Wednesday 12 June 2013

Book Intervention Project - 20th Century Design

I just got an idea for an book intervention project. You may remember (if you had read my previous posts) that a few years ago for university I was asked to "intervene" (vandalize) a book of my own choosing - Inventions That Changed The World.
Today, I just got the idea for my sequel - 20th Century Design by Catherine McDermott from 1998 (1999 reprint) commissioned by the Design Museum, London.


Like the previous book, I scanned every single page of it before hand to make a digital copy for future use. The last one had to have pages glued together as their was no time to do something to them, as the project had a deadline. This one hasn't, so I plan to do something to every page. I already got plans for its many pages so stayed tuned for more.

Thursday 6 June 2013

Haruhi Suzumiya 10th Anniversary Tribute Drawing

On this day ten years ago, a light novel was published in Japan that introduced to the world to a 21st century icon in the world of science fiction. It was the perfect character the genre needed - a head strong woman who can easily command a crew to do anything she wanted who also had some insecurities. She's smart, athletic and attractive, which could nearly make her a dreaded Mary Sue character - except for one fact.... She can control the world she lives in, but she doesn't know that.
Want more clues? She's a high school girl who's good enough to fit in any after school club, but she's disinterested in them. Because of this she starts her own club and rakes in a few students to join it. But, the students she raked in (by chance?) know of her abilities and would do anything to keep her from knowing her true powers.
If you haven't worked out who this is let, this should give you that "click" in your memory banks. The club's aim is to find evidence of time travel, extraterritorial life and psychic abilities (its Sci-Fi after all) and those students who know of her abilities happen to be a time traveller, an alien and an ESPer (and they like to keep those facts secret from her).

Given up? Her name is in the title of the book that was first published 10 years ago from today - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya by Nagaru Tanigawa (and illustrated by Noizi Ito). Since then, Haruhi and her merry band that is the SOS Brigade have moved from the printed word to manga, an animated series, a few games, and a full-length feature film (which is 2.5hours long (most animated films are around the 90minute mark)) plus a few spin-offs online and on print.
During her first decade she has become a huge star. Don't believe me, type her name into Google, and you'll find the many thousands of fan artwork, fan fictions, AMVs and tributes to, about and featuring her and members of her brigade. It was her popularity (among many other products of Japanese culture) that led the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (JASRAC) to request that YouTube remove clips claimed to be under the copyright of their members in 2006 (a sign that historians could say indicates when Japan began to realise the true scale of their animation's popularity outside their country).

I can't vandalize her. She's an icon, like the Queen of England or The Beatles. That's why this entry isn't an "Act of Cultural Vandalism." It's an Act of Cultural Respect. 

And now the real reason of this entry - my anniversary tribute to Haruhi and the SOS Brigade...