Chinese State TV Uses Clips from Anime to Criticize Japan

 State-run Chinese Central Television (CCTV) used clips from the 2002 anime film Detective Conan: The Phantom of Baker Street in a piece criticizing what it described as Japan's move toward right-wing conservatism and political nepotism. The piece covered Sunday's national election in Japan and focused on how 75 of the 480 winners are progeny of previous generations of politicians, including Shinzo Abe, the presumptive next prime minister from the winning center-right Liberal Democratic Party. The clip used shows the character Shiho "Ai Haibara" Miyano looking at a ballroom full of children of Japan's politicians with disdain, saying that this lineage is "what led to a corrupted future. […] It's because of this politics of inheritance which led to human beings repeating its mistakes in history." After the piece CCTV aired an uncensored version of James McTeigue's live-action film adaptation of Alan Moore and David Lloyd's V for Vendetta comic book series, and both moves have led to speculation about ideological shifts in both the station’s output and also the ruling administration headed by the newly-installed Chinese Communist Party general secretary, Xi Jinping. The piece can be viewed (in Chinese) here, and move can be read here.

Alan Moore’s Essay for the Activist Occupy Comics Anthology

Wired has an exclusive excerpt for Alan Moore`s extensive essay, titled “Buster Brown at the Barricades”, for the new Occupy Comics anthology, which is slated for release in spring 2013. You can read the excerpt, as well as more information about the anthology, here.

io9 Roundup of Superhero, Political and Futurist Articles, Part 3

Today we've got a roundup of recent, relevant, and few just really cool, articles from the science, science fiction and fantasy blog io9.com.

• Watch the first trailer for the Alan Moore-scripted movie Jimmy’s End 
• Remembering Neft Dashlari, Stalin’s utopian ocean city made from oil and steel
• Einstein’s brain was definitely not like the others, scientists say
• When does an animal count as a person?
• The Women of Marvel as James Bond Cover Girls 
• Infamous TV pitch Gotham High gets fake trailer
• Despite his own mental illness, Nikola Tesla advocated eugenics for the year 2100
• SNL reveals what happens when Hawkeye runs out of arrows 
• Roger Ebert Recounts That One Time His Misogynistic Editor Asked Him to Stop Reviewing Movies with Strong Female Leads 
• How materials scientists are about to change the very fabric of the world
• The world’s most beautiful gardens are miracles of geoengineering