Hold up! Wait a minute! Put a little liebe in it! (A Liebster Award post)

Liebster Award
Bonus points to anyone who got the reference in the blog title! Anyways, I received another award and it’s the Liebster Award. It’s awesome. I would like to thank Bloom Reviews for nominating me. Bloom Reviews covers anime, manga, and comic reviews that deal with romantic elements. I first discovered Bloom after finding out they reviewed The Place Promised In Our Early Days (which is a movie you all should check out). Feel free to check out this blog and my other ones at Autumn Peal Media (photography/videography), C. M. B. Bell (fiction), and Iridium Eye Reviews (indie movies/documentaries/anime/world cinema/short film reviews).

Here are the rules for this award:

-Share the link of the blogger who has shown love to you by nominating you
-Answer the 11 questions they ask
-Nominate 11 bloggers for the same award in the spirit of sharing love and solidarity with our blogging family.
-Ask them 11 questions that you are dying for the answers to!

Alright. Now I’m going to answer Bloom’s questions related to this nomination. I know the stuff in the questions pertain more to one of my other blogs, but I’ll still answer them here.

1. What was your most overhyped anime of 2017?

It’s tough for me since I haven’t been watching a lot of anime in 2017, let alone this decade so far. One 2017 anime that I recently finished was ID-0.

2. If you had to recommend one manga or comic what would it be?

I haven’t been as big of a comic or manga reader as I used to, but I’d say Persepolis. Yup. I read both the comics and saw the movie.

3. What’s your favorite animated film so far?

This choice will make me look like a more depressed person than I am, but my favorite animated film is Grave of the Fireflies. There aren’t many animated or even live-action films with as much emotional gravitas, strong writing, and great characterization. It’s one of those movies that really stands out in animation as a pure art form and something you can take seriously. I’ve yet to see any mainstream animated film have this much depth, substance, and great writing even though Grave of the Fireflies is VERY tragic.

4. What’s the longest running manga you’ve ever kept up with?

Here comes my old-school anime fan self here. The longest manga I’ve read from beginning to end was Whistle!. Yes, I’m talking about the soccer manga that’s 24 volumes long. It was actually the first manga I bought when I was in my teens and I’m not even that much into soccer.

5. Who’s your least favorite anime character?

This question was a tough one because I kind of wanted to forget any characters that I hate. Haha! It’s too easy mentioning villains, but people are supposed to dislike them. After thinking about it, I’d say Kimiko from Debutante Detective Corps. She’s no hero at all. What kind of a heroine goes around exploiting cops, act lazy, faking a kidnapping plot, allows innocent people to be killed, manipulates her friends, doesn’t take responsibility for her actions, and is able to buy her way out of not going to jail? This is hardcore Protagonist Centered Morality to the highest degree.

6. If you had to pick one guilty pleasure anime, what would it be?

Guilty pleasures are so hard for me to think about. Well, after referencing Family Force 5 in the title, I guess I have to have some kind of answer. From the top of my head, I’d say Night Warriors: Darkstalker’s Revenge. For an anime series based on a video game, I didn’t think it was that bad.

7. What are you most excited for this year (anime or otherwise)?

I am so out of the loop when it comes to all the newest and latest things to be brutally honest.

The selfish answer could be me doing something new musically and of the literary persuasion.

8. What’s one recommendation you would give to new bloggers?

Good question. I’m going to cheat and mention one recommendation per media since I cover so many topics across several blogs.

Music: The Old-Timers

Live-Action Movies: Mother of Mine

Anime: Haibane Renmei

Western Animation: Wrinkles

Documentary: Hate Crimes In The Heartland

Books: The Third Reconstruction by William J. Barber II

9. What was the toughest thing you had to deal with in starting your blog?

In any and all my blogs, it would be finding some kind of audience. I had a fear of failure that no one would like or care about my stuff.

10. Who’s one blogger or writer you would recommend everyone read or follow?

It would be my friend Jeannette Jonic. She’s a very talented writer, reviewer, and a very supportive person.

11. What do you enjoy doing when you’re not blogging?

I enjoy coming up with new story and character concepts for my fiction projects. I also like reading, a tiny bit of graphic design (I’m such a neophyte though), video editing, creating acousmatic soundscapes, playing the ukulele, and learning about several cultures.

Thanks for reading! I hereby nominate the following…

1. Haiku out of Africa
2. Hikeminded
3. Little Fears
4. Chizurue
5. James Edgar Skye
6. Madekesiworld
7. Keiko’s Anime Blog
8. Rebel Guy
9. Harotian Essentials
10. Fueled by Smiling
11. African Book Addict

I have 11 questions for those who I nominated.

1. What was the watershed moment that made you enjoy blogging?
2. What are your fears as a blogger/content creator?
3. Which languages would you like to learn the most that you don’t already know?
4. How would you best describe your blog’s identity?
5. Who inspired you to blog?
6. What are your strengths as a blogger?
7. What are your weaknesses as a blogger?
8. Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?
9. If you can have one wish to improve the world, what would it be and why?
10. Which movie, musician, series or book that’s unknown to most that you like and wish more people knew it?
11. Has blogging been therapeutic for you? How so and why?

So do you like movies, documentaries, or anime?

I usually don’t post about things besides my spoken word stuff or music on here, but I would like to remind you wonderful people that I do other stuff, too.

For example, I review some movies at a little place called Iridium Eye: http://iridiumeye.wordpress.com

The thing is that I don’t review the typical Hollywood blockbuster stuff. My emphasis is on critiquing the following kinds of visual media:

-Indie films
-International films
-Anime
-Non-mainstream animation
-Documentaries
-Art house cinema
-Short films
-Random obscure movies

Cinema has been a passion of mine, and I like to give my thoughts on media that you may or may not have heard of. I give my honest opinions on why I like or dislike something even if it’s against what most other critics (professional or otherwise) believe. I also use some snarky humor from time to time, mention some fun facts about a movie or series, and I also give an option for a viewer to adjust the score if their tastes are different than mine since I know not everyone will agree with me.

If you want to check out some films, animation, documentaries, or anything off the beaten path, then feel free to check out Iridium Eye for reviews every Saturday.

Once again, it’s http://iridiumeye.wordpress.com.

Thank you.

-Curtis

 

Shameless Self-Promotion Post ;)

I normally don’t post on Mondays with this blog (yet), but I thought I’d make a random post.

You see, making spoken word poetry over some avant-garde and post-minimalistic soundscapes isn’t all that I do. I have other creative pursuits, and if you weren’t aware of them, then I’d be happy to tell you about my other blogs.

Autumn Peal: This is my little DIY video and photo thing that I’ve been doing for a while now. Most of my videos are music related (concert footage and the occasional music video), but I’ve also done sports highlights, poetry, and a few travel videos since visiting Ecuador for the first time. You can find this stuff at http://autumnpealmedia.wordpress.com and http://vimeo.com/autumnpeal. I post things on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays on the blog.

C. M. B. Bell Writing: Did you know I do fiction projects? You do now! I’ve been posting microfiction/flash fiction on Mondays and Tuesdays so far, but I have future projects that will be featured on this blog, so watch out for them. My stories tend to use deconstruction, satire, and the occasional parody. What? I like messing around with tropes. Check it out at http://cmbbwrites.wordpress.com.

Iridium Eye: This is my film review blog where I post things every Saturday for the time being. Iridium Eye isn’t some place to get Hollywood movie reviews or juicy gossip in that realm. Instead, the emphasis is on independent films, world cinema, documentaries, and even anime of all things (most of it being lesser known). I want to give some unknown movies a chance by giving my thoughts on what I’ve been watching lately. Feel free to check it out at http://iridiumeye.wordpress.com.

Okay, that’s enough shameless plugging today. Pardon my arrogance in this post. Hahaha!

-Curtis