Monday, July 17, 2006

Anime Expo, Day Two: Part One
As you can tell from the two prior posts, I was a busy little bastard during my first day at AX, but the second day was also fraught with excitement, danger, and tragedy!! Or not. Or YES!! What I can say is that there was plenty of walking around, taking pictures, and purchasing, and, really, aren't those the kinds of heart-pounding activities that conventions are all about?

Of course they are.

Anyway, this was the day my brother and sister came along with me since they wanted to go on the day of the masquerade, when there would surely be more costumed crazies about than on any other day. We also brought along another special guest: Our good friend Vincent, who needed a ride to AX that day. And being the generous souls that we are, we agreed to take him along. Charity is wonderful, isn't it?

So we picked up Vincent at around 9:00 AM and arrived at the convention center at around 9:30. Since my siblings needed to pick up their passes, our first stop was the registration hall. The line was, unsuprisingly, shorter than the day before, and we were in and out of there fairly quickly. In stark contrast to the day before, the Bag-Yeller near the entrance of the hall was no longer yelling, and he seemed a bit listless when he handed the AX freebie bags to my brother and sister. All of that yelling must have tuckered him out, the poor boy.

The exhibit hall was of course not open at that moment, so went upstairs to the arcade to waste an hour. There were lots of games around (mostly racing games, fighting games, music games, and different versions of DDR), but none that we especially wanted to play; none, that is, until we spotted the air hockey tables. We all agreed that slapping things around at high speed is fun, and we thus sat down and secured spots for the next game with the old "put a quarter into the slot" trick while watching the slot like a hawk to make sure that some little bastard didn't steal our quarter.

Luckily that didn't happen and we played a few rounds of air hockey. For the first match I played against my brother.

Clearly, I was insane at the exact moment that this picture was taken. I'm not sure whether it's air hockey that makes me crazy, or if I just become temporarily insane for brief moments every day, but there's no denying that I am literally the picture of insanity in this photo. Perhaps it's really just the power of the mallet that corrupted my young mind - those things can be pretty dangerous.





Here's a picture of my brother, Robert, and me in the midst of our game. Neither of us had played air hockey in a long time, and so we were both a bit rusty, but nevertheless we were determined to not let the other claim victory. I think that this is just after my brother hit the puck.





A closer shot of Robert, most likely after he scored a goal. I'd like to wipe that smug look off of his face, the little... er, I mean, yeah, I love him like a brother. He's been growing his hair out for a while now, and he's looking a lot different than he did in pictures such as this one from last year's Anime Expo. We give him crap about it all of the time, but he likes it, so whatever. It's his hair. :P





I beat my brother 6-5 and then noticed that Vincent had wandered off somewhere; I thought that he would be playing DDR, but I didn't see him at any of the machines. Then I hunted around a bit and noticed him playing the above arcade game. My sister suggested that I sneak up on him and take a picture of him to see what he would do. Vincent's game-playing concentration must be at a high level, though, because he hardly seemed to notice the picture even with the flash.

For the convention, Vincent whipped up a quick cosplay... he's dressed as Kaidoh from The Prince of Tennis, which is an appropriate series since he's absolutely obsessed with tennis lol. I like playing it but Vincent is a madman about it, haha. He's probably the biggest contributor to the tennis mini-cult that's been going at my high school for the past few years. :P





She was one of the people who played after my brother and I finished our game. Like last year there were a few women about cosplaying as Gogo Yubari... I mostly took this because the idea of Gogo playing air hockey amused me. I wouldn't want to play against her - what would happen if you won? She'd probably kill you; and you know that she could use the mallet and puck to torture you in some insidious way before you went out. The only other option is losing. It wouldn't really be worth it to play a game against her.





After our friend(s) from the picture before finished their game, Vincent and I had a contest of our own. I think that it's obvious that the puck is heading straight for the goal in that photo, and the only possible explanation for the look on my face is that it's a look of pure, "WTF?? NOOOOO~" I am rightfully shamed.





And there's Vincent looking quite intense. Normally he is a happy-go-lucky sort of guy, but when competition is afoot, he's all business. Unfortunately, all the intensity in the world could not stop him from also falling to me, 6-5. The poor fool.





I think that this photo was taken while I was playing against my sister, Cynthia. The puck is once again in danger of falling into the goal, but this time I can assure that I was quite on top of things. I may or may not have been muttering something at the time, which may or may not have been, "Stay out of that goal if you know what's good for you, you little bastard!!" Despite any difficulties I may appear to have had, I once again emerged victorious, this time by a score of 7-5. Take that, younger, less physically able siblings!!





Lastly, here's a shot of Cynthia and Robert playing a game. I don't see the puck in the photo, so it was either hidden behind the mallet at the time, or this was the point in the game where Cynthia hit the puck incredibly hard and it flew off of the table. I assume that it is the latter, because they're both laughing a lot. I'm not certain who won this game but I'm pretty sure that it was Robert.

Also, I'm just now noticing that the air hockey table is a "Hotflash" table... so is it the table brand that goes through menopause? *rimshot*

Sorry, I couldn't help it. *shifty eyes*

Anyway, the exhibit hall had long since been open by the time we got down to the first floor (it opened at 10:00 AM rather than 11:00 AM like I assumed), so there was no wait to get inside. We walked in and almost immediately after we began considering which booths we should see first, we were confronted by this guy...





Yep, the end-of-the-line stabbee from the day before. He saw that he and Vincent were dressed up as the same character, so of course he couldn't pass up the opportunity to get a picture with him. We would end up seeing him a lot over the course of the day; I'd say that we ran into him maybe three or four times after this. It was almost as if he were stalking us...

Speaking of stalkers, the Yatti (I refuse to put up pictures of them here, but if you're at all curious then go to Mamma Vash's myOtaku), whom I saw only once the prior day, thankfully, also seemed to be following our little group around. I swear, almost everywhere we went we could see the Yatti only a few feet away from us. We couldn't escape them at all; it was terrible and traumatizing - terribly traumatizing, even.





Most of our time in the exhibit hall was just spent looking through the booths... more specifically, the booths with lots of plushies and assorted figurines. It occupied lots of time but didn't exactly provide much material for pictures. There were some more amusing sights, however, including this banner. I'm not sure what makes the Tofu Robot superior to normal robots, but there must be something, especially is his shirts sell for $20 a pop. There must be more to his soy power than meets the eye...





While Vincent was searching for a couple of plushies at this booth, the poor guy in the photo made the mistake of grabbing that sword and posing like that. People kept swinging by and taking pictures of him, and he must have stayed in that exact position for about ten minutes before the rush of people slowly trickled down to a stop and he was finally able to remove that hat and see again. You've got to be careful when opening yourself up for photo opportunities because people will keep coming and coming until you can't take it anymore.

We buzzed around the exhibit hall a couple of times before getting a bit tired and settling down for some lunch. A bit earlier Vincent had called his friend Tommy and asked him if he wanted to enter the ramen-eating contest, which he agreed to do. So since Vincent would be entering the contest in about an hour or so, he had to forego the cheeseburger from Carl's Jr. he had brought for lunch. He looked so sad staring down at that burger lol.





After lunch we went back into the exhibit hall and saw this guy; I saw him whenever we passed by this spot, so maybe he just sat there most of the day playing guitar and singing. He played a decent guitar but man could he not sing lol. It was just... wow. Not as bad as the "I Will Always Love You" karaoke singers from the day before, but still in the same ballpark.





Following some more hunting about (and still finding nothing that we wanted to buy), Tommy called Vincent and told him that he was around some other booths, and we trekked over there to see him. He brought along another friend of ours, Juan, who also wanted to partake in the ramen-eating contest. Oh, those brave souls.

And, yes, what you're seeing above are apparently the world's first manga guides to Sudoku. Basically the manga is chock full of Sudoku games with mini-scenarios where the characters explain how to play the game while also interacting with each other in amusing ways - it's about love, life, and number games. I was tempted to buy it, just because I thought it was funny, but they were selling for $10 each, so that was a no go. There are already plenty of Sudoku books laying about my home and there are a bunch of them waiting to be played on Brain Age.

We did some more uneventful booth-browsing and then Vincent, Tommy, and Juan had to leave in order to register for the ramen-eating contest. My siblings and I stayed in the exhibit hall a bit longer to scope out some of the places we wanted to see in the hopes of finding something to buy... I picked up the RahXephon boxset for the best price available (thanks for the links, Mimmi, by the way; I'm sure that those sites will be very useful should I decide to buy other anime boxsets :)) and I also bought Vol. 1 of Death Note. I ended up buying three more volumes on impulse, and now that I've finished them I have to say that the series is as fantastic as advertised - I've got to thank Dagger for pushing the series so enthusiastically. Her positive reaction to the series convinced me to check it out, and I'm glad that I did.





Anyway, it was getting close to the contest time, but before we left the exhibit hall, we caught a glimpse of these guys. They're ninja, obviously, and they sort of jumped out of nowhere, switched on their stereo, and started dancing. Prime photo opportunity right there. Their antics drew a sizable crowd, which made it difficult to get a decent picture. By the way, is it just me, or is that ninja in the foreground looking sort of Nazi-ish? You be the judge.

So we left right after that, but before we went upstairs to cheer our friends on in the contest, another great photo opportunity presented itself...





Hahaha, my favorite cosplayers from last year, and they brought hos friends!! Compared to last year, The Mario Pimp is about the same, but the Gangsta Lackey Toad added quite a few improvements to his costume, including that awesome Mushroom chain and the NES ZAPPER~! The Daisy and Peach Prostitutes are funny, too, especially with those Burger King crowns and the fake money sticking out of their tops. Haha. These four are the greatest cosplayers ever.

My siblings and I ventured upstairs but instead of finding our friends on the 2nd floor balcony, we found them resting near one of the viewing rooms (which might have been showing the Fullmetal Alchemist movie at the time, I'm not sure). It turned out that more people wanted to enter the contest than were actually needed (shock), and so tickets were given out for spots in the contest to be raffled off.

So when it came time for the raffle we followed our buddies out to the large balcony, where it was pretty damn hot and brighter than the beach scene in The Stranger. I think it took like a couple of minutes for my eyes to adjust completely lol. We huddled around the stage and listened to the announcer, er, announce who would be participating in the contest, and of course, Vincent, Tommy nor Juan got in. Tommy decided to head back to the exhibit hall while Juan and Vincent elected to stay and watch the contest. It was still very hot outside, so Cynthia, Robert, and I took Tommy's lead and went back downstairs.

I was pretty content with what I had bought, but my brother had not gotten anything yet, mostly because he wasn't sure what he actually wanted to buy. He looked at all of the booths in detail; however, he did not find anything that he wanted to buy that wasn't overpriced. He was a bit disappointed, though I have to commend him for not buying something just for the sake of buying it.





And who cares about buying things when there are people with funny signs about? Most of the "donation" signs you see around AX are basically the same: Money for hugs/glomps, yaoi/yuri, etc., but this one was the only funny one I've seen. I was briefly tempted to relieve his debt, as the logic of a poor Jew is simply illogical, but the place is crowded and we'd been in the exhibit hall a while so we felt like getting out of there (by this point it had been about an hour since we left Vincent and Juan).

When we got outside I called Vincent to ask where he was; it was noisy in the halls and it was noisy where Vincent was, so I had a hard time hearing him, but I did hear "2nd floor." Upstairs we went to catch up with our friends. We started near the balcony, and of course they weren't there. We then went all the way to the other side of the 2nd floor, and on the way we snapped this photo...





I think that I mentioned before that Pyramidhead costumes were fairly popular this year, and this was one of the better ones that I saw. It captures the bloodsoaked horror of Pyramidhead pretty well, I think. Those guys wearing traffic cones on their heads acted as roadblocks and attempted to seal Pyramidhead away from moving to his destination, but with one mighty swipe of his weapon, the obstruction was destroyed.





Naturally, the last place we looked for our friends, the arcade, was where they were at. Looking back on it, I don't know why we saved the arcade for last... it seems obvious now that that's where we should've looked first. Oh well. Since the last time we saw him, Vincent had made a sign for himself and Juan so that they could partake in all of the action that the other people who were carrying signs were getting (that's Juan on the left, by the way). Just in case it's hard to see, Juan's sign says "Hugs and Kisses from Hottie" and Vincent's sign says "Offering Kaidoh Hugs, Petting & Pokes" (I'll leave you to decide what type of petting to which he's referring). I find this picture particularly funny because Vincent looks like he's going to belt out a couple of tunes. Karaoke time!!

And so ends this post. The next one will probably be shorter but will also have more cosplaying pictures and a special rendezvous with Anime Expo's biggest celebrity... who is it? You'll find out later. (Not that it's especially hard to guess...)

I'm out. [/Kramer]
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Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Anime Expo, Day One: Part Two
Once again I plug the article I wrote for OL. It's an article of considerable length, but I think that it's worth reading (and commenting on!). As I mentioned before, I worked very hard on it and I honestly think that it's the best piece of writing I've done in a long time. I guarantee that all of you will find something to enjoy in there. :)

Also be sure to read Josh and Tony's latest article. It's a good initial entry in what should be a pretty damn fun series of articles.

Anyway, enough plugging; it's time to get to the real reason everyone is here: Pictures To read about the fun times at AX. Yes, the fun, fun times. And what fun times they were!

After Josh and Aaron left, Solo and I got in line to play Super Smash Bros. Melee. Well, it wasn't so much a line as a giant blob of people moving in and out, switching spots in the chairs whenever someone lost. It was pretty funny to see the people who were standing in line as the next person to play look more intense than those who were actually playing the game, haha. Because Solo and I were probably a bit too passive, people kept going in ahead of us (including a little kid - we're so lame) and we actually didn't get to play a game with each other. A sad occurence, I know.

However, Solo did get to join in on a game, and he held his own quite well despite his insistence that he had not played regularly for a long time. There was this one guy who was just dominating everybody and who, I guess, earned the right to keep playing due to his winning ways; however, Solo went toe-to-toe with him and put up a damn good fight until the other players were killed off and he was ultimately defeated. He did much better than I would have done, that's for damn sure lol. My Smash Bros. Melee skill is incredibly rusty. I bet that anyone here who is at least a halfway decent player could beat me no problem. :P

Following the intense Smash Bros. Melee match, we sat down again and I took out the Nintendo DSes I had brought along with me for the occasion. Solo and had a couple of close races in Mario Kart DS, after which we were joined by a couple of other people who had also brought along the game. One of them stands out clearly in my head... He was a very, er, excitable kid and he was pretty animated while he was playing, to say the least lol. He sort of reminded me of how I used to play games: Lots of talking and shouting to nobody in particular, moving my hands around everywhere as if that exaggerated movement would allow me even a degree more control over the game, and so on and so forth. We raced a few times (I mostly came in 3rd or last much of the time - witness my vast skill at Mario Kart), had a few Balloon Battles, and played one game of Shine Runners, which is a very annoying game lol.

I'm not sure how long we played (it was at least more than a half-hour), but we were there a while; my DS battery was just about dead by the time we parted ways. It was a lot of fun, though, and, if I may go on a slight tangent, that's one of the things I really like about the DS. Having the ability to walk around almost anywhere, spot a person who has a DS, and set up a multiplayer game with minimal effort is so great (setting up multiplayer games with the Game Boy/Advance was always incredibly annoying lol). It's even better that there are a good amount of games where you only need one Game Card in order to engage in multiplayer play; makes things so much easier, haha.

Anyway, after we left the Hilton, Solo and I went back to the exhibit hall to look over the booths and see what they were peddling, since I had not really done so the first time I'd been in there. While we were looking around, we saw the guy in the above photo. He was one of a couple of musicians I saw playing at that particular spot during the course of the convention. As you can see, he's playing a tiny, pink piano thing, but as he blew into that tube in his mouth the instrument emitted a weird saxophone-like noise rather than anything you'd expect to hear coming from a piano. I felt like hanging around a few seconds like, just because it was so bizarre, but I resisted the temptation and caught up with Solo in order to continue trekking through the hall.

For the most part we visited the booths that specialized in DVDs to see if there were any decent deals about; specifically, deals involving the RahXephon boxset, which I should have bought last year, but instead foolishly bought single DVDs after overlooking a great deal at the ADV booth. The very thought of that mistake still brings a bitter tear to my eye. Solo leafed through some of the DVDs and also peered through some drawings and posters and whatnot to see if something nice was available to buy for a friend or two. Unfortunately, neither of us found anything at that time available for a price we were willing to pay (bargain hunting is a bitch sometimes), so when we left the exhibit hall later on in the day, we emerged empty handed. Except for all of the photos we took, of course.





She, like most cosplayers, sort of appeared out of nowhere and I took a passing notice of her at first, until Solo remarked that every time he sees a Link cosplayer, he expects "Des to pop out of nowhere and kick them in the nads" (that was before we could tell that she is a girl, by the way). That visual amused me for a few seconds before I snapped back into reality and realized, "Wait a minute - photo opportunity!!" Yes, taking photos becomes an obsession of sorts for people like me who venture into AX. After I snapped the picture, she noticed my Mario shirt and began humming the Super Mario Bros. theme and Solo and I joined in after a second or two (complete with goofy dance). This is the stuff dreams are made of, people.





Speaking of the stuff that dreams are made of, I've come to realize that there just aren't many things in the world that are funnier than the covers of hentai DVDs (my favorite is probably Battle Can Can - the mental image cracks me up). Really, nothing that I could write here could possibly add to what you see before you. Also, this picture represents a very tiny proportion of what was available here; there were two large rows of DVDs available for consumption (so to speak). Anyway, gawk at the DVDs a few seconds longer, then move on.

There was a random, funny thing that happened after we left the hentai booth and began walking down that side of the exhibit hall: I'd been wearing the beads that I received from the Viz Booth all day, and a girl ran by Solo and I, recognized the beads, said, "Nice job wearing the beads" (or something to that effect), and then tossed me a Toonami Jetstream hat. The whole thing happened really fast and caught me totally by surprise. One moment I was looking at some DVDs at a booth, and the next moment I was holding a hat in my hand lol. It is a nice hat, though.





I'm not certain whether or not this Hamburglar is the same guy as my Hamburglar buddy from last year, but when there's a chance to snap a photo of the Hamburglar, I won't hesitate to take advantage of it. It'd be cool if people cosplayed as other McDonalds characters as well... Ronald McDonald, Birdie, Grimace, and, of course, the greatest mayor of all time, Mayor McCheese (that costume might be a bit cumbersome though). Anyway, one thing that weirds me out about this Hamburglar is that hamburger balloon - it really doesn't look like a hamburger at all lol. It looks more like a warped hamburger monster from a 50s Sci-Fi B-Movie that's foaming peas from its mouth. Weird.





This is the ADV booth during one of their calm periods; the crowds are forming to buy stuff, but no freebies were being thrown at the time (nor were there preparations being made for said freebie-tossing), so the bloodlust that can normally be traced to ADV's little area was not present, thankfully. There were, however, lots of expensive boxsets, including the aforementioned RahXephon boxset which was selling for about $20 more than I could have bought it for last year. Oh joy of joys!! I'm glad I only get into very few anime series.





When Solo and I left the exhibit hall for the first time, we went up to the 2nd floor of the convention center to see what was going on with AX Idol (AX Idol is basically Anime Expo's version of American Idol, only with just anime/video game/J-pop/J-whatever music being sung, of course). Almost immediately after we stepped off of the escalator, this girl popped out of nowhere and asked if she could take a picture with Solo. This is the result. Would you be able to resist his dashing good looks and obvious charm? I don't think so. Also, the ears might've had something to do with the lady's enthusiasm to take this picture.





I don't remember whether I took this picture when we first came up to the 2nd floor or on our way back down, but I guess that doesn't matter very much. Anyway, these two are cosplaying GIR and Gaz from Invader Zim. The Gaz getup is pretty good; however, the GIR costume honestly weirds me out a bit. It looks like a giant GIR plush toy came to life and became the underling of the Devil. And that isn't something that any of us really need in our lives.

I'm not exactly sure why Solo and I ended up not attending AX Idol (though I think that it's probably because Solo had a concert to get to in a while and he wanted to be sure that he'd get there on time), but we went back downstairs and into the exhibit hall. Appropriately, at one of the booths, perhaps in an attempt to upstage AX Idol, a karaoke contest was being held, and when we passed by two girls were doing a delightfully off-key version of "I Will Always Love You," which I countered (not onstage of course) with my impersonation of Leavelle singing the same song in The Simpsons, if only because Leavelle's version is forever stuck in my head. I wish it weren't, because that is one scratchy singing voice, but it can't be helped.





Kind of a random picture that I honestly could not resist taking. Subtlety is a wonderful thing, isn't it? I have to say, though, that it at least seems as if these figures are making some small step towards realism: The two ladies in the foreground appear to be weighed down by their, er, ample assets, and if you had to carry those around all day, I'm sure that you'd enjoy a rest every so often. I know that I would. Also, it must be pretty toasty in that glass case, because boy can they not wait to get those shirts off!!

Unfortunately, after some more aimless wandering and random conversation (once again the best type of wandering and conversation), Solo had to leave so that he'd get to the concert at a decent time. I had a great time hanging out with him; he's a very friendly guy and even got me to not clam up, which is a miracle and a half, really lol. I bid a sad farewell to him and promised to greet him the next day if I saw him (unfortunately, I didn't see him, for those optimists among you).

Afterwards, I took the opportunity to lay down in a relatively secluded area and rest a bit, because I'd been walking constantly for hours lol. It was sort of surreal staring at the roof of the convention center with all of the noise in the background and the random people in costume going to and fro. I felt like a new man following my rest, so I decided to go outside and snap a few more photos before venturing back into the exhibit hall.





The evening is when groups of cosplayers from different anime decide to join together and confuse me... or perhaps this group of people are all from the same anime, which would mean that they have successfully confused me. Bastards. I find that somewhat unlikely, though I have been wrong before (lots of times, as a matter of fact).





These people are all from Ouran High School Host Club, which I am only aware of because it was mentioned on the Anime Expo forums with some frequency. Nothing too special about this, except that our two friends near the bottom just might be sharing a special moment. Aww. And also the two hooded characters appear to be in the midst of a conflict in which the one on the left is backing down. Tsk tsk.





Every time I tried to get a decent picture of this guy people kept getting in the way, so this is the best I could do, unfortunately. This guy is obviously cosplaying Barret from Final Fantasy VII. I hope that the photo accurately conveys just how massive his gun is, because that thing was huge; he must've been pretty damn tired after dragging that around all day lol. Gigantic weapons were also among the things that were en vogue at AX 2006... earlier I had also seen a sword that was about 10-15 feet in length. Seriously, it was that large lol. If the guy carrying it had stretched out completely, the damn thing would have practically reached the second floor of the building. How one lugs something like that around with him all day is beyond me.





I ventured back into the Artists' Alley after hanging around outside, and I saw this pair upon my entry. The Anime Expo experience just isn't complete without lots of people with signs espousing their willingness to exchange glomps for certain favors (usually of the not-so-naughty variety). These two apparently had to knock down their asking price a bit, though I'm not exactly sure what they're asking for... do they want food? Or money? Or perhaps money with which to buy food? It's a total mystery; I'm stumped.




As I wandered through the Artists' Alley, the woman in the picture above called out to me, "Hey, Mario!!" either because of my shirt or because I might slightly resemble an Italian man. Probably more the former than the latter. She then showed me some of the buttons she was selling, including a mushroom button, which I agreed to buy because it looked kind of cool and didn't cost very much anyway. Because she had mistakenly run out of the buttons, however, she had to make another one, which I suppose makes my button special since I witnessed its creation. Ah, the joy of life. ;_;





And here's the button! I tried to get a decent picture of it, but I was unable to because of the shininess of the button. Marvel at its ethereal glow.





DDR Man was situated near the entrance/exit of the Artists' Alley and he was there to maintain order, I think. I don't know how we would do that, however, since the sight of a giant walking DDR pad would likely further drive the attendees into a frenzy. The kids love their DDR, after all: In the words of my brother, "He was probably danced on all day." This picture took forever to get because people kept walking by whenever I would line up the shot. :(





I went once again back into the exhibit hall to check out some of the bigger booths that Solo and I had skipped over. Bandai's booth looks more or less the same as last year's, except with maybe a few more TVs and an area off to the side where people could play card games.





Geneon's booth also looks about the same as last year (complete with overpriced DVDs!!); however, they had a small area near the back of their booth where several musicians played some sets throughout the convention. I saw parts of one on Monday, but the place was far too crowded to be able to take a decent picture.

As I was scouring Geneon's wares, a magic voice sounded off through the loudspeakers, informing everyone that it was almost 6:00 PM and thus time to leave the exhibit hall. Yes, I spent all of ten minutes in there before I was kicked out. Damn you, Anime Expo!! *shakes fist*





So it was with a heavy heart that I traveled back outside and spent the remainder of my time taking photos. I saw these two chaps at various points throughout the day, though this was the only decent opportunity that I had to immortalize them in photo form. It appears that these two creatures are going to be vanquished in battle, which is a shame, because they don't look like they can defend themselves too well, especially if they have to use their arms to hold up their tentacles.





Here are Lady and Dante from Devil May Cry 3. These two are clearly at the point in the game where Lady is like, "Die, demon bastard!!" whereas Dante is all, "WTF, girl?" You all know how it is with women and demon hunting, am I right? Am I right??





I have no idea what the hell happened with this picture; the guy wasn't moving around and I don't think that I was moving around very much either. It just came out blurry, I guess. Anyway, I'm sure that I've seen this exact same guy cosplay as Spike from Cowboy Bebop every year I've gone to Anime Expo. That's some dedication right there.





I'm pretty sure that this costume is connected to Hellsing, but I'm not positive about that. Oh well. At any rate, it's still a neat costume, though it must have been a bitch to actually go anywhere in that thing. Just entering and exiting through doors must have been a complex task of the highest order. I'm sure that it's not exactly an air conditioned paradise in there, either.





She had an interesting way of making some money: As she explained, her offer was to kick her friend in the ass for twenty-five cents, teach me how to kick her friend's ass for fifty cents (as if I've never kicked anybody in the ass before; kicking people in the ass is practically a rite of passage here), and a glomp for fifty cents (which is a ripoff considering how many people were offering them for free, not that I ever took anyone up on that offer). I wasn't interested in what she was offering, but, just to see what she'd do, I asked what it would take for her to kick my ass, which she did not hesitate for even one second to do. She then asked for a quarter, which I obliged her to, even though it was really a sub-par kick.

But the more important thing is that I now know that I can charge people for the opportunity to kick me; I'll be able to retire to Palm Springs on Desbreko's tab alone. Huzzah for easy revenue!!





I'd say that this guy was my favorite cosplayer from the first day, partly because I wasn't expecting anyone to dress up as Willy Wonka. Regardless of that, this is still a pretty damn good costume, especially that kickass coat. I saw another Willy Wonka a few minutes later, but this Wonka is a much more accurate representation of Johnny Depp's rendition of Wonka, I think. For some reason, he creeped my sister out when I showed her this picture though lol.





Here's another favorite cosplayer of mine: iPod Man!! Amusingly enough, iPod Man's low battery appears to have made him exceptionally tired. However, that did not stop him from blaring out music at a loud volume while walking through the halls of the convention center. Personally, I think that iPod Man has a death wish and that this is his way of slowly, masochistically committing suicide. The poor devil.





I missed my opportunity to snap a photo of Resident Evil 4's Leon Kennedy last year, so I made certain to get one this year. Unfortunately, this Leon cosplayer did not have the briefcase with him. Sadness. I'm also remiss to report that I could not find anyone cosplaying as RE4's merchant, unlike a certain congoer did last year. I am burning with jealousy.





More cosplayers attesting to the popularity of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (these three ladies are costuming as Reno, Rufus, and Elena, respectively). Honestly, almost every Final Fantasy cosplayer I saw dressed up as a character from FFVII with the exception of a few FFX characters here and there and maybe a Squall or two. It's amazing how beloved FFVII remains even nearly ten years after its initial release. Maybe it's the crossdressing that appeals to everyone.





There were of course about ten billion Sephiroths grousing about everywhere; however, this guy had by far the longest hair. He was also a very busy murderer as you will now see...





I managed to snap this photo just before Sephiroth ripped his sword from the guts of these poor dorks guys. The Prince of Tennis cosplayer at the far left ended up playing a somewhat prominent part in our day when I went to AX with my siblings and our friend Vincent on Monday. From where his hand his gently rubbing, I gather that he was stabbed in the nipple.





ZOMG FFVII SPOILERS AHOY SKIP IF YOU HATE PLOT POINTS BEING RUINED FOR YOU

Here's Aeris turning the tables on good ol' Sephiroth. It's quite obvious from this picture, however, why it's Aeris who ends up being killed and not Sephiroth; she can barely even hold on to the sword! Luckily for her, she seems to have caught Sephiroth during his nightly pray to Jesus when he is only aware of the Lord and registers nothing else happening around him.





These two are probably the only Aqua Teen Hunger Force cosplayers I've seen at Anime Expo (probably even the only non-anime [adult swim] characters I've seen cosplayed at AX). This picture took approximately eighty-seven days to take because of the sudden rush of people jumping in front of my camera before I could snap the photo. The Mooninites were not pleased, to say the least, and combined to unleash a rare Quad Glacier soon afterwards.





Last picture of the day. This guy wasn't an attendee; instead, he set up camp near the parking lot and treated everyone to a kickass show of drumming involving buckets and other assorted items. He really pulled out all of the stops with the drumming and was also doing some fancy flipping tricks with his drumsticks. According to him, the song he played was called "Put Some Money In the Bucket," and I felt obligated to take the song's advice. Seriously, though, the show was fun as hell and very entertaining. A nice end to the day.

So that's about it for the first day. Like iPod Man, my batteries were in the red, and after a quick shower upon my arrival home, I flopped into bed to rest for a while before relating the wondrous stories, freebies, and pictures to my brother and sister. And then I fell asleep with dreams of the next day floating through my mind. How gloriously mundane!

Once again, I'll see you all in a few days. :)
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Friday, July 7, 2006

Anime Expo, Day One: Part One
As promised, I'm bringing my AX posts to myOtaku as well as my regular site. Pictures ahoy!

Anime Expo has come and gone, and I had a great two days. I tried to be a bit more discriminating when it came to taking pictures, so I have less than I did last year, but with a much higher ratio of awesome pictures-to-needless filler pictures. Also, unlike last year, there are in fact plenty of pictures from the big OB meeting on Sunday, so all of you guys and gals prepare to swoon madly (or not)! Anyway, there's plenty of stuff to post about, though I don't know where exactly I'll be cutting off this post; I'll just wing it, I guess.

Now without further adieu... one nerd's recollection of the 15th Anime Expo!! *cue epic drums*

AX officially started for everybody else on July 1st, as usual, but once again I elected not to attend the first day of the convention. I knew that picking up my pass and trying to get anywhere in general would be a nightmare, especially due to the fervor raised by CLAMP's arrival stateside for the convention, and later conversations proved me right. I attempted to view some of the festivities via AX's new experiment, AX Backstage, but the video was choppy as hell and wreaked havoc on my computer, which put a nice stop to my plans for the next half hour or so. Instead I just wasted time until I felt tired, whereupon I fell asleep and woke up the next day. Exciting!

When I woke up the next morning, I sort of lazed around a bit until I gathered my bearings enough to be able to eat breakfast without messing up my clothes. After I ate, I packed all of the things I needed to pack, made some food to eat later on in the day, and finished listing all of the mundane things I needed to do before I left. Oh, mundanity, how I love thee. Anyway, we actually took the freeway this year, so the car ride was shorter; my dad dropped me off in front of the convention center, but not before seeing a few cosplayers cross the street in front of us, which he basically reacted to like, "Oh brother *rolls eyes*" Haha.

Technically this is from last year, but the convention center looked much the same this year, so whatever. It's worth seeing again anyway - the Anaheim Convention Center is such a cool looking building; every year I'm impressed by how sharp it looks. Thankfully, it's also quite cool on the inside as well, haha. I'm sure that you'd read a ton of reports about cosplayers collapsing after walking around in the heat so much if the air conditioning weren't so miraculously awesome. Let us all take a moment to bow our collective heads in thanks for that wonderful piece of machinery.

Okay. Now for the real pictures!





There were a few people wandering around while I was on my way to the registration hall, and not many of them were cosplayers, oddly enough. As usual there were plenty of people dressing up as Final Fantasy VII characters, even moreso now due to the popularity of Advent Children. With the Aeris cosplayers, I don't know if I just have a horrible attention span and never noticed it before or they just started doing it this year, but most of them were actually carrying around flower baskets. As you can see in the above picture, this particular flower basket is sort of dinky lol. I saw a better one later, but I decided not to take a picture to spare you all from redundancy. Oh well! I'm sure all of you know what a good flower basket looks like, anyway.





These two were already posing for somebody else, so I decided to snap a quick picture of them for the hell of it... one of the few times during the convention that I took a picture without severe calculation beforehand (maybe). The costumes look pretty neat, though; I like the wings on the girl on the left. Well made wings were in vogue this year. I think. As were whips, as you can tell. Lots and lots of whips.





I braced myself for another long line ala last year, the registration process was actually quick and painless. I was impressed, actually. I don't know if it is because there were many less people registering on the second day (a strong possibility considering that CLAMP showed up the first day only and a shitload of people were expected to show up to try to get into their panel and autograph session) or if the SPJA were simply better organized than last year, or a combination of both, but it was nice to not have to wait in a long line to pick up my pass. Later on I heard from Panda, Solo, and Mamma Vash that the lines for registration on Friday and Saturday were incredibly long (about a two-and-a-half hour wait), so maybe it's more the first option than the second one. Either way I spent a total of about two minutes waiting to get my pass. :P

After I picked up my pass I was also handed a big white bag full of freebies/goodies... guides, buttons, etc. Down the hall there was a guy sitting behind a desk waving his arms through the air and shouting for everyone passing by to pick up a bag from him on their way out; unfortunately for him, two other people were passing out bags a few yards ahead of him, so nobody was taking him up on his offer. He was pretty hyperactive, but I think that he was also very sad on the inside as well; he brightened up noticeably when someone actually did take a bag from him.





Upon receiving my bag of stuff, I went to the 2nd floor to attend the "How Anime Comes to America" panel, which was the only panel I ended up going to, despite my declaration that I would try to go more of them. I guess that one is technically more than none, eh? One the way there, I ran into this fellow, who cosplayed as the Japanese comedian Hard Gay (read about him yourself lol). I've not seen much of Hard Gay in action (nor do I plan to do so lol), but I had to take a picture of this guy. He made the effort to dress up like this, so why not?





This is your everyday, garden variety panel room with lots of uncomfortable chairs to sit on. I'm not exactly sure why the podium was in there, since the speaker did not even use it. I guess that it was for later on in the day when there would be more panelists in the room and an almighty moderator would be needed to unleash strict order into the room. And, as you can see, there are also plenty of flowers present: They're there so that the room will smell nice and fresh instead of like a room full of sweaty geeks (even though the panel took place at 10:00 AM).

The video screen was not used at all during the panel... it mostly existed in order to show off a few ads before the panel began and to run a series of amusing shorts. In these shorts, a scenario would be presented in which the person would need to use a particular phrase in Japanese; they're fun and educational! The first short was about accidentally dropping a cell phone in one's toilet ("I dropped the cell phone in the toilet"), the second was about a world class, train-dodging track who is about to die due to misjudging the speed of an oncoming train ("The bullet train is fast"), and the last short followed a man who fell into a vat of beer ("This beer is delicious"). Pretty amusing, though they repeated about three times each, so they got a bit annoying eventually.





(Substitute picture, since the picture I took was awful.) This is Lance Heiskell, the Senior Brand Manager at FUNimation, and he hosted the panel. He was actually pretty upbeat and funny, if a trifle condescending (I think that was completely unintentional, though, so it didn't annoy me too much), which made the panel a bit more enjoyable. Essentially, the journey for anime from Japan to the States is mostly made up of negotiation and translation - common sense, really. For some reason the translation process interested me because it is such a tedious process; the writers have to go through each line multiple times, making sure to keep track of time codes for every word, and when rewriting the script into English, they have to do it in such a way that the English lines match up with the original Japanese "lip flapping." It sounds like a long, hard, thankless nightmare lol.

After the panel finished I went back downstairs to the spot where I was supposed to meet up with everyone, and it did not take me long to find Panda and her husband, John. Post hugs and hearty handshakes, Panda was about to head into the exhibit hall, where Mamma Vash and Solo were waiting for us, but then I quickly told her that one Josh had messaged me the night before to inform me that he planned to meet up with us as well. A truly shocking development!

As if on cue, almost literally right after I told Panda the news, Josh appeared with his friend Aaron, though I was hesitant to approach them at first. Seeing someone in person is obviously different from seeing the same person only in photos, so I didn't want to make an ass of myself by saying, "Hey, Josh!" only to find out that I had harrassed the wrong person. So, I was sort of inching back and forth, glancing over at him every few seconds, which he pretty obviously noticed lol. Then I decided that what I was doing was incredibly dumb and just went over to him, and he recognized me after a second or two, asked if I was Shinmaru, to which I of course answered, "Hell no!" "Yes!" and we were off to the races when Panda and John came over and introduced themselves to Josh and Aaron.

We went inside the exhibit hall and endured some awkward silences laced with bursts of conversation. Finding Solo and Mamma Vash right away amongst the hordes of people within proved to be a difficult task, so we instead spent some time marveling at the sheer size of the place and all of the crazy things one could buy at the booths (including the yaoi booth, which, as per usual, had a sizable crowd around it - and a banner colored with crayon!).





We thought that we might have the opportunity to meet Vic Mignogna (the voice actor who plays Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist, among other roles), but, as you can see, we were just a bit too late getting to the line. Though our group was discouraged slightly, we pressed on bravely, adroitly evading the denizens of Anime Expo's exhibit hall who swarmed this way and that, cutting across paths every which way. We didn't exactly stop at any one booth in particular, though we did almost have an opportunity to go to the top of ADV's booth while they were doing their thing, which would have been hilarious considering how averse I am to them riling up the crowds of people, but alas, it was not meant to be, as only John was able to go up (he's a photographer).





After some more aimless wandering (the best kind of wandering, by the way), we ran into the young lady on the right, who Panda knew from the Cosplay.com forums. They both decided to dress up as this ultra-obscure character in order for it to be easier for them to find each other, which worked pretty well considering how often they ran into each other just while we were with Panda lol. They were the only two I saw who dressed up as this character, so they stood out a lot, haha.





This stand was on the outskirts of the exhibit hall. It's a display for Azumi, a 2003 adaptation of a manga of the same name that is coming to American theaters about three weeks from now. Apparently it's a pretty solid action flick, but I don't know if I'd see it in theaters (or even could see it, since I doubt it would appear anywhere near me).





Eventually we arrived at the Viz booth, where free bags were being given out, and Panda jumped in line while Josh went to get some food and drink. Panda then called up Mamma Vash and Solo and told them where we were, since we'd actually be in one place for a while and it'd be easy to find us. The wait was long and harsh, mostly because the freebies had yet to begin being handed out. We were fifteen minutes early. I wasn't really standing in line, so while we were waiting for our other friends to arrive, I hung around and took a couple of pictures.





These three ladies were posing at the nearby Geneon booth. I don't remember what they were supposed to be advertising; it may have been Ergo Proxy, but that is a sketchy guess at best. The woman on the left seems to have contracted a severe case of the giggles, which she may have received after accidentally peering over in the direction of the photographer.





This is the only V I saw, which surprised me a bit. The film adaptation is fairly popular, and even if people didn't like it, the release at least led to some renewed interest in the graphic novel (as evidenced by my reading it after the release of the film, haha). Anyway, this is a pretty cool costume, even if he's missing the Guy Fawkes hat and is instead wearing a watch. I guess that V would be unable to remember, remember the fifth of November were he to not have his trusty timepiece on hand (or on wrist).

Soon after this Mamma Vash and our dear, dear Solo arrived at the scene (Solo kind of snuck up on me <_<;). After I interrogated Solo for a few minutes about how his time in California had been up to that point (he was having a great time and was in awe at the American fascination with large stuff lol), Josh came back and he and Solo began talking. Then the line began moving, and, er, we all jumped in behind Panda. Yes, we're cutters; I'm so ashamed! Well, not really, since everyone in line got bags anyway. I'd maybe feel a bit guilty if a few people at the end were unable to snag the freebies.





The Robotech booth was our next stop and it became our hangout for the next half hour/hour or so. Panda introduced us to Dan Woren (who voiced Roy Fokker in Robotech, along with a ton of other voice acting roles), who ended up having a lengthy conversation with Solo, which is just as well because I can't imagine what I would have talked about with him lol. Then I started talking with Mamma Vash, who noticed that I'm from La Puente. My first thought was, "Someone's heard of La Puente??" and I asked if she had family there lol. However, she just has a solid knowledge of Californian cities and she knew from my area code after I had sent her my cell phone number that I lived somewhere close by Anaheim. So, yeah, La Puente is still not famous in any way, unless you make it a point to know where Halloween: H20 was filmed. Anyway, she also showed me a great video she had captured on her camera showcasing Box Man - a cosplayer who hid under a box, waited for just the right moment, and then sprang out from under his boxy tomb. Haha. The strangest cosplayers are the best cosplayers.





I don't remember whether I took this picture before or after Solo began speaking to Dan Woren, but, uh, here he is! As you can see, the left ear on his head is drooping slightly, which became a running joke of sorts during the convention. Concerned citizens that they are, the fair folk of AX kept pointing out to Solo that his ear was down, and he eventually began explaining it away by saying that it was supposed to be like that. Also, you can see Josh and Aaron off to the left, and the bags that everyone is holding are the bags that we waited so patiently in line for earlier in the day.

Panda was uber-busy at the Robotech booth, so I just took in the sights and sounds of the convention with Josh and Aaron. After a bit of talking, our eyes set upon the horror of the Vatti (I think that's what they were called anyway). I did not take a picture of them, so your eyes will be spared the horror. Just know that they were a group of guys who traveled around in briefs, shoes, and socks with leaves hanging over their crotches. Hopefully that didn't conjure up any traumatizing images for you guys and gals. After averting our vision and chatting a bit about my cosplay (I was dressed as a geek, which was a surprisingly popular costume choice at the convention; geek is chic at AX, who knew?), we heard loud rumblings over at ADV's booth. They were definitely tossing many a freebie to the restless crowd; it was the roar of free stuff for certain.

There was also a funny moment where Josh asked Aaron, "So, is this all you expected it to be and more?" to which Aaron simply answered, "Yes." The way he said it had Josh and I laughing, and he decided not to inquire any further lol. You never know what you're getting into when you dig through those ambiguous "yes" answers.





After Solo finished his conversation with Mr. Woren, we decided to head over to the Artists' Alley, and bid adieu to Panda, John, and Mamma Vash (who was especially nice even though I'd had zero contact with her up to that day). My one regret is that I did not get a picture with them. I wish I'd run into them later on in the day. Sadness. Anyway, I snapped the above picture on the way to the Artists' Alley. There were a lot of Pyramidhead cosplayers around this year, no doubt due to the popularity of the Silent Hill movie. These two were sort of tame compared to the Pyramidheads I ended up seeing later on.





The Artists' Alley thankfully had its own room this year; in 2005, the Alley was down on the bottom floor of the ACC and it was so unbelievably cramped and crowded down there lol. It was still pretty crowded this year but at least there was some maneuvering room. That picture is just a sample of some of the great artwork on display in there; I'm always impressed with people who can draw well, because I have no drawing talent of my own. Even my stick figures are horrendous. My favorite on display there is either the Harley Quinn drawing (because Harley Quinn rocks) or the Nightmare Before Christmas drawing on the bottom right. They're all pretty kickass though.

Following our excursion to the Artists' Alley, Solo wanted to go to the Gaming Room to see if we would be able to play a round or two of Super Smash Bros. Melee. It sounded like a fair idea to the rest of us, so off we went! Since we'd spent the majority of the day indoors, it was bright as hell (and quite warm) when we went outside, and our attempts to protect ourselves from the dangers of natural light were mostly futile. But what does that matter when...





...there are pictures of Josh to be seen? :O! I've got one thing to say about this picture: If life were a film noir, then I'd be insanely suspicious of Josh. The shadows covering him from head to toe... the clearly sinister look on his face... and his arm is reaching for something, quite possibly a gun! However, life is not a film noir (fortunately or unfortunately, I don't know), so no harm at all came from this innocent picture. But it could have happened in an alternate reality... maybe.

When we arrived at the third floor of the Hilton, where the Gaming Room was, there were already a bunch of people huddled around Super Smash Bros. Melee, though by far the largest crowd was watching people play the latest version of Guilty Gear. With our hopes of playing Smash Bros. dashed for the moment, we sat down to take a rest.





This cooler provided some funny moments before Josh and Aaron had to leave. We were all pretty damn thirsty by the time we got up to the Gaming Room, but, of course, the cooler was empty. I suppose that provided the Gods of Cruelty with a few snickers. So instead we drank some tap water from the sink; perhaps that isn't the wisest choice to make in southern California, but we were thirsty, damn it. As we sat down to drink, more people began approaching the cooler and they became frustrated when no water came out. This one guy was shaking the cooler around and cursing up a storm, and it was very silly. An empty water cooler is annoying, but is it really enough to warrant a, "Fucking fuck, where's the god damn water?? *shakes* Fuck!!!!!" I don't think so.

Unfortunately, Josh and Aaron had to leave before an adequate number of openings for Smash Bros. appeared. However, I did not make the mistake of forgetting to take a group photo, so get ready to be dazzled, everyone:





From left to right: Aaron, Josh, me, and Solo. I don't know what happened, but I ended up balancing myself on the countertop, and it makes me look like Igor from Young Frankenstein. Luckily my hump is capable of switching places too. Anyway, I had a great time hanging out with Josh and Aaron. It was definitely a bit awkward at first, but it was also easier to become more comfortable with the situation because of similar experiences I've had before. So, yeah, Josh is pretty damn funny, which made breaking the ice a hell of a lot easier, and the world did not explode with boredom during our meeting, which is a big plus. Aaron was understandably quiet much of the time (I would be too in the same situation), but he was very nice when I talked with him. Like Solo, he was also in awe at how massive Anime Expo is. :P

Sorry everyone but the post ends here. Next time I promise a lot more pictures and tales of my travels around AX with Solo. Also, be sure visit everyone's myOtakus to get some more of the AX experience, because mine is but one limited perspective (plus there are bound to be lots more pictures and that is only a good thing).

See you all in a few days.
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Sunday, July 2, 2006

I'm Uncle Fester, I'm Andy of Mayberry, I'm Mr. Roper, I'm Grandpa Munster.
An actual post here?? *GASP*

Well, not really. Not yet, anyway. When I went to AX last year, I posted about it and shared a bunch of pictures on my site, but I basically ignored everyone who prefers to stick with myOtaku. So, this year whatever I post on my site will pop up on here as well: Every word, every sentence, and every picture. Hurrah and huzzah!!

I'm sure that Solo, Panda, and Mamma Vash will post plenty of stuff, but more of the AX experience is always a good thing, right? :P
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Wednesday, April 5, 2006

Rembrandt Pussyhorse
Remember that Shinmaru vs. The World stuff I used to do?

Click to get your fill of nudist spider-killers, the failures of anger management, and Super Mario Bros. terrorism.
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Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Lyrics Game!
Posted this on my LiveJournal, but I might as well toss it on here as well.

Step 1: Put your MP3 player or whatever on random.
Step 2: Post the first line from the first 15 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing.
Step 3: Post and let everyone you know guess what song and artist the lines come from.
Step 4: Strike out the songs when someone guesses correctly.
Step 5: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING!

1. Got me a movie/I want you to know/Slicing up eyeballs/I want you to know/Girlie so groovy/I want you to know/Don't know about you/But I am un chien andalusia

2. High water risin' - risin' night and day/All the gold and silver are being stolen away/Big Joe Turner lookin' east and west/From the dark room of his mind

3. Can't get the stink off/He's been hanging around for days/Comes like a comet/Suckered you but not your friends/One day he'll get to you/And teach you how to be a holy cow

4. Spring has come/Worms are showing their faces/Little birds are eating them

5. What's there to live for?/Who needs the peace corps?

6. Is it asking too much to be given time/To know these songs and to sing them/Is it asking too much of my vacant smile/And my laugh and my lies that bring them

7. The world is my expense/The cost of my desire/Jesus blessed me with its future/And I protect it with fire

8. Well now don't you tell me to smile/You stick around I'll make it worth your while/Got numbers beyond what you can dial/Maybe it's because I'm so versatile

9. Welcome to your life/There's no turning back/Even while we sleep/We'll find you

10. I'm a bubble in a sound wave/A sonic push for energy/Exploding like the sun/A flash of clean light hope/All you scientists can hold your breath/Shall I decide to show myself? Oh oh

11. This is the story of your red right ankle/And how it came to meet your leg/And how the muscle, bone, and sinews tangled/And how the skin was softly shed

12. When he said, "You are full of love"/She fell into this dirty mess/Some people see me laugh and tell us/"It's wrong to make fun of me"

13. I smell smoke/That comes from a gun/Named extinction/It was a long time ago/Could have happened to anyone/He was struck by a bullet/And melted into a fluid named extinction

14. La la la la la la/This is my stop/Got to get off/I may go pop/Excuse me, excuse me

15. Istanbul was Constantinople/Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople/Been a long time gone, oh Constantinople/Now it's Turkish delight on a moonlit night

Have at it!
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Saturday, March 18, 2006

Enough is enough. I've had it with these snakes.
For all my myOtaku buddies who don't/rarely visit OB: Snakes on a Plane trailer

The trailer is comedic gold, and everybody should watch it. I'm looking forward to this movie so much - there's no way that it won't be hilarious. XD
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Thursday, March 9, 2006

Cuckoo
The OB Nifty Fifty is finally up. Possibly my favorite part about it is that people I nominated for being nifty through association with me got on the list, but I didn't (except maybe as a part of Play It lol). Haha, man, that just amuses me to no end. I guess that I had it coming! Note to self: Nifty Fifty committee is not a fan of boasting. :P

On a more serious note, though, I really like the pictures that go with each item on the list. Very cool stuff. They work very well to make the whole thing more special. :)

Anyway, a survey for the hell of it:

name: Shinmaru/Michael
single or taken: Single
sex: Male
bday: November 19th, 1985
siblings: Younger sister and younger brother
hair color: Black
eye color: Brown

1) First Grade Teacher: Mrs. Lang. She was a complete asshole to me all through 1st grade. And then the crazy bitch suddenly turns nice on me when I'm not in her class anymore! She was so confusing.
2) Last word you said: 'bitch'
3) Last song you sang: The Beatles - "Hey Jude"
4) Last person you hugged: My mom, I guess.
6) Last time you said 'I love you': I forget, but it was probably said toward someone in jest...
7) Last time you cried: Can't remember.
8) What's in your CD player: I don't use CD players anymore.
9) What color socks are you wearing: White
10) What's under your bed: Stuff I don't even know about.
11) What time did you wake up today: 5:45 AM
13) Current hair: If you've ever seen a picture of me, then you know how my hair is at all times.
14) Current clothes: White RahXephon shirt and kind of grayish shorts.
15) Current annoyance: Having to go to Psychology in a few minutes.
16) Current longing: I long to get the hell home.
17) Current desktop picture: Fuu from Samurai Champloo. I haven't watched the show in months, but I'm too lazy to change the picture. I like it, anyway.
18) Current worry: I'm worrying that I'm going to procrastinate too much on an essay I have to write.
19) Current hate: The Boondock Saints. I hate letdowns so much.
20) Story behind your username: I'm not telling that story again
21) Current favourite article of clothing: I don't have a favorite.
22) Favourite physical feature of the opposite sex: Strong legs for standing in front of the stove all day. Probably eyes if you were to put a gun to my head and force me to choose.
24) Favourite place to be: My room.
25) Least favourite place: The 1st floor of the Cal Poly library, because it stinks horribly right now.
26) Time you wake up in the morning: Usually some time between 6:00 and 7:00 AM.
27) If you could play an instrument: ...I would make music?
28) Favorite color: Black.
29) Do you believe in an afterlife: No
30) How tall are you: 5'9"
31) Current favourite word/saying: 'dickweed'
32) Favorite book: Catch-22
33) Favorite season: Winter, though if Autumn weren't so hot in the beginning here I would choose that.
34) One person from your past you wish you could go back and talk to: Nobody. I'm done worrying about things like that.
35) Favorite day: Saturday
36) Where do you want to go: Nowhere in particular.
37) What is your career going to be like: Not mind-numbingly dull, I hope.
38) How many kids do you want?: Depends on how many openings there are at the local sweatshop.
39) What kind of car will you have: As long as it works okay, I don't give a shit what kind of car I have.
40) Type a line you remember from any book: "There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind."
41) A random lyric: "Slicing up eyeballs, I want you to know"
If I were a historical figure, I'd be: Brian.
If I were a tool, I'd be: John (j/k lolz)
If I were a kind of weather, I'd be: Cloudy
If I were a mythical creature, I'd be: Yoda
If I were a musical instrument, I'd be: An organ or an accordion.
If I were a sound, I'd be: That funny yell Audrey Hepburn does in My Fair Lady when she's angry/scared.
If I were a song, I'd be: Annoying to 99% of the world.
If I were a movie, I'd be: Dr. Strangelove
If I were a book, I'd be: The Catcher in the Rye
If I were a place, I'd be: The Batcave
If I were a material, I'd be: Wool? Fuck if I know.
If I were a body part, I'd be: An ass
If I were a cartoon character, I'd be: Philip J. Fry
If I were a shape, I'd be a: Square

r e l a t i o n s h i p s
who are your best friends?: Sean.
do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend?: No.

f a s h i o n | s t u f f
1. where is your favorite place to shop: Fry's Electronics
2. any tattoos or piercings: Nope

s p e c i f i c s
1. do you do drugs?: Nope.
3. what are you most scared of?: Heights is my mild phobia, but I'm probably scared of something else more than that.
4. what are you listening to right now?: Curve
5. who is the last person that called you?: I have no clue. I wish the phone were dead.
7. how many buddies are online right now?: I'm not even online... lol.
8. if you could change anything about yourself, what would it be?: I'd be more outgoing.

f a v o r i t e s
1. color: Black
2. pasta: Fettucini Alfredo
3. boys names: Vincent, Jacob, Jonathan. I guess my name is okay too.
4. girls names: Julia, Maria, Sarah, Megan, Cynthia and so on and so forth.
5. subjects in school: English
6. animals: Cats
7. sports: Tennis

h a v e | y o u | e v e r
1. given anyone a bath?: Not that I recall.
2. smoked?: Nope
3. bungee jumped?: Nope
4. made yourself throw up?: Nope
5. skinny dipping?: No
6: ever been in love?: No
7. made yourself cry to get out of trouble?: No. lol
9. actually seen your crush naked?: ...no.
10. cried when someone died?: No, but I've not had to deal with very much death in my life.
11. lied: Of course not. I'm an angel.
12. fallen for your best friend?: No
13. been rejected?: No
14. rejected someone?: No
15. used someone?: I don't know what you mean.

f i n a l | q u e s t i o n s
1. do you like filling these out?: They fill up time.
2. how many people are you sending this to?: None
3. who will send it back?: I don't care.
4. least likely to send it back?: Fuck 'em.
5. gold or silver?: Silver
6. what was the last film you saw at the movies?: King Kong, I think. It's good.
7. favorite cartoon?: Either Futurama or The Simpsons.
8. what did you have for breakfast this morning?: Haven't had breakfast yet.
9. who would you hate to be locked in a room with?: Zombies.
10. who would you love being locked in a room with: You, baby.
12. would you color your hair?: Probably not. I like it the way it is.
15. how many people are on your buddy list?: Uh. A lot? lol
16. drink alcohol?: No thanks.
17. like watching sunrises or sunsets?: Yes.

LAST...
Movie you rented = Bunch of movies at the library yesterday: Evil Dead II, The Hours, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, The Fisher King, Dawn of the Dead (the original), and Rear Window.
Movie you bought = Uh. Honestly, I don't remember. lol
Song you listened to = "Missing Link" by Curve.
Song that was stuck in your head = "Missing Link" by Curve is stuck in my head now, because I'm listening to it.
Person you were thinking of = John, for the same reason he was thinking of Kevin I guess.

FOR OR AGAINST...

Long distance relationships = Don't see a problem with them if you're okay with the distance.
Teenage smoking = Meh. Can't say I see the appeal of smoking.
Premarital sex = I've got no problem with it, except that I'm not having it.
Comments (4) | Permalink

Sunday, March 5, 2006

When I Was At Harvard, I Smoked Weed Every Day...
For those who don't watch Saturday Night Live anymore (such as me, except when certain people host lol): Natalie Portman is a gangster rapper.

I think I love her even more now. I'd buy a chihuahua just so she'd come over and ace the little rat. <3

EDIT: Lyrics time!

Natalie Portman: I don't sleep motherfucker off that yak and the bourbon,
Doin' 120 getting head as I'm swervin.
(Damn Natalie, you a crazy chick)
Yo shut the fuck up and suck my dick!

I'm bustin dudes mouths like gushers motherfucker,
Roll up on NBC and smack the shit out Jeff Tucker!

(What you want Natalie?)
To drink and fight!
(What you need Natalie?)
To fuck all night!

Don't test me when I'm crazy on that airplane glue.
Put my foot down your throat 'til you're shittin my shoe.
Leave you screamin', pay for my dry cleanin',
Fuck you man, it's my name that he's screamin

All the kids lookin up to me can suck my dick!
It's Portman, motherfucker, drink 'til i'm sick
Slit your throat and pour nitrous down the hole,
Watch you laugh and cry, while I laugh, you die.
And all the dudes, you know I'm talkin to you...
(We love you Natalie)
I wanna fuck you too!

(P!) Is for Portman!
(P!) Is for pussy!
I'll kill your fuckin dog for fun so don't push me.

When I was in harvard, I smoked weed every day.
I cheated every test and snorted all the yay.
I got a def posse, you got a bunch of dudes,
I'll sit right down on your face and take a shit!

Guy: Natalie you are a badass bitch (HELL YEAH!)
And I will pay for your dry cleaning when my shit gets in your shoe (WHAT?)
As for the drug use, well I can vouch for that,
My dick is scared of you, girrrrrrl.

Portman: WHAT?

EDIT2: The clip is gone now. :(

Thankfully there are still a ton more links on YouTube. Just go to the site and search for Natalie Portman on SNL.
Comments (4) | Permalink

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Mary Sunshine Rain
Happy Valentine's Day, everyone. I'm going to celebrate by treating it like every other day in the year. What fun!

This thing will spread all around myOtaku, so what the hell. Choose words that you think best describe me, be honest, etc.
Comments (2) | Permalink