayahi prolly just wrapped it up as fast as possible so he could switch to publication to something non-weekly with School Rumble Z) I've generally loved this series. Harima Kenji and some of the misunderstandings he gets into is just hilarious, and the series easily transitions between scenes of simple slapstick/comedy to more dramatic/meaningful scenes without losing the overall lightness that defines the series. I wish I understood Japanese better to fully comprehend some of the puns the series uses. A lot of criticisms with the first season was that there was no plot development, but I disagree - you can definitely see the relationships between Harima and Tenma/Yakumo/Eri and between Tenma and Karasuma change throughout the series, and SR is a completely different beast than other true 'no overall plot' comedies like Lucky Star or Minami-ke (or Azumanga, so I've heard). A lot of the issue is that SR doesn't really hit full stride until some of the relations outside of the Harima-Tenma-Karasuma connection is established a couple of episodes into the series. The second season, admittedly, isn't quite as good as the first, but its still has plenty of great moments - it only got a little stale for me towards the late middle/end (I forget) when they throw in one or two anime-only episodes. The second of the two episode third season OAV was just released the other day, and I can't wait to watch it, but its a shame they didn't give san-gakki the full 26 episode treatment - I'd suggest turning to the manga after season two. I could go on and on about the various, well defined side characters and all my favorite SR moments, but I'll just finish up with saying that Yakumo is prolly my all-time favorite female character.

1. GTO
I mentioned before that Getbackers was illustrated by Rando Ayamine. That was huge because Ayamine started by working as an assistant under Tohru Fujisawa, the creator of GTO and my favorite mangaka. In addition to GTO, I've seen Tokko, read Rose Hip Rose and Bad Company, and am still working on Rose Hip Zero and Shonai Junai Gumi, the prequel to GTO that Fujisawa first wrote. Onizuka is awesome, period. While Sakuragi of Slam Dunk is a 'goofy' hilarious and SR's Harima is a 'baka/misunderstandings' hilarious, Onizuka's is more of a 'lewd and outrageous' hilarious. He passionately stands for his ideals, and as the Great Teacher, uses his own unorthodox methods of fixing his troubled class of students, which is the premise behind the series and is almost always motivational/inspiring. The series does have its ecchi moments, but its not the mind-numbing fan service you get in some harem-romance anime. Again, the anime version has its problems of ending in the middle of the manga, and I personally read the manga before the anime, but in rewatching it recently, you do get a lot of laughs from watching Onizuka in action, even if the animation looks pretty old (1999 old). I'm a really big fan of Fujisawa's drawing style, and everyone out there should do themselves a favor by checking out the first volume of Rose Hip Zero at their local bookstore. Its a recent work that really exemplifies his style of character models and action cinematography in a more modern sense. And as a side note, I wanted to point out that Atsushi Okubo, the mangaka behind Soul Eater, a 2008 anime possibly worth checking out, used to be an assistant to Rando Ayamine, making him Fujisawa's disciple's disciple, but Okubo's animation style is significantly different from Ayamine and Fujisawa.

My coworker Cameron just told me that a client I’m meeting next week is going to kiss me on my cheek when he sees me.  I’m not too excited about the thought that my first kiss in four months is going to be coming from an old, gay man.

I’ve had some Jack Daniels and Jagermeister this week.  Thanks Sam.

My sister emailed me this picture of James Franco today.  It was much nicer waking up to four James Francos than to my usual English breakfast tea. 

Kevin, I’ve accomplished everything on my Lists post.

I got this cute, blue dress the other day for free.  I had to hem it up because there were some holes in it.  So I altered it last night and it looks so good!  I’m pretty proud of myself because my sewing skills are hit and miss (keep it secret, keep it safe) and last night was a slam dunk!  I love it!

My coworker Jerilyn has demanded that I write a friend blog about her, similar to the one I wrote for Yogi.  Stay tuned for that.  If you want me to write about you, I will, but I’ll write whatever I want to write about you, that’s the deal.  So, if you’re still interested, place your requests below.

I was so excited to get my James Franco email this morning, that I Googled him.  I found this picture.  Love it!

Debutta in giovanissima età, nel 1988 con la storia breve Kaede Purple, grazie alla quale si aggiudica il prestigioso premio Tezukashyoh (dedicato a Osamu Tezuka). Una curiosità interessante è che il giovane protagonista della storia breve era Kaede Rukawa, proprio uno dei principali personaggi del futuro Shohoku di SLAM DUNK!
A seguito della vittoria in questo rinomato concorso, Inoue si trasferisce nella capitale e comincia un apprendistato di dieci mesi al seguito di Tsukasa Hojo, celeberrimo creatore della serie City Hunter. Lo stile del giovane Takehiko si sviluppa proprio in questi mesi, e sarà fortemente tributario del maestro Tsukasa: nel 1989 viene edito Chameleon Jail, il suo primo vero manga pubblicato in monografico. Da qui al successo il passo è breve, infatti nel 1990 inizia la serializzazione di Slam Dunk, capace di vendere oltre 2 milioni di copie e di portare Inoue nell’Olimpo dei manga.
Per dar vita al suo capolavoro Inoue si basò sulla propria passione ed esperienza giovanile nel campo della pallacanestro, ai tempi del liceo; una passione capace di vincere anche la sua particolare timidezza:

"Quando ero al liceo giocavo nel club di Basket, e anche se la mia squadra non era molto forte io mi divertivo moltissimo. Ho un carattere che mi fa diventare timido quando mi trovo a dover parlare di qualcosa che mi piace; non riesco a dire quel che vorrei dire veramente, e alla fine dico una cosa non vera. Ad esempio che non mi piace. Beh, nel caso del basket è sempre stato diverso: sono sempre riuscito a dire che mi piace senza vergognarmene affatto"

Dire che questo manga è entrato nella storia è dire poco. Ha contribuito in maniera fondamentale alla diffusione del basket in Giappone, e non si contano le persone che si sono avvicinate a questo sport grazie alla sua opera.
Conclusa la serializzazione di Slam Dunk, Inoue si concentra su una nuova storia sempre incentrata sul mondo della pallacanestro, Buzzer Beater, nel 1996. Altre sue opere di questi anni sono  Akagasuki (1990), Baby Face (1992), Hang Time (1993) e Piercing (1998).
Arriviamo così agli anni recenti, che vedono Inoue impegnato nella realizzazione di VAGABOND e REAL, già arrivati in Italia grazie a Panini Comics e ancora in corso di pubblicazione.
VAGABOND, ispirato a Il Libro dei Cinque Anelli, scritto dal leggendario ronin Miyamoto Musashi, e al romanzo Musashi dello scrittore Yoshikawa Eiji, rappresenta forse la più grande sfida artistica di Inoue, un lavoro grazie al quale l’autore si è aggiudicato l’Osamu Tezuka Culture Award nel 2002.
Le sue tavole sono ormai considerate alla stregua di opere d’arte, i suoi testi rarefatti ed evocativi sono in grado di esaltare milioni di lettori in tutto il mondo. E quel che è straordinario è che tutto questo successo non è che l’inizio di una carriera che promette di essere veramente sfolgorante.

© degli aventi diritto

fonte: paninicomics

Le meravigliose illustrazioni a colori di “Vagabond”, realizzate con la tecnica dell'acquerello, sono state raccolte nell'elegante volume Water, che oggi vi proponiamo in una versione identica a quella originale. Per contemplare, apprezzare e riscoprire alcune tra le più belle tavole della storia del fumetto giapponese.

In fumetteria TAKEIKO INOUE: WATER - 13x20, B., 164 pp., b/n, con sovraccoperta

disponibile dal 11/09/2008 prezzo: € 25.00

A continuación intentare darle una revisión extensiva a las abismales diferencias que separan las versiones en papel de las animadas, así como también adjuntar uno que otro tip que les pueda resultar de utilidad a los lectores habidos de información.

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•Antes que nada me gustaría colgar unos cuantos términos y conceptos que quizás resulten de utilidad durante la estructuración del artículo (todo lo aquí mencionado es de mi autoría plena y debidamente extraído de la sección Freaky-pedia, que pueden encontrar en el extremo derecho de este sitio web):

-Anime (Animé): Animación Japonesa. Generalmente se da como consecuencia de un manga, que al alcanzar cierta popularidad se crea una conversión animada que puede o no ser fiel a la versión impresa, el cual corresponde al molde o eje argumental. También se puede dar en base a una novela visual, ova, película o simplemente ser una historia única y original, aunque estas ultimas son poco frecuentes.

-Manga: Historieta visual en papel. Se puede asociar al concepto de Comic occidental. Se caracteriza por presentar las viñetas de derecha a Izquierda, y por regla general se encuentran compilados en Japón en libros o revistas, serializadas semanalmente (Ej.-Shonen Jump). Sus tópicos mas frecuentes en un comienzo abarcaban primordialmente historias de robots y de jóvenes con súper poderes, pero con el tiempo se dio un paulatino alejamiento de los preceptos originales, introduciendo personajes mejor planteados, psicológicamente hablando, produciendo un notorio quiebre con los protagonistas de antaño que representaban con frecuencia a un valor o un anti-valor, para así denotar la pugna entre el bien y el mal, enfrentados entre si. Actualmente y debido al exponencial crecimiento del género, los tópicos abarcan técnicamente todo lo imaginable.

-Mangaka: Dicese de la persona que dibuja manga. Generalmente publican su trabajo conjunto con los de otros autores en libros o revistas de venta semanal, quincenal, o mensual en Japón (Ej.-Shonen Jump), en donde los mangakas, ya sean nuevos o veteranos, exponen y comercializan sus trabajos, pudiendo estos acceder no solo a una remuneración económica, sino que también a reconocimiento mundial, así como a la correspondiente animación de sus trabajos. No es mangaka la persona que idea el argumento base o la historia original de un manga sin ser su dibujante o creador, aunque la autoría de la obra se comparta.

-Fansub: Grupo de usuarios asociados entre si. Sus atribuciones son amplias y ambiguas. Pueden abarcar tanto el mundo de las series de televisión, como las películas, animaciones, comics, mangas, etc. Incurren por regla general en la labor de traducir, editar, encodear, entre otras funciones igualmente importantes. Es gracias a estos grupos que podemos disfrutar de una gran cantidad de series en su idioma original y en un lapso de tiempo muy inferior al estipulado, genéricamente hablando, para que una serie determinada se emita, si es que en algún momento lo hace, en la televisión, ya sea abierta o privada, aunque a la vez incurren con frecuencia en la violación de los derechos de autor, y sus accionar es generalmente ilícito e ilegal. Su trabajo es, por regla general, gratuito y de libre distribución, aspecto fácilmente apreciable en el lema que caracteriza a estas asociaciones de usuarios: “Por fans y para fans, no vender ni alquilar”.

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•Es de conocimiento general que la gran mayoría de los animes que se transmiten actualmente poseen su correspondiente versión en papel, pero lo que no es muy difundido es que resulta muy frecuente encontrar mangas tan diferentes a su contrapartes animadas que pueden incluso ser apreciados como obras distintas. Revisemos algunos ejemplos concretos:

-Full Metal Alchemist es una de las series más populares que existen. No solo goza de una animación soberbia, sino que también la trama es tan sólida y atractiva, el diseño de personajes emblemático, la banda sonora un deleite constante, en fin, faltarían adjetivos calificativos para categorizarla.

Tras los 51 episodios que abarca el anime le sigue una película que le da punto final a la historia (existen unos cuantos ovas interesantes pero que no tienen influencia directa con los acontecimientos acaecidos durante la serie). Como generalmente ocurre en estas instancias, los fans renegaron del final (pese a que ha mi gusto es extraordinario, pero bueno, no soy nadie para contrariar a la gran masa de usuarios que piensan lo contrario), al igual como ha pasado con tantas series legendarias del calibre de Evangelion, Nadesico, Cowboy Bebop, etc. Pero lo que muchos desconocen es que la historia continua, eso si en su versión manga.

Mientras que llegados hasta cierto punto en el anime Edward y Alphonse viajan al norte, a Ishbal, en el manga ocurre exactamente lo contrario. Ambos protagonistas se dirigen hacia el sur en donde encuentran nuevos personajes, distintos enemigos, secuencias que suceden a la inversa a como se dieron en la serie de TV, entre miles de otras menciones en las que mejor no incurro para no dañar a los usuarios que estén interesados en lo que para muchos es uno de los mejores mangas que se puede encontrar en la actualidad.
Pese a que aun continua en publicación (aproximadamente un capitulo extenso por mes), el tan esperado clímax de la historia lentamente comienza a vislumbrarse por lo que no seria raro que en unos cuantos meses mas la serie concluya, aunque como resulta frecuente en el mundo de los mangas, nunca se sabe.

-xxxHolic y Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle son otro buen ejemplo.  Como ya he explicado con anterioridad, la vinculación existente entre ambas obras ni siquiera se menciona en el anime, por lo que los interesados en profundizar en los desvaríos existencialistas de Clamp, o simplemente ser espectador en primera fila del esperadísimo beso entre Sakura y Shaoran del que se hace alusión desde los tiempos de CCS, no tienen mas alternativa que leer los mangas.

•Aunque existan muchos mas ejemplos de esta índole, el grueso de las series se ciñe a las pautas originalmente establecidas por los mangas. La diferencia radica en que, mientras que los animes populares se estancan en fillers o simplemente temporadas de relleno para distanciarse de la versión en papel, el manga continua pulcro e impoluto en su serialización. De este estilo se pueden hacer innumerables menciones:

-Bleach, Naruto y One Piece, tres de los animes mas populares de todos los tiempos, por regla general van una o dos temporadas por detrás de los acontecimientos ocurridos en el manga. De la misma manera Eyeshield 21, D. Gray Man, Detective Conan (que de paso es una de las series más extensas concebidas por el ser humano), Gintama entre tantas otras siguen el mismo estilo en su realización. A excepción de la ultima, cuando estas series comienzan a coincidir en distancia con la versión impresa incurren en temporadas exclusivas del anime (fillers) que en su mayoría no son del agrado de lo fans, ávidos por episodios que se ciñan a los acontecimientos de la historia principal narrada en el manga.

Hasta ahora únicamente he hecho mención de series largas, pero en realidad la gran mayoría de los animes que no sobrepasan los 26 capítulos se estructuran según lo estipulado por esta segunda categoría de conversión, teniendo el manga casi siempre unas cuantas temporadas por delante. Aun así la diferencia más significativa será la que viene a continuación.

•La tercera y ultima forma de conversión de series se da generalmente en animes de limitada extensión (entre 12 y 26 aproximadamente). En este grupo se pueden considerar las animaciones que han concluido abruptamente pero que continúan en el manga.

-Sin duda el ejemplo más emblemático de este conjunto seria Elfen Lied, cuyo final en el anime no dejo indiferente a nadie, pero lo que muchos desconocen es que la historia continúa en el manga de forma magistral.

-Gantz, Rorouni Kenshin, Slam Dunk y Claymore son también ejemplos sobresalientes de series que se ven interrumpidas en su animación para concluir en el mismo sitio donde comenzaron. Aunque haré mención especial a Inuyasha (que hace solo unos cuantos meses atrás finalizo en el manga tras casi 12 años de serialización continua), Hajime No Ippo o simplemente Fighting Spirit (que no solo complementa al anime, sino que ya se acerca peligrosamente a los 900 capítulos, cada uno de estos plagados de increíbles combates e hilarantes secuencias que maravillarán a los que disfrutaron de la serie televisiva) y Hunter X Hunter (cuya bizarrísima pero aun así genial secuela únicamente puede ser apreciada en el manga).

•Concluidos los tipos de conversiones, me enfocare en unos cuantos análisis breves de mangas que aun no han sido animados, y la mayoría posiblemente no lo sea jamás (links de descargas en los comentarios).

-Vagabond de Takehiko Inoue (Slam Dunk): A esta serie ya me he referido con anterioridad, pero nunca esta demás el reiterar lo magnifico que es quizás uno de los mejores mangas de samuráis de todos los tiempos. Las aventuras de Miyamoto Musashi y Sasaki Kojiro siguen cautivando cada día que pasa a más usuarios alrededor del mundo.

-Akumetsu de Yoshiaki Tabata: Es actualmente mi manga preferido. Inmersos en un mundo de corrupción política y económica sin precedentes, Japón se encuentra dominada por burócratas sin escrúpulos que únicamente buscan maximizar su propia felicidad. Pero para eliminar la maldad existente en el ceno de aquella retrograda sociedad llega el asesino serial mas increíble de todo Japón, el psicópata enmascarado, Akumetsu. Este es uno de esos mangas que posiblemente jamás gocen de una conversión animada debido a los insanos niveles de violencia que transmite, pero con la versión en papel basta y sobra. Defiendo la teoría de que es mejor separar manga de anime y no pensarlos como caras de una misma moneda. Se puede hacer un buen manga sin aspirar transmitirlo en la televisión abierta y viceversa.

-Team Medical Dragon de Akira Nagai: El sistema medico japonés se encuentra en decadencia. Intereses económicos y banales priman por sobre la correcta atención a los pacientes. Mientras que este manga busca poner en relieve lo corrupto y negligente de una de las instituciones mas emblemáticas que caracteriza a la nación, nos cuenta las vivencias de Ryutaro Asada, un medico-cirujano de habilidades sobrehumanas, pero cuya incapacidad de distanciarse de los problemas ajenos le ha acarreado miles de inconvenientes.

-Fairy Tail de Hiro Mashima (Rave Master): Uno de los mangas mas populares en la actualidad. Las aventuras de Natsu, Lucy, Gray y Erza gozan de un éxito arrollador, tanto así que muchos ya se atreven a tildarlo como el próximo One Piece (que de paso es el nuevo Dragon Ball, aunque esto ya es una afirmación muy subjetiva). Sorprendentes combates con dinámicas nunca antes vistas abundan en esta obra. Personajes carismáticos, secuencias comiquísimas, giros inesperados, en fin, todo y mas de lo que se le puede pedir a un buen shonen.
La versión anime ya se encuentra a la vuelta de la esquina, e incluso indirectamente el buen Hiro Mashima la ha confirmado. Es cosa de esperar lo inevitable.

-Zetman de Masakazu Katsura (Video Girl Ai, I`s, DNA²): El manga mas violento de Katsura. Según sus propias palabras, esta serie nació debido a su pasión por los comics occidentales, principalmente por la figura del justiciero enmascarado, Batman. Referencias a esta obra se pueden encontrar por doquier en Zetman (incluso el diseño de personajes es muy similar), pero con el tiempo este manga logro adquirir una identidad propia y justificar la lectura gracias a un diseño de personajes soberbios, una sólida línea argumental y porque no, a unas cuantas secuencias medias subidas de tono que a los fans les encantan.

-Bakuman de Tsugumi Ohba y Takeshi Obata : El dúo creador de la afamada Death Note vuelve a la carga. Esta vez nos traen la historia de un joven estudiante de secundaria que anhela con convertirse en el mejor mangaka de Japón, para así contraer matrimonio con una joven a quien le prometió casarse si lograba alcanzar reconocimiento por su trabajo. Nada mas que decir ya que al momento de redactar este articulo el manga únicamente lleva un capitulo, pero lo que si puedo asegurar es que va a ser todo un éxito, garantizado.

-Psyren de Toshiaki Iwashiro: Otra serie relativamente reciente. Poderes paranormales, misteriosos enemigos y una atmósfera que hace recordar mucho a Gantz es la premisa central de la obra. Un entretenido shonen de esos que les encantan a los jóvenes habidos de violencia y circunstancias enigmáticas. Los personajes están bastante bien caracterizados y los dibujos son geniales, nada mas que pedir.

-20th Century Boys de Naoki Urasawa (Monster): Una extraña secta liderada por un carismático líder de nombre “Amigo” paulatinamente comienza a ganar adeptos y se le atribuye una gran cantidad de crímenes. Nuestros protagonistas, al reconocer el emblema que caracteriza a aquel grupo como el que usaban durante su infancia para jugar, se embarcaran en una singular travesía en pos de interponerse a los malignos planes del misterioso Amigo.

Buscando MANGAS en la Web

•Encontrar buenos sitios para descargar mangas no es tan fácil como parece. Mientras que las paginas mas actualizadas generalmente te remitirán a sitios anexos para efectuar la adquisición del archivo, otras simplemente te saturaran de enlaces P2P (torrents y símiles) que no son del agrado de todos.
Lo ideal seria saber diferenciar entre sitios exclusivamente para obtener información y webs de descargas como tal.

-Baka-Update y MangaHelpers son dos de los sitios más actualizados en cuanto a mangas se refiere a nivel global. Los mismos fansubs se publicitan en estas webs para que bajen sus releases, aunque rara vez podrás encontrar una DD decente por aquí.

-MangaTraders, StopTazmoy MangaShare son mis sitios preferidos para descargar manga. Las dos primeras están plagadas de DD`s y es muy raro encontrar series fansufeadas que no hayan pasado por estas paginas.
MangaShare, pese a ser relativamente reciente, es un genial sitio para encontrar tanto descargas como información de vanguardia. Con el tiempo esta Web ira creciendo a pasos agigantados para así gozar de una mayor amplitud de títulos, que actualmente es su única falencia.

Espero que este claro que todos los sitios anteriormente mencionados trabajan con releases en ingles (excepto MangaShare que es una mezcolanza de países). Encontrar mangas en español es harina de otro costal, aunque haré lo posible para mencionar unas cuantas buenas páginas en donde puedan ser descargables.

-Sub-Manga es un sitio muy nuevo que ya esta haciendo furor en la comunidad hispana. Ostenta una gran cantidad de mangas en español en DD así como también posee una interfase sumamente cómoda e intuitiva que diferencia entre series, fansubs y fechas.

-A falta de más paginas especializadas, a los usuarios hispanoamericanos que aun tengan deseos de adquirir mangas en su idioma no les queda otra que adentrarse en foros informativos que abundan en la Internet.
Mcanime y El Rincón del Manga son posiblemente los dos mejores foros para encontrar buenas descargas e información valiosa. Para navegar entre sus paginas no hay trucos ni consejos prácticos, es cosa de acostumbrarse a estos sitios y con el tiempo uno aprende a que sección dirigirse para obtener lo que desea.
Mcanime es mi sitio Web preferido. La sección de noticias es extraordinaria y el orden en los foros facilita bastante la lectura.

Continúa en los comentarios.

I watched her speech on youtube last night, it was perfect, as in she hit
all the 'right' notes for the base. Her fresh, glamorous (in a midwest /
rural west kind of way) MILF-y appearance, her ordinary, all-American
background, her status as the ultimate Washington outsider (geographically,
politically, culturally,) and the fact that she's a woman will draw a lot of
votes from soft Republican centrists, of which there are many, maybe enough
to win.

Put yourself in the shoes of the average suburban Republican. No idealogue,
he or she increasingly faces assaults on every tenet of civilization they
hold dear, marriage, family, business, the country itself, economics, and so
on.

They see inflation, terrorism, terrible wars, and societal decline, and seek
explanations that comport with their backgrounds, upbringings, and
prejudices, just as Democrats do (though they seem to do slightly less
research and reading beyond the popular press on the matter.)

When a politician comes along and purports to explain it all to them, in a
manner consistent with their beliefs, they will vote for them, never mind
that their beliefs are factually challenged, their upbringings are
blinkered, their prejudices wrong, and their politicians pandering and
dishonest climbers.

They reject out of hand the solutions being sold by the other party,
because, well, it's the other party, the ones who caused all this stuff in
the first place, right?.

And they recoil in horror from people with different, but empirical
observations that challenge, rather than pander to their beliefs, that
wacky, crazy, sound-money, non-interventionist Ron Paul, to name one.

I think the Huffingtons and Sullivans of the world are dead, dead wrong
when they assert that this was a mistake for McCain. Indeed, if you think
about it, it was the best possible pick for the warmongering cadaver. Having
on his ticket a 44-year old working suburban wife and mother with a son
going to Iraq is going to blunt a lot of criticism. It will completely
neuter any possible substantive advantage Obama has or had on the war issue
among the soft Republican center.

I think picking her is a slam dunk right in Obama's face, strategy-wise.

None of the above should be construed as an endorsement of McCain - Palin,
quite to the contrary.

(photo scarfed from US magazine)

The MAD after the jump

And it shows. The inhabitants of Boston have long grown used to this barely-deserved special pedigree, and the self-importance they have evolved because of it has spread throughout the whole state. Where DC, Princeton and New York are festooned with American flags to emphasise nationhood and geopolitical identification in an increasingly multicultural age, Boston and Cambridge on the opposite shore of the Charles River have no need of such visual patriotism. Why? Because, as became clear after only a few hours of exposure to the Boston atmosphere, it is here, not in the big national cities, that the despicable arrogance with which Americans are stereotypically associated, and which many of the repugnant American guys I've known (most of whom come from this area anyway - specifically Nantucket) exercised remorselessly, has its roots. Where the citizens of Washington and New York are respectful, subtle, helpful and polite, Bostonians go into the day with a brainless swagger that says 'bow to me, because I'm better than you'll ever be, because I come from Bwaahrston'. I've written before about the stares I get for being noticeably foreign (and at times for being young, male and white as well depending on the motivation of the stare), but nothing I've had so far compares to the downright insolence with which I got all but stared out of the city. The men, loud and obnoxious and more obese on average than their city counterparts; the women, tarted up, attention-seeking and arrogant; all with the same slow egocentric walk that takes up twice as much pavement as their cross-sectional area warrants, and at least four abreast to prevent anyone from going past.

The same attitude carries over into their driving. Admittedly the traffic signals here are appalling and pretty much useless - often red in all possible directions, and with no recognisable correlation between indications for cars and pedestrians. If I'd followed the pedestrian signals, I would never have been able to cross a single road, but trying to second-guess car signals was almost just as difficult. What doesn't help is that the drivers, sprawled all over their seats, chewing gum and wearing Ray-bans, keep trying to jostle ahead of the remaining traffic even when their lights are still red. I was because of this that I nearly had my left leg shorn off by a fat redneck in a Chrysler who had the temerity to yell out of the window at me to get out of the way, and my right by a gaggle of about seven girls squashed into a tiny Suzuki, all of whom were trying to drive the car in different directions at the same time. Both culprits got a selection of my finest visual and verbal obscenities as a response - never let it be said that I don't actively promote equality between the sexes... Oh, and before I forget, the beggars here are all black as well (like in DC), but perhaps because the ethnic balance is more biased towards whites here than elsewhere, they're even more aggressive - I actually got followed briefly by two particularly enterprising specimens until I made a detour towards the nearest police officer.

The crowning inglory, if the offensiveness of the people wasn't bad enough, were the actual real live sites of Cambridge and Boston (I visited the former in the morning, and the latter in the afternoon). Up to now, I'd heard hype upon hype from friends, family, teachers, many people whose judgment I respect, about how Cambridge, MA, is the ultimate seat of learning, before which even the heavyweights of Oxford and Cambridge, UK, have no choice but to run and hide. I contemplated many ways of conveying what I'm about to say on the way back today, some more vitriolic than others, but here's my final version of my initial verdict: THEY ARE WRONG. And the reason why is closely related to the one that has made me despise all native Bostonians: I have yet to see any sure sign that the hype is remotely justified. Geographically, Harvard Square and the locality around it were an unmitigated disappointment - if I'm being brutally honest, it looks like the university stole some of Princeton's buildings and one of their (less impressive) quads and planted it in the middle of a failed attempt to construct an American version of the town of Cambridge, UK. I listened in to a tour guide briefly before the urge to regurgitate my breakfast became too powerful - for all his attempts to make the (even in relative terms) rubbish American Gothic of the older parts of the university out to be the next Wonder of the modern world, the remotest crevice of Corpus Christi (Oxford) could architecturally slam-dunk the whole town of Cambridge, MA, any day.

And then there were the modern buildings. Frankly, I've seen (and when I say 'seen' I mean 'been taught in') more imposing faculty constructions among the Bekynton portaloos at Eton - with all the money that Harvard has, surely (I struggled to reason) there should be a little more p'zazz, a shade more oomph, about their supposedly world-beating departments. No, of course not. Because, as I soon found out once I crossed back onto the Boston side to the Harvard sports facilites, they'd much rather build an American football pitch the size of fifteen Wembley stadiums, and surround it with a herd of chapels of every conceivable denomination that look like something the curator of the Tate Modern might find buried in an unusually elaborate work by Tracey Emin, than spend a single nickle, dime or quarter (all of which incidentally look exactly the same, making using coins hideously difficult) on improving their academic facilities. Because of course they don't need to. Because they come from Bwaahrston, remember? They're already the centre of the universe anyway, so however much anyone else spends, they'll still be inherently better. Because they say so. It took me a while to work out what it was that was bothering me about the area all of today, but I got it on the way back, much the same time as when I decided that I'd arrange Kurt Weill's 'Kanonen-Song' for cello and piano once I'm back in England. Boston and Cambridge, MA, exude an inherent overpowering smug conceit that I've never seen anywhere else (though I've seen it demonstrated by certain individuals, who I won't name because I want to keep my blood pressure at a healthy level). It's the sort of conceit that complete nobodies suddenly develop when Cash in the Attic unearths a postcard by Queen Victoria inside the handle of their grandmother's old toilet brush. And I find it absolutely disgusting, fist-clenchingly revolting.

So embittered was I by the sheer let-down, so punctured were all the expectations I had of the intellectual grandeur that Harvard would display, that all I could think of on the way back to the hostel was the determination with which I'd fixed a two-week stay in Boston into my travel plans (which will almost without doubt decrease to one week, one-and-a-half maximum), and the sheer guilt at the time and money I could have spent making my stays in DC and New York that bit more relaxed and fulfilling. What I really didn't need as I crossed back through Boston Common was for a church's glockenspiel chimes to ring out one of my favourite hymns from my school days, which they'd played at our leavers' service, and for a busking accordionist to strike up 'Podmoskovniye Vyechera', one of the saddest Russian songs I learnt at school, as soon as the bells were out of earshot. It was only with extreme difficulty that I was able to disguise the odd brightness in my eyes of rage and disappointment from curious passers-by.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm still prepared to be pleasantly surprised by what Boston and Cambridge have to offer, or I would already have made plans to move on to New York as soon as possible. What today showed me, however, in the starkest, harshest way possible, is that the pure academic perfection that I previously assumed Harvard embodied better than anywhere else in the world simply does not exist. And even if it did, it would always be forced to cede to the greater marketability of lower pleasures such as sport or mass pacification like organised worship. And where its echo does exist, the danger of fuelling sick arrogance as a result of excessive flattery is not only too high, but ever-present as well. Maybe I was guilty of assuming that understatement is not just an English trait. Or maybe I was right, and its manifestation in Harvard has only been drowned out by the louder fanfares of Bostoniana. I cannot hope enough that the latter is true. Which is why this isn't meant to be a diatribe (though I concede it reads like one), but a challenge: I am still ready to be impressed, but it's Massachusetts that has to deliver.

]]> http://brulionman.wordpress.com/?p=230 Sat, 30 Aug 2008 04:10:03 +0000 brulionman http://brulionman.fr.wordpress.com/2008/08/30/nadchodzi-nowe-the-new-is-coming/ Mapy Google wyguglaly nowa opcje "widok ulicy" ktora na razie dziala na ograniczonym obszarze, niemniej jednak zapiera dech w piersiach gestoscia pokrycia, jesli np wybierzemy Nowy Jork to na niebiesko zaznaczone obszary objete sa mozliwoscia ogladania ulic, jest to doslownie na kazdej z ulic widok 360' dookola plus gora dol i to co dziesiec metrow, mozna calkiem bezpiecznie w ten sposob zwiedzic dzielnice w ktorych poczestowano by nas lokowka w perszczaka a tu bezkarnie sobie ogladam bloki w ktorych dorastal Nas czy Mobb Deep, trafilem tam przypadkiem szukajac socjalnych blokow, patologii jak na Dublinskim Ballymunie i znalazlem najwiekszy w Stanach obszar blokow i wiezowcow z mieszkaniami socjalnymi - Queensbridge. Wracajac do mapy - jest tam taki ludek ktorego mozemy przeniesc na dowolna z ulic obramowanych niebieska linia i ogladamy to co widzialby czlowiek postawiony w tym miejscu.

/ Website maps.google.com launched new option on their page, it's a "street view" button which makes you able to see view of the street andall visible surroundings in that area 360 degree plus up and down. It doesn't work widespread yet but if you'll choose New York than all strets with blue outline are available to move that yellow guy, whose eyes you are using to watch. You can easily walk down the street even through doggy areas like biggest american housing project which was home for Nas or Mobb Deep - Queensbridge.

Nowa - nie nowa a jednak wciaz niezbyt rozpowszechniona dziedzina sportu - Slamball czyli cos miedzy hokejem, rugby i koszykowka. Nie ma tu co opowiadac, trzeba to zobaczyc: z czym sie to je oraz wsady. / Still new, still unknown sport - Slamball. It's mix of hockey, rugby and basketball. It's too hard to describe so you better just check this out: about slamball and best slam dunks

knajpy nowe w ilosci zatrwazajacej, wysyp jakowys, desperados, mehehe, alibi, insomnia, karczma, ckm i cos tam jeszcze

will be working for comex fair from tml till sun.. long hrs of work continuously for 4days.. gonna be tiring loh.. but... $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ yeah!!!! *i money face one* HAHAHA

anyway, was watching this drama lately.. its so good! i'm so in love with it now.. i hope the later part of the show wun disappoint me.. coz now so 精彩 already dunno will the later part be nt as nice a not.. anyway, GO WATCH IT!! haha.. Jerry is like so shuai inside and small pig so cute inside! and the bball scenes rocks! its so nice to see jerry slam dunk the ball.. (gt slam dunk the ball this phrase? suddenly wonder if its the correct word.. haha)
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有了兄弟 ... 绝对无敌!!

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alright.. off to sch now! cheers!!  .=)
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-=mEmOrIeS=-
-Li Ling-