I worked on my film a bit during this week, but also read and translated a bit from a Japanese book.
We had the Editing Forum on Tuesday. I also got the first feedback from my supervisor on my rough cut and thesis outline. Overall very positive – we’ll talk more next week.
The same night, from 1 to 3 am Berlin time, I watched the final presentations of Tom Boellstorff’s course Digital Cultures at University of California, Irving, but now being taught and presented in Second Life:
- Ryan Schultz: Anthropologist Dr. Tom Boellstorff Teaches His Course on Digital Cultures Within Second Life
I was very impressed by the presentations, not least the timekeeping, but also by how skillfully the participants navigated SL, creating nice avatars and all. Not that it’s hard, but just the fact that they gave an effort.
I’m keeping up the kanji and also started the Japanese Core 6000 deck. The blue bars are new items, so after having learned the last of the new kanji (first five days), I only reviewed for two days (green), and then I started the new deck:
Loving Anki so far although my learning went down a bit from Flashcards Deluxe in the beginning, but I think it was only because I was used to a certain system. I love Anki’s flexibility, customisability (although FD can do a lot too), and user base (lots of shared decks and add-ons). I don’t like that it’s tied to the computer unless I buy the Ios app for 30 euro, which I consider a total ripoff for a flashcards app, no matter its features. But the web version seems to work great on mobile devices. Not sure if it needs internet though. I’m mentioning these things simply because it’s so important that you can grab your flashcards app anywhere and at any time. It shouldn’t be something you do only when you sit down at your desktop computer (which I happen to do most of the time anyway at the moment, but you get the point).
Been looking just a bit at Khatzumoto’s blog. I don’t want to read dozens of posts in English instead of engaging with Japanese, but what a goldmine of inspiration it is. This is probably the most beautiful and inspiring thing that has been written about kanji – from the post with the long title:
So I love kanji. I love them. I love seeing them. I love touching them. I love writing them. I love reading them. They are beautiful to me. One guy once joked that I’m aroused by them — I’m not, but I do I find them aesthetically pleasing. It’s like seeing Megan Fox in Transformers or Schuyler Fisk in Orange County, you’re not aroused, but you’re undeniably faced with a visually appealing image. Each kanji has a unique feel, a unique personality. Each kanji is a friend; she can talk to you and tell you a story.
Again, I love kanji. And I believe the actions taken by the Occupational Government in the 1940s (and by the Chinese Communist Government in the 1950s and 1960s) are literally the worst thing you can do that doesn’t involve harming people, harming animals or confiscating private property. It was cultural vandalism (and borderline civilizational suicide) to attempt to truncate, abbreviate and even destroy the kanji lexicon. I don’t force other people to use kanji like I do, but I’ll be damned — damned, I tell you — if I’m going to submit to the fiat of illegitimate governments (and the Communist Party is about as legitimate as my disastrously effeminate thighs) without a fight.
I started watching My Hero Academia (finally!) with S, and it’s quite enjoyable. Which I can’t say about Detective Conan, which we watched the very first episode of.
I’ve started reading the second volume of Yankee Shota to Otaku Oneesan, which is so well written and amazing, and even has bearing on my research – I might quote from it!
In news, the Palme murder investigation was closed and a suspect, dead since 20 years, was named. I got very interested in that suspect after seeing a TV interview with him from shortly after the murder. Psychological issues seem to abound, and this blog post sort of mentioned them, and why they contributed to the police dismissing him as a suspect back then.
Japanese
- Flashcards Deluxe: 64 min per day
- Anki: Ca 45 min per day
- Manga: 星海ユミ: ヤンキーショタとオタクおねえさん, volume 2, chapter 9–11, pp. 1–60.
- In the mornings and every now and then: JapaNews24 ～日本のニュースを24時間配信 (live)
- When falling asleep: Random videos by Okada Toshio
Language acquisition
- Ajatt/Khatzumoto:
- Critical Frequency: A Brand New Way of Looking At Language Exposure
- Khatzumoto, You Say to Imitate Japanese People Faithfully, But Why Do You Overuse Kanji? Isn’t That a Bit of Hypocrisy? Also, Why Are Your Thighs so Thick? It Doesn’t Really Seem Appropriate for a “Heterosexual” Man? Could You Do Me a Favor and Never Wear Shorts Again?
- Ricardo E. Schütz: Stephen Krashen’s Theory of Second Language Acquisition (1998)
- Steve Kaufmann (video): Anki Vs. Input-Based Learning
Anime
- 1988: Mashin Eiyuuden Wataru. E30 (raw).
- 1996: Meitantei Conan. E1.
- 2016: Boku no Hero Academia. E1–8.
TV
- Moesha (1996), S1 E2
Video
- The Life-Sized City: The Unholy Trinity of Bridge Stupidity in Copenhagen
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