Figure.fm posted a series of YouTube videos showing a very interesting cosplay documentary put together by an English-language Singaporean news channel. The biggest thing I learned from this documentary was just where did the word “cosplay” actually come from. In fact, they interviewed the guy who coined the word himself!

I was also amazed to see just how similar the cosplay culture was in Japan compared to what we have here in America. I’ve always held Japanese cosplayers in higher regard to our local talent because I thought they took the art a lot more seriously. But really, these Japanese girls sound just like all the female American cosplayers you’ll come across at any domestic convention.

Also, the “professional cosplayer” they feature in the documentary, Ms. Yunmao Ayakawa (pictured above), will be a guest at Katsucon this weekend. If all goes according to plan, I’ll be doing a one-on-one interview with her on cosplaying and maid cafes for a future Anime Almanac article.

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The internet thought that Verizon was censoring the message board, otaku mecca, and general asshole of the world 4chan this weekend when several users were unable to access the site on their 3G wireless mobile devices.

The blogosphere erupted today with claims of censorship. “How dare Verizon block our 4chan!” they said. “What about freedom of speech? What about net neutrality? What about the children?!” They even falsely reported that the situation extended beyond the wireless network to include Verizon’s home ISP service, which, as a FIOS costumer, I would have been more than happy with.

Well, Verizon Wireless responded with a statement saying that the ban was due to DDoS attacks affiliated with the website. In fact, they had lifted the ban on 4chan because of this stupid outcry and will be continuing to monitor the traffic for the still potential threat to their network.

Not censorship, just regular technical difficulties… again.

I say, “again,” because this exact same thing happened 6 months ago when AT&T had to temporarily disable the site because of DDoS attack. Everyone reacted with the exact same false accusations of censorship and lame outcries back then. History totally repeated itself today thanks to the short attention span and mob mentality of the internet community.

You really need to stop jumping to conclusions, internet. It’s pathetic. (-_-)

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And to end on a positive note, let me just recommend that you all check out the fourth episode of Hanamaru Kindergarten, which is now streaming for free for everyone with in the US.

Hanamaru has totally become my favorite anime of this season, and this episode is particularly adorable, especially in the first act and ending theme song.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 7:57 pm by Scott .