why I love japanese porn

Even though I find Japanese culture interesting and the language entrancing, I'm far from being a Japanophile. Still, I've been obsessed with Japanese porn (especially porn manga) for several years already... and there's a reason for that. Several, actually. Japanese are so helplessly perverted you can usually find cool stuff if you look hard enough - I especially like how Japanese gay porn is almost inevitably non-con!

Here's a short anecdote that shows how Japan is undeniably superior when it comes to random naughtiness.

SanDisk, a manufacturer of memory sticks, saw fit to publish an ad inspired by classic console RPGs. It shows a typical old-school RPG shop and among options such as "strongest sword" (最強の剣) and "strongest armor" (最強の鎧), you choose to purchase the "strongest memory card" (最強のメモリーカード). The shopkeeper (店主), then, praises your choice, saying you have a sharp eye for picking the SanDisk memory card.


This ad alone would suffice to show how Japanese nerds do cool stuff. Where else would you find an ad like that?
But this post is about Japanese porn. So... if you look closely, you might notice the shopkeeper is a sexy chubby oyaji. This just cannot be ignored! Naturally, a couple Japanese otaku decided to draw gay fanart with the shopkeeper being sexually assaulted, having memory cards being shoved up his urethra and all that stuff.

(I suck at censoring)

Now, tell me: where else would you find pornographic fanart of a random character made up for a frigging memory stick add? That's Japanese porn for you.

tom of finland

My boyfriend gave me Tom of Finland XXL for Christmas. Shipping took its time, and the book arrived last week. I finally got to put my dirty hands on it by this weekend, but only had a chance to give it a quick glance. First impression: The XXL in its name is no joke, the book is frigging massive. It's REALLY big. The quality, both of the artwork and the physical book itself, is faultless as expected. Bookstores here price it at something close to one thousand reais (about 550 US Dollars), and my boyfriend paid $126 on Amazon, plus shipping. I'd say it was a great deal if he managed to pay less than 400 dollars for overseas shipping, which I'm sure he did - even if it meant missing Christmas day!

(...although, to be honest, that was something I didn't mind at all. As accepting as my family is, coming home with a gigantic tome packed-full with anal sex and gay orgies isn't very... Christmas-like)

I first found out about Tom of Finland as a horny homosexual in my early teens. Needless to say I was instantly... captivated. Some years later, after finding about "bara" manga, my focus shifted to the East and I kind of left ToF behind. But I still hold Tom's artwork in high regard, and this book is the perfect reminder to how the guy is a genius. I'm really enjoying it, if you catch my drift.

(piece of trivia: in his site, Gengoroh Tagame mentions Tom of Finland as an influence and one of the horny things in his late teens - I can relate. So, although Tagame is very peculiar for "bara" standards - or, shall we say, a more traditional artist, in comparison to the usual "bara" videogame-Anime otaku fanartists - you could argue there's a bit of Tom even in "bara" manga)

Now I just have to find a place in my room to store it. I can't fit it my gay manga cardboard box. Gee!

the voodoo shuffle‏

I've decided to finally level my Troll Priest now that you can send heirloom items through factions and the default WoW UI displays quest objectives. Dinged 26 yesterday, and I'm having a blast. He was originally Shadow-spec, not that it made much of a difference, still - but I quickly went Smite build with Glyph of Smite as soon as I learned Holy Fire at level 20. This way, with the same spec I can both grind mobs and heal random dungeons, which are by far the best source of XP these days (and if I queue as a healer I usually get a spot very fast). I gain like half a level worth of XP every run, plus a shot at getting blue gear. Healing is relatively easy at lower levels and healing is what I planned on doing anyway. In fact I'm consdering speccing Disc at 60 for Penance and just stick to healing instances to level.

The switch to Horde is... awkward. Trolls are completely awesome and Priests are an ideal fit IMHO (I would never pick another race), but I feel horrible on BGs. I'm an Alliance player at heart, I love the Alliance in spite of all its shortcomings. I feel particularly bad when I kill dwarves. I avoid doing that the best I can (except pesky Dwarf Hunters just LOVE to target me with their Aimed Shots... 50% healing reduction at level 26 is simply ridiculous).

I'm having lots of fun, maybe even more than I've had with raiding these days (farming ICC-10 already got old after three weeks). And with my crammed schedule this coming year, it might end up being my only WoW activity for a fairly long time.

holiday stress

I love and hate holidays. It's definitely fun slacking off at home, no questions asked. But when your coworkers go on vacations and leave you with twice as much work to do, it really sucks. These last two weeks I have barely had the time to breath at work. Luckily my boss left already, tomorrow's Christmas Eve after all, so I'm alone in my room and I can do whatever I want until I’m free to go home.

Since the new 3.3 patch, I've been playing WoW even more than I usually do. The new LookingForGroup feature is something else entirely, it's an important paradigm shift in a game that desperately needed it. I've done more Utgarde Keep and Nexus runs with my 72 Enhancement Shaman (my boyfriend's same level Elemental Shaman went Restoration and healed – thank god for dual specs!) than I ever did instances on my Paladin's whole entirely solo quest grind to level 80. My sexy burly Draenei Warrior alt, with which I hadn't played in like 6 months, has more Tier-9 items than my Rogue, who raided Trial of the Crusader on an almost weekly basis! Tanks have such an easy time right now, even inexperienced tanks like me are blazing through lots of successful heroic runs with ease and getting loads of Emblems of Triumph for our… “efforts”.

Due to technical issues on the last couple weeks, I finally got to run Icecrown Citadel 10-man for the first time yesterday. We one-shot Marrowgar and Deathwhisper and wiped some good four or five times on Gunship Battle and Saurfang , partially due to us taking several guildies who aren’t regulars of our 10-man group. Now… the cutscene after you kill Saurfang Jr. was one of the most emotional moments I've witnessed in WoW. I was all teary-eyed in the end (crybaby, I know)! King Varian is a major asshole (regardless, his strong rugged handsome manly looks do make up for his shitty personality in this horny gay nerd view), but his exchange with Saurfang Sr. showed a very noble side of his, heartwarming even – and, I’d say, very in character since Varian is a father himself. Overall, a superb addition to an already remarkable fight.

On the gay manga “bara” front, Comiket 77 is coming up very soon (god I wish I were in Japan) and I'm already craving for Shoutaroh Kojima's newest doujinshi. It seems slightly peculiar in comparison to his previous doujin work: I’d say because it isn't fanart as far as I can tell (the characters look original to me), and the oyaji bottom looks older (he even sports a moustache!) and even more muscular than usual (Kojiman is particularly fond of bodybuilding competitions, and that is showing – and I’m loving it). While some artists always take the safe, predictable path every time – Takeshi Matsu being the greatest offender, his stories are usually enjoyable, but I can't seem to shake off the triteness – this admittedly small but very noticeable twist on Kojiman’s usual oyaji-uke characters only makes it even more enjoyable to me, if that were even possible! Here's a crop of the preview he posted in his pixiv account:

dragon age: perfection

A few days ago, I managed to get my dirty hands on a copy of my long sought-after masterpiece Dragon Age: Origins. Coupled with the fact I've been having constant issues with my ISP lately (two whole days without internet at home sure made me feel like I've been isolated from the world for an eternity), I can say I've had the opportunity to play it a fair bit.

Without any hyperbole, I must say it's clearly, hands-down, without a doubt, surely, unmistakably, undeniably, undoubtedly, certainly, definitely the best game I've played this generation. It's briliant in every single aspect. The only issues I've had so far are a BSOD once, and noticeable slowdowns in cutscenes. Other than, that it's flawless, which means if you have an up-to-date gaming rig, unlike me, by purchasing DAO you will be acquiring a perfect game. Simple like that. And everyone knows how hard to find those are!

The gameplay is pure delight. I had never played any D&D game that preceded DAO such as Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter Nights - heck, I had never played a BioWare game before, so I had no idea what to expect... and I sure feel stupid for not trying out one of those games before! I'm amazed how it's both tactical and fast-paced; pausing for queueing commands is like the best invention ever. The plot is your traditional epic quest, but it's told in a most compelling way. I actually cheered out loud a few times: it's that nerdgasmic, if not terribly original.

(and Alistair... oh, Alistair. He is the hottest bearish thing ever. Sharp-tongued and cuddly at the same time, what a combination! Best character so far. I love his exchanges with other party members, especially Morrigan. But it makes me sad that DAO is western, so Alistair porn will probably be harder to find. If he were in a Japanese game my HD would surely be overflowing with Alistair porn by now. I vow to find a way to get my male Human Noble Rogue to fuck him in the ass, because he's clearly a bottom)

the "bara" phenomenon‏

I've just noticed today at work that, after so many years of Western exposure, somebody wrote a great entry on "bara" for Wikipedia. I remember how it took several years for it to be even mentioned on the "yaoi" entry, and now it has its own full-fledged section, filled of references and all that stuff! Shame we don't get to know the author (although I do have a few guesses), because I would love to congratulate the effort of whoever did that. Gay manga has become such an important part of my life I can't imagine myself living without it. Together with videogame, it's the hobby I devote the most of my time to.

The number of people who learn of "bara" every day never fails to impress me. Often when checking the bara board (now in a new address) I see some Anonymous requesting years-old Takeshi Matsu scans, or asking "source" or "MOAR" on 101 stuff like Gai Mizuki, Shoutaroh Kojima or even Jiraiya. Since it's an anonymous board you have no way of knowing the person behind those posts, but from their request you can tell they are new to the scene.

"Bara" is a term I've long despised, but as you grow older you learn to accept things you once strongly opposed - I'm growing used to it. I am lucky enough to be part of the small, nostalgic group who witnessed its discovery and early divulgation by a few trailblazers and their treasured scans (for which I'll be eternally grateful), and now it's pretty much a given that any gay nerd will come to know of it, probably very soon during their netlives.

Almost brings a tear to my eye.

dragon age: frustration

Dragon Age: Origins, the game I was anticipating the most this month (hell - this year), was released on November 13th here in Brazil. As of today, 11.17, trying to find a copy is a pointless endeavour, since absolutely no store has it in stock. Not because it was sold out or anything - everywhere I go I'm told it isn't out yet.

Videogaming is so neglected around here it's no surprise every-goddamn-body pirates. My Xbox360 isn't modded, I can't run pirates, but I'd be inclined to flash it if not for the massive Halloween ban wave. It's been ages since I've wanted to purchase Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 for some coop bonanza with my boyfriend (a major Marvel fan who loved X-Men Legends), but it's being sold for almost R$ 300. That's about 171 US Dollars. One-hundred seventy one dollars for the exact same game I would pay $60 in a decent civilized country. Modding your Box is like, one-fifth the price.

Admittedly, I could have bought DAO through Steam, but overall I find Steam slightly... uncomfortable., for no particular reason. Besides, I want the premium edition that comes in a nice box with some silly extras (that make all the difference, really). But it's no good, no place is selling it yet. Even though it's supposed to be out for days.

Alistair, I need you so goddamn much. Gimme the stupid game already!
(I'm so into Alistair I was almost willing to forsake all my moral beliefs and go female, just to romance him - why the hell do we gay guys have to fuck a fruity elf instead of a gorgeous, manly human? Down with gay elf stereotypes already! Anyway, human males turn me on to a degree I could never bother rolling a skank just for a dude. A sexy and cuddly dude nonetheless... ahh, I need a gay mod for Alistair :p)