Sick of your spouse? Divorce laws a pain?

Saw your house in half!

Story

A Cambodian couple decided actually getting legally divorced was too much of a hassle, so they split their belongings…including their house. The husband’s half has been moved somewhere else.

It makes a kind of sense…but I bet they’ll regret it during the rainy season.

Being in the book trade has its advantages- if I don’t sometimes look at a copy of Publisher’s Weekly, I might have missed this interview with iconic artist Yoshitaka Amano:

Amano Interview

Amano is probably one of my very favorite artists. I really like the ethereal, unfinished quality of his work. In fact, in my first novel, one of the main characters is named Amano…and in my second novel, one of the main characters is named Yoshitaka. <–dork

Confession: I don’t like Sandman (I know, I know) except for the eleventh volume, The Dream Hunters…because Amano did all the artwork.

Jason Thompson, the author of the (really, really fun-to-read) Manga: The Complete Guide, has revealed on his blog that he’s getting a cameo in Hiro Mashima’s current manga Fairy Tail. Mashima, the creator of Rave Master, apparently took a shine to Thompson after an interview the San Diego Comic-Con.

See it!

How much do I envy Thompson? Well, he wrote a popular manga guide, got to go to the San Diego Comic-Con, interviewed a real like mangaka, AND gets to be in a manga. Also, he gets punched in the face by the main character.

Lucky bastard.

I am not so sure about this.

Monkeys!

My husband thinks this is the greatest thing in the world. I however am on the fence.

I mean, everyone wants a monkey to bring them beer, right? You’ve daydreamed about it, don’t lie.

But…monkeys. They fling poo.

On the other hand, the tips are cheap!

Once again a mainstream news source has written an article about a trend imported from Japan. This time it’s the “Elegant Gothic Lolita” fashion trend, the paper is the  New York Times.

The Article

The article is interesting enough, and the girls whose pictures accompany it are cute. But for some reason they don’t look ‘Lolita-y’ enough for me. I think it is because I saw a couple of EGLs in Harajuku when I visited Japan, and they were Lolita-y to the extreme. Like creepily adorable china dolls, drowning in ruffles.

So ladies, when it comes to EGL fashion, remember…MORE RUFFLES! And more ribbons. And bonnets. And banana curls. And more ruffles. That’s the way to go!

For some unfathomable reason, CNN has posted a list of five famous/semi-famous crossdressers, including Shi Pei-Pu:

Crossdressers\’ R \’Us

There have been many instances of cross-dressing spies (including Sarah Edmonds, mentioned above), but one of the most impressive deceptions in history was carried out by Shi Pei-Pu, a singer with the Beijing Opera (in which, traditionally, all roles are played by men).

In 1964 he disguised himself as a woman to seduce Bernard Boursicot, an attache in the French Foreign Service. Their affair lasted 20 years (on and off), during which Boursicot passed several official documents to Shi, believing that “her” safety was at risk if he didn’t participate. After they were separated in 1965, Shi came back into Boursicot’s life by claiming to be pregnant, and even revealed a baby boy. They later lived as a family. The happy couple was eventually arrested for espionage in 1983, and Shi’s secret was revealed, Crying Game style, to the stunned Boursicot.

But how did they have this romance for so long without Bousicot knowing the truth? Officially, they rarely made love, and always did it hurriedly and in darkness — something that Boursicot always ascribed to Shi’s demure Chinese upbringing. One theory, however, is that he always knew the truth, but played dumb to conceal his homosexuality. (He later came out.)

The affair was the basis for the play “M. Butterfly.” It was filmed in 1993, starring Jeremy Irons and former Beijing Opera player John Lone (better known for the title role in the film “The Last Emperor”).

The movie is just OK, but the play is wicked awesome (it originally starred John Lithgow and B.D. Wong).

Australia is close to Asia, so I can post this! Also, it just really burns me up!

In a reptile zoo in Canberra, a 7-year-old psychopath killed 13 animals in the space of 30 minutes by feeding some to the zoo’s resident crocodile and bludgeoning others to death. Security cameras caught the massacre and the child smiling as he killed the reptiles, some of which were extremely rare. Strangely enough, the security cameras captured NO parents in sight.

WTF?

Now, I know the proper response is “The kid must be mentally ill, it’s not his fault, thank God it was only animals and he wasn’t eaten by the crocodile.”

But you know what? Fuck that. I wish the little fucker HAD been eaten by the crocodile. Obviously his parents don’t bother to actually parent him, so they probably wouldn’t notice he was gone. They certainly didn’t notice that they failed to teach him empathy (I believe people are not born with a conscience, but have to be taught to empathize) and that he thinks nothing of killing animals in a painful and terrifying manner. And it’s not as if he didn’t know what he was doing; 7 is quite old enough to understand death.

Since the monster is still alive, I think the zoo should sue the hell out of his parents. Obviously they don’t care their kid is a future serial killer, but maybe they’ll care more when the zoo hits their pocketbook.

Let the flames begin.

Apparently, college students do stupid shit all over the world, not just in America. That’s rather comforting, I suppose. But while I saw a ton of stupid shit in my four years of higher learning, I didn’t see anything quite as stupid as this:

The Horror, The Horror

While a one-year suspension seems harsh, what on God’s green Earth convinced these kids that dancing in mankinis at a company party was a good idea? Mankinis are not a good idea. Anywhere, anytime.

I hope they at least shaved before donning the stupid things.

Remember that, kids.

Now that Fall is upon us, I thought I’d share a great summer treat, sure to keep you cool as the mercury begins it’s downward spiral towards Winter. Okay, this is more than a little late in the season, but that’s no excuse not to eat something yummy, I figure.

So what is this foodstuff I’m ranting about? Halo-halo! No, not that Halo, dumbass - halo-halo is a common dessert eaten throughout the Philippines - halo-halo is a tagalog word that means mix-mix. The beauty of halo-halo is that although there are a few basic ingredients common to all halo-halo, the exact components of halo-halo are up to you…hence mix-mix!

To make halo-halo, you’ll need:

shaved ice
condensed, sweetened milk

That’s it! Well, for the common ingredients anyway. A true halo-halo is a mixture of tropical fruit and something starchy, usually red mung beans or kidney beans, and maybe even corn. For the fruit, young coconut (gelatin coconut) meat cut into cubes, plantain slices, mango, ube (purple yam), lychee, or any other light fruit can be used. Simply add the ingredients in layers at the bottom of a tall glass, top with shaved ice, and pour the condensed milk over the whole mess. Let the milk settle a little and eat!

If you have a decent Asian grocery store in your area, there’s a better-than-even chance that they have ready-made halo-halo mix in a jar. Just add the ice and condensed milk, and you’re good to go.

I have stated my opnion on this site (several times) that America needs more yuri manga up in here. I’m glad to see that the LGBT magazine The Advocate agrees with me:

Read This Article!

It’s a very interesting, in-depth article about yuri in Japan and its slow journey to America. It also explains better than I ever could the attractions of yuri to a female audience!

As a straight female who likes love stories of all kinds, I say: more girl-on-girl action , please publishers!