Just posting my Youmacon 2008 slideshow. I set it to Queen’s Don’t Stop Me now because of an awesome anime music video called Don’t Stop Mahoro Now, that used the song too. And of course, because I really like the song. Making the slideshow usually marks the end of the con for me. Enjoy!
Ever since Barack Obama began his run for the presidency, I’ve been able to feel some new pride walking down the street. Why? Because as a black man in America, regardless of all of my degrees and accomplishments, walking down the street, people were most likely to think me a criminal than a physicist, or a software engineer. But when Obama made his run and started winning, I feel a new, and at last, positive stereotype had been added to the mix. Maybe, just maybe, that black guy walking down the street with the quick, confident strides was like Barack Obama, smart, articulate, and strong. I hope that last night’s presidential victory has permanently added that new stereotype to the list of possibilities people see for all black people.
Never thought I’d see this, an African American president, but it has really happened!^_^ Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States of America! As I told a Nigerian news reporter earlier today, when the U.S. electoral system works, people can and will respond to a smart, tough campaign run on the issues. I am so proud that America appears to have turned a significant page in its history! I hope that the rest of world will see that we don’t just preach a lot of lofty ideas, we live by them.
Last year I had a great time at Youmacon and this year did not disappoint. First, moving to a much larger hotel, the Hyatt Dearborn, was definitely a winning move. Moving around was a lot easier as well as getting cosplay pics on the fly as I moved from one place to another. So I had a great time!
I’m not planning to go into great detail here, but I tried to get to things that I did not last year, like Live Action Mario Party and Live Action Mario Party After Dark. People sure do like screaming “hentai!!” And I went to a lot of panels, and watched a lot of AMVs, including a couple that I entered. I met some online friends and got to party with them at the rave. I went to the AMV dance too. I also participated in the Haruhi photoshoot, a first for me! ^___^ I love taking pictures, but tend to look horrible in pictures myself, so I only hope I didn’t wreck the shoot! In any case, what’s done is done and I feel pretty good about it.
I finished my Mikuru cosplay literally half an hour before I left for the con, but it all turned out well. I got a lot of compliments on it and picture requests. I also went ahead and entered the hall cosplay contest, mainly because I was happy with the costume and love talking a bit about it!:3 Usually I only wear a costume one day, but I was so happy with it that I washed it Saturday night, dried and pressed it to wear again on Sunday.
Needless to say, I hope I get to go again next year. And now for a lovely woman in a gorgeous chong sam who was kind enough to pose for me.
Just some more idle speculation. If the Republican party goes down in a crushing defeat, will divisions within the party finally lead to a split resulting in the formation of a viable third party? It’s no secret that the blame game has already begun between moderate Republicans and the far right religio-conservative wing of the party. But does the leadership and vision exist to create a complete split?
Some have argued that the current two party system is too limiting for the kind of dynamic government that the U.S. needs in the 21st century. A major 3rd party could be just the lubrication needed to keep us moving forward. I for one would like to see moderate Republicans who believe in classic Republican values of limited government and personal freedom, freed of the religious and rightist elements that have highjacked the Republican party. In the past, John McCain would have been the most likely to lead this revolt, but if he does go down in a crushing defeat, it is unlikely that he could lead the split. It seems far more likely that the religious conservative faction will split off on their own with people like Huckabee and Palin leading the way. If that happens, perhaps the moderates will join up with the Libertarians.
With speculation mounting that Obama may win in a Democratic party landslide, I wonder if we may actually see what I’ll call the “Don’t Back No Losers Effect”. This is when people decide that they would rather throw their support behind whoever looks like they will win. No one likes to be on the losing side, and with the McCain campaign reputed to be in disarray, they are looking more and more like the kind of losers that anyone still on the fence is not likely to find very attractive.
I’ve long worried that the polls showing Obama to be ahead were inflated due to the Bradley Effect, but Frank Rich’s Op-Ed piece in the NY Times, In Defense of White People, has made me rethink that. Perhaps things really have changed. In a few days, we’ll have an answer to that question.
A few days ago I voted early and cast my vote for Barack Obama! I’m going to be on the road for Youmacon next weekend, so I wanted to be sure that nothing, like car failure, kept me from getting back to cast my vote. Early voting was pretty easy, I was in line for maybe 15 minutes at the board of elections. And being able to plan when to vote on my own schedule was nice too.
In other news, another former Bushie supports Obama! So get out there and vote Obama, everyone’s doin it!^__^
I’m watching the final Obama McCain debate, well sort of half watching, and one thing that is painfully obvious is that McCain’s tank is empty. For the most part, McCain is basically ignoring what Obama is saying to get in his digs. Admittedly, both of them are taking their opportunities to get in some campaign boilerplate, but Obama is a lot better at it. More importantly though, Obama has much more detailed plans, versus McCain’s collection of disjointed buzz words.
If McCain is hoping to shake Obama up and land some body blows, so far he is failing mightily. So I just wonder now, will the United States actually choose the man who appears to be so much superior to the other, or will we stumble over the twin specters of racism and stupidity.
While I’m excitedly awaiting tonight’s NASCAR race in Charlotte, the organization’s obvious Republican partisanship is beginning to turn me off. I just read that Cindy McCain, wife of Republican presidential nominee, John McCain, is honorary race director for tonight’s race. If NASCAR is serious about expanding its fan base, then this kind of partisanship has got to stop. I don’t expect the drivers and teams to share all of my views any more than I would expect that of other fans. But for the parent organization to so obviously embrace the Republican party makes me wonder if they really want my demographic to feel at home in NASCAR at all. As it stands now, I may not be watching NASCAR come next season.
I made my mind up to support Barrack Obama for President of the United States a long time ago. So I really haven’t been paying all that much attention to the debates. But last night my dad came by, so we watched the Obama – McCain town hall meeting last night.
Needless to say, I’m still supporting Obama, but the thing that really surprised me was just how very very old McCain looked. I knew he was old, but wasn’t really prepared for the shock of seeing this on TV. He looked old, sounded old, and moved like a really old man. Not that being old is bad, in and of itself, but I really don’t think the town hall meeting format is doing him any favors now.
In a traditional debate, the candidates pretty much stay behind the podium and the viewer focuses on what they are saying and perhaps facial expressions. But in the town hall format, there’s no where to hide, body language is on full display. McCain’s body was just screaming, look at how old I am!
Now that the first rushed Wall Street bailout plan has been rightfully swatted down, maybe it’s time to really work on something to solve the problem. Why not gather the finest minds in economics and finance together to form an Economic Manhattan Project? Give them say 3 months to come up with at least 3 plans to fix the mess and prevent its recurrence going forward.
It would then be Congress’ responsibility to select the plan to implement. Of course the plans would be subject to debate and compromise. But under the watchful eye of the public, I think there’s a chance that the temptation to slip back into the usual mode of congressional business could be lessened. (One can dream right?) In any case, at least we would have on the table some plans that make sense and might just work.
Sadly, I doubt that any such thing will come to pass this close to a presidential election. But it sure would be nice to put our vast intellectual resources in motion for the common good for a change.
Well how about that? The bailout bill failed in the House today. Now maybe they’re actually listening to the taxpayers who don’t want to be stuck writing a huge welfare check for the well heeled morons who got us into this mess. With little oversight, there is no guarantee that all the jobs that this bailout supposedly would save, would be saved at all. As soon as they get that money, it’ll be business as usual with those of us lower on the food chain getting the sack while the CEO’s and CFO’s figure out new ways to get around the lame rules this bailout supposedly imposes. And still, nothing in the bill to help the perhaps millions of Americans in serious mortgage trouble.
If the system needs to be fixed, then really fix it! We don’t need or want Wall Street Welfare. Take as long as it takes to do the job right so that this doesn’t have to happen again. I sincerely wish that the Congress could find its way to putting the people first for a change instead of their rich pals.
There aren’t really many things that make me rage, but blatant stupidity is definitely one of them, and injustice is another. Against the backdrop of thousands of people losing their homes and being tossed out on the street with little care or notice from the government, we’re preparing to bailout the fatcats who orchestrated this mess to the tune of $700 billion USD or more! *RAGE*
What’s the big rush? This crisis was primarily precipitated by unbridled greed and overly abstracted financial “products” that effectively hid the true risk of the underlying investment. In the end, Wall Street became little more than a casino. Now, why all the rush to turn over hundreds of billions of dollars to the same morons who got us into this mess? I would rather see a well thought out plan that was transparent and made sense come out in 3 to 6 months, than something pushed through quickly that can only further enable the gambling addicts on Wall Street.
The world is not likely to end in 3 months or even 6, but with the US presidential election little over a month away, I guess the politicians are afraid the voters will punish them if they don’t rush something through. Sadly, I scarcely believe the electorate is that smart, otherwise why on Earth would anyone even consider electing McCain and Palin a viable option? Sadder still, I don’t think anyone responsible is going to be punished for the financial meltdown that has taken place. I suppose punishing blind, reckless greed would be just too un-American… *RAGE*
Last month I finished up a new anime music video (AMV) to enter in Yaoi-con’s AMV contest. Making an AMV is challenging enough, but making a shonen ai themed one added an extra degree of difficulty. I don’t know if it made the finals yet, but I’m pretty happy with, and it is apparently rather popular with crossdressing enthusiasts on YouTube!
A few months ago, YouTube introduced the Insight tool which allows video creators to learn something about the people viewing their creations. You can see things like what countries your video is popular in, age and gender demographics of viewers, and the search terms used to find your video.
My new video, Nando Mo Hime-chan, uses clips from the anime series Princess Princess which features a trio of crossdressing boys, the Princesses. Apparently it was my use of the term “crossdressing” that directed a large number of viewers to the video shortly after I posted it. Even now, nearly a month later, about 25% of viewers come across the video after searching for videos pertaining to crossdressing. The data also shows that 75% of viewers of the video are males spread evenly from the teen years to the 60’s, while female viewers are primarily teenagers.
The long anticipated Spore has been recently released for the PC. I’ve been moving away from PC games to consoles for the last few years now, but there’d been so much hype around Spore that I had been tempted to buy a copy anyway. But now I hear that the DRM in Spore is so onerous that people are starting to pirate it en masse. Apparently, you can only install Spore 3 times on your PC for any reason. So if your machine is infested with spyware and you have to reinstall everything, you’re out of luck with Spore if you’ve already used up your 3 strikes. Having had to reinstall Windows on numerous occasions, I can see this as a likely scenario for many. So I’ll be taking a pass on Spore, unless it comes to Xbox 360.
It makes me wonder if the powers that be are intentionally trying to kill off PC gaming for good. Most pirates weren’t likely going to buy a legit copy of the game anyway, but onerous DRM can only scare off customers willing to pay cash money for it. This doesn’t sound like a very sustainable business model to me. It reminds me of my local CVS drugstore, which in one of the most affluent neighborhoods in Chicago, has started locking up things like body washes. Rather than hire security to catch shoplifters, they instead treat all of their customers like criminals and in the process offend and thus lose paying customers like me!
I have no time for screwy DRM, but I don’t want to pirate Spore either, so I guess I won’t be playing it on the PC at all.T_T