10-9-2002:How many times has this happened to you,... or have you done this?
How many times has this happened to you,... or have you done this?
The Anime community by and large never ceases to amaze me simply in terms of the spectrum of people that are a part of it. Just about anyone you see on the street could be an Anime fan and you would never know it.
...that is except for a very special type of individual in the community.
So as mentioned before, Nuriko, Allen, John_7, Gary and myself were in the LA/Santa Monica are last Saturday visiting various Anime stores and Japanese bookstores when we came upon a little shop called Anime Jungle. While we were there, we were examining various objects of interest, including some laser discs, Figurines, you know the usual things fans look through. It was then we moved onto the large collection of poster books...
...and then he came along.
Before I go any further, I need to make it clear that I am not considered a "normal" Otaku by any shape or means. Anime does not dominate my life or bodily functions. Meaning I won't drop $2K into Anime related merchandise. In fact, I won't even drop $2 into something unless I really REALLY like it, which means it's either something from Hellsing or GTO, because those to me are the only series that I am willing to pay for... most of the time.
However, its not like I don't like Anime. Far from it, I grew up with Anime and enjoy its finer points just as anyone else. But I don't mind if a DVD isn't "official" or getting non-licensed Fan subs from newsgroups....
...well let me put it this way:
"Anything more than FREE is too expensive."
getting back to the point:
Oh yes. "...and then he came along."
For now, I will refer to him as "Fan Boy" simply because I don't know his name, nor do I care. However, if I did know his name I would post his name because I was that annoyed. To hell with anonymity I say. And if you have a problem with this rant, you can e-mail me anytime and I will be more than happy to have a friendly dialogue with you about why I posted this rant.
...So the four of us are looking through the various Anime posters when "Fan Boy" approaches from our 9 o'clock. After assessing the situation and his targets, he immediately begins to execute his battle plan that to him is as natural and instinctive as me visually undressing a pretty woman on the street with my eyes.
(John_7 flips the poster page....)
Fan Boy: "Oh yeah, that's Eva. Great Series."
Of course I wouldn't know what the hell EVA was...
(John_7 flips to the next poster...)
John_7: "Hey Pen, do you have thi-"
Fan Boy: "Hey! That's Di Gi-Charat. I highly recommend that series, a bit goofy though."
Really? No fucking shit. Maybe that's why John was asking Penny if they had the poster.
(John_7 flips to the next poster page....)
Fan Boy: "That's a horrible poster! I also couldn't believe the ending of {insert series here... I forget of the top of my head}. I was so disappointed."
Are we noticing a pattern? Basically we had to sit there and listen to basically this guy's stupid-ass take on EVERY single poster and related Anime series while we went through about 5 books that contained 15 - 30 posters a piece. By the end of the "experience" I was ready to put him out of our misery.
...and as if it weren't enough...
Nuriko's favorite Disney Animated movie is Oliver & Company, and has wanted a movie poster for it for a while. Anime Jungle just HAPPENS to have one this time. So Nuriko wants to get it for her own collection. it is at this time that Fan Boy proceeds to tell Nuriko how horrible Oliver & Co. is because it is not Anime. Not only that, but tries to convince Nuriko not to spend her money on, "...that abomination of a poster."
It's not his money, so why in the blue flying FUCK does he care? The amount of arrogance that is required to stand there in front of someone with a straight face and basically say, "You're a dumb ass for wanting this because I think its garbage," is simply mind numbing.
...So let's pause for a moment and poll amongst ourselves:
How many of you have had to deal with this? Now I know everyone likes to show how big their respective Anime "Nuts" are by doing trivia-offs, inserting various Anime references into conversation, and other pseudo-intellectual word and association games that are commonplace amongst the members of our breed, but generally these inside jokes and battles should be just that; inside.
Of course, this could just be me. Again, since Anime does not dictate my life's comings and goings, this could just be something that annoys the "non-true" Otaku. However, after speaking with the rest of the group, they seemed just as irritates as I was, except that since they go to these stores a heck of a lot more than I ever will, seem to have come to expect it as part of the territory.
So that being said, I understand that this could just be my own idiosyncratic neurosis that I will dub, "hyperfanboitis." Now when someone annoys you when they're rambling on like a boat motor with no kill switch you can say, "Looks like my hyperfanboitis is flaring up again!"
Now more importantly, How many of YOU (Yes you, I see you reading the page... you smug bastard, you.) have done the very same annoying, "Give me respect for my ability to answer the questions you never asked," super abilities that can turn any mild mannered human being into an annoyed, blood-lusting monster whose sole purpose of being involves at least one of the following:
What makes all of this foulness infinitely compounded is that all 5 of us gave "Fan Boy" immediate, yet polite clues that his commentary was not necessary. Nuriko even asked him, "Do you work here," only for him to reply that indeed he did NOT, and was just looking like we were.
...apparently my knowledge of the human body was entirely incorrect, for I was under the impression that the sense of vision involved the use of one's eyes, not their mouth. I'd personally like to thank Fan Boy, and all the other "Fan Boy's" out there that make it a point to do the very same thing to others for bringing this error to my attention.
So let me bring this rant to the punch line:
Unless you're asked for an opinion by someone you don't know in the your local Anime shop,...
...keep your mouth shut and don't give it until you are.
...granted, there's going to be times where showing off that big penis of yours called "knowledge" is going to handy, even appropriate, but most of the times you're just using up the air and everyone else stopped listening 10 minutes ago.
-- The Celestrian
The Anime community by and large never ceases to amaze me simply in terms of the spectrum of people that are a part of it. Just about anyone you see on the street could be an Anime fan and you would never know it.
...that is except for a very special type of individual in the community.
So as mentioned before, Nuriko, Allen, John_7, Gary and myself were in the LA/Santa Monica are last Saturday visiting various Anime stores and Japanese bookstores when we came upon a little shop called Anime Jungle. While we were there, we were examining various objects of interest, including some laser discs, Figurines, you know the usual things fans look through. It was then we moved onto the large collection of poster books...
...and then he came along.
Before I go any further, I need to make it clear that I am not considered a "normal" Otaku by any shape or means. Anime does not dominate my life or bodily functions. Meaning I won't drop $2K into Anime related merchandise. In fact, I won't even drop $2 into something unless I really REALLY like it, which means it's either something from Hellsing or GTO, because those to me are the only series that I am willing to pay for... most of the time.
However, its not like I don't like Anime. Far from it, I grew up with Anime and enjoy its finer points just as anyone else. But I don't mind if a DVD isn't "official" or getting non-licensed Fan subs from newsgroups....
...well let me put it this way:
"Anything more than FREE is too expensive."
getting back to the point:
Oh yes. "...and then he came along."
For now, I will refer to him as "Fan Boy" simply because I don't know his name, nor do I care. However, if I did know his name I would post his name because I was that annoyed. To hell with anonymity I say. And if you have a problem with this rant, you can e-mail me anytime and I will be more than happy to have a friendly dialogue with you about why I posted this rant.
...So the four of us are looking through the various Anime posters when "Fan Boy" approaches from our 9 o'clock. After assessing the situation and his targets, he immediately begins to execute his battle plan that to him is as natural and instinctive as me visually undressing a pretty woman on the street with my eyes.
(John_7 flips the poster page....)
Fan Boy: "Oh yeah, that's Eva. Great Series."
Of course I wouldn't know what the hell EVA was...
(John_7 flips to the next poster...)
John_7: "Hey Pen, do you have thi-"
Fan Boy: "Hey! That's Di Gi-Charat. I highly recommend that series, a bit goofy though."
Really? No fucking shit. Maybe that's why John was asking Penny if they had the poster.
(John_7 flips to the next poster page....)
Fan Boy: "That's a horrible poster! I also couldn't believe the ending of {insert series here... I forget of the top of my head}. I was so disappointed."
Are we noticing a pattern? Basically we had to sit there and listen to basically this guy's stupid-ass take on EVERY single poster and related Anime series while we went through about 5 books that contained 15 - 30 posters a piece. By the end of the "experience" I was ready to put him out of our misery.
...and as if it weren't enough...
Nuriko's favorite Disney Animated movie is Oliver & Company, and has wanted a movie poster for it for a while. Anime Jungle just HAPPENS to have one this time. So Nuriko wants to get it for her own collection. it is at this time that Fan Boy proceeds to tell Nuriko how horrible Oliver & Co. is because it is not Anime. Not only that, but tries to convince Nuriko not to spend her money on, "...that abomination of a poster."
It's not his money, so why in the blue flying FUCK does he care? The amount of arrogance that is required to stand there in front of someone with a straight face and basically say, "You're a dumb ass for wanting this because I think its garbage," is simply mind numbing.
...So let's pause for a moment and poll amongst ourselves:
How many of you have had to deal with this? Now I know everyone likes to show how big their respective Anime "Nuts" are by doing trivia-offs, inserting various Anime references into conversation, and other pseudo-intellectual word and association games that are commonplace amongst the members of our breed, but generally these inside jokes and battles should be just that; inside.
Of course, this could just be me. Again, since Anime does not dictate my life's comings and goings, this could just be something that annoys the "non-true" Otaku. However, after speaking with the rest of the group, they seemed just as irritates as I was, except that since they go to these stores a heck of a lot more than I ever will, seem to have come to expect it as part of the territory.
So that being said, I understand that this could just be my own idiosyncratic neurosis that I will dub, "hyperfanboitis." Now when someone annoys you when they're rambling on like a boat motor with no kill switch you can say, "Looks like my hyperfanboitis is flaring up again!"
Now more importantly, How many of YOU (Yes you, I see you reading the page... you smug bastard, you.) have done the very same annoying, "Give me respect for my ability to answer the questions you never asked," super abilities that can turn any mild mannered human being into an annoyed, blood-lusting monster whose sole purpose of being involves at least one of the following:
- Getting as far away from your physical location as soon as possible.
- Showing no decency by desecrating your bedraggled corpse.
- Calling HAZMAT to alert them that a level 2 biohazard is spewing toxic fumes that is making everyone in the immediate vicinity nauseous.
What makes all of this foulness infinitely compounded is that all 5 of us gave "Fan Boy" immediate, yet polite clues that his commentary was not necessary. Nuriko even asked him, "Do you work here," only for him to reply that indeed he did NOT, and was just looking like we were.
...apparently my knowledge of the human body was entirely incorrect, for I was under the impression that the sense of vision involved the use of one's eyes, not their mouth. I'd personally like to thank Fan Boy, and all the other "Fan Boy's" out there that make it a point to do the very same thing to others for bringing this error to my attention.
So let me bring this rant to the punch line:
...keep your mouth shut and don't give it until you are.
...granted, there's going to be times where showing off that big penis of yours called "knowledge" is going to handy, even appropriate, but most of the times you're just using up the air and everyone else stopped listening 10 minutes ago.
-- The Celestrian
posted by theCelestrian at 9:33 AM
1 Comments:
It's happened to me far too many times. But as soon as I hear them tell me that they are 'the greatest otaku alive,' I politely inform them that in Japan, otaku means something more close to 'Freak' than to 'Anime fanatic.' It usually shuts them up or makes them angry enough to ignore me.
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