MUDAFUCKA!!1

Goddammit. A vid that I embedded in this post got removed.

If this means they've decided to start selling high quality DVDs of the episodes, then never mind, switch the tone of this post's title into a joyful one. If not, then my anger remains.

This reminds me of when all those hilarious Downfall parodies started getting banned by the distributor, Constantin Film. Stupid. You know how I discovered that film? The parodies. Hell, without 'em I'd probably never have seen it at all. Is that what you want?

I also don't like when YouTube clips of scenes from a movie get removed. If someone uploads the entire movie, yeah, that's wrong, even I admit that. If they upload one scene, that's fine. I get exactly what I was looking for and you get free advertising. I wasn't going to rent the movie, buy a theater ticket, or pay anything at all, just to see that one scene from the entire movie.

How Great is the Internet? \(⊙ ワ ⊙)/

Here's an example of how amazing the internet can be. So a group of us Sasuke fans started to notice that a lot of the music used on the program sounded familiar. Most obviously to me was the ending credits song: "Victory" from the Naruto soundtrack. Not too hard for most to identify since Naruto is one of those mainstream anime series. But then things got harder.
"This song sounds so familiar, but what is it?! WHAT IS IT?!?!" 
"Oh, I knew I heard it from somewhere. It's from Chicken Run [2000]."
Then the pool of knowledge dries up to puddle size: "What is that music that plays when the camera pans over Stage 2's obstacles during Sasuke 22?"



What the fuck, right? That's almost an impossible task. How the hell am I supposed to find that straw of knowledge in the haystack of all the music ever created? Well, damn, Internet to the rescue! Lookie here, someone comes in and tells us that the song is called "Operation Room" and it comes from a PS3 game called Mobile Suit Gundam: Target in Sight, a.k.a. Crossfire in the U.S.
Without this "internet" thing, how would i have found that? Asking my family members? Neighbors? How far can I reach from my chair? Across the world, apparently. (^___^)

Ninja Warrior Fucking Sucks

EDIT 7/27/12 : I originally embedded a video clip from Sasuke 10 but it has since been removed.

Ninja Warrior is trash. The editors took out all the emotional footage and pared each episode down to bare footage of the competitors taking on the obstacles. Then they added instant replays with the American narrator making bad puns. Fuck you, G4. It's disrespectful to the competitors when their hard efforts are wrapped and sent off with snarky comments. The Japanese commentators make jokes but they actually care, too.

TV Shows and My Attention Span

Posting for 12/6.

You remember K-ON!, Breaking Bad, Dexter, Game of Thrones and Sasuke? Yeah, I haven't done any watching of those shows of my own volition in a long while.

I hesitate to say I've gotten bored of them, that isn't quite the feeling. I suppose I am just not in the mood to watch them at the moment. Why don't I just watch it anyway?

Well, now. Here's my thought process on that. If I watched it now, when I don't really feel like it, I wouldn't get as much enjoyment out of the experience as I would have otherwise. A friend once told me that was such a deep way of looking at it. I can understand that feeling. It's still good, right? You'll still laugh when it's funny, etc., right? Well, yeah, but I wouldn't laugh as hard, you know?

And so they sit on the back burner, as they say. ╮(╯ヮ╰)╭ Until such time as they would bring me maximum returns on entertainment and enjoyment.

Within the family my sibs and I refer to this as the product in question having "gone out of phase". Picture a sinusoidal curve (or a co-sinusoidal curve, if you like). The amount of enjoyment rises to a peak, where we feel like playing the video game or watching a show all the time, then it peters out and we put it away in a corner for a while.

Playgrounds: Not Just For Kids?

So I got all 26 seasons of Sasuke and I've been watching it from the beginning. Naturally, I went out to look for obstacles soon after. There used to be monkey bars and such at the local public park but it has since been replaced by some colourful dinky crap. That and all of this stuff seems a lot shorter than it used to. There's slides and tiny ladders and shit but nothing to jump and climb and hang from. What the hell, man? Is this a symptom or a cause of our unhealthy youth generation?

Incidentally, I notice that I haven't eaten a potato chip in a long time.... hmmm...

Ninja Warrior for Amurr'cans

Note the twist in participant demographic there.

"Olympic Athletes, K-Fighters, Pro-Wrestlers..."

In other words, people who aren't you, living your regular lives. (- -_____)

You wanna know the spread in the original?

A sample:
Pub Owner
Sports Instructor
Teacher
Newspaper delivery man
Tokyo University Student
Classical Ballet Dancer
Postal Worker

I'm not saying all of them did well, but I want you to note that the spirit of the show is that anyone can compete. Not just professional athletes of one kind or another.

I wish it wasn't the case but COME ON.
Y U ALWAYS REMAKE THINGS TO SUCK AMERICA?  (سಥ益ಥ)س

On the plus side, when it came to actual participants that wasn't entirely the case. The top contenders were a couple of free-runners. That's basically parkour with an emphasis on acrobatics and tricking.
I do realize though that since the competition takes place in Japan it IS easier for the average person living there to try-out and attend compared to someone living in the U.S. without some kind of financial sponsor.

Sasuke a.k.a. Ninja Warrior

So today's find comes by way of one of tracirz's posts. I clicked on the link to Joel's list and then clicked the link next to Learn Parkour which lead me to this blog here.

The guy seems like just my type of person, going out and doing awesome stuff cuz he wants to. But that's beside the point. Looking through his posts I found this one. Man, Ninja Warrior (aka Sasuke) sounds awesome! But I already have K-ON!, Breaking Bad, and Game of Thrones on my watch list.... (><__)

Video Game - E3 2012

Love of the game right there.

In other news, I have to say, I don't think anyone takes their hobbies more seriously than the Japanese. If you read any manga or watch any anime in which the characters are still in school (there are plenty of them) you've probably noticed how dedicated extracurricular club members are to what they do. For example, if a character is the captain of the team or some such, it will be a big part of their character. That's not just an exaggerated characterization used in the fiction. It's how it is in real life, too.