I am pleased to introduce everyone to a great geek/otaku (geektaku?) the winner of my GO Chat during Reader Appreciation Week: Byron Howard aka peacefulcalamity!

Read on to find out what makes him appreciate things geek/otaku and some of his personal favorites!

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What do you think makes you a geek/otaku?

Well first, what makes me an otaku would be that I have a box set of Outlaw Star series, and I also have every issue of the Battle Manga except for #13—which I still can’t find. As for anime, I’ve seen every episode of Nichijou, Big-O and Yu Yu Hakusho just name a few.

On the geek side, I still have my old consoles (PS1, Xbox, and N64) and I like listening to video games soundtracks in my spare time. Jet Set Radio Future and Ridge Racer 4 are my favorite game soundtracks.

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1) Every geek and otaku has a moment that sends them onto a life-long love affair with their  hobbies. When did you realize you were hooked?

Let’s see: The time where I got hooked on anime was when I used to stay up almost every single weeknight to watch the Action block on Adult Swim. That was when I first saw an episode of Cowboy Bebop (My Funny Valentine) and I never stopped watching anime since.

For games, it probably was when I first sat through the intro to JSRF and realized that there was more to games than just playing them.

2) What has you addicted right now?

Well, it was Gears of War and Assassin’s Creed, but for now it’s Skyrim and Dark Souls. I’m really enjoying Dark Souls since I got to the first tower and was finally able to summon other people to help me with the Bell Gargoyles. After we took care of them, I finally rang the first bell. It got me addicted again.

I’m also keeping up with the Bleach manga. Bleach’s story is finally picking after it seemed to be dragging since Aizen’s sentencing.

3) What’s the one series that you love to hate?

One series I’ve grown to hate would probably be the Madden series. I used to play the old ones, I even had 2001 on my N64, but they started to all seem the same. Even though they would release one or two every year, nothing much would change.

4) What is your version of geek/otaku heaven?

Geek heaven for me would be having an entertainment system that would allow me to play my consoles without having to switch outputs on my TV or having to deal with all those wires.

Otaku heaven would be having a 24-hour anime channel, like Boomerang, that only played anime and Adult Swim’s old action block.

5) You just moved into a neighborhood inhabited by a bunch of fictional characters (anime, manga, comics, games, tv, film, etc.) …

a. Who would you borrow sugar from?

b. Who would you ask to babysit the kids?

Washu from Tenchi Muyo. She may not look it, but she’s definitely shown some motherly skills on the show.

c. Whose wifi do you steal?

Definitely ED from Cowboy Bebop. She would probably have the whole neighborhood on a network anyway.

d. Who’s your BFF?

This one would be a toss-up between Kamiyama from Cromartie High since he and his friends always get into something wild, or Kai from Tokyo Tribe 2 since he would be able to show me around all of Tokyo.

e. Whose facebook invite do you not accept?

Agent Smith from The Matrix. If I’ve learned one thing: if you see him or he sees you, YOU RUN.

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Check out Byron’s own blog here and keep checking out Pop GO for more Hi 5’s!