Word: metallism
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There are, in this world, some rather loopy people. Not dangerously loopy. Just pleasantly idiosyncratic folks, whose enthusiasm for something high-tech occupies a little more brain space than the normal person would dedicate to, say, a metal-plated canine robot. Because Japan is the source for so much of this addictive technology, it's not surprising that these fetishists view the country as the mecca of techno-cool. Fittingly, Japan is also the birthplace of the word otaku, an almost untranslatable phrase that describes a person whose fascination with something has reached, well, loopy proportions. Below, meet five American...
There's the doctor from the East Coast and the businessman from Fresno. But no one is more of a die-hard fan of die-cast robots than Eric Nakamura, the Los Angeles publisher of Giant Robot magazine. Since he started collecting the solid-metal toys when he was a child back in the 1970s, Nakamura has been hooked by the Japanese gadgets that inspired such latter-day playthings as the Transformers and the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. "They are more than just toys, you know," says the 31-year-old, a tad defensively. "They are little pieces...
Nakamura is so enamored of the colorful chunks of metal that in 1994 he named his magazine after the mightiest of them all, Giant Robot. The hip 'zine delves into Asian-American culture and spots the latest trends from across the Pacific - from wasabi-flavored potato chips to schoolgirl porn. Today's toy robots, says Nakamura dismissively, tend to be cobbled together with cheap plastic. Die-cast robots, on the other hand, are emblematic of the kind of Japanese craftsmanship that transformed the nation's image from shoddy imitator in the 1960s to technological leader just a decade later...
...present. Striving to keep demand strong and inventories down, car manufacturers are offering low-rate financing and some sweet rebates. According to CNW Marketing Research, the average car rebate in March was $2,503, up 42% from last year. But before cruising out of the lot with that new metal, be on the lookout for sneaky dealers who jack up the sticker price, thus eating away at your rebate...
Suddenly it got quiet. I looked up. And froze. Two beautiful women had mounted the stage. Dressed in black leather, with a belt of metal studs, wild blond hair, these dominatrices and their two men launched into music that was described to us as “AC/DC+Guns N Roses+Blondie.” They were Halfcocked, an incredible metal rock band that single-handedly transformed the room from a communal rest stop into a musical mosh pit. The lead singer, Sarah Reitkopp, a great quickener of male pulses, thrashed and gyrated and had the audience on the edge...