Jon Krakauer wrote a book about football star turned Army recruit, Pat Tillman, called, Where Men Win Glory. The first time I heard about Tillman was an oligarchic slap in the face. I think it was Tom Cruise who was all over the news talking about all that Tillman had sacrificed to follow his beliefs and convictions. Tillman gave up a lucrative NFL contract and an otherwise enviable life to join the Army. I have great admiration for anyone who sacrifices any part of their experience to serve our country, especially in time of war– this includes Pat Tillman. What was insulting about the media rodeo surrounding Tom Cruise was that to many people, giving up anything less than a multi-million dollar contract wouldn’t be as much of a sacrifice. If you’re poor, you deserve to die. If you’re rich, it’s a travesty.

If Where Men Win Glory is anything like Krakauer’s other books, I’ll read it at least once. Eiger Dreams still tops my lists of books that I will take anywhere with me, even if it means leaving the rest behind. Pat Tillman had a similar opinion of the book, as it was found in his backpack after his death in Afghanistan.

Pat Tillman reminds me of every other jock I grew up with and found easy to dislike. When I was a kid, I never knew why I never liked those guys, but reading one section on Krakauer’s new book put the whole experience into perspective for me and helped me realize how wrong I’ve been about them and about me.

Pat Tillman wrote an entry in his journal while in boot camp describing the one event in his life that changed everything for him. He was playing little league football and he temporarily forgot himself and gave everything he had to make one play successful. He had always been a good athlete, but after this one play, he was considered to be a great athlete, and from this he fed and fueled his desires to accomplish anything he set his mind to do.

We are past Thanksgiving, by a few days, and well into Christmas, but reading that description reminded me of a Thanksgiving memory I’ve tried to bury for several years. My grandparents came down for Thanksgiving one year when I was very young. They lived eight hours away, so this was a pretty big deal. Whatever Thanksgiving this happened to be, I remember that it was very cold and raining. We had some extra chairs in a shed out back that would have been useful in the house. Those little fold-up chairs that are cold and grossly uncomfortable. The grownups had chairs– nice wooden ones around the big table. My dad suggested that it would be nice to have those chairs out of the shed, obviously implying that I go get them. At least that’s what I inferred.

I had one of those flights of fancy common to my childhood, and apparently inescapable as an adult– I imagined my dad writing and singing a country song at family get-togethers for years to come. The song would be about that Thanksgiving and detail my quest to retrieve the chairs from the shed. In the middle of the song, he would stop strumming his guitar and soar his hand out in chilling salute and sing, But he didn’t care, he just kept on a goin’.

Midway through the yard I realized that my dad didn’t even own a guitar and he certainly didn’t write songs. If he did, they weren’t about me. By the time I u-turned and made it back to the house, I had also rationalized that I didn’t even want to sit on those chairs, and that sitting on the couch would be our only other option. The couch was in front of the TV, which was still a novelty while eating back in those days. No way in hell was I putting myself through all that just to get some chairs that I didn’t want to sit on in the first place.

I didn’t get the chairs, and my dad never wrote the song. He didn’t say anything about it, but even as a kid, you know when your dad is disappointed in you. Honestly, I didn’t care, but I was still young enough to be sensitive to the sting of that look of disappointment. It wouldn’t be the last, or the worst.

I don’t remember how the rest of that day went, but my little act of rebelliousness is a trait that would rear its buck-toothed head again and again over the years. It was a very telling sign of who I was to become. Over the years I’ve come up with the most ingenious ways to find the easiest path. Not the path that would benefit me long term, but the path that felt good right now. No great successes, but at least no tremendous failures either. What I’ve learned is that no great successes is an umbrella for a host of nagging little failures. On that Thanksgiving day, and every day afterward, I have lived the coward’s life.

Sometimes making a commitment is easier than facing ourselves, who we really are. It is a much simpler task to enter into a contract of co-dependancy than to go it alone and have no one to blame except yourself. The right thing to do isn’t always the easiest decision to make, and the wrong thing to do isn’t always hard to live with. Carpe Diem only works if you have the constitution to accept full responsibility for your actions. Anything else is foolish and a sure path to failure.

Pat Tillman hated the Army. He had opportunities, because of his social status, to get out, to leave, and to never look back. He stayed in, and died. The worst kind of death to a warrior– friendly fire. Someone jumped the gun and relied on the easiest decision to make– shoot first, ask questions later. But those questions are unanswerable for your common coward, and all begin with the impossible word, Why?

Why can’t I finish this book? Why am I stalling? Why do I think it’s going to write itself? Not all warriors face an external enemy. Not all cowards get another opportunity to turn their backs on responsibility.

To Pat Tillman– I don’t care who you were “back then.” I only admire the fact that when the moment came for you to make your decision, you made it and you stuck to it. A man without his word is mute.

© n29XI Vagabond Lit

mediafire — megaupload — rapidshare — mangahut

Vagabond is back with a somewhat short chapter, but more importantly, still no signs of 284. We are just going to release subsequent chapters as normal since there really is no indication of it getting filled anytime soon (not to say I don’t deeply hope it does). We know, it’s a pretty lame situation, but what are ya gonna do. Anyways, I apologies for tempting all the people that refuse to skip chapter 284. Also, we should get really back in gear after thanksgiving break is over, so look forward to it.

Oh, I just noticed too, happy birthday us. It’s already been a year as of today. (Kinda disappointed I forgot. Maybe we’ll do a belated birthday blowout later or something, no promises though.)

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Yey! I can’t afford to buy loads of clothes so I found out a way to save money. I just loose most of the weight I’ve gained while moving to Germany. Moving to another Country for most people result in some weight gain or weight loss. In my case, when I moved to Munich, I didn’t start with sports as I was supposed to and I wasn’t used to the groceries and a bit overwhelmed of all the good chocolate bars they have here. So I gained about 9 kilos in like two years. Which isn’t good. I have a heart condition and to jump in weight and stop doing sports and eating like burger king every fourth day just isn’t that good for me. Now I’ve lost about 5 kilos in soon to be three months, going slow here, don’t wanna push it. And all of a sudden I can wear all the clothes that’s been looking weird and illfitted on me before. So my wardrobe has just been a whole lot’a bigger. Feels good. I’m not going to buy any new clothes til’ I’ve lost about six kilos which nI hope will be about the 18:th – my birthday. I wouldn’t say I’m on a diet. I haven’t eaten a salad in these three months, I throw up if my food doesn’t make me full… I’m just doing more sports and me and boyfriend cooks a whole lot more at home.Our pizza place has gotten more expensive so we don’t eat that much pizza anymore either. And I’ve started doing more sports. Which is good although my knees aren’t enjoying it too much. And I don’t want to get really, really thin and I know I’m perfect just the way I am so don’t worry, I just want to feel good and healthy and I didn’t before. I got short of breath, my heart was pounding like a freak and then it dropped all of a sudden (irregular heartbeats, haven’t had any problems at all the last year though) and my stomach was really bugging me, which turned in to a bad circle, to cure my bad stomach I had to eat… and so on and so forth.

So today, as all days, we’re going retro style!

Skirt – Hunkydory ~ 2006

Sweater – Mono ~ 2006

Boots – Vagabond fall 2007

Bracelet – selfmade

Dear A,

I’ve been writing emails to plenty of people now and since I am currently on an email writing frenzy and that I cannot control myself anymore because of my apparent OCD… I’ve never actually asked my doctor if it was OCD but sometimes I go crazy on simple things like this ( and actually I like it because i always feel fulfilled once I’m done… 3 hours later ).

You kinda gave me an idea. I don’t know if I told you about this but I am seriously considering hitchhiking Canada. I would start from here in the province of Quebec, then I would go to Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta and then I would come back. If I have more time on my hands and everything is right I also consider checking out Yukon. I started planning stuff. I began thinking about what I should bring and what I shouldn’t bring and what kind of craziness might happen. In between this I began to realize that I needed something to attract drivers in order to be picked up easier and faster so I don’t stand like a wounded dog under the rain for five hours. I almost immediately thought that I should bring my guitar ( and that means I have to re-learn how to play it ) but then I thought that it would be too big so I thought of the ukulele you kept mentioning and now I am considering buying a cheap ukulele!!! Wouldn’t that be the coolest thing!?!? I mean I would be known as the legendary ukulele wanderer!!! I would make the news like ” Have you seen the Uke Traveller?! ” and ” The Ukulele Wanderer strikes again! “. Ok, ok, I’m dreaming here… But I do think about bringing a ukulele with me.

So yeah I’ve started planning this thing. I subscribed to a hitchhiking forum where experienced people will probably be able to give me some advice. I plan on doing this in two years from now on june 2011. I will try not to spend money during this trip and I expect to spend most of the summer travelling this way. I still have to tell my family about it and I am pretty sure everybody’s going to freak out so I have to choose the right moment or unless they will believe I am in some sort of state of distress or something… Frankly I have no idea how I will present this idea, most especially to my mom, because I’ve been there forever for her and she has been there for me as well.

I see this as a personal journey rather than a travelling experience. I will write my daily experiences in a journal that I will bring with me. I will also bring my Canon camera that is neither too expensive neither too crappy so I will bring some great pictures ( I think ). I’ve started thinking about some “tricks” like putting two 200$ in two plastic bags and hide them in my two shoes for desperate measures. I also plan on bringing my cd player and some amazing cds like Sigur Ros!!! I will try not to go in hotels and rent rooms and I will try to camp as much as possible and for this I expect to deal with cops and thugs so I will bring my best smiles with me for the cops and my little handy knife for the thugs…

I think what’s triggered me to think about this seriously is Jack Kerouac’s book titled ” On the Road ” which is all about hitchhiking. The guy in the story is pretty messed up and I am different ( I think ) when compared to him, but I still need that freedom I can’t seem to find in here. Plus, this Jack Kerouac guy, well, the “hero” in the book, is him and it’s mostly an auto-biographical novel. I don’t know if I told you about this, but I have always had some sort of love for the 50s and when I found the Beat Generation writers like Kerouac I immediately associated myself to them and Jack Kerouac seems to have some sort of link with me. He was french canadian too! I don’t know what the hell is going on between him and I.

I’m pretty sure that what I am searching for won’t be found during this trip but I have been sick enough in the recent years to see people around me are living in a daily routine and I don’t want to live that. I’ve spent some time in hospital beds and when I would talk with other sick people the topics were really different. We would talk about simple things. Things you don’t think of when you aren’t sick. I remember I spoke to an old man while we were eating that horrible hospital food and we were wondering what we would eat and drink when we would get out. I remember I wanted a good bloody steak with mashed potatoes and some green broad beans. It was enough to make me feel happy and I wanted to get out of there just to eat that. Nowadays I’ve begun to fall back into routine and I almost forgot about that desire I had back in the hospital and I don’t want to forget about that and that’s why I want to leave this place with a feeling of uncertainty so I can enjoy everything I see, taste and touch. It’s like in my favorite book, “The Little Prince”, when he goes to the well in the middle of the desert and he drinks water with the aviator. The water would be ordinary to other people who drank water everyday, but to the aviator, it was the product of their desire to get water, the fact that they walked so long and the fact that they had to use the pulley in order to ultimately get it! That’s why it tasted so good to him and to the little prince.

The fact is that I am doing this knowing that I will probably find adversity. It’s not like I am going there with an improvised bag using a red cloth with white spots on it, all of it attached to a wooden stick like in the cartoons. I know I’ll probably be unable to sleep during some nights. I might get robbed or beaten or whatever. I’ll try to avoid this as much as possible, but I still have to hitchhike the way I want to or else it won’t be hitchhiking anymore. Still, I have to train my body for this because I’m pretty sure I’ll be dead tired most of the time so I have to be in the best shape possible.

That’s why I’m going to walk practically everyday from now on. I’ve already been walking pretty often but it was only for entertainment purpose or to go out with friends. I don’t have a car and when I have to buy stuff or whatever I just WALK to the store and bring back the goods home. I still don’t get the car thing and I don’t understand why so many people have cars. I don’t know if I missed something here. So, yeah, from now on I’ll walk a lot. Next summer I’m planning on walking from home right to the camp ( which means about 250 kilometers… and seriously I won’t do the math to explain how long that is in miles because you americans need to use the metric system ). I will bring the usual stuff I bring when I go there ( clothes and books and some cds and other things ). It should give me a preview of a hitchhiking experience without drivers picking me up ( which should be the hardest days ).

So, yeah, I’m going to write a book on this. I don’t expect it to be published by anyone but I’ll try to if I feel like the material is somewhat worth it. I’ve never studied literature ( so my curriculum vitae in that department would be pretty short ) but I think I’m pretty good ( in french, at least ) and I know a couple of authors in the area who might be able to help me.

I’ve recently met very old friends who were in classmates in primary school and high school. When I was really sick I lost sight of them and back then I thought that they were really ahead of me in studies and jobs. I mean, they are. Some of them are going to be doctors and pharmacists, others already have great jobs and live a steady life. But somehow I feel like I have something more inside my head that they don’t have. They don’t question society like I do and they don’t see the things I see. They don’t know how to write either ( I found that out on Facebook ). I think that all these years of illness I’ve spent reading and listening and watching others is finally paying off. I feel like I am stronger inside. I also am sad to see that these young minds who sometimes were breaking laws and questioning so many things in life ended up as ordinary human beings with very little imagination, ideas and hopes. Of course they still have these things but it’s hidden deep inside now and it will only bloom when it will be too late.

I can’t believe I wrote so much stuff! I don’t even know how much time I spent on this email! Ok, I have to stop myself now. I guess I had to tell someone about this and since I’m too chicken shit to tell my hitchhiking plans to the people who live next to me and I wanted to tell them to someone like you who can’t really judge me or anything. I guess this is the good side of internet? I don’t know, really. This place is both full and empty at the same time. It’s confusing.

Thanks for reading my “dreamer’s melodrama”,

X

My Sanuk Vagabonds

I have been wearing my Sanuk Vagabonds for a while now.  I first wrote about them in this post where they were recommended as a minimalist weight lifting shoe.  These are the original Sanuk shoe and you can see them on the Sanuk website.  There are several important factors in considering whether a shoe is “minimalist,” so I will describe how these shoes fares in each category.

• Flexibility: The sole of the Sanuk is very flexible.  It has the sole of a flip-flop.
• Heel Lift: The sole is completely flat.  Again, it is a flip-flip sole.  It is almost impossible to find a shoe without heel lift, but this fits the bill.
• Tactile Sensitivity: There is not much tactile sensitivity because the sole is relatively thick and soft, so it masks all texture on the ground.  You can feel the edge of a curb or something large, but you won’t feel that you are stepping on a rock or twig.
• Toe Wiggle Room: This shoe has the most toe room of any that I have worn.  Part of this is the soft canvas upper which is pretty loose.  I usually wear this shoe without socks making my toes even freer.
• Attachment to Foot: Loose shoes often have problems falling off but not the Vagabond.  Although, I would not recommend this for a running shoe, I have run in it several times:  it stayed on my feet without a problem and worked fine.  Flip-flops require you to grasp the sole with your toes which is unnatural.  The Sanuk does not have this problem.

]]> http://socialgypsy.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/hibernation/ Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:23:21 +0000 lindsaytowle http://socialgypsy.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/hibernation/

This Social Gypsy is heading out to the desert for a long winter’s rest. Don’t worry we will be back after Stuffing our face Day! In the meantime, we are rushing over to AllSaints Spitalfields on Robertson for some winter wonderland purchases… We need a new leather. Be back soon…

domande e risposte del 22 novembre
Da Massimiliano Brighel, Su 22/11/09

Ciao Max volevo chiederti se pubblicherete mai le storie autoconclusive, in Italia inedite, dell’amatissimo Takehiko Inoue (Chameleon jail e Hang time) e se ristamperete i oneshot Piercing e Babyface (quest’ultimo pubblicato nella rivista Impact 2000). Grazie e complimenti.
SHINMEN

Belle idee, probabilmente di complessa fattibilità. Indagherò, comunque, caro Shinmen!

Buonasera, so che è un po’ tardi per scrivere, ma volevo sapere se ci sarà presto una nuova serie di Arina Tanemura. Sono una sua fan e desidero avere ogni suo manga!!!
ELENA DI VI

Per adesso, non è prevista una nuova serie della mitica Arina, cara Elena. Tuttavia non perdere il volume I-O-N tra brevissimo in edicola e fumetteria. Una preview la trovi nella sezione apposita del nostro sito: www.paninicomics.it/web/guest/preview_planetmanga

Ciao Max, sono Emiliano, ti ho già scritto qualche tempo fa. volevo porti alcune domande riguardo una serie “minore” rispetto all’ottimo materiale Marvel Italia, ma comunque riguardante un personaggio di punta statunitense, ovvero l’amato Spawn, pubblicato da voi in spillati trimestrali. Vado con le domande:
1) E’ possibile, in futuro, vedere altre raccolte in volumi di cicli più o meno famosi dell’Hellspawn come è stato per La morte di Angela, magari in 100% Cult Comics?
2) Dato che sono oramai esauriti ed irreperibili da anni, se non a fiere del fumetto o simili ed a prezzo maggiorato, avete mai pensato ad una ristampa dei bellissimi volumetti Spawn Collection?
3) Ho visto che sullo shop online del sito Panini praticamente tutti gli spillati precedenti al numero 107, tranne alcuni degli ultimi, sono esauriti: è possibile in futuro vederne una ristampa o riproposta in altri formati, tanto per ricollegarci alla prima domanda?
Ti ringrazio per le risposte che mi darai, e ti auguro buon lavoro! =)
EMILIANO CADILI RISPI

Grazie! Purtroppo, per adesso, non sono previste nuove ristampe di storie del sempre popolare Spawn. In repato novità, tuttavia, non perdere Spawn/Wild C.A.T.S scritto da Alan Moore in persona in uscita a gennaio!

Ciao Max, ti chiedo scusa anticipatamente perchè già so che la domanda che sto per porgere alla tua attenzione ti sarà stata fatta almeno un milione di volte… Volevo sapere se i numeri di Vagabond che ristamperete nel 2010 apparterranno alla prima edizione oppure alla Vagabond Deluxe e poi se c’era qualche speranza di ristampa dei numeri esauriti di Bastard (tipo il numero 21 che è praticamente introvabile)? Ti ringrazio.
ZOSOTILDE

Stiamo effettivamente valutando solo ristampe di Vagabond Deluxe, carissima. Resta sintonizzata per sapere le date di uscita.

Ciao, caro Max. Sono un lettore di manga e Marvel, ma qui sotto voglio proporti domande solamente sul secondo.
1) Il fenomeno del momento è di sicuro Dark Reign. La mia domanda è: da quanti volumi è formata la miniserie (esclusi tutti gli approfondimenti sulle varie testate)?
2) Sulle uscite pubblicate sul sito di Panini, ho notato che si aprirà una nuova testata, Punisher. Puoi rilasciare qualche informazione, come la frequenza d’uscita o altro? Grazie mille dell’attenzione, spero che la mia e-mail venga letta e spero potrai rispondermi.
Ciao.
DANIEL

Eccomi pronto a risponderti, caro Daniel:
1) non c’è una miniserie Dark Reign, ma troverai ogni mese per un annetto vari speciali e gli “approfondimenti” (che noi chiamiamo tie-in) sulle varie testate.
2) Il primo volume di Dark Reign: Punisher, che contiene i primi cinque numeri della serie Punisher (vol. 8), è effettivamente in edicola! Il secondo arriverà in estate!

Quale sarà il destino dei Guardiani della Galassia, continuerete a pubblicarli?
NICOLA PARADISI

Certo, caro Nicola. Prima su War of Kings Preludio: Guardiani della galassia (febbraio) e poi direttamente sulla miniserie in cinque numeri War of Kings (a partire dal n. 2 di aprile)! Non perdere nessuna uscita delle mirabolanti avventure del nuovo gruppo di giustizieri cosmici!

Ciao Max, ho appena letto i vostri annunci Planet Manga fatti alla fiera di Lucca. Molto contento per molete cose in quanto rientrano pienamente nei miei gusti fumettistici. In primis l’artbook di Naoki Urasawa, che andrà a completare tutte le opere da voi pubblicate e che non mi sono fatto mai sfuggire. Poi mi ha reso felice l’annuncio di Astroboy di Tezuka. Però ho visto che sul sito era riportato che lo avreste pubblicato interamente come in originale, poi successivamente c’è stata una rettifica, e cioè saranno pubblicati solo 5 volumi…Da buon appassionato di manga d’autore, spero non sia una raccolta incompleta, cosi come spero in un’edizione con sovraccoperta da libreria! E a proposito di manga d’autore, di Jiro Taniguchi cos’è che verrà pubblicato? Tutte le ristampe delle opere esaurite presso il vostro catalogo o anche altre opere inedite? Le ristampe saranno nuove edizioni completamente diverse oppure semplici ristampe uguali alle edizioni già apparse in passato? Grazie perchè da anni ci offrite le migliori serie manga che ci sono in circolazione!
ROCCO GERVASIO

Grazie a te, caro Rocco! Riguardo Astroboy, si tratterà di un’antologia (selezionata attentamente dagli erede di Tezuka) in cinque volumi dal grande formato e, se non erro, con alcune tavole a colori. Se poi questo progetto avrà successo, nulla ci vieterà di partire con una cronologica del personaggio! Passando a Taniguchi, si tratterà effettivamente di nuove edizioni delle opere da noi precedentemente pubblicate, non di semplici ristampe. Maggiori dettagli prossimamente!

Ciao Max! Ho scoperto una cosa terribile e ti prego di smentirmi… dopo Lucca Comics ho saputo che le CLAMP finiranno presto X, solo che sono venuto a sapere che un’altra casa editrice ripubblicherà la serie dal primo numero.. Ora mi chiedevo… ma ciò implica che Planet Manga ha perso i diritti su X? Nel senso… quando usciranno gli ultimi volumi, potrò averli sotto il vostro marchio? Perchè sarebbe brutto avere 18 numeri di una edizione e gli altri di un’altra… inoltre nelle edizioni delle altre case editrici c’è sempre qualcosa che non va, solo i vostri prodotti mi hanno sempre pienamente soddisfatto, quindi ci terrei veramente a concludere l’opera presso di voi… Ti prego di rispondermi, grazie del tempo concessomi.
GABRIELE

Gentilissimo, Gabriele, innanzitutto grazie dei complimenti! Per X 1999, non ci risulta assolutamente nessun nuovo volume in arrivo. E’ comunque vero che in effetti non abbiamo più i diritti di questa serie in 18 volumi ferma ormai dal 2003… i cui ultimi cinque capitoli sono stati pubblicati su rivista da Kadokawa, ma mai in volume.

Konnichiwa Max, innanzitutto volevo ringraziare te e la Plama per le news rilasciate a Lucca (purtroppo ormai finita)… il 2010, come il 2009 del resto, si preannuncia davvero scoppiettante in campo manga! Ma passiamo subito al sodo, non la tiro per le lunghe con tutte le mail che avrai da leggere. XD
Quindi due brevi domande:
1) ho visto che a dicembre inizierà la ristampa della serie Kaori Yuki presenta. E’ per caso prevista anche una riedizione di God Child, magari sul modello dell’originale giappo?
2) Vampire Kight non è segnato nella checklist delle uscite di dicembre, come invece annunciato alla fine del 9 volume… è slittata l’uscita x non raggiungere la pubblicazione in patria (sono all’11° volume, se non erro)?
Grazie per la risposta!
REI KUN

Scusa del ritardo con cui ti rispondo, carissima! Ecco le risposte:
1) Ristampiamo effettivamente i numeri esauriti della collana Kaori Yuki Presenta, ma NON sono invece previste riedizioni (con differente formato e/o contenuto), a parte Angel Sanctuary Gold.
2) Vampire Knight 10 è in uscita a gennaio! Il 9 dovrebbe essere già nelle tue mani, no? Il volume 11 esce a dicembre in Giappone, quindi se ne parlerà tra qualche mesetto…

fonte paninicomics

Hello bright light up in the sky
Have you come to comfort me tonight?
Are you close to me or are you far?
Tell me, are you satellite or star?

Will you lead me North? Will you lead me South?
Or will you keep me wandering around?
Can you help me find my way back home?
For I have no vision of my own.

Cuz I’m a traveller, a weary traveller
And I’m not sure where to find my home
Can you take me there? Can you lead me back
To the one I love the most

My vagrant ways have done me in
Of all the places I have been
There is not one as great or warm
Or beautiful as my own home

Cuz I’m a traveller, a weary traveller
And I’m not sure where to find my home
Can you take me there? Can you lead me back
To the one I love the most

So star, go on and shine above
Lead me to the man I love
And when you’re gone at morning light
I’ll see you in my lover’s eyes

A subject to which few intellectuals ever give a thought is the right to be a vagrant, the freedom to wander. Yet vagrancy is deliverance, and life on the open road is the essence of freedom. To have the courage to smash the chains with which modern life has weighted us (under the pretext that it was offering us more liberty), then to take up the symbolic stick and bundle, and get out! The healthy wayfarer sitting beside the road scanning the horizon open before him, is he not the absolute master of the earth, the waters, even the sky?… His estate has no limits, his empire no law. No work bends him toward the ground, for the bounty and beauty of the earth are already his.

To have a home, a family, a property or a public function, to have a definite means of livelihood and to be a useful cog in the social machine, all these things seem necessary, even indispensable, to the vast majority of men, including intellectuals, and including even those who think of themselves as wholly liberated. And yet such things are only a different form of the slavery that comes of contact with others.

- Isabelle Eberhardt

To be a vagabond;

roaming the schizophrenic streets

enveloping my body, my essence

with the cockeyed man

urinating on a crucifix

his raspy slur—The apocalypse is near

fondling my virgin ears.

so much for carpe diem.

To be a voyeur;

my Jezebel eyes

stalking lovers

while they climax

eyes stutter, loins shudder

as if being pierced

by Jesus himself.

 To be a swinger;

drinking the sickle-celled blood of strangers      

erect bodies

pounding to the beat of djembes

a monsoon of bodily fluid

breeding across the white floor.

To be a patient;

 licking the shaft of the cell

 urine slithering down the white walls

 quenching thirst

my injections for the week.

To be loved;

a foreign concept

hardens between my crotch

in fact, absurd, with a capital A

like Duchamp’s urinal

draining the gaze of

capitalistic Draculas.

To be a poet;

committing ANARCHY on paper

 prose as ammunition

exorcizing readers from the mundane

to a realm of blasphemous pleasure!

La mayor parte del tomo gira en torno a un encuentro entre Musashi y Kojiro en el que… ¿juegan con un palo y un muñeco de nieve?

Vagabond 24

Autor: Takehiko Inoue

Color: Blanco y negro

Formato: 208 págs.

Recuerdos lejanos… Musashi había encontrado “la verdad” antes. ¿Por qué la perdió? ¿En qué punto se desvió el camino? “Eso” que existe en Kojiro hace eco en el interior de Musashi y le llaman mútuamente…

Precio: 8,95 €

Pues sí. Tal y como suena. Musashi y Kojiro juegan con palos de madera en la nieve e Inoue se las arregla para avanzar un cambio que puede ser muy importante en el personaje principal de la serie a través de un juego… Nuevamente tengo que quitarme el sombrero ante Inoue. Pero vayamos por orden…

El tomo empieza con Musashi recordando su niñez cuando encontró el cadáver de un samurai en una cueva en la montaña en la que pasaba la mayor parte del tiempo mientras era niño; viendo eso, descubrimos cómo Musashi comenzó a practicar con la espada del cadáver y cómo aprendió a manejarla… escuchando lo que la espada y la montaña le decían.

Musashi recuerda que le prometió al samurai que cuando llegase su hora él también volvería a morir a la montaña… Al salir al exterior se encuentra a Kojiro bailando en la nieve y practicando con un palo de madera, al fijarse en lo que está haciendo, Musashi se da cuenta de que Kojiro es capaz de hacerle un corte limpio al muñeco de nieve mientras que él sólo es capaz de romper el palo contra el mismo…

Mientras Kojiro juega a su alrededor, Musashi intenta retomar la senda que había aprendido tantos años atrás y se da cuenta de que sus victorias hasta el momento se habían producido por casualidad y que si se enfrentase a Kojiro perdería seguro. Musashi se da cuenta de que había sido su propia ira la que le había alejado del camino que había aprendido de niño.

Cuando se pone a jugar con Kojiro, Musashi va redescubriendo el placer de manejar una espada y Kojiro disfruta al ver como Musashi va recuperando su manejo de la espada… hasta tal punto que le considera un rival digno con el que enfrentarse y se planta enfrente de él.

Pero Kojiro cambia de idea… y se van ambos con los Kouetsu a cenar. Musashi se queda sorprendido por la diferencia de nivel que hay entre ambos y por la tranquilidad que muestra Kojiro, que se queda dormido a su lado después de la cena, a pesar de tenerle a su lado. Musashi le pregunta a Kouetsu si puede terminar de afilar su espada para su combate del día siguiente ya que es la que siente que debería usar para el mismo.

Esa misma noche en la ciudad, Denshichiro cena con su familia (¿cómo posible despedida?) y después le muestra a sus discípulos su poder para tranquilizarles respecto al resultado del duelo. Koujiro (aka Matahachi) está huyendo de los Yoshioka (el diría que está buscando a Kojiro, pero ya sabemos cómo es).
A la mañana siguiente, Musashi desayuna abundantemente y se despide de los Kouetsu – la mujer le sugiere que puede huir de la pelea si quiere – y de Kojiro… que tiene una forma curiosa de despedirse de Musashi.

En su camino hacia la pelea, Musashi se encuentra con Ueda que le apunta con una pistola y le dice que de la vuelta y se marche de Kyoto para no volver… Musashi, tranquilo, le responde que le tendría más miedo si estuviese empuñando su espada… Ueda le dice que ni siquiera sabe utilizarla y previene a Musashi de que si mata a Denshichiro todos los Yoshioka irán tras él para buscar venganza.

En el lugar del duelo, mientras Denshichiro y los Yoshioka esperan la llegada de Musashi, se está reuniendo una multitud para verles pelear, entre otros y por diferentes motivos Otsu y Taro, el monje y la madre de Matahachi… El pobre Musashi tiene dificultades para llegar hasta el lugar del duelo porque la multitud cree que se está intentando colar…

En el hogar de los Yoshioka, Koujiro está recibiendo una paliza a manos de los peores miembros de los Yoshioka a los que Denshichiro dejó vigilándole… Comienza a nevar cuando empiezan el combate y, a pesar de que el resto de los Yoshioka se ríen de la “tranquilidad” de Musashi, Denshichiro descubre la misma tranquilidad que poseía su hermano antes de pelear y… se acongoja un poquito, pero eso no le impide levantar su espada. A pesar del movimiento de Denshichiro, Musashi sigue sin desenfundar la espada y en su cabeza va previendo los movimientos de su rival y los suyos de respuesta… Cuando Denshichiro finalmente da el primer paso adelante, Musashi responde con un rápido movimiento…

… pero sin sacar su espada. Musashi se disculpa ante Denshichiro y le dice que ya le parecía que sus manos pesaban muy poco…

Y como decía más arriba, me tengo que quitar el sombrero ante Inoue, le ha conseguido dar un giro total al personaje principal sin hacerle cambiar lo que es, únicamente lo ha pulido un poco y le ha transformado de ser una fuerza sin control a ser un samurai que controla la lucha en la que participa previendo todos los movimientos de su rival. El tomo resulta bastante divertido a la par que esclarecedor, sobre todo en lo que respecta a la infancia de Musashi. Incluso le veo una opción de convertir a Matahachi en un personaje positivo si responde de una manera correcta a las provocaciones de los Yoshioka… La verdad es que me he quedado deseando leer la continuación.

Gypsy-chic threads from “the Dude” who brought you Davis Burns. Venice Beach hippy-ster brings you Winnifred Beach Yacht Club. Essentially robes to rock around town. The Dude Abides.

WBYC

Dolmance, quite possibly a fictional extension of the once very real Marquis de Sade, spoke thus of religion: “Could religion best be described as the pact that binds a man to his Creator, and forces him to prove, by way of blind worship, his gratitude to that great Creator for his existence?”
Jonathon Barrows, Joseph Suglia’s main character, sums up a sentried position toward society: “Poets take precautions against the sunlight. Philosophers take precautions against the intrusion of noise.”
~Sunlight permits limited visibility. How far do you expect to go when you can only see what’s directly in front of you? Most of us are blind to the external world when we have no light to guide our way.
~Sound is the necessary result of disciplined vibration. Noise is a fat man who defecates on your ear while you sleep.

One could easily make the claim that Jonathon Barrows is a modern version of Dolmance, and legitimately make further comparisons with more detailed examples. Or one could attempt to determine whether Suglia’s Hegelianism is merely the pseudo-Marxism of Kojeve, filtered French like Bataille’s; or if his philosophy is staunch enough to maintain its rightful German authenticity, etc., but one could debate these topics without understanding what’s actually in the book.

.
I’ve read the book several times with varying intentions, and every reading has satisfied my desires. When I first read it, I read it straight through as one would breeze through any work of popular fiction. I read it again, several months later, after learning of Suglia’s credentials in Philosophy, and was just as fulfilled reading it deeply as I had been when I read it lightly. Most recently I read it for a third time, hoping to dissect some of the lingering psychological aspects of Jonathon Barrows. Again, as with my second reading, this book provided great satisfaction. In summary I offer this about Jonathon Barrows:
Jonathon Barrows is the precocious child who filled your kiddie pool with sparkling lime flavored gelatin and charged you your trust fund to watch him wrestle himself.
You felt as though you cheated him and silently wished that your parents had started you a more substantial dowry.
Ego is the mask other children wait to wear on Halloween night to scrimmage their demons.
Demons have calendars, too.

© n18XI Vagabond Lit

Often I write without use of rhyme, never do I write without reason. To write without reason is the equivalent of giving to charity under the guise of altruism– it just doesn’t happen. Just because what you pay out dwarfs what you receive in return doesn’t negate anything, it only hides it.

The phrase, rhyme or reason, in its various contexts, has always intrigued me. Not that I intend to solve some great mystery of the English language, or even that I really care what it really means or where it actually came from, but it is a source of wonder. I’ve determined that the phrase is a Romantic notion, and by Romantic I don’t mean giving flowers, sappy sweet, sweep your girl off her feet, rather that it comes from the period of Romanticism in Poetry. That can be misleading as well since not all Romantic Poets used rhyme in every Poem, but I digress. The Romantic movement in Poetry was an extension of the Enlightenment, also known as the Age of Reason. Rhyme and Reason. One is a very effective, but no so clever mnemonic device, the other has no universal appeal. My determination is neither clever nor universal.

I write because that is what happens when I sit down in front of a keyboard. The cursor calls to me. It flashes hypnotically on the screen waiting to dash my next grand idea. My notebook is a little less discreet– there I am allowed to write my idea in all its original brilliance, without judgment, without error, only to later discover that I can’t decipher what I wrote. The scribbles transform my idea into something less brilliant, something judged more harshly.

Sometimes the hardest part of writing is inserting a period when you’d like to use a comma.

Sometimes the trickiest part of writing is knowing where to put the period.

© n17XI Vagabond Lit

Takehiko Inoue – Viz – 2009 – 31+ volumes
this Big edition is volumes 13-15

I was mostly successful in my omnibus week, though I still want to read the last two before I call it quits.  This had just come in a few days before I decided to read all my omnibuses, and it was a big part of why I decided to do that, since I thought reading Vagabond after finishing the others would be a reward.

Vagabond is, quite simply, amazing.  I have no words to describe how wonderful every single volume of it is.  A big part of it is Takehiko Inoue’s art, which is fantastic, and more suited to this type of story than it is to Slam Dunk and Real (as much as I like those two as well).  More than anything, a big part of that is the way Inoue renders nature, which is almost like a character in the story.  No matter what someone is doing, they do it while standing in a grassy field, in a forest, on a beach, or wherever.  As they ponder whatever challenge it is they are overcoming, we see them doing so while surrounded by beautifully-drawn backgrounds, which provides context and makes the problems seem that much more real, or immersive, I suppose.

Of course, there’s a lot to be said about the fight scenes, too.  While the action scenes in Slam Dunk are still quite well-drawn, even considering the age of that series, they are better here, and I love that Inoue draws the fights with a looseness to the inking that transforms them into sumi-e scenes.  It’s just beautiful.

And the story is no slouch, either.  Here, the three volumes cover a chain-and-sickle fight between Musashi and an opponent from earlier in the series, and then we (I assume) flash back to look at the childhood of Sasaki Kojiro, a deaf orphan reluctantly raised by an outcast swordsman.

Now, the chain-and-sickle fight was pretty amazing.  I loved the challenge posed to Musashi by the new weapon, but the experience wasn’t as transcendent for him as his other fights have been.  We see him strategize more than we see him explore himself, and most of the pathos is pushed to the opponent, who lives with the daughter of a man he killed.  He learned chain-and-sickle from her, since the two live silently together and she periodically tries to get her revenge with that weapon, the same her father used.  The fact that so few words are exchanged is quite lovely, and leaves what goes on between them up to interpretation.

I also liked that we were reminded of who the character was through the use of a one-panel, wordless flashback.  I had no recollection of him, but that one panel worked far better than the standard lengthy recap.  It’s concise methods are another reason I like Vagabond.  It has few words, but still communicates so much through image and emotion alone.

The chain-and-sickle fight was blown completely out of the water by Kojiro’s childhood.  I don’t think I’ve ever run across a deaf character in a manga before, especially one handicapped from birth like this.  I couldn’t believe how touching and sincere the story was, either.

There is very little Vagabond has to do to succeed.  It could succeed by being swordfight after swordfight, but it strives to make the struggles as realistic as possible, and it gives all the characters personalities, so they’re not just braggarts swinging swords.  In Kojiro’s case, he quieted down when he clutched his father’s sheathed sword when he was a baby, and the father let this continue for a number of years since he felt very uncomfortable about raising the child.  He eventually took the sword away, since he doesn’t want the life of a swordsman for Kojiro, but Kojiro latches on to the sword anyway, and later, it’s revealed that he learns how to use and wield it based on watching others and is almost supernaturally gifted with it.

Kojiro’s deafness, the way the townspeople and his father react to it, and the ways Kojiro adapts, really has been the highlight of Vagabond so far.  It’s incredibly sensitive.  The quiet reactions as well as the ways Kojiro is treated because of his hearing , his good looks, and the outsider status of his father mix in interesting ways.  At the end of the volume, there’s the standard villain that needs to be slayed, and Kojiro and the townspeople all have a role.  Kojiro never speaks, and we never know what he is thinking, which make his actions that much more mysterious, or even heartfelt when he shows genuine affection for someone.

I’m really looking forward to more about him.  It’ll be a long wait for the next omnibus.  And again, I am blown away that Takehiko Inoue can win me over again and again in these series that I have absolutely no interest in.  I can’t believe I’m reading a samurai comic and loving every page, but Vagabond… yeah, it’s great.  It transcends that, just like Real is more than it seems.

The guitarist in the band we were hanging out with (Tony), wrote this great, “big-hair”, bombastic guitar piece that I really liked. I wrote these lyrics to that piece. It is based loosely on the relationship of the lead singer and his girlfriend, Dave and Casina. At some point Casina described herself as a vagabond (we made fun of her, of course) and this is what came out of that. We still see David and he is still singing. Casina dropped out of sight.

Vagabond Baby (copyright 1988)

(verse 1)

Appeared from nowhere in leather and in black

She don’t know where but she’d be going back

From her belt hung a bag of crystal fun 

and on his hip he had a loaded gun

She could not deny his intensity and she was all that he could see

All he could see, all he could see

(chorus)

His Vagabond Baby, Vagabond Baby, Vagabond Baby, Vagabond Baby

(verse 2)

He held her hostage and she held him on chains

He was backseat driving with her hands on the reins

When he pulled the ribbon from her hair it felt so right

And he unwrapped her like a gift from the night

Oh, and she smiled all the while, he knew she had come home to be

come home to be, come home to be

(chorus)

His Vagabond Baby, Vagabond Baby, Vagabond Baby, Vagabond Baby

I have a confession, one that is difficult to make. I was once an assassin. I killed without prejudice, assassinated without remorse. My victims were not full grown men, they were young boys. People are willing to forgive the slaughter of full grown men, but the annihilation of young boys is considered by most to be a cowardly, unholy act. It’s not a page of my history that makes me particularly proud, but now is the time for confession—I was a Ninja.

My weapons of choice were poisoned darts, cleverly disguised as suction cups; and shurikens, commonly referred to, outside the industry, as Chinese Throwing Stars, which were made to resemble folded pieces of notebook paper, and sometimes covered in aluminum foil so that my victims could catch a glimpse of their agonizing deaths through the glimmer from the sun as the small weapons approached their esophagi somewhere near the speed of death. Sometimes nunchakus were employed, but they were oftentimes inefficient instruments of death in that their skins, made to look like foam, did not deliver the needed impact to crush even the softest skull of other boy Ninjas I encountered. Not to mention that the angles of deflection which are so bountiful in forest settings, where many of my assassinations took place, were frequently just as dangerous for a skilled nunchaku master, such as myself, as they were for my opponent.

To the young boys who tasted the unfortunate flavor of blood mixed with their last gasping breaths, I apologize. To the young boys who were assassinated on more than one occasion, I really apologize. I have come to grips with the fact that my youth was tainted by an abnormally obtuse bloodlust.

Fortunately, the United States Government has pardoned me my boyhood crimes in exchange for information leading to the arrest of several high profile Professional Wrestlers who were suspected of using trampolines to increase perception of their vertical leaps. I did spend some time in the Japanese Penal system in “keiheikin,” or solitary confinement, as we know it, but was promptly released after demonstrating deftness with chopsticks.

I have since returned to a life of normalcy, but I feel those internal fires restoked when I see a Hollywood interpretation of my previous life: Ninja Assassin.

I thank each of you for not judging my past indiscretions too harshly, and I hope to see many of you at this movie on opening night. Word to the Wise: Travel in packs and only follow well lit routes home.

© n15XI Vagabond Lit

New image in the colorless cars photography contest

…
vagabond car photography picture

Punem un pic mintea la contributie si oferim ceva sfaturi pentru cadouri mirifice ca de noiembrie… de ce ? Simplu. Peste o luna urmeaza Craciunul si cumva daca faci ceva cadouri inca de pe acuma e posibil ca Mosul sa nu se prinda sau eventual mergi pe conceptul ” pai cum nu ti-am facut cadou luna trecuta ? mai vrei si de craciun ? “.

Apropo de asta .. doresc sa-mi ridic in slavi articolul de anul trecut pentru craciun. Promitator, n-am ce spune.

Sa-i dam drumul!

1 . Esti vagabond ? Nu stii cum sa-ti surprinzi prietena cu un cadou de suflet ? Tu fiind un baiat bine crescut, erai invatat cu scuipat si injuraturi… acuma ai ocazia de a o bate atat de tare incat sa o bagi in spital; coastele rupte vin ca bonus. Cadoul minunat, nu alta!

Nu gandesti un pic ?Fii eventiv omule.. cheltuielile tale sunt acum pe maini bune!Un spital oarecum stilat iti poate face o oferta de nerefuzat :  fasole, mazare si grish! De ce ? Pentru ca “ Femeile este curve si trebuieste batute ca altfel nu te respecta.. ” sa nu uiti sa-i dai si in fata, e imperios necesar sa-i razbesti fata cu ceva pumni.. va crede lumea ca foloseste un alt fard! Va fi vedeta in cartier , mai ales ca dupa toate astea tot pe tine te-ar adora .

2. Inainte de sarbatori se foloseste practica “fa o vizita la rude in turma si prefa-te ca esti fericit “. Tu fiind una bucata ciubota de oras, esti suparata ca, de la asfaltul din oras, ajungi la mizeria de la tara.. ca urmare te gandesti sa-ti faci un super cadou cu ocazia vizitei.. iti faci o mica poza in fata sobei; nu orice poza… la bustul gol, cu sutienul ala , al tau, de prost gust, stand pe oala de sarmale a lui bunica-ta. Si nu uita sa te incordezi la capitolul bot, sa-ti strangi ciupercile ( sanii, imi cer scuze ) si sa ai in prim plan mica, marea rapire din serai. Prietenul tau va fi mandru cand va vedea poza pe HI5 ” Cadoul meu pentru iubi.. NUMAI tu ma vezi asa :X :*:* :X “

3. Esti copil dezaxat ? Nu-ti asculti parintii pentru ca nici ei nu te educa ? Nu-i nimic! E momentul in care , inca de la o varsta atat de frageda, e ok sa te bagi pe jointuri. Fumeaza , drogheaza-te si da foc la casa scarii.. le vei face drept cadou o adevarata mustrare de constiinta !

4. Faci parte dintr-o secta satanista ? In luna lui noiembrie ar fi dragutz sa faci  ceva cadouri minunate, presarate cu ceva pentagrame cu floricele, chilotei sub egida 665 +1 si coarne de bou pentru toti prietenii tai machiati cu negru. Surprizele incearca sa le pregatesti in cimitir iar drept “after party” profanati ceva morminte pentru a avea multe amintiri frumoase.

5. Vom continua in luna decembrie!

Come Be Moved at Power Plate – The Experience! Lisa Pemberton, massage therapist extraordinaire, is setting up “pop shop” style for the next two weeks at Power Plate to introduce friends to her magical fingers. Hurry – space is limited. Lisa is always running around town working her magic…
Lisa Pemberton
Therapeutic & Holistic Deep Tissue
310.985.3920