K-ON, I bet, will drive moetakus into learning the electric guitar before giving up after Kyo-ani produces the next moe show.

Yeah. These shows are the “Walkthroughs of Life” for Anime Fans who do not go out. What other shows have been guilty of inspiring anime fans into picking up a new pastime (that does not last)?

Sakuracon has succeeded in something that CLANNAD ~After Story~ has failed to do: entertain me.

The unfavourable response from group of commentators on ANN baffles me. Yeah. I think the Sakuracon advertisement, which featured a bunch of Japanese pop-culture fans shouting out a bunch of catchphrases, is satiric in nature. Also, it was pretty fun and effective.

A satire is suppose to exaggerate  reality in order to raise awareness. By doing so, the satire is suppose to succeed in affecting people to REFORM. Would you have felt a pang of guilt after witnessing the overzealous profusion by those actors? The advertisement is imploring greater sensibility and moderation in one’s hobbies. By seeing how ridiculous the lovers of “GAY ROCK” and “GUHROOGAMESH” are, hopefully one would reform by showing more maturity when attending an anime con (for example, do not break trees or spank people with paddles).

Is the advertisement insulting? Does it present an inaccurate depiction of anime fandom in America? I am not sure. But I have heard of funny anecdotes of people in my college acting really weeaboos-ish in first semester Japanese classes. How weeaboo can they get? Well, I was told by a friend of mine that he has a female classmate in his first semester Japanese class who friggin imitates the mannerism of L from Death Note. Now that has to suggest something. Man I really do not know what Sakuracon was thinking when they made that ad. It is so blatant in its mocking. While people like me are able to laugh at it and do some self-reflection, there will be others who are not so graceful.

Putting that aside. Let us talk about the fact that there was a parody of the original advertisement that was requested by Sakuracon to be removed off Youtube.

MAN. WHY WAS I ACTING SO POLITE? THE SAKURACON ADVERTISEMENT HAS DONE NOTHING BUT TO INCREASE MY DESIRE TO VISIT A CON FOR THE LULZ.

SO WHY DID SAKURACON DEMAND THAT THE YU-GI-OH PARODY OF THEIR AD BE REMOVED? IT IS A DESERVING (BUT EVIL) SPIRITUAL SUCCESSOR OF THE ORIGINAL! UNLESS THEY DID NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT THE ORIGINAL HAD SUCCEEDED IN DOING, THERE WAS NO NEED TO ASK FOR THE REMOVAL OF THE PARODY!

OH WAIT. I KNOW IT. SAKURACON IS JEALOUS OF THE PARODY BECAUSE THE PARODY EXCEEDS THE ORIGINAL IN ITS AFFEECTIVE ABILITY!!!!

Man… I wanna go to my first con.

Sojourner’s Summary of ID SOJOURNER’s stupidity

1. The Sakuracon advertisement is a sad case of exaggerated and insulting truth.
2. ID SOJOURNER does not hate the ad like the Chicks on Anime because he likes mockery, justified or not.
3. Even if the Sakuracon ad is not 100% accurate, it ought to be grimly taken as a reminder of childish fan behaviour.
4. There is no point in being offended by the “inaccurate depiction.” If you are not like that, good for you. The ad deserves none of your anger and attention.
5. Sakuracon’s request for the removal of the Yu-Gi-Oh ad parody is an oxymoron because the parody has the same message as the ad. Thus, Sakuracon’s actions contradicts the purpose of broadcasting their ad.
6. GUHROOGAMESH!
   

]]> http://bluefoxalley.com/2009/03/29/id-sojourner-on-guhroogamesh-and-weeaboos/feed/ 2 The Sojourner http://bluefoxalley.com/2008/11/26/mayn-fanboys-ain-no-economist-alife-goes-on/ http://bluefoxalley.com/2008/11/26/mayn-fanboys-ain-no-economist-alife-goes-on/#comments Wed, 26 Nov 2008 05:09:23 +0000 The Sojourner http://bluefoxalley.wordpress.com/?p=2056 Continue reading →]]> I ought to be running through the points in my thesis, which is about Saint Augustine’s Confessions, but I find myself spending time to write about an unwarranted bag of chimerical rage that is taking place on the other side of the planet. However, this post is not tl;dr. Yes. This post is about the disappointment of certain fans in regards to the May’n autograph session.

To Those Who Felt Scammed: You Have The Right To Feel Disappointed

There is a big misunderstanding about some commentators and bloggers being ‘uncaring and indifferent‘ towards the sad plight of the disappointed May’n fans. There is a need to bring this out into the open and it is that No One Is Denying Your Right To Express Yourself. Although the disappointed fans have been subjected to rather sordid and harsh comments by others, this ‘victimization’, as some fans might perceive it to be, is does not mean you are now allowed to express your feelings. If the ‘satisfied’ fans had blogged about how great the autograph session, would it not be the case that the subsequent retort by the disappointed fans be a demand for the former to ‘shut up?’

So basically, no one is stopping you from being disappointed, especially if you had traveled from your home country down to Singapore to attend the event.

It is about expectations.

I believe those who have a better understanding than I do have already stated that the organisers were inexperienced, thus, there were parts of the event that need improvement. The main irk, which has been the source of fuel for the unnecessary dorama, is that the Diamond-pass holding fans were not told that they were going to be receiving ‘whiteboards’.

With the lack of knowledge, what we non-Japanese fans did was to purchase the Diamond pass with our expectations being that the autograph session would allow us to get May’n to sign a personal item of ours. If the disappointed fans had been told that they would only be receiving ‘whiteboards’, perhaps things would have been different. Our future plans are based on expectations.

But then, who is to judge whether it was worth the money purchasing the Diamond Pass?

So now there are people who feel ‘scammed’ because all they got was just a ‘whiteboard’ and people are asking whether the Diamond pass was worth its price. What the Diamond pass promise was a place in the exclusive VIP area of the concert, which guaranteed a good close-up look of our dear Miss Mei Nakabayashi aka May’n, a handshake, and the grant of an autograph from the singer herself.

Disappointed fans claim that the denial of a request to have May’n sign their personal items has rendered the Diamond pass dubious of its worth. Putting the fact that we were all ill-informed, I would like to make a humble inquiry: is there a right way to value the worth of the Diamond Pass? The satisfaction in consuming a certain good varies with different individuals, I doubt there is a way to objectively judge the satisfaction that one can derive from consuming a specific product.

Here comes the act of self-defense against this: Obviously you do not know what it means to spend your hard-earned money and to find yourself ‘cheated’. You uncaring bloke whatever.

There are two ways that I can approach as an attempt to defend myself of such an accusation.

1) “I beg to differ when I am subjected to a claim of me being an uncaring brat who is indifferent to the importance of money; logically speaking, I could have spent that money on food and other necessities.”

The above quote would be my answer and this argument would move on to the next phase when the disappointed fans would point out that a non-May’n fan would not understand the significance of seeing the lady live and all that.

If that were to happen, please refer to the precious point about how perceived value is usually a subjective issue. Take me for example, I can never comprehend why some people, especially white-wannabe Asians, drown themselves with overpriced Starbucks coffee while they could spend less money on a cheaper substitute and still get the same satisfaction. It is really depends on the individual’s opinion.

2) I am a May’n fan. I was one of those who paid for Diamond pass and I am pretty satisfied with what I got. From where I am looking, I see Jean-Jacque Rousseau laughing up in heaven at the silliness of this event.

So what do you think we ought to do?

Stop arguing as this dorama has been an insult to the intellect of those who had the misfortune of stumbling upon it. No one is wrong. No one is right. But there is a need for rational discussions between the fans and the organisers if there is to be an AFA next year.

Remember. If you are disappointed, it is your liberty to feel that way and no one has the right to stop you from doing so. Next, this discussion has to end as it is nothing but a case of different expectations. Simply share your thoughts with the organisers so that improvements can be made in the future.

The ‘damage’ has been dealt, the rage has to simmer eventually, and life goes on.

Low level dorama is low level. And oops. tl;dr.

P.S. So I heard Citigroup has been bailed out. I wonder who is next to fall. The car companies?

P.P.S. I really need to work on my paper.

OMG!!!! GUESS WHAT? THE BLOGOSPHERE IS THE PERSONIFICATION OF EVIL!

Allow me to reiterate: THE BLOGOSPHERE IS EVIL!!! Name any negative element and you shall find it contributing to the stifling air in the blogosphere. THE BLOGSPHERE IS EVIL!!!! We should have been contended with just watching anime by ourselves without having to talk about it online; yet, shit happens and the blogosphere is born! THE BLOGOSPHERE IS EVIL!!!! The vile stench of snobbishness and hate penetrates my laptop screen and pollutes my room! THE BLOGOSPHERE IS EVIL!!!! AND IF YOU ASK ME, I THINK THE BLOGOSPHERE IS EVIL!!!!

I shall not point fingers at any specific group of denizens because everyone is a victim of this big evil machine known as the BLOGOSPHERE and it is this BLOGOSPHERE that confuses us into perform acts of EVIL!!!! Why does elitism exist? Why are there flame wars? Why are there trolls? Hate is rampant! Mockery is rampant! People look down on others! Some believe that their milkshake taste in anime is better than yours! ZOMG INEQUALITY IN MY BLOGOSPHERE? YEAH! The BLOGOSPHERE is saturated and most denizens lack the awareness to note the evil that is spewing from it. Hence, there is a DIRE NEED to reflect on how the BLOGOSPHERE was born in order to comprehend the origins of this evil. Oh yeah… Did I say that THE BLOGOSPHERE IS EVIL? THE BLOGOSPHERE IS EVIL!!!!

Things used to be simple! All you need to do is to watch your weekly dose of Bleach or Naruto and your life is complete. This is what we were all like at a certain point of time. So pristine and innocent we were back then! In fact, it is not comprehendable how we could have evolved from our peaceful state of mind to the current chaotic blend of spite that has been caused by the congregation with the rest of our species! Let us go back to the idea of every individual isolated from the others, and still capable of pursuing the interest in watching animu. Both the birth of the blogosphere and the act of integrating into the blogosphere are two very baffling acts because there is no existing need for people to come together since they are pretty much satisfied by just watching animu. Appreciating animu is mainly about watching animu and I wonder who could possibly stand up and argue about it. So I dare you to challenge my belief that everyone of us is incapable of performing EVIL alone not only because there is no one to receive the consequences of your EVIL act but there is absolutely no way an anime fan who does nothing but watch anime could possibly compromise the happiness of another anime fan.

WHICH MEANS THAT: NO ONE’S TRUE NATURE IS EVIL BECAUSE THERE IS NO NEED FOR US TO PERFORM EVIL IN THE FIRST PLACE. It is like the irony of accusing an impotent man of r-r-grape!

BUT SOMEHOW! S**T HAPPENS! I DO NOT KNOW HOW WE WERE MADE TO SHIFT OUT OF OUR EQUILIBRIUM. Somehow, we stumbled across each other on the Internet. Back then, it was just a few fan-made shrines made to express love for certain anime shows. Fans who came across such websites shall the benefit of viewing them as they saw those websites as an extra source of happiness in their little life revolving around anime. This was the first step towards individuals to start depending on others for their wants but it was relatively harmless back then as the frequency of interaction was low as compared to the current EVIL BLOGOSPHERE! THE BLOGOSPHERE IS EVIL!!!!

BUT AS I HAVE SAID: S**T HAPPENS! AND A SERIES OF EVENTS TOOK PLACE, WHICH LED TO THE WEAVING OF THE COMPLEXITY OF THE BLOGOSPHERE AND THE SHAPING OF EVIL!!!

• So now that anime fans are aware of the existence of other fans out there in the Internet, there is no way they can ignore such a fact.
• People derive pleasure from sharing their happiness on online shrines and forums, they shall never return to their state of isolation.
• Anime fans see others as their own kind as they relate to certain similar characteristics, like the fact that they all love anime. lol
• Just like how the weak would imitate the strong, newly-hooked up anime fans mimic the incumbent online shrines by creating new shrines.
• Some dude had to start a blog and declare it an anime blog.
• PROFIT
• The birth of the first anime blog leads to the eventual birth of many more to come because of copycats.
• At this point, people were not satisfied with just watching their anime. THEY HAD TO BLOG ABOUT IT AND THEY WANT PEOPLE TO READ WHAT THEY HAVE POSTED. THEY WANTED TO BE NOTICED
• Concurrently, anime bloggers, in all their free time, begin to notice the differences in all fans: some have ‘better taste’, some have seen MORE anime than others, some can WATCH RAWS WHILE OTHERS HAVE RESORT TO FANSUBS LOL, and there are those who can write THOUGHT-PROVOKING posts!
• Because of these differences which used to be REDUNDANT in isolation, anime bloggers and other online denizens had a ‘worth’ in this big online community because comparison took place!
• Online denizens covet the qualities of those who have it and it forms a bond of dependence in which the worshippers derive a joy of relating to the qualities that they desire through the association with those who have them.
• SO PEOPLE WANT TO BE NOTICED AND AS A RESULT, THEY COVET QUALITIES THAT ARE DESIRED.
• WE ALL DESIRE TO HAVE OR APPEAR TO HAVE SUCH QUALITIES SO THAT OTHERS MAY GIVE US RECOGNITION.

THIS IS WHERE THINGS GET NASTY!

YES!

You, a member of the blogosphere, are guilty of having a thing known as SELF-ESTEEM! Self-esteem is what you create in you when you guage your own worth in the blogosphere, and the more qualities you have, the bigger your self-esteem is. Need me to rephrase that word? E-penis. Sounds familiar? lol.

WRATH AND REVENGE! OMG!

When someone hurts you, you inflict an equivalent degree of damage onto your assailant. When you have a really bloated self-esteem or e-penis, you overestimate the favour based on the evaluation of the volume of your worth. So as a result, your retaliation would be much harsher than necessary.

A simple man would have just exerted sufficient force to deter his assailant from attacking him any further but an arrogant man would deem the attack to be very insulting to his own existence, hence compelling the arrogant man to incapacitate his assailant and he would then proceed to punching and kicking the former assailant out of anger.

As long as something, which you have derived part of your self-esteem from, is under attack by others, it is hard for you to not develop an urge to fight back. For example, if you pride yourself as the expert of the Gundam franchise (I HAVE SEEN ALL THE GUNDAM SHOWS STARTING FROM THE FIRST!) and there are some whipper-snappers bashing Gundam 00 senselessly, you would see to it that the ‘heretics’ would feel the wrath of your reason-filled, intellectual, logical, justifiable retortment.

<spinzaku124> OMG. Gundam 00 sucks.

<G-Guardian> OMG. -Insert reason-filled, intellectual, logical, justifiable retortment-

<spinzaku124> Huh?

<G-Guardian> Such is the limit of your ability to comprehend things! I win!

<G-Guardian to himself/herself> I hope no one is able to rebuke me.

And sometimes…. Bile is created for no reason.

<HoGunHoGun> OMG. Kaiba is so DEEP. It is like so totally awesome!

<kjChuck> Hmmm…. I see your point but I have an irk in certain aspects o the show and they are….

<HoGunHoGun> OMG. I DO NOT LIKE YOU. F**K OFF! YOU PHAIL TO APPRECIATE GOOD ANIME!

<kjChuck> But…

<HoGunHoGun> -Insert angry insult-

WHICH MEANS THAT: People compare in the blogosphere. Everyone now has a ‘value’. An ‘attack’, intentional or not, causes excessive retaliation, also known as REVENGE based on the overrated ‘value’ of the ‘victim’. Revenge is evil. The BLOGOSPHERE IS EVIL!!!!

THE PURSUIT OF MOAR E-PENIS

What happened to the simple satisfaction in watching anime as a form of entertainment? That flew right out of the window with people chaining themselves to the fetters of the blogosphere. Simply watching anime is no longer enough, and WE ALL WANT MOAR!

One of the biggest desires that is generated from the blogosphere… wait… ALLOW ME TO SAY THAT THE BLOGOSPHERE IS EVIL!!!! Okay. One of the biggest desires that is generated from the blogosphere… wait…. lol… jokin…. is the need to be noticed as I have mentioned. Why is that so? Because to be noticed is to receive acknowledgement of your ‘worth’ in the blogosphere. You can imagine the pursuit of recognition deteriotes to simply attenton seeking. Anything is fine. Even a cat is fine. Also, there will are those, still considerably innocent or bear no ill-will in their actions, who are subjected to jealousy by those who feel inferior to the former.

WHICH MEANS THAT: DUE TO A MISGUIDED ATTEMPT TO SEEK RECOGNITION, YOU WOULD DO ANYTHING TO SEEK ATTENTION WHICH DOES NOT NECESSARILY EQUATE TO POSITIVE ACKNOWLEDGMENT. If there are those who succeed in where you have failed, you would feel jealous.

YOU ARE ROBBING MY FREEDOM TO WATCH NARUTO WITHOUT HAVING ANY FORM OF GUILT!

We humans are awesome because a special gift that is called free will has been bequeathed upon us all, and it is something that is instilled in us all. Simply to say, we have the ability to defy rationality and make autonomous choices that might not make sense. Okay. Fine. It means we do as we like.

Yet the shackles of the blogosphere forces us to perform acts that we do wish to do. Remember, we desire to be looked upon so would it be a good idea for someone to make a statement that his favourite anime is one which is being looked down upon as a cliched and unimpressive piece of work? Poor fella, there is no one who is able to make him shun his own preferences yet he is compelled to behave differently in the blogosphere.

WHICH MEANS THAT: Cutting straight to the point, everyone has the right to choice what they want but those who are too deep an investment in the blogosphere are unable to act freely because of fear of what others might think.

THE CONCLUSION: BLOGOSPHERE! YOU SUCK! YOU ARE EVIL!!!!!

So my friends! Free yourself of that veil that has been blinding you for too long! Pride is overrated! Qualities are overrated! The blogosphere is overrated! At its current state, it generates as much negativity as anything that can be considered pleasant! BREAK FREE! BREAK FREEEEE!!!!! UPON ENLIGHTENMENT, NOTHING MATTERS. BE LIKE ME! I AM LIBERATED BECAUSE I KNOW THE BLOGOSPHERE IS EVIL!!!!!

P.S. ID SOJOURNER: HAHA! MISAKICHII HAS TEH DIAMOND PASS FOR MAY’N'S CONCERT! HE IS GONNA GET ME AN AUTOGRAPH! I WIN!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! FEELING JEALOUS? YOU OUGHT TO! HAHA!

The Sojourner: I hope you are jokin. I hope I am right.