Small correction. There are six comic books, each about as thick as a D battery. The english version only gives you about 1/4 of the story:)
Re:Will they get both right second time around?
on
Akira Game for PS2?
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· Score: 2
I didn't think the translation of Akira was that poor (no more than normal). The objection I have is to the choice of voice actors for some of the characters. For example, that one green kid who floats around in the bubble (his name escapes me) does not have a wierd scratchy monster voice in the Japanese version, he has the voice of a regular 8-year-old child -- which you might expect. Why the wierd voice? Because he's green? What does that have to do with the plot?
That, and it drives me nuts how the American voice actors insist on putting stress on the wrong syllable in Japanese names. kah-NE-da, and tet-SU-o. Aaarrrggghhh!!
No, ISP's don't want to go to court. ISP's also don't want to go out of business. If all file sharing were stopped at the ISP level, people would find new ISP's -- one's that maybe "didn't have the resources" to go after every little violation.
Fortunately, I don't have to worry about any of this. I live in Japan -- what you might call a "free" country.
But in a socialist country who owns these areas? The wealthy own them, and who else can be wealthy in a Communist nation but the govorning elite. The same govorning elite who want to control the information.
Huh? Where do I start here...
China is only nominally a "Socialist" country. Since Deng's reforms in the late 80's and early '90's, ("to get rich is glorious!") you could argue that the special economic areas of China are more capitalist than in the US (by which I mean there is less government intervention). There is a new class of wealthy landowners merchants in China that have nothing to do with the CCP or any kind of central authority.
During the Serbian war two years ago, the Serb-run media was reporting that they were being buzzed by "unmanned drones" on almost a daily basis. IIRC, they even claimed to have shot down four or five.
...is that this fellow's attitude isn't that uncommon.
A lot of neo-leftists out there think that things like anti-gay speech, and anti-abortion speech are illegal, and any tactic they can use to shut them up is completely justified.
At Portland State University in Oregon (from which I graduated 4 months ago), I saw "peace activists" scream at, spit on, and assault street preachers who said things that pissed them off.
Granted, the preachers were bozos and probably deserved the yelling, but seeing a hippie punch a priest in the jaw... is something to see.
Yeah but...
Say I'm an advertising rep for Tom's of Maine brand toothpaste, and I make a deal with EA that says in the upcoming Sid Meyer's Civilization 3, there will be an ancient civilization called "Tom's Toothpastians".
Now, after the game CD's are pressed and distributed, I know that my cleverly placed ad is a permanent part of the game. Am I going to continue to pay for that ad? Not bloody likely!
That film is a product placement wonder of the world. Like the Pyramids.
Did FedEx bankroll that entire movie by itself? I would think for a 2 hour FedEx commercial starring 2-time academy award winner Tom Hanks, production costs for the film should approach zero.
McDonalds, Coca Cola, Pepsi, 7-11, Nike, Taco Bell, Calvin Klein, McDonalds and McDonalds are on my permanent shit list, mostly because of their annoying and/or manipulative ads.
I used to like Taco Bell until they came out with that friggin yapper dog.
But this is also the country in which there are no full access ATMs,
...but it's safe to carry loads of cash.
no Birth control (until last year)
But abortions were cheap and plentiful...
and no law against denying somone a promotion because they are a woman... (well, also not until last year)... The contradiction of the techno idolatry and the hedgemonc morality of the society amazes me.
Also no law against denying employment/promotion to white guys like me. Actually, there is almost no form of institutionalized artificial equality. Even so, I like the fact that the government doesn't regulate every aspect of corporate life here. It just means you have to try harder is all.
You forgot to mention that in Japan there are no surveillance cameras, no drug tests, and no background checks. Civil servants and customer service representatives are polite, and most of all competent. Even the police. That's a future I could go for.
And as for the "pressure to conform"... Who applies that pressure? The government? The army? Or is it completely voluntary?
I understand how it could be difficult for an American to understand why anyone would ever conform, believe in a religion, obey the law, or respect other people unless they were somehow forced or coerced to, but that is because America's social contract has ruptured and everyone mistrusts everything and everyone else. Not because the Japanese are somehow gullible mindless automatons.
There is no more pressure to conform here than anywhere else. All that's different it that the Japanese are not nearly as cynical about each other and their social institutions. Everyone benefits from a society that runs smoothly and where everyone does what is expected of them.
Actually, I've heard that exact same sentiment expressed hundreds of times in Japan. Most often by Japanese businessmen.
To say that one culture is better than another at some such thing seems to an American to be somehow racist (especially to an Asian-American). But in Japan, thinking up differences between Japanese and Americans is practically a national sport.
The original poster is 100% correct on every point. Japanese businesses spend very little time and resources developing "new" things. They believe all our trade publications, that gush about how X technology is going to change the world, to be gospel truth. Every new development in the US sends them into a panic, because what they fear more than anything else is to be left in the US's technological dust.
Japanese-style R&D instead focuses on these new American developments, and how Japanese businesses can implement them quickly so as to avoid getting "cut out of the loop" as it were.
Because of this, newer technologies like XML, Java, Linux, PHP, and the ubiquitous Keitai Denwa (the portable data phones Gibson speaks of) are all very mainstream here.
I tell my Japanese coworkers that Java and Linux aren't terribly popular in the US, and they don't believe me.
(With regard to my "farm", I have a 4-year degree in Japanese, I have been married to a Japanese national for 6 years, I work in a Japanese software company (that makes games written in PHP for said phones), and I'm posting from the city of Hakata.)
When something strange is discovered (something previously often considered impossible), does it really matter if there isn't a use for it this very moment?
Thbbbt.
If they're not going to make the next Furby or Tickle-Me Elmo with what they discover, why should they keep getting research grants?
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Small correction. There are six comic books, each about as thick as a D battery. The english version only gives you about 1/4 of the story :)
I didn't think the translation of Akira was that poor (no more than normal). The objection I have is to the choice of voice actors for some of the characters. For example, that one green kid who floats around in the bubble (his name escapes me) does not have a wierd scratchy monster voice in the Japanese version, he has the voice of a regular 8-year-old child -- which you might expect. Why the wierd voice? Because he's green? What does that have to do with the plot?
That, and it drives me nuts how the American voice actors insist on putting stress on the wrong syllable in Japanese names. kah-NE-da, and tet-SU-o. Aaarrrggghhh!!
For example, it is ILLEGAL in Japan to sell used video tapes, DVDs, and entertainment software
Gosh, someone better tell that to the used video store next to my house.
Karl? Is that you?
No, ISP's don't want to go to court. ISP's also don't want to go out of business. If all file sharing were stopped at the ISP level, people would find new ISP's -- one's that maybe "didn't have the resources" to go after every little violation.
Fortunately, I don't have to worry about any of this. I live in Japan -- what you might call a "free" country.
But in a socialist country who owns these areas? The wealthy own them, and who else can be wealthy in a Communist nation but the govorning elite. The same govorning elite who want to control the information.
Huh? Where do I start here... China is only nominally a "Socialist" country. Since Deng's reforms in the late 80's and early '90's, ("to get rich is glorious!") you could argue that the special economic areas of China are more capitalist than in the US (by which I mean there is less government intervention). There is a new class of wealthy landowners merchants in China that have nothing to do with the CCP or any kind of central authority.
Dude, I think the Columbine kids killed more people than Milosevic.
During the Serbian war two years ago, the Serb-run media was reporting that they were being buzzed by "unmanned drones" on almost a daily basis. IIRC, they even claimed to have shot down four or five.
...is that this fellow's attitude isn't that uncommon.
A lot of neo-leftists out there think that things like anti-gay speech, and anti-abortion speech are illegal, and any tactic they can use to shut them up is completely justified.
At Portland State University in Oregon (from which I graduated 4 months ago), I saw "peace activists" scream at, spit on, and assault street preachers who said things that pissed them off.
Granted, the preachers were bozos and probably deserved the yelling, but seeing a hippie punch a priest in the jaw... is something to see.
Oh, now that's funny!
Script kiddies nothin!
I'd work night and day until I found a way to disable such a system!
Yeah but...
Say I'm an advertising rep for Tom's of Maine brand toothpaste, and I make a deal with EA that says in the upcoming Sid Meyer's Civilization 3, there will be an ancient civilization called "Tom's Toothpastians".
Now, after the game CD's are pressed and distributed, I know that my cleverly placed ad is a permanent part of the game. Am I going to continue to pay for that ad? Not bloody likely!
Did FedEx bankroll that entire movie by itself? I would think for a 2 hour FedEx commercial starring 2-time academy award winner Tom Hanks, production costs for the film should approach zero.
Mine was a Think Geek ad for a 20GB MP3 Player. That REALLY got my attention, too.
Ah, but in that case the dumpster is the primary landmark, is it not? :)
I dunno.
McDonalds, Coca Cola, Pepsi, 7-11, Nike, Taco Bell, Calvin Klein, McDonalds and McDonalds are on my permanent shit list, mostly because of their annoying and/or manipulative ads.
I used to like Taco Bell until they came out with that friggin yapper dog.
I seem to recall billboards for Coca Cola and other products as well.
But this is also the country in which there are no full access ATMs,
...but it's safe to carry loads of cash.
no Birth control (until last year)
But abortions were cheap and plentiful...
and no law against denying somone a promotion because they are a woman... (well, also not until last year)... The contradiction of the techno idolatry and the hedgemonc morality of the society amazes me.
Also no law against denying employment/promotion to white guys like me. Actually, there is almost no form of institutionalized artificial equality. Even so, I like the fact that the government doesn't regulate every aspect of corporate life here. It just means you have to try harder is all.
You forgot to mention that in Japan there are no surveillance cameras, no drug tests, and no background checks. Civil servants and customer service representatives are polite, and most of all competent. Even the police. That's a future I could go for.
And as for the "pressure to conform"... Who applies that pressure? The government? The army? Or is it completely voluntary?
I understand how it could be difficult for an American to understand why anyone would ever conform, believe in a religion, obey the law, or respect other people unless they were somehow forced or coerced to, but that is because America's social contract has ruptured and everyone mistrusts everything and everyone else. Not because the Japanese are somehow gullible mindless automatons.
There is no more pressure to conform here than anywhere else. All that's different it that the Japanese are not nearly as cynical about each other and their social institutions. Everyone benefits from a society that runs smoothly and where everyone does what is expected of them.
To say that one culture is better than another at some such thing seems to an American to be somehow racist (especially to an Asian-American). But in Japan, thinking up differences between Japanese and Americans is practically a national sport.
The original poster is 100% correct on every point. Japanese businesses spend very little time and resources developing "new" things. They believe all our trade publications, that gush about how X technology is going to change the world, to be gospel truth. Every new development in the US sends them into a panic, because what they fear more than anything else is to be left in the US's technological dust.
Japanese-style R&D instead focuses on these new American developments, and how Japanese businesses can implement them quickly so as to avoid getting "cut out of the loop" as it were.
Because of this, newer technologies like XML, Java, Linux, PHP, and the ubiquitous Keitai Denwa (the portable data phones Gibson speaks of) are all very mainstream here.
I tell my Japanese coworkers that Java and Linux aren't terribly popular in the US, and they don't believe me.
(With regard to my "farm", I have a 4-year degree in Japanese, I have been married to a Japanese national for 6 years, I work in a Japanese software company (that makes games written in PHP for said phones), and I'm posting from the city of Hakata.)
Thbbbt.
If they're not going to make the next Furby or Tickle-Me Elmo with what they discover, why should they keep getting research grants?
(These 1930's physics books are loads of fun.)
Ah. I must have been using wet ants.
I've been in Japan for 4 months.
The only way I know now to express ideas is awkwardly.
Very little is in reality quite like it was portrayed in Pirates of Silicon Valley.
...Both are a ripoff of Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein".