Animal Crossing New Leaf Guides and Information Masterpost
Oh my, Evangelion outfits!
Also giant database of anime/game costumes: http://doubutsu.qr-matome.info/
Interesting.
This is actually really interesting.
I love that he pointed out that it’s different when men and women are objectified on film, not only because of the way our society views men and women, but also in the specific way those shots are framed.
When consuming media it’s so important to remember that filmmakers and ad companies have so many tools at their disposal that the average viewer is not even aware of. The way a scene is set, the way the camera moves, which parts of a person are included in the fame, the number of seconds the camera views each particular part of a person. All of these things very subtly evoke responses from us. We don’t notice them because we aren’t supposed to notice them—if they are doing their job right, everything feels seamless and correct to the viewer. And even if we do notice, we may not be able to articulate it because most of us haven’t studied filmmaking techniques.
If you think you are 100% impenetrable to the effects of the content you view, you are deluding yourself.
YA Books About Transgender Characters
There haven’t been a lot of young adult books published about transgender characters. This list is not meant to be a “best of” list — it is simply a list of the titles that we are aware of, and we are sure there are more we aren’t aware of. This list is limited to titles published specifically for a young adult audience, which means titles published for adults that teens might still enjoy aren’t included.
- I am J by Cris Beam (Little, Brown)
- One in Every Crowd by Ivan E. Coyote (Arsenal Pulp)
- Beautiful Music for Ugly Children by Kirstin Cronn-Mills (Flux)
- Happy Families by Tanita S. Davis (Knopf)
- f2m: the boy within by Hazel Edwards and Ryan Kennedy (Ford Street Publishing, Australia)
- Being Emily by Rachel Gold (Bella Books)
- Jumpstart the World by Catherine Ryan Hyde (Knopf)
- Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher (Delacorte)
- Luna by Julie Anne Peters (Little, Brown)
- Parrotfish by Ellen Wittlinger (Simon & Schuster)
Do you have a favorite YA book about a transgender character? Please tell us why you loved it!
I want to give special shout-outs to Luna and Parrotfish, two of my favorite YA novels.
I’d also add that Every Day by David Levithan is, in a way, a really good book about a non-binary character. Part of what makes A and Rhiannon’s love story so unique and compelling is that it exists outside of binary constructions of gender and sex identity.
M A S T E R P O S T
the books
(all in pdf format)
the movies(if any links do not work, please notify me so they can be updated.)
the series
(will be updated as the season goes on.
if any links do not work, please notify me so they can be updated.)apéritif - stream | download
amuse-bouche - stream | download
potage - stream | download
œuf - stream | download (was un-aired in the states.)
coquilles - stream | download
entrée - stream | download
sorbet - stream | download
fromage - stream | download
trou normand - stream | download
buffet froid - stream | download
roti - stream | download
Okay!
I’ve received so many questions about how I made this arm. I got the idea from this lovely robo arm and as it turned out, she also used the same base pattern that I had planned to (Edward Elric’s automail arm).
Basically what I did was take the pattern and heavily alter the arm pieces while keeping the hand mostly the same. I used mostly craft foam combined with leftover styrene I had from a different prop project, and three different size brads (from the scrap-booking section of Michaels). I glued everything together with high temp hot glue, but I sealed the finger pieces with e6000 at the seams to ensure that they wouldn’t pop open in hot weather. Once I had all my parts glued together, I coated them in about seven layers of Mod Podge cut by half with water. Once this was done, I coated all pieces in Plasti-Dip spray (it’s a rubber coating that you can get at Home Depot near where the spray paint is). Since I wanted the arm to ultimately look used and abused, I made sure my spray wasn’t perfectly even - just don’t overspray or you’ll lose some of your detail. When this was dry, I added the brads and painted over them with black acrylic paint.
I covered each piece first with silver Rub n Buff - again, acquired at Michael’s. Then I did washes and dry brush layers of black, brown, and orange with some additional green Rub n Buff antiquing wax. I started with the idea of making the rust look natural but got lazy halfway through.
The forearm closes with velcro, hot glued in place. The upper arm doesn’t open, it just slides on and stays. I accidentally made the arm smaller than I’d wanted to so it’s a tight enough fit that the pieces don’t slide around. The wiring between the joints is held in with duct tape, and only attached at one end, so it moves in and out as I flex my arm and wrist. The hand piece slides on. I wore a full-arm length glove under the arm to improve the aesthetic and for comfort.
I hope I covered everything. Let me know if there are any questions and good luck!
Ouji/kodona/boystyle/whatever you want to call it 101, tumblr edition
Since my blog has been down “for maintenance” (aka, me being too lazy to code the new layout) for a while now, I have received a few requests for the “ouji 101” I posted a while ago… so here is a copy/paste of the three posts in the series, in a 3-in-1, tl;dr, tumblr form.
Note: I’ve personally somewhat drifted away from this style recently (I still like wearing it every now and then and looking at it but I’d rather spend my money on things I’ll wear daily) so I am fairly sure there won’t be any updates to this, and even these posts are more than a year old.
Part 1: The Terminology
I am usually not a fan of “advice” or informatory blogging as I feel that within such a niche subject category (talking about lolita fashion since most blogs I follow are at least kind of related to that) there can only be so much original advice or information to be given. It all tends to blur into one big mess of generic “advice” for me and I don’t get much out of it in the end. However I am going to go against my beliefs for now and post a small series of posts about boystyle in general since I feel like information is really sparse and often kind of… strange, to put it nicely. I know there’s the Dandy Handbook on LJ, supposedly a boystyle equivalent of the pretty comprehensive Lolita Handbook, and while it’s awesome it is there in the first place, some of the information and examples strike to me as a bit odd. I don’t claim to be any kind of an expert and some of this stuff such as the terminology in this post can be quite opinion-ridden. I’ll try to stay pretty objective and generic but as it stands no one out there even seems to agree on what the “right” terminology is, so in the end this is all still just simply one single blogger’s opinion on the matter. Take it with a grain of salt. I posted about the terminology bit on my old blog as well, so if some of this reads familiar, it’s just me sneakily pasting in old stuff I’ve written, hahah. Anyway, let’s move on!
What the hell is “ouji” or whatever you silly kids are calling it nowadays?
Short answer: It’s the style where one wears frilly shit with pants instead of skirts. Pretty much. Long answer: Pretty much the more boyish, male equivalent of lolita fashion that comes in many flavours. Commonly seen themes are generic cutesy boyish, piratey, punkish and gothic, it can go from fairly casual to more dressy and extravagant, but it’s still all usually lumped together as one single style. People can and do describe their themed outfits along the lines of “pirate ouji”, “punk ouji” etc, but there aren’t any “official” substyles like in lolita, probably because not even nearly as much people focus on wearing boystyle and just consider it as a substyle of lolita in itself. I don’t mind the lack of “official” substyles at all since the terminology is confusing enough as it is already. Which brings me to…
So wait, if it’s all the same style, why does it have so many names?
Good question, let me know if you find out the answer. This style seems to have way too many names over here in the western world. I’ve seen it called prince, ouji, kodona, dandy and just “boystyle” while it’s still generally the same style being referred to. I am not 100% sure on how the Japanese terminology goes, but I don’t think I have ever heard of it being called anything else than “ouji” over there. If someone knows any better, please fill me in on this! I think some of it comes from misinformation from around the time lolita fashion was just starting to hit the western world in a bigger scale and that some of it simply comes from some odd need to try and make & name forced substyles to a style that isn’t big enough to warrant them. I’ll mention the most commonly used names here and write a bit about each. Some of you will probably disagree with me and that’s fine, this is just my take on the terminlogy.
Ouji is what the Japanese call boystyles, it literally translates to “prince”, and I think it is the best term to describe the look, anyway. First off, the style originated from Japan and that’s what the Japanese seem to call it, so it’s pretty self-explanatory. Secondly, I believe it describes the style perfectly. Since lolitas, as a general rule, tend to look like little princesses, it’s only natural that the male equivalent of the fashion is about kids looking like little princes.
Kodona, in my opinion, is a bogus term, and as far as I can recall, it was made famous by Plastic Tree’s singer Ryutaro describing his look in a GLB shoot years ago. For some reason this is the term that is the most commonly used to refer to the style in the west. Why westernes adopted it, I have no damn clue. It comes from the words “kodomo” and “otona” combined together (“child” and “adult”), and describes the awkward stage of growing up. While it’s a nice little wordplay, how does that describe the style in any way? if I had to choose between “prince” and, essentially, “kidult” I know which one I am rooting for. I admit guilty of using this term myself, but mostly because that’s what most westerners seem to do and know the style by.
Dandy… really has nothing to do with any of this. Everyone seems to have a different view on what this mysterious “j-dandy” is but the most popular opinion seems to be a bit more mature boystyle with long pants instead of shorts that doesn’t quite cross into the aristocrat side. I don’t quite see how this couldn’t be filed under ouji as well, to me it’s just another confusing term for what is essentially still recognizable as boystyle. And it definitely has nothing to do with the actual modern dandy. I am not too educated on the subject outside of admiring the look from afar, so for any information about it please just head over to the site I linked to. I have no real knowledge of this, but I have read that pretty much no one in Japan even uses dandy as a term for any boystyle. As said I don’t know if this is true or not, but it certainly wouldn’t surprise me.
Confused enough already? Awesome, because it’s going to get even more confusing! Some people think that ouji = kodona, and vice versa. Some people think they are two different things. Neither of these opinions is wrong. I know this style isn’t as popular as lolita (and I guess it started off as a “lolita accessory” style, anyway) but I know that it is popular enough to not be this confusing. I myself have settled to calling my more dressy, frilly outfits ouji and the more casual or punky ones kodona because I know it’s the most common opinion in the west, even though I don’t even really agree with it. Actually, just calling it “boystyle” would be the easiest since all kinds of styles would fit under that with no problem, but you gotta admit that it just sounds stupid and doesn’t tell anything about the style itself to the more uneducated folks. Imagine lolita being called “girlstyle” and you should get why I think “boystyle” is kind of a dumb term.
Right, I almost get it. You have anything more to say about the terminology bit?
This is a good time to move onto why I decided to start writing these “informatory” posts and why I think most boystyle guides out there aren’t very good; the names and forced substyles confuse. Over in the Dandy Handbook I linked to earlier, we have “classic kodona, common kodona” etc. What? Just call it kodona! Or even better, just call it ouji! It’s even more confusing seeing as some of the examples they have under “classic” kodona completely fall under their “common” kodona. It’s all the same thing, this style really isn’t big enough to warrant “official”, confusing substyles when the differences are so minor. I personally don’t get the need to divide boystyles into many different “substyles” that are all nearly the same thing and are only confusing anyone new to the style (hell, they’re confusing me, and I have been into this stuff since 2004 or so).
Part 2 - The outfit
Hello and welcome back to my irregularly scheduled rambles! I was supposed to type up this earlier but stuff happened (such as having to sort out an internet faker situation, god, I am too old for this). In any case, better a little late than not at all.
The anatomy of an ouji outfit
While there are no “rules” per se, there are guidelines. Like rules, guidelines are meant to be broken, but I’ll have to say I only recommend doing that once you already have a grasp of what you are doing in the more basic level, hahah. I’ll start off by listing the key elements of an outfit and two examples for each of appropriate garments. Because of the limited space and the fact I don’t want to spam a million images under each, my selection of example pictures can be quite biased and represent things that I personally am a fan of, also known as the more gothic side of things. In the text blurbs I’ll go over other styles as well.
The pants
The pants are what differentiates ouji from lolita, so they deserve to be mentioned first. The most common lenght and style of pants that really sets the look in the style is knickerbockers/shorts in various styles. Long pants can be used for a more mature and gothic look, but I won’t go into it here as everyone out there probably knows what long pants look like. There are many styles of pants that can be worked into the look - from a general straight cut, to poofy pumpkin pants gathered at the knees, to high waisted to punky styles often with attached half-skirt belts. The main thing to look out for is the lenght; anything that goes more than a little past the knee is capri-lenght that more often than not does not work well for the style. While I have seen a few good ouji coordinates with very short shorts, I consider them yet another of those things that you really only should attempt once you have the basics down. Anything knee-lenght or slightly above works as a general rule. Very form fitting pants should be avoided in my opinion, one should go for a more straight cut or just plain poofy instead.
The shirts
There’s not much to say about the shirts. Anything from a rather plain button-up to a more extravagant, frilly shirt with a jabot and a ton of lace can work depending on the look you are going for. Details are the thing to look out for when looking for a shirt to fit the style unless you are aiming for a very casual look. Jabots, ruffles, neck bows, big collars and lace details all work in favour of the syle. A lot of lolita blouses work for ouji as well, but avoid the ones that are toofeminine in appearance.
The jackets
As with the shirts, there’s a wide variety of jackets that can be worked into the style. Plain old blazers can work for casual looks but not much else. For dressier looks there are a lot of common themes to be seen in jackets; swallowtail jackets, jackets that drape out at the waist, piratey jackets… There are a lot of types of jackets that can work with the style, but as with the shirts, details are the key. A lot of jackets feature a fake vest closure at the front to make them look more interesting. Other things to look out for are button details, trims and interesting collars. Jackets are not obligatory for the look but can help a lot in completing the outfit. (I, personally, prefer jackets to vests because I think they look better.)
The vests
Vests are a common sight in the style and can be worn by theirselves or under jackets. As with everything else, plain ones work for a casual look and under jackets, but not much else. When worn by theirselves, the vests in the style are lot like the jackets - just without sleeves. Same guidelines apply - look for the same kind of details.
General stuff I feel I need to mention
I am not writing these posts with casual boystyle in mind as I feel like everyone knows how to slap on a vest, shirt and shorts. These posts are more about how to put together a dressier look that can still be recognized as ouji. In general the key points are details and cutas I feel those are the most important things that separate the casual looks from the dressier ones. People often tend to claim that boystyle outfits are easier to complete than lolita ones but I disagree - just because the style doesn’t use expensive, hard to obtain prints as a focus element doesn’t mean it’s any easier to pull off well. Offbrand ouji can and has been done well, but it doesn’t mean it’s as easy as pie to pull off well.
Part 3 - The last words
Third and last part coming up! Didn’t take me more than six months to finally get here, sorry about that. I’m notoriously lousy about writing anything longer than a few paragraphs, hahah. I decided to just take off some minor things instead of stretching this over four posts so this will include anything else that I feel like I need to say about the subject. As with the previous two ones, if you feel like I should include something else and/or I am completely wrong about something, leave a comment and I’ll edit these accordingly. I’d like these to be a quite comprehensive mini introduction for anyone new to the style since information is pretty sparse so I’d just be glad to hear any input you guys might have and edit it in! But yes, onwards, finally!
The last words
In this post I’ll go over accessorizing, what to avoid and where to buy this stuff. As with the previous posts, none of this is set in stone and is meant to be more of a guideline than a rule. Please go ahead and experiment with the style at your leisure!
Accessorizing
Again, I might be beating a dead horse here, but none of these are rules. You can experiment with accessorizing as much as you like, there is no limit to it. I’ll just list a few common things seen in the style here.
Headwear
Hats are probably one of the most common accessories in the style and aren’t limited to just one type of a hat; the two most commonly seen types of hats are top hats (mini or not!) and tricorns (mini or not, again!) but bowlers and newsboy caps aren’t completely out of the question either. While shopping for hats try to not set for costume hats - real top hats look much better than flimsy costume shop ones and aren’t even that expensive. For example mine only cost me 25€ on ebay while the crappy costume shop one I had been using prior to that set me back with 12€ at a local costume shop! Same goes with mini top hats - a lot of highstreet stores have been stocking them in the last few years but a lot of them look too costumey for the style. With mini hats keep an eye on the proportions; a lot of them are too tiny, too tall, or too skinny. Try to look for ones that look like actual shrunk top hats as those will be the ones that have the right proportions - a lot of the ones sold on highstreet are just “something along those lines” and look a little odd. The other commonly seen head accessory in the style is the mini crown. (I personally love them even more than hats but haven’t managed to get around to making or buying one yet for some reason. I really should get around to it sometime.)
Other accessories
Sky’s the limit with these! Just experiment with it. A lot of (gothic) lolita accessories and other gothic accessories will work very well with the style. Some of the most commonly seen ones are bowties, ties and pocket watches. The picture is of two accessories I personally like but as said, sky’s the limit, I am not going to go into detail about all of the things you could use. Experiment!
You’ll also probably want to get a bag to match your outfits, something I’ve personally found rather tricky as I don’t like spending a lot on bags because I have an amazing skill of breaking them within a year of getting them. I’ve pictured two bags that would work with the style here, but I personally mostly just use a vintage leather suitcase with a shoulder strap as most of my other bags are way too small for someone who likes to lug around as much stuff as me. So look around thrift stores and “regular” stores too, you’ll never know what you’ll find!
Shoes… Shoes. Once again I am not going to go out of my way to come up with every single type of shoe that could work - just use common sense! Knee or mid calf lenght boots work well, laced up or not. Chunky shoes and platforms work very well. I’ve pictured a few types of shoes I personally like but as long as the shoes aren’t too casual for what you’re wearing or look too out of place they’re probably just fine no matter what their style is (as in, for the love of god, don’t wear sneakers).
What to avoid
There are a few things that you should avoid while trying boystyle for the first times. Even though, like I have mentioned probably a million times by now, there are no rules per se… there still are things that will not work no matter what and I’ll quickly mention a few of them.
Don’t end up looking like a butler.
It’s all too easy to just go the “fancy suit” route but you will not just want to slap on a tux and call it “dandy”. It will just look like a fancy suit, nothing about it says “boystyle”.
Don’t be too casual.
Yes, there is a thing such as too casual in this style. Just wearing a button up shirt with shorts (or even worse, capris) will not look like boystyle, it will just look plain. Even the plainest style can be made more interesting by accessorizing a little.
Look at that mini hat of yours. Look at it again.
Like mentioned in the accessorizing paragraph, it’s very easy to get a silly looking mini hat because, let’s face it, most of them dolook silly. Don’t just buy the first mini hat you see, shop around until you find one that has the right proportions.
Where to buy
Japanese brands: Mostly one size stuff, or at most a couple of different sizing options.
Alice and the Pirates, most suitable stuff comes in men’s sizes as well.
Atelier Boz, they do men’s sizes as well.
Black Peace Now, also men’s sizes.
Moi-meme-Moitie (on CdJapan), mostly aristocrat stuff but some of it will fit this style as well. Men’s sizes as well.
Taobao, offbrand, etc: Most of these also do custom sizing as far as I know.
Fanplusfriend, men’s sizing as well. They do have a little bit of a reputation with screwing up custom sizing so approach with caution. Some of the pieces labeled “ouji” are actually cosplay costumes so use common sense while shopping.
