Dispute - DB Says: NO YouTube!

Just relaying information here. I've mentioned this before, and won't push it on WoW. (I'm also not dressing it up or making this post a 'nice' argument. It will hopefully be a while before I feel I have to waste time doing that for the topic of Fansubs on YouTube again.)

YouTube and every other "video sharing site" sucks, and WE DO NOT WANT to see our work uploaded there and turned into low-quality WMV / Flash Video. You are not allowed to upload our work to any video sharing site.

By Uploading DB's fansubs to 'video-sharing' sites:

• You violate these sites' terms of service
  (you are not the copyright holder of said materials)


• You open these sites up to possible legal liability for the hosting of copyright infringing materials.


• It decreases the viewing quality of episodes significantly.
  "we feel that allowing people to continue to claim that this is our work is offensive"


• I'd like to point out: If YOU UPLOAD FANSUBS, and Fansubing Groups get in trouble... NO MORE FANSUBS FOR YOU!

Think about it, and don't complain that you can't watch fansubs unless they are on YouTube. Its not supposed to be 'too easy'. Even though currently it still is.. YouTube or no YouTube.)

we need YOUR help to stop our work from appearing on YouTube

They've released the busy beavers and rabid badgers!

Please Note: If you are going to join them, don't remove AMVs or other fan created content.

Full News Release by DB

I just saw 10 sec videos on YouTube that advertise 3rd party sites to download DB's episodes... that may not be an issue, but they rename the files, and may start charging a fee to support 'bandwidth costs'. :/ While that’s probably ok, I'm not sure it should be advertised on YouTube. (Even so, its a start.)


While I did find there are still quite a few of DB's subs online (on YouTube at least), I also found things like this:

Bleach: I want to be cut by the zanpakutou of Love
(Bleach Love simulation!) -_-;;;

Dispute - Hideaki Anno Makes Bold Statements

A noteworthy poster is turning up in the theaters of Japan. Anno's message may be considered audacious, but it is sure to stir up fans and skeptics alike.

The posters claim:

Many different desires are motivating us to create the new "Evangelion" film.
...
The desire to connect today's exhausted Japanese animation [industry] to the future.
The desire to fight the continuing trend of stagnation in anime.
The desire to support the strength of heart that exists in the world.

Finally, the desire to have these wishes be realized.

These statements are not militant, yet claiming to posses these 'desires' in order to forge a path to success is a bold move. Wielding shocking truths such as the 'trend of stagnation in anime' as tools to promote their own work is highly effective, but one must note that these 'tools' have more then one edge.

(The claims that these statements suggest are not without merit. The stagnation of the industry has also been discussed by prominent figures such as Toshio Okada ('Otaku no Video' and 'Gunbuster'), but the topic is not confined to GAINAX.)

Many times we wondered, "It's a title that's more than 10 years old. Why now?"
"Eva is too old", we felt.
However, over the past 12 years, there has been no anime newer than Eva.
...
We realize that we are creating something that will be better than the last series.

Not only do these statements set the bar rather high, but they also seem to imply that these new movies will be an example of 'revolutionary' and what should be strived for in the future. Not that future animation should be 'the same' as these movies, but that these movies exhibit some 'concept' of how future 'fresh'/'highly-rated' titles should be produced.

(Other directors have made similar claims of their work - and pulled them off, so it is not unheard of. A 'turning point' may be reached, but by who's hand? GAINAX may not be a bad guess, but it might not be with these movies, and we may not know until we pass it.)


- I have no doubt that if care is taken, these new movies could easily hold their own and possibly 'surpass' their original creations. Will they be 'revolutionary' (purely in the sense of art on its own)? Or will they just be a new angle of the same old 'Evangelion Revolution'?
With these claims in motion, I now eagerly await the first release. Anno, as you can see you have made an excellent move, now just hold up your end of the bargain. ^_^


For now maybe we should stock up on EVA Stamps for mailing letters, and EVA Soda for when we watch them. >_<
All this talk about 'Revolution' has got me listening to 'History Repeating' by Propellerheads. The lyrics are key, but the song is fun and on YouTube if you like. (The video is out of sync and is not that important)


(I have only taken a few snippets from this article. I highly recommend that you read the Full translation (ANN) because I have only touched some of the more controversial statements in this post. The original poster can also be found with the translation. )

Dispute - Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo Vol. 1

(Just wanted to post something to get me started posting again.)

While I can't/won't complain about ADV (more then just childish whining)...

I can similarly draw attention to Illumitoon Entertainment's Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo Vol. 1
(I don't just go around finding things to complain about, but I happened to run into this while ADV Manga was on the mind.)

Lets start with a few relatively insignificant issues:

listing of "dual language" without saying what languages or subtitles.
incorrectly lists an 80 minute run time when it's actually 105 minutes.
...
outrageously loud menu audio
the subtitle track is a dubtitle track

Ok, thats not that bad, but it does get a bit 'better':

It is also a dubtitle track that goes for the extra offense of being one that has the Hearing Impaired sounds included in it. But wait, let's add more insult to injury with it. While the white subtitles with black font look good and are bigger than FUNimation's similar subtitles, they're left justified similar to how AnimEigo does it. But wait, it's worse, because they're not centered on the screen but actually kept to the very left. A six word sentence is split across two lines and kept to a corner of the screen. But wait, it's even worse! If multiple people are speaking at the same time, it's all strung together. Where you would normally have:

- Hello!
- Hi, how are you?

You instead get "Hello! Hi, How are you?" on one or two lines. And that's if you're lucky. Since sentences are generally longer, they're split so it would be "Hello! Hi, how" as the first subtitle and then it flashes off and the new one is "are you?" before continuing on. It's nearly impossible to differentiate dialogue. Not that any of it really matches up since it's dubtitled. But wait, it's even worse if you can imagine. The subtitles are onscreen for such a short amount of time that even fast reading subtitle folks like myself aren't able to read what's being said before it disappears from the screen. This is so poorly executed that it goes beyond incompetence and it goes beyond what you get from the old awful bootleg Chinese subtitles from years ago that I can’t imagine that someone signed off on this. The entire way the subtitles come across simply doesn't feel like they were an afterthought, they must never have been thought about at all. It's insult upon insult upon insult upon injury.

Illumitoon will focus on "acquiring exciting anime from Japan, with the emphasis on making them relatable for an American audience. ... Of course, we always want to include the original Japanese tracks with our shows, for the serious anime fan" :/

"Illumitoon is focused on acquiring kid friendly properties that are 'placeable' in the North American market." so less emphasis on the Japanese side is understandable, but those subtitles sound atrocious.

The severity of some of the DVD's 'issues' is lessened when you understand who their target audience is, yet others are genuine problems. Still, it is amusing to compare this DVD to releases by other companies.

The original Review can be found at Anime On DVD

(This post is not so much bashing, but providing information for your amusement)

Dispute - Trusted Computing

Probably not the best way to introduce the concept but - neat video they've got there.

Check out the video at www.lafkon.net/tc by clicking the image above.

If you don't like QuickTime then try the Other Video Formats OR
(YouTube)(Google Video)

Anti-DRM? Anti-TC? (Don't mix em' up, but) You might enjoy this 'PSA'. It's interesting how humans will create such PSAs in order to influence minds.. and how easily people will follow them. (But, thats beside the point, look into these concepts and make your own 'educated' decisions.)

An interesting talk: Microsoft Research DRM talk it gets a bit ranty/lengthy at times, but its decent.

[Removed ranty discussion including VHS variable speed playback and other DVD copy-protection systems]

Is this something similar to the: Privacy vs security? Privacy vs Fredom? Well, there are defiantly advantages and disadvantages, but also some slippery slopes.

On another note: Just remember, Security through obscurity isn’t 'security'. (Though, it defiantly can mimic security pretty well sometimes.) Raarr proprietary, raarr.