tl;dr: SOPA and PROTECT IP is bad and Shocker was behind SOPA. Now let’s travel through time and space and RIDER KICK Kamen Rider Decade.

If you haven’t heard, America, your leaders are trying to destroy the Internet for good, along with tons of small businesses and quite possibly the global economy.

These two ways corporations are trying to use are called the SOPA Bill and the PROTECT IP Bill.

If you haven’t read up on the Bills themselves, there’s a few places that explain it. (Mostly SOPA stuff, but PROTECT IP is similar)

If you thought SOPA would cause Wikipedia to shut down and all, or Reddit to finally close, or 4chan to be anally raped by a legislative baton, you’re half right. As I understand it, the Bills, should they pass, would give the US the power to effectively forcibly break the Internet. And as much as I think the Internet in general needs to be spanked a few times, this is NOT the way to go.

In Singapore, SOPA and PROTECT IP are basically carved into our lawbooks. Copyright infringement is considered a criminal offense, subject to jailtime for even parallel-importing Chinese Coca-Cola (been done before, thank you Odex for abusing this). While Singapore symbolically blocks 100 of the most offensive sites, we’ve got the nonsense in SOPA and PROTECT IP that allows our government to effectively seize control of an offending site and whatnot. Hilariously enough, I have no recollection of it being put to use, but it’s there, all right.

The potential abuse for this law is so staggering, it could finally cause the shutdown of the global economy as we know it. All you need is a group of disgruntled OWS protestors inside Wall Street and a Harddrive full of porn ripped from a porn paysite…

You get the picture.

To be honest,  I do understand that many, many people make their living on the Internet (and I require Google et al to DO MY JORB). Actual content creators (and not MPAA et al) solely rely on the Internet to make money. Artists on deviantArt require commissions to survive. Amateur craftsmen require Etsy and other related sites to hawk their wares. Some companies require an Internet connection to use their Production Line Management Software. Indie game developers and musicians require the Internet for exposure and money, since they can’t kill themselves going on tour.

And obviously, even the most crabby hermit would know of Justin Bieber.

If you’d like to experience how I live, then go ahead and pretend that your government is doing the right thing by doing the same thing Britain did in the 17th century. Or what Thomas Alva Edison did to create Hollywood (unsurprisingly, they didn’t learn their lessons).

And as for anyone who scream “censorship”, give it a break. I’m not supposed to be blogging and I’m still alive, fine and holding down a steady job despite being considered a criminal simply because I refuse to follow either materialism or going against my leaders.

Secondly, my 2011 was actually pretty eventful. I got hired, fired and rehired, all in the span of one year. I watched some anime and I loved them all, despite their flaws. I GOT A WAIFU AND NOW I WANT TO OFF MYSELF.

And now, the Seasonal Previews.

A lot of people say Winter is lackluster compared to last year. Objectively, it’s true, but most of the blogging community can go suck a bag of whale dicks for being stuck in that mode of thinking.

Miniskirt Pirates: Holy shit they have pirates and highschool girls and The Hero Cycle And Captain Harlock References And In SPAAAAAAAAACE. Calling it. BEST OF SEASON MOST DEFINITELY.

Aquarion EVOL: 12,000 years after the emofest that was Aquarion, the new Aquarion is powered by the power of moe, Kawamori’s sexy mecha designs and a bit of hot-blooded love. Throw in the required whining and awkwardness that defines Aquarion and we have a winner. I have never been this hype for a mecha show. FOLLOWING THIS LIKE A HAWK.

Thermae Romae: It’s a weird story about a Roman architect in the golden era of the Roman Empire who got high and almost dead while bathing. His mind travels to Japan to get inspiration for a new bath. It’s a good thing it’s so short.

SymphoLesbogear: It has LESBIANS. And singing. And odd references to The World Ends With you. And over-the-top flashy attacks. And LESBIANS. Dunno if it’ll work after the first episode, though.

PoyoPoyo: OMG IT IS ABOUT A ROUND CAT

High School DxD: It’s not about high-schoolers playing D&D 4E. Instead it feels like a mediocre ripoff of Ichiban Ushimaro DaiMaou. Oh well, if the idiot protag dies constantly, I’ll have something to watch for.

Another: They said this was gonna be horror. instead, I get the “oh dear, it’s gonna be ef with crappy horror elements thrown in” vibe. At least they got the music right. now if only Takashi Miike could direct this…

Lagrange no Rinne: Lesbians ride sexy Nissan-designed transforming mecha that rip off the VF-19′s abilities to fight against aliens that look like male human beings. Ehhhhhhhhh. But Aquarion EVOL was so much better…

Nisemontogatari: Senjoguhara protects Pedoragi Koyomi from his inner pedo beast the only way she knows how: SM PLAY. There’s a bunch of witty dialogue, but seriously, have you seen him flirting with Mayoi?

Daily Lives of High School Boys: SKIRTS ARE A MAN’S ROMANCE.

Not touched: not touched: Recorder to Randsell, Ano Natsu De Matteru Onegai Anaru, Brave 10

Catching up from last year: Eureka 7, Steins;Gate

Also I’ll finally start watching Disappearance.

And I have to talk about this cripple girl game that got released a few weeks ago.

Includes:

-Most people pictured are Ecole’s representatives, Arcadia staff, tournament staff, and top melty blood players.

-My visits to Famous Arcades such as Joybox (Closed, Shinjuku, Tokyo), Mikado (Takadanobaba, Tokyo), Acho (Kyoto), Club Sega (Akihabara, Tokyo), Yokohama Freedom (Yokohama) and GameSky (Nagoya).
-Pictures of Mikado weekly tournaments, Acho’s 10th Anniversary melty tournament, and Hydra GP.  Sometimes I included tournament brackets.
-Shopping trips to Comiket 80/81, Akihabara, Animate, and Tora no Ana.
-City and Park Life (Tokyo/Ueno)
-Multiple Temples (Primarily Yasaka Temple in Kyoto)
-Museum Visit (Art Museums and Alfred Nobel Museum)
-Class Photos
-Dorm Room Photos
-Life-Size Gundam Tour in Odaiba.

-Pictures of my some of my treasures from Akihabara, Sunshine City, and Comiket.
-Trains
-Parfaits and cake in celebration of the K-ON movie release.
-Some of my homework so I feel accomplished even though I can’t remember Kanji for my life.
-Food

I intend to use these pictures for posts later to highlight certain things, but here’s your chance to see all the stupid poses and things I found awkward or funny about Japan during my trip.  Thought this’d be as interesting as a real post, so enjoy!

Please remember, you can use the image gallery browse tool by clicking a picture and then hitting next picture to make the large browse easier for you.  There’s plenty of things I found entertaining if you look closely at some of the pictures!  My favorite pictures here are of a Korean favoritism protest against a TV station I ran into.  It showed what the people are really capable of, regardless of the content they were protesting.

Happy New Year, from Komi and me!

Also please watch out for stray flying cats, arrows and Angry Birds. And always remember to wear knee protection. And look both ways for dragons before crossing the street.

The editorial. A mainstay of any newspaper for any loudmouth editor or senior reporter to fire off his opinion on a thing. Or the outlet of some ivory-tower academic who thinks he has the solution to a certain problem but isn’t blessed with the smarts to get into the lucrative world of science. Or perhaps you ran a school newspaper that one time and you decided to spill the secrets to your biology teacher’s sordid affair with the school lunch on that little strip of paper you call your own.

Once the mainstay of such glorious news outlets like The Onion, the Internet has turned anyone and everyone into the newspaper editorialist. All you need to do is to have an opinion, a place to write and voila! You are now writing editorials! AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT.

But Woah There, lil’ pardner! Don’t go countin’ yer chickens before they’ve hatched! We gotta find out why did you want to pretend to be running a newspaper in the first place!
The WHY.

Are you perhaps someone with a big fat ego and an even bigger mouth? Then congratulations! You have the right drive to crank out editorials! Anyone who wants to write editorials meeds to have a big fat ego.

Remember that the act of writing an editorial is, in fact, stroking your own ego. The bigger your ego is, the more satisfying it is to stroke it. You’re the most awesome person in the universe, and no one has the unique, world changing outlook you do. The fact that you are writing an editorial signifies how blessed the world will be if you actually finish it.

Having a big enough ego is also very, very useful. The Internet is a very dangerous place, with trolls and dissidents lurking around at every corner. Some of them are even armed with rapier wit, acidic barbs, droll memes, or even vicious, burning hatred. The ego makes an effective shield for any and all of these attacks, and in times of dire need, an excellent bashing weapon. Even if you are armed with rapier wit, humor and acid barbs, nothing beeats the satisfaction of beating a dissident with your giant ego.

What else is needed to write an editorial? Why, a big fat metaphorical mouth, of course!

Here’s the thing. Being an editorialist means you have a big fat mouth that never stops talking ab out a related subject. In order to get the most attention out of people, you just have to big and loud. What isn’t needed is a rapier wit, gentlemanly conduct or even enthusiam. Forget about those! You just gotta be a lot louder than the rest of these editorial hacks! Every single editorialist out there is a big fat egoistic windbag! Sure, they may be gentlemanly. Or perhaps they have more drive than you. Or, worse still, they’ve got loads of experience because they were, HORROR OF HORRORS, ACADEMICS. You cna’t compete on their terms, buddy! You just gotta be louder than them hacks!

Ego and a loud mouth; that’s all you need to be an editorialist.

Now, if you’re thinking that you gotta love to write to get on the editorial trail, then son, you are so fucking retarded I oughta shove a pig up yer re-tarded ass! If you really love writing you’d be either writing some shity Mary-Sue sparkly vampire story or some terrible, terrible fanfiction! You can’t just waltz into the scene claiming you “love to write”! That’s a shithead aspiration! You gotta be conceited! Loud! Be an arse to everyone around you! Not some wishy-washy idiot who writes “for the love of writing”

You are not here to spread shitty Mary-Sue fanfiction! you are here to WAGE WAR! A war of ego, bile and lots of spilled ink! At the end of the day, if you are not crushing your enemy under the weight of your ego, you WILL be crushed under someone else’s! Shake off those mental delusions and get ready to BUTT HEADS.

And that’s why we write editorials.

The HOW

And now you’re up to speed on why would YOU want to write an editorial, now’s a good time to learn how all the good ones crank out quality editorials.

Forget what you’ve learned in writing school or online. Like I said earlier, writing an editorial doesn’t involve sourcing for information, reading up on what is being editorialized, or any of that research junk. For one thing, you don’t have that time! Or Experience! And this isn’t a research paper or a thesis!

Now pay attention, folks, I’m gonna break it down into an easy 3-step process.

The first step to any good editorial is…

STEP 1: HAVE AN OPINION.

Why the HELL are you even thinking about writing an editorial if you don’t have an opinion? Get one! And don’t think of ripping off other people’s opinions, that makes you look stupid and mainstream. Get your own one! Read the god Delusion! Watch An Inconvenient Truth! Do SOMETHING. Then come back when you’re nice and opinionated.

…Okay, I’m gonna have to make a concession here. At least do some cursory research on the thing you want to have an opinion on. It’s not good if you have a nice, rock-hard opinion and you FUCKING MISS THE TARGET because you weren’t FUCKING PAYING ATTENTION IN CLASS. And Madoka forbid you actually watch the show they are discussing about (if there is a show to discuss). Just the wikipedia article is more than enough. If you wanna be a little heretical, look up the ANN database for the show. But that’s all ya gotta do.

Once your opinion is nice and ready, we gotta have to…

STEP 2: WRITE IT.

Unfortunately, an editorial isn’t a Tweet, or a Facebook status update. You don’t have enough characters to write an editorial on both sites, so don’t even bother. And doing so on either site makes you look like an imbecile.

What you need is… well, you have signed up to a one of those fancy weblogging sites and/or have at least Notepad, yes? Or some Unix/MacOS equivalent of Notepad, yes? Then fire up that program and start hammering away! Don’t worry about the quality at this point; focus on your raw, pent-up opinion and let it all out.

It may seem unintelligible now, but you’re gonna look it over before you start posting. The point is to get it all out, no matter how messy it is.

Now, take a deep breath and look at the mess you made. It’s untidy, unreadable and unless you’re Jackson Pollock, you ARE not gonna pass that off as modern art. Now you gotta tidy it up and make it readable. Probably throw in a spellcheck as well. Don’t want a grammar nazi picking on poor spelling.

Turned it into something a human can parse without screaming in fear and muttering about Cthulhu? Good. Now you’re ready to show those bigots whatfor. Just one more thign, though…

STEP THREE: DISTRACT THE READER WITH PRETTY PICTURES

Even the most base tabloid editorial has at least ONE picture in their article; if only to distract the reader from the wall of words. Sadly, most of the time, it’s their ugly mug.

Thankfully, you’re writing an editorial ON THE INTERNET! And there’s a useful little tool called GOOGLE IMAGE SEARCH. Just hammer in a search term of whatever you like and take a few photos you like. Remember to give credit where it’s due, or some stupid elitist prick will whine about how we are “stealing” pictures. Or just take pictures from wikipedia. Wiki pics are free to use, but remember to give them the damn credit.

minor disclaimer: Unlike most people, I actually know some people who do… draw as a hobby. I’ve gotten their permissions a loooooong time back to use in my editorials when I can. Most of you, unfortunately, are gonna be ripping images from pixiv or danbooru, seeing as that’s topically appropriate. Again, I reiterate. You do NOT want some stupid elitist hipster prick to whine endlessly about how we’re stealing art from glorious Japan, so ACCREDIT THAT ART.

After that, put the pictures wherever you like/feel appropriate. And then you hit Post. Or you upload your opinion to your fancy weblogging site and post it there.

And there it is! Your very own editorial! Simple, isn’t it?

Disclaimer: This entire post is meant to be humerus and not to be taken as serious tips for an editorial. There are better people out there and flomu deserves a humor piece. All the art is from an old friend of mine, Jeanstealer/blueflower.

Part of it was denial, I suppose. I had… a certain subset of females that I taken a fancy to. I didn’t outright claim them of course, since I didn’t even understand my own feelings from the beginning.

Then I grew up. I learnt certain things about myself. Suddenly, my former feelings made a lot of sense.

And participating in 4chan’s 2D Valentine’s Day probably didn’t help things out, either.

Now I’m a man obssessed. A controlled obssession, but an obssession, nonetheless. With a ton of restraint, I… have bought some things. Not a dakimakura, but things, nonetheless. Certain songs trigger that part of the brain I strive to keep supressed while I work. Certain pictures on the Internet make me break out in a stupid sappy smile.

SHE IS LIVING IN MY DAMN HEAD. AND I DO NOT MIND THAT ONE BIT.

Ladies and gentlemen, I think…

I think I’m in love. (With Tomoe Mami)

And no, I’m still not gonna buy a dakimakura to simulate closeness. I am fully aware that she is a mental construct that is taking the place of a real woman. No, I have not given up on the 3D world as of yet.

…I NEED TO SHOOT MYSELF IN THE HEAD. REPEATEDLY. PROBABLY WITH THE FANCY NEW BARRET ANTI-MATERIEL PAYLOAD RIFLE. 50CAL IS NOT ENOUGH. I NEED A FUCKING GRENADE TO MY FACE.

No really, someone guess the theme orz

Have I mentioned about how the best Strike Witches setting if Africa? No? I’ll just say it again.

Sometimes I have no idea what I’m doing.

You’d be surprised at what a danbooru search can turn up.

So just sit back and relax.

(And that wraps up the 12 Days of Anime. Now to Prepare for Editorial Day. Blame flomu.)

Mery Kurisu-Masu from the Kingdom of Biscotti! because Kurisu is totally related to Christmas, which is totally a feastday!

Also a Happy Corgimas to you all!

BUT FIRST, TO SATIATE THE OTHER HALF. OPERATION: SAYAKA BEGINS NAU.

I don’t think I could ever forget the mad rush that was Madoka Magica.

Initially, I didn’t pay too much attention to the show. I’m not too keen on following a show on a weekly basis on account of me not liking the episodic blogging manner of blogging. It takes a lot to make me break this habit, since it’s the only rule I have when doing this blogging thing with regards to anime.

I don’t exactly remember when I finally jumped onto this wildly careening bandwagon. Everyone I knew was going nuts after episode 3. The WTFs were clusterfucking themselves. I knew that if everyone was losing their marbles over what seemed to be a meh show in a meh season, this was supposed to be MASSIVE.

I went in with a lot of reservations. Urobouchi Gen is more known for writing eroge, and while he can plot and pace (not to mention the insane amount of research he does), his definition of a “happy end” involves a bit of the macabre and most of his stories are closer to torture mills to a happy end, if anything.

And then I saw what the fuss was about.

The unholy bastard child of Urobouchi Gen, Aoki Ume and a long tradition of magical girls (with animation by SHAFT and direction by Akiyuki Shinbo) was, to put it simply, an emotional rollercoaster ride of epic proportions. When one thought it was gonna get better, BAM! You get hit by another shocking development meant to jolt you from your seat.

It happened at Episode 3. And then again at Episode 8. And 9. And 10. And 11. And 12. You’re not watching for the plot anymore, you’re just hanging on, wanting to see what happens next.

And then she became a witch. The Discworld kind. Yes, she could put Charlotte away with cake, tea, cream and a pointed stick. Discworld witches are just THAT GOOD.

Looking back, the plot really wasn’t all that spectacular. The twists could have been seen from several miles away (save for the ending; that one caught everyone off-guard). The progression was intense, but expected. The pacing was really tight, save for episode 10.

Let’s just say Steins;gate and Anohana were much better plot-wise, with more fleshed-out characters (moreso than Madoka’s anyway).

However, one thing remains: whether you like it or not, you’d keep coming back for more, like a heroin addict who wants his daily hit of said drug.

For Madoka, it’s not about the show’s merits. It’s about that intense rush to know what happens next, even if you could see the plot from a mile away. It’s like a well-directed soap opera, in this case. I distinctly remember actually staying up to watch the show live with a ton of others.

And when the show ended, I looked to myself and thought, Man, am I glad to be part of the experience!

(And on an embarrassing footnote, I probably should mention that I can no longer mock people who claim waifus. More on that tomorrow.)

TOMORROW: HOW MUCH I HATE MYSELF AND HOW I REQUIRE DICKS IN MY ASS.

PS: KOMI IS THIS ENOUGH SAYAKA FOR YOU

I attended AFA last month, really, I did.

It was really fun. Things happened. I was on Nicovideo for a brief moment.

I paid for tickets and I had a ton of fun at the concerts.

Somehow, this year, despite the concerts and having more things to do, it all felt different.

And by different, I don’t mean it in a good way.

Somehow, I know I should not feel this way. The concert was insanely good. The organizers brought in a lot of new artistes. Itou Kanako was easily the best of the lot. angela did not disappoint. Kalafina felt a bit out of place, but eh. And Flow partied like there was no tomorrow.

Still, there was something… different.

The festival may gotten popular, but the organizers are not getting nicer.

The feel’s changed. I don’t know if I can continue having fun when I know the organizers are some of the worst people out there.

Yes, the show will go on. It will continue to be popular. And it’ll sell out a few times, too. But how much more fun will it be before it stops being fun for everyone?

I dunno. Maybe it’s time to move on.

TOMORROW: BEING MEDUKA IS SUFFERING

With that said, one can always find solace in the remaking and reimagining of these wonderful shows.
This year, I have had the pleasure of watching TWO super robot remakes.

The first one was KOUTETSUSHIN JEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEG!!!!!!!!!

At first I was like

And then I was like

Suddenly I saw the Giga Shooter And I was like

And then The Giga Shooter got destroyed and I was like

And then they rescued Shiba Hiroshi and I was like

And then Episode 12 rolled in and I was like

And then SHIBA HIROSHI NEEDED NO AIR and I was like

And then I saw DOUBLE JEEGS. No reaction image will be apt for this EXPLOSION OF BADASS AWESOMENESS.

The other one was the bestest grandaddy of all super robots, MAZINKAISER. I heartily approve of Mazinkaiser SKL, but the original is the BEST.

At first I was like

And then Great Mazinger was wrecked and I was like

And then Tetsuya had to leave and I was like

And then they had the obligatory beach episode and I was like

And then KABUTO KOUJI DIES IN LAVA and I was like

And then KABUTO KOUJI DID NOT DIE IN LAVA and I was like

And then Great Mazinger made a glorious comeback and I was like

And then Mazinkaiser proceeded to own Doctor Hell and I was likeSeriously, for a rip-roarin’ good time, nothing beats busting out a super robot show and watching them.

Every single reaction image came from DOUBLE K, THE BEST GURREN-LAGANN BUDDY COP FANCOMIC EVER. BOOYAH.

TOMORROW: I FORGET THAT I SPENT MONEY AT AFA.