Month: September 2012

What political enthusiasm really is

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I don’t think I really became that cognitive about presidential elections until 2004, when it was John Kerry versus George W. Bush. I never really cared, nor do I really have that much care today about politicians, but it’s safe to say that when I turned 18 in 2000, I was still in a state of not giving a shit about the world, and didn’t bother voting then.

I didn’t vote in 2004 when it was John Kerry versus George W. Bush, because I drug my feet after moving down to Atlanta and didn’t bother registering to vote in the state of Georgia. I didn’t vote in 2008 when it was Barack Obama versus Sarah PalinJohn McCain, because I was just plain negligent, and I was working freelance, and honestly the two hours of wages I would have lost out on to take time to vote were more important to me than voting in a state that would win red pretty much no matter what.

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It’s amazing how little Nike has to try anymore

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

All throughout the summer, I’ve seen shirts that look pretty much just like this. Give or take the color; base it on a school, sports team, or just douchebag neon colors, all summer long, it’s been Nike shirts that have absolutely nothing on them but a couple of words in Futura Bold variant, AKA The Watchmen font, and a swoosh.

BRAVES BASEBALL. swoosh
PHILLIES BASEBALL. swoosh
NATIONALS BASEBALL. swoosh
BLACKSBURG. swoosh
KANSAS CITY KNOWS. swoosh
PACKERS JUST DO IT. swoosh
FAST IS FASTER. swoosh

and of course

JUST DO IT. swoosh

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Simple wrestling math

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

What’s new is new and what’s old is eventually new again, at some point.  Even if it means unapologizingly combining two wrestlers not even one full decade old yet, to create one entirely new persona.

To no surprise, Ryback is getting over, because he’s completely, without any hitch, re-using Goldberg’s gimmick.  But wearing all of Rhyno’s old ring attire.  If you close your eyes, the theme even sounds like a bastardized version of both their themes combined.

To no surprise, smarks like I are not the least bit impressed by this whole schtick, because frankly we’ve already seen it before.

I’m pretty sure this was the blackest conversation ever

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I’m tired, groggy, and agitated that the lines at Starbucks are quadrupled since the start of the school semester, and my favorite barista girl has quit.  My head still hurts a little bit in combination of the hangover from the day prior, and not having a good night’s sleep.  And then a guy gets in line behind me, and is on his cell phone, and propagates black stereotypes by speaking as loudly and as animated as he can.

So it’s no surprise that I overhear his conversation; I’m pretty sure people at Piedmont Park could hear what he was saying at this point.  But being right in front of him, his words are crystal clear, and I’m trying my best to ignore it until I hear his idea for a business model: A sneaker bar.

A bar that instead of serving drinks, serves shoes.  Sneakers.  Kicks.  Cruisers.  Jordans.

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Calling out an obvious attempt to get rich

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

When I first heard this story about how this Korean guy was suing Hooters because of a racist incident, I was ready to get up in arms and pull out my Korean card and start flinging them around like Gambit or a fed Twisted Fate.  But after reading and seeing all of the disclosed facts, I’m kind of somewhere in the middle of the situation.

I don’t think Hooters should get out of this incident completely scot-free, even if the perpetrator has already confessed and quit.  The restaurant still holds a modicum of liability for hiring someone like that in the first place, but they’ve really done all they can do to make sure that this was an isolated incident, and not a situation where hundreds of minorities were left with discriminatory jabs that went undetected.

But at the same time, I don’t think Hooters should be tagged with a $150,000 lawsuit that this Korean guy and his Korean lawyer are pursuing.  If these guys want to sue anyone, it should be the 20-year old tramp that wrote the racist remark in the first place, not Hooters.  To me, this whole scenario just reeks of people trying to exploit the system and just trying to get paid.

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Reflecting on past September 11ths

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I was combing through some old bookmarks, and I came across a link to an old convention acquaintance from back in the day, Nikkou. She had some notoriety back then as one of the two people responsible for bringing the infant internets the Anime Web Turnpike, the at-the-time largest weekly updated conglomeration of anime-related links from all facets of anime fandom.

Apparently, a lot like me, she cherished her nerdy friends to to where she would go through the effort to put up some sort of page of reminiscing of past days, going so far as to mention me by name and by an old sketch I had done, portraying an old Otakon web design panel that I was somehow a part of. It was at this panel, or rather afterward, where I would actually meet Nikkou, and she saw it fit to rectify the issue that hadn’t been an Anipike Guest Author, like my peers on the panel. My old collection of links actually exists to this day, on an Anipike classic archive section, which broke on September 11, 2000. To no real surprise, almost 90% of the links I posted 12 years ago aren’t valid anymore, ironically including my own website, which happened to be on a different URL then.

Regardless, this was 12 years ago. 12 fucking years ago.

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In memorandum: The resistance

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For years, I resisted in signing up for a LiveJournal account.  I don’t really know why, other than the fact that so many people I already knew were already there.  I didn’t necessarily think it was a bad thing, but for some reason, I resisted in joining something everyone else had joined.  Eventually, I did join, and to no surprise, it wasn’t the end of the world.  It was a pretty good way of keeping in touch with some people.

For years, I resisted in signing up for a MySpace account.  I don’t really know why, other than the fact that so many people I already knew already had their own.  I didn’t necessarily think it was a bad thing, but I disliked how commercial, how ad-ridden, and how plagued it was with shitty musicians, spam-bots soliciting shitty webcam sex girls, but a lot of my friends were there.  Eventually I did join, and to no surprise, it wasn’t the end of the world.  It wasn’t as good of a means of keeping in track of people, but it did serve its purpose somewhat; the last time I heard from MySpace, someone named Jose had simply assumed my account, despite the fact that it was free for anyone to get their own.  Good riddance?

As of this past weekend, I broke down the latest resistance and signed up for a Facebook account.  And to no surprise, it’s not the end of the world.

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