On the Social Construction of TEL

Highlight reel: special moments in the history of TEL (updates)

• The serial experiments lain Ultimate Fan Guide from Guardians of Order is finally available! If you've seen it already, you may have noticed that I'm listed in the credits ^_^ While the book was being written, the folks at GoO contacted me for help, and I sent them some much-needed source material they weren't able to acquire on their own. Furthermore, they used some information from TEL in their book. Most specifically, I gave them permission to republish my information on the relationship between Apple and lain. Furthermore, the authors may have used TEL as a research resource for other parts of the book, as well. In any case, I am credited as having provided "additional research". From what I've read so far, I think the book is pretty nice, and I don't have any major problems with it. A more comprehensive review is forthcoming.
  
  

• On February 11th, 2002, TEL was awarded a "Wolfie Award". Like myself, wolfie is a veteran member of the serial experiments lain Mailing List back from its early days on Listbot and to the present on Yahoo. Coming from wolfie, one of the most active and vocal members of the online lain community, the award means a lot to me.

  

  wolfie also invented the Otaku Code, kind of like Geek Code, but specifically for anime and manga fans. Mine might be a little out of date, but here it is:

  *---OTAKU CODE V1.0---*
  s/+/++ fs++/* ml+++/* m++ j+ o/le a++ mc+++ cd+ con+++ cos fic+ art++ va+ h+ gen! SEL/+++ t++/ml k*
  *---OTAKU CODE V1.0---*
  
  
• lain has been getting popular in Europe these days. Gabriel Sigrist, a journalist for Largeur.com (a Swiss online weekly newspaper), interviewed me over the phone as part of his research for the news story he wanted to write on lain and its growing international popularity. The article, in which I am quoted, can be found here: http://www.largeur.com/expArt.asp?artID=946. It's in French, so you might want to use Babelfish to translate it to your language of choice.
  

The Perils of Entropy

More than usual lately, I've been forced to deal with instances of my work being plagiarized. In the previous installment of lainspotting, I described what happened when someone tried impersonating me on a web discussion forum. This time, just a few days ago, my sources informed me that someone had posted my review of lain on a small anime website without crediting me (and without my permission). I contacted the webmaster of the site, requesting that the review be taken down. The webmaster responded, telling me that one of his staff members had posted the review (claiming it was his own). That staff member was immediately fired for committing plagiarism and for lying about it afterwards. The webmaster of the site promptly removed the review and apologized for the inconvenience.

I don't know what motivates this kind of copying. I'm just glad I caught it. In some ways, I wish all plagiarism of my work was this obvious. In general, the plagiarism tends to be much more subtle and difficult to detect, and that much more insidious. A lot of it is probably unintentional. Considering that most university undergrads lack a clear understanding of what is considered plagiarism, I probably shouldn't be so surprised when I come across unauthorized use of my work. Publishing on the internet is a double-edged sword, indeed.

This, is radio freedom...

This is not exactly lain-related, but if you're interested in (possibly) hearing me on the radio, check out D.J. Wilsey's anime and J-pop radio show, which is broadcast weekly out of WRPI 91.5 FM, Troy, NY. The show is currently scheduled to play every (early) Wednesday morning from midnight to 1:30AM EST. D.J. Wilsey is the DJ, and I organize the anime and J-pop news portions of the show, which includes a reading of the weekly Oricon rankings from Japan by my friend James. Sometimes, I'll be in the studio as a guest commentator and to help out. Other times, I'll just call in on the telephone to relay the weekly news and whatnot, or to participate in the weekly trivia contest. I'm also responsible for taking e-mail requests (both in advance and during the show) for music, either anime-related or J-pop. Just e-mail me your name, where you're from, and what you want to hear. Of course, most people reading this won't be from Troy, NY. To hear the broadcast live over the internet, follow this link: http://www.wrpi.org/wrpi.ram at the appropriate time.