Great Success

Before I started writing this post I went looking through my own blog for a previous piece (I thought) I'd published about how knowledge of another language conveyed Bonus Points to your Google-fu when looking for stuff on the internet. Then I realized I haven't made any such post here, it was an answer I'd submitted on Quora.

A decade ago I watched a trailer for an anime called "Dai-guard: Terrestrial Defense Corp.". I never got around to watching the anime itself, still haven't, but I instantly loved the music in the trailer. Turns out they just used the opening sequence for the trailer, so this song is actually the opening theme song as well.



Well, I'd never been able to find a high quality version of the full song. I could only find either good TV sized ones or crappy quality full length ones. Until now. With my post-uni Japanese experience I tried again today and found it forthwith. And my Japanese is admittedly rudimentary, too.

I'll upload it to YouTube eventually, but for now here's a high quality full length mp3 file of the song I'll share with you. Enjoy the fruits of my labour.

Our prayers have been answered!

April 15 release date for the Let It Go collection on Amazon MP3.

Sure I've already downloaded most of the versions but I am more than willing to pay for quality goods. I may be a pirate but I'm no thief.

Speaking of choosing to pay for digital goods, these guys also deserve your money.

Here and here.

This Is What I've Been Waiting For. Finally!

Well, it's the end of March and therefore all versions of Frozen [2013] will have been released in all their respective countries. More importantly they'll have been released in all 43 languages, which, in turn, means I should finally be able to find high quality versions of "Let It Go" in 42 languages. If you'll recall, the French Canadian release reused the mainland French-sung songs.

Coca-Cola Super Bowl 2014 Commercial

Disney Movies - Bambi [1942]

Ohohohohoho, yes, that's right. I NEVER WATCHED BAMBI. Not in English, not in Canto, not in any language. I just went through childhood and missed it. I think I was sick the day everyone watched it in grade school.

Disney Movies - Fantasia [1940]

Not really one of the well-known Disney classics. Even if you were to mention "Fantasia" to someone they'd probably think of Fantasia 2000 [1999] instead.

Still Listening to That Song

So that list from yesterday's post only included songs I could find in good quality. Here's a list I created of languages I did not acquire the song in. Usually, it's because the video under scrutiny was of poor quality because the movie hasn't come out on DVD in that particular language's country.

Current Favorite Song(s) - 'Let It Go' from Frozen [2013]

I can't believe the last post I made was all the way back in May of last year. Good lawdy! All the same, let's not waste time with the 好久不见's and such. (^_^;;;)7

デタラメ・マザコン・チェリーボーイ 〜for the movie〜

OH SNAP GUYS

So there's this fictional band called the 金玉ガールズ (Kintama Girls), right? They exist in the world of Detroit Metal City. It's a cool series I highly recommend checking out if you have a sense of humour.

Anyway, the (fictional) band released a single cd and I managed to pick it up a few months ago. But, a terrible, terrible twist of fate befell me. The track titles on the files had become corrupted.

Three tracks. I already knew the name of the first track (title of this post) so that wasn't a problem. The third track was an instrumental version of the first, again no problem. But Track 2. The file name was just a jumble of nonsensical wingding symbols. How the hell do I find its name? This is pretty obscure material to begin with. "Hey internet, what's the name of the second track on a hard-to-find single from this fictional band?"

I filed the quest away for a while but today, I found it. At long last. A website that sells imported cds decided to post the tracklist.

2. クダらねぇ社会

Books. Do You Read Them?

Well, here I am reading Let The Right One In. And, just in case you didn't know, it's a book translated from Swedish just like The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

So then. What if these books hadn't been popular enough in their home country? What if they hadn't managed to garner enough attention to warrant English translations and U.S. publications? How would I have come into contact with them? Beyond wild coincidence or some Swedish language class or further forays into "it was meant to be" tosh, I simply wouldn't have.

Extrapolate how much stuff we're missing out on that's happening outside our "territories". Man, once again, I imagine how much more thoroughly I'd be able to live if I had me some immortality.
How much do I know about Swedish pop culture? Not much. It's outside my cultural territory. And only a simpleton would imagine the Swedes didn't have a pop culture at all. They have references, and in-jokes, and stock characters, and I don't have any part of it. But I wish I did.

Everyone is missing out on a lot of stuff around them. I don't think most people give it much thought, and most of those that do just take it as a fact of life and don't lament it. Maybe it's easier to get by that way.

What was the last book you read and when? Be honest now. I mean more than just skimming. And I definitely don't count any one that you were assigned or required to read. I'm asking you what was the last book you read purely by choice.

The Oxford Comma: This, That,(. ._)? and the Other

Before seeing this image I never used the Oxford comma. After seeing it I always use it.

It's vs. Its

I've never had a problem using these two properly. NEVER. It's one of the things that makes me special.

Annoyance #3: Ignorant Grammar

Incorrectly using 'of' as in "shouldn't of done that" or "I would of done that if I'd remembered".

I know why people think that's how it's written. Because that's what it sounds like. Granted, 'shouldn't've' is a double contraction, which is considered non-standard. But that's no excuse. That just means you shouldn't use it when writing in the first place. 'Would've' has no such excuse. The person who gets that wrong didn't pay attention in English class or they never learned it in the first place.

When I see this I really feel like there just isn't enough attention given to education in the U.S. And I'm not even just talking about money. I'm talking about respect. Lack of funding is just a symptom, not the disease itself. The disease is how little Americans care of learning. They like to keep it real instead. There's this attitude here of "Too much book learning will make you lose sight of how the real world works."

The Departed vs Infernal Affairs - A Preface

As I alluded to in the 100th post!, this blog writing thing is really important to me. Case in point, all week I've been thinking about how to write this. Every night I think about why people like The Departed better. Why people like Infernal Affairs better. Reading their opinions, their reasons, their comparisons. Considering their positions and my thoughts on those positions, whether I was too biased. Above all, I made an effort to resist the tendency to take anything personally.

You've undoubtedly seen flame wars, if no where else you've seen them in the comments sections of YouTube videos. You know where all that emotion comes from? People tend to perceive slights against what they like as insults directed at themselves. What do you mean hockey sucks?! I like hockey, that means you think I suck! *rage rage* Conversely, the reward centers of the brain light up when someone agrees with us. That is to say, when you read an article praising a show you happen to love you feel good, you bask in the reflected glory.

These feelings come to me, too. When I read some reviews saying The Departed had better pacing, I felt anger. When I read someone's comment saying The Departed was a mess, I felt that wave of pleasure. I'm not special because I'm immune to those tendencies, I am special because I am aware of them and act accordingly.

As I said, I read a lot of reviews going both ways about both films and I've come to believe that a lot of viewers just missed a lot when they saw Infernal Affairs, even the ones who prefer it to The Departed! I think it's safe to say most aren't Cantonese speakers, native or otherwise. It isn't something they have to apologize for, not at all, but it is something to factor into consideration.

As a native Chinese (Cantonese even!) speaker and a native English speaker I am in a particular position to be able to judge both films equally. You might immediately think this arrogant of me but I urge you to think about it. Do you really think that you experienced the film as smoothly as I did if you utilized the subtitles while I didn't? I don't say this with a high-brow attitude, sincerely. I don't believe it impossible for non-Chinese speakers to enjoy this film, to understand the film, as you can clearly see from the worldwide fan-base Infernal Affairs has cultivated. But I think it arrogant of a person to believe that subtitled viewing is every bit equal to that of native listeners. Arrogant to believe that those translations fully captured the intricacies of meaning that, at times, would have required annotations in a footer. By the way, some fan-subbed anime do this and I think it really helps but it really is too obtrusive to utilize in a cinematic production.

I showed Infernal Affairs to a non-Chinese speaking friend of mine and she noted that without my commentary on what was actually said she would not have gotten as much out of the film as she did. "Lost in translation" describes the situation perfectly. The subtitles just didn't don't properly convey what was said. Unavoidable? Yes, it is a lamentable fact that translating the dialogue into natural sounding and natural looking English sentences requires certain twists in wording and omissions of content. Yes, you cannot avoid encountering these lapses in translation. Unless you understand the original language you will run into one eventually whilst watching foreign cinema. Does this mean give up? Stick to your own country's cinema? Of course not. Hell, I don't do that in either sense. I possess some piddling Japanese skills and I watch anime. I don't speak any French but that doesn't stop me from watching their movies. And so on.

I'm expecting a stranger who happens to stumble on this blog whilst looking for an article about "The Departed compared to Infernal Affairs" to either cheer or think me a jackass due to those natural psychological factors I pointed out at the beginning. I'm hoping those of you who have followed me for a while will know me better than that.

What do you guys think of me doing a sort of watch-along for Infernal Affairs? I would basically do what I did for my friend: expound on the intricacies of what they actually said or didn't say, cover the gaps between subtitle and translation. Sadly, those two are not always one and the same. I'll be using the DVD edition and it's subtitles so I'll be able to provide reliable timestamps and you can vicariously watch it with me, where-ever you are! Watcha think?

My rusty Japanese and Yu-Gi-Oh!

Speaking of Yu-Gi-Oh!, I started playing Nightmare Troubadour on my bro's NDS. I noticed that he had a Japanese ROM, probably by mistake since he also has an English one loaded too. In case you're wondering, these are all on a Top Toy flash card. My Japanese is still good enough that I can understand the gist of the lines but my kanji vocabulary is lacking. Playing this game is only sort of helpful for practice though. I think a visual novel would be more intensive on dialogue, hmm?

lol kthnxbai l8r idk my bff jill

I've heard a lot of people lament the younger generation's loss of writing skillz skills what with instant messaging and texting.
Is it so much trouble to type, not write mind you, type 'later' instead of 'l8r'?
Well, yes. Yes, it is a difference. Even more in the case of such phrases as 'I don't know' = 'idk'.
But it's only a few extra keystrokes! How lazy can you be?!
Therein lies the misconception: It isn't a matter of effort but one of expediency. This can be seen clearest within the activity of mobile texting. This usually takes place through the use of a numpad or, more recently, one of those slide-out QWERTY pads. With a numpad the difference of two characters can become several more button presses. Again, you can sneer all you want about how little extra effort is required there but can you really tell me there's something wrong with taking the easy route when the purpose, communication, is not adversely affected?
Speaking from the perspective of an MMORPG player, fewer keystrokes means efficiency as well. That also applies to instant messaging.
I will say this though: The shorthand, while appropriate (yes, I will go so far as to say 'appropriate') for texting and IMing, is not appropriate for use on more thoughtful writings such as emails and articles. The latter activities do not have the here-and-now spontaneity that calls for acronyms in lieu of commonly used phrases.

What do you think? If you cringe when you see 'lol', what would you have us do instead? 'haha'?

Multi-lingual Song Covers

Yah, yah I know I missed a post, haha.

I love listening to covers of songs in different languages. One of the reasons Dragostea din Tei will always hold a special place in my heart, but I'll post about that some other time. And I don't call it the Numa Numa Song.

Here's a nice pair of songs for ya.

Original German:


Wir Sind Helden - Nur Ein Wort by Th3-Warlords


Mandarin Chinese cover:



I don't speak German but I love it anyway hahahaha.
I'm surprised Rainie Yang has a VEVO channel.
I'm disappointed you can't find the Chinese characters anywhere on the video itself. Even the title is just the Romanized words.

Idiosyncrasy #1: Extra 'U'

I was born in the States, went to school here and learned American English in class but for some reason I always write and type 'colour' and 'behaviour'. How did British spelling get in there? (O.o)7 ??

I don't know. Was it reading Harry Potter in 5th grade? Was that it? An impressionable age to be sure, but why? I must investigate...
~~(__ಠಠ )
My mother was born in Hong Kong. The English held Hong Kong for years, right? This influence trickled into her mind and was passed on to me. She speaks English with a slight British accent sometimes. The extra vowel lay dormant for years until I came upon this children's book series, written by a British author, and BAM! Colors became COLOURS! Yes...that must be how it happened...

Theories?

And with that I am back on track. A triple post day! I realized I actually missed a Friday AND a Saturday post so this should make everything hunky-dory. Yes, indeedy.