Maru Maru OO XX Batsu Batsu

Now Playing: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2

2010-01-31T14:49:00.004-05:00

I'm currently playing Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2 for the PS2. While Atlus titles tend to be a niche market, the Shin Megami Tensei and Persona series have become quite popular lately. Here's what I think so far.

First Impressions: Once you start playing you know right away you're playing an Atlus game. The game engine, character designs--even the names of the spells and items are the same throughout the Shin Megami Tensei(SMT) series. There is something comfortably familiar with it, yet you begin to wonder if they use the same assets out of a poor budget. Thankfully it's uniqueness is what sets it apart from other games in the series. The basic story surrounds a "devil summoner" who happens to be a detective in Tokyo, circa 1920. The setting alone is worthy of my attention.

Love at First Sight: You don't fight alone. You're able to summon "demons", up to two at a time, in order to win battles. What really stands out though is the manner in which you gain demons. Instead of battle, you have the option to "negotiate" with a demon. It'll ask you a series of questions, and depending on your answers, it'll either join your side or attack. What's great is if the negotiations are going poorly, a demon you already possess with chime in and attempt to sway the conversation in your favor. Sometimes it works, often times not. But this feature is definitely unique, and adds a charm to the game.

Warning signs: Objectives aren't always clear. If you're not sure where to go, you can spend most of your time traveling from one location to another only to have to turn around and go back from where you came. It's annoying and detracts from the overall experience. My time is valuable. I want to play a game, not wander around aimlessly.

Second Date? Absolutely. I'm currently 5 hours into it, and I'll definitely be coming back for more.

Till Death Do Us Part? SMT games are known for being extremely long. 80-90 hours of playtime is not unheard of. I've never actually finished an SMT game, so that might tell you something. I'm hoping this game will buck that trend though. Guess we'll see.

Recently Played: Bayonetta

2010-01-31T01:39:00.005-05:00

Just finished playing Bayonetta tonight for the PS3. Hyper-stylized, Hyper-sexual and completely over-the-top. If you're familiar with the Devil May Cry series, you'll immediately recognize the gameplay--it's created by the same man behind DMC, Kamiya-san. It's a excellent game in showcasing Kamiya-sans absolute ridiculousness when it comes to game-play and story-telling. Well, whatever story there is here is not much, and even if there is something substantial here I certainly don't understand it. Something about witches and the balance of light and dark; but that's not what's important. It's the gameplay that truly shines here. Whatever action games come out this year, it's going to be tough to follow Bayonetta.

Hyperbole aside, it's a fun game, bottom line. Graphics are excellent, although not quite as sharp as it's 360 cousin. Load times have been improved now that Sega released a patch. It took me about 10 hours to complete Bayonetta, over a span of about 4 days.It's definitely a game worth keeping in your collection. Re-playability is high; as there are plenty of trophies to unlock. Although I finished with a 35% completion rate. Quite low. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the highest, I'd give it a 8.5.

From now on, I'd like to make two different posts: One on games I've recently finished, and one on games I'm currently playing. I'd like to have a template for each post, but I'm not sure on how to go about it, so hopefully by the time I write my next post I'll have something more solid to go by. I'm not much for writing reviews. Honestly, I find them boring and often times useless. So I"m thinking of a way to just give some bullet points on certain aspects of the game that some people might find useful. How long is the game? Re-playability, etc. Sorta like what I just wrote, but not such a cluster-fuck. Any comments or suggestions, feel free to leave below.

Hatsune Miku

2010-01-25T10:54:00.004-05:00

Normally I'm not a big fan of Vocaloid, but I can't help but be mesmerized by this song. Really awesome stuff.

What the..?

2010-01-25T09:20:00.004-05:00

So at least a few times a week I'll be digging around the internet looking for interesting articles or blog entries from various Japanese related sites. I might post some more serious translations; things like some of the literature I'm working on. But I think I've done enough literature over the past couple of years that I'm just getting a bit burnt out.

One of the greatest frustrations I had at university was the lack of recognition of anything outside of academia. Being in this continuous bubble of only reading and translating literature and academic reports became quite mind numbing after a while. Did it help me? Absolutely. And for anyone studying a language knows, immersion is important. But I think that means much more than just becoming an exchange student. Being able to immerse yourself in current issues about life in Japan, current trends, popular media--the very essence of Japanese life as it is in the present--is equally as important.

I can count on one hand the amount of assignments we had pertaining to a news broadcast, or a newspaper article. But they always were limited in their scope; often just dealing with issues related to school in Japan. Although we were treated to Ponyo and Robocon (thankfully!). But this was all from one professor, mind you. The only other time exploring different avenues was allowed was through an independent study, and unfortunately not very many students do this as an undergrad, or even know they can.

So what's the problem?

Well, for all the early 20th century literature I can now translate effectively (Akutagawa, your the man!), and for articles　pertaining to 学習集指導要領改定　(I won't even translate that into English, because it still won't make any sense) I really have no firm grasp on how to effectively translate a normal newspaper article, at least in a manner that is acceptable to me. Reading blogs and manga,or watch modern movies or TV shows which use your everyday colloquialisms or different dialects outside from your normal Tokyo-ben can be challenging. Basically, I'm out of touch with true Japanese reality. I am a walking textbook. My God, I can translate Akutagawa but not "Cowboy Beebop"? There is something wrong with that.

Now I'm probably overreacting just a tad. And I'm not suggesting that I'm unable to understand these sorts of media. It's just that my comfort level is much lower than what I'd like it to be.

Of course, now that I have all the free time in the world, I'm like a kid at a candy store who's been deprived of sweets for the last 4 years. I'm devouring everything I can.

I think that there needs to be balance when learning a language. Offering students not just literature but some random newspaper about baseball, or watching some current popular TV show can give that balance, and help students get a better grasp of the language they are studying. Especially if a student wants to get into something like media translation(like myself). And while these activities can always be done during a students leisure time, having some sort of classroom representation can make all the difference.

So with that being said, I'd like to make some good use of this site. I'm hoping I can put up a bunch of translations and get some feedback from everybody on the general ebb and flow of the piece.

This won't be the only site you'll be able to see some of my translations. I've already signed up to do some Japanese news reporting for a UK based video game website, and another website based here in the States. Of course, all for the fun of it. I'll post those links in a future post once those projects get rolling.

以上

2009-09-07T13:38:00.001-04:00

Galactic Center of Milky Way Rises over Texas Star Party from William Castleman on Vimeo.

I'll take three, please.

2009-07-22T00:32:00.002-04:00

Someday, I will pilot my very own Gundam. I'm sure of it.

Grand Turismo 5

2009-06-05T23:13:00.003-04:00

Kazunori Yamauchi has finally shown us the next Grand Turismo 5, and man does it look incredible. There is a reason these games are considered the pinnacle of the racing genre. What's important to note is this is all in-game footage. Also of note is his admission that it's actually completed, yet no release date has been set. All eyes are on the games publisher Sony right now, so hopefully they'll be kind and get this game out to us as soon as possible. Kazunori-san said that in the meantime, he'll continue to polish a game that already seems perfected.

These games are always a huge time-sink for me, but I can't wait. Hopefully we'll see it soon.

How to speak fluent Japanese

2009-05-19T17:41:00.003-04:00

Ken Tanaka is quite an interesting character, claiming to be born in America and raised in Japan by his adoptive parents。Is he for real? Well, that's for you to decide... He's put tons of video's up on YouTube, and this is one of the funniest. If your interested check them out, and if you want, venture deeper down the rabbit hole, and see what other interesting things you can dig up. If you happen to run into the rabbit deep down in that hole though, just remember: his name is Jacob.

2009-04-28T21:00:00.003-04:00

時々、僕は辛党ですが、何か飲むと、月に一度しか。もっと出かけたいんですけど、ぜんぜん出かけません。時間がありませんから。今日、何か飲みたかったですから、店に行って、ビールを買いました。このごろ、本当に疲れたから、休みたいんですよ。How do you say I'm burnt out in Japanese? ちょっと長年ですよ。疲れた。。。。

Some things never change

2009-04-25T12:52:00.005-04:00

Takes the saying "same shit, different day" to an extreme. While I can't pronounce this Dutch? artist's name, he's by far one of the most talented artist I've seen, that's not completely full of themselves and actually has something to say, in a long time. Check out his other videos on youtube, some of them are quite amazing.

Here's to You!

2009-04-20T00:34:00.003-04:00

All this time I thought I should be hearing words of encouragement from SOMEONE, and low and behold, it's been available to me the whole time! I'm going to buy this CD just so I can listen to it and jump up from my chair and raise my arms in the air just like this guy.

84 stroke kanji

2009-04-16T23:58:00.006-04:00

Holy shit. Look at this monster. For whatever reason, someone thought it would be a good idea to create this 84 stroke kanji. Supposedly it was created in the Edo period for a play, and although it's not recognized as an "official kanji", it was used at some point in history. It reads "daito" which means, well, I don't know what it means, but I'm guessing "insane". In essence, it is fairly easy to write, but it begs the question, why?

The next kanji is only a measly 79 strokes. It reads "ouichiza". It means "noisy".

2009-04-16T23:35:00.002-04:00

明日は金曜日だから、漢字テストを取らなくちゃいけません。先生は簡単テストがあるんだってというのに、このテストが難しい漢字を覚えさせられます。もちろん、その内にJLPT全部漢字を覚えるべきでしょう、卒業する前に、せめて千漢字だけでも分かりたいんですが。

Westover Air Reserve Base Airshow 2008

2009-04-14T23:15:00.002-04:00

So last Summer after a 4 year delay due to the war, we were able to go see the air show at Westover air reserve base near my house. Usually all i need to do is open my back door and look out and jets of all kinds scream by with a deafening sound. It ends up being quite an interesting weekend, let me tell you. They fly so close to my house you can look in and see the pilot. That's pretty damn low to the ground. It amazing to watch, but even better when you see it up close on the base. This was one of many videos I took, but due to limitations on my phone, I could only send 2 to youtube. They aren't the most exciting, but still interesting to see. My favorite video that didn't get posted involved two jets. What they do is have one jet doing some death-defying stunt, and while the audience is fixated on that spectacle, another jet comes out of nowhere, screaming by hundreds of feet off the ground. It's so loud children started crying, and if you are over the age of 80, well, good luck with that. It really scares the shit out of you. What's even more scary, is if you were their target. You'd be dead and would never have seen it coming. As a kid I wanted to join the Air Force and be a pilot, but poor eyesight can be a bitch. So every two years this is the closest I can get to that experience, and man is it awsome.

2009-04-14T22:24:00.002-04:00

疲れた。僕は宿題を終わりたばかりだから、休みたいけど、またほかの宿題をしなくちゃなあ。。。大変でしたね。実は、ビデオのF-14ジェットをポストするべきだ。さあ。。。ポストします。

またあとでね。

2009-04-13T20:12:00.002-04:00

さあ。。。僕は現代小説の訳を訳せますから、気が立ちますよ。私達小説を訳す時、いつもぜったいに適訳を書かなくちゃいけませんけど、今さら、自分の訳を書けますよ。(A loose, or not so confining translation...日本語の言葉をわかりません。）面白いでしょう。藤沢周平は、時雨のあとを書いたので有名です。藤沢も秘密という物語をかきました。秘密を訳すつもりです。すごいね。明日は始めるべきだと思う。。。

またあとでね。

2009-04-07T21:24:00.003-04:00

今日は悪い日でした。なぜ惨めな機嫌を感じるか分からないんですけど、今晩はよい寝れば、気持ちが変えるべきだと思います。最近どう僕の機嫌のは本当にいやけがさします。大学は惨めだから、いつも問題があると思います。とにかく、かまわないよ。仕方がないね。ただ勉強してというだけ、ただがんばてというだけ、ただ卒業してというだけです。以上。

じゃあ。

Hand of God!?

2009-04-07T15:07:00.003-04:00

Red represents low-energy X-rays, the medium range is green, and the most energetic ones are colored blue. The blue hand-like structure was created by energy emanating from the nebula around they dying star PSR B1509-58. The red areas are from a neighboring gas cloud called RCW 89. Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/P.Slane, et al.

Thought this was pretty cool. Could it be? No, but an interesting photo none-the-less.

2009-04-05T00:47:00.003-04:00

今日は何か考えました。日本語を話せるというのに、ぜんぜん悪い言葉が知りません。あの。。。誰か悪い言葉を教えてください！　本当です。ｗｗｗ　言葉が知れば、コメントを置いてください！

2009-04-03T21:19:00.004-04:00

Found this at Engrish.com.I don't know what's worse, this engrish, or the fact that some unlucky Japanese person caught some foreigner "joking in the bathroom".

2009-04-03T20:44:00.002-04:00

金曜日よかったですよ。ただ休みたいというだけです。この週末が朝遅くに起けるつもりです。そいうことが気持ちよいと思いますよ。この夜、ゲームをするのがほしかったですけど、僕の友達はバーに行くらしいんですから、一緒に出かけるんでしょう。実は、本当に何か飲みたいですよ。何かぜんぜん飲まなくれば、友達と一緒に出かける価値があると思います。楽しみそうですね。じゃあ、またあとでね。

2009-04-02T19:54:00.002-04:00

今日がすごい天気でした！　とうとう春になったね。好きな時候は秋と春だと思います。春になった時、暖かくなれば暖かいほど,ぼくが気持ちよくなります。

日本語の練習のをしなくちゃいけませんから、今日のブログは少し短いでしょう。早い終われば、ゲームをしたいです。少しテレビも見たいでしょう。

じゃあね。

2009-04-01T18:59:00.002-04:00

僕はまことに日本語を勉強するのが大好きですが、日本語を書きながら、”日本語の人格”を使わないのが　一番問題である。（もちろん、ほかの問題はぜったいに文法だと思います。）英語を書く時、自分の考えるをつたえることは本当にやさしいです。日本語で自分の考えるをつたえることができるのがほしいです。いつも日本語を勉強している、ところが、なぜかまだ上手にならないんですけど。どうよい文を埋め合わせするか分かりません。だから、もっと練習すれば、上手になるかもしらないと思います。そういうわけで僕がこのブログを書くべきでしょうね。（もちろん、いい成績を取るために、書かなきゃいけないんですが。忘れない、先生！）ｗｗｗ

さあ。。。今雨が降て、明日の授業にとって、日本語を訳すべきでしょう。

またあとでね。

PixelJunk Eden

2009-03-31T19:04:00.005-04:00

PixelJunk Eden may very well be one of my favorite games of 2008. For those who aren't familiar with Eden, the premise is simple; take your "grimp" and swing through trippy gardens collecting pollen, sprouting seeds, and finding "spectra" all in an attempt to grow your garden. Eden's execution is flawless, but the challenge is certainly deep. I've spent many nights cursing it's difficulty, but I'd always find a way to beat a level. This video is part of Eden's YouTube upload feature. I'd figured I'd give it a shot a add to the myriad of useless video's that plague YouTube.

You can pick this game up for PS3 from the PSN online store for $10. It's made by Qgames located out of Kyoto, Japan. Oh yeah, and the music rocks. Some guy from Japan called Baiyon. Supposedly he's become quite popular due to this game. Check it out!

2009-03-31T15:14:00.002-04:00

時間がほしいです。いつも時間がなさそうです。やっぱり大学生ですが、毎日のように新しい何にかしなければと思います。もちろん、ただひまがほしいだけだというわけでわない。ただもっと日本語を勉強したいだというだけです。もっと練習するべきでしょう。でも、いつは？本当に忙しいですから、あまりべんきょうできません。僕にとって、多き問題です。さあ。。。いつもぐちぐちしている。。。心機を代わりでしょうね。

とにかく、中間試験をなおしなくちゃ。

またあとでね。

（じゃあ、コメントを置いてください！）

2009-03-30T17:14:00.002-04:00

今日は直した中間試験をもらてしまいました。もちろん、悪い成績を取りました。実は、いやな成績をもらうと思いましたが、まだせいこうをのぞんだった。でも、よいところは中間試験を少し直せます。なぜか成績のことが心配でならないけど、いつもできるだき日本語を勉強しました。ぜんぜん日本語が上手にならないのことを感じます。どうして問題があるんですか。それにしても、がんばるつもりです。さあ。。。どうしようかな。。。

とにかく、またあとでね

2009-03-30T16:54:00.004-04:00

This is how I feel for ignoring my blog, something that months ago I agreed to use in an attempt to improve my Japanese writing. Somewhere along the way, I became side-tracked. But I suppose that's what life is, one side-track after the other. But take too many and you end up going around in circles...So yeah. puppy dog eyes work, don't they?

So from this day forth, my project is to make at least one journal entry (in Japanese) until the end of the semester. So we're looking at a good 6-7 weeks. That's alot of writing, but I'm up for the challenge. Feel free to comment, and make suggestions or tips on how I could improve my japanese, but please no 嵐。

A little warm up...

2008-08-03T21:06:00.003-04:00

So I was thinking today about what my first japanese post should be, and I came to the conclusion that since it's been over a month since I've written anything of substance, besides vocabulary and kanji, I should post something that I've already written to to warm up. A little review so to speak. Last semester, we had quite alot of writing to do, but nothing that was too overwhelming. We're talking 300-500 characters. tops. Every week or so we had a topic chosen by our sensei, whether it be about movies, writing a letter to a friend, etc., and were allowed to write about anything relating to that topic. Some of them were terrible, to be honest, but hey-it was good practice. (not to mention graded.) So today I was going through some of those assignments and decided to post this one short piece about playing sports when I was a kid. I enjoyed writing it, and it is somewhat interesting i suppose, so here it is:

私は子供の時、いつもいろいろなスポーツが好きでしたが、たいていスポーツをする時、ぜんぜん上手ではありませんでした。何度練習しても、私の腕前は大したことなかったです。そうかと言って、楽しくなかったわけではありません。それに、いつも次の試合を楽しみにしていました。サッカー、バスケット、野球が本当に大好きでした。でも、私は十二歳ぐらいの時、空手を練習し始めました。面白いことに、私の空手の腕前はなかな上手だったと思います。毎日空手を練習するのが好きでした。そのころは、本当に楽しかったです。空手を練習したから、日本の文化にきょうみを待ち始めました。でも、私のお母さんはいつもけがをしないかどうかと心配していました。一年ぐらい後、高すぎだったから、空手の練習を止めさせられました。残念でした。。。このごろ、たいていテレビのスポーツを見てばかりです。

hmmm, it's interesting. I wrote that a little over two months ago, and at the time, this short piece took a bit a work, and correcting. It was hard shit.looking at it now, it doesn't seem so bad.

So I've been thinking about whether or not i should translate these posts into english, but since this is a new blog, and i'm sure as shit nobody is reading this yet, i'll just let it be for now. But if anyone is reading this, and would like to make a comment about anything I've written, feel free to do so. anything goes.

またあとでね。

Welcome!

2008-08-02T23:13:00.003-04:00

I've been meaning to create a blog for the sole function of practicing my Japanese writing. But the more I think about it, if I were to only write in Japanese, I would sorta limit this site to, well, only those who can speak Japanese. Well what the hell, that's no fun. I might as well keep it interesting and throw in some good ol' English while I'm at it. So I figure I can stay true to my goal of practicing my Japanese writing, and still make room for the occasional useless post.

About what?

Well, since I started studying full-time about two years ago, my world has been pretty much consumed by all things Japanese. Like-everything. So if it's related to Japan, I'll probably talk about it. The language, culture, food, music, etc. etc. Go figure.

Beyond that, what with my social life being non-existent, ( I figure I'll stay in social "hibernation" until I graduate in another two years, and when I graduate and start work in Japan and then--all fucking hell will break loose.) I devote alot of my time to work. (naturally-man's gotta eat) But I also am a fairly obsessive gamer, so I spend alot of my time, well, gaming. So I'll talk about that. alot.

So what else? Who knows, I mean obviously my life is more complicated than that, but whether I'll divulge into any other info-who knows.

So I guess to wrap this up, my main goal is to practice my Japanese, and maybe, hopefully some good people out there who are like-minded would like to discuss the language, or anything else about Japan. I'm still figuring out the layout of this blog, deciding what and how to add things, but hopefully things will come together nicely, or it'll all end up a big bucket of mess. Guess we'll see.

I'll be posting my first Japanese post tomm. so for those who are interested stick around.