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Perdue Partners has aquired Atlanta-based logistics company Benton Express.
The Coca-Cola Company is joining forces with HSN, a multichannel retailer, which will allow both parties to tap into each other's customer base and expand their online reach.
The Arnold Transportation division of U.S. Xpress Enterprises will merge with LinkAmerica Corp. to create a trucking company with 1,400 vehicles, 5,000 trailers and 1,800 drivers.
Meyers has created a new division called Meyers Engage to focus on digital initiatives with CPG and food service companies.
CashStar, a leading digital gifting company, has partnered with celebrations site Punchbowl.com, which enables its consumers to embed eGift Cards in their digital greeting cards.
Kelly Semrau, SVP of global corporate affairs, communication and sustainability at SC Johnson, is the newest board member at the American Cleaning Institute (ACI).
Pitney Bowes is helping high-end leathergoods retailer Dooney & Bourke extend its reach in the global online market.
Leading third party logistic provider Transplace has acquired Canada's Torus Freight Systems.
The Coca-Cola Company and Select Milk Producers have teamed up to acquire the newly created Fair Oaks Farms Brands, which owns and operates Core Power, a high protein milkshake.
SmartWatch is the name of a new risk-monitoring tool LexisNexis created to help supply chain management professionals keep tabs on potentially disruptive events.


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- Show the world the impact of Parkinson's disease. Using PDF's handheld sign, share a photograph of yourself telling the world why or how you make a difference in the fight against Parkinson's disease.
- Get informed by joining PDF's free PD ExpertBriefing, "Medical Therapies: What's in the Parkinson's Pipeline?" online or by phone on Tuesday, April 16, at 1:00 PM ET, led by Kapil D. Sethi, M.D., F.R.C.P., Director of the Movement Disorders Program at Georgia Regents University in Augusta, GA. Health care professionals can apply for continuing education credits via PDF's sponsorship of the American Society on Aging.
- Show support for a loved one by wearing awareness. Order the "We Make a Difference in the Fight Against Parkinson's" T-shirt designed by Jeffrey Williams of Benton, AR, who lives with young onset Parkinson's disease.
- PAIR Up up for PD research by joining a local event. Representatives of PDF's Parkinson's Advocates in Research (PAIR) program are hosting events around the US, including in Phoenix, AZ, and Denver, CO, to educate communities about Parkinson's disease research and to thank those who have made a difference by participating in research studies.
- Step up as a student. Elementary school students and teachers are saving Pennies for Parkinson's and selling Cones for a Cure while college campus teams compete to be top fundraisers in honor of parents and grandparents. Will you join them?
- Double your difference. When you donate to PDF in April, the Light of Day Foundation will match your gift for up to $100,000. Not only that, just a dollar can make a difference when you are shopping at Gristedes supermarkets in New York. Purchase a paper tulip at checkout for a $1 donation and it will be displayed in the store to raise awareness.
Parkinson's Disease Foundation Asks, How Will You Make A Difference During Parkinson's Awareness Month?
NEW YORK, April 1, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Parkinson's Disease Foundation® (PDF®) is challenging the world to make a difference in the fight against Parkinson's disease during Parkinson's Awareness Month this April. PDF invites communities to find tools within its Make a Difference Campaign, available on PDF's website at www.pdf.org/parkinson_awareness.(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20111101/DC97663LOGO) "In each of my three roles – care partner to my grandmother who lived with Parkinson's disease, a doctor to patients with Parkinson's disease, and now a person living with young onset Parkinson's disease – PDF has offered meaningful ways for me to make a difference," emphasized Maria De Leon, M.D., of Nacogdoches, TX, member of PDF's People with Parkinson's Advisory Council. "We can only win the fight if you too join us." PDF's Make a Difference Campaign offers tips and tools including:
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Congressman Adam Smith held one of the infamous Town Hall meetings yesterday night in Tacoma. A little under 2,000 folks showed up, filling a high school football stadium in Lakewood. It was an appropriate setting, given that half the people were there carrying signs protesting what the half were doing. There was even a section for the visiting team. Maybe for out-of-district Astroturfers who were shipped in to disrupt the proceedings?
Go Team! Fight! W-I-I-I-I-I-N, tonight!
(As an admission, I've been up in Alaska for more than two months learning about the commercial fishing industry. A few weeks ago, e-mails from friends and family began reaching Bristol Bay during the few times I had Internet access saying, "You need to get back here and see these Town Hall meetings on health care. People are going ape-shit crazy!")
After seeing many of the infamous YouTube videos, there was that primordial part of me hoping to see fisticuffs in the bleachers, with Town Hall participants beating each other over the head with signs while pouring Fair Trade coffee over each other. But then again, this is Washington state, and Washingtonians are ever so polite. And Washingtonians never resort to direct confrontation, not when the passive-aggressive option is available.So it was in the atmosphere of a raucous homecoming game that Smith, a moderate Democrat, tried to keep some semblance of order, playing referee to one half of the mass who expected the other half to pay for their medical care even though the second group can barely pay for their own health insurance.
(As a note, journalists must adhere to the AP Style Guide describing Smith as a moderate. It's in our computer software and a reporter can get banned from happy hour parties if we describe the Tacoma Democrat as anything other than middle of the road)
For the Congressman's part, he said he would vote no on this particular legislation - as it stands now. That last part is an important caveat for any politician. Chatting with Rep. Smith after the event, he sounded a bit miffed at Democrat leadership for having this particular health care bill forced on him.
"The people who put this together should have been more mindful," Smith vented.
When asked if this was him waggling his finger at Democrats in the House (i.e Speaker Nancy Pelosi), the Senate and President Barack Obama who are pushing this health care package, Smith was quick to parse the question by saying he doesn't wag fingers.
Told you Washingtonians are polite.
But with superfluous riders stapled onto this bill like ornaments on a Christmas tree, even the mild-mannered Mr. Smith was driven to ask why a slimmer, more simpler package couldn't be put forward.
"There are 20 pages about anti-discrimination and more boards and studies than you can imagine. Do we have to do this?" he asked.
Tea Party Legacy:
Being one of the first writers to actually cover the Tea Party movement (which began here in Seattle) it isn't much of a surprise that these Town Hall events have grown to be such exciting affairs. Conservative Republicans who had a lousy presidential candidate foisted upon them by the moderate wing of the party in the last election are finally becoming politically active. Usually for the first time.
This is a holistic movement where hundreds of thousands of individual people on their own accord are becoming politically active. Despite the angry cries from the left that somehow FOXNews is secretly issuing marching orders to Teabaggers, these aren't your typical rent-a-mobs that were the hallmark of Bush Administration. With a few key exceptions, they seem to be just average middle and lower middle class people, trying to pay their bills, who are fed up with a government that is getting too big and too intrusive.
The telling bit of politics will be whether moderate Democrat politicians in swing districts - like Smith - will get cold feet over instituting universal health care. And if they do, how will it play at the ballot box?
Scribbling on a notebook and taking photos at any event kind of makes a fella stand out. And at yesterday's Town Hall I had the stench of press weasel all over me. As people filed out of Harry Lang Stadium, a middle-aged man wearing a yellow "Don't Tread On Me" t-shirt stopped me to pass along some vital information.
Don't Tread: Are you a journalist?
Me: No. I'm a reporter.
Don't Tread: (blinking) Do you know who wrote the health care plan?
Me: (smiling through my beard) Nope. I've been on the Alaska tundra for two months.
Don't Tread: (not sure if I'm pulling his leg) Bet you even the Congressman doesn't know.
Me: (Leaning forward eagerly) So who is it?
Don't Tread: (conspiratorially) The Apollo Alliance. And Van Jones. Look it up...
Well. I'm glad that clears that whole question up...
LaRouche Douches:
A lot can be made about the differences between Americans politically. Republicans versus Democrats. Liberals versus Conservatives. Cowboys versus Redskins. The schism between those who want to increase the size and scope of government intrusion into every aspect of citizen's lives is diametrically opposed by those on the other end of the political spectrum who want to slash apart the budget of the federal government with a Stihl chainsaw.
For my money, it is time for Americans to put aside their petty disagreements about defense spending or Social Security and join hands by beating the crap out of every single Lynden LaRouche whackjob that can be found.
It's bi-partisan. The politician who runs on this platform will be swept into office with powers that would make martial law seem like anarchy.
The only ugly incident at the Town Hall meeting came from a LaRouche punk, your typical brainwashed twenty-something dirtbag, who tried to instigate a riot at the stadium by waving a three foot tall picture of President Barack Obama sporting an Adolph Hitler mustache.
What was heartening is that it was more Republicans (or conservatives) who objected to the sign. They might not have voted for Obama. They might not agree with anything he stands for. But they were damned if they were going to allow some jobless loser to hijack the Town Hall by portraying the President of the United States in such a despicable matter.
As is usually the case, it was a couple old veterans who took it upon themselves to rip the Obama-Hitler sign out of the LaRouchey's hands, sending him packing.
As a suspiciously large number of union members left the stadium en masse at around 8:30 p.m someone shouted out from the stands.
"You're bus is here Astroturfers!!! Time to go home."
It was difficult to gauge how many people who showed up at the Town Hall actually were from the Ninth District. About one fourth of the people were wearing a shirt or toting a sign printed off by some political organization or the other.
Planned Parenthood. Campaign For Liberty. Veterans For Peace. Walmart Workers for Change. One America (advocating health care for illegal immigrants). A crazy, old lady holding an six-foot tall picture of an aborted fetus protesting Planned Parenthood. Socialist Alternatives. Anti-Federal Reserve black helicopter types.
Save Our Sonics:
Of course it wouldn't be a large public gathering without the Save Our Sonics guy. Sporting a hairdo that would make the Bride of Frankenstein proud, Kris Brannon, a Tacoma standup comedian is continuing to block-out in the paint for the team, reminding people to boycott Starbucks, contact their state legislators and to get Mayor Greg Nickels out of office.
We've got one out of three brother. And so far, that ain't bad.
More Scenes:
Stacy DeLong (center above) is a Seattle resident who came down to Lakewood. Although Planned Parenthood is seen by many as a controversial organization being an abortion provider, DeLong said it is important that the organization be included in the health care debate since it serves millions of Americans by providing birth control and cancer screening.
"We're here to advocate for health reform that includes reproductive health services."
About thirty or more signs (mostly from the folks who support universal health care) were left littered all about the stadium grounds after the event was over. A couple of Pierce County Republican activists managed to convince a liberal-type to pick up the trash.
Eric Seeley, an unemployed Tacoma resident, came out in opposition to universal health care. Although he said that the pragmatic thing would be to accept a government handout, he said his principles spoke otherwise.
"This is forcing the government to be a charitable organization instead of churches, charitable clinics and individual families helping one another."
A good many Democrats and folks from the left side of the political spectrum get their undergarments in a sweaty knot when righties describe universal health care as "socialism". Maybe it's because the Socialist Workers Party is out there advocating for it?


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- Differential Diagnosis
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Differential Diagnosis For Sputum purulent
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Kookmin Bank (KB)
Kookmin Bank (KB) is the largest bank by both asset value and market capitalization in South Korea. Kookmin Bank is a part of KB Financial Group Inc., a Korea-based financial holding company engaged in the management of subsidiaries. Kookmin Bank has been recognized as the "Best Trade Finance Bank in Korea" for 2011 by Trade Finance Magazine. Total assets: Won 271,252,645 million (as of December 31, 2014).
These ads are not affiliated with Kookmin Bank (KB)
ID: 818. Updated: 06.07.2015
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WASHINGTON, DC - In what's considered an important victory for property rights supporters, the Georgia Senate has given final legislative approval to legislation which will make it easier and more affordable for homeowners, businesses, churches, schools, non-profits, military facilities, and police and fire departments to install rooftop solar systems. Previously approved by Georgia's House of Representatives, the Solar Power Free Market Financing Act, House Bill 57, now goes to Gov. Nathan Deal for his signature.
You are here
SEIA is the solar energy industry's go-to source for the latest coverage on solar power, including U.S. and international policy, research and polls, business and financing trends, and more. Our staff strives to support the media covering solar energy issues and guide our members on effective media outreach with clear statements, background materials, news and multimedia resources.
SEIA is committed to informing policymakers, the media, and the American public about the benefits of solar energy for today's communities, our economy, and our country.
Learn more from our statements and industry news below.
SEIA Hails Sen. Reid's 'Commitment to Clean Energy'
Praising his "leadership, legacy and commitment to clean energy," retiring Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid will be remembered, among other things, for helping to foster the rapid growth of solar energy in America, according to Rhone Resch, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). Sen. Reid, who has served in Congress since 1983, announced today that he will not seek reelection in 2016.
SunPower's Large MV solar array project nearing completion
SunPower's 137-acre Fort Churchill Solar Project on the south side of Sierra Way near the NV Energy Fort Churchill power plant in north Mason Valley is reportedly nearing completion.
SunPower Corp. Starts 15-megawatt solar project at Nellis Air Force Base
SunPower Corp. will build a $50 million Nellis Solar Array II that will be owned by NV Energy on land leased from the Air Force in the southwest part of the base. Combined with the first array SunPower built in 2007 — a 13.2-megawatt solar plant — the two will power base facilities exclusively on the sun's renewable energy during daylight hours.
Namaste Solar Opens New York Office
Colorado-based solar developer Namaste Solar is opening a branch office in White Plains, N.Y.
New Study Shows Significant Job Growth in 2012 from One-Year Extension of Successful Treasury Program
Today, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) released "Economic Impact of Extending the Section 1603 Treasury Program," a report by renowned global energy analysis firm EuPD Research. The report examines projected job growth and solar deployment associated with a one-year extension of the Section 1603 Treasury Program.
New Report Shows U.S. Solar Outpaces Global Market: PV Demand Grows 69 Percent Year-Over-Year
The U.S. solar energy industry continued its rapid growth through the second quarter of this year, gaining a greater share of the total global market according to GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA)'s latest quarterly U.S. Solar Market Insight report.
SEIA Partners with SolarNexus to Improve Solar Business Management Efficiency of Solar Energy Companies
Today, the Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA) and SolarNexus announced a new partnership to promote efficient business practices of SEIA members by using the SolarNexus solar business management software system. SolarNexus helps solar contractors profitably manage projects, organize client data, and collaborate with team members, accelerating the process of selling, installing and maintaining solar systems. As part of this relationship, SolarNexus will also promote the benefits of SEIA(R) membership to the SolarNexus community.
SEIA Statement on Tonight's Jobs Speech by President Obama
Rhone Resch, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), released the following statement today ahead of President Obama's speech outlining steps Congress should take to create jobs.
CALSEIA and National SEIA Formalize Partnership to Grow California Solar Market
The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA(R)) and the California Solar Energy Industries Association (CALSEIA) today announced a formalized partnership to coordinate the resources of both organizations and promote the growth of California's solar energy market.
Utility Scale Solar Farms are Fueling U.S. Growth
It is no coincidence that companies like Innovative Solar Systems have expanded and are now primarily only developing and building solar farm projects that are over 20MW in size. By increasing the size of these solar farm projects in the U.S many things happen: the cost to lease the land goes down, the cost of the equipment is less and of course the labor to construct and build these massive solar farm projects are much less. Softer costs like legal, environmental studies and engineering can also be less if spread over the entire size of the project.
The Reality Of Arizona's Solar Industry
Give or take a few hazy mornings or dust storm-influenced afternoons, the sun shines in Phoenix more than 300 days a year. That's been one of the consistent selling points on why the Valley — and the state of Arizona overall — should be the center of the universe of the solar industry.
Reality, though, indicates something a lot different.
We spoke to Tom Kimbis, vice president of executive affairs for the Solar Energy Industries Association.
Solar Set for Major Role in US Energy Mix, Says EIA
PV is set to become the second most important source of power in the US after natural gas by 2040, according to the US government's Energy Information Administration (EIS).
The EIA's Annual Energy Outlook 2014 predicts the overall rate of new electric generation capacity between now and 2040 will slow compared to recent years, but that solar will become an increasingly important part of the picture.
Iowa Supreme Court Ruling to Boost Solar Power, Trade Group Says
An Iowa Supreme Court ruling may spur growth of solar energy in the state, according to an industry group.
The decision, "clears the air", Ken Johnson a spokesman for the Washington-based Solar Energy Industries Association, said in an interview today. "It's going to make Iowa a more viable market for solar investors."
CEO Of Sunrun: Solar Energy Is On The Rise
Solar energy is slowly but surely making its way into the mainstream, with individual consumers installing panels atop their homes and companies like Apple investing heavily in the energy source.
To learn a bit more about the history and state of solar energy, Business Insider chatted with Lynn Jurich, the CEO of Sunrun.


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Well said, Ben. It is a modern reality that every man and his dog has a camera. It is inevitable that others have trodden there before.
It does not diminish the skill, patience and timing etc required to 'get it right'.
Anyway, it's a stupid comment, especially if considered in the context of other hobbies and interests. For example, can one not go and ride a dressage test because others have done it before you and may even have done it better?


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Help us promote https://www.spoiler.net/ and you'll have accomplished your mandatory good deed for the day!
Just got a quick info regarding Hunter x Hunter for you today. The series takes about 2-3 times as long to translate as One Piece (the 2nd longest series in our weekly line-up), but at the same time, for many of us on the team, it's their favorite.
We have various systems of proofreading set up for all our series, ranging from simply reading through it while typesetting (putting the text into the bubbles) and making sure there aren't any typos to having a 2nd translator attached to a series who reads both, the raws and the primary translation fully - making sure no meaning is lost and often offering alternative phrasing options to the primary translator.
In the case of Hunter x Hunter, we have our most veteran translator working on the series, whose translations we generally only look through for typos and such and who makes those lightning-fast releases possible in the first place by staying up well into the early morning hours every week for us all. However, HxH is not an easy series to translate by any means. Not only is it extremely text-heavy, but often also worded very ambiguously, with complex grammar and vocabulary; especially so in the current arc where Togashi is throwing one complex scenario into the mix after another, along with dictionary-styled explanations for them all — leaving us feeling like Gon.
But as I mentioned above, it IS the staff's darling, so we go through extra lengths for it. We have several translators going through the chapters bubble by bubble, offering alternative readings. (For better understanding; Japanese often doesn't clarify who is talking to who or about who as pronouns tend to be omitted and/or unclear.) Given the length of the chapters and people involved, our goal is to have an updated, final, as-close-to-perfect-as-possible chapter that we're all very happy with by the following week. Thus, we highly recommend that you all re-read the previous week's chapter now before reading the current one.
For 350, we did the update already ~24h ago, about 2 days before the new chapter coming in, and we'll definitely try to do those updates asap, but generally speaking, re-reading it on Thursdays is your safest best. Let me know in the comments if you'd like facebook updates on that progress. To give you an idea, we updated 1-2 bubbles on about half the pages. While I wouldn't say that any of the changes affect the overall understanding of the chapter, most of them do contribute a lot to helping the dialog make more sense than previously. For instance, we changed the assumed speaker on 1-2 occasions, changed the implied (groups of) people in some other bubbles and improved the overall flow in everything else. In short: It's definitely worth re-reading, especially if you want to be sure that you have the most complete understanding of what happened.
Finally, I just wanted to state - those complex, difficult and often rambling bubbles are most definitely INTENDED to be difficult to understand, they're meant to look long and complex, and we aren't fans of removing that aspect in the translation by just summarizing what it says. We're meant to feel like this and enjoy it.
Literal vs. Liberal
Pt. 2 - Profanity
Heya Heya, it's DzyDzyDino again.
It's been a little while since my last update, and for that I apologize. In between getting perpetually sick and being really busy with other projects, I just had problems finding the time! But I'm back to pick up where I left off!
Last time, I wrote a bit about Literal vs. Liberal translations. Since then, it's something I've been even more aware of than usual while translating and reading.
One area where Literal vs. Liberal really raises some questions is profanity.
First, let's talk shit.
Shit. shit. shit.
What is shit? A "profane" word for fecal matter? A vulgar expletive? A casual word among perhaps younger and more "rowdy" people for "stuff"?
I'm taking a shit.
Oh, shit!!
Oh... shit...
Look at this shit everywhere.
You're in deep shit now.
Are you shitting me?
I don't give a shit.
This list can go on and on, and although in some cases, maybe it literally is referring to fecal matter, not always.
So the japanese dictionary equivalent for shit, くそ (kuso) doesn't fit in all these (or nearly any) situations. "Kuso" really just is a more vulgar term for feces that can be used as an expletive.
The pure English concept of profanity though doesn't exist the same way in Japanese. You can be profane and vulgar without using "kuso." You can be profane just by how you talk and who you're talking to.
I keep bringing up "kuso" for a few reasons. One, because that's the one people tend to know and is easily / readily available to look up online. Two, because, frankly, that's just about where the direct translations stop.
English can be a very colorful language, and when it comes to profanity, you could paint Picasso. Cockramming assmunching fuckmongering bitchfaced dickhole of a douche pirate.
I've heard colorful Japanese insults thrown around, too, around drunk and rowdy Japanese folk, but the word "kuso" was not involved among them. Calling people things like "Toxic Waste" and "Scattered Trash" and stuff like that. Ugly stupid octopus. etc.
If I was translating a serious Yakuza manga, and some tough gangster who'd seen some shit was really pissed off at someone... if he stood up, slammed his fist down on the table and said "Vanish! You foolish octopus!", what we'd have is a problem to communicate. Unless he was talking to the comic relief in the series, a magical disappearing cephalopod, this is the time for something like "Get the fuck out of my face, you... umm... douche pirate."
You get the picture.
I keep coming back to "kuso" also because that's really the only direct profanity translation there is. There's nothing for fuck. Fuck? A vulgar way to describe two people having sex? It's a lot more than that. I won't list the options here.
When translating vulgarity in manga, usually you take a look at the character and how the phrase compares to their regular speech. Is what they're saying way more forward than what they'd usually say? Or are they the kind of character that usually speaks pretty loose/brash to begin with?
Apart from expletives, name-calling is also a pretty common place for profanity.
In japanese, name calling usually starts with "kono!!" (with what comes after it implied possibly) or "Kono ______!!!" now. If we were being super literal (and I have seen plenty of bad scanlations/translations that have done this), we would translate "kono" to the literal "this!!!"
このやろう!! Kono yarou!! Yarou literally being a guy, dude, whatever. But depending on context can be very vulgar. How vulgar? It depends on the situation. If you're shouting angrily at someone and say this, it'd come across as "You motherfucker!!" or "You bastard!" or whatever else, depending on how you say it and who you are and who they are. But of course, if we're being super literal, we'd go "THIS GUY!!"
What are we? Guidos? "Ayyye! This guy!! This guy right 'ere? Can you believe this guy?" No. No we are not.
殺す コロス ぶっ殺す ぶっ殺してやる
Here's some manga favorites. The kanji in above is for korosu or "to kill." If we're being super-duper literal with no concept of Japanese language whatsoever, we'd type that into google translate and see it pops up as "to kill" and be like "To kill!!"
Kill is a strong word, and without getting into who would / wouldn't say this and too far out of subject, the most usual context would be "I'm gonna kill you" "I'll kill you." But again, it's so context based, it's not going to be translated as that in every situation.
It's a pretty heated thing to say and sometimes they'll inflect even more "passion" into it with that little bu- prefix which kind of adds strength into the following verb. (like the internet favorite, Kake meaning to cover with, or to put on (top of). Adding a Bu- for emphasis leaves you with something for another discussion entirely.)
But so what, someone struggling for their life, enraged and out of control saying bukkorosu!! We translate as "I'm REALLY going to kill you!!" or even better, "I'm going to kill you" ... IN BOLD? Come on. No. Context, people.
"I'm gonna fucking kill you!" at the very least. "You're fucking dead."
It really depends. And again, it might not always be profane. It really depends so much on context.
Profanity is not as cut and dry as it is in English. There are not simply "bad words" you don't say. If we're going there, there's whole manners of speech you shouldn't use, and there's a proper way to conduct yourself, and anything going against those would be "profane" in some way, depending on context.
We read a lot of your comments and many of you feel profanity in manga feels inappropriate or doesn't seem like what a certain character would say. For the most part, we try not to use profanity unless it actually adds something to the scene or character.
If a character who normally speaks in a rather tame tone suddenly starts speaking in a manner way more, well, vulgar than he normally speaks and is popping off at people, profanity is an excellent way to illustrate that.
If we had to, could we leave the profanity out? Sure. Some translators choose not to use any. Some translators have a vision of an anime/manga world that's, well... PG as opposed to PG-13/R. It's always a choice, always up for discussion, and apart from straight mistranslations, there's always room for debate.
In the end, it all comes down to interpretation, the translator/scanlation group, and choices.
We know you trust us to bring you a quality, meaningful scanlation every week and appreciate your readership. We love the series we translate and make every choice with as much information and intent as possible. As translators, we try to convey all the meaning we found when reading the original Japanese raws into English.
I had a lot more to say and a lot more examples, but this went on way longer than I expected already. Perhaps I'll revisit this topic at a future date, as I know it's one that's constantly being addressed.
Until then, from me and the crew here at mangastream, thanks as always for your readership and we hope to continue to bring you timely scanlations of the highest quality we can muster for the forseeable future!
Peace out, bitches.
Felt like rambling a little. Redrawing is, as most of you already know, about removing the original Japanese text on the images, on all the occasions where text is not in bubbles, boxes or on otherwise neat, clean and solid white or black color background. It'd be called just "drawing", but it's really about trying to fill in what's once been there, and it's often just a fragment, like half of someone's face, or half of a building.
Whenever it's just half of something, that's a great thing - that means you have something to go by, and can sometimes even clone-stamp from a different section of the page. When you have nothing to go with, it's literally drawing a whole chunk of art, trying to match the respective mangaka's drawing style and so on. Pretty tough deal, right? It is, and that's probably why competent, capable and long-lasting redrawers are the hardest position to fill in a scanlation group. Never mind how thankless of a job it is; best case scenario, nobody mentions a thing cause they don't notice it - worst case, it's obvious and it bothers people and they bitch at you. And any redrawers' strongest critic is he/she him/herself, having sometimes spent hours on a single page, knowing all of its individual pixels by name and hence seeing any possible screw-ups that most readers wouldn't even notice. Really bad for people with OCD, I speak from experience.
...now that I think about, that isn't the best way to encourage you all to apply for the task, huh? xD
It is fun at the same time, I promise. It's rewarding, because you get to see the result of your work on the page right when it's completed, and despite the rumors that we're all a gang of evil pricks, we're actually a fun little private community of hardcore fans from all walks of life and it's a lot of fun to work within our group, that I also promise.
We're looking for anyone with some experience with Photoshop, really. It may seem like you need to be an artsy person for this, and it certainly helps a lot if you are and can draw (maybe even with a graphic tablet?), but at least 50% of all redraws are about knowing your tools. Your clone stamp tool, your healing brush, your dodge and burn tools, the line or brush tool and most definitely the selection tools. If you have those under your belt from appliances outside of manga redrawing, chances are you already have what it takes to take a shot at this and help out your favorite team release those favorite series of yours. ;)
Really, what is most important is that you have the spare time you are willing to dedicate to this and the ability to learn on your own, from various tutorials out there and the feedback you'd receive from the senior members. We don't have any minimum time requirements or anything like that, but if you're busy with a demanding job, wife, kids and other hobbies, this really isn't for you and why the heck would you even consider applying anyway? If you're going to college and have a few hours every day where you just don't do shit and would rather be productive with a fun hobby instead of watching that 12th re-run of the Big Bang Theory, then come on in, our doors are open for ya. Obviously, anything in between works too, haha.
Thar, just compiled a little imgur album with a few examples of before and after redraw panels. Some of those examples are all about clone-stamping accurately (those gray patterns, the stuff that looks like a chessboard basically) and spot-on, if you're even 1 pixel off it looks off, so zoom in there and and make ALT+CTRL+Z a shortcut, cause you'll use it a lot to go back a step. Others are more about having an understanding for the art and connecting lines, getting the curves correctly and to look natural. Check it out for yourself.
If you're interested, check out the application page here and send your attempt to smokybarrettms [at] gmail.com along with some other information like your age, time-zone, experience, etc.
I will say this; redrawing is basically a major bottle-neck, both for speed of releases and, effectively, also the amount of series we can work on. People keep messaging us to pick this or that up, and I have no doubt they will in this thread also (please don't...), but what it comes down to is, each series can be measured in hours of effort it takes, and we don't do half-assed jobs where we just rush something out the door. In other words, the more helping hands we got, the better we can do.
We're really a tiny group, there's tops two dozen active people at a time, and half are translators with their respective series, so you can imagine the impact of even one person leaving or becoming busy with a new job or the exam season approaching and such. Don't get me wrong, this is no "oh pity poor us" thing, we're having fun as it is, I'm just stating the facts, we're pretty happy with how much we manage and how fast we do it, but if you want us to do even better, it's up to you to join in the frenzy. :)
PS: Here's a great tutorial resource that you better be prepared to read and re-read if you're serious about joining:
Literal vs. Liberal
Pt. 1 - Context
Heya, manga-fans!
DzyDzyDino here again! Back with another little blog entry about translation, localization, and Japanese.
The purpose of these blog entries, apart from sharing with you a little behind-the-scenes glimpse, is to hopefully also show you what goes into localization and a bit of how the Japanese language works.
Because no translation is ever perfect, especially for a language so fundamentally different even in syntax from our own, we're always left choosing between something more direct and literal that reads awkwardly or something that reads and feels smooth and native in English but takes some liberty with the Japanese.
Either way, I think knowing a little about the source material helps to enjoy both methods of translation a bit more, and that's what these blog posts hopefully help to do!
The Literal vs. Liberal translation / localization is one that usually divides fans and translators alike. Sometimes there are more direct cases, like... do you want honorifics like -san, -kun, -chan, -sama, do you want them localized on a one-for-one basis to things like Mr. and Sir, or do you want it omitted based on context as to whether or not it's even important to the story?
I think most of us here at mangastream prefer a context-heavy localization (at least I do!). In other words, one which prioritizes getting the "meaning" and "feel" of what the original Japanese is across into a way that feels and means the same thing in English. Oftentimes choosing a meaningful translation over one that might be "by-the-book" or correct on a "word-for-word" basis with the Japanese.
There's a Japanese saying that gets used in a lot of manga: "百年早い"(hyakunen hayai) which literally translates to "100 years too early." - meaning "you're way too inexperienced/amateur for this, try again in 100 years." But unless there's like some specific plot device circling around 100 years or time-power or something like that... (lol), nothing is meant by the 100 years. It's simply a saying, and one that does not exist in English. So every single time someone says that, regardless of context, should it really be translated as "You're 100 years too early!"?
Many would argue, "Yes!" and when I first started translating 10-ish years ago, I'm sure I felt the same as well. But over time, I began to value really getting into the character and thinking about how that character would talk, what he would say and how it would come across in English.
Idiomatic Expressions (or "sayings") are one thing, and some people can draw a line in the sand with those. But what about everything else?
Here's a good example of over-literal vs. context. A line that happens nearly every week in every series we do, "来るな~!" (kuruna~) If we were to translate this absolutely literally, it'd be "Don't come!". Sometimes I see other groups decide to blur it just a tiny bit and go "Don't come here!" but Japanese is a context-based language.
This line, when it appears, appears by itself in a bubble with nothing else around it - so no pronouns, etc. A literal translation would be "Don't come!" 100% of the time, but that phrase can be interpreted differently based on the setting and whoever's saying it... and it should be! "Stay back!" "Don't come any closer!" "Get away from me!" "Stay where you are!" all the way to "Look out!!" and "Don't touch that!!"
This line could be someone running away from a killer, it could be someone holding off a horde of beasts, telling their comrades to stay away and save themselves, it could be someone warning his friends that a trap is right in front of them, it could be someone that just doesn't want to be followed. With all those possible situations and all the different characters that could be in them, is "Don't come!" really the right translation in each and every case?
Our hero's sister has been kidnapped as bait in a warehouse. The villains have set a trap right next to the door. The sister sees the hero running up to the building and shouts "来るな!" - This is a total classic movie trope, and if you imagine any western movie, the line here would be "It's a traaaaap!!!" and that's precisely what would be meant contextually there.
This is a topic that sparks a really long debate, and to be honest, what I really wanted to talk about this week (profanity in Japanese and translations) I could hardly start without laying some groundwork down first.
In the end, there is no completely right choice, and any choice you make ends up leaving something out. Something invariably becomes "lost in translation." We do our best to mitigate what gets lost and look at every series and every instance on a case-by-case basis and often have team discussions on how to handle certain ones.
The most important thing is to have intent behind what you choose, and at least here at mangastream, we really care about what we're doing, we love these series, and we've put a lot of thought behind all of our decisions in order to try to bring you something we're proud of releasing and that we'd be happy to read.
We can't always please everyone and we're also not perfect either, but we're always open for discussion and always listen to your feedback!
After all that, if you're still dedicated to not missing a single thing out of the original Japanese... well... there's a lot of resources out there nowadays to learn the language on your own!
Anyways, I did want to get into profanity this time, but with how long just talking about the basics of context and liberal/literal got, it looks like it'll have to wait till next time, so until then, thanks for supporting us!
DzyDzyDino here again.
Hope all your holidays were well, whichever ones you happened to celebrate! And Happy New Year to everyone as well! 2016 is upon us!
In the spirit of the Holidays, I thought I'd share this approrpiate little story from a recent Bleach chapter we worked on.
So when we work on chapters, usually we're all on Skype or some kind of chat together with eachother. This way we're all in touch through every step of the process, and the translation goes through a few sets of eyes which are all familiar with the series in the hopes of catching anything that might be off. We can also discuss what might be more appropriate for certain translations and what sounds off for what character and so on. Everyone here also has pretty strong English skills so we usually catch any spelling or grammatical mistakes too (but sometimes they still slip through! You guys are always great at catching them when that happens, and our team fixes it as fast as we can!)
So something else that's neat about us here at mangastream is that we have staff located all over the world from all different walks of life. This is awesome for lots of reasons but one that comes up a lot is cultural and language references. Bleach, for instance, looooves to throw in Spanish and German and whatever else they feel like.
In the past I've talked about "creative furigana" or using readings for implications before. Normally on the side of kanji in shonen manga, they'll have the reading for the kanji to help younger readers learn them, but they also get used for creative purposes or implications. A really simple example would be someone saying "That Jerk" but the reading for it is like "Naruto", so it works as a kind of subtext sometimes.
Furigana gets used in different ways for the ever creative names of attacks too. In this particular issue of Bleach, we had an attack that was written in Japanese as 「毒いりプール」 (A pool with poison in it, or a 'poison pool'). The reading for this however, plain as day, was "Gift Bad."
I did a double take, a triple take, stood up and got a drink, came back and checked again. Yup. Still looking me right in the face "Gift Bad."
What do I do? Do I change it so it makes more sense and make it "Bad Gift"? Maybe a Poison Pool is a bad gift? A guy charging up for a big attack, "rrrrraaaaaaaaaaarghhhhh!! BAD GIFT!!!" It's not inconceivable in the world of manga, right? Doubled by the fact that Xmas at the time was right around the corner, I go and pull up the Bleach wikia to make sure there's no associations with this character and Santa Claus, or he doesn't have some present gimmick.
I imagine a Santa Claus character reaching into a bag, "You've been bad this year! Lump of coal! BAD GIFT!!!!" or "You've behaved this year!! PONY 4 U!! GOOD GIFT!!!"
Still. Something's not right.
I run it by a staffer who happens to speak German and he clarifies. "Gift means Poison. Bad means Bath."
Wow. Many wtfs were had. Since I saw words I recognized in English, I immediately assumed they were English words and probably would have gone done some terribly wrong translation route. But thanks to our awesome team here at mangastream, a disaster was avoided and we got out the right translation.
tl;dr Strange translation. Teamwork wins out. Disaster averted.
Anyways, just thought I'd share this fun little Holiday-themed story with you for today and wish you all a Happy New Year from the staff here at Mangastream.
Hopefully you didn't get any Gift Bads this year. (ノ*゜▽゜*)
It's been a little while, been a bit busy with some new projects and also took over translating on a few more of our series.
As usual, I'll just be picking out and addressing little things that can't quite get conveyed properly in the translations of our chapters, or things I find neat and I hope you might find neat as well. Onwards!
Most recently, Akame Ga Kill had a kind of epic moment for me... like one of those moments where someone in the movie says the title of the movie. Like at the end of Chinatown, "Forget it, Jake... it's Chinatown." Or "Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Club". "7.62mm Full Metal Jacket" etc. etc. Sometimes it's gimmicky, other times it sheds new light on the title and is really cool.
Akame Ga Kill (アカメが斬る) had that moment for me, and the translation of the title had a lot to do with it and why it doesn't quite come across. First of all, there's the "Kill" part of the title, which is written as 斬る(KIRU) for to cut/slice or kill by slicing/slashing. This is played on further because of Akame's Teigu, Murasame, which kills anyone it cuts or slashes, means cutting and killing are one and the same. And since they are pronounced the same, they decided to stylize the actual spelling of the title, calling it Akame Ga Kill instead of Akame Ga Kiru. This may be common knowledge already, I'm not sure.
The title usually gets translated to something like "Akame Kills" or something like that, but this is where the vagueness of Japanese also steps in a bit. The title is open to so much interpretation, and you're left wondering a bit of Akame Kills What? Without anything else attached, there's also some other further out interpretations and connotations attached, but I'm starting to get off topic here.
Japanese is often very context-specific, with sentences leaving out many important parts and having you interpret it via context instead. So this title is vague and we just go along assuming it to mean Kill Akame. But then in the most recent chapter, Akame tells Tatsumi that if she should become possessed by Murasame, that she wants Tatsumi to kill her. Tatsumi then responds by saying, "Fine, but then if Incursio takes me over and I go out of control, I want you, Akame, to be the one to kill me."
This whole "Akame, you will be the one to kill (me)" is conveyed with the line "Akame Ga Kill" and suddenly brings a whole bunch of different connotations to the title. Instead of seeing the title as "Akame Kills", I started to see it as "Akame Is/Will Be the One Who Kills" and if this current arc is the climax, then maybe the title is coming from a wish by her sister for Akame to be the one to kill her? Starting to read into it now, but that's the cool part and totally what the whole point is. By leaving things vague like that, any time any new bits of context come in, suddenly new possible interpretations spring up.
This is probably one of the hardest and also most fun parts of translating. Often the author will write some super vague line of dialog on one page. You read it, you don't really fully understand what it means or what it pertains to, but as you read on and context fills in, it clicks in and makes sense.
It's kind of like watching a movie where you see a clip of the conclusion first. You've seen events. You don't know their context, why people are doing what they're doing, but you have some vague ideas that are floating in your head. As you watch the movie, the blanks fill in and then it all makes sense.
Wow. I kind of went on for a while there. I had a bunch more examples and things I wanted to bring up, but I'll save them for next time! I guess that means you'll be hearing a bit more from me over the next few weeks!
Until then, thanks as always for following us and reading our scanlations! Till next time, byebye!!
So the current Naruto Gaiden series is about to come to an end. Whether in the next chapter or within the next 11 or so, it definitely has an expiration date on it, which was really already announced before it even began, so it's not much of a surprise.
Rumor has it that Kishimoto's going to start working on a new series in August, or early fall. The big question is - what's he gonna work on? Many speculate it's gonna be something related to his one-shot Mario, but honestly, I don't think so. That short was a really old idea of his that he decided to polish and publish, and that was that.
Personally, I really hope he doesn't steer in the direction of any kind of realism. His work, whether Mario or that Baseball one-shot he did, didn't impress me, and I will always connect his style with fantasy, with feudal Japan and with some kind of adventure plot - so I really hope he goes for something like that in his next series as well. Be it about Samurai, some adventure/discoverer theme (without them being pirates, or else xD) or something else I didn't think of.
The other option is, and I think it's not that unlikely at all, is that he's using this Gaiden interlude as a sort of introduction to Naruto Part III. Honestly, I struggled quite a bit to see how he'd do it, and I still do. I mean with existing power levels being a big hindrance since it feels like those were already maxed out with Kaguya/Madara/Sasuke/Naruto.
I would love to see him doing something like a 10 year time skip though, and only few of the kids still around, with Sarada and Boruto as the protagonists in a crazy, post-apocalyptic world where all the adults were slayed by some uber-powerful enemy - think of Future Trunks' in DBZ, that sorta thing. But really, I don't think Kishimoto would ever go there... unfortunately.
Anyway, you all have any ideas on how he could spin Naruto further? Do you even want him to? And if your answer's a stern 'no', then what kinda series would you like him to create next? Describe it in detail, I love reading everyone ideas.
Hello people! GTY_Ponzorz here. This is the final part of the blog post series about Honne/Tatemae. Thank you for sticking with me all the way and reading up to the 5th blog post. This post is just me prattling on about why it might be important to understand the whole honne/tatemae thing and to know a bit about social issues in Japan. Here we go.
Last few words from me
I apologise if this entire thing has been incredibly long and boring. If you read up to here anyway, you have my deepest gratitude, and I really hope you at least learnt something or had a laugh. :9
To reiterate though, I cannot stress how prevalent, important, and serious the whole concept of Honne/Tatemae is in Japan. It's as important as Ichigo getting his next power up and a new costume to go with it, and almost as important as having nice pristine weekly manga scans. :9
As a second point though, again, it is not to say that such a concept of preserving honor and what not exists solely in Japanese society. We are largely all the same human beings on this planet (some differences aside :9 ), and value a lot of the same things - love, loyalty, bravery, courage, friendship - and are faced with the similar conflicts and issues in our respective societies. I am discussing honne/tatemae with you though, because it really is a big deal in Japan. Everything I have written is definitely not the only way to go about understanding this topic, and it definitely may not even be the most correct in the eyes of many - it is perfectly fine and normal if you have differing views, or feel that I have over-analysed some parts.
It might sound strange, and even asinine - to explicitly discuss and read about this aspect of Japanese society, but it's something you're better off being aware of if you have an interest in Japanese culture because it really is a thing that legitimately exists.
There are many other social issues / deep cultural traditions and concepts that exist in Japan - and for those who are interested, it is highly enlightening to read more in to it and gain a better understanding about the nation that so many of you respect and appreciate for their manga/anime.
Funnily enough, Japan is not actually a perfect utopia full of sexy ninja, swashbuckling (stretchy) pirates and full-time shinigami (I don't think most people can have such a vocation there) who run off to summer festivals every two episodes, watch some fireworks and then assemble the seven dragon balls to summon Shenron to grant them their heart's deepest desires.
While the biggest problem some of us may have in regards to Japan may be "OMG why is it Golden Week, where is the next issue of WSJ??" The people living there actually have plenty of unique social issues quite irrelevant to a late manga chapter - just to list a few for starters:
They have an aging society, their birth rate is lower than Yasutora Chad when he's lying on the ground, and they have heaps of problems with how underpaid and how bad the welfare is for their temporary workers, some sexism, the marginalisation and lack of government support for the Japanenese diaspora that return to Japan from South America (Bolivia and such), a bit of racism in the monocultural society, their nuclear problem, Abenomics... complications of honne/tatemae … oh have I said Abenomics yet? The list can go on for a little bit longer I daresay.
: ) Of course, every country has their own set of issues, right? But knowing about these issues might help you understand and appreciate the aspects of Japanese culture we all enjoy - Sakura flowers, gari gari ice-cream, weekly WSJ - that little bit more.
Thanks again for reading, hope it was still somewhat more interesting than your homework. ; )
Sources: Btw. don't reference/quote what I wrote up there in an academic essay pls. I wrote it for fun , it's not really a stellar example of writing and to use it academically in any sense is about as advisable as slapping Kenpachi in the face with a floppy gigai.
Honne and Tatemae: Exploring the Two Sides of Japanese Society
[Tofugu] KY and Ambuguity in Japan
Extra reading:
[Japantimes] The costly fallout of tatemae and Japan's culture of deceit
[The Economist] Big business in Japan publicly supports Abenomics while being privately wary


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Spanish Itineraries, Part 1: Barcelona to Ronda
Patricia Blessing, 2014 H. Allen Brooks Travelling Fellow
Oct 29, 2015
The first part of my travels in Spain led me from Barcelona to Malaga, Granada, Cordoba, Seville, and Ronda. Later in the fellowship year, I will report from Madrid and northern Spain, yet at this stage, Barcelona and Andalusia are the focus.
Barcelona, a city I have long wanted to visit, is not related to my research on medieval Islamic architecture, and hence my itinerary began with a destination draws most visitors to Barcelona: the
Sagrada Familia
. This enormous church, begun by Barcelona architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926) in 1883 remained unfinished at its creator's death and is still a work in progress
scheduled to be completed in 2026
, although it was consecrated in 2010. In its present stage, the building appears rough and unfinished on the outside, while in the interior appears complete. The central nave with its vault (Figure 1) evokes Gothic architecture and, at the same time, the bone structure of a large animal. The stained glass windows in the side aisles (Figure 2) appear Gothic at first sight while in their details, they again connect to the organic structure of the interior.
Figure 1: Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, vault of central nave (P. Blessing)
Figure 2: Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, stained glass windows in aisle
On the exterior, the sculpted program evolves in a variety of styles ranging from neo-Gothic to the angular figures created by
Josep Maria Subirachs
(1927–2014), such as the Veronica (Figure 3) on the so-called Passion Façade, on which the Catalan sculptor work from 1986 until 2009.
Figure 3: Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Veronica on Passion Façade (P. Blessing)
Gaudí's work is present throughout Barcelona; his most well-known residential building is the
Casa Battló
, a structure that from far evokes bones, and hence carries the nickname Casas dels Osos (House of Bones). Rather than the Casa Battló itself, however, the contrast between its architecture and that of adjoining
Casa Amatller
with its neo-Gothic façade, porte cochère, and interior courtyard is striking (Figure 4). Both buildings were completed within years of each other: Gaudí's Casa Battló in 1906, and Casa Amatller, a work of Josep Puig i Catafalch (1867–1956), in 1900. The tensions inherent in the contrast between the two buildings are part of the larger discussion around Modernista architecture in Barcelona, a topic to be explored in more detail.
Figure 4: Casa Amatller (left) and Casa Battló, Barcelona, details of facades (P. Blessing)
Moving from the center of Barcelona to the hilly area of Montjuic, the
Museu Nacional de Arte de Catalunya
was one of the centerpieces of my stay. Particularly impressive was the large collection of Romanesque wall paintings from churches in the wider region of Barcelona. Examples include the full decoration of the church of Santa Maria de Taull (c. 1123), which are carefully displayed—just as the other paintings in the collection—in a structure replicating the original architecture (Figure 5).
Figure 5: The author in front of the apse from Santa Maria de Taull (A. Yaycioglu)
The move from Barcelona to Andalusia meant a change at many levels: weather, landscape, food, and architecture. For the remainder of this post, I will focus on the remains of Islamic architecture and their later adaptation into Christian structures in some cases.
After a long train journey from Barcelona, Malaga was the first stop. Dominating this costal city stands the
, a fortification that includes a palace last expanded in the fourteenth century when Malaga was under Nasrid rule. Due to the smaller size, the fortifications are always evident while moving through the palace. In the interior, the palace is in many ways an Alhambra on a smaller scale, with a series of courtyards, gardens, and miradors. Water runs through large parts of the complex (Figures 6 and 7) and is gathered in pools that produce mirror effects (Figure 8).
Figures 6, 7, 8: Water courses in the Alcazaba, Malaga (P. Blessing)
Decoration consists of stucco (Figure 9) and carved wood, and sequences of intersecting arches in various shapes and sizes, some elaborately decorated, are used to create varied viewpoints (Figures 10 and 11).
Figure 9: Detail of stucco decoration, Alcazaba, Malaga (P. Blessing)
Figures 10 and 11: Details of arches, Alcazaba, Malaga (P. Blessing)
In Granada, the
(Figure 12) is an even more prominent focus both due to its location and size, and its prominence. Most striking while visiting are the differences in scale between the overall complex—fortifications, palaces, gardens all included—and the core of the structure, the so-called Nasrid palaces. In the latter, built in the early to mid-fourteenth century by a succession of Granada's rulers, do we find the famous sections such as the Court of Myrtles (Figure 13), the Court of Lions (Figure 14), and the Hall of the Abencerrajes (Figure 15): structures that have nurtured fantasies of nostalgia since the nineteenth century, when the Alhambra once more came into public view after centuries of neglect.
Figure 12: Alhambra, Granada, view (P. Blessing)
Figure 13: Alhambra, Granada, reflection of the Comares Tower in the pool of the Court of Myrtles (P. Blessing)
Figure 14: Alhambra, Granada, detail of fountain (copy or original), Court of Lions (P. Blessing)
Figure 15: Alhambra, Granada, Hall of the Abencerrajes, interior view of muqarnas dome (P. Blessing)
Within the Nasrid palaces, the effect is one of a structure at once intimate and geared to impress; nothing is left to chance, and the smallest element in the architectural decoration in stucco, wood, and tile is employed within the overall program. In the Comares Hall the stucco decoration, combining inscriptions with geometric and vegetal decoration, seemingly hangs from the walls in the guise of fabric (Figure 16). The inscriptions in the monument—Qur'an passages, Nasrid mottoes, but also verses describing the beauty of the palaces, at times making it speak—abound; the full texts are available in José Miguel Puerta Vílchez's book
Reading the Alhambra
. In details of the varied techniques used to decorate different sections of the building, visual effects intersect in a complex combination of motifs and material properties (Figures 17 and 18). In addition, mirror images of buildings on water are a consistent feature across the complex, in the Courtyard of Myrtles, but also the Partal Palace (Figure 19).
Figure 16: Alhambra, Granada, Comares Hall, interior view (P. Blessing)
Figure 17: Alhambra, Granada, detail of tile dado in the Courtyard of Myrtles (P.Blessing)
Figure 18: Alhambra, Granada, detail of stucco on the Comares Façade (P.Blessing)
Figure 19: Alhambra, Granada, Partal (P. Blessing)
The historical center of Granada, at the foot of the Alhambra, offers a different view on the monument, but also the city. A souvenir industry focusing on the Islamic heritage of Andalusia has emerged: copies of stuccoes in the Alhambra are for sale, but also objects—ranging from crafts to kitsch—that would be equally at home in the tourist markets of Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey. Some restaurants offer halal meat dishes, catering to Muslim tourists, and part of a
halal tourism industry
that has picked up in the region in recent years.
Not many Islamic monuments remain; among them, the fourteenth-century
(Figure 20) is remarkable for its original painted decoration, carefully restored between 2007 and 2011. Contemporary to the Alhambra, this monument reflects what the stucco of the Nasrid palaces, which have lost most of their polychromy, would have looked like. Only the small mosque of this madrasa remains behind a Baroque façade.
Figure 20: Madraza, Granada, detail of painted muqarnas (P. Blessing)
In Cordoba, the main monument is of course the
Great Mosque
, founded in 784 by the Umayyad ruler of al-Andalus and expanded several times in the ninth and tenth century. After the Christian reconquest of Cordoba in 1236, the building became the city's cathedral, a function it retains until today. In the sixteenth century, a large late Gothic cathedral was built into the center of the prayer hall, effectively destroying the unity of the columns. While standing within the mosque, it is still possible to find viewpoints that obscure the insertions, and provide the impression that a tenth-century visitor might have had (Figure 21).
Figure 21: Great Mosque, Cordoba, interior view (P. Blessing)
Figure 22: Great Mosque, Cordoba, maqsura, view of dome in front of central mihrab (P. Blessing)
The maqsura of the mosque, with the mihrab covered in gold mosaic remain intact (Figure 22). Even seen from the point in the prayer hall where the entrance would have been in 965, after the maqsura commissioned by Umayyad caliph al-Hakam II was completed (Figure 22). Nowadays, the interior of the mosque remains dark, yet this may in part be the effect of the transformation into a church, when the arcades opening into the courtyard were closed (Figure 23). Seen from across the Guadalquivir, the major river connecting Cordoba to Seville, where a major trade port was located in the Middle Ages, the cathedral appears above the original roof (Figure 24).
Figure 23: Great Mosque, Cordoba, former entrances to prayer hall (P. Blessing)
Figure 24: Great Mosque, Cordoba, view from Torre de la Qalahorra (P. Blessing)
The question of transforming mosques into cathedrals is also pertinent in Seville. Here, the
Great Mosque
, an Almohad foundation begun in 1172, was transformed into a cathedral in 1248 and used largely unchanged until the early fifteenth century. At that point, the prayer hall was torn down and replaced by a Gothic cathedral (Figure 25). Nevertheless, several elements of the mosque remain: the minaret (Figure 26), known as Giralda, built in 1184, stands complete with only few additions and the walls of the courtyard remain largely intact (Figures 27 and 28). The Almohad architecture visible here will be a central topic in my November post from Morocco.
Figure 25: Cathedral, Seville, detail of vault (P. Blessing)
Figure 26: Giralda, Seville, as seen from mosque courtyard (P. Blessing)
Figure 27: View of mosque courtyard from Giralda (P. Blessing)
Figure 28: View across mosque courtyard (P. Blessing)
I leave the reader with an interior view of a less well-known monument, a fourteenth-century hamam in Ronda, a small mountain town between Seville and Malaga. It was one of the surprises that Andalusia had to offer on a trip on which I embarked well prepared for some sites, but as it turned out, not all.
Figure 29: Hamam, Ronda, interior view of main room (P. Blessing)
Suggested Readings:
Grabar, Oleg.
The Alhambra
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978).
Irwin, Robert.
The Alhambra
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2004).
Khoury, Nuha. "The meaning of the Great Mosque of Cordoba in the tenth century,"
13 (1996): 80–98.
Puerta Vílchez, José Miguel.
Reading the Alhambra: A Visual Guide to the Alhambra through Its Inscriptions
(Granada: Patronato de la Alhambra y Generalife, 2011).
Ruggles, D. Fairchild.
Gardens, Landscape, and Vision in the Palaces of Islamic Spain
(University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000).
I thank Dr. Attiya Ahmad, assistant professor of anthropology at The George Washington University for pointing me to the growing importance of this topic.
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Beyond Faculty Careers
Collen Flaherty
Oct 23, 2015
This article excerpt from
Inside Higher Ed
is published here with permission.
Critics have long complained about doctoral education in the humanities, saying that it takes too long and no longer reflects the realities of graduates' employment prospects. In other words, graduate humanities programs are still largely training students to become professors at major research universities, when the vast majority won't, given the weak tenure-track job market.
And in recent years criticism has yielded possible fixes from various colleges, universities and academic groups: reduce time to degree, fund graduate students year-round, increase training on how to teach well, reduce subject matter coverage requirements -- the list goes on. Now the National Endowment for the Humanities is tossing its hat in the ring, offering major grants to programs that better prepare students for nonfaculty careers.
"We know that the traditional career track in the humanities, in term of numbers of available positions, is diminished -- that scenario has changed quite dramatically over time," William D. Adams, NEH chairman, said in an interview. "So we're reacting to that in trying to assist institutions in providing a wider aperture for their students to think about careers beyond [academe]."
NEH's Next Generation Humanities Ph.D.
grants program, announced today, seeks to bring together faculty members, graduate students, administrators and other key players in doctoral education to identify ways to transform doctoral-level humanities preparation. Like the NEH's other challenge-oriented grants, funds must be matched by the applicant institution.
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"Other" Romanesques and Gothics: Medieval Architecture in Croatia, Bari, and Venice
Patricia Blessing, 2014 H. Allen Brooks Travelling Fellow
Sep 28, 2015
Over the course of the past three months, I have had many occasions to think about established narratives of medieval architecture, and how they can be challenged once we move away from well known sites in Germany, France, England, and northern Italy. In this post, I will use sites in several cities in Croatia—Zadar, Split, and Dubrovnik, in Bari in southern Italy and in Venice to illustrate this point.
For centuries, Venice was the capital of a sea empire centered on the lagoon in northeastern Italy, but spreading far into the eastern Mediterranean. The coast of Dalmatia, today part of Croatia, was long under Venetian influence, as the large lion of St. Mark, the emblem of Venice, on the city gate of Zadar amply demonstrates (Figure 1).
Figure 1: City gate, Zadar, Croatia (P. Blessing)
In the interior of the city, however, much of the architecture appears
, even though the dates do not fit standard definitions. Examples are the ninth-century Church of St. Donatus (Figures 2 and 3) and the Cathedral of St. Anastasia (Figure 4), built in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. I write "appears Romanesque" because that style of medieval art, as many other categories, responds to specific formal and chronological definitions that are not quite met in a region that generally is not part of the canon of medieval art as taught in survey course. Much of this essay is inspired by a seminar on "The Other Romanesque" that Slobodan Ćurčić and Nino Zchomelidse taught at Princeton when I was a graduate student there. The regions covered in the seminar included part of the Balkans, southern Italy, Spain, and Armenia under the premise of how, through study of architecture and sculpture in these regions, we can reach a new, more flexible understanding of the Romanesque. Roman heritage and its later adaptations play a central role.
Figure 2: Church of St. Donatus, Zadar, Croatia (P. Blessing)
Figure 3: Church of St. Donatus. The bell tower belongs to the Cathedral of St. Anastasia. (P. Blessing)
Figure 4: Detail of portal decoration, Cathedral of St. Anastasia, Zadar, Croatia (P. Blessing)
Further south along the coast, in Split, Roman heritage is strongly present: effectively, the entire old town consists of what remains of the palace of Roman emperor
Diocletian (R 284–304)
. The beginning of construction is disputed; architectural historian Josip Belamarić suggests that the palace was begun in autumn–winter 298, after Diocletian's campaign to quell a rebellion in Egypt ended. This contrasts with the generally accepted date of 293 for the beginning of construction, once Diocletian has established the Tetrarchy. According to Belamarić and Frane Bullić, the later date would suggest that Diocletian commissioned the palace once reorganization of the empire was complete, and not while is was still in progress. The reconstruction of the complex (Figure 5) shows elements of the complex including Diocletian's mausoleum, a temple to Jupiter, and strong fortifications, while a photograph of the central section of the complex (Figure 6) shows the peristyle, the mausoleum—now the cathedral of Split, amidst the masses of tourists who visit the city.
Figure 5: reconstruction of Diocletian's palace as shown on site (in the well-preserved substructures).
Figure 6: Cathedral of Split—Diocletian's mausoleum, view from back (P. Blessing)
A large number of spolia from Egypt (Figures 7 and 8) were used in the mausoleum, the temple, and peristyle, including twelve sphinxes and numerous columns made of various types of marble. The presence of these elements, according to Belamarić, supports the argument that the successful completion of Diocletian's campaign was the moment when the palace was founded. In addition to the variations in suggested dates, some controversy persists over the function of the site—often it is called a palace or villa. The contemporary aqueduct providing water to the site, however, is large enough to suggest that there was more than just a palace involved. It has been suggested that industrial production of wool fabrics, an activity that would have required large quantities of water, was involved.
Figure 7: Sphinx on peristyle, Cathedral—Diocletian's mausoleum, Split, Croatia (P. Blessing)
Figure 8: Detail of columns around Cathedral—Diocletian's mausoleum, Split, Croatia (P. Blessing)
Figure 9: Mausoleum of Diocletian, cross-section, reconstruction of original layout, as shown in
Split Town Museum
Just as fascinating as the issues involved in the construction of the Diocletian's urban complex is its medieval appropriation. The mausoleum was turned into the city's cathedral, and very few traces of its funerary function remain—a cross-section (Figure 9) shows the crypt and some changes that were made during its transformation into a church. Parts of the late antique sculpted interior decoration remains (Figure 10) and new sculptural elements were added to its entrance and façade (Figures 11 and 12). Here, issues of periodization once more emerge: sculptures, such as the lions that one might be tempted to classify as Romanesque, date to the thirteenth century, when the campanile was added. Other sculptures shown in the
Split Town Museum
further open the question of how style and periodization should be approached in order to create a more inclusive view of late antique and medieval art.
Figure 10: detail of dome, Cathedral—Diocletian's mausoleum, Split, Croatia (P. Blessing)
Figures 11 and 12: Lions flanking entrance to Cathedral—Diocletian's mausoleum, Split, Croatia (P. Blessing)
Figure 13: detail of portal, Temple of Jupiter, Split, Croatia (P. Blessing)
Figure 14: detail of vault, Temple of Jupiter, Split, Croatia (P. Blessing)
The nearby Temple of Jupiter (Figures 13 and 14) became a baptistery, and retains much of its original sculpture. Even though I have now taken a path through Split that focused on its late antique and medieval monuments, the city is very much alive—not a museum town, but a place where old structures are inhabited and a lively market takes place close to the cathedral. The
Museum of Fine Arts
provides a detailed overview of art produced in the region from the thirteenth to the twentieth century, along with the work of contemporary Croatian artists.
Moving further down the coast to Dubvronik, the setting changes: the architecture of the old town (Figure 15), as it stands today, mostly dates to the fourteenth to eighteenth centuries, and the center is largely home to restaurants and hotels, crowded in summer but deserted in winter. Visiting, several sites were striking, particularly the thirteenth-century
Franciscan Monastery
(Figure 16), home to one of the world's oldest working pharmacies, and the
Dominican Monastery
(Figure 17). In the latter, the fifteenth-century Gothic cloister is a refuge from a hot day, even though for the art historian it once more offers a point of reflection as to the nature of medieval art in this area. Paintings, reliquaries, and jewelry produced in the city from the thirteenth to the nineteenth centuries are also on view in the monastery.
Figure 15: town center, Dubrovnik (P. Blessing)
Figure 16: cloister, Franciscan Monastery, Dubrovnik, Croatia (P. Blessing)
Figure 17: cloister, Dominican Monastery, Dubrovnik, Croatia (P. Blessing)
The most striking element of the city, however, is its location that permitted the construction of walls all around on a site exposed to the sea on three sides and with a tall mountain behind. In part, this topography allowed the city state of Ragusa, as it was known then, to maintain a great degree of independence in the face of both Ottoman and Venetian interest in the area. The harbor is important even today with ferries leading to several countries—I chose the one to Bari in southern Italy, mostly as a way to get reasonably close to Rome and Venice.
It turned out, however, that Bari itself had a lot more to offer than expected. Its Norman monuments built in the eleventh and twelfth centuries were thoroughly inspiring, particularly after a visit to the medieval buildings in Croatia described above. Having arrived tired and exhausted one evening, the old town with its tiny streets felt like a maze (Figure 18) but a walk around soon yielded new discoveries to be further explored. The monumental façade of the cathedral (Figure 19), built between the late twelfth and late thirteenth century, was intriguing enough, but the interior offered further surprises.
Figure 18: Bari by night (P. Blessing)
Figure 19: Cathedral, Bari, Italy (P. Blessing)
Figure 20: dome, Cathedral, Bari, Italy (P. Blessing)
The dome over the crossing, seen from below (Figure 20) summarizes the point that connections across the Mediterranean, between Norman southern Italy and Sicily, and Fatimid Egypt were central in the twelfth century. The construction technique, with deeply recessed squinches forming the transition from dome to circle at the base of the dome, is the same that appears in many Fatimid buildings in Egypt, including the
al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo
, founded in 970. Thus, in southern Italy, a very different Mediterranean appears on the horizon: not the Adriatic world of Venice and Dalmatia, but rather the connecting sea between Europe and North Africa. I will have occasion to return to this topic as I will travel to southern Spain, Morocco, and Sicily.
On the façade of the Bari cathedral, multiple animals, sculpted in stone, watch over the square in front (Figure 21). Animals—cows and elephants, among others, also appear on the twelfth-century
Basilica of S. Nicola
, dedicated to Bari's patron saint, St. Nicholas of Myra. Here, they are centered on portals and windows (Figures 22 and 23)
Figure 21: figures around central rose window on portal façade, Cathedral, Bari, Italy (P. Blessing)
Figure 22: Cow figure on main portal, Basilica of S. Nicola, Bari, Italy (P. Blessing)
Figure 23: Elephant figures on window in rear façade, Basilica of S. Nicola, Bari, Italy (P. Blessing)
Figure 24: Elephant sculpture carrying the obelisk on in front of S. Maria sopra Minerva, Rome (P. Blessing)
A very different elephant—carved in the seventeenth century in the workshop of
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
to carry an obelisk from Pharaonic Egypt—stands near the Pantheon in Rome (Figure 24). But fear not, reader: I will not embark on a discussion of sculpted elephants now that this inroads is completed. As everyone who has visited the city knows, Rome has almost too many sites to see, and certainly too many to write about in a single blog post. (I will use some further impressions from Rome in December, when I plan to write about collections of Islamic art in Europe and their display.)
Figure 25: exterior, Ara Pacis Museum, by Richard Meyer, Rome, Italy (P. Blessing)
Figure 26: interior and view of the Ara Pacis, Ara Pacis Museum, by Richard Meyer, Rome, Italy (P. Blessing)
Now, however, I would like to share an image of a contemporary building, the
Museum of the Ara Pacis
, designed by architect Richard Meier. The building,
completed in 2006
, holds the Ara Pacis of Roman emperor
(R 19 BCE—14 CE), a monumental altar covered in sculpted reliefs, dedicated in 9 BCE (Figures 25 and 26). This foray into museum architecture brings me to my next site, Venice, where the
is still in progress. Located in the two main sites in the Arsenale and the Giardini, along with multiple exhibits spread over the city, the Biennale is nothing short of overwhelming, and I spent hours and hours wandering through the displays of contemporary art. Considering that architecture is the main theme of my blog, however, I have decided to select two works that I found particularly relevant. The first is "Plan for Greater Baghdad" by Jordanian artist Ala Younis, a
project about which she spoke at length
in the context of its appearance at the Biennale. Because of copyright issues, I will point viewers to the photographs included in the artist's account of her work. Suffice to say that one of the themes, Le Corbusier's trip to Baghdad in 1957 after he had been
a design for a
stadium complex
, provides a link to
H. Allen Brooks' work
on the Swiss architect's early years.
Figure 27: View of S. Marco from Arsenale, one of the sites of the Biennale (P. Blessing)
Figure 28: Sta Maria della Misericordia, Venice, Italy (P. Blessing)
Also part of the Biennale is—or rather, was—a project by
artist Christoph Büchel
to transform the deconsecrated church of Sta Maria della Misericordia (Figure 28) into a temporary mosque (as the Icelandic pavilion). Very soon,
the mosque was shut down
—officially on the grounds that permits were insufficient, and visitors' safety not ensured due to overcrowding. I was not able to see the interior before it closed, and hence can only show the exterior of the church; no sign points to it as a site connected to the Biennale. The closure of the site, and the complete rejection of its presence—as small as this may seem within the large context of the Biennale—is perhaps symptomatic as Europe struggles with its identity, in the face of the increasing numbers of refugees arriving from Syria and elsewhere.
Arriving at the center of the city, in Piazza S. Marco (Figure 29), I once more do not have photographs of some of my favorites: the interior of the Basilica of S. Marco, and especially its
, where photography, alas, it not allowed. At the same time, such restrictions are sometimes useful as it pushes me to observe and remember without having the camera's lens between the object and me. Within the treasury, many Byzantine objects are the trace of Venetian involvement in the Fourth Crusade and the plundering of Constantinople in 1204. On the face of the basilica, the four famous bronze horses and the porphyry sculpture (Figure 30) of the tetrarchs, the four rulers at the head of the Roman emperor under the system instituted by Diocletian, are testimony to the same event. I will take leave of the reader here; my next blog will focus on the Islamic architecture of al-Andalus, in southern Spain.
Figure 29: Piazza San Marco, column with lion of St. Mark (P. Blessing)
Figure 30: Tetrarchi, Basilica of S. Marco, Venice (P. Blessing)
Suggested readings:
Belamarić, Josip. "The date of foundation and original function of Diocletian's Palace in Split," Hortus Artium Medievalium 9 (2003): 173-186
Brown, Patricia Fortini.
Venice & Antiquity: The Venetian Sense of the Past
(New Haven, 1996).
Cambi, N., J. Belamarić, and T. Marasović (eds.)
Dioklecijan, tetrarhija i Dioklecijanova palaca o 1700. obljetnici postojanja - Diocletian, Tetrarchy and Diocletian's Palace on the 1700th Anniversary of Its Existence
, proceedings of the International Conference held in Split from September 18th to 22nd 2005 (Split, 2009).
Ćurčić, Slobodan.
Architecture in the Balkans from Diocletian to Süleyman the Magnificent
(New Haven, 2010).
Et ils s'emerveillèrent: L'art medieval en Croatie
, Catalogue de l'exposition présentée au Musée de Cluny, Musée national du Moyen Age, du 10 octobre 2012 au 7 janvier 2013 (Paris, 2012).
Harris, Robin.
Dubrovnik: A History
(London, 2003).
The Treasury of San Marco, Venice: Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
( Milan: Olivetti, 1984), available online at:
, accessed 19 September 2015.
Belamarić, 176-81.
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