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Because nobody reads this blog, I can leave links as broken as I wish, fixing them whenever and updating anything as I please. Okay, okay, even if I acknowledge you, Imagined reader, it’s easier for me to proceed as if I’m talking to myself. It’s easier to face the world if I Disappear Completely a la Radiohead. I’ve written a whole short story about how social invisibility can be a superpower.
That said, I will likely need to clean up my act when I get even a smidge of publicity. So once book promotion begins, I guess? But one of my social media role models is Hank Green, who often posts TikToks that he later deletes upon changing his mind. I might just do that. Permanence is overrated.
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Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ was a Japanese music variety show on Fuji Television hosted by the comedy duo Downtown" [...] and featuring "live performances (of recently released songs) from popular artists, chat segments and other fun and games."
When I was a kid, me and my siblings were so obsessed with anime that we’d even watch it on non-English language channels. We would watch Dragonball GT and Dr. Slump in dubbed Spanish on Canal 5. (Rest in Peace, Akira Toriyama). We also watched the International Channel which would play random anime like Votoms alongside Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ, K-dramas, and other things that bored me at the time. I did recognize some of the musical artists they brought on, however.
I still don't know how to talk about the nostalgic aspects of my childhood that draw upon other culture’s popular media. Half of everything I love about California is from Chicanx and indigenous cultures, but to what extent can I claim their presence in my childhood? I feel instead pressured to claim those expected elements of Blackness that were lacking from my upbringing.
Ah well. Byecha!
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When I was a kid, I used to believe that after you'd died, you could look down at Earth and see anyone who was thinking of them, anyone engaging with their art or remembering their name, or…
What an obvious belief system to take in from pop cultural belief! I was probably too into Homer, The Reluctant Soul back then.
But the thing about religion is that God becomes more real if you believe. Jinn enter your nightmares and you can feel them during day. Your conscience grows stronger and louder, so plugged into the spirits are you. You can feel their eyes of the past, of all who came before watching, judging—or was this just me?
Maybe I was just unable to cope with the fact that some of my favorite creatives might not be able to feel the love I had for their work. I willed for my emotions to cross time and death to fuel them or hold them. I build an ansible of love.
In any case, I'm sending my love and hope to every unnamed baby on this database. Our lives have now intersected. I envision your mothers—one of my mothers may be among you—and bear the world in gratitude of them.
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Personally, I think (know) that Arabic and French names are the best Black names. If your name is something like Yusuf or Mammoud or Naima and you're a six-foot Francophone with a burnt umber skin tone, you're literally genetically superior to everyone else.
Senegal is full of God’s chosen people and this is just facts. I don't make the rules. I was trying to convince my partner to go together, and that saint seriously considered it even though our to-visit list is hella long and I was upfront about wanting to visit countries with lots of hot people. Bless him.
I also told my partner that if we have twin boys, I am naming them William and Thomas. Everyone thinks I’m joking and his older sister even took it as a sign I’m not serious about having kids, But no, I will not be reasoned with. I love those French men who made an anime movie to match their Black people music, love them more than anything. Plus, twin boys are so uncommon that it’ll be a sign if it happens .
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Fun fact: The Japanese equivalent to a cringe Brennalyn/Everleigh-type name is a kira * kira name.
My naming sense in Japanese is so overpowered that I tell one of these from an ancient name from a retro one from a contemporary one. A girl named Aki is likely younger than a woman named Akino who is likely younger than a woman named Akiko—the names hint at their generational cohorts. Even over my 25~ years of watching anime, I've noticed a shift in character names from longer names like Atsuko or Hironobu to shorter names like Mio or Ren. There’s been a similar shift in all the actual people surrounding the industry, of course.
I wish every culture made animation so I could pick up cultural differences while ostensibly turning my brain off. Learning about other cultures shouldn’t be work, darn it! Let me develop a nuanced understanding of the different vehicles of Buddhism while watching cute girls fight each other!
PS: movie cast and crew staff lists are a good place to find culturally-specific names for stories when the culture in question doesn’t readily offer name trend data.