Going My Way

Nothing interesting’s going on with me, I’m still plodding faithfully along. I gave up on books for now to focus on internet resources. I was lucky enough to come across Milan’s Cantonese blog with several Cantonese monologues recorded by his wife, a native Cantonese speaker. They’ve made excellent sacrifices to my Cantonese SRS deck, MWA HA HA HA HA! I’m happy with how much I’ve learned from them so far, but I’m also encouraged by how much I already understand. I can’t call myself a beginner any more, maybe more like a lower-intermediate learner. I can get the gist of most things I listen to, and even understand quite a bit of some topics. As for the news, once they have those Mandarin subtitles up, it’s all over for them. Needless to say, I enjoy watching the news quite a bit.

Or more like I enjoyed it, because the ATV stream I used to watch regularly suddenly went down a few nights ago. I’m heart-broken sad Now I have to find a new source of terrible dramas and annoying tourism shows and endless mahjong tournaments and pro-Beijing news to watch. It was fun to have ATV streaming away whether I watched it or not, and I learned a ton of new characters and compounds from the news broadcasts. But it does no good to lament the past, just got to keep moving forward. I’m sure I’ll find something else eventually.

Requesting a three day pass

An Israeli soldier who just enlisted asked the Commanding Officer for a 3-day pass.

The CO says “Are you crazy? You just join the Israeli army, and you already want a 3-day pass? You must do something spectacular for that recognition!”

So the soldier comes back a day later in an Arab tank!

The CO was so impressed, he asked “How did you do it?”

“Well, I jumped in a tank, and went toward the border with the Arabs. I approached the border, and saw an Arab tank. I put my white flag up, the Arab tank put his white flag up. I said to the Arab soldier, ‘Do you want to get a three-day pass?’ So we exchanged tanks!”

Taliban TV Guide

MONDAYS:
7:30 – “I Dream of Fatima”
8:00 – “Husseinfeld”
8:30 – “Mad About Everything”
9:00 – “Suddenly Sanctions”
9:30 – “The Brian Benben Bin Laden Show”
10:00 – “Allah McBeal”

TUESDAYS:
7:30 – “I Love Sheep”
8:00 – “Wheel of Terror and Fortune”
8:30 – “The Price is Right If Osama Says Its Right”
9:00 – “Children Are Forbidden From Saying The Darnest Things”
9:30 – “Afganistans Wackiest Public Execution Bloopers”
10:00 – “Buffy The Yankee Imperialist Dog Slayer”

WEDNESDAYS:
7:30 – “Talibantubbies”
8:00 – “U.S. Military Secrets Revealed”
8:30 – “When Northern Alliance Attack”
9:00 – “Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pita Bread”
9:30 – “Just Shoot Everyone”
10:00 – “Veilwatch”

THURSDAYS:
7:30 – “Hanging With Mr. Hijacker”
8:00 – “Matima Loves Chachi”
8:30 – “M*U*S*T*A*S*H”
9:00 – “Veronica’s Closet Full of Long, Black, Shapeless Dresses and Veils”
9:30 – “My Two Baghdads”
10:00 – “Diagnosis: Heresy”

FRIDAYS:
7:30 – “This Old Tent”
8:00 – Movie of the Week “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves”
8:30 – “Khalid and his Camel”
9:00 – “Captured Northern Alliance Rebels Say the Darnest Things”
9:30 – “Achmeds Creek”
10:00 – “No-Witness News”

5000 years of technology

After digging to a depth of 100m last year, Russian scientists found traces of copper wiring dating back 1000 years, and came to the conclusion that their ancestors already had a telephone network one thousand years ago.

Not to be outdone, in the weeks that followed, American scientists dug 200m, and headlines in the US newspapers read: “US scientists have found traces of 2000 year old optical fibers, and have concluded that their ancestors already had advanced high-tech digital telephones 1000 years earlier than the Russians.”

One week later, the South African press reported the following: “After digging as deep as 500m, S.A. scientists have found absolutely nothing. The government have concluded that 5000 years ago, their ancestors were already using mobile phones due to cable theft problems.”

Katekyo Hitman Reborn! anime review

After watching what I could stomach of Darker than Black, I wanted to try something a little more lighthearted. I often download stuff at random, but this time I read the description and it sounded funny: Italian hitman who looks like baby trains Japanese high schooler to become Mafia leader. What could possibly go wrong?

I watched 10 episodes of Katekyo Hitman Reborn! before giving up, but I won’t say anything went “wrong” with it. More like something was right, so they took that something and reused it over and over again, thereby flogging it to death.

Basically each episode was like the one before it. The same things happened, the characters had the same reactions to it, it ended the same way, on to the next. Tsuna acts like a flabbergasted moron, Reborn is all-wise and all-knowing, Lambo is cute but annoying, Haru is also cute and also annoying, Kyoko is cute and clueless, Yamaguchi is an idiot who thinks everything is a game, etc, etc. You can tell what’s going to come out of everyone’s mouth before they even open it.

I found the first episode or two pretty funny, seeing all the crazy things Tsuna would get up to after being shot with the Dying Will bullet. But after that it was just “Bullet of the Day” ad nauseam, and Tsuna didn’t seem to be getting any brighter or more likable. Also I hate manipulative know-it-alls like Reborn. That smug bastard just pissed me off, episode after episode. If the two main characters suck so hard, there’s very little a series can do to redeem itself.

I hear eventually there’ll be some tournament-style fighting and some time travelling, and nothing could be less appealing to me, so I figured I’d quit while I was ahead. At least I laughed my head off at the Organ Block, so that’s worth something.