Tuesday, September 16, 2014 On Cosplay and Doing Good Stuffs for Peeps.

It has become all too common nowanddays for me to see regular occurences of folks who are part of the Cosplay Culture tear each other apart, try to destroy each other's credibility, and devolve into screaming matches over social media of what should be considered intolerable conduct between professional entities. With how many folks doing anything possible to become "#CosFamous" (Yes this apparently is a real term and it's really no bueno), why are Cosplayers going into battles on a weekly, if not daily basis? I think what we are seeing right now is a culture that is in the process of maturation. I am aware that Costuming has existed within the Science Fiction & Fantasy Fandom for many years, but the culture of "Cosplay" has just now in the last couple of decades begun to take prominice in the greater landscape of not only general fandom, but also mainstream culture as well. This is a culture that tends to skewer young as a result as Cosplay has distinct origins from Costuming in that Cosplay has more of a basis in Anime/Manga and Videogames, subject matter which has been embraced by the Teen-to-20s Crowd. Now it's great that such a young demographic has embraced aspects of Nerdom/Geekdom, but unfortunately that also brings in the Attitudes of those who are in their Teens or Early 20s, which is needless to say, very crappy. We all went through that phase when we were younger, the "I'm going to tell it like it is and #%$# all who don't like that $#*#!" state of being in which we didn't care about how many people we hurt or how badly it could burn bridges professionally or personally between friends, co-workers, or family/loved ones, it was about "#$%#$ YOU, I GOT MINE!!!!!!" basically. It would essentially take burning and pillaging throughout most of your 20s to get to the point where you realized that maybe being completely self-absorbed wasn't the greatest idea, and it might be fun to actually care about other things in life for once that don't completely revolve around you. Upon coming to that realization, you start to finally make amends, settle down, maybe raise a family or join a group or two, basically so that you can start to balance out the negative karma you've racked up throughout the years. I think a really good personal example of this was during my time as staff for MidSouthCon. I spent a good chunk of time trying to fight for more space for Video Games, and then later Anime, but with wayyyy too much concentration for making myself look good instead of concentrating on what really should've mattered, which was helping to provide resources to help people read. It actually took a couple of years for me to reflect on that to finally get it, that I need to concentrate on the bigger picture which was greater than myself. This is kinda what I think is going on with Cosplayers, too many folks trying to reach the brass ring and not enough foresight to keep in mind why they started Cosplaying in the first place, and I think we are nearing that point of clarity, that instance of humility, we just need a trigger to set things off. My general thought is that there are many Cosplayers who get into the culture for different reasons. Some do it because they love the characters, some do it because they want to connect with other people and this is the best way for them to break out of their shells, and some do it for the cashflow as Cosplay can be very profitable and can lead to Careers in Modeling, Photography, Costuming, Acting, and the list goes on. The thing that a lot of them are either not realizing or have lost sight of is the hidden #2 Reason of Cosplay, which is to be the hero for those whom need it. It could be a child who needs a Wonder Woman, a teen who is excited to see someone with an 80s Shredder look, or even a 40-year old who is stoked about the kid who is Rick Hunter from Robotech. I think if most of the Cosplayers could get a better sense of the positivity that they are capable of, it might just help color their perspectives a little bit. Just a little. Now there are obvious technical things that could help the Cosplay Culture such as Business Tutoring, Seperating Professional from Personal Personas and such, but that will come in due time. First, as a Fandom we have to learn to feel, then crawl, walking will come in a bit. I would urge those in Cosplay to look at Volunteering, either for a Convention or for any other organization, simply because it helps with personal growth and perspective. Go break out that Costume and head to a hospital to drop off presents for kids and spend some time with them, even a Gaara can lighten up someone's day. If you do end up in a Cosplay War online, take a moment to relax, go into your online albums, and just pull up a random picture of you in Cosplay that someone tagged you in, not because it was a professional shot meant to emphasize your best side in the greatest sun, but because it was in a hallway and that 8-year old was really happy to see Korra there. This is just a ramble though, take-it-or-leave-it. This series of thoughts have been gestating for a while now, and I figured now would be the best time to get it out while I'm not drowned in work or caregiving. For those few who do read this, if you do know any active Cosplay groups working for Charity in the Dallas area, point them in my general direction as I would like to get some folks together to do Hospital Visits, or maybe a Parade Walk, even working a Soup Kitchen. I'll keep searching myself, if I can't really find anything I might just start up something. When I moved to Dallas I pretty much abandoned any extensive Volunteer Work in order to concentrate on being a Caregiver for my Dad, that there were plenty of Anime/Gaming Groups to where I didn't feel compelled to help start up a group like MOOGLE, but I'm starting to believe that it's time to jump back into the midst of things. Every enlightenment just needs a trigger.

Sunday, December 8, 2013 The Politics of Trying to be Nice.

So, I was in GAF as always tonight, and yet again, a relationship topic came up. This time OP was trying to make his bestest gal pal in the world realize how much she was being used and abused by her boyfriend. The basic response from myself and everyone else was simply to let the train wreck. Let the forest burn. She was too busy being buried in her BF, so she should deal with the pain. Not your problem. He did basically agree, especially when she had told him moments later that she was now "just friends" with the guy, but the whole exchange did get me thinking, when it comes to the social relations you have with peeps, especially with those of the opposite sex, is it too much to rely on that old adage of helping one another? Have we become so broken down to where we would rather burn the forest than simply catch the bandit? I dunno. I do generally feel that I have to be on eggshells a lot with ladies and gents nowanddays, especially within the nerd/geek circles that I frequent, as multiple incidents of rape, assault, bullying, and harassment within our community have seemingly turned most folks against each other to where everyone is blocked off within their own A.T. Fields, and the online advent has made folks complete shutins, to where physical interaction is reviled as it forces folks to have to face each other and talk, and you can't shoosh or ignore someone if they're standing right in front of you. A while back ago, if you wanted to be show empathy towards someone having a bad time, they would be appreciative for the solidarity, now, you're pretty much looking at being called a stalker/creep/rapist from the female side, while begin regarded as Not Alpha Enough on the male end of the spectrum. On a personal level, this has become really fucking aggrevating, as I was raised to help others as much as I helped myself, and it's kinda hard to abide by that moral code when you can't even keep a friend for a month. That being said, can you go the other route? Become so burned off by humanity that you simply think it's easier to revel in other people's personal suffering? I've met and seen folks who do just that. It's pretty easy. Oh you got raped? Well, you should've gone out wearing that hot dress. Drug Problems? Have fun with that life sentence, more $$ for me. You basically get the jest, it's like we've become so desensitized to simply treating each other like decent human beings and instead we hope that other person fails, kinda makes me disheartened at times. The older you get, the more cynical, and with every passing generation the need to consume and give into wanton bloodlust is alarming. I think the above thoughts are why I still volunteer at conventions and participate in projects like Angel Tree. For one, it allows me an outlet to be egoless and dedicate time to something other than myself, and for two, it's all for the small pints. When I am running around at a con or working my posts, I notice the kids running around with each other, not a care in the world, not having to worry about being fucked with, not wanting to demonize each other, nope, it's all about being the best Ninja or Shinigami or Pirate that they can be. Maybe we could learn a thing or two from the kids, before we fuck up their social lives just as we've fucked up ours.

Thursday, October 10, 2013 Your Cosplay is not Moe enough, brah.

So, there's one habit I've been noticing quite a bit, and that is the eventual transition from Out-In-Your-Face Otaku to mild mannered person who just happens to enjoy their hobbies on the side. You know what? That's actually not a bad thing, contrary to what your 20-year old self would say. Generally you tend to live almost 3 different lives when travelling through adulthood, here, I'll use some Chappelle as an example:

Chappelle Show: The Three Daves - watch more funny videos

Now as for what causes such a series of turning points in one's life? Well, for one, there's the physical process of aging, coupled with the maturation of your friends and family. When I was younger, I was very much about Anime, Manga, Video Games, Comics, and whatnot, and I still am, but at this point I do keep in perspective that I have become a dinosaur in a series of hobbies that tend to skewer young, which can lead to many issues and problems. When you realize that you are pretty much an old fart by Anime Con standards, you are forced to reevaluate exactly how you participate in such an event. For me, a really good example is Cosplay. For those who know me, I am a giant panda. It is probably not a great idea for a giant panda to go off and dress like Kirito from S.A.O., and not because of body size or anything like that, but rather the concept of becoming your character. Kirito is a young preteen, I am in my 30s, we are in two different worlds by a large margin. Now something like being a Ghostbuster, or Perf from Journeyquest, or even Gym Trainer Wattson, I could pull off, but that is more due to the source material being closer to who I really am at this point in my life. I think the other thing that triggers the knowledge that I have truly become an old anime fart is also my lack of tolerance for the constant pranks, infighting, and general ugliness that tends to occur nowanddays, which strangely enough was the very same crap we all used to pull when we were younger. Some of this mental awakening can be brought on by having to work in environments where being an ass can actually cost you your job, and economic/emotional/physical hardships also play a large factor into things. When you break out of high school, you think you can be "Sooo Real" with folks, and that if you just straight shoot everything, you'll get what you want, how you want. Then you learn that there is a song and dance you have to play for life, and suddenly walking up to a person who had probably had a very horrible day that they just sucked and that they should just man up or go die in a corner doesn't sound as great anymore. You know what does sound great though? The little things. Being able to get a tight group of folks and run around for some weekend pub crawling. Going out to the State Fair for those Chicken Tenders in Hot-Seasoned Pancake Batter. Spending time after work at the archery range. There's a world of experiences out there if you're willing to look for it, and you never know, you just may like samba dancing. I actually want to break down and take some dancing classes. That sounds fun as hell. I should say that at this point, collectively at my place we still keep the wall scrolls and videogame posters up, but there is the eventuality that one day, all of my hobbies from my youth will probably be designated to a Man Cave while I host a wine and cheese party with a sweet gal and all of our friends. And you know what, that's just fine. Sometimes it's more fun to be an old fart. Especially when I do volunteer work at Conventions and tell people to get off of my lawn.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013 No, I'm really okay, just busy with work.

Yeah, this past weekend sucked. I should say for all of you folks who think that caretaking is an easy job, go have yourself a kid, then you can start to get a taste of what me and my roommate go through. I had to take my Pops to a Doctor's appointment so that we could get results from the Biopsy and then find out when we had to go for the CT Scan. The series of events however caused my Pops to have a panic attack of sorts, in which he began to have his knees buckle to where he was constantly falling down, he was starting to profusely sweat, and was generally in a constantly worried state of mind. Even with the news that there was a good chance the cancerous tumor was isolated to where they could do an operation to easily remove it, he was still stressed out of it. I got him home and laying down, and proceeded to relax for the rest of the day as I had a long week before my next day off at the time. Unfortunately Friday hit me harder than a Falcon Punch. Sometimes when my Pops goes into an extreme Panic Attack, he enters a state of Dementia in which he starts hallucinating about his past, while also trying to stay awake and falling down, a lot. During the course of the time period that I was at work (from 11am to Midnight Saturday Morning) my roommate was forced to pull a 24-hour day with only a small nap while I was on break so he could make sure my Pops was not trying to get up and fall down, which still brought about crashing all over the place, knocking over the air containers, breaking a table, and then cutting his knee up against a sharp edge. Needless to say I got my Saturday shift covered and then proceeded to take naps while my roommate continued to look over Pops. Pops proceeded to fall down a few more times before we finally kept him confined to bed and fell asleep, before waking up more coherent a few hours later, and with me needing to do major cleaning of his bed. With most of the craziness behind us, my roommate finally passed out while I tried to play games for a bit, then passing out myself a bit later, but not really succeeding at that. I went into Sunday REALLY pissy due to lack of sleep and concern for my Pops, and then was bombarded by one of my co-workers with how mad my soon-to-be-ex-GM was that I gave away my driving shift to a driver who normally works all day and was looking to pick up the shift. Needless to say that sent my rage into overdrive. It was bad enough that I was forced to work during Animefest when I had put in a request almost 6 MONTHES AGO and I knew the new GM could've grabbed somebody from another store to cover for me, even worse that I was screamed at for not answering my phone to come in early when he had not bothered scheduling enough folks in on a Friday morning, but yeah, this pretty much sealed in that I would never do any favors for this franchise again. So I spent the day in Grrrrr, Arghhh mode, and no one was safe. I talked to a new friend of mine about how concerned I was about whether my little group of pals were actually going to stick around and sub with Wildstar around the corner....well, that's what I was trying to say, what actually came out was al;ksjadfopial;fkanafopiwsnfawesl;kfnasopidflkmnasl;kdfoasfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckMichealBay'sExplosions. I think I managed to convince her that I was quitting the game, then when I tried to reply that no, I wasn't, I was just not wanting to play alone, except that also came out as 2908qwjvoim2098rt21 8r228rcv2983rvakfjlsdkjf8awoerfjsjcockcockcockcockcockcock! So yeah, I was not a decent person to be around. I didn't even realize how shitty I was acting until after I had gotten home and relaxed for a bit, then re-read the messages, with the fact that I had been a complete ass to everyone I had worked with that entire day. At that point I made my apologies, then tried to re-center myself a bit and get some proper rest. I did at least take care of that part, so I decided until I've finished up my business with my current job I would at least keep my Social Network posting to a minimum, that way I could prevent myself from putting my foot in my mouth again. Nobody wants to see foot-in-mouth, it's disgusting, and you'll probably get mouth fungus. Plus to be honest, my copy of The Wind Waker HD came in, so FFXIV will have to take a back seat for a couple of days so I can venture forth as the Hero of Winds, :P As I'm writing this, I'm pulling a late night so I can make sure Pops is okay, when I came home I found him passed out in his chair, no telling how long he was sleeping there. I had to carry him to bed, then make sure he was covered up, and I've been checking up on him hourly (I'll probably do so again after I post this up). My roommate will get him to and back from the CT Scan, then I'll jump ahead to get him to meet with his Primary Doctor so we can figure out the next steps. So yeah, what I do is pretty fucking rough outside of work. I'm not able to socialize as much as I want, I won't be landing a GF anytime soon as I don't think there is a lady out there who would be able to deal with the pressure having to help take care of a 69-year old man, and there's no payoff, no reward, only making sure my Pops is able to go out on his own terms instead of a fucking nursing home, but I'll take that job, because helping peeps is what I do best, for better or worse. Also, Fuck Cancer. /rant

Tuesday, September 27, 2011 Adventures in OKCupid Land, Part 2, and other misc. thoughts

Alright, so I managed to get things figured out a bit in OKCupid over the last few days, mainly in adding link code to the profile, and also answering a ton on more questions which improved my matches a bit, but now I've run into the general problem that I'm sure many have faced on dating sites: Trying to get the other party to talk back. Now I'll be honest, I'm VERY picky on who I even choose to message, and it usually takes a few profile views over a few days for me to get a sense of who this person is. The thing is though, most of the ladies I usually go for are very similar to myself in that conversation with others can be tricky at times. I do tend to be very loquacious for the most part, but that's only because having to talk to strangers through work on a semi-regular basis has made me very approachable. Another trait of mine is that I don't use pickup lines or puns, I'm usually straight to the point and start asking questions to get to know the person immediately. For those of you who do know me, can you REALLY imagine me going up to a woman and being like, "Hey, your pants are like a mirror, 'cause I can see myself in em!". No. I'm guessing it's these factors that's why I've only gotten a couple of replys so far. It's no big deal as there are plenty of fish in the sea, I'll just have to keep chugging, and watching Guy on a Buffalo. That shit is hilarious.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011 Adventures in OkCupid land, Part 1.

Alright, so in the interest of FINALLY being able to score a girlfriend, one of the things I've went ahead and done is set up an OkCupid account. I heard some decent things about it and it didn't seem to come with too many hassles unlike some other dating sites, so I figured, what the hey? I set up a profile, filled in some info and then went off to AnimeFest to do Arcade work. I noticed I had some ladies already take a look at my account, and one peaked my interest, so I sent off a "hello, chat with me" message. Didn't get a reply after 4 days, so no worries, on to the next girl. Now with this site it uses questions you answer to determine what would be the best matches for you, but the only problem is that it wasn't taking into account a certain part of my personality, that I'm a GAMER. When I browsed a lot of profiles tonight, I saw a binding theme that many of them were looking for guys who are not into Videogaming. I did add in a bit onto my profile about not being the "Consumed by WoW" type, but to be honest this is really fucking annoying. I do own a crap ton of systems and like to break out a game here and there, but I'm not going to make a GF wait on me to finish up, I'm going to have everything wrapped up before she even gets to my house. The stereotypes that surround gamers grates me to no fucking end, seriously. Will this make me give up on OkCupid? Not yet, I'll just have to spend a ton of time trying to peruse profiles in order to find a good match for myself. The one thing I do like about the site is that you can't hide and do the FB stalk for photos thing, it displays who you've visited and who's visited you, *_*. Off to do some more digging.

Monday, September 5, 2011 AnimeFest 2011, in which I did some volunteer work, and didn't get a chance to say hi to anyone.

Well, after this weekend, I can honestly say heading out to Memphis for MSC 30 shouldn't be a problem. I just finished up a 4-day stint over at AnimeFest, a con I haven't been to since '98, when it was kinda tiny and little. I worked the Arcade the whole weekend and also went out and generally kept to myself. I got to see Maria Holic (pretty funny), Trigun: Badlands Rumble (phenomenal flick that I hope could maybe instill a remake of the original series that incorporates the stuff from Maximum), and the K-ON! dub (not too bad, it's gets a future buy from me simply because they kept the tunes in Japanese), plus I spent a ton of hours in the Dealer's Room, checked out cool stuff like Anime Hell, and generally had a good time. Only thing is, I was supposed to say hey and talk shop with a peep, she was looking for some help with a Cosplay Podcast. The main difference between me when I go to cons for funs and when I work them is that I treat it like a job, which means I'm concentrating on the business at hand and really don't have time for anything else socially. I only got 22 photos from the con, most on Sunday, mainly because I had already completed my shift for the day and I didn't want to have nothing to post to FB. On top of thinking about the tasks at hand, I also tend to get tunnelvision when it comes to the opposite sex, as in, I generally try to act cordial and nothing else. There are WAY too many "age traps" at Anime Cons nowanddays, the nature of the medium skewers young to begin with, and it doesn't help that I'm 30, which generally is a deathspell when it comes to Anime Fandom. Most of the time when folks get my age you're just expected to either start working for Anime Cons in some capacity, or sit in the Tabletop/MTG Gaming Rooms, as for some reason you're supposed to graduate to that as you get older. I wasn't even paying attention that much when one of the girls I keep in occasional contact with showed up later in the weekend, of course to be fair, she was doing her Yoko Cosplay, and I could've sworn there were a few Yoko's running around the Con. Again, tunnelvision. Overall things were nice and chill while working the arcade, although it helped that I only had to work 20+ total hours over the course of 4 days, although next time I'm taking my cooler for food/drink (as I'm not going to quest to 7-11 for cheap food), and bringing my heavy comforter for laying on the floor. Most of the patrons were generally nice folks and my fellow Arcade peeps were generally a blast to hang out with. Also, much props to Joe (the Arcade Manager) for being chill and also putting up with my snoring. The only real issue I had with AnimeFest was that there was no panels for Toku shows. That part I may have to rectify myself, muahhahahahaha! Anyhoo, back to reality, peace out.