It was a mixture of being busy and just completely zonking out this weekend for your faithful webmaster. First, after car problems grounded me most of the day Friday, I enjoyed perhaps a little too much a night out. I bought a few lovely people drinks. Mysterious Asian Guy Tony was one of them. He started macking on me a little, but I reminded him that his boyfriend would totally kick my ass so he chilled. There was a deliciously femme looking boy who accepted my kindness in drink offer, but wasn’t really interested in my advanced otherwise. He said it was his first time there. I believe it. I also made up with Raver J whom I’d been fighting with since October. (While this is a good thing, I certainly am not going to do anything sexually with him again. Fool me twice…)

On Saturday, I ventured to Momocon. I got there a bit late. Stupid traffic was terrible! And I did sleep in quite a bit too. I’m getting old. I can’t hang with the young anime loving crowd anymore. Heh. No, not really. People liked my yaoi shirt, but I want more aggressive ones. I mean they should scream anime homo!

Seeing Fang and Nemo again was so wonderful even if it was only for like an hour. I keep saying, I want to see them more, but it doesn’t usually work out. I know things can always come up, but they’re such great people, it’d be a disappointment if it wasn’t until the next Con that I saw them again. Fang, in particular, was more adorable than ever with his voice changing and all. DAWWWW!!

Saturday night brought me to Kaze’s for another mix. We had a good time watching some sumo wrestling too and I teased Tatsuo a bit. He needs to get unbusy and come out with us to play in the nightclub with his sexy self. DJ Joe Gutheraux was pretty cool, but we didn’t stay all night.

All in all, it was a mixture of enjoying a moment’s breath of spring weather (it’s already gone back to cold and wet, in fact there was snow/sleet this morning) and feeling like sleeping a lot. I need to get some more editing done and I need to check up on cover art. April is coming faster than I know it.

OH, and apparently while I was doing all of that the democrats finally got their thumbs out of their asses and passed health care.

MomoCon, the downright cheap excuse for an anime convention held on the campus of Georgia Tech, is coming very soon. In fact, it’s two weeks away! Now, presale tickets for the exact cost of $0.00 have already been sold out. I say that, because, well, because the previous conventions have been so well attended (even during inclement weather) they have to put a cap on how many can come this year.

That doesn’t mean you still can’t see what all the fuss is about.

If you pony up some cash in a donation by March 7th, then you can get a pass mailed to you. Of course, those who registered for free badges (that will have to pick them up during the convention) you all should bring a few extra bucks to throw at this thing too. It ain’t a huge ass convention, so it needs all the love you can give it.

I’ll be there along with dozens of much more talented folks than I am hocking their anime wares. Come and have a great time with me trying to convert others to shotaluv March 20th and 21st.

For more information, you can visit the MomoCon website.

This is a reminder that you need to pre-register this year to go to MomoCon over at Georgia Tech this March 20th and 21st. Registration is still free, though there are benefits to forking over some bucks.

If you’re local and you’re attending, shoot me an email or something. I’d love to get together and meet some of you loverlies.

I received this information today that may be of interest to otaku that live in or around the Atlanta area are are interested in this convention:

MomoCon 2010 is rapidly approaching and we have some big news about the event.

First off, we are proud to announce some of our first guests: Seraphina, Otaku Belly Dancer, the Steampunk musical stylings of Extraordinary Contraptions, and expert cosplayers Alethia Burns and Bill Winans.

MomoCon also wants to announce that due to crowding issues in the current venue, the 2010 event will have an attendance cap of 7000 attendees. MomoCon encourages everyone to pre-register to ensure badge availability, pre-registration is now available at www.momocon.com thanks to our partner FandomU. We are in the works for securing a larger venue in 2011, and encourage attendees to take advantage of the new Donor options for pre-registration. Donors of different levels can experience benefits such as mailed-out badges, early dealer room access, and custom numbered artwork.

Info on registration levels can be found here:
http://momocon.moonfruit.com/#/pre-registrationdonations/4534818906>

An Iowa man was convicted of possessing child pornography last week because some of the books in his vast collection of Japanese manga (comics) appeared to depict minors engaged in sexual acts. How exactly can a court determine whether a comic book character is a “minor” or not?

39-year-old Christopher Handley, an office worker, was brought up on charges of possessing child pornography in 2006 when customs officials seized a package for him. It contained several manga, some of which were “lolicon” that showed what officials said were children being sexually abused. There were also images of bestiality. Handley has a huge collection of manga, and only a few are lolicon. He also had absolutely no child pornography of any description in his house or on his computer.

Nevertheless, Handley entered a guilty plea. According to Threat Level, it was simply because his attorney had exhausted all other options:

“It’s probably the only law I’m aware of, if a client shows me a book or magazine or movie, and asks me if this image is illegal, I can’t tell them,” says Eric Chase, Handley’s attorney.

Chase says he recommended the plea agreement (.pdf) to his client because he didn’t think he could convince a jury to acquit him once they’d seen the images in question. The lawyer declined to describe the details. “If they can imagine it, they drew it,” he says. “Use your imagination. It was there.”

The manga collector faces up to 15 years in prison for possessing comic books.

Handley is the first person to be convicted under the controversial Protect Act, which makes drawings of fictional characters into potential child pornography. How did this happen?

In 2002, the Supreme Court struck down the so-called Morphing Law, which held that fictional cartoon or photoshopped images depicting minors having sex would would also be treated as obscene (Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition). Under that decision, last week’s conviction of Handley could not have happened. But in 2003, the Protect Law passed, which held that “a drawing, cartoon, sculpture, or painting” showing children in sexual situations could be ruled illegal if local community standards consider it “obscene.” This is particularly relevant given that Handley was tried in an area, Southern Iowa, where average community members may not be aware of the styles and content of typical manga.

In the United States, the original intent of the child pornography laws was to protect children from sexual abuse. The idea is that when actual, living children (not images of them) participate in the making of sexual images, they are harmed. The US Supreme Court heard a case in 1982 (New York v. Ferber) whose outcome, in short, made any sexual images containing minors obscene and illegal – even if those images had redeeming social value. New York v. Ferber did not cover fictional images, only photography and film which involved actual children.

The Protect Act dramatically expands the scope of laws permitted under Ferber. But will actual children be protected by sending a man to prison for collecting fictional comic books?

As Comic Book Legal Defense Fund executive director Charles Brownstein put it:

This art that this man possessed as part of a larger collection of manga … is now the basis for [a sentence] designed to protect children from abuse. The drawings are not obscene and are not tantamount to pornography. They are lines on paper.

(PIXIE says: Obviously this is a real problem for fans in the United States of this genre. I just want you to know that shotalicious isn’t going anywhere. If our web host takes us down, we’ll be back using another one. And unless I’m arrested, I’ll be here posting shota on shotalicious.org.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to consider attempts to revive a 1998 law intended to protect children from Internet pornography, ending a legal conflict dating to the administration of President Bill Clinton.

Without comment, the court handed down an order declining to take the case of Mukasey v. A.C.L.U., No. 08-565. The administration of former President George W. Bush, through Attorney General Michael Mukasey, had asked the justices to review the law. The American Civil Liberties Union has been a leading foe of the statute.

The Child Online Protection Act has been the subject of court battles since Congress enacted it in 1998, and it has never taken effect. Some judges have called the controversy an agonizing conflict between the cherished right of free speech and society’s duty to watch over children, many of whom grow up as familiar with computers as earlier generations of children were with coloring books.

The high court’s refusal to take another look at the law was not surprising, given that the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in Philadelphia, ruled last July that the law violated the First Amendment because filtering technologies and other tools offered less restrictive ways to shield children.

Signed by President Clinton in the fall of 1998, the law would have made it illegal for the operator of a commercial Web site to make sexually explicit material deemed harmful to minors available to those under 17. Violators would have faced fines of up to $50,000 per offense and six months in jail. A site that carried such material but gated it off from children through credit cards or other age-verifying measures would have had a defense under the statute.

Backers of the law contended that it was aimed primarily at “teaser” ads, or free samples offered by Web pornography sites. But opponents of the law complained that it was too broad and could have covered non-pornographic sexual material, like those dealing with gynecological issues.

The Child Online Protection Act was an attempt to fill a void created when the Supreme Court struck down a broader measure, the Communications Decency Act of 1996, the year after it had been enacted. The court ruled then that the decency act was defective because, among other things, it had not defined its key terms clearly enough.

The journey of the Child Online Protection Act through the court system began early in 1999, when Federal Judge Lowell A. Reed Jr. in Philadelphia issued an injunction against the statute, concluding that the fears of the law’s critics were reasonable. But Judge Reed’s remarks were memorable for their ambivalence.

The judge wrote that he felt “personal regret” that his injunction would “delay once again the careful protection of our children.” But he went on to write that “perhaps we do the minors of this country harm if the First Amendment protections, which they will with age inherit fully, are chipped away in the name of their protection.”

Judge Reed’s injunction was upheld by a three-judge panel of the Third Circuit in June 2000. Then the Supreme Court, in a 5-to-4 ruling in June 2004, affirmed that the injunction against enforcement of the law should remain in effect pending a trial on the law’s constitutionality in Federal District Court.

Early in 2007, Judge Reed declared the law unconstitutional, while again voicing his regret. After the Third Circuit upheld Judge Reed last July, the Bush administration made one last attempt to revive it, which the Supreme Court rejected on Wednesday.

A Supreme Court judge in Australia has ruled that an internet cartoon in which look-a-like child characters from The Simpsons engage in sexual acts is child pornography.

In a landmark finding, Justice Michael Adams upheld a decision convicting a man of possessing child pornography after the cartoons, depicting characters modelled on Bart, Lisa and Maggie engaging in sex acts, were found on his computer.

The main issue of the case was whether a fictional cartoon character could “depict” a “person” under law.

“If the persons were real, such depictions could never be permitted,”Justice Adams said in his judgement.

“Their creation would constitute crimes at the very highest end of the criminal calendar.”

Alan John McEwan had been convicted in the Parramatta Local Court of possessing child pornography and of using a carriage service to access child pornography material, the latter of which has a maximum penalty of 10 years’ jail.

The male figures in the cartoons had what appeared to be human genitalia, as did the mother and the girl depicted in the cartoons.

The magistrate had said that had the images involved real children, McEwan would have been jailed.

However, he was fined A$3000 and required to enter into a two-year good behaviour bond in respect to each of the charges.

McEwan appealed the decision arguing that fictional cartoon characters could not be considered people as they “plainly and deliberately” departed from the human form.

But Justice Adams agreed with the magistrate, finding that while The Simpsons characters had hands with four fingers and their faces were “markedly and deliberately different to those of any possible human being”, the mere fact that they were not realistic representations of human beings did not mean that they could not be considered people.

Justice Adams said the purpose of the legislation was to stop sexual exploitation and child abuse where images are depicted of “real” children.

However it was also to deter the production of other material, including cartoons, that could “fuel demand for material that does involve the abuse of children”.

He dismissed the appeal and ordered each party to pay its own costs as it was “the first case dealing with (this) difficult issue.”

(Ed note: -snicker- That’s so fucking retarded, I don’t even know where to begin. Then again Australia has been on a huge downward spiral for several years now.)

YAHOO TOP 10 OVERALL SEARCHES FOR 2008

— 1. Britney Spears

— 2. WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment)

— 3. Barack Obama

— 4. Miley Cyrus

— 5. “RuneScape”

— 6. Jessica Alba

— 7. “Naruto”

— 8. Lindsay Lohan

— 9. Angelina Jolie

— 10. American Idol

In a reflection of the nation’s growing obsession with escaping reality, more than 1,000 people have signed an on-line petition to present to the government to establish a law permitting marriage to comic characters.

Comic books known as “manga”, animated “anime” films and on-line virtual reality games have become increasingly popular in Japan, with fictitious characters frequently elevated to celebrity status.

Among the most high profile of manga fans is the current prime minister Taro Aso, who recently complained he had not had time to read any comic books since taking office last month.

The on-line campaign for cartoon marriages was masterminded by Taichi Takashita who claimed he was motivated to pursue the unusual change in law because he felt more at ease in the “two dimensional world” than reality.

“I am no longer interested in three dimensions. I would even like to become a resident of the two-dimensional world,” he wrote.

“However, that seems impossible with present-day technology. Therefore, at the very least, would it be possible to legally authorise marriage with a two-dimensional character?” A growing number of Japanese “otaku” geeks are spending an increasing amount of time escaping the social challenges of modern-day life by seeking refuge in the “virtual” two-dimensional reality of manga, anime and on-line games.

The new campaign was launched only days after a woman was jailed in Japan after “killing” her virtual husband after he suddenly divorced her as part of a popular interactive internet game.

Weeks earlier, police charged another woman who posted an on-line message plotting to kill her parents after they told her to clear up her several thousand-strong manga collection in their home.

While single sex marriage is not permitted in Japan, the popularity of the cartoon-human unions was instantly apparent this week as more than 1,000 were enlisted to the campaign.

Among them, one supporter wrote: “For a long time I have only been able to fall in love with two-dimensional people and currently I have someone I really love.
“Even if she is fictional, it is still loving someone. I would like to have legal approval for this system at any cost.”

Rasler and Ashe from Final Fantasy 12

Fran from Final Fantasy 12

Delicious winged bishounen (anime reference needed, tell me in comments!)

Ruroni Kenshin

OMFG delicious Envy from FMA.

Can’t label. Too busy fapping. Good God he’s fucking hot.

Vayne from Final Fantasy 12

Shota who later won Best In Show – Children’s Division

I Believe In Harvey Dent

Bunny Girl Maid

A Sim

It’s a trap!

DJ Seme/Uke and DJ Kaze

Jovokas being fucking hot.

An Alien and its Master

Rouge from Cruxshadows

Captain Spaulding from House of 1,000 Corpses / Devil’s Rejects.

I did take pictures at AWA. And I have some on that same roll from DragonCon as well. As soon as reasonably possible, I’ll get them developed and post them. I think I have a few left to take before the roll is finished. Anyone wanna come model?

*ding-dong*

brb, Party Van.

I’m drowning.
I know I am.
Drowning in debt.
Drowning in loneliness.
Drowning in depression and sadness.

…

I didn’t go to the Yaoi Panel. Well, I did, but after the initial opening, it went immediately to the usual antics of hen da ne who while are very generous and wonderful sponsors of the genre, need to 1) stop singing and 2) make yaoi paddling its own panel.

While I’m sure it got better from there, I found myself realizing I was in my 8th Yaoi After Dark panel and not wanting to be. I wanted to be up in the Artist Alley with my friends Fang and Nemo whom I see perhaps as many as three times a year despite the fact they only live on the other side of the city.

So, if I can be forgiven, I left the Yaoi After Dark celebration before Violaine really had gotten the show on the road. Was the panel good? Dunno. Was it a swan song? Dunno.

I’m drowning, you see, and the only thing I think that could help me tread water for a few more hours wasn’t going to be sitting (or rather standing since it was a huge crowd) in that panel.

…

I only went to AWA for one day. 25 dollars. I really couldn’t afford that to be honest. I’m behind on my car note. I have car taxes to pay next month technically before my birthday, but it rarely happens that way. My credit card is maxed out. And I have no money.

I try to stay at work longer than my shifts and I call asking if they need any help when I’m not there. But work is a tricky thing since it costs some money to do it and if I’m not getting tipped enough…

I’m trying hard to change things in my life that will make things work again. Because, things used to work. But as of right now, I’m drowning. Or maybe I’m already dead and will require resurrection.

Due to financial situations, I’ll only be in attendance of this year’s Anime Weekend Atlanta convention one day: Saturday.

In other related news: There is the idea swirling around Wall Street that a huge ass bailout of EVERYTHING is looming. A rescue plan that could cost A TRILLION DOLLARS is being floated about. There are also thoughts that short-selling, that is the idea that you sell shares of stocks you don’t own at a higher price and buy them back at a lower one, will be suspended.

There is the constant annoyance that we have less of a free-market than we ever have in the rise of all of this financial crisis.

However, on the rumors, the stock markets in many countries around the world have soared today. As volatile as things are, I don’t think it’s going to be very long-term as long as the situations persist.

>>> Dow closes down over 450 points.

>>> AIG’s bail out causes controversy in Congress, doesn’t allay fears on Wall Street.

>>> WaMu searching for a suitor.

>>> Wachovia also a mess.

>>> Morgan Stanley also suggests that it won’t survive without help.

>>> FDIC drops below mandated target level, meaning it’ll have to be bailed out too.

Ironically I made 84 dollars in tips on Monday. It helped pay some bills, but since times have been tough almost every other day I do wonder how I’ll be able to get to this years Anime Weekend Atlanta. I wished they’d move the damn thing further away from the far superior DragonCon.

So why would anyone go to one of these crazy conventions anyway? Well, I suggested 10 reasons why someone may do just that and let you all vote on the results. Here’s what we got:

28% gave the overall winning response of “Show me the dealers room.” I guess this proves that selection all in one place beats the higher prices you are paying?

6% of you have guests you must worship. We’re not worthy! We’re not worthy!

10% are all into the gaming aspects of the con. Those of you that DDR, need to shower.

2% of you like to watch videos, be them Anime Music Videos or other presentations.

2% of you like the panels. I’m sure anyone who’s run a panel probably figures 2% of those who attend them say “Thanks.”

13% see the convention as their destiny since they are artists of some kind. I like the artist alleys too. I tend to spend most of my time and money in them. (Shout out to Fang and Nemo who will have a table yet again at Anime Weekend Atlanta!)

14% responded that at conventions they were assured to get laid. I don’t know if this is a sad statement of fact or a reason to be joyful that people are having a really… really good time.

17% are all about the friends aspect of the conventions. And that’s a very good thing. Now if you don’t mind, can I crash in your room? I’ll give you a blow job.

6% do not go to conventions and hate us all for going. Boo-hoo.

I have probably a dozen more but the roll of film (yeah, actual film) they are on is not yet used up. I’ll find something to take the rest of the shots with, but this should satiate you for now.

Candy and Geoff

Dark Elf perhaps?

Cyril works with Cruxshadows

Gerard Way from My Chemical Romance

Frank Conniff, TV’s Frank from MST3K

Trace Beaulieu, Dr. Clayton Forrester from MST3K

Joel Hodgson, Joel Robinson from MST3K

Drew

The hottest boy I found.

THIS IS SPARTA!!!

Beam me up.

Larsa from Final Fantasy 12 perhaps?

Wood Elf

Shota trap assassin.
(Formerly a loli who works for the Umbrella Corp.)

Sailor trap.

Handsome Cleric perhaps?

Edward Scissorhands Cosplay.

Parts 3 and 4 of Pico 2 Chico were added to the secret hype site. Check out either the valentine, the puzzle box, or the clock surrounding the banner if you need to find out how to reach the secret site. Solving just one of those puzzles will land you there.

With DragonCon behind me, Anime Weekend Atlanta is in TWO WEEKS!! Oh the humanity!! If you’ve never been to a convention, I highly recommend starting with a smaller one. Not that AWA, which is celebrating their 14th year, isn’t well attended. In fact, it’s one of the largest anime conventions in the Southeast.

As part of my weekly Top 5 series. Here are 5 reasons why YOU, YES YOU should go to Anime Weekend Atlanta.

5: Cost. AWA is pretty cheep. 35 bucks will get you a two day pass. Use it for Friday and Saturday and you’re set! (If you need the full experience, tickets are 45 dollars for the three day event.)

4: Age. Intimidated by the broad age-range of bigger conventions like DragonCon? Too young to get into Yaoi-Con? Anime Weekend Atlanta is perfect for you.

3: Anime. The genre is filled with fun for everyone. If you are completely fucking sick and tired of Naruto and at this point who really isn’t? There are so many series just waiting to be discovered in both the screening and dealers rooms.

2: Yaoi. While Yaoi After Dark may not be the place to go for discussions on shota, Lainey will still keep you quite entertained with her yaoi themed games and giveaways. It’s become one of the largest events at the convention.

1: Friends. Let’s face it, you like anime, you’re considered strange and weird to the outside world. And who needs them anyway? Come to AWA and meet people you already know but have never seen IN REAL LIFE. Ooooh. Oh, and you can come meet me, your faithful webmaster of pixiesticks and shotalicious!

So there you have it: Anime Weekend Atlanta, September 19th through the 21st. Come!

* Today is the last day you can vote in the current Pretty Boy Poll

* Related perhaps, please keep the *chan conversations off the tagboard. I don’t want to gain notoriety with those folks. It would only end poorly for my sites, I’m sure.

* Boku No Sexual Harassment OAV 3 is now available over on shotalicious.org

* Any donations you’d like to make to help me get to DragonCon and/or Anime Weekend Atlanta this year would be much appreciated. Buying a book gets you a book and me 4 bucks so maybe it’s time to finally get your copy?

* Stupid sexy Randy Orton got into a motorcycle accident just after he was cleared medically to return to the WWE and now is out -another- 3-6 months. Damn you Orton!

* I really thought the Opening Ceremony for Beijing’s Olympics were the most beautiful thing ever televised.

* In Soviet Russia, Georgia will become part of you. (By force if necessary, apparently.)

* Happy (belated) Birthday Elf.

* Over on the secret Pico x Chico x Coco Hype site, the AMV for Boku No Pico has been fixed to where it now includes sound. Yeah, it kinda helps to have sound in an anime MUSIC video.

Of the many happy campers at the record-demolishing (and economy-confounding) Sotheby’s auction last night, Takashi Murakami may have been the happiest. Drawing stares from art-world veterans — one told us she’d never seen an artist show up to watch his own work on the block — the Japanese Pop maestro sat in the back of the room with a serene smile as My Lonesome Cowboy, his larger-than-life sculpture of a boy waving an ejaculate lasso, brought in $15.2 million — quintupling the artist’s previous record at auction. (The signature piece, an edition of which is currently on view at the artist’s Brooklyn Museum show, was sold by his former dealer Marianne Boesky.) “Oh, it’s not surprising,” Murakami said as he huddled with his Paris dealer, Emmanuel Perrotin, after the auction. Pretty gratifying, though? “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he said. “Basically.”

Another contented observer of the auction, albeit from the astral plane, was Robert Rauschenberg. Two days after the artist’s death at 82, his painting Overdrive did, as speculated, set a record, bringing in $14.6 million. (All Sotheby’s figures include their commission, which is about 10 percent atop the winning bid.) The big winner of the night, however, was Francis Bacon, whose triptych set a new record for the artist when it went to a phone bidder for a staggering $86.3 million. (“Be brave,” auctioneer Tobias Meyer had exhorted the buyers calling in, presumably from oversees. “Look at the Euros.”)

There were some surprises at the sale, however. Most notably, a massive Rothko failed to draw a single bidder. (Sotheby’s, which devoted a full eight pages to the work in the night’s catalogue, had forecast it would earn more than $35 million.) “We’ve seen an inevitable moving towards bigger and bigger,” Nick Lawrence, the Freight + Volume gallerist, said. “When will it get to where the center cannot hold?” But on a night that drew out many of the major players, it appeared that the center was holding just fine for the time being. “At first I wondered whether the famous irrational exuberance might be at work,” said writer Anthony Haden-Guest, who is working on a book about the history of the thrumming market. “But no, it started real strong, though it molted a bit towards the end. I think it’s certainly remarkable.”

NCM Fathom and Viz Pictures bring Live Action DEATH NOTE to select movie theatres nationwide for two nights only – May 20th and 21st at 7:30 PM! This exclusive event includes a specially produced 20-minute feature on how the popular manga translates to live action as well as the hit theme song “Dani California” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers!

Please note: This event is not officially rated but should be treated as equivalent to an “R” rating.

Advance purchase tickets are available NOW by entering your zip code in the above search feature. Seating is Limited – get your tickets EARLY!

DEATH NOTE is based on the hit supernatural action-mystery manga, and follows the story of Light Yagami, an ace student who finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god named Ryuk. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But when criminals mysteriously begin dropping dead, the authorities send the legendary detective “L” to investigate, and he is soon hot on the trail of Light, who must now reevaluate his noble goal. Both Light and L believe themselves to be on the side of justice, and the two match wits as they attempt to prove which one of them is “good” and which one of them is “evil.”

This event is English dubbed.

Don’t miss your chance to see DEATH NOTE larger-than-life on the big screen!

(Official site for Death Note The Movie – in Japanese)
(Official site for Fathom Events including what theatres)

Also upcoming: Bleach: Memories of Nobody on June 11th and 12th.

Speed Racer is a hyper-active love letter to anime fans. Others will have to sit down, shut up, and enjoy the ride, or get the hell out of the way.

Much as the final two episodes of the Matrix trilogy had severe and vicious detractors, people have been and will try and decimate this fantastic feature length live-action version of the classic anime.

What bursts off the screen isn’t just mind-blowingly amazing special effect wizardry, but rather a successful attempt at moving the genre forward while faithfully keeping some stereotypical elements firmly on the ground.

Yes, the acting is stilted and deliberately so.
Yes, humorous sidekicks Spritle and Chim-Chim are oft lame-brain.
And yes, that really is a mighty frightening mustache John Goodman is sporting.

But don’t lose focus on the bigger picture.
And what a dazzling, outrageously ambitious picture it is.

Go Speed Go, indeed.

Korean pop star, Rain, in the upcoming Speed Racer film opening in early May.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a bill saying that anyone offering an open Wi-Fi connection to the public must report illegal images including “obscene” cartoons and drawings–or face fines of up to $300,000.

That broad definition would cover individuals, coffee shops, libraries, hotels, and even some government agencies that provide Wi-Fi. It also sweeps in social-networking sites, domain name registrars, Internet service providers, and e-mail service providers such as Hotmail and Gmail, and it may require that the complete contents of the user’s account be retained for subsequent police inspection.

Before the House vote, which was a lopsided 409 to 2, Rep. Nick Lampson (D-Texas) held a press conference on Capitol Hill with John Walsh, the host of America’s Most Wanted and Ernie Allen, head of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Allen said the legislation–called the Securing Adolescents From Exploitation-Online Act, or SAFE Act–will “ensure better reporting, investigation, and prosecution of those who use the Internet to distribute images of illegal child pornography.”

The SAFE Act represents the latest in Congress’ efforts–some of which have raised free speech and privacy concerns–to crack down on sex offenders and Internet predators. One bill introduced a year ago was even broader and would have forced Web sites and blogs to report illegal images. Another would require sex offenders to supply e-mail addresses and instant messaging user names.

Wednesday’s vote caught Internet companies by surprise: the Democratic leadership rushed the SAFE Act to the floor under a procedure that’s supposed to be reserved for noncontroversial legislation. It was introduced October 10, but has never received even one hearing or committee vote. In addition, the legislation approved this week has changed substantially since the earlier version and was not available for public review.

Not one Democrat opposed the SAFE Act. Two Republicans did: Rep. Ron Paul, the libertarian-leaning presidential candidate from Texas, and Rep. Paul Broun from Georgia.

This is what the SAFE Act requires: Anyone providing an “electronic communication service” or “remote computing service” to the public who learns about the transmission or storage of information about certain illegal activities or an illegal image must (a) register their name, mailing address, phone number, and fax number with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s “CyberTipline” and (b) “make a report” to the CyberTipline that (c) must include any information about the person or Internet address behind the suspect activity and (d) the illegal images themselves. (By the way, “electronic communications service” and “remote computing service” providers already have some reporting requirements under existing law too.)

The definition of which images qualify as illegal is expansive. It includes obvious child pornography, meaning photographs and videos of children being molested. But it also includes photographs of fully clothed minors in overly “lascivious” poses, and certain obscene visual depictions including a “drawing, cartoon, sculpture, or painting.” (Yes, that covers the subset of anime called hentai).

Someone providing a Wi-Fi connection probably won’t have to worry about the SAFE Act’s additional requirement of retaining all the suspect’s personal files if the illegal images are “commingled or interspersed” with other data. But that retention requirement does concern Internet service providers, which would be in a position to comply. So would e-mail service providers, including both Web-based ones and companies that offer POP or IMAP services.

“USISPA has long supported harmonized reporting of child pornography incidents to the (NCMEC). ISPs report over 30,000 incidents a year, and we work closely with NCMEC and law enforcement on the investigation,” Kate Dean, head of the U.S. Internet Service Provider Association, said on Wednesday. “We remain concerned, however, that industry would be required to retain images of child pornography after reporting them to NCMEC. It seems like the better approach would be to require the private sector to turn over illicit images and not retain copies.”

Failure to comply with the SAFE Act would result in an initial fine of up to $150,000, and fines of up to $300,000 for subsequent offenses. That’s the stick. There’s a carrot as well: anyone who does comply is immune from civil lawsuits and criminal prosecutions.

There are two more points worth noting. First, the vote on the SAFE Act seems unusually rushed. It’s not entirely clear that the House Democratic leadership really meant this legislation to slap new restrictions on hundreds of thousands of Americans and small businesses who offer public wireless connections. But they’ll nevertheless have to abide by the new rules if senators go along with this idea (and it’s been a popular one in the Senate).

The second point is that Internet providers already are required by another federal law to report child pornography sightings to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which is in turn charged with forwarding that report to the appropriate police agency. So there’s hardly an emergency, which makes the Democrats’ rush for a vote more inexplicable than usual.

10. There is going to be a new yaoi convention. Calling itself Yaoi Jamboree, it will be held in Pheniox, Arizona in June. The details are really kinda sketchy right now, but the official website for it is right here. One of the companies that are putting that thing on is Everything Yaoi.

09. Speaking of new companies putting out yaoi product. Iris Print had a really sweet looking booth. Check out what they have to offer in the more light shounen-ai department at BoysLove Books. I do like their “Likes Boys” shirt very much.

08. Continuing on the yaoi theme: The 7th Annual Yaoi After Dark panel was much improved over the previous year. Pulling in probably its most huge and diverse crowd yet, the three hour long fiesta seemed tighter which is a very good thing when we’re talking about cock and ass. Features included the usual yaoi paddling, a rundown of what’s upcoming in manga, The Dating Game, a trivia game, a short preview of the video No Money, and Lainey speaking of just how much has changed over the 7 years in the fandom. Unfortunately, shota is still not allowed to be discussed.

07. One of the things that I absolutely haaaaaaated about the panel didn’t have to do with Lainey at all. (So hopefully that means I can be spared any wrath this time around.) While there weren’t any horrible fanfics this year, instead preceeding Yaoi After Dark was some bastardization of American Idol. Changing the words to songs to make them “Yaoi” versions is certainly my idea of Yaoi Hell, to be sure. It’s safe to say that if Simon was there, he’d have bent them all over a chair and fucked the shit out of them for such a horrible idea. He’s sooo seme, you know.

06. Greg Ayres is the shittiest DJ on the face of the earth. Now, I don’t know this to be a fact persay, but that’s pretty much what every. single. person. who walked by the table where I was hanging out with Fang and Nemo had to say.

05. In alot of ways, Anime Weekend Atlanta is simply Really Expensive Babysitting. I’m sure their staff would agree, considering overwelmingly many people went to the convention and didn’t view a single frame of anime.

04. Video game freaks really should invest in getting their own convention. While most conventions have some video game stuff going on, there is absolutely no more room for you at AWA. Not that I mind you being there. It’s just overwelmingly obvious that you’re multiplying and AWA doesn’t seem to want to make proper accomidations for what you love.

03. Lainey broached a subject I hoped I wouldn’t have to hear for another couple of weeks. She talked about she was “getting too old.” But, fortunately she also mentioned she’d do it until they had to wheelchair her into the panel, so that’s good. I’m turning 29 next month and while I certainly started to get the feeling I was one of the older people in the room, the love for the yaoi is just too strong to let go!

02. Pixiesticks.org fans are the BEST FANS EVER! I know I may come across initially as chilly, but I swear it’s actually that I’m lost in a sea of just stuff going on around me all the time. I love fans of the site. And I loved getting to meet some of you at the convention. You make me extremely glad I came.

01. As it was last year, Bishounen artists Fang and Nemo were my favorite thing at Anime Weekend Atlanta. Despite seeing them on New Years, I still am so saddened I only see these two typically once a year. While we keep promising that will change, I wholeheartly adore both of them. They make me feel very happy. (In my pants.)

Another Anime Weekend Atlanta is in the history books and I’m more exhausted than ever after a convention it seems. I’ll have the full rundown tomorrow, then it’ll be back to normal around here for a time.

I can go ahead and say that I was very pleased to meet some of my adoring and adorable fans. Makes the Pixie feel very loved!

Mitsui Jun is the most requested doujinshi artist recently and I just posted another selection. It’s shotalicious to be sure.

Anime Weekend Atlanta starts tomorrow so I may not be around to update throughout the weekend. But to be sure, more will always be coming soon.

Take care, bishies!

PS: I just did a massive republish all today. What that does is goes back and updates all the archives to the most recent template so everything should be all uniform on the pages.

I got my calender wrong. NEXT week is the 7th Annual Yaoi Boi Week Celebration. It’s the week that leads up to Anime Weekend Atlanta. I remember that back in 2001, it got underway the second week of September. Then, the hijackers flew planes into buildings killing thousands in New York City. It was an event that for lack of better phrase, changed America. So I didn’t think it appropriate at the time to be talking about animated penises and assholes and moved it to a more logical time anyway.

So, with all that said.

Tomorrow is part 2 of the secret stash video clip.

Next week I have some Maki Murakami, I have more Mitsui Jun, and there will be more of whatever else I can dig up over here.

I’m off to DragonCon 2007, so don’t expect any updates until next Tuesday at the earliest. But when I get back, this month I’ll bring you a new Secret Stash that won’t please everyone. More Mitsui Jun by request. More fan submited artwork. Photos from DragonCon. A preview of Anime Weekened Atlanta. And we’ll be celebrating our 7th Annual Yaoi Boi Week!

Have a great Labor Day Weekend, now I gotta go get ready to molest the Weasley Twins.

PS: This means I also won’t be able to approve post comments. So if you make any, they won’t appear until Tuesday.

I posted a new yaoi video clip Wednesday. It was shota, I should say. And there will be more yaoi posted this weekend. In fact, I’m thinking we should have a whole lotta stuff posted this weekend. So we got that going for us, which is nice.

REPOSTED, now with picture!

Errant Thai police had better beware. Offenders who refuse to heed superiors’ warnings to mend their ways will find themselves shamed into doing so – forced to wear a hot pink armband adorned with the Japanese cartoon character Hello Kitty, beloved of little girls.

Frustrated senior officers searching for ways to force their underlings to toe the line believe the cutesy armband will be sufficiently humiliating to deter policemen from further misdemeanours.

It would prove a stark contrast to the figure-hugging grey uniforms, highly polished black knee boots, white helmets and mirror shades that mean most Thai police could pass as US motorcycle cops.

Police who are late for duty, get into fights with colleagues and park in restricted zones will be the prime targets for this most novel of disciplinary procedures.

But wearing the armband – Hello Kitty portrayed lounging on two hearts – for a day is for first-time offenders only. Persistent offenders will find themselves subject to much stiffer sanctions.

“Simple warnings no longer work,” said police general Pongpat Chayaphan, acting chief of Bangkok’s crime suppression division. “This new twist is expected to make them feel guilt and shame and prevent them from repeating the offence, no matter how minor.

“[Hello] Kitty is a cute icon for young girls. It is not something macho police officers want covering their biceps.”

You know how much we here at pixiesticks.org loves shota. But, of course, there is one cat who loves it even more than we do. I’m talking about Shota-Cat of course. Now you can proudly sport the kitty on a T-Shirt.

Did I mention it comes in a shota size as well?

Get yours today!

The entire flick is now up over on the Yaoi Bois board. I’ll continue to monitor the bandwidth to make sure the thing doesn’t pull down the entire site. It’s been one of the most successful promotions on pixiesticks.org and I appreciate everyone who came to the site and enjoyed the shota on shota filled fantasy.

Here’s a letter I got.

I just found your site for the first time, it’s amazing! However, I was a bit shocked by Pico/Chico. I live in the UK and wonder whether I could
actually be arrested for downloading that kind of thing? I know they’re not
real, but I don’t know how it works. Have you any idea?

My reply:

Thanks for visiting the site and for taking the time to write me.

Finally, I’m sorry that you were shocked by the video. I put proper warning yanno!

In the unlikeliest nude scene since Kathy Bates’ hot-tub hijinks in About Schmidt, Bart Simpson will reportedly go full frontal in his upcoming feature film.

According to Newsweek, which got a sneak peek at The Simpsons Movie, “little Bart flashes his little part to the entire world” while skateboarding sans clothing on a dare from dad Homer.

If his full Monty makes it to the big screen in July, the magazine notes, it may be the first time a Hollywood movie has exposed this sort of skin — albeit in cartoon form — without being slapped with an R-rating.

“That Bart is a cartoon character, and a defiant adolescent one at that, does make the cultural interest in his private parts more complex and intriguing,” says Kim Blank, a professor of popular culture at the University of Victoria.

“But the bottom line — pun intended — is that Bart, despite the little pixels that constitute his personhood, is an American icon — a transcendent celebrity who defies age. And we, as a culture, are always interested in seeing naked celebrities, if only to confirm our fantasy that they have what we have.”

Although the pioneer of cartoon flesh was Fritz the Cat, which in 1972 became the first animated feature to be rated X, it was arguably Canada’s own Heavy Metal that popularized it. The adult-oriented fantasy film has grown into a cult sensation since its big-screen debut in 1981, which was met with a restricted rating due to copious amounts of animated sex and nudity.

More recently, the makers of 2004′s Team America: World Police had to re-cut a sex scene involving genitalia-free puppets nine times before the Motion Picture Association of America withdrew the movie’s NC-17 rating and replaced it with an R.

Young Simpson’s foray into flashing, however, is likely to elicit giggles rather than criticism.

“You have to keep in mind how well we have come to know Bart, and this new nude knowledge represents a small but meaningful extension of that,” says Blank. “Bart revealing himself is really us revealing ourselves.”

Although Bart’s big-screen exhibitionism will be a first for Springfield’s first family, cartoon historians will note the Simpsons have enjoyed a long-standing flirtation with the naughty.

The cover of the 1991 book The Simpsons Uncensored Family Album showed a nude Bart sprawled stomach-down on a bearskin rug in a cheeky homage to Burt Reynolds’ Cosmopolitan centerfold shoot of 1972.

Then, in 2002, Rolling Stone printed a photo on its table of contents exposing baby Bart’s cartoon genitals. The picture — which was also featured on the cover, sans pint-size penis — was a recreation of Nirvana’s album art for Nevermind.

And according to The Simpsons Archive, the show has aired more than 200 different scenes of implied or pixilated nudity and sexual situations during its nearly two-decade run.

John Alberti, a professor of English at Northern Kentucky University and recognized Simpsons scholar, says any ruffled feathers over such cartoon drawings demonstrates that “it’s not the actual parts of the body, it’s the meaning attached to them” that counts.

“To me, it’s far more disturbing to see Homer hitting himself in the eye with a hammer (in the movie trailer) than to see a little boy skateboard naked,” says Alberti.

But Cory Silverberg, a sexual health educator from Toronto, believes critics are letting their jerking knees obscure the reality of the situation.

“I’m always concerned when I hear about child actors being put into uncomfortable situations. But this is not a person, it’s a cartoon,” says Silverberg.

A couple of people posted on the tag-board links to both a torrent and a megaupload to where you can get the Pico/Chico video that was released in Japan on April 19th.

I deleted these links and I want to tell you why.

1) This is my site. I do what I want.
2) Megaupload is shit.
3) I don’t want to have to explain torrents to hundreds of people.
4) Having links that I don’t post myself on my site is not good policy.
5) I want people to come here to get it. I mean, duh, right?
6) ???
7) Profit!!! Well actually not really since I took down the Google ads.

So call me a censor. Call me fascist. Call me whatever you want.
But those who actually like me and like this site, I think you understand where I’m coming from.

I really do have something important to tell you over on the yaoi page.
Well, more like show you in a 6MB file.

Tokyopop’s Fruits Basket Vol. 16 has hit a new high for a manga (or any graphic novel for that matter) on the “USA Today Best-Selling Books Top 150″ for the week ending April 15th, with a #15 ranking. The previous best performance by a manga, according to Anime News Network, was Naruto Volume 11, which hit #21 in September of last year.

The #15 ranking for Fruits Basket illustrates a couple of trends we’ve been tracking over the past months. One is that sales on the bestselling manga series are continuing to grow, with more people getting exposed to the most popular series every month by buying the first volumes of the series, which remain bestsellers. A second is that manga continues to become more mainstream, and part of the fabric of American pop culture.