Tuesday News: Martial arts & politics, cosplay for cash, and another cool coloring book

JanetPublishing Newsadult coloring book / Banned-Books / Comic-Con / cosplay / hip-hop / Hong Kon Book Fair / martial artsComments Off on Tuesday News: Martial arts & politics, cosplay for cash, and another cool coloring book

The politics of a martial arts book fair in Hong Kong – An interesting take on the Hong Kong Book Fair, which was highly anticipated this year, in part because of the overt display of banned books. This year’s theme was martial arts, and I was particularly struck by the juxtaposition of martial arts books and political volumes like this “dictionary” that reflects an evolving political language in Hong Kong:

A new book whose title translates as Hong Kong’s New Political Vocabulary is a “dictionary” featuring about 150 new Chinese words made up by the authors. The authors argue that recent social movements such as the pro-democracy Occupy Central protests have created a new, more defiant language in Hong Kong. . . .

For many, this fair was just about the literature of martial arts – and its a genre that unites Chinese readers of different political stripes.

Sze Yan Ngai, the man who produced “Gulong Online”, Hong Kong’s first martial arts online game, told me that “martial arts literature is a common language for the Chinese speaking world”. – BBC News

Sexy cosplayers can make $200,000 a year at comic book conventions – I don’t think it’s news at this point that cosplay has earning potential for women, especially as it becomes more mainstream. Remember the female artist who made up her own college major in cosplay? But this article (unintentionally) captures the problematic element of objectification (aka the “male gaze”) in the success of “attractive” women who – intentionally or indirectly – accommodate certain male fantasies. Definitely a double-edged light saber.

“In addition to a per diem and travel costs, popular professional cosplayers can make at least $5,000 to $10,000 a show,” comic book expert Christian Beranek told FOX411. “If you add in mail order sales, crowd funding contributions and YouTube ad revenue, the top talents are pulling in close to $200,000 a year.” . . .

“The popular ones communicate with the nerd fan base 365 days a year on social media,” [Egotastic’s Bill Swift] said. “So it’s not as if they just show up to Comic-Con and suddenly have red.” – Fox News

A Coloring Book Celebrating the Early Days of Hip-Hop – You may be familiar with Jamel Shabazz’s hip-hop photographs, but even if you are not, this is a pretty cool coloring book, in part because of the effect of translating such iconic flashback photos into colorable images.

Now Shabazz’s works are taking on their most unexpected form yet — as a coloring book. Back in the Days Coloring Book, out August 2 from Powerhouse Books, transforms the photographer’s stylishly gritty photos into illustrations by Chuck Gonzales. The images were selected from Shabazz’s 2001 book, Back in the Days, the first of four Powerhouse publications of his work. – New York Magazine

Janet

isn't sure if she's an average Romance reader, or even an average reader, but a reader she is, enjoying everything from literary fiction to philosophy to history to poetry. Historical Romance was her first love within the genre, but she's fickle and easily seduced by the promise of a good read. She approaches every book with the same hope: that she will be filled from the inside out with something awesome that she didnʼt know, didnʼt think about, or didnʼt feel until that moment. And she's always looking for the next mind-blowing read, so feel free to share any suggestions!

→ Janet