Picture Perfect Paranoia

There was a recent brouhaha over at Dynasty, and it’s about scanlations. Again. It’s an issue ad nauseum.

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I for one will never be able to understand why they did what they did. Nevertheless, today is another anniversary for the Anime Nano Podcast, dead or alive. XP

On the heels of what has transpired about two weeks ago, the online community has spoken.

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Wow, did I miss the party? It sure looks like I did.

Anyway, congrats to the winners of their respective categories! Let’s just hope the anime blogging community flourishes, and all.

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Finally, my blogging software is updated to the latest version 2.5!

Kudos to Maestro for borrowing his spare time to make the upgrade.

As you all know, AnimeBlogger.Net is in dire financial straits, which started last month and is still ongoing. From Maestro:

.AnimeBlogger.net has always been supportive of new writers all over the world to establish their blog for free. As we continue to expand and include new bloggers to the anime blogosphere, we have reached a point where advertising dollars are not enough to pay for the hosting services.

Hence, we have decided to appeal for donations to cover the taxes and hosting fees of AnimeBlogger.net. The first goal is to raise US$1600 to cover three months of hosting and the taxes applicable to AnimeBlogger.net. When we have secured that amount, we are looking into adding another server in order to accommodate more writers, which is where the second goal comes in. If we reach our second goal of US$2200, we’ll be able to add another server.

If you are wondering how you can donate to us, there are various ways. First, you can directly donate to the site via Amazon or Paypal from our donations page. Second, you can buy AnimeBlogger.net merchandise. As an incentive to those who donate, everyone who donates more than $5 will be entered to win a prize.

Currently we have a sponsor that’s paying for two AnimeBlogger.net shirts for winners. You can also contribute any anime-related items as prizes for the lucky draw.

AnimeBlogger.net needs your help. Everyone is integral to the support of AnimeBlogger.net. Every little bit counts to hit our target, be it $1 or $100. You will make a difference. Thank you and please continue to explore our anime blogging community!

So go ahead and donate your share. Meanwhile I’ll ask Maestro’s assistance, again, for installing the donation plugin for this blog.

I’ll be mostly offline starting tomorrow, in preparation for the start of the Final Exams.

Here’s a rather humorous picture and supplemental serious post to think about.

Warning: Too Much Blogging is Dangerous to your Health - PinoyBloggero

Remember this?

Well, I’d figured I’d chip in my nominations before the deadline, ’cause I have this tendency to beat the deadline and all.

It’s been nagging the back of my head the whole day. So now it’s back to the study room for me.

BTW, if you’re curious about the said nominations of mine, here they are:

http://www.minaidehazukashii.com/
http://anime.jefflawson.net/
http://animeotaku.animeblogger.net/

I’ve been keeping a relatively low profile in the anime blogosphere, since I’m busy with my thesis and all, but hey, there’s got to be some way to keep this blog relevant.

So there’s a blog awards of sorts going on. I got notified of this via an email from the AnimeBlogger.net Site Announcements.

Herein is the opening paragraph:

Given the exponential growth of the anime blogosphere, the number of quality blogs with insightful opinions and perspectives are ever increasing. Yet a majority of the blogs out there remain isolated, lacking a sense of community and meaningful interaction. The Anime Blog Awards was created in order to bridge that gap by recognizing worthy bloggers and their achievements in various fields.

So recognition, notoriety or social networking are involved, huh? This I have to ascertain.

As of now, the people behind this event (which was scheduled on April 1st, so no it’s no joke) decided to remain anonymous - on the site page that is. It’s rumored that a Singaporean animeblogger by the name of Impz is one of the few people who set up the event. This remains to be uncertain.

However one thing is. Thanks to the “super-sleuth” done by Pete Zaitcev of Ani-Nouto (though he’s been rather humble about it), it has been confirmed that fellow animeblogger Mellow Bunny is behind the event.

I’m not claiming to be an Internet super-sleuth (as “metantei” was translated in Haruhi), but they aren’t really hiding. It says right there in the footer: “Modified for The Anime Blog Awards by mellow_bunny 2008.” It has AB.net Donation Drive gauge. And the e-mail was sent from 116.14.79.112, which resolves to bb116-14-79-112.singnet.com.sg (it’s a /15 block, but you can fuzzy-search your own server logs).

After visiting the site, and sifting through the list of participants, I’ve noted that not a single animeblogger from the Philippines is participating. Well that’s kind of an odd one, since I’ve seen glances of anime fans waiting for their passion for the hobby to unfold. Oh well, at least it’s certain that I won’t be in, as you know.

So I know now what’s been happening.

Well, who knew that the anime industry is going through shittier times than prior to the Fansub Era?

What the Japanese media companies are experiencing right now could draw comparisons from the fact that newspaper printings are going digital. That available content can now be found on the Web, as opposed to strictly on print. The change could be slightly drastic, and some companies are taking a hard-line approach to stemming the flow of goods going off the shelves and onto the price listings on the Internet.

Sigh.

When I started immersing myself into anime, the whole industry wasn’t this hesitant in providing fansub groups with leeway to distribute their titles, acting as a sort of middleman between the consumers (that means us) and the producers (distributing companies, animators, artists, etc.). With the advent of the Internet as a distributing medium, this creates an upset in the balance, and now the producers are struggling to recapture their target, now fully or partially realizing the benefits of bypassing this conduit in favor of more accessible, less costly, and thus less restrictive means of obtaining content they are in favor of.

As fellow blogger Nagi now cites:

With the failure of major player Geneon earlier this year and the recent increased Japanese hostility towards fansubs, the future of anime both here and abroad has been a much discussed topic of late, with many greatly differing opinions.

…

It gets worse when the original Japanese rights holders horn in on things and constantly try to push the domestic markets to charge even more for anime to bring the rest of the world in line with their own absurd pricing policies, and prevent Japanese citizens from importing the cheaper foreign anime DVDs to circumvent their own native country’s horrendous practices. It’s bad enough that the Japanese charge domestic licensers two arms and three legs just to make this stuff available to us at all and effectively started this entire mess, but it seems they just won’t be satisfied until they’ve completely changed our market to match theirs and make us pay as much as every starving otaku and hikkomori. It’s now becoming an undisputed fact: prices rising sky high does not correlate with the high demand for anime merchandise and paraphernalia. And it’s this problem that has become the subject of much discussion.

Hopefully, the local industry (that means both in Japan and elsewhere) realizes the kinks in this setup, for the betterment of both them and us.

…at least that’s what I think where the problem lies. If anyone can offer some comments or suggestions concerning this issue, feel free to inform me.

Been quiet in these here parts, so instead of writing something new, I decided to do something else to my blog baby. Yup, reducing the size of the blogroll.

Been noticing that it’s gotten longer than my other list of links. Plus, it somehow dilutes the credibility of this blog, having drawn info from obscure sources, such that no one has been paying any sort of attention to them.

And it is with this understanding that I came upon a decision point.

If you are a blog owner, whose blog (especially those whose link I will be “retiring”) is listed in the blogroll, please notify that the status of your activity is higher than what I occasionally see, and we cam come to an arrangement as to your blog’s visibility.

That is all.

You know, if there is some issues that I cannot fathom in the anime fandomverse, it’s the point and intentions of those nitpicking “fans”. (I’m looking at a particular elitist with a JLPT1 under the belt)

Why do they do this?

What do they expect to gain in return for their actions?

What are their reasons behind their decision (and consequent action) to pounce upon those within the lower ranking of understanding Japanese (or better yet, foreign) culture?

We look into this “dorama” here at PPP.

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9rules’ New Rules at BasuGasuBakuhatsu Anime Blog

You know, looking at the slew of comments left by ex-members, as well as those who have “jumped ship”, I’m having mixed feelings on where 9Rules is heading.

At one point, when they announced the whole “you have been invited to join the 9rules network” invitation, I was post haste interested in joining, as I’ve never been in a “community” as big as 9rules is (or was, I mean). Looking at my partipiation rate at the Animeblogger Forums and the Anime Nano forums made me that interested. I really want in.

Then again, some community do “devolve” into elitist orgs when they list down additional “rules”, such as this:

If you feel you are contributing by your entries being shown only, 9rules is no longer a good fit for you, decline the agreement (or do not respond), please remove the leaf from your site and we will remove your site from displaying on 9rules.

This made me want to spit in their faces and tell them, “Screw you. I suggest you step in our shoes, or better yet, ask yourselves if you have lives.”

Kinda harsh, but really, we have two kinds of personas: the virtual persona you see on the Internet, and the “real persona” wherever you look around.

This is somehow funny or amusing, depending on your perspective, but I seem to recall how “my epenis got deflated” (which is what I said in this post) got hit 3 times. I thought I was the only one living under the rock for some time.

So, as a final word, “A community isn’t measured by standards, but by organic interaction,” (to quip Hung)

via CuteProxy

So in my absence, there was this whole discussion on relationships between hobbyists (or in our case, fellow otaku) of the opposite.

With Hidoshi starting the discussion, others soon followed, often with ridicule, and a few with serious mindsets.

Here’s Answerman’s response on the whole debate.

I’ve been working in this industry for a long time now and - although I’m hesitant to admit it - have dated my fair share of otaku chicks. Here are a few rules of thumb to remember:

1. The odds are good, but the goods are odd.
2. By and large, they are bi and large.

Okay, okay, I’m joking. Seriously, otaku girls are just like the girls in any other nerd hobby; generally they’re easy to get along with, probably a little daffy (in a good way) and likely are more attracted to guys like you. Here are my A+ dating tips for reeling in your dream nerd girl:

1. Wear as many ironic, faux-vintage Nintendo shirts as possible. Girls love a guy in a “Don’t make me go Zelda on your ass” tee-shirt. It lets them know that you are willing - nay, eager - to go Zelda on their ass.
2. Play a lot of World of Warcraft and/or any other popular, recognizable MMORPG. EVE Online might be a little too obscure and nobody plays Ragnarok anymore, so you’ll want to go with something dependable like WoW. Bonus Tip: nerd girls are more likely to put out as their level 63 Night Elf Ranger. Try and join their guild. Brush up on your sexy emotes, and they’ll go wild.
3. The best place to take them on a date is to the 9:40 PM bargain theatre showing of Transformers. When Optimus Prime tells Shia LeBeouf to cram the All Spark into his chest cavity, grab her breast and stare right into her eyes.
4. Neckbeard, Neckbeard, Neckbeard.

I don’t get the reference to the last item, but I went ROFL on the 3rd one. Score one for harassment (as well as our amusement).

For anyone out there who’s an avid subscriber, July 16 marks the first anniversary of the Anime Nano Podcast. It boasts to “cover a range of subjects, mostly having to do with anime that is currently airing in Japan.” Also, it tags itself as “the only anime podcast you’ll ever need!!”

Haha. Well those were fun memories. After surviving a couple of hiatus periods, then going into an indeterminate hibernation (it must make good of its comeback), we still wish the crew of Hung and his (now former) co-hosts Hinano and JPMeyer: WE WANT NANO!