I’ve been meaning to get off my lazy ass and post these for a couple weeks now. My son is a rabid Ghostbusters fan. I picked up the Ghostbusters/Ghostbusters II DVD combo about 18-months ago and for whatever reason he promptly sat through the original film about twice a week for six months straight. He hums the incidental music to himself when occupied with other things and knows the name of every character, major and minor. Seriously - it’s scary.

So when Halloween time approached this year, when asked what he wanted to be for Halloween, his response was: Peter Venkman! Of course, being me - I procrastinated until October 29th before hacking out his costume in desperation over the course of two days. I fabricated a proton pack and proton accelerator out of spare shipping material lying around the office and computer cables from home and accented it with vinyl graphics I produced at work. I made the night vision goggles out of swimming goggles and two small sections of PVC pipe. Elbow and kneepads were purchased at Wal-Mart and the shirt, shoes, and pants came out my son’s wardrobe (tan utility jumpsuits for four-year-olds apparently aren’t a regularly stocked item at most department stores, so we had to make do).

The whole think took about 1-1/2 days to assemble from first tinge of panic to the last coat of paint.

More pics after the jump…

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It’s hard to believe it’s been a week already, but I’ve finally caught up on the sleep I missed from the awesome time Musashi and I had at GenCon 2008. As our esteemed editor in chief mentioned, we were joined by occasional contributor Centurion and his charming significant other Lindsey for a weekend of gaming, carousing and scoping out the newest developments in all kinds of games. We were joined by a record 28,600 unique and over 95,800 turnstile attendees.

This year, your humble staff indulged in gaming to an unprecedented degree. We started Thursday night with a modern-world-setting round of Call of Cthulhu. CoC is one of my all-time favorite RPGs, and it was a pleasure once again to experience the atmosphere of dread the game creates, especially since Musashi and I were denied in our attempts to join a session last year.

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Having recently gone through the experience of being invited to (and not attending) my 20-year High School reunion, I thought back on some of my teenage tormentors and - after realizing that most of them were probably overweight middle-managers with half of their hair left - I started thinking that 20 years probably changed them every bit as it did me.

…and then I read about the ball-sucking twats that decided that harassing a bunch of anime fans at this year’s Metrocon was a good time. I think one of these groups wasn’t acting their age, and it wasn’t the group dressed up as cartoon characters.

Attendees at Metrocon — Florida’s largest anime convention held inside the convention center as people were attempting to fly unflyable homemade vehicles — were repeatedly harassed by crowds of rowdy flugtaggers who made catcalls at young girls and tried slipping cameras up their skirts. The Red Bull fans shouted “freak” and “fag”at participants, ruined artwork and spilled beer on costumes, said Allison Rexrode, who attended the event for the sixth year in a row.

The convention is normally a family-friendly celebration of Japanese culture where fans can come dressed in homemade costumes, participate in skits and contests and meet fellow anime-lovers.

“It was completely different (this year),” Allison said. “It was a constant hassle… a constant influx of people coming in and out, and there was no way to control it.”

The convention center double-booked the Red Bull and Metrocon events, assuming Flugtaggers would stay outside on the Riverwalk while Metrocon carried on inside. But security was unprepared for the number of people and the amount of drunken stupidity.

I was just discussing this with a friend of mine the other night: every single cosplay competition I’ve ever attended, some middle-age monkeynutz guy (normally overweight, always bearded) feels compelled to show up in a Sailor Moon costume. I would try to wrap my head around the psychology behind this, but the old Nietzsche dictum “Battle not with monsters, lest you become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss. also gazes into you.” keeps me from approaching too close.

Stare into the abyss, my friends…

Residents of Washimiya, Japan have watched in horror as throngs of Lucky Star cosplayers, almost entirely men, have flocked to the town as a pilgrimage to Washinomiya Shrine, which figures prominently in the anime series. Of course, being an enterprising lot, the town is now capitalizing on their newfound fame, and are selling a wide variety of Lucky Star-themed trinkets and goods.

The Wall Street Journal (no doubt securing the mantle so recently vacated by the Mainichi Daily News as a prime purveyor of Japanese perversity) reports on the phenomenon. God Help Us All.

Lucky Star’s main characters are all female. “For us, this is a holy site,” declared a young man named Shigeki Ito, strolling through the shrine one recent weekend in a wig of blue tresses, a red-and-white schoolgirl uniform and dark knee socks. The 20-something Tokyo office worker said dressing up as Konata, Lucky Star’s easygoing main character, is “part of the experience.” Accompanying him as Miyuki was friend Takashi Tanno, his pink wig slightly askew.

The unlikely attention lavished on this small town shows Japan’s sometimes over-the-top obsession with anime, a style of animation that often features big-eyed characters delving into grown-up themes. Anime is one of Japan’s hottest industries, expanding into blockbuster films, videogames, plastic figurines and fan fiction.

No - I’m not in San Diego basking in all the geeky glory that is the San Diego Comicon. Nope, just sitting around my pad playin’ Battlefield: Bad Company and counting the days (18 to go!) until the other geek-fest, Gen Con Indy. So naturally, at 4am there isn’t much to do other than vicariously peruse photos taken by other people at the Comicon and see what kind of fun I’m not having.

So - by way of getting that out of my system, and as a means of paying homage once again to the lovely Ms. Olivia Munn, I bring you this - probably the best photo op at the Con. To wit: Olivia Munn accompanied by a gaggle of Princess Leia cosplayers decked out in metal bikinis. While it’s not nearly as gratifying as Ms. Munn’s own Leia cosplay, it does have a certain appeal of its’ own.

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When I read the headline for this story at the Daily Yomiuri, ‘COSPLAY EVENT CLOSED AFTER COMPLAINT‘, I thought - now they done it…pink tentacle hentai cosplay! But no, the truth is - well, rather prosaic. Some old person complained that all the wierd costumes detracted from the surrounding foliage. And they got shut down. Seriously.

The park, called Flower Center, Heidi’s Village, is popular with many young people for its “cosplay” competitions, where participants dress in elaborate costumes as characters from anime, video games and other pop culture genres.

The Yamanashi prefectural government, which owns the park, asked the park’s managers to review whether or not the competition should be continued after receiving the complaint.

Many fans are calling for the event to be restored.

I should hope so.