United States 2 - Canada 3 (OT)
WE WON GOLD!!!!! XDDDD
Double crown with both the men's and women's ice hockey! :D
I can go home happy now~ :3
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Gene Simmons' son Plagiarizing Bleach?
Neko-tan passed me the link, and I must say I'm amazed by the nerve and stupidity of some people. Seriously, Bleach and even people's DeviantArt? Did the guy think that comic book readers wouldn't notice, that readerships don't cross over between comic and manga? I mean, come on, Bleach is one of the best known and followed series in North America. And stealing someone's personal artwork is more unforgivable than plagiarizing a published work in my book.
I have no idea who Gene Simmons or his son is. The only Simmons I know is Mark Simmons, who is known as the Gundam expert in the English-speaking world. Never read his famed work Gundam: The Official Guide, though, as I prefer to read up on my Gundam in its original Japanese.
Anyway, back to the topic on hand. The publisher of Incarnate has already halted production of the series and is investigating the matter, so I won't troll. But I do want to present my view regarding some of the comments in the link. No, of course I didn't read all 20+ pages of comments, just part of what's on that linked page.
First off, I wouldn't blame anyone from the publisher for not noticing earlier. Working in the comic book industry doesn't mean the person reads the similar medium populating the other side of the world. Heck, they might not even read publications produced from other companies beside their own depending on their time and interests. This is not a fault. Maybe not diligent enough to stay on top of things, but definitely not a sin.
All artists start out by sketching what they see, be it photos, drawn images, or real life objects. I am no artist, but I, too, have been doing this before I learned how to write. Some people's style is similar to some other artist's because they imitated it during their learning stage. As far as I know, everyone evolves into their own style eventually. This is being inspired and influenced by someone or something, and it's part of the creative cycle.
Tracing is sometimes overlooked depending on the situation, but it's definitely not tolerable for passing as original and making profits off of. It doesn't matter if you have a good original plot or interesting concepts. Once you venture to copying something and claiming it as your own, it's game over. If it's just one or two panels, you might contribute it to paying homage to someone's work, but there's way too many instances in this case to be innocent hat tipping. This is plagiarization, and it only leads to an ugly cycle. It's extremely difficult to come clean once soiled.
Someone mentioned doujin and had no answer for where doujin stands. Personally I think there's no comparison between the particular issue on hand and fan-based/derived doujinshi (referred to as just doujin in the rest of the post because I'm lazy). Plagiarization is taking credit for something stolen, while doujin recognizes and honours the original work and creator. Doujin allows existing characters to experience different settings and scenarios, and the drawings often only somewhat resemble the original design and are heavy with personal touches. The doujin field encourages creativity and collaboration, and many artists and character designers have doujin backgrounds.
Even though most of the doujin publications are sold for a price, the group producing them rarely make any profit. But through the act of doujin distribution, the original work gets known by more people, and the popularity life span of the work is prolonged or renewed. Authors and publishers of the original works probably won't acknowledge or approve doujin, but the influence of doujin is undeniable.
I do not plan to flame this Simmons boy for the incident; copyright laws and the huge fan base of Bleach and other plagiarized works will surely take care of him. I am merely prompted to rant from the angle of an ordinary fan of Bleach who has sketched dozens of fan art based on various manga and am still learning art. On this note, I bid you good night.
Neko-tan passed me the link, and I must say I'm amazed by the nerve and stupidity of some people. Seriously, Bleach and even people's DeviantArt? Did the guy think that comic book readers wouldn't notice, that readerships don't cross over between comic and manga? I mean, come on, Bleach is one of the best known and followed series in North America. And stealing someone's personal artwork is more unforgivable than plagiarizing a published work in my book.
I have no idea who Gene Simmons or his son is. The only Simmons I know is Mark Simmons, who is known as the Gundam expert in the English-speaking world. Never read his famed work Gundam: The Official Guide, though, as I prefer to read up on my Gundam in its original Japanese.
Anyway, back to the topic on hand. The publisher of Incarnate has already halted production of the series and is investigating the matter, so I won't troll. But I do want to present my view regarding some of the comments in the link. No, of course I didn't read all 20+ pages of comments, just part of what's on that linked page.
First off, I wouldn't blame anyone from the publisher for not noticing earlier. Working in the comic book industry doesn't mean the person reads the similar medium populating the other side of the world. Heck, they might not even read publications produced from other companies beside their own depending on their time and interests. This is not a fault. Maybe not diligent enough to stay on top of things, but definitely not a sin.
All artists start out by sketching what they see, be it photos, drawn images, or real life objects. I am no artist, but I, too, have been doing this before I learned how to write. Some people's style is similar to some other artist's because they imitated it during their learning stage. As far as I know, everyone evolves into their own style eventually. This is being inspired and influenced by someone or something, and it's part of the creative cycle.
Tracing is sometimes overlooked depending on the situation, but it's definitely not tolerable for passing as original and making profits off of. It doesn't matter if you have a good original plot or interesting concepts. Once you venture to copying something and claiming it as your own, it's game over. If it's just one or two panels, you might contribute it to paying homage to someone's work, but there's way too many instances in this case to be innocent hat tipping. This is plagiarization, and it only leads to an ugly cycle. It's extremely difficult to come clean once soiled.
Someone mentioned doujin and had no answer for where doujin stands. Personally I think there's no comparison between the particular issue on hand and fan-based/derived doujinshi (referred to as just doujin in the rest of the post because I'm lazy). Plagiarization is taking credit for something stolen, while doujin recognizes and honours the original work and creator. Doujin allows existing characters to experience different settings and scenarios, and the drawings often only somewhat resemble the original design and are heavy with personal touches. The doujin field encourages creativity and collaboration, and many artists and character designers have doujin backgrounds.
Even though most of the doujin publications are sold for a price, the group producing them rarely make any profit. But through the act of doujin distribution, the original work gets known by more people, and the popularity life span of the work is prolonged or renewed. Authors and publishers of the original works probably won't acknowledge or approve doujin, but the influence of doujin is undeniable.
I do not plan to flame this Simmons boy for the incident; copyright laws and the huge fan base of Bleach and other plagiarized works will surely take care of him. I am merely prompted to rant from the angle of an ordinary fan of Bleach who has sketched dozens of fan art based on various manga and am still learning art. On this note, I bid you good night.
Monday, February 22, 2010
機動戦士ガンダムUC episode1 ユニコーンの日
I managed to get a re-scaled 480p version last night (my monitor is 1280*1024 so the 1440*810 wouldn't look too ideal on my screen; yes, I will be grabbing the BD-rip when it's released, because PS3 won't happen until Christmas and therefore I won't be able to play the BD version I'll be getting) and decided to forget about the 2nd New Year's resolution when the first battle broke out some five minutes into the episode.
I'd post something right after the viewing, but it was getting late (or early, depending on which day), so I just dropped a quick message to Neko-tan to vent my excitement, even though Neko-tan's not into Gundam. XD
Here's a direct quote of what I threw at Neko-tan, with the translation in parentheses:
Gundam UC 好棒! XD
澤野的音樂超級棒! XD
內山昂輝果然不負期望, 藤村步的表現也比預想地好! XD
趕快給我在加拿大賣BD版啊~~~
(Gundam UC rocks! XD)
(Sawano's music super rocks! XD)
(Uchiyama Kouki is great as expected, and Fujimura Ayumi's performance is better than expected! XD)
(Just hurry up and release the Blu-ray version in Canada~~~)
To add to the above but not giving away the plot, it's so nostalgic to be able to see the green HARO again in its full cuteness. Banagher (I don't think I'll ever get used to the inventive spelling...) seemed to have done some customization of his own, too.
I felt a tinge of sadness when I heard Bright Noa's name. Judging from his involvement, it is possible to not have him on the front at all so maybe they'll just use previously recorded voice gallery or not have him audible. His name isn't part of the main cast on the official website, so I'm leaning toward the latter for now. RIP, Bright-kanchou!
It's a nice touch to show the movie sign board of Runaway Princess (aka Roman Holiday in the UC timeline XD) over the theatre on their way to the mansion. I'm guessing the Fourth Tragedy sign board signifies the four wars fought before: One Year War, Gryps Conflict, 1st Neo-Zeon Conflict and 2nd Neo-Zeon Conflict. This one would be the fifth.
Merchandise-wise, I ordered the original novels and they should be here soon. The BD I'll be able to get no problem; it's just a matter of time. The Gunpla model kit, on the other hand, might be trickier. Seeing that it's released in November of 2009, hopefully some of the stores in Vancouver would have imported the models in participation of the OVA so I can get it while there. If not, they're totally missing out (and so am I...) Which model? Gundam Unicorn NT-D mode, of course! The unicorn mode model (thankfully not in the OVA) kinda looks like Tallgeese to me. orz
March 12 just can't arrive any sooner...
I managed to get a re-scaled 480p version last night (my monitor is 1280*1024 so the 1440*810 wouldn't look too ideal on my screen; yes, I will be grabbing the BD-rip when it's released, because PS3 won't happen until Christmas and therefore I won't be able to play the BD version I'll be getting) and decided to forget about the 2nd New Year's resolution when the first battle broke out some five minutes into the episode.
I'd post something right after the viewing, but it was getting late (or early, depending on which day), so I just dropped a quick message to Neko-tan to vent my excitement, even though Neko-tan's not into Gundam. XD
Here's a direct quote of what I threw at Neko-tan, with the translation in parentheses:
Gundam UC 好棒! XD
澤野的音樂超級棒! XD
內山昂輝果然不負期望, 藤村步的表現也比預想地好! XD
趕快給我在加拿大賣BD版啊~~~
(Gundam UC rocks! XD)
(Sawano's music super rocks! XD)
(Uchiyama Kouki is great as expected, and Fujimura Ayumi's performance is better than expected! XD)
(Just hurry up and release the Blu-ray version in Canada~~~)
To add to the above but not giving away the plot, it's so nostalgic to be able to see the green HARO again in its full cuteness. Banagher (I don't think I'll ever get used to the inventive spelling...) seemed to have done some customization of his own, too.
I felt a tinge of sadness when I heard Bright Noa's name. Judging from his involvement, it is possible to not have him on the front at all so maybe they'll just use previously recorded voice gallery or not have him audible. His name isn't part of the main cast on the official website, so I'm leaning toward the latter for now. RIP, Bright-kanchou!
It's a nice touch to show the movie sign board of Runaway Princess (aka Roman Holiday in the UC timeline XD) over the theatre on their way to the mansion. I'm guessing the Fourth Tragedy sign board signifies the four wars fought before: One Year War, Gryps Conflict, 1st Neo-Zeon Conflict and 2nd Neo-Zeon Conflict. This one would be the fifth.
Merchandise-wise, I ordered the original novels and they should be here soon. The BD I'll be able to get no problem; it's just a matter of time. The Gunpla model kit, on the other hand, might be trickier. Seeing that it's released in November of 2009, hopefully some of the stores in Vancouver would have imported the models in participation of the OVA so I can get it while there. If not, they're totally missing out (and so am I...) Which model? Gundam Unicorn NT-D mode, of course! The unicorn mode model (thankfully not in the OVA) kinda looks like Tallgeese to me. orz
March 12 just can't arrive any sooner...
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Soramimi Project #14: Takagaki Ayahi 高垣彩陽
First heard: Kamikamo Tsubaki/various girls (Ouran High School Host Club)
First noticed: Nina Antalk (Chrome Shelled Regios)
Memorable characters: Nina Antalk (Chrome Shelled Regios), Isurugi Noe (true tears), Ein/Elen (Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~)
Image character: Nina Antalk (Chrome Shelled Regios), Isurugi Noe (true tears)
Discernment rate: low
Number of works seen: 9
Takagaki Ayahi is really new, only just debuted in 2006, but she's already appeared in numerous anime over the few years and even played lead in some of them.
I remember checking out the name of the seiyuu for her role in Special A. as Yamamoto Megumi, but that character very rarely speaks so it didn't leave much impression on me even though I found it to be a nice voice.
Many probably disagree and might even want to flame me for this, but I really like Nina Antalk from Chrome Shelled Regios. This time, I managed to remember the name of the seiyuu voicing her. But Nina's pitch is so different from many of Takagaki's other characters, I almost took a double back when I later heard her as Isurugi Noe from true tears, who also happened to be my preferred female lead from the anime. That cockroach song is most cute. XD
Despite the fact that I already associate her name with a few memorable characters, I haven't gotten her voice down yet. Her voice acting no doubt played a role in me liking Nina, Noe and Ein, but I'd probably go for them if I meet them in a text form because of their personalities. I don't deny that she makes it all the more enjoyable to like those characters, though.
So far, many of her characters seem to have bad lucks when it comes to love, but I'll continue to cheer for them and Takagaki Ayahi. Hopefully I'll be able to recognize her voice in the near future. :)
Speaking of Takagaki Ayahi's characters not doing great in love, I just have to do a small rant here about Chrome Shelled Regios. *spoiler* At first I was hoping that Nina would get to be with Layfon, but this seems out of the question now that he realized his feelings toward Leerin. Deeku expressed his interest in a few occasions, but he seems to forget about it and focuses only on his revenge now. I really hope Nina can be his support and light in his eternal cycles of existence. *end spoiler*
I'm at vol.14 right now and eagerly wait for the next volume. One thing I have to say about the author's writing style, is that he uses way too many negative forms (or whatever it's called) in his sentences. Once I got fed up and counted the number of something-ない on the page I was on. I forgot what the exact figure was, but it was definitely over 12. It also makes it that much more difficult for me to read and understand, especially considering my Japanese level... -__-
I'm very good in coming up with ideas (but never finish or even start them), so I've decided to do another project for anime in a similar format to Soramimi. I'll be alternating between Soramimi and the anime project (Animania?) so I won't need to write so often. Yes, I'm just lazy...
Mukashibanashi? It'll see the light of day, eventually. I move at geological or astronomical time scale, whatever it means. XD
While I was writing this post, I received a notice from Club Japan saying that they're out of stock of 彩雲国物語: 暗き黄昏の宮 and cancelled my order. They did mention that the publisher plans to do a reprint on February 28, but the volume was only released in December, and friend-I couldn't even get hold of a copy while on Christmas vacation... I might still have time as long as they get some in stock before the end of March. *crosses fingers*
First heard: Kamikamo Tsubaki/various girls (Ouran High School Host Club)
First noticed: Nina Antalk (Chrome Shelled Regios)
Memorable characters: Nina Antalk (Chrome Shelled Regios), Isurugi Noe (true tears), Ein/Elen (Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~)
Image character: Nina Antalk (Chrome Shelled Regios), Isurugi Noe (true tears)
Discernment rate: low
Number of works seen: 9
Takagaki Ayahi is really new, only just debuted in 2006, but she's already appeared in numerous anime over the few years and even played lead in some of them.
I remember checking out the name of the seiyuu for her role in Special A. as Yamamoto Megumi, but that character very rarely speaks so it didn't leave much impression on me even though I found it to be a nice voice.
Many probably disagree and might even want to flame me for this, but I really like Nina Antalk from Chrome Shelled Regios. This time, I managed to remember the name of the seiyuu voicing her. But Nina's pitch is so different from many of Takagaki's other characters, I almost took a double back when I later heard her as Isurugi Noe from true tears, who also happened to be my preferred female lead from the anime. That cockroach song is most cute. XD
Despite the fact that I already associate her name with a few memorable characters, I haven't gotten her voice down yet. Her voice acting no doubt played a role in me liking Nina, Noe and Ein, but I'd probably go for them if I meet them in a text form because of their personalities. I don't deny that she makes it all the more enjoyable to like those characters, though.
So far, many of her characters seem to have bad lucks when it comes to love, but I'll continue to cheer for them and Takagaki Ayahi. Hopefully I'll be able to recognize her voice in the near future. :)
Speaking of Takagaki Ayahi's characters not doing great in love, I just have to do a small rant here about Chrome Shelled Regios. *spoiler* At first I was hoping that Nina would get to be with Layfon, but this seems out of the question now that he realized his feelings toward Leerin. Deeku expressed his interest in a few occasions, but he seems to forget about it and focuses only on his revenge now. I really hope Nina can be his support and light in his eternal cycles of existence. *end spoiler*
I'm at vol.14 right now and eagerly wait for the next volume. One thing I have to say about the author's writing style, is that he uses way too many negative forms (or whatever it's called) in his sentences. Once I got fed up and counted the number of something-ない on the page I was on. I forgot what the exact figure was, but it was definitely over 12. It also makes it that much more difficult for me to read and understand, especially considering my Japanese level... -__-
I'm very good in coming up with ideas (but never finish or even start them), so I've decided to do another project for anime in a similar format to Soramimi. I'll be alternating between Soramimi and the anime project (Animania?) so I won't need to write so often. Yes, I'm just lazy...
Mukashibanashi? It'll see the light of day, eventually. I move at geological or astronomical time scale, whatever it means. XD
While I was writing this post, I received a notice from Club Japan saying that they're out of stock of 彩雲国物語: 暗き黄昏の宮 and cancelled my order. They did mention that the publisher plans to do a reprint on February 28, but the volume was only released in December, and friend-I couldn't even get hold of a copy while on Christmas vacation... I might still have time as long as they get some in stock before the end of March. *crosses fingers*
Monday, February 08, 2010
バンダイのバカ!!
（ノ`Д´）ノ～～┴───┴
It's not a world-wide release if US is considered the only country in North America!
（ノ`Д´）ノ～～～～～┴───┴
No wonder I couldn't find it on Amazon.ca even though it was put up on Amazon.co.jp some time ago. For a moment I was very tempted to just order through Amazon.co.jp if it weren't for the high cost of shipping. No, I'm not gonna order from Amazon.com since it's not even the first press edition anyway. I'm sure it'll eventually make it across the border after the 2-month exclusive period ends.
It better.
バンダイのバカ!! （つд｀）
（ノ`Д´）ノ～～┴───┴
It's not a world-wide release if US is considered the only country in North America!
（ノ`Д´）ノ～～～～～┴───┴
No wonder I couldn't find it on Amazon.ca even though it was put up on Amazon.co.jp some time ago. For a moment I was very tempted to just order through Amazon.co.jp if it weren't for the high cost of shipping. No, I'm not gonna order from Amazon.com since it's not even the first press edition anyway. I'm sure it'll eventually make it across the border after the 2-month exclusive period ends.
It better.
バンダイのバカ!! （つд｀）
Saturday, February 06, 2010
まさかクロはノラであるハズだったんだ...
I recently named my awesome owl hat Kuro after learning that the Japanese word for owl is fukurou, courtesy of friend-A. As I was thinking up an ID for an account today, I decided to go along the line of fukurou and did a look up on Wikipedia Japan...
...horned owls are not called fukurou in Japanese. orz
They are actually called mimizuku, though it's not taxonomically separated from the fukurou. Judging from the images on Wikipedia (I'm too lazy to look up the different species on Google), I think Kuro is closest to the Eurasian eagle owl.
To summarize, the Japanese for the Order of Strigiformes (Owl) is フクロウ目/梟目, which contains the Families of Strigidae (typical owl) and Tytonidae (barn owl), the Japanese of which are フクロウ科 and メンフクロウ科 respectively. Under the フクロウ科 (owl family), the Japanese calls the regular owl フクロウ(fukurou) and the horned type ミミズク(mimizuku). The scientific name of the Eurasian eagle owl is Bubo bubo; it's called ワシミミズク(washimimizuku) in Japanese under the ワシミミズク属.
See, I get my science(?) fix outside of anime, too. XD
So why was Kuro supposed to be Nora?
ミミズク --> のらみみ (never watched/read it, only knew the title) --> ノラ (take a wild guess where I get this from... that's right, FF XIII)
Kuro was a no-brainer: フクロウ --> クロ
Kuro shall continue to be Kuro. I'll just name my next horned owl (if there will be one) object Nora. XD
Thought I'll just quickly document it here for future reference. I won't deny that my laziness of not wanting to write a detailed account in a separate post plays a factor here.
My stupid Vista was under a confused spell a week or so ago, so I (after some painstaking trouble shooting to determine the culprit) uninstalled some Windows updates to salvage the beyond-all-hope OS (I'm waiting for my Windows 7 shipment) without doing a format & reinstall. Vista dragged Winamp down with it during the poorly organized rebellion so I ended up having to download the latest version of Winamp and do a fresh install.
I completely forgot that Winamp and Google Talk try to kill each other when I display the current music track on Google Talk. orz
Here's the fix copy&paste from the Google forum post:
Step 1: Go to the root directory of Winamp which is usually in C:\Program Files\Winamp\
Step 2: Now create an empty file (Right click the mouse -> New -> Text document), so the default file would be like “New Text Document.txt”.
Step 3: Rename the above file to “winamp.m3u” and save.
Step 4: Close Winamp and Google Talk. Now open again and Your Show Current music track status should work like a charm !
There! Time to go back to my pudding ice bar...
I recently named my awesome owl hat Kuro after learning that the Japanese word for owl is fukurou, courtesy of friend-A. As I was thinking up an ID for an account today, I decided to go along the line of fukurou and did a look up on Wikipedia Japan...
...horned owls are not called fukurou in Japanese. orz
They are actually called mimizuku, though it's not taxonomically separated from the fukurou. Judging from the images on Wikipedia (I'm too lazy to look up the different species on Google), I think Kuro is closest to the Eurasian eagle owl.
To summarize, the Japanese for the Order of Strigiformes (Owl) is フクロウ目/梟目, which contains the Families of Strigidae (typical owl) and Tytonidae (barn owl), the Japanese of which are フクロウ科 and メンフクロウ科 respectively. Under the フクロウ科 (owl family), the Japanese calls the regular owl フクロウ(fukurou) and the horned type ミミズク(mimizuku). The scientific name of the Eurasian eagle owl is Bubo bubo; it's called ワシミミズク(washimimizuku) in Japanese under the ワシミミズク属.
See, I get my science(?) fix outside of anime, too. XD
So why was Kuro supposed to be Nora?
ミミズク --> のらみみ (never watched/read it, only knew the title) --> ノラ (take a wild guess where I get this from... that's right, FF XIII)
Kuro was a no-brainer: フクロウ --> クロ
Kuro shall continue to be Kuro. I'll just name my next horned owl (if there will be one) object Nora. XD
Thought I'll just quickly document it here for future reference. I won't deny that my laziness of not wanting to write a detailed account in a separate post plays a factor here.
My stupid Vista was under a confused spell a week or so ago, so I (after some painstaking trouble shooting to determine the culprit) uninstalled some Windows updates to salvage the beyond-all-hope OS (I'm waiting for my Windows 7 shipment) without doing a format & reinstall. Vista dragged Winamp down with it during the poorly organized rebellion so I ended up having to download the latest version of Winamp and do a fresh install.
I completely forgot that Winamp and Google Talk try to kill each other when I display the current music track on Google Talk. orz
Here's the fix copy&paste from the Google forum post:
Step 1: Go to the root directory of Winamp which is usually in C:\Program Files\Winamp\
Step 2: Now create an empty file (Right click the mouse -> New -> Text document), so the default file would be like “New Text Document.txt”.
Step 3: Rename the above file to “winamp.m3u” and save.
Step 4: Close Winamp and Google Talk. Now open again and Your Show Current music track status should work like a charm !
There! Time to go back to my pudding ice bar...
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