A random collection of things I want to talk about

[birdsofshore]

Men try on 'sexy' Halloween outfits. Funny and pertinent and also, the one guy is quite hot in the outfits, but of course it would be quite wrong to objectify a man appearing in a video about the ridiculous objectification of women.

This is perturbing:

A man's manga collection got him convicted of child porn.

Personally, I'm not actually against all censorship, but criminalising the erotic depiction of fictional characters who appear to be underage is certainly the kind of thing that could convince me to be MORE anti-censorship...

And this made me super happy:

Ever wonder what it feels like to be a geek?

Speaking for myself, I'm sad enough to enjoy the 9 mins and 59 seconds build up of this video, but if you're short on time, watching from 7 mins gives you the gist. The guy is opening a 1st edition set of Magic cards, having no idea what he'll find inside. His mounting excitement and then joyous and overwhelmed reaction gave me a lovely feeling of vicarious squee.

I suspect most of you on my flist KNOW what it feels like to be a geek, but this is a lovely celebration of the passion that can be found in things that other people would regard as sad or pointless.

It reminded me of all the moments I have had in fandom where I've felt absolutely knocked out by something - moments where I've received a very meaningful response to my own fanworks, or clicked on a link to find something absolutely stunning waiting there. There have been many, but two off the top of my head: raitala's art has given me many a "HOLY BOOJSHD" moment over the years, and the minutes after I realised saras_girl had dedicated a fic to me were also pretty special.  :DD

I'm basically so glad to find myself in a corner of the net where appreciation and enthusiasm are not sneered at. I really love you, fandom.  ♥

Comments

[lq-traintracks.livejournal.com]

Fandom really loves you, too. <33333! This post made me melty! :-D I'm grilled cheese. <3

Since I've yet to get my laptop fixed, and I can't watch vids on this netbook, I'll have to enjoy them vicariously through you and simply be enamored of this dude wearing what looks like hazardous waste gloves to handle his squee-ful thing. ::squishes that guy::

Fandom truly is the gift that just keeps giving. And you never know how it's going to blow you away next. Lovely post, Birds. Thanks for it. :-D

[birdsofshore]

Grilled cheese! I adore grilled cheese! I'm a piece of toast! *smooshes all over you and gets greasy* :DD

I'm sorry you can't watch the video. The guy is so charmingly enthusiastic and as he goes through the deck, his hands start to shake with excitement. When he gets to the end, he finds basically the most rare card ever, or something (I know very little about Magic cards), shouts "HOLY BOOJSHD!" and babbles for about 2 minutes. It's rather wonderful :)

[firethesound]

The boys trying on sexy costumes was worth it just for the commentary. When the one guy was like "I've never looked at a ladybug and thought, I'd hit that," I about fell off my chair I was laughing so hard.

And the guy opening the magic cards made me smile, because that's pretty much what I live with. Mr FTS is a huuuuuge geek, and the happiest I've ever seen him was when his mom cleaned out her spare room and brought him his old Magic cards and Star Trek cards. He flailed like a child over them and kept pushing them in my face like "LOOK AT THIS ONE, LOOK AT THIS!!" and bouncing around and it was the cutest thing ever. Geeks are lovely, and passion for anything is so much fun to watch in others. <3

[birdsofshore]

He flailed like a child over them and kept pushing them in my face like "LOOK AT THIS ONE, LOOK AT THIS!!" and bouncing around and it was the cutest thing ever. Geeks are lovely, and passion for anything is so much fun to watch in others.

YES YES. ALL THE YES.

Bouncing and flailing is the best thing. THE BEST.

[capitu]

I can so relate to this geek dude. He's wearing gloves. THAT'S ME!!! I swear it's me opening (when I do, because, you know, some stuff you just don't open) HP stuff.


♥♥♥♥♥♥

[birdsofshore]

OMG, you and your ~stuff! I want pictures of your hoard, one day. Seriously. I'm a bit jealous and a bit in awe of your craziness, you know?

I've got a really massive book about the HP films, and if the kids or anyone wants to look at it they have to sit next to me while I turn the pages. They can't touch it. I have thought of wearing gloves, before. I think I'll actually get some.

[gracerene]

Okay, holy shit, that first video killed me. I thought it would be humorous, but I was just dying.

And that guy's reaction to that Lotus card was just the greatest thing.

Thanks for sharing those vids!

Being passionate about things (like fandom and fanfic has been such a fabulous experience for me and sharing that love with others is so awesome and it's fun to see that feeling sort of put into a reaction. :D

[birdsofshore]

The commentary on the costumes was very good. I was happy about the way they all frowned at the Girl Scout costume, too. I liked the message of the video as well as the humour (and the cross dressing ;))

I find the Lotus guy's enthusiasm so appealing, I actually have a bit of a crush on him. Even though in RL, I need to be the one in the relationship who's an excitable geek, I find it a very beguiling quality in a man.

[isinuyasha.livejournal.com]

That video was hilarious :D I clicked on one where these guys try on thongs, brilliant reactions to that as well xDDD

That Manga thing bothers me greatly, as well... In Japan itself all child pornography is banned with the exception of illustrations such as Manga...Which, ironically, works well for Japan. While loli/shotacon is a popular sub-genre of Hentai there, Japan's rape rate is way lower than in other countries with stricter censorship laws...ugh sorry that I got all passionate about it but I always thought it was weird that people would complain about people looking at illustrations of fictional underage characters when there are people out there who will look at actual child pornography :/

The fact that that Black Lotus is worth 5000$-10,000$ certainly helps his enthusiasm as well, I imagine xDDD Still, makes me really happy for him.
You're so right, fandom can be such a fuzzy warm place, you're all wonderful people ♥♥♥

[birdsofshore]

Glad you liked the video! I know the message was nothing earth-shattering, but I enjoyed their comments, as well as having a good laugh along.

I have really mixed opinions when it comes to erotic underage depictions, but this conviction made me feel uncomfortable. I feel it is a creeping move towards further censorship. There was talk of a law here in the UK which would make photos of BDSM illegal, at one point.

I had the feeling it was about more than the money for Mr Black Lotus, but, yeah, it can't have hurt ;-)

[ms-hecubus.livejournal.com]

Convicting someone of child porn based on obviously fictional illustrations of cartoonish characters is beyond ridiculous. Should we start prosecuting Real Doll owners for rape? Fantasy=\=reality.

[birdsofshore]

Fantasy=\=reality. Yup, that's the crux of it. When do we get to policing people's thoughts?

[khalulu]

geeky guy with cards was very sweet

[birdsofshore]

I loved the way he was trying to be sort of cool but completely lost it at the end :DD

[sophie-french.livejournal.com]

Aww this is just an awesome post! ♥ ♥ ♥

[birdsofshore]

\o/

[brunettepet.livejournal.com]

Those "sexy" outfits were ridiculous but I loved the video and the men's commentary on how wrong the outfits are. Sexy Girl Scout? Really?

I got goosebumps at that man's thrill at getting the Lotus card and I have no idea what that even means! I love his fannishness being rewarded. Thanks for sharing his enthusiasm.

[birdsofshore]

I love his fannishness being rewarded

Oh, absolutely! You hit the nail on the head, there. Glad you enjoyed it.

[zeitgeistic.livejournal.com]

<3

[birdsofshore]

*smooch*

[fantasyfiend09.livejournal.com]

Loved the costume video! Those guys are hilarious. And I too felt conflicted about the whole objectifying the hot guy who is trying to stop the objectification of people like me. But he's hot!

The Manga thing scares me. I, personally, would like for people with those urges to express them in a way that does not involve any real children. I don't care if someone is thinking dirty thoughts or drawing dirty pictures of children so long as they don't ever fucking touch a real child. If Manga gives them an outlet, great.

And then there are people who might find things arousing in fantasy that they wouldn't find arousing in real life. Underage squicks me out pretty badly, but there are other things that I like in art or Fic that I wouldn't want in real life.

Mainly I just feel like government resources could be used better by focusing on other crimes in which people are actually getting hurt.

Yay for the nerd whose dreams came true! He needs so many hugs for trembling as he held his card.

Edited for typo

[birdsofshore]

I, personally, would like for people with those urges to express them in a way that does not involve any real children

Well, yes, that's it, really. And I know that tolerating some behaviours can encourage other behaviours to follow, but I don't think it's the case, here?

there are other things that I like in art or Fic that I wouldn't want in real life.

Yup, I'm with you there, too. The human id is a funny old thing.

Let's all hug a nerd!