Like many other women, I love clothing, especially shoes. When you find that really killer pair of sexy heels, and you slip them on and they feel so damn perfect on your feet, and miraculously your feet seem to be the most adorable, beautiful feet you've ever seen - well, you can imagine what sort of endorphin rush you get from that feeling. You don't ever have to wear them out; simply owning them is enough to satisfy the covetous breast. 
Since I discovered my new gadget, it has not left my side for a moment. It was my constant companion while, 
I feel so proud of it, in such an odd way. I want people to see it and admire it too - I seek the same satisfaction I get when someone says, "Cute sweater!" or "Great shoes!" I use it, experimentally, as a device to seek other girl gamers. I take it out and leave it casually on the table while having coffee. I use it while shopping, as I wait for my friend to make her decisions. And I watch for signs of excitation, a dilated pupil, a shallowness of breathing, a gleam of envy. I use it like a beacon to call other like-minded souls. So far, my search for fellow girl gamers has not elicited responses on the streets or in the boutiques. But it will. Because no game girl who gazes on this object can remain entirely unmoved. It is designed to call out to us.
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October 17, 2003
F E T I S H
I also have a thing for sleek gadgets. Apple really gets this - the power of the object itself to inspire desire. And when I was in Asobit in Akihabara recently, I saw something that I had to acquire, with a passion that surprised me: the GBA SP in pearl pink.
And what a toy! So sleek, so pretty, so feminine, it looks like a high-end compact, and it co-ordinates beautifully with the other accessories in my purse. I find myself taking it out to gaze on its shiny surface, which I polish softly with a handkerchief. I love snapping it open on the train, or while waiting for someone, or just at home alone in my bed. Propped up on my elbows I am entertained, entranced.
I have felt similar responses to technological objects before. The Ocean Blue PS2 with its mysteriously translucent quality mesmerized me. The iPod makes my pulse quicken. My Japanese mobile phone with its clever little camera and perfect little size made my heart skip every time I caught sight of it nestled in its own little compartment in my purse. But none of those devices excited quite the same emotion that my GBA SP does right now. It's desire, it's love, it's lust. It's inexplicable. It's a fetish. Posted by jane at October 17, 2003 01:40 PM | TrackBackComments
you're absolutely right. i definitely want it, and how. :3 i was considering getting a red one, but pink is such a cool color for a gaming console. is it only available in japan? and does it play american games (i don't want to mod a gameboy ;b). very cool. Posted by: manpurse on October 17, 2003 06:02 PMyou can order it online, but i don't think it's in stores yet. check the link i posted in the story... Posted by: jane on October 17, 2003 06:26 PMIt's oh so nice to see so many great stories this week! You've made me want that GBA: SP just a little more. :) Posted by: PreacherBoy on October 18, 2003 12:03 AMhmm.. that was just a tad psycho hehe Posted by: Cal on October 18, 2003 06:05 AMI ordered the pearl blue one from video game depot and I know exactly how you feel, I'm a guy and I still think the gba sp is a damn sexy toy. But then I dropped mine and scratched it, and there ended the honey-moon :-/ Posted by: Dawud on October 18, 2003 06:59 AMHave a Red Flame Gameboy SP with Wing Commander Prophecy and it sure is a dream come true:) I know the feeling well. I had it over my camera-phone when I first bought it, and I've been craving an SP of my own. The old GBA just isn't doing it. I also need an Ipod and a Mac. So are you going to change the name of the site to GGASP? :) Posted by: Bowler on October 18, 2003 09:25 AMI must admit, I am exactly the same way when I get a new toy... It's really wierd that I just so happened to hear "Just So" for the first time just as I read this post. Posted by: rob on October 18, 2003 01:21 PMSpeaking of scratching your gameboy advance SP, I have a special love of my GBA SP Fire that began the day I was late for the bus. See the bus was *just* pulling out as I came into the station so I ended up running down the street after it. This turned out to be a big fat mistake because my GBA SP fell out of my pocket, bounced twice onto the road where the bus RAN OVER IT. Imagine my surprise when I collected its mangled corpse, flipped open the top and managed to turn it on. It works great aside from a very, very scratched experior. Now I am the proud owner of a GBA SP with BATTLE DAMAGE! Posted by: Snowmit on October 18, 2003 01:58 PMwow, battle damage. that is so tuff! Posted by: jane on October 18, 2003 11:46 PMI can honestly say that before now, I've never really wanted anything that was pink. Mmm, pearl piiiiiinnnnkkkk... Posted by: Phincus on October 18, 2003 11:57 PMI am quite pleased with my opal SP. I lusted after it for months, and since purchasing it, it has rarely left my person. I love the way it looks, the way it feels in my pocket.. it is wonderful. Now, I suppose you'll be wanting a pearl-pink gamecube to accessorize... Posted by: anton on October 19, 2003 12:05 AM>Now, I suppose you'll be wanting a pearl-pink gamecube to accessorize... but of course! as well pearl-pink controllers and a pear-pink mobile phone and whi not? a pearlpink laptop... okay, i'm a little obsessed just now. Posted by: jane on October 19, 2003 08:28 AMOh, come on people! Why, are people so eager to believe her narrative is true? How are they so blind to the fact she is spinning a “fantasy” scenario. Would not be nice if people lives were like that? Wouldn’t it be nice if products made us feel the way television or print advertisements portray life like: perfect, clean, happy? Wouldn’t it be great if your life were some 90-year “tampon” commercial full of people living life to the fullest while wearing all the right cloths, drinking the right distilled hard liquor, and waking up on the perfect 400 thread count sheets? Sadly, life is rougher than that, maybe that why you all adore that sack of shit she just flung at your feet. You want to believe too much. Posted by: Monkey-King on October 19, 2003 11:54 AMWouldn't it be nice if some people would know when to shut their pie holes? Posted by: PreacherBoy on October 19, 2003 12:09 PMDammit Jane, I bought my first GBA because you mentioned they had it in pink, NOW THIS!! It's gorgeous and I may have to treat myself. I hear the screen has back lighting now.
Monkey king clearly doesn't understand. I know an ibook is not as good as a power book, I know there will be a G5 processor laptop coming soon, I know it isnt going to make me a better person (though I will have allot of new 'friends' who will want to have a go) but the beautifull white small but perfectly formed ibook is my dream laptop computer since playing with one during my last day of computer lusting. computing power is so much, but design is so much more. Posted by: mark on October 19, 2003 03:11 PMmark, i too lusted after those stunning white ibooks, but my new laptop, a 12 in. PowerBook G4, has won me over with its shiny silver keys. i find any excuse to type. design lust is doing wonders for my academic life. (that is, until i "happen" to glance over at my pearly white ipod and distraction takes over.) Posted by: adriana on October 19, 2003 03:48 PMWhat I really like about this story is how it points to how complicated our relationship with what we fetishize can be. There are the things we fetishize largely to satisfy us, the ones we want to demonstrate to others how hip/cool/trendy/smart we crave to be seen as, and the lack we feel in ourselves when someone else has that thing that we covet. There is the massage chair I love and don't need anyone else to ever see, the books I read just for me, but there are also the new laptop I want to get, not only because it would be functionally better, but because I want to be seen with it (sick and twisted, perhaps, but true nonetheless) and the book I read for class so I can be seen as the smart, responsible student I crave to be. There is also the lacking I feel as I see what others have that I don't. Ads don't do usually do that for me, but seeing someone else with something I want sure can. It's interesting how jane brought out all of these aspects of the fetish with her story, the way the GBA makes her feel by herself, the way she wants to be noticed with it, and the subsequent posters who "had" to have it. It sure made me remember my original gameboy and realize how much slicker they look now. Maybe I "need" a new one... Posted by: cpgecko on October 19, 2003 05:49 PMWe had some friends visiting us from LA, and unfortunately, during a 15 minute gap in which they left their rental on the street while dropping things off at our SOMA flat, the rental car's window was broken and a couple of their bags were stolen. The two things they mourn the most - more than credit cards, a couple hundred dollars worth of cash, even ID's - were her brand new, just-brought-over-from-Japan not-available-in-the-US Casio digital camera and his bag containing his Platinum GBA SP and a few games. After the expected gnashing of teeth and rending of garments, he brightened when he realized that the insurance claim would let him pick up the new, flame-colored GBA SP that he really wanted. Of course, the lamentations and moans began again when I reminded him of the lost saved games. It's back to square one for Link and his friends. I'm trying to see what I can do about her camera, which she only had for three days, though. She loved that thing, even more than the laptop she had which, miraculously, wasn't stolen. Posted by: William on October 20, 2003 11:18 AMWhy settled for an off the assembly line fetish when you can get it customized? I hauled mine out today at work (I work at an all-boys school. And a bunch of the kids were quickly aroujnd me asking me about the colour (they hadn't seen Fire before, let alone BATTLE DAMAGE Fire). It took severeal minutes of comparing colours owned before we got to talking about the games that we liked. Posted by: Snowmit on October 20, 2003 03:08 PMI luv! my GBA:SP onyx. its so cute... :) Posted by: dupl0 on October 21, 2003 01:24 PMI too love my SP more than is probably healthy. This goes way beyond the fact that it's great for playing games on. I can just *look* at it, admiring the ingenuity of the design ... the nice, shiny light, the "clicky", responsive buttons, the fact that it all folds away so neatly ... it's just so *slick*. But - pearl pink? Blech. Far too insipid and girly for my tastes. I'll stick with my pretty cobalt blue, thanks. :) Posted by: Eleanor on October 21, 2003 06:38 PMSmall gadgets like cellphones and gameboys are the new diamonds. And you know what they say about girls and diamonds.. So apparently, the Nokia N-gage ain't doing so well in sales. Why am I not surprised. Besides the price, lack of games, poor marketing etc etc... have you seen the damn thing? THAT is an ugly piece of design that evokes nothing out of my easily excited, consumerist heart. Posted by: SputnikSweethrt on October 22, 2003 12:12 AMHmmm. While the pink is a lovely color, I've always been very underwhelmed by the basic design of the GBA SP. For example, the harsh squareness of it. Would it have killed them to put in a curve or an angle other than 90 degrees? And the hinge! This cries out to me of a committee meeting where they tried to think of all the design elements they could cut to keep the cost low. I mean, put the GBA SP next to any of the current generation of cellphones or PDAs or anything that Apple produces and I challenge you not to find the GBA SP wanting. Don't get me wrong, it's a wonderful game platform and extremely functional; just not a drool-worthy example of industrial design. Posted by: Bill on October 22, 2003 12:20 PMIts Really Beautiful .................
i just got back from nyc, and J&L on Elizabeth at Canal in Chinatown carries the GBA SP imports in pearl blue and pearl pink. i was looking for orange myself, but no luck. Posted by: yi on November 5, 2003 09:48 PMIs this whole site owned by Nintendo, or does Nintendo just use it to post Game Boy adverts like this one? It's a strange advert. Where are the Nintendo logos? Where are the links to the sites where you can buy one? Just odd. Posted by: Lee on March 23, 2004 12:34 PMIs this whole site owned by Nintendo, or does Nintendo just use it to post Game Boy adverts like this one? It's a strange advert. Where are the Nintendo logos? Where are the links to the sites where you can buy one? Just odd. Posted by: Lee on March 23, 2004 12:38 PMIs this whole site owned by Nintendo, or does Nintendo just use it to post Game Boy adverts like this one? It's a strange advert. Where are the Nintendo logos? Where are the links to the sites where you can buy one? The whole thing is just weird. Posted by: Lee on March 23, 2004 12:39 PMIs this whole site owned by Nintendo, or does Nintendo just use it to post Game Boy adverts like this one? It's a strange advert. Where are the Nintendo logos? Where are the links to the sites where you can buy one? The whole thing is just weird. Posted by: Lee on March 23, 2004 12:41 PMIs this whole site owned by Nintendo, or does Nintendo just use it to post Game Boy adverts like this one? It's a strange advert. Where are the Nintendo logos? Where are the links to the sites where you can buy one? The whole thing is just weird. Posted by: Lee on March 23, 2004 12:42 PMIs this whole site owned by Nintendo, or does Nintendo just use it to post Game Boy adverts like this one? It's a strange advert. Where are the Nintendo logos? Where are the links to the sites where you can buy one? The whole thing is just weird. Posted by: Lee on March 23, 2004 12:44 PMIs this whole site owned by Nintendo, or does Nintendo just use it to post Game Boy adverts like this one? It's a strange advert. Where are the Nintendo logos? Where are the links to the sites where you can buy one? Just odd. Posted by: Lee on March 23, 2004 12:44 PMIs this whole site owned by Nintendo, or does Nintendo just use it to post Game Boy adverts like this one? It's a strange advert. Where are the Nintendo logos? Where are the links to the sites where you can buy one? Just odd. Posted by: Lee on March 23, 2004 12:44 PMThis site is crap. I have clicked "post" dozens of times and it's failed every time. Now I've just scrolled down to read the previous comments and it's added my comment — even though I'm still stuck in the "preview post" screen. This site sucks, and so does the advert. Posted by: Lee on March 23, 2004 12:48 PMThis site is crap. I have clicked "post" dozens of times and it's failed every time. Now I've just scrolled down to read the previous comments and it's added my comment — even though I'm still stuck in the "preview post" screen. This site sucks, and so does the advert. Posted by: Lee on March 23, 2004 12:53 PMlee, you're a dork. Posted by: jane on March 26, 2004 12:57 PMI have found my family. I imported my Onyx SP when it debuted in Japan. I bought a shiny Platinum when they came out in the U.S. and my friend scratched it up. A month ago I bought a Pearl Blue case and spent a loving day transforming my Platinum SP into the gorgeous Pearl Blue wonder that it is now. I gave it to my girlfriend as one would give a ring, bracelet or charm to symbolize our relationship. Then she cheated on me. Posted by: Alex on May 9, 2004 12:41 AMjpb ppyt psycholog zdrowa żywność nieruchomości projektowanie stron agencja reklamowa soczewki kontaktowe nauka angielskiego agroturystyka opony klimatyzacja domy opieki akupunktura hydraulik projektowanie wnętrz soha jpk paa ki wypadki tfrd jh sw jft pp fdr Posted by: outsider![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.gamegirladvance.com/nav-commenters.gif) on April 11, 2006 07:36 AM
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