I started aniblogging roughly a year ago, my first post was April 29, 2008. So let me provide a rough sketch of events that make up a year’s worth of internet history.

Part 1 – Genesis

c. April 20, 2008: started stalking Animanachronism via his MAL, read Colonial Code Geas and Narnian Nerve Gas, this is the gateway blog/post/blogger, so I am indebted to all this (don’t forget about MAL!).

c. April 22, 2008: created blog on wordpress, it sits there for a while.

c. April 23, 2008: discovered anime otaku, begin archive binge, Mike will later turn out to be first of many good online friends.

April 29, 2008: wrote first post on Takemoto [original is lost in the aether].

May 1, 2008: Mike wrote a lunar new year post considering my first post, providing good publicity. I discover the names Baka-Raptor and lolikitsune.

c. May 5, 2008: started conversing with itsubun, she drags me into IRC. Humorously, when on IRC, a fellow called “saturnine” says “hi lelangir”, and as I recall, I ignored him a few times. I had not heard good things about this “saturnine” guy. He was an entity to be avoided.

May 19, 2008: in response to massive lolikitxowen dorama, the first overly-sexual comic-parody based on Kure-nai is made.

May 20, 2008: hilarious dorama at heterochromia, an equally lol-post is written in response, but, most importantly, my post is linked to THAT by Impz, creating big traffic for the day and more publicity.

c. May 25, 2008: the sphere collectively discussed microblogging, stemming perhaps from Bateszi’s creation of Afterimage (3/7/08). I start to use MAL blog and tumblr as primary retreats for microblogging, a starting point in theorizing about the internet.

June 4, 2008: wrote post in response to itsubun’s feminist round robin, I mean, all-girls-round-robin (AGRR), though this merely indicates itsubun’s influence of inter-blog collaboration and a basis for future thoughts on collaboration.

Part 2 – dasaku

June 29, 2008: moved to dasaku, you may remember:

c. July 15, 2008: deleted original wordpress archives, the formulation of nomadic blogging spree.

c. mid-July 2008: begin watching LoGH (life is forever changed).

July 25, 2008: final post on “lelangiric” iteration of dasaku hosting.

Part 3 – Wandering

July 26, 2008: first post at THAT.

July 27, 2008: guest post at Minimum Tempo.

July 28, 2008: first post at superfani.

August 1, 2008: first post at cal’intents.

August 3, 2008: first post at Yukan.

c. August, 2008: re-create “lelangiric” centralized archives, which are pre-50, post #50 being the first at THAT.

Part 4 – metatheory and google

November 11, 2008: create LoGH blog, first post there.

November 20, 2008: write first “on blogging” post, the start of many changes.

November 26, 2008: “optimize your reading” cross-posted, the glory of google reader shared items is discovered.

November 28, 2008: first post at fallen aizen.

c. late November: registered for twitter.

Part 5 – anitations, metatheory put into practice

December 8, 2008: first anitations post.

c. December 15, 2008: started to do collected notes on episodic posts at anitations as well as CCY’s 12 days of Christmas. The 2.0-ish role of collating is new.

c. Christmas 2008: round-robin-ish dialogue on Kannagi is churned out, teamwork effort is decidedly a failure.

c. January 2009: various dialogues with Crusader, lolikit, digiboy, etc., towards dialogue as a new style of content.

January 8, 2009: last post of the 5-part meta series, inarguably the most educational experience.

Part 6 – NAO

March 1, 2009: music blog instated.

March 17, 2009: ani-blog-music feed started.

March 29, 2009: podcast with calaggie.

c. April 2009: ０（笑）「２．７１」んのちんちんを食べました！オイシでした！

in perspective

- As of today, the secret-google-society has risen in ranks to at least 18 people.

- I haven’t written a decent post since April 7^th. Twitter is to blame.

- My main contributions to meaningful discourse are comprised mostly of spamming my poor google reader friends with K-ON MADs and/or commenting on other’s shared items with raucous and irate LOLOLOLOL or wwwwwwwwwwing. I rule.

- わーーーーーーーい！LELANGIR BANZAI. PROSIT。

So with convention season reaching a fevered pitch during the spring and summer I thought that it would be fun to introduce the finer points of one of my convention staples, the MRE. Now I know that the thing says COMMERCIAL RESALE IS ILLEGAL, but there is no actual law that I have seen and they sell the things at the Travis AFB commissary anyways so if one wanted to one could get these things, even the manufacturers sell them directly though you have to buy a whole case at a time. Still at about $7.25 (there is a Tailored Operational Training Meal that goes for about $4.22 that has less calories, though is not nearly as impact resistant) a pop it’s not nearly as bad as those hotdogs, hamburgers, and small bowls of chili that the hotel or convention center tries to sell you, I am sure usagijen is going to have a fit at what I am about to say, but there certainly are benefits to having a light weight lunch that is rated to be shoved off C-130s. Besides it tastes just as good if not better than the standard convention food, and at least when you make it is fairly hot and not mildly warm to cold. If you can get a hold of these and your venue won’t have reasonably priced food I’d recommend getting an MRE especially if your schedule is packed, less time spent eating means more time doing other stuff. Besides it’s a better option than eating fast food at every meal or getting that $1.50 1 oz. bag of chips. So yeah I had one that was getting a bit old and decided it would be fun to open it up just for fun.

They call it beef steak, I call it mystery meat…

Despite the jokes of MRE meaning Materials Resembling Edibles, Massive Rectal Expulsions, Meals Rejected by Everyone, etc. it’s sort of like canned food, though the meat patties are often tough there are superior menus like the pot roast, rice, and beef stew. Other than the main course which can really be hit or miss the rest of it is usually good. The cookies are dry but edible and it tastes like a cookie, the pound cake is better, and I personally thing the crackers are okay since they have a high fiber content so that it won’t clog your system, plus they usually give you cheese spread or jam to go with it. I don’t like the wheat snack bread all too much but it does fill in for the crackers. Otherwise the fruit tastes like canned fruit and you do get candy like Skittles and M&Ms. If you are lucky you get one of the prized milk shake powders which are pretty much a meal in and of themselves and are often the most palatable part., otherwise they are excellent trade items in the field. Just be sure to drink plenty of water since you will need it… They also come in vegetarian and have fewer problems than the chicken for the most part.

Yeah my kitchen was a mess that day…

When I first saw these things in high school I though that they were the coolest things since I expected canned spam. That flameless ration heater isn’t much nowadays but back in the late 1990s I thought they were something, the thing relies on the oxidation of magnesium which produces hydrogen gas which you don’t want to get a good whiff of. The water gets really hot and is undrinkable but it gets the job done. The tiny bottle of Tabasco sauce is standard and is a god send if you need to add flavor to something or if you just like spicy foods. Just keep in mind these things really pack the calories averaging about 1200 for a full MRE since soldiers burn more calories running jumping and shooting.. The thing also comes with waterproof matches that usually work when dampened so if you need to burn those loli doujins in a hurry you can do it fairly easily and even in the rain! Still the flameless ration heater really isn’t allowed to go on a plane nakkid so you will need a sealed MRE if you are planning on flying. Otherwise boiling is a good enough method of the heater fails or you lose it. You also need a small knife or some sort of cutting device because the pouched can be really tough and even then you don’t want to peel it at the notches. Better to cut laterally so it’s more accessible and easier to eat.  If nothing else you can laugh at what passes for food for poor bastards like me during the first few weeks of hitting the ground.

More like any beans…at least they got rid of those lima bean dishes.

Opening an MRE is like opening a present, you don’t know what’s in it and even when you open something with a weird name you might find that it is something you normally eat any way, such as the fruit pastry which is really a pop tart. If nothing else get some for the zombie invasion or a natural disaster kit.

Uncle Sam is not bound by advertising laws, because he bought them not you…

The modern hard tack.

These actually taste pretty good.

Though it’s not the healthiest thing in the world…

Yeah those are real tootsie rolls, Uncle Sam like to have fun with words.

Ah it feels like the public school lunch program all over again.

Just make sure not to eat these at before you rack out.

Unlike Akiko’s Jammu it won’t kil you.

If Impz thinks he can get all rabu rabu while the rest of us are single he’s got another thing coming… – Lord Kitchener

So once again it is Kimberley Liberation Day, the anniversary of the beginning of then Major General John French’s attempt to relieve the South African town of Kimberley that was the first in a series of British success that rekindled support for the last Imperial War and forced the Boers to resort to guerrilla tactics which were brutally dealt with by Lord Kitchener. So while the uncaring pairs of losers in love across the globe celebrate their so called love that will not last until death do they part I wish to spread the word on another holiday that ought to occur in concert with Adnan bin Saidi Memorial Day. While others deign to celebrate that lesser holiday known as Valentines or Singles Awareness Day, i hope you wall join me in marking this day in an altogether different and far more respectful manner. For on this day in the year 1900 over 100 years ago the British Empire had suffered a series of humiliating defeats at the hands of the Boers of Transvaal and the Orange Free State. Onto the stage came a polite tea drinking Englishman that led a cavalry attack that broke the 124 day siege of Kimberley that marked a dramatic turn in British fortunes in the Second Boer War. You see those lovey dovey otaku who are going out tonight have had their preconceptions colored by the heirs of a failed imperial power, known today as Akihabara who invented a cheap shoddy imitation empire known as the Britannian Empire that was full of fail and lose as they never drank enough tea. Back then when IKnight’s tea drinking ancestors were sipping tea in their colonies on every continent that mattered, the British did things that would make whiney emo commies (because we all know the people who bitch the most about empire are fucking communists) cry for years to come.

You see when war was war and there was no bullshit called chivalry or bushido malarkey to justify rape, those tea drinking English were ass kickers of the highest order who also hired other ass kickers like Sikhs and Gurkhas. This Second Boer War was the kind of war every peacenik forgets to study despite being a war with no real good guys and puts just about ever fiction writer who writes about war to shame. The cause of this war was really gold and diamonds, and no bullshit story has ever come up with a better awful casus belli than that. While the actions of John French and his men were important even more awful was the crap that followed. The Boers figured that they were better off using guerilla tactics, like those the pussies of the United States of Japan have yet to master, the British were at a loss of what to do until Lord Frederick Roberts devised a strategy of camps, blockhouses, scorched earth, and New Model tactics, which one Lord Herbert Kitchener brutally meted out to the Boers to crush them for good. You see unlike those fictitious Britannians the British understood that merely killing a Boer was not going to do it and by fencing off the land, burning down farms, salting the earth, at first rounding up the women and children, and later letting the women and children roam freely to weigh down the Boer commandoes was going to achieve far better results. It has been alleged that tea drinking Lord Kitchener LOLed at the Liberals who thought that keeping Boer women and children out of the camps was more merciful to leave them out there amongst the blackened ruins of their farms with no food at all. In fact it made perfect military sense as his sweeper groups were more able to run down Boer commandoes who had women and children in tow.

That is how Lord Kitchener became the public face of one of the most brutal and wildly successful anti-guerrilla campaigns ever waged, the combination of blockhouses, sweeper columns, cavalry raiders, scorched earth, and camps that killed not out of malice but out of apathy proved to be a winning formula for victory.  The Federation could learn much from an unprincipled tea drinker like Kitchener to deal with Kataron. While a paltry 1000 dead can now be considered genocide and a raid is now an invasion and occupation, back in ye old days the scale was much greater and those who go out and make toasts this night are toasting to the tune of over 53,000 dead for some gold and diamond mines. The insult does not end there the terms for the Boer surrender were far too friendly and led to Apartheid (because those Boers were racists how’s that for GRIMDARK) which lasted until 1994, the scorched earth policy that resulted in untold devastation of agricultural lands that were rendered useless and made mining the primary basis for the South African economy for the immediate aftermath. The British learned to wear khaki as their bright red coats were bullet magnets, this then led to a few Germans getting really ticked off in 1914 when they found that those tea drinking British were cheating.

Before their defeat at Kimberley the Boers could have snatched victory, but after Kimberley, even with a guerrilla campaign their defeat was inevitable as Lord Kitchener had no problems putting people into camps, burning down farms, and relentlessly harassing the Boer commandos until they accepted his terms. So couples of the world may you enjoy your meals over the anniversary of the Kimberley turning point of the Second Boer War and the beginnings of Apartheid, you sick human beings. Also Adnan bin Saidi is rolling in his grave for giving up his life so that these two can pollute the internets.

I am not a storyteller, or one that can weave an epic story of betrayal, love and tragedy. I will never be able to sell a single fiction book, even if I sold it for 5 cents. However, I will like to present a very simple story, one that fits the mood of Valentine’s/Friendship Day. This is just a very simple story about a boy and a girl.

There was a boy. He was remarkably ordinary, at least not good-looking, smart, friendly or even kind. In fact, he is often too blunt in his words, and often gained enemies without noticing. He did not really care though; he was happy just being in his self-contained sphere. He was also a very pragmatic person, yet his failure was his idealism in romance. He experienced quite a few fleeting relationships, never lasting more than a year. He enjoyed falling in love, because it made him feel on top of the world. Yet, he hated falling in love because he found his heart crushed by the very girl he wished to love. He did not trust love. He only trusted in himself.

One day, the boy decided to blog. It was a dilettantish interest to share his thoughts about things he liked. The truth was that the boy was a little lonely. Oh, he had friends, a few good close friends that he can regard as buddies. However, they never truly knew who he was. He was never able to be fully himself, or he always had to hide his true feelings behind a shell of denial. Everyone was the same way, he often thought, and he was one that did not enjoy wearing that mask.

When he first started blogging, he did not have many visitors to his site. However, one of the visitors was a girl that seemed to have so much in common with him. The girl sounded eloquent, and clearly has a good grasp of writing. As an writer, the boy was impressed with the girl. After a few exchanges, the boy emailed the girl, wanting to see if he could speak with her on another platform. The boy found himself slowly interested in this rather mysterious girl.

After spending time talking to this girl on the phone, he realized that he cannot fall in love with this girl. They are across two continents apart, and the boy is not a millionaire to travel over every few days. It seemed impossible, and he heard all the tales of “it’s just an online relationship.” He was not going to find himself in a position where he would feel helpless. He tried to convince himself but found himself attracted to the girl’s demeanor. He told himself that he could not go on with this.

But he did. He fell in love with the girl, and the girl fell in love with him too. After a crazy confession across two continents on the phone, the boy was with the girl. They eventually met in real life too, when the boy flew over to meet the girl. By then, he already knew that the girl he fell in love with was not the same girl that he knew a few months earlier. All humans hid the bad side of themselves when they first know a person. The girl did too. The boy once again fell in love with the girl. Together, they are still trying to find a way so that they can be together. The time is not yet here, but it will come if they keep persevering.

In love, it is not perfection that makes a relationship work. It is the beautiful flaws that are bridged by the human hand. The human touch is fragile yet powerful, and it is perhaps the only way that two people can be brought together. There is never such a thing such as a perfect couple, for that means these two are probably not in love with each other. Perhaps, I am wrong but humans are flawed. How can something that is built of flaws be perfect? For those who are attached, cherish the flaws of your partner for these flaws are created for a reason. For those who are single, your moment is soon to come: it’s only whether you want to take the first step or enjoy spending time with what is most important to all humans. Yourself.

I was chatting with Blurmage on IRC when he mentioned about getting a counterfeit nendoroid in the EOY convention held a few weeks ago. When he actually posted this news on SGCafe to get the views and warn others about this situation, I was appalled to see many comments ridiculing him about his stupidity. They were laughing, insulting and stating that it’s his fault for purchasing a fake figurine, while happily condoning the fact that A FAKE FIGURINE is actually sold in a prestigious convention such as EOY. Let me add that I do not think Blurmage is devoid of all blame. As a buyer, he could have been more informed about the situation, and as many have said in the thread, take this as a painful lesson to know that there are counterfeit stuff.

However, we see comments such as this on a popular Singaporean forum, SGcafe. Sometimes, I feel embarrassed that I am a Singaporean when we have forum users writing in such juvenile language.

They do sadly , I mean , I dun blame PITB , their service is flawless , and not only tat , most SG peeps are cheapskates who just want all the good stuff , even if they are fakes XD Majority of PSP users (Inclusive of myself) Don’t even have a UMD XD

Let me give a scenario. McDonalds accidentally sold some pork on the menu when it is supposed to be Halal. Obviously, McDonalds did not know about this, but it still happened. Muslims are offended because they ate the meat unknowingly and only realized when they consumed the food. Can a plea of ignorance clear McDonalds from any wrong doing? NO WAY. In fact, criminal law usually considers a plea of ignorance to be a rare case because it usually discredits the whole notion of responsibility of a seller. If you would say anything disagreeing about this point of view, I would love to see if it makes sense. I am probably lacking in the ability to understand the logic that goes against the above scenario. I do not deny that the example is not exactly the scenario that Blurmage, but the allegations seemed to hint that the distributor’s ignorance clears them of all sin.

I feel almost insulted and embarrassed to share the Internet with people of retarded behavior and trolling abilities that fail very badly. If you want to troll, please do it in an intelligent manner so that it feels like you actually have a brain. Anyway, before you can say anything, good work Anonymous. You have done a good job.

P.s: Blurmage, you should really just talk to the distributor, ask for a possible refund, and close the issue. Ignore the retards in the thread please.

Yes, believe it or not, THAT trap has left stage 25 of his life to stage 26. Heck, I can’t believe it either. He still acts the evil brat towards me. And yes, Impz is evil, pure evil! May lightning strike me dead if I’m lying about his malevolence.

Ha! I’m still typing!

Anyway, I’ve come to realize that I’ve done a public service to (wo)mankind by sticking with THAT trappy blogger as his girlfriend. Well, I actually think I’ve done a saintly deed by keeping him away and making sure he does not do evil things to all of you. And because of my saintly self, it is my duty to greet and celebrate the Impz’s birthday, even if he is evil incarnate.

I’ll continue this little greeting by posting something quite special tomorrow. It will kill me. It will stun you, but it will make Impz very happy. (lulz, lulz, lulz!)

P.S. To the author whose entry is supposed to be posted at this time, I apologize if I messed up the timing. I’m still new at this… and come on, you have to forgive me! This is an annual-only chance to greet/annoy/embarass Impz on his birthday!

I looked at my watch and eagerly awaited for the time my train was supposed to arrive. After leaving from my part-time job as well as listing files in front of my computer for seven hours, I was thinking only about the magazine in my hands and the Boom Boom Satellites CD I was listening to. As the sunset was glaring, I adjusted my sunglasses and stood in line as I got ready to board the incoming train. As was usual, the train was devoid from seated places, since it’s full with people getting back to their homes, so I sit on the ground, on the opposite side of the train door.

Then she entered…

I didn’t pay much attention at first: she was just another person in the daily throng. She sat next to me, however, leaned into the back of the side seats and placed her shopping bag between her legs. As man is naturally curious, I looked sideways to check my transient neighbor, and I didn’t forget what I saw. That moment was one of those times when one just froze at awe towards the beauty of the spectacle. It was what happened to me at that exact time. She was wearing a jean shorts and a striped polo, which combined with her dark brown short hair gave her a tomboyish look. I coudn’t help noticing her slight tanned skin and the perky butt emphasized by her shorts. The bust was the size of apples and the eyes filled with energy. In conclusion, the kind of girl you meet so rarely in your lifetime.

A intent of speaking with her grew with me but I’m not the kind of guy bold enough to do these sort of things, so I was only able to watch from behind my sunglasses during the 40 minutes the trip took. While stuck on that impasse, I couldn’t help to compare my situation with Densha Otoko, or with the zillion romance mangas I know. Afterall, in spite of being works of fiction, mangas have their bases on real life, trying to depict it in a different perspective. But nevertheless, life tends to not have convenient triggers or “sparks” to move the action forward: we get restrained by the social laws of society and common sense, limiting our actions and expression.

Meanwhile, the trip ended. I even thought of slipping my phone number into her shopping bag but how she would react to the fact that a total stranger had made something like that? But even if I dared to think of something like that, I could no more because my chance was lost. I her leaving the train without looking back, another anonymous human being that fades away in the crowd. Each time I take the same train I think about her and wonder if I’ll see her again and if I could have made something different…

Thanks to mike for the help he gave me while writing this post.

Two what? Obviously, it is now two years since the establishment of T.H.A.T. Two years ago, four random friends on the Internet decided to set up an anime blog. None of us probably expected this tiny little anime blog to go anywhere, since the Internet is notorious for kicking newbies in the gut, solar plexis and the ass to gain any fame/infamy. With a blink of an eye, two years have past. With that in mind, Calawain asked me to write an anniversary post, despite my reluctance to write a boring post.

Impz: hahaha. i am thinking how to write it well
Calawain15: uh thank all the writers and commenters over the two years
Calawain15: and the other bloggers in the community
Calawain15: you’re glad to be a part of such a great team of people, blah blah
Calawain15: hope we can continue for another year blah blah
Impz: that sounds so boring.
Calawain15: …..
Calawain15: it’s just an anniversary post

 
However, I decided to get rid of my prejudices for such a post. It’s important to thank the various important people and make a semi-serious evaluation of THAT bloggers. If you are wondering, none of them know that they are going to be evaluated, so they are likely to express as much surprise as you, the reader who is reading this.

Without my co-bloggers, THAT will never be THAT. It will be about green haired lolis and Tsuruya, which is not bad but not exactly great. It’s time to bring the crystal ball of reminiscence and embarrassment. Let me bring you back into the history, where we first started as clueless bloggers of THAT. Alkanphel, Joo and Mr Admin were the initial anime bloggers in this humble blog, and it soon became a behemoth of a team. I think I will make a separate entry on remarkable commentators, since it is probably way too much to include them in this post. The three new bloggers and Maipeisu are not included, so thank your lucky stars for escaping my evaluation!

The past and present bloggers of THAT

Alkanphel was the random poster, putting up a picture and less than a paragraph of words. In his own words, he said that it’s hard to write anything because he is so darn lazy. That reminds me that I got to stay back this Tuesday at work, so that I can meet him up in lunch at my university. If you checked his first post in THAT, you know exactly what I mean.

Jooo writes on J-drama, and she simply got bored of writing in THAT, and returned to her personal blog. Now, unless I am mistaken, she hardly watches any anime anymore since the J and K-drama bug has bitten her completely into a convert. As expected, Joo’s first entry is about Goong, a very popular K-drama series two years ago.

Mr. Admin, well, I don’t know but he is probably having a hell of a time with his girlfriend still. He was in charge of the administrative matters, setting up this blog and ya, admin stuff. Oh, I fail to meet him the two times I am in California too. His first post is coincidentally on the site launch of THAT, which represents our humble start.

Lupus, oh Lupus, how do I start? Before you think I forgot about Luppie-chan, he is the first blogger that came in after abandoning his own blog. He is probably the first blogger that came in and is still in here. Yes, being here but not writing that much is still being in here. I am just so lenient. His first entry, by the way, is on Full Metal Alchemist Chapter 61 way back in 2006. God, he does blog manga stuff huh.

Crusader, the gun-tottering hater of emo-fags and Gundams, entered through our first THAT recruitment drive for bloggers. He came in writing a whole thesis paper about army stuff. I never admitted to him, but I didn’t understand like 80% of what he is saying. That said, I probably still don’t know 60% of all his fricking references in his entries. Nonetheless, you guys love this extremely verbose and sharp writer, and he has become one of the mainstays of THAT. Funnily enough, his first entry is on Hayate no Gotoku and lacks anger (huge shock?).

Shokkeru came in alongside Crusader during the THAT recruitment drive for bloggers. I actually thought that he stopped writing for a while since he got busy, but hey he is now blogging more stuff than me. He’s generally the nicest person here in THAT, though it is quite easy to be a nice person when you have emo-hating Crusader and critical perfectionist Calawain in THAT. You do not need to try that hard. Here’s his first entry in THAT, on TTGL of all things.

Calawain appeared in THAT, and I must admit that I do not really remember how he entered the blog. Once he did, I knew he is going to be a gem of a writer. He probably wanted to kill me more than three times during his time here, and he took up the major task of making our season preview look good. He hates shoujo too, and I hate whatever he likes in general. Oh, I can be particularly lazy with scripting at times and he is an excellent perfectionist, so it is always good to have someone complementing me. Anyway, he started off writing about Night Wizard which is queer since he’s an ecchi-loving fan.

Briar is our token bishoujo who officially sold her soul and body to real life work. I have not talked to her for a long time, but she is always funny to talk to. For your information, never call her auntie. I do that all the time, and I am on the verge of being ignored by her, if I am not already. Anyway, it’s little surprise that her first post is on Kaze no Stigma, with cute men for cute romance and love.

Extrange is the second blogger that abandoned his blog for greener pastures (yes, pun completely intended). He is supposedly the resident lolicon, though Shokkeru is the unofficial tsundere lolicon that refuses to admit that he is one. I mean, it’s so damn obvious. Anyway, he likes manga and forces manga down my throat whenever I am on YIM. Nonetheless, I got to read many manga because of him. Oh, he reads hentai too and asks me to read it. NO, HE WILL DENY IT LATER, BUT TRUST ME HE DOES READ PORN! Anyway, being a lolicon, he wrote his first entry on moe.

Reverse Vampire is our resident loli, who decided to apply to our blog to improve her writing and share her hatred of Kaname. She is perhaps one of the most free-willed spirits in the blog, and it’s really hard to capture her attention. Maybe, it’s the generation gap but I tend to have problems following her thought process. Nonetheless, she is still developing as a writer, and it’s fun to have her here. Her first entry is an intense entry of hate for Vampire Knight’s Kaname.

Igunis disappeared after writing 16 posts. It’s a pity, because he is a really nice guy that just had a severe case of writing block cum burnout. I think he is definitely watching anime still, but it’s a pity that he disappeared before he can establish himself here in THAT. His first entry is him being a bum and watching anime. Life is good.

Riex is another blogger that left the team, and still assists us in maintaining the template and bugs of the website once in a while. He confessed that it is always hard to maintain that individuality in a team blog, and having his own blog often allows him to be extravagant and write what he really wants. I do wish him well, since he always has many interesting ideas up his sleeve. It’s a pity, but a man got to do what a man got to do. As queer and interesting a person he is, his first post epitomizes Riex completely.

That is it. Thank you for reading this whole wall of text and I thank you for visiting THAT for the last two years. It’s always a shock how this blog grew, but it grew because of you. Thank you.

It’s not about the end but rather how you got there.

So after finishing a rather grueling lab I decided to rent some movies about 3-D folk and wound up watching something that I had been meaning for some time to see but with that rolling release it never came to my end of the earth. So Journey from the Fall is a historical drama that was based on the experience of those who survived the camps and the perilous journey in leaky boats. It was quite different from the typical Vietnam film as it deals much more about the consequences of the North Vietnamese victory in 1975 and lacks the glory, action, and moonshine of jungle warfare that marks most films that deal with the Vietnam War. It does something I wish all films with an anti-war theme would do, namely show the consequences of war rather than the heroics of war. Perhaps one day the complete story of the Vietnam War will be told and reflected upon by less impassioned minds, but nonetheless it is part of the minority of films that dealt with what happened to the Vietnamese Diaspora who count themselves among the lesser known victims of the war.

Just because you go for realism doesn’t mean you can’t be snide…

These two figured out the best use for a communist.

It’s a real tear jerky film but the events remain somewhat universal to most of the people who fled Vietnam in the years after the communist victory and those who languished in camps. I like that it doesn’t try to debate the morality of the war because just about every one lost, with exception to the politburo. The film covers the fall, the camps, the journey, and the not so smooth assimilation to the new home. I can’t find the words to describe the film other than that it was good. I hope more people would take the time to see it now that it has been released on DVD. If your family did recently immigrate to a new land then I think that you can relate to most of the assimilation arc. I know I chuckled a bit inside when some of the scenes reminded me about how my parents struggled to make ends meet.

The leaky boat.

Sad thing is not all of them made it.

Even if it deals specifically about the refuges and prisoners of the Vietnam War, it is also a reminder that even at the end of a war there is usually the issue of displaced persons and refugees. Often the ensuing refugee crises in the wake of conflict hardly illicit the sort of international response than the mobilization for and the opposition to war, and seldom become topics of discussion. It might be a presage of things to come when a state fails, or harsh regimes gain hegemony. I hope that in the future that even if people are vocal about their opposition to war that they retain such drive to solve the problems that come after. It is rather sad that in the case of Vietnam the willingness to oppose the war did not translate into corresponding motivation to cope with the ensuing refugee crisis. Regardless of politics I hope the enthusiasm to complain about a mess will some day equal efforts to deal with the aftermath.

If nothing else you should see this film because it was banned in the People’s Republic of Vietnam.

Why yes I would gladly pay 300 yen for some badly fried soba and all the water I can drink.

Well now the circle is now complete and I got my 1/8 Max Factory Mikuru in School Festival outfit. Given how times are kind of tough right now I guess this will be the last thing I’ll be getting for a while. Thus far given the weak dollar this is about the most I have ever spent on a figure to date. So I have been wondering since the dollar is weak any of you boys and girls still shopping like crazy importing stuff? This also another plea to the cult leader to give us secrets so we might be able to buy more; alas Moyism is remaining tight lipped about the secret to avoiding financial ruin. Now that I have one figure for every character in SHnY I feel some what triumphant, but for some reason I feel content to the point that there is nothing right now that tickles my fancy. Not sure if this is a sign that I have lost the passion, but unless one of the big PVC companies is putting out a Sheryl, Ranka, Klein, and Alto-hime figures I can’t think of anything coming out or has been released that I just had to have. (Yeah I suck at photography get over it.)

She may trip and drop it all…so any one want to take the hit?

Looks Megas good ~nyoro

So I am not sure if I have become wiser or that the passion has just faded. I am glad Mikuru arrived, but some how the gut wrenching price of 20 more USD than usual removed some of the joy. I am fortunate that I have enough discipline to not have bought a bunch of other stuff, but I still wonder how those hardcore otaku do it. Is there some sort of secret that I am not privy to? I know most of us are still poor starving college students or high schoolers still living with mummy and daddy, but even with my comfy pay check from Uncle Sam the weak dollar is making me weep. It kind of makes me worried about the future since the economic climate here just looks bleaker and bleaker given how the grand plan to get a house with my younger brother after college was scuttled when the housing bubble burst. Hopefully things will be better in a year or so, I’d much rather have a house of my own than have to move back in with my folks. Nothing wrong with having to move back in with your family given how the times are hard, but for me I want my own house some day instead of renting an apartment, mostly because I see it as a waste of money that delays a purchase of a home of my own. At least with the house I can make it a fortress of doom complete with death rays, nuclear missiles, and private hanger for a VF-25S with armor pack without having some irritable landlady chew my face off for knocking down a few walls.

My meager collection.

Quite why I my figures arrive the day I finish a project is still something that baffles me.

I really hate how when I graduated from high school the economy had tanked and once again it has tanked when I am about the get the hell out of college. Thankfully once I get out I still have my enlistment to provide some income and not be a total freeter when I move back home. If nothing else I might take a solicitation to the sand box if only to not see my parents in my utter disgrace over having everything not go as planned. I just hope there is some sort of bonus for re-enlisting when that time comes. Well for all the thunder clouds on the horizon maybe God does have a plan, once again a figure arrived at the same time I finished a painting project, that or this is one hell of a consistent coincidence. In any case my first two squads of Imperial Guard have been dubbed Fried Soba and Water in honor of having Mikuru completing the circle. Tsuruya’s fang I love that waitress outfit.

Fried Soba Squad.

Water Squad.

Some Larger Pictures:

It’s always good to have a chance to laugh at your dumb girlfriend when you wake up in the morning. Here is the tale as re-accounted by my girlfriend on a private chat online. For some reason, she is speaking in the third person. A warning ahead of time: whatever sweet compliments she has subtly (well, not that subtle) implanted about her are hopelessly false and forced.

Here’s her tale of epic proportions, her journey into a world unseen, untouched and unheard in her life.

Thirteensugars’ little adventure into the wild

One fine late afternoon, when 13sugars was about to go home after work, she decided to go to Borders Book Store and there she was, happily walking, thinking about the manga which she will use to pop her manga-reading cherry. 13sugars entered the book store, all smiles and rainbows in her aura. She walked and started looking for her beloved Vampire Hunter D manga by Hideyuki Kikuchi-san. And suddenly, she came to an abrupt halt, there it was, standing in the shelf in all it’s beautiful, steamy, hot and sexy glory; her first manga!

She reached for it with shaky hands, weakened knees and dry mouth; the first volume… with the sexy damphir on the cover. She gazed at it lovingly with adoring eyes. She gently touched the cover, her fingers light and silky. Then she sighed, and it sounded like the sweetest hum of an anime fangirl. She turned around to get the second volume, but to her shock, horror and dismay, there was none! She quickly scanned the shelves as thoroughly as she could have, but the second volume of VHD was not there.

She immediately ran to the counter and asked for help. The guy scanned their stock and told her a sad report, “We don’t have that volume here, but if you like, we can order it for you. We’re supposed to have a stock of it by now, but….” Perhaps it was the shock, perhaps it was the sorrow, but the sweet girl suddenly answered, “Well, I’m looking for it but it’s not really for me…” The guy at the counter smiled and said teasingly, “Yeah right, it’s for you.” But, the girl, so intent upon her lie, insisted that it was not for her, and left the bookstore without even getting the damned first volume.

Sadly, she then realized that she had failed. She failed as an anime fan for lying and denying that the VHD manga was for her. Her only excuse was that, at that moment, she felt like she was buying pornography, something she ought not to be buying at all.

The poor girl…. so poor thing.

Afterthoughts by Impz

Have you ever felt like that? I know that I was very embarrassed when I first bought my manga or anime. Well, it’s not in the same degree as Thirteensugars. Are you ever embarrassed about purchasing anime merchandise or resisted against it in common public areas? Tell us your tale, and vote in the poll!

P/s: In the end, I have to purchase the manga online for her, so that she can read her manga. What a silly girlfriend.

Neither will this post.

Well this post is incredibly late and was originally prompted by usagijen’s confessions of her undying love of being a less than perfect blogger, and omo’s post about how we all fit in as a community. To be honest I have realized long ago the depths of my own insanity and the intricacies of how my profession basically permeates my own existence. Few indeed are those who are defined mostly by their jobs, but as a lowly grunt in service of a reviled military machine my ass belongs to Uncle Sam 24/7/365. Thus while nominally an American citizen I have elected to shoot my rights in the face and sacrificed them all for the sake of playing with big guns and haul around equipment worth more than most people’s monthly salaries. Suffice to say my own freedom of expression has been voluntarily curtailed and if I avoid touching on certain things regarding my profession it is not because of ignorance, but any one who has half a brain and is aware of the NSA should realize that they might are monitoring everything and to be honest even a gun wielding manic like me is wary of the boys and girls in the black box.

I think that as soldiers and sailors go I am decidedly strange on the one hand I grew up in San Francisco, right next door to the People’s Republic of Berkeley , but have some how ended up in what is allegedly a bulwark of conservatism and Republicanism. To start off the US Military has supporters of both parties of professional liars politicians, it’s just that one party will cling to uniformed soldiers like lampreys and the other is generally embarrassed to be seen with them and treat them little better than lepers. Moreover in line with the apolitical character of my employer it is almost a state within a state of sorts only that there is no Hans von Seekct-class General to make bombastic statements like “Reichswehr do not fire of Reichswehr” nor do we support a bunch of freikorps rowdies. We are for the most part the gauntleted fist of the Republic and our opinions are often, but not to our surprise, ignored.

Remember folks, Rumsfeld was one of you and General Shinseki was one of us and we all know who ended up having to leave first. Times like these make me wish some of the top brass were capable of channeling Patton or even that prima donna MacArthur. I do feel slighted every time some Japanese writer, who is safe and sound in a first world country who will never know hardship of any import, feels the need to preach about my profession and my country. I know it’s not perfect, but what is perfect in this world other than Haruhi-sama? Being a defender of the Republic I am also quite aware of how fractious and varied are the people I am asked to defend and dig latrines for given how many personalities of the American persuasion there are in the blogosphere. It lends a sense of worth to what I am called upon to do, even when some of them have the gall to question how I help provide the blanket of security and bomb free bed that he/she enjoys. You know who you are.

I am part of the very serious and decidedly dangerous enterprise of waging war and unlike Impz my country is actively engaged in war, hence my own sense of mortality is much more acute than that of the average person of 20-30 years age. I will probably never see anime as through the serious business lens, barring intellectual accidents. Anime for me will probably remain mostly entertainment and since I lack the skill to and envy those with the ability for more in depth editorials. Most of my higher brain functions have been subordinated to serve the needs of war through efficiency and violent execution. At times I wish that I could be intelligent and learned like jpmeyer, IKnight, and Jeff Lawson, but if God wanted me to be a sensitive scholar, God would have seen to it that hero worship of Prussia never came into play or that I would have been born to parents that lived in Canada or Sweden.

In a sense my perception of reality and anime to is from a lens of controlled confusion and the immersion into my profession. I think I do have an axe to grind against those who I see as elitist since recent events have shown that lecturing people about niceties like morality and merely protesting about something is insufficient to effect change. More over so called rebels who fight against “systems” are in my opinion idiots and hypocrites who have decided to rail against the very thing that allowed for their privileged status in the first place. I don’t meet many intellectuals or students of the liberal arts who remember ever being poor or in my case having their right to free speech curtailed and restricted. I also think that by virtue of my subordination to Uncle Sam that I am more aware of the savagery of man than most of my college educated compatriots, hence the idealism found in most young people is distinctly lacking in my case. My choice of a science degree rather one in the liberal arts has also kept me concerned with practical results and the limitations of theory.

My very existence is hostile to rebellious brats and self serving revolutionaries even those in anime. Moreover it seems to me that the limit of most college rebels’ commitment to their cause is simply to ramble, protest, and nothing more. Even when they dare to take up arms they are under some mistaken impression that their war is going to be pleasant, I remain willing and eager for the chance to run them through with a rusty bayonet for their insolence. The fundamental problem that I see in the educated elite is that while their intelligent, they remain ignorant of practical necessity, that the “system” must change for them rather than for them to change it, and ultimately that they are too good for public service. That is not to say every person who gets a degree thinks that they are too good, but recent events have demonstrated to me at least that the best and the brightest do not all go into government and to a lesser extent the military. I am aware that the political rules are fraught, convoluted, and easily broken, but nonetheless you will have to play the game that has been played since the dawn of your reigning government. There is a reason why some people are elected while others are not, even the much reviled Neo-Conservative Paul Wolfowitz was able to get into a position of influence because he was able to play the game, and while many in the more liberal circles hate him with a passion there is no denying that the man is intelligent, he did graduate at a time when a degree was worth more and he graduated from Cornell no less.

I also have suspicions regarding reporters and journalists because true objectivity is in my opinion only possible when a person doesn’t really care about the issue. Also since journalistic integrity seems to be more of a fantasy than a possibility I regard reporters as little better than spies who print every rumor they hear as fact. I remain wary of Impz’s aspirations of attaining journalistic standards. I am paranoid and believe that there is no man in the world that has no agenda. “Fair and Balanced” is to me little more than a punch line of pretentious assholes, hence I will readily admit and confess that I am neither fair nor balanced. If I ever get to be a drill instructor I will probably have to be fair, but never balanced. Even when I read the BBC I mostly take notes of likely trouble spots that might end up on my itinerary. I never had a weeaboo stage either as having Chinese parents made me realize really quick that the East did not have all the answers.

Most anime fans these days go to college, have graduated from one, or plan on going to one, thus I don’t think many of you have had to meet, for more than a month, with rural folks or people from varying socio-economic backgrounds given that college is but a pipe dream for most people out side of the middle classes. With my near constant exposure to folksy people I admit that they are admirable in some respects and quite strange in others, nonetheless even with politics being as repulsive as they are I don’t consider them to be un-educated or bitter folks who wield guns. Hence girls like Kou-chan get a pass for being utterly ignorant of urban life because I have seen the effects of such culture shock at times. I grew up under the watch of Chinese parents, aunts, uncles, grand parents, and great grand parents, so I am probably in the minority here in that I remember the crush of being poor and the delightful change of economic conditions once my mother, father, aunts, and uncles learned trade skills. Having a near constant parental presence of elders and then having to wean myself of all outside support in my college years along with a military profession have made me contemptuous of males who rely on others for simple tasks. Hence if you need you imouto to wake you up every morning consider yourself a likely target for stray bullets of the NATO 5.56, and NATO 7.62 variety.

I think I fail as a blogger because I am unable and unwilling to divorce myself from my profession and its ethos. I come from the Clausewitz and Sherman schools of warfare and lack the eloquence and the all encompassing education of a liberal arts major. I am a technical, unsettlingly ruthless, and pragmatic kind of person for whom politeness and civility require more effort, and understandably is something I really fail at. I draw upon a soldaten vocabulary that is lost on most people and make no effort to provide a translation. I am cynical as most of my food, pay, and equipment that my country provides are poor, late, or inadequate. I dislike emo-characters who have a tendency to bitch about what I would call small matters. I have never suffered from depression. The loss of purpose, or the will to endure have never been part of my life experience. I felt that from a young age that I was called upon to serve as a soldier, if reincarnation is real then most of my past lives in accordance with the Air theory of discontinuous reincarnation were spent as soldiers in the Imperial Prussian Army along with one or two fangirls who died early in life.

In this regard I am in anime terms essentially a Zentran who has a habitual weakness for shoujo, yuri, and anything with a hint of shoujo shipping. If the blogosphere is as Omo puts at a Neo Venezia then I am pretty confident that I am some poorly paid colonial trooper who is rarely seen, rarely heard, often ignored, but nonetheless has a necessary if somewhat disquieting task whose only semblance of normality is to take a ride in a gondola to get to his post and back home. My handle of Crusader was no accident and to be honest the label that Johnny Arab has applied to me is quite fitting, my aspiration in life is to achieve something great, possibly terrible but nonetheless great. The current situation of where I am asked to wage a rather religiously charged war is not one I really wanted and I do wonder what might of been had the 1990s worked out better. Humanitarian aid and peacekeeping should have been the order of the day after the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, alas it was all an illusion. It should have been a new and better age for man, but it was to be undone not by military failings but by civilian apathy and political haggling. I just hope that in the future I will be called upon to conduct a more pleasant and benevolent crusade (against poverty or something) rather than the kind I am called upon right now. I do what I do because I believe that some how that it will in the end have been for the best, desire does not enter into it.

I am in partial agreement with usagijen’s blogging doctrine of it being an extension of your soul. As I said before I am somewhat convinced that in one or more past lives I was a fangirl who got assimilated into the souls of Prussian Soldiers because God wanted me to have some way to mellow out. I blog mostly because of that inner fangirl as there is no other way for her to express herself on the field of combat. I am also blogging to promote my favorite ships and to embrace my own insanity. Truth is in the case of my real life serious business of war you have to be a little insane since the contradictions and turn of events can often be fantastic. I know that by virtue of being part of the American military machine that my presence is not always, if ever, welcome, but to quote Sherman on the more recent point of contention, “You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war to our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out. I know I had no hand in starting this war, and I know I will make more sacrifices in the coming days and years than most of you to secure peace. But you cannot have peace and a division of that country. If they submit to a division now, it will not stop, but will go on until they reap the fate of eternal war. I want peace, and believe it can only be reached through union and war, and I will ever conduct war with a view to perfect a more early success.” (A Carthaginian peace is still peace.)

My girlfriend recently tasked me to find a few ancient anime that is made in the late 1990s. For those who do not know, I only started viewing anime somewhat diligently when this blog is set up (2 years ago for your information). So, I need some old school anime viewers for help.

She is interested in finding any format (VHS/VCD/DVD) of Kaiketsu Zorro and Fortune Quest the TV series. Fortune Quest’s first five episodes are licensed by Media Blaster, but the remaining 21 episodes are not dubbed at all. If you have any clue on where to purchase them or have them in a format that is purchasable, please leave a comment. I have already tried a lot of major online anime sites and have found no traces of the series.

So, if you can help the poor Impz to please a mean and demanding girlfriend, please do. I will be eternally grateful for allowing me to pamper her a little.

This day I shall forever burn into my mind. I wish you were there RIUVA…but I guess that Island Paradise was worth it, yes?

So it was a glorious day for me on June 14, 2008 the day I shook hands with the God of Metal Gear, Lord Hideo Kojima. The minders would not let us tarry for pictures so I got some pretty crappy ones, hopefully the rest of my comrades got better ones. Nevertheless I got what was most important, my very own signed copy of MGS4. In addition the first layer of air on my freshly opened copy included air from the same room as Lord Kojima. I can now die a happy man. I was most fortunate to be a San Francisco native and even more fortunate that Lord Kojima would agree to visit so small a place instead of just stopping at New York City, and Los Angles.

Meryl and Snake (Larger Version)

The rest of their group.

Earlier in the day… (This was my start point by the way)

I got up later than I wanted so I rushed out as soon as I could, I was disheartened at first when my buddies were late as well. So I ended up as the first one on scene at 1130. They got there around 1200, thankfully there weren’t that many people at the time behind me so the guy behind me didn’t mind. Around 1400 they announced that we were not going to be guaranteed to get a signature, no one got out of line though since in my area there were roughly 200 people in front of us. Strangely enough I saw more DS units being used that PSPs. The guy in front of me wanted to get his copy of SSBB signed too, I wonder how well that went over with the Sony crew… Another guy wanted to get an issue of Playboy signed, if he did get it I am sure the tale will soon be circulating. I am glad we persevered and by 1700 we got our entry wrist bands for the signing. The cut off came about 45 minutes later.

The Hero behind me. That is hard core man fucking HARD CORE…(Larger Version)

The only picture I got with Lord Kojima looking up, stupid handlers…nothing against Mr. Imaizumi. (Larger Version)

Thanks for looking up Mr. Imaizumi!

The scuttle butt (rumor) was that the cosplayers that they found were granted an audience with Lord Kojima, but I am not sure. They did however get out of line rather early, so I assume that they got something for their excellent cosplay. The 1UP/EGM guys were there two interviewing some people, mostly cosplayers and the man behind us. The guy behind us was a long time and hard core fan of Lord Kojima who came all the way from Phoenix, Arizona. He is a hero amongst the gaming faithful. Not only did he get a copy signed he got his manual for Snatcher signed too, in addition Lord Kojima responded to the question of a Snatcher sequel with a shrug and a “maybe.”

Damn you friend of the guy with the box! As you can tell they shoved us out as soon as we got our stuff signed. Damn you Sony employee DAMN YOU!!!!!!!!! Not that Ms. Kikuchi’s profile was in any way bad, but still…

Guy Hero who was behind, me you sir are a lucky lucky man. (Larger Version)

Today’s Loot, yeah I know I got the SHnY CDs rather late but I don’t give two shits, for I have a signed copy of MGS4. Thank God that the 13th was pay day.

I am glad they decided to speed things up by having a bunch of MGS4 sleeves on hand for Lord Kojima, Mr. Kenichiro Imaizuri, and Ms. Yumi Kikuchi to sign in order to speed things up, since it allowed even more people to get an autograph and walk away happy. It would have been better if a speech was also in the cards but as the last stop before they went back to Japan, it was understandable that they were a bit exhausted after all their other stops. I got sun burn, but it was worth it. Next time though I will bring sunscreen and some food before camping out during the day. After the event we went off to Japantown to get some ramen. Now off to play!

I am so fucking happy I could cry… (Larger Version)

Considering the silent usurping by my other bloggers in my absence for 3 weeks, it feels THAT is still alive and kicking (49 comments on Macross: are you guys smoking weed on Sheryl and Ranka?). On the other hand of being alive and kicking, I have realized that I totally lost confidence in my ability to write academically for the past year. Well, some good news happened, including the confirmed publication for one of my papers in a SCSI-indexed academic journal, and the renewed enthusiasm that I have lost for academic writing and research.

Perhaps, it is my weak determination or the continued knowledge and remainders that I am not good enough. Whatever it is, biting my own pride is never an easy thing to do. That is why I am pretty sure that it is the exact reason why Zero is constantly in an emo state: he just cannot do anything to help himself other than wanting to bite. Sadomaschobiting, the act of biting to inflict emotional pain, is strangely not erotic in this case. Hickeys, anyone?

You can tell that I am still in a jet lag state of stupidity (28 hours of flight never helped). If there are three things that can make a normal, rational man turn into a total pack of goo, they must be jet lag, love and revenge. Hence, it is apparent that the above image of Zero must be due to one of the factors, or a combination of love and revenge. I wonder why.

I need some time to get back into the groove, so bear with me. No backlog entries on Vampire Knight or Toshokan Sensou because I am just so god damn lazy. Nonetheless, I will blog on Episode 9 when it appears to our online shores. Look forward to it, with increased amounts of insanity. Cheers and it feels good to be back. Oh, we are also back in 9rules too, as noted by Kabitzin.