The world of Facebook

I found the article, “In the World of Facebook” by Charles Petersen, really interesting because I never had a Facebook page before. That’s right, I admit, I never had a Facebook or Myspace in my life.  I think the reason, I never had one was because I don’t usually like taking pictures of myself and the thought of putting a bunch of pictures on the Internet does not appeal to me.  I have posted a picture of myself on my blog and Twitter page, but that’s about it.

I guess, I don’t want what happened to the young banking intern to happen to me.  Embarrassing pictures being discovered by co-workers is something, I don’t want to experience. I think that’s why the above quote fascinates me. The idea of privacy.  Do we, who live in the world of the Internet, understand what privacy is? That’s an interesting question because I’m not really sure we do. On, the one hand, we don’t always post pictures of ourselves, but on the other hand, we sometimes share thoughts that should probably stay in our heads.

Overall, I think the article does a nice job of detailing Facebook’s background and the issues that parents had with Myspace. I like this aspect because I had no real clue about Facebook or Myspace. The only things I knew came from the news or the film, “The Social Network”. In the end, Facebook may be an interesting social media site, but it’s not for me.

Role playing games in society

Role playing games (RPG’s) for many years have faced negative press and scrutiny from religious (Christian) groups, health experts, psychologists, politicians, journalists, and activists who believe that role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons, Final Fantasy, EverQuest, ElfQuest, RuneQuest, andWorld of War Craft are detrimental and subversive to teenagers and young kids who play them.  Christian groups have heavily criticized role playing games because most RPG’s have elements of the supernatural (magic, witchcraft, monsters, wizards, and etc…), which runs counter to their beliefs and teachings about the world and life.  Health experts and psychologists also criticize role playing games because they can cause players to become addicted or obese.  Politicians, journalists, and activists have also taken swipes at role playing games because of the belief that they cause addiction, obesity, withdrawal from society, and violence to others.

In 1979, role playing games suffered their first big public setback, when a sixteen year-old prodigy college student named Dallas Egbert III vanished from his dorm room at Michigan State University before the start of exams.  Law enforcement officials were called in to search for Egbert, but the police concluded that there was no foul play and Egbert had apparently left on his own free will.  Because of the lack of evidence of foul play, police officials had little to go on.  With the investigation stalled, Egbert’s family hired a private investigator named William Dear to locate him.   Dear began his investigation and came to the conclusion that Egbert got lost in the steam tunnels under the university while playing Dungeons and Dragons.2   While this conclusion made media headlines, Dallas Egbert III, in fact, did not get lost in the tunnels, but had run away from the immense pressure his parents and the university put on him; Egbert was also addicted to drugs and may have been gay or bisexual as well.  Egbert ended up living and getting a job in Morgan City, Louisiana for a few days.  Egbert, later, got in touch with Dear and told him the truth of his disappearance.   After meeting with Egbert, Dear agreed to with hold the truth from the media and allowed the reports about him and Dungeons and Dragons to continue without challenge in order to protect Egbert; Dear would reveal the truth four years later after Egbert’s tragic death.  In 1980, Egbert committed suicide; it was his third and final attempt since 1979. In the end, Dear’s initial theory was wrong, but because Dear wanted to protect Egbert from the media, role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons received negative publicity from this incident.

As stated earlier, various health and behavioral experts believe that role playing games can cause players to succumb to violent tendencies.  In fact, in another case, that was just as weird and tragic as the incident with Egbert, happened in 1983, involving yet another sixteen year old prodigy and Dungeons and Dragons; the name of the sixteen year old prodigy was Irving “Blink” Pulling II.  According toWashington Post reporter, Michael Isikoff, Pulling II    was “socially isolated, once failing to get even a proforma “campaign manager” to sign on for him when he wanted to run for school office…” Pulling’s mother, Patricia, in her book, Devil’s Web, “described him as ‘a happy, well-adjusted kid’ and blamed D&D when he committed suicide with her pistol.” John Picton, of the Toronto Star, noted in  article about Irving “Blink” Pulling II’s suicide that Patricia Pulling claimed to have acquired “ESP knowledge of the event upon reaching the gates of their house…The suicide mechanism, she claims, was a curse placed on Bink’s game character during a school game. She claims that this curse compelled him to kill and that he heroically sacrificed himself rather than carry out the curse.” After the suicide of her son, Patricia Pulling traveled around the United States, criticizing Dungeons and Dragons and even formed an organization called, Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons, to advocate her position that role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons were violent and could cause suicides.  In the end, like the incident with Dallas Egbert III, the suicide of Irving “Blink” Pulling II and his mother’s crusade againstDungeons and Dragons once again brought negative publicity to makers of role playing games.

Despite heavy criticism from religious (Christian) groups, health experts, psychologists, politicians, journalists, and activists (Patricia Puling) who think that role playing games cause violent tendencies and suicidal behavior, some academic experts like John Hughes (anthropology) have written about the healthy benefits of playing role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons, Final Fantasy, EverQuest,ElfQuest, RuneQuest, and World of War Craft.  In his paper entitled, “Therapy is Fantasy: Roleplaying, Healing and the Construction of Symbolic Order,” John Hughes talks with a person name Jamie who enjoys playing role playing games.  Jamie states, “I roleplay as a therapeutic thing. I behave irrationally and outrageously in gaming to relax and enjoy myself… In life I cross-check what I’m doing and thinking. Its nice playing a character who wouldn’t do these things… my characters are an antithesis of myself.” Another player named Malori who Hughes says suffers from depression uses her male created role playing character of “Jack” as a form of therapy.

Hughes states that, “Malori has suffered the effects of her depression for at least twelve months, and has been unable to work more than a few hours a day. Her attempts to overcome the disease have taken her to psychiatrists, physical specialists, mental health counsellors, physiotherapists, dieticians and, more recently, to a naturopath. Her improvement has been marked over the last three months, but she is still restricted to a shortened working day. Despite her own initial scepticism, Malori has found her roleplaying the most effective instrument in fighting the disease.”  Hughes, goes on further, with this argument by including Malori’s thoughts on how “Jack” helps with her depression.  Malori states that   “There is a certain amount of idealisation in the character. He provides things that I haven’t got but would like to have. I’ve tried to bring out the more masculine parts of my character, to encourage them, but I’ve also tried to encourage some of the more feminine aspects as well – the ones I consider positive at this place and this time. So in many ways he’s a composite of myself, but that’s not all that he is… There are a lot of things that I could never do, that I could never be.”9  In the end, as one can see, some people Jamie and Malori find healthy benefits playing role playing games like relieving tensions or gaining more confidence, despite some people finding it objectionable.

Overall, role playing games have taken big hits from religious (Christian) groups, health experts, psychologists, politicians, journalists, and activists (Patricia Puling) who think that role playing games cause violent tendencies, health problems, and suicidal behavior.  Incidents like the strange runaway case of Dallas Egbert III and the suicide death of Irving “Blink” Pulling II, both believed to have had played Dungeons and Dragons, caused a media frenzy and portrayed role playing games in a negative light.  Despite these negative perceptions, some players like Jamie and Malori found psychological benefits by playing role playing games like relieving tensions or gaining more confidence, despite what some people think.  In the end, depending on someone’s point of view, role playing games have both negative and positive aspects about them.

Laws of anime part 4

Over the years, as I was reading fan fiction from fanfiction.net, I stumbled upon Insane Advocate’s and his friends 100 laws of anime. I thought it was quite humorous, so I decided to post here.  Enjoy!

Here's laws 76-100:

#76) Law of Aura of Forgetfulness – Any hero who wishes his/her identity to remain a secret will invariably succeed regardless of disguise because everyone around him/her will forget everything. Otherwise, how does Sailor Moon keep her disguise?

#77) Law of Cool Hair Factor – The hair of a hero will always coalesce into thick strands that drape his face into a dramatic fashion, regardless of wind, the elements, etc. (see Laws 32 & 48)

#78) Law of Inverse Coping – Any single event will happen to the ONE character LEAST capable of dealing with it.

#79) Law of Martial Arts Training Invulnerability – The Myth that certain martial arts will enable you to become so strong, that you can stop a nuclear warhead with your bare palm. Unfortunately, for most otaku, they found the hard way that it just doesn’t work in real life…

#80) Law of Stereotype Captain characteristics – If a captain of any type of ship is male, he will invariably wear a big captain’s cap, a long overcoat, and have a shaggy beard and mustache (pipe optional), and be a great tactician. If the captain is female, however, she will invariably be young, well endowed, and ditzy as a pole (horny father optional). Yet, she too will be a great tactician.

#81) Law of Shades/Coolness Factor – Shades can make you instantly cool, even if you’re normally a klutz.

#82) Law of Hentai Plot – The proper response to any change in the plotline of a Hentai anime is to start having sex.

#83) Law of Understatement – Anything that is deemed too impossible will become possible.
First Corollary: Any “Bad Guy” stating “T-that’s impossible!” whenever the hero is accomplishing some new feat/move/projectile will find out too late that he is wrong and will invariably be toasted.

#84) Law of Dormant Powers – Anytime a hero is somehow out powered and/or outclassed by the villain, he will invariably release powers/new moves he never knew he could accomplish… but his old teacher did!

#85) Law of Style Coefficient – In a situation where a Good guy may be in dire straits, he will become stronger, smarter and more cool in a matter of seconds. (See Laws #67, 69, and 84)

#86) Law of Bad Guy Smugness Factor – Whenever the villain actually succeeds in beating the hero, they will begin to gloat uncontrollably, because they’ve never won against the “Good Guy” because they’re EVIL! They usually get so cocky they tie the hero to a conveyor belt leading to his doom and leave to get a snack. Usually this results in:
a) The hero escaping.
b) Clean-up for the underlings.
c) The villain getting toasted.

#87) Law of Tableware Nonexistence – There IS no spoon.

#88) Law of Goofy Turn-Ons – In Hentai, ordinary pedestrian objects sometimes have the magical power of either inducing orgasm or arousal. Some include warm water, rolling on a smooth tabletop, wind, mild electrocution, the character toweling themselves after a bath/shower, and very cold objects… like bottles of 7-up.

#89) Law of Penile Variance – All Anime men in Hentai have a ridiculously large penis (lengths of 8, 9, 10 and 11 inches are most common). Some even have ones the size of telephone poles, despite the blood loss that would accompany it…

#90) Law of Hentai Female Characteristics – All Hentai women have the following characteristics:
1) Very sensitive and/or very large breasts with large nipples.
2) Very tight and/or sensitive vaginas.

#91) Law of Vaginal Variance – Hentai Anime women can take penis lengths of 8″ and up… completely… despite the fact that they might have a tight and/or sensitive vagina.

#92) Law of Hero Identification – All heroes are introduced by way of appearance while someone talking about their (in)famous-ness, or by way of a voice-over of them introducing themselves.

#93) Law of Cute Mascots – Any anime either Shojo or Shonen has GOT to have at least one cute, furry little mascot by penalty of death!
First Corollary: If it is a Shonen Anime, the hero will be accompanied by a Dog, Cat or any kind of animal, real or fake, which would be found with a hero of the male persuasion. Any animal that would be associated with girls that is following him around is there because:
1) It’s his girlfriend’s.
2) It is following him, despite his insistence not to do so.
3) Chicks will dig him more.
Second Corollary- If it is a Shojo Anime, the heroine will be accompanied by a cat, cute lil’ mouse, or some disgustingly cute monster, or any kind of animal, real or fake, that would be found with a hero of the female persuasion. Any animal that would be associated with guys that is following her around is there because:
1) It’s her boyfriend’s.
2) It is following her, despite her insistence not to do so.
3) It makes her look cool.

#94) Law of The Force – Most Anime heroes are blessed with a unique sort of ability that enables bad things to happen to those that deserve it or makes things like bullets or debris totally miss them (Also referred to as “Dumb Luck”), even though they are mostly unaware of it. Those who have this ability include Vash the Stampede, Captain Justy Ueki Tylor, and Jar Jar Binks.

#95) Law of Naughty Tentacles – All Anime Tentacles are VERY horny and will rape any human female, regardless of age (“She’s 18! No! Really, she is! I’m not lying!…”)
First Corollary: Even when raped or molested by tentacles, Hentai Anime girls eventually get into it & begin squealing in ecstasy. NO one knows WHY this is, but some theorize there may be some kind of chemical that is secreted through the skin of the tentacle…
Second Corollary: Women who are impregnated by a tentacle creature never experience morning sickness, and also find it to be intensely pleasurable (Also known as the Goofy Meter Redline Effect).
Third Corollary: Similarly, the resulting… offspring of tentacle/human relations is immediately sexually active, often impregnating its own mother again.

#96) Law of Cat-Fighting- Two females with a grudge can and will go at each other, sometimes ripping off clothes. Sometimes it escalates so much, that property damage begins to occur.
First Corollary: A running fight can be so destructive, you can follow it from a distance just by watching for the smoke. (Also known as the “A-ko/B-ko Thing”)

#97) Law of Healing – Most anime heroes have a Wolverine-like healing factor that enables them to regenerate from a massive wound or broken bone within minutes. Being immortal sometimes helps. (Also known as the “Priss Effect”)

#98) Law of Stereotype Crew Characteristics – All ships, either waterborne or spaceborne, has the following crew members:
1) The captain
2) His Lieutenant
3) Various female technical staff
4) A hotshot pilot
5) A cute little girl/twins (either stowaways or not)
6) The Doctor
7) The Doctor’s assistant (either a spy or not)
Weighted among the crew are various quirks which include:
1) Extreme coolness/luck
2) Amazing Intelligence
3) Incredible irritation
4) Extreme cuteness
5) Irresponsible drunkenness
6) Homophobic-ness
7) Emotionless (Uchiha Sasuke would be counted in this position.)

#99) Law of Sparkles – Whenever a character of the main character’s interest appears, flowers, sparkles, or abstract circles of pastel colors appear around said character, or both. Roses with exaggerated thorns appear when it is dangerous love. No one knows why this is, though most have a theory: Anime characters are freaks! At least, Marker Apenname seems to think so…

#100) Law of Anime Events – Much like the WWE (and other forms of Pro Wrestling), anything and everything can happen.

(This was created by Insane Advocate and his two friends, as well as gatherings from various internet sources in order to help others understand the things that happen in anime (and manga). And so, to help others understand anime, after you have read this, if you wish you may copy and paste this to your profile. Thank you.)

Laws of anime part 3

Over the years, as I was reading fan fiction from fanfiction.net, I stumbled upon Insane Advocate’s and his friends 100 laws of anime. I thought it was quite humorous, so I decided to post here.  Enjoy!

Here's laws 51-75:

#51) Law of Uninterruptable Nominative Clamovocation – This law is a mixture of Laws 44 and 45. Regardless of how long or involved the Spell or projectile attack is, and the likelihood of success and damage done by the volume at which the full name of the attack is announced, or how many times they’ve seen it before, any “Bad Guys” witnessing a hero/heroine quoting the incantations for an extremely powerful attack are too stunned to do anything to interrupt it. (Also known as the “Dragon Slave Phenomenon”)

#52) Law of Telepathic Obliviousness – Most of the time, some Anime characters (usually males) will think personal (Like that he/she has sabotaged something), or perverted thoughts, while near some other character, WHO’S TELEPATHIC! The reasons for this are:
1) They forgot that the person is telepathic.
2) They just don’t give a damn.
The reasons the telepathic person doesn’t react are:
1) They’re preoccupied with doing something else.
2) They’d rather keep the fact to themselves that they are Telepathic.
3) They just don’t give a damn.

#53) Law of Chromatic Diversity – Air can be any color of the viewable spectrum.

#54) Law of Old Man Comic Relief – Comic relief comes in the form of a short, bald, wise-mouthed dirty old man, alien, or the combination of any two of those traits.
First Corollary: If old man is present, and is acting too horny, stupid, etc., there will invariably be an old woman to whap him over the head with a frying pan or something.

#55) Law of the Wise Old Man – Little old Japanese men always know how it ends and withhold the ending from anyone, especially the hero. This includes special power weapons, ancient relics, and people who know everything.

#56) Law of Omnipotent Unreliability – Any “Bad Guy” with Omnipotent powers/weapons will never use those powers/weapons against the “Good Guy” until it is too late.
First Corollary: All “Bad Guys” suffer from Antagonistic Boasting Syndrome which require all “Bad Guys” to threaten with or exemplify their prowess and not use it against the “Good Guy”.
Second Corollary: No “Bad Guy” may use any new, secret, or superior military device without one of the following events occurring:
a) The control device being broken.
b) The control device being taken by the “Good Guy”.
c) The control device is in fact not the real device at all and was just fooled by the “Good Guy”.
d) The “Bad Guy” has already lost and cannot use the device.

#57) Law of Minimum Corneal Volume – Eyeballs may make up no less than one sixth of the face’s total surface area. More so if the case is a blonde woman…

#58) Law of Electrical Charges in Hair – Hair attracts electricity in abundance, resulting in two outcomes:
a) A positive charge will result in the spikes-flying-everywhere-behind-me look.

b) A negative charge will result in the hair-cascading-down-to-the-waist-in-a-single-sheet look.

#59) Law of Ammunition Accuracy – When there are multiple types of ammunition available (paintballs, speaker pods) non-lethal rounds will always be more accurate when compared to “standard” or “lethal” shots. (Macross Plus for paintballs, Macross 7 for speaker pods)

#60) Law of Active Female Attraction – In a comedy series, a male character’s attractiveness to women is inversely proportional to how active they pursue them. (Tenchi, Ranma, and Makoto OVA have a seemingly endless supply of willing girlfriends despite their lack of romantic skill while Happosai, Ataru, and Carrot couldn’t get a date despite or because of their constant attempts.)

#61) Law of Sweat Pore Variability – When a person is embarrassed, caught in an awkward situation, or otherwise humiliated, all sweat pores on the body contract, except for ones on the forehead. These pores expand to such a degree that a single drop could fill a Big Gulp from a 7-11 shop.

#62) The Law of Inverse Training Time – A person who has been training for 3 years is never as good as someone who has been training for one month.

#63) Law of Needs to Few and Many – The needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few… of even the one.

#64) Law of Bad Humor – Whenever someone says something that is intended to be funny, whether actually funny or not, the rest of the characters (even animals) fall to the ground with their feet in the air. Sweat sometimes accompanies the fall. (The sound of a cow mooing usually accompanies the joke as well.)

#65) Law of Extreme Anger – Whenever a female character gets mad, such as seeing the male character with another girl, she becomes extremely strong (despite her usually helpless look) so that she can lift a 1000 ton object to hurt the guy. She can sometimes perform other punishments that are just as cruel such as pinching the guy’s face so hard that it changes shape (see law #49).

#66) Law of Differentiated Gravitation – The following occur:
First Corollary: If the airborne entity exceeds an altitude equal or greater than two times the height of the entity, gravity is decreased by an inverse coefficient relative to the upward momentum and mass/weight (if within at least 500 km of any gravity source) of the entity “jumping”.
Second Corollary” The amount of Newtonian “opposite force” (in accordance to normal downward velocity; “Earth gravity” speed is equal to 32ft/sec/sec) is also inversely proportional to the “actual” speed of the airborne entity. In all actuality, an entity that appears to be flying towards a solid concrete parking lot from space will actually land, producing an opposite force of approximately 1.73 lb. of pressure. Unless this particular entity is a “Bad Guy”. Then the law exhibits a mysterious exponentially proportional Newtonian opposite force, thusly increasing this variable by a factor equal to the inverse-gravity potential.

#67) Law of Conservation of Ambient Dramatic Tension – In any situation where the Ambient Dramatic Tension increases, the “Good Guy’s” Style Coefficient must be increased by a proportional amount to compensate. In any situation where this does not happen, the “Bad Guy” inevitably comes out on top. However, this usually leads to a further rise in the Ambient Dramatic tension, which will always be offset by an exponential increase in the “Good Guy’s” Style Coefficient.

#68) Law of Coercive Vehicular Control – No matter how complex or well defined the control system, a character controlling a vehicle of any sort always does so through means of undetectable subconscious psychokinesis.
First Corollary: Characters can perform actions with their vehicles which clearly defy normal physics (see Laws of Metaphysical Irregularity and Constant Thrust). The velocity, attitude and traction of the vehicle appear to be adjusted at will, with the degree of absolute control being proportional to the complexity and lethality of the maneuver.
Second Corollary: It is effectively impossible to remove characters from or disrupt the passage of their vehicles without the character’s consent. This does not always apply to “Bad Guy” characters, or “Good Guy” characters in situations where the Ambient Dramatic Tension could increase in accordance with the Law of Conservation of Ambient Dramatic Tension.

#69) Amendment to the Law of Conservation of Ambient Dramatic Tension – In any situation where the Ambient Dramatic Tension increases without a corresponding increase in the “Good Guy’s” Style Coefficient, not only does the “Bad Guy” usually come out on top, but also his Smugness Factor increases in proportion to the rise in Ambient Dramatic Tension.

#70) Law of The Rushing Background Effect – Whenever something dramatic occurs, a survival instinct engages, thus rendering all incoming stimulus that is not directly and immediately to the dramatic situation at hand a meaningless blur. This is often referred to as “The Rushing Background Effect”. Due to the increase in brain activity and adrenaline levels in the bloodstream, the scene is often played out in slow motion.

#71) Law of Interdimensional Hammers – Whenever a female character witnesses a male character of her preference performing any sort of questionable act (i.e. Looking at another girl or anything she might construe as perverted) she can reach into an interdimensional realm (usually behind her back) and withdraw a huge Anime Mallet of Doom with which to whack the said male over the head with. (See Laws # 37, 49, and 65)

#72) Law of Instant Band-Aids – Whenever a character is injured (usually in a head shot, maybe from a mallet whack) Band-Aids will always instantly appear on the wounded individual (and always in pairs, set in a cross fashion). These bandages will then, most likely, disappear by the character’s next scene.

#73) Law of Universal Edge Defense – Any projectile attack, from a blast of magic to a hail of bullets, can be easily defended against by holding a suitably cool-looking sword or other bladed weapon between the attacker and defender, usually so that the edge cuts into the incoming attack(s), causing both halves to go flying harmlessly past the defender (Observed most often in fantasy and martial arts anime).

#74) Law of Intractable Sanity – There is no such thing as insanity in anime. When faced with horrifying supernatural forces that would drive most men mad, anime characters will either:
a) Die quickly (but in accordance with all other laws e.g., slowdown and exposition)
b) Get possessed by them, especially if they are beautiful girls or men in a position to ravish beautiful girls, or…
c) Kill them, wipe the blood off their blades, and walk on whistling.

#75) Law of Celestial Body Control – At a dramatically correct moment, a hero can summon a sun/moon/halo to appear behind him/her to cause a dramatic silhouette.

(This was created by Insane Advocate and his two friends, as well as gatherings from various internet sources in order to help others understand the things that happen in anime (and manga). And so, to help others understand anime, after you have read this, if you wish you may copy and paste this to your profile. Thank you.)

Laws of anime part 2

Over the years, as I was reading fan fiction from fanfiction.net, I stumbled upon Insane Advocate’s and his friends 100 laws of anime. I thought it was quite humorous, so I decided to post here.  Enjoy!

Here's laws 26-50:

#26) Law of Feline Mutation – Any half-cat/half-human mutation will invariably:
1) Be female.
2) Will possess ears and sometimes a tail as a genetic mutation.
3) Wear as little clothing as possible, if any (a definite plus).
4) Rare would this apply to male half-cat/half-human mutations (though they exist out there).

#27) Law of Conservation of Firepower – Any powerful weapon capable of destroying/defeating an opponent in a single shot will invariably be reserved and used as a last resort.

#28) Law of Technological User-Benevolence – The formal training required to operate a spaceship or mecha is inversely proportional to its complexity.

#29) Law of Melee Luminescence – Any being displaying extremely high levels of martial arts prowess and/or violent emotions emits light in the form of a glowing aura. This aura is usually blue for “Good Guys” and red for “Bad Guys”. This is attributed to Good being higher in the electromagnetic spectrum than Evil.

#30) Law of Non-Anthropomorphic Antagonism – All ugly, non-humanoid alien races are hostile, and usually hell-bent on destroying humanity for some obscure reason.

#31) Law of Follicular Chromatic Variability – Any color in the visible spectrum is considered a natural hair color. This color can change without warning or explanation.

#32) Law of Follicular Permanence – Hair in anime is pretty much indestructible, and can resist any amount of meteorological conditions, energy emissions, physical abuse, or explosive effects and still look perfect. The only way to hurt someone’s hair is the same way you deal with demons… with bladed weapons!

#33) Law of Nothingness – There is no Law #33… I think.

#34) Law of Probable Attire – Clothing in anime follows certain predictable guidelines: Female characters wear as little clothing as possible, regardless of whether it is socially or meteorologically appropriate. Any female with an excessive amount of clothing will invariably have her clothes ripped to shreds or torn off somehow. If there is no opportunity to tear off aforementioned female’s clothes, then she will inexplicably take a shower for no apparent reason (also known as the Gratuitous Shower Scene). Whenever there is a headwind, Male characters invariably wear long cloaks that don’t hamper movement and billow out dramatically behind them.
First Corollary (Cryo-Adaptability): All anime characters are resistant to extremely cold temperatures, and do not need to wear heavy or warm clothing in snow.
Second Corollary (Indecent Invulnerability): Bikinis render the wearer invulnerable to any form of damage.
Third Corollary (Probable Attire permanence): The clothing on the hero is indestructible. Their capes, robes, (and if they are girls,) skirts, dresses, bows, or any loose clothing will just flap when they are in the middle of a fire or ice attack… Unless it’s a hentai… it is believed that the clothes are made out of Anime Character hair. (Re. Laws 32 & 48)

#35) Law of Musical Omnipotence – Any character capable of musical talent (singing, playing an instrument, etc.) is automatically capable of doing much more “simple things”, such examples would be like piloting mecha, fighting crime, stopping an intergalactic war, and so on… especially if they’ve never attempted these things before.

#36) Law of Quintupular Agglutination – Also called “The Five-man Rule”, when “Good Guys” group together, it tends to be in groups of five. There are five basic positions, which are:
1) The Hero/Leader
2) His Girlfriend
3) His Best Friend/Rival
4) A Hulking Brute
5) A Dwarf/Kid
Between these basic positions are distributed several attributes, which include:
1) Extreme Coolness
2) Amazing Intelligence
3) Incredible Irritation

#37) Law of Extradimensional Capacitance – All anime females have an extradimensional storage space of variable volume somewhere on their person from which they can instantly retrieve any object at a moment’s notice. This mysterious dimension is commonly called “Malletspace”.
First Corollary (also known as The Hammer Rule): The most common item stored is a heavy mallet, costumes/uniforms, power suits/armor, and large bazookas.

#38) Law of Hydrostatic Emission – Eyes tend to be rather large in Anime. This is because they contain several gallons of water, which may be instantaneously released at high pressure through large tear ducts. The actual volume of water contained in the eyes is unknown, as there is no evidence to suggest that these reservoirs are actually capable of running out. The reason water tends to collect in the eyes is because Anime characters only have one large sweat gland, which is located at the back of the head. When extremely stressed, embarrassed, or worried, this sweat gland exudes a single but very large drop of sebaceous fluid.

#39) Law of Inverse Attraction – Success at finding suitable mates is inversely proportionate to how desperately you want to be successful. The more you want, the less you get and vice-versa.
First Corollary: Unfortunately, this law seems to apply to Otaku in the real world…

#40) Law of Nasal Sanguination – When sexually aroused, males in Anime don’t get erections (no that occurs in H-manga sometimes), nope, they get nosebleeds. No one’s sure why this is, though… the current theory suggests that larger eyes mean smaller sinuses and thinner sinus tissue (see Law #38 above). Females don’t get nosebleeds (though it’s very rare), but invariably get one heck of a blush along the cheeks and across the nose, suggesting a lot of bloodflow to that region.

#41) Law of Xylolaceration – Wooden or bamboo swords are just as sharp as metal swords, if not sharper.

#42) Law of Juvenile Omnipotence – Always send a boy to do a man’s job. He’ll get it done in half the time and twice the angst.

#43) Law of Triscaquadrodecophobia – There is no Law #43.

#44) Law of Nominative Clamovocation – The likelihood of success and damage done by a martial arts attack is directly proportional to the volume at which the full name of the attack is announced (known as the Kamehameha effect).

#45) Law of Uninterruptable Metamorphosis – Regardless of how long or involved the transformation sequence or how many times they’ve seen it before, any “Bad Guys” witnessing a mecha/hero/heroine transforming are too stunned to do anything to interrupt it (unless they’re smart to try an action but then again such an action doesn’t exist much).

#46) Law of Flimsy Incognition – Simply changing into a costume or wearing a teensy mask can make you utterly unrecognizable to even your closest friends and relatives.

#47) Law of Mandibular Combustible Emission – All anime characters seem to have some unknown chemical on their breath that reacts VERY violently with extremely hot or spicy food. This chemical may also be responsible for the phenomenon of fire behind the eyes and from the mouth when a character (usually a female) is really angry.

#48) Law of Electrical and Combustible Survivalism – If you get electrocuted or burned, YOU WILL SURVIVE! Though your entire body will be scorched, seconds later, your skin won’t have a trace of damage (Also known as the “Pikachu Effect”).
First Corollary: When a magical bad guy/Alien/monster fires off a flame, wind, or ice attack, the resulting effect is only enough for the hero(es)/heroine(s) to be standing in the “Walking Against the Wind” stance, with his/her eyes shut and letting out a pathetic “Aaaaagh!”, and yet they are never harmed. This may be in part to laws 32, 34 and sometimes 44.

#49) Law of Female Wrath – If a male character insults a female character, he will get a mallet, shotgun, or tank blast, or if she is a character that can perform magical feats, a fireball or whatever, to the head, body or whatever (Also known as the “Lina Inverse/Gourry Factor”). This is because he always deserves it, and will help him to cope in today’s society. (Sniff, Sniff)

#50) Law of Artistic Perversion – Most (not all) Anime artists are perverts and are under the impression that girls are willing to tear off their clothes, or wear VERY small, revealing outfits at the drop of a pin (or pen for that matter). Unfortunately, most Hentai fans are under the same impression…

(This was created by Insane Advocate and his two friends, as well as gatherings from various internet sources in order to help others understand the things that happen in anime (and manga). And so, to help others understand anime, after you have read this, if you wish you may copy and paste this to your profile. Thank you.)

Laws of anime part 1

Over the years, as I was reading fan fiction from fanfiction.net, I stumbled upon Insane Advocate’s and his friends 100 laws of anime. I thought it was quite humorous, so I decided to post here.  Enjoy!

Now for the 100 laws of anime: Taken from Naruto Reincarnate

“The laws of Anime is a growing list of physical, universal, and natural phenomenon that seem to appear in various forms in all sorts of anime. The original intent was an effort to classify these incidents into a list of “laws” that explained how Anime physics are different from our own (real?) world. It is our hope that you find them useful to studying Anime, or at the very least, worth a good chuckle.”

#1) Law of Metaphysical Irregularity – The normal laws of physics do not apply.

#2) Law of Differential Gravitation – Whenever someone or something jumps, is thrown, or otherwise is rendered airborne, gravity is reduced by a factor of 4. Some things have been known to “Float” for a few seconds before plummeting to hit the ground, vehicle, or someone’s cranium.

#3) Law of Sonic Amplification, First Law of Anime Acoustics – In space, loud sounds, like explosions, are even louder because there is no air to get in the way.

#4) Law of Constant Thrust, First Law of Anime Motion – In space, constant thrust equals constant velocity.

#5) Law of Mechanical Mobility, Second Law of Anime Motion – The larger a mechanical device is, the faster it moves; Armored Mecha are the fastest objects known to human science.

#6) Law of Temporal Variability – Time is not a constant. Time stops for the hero whenever he does something “cool” or “impressive”. Time slows down when friends and lovers are being killed and speeds up whenever there is a fight.

#7) First Law of Temporal Mortality – “Good Guys” and “Bad Guys” both die in one of two ways – either so quick they don’t even see it coming, OR it’s a long drawn out affair where the character gains much insight to the workings of society, human existence or why the toast always lands butter side down.
Note: Sometimes, Anime heroes or villains never really die! In these rare cases they were a clone or cyborg and the real hero/villain’s suspiciously missing in “Malletspace” or something…

#8) Second Law of Temporal Mortality – It takes some time for bad guys to die… regardless of physical damage. Even when the “Bad Guys” are killed so quickly they don’t even see it coming, it takes them a while to realize they are dead. This is attributed to the belief that being evil damages the Reality Lobe of the brain.

#9) Law of Dramatic Emphasis – Scenes involving extreme amounts of action are depicted with either still frames or black screens with a slash of bright color (usually red or white).

#10) Law of Dramatic Multiplicity – Scenes that only happen once, for instance, a “Good Guy” kicks the “Bad Guy” in the face, are seen at least 3 times from 3 different angles.

#11) Law of Inherent Combustibility – Everything explodes. Everything.
First Corollary: Anything that explodes bulges first.
Second Corollary: Large cities are the most explosive substances known to human science. Tokyo in particular seems to be the most unstable of these cities, sometimes referred to as “The Matchstick City”.

#12) Law of Phlogistatic Emission – Nearly all things emit light from fatal wounds.

#13) Law of Energetic Emission – There is always an energy build up (commonly referred to as an energy “bulge”) before Mecha or space craft weapons fire. Because of the explosive qualities of weapons, it is believed that this is related to the Law of Inherent Combustibility.

#14) Law of Inverse Lethal Magnitude – The destructive potential of any object/organism is inversely proportional to its mass.
First Corollary: Small and cute will always overcome big and ugly. Also known as the A-Ko phenomenon…

#15) Law of Inexhaustibility – No one EVER runs out of ammunition. That is of course unless they are cornered, out-numbered, out-classed, and/or unconscious.

#16) Laws of Inverse Accuracy – The accuracy of a “Good Guy” when operating any form of firearm increases as the difficulty of the shot increases. The accuracy of the “Bad Guys” when operating firearms decreases when the difficulty of the shot decreases (Also known as the Storm Trooper Effect).
Example: A “Good Guy” in a drunken stupor being held upside down from a moving vehicle will always hit, and several battalions of “Bad Guys” firing on a “Good Guy” standing alone in the middle of an open field will always miss.
First Corollary: The more “Bad Guys” there are, the less likely they will hit anyone or do any real damage.
Second Corollary: Whenever a “Good Guy” is faced with insurmountable odds, the “Bad Guys” line up in neat rows, allowing the hero to take them all out with a single burst of automatic fire and then escape.
Third Corollary: Whenever a “Good Guy” is actually hit by enemy fire, it is in a designated “Good Guy Area”, usually a flesh wound in the shoulder or arm, which restricts the “Good Guy” from doing anything more strenuous than driving, firing weaponry, using melee weapons, operating heavy machinery, or doing complex martial arts maneuvers.
Fourth Corollary: The more times the “Bad Guy” fires, the fewer times he will hit.

#17) Law of Transient Romantic Unreliability – Minimei is a bimbo. (Note: The Minority Opposition in Ohio disagrees and thinks all men who like this stuff needs to get out more.)

#18) Law of Hemoglobin Capacity – the human body contains over 12 gallons of blood, sometimes more, under high pressure.

#19) Law of Demonic Consistency – Demons and other supernatural creatures have at least three eyes, loads of fangs, tend to be yellow-green or brown, but black is not unknown, and can only be hurt by bladed weapons. Also, acid has been known to work just as well…

#20) Law of Militaristic Unreliability – Huge galaxy-wide armadas, entire armies, and large war machines full of cruel, heartless, bloodthirsty warriors can be stopped and defeated with a single insignificant example of a caring/loving emotion or a song.
First Corollary: Whenever a single war machine (mecha, starship, etc.) goes up against an entire army, the army always loses.

#21) Law of Tactical Unreliability- Tactical geniuses aren’t…

#22) Law of Inconsequential Undetectability – People never notice the little things… like missing body parts, or wounds the size of Seattle.

#23) Law of Juvenile Intellectuality – Children are smarter than adults. And almost twice as annoying…

#24) Law of Americanthromorphism – Americans in Anime appear in one of two roles, either as a really nasty skinny “Bad Guy” or a big stupid “Good Guy”.
First Corollary: The only people who are more stupid than the big dumb Americans are the American translators (Sometimes referred to as the Green Line Effect).
Second Corollary: The only people who are more stupid than the American translators are the American editors and censors (true).
Third Corollary: Canadians are usually portrayed as smart, strong, handsome “Good Guys”.

#25) Law of Mandibular Proportionality – The size of a person’s mouth is directly proportional to the volume at which they are speaking or eating.
(This was created by Insane Advocate and his two friends, as well as gatherings from various internet sources in order to help others understand the things that happen in anime (and manga). And so, to help others understand anime, after you have read this, if you wish you may copy and paste this to your profile. Thank you.)

Fear and Paranoia in Clouzot’s Le Corbeau

Fear is something that all humans have felt and experienced, especially when the object of our fear is mysterious or anonymous to us.  According to horror writer, H.P. Lovecraft, “the oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”  Expanding further on the concept of fear, Jiddu Krishnamurti (a spiritual philosopher) states that, “fear begins and ends with the desire to be secure…To find security and be secure is the everlasting cry. It is this insistent demand that breeds fear.”   As one can see, fear is a very powerful emotion and it’s not surprising that film directors have tapped into this emotion to scare us for entertainment purposes or to point out something (usually, negative) about ourselves as human beings.  Henri-Georges Clouzot is one such director that has utilized the emotion of fear to portray the negative side of human beings.
     
Perhaps, Clouzot’s best film to illustrate this point is Le Corbeau (The Raven), which depicts a small French town where all the residents receive “poison-pen” letters from an enigmatic figure called “The Raven” and the fear and paranoia that follows from them.  The town is thrown into chaos and people begin to accuse one another of being “The Raven” and writing the letters.  The fear and paranoia only increases when a young patient after receiving one of these letters, kills himself.  The townspeople immediately assume that Marie Corbin (a nurse with a strict attitude) is “The Raven” (though she is not) because she reportedly did not like the patient and because she disapproved of Dr. Germain who is constantly attacked by “The Raven” in the letters for having an affair and giving abortions.  At one point in the film, the town politicians desperate to do something about “The Raven” decide to get rid of Dr. Germain by setting him up, in the hope that “The Raven” would stop writing the letters; the plot is exposed and foiled.
       
The two incidents in the film illustrate how far the letters have driven everyone in the town to fear and paranoia. How Clouzot illicit these reactions from the citizens of the town is interesting and effective.  For instance, most people would assume that a funeral procession would be safe from one of “The Raven’s” letters, but no Clouzot has a letter fall out of a wreath as the mourners follow the casket of the decease (the young man who killed himself).  Even more suspenseful than the funeral procession, Clouzot saves the biggest place that we would assume that “The Raven” would never strike would be a Sunday morning Catholic mass.  Yet, Clouzot being the director he is, has the letter dropped from the gallery during the sermon.  Once again, this is effective what Clouzot did, because it shows the townspeople and us, the audience that nowhere is safe from “The Raven’s” claw.   Believe you and me, the scene with the letter coming down from the gallery and seeing how the people react, sends chills down my spine.  It’s that good of a scene.
     
Another thing that Clouzot does well with portraying fear and our reactions to it is the use of false clues and the twist ending.  As stated earlier, Marie Corbin was an initial suspect of being “The Raven”, but thanks to Clouzot’s suspenseful scene where the letter falls from the gallery, Marie is found to be innocent because earlier in the film, she was in jail.  That powerful scene helps illustrate the notion that “The Raven” could be anyone in the town and not the person we assume looks like a guilty party.  In fact, Clouzot shows us two other potential suspects, Laura (Dr. Vorzet’s young wife) and Denise (a flirtatious woman who has fling with Dr. Germain).  Both are not “The Raven,” yet the evidence that Clouzot provides us before the actual identity of “The Raven” is revealed made me think one of them was guilty.  After all, Denise was seen in the film dusting a stuffed raven and said raven ended up near Dr. Germain’s front door.  Both Denise and Laura were caught red-handed writing letters similar to “The Raven”, yet the real “Raven” was Dr. Vorzet (Laura’s husband) who discovered that his wife wanted a relationship with Dr. Germain and in act of revenge, came up with this scheme as way to expose other people’s skeletons in the closet.  
       
The ending of the film was shocking and satisfying to me because the mother of the young man who committed suicide got her revenge when she killed Dr. Vorzet.  Overall, Clouzot did a wonderful job with using fear and paranoia.  Using unexpected places that the townspeople and audience would not expect to see a letter appear, shows us how Clouzot masterfully manipulates his audience into feeling fearful and paranoid because the audience like the townspeople are wondering when will the letters stop.  In the end, Le Corbeau is a great thriller that keeps you wondering who the culprit is until the very end.