iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 3h

Oh cool, thank you! I really enjoyed his chapter about Kokoro and its stage adaptation, so I’ll put in a library request for this

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 7h

I haven't read the McClellan translation since I was an undergrad, when I really under-appreciated the novel as a whole. It would be interesting to go back to it now I think.

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 7h

ok cringe work updates are done for the quarter 🫡

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 7h

And finally! I had so much fun and learned a ridiculous amount working as one of the JP-EN interpreters at the Noh in the North workshop and showcase in Leeds. Very proud to have contributed even minutely to helping bring these amazing performers and a small taste of Noh to British audiences.

5 people sitting on a stage: 3 Noh performers and two interpreters. One of them is me! Two of the Noh performers are wearing the crested kimono and hakama worn during short performances.

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I read Meredith McKinney's translation for the first time recently and thought it was really wonderful

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I've been waiting so eagerly for this, as someone currently grappling with writing about disability when looking at gothic literature in Japan. Also, Darren is great! Can't wait to read it.

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Next I had a really lovely time at @hauntedfutures.bsky.social at @ucc.ie sharing a bit more of my work on Takahashi Banmei's camp 80s horror masterpiece, Door. It was actually my first time presenting my research back home in Ireland, so a pretty special experience for me. Also, Cork is beautiful!

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I also had the privilege of presenting some of my (very new) research on manga, trans horror and dysphoria at this year's Queer and Feminist Perspectives on Japanese Popular Cultures Symposium. This project is still very much a WIP and I felt very lucky to have this chance talk through my thinking.

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

First up! I was so grateful for the chance to take part in the @eajs.eu conference and PhD workshop in Poland at the end of August. I got so much valuable feedback on my thesis and spent 5 days being amazed by all the creative and exciting research people are doing on Japan. Dream week really!

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I'm alive! Feeling very tired but even more grateful and inspired after a pretty packed September getting to share a few of my research projects (read: yap to my heart's content about Japanese horror to a captive audience) around Europe. Warning: updates incoming.

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

I enjoyed the first ~2/3 a lot, but I’m not sure it stuck the landing for meeee

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Oh weird, we were watching at the same time

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Queer AND free - what more could you want? I'm so happy to be getting involved this year. Come hear me talk about dysphoria and horror in contemporary manga!

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Honestly shout out to Poland for making me feel like an old-timey traveller by still having compartments on the trains

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

It was one of my most disappointing movies of the year (and I currently spend 5 days a week reading and writing about spatial horror, so I'm kind of the ideal audience)

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

It only gets worse unfortunately

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

relieved to see that only your wrist is doing a gay thing

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

I’ve never read a book with cover 24 that I didn’t like 🤷🏻‍♂️

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

When I was growing up we didn't always have loads of money for books, and a family friend who worked at a book shop would sometimes save these de-covered returns from the rubbish pile to give to me instead. Some of my most cherished reading as a child was from cover-less paperbacks.

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

a few days left to send in your abstract!

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Dr. Aurélie Petit 👩🏻‍💻✨ @aurelievpetit.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

✨🎀 NEW CFP: The Queer and Feminist Perspectives on Japanese Popular Cultures symposium (supported by the University of Tokyo, Media, Gender, and Sexualities Study Group) is coming back for its third edition!!!✨🎀 📩 Send us your abstract by August 15 at popculturesjapan@gmail.com✨ Share widely!

events.humanitix.com

Call for Papers: Queer and Feminist Perspectives on Japanese Popular Cultures Symposium 2026

A platform for critical discussions about gender and Japanese animation, fashion, video games, literature and digital cultures

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

(yes I've been massively in my head about writing for what feels like months and I finally feel unstuck and I'm very glad)

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

The cool thing about writing is that you can just... do it? You don't even need anyone's permission. Like every so often I remember that I can have an idea and just.. write about it? And even if it's bad I've still turned a thought into a thing that actually exists in the world. Pretty neat really.

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

I love Natsuo Kirino, although it's mainly her more noir thriller-y stuff that's been translated. I read Out in translation and it was great, and I think Grotesque was translated by Rebecca Copeland, who is always excellent. Really hope Kirino's older detective stories will be translated some day.

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

I think this is an issue with a lot of the classic/new-classic Japanese mystery novels. The kind of deliberately objective, clinical tone is really effective in the Japanese, but I think often ends up translating as a bit flat. Part of the reason why Edogawa Rampo isn't a lot more popular here imo!

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

More information, including the creative CfP and details on the keynote session from Dr Sam George, at darkenchantments.my.canva.site

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

CfP now open! Come join us at the University of Sheffield on the 29th and 30th October for the Sheffield Gothic conference, 'Dark Enchantments: Gothic Folklore and the Monstrous Fairy-Tale'. Pls send your abstract and bio to darkenchantmentsconference@gmail.com Deadline for submissions 31st July!

Sheffield Gothic Presents
Call for Papers Now Open!
What is it that keeps drawing us back into the deep roots of folklore? What drives us to
reinvent, recreate, and revive old folk tales and fairy-tales in the Gothic mode? What
insight can be gained from the ever-changing form of the fairy-tale monster?
We are happy to receive submissions about folklore, fairy-tales, and the Gothic in any
medium - literature, history, art, film, music, and beyond!
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
◦ Folklore and folk tales surrounding May-Day traditions.
◦ The telling of folklore through music, sound, and other oral traditions.
◦ Depictions of rituals, witchcraft, and human sacrifice.
◦ Monsters, motifs, and morals in fairy-tales.
◦ Class, community, and the Other in folk horror films.
◦ The friction between the past and the present in Gothic and folk horror.
◦ Gothic fairy-tale adaptations and/or recreations of fairy tale characters.
◦ Gothic folklore and fairy-tales from non-anglophone countries.
◦ The Gothic's use of folklore and folk figures, including vampires, were-wolves, mermaids, ghosts, and so forth

This conference is open to submissions from interested parties from any discipline and any level of study or career stage.

How to submit your paper
Please email a 300 word abstract, along with a 100-word biography, the title of your paper, your name and pronouns (optional), and university/institution affiliation (if any), to: darkenchantmentsconference@gmail.com.
The deadline for submissions is Friday 31st July 2026.

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Dr Sam Hirst @romgothsam.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

As it is Pride Month, I thought people might enjoy a list of the many queer themed talks that Romancing the Gothic has run over the years. Whether you want to explore trans rage in Polish cinema, explore the history of gay Gothic pulp, or lean about lesbian vampires, we've got it all! 1/

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

I had so much fun talking about Japanese b-horror, evil '80s salesmen and the terrifying concept of a public phone box at Horror Studies Now 2026. Very grateful to @horrorstudies.bsky.social for organising and to the many brilliant speakers redefining the ways we think and speak about horror.

A slide showing the title of my presentation: When a Salesman Calls: Confronting Consumption in Banmei Takahashi's Door.
It also features the promotional image from the film's digital remaster.

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

returning from beyond the Bluesky grave to share a picture of a pond full of secondhand paperbacks does feel quite on-brand for me

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

“books from the book pond ¥110 each”

A shallow pond full of dozens of second hand paperbacks

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 27/05/2025

rare 'I went to a Quaker school' W for me

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 25/05/2025

I just saw the new Final Destination movie and honestly it was ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

this 'Labour' government cannot make it any clearer at this point: they will only be happy when every aspect of our bodily autonomy - medical care, gender expression, disability status, reproductive ability, the right to live or die - is fully deferred to the authority of state.

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

The icon herself Bree Van de Kamp was in slot 5

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

Ok work, apparently I’m redhead coded?

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

The tone of pandering servility from generative AI leaves them besotted with this image of themselves as so important that their every administrative or mental task can be offloaded onto some squire or court advisor, freeing up their time to go admire their gold or accost more wenches at the tavern

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

So much of the discourse is focussed on the post-social, post-humanist futurist lure of AI, but for a lot of men I truly believe that their fanatical embrace of generative AI is largely just another indulgence of their puerile psychosexual fantasies of themselves as Lord of some medieval fiefdom.

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Alexis Nikole 🌻 @blackforager.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

“I asked ChatGPT-“ okay well I asked the big oak tree at the center of the woods and she said you’re a lazy dork

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Hector Diaz @iamhectordiaz.com · 08/05/2025

A Chicago Pope implies the existence of an MLA Pope and APA Pope

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

Update: it went very well and I even got two (2!) whole questions after

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

Feeling very excited (and only slightly trepidatious) about presenting a small slice of my PhD research for the first time tomorrow. It’s like letting a tiny little bit of my baby loose in the world.

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The Japan Times @japantimes.co.jp · 05/05/2025

The Taiwanese writer reflects on the importance of queer community, her ascent in Japan’s literary world and her ongoing battles against online harassment.

japantimes.co.jp

Li Kotomi: 'I refuse to choose death'

The Taiwanese writer reflects on the importance of queer community, her ascent in Japan’s literary world and her ongoing battles against online harassment.

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Matthew Cooper @mcooperk.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

Just worked for me! Even quicker and easier than eventbrite, honestly

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