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YourMessageHere's Profile

FIRST: IF YOU LIKE MY REVIEWS, OR HATE THEM, I LIKE CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM. GIVE IT TO ME.
Anyway, where were we?

Actual Real Name: Yes, I have one of those. Josh Bayes, or Josh Quillan, depending on who I feel like being.

Gender: Yes. Male, in fact.

Age: Also yes. 28 of them so far, since 3.10 PM on the 23rd of January 1981. AD.

Location: Frequently. 東京都三鷹市井口3丁目3 at the moment, to be exact

Occupation: Student of "Japanese and Cultural Studies" (less good than it sounds) at Newcastle University. Also founder and ex-president of Newcastle University Anime Society, but that's not nearly arduous enough to be an occupation. Presently in Tokyo studying Japanese (as good as it sounds =)))) ).

Interests: Apart from the obvious anime and manga and associated things, I'm interested in the Japanese language and culture in general, milkshakes, cats, visiting cinemas, weapons, especially guns, current affairs, PC games (mostly first person shooters), eating sweet things, sleeping with attractive women, British and northern European folk music, especially Scandinavian fiddle, and some J-music and Anime OSTs, computers that aren't macs, surrealist and magic realist art, going for walks at 4AM, Wikipedia, messing with Photoshop, reading novels, sleeping perchance to dream, minimalist design, and some other things, but NOT other other things. I collect airsoft guns and Anime toys and models. Another major interest: my significant other, Shu Qing Liu.

Anime-related Interests: my first and main love in anime is Ghost in the Shell - it's my favourite film, and I'm including live-action in that. In manga, it's Gunsmith Cats. Both of these personify all the good qualities that I love anime and manga for - a great universe, a great, complex and rich story that makes you think and yet is really exciting, imagination in spades and a sense of heightened reality, attention to detail that puts live-action completely to shame, some fantastic characters, great acting, a gorgeous and unique visual style, and a clever, resourceful, skillful and pragmatic female protagonist. Most things that have combinations of these things, and do them well, go down well with me. See also: my tags, their explanations in the blog section, and the reviews I write.

Dislikes: hmm, a big bit; I seem to spend most of my time disliking things. I'll start relevant. I hate dubbing (I understand it's utility, I'm not a ban-all-dubbing nazi, I just dislike like how they do it and I think the acting standard sucks) especially what they did to Azumanga Daioh in dub form. I hate anime that doesn't end but just runs and runs, such as Naruto, One-Piece, Prince of Tennis etc. I hate Gundam, people who cannot grasp that anime is not called manga and vice versa, any non-sarcastic use of the 'word' "animu", and fansubs in languages that aren't English which aren't properly labelled as such. I find harems and other character relationships that clearly ought to develop but do not extremely tedious.
Topical Mention: the Home Office, for deporting my girlfriend because she was honest.
Now, more generally. I dislike most of the western world, primarily the USA and Britain, in terms of politics (I realise most individual people are actually pretty decent). I hate what the labour party has become and what it stands for, especially compared to what it was when I was first getting interested in politics. People too stupid to have opinions deserve all they get. I hate being in a crowd of strangers, so by extension I don't like pubs or clubs much, although I can make exceptions for the sake of people I like.
Other stuff I don't like: Mobile phones and text-speak. People who can't pronounce simple words, such as saying "nuclear" as "new-que-lar" and "Iguana" as "Ig-you-arner", and people who say things like "It's very addicting" instead of "It's very addictive". Practically every car design for the last 20 years. Campness (as a form of behaviour, as opposed to homosexuality; I am NOT homophobic). Being told "there's no demand for it". Apple macs and iPods, and their cult of mediocrity worship. Rap, country and hiphop music. Evangelism - be it religions, vegetarianism, lifestyle trends, game consoles, operating systems or whatever, I will ask if I want a sales pitch. Games that have bosses instead of working on plotting and design. Claims that graffiti is anything other than defacement of the landscape. The burberry-wrapped, socially-stillborn creatures commonly called "Chavs" but who have in this part of the country been called "Charvas" since 1995. Internet neologisms like "Blogosphere" and "Webisode". Crunchie bars. Team sports. People who think a gamepad will allow you to play an FPS game as well as a keyboard and mouse. Buses. large earrings.

Personality: Cynical. Depressive by nature, but I know how to deal with it. Introverted by default to some degree, but somewhat proactive if the situation calls for it. Reluctant to trust people fully. I generally have an impulse to help people, and sometimes I do silly things because of this; I'm not afraid to do something useful if it'll make me look like a fool. If I'm talking about something I don't know a lot about, I'm vague and diplomatic by nature, otherwise my polarised opinion tends to rise to the fore about things I believe I know about. I tend to argue too much, and sometimes people mistake my insistance for unwillingness to admit I'm wrong, although I will gladly do so if I am induced to believe I really am wrong. I'm not squeamish and it takes a lot to rattle me, but once I am rattled it has a very bad effect on my ability to do anything useful. I believe in being entirely honest with those you value, and lying if necessary to those who do not value you. I'm not religious.

Things you should know: I tend to write long posts on forums and I expect you to read them, as to get to that point I've carefully read everything YOU said. If you ask people's opinion of something and either take exception to what they say or behave as if it was never said, I will probably get angry. I'm not interested in any form of drugs except caffeine, Umeshu and Baileys. I have virtually no sense of smell. My favourite colour is green. I'm greedy with sweet things, which means I'm overweight and my teeth are rubbish. I'm right-handed and left-eyed. I have long brown hair, an unfashionably large beard and lines under my eyes that make me look like i'm tired and frowning all the time, which is OK, since I AM tired and frowning a considerable part of the time. I can't cook anything much, but I make a mean Toad in the Hole. Tokyo is now my favourite place on earth.

Karl Marx said "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need" which, while I do not think of myself as a communist, I nonetheless consider to be unassailable logic and as good a motto for life as any. Additionally, Wittgenstein said "The limits of my language shape the limits of my world", which is less a maxim for action and more a key to understanding yourself, and also the best possible justification for learning a different language.