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ennui

SYLLABICATION: en·nui

KEY NOUN: Listlessness and dissatisfaction resulting from lack of interest; boredom:
"The servants relieved their ennui with gambling and gossip about their masters" (John Barth).

ETYMOLOGY: French, from Old French enui, from ennuyer, to annoy, bore. See annoy.

DENNIS: Before we talk about cosplaying, let's get to know a little bit about you. Where were you born and raised?
MATT: Well, I've spent my life in sunny Southern California, living in and around La Mirada, a suburb of LA, though I spent most of my high school years and a couple college years hanging out in and around North Orange County. Now, I'm where I belong, living in Westwood, attending UCLA. I really don't ever want to go back to La Mirada, unless its to visit my parents or see the few high school friends I still talk to.

DENNIS:  If a friend traveled to your area to spend several hours with you, where would you take them or what would you do for fun?   MATT: Well, I suppose it depended on the friend. If it's a cosplayer or somebody who's into it, I'd take them to one of the karaoke places I frequent around here, but if its not, maybe we'd just go find something cool to do in Westwood or maybe one of the art museums around here. Back in the day I would have taken them to Arcade Infinity in Rowland Heights, but no one seems to go there much anymore. DENNIS:  If someone were in the passenger seat of your car, what kind of music would they expect to be listening to?   MATT: More than likely, it'd be J-Rock. If anyone spends any amount of time with me anywhere, they'll hear J-Rock, whether it's me singing it aloud, playing it in the car, on the CD player or on my computer. My roommates have learned...against their will, I might add, to learn with J-Rock, but they were warned before we moved in. DENNIS:  If a friend visited you at your home, what would they catch you watching on television? MATT: As for TV...Well, I don't watch much. Just the occasional episode of "Sopranos" with my roommate but that's not too often.

Photo: Matt cosplaying as Kurow of "Project Justice", courtesy of Chris Bunag.

My favorite channel is the Food Network, and I watched that all summer. In fact, after graduating from UCLA, I plan on attending culinary school. Someday, I'll become "Iron Chef Mexico". Depending on what is on, I'll watch stuff like the History Channel, or sometimes the Cartoon Network. Sealab 2021! Or the SciFi Channel once in a while. I would watch Conan O'Brien but I always forget. My favorite show ever, "Upright Citizens Brigade", was taken off the air a few years back, so I lost most interest in TV.

DENNIS:  What kind of student were you back in high school? The cheerleader, jock, computer person, library person, band person, stoner?
MATT: Hmm. Well, I don't know. I think I'm one of those types of persons that's hard to place. The group that I hung out with in High School was different than most groups, I think, because we seemed to have one of every stereotype: a goth, a rivethead, a swing kid, a preppy, and there were a couple others like me, who really didn't fit into any other stereotype. In my High School, there wasn't anybody who really liked anime as much as I did, and nobody at all that liked Japanese Music, let alone J-Rock, so I just kind of did my own thing. In my first couple years of high school, I had a lot of raver friends, so I kind of went through that phase, but eventually, I found my aesthetic in the goth/industrial type of look. I never really did dress like that though, its too expensive. So I just thought it was cool until I really got into college and really got into Visual Kei.

DENNIS:  If there was one word to describe you as a person now, what word would that be and why?
MATT: Oh man, that's a hard one. Like I mentioned, I don't think I really fit into anything. I wish I could say J-Rock, but I'm neither Japanese, nor do I rock. I wish I could say bishonen, but I only fulfill half of the requirements to be a pretty boy. Well, I guess some of my good friends would say "::stab!::", but that's an inside joke, and really doesn't make much sense even now. So I think that I would have to say the one word that describes me the best would be "Ennui", which now that I think about it, is the reason I chose it as my online nickname.

PHOTO: Matt cosplaying as Kuroro and Ten Ken at KatsuCon. Photo is courtesy of Lionel Lum of www.usagichan.com

DENNIS:  Let's talk about cosplay. How did you get involved with cosplaying? MATT: Well, I had wanted to make a costume for a long time, but during Anime Expo 2000, I was going with my good friends at Studio Unmei, one of whom, Bryan, had made a Sorata costume from "X", and had made prior arrangements to take pictures with the NorCal group, Gina Turrini, Tiff, Mack, and the Neko Twins, among others. I threw on my Japanese Seifuku and combed my hair a little different, and it was like a 5 minute Kamui costume, so when we found the NorCal group, I ended up taking pictures with them in my super ghetto Kamui costume. But the people were great, and I became friends with them really fast. I decided that my next costume would be a decent one, so I made an Iori costume that got me a couple awards, and the rest, as they say, is history. Well, I guess its not history if its continuing but that's a matter of semantics. Anyway, next question. DENNIS:  Do you spend a lot of money on your costumes? MATT: Well, it really depends. There's really a dichotomy when it comes to that because I feel that some costumes are just worth tons of money, so I'll throw anywhere between $100 and $250 at it, or I'll decide that the character or costume just doesn't deserve a lot of time or money, so I'll throw it together.

The ones that I spend a lot of money on also receive a comparable amount of time on them, so costumes like Kurow from Rival Schools took about 3 weeks of mad working from scratch and about $150, but costumes like Johnny from DDR 4th mix I made a couple years ago seriously took less than five minutes, because it was all clothes that I wore all the time in high school. But in all, I'll spend tons on costumes that I love; money and time-wise.

DENNIS:  Do you feel stressed out when a con nears, that you have to finish a costume or a numerous amount of costumes quickly?
MATT: Yeah, I suffer from that common cosplayer disease known as procrastination. There has been more than a couple times where I'd spend just about all of my free hours at a friend's house working on three costumes at once for two or three weeks. Usually, its around midterms or something, so I'm trying to cram a bunch of costumes into a short amount of time and I want to die, but I usually can get it done.

DENNIS:  Are you one of those cosplayers that travel around the country going to different cons? If so, how do you manage to travel to all these cons? MATT: Well, I travel occasionally to go to cons. I attended KatsuCon 2002, and it was quite an experience. East coast cons are a bit different. But that was before I moved into this particular apartment, and now I'm just about dirt poor. So I think until I find a way to get filthy rich, I don't think I'll be going to many other out of state cons. I still try to go to all the cons in California that I can, though. DENNIS: Since you have attended different cons on both sides of the Coasts. What noticeable differences did you see from the West Coast cons and the East Coast cons? MATT: Hmm. Its a little hard to say, really. I suppose it depends on what you look for at a con. My experience at an East Coast con was way different than just about any West Coast con, but I think it was because at West Coast cons, I spend all my day hanging out with different friends all over the place and being really hyper. At East Coast cons, though, I don't know as many people as I do on the West, so it seems a little bit emptier. I have more fun at West Coast cons, simply because I know more people there, and thats what I'm interested in.

Photo: Matt dressed up as a Kuroro from "HunterxHunter". (photo by Edwin "Bangz" Macaraeg)

As far as costuming goes, though, I see a more distinct line between the seasoned and new cosplayers. The cosplayers that have been around a while have consistently awesome costumes. The newer costumers usually have costumes that could use more work. Also, the crowd there seems a bit subdued. I've noticed that people tend to talk to me more and ask more questions on the West Coast, whereas on the East Coast, people might just take my picture, without saying much if anything. I don't think I saw another Hispanic cosplayer over there, not that there are a whole lot over here.

DENNIS:  How does your family feel about you cosplaying? Do your co-workers or non-cosplaying friends know about your hobby? Are they supportive?
MATT: My parents like it, in that my father supports my creativity and my mom loves the fact that I can sew. My sister, though, thinks I'm a freak, but she's 'too cool' for me, I guess. In any case, I really don't care. At the game store I used to work at, they used to give me crap about cosplaying a lot and my roommates and I still argue about who the bigger nerd is, but I'm positive that its not me. Most of my other friends think it's really cool, though. Well, my American friends, anyway. Once, when I met a cute Japanese girl, one of my friends let it slip that I was a cosplayer, after which I kicked him really hard, and she kept calling me a weird pervert in Japanese until we convinced her otherwise. I tend to not tell people about it until I know them really well.

DENNIS:  When you make your costumes, do you make your own costumes or do you have them created by a professional?
MATT: I make them all myself, although I do get a lot of help from friends, especially from my friend TenKen. But I could never have them done by a professional because half the fun is putting your hard work and soul into the costume and also because professionals are too expensive. I also love working on costumes with friends. Days spent at friend's houses, working frantically on costumes, while joking around and just having fun are some of my fondest memories.

DENNIS: When cosplaying, do you act like the character that you are cosplaying as?
MATT: Not on purpose.. half the time my character acts the same way I do anyway, so I guess I do. I know that originally cosplay was people role playing in costume but I don't see much of that happening in cosplay over here. Actually, that would kind of scare me, like those Vampire LARP people...

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