Madly Singing in the Mountains

(via shimizu_hitomi)


Official site: http://kongzi.sina.com.cn/en/index.html

Not getting my hopes up. Remember the stunt they pulled with that sad excuse for a Mulan live-action? Yes, it's still painfully fresh in my memory...

But if anything, the movie site is worth checking out. The main page (once it loads after 2 eternities) is a scrolling, panoramic picture. It's neat to find all the characters. And... *sobs* I'm hopeless, I know...but the costumes. I-I can't resist the costumes don't hate me I'm weak!

ETA. Yes, they do in fact have multiple pages on the props and costumes (weapons, musical instruments, vehicles, artwork, clothes). But by some cruel twist of fate, I can't get this page to load for me. Perhaps I should try another browser...

You could make demotivational posters out of the things ryouhora says ♥

If you watch either my deviantART gallery or sand_dance, then I owe you an apology in that you've already seen these sketches incorporated into larger, completed works. But I generally don't post complete works here to avoid redundancy, so here are the "works-in-progress" in their original form.

( Long time no Sand Dance sketch dump )

Apologizing again to my overlapping dA friends who saw this days ago...
So, after making Sailor Katara (see comments for Sailors Toph, Azula, Mai, Zuko, and Sokka!) on the spur of the moment, I couldn't stop until I had turned my brainchildren into Sailor Senshi, too.

( SAILOR SENSHI OMAKE! )

via ynotswim (see relevant post here):

Google search suggestions tweaked to take a cheap shot not at the Chinese government, but at the Chinese people.

(This is my own screenshot. You can try it yourself if you don't believe me.)

( Proof that results have been manipulated )

When Google made its threat to pull out, Chinese people flooded Google with support.

I seem to recall that my last post on this subject was entitled "Fight the mechanism, not the people".

Well, wasn't I generous. Didn't I have blind faith. I didn't call your bluff, Google, and even went so far as to assume you had good intentions all along. But when it comes down to it, marketing strategy is marketing strategy. This? This is plain dirty.

Don't dress up economics in morals you don't even value.

( Some food for thought )

For more info on the current situation:
Assessing Google's showdown with China: Does it make sense?
Google denies leaving China, sees talks

I learned through the grapevine that Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine has decided to put the Moribito series on hold.

To quote directly from editor Cheryl Klein's email, which can be seen here:

"Unfortunately, sales for the first two volumes of the series have not been what we hoped, so we do not have plans to publish another book at this time; but we are keeping a careful eye on the numbers, and we hope that the situation might change in the future."

Am I surprised? No. I'm not in the least bit surprised.

When the first Moribito novel was debuting in English, a major concern shared by the publisher, the editor, and librarians was that publishing a Japanese novel relied too heavily on the existing otaku culture. I remember reading a rather enlightening exchange between a middle school teacher and Moribito's American editor. The teacher had showed Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit to one of the girls in her class who was really into manga, and she responded, "No one wants to read something like that". And when asked what girls these days liked to read, the student held up a terrifyingly pulp, shiny, and shoujo example. I don't remember the title, but I'm sure it was something like, "This Generation Is A Lost Cause".

Am I disappointed? Yes. I'm devastated.

I realize we need to be realistic. When you say a fair portion of young people nowadays are fascinated by Japanese culture, that is a gross misnomer. It has been proven time and again that when you actually present this intended audience with a piece of culture it is rejected or ignored. It's pop culture these kids are enamored with. They don't want your art or folklore. They want your self-absorbed self-inserts and impossible romantic interests. They don't want role models. They want escape.

( I've never felt so old before. )

I wrote to Cathy this afternoon after I found out Moribito had been dropped. She is currently translating Hakuchou Iden (The Swan's Strange Legend/The Shadow Prince) for Viz, which in the light of things is very uplifting. If it really comes down to economics, maybe Viz (Naruto, Bleach, Death Note, etc.) has the resilience to throw their lot in with small, not-so-lucrative ventures like publishing classics*. Let's hope they don't change their minds.

When it comes to translation, I've always been critical of Viz and in awe of TokyoPop. Have you read their licensed manga? Makes you think Viz translators work on an assembly line in substandard conditions or they really just don't get paid enough to care, whereas TokyoPop translators must be authors and poets and artists. This is why I read my Viz manga online; scanlation qualities are on par with the "professional" translation and you get better image quality.

This is also why when I learned that Takeru was licensed by TokyoPop, and reviewers said the translated script is fantastic (I'll take their word for it!), I made the decision to purchase the entire series legally. It's been a while since I've been motivated to spend money like that.

But what can we do in this day and age? Support good writing, support good translators. God knows they're going extinct, fast.

* ETA. Yeah, I just realized. Viz may have Naruto, but Arthur A. Levine's got Harry Potter. I don't know. Oh wait, scratch that, I do. In an interview, Cathy divulged that one of Viz's editors "had read Dragon Sword and Wind Child when she was young and had loved it. When the editing team tried to get a copy for review, they found that the majority of library copies had been stolen, which actually made them more interested in the book, indicating as it did how popular the book was" (SWET). So there you go. More of a personal investment? Whatever brings us the Magatama trilogy works for me.

This is not a criticism, it is a reminder.

In response to Google's latest stance and the company's intention to withdraw from operation in China, I hope to offer a little of my personal insight on the situation.

"Google's threat to end its operations in China over censorship and computer-security concerns could embarrass communist leaders who crave international respect." (Yahoo News)

Here is the assumption — that Chinese leaders are concerned with the way they look to the rest of the world. I don't disagree with this, but the assumption has no weight to it unless we ask how much do these leaders crave international respect? And in what form?

"The possibility of Google leaving China, [Hecaitou] said, would send a message to Chinese leaders intent on imposing greater restrictions online. Or at least he hoped it would." (The New York Times)

This is my point. If Google's purpose is to make Chinese authorities rethink censorship, will pulling out of the country accomplish that? You can only hope.

Google's stance strikes me as a very American one. Let me expand on what I meant by that statement before my fellow Americans all leap for my throat and strangle me for being a red traitorous commie bastard. During the latter half of the 20th century, the United States favored the use of sanctions against certain countries in hopes to contain the spread of Communism as well as to starve it out of those countries that harbored the Communist form of government. Emphasis on the word "starve". We're familiar with the "commercial, economic, mental, physical, emotional, and financial embargo" that the U.S. imposed on Cuba (Wikipedia), the former Soviet Union (American Foreign Relations), China (Economic Cold War), and North Korea (Global Policy Forum). For the most part, these embargoes, some of them continuing on into the present day, have accomplished the effect of making these countries' citizens very poor and very, very hungry.

(For the other part, it has taught a new generation of Americans that Russian, Chinese, Cuban, and North Korean people* are dangerous and mean us harm.)

Sanctioning a country, cutting it off from global trade, has the expected outcome of crashing that country's economy and tormenting your run-of-the-mill person living there who — given that there's a centralized government in place, hence the sanction come on let's be intuitive here — can't really do a thing about it. Except starve and die in large masses.

America's aim in all of these cases was the byproduct of the sanction, which was the impact it would hopefully have on the folks in charge of the aforementioned countries. Or maybe America hoped all the very hungry people would somehow put together a full-scale revolution. It doesn't matter. Both hopes are naive and unrealistic. In the first case, America has to rely entirely on these leaders' consciences, that seeing their people suffer would make them want to have a 180 degree attitude change. In the second case, at least from my experience, hunger makes people weak and more inclined to go to sleep and sometimes never wake up and less inclined to overthrow a very powerful government.

I'm not making a ludicrous claim here, am I? Please by all means correct me if I am.

"If Google pulls out of China, the door may close permanently." (Abc News)

Let me wrap up this horrible extended metaphor and get back to my point. I'm wondering right now if Google's action (not intention, action) is essentially one of protest or one of abandonment. For those who don't know, only 30-something percent of Chinese netizens use Google; the dominant search engine in China is baidu. If the government makes nothing of the international pressure that ensues, wouldn't Chinese netizens simply be abandoned to a more absolute sphere of censorship?

(I know the old unspoken adage, don't ask questions you don't already have the answers to. How embarrassing to blog about an issue when you can't offer a better solution! Talk about losing internet street cred. Good thing I don't have to worry about that. I don't make a dent on the internet, and I don't have to believe what I'm told. So I'll try actually asking a question that I want answers to.)


* Mothers, fathers, grocers, schoolchildren, firemen, taxi drivers, window cleaners, painters, piano tuners, archaeologists, linguistics professors, fishermen, mailmen, preschool teachers, athletes, babysitters, dancers, fashion designers, gardeners, hairdressers, librarians... You watch out for those communist librarians! They're packing heat and like to eat your unborn children.

For more information...
Financial Times
Seeking Alpha
PC World
U.S. Department of the State

It's C-Pop night.

Finally got my hands on JJ's latest album, 100 days. My initial motive was "Pfft! JJ wrote a Twilight song! This I have to hear..."

So after the film noir intro track, "Twilight", it turns into this sappy, mediocre ballad, "Obsession":

Let those blood-red lips thrill this pale white person,
Like an empty town, we need love for our beautiful transformation
Kiss until our gazes entangle, embrace until our souls tremble
The emergency exit's on fire, can't close it, my heart's going thump thump thump

There's no way I can control, make myself endure
And not breathe in the apple fragrance of your skin

And something else about ears and shoulders and locusts(?!) and oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah and...I can't be hearing this right I am feeling so nauseous...

At this point I had to run to the basin and throw up my dinner. Then I proceeded to delete this song along with half the tracks on the album and swore for life that I would disown JJ Lin, pretend he never happened, raaage disbelief betrayal etc etc when —

( I paused with my mouse over this song... )

I used my facepalming Yao icon twice in a row; I feel like I owe my f-list something happy! XD

Guess what I found in the mail today!

Christmas card from flames05! ♥

Q___Q (I-I had no idea you were mailing it from Germany! Now I feel guilty that it cost you so many euros orz)

Make sure you see the artwork in her gallery — it's amazing. She's also a fan of Darker than Black, Bleach, and the Gundam, Tales of, and Ace Attorney series. So definitely drop by vanilla-rain on dA and give her a watch!

Artist: JS
Album: 此生最美的风景 | This Life's Most Beautiful Scene

凡尔赛玫瑰 鸢尾花的气味　murano的酒杯 左眼角孔雀蓝眼泪 公爵或者侍卫　再尊贵再卑微 都要倾倒在她的美 宫廷的晨昏金迷纸醉 何须在乎昨是今非 凡尔赛玫瑰　销魂蚀骨的香味 混合著暧昧和心碎　最高贵的颓废 凡尔赛玫瑰　她的心究竟给谁 沉溺在欢愉和後悔　是凡人不能体会的绝美 假面具的舞会　裙摆缎带点缀 大键琴繁複的低迴 若能有幸遇见　带我远走高飞 我就是凡尔赛玫瑰 世间的荣华　短暂易碎 霎那快乐才是最珍贵 凡尔赛玫瑰　销魂蚀骨的香味 混合著暧昧和心碎　最高贵的颓废 凡尔赛玫瑰　她的心究竟给谁 沉溺在欢愉和後悔　是凡人不能体会的绝美 像是幽谷里轻舞的蝴蝶 神话中禁忌的诗篇 让你越痛苦越情愿沦陷的无邪

Rose of Versailles Fragrance of the lily, Murano wine glass A peacock-blue tear in the left corner of her eye Whether duke or soldier, highborn or humble All will fall to her beauty Twilight in the palace is all drunken gold fans a-flutter Why bother with what is here today and gone tomorrow? Rose of Versailles, her blissfully bone-corroding scent A melange of doubt and heartbreak, the noblest decadence Rose of Versailles, to whom shall she offer her heart? Indulging in delight and regret, no mortal may partake of such perfection A bal masqué, swinging skirts and satin brocade The elaborate harpsichord echoes back in low tones Should we chance to meet, fly me far from this place I am the Rose of Versailles Glory in this mortal frame is fragile and short-lived Grasping joy is more precious than anything Rose of Versailles, her blissfully bone-corroding scent A melange of doubt and heartbreak, the noblest decadence Rose of Versailles, to whom shall she offer her heart? Indulging in delight and regret, no mortal may partake of such perfection Like a butterfly delicately dancing in the dell Like a forbidden poem from a fairy tale The more you suffer, the more you are willing to perish for love of this innocence

Haven't translated in far too long. I'm feeling the rust.

( Listen here )

(full-size if you click it)

I'm disappointed. I couldn't crank out a couple of significant pictures I had planned for the end of the year. Well, maybe in January then.

All thumbs June & back are from the old gallery I abandoned and whined about. Feel free to ask if you want to see the full version of any picture and I'll link it to you.

( That 1st-sentence-of-each-month meme I've been saving... )