Manga… and Movies… and Monsters… OH MY! April 19, 2007

Third Thursdays and the Japanese Cultural & Community Center present:

Manga… and Movies… and Monsters… OH MY!

Thursday, April 19, 2007
7:00-9:15pm
Japanese Cultural & Community Center
1840 Sutter Street
San Francisco, CA 94115

RSVP @ http://www.thirdthursdays.org/rsvp.php

Once the province of specialty stores and import shops, Japanese entertainment media has invaded the mainstream and is putting its own stamp on American culture. With animated movies like “Spirited Away” scooping up the coveted “Best Animated Feature Film” Oscar and manga comic books taking over as the fastest growing segment in the publishing industry, it’s hard these day to walk into a bookstore or video retailer and not see a healthy selection of anime and manga titles. Some traditional American stereotypes have also been upended with such trends as “girl power” fueling the growth and spread of manga — a startling full 60% of the manga readership are women or girls. So these days even Dorothy would stand a good chance of being able to walk into a Borders in the heart of Kansas to get her RUROUNI KENSHIN fix.

How did we get from Godzilla to Pikachu? Have manga and anime shifted our perception and acceptance of the kinds of stories that can be told through comic books and animated movies? Come join our star-studded panel for a fun and lively discussion of Japanese entertainment media and its impact on American culture!

Panelists include:

* August Ragone
Writer
http://www.henshinonline.com
* Trina Robbins
Historian, writer
http://www.trinarobbins.com
* Frederik Schodt
Writer, translator, interpreter
http://www.jai2.com

Pricing Plan:
recommended donation w/dinner: $10, $15 or $20
recommended donation for program and refreshments only: $5
no one will be turned away for lack of funds. please email feewaiver at thirdthursdays.org to request a fee waiver. donation supports refreshments, room rental, and any honoria or fee waivers

Questions:
email questioncomment at thirdthursdays.org.

To RSVP:
Please fill out the form at http://www.thirdthursdays.org/rsvp.php by Wednesday, April 18th at 5pm.

Schedule:
7:00-7:15PM: Registration
7:15-8:15PM: Panel Discussion
8:15-9:15PM: Dinner & Discussion Groups
9:15-9:20PM: Wrap up & Shout outs

**If an organization you work or volunteer for has an upcoming event or opportunities to publicize, you can do a shout out. At a future event, we may ask you to update us on event or opportunities you presented.

About the Speakers:
August Ragone is currently working on the first-ever biography to be published outside of Japan on tokusatsu legend Eiji Tsuburaya, famed special effects director of such series as Godzilla and Ultraman. Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters will be a hardcover, coffee table book produced with the the full cooperation of Toho, Tsuburaya Productions and the Tsuburaya Family, and will be published by Chronicle Books in the fall. Mr. Ragone has also written for numerous publications, including Filmfax, Video Watchdog, and Henshin!Online, and made several appearance on the seminal Bay Area Japanese entertainment series “Captain Cosmic” that was aired on KTVU.

Historian and writer Trina Robbins has been writing graphic novels, comics and books for over thirty years. Her subjects have ranged from Wonder Woman and the Powerpuff Girls to her own teenage superheroine, GoGirl!, and from women cartoonists and superheroines to women who kill. She has written over a dozen educational graphic novels for three different publishers, provided English language rewrites for shojo manga graphic novels, and lectured on comics, manga, and graphic novels throughout the United States and Europe. She lives in San Francisco, in a 102 year old house with her partner, her cats, and her books.

Frederik L. Schodt (Fred) is a writer, translator, and interpreter in the Bay Area. With his books, Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics (Kodansha International, 1983), and Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga (Stone Bridge Press, 1996) he helped spark the manga boom outside of Japan. In addition he was a pioneer in translating manga, and has worked on numerous well-known titles. In 2000, he won the “Special Award” category of the Asahi newspaper’s prestigious Osamu Tezuka Cultural Award, for helping to popularize manga overseas. His latest book, The Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the manga/anime revolution, will be published this summer by Stone Bridge Press. He has also written extensively on U.S.-Japan relations, technology, and history. For more information on his work, refer to his website, at http://www.jai2.com.

About Third Thursdays
Third Thursdays is a monthly dinner series for people in the nonprofit, for-profit, and government sectors interested in Asian American & Pacific Islander (AA&PI) community issues and service opportunities. Each event seeks to educate the audience about an important issue or work in the API community and provide ways for audience members to get involved. Our events are located in San Francisco or Berkeley.
http://www.thirdthursdays.org

Official Website: http://www.thirdthursdays.org/event/2007/04/19/manga-and-movies-and-monsters-oh-my/