In Christopher Hadley’s own words
Eric A Chase, the attorney for Christopher Handley, the Iowa manga collector that plead guilty to two criminal counts in connection to books he ordered from Japan, posted a statement on The Comics Journal.
By all means, it should be read by anyone interested in this story.
You know what else should be read? The 96 page sentencing document filed with the court by the U.S. Attorney prosecuting the case.
It’s chock-full of information pertaining to the case. For instance, on May 23, 2006, Christopher Handley submitted a voluntary written statement to Troy Raper, United States Postal Inspector for Des Moines, Iowa. Part of this written statement can be read on page 20 or this 96 page document. It reads:
After time and for the past couple of years my interest in the Japanese “cartoons” I evolved a fascination for the images of young girls engaged in sexual activity. Within the past 2-3 years this interest has centered upon young girls within the ages of 14-15 years and I used masturbation as an outlet for these phantasies [sic] using these images.
So in Christopher Hadley’s own words, he ordered the manga from Japan so that he could masturbate to images of 14-year old and 15-year old girls engaged in sex. When he was initially interviewed by Inspector Raper, he acknowledged that his sexual fantasies focused on having sex with females between the ages of 14 and 15.
According to this same document, nearly all of the books in Christopher Hadley’s possession were in Japanese, a language he cannot read (page 25-26). He wasn’t “reading” these books. He was only looking at the pictures, evidently so that he could masturbate to them.
Later on, Christopher Hadley changed his story. He wasn’t collecting the books so that he could fantasize about having sex with the young girls in the books. No, he told Dr. Jason Smith during a pretrial psychosexual evaluation that he was fantasizing about being the young girls having sex in the books (page 21).
I’m supposed to believe that since I enjoy comic books, I somehow share something in common with Christopher Handley? That his legal fight is somehow my legal fight simply because he likes to masturbate to drawings of 14-year old girls being brutally raped and I enjoy reading comics involving Wolverine, Superman, and Daredevil?
Thanks, but no thanks, I’m not buying it.
Christopher Handley sentenced to 6 months
Christopher Handley, the Iowa man that pleaded guilty to possessing obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of children and mailing obscene materials, has been sentenced to 6 months in prison:
From the Anime News Network:
As part of the prosecution’s argument, although Handley did not have any criminal history nor did he possess any real child pornographic images, Handley admitted he searched the Internet for manga with stories involving the sexual abuse of minors. The prosecution also stated that “The works at issue do not even have arguable scientific, literary, artistic, or political value, such as Vladimir Nabokov’s famed novel, Lolita, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, or even Alan Moore’s recent, but controversial, graphic novel, Lost Girls. By the defendant’s own statements, the works for which he was convicted of receiving and possessing are clearly obscene.”
According to Handley, he developed a fascination for images of young girls engaged in sexual activity, but he didn’t know such images could be considered obscene.
The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) supported Handley in this case until they learned a month after the fact that he had pleaded guilty.
Will someone please tell Obama to stop bowing?
What is it about President Obama that prompts him to bow to foreign dignitaries? First he bowed to the king of Saudi Arabia, now he has bowed to the Japanese Emperor Akihito. Does he just go around bowing to everyone he meets and we don’t see it because there isn’t a photographer around?
I don’t get it.
I bow to no one. I never have and I never will. Is it too much to ask that the guy living in the White House do the same?
He needs to knock it off and start practicing better posture. It’s embarrassing enough that he’s a Chicago White Sox fan. Is he trying to give TEA Baggers a photo to put on their protest signs?
The Music Balloon
I saw this speaker for the iPod (or any other audio device that has a 3.5mm jack) over at Unplugged and was immediately impressed with it’s awesomeness. Like most cool gadgets, it originates from Japan.
It comes in colors other than pink if that’s not your thing. Instead of using a battery, it comes with a USB cable to charge it for use. Looking at the specs, I don’t see the frequency spectrum that it encompasses, but something tells me that it falls short of 20Hz – 20,000Hz.
If you want one for yourself, it will run you ¥3,990 ($44.59).
Holy Bat-Manga controversy!
Bat-Manga! The Secret History of Batman in Japan was published a couple of weeks ago. I noticed the book at Borders. The thing that drew my attention was that it was released in two formats- both hardbound and paperback. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before.
In the late 60’s Shonen King, a weekly Japanese manga anthology for boys, licensed the rights to Batman and Robin. Drawn by Jiro Kuwata, the weekly stories featured Batman and Robin fighting giant robots and mutated dinosaurs.
The stories only appeared for a year. Evidently even DC Comics forgot that Batman and Robin were licensed in Japan. The stories were rediscovered by the book’s authors, Chip Kidd and Saul Ferris.
Bat-Manga! The Secret History of Batman in Japan not only features the original Jiro Kuwata strips translated into English for the first time, it includes an exclusive interview with Jiro Kuwata along with photographs of vintage Japanese Batman toys.
Evidently the book as been met with at least some criticism from some in the comic book blogosphere. The reason? Jiro Kuwata’s name fails to appear on the book’s cover. I guess I could understand the controversy if the book only contained the work of Jiro Kuwata. It doesn’t.
Some of the criticism has been overly brutal.
Chip Kidd has responded to the criticism and has offered an analogy:
But I would put forth the analogy: when Ken Burns made his documentary on the Civil War, the subsequent book had his name, and his writer Geoffrey Ward, on the front. It did not have the names General Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, or Abraham Lincoln, or any contemporary historians that Burns interviewed. That may sound like a stretch, but it’s the same situation. We took it upon ourselves to put this project together because of our love for this material. We spent far more of our own money amassing everything then we’ll ever see out of sales of the book; and without going into details, any money we did get as an advance went right back to Mr. Kuwata, who was thrilled to get it. As he is thrilled with the book—I’ve heard nothing but compliments and thanks from him.
Normally I hate analogies because they almost always invariably suck. This one doesn’t. I think it’s right on the mark.
Pig shaped earbuds
Not sure when these will make their way here to the United States — if ever — but Japanese company Greenhouse is releasing these wonderfully designed ear buds that make it look like you have a pig in your head.
If I had a nickel for every time I’ve been called pig-headed, I could easily pay the suggested retail price of around $12.
They also come in white and black, but I personally prefer the pink.
(link – Gizmodo)
$742 million for a full scale working Gundam
Takayuki Furuta has a dream. He wants to help promote the field of robotics to children and he thinks the best way to do it is to built a full sized, fully working Gundam. He has crunched the numbers and he thinks it will only cost a mere $742 million. Go here to see the actual blueprints.
I don’t know about the kids, but the thought of seeing one of these bad boys walking down the street appeals to me.
Link [Wired]
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Recent Comments
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Rick: Hayami: Ryan, so far I’ve seen no evidence that Handley was sexually attracted to real children. Then you haven't been doing e...
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Hayami: Ryan, so far I've seen no evidence that Handley was sexually attracted to real children. There're quite a few otaku who are more attracted to anime characters than to real people. There're quite a few erotic anime/manga/games fans who are attr...
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siriunsun: Well, Rick.........you know how it is: John McSame just LOOKS the same as lots of people who were born in the United States. And his name is a lot more in line with certain stereotypes that make lots of sheep in this country feel happy and com...
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Ryan: Matt Damon? Matt Damon!...
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