Innovation

Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. That's all I really need to say to excuse myself from blogging for the next two weeks, but I'll try as hard as I can to continue blogging about the interesting things I find on the internet.

Have you ever wanted to own a cat, but couldn't because you or your parents are allergic to cats? Yes, my parents said they were "allergic," which I believed was the truth until I found out that my mom had a monkey for a pet as a kid. Friends, that excuse for not having a pet is no longer valid. The age of hypo-allergenic cats is here. Is it just me or does the cat on the page look a little too perfect. So perfect it looks eerie bordering on scary. If that cat isn't for you, you might want to settle for hello kitty. Nothing calms you down more than a hello kitty flashlight as you fight for your life shooting down zombies in Doom 3.

In other areas of life I am at a loss of words. I cry as I realize that cell phone design in the US will never be as cool as that stuff that comes from outside of the country. It's true that the US is a melting pot of cultures and that everything we make is in some way influenced by a multitude of foreign ideas, but when are we going to make something truly impressive to share with the world? I just don't want my country represented by fatty foods and huge monstrosities. But there is hope. Like the Segway, the Centaur is a four-wheeled version that moves according to your center of gravity.

"Concept Centaur demonstrates Segway's continued commitment to breakthrough innovation and the innumerable possibilities for the future of personal transportation."

Hats off to Dean Kaman and Segway. Finally some American innovation we can be proud of. Hypo-allergenic cats, new modes of transportation, what more could we ask for? I know: the ability to listen to music as I swim. You've all seen those "water-resistant" bricks that Sony tries to pass off as a portable CD players. Yea that's a CD player. So you can play music near the swimming pool and not have to worry about splashing a little water on your electronics, big deal. I'm sure someone out there has dropped one of those babies into a tub of water thinking that it would still work. Those days are over. This odd-looking gadget uses your cheek bones to stimulate the fluids in the inner ear to create sound. Awesome. All I need are some heavy metal mp3s and a good amount of stretching. Hardcore swimming here I come. Hopefully, I won't come out of the pool looking like the Joker. Hey that would be a pretty cool Halloween costume.

Technology Whore
Genuine Otaku

The Future = Sushi

Oh man, oh man, the new iPod is out. To those of you who haven't seen it, may I present the iPod Photo. Yes, yes, I've always been a PC guy myself until I got a 3rd generation 30 GB iPod, which lead to iTunes, which lead to a Powerbook, which lead to Mac addiction. Oh Apple you're so silly with all your nicely designed hardware. As I type this on my Powerbook in my living room, I drool over their new highly overpriced iPod. Droooooooool . . . Wha? Oh, yes, the Photo iPod. There are lots of reasons to get this awesome gadget. If the 60 GB space and the 15 hour battery life don't make you want it, maybe the COLOR SCREEN might hook you in. Yea, you can put photos from the great program, iPhoto, onto your iPod and show them to your friends orrrrrrrr output them to a TV. Combine the two functions together and, you got it, make a slideshow with music! Seeing as the new iPod has twice the amount of storage space, a better layout, a color screen, and AV out there should be no reason for someone not to have an iPod now . . . except for the 600 dollar price tag. I can build a decent computer for that much money! My creation might be a little bigger and you might not get a color screen, but still. For now I must hold on to my 3rd generation iPod until iPods can play videos or start thinking for themselves.

Yes, what you read is correct, rats will soon pilot our airlines. Alright, so that's not exactly true, but it could happen. If it does, I'm never flying again, which would be good for NY friends, but not so good for friends in LA. Or do I have those switched around?

Searching the internet pretending I can read Japanese (damn Chinese characters!@!!!), I came across another product that might do really really well in the US like the iPod . . . not. Sushi USB drives. If anyone knows anyone who wants raw fish sticking out of their computers please point them in my direction 'cuz I wanna know.

And finally, I show you "the greatest cosplayer of all times." I will never look at Faye Valentine from Cowboy Bebop the same way ever again. My friend showed me this dude after seeing my "don't worry" post the other day and I will never forgive him. Apparently, he is really well known in the cosplaying community and was forced to wear a trench coat in order to be allowed to attend a recent anime convention. Now I know he does this on purpose and it's quite funny, but think about it, this could quite possibly be you if you make a bad decision on whatever costume you end up wearing this upcoming Sunday. Choose carefully my friends, or don't choose at all. I prefer the safe route.

Someone Buy Me a Totoro Suit
Genuine Otaku

Don't Worry

It's true that my online name means genuine geek, nerd, what have you, but don't worry I take geekiness in small amounts. I won't become like this guy. What's even more lame is the guy who tries to copy him. Although there is a chance that i will play this game if it comes to the US, it will never get that bad . . . hopefully. There are limits to my geekiness though. For instance, I will attend a convention like anime expo, but I will not go to the expo dressed as my favorite anime character. There are limits my friends. Now I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with cosplaying, in fact there are some cosplays that are rather impressive and cool. But there are so many places where you can go wrong. I'm not going to dress myself up as a character that looks nothing like me. If I were to cosplay the only thing I could look like would probably be the village idiot from the new "Zatoichi" movie. Couldn't find a link, but he's a chubby farm boy who runs in circles around the village in his underwear wielding a spear screaming at the top of his lungs.

This brings me to Halloween, which is next Sunday. As usual I will not be dressing up in costume. Sorry people, the only way that I will dress up is if someone gets me really really drunk or somehow tricks me, or both. If anything I'll go and call myself a modern samurai. There you go.

I take that back, if anyone buys or makes this costume I will wear it.

The Guy Who Says No

Genuine Otaku

I Wanna Build Me One of These

Have I mentioned my love/hate relationship with the internet? I love the internet for several reasons. I use it daily for valuable top secret information, news, comics (really cool), and communication.

I don’t like the internet when it scares me. You know what I’m talking about, those links from friends that send you to a site that has a picture like a where’s waldo or a field of text that catches your attention and then BAM a really scary picture of a ghost-like girl with blood or something of equal nature coming out of her eyes accompanied by an audio file that scares the crap out of you. But then you play it again to see the picture of the girl again to see how they photoshopped it and you get scared again. Rest assured those kinds of links will never be posted up here and if anyone else posts something like it will be taken down immediately. Nice try Frank. It’s also scary when you go to web MD to see what’s wrong with you only to find out you have cancer instead of the common cold. And you can’t forget about the obnoxious people who post things like “no I don’t, you suck” on a potentially interesting forum.

But at the same time, the internet can also be a rewarding experience. You can find really really useful information like how to turn your lawnmower into a handy dandy flying machine and cut airborne grass. Or you can use the internet to become a little more cultured. You can also use it to help a cute animal in need.

Either way, I think it all balances out in the end. It comes around full circle if you will. I like to call it sweet sweet justice (that’s Frank in the video clip).

Your Human Filter of the World Wide Web

Genuine Otaku

Disturbing

Browsing the "internet," my brother points me in the direction of sheer cruelty.

What is wrong with the North Koreans? Apparently these children are chosen by Kim Jong Il to appear on KCNA, I'm guessing a North Korean television network, in their New Year's special programming (it was New Year's according to the lunar calender a while ago). They have been dubbed as "genius kids" but I prefer to call them "tortured to near death amounts until they get the timing perfectly and learn to smile an eerie smile while always looking at the camera kids." There are a total of three videos on the linked site above, but the clip I've linked is in my opinion the creepiest. Don't get me wrong I am all for the arts as long as the kids doing them enjoy what they're doing; I'm an animator myself. But think about everything they could have been doing while training to be like that. You know, enjoying their childhood running around playing with friends like any normal kid. It's just plain disturbing.

What's even more disturbing is the fact that I've started to play DDR once again. I played in high school and I even went so far as to get two dance pads for my brother and I to strut our "revolutionary" moves. Sorry dude, I had to tell 'em. It was fun for a while until the pads started to fold in on themselves and move all over the place. It got worse when the buttons for left and right turned into up and down or just didn't work. And it wasn't just me either, no matter what fans did, it just wasn't the same as going to the arcade and dancing your troubles away in front of complete strangers. So someone finally took action and made the RedOctane Ignition 2.0 Pad. I had seen the pad available before, but didn't believe in the hype that surrounded the pad for a good number of years. Now that I'm 22 with some form of income, I decided to try it out. I got it in a couple weeks ago and I am hooked once more. I have no shame when it comes to this game. After some reasonable thought I found no reason to be embarrassed for having a dance pad and playing a brilliant game. I dunno, it isn't a simulator for dancing or anything, everyone should know that. People aren't going to be dancing in a four-directional manner in clubs any time soon. It's just a fun and addicting experience that also gets gamers to get up off of their couch and move.

That said, DDR is not all fun and games for some, there is a dark side: DDR competitions. You'd think that the competitions would be based on how well you can play the game, you know like whoever gets the best score in the game wins, but no. DDR players are so good at getting perfect scores on songs that they are judged on their performance! Like figure skating, people are judged on how slick they are on the dance pad not only with their feet, but with the movements of their arms, head, you name it. And when a competitor makes a small mistake I wouldn't be surprised if the audience went "awwwww" in disappointment just like in those skating competitions. Hopefully it won't come to that. Hopefully . . .

But DDR can be very inspiring. Or not. Or if you don't feel like moving your feet to the beat you can always use your fingers. Either way, I'm having fun, and you should too. Who knows, with all the rhythm games I'm getting addicted to I might even go out of the way and get myself some Cha Chas while I'm at.

Your friend in the NYC

Genuine Otaku

And so it begins . . .

Testing, testing . . . is this thing on? Ah yes, welcome to my blogspot. A place on the so-called "internet" where I can update anyone and everyone about my life and news around me. Where to begin, where to begin . . .

Why not begin by clearing up the whole Genuine Otaku thing. Why Genuine Otaku? What does it mean? Sounds so weird. It all started in eighth grade when I first got AOL. My first screen name, WCheeseLog, did not fly very far. As a very very vague reference to Ren and Stimpy, Wet Cheese Log became very stupid very quickly in the ninth grade or maybe even the second semester of eighth grade. It sounds stupid and no one gets it even a few of my animation friends at the time.

So in search of a suitable name for myself I looked for something a little more permanent, something that pertains to me. Yes, so as I browsed my newly acquired internet I came across a site called otakuworld, a site I visited from time to time to download anime themes for my desktop and to do searches on obscure anime at the time. I don't use it now 'cuz there are many other better sites in our world today. So after seeing the word for the first time I learn that it is a word designated to hardcore anime fans according to the site. Now, keep in mind that I was in EIGHTH GRADE and that I didn't know any better. I kept the name for years only to discover the horrible definition of the word otaku when I went to Japan in my senior year of high school. In actuality, the word otaku means geek in Japanese. So not only am I an "anime otaku" or just a "comic book otaku" or even a "game otaku," I am an all encompassing GENUINE otaku. Ugh. Also keep in mind that it would be hard for me to give everyone I've met over the past 6 years a new e-mail address and AIM screen name especially if I hadn't kept an address book. So the name stuck. And it wasn't so bad. I mean I am a geek in many ways, I do have an obsessive passion for anime and games and what-not, but that was not the end of it. Not at all. It was all fine and dandy until I found out that the word otaku has a NEGATIVE CONNOTATION in Japan. I will not go into the details here, but let's just say that it's implied that I will become a dangerous stalker by calling myself an otaku. But this is all based on a huge generalization revolving around one horrible event in Japan that took place 15 years ago. I don't worry too much about it. Hopefully, time will allow otaku to become more accepted as people forget about the morbid 1989 association with the word. For now, it still sticks. So as not to end this post on a bad note, well maybe not a bad note for you, but pretty bad for me, I will also post a few words about a new addition to my life.

Ah yes, Donkey Konga. Let me begin by saying that Nintendo and the master genius of game design have done it again. Whether it be the ever so famous Mario or Zelda games, or even the not so well-known Pikmin and Animal Crossing, Miyamoto does not ever disappoint. Basically, the game features a new peripheral for the Nintendo Gamecube: a set of bongos. Yes you heard me right, I now own bongos. Now you know I've made my share of bad purchases in the past, but rest assured this is definitely not one of them. So the Woolley, and my roomate got together and tried it out. Believe it or not we had fun with just one set of bongos! True, the Woolley and I were slightly intoxicated, but it was still really fun.

So thinking to myself, "wow that was a lot fun, and I only had one set of bongos . . .," I immediately ordered a second set of bongos online through Amazon.com. Of course, I always happen to have the best and worst luck. This time it came to me in bittersweet form. I visit my good friend Yoosop at Otakuden to defeat him at his own game, Halo. But to no avail, my hours of practice did nothing to stop his onslaught. He felt so bad that along with my posterior he handed me an extra set of bongos! So with a set of bongos on the way I now have 3 bongos. What started out as a small step into the unventured world of bongo gaming, has now turned into bongo madness. I like that word. Bongo.

Anyways, I can't say that it's the best game ever, but the game rocks. The only changes I would make to the game is more songs. It only comes with thirty and I think I've played all of them by now, but the different difficulty levels will provide plenty of challenge for my friends and I for a good while. Now I'm not gonna play on my own 'cuz then it would be unfair for when you guys come over and try it out. I would have way too much of an advantage. So in order for me to get my Donkey Konga fill, you all must come over and play! Whoa I actually used "you all". And I thought the Spanish word "vosotros" and all its verb forms was useless. My roomate has already mastered the monkey and chimp level of play and has moved on to the final gorilla difficulty level.

Seeing as this blog is slowly turning into a full on review of the darn thing, I'll stop here and tell you to just go out and get it if you have a gamecube and if you don't you should buy a gamecube and go out and get it.

Always here to bring you the latest and greatest in the form of a bloglog:

Genuine Otaku