Categories
Digital Culture

The world is not only stranger than you know…

…it is stranger than you can imagine. And this is never more true than on this wacky series of tubes we call the Interweb.

Exhibit One: I give you….Otherkin.

Otherkin is a subculture made up of people who describe themselves as being non-human or having a connection to a mythical archetype in some way, usually believing themselves to be mythological or legendary creatures. The word is a neologism primarily used by members of that subculture, and is somewhat fluid in definition, and in its broadest sense includes those who consider themselves to be animals, aliens, extradimensional beings, and any other non-human entities.

These are people who believe that they are dragons, werewolves, and elves.

Yes, really.

No, I’m not joking.

You want even wackier? Ok…you asked for it: Otakin!

A sort of crossbreed between fans of anime and otherkin, Otakin believe that they are actually the reincarnation of an anime (or occasionally game) character and that the worlds depicted in popular animes such as evangelion and games like final fantasy exist in another dimension. Unlike their otherkin counterparts, otakin are relatively rare and tend to limit their activities to obscure message boards and livejournal communities. >>from the Urban Dictionary

Otakin (sometimes Otakukin) believe that they have the souls of fictional characters, usually from Japanese anime. Let me say this again, slowly: They believe that they contain within them the souls of cartoon characters.

*boggle*

The obvious question seems to be: Why those particular sets of things? That is, why is there a group of people who believe they have within them the soul of elves, but not, oh…trolls? Or Goblins? Why are Otakin just anime based, and there’s no one running around believing they are the “reincarnated” soul of Woody Woodpecker? I’m not saying this is any more rational than believing, oh…that there’s an invisible man in the sky who watches everything I do…but on the “weird” meter, this one goes to 11.

Oh, and just for you, dear readers…one last special site that involves both dragons AND invisible men in the sky.

Categories
Digital Culture

Justin is famous!

Not only has everyone’s favorite Watt been featured on his local TV affiliate, but he’s right now on the front page of BoingBoing AND he’s in the most recent USA Today. There’s still time to get more parodies out there, if anyone is interested.

Un-freakin-believable, and a huge story for free speech, copyright issues, and blogging. Way to go, Justin! I can say that I knew you when… đŸ™‚

UPDATE: And, evidently, in the New York freakin’ Times. Very nice.
Justin in the NYT

Categories
Digital Culture

More on Religious? Litigious?

Parody is protected

Just a quick follow up…if you’re following this story, here’s the happenings over the last 24 hours:

  • Get thee over to Digg.com and Digg the story to help get the word out.
  • I get a mention over at Writing Right, and there’s a little discussion going on in her comments.
  • Fantastic writeup of the case over at The Angry Fag.
  • Yet another post in support of Justin over at Smart Kitty.
  • And of course, comments and such both here and at Justinsomnia.
Categories
Digital Culture

Root of All Evil

Here’s a great example of a TV show that will never, and I mean eeeeeeeever, be shown in the US. via BoingBoing

The Root of All Evil, a Channel 4 production in Britain, starring my main man Richard Dawkins. He’s been the loudest critic of religion for many years (the Salon article from April 2005 is a great example of his stances), and it appears that he’s taken his views to the small screen. His point of view is absolutely refreshing in this time of over-reactive religion in the US…it’s a bit like “what the hell is all this?” He’s just incredulous that in our age of better science than ever in the history of the world, and more and more proof for facts of the world like evolution that we’ve got more and more of the US buying into religious ideas. I’m not sure when this may be able to be purchased in the US, so I’ll just mention in passing that if you were to search sites that involved a type of file that rhymes with “RitRorrent”, that you might be able to find a copy now.