Picture Perfect Paranoia

Finally, I has a post!

Seriously, though. By now, regular readers of this blog may or may not get used to intermittent updates like this, but it’s a fact of life. Like fellow anime blogger Michael, I’m an official medical school student. Thus, updates like this.

Anyway, just to show you how out of the loop I am in the anime blogosphere: I have just heard/read that Read the rest of this entry »

Bush Signs Law Creating Copyright Czar | Threat Level from Wired.com

President Bush on Monday signed into law legislation creating a copyright czar, a cabinet-level position on par with the nation’s drug czar.

Two weeks ago, the House sent the president the “Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act”(aka “Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property (PRO-IP) Act”), a measure the Senate approved days before creating a cabinet-level copyright czar (Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator or IPEC) charged with implementing a nationwide plan to combat piracy and “report directly to the president and Congress regarding domestic international intellectual property enforcement programs.”

As if the Financial Crisis of 2008 isn’t depressing enough. Now we have the Internet Police being created.

I suggest rewriting this in Simple English so that even the layman consumer can read and comprehend what this law says about “copyright infringement”. Those are two big words right there.

Playing baseball with tanks and rocket launchers - JapanProbe

Last night, NTV (link) attempted to determine the speed of a baseball fired from the barrel of a tank. To conduct the epic experiment, they enlisted the help of the Cambodian military, which saw the TV show as a means of spreading PR about how Cambodia is now a peaceful nation with a professional military.

Cambodia’s military initially responded to NTV’s request by suggesting that the experiment be conducted with a rocket launcher (RPG) instead of a tank

Epic? Well, that’s a surprise.

Next thing you know, other countries might be interested in launching things other than baseballs and rockets into launchers unto unsuspecting audiences. Would that lead to a conflict rising? XD

It’s official folks. After months of speculation, Taro Aso has become the new Prime Minister of Japan. I said before that Total Otaku Support would be grossly exaggerated (Mark Twain’s rolling in his grave by now lol), and oh boy, I’m now eating my own shorts. I was wrong. There’s no doubt now that this choice of the citizens of Japan will bear witness as Mr. Aso takes on the lead.

Other bloggers that lave lend their voices:

• AkibaBlog
• Black Tokyo
• JapanProbe
• Kitsune’s Thoughts
• Sankaku Complex

Looks like the Japanese will never run out of wacky ideas to think of.

Casio Exilim puts “makeup” on your picture - ForeverGeek

Take for instance the new Casio Exilim cameras that feature a “makeup function”. This new feature recognizes the face of the subject then automatically adjust the focus and exposure. Pressing a dedicated button will basically make the subject’s face look softer and smoother. It also softens the shadows that appear on the face. If I’m not mistaken this feature is actually a first and we should see future cameras coming out with this feature.

Notice the difference in the two pictures in the link above, and you’ll see some “touches” on the photo taken. Undoubtedly, people who are either conscious of how they will appear on still camera, or are simply vain, will find this camera feature a must-have.

New York subway romance hits end of the line - Reuters

A modern-day love story of a man spotting the girl of his dreams across a New York subway train and tracking her down over the Internet has failed to have a fairytale ending with the relationship over.

For Web designer Patrick Moberg, then 21, from Brooklyn, it was love at first sight when he spotted a woman on a Manhattan train last November. But he lost her in the crowd so he set up a website with a sketch to find her — www.nygirlofmydreams.com.

Unbelievably in a city of 8 million people, it only took Moberg 48 hours to track down the woman, with his phone ringing non-stop and email box overflowing as usually cynical New Yorkers took sympathy on the subway Romeo and joined his hunt.

The mysterious brunette was named as Camille Hayton, from Melbourne, Australia, who was working as an intern at the magazine BlackBook and also lived in Brooklyn. One of her friends spotted the sketched picture on the Web site and recognized her.

But after finding each other, appearing on TV and getting international press, the couple took their romance out of the public eye, with Moberg closing down the Web site and with both refusing to making any more comments — until now.

Aw man, this could have been a true real life Densha Otoko life story in the making. Sadly, this doesn’t seem to be the case.

Apologies for being gone from the anime blogosphere for almost 2 weeks. Had my hardware fail on me, and thus it can’t sync with my internet connection.

Well, the problem’s been solved already, so here I am typing again. Read the rest of this entry »

From JapanProbe:

The crime rate is dropping in Japan, but media coverage of scary crimes seems to be at an all-time high. Today Asahi TV’s national news reported on a supermarket in Yamanashi Prefecture discovering knife slashes on 16 melons that had been on display in front of the store:

I don’t know what to make of this. Are these people suddenly getting stabby?{def}

Seriously? What seems to be the problem, I have no idea.

Original Link

Another Japanese Import - Maids Who Take Orders in Restaurants - NYTimes

“The concept started off as a club for the loneliest guys in the world,” said Patrick Macias, editor in chief of Otaku USA magazine. “Here at last was a place where single young otaku men could go and interact with kind women, and also get lukewarm hamburgers and lousy cake.”

Tout a fait.

Royal/T has less to do with fantasy play than with paying homage to certain eccentricities of modern Japanese culture. One wall of the cafe is stacked with anime DVD’s and manga comics, and most of the space is given over to the impressive Japanese art collected by Susan Hancock, who owns Royal/T. Works by contemporary artists including Takashi Murakami, Yoshimoto Nara and Hideaki Kawashima are displayed behind Plexiglas walls intended to recall figurine cases at shops in Akihabara. A boutique near the entrance sells prints by top Japanese artists and toys that are nothing if not “moe.”

Tout au contraire.

There’s the incomparable resemblance to those found in Akihabara, and in the motion to dilute the concept of moe for the American population unfamiliar or show disdain for the moe factor in such maid cafes, well, let’s just say it’s like setting up Hooters here in the Philippines, where you see none of the big-breasted women with captivating facades.



Also, it’s a Japanese version of Anna Miller’s. Make no mistake about it. It’s more “for the waitresses, rather than the food”.

I’m sure everyone is well aware of what has transpired at Akihabara. If you’ve been living under a veil of selfishness, you should reconsider your indifference and empathize with the rest of the world. Everybody else has done so, why don’t you?

I’m not going to delve more into this tragic happening, as every one else has already been talking about it.

Again, condolences to those who have been brutally assaulted by this false example of what makes us otaku. He may be one of us, but at this moment, by his unjustified action, he is now not one of us. He has gone into his world.

Even so, is this the way we want the transformation of the image of the Mecca to be?

Well, who wouldn’t have thought this wasn’t supposed to happen?

BTW, this is from the Mangaholix Manga Mania 2008 convention held Saturday (May 31) at SM Mall of Asia.

Well, isn’t this an interesting development?

Free and Legal Anime on YouTube - JapanProbe.com

Starting in June, when Kadokawa finds its toons on YouTube, it will check to see if the person/company that posted the content is legit rather than immediately ordering YouTube to take it down.

…

…to encourage legit uses of its toons, while spreading the international word about them on YouTube and reaping profits in the bargain.

Do you think this is a wise decision on the part of Kadokawa? I think so too, and it’s a welcoming development in the world of the anime industry, where they are engaged in a legal battle with distributors of illegal content.

Original content by FuckedGaijin.

Seems like Hollywood isn’t content with “Americanizing” classic Japanese horror movies, i.e. The Ring, The Grudge. Now they seem to focus on another thing that’s making cultural waves: Anime.

Yup, you don’t have to check your ears to see if they’re working properly like they should, and Yep I ain’t kidding. Via a tip from soulassassin547, up coming next is the “Anime Movie” version of that series about a high speed car with top secret weaponry, the Mach 5; yes, boys and girls, it’s the then-popular Speed Racer.

Hollywood ‘Turning Japanese’ With Anime Movies

Give Hollywood credit for really jumping on a cultural phenomenon the moment it arrives.

This time, the perpetually slow-moving movie biz power brokers are looking to adapt a crazy little Japanese thing called anime for the silver screen.

You do have to wonder how this will turn. The original, by the way, is episodic in nature, so turning the entire story up in a movie time limit will either please or displease the fans, to the point of throwing tomatoes and other rotten foodstuff at the producers for making this atrocity.

Oh by the way, USA Today has the list of upcoming adaptations by Hollywood of our beloved anime classics, which also include an anime-inspired series (think of Teen Titans on Cartoon Network).

Filmmakers and fans are quick to point out that most of the anime adaptations will be live action — a much easier sell at theaters. And unlike the dark and violent tone of many anime stories, Racer is a family-friendly PG.

But they also acknowledge that the genre appeals to a select group. “Generation X is very familiar with anime,” says Zac Bertschy, executive editor of the Anime News Network, a website dedicated to the genre. “But if you’re not in that age group, there may be a learning curve.”

Racer won’t suffer from a lack of fan familiarity. The question, says Michael Pinto of anime.com, is whether the Wachowskis have the craftsmanship they demonstrated in 1999’s The Matrix, which was partly inspired by Akira and Shell.

“They won over a lot of anime fans with the first one, and disappointed a lot of them with the sequels,” Pinto says. “They’re obviously fanboys. People want them to regain that touch, because it could open the door for more anime.” (emphases mine)

See? There’s obviously a connection that needs to be made between the fans and the producers that seem to be sorely missing. It must be remedied.

Remember how, back in the early 2000s, Japan tried to experiment with “women only” train cars in order to control the situations wherein there lies “an epidemic of men who can’t keep their hands to themselves”? Well it would seem that they missed the other side of the coin. That is, how about false accusations of groping by women towards men? Have you ever thought about it?

Recent disclosure of a spate of incidents where innocent men were accused of molesting female passengers has turned the national spotlight back toward commuter groping, a problem so bad most railroad companies have set up women’s only carriages during peak travel times in the mornings and late at night.

The recent arrest of an Osaka couple for trying to set up a middle-aged man by falsely accusing him of fondling a woman train traveler has large numbers of salarymen shaking in their boots at the thought of being blackmailed by crafty commuters looking for a quick buck. This has heightened calls on railroad companies to set up sanctuaries where men can travel in peace, safe in the knowledge that they won’t be accused of molestation.

Most railroad companies say they consider the issue a serious one.

…

Keio Electric Railway Co., which back in 2000 became Japan’s first railroad to introduce women’s only carriages, also has no current arrangements in place to correct the gender imbalance on its routes.

“We’re aware that there are these demands, but we have no concrete plans for men’s only carriages at this stage,” a company spokesman says.

Train experts say railroad companies are quite content to sit back and let men travel in fear of being falsely accused of groping.

The proposed short-term solution? Why, men should look after themselves from these “crafty commuters”.

Masaki Ikegami, author of “Chikan Enzai Saiban Otoko ni Banzai Tsukin Saseruki ka (Groping False Accusation Trials - You Gonna Make Men Commute Doing Banzai Cheers All the Way to Work?),” a book about false molestation claims, says the only way men can feel secure commuting is to look after themselves.

“It’s a sad situation that men have to do a banzai cheer (raise both arms skyward) while commuting (to avoid touching anyone else). Male commuters have got to look after themselves by taking such steps as avoiding standing close to carriage doors, staying well away from female commuters and never being directly behind a woman riding a train,” Ikegami tells Weekly Playboy. “There are loads of people out there who have been falsely accused of groping female train travelers. I have repeatedly called on train companies to set up carriages just for men so that we can offer relief to all those with worries.”

It’s rather sad, indeed, what with men who are innocently standing or sitting inside the train get tagged as a “molester” by commuters who want to make a big deal out of this and make some money.

Even more stories of Japanese anime antiquity.

Historic 91-year-old anime discovered in Osaka - HDRJapan

MOSAKA — Footage of an animation film dating back to the Taisho Period (1912-1926) has been discovered here, and has been confirmed as the oldest existing example of Japanese animation ever produced.
The 2-minute animation, directed by Junichi Kou’uchi and titled “Namakura Gatana,” was the second animation film ever made in Japan and was first shown at domestic theaters in 1917.
It was purchased at an antique fair in Osaka in July last year by film historian Natsuki Matsumoto. The film was found in nearly perfect condition.
The historic footage was unveiled during a press conference in Tokyo on Wednesday, following restoration work by the National Film Center in Tokyo’s Chuo-ku.

So this sets the timeline even further back to the Taisho period, which according to this here article from Wikipedia, is “considered the time of the liberal movement known as the ‘Taishō democracy’”.

Interesting find, isn’t it?