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im a senior at UCLA.  i just got an A on a paper I honestly didnt deserve.  not an A-. not a B+. an A. 

in this paper, i basically call out thomas hobbes' sovereignty theory and pinch out a great big Cleveland Steamer on its chest.  here is my concluding statement:

"Like a school of cannibalistic piranha, Hobbes' theories mercilessly decimate each other[in their logical inconsistency], turning the waters red with its own gore.  But these rotting husks of piranha wash up on the banks of the Stygian river of political thought and allow the next generation to grow from the nutrients it leaves behind, allowing the next generation to mutate an extra enlightened fin or logical tooth so that it does not suffer the same fate of previous theories."

Piranha.  Cannibalistic Piranha.  That is what my sleep deprived mind came up with as an acceptable analogy for my conclusion. Thats what got me an A. Cannibalistic Piranha.  that sounds like a thrash-metal band.

top 20 overall and top 5 public MY ARSE.  im so sick of this place, with the vacuous sorority girls, retarded frat boys, ambivalent professors and arrogant grad students.  im sick of it all.

I came here for an education and am leaving with a meaningless slip of paper.  I came here thinking i was at an institution that valued knowledge and its pursuit, not a mockery of it.  and now im going to grad school soon. what a joke.

I would say that I am an open geek.  However, given my surroundings (LA) where the geek population is sparse, plus my surroundings on the TKD team gives me some jockish qualities, ive been told.  I tried not to take that as a pejorative.

I know people who possessed higher levels of geekitude then I, but it really pisses me off when someone plays geekier than thou.  I might not be the geekiest guy out there, but I am a geek.  Its my culture.

I wouldn't say I like anime so much... I dont really view it any different from other forms of television or cinema.  Watching pokemon as a kid was just saturday morning cartoons, as with DBZ on weekday afternoons on toonami.  it was just another cartoon to me.  it wasnt until i got deeper into the anime community that I was able to find stuff (and people's personalities, frankly) that would draw a sharp distinction between "hey i think this cartoon is cool" and the fervent wail of some pretty dedicated "otakus."

i started with jurassic park and then star wars and then video games.  these sub-categorical geek cultures tend to bleed into each other - alot of video gamers like anime and vice versa.

Since I'm graduating soon (eff UCLA btw) and there is a crappy job market, i was considering getting some sort of graduate research grant to examine the west coast geek phenomenon, since there is no "Unified Geek Theory (TM)." Hooray liberal arts degree.

geeks are my type of people.  they come from all backrounds, and are oftentimes the most accepting, understanding people in the world.  well, at least my geek friends are.   

i did, but i might not be able to go... i think i have a fight scheduled for that weekend.

I'd say Anime Fans CAN be quite mature...I think it just depends on the people, and such.

Although I have to say it would be nice to go to a meeting with some of us old foagies...those of us who remember Anime life Before Pokemon.

... you mean back when manga was chiseled into stone tablets? *dudumching*

i approve.  this is s good idea - this makes it easier for people in our age demographic to meet each other.  ever since i turned 19, i felt as though i had aged out of the key demographic for fanime - or at least the mode demographic.  I would love to meet people 21 and up, the more mature side of fanime.

im down.

i approve.

oh man, one of the reasons fanime is a guilty pleasure of mine is my complete embrace of temporary irresponsibility and reckless abandon.

i basically lived off of La Vic burritos, rockstar and vodka. and i managed to get to the final table at the saturday night poker tournament.

good times.

i live in SJ, but I go to UCLA full time, so im basically in LA until graduation in june.... hopefully ill be working security staff, so ill be able to meet people on this forum.

in addition, i think it would be alot more entertaining then the programming that takes place on center stage as is.  this would actually gather crowds, instead of just showing videos or having other weird game shows that people just walk by.

Yeah, uhm, as much as I would like plucking off some people on these boards, this wouldn't be possible, and what kind of people would enter? Naruto cosplayers who think they can do fake nonexistent style no jutsu, think of the demographic of con goers before you post something like this, seriously.

really? i mean if they sign a waiver, its all legal.... ive signed quite a few of those waivers in my time for tournaments, and they include phrases like "permanent disfigurement or death"...

try to think of it like adding a little bit of chlorine to the jean pool. and, on the optimistic side, narutards piss you off? come watch them get the snot kicked out of them by people who actually know how to fight.  better yet, if you know how to fight, come beat the snot out of some narutards yourself.

i think keeping the contestants into something like three or four year ranges, for example, if the girl was 19, the max age for contestants would be 22, if she was 20, 23, etc. 

the great thing is that we could have multiple age ranges - it could go as far up as possible so long as there are contestants within that age range.

OR we could use the XKCD age range equation.

now wait, i think this might be able to be turned into something entertaining - it could be like a game show done on the concourse stage. 

staff would get to pick contestants so that they arent to pervy or creepy looking. 

winner (male or female... uh, lets face it, male) contestant would win some sort of prize and the possibility of a date with the person asking the questions.

forget the speed dating setting, make it a gameshow.  "Otaku Love Connection" or something.

I have found that there is an assortment of martial artists on the fanime forums, and a thought occurred to me: What if we had some sort of mixed martial art tournament at fanime?

the rules could be pancrase or kyokushin style - grappling plus full contact kicks to the head and body with full contact hand strikes to the body (but no hand strikes to the face).  the paperwork to avoid liability as well as insurance would be irritating to have to deal with, but it could be done, and it would have a draw to it.

so what do you guys think? would it be entertaining? any martial artists out there?

Why go to a LAN center when you could have a LAN party!
But than again, why play LAN when you could play online...

because nothing quite beats fragging someone and yelling "IN YO FACE, CHARLIE MURPHY!" and actually yelling it in their face.  even better if its actually charlie murphy.

man, theres been some interesting response to this thread, and I've had some time to mull it over.

its clear that fanime for me isnt going to be as good as it was when i was 19 or 20; i am growing, constantly changing and evolving as a person and it would only make sense that my con experience would change.

fanime isnt usually the place i go to meet people, but rather to go with people i already know; i believe mikey hit this point before with much less tact and sensitivity, but they tend to be somewhat introverted and uneducated regarding social interaction.  Fanime is a wonderful opportunity to meet people; weirdos aside, there are plenty of people to meet.

however, in addition to making that point, mikey made another point for me - the 4chan rejects, flamers and general douche bags that make this forum less than it can be.  no one likes to be around jerks and assh*les.  Mikey seems to derive pleasure in picking on other people in pathological fashion.  Its sick.

but there will be assholes and douche bags and jerks wherever you go, so that in and of itself alone does not justify not going to the con.  3% of all males have anti-social personality disorder, but that is no reason not to do the things in life you normally do.

so i think the solution is to join staff or conops; if I like the concept of fanime but not the execution of it, then i should either stop going, or actively become a part of it so that i have some influence over the programming.

so it isnt goign to be the same as it was when i was 19 or 20; that doesnt mean anything, other then it is my responsibility to make it my convention.

thanks for all the feedback, guys.  except you, mikey.  you're kind of an assh*le. 

i wish i had time for videogames. (sigh)

sniper-crowbar.

is this what it feels like to lose faith in God?

i don't know anymore.  i got my prereg at this fanime.... but rather then have me criticize fanime for getting worse and worse, maybe its just me.  maybe i am outgrowing it.

I'm 22.  some people would say "about damn time" and be done with it.  i used to go for the anime and Asian cinema and pc gaming (which was super-tight and it sucked soooooo bad that it wasnt there last year).  now there is all this other stuff.  cosplay seems to dominate as always, and i don't participate unless its with a gf or part of a large group theme.  This past fanime seemed more like AnCafeCon then anything else. And since when did furries start coming to fanime...?

the forums are dominated by 4chan rejects... its starting to overshadow all the good that there is in fanime.

maybe i should join staff and try to work through these problems to see if they have an institutional root, or at least an institutional solution.  fanimecon can be way improved with some systemic tweaking.

bring back the pc gaming. improve the quality of animes shown, or at least strive harder to vett them for quality.  be more willing to introduce innovative ideas, like 18+ fanime speed dating, or a fanime "dating game" type game show, or a boffer room, or expanded card or board gaming; reaching out to other interests and subdemographics within the fanime demographic - these are all great ideas and with a little dillegence could be pulled off with exellence and make fanime an overall better event.


a humble suggestion from someone who is feeling a little tight for his fanime underoos.

Chuck Norris once wore an Alien Face Hugger as a sleep mask.  He found it to be comfortable, but stopped using it because the agonizing death screams of the Chest Burster trying to escape kept waking him up in the night.

CHUCK PARADOX....

but GIR, Chuck Norris does not sleep - he waits.

wallE was excellent. best movie ive seen in a long time.