| Random Bursts of Otacracy, Cosplay, and Photography |
[15 Jul 2009|12:14am] |
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 (Cross-posted from http://otacracy.com/serious-stuff/96-random-bursts-of-otacracy-cosplay-and-photography)
Despite the name of the site, I'm just not THAT much of an otaku. At least, not in the sense assumed by most internet denizens.
Nowadays I'm writing random music and working on lectures rather than watching the latest and (not necessarily the) greatest anime out there. My overall video game playing skill has dropped precariously in the last year as I've focused more on things like: studying Choroscript and: washing dishes. But then I do random and not so random things like take pictures of Magic Knight Rayearth cosplayers in a national forest and drive 2 hours to get to an arcade and play IGS beat'em ups and Puzzle Bobble 3 (since the Puyo Puyo Fever machine was out of commission). In just under 48 hours I'm going to hop on a plane and hit Otakon... and quite honestly I have: no idea what I'm going to do there. All right. That's not true. I'm pretty certain I'll do my fair share of people watching and hanging out with friends I've made over the years. And I'm really looking forward to our pre-Otakon dinner plans at Obelisk. But what of the stuff provided by Otakon? What panels, concerts, events am I REALLY interested in? At the moment the answer would have to be: none. But that's mostly me being in teacher mode and splitting time between writing this quick update and writing a mid-term exam for my students. So this makes now a good time to talk about this photo here. This photo was taken just over 10 years ago and remains my favorite among all the photos of cosplay I've taken. The cosplayers in the picture above are portraying characters from the Saber Marionette anime series as they walk the halls of Otakon 1999. And they look absolutely fantastic. Nevermind the fact that you really can't see that much detail in their costumes (the combination of a slightly crappy photographer dealing with a slightly crappy lens and relatively slow film)... but forget about that. These girls are: having fun. People around them are seeing these girls: having fun. (And then there's the artistic aspects of the photo. Lines and eyelines. But I don't care about that at the moment...) Otakon 1999 was a hugely fun experience for me, and this picture, more than any other picture I took, represented how much fun it was to be there. I'd really like to take more pictures of cosplayers: having fun. Allow me to go ahead and push that a bit to: I'd really like to take more pictures of cosplayers being people in costume, people having fun, rather than simply models struggling to reach the iconic ideals presented on dead trees and LCDs. If only they'd allow me to do that! Because: heaven forbid I catch them cracking an out-of-character smile or chatting with their friends who aren't similarly dressed. If I had to choose between taking pictures of interesting people doing interesting things and the most utterly beautiful drop-dead gorgeous stylishly accurate cosplay ever made... I'd choose the pictures of people. And please don't think that this means I disrespect cosplay; in fact, I love cosplay and would love nothing better than to show cosplay, the entire process of cosplay, in a really positive light to fans and non-fans alike. Okay... I guess that's one thing I'm still incredibly otaku about. I thoroughly enjoy taking pictures of people pre-con/at con/post-con, doing the con thing (aka having fun), and I look forward to seeing all the people that will be hanging out, rocking out, making out, passing out, and anything else you can think of at Otakon. If you see a guy with a black photovest stuffed with camera equipment shooting pictures at Otakon, you've probably found me. Feel free to say hi. If you rock at Asuka 120% Limited or Garouden: Fist or Twist, even better. I'm looking forward to hitting that game room as well... (This was originally going to be a post about 2 cosplayers who screamed at me for a minute for taking their picture, but thinking about it just depresses and frustrates the hell out of me, so I'd rather not write about that.) And how about we end this LJ post on a positive note? GOD BLESS AMERICA!
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| For any number of reasons here |
[14 Jul 2009|08:37pm] |
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mood |
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 inexplicably enraged |
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Never before had I seen boxart on a game which made me physically want to punch someone responsible.
But now? I have.
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| New Books I've read... |
[14 Jul 2009|11:14pm] |
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mood |
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 calm |
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This is the first summer in 13 years that I haven't worked. bizarre, I know....I'm doing something useful with it all.
Thus far I have quit smoking. today is the completion of day 20.
I have joined a gym and developed a bit of a routine that kicks my ass without making me bitter and angry. With the quitting, I realize I can now actually breathe when I run/move. Go figure. This is the summer to get my body under control and get healthy.
Quitting smoking was stupid hard. I don't think there is anything quite like it. Many people have many of the same issues but I think it's a personal journey for everyone. For me, it was a constant choice. I didn't want to quit when I got pregnant, because then I would be forced to do it. I didn't want to use any aids because i didn't want to spend one more dime on the dirty habit. I didn't want to put it off because that's just such a bad precedent - why not start saving my life as soon as possible?
Michael and I quit together, cold turkey. I smoked my last on the last day of school. I actually smoked like a fool that night. My husband went to bed early, and I stayed up until 1145 or so. I smoked my last on the couch, struggling to stay up to smoke as many as I could before midnight. I'm not sure I totally appreciated that last drag. I truly miss it.
The first few days, the cravings were out of control. Every single minute was a challenge. I talked to anyone that would listen and for the first time since my wedding, went over my allotted cell phone minutes for the month - a week before my plan reset. It was painful and it made me more than grumpy. My whole world was about it for three days. then the withdrawal started to change a bit. Feeling a bit accomplished and proud of myself for lasting longer than I have without a cigarette for the last decade, I was cheerful. Singing and dancing around the house, I stayed busy and productive. Then the bitterness and irritation hit. Michael and I started fighting and have barely stopped. I still want to smoke every half hour or so, but most of my cues/triggers have been defeated. I've relearned how to drive, watch a movie, drink a cup of coffee, play poker, have a beer without a smoke in my hand. Now, I want one like I want to go to Christy's and close the bar singing to Johnny Cash. It's just not something I can do anymore...and it's sad, like losing a friend. But, in the end, like those select friends that were a bad influence, I'm better off without them.
I had surgery today. For a while I've been rather concerned about the whole pre-cancerous business. I had some abnormal cellular growth that refused to go away. It's been lurking and progressing for the last two-three years...today they lasered it right out. The anesthesia was an interesting adventure. I've never been put under before. Nor have I had an IV. Today was a day of firsts:) All went well except that I wasted the rest of the day sleeping. I don't know what happened - I came home, was reading, and then all of a sudden it was 5pm. Ah well.
I'm also working on saving some money (again something quitting can help us with). I want to have a baby and before I can do that I have to buy a house. I'm ready for my life to get moving.
And finally, I'm planning on reading like crazy all summer. While there are definitely activities to fill every day, I am also fitting in some quiet alone time now and then.
Thus far I've read a few different books...
Goodnight Nobody - Jennifer Weiner
Twilight
New Moon
Eclipse
Breaking Dawn is next all by Stephenie Meyer
Manslation - Jeff Mac
Trust Me - John Updike
Why We Suck - Denis Leary
I plan to grow that list as quickly as possible. Any recommendations are welcomed.
Also, I think I'm back to livejournal - after a LONG hiatus. I miss writing and letting my thoughts ramble. Hey, it's summer - I've got time;)
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| I find your lack of beard disturbing. |
[14 Jul 2009|03:14pm] |
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mood |
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 accomplished |
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music |
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Treebeard - Howard Shore |
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So I figured out how to edit the default textures in the Sims 3, with a few nudges in the right direction from the budding mod community.
Currently there's no way to add certain new custom parts, but it's entirely possible to create default overrides for existing parts.
To that end, I sacrificed a particularly douchey-looking chinstrap beard-with-stubble variant in exchange for a goatee without a moustache. Because SOME of us prefer just the chin fuzz...
If you happen to want it, you can download it here. Just dump it in your mods directory with your other packages. Though I still can't quite work out how to make the CAS refresh thumbnails....so if you don't see it show up in your CAS under beards, select the douchey stubble chinstrap next to the existing goatee and you'll see this one instead.
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| More Cave on the 360 |
[14 Jul 2009|09:25am] |
According to Cave's recent fiscal report, ESPGaluda II is mentioned under the consumer market section along side Mushi Futari and Death Smiles II (both of which were already confirmed for 360 release).
Despite already owning the arcade board of ESP2, I'll snag the home port for the obligatory Arrange Mode.
Also, Cave are prepping Death Smiles Mega Black Label ver 1.1 (more DLC for DS) which will be unveiled at the upcoming Cave Matsuri on August 15th.
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| Hair today... |
[14 Jul 2009|12:00am] |
Gone tomorrow, har har!
Posted on my Twitter last Thurs, just figured I'd share on LJ too for those who don't follow.
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[13 Jul 2009|11:53pm] |
there goes my evening. all night coding and making a sample report. but i guess that's this business, it's a service industry thing, so it needs to be done promptly.
now to go get something sweet to drink. been craving it all evening. after i eat some honeydew. i deserve that.
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[13 Jul 2009|01:36am] |
btw the 2nd to last entry is about pure affect.
and speaking of pure affect, i can't attain it right now.. re: sleep.
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[13 Jul 2009|12:39am] |
first night sleeping in new place.
WEIRD
i dunno how i ever got used to sleeping in odd hotel rooms for 2 years.
..well i guess drinking often before sleeping helped a little...
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[12 Jul 2009|11:54pm] |
LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN
is like kerouac in how typing becomes automatic, over powering narrative so that embedded in the force of language arises a rising tendancy; how different forces enwrap like in tralala or in strike; and over-riding that freedom of drive arises through subjectivity to become the overriding force that ultimately impacts social norms. you get sal, and vinnie who provide the backdrop of a disenfranchised class of street-thugs, small time pimps and thieves. you have the folding of fairies (goldie, lee, ginger, alberta) -- queers and homosexuals who dress and act as women to service and prey on sailors and bisexual husbands who feel so guilty and are in such need... what we get is a world out of control, a seething underbelly of brooklyn, a place where people are at the mercy of their impulses. what is compelling in such writing is that it is less about morals than it is about the bringing out of emotion -- of thantos as the late sigmund frued began to understand that there is a BEYOND libido...
if you get in the bowels of d&g's 1000p, a minor literature, their admiration of writers like scott fitzgerald and kafka (and samuel beckett) align along those who pull out real forces at work in the world, real influences that arise through mediated situations and become the blind for-itself-in-itself impetus ...
on the otherhand, compare with indiana jones, and how he struggles against powerful thantos forces like in temple of doom that threaten to consume whole villages, how those forces out of control, take over people, behoove characters and minds and bodies and destroys the life-world... and how as a scientist and archeologist he contains those forces, in the one hand, by relagating them in the past (or in scantuaries of science like in raiders), or nihilifying them in the life-world such as returning the sacred rock to the indian villagers so they can have their harvest and their lifestyles...
always keeping in bounds the class structure, the resource allocations of the status quo so people can continue to live their lives, NO so certain people -- can live their lives wink wink nudge nudge all the exploited underclass out of sight out of mind (those same indian villagers grow up to be disenfranchised by the growing global village so their children need to empty the village, become engineers and phone-voice operators...)
compared to harold who lives off of the strike expense fund, discovering his love of young boys (dressed as girls) taking them out, and when the money runs out, he is poor and the prostitutes turn their backs on him because he can't treat them to lobster dinners anymore... and he almost rapes a neighborhood boy who calls on the gang to who come and rip his arms off, beat him to a shit...
i resist falling into d&g's comparison of two kinds of regimes, the stratiated and the nomadic... but i am already in it...
o i am going to sleep now so i can wake up and rock climb tomorrow.
but my intuition at this point tells me that this line of thought (line of flight) is intimately connected with capital and that modeling a philosophical system of meaning behind the way money moves is the next step in this post.
O SHIT does this mean I am going to out D&G D&G or am i going to turn into a post-marxist/neo-marxist/kantian.... tune in, next time, same crap channel...
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