Records of The New Scum

Can someone tell me why there are Russian Spam Bots in the Atlanta, GA (US) Vox Group?
に自動化されたロシア広告がある; Atlanta, Georgia (米国)の 声のグループ。 これはなぜあるか。

How do you cool off when you're upset?
取り乱すようになったら何を静めるためにするか。
Submitted by K.

Klonopin. I'm always upset.
所定の薬物の" Klonopin"。 私は常に気分を害する。

In my quest to find a new venting hole, I've come across these issues with the big sites.

1. LiveJournal: I won't go into what made me delete my 10-year-old elljay, but it was on it's last limbs anyway. It's actually kind of Vox's fault things were starting to die, but I mostly blame every other major site. The first blow that hit it was MySpace; more people started using that exclusively. Then there was Facebook going public and then Twitter. And then, of course, SixApart decided to pour their resources on their new project (you're looking at it; Vox.) So they sold LiveJournal to a Russian company who doesn't know how to monetize off of it properly, are damn near bankrupt and now only have maybe five people on staff. Don't get me wrong, I'd do the same if I was able to sell off a potentially dangerous thorn in their new project for a huge chunk of cash, so it's not like I'm angry at SixApart (and so many people were upset when they BOUGHT the company to begin with), especially when Vox is a lot more stable and damn useful than old project. Plus I don't see any Russian bots adding me.

2. VOX: See previous entry; basically, no solid userbase yet. Which is why I'm hoping LJ will die soon so people migrate over to here or Blogger. I kind of think it'll be here.

3. Blogger: Before I started Guttergamer's Paradise, I was going to have a similar blog using Blogger.  Well I got lazy and never had any motivation to keep it going.  I might still use it instead of Vox, but Blogger seems more "group blog" and theme oriented nowadays. Plus searching for new buddies/groups to read is a chore.

4. FaceBook: Nothing wrong, except it's not really a blog.

5. MySpace: It's MySpace. I hated it when it was popular as much as I hate it now. I felt that it was a required evil, especially considering every feature seem antiquated. Plus the ability to customize gave the lowest common denominator the ability to customize, which is NOT a pretty site. Never have I seen so many shitty gifs crammed onto one website. I haven't even been on it since before I got engaged, but last I heard, they were basically ripping off Facebook's ideas into their own shitty, useless code. Plus it's owned by Fox. Not a good sign.

6. Twitter: Now how are you going to get your point across in 140 or less characters? Plus it's MySpace Lite in a lot of ways, down to the random ad bots spamming you every twelve seconds and stupids. Oh, but celebrities use it? Like I give a shi-- oh wait, Warwick A. Davis actually seems pretty laid back. Fine, Twitter has it's uses, but I can't vent on that.

7. DeadJournal: Hey, isn't that... dead or something?

Vox has become deserted. There's even less people here than there was in the beta.

Maybe this is what I need. As long as I don't get like 20 spam messages a day or people getting on their drama llama and turncoating.

Due to personal reasons, I've deleted my personal blog (LiveJournal). This may soon replace it. I felt that Vox's community was much more sane. Unless things have changed. Does anyone even remember me?

個人的な理由は私の他のオンラインジャーナル(LiveJournal)削除された私を作った。 これはすぐに取り替えであるかもしれない。 私は大いにより少なく研摩でであって下さいそれを使用する人々およびそのVOXことを感じる。 事が変わらなかったら。 私は覚えられているか!?

Since I last came here:
更新:
1. I got married to my girlfriend of about seven months.
私は今結婚している。 私達はずっと11月以来日付を記入していた。 私達は6月に結婚していた。

2. I now run a new gaming website, this time partnered with a small company that wants to help monetize on it. We focus on budget/retro/weird gaming, from Atari 2600 to PlayStation 3. Come visit at guttergaming.com.
私は今TVのゲームかビデオゲームについてある新しいウェブサイトを動かす。 私はそれの貨幣化を助けたいと思う小会社と組まれる。 それは安価、古典的、および奇妙についてある(クソゲー) 賭博、Atari 2600からPlayStation3。 場所は英語にだけある。 私はそれが日本語にあることができるようにいつの日か望む。 あるイメージは日本の読者が理解するのを助けるかもしれない。 ウェブサイトはguttergaming.comである!

That's the short version.  Maybe I'll discuss it more in detail another time.
これは縮約版である。 多分私はそれをより詳しく論議してもいい別の日。 私の日本人はまだ恐ろしい… T_T

Somewhere up in Heaven, Wesley Willis was playing his new song "Barack Obama" after having Jimmy Hendrix open for him.  You could hear the roaring all the way down here.  Most people could, but it's a little hard to listen to it over everyone screaming about the economy.

I heard it, sometime in mid-November one day.  I was in the parking lot of my doctor's office around 6:00 pm, having just got out of a routine check up to make sure my new medication wasn't doing anything horrible.  I called my girlfriend just to yell out loud "Hey sweetheart, guess what!?  I got that growth checked out!  Doctor said it wasn't contagious!"  She and I both knew there was no growth on me. Because we have the same warped sense of humor, she knew I was just trying to frighten and revolt anyone within listening distance.  Much to my disappointment, there was no one around.  After telling her everything was fine and that I wasn't poisoning myself, I hung up and drove the long drive home.  I heard the same pre-set keyboard tune I had heard when he was alive in my head as I was trying to not get pulled over by the backwater town cops.

I could only imagine that, somewhere in hell, Ronald Reagan, Brutus, Jerry Falwell, Ayn Rand, and (for reasons beyond my own understanding despite this being my imagination) the little girl from the Poltergeist movies were all groaning in unison.

I remember meeting Wesley Willis a few months shortly before he passed on four years ago, when he played the 40 Watt.  It was one of the few times I got to meet one of my heroes, and could actually speak the same language seeing as to how most of them are Japanese (that didn't stop me from hitting on Yu Watase back in 2000).  But getting to bump heads and scream "RAWCK!" with him would end up being one of those stories I'd end up telling my adopted grandkids.

Wesley's death hit me hard, simply because I was thrilled with someone suffering from severe mental illness use it to entertain schmucks like me with only regular-sized mental illness.  I could go into all the crybabies that felt like his entire career was based around being exploited, but honest to god, I've never met a single fellow fan of his that felt anything but admiration for the guy.

Over five years later, I still remember Wesley and miss him today.  Rock over London, Rock on Heaven.  Sega Dreamcast: It's Thinking.

PS: Wesley, if you're up there reading this, I still haven't found your pistol.  Please don't fly down here and hit me with your karate stick.

First, let me just say that I do not claim to be involved with Anonymous. The only reason I'm not joining them is that I have a really hard time running my mouth and not letting people know who I am.

But I will support them the best that I can. I believe in freedom of speech. I believe faith should go without a cost. And I believe Tom Cruise has lost his fucking mind, and have every right to express that opinion.

私はアノニマス人でない。私はそれらと私の表面を隠している間ので自分自身を表現するI の難しさ抗議することができない。

でモ。私は最もよいののアノニマスを支える。私は言論の自由を信じる。私は宗教がお金を要するべきでないことを信じる。私はトムクルセ に異常に行き、その意見を表現するあらゆる権利があることを信じる。

Atlanta! Make Heaven and Hell fear your anger!

It's been a while, yeah?  Sadly, I had to move back to Athens, GA.  Long story, not worth getting into, I just want to get back to what it is I do.

Fushigi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden (Yuu Watase)

So it's no secret that I haven't been on the up and up when it comes to manga these past few years, and I've been pretty vocal as to why; most of it sucks.  If it doesn't suck, it gets caught up in the Otaku Hype Machine that magically makes anything worth reading instantly bland, even if it were something Osamu Tezuka wrote after coming back from the grave and drew with a pen that was blessed by Jesus, Buddah, Holy Mary and Muhammad.  When I heard Fushigi Yuugi creator and mangaka hottie Yu Watase was working on a prequel to her flagship serial, the first thing that came to mind was "Please tell me she's not going back to beat a dead horse in order to please the rabid fanbase of demented fangirls that think twin incest and retelling the same story over again are the bee's knees."  This coming after she once said she wasn't interested in revisiting the series.  I mean, she practically prints her own money as it is.  You'd be shocked how much a very simplistic drawing goes for at anime conventions.  Not even on some online auction site, just at auctions at anime cons!  She could draw a stick figure comprised of hiragana characters on a cocktail napkin, slap it on eBay, and bling! The insanely wealthy collectors go into a bid war so high, they'd have paid her enough for a month's rent in Tokyo.

Remember, the Pope can't even afford rent in Tokyo with the Vatican’s good wealth, which is why everyone's over there is Shintoist.*

So we know what kind of artist we're dealing with; one that's probably not starving anytime soon.  Then why in Enma's name is Watase pulling out the Fushigi Yuugi card again?  I could be optimistic and say that maybe she had a good idea.  But let me remind you that this is a piece written by The Ichiban Crush, and one thing that he doesn't do too well is assume the best only to let himself down, but rather seek out the worse and dance with that long enough until his toes can’t take anymore.  Last time I hoped for the best, Konami almost killed one of the only good RPG franchises on the market not tainted by the Otaku Hype Machine with its fourth installment.  Before that, Trinity and Neo died in a sequel to The Matrix that involved the Wachowskis ripping off animation frames from Dragon Ball Z, only to not end the story but keep it dragging on with a mediocre MMO computer game.  Thank god I'm not an optimistic Star Wars fan; otherwise I'd be screaming discontent alongside the bad James Earl Jones impersonator.  So no, what I'm going to assume is, since she's not starving for cash and actually has/had another ongoing series she's slaving away at, either the rabid fangirls and/or her publishers pushed enough of Watase's annoyance buttons until she finally caved in.

But I'm a consumer whore, and well, I caved in along side and bought a few volumes.  Not hoping for the best, but just as closure.  Despite a few minor annoyances a lot of people have with the original FY, it was a pretty decent story and really well designed.  Sure, some of the character development was slow or non-existent, and the heroine was dumber than dirt (which I'm content with.)  But honestly, the manga was really well put together.  There were some really unique designs, and it had a really good setting.  So, like a guy in a Jedi costume purchasing a ticket to Episode III, I went ahead and got in line for what I thought was going to be a eulogy.

And to be honest with you, I don't know if it was my extreme pessimism that did it or just being wrong once in a while, but Fushigi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden is so far not only living up to its predecessor, but manages to not be a complete carbon copy.  In fact, it's pretty obvious that Watase herself saw some things she wished could have been done and learned not to do the first time around, and actually did (or didn't do) 'em.

So, it's not-quiet a hundred years before the events of the original series. We're introduced to our new heroine and teenage girl savior, Takiko, a 17-year old shrine priestess.

Now unlike Miaka, several things set Takiko apart from her.  One is that her IQ count is high enough to be accepted into public elementary schools set by the standards of the Alabama Board of Education in the 1950's, and then some.  Another is that she apparently spends more time exercising other muscles than the ones in her mouth and jaw, even so much as actually getting involved in the fighting.  She's introduced trying to fit in to a new town, taking care of her terminally ill mother.  So yes, this time we get what most critics in addition to hardcore fans of the series wanted the first time around; a positive female role model.  Now because this is a prequel, we know what's going to happen as this character has been referenced before; that's right, she's probably gonna’ die if the tellings of the first story are to be taken as accurate.  So, yeah, that’s a bit of a buzzkill.  Guess that should be taken as a cue to just write her as a flawless do-gooder.

Thankfully she's got enough issues to add balance to her character and not make her as big of a martyr as the delusional ravings of a shoddy fanfic's Mary Sue.  First, she's got daddy-hating issues, which isn't too surprising see as to how he's the one who not only writes this magic book, but according to the original Suzaku story, kills her.  But no, right now she just hates him for being a workaholic.  Oh and she has the hots for her pop's assistant.  And then there's the general self-doubting.  Can't have a shoujo manga without a main character that loathes on her limits and abilities; it's actually* a law the Japanese diet passed right before they made it a crime for a Dragon Quest game to be released on a school night.

So stuff happens, she gets zapped into the book after trying to tear it to shreds, because it's apparently this thing is the root of her dad not spending enough time with his wife and kid.  Now she's in ancient fantasy xenophobic China, and like Miaka's story, she's destined to be a savior priestess, this time for Genbu (Genbu No Miko) to gather eight other magic warriors, the majority of whom are pretty boys, to help her summon a giant turtle that will bring peace and prosperity to the country side.  It’s the same song and dance, yeah?

Wrong!  Here's where the similarities end.  Unlike Miaka and her rival/best friend Yui, Takiko isn't worshiped, or even respected, by the majority of people she encounters even after it's revealed she's this girl savior.  No, even the very people she's trying to save want her dead.  Turns out that she, in addition to the seven celestial warriors, are bad omens.  Even some of her own predestined warriors either want nothing to do with her, or want her dead.  So unlike Miaka, she's not all cozy with the ruler of the land scarfing everything edible in sight, and she's not falling for the brash young fighter that looks just like the main male romance interest from all of Watase's other serials either.  No, she's just traveling the lands, trying not to get killed, and playing the role just to help people.

You know, now that I've said that, I guess Takiko really is teetering on typical self-sacrificing martyr. Crap.

Here's something else I like about this one that really sets things apart on Miaka's story, and it's what's got me hooked as of Volume 3.  The Genbu no Seishi are an even bigger band of freaks than the warriors from Suzaku's camp.

We've met this guy briefly before back in old-school FY, only he had been dead for like 200 years at the time.  This is Tomite.  He's a bounty hunter that shoots ice arrows, and serves as an awkward third corner in a romance triangle with the main character down the road.  He's about as normal as they come.

His comrade seen alongside in the original FY, Hikitsu, has yet to be properly introduced as of volume 3 so I'm not including him.

You can't have a Watase story without a trademark Tamaclone (Tama-klon-nay: Main character lead of every Yu Watase manga that looks exactly like the original Fushigi Yuugi's Tamahome), so we have Limdo/Rimudo.  Destined to be the heroine's main love interest, but of course right now it's at a kind of “beat around the bush” level.  Good that Watase's actually giving the love interest thing some breathing room rather than an "I love you!" screamed in the first volume.  Hell, he's still not really "teamed up" with the characters as of yet, so yeah, tons of strife.  But I'll tell you what I like about this guy.  See, he can control wind, right? Thing is, he has to be transformed into Uruki. Who's Uruki? Well...

Yup. Rimudo's a reluctant genderbender.  So we have a male love interest that has to transform into a hot chick to tear people to shreds.  Some type of Ranma/Tamahome/Ceres crossbreed?  Okay, I like that, it makes things more interesting.  What scares me is that Watase was originally going to make this guy a full fledged hermaphrodite, but thankfully figured out that would have twisted the collective mind of the fanbase even more than it already was.

Hatsui, a 12-year old who's only seen ability is rolling up in a ball and shooting needles everywhere.  Other than stuttering a whole helluvalot' and a possible natural at the Truffle Shuffle, there's not a whole lot to this kid as of yet, but I just hope he actually gets some real airtime.  Chiriko, the cute kid seishi from FY, kind of got ignored by fans it seems.  Now we have another kid, one that's a butterball, and I'm just willing to bet fangirls will do everything in their power to make sure he's loathed and ignored in the character development department just like Chiriko, who we barely knew.

Oh yeah, and the latest addition to the main cast isn't even human; the giant killer stone colossus, Namame!  Hell yeah, talk about original and kickass at the same time!

Right... it would have been if he stayed that way.  When he joins up, he kind of does a 180 change.

<- Scaled to actual size.

Well... at least he's not human, that's all that matters.  He looks like one of the Kodamas from Princess Mononoke, only stone.  It's kind of cute, actually, which is probably the entire point.

All in all, it's a good series, and Watase is actually taking her time on this rather than cranking out carbon copy crap that she could have easily gotten away with.  It starts off a little slow, but this is easily forgiven since the original was the same way, and this is much less painful.  I didn't peek ahead too much, but the story develops really well, with at least one actual female seishi that's not really a drag queen or anything so, that should be interesting.  If you liked the original, give it a shot, it won't destroy fond memories of the VHS fansub era one bit.  Good to see some things from the past kept intact.

-The IC

*blatant lies

Since my last entry, I've secured a position as an assistant manager for an entertainment facility. I don't plan on going into details at this moment in time, until the time comes to talk about it. But it's an average wage (plus dental and vision coverage), exactly what I'll need to live comfortably in my new home. Right now, I'm just trying to budget very carefully until my first paycheck, coming in a few days. From there I have loans that need to be paid off. And a car that needs a few repairs. And some new work shoes, because the ones I have are a size too small. Still in the woods, but starting to find a trail out. I probably won't even know when I'm actually established in this city until I'm living the way the average guy does, when I take a look around me and realize I'm already there.

A couple of nights ago, I did make a somewhat frivolous venture on the town. Midtown Atlanta that is. Here's a few tips for anyone who's as automotive dependent as I am: 1. Be prepared to pay around $10.00 for parking. 2. Get lost if you have the time to do so, it helps you familiarize yourself with the maze. 3. Don't be as impatient as me when I'm on the road. You'll be going at a snail's pace. Deal. And finally, 4. Learn the Peachtrees. There's about a dozen roads with "Peachtree" in the name. "Peachtree St." "Peachtree Rd." "Peachtree Lane". It's insane. In fact, Midtown's probably the one reason I'd want to learn the transit system here, as I never used any method of transit back home. Here? It'd make sense. At least when checking out Midtown.

So what brought me to midtown? It sure wasn't St. Pattie's Day. I actually forgotten about it. The new job and financial worries (in both my own court and my family's) had kind of sidetracked me from so much as the date of month. Nope, it was to meet a friend of mine. Someone I consider to be a fantastic writer I look up to, and as a person, a simple class act. I'd place this guy somewhere between "acquaintance" and "hero". But regardless, he was in town for a job interview. It's his show, I won't go into specifics. But he was staying at a swanky hotel at Atlantic Center. So I decided to meet up with him for a beer and food. Well, a beer and a half for me, and two or three for him. Two were on me.

After getting lost trying to find this one cafe I heard about, I gave up. I just paid $10 in a pay lot, settled on The Vortex, a fairly popular biker motif bar and grill with some fantastic burgers. Then the realization of the holiday hit us when we saw the mass majority of green attire around us. Here I was, designated driver. No signature Ichi-style chain carbombing for me. But I felt that I owed this guy a lot. Especially after having him listen to my godawful music and my senseless babble.

We waited about thirty minutes for a table (and I might add that we were extremely hungry). In the meanwhile, when we were finally allowed past the waiting point to the bar, I managed to grab my guest a beer, a chance for him to try a local brew of my choice. Terrapin. He seemed pleased with my choice. This was one of two beers I felt I owed him.

This one? For taking a leak on the sign of the Acclaim building after the company went under.*

While we were waiting, my friend (for the most part) and I struck up a conversation with a girl who got knocked of her bar booth by one of her friends. We (mostly he) chatted with her, when she complimented my hoodie. I was wearing a pre-conditioned pseudo faded brown hoodie with the words "The Lost Souls" with some other faded made up olde English writing below it, like you would see on a pre-twentieth century wine bottle, with a few skulls and crossbones dressed with bone wings on the front and back.

"Is Lost Souls a band or something?" My friend asked.
"Damifino." was my response. That's right. One word, not four. It's in the Ichionary.**
"So you just got a hoodie that said 'The Lost Souls' just for the hell of it?"
"No, I just like boned wings and the faded out writing that makes no sense."

The amusing part was that this was not sarcasm.

Anyways, I can't remember the girl's name. Right now I'm having a hard time remembering my new co-workers' names, much less a girl I had a conversation with at a bar for like five minutes. Here he was discussing his interview with Turner. I was discussing my meager former employer. She raved about the "F The President" bumper sticker she got from their sister store in Atlanta. I mentioned I have that same bumper sticker on my car. So does about 30% of everyone back home in Athens. Sweet girl. Helped the time go by. It was also rare to run into random conversations like that back home at the bars there.

When we finally got our table, we were greeted by a cute redhead waitress. I went ahead and told my guest to get whatever, and asked the waitress what she recommended in terms of good stout, as they were out of Guinness. A few moments later, she brought over a bottle of Rogue stout, and... well, I can't remember what my friend had ordered. I never had Rogue. I liked the Rogue.

As for why I owed him that second beer, it was for giving me an opportunity to write for a somewhat respected outlet, what I consider to be "a small but noticeable start." Even though I've only written one article for him so far.

We talked shop for a little bit while waiting on our burgers that are supposedly the best burgers in Atlanta and probably were. Honestly I was too damn hungry to care, as all I had to eat all day was a "Monster Biscuit" from Hardee's before my ten hour shift, and a donut. It was meat. Being served by a cute redhead. As I was devouring the sucker while washing it down with this new black ambrosia called "Rogue", my friend continued to talk shop in addition to swap the things two dudes who know the same circles talk about, while observing the scene before us, and working it.

I mean, he was working this crowd from afar. Just approaching and talking with almost anyone. Charming our waitress, complementing the burgers, just charming idle chitchat. Helping a drunken couple make some jukebox selections that
won over the crowd. In all my years dealing with all walks of life, I've yet to see the kind of charisma this guy was releasing. Of course, he downplayed it. Insuring that this kind of social flare doesn't require much except a little confidence.

Something I keep thinking I have. But the more I look at it, I'm really lacking.

I moved to this town thinking my shyness and unease in social situations would mellow once I came to this town. Don't get me wrong, it has helped to move to a city with more opportunities. But now I realize that if I'm ever going to shine to the masses, I'm going to have to force myself over all my fears and unease. Without "liquid courage."

Speaking of beer, my buddy introduced me to a new beer. This might actually be the best beer I've ever had. Sam Williams Oatmeal Stout. Know what? Forget what I said about Rogue. THIS is true liquid ambrosia. Of course I couldn't have too much, as I was still designated driver. But I had my fair share. Both my friend and our waitress stopped to see if I'd like it.

"He likes it! Mikey likes it!!" he exclaimed. So there, he added one more notch. Man has some damn good taste in beer.

I learned a lot from this guy just online. But in person, his suave and his ability to seize the moments, all moments, won me over completely. I don't have many people I really look up to, but I feel like this is the kind of guy I can learn more about than just the art of writing and journalism from. I won't put him on a pedestal, but it's the kind of things like this I'm grateful for. And hopefully lots more once he moves here. Someone I can learn a lot from. And above that, just another bloke to shoot it with.

Another lyric flowing through my head: And you are who you are but you don't realize, Belleza in you. It basically means, you have what it takes to be anything despite any flaws, you just have to see it for yourself (Belleza means beauty in Spanish, but can be taken in a different context, not just outer beauty). When I say I'm not the writer I want to be, I realized then that I'm also not the person I want to be. But he showed me what any person can do in the right frame of mind. With just confidence. And to have self-confidence. Now I just have to find truly realize it for myself.

For helping me realize that part, thank you, Frank Cifaldi.

* Source: The unpublished "At The Wake Of The Fallen Monster"
** Ichionary currently being compiled. Yes, I have a ton of strange slang.

I'm finally here in the empire of the south.

I'd like to tell you that the past two weeks have been nothing but adventurous, but far from it. I came here with roughly $200 in my bank account, now closer to $100. Right now, I'm staying with some very generous friends who seem to have faith in me. I had a better taste of this city before I moved here. But as of now, I am unemployed, and have not had much luck securing a job of any sort. I won't lie to you. I'm scared, and I'm uncomfortable with my unemployment. Most of what I fear is the normal worries of current and future financial status being in uncertain limbo. The other part of me is in agony due to being teased at the aroma of the social opportunities, but unable to taste it due to the cost. And then there's the impulse I feel to work. I've not been without a job in over four years. Now, these almost two weeks without working are starting to send me into a deep case of the blues.

Unemployment is a prison of sorts. The only bright side is that I'm staying in a nice place, with wonderful laid back people. But it means little when the only thing you can do in order to break free of the chains is search for employment. That's about 90% of what I do when I'm in front of my computer. Anytime I leave the house? It's either to drop off resumes and applications, rushing to interviews, or to pester employers I've already applied to. Weekends? You've heard the saying: Meaningless. It's extremely hard to settle and relax when all you want to do is work, when you have so much pent up energy. So really, it ends up becoming painful in addition to "meaningless".

These are the kind of private periods in my life that I try not to keep on record, but I felt it would do me some good to at least try and capture the period, if only to serve as a reminder in the future. Consider this Chapter One of my new life.