Asian artists: curvy elegance & smoothness

clockwise: Audrey Kawasaki, Toonikun, kidchan, Matsuo Hiromi

It's been awhile since the last time I've posted about art. Today I bring you some of my most favorite artists. I have much love for art nouveau: the slender figures, the graceful lines and the mesmerizing, at times bizarre, decorative elements/ shapes. And I'm also attracted to textures, be it smooth like the above or rough. These artistic 'Achilleon heels' of mine are presented exquisitely through the four artists you'll be able to explore in this post.

A History Lesson from Hyouka

"It all becomes part of the classics, as per the rules of  historic perspective."

Dear The Paper and gendomike asked me to write for their blog. They are great bloggers and very kind hosts. Visit their blog to check my contribution. Enjoy!

Our Genshiken Diairies: The Greek Community Part 1

Introduction

We may not be advertising it a much, but The Beautiful World is a Greek based blog. As a team, both Foxie Lady and Neko-kun are not crazy about their country but they cannot help it and live in its reality. It is a part of this reality, our experience and opinion of the local j-community that we wish to share with our readers.

The main reasons that led to the creation of this article are as follow:
   - The need to share a positive side of Greece, rather than the -quite reasonable- negativity that goes around these days.
   - The wish to keep a sort memo of what happened the past six years, so that we can evaluate the present and future of the community.
   - The interest to see what some of our closest friends have experienced as Greek "Otaku."

The article is separated in two parts: the first one will present my memories of the past and some interesting information on the Greek Otaku community. The second one is going to be an estimation of the present and the future, written by myself and others whose opinion I treasure.

Some events and periods will be briefly mentioned, to save space and time. The article focuses mostly on the experience I had as an "Otaku" living in Athens.

Prism* and the free market of creativity

Bad news came up some weeks ago, when for reasons of copyright infringement, mangaka Higashiyama Show had been forced to put Prism, our favorite yuri manga of all time, on hold. This means that the constant rise in popularity the story met will also be put on a hold, so manga readers are going to miss a great opportunity to take a look on a realistic, high quality slice-of-life yuri.

The Beautiful World could not be sadder for Prism, one of the series for which, very soon, we plan to dedicate an exclusive article. Right now we would like to make a more general comment on the issue of copyrights. None of us has knowledge of how national or international law treats the subject. So we cannot take the position of an expert, but rather decide a stance as creative people and willing consumers of this market.

Lesbians, inspiration and work ethics

Each work one does has a purpose. Some works were made to be bring profits. Others to earn and build reputation. But there are projects that were thought of, and made for, the satisfaction of passions. This is the sort of a case I am going to present in this article, and it is perhaps my dearest story evolving around one of my projects and what, thanks to a sweet young couple, I found out about work.