Does anybody remember that scene in Top Gun when Tom Cruise gives the Russian pilot the middle finger but later refers to the action as "keeping up foreign relations?"
I got served a cease-and-desist in my inbox today for a property that hasn't been licensed in my country (or anywhere outside Japan as far as I can tell). My ISP received a C&D through BayTSP - a copyright enforcement agency working for MediaFactoryINC. The file in question? A fan-subtitled video of Queen's Blade (not that it's an anime really worth writing home about). It was in my torrent over the weekend.
Everyone knows it but nobody does anything about it. Fansubs fall into that legal gray-area. If region locking is meant to control distribution, then obviously Media Factory does not want me to buy their Japanese DVDs. Fansubs as a rule are illegal, but they are also the easiest ways for fans to share properties that aren't immediately available. Now, if Media Factory were to sell the rights for overseas, distribution, then the best way to maintain foreign relations would simply be to sell the rights for an acceptable cost. Then the foreign distributor would deal with the fansubs. Most often, that is to turn around and ask the domestic fansub community to quit throwing away their property to free...
And you know what's really great about that arrangement? Often times, it works. Reputable fansub groups will stop subbing licensed properties. And trackers like Animesuki will unlist known licensed titles.
Unfortunately this isn't a perfect world we live in. Look hard enough and you will still find licensed titles floating around illegally. But that can be said of pretty much anything on the 'net. What is most unfortunate however, is the fact that MediaFactory has seen fit to enforce their international rights through a rather heavy-handed tactic... which, sadly, kind of turns me off on their stuff from now on.
Showing posts with label colour. Show all posts
Showing posts with label colour. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Kenichi's Masters (mistresses?)
Not long ago before I had decided I would join my friends going to G-Anime, I had explained to them that a big part of the convention experience was "finding stuff." You know, an exhibitor was bringing something to sell, or people showing off bragging rights. Sadly, that aspect of con-going has been lost amidst the advent of e-commerce where anything you could possibly want, not matter how rare, can be had if you are willing to pay the price.
G-Anime's only real failure, in my view, was the dealer's room where everyone was there for one reason: to unload unwanted stock. Time was when I remember going to cons where dealers were there to ring up business by showing off just a taste of what they offered in their stores. You got something at a discount and also get their business card so that one day you could look them up for more. Everyone wins.
For a con centered around anime, there was a surprisingly little amount of anime for sale. The Anime Stop crew brought lots of clearance manga and a selection of figures, but no DVDs. One store selling me some French translated manga... turned out to have very little manga in their brick-and-mortar location when I checked them out the following weekend.
Anyway back to life, I had come down a manga high from reading several volumes of Kenichi Ultimate Disciple. It's about a kid who rises up against local bullies after he joins a strange dojo populated by an eccentric cast of martial arts masters... and also happens to be the home of the cute school-mate he met.
Too bad I downloaded only part of it before it got licensed by Funimation (due out in the next few months as 13-episode DVD sets).
But being that I was under the influence of a manga high, I also decided to order the rest of the manga series from Kurokawa by way of Archambault.ca (a large retail chain in Quebec serving up French media). Saves me my provincial taxes anyway. And of course, when I stumbled on these figures at HLJ.com in the clearance section...
Turns out they ship as a set anyway (when the box arrived, the two were shrink-wrapped together, which thankfully means with minimal packing, the figures survived the half-planet transit.
As you can see, even the packaging is meant to fit together. The figures stand on a display base that snaps together forming the ying-yang sign that Kenichi is fond of wearing on his colar throughout the series.
Miu and Shigure come several option parts and accessories like weapons. Miu is the simpler of the two - the figure comes with optional arms so she can be displayed without her jacket on. Curiously, her optional arms are in the same pose as when she's wearing the jacket. Opportunity lost, if you ask me. And Shigure has a shorter "skirt" (no, she's not naked under there) but frustratingly, does not come with any hints (photos on the box or otherwise) on how she's meant to hold the optional weapons. That is, besides the baton and sword, she also comes with a set of nunchuku, a blade on a chain, a wakizashi, etc... none of which seem to fit properly in her pose. Hmm...
G-Anime's only real failure, in my view, was the dealer's room where everyone was there for one reason: to unload unwanted stock. Time was when I remember going to cons where dealers were there to ring up business by showing off just a taste of what they offered in their stores. You got something at a discount and also get their business card so that one day you could look them up for more. Everyone wins.
For a con centered around anime, there was a surprisingly little amount of anime for sale. The Anime Stop crew brought lots of clearance manga and a selection of figures, but no DVDs. One store selling me some French translated manga... turned out to have very little manga in their brick-and-mortar location when I checked them out the following weekend.
Anyway back to life, I had come down a manga high from reading several volumes of Kenichi Ultimate Disciple. It's about a kid who rises up against local bullies after he joins a strange dojo populated by an eccentric cast of martial arts masters... and also happens to be the home of the cute school-mate he met.
Too bad I downloaded only part of it before it got licensed by Funimation (due out in the next few months as 13-episode DVD sets).
But being that I was under the influence of a manga high, I also decided to order the rest of the manga series from Kurokawa by way of Archambault.ca (a large retail chain in Quebec serving up French media). Saves me my provincial taxes anyway. And of course, when I stumbled on these figures at HLJ.com in the clearance section...
Turns out they ship as a set anyway (when the box arrived, the two were shrink-wrapped together, which thankfully means with minimal packing, the figures survived the half-planet transit.
As you can see, even the packaging is meant to fit together. The figures stand on a display base that snaps together forming the ying-yang sign that Kenichi is fond of wearing on his colar throughout the series.
Miu and Shigure come several option parts and accessories like weapons. Miu is the simpler of the two - the figure comes with optional arms so she can be displayed without her jacket on. Curiously, her optional arms are in the same pose as when she's wearing the jacket. Opportunity lost, if you ask me. And Shigure has a shorter "skirt" (no, she's not naked under there) but frustratingly, does not come with any hints (photos on the box or otherwise) on how she's meant to hold the optional weapons. That is, besides the baton and sword, she also comes with a set of nunchuku, a blade on a chain, a wakizashi, etc... none of which seem to fit properly in her pose. Hmm...
Sunday, February 08, 2009
lazy con report: G-Anime 2009
As far as upstart conventions go, G-Anime had some really good ideas. I was there for both days spanning February 7 and 8 2009.
Some great ideas included a "command center" where programming was monitored by the crew. So whenever something went wrong, help was sent on the way. The location was great too (the Palais de Congress in Gatineau). There was a lot more parking than I anticipated (the city hall next door happens to offer free underground parking if you can find it... and it's connected so you can leave you coat in the car and walk indoors all the way over). Too bad the food court was mostly closed (those who were open seriously cashed in as the con ran pretty much all day both days).
Other great ideas included the fact that a lot of screening rooms were fully automated - each projector was an HTPC with timers set to show whatever was on the schedule for an hour at a time.
The down-sides... well, it felt a lot like being at an upstart. Many times I thought they were biting off more than they deserved (as well as they could chew). For instance, my friends and I missed pre-registration by about... 5 months. That is, we didn't know about it. I didn't even notice a poster at the local comics shop (who, btw, also turned out to have the single largest booth in the dealer's room). So they really needed to raise awareness.
Because we registered at the door, tickets were $40CAD. That's only $5 shy of a basic pass to FanExpo in Toronto! I mean, that's pretty arrogant considering its their first year. Pre-registration was $30... so a 25% jump is pretty hard to swallow.
Secondly, live events took an aweful long time to get running. Because the tickets line was so well-organized, we got in pretty quickly (compared to other cons I've been to). We had time to stop at the openning ceremonies... which, in the end, we lost patience and didn't see. We sat in the room for nearly 20 minutes (enough time to have watched a full episode in one of the screening rooms).
The same happened later that day. Since we weren't terribly hungry yet, we thought we'd grab a seat at the masquerade contest for half and hour or so... well, that 30 minutes grew into well over 35 minutes (the crowd grew restless and start bouncing a balloon around to each other)... we decided to get some supper over on St.Joseph.
Lastly, technical glitches were non-stop. I spent a lot of time in the screening rooms trying to absorb as much anime as possible. But it seemed that the setups weren't fully tested. Sometimes the anti-virus on those HTPCs would kick in and slow down playback. Other times, the glitch delayed the play-time of the show and the timer on the HTPC either cut off the playback mid-episode. Other times the cut-off did not occur and the next show started up overriding the video (but making a mess of the audio). It also probably did not help that all those HTPCs were running the Windows 7 beta. Sure it's free and you avoid the licensing fees. But goodness... sometimes you draw the line somewhere.
Need to give the staff a big big kudos however. Whenever glitches occured, they were there. Security was provided by folks cosplaying as members of the RCPD and Umbrella corporation and despite their reputations from the source material, were all friendly and always helpful.
Some great ideas included a "command center" where programming was monitored by the crew. So whenever something went wrong, help was sent on the way. The location was great too (the Palais de Congress in Gatineau). There was a lot more parking than I anticipated (the city hall next door happens to offer free underground parking if you can find it... and it's connected so you can leave you coat in the car and walk indoors all the way over). Too bad the food court was mostly closed (those who were open seriously cashed in as the con ran pretty much all day both days).
Other great ideas included the fact that a lot of screening rooms were fully automated - each projector was an HTPC with timers set to show whatever was on the schedule for an hour at a time.
The down-sides... well, it felt a lot like being at an upstart. Many times I thought they were biting off more than they deserved (as well as they could chew). For instance, my friends and I missed pre-registration by about... 5 months. That is, we didn't know about it. I didn't even notice a poster at the local comics shop (who, btw, also turned out to have the single largest booth in the dealer's room). So they really needed to raise awareness.
Because we registered at the door, tickets were $40CAD. That's only $5 shy of a basic pass to FanExpo in Toronto! I mean, that's pretty arrogant considering its their first year. Pre-registration was $30... so a 25% jump is pretty hard to swallow.
Secondly, live events took an aweful long time to get running. Because the tickets line was so well-organized, we got in pretty quickly (compared to other cons I've been to). We had time to stop at the openning ceremonies... which, in the end, we lost patience and didn't see. We sat in the room for nearly 20 minutes (enough time to have watched a full episode in one of the screening rooms).
The same happened later that day. Since we weren't terribly hungry yet, we thought we'd grab a seat at the masquerade contest for half and hour or so... well, that 30 minutes grew into well over 35 minutes (the crowd grew restless and start bouncing a balloon around to each other)... we decided to get some supper over on St.Joseph.
Lastly, technical glitches were non-stop. I spent a lot of time in the screening rooms trying to absorb as much anime as possible. But it seemed that the setups weren't fully tested. Sometimes the anti-virus on those HTPCs would kick in and slow down playback. Other times, the glitch delayed the play-time of the show and the timer on the HTPC either cut off the playback mid-episode. Other times the cut-off did not occur and the next show started up overriding the video (but making a mess of the audio). It also probably did not help that all those HTPCs were running the Windows 7 beta. Sure it's free and you avoid the licensing fees. But goodness... sometimes you draw the line somewhere.
Need to give the staff a big big kudos however. Whenever glitches occured, they were there. Security was provided by folks cosplaying as members of the RCPD and Umbrella corporation and despite their reputations from the source material, were all friendly and always helpful.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
The Sad State of the USPS
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It's no secret - everybody loves to trash-talk their local postal service... But lately I've learned that the USPS tracking system is just primitive compared to Canada's! I mean, what kind of use is a tracking system that updates less than once every few days?
My order of T-shirts from Jeph Jacques' QuestionableContent.net arrived in the mail today... and the tracking system message still hasn't changed since the first day about 5 calendar days ago (it says the sender notified them electronically of the shipment but not that the postal service has received it).
Just to put this into some context, I regularly receive packages here in Canada and when the tracked package arrives, I start using the domestic tracker instead. Canadians get moment-by-moment updates. When the item arrives at the border for processing, we're told when it leaves the customs office, when it's in transit between sorting facilities, and even when it's "out for delivery."
My order of T-shirts from Jeph Jacques' QuestionableContent.net arrived in the mail today... and the tracking system message still hasn't changed since the first day about 5 calendar days ago (it says the sender notified them electronically of the shipment but not that the postal service has received it).
Just to put this into some context, I regularly receive packages here in Canada and when the tracked package arrives, I start using the domestic tracker instead. Canadians get moment-by-moment updates. When the item arrives at the border for processing, we're told when it leaves the customs office, when it's in transit between sorting facilities, and even when it's "out for delivery."
Saturday, December 13, 2008
can of fat
...After about 3 and a half months, this is the can of the saturated fat collected from my bacon drippings...
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
The Great Debates: Most Likely Transformers
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colour
There are two schools of transforming robots: the giant robot or the
microscale robots.
microscale robots.
Which scenario is more likely to occur?
A) Cars and jets that transform into big robots?
B) Smaller objects such as portable music players, binoculars, cameras,
etc turning in smaller robots?
Why is that scenario more likely than the other? Discuss.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
What the douche?!
So if you've been talking to me lately, you may have picked up on the fact that I scored big time with Rock Band 2. Sure I had to deal with the stress of not knowing when I'd get it (and if never, worrying about how to go about getting a refund). The short version of that story is that I picked up my set from a local Sears Catalog counter only a few days ago. But I had actually ordered through their web site at a ridiculous $160 plus a $20 discount for spending over $100 on-line.
So with $40 of budget burning a hole in my pocket... I was excited to learn that Futureshop had the AC/DC "Live at Donnington" add-on track pack for only $30. That's just under 80 cents per song. But as usual something smells fishy.
Firstly, Best Buy has it listed as $40. But could I just walk in and price-match it? No! When one place has it in stock, the other won't!
Secondly, there's one of those monthly 10% off everything sales going on right now... but can I choose in-store pick-up? No! It's "temporarily unavailable!"
If I choose the cheapest shipping option, it's $2... which pretty much eliminates the sale discount... all for the price of waiting for it to arrive in the mail (the estimate being Nov27; that's 5 calendar days from now!).
I think what pisses me off the most about the situation is that I could have picked it up yesterday on the way home from work but instead told myself that patience is a virtue... But it looks like I'll wind up going in person later anyway and not saving a penny... and not having been able to play it during the weekend.
So with $40 of budget burning a hole in my pocket... I was excited to learn that Futureshop had the AC/DC "Live at Donnington" add-on track pack for only $30. That's just under 80 cents per song. But as usual something smells fishy.
Firstly, Best Buy has it listed as $40. But could I just walk in and price-match it? No! When one place has it in stock, the other won't!
Secondly, there's one of those monthly 10% off everything sales going on right now... but can I choose in-store pick-up? No! It's "temporarily unavailable!"
If I choose the cheapest shipping option, it's $2... which pretty much eliminates the sale discount... all for the price of waiting for it to arrive in the mail (the estimate being Nov27; that's 5 calendar days from now!).
I think what pisses me off the most about the situation is that I could have picked it up yesterday on the way home from work but instead told myself that patience is a virtue... But it looks like I'll wind up going in person later anyway and not saving a penny... and not having been able to play it during the weekend.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Media Manager is free? Or not?
Did anybody else get this email from Playstation Underground? The big banner proclaims that there is now a version of PSP Media Manager that is free to download. But when I click on the link, I get a 404 error. What the hell? It's as though somebody at Sony (or SCEA anyway) suddenly came to their senses and thought, "wait, why are we giving away a product we've been trying to sell for $30 for the last 3 years?"Indeed, if you search around the Playstation Network site a bit, you'll find a "beta" version of PSPMM that is marked free (but follows the same dead link), and right below you see a "PSPMM Pro" that actually displays the retail cover art for the PSPMM we've all seen but were too smart to pay for anyway. And let's face it... only smart people read my blog, yes?
I've ...*ahem*... previously demo'ed Media Manager. And to be honest, I didn't really like it all that much. It was a little bit too... shall we say... Mac-like. I'm the kind of person who likes to know where his files are physically located. And on top of which, by the time PSPMM came out, I'd already been using a freeware alternative I was very happy with.
Monday, September 08, 2008
when fast is too fast
I'm amused and PO'ed at the ads airing on television lately about how "reliable" and "fast" Rogers Internet is.
Last week, on a Thursday, I got a mail message warning me that I had reached 75% of my monthly bandwidth (that is, 45Gb total upload and download). Okay... that's fine I think. But then last night, the very same night my billing period rolled over I get an email telling me I've reached 100% (60Gb!)
One would make the case that I managed to use up 15Gb in the span of only 4 days! Fast indeed. Then again, this month has been highly unusual. My co-op student cousin moved in, my brother was also here with his own machine for Labour Day weekend. I've been downloading demos and videos like crazy for my new laptop and goodies for the new PS3. In fact, a glance at my bandwidth history shows that most months prior, I barely scratched 20Gb at all.
Last week, on a Thursday, I got a mail message warning me that I had reached 75% of my monthly bandwidth (that is, 45Gb total upload and download). Okay... that's fine I think. But then last night, the very same night my billing period rolled over I get an email telling me I've reached 100% (60Gb!)
One would make the case that I managed to use up 15Gb in the span of only 4 days! Fast indeed. Then again, this month has been highly unusual. My co-op student cousin moved in, my brother was also here with his own machine for Labour Day weekend. I've been downloading demos and videos like crazy for my new laptop and goodies for the new PS3. In fact, a glance at my bandwidth history shows that most months prior, I barely scratched 20Gb at all.
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
pile of comics
Hooray: 3-in-1 post today.
Firstly, I take back the complaining I did over the weekend saying that I had "nothing to read" because I had a shipping confirmation from Amazon on Friday night. It was hard to know that a long-weekend meant a long-wait for mail to arrive by Tuesday. But in the meantime I very nearly cleared Metal Gear Ac!d 2 on my PSP. Very nearly.
Second, I'd like to thank Marvel for making me read the same cliffhanger twice... Idiots! I don't know who made this editorial decision, but lately I've noticed a lot of overlap with their collected editions. When I got the "Marvel Universe" volume of Marvel Civil War, I was only slightly peeved that it had an issue of She-Hulk I already had from my She-Hulk collected editions. That's the very nature of event tie-ins.
But when it's 4 issues? Come on, now!
After loving the original Annihilation event, I jumped on the relaunched Nova monthly (in trade-paperback format, of course). The first TPB of Nova was called (appropriately) "Annihilation Conquest" because he happens to be a key figure in the second event too. However, this TPB ended on a cliff-hanger... well, guess what? I just read the second half of that TPB all over again because Nova #4-#7 are included in the second volume of Annihilation Conquest. And the overlap ends at the very same cliffhanger?!
Since Nova figures into the rest of the volume, guess what they do? Marvel summarizes the rest of that particular storyline on a single text-only page before heading into the rest of the story (consisting of the Wraith mini and the Conquest proper mini).
Third: my pull list this week
Wildcats #1 - relaunched ...AGAIN. Ties into the 'end of the world plot' from Number of the Beast event. It's too bad that OTHER Wildcats relaunch was a failure...
Authority #2 - relaunched ...AGAIN). Also ties into NotB. Also too bad about the previous relaunch...
Echo #5 - just plain weird. But no failures here!
Fathom Vol.3#1 - Ale Garza does good pictures... I'll miss Turner's original look though.
WH40k: Exterminatus #1 - not a fan of the art, but if it gives colour to my tabletop games, that's cool.
Firstly, I take back the complaining I did over the weekend saying that I had "nothing to read" because I had a shipping confirmation from Amazon on Friday night. It was hard to know that a long-weekend meant a long-wait for mail to arrive by Tuesday. But in the meantime I very nearly cleared Metal Gear Ac!d 2 on my PSP. Very nearly.
Second, I'd like to thank Marvel for making me read the same cliffhanger twice... Idiots! I don't know who made this editorial decision, but lately I've noticed a lot of overlap with their collected editions. When I got the "Marvel Universe" volume of Marvel Civil War, I was only slightly peeved that it had an issue of She-Hulk I already had from my She-Hulk collected editions. That's the very nature of event tie-ins.
But when it's 4 issues? Come on, now!
After loving the original Annihilation event, I jumped on the relaunched Nova monthly (in trade-paperback format, of course). The first TPB of Nova was called (appropriately) "Annihilation Conquest" because he happens to be a key figure in the second event too. However, this TPB ended on a cliff-hanger... well, guess what? I just read the second half of that TPB all over again because Nova #4-#7 are included in the second volume of Annihilation Conquest. And the overlap ends at the very same cliffhanger?!
Since Nova figures into the rest of the volume, guess what they do? Marvel summarizes the rest of that particular storyline on a single text-only page before heading into the rest of the story (consisting of the Wraith mini and the Conquest proper mini).
Third: my pull list this week
Wildcats #1 - relaunched ...AGAIN. Ties into the 'end of the world plot' from Number of the Beast event. It's too bad that OTHER Wildcats relaunch was a failure...
Authority #2 - relaunched ...AGAIN). Also ties into NotB. Also too bad about the previous relaunch...
Echo #5 - just plain weird. But no failures here!
Fathom Vol.3#1 - Ale Garza does good pictures... I'll miss Turner's original look though.
WH40k: Exterminatus #1 - not a fan of the art, but if it gives colour to my tabletop games, that's cool.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
not a good sign
Remember only a few days back I was complaining about a site that just wouldn't update my order? Check this out:
Yeah, that's right... looks like a DB error of some kind. That's not a good sign for the state of things. Especially since my payment was already processed... Thankfully, it's only a matter of $36 or so. But still, that's like half a year of my Zip rentals (assuming I stick with the cheapest option).
Yeah, that's right... looks like a DB error of some kind. That's not a good sign for the state of things. Especially since my payment was already processed... Thankfully, it's only a matter of $36 or so. But still, that's like half a year of my Zip rentals (assuming I stick with the cheapest option).
Friday, June 20, 2008
gear-grinding: no updates from e-stores
It takes me forever to decide whether to try a new e-shopping source. It's because being burnt once is quite enough. Many years ago, an ebayer never got back to me after claiming to have sent my winnings (I never got them; thankfully it was only a $20 item). But from time to time, I find that rare item I just "must" have. And when it's from a source I haven't used before... well, I spend a whole lot of time debating whether to trust the source or not...
One thing that does not help a situation is when I place my order and it just sits.
And I mean it sits around: the site does not update, there's no communication from the source, and for all I know, my money is in limbo while I wait.
I mean seriously... they even have this "check order" page - what good is that if it never gets updated? And yes, I snapped that today. I'm going to count it as a full week because even taking into account that it's actually Friday night, on the side of the planet where this source is located, it should already be Saturday, which in all likelihood is not even a business day. I'll keep you posted if I ever get anything in the mail.
One thing that does not help a situation is when I place my order and it just sits.
And I mean it sits around: the site does not update, there's no communication from the source, and for all I know, my money is in limbo while I wait.
I mean seriously... they even have this "check order" page - what good is that if it never gets updated? And yes, I snapped that today. I'm going to count it as a full week because even taking into account that it's actually Friday night, on the side of the planet where this source is located, it should already be Saturday, which in all likelihood is not even a business day. I'll keep you posted if I ever get anything in the mail.
Monday, May 05, 2008
Who's the bigger jerk now?
I'm going to invoke Gabe's Greater Internet Dickwad Theory today. For the record, this is a true story about my family and I.
I was in Oregeno's Pasta Market in Ottawa's Byward Market area. The hostess accidentally asked me if I was there for the "brunch buffet or regular menu" even though it was already 1pm. In turn, I mis-heard her and thought she asked about a "lunch buffet."
So I asked about it when the waitress arrived. She explained that brunch was indeed over and that they were back on the regular menu. But then something really strange happened... she asked if we needed a few more minutes with the menu (I said yes) then without taking drink orders, she left! She never even came back with water either.
Another table was seated next to us - they ordered beverages first. Admittedly, while she was taking those orders, my mother (who can be naïve, sometimes) opened her menu again. Alright fine: that was a mixed signal. I understand that often a closed menu will signal a server to take your order. But the next time she came by to take the other tables' orders (you know, the one that arrived AFTER us), the waitress left again without taking our orders!
We discussed the situation briefly and then very promptly got up and left. I don't know about anybody else but I did make eye contact with the waitress on my way out the door. If there was any proof-in-the-pudding it was that nobody tried to ask us to stay or apologize.
I can be "understanding." I know that it looked weird - a group of people ask about a menu that was unavailable, possibly cheap (because my mother asked how much the buffet would have cost during the confusion). I don't blame anybody but ourselves for getting profiled. But understanding the situation doesn't make our treatment any less fucking racist. Racial profiling is harmless only up to the moment you make a decision to act based on such assumptions. It's like the staff did everything possible to make me feel unwelcome.
Needless to say, I've posted my thoughts on Yahoo's Restaurant index for the world to see.
I was in Oregeno's Pasta Market in Ottawa's Byward Market area. The hostess accidentally asked me if I was there for the "brunch buffet or regular menu" even though it was already 1pm. In turn, I mis-heard her and thought she asked about a "lunch buffet."
So I asked about it when the waitress arrived. She explained that brunch was indeed over and that they were back on the regular menu. But then something really strange happened... she asked if we needed a few more minutes with the menu (I said yes) then without taking drink orders, she left! She never even came back with water either.
Another table was seated next to us - they ordered beverages first. Admittedly, while she was taking those orders, my mother (who can be naïve, sometimes) opened her menu again. Alright fine: that was a mixed signal. I understand that often a closed menu will signal a server to take your order. But the next time she came by to take the other tables' orders (you know, the one that arrived AFTER us), the waitress left again without taking our orders!
We discussed the situation briefly and then very promptly got up and left. I don't know about anybody else but I did make eye contact with the waitress on my way out the door. If there was any proof-in-the-pudding it was that nobody tried to ask us to stay or apologize.
I can be "understanding." I know that it looked weird - a group of people ask about a menu that was unavailable, possibly cheap (because my mother asked how much the buffet would have cost during the confusion). I don't blame anybody but ourselves for getting profiled. But understanding the situation doesn't make our treatment any less fucking racist. Racial profiling is harmless only up to the moment you make a decision to act based on such assumptions. It's like the staff did everything possible to make me feel unwelcome.
Needless to say, I've posted my thoughts on Yahoo's Restaurant index for the world to see.
Monday, April 28, 2008
GTA4 web commentary
There's a bazillion ways I could say the same damn thing as everybody else who is Not mainstream media. Hell, was it a slow news day or what to have Grand Theft Auto IV get coverage on all the major networks tonight? There was this one guy who even referenced that other big controversy "Bully" (which if you know anything about games has long-since been revealed to feature a school boy who prevents smaller kids FROM BULLIES, you f*cking morons!)
But instead of saying those same bazillion f*cking things to express how this whole crap-fest called mass-media is making my blood boil, I turn you to someone much more eloquent than myself: Wil Wheaton's take on the matter.
But instead of saying those same bazillion f*cking things to express how this whole crap-fest called mass-media is making my blood boil, I turn you to someone much more eloquent than myself: Wil Wheaton's take on the matter.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
What is "win?"
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colour
I just got a weird message in my Inbox from eBay. It said I "won" an auction.
Normally I already find the lexicon of auctions amusing. When you win an auction, you don't really "win" anything because you still have to pay for your goods. In fact, all you really "won" was the opportunity to buy something... and you won it by offering more than the next guy. In a world where most people would prefer to pay LESS for something, that, in reality, sort of makes you a loser more than a winner.
Anyway, what made this particular email extra special (or extra stupid) is that the auction it was referring to was a "Buy It Now" listing. That is, nobody else had a chance to buy it for more or less than the asking price. If this is a win, then that means I also "won" the hamburger to purchased at Harvey's tonight. Or I "won" the bag of milk I picked up at the corner store. And on the weekend, when I pay out the nose for a freaking tank of gas, I will "win" that too.
On second thought, looking at a gas purchase as a "win" kind of takes the sting out of the ridiculous price gouging going on. Maybe that's better all around.
Normally I already find the lexicon of auctions amusing. When you win an auction, you don't really "win" anything because you still have to pay for your goods. In fact, all you really "won" was the opportunity to buy something... and you won it by offering more than the next guy. In a world where most people would prefer to pay LESS for something, that, in reality, sort of makes you a loser more than a winner.
Anyway, what made this particular email extra special (or extra stupid) is that the auction it was referring to was a "Buy It Now" listing. That is, nobody else had a chance to buy it for more or less than the asking price. If this is a win, then that means I also "won" the hamburger to purchased at Harvey's tonight. Or I "won" the bag of milk I picked up at the corner store. And on the weekend, when I pay out the nose for a freaking tank of gas, I will "win" that too.
On second thought, looking at a gas purchase as a "win" kind of takes the sting out of the ridiculous price gouging going on. Maybe that's better all around.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Darlie - people thought we were racist
What I have here today is a tube of toothpaste brought back from Hong Kong. Over in HK, you're either using Crest ...or you're using Darlie brand (which is today owned by the Colgate folks).
Above is a pic of the card packaging. Note the big friendly logo in English words... but also note the vaguely contemporary gentleman... Well, he wasn't so vague in the past. Indeed, unless you're totally oblivious, it used to be man of African-descent. And the brand (before the corporate takeover by Colgate) was indeed once known as "Darkie." Knowing that, I found it oddly amusingly suspicious that the original Chinese name appears only in a very small font in the fine-print:
Looking carefully, you'll find the 4 Chinese words that mean "black person tooth paste." Why this name was chosen, I won't go into detail here (Wikipedia does a pretty good job of that anyway). But I do find it funny that nobody really gave a damn about it before Colgate bought the brand and a bunch of outsiders thought it'd offend a population that is pretty much non-existent where this product is marketed.
And in reality anyway... once you open the box...
There's the original Chinese name as prominent as ever right on the tube! If you ask me, the whole thing is hardly more offensive than Uncle Ben or Aunt Jemima. But then again, maybe I'm just a racist too.
PS: if anybody's wondering, the toothpaste is bland yet simple minty-fresh affair. What did you expect?
Above is a pic of the card packaging. Note the big friendly logo in English words... but also note the vaguely contemporary gentleman... Well, he wasn't so vague in the past. Indeed, unless you're totally oblivious, it used to be man of African-descent. And the brand (before the corporate takeover by Colgate) was indeed once known as "Darkie." Knowing that, I found it oddly amusingly suspicious that the original Chinese name appears only in a very small font in the fine-print:
Looking carefully, you'll find the 4 Chinese words that mean "black person tooth paste." Why this name was chosen, I won't go into detail here (Wikipedia does a pretty good job of that anyway). But I do find it funny that nobody really gave a damn about it before Colgate bought the brand and a bunch of outsiders thought it'd offend a population that is pretty much non-existent where this product is marketed.And in reality anyway... once you open the box...
There's the original Chinese name as prominent as ever right on the tube! If you ask me, the whole thing is hardly more offensive than Uncle Ben or Aunt Jemima. But then again, maybe I'm just a racist too.PS: if anybody's wondering, the toothpaste is bland yet simple minty-fresh affair. What did you expect?
Friday, November 09, 2007
metathesis
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colour
I was having a burrito for lunch and as usual I decided to satisfy my curiosity on the origins of what I was eating. So I started browsing Wikipedia. I'm always wondering what's a "real" ethnic food and what's made up by a North American pretending to be foreign.
I then stumbled on the term 'chipotle' - that's a smoke-dried chile pepper, btw... And I noted the spelling. And not for the first time either.
It made me think about that stupid commercial with the bunch of ladies around a bowl of dip. And one of them says, "ha-LA-pen -no" peppers even after being corrected by another who explains that "the 'j' is silent." Anyway, it makes me cringe when people induce metathesis to the point where it becomes commonly-acceptable. It's NOT acceptable, damn it! When somebody says "chi-POL-tay" they sound like a frickin' idiot! It's "chi-poh-lay" - not only is the 't' supposed to be silent, but it comes BEFORE the "L" anyway!
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Monday, September 17, 2007
Messenger roll-out screws me!!
Messenger is arguably the most polished of the IM clients out there. I tried a few others in my day but nothing is more intuitive than Live Messenger (formerly MSN Messenger). It keeps me in touch with friends and family (particularly my mother who likes to go on-line early in the morning and sometimes we video-chat; and it's all free - unbeatable!).Well, if you haven't heard about it yet, this past week Microsoft decided it was time to roll out version 8.1 - but in the process crushed any sense of normality I had come to expect with Messenger. Somehow, the network refresh completely wiped me out!
Now there's an up-side to this... For the last 11 months I've been using an outdated email address to sign-in to Messenger. An email address acts as one's LiveID. You can change your email in your LiveID profile, but you cannot change the actual LiveID itself. This morning for whatever reason (I guess somebody else claimed my old Sympatico address finally) LiveID prompted me to update my username. So I gave it my new Rogers email address. Easy right?
Wrong.
Firstly, I've since discovered that I lost all my custom emoticons, custom avatars, and backgrounds for chat-windows (which was a very ero-kawaii Misaki Kureha from Divergence Eve, by the way).
Secondly, I don't know if this is new or what... but just now a buddy helped me test my setup. And boy did it act funny. Let's say we're in already in a chat window and I decide to hide by going "Appear Offline." Suddenly my friend could not continue our conversation... any further messages he typed into our chat window instead went to some kind of temporary hotmail inbox (and I assure you, I don't have a hotmail address). Talk about bizzarre!
Anyway, excuse me while I go try to rebuild all my missing emoticons and stuff.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Fire Tube 1 of 2
Timing is one thing that tends to screw with me a lot. I had intended to build a new PC for my folks before the next time they visited me, but here we are, less than a week before they're coming over again. Pfft...
The other thing was a bunch of stuff I've had my eye on for an eternity on-line... but I had put it off while budgetting for my Toronto trip... Well, after the trip, and in spite of my damage report posted earlier today, I decided I was still good for the one big sale I got an email about...
Hmm... in transit over the weekend, eh? And it left from LA? Probably going to cross the border from BC. I'll be dinged on customs for sure there. Oh well, that's the game I play. That doesn't bother me so much as wondering how much time wasted that it'll be held up at the border.
I'm expecting a pretty huge box (I saw actual samples while visiting Toronto last week). I seriously lucked out with the discounts this time. I'll blog it big time when it arrives.
The other thing was a bunch of stuff I've had my eye on for an eternity on-line... but I had put it off while budgetting for my Toronto trip... Well, after the trip, and in spite of my damage report posted earlier today, I decided I was still good for the one big sale I got an email about...
Hmm... in transit over the weekend, eh? And it left from LA? Probably going to cross the border from BC. I'll be dinged on customs for sure there. Oh well, that's the game I play. That doesn't bother me so much as wondering how much time wasted that it'll be held up at the border.
I'm expecting a pretty huge box (I saw actual samples while visiting Toronto last week). I seriously lucked out with the discounts this time. I'll blog it big time when it arrives.
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