In which I was not actually arrested in a murder case

[unjapanologist]

Yes, you get what you deserve when you ego-google. But since I'm building a career and all that, I like to check what pops up first when a grant committee or someone I might want to collaborate with searches for my name.

Today this turned up on the first page of results when I searched with a browser I'd never used before:



*cough* I can explain. The numbers in front of the title jumble up the meaning, but four people I absolutely don't know were arrested. My name turns up there only because I was the one who submitted the news report to Anime News Network. My involvement with the so-called "manga murder" case in Belgium was limited to writing updates about it on my university's manga-themed Japanese Studies blog.* 

The "manga murder" was a very weird murder case that started when someone found body parts in a park in Brussels accompanied by a paper that referenced the manga Death Note. it remained unsolved for years. Since most of the news related to the case first came out in Belgian media, in French or Dutch, our uni blog (now hibernating) happened to be in a great position to get the scoop on the newest developments. It was all slightly creepy but fascinating, and unless I'm very much mistaken, those "manga murder" posts are still our most popular stuff. We ended up playing host to a large group of sleuthing L roleplayers/aspiring detectives who were trying to solve the case in the comments. People even made a slew of YouTube videos about their theories. It was fantastically amusing and I should write it up on Fanlore some day.



*The "manga murder" also led to my first radio interview, which was very eductional. The broadcast started with a soundbite of horrible screaming from one of the Death Note movies, and then the interviewer basically asked me to explain why manga fans turn into murderers. I think I pulled through all right, but the experience made me take the "how to communicate productively with the media" part of becoming an academic much more seriously.

Comments

[dancing_serpent]

*g* I'm almost a bit envious. But not really, because the reason I ego-google is that I want to check if my mother has any chance of finding me should she try to use the internet for that. So I'm pretty happy to say that the overwhelming number of results leads to some minor sports celebrity in the US.

[unjapanologist]

Good! It's fiendishly hard to make something disappear from Google, you'd have a hard time getting rid of stuff... Is she actually likely to try and find you?

I seem to be the only person who's using my name on the internets, so anything that pops up is pretty obviously me. Hopefully the murder thing will serve to add some spice to my character when people google me :P

[dancing_serpent]

She might if she gets into one of her moods and finally decides I've been avoiding her enough. But I guess she'll try going through my sister first, so at least I'll get a warning.

[attackfish]

*snicker*

[unjapanologist]

I half dread and half hope that some recruiter will bring it up one day.

[lilacsigil]

Fortunately, I share a name with a British "glamour model" who has worked very hard to put her name and face and breasts all over the internet.

I'm glad you weren't arrested, though!

[unjapanologist]

It must be nice to be able to hide among a multitude of breasts :D

[angrymermaids]

That's kind of exciting! Stuff I find when I ego-google:

1. My Facebook

2. Someone who died in 1963

3. Someone who is my age, and who lives in the town where I was born, but who is not me

4. A bunch of my legitimate ancestors

My last name is REALLY uncommon, so most of the people I find with it are my relatives.

[unjapanologist]

Looked at your facebook. What do you say when people ask about the sailors? ;)

[angrymermaids]

"I just like ships. And old-timey photos. That's all."

One of my friends immediately commented MUSIC NIGHT as soon as I put it up, though.

[unjapanologist]

Good answer. May I friend or do you keep fandom stuff separate on Facebook?

Btw, just updated the whump ;)

[angrymermaids]

Sure, go ahead! There is plenty fandom stuff on Facebook, but I try to keep most of the fic-talking and linking to my LJ/Twitter/Tumblr after the last Incident with my dad and everything. Facebook these days has a lot of political things + my conservative family members descending on them and telling me why I'm wrong.

Just commented. :D

[unjapanologist]

Sounds like fun! :P I don't facebook very much at all, although I'm cautiously starting to approach it again.

[angrymermaids]

Its increasingly-needy pleas for you to return finally got to you? :P

[unjapanologist]

I realized that it's the only way I have of communicating with many of the people I know :D Didn't check facebook at all for a year or so, and suddenly everybody had had babies all over the place and such.