I a couple of weeks ago discovered thw webcomic "Megatokyo" by artist Fred Gallagher and thought it was the best webcomic (with a plot) I have ever read.
I also decided it could use a 8-Bit Theater Chaos sort of fandub project and decided to give it a try.
This is a demo reel, for the very first strip, I intend to do on my own the first ten in one go to generate interest.
I use Audacity to record, and Adobe Premiere 5.5 to mix and encode.
Background is some random noises of a crowded hallway I found at youtube and the music is from the Dissapearance of Haruhi Suzumiya OST.
Basically I could use any volunteer with a working microphone to audition for roles so I wont have to voice everyone.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
I've stepped through an internet time machine Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
I don't understand.
Posted by Ginol_Enam (Member # 7070) on :
quote:Originally posted by Samprimary: I've stepped through an internet time machine
*laugh* No. Samp is pointing out that, with the exception of the specific reference to Premiere 5.5 (as opposed to, say, Premiere 5), that was a post -- with references to 8-Bit Theater, someone's recent discovery of Megatokyo, fandubs, and Audacity -- that one might reasonably have encountered in 2002.
I had a similar sense of "All this has happened before and will happen again," myself. Maybe we members of the Old Guard are going to wind up something like the Internet's Final Five Million.
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
Fred doing a live drawing session.
Posted by Tarrsk (Member # 332) on :
Megatokyo still exists? Has Fred gotten past day 2 of the story yet?
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
How about you I dunno, go to the site and find out? It has 1300+ strips.
Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
That was always my problem with Megatokyo -- it took so long for anything to happen that I forgot what the heck was actually going on. The fact that I was able to give up on it during a climactic scene without subsequently wondering what happened suggests to me that maybe it moves too slowly.
I did enjoy it for a while, though.
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
I marathoned it in 2 days, I don't think it moves too slowly, the plot is fairly tightly written the problem is/was the update schedule, its supposed to be 2/week but supposedly its been fairly bad for the last little while, apparently its getting better.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
My hatred of megatokyo is irrational and related to things outside the comic itself.
one: it was the locus for much hopeless teenage otaku sinophilia among too many of my nerd friends back in school
two: every webcomic artist i've known personally describes fred as a catty whiner who's a wee bit insufferable in person MAN I WOULD HAVE NEVER GUESSED FROM THE COMIC
so I'm in no position to fairly review whatever of the comic I've managed to read. I associate it fundamentally with pimply weeaboo adolescence.
Posted by Tarrsk (Member # 332) on :
quote:Originally posted by Blayne Bradley: How about you I dunno, go to the site and find out? It has 1300+ strips.
So, still on Day 2, then.
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
Incorrect.
quote: Chapter 0: Relax, We Understand J00 Day 1 (Thursday, mid-July) - Piro and Largo go to E3; comics 001-006 Day 2 (Saturday) - Piro and Largo arrive in Japan; comics 007-012 Day 3 (Sunday) - Piro and Largo meet Tsubasa; comics 014-036 Day 4-46 (Mondays) - Six weeks pass, Largo and Piro play games; comics 037-040 Day 47 (Tuesday, early September) - Piro and Largo waste their ticket money; comic 041 Day 48 (Wednesday) - Piro loses his bookbag, Yuki finds it; comics 042-060 Day 49 (Thursday) - Piro gives his railcard to Kimiko; comics 061-074 Day 50 (Friday) - Yuki sends Piro an e-mail but he deletes it; comics 075-079 Day 52 (Sunday) - Piro gets a job at the store, Largo meets Miho; comics 080-129 Chapter 1: Do You Want To Save Before You Quit? Day 53 (Monday mid-September) - Largo becomes a teacher, Kimiko delivers dinner; comics 134-192 Chapter 2: Things Change Little By Little... Day 54 (Tuesday) - Kimiko auditions, Miho faints, zombies attack on wrong day; comics 196-301 Chapter 3: Am I Your Number One Fan? Day 55 (Wednesday) - Arcade duel, Piro visits Anna Miller's, Gameru attacks; comics 307-397 Chapter 4: Low Ping Rate Day 56 (Thursday) - Bath and confessions with Miho, fanboy recon, Seraphim is captured; comics 402-514 Chapter 5: Color Depth Day 57 (Friday) - Fanboy horde and aftermath; comics 526-633 Chapter 6: Operational Insecurity Day 58 (Saturday) - Computer lessons and shopping with Erika, Kimiko's radio appearance; comics 639-729 Chapter 7: Known Bugs and Security Flaws Day 59 (Sunday) - Fanboy mob at Anna Miller's, the truth of Erika's past revealed; comics 743-873 Chapter 8: Defect Mapping Day 60 (Monday) - Kimiko quits, Erika builds her PC, Ping has a good cry; comics 875-968 Chapter 9: Overlo4d[3] Day 61 (Tuesday) - Waking up to Largo, awkward, E&L, zombie attack commences, Miho rescues Kimiko, Animate, Miho reflects; comics 983- 1125 Chapter 10: A.F.K. Day 70 (Thursday)[4] - Timeskip, search for Miho, Junko's reality check, the Asako Option, Dinner of Doom, battle at the Cave of Evil; comics 1141-1267 Chapter 11: Remanence Day 71?; comics 1270-
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
quote:Originally posted by Samprimary: My hatred of megatokyo is irrational and related to things outside the comic itself.
one: it was the locus for much hopeless teenage otaku sinophilia among too many of my nerd friends back in school
two: every webcomic artist i've known personally describes fred as a catty whiner who's a wee bit insufferable in person MAN I WOULD HAVE NEVER GUESSED FROM THE COMIC
so I'm in no position to fairly review whatever of the comic I've managed to read. I associate it fundamentally with pimply weeaboo adolescence.
"Sinophilia"?
Your not one of those people who thinks a clearly fictional webcomic with fictional happenings *contributes* to idiots having stupid impressions of Japan do you?
The analysis of fred is frustratingly spot on though, but at least its a nicer kind of insufferable.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
quote:Originally posted by Blayne Bradley: Your not one of those people who thinks a clearly fictional webcomic with fictional happenings *contributes* to idiots having stupid impressions of Japan do you?
Something being clearly fictional does not prevent 100% of people from having it be a work that engenders stupid impressions of its culture for them.
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
But its not the fault of the comic; otherwise "video games cause violence" etc.Anyone who would be influenced are likely to already have had a faulty assumption about Japan from anime.
Posted by MrSquicky (Member # 1802) on :
Video games do cause violence.
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
Your trolling?
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
My god, the levels of insufferably douchbaggery fred stoops too never ceases to amaze me.
quote: <raenirsalazar> *looks it up* oh that show, its on my towatch list <fredrin> by picture, i refer to the photograph of the box <fredrin> hmm <fredrin> i wouldnt reccomend it to you <raenirsalazar> :rolls eyes: <raenirsalazar> Reading the tvtropes description I see nothing about it that I wouldn't like, seems like a pretty artsy supernatural mystery to me. And I like those. <fredrin> you wont like it <fredrin> because you wont understand it <fredrin> guaranteed <fredrin> oh, and raen, please don't do something stupid like try to call me out on something. That's not allowed here, ok? <fredrin> because by default i can win any argument within the confines of this channel if i choose to. * fredrin is actually amused - he seems to know exactly where to step to get my goat - i dont have a lot of sacred cows, but damn, he's good at stepping on them
So apparantly its *my* fault! The sugar coating on top being he seems to completely lack self awareness just to how much of a douche he is.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
You didn't realize Fred was a douche until he insulted you?
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
quote:Originally posted by Blayne Bradley: Your trolling?
Nope.
Also.
quote:Originally posted by Blayne Bradley: But its not the fault of the comic; otherwise "video games cause violence" etc.Anyone who would be influenced are likely to already have had a faulty assumption about Japan from anime.
I'm saying nothing about assigning blame. I'm talking about how it can contribute to faulty assumptions. You seem to agree; if someone 'already had a faulty assumption about Japan from anime,' then they got a faulty assumption about Japan from anime.
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: You didn't realize Fred was a douche until he insulted you?
How else would you figure it out?
quote: I'm saying nothing about assigning blame. I'm talking about how it can contribute to faulty assumptions. You seem to agree; if someone 'already had a faulty assumption about Japan from anime,' then they got a faulty assumption about Japan from anime.
Maybe, but as a reason to dislike a comic though its pretty weak for a reason however. Its fiction and clearly so.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
quote:How else would you figure it out?
You could observe that he is regularly a douche to other people. I mean, honestly, the fact that he's a gigantic, preening jerkwad is usually brought up within minutes of a mention of Megatokyo.
Posted by Dogbreath (Member # 11879) on :
Just out of curiosity, have you ever been to Japan, Blayne?
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
quote:Maybe, but as a reason to dislike a comic though its pretty weak for a reason however. Its fiction and clearly so.
Okay, I guess I could hate it because fred's mary-sue budget weeaboo desu kawaii derivative love hina weirdass pigtail-hair-thing giant glasses and inexcusably mute expression over an acorn shaped head in every single one of the comics since the beginning of time makes me want to stab him in the face from over the internet for being so emphatically stylistically and artistically lazy with his bad comic
may these dark remnants of our spiritual comic past be painfully unlearned Posted by manji (Member # 11600) on :
Wow, that looks like a pretty cool comic! Lackadaisy, not Megatokyo. Megatokyo is shite.
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
quote:Originally posted by Dogbreath: Just out of curiosity, have you ever been to Japan, Blayne?
I regularly hangout with JETs and other expats, and read various blogs (mostly JET related like Gaijin Smash, but some others like Gaijin Mama) so I have no 'illusions' about Japan nor would Megatokyo give me any. It's a work of fiction, about fictional characters hanging out in a fictional Anime Land version of Japan where giant robots, rent a zillas and magical girls exist all at the same time with zombies.
I don't understand why a western webcomic needs to be set to some arbitrary standard for "accuracy" because OMG THE CHILDREN who might get the wrong impression. Japan does it all the time with anime and other day time TV regarding the states and arguably Canada and yet they're immune from this criticism?
Azrael, the guy from Gaijin Smash and he's black was a JET for 5 years and still lives there (married to a local) every once in a while he gets asked, completely unironically and innocently "How many women have you raped?" as if its something black people just DO all the time casually.
I wonder where they got that impression from.
quote: Okay, I guess I could hate it because fred's mary-sue budget weeaboo desu kawaii derivative love hina weirdass pigtail-hair-thing giant glasses and inexcusably mute expression over an acorn shaped head in every single one of the comics since the beginning of time makes me want to stab him in the face from over the internet for being so emphatically stylistically and artistically lazy with his bad comic
Though I'm curious what makes the character a Mary Sue, sure there's some harem tropes and a dash of wish fulfillment; but that's squarely in the box of acceptable writing tools and the anthropic principle (the thing that makes the premise of the story work, ie even if you don't think time travel is possible, you have to accept its possibility in fiction to enjoy Doctor Who) .
Compared to anime the writing/romance seems downright realistic, especially with Largo and Erika.
quote: You could observe that he is regularly a douche to other people. I mean, honestly, the fact that he's a gigantic, preening jerkwad is usually brought up within minutes of a mention of Megatokyo.
See all the criticism I've read isn't actually accurate, there's people claiming fred/piro has some kind of 'ego' and implied it was writing related.
As far as I can tell Fred is extremely and maddeningly self depreciating when it comes to his work, the doucheness is entirely from any kind of intellectual discussion regarding anime.
He's a for lack of a better term an Emotionalist, he views the medium as an "analog" medium that can only be "experienced" and that experience is "unique" to everyone's individual perception and can't be explained or examined or it would ruin the special snowflake magic of the experience.
I, and this is where the friction lays entirely am an Analyst/Structuralist/Definitionist/Etc you think is the valid term here but as a Self Identified Troper I more or less like to analyze the medium, usually by deconstructing it and taking it apart to see how all the individual parts fit together because I want to see the medium evolve through study and that everything is explainable/studyable.
And of course I "ruined" Spice and Wolf for Fred apparently.
Essentially he said "* Bets raenir wouldn't understand Spice and Wolf the same way I would / Something he might only get in 10-20 years*"
*This royally pissed me off, I hate age discrimination, especially from people from an artistic medium who should know better.
After about an hour of me being pissed and insisting on an answer in which he was evasive and being passive aggressive about the above emotion vs logic issue and how I was being "too logical" about it he finally left IRC in a huff but finally answered that its because Holo is "very old, and you can only understand how old she must feel when your also old, a mid20 something wouldn't feel the same way."
Bullshit. That shouldn't have taken an hour to answer, could've been done massively more politely and respectfully and is understandable at a minimum on an intellectual level.
The blatant hypocrisy is outrageous, he can freely insult and disparage other people's choices, completely recuse himself from any responsibility. And refuses to discuss anything in term especially if I at any point sound like a "know it all" because that apparently hurts his little snowflake feelings for me to be a little rough but otherwise entirely polite.
You know what, acting like a douche would be forgiveable had he had a shred of intellectual honesty or at least a shred of self awareness about it. But no, can't argue with him because his 'experience' is this perfect organic thing and my "logic" is inherently inferior to it. My likes are inherently inferior, I'm "incapable" of enjoying something that is "hard to understand" (lulwut?) or "too cerebral for a troper" or if I do somehow managed to enjoy a work "I didn't enjoy it _on the same level_"
Nothing about him as an artist, there's no whatever transgression Buckley is accused of by his detractors, no Small Name Big Ego. I like the art, I like the story, I like the characters but the author is a douche and I must punch him if he's ever in Canada.
Also: Most Horrible PR Skills Ev3R:
"I've had Anon after me for a year** one more disgruntled fan won't matter".
Firstly he wouldn't have disgruntled fans if he recognized that he's almost sociopathically acting like a douche and should, y'know grow some integrity and secondly:
**His apparent "response" to the /b/tard trolls was apparently to give in to their demands, what an idiot. Its not like they were hacking him or otherwise harassing him or fiscally costing him just a bunch of idiots on a forum no one likes or goes to. That and Anon and 4chan aren't the same thing.
You IGNORE the trolls, and they'll starve and go away, that's whats told to me repeatedly, its really freakishly hard to pull off but a 40 something artist with a reasonably successful business should NOT ever have to descend to their level and capitulate.
quote: Wow, that looks like a pretty cool comic! Lackadaisy, not Megatokyo. Megatokyo is shite.
I like Megatokyo, so unless you're willing to back this up and enter some form of substantiated discussion about its pros/cons/merits like Samp is doing I suggest you kindly shut up and go to another thread.
Posted by manji (Member # 11600) on :
Well, I don't know why you're getting all bent out of shape about it. Do you have something personally invested in Megatokyo? Are you instrumental in its creation? Do you have a stake in it that you would be personally affronted by my opinion?
I can express an opinion. You and everyone else in this forum do so every day. And unless this is your personal property, I don't think I will restrict myself from threads just because you request that I do. I'm not going to ask you to "shut up" and go away, because frankly, I can't force you or anyone to do that. And neither can you force the same on me.
So there!
Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
BB personally invests himself in many things Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
quote:You know what, acting like a douche would be forgiveable had he had a shred of intellectual honesty or at least a shred of self awareness about it.
Blayne, I'm just going to repost this here and walk away, perhaps whistling softly to myself a bit.
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
quote:Originally posted by manji: Well, I don't know why you're getting all bent out of shape about it. Do you have something personally invested in Megatokyo? Are you instrumental in its creation? Do you have a stake in it that you would be personally affronted by my opinion?
I can express an opinion. You and everyone else in this forum do so every day. And unless this is your personal property, I don't think I will restrict myself from threads just because you request that I do. I'm not going to ask you to "shut up" and go away, because frankly, I can't force you or anyone to do that. And neither can you force the same on me.
So there!
Expressing an opinion and sticking around and showing a willingness to maturely discuss something is entirely different from your "drive by" post, it isn't constructive, its rude and bad form.
So, don't be rude. Delete the post and start over, be constructive, elaborate a little, there are _standards_ follow them. If you blindly insist to not follow those standards I am not obligated to treat you nicely with kid gloves if you won't do similar.
And depending on how you express it, saying "something sucks" is almost always an indirect insult to the person who does like it, because its an indirect way of saying "you have bad taste."
Its one thing to enter honest discussion, its one thing to express an emotionally neutral opinion like "I didn't like it but its okay if there are people who do." but its completely different to just go in and say "this sucks". You owe it to the forum to be better than that.
quote: Blayne, I'm just going to repost this here and walk away, perhaps whistling softly to myself a bit.
Are you implying that I am a douche, or otherwise intellectual dishonest or lacking in self awareness?
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
quote:Are you implying that I am a douche, or otherwise intellectual dishonest or lacking in self awareness?
Yes! But it'd be a lot easier to forgive if you had a shred of self-awareness (or even a sense of humor) about it.
Please do re-read your lengthy post above with a critical eye. It is not flattering. Bear in mind that I think Fred Gallagher is one of the worst hacks in webcomics, right up there with Scott Kurtz, and I still think you're being ungenerous.
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
You weren't there, the above was only the tip of the iceberg.
And I'm not bashing his work I like his work, and I think as long as the discussion never turns to anime (which is a shame) he's fun enough to be around on IRC and he's at least quasi support've of the fandub project. I give credit where credit is due.
But he acted like a douche, but I'm keeping a clear distinction between his douchyness and his work. I have a problem with his insufferable snowflakiness regarding anime&manga discussion, and fanboy notruescotsman purism not with his work.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
quote:I have a problem with his insufferable snowflakiness regarding anime&manga discussion...
In case you don't know, this is inherently douchey, and not knowing that it's a douchey reason to "have a problem" with someone is even douchier.
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
And I was asked to go kill myself. I think I am justified in being fairly [s]pissed[/s] disgruntled.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Yeah, you can be disgruntled. Like I said, Fred's a jerk. But suck it up.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: Bear in mind that I think Fred Gallagher is one of the worst hacks in webcomics, right up there with Scott Kurtz, and I still think you're being ungenerous.
Oh man I love Kurtz. When you're the sort of person that ends up being professionally advised to express some degree of anger management before you respond to anything that's agitating you (COUNT TO TEN BEFORE YOU HIT REPLY KURTZ, COUNT TO TEN BEFORE YOU DELETE ANOTHER FORUM KURTZ) it's just oodles of entertainment potential.
But I'm actually legitimately interested in what made you think of Kurtz as the top echelon of hackness in the field.
Posted by manji (Member # 11600) on :
Suddenly, I am reminded of the judge from The Good Wife who demands that all lawyers in her courtroom preface their comments with "in my opinion".
Well, if you want me to get into it.
Megatokyo is shite because Fred Gallagher as a creative producer is shite. He is unprofessional, and his art is derivative and mediocre.
His final product is in pencil, which contributes to his persona as an unprofessional hack. Sketch lines are still seen. I suppose this is a personal quirk of mine, as I hate to see final products in pencil.
But his overall line is clean, and his page composition improved within the first few years, after he switched from the four-panel layout, so I'll give him that. His character design, however, has not improved in ten years, I can see. They are still the same irregularly shaped boon-doggle heads with twisted human anatomy. A shame. His action scenes do not really convey movement or excitement to me. The action scenes just seem like a rip-off of Ken Akamatsu, and Ken Akamatsu cannot do action. But that's another discussion.
But, I can overlook a lot if the author delivers consistently. But he does not. For a while, he had a progress bar, indicating when a page would come out, because he was consistently inconsistent. I see that has not changed, but he has done away with the progress bar. I guess he decided keeping up the charade of a schedule was pointless.
But even that would be forgivable, somewhat. After all, I still stick with Order of the Stick, despite its irregular schedule. Admittedly, Rich Burlew has an infinitely more understandable reason than Fred Gallagher had six to eight years ago when I stopped reading. You see, Megatokyo originally started as a gag strip. Then, the comic experienced a genre shift when the original author, Rodney Caston, left. When the comic became less about humor and more about dating sims, I lost interest.
All of this to say: "[I think] Megatokyo is shite."
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: Yeah, you can be disgruntled. Like I said, Fred's a jerk. But suck it up.
I am, by quietly venting in another direction while quietly rolling my eyes in the channel. There were three major occasions in which I was enraged by his behavior and only after the third time did I post about it anywhere.
Do you not agree with this approach?
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
'quietly rolling my eyes in the channel'
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
quote:Originally posted by manji: Suddenly, I am reminded of the judge from The Good Wife who demands that all lawyers in her courtroom preface their comments with "in my opinion".
Well, if you want me to get into it.
Megatokyo is shite because Fred Gallagher as a creative producer is shite. He is unprofessional, and his art is derivative and mediocre.
His final product is in pencil, which contributes to his persona as an unprofessional hack. Sketch lines are still seen. I suppose this is a personal quirk of mine, as I hate to see final products in pencil.
But his overall line is clean, and his page composition improved within the first few years, after he switched from the four-panel layout, so I'll give him that. His character design, however, has not improved in ten years, I can see. They are still the same irregularly shaped boon-doggle heads with twisted human anatomy. A shame. His action scenes do not really convey movement or excitement to me. The action scenes just seem like a rip-off of Ken Akamatsu, and Ken Akamatsu cannot do action. But that's another discussion.
But, I can overlook a lot if the author delivers consistently. But he does not. For a while, he had a progress bar, indicating when a page would come out, because he was consistently inconsistent. I see that has not changed, but he has done away with the progress bar. I guess he decided keeping up the charade of a schedule was pointless.
But even that would be forgivable, somewhat. After all, I still stick with Order of the Stick, despite its irregular schedule. Admittedly, Rich Burlew has an infinitely more understandable reason than Fred Gallagher had six to eight years ago when I stopped reading. You see, Megatokyo originally started as a gag strip. Then, the comic experienced a genre shift when the original author, Rodney Caston, left. When the comic became less about humor and more about dating sims, I lost interest.
All of this to say: "[I think] Megatokyo is shite."
I'll give you unprofessional but "derivative" is hardly fair, I've read alot of manga (90~ish), and as best as I can tell I have never seen his style ever in manga his art style is unique.
quote: His final product is in pencil, which contributes to his persona as an unprofessional hack. Sketch lines are still seen. I suppose this is a personal quirk of mine, as I hate to see final products in pencil.
I like that style though, its helpful for my own efforts to learn how to draw. Its more "user friendly" and natural looking.
quote: has not improved in ten years, I can see. They are still the same irregularly shaped boon-doggle heads with twisted human anatomy.
YMMV, I like the designs and deliberately trying to mimic the art style with Mixed results I find his art style to be more expressive then typical manga.
quote: ut, I can overlook a lot if the author delivers consistently. But he does not. For a while, he had a progress bar, indicating when a page would come out, because he was consistently inconsistent. I see that has not changed, but he has done away with the progress bar. I guess he decided keeping up the charade of a schedule was pointless.
But even that would be forgivable, somewhat. After all, I still stick with Order of the Stick, despite its irregular schedule. Admittedly, Rich Burlew has an infinitely more understandable reason than Fred Gallagher had six to eight years ago when I stopped reading. You see, Megatokyo originally started as a gag strip. Then, the comic experienced a genre shift when the original author, Rodney Caston, left. When the comic became less about humor and more about dating sims, I lost interest.
His wife has some sort of auto immune disorder and he a while back had a son, health and family seem reasonable reasons to me. And He's gone back to pencil sketching using the Cintiq for finishing touches, he's updated more times in the last month I think then in the last year.
Remains to be seen if he'll keep it up.
quote: When the comic became less about humor and more about dating sims, I lost interest.
Fair is fair, I felt the comic improved when Largo left because then it become far more animeish but YMMV.
quote: 'quietly rolling my eyes in the channel'
Usually by physically rolling my eyes and then complaining on teamspeak to some of the other channel folks. Who try to assure me "The man I ate dinner with isn't really like that!"
quote:(COUNT TO TEN BEFORE YOU HIT REPLY KURTZ, COUNT TO TEN BEFORE YOU DELETE ANOTHER FORUM KURTZ)
I still participate on halforum, the forum defined by being "people who used to like PVP and participated on halfpixel before Kurtz deleted it."
[ August 10, 2011, 12:44 PM: Message edited by: Raymond Arnold ]
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
the job of every former pvp forum is to ascend to greatness (or, in the case of halforum, at least ascend to betterness) after kurtz goes all kurtz on the place, takes his ball, and goes home (to make the next doomed forum)
Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :
How often HAS that happened?
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
What precisely happens on the forums there?
*Vaguely appreciative of Ctrl Alt Del's relative gentle fascism*
Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :
We talk about games, movies, politics, share art. Etc. In other words, it's a generic nerd forum.
It's where I go when I want a slightly more relaxed Hatrack experience. ("Relaxed" insofar as on Hatrack, I deliberately use my real name and hold myself to a high standard, as if in polite company. On halforum, it's not that I'm *impolite*, but the norms are more "hanging out with a bunch of nerd friends", where lewd jokes and ribbing are acceptable).
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
quote:Originally posted by Raymond Arnold: How often HAS that happened?
Three Kurtz-smashed forums so far. I think. That I can recall. Halforum got a leg up early on because in the days after Kurtz rage-deleted the pvp forum, they were able to consult with Forumopolis, which had literally been in the exact same situation (it was also PVP forums until kurtz got huffy one day) and had gone on to be a big thriving independent general forum of its own.
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
Speaking of Kurts him and the Penny Arcade dudes are doing a new collaborative webcomic
Samp, one of these days, I want you to write a history of the internet... or at least the parts you know a lot about - which seems like most of it. It'd make for some pretty fantastic (not to mention juicy) reading, I bet.
I also have to admit that I'm kind of impressed that Blayne managed to go from never having heard of Megatokyo to personally pissing off its creator in the space of about a month. That's some primo internet fail/win right there.
[ August 10, 2011, 03:49 PM: Message edited by: Tarrsk ]
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by Mucus: BB personally invests himself in many things
No I don't!...oh...
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
quote:Originally posted by Tarrsk: Samp, one of these days, I want you to write a history of the internet... or at least the parts you know a lot about - which seems like most of it. It'd make for some pretty fantastic (not to mention juicy) reading, I bet.
I also have to admit that I'm kind of impressed that Blayne managed to go from never having heard of Megatokyo to personally pissing off its creator in the space of about a month. That's some primo internet fail/win right there.
I have alot of charisma, in the forceful personality definition.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
I believe that is grammarnazi level of anality.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
There's that charisma!
Posted by Dogbreath (Member # 11879) on :
quote:Originally posted by Blayne Bradley:
quote:Originally posted by Dogbreath: Just out of curiosity, have you ever been to Japan, Blayne?
I regularly hangout with JETs and other expats, and read various blogs (mostly JET related like Gaijin Smash, but some others like Gaijin Mama) so I have no 'illusions' about Japan nor would Megatokyo give me any.
So I'll take that as a "no"?
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
quote:Usually by physically rolling my eyes and then complaining on teamspeak to some of the other channel folks. Who try to assure me "The man I ate dinner with isn't really like that!"
you also, at least in that small snipped, rolled your eyes at him.
I guarantee that if you showed us the rest of the iceberg we've only been shown the tip of, we'd have plenty to show you about what you don't realize about your own behavior, but tom's already gone into that.
Posted by Rakeesh (Member # 2001) on :
That's a no, but it's irrelevant. After all, secondhand knowledge is the way to have no illusions about a subject as wide and varied as an entire culture, and to be emphatically sure about it.
In comparison, I wouldn't say I've no illusions about *American* culture, and I've been a US citizen in the US for over ten adult years. I wouldnt even say I have no illusions about *Floridian* culture.
Posted by Dogbreath (Member # 11879) on :
Um, read my only two posts in this thread again. I'm really not feeling up to being attacked for an opinion I never stated. I even attached the disclaimer "just out of curiosity" to my question precisely so it wouldn't be misinterpreted.
In fact, I've never read Megatokyo, and don't know what it's about. Since I suppose my motives will be questioned shortly: Blayne seems to have a great love of the Japanese culture and language, and I was wondering if he had ever visited here before. I assure you, whatever cruel barb or devious slander was implied by my comment is entirely unintentional.
Posted by Rakeesh (Member # 2001) on :
In fact I meant no cruel barb nor devious slander myself (more importantly, I didn't mean to suggest you did). I did mean to bust a little balls about degrees of assumed knowledge based on flimsy evidence, but the intent wasn't cruel and not crafty enough to be devious.
How it'll be received, on the other hand, well...time will tell.
Posted by Parkour (Member # 12078) on :
I completely forgot about megatokyo.
Is piro still terrible at writing and scheduling?
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
at one point he was making more money on a bad schedule than on a good one because people would keep revisiting/refreshing the page waiting for it to finally show up, in the hopes it wouldn't be another 'i am so sad/sick/internet broke' No Comic Today filler pic
Posted by Dogbreath (Member # 11879) on :
quote:Originally posted by Rakeesh: In fact I meant no cruel barb nor devious slander myself (more importantly, I didn't mean to suggest you did). I did mean to bust a little balls about degrees of assumed knowledge based on flimsy evidence, but the intent wasn't cruel and not crafty enough to be devious.
How it'll be received, on the other hand, well...time will tell.
I dunno, I do think personal experience adds a little something that can't be replaced by all the anime and blogs in the world. I know there are many, many people in the world who have never visited Japan, yet know far more about Japanese culture, food, and entertainment than I ever will. I'm sure Blayne is one of those people. And yet... I feel that residing in Japan, and getting to know and work with people and see and walk through places that will probably never be visited by a tourist, I understand Japan in certain ways they never will. Which isn't to say I have a more objective opinion, or that I know more than they do, it's just different.
Regardless, my intention in asking Blayne was in hopes that maybe he'd been to some of the same places I'd been. He seems more interested in proving he's cooler than anyone else than actually discussing the culture, though.
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
quote: Regardless, my intention in asking Blayne was in hopes that maybe he'd been to some of the same places I'd been. He seems more interested in proving he's cooler than anyone else than actually discussing the culture, though.
Has there been even the littlest bit of proof to this?
Also I do regular skype with Japanese people as part of my efforts to learn Japanese, learn something new everyday and do intend to at least visit the place for 1-2 weeks before applying to JET.
I'm not 16, I am in possession of common sense.
quote: you also, at least in that small snipped, rolled your eyes at him.
I guarantee that if you showed us the rest of the iceberg we've only been shown the tip of, we'd have plenty to show you about what you don't realize about your own behavior, but tom's already gone into that.
And thats ridiculous, I was polite and never resorted to personal insults or attacks, at worst you could claim that I was highly opinionated and self assured in that opinion. That is what fred had a problem with, that I could claim that there was an "objective reality" and a right answer to things.
For example he made a comment regarding dwarves in Lord of the Rings as being a kind of parody of something, I pointed out that no Tolkien based them on Medieval Jewish culture and sourced the books and the evidence to back this up and he threw and then insinuated I was being "a touch" anti Semitic.
Then he said "Doctor Who doesn't have a story anyways." I assured him that yes it does, he said "its not like its numbered" I then said yes it is and linked him to wikipedia and explained that each season is its own story arc etc.
He went passive aggressive saying "...and I got a wall of text, whatever doctor who fan."
I have the logs but everything would be out of context from each other and their interrelation and since I'm still trying to get along I don't see much point.
But trust me when I say that what I posted here in terms of my anger is not what I posted there, the most disrespectful thing I've typed is "rollseyes" a grand total of twice.
[ August 11, 2011, 11:46 AM: Message edited by: Blayne Bradley ]
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
quote:[22:59] <@fredrin> drawrfs are kind of a self-mocking allegory [22:59] <@fredrin> elves are a self-creaming fantasy allegory [22:59] <@fredrin> the real humans in LOtR are the hobbits 01[23:00] <raenirsalazar> to just Humans, Tyrrians (Draconain expires), Dwarves (who are tibetan shaman stand ins), Dark Elves. 01[23:00] <raenirsalazar> Dwarves are actually an allegory towards the Jews. 01[23:00] <raenirsalazar> in Tolkiens work anyways [23:01] <karencasey> oh look http://www.deviantart.com/#/d41jv87 [23:01] <chemiclord> trmeson; sci fi writers are afraid to rock the boat because otherwise, publishers won't publish them. [23:01] <@fredrin> first time i ever heard that 03[23:01] * sonicfan2d91 (sonicfan2d91@sonicfan2d91.irc.justin.tv) has joined #fredrin 03[23:01] * project_mars (project_mars@project_mars.irc.justin.tv) has joined #fredrin [23:01] <@fredrin> might be true, but damn i sure dont see it [23:01] <project_mars> someone got shot near my work [23:01] <@fredrin> eh? [23:01] <karencasey> Damn o.o [23:02] <@fredrin> wtf is with this week? [23:02] <@fredrin> goddamn nutjobs are shooting the shit out of things this week [23:02] <project_mars> Across the street 01[23:02] <raenirsalazar> you dont see the parallels betweent he Dwarven nostalgia and single minded determination to reclaim Moria with Jewish Zionism? [23:02] <chemiclord> The sci-fi genre has stagnated to the point to the point where publishers won't accept anything that isn't of a very narrow range of interests. [23:02] <project_mars> can't recall if it was fatal [23:02] <project_mars> because i didn't know until hours later [23:02] <project_mars> also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzq2O54LLIw (warning: Parody of a song everyone hates) 01[23:03] <raenirsalazar> Tolkien was now influenced by his own selective reading of medieval texts regarding the Jewish people and their history.[5] The dwarves' characteristics of being dispossessed of their homeland (the Lonely Mountain, their ancestral home, is the goal the exiled Dwarves seek to reclaim), and living among other groups whilst retaining their own culture are all derived from the medieval image of Jews,[5][6] whilst their warlike nature stems from accounts in the Hebrew Bible.[5] Medieval views of Jews also saw them as having a propensity for making well-crafted and beautiful things,[5] a trait shared with Norse dwarve [23:03] <project_mars> They're Void Rays Void Rays, Gotta Mass up my Void Rays. [23:03] <project_mars> but yeah 01[23:04] <raenirsalazar> okay what part was sent [23:04] <project_mars> the crazy thing: afaik, he hasn't been caught [23:04] <project_mars> but given that the guy is said to be 55+ 01[23:04] <raenirsalazar> apparantly i sent the message too fast [23:04] <@fredrin> raenirsalazar: that thing about Moria is a total stretch [23:04] <project_mars> it cut off at "the goal t..." [23:04] <@fredrin> sorry 01[23:04] <raenirsalazar> Tolkien was now influenced by his own selective reading of medieval texts regarding the Jewish people and their history.[5] The dwarves' characteristics of being dispossessed of their homeland (the Lonely Mountain 01[23:04] <raenirsalazar> their ancestral home, is the goal the exiled Dwarves seek to reclaim), and living among other groups whilst retaining their own culture are all derived from the medieval image of Jews,[5][6] 01[23:04] <raenirsalazar> whilst their warlike nature stems from accounts in the Hebrew Bible.[5] Medieval views of Jews also saw them as having a propensity for making well-crafted and beautiful things,[5] a trait shared with Norse dwarve [23:04] <@fredrin> thats like saying that Jewish people are the only obsessive people in the world [23:05] <project_mars> Considering his age, i get, and hope i'm right, that he isn't planning on other murders [23:05] <project_mars> or shootings [23:05] <project_mars> idk if it's fatal [23:05] <@fredrin> post analysis i assume. And is this Tolkien who said this or some dumbshit analyist? [23:05] <@fredrin> i dont buy it 01[23:05] <raenirsalazar> The Dwarven calendar invented for The Hobbit reflects the Jewish calendar in beginning in late autumn 01[23:05] <raenirsalazar> the kazdul language is actually based on ancient hebrew 06[23:05] * @fredrin points out that you are bordering on being a smidge anti-semetic here dude 01[23:06] <raenirsalazar> When writing The Lord of the Rings Tolkien continued many of the themes he had set up in The Hobbit. When giving Dwarves their own language (Khuzdûl) Tolkien decided to create an analogue of a Semitic language influenced by Hebrew phonology. Like medieval Jewish groups, the Dwarves use their own language only amongst themselves [23:06] <@fredrin> so i say maybe its time to just drop it 01[23:06] <raenirsalazar> I have jewish ancestry, and I'm quoting from wikipedia [23:06] <@fredrin> i still think thats total bullshit [23:06] <yamaryu> Someone get the jew on fire! [23:06] <@fredrin> no offence [23:06] <@fredrin> yam [23:06] <@fredrin> shut it or ill set ping on you [23:06] <lulolwen> (He's talking about firekeeper) [23:06] <yamaryu> I'm talking about firekeeler 01[23:06] <raenirsalazar> "The Jews"/"Jews" isn't politically incorrect. [23:07] <project_mars> question: what is this about? [23:07] <yamaryu> Keeper* [23:07] <project_mars> The Fire Keebler Elf? [23:07] <trmeson> Fire Elves, when you want your cookies HOT [23:07] <@fredrin> talking about any ethnicity is politically incorrect [23:07] <@fredrin> imho 03[23:08] * villx (villx@villx.irc.justin.tv) has joined #fredrin [23:08] <@fredrin> AGH [23:08] <@fredrin> oh god, yam, i almost made an inadvertantly bad bad joke 01[23:08] <raenirsalazar> It's all sourced from "The History of the Hobbit" which I believe is all taken from Tolkiens research notes, if not from interviews with the man himself when he was alive [23:08] <@fredrin> cripes [23:08] <lulolwen> do eet [23:08] <project_mars> political correctness is... ergh. [23:09] <@fredrin> quote to me where he said he was an anti-jewish conspirist and i still wont believe it
I'ld consider this consistent reflection of my behavior there.
Posted by manji (Member # 11600) on :
The sources cited from your quotes of wikipedia come from 3rd parties. You would have been better off quoting Tolkien's own words:
"I do think of the 'Dwarves' like Jews: at once native and alien in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue."
"I didn't intend it, but when you've got these people on your hands you've got to make them different, haven't you? The dwarves of course are quite obviously -- wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic, obviously, constructed to be Semitic. The Hobbits are just rustic English people."
Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
I have to wonder whether Blayne will eventually resort to complaining about his Hatrack conversations on his IRC conversations on Facebook ... and then complaining about his Facebook conversations on his Hatrack conversations on his IRC conversations back on IRC Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
quote:Originally posted by manji: The sources cited from your quotes of wikipedia come from 3rd parties. You would have been better off quoting Tolkien's own words:
"I do think of the 'Dwarves' like Jews: at once native and alien in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue."
"I didn't intend it, but when you've got these people on your hands you've got to make them different, haven't you? The dwarves of course are quite obviously -- wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic, obviously, constructed to be Semitic. The Hobbits are just rustic English people."
IRC being a real time thing I didnt have much time to find the quotes, but maybe I'll invent time travel...
quote: I have to wonder whether Blayne will eventually resort to complaining about his Hatrack conversations on his IRC conversations on Facebook ... and then complaining about his Facebook conversations on his Hatrack conversations on his IRC conversations back on IRC
I wonder if the universe would explode.
Posted by manji (Member # 11600) on :
Curious. That first quote was on the very wiki page you quoted from.
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
Strange, I didn't see it at the time.
Posted by Tarrsk (Member # 332) on :
quote:Originally posted by Mucus: I have to wonder whether Blayne will eventually resort to complaining about his Hatrack conversations on his IRC conversations on Facebook ... and then complaining about his Facebook conversations on his Hatrack conversations on his IRC conversations back on IRC
The internet is merely a canvas for Blayne to meta-spam the spam he already spammed at other places.
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
That's quite enough now, no need to be all disrespectful or in bad taste in someone's thread now. Mucus's was at least in joke form, yours doesn't seem to be so.
Posted by Dogbreath (Member # 11879) on :
quote:Originally posted by Blayne Bradley: Has there been even the littlest bit of proof to this?
Have you ever read your own posts? I can't seem to find one where you're not either trying to start an argument or prove something. For example, in response to a single sentence question you posted 4 paragraphs trying to prove you're not something I didn't even come close to saying you were.
quote: I'm not 16, I am in possession of common sense.
If you don't mind me asking, how old are you?
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
quote:Originally posted by Dogbreath:
quote:Originally posted by Blayne Bradley: Has there been even the littlest bit of proof to this?
Have you ever read your own posts? I can't seem to find one where you're not either trying to start an argument or prove something. For example, in response to a single sentence question you posted 4 paragraphs trying to prove you're not something I didn't even come close to saying you were.
quote: I'm not 16, I am in possession of common sense.
If you don't mind me asking, how old are you?
So no, there is no proof that I've ever been "more interested in being cooler than anyone else then having a substantial discussion about Japanese culture".
I am an adult and a university student, that is all you need to know.
Posted by Rakeesh (Member # 2001) on :
Something like that cannot be proven, so there's no surprise in its not being proven here.
There can be *evidence* for it, of course, which is a different thing.
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
Semantics, you know proof and evidence are interchangeable in colloquial english. What is meant is obvious.
Posted by Rakeesh (Member # 2001) on :
What you meant is that there's no evidence for it? Yes, that's what I thought you meant. That's why I mentioned the difference between proof and evidence. There's lots of evidence (almost all of which is promptly rejected, no matter who mentions it), but because there is no *proof*, it's simple to reject the evidence.
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
What I mean is aside from the occassional anime thread I never ever at any point actually recall anyone wanting to discuss Japan or Japanese culture or the Japanese language, I had a thread where I updated my progress learning Hiragana and I certainly don't recall Dogbreath posting interest.
On that note, I'm at about 200 or so Kanji using the James Hesig method and know more or less my hiragana and my katakana.
Posted by Dogbreath (Member # 11879) on :
quote:Originally posted by Blayne Bradley: So no, there is no proof that I've ever been "more interested in being cooler than anyone else then having a substantial discussion about Japanese culture".
How to you explain your rediculously defensive replies to my posts, then? Chill out, I'm not out to get you.
quote:I am an adult and a university student, that is all you need to know.
I am 22, and used to be a University student. I probably will be again in a few years, but presently my work keeps me otherwise occupied.
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
I probably will be again in a few years, but presently my work keeps me otherwise occupied.