TL;DR: To celebrate breaking 10 followers on Curiously Dead Cat, I’m thanking my sempai and holding an Ask Me Anything!
Woohoo!!! 11 followers! Thank you all! You guys are wonderful! This made my week! 🙂
So we need to do something to celebrate!
First, a shout-out to all of you who have found Curiously Dead Cat something valuable and enjoyable, especially:
Karandi – http://100wordanime.wordpress.com/ – It’s practically a given now that whenever I read a good blog post on anyone’s site, I’ll see Karandi’s iconic… icon showing that they have already ‘liked’ or commented on the post. I was shocked to learn that Karandi has a ‘real’ job—I had assumed that blogging about anime was their job!
Irina – http://drunkenanimeblog.wordpress.com/ – I like Irina’s upbeat genki-ness! If you’re feeling down, and you’ve run out of anime to watch, give them a read! And double kudos for mixing anime and alcohol. 😉
KimchiSama – https://kimchisama.wordpress.com/ – I like KS’s perspective as someone who, like me, came to anime a bit later than most fans probably did.
Moyatori – http://moyatorium.wordpress.com/ – Another upbeat blogger, and a student of literature to boot! Moya’s comments are always appreciated. 😀
NegativePrimes – Wait, I followed myself? How did that happen??? O_o
Remy Fool – https://remyfoolblog.com/ – RF runs a blog dedicated to Yuri (the genre, not the skating show). Yuri isn’t really my thing, but RF has a fun writing style and I always learn a thing or two from reading them!
Jon Spencer – https://jonspencerreviews.wordpress.com/2018/02/21/reading-writing-awards-trying-to-keep-up-but-failing/#more-25612 – Instead of linking to JS’s blog, I’m linking to one of their posts that impressed me the most. When Arthifis lamented on Twitter about not being able to keep up with everyone’s posts, I tweeted that I agreed; JS, by contrast, posted a nice long blog post inviting discussion from the aniblog community. This kind of constructiveness is the oil that keeps a community running smoothly.
TWWK/Charles – http://beneaththetangles.com/ – Where aniblogging all began for me! Beneath the Tangles accepted several of my guest posts, and I found I really liked blogging about anime!
Arthifis – https://arthifis.wordpress.com/ – I honestly keep with Arthifis more on Twitter than on WordPress. However, they have an excellent series on coping with anxiety, which is a huge problem in the modern US, at least. Definitely worth checking out.
Chuzurue – https://ofmidnightravings.wordpress.com/ – I just discovered Chuzurue’s blog today (after she followed mine—thanks!), so I’m still getting familiar with it. Looks like she does very detailed anime reviews, among other things (and detailed does not imply boring!).
My hat off to all of my sempai from whom I have learned so much! 🙂
Second, let’s celebrate by having an AMA! Post a question below in the comments, and I will answer it. Don’t promise the answer will make any sense, though. 😉
Hey, congrats! 😀
Thanks for the shout out too! First, you follow your own blog by default because WordPress just does that. Anyway, so cool that you already have 10 followers!
I’ll start with a few questions:
Other than anime, what are done other hobbies you enjoy?
I recently got into Vocaloid music, do you like it too? What other kind of music do you like?
Look forward to your answers 🙂
Thanks! Hobbies besides anime? I don’t understand… 😀 Actually I enjoy a variety of video games, some of which you can see me stream on Twitch every night (9:30-10:30 Eastern) except Fridays. Been playing a lot of Subnautica recently, as well as Path of Exile and most recently Goat Simulator! (As someone who raised goats growing up, I can confirm that that game is a lot closer to reality than I’m really comfortable with!) I enjoy good stories (and some not-so-good ones) in any medium: books, movies, tv, finger puppets, etc. And I really like interpreting them, which is why I spent over a decade in college learning how to do so!
Vocaloid music? Sure, my favorite Vocaloid singer is Enya. *jk* Actually, I had to look up “vocaloid”; it sounds similar to autotuning, except the voice is entirely synthesized, amiright? I like lots of different kinds of music: some of my favorites include the songs of Stan Rogers (Canadian folk singer—Canada rules!), Scandal & Stereopony (Japanese pop bands), and chant. What about you? How did you get into Vocaloid?
Thanks for joining in! 🙂
Awesome. A lot of us like anime so I just discounted that. Sounds cool though 🙂 Not sure why my comment is anonymous though…
Anyway, vocaloid music is created with voice samples of real people so yes. I got into that from a rhythm game I enjoy: project diva future tone.
Ok, so now I had to go look up what Project Diva was. You’re giving me quite the education! 🙂
Thanks for the shout out and congratulations on the 11 followers.
Lots of people are a bit surprised to find out I have full time work (and work a lot of hours most weeks – 50 hours is my light work week). But I love blogging and I would love for it to be my full time gig. Maybe in the future I can make that a reality, in the meantime I’m just going to put as much time into it as I can.
More power to you! I’d love to do it full-time too—as long as I could also fit my Twitch streaming in as well! 🙂
Congratulations! Hmm…questions.
Do you have any favourite genres in anime/literature?
Are you fond of cats, or did you choose the name just to be curiously dead?
Oh Moya, I could write *books* about the genres I like! 😀 Short answer: Anime genres include isekai, monster girls, really anything fantasy-related, as well as comedy. Literature genres would have to include epics, 19th century English novels, and historical fiction (including Tale of the Heiki and Tale of the Genji); sci-fi and fantasy, both serious and satirical. Favorite authors include Asimov, Pratchett, Murasaki, Jane Austen, and Homer.
I’m actually allergic to cats and have zero affection for them! |-D Unless we’re talking about 2D cats: Nyanta from Log Horizon; Meow Meow Japanese History; Bananya; Working Buddies…
Ehhh? I’m allergic to cats too, but I happen to love them 😂
It’s rare to find someone who’s a fan of epics, but as someone who’s taken classical studies classes, I have to say that epics are pretty great. Will possibly check out some of your favourite authors once I have the time!
Meh, I guess cats are ok; but give me catgirls any day! 😀
Awesome, you like epics too! Which one(s) do you like best? 🙂
Hahaha…catgirls 😺
I haven’t read as many epics as I’d like to, but the Iliad is probably my favourite. There’s just…so much going on in that one!
Yes, there is–and yet the Illiad is relatively short as epics go. The Mahabharata, on the other hand…
Oh dear! I just looked that up and it sounds like quite a compelling read though.
Do you also read a lot of Middle English ballads as a medievalist? I’m reading Bevis of Hampton for a class right now.
It’s fascinating! If you just want the main stuff, the Narayan translation is pretty short.
I read a few ballads back in the day, but I’m not that knowledgeable about them. How do you like Bevis?
Bevis is long and somewhat difficult to follow. I had to rush through a lot, sadly, and I couldn’t really find good translations/summaries for it. It’s interesting though – I really enjoy that class.
Woah, does that mean you’re reading it in Middle English?!
Yeah, haha. Midterm on Thursday, I’m scared…😂
Well, break a leg! Color me impressed. ☺️
Congratulations and I a in excellent company. It’s definitely to your credit that you’ve attracted so of the best people here already!
Here’s a common question that I’m always curious about – is there a post you would like to write but are either afraid of the reaction or can’t figure out how to put it together?
Thanks, Irina1 I just started following and commenting on blogs I liked. 🙂 And kudos to you for picking the question that cuts right to the heart!
Actually, my recent post about being ‘single-while-married’ was one that I postponed writing for a long time. There just aren’t a lot of people (as far as I know) who would be likely to read the post who would also be in a similar situation. But after Valentine’s Day, and the sense of loneliness and loss I felt, it occurred to me that other people might be feeling the same thing. So why not put it out there just in case it helps someone else?
Apart from that, I have a very ambitious, multi-post project I’m not entirely sure how to put together. It’s a response to a post TWWK posted last October, and deals with the ways we interpret and analyze anime as well as asking, “What’s the point of doing so?” (His original post is here: https://beneaththetangles.com/2017/10/13/can-christians-watch-anime/.)
Congratulations! It can be difficult to pick up followers in the beginning, but, by a certain point, a new follower joins every other day. Good luck to you!
Here are my questions for you. Since I noticed that you mentioned The Tale of Genji in the comments above, I have to ask how long did it take you to read it and when does the story become really interesting? I have the work in two large volumes in my bookcase, and I’m looking for motivation to start reading it.
Hey, Medieval! Good to hear from you! 🙂 And thanks for the encouragement!
Regarding the Tale of the Genji: I suppose it depends what you mean by “interesting”. First of all, it really helps if you have good notes or a commentary (yay! more reading!), or the meaning of all the poetic allusions will be lost more than necessary (some loss is inevitable). On the surface, it’s just a story of a nobleman and his many “conquests”, but I found the story fascinating as an insight into a culture _heavily_ built upon poetry as a means of communication, courtship, and even social credibility. _Everyone_ (at least at court) was expected to be able to adapt poetic quotations in significant ways no matter what the circumstances. This helped me later on when I got into anime, as I realized that the Japanese have a tendency towards poetic subtext that Americans don’t: Obviously not as present in anime as in Murasaki’s magnum opus, but still present more than in western entertainment.
I also think it helps to try to receive the narrative on its own terms: Even though we call it a novel, it would be misleading to assume that all of our expectations from the western novel genre would show up in a work that predates it by centuries and is from the opposite side of the world. So for example, the ending can be kind of odd: Why does the story just “fade” into Genji’s descendants? If it’s the tale of the _Genji_, why doesn’t it stop when he “stops”? That’s the kind of reflection I find intriguing: While I haven’t found a definitive answer, I suspect that it partially comes from a cultural awareness of context that the modern west has replaced with an awareness of the autonomous individual. In other words, we would expect the story to begin and end with Genji, the individual; Murasaki was equally concerned with his context and legacy as with the individual. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say she sees them as in some sense part of or the culmination of the individual.
Just my thoughts. It’s been over a decade since I read it. 🙂
Congratulations! And thanks for the kind words!
Ohh, do you have a favourite anime studio?
Hi, Remy! 🙂 Wow, well, I’m not very knowledgeable about anime studios. But I have been impressed with the work from Studio BONES: My Hero Academia, Ouran High School Host Club, and *both* Fullmetal Alchemist adaptations…! How about you?
Hi again! Jeez, I’m sorry I’m so late in responding to this. I don’t think I was notified or maybe I had a brain fart.
BONES is pretty great! I think. I’m not too knowledgeable about studios, either. Learning more about the individual style of every studio would be quite the goal in my opinion.
Hmmm. I guess I like Gokumi! Yuuki Yuuna and Saki Achiga-hen won me over!
Again, I’m sorry I’m so late in responding to you ;_;
No worries! Thanks for letting me know. I’ll have to check those out!