Spying On A Ninja-Crazed Phenomena

I was writing a scene about a ninja last night--okay, so I was supposed to be revising, but HEY, I CAN'T HELP IT, JED MCNEIL wanted to play ninja (yes, I hear all your ahhhhhhhhhhhh shiiiiiiiiiiiiiit, yesssssssssss, all the way from here, so now you know my similar reaction to the idea)--when I became stuck because I can't remember the name of a certain sword that I know has a certain kind of blade. So I went on the net to google about ninjas.

Most of the time, I just hit the first link, see something familiar and keep clicking until I find the subject I want. This is because I tend to browse if I'm stupid enough to start reading ;-). Browsing is DANGEROUS because it leads to other topics that are totally unrelated to the original quest and before I know it, I'll have spent two hours reading up on the correct way of Japanese bowing instead of writing.

Anyway, the first link I clicked on was this:


The Ultimate Ninja Webpage (sounds great, right?)
http://www.realultimatepower.net/index4.htm

You have to turn off your volume because of the stupid music in the background but I think I spent fifteen minutes laughing myself silly. The best line was:

Q: What do ninjas do when they're not cutting off heads or flipping out?
A: Most of their free time is spent flying, but sometime they stab. (Ask Mark if you don't believe me.)

After going through the tabs on the top of the site (and laughed myself sick), I came to realize that the kid (if he really was one to begin with) have quite a sick sense of humor. But I was wiping tears on my face, so I must be sick myself. Here is one of his pics, that he earnestly titled "I hope it isn't true":
I realize this kind of "fun" isn't for everyone because subtle it isn't, but watching this little boy grow up with his play site is sort of interesting in itself. He was sued for this site, supposedly, and ended up PUBLISHED! The book is called Real Ultimate Power: The Official Ninja Book. You can order this on Amazon!

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/080652569X/qid=1117365851/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/103-3339699-7055069?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

And its ranking is in the 2000s! With One Hundred And Fifty reviews. Yeeha. That rivals any review numbers of Laurell K. Hamilton, Linda Howard, and other goddesses. Not bad for a snarky kid, eh? And he's made a business of his obsession, all from a silly little site that generated a lot of hate mail. And all of that hate mail was directed at a ten year old who wrote:

Seppuku With a Frisbee

Just click on the seppuku tab above and see pictures of this kid trying to commit suicide with a frisbee and his take on what seppuku is. I know, I know--totally tasteless, but hey, it can't be worse from the recent Saturday Night Life episode I saw in which the guest was peeing in his pants while he sang.

All I can say is--hey, Robert Hamburger (that's the kid's name), I'm glad I was researching about ninja swords last night. Your site's sweet (his favorite word). I'm thinking of ordering his book, LOL.

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