Archive for June, 2009

Two posts before, I wrote:

I’d like to mention that the person, of which I thought is gonna be my girlfriend, broke my heart bigtime last year I was there [at Q-Con, an Anime convention]. If you read this right now, you know who you are. This time I gonna do it my way, and not being tortured to stay up as inhumanely as possible, say until like 6.30 AM. I wanna do it my way. And if I run into you – tough luck. You showed this con to me. You also broke my heart. At this con. Now live with the burden of seeing me each year.

You see, pretty much exactly (maybe even to this day) a year ago, I was with this girl. We met on the web first, then for real. She lives in Belfast. As things went on, we got closer. I thought something is really building up here. So on last year’s Q-Con weekend, I took two extra days off to see her, for after the con. Turns out those days were useless, didn’t need to take them. Here’s why.

So you see, on the Sunday of the con weekend, they do Cos-Play. Costume play per se, you put on the clothes of your favorite character (or any other character you want) and you perform as those characters in live-action, assuming their names, abilities, attitudes. Because it looked as if we were boy-girlfriend sort of thing, she asked me if I could perform with her. I agreed. I was to play James of Team Rocket. Jessie is the girl of the duo. Team Rocket is a duo of slightly clumsy evil-doers in the wildly popular Anime show “Pokemon”. Although the show is primarily aimed at kids, I agreed to play the part.

I learned the lines. I studied the James character. And why? Because I wanted us to win. I wanted to be a good performance. I did everything I could.

However, on that Sunday morning at her place, she gave me the costume of James. Asked me to put it on. So I did. She then said “Man you look totally ridiculous in those clothes… I can’t take you there – the thing is off.” I said that I promised her to do it. Promises are promises you know. She said “don’t care about breaking a promise, just change back”. I did as she asked without arguing. Although I was pretty PISSED for 3 fucking weeks I was learning the damn character. On the bus stop for the bus to the Student’s Union she said that she doesn’t really feel like talking or having me around right now. “It’s not really personal… I just don’t want to see you right now” – were her exact words.

Not entirely sure what she meant, I asked what the meaning of that would be. In a desperate move to get a clear answer I reminded her that I did all the learning, and took off two days to see her and rest. She then said I could also rest at home. I then asked if she wanted me to leave, and she said yes. So I left, took a train home. Crying all day long.

One day later, over god damn IM, she tells me that she doesn’t wanna be my boyfriend no more – but no specific reason.

And that was pretty much the end of that.

Now, I go to the con. Again. Alone. As you are in a confined space you can’t necessarily always avoid one another – and so I ran into her. Not on purpose. I saw her first but she didn’t see me at that point. I’m at some consoles to watch others play, and then she – on purpose – walks right in front of me, from right to left. I look into her eyes, not saying anything at all. She walked away. I saw her again occasionally, but I was okay with that. After all, she is a legitimate convention visitor and I cannot tell her to always be out of my way or not to be on the floor I am on.

But this isn’t it. The big bomb drops now. And if you, the person I am talking about, are reading this, well… What goes around comes around.

So I go to the con this morning. Again, to have some final hours of fun. I’m at the Call Of Duty network session table, trying to have a game with others. And then… she appears.

With her boyfriend. In THE GODDAMN COSTUME!! Both of them.

And of course, they are showing off right behind where I am sitting. So people start taking photos of them.

I said to myself that this is the only one chance I have of payback, this is my moment. So I grab my phone, turn on the photo mode, position myself right in front of them… And take a photo. I could see in her eyes this fear, this desperation… this ‘OH. MY. GOD!!! PLEASE NO!!’. I did not say a single word.

And I am thinking: another photo for my blog! Thank you very much for that!

So after this story, I’m putting the photo here. For everyone to see. For everyone to realize, how evil you are.

[Taken down photograph as per legal request]

You know what they say:

Every dog has his day.

// UPDATE, 9:48 PM
According to her Bebo page (which I can’t link to because the link contains her real name – and I will not publish the name, for privacy reasons), she does not only have a boyfriend, she is engaged. That’s kinda funny and interesting, because she was with me – or so I thought – just about a year ago. Of course I don’t have the background on this, but usually people don’t engage within a year. Also interesting is, that apparently she is getting married in Las Vegas next year, according to the page. I hope her marriage breaks into millions of pieces. So that she is even more depressed as she was when I met her.

I gonna sing this song for you over and over.

Tell me tell me is life just a playground?
Think you’re the real deal honey
And someone’ll always look out for you

Good good luck
in your new bed
Enjoy your nightmares

———-

Basement Jaxx
Good Luck
Appleseed OST

Things like this happen at anime conventions. I just HAD to caption it.

Who knows Anime, knows Ghost In The Shell. Obviously. If you don’t know it, let me briefly explain. It’s not too far in the future, around 2030. The Internet is practically the core of the nation, people have implants to improve certain things or add functionality. For example, memories of each person can be accessed via cable (if the government requires to do so). Or people have direct access to the web using their brains alone. This also enabled wireless communication between people, sort of a telepathic thing. But then, also, this spawned a whole new generation of crimes and hackers. And to top it off, there are entirely robotic bodies which can be run by a human soul – or “Ghost” in the shell.

Section 9, a secret anti-crime department of the Japanese government, employs 8 of the finest people when it comes to crime-fighting. Run by a wise man Aramaki, the group has to deal with pretty tough stuff. Since they are on the top of the government chain, Section 9 has access to the latest and greatest feats in technology – and one of those feats are “Tachikomas”. Super advanced defence robots, that also serve as “think” tanks. They seem to have individuality of sorts, seem to enjoy their existence and are always happy to help.

The core cast of Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex

Eventually the crew is confronted with a truly mind-boggling case. They come across a super-hacker, with never-before seen abilities. Able to pull off stunts so incredible that it almost seems unreal to them. Six years ago, there has been an assault on a certain member of the government. The person responsible managed to hack the eyes of all people around him live and in real-time, disguising himself only with a logo… The logo of himself, who then became known as The Laughing Man. But he never referred to himself as that – it was the media who coined that name for him. Manipulating the streams of cameras and people, all at the same time, simultaneously, has never been seen before, or after – and Section 9 and their crew is about to make one startling, and truly mind-boggling discovery of the truth.

“I thought what I’d do was, I’d pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes”. The Laughing Man logo.

I finished watching it last night, and this has been another great masterpiece of the mind from Shirow Masamune, the creator this one and many others. The music, again, was scored and composed by Yoko Kanno. The voice acting was fantastic and works phenomenally nice on this one, in English.

If you don’t have it – get it. Buy it. Torrent it. Watch it. It really is worth your while.

So this afternoon I was in the city, and on my way home I got stuck in the bus, as a tragic accident had happened. I don’t know what exactly happened, only that it seemed to be kinda severe.