pax et agape

On a side note, that movie turned out to be awesome so if it ever comes to the states I really want to buy it.

[quote name='demon39536']I love this show! I have seen all the episodes, but have not read the manga yet though. I would have to say that my favorite character was Kagami or Konata.[/quote] Kagami is also my favorite character, mostly because she is the character I can relate to the most. Really this show has become my favorite show of all time. It just does something for me on a personal level.

[quote name='Boo'][FONT=lucida fax]I forbid someone making a living producing crap.[/FONT][/quote] It's kind of hard to make a viable business model based on one persons subjective opinion.

So there is an ethical question I have been wondering about for a while now. Like many, I get a lot of my anime from the Internet but at the same time I feel morally opposed to piracy. As a result I gave myself the self-imposed limitation of only downloading things that are not available in the United States. This came to mind today when I read a review for [U]Summer Wars[/U] [URL="http://japancinema.net/2010/01/08/summer-wars-review/"]here[/URL] and I really wanted to watch it. So I downloaded it. Sooner or later I'm guessing this film will come to the states but who knows when that will be. What I'm wondering is this: is it morally acceptable to just follow my previous rule or would it be better to wait until things are released in the United States and limit myself to that? What are your thoughts?

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0IVuGK7sAw[/url] I just discovered a song that talks about the plight of my people.

[quote name='taperson'][SIZE=1][COLOR=RoyalBlue]I've never played Super Mario until now, & now I'm addicted, even though I still don't understand most of it ;-;[/COLOR][/SIZE][/quote] An Italian plumber eats magical mushrooms and jumps on turtles. Doesn't that make perfect sense?

If there are a few people in the world with a special ability almost all of them will go to the same high school. -everything The walls of public hot springs are very flimsy -School Rumble, Nyan Koi Life after High School doesn't exist -everything If you don't want a girlfriend everyone will want to date you and visa versa -every harem comedy Teachers have excellent aim -many things

You know, if I believed in luck I'd think mine was atrocious.

[quote name='Gavin']Contractual agreement. The Devil has a twisted sense of humour.[/size][/quote] He does have to keep that whole commercialism racket going, you know.

[quote name='Gavin'][SIZE=1] And yes chibi it's entirely within the purview of my duties/hobbies to terrify my minions while they sleep, it's just a simple reminder that wherever you go I will be there, watching you. [/SIZE][/quote] You must have a lot of time on your hands to do all your minion tormenting personally. Are you one of those overlords that never sleeps?

[quote name='Sangome'][FONT=Microsoft Sans Serif][SIZE=1]Okay, we've had three FF villains in here thus far, I think it's time for someone to mention the big kahuna. [center][IMG]http://i48.tinypic.com/1hn6e.jpg[/IMG][/center] Yeah yeah yeah, Sephiroth. I went there. Give me grief all you want, but I still legitimately think he's a good villain, and an even better good guy. I will say this, though: I wholeheartedly despise how Square continues to derail him from a cool villain to, as my friend put it, an emo bleeding heart poet. It's really rather insulting. :/[/SIZE][/FONT][/quote] I haven't played any of the games with him in him so, tempted as I am, I can't legitimately give you grief. I will say he has an awesome theme song, though.

[quote name='chibi-master']Psh. My overlord is better than yours.:p[/quote] Is this like, "my dad could beat up your dad!"

[quote name='Heaven's Cloud'] As far as children today are concerned, well, in think it is every generation's duty to tell the subsequent generation that they are more spoiled, ruder, and stupider than they were at that age.[/quote] That is our right as old folks.

I think I may have found a new favorite. Dr. Cid from Final Fantasy XII [IMG]http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/e/ef/Ffxii-cid.jpg[/IMG] There is just something about the bravado of a mad scientist.

[quote name='Dragon Warrior'][SIZE=1]Are you praying to the money, Nerdsy, or trying to move it with your mind? Haha. And I'm jealous of you, Citric :[[/SIZE][/quote] I thought he was just rubbing his hands manically.

After two days of blizzard it finally stopped snowing yesterday. Now I just need to find someone with a snow shovel and dig my car out of the snow drift.

[quote name='Nerdsy'][COLOR=deeppink]Except for the part about the Lich, I was being literal. We tend to get hit by at least one terrible ice storm a year which will leave everything covered in ice about half an inch thick, and of course this usually ends up in no one having electricity for a good long time. Campus usually gets power back relatively quickly (took two days last year), though parts of town went as long as a week from what I understand.[/COLOR][/quote] That happens from time to time around here as well. It never happened while I was in college, though, since that city thankfully had the foresight to put their power lines underground.

[quote name='Sangome'][FONT=Microsoft Sans Serif][SIZE=4][B]WE MIGHT GET SNOW TONIGHT.

[quote name='taperson'][SIZE=1][COLOR=RoyalBlue]I have a crush on an OB'er. O_O jk that's not true.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/quote] See, now you've gone and gotten all the guy's hopes up and then crushed them.

[quote name='Rachmaninoff'][FONT=Trebuchet MS]Because you can now buy one and simply assemble it? [URL="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000206G9/b4ubuildcom/"][U]Like this.[/U][/URL] I know people who get that kind of stuff for their kids. It's cute and all, but seems to take the fun out of the making your own and changing it around each time.[/FONT][/quote] But I have such fond memories of covering my entire living room in one giant blanket fort.

[quote name='Shinmaru']You were using it in jest, so this has nothing to do with you, but I can't stand the term "reverse racism". There is no such thing -- racism is racism, period. It's truly embarrassing when people seriously use that term, as if whites are the sole source of racism in the world, and blacks and Hispanics and Asians, and whoever else, hating whites is somehow different than your everyday, run of the mill racism. Ugh.[/quote] Weird. I had this exact same thought earlier today before ever reading it here.

[quote name='Nerdsy'][COLOR=deeppink]Every second of my life is an affirmation to my geekdom. For example, I'm currently wearing both the Red Lantern and the Green Lantern power rings. Also, internal "yatta!"s? Amateurs. Mine are 100% vocal.[/COLOR][/quote] I didn't think a 100% vocal one would reflect well at a job interview. Would have likely resulted in massive confusion.

[quote name='Sangome'][FONT=Microsoft Sans Serif][SIZE=1]Thanks for the 'grats, guys. Well now I know to never work at Wal-Mart. TARGET, HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO *stampedes in their direction while waiting for something about how they're infinitely worse or whatever* On another note, I now know that playing FFVII late at night while drinking Mountain Dew Voltage does strange things to my mind while I sleep. And it's AWESOME![/SIZE][/FONT][/quote] Odd, I was playing FFVXII (only five numbers different) late last night though I was just drinking coffee. Odd dreams that I can't quite remember nonetheless.

[quote name='Gavin'][SIZE=1][B]So I was wondering, if you consider yourself a geek ? [/B] Relatively speaking, yes. I try to maintain the appearance of a normal, sane person however. [B]Do you ever have moments of geek affirmation like this ?[/B] Yes. One of which involved meeting an engineering friend of a housemate of mine from last semester. After the discussion strayed into the topic of future power sources we both ended up agreeing GN particles were the way to go. Naturally my non-geeky housemate was rather mystified by the whole thing. I have yet to do the internal "Yatta" however, thankfully. [/SIZE][/quote] I try to maintain the appearance of sanity as well and the "Yatta" is just a result of watching too much [I]Heroes[/I].

So today I ended up having several moments that affirmed my geekiness. First, While driving to Des Moines I heard the DJ on the modern rock station talking about how he was excited about the new Ninja Assassin movie but disappointed when he saw it. Then he recommended people should watch the anime series Ninja Scroll instead. Then, after months of searching I finally was hired for a full time job today. In true geek fashion, my first reaction was an (internal) "Yatta!" Finally, I stopped by Barnes & Noble to pick up a couple volumes of the Bleach manga. When I went to check out the girl working at the register not only knew about Bleach but talked to be about how she was reading it too. Then when she asked me if I wanted to donate a book to the local children's hospital she tried to find a geek-friendly book to donate in my name (she made the comment that she needed to sneak more geeky books onto that rack). All that in one day. So I was wondering, if you consider yourself a geek, do you ever have moments of geek affirmation like this (i.e. moments that make you feel good about being a geek)?