Talk | Laydeez do Comics | Guest Speakers Part Two | Professor Anna Madill

The next half the Laydeez do Comics was a talk called 'My personal journey to Boys' love manga-land' by Professor Anna Madill outlining her life journey and how she came across Boys' love Manga also known as Yaoi, and how this relates to her practice and study. 

About Anna Madill: 

Anna is an academic at the University of Leeds researching BL from a UK perspective and tweets on this topic as UK Fujoshi. 

https://www.facebook.com/UKFujoshi?ref=hl

http://leeds.academia.edu/AnnaMadill

The presentation consisted of this spiral timeline that represented Anna's life, with an image at various points that represented each focus point for the talk and how at each point of her life her interests and ideas reflected on what he is researching now. From interests in characters like Marine boy or the duo Spock and Kirk from Star Trek and how these reflected on things like slash fiction and why people write and read it.  

Anna Madill gave a talk that was deeply honest and gave a personal yet professional insight into key steps of her life showing how all this is related and eventually led up to her British Academy grant researching and understanding Japanese Boys' Love Manga from a UK Perspective.It touches on who reads and writes these and why they appeal to women. Also how the audience and writers of these are seen by the society, looking at how it's more of a private interest and frown upon by some groups. 

I'm not doing the talk justice by talking about it on here, it is definitely one to look out for and attend if you can. It was a fantastic talk and i'm really glad I made it to Laydeez do Comics this month, i'll be going to the next meet in November. 

Talk | Laydeez do Comics | Guest Speakers Part One | Neil Gibson

I finally made it to a Laydeez do Comics meeting! I wrote it several times in various diaries and calendars and with my 2 years of locations of Leeds knowledge I now know where it is held. Laydeez do Comics describes themselves as a combination between a book club and a TED talk. These events are held in various locations around the UK and US where artists, writers and general fans of comics can meet up every two months to listen to guest speakers, talk about their own work and also the chance to network.

The first guest speaker at this evenings Laydeez Do Comics was Neil Gibson, unlike the second speaker tonight, I have already met Neil and heard his presentation: How comics can help you work and study - reasons why you should use them. Even so I still was excited to hear this as the last time I stumbled upon the talk at Leeds Thought Bubble last year, I was in full costume and no means of taking notes. Tonight I am prepared with an audio recorder and a notebook.

About Neil Gibson (taken from his website)

Neil is the founder and lead writer at TPub. He is currently writing all of the titles at TPub, but is looking forward to the day when other writers are hired he can take credit for their work. He used to be a management consultant, before realising in his 30s that he loved good comics and wanted to make a career out of them. He believes that the comic book medium is one of the most efficient mediums for communicating stories. If you want to annoy him, just mention how you think comics are for kids. His reaction is a common source of amusement. He has given talks in universities and clubs about comics and will gladly talk anywhere he is invited to about comics and how underutilised they really are. 

The talk was to a room full of comic book creatives, artists, writers and fans alike, the first part of the presentation was a business like approach to comics. It centred around this idea of how you can use images to communicate information and also how this can fit into a study environment in the way that information attached to the accompanying illustrations can allow you to remember more. However the talk this time round, seemed more like a business presentation aimed at investors, companies and schools rather than the audience that sat before Neil this evening. To give Neil credit he did explain the target audience for this presentation and giving an example of what he would usually be presenting to the right audience. It did give an insight into other peoples thoughts and idea into how comics and graphic novels are portrayed by the general public and the key uses that people would benefit from, if they could look past this wrong idea of comics being for children and there is no place for an adult audience.

I did enjoy this talk more the first time round and that might be for the main reason that the information given to me was something new and an angle i'd never thought about before. I have always read and continue to read comics/graphic novels even as I get older, but seeing how others may view it and also the benefits of the illustrations meeting the content, it is definitely a talk to attend for that little bit more information.

The second part of the talk was something new i've not heard before that gave Neil Gibson the opportunity to talk about his love of comics and how he became a writer and founder of TPub. This gave an insight into how his love of reading graphic novels fuelled him to write a one of his own that was originally for his mother, but ended up getting published. He spoke about the processes and journey of this experience that then lead to his own publishing company. Which overall became an interesting insight to how graphic novels make it into comic store around the UK and where all the money goes between publishers, distributors and stores.

For more information of Neil Gibson and TPub follow the link below:

http://www.neilgibsoncomics.com

Competition | Impossible Project | Lost in Spaces

Having got a Polaroid Camera a couple of months ago and had the chance to shoot some interesting instant photographs while I was in Scotland. I decided to expand this interest and experimentation by entering them to various competitions and creating collections. So this month i've entered six of my images that related to this months Impossible Project competition themed 'Lost in Spaces.' 

Theme and brief: 

We’ve come to the end of a time of year when many take the opportunity to travel. Many also choose not to and instead immerse themselves in their personal spaces. How and where did you spend your time off from work or school? What images best expressed your experiences? Share them with us in this month’s gallery competition.

Images I submitted: 

Hyde Park Picture House

Gravestones of Edinburgh

Deep in the Forest

View of the City

Lost in the Highlands

Loch Ness

I entered past photographs that related to the theme this month, however I am to use the monthly themed competition to experiment with the polaroid camera and create a whole portfolio of images. I don't aim to win, I just see this as an opportunity to keep motivated and have a deadline that could help me keep up and interest and hobby. 

Book | Stephen Emmerson | Albion

Nexus @ Medium | Performance Workshop | Poetry and Spoken Word

Workshop at Medium as part of Nexus...

Sunday 14th September: As a part of the Nexus Weekender Medium will be hosting a day of workshops all centred on performance!

11-12:30pm: It will begin with a spoken word class were we will use different exercises and examples of other pieces of poetry to help inspire you to create your own, we will also be using other techniques to show you how you can use voice and performance to enhance your poetry!

1-2:30pm: You will be seated around a life model and given a pen and paper. The model will then move into different positions and express different emotions through body language and expression. You will use this as an inspiration for short bits of writing!

3-4:30pm: The final part to the day is a platform for performers to come and share their work! Along with the live performers we will also be screening some footage of influential artists and performers! 

The day of workshops is free to attend! For any more info email: medium.artsupplies@yahoo.co.uk

If you would like to be a part of all the whole NEXUS weekend 12-14th tickets can be found here: http://nexus-leeds.co.uk/tickets/